text:
Talk:2004 Pitcairn Islands sexual assault trial

How many on trial?
I thought only the seven men on the island are being tried for now (see first sentence). The other six are to be tried separately next year.

 * Thank you for pointing that out:-)

Young?
Is that Edward Young link accurate? It looks like a different Edward Young. The one at that link died 25 years before the Bounty arrived at Pitcairn, and makes no mention of the HMS Bounty.

 * You're right. It's the wrong Edward Young.  I've corrected the link; it now leads to a blank page, awaiting an article. David Cannon 02:12, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Title
Is "rape" the accurate descriptor for the trials? The charges include indecent assault and other sexual offences, wouldn't "Pitcairn sexual assault trial(s?) of 2004" be more appropriate? Also the 2004 part is going to be inaccurate by the time the legal process (with respect to the authority of the British to try them in Pitcairn) is over...Psychobabble
 * if sexual assault isn't rape, then what is rape? If the it turns into the trial of 2004-2005, while it can be renamed at that point. --Eean 04:45, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Rape is a type of sexual assault, not the other way around. Some states (eg. NSW) have even removed the word rape from the statute books.Psychobabble

The title defnitely needs to be changed - welcome to 2006! Probably better to remove the year altogether otherwise you're going to end up with "...trial of 2003-2006" Tobit 11:35, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Nadine
No mention in this text of Nadine ; last year, news spread all over the world when she gave birth at Emily Rose, first birth on Pitcairn after 17 years when Meralda Warren was in distress getting a still child

Nadine, just before the trial (see google/news typing nadine pitcairn) gathered most of the wifes of those seven males to remind press about the fact that in most polynesian islands it was normal to have this kind of consensual sex. She also told journalists that large amounts of money were given for testimony. She concluded saying it was a conspiracy to empty the island.

Deleted sentence

 * Reportedly, he had raped a girl every time she had gone to gather firewood.

A vague hearsay, disguised by weasel term, "reportedly". I understand that he could have been spoken about in this way, but this phrasing looks miserably here. Mikkalai 22:28, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * No, it's not. According to the New Zealand Herald, this was the conclusion of the court. I am reverting your edit. David Cannon 00:32, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Then write it clearly. Did you happen to read the Avoid weasel terms policy? I am reverting your revert. The language is inadmissible, especially in the cases related to court proceedings. Mikkalai 01:19, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't care much if this phrase were not an insult to the common sense. Think about it for a minute: this guy had nothing else to do but to watch this girl day and night; no fishing, no drinking, no screwing other teenagers, only to wait until she goes firewooding and jump her, and don't miss a single her trip... And now the article tell me that imprisonment of these guys will undermine the whole economy of the island. Come on! Mikkalai 01:32, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Also, if it were the conclusion of the court, then why he was indicted on so a small count of rape cases? Or this girl didn't need much firewood? You better be more critical to what you read in newspapers. Mikkalai 01:36, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * At the risk of jumping in here, would a better way of phrasing it (which keeps the fact that it was the conclusion of the court and stops things from looking quite so weaselly) run something like:
 * He was found to have raped a girl every time she had gone to gather firewood [link to NZ Herald article goes here].
 * It's still passive voice, but since it was the view of the court then that much is probably going to have to stay. And before anyone says otherwise, it's been reported in the Courier-Mail here in Brisbane as well, an article link of which I'll try to find, so the view of the court seems to be being widely disseminated as such.
 * In relation to Mikkalai's other criticism, that these sentences will "undermine the whole economy of the island", the simple fact is that Pitcairn has a grand total of 47 people living on it, not all of whom are "able bodied" in the sense of being able to do work. The Christians are very strongly-built men who have been able to perform essential maintenance around the island for some time. It mightn't completely destroy the society, but major changes are going to have to happen.
 * BigHaz 04:52, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I could have done this myself, but I simply had no authentic data at hand. I will not object against your version, since it is stated in a verifiable way (source of the statement indicated), although I am still not convinced in the correctness of the statement (see my still another criticism). Mikkalai 05:24, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a shot, although I don't have access to either the NZ Herald link or (assuming there is one) a Courier-Mail one. I'll wait for Davidcannon to make the change, since he can presumably find the links somewhere about. BigHaz 10:42, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Another Deletetion
I have deleted the reference to the Winterson story. Winterson's allegation is not supported by any references or attributions, nor is it corroborated or supported by any other sources. IMHO she made it up to add sensationalism - a journalist with any credibility doesn't make an assertion of that nature without backing it up.Tobit

Thoughts On The Article
A couple of thoughts: Securiger 07:55, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * 1) Given the claim that this process will destroy their society, it would be helpful if we had some more demographic information for Pitcairn to enable readers to make their own judgements. (We don't have an article on Pitcairn demographics, but our Pitcairn island article notes that there has been only one birth in 17 years, an extremely low birth rate; are most of the remaining islanders elderly?)
 * 2) The claim by one of the islander women (that females becoming sexually active at 12 or 13 is part of traditional Polynesian culture) ought to be referenced to information about Polynesian culture and sexuality.
 * 3) Why is it that Kent, of all places, has policing responsibility in Pitcairn?

My responses (which are hardly authoritative, but they're a start at least)
 * 1. I'm not completely certain what the demographics of Pitcairn are, but news reports (television news reports) tend to show a group of 30-40 year olds as being the younger men/women on the island. Any children are sent to boarding school and often don't come back. I'll try to hunt out anything I have on Pitcairn in the next couple of weeks, but I don't expect to find much. That said, I'll be on Norfolk Island over the New Year and might be able to pick up some info there. Delayed, but better late than never.

 * 2. I agree. I'm not any kind of Polynesian culture person (at least, not in the native sense), but anyone out there who knows this sort of stuff should add it.

 * 3. I think what's happened with the Kent police being out there is that Britain rotates who has to be the police representatives (since it's a colony) and it just happens to be Kent's turn to send people. Just a guess, so don't crucify me if I'm wrong.

BigHaz 10:42, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your comments, BigHaz. I came across a very interesting and scholarly analysis of the matter which I have added to the external links section ("Pitcairn: A Contemporary Comment"), which has some more information on these questions.
 * Demographics: As at 1999, the population was 46 persons, consisting of 10 children under 16 years (children are compulsorily taken to New Zealand at 16, for high school), 17 men, and 19 women. The paper didn't have any information on the age distribution of the adults, but from Meralda Warren's web page it would appear that most are at least in their mid forties. The CIA factbook says 12 "able-bodied" men.
 * The written legislation they had on the island at the time of the offenses (or alleged offenses) effectively specified the age of consent as being twelve years. (A substantial part of "Pitcairn: A Contemporary Comment" is discussing whether this is over-ruled by other legislation.) It is not clear if this is due to Polynesian custom or a holdover from earlier British law.
 * There was no police jurisdiction for Pitcairn. Gail Cox, the Kentish policewoman, was on the island to train Meralda Warren to become the island's first ever police officer.
 * Securiger 17:11, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

As for the culture thing, it's commonly mentioned in news articles on the subject and an Australian author familiar with the pacific has recently condemned the trials on the basis that they ignored the local culture. Personally I think her statements are hidious and there were a few letters to the editor to the effect that her comments on the culture of underage sex in polynesia were not true. Psychobabble 23:08, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the information on what the policewoman was doing over there, Securiger. Makes a lot more sense now. BigHaz 01:51, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Makes sense? Does it really make sense that they would want to train as a POLICE OFFICER a creature like Meralda Warren, given that she has both practiced (by her own proud admission) and defended the so-called "cultural" tradition of underage sex on Pitcairn? David Cannon 09:49, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Umm, Meralda Warren became the island police officer before the sexual abuse investigation.

 * As for cultural tradition - I have still as yet found nothing concerning traditional Polynesian customs, although there's this about modern ones. But it seems clear that English customs have a part to play. At the time of the mutiny (1790), the age of consent in England was 12 for females and 14 for males, having been raised in 1753 (by "Hardwicke's Act") from - believe it or not! - seven (although actually marrying at such a young age was unheard of). See, for example, Eighteenth Century Fiction in Light of Contemporary Marriage Laws (PDF file). Under Hardwicke's Act lower class females could marry at 12 with parental consent or 20 without parental consent (the Act placed almost no restrictions on the nobility, and only easily circumvented ones on the middle classes). The requirement for parental consent before twenty was bitterly resented and a variety of loopholes were used to avoid it. This, you will note, is for marriage; in principle one could be fined for premarital sex, but in practice in the late eighteenth century, roughly one third of lower class brides were pregnant at their weddings. Overall the main impact of Harwicke's Act was to increase the proportion of illegitimate births tenfold, although the average age of marriage did gradually increase, and 13 year old brides had become rare by the 1820s. In the UK the age of consent for extramarital sex (as against marriage) was set at 16 by the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, and then the age of consent for marriage was also raised to 16 by the Age of Marriage Act of 1929, but as mentioned above it remained 12 in Pitcairn Ordinances (pending legal arguments, etc.)
 * None of this is attempting to say that the offences were just eighteenth century customs misunderstood by twentieth century eyes - the charges included rape, after all. Securiger 16:20, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * I meant that it "makes sense" in that it answers the obvious question (raised by Securiger) of "what was a policewoman from Kent doing on the other side of the world in a small community like Pitcairn. Regardless of any value judgements on Meralda Warren or the rest of the Pitcairnese, the fact that the Kentish officer was training a local police force (as such) makes more sense than my theory that it's a rotational thing with all the British counties. BigHaz 23:02, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The Kent thing has something to do with that constablulary's ties to / respobsibility for overseas territories.Tobit 11:40, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Am i then only one who finds it strange that this article is bigger than the article on the picairn islands themselves?--Chickenfeed9 16:27, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
 * For mine, it's more amusing than it is strange. Pitcairn doesn't really attract much press coverage and it's been one of my goals (although you may note that it's not one that's ever come close to being fulfilled) to spend some time with all the sources and expand the main article. One of these days, as they say. BigHaz - Schreit mich an 22:26, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

"Age of consent" definitely does not mean "age at which a forty year old man can have sex with her against her will." Hence "rape." The power structure with the Mayor demanding sex with a child means that any claim of consent would have to be more than the attacker's word about it. Edison 20:24, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps it doesn't mean that, but it sounds as though the girls were willing, so unless force was used, I don't see that an age difference matters, since it's historically been this way in many cultures, European and Polynesian, where much older men marry younger girls. I don't know that I approve of girls this young having sex with older males, but I do accept that when people only lived into their twenties and thirties, as a rule, adult life started early and that Western values in this matter are very reminiscent of cultural imperialism and maybe even hypocrisy, considering that English laws at one time allowed children younger than teenagers to consent to intercourse. The important thing is that the UK should've made more effort to have made clear what was acceptable behavior in its territories and that it be clear going forward. Interestingly, Spain allows for age 13 as age of consent and many more EU countries allow for 14 years, including Germany and Italy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.215.242.83 (talk) 10:27, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

 * The German law on age of consent that you referred to only applies to sex between two teenagers, not to sex between a teenager and an adult. An adult having (even) consensual sex with a 14 year old would get into legal trouble (there actually was a widely reported case like this that ended up in court). Nakonana (talk) 08:27, 24 June 2023 (UTC)

appeal
I think the appeal has just been denied. Guttlekraw 10:12, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Imprisoned
Where are the men held? Is it in a prison on Pitcairn? I vaguely remember something about them being enlisted to build cells during the trial. Nach0king 14:40, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

 * It appears so. In this article they mention the cost of building jail cells, as well as other costs top $14m (this is in NZ$ I think.) Cost of Pitcairn justice tops $14m

''The island, with a population of just 47, hosted a two-month trial in 2004. Jail cells had to be built, and bedding had to be shipped in for a judge, as did food for government representatives, the judiciary and media.''

In another article also in Wed 19/4 Dominion Post, in the article "Britain seeks NZ guards for jail on Pitcairn", it mentions the Correction Dept. is recruiting 7 prison guards to "run a remote prison for convicted child abusers and rapists on Pitcairn Island". Apparently the guards will be working in 3-4 month shifts for 16 cycles. Soz, couldn't find a link for this one. :C

The article does not seem to state when any of them started or finished their incarceration, or where it was. Surely there is a source? Edison 20:26, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Judgment in April 2004
"In a judgement delivered on 18 April 2004, the Pitcairn Islands Supreme Court (specially established for the purpose of the trial, consisting of New Zealand judges authorized by the British government) rejected the claim that Pitcairn was not British territory"

If the text refers to http://www.paclii.org/pn/cases/PNSC/2004/1.html, the judgment is dated 19th April, 2004. Apokrif 15:02, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Privy Council in July 2006
I'm not sure whether the Privy Council rejected the appeal or if it only rejected the argument that Pitcairners were not subject to British law. Apokrif 15:27, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6100310.stm for full information. The final judgment about sovereignty has now been issued, the men will all serve their sentences, so the article needs to be updated. It still talks about the Privy Council's decision in the future tense.Tobycek 15:59, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The final judgment is mentioned with a past verb: " The final appeals for all six men failed on October 30, 2006[8]." Apokrif 20:26, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Privy Council in 2004
"On October 12, 2004, the Privy Council agreed to hear the case" I only found a decision dated October 11 (see external links) Apokrif 17:13, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

2002 British bill
"A bill was passed by the British Parliament in 2002 to allow a trial in New Zealand, based on Pitcairn law, to be held in 2004." I only found a 2002 New Zealand law: Pitcairn Trials Act Apokrif 14:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

...underage sex had been accepted as a Polynesian tradition
"underage sex had been accepted as a Polynesian tradition" has a link which takes you to an "opinion" article, which has no reference or mention of this. Gurcanaral 22:12, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Tense
Much of this is written in the present tense when it ought to be in the past, shouldn't it ? -- Beardo 07:40, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I went through the article and changed the tenses. Still needs more work, though. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis 07:52, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

The British apparently made up the court in school one day
...Why not use one of their own courts if it's a British colony? What's the point of making up a "Supreme Court" on the spot if it's only for one criminal case? — Rickyrab | Talk 05:27, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Hello, Rickyrab. Thanks for your contribution, but this page is designed for improving the article, not for discussing the legal status of Pitcairn. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis 06:52, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The Supreme Court and Court of Appeal are Pitcairn's "own" courts, which existed (in theory at last) before this trial. Apokrif (talk) 18:04, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

Thorough reworking needed . ..
May we have some assistance in trimming, cutting and rearranging the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004? The article was written piece by piece, almost day by day, during the trial and appeal, and it is not a unified, encyclopedic article. Kindly visit the page and detail on the Discussion page there what you think should be done and how you can help, if possible. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis 08:02, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
 * We're all volunteers here. I watch this page as I do many Oceania-related pages, but while I will revert obvious vandalism, I don't have the time to do major copyedits to it. Please refactor and copyedit the article as you see fit.- gadfium 08:17, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. We all do whatever we can do, right? Sincerely, your friend, GeorgeLouis 18:45, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Kent detectives
A new article about the trial is at http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/New-Bond-commemorative-stamps-out-on-Tuesday--newsinkent8449.aspx?news=local. As noted above (and recognized) we are all volunteers, and I for one don't have the time right now to add any pertinent info to this article. Just a heads-up on this new stuff. (That is a weird name for this link, but it seems to work.) Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 14:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Removing red links
I'm taking out the red links on the basis that these defendants (or culprits, if you prefer) are not Notable. Links (blue ones) can be put back in if separate articles are ever written about these men. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 16:22, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Pitcairn accused.jpeg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 15:15, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

How about some references?
This article is woefully undereferenced. There are large swathes of text that are completely lacking references and as such are just the point of view of the editor who wrote the stuff. In particular the Historical Background, The Local reaction, and the Timeline of the trial are almost devoid of references and yet there are things in there that people are supposed to have said or done which are very contentious and, if not true, libellous. Where did all this information come from? Surely there are newspaper articles or court transcripts that could be used as references? If I was to remove all the stuff that isn't referenced, which is what should be done, there would be nothing left of the article. That would be a shame because it's generally quite well written. I did think of adding fact tags, but again, there would be so many that the article would be unreadable. Could whoever wrote all that stuff please put some more references in? There seem to be quite a lot of newspaper articles on the subject, so when I gert time I'll see what references I can find. Richerman (talk) 12:03, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I've added quite a few now but there are a lot more needed. I found the references by pasting quotes, or other bits of text, into google - which shows that the editors who put it in got it from someone else's work. Please remember that if you are going to use work that someone else has written the least you can do is give them credit for it. Richerman (talk) 13:23, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

 * As a Wikipedian with maybe 20,000 edits or maybe more, I just want to say that the citation thing brings up a real weak point of Wikipedia. The Pitcairn Islanders do not have a citable newspaper, and their opinions are therefor nowhere to be found. I agree they can't just spill their POV into the article, but at the end of the day, we have a very POV British Government article. Difficult problem, which needs some thought and action from Wikipedians. 72.141.106.240 (talk) 18:40, 28 June 2019 (UTC)

Legal objectivity
The use of quotation marks to soften or spin some statements here is onerous. For example:

"He had also confessed to having molested another 10-year-old girl during a tag game at a communal dinner (an incident he told the police had happened "accidentally")." Did he say it happened accidentally or didn't he? If so, why is his statement presented as figurative?

"...Brown told police that he had been "in love" with a 13-year-old girl..." Does being "in love" with someone have a unique meaning on Pitcairn, requiring quotes? Or is being "in love" in general like being abducted by aliens: extraordinary and unlikely?

The use of quotes around common words and phrases communicates doubt that isn't supported in the article. (No evidence is cited that that the touching wasn't accidental, or that Brown was not in love.)

Laodah (talk) 00:43, 14 September 2014 (UTC)

CAF Operation Unique
I don't know how to fix it, but the page on CAF Operation Unique in Goose Bay redirects here. It seems like some kind of mistake. 69.172.153.212 (talk) 04:45, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I have changed the link. If an article is written on the Canadian operation, then it may be appropriate to change the redirect to point to it, or to convert it to a disambiguation page.- gadfium 07:42, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Title again
Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the term "sexual assault" refers to the specific crime, precisely defined, of sexual touching without consent. The offence by this name did not exist under the Sexual Offences Act 1956; such conduct before 1 May 2004 would be prosecuted as "indecent assault" — I presume the conduct that constitutes it is defined at common law. Both are very broad offences, though the 2003 Act created several new offences (such as assault by penetration and possibly causing sexual activity) that would previously have been prosecuted as indecent assault. They can involve conduct as mild as touching below the knee through clothing (CPS charging guidelines give this example from R v Price [2003] All ER (D) 331). On the other hand rape is perhaps the third most serious offence in UK law, behind only treason and murder.

Of the seven Pitcairners accused: This was clearly a rape trial. "Sexual assault" both is legally inaccurate and understates the seriousness of the charges. The arguments given above for labelling it a "sexual assault" trial are spurious: that the charges included other crimes does not stop it from having been a rape trial, and that "Some states (eg. NSW) have even removed the word rape from the statute books" is irrelevant, as English law was applied. In my opinion the article should be moved to either "Pitcairn rape trial of 2004" or "Pitcairn sexual abuse trial of 2004". Hairy Dude (talk) 17:43, 13 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Five were convicted of rape
 * Four were convicted of indecent assault
 * According to the BBC, Dennis Christian was convicted of sexual assault, which would only have been possible after 1 May, but a Telegraph article gives the dates as the 1970s and 1980s.

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Appeals
Should the 2005 Supreme court proceedings really be listed in the Appeals section, i.e., is it an appeal (from what)? Apokrif (talk) 01:37, 24 March 2018 (UTC)

Splitting proposal
I suggest splitting the timeline into a new article called Timeline of the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004, as the timeline takes up the article, and makes it hard to see the rest. I think the timeline deserves it's own page due its length. 🌴Koridas🌴 (Negotiate) 04:31, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
 * This article isn't large enough for a split. Onetwothreeip (talk) 03:07, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Tom Christian
Paragraph 3 on the section titled Historical Background, claims that Tom Christian is the councilor who said "Look, the age of consent has always been twelve and it doesn't hurt them." However, the source article merely says "I tried to raise the subject at a meeting of the island council, and one gentleman replied: 'Look, the age of consent has always been 12 and it doesn't hurt them.'"

According to Tom Christian's NYT obituary "The defendants maintained that initiating girls into sex was a time-honored South Seas custom and that they were unaware that British law was in effect on Pitcairn. Mr. Christian, who was not implicated, publicly disputed the defendants’ contention, as did his wife."

If it can be proven that Tom Christan said that, then there needs to be a more reliable source linked. If not, the line shouldn't be attributed to him.

73.103.83.105 (talk) 16:11, 13 October 2022 (UTC)


text:
Airport & South Line

The Airport & South Line (numbered T8, coloured green; commonly called the East Hills Line) is a suburban commuter rail line in Sydney, Australia. It connects the Sydney central business district with the southwestern suburbs via Sydney Airport. The line is part of the Sydney Trains network. The line began operating on 26 November 2017, when the T2 Airport, Inner West & South Line was split in two. Sydney Trains' predecessor CityRail operated the Airport & East Hills Line over an identical route between 2000 and 2013.

History
The T8 traverses several railway lines; the City Circle, Airport Link, East Hills and Main South Lines. The origins of the current train service can be traced back to the opening of the East Hills Line in 1931. The East Hills line was extended to Glenfield in 1987, where it joins the Main South Line. The Airport Line opened in 2000, providing an additional pair of tracks into the city.

The East Hills line was opened in 1931. Electrification only extended as far as Kingsgrove. Services on the non-electrified section were by CPH railmotor, supplemented by through steam trains from Central in peak hours. The section between Kingsgrove and East Hills was opened for electric services on 17 December 1939. Services generally ran all stations from East Hills via Tempe and Sydenham, to the city. Occasional services terminated at Riverwood, Kingsgrove, and Padstow. Most trains used to stop at Erskineville and St Peters, now only served by the T3 line.

When services on the Glenfield extension commenced, there were only limited services from Campbelltown via East Hills during peak hours only; however, in 1988 an all-day half-hourly service was provided. Local (all stations) services generally ran every 15 minutes from East Hills.

Once the Airport Line opened, the running patterns of trains changed. The "flying junctions" near Central Station were altered to give the Airport line its own platforms (21 & 23) at Central. Local (all stations) trains generally were timetabled to run from East Hills via the airport, peak hour express trains from Campbelltown run along the original route via Sydenham, taking newly built express tracks between Kingsgrove and Wolli Creek Junction.

The Airport Line stations (except Wolli Creek) are operated by a private company, the Airport Link Company, as part of a public private partnership (PPP). Under the deal, the private company would cover the costs of building four of the stations. In return, they would operate those stations for 30 years and have the right to impose a surcharge on fares for their use. The company's involvement was predicated on passenger estimates and train reliability guarantees that later proved to be optimistic. The NSW Government would fund (and own) the railway itself and Wolli Creek station. The Airport Link consistently failed to meet patronage targets. In 2000, the Airport Link Company went into receivership, exposing the government to costs of around $800 million; it was put up for sale in early 2006. State Rail blamed "lower than expected patronage" and stated it was working with the company to increase it. In October 2005, the government and the company signed a revised agreement on revenue and patronage, settling the latter's claims against the former. The stations were purchased by Westpac. In 2009 the business made a profit of A$5.8 million. In 2010 it increased to A$9.3 million. In March 2011 it was announced that the government would cover the cost of the station access fee at Green Square and Mascot stations, meaning that passengers no longer need to pay a surcharge to access these stations. A fee remains in place for Domestic and International stations. Patronage on the link had been growing at 20% per year, but between March and June 2011 patronage increased by 70% as a result of the reduced fares.

The early 2010s saw a shift in how public transport services are delivered in New South Wales. The state government created a new transport authority, Transport for NSW, in 2011. Sydney Trains replaced CityRail as the operator of Sydney's commuter rail services in 2013. These changes saw Transport for NSW take control of the timetabling and branding of services. Transport for NSW introduced a new timetable in late 2013 that saw the Airport and East Hills Line replaced by the T2 Airport, Inner West & South Line. This new line was created by combining three of CityRail's lines. Operationally, the services between Macarthur and the city via the East Hills and Airport Lines remained much the same as before.

The 2017 timetable saw the 2013 branding changes partially wound back. The T2 line was split in two. The new T2 consists of services from Leppington to the city via Granville, with a branch to Parramatta being added. Services from Macarthur to the city via Sydney Airport or Sydenham were transferred to the new T8 line. The T8 inherited the green colour of the old T2 and the Airport and East Hills Line. T5 services were also modified to no longer travel to and from Campbelltown, instead starting and terminating at Leppington. These changes mean the section of the network between Glenfield and Macarthur is served exclusively by services operating via the East Hills railway line for the first time.

Operations and stations

Apart from the Airport Line's troubles, the line as a whole also suffered a substantial loss in patronage when the M5 East Tunnel opened in 2001. The tunnel joined the Eastern Distributor and M5 South Western Motorway, shortening road travel times between the city and the south-west. The line was estimated to have lost 384,450 commuters over 12 months after the tunnel opened. Since that time, however, the line appears to have gained commuters again, with a reported 3.5% increase in patronage up to early 2006.

Under the current (2020) timetable, there are generally two stopping patterns on the Airport & South Line:

 * Express service: from Macarthur, stopping all stations to Revesby, then express to Wolli Creek, then all stations to the City via the Airport.
 * Local service: starting at Revesby and running all stops to the City via the Airport. Some times services start at East Hills.

During peak hours, there are additional express services, which skip some stops between Macquarie Fields and Revesby, but some also make additional stops at Padstow and Riverwood. Some express services also operate via Sydenham instead of the Airport. There are also a few services terminating at Turrella.

Occasionally during trackwork on the City Circle, all services will be switched to run via Sydenham in one direction only, with the other direction running via the Airport, due to limitations of the track design at Central. Alternatively services will completely avoid the City Circle, terminating at Central platform 23. When there is trackwork on other lines, there will also occasionally be shuttle services running express to Kingsgrove via Sydenham.

Patronage
The following table shows the patronage of Sydney Trains network for the year ending 30 June 2022.

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

title: Airport & South Line


text:
Hôtel Lambert

The Hôtel Lambert is an hôtel particulier, a grand mansion townhouse, built between 1640 and 1644 on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name Hôtel Lambert also came to designate a political faction of Polish exiles associated with Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, who had purchased the Hôtel Lambert.

Architectural history
The house, on an irregular site at the tip of the Île Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris, was designed by architect Louis Le Vau. It was built between 1640 and 1644, originally for the financier Jean-Baptiste Lambert (d. 1644) and continued by his younger brother Nicolas Lambert, later president of the Chambre des Comptes. For Nicolas Lambert, the interiors were decorated by Charles Le Brun, François Perrier, and Eustache Le Sueur, producing one of the finest, most-innovative, and iconographically coherent examples of mid-17th-century domestic architecture and decorative painting in France.

The entrance gives onto the central square courtyard, around which the hôtel was built. A wing extends to the right at the rear, embracing a walled garden. At the same time, Louis Le Vau constructed a residence for himself adjacent to the Hôtel Lambert. He lived there between 1642 and 1650. It was where all of his children were born and his mother died. After the architect's own death in 1670, his hôtel was bought by the La Haye family, who owned the other residence as well. Both buildings were then joined and their façades combined.

Both painters worked on the internal decoration for almost five years, producing the gallant allegories of Le Brun's grand Galerie d'Hercule (still in situ, but heavily damaged in the 2013 fire described below) and the small Cabinet des Muses, with five canvases by Le Sueur that were purchased for the royal collection (now in the Louvre) and the earlier ensemble, the Cabinet de l'Amour, which in its original configuration featured an alcove for a canopied bed upon which the lady of the house would receive visitors, according to the custom of the day. Significantly the alcove was eliminated about 1703. All the ensembles featured themes of love and marriage. However, the paintings have since been dispersed.

In the 1740s, the Marquise du Châtelet and Voltaire, her lover, used the Hôtel Lambert as their Paris residence when not at her country estate in Cirey. The marquise was famed for her salon there. Later, the Marquis du Châtelet sold the Lambert to Claude Dupin and his wife Louise-Marie Dupin, who continued the tradition of the salon. The Dupins were ancestors of writer George Sand, who, because of her relationship with the Polish composer Chopin, was also a frequent guest of the 19th-century Polish owners of the property.

A political salon
In 1843, the hôtel particulier was bought by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, member of the powerful family of Polish magnates. He and his brother, Konstanty Adam, were leaders of the liberal aristocratic faction of the Great Emigration from Poland, following the collapse of the November Uprising of 1830–1831. A political group formed around Adam Czartoryski, and his palatial residence in central Paris, surrounded by the natural 'moat' of the river Seine, lent its name to his political faction.

The political beliefs of the Hôtel Lambert faction were derived from the 3 May Constitution, which its members had supported. The Hôtel Lambert played an important role in keeping the "Polish question" alive in European politics, by continually keeping the Polish cause on the agenda. It also served as a safe harbour for Polish emigés and royalists, exiled from their country after the unsuccessful uprising against Russia. Among other notable politicians who took part in the Hôtel Lambert's activities were Władysław Czartoryski, son of Adam, Józef Bem, Henryk Dembiński, Karol Kniaziewicz, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Władysław Stanisław Zamoyski, Władysław Ostrowski and Leon Kaplinski.

Initially a political think tank and a discussion club, the political faction also worked on the preservation and promotion of Polish culture. An Historical and Literary Society began in 1832 and the idea of a Polish library, which exists to this day just along the Quai d'Orleans nearby, was conceived in the Hôtel Lambert in 1838. Plans laid for two schools teaching Polish (one for girls, one for boys) and were established in Batignolles. There was support for numerous commercial enterprises, especially in the fields of publication and printing. Over time, it became one of the most important hubs of Polish culture in the world, especially after the January Uprising, when Polish language and culture became heavily persecuted during the enforced Russification in the Russian Partition of Poland itself.

The Hôtel Lambert drew some renowned politicians and artists of the epoch, including Alexandre Walewski, Charles Forbes René de Montalembert, Frédéric Chopin, Zygmunt Krasiński, Alphonse de Lamartine, George Sand, Honoré de Balzac, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, and Adam Mickiewicz. In fact, Chopin's "La Polonaise" was composed expressly for the Polish ball held there every year.

20th and 21st centuries
The Hôtel Lambert was discreetly split into several luxurious apartments. It was once the home of actress Michèle Morgan, Mona von Bismarck, and of Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé, who rented the ground floor from 1947 until his death. De Redé entertained his lover Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1900–1962), who continued to maintain a formal residence with wife Patricia in Neuilly. Redé and Lopez-Willshaw's dinner parties and balls were at the center of le tout Paris. In 1969 de Redé staged his most famous ball, the Bal Oriental, with guests such as Jacqueline de Ribes, Guy de Rothschild, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot, Dolores Guinness, and Margrethe II of Denmark.

In 1975, the Czartoryski heirs sold the Hôtel Lambert to Baron Guy de Rothschild, whose wife, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, was a close friend of de Redé; they used it as their Paris residence.

In September 2007, the Hôtel Lambert was sold by the Rothschilds to Prince Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, brother of the Emir of Qatar for the purported sum of 80 million euros ($111 million). A UNESCO World Heritage-listed building, it was in need of restoration, as parts of its wooden structure were rotting, staircases were sagging, and paint was cracked and discoloured.

The Prince's plan for a comprehensive overhaul of the building sparked controversy and became the subject of legal action brought by French conservationists. The scheme included plans to install air-conditioning, elevators, an underground car park with an exit through the notable curved garden wall, and a number of security measures. This involved digging under the garden and raising the 17th-century garden wall 80 cm. One heritage architect claimed the plans had "the aesthetics of a James Bond villa". Former tenant Michèle Morgan suggested that super-rich clients wanting a tailor-made luxury modern residence should consider a larger site on the outskirts of Paris rather than a cramped position limited on all sides by the river Seine and listed monuments. However, Alain-Charles Perrot, the architect in charge of the project, suggested that there was an element of racism in the objections.

After several years of wrangling, a truce was overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Paris City Hall, and the renovation was given the go-ahead under the supervision of Bâtiments de France, which safeguards historic monuments. Work began in 2010.

On 10 July 2013 a portion of the building was severely damaged by a fire which started in the roof during renovation work. The Cabinet des Bains with a series of ceiling frescoes by Eustache Le Sueur was completely destroyed, and another series of frescoes by Charles Le Brun in the Gallery of Hercules was heavily damaged by smoke and water. The restoration and renovation took a further three years.

The restoration by Al Thani eventually cost €120m (£100m); the restored house showcasing a collection of French art and decorative works of the highest quality. These were sent to auction in a series of sales in 2022.

In 2022, the house was sold to French telecom billionaire and art collector Xavier Niel for more than €200 million ($226 million) to be reportedly used as the headquarters for Niel’s cultural foundation.

title: Hôtel Lambert


text:
Carlos D. Cidon

Carlos Dominguez Cidon (born 1959, León, died 11 May 2009 in León) was an internationally renowned chef and author from Spain.

Biography
Cidon's grandfather was a food lover and occasional cook. Cidon grew observing his grandfather cook, and he inherited his love for food from him.

In 1975, Cidon got a job in a restaurant named "Akelarre", alongside Pedro Subijana, a well known chef of the era. In 1977, Cidon decided he wanted to pursue a career as a chef himself.

Cidon's presence in modern Spanish cuisine began expanding after he graduated from college, and he became a well-respected cook during the decade of the 1980s, while also studying the relationship between delicate drinks such as wine and food. Eventually, wines became one of his favorite ingredients.

In 1989, he had the opportunity to open his first restaurant, "Vivaldi". By 1994, Cidon was able to reopen the Leon historical center. He helped the center by cooking some of his most famous plates there.

In 1999, Cidon received the highest award a chef can get in Spain: the "Premio Alimentos", given by Spain's ministry of agriculture. The next year, he inaugurated his second restaurant, "El Cesar".

In 2004, American tire business giant Michelin gave Cidon their "Estrella de la Guia Michelin" award ("Michelin Guiding Star"), given by that company to Spain's top business achievers.

Cidon was named as delegate of Castilla and Leon and commissary of nutrition matters in Brussels. In addition, he has toured many countries as a restaurant guest chef, including the United States, England, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico.

List of books written by Cidon

 * Setas y Hongos en la Cocina de Carlos Cidon
 * Cocinando con Quesos Españoles ("Cooking With Cheeses from Spain")
 * Festeja con Sugerentes Recetas la Navidad ("Spend Your Christmas With Suggestive Recipes")
 * El Vino en la Mesa y la Cocina ("Wine on the Table and Kitchen")
 * La Cocina del Botillo y la Reineta del Bierzo ("Botillo's Kitchen and Bierzo's Reineta")
 * Nuevas Gildas, Quesos y Aperitivos Para el Siglo XXI ("New Gildas, Cheeses and Appetizers for the 21st. century")
 * Verduras: Salud, Color y Sabor en tu Mesa ("Verduras: Health, Color and Flavor on Your Table")
 * Legumbres: Las Semillas Mágicas ("Legumbre: Magic Seeds")

title: Carlos D. Cidon


text:
Puncak Jalil

Puncak Jalil (formerly known as Bandar Seri Bukit Jalil) is an 801 acres (3.2 km2) township in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia. It is situated near the Technology Park Malaysia along the Puchong-Sungai Besi Highway Federal Route 217 and south of the National Sports Complex.

The Maju Expressway runs through the eastern boundary of the project.

Adjacent townships include Kinrara to the northwest, Lestari Perdana to the southeast and Taman Equine to the south.

The development, which is undertaken by Maxisegar Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Talam, is an integrated and self-contained township comprising 11,651 units of residential and commercial properties.

The Gross Development Value of Puncak Jalil is estimated to be about RM2.5 billion with an expected development period of eight years.

The project was first launched in June 2001.

In 2006, IJM Berhad has agreed to step in to assist the ailing Talam Berhad to revive this project. Beautiful landscaping works are currently in progress and this town would have potential growths as it is situated right between Malaysia's new administrative capital city, Putrajaya, with the old administrative capital city, Kuala Lumpur.

The project has wielded various controversies, notably the environmental damage done to the area (including the destruction of a lake with a natural island), the coercive relocation of native Orang Asli settlements and the general failure of the entire project (less than half of the completed housing areas are occupied).

The SMK Bandar Puncak Jalil school was opened in 2016.

title: Puncak Jalil


text:
Novlene Williams-Mills

Novlene Hilaire Williams-Mills (née, Williams; born 26 April 1982), is a retired Jamaican track and field athlete. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2007 World Championships. She is also a three-time Olympic silver medallist in the 4×400 metres relay. In 2015 she won relay gold alongside her Jamaican teammates.

Early life
Williams-Mills was born in Saint Ann, Jamaica. She is a graduate of Ferncourt High School, located in Claremont, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica. She attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she was a member of coach Tom Jones' Florida Gators track and field team. She graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in 2004.

In March 2020, Williams-Mills announced that she was pregnant with Twins.

Athletics career
At the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, she won (together with Shericka Williams, Ronetta Smith and Lorraine Fenton) a silver medal. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, she received a bronze medal for her third-place finish in the 400 metres.

At the 2012 Olympic games, Williams-Mills won a silver medal in the 4×400 meter relay. She also placed 5th in the individual 400 m event.

Williams-Mills missed most of the 2013 season due to undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

During the 2014 season, Williams-Mills was very successful. Early in the season, she and three other Jamaican women won a silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2014 world relays. Williams-Mills competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and won a silver medal in the individual 400 m and a gold in the 4 × 400 m relay, setting a games record in the latter. She was also successful at Diamond League meets, where she was crowned the 2014 Diamond League champion in the 400 m.

In 2015, Williams-Mills again won a silver medal at the world relays as part of the Jamaican 4 × 400 m team. At the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, Williams-Mills finished sixth in the 400 m final involving four Jamaican women. In the relay, along with Christine Day, Shericka Jackson and Stephenie Ann McPherson, the individual 4th, 3rd and 5th placers, respectively, the Jamaican team won gold in front of the American favorites by just outsprinting them in the last 50 metres.

In 2016, Williams-Mills only competed in the relay at the 2016 Olympic games, running as the anchor leg for Jamaica trying to pass Allyson Felix of the US, but during the final stretch Allyson manage to hold off Novelene to get gold for the US and Jamaica got silver.

In 2017, Williams-Mills won the 400 m at the Jamaica invitational, winning in a time of 50.56. Later on in the season, she also won the 400 m at the Diamond League meeting in Paris in a time of 51.03.

At the London 2017 World Championships, Williams-Mills made the final of the women's 400 m and came in eighth place in a time of 51.49. In the 4 × 400 m relay, which was going to be her last major championship race, she was scheduled to anchor the Jamaican team; however, on the second leg, Anneisha McLaughlin-Wilby pulled up injured, therefore ending the Jamaican team's chances of medalling in that event.

During the 2017 season, Williams-Mills announced that she would retire at the end of the 2017 season “ This is my farewell season; I’ve been in this for a long time and I think I’ve done my fair share and represented my country well so sometimes you have to hang up your spikes and move on the next chapter of your life and I think I’ve reached that point where I need to do that now", said Williams-Mills.

Her last race was on 1 September 2017 at the Brussels Diamond League, where she came 6th place running 51.27.

Cancer diagnosis
In July 2013, Williams-Mills told members of the media that she was diagnosed with breast cancer before the 2012 Olympics. Very few people at the time knew about the diagnosis. Despite the diagnosis, she still ran the race and was able to help Jamaica win a bronze medal. After the Olympics, Williams-Mills had a mastectomy and in January 2013, had another operation. She has stated that she would run, "for all the breast cancer survivors out there."

title: Novlene Williams-Mills


text:
Torse

In heraldry, a torse or wreath is a twisted roll of fabric laid about the top of the helmet and the base of the crest. It has the dual purpose of masking the join between helm and crest, and of holding the mantling in place.

The torse is sometimes mistakenly said to represent the token, called a favour, such as a handkerchief or sleeve, which the knight's lady-love gave him to wear when he left for the wars or participated in tournaments. The purpose of the torse is known to be the masking of the "unsightly joining" of the helmet and the crest. However, it is possible that a knight might "twist [the favour] in and out or over and over the fillet which surrounded the joining-place of crest and helmet." Thus the favour (lady's handkerchief) might be twisted into the torse.

The torse is blazoned as part of the crest. For example, the crest of the coat of arms of Canada is blazoned "On a wreath of the colours Argent and Gules, a lion passant guardant Or imperially crowned proper and holding in the dexter paw a maple leaf Gules." The tinctures of the torse are generally not mentioned in the blazon, as they are assumed to be of the principal metal and colour in the shield. Like the mantling, the torse must always be of a metal and a colour; usually the torse and the mantling have the same tinctures. In British heraldry, the torse is generally shown with six twists of material, alternately metal and colour.

The abstracted torse is a modern development in which the twisted cloth of the torse appears as a solid, straight bar or pole, of twisted colors. This later development is due a design simplification of the blazoned torse.

Occasionally the torse is replaced by a crown or coronet, which is then termed a "crest-coronet". In the past this practice was widespread amongst all ranks, but is nowadays usually denied to those outside royalty and the peerage, except in special circumstances. Some commoners have bypassed this rule by placing a coronet on top of a torse, rather than in place of it.

The torse is also often used as a decoration on a heraldic animal, either across the brow, as a form of circlet, or around the neck. Moors and Saracens are traditionally depicted in heraldry with a torse across their brow.

title: Torse


text: User talk:66.144.5.25

title: User talk:66.144.5.25


text:
Michelle Burgher

Michelle Burgher (born 12 March 1977 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a track and field athlete, competing internationally for Jamaica.

Career
She was a bronze medalist in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

She conducts coaching clinics and talks for school kids. Her ambition is to become a pediatric psychologist. Her hobbies are redecorating her flat and dancing.

In 2008, Burgher joined the track and field coaching staff at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, PA. The move reunited Burgher with IUP's head coach, Ralph White. White coached Burgher at Clemson and she was an assistant coach under White at Williams from 2001 to 2004.1

title: Michelle Burgher


text: Category:Safety clothing

title: Category:Safety clothing


text:
User:Jay Mehta

Hello Every1, i am new.

This site looks interesting, can some1 help me through this site.

What are the features

title: User:Jay Mehta


text:
Talk:First Punic War

Untitled
The Phoenicians lacked the population or necessity to establish large self-sustaining cities abroad, and most of their colonial cities had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, but Carthage and a few others developed larger populations because of interbreeding with the berbers thus creating the Punic language THAT IS A MIX OF BERBERS AND PUNIC. WHY ARE YOU RASICT TRYING TO UNDERPLAY THE PART OF NUMIDIANS WHO WHERE CALLED THE BEST SOLDIERS IN THE WORLD BY THE ROMANS. PLEASE CONTROL THIS BULSHIT. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.85.214.102 (talk) 17:29, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

A line in Land Warfare needs editing but I can't decide what the paragraph intends. The line is:

"To the end of the conflict (249 BC), Carthage sent general Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal's father) to Sicily."

This should read either

1. "Towards the end of the conflict, ..." i.e. just pointing out the timeline;

or

2. "To end the conflict, ...", i.e. implying that Carthage's action was intended to stop the conflict.

--Air 10:00, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Panormus was conquered in 254, and not in 251.

moved comment by anonymous editor.Wandalstouring 08:22, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Barca and Ships
Air

The Edit on Barca is fine "toward the end...",”to end the conflict" would suggest rather more decisiveness then Carthage ever showed.

I would like to see the ship crew number (in the casualties section) altered; it’s wildly out of touch with reality. A 5th century Athenian Trieres would have had about 170 crewmembers, and the Athenians were famous for deploying only a skeleton crew of marines. The standard ship-of-the-line for both Rome and Carthage was a Quinquereme (or Penteres), The crew of which could range from 300 to over 400 (in any case much more then 100).

conon394

Reverted edit
I have reverted this edit by a user who has a history of hoaxing. Please check if it's correct. Conscious 12:17, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

 * Check Polybius' history on the matter. It looks correct - Vedexent 12:21, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

 * Actually - it should be 3200 or 1000 extra talents, not both. - Vedexent 12:21, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Corrected factual errors in "Beginning" section
The initial power struggle in Sicily involved attempts by Syracuse and Carthage to dominate the northeast portion of the island, including Messina. Hiero of Syracuse first attacked before he was elected tyrant, and Carthage intervened to prevent the victory of their rival. Messina turned to Rome later, hoping for more reliable protection. The prior text merged the separate assaults of Hiero and confused the dates.

--StephenMacmanus 10:17, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The third treaty between Rome and Carthage should be quoted. Wandalstouring 14:30, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Copy Paste
The background section is basically a copy paste of this site http://www.crystalinks.com/punicwars.html  Ciriii 22:22, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

 * and contains major errors Wandalstouring 15:47, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

 * the indicated site, however, is a copy of Wikipedia - and not the other way round --217.229.94.149 16:45, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Under the sea in corvii
I base the 270/100K number on Dupuy; he, however, puts it in 256. Trekphiler 00:38, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

games
Really niece someone made pictures about these events, but it is too obviously based on a game and very much from a Roman perspective. In the last image "end game" is not really needed. Source these images please. Wandalstouring 20:19, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Images
i threw on the GFDL statement for the images. I am a little new to this whole thing. I made the images, with info from Lazenby's book. He did not do the analysis, just listed when events happened. Is my listing correct?

 * OK, first of all sign your comments with four ~ (like this, but without the space. It is converted into your signature Wandalstouring 11:01, 21 October 2006 (UTC))

 * Your listing seems OK so far, I didn't read Lazenby's book. An important site and event is missing for example, Mount Eryx, where a very rich temple and a fortress stood. Both fell into Roman hands when the Gallic garrison switched sides. It is a major event, for its strategical importance and the cultural importance of the temple, as well, as the financial for Rome. Furthermore you could add some info on the sieges of Agrigent, Panormus and Lilybaeum. For the battles at land and sea it would be a nice idea to use smaller signs, like crossed swords and give perhaps commanders and troop numbers.

 * Major Problem: You needed a map to create these images. where is the map of Sicily from? The point is, this is a derivate work, but as long as the original work has some copyrights reserved, these apply to all its derivates. In conclusion you are not allowed to publish this on wikipedia if the legal owner of the original work did not allow its free use in public domain. Wandalstouring 11:01, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I created the map of Sicily myself. It is an outline of the island, with modern roads (to show approximate transit areas).  The maps did not come from Lazenby.  Were the maps what you were refering to as 'derivative work', or the text in general?Birdman93 07:13, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Main problem was the map itself, as long as you do not quote Lazenby word for word there is no copyright issue, just mention him in the image description as your source: this map is based on Lazenby blabla.
 * (there are othe historians, who would tell the events differently, so you make the POV clear)
 * The header "End game" in the last map is still required to be changed. Wandalstouring 16:29, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I will make the changes. Give me a day or 2; I am off to work now, but will try to get it done tonight.Birdman93 09:54, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

The Actuall Army
I would quite like to know what the army actually consisted of. Mercenaries and ect. But I think that they should the battles in better details.Like the actuall units

 * We lack quite a lot of information for this and have only reports from their respective opponents. Wandalstouring 13:45, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Some notes about the First Punic War
Livy [1.19]..."Thinking that the ferocity of his subjects might be mitigated by the disuse of arms, he built the temple of Janus at the foot of the Aventine as an index of peace and war, to signify when it was open that the State was under arms, and when it was shut that all the surrounding nations were at peace. Twice since Numa's reign has it been shut, once after the first Punic war in the consulship of T. Manlius, the second time, which heaven has allowed our generation to witness, after the battle of Actium, when peace on land and sea was secured by the emperor Caesar Augustus."... Wandalstouring 19:38, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Deleted doubtful general "Bostzer"
I suspect this person doesn't exist. Besides the fact that his name just looks wrong for a 3rd century BC Carthaginian, I can't find any independent references for him. Other than mirrored copies of this article, the only reference I did find is from the "Spotlight on Games" website which includes military games. I don't think it counts. ;-)

If anyone knows a reliable source for this guy, feel free to restore him to the list.

StephenMacmanus 09:00, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

 * There exists a general Bostar, he is famous for being extremely stupid and giving away the hostages held at Sagunt(Polybious). Possibly this is his name in a non-English spelling. Wandalstouring 19:58, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Rick Heli 20:52, 12 September 2016 You can find a mention of Bostar in Hannibal's dynasty: power and politics in the western Mediterranean, 247-183 BC by Dexter Hoyos, p. 16. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rick.heli (talk • contribs) 03:51, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Demagogues
So, could anyone explain why "incompetent leaders" was reverted to "demagogues"? Nobody understands this expression in this context, and furthermore it has got a negative connotation. --217.229.68.147 22:28, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

 * demagogues is totally out of place. bad leaders is questionable, shit happens in war and even generals like the later Hannibal were almost wiped out because someone made an error, so I will rephrase it to 'bad weather and unfortunate tactical dispositions before battle'. Wandalstouring 18:58, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Unfinished Sentence
In the section "Beginning", this sentence isn't finished:

Most likely unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and get too close to Italy, Rome responded by entering into an alliance with (?)

Isn't it supposed to be "the Mamertines"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.103.2.8 (talk) 03:08, 3 April 2007 (UTC).

 * the whole sentence needs a source because no ancient writer tells us about such motives. Wandalstouring 07:27, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Category:Punic Wars vs. Category:First Punic War
Category:First Punic War is itself a category within Category:Punic Wars. — Robert Greer (talk) 15:37, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

BC to BCE
Hello to everyone! I believe that the date style in this article should be changed from the Christian centered AD-BC system to the BCE ireligious system. Since both systems denote the same years it is just a matter of adding an "E" to every "BC" in the article. A small change in practice but a very important one in that this way the article doesn't take a religious stance (for example, the article Jesus doesn't refer to the person as "Our holy lord").Please add your take on the subject so that we may reach the consensus needed to either stay with the current version or switch to the Commen Era one. --Macarenses (talk) 14:11, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

 * Oppose. You may need to review WP:ERA, although I was under the impression that it once said you had to keep the convention with which the article began. I've recently argued for an era change on "substantial reason" grounds (here, if you'd care to see this tempest in a teapot), but I don't find any in this case. Your argument that "it's Christian-centric" is slender: even if you change the abbreviations, you're still using the birth of Christ as the hypothetical "zero year," thus it's still Christian-centered. This is just historical fact, and it causes no misperceptions (not like, say, the Christian-centric practice of calling Cicero a "pagan," which is something that didn't exist in the 1st century BC, at least not in the sense intended, and grossly misinforms as to what Cicero's religious practices were). Besides, you'd be surprised how many people think "CE" stands for "Christian Era." Cynwolfe (talk) 15:30, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Aftermath
The article is not clear if the money asked by the Romans was 2200 talents of gold or silver or what. Other important consequence not mentioned is that Carthage invaded Iberia short after in order to extract metals and pay the enormous indemnization. And important also, having control of important silver mines in Iberia, the Punics felt themselves powerful enough to destroy Rome and start the Second Punic War. Something similar happened in the XX century when the Germans took the indemnization issue as an excuse to revenge in other war. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.125.189 (talk) 15:04, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your Comment! the matter has been addressed.--Macarenses (talk) 09:34, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

different theories
At least from what I´ve read now about the beginnings of the conflict, there is not much mention about different theories, much of the text seemingly following the account Polybius very closely. Authors before me seemingly didn´t even find it necessary to insert an "according to Polybius", or the like. I dont´think that it is sufficient to mention a source as such only in the citations, when the accuracy of that source is actually a matter of considerable scientific debate. --Mike F2 (talk) 16:00, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Beginning every sentence with "according to" or some other caveat simply doesn't read well. Most of the article is sourced to Polybius for the same reasons most of the Peloponnesian War article (which I took no part in) is sourced to Thucydides. Nobody says they are infallible, but they are the most thorough historians we have on the subjects, and a lot closer to the events then some revisionist professor living in the early 21st century. If there is another writer from the period with a different theory then that can be added, or if (and I don't know if the article already does this) someone wanted to add a statement about "most of what we know comes from..." that would be fine too. The Battle of Marathon article (much of which is sourced to Herodotus, who was hardly perfect) has a "sources" section where the issues are discussed. But again, in the interest of readablity, an inline citation is generally sufficient. Alexius  Horatius  18:47, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I'd say you both have a point. There are indeed some classics articles that seem based only on ancient sources, but this one includes modern secondary sources, so that does address Mike F2's concerns at least in part. Alexius notes that for stylistic elegance you can't start every sentence with "according to Polybius," and I do think a footnote is adequate, with an introductory sentence such as Alexius suggests ("Polybius is the main source" or such). The solution, if one is needed, is for Mike F2 to introduce scholarship that provides different perspectives on Polybius's narrative. When I see footnotes divided between ancient and modern secondary sources, as these are, I assume (perhaps optimistically) that the ancient sources have already been "filtered" through the scholarship. So it would be a matter of ensuring balance in presenting the scholarly interpretations available. Cynwolfe (talk) 18:59, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I am sorry, but I really don´t think that in this case it is sufficient to put the sources in the citations only. There is, indeed, no need put it in every sentence; I didn´t do that, as you will see, but only put it at the beginnings of paragraphs. I also find it, to say the least, a bit odd what AlexiusHoratius says here: Nobody says they are infallible, but they are the most thorough historians we have on the subjects, and a lot closer to the events then some revisionist professor living in the early 21st century. Well, that´s your opinion. Modern histporians, by contrast, make their living out of comparing ancient sources (there are more than only Polybius, as you probabaly know), and, especially, in interpreting and criticizing them and trying to work out a plausible version. And I do think that wikipedia articles don´t aim at giving the views of wikipedia authors, but the views held by the scientific commmunity. Of course, we shouldn´t repeat the same mistake by giving the view of one modern historian and selling that practically as the genuine truth by putting it only in the form of, seemingly, matter-of-fact-statements, as was the case before my editing was done, and is still the case in other parts of the article. The solution must be, for the time being, that we need to make clear from the text for every reader that the version to be read here is one version; in time, we should add additional material, so as to point out some of the more important versions discussed by historians then and now. __Mike F2 (talk) 19:21, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I want to add that a citation does not imply that there are different versions discussed by scientists; of course, if something is generally considered as a matter of fact, such as “Hitler started WWII in September of 1939” to take an easy example, it can be stated this way, and the source can be given in the citations only. But, if there is considerable scientific debate on a topic, and that holds true for the Punic Wars (mainly since they occurred much longer ago than WWII, and we therefore have much less surviving sources) it is necessary to point that out to the reader somewhere (and if it is only once in special section of the article, but I don´t find that practical). O course, you needn´t necessarily mention the name of the author you are following, you can just put it like “one version is…” or something like that, but when the source is Polybius, I find it more appropriate to name him, since he is considered a very important source on the topic. --Mike F2 (talk) 19:38, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * If there are other classical sources or more recent theories that aren't essentially one modern historian's opinion then by all means add them. It certainly is not my belief that Polybius is the gospel and everything else is suspect. (My cynicism about modern theories comes mostly from seeing far too many works with some sort of socio-political bone to pick...if I had a nickel for every time I've read the phrase "race, class, and gender" I'd be set.) But of course there are excellent and neutral modern historians as well. Nobody's saying they can't be used. Alexius  Horatius  19:51, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Okay, then maybe I got you wrong; sorry for that. And maybe I´ll add something, if I find time (I really would like to), but for the time being, I would suggest we leave my phrases "according to Polybius" and stuff? To make my poit a bit clearer, I give you just one example: In the case of my deleted “If one follows Polybius” – for example, it is said there that the Mamertines had thrown them out of their city; other ancient historians claimed that there was some Roman named Claudius (apparently not the Roman commander, but a namesake) who went to Messana ahead of the army and “tricked” (I think it was put this way) the Carthaginians into leaving the city. My source on that is Hoyos, B.D.: Unplanned Wars. The Origins of the first and second punic wars, de gruyter, Berlin/New York 1998. --Mike F2 (talk) 19:56, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * (Just a passing insert); yes, that's close to my own reasoning on how "according to..." should be used. Haploidavey (talk) 20:34, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Nothing to apologize for - I can see how my original statement could be read as "Modern historians suck", which wasn't my intention. I think the consensus that we can all agree on is that classical sources are fine so long as they are used through the proper neutral/modern prism, and modern theories are fine so long as we aren't violating Undue weight (sources). Alexius  Horatius  20:12, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
 * To anyone who unerstands Geman I recommend to also read the German article on this topic; there is somewhat of a real discussion to be found in the section about the causes of the war, although by no means a comprehensive one, and maybe also a bit biased in some points, but it´s better then nothing, I would say. --Mike F2 (talk) 20:16, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

264 BC map error
I noticed that the map in the info-box has Carthago Nova in Hispania Ulterior. The map is titled for 264 BC, but Carthago Nova wasn't founded until 227 BC (see Cartagena). In case that's a mistake, I erased the name and city marker in GIMP. There was (possibly) a town known as Mastia there prior to Carthago Nova, and I could edit that in there if it seem's more correct. I've uploaded a new version of the map here:

Besvo (talk) 04:38, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

I decided to make the edit based on the "be bold" principle. Besvo (talk) 00:54, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Upgrade planned
Greetings to the contributors and watchers of this article. It seems to have languished as B class for some time and I feel that it deserves better. I am intending to give it a major overhaul, and hopefully get it to FA. Having recently seen Battle of Cape Ecnomus to FA and with two other battles from the war on their way through the assessment process, I feel that I have some idea of what I am doing.

Obviously, this being Wikipedia, I am hoping that other editors will freely step in to make this article as high quality as we can. Regards. Gog the Mild (talk) 23:12, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

How large was the Roman army?
Gog the Mild: you added the detail of the Romans losing 384 ships and 100,000 men. How large was the total Roman force? I realize it probably fluctuated quite a bit, given how long the war lasted, but it would be helpful to have a general description of the size of the forces for comparison. (100,000 men sounds like a lot of soldiers for antiquity, but I never had a great sense of the scale of some of these things.) —Emufarmers(T/C) 09:02, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

 * Hi Emufarmers. The sources are a bit vague, and don't agree (how many of the captured ships were fit to sail, etc); but I will see what I can come up with. One modern historian reckons that the 100,000 men lost was over, possibly well over, 10% of the male population of military age of Roman-controlled Italy. But just the one, and it seems a bit speculatively off-topic, so I didn't include it.
 * I am hoping to take this through to FAC over the next six months or so, so if there are any other areas where information seems to be missing, or just anything else at all, do shout out. Gog the Mild (talk) 11:48, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your responsiveness, Gog the Mild! I actually saw your Signpost piece yesterday and glanced at your contributions because I was curious; this article caught my eye, and I'm glad you've directed your attention (and clearly considerable skills) here.
 * I just have trouble imagining how Rome could replace such a catastrophic loss of troops. Roman army of the mid-Republic mentions that they relaxed the recruitment requirements during the Second Punic War; were they forced to do the same here?  Is the 100,000 figure derived by modern historians from multiple sources, or is it just a figure mentioned by Polybius (of which we should perhaps be skeptical)? —Emufarmers(T/C) 21:09, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

 * Hi Emufarmers. Polybius, but no particular reason to doubt him. Crew of a quinquereme: 300 plus up to 120 marines. 350 quinqueremes = 115,000–147,000. Less casualties at Cape Hermaeum, plus soldiers and prisoners rescued, plus however many Carthaginian prisoners from the 114 quinqueremes captured. So probably conservative. Rome is calculated to have lost around 1,000 ships during this war; plus army casualties. In the Second Punic War Rome lost over 300,000 soldiers KIA; plus wounded, prisoners, died of disease etc. It earned its reputation the hard way. Also, see my FAC Battle of Drepana: after the Roman defeat, the losing general's sister became infamous when, obstructed in a street blocked by poorer citizens, she wished aloud that her brother would lose another battle so as to thin the crowd.
 * There is still work to do on this, but I am hoping to get it into GAN tomorrow or Wednesday to get some other eyes on it. Let me know if you fancy reviewing it.
 * "clearly considerable skills" - nah, I'm just a content hack. Happily the Wikipedia format is ideal for other people to cover up my deficiencies. Gog the Mild (talk) 22:49, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Gog the Mild: I hadn't heard that story about Claudius's sister, but I do remember his encounter with the sacred chickens from one of my classes. Of course, I always get him mixed up with Clodius and his notorious sister.  With how interested the Romans were in history, you'd think they could have done future historians a favor by coming up with a few more names. :-)
 * I'd be happy to give it a full read-through when you're ready. I skimmed bits of it earlier and saw a couple minor typos, but I wasn't going to touch them until you were finished. —Emufarmers(T/C) 06:34, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

 * Hi . This is Wikipedia - feel free to correct my rubbish spelling, grammar and MoS at any time. Anyway, it is now at GAN. If you would like to assess it I would be grateful. If not, do feel free to give it a thorough proof read and/or copy edit. In any event, would you mind if I ran a couple of issues/queries past you? Gog the Mild (talk) 03:11, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

 * Gog the Mild: I haven't done GAN reviewing before, but I'm willing to give it a try. And feel free to run anything you'd like by me.  —Emufarmers(T/C) 05:50, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

If that was an offer to review this article, then you may, or may not, find it useful to cut and paste this into the review page as a checklist. Gog the Mild (talk) 13:32, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Okay, will do. —Emufarmers(T/C) 04:24, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

No spaces for a span of years format
Do we need spaces before and after an en dash used for time range? This website says no. ''A span of years (such as “2009–2012”) or any other time range includes an en dash. (And note that “from 2009–2012” and “between 2009–2012” are incorrect; either use both from and to, or between and and, or neither.) The same treatment is given to a sequence of components, such as a range of chapter or page numbers or amounts (for example, “chapters 1–10” or “250–300 pages”).'' Hanberke (talk) 07:26, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. My misreading of MOS:DASHES. Gog the Mild (talk) 11:52, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Lead
Hi

The normal convention when wishing to demonstrate a change is to either put it in a sandbox, or make the change to the article and then self revert. The diff can then be posted - eg - and discussed without getting into an edit war. I will undo your edit again, with no prejudice - I may end up entirely agreeing with it - and post my thoughts on it here. I note that you made a subsequent small change. Is your revision of the lead ready to be discussed, or are you still working on it?

You comment that I have asked for "collaboration". I have no memory of this, but my memory is not what it was; could you point me to where this discussion is taking place?

Thanks.

Gog the Mild (talk) 15:42, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

Length of lede
I understand that this was recently promoted to FA, but the middle two paragraphs of the lede describing the details of the conflict seem unusually long, detracting from the readability. Is it standard practice to have such a long lede in articles like this? As an uninvolved reader I personally found it excessive, but if this is longstanding practice then so be it.  B zw ee bl  (talk • contribs) 20:07, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

 * Hi . It has, as you say, just come out of FAC, and an unusually popular one; so there is a supposition of a strong consensus for the article. But you raise an interesting point, so I looked at my previous five FACs.

 * So it would seem that at least in relation to my recent successful FACs the lead of this article is arguably a little on the short side in relation to the length of the whole article. Obviously, as a lengthy article, the lead was nevertheless longer than typical in absolute terms. It might be interesting to compare the lead length with similar sized FAs by other editors. Gog the Mild (talk) 18:39, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

Technical terms
Hi and apologies for not getting back to you earlier; I came back from holiday to a confusion of RL and Wikipedia issues and this article completely slipped my mind. Checking your FAC comments the technical terms you specifically wanted explaining were "shock" and "close-order". I have found an article on the latter which is pretty good and have linked it in at first mention. There is an article on shock troops, but it is inappropriate; so I have inserted a footnote cited to a basic text (page 1 no less!).

 * Does this cover your concerns?
 * Is there anything else which stands out as being technical? I am probably too close to all of this jargon to be a good judge. In particular variants of the "Armies" section turn up in previous and (hopefully) future FAs, so if you feel like focusing on a smaller section, that is probably the one.

Thanks. Gog the Mild (talk) 21:35, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Looks good, thank you for getting back to this. I always enjoy reviewing your work, so I'm happy to keep an eye out for future articles... Vanamonde (Talk) 01:50, 3 October 2020 (UTC)

Number of rams recovered
Hi, you may remember me being frustrated that I couldn't support there having been 11 rams recovered from off the Aegates because I was stuck in the Highlands. I said that I would get back to you. I still can't reconstruct my original sourcing *eyeroll* but this would seem adequate to support the original assertion. However, digging a little further, I found on the website of the organisation doing the excavations this with "As of the end of the 2018 field season, 19 ancient warship rams have been added to the archaeological record". Are you OK with me updating appropriately? Cheers. Gog the Mild (talk) 17:00, 6 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That's fine by me. (t · c)  buidhe  00:19, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , thanks. Done. Gog the Mild (talk) 12:48, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

New map
Hello, I have made a new version of the map. The contents are the same as the older maps, but I've upscaled the quality. While previous versions have been made with a pastel colour scheme, this time I used the official wikipedia colour scheme. Also, I have removed the key from the older map and intergrated the info into the map itself. I hope to replace the current maps with this newer version. GalaxMaps (talk) 08:26, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Hi GalaxMaps, and thanks for posting this for discussion. I have put the original map here to allow comparison.

I am entirely happy about the principle of tweaking the map, although significant changes will need at least the notification of all of the original ACR and FAC reviewers, and ideally their explicit agreement to them. However, a non-exhaustive list of things which I feel are worse about the proposed new map include:
 * On the current map I can read much of the text, eg "Numidian" and "Carthage"; on your map I can't. I suspect that this is due to font size and better contrast against the background colours.
 * On your map, even at full size I can barely see, much less read, the black print against the shade of purple you have chosen. And again at full size I struggle to read the tiny font of, say, Utica or Hippo.
 * Your map does not integrate all of the detail of the key - the inclusion of which was a specific requirement of the image reviewer at FAC. Eg missing is "Carthaginian territory ceded to Rome" among other things.
 * You don't name bodies of water.

Address these and I'll give it another look over. If you don't mind my asking, why did you decide to alter this map in the first place? Having got to FA quite a few people will have signed off on it as being of a high standard. If you would like to create new maps there are plenty needed; eg I am working on several other Punic War articles which I would like to get to FAC but which lack or have inadequate maps. Might you be interested in working with me to create them? Gog the Mild (talk) 10:04, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

 * Hi Gog the Mild, thank you for giving constructive criticism for my map. I just finished editing the map, hopefully the issues have been fixed.

The reason I want to edit the map is because I found the map to be too low res, and that it wouldn't hurt to upload a higher res version of the old map. I'll also be happy to work on more maps to improve the articles. GalaxMaps (talk) 10:39, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi, I suspect that you may be on a losing cause, attempting to come up with a map sufficiently better than the existing one to gather a consensus to remove it when I suspect most editors would feel is already pretty good.
 * Re your changes, your choice of pale blue type on pale blue makes the the names of the seas unreadable to me. I suspect that your abbreviating the legend for the pink in the key is not going to be popular.
 * I will email when I get the chance and we can discuss whether you could do a series of maps for Battle of the Trebia, to replace the current not very useful battle-map. I took this to GA last year and don't think that it needs that much work to be close to FA standard. Gog the Mild (talk) 12:57, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I will email when I get the chance and we can discuss whether you could do a series of maps for Battle of the Trebia, to replace the current not very useful battle-map. I took this to GA last year and don't think that it needs that much work to be close to FA standard. Gog the Mild (talk) 12:57, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I will email when I get the chance and we can discuss whether you could do a series of maps for Battle of the Trebia, to replace the current not very useful battle-map. I took this to GA last year and don't think that it needs that much work to be close to FA standard. Gog the Mild (talk) 12:57, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:First Punic War


text:
Sandie Richards

Angella ("Sandie") Richards (born 6 November 1968 in Clarendon Park) is a Jamaican track and field athlete. She was a bronze medalist in the 4x400 m relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Career
She was a world junior representative, finishing third in the 400 m at the 1986 Championships. The next year she won bronze at the World Student Games, followed by her Olympic debut a year later in Seoul, South Korea.

Richards competed for San Jacinto College and then the Texas Longhorns women's track and field team, where she won the 1990 4 × 400 meter relay at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.

In 1998, Richards won Commonwealth gold at 1998 Commonwealth Games and won a 400 m bronze and relay gold at the 1998 Goodwill Games. She was a member of the winning 4 x 400 m relay team at the 2001 World Championships, taking Jamaica's first ever mile relay gold medal in the 18-year history of the championships. At the opening ceremony of the 2001 World Championships she captained the Jamaican team and carried the flag. She has the record for the most World Indoor final appearances with nine (five at 400 m and four at 4x400 m). She graduated in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.

title: Sandie Richards


text:
Didier Julia

Didier Julia (born 18 February 1934) is a French politician. He was in 2007 representing the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) from Seine-et-Marne in the French National Assembly, a post he has held from 1967. He is mainly known for his interference in liberation operations of French hostages detained in Iraq following the US invasion in 2003.

Didier Julia is doctor of State in Literature, agrégé in philosophy and university professor. He is in the Gaullist political family, a member of the UMP. He has been elected deputy for Fontainebleau since 1967.

In 1998, he supported accepting the votes of the Front National in the regional Council of the Île-de-France region.

He is a member of the commission of Foreign Affairs. A long-time friend of the government of Saddam Hussein, especially of Tariq Aziz, he was the leader of the pro-Iraqi lobby in the National Assembly until the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and their allies. He is also a member of groups promoting friendship toward Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, the United States, Iran, Palestine, Syria, Zambia.

Didier Julia is the French member of the National Assembly who hold the record for longevity by the number of terms and years, with Jean Tiberi and Jean-Pierre Soisson (both since 1968), 11 terms and 45 years in the Assembly since 1967. In 2011, he announced that he will not contested his seat again for the legislative elections of 2012.

The Iraq hostage affairs
From 14 to 17 September 2002, in a context of growing tensions in the region, he went to Iraq with two other deputies of the UMP, Thierry Mariani and Éric Diard. The journey irritated President Jacques Chirac and Foreign affairs minister Dominique de Villepin, who called them "pieds nickelés" (a derogatory and mocking expression denoting incompetence and vanity). The three went back to Iraq in March 2003, just before war broke out.

On 30 September 2004, while French diplomacy had been trying to obtain the liberation of Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, two journalists held hostage by the Islamic Army in Iraq, he went to Damascus. Three days later, he stated that he had succeeded in liberating the hostages, thanks to his contacts all over the world (mainly former baathists, and the President of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo, who provided support, including the Ivorian presidential plane). He later said that he had eventually failed in extremis, and went back to France on 4 October, where the press and the political circles called him and his team "pieds nickelés" again. The executive sought to distance itself from Julia, describing his actions as a "private initiative", though it had initially given some support to Julia by facilitating his entry into Syria.

The Figaro, employer of one of the hostages, called them "dangerous amateurs", and the government mentioned a "nefarious superchery". Didier Julia responded on Europe 1 and TF1 by stating that the French diplomacy was totally lost, and said that he was bashed as a scapegoat for their failure. The "Julia Affair" begun, resulting in the arrest of Philippe Brett and Philippe Evano. Along with Dider Julia, they were put under judicial investigation for "conspiracy with foreign powers". Some commentators pointed out that this prosecution could be a smart move by the government to avoid an embarrassing parliamentary investigation into the matter – since Parliament regulations prohibit investigating a case that is already investigated by justice; the judicial case would end nowhere and embarrassing revelations would not happen. (Le Canard Enchaîné)

On 21 December, the hostages were liberated by the DGSE, which said to have proceeded to whole affair. The next day, Georges Malbrunot, arrived in France and qualified Julia and his friends of "imposters" and "mythomanes" who put their lives into jeopardy. Didier Julia accused foreign minister Michel Barnier of influencing the hostages during the four-hour flight from Iraq. Barnier himself, asked on TF1 whether Julia could be excluded from the UMP, said that this would be "a minimum".

On 1 March 2005, a video footage of Florence Aubenas, a French journalist of Libération taken hostage on 5 January 2005, was found in Iraq. Aubenas asks "Monsieur Julia" to rescue her. Didier Julia said that he was ready to offer his services to the government if sanctions taken against him and his friends were dropped. The French foreign minister stated that the case would be processed by regular services and that the investigation on Julia would continue (Florence Aubenas was freed on 11 June).

Mandates

 * 2 April 1967 – 30 May 1968 : Deputy
 * 11 July 1968 – 1 April 1973 : Deputy
 * 3 April 1973 – 1 April 1978 : Deputy
 * 3 April 1978 – 22 May 1981 : Deputy
 * 2 July 1981 – 1 April 1986 : Deputy
 * 17 March 1986 – 22 March 1992 : Vice-President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France
 * 2 April 1986 – 14 May 1988 : Deputy
 * 6 June 1988 – 1 April 1993 : Deputy
 * 23 March 1992 – 15 March 1998 : Vice-President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France
 * 2 April 1993 – 21 April 1997 : Deputy
 * 1 June 1997 – 18 June 2002 : Deputy
 * 16 June 2002 – 18 June 2007 : Deputy
 * 20 June 2007 – 17 June 2012 : Deputy
 * Member of the Regional Council of Île-de-France

title: Didier Julia


text:
Locking hubs

Locking hubs, also known as free wheeling hubs are fitted to some (mainly older) four-wheel drive vehicles, allowing the front wheels to rotate freely when disconnected (unlocked) from the front axle. This is done to reduce the mechanical resistance of the front-portion of the drivetrain when four-wheel drive is not in use. The hub, along with the wheel, is designed to engage (lock) onto the axle, to be powered by the drivetrain in four-wheel drive; or the hub can disengage (unlock) from the axle when four-wheel drive is not needed, thus allowing the front wheels to rotate freely within the hub. The hub is a component where the wheel is directly mounted to, and is outside the axle.

The benefits of unlocking hubs for normal road use are mainly found in increased fuel efficiency. When the front hubs are locked, even if no power is sent to the front axle (by means of a transfer case), the turning of the wheels will still spin the front axle, differential, and driveshaft, which puts extra load on the engine. Unlocking the hubs disconnects the wheels from the axle, which eliminates this extra load. Other benefits also include keeping the front-differential free from unnecessary wear, quieter operation, less vibration, and lower wear in other drive line components. However, many manufacturers list engaging the hubs (even in 2WD mode) for several miles a month to lubricate the front drive train as part of the vehicle's regular maintenance schedule.

Mechanically activated locking hubs are activated by hand by turning a switch on the end of the axle. The advantage to mechanical hubs is that they are often considered more robust, and less prone to issues due to maintenance negligence. The disadvantage of this is that the driver needs to get out of the vehicle to activate the hubs.

In some other vehicles, automatic locking hubs are used which, as the name implies, engage automatically when 4WD is engaged. The main advantage is that the driver does not need to leave the vehicle to connect the wheels to the axle. The disadvantage with this system is that most designs require the vehicle to move some distance (usually a whole wheel turn, often going backwards) after engaging the hubs in order for the hubs to engage or disengage. This might not be possible if the vehicle gets completely stuck (due to a lack of torque and/or traction) before the hubs have been engaged, meaning automatic hubs require more caution on the driver's part. Most modern vehicles with automatic hubs, automatically lock their hubs when using low range gearbox, making it difficult or impossible to use torque multiplication in conjunction with FWD or RWD.

Locking hub mechanisms also generally extend further beyond the wheel than most axles, and exposed hub locks can be broken or damaged by off-road conditions, rendering 4×4 useless and leaving the vehicle stranded. Also, in some axle designs (such as those used on older Land Rovers), the top swivel bearing can become starved for lubrication (which is normally supplied by oil slung up by the rotating axle), unless the hubs are locked every few hundred miles. Also, since locking hubs generally do not require a key to operate, they can be maliciously locked or unlocked by persons other than the vehicle owner.

title: Locking hubs