text:
Talk:Popstars

Other "Rivals"?
Don't know if anywhere else did the Popstars: The Rivals idea for the second series. Anyone? violet/riga 12:48, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Dates
This article needs some dates in it to set when this series occurred. MK2 04:09, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

flopstars?
I thought flopstars referred to the people who were eliminated and later went on to some success? Giving "girls aloud" this reference doesn't make much sense since they were winners, eh?

Jon
Jon, from Denmark, is listed as having "flopped", but from what I understand, he is on his second album and still releasing singles that are charting and getting radio and club play in Denmark (see, , , and , for example, the latter two links being his from his official site and listing his remix--a remix done by a group which he is part of--as being at #5 on the dance charts and another song as being a "hit single"; I know artists can exaggerate with the definition of "hit", but I would think that if the single can possibly be called a hit, and it's from his second album, he's not a flop). I don't know where I can find the history of Danish singles charts, so I don't know the chart placing--but is this enough to remove the "flopped" label from the article? Kingka 05:40, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Hungary
Popstars was in Hungary, too. It was broadcasting by TV2.

Singles
I am starting a chart to list out all the singles released by artists created by PopStars which reached #1 in their respective nation's sales charts. Please add to it for any country you know.Amiaheroyet (talk) 20:14, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

 * I'm bad with tables, but Gimmel from Finland had two #1 singles, "Etsit muijaa seuraavaa" from 25 November 2002 and "Sydän pliis särkekää" from 2003, according to finnish wikipedia. 82.141.66.153 (talk) 05:47, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

judges and producer for the different countries
This article doesn't mention who produced the regional versions of the show. Nigel Lythgoe's article states: ''He came to UK public attention when he was a judge and an executive producer for the ill-fated ITV1 show Popstars. '''. Should this be included? -- JanCK (talk) 09:43, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Articles does a poor job of explaining the basic concept of the show
I tried reading the intro to get a sense of what the basic concept the the Popstars franchise is and all I get from it is it has something to do with music and singers and has some similarity in some way to the latter Idol franchise but that's it. Is it a musical musical talent contest like all the Idol shows around the world, where contested are illuminated week by week until you have a final winner? If so then maybe there should be some info on how contestants get on the show, how they are illuminated, and the role of the judges on the show (there are a panel of judges right?). Currently, the article comes across as if it assumes the reader is familiar with the Idol franchise and thus should be familiar with the concept of this show but it's clear to me that the two franchises are that similar, and even if they are, one shouldn't have to be familiar with the other to know what the basic format of Popstars is when reading this article. --Notcharliechaplin (talk) 13:26, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

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Donald C. Peattie

Donald Culross Peattie (June 21, 1898 – November 16, 1964) was an American botanist, naturalist and author. He was described by Joseph Wood Krutch as "perhaps the most widely read of all contemporary American nature writers" during his heyday. His brother, Roderick Peattie (1891–1955), was a geographer and a noted author in his own right. Some have said that Peattie's views on race may be considered regressive, but that expressions of these views are "mercifully brief and hardly malicious".

Early life
Peattie was born in Chicago to the journalist Robert Peattie and the novelist Elia W. Peattie. He studied French poetry for two years at the University of Chicago, then tried journalism, and office work in New York. Around 1919 he traveled along the Appalachians from Virginia to New Hampshire, collecting and drawing plants. He then enrolled in – and graduated (1922) from — Harvard University, where he studied with the noted botanist Merritt Lyndon Fernald. After field work in the Southern and Mid-West United States, he worked as a botanist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1922–1924) under David Fairchild. He was then nature columnist for the Washington Star from 1924 to 1935.

His field work for Harvard was in the Indiana dunes, which he published in 1922 and 1930. In 1928 Peattie and his wife, Louise Redfield, with their four-year-old daughter and baby son, Malcolm, moved to Paris to "launch the frail bark of our careers". At two days in Paris the daughter died "of a malady unsuspected and always fatal". In a "search for sunlight" they re-settled in Vence in the south. He wrote its history in Vence, the Story of a Provencal Town through Five Thousand Years. Another son, Mark, was born there, and son Noel was born in 1932.

After five years in France they moved to Kennicott Grove in Illinois, his wife's childhood home, which she described in American Acres, and he described in A Prairie Grove. He also wrote An Almanac for Moderns there, which won an award from the Limited Editions Club as likely to become a classic. In July 1937 moved to Montecito, CA, where he wrote Flowering Earth. In 1942 he moved to Santa Barbara, CA.

His brother-in-law was Robert Redfield, the anthropologist.

Later life
Peattie was an advocate for protecting the Indiana Dunes. He served on the Save the Dunes Council in the late 1950s, helping to bring Illinois' Senator Paul Douglas into the fight to protect the Indiana Dunes from industrial development.

Literature work
Peattie's nature writings are distinguished by a poetic and philosophical cast of mind and are scientifically scrupulous. His best known works are the two books (out of a planned trilogy) on North American trees, A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America (1950) and A Natural History of Western Trees (1953), with woodcut illustrations by Paul Landacre. Peattie also produced children's and travel books, altogether totaling almost forty volumes. He also published the classic, botanical treatment on the Flora of the Indiana Dunes (1930).

An example of Peattie's views that can be construed as racist is the following, from "An Almanac for Moderns": "Every species of ant has its racial characteristics. This one seems to me to be the negro of ants, and not alone from the circumstance that he is all black, but because he is the commonest victim of slavery, and seems especially susceptible to a submissive estate. He is easily impressed by the superior organization or the menacing tactics of his raiders and drivers, and, as I know him, he is relatively lazy or at least disorganized, random, feckless and witless when free in the bush, while for his masters he will work faithfully."

On the other hand, there's a strain of at least mild anti racism often discernible in Peattie's commentary. For example, in his discussion of Linnaeus, the Swedish founding father of taxonomy, Peattie describes, in 1936, how Linnaeus grew up in a small, provincial town far from the scientific capitals of Europe: "To the astonishment of all the wise men, he (Linnaeus) was not a product of Wittenberg, or the parks of Versailles or even of English country life, that nurse of so much delicate feeling for natural beauty.  But genius so seldom grows where the highly born and the members of the eugenical societies tell us to expect it!" (This is a slap against the American Eugenics Society, a national group formed in 1921, which was prominent in the 1930s, promoting "racial betterment." During that time, the group consisted of "mostly prominent and wealthy members who more often than not were non-scientists." )

Furthermore, according to Peattie's grandson, David Peattie, "In the period following the bombing of Pearl Harbor... [Donald Culross Peattie] spoke out eloquently against the internment of Japanese Americans, and wrote letters to the editor in their defense". That was after he witnessed a Japanese gardener, who had been hired by the owner of a house he was renting in California, interned in the camps. Thus, Peattie's belief in the inferiority of people of African descent seems to be specific to them, and does not seem to have extended to other non-white people, nor implied a broader support of eugenics.

Books

 * Vence, the Story of a Provencal Town through Five Thousand Years (published privately in Nice in 1930 and circulated only in France)
 * Happy Kingdom (date unknown, written with Louise Redfield Peattie, published by Blackie & Son, Ltd. in Glasgow)
 * Flora of the Indiana Dunes (1930)
 * Trees You Want to Know (1934)
 * An Almanac for Moderns (1935)
 * Singing in the Wilderness: A Salute to John James Audubon (1935)
 * Green Laurels: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Naturalists (1936)
 * A Book of Hours (1937)
 * The Story of the New Lands (1937)
 * This is Living, A View of Nature with Photographs (1938)
 * A Prairie Grove (1938), a narrative of the history and family home of naturalist Robert Kennicott
 * Flowering Earth (1939)
 * "Audubon's America" (1940)
 * The Road of a Naturalist (1941)
 * The Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge: The Story of the Southern Appalachians (1943), edited by Roderick Peattie ["The contributors: Edward S. Drake, Ralph Erskine, Alberta Pierson Hannum, Donald Culross Peattie [and others] ..."]; New York, The Vanguard Press.
 * Journey into America (1943), a series of letters he writes to a presumably killed European friend explaining the history and culture of the United States.
 * Forward the Nation (Armed Services edition) (1944)I
 * Immortal Village (1945, a completely revised edition of Vence)
 * American Heartwood (1949)
 * A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950; 2nd ed 1966; Reprint as trade paperback with intro by Robert Finch, 1991. (Portions were previously published in The Atlantic Monthly, Natural History and Scientific American in 1948–49.)
 * A Natural History of Western Trees, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953; Reprint as trade paperback with intro by Robert Finch, 1991.
 * Best in Children's Books (6) by Donald Culross Peattie, Phyllis Krasilovsky, Rudyard Kipling, and Rachel Field (1958)
 * A Natural History of North American Trees (2007), an abridged one-volume selection from the previous two volumes
 * The Rainbow Book of Nature (1957)

Legacy

 * Peattie's papers, correspondence, and manuscripts, and those of Louise Redfield, are in the archives of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Department of Special Collections.

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

title: Donald C. Peattie


text:
Talk:History of rugby league

Untitled
I think it was that first New Zealand RL touring team in 1907 which inspired the formation of the New South Wales RL, rather than the other way round, as it appears at the moment.

There is that great story -- perhaps it is only a story, but it's worth mentioning -- about how a post office worker in NZ had a coughing fit, dropped his newspaper, and his mate saw on it a story about the vast sums being generated by RL games in England, giving him the idea to form a team to tour overseas... Grant65 (Talk) 12:54, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)

 * Re NZ or Aus first, this article is a good one: The crucial phrase in there is "Moves for a professional rugby were well advanced in Sydney by the end of Autumn in 1907. Upon hearing of Baskerville's plans, the movement gained serious momentum."

 * Also it mentions that incident you mentioned :

 * "Baskerville's lone interest in the obscure game is attributed by his brother to an incident in the Wellington Post Office in 1906. Apparently a fellow employee, known simply as "old Harry", suffered a coughing fit and slumped to the floor near Baskerville. After the man had been treated, Baskerville picked up a copy of the Manchester Athletic News that "old Harry" had been reading and his attention was caught by an article which heralded that 40,000 enthusiasts had paid more than 1000 pounds to watch a NU game at Bradford. Seemingly motivated by the possible financial gains Baskerville brazenly wrote to the NU seeking agreement to bring a NZ touring team to England."

Grinner 14:49, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)

Feature status
Before the article gains feature status, I think there needs to be more of an Australian perspective, considering the prominence of Australia in all aspects of the game, its development and its afficionados. For a genuinely balanced article, anyway.

I don't have the league background or the time at the moment, but here are some suggestions for important Aussie content, courtesy of an article by the journo Ian Heads:

 * 1. Wallabies coup (1909): The game's privately backed coup lured virtually the entire Wallabies team across to rugby league, thereby cementing the 13-a-side game as a permanent fixture and laying the necessary foundation for a successful future.
 * 2. Super League (1995): The News Ltd-backed sneak attack tore rugby league apart. It led to the death of some clubs, opened gaping wounds elsewhere, and threatened the game's very future
 * 3. Souths (1999): The NRL's decision on October 15, 1999 to exclude the game's most famous and successful club, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, from the planned 14-team competition caused shocked and anger.
 * 4. Four tackle rule (1967): The decision to introduce the four-tackle rule was a profound change for a game which was threatening to be bogged down with an obsession with retaining possession. The rule (later a six-tackle, in 1971) laid the platform for the game's modern era.
 * 5. Four Corners (1983): Chris Masters' sensational Four Corners program of May 1983 ended the 10 year reign of Kevin Humphreys as NSWRL and ARL president. It also led to a royal commission, a premier, Neville Wran, standing aside for a time and eventually resulted in the jailing of former NSW chief stipendiary magistrate Murray Farquhar.
 * 6. Bulldogs salary cap crisis (2002)
 * 7. Glebe player strike (1917): Extraordinary events led to a player strike at the Glebe club, the subsequent long-term suspension of the Glebe team, and repercussions which brought virtual civil war to Newcastle rugby league ... all of it over a residential rule protest involving a player named Laddo Davies.
 * 8. Balmain no-show (1909): The club's refusal to play the season's premiership-decider against Souths was unprecedented. The decision was a protest at the insult of the final being programmed as a "prelim" to a Wallabies v Kangaroos game. Souths kicked off against no-one, registered a 'try' - and won the premiership.
 * Highly commended in the all time Big Story Stakes are the likes of the John Hopoate's digital adventures, the drug headlines surrounding the likes of Rodney Howe, Rodney O'Davis and Adam MacDougall, the ear-bite incident of 1945, and referee Aub Oxford's 1954 decision to walk off and abandon a Great Britain v NSW bloodbath.

There could also be mention of the Bulldogs sexual assault scandal in 2004.

Cheers, Grant65 (Talk) 12:47, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

I agree that I lack the Australian knowledge, but some of the points are already there. Also that list is mostly "infamous" events, rather than truly historical:

1. Is covered in the section 'Rugby League's "Ashes"' 2. The is a seperate page on Super League war, which is referenced in "the advent of television" and "modern times" 3. Will include. 4. Ditto 5. Absoulutley no knowledge of this, don't feel able to write it! 6. Worth a mention. 7. See pt. 5 (sorry) 8. Ditto 9+. Hopoate's stray digit seems a little too specific to include, as do the other mentioned at the end.Grinner 15:13, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree about Hopa's explorations and probably the other sex, drugs and violence scandals.
 * 3 & 4. Would be great if you can do these. 4 is essential
 * 5. Very important for both the game and wider society. Shouldn't be too hard to research on the web. I can do this bit.
 * 7. Don't know anything about it either, but I will have a look.
 * 8. Ditto. Sounds like it's worth a mention. Grant65 (Talk) 22:28, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

 * Right, I've done Souths and the four/six tackle rule and the Glebe controversy. Cheers for volunteering for the the "four corners", I'll also have a look round for info on it too. Grinner 09:16, Oct 14, 2004 (UTC)

laws or rules?
Proper rugby has laws instead of rules and you will get told if you call them rules, does the same apply to league? Dunc|☺ 16:14, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Proper rugby? hmmm. Well the RFL seem to call them "Laws".. Grinner 09:1d5, Oct 18, 2004 (UTC)

Featured article candidate
I think that this has grown into a very impressive article. I'v just made a couple of tweeks to it but that is only because it has been nominated. Following the discussions on the Football page/section, I suspect that it might need a couple of more references before it can become a featured article. Also I thing the text in the Introduction should be removed as it only repeats what is in the article lower down. It is too detailed for the introduction and the article is getting close to the recommended 32K limit. Philip Baird Shearer 13:16, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * I tend to agree re. the introduction, this was only added in repsonse to an objection as to the lack of a "lead article" on the featured candidates page. Grinner 13:26, Oct 19, 2004 (UTC)

Failed FAC
Self nomination. A good general article coivering the history and development of the soprt of rugby league. This article has been on peer review for two weeks and some changes suggested there now incorporated. Grinner 10:54, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

 * generally support, but it needs a section on union players moving to league (particularly the poaching of the Welsh), perhaps a bit more on geography and demographics. (I'll read it again). Dunc_Harris|☺ 14:09, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC).
 * Section addedGrinner 15:36, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)
 * Object. 1) Lead section needs to present a summary of the article (see Lead section). 2) There are no references, no further reading, no external links. 3) Most of the information needed seems to be in the article, but the organisation is messy. The order of section is mostly chronological, but not entirely, and sections are named for geographic regions. This is confusing and difficult to follow. For example, the "France" section appears to discuss the sport in that country, yet doesn't discuss the French "golden age", which comes forward in "Post-war boom". 4) I feel the World Cup gets comparatively little attention, while I would assume it to be the most important event on the (international) calendar. 5) I would expect a section "before the schism" that briefly summarizes the history of the sport up to that point. This establishes context, while the details can still be read in other articles. Jeronimo 21:38, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Any better? Re. the world cup, sadly I feel it has about the prominence it deserves, unlike other sports the RL version has been sporadic, with a variety of formats, and never really been the pinnacle of international game. Grinner 11:16, Oct 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * My issues have been addressed, and I will support, although I have one note: please follow guidelines at Cite your sources for the references. Jeronimo 07:21, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Object.  Needs a copyedit (for example, two consecutive sentences which don't make sense: The most succesful was English wing-cum-full back Jason Robinson, and generally considered that the easier transitions are in the backs. Brad Thorne, a New Zealand forward made a cross-code move, was a rare success, because of the technical forward skills required in union. ) Markalexander100 05:52, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Some errors crept in with the changes made after nomination on this page. I think your copyediting points have now been addressed now. Grinner 09:11, Oct 19, 2004 (UTC)
 * There are still lots of small errors: In 1905, as New Zealand's rugby union team, the All Blacks toured Britain; These games were played under rugby union las, as no copies of the rugby leagues laws were available to the teams.; and there are others.  I still think the text needs to be read over more carefully before it's feature-worthy. Markalexander100 02:38, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Another sentence which doesn't make sense, and looks like it has been amusingly sabotaged:"The large profits accrued from gambling have never been controversial; many questioned the morality of such an income stream and felt that it would inevitably lead to financial peace and security." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.170.241.88 (talk) 02:26, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Name "rugby league"
This article currently claims that the first official use of "rugby league" was both in 1901 in England, and 1907 in NSW. The NSW claim does have the qualification "by an organising body", but I would have thought the use described in the "schism in Great Britain" section was by an organising body, just not as the name of an organising body. Could someone please clarify? It seems that something, either here or at Rugby league in Australia needs to be corrected. JPD (talk) 15:56, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

 * After GordyB's explanation at User talk:JPD, I have changed the wording slightly. JPD (talk) 15:46, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

State of Origin
According to the Rugby League State of Origin article, the first proper State of Origin match was played in 1981 not 1980. Chorocobo 08:22, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Sunday Sport
When was it made legal to play on a Sunday? I ask because it was illegal until some time as the players didn't get accident insurance. I would assume that this would be something important in the article. Does anyone know. I googled but didn't get any answers. --Candy (talk) 12:30, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

British Television History
This page is weak on the history of British Rugby League and television, implying that nothing happened until the 1960s. In fact, RL was one of the first mainstream sports to let itself be televised on a regular basis (starting sometime in the early 1950s). —Preceding unsigned comment added by LondonLouis2 (talk • contribs) 12:54, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Consensus: Field goal, drop goal
Please see discussion here on usage of these terms.  LunarLander  //  talk  // 02:09, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Runcorn and Stockport 1895?
According to the article, the foundation year of both Runcorn and, Stockport is 1895. However, Samuel Houghton won an England (RU) cap while at Runcorn in 1892. I believe Runcorn (RU) became Runcorn (RL) in 1895, so they will have existed as an RU club on, or before, 1892. Does anyone know of Runcorn's actual foundation year, and whether Stockport's foundation year is also possibly erroneous? Best Regards. DynamoDegsy (talk) 09:16, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Proposed merge of part of related article
AnomieBOT has dated the "merge tag" of Jeff97 on the 1897 Challenge Cup Final article for the background section and subsections therein to be merged with this article.
 * Support. The article for the Cup final is in my opinion worthy of retention as it seeks to broaden the information available on the early days of Rugby League, especially due to the sparsity of resources for identifying early round ties featuring lesser known teams. That said, the background section does repeat much of what appears in this article. Therefore I would suggest any new information in the Cup Final background not in this article be merged.Rimmer1993 (talk) 15:06, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Disagree. The items marked should in my opinion be retained as they give background without having to visit numerous other websitesAlanfromwakefield (talk) 09:58, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The article in question's title is 1897 Challenge Cup. It should contain information related only to the Challenge Cup competition of that year. Do not forget that there is a Challenge Cup article that also deals with the history of the competition. The sections flagged don't even deal with the history of the competition, but rather the History of rugby league has its own article (not to mention additional coverage in Rugby league in England). There couldn't be a more clear-cut merge case.--Jeff79 (talk) 07:09, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Support Merge The current background section should be merged in here. A new background section should then be written to talk about why the challenge cup was being played, was this the first cup? etc etc...actual background on the 1897 challenge cup...Mattlore (talk) 19:37, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Should "the schism" redirect here?
Should The Schism really auto-redirect here? I would have thought the East-West Schism or Schism (A disamb. page) would be better targets. Dr bab (talk) 08:04, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I have now changed it to Schism.Dr bab (talk) 13:48, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

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Björn Ironside

Björn Ironside (Swedish: Björn Järnsida) (Old Norse: Bjǫrn Járnsíða), according to Norse legends, was a Norse Viking chief and Swedish king. According to the 12th- and 13th-century Scandinavian histories, he was the son of notorious Viking king Ragnar Lodbrok and lived in the 9th century, between 855 and 858. Björn Ironside is said to have been the first ruler of the Swedish Munsö dynasty. In the early 18th century, a barrow on the island of Munsö was claimed by antiquarians to be Björn Järnsidas hög or Björn Ironside's barrow.

Medieval sources refer to Björn Ironside's sons and grandsons, including Erik Björnsson and Björn at Haugi. Icelandic sagas claim that Björn was the ancestor of the house of Munsö, the line of kings that ruled in Sweden until c. 1060.

Björn in Frankish sources
"Berno" was a powerful Viking chieftain and naval commander. He appears in contemporary sources such as Annales Bertiniani and the Chronicon Fontanellense. He is first mentioned in the summer of 855. The oldest text that details his origins is the Norman history of William of Jumièges (c. 1070). According to William, the Danes had a custom of requiring the younger sons of kings to leave the kingdom, to reinforce the king's authority; thus, after Ragnar Lodbrok became king, he ordered Björn to leave his realm. Björn left Denmark with a considerable fleet and started to ravage in West Francia. The contemporary annals show that he cooperated with another Viking called Sigtrygg and sailed up the Seine in 855, from which his and Sigtrygg's forces raided the inland. Their combined forces were beaten in Champagne by Charles the Bald of West Francia in the same year, but not decisively. Sigtrygg withdrew in the next year, but Björn received reinforcement from another Viking army and could not be expelled from the Seine area. He and his men took up winter quarters at the so-called Givold's Grave, which served as base for an assault against Paris, which was plundered around the new year 856–857. Björn constructed a fortification on the island Oissel above Rouen which he kept as his stronghold for years. He certainly swore fealty to Charles the Bald in Verberie in 858 but it is not clear if he kept his pledge. King Charles eventually resolved to meet the unruly Seine Vikings with all his available forces and besieged Oissel in July. The siege failed badly, for the pirates defended the fortification with vigour. Moreover, Charles's brother Louis the German of East Francia invaded his lands and many vassals fell from him. Thus the siege was broken off in September.

After Björn's meeting with Charles in Verberie his name is not found in contemporary sources. However, the Viking warriors in the Seine continued their raids during the following years and even plundered Paris again in 861. In his despair Charles the Bald tried to use another Viking chief, Veland, whose men operated in the Somme region, to attack the Seine Vikings at Oissel. However, this scheme backfired since the two Viking armies made a deal and united their forces. The Norsemen were encamped by the lower Seine in 861–862, but then split again. Veland agreed to become a Christian and joined royal service, while the Seine Vikings went to sea. Some of them joined the fighting between the ruler of Bretagne and some Frankish counts.

Expedition to the Mediterranean
A number of Frankish, Norman, Arab, Scandinavian and Irish sources mention a large Viking raid into the Mediterranean in 859–861, co-led by Hastein, Björn Ironside and possibly one or more of his brothers. After raiding down the Iberian coast and fighting their way through Gibraltar, the Norsemen pillaged the south of France, where the fleet stayed over winter, before landing in Italy where they captured the city of Pisa. Flush with this victory and others around the Mediterranean (including in Sicily and North Africa) during the Mediterranean expedition, the Vikings are recorded to have lost 40 ships to a storm. They returned to the Straits of Gibraltar and, at the coast of Medina-Sidonia, lost 2 ships to fire catapults in a surprise raid by Andalusian forces, leaving only 20 ships intact. The remnants of the fleet came back to French waters in 862. Björn Ironside was the leader of the expedition according to the later chronicle of William of Jumièges. The early 11th century Fragmentary Annals of Ireland say that two sons of Ragnall mac Albdan, a chief who had been expelled from Lochlann by his brothers and stayed in the Orkney Islands, headed the enterprise.

William of Jumièges refers to Björn as Bier Costae ferreae (Ironside) who was Lotbroci regis filio (son of King Lodbrok). William's account of the Mediterranean expedition centers around Björn's foster-father Hastein. The two Vikings conducted many (mostly successful) raids in France. Later on Hastein got the idea to make Björn the new Roman Emperor and led a large Viking raid into the Mediterranean together with his protégée. They proceeded inland to the town of Luni, which they believed to be Rome at the time, but were unable to breach the town walls. To gain entry a tricky plan was devised: Hastein sent messengers to the bishop to say that, being deathly ill, he had a deathbed conversion and wished to receive Christian sacraments and/or to be buried on consecrated ground within their church. He was brought into the chapel with a small honor guard, then surprised the dismayed clerics by leaping from his stretcher. The Viking party then hacked its way to the town gates, which were promptly opened letting the rest of the army in. When they realised that Luni was not Rome, Björn and Hastein wished to investigate this city but changed their minds when they heard that the Romans were well prepared for defense. After returning to West Europe, the two men parted company. Björn was shipwrecked at the English coast and barely survived. He then went to Frisia where William says he died. There are some historical challenges with this account. Hastein appears in the contemporary sources later than Björn, and in order to be his foster-father would have been around his 80s when he died. That is certainly possible, citing the fact that their contemporaries, the Viking Rollo and King Harald Fairhair of Norway lived comparable lifespans. Luni is also known to have been plundered by Saracens.

The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and Tale of Ragnar's Sons
The story of Björn and his brothers, the sons of the Scandinavian king Ragnar Lodbrok, was retold in different versions throughout the Middle Ages. The Tale of Ragnar's Sons (Ragnarssona þáttr) is an Icelandic Fornaldar Saga from about the 14th century that combines traditional Norse oral history with legendary themes. It states that Björn was the son of Ragnar and Aslaug and that his brothers were Hvitserk, Ivar the Boneless, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. The tale also tells of Björn's half-brothers Eric and Agnar.

The saga portrays Ragnar as the overlord of large parts of Sweden and possibly even Denmark. While he was still alive, Björn and his brothers left Sweden to conquer Zealand, Reidgotaland (here Jutland), Gotland, Öland and all the minor islands. They then settled at Lejre in Zealand, Denmark with Ivar the Boneless as their leader.

Ragnar's sons Eric and Agnar then sailed into Lake Mälaren and sent a message to the Swedish King Eysteinn, a vassal of Ragnar, that they wanted him to submit to Ragnar's sons. Moreover, Eric said that he wanted Eysteinn's daughter Borghild as wife. Eysteinn said that he first wanted to consult the Swedish chieftains. The chieftains said no to the offer, and ordered an attack on the rebellious sons. A battle ensued and Eric and Agnar were overwhelmed by the Swedish forces, whereupon Agnar died and Eric was taken prisoner.

Eysteinn offered Eric as much of Uppsala öd as he wanted, and Borghild, in wergild for Agnar. Eric proclaimed that after such a defeat he wanted nothing but to choose the day of his own death. Eric asked to be impaled on spears that raised him above the dead and his wish was granted. In Zealand, Björn, Aslaug and Hvitserk, who had been playing tafl, became upset and sailed to Sweden with a large army. Aslaug rode with cavalry across the land. In a great battle they killed Eysteinn.

According to the saga, their father Ragnar was captured and killed by King Ælla in England after a foolhardy invasion attempt. Björn and his brothers, seeking revenge, attacked Ælla but were beaten back. As Ivar realised that the English king could not be defeated right away, he sought reconciliation. He only asked for as much land as he could cover with an ox's hide and swore never to wage war against Ælla. Then Ivar cut the ox's hide into such fine strands that he could envelop a large fortress (in an older saga it was York and according to a younger saga it was London) which he could take as his own. Ivar made himself popular in England and asked his brothers to attack again. During the battle Ivar sided with his brothers and so did many of the English chieftains with their people, in loyalty to Ivar. Ælla was taken captive and in revenge they carved the blood eagle on him.

Later Björn and his brothers pillaged in England, Normandy, France, and Lombardy, until they came to the town Luna in Italy. When they came back to Scandinavia, they divided the kingdom so that Björn Ironside took Uppsala and Sweden.

Other sources
The partly legendary Danish chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum (c. 1200), is the first text to mention Björn Ironside as a King of Sweden. According to Saxo, Ragnar Lodbrok had a quarrel with the recently elevated ruler of the Swedes, Sörle. He therefore invaded the Swedish lands in company with his sons Björn, Fridleif and Radbard. Before battle had broken out, the opposing sides agreed to settle the matter through a combat. Ragnar and his three sons met the renowned champion Starkad and his seven sons in the sight of the two armies. "Björn, having inflicted great slaughter on the foe without hurt to himself, gained from the strength of his sides, which were like iron, a perpetual name [i.e., Ironside]". Ragnar and his sons slew their eight opponents, after which their troops fell on Sörle and his army and annihilated them. Ragnar then "presented Björn with the lordship of Sweden for his conspicuous bravery and service." Later on, another son of Ragnar, Ubbe, colluded with his maternal grandfather Esbjörn and conspired against Ragnar. Esbjörn sent envoys to Björn in Sweden to drum up support for a rebellion, but Björn refused to listen. Instead, he hanged the envoys while their party were slaughtered by the Swedes. Shortly afterwards Esbjörn was slain in a sea battle, and Ubbe was captured after a heroic resistance. In due time Ragnar appointed Björn regent of Norway, while Sweden was handed over to another son, Eric Weatherhat. After the death of Ragnar, Björn and his brothers attacked Ella in England with 400 ships and killed him. He then went back to his Swedish kingdom, but intervened in Denmark when the Danes rose against the rule of Ragnar's sons. With a fleet of 1,700 ships, he and his brothers crushed the insurgents at Slesvig. This is the last we hear about Björn Ironside in the Gesta Danorum.

The Hervarar saga from the 13th century tells that Eysteinn Beli was killed by Björn and his brothers as told in Ragnar Lodbrok's saga, and they conquered all of Sweden. When Ragnar died Björn Ironside inherited Sweden. He had two sons, Refil and Erik Björnsson, who became the next king of Sweden.

Anglo-Saxon and Irish sources suggest that the Danish invasion of England after 865 was led by three brothers called Ingvar (i.e. Ivar), Ubbe and Halfdan who, judging from the Irish Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, were sons of a Ragnall (Ragnar or a similar name). Björn is not mentioned in this context, but later Norman tradition suggests that he may have been a brother. According to William of Jumièges he died in Frisia, which also had an association with the invaders of England. Ubbe is sometimes labeled the "Frisian Jarl" and the invaders are occasionally called Scaldingi (men from Schelde). The kingships of Björn is at times historically problematic since it is not supported by older sources and presents insurmountable chronological inconsistencies.

In fiction
A principal character in the History television series Vikings, played as a young boy by Nathan O'Toole and through adulthood by Alexander Ludwig, is loosely based on the historical character and portrayed as the son of Lagertha, rather than of Aslaug. According to the lore, Björn is not the eldest son, while in the show he is the eldest of all the sons of Ragnar.

title: Björn Ironside


text:
Summer sausage

Summer sausage is an American term for a sausage that can be kept without refrigeration until opened. Summer sausage is made of beef, pork, or sometimes venison. Summer sausage is fermented, and can be dried or smoked, and while curing ingredients vary significantly, curing salt is almost always used. Seasonings may include mustard seeds, black pepper, garlic salt, or sugar. Fermentation of summer sausage lowers pH to slow bacterial growth and give a longer shelf life, causing a tangy taste. Summer sausages are often included in gift baskets sold by American online and mail order retailers like Harry & David, Wisconsin Cheeseman and Hickory Farms. Armour has produced summer sausage for over 100 years.

Historically, summer sausage predated refrigeration and referred to meats that could be consumed "in the summer months" when high temperatures would cause fresh meats to spoil. For this reason, they became popular gifts during the winter holidays, especially in German-American settler communities.

title: Summer sausage


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High Halstow

High Halstow is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It was, until 1998, administratively part of Kent and is still ceremonially associated via the Lieutenancies Act. The parish had a population of 1,781 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 1,807 at the 2011 census.

Originally known as Hagelstowe (in Textus Roffensis), Hagelsto or Agelstow, it was named from an Old English word denoting a high, holy place. The area has been occupied by Romans, Saxons and Normans.

The village lies on the junction of the ancient roads from Hoo and Cliffe to the Isle of Grain, now a crossroads to the north of the A228 road. One of the highest points on the Hoo peninsula, at 30 to 50 metres above sea level, the modern village consolidates into a single community the four hamlets of Clinch Street, Fenn Street, Sharnal Street and High Halstow Street.

History
The 10th-century Grade I listed church of St Margaret at High Halstow was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was built on the highest point of the Hoo Peninsula, overlooking the rivers of the Thames and Medway.

In the 18th century poverty and malnutrition were widespread across the peninsula, with High Halstow no exception; adult life expectancy was then about 30 years, lessened by ague, or marsh fever, the names for malaria, which proliferated in the North Kent Marshes and waterlogged farmland, a stronghold of the mosquito. The cause of malaria was discovered in 1890, and within five years the number of people falling ill with the disease decreased sharply as farmland and marshes were drained. This task was performed in no small way by Henry Pye, after he moved to the area.

The village remained small until after the Second World War, comprising the church, a school, two shops, a pub, a wheelwright's shop, and an undertaker's, with the village being served by a single policeman. Eventually some of the older houses were demolished and replaced. Churchill Place was developed and in the area behind the church, formerly known as the Square, several modern bungalows replaced five thatched cottages. From 1952 more homes were built in the village to house Isle of Grain oil refinery employees.

Historically, the main economic activity around High Halstow has been farming, but some of the village's residents gained employment outside the village, at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Chattenden and Lodge Hill Military Camps and at the Medway Oil and Storage Co at Grain. Chatham Dockyard and the Short Brothers seaplane works at Rochester were also traditional employers for the whole area until they shut many years ago.

In 1956 a new school opened, the old school building being demolished along with Hill Farm to make way for additional housing. Building development has continued intermittently, including the new estates of Northwood Park and Heron Fields, development of which began in 1998. The village still has its church, a shop and pub (the Red Dog) but has changed beyond recognition in living memory.

The village's cricket club has played in the area for almost 120 years. Ever expanding, the club now has Three Saturday sides, one Sunday side and three colts sides. They play their home matches at Rayner's Meadow, which is situated in Christmas Lane, and at the Hundred of Hoo school, Hoo.

Northward Hill RSPB Reserve
Northward Hill RSPB Reserve lies to the north of the village, between High Halstow and Cooling. It comprises 270 ha of grazing marsh, woodland and farmland. The woodland forms High Halstow Nature Reserve (a local SSSI). Here is the largest heronry in Britain, where some 150–200 pairs nest. A heronry has been in the woods from at least 1947, when it was mentioned in The Hundred of Hoo by Ralph Arnold. Many other birds, such as little egrets, avocets and marsh harriers, can also be seen in the reserve. This site was scheduled for demolition under government proposals for an international London airport in connection with the Thames Gateway.

Northward Hill, was known once locally as "the Norrards". Beyond it on the marsh is a disused experimental radar station, now part of the reserve.

Buck Hole Farmhouse
Buck Hole Farmhouse stands next to Northward Hill Reserve; it and another Grade II listed farmhouse Great Dalham date from the early 18th century.

Notable people

 * Geoffrey Longfield (1909-1943), first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force officer

title: High Halstow


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Jan Ingenhousz

Jan Ingenhousz FRS (8 December 1730 – 7 September 1799) was a Dutch-British physiologist, biologist and chemist.

He is best known for discovering photosynthesis by showing that light is essential to the process by which green plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. He also discovered that plants, like animals, have cellular respiration. In his lifetime he was known for successfully inoculating the members of the Habsburg family in Vienna against smallpox in 1768 and subsequently being the private counsellor and personal physician to the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.

Early life
He was born into the patrician Ingen Housz family in Breda in Staats-Brabant in the Dutch Republic. From the age of 16, Ingenhousz studied medicine at the University of Leuven, the Protestant Universities were not then open to Catholics like himself, where he obtained his MD in 1753. He studied for two more years at the University of Leiden, where he attended lectures by, among others, Pieter van Musschenbroek, which led Ingenhousz to have a lifelong interest in electricity. In 1755 he returned home to Breda, where he started a general medical practice.

Work with smallpox
Following his father's death in July 1764, Ingenhousz intended to travel through Europe for study, starting in England where he wanted to learn the latest techniques in inoculation against smallpox. Via the physician John Pringle, who had been a family friend since the 1740s, he quickly made many valuable contacts in London, and in due time became a master inoculator. In 1767, he inoculated 700 village people in a successful effort to combat an epidemic in Hertfordshire. In 1768, Empress Maria Theresa read a letter by Pringle on the success in the fight against smallpox in England, whereas in the Austrian Empire the medical establishment vehemently opposed inoculations. She decided to have her own family inoculated first (a cousin had already died), and requested help via the English royal house. On Pringle's recommendation, Ingenhousz was selected and requested to travel to Austria. He had planned to inoculate the Royal Family by pricking them with a needle and thread that were coated with smallpox germs taken from the pus of a smallpox-infected person. The idea of the inoculation was that by giving a few germs to a healthy body the body would develop immunisation from smallpox. The inoculation was a success and he became Maria Theresa's court physician. He settled in Vienna, where in 1775 he married Agatha Maria Jacquin.

Work with photosynthesis
In the 1770s Ingenhousz became interested in gaseous exchanges of plants. He did this after meeting the scientist Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) at his house in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on 23 May 1771. Priestley had found out that plants make and absorb gases. Ingenhousz' travelling party in northern England included Benjamin Franklin. They then stayed at the rectory in Thornhill, West Yorkshire with the polymath and botanist Rev. John Michell.

In 1779, Ingenhousz working at his rented country house in Southall Green, discovered that, in the presence of light, plants give off bubbles from their green parts while, in the shade, the bubbles eventually stop. He identified the gas as oxygen. He also discovered that, in the dark, plants give off carbon dioxide. He realised as well that the amount of oxygen given off in the light is more than the amount of carbon dioxide given off in the dark. This demonstrated that some of the mass of plants comes from the air, and not only the water and nutrients in the soil.

Other work
In addition to his work in the Netherlands and Vienna, Ingenhousz spent time in France, England, Scotland, and Switzerland, among other places. He carried out research in electricity, heat conduction, and chemistry, and was in close and frequent correspondence with both Benjamin Franklin and Henry Cavendish. In 1785, he described the irregular movement of coal dust on the surface of alcohol and therefore has a claim as discoverer of what came to be known as Brownian motion. Ingenhousz was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1769 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1786. In 1799, Ingenhousz died at Bowood House, near Calne in Wiltshire, and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Calne. His wife died the following year.

Tribute
On 8 December 2017, a Google Doodle commemorated his 287th birthday.

title: Jan Ingenhousz


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Norrlands storregemente

Norrlands storregemente or Landsregementet i Norrland (Norrland Grand Regiment, Regiment of the Land in Norrland) was one of the nine grand regiments organized by Gustavus Adolphus in the late 1610s and split into smaller regiments in the 1620s.

History
Raised in Norrland from smaller units of 500 men called fänikor, more specifically from the provinces of Västerbotten, Ångermanland, Medelpad, Hälsingland and Gästrikland, in 1615 and counting 3,000 men. In 1617, the regiment was led by Svante Banér and consisted of seven fänikor. The grand regiment was in turn organized into three field regiments (fältregementen), thus actually being more like a brigade in spite of the name.

One of the field regiments was used in 1621 in the war against Poland and was present at the siege of Riga between 10 August and 13 September with eight companies of 150 men each. The grand regiments of Sweden where reorganized during the period to consist of three field regiments, each of eight companies of 150 men, thus making the total number 3,600 soldiers per grand regiment.

Jakob Duwall was commander of the regiment in 1624. During the same year, the grand regiment was split into three smaller regiments, Västerbotten Regiment, Hälsinge Regiment, and the third regiment was transferred to the navy.

Campaigns

 * One field regiment on expedition in 1621 to Livonia during the Polish War.

Organization
Before being split, the regiment was organized as follows:

 * 1:a fältregementet (1st Field Regiment)
 * 6 companies from Hälsingland
 * 1 company from Medelpad
 * 1 company from Gästrikland
 * 2:a fältregementet (2nd Field Regiment)
 * 3 companies from Ångermanland
 * 2 companies from Hälsingland
 * 2 companies from Gästrikland
 * 1 company from Medelpad
 * 3:e fältregementet (3rd Field Regiment)
 * 7 companies from Västerbotten
 * 1 company from Ångermanland

title: Norrlands storregemente


text:
Talk:Association of British Counties/Archive 1

fuddlemark (fuddle me!) 03:52, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Isn't the latest addition: ''The association also seems uncertain about how traditional to be. The map shown on its homepage and a larger scale version accept the 1889 reform of local government in Scotland. The separated parts of various counties are not shown. Thus, Ross and Cromarty are shown as one unit. Likewise Morayshire is not cut in two by a large exclave of the County of Inverness. Of the many mainland counties having detached parts, only Dunbartonshire is shown as having two separate areas, a situation left unchanged by the 1889 local government reform.'' a little POV? Doesn't the map on the ABC web site also show large detached parts of Worcestershire and Flintshire? Owain 13:03, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Not sure what you mean by Isn't the latest addition:
 * The ABC insists that the 19th century reforms did not effect traditional boundaries, and they do not claim that Scotland should be treated differently
 * and it seemes a little pointless noting that Worcestershire and Flintshire were not affected by the reform of Scottish local government. garryq 12 Aug

 * What I wrote was "Isn't the lastest addition [to this page] a little POV?". I thought when you were referring to "mainland counties" you meant the entire of mainland Britain. Possibly a little ambiguous... Owain 18:57, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Apologies. I read it as "[this] Isn't the latest addition:" as if a reference to the ABC's maps, I'll clarify Scottish mainland. but BTW are Worcestershire and Flintshire the only seperated counties except for the furness?    --garryq 10:09, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * As far as the ABC map goes yes - from their map page at http://www.abcounties.co.uk/counties/map.htm : "For the sake of convenience and practicality only the major (i.e. most sizeable) detached parts are shown (specifically those of Flintshire, Lancashire, Dunbartonshire and Worcestershire). All other detached parts are shown as part of the County in which they locally lie." Owain 12:19, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I've reverted the last edit and removed the following text:
 * The association also seems uncertain about how traditional to be. The map shown on its homepage and a larger scale version accept the 1889 reform of local government in Scotland. The separated parts of various counties are not shown. Thus, Ross and Cromarty are shown as one unit. Likewise Morayshire is not cut in two by a large exclave of the County of Inverness. Of the many mainland counties having detached parts, only Dunbartonshire is shown as having two separate areas, a situation left unchanged by the 1889 local government reform.

The ABC is very clear on its website that its map excludes most exclaves for convenience, and that "Ross-shire and Cromartyshire are show as one unit" (for purposes of a simple map), not that "Ross and Cromarty" is a county in itself. I don't know why it doesn't show the large exclaves of Morayshire - probably cartographical laziness. If you read the "postal directory" section of the website, it is clear to the ABC that Aviemore lies in a detached portion of Morayshire; this portion is not shown on their map "for convenience". The simple map is simply that - a rough impression of the Counties. It isn't a 'manifesto'. Read the text if you want the 'manifesto'. This sort of speculative mud-throwing about "being unsure" is complete poppycock. People should read and understand the ABC's position before trying to extract alleged inconcsistencies from a map that is displayed with the clear warning that it makes no claims to small scale accuracy and only shows a few named exclaves for graphical convenience. 80.225.40.210 18:56, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

POV
This article seems to lack balance.--IanDavies 03:17, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Strongly agree. For example, last time I looked the Kingdom of Fife was an historic kingdom, not an historic British county. Just zis Guy you know? 19:20, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Eh? Why can't you accept that it can be both? This is an article about an organisation that has specific ideals, whether you agree with them or not. Owain (talk) 12:17, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * It's about a minor pressure group of nutters. It's oly because some of those nutters are on Wikipedia and determined to use it to push there reactionary views by adding traditional county articles to parallel the current counties.--84.9.194.234 13:36, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * These people are not "nutters", they are proud of their history and determined that politicians should not take away their identity. As it happens the traditional counties have a continuing legal existence, but even if they didn't, it would be a laudable aim to try and keep the well-known and historic names and areas in the public conscience. Owain (talk) 14:13, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I can accept it is both. But for some reaosn only one of the two - the one backed by a pressure group - is on infoboxes.  I wonder why that is? Just zis Guy you know? 13:49, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * There is a standard set of counties that have a continuing legal existence and that people continue to use. There are any number of other overlapping mediæval kingdoms that could be used to describe where a place is, but they are entirely dependent on a time-critical context. In the context of counties, the traditional set are still relevant and used today. What is the problem? Owain (talk) 14:13, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * For values of "standard" that exclude legal definitions, and for values of "people" that includes at least some who are pushing an agenda. The problem is that Wikipedia is not a soapbox. Just zis Guy you know? 14:42, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Have you read the relevant legislation? I have. I am not pushing an agenda, other than that of factual accuracy. Owain (talk) 14:50, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

 * Cool. So, in the interests of factual accuracy, you can cite the size of the orgnisation and the significant coverage in reputable sourcves, right? Just zis Guy you know? 17:12, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Membership Size
There seems to be a revert-war going on regarding the membership size of ABC -- as if to say it's irrelevant as an entity due to the membership size not being known. This assertion is ludicrous; the size of ABC is not an important fact therefore not knowing the size is even less useful! MonMan 14:54, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. There is clearly a campaign to denigrate traditional counties on Wikipedia; witness the current revert wars and use of sockpuppets on this and related articles. There is no need for it. Owain (talk) 15:00, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The campaign is by you to push them. --84.9.194.234 13:36, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I see no such campaign. I do see an attempt to astroturf.  This organisation is essentially negligible, it's not even the most significant traditional counties group, and the traditional counties movement is of very little significance.  Just zis Guy you know? 13:48, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * You are clearly coming from a non-neutral point-of-view then. There are articles whose wording was agreed on a long time ago that have been edited recently to push one PoV. Have you done ANY research on traditional county groups? The ABC is the umbrella organisation for many other groups such as Friends of Real Lancashire, whereas County Watch are merely a recently-created group of individuals. If you have an objection to their aims then that is fine, but please do not try to suggest that they are negligible or that the aims of people they represent are "of very little significance". Owain (talk) 14:35, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I had never heard of these people before yesterday. I have done some reading up.  I have yet to find any credible evidence that they are considered significant outside theor (unstated) membership.  They get fewer Google hits than I do.  But thanks for providing another data point to support the evidence that it's always the admins who are non-neutral and activists who are the defenders of balance and fairness :-) Just zis Guy you know? 14:40, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * You haven't heard of them, therefore they are insignificant? Good argument. Please do not use the condescending attitude that admins somehow know more about any given subject than people who have read the legislation and been researching the subject for years. Owain (talk) 14:50, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm not here as an admin, I'm here as an editor. One of the more important things when assessing the importance and influence of an organisation is the number of members.  Refusal (clearly not simply failure) to give this information undermines the group's credibility.  You allude to affiliated organsiations - which ones?  How many members have they?  How influential?  There is nothing in this article which establishes the significance of this group, and some things which definitely undermine it.  I repeat: you get fewer Google hits than I do, and I am not notable in any way.  I have a website too (which ususally does work after midnight GMT.  One letter in the Telegraph?  Big deal - I've had dozens of letters published in the press, and been interviewed on national radio.  A name check in Hansard?  Big deal - I've been invited to contribute to a government consultation, and I've had early day motions put oon my behalf, and I have corresponded with Ministers and MPs.  I see lots of bluster here but no actual conrete verifiable proof of actual notability or importance. So, let's start with the number of members, shall we?  That would give a good indication of the significance of the organisation. Just zis Guy you know? 17:23, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

User:JzG - I removed the sentence "The size of the group is not known or stated", because I don't think we can quite say that yet - until we have a statement which can be rigorously defended by evidence, it will be continually reverted. Of course, I think the NPOV tag should stay at least until we have sorted out a rephrasing for this.

My problems with it are the following: There's a difference between information being available, and us actually having it. There's a difference between what we don't know and what we can't know.
 * 1) ..is not known... implies nobody at all knows - this may well not be true.  Just because we do not know from our research, doesn't mean other people don't know. There is no proof that there aren't people who know
 * 2) ...is not stated' - well it's not stated on the website, but it might be stated on other materials, such as press releases or lobbying documents. We just don't know.

My date of birth is not stated on my user page (or anywhere else on the web) - but it is publically available, and certainly is known!

If only we were to ask the ABC about their membership, they might well tell us! - we're just too busy sorting out edit wars instead... if they were to refuse to tell us however, then we could fairly say the information is not publically available, but until we do so (or we find documentary evidence saying this info has been withheld previously, say), we can't honestly say.

That the membership isn't available on the website is incontrovertible, but somewhat unnotable - but I personally wouldn't object to it being included if people insist, however Aquilina 17:27, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

 * It's significant for the reason given above: in the absence of a single cited reliable source, the size of the group is important to establishing whether it is actually notable. As far as I can tell it genuinely is not, since it scores lower on every measure of significance I can think of than I do, and I'm just zis guy, you know? Just zis Guy you know? 19:41, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * If you really think that a number of google hits versus another number of google hits is an accurate indication of notability then it is pointless trying to argue with you. It is the importance of the results that matters, not the absolute number of them. As has been mentioned before, the ABC have been mentioned in many Parliamentary debates whereas I doubt you ever have. Owain (talk) 17:43, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality
I don't understand why this keeps coming up -- this is an article about a group that lobbies for something that some people may find contentious, but surely this article itself is perfectly neutral and eminently factual? Can someone explain how this article--as it stands--is anything but neutral? I'd really like to know. MonMan 04:32, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed. The wording is mostly paraphrased from the ABC site itself. It is trivial to compare what it says here to what it says there and notice that they are saying essentially the same thing. As an organisation, they obviously have a PoV, so the addition of a non-neutral PoV template to this page is ludicrous. Owain (talk) 09:44, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Read WP:NPOV. What it means is that the neutrality of the article is disputed - this is a flattering portrait of the organisation but neglects crucial facts.  Lack of wider coverage, no information about size etc.  You canot tell form this article whether the group are significant or not (and the number of genuinely significant groups whose website fails after midnight GMT is pretty small, I'd suggest).  So until the article makes it clear that this is a quixotic bunch with very limited support it is not neutral. Just zis Guy you know? 12:23, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I think you may have just shown a significant bias there, unless you meant to say: makes it clear that this is a quixotic bunch with very limited support--if that's truely what they are. How about someone actually asks them about some of the things about which we're all wondering? Besides, I don't think the article is the least bit flattering to ABC--it's merely the facts! [BTW, I've not had any connectivity issues to the ABC site from the US] MonMan 16:45, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

 * See, it's like this: I follow British politics reasonably closely. I am familiar with many of the pressure groups like the weights & measures bunch and so on, but I have never once come across any single reference to this lot.  I followed them up in a few news bases (I don't have access to the really good ones as they require subscription) and got precisely zero hits.  I am having enormous trouble finding any coverage of this lot at all in reliable sources.  Without coverage in reliable sources, a topic is officially unverifiable per Wikipedia policy. I've seen some evidence of this agenda being pused on Wikipedia but very little evidence linking this group to any significant events or movements in the UK (which is where I live).  So I am left wondering: whose word do we have, other than theirs, that they are significant? Just zis Guy you know? 17:17, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * You have never come across references to "this lot", but I have. What does that prove? Nothing. The reason you won't see any mainstream news articles about them is because they don't do headline-grabbing things like stealing administrative border signs. They do boring stuff like replying to government discussion papers and othery low-profile lobbying. I have given you a small list of affiliated organisations, so rather than attacking the article from your standpoint of no knowledge, do some proper research. There are plenty of reliable sources, unless you count the official record of the House of Commons and the British Library as 'unreliable'. Owain (talk) 17:38, 4 March 2006 (UTC)


text: File:Dzwon ORP Iskra II.jpeg

title: File:Dzwon ORP Iskra II.jpeg


text:
Constantin von Ettingshausen

Constantin Freiherr von Ettingshausen (or Baron Constantin von Ettingshausen) (16 June 1826 in Vienna – 1 February 1897 in Graz) was an Austrian botanist known for his paleobotanical studies of flora from the Tertiary era. He was the son of physicist Andreas von Ettingshausen.

Biography
In 1848 he graduated as a doctor of medicine in Vienna, and became in 1854 a professor of botany and natural history at the medical and surgical military academy in that city. In 1871 he was chosen professor of botany at Graz, a position which he maintained until the close of his life.

From 1876 he made repeated visits to London, where he arranged collections at the Natural History Museum. He was distinguished for his researches on the Tertiary floras of various parts of Europe, and on the fossil floras of Australia and New Zealand. The extinct genus Ettingshausenia (family Vitaceae) was named in his honor by August Wilhelm Stiehler (1857).

Publications

 * Physiotypia plantarum austriacarum (with Alois Pokorny), 1856 –.
 * Physiographie der Medicinal Pflanzen (1862).
 * Die Farnkruter der Jetztwelt zur Untersuchung and Bestimmung der in den Formationen der Erdrinde eingeschiossenen Uberreste von vorweltlichen Arten dieser Ordnung nach dem Flächen-Skelet bearbeitet (1865).
 * A Monograph of the British Eocene Flora (with John Starkie Gardner), vol. 1. Filices, 1879-82. -- vol. 2. Gymnospermæ, by J. Gardner. 1883-86.
 * Contributions to the Tertiary flora of Australia (translated by Arvid Neilson, 1888).
 * Contributions to the knowledge of the fossil flora of New Zealand (translated by C. Juhl, 1890).

title: Constantin von Ettingshausen


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Erik Björnsson

Erik Björnsson was supposedly one of the sons of Björn Ironside and a legendary king of Sweden of the House of Munsö, who would have lived in the late 9th century. One of the few surviving Scandinavian sources that deal with Swedish kings from this time is Hervarar saga. The saga is from the 12th or 13th century and is thus not considered a reliable historical source for the 9th century. It says:

The sons of Björn Ironside were Eric and Refil. The latter was a warrior-prince and sea-king. King Eric ruled the Swedish Realm after his father, and lived but a short time. Then Eric the son of Refil succeeded to the Kingdom.

title: Erik Björnsson


text:
Javelin dinghy

The Javelin, also called the Javelin 14 and O'Day Javelin is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by Uffa Fox as a one-design racer and first built in 1960.

Production
The design was built by O'Day Corp. in the United States. The company produced 5100 examples of the design, but it is now out of production.

Design
The Javelin is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with anodized aluminum spars, a nearly plumb stem, a vertical transom, a transom-hung, kick-up rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centerboard. The hull alone displaces 475 lb and carries 49 lb of galvanized steel ballast. A fixed keel model was produced in small numbers and carries 195 lb of iron ballast.

The boat has a draft of 3.83 ft with the centerboard extended and 6 in with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer. The fixed keel model has a draft of 2.00 ft.

The boat may be fitted with a small outboard motor up to 8 hp for docking and maneuvering.

The design is equipped with a lockable storage compartment in the bow and gear lockers under the seats.

The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 111.8.

Operational history
In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood described the design as, "a beamy, stable small day sailer. Javelin has an unusually large (nine-foot) cockpit, a gear locker under the seats, and a lockable storage compartment under the deck. She is self-bailing and self-rescuing. The transom is reinforced to take outboards up to eight horsepower."

title: Javelin dinghy


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/GeekForce

I can't find any traces of this on Google...It doesn't seem worth keeping. David Remahl 13:16, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete. David Remahl 13:16, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Iainscott 13:31, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Are we really an oppressed minority? Sheesh.  Artie Ziff is pleased. Geogre 13:54, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: the only website coming up in google is offline. TPK 14:20, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. I find this offensive to me and my kind! :) --Golbez 19:52, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. I agree with TPK.Radoneme 17:29, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)


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Anund Uppsale

Anund Uppsale or Anoundus, 'Anund of Uppsala', (Old Norse: Önundr Uppsali), a son of Erik Björnsson of the House of Munsö, ruled Sweden together with his brother Björn at Haugi, according to Hervarar saga. He is called Uppsale because he stayed at Old Upsala, the era's religious centre. He and Björn are sometimes identified with similarly-named kings mentioned in Rimbert's Vita Ansgari and by Adam of Bremen.

Norse tradition
The Hervarar saga recounts that Anund and his brother Björn succeeded king Erik Refilsson, their cousin. This happened about two generations before the reign of Harald Fairhair of Norway (c. 872-930). The two brothers shared the realm, so that Anund resided in Uppsala while Björn made his residence at Haugi ("the Barrow"). His son Erik succeeded him on the Swedish throne.

A Norwegian document from the early 14th century provides a few additional details. A certain Herjulf Horn-breaker was the standard-bearer of King Halfdan the Black of Vestfold in Norway, the father of Harald Fairhair. However, Herjulf fell out with his lord and escaped to Sweden where he was well received by King Anund. After a while he evoked the wrath of his new master as well, since he slept with Anund's kinswoman Helga. Once again, he was forced to flee, bringing Helga with him. The couple eventually settled in the then uninhabited Härjedalen. The document enumerates their descendants for 15 generations. This account is at least partly a construction, since Herjulf Horn-breaker is otherwise known as a pioneer settler in Iceland.

The Vita Ansgari
The Vita Ansgari from c. 870 relates that a Swedish king called Anund was driven away from his country. The reason is unknown, but might have to do with rivalry between royal kinsmen. However, the Vita does not say how Anund was related to the other kings mentioned in the text (Erik, Björn, Olof). Anund stayed in exile in Denmark but was keen to regain his kingdom. He therefore approached the Danes and promised them the spoils of plunder from the important commercial center Birka. The Danish king at the time was Horik I who had spent time in exile in Sweden in c. 812-813 and therefore might have had a special relationship with members of the Swedish royal clan. Sometime in the 840s, Anund thus invaded Sweden with a large Danish host of 21 longships and 11 of his own, unexpectedly approaching Birka. At the time, the Swedish king (Björn at Haugi?) was far away, and the chiefs and popular levies had no time to gather. Only the Christian chief of the port, Hergeir, was there together with the merchants and townsmen. They sought refuge in the nearby fortification. Being too few to defend themselves successfully, the inhabitants sent envoys to Anund and offered their friendship and alliance. Anund demanded one hundred marks of silver, which was granted. The Danes felt tricked, since "every merchant owned more than they had been offered" and wanted to make a surprise attack on Birka in order to burn and plunder it. According to the Vita, Hergeir made the townsfolk turn away from the pagan gods and make promises to Christ the Lord in order to be saved.

In the meanwhile Anund tried to avert the self-willed plans of his Viking allies. He asked them to draw lots about whether it was the will of the Aesir that Birka should be destroyed, meaning that they were probably casting runes. The outcome was that there was no possibility to carry out the plan with any success, so that an attempt on Birka would bring bad luck to the Danes. They then asked where to go for plunder and the answer was to go to a certain Slavic town. The Danes accordingly left Birka, sailed over to the other town and seized it in a surprise attack. They then returned to Denmark with rich booty. As for Anund, he made peace with the Swedes and returned the ransom money to the townspeople. He then stayed in Sweden for some time since he sought reconciliation with his people.

title: Anund Uppsale


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Charles Sumner Tainter

Charles Sumner Tainter (April 25, 1854 – April 20, 1940) was an American scientific instrument maker, engineer and inventor, best known for his collaborations with Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, Alexander's father-in-law Gardiner Hubbard, and for his significant improvements to Thomas Edison's phonograph, resulting in the Graphophone, one version of which was the first Dictaphone.

Later in his career Tainter was associated with the International Graphopone Company of West Virginia, and also managed his own research and development laboratory, earning him the title: 'Father Of The Talking Machine' (i.e.: father of the phonograph).

Biography
Tainter was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he attended public school. His education was modest, acquiring his knowledge mostly through self-education. In 1873, he took a job with the Alvan Clark and Sons Company producing telescopes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which then came under contract with the U.S. Navy to conduct observations of the transit of Venus on December 8, 1874, resulting in Tainter being sent with one of its observation expeditions to New Zealand. In 1878 he opened his own shop for the production of scientific instruments in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, where he made the acquaintance of Alexander Graham Bell. A year later Bell called Tainter to what would become his Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., where he would work for the next several years. He worked there alongside one of the first two woman medical doctors to graduate from Georgetown University, Nettie J. Sumner.

During this time, Tainter worked with the Bells on several inventions, amongst them the photophone and phonograph, which they developed into the Graphophone, a substantial improvement of Edison's earlier device, for which Tainter received several patents along with the Bells. Edison subsequently sued the Volta Graphophone Company (of which Tainter was part owner) for patent infringement, but the case was settled by a compromise between the two. In 1886, he married Lila R. Munro, and over the next years worked in Washington, perfecting his graphophone and founding a company trying to market the Graphophone as a dictation machine: the first Dictaphone. In 1887 Tainter invented the helically wound paper tube as an improved graphophone cylinder. This design was light and strong, and came to be widely used in applications far removed from its original intent, such as mailing tubes and product containers.

In 1888 he was stricken with severe pneumonia, which would incapacitate him intermittently for the rest of his life, leading him and his wife to move to San Diego, California in 1903. After the death of his first wife in 1924, he married Laura F. Onderdonk in 1928. Tainter received several distinguished awards for his graphophone.

Unpublished work
In 1947 Tainter's widow, Laura Fontaine Onderdonk, donated a number of Sumner Tainter's unpublished writings, including the surviving Home Notebooks, to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. The Home Notebooks contain daily agendas describing in detail the project work Tainter conducted at the Volta Laboratory during the 1880s. In 1950 Laura Tainter donated other historical items, including Sumner Tainter's manuscripts of "Memoirs of Charles Sumner Tainter", the first 71 pages of which detailed his experiences up to 1887, plus further writings on his work at the Graphophone factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Awards and honors

 * The Electrical Exhibition in Paris awarded Tainter a gold medal for his co-invention of the photophone the previous year (1881);
 * the French Government appointed him an "Officier de L Instruction Publique" for his work in the invention of the Graphaphone (1889);
 * the San Francisco Exposition awarded him a gold medal for his Graphophone work (1915);
 * the Panama Pacific Exposition also awarded him a gold medal for his work on the Graphophone (1915);
 * the American Association for the Advancement of Science made Tainter an Emeritus Life Member of their institute (Pittsburgh, December 1934).

Patents
Patent images viewable in TIFF format
 * Photophone Transmitter, filed September 1880, issued December 1880 (with Alexander Bell)
 * Selenium Cell, filed September 1880, issued December 1880 (with Alexander Bell)
 * Process of Treating Selenium To Increase Its Electric Conductivity, filed August 1880, issued December 1880 (with Alexander Bell)
 * Photophonic Receiver, filed March 1881, issued May 1881 (with Alexander Bell)
 * Telephone Transmitter (using a "jet of conductive fluid"), filed April 1885, issued February 1886
 * Reproducing Sounds from Phonograph Records (without using a stylus), filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander and Chichester Bell)
 * Transmitting And Recording Sounds By Radiant Energy, filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander and Chichester Bell)
 * Recording and Reproducing Speech and Other Sounds (improvements include compliant cutting head, wax surface, and constant linear velocity disk), filed June 1885, issued May 1886 (with Chichester Bell)
 * Apparatus for Recording and Reproducing Sounds (wax coated cylinder, pause and reverse mechanism), filed December 1885, issued May 1886
 * Paper Cylinder for Graphophonic Records (helically wound), filed April 1887, issued November 1887
 * Apparatus for Recording and Reproducing Speech and Other Sounds (with treadle drive designed for dictation), filed July 1887, issued December 1887
 * Graphophone (with duplicate transcription), filed December 1887, issued April 1888
 * Graphophone Tablet (hard "ozocerite" (carnauba wax) cylinder coating), filed November 1887, issued February 1890
 * Machine for the Manufacture of Wax-coated Tablets for Graphophones (helically wound paper tubes), filed June 1889, issued May 1890

title: Charles Sumner Tainter


text:
Gratiot

Gratiot may refer to:

Places

 * Gratiot, Ohio, a village
 * Gratiot (town), Wisconsin, a town
 * Gratiot, Wisconsin, a village
 * Gratiot County, Michigan
 * Gratiot Community Airport
 * Gratiot River, Michigan
 * Lake Gratiot, Michigan

Other uses

 * Gratiot (surname)
 * M-3 (Michigan highway), known for most of its length as Gratiot Avenue

title: Gratiot


text:
Olof (Swedish king 852)

Olof (Old Norse: Óláfr) was a Swedish monarch or local ruler who ruled over Birka, an important port town, and possibly Uppsala, an important early Swedish political center, in about 852, when the Catholic missionary Saint Ansgar made his second voyage from Germany to Birka in about the year 851 or 852 A.D. He had an ambivalent attitude to Christianity, and was known as a successful warrior king in the Baltic region.

Olof is not mentioned in the Icelandic sagas of the 12th and 13th century, which give a different line of succession of supposed Viking Age Swedish rulers, but the Vita Ansgari, the near-contemporary writings of Ansgar's companion Rimbert, and the 11th-century account of Adam of Bremen both mention him and are generally seen as more reliable than the sagas.

Religious dispositions
Ansgar had undertaken missionary work among the Swedes in 829-831, and laid the foundations to a fragile congregation based in the important merchant town Birka. By the early 850s Ansgar, who was now Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, began to worry about the future of the community which was without a priest. He received the consent of the East Frankish ruler Louis the German to go to Sweden in person and received a personal letter to the Swedish king Olof. When he came to Denmark, King Horik I provided him with an envoy and a message which asked Olof to allow Ansgar to missionise freely.

Ansgar's biographer Rimbert, in his Vita Ansgari (Life of Ansgar) relates that the Archbishop arrived to Birka after having sailed for 20 days. The year is not certain but seems to have been 851 or 852. There he found that King Olof and a large part of the people were affected by a pagan counter-movement. A seer asserted that he had participated in the council of the Aesir who had expressed their dissatisfaction with the Christian god. In case the current gods were not sufficient to the people, the gods decided to accept the former King Eric (Erik Björnsson, or Erik Refilsson?) in their abode. The seer's vision was widely believed, a sanctuary was built in the honour of the long-deceased Eric, and people performed sacrifices to him.

Having installed himself in Birka, Ansgar invited King Olof to his place and feted him with a meal and gifts. The king announced that he would be glad to assist Ansgar, but dared not undertake anything before he had searched the will of the people, and divination had been carried out. "It is, namely, common among them, that every public issue is decided more through the unanimous will of the people, than through royal exertion of power." Some time later a thing was held in Birka, where a herald announced Ansgar's request to missionise among the Swedes. After due deliberation, the thing agreed to allow Christian priests and holy sacraments among them. A second thing, which was held at a different place in the realm, confirmed what had been said. The king summoned Ansgar and enjoined the construction of churches, providing the Archbishop with a piece of land in Birka for a chapel.

Viking expedition to Courland
The Curonians in Latvia had once been under the Swedish realm. However, they had rebelled against the Swedes a long time ago and refused to pay them tribute. The Danes, being aware of this, saw the opportunity to take over the Swedish dominions in Courland. At the time of Ansgar's second visit to Birka, They marshalled a great fleet and sailed to Courland in order to take over their goods and to make the Curonians pay tribute to the Danes instead. The Curonians gathered forces from all five of their towns and butchered half the Danish army, after which they plundered the Danish ships, gaining a great deal of gold, silver, and other valuables.

When the Swedes and King Olof heard of the Danish failure, they decided to win the reputation that the Swedes could do what the Danes could not and to make the Curonians pay tribute again. Consequently, the Swedes gathered an enormous army and attacked Curland. The first town they attacked was called Seeburg. It had 7,000 armed men, but the town was pillaged, ravaged, and burnt by the Swedes. The Swedes left their ships at the coast and started out on a five-day expedition into the hinterland. They reached the town of Apulia (probably modern Apuole). The town had as many as 15,000 armed men.

The Swedes stormed the town but it was ferociously defended, and after eight days of battle many men had fallen without result. By the ninth day, the Swedes were weary of the battle and discussed whether to pursue it. They decided to cast lots with runes, but without results. Rimbert then relates that some of the Swedes had heard of the Christian faith and they decided to cast lots asking the Christian god about how to proceed. They interpreted the results as full support from the Christian god and decided to attack the town once again.

When the Curonians saw that the Swedes were about to resume their attack, they gave up and offered to the Swedes all the gold, silver, and weapons that they had taken from the Danes the previous year. They also offered to pay half a pound of silver for every man in the town and to resume paying tribute to the Swedes and to give hostages as a warrant for paying. They declared that they wished to be the subjects of the Swedish kings as in former times.

King Olof granted their request, and the Swedes returned home with treasures beyond count and thirty hostages as a security for the Curonians' future loyalty.

The information in the Vita has been tentatively combined with archaeological findings in Latvia. According to the archaeologist Birger Nerman these indicate Swedish presence in the region in c. 650-800. Moreover, Nerman discovered arrows and other traces of a 9th century battle in Apuole, while Seeburg was identified with Grobiņa at the coast which has graves which indicate connections with Gotland and the Mälaren Valley. There are nevertheless other interpretations of the place names mentioned in the Vita; Apulia might be Pilten at Ventspils which was also known as Ampule, while Seeburg could be Seleburg at the Daugava River.

title: Olof (Swedish king 852)


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Eric Weatherhat

Eric Weatherhat (Erik Väderhatt) was a legendary king of Sweden.

According to the Swedish Chronicle, the cognomen Weatherhat refers to the accommodating wind he enjoyed whilst pillaging in the Baltic Sea region.

His place in the Swedish line of kings is mysterious, and so he is either considered to be the same as Eric Anundsson or, according to Gesta Danorum, one of Ragnar Lodbrok's sons.

title: Eric Weatherhat