text:
Deception Point

Deception Point is a 2001 mystery-thriller novel by American author Dan Brown. It is Brown's third novel. It was published by Simon & Schuster.

The novel follows White House intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton's involvement in corroborating NASA's discovery of a meteorite that supposedly contains proof of extraterrestrial life, resembling the ALH84001 case. The discovery comes at a time close to the United States presidential election in which her father is running. The discovery will aid the campaign of her employer, the incumbent president of the United States, Zachary Herney, but put her further at odds with her already estranged father, Senator Sedgwick Sexton, who is running for election. Ms. Sexton, accompanied by a team of experts, must proove the authenticity of the meteorite, which will either make or break the campaign of President Herney.

Plot
On the eve of a United States presidential election, NASA discovers a meteorite in the Milne Ice Shelf containing fossils of insect-like creatures, seemingly proving the existence of extraterrestrial life. The discovery could potentially be a deciding factor in the presidential election, in which one of the key issues is whether to continue funding NASA. Incumbent US President Zachary Herney favors supporting space research, while his challenger Senator Sedgewick Sexton argues for dissolving NASA.

President Herney sends a team of experts to the Arctic to verify the authenticity of the extraterrestrial insect: oceanographer Michael Tolland, astrophysicist Corky Marlinson, glaciologist Norah Mangor, paleontologist Wailee Ming, and National Reconnaissance Office employee Rachel Sexton, Senator Sexton's daughter.

When the scientists find an anomaly that calls the authenticity of NASA's discovery into question, they're attacked by a Delta Force team that had secretly been spying on them. The Delta Force soldiers kill Ming and Mangor while leaving Rachel, Tolland and Marlinson to perish on an ice floe, but they're rescued by the Navy submarine USS Charlotte. Rachel alerts presidential advisor Marjorie Tench and NRO director William Pickering of the attack, and Pickering sends an air transport to bring them back to the United States.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Tench tries to sabotage Sexton's campaign by blackmailing his aide, Gabrielle Ashe, with photos of an extramarital affair that she had with Senator Sexton, and reveals that Sexton is secretly backed by a coalition of private aerospace corporations who would profit from NASA's dissolution. Ashe discovers that Tench's claims are true, but also finds out that NASA lied about the origin of the meteorite.

The surviving scientists retreat to Tolland's research ship off the New Jersey coast, where they fully re-analyze their data and discover that the meteorite is fake. A surprise attack by the Delta Force team prompts Rachel to fax the data to her father, asking for help. In the ensuing skirmish, all Delta Force soldiers are killed, their helicopter is sunk, and Pickering is revealed to be their commander; he masterminded the fake meteorite to aid Herney's campaign and prevent the dissolution of NASA. The ship and Pickering are sucked in by a vortex, while a Coast Guard Osprey picks up Rachel, Tolland and Marlinson.

Sexton attempts to reveal Rachel's fax in a press conference in hopes of implicating NASA and the president in the meteorite hoax, but Rachel and Gabrielle swap Rachel's fax with the photo evidence of Sexton's affair with Gabrielle, humiliating him and ruining his chances of winning the election. By the end of the story, Michael and Rachel have developed a romantic relationship.

Characters
Authentication team: During the story, NASA invites five external experts to help authenticate the meteorite finding as secondary sources:

 * Rachel Sexton: A data analyst for the NRO and Senator Sexton's daughter, Rachel's relationship with her father is antagonistic because of his infidelity, which indirectly contributed to her mother's death in an accident. Her involvement in the authentication is eventually proven to be purely political.
 * Michael Tolland: An oceanographer and television celebrity-scientist, Tolland possesses excellent educational and social skills and does not exhibit unchecked anger, as other characters do. Tolland can remain calm under fire and think out of the box. Having lost his wife to cancer, Tolland gradually develops a crush on Rachel.
 * Corky Marlinson: A world-renowned astrophysicist and a staunch proponent of the authenticity of the meteorite, Corky has little knowledge of proper social conduct. Corky survives a shark attack.
 * Norah Mangor: A prickly glaciologist, Norah has a tough, tomboyish personality; she is suffocated with ice and snow early in the book by Pickering's death squad and was thrown into the Arctic Ocean along with her sled.
 * Wailee Ming: A paleontologist with an impeccable dress habit; he is drowned early in the book by Pickering's death squad when he attempted to investigate an irregularity in the extraction hole.

Politicians:
 * Zachary Herney: The President of the United States, criticized for his extravagant expenditure of U.S. money on low-yield areas (including the allegedly futile search for extraterrestrial life) while the important areas of nation (such as education) suffer from the lack of funds. The events of the story lead him into revising government extravagance.
 * Senator Thomas Sedgewick Sexton: Rachel's father and an ambitious presidential candidate in the book. Senator Sexton is corrupt, promiscuous, and ruthless; he accepts bribes, engages in several extramarital affairs and would even sacrifice his daughter to crush his political opponent harder, but the consequences of his actions eventually destroy his political standing. Because of his ego, he does not take computer security seriously and chooses weak passwords for his computer.
 * Marjorie Tench: Senior Adviser to the president. Described as very astute and ruthless, she anonymously sends information about the president's expenditure on NASA to lure Sexton into attacking the organization. Tench has kept the meteorite discovery a secret, intending to use it as a justification for the expenditure, making Sexton's criticism backfire. When Rachel informs her of the fake nature of the meteorite, Tench attempts to hush it up before being killed by Pickering's death squad.
 * Gabrielle Ashe: Senator Sexton's aide and one-time mistress, she relays information about NASA's extravagance to Senator Sexton. When the senator's campaign collapses, she infiltrates NASA to help salvage the campaign by finding potential evidences of falsification. Gabrielle later threatens to expose her one-time illegitimate affair in order to dissuade Sexton from sacrificing her daughter for his political ambitions. Failing to succeed, she and Rachel cooperate to replace the meteorite fiasco evidence with photos of said affair.

NASA:
 * Lawrence Ekstrom: Administrator of NASA; serves no purpose in the book beyond attracting suspicion.
 * Chris Harper: NASA section manager; he appears in four dedicated chapters and explains how NASA did not find the meteorite as claimed.

NRO:
 * William Pickering: The main antagonist, director of the NRO and the handler of the Delta Force team featured in the book, he is the mastermind behind main plot line. Pickering's intention is to help president Herney maintain the office for ulterior motives of his own; his ultimate goal is to make NASA a division of the NRO, thus rendering its operations clandestine. He and the Delta Force team under his command would kill anyone who is a threat to his plan, even Marjorie Tench, the president's adviser, who once had disagreed with him. Pickering is sucked into a vortex.
 * Delta Force team: A team of three males, they are the death squad of William Pickering and have access to state-of-the-art technology of the time, such as surveillance microbots, an Aurora aircraft, a Kiowa Warrior helicopter and weapons that manufacture their own munitions. All three are killed; two are eaten by sharks and their leader is drowned inside a Kiowa Warrior.

title: Deception Point


text:
Talk:Chicotte

The information here was completely duplicated at sjambok, to which Chicotte is stated to be the Portuguese equivalent. It makes more sense to combine them and have a redirect from the divers several alternative names.Securiger 15:00, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Chicotte


text:
Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand

The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand is a specialized public library run by the Paris municipal library system.

History
Created from a massive collection started in 1897 by journalist and activist Marguerite Durand. It was initially located at the premises of her newspaper La Fronde the Library opened in 1931 and moved to 79 rue Nationale in Paris. It holds a collection of materials on French feminism and the struggle of French suffragettes for equality. The collection contains biographies, manuscripts, photographs, periodicals, letters, and more than 25,000 books dating back to the 17th century, plus 4,000 pieces of correspondence written by prominent women.

Among the books and papers that can be found in the library are materials from women authors, artists, scientists, explorers, politicians, journalists and other notable women including Madame de Staël, Colette, Marie Bashkirtseff, Séverine, Gyp, Alexandra David-Néel, Maria Deraismes, Clémence Royer, and Olympe de Gouges.

title: Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand


text:
Castletroy

Castletroy (, meaning O'Troy's Landing or O'Troy's Callow) is a suburb of Limerick, Ireland. The town was named after Castle Troy also known as the Black Castle, which is located on the southern bank of the River Shannon, roughly 2 km east of the University of Limerick. However the name likely predates the castle itself as the area may have been used by the O’Turrain clan (who were no longer in the area by the time the castle was built) having used it as a safe harbour for navigating the river.

History
Historically, the district was entirely separate to Limerick, and consisted of little development aside from the villages of Annacotty and Monaleen. With the creation of the University of Limerick, as well as the growth of Limerick city itself, this began to change. Castletroy is one of the fastest-growing residential areas in Ireland and has now engulfed the old villages of Annacotty and Monaleen (Móin a lín - field of flax).

Castletroy includes three primary schools Milford NS, Monaleen NS and a Gaelscoil (Gaelscoil Chaladh an Treoigh), the secondary school, Castletroy College, and a number of hotels including the Kilmurry Lodge Hotel and Castletroy Park Hotel. It is also host to both Milford and Monaleen GAA Clubs.

Castletroy Golf Course is well known and divides Monaleen and Castletroy itself. Kilbane, Castletroy Heights, Monaleen Heights and Monaleen Park were the original housing developments and were once surrounded by farmland. These houses are the oldest.

Recent developments include numerous sprawling housing estates, with much of the new development concentrated near Castletroy College. The Castletroy Shopping Centre extends to some 90000 sqft and is located off Dublin road at Kilmurray roundabout adjacent to the Briarfield estate. It includes a SuperValu supermarket and 24 mall shops, McDonald's restaurant and an eight-screen Odeon cinema. Lidl have recently opened a branch in Castletroy. A local park has also been built including a children's playground and skatepark. The National Technology Park is home to some major business in Castletroy such as 'Vistakon', a contact lens division of Johnson & Johnson and Viagogo an online ticket marketplace for buying and selling tickets to live events. More recently Chicago based financial institution Northern Trust has expended in Castletroy's Hamilton House 2 and opened a new office in City East Plaza also in Castletroy.

In the past several attempts were made by Limerick City Council to expand its area of control to include Castletroy as part of its plan to expand the old city boundary to include large suburbs just outside the boundary. Up until June 2014 Castletroy and neighbouring suburbs were not within the city boundary despite being part of the city’s overall urban fabric. The amalgamation of the 2 local authorities in Limerick from 2014 saw all areas of Limerick (city and county) come under one united and single authority for the first time. The merger of the authorities saw the city area expanded to include all urban areas (including Castletroy) within the Limerick urban area into the Limerick Metropolitan District within the merged Limerick authority.

Castle Troy also known as The Black Castle
Located on the southern bank of the River Shannon, roughly 2 km East of the University of Limerick. Castle Troy was erected in the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) by one of the O' Briens. Many years later it was the seat of the Mac Keoghs, a war like tribe, often in conflict with neighbouring chiefs. The MacKeoghs continued to hold land in Castletroy, but at some point before the reign of Elizabeth I the castle was taken over by their overlord, the Earl of Desmond. The Earl of Desmond rebelled against the English monarchy and their lands were foirfeit and the Castle Troy became the property of Sir John Bourke of Brittas.

According to tradition when Cromwell landed in 1649 with his New Model Army his general Henry Ireton in 1651 led an army on Limerick and set up cannons on Harty's Hill and battered the castle as it was ideally positioned to defend the city against forces moving down the River Shannon. Castle Troy was granted to James Duke of York in 1666 and later sold to the Hollow Blade Company in 1703.

Castletroy Castle's history is recounted in verse in Hogan's "Lays, Legends of Thomond":

 * Lo! grey Castletroy by war,
 * Tide and time batter'd Stands,
 * like an old chief With his armour all shatter'd
 * As if musing, in gloomy and gaunt desolation
 * On the red feudal days
 * When Green Erin was a Nation.
 * There the warlike Mac keoghs,
 * In their power and revell'd
 * And often in fight
 * Were their sounding spears levell'd
 * 'Till Cromwell, the fiend, with his
 * Tower-cleaving cannon,
 * Ploughed their strong castle walls
 * On the brink of the Shannon".

Jewish Graveyard
Also in Castletroy is a small and little-known Jewish graveyard. It dates from the late 19th century when Limerick had a sizable Jewish community and was renovated and reopened by Chief Rabbi Mervis in 1990. Limerick's Jewish population waned over the decades, though a sizable portion of Jews lived in Castletroy as late as the 1980s.

title: Castletroy


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Auburn Sandbox

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was - kept

Auburn Sandbox
Appears to be a sandbox for another article. I've speedy deleted it once, and left a message for the user asking them to move it either into the article or into their user namespace; they have since only gone and added to it. Would suggest deletion but the content needs to belong somewhere first. -- Graham ☺ | Talk 15:04, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Keep. I've moved it to Talk:Auburn University, which did not exist, to preserve content and history. The content can be merged into Auburn University at leisure, and the redirect from Auburn Sandbox listed for deletion as soon as it has done its job. Andrewa 01:11, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text: Category:Polish boxers

title: Category:Polish boxers


text:
Nairi (disambiguation)

Nairi, is one of the historical names of Armenia.

Nairi or Nayiri (in Armenian Նայիրի) may also refer to:

Places

 * The town of Hatsik, Armavir was called Nairi from 1963 till 1991
 * Nairi Cinema, large cinema hall in Yerevan, Armenia

People

 * Nairi Grigorian, Spanish pianist of Armenian origin
 * Nairi Hunanyan, leader of an armed attack on the Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999
 * Nairi Zarian, Soviet Armenian poet and writer

Media

 * Nairi Publishing House, where Ruben Hovsepyan was once editor-in-chief
 * Nayiri (periodical) a Beirut-based Armenian-language literary periodical
 * Nairi: Tower of Shirin, a 2018 adventure game and visual novel

Sports

 * Alashkert Stadium in Yerevan, Armenia, known as Nairi Stadium until 2013
 * Nairi SC, Yerevan-based Armenian football club

Others

 * Nairi (computer), a Soviet Armenian computer
 * Nairi brandy by Yerevan Brandy Company

title: Nairi (disambiguation)


text:
Carnaross

Carnaross or Carnaros is a village in County Meath, Ireland, approximately 4 km northwest of Kells on the R147 road between Kells and Virginia, County Cavan.

Etymology
Carnaross is an anglicisation of the Irish language Carn na Ros, meaning "cairn of the woods" or "rock of the woods".

Specifically, carn is believed to refer to a local cairn; an ancient pagan burial site or heap of stones over a grave. Evidence for such a burial site may exist nearby in a farmers field. Known as Keim the churchyard, this site contains an ogham inscribed stone which was discovered in 2006. Other sources suggest that carn is derived from carraig, the Irish for stone or rock.

Separately, ros is believed to refer to a hill or promontory covered with trees or brushwood.

Parish
The parish of Carnaross is composed of the three mediaeval parishes of Castle Kieran, Loughan and Dulane. Carnaross is not mentioned as a townland earlier than 1837, and even then John O'Donovan in the Ordnance Survey Field Name Books, refers to it as "a group of houses (two of them public houses) called Carnaross".

A number of sources record holy wells in the area, including one dedicated to Saint Anne.

Loghan
One of the former constituent parishes, Loghan or Loughan, is described by Samuel Lewis in his 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland as being:
 * a parish, partly in the barony of Castlerahan, county of Cavan, and province of Ulster, but chiefly in the barony of Upper Kells, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 4 miles (N. W.) from Kells, on the road from Dublin by Kells to Enniskillen; containing 3795 inhabitants, of which number, 339 are in the village of Loghan.

Lewis notes that there was then a private school (with 60 pupils) at Carnaross, and the remains small church close to the which was dedicated to Saint Kieran.

Dulane
Lewis (1837) also has an entry for the parish of Duleen or Dulane, which is also described as being the barony of Upper Kells "on the road to Moynalty; containing 1503 inhabitants". He notes that the "land is generally of good quality; and the system of agriculture is improved" with "sufficient quantity of bog for fuel" A private school of 50 children is recorded, with a number of ancient crosses in the local churchyard.

The Diocese of Meath : Ancient and Modern, published in 1862 by Anthony Cogan, describes the church at Dulane as being at least partly ruined and having "every appearance of antiquity". The area is recorded as being the ancient site of an abbey of Tuilen, or Tulan, founded by Saint Ciaran in the sixth century.

Castlekeiran
Castlekeiran is also described in The Diocese of Meath : Ancient and modern (Cogan, 1862):
 * Castlekeiran, a village, in the parish of Loghan, barony of Upper Kells, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 2 ½ miles (W. N. W.) from Kells; containing 24 houses and 162 inhabitants.
 * Castlekeiran is called sometimes hter-Chiarain. This place was anciently called Bealaigh-duin, " the Road or Pass of the Fort". A monastery was founded here on the southern bank of the Abhainn-Sele, or Blackwater, by Saint Ciaran, which was called Diseart Chiarain-Bealaigh-duin.

Ogham stone
An Ogham stone, found in Keim Churchyard has an inscription which reads "COVAGNI MAQI MUCOI LUGUNI". This translates from ogham as: Cuana son of the people of Lugh. The tribes of the Gaileanga and Luighne occupied these territories anciently, with Cuana, Maelan, Mac Maelan and Leochain or Loughan cited as a chiefly names amongst notices for these Luighne and Gaileanga. Cuana is linked with the ancient battle of Belach-Duinn (Castlekeiran).

Annalistic references
The Annals of the Four Masters have the following notices relating to Carnaross :

 * 770. Ciaran,* the Pious, of Bealach-dain, died on 14 June.

 * 855. Siadhal, Abbot of Disert-Chiarain (Castlekieran), died.

 * 868. Comsudh, Abbot of Disert-Chiarain, of Bealach-duin, died.

 * 949. Castlekieran was plundered by the Danes.

 * 961. Dubhthach, Abbot of Castlekieran, died.

Notable buildings
A former Church of Ireland building on the R147, constructed from sheet metal in the 19th century, is one of the more unusual features of Carnaross. This church, known as the "Iron Church", fell into disuse in the 1970s but was subsequently purchased by a family from Collon, County Louth and used as an independent evangelical place of worship.

Carnaross is home to a cattle mart. The mart held Ireland's first virtual mart during the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.

title: Carnaross


text:
Olivetti Research Laboratory

The Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) was a research institute in the field of computing and telecommunications founded in 1986 by Hermann Hauser and Andy Hopper.

History
When Olivetti acquired Acorn Computers in 1985, Hauser, who was Acorn's co-founder, became vice-president for research at Olivetti where he was in charge of laboratories in the US and Europe. In 1986, Hauser co-founded the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) in Cambridge, England, along with Professor Andy Hopper. Hopper became the laboratory's Director.

In 1988, Hauser left Olivetti. In 1997 the lab became the Olivetti & Oracle Research Lab. In January 1999 it was acquired by AT&T Corporation and became AT&T Laboratories Cambridge.

AT&T Laboratories Cambridge was for three years Europe's leading communications engineering research laboratory. The laboratory was internationally recognised as a centre of excellence, undertaking advanced research into communications, multimedia and mobile technologies.

As a result of heavy losses, AT&T restructured its worldwide research efforts and the Cambridge labs closed on 24 April 2002.

Notable achievements

 * Original development of the RFB (remote framebuffer) protocol and VNC, the desktop sharing technology
 * Development and maintenance of the free CORBA implementation for C++ and Python, omniORB
 * The Active Badge System for the tracking of people and objects

title: Olivetti Research Laboratory


text:
Raheen, County Limerick

Raheen is a large suburb of Limerick, Ireland. Initially developed to ease population overspill from the city of Limerick, Raheen is socioeconomically diverse, ranging from older, poor-class housing estates to relatively affluent areas.

History
The oldest parts of the area were built in the 1960s and 1970s. In the following years, Raheen and neighbouring Dooradoyle both experienced growth, particularly during the Celtic Tiger. Raheen became one of Limerick's more multicultural areas, as it was a common destination for immigrants. It has for a long time contained notable populations of Jewish, South Asian and Chinese descent, with a large influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe arriving during Ireland's economic boom.

Until 2014, Raheen, as with many other large Limerick city suburbs, was outside the boundary of Limerick City Council. Local government was under the jurisdiction of Limerick County Council, itself a separate authority to the city council with responsibility towards County Limerick. June 2014 saw the merger of the Limerick authorities into one unified authority. The merger saw the expansion of the city boundaries to include Raheen. Limerick City Council made many attempts in the past to extend its control over these parts of the city but were unsuccessful as part of a boundary extension to the city council area.

Economy
The local economy is highly dependent on light and heavy industry based at Raheen Business Park. It is the home of many international companies, and multi-national concerns with premises there including Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Analog Devices, Dell, Banta, ON Semiconductor, Stryker Corp. (formerly Howmedica), RRD GTS, and Emutex. The Dell manufacturing plant was one of the largest employers in Limerick before its closure in January 2009, which dealt a major blow to the economy of the greater Limerick area. The former Dell plant has since been taken over by Regeneron.

The radio station Spin South West and a Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB) campus (formerly FÁS) operate from the Raheen Industrial Estate. The Industrial Estate Estate is divided into two sections, the old section entrance is on the Raheen Roundabout (R526 St Nessan Road and R510) the Second Entrance is on the New Section with its entrance on the M20.

Amenities
Raheen shares many amenities with neighbouring Dooradoyle, including the Crescent Shopping Centre and the main campus of University Hospital Limerick. Shops and restaurants/café's are located around the Raheen and adjoining Father Russell Road area. St. Nessan's Church (a Roman Catholic church) is located in Raheen.

Schools in the area include St. Paul's National School and St. Nessan's National School. Secondary schools in the area include Crescent Comprehensive College (in Dooradoyle) and Gaelscoil an Raithin.

Transport
Raheen has 3 different city bus routes running through it, operated by Bus Éireann:

 * 301 (Westbury/Shannon Banks-Father Russell Road via City Centre)
 * 304 (UL-Raheen/Ballycummin via City Centre)
 * 304A (Monaleen-Raheen via Bus/Rail Station)

The 301 and 304 run via the city centre between Father Russell Road and Raheen to Westbury/Shannon Banks and UL respectively. The 304A runs between Raheen and Monaleen via Colbert Station on Parnell Street, avoiding the city centre.

The R526 runs through Raheen into Limerick City Centre. National road N69 starts in the area, linking it to Tralee, County Kerry, as well as the N18 linking Limerick to nearby Shannon Airport and further on to Ennis, County Clare and Galway City.

Raheen also hosts exits to the M20 and M7 motorways, linking Limerick city to Cork and Dublin.

title: Raheen, County Limerick


text:
Nikolai Ustryalov

Nikolai Vasilyevich Ustryalov (Николай Васильевич Устрялов; November 25, 1890 – September 14, 1937) was a Russian politician and a leading pioneer of National Bolshevism. His great-uncle was Nikolay Gerasimovich Ustryalov. Ustryalov and many of his followers were later charged with counter-revolutionary activity and executed during the Great Purge.

Early years
Ustryalov was born in Saint Petersburg. He graduated in law from Moscow University in 1913. Teaching at Moscow University, he was initially a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party. Ustryalov belonged to a tendency of Slavophile intellectuals, although from early on he departed from his contemporaries by being less enthusiastic about the Eastern Orthodox Church than the likes of Sergei Bulgakov and Peter Berngardovich Struve. He started out as a supporter of the "Whites" in the Russian Civil War and saw service under the command of Aleksandr Kolchak. However Ustryalov changed his views towards a fusion of nationalism with Bolshevism, with the new communism presented as the best hope for re-establishing Russia as an international power.

Ideology
Amongst Ustryalov's written works were contributions to "The Problems of Great Russia" and "Morning of Russia", two pre-Bolshevik journals in which he called for unity amongst the Slavs and rejoiced in the overthrow of Tsarist rule. In exile he founded the journal "Okno" (Window) with other dissidents and in 1921 published his seminal collection of articles "Smena vekh" ("Change of Landmarks"), in which he expounded his theories of nationalism and that gave rise to a weekly magazine, Smena vekh. The main ideologue for the Smenovekhovtsy as his followers became known, Ustryalov used written works such as In the Struggle for Russia (1920) and Under the Sign of Revolution (1925) to argue against the views of Struve. Claiming to be inspired by figures such as General Aleksei Brusilov and Vladimir Purishkevich, both of whom had said they would serve the Bolsheviks in the interests of Russia, Ustryalov called for a reconciliation with the Soviet Union as it was only the Bolsheviks who could guarantee Russia's security. With the introduction of the New Economic Policy Ustryalov saw a process of "normalisation" beginning in the Soviet Union and argued that increasingly the USSR was "like a radish" in that it was red on the outside but white on the inside. Ustryalov did not consider himself a communist, rejecting the ideology as a foreign import, but began to use the term "National Bolshevik" after discovering it in the writings of German dissident Ernst Niekisch.

Despite his enthusiasm Ustryalov was dismissed as an enemy by Vladimir Lenin and lived in exile in Harbin, Manchuria. Here he worked as an advisor at the China Far East Railway, (KVZhD). He was Dean of the Faculty of Law at Harbin from 1920 until 1924.

Return to the Soviet Union
With attitudes towards National Bolshevism having thawed under Stalin, Ustryalov was able to return to the Soviet Union in 1935. Trotsky regarded the forces that gathered around Ustryalov as not wanting Russia to return to a state of semi-colonial dependence on Western capitalism and therefore anticapitalist without being the least bit socialist. According to Trotsky, Ustryalov and his followers foresaw the conversion of the Soviet state into a normal bourgeois state, and believed that this state should be supported. Ustryalov's past as a White counted against him, however, and he struggled to find employment or even acceptance as a Soviet citizen in Moscow. Eventually he was sent to a gulag.

In 1937, during the Great Purge, he was arrested on charges of espionage and "anti-Soviet agitation". On September 14, 1937, he was sentenced to death and executed on the same day.

title: Nikolai Ustryalov


text:
International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism

The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism—or Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme (LICRA) in French—was established in 1927 and is opposed to intolerance, xenophobia, and exclusion.

In 1927, French journalist Bernard Lecache created "The League Against Pogroms" and launched a media campaign in support of Sholom Schwartzbard, who assassinated Symon Petliura on May 25, 1926, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Schwartzbard viewed Petliura as responsible for numerous pogroms in Ukraine. After Schwartzbard's acquittal, the league evolved into LICA (Ligue internationale contre l'antisémitisme, or International League Against Anti-Semitism), and Schwartzbard would become a prominent and active member of the organization.

In 1931, LICA counted 10,000 subscribers in France. It played a significant role during the battle between leagues in February 1934. After 1932, LICA evolved into LICRA, but the name was officially changed only in 1979 during the long presidency of Jean Pierre-Bloch (from 1968 to 1992 in office).

In September 1939, as the Second World War started, numerous LICRA subscribers were mobilized, and many were members of the Resistance throughout the war. During the German occupation of France, LICRA was banned by the Vichy government and had to regroup clandestinely to help the victims of Nazi racial measures. This was done by hiding them away from Paris, by providing them with fake IDs, and by helping them escape to Switzerland, Spain, and England.

In 1972, a law authorized LICRA to counsel victims of racist acts during their court appearances. Later, LICRA received considerable media attention during the case of LICRA v. Yahoo!, in which it brought charges against Yahoo! for selling Nazi memorabilia to people in France in violation of French laws proposed, passed, and used by and for LICRA.

The LICRA campaigns against neonazism and Holocaust denial. For example, it supported the Klarsfeld couple (Serge and Beate Klarsfeld) and was active during Klaus Barbie's trial in 1987.

In the 1990s, LICRA opened bramches abroad: in Switzerland, in Belgium, in Luxembourg, in Germany, in Portugal, in Quebec, and more recently, in Congo Brazzaville and in Austria.

From 1999, with the arrival of President Patrick Gaubert, LICRA broadened its scope to include addressing social issues such as work discrimination, citizenship, and disadvantaged youth.

Commissions

 * The Psychological Help Commission supports distressed victims of racist or antisemitic acts.
 * The Juridical Commission examines and decides whether to sue for racist speech or writing. It can also help victims with legal advice.
 * The Youth Commission was created after the 2002 events to address a lack of young subscribers. It carries out local and national actions to make young people more sensitive to racism and antisemitism issues. This commission brings together subscribers aged 16 to 30 every second Sunday of the month.
 * The Memory, History, and Human Rights Commission, created in 1986, informs and trains LICRA members. Its preventative actions are:
 * historical information about the members,
 * expertise regarding racism or antisemitism-related books, photos, and videos,
 * spread of historical knowledge to teachers and students.
 * The Sport Commission tries to maintain sport as an integration tool. It leads prevention action towards violence in stadiums. It fights against communitarism and against those who use sport as a means of recruitment and infiltration. In Europe, the LICRA represents France in the FARE network.
 * The Education Commission, led by Barbara Lefebvre and Alain Seksig, makes young people more aware of Republican values.

Presidents

 * Bernard Lecache (1927–1968)
 * Jean Pierre-Bloch (1968–1992)
 * Jean-Pierre Pierre-Bloch, son of Jean Pierre-Bloch
 * Pierre Aidenbaum (1992–1999)
 * Patrick Gaubert (1999–2010)
 * Alain Jakubowicz (2010–2017)
 * Mario Stasi (since 2017)

Objectives and resources
The LICRA's aim is to stay in permanent alertness concerning any kind of discrimination. It fights against everyday racism and the banalization of xenophobic acts. It helps the victims, who are often unaware of their rights. It pays attention to any racist speech in the media. It does not want to challenge the press's freedom of speech, but only to find and correct any hate or discrimination incitement. It also makes sure that any negationist document is removed from sale.

The LICRA acts on the field via its volunteers in every region. The action program is voted on by nine commissions (historical memory, juridical, education, cultural, sport, Europe, integration, citizenship, and youth). Since 1932, the LICRA has published a newspaper called "le droit de vivre" (the right to live), which is an essential aid to expressing the LICRA's values and engagements. Given out to all the members, it is a tool of internal and external communication. It allows us to sum up LICRA's local, national, and international actions. Depending on the actuality, many personalities (political, NGO, sports, etc.) express themselves in its columns.

Financing
The LICRA is mainly financed by state subsidies. It receives around 500,000 euros every year from the French government.


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General Motors Gamma platform

Gamma is General Motors' global subcompact front-wheel drive automobile platform, first used in the 2000 Opel Corsa C.

Gamma / GM4300
The first version of the platform was issued in autumn 2000 with the introduction of Opel Corsa C and was a development of the earlier GM4200 platform used in previous Corsa models, developed by Opel in Germany. The wheelbase was enlarged to 2491 mm from 2465 mm on the GM4200.

Vehicles based on this platform:
 * 2000–2006 Opel Corsa C
 * 2001–2010 Opel Combo C
 * 2002–2010 Opel Meriva A
 * 2003–2011 Chevrolet Montana
 * 2004–2009 Opel Tigra TwinTop B

Gamma II
GM Korea has taken responsibility for future development of GM's GSV (Global Small Vehicle) architecture. This architecture will eventually be used for all small vehicles from GM, as a true global small car platform. While the original Gamma was developed by Opel, the Gamma II platform is under the leadership of GM Korea (formerly GM Daewoo).

The vehicles will be assembled at factories in the United States, Indonesia, Ecuador, Brazil, Germany, Colombia, Spain, India, South Korea, Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, China and Russia.

Current and announced vehicles based on Gamma II (GSV) platform:
 * 2010-2024Chevrolet Spark, Holden Barina Spark
 * 2010-2014 Chevrolet Sail
 * 2011-2020 Chevrolet Aveo/Sonic, Holden Barina
 * 2011-2019 Chevrolet Cobalt
 * 2012- Chevrolet Spin
 * 2013-2019 Opel/Vauxhall Mokka
 * 2013-2022 Buick Encore
 * 2013-2024 Chevrolet Onix, Chevrolet Joy
 * 2013-2024 Chevrolet Prisma Mk II, Chevrolet Joy Plus
 * 2013-2022 Chevrolet Trax
 * 2014-2019 Opel Karl/Vauxhall Viva
 * 2015-2022 Chevrolet Spark, Holden Spark
 * 2019-2022 VinFast Fadil

Gamma II concept vehicles:
 * 2010 Chevrolet Aveo RS concept car
 * 2010 Cadillac Urban Luxury Concept
 * 2010 GMC Granite

title: General Motors Gamma platform


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User talk:Rainyoyo

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! -- Graham ☺ | Talk 15:10, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
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 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

title: User talk:Rainyoyo


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River Conwy

The River Conwy (Afon Conwy) is a river in north Wales. From its source to its discharge in Conwy Bay it is 55 km long and drains an area of 678 square km. "Conwy" was formerly anglicised as "Conway."

The name 'Conwy' derives from the old Welsh words cyn (chief) and gwy (water), the river being originally called the 'Cynwy'.

It rises on the Migneint moor where a number of small streams flow into Llyn Conwy, then flows in a generally northern direction, being joined by the tributaries of the rivers Machno and Afon Lledr before reaching Betws-y-coed, where it is also joined by Llugwy. From Betws-y-coed the river continues to flow north through Llanrwst, Trefriw (where it is joined by the Afon Crafnant) and Dolgarrog (where it is joined by Afon Porth-llwyd and Afon Ddu) before reaching Conwy Bay at Conwy. A local quay, Cei Cae Gwyn, is located on its bank. During spring tides the river is tidal as far as Tan-lan, near Llanrwst.

Tributaries of the River Conwy
This is a list of named tributaries of the Conwy (and their tributaries) listed from source to sea;
 * River Machno at Conwy Falls
 * Afon Lledr near Betws-y-coed
 * River Llugwy at Betws-y-coed
 * Afon Gallt y Gwg
 * Nant y Goron at Llanrwst
 * Afon Crafnant & Fairy Falls at Trefriw
 * River Geirionydd
 * Afon Ddu (1) at Dolgarrog
 * Afon Porth-llwyd at Dolgarrog
 * Afon Dulyn at Tal-y-bont
 * Afon Ddu (2)
 * Afon Garreg-wen
 * Ffrwd Cerriguniawn
 * Afon Melynllyn
 * Afon Hiraethlyn near Tal-y-cafn
 * Afon Roe near Llanbedr-y-Cennin
 * Afon Tafolog
 * Afon Gyffin at Conwy

Geology and geomorphology

The Conwy is bounded to the east by the rolling ancient mudstone hills of the Silurian period, the Migneint Moors. These acid rocks are generally covered in thin, often acid soils and for large parts of the upland areas the cover is of moor grass – Mollinia spp and Erica communities. As a result, the water entering the river tends to be acidic and often coloured brown with humic acids.

To the west, the catchment is underlain by older Cambrian rocks which are harder and the landscape is, as a consequence, more dramatic with high craggy hills and mountains, through which the river falls in cascades and waterfalls. Examples of torrential river geomorphology can be seen at Conwy Falls and in the Lledr Gorge. The land to the east is highly forested with planted non-native conifers.

On the western side of the valley are a number of lakes and reservoirs. The rocks are also rich in minerals and there are many abandoned mine sites where copper, lead and silver have been mined since Roman times.

The river valley downstream of Betws-y-coed is relatively wide and fertile, and supports dairying and sheep rearing. In the winter, these pastures are used to nurture the sheep brought down from the mountains to avoid the worst of the winter weather.

SSSI
Aber Afon Conwy is a site of special interest. It has acquired such a status due to its marine and terrestrial biology. The tidal reach of the site is around 16 km. Its upstream boundary is south of Tal y Cafn, and the whole site encompasses Conwy Bay. The shoreline is supported by natural rock, in addition to boulder clay cliff, sand dune, salt marsh and woodland.

Culture and history
The scattered communities along the Conwy valley have ancient traditions with archeological evidence of habitation back to the Stone Age. The Romans occupied this area up to 400 AD and there has been continuous habitation since that time. The valley is home to two of the oldest churches in Wales, those at Llanrhychwyn and Llangelynin, which respectively date back to the 11th and 12th centuries.

Much of the Conwy valley was laid waste in the Wars of the Roses by the Earl of Pembroke, under the orders of Edward IV, the Yorkist king, following a Lancastrian attack on the town of Denbigh in 1466.

At the mouth of the Conwy as it discharges into Conwy Bay is the town of Conwy with its World Heritage Site castle – Conwy Castle and two famous bridges. One of the earliest suspension bridges by Thomas Telford now carries a footpath whilst Robert Stephenson's tubular iron bridge still carries the main Holyhead to London railway line. A third bridge now takes road traffic, and more recently still the A55 now runs in a tunnel under the estuary.

Water quality
Neither the River Conwy or its tributaries are monitored for quality by Natural Resources Wales. The river is routinely polluted by Dŵr Cymru sewage treatment plants and agricultural runoff. Algae blooms are common during the summer months. The river quality tends to be acidic in the headwaters with very low concentrations of the common anions and cations.

Natural Resources Wales monitors water levels in the valley, with a view to giving flood warnings. There are measuring stations at Betws-y-coed (Cwmlanerch), Llanrwst and Trefriw.

The Conwy is noted for its salmon and sea trout, although increasing acidification in the second half of the 20th century, especially in the poorly buffered upland waters has significantly impacted upon their spawning success. The construction of an artificial fish pass in the 1990s to allow migratory salmonids access to the river above Conwy falls was intended to help mitigate the effects of acidification.

The Conwy Crossing, an immersed tube tunnel, was built under the estuary during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was opened by the Queen in October 1991. This resulted in the loss of some saltmarsh but also led to the creation of Conwy RSPB Reserve.

Since 2002 the valley has been overlooked by the turbines of the Moel Maelogan wind farm.

Situation
The panorama shows the mouth of the Conwy Estuary from Deganwy Castle, the original defensive position of the area. However, problems with resupply in the event of siege and its destruction by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales in 1263 to prevent it falling into King Edward's hands, led to a new castle being built across the water in Conwy town.

title: River Conwy


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Category talk:Russian musicians

What is TATU doing in a list including Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Richter, et al? That's just ridiculous. Take them out.

title: Category talk:Russian musicians


text: User talk:194.83.209.102

title: User talk:194.83.209.102


text: User talk:212.219.90.77

title: User talk:212.219.90.77


text: Category:Polish swimmers

title: Category:Polish swimmers


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Talk:Troubadour

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:The Troubadour, London which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 15:35, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Copy to Béziers page
EricLaporte (talk) 09:51, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Troubadour


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National Bolshevik Front

The National Bolshevik Front (NBF; Национал-большевистский фронт; НБФ; Natsional-bolshevistskiy front, NBF) is a Russian political party with a political program of National Bolshevism. The party was founded in 2006 by supporters of Aleksandr Dugin following a split within Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party. The NBF is affiliated with Dugin's Eurasian Youth Union.

The "National Bolshevik Front" name had previously been used for multiple strands of National Bolshevism. The name was initially used by the Russian National Bolshevik Party when the party was founded by Eduard Limonov and Aleksandr Dugin in 1993. The group soon changed its name as it emerged as a political party. Although abandoned by the Russian party, the National Bolshevik Front name was still used by a loose federation of European National Bolshevik organisations. The name was also used by National Bolshevik parties in Venezuela and Bolivia.

History and ideology
In August 2006, the "National Bolshevik Front" name was taken by Alexei Golubovich for a new anti-Limonovist splinter group from the NBP that he led. This new group has links with former NBP member Aleksandr Dugin and closely cooperates with the Eurasian Youth Union, a group of young supporters of Dugin's neo-Eurasianism.

The NBF's founders split from the NBP as they disagreed with what they perceived to be Limonov's policies of forging political alliances with pro-Western liberals and oligarchs in order to overthrow Vladimir Putin's government. The NBF considered this policy to be a betrayal of the original National Bolshevik fight against Western style democracy and capitalism. In the NBF's view, the NBP is no longer a National Bolshevik party, but rather the radical-looking wing of a wider revolutionary front supported by the enemies of Russian sovereignty.

The new NBF perceives exiled oligarchs like Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky and liberal-democratic pro-Western and pro-market political forces (such as the Union of Right Forces, Yabloko, Democratic Union and Garry Kasparov's supporters) as Russia's internal enemies, the external ones being perceived as NATO, American imperialism and the new world order. NBF ideology is deeply rooted in the Russian and German National Bolshevik traditions (Ernst Niekisch, Nikolay Ustryalov, the Smenavekhites and the Mladorossi movement) and they reject political and economic liberalism as well as claiming to reject ethnocentric and chauvinist nationalism.

Although it is not officially supported by NBF doctrine, xenophobia, racism and antisemitism are much more mainstreamed by the aggressive NBF when compared to the more progressive Limonovist NBP.

title: National Bolshevik Front


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Mari, Syria

Mari (Cuneiform:, ma-riki, modern Tell Hariri; تل حريري) was an ancient Semitic city-state in modern-day Syria. Its remains form a tell 11 kilometers north-west of Abu Kamal on the Euphrates River western bank, some 120 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor. It flourished as a trade center and hegemonic state between 2900 BC and 1759 BC. The city was built in the middle of the Euphrates trade routes between Sumer in the south and the Eblaite kingdom and the Levant in the west.

Mari was first abandoned in the middle of the 26th century BC but was rebuilt and became the capital of a hegemonic East Semitic state before 2500 BC. This second Mari engaged in a long war with its rival Ebla and is known for its strong affinity with Sumerian culture. It was destroyed in the 23rd century BC by the Akkadians, who allowed the city to be rebuilt and appointed a military governor (Shakkanakku). The governors became independent with the disintegration of the Akkadian Empire, and rebuilt the city as a regional center of the Euphrates valley. The Shakkanakkus ruled Mari until the second half of the 19th century BC, when the dynasty collapsed for unknown reasons. A short time later, Mari became the capital of the Amorite Lim dynasty. The Amorite Mari lasted only a short time before it was destroyed by Babylonia in c. 1761 BC, but it survived as a small settlement under the rule of the Babylonians and the Assyrians before being abandoned and forgotten during the Hellenistic period.

The Mariotes worshiped both Semitic and Sumerian deities and established their city as a major trading center. Although the pre-Amorite periods were characterized by heavy Sumerian cultural influence, Mari was not a city of Sumerian immigrants but a Semitic-speaking nation with a dialect similar to Eblaite. The Amorites were West Semites who began to settle the area before the 21st century BC; by the Lim dynasty (c. 1830 BC), they became the dominant population in the Fertile Crescent.

Mari's discovery in 1933 provided an important insight into the geopolitical map of ancient Mesopotamia and Syria, due to the discovery of more than 25,000 tablets explicating the state administration in the 2nd millennium BC and the nature of diplomatic relations among the political powers of the region. They also revealed the wide trading networks of the 18th century BC, which connected areas as far as Afghanistan in Southern Asia and Crete in the Mediterranean.

Name
Written in Cuneiform (ma-riki), the name of the city can be traced to Itūr-Mēr, an ancient storm deity of northern Mesopotamia and Syria, who was considered the tutelary deity of the city, Georges Dossin noted that the name of the city was spelled identically to that of the storm god and concluded that Mari was named after him.

First kingdom
It is believed that Mari did not grow from a small settlement, but was founded c. 2900 BC during the Mesopotamian Early Dynastic period I as a new city to control the waterways of the Euphrates trade routes connecting the Levant with the Sumerian south. The city was built about 1 to 2 kilometers from the Euphrates river to protect it from floods, and was connected to the river by an artificial canal 7 to 10 kilometers long whose route is hard to identify today.

The city is difficult to excavate as it is buried deep under later layers of habitation. A circular flood embankment was unearthed, containing an area 300 meters in length for gardens and craftsmen's quarters, and a defensive circular internal rampart 6.7 m thick and 8 to 10 meters high, strengthened by defensive towers. Other findings include one of the city gates, a street beginning at the center and ending at the gate, and residential houses. Mari had a central mound, but no temple or palace has been unearthed there. A large building was however excavated (with dimensions of 32 m x 25 m), seemingly with an administrative function. It had stone foundations and rooms up to 12 meters long and 6 meters wide. The city was abandoned c. 2550 BC at the end of the Early Dynastic period II, for unknown reasons.

Second kingdom
Around the beginning of Early Dynastic period III (earlier than 2500 BC) Mari was rebuilt and populated again. The new city kept many of the first city's exterior features, including the internal rampart and gate. Also kept was the outer circular embankment measuring 1.9 km in diameter, which was topped by a wall two meters thick capable of protecting archers. However, the internal urban structure was completely changed and the new city was carefully planned. First to be built were the streets that descended from the elevated center into the gates, ensuring the drainage of rain water.

At the heart of the city, a royal palace was built that also served as a temple. Four successive architectural levels from the second kingdom's palace have been unearthed (the oldest is designated P3, while the latest is P0). The last two levels are dated to the Akkadian period. The first two levels were excavated; the findings include a temple (Enceinte Sacrée or sacred enclosure) dedicated to an unknown deity, a pillared throne room, and a hall with three double wood pillars leading to the temple.

Six smaller temples were discovered in the city, including the temple called the Massif Rouge (unknown dedication), and temples dedicated to Ninni-Zaza (INANA.ZA.ZA), Ishtarat, Ishtar, Ninhursag, and Shamash. All the temples were located in the center of the city except for the Ishtar temple; the area between the Enceinte Sacrée and the Massif Rouge is considered to have been the administrative center of the high priest.

The second kingdom appears to have been a powerful and prosperous political center, its kings held the title of Lugal, and many are attested in the city, the most important source being the letter of king Enna-Dagan c. 2350 BC, which was sent to Irkab-Damu of Ebla,. In it, the Mariote king mentions his predecessors and their military achievements. However, the reading of this letter is still uncertain and many interpretations have been presented by scholars.

Mari–Ebla war
The earliest attested king in the letter of Enna-Dagan is Ansud, who is mentioned as attacking Ebla, the traditional rival of Mari with whom it had a long war, and conquering many of Ebla's cities, including the land of Belan. The next king mentioned in the letter is Saʿumu, who conquered the lands of Ra'ak and Nirum. King Kun-Damu of Ebla defeated Mari in the middle of the 25th century BC. The war continued with Išhtup-Išar of Mari's conquest of Emar at a time of Eblaite weakness in the mid-24th century BC. King Igrish-Halam of Ebla had to pay tribute to Iblul-Il of Mari, who is mentioned in the letter, conquering many of Ebla's cities and campaigning in the Burman region.

Enna-Dagan also received tribute; his reign fell entirely within the reign of Irkab-Damu of Ebla, who managed to defeat Mari and end the tribute. Mari defeated Ebla's ally Nagar in year seven of the Eblaite vizier Ibrium's term, causing the blockage of trade routes between Ebla and southern Mesopotamia via upper Mesopotamia. The war reached a climax when the Eblaite vizier Ibbi-Sipish made an alliance with Nagar and Kish to defeat Mari in a battle near Terqa. Ebla itself suffered its first destruction a few years after Terqa in c. 2300 BC, during the reign of the Mariote king Hidar. According to Alfonso Archi, Hidar was succeeded by Ishqi-Mari whose royal seal was discovered. It depicts battle scenes, causing Archi to suggest that he was responsible for the destruction of Ebla while still a general.

Destruction of Mari by Sargon of Akkad
Just a decade after Ebla's destruction (c. 2300 BC middle chronology), Mari itself was destroyed and burned by Sargon of Akkad, as shown by one of his year names ("Year in which Mari was destroyed"). Michael Astour proposed the date as c. 2265 BC (short chronology). Ishqi-Mari was probably the last king of Mari before the conquests by the Akkadian Empire. Sargon of Akkad collected tribute from Mari and Elam:

"Sargon the King bowed down to Dagan in Tuttul. He (Dagan) gave to him (Sargon) the Upper Land: Mari, Iarmuti, and Ebla, as far as the Cedar Forest and the Silver Mountains"

- Nippur inscription of Sargon

Third kingdom
Mari was deserted for two generations before being restored by the Akkadian king Manishtushu. A governor was appointed to govern the city who held the title Shakkanakku (military governor). Akkad kept direct control over the city, which is evident by Naram-Sin of Akkad's appointment of two of his daughters to priestly offices in the city.

Shakkanakku dynasty
The first member of the Shakkanakku dynasty on the lists is Ididish, who was appointed in c. 2266 BC. According to the lists, Ididish ruled for 60 years and was succeeded by his son=, making the position hereditary.

The third Mari followed the second city in terms of general structure, phase P0 of the old royal palace was replaced by a new palace for the Shakkanakku. Another smaller palace was built in the eastern part of the city, and contained royal burials that date to the former periods. The ramparts were rebuilt and strengthened while the embankment was turned into a defensive wall that reached 10 meters in width. The former sacred inclosure was maintained, so was the temple of Ninhursag. However, the temples of Ninni-Zaza and Ishtarat disappeared, while a new temple called the "temple of lions" (dedicated to Dagan), was built by the Shakkanakku Ishtup-Ilum and attached to it, was a rectangular terrace that measured 40 x 20 meters for sacrifices.

Akkad disintegrated during Shar-Kali-Sharri's reign, and Mari gained its independence, but the use of the Shakkanakku title continued during the following Third Dynasty of Ur period. A princess of Mari married the son of king Ur-Nammu of Ur, and Mari was nominally under Ur hegemony. However, the vassalage did not impede the independence of Mari, and some Shakkanakkus used the royal title Lugal in their votive inscriptions, while using the title of Shakkanakku in their correspondence with the Ur's court. The dynasty ended for unknown reasons not long before the establishment of the next dynasty, which took place in the second half of the 19th century BC.

Lim dynasty
The second millennium BC in the Fertile Crescent was characterized by the expansion of the Amorites, which culminated with them dominating and ruling most of the region, including Mari which in c. 1830 BC, became the seat of the Amorite Lim dynasty under king Yaggid-Lim. However, the epigraphical and archaeological evidences showed a high degree of continuity between the Shakkanakku and the Amorite eras.

Yaggid-Lim was the ruler of Suprum before establishing himself in Mari, he entered an alliance with Ila-kabkabu of Ekallatum, but the relations between the two monarchs changed to an open war. The conflict ended with Ila-kabkabu capturing Yaggid-Lim's heir Yahdun-Lim and according to a tablet found in Mari, Yaggid-Lim who survived Ila-kabkabu was killed by his servants. However, in c. 1820 BC Yahdun-Lim was firmly in control as king of Mari.

Yahdun-Lim started his reign by subduing seven of his rebelling tribal leaders, and rebuilding the walls of Mari and Terqa in addition to building a new fort which he named Dur-Yahdun-Lim. He then expanded west and claimed to have reached the Mediterranean, however he later had to face a rebellion by the Banu-Yamina nomads who were centered at Tuttul, and the rebels were supported by Yamhad's king Sumu-Epuh, whose interests were threatened by the recently established alliance between Yahdun-Lim and Eshnunna. Yahdun-Lim defeated the Yamina but an open war with Yamhad was avoided, as the Mariote king became occupied by his rivalry with Shamshi-Adad I of Shubat-Enlil, the son of the late Ila-kabkabu. The war ended in a defeat for Mari, and Yahdun-Lim was assassinated in c. 1798 BC by his possible son Sumu-Yamam, who himself got assassinated two years after ascending the throne while Shamshi-Adad advanced and annexed Mari.

Shamshi-Adad of Assyria and Yasmah-Adad
Shamshi-Adad (r. 1809-1775 BC) appointed his son Yasmah-Adad on the throne of Mari, the new king married Yahdun-Lim's daughter, while the rest of the Lim family took refuge in Yamhad, and the annexation was officially justified by what Shamshi-Adad considered sinful acts on the side of the Lim family. To strengthen his position against his new enemy Yamhad, Shamshi-Adad married Yasmah-Adad to Betlum, the daughter of Ishi-Addu of Qatna. However, Yasmah-Adad neglected his bride causing a crisis with Qatna, and he proved to be an unable leader causing the rage of his father who died in c. 1776 BC, while the armies of Yarim-Lim I of Yamhad were advancing in support of Zimri-Lim, the heir of the Lim dynasty.

Zimri-Lim of Mari
As Zimri-Lim advanced, a leader of the Banu-Simaal (Zimri-Lim's tribe) overthrew Yasmah-Adad, opening the road for Zimri-Lim who arrived a few months after Yasmah-Adad's escape, and married princess Shibtu the daughter of Yarim-Lim I a short time after his enthronement in c. 1776 BC. Zimri-Lim's ascension to the throne with the help of Yarim-Lim I affected Mari's status, Zimri-Lim referred to Yarim-Lim as his father, and the Yamhadite king was able to order Mari as the mediator between Yamhad's main deity Hadad and Zimri-Lim, who declared himself a servant of Hadad.

Zimri-Lim started his reign with a campaign against the Banu-Yamina, he also established alliances with Eshnunna and Hammurabi of Babylon, and sent his armies to aid the Babylonians. The new king directed his expansion policy toward the north in the Upper Khabur region, which was named Idamaraz, where he subjugated the local petty kingdoms in the region such as Urkesh, and Talhayum, forcing them into vassalage. The expansion was met by the resistance of Qarni-Lim, the king of Andarig, whom Zimri-Lim defeated, securing the Mariote control over the region in c. 1771 BC, and the kingdom prospered as a trading center and entered a period of relative peace. Zimri-Lim's greatest heritage was the renovation of the Royal Palace, which was expanded greatly to contain 275 rooms, exquisite artifacts such as The Goddess of the Vase statue, and a royal archive that contained thousands of tablets.

Babylonian period
The relations with Babylon worsened with a dispute over the city of Hīt that consumed much time in negotiations, during which a war against Elam involved both kingdoms in c. 1765 BC. Finally, the kingdom was invaded by Hammurabi who defeated Zimri-Lim in battle in c. 1761 BC and ended the Lim dynasty, while Terqa became the capital of a rump state named the Kingdom of Hana. In the south, the region of Suhum became a Babylonian province.

Mari survived the destruction and rebelled against Babylon in c. 1759 BC, causing Hammurabi to destroy the whole city. However, by an act of mercy Hammurabi may have allowed Mari to survive as a small village under Babylonian administration (according to Marc Van De Mieroop).

Late Bronze Age
Later, Mari became part of Assyria and was listed among the territories conquered by the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (reigned 1243–1207 BC). Afterward, Mari constantly changed hands between Assyria and Babylon.

Iron Age
In the middle of the eleventh century BC, Mari became part of Hana whose king Tukulti-Mer took the title king of Mari and rebelled against Assyria, causing the Assyrian king Ashur-bel-kala (r. 1074-1056 BC) to attack the city. Mari came firmly under the authority of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and was assigned in the first half of the 8th century BC to a certain Nergal-Erish to govern under the authority of king Adad-Nirari III (r. 810–783 BC).

In c. 760 BC, Shamash-Risha-Usur, an autonomous governor ruling parts of the upper middle Euphrates under the nominal authority of Ashur-dan III, styled himself the governor of the lands of Suhu and Mari, so did his son Ninurta-Kudurri-Usur. However, by that time, Mari was known to be located in the so-called Land of Laqe, making it unlikely that the Usur family actually controlled it, and suggesting that the title was employed out of historical reasons.

The city continued as a small settlement until the Hellenistic period before disappearing from records.

Modern history
By 2015, ISIS devastated and looted systematically the site and specially the royal palace. It was one of the first archaeological sites to be occupied by this group.

People, language and government
The founders of the first city may have been Sumerians or more probably East Semitic speaking people from Terqa in the north. I. J. Gelb relates Mari's foundation with the Kish civilization, which was a cultural entity of East Semitic speaking populations, that stretched from the center of Mesopotamia to Ebla in the western Levant.

At its height, the second city was the home of about 40,000 people. This population was East-Semitic speaking one, and used a dialect much similar to the language of Ebla (the Eblaite language), while the Shakkanakku period had an East-Semitic Akkadian speaking population. West Semitic names started to be attested in Mari from the second kingdom era, and by the middle Bronze-Age, the west Semitic Amorite tribes became the majority of the pastoral groups in the middle Euphrates and Khabur valleys. Amorite names started to be observed in the city toward the end of the Shakkanakku period, even among the ruling dynasty members.

During the Lim era, the population became predominantly Amorite but also included Akkadian named people, and although the Amorite language became the dominant tongue, Akkadian remained the language of writing. The pastoral Amorites in Mari were called the Haneans, a term that indicate nomads in general, those Haneans were split into the Banu-Yamina (sons of the right) and Banu-Simaal (sons of the left), with the ruling house belonging to the Banu-Simaal branch. The kingdom was also a home to tribes of Suteans who lived in the district of Terqa.

Mari was an absolute monarchy, with the king controlling every aspect of the administration, helped by the scribes who played the role of administrators. During the Lim era, Mari was divided into four provinces in addition to the capital, the provincial seats were located at Terqa, Saggaratum, Qattunan and Tuttul. Each province had its own bureaucracy, the government supplied the villagers with ploughs and agricultural equipments, in return for a share in the harvest.

Culture and religion
The first and second kingdoms were heavily influenced by the Sumerian south. The society was led by an urban oligarchy, and the citizens were well known for elaborate hair styles and dress. The calendar was based on a solar year divided into twelve months, and was the same calendar used in Ebla "the old Eblaite calendar". Scribes wrote in Sumerian language and the art was indistinguishable from Sumerian art, so was the architectural style.

Mesopotamian influence continued to affect Mari's culture during the Amorite period, which is evident in the Babylonian scribal style used in the city. However, it was less influential than the former periods and a distinct Syrian style prevailed, which is noticeable in the seals of kings, which reflect a clear Syrian origin. The society was a tribal one, it consisted mostly of farmers and nomads (Haneans), and in contrast to Mesopotamia, the temple had a minor role in everyday life as the power was mostly invested in the palace. Women enjoyed a relative equality to men, queen Shibtu ruled in her husband's name while he was away, and had an extensive administrative role and authority over her husband's highest officials.

The Pantheon included both Sumerian and Semitic deities, and throughout most of its history, Dagan was Mari's head of the Pantheon, while Mer was the patron deity. Other deities included the Semitic deities; Ishtar the goddess of fertility, Athtar, and Shamash, the Sun god who was regarded among the city most important deities, and believed to be all-knowing and all-seeing. Sumerian deities included Ninhursag, Dumuzi, Enki, Anu, and Enlil. Prophecy had an important role for the society, temples included prophets, who gave council to the king and participated in the religious festivals.

Economy
The first Mari provided the oldest wheel workshop yet discovered in Syria, and was a center of bronze metallurgy. The city also contained districts devoted to smelting, dyeing, and pottery manufacture, using charcoal brought by river boats from the upper Khabur and Euphrates area.

The second kingdom's economy was based on both agriculture and trade. It was centralized and directed through a communal organization, with grain stored in communal granaries and distributed according to social status. The organization also controlled the animal herds in the kingdom. Some groups were direct beneficiaries of the palace instead of the communal organization, including the metal and textile producers and military officials. Ebla was an important trading partner and rival, Mari's position made it an important trading center astride the road linking the Levant and Mesopotamia.

The Amorite Mari maintained the older aspects of the economy, still largely based on irrigated agriculture along the Euphrates valley. The city remained a trading center for merchants from Babylonia and other kingdoms, with goods from the south and east transported on riverboats bound for the north, northwest and west. The main trade was metals and tin from the Iranian Plateau exported west as far as Crete. Other goods included copper from Cyprus, silver from Anatolia, wood from Lebanon, gold from Egypt, olive oil, wine, and textiles, and even precious stones from modern Afghanistan.

Excavations and archive
Mari was discovered in 1933, on the eastern flank of Syria, near the Iraqi border. A Bedouin tribe was digging through a mound called Tell Hariri for a gravestone that would be used for a recently deceased tribesman, when they came across a headless statue. After the news reached the French authorities currently in control of Syria, the report was investigated, and digging on the site was started on December 14, 1933 by archaeologists from the Louvre in Paris. The location of the fragment was excavated, revealing the temple of Ishtar, which led to the commencing of the full scale excavations. Mari was classified by the archaeologists as the "most westerly outpost of Sumerian culture".

Since the beginning of excavations, over 25,000 clay tablets in Akkadian language written in cuneiform were discovered. Finds from the excavation are on display in the Louvre, the National Museum of Aleppo, the National Museum of Damascus, and the Deir ez-Zor Museum. In the latter, the southern façade of the Court of the Palms room from Zimri-Lim's palace has been reconstructed, including the wall paintings.

Mari has been excavated in annual campaigns in 1933–1939, 1951–1956, and since 1960. André Parrot conducted the first 21 seasons up to 1974, and was followed by Jean-Claude Margueron (1979–2004), and Pascal Butterlin (starting in 2005). A journal devoted to the site, released in 8 volumes between 1982 and 1997, was Mari: Annales de recherches interdisciplinaires. Archaeologists have tried to determine how many layers the site descends, according to French archaeologist André Parrot, "each time a vertical probe was commenced in order to trace the site's history down to virgin soil, such important discoveries were made that horizontal digging had to be resumed."

Mari tablets
Over 25,000 tablets were found in the burnt library of Zimri-Lim written in Akkadian from a period of 50 years between circa 1800 – 1750 BC. They give information about the kingdom, its customs, and the names of people who lived during that time. More than 3000 are letters, the remainder includes administrative, economic, and judicial texts. Almost all the tablets found were dated to the last 50 years of Mari's independence, and most have now been published. The language of the texts is official Akkadian, but proper names and hints in syntax show that the common language of Mari's inhabitants was Northwest Semitic. Six of the tablets found were in the Hurrian language.

Current situation
Excavations stopped from 2011 as a result of the Syrian Civil War and have not restarted. The site came under the control of armed gangs and suffered large scale looting. A 2014 official report revealed that robbers were focusing on the royal palace, the public baths, the temple of Ishtar, and the temple of Dagan. Based on satellite imagery, looting continued until at least 2017.

title: Mari, Syria


text:
Derivative algebra (abstract algebra)

In abstract algebra, a derivative algebra is an algebraic structure of the signature
 *

where

 *

is a Boolean algebra and D is a unary operator, the derivative operator, satisfying the identities:
 * 1) 0D = 0
 * 2) xDD ≤ x + xD
 * 3) (x + y)D = xD + yD.

xD is called the derivative of x. Derivative algebras provide an algebraic abstraction of the derived set operator in topology. They also play the same role for the modal logic wK4 = K + (p∧□p → □□p) that Boolean algebras play for ordinary propositional logic.

title: Derivative algebra (abstract algebra)