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Talk:Curvature of Riemannian manifolds

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The article states that the connection form is antisymmetric. In fact the connection form need not be antisymmetric. Only the curvature form is antisymmetric. Please correct this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.102.0.170 (talk) 23:22, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Sectional curvature part, first paragraph: there are some missing symbols. Charles Matthews 07:58, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

 * ok?

Tosha 20:46, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

If you remove the other article OK, but still I doubt that you catch the most general aspect of curvature in the sense of Singer & Thorpe, Nomizu, Kulkarni and other modern writers. Look at the reference http://www.EarningCharts.NET/ipm/ipmWaves.htm where you find more references. In the references there (look also at that one in Lecture Notes in Mathematics) you find a decomposition of the space of all curvature structures in terms of Lie and Jordan algebras. And you find how elegantly electrodynamics and gravitational waves fit into the curvature play, look at the basic work of Lichnerowics and the reference given below. As an ,algebraiker' I like to write the curvature structure in the following triple form, generalizing the concept of Lie triples (the book of Otmar Loos giving a nice generalization of Lie theory): [x,y,z]=R(x,y)z. This concept generalizes the notion of a Lie triple to that one of a curvature triple, where only the Jacobiidentity is missing, but a reference to the bilinear form <,> is added in such a way, that R(x,y) is an element of the pseudoorthogonal Lie algebra. Note that the complete work of Ricci, Einstein and Weyl can be summarized as a Levi-type decomposition of the space of curvature structures (the Levi decomposition for Lie algebras is the decomposition of a Lie algebra into a short exact sequence of Lie algebras, where the first non-trivial Lie algebra is a maximal solvable ideal and the third Lie algebra is the semisimple Levi factor - the second being the given Lie algebra itself). In the articles cited below it is shown, how to decompose the curvature (vector) space into the map of a semisimple Jordan algebra and a subspace, which may turn out to be a model of a ,solvable' ideal of the curvature structure. Actually this is the condensed content of the work of Ricci, Einstein and Weyl. All this shows, that we do not yet understand this curvature space completely. Especially the gravitational wave aspect needs clarification. This implies contributions to the running search for gravitational waves. Note that it is easy to see, that there are no gravitational waves if the bilinear form <,> is positive definite. Let me add the reference for this [Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1156 1984 p.316-337], the yellow Springer books, and [J.Math.Phys. 19 1978 p.1118-1125]. Hannes Tilgner

Please stay basisfree. There is no need to introduce a basis in order to define sectional and Ricci curvature.

It would be nice to add one more curvature formula since it shows more clearly how $$R_{uv}$$ measures the lack of commutativity of second covariant derivatives in general:

 * $$R_{uv}=\nabla^2_{uv}-\nabla^2_{vu}$$

where $$\nabla^2_{uv}$$ is the "second covariant derivative" tensor (easy to verify it's tensorial in $$u$$, $$v$$, and $$w$$):

 * $$\nabla^2_{uv}w\equiv\nabla_u\nabla_vw-\nabla_{\nabla_uv}w$$

The connection must be torsion-free for it to work which is fine as the article focuses on the Levi-Cività connection.

Another change worth introducing would be to cover the general case of indefinite metrics — this would make the article usable for those interested in general relativity calculations. Not many changes are needed, e.g. Cartan's curvature forms $$\Omega^i_{\ j}$$ aren't antisymmetric in general (although $$\displaystyle\Omega_{ij}$$ are). Instead $$\Omega^i_{\ j}=-\eta^{il}\eta_{jk}\Omega^k_{\ l}$$ and similarly for the connection 1-forms, where $$\eta$$ is the matrix of metric coefficients with respect to the moving frame (which is typically either orthonormal or null). JanBielawski 04:52, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Any chance of this being dumbed down just a tad?
Normally I wouldn't pop in to say something like this. However, even as someone taking advanced college mathematics, most of this article is unreadable. Can anybody with a good understanding of this explain the concepts in a way that can be read by someone without a calculus degree? -  ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ  τ ¢  04:05, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Take three infinitely close points on the curve, and draw a circle through them. The inverse of the radius is the curvature.  Other than that, you should learn infinitesimal calculus first.  Tkuvho (talk) 07:47, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

The article has been corrected
My above critic is now meaningless and should be removed, since the article has been corrected successfully. Therefore the full structure theory of Singer & Thorpe, Kulkarni, Gray, Nomizu could be included here - it is very elegant from an algebraic point of view. Especially physicists should like the projector approach and its compatibility with group theory, because they use it in quantum mechanics extensively. But there remains a little glitch with respect to bi-vectors. The definition of the bilinear form there is not given. Is it the lifted one, or the Killing-form, and what is the relation between both bilinear form? H. Tilgner — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.201.108.121 (talk) 08:06, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 01:57, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Curvature of Riemannian manifolds


text:
Same-sex marriage in France

Same-sex marriage has been legal in France since 18 May 2013, making France the thirteenth country in the world and the ninth in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry. The legislation applies to metropolitan France as well as to all French overseas departments and territories.

A bill granting same-sex couples the right to marry and jointly adopt children was introduced to the National Assembly by the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on 7 November 2012, with the support of President François Hollande who declared his intent to support the legislation during his campaign for the presidency. On 12 February 2013, the National Assembly approved the bill in a 329–229 vote. On 12 April 2013, the Senate approved the bill with amendments in a 171–165 vote, followed by the approval of the amended bill by the National Assembly on 23 April 2013 in a 331–225 vote. However, a challenge to the law by the conservative Union for a Popular Movement party was filed with the Constitutional Council following the vote. On 17 May 2013, the Council ruled that the law was constitutional. That same day, President Hollande promulgated the bill, which was officially published the next day in the Journal Officiel de la République Française. The first official same-sex marriage ceremony took place on 29 May 2013 in the city of Montpellier.

History
Despite the creation and implementation in 1999 of the civil solidarity pact (pacte civil de solidarité, ), more commonly known as PACS, a system allowing civil partnerships between two persons without regard to their gender and guaranteeing certain personal and civil rights to both "pacsés", there was considerable political and societal debate over same-sex marriage in France during the first decade of the 21st century.

The civil solidarity pact was voted on by the French Parliament in November 1999 with the support of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Following President Hollande's signature of a 2013 legalising same-sex marriage, PACS remains in effect and available for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples.

2004 same-sex marriage
On 5 June 2004, former Greens presidential candidate Noël Mamère, the Mayor of the Bordeaux suburb of Bègles, conducted a same-sex marriage ceremony for two men, Bertrand Charpentier and Stéphane Chapin. Mamère claimed that there was nothing in French law to prohibit such a ceremony, and that he would appeal any challenge to the European Court of Human Rights.

Minister of Justice Dominique Perben had stated that such unions would be legally void, and called for judicial intervention to halt the ceremony. On 27 July 2004, the Bordeaux Court of General Jurisdiction declared the marriage null and void. One legal argument defended by the public prosecutor, representing the national government, was that the French Civil Code contained several mentions of husband and wife, thereby implying different genders. On 19 April 2005, the Appeals Court of Bordeaux upheld the ruling, and on 14 March 2007, the Court of Cassation turned down Charpentier and Chapin's appeal. On 9 June 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the decision to invalidate Charpentier and Chapin's marriage did not constitute an infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Reaction
Shortly after the ceremony took place, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin instituted disciplinary procedures against Mayor Mamère, suspending him from his duties for one month. The local administrative court ruled that Mamère's suspension was legal and substantiated. Mamère said he would not appeal the ruling, having already unsuccessfully attempted to get an injunction from the court, then appealing the case to the Council of State; both had ruled that an injunction was not justified on grounds of urgency.

On 11 May 2004, the First Secretary of the Socialist Party, François Hollande, announced that he would ask his party to file a draft law making same-sex marriages unequivocally legal. Some other party leaders, such as former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, publicly disapproved of same-sex marriage. Hollande's partner, Ségolène Royal, said at the time that she harbored doubts about same-sex marriage, though now fully supports it.

2006 parliamentary report
A parliamentary "Report on the Family and the Rights of Children" was released on 25 January 2006. Although the committee recommended increasing some of the rights already granted by the PACS civil partnership, it recommended maintaining prohibitions against marriage, adoption, and access to medically assisted reproduction for same-sex couples, arguing that these three issues were inseparable and that allowing them would contravene a number of articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which France is a signatory (though many UN member nations did grant some or all of these rights to same-sex couples). Referring to the rights of children as a human rights issue, the report argued that children "now have rights, and to systematically give preference to adult aspirations over respect for these rights is not possible anymore." Because of these prohibitions, left-wing members of the committee rejected the report.

2011 bill and Constitutional Council decision
LGBT organizations in France, believing that the prohibition of same-sex marriage was contrary to the Constitution of France, asked the Constitutional Council to examine the constitutionality of same-sex marriage and to review the articles of the Civil Code. On 28 January 2011, the Council decided that the illegality of same-sex marriages was not contrary to the Constitution, further stating that same-sex marriage legalization was a question for Parliament to decide.

On 14 June 2011, the National Assembly of France voted 293–222 against legalizing same-sex marriage. Deputies of the governing Union for a Popular Movement party mostly voted against the measure, while deputies of the Socialist Party mostly voted in favour. Members of the Socialist Party said that the legalization of same-sex marriage would become a priority should they gain a majority in the 2012 legislative election.

On 12 November 2011, Mayor Jean Vila of Cabestany performed a same-sex wedding ceremony for a couple named Patrick, 48, and Guillaume, 37. The marriage was not recorded in order to prevent a subsequent nullification, and Vila described it as a "militant act", saying that "there are times when it is necessary to act outside the law. Refusing same-sex marriage is to deny the reality of thousands of couples." The French Government's reaction was mixed: the Secretary of State for Family, Claude Greff, called the event a "provocation on the eve of the presidential election", while Minister of Solidarity and Social Cohesion Roselyne Bachelot said she supported same-sex marriage but that the ceremony was "not the best way to advance the cause".

2012–2013 bill
During his campaign for the 2012 presidential election, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande declared his support for same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, including them as one of his campaign's 60 government commitments. On 6 May 2012, Hollande won the election and promised to pass same-sex marriage legislation before the spring of 2013. On 17 June, Hollande's party won an absolute majority in the National Assembly, followed by an announcement by government spokesperson Najat Vallaud-Belkacem that a same-sex marriage bill would be adopted in spring 2013 at the latest. On 3 July, in his first speech in front of the newly elected assembly, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced that marriage and adoption for all couples would be a reality "in the first semester of 2013". The draft bill was submitted to the French Parliament on 7 November 2012.

On 2 February 2013, the National Assembly approved the first article of the same-sex marriage bill by 249 votes to 97; the debate took several days as opponents introduced more than 5,000 amendments to the bill in order to slow down its passage. On 12 February, the National Assembly approved the bill as a whole in a 329–229 vote and sent it to the Senate.

The Senate started debating the bill on 4 April 2013 and five days later approved its first article in a 179–157 vote. On 12 April, the Senate approved the bill with minor amendments in a 171–165 vote. The Senate version of the marriage bill was adopted by the National Assembly on 23 April 2013 in a 331–225 vote.

The same-sex marriage law is commonly referred to in France as la loi Taubira ("the Taubira law") in reference to Justice Minister Christiane Taubira who introduced the bill to the French Assembly in November 2012 and was the bill's main sponsor. The law amended Article 143 (Book I, Title V, Chapter I) of the Napoleonic Code to state: Marriage is contracted by two persons of different or of the same sex.

Reaction and aftermath
The opposition Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party immediately filed a challenge against the law with the Constitutional Council. On 17 May 2013, the Council declared the law constitutional. The same day, President François Hollande promulgated the bill, which was officially published on 18 May 2013 in the Journal Officiel de la République Française. The first same-sex marriage to be recognized in France was that of Dominique Adamski and Francis Dekens, who had their marriage performed in Belgium in 2006 registered in Cayeux-sur-Mer on 23 May. The first official same-sex wedding ceremony took place on 29 May in the city of Montpellier between Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau. The ceremony was conducted by Mayor Hélène Mandroux. The first same-sex marriage between two women took place on 1 June in Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle.

In June 2013, the French Government issued a circulaire stipulating a maximum sentence of 5 years' imprisonment and a fine of 75,000€ for any mayor or local official who refuses to perform a marriage for a same-sex couple on the sole basis of their sexual orientation. The official may also face discrimination charges under Article 432-7 of the Penal Code. In October 2013, the Constitutional Council dismissed a lawsuit challenging the circulaire, ruling that it did not violate the French Constitution. The court wrote in its ruling that the circulaire "ensures a good enforcement of the law and guarantees neutrality from the state". In September 2015, a court in Marseille sentenced Sabrina Hout to five months' imprisonment for having refused to perform a same-sex marriage back in August 2014. Hout, who served as deputy mayor in Marseille, had been scheduled to officiate at the marriage on 16 August but said she was not feeling fell and asked a local council member to perform the marriage instead. However, the council member did not have the legal authority to perform the marriage and it was later invalidated. Hout officiated at four opposite-sex marriages that same day. In October 2018, the European Court of Human Rights dismissed an appeal from 146 mayors in the case.

In July 2018, MP Guillaume Chiche introduced a bill to legalise assisted reproduction for married and unmarried lesbian couples and single women. In June 2019, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe told the National Assembly that the government intended to have the legislation examined in the Assembly from the end of September 2019. The bill was adopted in its first reading by the National Assembly on 15 October 2019 by a vote of 359–114. It passed its second reading on 31 July 2020 by 60 votes to 37 (the low turnout being due to most Assembly members having gone on summer holidays). The Senate approved the bill in first reading on 4 February 2020 by 153 votes to 143 with 45 abstentions. The proposal would also foresee the state covering the cost of the assisted reproduction procedures for all women under 43 and allowing children born with donated sperm to find out their donor's identity when they reach the age of 18. The bill passed its final reading in the French Parliament on 29 June, and came into effect in September 2021.

There has been little political movement to abrogate the same-sex marriage law despite some politicians, including 2017 presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, expressly calling for its repeal. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy said he favored repealing the law in 2014, but said in a 2016 interview that he had changed his mind, calling a repeal "unjust, cruel and legally impossible". In 2017, the party president of The Republicans (previously the UMP), Laurent Wauquiez, said he opposed repealing the law, and in June 2019, the vice president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said the matter was "settled". While running in the 2022 presidential election, Le Pen said she also opposed repealing the law, tweeting on 15 April 2022, "I will not take rights away from French citizens. Marriage for all will remain if I am elected President of the French Republic".

Scope
There had been initial confusion over whether the act applied to nationals of Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Kosovo, Laos, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia or Tunisia, as it breached bilateral agreements stipulating that the law of those countries applies rather than French law. The Court of Cassation ruled that it does in September 2015, finding the provisions excluding these countries discriminatory and contrary to French law.

Historical recognition in Overseas France
While Polynesian and Mayotte culture historically practiced polygamy, there are no records of same-sex marriages as understood from a Western perspective being performed in those cultures. However, there is evidence for identities and behaviours that may be placed on the LGBT spectrum.

In the Society Islands of French Polynesia, as well as in other Polynesian cultures, there exists people who fulfill a traditional, spiritual and social third gender role. They are known as māhū in Tahitian. The māhū are assigned male at birth but express themselves as women. "Being outside of the traditional male-female divide", they are raised as girls from early childhood, carry out women's work in the home and the community, and historically often served as domestic servants of the nobility. The māhū are considered an integral part of Tahitian society; "Māhū were not merely tolerated; they were regarded as a legitimate and contributory part of the ancient Polynesian community." They have been known to Europeans since the 18th century, with William Bligh, the captain of HMS Bounty, having noted the presence of "men with great marks of effeminacy". Historically, if they wished to marry and have children, they would marry women. The māhū status thus created the possibility for marriages between two female-presenting individuals to be performed in Tahitian culture. In 2005, media reported the story of a popa’a, a Frenchman, leaving his wife and child to live with a rae-rae in Raiatea.

In Wallisian culture, people who occupy a similar third gender role are known as fakafafine, and it is likely that "they have always existed" on Wallis. Assigned male at birth, they express themselves as women and carry out women's work in the community. They are also known as fakafafine in Futunan. In the Marquesas Islands, people born as male but expressing themselves as women are known as piivehine, while people born as female but expressing themselves as men are known as piivahana. French sociologist Laure Hins Grépin reported in 2005 that piivehine had sexual intercourse primarily with "openly macho" cisgender men, but did not say whether were historically allowed to marry. They are known as ’akava’ine in the Rapa language, as ’aka’a’ine  in Mangareva, and as hakavahīne  in the Tuamotuan language, though māhū is also used.

In Mayotte, the sarambavi (سَرَمْٻَاڤِ; ; ) occupy a similar cultural role, and are "relatively well integrated into Mayotte society". They choose to obey the "law of women", and can take part in the mbiwi, a traditional dance generally reserved for women. However, it is unknown if the sarambavi were historically allowed to marry.

Marriage statistics
In 2013, following the introduction of same-sex marriage in France, approximately 7,300 same-sex couples were legally married in the country. They made up approximately 3% of all marriages in that time, with three out of every five same-sex marriages involving male couples. Approximately 10,500 same-sex marriages took place in France in 2014, representing 4% of all marriages performed that year. Male couples accounted for about 54% of these marriages, while female couples accounted for the remaining 46%. Some 6,000 French communes performed at least one same-sex marriage. 1,331 same-sex couples married in Paris, comprising 13.5% of the total number of weddings performed in the city.

From May 2013 to December 2016, approximately 32,640 same-sex marriages were performed in France.

By 23 April 2018, five years after the French Parliament had approved the same-sex marriage law, approximately 40,000 same-sex couples had married in the country. This represented about 3.5% of all marriages performed during that time. The departments with the highest share of same-sex marriages were Paris (9.7%), Calvados (5.6%), Charente-Maritime (5.4%), Hérault (5.1%), Orne (4.8%), Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (4.6%), Alpes-Maritimes (4.5%) and Lot (4.4%) whereas the departments with the lowest shares were Guadeloupe (0.3%), Mayotte (0.6%), Martinique (0.6%), French Guiana (1%), Haute-Corse (1.1%), Réunion (1.2%), Ariège (1.5%) and Corse-du-Sud (1.6%).

Overseas departments and territories
A lesbian couple, Rosemonde Zébo and Myriam Jourdan, became the first same-sex couple to marry in Martinique in June 2013. The couple were married in Le Carbet in a ceremony alongside family, friends and well-wishers. The first same-sex wedding in Guadeloupe occurred in July 2013 in Saint-Anne between Eric Dandler and Serge Willame. The first same-sex marriage in French Guiana took place in August 2013 in the city of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, and by April 2018 12 same-sex couples had married in the capital city of Cayenne.

In Réunion, the first same-sex marriage was performed for a lesbian couple, Laurence Serveaux and Corinne Denis, in Saint-Paul in June 2013. By July 2015, 93 same-sex couples had married on the island. In Mayotte, the first same-sex wedding was performed in September 2013 for a French-Cuban couple in Mamoudzou. The marriage was performed by Mayor Abdourahamane Soilihi, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage. This marked the first time in modern history that a legally recognized same-sex marriage had occurred in a jurisdiction where a majority of the population follows the religion of Islam. The first marriage between a male Maorais couple was performed in March 2015. In 2022, a couple from the town of Kani-Kéli were denied the right to marry on multiple occasions. The couple were initially scheduled to get married on 12 February after months of planning, but the mayor later postponed the ceremony to 14 February, before postponing it again onto several successive dates. They accused the mayor of being "scared" of performing the marriage in the face of public opposition. Media reported that the couple had successfully married by May 2023. Between 2013 and May 2023, 560 same-sex marriages were performed in Mamoudzou.

The first same-sex marriage in French Polynesia took place in Haapiti, Mo'orea in July 2013. The couple who had wished for a quiet ceremony were harassed by a group of opponents of same-sex marriage. By February 2014, 11 same-sex marriages had occurred in New Caledonia, representing 1.7% of all marriages, with 9 of these being performed in the South Province and the remaining 2 in the North Province. The first same-sex marriage in the North Province was performed in Poindimié in September 2013. The same-sex marriage law does not apply to individuals governed under Kanak customary law, which recognises Kanak customs for contracts, land, family and persons. If a Kanak same-sex couple wishes to marry, they would need to renounce their customary law status and ask to be governed under French civil law.

The first couple to marry in Saint Barthélemy did so in August 2013 in Gustavia. In Saint Martin, the first same-sex marriage was performed in October 2013 and officiated by politician Guillaume Arnell. The couple had rocks thrown at them and received homophobic insults as they left city hall. The first same-sex marriage in Saint Pierre and Miquelon occurred in March 2014.

Overall, relatively few same-sex marriages have been performed in the overseas departments and territories compared to metropolitan France. According to a 2018 report, eight same-sex marriages had been performed in Saint Barthélemy, five in French Polynesia, four in Saint Martin, two in Saint Pierre and Miquelon and one in Wallis and Futuna since legalization.

Religious performance
In May 2015, the United Protestant Church of France voted to allow its pastors to bless same-sex marriages. The measure, which was passed by 94 votes to 3, also includes a freedom of conscience clause allowing pastors with objections to opt out. A marriage between two lesbian pastors was celebrated in a Protestant church in Montpellier in July 2021. The assembly of the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine voted in November 2019 by 36 votes to 13 to allow its pastors to bless same-sex marriages. The measure also includes a freedom of conscience clause for pastors opposed to blessing same-sex relationships.

Other religious denominations also perform and bless same-sex marriages, including Old Catholic churches, and Breton Druid groups.

The Catholic Church opposes same-sex marriage and does not allow its priests to officiate at such marriages. In December 2023, the Holy See published Fiducia supplicans, a declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless couples who are not considered to be married according to church teaching, including the blessing of same-sex couples. Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron Marc Aillet reacted to the declaration, "I invite them [priests], if the people ask for it, to give them [same-sex couples] a blessing, provided it's to each person individually, calling them to conversion and inviting them to ask for the help of the grace that the Lord grants to all those who ask him to conform their lives to God's will." Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rennes said, "It is appropriate to spontaneously bless, individually, each of the two persons forming a couple, whatever their sexual orientation, who humbly ask God's blessing, with the desire to conform more and more to his holy will."

Public opinion
Opinion polls show that the French public supports the legalization of same-sex marriage, with that support gradually increasing over time:

 * A 1996 Ifop poll found that 48% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, with 33% opposed.
 * A 2003 Gallup poll found that 58% of respondents supported same-sex marriage.
 * A May 2004 Ipsos poll found that 57% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, with 38% opposed. Younger people were particularly in favour, with 75% of those under 35 in support. Nevertheless, only 40% were in favour of same-sex adoption rights, though 56% of those younger than 35 were in support.
 * A 2004 Ifop poll showed that 64% of respondents were in support of same-sex marriage, with 49% supporting adoption rights.
 * A 2006 Eurobarometer survey found that 48% of respondents supported same-sex marriage being allowed "throughout Europe". This was 4% above the EU average. Support for adoption rights was at 35%, 3% above the EU average.
 * A 2006 Ipsos poll found that 61% of respondents favoured the recognition of civil marriage for same-sex couples.
 * A June 2006 Taylor Nelson Sofres poll found that 45% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, with 51% opposed. 36% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A June 2008 Ifop poll put support for same-sex marriage in France at 62%, with 38% in opposition. 51% supported adoption rights. Support for same-sex marriage was very high among younger people, with 77% of those aged between 25 and 34 in favour.
 * A November 2009 BVA Group poll showed that 64% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, including for the first time a majority of right-wing voters. 57% supported adoption rights (support was 68% among those between 18 and 25 years old).
 * A July 2010 poll from Crédoc (Centre de recherche pour l'étude et l'observation des conditions de vie) showed that 61% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 48% supported adoption rights.
 * A January 2011 Taylor Nelson Sofres poll found that 58% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, with 35% opposed. Support was 74% among those under the age of 35. 49% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A June 2011 Ifop poll found that 63% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 58% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A December 2011 BVA Group poll found that 63% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 56% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An August 2012 Ifop poll found that 65% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 53% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An October 2012 Ifop poll found that 61% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 48% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An October 2012 BVA Group poll found that 58% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 50% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A December 2012 CSA Institute poll found that 54% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 48% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A December 2012 Ifop poll found that 60% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 46% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A December 2012–January 2013 YouGov poll found that 47% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 38% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A January 2013 Ifop poll found that 60% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 46% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A January 2013 OpinionWay poll found that 57% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 45% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A January 2013 Ifop poll found that 63% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 49% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A February 2013 Ifop poll found that 66% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 47% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An April 2013 BVA Group poll found that 58% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 47% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An April 2013 Ifop/Atlantico poll found that 51% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An April 2013 Ifop poll found that 53% of respondents were in favour of the new law allowing same-sex marriage and adoption rights.
 * A May 2013 Ipsos poll found that 51% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and another 29% supported other forms of recognition for same-sex couples.
 * A May 2013 Ifop poll found that 52% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A May 2013 Ifop/Atlantico poll found that 53% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A February 2014 BVA Group poll found that 61% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and 50% were in favour of adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An April 2014 BVA Group poll found that 55% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and 48% were in favour of adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A September 2014 iTélé poll showed that 73% of respondents including 56% of those who support the Union for a Popular Movement would oppose the repeal of same-sex marriage.
 * A September–October 2014 Ifop poll showed that 57% of respondents were against repealing the law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.
 * A November 2014 Ifop/Atlantico poll found that 68% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and 53% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * A May–June 2015 Eurobarometer survey found that 71% of French people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, while 24% were opposed.
 * A June 2015 BVA Group poll found that 67% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, 64% were against revising the 2013 law and 57% were in favour of adoption rights for same-sex couples.
 * An August 2016 Ifop poll for the Association of Homosexual Families (ADFH) found that 65% of respondents opposed repealing the 2013 same-sex marriage law.
 * A September–October 2016 survey by the Varkey Foundation found that 74% of 18–21-year-olds supported same-sex marriage in France.
 * A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 73% of French people supported same-sex marriage, 23% were opposed and 4% did not know or refused to answer. When divided by religion, 85% of religiously unaffiliated people, 78% of non-practicing Christians and 59% of church-attending Christians supported same-sex marriage. Opposition to same-sex marriage was 17% among 18–34-year-olds.
 * The 2019 Eurobarometer found that 79% of French people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, while 15% were opposed. The EU average was 69%.
 * A Pew Research Center poll conducted between February and May 2023 showed that 82% of French people supported same-sex marriage, 14% were opposed and 4% did not know or refused to answer. When divided by political affiliation, support was highest among those at the center of the political spectrum at 86%, followed by those on the left at 85% and those on the right at 77%. Women (86%) were also more likely to support same-sex marriage than men (79%).
 * The 2023 Eurobarometer showed that support was 79%, while 14% were opposed. The survey also found that 84% of French people thought that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex", while 12% disagreed.

title: Same-sex marriage in France


text:
Royal Highness

Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Kings and their female consorts, as well as queens regnant, are usually styled Majesty.

When used as a direct form of address, spoken or written, it takes the form Your Royal Highness. When used as a third-person reference, it is gender-specific (His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness, both abbreviated HRH) and in plural, Their Royal Highnesses (TRH).

Origin
By the 17th century, all local rulers in Italy adopted the style Highness, which was once used by kings and emperors only. According to Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie, the style of Royal Highness was created on the insistence of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Cardinal-Infante of Spain, a younger son of King Philip III of Spain. The archduke was travelling through Italy on his way to the Low Countries and, upon meeting Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, refused to address him as Highness unless the Duke addressed him as Royal Highness. Thus, the first use of the style Royal Highness was recorded in 1633. Gaston, Duke of Orléans, younger son of King Henry IV of France, encountered the style in Brussels and assumed it himself. His children later used the style, considering it their prerogative as grandchildren of France.

By the 18th century, Royal Highness had become the prevalent style for members of a continental reigning dynasty whose head bore the hereditary title of king or queen. The titles of family members of non-hereditary rulers (e.g., the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Poland, Princes of Moldavia and Wallachia—and even the kin of the Princes of Orange who held hereditary leadership though not monarchical position in much of the Netherlands, etc.) were less clear, varying until rendered moot in the 19th century. After dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, several of Germany's prince-electors and other now sovereign rulers assumed the title of grand duke and with it, for themselves, their eldest sons and consorts, the style of Royal Highness (Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg, Saxe-Weimar).

African usage
The vast majority of African royalty that make use of titles such as prince, chief and sheikh, eschew the attendant styles often encountered in Europe. Even in the cases of the aforesaid titles, they usually only exist as courtesies and may or may not have been recognised by a reigning fons honorum. However, some traditional leaders and their family members use royal styles when acting in their official roles as representatives of sovereign or constituent states, distinguishing their status from others who may use or claim traditional titles.

For example, the Nigerian traditional rulers of the Yoruba are usually styled using the HRH The X of Y method, even though they are confusingly known as kings in English and not the princes that the HRH style usually suggests. The chiefly appellation "Kabiyesi" (lit. He (or She) whose words are beyond question) is likewise used as the equivalent of the HRH and other such styles by this class of royalty when rendering their full titles in the Yoruba language.

Furthermore, the wives of the king of the Zulu peoples, although all entitled to the title of queen, do not share their husband's style of Majesty but instead are each addressed as Royal Highness, with the possible exception of the great wife.

Another example, The Zosimli Naa is a female chieftaincy title in Ghana. The first Zosimli was Her Royal Highness, Naa Dr. Susan J Herlin. In 2022, a new Zosimli Naa, HRH Naa Ife Bell was enskinned at a colorful ceremony.

Denmark
In contrast to some other European kingdoms, the kingdom of Denmark reserves the superior style of Royal Highness only to the children of the monarch and the children of the crown prince; other grandchildren of a Danish monarch enjoy the style of Your Excellency, e.g. Count Nikolai of Monpezat.

Holy Roman Empire
The title of Archduke or Archduchess of Austria was known to be complemented with the style of Royal Highness for all non-reigning members of the House of Habsburg and later the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Even though the Habsburgs held the Imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire, it was nominally an elective office that could not be hereditarily transmitted, so the non-reigning family members adopted the style of members of the hereditary Royal family of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, etc.

This changed when Francis I of Austria dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, as the Archduchy of Austria was elevated to an Empire in 1804; the members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine abandoned the style of Royal Highness in favour of the style of Imperial and Royal Highness to reflect the creation of the Empire of Austria.

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the former empress Marie Louise of France was restored to her Imperial and Royal style and granted the title of Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, as well as being restored to her premarital title of Archduchess and Imperial Princess of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.

Burma
The title of "Prince/Princess of the Burma with the accompanying style of HRH; direct translation of Burmese: Myint Myat Taw Mu Hla Thaw.

In Burmese Royal order called for Prince: Shwe Ko Daw Gyi Phaya; Taw Phya. For Princess: Hteik Su Gyi Phaya or Hteik Su Myat Phaya; Su Phya. That title used for Royal descendants of King Thibaw use that royal title.

Another Kongbaung Dynasty King's Descendants Prince and Princess are use His/ Her Imperial Royal Highness (Royal title).
 * A former monarch upon abdication.
 * The heir apparent to the throne.

Netherlands
The title of "Prince/Princess of the Netherlands" with the accompanying style of HRH is or may be granted by law to the following classes of persons:

 * A former monarch upon abdication.
 * The heir apparent to the throne.
 * The husband of a female monarch.
 * The spouse of the heir apparent.
 * The legitimate children of the monarch and the wife of any legitimate son of the monarch.
 * The legitimate children of the heir apparent.

A separate title of "Prince/Princess of Orange-Nassau" may be granted by law to members of the Dutch royal house or, as a personal and non-hereditary title to former members of the royal house within three months of loss of membership. A Prince/Princess of Orange-Nassau who is not also a Prince/Princess of the Netherlands is addressed as "His/Her Highness" without the predicate "royal". That is the case for example of the children of Princess Margriet, younger daughter of the late Queen Juliana.

Finally, members of the royal house or former members of the royal house within three months of loss of their membership may be also inducted by royal decree into the Dutch nobility with a rank lower than prince/princess and, generally, the accompanying style of "His/Her Highborn Lord/Lady". That is the case for example of the children of the younger brother of King Willem-Alexander, Prince Constantijn, who were given the titles of "Count/Countess of Orange-Nassau" and the honorific predicate of "Jonkheer/Jonkvrouw van Amsberg", both hereditary in the male line.

Norway
In Norway the style of Royal Highness is reserved for the children of the monarch and the eldest child of the heir apparent. Other children of the heir apparent have the style Highness, e.g. Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway.

Spain
In Spain, the prince or princess of Asturias, his or her spouse and the infantes of Spain bear the style of Royal Highness. The infantes are the children of the monarch and the children of the prince or princess of Asturias. Their spouses are not infantes by marriage and do not bear the style of Royal Highness, although they usually bear the ducal title of their spouse along with the style of The Most Excellent, also used by the children of the infantes and the grandees of Spain.

The consort of a queen regnant bears the title of prince and the style of Royal Highness, although the last male consort, spouse of Queen Isabella II, was elevated to the dignity of king consort with the style of Majesty.

Finally, a regent designated outside of the royal family in the cases provided by law would bear the simpler style of Highness.

Sweden
When Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden married commoner Olof Daniel Westling in 2010, the Swedish Royal Court announced that Westling would become "Prince Daniel" and "Duke of Västergötland", corresponding in form to the style used by Swedish princes of royal birth, including Victoria's younger brother Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, i.e. Prince + Given name + Duke of [province]. Thus Westling was made a prince of Sweden and was granted the style Royal Highness, making him an official member of the Swedish royal family.

Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland married the commoner British-American banker Christopher O'Neill in 2013, but she did not adopt the surname O'Neill and instead retained the Bernadotte surname as do her children, and retained the style of Royal Highness. Christopher O'Neill kept his own name, unlike his brother-in-law Prince Daniel (above). O'Neill was not granted royal status and has remained a private citizen, since he wished to retain his British and United States citizenships and his business. He declined Swedish citizenship and for that reason could not be a member of the Swedish Royal Family or Duke of Hälsingland and Gästrikland (his wife's titles). To remain Swedish royalty and have succession rights to the Swedish throne, the couple's children will have to be raised in Sweden and as members of the Church of Sweden.

Three of the sisters of King Carl XVI Gustaf were granted honorary titles of Princess (without nationality) when they married commoners but lost their Royal Highness status, as did two of his uncles earlier in the 20th century.

In October 2019, the grandchildren of King Carl XVI Gustaf retained the titles of Prince or Princess but lost the style of Royal Highness, except for the children of the Crown Princess Victoria.

Saudi Arabia
Sons, daughters, patrilineal grandsons and granddaughters of Ibn Saud are referred to by the style "His/Her Royal Highness" (HRH), differing from those belonging to the cadet branches, who are called "His/Her Highness" (HH) and in addition to that a reigning king has the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

United Kingdom
In British constitutional law, use of the style HRH or simply "Royal Highness" may only be conferred by letters patent. Since 1917, the style has usually been restricted to children of the monarch, or to male-line grandchildren (i.e., the children of the monarch's sons). It is typically associated with the rank of prince or princess (although this has not always applied, an exception being Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who received the style in 1947 prior to his marriage to Princess Elizabeth but was not formally created a British prince until 1957). When a prince has another title such as Duke (or a princess the title of Duchess), they may be called HRH The Duke of .... For instance HRH The Duke of Connaught was a prince and a member of the royal family, while a non-royal duke such as the Duke of Devonshire is not a member of the royal family, but is a member of the peerage. When Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 he was granted the style and title, HRH The Duke of Windsor. The woman he then married became the Duchess of Windsor, but she was denied the style HRH. Edward for much of the rest of his life attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the crown to grant her the style.

According to letters patent issued by King George V in 1917, the sons and daughters of sovereigns and the male-line grandchildren of sovereigns are entitled to the style. It is for this reason that the daughters of the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, carry the HRH status, but the children of Anne, Princess Royal, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, do not. James Mountbatten-Windsor and Lady Louise, the grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of their parents, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, are styled as the children of a duke, and thus are known as Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Earl of Wessex. Under George V's letters patent, only the eldest son of the eldest living son of the Prince of Wales was also entitled to the style, but not younger sons or daughters of the eldest living son of the Prince of Wales. Queen Elizabeth II changed this in 2012 prior to the birth of Prince George so that all children of the eldest living son of the Prince of Wales would bear the style, returning to the position Queen Victoria had instituted in 1898. There is no mention of younger living sons of a Prince of Wales, as a result of which the children of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Archie and Lilibet, were not automatically a prince and princess with the HRH prefix. After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, both children became entitled to the HRH style and the title of Prince and Princess respectively. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed their children would use those titles in March 2023. On 18 January 2020, Queen Elizabeth II announced that Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, would no longer use the style of His/Her Royal Highness due to their decision to step down as working members of the royal family, though they are still legally entitled to the style. On 13 January 2022, it was announced that Prince Andrew, Duke of York would no longer use the style, following a notorious lawsuit against him.

Letters patent dated 21 August 1996 stated that the wife of a member of the royal family loses the right to the style of HRH in the event of their divorce. Examples include HRH The Princess of Wales and HRH The Duchess of York whose styles changed to become Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York, respectively. These styles are in line with those of a divorced peeress.

title: Royal Highness


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Potosí

Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal 4090 m. For centuries, it was the location of the Spanish colonial silver mint. A considerable amount of the city's colonial architecture has been preserved in the historic center of the city, which—along with the globally important Cerro Rico de Potosí—are part of a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Potosí lies at the foot of the Cerro de Potosí —sometimes referred to as the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain")—a mountain popularly conceived of as being "made of" silver ore that dominates the city. The Cerro Rico is the reason for Potosí's historical importance since it was the major supply of silver for the Spanish Empire until Guanajuato in Mexico surpassed it in the 18th century.

The silver was taken by llama and mule train to the Pacific coast, shipped north to Panama City, and carried by mule train across the isthmus of Panama to Nombre de Dios or Portobelo, whence it was taken to Spain on the Spanish treasure fleets. Some of the silver also made its way east to Buenos Aires, via the Rio de la Plata. Some of the silver was also transported to Acapulco, Mexico, where it was sent via the Manila Galleons to buy Asian products. Cerro de Potosí's peak is 4824 m above sea level.

Today, Potosí continues to be an important mining center, and is the largest urban center in the Department of Potosí. A growing city, Potosí is now famous for its well-preserved colonial architecture, and unusual geographic setting as one of the highest cities in the world. It features a rare cold highland climate, and is marked by its long dry period, and short but strong wet season. While famous for its dominance as a mining center in early Spanish colonial history, Potosí still sits at one of the largest silver deposit systems in the world.

Geology
Located in the Bolivian Tin Belt, Cerro Rico de Potosí is the world's largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century, producing up to 60,000 tonnes by 1996. Estimates are that much silver still remains in the mines. Potosí became the second largest city, and the site of the first mint, in the Americas. By 1891, low silver prices prompted the change to mining tin, which continued until 1985. At peak production in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the ore contained up to 40% silver.

The ore deposits reside in veins present in the dacite volcanic dome. The hill is "honeycombed" with underground workings, reaching from the summit to depths of 1150 m. The conical hill has a reddish-brown gossan cap of iron-oxides and quartz, with grayish-blue altered dacite and many mine dumps below.

Basement rocks consist of Ordovician clastic sediments consisting of phyllite with some sandstone interbedding. At about 13.8 Ma, the dome was extruded. During the explosive process, the Venus breccia formed when the ascending dacite magma reacted with groundwater to produce a phreatic eruption. The released pressure allowed the formation of the Caracoles tuff ring on top of the breccia. The magma then extruded outward from a dike to form a volcanic dome over the tuff. The dacite dome is 1700 m by 1200 m at the surface and narrows down to the 100 m wide dike at depth. Hydrothermal circulation and fracturing soon followed, altering the dacite and depositing ore minerals and gangue in the veins.

Colonial silver boom
Founded in 1545 as a mining town, it soon produced fabulous wealth, and the population eventually exceeded 200,000 people. The city gave rise to a Spanish expression, still in use: valer un Potosí ("to be worth a Potosí"), meaning "to be of great value". The rich mountain, Cerro Rico, produced an estimated 60% of all silver mined in the world during the second half of the 16th century.

Potosí miners at first mined the rich oxidized ores with native silver and silver chloride (cerargyrite) that could be fed directly into smelting furnaces. Especially successful were the small clay "flower pot" furnaces called guayras, which had been used by the Incas. By 1565, the miners had exhausted the direct-smelting ore, and silver production plummeted. Silver production was revived by the introduction of the patio process, invented in Mexico in 1554. The patio process used mercury amalgamation to extract silver from lower-grade ores, and those containing silver sulfide (argentite), as was typical of the unoxidized ores found deeper in the mountain. In 1609, another mercury amalgamation method, the pan amalgamation process was invented in Potosí, and proved better-adapted to the conditions at Potosí.

Spanish American mines were the world's most abundant sources of silver during this time period. Spanish America's ability to supply a great amount of silver and China's strong demand for this commodity which the Spanish supplied via Latin American trade with the Philippines using the Manila Galleons, resulted in a spectacular mining boom. The true champion of this boom in the silver industry was indeed the Spanish crown. By allowing private-sector entrepreneurs to operate mines under license and placing high taxes on mining profits, the Spanish empire was able to extract the greatest benefits. An example of a tax that was levied includes the quinto, a 20% severance tax on gross value. From the raw materials extracted from the mines, coins called pieces of eight were fashioned at the Potosí mint.

For Europeans, Peru–Bolivia was located in the Viceroyalty of Peru and was known as "Upper Peru" before becoming independent as part of Bolivia. Potosí was a mythical land of riches, it is mentioned in Miguel de Cervantes' famous novel, Don Quixote (second part, chap. LXXI) as a land of "extraordinary richness". One theory holds that the mint mark of Potosí (the letters "PTSI" superimposed on one another) is the origin of the dollar sign.

The urban complex in the remote Andes was important enough to be designated a Villa Imperial in the hierarchy of Spanish urban settlements. Although in mountainous terrain, the core of Potosí was laid out in the standard Spanish grid pattern, where by 1610 some 3,000 Spaniards and 35,000 creoles, mostly male, were resident. Indigenous settlements outside the core were more haphazard. The villa was governed by a Spanish corregidor and town council. Some 40 notaries documented and recorded commercial transactions as well as last wills and testaments. Since Potosí was of such economic importance to the Spanish Empire, the crown bureaucracy was a significant presence. Large churches, lavishly decorated inside, were built, and friars from the Dominican, Franciscans, Augustinians, Mercederians, and Jesuits were present, but no convent for women. There was an ecclesiastical court for legal issues regarding the clergy.

Labor
Indigenous laborers were required to work in Potosí's silver mines through the Spanish mita system of forced labor, based on an analogous mit'a system traditional to pre-Hispanic Andean society (though the mit'a directed labor for public works and collective agricultural projects). Laborers were drawn from the native population of an area that encompassed almost 200,000 square miles. Thirteen thousand men were conscripted each year, constituting about one out of every seven adult males in the indigenous population. These mitayos faced harsh conditions in the mines, where they were often given the least desirable jobs. While more skilled laborers extracted the ore, mitayos were tasked with carrying it back to the surface in baskets, leather bags, or cloth sacks.

These loads often weighed between 100 and 300 lbs, and the workers had to carry them up rickety ladders in steep, narrow shafts lit only by a candle tied to their foreheads. Many of them died or were seriously injured due to falls, accidents, and the harsh conditions of the mine life. Illness was another danger: at such a high altitude, pneumonia was always a concern, especially given the extreme and rapid changes of temperature experienced by workers climbing from the heat of the deep shafts to the freezing elements of the surface at 16,000 feet, and mercury poisoning took the lives of many involved in the refining process.

The Potosí mita caused dramatic demographic shifts in the local indigenous population as wives and children moved with workers to Potosí while thousands more fled their traditional villages, forfeiting their ayllu land rights in order to escape the labor draft. By the late 17th century, upper Peru had lost nearly 50% of its indigenous population compared to a little over a century earlier. This only increased the burden on the remaining natives, and at some point in the 1600s, up to half of the eligible male population might find themselves working at Potosí. Nevertheless, the number of mitayos dropped to about 4,000 by 1689, prompting the Viceroy Duke of Palata to raise the number again through a new census and inclusion of new populations not subject to the mita (forasteros).

The reform failed, and the Duke's successor set the official number to 4,108 mitayos (1,367 active each week). In reality, the number of mitayos was even lower due to the increasing practice of buying oneself out of the obligation. For the remaining mita workforce, however, conditions remained harsh. Mine and mill owners notoriously ignored official regulations on provisions and especially withheld the money the Indians should receive as recompensation for their travel. Just the cost of traveling to Potosí and back could be more than a mitayo was paid in a year, and so many of them chose to remain in Potosí as wage workers when their mita was finished. Former mitayos living in Potosí were not only exempt from the draft, but usually earned considerably more due to the valuable skills they had gained in permanent services.

According to historian Noble David Cook, "A key factor in understanding the impact of the Potosi mita on the Indians is that mita labor was only one form of work at the mines. A 1603 report stated that of 58,800 Indians working at Potosi, 5100 were mitayos, or fewer than one in ten. In addition to the mitayos there were 10,500 mingas (contractual workers) and 43,200 free wage earners." However, historian Peter Bakewell emphasizes the role of mita labor in Potosí to a greater extent. According to his research, though as few as 4500 mitayos were actively laboring in the mines at any given time, this was due to the mita ordinaria system, in which the up to 13,500 men conscripted per year were divided into three parts, each working one out of every three weeks. In addition, many of the remaining mingas and wage workers were either mita ordinaria workers on their off weeks or former mitayos who remained in Potosí.

Within the mines, a figure called el Tío acts as a deity of the land itself. El Tío serves as a figure of the mountain itself. Laborers within the mines offer coca leaves and alcohol to statues constructed within the mines of the deity to protect themselves from the dangerous conditions.

Colonial-era society
Potosí was a multiracial society, with native Andeans, Spanish settlers, and black slaves. The largest sector of the population were native men, forced to labor underground mining the silver ore, but there were considerable opportunities for merchants and native traders, who became wealthy. Suppliers of food as well as holders of urban and rural real estate prospered in Potosí. Women, particularly widows, held property, since they were guaranteed a portion of their husband's estate under Spanish law. Small-scale female vendors dominated street markets and stalls, selling food, coca leaves, and chicha (maize beer). A portion of the female population were sex workers, which is a typical phenomenon in mining towns generally.

In the early 17th century, Basques were well established in the city and made up for a substantial number of the inhabitants in Potosí. They gathered in a confederation opposed to another one, the Vicuñas, a melting pot of natives and non-Basque Spanish and Portuguese colonists, fighting for control over ore extraction from the mines and its management. Eventually, tension among both factions came to a head, resulting in the eruption of overt armed conflict starting 1622 up to 1625. The Spanish Crown intervened, siding at one point with the Basques. Both factions reached a settlement sealed with a wedding between the son and daughter of the leaders in either side, the Basque Francisco Oyanume and the Vicuña general Castillo. One of the most famous Basque residents in Potosí (1617–19) was Catalina de Erauso, a nun who escaped her convent and dressed as a man, becoming a driver of llamas and a soldier.

Independence era
During the Bolivian War of Independence (1809–1825), Potosí frequently passed between the control of Royalist and Patriot forces. Major leadership mistakes came when the First Auxiliary Army arrived from Buenos Aires (under the command of Juan José Castelli), which led to an increased sense that Potosí required its own independent government.

Later, the Second Auxiliary Army (under the command of Manuel Belgrano) was forced to retreat, Belgrano made the decision to blow up the Casa de la Moneda. The natives undid the fuse, as many refused to evacuate and would have lost their lives. Two more expeditions from Buenos Aires would seize Potosí.

Modern era
Potosí continues to be an important administrative center, mining town, tourist attraction, and population center in modern Bolivia.

Etymology
There is no authoritative etymology for the word Potosí. According to legend, in about 1462, Huayna Capac, the eleventh Sapa Inca of what by then was known as the Inca Empire "set out for Ccolque Porco and Andaccaua, the location of his mines from which were taken innumerable arrobas of silver" (an arroba is a Spanish unit of weight equivalent to approximately 25 lb). Before leaving there, he saw Potosí, and admiring its beauty and grandeur, he said (speaking to those of his Court): ""This doubtless must have much silver in its heart"; whereby he subsequently ordered his vassals to go to Ccolque Porco ... and work the mines and remove from them all the rich metal. They did so, and having brought their tools of flint and reinforced wood, they climbed the hill; and after having probed for its veins, they were about to open those veins when they heard a frightening thunderous noise which shook the whole hill, and after this, they heard a voice which said: "Do not take the silver from this hill, because it is destined for other masters." Amazed at hearing this reasoning, the Incan vassals desisted in their purpose and returned to Porco and told the king what had happened; relating the occurrence in their own language, on coming to the word noise, they said "Potocsí" which means there was a great thunderous noise, and from that later was derived (corrupting a letter) the name of potosí."

It is believed that Potosí is a Quechua word. However, in Quechua the root p'otoj does not refer to a thunderous noise, whereas it does in Aymara. Thus, if Potosí encompasses the idea of a thunderous noise, the location would have an Aymaran root rather than a Quechuan.

The actual sharp structure of the term is contrary to the nature of both Aymara and Quechua. Another explanation, given by several Quechua speakers, is that potoq is an onomatopoeic word that reproduces the sound of the hammer against the ore, and oral tradition has it that the town derived its name from this word.

Climate
Potosí has a rare climate for a city of its size, due to its extreme elevation at over 4,000m. Semi-arid and with average temperatures in its warmest month sitting right at 10 °C, the city's climate straddles a subtropical highland climate, Cwc, within the Köppen climate classification, with subpolar oceanic characteristics and an alpine climate (E).

Summers are cool and wet. with daily highs rarely rising above 20 °C. Winters have cooler days with much colder nights, averaging −4 °C. These low temperatures are a result of the extreme precipitation deficit during the winter months, with the resulting aridity leading to an increased diurnal temperature variation.

Neighborhoods

 * Old Town
 * San Gerardo
 * La Chacra
 * Cervecería
 * Alto Potosí
 * Nuevo Potosí
 * San Martín
 * Pampa Ingenio
 * Nacional Potosí
 * San Juan
 * Concepción
 * San Cristóbal
 * Pailaviri
 * Cachi Rancho
 * El Calvario
 * San Pedro
 * San Roque
 * Mercado Uyuni
 * San Benito
 * Villa España
 * Huachacalla
 * Cantumarca
 * San Clemente
 * Ciudad Satélite
 * Plan 40
 * Las Delicias
 * Los Pinos-Cordepo
 * Las Lecherías
 * Villa Mecànicos
 * Villa Copacabana
 * Villa Venezuela
 * Villa Nazaret

Villages

 * Belén
 * Cuchu Ingenio

Sports
Potosí is home to football teams Real and Nacional, which play their matches at the 32,000-capacity multi-purpose stadium Estadio Víctor Agustín Ugarte, one of the highest stadiums in the world.

Transportation
The city is served by Aeropuerto Capitán Nicolas Rojas, with commercial airline flights by Boliviana de Aviación, Bolivia's flag air carrier. There is also a railroad, the Rio Mulatos-Potosí line.

Legacy
The city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico was named after Potosí in Bolivia. In the United States, the name Potosi was optimistically given to lead-mining towns of Potosi, Wisconsin, and Potosi, Missouri, and also to the silver-mining town of Potosi, Nevada.

Twin towns – sister cities

 * 🇵🇪 Cusco, Peru
 * 🇨🇳 Lhasa, China

title: Potosí


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Talk:Same-sex marriage in France

Untitled
I've added a link to the French Wikipedia entry which corresponds to this page, in case anyone who is more bilingual than I am would like a convenient way to keep them in synch with each other -- Ray Radlein, May 13, 2004

Hi - I would just like to say that the recognition by France of the Dutch same-sex marriage was only in the instance of two Dutch men and only with regards to submitting a joint tax declaration. France does not recognise a Dutch same-sex marriage between a Dutch man and a non-EU man, nor does it recognise a Dutch marriage in other areas aside from tax. -- mvangelderen, April 8, 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mvangelderen (talk • contribs) 16:41, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Overseas departments and territories of France
It looks that the law is fully applicable to these territories. I think that the text is quite clear about it. If I understand correctly, the government must issue the order implementing the law in the territories within 6 months. Ron 1987 (talk) 10:05, 19 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Or in some cases also change the civil code locally it seems; as this law doesn't hold there (at least that's a possible explanation; I could translate "à l'exception de celles du code civil" also as: with the exception of those from the code civil))… That's at least what I also make from it. I'll put a "verification needed" tag until we have sorted it out and will as around at fr-wikipedia… L.tak (talk) 15:28, 19 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Actually, as indicated in section 22, provisions concerning the civil law provisions are valid in New Caledonia, Wallis-and-Futuna and French Polynesia (all French laws are automatically valid in other overseas territories, except if stated otherwise, which is not the case here).
 * Section 14-2° states that ordinances will be taken withing six months:
 * to make provisions so that the non-civil aspects of the law (social insurances for example) are applicapble in New Caledonia, Wallis-and-Futuna, French Antartica and French Polynesia;
 * to make adaptations for local laws of Mayotte, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. --Superbenjamin (talk) 16:05, 19 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you for clarification. Ron 1987 (talk) 16:10, 19 May 2013 (UTC)

Marriage / Civil Union
The whole article talks about marriage. But that implies to anyone reading the article that it means a religious marriage. As far as I can tell from my quick reading of the news, the law change is with regards civil unions. Yes I know the LGBT groups are campaigning that marriage is marriage no matter what method is used, but it's important in an encyclopedia article to ensure that people do not get the wrong impression. I suggest that "marriage" throughout the article be changed to "civil union". 79.70.78.26 (talk) 06:27, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
 * You should read proper news or try to understand the concept of Civil Marriage Vargmali (talk) 06:47, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Oooh, proper news by the BBC. Very authoritative. But even they don't spell out that that it is civil marriage. None of the references to marriage in this article mention the word civil. Marriage has been used for decades to mean the religious ceremony, whilst civil union is used for the state version. What France is legalising is the civil union. It is not a wedding or a marriage. It is a civil union. Marriage is used by those who want to equate religious marriage with civil marriage to make out that they are the same thing. They are not. One is a legally recognised union. The other is one carried out by people who have weird beliefs. 79.70.78.26 (talk) 17:26, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Read article 1 of the new law. It's marriage, not civil union. Ron 1987 (talk) 17:43, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
 * I'll add that the French civil marriage is a ceremony on top of a contract, invented during the revolution to replace the religious marriage. It's the only kind of recognized marriage, in fact marrying religiously without first marrying civilly is punishable by law (the religious leader doing it can go to jail in theory). There is even a civil baptism ! Aesma (talk) 00:58, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

Chapin and Charpentier's ECHR case
Anyone know what has happened or will happen with Chapin and Charpentier's case at the European Court of Human Rights? Will it be dropped by the court now that it has become moot? - htonl (talk) 20:17, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

En 2018, 266 000 personnes vivent en couple avec un conjoint de même sexe
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.48.31.34 (talk) 11:48, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

En France, les 133.000 couples de même sexe vivent principalement dans les grandes villes
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.48.31.34 (talk) 11:55, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Same-sex marriage in France


text:
Terang

Terang is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Corangamite and on the Princes Highway 212 km south west of the state's capital, Melbourne. At the, Terang had a population of 1,824. At the 2001 census, Terang had a population of 1,859. The population of Terang has since risen according to the 2011 Census; the population is now 2,348, of which 1,155 are male and 1,193 are female, with the median age being 44.

History
The semi-nomadic Kirrae Wuurong clans originally inhabited the area between Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River, and much of their language was recorded by a Scottish squatter, James Dawson.

The first dwelling in the township area was built in 1840 by Donald McNicol, and consisted of a slab hut on the east bank of Lake Terang. The township was developed in the late 1850s, the post office opening on 1 March 1859.

The railway though the town was opened in 1887. From 1890 it was extended as part of Victoria's south-western line. The Mortlake line once branched from the town, opened in 1893 and closed in 1978. The local railway station is served by V/Line passenger services on the Warrnambool line.

The Terang Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1983.

Avenues of trees were planted in the 19th century and several of these are now under the protection of the National Trust. A Heritage Trail walk points out the historic trees and many of the historic buildings and sights of the town.

Features to see are the historic post office with its clock tower (1903-4), the war memorial, the rose gardens with the band rotunda, and the town's first church (Bible Christian Church c.1863). The Thomson Memorial church is also a significant local structure.

Lake Terang
Lake Terang was a lake that on its shores the town was built. To the south of the town centre is a large peat bed unique to the region. In 1933, while dry, the peat bed began burning but became a shallow lake by the 1940s. The lake was drained in the 1960s and the dried out lake floor is now used as a recreation area, for agriculture and as part of the Terang Golf Course.

Lake Keilambete
Lake Keilambete is a maar lake 4 km north of the town. The lake is a circular body 1.8 km in diameter and an average depth of 11 m. The salinity is twice that of seawater.

Sport
The town has an Australian Rules football team, Terang-Mortlake, playing in the Hampden Football League.

Terang has a horse racing club, the Terang & District Racing Club, which schedules around eight race meetings a year including the Terang Cup meeting in October.

Terang Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the town.

Golfers play on the 18-hole golf course at the Terang Golf Club on High Street at the western entrance to the town.

Education
Terang College is a school, established in 1848 as Terang Primary School. It educates more than 400 students from Prep to Year 12. It has two campuses: one on the western (Warrnambool) side of the town; the other on Strong Street near Cobden Road. The western campus houses years Prep to Grade 4 while the Cobden Road Campus has Years 5 - 12.

Climate
Terang has a moderate oceanic climate (Cfb) with warm summers, albeit with cool nights, and chilly damp winters.

Notable citizens

 * John Robertson Duigan MC, the pioneer aviator who built and flew the first Australian-made aircraft, was born in Terang in 1882.
 * Tom Skeyhill, Gallipoli campaign veteran and biographer of Sergeant Alvin York WW1 Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Terang in 1895.
 * The Australian immunologist and Nobel laureate Frank Macfarlane Burnet grew up in Terang, whilst his father was a bank manager.
 * Author, business advisor and media commentator Bernard Salt was born in Terang and attended Terang High School.
 * AFL footballer and Essendon premiership player Chris Heffernan.
 * Footscray footballer Dick Wearmouth.
 * Collingwood footballer and four-time grand finalist Ronnie Wearmouth.
 * Melbourne footballer Jordie McKenzie.
 * The Standardbred racehorse Gammalite, who was the first Standardbred to win A$1 million in Australia.
 * Ten Eyewitness News news presenter Candice Wyatt.
 * James MacKinnon, cricketer.
 * Adam Harvey, country music singer.
 * Con Chrisoulis, academic and graphic novel biographer of David Bowie and the Smiths, was born in Terang.

title: Terang


text:
Katong

Katong is a residential neighbourhood in the eastern portion of the Central Region of Singapore, within the Marine Parade planning area. Katong district stretches from Fort Road area to Joo Chiat area. It used to be located by the sea, before land reclamation towards the south to East Coast Park was created for housing and recreational purposes beginning in the 1960s to 1970s.

Katong was the location of many villas and mansions of the wealthy elite in the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. They made their fortunes in the Far East and built seaside resorts, villas and manors along the beachfront of Katong, beginning from Katong Park to the end of the East Coast.

Katong's rich cultural mix has contributed to its unique cuisine. Katong is well known among locals as a food district with a variety of shophouse restaurants serving Peranakan cuisine and particularly, a spicy Singaporean noodle soup known as Katong laksa. Its famous icons include Joo Chiat Rd's food street, Duman food center, Koon Seng Road & Everitt Road 's Peranakan conservation house, Eurasian Heritage Gallery.

Etymology
Tanjong Katong derived from popular beach shoreline along the East Coast. Tanjong means cape in Malay. This coastal feature was located near the present Tanjong Katong Flyover across East Coast Parkway and has since disappeared due to land reclamation.

When directly translated to English, it is known as Turtle Cape.

History
Many wealthy Chinese, English, Portuguese and Anglo-French settlers bought parcels of land in Katong beside the sea to cultivate plantations, and built business empires from trading in commodities such as cotton, coconut and gambier. One of them is the Wee family where Thiam Siew Avenue is named after them, now being The Continuum Condo. Many of these plantations can be seen along Mountbatten Road.

Katong developed from a weekend seaside retreat into a home for the wealthy, who built immense colonial seaside bungalows away from the hustle and bustle of town life. The wealthy suburb stretched along Meyer Road and Mountbatten Road from Katong Park to Tanjong Katong. By 1928 Katong had grown to the extent that the Inspector-General of Police H. Fairburn remarked: "The development of the area from Katong to Joo Chiat, which has been so rapid in the past two years, promises to continue, and from every point of view one sees the necessity of providing for a sub-divisional station in the suburb. The suburb at present possess no police station." From then on Katong encroached into Joo Chiat area from Tanjong Katong to Telok Kurau Road. East Coast Road (now divided into East Coast Road and Upper East Coast Road) had many upper-class family homes.

The present Katong area stretches from Mountbatten Road, East Coast Road to Siglap. The Joo Chiat area of Katong was formerly an ethnic enclave of Eurasians fleeing congestion, pollution, and overcrowding in Singapore after the Great Depression.

Kampong Amber
In the early twentieth century, Kampong Amber, a Malay fishing village between East Coast Road and Amber Road, was a prominent landmark in the coastal area of Katong. The village was named after the adjacent Amber Road, which was in turn named after the clan name of Joseph Aaron Elias, a prominent property owner in early-20th-century Singapore.

The inhabitants of Kampong Amber were mostly Malay fishermen, who lived in thatched timber houses on stilts, irregularly clustered into a porous urban fabric. Between these houses were many large communal spaces, where the inhabitants spent much of their time, engaging in activities such as plucking beansprout, pounding chili paste, and talking to their neighbors. Since the salty soil was unfriendly to agriculture, the villagers largely depended on the ocean for their livelihoods.

Just across Amber Road were the beachfront bungalows of wealthy Peranakan businessmen, notably Lee Choon Guan and his wife, who owned the land which Kampong Amber sits on. Mr and Mrs Lee allowed the villagers to live in Kampong Amber rent-free; as a show of appreciation, the villagers held an annual parade on Mrs Lee's birthday.

As part of the 1971 Concept Plan, land reclamation along the East Coast was carried out between 1963 and 1985. This reclaimed land transformed the swampy coastline with its foul smells into a scenic vista of white sandy beaches, and made it a desirable location for high-end residential developments; at the same time, the reclaimed land and increased motor vehicle traffic on the road combined to separate the villagers of Kampong Amber from the ocean on which they depended.

As Singapore continued to industrialize through the 1970s, Kampong Amber was among the kampongs destroyed to make room for economic developments: first four- to eight-storey residential buildings, then high-rise flats. The occupants were relocated to newly-built, government-subsidised flats. In a 2003 master plan, the land was parcelled out for further development.

A few remnants of earlier Kampong Amber survived the process of industrialization. The iconic car porch of the Butterfly House, a beachfront bungalow built in 1912 by Regent A. J. Bidwell, was incorporated into a new 18-storey condo. Another surviving early Kampong Amber landmark is the Chinese Swimming Club, founded in 1909 and moved to a permanent site at Amber Road in 1921. Originally a Chinese response to the European-only Singapore Swimming-club founded by the British in 1894, the Chinese Swimming Club was sponsored by wealthy philanthropist Lee Choon Guan. The club went on to become a social gathering place, a training location for many world-class athletes,  and a prominent local landmark that drew visits from figures including Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, President Wee Kim Wee, and President Tony Tan Keng Yam. Today, the club extends membership to non-Chinese residents.

Highlights
The area is traditionally associated with the Eurasian and Peranakan community. However, many high-rise apartment blocks now stand alongside the traditional shophouses and Peranakan terrace houses. In 1993, the Joo Chiat neighbourhood which comprises the historical centre of Katong, with its uniquely Singaporean architecture mixing Chinese, Peranakan and English colonial styles, was designated a national heritage conservation area by the Singapore Government. The conservation area consists of many shop houses which are refurnished into cafes as well as specialty shops.

Residents
It was home to the earlier scions of the Englishmen Lord Mountbatten of Burma and Cathay Organisation film magnate, Loke Wan Tho. Its illustrious residents include the ancestral family of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. The former President Sellapan Ramanathan lived in Katong in his primary residence on Ceylon Road. Also home to performance artist Nicholas Tee.

Politics
Katong is part of the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency whose Member of Parliament is Former Prime Minister and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (Marine Parade), Fatimah Lateef (Geylang Serai) and Edwin Tong (Joo Chiat) of the People's Action Party. More than half of Katong falls under SM Goh's Marine Parade constituency.

In popular culture

 * Katong Miss Oh, a sitcom that aired on MediaCorp Channel 8 in 2002.
 * Tanjong Katong is mentioned in a song "Nak Dara Rindu" by actor, filmmaker, musician, and composer P. Ramlee
 * Tanjong Katong is mentioned in the Singaporean folk song "Di Tanjong Katong"

title: Katong


text: User talk:81.31.124.106

title: User talk:81.31.124.106


text:
Dyatkovo

Dyatkovo (Дя́тьково, ) is a town and the administrative center of Dyatkovsky District in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. Population:

History
It was first mentioned in 1626, but it mostly stagnated until 1785, when after the death of Akim Vasilyevich Maltsov, his widow, Marya, bought out a factory from Yevdokiya, the widow of Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsov, and decided to expand its production. In 1790, in a forest near Dyatkovo, Marya Maltsova built the now famous glass and crystal factory, the quality of products of which was comparable to that of the plant in Gus. The workers' settlement around the plant soon grew in size and absorbed the village of Dyatkovo.

In 1798, the ownership of the company passed to Ivan Akimovich Maltsov, who created an entire industrial empire centered in Dyatkovo. In 1853, his business was continued by his son Sergey. By then, 100,000 people were employed by Maltsov's factories, which had their own currency, police force, and a 202 verst long railway.

In 1918, when all of the Maltsov's factories were nationalized, the "State Maltsov Factory District" trust centered in Dyatkovo was established. In 1929, Dyatkovsky District produced about 10% of all the window glass produced in the Soviet Union.

Town status was granted to Dyatkovo in 1938.

Bryansk Oblast was a center of partisan movement during World War II. The German Army occupied Dyatkovo on October 9, 1941. In February 1942, Soviet partisans managed to retake power in Dyatkovo and neighboring villages. The area was deeply inside Nazi-occupied territory. The partisans ran a hospital and various shops but were overrun by the Nazis in June 1942. The Red Army retook Dyatkovo on September 15, 1943.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Dyatkovo serves as the administrative center of Dyatkovsky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with five rural localities, incorporated within Dyatkovsky District as Dyatkovsky Urban Administrative Okrug. As a municipal division, Dyatkovsky Urban Administrative Okrug is incorporated within Dyatkovsky Municipal District as Dyatkovskoye Urban Settlement.

Economy and culture
Dyatkovo is most noted for its lead crystal factory, furniture factory, and the Lead Crystal Museum, the largest museum of artistic glass in the country.

Religion

The Dyatkovo Transfiguration Church was opened in 1810. Its paintings were done in the Italian style and the iconostasis was made of crystal, as was the church's enormous chandelier. After the demolition of the church in 1929, the crystal iconostasis was lost. In 2003, new Dyatkovo church was built in honor of the icon Neopalimaya Kupina (Неопалимая купина, "Burning Bush"). The church possesses the world's only crystal iconostasis, which was made by the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory and which weighs about three tons.

Popular culture

 * Episode 11 of season 5 of The Americans was titled "Dyatkovo", with a plot thread involving fictional Nazi war crimes in Dyatkovo.

title: Dyatkovo


text:
User talk:Lynndie England

Unless you are the person in question (which I doubt), your username could be regarded as provocative. Please note that we have a policy of not allowing provocative usernames. -- The Anome 08:50, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

This name is composed of common American names like "George" or "Bush" and SHOULD NOT be considered provocative unless there is debasing or insulting lexical united like "redneck" or "subhuman" inserted therein. Coincidence of choice of personal names with certain media figures should not be considered an administrative matter, for there is no possible definition of limits. Furthermore, in the general public, coincidence of personal names is by no means a legal matter concerning the imposition of personality. For it is all together different from that which concerns copyright of institutions, enterprises etc.

If there is such restriction here, it is obviously too strict for the good of fairness and consensus.

If you are raising this question because you consider it unfair to put the US occupation of Iraq in such critical light, then we are onto something completely different. Maybe we should discuss politics instead. You have the right to be politically biased, as long as you allow others to exercise this same right.

title: User talk:Lynndie England


text:
User talk:Gillo

(various replies copied from User talk:Matt Crypto to keep the conversation easier to follow!)

Hey, Matt. I saw that you reverted my entry on Prospero Alpini earlier today. I know it seems kind of outlandish, but that entry is based on interdisciplinary research we've been doing here at Brown University. For the past year, I've been supervising a number of undergraduates concentrating in History, Queer Theory, and Latin who are pouring over manuscripts from the Renaissance period. In particular, we've come across several codices (De Amatoria Virili and Remedia Incesti Amoris, as I mentioned in the entry) which are really significant if they're authentic (and they appear to be). It seems like this relatively obscure figure in botany may be one of the earliest sexual theorists!

Anyway, I know the Wikipedia gets hit with a lot of vandalism (most of it relating in some way to homosexuality), so I just thought I'd clear the air. We're asking several outside professors to come in and verify the authenticity of the documents, so, if it turns out that they're just really good fakes, I'll revert the entry myself.

Thanks! Gillo

 * Gillo — I reverted the addition to Prospero Alpini because there seemed to be a small spate of spurious homosexual-related changes (such as "Daykin, Nebraska" -> "Gaykin, Nebraska") from addresses in the IP block (128.148.*), so your contribution seemed a little suspect. Sorry if I knobbled a genuine contribution! I also Googled for the information you added and couldn't find it, but I don't know much about the subject; would you be able to cite a source? — Matt 08:53, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Regarding your reply: that's entirely understandable. Everyone here at Brown has the 128.148.* prefix on their IP address. In fact, I'm fairly sure that the spurious revision that you mentioned ("Gaykin") was the work of a friend of mine who initially linked me to the Wikipedia. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 * I'm not sure if there's any existing research on the subject available online; frankly, there's barely any in print. Most of our work is based entirely on primary source material in the collection of the University. The manuscripts which I mentioned in the article were a small part of a donation from the Getty Trust that also consisted of a number of texts related to the sciences. Somehow the Classics department didn't get around to translating them until last year; apparently, they don't have any sense of urgency regarding texts that are only a mere 400 years old.

 * Anyway, the point of all this is that almost nothing has been published on Prospero Alpini's interests outside of botany, which is an oversight I intend to rectify when I've completed the corresponding chapter of my thesis. It will definitely be available online, and I'll make sure to post a link here if you're interested. We're also trying to put together a web site about the project, where we'll post the text and images of the manuscripts. I'll keep you posted. Gillo

 * Thanks for getting back to me about this, and for your interest in Wikipedia. It's great to have cutting-edge researchers contributing! There is one thing, though; in Wikipedia, facts that we include have to be (by "policy") verifiable (see Verifiability) and not an original work (see No original research). An extract from What Wikipedia is not:

 * Primary research. If you have done primary research on a topic, publish your results in normal peer-reviewed journals. Wikipedia will report about your work once it becomes part of accepted human knowledge.

 * Because of this, I've reluctantly, and temporarily, moved your addition to Prospero Alpini to the associated Talk:Prospero Alpini; I hope you won't be offended but will understand that, at the moment, there's no way for other editors to be able to confirm that your addition is factual. Having said that, as soon as you publish your findings please do come and restore the information, and in the meantime I hope that you'll be interested in further contributing to Wikipedia. — Matt 08:50, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Gillo


text:
Baseball in Taiwan

Baseball is a major sport in Taiwan that is often characterized as the national sport. It was introduced during the Japanese rule era around 1897 and gained popularity over time, culminating in some successes of Taiwanese teams in the Japanese system. The sport remained popular following the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan despite the Kuomintang (KMT) government's deliberate policy of removing cultural links to Japan.

In the shifting international environment that eventually led to the ROC's departure from the United Nations, the KMT government hijacked baseball as a tool for nation-building, pouring massive resources into the sport in the hopes of forging a stronger national identity.

The highest level of baseball in Taiwan is the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) founded in 1989.

Introduction and early years
Baseball was introduced to Taiwan around 1897, but it initially remained a game for Japanese bureaucrats and bankers in the colonial seat of Taihoku (modern-day Taipei). The first official baseball team in Taiwan was formed in 1904, when the island was a Japanese colony, by the Middle School of the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School (present-day Chien Kuo Senior High School). The first organized baseball game was played between this team and the team of the Normal School of the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School (present-day Taipei Municipal University of Education) in March 1906.

From 1906 through the mid-1920s, Taiwanese baseball teams consisted mainly of Japanese players. Taiwanese did not become actively involved in the sport until the mid-1920s. Around 1921, the first team made up of indigenous Taiwanese peoples was established in eastern Taiwan, and it was reorganized into the Noko (also known as Nenggao) team. As part of the reorganization, Japanese officials offered players on the team the opportunity to attend the Hualien Agricultural School.

That the Noko team consisted completely of indigenous Taiwanese, rather than Japanese or Han Taiwanese players, was a milestone in racial integration, albeit often noted through a colonial lens. Nonetheless, the success and popularity of the team laid the foundation for the further development of baseball in southern Taiwan, notably Takao First Public School in present-day Qijin, Kaohsiung, and Mawuku Public School in present-day Taitung County.

Colonial participation
By 1931, high school baseball had become very popular in Taiwan, even though of all players dating back to 1923 in the Islandwide High School Baseball Tournaments, only 5.2% were ethnic Taiwanese. The baseball team of Kagi Agriculture and Forestry Institute, hailing from southern Taiwan, played its way into the final of that year’s Summer Koshien tournament. The team arrived as one of 22 district representatives out of a total of 631 team across the empire. Historians have noted the significance of the "tri-ethnic" Kano squad, consisting of Japanese, Han Taiwanese, and indigenous Taiwanese students.

Professional baseball
Professional baseball in Taiwan started with the founding of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 1989. At its 1997 peak, Taiwan had two leagues and 11 professional teams. The competing Taiwan Major League ran from 1997 until its absorption by the CPBL in 2003.

The professional game has had several game-fixing scandals which had led to sharp declines in game attendance. However, as of 2016 baseball in Taiwan had begun to see a renewed interest in the sport in spite of this setback due to major cheating scandals.

Chinese Professional Baseball League
The Chinese Professional Baseball League was founded in 1989 with four teams and grew to seven. As of 2009, however, there were just four teams competing for the championship of the Taiwan Series.

Since 2005, the winner of the Taiwan Series represents Taiwan in the Asia Series, competing with the championship teams of Japan and South Korea, and with China's professional leagues.

Taiwan Major League
The Taiwan Major League was founded in 1997 by the chairman of TVBS, a popular cable TV channel company, after it lost the nine-year (1997 to 2006) broadcasting rights for CPBL games to Videoland Television Network. TVBS had held the broadcasting rights from 1993 to 1996.

The TML was meant to compete with the CPBL, but after 6 years of financial losses, it merged with the CPBL in 2003.

International play
Teams from Taiwan dominated Little League World Series in the 1970s and 1980s.

Taiwan's dominance in international baseball was demonstrated when the men's team won top three medals across all levels of baseball in 2022, including the U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23, and Baseball5 competitions, the only team to do so in baseball history. Taiwan's men's baseball team and women's baseball team are world No.2 in the WBSC Rankings as of December 2021.

Exporting talent
Taiwan has produced great baseball talent, but its best players usually leave for the higher salaries offered by professional teams in Japan, the United States or Canada. In the 1980s, Taiwanese pitchers Tai-Yuan Kuo and Katsuo Soh (莊勝雄) posted impressive numbers at the Seibu Lions and Chiba Lotte Marines, in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Young stars, such as outfielder Chin-Feng Chen and pitchers Chien-Ming Wang, Chin-Hui Tsao, and Hong-Chih Kuo, became the first group of Taiwanese players to play for teams in North American Major League Baseball.

title: Baseball in Taiwan