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Robert Grainger Ker Thompson

Sir Robert Grainger Ker Thompson (1916–1992) was a British military officer and counter-insurgency expert who "was widely regarded on both sides of the Atlantic as the world's leading expert on countering the Mao Tse-tung technique of rural guerrilla insurgency". His 1966 book Defeating Communist Insurgency played an important role in popularizing the "hearts and minds" approach to counterinsurgency.

Biography
Thompson was the son of Canon W. G. Thompson. He went to Marlborough College and took an MA at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he joined the University Air Squadron learning to fly. He was commissioned into the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1936. In 1938, he joined the Malayan Civil Service as a cadet.

At the start of World War II, Thomson joined the RAF, and was serving in Macao when the Japanese attacked. He escaped the Japanese and with a suitcase full of money and a knowledge of Cantonese, he gambled his way across China to Burma.

He was a liaison officer with the Chindits in the Burma Campaign, being awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross (the latter an unusual decoration for an RAF officer, since it is normally awarded to those serving in the British Army). Later in the campaign, he flew Hurricanes and was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1945.

At the war's end, he returned to the Malayan civil service, becoming assistant commissioner of labour in the state of Perak in 1946. After attending the Joint Services Staff College at Latimer and holding the local rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was a member of the staff of the British director of operations during the Malayan Emergency. He would later say that much of what he had learned about counter-insurgency operations was learned while serving under Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Briggs and his replacement, General Sir Gerald Templer.

In 1959, (after Malayan independence), Thompson became permanent secretary for defence for Tun Abdul Razak (who later became Malayan prime minister). In response to a request from President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Malayan prime minister sent a team to South Vietnam to advise Diem on how to counter his insurgency problems. Thompson headed that team which so impressed Diem that he asked the British to second Thompson to the government South Vietnam as an advisor.

In September 1961, the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan appointed Thompson head of the newly established BRIAM (British Advisory Mission to South Vietnam) and - by extension - to Washington. Thompson conceived of an initiative he called the Delta Plan, but when he saw the effects of the strategic hamlets initiative, begun in February 1962, he became an enthusiastic backer, telling President Kennedy in 1963 that he felt the war could be won. Under Thompson's leadership, BRIAM put economic pressure on the South Vietnamese government that Thompson described as a "straight invitation to a coup".

Kennedy was receptive to Thompson's ideas, but the American military establishment were extremely reluctant to implement them. His warning not to bomb villages went unheeded and his dismissal of American air supremacy was ignored. "The war [will] be won by brains and on foot", he told Kennedy, but competing interests in Washington and Saigon acted to marginalise Thompson and ultimately his strategies had no real effect on the conflict. He stepped down from BRIAM in 1965 and the organisation, deprived of the man who was essentially its raison d'être, folded up around him.

Thompson subsequently worked as a consultant for the Rand Corporation. Despite his relatively acrimonious criticism of United States policy in Vietnam, Thompson returned to a post assisting the American government in November 1969 when he became a special adviser on "pacification" to President Nixon. Following a visit to South Vietnam. Thompson advised Nixon that the South Vietnamese government was winning the war and would continue to do so unless Vietnamization proceeded too quickly.

In later life, Thompson wrote extensively about the use of commandos and counter-insurgency operations in asymmetric warfare.

Defeating Communist Insurgency: Experiences in Malaysia and Vietnam
Certain basic principles of counter-insurgency warfare have been well known since the 1950s and 1960s. The widely distributed and influential work of Sir Robert Thompson offers several such guidelines. Thompson's underlying assumption is that of a country minimally committed to the rule of law and better governance.

Elements of Thompson's moderate approach are adapted here:

 * 1) The people are the key base to be secured and defended rather than territory won or enemy bodies counted. Contrary to the focus of conventional warfare, territory gained or casualty counts are not of overriding importance in counter-guerrilla warfare. The support of the population is the key variable. Since many insurgents rely on the population for recruits, food, shelter, financing, and other materials, the counter-insurgent force must focus its efforts on providing physical and economic security for that population and defending it against insurgent attacks and propaganda.
 * 2) There must be a clear political counter-vision that can overshadow, match or neutralize the guerrilla vision. This can range from granting political autonomy to economic development measures in the affected region. The vision must be an integrated approach, involving political, social and economic and media influence measures. A nationalist narrative, for example, might be used in one situation, an ethnic autonomy approach in another. An aggressive media campaign must also be mounted in support of the competing vision or the counter-insurgent regime will appear weak or incompetent.
 * 3) Practical action must be taken at the lower levels to match the competitive political vision. It may be tempting for the counter-insurgent side simply to declare guerrillas "terrorists" and pursue a harsh liquidation strategy. Brute force, however, may not be successful in the long run. Action does not mean capitulation, but sincere steps such as removing corrupt or arbitrary officials, cleaning up fraud, building more infrastructure, collecting taxes honestly, or addressing other legitimate grievances can do much to undermine the guerrillas' appeal.
 * 4) Economy of force. The counter-insurgent regime must not overreact to guerrilla provocations, since this may indeed be what they seek in order to create a crisis in civilian morale. Indiscriminate use of firepower may only serve to alienate the key focus of counter-insurgency - the base of the people. Police level actions should guide the effort and take place in a clear framework of legality, even if under a State of Emergency. Civil liberties and other customs of peacetime may have to be suspended, but again, the counter-insurgent regime must exercise restraint, and cleave to orderly procedures. In the counter-insurgency context, "boots on the ground" are even more important than technological prowess and massive firepower, although anti-guerrilla forces should take full advantage of modern air, artillery and electronic warfare assets.
 * 5) Big unit action may sometimes be necessary. If police action is not sufficient to stop the guerrilla fighters, military sweeps may be necessary. Such "big battalion" operations may be needed to break up significant guerrilla concentrations and split them into small groups where combined civic-police action can control them.
 * 6) Aggressive mobility. Mobility and aggressive small unit action is extremely important for the counter-insurgent regime. Heavy formations must be lightened aggressively to locate, pursue and neutralise insurgent units. Huddling in static strongpoints simply concedes the field to the insurgents. They must be kept on the run constantly with aggressive patrols, raids, ambushes, sweeps, cordons, roadblocks, prisoner snatches, etc.
 * 7) Ground level embedding and integration. In tandem with mobility is the embedding of hardcore counter-insurgent units or troops with local security forces and civilian elements. The US Marines in Vietnam also saw some success with this method, under its CAP (Combined Action Program) where Marines were teamed as both trainers and "stiffeners" of local elements on the ground. US Special Forces in Vietnam, like the Green Berets, also caused significant local problems for their opponents by their leadership and integration with mobile tribal and irregular forces. The CIA's Special Activities Division created successful guerrilla forces from the Hmong tribe during the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, from the Northern Alliance against the Taliban during the war in Afghanistan in 2001, and from the Kurdish Peshmerga against Ansar al-Islam and the forces of Saddam Hussein during the war in Iraq in 2003.  In Iraq, the 2007 US "surge" strategy saw the embedding of regular and special forces troops among Iraqi army units. These hardcore groups were also incorporated into local neighborhood outposts in a bid to facilitate intelligence gathering, and to strengthen ground level support among the masses.
 * 8) Cultural sensitivity. Counter-insurgent forces require familiarity with the local culture, mores and language or they will experience numerous difficulties. Americans experienced this in Vietnam and during the US invasion of Iraqi and occupation, where shortages of Arabic speaking interpreters and translators hindered both civil and military operations.
 * 9) Systematic intelligence effort. Every effort must be made to gather and organize useful intelligence. A systematic process must be set up to do so, from casual questioning of civilians to structured interrogations of prisoners. Creative measures must also be used, including the use of double agents, or even bogus "liberation" or sympathizer groups that help reveal insurgent personnel or operations.
 * 10) Methodical clear and hold. An "ink spot" clear and hold strategy must be used by the counter-insurgent regime, dividing the conflict area into sectors, and assigning priorities between them. Control must expand outward like an ink spot on paper, systematically neutralizing and eliminating the insurgents in one sector of the grid, before proceeding to the next. It may be necessary to pursue holding or defensive actions elsewhere, while priority areas are cleared and held.
 * 11) Careful deployment of mass popular forces and special units. Mass forces include village self-defense groups and citizen militias organized for community defense and can be useful in providing civic mobilization and local security. Specialist units can be used profitably, including commando squads, long range reconnaissance and "hunter-killer" patrols, defectors who can track or persuade their former colleagues like the Kit Carson units in Vietnam, and paramilitary style groups.
 * 12) The limits of foreign assistance must be clearly defined and carefully used. Such aid should be limited either by time, or as to material and technical, and personnel support, or both. While outside aid or even troops can be helpful, lack of clear limits, in terms of either a realistic plan for victory or exit strategy, may find the foreign helper "taking over" the local war, and being sucked into a lengthy commitment, thus providing the guerrillas with valuable propaganda opportunities as the toll of dead foreigners mounts. Such a scenario occurred with the US in Vietnam, with the American effort creating dependence in South Vietnam, and war-weariness and protests back home. Heavy-handed foreign interference may also fail to operate effectively within the local cultural context, setting up conditions for failure.
 * 13) Time. A key factor in guerrilla strategy is a drawn-out, protracted conflict that wears down the will of the opposing counter-insurgent forces. Democracies are especially vulnerable to the factor of time. The counter-insurgent force must allow enough time to get the job done. Impatient demands for victory centered around short-term electoral cycles play into the hands of the guerrillas, though it is equally important to recognize when a cause is lost and the guerrillas have won.

Published works

 * Judgement on Major General O C Wingate, DSO, written on behalf of the Chindits Old Comrades Association in collaboration with Brigadier P. W. Mead (Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives)
 * Defeating Communist Insurgency: Experiences in Malaya and Vietnam (Study in International Security), Chatto & Windus, 1966, ISBN 0-7011-1133-X. (Extracts of this book was distributed by the Calcutta chief of police to Bengali police men in December 1970 during the naxalite insurgency in Calcutta).
 * Defeating communist insurgency : experiences from Malaya and Vietnam, 1966
 * "America fights the wrong war", The Spectator, 12 August 1966
 * Royal Flying Corps (Famous Regts. S), L Cooper, 1968, ISBN 0-85052-010-X
 * "Squaring the Error" in Foreign Affairs April 1968. (An issue with 4 articles on Vietnam the other three authors were by Roger Hilsman, Chester L. Cooper and Hamilton Fish Armstrong).
 * No Exit From Vietnam, David McKay company, Inc., New York, 1969, ISBN 0-7011-1494-0
 * Interviewed by Frank Reynolds on ABC-TV 17 December 1969
 * Revolutionary war in world strategy, 1945-1969 First Edition (U.K.), London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1970, ISBN 0-4365-2051-6
 * Peace Is Not At Hand , New York: David McKay, London: Chatto and Windus, 1974, ISBN 0-7011-2057-6
 * "Rear Bases and Sanctuaries" in Lessons of Vietnam, editors Thompson, W. Scott and Donaldson D. Frizzell, Pub Taylor & Francis, Incorporated, 1977
 * War in Peace: An Analysis of Warfare Since 1945, (consultant editor) 1981, Orbis Publishing Limited, London, ISBN 0-85613-341-8
 * Make for the Hills, an autobiography, London, Pen & Sword Books/Leo Cooper, 1989, ISBN 0-85052-761-9

Honour of Malaya

 * : Companion of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (J.M.N.) (1958)

title: Robert Grainger Ker Thompson


text:
Joseph Jekyll

Sir Joseph Jekyll (1663 – 19 August 1738), of Westminster, was a British barrister, judge and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons for 40 years  from 1697 to 1738. He became Master of the Rolls in 1717.

Early life and career as a barrister
Jekyll was born in 1663 to John Jekyll of the Fishmonger's Company and alderman, of St Stephen Walbrook, London, and his second wife Tryphena. He was the half-brother of Thomas Jekyll. He attended a non-conformist seminary in Islington before being admitted to the Middle Temple in 1680. He was called to the Bar in 1687. Thanks to his connections with Middle Temple he became an associate of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Somers, and later married Somers' sister, Elizabeth. With Somers' support he became Chief Justice of Cheshire in June 1697, succeeding John Coombe, and was knighted on 12 December of that year. In 1699 he became a Reader of Middle Temple. In 1700 he became a Serjeant-at-Law, in 1702 a King's Serjeant and finally Prime Serjeant in 1714. Jekyll was very active in bringing cases before the House of Lords, acting in 14 cases in 1706 alone.

Political career
Jekyll was returned as a Whig Member of Parliament for Eye at a by-election on 14 December 1697 and was returned again in the following year at the 1698 English general election. He was seen as part of the Whig Junto. He was extremely active in parliament  and   an excellent speaker. He played a role in drafting various bills and acts. Occasionally he voted against the party, mainly because he supported greater reform of the electoral system and the removal of bribery and corruption. He was returned unopposed for Eye in the two general elections of 1701 and in 1702 and 1705. Returned again at the 1708 British general election he was involved in the impeachment of Henry Sacheverell in 1709 and 1710. He was returned again for Eye at the 1710 British general election but at the 1713 British general election was returned instead for Lymington.

At the 1715 British general election Jekyll was returned again for Lymington. He was asked to participate in the secret committee tasked with preparing the impeachment of the Earl of Oxford and the Duke of Ormonde, which he refused to support. He persuaded the government to open an investigation into the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720. At the 1722 British general election he was returned as MP for Reigate where he was returned again in 1727 and 1734. He sponsored the Mortmain Act 1735 (9 Geo. 2. c. 36) and the Gin Act 1736, and was noted for his opposition to intoxication, which annoyed the public so much that he was forced to have a guard at his house at all times. Under Robert Walpole he remained independent of the government in terms of how he voted, and was described by Alexander Pope as "an odd old Whig, who never change his principles or wig".

Outside Parliament, Jekyll provided £600 to fund the colony at Jekyll Island, and as a result James Oglethorpe named the island in the Province of Georgia after him.

Master of the Rolls
On 13 July 1717, Jekyll was appointed Master of the Rolls, and the same year became a Privy Councillor. His time as Master "was distinguished by legal ability, integrity and despatch", and during this period he helped write The Judicial Authority of the Master of the Rolls. He was given the Great Seal on 7 January 1725, and held it until 1 June.

Death and legacy
On 19 August 1738 he died of "a mortification in the bowels", and was buried in the Rolls Chapel. He had no children. In his will he left £20,000 to help pay off the national debt, something Lord Mansfield described as "a very foolish bequest.. he might as well have attempted to stop the middle arch of Blackfriars Bridge with his full-bottomed wig".

Jekyll Island is named in his honor.

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

title: Joseph Jekyll


text:
User talk:GrahamN/UninvitedCompany and Kat

Discussion reconstructed from User talk:UninvitedCompany

(The discussion was interrupted at various stages by being deleted)

At the end of the second paragraph of this edit on my talk page you claimed to be the same person as User:Kat. I think you should mention this on this user page and on the User:Kat page, and also perhaps explain why you feel the need to have two different user names. GrahamN 23:55, 8 May 2004 (UTC)

OK, since you studiously ignored that, I'll pose some direct questions. Am I correct to interpret your remarks as meaning that you are the same person as User:Kat? If so, why do you have more than one user name? How many other names do you use here? How many of them, like this one, have administrator status? GrahamN 23:47, 14 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Not attempting to speak on behalf of UninvitedCompany, but this WAS all brought up at the time of UC's vote for adminship. Go look at the history there.  You're making this out to be some big dark secret, which it is not, anymore at least.  If you'll look at User:Kat's edit history, they have edited no articles since, I believe, before the creation of User:UninvitedCompany, and thus it is inaccurate to state that this is the case of someone using more than one username.  I am aware of no policy that states that a user cannot stop using one username and start using another; indeed, having multiple simultaneous accounts is allowed, so long as one does not abuse Wikipedia process thereby (e.g. double voting, protecting a page the same person's other username is edit-warring on, and the like).  —Morven 00:00, 15 May 2004 (UTC)

GrahamN,

I believe that Morven is correct on all the salient points. UninvitedCompany 01:27, 15 May 2004 (UTC)

 * I've just read the discussion that Morven refers to.. So, your "double life" is no dark secret, but since there is no reference to it on either of your user pages, how is anybody supposed to know about it?  The practice of having multiple user names may not be technically against the rules (why on earth not?), but I can think of no legitimate reason for doing it.  It's hardly a thing that inspires trust.  You would appear less duplicitous if you were to make a clear and open statement about it on both (all?) of your user pages.  Which was my original point, if you remember.  GrahamN 02:58, 15 May 2004 (UTC)

Please demonstrate that you really are the same person as User:Kat, as you have claimed, by making an edit using that name. GrahamN 18:16, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

 * I fail to see any good reason why this user should do so, if I may stick my oar in again. Why is this issue so important to you, GrahamN?  Why should it matter whether or not User:Kat is or is not the same person as User:UninvitedCompany?  I note that you were all about insinuating impropriety in one direction until shown that there had been none; now you seem to be insinuating impropriety in another direction (implication of untruth, implication that you believe they are NOT the same person).  That the two are indeed the same is widely accepted as true (see this WikiEN-L post back in December) and I see no reason to doubt it.  Nor do I really see the relevance; the User:Kat account is not in use anymore.  If you have issues with User:UninvitedCompany, I personally (and probably anyone else watching) would rather you brought up substantive issues of recent behavior, rather than trying to beat this dead horse any further. —Morven 18:49, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Graham - do you believe that user:Kat and user:UninvitedCompany are not in fact the same person? Martin 19:00, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

No. I'm not insinuating anything. I'm merely asking for substantiation. GrahamN 19:11, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Why? —Morven 19:35, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

What business is it of yours? Please let UC speak for themselves. UC, Please demonstrate that you really are the same person as User:Kat, as you have claimed, by making an edit using that name. GrahamN 19:48, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Curiousity as to your motives. Since you're posting your question in a public place, you cannot expect people to not comment if they wish.  You are free, of course, not to answer.  UC is also free not to answer.  And any of us are free (yourself, UC, me, or anyone else reading) to draw any conclusions we wish from anything said - or not said.  —Morven 19:52, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

GrahamN, I find your line of inquiry both tiresome and puzzling. I have nothing more to say and instead refer you to the historical record if you should like more historical data. UninvitedCompany 20:44, 25 May 2004 (UTC)

What I find puzzling is your reluctance to back up your claim that you are the same person as User:Kat. It would only take a second, and then you'd get me off your back. Equally puzzling is the readiness of the Wikipedia establishment to accept your claim at face value without, as far as I know, any solid evidence. A third puzzling thing is the apparent "road to damascus" change you have undergone, from being a perceptive and thoughtful critic of the authoritarian regime here to being one of its stormtroopers. A fourth puzzle is one the one hand your evident desire to keep your putative past a kind of secret (why not be open about it on your user pages, or even go back to using your original, snappier name?), and on the other hand your insistence that it is not a secret at all and no big deal. What I find tiresome is your willingness to make very specific statements and damaging allegations about another user in the context of a fallacious ad hominem argument about the deletion of an obscure page, but your refusal to stand by the same statements in the only context where they would have any worth - the page allocated for discussions about the ongoing ban on that user. GrahamN 17:43, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

 * GrahamN,

 * While "road to Damascus" was long, one of the key steps was the realization that Wikipedia's most articulate critic, in all his various guises, was merely another self-righteous iconoclast with nothing constructive to contribute. I was fooled for a while.  You still are.  I don't have the power to make the scales fall from your eyes.  Only you can do that.  The true measure of a person's character is their actions upon departing from that which they loved.  The weak tear down, the strong build up.  I'll let you make your own comparisons among Zoe, JHK, Wik, and EofT in this regard.

 * Mind you, I still believe that the project has plenty of room for improvement, and in particular I still wish I could change the present culture's inability to grapple with policy matters with any sort of effectiveness. Nipping at the heels of people who are trying to clean up one mess or another is not an effective means of facilitating change, however.  All it does is betray a lack of understanding of the difficulty of doing good.

 * Kindest regards,

 * UninvitedCompany

Graham,

You wrote "Equally puzzling is the readiness of the Wikipedia establishment to accept your claim at face value without, as far as I know, any solid evidence".

Let me reassure you in this regard by stating that I have seen evidence, involving edits on a number of places, coupled with private emails. Much of it is private, much of it would be next to impossible to reconstruct now, so long after the time in question. Along with a desire to assume good faith, the similarity in style, the lack of any counter-evidence, and the low level of risk from an error, I consider the matter well beyond need of discussion.

The "Wikipedia establishment" has a great number of things to worry about, as Wikipedia continues to expand, so I don't think our readiness to accept things on face value is particularly surprising. Martin 22:31, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

UninvitedCompany, please demonstrate that you really are the same person as User:Kat, as you have claimed, by making an edit using that name. GrahamN 17:39, 28 May 2004 (UTC)

 * I refer you to the answer Uninvited Company gave you some moments ago. Martin 18:10, 28 May 2004 (UTC)

Nobody has given me an answer. Several people have intervened to try to change the subject, but nobody has explained why UninvitedCompany cannot or should not do what I ask. UninvitedCompany, if you really are User:Kat, it will only take a moment for you to log in under that name and make an edit. The longer you refuse to do that simple thing, the more suspicious you appear. GrahamN 01:04, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

 * It seems to me that the reason UC does not need to do what you ask is that whether he or she is or is not Kat is of absolutely no importance whatsoever. Kat was not a controversial user, UC is not a controversial user, the two accounts have not been used at the same time, what's the problem? --Camembert

If you really can't understand what the problem would be with a user who fraudulently passed themselves off as a reincarnation of another user, then I'm at a loss to know how to explain it to you. (I'm not alleging that that is what is happening here. There may be an innocent explanation.  I hope so.  But UninvitedCompany's refusal to spend the few seconds it would take to substantiate the claim beyond doubt is puzzling.  We need to get to the bottom of it.)  UninvitedCompany, please swallow your pride and take those few seconds to allay my mounting suspicions. GrahamN 02:37, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

 * The thing I can't understand, Graham, is that you're acting as if this is something terribly sinister. UC doesn't have any special authority by virtue of previously being Kat (or not, as you please), so why does it matter if he or she is Kat or not? I can understand people being uncomfortable with people using mutiple usernames, but I really think you're making too big a deal of this. User:Camembert

Like I said, if you really don't understand how big a deal integrity, honesty and trust are, then it will be a major job to explain these concepts to you. Somebody should try, for your sake, but this is neither the time nor the place. UninvitedCompany, it will only take a moment for you to log in as User:Kat and make an edit. Please swallow your pride and do that simple thing to prove my fears wrong. GrahamN 03:35, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

 * nobody has explained why UninvitedCompany cannot or should not do what I ask

 * Because there's no need or benefit for him to do so, from the point of view of creating an encyclopedia, and he doesn't want to. Alternatively, because he is unable to do so (lost password, old computer, etc). The key word here is ask. You've asked. Uninvited has said "no". Take whatever conclusions from that that you wish to, but nagging is unlikely to be productive.  Since you agree that trust is a big deal, you could always try taking it on trust. Just a thought. Martin 14:23, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

I agree with Martin here GrahamN. You are talking of trust, requesting yourself "facts" to be able to "trust". Trust does not build upon facts. If you can't trust UC, then please try trusting us. There is nothing wrong in editing under two or more names, as long as you do not do abuse, such as voting twice or co-supporting your self, and the community accepts name changes if the editor feels more confortable. If Kat does not want to prove it, or can not prove it, that is his business, what only matters is the quality of his implication. So, please trust the community and move on to another topic of interest please. SweetLittleFluffyThing 15:39, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

 * There is an important difference between trust and credulity. GrahamN 16:28, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)


text:
Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Helsinki.

Ahtila is most known for her multi-panel cinematic installations. She experiments with narrative storytelling in her films and cinematic installations. In her earlier works, she dealt with the topic of unsettling human dramas at the center of personal relationships, dealing with teenage sexuality, family relationships, mental disintegration, and death. Her later works, however, pursue more profound artistic questions where she investigates the processes of perception and attribution of meaning, at times in the light of larger cultural and existential themes, like colonialism, faith and posthumanism.

Ahtila has participated in numerous international art exhibitions such as Manifesta (1998), the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2005), documenta 11 (2002), São Paulo Art Biennial (2008) and the Sydney Biennale in 2002 and 2018.

Ahtila has won several art and film awards, including the inaugural Vincent Award (2000), Artes Mundi (2006), Prince Eugen Medal (2008), and most recently Art Academic in Finland (2009).

Her work is held in the collections of the Tate and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is a former professor at the Department of Time and Space-based Art at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (Finland).

Artistic career
Writing in the journal PAJ, Jane Philbrick describes Ahtila's films as "Smart, emotionally arresting, engaging, affective." Philbrick continues, saying, "A self-described 'teller of human dramas', she approaches narrative equipped with a rigorous arsenal of postmodern strategies ... One of her most potent tools, however, is a two-centuries-old dramatic genre of proven emotional reach and punch, melodrama." Although done in a more sophisticated way than conventional melodramas, Ahtila's work likewise exaggerates plots and characters to affect the viewer's emotions, with less appeal to immediate intellectual comprehension.

In 1993, Ahtila created the three mini-films Me/We, Okay, and Gray: Each of these 90-second mini-films was shown separately and as a trilogy, as trailers in cinemas, on television during commercial breaks and in art galleries. Ahtila explores questions of identity and group relations through her use of narrative conventions derived from film, television and advertising. In Me/We the father of a family speaks about his family in a monologue and other players mouth his words. When the father speaks about his family members' emotions, their personalities mix together and become inseparable. In Okay a woman is speaking about violence in man and woman relationship and as she steps across the room like a tiger in a cage, her voice goes up and shows pure violence. In Gray three women in a lift go down into the water and talk about the atomic explosion and its effects, while words and pictures mix identity crisis and an atomic disaster.

In 2002, Ahtila created a film called The House, for which she performed research that included conducting interviews with people who are afflicted by psychotic mental disorders. The film begins with a woman driving to a secluded house, and as events continue they take on a dreamlike state. The sounds become disorienting and the images begin to combine: the woman can see the car on the walls of the house; she hears boat horns that make no sense. The film is meant to be presented in an exhibit that displays each of the three screens on separate walls, making the viewer feel as if they are actually in the house where the project was filmed.

In 2002 she had a solo show at Tate Modern, and in 2006 her multi-screen video piece The Wind (2006) was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). She has also had solo shows at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Parasol Unit in London, ACMI in Melbourne and DHC/ART in Montreal.

Among Ahtila's many other works is The Hour of Prayer, first presented in 2005 at the Venice Biennale in Italy. The film is a four-channel video project that shows scenes from a woman's experience surrounding the death of her dog. Bridget Goodbody, writing for Time Out New York, says that it presents "a nonnarrative cycle of apparently random, but nonetheless consequential scenes." Some of those scenes show how, when she was away from her dog, he fell through the ice of a frozen pond, breaking his leg. Another shows the dog brought to a veterinarian for treatment of the injury; a diagnosis of bone cancer is made. After the dog dies, the film presents scenes of the woman moving on with her life, living as an artist in Africa.

Another of her films, which debuted in 2009, is Where is Where?. New York's Museum of Modern Art, which housed the seven-day exhibition, called it, "a haunting and layered consideration of how history affects our perception of reality." In the film, a present-day poet, with the assistance of a figure who is the personification of death, investigates a murder committed fifty years ago. Two young Arab boys had killed their French friend during the Algerian War of Independence. As the poet investigates, images from the past and present begin to mix and collide; at one point the poet discovers the two boys seated in a boat, in the small swimming pool behind his house.

In 2011 Ahtila's exhibition horizontal first showed at the Marian Goodman Gallery. This piece is a 6 projection instillation showing a pine tree. Each projection shows a different part of the tree. Ahtila distorts the pine tree with tilts of the camera and different coloring for each projection.

Although Ahtila's films do include more than one character, they tend to focus on the internal experience of just one person. Her work seems to be more about studying and understanding an individual's subjective experience, and how the influences around individuals shape who they are and what they do, and shape their unconscious selves. She is greatly interested in the factors that go into the construction of personal identity, and in how fluid that construct can be. Ahtila wants to explore, as she says, "how the subconscious is inherited in some way," citing as an example, " [the way] in which my mother is physically present in myself and I am present in her."

Installations

 * Me/We, Okay, Grey (1993), 3-channel monitor installation with furniture
 * If 6 was 9 (1995), 3-channel projected installation
 * Today (1996), 3-channel projected installation
 * Anne, Aki and God (1998), 5-monitor & 2-screen installation with furniture
 * Consolation Service (1999), 2-channel projected installation
 * The Present (2001), 5-channel monitor installation with furniture
 * The House (2002), 3-channel projected installation
 * The Wind (2002), 3-channel projected installation
 * Sculpture in the Age of Posthumanism (2004), a sculpture which includes the viewer
 * The Hour of Prayer (2005), 4-channel projected installation
 * Fishermen / Études N°1 (2007), single channel projected installation
 * Where is Where? (2008), 6-channel projected installation
 * The Annunciation (2010), 3-channel projected installation
 * Horizontal (2011), 6-channel projected installation
 * Studies on the Ecology of Drama (2014), 4-channel projected installation
 * Potentiality for Love (2018), a hybrid installation that combines sculpture with moving image

Films

 * Me/We, Okay, and Gray (1993), three 90-second mini-films, each of which was shown separately and as a trilogy, as trailers in cinemas and on television during commercial breaks. Ahtila explores questions of identity and group relations through her use of narrative conventions derived from film, television and advertising.
 * If 6 was 9 (1995)
 * Today (1996), won Honorable Mention in 1998.
 * Consolation Service (1999), Received Venice biannual prize.
 * Love is a Treasure (2002)
 * The Hour of Prayer (2005)
 * Where is Where? (2008)
 * The Annunciation (2010)
 * Studies on the Ecology of Drama (2017)

Awards

 * 2006, Artes Mundi, Wales International Visual Arts Prize, Cardiff, UK
 * 2009, Title of Academician of Art, presented by the President of Finland, Helsinki, Finland

title: Eija-Liisa Ahtila


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Category:Cetaceans

This category contains articles about Cetacea, including whales, dolphins and porpoises.

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Ingrian Finns

The Ingrians (inkeriläiset, inkerinsuomalaiset; Ингерманландцы), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lutheran Finnish immigrants introduced into the area in the 17th century, when Finland and Ingria were both parts of the Swedish Empire. In the forced deportations before and after World War II, and during the genocide of Ingrian Finns, most of them were relocated to other parts of the Soviet Union, or killed. Today the Ingrian Finns constitute the largest part of the Finnish population of the Russian Federation. According to some records, some 25,000 Ingrian Finns have returned or still reside in the region of Saint Petersburg.

Origins
Finnish-speaking Ingrians are not to be confused with Izhorian-speaking Ingrians. Ingrian Finns mainly consist of two groups: Savakot, who originated from migrant Savonians; and Äyrämöiset, coming from the Karelian Isthmus (mostly from Äyräpää), then parts of the Swedish realm. They were Lutheran settlers and migrant workers who moved to Ingria during the period of Swedish rule 1617–1703. Others originated from more or less voluntary conversion among the indigenous Finnic-speaking Votes and Izhorians, where approved by the Swedish authorities. Finns made up 41.1 percent of the population of Ingria in 1656, 53.2 percent in 1661, 55.2 percent in 1666, 56.9 percent in 1671 and 73.8 percent in 1695.

After the Russian conquest and the foundation of Saint Petersburg (1703), the flow of migration was reversed. Russian nobles were granted land in Ingria, and Lutheran Ingrian Finns left Ingria, where they were in minority, for the area known as Old Finland, north of the Gulf of Finland, which Russia had gained from Sweden during the 18th century, and where Lutherans were a large majority. There the Ingrian Finns assimilated with the Karelian Finns.

Developments in the 19th century
In 1870, the printing of the first Finnish-language newspaper, Pietarin Sanomat, started in Ingria. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from Vyborg. The first public library was opened in 1850, in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899, the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa).

By 1897, the number of Ingrian Finns had grown to 130,413, and by 1917 it exceeded 140,000 (45,000 in Northern Ingria, 52,000 in Central (Eastern) Ingria and 30,000 in Western Ingria, the rest in Petrograd).

Ingrians in the Soviet Union
Soviet rule, and the German occupation (1941–1944) during World War II, were as disastrous for the Ingrian Finns as for other small ethnic groups. Many Ingrian Finns were either executed, deported to Siberia, or forced to relocate to other parts of the Soviet Union. There were also refugees to Finland, where they assimilated.

After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Ingrian Finns inhabiting the southern part of the Karelian Isthmus seceded from Soviet Russia and formed the independent Republic of North Ingria, which was backed by Finland. The short-lived republic was reintegrated with Soviet Russia according to the 14 October 1920 Russian-Finnish Treaty of Tartu, and for several years thereafter it retained some degree of autonomy. From 1928 to 1939, Ingrian Finns in North Ingria constituted the Kuivaisi National District with its center in Toksova and Finnish as its official language.

The First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union in 1926 recorded 114,831 "Leningrad Finns", as Ingrian Finns were then called.

In 1928, collectivization of agriculture started in Ingria. To facilitate it, in 1929–1931, 18,000 people (4,320 families) from North Ingria were deported to East Karelia or the Kola Peninsula, as well as to Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia. The situation for the Ingrian Finns deteriorated further because of the Soviet plan to create restricted security zones along the borders with Finland and Estonia, free of the Finnic peoples, who were considered politically unreliable. In April 1935 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, elsewhere in Central Asia, and the Ural region. In May and June 1936 20,000 people, the entire Finnish population of the parishes of Valkeasaari, Lempaala, Vuole and Miikkulainen near the Finnish border, were transferred to the area around Cherepovets. In Ingria they were replaced by people from other parts of the Soviet Union.

In 1937 Lutheran churches and Finnish-language schools in Ingria were closed down, and publications and radio broadcasting in Finnish were suspended.

In March 1939 the Kuivaisi National District was liquidated.

Initially during the Winter War, the Soviet policy was mixed. On the one hand, Stalin's government largely destroyed Ingrian Finnish culture, but on the other hand, the maintenance of a Finnish-speaking population was desired as a way to legitimize the planned occupation of Finland. The failure of the puppet Terijoki government led to the ultimate result that in 1941, Moscow officially decided that Ingrian Finns were unreliable, and in 1942 most of the Ingrian Finns remaining in Ingria were forcibly relocated to Siberia. During the Finnish and German occupation of the area, Ingrian Finns were evacuated to Finland. However, after the Continuation War, most of these Ingrian Finns, who were still Soviet citizens, were forcibly returned to the Soviet Union, where they were dispersed into Central Russia. However, some Ingrian Finns were able to flee to Sweden, and nearly 4,000 were able to remain in Finland. Ingrian Finns were largely forgotten during the presidencies of Juho Kusti Paasikivi and Urho Kekkonen.

After the war many Ingrian Finns settled in Soviet-controlled Estonia.

Present day

From the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2010, about 25,000 Ingrian Finns moved from Russia and Estonia to Finland, where they were eligible for automatic residence permits under the Finnish Law of Return. In 2010, however, the Finnish government decided to stop the remigration, so Ingrian Finns seeking residence are now treated in the same way as any other foreigners. There are still about 15,000 people in the remigration queue.

The number of people who declared their nationality as Finnish in the 2010 Russian census was 20,000, down from 47,000 in 1989.

Many Ingrian Finns, including mixed families, who moved to Finland did not speak any language other than Russian and in many cases still identify as Russians. There are social integration problems similar to those of any other migrant group in Europe, to such an extent that there is a political debate in Finland over the retention of the Finnish Law of Return. In contrast, native Finnish-speakers have been easily assimilated into mainstream Finnish culture, leaving little trace of Ingrian Finnish traditions.

In Estonia, the Ingrian Finns have enjoyed cultural autonomy since 2004, being the first minority to organize and use such a right after Estonia's restoration of independence. The 2011 census counted 369 Ingrian Finns in Estonia, a large majority of whom are also citizens of Estonia.

In Russia, many Ingrian Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria.

Genetics
Autosomally Ingrian Finns cluster with Finns from Finland, Karelians and Vepsians. Half of Ingrian Finns belong to the maternal haplogroup H and 19.4 percent carry U5. Their other mtDNA haplogroups include T (11.1 %), V (5.6 %) and W (5.6 %).

title: Ingrian Finns


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Category:Vietnam War films

Films about the Vietnam War (1955–1975) and/or its aftermath.

title: Category:Vietnam War films


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Kingswood Borough

Kingswood was, from 1974 to 1996, a non-metropolitan district of the County of Avon, England.

The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974 as part of a reform of local authorities throughout England and Wales. Under the reorganisation, the area surrounding the cities of Bath and Bristol was formed into a new county of "Avon", named after the river that ran through the area. The county was divided into six districts, one of which was formed from the areas of Kingswood and Mangotsfield urban districts with Warmley Rural District from the administrative county of Gloucestershire. On 20 May 1987 the district was granted borough status.

Following a review by the Local Government Commission for England, both the County of Avon and Borough of Kingswood were abolished on 1 April 1996. Kingswood was merged with the neighbouring Northavon District to form the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire.

title: Kingswood Borough


text: Category:Star Trek characters

title: Category:Star Trek characters


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User:Twanvl/monobook.css

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Talk:List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom

Links to One
The links to One appear to need some work, as they currently link to number. However, I can't find an apropriate page to link them too, and so I think a new article is needed on 'one' the train operating company. (The One disambiguation page is no help either, as it links to a non exist page with called 'Train Operating Company'. John 14:29, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

? by BAA and FGW Link

Split
Proposal: Split into an article covering Great Britain and an article covering Ireland.

Discussion: I don't feel there is a need, the introduction explains the difference between GB and Ireland adequately. Depending how you classify things there are at most 3 operators on the Ireland of Ireland (NIR, IE and Cross-border), so I don't see there is a need for more than a top-level section on this article. Thryduulf 14:08, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

 * Basically, the whole thing is a mess. In particular;

 * There should be an article on train operating company. That currently redirects here.
 * This article, despite its title is not a list, but half a list and half an article and generally a mismash of awfulness.
 * The British network is different to the Irish network. It is regulated differently, it has a different gauge, it needs to be discussed seperately.
 * — Dunc|☺ 20:37, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

 * IMO this article is fine as it is, it is basically a list but with in intro to explain why the setup is like it is. Ultimatly the whole situation with all the articles relating to the rail system in whole of the UK is a mess, such as there being no obvious starting page hence various different ones (like this) having/trying to act as one. Maybe there should be a working group created to completely redo ALL the articles about railways in the UK to produce a much better and clearer structure instead of this constant fiddling around with what we've already got, which I'll put my hand up and admit being very guilty of meself. --Achmelvic 08:55, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
 * That sounds distinctly like a WikiProject for UK railways. Portal:Trains would seem to be a good place to organsise it. Thryduulf 13:30, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Might be like opening a can of worms but a WikiProject for UK rail does seem a good idea, when I get the time next week (unless someone else wants to start it over the weekend) I'll try and start something and see how much support there is for it.--Achmelvic 19:16, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Images
I have reverted the moving of the images to galleries becuase in line the pictures serve a purpose - they illustrate the list. This adds colour to the page, adding to the list by illustrating entries on it, preventing it being just dry text, and preventing large white space on the page. The only problem is the moving of the [edit] section links - but this has been overcome on several other pages by neat use of  tags. I'd add them myself if I knew how.

In a gallery the images add nothing other than - here are some pretty pictures we've inlcuded because we can. Add to that the placement of the first gallery - immediately below the short paragraph about heritage railways was a gallery showing some of the newest trains in the country! Just because we have the function doesn't mean it is right for all situations. In fact, on Wikipedia - which is not a collection of images - a gallery is rarely the best way to present images. On Commons on the other hand the gallery format suits the project down to the ground. Thryduulf 21:09, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

 * In that case then, reduce the number of images, because there's far too many - you think that having a gallery means "here are some pretty pictures we've inlcuded because we can". So does having too many images in a straight line. And add your name when you make a comment in a discussion. Hammersfan 22.55 BST, 01/04/06

 * I disagree there are too many images. The images fill the unused space to the right and illustrate different items in the list - if we coudl illustrate all of them we would. Appologies for not putting my name above, I made the dreaded "five-tilde typo" ( instead of ~ ) and got just the tiem and date without my username. Thryduulf 23:59, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

London Overground
Apologies for putting this here, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it. Regarding London Overground, a template has appeared on the new stations under construction, and lately on the East London Line stations also, similar to that of the National Rail route descriptors, but as a seperate LO one (if you see what I mean). However, although London Overground will be run be TfL rather than the Dept of Transport, it will still be part of the National Rail network in the same way as Merseyrail is. Shouldn't it therefore be included as such on this sort of template? Hammersfan 30/10/06, 12.40 GMT

Template Samples
Should every train company article shall have a sample of a rail bar and colour code for when other users contribute for each train station, ect? User:Jonjoe

 * Thought this was already being done - consider Glasgow Central station. Stewart 18:46, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Renaissance Trains
This is the company that originally proposed Hull Trains and is now proposing three: WSMR, HC&C and Glasgow Trains. Where should this be placed? Simply south 22:24, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

NYMRE
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway, through its operating subsidiary NYMR Enterprises Plc now has an Open Access licence to operate trains over Network Rail between Whitby and Battersby (on the Esk Valley Line) and is now operating a timetabled, steam hauled, service between Pickering or Goathland (on the NYMR) and Whitby (on Network Rail). They also work passenger trains to Battersby but not as part of their published day to day timetable. I would suggest that this entitles them to an entry on this page. I believe the NYMR is the first (and so far only) heritage railway that has powers to operate regular, timetabled trains over a part of the national network and operates those trains with both paid and volunteer staff. XTOV 21:46, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
 * If its timetabled, then i guess it makes it open access operator like Hull Trains, et al. Pickle 14:53, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
 * WWell I have left more than enough time for any objections, so I will add in the NYMR —Preceding unsigned comment added by XTOV (talk • contribs) 22:59, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't really think we can be justified in including a heritage railway on a list of TOCs. Just because it uses network rail track does not make it a National Rail operator. The railway's own Wikipedia page and Website mentions nothing of it being part of the National Rail network. It's a tourist attraction, not a means of getting from A to B which is what the railway network is for. Most heritage railways operate a timetabled service but that does not make them TOCs. One quick look on Google and Wikipedia shows that Goathland, Pickering, Newton Dale Halt and Levisham stations are not on the National Rail enquiries website but are managed by the NYMRE. By contrast, Whitby, Ruswarp, Sleights and Grosmont stations are on Rail Enquiries because they are managed and served by Northern Rail. For the reasons outlined above, I would suggest that the NYMRE be removed from this article. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 14:58, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

 * On the contrary, the NYMR are very much considered to be an open-access TOC, as seen here on an official government document - http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04128.pdf see page 3 for their inclusion on a list of open-access operators. Skarloey (talk) 17:51, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

 * Oh, okay, my mistake. As weird as it might sound, I do like being proven wrong occasionally, especially if it's about steam trains! Although I still affirm it's a tourist railway and nothing more, it is still pretty cool to know that a very small slice of the UK rail network is still steam-powered. The next time I'm "up't'north" I'll have to pay it a visit. Do you know if whoever runs the Orient Express is a TOC as well? (they come down my local line a lot) --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 20:30, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

 * The "British Pullman", using original Pullman coaches (usually hauled by 35028 Clan Line from Victoria) is operated by DB Schenker. The "Northern Belle", also owned by Venice-Simplon Orient Express, uses more modern coaches, refurbished in Pullman style, hauled by Direct Rail Services' Class 47 diesels. Technically, DB Schenker, DRS and GB Railfreight all have passenger-carrying licences, so they are also train operating companies (though come under the sub-umbrella of freight operating companies). Technically, the Ffestiniog Railway/Welsh Highland Railway are also now classed as a TOC, due to the flat crossing of the Cambrian Coast Line (Network Rail infrastructure) near Minffordd. Skarloey (talk) 23:18, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

 * Why not add them then? --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 18:21, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

List?
Does this count as a proper list? It talks about the train operating companies and their situation in the UK and Ireland and then lists the rest. Simply south 17:37, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
 * How about a rename to "train operating companies in the United Kingdom" or something similar? Pickle 01:01, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Merege with Train operating company and Summary of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom maybe - they all overlap each other. Pickle 18:56, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism?
The text 'Neil's Trains | Neil's Company of awesome things | Today | Hooray, Hooray, Tomorrow, Today!!!' in the list of train operating companies looks like it's vandalism. I'm pretty sure there is no such thing. I won't remove it, but can someone else do soon. Thank You. I belive this is the doing of User 172.200.151.63. Pafcool2 18:45, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Merge proposals
It has been proposed that two other lists should be merged with this one. The following has been moved from Talk:Summary of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom. Geof Sheppard 07:22, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Should this page be merged with List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom and Train operating company ??? Thoughts people. Pickle 18:56, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree that this should be merged into List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom (if there is any information here which is not already in that list). We should also sweep up the new Railway liveries of the UK while we are at it. Geof Sheppard 07:11, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree. List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom, Train operating company and Summary of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom should all be merged as they are all articles on the same subject and alot of content is duplicated in the multiple articles.   Tbo 157   talk  16:21, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

The first merger of Summary and List, i would agree with a merger as they seem effectively the same.

However, TOC and List i would say definitely not merge. More of the info could be moved from List to TOC. Also, there are many countries with different train companies so i think all it actually needs is a cleanup and possibly a more worldwide view. Simply south 16:46, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

 * I don't think many companies refer to private rail companies as "TOC"s or have the same franchising system as Britain. The TOC article is quite short and it would be more convenient to have everything on the same page. The list of TOCs article has more content to do with TOCs than a list.  Tbo 157   talk  19:04, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

 * It is okay to have the same information, if one article summarises it and the other expands it. Looking at it further, there is a lot of different information in the two articles. Also, not everyone will know what a train operating company is. Maybe merge some of List into TOC as per what i have said and your comment. Simply south 21:15, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I just thought it may be more convenient for people who don't know what TOCs are. It just seems to make more sense when the list and the accompanying content is in the TOC article but that might just be me.   Tbo 157   talk  21:22, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

 * I have put tags suggesting the move of sects GB and NI to TOC. Simply south 16:58, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

 * The tags suggest a proposal to merge everything into List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom. Is this correct?  If so, would it make more sense if everything was merged into Train operating company.  Thanks.  Tbo 157   (talk)    (review)  18:22, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

 * The ones we discussed were the top tags. Look at the Great Britain and Northern Ireland sections, which i have put to propose to mege those with TOC. Simply south 18:48, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

 * The section tags you placed propose for the sections to be merged into TOC but a separate tag proposes for the TOC article to be merged with this article. Tbo 157   (talk)    (review)  19:20, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

 * I added the first TOC merge with tag here as you put it on the TOC page. Simply south 20:15, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

 * Is it okay if i remove the first tag from here and there, literally? Simply south 17:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

 * I think the tags are fine as they are. They make sense.  Tbo 157   (talk)    (review)  19:21, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

 * From TOC to list (mergeto and mergefrom, respectively) but leave the others. Or should these stay? Simply south 19:43, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

 * How about we both outline our proposals below so that it is easier to discuss and the tags can be updated in however way necessary.

Tbo 157's proposals:
Proposal 1 Merge List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom and Summary of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom into Train operating company. Tbo 157  (talk)    (review)  21:25, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Proposal 2 Merge Summary of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom and Train operating company into List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom. Tbo 157  (talk)    (review)  21:25, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Simply south's proposals:
Keep Train operating company.

Merge both List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom and List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom or at least parts of these into Train operating company

Proposal discussion
Btw, good idea on the refresh. Simply south 22:13, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Hopefully we'll get more input.  Tbo 157   (talk)    (review)  22:32, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm new around here but I would opt for Tbo 175's Proposal 1, for the simple reason that, whilst probably not the most accurate of names it's the one that most none railway employee or enthusiast will understand - especially if the acronym is also used (TOC). The problem with the second is that it would technically include all the preserved lines and charter operators, which will just confuse most people. (SouthernElectric 23:19, 29 September 2007 (UTC))
 * I'm really not sure which option to go for, but orgionally i rasied this issue as i was highlighting the extensive overlap between them all. Pickle 22:05, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Further suggestion
This page, List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom, isn't a list, it's a mixture of a list and a detailed article. The detailed descriptive material (about Great Britain at least) should be in the article Train operating company, while the material in Summary of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom should be moved here, and that article should then redirect here. (I think this is similar to Simply south's suggestion above.) --RFBailey 23:54, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

 * I would agree with this mostly, however this page could be renamed to "Train operating comapnies in the United Kingdom", to allow it to contain some article content relevant to the lists. --Jorvik 14:59, 21 October 2007 (UTC)#

 * That would defeat the point of what I was trying to achieve: have all the article content in a single article, and have the (annotated) list as a list. The fact that the article Train Operating Company doesn't have "United Kingdom" in the title is down to this being a technical term specific to the UK (in fact, just to GB).  --RFBailey 15:51, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Can't the list and the content be in the same article? Surely this would be easier to understand.  What do other users think?  Tbo 157   (talk)    (review)  16:00, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

 * It seems to me that the  List... is an article, wheras the Summary... and TOC articles are lists! What I would expect to see is a clear article explaining what a TOC is and how it relates to the UK railway industry, and a link from there to a simple list of past, present and future TOCs, which in turn have links to the more detailed information (liveries, fleets, etc). Geof Sheppard 07:16, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Other articles do contain lists e.g. Midland Main Line. Simply south 10:08, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

 * I think Geof Sheppard's hit the nail on the head: that's exactly what we need. Yes, other articles do contain lists, but that doesn't mean they should.  --RFBailey 14:58, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and merged the information. Train operating company now contains article content, and List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom is now mostly lists. This is only a rough merger; tidy up work now needs to be done on both articles, particulary citing sources. --Jorvik 15:33, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Excellent work! --RFBailey 02:44, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Defunct TOC's
The table does not have a column to indicate which franchise the TOC operated? Is this an error or is there a reason for this? Catlows Cat 00:12, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
 * In the majority of cases the names of the franchise and the TOC are/were synonymous, so there is nothing to be gained from this. Furthermore, franchises have tended not to be replaced in a like-for-like manner.  The column explaining the successor(s) of each operator is more illustrative.  --RFBailey 01:35, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

It's First
I have warned the anon user who keeps changing FTPE to TPE. Btline (talk) 17:49, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

WCRC and NYMR
I've added West Coast Railway Company (WCRC) and North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) to the list of current operators. These two operators run scheduled (seasonal) services on the National Rail network; WCRC since 1998 and NYMR since 2007.

However, it may be worth further tagging them as "Open-Access (heritage)" or some such. —Sladen (talk) 00:06, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Logos
I had to remove the logos that were added recently: as each is a fair use image, there is no justification in the non-free content criteria to include them on this page. Sorry. --RFBailey (talk) 16:56, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Franchise list
Why does the franchise structure list (the first section) appear to have the OLD list of franchises? AFAICT it lists the franchises as they were when the railway was privatised. Wouldn't it be a few orders of magnitude saner to list the franchises as they currently stand, or even perhaps to instead of having a weird hybrid list of old franchisees and new ones, instead have some diagram showing how the franchise divisions emerged from the British Rail sectors (which it does now) and then proceeded to change over time (which it doesn't now)? It just seems a bit weird and IMHO rather misleading-looking the way it is now. I would follow WP:BB but I have a strange feeling that there is, indeed, some reason for this. Muzer (talk) 02:33, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree completely. The order seems deliberately intended to be obscure. This  should be changed to   I'd BB but it would take more time than I have at the mo. Anyone? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 20:19, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

 * Agreed, and I have demoted this section to the end of the article to place the emphasis on the 'list' aspects of this article. The Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain article has plenty of information about the history of the franchises. Personally I think some substantial weeding of duplicate content across these articles would ease the effort needed to keep them up-to-date. PeterEastern (talk) 07:48, 12 November 2017 (UTC)

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Franchise / contract end dates
I noticed that an end-date column was added to the table and then quickly reverted. I think that was the right decision. There is already a well-sourced list of all TOCs and their contract / franchise end dates at Passenger_rail_franchising_in_Great_Britain. I think it would be wrong to duplicate that information here as it would be yet another page to update when something changes. TBH I think there's a huge overlap between the two articles and some thought should be given to merging them. Anyone want to discuss that further & propose something? 10mmsocket (talk) 21:33, 11 May 2023 (UTC)

 * Completely agree on merging anything sourced from here into said page. Most of the content here is unsourced and serves very little purpose as a duplicate of the PRF page. If anything, I might just be bold and redirect it at some point... Mattdaviesfsic (talk) 06:52, 13 May 2023 (UTC)


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User:Vegie~enwiki

A Chinese gay guy here, who believes people gets together on the basis of their similarities and grows together on the basis of their differences, wants share things with people fromm all over the world.

Now, I am doing something some traslation things over gay areas. Just want to do some good things to my people.:)

title: User:Vegie~enwiki


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Talk:Rock Island (Fort Lauderdale)

[Untitled]
I grew up in Rock Island in 1951-1958. Could anyone tell me about a drowning of a child that happened about 1955 or so? Children fell into the rock pit in Rock Island and one child did not come out. I was the one that fell in and managed to crawl out. The other child did not. I would love to find an article in the newpaper about this incident, but so far have not found anything.

Rock Island - 50's-60's
I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, but had a very good friend who lived in Rock Island. We grew up together because his grandmother was our neighbor, and he visited there often. I can't remember the street they lived on, but it was thew last street before you reached what is now Oakland Park Blvd. The family name was Van Hooser. Van Van Hooser coached the Babe Ruth baseball team in R.I. which I played in for 2 seasons. We created the original Oswald Park out of a cow pasture donated by Mr. Oswald. Built the backstops using telephone poles and chain link fence. My friend's name was Louie, or "Junior." I can also remember a boy named Russ Pollard, and another named (I think) Ronnie Dunham.

If there is anyone out there who can tell me anything about any of these families, I'd love to hear from you. I can relate many more memories, but they'd only have meanings to those who lived in Rock Island in the 50's and early 60's.

Gpbarth (talk) 18:25, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

 * his wife's name was Norma. He worked as a lineman for FPL. He died in 1988. He lived in COcoa Beach. Junior had a sister named Linda. Fernley lived across from YOUR GRAND MOTHER AND ZIRNSTEINS mango orchard. 2601:588:C100:38C0:A0FE:8AA6:126C:FD8D (talk) 21:06, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rock Island (Fort Lauderdale)


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Argand

Argand may refer to:

 * Aimé Argand (1755 – 1803), Swiss physicist and chemist and inventor of the argand lamp
 * Émile Argand (1879 – 1940), Swiss geologist
 * Jean-Robert Argand (1768 – 1822), French amateur mathematician
 * Argand diagram
 * Argand plane

 * Luc Argand (1948 - ), Swiss lawyer.

title: Argand


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Talk:International Commission on Illumination

Information given on page basically is correct but not precise.

From my understanding it focuses just on one specific item CIE is famous for and does not reflect main goal of CIE. Probably selfdescription of CIE is more helpful in describing maintask of CIE (See copy below).

Existing page therefore I would like to suggest to be renamed to "CIE 1931 Color matching function". CIE 1931 is so called 2degree observer. Further investigations in human response to visible light ended in conclusion human eye responds also in range of 10degree to color. This obersvation has been standardized by CIE in 1964 in so called CIE 1964.

Be careful what you rename it! CIE standards maybe
 Yes CIE should describe the international body and what their purpose is. But "CIE 1931 Color matching function". is not the proper name for the existing page, and his page should be always assesable if you click on this new CIE page. People need to refer to what standards were adopted by the CIE. Color Matching functions does not cover it all. Find a better name. [[Dkroll2]] 13:55, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

 Self description of CIE from their homepage: http://www.cie.co.at/

INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON ILLUMINATION

As its name implies, the International Commission on Illumination - abbreviated as CIE from its French title Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage - is an organization devoted to international cooperation and exchange of information among its member countries on all matters relating to the science and art of lighting.

The CIE is a technical, scientific and cultural, non-profit autonomous organization. It has grown out of the interests of individuals working in illumination.

Since its inception 90 years ago, the CIE has become a professional organization and has been accepted as representing the best authority on the subject and as such is recognized by ISO as an international standardization body.

ColorRendering --[[Dkroll2]] 15:23, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
Anybody watching here? Can you please have a look at ColorRendering? The article isn't perfectly clear to me and the only thing I clearly understand is the connection to CIE. -- Pjacobi 09:20, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC) This could be one of the new designations for lighting: Color Rendering capacity?

or maybe just the plainf old useless CRI Color Rendering Index Color temperature (color) --[[Dkroll2]] 15:23, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

IR limit
The 810nm limit mentioned for human eye sensivity in the red is a frequency commonly used for infrared diodes and high power infrared lasers, witch, as far as I know, are complely invisible. You can't see them even at intensities that would completly ofuscate if emitted at a more commonly accepted limit of around 750nm. -- Rnbc 1 Dec 2004

I can see the light from a Ti:sapphire laser tuned to 840 nm. The bandwidth is a couple of nm, so what I'm seeing is more likely 830 nm. Still, a beam of 600 mW on white paper appears as a feeble visible red spot, only discernible if you switch off the lights. Han-Kwang (talk) 10:16, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)

You are perhaps seeing secondary radiation emitted from the paper, or resulting from impurities in the laser (witch also emmits at other bands, probably), or something else. 600mW is a lot of light... If I stare directly, at close range, into an 810nm diode in the dark (appears quite bright for my camera) I see nothing. I've asked a few other persons, they also see nothing... In fact 810 and 835nm are common bands for invisible lasers used for aiming rifles used when you don't want your enemy to spot you. -- Rnbc 3 Dec 2004

{{User:Dkroll2:Dkroll2]]
Can you add a sentance referring to "chromaticity Coordinates"?

You have everyting else except a senttance to that.,?

please >HR>

--[[Dkroll2]] 15:15, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

User:Dkroll2:Dkroll2
Can you add a sentance referring to "chromaticity coordinates" On the CIE pages?

You have everyting else except a senttance to that.,?

please >HR>

--[[Dkroll2]] 15:15, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

x and y

i find the CIE horseshoe pretty confusing: why isn't it a true triangle, but rather of weird shape? A triangle would have the colors R, G and B in its corners.

when there is the purple line (blue to red), why isn't here a blue-to-green line and a green-to-red-line?

how do you "calculate" the CIE horseshoe? there must be some mathematical background for this figure.

How do you get RGB values, given x and y? What about LMS values? thanks so much for your help, --Abdull 18:28, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I partially agree. Could somebody quickly explain me here what the x and y axis stand for? It's not wavelenght, it's not intensity - what is it? Maybe this info would be interesting to the article itself. Peter S. 00:28, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

The end of the current article explains that the x and y axes are the two chromacity dimensions; but would someone like to make this clearer on the graph itself? jgh 2005-06-30

-

Hello - Please take a look at the CIE XYZ color space article, there is a more complete discussion there. It still may be too technical - if it is, could you leave comments on that talk page and I will try to address them. As for the above questions -  You could distort the chromaticity diagram into a triangle, but then it would cause difficulty when doing calculations. The designers of the XYZ color space and the xy chromaticity diagram wanted it so that if you pick any two colors, any mixture of those two colors would lie on the line connecting them. You can't have that if you distort it into a triangle.

 The purple line (blue to red) is special. Blue, magenta, green, yellow, red, these are all monochromatic colors, you can have a single wavelength to represent them rather well. Also, you can mix blue and green to get magenta, etc. Purple (or cyan) is special. Its a mixture of blue and red, and there is no monochromatic light that is purple. The outer curved part of the chromaticity  diagram holds all the monochromatic colors. If you pick any two colors on the chromaticity diagram, then the eye will be able to see all the colors on the line between the two. Any two colors. So it follows that the boundary of the bottom part of the horseshoe is the line connecting the reddest red with the bluest blue - and that is the purple line.

<LI> See the CIE XYZ color space article. If you know I(λ) the spectral power distribution of the light, then you multiply it by the X, Y, and Z color matching functions and integrate. That gives you X, Y, and Z. Then you get x and y by x=X/(X+Y+Z) and y=Y/(X+Y+Z).

<LI> RGB is a generic term, there's lots of RGB spaces. I think what you are referring to is the sRGB space which was designed for computer monitors, and is what Adobe Photoshop uses as RGB. Check out the sRGB color space article. About LMS, I am not sure.

<LI> The x and y are qualitatively the chromaticity of the color. Two colors with different x and y are different colors. Two colors with the same x and y are the same color, although they may have different brightness. The CIE XYZ color space article describes technically what they mean.

<LI> I will do that. </OL> PAR 30 June 2005 06:46 (UTC)

Overlap with CIE 1931 color space
The title of this article suggests that it is about the organization, and the first two paragraphs fit that topic. The rest of the article, however, is about the color space developed by this organization, a topic which surely deserves its own article, and, indeed, already has its own article (CIE 1931 color space). I propose that all the description of the color space in this article be replaced by one sentence pointing to that other article, say, something like this: In 1931, the commission developed the CIE 1931 color space, which is still used as a standard reference for defining colours, and as a reference for other colour spaces. Any objections? Stebulus 18:36, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

 * No objections, I guess. I'll proceed as described, then. Stebulus 18:42, 27 July 2006 (UTC)


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Flying roller coaster

A flying roller coaster is a type of roller coaster meant to simulate the sensations of flight by harnessing riders in a prone position during the duration of the ride. The roller coaster cars are suspended below the track, with riders secured such that their backs are parallel to the track.

History
The flying roller coaster is a relatively new concept. The world's first flying roller coaster was Skytrak, built in Manchester, United Kingdom at the Granada Studios Tour in 1997. The Skytrak used a single-passenger car. Riders would climb into the car in much the same fashion as climbing a ladder, then the car would be raised up to the track before being dispatched. The single-passenger design kept the ride's capacity low, at only 240 riders per hour. The park, and Skytrak itself, were short-lived; both closed in 1998.

Vekoma
Dutch roller coaster manufacturer Vekoma constructed the first large-scale flying roller coaster, Stealth, for California's Great America in 2000. Nicknamed the 'Flying Dutchman' by Vekoma, Stealth featured a higher-capacity train with four-across seating. Riders load the trains in an upright sitting position, facing the rear of the train. After the train is fully loaded, a mechanism in the station lower the seats to the track, with the riders on their backs facing the ceiling. After cresting the lift hill, the track twists 180 degrees to flip the riders into the flying position for the rest of the ride. Just prior to reaching the roller coaster's final brake run, the track twists again, such that riders are lying on their backs facing upward. After reaching the station, the seats are raised back to loading position. The harness system for the Vekoma flying roller coaster consists of two main elements: the lap bar and the chest harness. After being seated, the operator pulls down the lap bar, which is hinged on the floor of the train. The bar locks into slots in the sides of the seat and secures the waist. Halfway up the bar is a pair of leg restraints, which hold the legs in place during the ride. The rider then fastens the buckles to close the chest harness and secure the upper body. Hand grips are placed at the ends of the arm rests of each seat. Vekoma would expand upon the 'Flying Dutchman' prototype with two other installations in 2001, Batwing for Six Flags America and X-Flight for Geauga Lake. Of the three Vekoma Flying Dutchmans, only Batwing still operates at its original location: Stealth was relocated to Carowinds and renamed BORG Assimilator from 2004 to 2007, and now operates as Nighthawk, while X-Flight operated at Kings Island as Firehawk until October 28, 2018.

In 2009, Vekoma debuted a new, more compact flying roller coaster model nicknamed the 'Stingray' which used the same seating configuration as the original Flying Dutchman, but with Vekoma's new track style as well as a vertical lift hill. Its first installation is at the Suzhou Giant Wheel Park in Suzhou, China, which opened on August 18, 2009. The ride was removed in 2018.

In 2014, Phantasialand in Brühl, Germany contracted Vekoma to design and build a new flying roller coaster to be the center piece of a new immersive themed area of the park which would also include the park's third hotel. Noting previous design limitations and issues with other flying coaster models, particularly in regard to capacity as loading procedures were slow and complex. Phantasialand pursued two objectives for the design of their new flying coaster; a simplified and streamlined loading process, and custom layout designed to fit in the limited space (100m by 75m) available as well as height restrictions imposed upon the park. Vekoma spent the next few years designing and testing a prototype system at its factory in Vlodrop, with construction on the new coaster beginning in 2016 and finishing in 2019. In 2019, Phantasialand began a teaser campaign for the new coaster, announcing the name F.L.Y. (Flying Launch Coaster). On September 17, 2020, F.L.Y. officially opened to the public.

F.L.Y. features a completely brand new loading procedure never before seen on any flying coaster model. Upon entering the station, the track and trains rotate from a prone position 90 degrees onto the side, while the seats, which are two abreast, rotate at the same time so that the passengers move from a prone "flying" position to an upright position. The passengers load into a standard seated position and pull down the over-the-shoulder vest harness. Once secure, the train is dispatched out of the station and proceeds in the upright position through a short dark ride section before the track, train, and seats rotate into the prone flying position.

In addition to the new loading procedure, F.L.Y. is also the first flying roller coaster to utilize a launch system rather than a lift system. F.L.Y. features two separate LSM launches that launches trains up to a top speed of 48.5 mph (78.1 km/h) over 4,055.1 feet (1,236.0 m) of track making it the world's longest flying coaster.

Since opening, F.L.Y. has been met with overwhelmingly positive reception for its innovative design, riding experience, operations, capacity, and theming that have won the coaster several industry awards.

Vekoma's flying roller coasters have a 54-inch minimum-height requirement.

Bolliger & Mabillard
Swiss manufacturer B&M debuted their flying coaster model Air in 2002, jointly developed with ride designer John Wardley. Riders take a seating position like on a regular inverted coaster with a chest harness and leglocks. They are then tilted 90° so they assume a frontwards lying position

Zamperla
Italy's Zamperla produces a flying roller coaster model dubbed 'Volare' (Italian for "to fly"). Riders lie down in the cars, which hang from an upper rail at a 45-degree angle. The car is then lifted up into a flying position while holding the riders inside. This model is very compact and affordable (estimated to be US$6 million) and comes with a unique spiral lift hill in which a tall spinning column with two vertical poles connected to it push the cars up the spiral track. The minimum rider height requirement is 50 inch.

The first Volare debuted as a prototype in 2002 as Flying Coaster at Elitch Gardens, where it operated until 2007. It faced numerous technical issues that were corrected on subsequent models produced by Zamperla. After closing, Flying Coaster was returned to Zamperla, where it was refurbished and installed at Coney Island as Soarin' Eagle.

title: Flying roller coaster


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Talk:Ingrian Finns

"related groups" info removed from infobox
For dedicated editors of this page: The "Related Groups" info was removed from all Infobox Ethnic group infoboxes. Comments may be left on the Ethnic groups talk page. Ling.Nut 23:36, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ingrian Finns


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Plasticville

Plasticville is a brand of plastic toy train building sold in the United States, made by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Bachmann Industries since 1947 (although they were first advertised in 1946). In 1984, Plasticville as well as the entire line was taken over by Kader Industries of Dongguan, China and made entirely in China.

Plasticville buildings are a simple design, made of walls that snap together, permitting them to be assembled without glue and easily disassembled again for storage. Out of the box, Plasticville buildings are usually two-tone, with building walls of one color and the doors, windows and roof molded out of a different colored plastic. With few exceptions, Plasticville buildings are styled after 1950s suburban buildings, and the product line has not changed since the late 1950s.

Most Plasticville buildings are 1:64 scale with 1:48 scale doors, a design compromise that allows them to be used with O gauge, O27 gauge, or S gauge train layouts without looking far off-scale. This allowed one product line to serve Lionel's low-end and high-end product lines as well as American Flyer's product line in the 1950s. Later, as HO scale gained popularity, Bachmann produced a line of 1:87 scale buildings for that standard.

History
The first Plasticville product was a plastic fence, first marketed as a Christmas tree accessory. When Bachmann found out consumers were using its product on train layouts, it also added some other accessories such as trees, bushes, and bridges. By 1950, Bachmann had added houses and stores to the product line, and Plasticville quickly became the most popular brand of train buildings on the U.S. market. Bachmann added several buildings to the product line every year until 1958. Some of these buildings were of Bachmann design, but others came from competing product lines that Bachmann absorbed in the mid-1950s.

In the late 1950s, mass-market interest in trains declined, with other pastimes, such as slot cars, gaining at their expense. Bachmann responded in 1963 by introducing a line of accessories for slot car tracks.

Although not all pieces were manufactured every year, the Plasticville line has remained commercially available since the 1950s.

In 1984, Plasticville as well as the entire line OF Bachmann Industries was taken over by Kader Industries of Dongguan, China and made entirely there in China.

Collecting
The only way to accurately date many Plasticville buildings is by examining their packaging. A Plasticville building has its highest collectible value when accompanied by its original box and in an unglued and unpainted state. Glued Plasticville structures are worth about 20% as much to a collector as an unglued piece, although a Plasticville piece that is nicely glued and painted will have value for use in a train layout, rather than as a collectible.

The plastic used in modern Plasticville has a slightly different texture from vintage Plasticville and although Bachmann uses the same molds today as in the 1950s, it uses different colors in an effort to not diminish the collector value of its old pieces. Re-issues produced after 1997 are marked "Made in China."

Variations in common buildings can drive up the value. The common Plasticville one-story ranch house is worth about $5, but a variation using dark blue plastic is worth about $200.

Many Plasticville collectors join the Plasticville Collectors Association (PCA). The purpose of the association is to promote a sense of fellowship among Plasticville, USA collectors and to serve as an accurate source of information regarding all aspects of Plasticville collecting for its members and the general public.

With declining values, collectors are becoming somewhat scarce since it was taken over by Kader Industries in 1984.

title: Plasticville


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Category:Swimming

Swimming is a method by which humans (or other animals) move themselves through water. Swimming is a popular recreational activity, particularly in hot countries and in areas with natural watercourses. Swimming is also a competitive sport. There are many health benefits of swimming, yet basic swimming skills and safety precautions are needed to participate in water activities.

title: Category:Swimming