text:
Maunsell Forts

The Maunsell Forts are towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were operated as army and navy forts, and named for their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned during the late 1950s and later used for other activities including pirate radio broadcasting. One of the forts is managed by the unrecognised Principality of Sealand; boats visit the remaining forts occasionally, and a consortium named Project Redsands is planning to conserve the fort situated at Red Sands. The aesthetic attraction of the Maunsell forts has been considered to be associated with the aesthetics of decay, transience and nostalgia.

During the summers of 2007 and 2008 Red Sands Radio, a station commemorating the pirate radio stations of the 1960s, operated from the Red Sands fort on 28-day Restricted Service Licences. The fort was subsequently declared unsafe, and Red Sands Radio has moved its operations ashore to Whitstable.

Forts had been built in river mouths and similar locations to defend against ships, such as the Grain Tower Battery at the mouth of the Medway dating from 1855, Plymouth Breakwater Fort, completed 1865, the four Spithead Forts: Horse Sand Fort, No Mans Land and St Helens Forts which were built 1865–1880 and Spitbank Fort, built during the 1880s, the Humber Forts on Bull & Haile Sands, completed in late 1919, and the Nab Tower, intended as part of a World War I anti-submarine defense but only set in place in 1920.

Maunsell naval forts
The Maunsell naval forts were built in the Thames estuary and operated by the Royal Navy, to deter and report German air raids following the Thames as a landmark, and prevent attempts to lay mines by aircraft in this important shipping channel. There were four naval forts:
 * Rough Sands (HM Fort Roughs) (U1) 51.89519°N, 1.48057°W
 * Sunk Head (U2) 51.7773°N, 1.50841°W
 * Tongue Sands (U3) 51.49292°N, 1.36662°W
 * Knock John (U4) 51.56228°N, 1.16206°W

This artificial naval installation is similar in some respects to early "fixed" offshore oil platforms. It consisted of a rectangular 168 by reinforced concrete pontoon base with a support superstructure of two 60 ft tall, 24 ft diameter hollow reinforced concrete towers, walls roughly 3.5 in thick; overall weight is estimated to have been approximately 4,500 tons. The twin concrete supporting towers were divided into seven floors, four for crew quarters; the remainder provided dining, operational, and storage areas for several generators, and for fresh water tanks and antiaircraft munitions. There was a steel framework at one end supporting a landing jetty and crane which was used to hoist supplies aboard; the wooden landing stage itself became known as a "dolphin".

The towers were joined above the eventual waterline by a steel platform deck upon which other structures could be added; this became a gun deck, on which an upper deck and a central tower unit were constructed. QF 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns were positioned at each end of this main deck, with a further two Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and the central tower radar installations atop a central living area that contained a galley, medical, and officers quarters.

The design of these concrete structures is equal to a military grade bunker, due to the ends of the stilts (under water), that are locked into the ground. Many species of fish live near the forts because the forts create cover. They have provided landmark references for shipping. They were laid down in dry dock and assembled as complete units. They were then fitted out—the crews going aboard at the same time for familiarization—before being towed out and sunk onto their sand bank positions in 1942.

The naval fort design was the latest of several that Maunsell had devised in response to Admiralty inquiries. Early ideas had considered forts in the English Channel able to combat enemy vessels.

During World War II, the Thames estuary Navy forts destroyed one German E-Boat.

Rough Sands Fort (U1)
Rough Sands fort was built to protect the ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and the town of Ipswich from aerial and sea attack. It is situated on Rough Sands, a sandbar located approximately 11 km from the coast of Suffolk and 13 km from the coast of Essex. Fort Roughs or the "Rough Towers" was "the first of originally four naval forts designed by G. Maunsell to protect the Thames Estuary". The artificial sea fort was constructed in dry dock at Red Lion Wharf, Gravesend, and was commissioned "H.M. Fort Roughs" on 8 February 1942. After an eventful journey its grounding was supervised by Maunsell at 16:45 on 11 February 1942. With "almost 100 men" having earlier embarked at Tilbury docks, the fort began service immediately.

In 1966 Paddy Roy Bates, who operated Radio Essex, and Ronan O'Rahilly, who operated Radio Caroline, landed on Fort Roughs and occupied it. However, after disagreements, Roy Bates seized the tower as his own. O'Rahilly attempted to storm the fort in 1967, but Roy Bates defended the fort with guns and petrol bombs and continued to occupy it. The British Royal Marines were alerted and the British authorities ordered Roy Bates to surrender. He and his son were arrested and charged, but the court dismissed the case as it did not have jurisdiction over international affairs: Roughs Tower lay beyond the territorial waters of Britain. Bates took this as de facto recognition of his country and seven years later issued a constitution, flag, and national anthem, among other things, for the Principality of Sealand (founded on 2 September 1967).

Sunk Head Fort (U2)
Sunk Head fort was situated approximately 18 km from the coast off Essex and was grounded on 1 June 1942. The fort was decommissioned on 14 June 1945 though maintained until 1956 when it was abandoned. Unlike some of the other forts, Sunk Head was clearly well outside territorial waters, and when the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 came into effect in August 1967 the Government was anxious to ensure that it would not be taken over again by an offshore broadcaster. On 18 August 1967 Sunk Head was boarded by a contingent of the 24th Field Squadron of Royal Engineers from Maidstone from the tug Collie, commanded by Major David Ives. The Fort was weakened by acetylene cutting torches and 3,200 pounds of explosives were set. On 21 August 1967 Sunk Head was blown, leaving 20 feet of the leg stumps remaining.

Tongue Sands Fort (U3)
Tongue Sands Fort was situated approximately 10.2 km from the coast off Margate, Kent and was grounded on 27 June 1942. On the night of 22/23 January 1945, fifteen German E-boats were seen on radar, with five close by. The S.119 or S.199 operating out of IJmuiden, Holland was just over 4 miles away and came under heavy fire from Tongue Sands Fort's 3.7-inch guns. The German E-Boat's captain was unsure of where the attack was coming from and manoeuvred to avoid being hit, ramming another E-Boat in the process. The captain scuttled his badly damaged vessel.

The Tongue Sands Fort was decommissioned on 14 February 1945 and reduced to care and maintenance until 1949 when it was abandoned. The fort had settled badly when it was grounded and as a result became unstable. On 5 December 1947 the Fort shook violently and sections began falling into the sea. The caretaker crew sent a distress call and were rescued by HMS Uplifter. Divers later established that the foundations were solid, but in a later storm the fort took on a 15 degree list. During the mid-1960s under-scouring had further distorted the fort: large holes had appeared in east leg, sea water had flooded the lower levels and the platform had become detached with huge gaps between the deck. Tongue Sands Fort finally collapsed into the under-scouring hole during storms on 21/22 February 1996, leaving only a single 18 foot stump of the south leg remaining visible above sea level.

Knock John Fort (U4)
Knock John fort is situated approximately 16.1 km from the coast off Essex and was grounded on 1 August 1942. It was decommissioned on 14 June 1945 and evacuated on 25 June 1945. The platform was maintained until May 1956 when it was abandoned. In 2009, it was observed that there was a slight distortion of the legs when viewing the tower from west to east. It is thought that underscouring is the cause of this.

Maunsell army forts
Maunsell also designed forts for anti-aircraft defence. These were larger installations comprising seven connected steel platforms. Four towers arranged in a semicircle ahead of the control centre and accommodation each carried a QF 3.7-inch gun, a tower to the rear of the control centre mounted Bofors 40 mm guns, while the seventh tower, set to one side of the gun towers and further out, was the searchlight tower.

Three forts were placed in Liverpool Bay:
 * Queens AA Towers
 * Formby AA Towers
 * Burbo AA Towers

and three in the Thames estuary:
 * Nore (U5),
 * Red Sands (U6)
 * Shivering Sands (U7)

The Mersey forts were constructed at Bromborough Dock and the Thames forts at Gravesend. Proposals to construct forts off the Humber, Portsmouth & Rosyth, Belfast & Londonderry came to nothing. During World War II, the Thames estuary forts shot down 22 aircraft and about 30 flying bombs; they were decommissioned by the Ministry of Defence during the late 1950s.

Nore Fort (U5)
Nore fort was the only one built in British territorial waters at the time it was established. Other forts were in international waters until the three-mile limit was extended to 12 nmi. The fort was damaged badly in 1953 during a storm, then later in the year a Norwegian ship, Baalbek, collided with it, destroying two of the towers, killing four civilians and destroying guns, radar equipment and supplies. The ruins were considered a hazard to shipping and dismantled in 1959–1960. Parts of the bases were towed ashore by the Cliffe fort at Alpha wharf near the village of Cliffe, Kent, where they were still visible at low tide.

Red Sands Fort (U6)
There are seven towers in the Red Sands group at the mouth of the Thames Estuary. The towers had been connected by metal grate walk-ways. In 1959 consideration was given to refloating the Red Sands Fort and bringing the towers ashore but the costs were prohibitive.

Radio 390 (1965–1967) was a pirate radio station on Red Sands Fort.

During the early 21st century, in response to proposals to demolish the fort, a group named Project Redsands was formed to try to preserve it. It was the only fort that could be visited safely from a platform in between the legs of one of the towers. The fort was inspected by the structural engineering company Structural Repairs in 2021. They found that 6 of the towers had severe structural defects, with elements already lost to the sea, the 7th tower also had the same defects, with elements due to imminently fall into the sea. The fort could not be accessed safely in its present condition.

Shivering Sands Fort (U7)
This group was built near the Thames estuary for anti-aircraft defence and made up of several towers north of Herne Bay 9.2 mi from the nearest land. One of the seven towers collapsed in 1963 when fog caused the ship Ribersborg to stray off course and collide with one of the towers. In 1964, the Port of London Authority placed wind and tide monitoring equipment on the Shivering Sands searchlight tower, which was isolated from the rest of the fort by the demolished tower. This relayed data to the mainland via a radio link. In August and September 2005, artist Stephen Turner spent six weeks living alone in the searchlight tower of the Shivering Sands Fort in what he described as "an artistic exploration of isolation, investigating how one's experience of time changes in isolation, and what creative contemplation means in a 21st-century context".

Liverpool Army Forts
The Liverpool sea forts were constructed in the same way the forts in the Thames estuary were; they were designed to defend Liverpool and the industrial heartland of Liverpool from an aerial attack from the west. Originally 38 towers were intended to be built but only 21 towers were built (three forts). The forts were built from October 1941. No fort engaged in enemy action during WWII. Demolition of the structures started during the 1950s with these forts considered a priority over the Thames estuary ports due to being a hazard to shipping. Demolition was delayed in 1954 when the salvage ship working at Queens Fort was diverted to assist with the urgent demolition of The Nore Fort in the Thames Estuary, which had been damaged due to a collision with a Norwegian ship, leaving remains considered hazardous to shipping in the area. Demolition of the three forts was completed in 1955.

Illicit radio stations
Various forts were re-occupied for pirate radio during the mid-1960s.

In 1964, a few months after Radios Caroline and Atlanta began broadcasting, Screaming Lord Sutch installed Radio Sutch in one of the towers at Shivering Sands. Sutch soon became bored with the project and sold the station to Reginald Calvert who had assisted in establishing the station and who renamed the station Radio City and expanded operations into all of the five towers that remained connected. Calvert's killing in a dispute concerning the station's ownership (found to be self-defence rather than murder) contributed to the Government passing legislation against the offshore stations in 1967.

During the illicit radio era the Port of London Authority frequently complained that its monitoring radio link was being disrupted by the nearby Radio City transmitter.

Red Sands was likewise occupied by Radio Invicta, which was renamed KING Radio and then Radio 390, after its wavelength of approximately 390 metres. The station's managing director was ex-spy and thriller writer Ted Allbeury.

The size of the Army forts made them ideal antenna platforms, since a large antenna could be based on the central tower and guyed from the surrounding towers.

A small group of radio enthusiasts established Radio Tower on Sunk Head Naval fort, but the station had a small budget, had poor coverage and lasted only a few months. Claims by the group that they also intended to provide television service from the fort were never credible. In order to prevent further illicit broadcasting, a team of Royal Engineers laid 2,200 lbs of explosive charges on Sunk Head, commencing on 18 August 1967. At 4:18 PM on 21 August the charges were detonated, destroying the entire superstructure and most of the concrete legs above the waterline.

Paddy Roy Bates occupied the Knock John Fort in 1965 and established Radio Essex, later renamed BBMS—Britain's Better Music Station, but was better known for his post-pirate activities. After the termination of BBMS in late 1966 he moved the station's equipment to Roughs Tower, further from the coast, but did not recommence broadcasting. He, or a representative, has lived in Roughs Tower since 1967, self-styling the tower as the Principality of Sealand.

Cultural references
The 1966 television series Danger Man episode "Not-so-Jolly Roger" was filmed partly at Redsands Army Sea Fort and includes an acknowledgement to Radio 390 in its closing credits. Redsands Fort was also used for the 1968 Doctor Who serial Fury from the Deep, in which the complex stood in for a North Sea gas refinery besieged by an intelligent seaweed creature. In the 2020 film Artemis Fowl, the Redsands towers, seen from the air, appear as the exterior of a secret MI6 interrogation centre. In the 2013 movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as the characters travel in a train along the coast, two Sea Forts can be seen in the water.

The Red Sands Fort and Radio City feature in the Glam Rock band, Slade's movie, Slade in Flame. The newly formed band, Flame, are interviewed by the pirate radio station, just as an attack is begun on the forts.

The Shivering Sands Forts, filmed from a North Sea ferry, appeared in the 1984 music video for the song "A Sort of Homecoming", by the Irish popular music band U2.

The 2002 video game Reign of Fire features the forts during the dragon campaign, where remnants of British Armed Forces make a last stand during a dragon apocalypse.

The 2015 video game Stranded Deep includes abandoned Sea Forts that have the appearance of Maunsell Army Forts. These are difficult-to-find Easter Eggs built into the game for players to explore.

The setting of the 2023 science fiction film "Last Sentinel" is based on a structure modelled after a single tower of the Maunsell army forts.

The Red Sands Forts are seen in Episode 1 of Whitstable Pearl, mentioned as a drop-off and pick-up point for illicit drugs, as part of the story.

title: Maunsell Forts


text:
Talk:Maunsell Forts

John Bray
John Bray is copying this information from his website www.forts.org.uk See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fort_Charlotte —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vicarage (talk • contribs) 13:01, 3 October 2004

I've added quite a bit of material, mainly derived from books and websites (main source cited). I've got various books and records about the history of the fort-based pirate stations, but they're all safely stored away where I can't find them (sigh). Lee M 01:16, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Radar

 * As well as their role in hindering German air raids, the Naval forts have also been credited with extending radar coverage in the Thames Estuary, allowing the Navy to pinpoint the positions of newly-laid enemy mines and avoid them.

This paragraph is confusing and needs a little explanation. (1) Was radar installed on the forts? This is implied but should be made clear. It's an interesting question because the military certainly would not have wanted a radar transmitter to fall into German hands, and these forts were pretty easily capturable. The risk/reward formula must have been interesting. (2) Does the latter part of the sentence mean that the radar was only used to spot German minelayers?

Tempshill 00:24, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

(1) Both styles of Forts mounted radar for target search and aquisition, as well as fire direction. Note that Chain Home radar arrays were openly installed in 1939, and operated at a time of far greater risk. Air defence of Britain was considered to be paramount, and the Allies were well aware that Germany had far superior operational Radar technology prior to this date. There would seem to be a very fair risk/reward formula there.
 * NB. Military equipment installed on the Forts consisted of 3.7” guns Mk 2c with automatic loaders by Mollins of Deptford. Radar No 3 Mk 2 subsequently updated and modernised to Radar No 3 Mk 7. Sperry Predictors No 11 and Searchlight No 2 Mk 2.
 * Thames forts shot down 22 planes, 30 flying bombs, and were instrumental in the loss of one U-boat, which was scuttled after coming under fire from Tongue sands tower.

http://www.project-redsand.com/other_htm/The_Maunsell_Forts_of_the_Thames_Estuary.htm

Fire Control Radar No.3 MkVII (Yellow River) http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/n/newton_orange_yeoman/index.html

Modified Sperry Gyroscope Company Fire Solution Predictor http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/28/a8644728.shtml

(2) Saying something is allowed suggests unique or additional capability, not the exclusion of prior inherent capability. EWAD radar looks "up and out" and has a blind zone "under the radar" that cannot be monitored, thus may be exploited. The sea-based tactical tranceivers were farther out, and could scan lower, allowing for surface searches of their operating areas.

(Pardon my messiness, still trying to learn the command system here. Rakkasan 05:28, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

M/S Baalbek

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.178.234.135 (talk • contribs) 20:26, 26 February 2006

Maunsell Forerunners
Great War M-N Towers at Shoreham Harbour, Victorian-era Spithead Forts in the Solent

Should these additional and lesser known offshore fortifications be mentioned in the article, or linked as being relevant to the topic?

http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/Solent/Solent.html

http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/nab_tower.html

http://www.forelands.demon.co.uk/Nab.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_Sand_Fort Rakkasan 07:30, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Map, please!
A map of the locations of these would be very helpful. Especially to readers not highly familiar with UK geography for whom "Thames Estuary" is a bit vague.

68.40.41.33 11:49, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

sea air overdose
I removed the following text that was added without reference. The phrase 'sea air overdose' also doesn't show up anywhere beyond this article:
 * Famously, David Bowie occupied the army forts for much of the 1990s until he suffered a sea air overdose and was admitted to South End hospital in the UK. Bowie never returned. In 2002 some of his possessions left in the fort were briefly advertised on the online auction site Ebay but were quickly removed, actioned by Bowie's lawyers.  Items included a monocular, underwear and a merkin.

Dstanfor (talk) 20:04, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

And Now?
Having given the history, it would be good to sum up what we have now, then if it be known, what any projected future for them is.

IceDragon64 (talk) 20:11, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Dimensions of sea forts
It would be helpful to have example dimensions of a sea fort, so the scale of this endeavor can be appreciated. 71.239.87.100 (talk) 17:04, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

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This article needs additional citations for verification
Are there are any particular areas that need additional citations ? I didn't find any particular 'citation required' notes. I've been scouring the Frank Turner books recently, so may have sources for some of the claims. Im also planning to visit the national archives in the near future, so may be able to look into specifics. Rasathus (talk) 22:05, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

Vision for article structure
I note that the article is a bit inconsistent at the moment with some of the forts having their own pages, and others only a section on this one.

Are there any particular opinions as to the best approach to structuring these ?

I've recently come into possession of a number of books giving extensive dates of the construction of the original towers, there grounding and service details. The books also reference a number of articles from the national archives which I plan to go see. I'd like to look at restructuring these articles to include some of the information, but wanted to avoid stepping on any toes. Thanks Rasathus (talk) 22:13, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Maunsell Forts


text:
Talk:Regulation of gene expression

Definition of gene regulation
I disagree with the definition of gene regulation as the regulation of protein expression at the DNA and RNA level. It's true that most of the time, the end product of the expression of a gene is a protein, however, it is not always true, and I think that it is too much of a simplification of what gene regulation is to start of the whole overview with that as a definition.

I think that in the last decade we have learned that proteins are not the only active catalytic moiety that exists in a cell and that the work of a cell sometimes relies on special catalytic RNAs or is regulated by even more specialized RNAi's. In other words, defining gene regulation as regulation of protein expression overlooks the RNA world and places too much emphasis on the end product of a gene being a protein. When the central dogma read DNA -> RNA -> protein, the definition was true, but we now know that there need to be some loops and turns in the central dogma, so the definition is no longer suitable.

I chose to address this change in the talk section because I think that I am proposing a major change in the definition of gene regulation and I didn't want to suppose that my definition is the correct one without some form of discussion.

What do people feel, is this worth a discussion or should I just change the sentence and see what people think?

thanks, Stephen R. Lasky, Institute for Systems Biology User:Srlasky

 * Dr Lasky, you have every right to modify the page. If it is disliked, someone will change it back! In the present form, the page certainly answers to the old dogma. A mention of the emerging theories would be entirely appropriate. Would you care to elaborate if catalytic RNA is an issue of concern in higher lifeforms?
 * Your input is most welcomed. There is a dearth of contributors with biological expertise on Wikipedia. JFW | T@lk  13:34, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I agree with Dr. Lasky's comments, and have corrected the definition on this page. Turan P. Urmenyi, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro User:Turan

Prokaryotic gene regulation
This page seems to be exclusively about eukaryotic gene regulation. Fror example this sentence: Octameric protein complexes called histones are responsible for the amount of supercoiling of DNA, is simply not true for prokaryotes. There are two possible solutions, either make a Prokaryotic gene regulation article and a seperate Eukaryotic gene regulation article, or try to be more specific and make less generalisations in this article. I've been doing some work on the lac operon article and it could really do with a parallel article on prokaryotic gene regulation in order to fill in the gaps, so I'm in favour of the first option. What's the general feeling?Alun 05:42, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Structural modification
According to the article this is a consequence of phosphorylation and methyation, both are chemical modifications, so it should be under the same heading. Andreas (T) 00:03, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Up/Down Regulation
Could these terms actually be defined please?

Split for regulatory protein?
Regulatory protein redirects here, but I think regulatory proteins are involved in many more processes in the cell than just regulation of gene expression. Shouldn't they have their own page? - tameeria 18:48, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree that they should have their own page, or that they are at least described more in their section.-EmilyofWolves

Negative and positive control
Negative control and positive control are mentioned in the gene regulation chapter of intro-bio textbooks and need to be defined in the context of gene expression either here or on their respective pages. - tameeria 18:53, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Sort stuff out
I dislike the layout of this page. I used to look like it was a first year undergraduate essay (I am suprised that the main reference is not Alberts. Uh, I might add that as a joke). I think Transcriptional regulation must have its own page as it is for post-transcriptional regulation, which links to a page which is now cool (great save guys!). Is that a good idea or will it make it worse as I suppose this is a high school topic too. --Squidonius (talk) 12:15, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 of the 4 references were actually copied from the post-transcriptional page... --Squidonius (talk) 23:19, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Incorrect data?
This page states that "The first discovered example of a gene regulation system was the lac operon, discovered by Jacques Monod" however there seems to be another person who did it ~10 years earlier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_McClintock —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.216.211.175 (talk) 01:38, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Header demotion
This article has four clear sections: I do not want to barge in and change too much stuff around, but I reckon the titles Modification of DNA, Regulation of transcription, Post-transcriptional regulation, Regulation of translation should be made a tier lower to reflect this and Examples should be below Circuitry. --Squidonius (talk) 03:14, 10 October 2010 (UTC)
 * where and how in gene expression regulation occurs
 * Examples
 * circuits
 * methods to study these

The link to Epigenetics?
Under the "Modification of DNA" subheading, it says that this information is from the main article on Epigenetic regulation. Epigenetics is defined as heritable changes caused by mechanisms other than modifications to DNA.

Why does the main article for "Modification of DNA" take us to a page that is about mechanisms other than modifications to DNA? This doesn’t make sense and is confusing. Nursebhayes (talk) 21:39, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

 * There is a key point that you left out of the definition of epigenetic regulation. This type of regulation involves modifications to DNA that are "other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence". Examples of epigenetic modifications to DNA include:
 * DNA methylation in which a methyl group is attached to a DNA base which blocks transcription (a direct change in the chemical structure of DNA)
 * histone acetylation or deacetylation that results in change in the conformation of DNA making it more or less available for transcription (an indirect change caused by chemical modifications to the proteins that DNA wraps around)  Boghog (talk) 00:49, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

 * There should be a link to the epigenetic page, but why is it listed as the main page? Epigenetics is not the only way that DNA is modified. DNA is modified by many different processes, including epigenetics. Where are the links to other processes that modify DNA? Maybe the subheading should be changed from Modification of DNA to Epigenetic Modification? Or something similar Nursebhayes (talk) 15:00, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

 * I agree that there is a problem with the link to epigenetics in that not all modifications to DNA that regulate gene expression are inheritable. Hence I have modified the text to clarify that. I hope this is an improvement. Boghog (talk) 17:47, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 04:07, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Please clarify the link to alternative splicing
I think it would be good to add a wikilink to alternative splicing and clarify the link between regulation of gene expression and alternative splicing. There could also be info about the extent of this, including in the mammalian/human cortex.

Relevant to this, 2021 in science currently features the following item:

"Scientists report a large extent of alternative splicing – cases of a single gene (a template) being used to create instructions (mRNAs) for building different proteins – in the mouse and human cortex and release the transcriptomes on a public database."

Please also reply if you think info about the link and/or the study should (also?) be added to another article (maybe to Transcriptome?).

Prototyperspective (talk) 16:29, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Regulation of gene expression


text:
Talk:Cash register

Duplication
This seems to be duplicating some information at Point of sale. Maybe someone might want to merge the two. --Welshie 13:06, 2004 Oct 3 (UTC)

 * These are two complete different things. - what you talking about ?

If the business is regulated by SOX, then the system of Cash register should be.....
validated in some way or another and be documented, shouldn't it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.191.80.9 (talk) 07:37, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Minor edits
I removed advertising from a POS and cash control system at kasir.net. Dasubergeek (talk) 23:25, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Popular culture
Should there be section, or a few sentences tacked on somewhere, on cash registers in popular culture? I'm thinking of things like Money (Pink Floyd song) and (for people familiar with British TV), Open All Hours and Are You Being Served?. However, I'm hesitant to add something along these lines as many are opposed to such entries. Opinions? —A bit iffy (talk) 17:13, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

X and Z reports
What is history of terms "X report" and "Z report"? Why X? Why Z? --Sergei Frolov (talk) 06:58, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

tax evasion
it would be nice, to read about Zapper and INSIKA.5.147.192.208 (talk) 15:37, 1 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Re: Zapper, see Automated sales suppression device. – Wbm1058 (talk) 21:21, 1 November 2014 (UTC)

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Cash drawers and bill/note storage position claim in article issue
The article included the following sentences at the bottom of the section on "Cash Drawers" whith claims that are not properly sourced and which conflicts with what I have seen in real life in actual stores, at least in the U.S.: "Due to the increasing number of notes and varieties of notes, many cash drawers are designed to store notes upright & facing forward, instead of the traditional flat & facing upright position. This enables faster access to each note and allows more varieties of notes to be stored." The problem with the above statements is that it's unsourced and doesn't comport to what i have seen in the real world, at least in the US. Maybe it's true in Europe but again it's unsourced. I accept that some cash drawers hold their bills/notes in an upright position facing the forward but you need a source to verify that these styles represent most cash drawers used with or part of cash registers. As to whether it's faster to retrieve bills/notes from this design, that's debatable and not supported by any sources so i will remove that statement. Also the statement about divider-less cash holders in some cash drawers isn't support by the pictures on sole reference page for this section. As for the claim that "Sometimes the cashier will even divide the notes without any physical divider at all." there is no source for this nor is it clear the such specific details about how cash drawers organized by cashiers even if you could verify them as this isn't a how-to guide to organizing your cash drawer. --2600:1700:56A0:4680:11E6:AD20:1CA6:90A3 (talk) 17:45, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cash register


text:
Division of Corangamite

The Division of Corangamite is an Australian electoral division in the state of Victoria. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. It is named for Lake Corangamite, although the lake no longer falls within the division's boundaries.

The division was redrawn in 2021, becoming a much smaller seat due to increased population growth. It now covers 1506 km2 (down from 5441 km2) along the Victorian coast, including the growing surf coast area, the southern suburbs of Geelong as well as rural areas to the west. Starting at in the east, the electorate takes in the entire Bellarine Peninsula, then runs down the surf coast as far as. The electorate then extends north into the Golden Plains Shire, where it includes the towns of, and.

Since the 2019 federal election, the current Member for Corangamite is Libby Coker, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Geography
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History
Until the 1930s it was usually a marginal seat which leaned toward the conservative parties, but was won by the Australian Labor Party during high-tide elections. In 1918, it was the first seat won by what would become the Country Party.

It was held by the Liberals (and their immediate predecessor, the United Australia Party) without interruption from 1934 to 2007. A reasonably safe seat for most of the time from the 1950s to the 1990s, it became increasingly less safe from 1998 onward as successive redistributions pushed it further into Geelong. This resulted in the seat falling to Darren Cheeseman, the Labor candidate, by less than one percent at the 2007 federal election for the first time since 1929. Cheeseman was only the third Labor member ever to win the seat. Labor retained the seat in 2010 election against former journalist Sarah Henderson, making Cheeseman the first Labor MP to win re-election in the seat. Henderson sought a rematch in 2013, and won.

Henderson retained her seat in 2016 but a redistribution completed prior to the 2019 election pushed the seat further into Geelong. This resulted in the seat becoming notionally Labor, albeit with a very narrow margin. As Henderson failed to gain a swing towards her at the election, she lost the seat to the Labor candidate, Libby Coker. Coker's win in 2019 was historically significant, as it marked the first time that the non-Labor parties had been in government without holding Corangamite.

In 2018, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) published its report on the proposed redistribution of Victoria's federal divisions. The report proposed renaming Corangamite to Cox, after swimming instructor May Cox. Incumbent MP Sarah Henderson said the new name "has already prompted some ridicule on social media", due to "Cox" being a homophone of "cocks". In the commission's final determination, the decision was made to retain the name of Corangamite. In 2021, the AEC again proposed to rename Corangamite, this time to Tucker after Aboriginal activist Margaret Tucker, however in the final determination, the renaming proposal was also abandoned over concerns that the name would be vandalised as "Fucker". In the same 2021 redistribution, the seat was shrunk even further towards Geelong, losing its western half to the adjacent seat of Wannon and the north to Ballart.

In July 2021, City of Greater Geelong Mayor and Bellairne Ward Councillor Stephanie Asher was preselected as the Liberal candidate for Corangamite. However, Coker won a second term with 57 percent of the two-party vote, a swing of six percent. This was the strongest showing for Labor in the seat’s history.

In 2024, the seat is proposed to be shrunk again towards Geelong, and will lose its western half to Corio and Wannon. Between the 2010 and 2021 redistributions, the seat has shrunk from 7624 sqkm to 1506 sqkm, an approximately 80% decrease in size, and will further shrink when the 2024 redistribution is finalised.

Prominent members of the seat include James Scullin, who later became the Prime Minister of Australia in 1929-32; Fraser government Minister Tony Street, and longtime Liberal backbencher Stewart McArthur.

title: Division of Corangamite


text:
Talk:Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts

Untitled
from VfD:

Non-notable School Dsmdgold 13:06, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete Non-notable. jni 13:42, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep, I think. I'm not sure where the border between notable and non-notable is. This school is the southwestern equivalent, artistically, of the LaGuardia School (of "Fame" fame), and is one of the most influential schools in the country in terms of arts curricula. It was also an important center of the Texas fight against racial discrimination. --jpgordon 16:15, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I've fleshed it out some. jpgordon 21:22, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. --Daniel C. Boyer 19:57, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * "Artistic equivalency" is very hard to show. If the article doesn't show notability, then Delete. ClockworkTroll 20:24, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Looks much nicer now, Jpgordon. Vote changed to keep.  ClockworkTroll 16:55, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. [[User:Rhymeless|Rhymeless | (Methyl Remiss)]] 20:35, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep - SimonP 21:27, Oct 3, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Ambi 06:13, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Glad this school established its notability.  [[User:Poccil|Peter O. (Talk)]] 06:40, Oct 4, 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: A case could be made that the school is notable based on what's already in the article, but I'd like to know how many students it has, or how many it has had in the past. Everyking 13:30, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Notable history.   — Gwalla | Talk 18:05, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Looks good as is. Keep. DS 20:43, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. This falls just south of the border of my notability distinguisher for pre-university schools. Not quite notable enough. --Improv 21:42, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Even on the basis of what is already there, seems clearly notable, and I imagine there is a lot more to be said about a notable black high school in an historically segregated area. -- Jmabel 01:07, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Notable. Factitious 06:05, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Intrigue 18:10, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. [[User:Neutrality|Neutrality (talk)]] 20:49, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

end moved discussion

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History
Originally the Ninth or 9th Ward School? Renamed for Norman Harllee? See here FloridaArmy (talk) 14:13, 30 May 2022 (UTC)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Craig family history

Craig family history
This page is a recent addition, unwikified and possibly a copyvio. On policy, Wikipedia is not a name etymology or genealogical repository. JFW | T@lk  13:10, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete JFW | T@lk  13:10, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * A very weak keep. You listed this in vfd when the article was just three hours old. I say lets give its author and other interested parties some time to fix the article. It needs heavy cleanup, but maybe some useful information in it can be salvaged. Please elaborate on copyvio. jni 08:01, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I VFD pages when their subject is unencyclopedic. Unless the Craigs are truly a dynasty (the Kennedys would merit a page), Wikipedia does not need this article. JFW | T@lk  08:24, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * From what I can see it's almost certainly copied from elsewhere (although googling for phrases turns up nothing), but the copyright may have expired already to judge by the antique language -- Though very wealthy, they were men of primitive and simple habits etc. I wonder if someone can argue the significance of people named Craig in Scottish history, and also clarify the copyright status of this text. No vote yet. Wile E. Heresiarch 14:45, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I have no proof for copyvio, it's a poorly developed sixth sense. JFW | T@lk  08:24, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Lousy article, uncertain if topic is encyclopedic. --Improv 21:44, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Seems like there is something here worth keeping, although i'm no expert. I'll give it a weak keep  — siro  χ  o  06:05, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. This is useful information. anthony (see warning) 22:04, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Non-encyclopedic. --Viriditas 11:45, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Not encyclopedic, non-contributory. The genealogical murk is deep, folks.  There is a reason there are a hundred websites devoted to genealogy: there isn't a "Craig family."  There are three, four, five, etc.  We don't want to open that can. Geogre 14:06, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Amen.  •  →  Iñgólemo  ←•  22:31, 2004 Oct 8 (UTC)


text:
Print Screen

Print Screen (often abbreviated Print Scrn, Prnt Scrn, Prnt Scr, Prt Scrn, Prt Scn, Prt Scr, Prt Sc, Pr Sc, or PS) is a key present on most PC keyboards. It is typically situated in the same section as the break key and scroll lock key. The print screen may share the same key as system request.

Original use
Under command-line based operating systems such as MS-DOS, this key causes the contents of the current text mode screen memory buffer to be copied to the standard printer port, usually LPT1. In essence, whatever is currently on the screen when the key is pressed will be printed. Pressing the Ctrl key in combination with Prt Sc turns on and off the "printer echo" feature. When echo is in effect, any conventional text output to the screen will be copied ("echoed") to the printer. There is also a Unicode character for print screen,.

Modern use
Newer-generation operating systems using a graphical interface tend to save a bitmap image of the current screen, or screenshot, to their clipboard or comparable storage area. Some shells allow modification of the exact behavior using modifier keys such as the control key.

In Microsoft Windows, pressing Prt Sc will capture the entire screen, while pressing the Alt key in combination with Prt Sc will capture the currently selected window. The captured image can then be pasted into an editing program such as a graphics program or even a word processor. Pressing Prt Sc with both the left Alt key and left Shift pressed turns on a high contrast mode (this keyboard shortcut can be turned off by the user). Since Windows 8, pressing the Win key in combination with Prt Sc (and optionally in addition to the Alt key) will save the captured image to disk (the default pictures location). This behavior is therefore backward compatible with users who learned Print Screen actions under operating systems such as MS-DOS. In Windows 10, the Prt Sc key can be configured to open the 'New' function of the Snip & Sketch tool. This allows the user to take a full screen, specific window, or defined area screenshot and copy it to clipboard. This behaviour can be enabled by going to Snip & Sketch, accessing Settings via the menu and enabling the 'Use the PrtScn button to open screen snipping'.

In KDE and GNOME, very similar shortcuts are available, which open a screenshot tool (KSnapshot or GNOME Screenshot respectively), giving options to save the screenshot, plus more options like manually picking a specific window, screen area, using a timeout, etc. Sending the image to many services (KDE), or even screen recording (GNOME), is built-in too.

Macintosh does not use a print screen key; instead, key combinations are used that start with Cmd. These key combinations are used to provide more functionality including the ability to select screen objects. Cmd captures the whole screen, while Cmd allows for part of the screen to be selected. The standard print screen functions described above save the image to the desktop. However, using any of the key sequences described above, but additionally pressing the Ctrl will modify the behavior to copy the image to the system clipboard instead.

Notable keyboards
On the IBM Model F keyboard, the key is labeled PrtSc and is located under Enter. On the IBM Model M, it is located next to F12 and is labeled Print Screen.

title: Print Screen


text:
Utrecht (agglomeration)

The city of Utrecht and the surrounding cities, villages, and townships form an agglomeration in the middle of The Netherlands. It is located entirely in the province of Utrecht, and is the eastern part of so-called North Wing the larger Randstad urban area.

The agglomeration has a population of about 690,000 people (a rough estimate based on data collected in 2001–2012). The following towns are commonly recognized as part of the agglomeration:

This interpretation of what is to be acknowledged the greater Utrecht area, is the most common one. The physically joint urban area (the innercity-Utrecht area and its surrounding authentic quarters, boroughs and outskirts; the town of Maarssen, which is connected to Utrecht by the Utrecht district of Zuilen and the Lage Weide industrial area; Nieuwegein which has grown attached to the south of the city during the seventies and nineties. To which are attached the smaller suburban towns of IJsselstein and Vianen; the former villages of De Meern and Vleuten, which have been annexed - also formally - by the Utrecht municipality and the western city expansion of Leidsche Rijn; the chained towns of De Bilt and Bilthoven, who are nearly connected to the east side of the city with less than a mile of recreational areas and infrastructure separating both) houses around half a million people. The other 100–200.000 inhabitants making up the entire agglomeration population mostly live in slightly more distant towns such as Zeist, Bunnik, Houten, Breukelen etc. These suburban towns and villages are situated, averagely about four of five miles from the outer districts of Utrecht city. The larger economic, cultural and educational area of which the city of Utrecht is the main centre is equal to the province of Utrecht excluding the small agglomeration of Amersfoort and the town of Veenendaal (which are more self-sufficient and self-orientated). It provides shopping facilities, employment, some large hospitals, cinemas, recreation and other facilities for around 800.000 people. If Woerden, Breukelen and Culemborg are to by included in the greater Utrecht area (seen the vast forensism towards the city) the population would be around 750.000.

In the 1970s and 1980s, large residential areas were built in Maarssen and Zeist, as well as in the new town Nieuwegein. In the 1990s, construction of new houses was concentrated in the new town Houten and in the Leidsche Rijn neighbourhood.

title: Utrecht (agglomeration)


text:
Theatre of the Ridiculous

Theatre of the Ridiculous is a theatrical genre that began in New York City in the 1960s.

Beginnings of the genre
The phrase "Theatre of the Ridiculous" was created in 1965 by actor and director Ronald Tavel to describe his own work, which was later recognized as the beginning of the genre. Referencing Martin Esslin's concept of a Theatre of the Absurd, Tavel promoted the first Ridiculous performances with the manifesto: "We have passed beyond the absurd: our position is absolutely preposterous." Theatre of the Ridiculous broke from the dominant trends in theater of naturalistic acting and realistic settings. The genre employed a broad acting style, often with surrealistic stage settings and props, and frequently made a conscious effort to be shocking or disturbing.

Ridiculous theatre brought elements of queer and/or camp performance to experimental theater. Cross-gender casting was common, as was casting non-professional actors, such as drag queens or other "street stars". Ridiculous plays were often parodies or adaptations of popular culture, used as vehicles for social commentary and/or humour. Improvisation played a significant role in the often chaotic Ridiculous productions, with the script used as a starting point.

Prominent works from the genre include:

 * Camille
 * The Life of Lady Godiva
 * Conquest of the Universe
 * When Queens Collide
 * The Mystery of Irma Vep

The Play-House of the Ridiculous and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company
The Play-House of the Ridiculous was a theatrical ensemble founded by John Vaccaro in the mid-1960s. The ensemble first produced works written by Tavel, beginning with Shower and The Life of Juanita Castro, which were originally intended as films to be produced at Andy Warhol's Factory. When these works were rejected by The Factory, Tavel decided to have them performed as plays, producing them together on a double-bill called "Theater of the Ridiculous".

The Life of Lady Godiva, written by Ronald Tavel and directed by Vaccaro in 1967, was the first official production of the Play-House of the Ridiculous. Charles Ludlam, who would become a major figure in the "Ridiculous" genre, acted in the play as a last-minute replacement.

Vaccaro then directed a play written by Ludlam, Big Hotel, which opened in an East Village loft in February 1967. David Kaufman, discussing Big Hotel, has said: "Various features of Ludlam's 28 subsequent works figure prominently in his first play. His predilection for collage - folding in cultural references, both popular and obscure - is especially pronounced. Characters include Mata Hari, Trilby, Svengali and Santa Claus, and Ludlam acknowledged no fewer than 40 sources for Big Hotel - everything from ads and Hollywood films to literary classics, textbooks and essays."

Ludlam wrote a second play for the Play-House, Conquest of the Universe, but during rehearsals Ludlam and Vaccaro had a disagreement. Ludlam left to form his own company, which he named The Ridiculous Theatrical Group, and took many of the Play-House actors with him. Vaccaro held the rights to Conquest of the Universe, and was able to perform it first, delaying the production of Ludlam's competing version (called When Queens Collide) for several months.

Vaccaro's Conquest of the Universe was performed at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre with many members of Andy Warhol's Factory, including Mary Woronov, Taylor Mead, Ondine, and Ultra Violet. The Play-House of the Ridiculous was a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan.

Gay themes
Vaccaro's Play-House of the Ridiculous and Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company had similar approaches to gay themes. Both ensembles used cross-gender casting, often recruiting drag queens as actors.

One perspective of the Play-House of the Ridiculous is that they were reluctant to address queer themes. According to Ludlam, the Ridiculous Theatrical Company's productions were more daring: "I felt John [Vaccaro] was too conservative. He didn't want homosexuality or nudity onstage because he was afraid of being arrested. I wanted to commit an outrage. For me, nothing was too far out." Another perspective is that Ludlam's productions were too close to conventional comedy, while Vacarro's work was more challenging, emphasizing social commentary. Leee Black Childers was quoted in Legs McNeil's 1997 Please Kill Me:

In my opinion, John Vaccaro was more important than Charles Ludlam, because Ludlam followed theatrical traditions and used a lot of drag. People felt very comfortable with Charles Ludlam. Everyone's attitude going to see Charles's plays was that they were going to see a really funny, irreverent, slapstick drag show. They never felt embarrassed.

But John Vaccaro was way past that. Way, way past that. John Vaccaro was dangerous. John Vaccaro could be very embarrassing on many levels. He used thalidomide babies and Siamese triplets joined together at the asshole. One actor had this huge papier-mache prop of a big cock coming out of his shorts, down to his knees. He also couldn't control his bowel movements, so shit was dripping down his legs the whole time and everyone loved it. People loved this kind of visually confrontational theater.

Vaccaro and Ludlam had different attitudes toward gayness and the theater. Ludlam talked about how the theatre had always been a refuge for gay people, and made clear that gay themes were important to his work. For Vaccaro, gayness was one theme among many that he used. Vaccaro made a distinction between theater people and gay people using the theater for camp and/or drag performances.

Ludlam did object to being identified solely as a gay, female impersonator who produced works that were merely camp. Morris Meyer commented on Ludlam's ambivalence when discussing an interview he conducted with Ludlam: "During a subsequent run of Camille in 1974, he argued emphatically two seemingly contradictory positions for his production. He maintained that his rendering of Camille is not an expression of homosexuality and, at the same time, that it represents a form of coming out."

Cross-gender performance was central to Ludlam's work. Ludlam discussed his role as the Emerald Empress in Bill Vehr's Whores of Babylon:

"Bill wrote this line in Whores of Babylon in which his character said to mine, 'How well I understand that struggle in you between the warrior artist and the woman' – this was a wonderful self-revelation – and my line, he wrote, was 'The woman? Don't you know there are a thousand women in me and I'm tormented by each one in turn?"

Cultural influence
Theatre of the Ridiculous had a strong influence on 1970s culture. Elements of the genre can be seen in glam rock, disco, and in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The genre has also influenced more mainstream productions, such as Bat Boy, Urinetown, and Reefer Madness. Scott Miller cites the Play-House of the Ridiculous as a key source of "a performance style that only recently is becoming mainstream, a style described by Bat Boy's original director and co-author Keythe Farley as 'the height of expression, the depth of sincerity,' a kind of outrageous but utterly truthful acting." Taylor Mac also credits Theatre of the Ridiculous as one of his professional influences.

Concerning 1970s fashion, Childers has said:

... John Vaccaro used tons of glitter, that was his trademark. Everyone wore glitter. The whole cast was always covered in glitter.

People had been wearing glitter for a long time and the drag queens were wearing it on the street, but I think "glitter' really took off when John Vaccaro went shopping for costume material and he came across this little place in Chinatown that was having a big clearance sale on their glitter. He bought it all – giant shopping-bag-size bags of glitter in all colors.

John brought it back to the theater and encouraged everyone to use as much of it as they possibly could, anywhere they could possibly put it. Of course their faces were covered with glitter, their hair was full of glitter, the actors who played the Moon Reindeer had their entire bodies covered in green glitter. Baby Betty, who was playing a thalidomide baby, had glitter coming out of her pussy – so it was because of John Vaccaro that glitter became synonymous with outrageousness.

The Play-House of the Ridiculous connected Warhol's Factory with the punk culture developing in the mid-1970s. Patti Smith performed in a play written by Jackie Curtis called Femme Fatale. According to Jayne County, also known as Wayne County: "Actually, it was [a] simulation of shooting up speed while shrieking, 'Brian Jones is dead!' That was Patti Smith's big moment on the New York underground stage."

Lou Reed has attributed the origins of Rocky Horror and its cult following to the Theatre of the Ridiculous.

John Vaccaro
Ludlam wrote of Vaccaro: "John has great instinct and is a brilliant actor. He gave me freedom. He allowed me to flip out all I wanted onstage. He never felt that I was too pasty, corny, mannered, campy. He let me do anything I wanted."

Vaccaro was known for being a challenge to work with, as when he kicked Jackie Curtis out of a production of a play that Curtis had written (Heaven Grand In Amber Orbit). Ludlam also wrote: "He is very primitive and very difficult for most actors to work with, because he's sort of savage. He gets you into doing things by rote. He criticizes ideas without giving any suggestions for improvments [sic], and then makes you do it over and over again. It's psychological torture." Similarly, Childers has said: "John Vaccaro was a very difficult man to work with because he used anger to draw a performance out of a person."

John Vaccaro died on August 7, 2016, at the age of 86.

title: Theatre of the Ridiculous


text:
New Tavern Fort

New Tavern Fort is an historic artillery fort in Gravesend, Kent. Dating mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, it is an unusually well-preserved example of an 18th-century fortification and remained in use for defensive purposes until the Second World War. It was built during the American War of Independence to guard the Thames against French and Spanish raiders operating in support of the newly formed United States of America. It was redesigned and rebuilt in the mid-19th century to defend against a new generation of iron-clad French warships.

By the start of the 20th century, the Thames defences had been moved further downriver to the estuary and the fort was disarmed. Its grounds were opened to the public as pleasure gardens, but the fort was taken back into military use temporarily during the Second World War. Today the fort and its magazines and other underground structures have been restored and are open to the public. It is unique in the UK for its display of guns and emplacements ranging from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

Ramparts and emplacements
The fort is situated on the south bank of the River Thames and was intended to support the much older Tilbury Fort on the north bank. The structure consists of a broad earthen rampart constructed in a zig-zag pattern, with a broad ditch in front of it. Eight emplacements, six of brick and two of concrete, are contained within the rampart with magazines underneath them. The interior of the fort - originally its parade ground - is occupied by a grass-covered lawn with flowerbeds, trees, ornamental bushes and a bandstand at the centre.

The ramparts face the river and can be divided into three sectors. The northern sector, originally called the North Face, contains two concrete semi-circular emplacements in which two 6" breech-loading guns were installed in 1904. They are still occupied by guns of this type, though not the originals; this makes New Tavern Fort the only example in the UK of a fully re-armed two-gun 6" battery for breech-loading guns. A concrete fire position is located immediately to the west and the remains of its instrument pillar can still be seen.

The middle sector - the easternmost part of the north rampart - was originally known as the Garden Face for its proximity to the gardens in the interior of the fort. It contains four brick emplacements built in 1868–72 to house rifled muzzle loader (RML) guns. One is protected by a thick iron shield with a gun-port in the middle, while the other three have unprotected open embrasures. All four are very well-preserved and still retain the rails on which the guns traversed. Doors on either side give access to the ammunition shafts which brought shells and cartridges up from the magazine. The shielded embrasure has been re-armed with an RML gun, making it a rare example of an embrasure of this type that has retained its original appearance.

The southern sector of the rampart was known as the East Face, for its direction facing the river. It incorporates two small brick emplacements constructed in the 1860s. They originally housed a pair of traversing guns that fired en barbette.

Magazines and other features
The entrance to the magazines is in the middle rampart and gives access to a 600 ft and 4 ft brick tunnel which zig-zags under the rampart. Sixteen storage rooms serving as expense magazines for cartridges and shells are situated off the tunnel, with ammunition lifts linking them to the gun positions above. The main magazine consisted of two cartridge and shell stores, from where the ammunition would be transported along the tunnel to the smaller expense stores. To ensure that there was no possibility of sparks or naked flames causing explosions, safety lighting was provided from behind glass screens while the magazine workers had to wear special magazine slippers and safety clothing to ensure that they could not create sparks when they moved.

The magazines have been partly refurbished with displays illustrating how they were used and exhibits relating to the military history of Gravesend, and are open as a visitor attraction on summer weekends. A separate brick-arched magazine lies below the north rampart and was used to store ammunition for the 6″ guns, as well as a fire appliance.

A wide ditch lies in front of the ramparts. Its width was increased in the 1860s, when it originally contained a fence intended to serve as an obstacle to attacking infantry. It is now filled with ornamental plants, pools and paths, and is designated as a nature area.

Almost nothing now remains of the original internal barracks and administration buildings. The only substantial exception is the medieval Milton Chantry, the oldest building in Gravesend, which was used as a barracks.

Strategic context
The lower Thames was of great strategic significance as the location of major military installations including the dockyard and arsenal at Woolwich, the powder magazine at Purfleet, and the victualling stores and shipyard at Deptford. In addition, it was essential to ensure that an enemy could not make a landing along the Thames, which offered a potential land corridor to London. The crossing between Gravesend and Tilbury was also of considerable importance, which had prompted the Tudors to build fortifications on both sides of the river at that point.

The impetus for the construction of New Tavern Fort came from the threat posed by the United Kingdom's adversaries in the American War of Independence - the newly created United States of America and its European allies, France and Spain. Serious weaknesses in British coastal defences had been revealed in 1778 by the American adventurer John Paul Jones in his raid on Whitehaven, Cumbria. The activities of his squadron on the British east coast the following year, along with the failed Franco-Spanish Armada of 1779, prompted the British government to commission a survey of the country's coastal defences. The state of the defences was found to be unacceptably deficient and plans were made for the building of 30 new batteries, positioned in an arc along the southern and eastern English coast from Norfolk to Cornwall.

The Thames portion of the survey was carried out by the engineer Thomas Hyde Page. He recommended the refurbishment of the existing Tudor-era Tilbury Fort on the riverbank opposite Gravesend, and the construction of an entirely new fort to replace the older Gravesend Blockhouse, another Tudor-era fortification of which only traces now remain. The new fort would be located 250 m to the east of the blockhouse, where it would have a greater reach downriver and would be able to cross its fire with that of Tilbury Fort. With fears increasing of a French invasion in support of their American allies, the government approved Page's proposals and construction began soon afterwards.

Construction and early years
The fort was constructed between 1780 and 1783 on a site originally occupied by the New Tavern Inn, from which it took its name. As the land was private property occupied by a Mr. Houghton, a vesting act (the Plymouth, Sheerness, Gravesend, Tilbury – Fortifications Act 1780, 20 Geo. 3. c. 38) was passed to purchase it. It was originally an irregularly shaped unrevetted earthwork consisting of two batteries linked by a rampart. The first battery had two faces forming an angle towards the river, while the second smaller battery had a straight front. It was protected on the riverside by a flat-bottomed ditch within which was a pallisade made of timber standing about 3 m high. The two batteries were armed with fifteen heavy guns (24 and 32 pdrs.) which fired through embrasures.

Milton Chantry was incorporated into the fort's perimeter and was converted into an artillery barracks. By the 1790s, additional buildings had been constructed, including quarters for the commanding officer, stables and magazines. The rear of the fort was originally open, but by the end of the 18th century a defence wall and caponier with loopholes for muskets had been built to close it off. A kiln was also built to heat shot to a red heat for setting ships on fire.

19th century reconstructions
During the 19th century, New Tavern Fort underwent major reconstructions, though it retained its basic plan and earthworks. The gun emplacements were modernised in 1848 to install platforms for traversing guns, and further magazines were built. Further upgrades were soon needed. By the end of the 1850s, Britain and France were engaged in a naval arms race. A new class of ironclad ships with powerful rifled muzzle loader (RML) guns, exemplified by the British HMS Warrior and the French La Gloire, posed a substantial threat to existing coastal defences. In response, the British government established a Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom to review the defences and make recommendations on improvements. Noting the importance of the Thames and its vulnerability to seaborne attack, the Commission advocated in its report in 1860 that two principal lines of defence should be established along the Thames. Three forts would be constructed or rebuilt - Shornemead Fort and Cliffe Fort in Kent and Coalhouse Fort in Essex - to provide an outer line of defence, with further forts and batteries protecting key sites further downriver. The inner line of defence would be provided by Tilbury Fort and New Tavern Fort.

The fort underwent one more rearming before the Commissioners' recommendations were put into effect. Its existing guns were replaced in 1859 by ten 68-pounder guns, among the most powerful smooth-bore guns in service at the time, with a range of up to 3,500 yd. Two of the 68-pdrs. were replaced by 1865 with a pair of 10-inch shell guns, with a further 8-inch shell gun added, though all were still smooth-bore guns. Four early breech-loading RBL 40 pounder Armstrong guns mounted on field carriages had replaced the earlier movable guns in 1862.

The focus of the Army's fortification efforts was initially on the outer forts at Coalhouse Point, Cliffe and Shornemead, and it was not until January 1868 that instructions were issued by the War Office to reconstruct Tilbury and New Tavern Forts. The existing magazines and ramparts were demolished and new brick emplacements were built, on which were mounted ten 9-inch and one 12-inch RML guns capable of ranges of up to 4,600 yd. Seven of the emplacements were protected by iron shields. The ramparts were extensively remodelled to accommodate new magazines, which were connected via lift shafts to serving rooms adjoining the emplacements. Colonel (later General) Charles George Gordon, who was to become famous for his death in the Siege of Khartoum in 1885, lived in Fort House in the grounds of the fort between 1865 and 1871 while he was overseeing the project.

20th century
The fort had lost much of its importance by the turn of the 20th century. Advances in naval firepower meant that the principal line of defence for the Thames had been moved downriver to the batteries at Grain and Shoeburyness, where bigger guns with a longer range could control the entire estuary mouth. The old RML guns were now obsolete, while the emplacements provided little protection against modern naval artillery. A War Office report of 1887-8 commented that New Tavern Fort's "guns are crowded, and behind weak parapets; the parapets should be revised, and the number of guns reduced, so that they may be more effectively mounted." Proposals were advanced for this to be done and for the range of the guns to be extended by remounting them on modified carriages, but neither of these improvements were implemented.

In 1905 the RML emplacements were replaced with two concrete pits for a pair of 6-inch breech-loading guns with a range of 6 mi, with separate magazines constructed to support them. They were only emplaced for a few years and the fort was disarmed before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and was rearmed in 1930 with a pair of replacement 6-inch guns, used to train the Territorial Army's Gravesend battery. At the same time, the Gravesend Corporation purchased the interior of the fort. The interior of the fort was opened to the public in 1932 as a pleasure garden, though the battery remained in use until 1938. Some of the fort's internal structures were also demolished at this time.

Although it was no longer armed, New Tavern Fort continued to serve military purposes during the Second World War. A pair of 20 m communications masts were built on top of the disused magazines to support a naval radio monitoring station. Oral testimony suggests that the station was used to intercept enemy radio communications which were taken to Bletchley Park for decryption. The Admiralty requisitioned the magazines in 1941 to utilise them and the connecting tunnels as air raid shelters for HMS Gordon, a naval shore establishment based in the nearby Sea School.

Following the war, the fort was reopened to the public as a garden. Fort House, the Commanding Royal Engineer's residence, was so badly damaged by a nearby V-2 rocket strike in 1944 that it had to be demolished; part of the Milton Chantry complex was also demolished in 1948. The Chantry's chapel was reused as Gravesend Historical Society's museum of local history from 1953 to 1970. In 1969, much of the rest of the Chantry was demolished. The remainder was taken into state guardianship in 1972 and became a heritage centre operated by Gravesham Borough Council.

Today
Today the fort forms part of Gravesham Borough Council's Riverside Leisure Area. Its surface area is open all year round and the restored magazines are opened on summer weekends by a local heritage group. Restoration got underway in 1975, and in 1977 the fort was given a Grade II* listing for its architectural and historic interest, reflecting the unusual complete example that it presents.

Two salvaged 6-inch guns were reinstalled in the fort in the 1980s, making it the only completely armed two-gun battery of its type in the UK mainland. The magazines have also been refurbished and re-equipped to an extent that is unique in the UK. The fort's display of guns and emplacements dating from the 18th to the 20th century is also unique.

title: New Tavern Fort


text: Talk:New Tavern Fort

title: Talk:New Tavern Fort


text:
Dyirbalic languages

The Dyirbalic languages are a group of languages forming a branch of the Pama–Nyungan family. They are:

 * Dyirbalic
 * Dyirbalic proper
 * Dyirbal
 * Warrgamay
 * Nyawaygic
 * Wulguru
 * Nyawaygi

At least one of the Lower Burdekin languages, Yuru, may belong to the Nyawaygic branch.

title: Dyirbalic languages


text:
The System of Nature

The System of Nature or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World (French: Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral) is a 1770 work of philosophy by Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach.

Overview
The work was originally published under the name of Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud, a deceased member of the French Academy of Science. D'Holbach wrote and published this book – possibly with the assistance of Denis Diderot but with the support of Jacques-André Naigeon – anonymously in 1770, describing the universe in terms of the principles of philosophical materialism: the mind is identified with the brain, there is no "soul" without a living body, the world is governed by strict deterministic laws, free will is an illusion, there are no final causes, and whatever happens takes place because it inexorably must. The work explicitly denies the existence of God, arguing that belief in a higher being is the product of fear, lack of understanding, and anthropomorphism.

Though not a scientist himself, d'Holbach was scientifically literate and he tried to develop his philosophy in accordance with the known facts of nature and the scientific knowledge of the day, citing, for example, the experiments of John Needham as proof that life could develop autonomously without the intervention of a deity. It makes a critical distinction between mythology as a more or less benign way of bringing law-ordered thought on society, nature and their powers to the masses and theology. Theology which, when it separates from mythology raises the power of nature above nature itself and thus alienates the two (i.e. "nature", all that actually exists, from its power, now personified in a being outside nature), is by contrast a pernicious force in human affairs without parallel. Its principles are summed up in a more popular form in d'Holbach's Bon Sens, ou idées naturelles opposées aux idées surnaturelles.

Criticism
The book was considered extremely radical in its day and the list of people writing refutations of the work was long. The Catholic theologian Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier wrote a refutation titled Examen du matérialisme ("Materialism examined"). Voltaire, too, seized his pen to refute the philosophy of the Système in the article "Dieu" in his Dictionnaire philosophique, while Frederick the Great also drew up an answer to it. Commenting on the book, Frederick observed:

It is speculated that Frederick was motivated to write a criticism of the System of Nature because the book contained an attack not just on religion, but also on monarchy.

Appreciation and influence
D'Holbach's friend Denis Diderot had enthusiastically endorsed the book:

Percy Bysshe Shelley became an ardent atheist after reading The System of Nature, and proceeded to translate the book into English. According to Will Durant, the System of Nature contains the most comprehensive description of materialism and atheism in the entire history of philosophy.

In his student days, Goethe had recoiled with revulsion at the contents in the book: "It appeared to us so grey, so Cimmerian, so corpse - like that we had difficulty in enduring its presence and shuddered before it as before a spectre"; in his old age he harbored similar views: "We belong to the laws of nature, even when we rebel against them."

According to Voltaire, the book was very popular among the populace, including "scholars, the ignorant, and women".

title: The System of Nature


text:
Talk:Restoration comedy

Parvezmia11
Parvez VeVo funny comedy 🤗😊💞💞 Parvezmia11 Bangla music gaan 202.86.222.226 (talk) 16:44, 6 February 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Restoration comedy