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Talk:Burmese cat

Untitled
Is it just me, or does this sentence not make much sense?This breed was first recognized in 1936 by the CFA and that postponed the registration between 1947 and 1953. [[User:Lachatdelarue|Lachatdelarue (talk)]] 20:12, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

This sentence makes NO sense. I can't edit the grammar because I have no idea of what the writer is trying to say.

" Unfortunately for the breed many who followed after these dedicated researchers were not so well versed in genetics. Whether from lack of knowledge, from lack of available breeding stock, or because the demand for pure Burmese outstripped the available supply, some hybrids were being sold as pure Burmese. For this reason in 1947 the recognition the Cat Fanciers' Association had granted to the Burmese in 1936, was withdrawn and only restored in 1953 when the Burmese Cat Society of America had brought the situation under control." http://www.burmesecatclub.com/history.htm This seems to me to be a distinctily different reason than people simply thinking that Burmese were brown Siamese.

Improve
This article is in need of improvement. It is far too short and completely useless to people who want in depth information about this breed. Will be improving it mysef when I find some sources. TydeNet 00:35, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Doesn't that make this a stub article instead - would prefer that over the improvement tag Blackjack4124 06:45, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Odd wording
(Burmese females tend to be princesses. With her beautiful big eyes and sassy personality, she will have you trained in no time. The boys are true lap cats and have that laid-back personality. They both love to greet your guests at the door and follow you around the house to "help" you do your chores. Anything that includes you interacting with them, whether it is watching TV or doing the laundry, your Burmese will be there with you. Most Burmese have been known to "fetch" small favorite cat toys. They also love other animals, whether it be another Burmese or a even a dog or another cat. Whether male or female, Burmese are true people cats.)

I wouldn't say this is a copyedit-worthy paragraph, and the rest certainly doesn't need grammatical copyediting, but this phrasing feels wrong. Perhaps rephrase this to just describing their personality in brief (but then again, isn't it just that Burmese cats, like their Siamese cousins, are more openly affectionate than average, and are otherwise like other cats? - source this somehow) Blackjack4124 06:44, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

 * I've tried to rewrite paragraph to highlight what makes Burmese different from other cats. I deleted some stuff that I thought was common to all cats. I could be wrong....Caroline1008 03:34, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Re: 'source this somehow'. Googled for all I'm worth, but still couldn't find anything in the way of that's how Burmese cats are, We love 'em... or even Siameses are pretty cute, too... --Shirt58 10:27, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

in "Facts"
'They are very popular with pet owners world wide...' is verifiable. But '...because of their exceptional personalities'? Well, anyone who owns a Burmese knows that that is an indisputable truth, but... mmm... citation? --Shirt58 10:09, 27 October 2006 (UTC) However they can be attention seeking pains in the arse and must be kept occupied.A bored burmese cat will make you pay for it.If you want a quiet,docile cat,the Burmese is not your breed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.166.91.137 (talk) 07:18, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Pictures
This article has a lot of pictures, but none of them are terribly clear. We could really do with one really good picture each of an American Burmese and of a British Burmese, at least. And ideally I personally think one should be brown, since that's the traditional colour; it would give a good idea of typical Burmese. I'd supply one of ours, but she's tortoiseshell, so probably wouldn't show the typical look as clearly. Skittle 22:38, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I think the last picture, of the cat in the kitchen, is of low-enough quality that it should be removed from the article. Joyous! | Talk 15:55, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

 * While I agree several of the pictures are not museum-worthy, a picture is more useful to a Wikipedia user than no picture at all. If there are breeders out there with professional photography of their Burmese, it would be nice if they would contribute to this article and replace some of the images here. Until they do though, for the purpose of clearly illustrating the breed, a picture is worth a thousand words, and no picture in preference to a low quality picture seems a poor decision to make when the purpose is to educate people looking at this article. 172.10.238.180 (talk) 23:15, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Just for the record (as the person most responsible for the current iteration of the article) I've gone through every single relevant picture available, and these in fact represent the best possible alternatives. Which I fully agree is not saying much, especially for such a popular breed. There are a couple of really good ones--the lilac British female in particular is a gorgeous shot, and I like the one of the chocolate kitten--but I could see the rest replaced without tears. :) Shoebox 2   talk  02:09, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

I have posted ours at User:The_Fat_Man_Who_Never_Came_Back/Catbook. It's a gallery for Wikipedian's cats ..Feroshki (talk) 06:30, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I think the best use of the pictures would be to spread them through out the article rather then have them all in a clump at the end. It would definately improve the article's appearance and help break up word-intensive sections (like the history section). If anyone knows how to format the page to intersperse the photos, I'd like to learn how it is done.Kpstewart (talk) 04:47, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Fruit-tasting cats
Re:  Although all cats are obligate carnivores, some Burmese will sample fruit and vegetables. I was under the impression that most cats will take a little taste of things like fruits, veggies, or bread. Is this really limited to Burmese? The article certainly makes it sound as though it is. Joyous! | Talk 16:02, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

References again
On 27 October 2007 I changed some of the inline references into "short refs" which pointed to a new Footnotes section which itself referred to the References section with the full citations. I did this to avoid some duplications. However, I agree that this is an unusal style of referencing, only used in a minority of featured articles. Therefore I've brought the long "cite web" references back inline so that they all appear in one section.

While fixing those references I noticed some sourced material had been removed since October 27. This meant I had to move the referent Ultimate Cat Book cite to external links as it is no longer used. Here is the removed section in case it needs merging back.

 * The Burmese was first recognized as a distinct breed in America in 1936 by the Cat Fanciers' Association. Owing to the extensive breeding with Siamese cats that had been used to increase the population, the original type was overwhelmed and registration was temporarily dissolved during the 1940s. The breed was recognized by the UK Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in 1952. In 1953, after years of selective breeding, Burmese cats in America once again conformed to type and were recognized.

-Wikianon (talk) 16:41, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Sable
Link to sable seems to be misleading. It looks like the word in the article would mean the color, not the animal. --Oop (talk) 09:45, 12 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I have removed the square brackets for now. Psypherium (talk) 21:36, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Current CFA status of classification of European Burmese as distinct from Burmese
The articles states that "British Burmese (also known as "traditional") were declassed as a breed by the CFA in the 1980s" with no references. Currently the CFA appear to make a distinction between "European Burmese" and "Burmese" as evidenced at these two links: http://cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsCJ/EuropeanBurmese.aspx http://cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsAB/Burmese.aspx should this section have more information added? Psypherium (talk) 22:29, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Burma/Thailand editwar
It appears that the genetic stock for the Burmese breed comes Burma through Wong Mao, I think I would agree with the editors who are changing the originating country to Burma. I will research again in the morning and put a citation next to originating country to solidify it one way or the other. So far I am looking at this link http://www.burmese-cats-alliance.com/history.htm, specifically paragraph 1 and paragraph 3, when combined appear to suggest the breed originates in Burma.

Psy pherium talk page 11:33, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

Contradictory statements in lead
In the lead, it claims that Burmese cats were originally in Myanmar (Burma) yet the next sentence, it states that they were originally in the Thailand-Burma border. ''Flux55'' (talk) 06:12, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

 * It says near the border, on the Burmese side. Traumnovelle (talk) 02:58, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
 * That part was clearly made up by the editor who added it. --Paul_012 (talk) 07:26, 5 May 2024 (UTC)

What's wrong with this article?
I bred Burmese for years, and I investigated the breed, its history and its genetics in great detail, but that was in a different millennium. Coming here now, so much seems to be wrong in this article:
 * Constant reference to "black" Burmese. In my book, they're brown, and I haven't seen any reference to black Burmese anywhere else.
 * The claim that cbcs is a kind of Burmese. For me this is the hallmark of Tonkinese.
 * The photo claiming to be an adult American chocolate Burmese looks more like a Tonkinese to me, in particular the eyes. Somebody should come up with a better photo.
 * The claim that the Burmese came from Burma. It's without doubt that Wong Mau came from Burma, but that was a single cat (half a Burmese).  As the introduction states, similar cats were known in the 19th century and called Chocolate Siamese.  References would be not just good but essential.

We really need a table to show the differences in terminology between US and European breeds.

I haven't changed anything yet, because there's a possibility that some things have changed since I stopped being active, but discussion would be good. Groogle (talk) 02:08, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Burmese cat


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Charles Francis Hall

Charles Francis Hall (c. 1821 – November 8, 1871) was an American Arctic explorer, best known for his collection of Inuit testimony regarding the 1845 Franklin Expedition and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death while leading the American-sponsored Polaris expedition in an attempt to be the first to reach the North Pole. The expedition was marred by insubordination, incompetence, and poor leadership.

Hall returned to the ship from an exploratory sledging journey, and promptly fell ill. Before he died, he accused members of the crew—the expedition's lead scientist, Emil Bessels, in particular—of having poisoned him. An exhumation of his body in 1968 revealed that he had ingested a large quantity of arsenic in the last two weeks of his life.

Early life
Little is known of Hall's early life. He was born either in Rochester, New Hampshire, or in the state of Vermont before moving to Rochester at a young age, where he was apprenticed to a blacksmith at a young age.

In the 1840s, he married and drifted westward, arriving in Cincinnati in 1849, where he went into business making seals and engraving plates. He later published his own newspaper; the Cincinnati Occasional, later renamed the Daily Press.

First expedition (1860-1862)
Around 1857, Hall became interested in the Arctic and spent the next few years studying the reports of previous explorers and trying to raise money for an expedition, intended primarily to learn the fate of Franklin's lost expedition.

Hall went on his first expedition by gaining passage on the George Henry, a whaler commanded by Captain Sidney O. Budington out of New Bedford. They got as far as Baffin Island, where the George Henry was forced to spend the winter. Local Inuit told Hall about relics of Martin Frobisher's mining venture at Frobisher Bay, to which Hall traveled to inspect these items. He was assisted by his newly recruited Inuit guides, husband and wife Ipirvik and Taqulittuq.

Hall also found what he took to be evidence that some members of Franklin's lost expedition were still alive. On his return to New York, Hall arranged for the Harper Brothers to publish his account of the expedition: #|Arctic Researches and Life Among the Esquimaux. It was edited by William Parker Snow, equally obsessed by Franklin's fate. The two eventually came to a disagreement, owing mostly to Snow's slow editing. Snow later claimed that Hall had used his ideas for the search for Franklin without giving him due credit.

Second expedition (1863-1869)
Over the course of 1863, Hall planned a second expedition to seek more clues on the fate of Franklin, including efforts to find any of the rumoured survivors or their written records. The first attempt, using the 95-ton schooner, USRC Active (1867), was abandoned, probably owing to lack of finances caused by the American Civil War and a troubled relationship with his intended second-in-command, William Parker Snow. Finally, in July 1864, a much smaller expedition departed in the whaler Monticello.

During this second expedition to King William Island, Hall found remains and artifacts from the Franklin expedition, and made more inquiries about their fate from natives living there. Hall eventually came to believe that the stories of survivors were unreliable, either by the Inuit or his own readiness to give them overly optimistic interpretations.

On July 31, 1868, while in Repulse Bay, Hall shot Patrick Coleman, a whaler in his party, claiming that Coleman, himself unarmed, was attempting mutiny. Other whalers in the party claimed the attack occurred because Hall was angry that Coleman was interviewing local Inuit without his permission. Coleman died two weeks after being shot, during which Hall expressed remorse and tried to heal him. Hall was never tried for Coleman's murder: the Canadian government considered it under American jurisdiction and the American government entirely ignored the matter. Two days after Coleman's death, the whaling ships Ansel Gibbs and Concordia arrived in Repulse Bay. The remaining four whalers deserted to these ships while Hall stayed with the Inuit.

Polaris expedition (1871-1873)
Hall's third expedition was of an entirely different character. He received a grant of $50,000 from the U.S. Congress to command an expedition to the North Pole on the USS Polaris (1871). The party of 25 also included Hall's old friend Budington as sailing master, George Tyson as navigator, and Emil Bessels as physician and chief of scientific staff. The expedition was troubled from the start as the party split into rival factions. Hall's authority over the expedition was resented by a large portion of the party, and discipline broke down.

Death
Polaris sailed into Thank God Harbor—present-day Hall Bay—on September 10, 1871, and anchored for the winter on the shore of northern Greenland. That fall, upon returning to the ship from a sledging expedition with an Inuit guide to a fjord which he named Newman Bay, Hall suddenly fell ill after drinking a cup of coffee. He collapsed in what was described as a fit. For the next week he suffered from vomiting and delirium, then seemed to improve for a few days. At that time, he accused several of the ship's company, including Bessels, of having poisoned him. Shortly thereafter, Hall began suffering the same symptoms, and died on November 8. Hall was taken ashore and given a formal burial.

Command of the expedition devolved on Budington, who reorganized to try for the Pole in June 1872. This was unsuccessful and Polaris turned south. On October 12, the ship was beset by ice in Smith Sound and was on the verge of being crushed. Nineteen of the crew and the Inuit guides abandoned ship for the surrounding ice while 14 remained aboard. Polaris was run aground near Etah and crushed on October 24. After wintering ashore, the crew sailed south in two boats and were rescued by a whaler, returning home via Scotland.

The following year, the remainder of the party attempted to extricate Polaris from the pack and head south. A group, including Tyson, became separated as the pack broke up violently and threatened to crush the ship in the fall of 1872. The group of 19 drifted over 1500 mi on an ice floe for the next six months, before being rescued off the coast of Newfoundland by the sealer USS Tigress (1871) on April 30, 1873, and probably would have all perished had the group not included several Inuit who were able to hunt for the party.

Investigation
The official investigation that followed ruled that Hall had died from apoplexy. However, in 1968, Hall's biographer, Chauncey C. Loomis, a professor at Dartmouth College, made an expedition to Greenland to exhume Hall's body. To the benefit of the professor, permafrost had preserved the body, flag shroud, clothing, and coffin. Tests on tissue samples of bone, fingernails and hair showed that Hall died of poisoning from large doses of arsenic in the last two weeks of his life.

This diagnosis is consistent with the symptoms party members reported. It is possible that Hall treated himself with the poison, as arsenic was a common ingredient of quack medicines of the time. Loomis considered it possible that he was murdered by one of the other members of the expedition, possibly Bessels, though no charges were ever filed. Most recently, the emergence of affectionate letters written by both Hall and Bessels to Vinnie Ream, a young sculptor they both met in New York while waiting for the Polaris to be outfitted, suggests a possible motive for Bessels to eliminate Hall.

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

title: Charles Francis Hall


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Formica rufa

Formica rufa, also known as the red wood ant, southern wood ant, or horse ant, is a boreal member of the Formica rufa group of ants, and is the type species for that group, being described already by Linnaeus. It is native to Eurasia, with a recorded distribution stretching from the middle of Scandinavia to the northern Iberia and Anatolia, and from Great Britain to Lake Baikal, with unconfirmed reportings of it also to the Russian Far East. There are claims that it can be found in North America, but this is not confirmed in specialised literature, and no recent publication where North American wood ants are listed mentions it as present, while records from North America are all listed as dubious or unconfirmed in a record compilation. The workers' heads and thoraces are colored red and the abdomen brownish-black, usually with dark patches on the head and promensonotum, although some individuals may be more uniform reddish and even have some red on the part of the gaster facing the body. In order to separate them from closely related species, specimens needs to be inspected under magnification, where difference in hairiness are among the telling characteristics, with Formica rufa being hairier than per example Formica polyctena but less hairy than Formica lugubris. Workers are polymorphic, measuring 4.5–9 mm in length. They have large mandibles, and like many other ant species, they are able to spray formic acid from their abdomens as a defence. Formic acid was first extracted in 1671 by the English naturalist John Ray by distilling a large number of crushed ants of this species. Adult wood ants primarily feed on honeydew from aphids. Some groups form large networks of connected nests with multiple queen colonies, while others have single-queen colonies.

Description
Nests of these ants are large, conspicuous, dome-shaped mounds of grass, twigs, or conifer needles, often built against a rotting stump, usually situated in woodland clearings where the sun's rays can reach them. Large colonies may have 100,000 to 400,000 workers and 100 queens. F. rufa is highly polygynous and often readopts postnuptial queens from its own mother colony, leading to old, multigallery nests that may contain well over 100 egg-producing females. These colonies often may measure several metres in height and diameter. F. rufa is aggressively territorial, and often attacks and removes other ant species from the area. Nuptial flights take place during the springtime and are often marked by savage battles between neighbouring colonies as territorial boundaries are re-established. New nests are established by budding from existing nests in the spring, or by the mechanism of temporary social parasitism, the hosts being species of the F. fusca group, notably F. fusca and F. lemani, although incipient F. rufa colonies have also been recorded from nests of F. glebaria, F. cunnicularia. An F. rufa queen ousts the nest's existing queen, lays eggs, and the existing workers care for her offspring until the nest is taken over.

Diet
These ants' primary diet is aphid honeydew, but they also prey on invertebrates such as insects and arachnids; they are voracious scavengers. Foraging trails may extend 100 m. Larger workers have been observed to forage farther away from the nest. F. rufa commonly is used in forestry and often is introduced into an area as a form of pest management.

Nursing
Worker ants in F. rufa have been observed to practice parental care or perform cocoon nursing. A worker ant goes through a sensitive phase, where it becomes accustomed to a chemical stimulus emitted by the cocoon. The sensitive phase occurs at an early and specific period. An experiment was conducted by Moli et al. to test how worker ants react to different types of cocoon: homospecific and heterospecific cocoons. If the worker ant is brought up in the absence of cocoons, it will show neither recognition nor nursing behaviour. Both types of cocoons are opened up by the workers and devoured for nutrients. When accustomed to only the homospecific cocoons, the workers collect both types of cocoons, but only place and protect the homospecific cocoons. The heterospecific cocoons are neglected and abandoned in the nest and eaten. Lastly, if heterospecific cocoons were injected with extract from the homospecific cocoons, the workers tend to both types of cocoons equally. This demonstrates that a chemical stimulus from the cocoons seems to be of paramount importance in prompting adoption behaviour in worker ants. However, the specific chemical / stimulus has not been identified.

Foraging behaviour
The foraging behaviour of wood ants changes according to the environment. Wood ants have been shown to tend and harvest aphids and prey on and compete with, other predators for food resources. They tend to prey on the most plentiful members of the community whether they are in the canopies of trees or in the forest foliage. Wood ants seem to favour prey that lives in local canopies near their nest; however, when food resources dwindle, they seek other trees further from the nests and explore more trees instead of exploring the forest floor more thoroughly. This makes foraging for food significantly less efficient, but the rest of the nest does not help the foraging ants.

Kin behaviour
Wood ants have shown aggressive behaviour toward their own species in certain situations. Intraspecific competition usually occurs early in the spring between workers of competing nests. This aggression may be linked to the protection of maintaining territory and trail. By observing skirmishes and trail formation of wood ants, the territory surrounding each nest differs between seasons. Permanent foraging trails are reinforced each season, and if an ant from an alien species crossed it, hostile activity occurs. Most likely, the territory changes based on foraging patterns are influenced by seasonal changes.

Ants recognize their nestmates through chemical signals. Failure in recognition causes the colony integrity to decay. Heavy metals accumulated through the environment alter the aggression levels. This could be due to a variety of factors such as changes in physiological effect or changes in resource levels. The ants in these territories tend to be less productive and efficient. Increased resource competition would be expected to increase level of aggression, but this is not the case.

Colony structure
Different types of F. rufa group species have demonstrated different types of social interaction. Some groups are highly polygynous, with multiple queen colonies forming large networks of connected nests. Others are monogynous, with single-queen colonies. Different F. rufa ants from different regions have been recorded as having traits of being both polygynous and monogynous. The females in the F. rufa colonies that are monogynous separate by flight and establish new nests. Queens in polygynous nests form new nests in the vicinity of the original nest with the help of workers. Through evolution, polygyny may have arisen through monogyny. One possibility is that monogynous nests due to environmental and physiological conditions may take up new queens. Sometimes in monogynous nests, daughters are recruited as new reproductives and the nest becomes polygynous.

Nest splitting
Wood ants typically have multiple nests so they may relocate in case of drastic changes in the environment. This splitting of nests causes the creation of multiple daughter nests. Several reasons occur as to why wood ants move. Such as a change in availability of food resources, attack by the population of another colony, or a change in the state of the nest itself. During this time, workers, queens, and the brood are transferred from the original nest to the daughter nest in a bilateral direction. The goal is to move to the daughter nest, but the transporting ants may bring an individual back to the original nest. The splitting process may last from a week to over a month.

Population
Turnover rate of wood ant nests is very quick. Within a period of three years, Klimetzek counted 248 nests within a 1,640 hectare area under study. Furthermore, no evidence of a correlation between nest age and mortality was found. Smaller nests had lower life expectancy compared to larger nests. The size of the nests increased as the nest aged.

Bee paralysis virus
In 2008, the chronic bee paralysis virus was reported for the first time in this and another species of ants, Camponotus vagus. CBPV affects bees, ants, and mites.

title: Formica rufa


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Mark Attanasio

Mark L. Attanasio (born September 29, 1957) is an American businessman from the Bronx who is the principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the joint majority shareholder of football club Norwich City. He is worth an estimated $700 million.

In September 2004, he reached a deal, on behalf of an investment group, to purchase the Brewers from the family of MLB commissioner Bud Selig for an estimated US$223 million. The deal was approved by MLB in 2005.

Early life and education
Attanasio was born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, where he attended high school. He graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979 and received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1982.

Finance
Attanasio co-founded and is a senior executive of the Los Angeles alternative investment firm Crescent Capital Group in 1991, which was later bought by Trust Company of the West in 1995.

In 2001, Attanasio joined the board of directors at the telecommunications firm Global Crossing, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2002. He resigned his position on the board shortly thereafter.

Milwaukee Brewers
In September 2004, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Selig family announced that they had accepted Attanasio's bid to buy the team.

In 2023, the Brewers reached an agreement with Wisconsin lawmakers for taxpayers to subsidize renovations of American Family Field, the Brewers stadium, to the tune of nearly half a billion dollars. In the lead-up to the agreement, Brewers officials threatened to leave Milwaukee unless the team received taxpayer money.

Other work
Along with Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash and former Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets, Attanasio is also a part-owner of the American Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals.

He was a major sponsor of the widely acclaimed Andy Warhol exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

In August 2022, it was announced that Attanasio would become a director of Norwich City, an act Attanasio said was his proudest achievement. It was later reported that he would be purchasing an 18% stake in the club from Michael Foulger. In April 2024, Attanasio’s stake in the club was increased to 40.4% following EFL ratification, making him one of the joint majority shareholders alongside Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.

Personal life
Mark is the brother of television writer Paul Attanasio. He is married to Deborah (née Kaplan) and has two sons, Dan and Mike. His eldest son Dan and his rock band, Pan Am, performed at Summerfest 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

title: Mark Attanasio


text:
Gennady Yanayev

Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev (Геннадий Иванович Янаев; 26 August 1937 –24 September 2010) was a Soviet politician. Yanayev's political career spanned the rules of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko, and culminated during the Gorbachev years. Yanayev was born in Perevoz, Gorky Oblast. After years in local politics, he rose to prominence as Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, but he also held other lesser posts such as deputy of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

Due to his chairmanship of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, in 1990 he gained a seat in the 28th Politburo and Secretary of the Central Committee. Later that year, on 27 December, with the help of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yanayev was elected the first, and only, Vice President of the Soviet Union. Having growing doubts about where Gorbachev's reforms were leading, Yanayev started working with, and eventually formally leading, the Gang of Eight, the group which deposed Gorbachev during the August 1991 coup d'état attempt. After three days, the coup collapsed, in part due to Western backing of Boris Yeltsin; during its brief grip of power, Yanayev was made Acting President of the Soviet Union. He was then arrested for his role in the coup, but in 1994 he was pardoned. He spent the rest of his life working in the Russian tourism administration until his death on 24 September 2010.

Early life and career
Yanayev was born on 26 August 1937 in the town of Perevoz, Gorky Oblast during the administration of Joseph Stalin as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He graduated from the Gorky Institute of Agriculture in 1959. After graduation he worked as the head of a mechanised agricultural unit and later as a chief engineer in the Gorky Oblast. He applied and officially became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1962. From 1963 to 1968, he held the positions of second, and subsequently first, secretary of the Gorky Komsomol, and later became Chairman of the Committee of Youth Organisations, which he held for 12 years. From 1980 to 1986 he was Deputy Chairman of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. He became Secretary for International Affairs of All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in 1986 and became Deputy Chairman of the trade unions in 1989. In April 1990 he was elected Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. As chairman of the trade unions, he was not able to quell the growing labour discontent in the country, but his position granted him a seat in the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) at the 28th CPSU Congress (held in 1990), alongside his election as Secretary of the Central Committee.

Vice president
On 27 December 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev proposed Yanayev as Vice President of the Soviet Union. He was Gorbachev's third choice for the post; Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev had turned the offer down. Yanayev had initially been rejected by the Supreme Soviet, but he was finally approved by a second vote due to Gorbachev's insistence, (by a vote of 1,237 for to 563 against), only days after Shevardnadze had resigned from office due to Gorbachev's willingness to give leeway to conservatives. Yanayev said after the vote "I am a Communist to the depths of my soul."

Some weeks after Yanayev's election, a senior Soviet official described Yanayev as "Gorbachev's Quayle—a conservative nonentity, no threat to Gorbachev, and his selection would pacify the right-wing". At the beginning of January 1991, Yanayev headed a committee working on the formation of a new cabinet. Later, he was sent to the Soviet city of Kuznetsk to negotiate with a newly formed independent trade union, making this the first time since 1917 that a Russian government official had negotiated with a trade union; however, after gaining the attention of the Soviet government, the unionists withdrew their plans for a strike.

August Coup
Shortly after taking office, Yanayev joined a group of more conservative Communist politicians, led by KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, who hoped to persuade Gorbachev to declare a state of emergency. After Gorbachev announced his proposal for a New Union Treaty to form the Union of Sovereign States, as a reorganisation of the Soviet Union into a new confederation, he went on vacation to his dacha in Crimea. Believing that this new Union treaty would lead to the disintegration of the USSR, the State Committee of the State of Emergency placed Gorbachev under house arrest on 19 August, one day before the treaty was due to be signed. On that same day the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) issued the coup plotters' decree, which stated: "Owing to the conditions of his health, Mikhail Gorbachev is no longer capable of carrying on the duties of the President of the USSR. In accordance with article 127, clause 7 of the USSR constitution, Vice President Gennady Yanayev has assumed the duties of the President of the USSR."

The decree made references to the growing problems facing the country such as ethnic tensions, political confrontations and chaos, which according to the coup leaders threatened the very existence of Soviet life and the territorial integrity of the USSR. Yanayev further claimed that the danger of collapse was imminent, and if the economic situation was not handled quickly, the Soviet Union would collapse. In addition, Yanayev and the rest of the state committee ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to alter the then current five-year plan to relieve the housing shortage. All city-dwellers were given one third of an acre each to combat winter food shortages by growing fruit and vegetables. When asked about Gorbachev, Yanayev replied: "Let me say that Mikhail Gorbachev is now on vacation. He is undergoing treatment, himself, in our country. He is very tired after these many years and he will need some time to get better." At a press conference, Yanayev's hands were shaking rather violently, leading many journalists to focus on Yanayev's apparent drunkenness instead of Gorbachev's alleged bad health.

On 19 August, citizens of Moscow gathered around Russia's White House and began to erect barricades around it, in which at 16:00 Yanayev responded by declaring a state of emergency in Moscow. Yanayev declared at the press conference at 17:00 that Gorbachev was "resting". He said: "Over these years he has become very tired and needs some time to get his health back." Yanayev said the Emergency Committee was committed to continuing his reforms. However, Yanayev's weak posture, trembling hands and shaky expressions made his words unconvincing. On August 21, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, chaired by the heads of the chambers of the union parliament, adopted a resolution in which it declared illegal the actual dismissal of President Gorbachev from his duties and the transfer of them to the country's vice-president and, in this regard, demanded that Vice-President Yanayev cancel the decrees and emergency orders based on them. According to some historians, Yanayev was the most visible and powerful member of the Emergency Committee but was not its mastermind; Kryuchkov has been described as the "heart and soul of the conspiracy". Yanayev only agreed to head the Emergency Committee on 20 August. Along with the other coup leaders, such as Valentin Pavlov and Boris Pugo for instance, Yanayev was dismissed as vice president and later jailed for his crimes against the Soviet state.

In 1993, Moscow weekly Novy Vzglyad quoted Yanayev as admitting that he was drunk when he signed the decree which made him acting president, but saying that inebriation had not affected his judgment. In a 2008 interview, Yanayev said he regretted making himself acting President, further claiming that he was pressured by the more conservative members to sign the documents which declared his own presidency. He described the events of 1991 as a burden for the rest of his life.

Later life and death
Yanayev was released on recognizance not to leave in January 1993. He was pardoned in 1994. He would eventually become the head of the Department of History and International Relations of the Russian International Academy of Tourism.

On 20 September 2010, Yanayev fell ill and was hospitalised at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on 24 September 2010. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) expressed their condolences to Yanayev's family. Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the CPRF, said of him: "Yanayev lived an interesting, complicated and worthy life." The CPRF officially praised him as "a highly professional specialist ... a dear and trustworthy comrade". In another statement made by the CPRF, this time on their official website, they claimed: "If they had acted much more decisively, our unified country would have been preserved." He was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery, in a ceremony attended by several prominent CPRF members. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Decorations and awards

 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice
 * Order of the Badge of Honour, twice

title: Gennady Yanayev


text:
Nanyang University

Nanyang University was a private university in Singapore between 1956 and 1980. During its existence, it was Singapore's only private university in the Chinese language. In 1980, Nanyang University was merged with the University of Singapore to form the National University of Singapore (NUS). It was only until 2005 that another private school in Singapore, SIM University, was established.

Establishment
The idea of a Chinese university in Singapore to provide higher education to the Chinese community was first mooted by Tan Lark Sye in 1953, then chairman of the Singapore Hokkien Association. A fund was set up for this purpose, drawing donations from people of all walks of life and with Tan himself donating $5 million. The Singapore Hokkien Association donated 500 acres (2 km2) in the western Jurong area, which was then largely undeveloped rural land.

Nanyang University conducted a flag-raising on 15 March 1956 and started classes on the 30th of that month, offering courses in the arts, sciences and commerce. The first phase of the university building programme was completed two years later, and the university held its official opening ceremony 30 March 1958, with the Governor of Singapore William Goode as guest of honour.

External Reviews
In January 1959, the Government of Singapore and the university commissioned the first major review of the university. Led by Professor S. L. Prescott, the commission reported unfavourably on the administration of the university, library and laboratory facilities, academic staff and terms of employment, research culture, and curriculum. The commission refused to recommend that the government recognise Nantah degrees.

In July 1959, Dr Gwee Ah Leng (魏雅聆) chaired a commission to follow up on the Prescott report. The Gwee commission submitted its report in November 1959, which was published by the Legislative Assembly in February 1960. The Gwee commission recommended that recruitment of students be broadened to other language streams, the learning of the national language, Malay, and wider use of English in instruction.

In January 1965, Professor Wang Gungwu of the University of Malaya was appointed to chair a committee to review the curriculum of Nanyang University. The Committee reported in May 1965. Meanwhile, in August 1965, Singapore separated from the Federation of Malaysia as an independent republic. In September 1965, the committee was released and the university accepted the recommendations, triggering students protests, petitions, and boycotts of classes and examinations.

Merger with the University of Singapore
In the 1970s, Nanyang University encountered problems in student enrolments as many students were attending English-language schools. Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew prompted the university to adopt English language within five years. Subsequently, in the same year in March, a joint campus scheme was introduced to allow students from Nanyang University to jointly study with students from the University of Singapore.

In 1979, Lee invited British academic Frederick Dainton to present his views on the future of university education in Singapore. He suggested merging Nanyang University and the University of Singapore into the latter's campus at Kent Ridge.

His proposal gained the support of the government and, in April 1980, the merger was confirmed.

Nanyang University's 21st and last convocation was held on 16 August 1980. That same month, the National University of Singapore Act took effect, legally merging the University of Singapore and Nanyang University to form the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Logo
The three circles in the logo represent values long held to be important in Chinese tradition. They represent a trinity of values: people, progress and productivity. The linking shows the interdependence between the need for people to work together productively and achieve progress. This symbol can now be seen in the National University of Singapore's crest. The circle with the yellow star represents people, signifying the importance placed on human capital in Singapore.

Relationship with Nanyang Technological University
After Nanyang University was merged with the University of Singapore, the grounds formerly occupied by Nanyang University were occupied by a similarly named technical institute, the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), in 1981. In 1991, the NTI was upgraded to the status of a university as Singapore's second English-medium university and became the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Chinese Heritage Centre
In 1995, the former Nanyang University Library and Administration Building was reopened as the Chinese Heritage Centre, an autonomous research institute of Nanyang Technological University. It was the first and only university institute in the world that specialises in the study of the ethnic Chinese communities from different parts of the world. It currently served as a research centre, a library and a museum.

Proposed renaming of Nanyang Technological University as Nanyang University
The NTU administration announced in 2003 a decision to rename Nanyang Technological University as Nanyang University by 2005, justifying the move based on the university's introduction of non-technology-related schools and its expansion into a full multidisciplinary university. In 2004, the administration announced that the renaming would be held off, citing a need to establish itself in other fields of study first.

title: Nanyang University


text:
Relationship marketing

Relationship marketing is a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns that emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction rather than sales transactions. It differentiates from other forms of marketing in that it recognises the long-term value of customer relationships and extends communication beyond intrusive advertising and sales promotional messages. With the growth of the Internet and mobile platforms, relationship marketing has continued to evolve as technology opens more collaborative and social communication channels such as tools for managing relationships with customers that go beyond demographics and customer service data collection. Relationship marketing extends to include inbound marketing, a combination of search optimization and strategic content, public relations, social media and application development.

Development
Relationship marketing refers to an arrangement where both the buyer and seller have an interest in a more satisfying exchange. This approach aims to transcend the post-purchase-exchange process with a customer in order to make richer contact by providing a more personalised purchase, and using the experience to create stronger ties. A main focus on a long-term relationship with customers differentiates relationship marketing from other marketing techniques.

The technique was first proposed by American marketing scholars Berry (1983) and Jackson (1985). Berry (1983) argued in a conference about the field of service marketing that relationship marketing is a marketing activity for enterprises to obtain, maintain and promote effective relationships with customers. After a long-term study on the marketing process of the service industry, it was concluded that the ultimate goal of enterprise marketing is not only to develop new customers but also to focus on maintaining existing customers. Ultimately, the goal is to improve the long-term interests of both parties through cooperative relationships. The study also argues that the cost of maintaining an old customer is far lower than the cost of developing a new customer and that maintaining a relationship with old consumers is more economical than developing new customers. Jackson (1985) further modified the concept in the aspect of industry marketing. He argued that the essence of relationship marketing is to attract, establish and maintain a close relationship with enterprise customers. Furthermore, other studies have concluded that the essence of relationship marketing is the actual maintenance of existing customers, which creates long-term interest in a product. This research conclusion has been generally recognised since the original proposal for relationship marketing. The research scope, however, is limited to the relationship with old customers, easily ignoring the dynamic development of customers because long-term customers are developed from new customers. If an enterprise is restricted to the maintenance of existing customers, it is impossible for it to achieve any progress or compete in the market since it cannot attract long-term customers in the first place.

From a social anthropological perspective, relationship marketing theory and practice can be interpreted as commodity exchange that instrumentalises features of gift exchange. Marketers, consciously or intuitively, are recognizing reciprocity, a 'pre-modern' form of exchange, and have begun to use it.

Thus, relationship marketing revolves around gaining loyal customers. According to Liam Alvey, relationship marketing can be applied where there are competitive product alternatives for customers to choose from and an ongoing desire for that product. Research studying relationship marketing suggests that companies can do this through one of the three value strategies: best price, best product or best service. Hence companies can relay their relationship marketing message through value statements.

The practice of relationship marketing has been facilitated by several generations of customer relationship management software, which track and analyze each customer's preferences and activities. For example, an automobile manufacturer maintaining a database of when and how repeat customers buy their products, including data concerning their choices and purchase financing, can more efficiently develop one-to-one marketing offers and product benefits. Moreover, extensive use of such software is found in web applications. A consumer shopping profile can be built as a person shops online and is then used to compute his likely preferences. These curated and predicted offerings can then be presented to the customer through cross-sell, email recommendation and other channels.

Relationship marketing has also migrated back into direct mail. Marketers can use the technological capabilities of digital, toner-based printing presses to produce unique, personalised pieces for each recipient through variable data printing. They can personalise documents by information contained in their databases, including name, address, demographics, purchase history and dozens to hundreds of other variables. The result is a printed piece that reflects the individual needs and preferences of each recipient, increasing the relevance of the piece and increasing the response rate.

Scope
Additionally, relationship marketing has been strongly influenced by reengineering. According to process reengineering theory, organizations should be structured according to complete tasks and processes rather than functions. Thus cross-function teams should be responsible for a whole process from beginning to end rather than having the work go from one functional department to another, whereas traditional marketing uses the functional (or 'silo') department approach where stages of production are handled by different departments. The legacy of traditional marketing can still be seen in the traditional four Ps of the marketing mix: pricing, product management, promotion, and placement. According to Gordon (1999), the marketing mix approach is too limited to provide a usable framework for assessing and developing customer relationships in many industries and should be replaced by the relationship marketing alternative model where the focus is on customers, relationships and interaction over time rather than markets and products.

In contrast, relationship marketing is cross-functional, organised around processes that involve all aspects of an organization. In fact, some commentators prefer to call relationship marketing 'relationship management' because it involves much more than that which is included in normal marketing.

Because of its broad scope, relationship marketing can be effective in many contexts. As well as being relevant to 'for profit' businesses, research indicates that relationship marketing can be useful for organizations in the voluntary sector and in the public sector.

Martin Christopher, Adrian Payne and David Ballantyne at the Cranfield School of Management claim that relationship marketing has the potential to forge a synthesis between quality management, customer service management and marketing.

Satisfaction
Relationship marketing relies on the communication and acquisition of consumer requirements solely from existing customers in a mutually beneficial exchange usually involving permission for contact by the customer through an opt-in system. With particular relevance to customer satisfaction, the relative price and quality of goods and services produced or sold through a company alongside customer service generally determine the amount of sales relative to that of competing companies. Although groups targeted through relationship marketing may be large, accuracy of communication and overall relevance to the customer remains higher than that of direct marketing.

Retention
A principle of relationship marketing is the retention of customers in order to ensure repeated trade from preexisting customers by satisfying requirements above those of competing companies through a mutually beneficial relationship. This technique balances new customers and opportunities with current and existing customers to maximise profit and counteracts the leaky bucket theory of business, where new customers in older direct marketing-oriented businesses are gained at the expense of the loss of older customers. This process of 'churning' is less economically viable than retaining all or the majority of customers using both direct and relationship management because securing new customers requires more investment.

Many companies in competing markets redirect or allocate large amounts of resources towards customer retention. In markets with increasing competition, attracting new customers may cost up to five times more than retaining current customers because direct or 'offensive' marketing requires much more to cause defection from competitors. However, it is suggested that because extensive classic marketing theories center on means of attracting customers and creating transactions rather than maintaining them, the predominant usage of direct marketing used in the past is now gradually being used more with relationship marketing as the latter's importance becomes more recognizable.

Reichheld and Sasser (1990) claim that a 5% improvement in customer retention can cause an increase in profitability of between 25 and 85 percent in terms of net present value depending on the industry. However, Carrol and Reichheld dispute these calculations, claiming that they result from faulty cross-sectional analysis. Research by John Fleming and Jim Asplund indicates that engaged customers generate 1.7 times more revenue than normal customers while having engaged employees and engaged customers returns a revenue gain of 3.4 times the normal return.

According to Buchanan and Gilles, the increased profitability associated with customer retention efforts occurs because of several factors once a relationship has been established with a customer:
 * The cost of acquisition occurs only at the beginning of a relationship. The longer a relationship, the lower the amortised cost.
 * Account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs or as a percentage of revenue.
 * Long-term customers tend to be less inclined to switch products and also tend to be less price-sensitive. This can result in stable unit sales volume and increases in dollar-sales volume.
 * They also may provide free word-of-mouth promotions and referrals.
 * Furthermore, they are more likely to purchase ancillary products and high-profit margin supplemental products.
 * Customers who stay with a company tend to be satisfied with the relationship and are less likely to switch to competitors, increasing the difficulty for competitors to enter the market or gain market share.
 * Regular customers tend to be less expensive to service because they are familiar with the process, require less 'education' and are consistent in their order placement.
 * Increased customer retention and loyalty makes employees' jobs easier and more satisfying. In turn, happy employees increase customer satisfaction in a virtuous circle.

The relationship ladder of customer loyalty groups types of customers according to their level of loyalty. The ladder's first rung consists of prospects, non-customers who are likely to become customers in the future. This is followed by the successive rungs of customer, client, supporter, advocate, and partner. The relationship marketer's objective is to 'help' customers climb the ladder as high up as possible. This usually involves providing more personalised service and providing service quality that exceeds expectations at each step.

Customer retention efforts involve multiple considerations:
 * 1) Customer valuation – Gordon (1999) describes how to value customers and categorise them according to their financial and strategic value so that companies can decide where to invest for deeper relationships and which relationships need to be served differently or even terminated.
 * 2) Customer retention measurement – Dawkins and Reichheld (1990) calculated a company's customer retention rate. This is the percentage of customers at the beginning of the year that are still customers by the end of the year. In accordance with this statistic, an increase in retention rate from 80% to 90% is associated with a doubling of the average life of a customer relationship from 5 to 10 years. This ratio can be used to make comparisons between products, between market segments, and over time.
 * 3) Determining reasons for defection – It comprises investigating root causes, not mere symptoms. This involves probing for details when contacting former customers. Other techniques include the analysis of customers' complaints and competitive benchmarking (see competitor analysis).
 * 4) Developing and implementing a corrective plan – This could involve actions to improve employee practices, using benchmarking to determine best corrective practices, visible endorsement of top management, adjustments to the company's reward and recognition systems, and the use of recovery teams to eliminate the causes of defections.

A technique to calculate the value to a firm of a sustained customer relationship has been developed. This calculation is typically called customer lifetime value, a prediction of the net profit of a customer's relationship with a company.

Retention strategies may also include building barriers to customer switching by product bundling (combining several products or services into one package and offering them at a single price), cross-selling (selling related products to current customers), cross-promotions (giving discounts or other promotional incentives to purchasers of related products), loyalty programs (giving incentives for frequent purchases), increasing switching costs (adding termination costs such as mortgage termination fees), and integrating computer systems of multiple organizations (primarily in industrial marketing).

Many relationship marketers use a team-based approach due to the concept that the more points of contact between the organization and customer, the stronger the bond and the more secure the relationship.

Application
Relationship marketing and traditional or transactional marketing are not mutually exclusive, and there is no need for a conflict between them. In practice, a relationship-oriented marketer still has choices depending on the situation. Most firms blend the two approaches in order to reach a short-term marketing goal or long-term marketing strategy. Many products have a service component to them, which has been growing in recent decades.

Relationship marketing aims to strengthen the relationship with clients and secure them. Morgan and Hunt (1994) made a distinction between economic and social exchange on the basis of exchange theory and concluded that the basic guarantee of social exchange was the spirit of the contract of trust and commitment. The transition from economic exchange theory to social exchange theory is where the one-time transaction's prevalence is reduced.

Besides, the theoretical core of enterprise relationship marketing in this period is the cooperative relationship based on commitment, which defines relationship marketing from the perspective of exchange theory and emphasizes that relationship marketing is an activity related to the progress, maintenance and development of all marketing activities. The theory states that trading enterprises are composed of trust and commitment and that the basis of marketing activities to establish long-term relations. Factors affecting cooperation from both sides include communication, power, cost and benefit and opportunism behavior; but the relationship effect is mainly formed by trust and commitment. Moreover, Copulsky and Wolf (1990) introduced terminology like 'one to one' marketing that leverages IT to target customers with specific offers.

Enterprise has an incentive to improve the effect of relationships with customer. When access to data and information that improves the relationship with the customer has a low cost, enterprises pay the cost in order to improve relations with customers. Due to the development of communication and Internet technology, information costs have decreased substantially. Liker and Klamath (1998) introduced the relationship between enterprises and suppliers into the scope of relational marketing, claiming that in the marketing process manufacturers make suppliers assume corresponding responsibilities and enable them to exploit technological and resource advantages in the production process, improving their marketing innovation. Meanwhile, Lukas and Ferrell (2000) believe that the implementation of customer-oriented marketing can greatly promote marketing innovation and encourage enterprises to break through the traditional relationship model between enterprises and customers and propose new products. Lethe (2006) confirms the relationship between enterprises and customers through the observation of the benchmarking customer research, finding a positive correlation to innovation. He posits that good relations between enterprises and customers results in more efficient benchmarking, identifying new potential products, reduce the cost of new product development and increase market acceptance of products. Also he proposes that all relationships established with relevant parties for enterprise marketing are centered on the establishment of good customer relations: the core concept of relationship marketing is maintaining a relationship with customers.

Guinness (1994) propounds that relationship marketing is a consciousness that regards the marketing process as the interaction between enterprises and various aspects of relationships and networks. According to his research, enterprise faces four relations: its relationship with the macro-environment, that with the micro-environment, market relations and relations with a special market. In addition, enterprises in the implementation of relationship marketing are often able to use networks to promote all aspects of relationship coordination and progress.

Internal marketing
Relationship marketing stresses internal marketing, which is using a marketing orientation within an organization itself. Many relationship marketing attributes like collaboration, loyalty and trust determine internal customers' words and actions. According to this theory, every employee, team and department in the company is simultaneously a supplier and a customer of services and products. An employee obtains a service at a point in the value chain and then provides a service to another employee further along the value chain. If internal marketing is effective, every employee both provides and receives exceptional service to and from other employees. It also helps employees understand the significance of their roles and how their roles relate to others'. If implemented well, it can encourage every employee to see the process in terms of the customer's perception of value and the organization's strategic mission. Further, an effective internal marketing program is a prerequisite for effective external marketing efforts (W. George 1990).

Six markets model
Christopher, Payne and Ballantyne (1991) identify six markets which they note as central to relationship marketing: internal markets, supplier markets, recruitment markets, referral markets, influence markets and customer markets. They refer to Berry's work (1983), which drew attenttion to the need to engage with internal stakeholders such as employees to ensure that they are capable and willing to deliver the value proposition on offer. Referral marketing is the development and implementation of a marketing plan in order to stimulate referrals. Marketing to suppliers is aimed at ensuring a long-term conflict-free relationship in which all parties understand the others' needs and exceed their expectations. Such a strategy can reduce costs and improve quality. Meanwhile, Influence markets involve a wide range of sub-markets, including government regulators, standards bodies, lobbyists, stockholders, bankers, venture capitalists, financial analysts, stockbrokers, consumer associations, environmental associations and labor associations. These activities are typically carried out by the public relations department, but relationship marketers believe that marketing to all six markets is the responsibility of everyone in an organization. Each market may require its own explicit strategies and marketing mix.

Live-in marketing
Live-in marketing (LIM) is a variant of marketing and advertising in which the target consumer is allowed to sample or use a product in a relaxed atmosphere over a long period of time. Much like product placement in film and television, LIM was developed as a means to reach select target demographics in a non-invasive and much less garish manner than traditional advertising. While LIM represents an entirely untapped avenue of marketing, it is not an entirely novel idea. With the rising popularity of experiential and event marketing in North America and Europe and the relatively high ROI in terms of advertising dollars spent on experiential marketing compared to traditional big media advertising, industry analysts see LIM as a natural progression.

LIM functions around the premise that marketing or advertising agencies aim to appeal to companies' target demographic. Avenues such as sponsorship or direct product placement and sampling are explored in turn. Unlike traditional event marketing, LIM suggests that end-users can sample the product or service in a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. The theory posits that the end-user will have as positive as possible an interaction with the given brand, thereby leading to word-of-mouth communication and potential future purchases. If the success of a traditional event and experiential marketing is shared with LIM, a lucrative and low-cost means of product promotion could be demonstrated. However, this means of advertising is still being developed, and more research is required to determine the true success of such campaigns. The first company to explicitly offer LIM services was Hostival Connect in late 2010.

title: Relationship marketing


text:
Category:Canadian lawyers

This category is for those who have practiced law in Canada by representing and/or advising clients, whether private or government. Despite obtaining a law degree, a person is only a lawyer in Canada if they have been admitted to the bar governing the profession in their province. This category is reserved for those who meet the most obvious connotation of the word. Also, please see "Category:Canadian judges". More than one designation may apply to certain individuals—please see individual category descriptions for proper application.

title: Category:Canadian lawyers


text:
Talk:Slashvertisement

Untitled
I might have a problem with the example "Super-Fast Dual-Layer DVD Writing" because the article links to a review of the drive not to the drive itself. Comments? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spoonyfork (talk • contribs) 20:27, 28 September 2004 (UTC)

I don't know about that specific article but the definition of slashvertisement seems to be quite big in range. Is a slashvertisement limited to direct links? Or can it also be advertisements in disquise? Btw, did you just make up this term? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Origami dragon (talk • contribs) 20:58, 28 September 2004 (UTC)

I think the speedy deletion on this one is too harsh. There have been somewhat advertisemented news on the slashdot and the slashvertisement is a good term. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.30.176.71 (talk) 22:05, 28 September 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Slashvertisement


text:
Vladimir Kryuchkov

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Крючко́в; 29 February 1924 – 23 November 2007) was a Soviet lawyer, diplomat, and head of the KGB, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Initially working in the Soviet justice system as a prosecutor's assistant, Kryuchkov then graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Soviet Foreign Ministry and became a diplomat. During his years in the foreign service, he met Yuri Andropov, who became his main patron. From 1974 until 1988, Kryuchkov headed the foreign intelligence branch of the KGB, the First Chief Directorate (PGU). During these years, the Directorate was involved in funding and supporting various communist, socialist, and anti-colonial movements across the world, some of which came to power in their countries and established pro-Soviet governments; in addition, under Kryuchkov's leadership the Directorate had major triumphs in penetrating Western intelligence agencies, acquiring valuable scientific and technical intelligence and perfecting the techniques of disinformation and active measures. At the same time, during his tenure the Directorate became plagued with defectors and had the major responsibility for encouraging the Soviet government to invade Afghanistan, and its ability to influence Western European communist parties diminished even further.

From 1988 until 1991, Kryuchkov served as the 7th Chairman of the KGB. He was the leader of the abortive August coup and its governing committee.

Early life and career
Kryuchkov was born in February 1924 in Tsaritsyn (later called Stalingrad, now Volgograd), to a working-class family. His parents were strong supporters of Joseph Stalin. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1944 and became a full-time employee of the Communist Youth League (Komsomol). After earning a law degree, Kryuchkov embarked on a career in the Soviet justice system, working as an investigator for the prosecutor's office in his home city of Stalingrad.

Diplomatic service
Kryuchkov then joined the Soviet diplomatic service, stationed in Hungary until 1959. He next worked for the Communist Party Central Committee for eight years, before joining the KGB in 1967 together with his patron Yuri Andropov. He was appointed head of the First Chief Directorate in the summer of 1971, upon the order of Andropov, and deputy chairman in 1978. In June 1978, he traveled to Afghanistan, and in July 1978 became the KGB rezident in Kabul where he took a very active part in the overthrow of its government at the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War. In 1988, he was promoted to the rank of General of the Army and became KGB Chairman. In 1989–1990, he was a member of the Politburo.

A political hard-liner, Kryuchkov was among the members of the Soviet intelligence community who misinterpreted the 1983 NATO exercise Able Archer 83 as a prelude to a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Many historians, such as Robert Cowley and John Lewis Gaddis, believe the Able Archer incident was the closest the world has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

KGB chairmanship
After KGB Chairman Viktor Chebrikov sided with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's rival Yegor Ligachyov in opposition to glasnost and perestroika, he was replaced by Kryuchkov in October 1988. Kryuchkov also opposed Gorbachev's reforms, and in his memoirs defended Stalinism and condemned most reforms to the Soviet political system since the rule of Nikita Khrushchev. His appointment by Gorbachev despite this was because he had specialized primarily in foreign intelligence rather than domestic services. Kryuchkov had also been recommended by Gorbachev's predecessor and mentor Andropov and his reformist colleague Alexander Yakovlev.

After the 1990 Soviet constitutional reforms, Kryuchkov began working with other hardline officials in the new presidential cabinet such as Boris Pugo, Valentin Pavlov, and Gennady Yanayev to undermine Gorbachev's rule. This group of eight ministers eventually became the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP).

Gorbachev attempted to appease Kryuchkov with a presidential decree expanding the powers of the KGB, and ordered him to keep the anti-Communist RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin and the dissident leader Andrei Sakharov under surveillance. Kryuchkov's intelligence may have deceived Gorbachev into underestimating the risk to his rule and distancing himself in favor of his old reformist colleagues in favor of the hardliners.

According to Sergei Tretyakov, Kryuchkov secretly sent US$50 billion worth of Communist Party funds to an unknown location in the lead up to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

August Coup
Kryuchkov's strategy eventually shifted to a coup d'état in which a state of emergency would enable the KGB to restore the Soviet Union's hardline Communist political system.

During the August coup of 1991, Kryuchkov was the initiator of creation of the GKChP which arrested President Gorbachev. However, the coup failed because of the indecisiveness of Kryuchkov and the other conspirators. Kryuchkov notably mobilized the Alpha Group to arrest Yeltsin but then refused to give it the order to do so. Kryuchkov had also allowed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to assume control of domestic KGB activity under its jurisdiction after Chairman Yeltsin's Declaration of State Sovereignty of Russia. Many Russian KGB agents had demonstrated their loyalty to the new government by defying Kryuchkov's order to vote against Yeltsin in the 1991 Russian presidential election. After the defeat of the committee, Kryuchkov was imprisoned for his participation. Kryuchkov was replaced as chairman of the KGB by Vadim Bakatin, released on recognizance not to leave in January 1993.

Many analysts of the Soviet Union at the time and since, including former U.S. Ambassador Jack F. Matlock Jr., have held that Kryuchkov was inadvertently responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union by staging the coup and destroying the Communist Party's authority. Matlock wrote in his memoir "People do make a difference, and Vladimir Kryuchkov made a big difference. The Soviet Union might exist in some modified form today if another person had been running the KGB in 1990 and 1991."

Immediately after the collapse of the coup Kryuchkov unsuccessfully requested a pardon for himself and his co-conspirators on the basis of their old age. On 3 July 1992, Kryuchkov appealed to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, accusing him of laying the blame for the dissolution of the Soviet Union on members of the State Committee on the State of Emergency. Kryuchkov was finally freed in 1994 with a pardon by the State Duma. He subsequently returned to public life with writings condemning Gorbachev's rule. His writings improved his reputation with the Russian public, with a 2007 Levada Center poll revealing that only 12 percent of respondents would have actively opposed his coup. On 7 May 2000, Kryuchkov attended the first inauguration of Vladimir Putin as President of Russia.

Family
His son was a resident of Switzerland in the 1990s where very large sums were transiting during the 1990s looting of Russia. Yevgeny Primakov blocked the Duma's Ponomarev investigative commission from accessing KGB, FCD, and SVR documents.

Death
Kryuchkov died at the age of 83 on 23 November 2007. His body was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

title: Vladimir Kryuchkov