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Cainites

The Cainites or Cainians (Καϊνοί, Kainoi, and Καϊανοί, Kaianoi) were a Gnostic and antinomian sect known to venerate Cain as the first victim of the Demiurge, the deity of the Old Testament, who was identified by many groups of Gnostics as evil. The sect was relatively small. They were mentioned by Tertullian and Irenaeus as existing in the eastern Roman Empire during the 2nd century. One of their purported religious texts was the Gospel of Judas.

History
The oldest source is to be found in Irenaeus, Against Heresies. i. 31.

Cain and Abel
Irenaeus states that the Cainites regarded Cain as derived from the highest God, not the Creator God worshipped by Jews and other Christians. According to Irenaeus, they claimed fellowship with Esau, Korah, the men of Sodom, and all such people, and regarded themselves as persecuted by the Creator. But they escaped injury from him, because they were protected by the goddess Sophia.

Epiphanius of Salamis (Haer. 38), who appears to have some source of information independent of Irenaeus, gives a much longer account. He describes Abel as being derived from the weaker principle.

Redemption

Like other Gnostics, the Cainites distinguished between the Creator and the Supreme God. They identified the Creator with the God of the Jews, viewing him and those he favored with hostility and believing that the purpose of redemption was the dissolution of his work. They claimed kinship with those to whom he showed antagonism in the Old Testament but believed he was the weaker power and could do them no permanent harm, since they enjoyed the protection of Sophia.

They may have shared with other heretical Christians a belief in the division of humanity into two classes: the spiritual and the material. Material people belonged to the realm of the Creator and derived their being from him but were doomed to destruction. Spiritual people were imprisoned in bodies of flesh but derived their essential being from the highest Power. They were opposed by the Creator and his minions but were destined to triumph over them as Cain did over Abel.

Judas

They regarded Judas the traitor as having full cognizance of the truth. He therefore, rather than the other disciples, was able to accomplish the mystery of the betrayal, and so bring about the dissolution of all things both celestial and terrestrial. The Cainites possessed a work entitled The Gospel of Judas, and Irenaeus says that he had himself collected writings of theirs, where they advocated that the work of Hystera should be dissolved. By Hystera they meant the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

There is no doubt that they applauded the action of Judas in the betrayal, but authorities differ as to the motive which prompted him. The view that Judas through his more perfect Gnosis penetrated the wish of Jesus more successfully than the others, and accomplished it by bringing him to the Cross through which he effected redemption, is only one of them.

Epiphanius also says that Judas forced the Archons, or rulers, against their will to slay Christ, and thus assisted us to the salvation of the Cross. Philaster, on the other hand, assigns the action of Judas to his knowledge that Christ intended to destroy the truth—a purpose which he frustrated by the betrayal.

Transmigration

So far as the moral character and conduct of the Cainites is concerned, there is no doubt that Irenaeus intended to represent them as shrinking from no vileness, but rather as deliberately practising it. He states that they taught, as did Carpocrates, that salvation could be attained only by passing through all experience. Whenever any sin or vile action was performed by them, they asserted that an angel was present whom they invoked, claiming that they were fulfilling his operation. Perfect knowledge consisted in going without a tremor into such actions as it is not lawful even to name.

Carpocrates, we are told, defended this practice by a theory of transmigration. It was necessary to pass through all experiences, and hence the soul had to pass from body to body till the whole range of experience had been traversed. If, however, this could all be crowded into a single lifetime, then the transmigration became unnecessary. Arthur S. Peake sees no ground to suppose that the Cainites held such a view, but they seem, in his opinion, to have professed the belief that this fullness of experience was essential to salvation. We have no substantial justification for asserting or doubting the truth of Irenaeus' account, though accusations of immorality urged against heretics should always be received with caution. G.R.S. Mead (Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, 1900, p. 229) thinks that originally they were ascetics, while N. Lardner (History of Heretics, bk. ii. ch. xiv. [= Works, 1829, viii. 560]) questions whether a sect guilty of such enormities ever existed. Arthur S. Peake, on the other hand, believes that there is no valid reason to deny the generally accepted view that the Gnostic attitude to matter did lead to quite opposite results. According to him, some Gnostics would infer from that attitude a duty to crush the flesh beneath the spirit by the severest austerity, but the premise might lead to a libertine as well as to an ascetic conclusion.

Source texts on the Cainites

 * Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.31.1–2
 * Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion 38
 * Hippolytus, Against Heresies 8
 * Pseudo-Tertullian, Against All Heresies 2
 * Tertullian, On Baptism 1.

In popular culture

 * The book Demian, by Hermann Hesse, extensively draws upon the beliefs of the Cainite sect. The eponymous character Max Demian even convinces the protagonist Emil Sinclair that Christianity had misunderstood Cain's virtue over Abel's.
 * The sect is mentioned by Lucifer in The Sandman #22 when talking to Cain in Hell, noting "no greater percentage of them turned up here than of any other religion".
 * The sect is included as a dualist heresy in the computer game Crusader Kings 3.
 * The Cainites are featured as antagonists in the Spanish HBO series 30 Coins.
 * In Vampire: the Masquerade, the Cainites are re-imagined as a heretical vampire sect that persisted secretly into the Middle Ages.

title: Cainites


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Communes of the Hautes-Pyrénées department

The following is a list of the 469 communes of the Hautes-Pyrénées department of France.

The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):
 * Communauté d'agglomération Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées
 * Communauté de communes Adour Madiran (partly)
 * Communauté de communes Aure Louron
 * Communauté de communes des Coteaux du Val d'Arros
 * Communauté de communes de la Haute-Bigorre
 * Communauté de communes Neste Barousse
 * Communauté de communes Pays de Nay (partly)
 * Communauté de communes du Pays de Trie et du Magnoac
 * Communauté de communes du Plateau de Lannemezan
 * Communauté de communes Pyrénées Vallées des Gaves

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


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Talk:Smart mob

Old unthreaded discussions
Curiously, this article does not really explain what a smart mob really is, or how it is distinguished from e.g. a flash mob... I'm still in the dark.

>The difference between a flash mob and a smart mob is that a flash mob is a mob for fun, doing something essentially useless, whereas a smart mob denotes any type of mob operating collectively through networked communication. Effectively a flash mob is a type of smart mob. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.138.82.195 (talk • contribs)

 * I agree. The fist think would be to define properly and to explain the difference between flash and smart mobs. Not what they do. This article is not constructed with logics and encyclopedical ways in mind.

The previous message is interesting, and is more interesting that the content of the article itself.

Then perhaps the two articles should be merged? Zero sharp 23:46, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

 * yes, definitively should be merged "mobs", and have a part for flash mobs, and a part for smart mobs, (because they are a particular case of flash mobs)

---

Question: Does Project Chanology count as a smart mob? It seems like it does to me, but nobody seems to have brought it up so far. Would it be safe to add that? Webster100 (talk) 18:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

 * I'd say it deserves to be mentioned here, yes.--Father Goose (talk) 22:33, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

---

I forgot how to comment rightly on this page, the form and what not. So here's my observation.

One of the examples listed as a possible flash mob was the way the Spanish people reacted negatively toward the incumbent politicos after the 11M bombings. However, their negative reaction may be more likely attributed to simple face-value reaction.

The elections were held nearly immediately after the attacks, so when things like this happen, one usually sees a nation brewing with tension and anger toward some level of government. I don't see how this could be considered a smart mob.

It's more likely a mass hysteria-related social behavior, just like how Americans eagerly enlisted in WWII after japan attacked, but before that, the overwhelming majority of Americans wanted no part in the war. Events with impact like that are usually the cause of any mass reaction, not technology. If anything, technology in terms of media broadcasting and reception just allows for faster transmission of stimuli, and thus faster reactions.

I don't think the Spanish people took to their thumbs a la smart mobs and texted all their pals to vote out the Prez because of the recent attacks; I think the people just sort of decided that on their own, without the aid of any technology other what existed before the invention of the term 'smart mob'. If this example remains, then one could feasibly preclude that any mass action/reaction in a high-technology society is in fact a smart mob, and that assumption would be fallacious.

the page lists Jungist in the "see also". i do not see the relevance and suggust it be removed. 72.131.118.88 02:50, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

"Merge" recommendation stalled (as it should be)
Although the December 2006 AfD consensus was "merge with Smart Mobs", this merge was never carried out. Although the general term and the book are closely related, the term has a life separate from the book (particularly in relation to flash mobs), so I hope this merger is firmly stalled. More edits on all the articles in question are needed before their independence can be more fully established.--Father Goose 05:38, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmmm. I thought about it, and I think that the article should stay. I cannot think of a synonym - another article on this this could be merged to. I found some references and  which do define the term. It is heavily related to R.'s book, which is often cited in context, but it's inevitable as the book name contains the term. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here  06:30, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

 * Please merge flash and smart mobs and explain, the article, as it is, is not well constructed. A lot of people seems to have noticed that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E35:8A8D:FE80:96C:13E4:5D2A:6A31 (talk) 21:14, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Some confusing language
The first section contains some unclear and confusing language. For example, "because of its exponentially increasing network links" is pretty vague for the very first sentence. What exactly are these network links, and why are they exponentially increasing? And then in the third paragraph: "One reason for the rise of smart mobs is the ever decreasing cost of increasingly powerful microprocessors which have allowed them to permeate throughout society — they are embedded in everything from boxes to clothes." How exactly has the presence of microprocessors in "everything from boxes to clothes" caused a rise in smart mobs? Why are microprocessors even mentioned in an article about a human social phenomenon? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.76.224.26 (talk) 07:43, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

 * I agree. I was mystified at first by the article's assertion that "parallels are made to, for instance, slime molds", but eventually found some descriptions of slime molds that made the sentence seem less ludicrous than on first examination, so I did not change it. I would suggest that a citation be given for where such parallels have seen made in publications other than Wikipedia, however, since our articles are not supposed to be original research or primary sources.     - Emerman (talk) 02:11, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Removing social capital section
I removed this section as it seemed to be poorly integrated with the article, and mostly off topic. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 06:30, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Smart mob


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Communes of the Haute-Saône department

The following is a list of the 539 communes in the French department of Haute-Saône.

The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):
 * Communauté d'agglomération de Vesoul
 * Communauté de communes des Combes
 * Communauté de communes de la Haute Comté
 * Communauté de communes des Hauts du Val de Saône
 * Communauté de communes des mille étangs
 * Communauté de communes des Monts de Gy
 * Communauté de communes du pays d'Héricourt (partly)
 * Communauté de communes du pays de Lure
 * Communauté de communes du Pays de Luxeuil
 * Communauté de communes du Pays de Montbozon et du Chanois
 * Communauté de communes du Pays Riolais
 * Communauté de communes du Pays de Villersexel (partly)
 * Communauté de communes des Quatre Rivières
 * Communauté de communes Rahin et Chérimont
 * Communauté de communes des Savoir-Faire (partly)
 * Communauté de communes Terres de Saône
 * Communauté de communes du Triangle Vert
 * Communauté de communes Val de Gray
 * Communauté de communes du Val Marnaysien (partly)

title: Communes of the Haute-Saône department


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Zygaenidae

The Zygaenidae moths are a family of Lepidoptera. The majority of zygaenids are tropical, but they are nevertheless quite well represented in temperate regions. Some of the 1000 or so species are commonly known as burnet or forester moths, often qualified by the number of spots, although other families also have 'foresters'. They are also sometimes called smoky moths.

All 43 species of Australian zygaenids are commonly known as foresters and belong to the tribe Artonini. The only nonendemic species in Australia is Palmartona catoxantha, a Southeast Asian pest species which is believed to be already present in Australia or likely to arrive soon.

Larvae
Larvae are stout and may be flattened. A fleshy extension of the thorax covers the head. Most feed on herbaceous plants, but some are tree feeders. Larvae in two subfamilies, Chalcosiinae and Zygaeninae, have cavities in which they store the cyanide, and can excrete it as defensive droplets.

Aposematism in adults
Zygaenid moths are typically day flying with a slow, fluttering flight, and with rather clubbed antennae. They generally have a metallic sheen and often prominent spots of red or yellow. The bright colours are a warning to predators that the moths are distasteful - they contain hydrogen cyanide (HCN) throughout all stages of their life cycle. Unlike most insects with such toxins, they obtain glucosides from the plants they utilize so that HCN can be used as a defence. However, they are capable of making HCN themselves, and when in an environment poor in cyanide-producing plants, synthesize it themselves. They form mimicry complexes based on these toxins. However, while the overall picture is of genuine aposematism – the insects are both conspicuously coloured and toxic, containing cyanogenic glucosides – a study by Emmanuelle Briolat and colleagues including Martin Stevens found no evidence of a quantitative relationship between the visual signals of different species of Zygaenidae and their toxicity.

Evolution
The fossil species Neurosymploca? oligocenica, belonging to the subfamily Zygaeninae, is known from Lower Stampian (Early Oligocene) deposits in Céreste, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. Lepidopterans with preserved structural coloration from the Eocene (~47 Ma) shales of the Messel Pit, Germany, are suggested to be zygaenids, and more specifically procridines due to wing venation patterns.

Economic importance
The grapeleaf skeletonizer can be a problem in vineyards, feeding on foliage and can also be found feeding on Virginia creeper.

Selected taxa
Genera incertae sedis include:

 * Acoloithus
 * Harrisina
 * Pyromorpha
 * Reissita
 * Seryda
 * Tetraclonia
 * Triprocris

Pest species include:

 * Almond-tree leaf skeletonizer moth (Aglaope infausta)
 * Vine bud moth (Theresimima ampellophaga)
 * Grapeleaf skeletonizer (Harrisina americana)

South European species:

 * Zygaena fausta

UK species:

 * Scarce forester (Jordanita globulariae)
 * Cistus forester (Adscita geryon)
 * Green forester (Adscita statices)
 * Scotch burnet (Zygaena exulans)
 * Slender Scotch burnet (Zygaena loti)
 * New Forest burnet (Zygaena viciae)
 * Six-spot burnet (Zygaena filipendulae)
 * Five-spot burnet (Zygaena trifolii)
 * Narrow-bordered five-spot burnet (Zygaena lonicerae)
 * Transparent burnet (Zygaena purpuralis)

African species:

 * Fire grid burnet (Arniocera erythopyga)

Extinct species:

 * Neurosymploca? oligocenica Fernández-Rubio & Nel, 2000 (Lower Stampian, Céreste, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France)

title: Zygaenidae


text: Template:WikiProject Cryptography

title: Template:WikiProject Cryptography


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Rat king

A rat king is a collection of rats or mice whose tails are intertwined and bound together in some way. This could be a result of an entangling material like hair, a sticky substance such as sap or gum, or the tails being tied together.

A similar phenomenon with squirrels has been observed, which has had modern documented examples.

Etymology
The original German term, Rattenkönig, was calqued into English as rat king, and into French as roi des rats. The term was not originally used in reference to actual rats, but for persons who lived off others. Conrad Gesner in Historia animalium (1551–58) stated: "Some would have it that the rat waxes mighty in its old age and is fed by its young: this is called the rat king." Martin Luther stated: "finally, there is the Pope, the king of rats right at the top." Later, the term referred to a king sitting on a throne of knotted tails.

An alternative theory states that the name in French was rouet de rats (or a spinning wheel of rats, the knotted tails being wheel spokes), with the term transforming over time into roi des rats, because formerly French oi was pronounced or similar; nowadays it is pronounced.

History

The earliest report of rat kings comes from 1564. Most extant examples are formed from black rats (Rattus rattus).

Specimens of purported rat kings are kept in some museums. The museum Mauritianum in Altenburg, Thuringia, shows the largest well-known mummified "rat king", which was found in 1828 in a miller's fireplace at Buchheim. It consists of 32 rats. Alcohol-preserved rat kings are shown in museums in Hamburg, Göttingen, Hamelin, Stuttgart, Strasbourg and Nantes.

A rat king found in 1930 in New Zealand, displayed in the Otago Museum in Dunedin, was composed of immature black rats whose tails were entangled by horse hair.

A rat king discovered in 1963 by a farmer at Rucphen, Netherlands, as published by cryptozoologist M. Schneider, consists of seven rats. All of them were killed by the time they were examined. X-ray images show formations of calluses at the fractures of their tails, which suggests that the animals survived for an extended period of time with their tails tangled.

Sightings of the phenomenon in modern times, especially where the specimens are alive, are very rare. One 2005 sighting comes from an Estonian farmer in Saru, of the Võrumaa region; many of the rats in the specimen, now part of the collection at the University of Tartu Museum of Zoology in Estonia, were alive. In 2021, a living "rat king" of five mice was caught on video (and untangled to save the mice) near Stavropol, Russia.

On October 20, 2021, a live rat king of 13 rats was found in Põlvamaa, Estonia. The rat king was brought to Tartu University and humanely euthanized because the rats had no way of freeing themselves. Before that, scientists were able to film the rat king alive. The rat king will be added to the Tartu University Museum of Zoology collection.

Squirrel kings
Instances of squirrel kings have been reported. They were found alive in some cases, and veterinarians have had to separate them as the squirrels could potentially starve or be eaten by a predator. A squirrel king of six squirrels stuck together with pine sap was found in Regina, Saskatchewan, in June 2013. In 2018, five juvenile grey squirrels were found in Wisconsin, US. Some surrounding nest material, grass, and plastic got further entangled with them. The knot caused some tissue damage to their tails.

Possible explanations
Rat kings have been reported from Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Indonesia (Java), and New Zealand, with the majority of cases reported from the European countries. The existence of this phenomenon is debated due to the limited evidence of it occurring naturally, although the discovery of a live instance in Estonia in 2021 is considered to be proof that it is a natural, albeit extremely rare, phenomenon. Another concern is the possibility that some of the centuries-old preserved museum specimens could be fabricated, such hoaxes being common in earlier eras. 17th–18th-century naturalists proposed many hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. Most were dubious, ranging from the rats getting stuck together during birth and glued later, to healthy rats deliberately knotting themselves to weaker rats to make a nest. A possible explanation is that the long flexible tail of the black rat could be exposed to sticky or frozen substances such as sebum (a secretion from the skin itself), sap, food, or excretory products. This mixture acts as a bonding agent and may solidify as rats sleep especially when the animals live in proximity during winter. After realizing that they were bound, they would struggle, tightening the knot. This explanation is plausible given that most cases have been found during winter and in confined spaces. Emma Burns, curator of natural science at the Otago Museum, said regarding her museum's specimen, "Ship rats [black rats], according to some theories, are climbing rats, so their tails have a grasping reflex. In the nest, they form a hold."

Some zoologists remain skeptical, saying that, while theoretically possible, the rats would not be able to survive in such a condition for a long time,  particularly if the temperatures rose or if they bit their own or another's tail to try to free themselves. Since black rats cluster together during winters for warmth, it could be possible for a rat king to be naturally-occurring. Any fabrications would most likely have been created using dead rats, given how difficult the process would be if the rats were alive. However, experts support the idea of isolated freak accidents due to the existence of occasional well-observed cases involving squirrels—also members of the rodent family. A 2007 study published in Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Science, Biology, and Ecology, following the finding of the University of Tartu specimen, concluded that the phenomenon is possible but rare.

In popular culture

Rat kings appear in novels such as It by Stephen King, Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx, The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot, Ratking by Michael Dibdin, Rotters by Daniel Kraus, Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding, Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle, Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross, The War for the Lot by Sterling E. Lanier, Cold Storage by David Koepp, where it plays a prominent role, and The Rats by James Herbert. The Lorrie Moore short story Wings features a couple who discover a rat king in their attic. In Alan Moore and Ian Gibson's comic book series The Ballad of Halo Jones, the Rat King was a weapon of war, a super-intelligent collective able to coordinate attacks by regular rats on a global scale, decimating an entire planet.

In The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, Keith skeptically notes that the filth associated with supposedly tying the young rats together at a young age is not found in a rat's nest, and suspects that a rat king is created as a sort of project by a rat catcher himself. One rat king, called Spider due to having eight component rats, supports this by his grudge against humanity for his traumatic creation. In an author's note at the end of the novel, Pratchett ventures the theory that "down the ages, some cruel and inventive people have had altogether too much time on their hands".

E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King features a character called the Mouse King (Mausekönig), with seven heads. The character is sometimes depicted as multi-headed in productions of the Tchaikovsky ballet The Nutcracker, based on the novella. The film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, based on the short story, similarly features a "Mouse King", a rat-king like creature formed from a teeming mass of small mice.

The phenomenon's name appeared as the title of a Boston Manor song released in 2020. When asked about it, vocalist Henry Cox explained that he used the rat king as a metaphor for contemporary political and social events.

A creature known as the Rat King is featured in the 2020 action-adventure video game The Last of Us Part II. It is a conjoinment of multiple fungus-infected humans, which protagonist Abby encounters in the underground levels of a hospital. Three actors were tied together to perform motion capture for the creature. Co-director Kurt Margenau described the idea behind the Rat King as the team's take on "what happens to them [the infected] when they sit around for a really long time."

A three-head rat sovereign appears as the primary antagonist in Mac Barnett's, graphic novel, The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza.

The antagonist of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett is a rat king named Spider with mental control over other rats. The characters discuss the possible origins of rat kings, dismissing the theories as to how they might occur naturally. It is eventually revealed that members of the Ratcatchers' Guild create rat kings as a masterpiece to demonstrate their skill in handling live rats.

title: Rat king


text:
Communes of the Saône-et-Loire department

The following is a list of the 564 communes of the Saône-et-Loire department of France.

The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):
 * Communauté urbaine Creusot Montceau
 * Communauté d'agglomération Beaune Côte et Sud (partly)
 * Communauté d'agglomération Le Grand Chalon
 * Communauté d'agglomération Mâconnais Beaujolais Agglomération (partly)
 * Communauté de communes Bresse Louhannaise Intercom'
 * Communauté de communes Bresse Nord Intercom'
 * Communauté de communes Bresse Revermont 71
 * Communauté de communes du Canton de Semur-en-Brionnais
 * Communauté de communes La Clayette Chauffailles en Brionnais
 * Communauté de communes du Clunisois
 * Communauté de communes Entre Arroux, Loire et Somme
 * Communauté de communes Entre Saône et Grosne
 * Communauté de communes du Grand Autunois Morvan
 * Communauté de communes Le Grand Charolais (partly)
 * Communauté de communes Mâconnais-Tournugeois
 * Communauté de communes de Marcigny
 * Communauté de communes Saint-Cyr Mère Boitier entre Charolais et Mâconnais
 * Communauté de communes Saône Doubs Bresse
 * Communauté de communes Sud Côte Chalonnaise
 * Communauté de communes Terres de Bresse


text:
Jim Craig (ice hockey)

James Downey Craig (born May 31, 1957) is an American former ice hockey goaltender who is best known for being part of the U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Craig had a standout Olympic tournament, including stopping 36 of 39 shots on goal by the heavily favored Soviet Union in the 'Miracle on Ice', as the U.S. won 4–3, in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Two days later, the U.S. defeated Finland, 4–2, to clinch Olympic gold. Craig went on to play professionally in the National Hockey League for the Atlanta Flames, Boston Bruins, and Minnesota North Stars from 1980 to 1983. He was inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame in 1999.

Amateur career
After starring at Oliver Ames High School in his hometown, Craig spent one year at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Massachusetts. He then transferred to Boston University, leading the Terriers to the NCAA Division I championship in 1978 and was an NCAA All-Star in 1979. He was inducted into the BU Hall of Fame in 1989.

1980 Winter Olympics

After Craig was selected to be the goaltender for the United States men's national ice hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics, he wanted to live with a family during national team training, and chose to live with the team's doctor, George Nagobads and his family.

Craig played a key role in one of the landmark moments in United States sports history, as the goalie for the United States in the Miracle on Ice, when the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the favored Soviet Olympic hockey team, which was led by veterans including greats Boris Mikhailov and Vladislav Tretiak. In that game, Craig stopped 36 of 39 shots from the Soviet team. His composure was evident in the final moments of the game and allowed the unheralded U.S. team to protect their one-goal lead and win 4–3. The American flag that Craig draped over his shoulders after the upset was displayed at the Sports Museum of America in New York City. Two days later, he led the U.S. to the gold medal in a 4–2 victory over Finland.

Professional career
Originally drafted by the Atlanta Flames with the 72nd pick in the 1977 NHL Entry Draft, Craig joined the Flames shortly after the Olympics and won his first game as an NHL player. However, he found it difficult to duplicate his magic in the NHL. The following season, the Boston Bruins brought him home to Massachusetts in a trade with Atlanta. He served as the Bruins' backup goaltender during the 1980-81 regular season but again failed to make an impression and he did not participate in the 1981 NHL Playoffs. Craig returned to the U.S. national team for the 1981 Canada Cup but missed the tournament due to injury and the following season was spent in the minor leagues with the Erie Blades. Craig's final moment of glory was in 1983 when he again played very well for the United States in the 1983 IIHF Pool B tournament. Craig was named goaltender of the tournament and the Minnesota North Stars promptly signed him to a free agent contract. He would make a final three NHL appearances for the North Stars in 1984 before retiring from hockey.

Personal life
Two years after the Lake Placid victory, he was issued a citation charging him with "driving to endanger after an accident on a rain-slicked highway that left one woman dead and another critically injured". Although neither alcohol nor drugs was a factor in the accident, the charge was later changed to motor vehicle homicide. He pleaded not guilty and waived his right to a jury trial, electing to go before a judge instead. He was found not guilty by a Wareham District Court judge in September 1982.

Craig is employed as a motivational speaker, spokesperson, marketing and sales strategist. He is president of Gold Medal Strategies, a Boston-area based promotions and marketing firm that also manages and represents Jim and his appearance business. For more than 30 years, Craig has provided strategic direction for employees and associates from more than 300 organizations.

His daughter Taylor is married to NHL player Jayson Megna.

Musician Dave Grohl has mentioned being an admirer of Craig over the years, as evidenced by the #6 entry of the "47 Things You Might Not Know About Dave Grohl" list on TeamRock.com, which stated, "Dave’s first hero was Jim Craig, the 1980 American ice hockey team goalie from Easton, Massachusetts. After the team beat Russia, he found the phone numbers of all the Jim Craigs in that area, phoned them up and congratulated them. Dave and the real Jim Craig met years later at a Winter Olympics."

In popular culture
In the 1981 made-for-TV movie film Miracle on Ice, Craig is portrayed by Steve Guttenberg.

In the 2004 Disney film Miracle, he is portrayed by Eddie Cahill, who considers Craig to be one of his childhood heroes.

Awards and achievements

 * ECAC First All-Star Team (1979)
 * NCAA East First All-American Team (1979)
 * Olympic Gold Medal Team U.S.A. (1980)
 * Ice Hockey World Championships B Pool Tournament All-Star Team (1983)
 * Inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame in 1999

title: Jim Craig (ice hockey)


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Robert Kerr (writer)

Dr Robert Kerr FRSE FAS FRCSE (20 October 1757 – 11 October 1813) was a Scottish surgeon, writer on scientific and other subjects, and translator.

Life
Kerr was born in 1757 in Bughtridge, Roxburghshire, the son of James Kerr, a jeweller, who served as MP for Edinburgh 1747–1754, and his wife Elizabeth. He was sent to the High School in Edinburgh.

He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and practised at the Edinburgh Foundling Hospital as a surgeon. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1788. His proposers were Alexander Fraser Tytler, James Russell and Andrew Dalzell. At this time, he lived at Foresters Wynd off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

He translated several scientific works into English, such as Antoine Lavoisier's work of 1789, Traité Élémentaire de Chimie, published under the title Elements of Chemistry in a New Systematic Order containing All the Modern Discoveries, in 1790. In 1792, he published The Animal Kingdom, the first two volumes of a four-tome translation of Linnaeus' Systema Naturae, which is often cited as the taxonomic authority for a great many species. (He never translated the remaining two volumes.)

In 1794, he left his post as a surgeon to manage a paper mill at Ayton in Berwickshire which he had purchased. He lost much of his fortune with this enterprise. Out of economical necessity he began writing again in 1809, publishing a variety of minor works, for instance a General View of the Agriculture of Berwickshire. His last work was a translation of Cuvier's Recherches sur les ossements fossiles de quadrupedes, which was published after Kerr's death under the title "Essays on the Theory of the Earth".

His other works included a massive historical study entitled A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels in eighteen volumes. Kerr began the series in 1811, dedicating it to Sir Alexander Cochrane, K.B., Vice-Admiral of the White. Publication did not cease following Kerr's death in 1813; the latter volumes were published into the 1820s.

He died at home, Hope Park House, east of the Meadows in Edinburgh, where he had lived since 1810, and is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in central Edinburgh against the eastern wall. His stone is added to a much earlier (1610) ornate stone monument. His son, David Wardrobe Kerr (1796–1815) lies with him.

title: Robert Kerr (writer)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Revolution

I had some friends at school too... Duncharris 09:00, May 3, 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete. Vanity -- Chris 73 | Talk 09:55, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Highly uninteresting. Mike Church 10:26, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Here's some reading material for these guys to revolt against. Vanity page Mike Church 11:16, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Revolting. Delete -- Cyrius|&#9998 12:46, May 3, 2004 (UTC)
 * I hear Georgia Tech is quite the hotbed of sedition. Delete. Wile E. Heresiarch 14:06, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Original research. Delete. anthony (see warning)
 * You say you want a revolution, well... we all wanna change the world. Delete anyway. -Fennec 15:39, May 3, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Vanity. Alcarillo 16:17, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, vanity. The contributors may wish to find some free webspace somewhere on which to put this up--many ISP accounts come with five or ten megabytes free--but it does not belong in Wikipedia. Dpbsmith 16:22, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. I also dewikified the links that were to uncreated articles so no one would create them because of that article.--Samuel J. Howard 20:11, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Sorry if you thought that was my intent. I was just making the redlinks for humor value, and Poop Smith seemed like it might already have an article on it. Mike Church 01:33, 4 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Poopsmith exists -- Cyrius|&#9998 04:44, May 4, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Please.  OK? - Lucky 6.9 20:50, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Gwimpey 21:58, 5 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete AndyL 09:26, 6 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Cribcage 03:17, 8 May 2004 (UTC)


text:
Communes of the Sarthe department

The following is a list of the 354 communes of the Sarthe department of France.

The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):
 * CU Le Mans Métropole
 * Communauté urbaine d'Alençon (partly)
 * Communauté de communes de la Champagne Conlinoise et du Pays de Sillé
 * Communauté de communes Le Gesnois Bilurien
 * Communauté de communes Haute Sarthe Alpes Mancelles
 * Communauté de communes Loir-Lucé-Bercé
 * Communauté de communes Loué-Brûlon-Noyen
 * Communauté de communes Maine Cœur de Sarthe
 * Communauté de communes Maine Saosnois (partly)
 * Communauté de communes d'Orée de Bercé - Bélinois
 * Communauté de communes du Pays Fléchois
 * Communauté de communes du Pays de l'Huisne Sarthoise
 * Communauté de communes de Sablé-sur-Sarthe (partly)
 * Communauté de communes du Sud-Est du Pays Manceau
 * Communauté de communes Sud Sarthe
 * Communauté de communes du Val de Sarthe
 * Communauté de communes des Vallées de la Braye et de l'Anille

title: Communes of the Sarthe department


text:
User:NoCoda

This must be my page.

You can email me at [mailto:nocoda@yprime.com nocoda@yprime.com].

title: User:NoCoda


text:
Pillnitz

Pillnitz is a quarter in the east of Dresden, Germany. It can be reached by bus, ship, walking along the river or by bicycle. Pillnitz is most famous for its Baroque palace and park, the Pillnitz Castle.

Pillnitz Palace consists of the Riverside Palace (Wasserpalais) at the river, the parallel Upper Palace (Bergpalais) towards the hills and the linking building New Palace (Neues Palais). The first two were designed by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. The buildings frame the Baroque inner garden; this entire ensemble is surrounded by a park.

Pillnitz is known for the Declaration of Pillnitz of 1791: Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II of Prussia, urged by Charles X, then Comte d'Artois, declared that the French King Louis XVI was not to be harmed or deprived of power as a way to attack the progress of the French Revolution.

Pillnitz is also a site of wine production. During the millennium flood of 2002 in Dresden, it was one of the most affected areas.

title: Pillnitz


text:
Enhanced Imaging System

Enhanced Imaging System (EIS), officially referred to as "Enhanced Imagery System", previously known as 8X, and sometimes unofficially known as Misty 2 and KH-13, is an American reconnaissance satellite program. A derivative of the Improved Crystal satellites, EIS replaced Misty, and was intended to provide more coverage and dwell time than previous reconnaissance satellites; like Misty, it has stealth capabilities. Only one EIS satellite has been launched; USA-144, which was placed into orbit by a Titan IVB rocket on 22 May 1999.

History
In 1995, a Los Angeles Times article reported that the 8X program was intended as "a major upgrade to the KH-12", with a mass of as much as 20 tons, which would be used for detailed imaging with a wide field of view. The cost of the program was a subject of disagreement from some within the military at the time. By 1998, the program had been renamed Enhanced Imaging System. The Future Imagery Architecture program, which was intended to replace the Lacrosse and Improved Crystal satellites, was developed alongside EIS.

title: Enhanced Imaging System


text:
Attack on Mers-el-Kébir

The attack on Mers-el-Kébir (Battle of Mers-el-Kébir) on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on neutral French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria. The attack was the main part of Operation Catapult, a British plan to neutralise or destroy neutral French ships to prevent them from falling into German hands after the Allied defeat in the Battle of France. The British bombardment of the base killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five other ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed. The attack by air and sea was conducted by the Royal Navy, after France had signed armistices with Germany and Italy, coming into effect on 25 June.

Of particular significance to the British were the five battleships of the Bretagne-class battleship and Richelieu-class battleshipes and the two fast battleships of the Dunkerque-class battleship, the second largest force of capital ships in Europe after the Royal Navy. The British War Cabinet feared that the ships would fall into Axis hands. Admiral François Darlan, commander of the French Navy, assured the British, even after the French armistices with Germany and Italy, that the fleet would remain under French control, but Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet judged that the risk was too great. Darlan repeatedly refused British requests to place the fleet in British custody or move it to the French West Indies, out of German reach.

The British attack was condemned in France as an attack on a neutral nation and resentment festered for years over what was considered betrayal by a former ally. The French thought that their assurances were honourable and should have been sufficient. Marshal Philippe Pétain, who was appointed the Prime Minister of France on 16 June, severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 8 July.

French aircraft retaliated by bombing Gibraltar and French ships exchanged fire several times with British ships, before a tacit truce was observed in the western Mediterranean. On 27 November 1942, after the beginning of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa, the French Navy foiled Case Anton, a German and Italian operation to capture its ships at Toulon, by scuttling them. In 1997, Martin Thomas wrote that the British attack at Mers-el Kébir remains controversial but that other historians have written that it demonstrated to the world that Britain would fight on.

French–German armistice
After the Fall of France in 1940 and the armistice between France and Nazi Germany, the British War Cabinet was apprehensive about control over the French navy. The French and German navies combined could alter the balance of power at sea, threatening British imports over the Atlantic and communications with the rest of the British Empire. In Article 8, Paragraph 2 of the Armistice terms, the German government "solemnly and firmly declared that it had no intention of making demands regarding the French fleet during the peace negotiations" and there were similar terms in the armistice with Italy but they were considered by the British to be no guarantee of the neutralisation of the French fleet. On 24 June, Darlan assured Winston Churchill against such a possibility. Churchill ordered that a demand be made that the French Navy (Marine nationale) should either join with the Royal Navy or be neutralised in a manner guaranteed to prevent the ships falling into Axis hands.

At Italian suggestion, the armistice terms were amended to permit the French fleet temporarily to stay in North African ports, where they might be seized by Italian troops from Libya. The British made a contingency plan, Operation Catapult, to eliminate the French fleet in mid-June, when it was clear that Philippe Pétain was forming a government with a view to ending the war and it seemed likely that the French fleet might be seized by the Germans. In a speech to Parliament, Churchill repeated that the Armistice of 22 June 1940 was a betrayal of the Allied agreement not to make a separate peace. Churchill said, "What is the value of that? Ask half a dozen countries; what is the value of such a solemn assurance?... Finally, the armistice could be voided at any time on any pretext of non-observance...".

The French fleet had seen little fighting during the Battle of France and was mostly intact. By tonnage, about 40 per cent was in Toulon, near Marseilles, 40 per cent in French North Africa and 20 per cent in Britain, Alexandria and the French West Indies. Although Churchill feared the fleet would be used by the Axis, the need to man, maintain and arm the French ships with items that were incompatible with German and Italian equipments made this unlikely. The Kriegsmarine and Benito Mussolini made overtures but Adolf Hitler feared that an attempted take-over would provoke the French fleet into defecting to the British. Churchill and Hitler viewed the fleet as a potential threat; the French leaders used the fleet (and the possibility of its rejoining the Allies) as a bargaining counter against the Germans to keep them out of unoccupied France (the zone libre) and French North Africa. The armistice was contingent on the French right to man their vessels and the French Navy Minister, Admiral François Darlan, had ordered the Atlantic fleet to Toulon and to demobilise, with orders to scuttle the ships if the Germans tried to take them.

British–French negotiations
The British tried to persuade the French authorities in North Africa to continue the war or to hand over the fleet to British control. A British admiral visited Oran on 24 June, and Duff Cooper, Minister of Information, visited Casablanca on 27 June. The French Atlantic ports were in German hands and the British needed to keep the German surface fleet out of the Mediterranean, confine the Italian fleet to the Mediterranean and to blockade ports still under French control. The Admiralty was against an attack on the French fleet in case the ships were not sufficiently damaged, France declared war and the French colonies would be less likely to defect. The Royal Navy lacked the ships to permanently blockade the French naval bases in North Africa and keep the Atlantic approaches open, which made the risk of the Germans or the Italians seizing the French capital ships too great. Because the fleet in Toulon was well guarded by shore artillery, the Royal Navy decided to attack the base in North Africa.

Ultimatum
The most powerful group of French warships was commanded by Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul at Mers-el-Kébir in French Algeria, comprising the old battleships FRENCH BATTLESHIP Provence (commander of the 2nd Battleship Division, Rear-Admiral Jacques Bouxin, embarked) and FRENCH BATTLESHIP Bretagne (Captain Le Pivain), the newer Force de Raid battleships FRENCH BATTLESHIP Dunkerque (Captain Barois) and FRENCH BATTLESHIP Strasbourg (Captain Louis Collinet), the seaplane tender FRENCH SEAPLANE CARRIER Commandant Teste (Captain Lemaire), a flotilla of six destroyers comprising Mogador, Volta, Tigre, Lynx, Kersaint and Le Terrible (Rear-Admiral Émile-Marie Lacroix) and a gunboat FRENCH AVISO Rigault de Genouilly (Louis Georges Emile Frossard). Admiral James Somerville, commander of Force H, based in Gibraltar, was ordered to deliver an ultimatum to the French, the terms of which were contrary to the German–French armistice.

Somerville passed the duty of presenting the ultimatum to a French speaker, Captain Cedric Holland, commander of the carrier HMS Ark Royal (91). Gensoul was affronted that negotiations were being conducted by a less-senior officer and sent his lieutenant, Bernard Dufay, which led to much delay and confusion. As the negotiations continued, it became clear that agreement was unlikely. The French made preparations for action and 42 aircraft were armed and made ready for take-off. Darlan was at home on 3 July and could not be contacted; Gensoul told the French government that the alternatives were internment or battle but omitted the option of sailing to the French West Indies. Removing the fleet to US waters had formed part of the orders given by Darlan to Gensoul in the event that a foreign power should attempt to seize his ships.

Plymouth, Portsmouth and Alexandria
Along with French vessels in metropolitan ports, some had sailed to ports in Britain or to Alexandria in Egypt. Operation Catapult was an attempt to take these ships under British control or destroy them. The French ships berthed in Plymouth and Portsmouth were boarded without warning on the night of 3 July. The submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Surcouf, the largest in the world, had been at Plymouth for the last month. The crew resisted a boarding party and three Royal Navy personnel, including two officers, were killed, along with a French sailor. Other ships captured included the old battleships FRENCH BATTLESHIP Paris and FRENCH BATTLESHIP Courbet, the destroyers FRENCH DESTROYER Le Triomphant and FRENCH DESTROYER Léopard, eight torpedo boats, five submarines and a number of lesser ships. The French squadron in Alexandria (Admiral René-Émile Godfroy) including the battleship FRENCH BATTLESHIP Lorraine, the heavy cruiser FRENCH CRUISER Suffren and three modern light cruisers, was neutralised by local agreement.

Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
The British force comprised the battlecruiser HMS Hood (51), the battleships HMS Valiant (1914) and HMS Resolution (09), the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and an escort of cruisers and destroyers. The British had freedom of manoeuvre, while the French fleet was anchored in a narrow harbour, its crews not expecting an attack. The British capital ships had 15 in guns and fired a heavier broadside than the French battleships. On 3 July, before negotiations were formally terminated, six British Fairey Swordfish planes escorted by three Blackburn Skuas from Ark Royal dropped five magnetic mines in the harbour exit. The force was intercepted by five French Curtiss H-75 fighters which shot down a Skua into the sea with the loss of its two crew, the only British fatalities in the action.

The six La Galissonnière-class cruisers at Algiers were summoned but did not reach Mers-El-Kebir in time. The Préfet Maritime at Toulon ordered two submarine groups, A, consisting of FRENCH SUBMARINE L'Espoir, FRENCH SUBMARINE Le Conquérant and FRENCH SUBMARINE Archimède and B, comprising Iris, Vénus, Sultane, Sirène, Pallas and Cérès to assist the French at Oran by attacking British ships, Hood in particular. After receiving orders on 3 July to form a north–south patrol line in the Mediterranean for a distance of 20 nmi east of Alboran Island and south of Cape Palos during the night of 6/7 July to protect Oran and attack British ships, the French submarines Archimède, Le Conquérant and L'Espoir got underway from Toulon at 2:45 a.m. on 4 July bound for their patrol area at 15 kn. No contacts were made and the boats were recalled on 5 July when it was discovered that the British ships had returned to Gibraltar. Gensoul ordered the four submarines at Oran, FRENCH SUBMARINE Ariane, FRENCH SUBMARINE Danaé, FRENCH SUBMARINE Diane and FRENCH SUBMARINE Eurydice to take post off the port. The orders to the four French submarines were quickly decoded and London ordered Somerville to act; the boats were unable to close with Force H. Churchill ordered the British ships to open fire at the same time and the British commenced at 5:57 p.m. from 17500 yd.

Provence began its reply within 90 seconds of the British opening fire but the main armament of Dunkerque and Strasbourg was forward of the superstructure and could not immediately be brought to bear because they were tied up at the mole, with their sterns facing the sea. The third British salvo hit Bretagne and a magazine detonated, the ship sinking with 977 of her crew at 6:09 p.m. After thirty salvoes, the French ships ceased fire; Force H altered course to avoid return fire from the French coastal forts but Provence was badly damaged by several hits, Dunkerque was hit by three shells, severely damaged and run aground to avoid sinking, the destroyer FRENCH DESTROYER Mogador lost its stern and two other destroyers were damaged; their crews running them aground to prevent them from sinking. Four French Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters arrived, outnumbering the British Skuas. Another nine French fighters were spotted at 7:10 p.m. and a dogfight ensued in which a Curtiss H-75 and an M.S.406 were damaged. Three more Curtiss fighters appeared and there was another engagement.

Strasbourg, three destroyers and one gunboat managed to avoid the mines and escape to the open sea, under attack from a flight of Swordfish bombers from Ark Royal. The French ships shot down two Swordfish with anti-aircraft fire, the crews being rescued by the destroyer HMS Wrestler (D35); a French flying boat also bombed a British destroyer. As the British bombing had little effect, at 6:43 p.m. Somerville ordered his ships to pursue. The French aviso (gunboat) Rigault de Genouilly, en route to Oran, met Force H at 7:33 p.m. and steamed towards Hood, only to come under fire from the light cruisers HMS Arethusa (26) and HMS Enterprise (D52) at 12000 and 18000 yd respectively. Hood also fired several 15-inch shells at Rigault de Genouilly and the French ship replied with nineteen 14 cm shells before being hit by Enterprise and withdrawing. A British aircraft had sighted Danaé and Eurydice shortly before 8:00 p.m. and dropped illuminated floats to guide a British destroyer to them. The destroyer depth-charged the two submarines but they escaped without damage.

Valiant and Resolution fell behind Hood. Somerville had received information that the French naval force from Algiers, four heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and several destroyers, was steering to rendezvous with Strasbourg. Without Valiant and Resolution, Somerville concluded that by the time his ships came within gunnery range of Strasbourg, shortly after 9:00 p.m., he would be outnumbered by the combined French force and ill-deployed for a night engagement, silhouetted against the evening twilight, giving an advantage to the French gunners. At 8:20 p.m., when Hood had closed to 25 nmi from Strasbourg, Somerville called off the pursuit. After another ineffective Swordfish attack at 8:55 p.m., Strasbourg reached Toulon on 4 July. The French cruiser force from Algiers missed its rendezvous with Strasbourg but arrived at Toulon on 4 July. During the night of 3/4 July 1940, Ariane, Danaé, Diane and Eurydice patrolled on the surface off Oran in a north–south patrol line and they remained on patrol off Oran until 8:00 p.m. on 4 July, before returning to Oran. On 4 July, the British submarine HMS Pandora (N42) encountered Rigault de Genouilly off the Algerian coast, mistook her for a cruiser and sank her. The French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) made reprisal raids on Gibraltar, including a small night attack on 5 July, when many bombs landed in the sea.

Actions of 8 July
The British believed that the damage inflicted on Dunkerque and Provence was not serious and on the morning of 8 July raided Mers-el-Kébir again in Operation Lever, with Swordfish aircraft from Ark Royal. A torpedo hit the patrol boat Terre-Neuve, moored alongside Dunkerque, full of depth charges. Terre-Neuve quickly sank and the depth charges went off, causing serious damage to the battleship. Another attack took place on 8 July, when aircraft from the carrier HMS Hermes (95) attacked the Richelieu at Dakar, seriously damaging it. When word of the events at Dakar reached Oran, the French submarines Ariane, Diane, and Eurydice got back underway on 8 July to form a patrol line off Cape Falcon, Algeria, in case of another British attack on Oran, which did not occur.

Analysis
Churchill wrote, "This was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned." Relations between Britain and France were severely strained for some time and the Germans enjoyed a propaganda coup. Somerville said that it was "the biggest political blunder of modern times and will rouse the whole world against us... we all feel thoroughly ashamed...". The attack revived Anglophobia in France, demonstrated British resolve to continue the war and rallied the British Conservative Party around Churchill (Neville Chamberlain, Churchill's predecessor as prime minister, was still party leader). The British action showed the world that defeat in France had not reduced the determination of the government to fight on and ambassadors in Mediterranean countries reported favourable reactions.

The French ships in Alexandria under the command of Admiral René-Emile Godfroy, including the old battleship Lorraine and four cruisers, were blockaded by the British on 3 July and offered the same terms as at Mers-el-Kébir. After delicate negotiations, conducted on the part of the British by Admiral Andrew Cunningham, Godfroy agreed on 7 July to disarm his fleet and stay in port until the end of the war. Some sailors joined the Free French while others were repatriated to France; the ships at Alexandria went on to be used by the Free French after May 1943. The British attacks on French vessels in port increased tension between Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, who was recognised by the British as the leader of the Free French Forces on 28 June 1940.

Eric Seal, Churchill's principal private secretary, wrote "[Churchill] was convinced that the Americans were impressed by ruthlessness in dealing with a ruthless foe; and in his mind the American reaction to our attack on the French fleet in Oran was of the first importance". On 4 July, Roosevelt told the French ambassador that he would have done the same. Jean Lacouture, in a biography of De Gaulle, blamed the tragedy mainly on miscommunication; if Darlan had been in contact on the day or if Somerville had possessed a more diplomatic character, a deal might have been done. Lacouture accepted that there was a danger that the French ships might have been captured by German or more likely Italian troops, given the ease with which the British seized French ships in British ports or the Germans seized French ships in Bizerte in Tunisia in November 1942.

In 2004, David Brown wrote that foreign opinion was generally favourable to Operation Catapult and that the demonstration of British determination had succeeded. In 2010, Colin Smith wrote that the attack was the first big triumph of Churchill's premiership and that they had been received favourably by the governments of the US, Turkey, Greece and Brazil, with condemnation from Spain and Switzerland. Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian foreign minister, made a diary entry that the Royal Navy retained the "ruthlessness of the captains and pirates of the C16th".

In 2015, George Melton offered a dissenting opinion, and argued that much of the historiography of the attack represented a "Churchillian perspective" that ignored how the British attack on Mers el-Kébir had been a "tactical failure". Melton wrote that the attack was unnecessary, because the French Navy had pledged and planned to scuttle its ships as a matter of honour rather than see them fall into German or Italian hands. The results of the attack were the opposite of what the British intended because it had sunk or put out of action very little of the French fleet, rather than ensure that the fleet was neutralised; prompted French ships that had been dispersed to remote bases in French North Africa, where they were beyond the reach of the Axis, to concentrate at Toulon, where they formed a powerful striking force and were in far greater danger of seizure by Axis forces. The attack united the French Navy and French people in hostility to the British.

The British lost access to the French Empire and French leaders other than Charles de Gaulle and an undeclared Anglo-French conflict over the next few months made the British strategic situation worse. Melton called it a "myth" that the attack had demonstrated British resolve to the United States, something British decision-makers did not discuss prior to the attack and which he wrote could have been more convincingly achieved through an attack on the Italian fleet or a large bombing raid against Germany. Melton suggested that Churchill's anger at France for its capitulation to the Axis and his "obsession" with seizing or sinking the four modern French battleships (Jean Bart, Richelieu, Dunkerque, and Strasbourg) was largely responsible for the attack.

British–Vichy hostilities
Following the 3 July operation, Darlan ordered the French fleet to attack Royal Navy ships wherever possible; Pétain and his foreign minister Paul Baudouin over-ruled the order the next day. Military retaliation was conducted by ineffective air raids on Gibraltar but Baudouin noted that "the attack on our fleet is one thing, war is another". As sceptics had warned, there were also complications with the French empire; when French colonial forces defeated de Gaulle's Free French Forces at the Battle of Dakar in September 1940, Germany responded by permitting Vichy France to maintain its remaining ships armed, rather than demobilised. On 24 September Gibraltar was bombed by sixty Vichy French aircraft which dropped 45 LT of bombs and that night, 81 bombers dropped 60 LT of bombs. The French 2nd Destroyer Division comprising FRENCH DESTROYER Fougueux, FRENCH DESTROYER Frondeur, FRENCH DESTROYER Épée and FRENCH DESTROYER Fleuret had sailed from Casablanca on 24 September and in the early hours of 25 September encountered the destroyer HMS Hotspur (H01) patrolling off Gibraltar. Épée opened fire but its 13 cm guns broke down after firing fourteen shells, Fleuret did not open fire because it could not get on target and the other French destroyers fired six shots between them. Hotspur returned fire but this was not reported by the French ships.

On 27 September Force H stayed at sea after receiving "a charming message [that] the whole of the Toulon fleet was coming out to have a scrap with us" but the two navies adhered to a tacit understanding that the British did not attack more powerful French forces at sea or ships in port but intercepted other French ships:

"Though British commanders had precise instructions regarding the interception of French shipping, discretion might prove the better part of valour if Vichy escorts were liable to inflict serious loss."

In the autumn, the French sent a convoy through the Strait of Gibraltar untroubled, a state of affairs that rarely changed during the Mediterranean Campaign.

Gibraltarian civilians
In early June 1940, about 13,500 civilians had been evacuated from Gibraltar to Casablanca in French Morocco. Following the capitulation of the French to the Germans and the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, the Vichy government found their presence an embarrassment. Later in June, 15 British cargo vessels arrived in Casablanca under Commodore Crichton, repatriating 15,000 French servicemen who had been rescued from Dunkirk. Once the French troops had disembarked, the ships were interned until the Commodore agreed to take away the evacuees, who, reflecting tensions generated after the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, were escorted to the ships at bayonet point, minus many of their possessions.

Case Anton
On 19 November 1942, the Germans tried to capture the French fleet based at Toulon, against the armistice terms, as part of Case Anton, the military occupation of Vichy France by Germany. All ships of any military value were scuttled by the French before the arrival of German troops, notably Dunkerque, Strasbourg and seven (four heavy and three light) modern cruisers. For many in the French Navy this was a final proof that there had never been a question of their ships ending up in German hands and that the British action at Mers-el-Kébir had been unnecessary. Darlan was true to his promise in 1940, that French ships would not be allowed to fall into German hands. Godfroy, still in command of the French ships neutralised at Alexandria, remained aloof for a while longer but on 17 May 1943 joined the Allies.

Orders of battle
Royal Navy

 * HMS Hood (51) – battlecruiser – Flagship
 * HMS Resolution (09) – battleship
 * HMS Valiant (1914) – battleship
 * HMS Ark Royal (91) – aircraft carrier
 * HMS Arethusa (26) – light cruiser
 * HMS Enterprise (D52) – light cruiser
 * HMS Faulknor (H62) – destroyer
 * HMS Foxhound (H69) – destroyer
 * HMS Fearless (H67) – destroyer
 * HMS Forester (H74) – destroyer
 * HMS Foresight (H68) – destroyer
 * HMS Escort (H66) – destroyer
 * HMS Keppel (D84) – destroyer
 * HMS Active (H14) – destroyer
 * HMS Wrestler – destroyer
 * HMS Vidette (D48) – destroyer
 * HMS Vortigern (D37) – destroyer

French Navy (Marine Nationale)
 * FRENCH BATTLESHIP Dunkerque – battleship – Flagship
 * FRENCH BATTLESHIP Strasbourg – battleship
 * FRENCH BATTLESHIP Bretagne – battleship
 * FRENCH BATTLESHIP Provence – battleship
 * FRENCH SEAPLANE CARRIER Commandant Teste – seaplane tender
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Mogador – destroyer
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Volta – destroyer
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Le Terrible – destroyer
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Kersaint – destroyer
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Lynx – destroyer
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Tigre – destroyer
 * FRENCH SUBMARINE Ariane – submarine
 * FRENCH SUBMARINE Danaé – submarine
 * FRENCH SUBMARINE Diane – submarine
 * FRENCH SUBMARINE Eurydice – submarine

title: Attack on Mers-el-Kébir


text:
AEG (German company)

 * AEG) was a German producer of electrical equipment. It was founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau as the Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität in Berlin.

The company's initial focus was driven by electrical lighting, as in 1881, Rathenau had acquired the rights to the electric light bulb at the International Exposition of Electricity in Paris. Using small power stations, his company introduced electrical lighting to cafés, restaurants, and theaters, despite the high costs and limitations. By the end of the 19th century, AEG had constructed 248 power stations, providing a total of 210,000 hp of electricity for lighting, tramways, and household devices.

During the Second World War, AEG worked with the Nazi Party and benefited from forced labour from concentration camps. After World War II, its headquarters moved to Frankfurt am Main.

In 1967, AEG joined with its subsidiary Telefunken AG, creating Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AEG-Telefunken. In 1985, Daimler-Benz purchased the AEG-Telefunken Aktiengesellschaft (which was renamed to AEG Aktiengesellschaft) and wholly integrated the company in 1996 into Daimler-Benz AG (1998: DaimlerChrysler). The remains of AEG became part of Adtranz (later Bombardier Transportation) and Deutsche Aerospace (1998: DASA, today part of Airbus SE).

After acquiring the AEG household subsidiary AEG Hausgeräte GmbH in 1994, Electrolux obtained the rights to the AEG brand name in 2005, which it now uses on some of its products. The AEG name is also licensed to various brand partners under the Electrolux Global Brand Licensing program.

Summary
In 1883, Emil Rathenau founded Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität in Berlin. In 1888, it was renamed as Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft. Initially producing electrical equipment (such as light bulbs, motors and generators), the company soon became involved in AC electric transmission systems. In 1907, Peter Behrens was appointed as artistic consultant to AEG. This led to the creation of the company's initial corporate identity, with products and advertising sharing common design features.

The company expanded in the first half of the 20th century, and it is credited with a number of firsts and inventions in electrical engineering. During the same period, it entered the automobile and airplane markets. Electrical equipment for railways was produced during this time, beginning a long history of supplying the German railways with electrical equipment. According to the 1930 Encyclopedia Britannica: "Prior to 1923 it was the largest electrical manufacturing concern in Germany and one of the most important industrial undertakings in the world."

During the Second World War, AEG joined with other large companies such as IG Farben, Thyssen and Krupp in their support of the Nazis. The company benefited from the use of large numbers of forced labourers as well as concentration camp prisoners, under inhuman conditions of work.

After WWII, the company lost its businesses in the eastern part of Germany. After a merger in 1967, the company was renamed Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AEG-Telefunken (from 1979 on only AEG-Telefunken). The company experienced financial difficulties during the 1970s, resulting in the sale of some assets. In 1983, the consumer electronics division Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH was sold. In 1985, the company re-took the name AEG and the remainder of the company was acquired by Daimler-Benz; the parts that remained were primarily related to electric power distribution and electric motor technology. Under Daimler-Benz ownership, the former AEG companies eventually became part of the newly named Adtranz in 1995, and the AEG name was no longer used. Electrolux, which had already acquired the household subsidiary AEG Hausgeräte GmbH in 1994, now own the rights to use and license the AEG brand.

Foundation to 1940
The company originated in 1882, when Emil Rathenau acquired licences to use some of Thomas Edison's lamp patents in Germany. The Deutsche Edison Gesellschaft ("German Edison Company") was founded in 1883 with the financial backing of banks and private individuals, with Emil Rathenau as company director. In 1884, Munich-born engineer Oskar von Miller (who later founded Deutsches Museum) joined the executive board. The same year, the company entered negotiations with the Berlin Magistrat (the municipal body) to supply a large area from a central supply, which resulted in the formation of the Städtischen Elektrizitätswerke (A.G.StEW) ("City electricity works company (Berlin)") on 8 May 1884.

The original factory was located near Stettiner Bahnhof. In 1887 the company acquired land in the Berlin-Gesundbrunnen area on which the Weddingsche Maschinenfabrik (founded by Wilhelm Wedding) was previously located. In the same year, in addition to a restructuring and expansion of the production range, the AEG name was adopted.

In 1887 Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrowolsky joined the company as chief engineer, later becoming vice-director. His work on polyphase electric power led him to become the world's leading engineer in three-phase electric power systems at the end of the 1880s.

In 1891 Miller and Dobrovolski demonstrated the transmission of electrical power over a distance of 175 km from a hydro electric power plant in Lauffen am Neckar to Frankfurt, where it lit 1000 light bulbs and drove an artificial waterfall at the International Electrotechnical Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main. This success marked one of beginnings of the general use of alternating current for electrification in Germany, and showed that distance transmission of electric power could be economically useful. In the same year the Stadtbahn Halle/Saale (City railway Halle–Saale) opened, the first electric tram system (of notable size) in Germany

Tropp Paul began his work for the AEG 1889/90 until 1893, and Franz Schwechten designed the facades of the Acker- und Hussitenstraße in 1894–95.

In 1894 the site of the former Berlin Viehmarktgasse (cattle market alley) was purchased. This had a railroad siding connecting to the Berlin rail network, but there was no rail connection between the two plants. In 1895 an underground railway link between the two plots was built in a tunnel 270 meters long. The tunnel was built by Siemens & Halske (S & H) (later to become Siemens) under the direction of C. Schwebel and Wilhelm Lauter who were also connected in the building of what is now the Spree tunnel Stralau used by the U-Bahn.

By 1889 AEG were known as specialists in the construction of industrial portable drilling machines, some of these were driven by flexible shafts from electric motors. AEG also developed a toothed belt drive to reduce motor speed down to that required by machine tools.

In 1903 the competing radio companies AEG and Siemens & Halske merged, forming a joint subsidiary named Telefunken.

In 1907 architect Peter Behrens became an artistic adviser. Responsible for the design of all products, advertising and architecture, he has since become considered as the world's first corporate designer. Behren's philosophy was to create a building which is solid, strong and simple in its structure. It is perfect for doing its job of producing large, heavy machinery. The dimensions of the building were chosen to allow turbines to be transported above other machinery.

In the 1920s AEG became a global supplier of electrical know-how and equipment. In 1923, for example, it provided most of the essential materials and a team of engineers to oversee the electrification of British-ruled Palestine. British firms, at the time, could not compete with the prices of AEG

The activity of the company soon extended to all areas of electrical power engineering, including electric lighting, electric power, electric railways, electro-chemical plants, as well as the construction of steam turbines, automobiles, cables and cable materials. In the first decades, the company had many factories in and around Berlin:
 * Maschinenfabrik Brunnenstrasse (steam turbines, dynamos, electric motors)
 * Apparatewerk Ackerstrasse (carbon-filament and metal thread light bulbs, Nernst lamps, switches, fuses, resistors, electrical measuring equipment, dynamos, electric motors)
 * Kabelwerk Oberspree (KWO, cables, copper and metal works, rubber fabrication, insulator fabrication)
 * Transformatorenwerk Oberspree (TRO, transformers)
 * Glühlampenfabrik Moabit (1907–1912, carbon-filament and metal thread light bulbs, Nernst lamps, Vacuum tubes) — later became part of Osram, from 1939 on Telefunken
 * Turbinenfabrik (1909, steam turbines) — famous as an example of industrial architecture
 * Apparate-Werke Treptow  (AT - 1926, arc lamps, switches, fuses, controls, starters, electrical measuring equipment)

A number of other notable events involving AEG occurred in this period:
 * 1900: Invention of the hairdryer.
 * 1901: The Neue Automobil Gesellschaft ("New Automotive Company") became part of AEG through the takeover of Allgemeine Automobil-Gesellschaft
 * 27 October 1903: An AEG-equipped experimental three-phase railcar achieved a speed of 210.2 km/h on the test track of the Königlich Preußische Militär-Eisenbahn (Royal Prussian Military Railway) between Marienfelde and Zossen. This world speed record for rail vehicles was held until 1931.
 * 1904: Merger of AEG with the Union-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (UEG) (literal: Union-electricity Company)
 * 1910: Factory Hennigsdorf. Entry into the aircraft building market.
 * 1929: AEG produced its first compressor-driven refrigerators and temperature controlled irons.
 * 1933: AEG joined other large manufacturing companies to support Adolf Hitler
 * 1935: Presentation of the world's first tape device Magnetophon K1 based on work by Eduard Schüller at the Berlin Radio Show
 * 1941: AEG bought Siemens & Halske shares in Telefunken and the company became a subsidiary.

On 20 June 1915, founder Emil Rathenau died at age 77.

The Nazi era and World War II
AEG donated 60,000 Reichsmarks to the Nazi party after the Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 at which the twin goals of complete power and national rearmament were explained by Hitler. They joined with other large companies such as IG Farben, Thyssen and Krupp in their support of the Nazis, especially in promoting re-armament of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine. During the war itself, they were to use large numbers of forced labourers as well as concentration camp prisoners, under inhuman conditions of work.

AEG worked extensively with the Nazi party in Poland. AEG was forced to relinquish Kabelwerk Krakow, a cable manufacturing plant, to the Nazi party. Kabelwerk Krakow was located in Krakow-Plaszow and used forced Jewish labor manufacturing cables from 1942 to 1944. In 1943, AEG began to relocate goods and evacuate workers. Goods were relocated to various places, including Berlin and Sudetenland. When installing electric and lighting systems for the Waffen-SS training grounds in Dębica, AEG used forced labor from Jews placed in the Pustkow labor camp located in south east Poland.

During World War II, an AEG factory near Riga used female slave labour. AEG was also contracted for the production of electrical equipment at Auschwitz concentration camp.

AEG used slave labour from Camp No. 36 at the new sub-camp of Auschwitz III and also known as Monowitz, called "Arbeitslager Blechhammer". Most of them would die in 1945 during the death marches and finally in Buchenwald.

AEG was a major supplier of grips for P38 pistols manufactured by Walther Arms, Mauser, as well as on the early wartime Spreewerk P38s.

In an effort to express regret for its use of Jewish slave labour in World War II, AEG joined with Rheinmetall, Siemens, Krupp, and I G Farben to pay DEM75 million in reparations to the Jewish Claims Conference.

1945 to 1970
In 1945, after the Second World War, the production in the factories in the western sectors of Berlin - what today is the building of the headquarters of DW (TV)Deutsche Welle - and Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Mulheim an der Ruhr resumed and further new works were erected, among others an Electric meter plant in Hameln.

The steam and electric locomotive plant in Hennigsdorf (Fabriken Hennigsdorf) became a Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) (people owned enterprise) as the Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke (LEW) ("electric locomotive works"). The cable plant (Draht-, Kabel- und Metallwerk Oberspree) and apparatus factory (Apparatefabrik Treptow) and other facilities also lay in East Germany and became Sowjetische Aktiengesellschaft (SAG) (Soviet joint stock companies). Over 90% of assets in Berlin lay in the Russian occupied zone and were lost.

The headquarters for the non-expropriated parts of the company was moved first to Hamburg and then finally to Frankfurt am Main, the headquarters in Berlin having been destroyed.

 * 1948: The AEG factories Kassel (FK) were founded on the site of the former MWK Motorenbau Werk Kassel at Lilienthalstrasse 150 in Kassel/Hesse/Germany. The first factory part was the high voltage switchgear factory (HSF), later the refrigerator factory (KSF), the ticketprinter factory (FDF), the isolating material factory (IF) as well as the worldwide accepted high voltage institute (HI)were founded. In the early sixties more than 5000 people worked for AEG in Kassel. Today, the site Lilienthalstrasse still produces high voltage switchgear.
 * 1950: The new corporate headquarters is at the Friedensbrücke (Peace Bridge) in Frankfurt / Main. The number of employees in the Group rose from 20,900 in September 1948 to 55,400 persons in September 1957. In the same year the turnover exceeded one billion DM for the first time, however the high level of investment in the rebuilding of the company (1948 to 1956 over 500 million DM) placed a considerable strain on the balance sheet.
 * 1958: The slogan "Aus Erfahrung Gut" (benefit from experience) is introduced to explain the company name and acronym, leading to unflattering parodies such as "Auspacken, Einschalten, Geht nicht" (unpack, switch on, does not work) or "Alles Ein Gammel" (everything is 'gammy').
 * 1962: The Group has 127,000 employees and generates annual sales of 3.1 billion DM. In Springe a new factory is opened in February 1962 a new factory for the production of fluid control units with 200 employees.
 * 1962: Walter Bruch at Telefunken in Hannover develops PAL color television.
 * 1966: The largest industrial space in Europe is created (175 m long, 45 m wide and 26 m high) for the construction using cranes of engines and generators with weights up to 400 tonnes. Robert F. Kennedy attends the opening.
 * 1 January 1967: Merger with Telefunken creates AEG-Telefunken, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main.

1970s onwards
In 1970, AEG-Telefunken had 178,000 employees worldwide, and was the 12th largest electrical company in the world. The company was burdened by, among other things, unsuccessful projects such as an automated baggage conveyor system at Frankfurt Airport and nuclear powerplant construction. In particular, the nuclear power plant at Würgassen, the commissioning of which was delayed by several years due to technical problems cost AEG hundreds of millions of DM. As a result, the company paid its last dividend in 1972.

The entertainment arm (Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH) headquartered in Hanover was sold. This was followed by the computer mainframe business (TR 4, TR 10, ) (a partnership under the name Telefunken Computer GmbH with the company Nixdorf) was sold to Siemens. The process computer (TR 84, TR 86, AEG 60–10, AEG 80–20, AEG 80–60) continued as Geschäftsbereich Automatisierungstechnik (after 1980 as ATM Computer GmbH).

In 1975 the former Telefunken Headquarter at Berlin-Charlottenburg, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7 was sold. The building had been previously rented to the Technical University of Berlin

In 1976, to circumvent the requirement of equal participation of employees in the supervisory board, Dr. Walter Cipa (Dipl.-Geol.) (AEG boss from 1976 to 1980) created four further companies as wholly owned joint stock companies in addition to the two household appliance companies. (The numbers in parentheses refer to percentage of turnover in 1980)
 * AEG-Telefunken Anlagentechnik AG (37%)
 * AEG-Telefunken Serienprodukte AG (16%)
 * AEG-Telefunken Kommunikationstechnik AG (6%)
 * Olympia-Werke AG (business office technology, 7%)
 * AEG-Hausgeräte GmbH (22%)
 * Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH (12%)

In 1979 Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AEG-Telefunken was renamed AEG-Telefunken AG by dropping the supplement "Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft", used since 1887. In February 1980, Heinz Dürr became board Chairman (until 1990).

In August 1982 a restructuring plan, backed with federal guarantees of 600 million DM and new bank loans of 275 million DM, fell apart at the first disagreement between the banks. A banking consortium provided an administrative loan of DM 1.1 billion to the AEG Group until June 1983; 400 million of which only to be available on a guarantee by the federal government. Not only was AEG-Telefunken AG affected, but also its subsidiaries Küppersbusch AG in Gelsenkirchen, Hermann Zanker Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Tübingen and Carl Neff GmbH in Bretten. The Alno-Möbelwerke GmbH & Co. KG in Pfullendorf was taken over by the minority shareholders, and separated from the group.

The suppliers to AEG were affected and some filed for bankruptcy—including Becher & Co. Möbelfabriken KG in Bühlertann—with lack of continuity of company policy a factor. The site at Brunnenstraße in the former Berlin district of Wedding was also sold, as were the firms AEG-Fabrik Essen and Bauknecht.
 * 1983/84: the consumer electronics division (Telefunken television and broadcasting GmbH) was sold to the French group Thomson-Brandt.
 * 1985: AEG was taken over by Daimler-Benz AG. Daimler-Benz executive Edzard Reuter (from 1987 Daimler CEO), decides two companies should form an "integrated technology group" with beneficial synergy.
 * 1988: On its 60th anniversary the AEG-Forschungsinstituts (AEG Research Institute) creates the Carl-Ramsauer Prize for scientific/technical dissertations.
 * 1990: AEG Westinghouse Transportation Systems GmbH is formed in association with Westinghouse Transportation Systems Inc.
 * 1992: Merger (or re-uniting) of the railway business with the Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke (LEW) in Hennigsdorf, resulting in the formation of AEG Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH (AEG locomotives)
 * 1992: The Swedish company Atlas Copco acquires AEG Power Tools Ltd; divested in 2004 to Techtronic Industries.
 * 1994: sale of the Automation division to Schneider Electric and of AEG Hausgeräte AG to Electrolux.
 * 1995: AEG Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH becomes part of ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (Adtranz) (subsequently becoming part of Bombardier Transportation in 2001; and more latterly becoming Alstom on January 29, 2021).
 * 1996: The Annual General Meeting of Daimler-Benz AG chaired by Juergen Schrempp decides upon the dissolution of the lossmaking group.
 * 1996: GEC ALSTHOM acquires AEG Power T&D business
 * September 1996: The company is deleted from the commercial register.

Locomotives and railway technology
AEG played an important role in the history of the German railways; the company was involved in the development and manufacture of the electrical parts of almost all German electric locomotive series and contributed to the introduction of electrical power in German railways.

Additionally many steam locomotives were made in AEG factories. In 1931 the company acquired Borsig and transferred the locomotive production to the AEG-Borsig works (Borsig Lokomotiv-Werke GmbH) from the Borsig plant in Tegel. In 1948 the plant became VEB Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke. In addition to numerous electric locomotives produced for the DR steam locomotive production continued until 1954.

When the Federal Republic of Germany began implementing AC propulsion systems AEG found itself in competition with Brown, Boveri & Cie. The prototype DB Class E320 was built with Krupp as dual voltage (15 kV and 25 kV AC) test machine, the technology ultimately leading to locomotives such as DB Class 120 and ICE 1.

Only after German reunification and the adoption of the LEW plant in Hennigsdorf did AEG's name return to whole locomotive manufacturing, but only for a short time. "AEG locomotives GmbH " became part of ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (later ADtranz) and currently the technology developed in the past, in part, now enables Alstom to build the very successful Traxx series of locomotives.

AEG also built the Hellenic Railways TRAINOSE Class 520 DMUs between 1989/1990/1991 and 1994/1995/1996.

Aircraft

AEG manufactured a range of aircraft from 1912 to 1918. The first aircraft in 1912 was of wooden construction and modeled after the Wright brothers biplane. It had a wingspan of 17.5 m; was powered by an eight-cylinder engine producing 75 hp; unloaded weight was 850 kg; and could attain a speed of 65 km/h. From 1912, the construction of airplanes proceeded in mixed wood and steel tube construction with fabric covering.

One of the planes designed and built was a Riesenflugzeug ("giant aircraft") AEG R.I. This aircraft was powered by four 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa engines linked to a combination leather cone and dog clutch. The first flight tests were satisfactory, but on 3 September 1918, the R.I broke up in the air killing its seven crewmen.

The most successful in terms of production figures of all the AEG aircraft designs was that of the G.IV Grossflugzeuge ("large aircraft") heavy tactical bomber, of which one still survives of the 320 built, as the sole surviving World War One German multi-engine bomber.

During the Second World War AEG produced machines for reconnaissance purposes, including a helicopter platform driven by an AC motor. This was a tethered craft that could not fly freely; the power supply was carried by three cables from the ground. The machine reached an altitude of 300 m.

Cars
AEG bought Kühlstein in 1902, founding the division Neue Automobil Gesellschaft (New Automobile Company), to make cars. AEG withdrew from car production in 1908.

Models produced include:
 * AAG (1900 automobile)
 * NAG Typ A
 * NAG Typ B
 * NAG Typ B2

Film projectors
AEG also produced for a long period a series of film projectors:
 * Stillstandsmaschine 1919 Projektor 35 mm
 * Theatermaschine 1920 Projektor 35 mm
 * Triumphator I–III 1924–1935 Projektor 35 mm ACR 0710
 * Successor (Lehrmeister) 1925–1935 Projektor 35 mm
 * Kofferkino 1927 encased Projektor 35 mm
 * Lehrmeister 1929 Projektor 35 mm ACR 0709 (Leitz)
 * Mechau Modell 4 1929 – 1934 Projektor 35 mm
 * Euro K 1938–42 Projektor 35 mm
 * Euro M 1936 Projektor 35 mm
 * Euro G 1938 Projektor 35 mm, Interlock-Version (G-MB)
 * Euro M2 1939–1944 Projektor 35 mm

The AEG brand today
As a result of the breakup and dissolution of the original company, Electrolux acquired the brand rights in 2005 and the name is also licensed to various companies: Currently the brand is being actively promoted by Electrolux; it includes many of the same products that it formerly manufactured, such as power solutions energy devices, telecommunication devices (phones and mobile phones), automation, car accessories, home appliances, power tools, projectors, printing equipment and supplies, water treatment devices, and personal care devices under the AEG brand.

 * AEG Hausgeräte - became part of Electrolux, produces white goods such as washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, fridges etc.
 * ITM Technology AG produces consumer electronics and telecommunication (mobile phone, home phone etc.) equipment under the AEG name.
 * Binatone manufactures mobile accessories, mobile phones, landline phones and two way radios under the AEG brand.
 * AEG Elektrowerkzeuge (AEG Power Tools), licensed to Techtronic Industries (TTI) since 2009, produces hand power tools.
 * AEG Haustechnik (licensed to Stiebel Eltron) produces home heating and climate control (humidifiers, airconditioners) products
 * AEG Industrial engineering produces electrical power equipment, including generators up to 55MW, control gear and switchgear, electrical motors, transformers etc. as well as high power inverters and DC supplies for industrial use.
 * AEG SVS Schweiss-Technik: manufacturer resistance welding machines and equipment
 * AEG Gesellschaft fur moderne Informationssysteme mbH (AEG-MIS): Develops custom LCDs for information systems
 * AEG ID: produces RFID tags and readers
 * AEG Power Solutions (formerly Saft Power systems or AEG Power Supply Systems): produces uninterruptible/backup/stable power supply systems for electric supply sensitive equipment (e.g. computers)
 * AEG Professional Printing Equipment and Supplies: Produces wide format printers, inks, and media products for printing, as well as photoconductor drums and toners for printing applications (e.g. laser printer/photocopier)
 * AViTEQ Vibrationstechnik GmbH
 * Lloyd Dynamowerke GmbH & Co KG
 * Lafert Group

title: AEG (German company)


text:
8X

8X or 8-X may refer to:

 * 8x, or eight times in multiplication
 * 8X, code name for Enhanced Imaging System
 * 8X, abbreviation for Octuple scull
 * Precorrin-8X methylmutase
 * South African Class 8X 2-8-0 locomotive
 * 8X Bayshore; see List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines
 * Typ 8X; internal designation for Audi A1
 * HTC Windows Phone 8X, a Windows Phone 8 device produced by HTC.

title: 8X


text:
Guillaume Le Gentil

Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière (, 12 September 1725 – 22 October 1792) was a French astronomer who discovered several nebulae and was appointed to the Royal Academy of Sciences. He made unsuccessful attempts to observe the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus from India.

Biography
Guillaume Le Gentil was born in Coutances and first intended to enter the church before turning to astronomy. He discovered what are now known as the Messier objects M32, M36 and M38, as well as the nebulosity in M8, and he was the first to catalogue the dark nebula sometimes known as Le Gentil 3 (in the constellation Cygnus).

He was part of the international collaborative project organized by Mikhail Lomonosov to measure the distance to the Sun, by observing the transit of Venus at different points on the earth. Edmond Halley had suggested the idea, but it required careful measurements from different places on earth, and the project was launched with more than a hundred observers dispatched to different parts of the globe, for observing the transit coming up in 1761. A part of the French expedition, Le Gentil set out for Pondicherry, a French possession in India. He set out from Paris in March 1760, and reached Isle de France (now Mauritius) in July. However, the Seven Years' War had broken out between France and Britain in the meantime, hindering further passage east. He finally managed to gain passage on a frigate that was bound for India's Coromandel Coast, and he sailed in March 1761 with the intention of observing the transit from Pondicherry. Even though the transit was only a few months away, on 6 June, he was assured that they would make it in time.

The ship was blown off-course by unfavorable winds and spent five weeks at sea. By the time it finally got close to Pondicherry, the captain learned that the British had occupied the city, so the frigate was obliged to return to Isle de France. When 6 June came the sky was clear, but the ship was still at sea, and he could not take astronomical observations with the vessel rolling about. Having already completed the trip from Paris, he stayed for the next transit of Venus, which would come in another eight years (they occur in pairs 8 years apart, but each such pair is separated from the next by 121 or 105 years).

After spending some time mapping the eastern coast of Madagascar, he decided to record the 1769 transit from Manila in the Philippines. Encountering hostility from the Spanish authorities there, he headed back to Pondicherry, which had been restored to France by peace treaty in 1763, where he arrived in March 1768. He built a small observatory to view the transit. On the day of the event, 4 June 1769, the sky became overcast, and Le Gentil saw nothing.

The return trip was first delayed by dysentery, and further when his ship was caught in a storm and dropped him off at Île Bourbon (Réunion), where he had to wait until a Spanish ship took him home. He finally arrived in Paris in October 1771, having been away for eleven years, only to find that he had been declared legally dead and been replaced in the Royal Academy of Sciences. His wife had remarried, and all his relatives had "enthusiastically plundered his estate". Due to shipwrecks and wartime attacks on ships, none of the letters he had sent to the Academy or to his relatives had reached their destinations. Lengthy litigation and the intervention of the king were ultimately required before he recovered his seat in the academy and remarried.

During the time he spent in India, Le Gentil examined local astronomical traditions and wrote several notes on the topic. He reported that the duration of the lunar eclipse of 30 August 1765 was predicted by a Tamil astronomer, based on the computation of the size and extent of the earth-shadow, and was found short by 41 seconds, whereas the charts of Tobias Mayer were wrong by 68 seconds.

He died in Paris in 1792.

Play and opera
Le Gentil is the subject of a play by Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter. Transit of Venus was first produced at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in 1992. It was subsequently made into an opera of the same name with music by Victor Davies, presented by Manitoba Opera in 2007, and Opera Carolina in 2010.

Literature
Le Gentil is the subject of a novel by Antoine Laurain Les Caprices d'un astre, published in 2022, and translated into English in 2023 as  An Astronomer in Love .

Tributes
Boulevard Legentil-de-la-Galaisière, one of the main streets in his home town Coutances, was named after him in 1866. Le Gentil crater on the Moon was named in his honour in 1935, and asteroid 12718 Le Gentil in 2004.

title: Guillaume Le Gentil