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USS Hamilton (DD-141)

The second USS Hamilton (DD–141) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I, later reclassified DMS-18 for service in World War II.

Namesake
Archibald Hamilton was born c. 1790, the son of Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton. He was appointed Midshipman on 18 May 1809 and assigned to work with a new kind of hollow shot needed by frigate USS President (1800). He next sailed for Europe on USS John Adams (1799) on 31 January 1811 carrying dispatches for American officers in the Mediterranean. On his return to the United States, Hamilton was assigned to USS United States (1797) on which he won commendation from his commanding officer, Captain Stephen Decatur, for gallantry in action during the capture of British frigate HMS Macedonian on 25 October 1812. Decatur selected him to bear the captured British flags to Washington.

Appointed Acting Lieutenant on 21 December 1812 and Lieutenant on 24 July 1813, Hamilton served throughout the War of 1812, only to be killed shortly after the Treaty of Ghent had formally ended the war. Because of the slow communications of the day, word of peace had not reached New York by 15 January 1815 when the frigate USS President (1812), commanded by Captain Decatur and having Hamilton as one of her lieutenants, ran the blockade out of that port. The next day British men-of-war HMS Endymion (1797), HMS Pomone (1811) and HMS Tenedos (1812) overtook and captured President after a long and bloody running fight in which Hamilton was killed. He was the last U.S. Navy officer to die in the War of 1812.

Construction and commissioning
Hamilton was launched on 15 January 1919 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, sponsored by Miss Dolly Hamilton Hawkins, great-grand-niece of Archibald Hamilton. The ship was commissioned on 7 November 1919.

Service history
Based at San Diego, Hamilton participated in battle practice and maneuvers along the California coast with Destroyer Squadron 17. In mid-1920 she also took part in torpedo and smoke screen operations in Hawaii. Battle practice and other readiness operations ranging across the Pacific to Hawaii continued until Hamilton decommissioned at San Diego on 20 July 1922.

Hamilton recommissioned on 20 January 1930 and, after shakedown, reached her new home port, Norfolk, on 26 November. She served with the Scouting Force, operating along the East Coast throughout 1931, and then returned to San Diego in January 1932. After a year of plane guard duty and battle exercises along the California coast, Hamilton again shifted to the East Coast, reaching Norfolk on 29 January 1933. Based at Newport, Rhode Island, she served with the Scouting Force in local operations and exercises.

In 1938 an activated-tank stabilization system designed by Nicolas Minorsky was tested in Hamilton but exhibited control stability problems. The outbreak of World War II in Europe in late 1939 interrupted further development as Hamilton was called to active duty. Hamilton joined other members of her class on the Grand Banks Patrol, which sent American ships as far north as Iceland and Greenland to protect their own and neutral shipping. Hamilton continued this duty until converted to a fast minesweeper in June 1941. Reclassified DMS-18 on 17 October 1941, she resumed patrol duty along the East Coast and into the North Atlantic.

World War II
When the United States was catapulted into the war on 7 December 1941, Hamilton's pace accelerated greatly. Wartime duties now took Hamilton on coastal convoys from New York through German U-boat-infested waters as far south as the Panama Canal Zone.

The Caribbean Sea and the waters off Cape Hatteras were particularly rich ground for U-boats, and Hamilton more than once attacked U-boats sighted on the surface or detected by sound contacts. On 9 June 1942 Hamilton rescued 39 survivors of USS Gannet (AM-41), torpedoed just north of Bermuda.

The shifting tide of war drew Hamilton from the coastal convoy route in the fall of 1942 as she became part of "Operation Torch," the Allied invasion of North Africa. Hamilton sailed for North Africa on 24 October with Rear Admiral H. K. Hewitt's Task Force 34, a part of the Allied amphibious thrust. Two weeks later, she cruised off the Moroccan coast providing antisubmarine (ASW) protection and fire support for the first waves of invasion barges as the Allies landed at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers on 8 November 1942.

Hamilton remained along the North African shore on minesweeping and escort duty out of Casablanca until December when she sailed for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, arriving 26 December. The following year saw Hamilton engaged primarily in coastal convoy duty, guiding and protecting merchantmen as they threaded their perilous way through German submarine packs from Iceland to the Caribbean.

Departing Norfolk on 3 December 1943, Hamilton transited the Panama Canal five days later and reached San Diego on 16 December. From San Diego she steamed to Pearl Harbor and, after a brief training period, sailed for Kwajalein Atoll, a key target in the Marshalls. As the Marines stormed ashore there on 31 January 1944, Hamilton steamed in the area to screen transports and provide the fire support that made it possible to land and stay.

After the successful conclusion of that invasion, Hamilton retired to Nouméa, New Caledonia, to prepare for the invasion of the Admiralty Islands. At Nouméa, Hamilton joined forces with three other destroyers converted to fast minesweepers-USS Hovey (DD-208), USS Long (DD-209), and USS Palmer (DD-161)—to form a preliminary sweep unit. It was the mission of these ships to enter enemy harbors three to five days before landings to clear out mines and provide safe anchorage for the invasion force. The toll of these operations, conducted before enemy shore batteries had been taken out, was high. Of her original unit only Hamilton survived the war.

Under enemy fire, Hamilton and her group entered Seeadler Harbor, Admiralty Islands on 2 March 1944 to begin sweeping operations. After the invasion was launched, she remained in the area screening transports and patrolling on ASW duty until early April when she returned to Nouméa to prepare for the invasion of Aitape. After sweeping operations there before the 22 April invasion, Hamilton served on general sweeping duty in the Solomons and then readied for the Mariana campaign.

Entering Saipan Harbor on 13 June, Hamilton helped clear the way for the invasion. The conquest of Saipan was followed by the assault on Guam. The day organized enemy resistance on Saipan ended, Hamilton sailed from Eniwetok on 9 July to take part in the preliminary bombardment and sweeping activities at Guam. This time a long period on the firing line preceded Hamilton's entrance into the harbor. Then three days before the invasion on 21 July, she started to sweep the harbor. After screening transports in the retirement area, Hamilton sailed to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

Hamilton's next tour of minesweeping duty fell at Peleliu Island. Arriving off the Palaus on 12 September 1944, Hamilton joined her unit and proceeded through several heavily mined channels. In Kossol Passage, the converted destroyers exploded 116 mines. For destroying three extensive minefields, which the Japanese had hoped would ward off or severely damage the invasion force, Hamilton and the other minesweepers received the Navy Unit Commendation. Then, after duty in the transport screen, she escorted convoys from the staging areas to the Palaus to prepare for the assault on the Philippine Islands.

She departed Manus on 10 October and entered Leyte Gulf on 17 September. Three days before Army divisions came ashore, Hamilton swept the channels around Diriagat Island and Looc Bay to clear the way to the invasion beaches. To add to the usual turmoil of the invasion, the fleet as a whole was under almost constant air attack. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Imperial Japanese Navy was virtually annihilated; the Japanese lost three battleships, four carriers, six heavy and four light cruisers, and nine destroyers. American losses were two escort carriers, a light carrier, and three destroyers. This battle marked the end of Japanese sea power as an important threat. The fleet had cleared the way for the final assaults leading into Japan.

Arriving at Manus, Admiralty Islands on 31 October, Hamilton underwent availability and repairs and, once more ready for battle, sailed on 23 December to prepare the way for the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. As the minesweepers steamed through the channel on 6 January 1945, wave after wave of kamikazes attacked. Hamilton emerged from the kamikaze attacks unscathed. After the invasion forces landed at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January, Hamilton remained as a transport screen and escort until 1 February when she sailed for Saipan.

From Saipan, the veteran ship again steamed into battle, this time appearing off Iwo Jima. Hamilton recorded no casualties during sweeping operations which began on 16 February, but she had to aid USS Gamble (DD-123), left powerless by a direct bomb hit on 18 February. In addition to helping the wounded ship fight myriad fires, Hamilton took on board and care for the more seriously injured sailors. After marines stormed ashore on Iwo Jima on 19 February, Hamilton patrolled off the island until on 27 February. The four-stacker then returned to Iwo Jima as a convoy escort 7 March. Three days later Hamilton sailed from the battle and from the Pacific War. Steaming for Eniwetok, she changed course to rescue 11 men from a downed Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft on 11 March.

Hamilton reached Pearl Harbor via Eniwetok on 25 March 1945 and, after a brief period of training, headed back to the continental United States. As she sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on 8 April, the destroyer ended over 100,000 miles of steaming in the Pacific. Scheduled for overhaul and modernization, she went into drydock at Richmond, California; but she was subsequently reclassified AG-111 (miscellaneous auxiliary) on 6 May 1945 and taken out of dry dock. The ship spent the few remaining months of the war participating in experimental minesweeping work along the California coast out of Santa Barbara. Two weeks before the Japanese surrender, Hamilton sailed to the destroyer base at San Diego, where she was decommissioned on 16 October 1945. Her hulk was sold to Hugo Neu of New York City for scrapping on 21 November 1946.

Awards
Hamilton earned nine battle stars for World War II service.

title: USS Hamilton (DD-141)


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Dave Spikey

Dave Spikey (born David Gordon Bramwell, 6 October 1951) is an English comedian, actor, writer and film producer. He is best known for his stand-up comedy, writing and starring in the British comedy programme Phoenix Nights, presenting Bullseye and Chain Letters, and serving as team captain for the first four series of 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Early career
Born in Farnworth, Greater Manchester, Spikey spent his early career working as a biomedical scientist in the haematology laboratory at Bolton General Hospital. It was during this period in the 1980s that he scripted and performed in a number of amateur pantomimes with a group of like-minded health workers called the Bolton Health Performers.

Early in his career Spikey won a talent show called Stairway to the Stars with a routine about juggling on a motorbike, judged by comedian Larry Grayson who took him aside to tell him he had potential and his routine was fantastic. Spikey was inspired to pursue a part-time comedy career while working at Bolton General Hospital.

In 1992, Spikey was asked to form a double act with Rick Sykes, purely as a 'one-off' to support a popular musical duo called 'Intaglio'. Dave and Rick were known as Spikey and Sykey. The double act's most notable success came on Central TV's New Faces show.

In 1993, Spikey was voted "best up and coming comedian" by the Manchester Evening News.

In 1996, Spikey first met Peter Kay, with whom he would later collaborate, at the North-West Comedian of the Year Awards, which Kay won that year and Spikey was compèring.

He was the final host of UK gameshow Chain Letters in 1997, following on from Jeremy Beadle, Andrew O'Connor, Allan Stewart, Ted Robbins and Vince Henderson.

Success
Spikey won the Best Newcomer award at the British Comedy Awards, and then co-wrote and starred in Phoenix Nights on Channel Four as Jerry St. Clair. In 2003, Spikey released his first DVD, The Overnight Success Tour. 2003 was also the year he won ‘Best Comedy Performance at Leicester Comedy Festival 2003’, an award he describes as “the weirdest trophy I’ve got on my shelf.”

In late 2004, he wrote the ITV comedy-drama Dead Man Weds (2005), in which he also co-starred with Johnny Vegas. The drama follows the attempts of the new editor (Spikey) of the local newspaper, The Fogburrow Advertiser and News, to drum up excitement in the area to cover in his paper, to the disdain and disinterest of his lead (and only) reporter (Vegas). Nancy Banks-Smith described the drama as "endearing and cheerful".

In 2005, Spikey became one of the regular team captains on the comedy panel game, 8 Out of 10 Cats, leaving before the 2007 series. That year also saw the release of his second live DVD, Living the Dream.

In 2006, Spikey became the host of a revived version of the darts-based quiz show Bullseye. The show ran for two series on Challenge to generally unfavourable reviews, The Guardian calling it an "abhorrent reboot".

Spikey developed two new projects which were commissioned by the BBC: Magnolia, a sitcom about painters and decorators, and Footballers Lives – a comedy about a pub football team, neither made it beyond pilots. He was also on the panel for talent show When Will I Be Famous? He returned to stand-up and live shows again and has regularly released DVDs of his shows. His chosen subject on Celebrity Mastermind in 2006 was human blood; he won.

In 2010, Spikey was voted into the Channel 4 100 Greatest Stand-Ups by the British public.

In 2017, he appeared as a self-obsessed businessman, Mr Gruff, in British romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah.

Spikey celebrated 30 years in stand-up with a new retrospective, Juggling on a Motorbike which began touring in 2017. The title refers to his first live performances which began his career in comedy, a routine which he recreates at the end of his show. The show is largely autobiographical and follows his performances over the past 30 years of stand-up.

Other interests
Spikey was patron of the non-profit radio station Chorley FM (not to be confused with the fictitious radio station made famous by That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights). The radio station was closed down in 2019.

Spikey's first book, He Took My Kidney, Then Broke My Heart, was published in October 2009 by Michael O'Mara Books. This was followed in 2010 by an autobiography, Under the Microscope: My Life from the same publisher.

Spikey is a supporter of the League Against Cruel Sports and appeared in a short film for the group in 2013. He has been quoted: "It is shocking to think anyone would want to turn the clock back to a time when chasing animals to exhaustion and encouraging them to be ripped apart by a pack of dogs for sport was legal." He describes himself as a “devout vegetarian and animal lover” as well as being the patron of Pet Rehome, a Bolton-based animal rescue centre.

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

title: Dave Spikey


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Talk:Aerauto PL.5C

perhaps no one will ever read this -- my name is ross nolan, I live in Melbourne Australia and I have had an interest in flying cars for over twenty tive years - as a result I became aware of the Pellarini Aerauto and the fact that Luigi Pellarini, the designer had emigrated to Australia and been responsible for the development of several non roadable aircraft (transavia airtruck etc) and decided to contact him -- I stayed in touch and visited him in 1997 whilst working on contract in Sydney and learnt much more about his Aerauto work and his life , He was a true visionary in the field of flying cars and unrecognized in his lifetime (he died about two years ago ) but might be accorded his true status when this sector of aviation and personal transport blossoms as he had so long ago forseen.

title: Talk:Aerauto PL.5C


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Ōhau River

Ōhau River may refer to two watercourses in New Zealand:

 * Ōhau River (Canterbury)
 * Ōhau River (Manawatū-Whanganui)

title: Ōhau River


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Vasil Mzhavanadze

Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze (ვასილ მჟავანაძე; 20 September 1902 – 31 August 1988) was a Georgian Soviet politician who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR from September 1953 to September 28, 1972 and a member of the CPSU's Politburo from June 29, 1957 to December 18, 1972. Dismissed after a corruption scandal, he was replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze.

Career
Vasili Mzhavanadze was born in Kutaisi. He left school at the age of 12 and was a factory worker for ten years. In 1924, he joined the Red Army. There is no record of his holding an office of any kind in his native Georgia during the next 29 years. He joined the Communist Party in 1927, and after graduating from the Leningrad Military-Political Academy, served as a political commissar during World War II. After the war, he became deputy commander for political affairs in the Kiev military district in the Ukrainian SSR, under the administration of Ukrainian Communist Party leader (and later Soviet leader) Nikita Khrushchev.

Georgia was at this time ruled by supporters of Lavrentiy Beria, who had been the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party from 1931 to 1938. In July 1953, following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the arrest of Beria, the leadership of the Georgian Communist Party was purged by Khrushchev's supporters. Mzhavanadze left the army and went back to Georgia to lead the Party, replacing Beria's protégé Aleksandre Mirtskhulava as First Secretary in September 1953. In an unprecedented display of military presence on the political arena, Mzhavanadze was joined in the Georgian Central Committee by the generals Alexi Inauri and Aleksei Antonov. When Khrushchev became the leader of the USSR in 1957, Mzhavanadze was appointed to become a candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo.

Though Mzhavanadze owed his promotion to Khrushchev, in September 1962, he resisted Khrushchev's sudden decision to split local communist party organisations into two parts, with separate first secretaries, one responsible for industry, the other for agriculture. Publicly, Mzhavanadze declared in November 1962 that he 'shared a fully supported' the reorganisation, but in March 1965, after Khrushchev's fall, he claimed to have been in touch at the time with 'many' members of the Central Committee who had told Khrushchev to his face that the plan would not work. He was one of the small number of high ranking officials who knew in advance that Khrushchev was to be ousted in October 1964.

After Khrushchev's fall, Mzhavanadze also seemed to have decided that the exposure of Stalin's crimes had gone too far. In June 1965, he arranged for the museum in Stalin's birthplace, Gori to be reopened, and praised Stalin's remark that 'Our Party is a fortress whose gates open only for tried and true people.'

Georgia prospered during Mzhavanadze's term of office against a background of corruption. Mzhavanadze himself became a symbol of corrupt, inefficient governance. He was accused of auctioning jobs, pocketing state funds and running illegal factories for his own enrichment;

In mid-1972, Mzhavanadze was publicly accused of corruption and was denounced by the state-controlled media. He resigned from his post as First Secretary on September 28, 1972, and was replaced by his ambitious Interior Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze. It has widely been speculated that Shevardnadze had a hand in his boss's downfall; he was certainly the obvious candidate to replace Mzhavanadze. On December 18, Mzhavanadze was sacked from his Politburo position and retired to Georgia in disgrace. He died in Moscow in 1988. He was honoured with a state funeral in Tbilisi.

title: Vasil Mzhavanadze


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Lake Hāwea (town)

Lake Hāwea is a small settlement at the southern end of a lake, also named Lake Hāwea, in New Zealand's South Island. It is 18 kilometres to the northeast of Wānaka.

Demographics
Lake Hawea covers 3.66 km2 and had an estimated population of as of  with a population density of  people per km2.

Before the 2023 census, Lake Hāwea had a smaller boundary, covering 2.39 km2. Using that boundary, Lake Hāwea had a population of 1,200 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 402 people (50.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 648 people (117.4%) since the 2006 census. There were 444 households, comprising 630 males and 570 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.11 males per female. The median age was 39.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 264 people (22.0%) aged under 15 years, 156 (13.0%) aged 15 to 29, 621 (51.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 159 (13.2%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 94.0% European/Pākehā, 8.5% Māori, 0.2% Pasifika, 2.5% Asian, and 3.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 25.0, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 66.2% had no religion, 25.0% were Christian, 0.2% had Māori religious beliefs and 2.5% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 258 (27.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 96 (10.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $36,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 132 people (14.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 519 (55.4%) people were employed full-time, 162 (17.3%) were part-time, and 15 (1.6%) were unemployed.

title: Lake Hāwea (town)


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Lake Ōhau

Lake Ōhau is a lake in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. The Hopkins and Dobson rivers fed into the northern end of Lake Ōhau. These rivers have their headwaters in the Southern Alps. The lake's outflow is the Ōhau River, which travels from the southeast corner of Lake Ōhau and feeds into the Waitaki River hydroelectric project. The Barrier range (and Mount Sutton 2007m in particular) dominate the western side of Lake Ōhau, while the Ben Ohau range dominates the eastern side of Lake Ōhau. At the northern end of the lake, in between the Hopkins and Dobson rivers, lies the Naumann Range of mountains (with Mt Glenmary 2590m being the tallest).

The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of Hau" for Ōhau, but an alternative meaning could be "windy place".

Ōhau is the smallest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin (the others are Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo). It covers 60 km2.

Lake Ohau Alpine Village is located on the western shore of the Lake.

The lake forms part of the traditional boundary between the Otago and Canterbury regions, Otago's northernmost point being the headwaters of the Hopkins River. Officially the lake lies in the northwestern part of the Waitaki District within the southern part of the Canterbury region.

Location

Lake Ōhau is 320 kilometres (four hours drive) south of Christchurch and 275 kilometres (three hours drive) north of Dunedin. It is accessed by turning off State Highway 8 between Twizel and Omarama on to Lake Ōhau Road which arrives at Lake Ōhau after about 17 kilometres.

Climate
The warmest month of the year is February, with an average temperature of 15.4 °C | 59.7 °F. The lowest average temperatures in the year occur in July, when it is around 2.8 °C | 37.0 °F. Monthly rainfall ranges between an average of 57mm in February to 101mm in October. Snow is common in the winter months of June, July and August.

In Māori culture
The legends of Ngāi Tahu speak of Lake Ōhau being one of the lakes dug by the Waitaha explorer Rākaihautū with his Polynesian digging stick which was called Tūwhakaroria. After arriving in the Uruao waka at Nelson, Rākaihautū divided his people into two groups. Rākaihautū led his group down the middle of the island, digging the South Island freshwater lakes. His son, Rakihouia, led the other group down the east coast of the South Island.

Ngāi Tahu visited Lake Ōhau as part of their seasonal food gathering patterns. It was well known for eels and weka. These were gathered and preserved for the upcoming winter months.

Population
Lake Ōhau is probably one of the most unpopulated lakes in New Zealand. The Lake Ōhau Alpine Village has 140 sections and around 30 houses, of which the majority are holiday homes. The Village population was increasing, before the 4 October 2020 wildfire destroyed 48 houses in the Village. Visitors are often astounded by the peace and quiet around Lake Ōhau. Despite this, Lake Ōhau has benefited from tourism and visitors come all year round to visit Lake Ōhau.

Stargazing
Lake Ōhau with its clear unpolluted skies and small population is known for the quality of the stargazing. In 2012, a 4300 square kilometre area was declared the Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve, the boundary of which follows the eastern shore of Lake Ōhau. This is one of only eight in the world.

Farming
Farming has been the main economic activity around Lake Ōhau since the late 1800s. Several large high country stations existing in the immediate vicinity. Eileen McMillan wrote a 508 page book entitled "Frugal Country and Hard on the Boots" that covers the history of Lake Ōhau including farming in the region. In 1857 the land south and east of Lake Ōhau, Benmore Station, was leased to brothers George and Edmund Hodgkinson and Ronald McMurdo. In the 1870s, the Benmore Station comprised 101 500 hectares and 65 000 sheep.

In 1859 land at the head of the lake was leased and this high country station was known as the Lake Ohau Station. These huge high country stations were eventually broken up (around 1916) into smaller holdings as the population was unhappy about a small number of people owning the majority of the land. Sheep and beef farming continues to the present around Lake Ōhau.

Skiing
Ōhau Ski Field is located on the western shore of the lake and is a 20 minute drive up a 9.6 km well-formed access road from the Lake Ohau Lodge. It is well known for its consistent snow, variety of runs and friendly atmosphere. The skifield was established in 1953 on Mount Sutton. As of 2020, it has a double chairlift, a platter and a snow mat.

The 2-seater chairlift reaches 1825 metres above sea level and from there, many intrepid skiers walk the remaining 100 vertical metres to the ridge to enjoy the views of the Southern Alps before skiing back down. Ōhau Ski Field has significant snow making capability.

The Glen Mary Ski Club was created in 1958 and a single room building was built on land between Freehold Creek and Parson’s Creek on the shores of Lake Ōhau. The club buildings have expanded over the years to include a 24 bed bunkhouse and a sauna.

Fishing
Lake Ōhau is well known for its brown trout and rainbow trout fishing. It is also possible to catch some small landlocked sockeye salmon. Trolling from a boat, spinning from the shore and fly fishing are all popular methods of fishing at Lake Ōhau. Fishing in the Dobson and Hopkins rivers which flow into Lake Ōhau are well known spots for catching trout. There is good access to the lakeshore via the gravel road which runs around the almost all of the eastern and western shorelines. There is good access to launch a boat from many spots around the lake. The large weed-beds at the southern end of Lake Ōhau are easily fished with bait such as shrimp and prawn. The Hopkins River mouth provides good fishing however very loose shingle can make wading potentially dangerous. Large floods in this lake following heavy rain occur at regular intervals. On these occasions, Lake Ōhau can be dirty and unfishable for several weeks.

Mountain biking
Lake Ōhau is on the route of the Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail, which has been constructed in the years after approval in 2010.

Stage 3 of the Alps 2 Ocean runs from Twizel to Lake Ōhau Lodge. This 38 km section takes riders along the canal roads to the edge of Lake Ōhau. It then turns into an off-road trail which runs along the lake up to Lake Ōhau Lodge. This section is of an easy skill level, with little traffic.

Stage 4 of the Alps 2 Ocean starts at the Lake Ōhau Lodge. The 45 km section traverses the lower slopes of the Ohau Range past Freehold Creek and climbs to the highest point of the Alps 2 Ocean, 900 metres above sea level, before a long descent with some rough and loose sections, finally arriving at a historic woolshed at the top of Quailburn Road. From here, mountain bikers ride most of the remaining stage on quiet country roads before arriving at Omarama.

Lake Middleton
Next to Lake Ōhau is the much smaller Lake Middleton. It has a shoreline of just under two kilometres, with a surface area of approximately 24 hectares. It is a popular spot in summer for camping, boating and fishing. The lake is 523 metres above sea level.

Bookings are not required for the campsite. Access is available for motor homes and cars. Lake access is available for boats. There is a desire to provide a walking track around Lake Middleton but progress has been slow.

The northern end of the lake is roped off with a buoy line to mark an area for swimming. In 2019, 83% of the water samples met the swimming water quality standard. However the northern end of the lake is filling in with sediment and weed on the lake floor up to one metre deep in some places. The swimming area is now considered unsuitable for swimming

The many indigenous wildlife species at Lake Middleton include four fish, 27 birds, 26 plants (aquatic and terrestrial), 14 invertebrates (aquatic), and lizards present.

Tramping around Lake Ōhau
The many options for tramping around Lake Ōhau range from short walks such as the Freehold Creek Track (6 km, 2–3 hours), to longer over night trips up the Hopkins and Huxley Valleys. Several back country huts in the Hopkins Valley are worth a visit, including Monument Hut, Red Hut, Elcho Hut and Erceg Hut. The Huxley Valley, which branches off the Hopkins Valley, is home to several huts including Huxley Forks Hut. The Brodrick Hut can be accessed from the north branch of the Huxley river. From Brodrick Hut it is possible to climb over Brodrick Pass (1630 metres above sea level) and descend into the Landsborough Valley. The climb from Brodrick Hut to the pass is 600 vertical metres and on a well marked track. It is also possible to traverse from Brodrick Pass along the Main Divide in order to climb Mount McKenzie (2156 metres above sea level). This provides views of the Mt Hooker, Mt Dechen, Mt Strachan and Mt Cook. Both the North Temple and South Temple Tracks are shorter day walks, accessible from the head of Lake Ōhau. The two tracks can be linked by the impressive Gunsight Pass. The South Temple Hut provides accommodation for weekend trampers. Scenic Views are possible from the Temple Valley Circuit track.

The Dasler Pinnacles (2315 metres above sea level) is a moderate to advanced two day tramp that can be accessed from the top of Lake Ōhau. Trampers have to march up the Hopkins river valley past Monument Hut and Red Hut to a short but steep climb to Dasler Bivvy. This small bivvy has two bunks in it. The Dasler Bivvy does not have good views of the valley but these can be accessed by climbing a further 15 minutes up through subalpine scrub. The Dasler Pinnacles (located to the north of Mount Glenmary) takes six to ten hours to the top and back from Dasler Bivvy. The climb requires good weather, a degree of skill to scramble over the rocks and a head for heights.

Te Araroa winds its way past Lake Ōhau. The Lake Tekapo to Lake Ōhau section is an easy but long 87 kilometres taking an average of two to three days walk, The East Ahuriri stage (from Glen Mary Ski Club on Lake Ōhau road and ending at Birchwood Road Carpark in the Ahuriri Valley) is a 26.5 kilometre stage that takes on average one to two days walking. It climbs Freehold Creek, passes the beautiful Dumb-bell Lake and then follows the East Ahuriri River.

Ben Ohau
Ben Ohau is one of the more photographed mountains in New Zealand and sits of the edge of Lake Ōhau. It is possible to climb Ben Ohau. It is a 4 hour walk that ascends over 800 metres vertical to the top of Ben Ohau (1500 metres above sea level). The start of the walk is located along the Glen Lyon road, approximately 23 kilometres from Twizel. There is a car park at the road end with a Department of Conservation marking where the track starts. The track itself is an old four wheel drive track. The summit overlooks Lake Ōhau, Lake Pukaki, Lake Benmore and Lake Ruataniwha as well as the surrounding mountains. Ben Ohau is also known by its Māori name Te Ruataniwha.

The legends of Ngāi Tahu tell of Te Ruataniwha, who was an ancestor on the Ārai-te-uru waka that capsized near Shag Point on the Otago coastline. After the waka capsized, many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land. Legend states that they needed to be back at the waka before daylight. Many did not make it, including Te Ruataniwha, and he was instead transformed into the mountain of Ben Ohau.

Flora and fauna
Himalayan tahr are widespread in the Ben Ohau Range. The population of tahr on all South Island conservation land is estimated to have peaked at 35,000, and a DOC contractor managed to cull more than 1,000 tahr in the Ben Ohau Range alone over two days in July 2019. Tahr graze native tussocks and plants, especially in the Ben Ohau range. A DOC ecologist has said that tussocks around the Ben Ohau range that were once as high as 1 m have been reduced to ankle height by grazing tahr.

Chamois and red deer are also found in the mountains surrounding Lake Ōhau including the Maitland Valley and the Temple Valley. Other introduced species that are commonly seen around Lake Ōhau are the ubiquitous rabbits.

The beech forests around Lake Ōhau contain nationally and internationally significant mistletoe populations of scarlet mistletoe (Peraxilla colensoi), red mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala) and yellow mistletoe (Alepis flavida). All three of these species are ranked as 'Declining'. These parasitic plants flower in November/December. The Ōhau Conservation Trust is working to promote awareness of, and protect, the unique habitats and biodiversity of the Lake Ōhau area.

The tussock slopes of Ben Ohau Range host a myriad of wildlife including moths, butterflies, lizards, grasshoppers, spiders and beetles. Bush birds likely to be spotted in the forests include tomtit/ miromiro, fantail/pīwakawaka, bellbird/korimako, rifleman/ tītitipounamu and morepork/ruru koukou. Further up the Hopkins Valley are New Zealand falcon/ kārearea, kea and rock wren/pīwauwau.

The beech forests near Lake Ōhau are a mixture of mountain and silver beech.

Wilding Pines (Pinus Cortorta, Pinus sylvestris) are problematic on the foreshore of Lake Ōhau. Pinus contorta grow “probably five to 10 times faster” in the Mackenzie Country (and Lake Ōhau) than in their native North America. They can establish themselves at altitudes of up to 2000 metres. Where they have becomes established and converted tussock grasslands to wilding pine forests, 25% to 30% less water reaches streams and lakes.

The pines outcompete native trees and tussock land. Shelter plantings were established for protection against harsh winds in places such as the Lake Ōhau Lodge in the 1950s. Wilding pines that spread from these early plantings have become a problem in adjacent areas. The Ōhau Conservation Trust is working to keep the Lake Ōhau landscape in its natural state and eradicate wilding pines.

Lake Ōhau fire 2020
A significant wildfire on Sunday 4 October 2020 destroyed 48 houses. The fire started in the vicinity of Freehold Creek and Parsons Creek and then moved in a south and west direction. It burnt through 5032 hectares (including 1900 hectares of Department of Conservation land) and destroyed many houses in the Lake Ohau Alpine Village. The spread of wilding pines, and high winds and a dry winter attributed to climate change set the scene for the fire. The Insurance Council of New Zealand processed around 200 claims totalling NZ$34.8 million, making it one of the most expensive fires in the country. Fire and Emergency NZ completed a report as to the causes of the fire in November 2021. They said that the fire was as a result of a "a crossarm failure on a power pole that was part of a section of lines crossing conservation land approximately 2.5 kilometres north-west of Lake Ōhau village". Waitaki Network, who are responsible for the power lines, believe that Fire and Emergency NZ are incorrect in their conclusions.

Flooding 2022
In July 2022, Lake Ōhau was hit by an almost one in a 100 year storm which caused significant flooding. Access to the Lake Ōhau Alpine Village and Ōhau ski field was cut off when a bridge on the Lake Ōhau road was washed out. Despite the damage, power and telephone lines were still working.

title: Lake Ōhau


text:
Clement Mok

Clement Mok (born 1958) is a graphic designer and author.

Mok founded several design-related businesses — Studio Archetype (acquired by Sapient), CMCD and NetObjects, Inc. In 1997, Mok recruited George Chen in a photoshoot for an early collection of stock photography made for graphic designers distributed on CD-ROM, whose likeness was used in many high-profile print and billboard advertising campaigns, inadvertently creating an unofficial mascot for the dot-com era, nicknamed "The Internet Guy". From 1998 until 2001, he was Chief Creative Officer of Sapient. Mok also served as the national president of AIGA and was the creative director at Apple Inc. in the early 1980s. Currently, he leads a new subscription-based royalty-free stock image business and consults on a variety of product development projects.

Information architecture
Mok authored an influential early information architecture manual, Designing Business (Adobe Press, June 1996).

title: Clement Mok


text:
List of football clubs in Bulgaria

This list of football teams in Bulgaria, contains football clubs that have recently been and/or still are members of the Bulgarian Football Union.

Overview
The list consists of sports clubs that in recent years have been members of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU). For a club to be a member of the BFU it has to endeavour in practising and/or developing football on the territory of Bulgaria. Thus, for a club to be a member of the BFU it is sufficient for it to have an active football youth academy, without sustaining any football team to participate in the tournaments organised by the BFU. Nevertheless, most members of the union do form a football team and almost all of them have a representative team for the men's football tournaments organised by the BFU.

Names
Some clubs in the list have undergone slight name changes for administrative or technical purposes but still have the same representative team. (For example Lokomotiv 1926 (Plovdiv) in the list throughout the years has been officially named NFC Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), FC Lokomotiv Plovdiv 1936, PFC Lokomotiv 1926 Plovdiv, etc. ) Thus, the official name of a football club may differ slightly from the one in the list.

Membership and Participation
For a football club to be a member of the Bulgarian Football Union it is sufficient to engage in activities developing the sport, but not actively participating in the tournaments organised by the governing body. Thus a club may not have a participating team in the men's football leagues considered in the list but still be a member of the union. A club may have its membership revoked by the executive committee of the BFU if it has not practised and/or developed football in Bulgaria for more than two years.

In the list, teams marked as Does Not Participate in the Level tab, may only have a youth academy, or women's or children's teams, or have stopped engaging in football altogether since the last Assembly of the executive committee of the BFU. Also, there were 182 clubs with revoked memberships and 103 clubs accepted as members of the union on the Assembly that was held on 14 February 2014, but information on the teams is not readily available to the public from the Bulgarian Football Union or the Bulgarian Professional Football League. Still, some of the teams may have ended the life-cycle of their legal personality (the registered football club), yet reapplied for membership in the BFU under a different legal body (a newly formed club successor of the previous), causing re-licensing and slight change of name but continuation of the team.

Levels
The football clubs in the list are divided into five hierarchical categories which represent the five levels of the Bulgarian football pyramid with Level 1 being the top league and Level 5 being the bottom league in the system. The hierarchical format of the pyramid has promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels at the end of each cycle (season), allowing self-sustaining system of better playing teams joining the higher levels.

Throughout the years, the various levels have had different names, number of participants and structure. Generally, the top level has always been a single league, while the lower levels have consisted of a various number of divisions specified geographically and running simultaneously. For instance, up to and including season 2011-12 the second tier of Bulgarian football consisted of two leagues: East and West divisions of the Bulgarian B Professional Football Group; also, the third level continues to have four divisions (South-West, South-East, North-East, and North-West) that run in parallel.

Despite changes in the official names of the leagues the levels are commonly referred to as follows:

Level 1: A Group

Level 2: B Group

Level 3: V Group

Level 4: A Oblast Group

Level 5: B Oblast Group

As of season 2013-14 the official names and structure of the five levels of Bulgarian football are:
 * Level 1 - A Professional Football Group
 * A PFG has one division of 14 clubs in it

 * Level 2 - B Professional Football Group
 * B PFG has one division of 14 clubs in it

 * Level 3 - V Amateur Football Group
 * V AFG has four divisions - North-East with 16 clubs, North-West with 16 clubs, South-West with 16 clubs, South-East with 18 clubs

 * Level 4 - A Oblast Football Groups
 * There are forty-five (45) divisions from the different districts in Bulgaria that run in parallel, forming 45 A OFGs. The number of teams varies by division.

 * Level 5 - B Oblast Football Groups
 * There are seventeen (17) divisions from the different districts in Bulgaria running simultaneously throughout the season. A various number of teams comprises each of the 17 B OFGs

While there is an abundance of Level 4 regional groups, there is a considerably smaller number of Level 5 divisions. This is a result of the uneven number of teams in the various oblasts of the country. For example, While the Burgas Oblast can sustain four Level 5 OFGs that are funneled into one Level 4 OFG, clubs from Smolyan and Lovech are enough to form only one division at one level so these oblasts have no Level 5 OFGs. Still, some of the "provinces" such as Blagoevgrad have five Level 4 divisions, but no Level 5 oblast groups.

Regions
The list includes a categorisation of teams by region of the country. The most reliable geographical categorisation of football clubs in Bulgaria has been the division of the clubs into four regions - those of V Group: North-West, North-East, South-East, and South-West, since it has been the sole constant division since the creation of the football pyramid in 1953.

The regions' borders are the administrative borders of the state's "provinces" (oblasts) that constitute the regions.

 * For the North-West region the included oblasts are: Vidin Province, Montana Province, Vratsa Province, Lovech Province, Pleven Province, Gabrovo Province, and Veliko Tarnovo Province.
 * Veliko Tarnovo is the administrative center of the North-West zone for V Group.

 * For the North-East region the included oblasts are: Razgrad Province, Ruse Province, Targovishte Province, Silistra Province, Shumen Province, Dobrich Province, and Varna Province.
 * Varna is the administrative center of the North-East zone for V Group.

 * For the South-East region the included oblasts are: Burgas Province, Yambol Province, Sliven Province, Stara Zagora Province, Haskovo Province, Kardzhali Province, Smolyan Province, and Plovdiv Province.
 * Plovdiv is the administrative center of the South-East zone for V Group.

 * For the South-West region the included oblasts are: Pazardzhik Province, Blagoevgrad Province, Kyustendil Province, Pernik Province, Sofia Province and Sofia - city.
 * Sofia is the administrative center of the South-West zone for V Group.

title: List of football clubs in Bulgaria


text:
Mates of State

Mates of State are an American indie pop duo, active since 1997. The group is the husband-and-wife team of Kori Gardner (born June 16, 1974) (vocals, organ, synthesizer, piano, electric piano, and occasional guitar and drums) and Jason Hammel (born February 1, 1976) (vocals, drums, percussion, and occasional synthesizer).

As of 2015, the duo has released four EPs and seven full-length albums. Their most recent album, Mountaintops, was released on September 13, 2011.

History
Gardner and Hammel first met in Lawrence, Kansas, while both were involved in relationships with other people. Even though they exchanged e-mails regularly, they did not get together until three months later. They originally played together in a four-piece rock band called Vosotros, in which they both sang and played guitar. Shortly after the couple moved to California in 1998, Gardner began teaching, and Hammel applied to medical school. They both opted later to devote their time to making music and touring together instead and got married in 2001. Gardner and Hammel originally lived together in San Francisco, and in 2004 they moved to East Haven, Connecticut. In February 2007, they sold their house in East Haven and relocated to Stratford, Connecticut.

Gardner and Hammel have three daughters: Magnolia, born in 2004; June Elizabeth, born in 2008; and Phoebe Ann, born in 2017. For the band, touring became a family affair, their daughters joining them on the road. Gardner kept a 'blog, Band on the Diaper Run, that appeared on Babble.com. In its entries, she recounted their experiences of life on the road and the unique circumstance of touring with two young children in tow.

The main instruments Mates of State used in their early recordings were drums and the electric organ. Both had started out playing the guitar, but they ultimately found they were experimenting more with the organ and drums in their practice space than with any other musical instruments. On later recordings, the band moved away from the organ-dominated sound and incorporated additional instrumentation, beginning with the EP All Day and continuing on Bring It Back, their fourth studio album. The organ wasn't incorporated at all on their fifth album, Re-Arrange Us.

Mates of State songs are notable for their male/female vocal harmony, shifting rhythms, and quirky song structure – most tracks comprised distinct, almost disjointed movements. Both members tend to sing with great intensity, often in the upper ranges of their voices, and they often simultaneously sing different, complementary melodies and lyrics.

The band recorded one album on Omnibus Records before moving to Polyvinyl for their second and third full-length albums. In December 2005, the band signed with Barsuk Records and released two full-length albums and an EP of remixes on the label.

On October 11, 2004, the band held a contest for fans to create their own video for "Goods (All In Your Head)," the first track on their All Day EP. The winning entry, directed by Jonathan Yi and Sam Goetz, became the official video for the song and was aired on MTV on June 12, 2005. It became available for download in the Media section of the band's official site.

The band's fifth album, Re-Arrange Us, was released on May 20, 2008. For their tour in support of the album, Mates of State became a quartet by adding Lewis and Anton Patzner of Judgement Day as multi-instrumentalists to complement the duo's sound on select songs.

On June 15, 2010, Mates of State released their sixth studio album, Crushes (The Covers Mixtape), which consisted entirely of their cover versions of songs previously recorded by other musical artists, including "Long Way Home" by Tom Waits and "Son Et Lumiere" by The Mars Volta. Music videos were shot for two of the songs: Nick Cave's "Love Letter" and Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End." The former was directed by Daniel Garcia and the latter was produced in conjunction with ABC News for its indie rock program, "Amplified."

The band's most recent full-length album, Mountaintops, was released on September 13, 2011. It also came out on Barsuk, the same independent label that released two of the band's previous records, Bring It Back and Re-Arrange Us. It consisted entirely of new original material.

Tours and performances
Mates of State have performed all over the globe; in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

In the summer of 2001, they played shows with Superdrag and Beulah and, later in the year, opened for The Anniversary during the release tour for their album Your Majesty.

In 2003, Mates of State toured with Palomar.

In 2005, Mates of State toured with Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday, and performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2006, Mates of State toured with Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie. Mates of State also provided support (alongside Au Revoir Simone) for We Are Scientists on their tour of the UK in November 2006.

During February and March 2007, Mates of State toured as the house band for WBEZ Chicago's This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass. Tour locations included New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Recordings of some of the band's performances during this tour were included in a 2008 episode titled "What I Learned from Television." On Earth Day in 2007, Mates of State headlined the Concert for a Green Earth in Westport, Connecticut.

In 2008, the team appeared again at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, in addition to performing at Lollapalooza in Chicago, the All Points West Music & Arts Festival in Jersey City, and the Pemberton Music Festival in Pemberton, BC. In 2009, they played at Diversafest in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween weekend.

In 2010, they appeared on the children's television show Yo Gabba Gabba! in Rochester, New York.

Beginning in 2010, the band toured with backing musicians Kenji Shinagawa on guitar and John Panos on trumpet, both graduates of the University of Miami.

On February 16, 2012, the band began a 9-day tour of the East Coast at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On June 11, 2013, they joined The Postal Service's "Give Up" ten-year reunion tour at the Air Canada Theater in Toronto. The tour had stops in Boston, at the sold out Barclay's Center in Brooklyn and shows in Minnesota and Kansas City. Mates of State opened The Postal Service's last show of the tour on August 4, 2013 at the Metro in Chicago. It was also the official Lollapalooza closing party and the last time The Postal Service would tour for a decade.

They performed two songs in conjunction with BYUtv's Studio C: "Dealbreaker" in October 2013 and "Kill the Whales" in May 2014.

Films

 * The Rumperbutts (2015). Lead actors, producers, and composers. Starring alongside Josh Brener, Arian Moayed, and Vanessa Ray. Distributed by Mance Media.
 * Two of Us (2004). Produced, directed, shot, and edited by Thadd Day. Released by Hooked on Sonics!
 * The song "My Only Offer" features prominently in the last half of the trailer for the 2009 documentary Best Worst Movie and plays over that film's closing credits.

EPs

 * European Tour 2003 EP (Fickle Fame, 2003)
 * All Day EP (Polyvinyl, 2004)
 * Daytrotter Session (2006)
 * Re-Arranged: Remixes Volume 1 (Barsuk, 2009)
 * You’re Going To Make It (Barsuk, 2015)

Singles

 * "Mates of State"/"Fighter D Split" (Omnibus, 1999)
 * "It's the Law"/"Invitation Inn" (Omnibus, 2000)
 * "Lower" (Devil in the Woods, 2001) *Note: split single with The Shins & Sparklehorse
 * "Beehive State/Über Legitimate" (Snow Globe, 2001)
 * "These Days" (Polyvinyl, 2002) *Note: split single with Dear Nora
 * "Fraud in the '80s" (Moshi Moshi, 2006)
 * "Like U Crazy" (Moshi Moshi, 2006)
 * "Staring Contest" (Barsuk / Fierce Panda, 2015)

Other releases

 * 2002 – "Why You Little..." on the compilation CD Ten Years of Noise Pop (Amazing Grease)
 * 2005 – "Invitation Inn" on the compilation A House Full of Friends (Magic Marker)
 * 2006 – "California" (Phantom Planet cover) on the compilation Music from the OC: Mix 6 (WEA)
 * 2006 – "Popular Mistakes" on the compilation This is a Care Package (Exotic Fever)
 * 2007 – "Jellyman Kelly" (James Taylor cover) on the compilation For The Kids III (RCA)
 * 2008 – "Little Boxes" (Malvina Reynolds cover), was recorded as theme music for an episode of Weeds but never appeared on the program
 * 2010 – "I Will Dare" (Replacements cover) is featured on The Onion's A.V. Club Undercover, with comedian Todd Barry on drums
 * 2012 − "I am a Scientist" (Guided by Voices cover) on the compilation "Science Fair" (Spoil the Rock)

title: Mates of State


text:
User talk:Elisionwebmonkey

Hello and welcome. To answer your question - I checked your two website quickly when I first saw you adding them on Friends of Wikipedia, but couldn't find any obvious Wikipedia link, but of course I didn't checked all the subpages. Thus if you add the actual link where the backlink is located (just like you did on my talk page) when adding your sites noone would suspect Wikispam anymore. FoW ist just a popular space for Spammers who try to use that one for getting more links to their site to increase their google ranking. andy 11:06, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Elisionwebmonkey


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Ōhau (skifield)

Ōhau is a small commercial skifield in the foothills of New Zealand's Southern Alps, near the boundary between the Otago and Canterbury regions, and close to the western shore of the lake of the same name. The skifield was originally developed by the Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Co. The field's service town, Lake Ohau Alpine Village, is located on the shore of the lake to the south of the skifield.

Details
In 2004, a new two seater chairlift was installed on the slopes. This chairlift opened up the snowfield a lot more and increased the lift-accessible terrain. The next year, the longest snowmat in New Zealand was installed in place of the ropetow. The skifield now has 3 lifts (1 chairlift, 1 platter lift and 1 snowmat).

The base altitude is 1400 m and the highest altitude is 1825 m. The access road is an unsealed alpine road but is usually kept in good condition with buses leaving from the lodge daily.

Historically, the season has run from mid-July to early October. In 2008, a new 23-cannon, fully automated snowmaking system was installed, allowing the skifield to open earlier, capturing lucrative July school holiday business.

Expansion plans
In March 2012 it was announced that an ex-Treble Cone 2 seater chair lift had been purchased. This was to be installed over the following summer in time for the 2013 season, giving visitors a secondary access to the peak. This installation did not occur, and in June 2013 it was announced this chair lift had been traded for the ex-Cardrona "La Franchie" 2 seater chair lift to be installed depending on the success of the 2013 winter season. This new chair lift has a claimed increased capacity of 1200 skiers and boarders per hour on a 4.5 minute trip. In March 2014 it was noted, "unfortunately we cannot afford to put in the chairlift for 2014 but hopefully if the business continues to trend upwards we can put it in for 2015!"

Scenery
Ōhau has some of the most spectacular mountain views in New Zealand. From the summit of the skifield a view of the Southern Alps can be seen. From the skifield runs, Lake Ōhau and the Mackenzie Basin can be seen spread out below in the valley floor. There are good views across the lake to Ben Ohau.

title: Ōhau (skifield)


text:
Koniscope

A koniscope (or coniscope) is a scientific instrument to detect and measure content of dust particles in the atmosphere. A koniscope is also called dust counter, or Aitken dust counter, named after John Aitken who invented the first koniscope.

The koniscope is made by connecting a pump with a test tube that is walled with moist paper. The tube is held towards a light source and the pump is briefly activated. Dust particles will cling to the paper, producing a visible change in color.

title: Koniscope


text:
Talk:En passant

What exactly was the sequence of rule changes?
So I had always been under the impression that the pawn’s two-square move and the en passant capture were introduced at the same time, as that was what I had been told all this time. It made sense to me that whoever came up with the pawn’s two-square move would have spotted the problem quickly afterwards or at least while testing the new rule out first before implementing it into their actual games. However, I have now been informed that there is no conclusive evidence that this is the case. On the other hand, I have not been informed that there is conclusive evidence that it isn’t the case, which is a different thing entirely. If such evidence does exist, I would like to see it; if not, then maybe the article’s claims shouldn’t be so confident. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 00:29, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

 * The Oxford Companion to Chess gives some information: "The en passant rule dates from the 15th century, although it has been universally excepted only since 1880, when Italian players abandoned the passar battaglia rule." That doesn't give enough information. The "passar battaglia" meant that en passant was not the rule.  The entry says "The option of advancing the pawn two squares forward on its first move was probably a 13th-century innovation. Even after the en passant rule was introduced, probably in the 15th century, there were some curious exceptions: both Damino and Ruy Lopez state that such a capture cannot be made if it brought about a discovered check. The passar battaglia law survived in several parts of Europe for a long time, finally disappearing in 1880 when the Italians revised their laws." Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:30, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Well, I guess one can't expect to know too much about what specific rule changes happened many centuries ago. But I do personally find the proposed possible sequence of events unlikely to be true. I mean, does this book mean to tell me that the first rule was invented in the 13th century, and then the entire 14th century passed, and then only in the 15th century did someone say, "Hey, remember wayyyyy back in the day when a pawn couldn't just skip past an enemy pawn’s attack zone to evade capture? We should totally bring that back!"? Although I guess it's possible that "wayyyyy back in the day" could have actually been "a short while ago," since the pawn double-step rule might have taken time to spread to that particular person. Oh well, I'm not the historian here. Overall, though, what I gather is that there's still uncertainty about this rule's history. I suppose the article should be edited, then. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 03:23, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes, it might have taken a while for the two-square move to come into effect in different places. Things moved a lot slower then.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 03:42, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

 * There's a tremendous amount of detail in A History of Chess (H.J.R. Murray), of course. --IHTS (talk) 01:47, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
 * What does it say? ISaveNewspapers (talk) 03:26, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

 * I have Murray's book, but it must be packed away in a box. A Short History of Chess by Henry Davidson says "the pawn was given the privilege of moving two squares on his first move - and with this came en passant." (pg.14) "At the same time, the en passant rule made it impossible for this double-move privilege to escape capture of pawn." (pg. 16).  And "The en passant rule followed immediately and inevitably with the introduction of the double initial move." (pg. 57)  So it isn't totally clear.  My guess is that when the double move was started in an area, e.p. usually (but not always) came with it. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 04:27, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
 * P.S. - Davidson is not considered to be as accurate as Murray. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 07:20, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Double step, European introduction, 457; limitations, 458-9, 462, 464, 788, 851-2, 857. Taking in passing: European chess, 461, 462, 465, 785, 788, 812, 833, 852.'''
 * I have the h/c, not a history buff, w/ take me a month to understand, let alone summarize, w/ any confidence. Here is a partial (European only) from the index on p. 898:
 * '''Pawn (chessman):
 * Here you go, click on the pages to go back & forth. Happy reading! ;) --IHTS (talk) 07:13, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

 * It is unknown whether these two rules were introduced at the same time. is a statement of fact, so it needs a citation. --IHTS (talk) 21:51, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
 * You know, I think I'll just rewrite. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 16:18, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
 * En passant definitely looks like an afterthought to me. People were getting bored because the game took too long to get going until someone came up with the idea of advancing the pawn two squares. Great, faster game, this is cool. But then there was the unintended consequence - pawns could now evade capture by advancing two squares. So my intuitive original research is that the en passant capture was introduced some time after the two square move. Might not have taken 200 years, but it certainly wouldn't have been simultaneous. There's also the strange fact that only a pawn can capture en passant... why can't other pieces capture on the passed over square? I doubt very much that en passant was introduced simultaneously. It looks like an add-on, a bug fix. And if anyone has access to the English translation of the Lopez book, or can read 16th century Spanish, please check them per previous section. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 05:07, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
 * It's not impossible that the person who invented and tested the pawn's two-square move would have thought, "Hey, I don’t want a pawn to be able to evade an opposing pawn’s attack." Clearly someone thought that at some point, and it could've been that person. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 08:08, 25 September 2022 (UTC)
 * All I know is there are no references to it prior to Lopez in 1524, so we have no basis whatsoever to assert that it was introduced simultaneously. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 03:36, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

For what it's worth, from The Oxford History of Board Games (Parlett, 1999), p. 305: "The pawn's initial two-step, an obvious way of advancing engagement, appears in the Alfonso manuscript of 1283 and in the Spanish, Lombard, German and Anglo-French assizes, though with variations. In some cases the privilege was restricted to rook, queen, and king pawns, in others it ceased once a capture had been made. Capture en passant can be inferred from problems composed in accordance with the Anglo-French assize, which goes back to 1150." --IHTS (talk) 04:03, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

Pronunciation and translation placement
I prefer to have the pronunciation and translation of "en passant" in a note. This article already has the potential to be super confusing; I want the first paragraph to read continuously so the reader isn't distracted. Also, I don't understand the purpose of locating the pronunciation and translation in a separate place from the term itself; it seems rather strange. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 20:59, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * The "strange" placement was made necessary as attempt to adjust to *your* edit that changed lede sentence starting "En passant [...]" to starting "The en passant capture [...]", and *your* insistence to change all occurrences of "en passant" to "the [or an] en passant capture" in every WP:CHESS article you find it, when those extra words are implicit. I don't think the novel placement of the foreign parenthetical will throw any reader. As far as a note being better, I find the superscript distracting and odd and confusing and unnecessary, and that the parenthetical is therefore the better option for "continuous reading" objective we share; and, can you point to even one example on WP where the foreign info is footnoted rather than in the lede sentence? (I couldn't find any, not one.) --IHTS (talk) 21:18, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * See also MOS:LEADLANG for examples. --IHTS (talk) 21:25, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Also, since you change "en passant" to "the [or an] en passant capture" everywhere you find it, am wondering how you can "live with" the title of this article as is, and have not already moved it to: En passant capture or En passant capture (chess) or En passant capture in chess consistent w/ your editing? Might I suggest a return to the original lede sentence structure beginning "En Passant", as follows: "En passant (, 'in passing') describes a capture move in chess. It occurs when [...]" ✅ --IHTS (talk) 22:30, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

Here's the deal ... Here is the edit (by ISaveNewspapers, back in April) that changed the use of en passant in the lede sentence as a noun ("En passant is a capture", also previously "En passant is a move") to an adjective ("The en passant capture is a move"):. Since then if I'm not mistaken ISaveNewspapers has been changing occurrences of "En passant" being used as a subject noun, to "The en passant capture" or "An en passant capture", using it as an adjective modifier, all over creation. *My* change yesterday from "The en passant capture" to "En passant describes a capture move" was an effort to put the word first again so the foreign term parenthetical could immediately follow rather than the alternatives of sandwiching it between words "en passant" and "capture", or placing it at the end of phrase "en passant capture", which ISaveNewspapers has objected to in this thread, while appeasing her preference to retain use of en passant as an adjective. (I can't read ISaveNewspapers' mind, perhaps she saw en passant as adjective based on the translation "in passing", which is adjective or adverb modifier, and that explains all her other edits to en passant phrases too, and, I've always thought she is probably technically correct about that.) But today has changed again to use as noun ("En passant is a special move"), which sits fine with me because in normal usage in chess, yeah, en passant is typically or traditionally often used as a noun, even ISaveNewspaper's magnifier on that usage as incorrect is probably technically true. So it seems (correct me if am wrong), the issue is between common but technically incorrect usage, versus technically correct grammatical usage. (I side w/ Quale on this. What say you, ISaveNewspapers?) --IHTS (talk) 13:15, 7 December 2022 (UTC)

 * I'm genuinely totally fine with changing it back. I don't care one way or the other, I just participate in Wikipedia for fun, and I understand it really makes zero difference in terms of information conveyed to the reader. I would've stopped making the change a long time ago if I knew there were objections to these edits specifically. If you think changing it back is best for the article, do it. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 19:27, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Already changed back by Quale's edit today. Re recreational ("for fun") editing, you were quite adamant in the discussion above re using long-form algebraic (5...d7-d5 w/ hyphen) when expressing double-step moves, as opposed to using standard/short-form algebraic, the default in all WP:CHESS articles to-date (5...d7–d5 w/ dash per MOS:NDASH). I preferred using a single notation system for consistency & reader expectations, while you favored mixing it up. You held your ground, as you presumably still do, so who knew? --IHTS (talk) 20:56, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Me too -- I am only in it for fun, but that doesn't stop me from being opinionated to the max, as other chess editors are aware. Bruce leverett (talk) 02:04, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Me three, as methinks most or all others are. But ISaveNewspapers tied together editing "for fun" & "I don't care one way or the other", which s/ contextualize my response better. --IHTS (talk) 02:43, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * There's a law of gamesmanship: "It's no fun to play for fun." WHPratt (talk) 05:21, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

English pronunciation
Actually, I think it might make sense to provide an English-language pronunciation as well, to reflect what approximations are used by chessplayers who don't speak French. There's some given at the Cambridge dictionary. ? Double sharp (talk) 14:23, 7 December 2022 (UTC)

 * Most English speakers say some approximation like "on passont", fully aware that it's not the actual French pronunciation, but I don't think we need to include that in the article. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 14:59, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * One of the problems with foreign words in English dictionaries is figuring out whether the dict gives an actual English pronunciation or just an approximation of the French. But dict.com has both:
 * /ˌɑn pæˈsɑnt/; French /ɑ̃ pɑˈsɑ̃/.
 * Cambridge is also clear, as it distinguishes UK /ˌɒ̃ ˈpæs.ɒ̃/ from US /ˌɑ̃ː pæsˈɑ̃ː/. However, the sound files it gives for both UK and US are /ˌɒ̃ pæˈsɒ̃/.
 * Merriam-Webster gives an alt've schwa, suggesting that's also an English assimilation: \ˌäⁿ-ˌpä-ˈsäⁿ, ˌäⁿ-pə-ˈsäⁿ\, where \ä\ is IPA the PALM vowel /ɑ/.
 * As for whether we should include one or more of those, the disagreement between sources could make it rather messy. We should at least have something at WK, though. — kwami (talk) 18:41, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * The variation leans me towards supporting 's opinion for Wikipedia. But I agree with improving the Wiktionary entry. Double sharp (talk) 08:42, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

"special"
Isn't it subjective to describe this move as "special"? ISaveNewspapers (talk) 22:51, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Technically agree, but Quale's use of the word is justified & useful, IMO. (Justfied in that, as described in article, the only capture move finishing on an empty square; also special as only move w/ optional e.p. notation appendage. Useful in that the word solicits reader's attention for improved comprehension in what follows: explanation of a "weird" move, especially for beginners, often misunderstood. Castling is also a special move, but "special" probably isn't as warranted in that article since readers/beginners are probably at least more familiar w/ castling than w/ e.p.) For one succinct word, it packs alot of punch, IMO. --IHTS (talk) 23:23, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I thought about whether the description of en passant as a special move was warranted, but the text I changed was awful and urgently needed to be replaced. If you Google "en passant" you will find the "special" description is not uncommon online.  But I checked The Oxford Companion to Chess to make sure: "en passant, a special method of capturing....". Quale (talk) 03:05, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Since en passant translates to "in passing", which of the following sentence structures is correct/makes sense?: "In passing is a special method of capturing ..." or "In passing is a special move ...". (Answer: the first one. But I still prefer the latter.) --IHTS (talk) 03:44, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
 * You know, I like that first one. I had never thought about it that way. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 21:46, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the phrase "in passing" is undoubtedly an adverb or adjective modifier (and how I coughed up "En passant describes ..." that gave Quale a cow), so w/ be warm to changing current lede sentence to: "'En passant (, 'in passing') is a special method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn ...'." Am also warm to the current "En passant is a special move in chess that occurs ...", even if less correct, since it has the virtue of stopping any potential confusion immediately. --IHTS (talk) 01:23, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * This finally prompted me to google "en passant special", and I see just about everything, including "special way that pawns capture pawns", "special type of pawn capture", "special pawn capture", "special moves", and whatever. I do not object to anything you've proposed so far. Bruce leverett (talk) 00:10, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

In chess, En passant (French: [ɑ̃ paˈsɑ̃], lit. "in passing") refers to a situational extension of a pawn’s standard capturing method. It permits the capture of an enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance.[2][3] The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn had passed over, capturing it as if the enemy pawn had advanced only one square. The rule ensures that a pawn cannot use its two-square move to safely skip past an enemy pawn.
 * Can't say I'm very keen on the current wording "special". ("Special" makes me think of disabled people etc). It's just a rule, even if it's not commonly known by non-competitive players. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 00:32, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I find Hooper and Whyld's opinion on this point (a WP:RS to be more compelling than yours. Quale (talk) 02:05, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Good source, but sometimes eccentric. "Special" is getting into MOS:WTW territory. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 02:12, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * The context of "special" in this case is:, which w/ be an aid to readers learning chess from the WP articles, thus an argument for retaining the word. p.s. Your own personal word association methinks is ... not linguistically prevalent!? I.e. "special sauce" and millions more common everyday examples. The word is even used in the text for MOS:WTW. It is also used in WP sidebars ("Special pages"), etc. etc. --IHTS (talk) 02:25, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * E.p. is "not a method"?!? OCC, p. 124: "en passant, a special method of capturing, [...]" --IHTS (talk) 02:35, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It seems to me that "special" is optional here. When I am explaining E.P. to a novice, do I say that it is a "special" move?  Not normally.  I don't need to, why waste time and breath?
 * Moreover, why do we single this out for being "special"? Knight moves are "special" for well-known reasons.  Promotion is "special".  Pawn captures are "special", or maybe it's the non-captures that are "special".  Backward moves by non-pawns are "special".Check, checkmate, and stalemate are "special".  And so on.
 * I do not claim that there is a mismatch between the meaning (if any) of "special" and what we are trying to say here; it just seems superfluous. Yes, Hooper and Whyld use it, but that is not tempting me. Bruce leverett (talk) 04:06, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Why do we single this out for being "special"? The word in the OCC & WP sentences modifies "capturing method", and is justified in that capturing on a square where the captured piece is not, is a unique capturing method to all other pieces. Expanding the application of the word beyond that it's a modifier of phrase "capturing method" isn't a fair or logical comparison/argument. (Else we'd draw wild conclusions as you did, e.g. that the lede sentence in article Chess should say "a special board game", etc.) --IHTS (talk) 04:54, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I tried Golombek's Penguin Encyclopedia of Chess but his definition is disappointingly vague. "The capture of a pawn by an enemy pawn when the latter has advanced two squares initially". This definition would include e4xd5. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 10:51, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I am not sure that "horizontally adjacent" helps much. Aren't e4 and d5 horizontally adjacent to each other?
 * Even with the older text (before "special" and "method" were removed), we weren't conveying the essence of the problem very well in the first sentence. "Special" and "method" give the reader an idea that something is in the wind, but they don't have enough semantics to really help.  I suppose that it is adequate that we are "only" taking two sentences, but I wonder if there is a way to do more of the work in the first sentence. Bruce leverett (talk) 02:04, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Methinks that w/ be attempting to pack too much into one sentence. The orig first sentence sets stage by defining "when"; the second sentence explains "how". Can't see doing better than that w/o a tangly over-long sentence causing hard-to-read confusion. --IHTS (talk) 12:24, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm coming to this discussion rather late, but I'd say that the first sentence is okay, although I think that "horizontally adjacent" doesn't add any clarity, so I'd lose that.WHPratt (talk) 15:19, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Which sentence is okay? (Orig w/ "special method"? Or after that phrase was removed?) --IHTS (talk) 18:25, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I was looking at: "In chess, En passant (French: [ɑ̃ paˈsɑ̃], lit. "in passing") describes a capture of a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn  that has just made an initial two-square advance."  I don't think that "horizontally adjacent" adds anything. We could specify that the target pawn must be on an "adjacent file" or "neighboring file," but that should be implicit from the standard pawn capturing rules. WHPratt (talk) 22:25, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm in this thread-part defending the orig lede sentence containing phrase "special method of capturing" before Max ditched it and opened this thread-part. So your post s/b to attn of Max and/or Bruce. --IHTS (talk) 00:38, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Probably a concept that cannot be put in one sentence, so it's best to just take a shot and as 'em to stay tuned if interested! As many have said, it's best absorbed if introduced via the historical context. WHPratt (talk) 16:01, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
 * What about a really brief first sentence, leading up to the details? See below. WHPratt (talk) 14:04, 28 April 2023 (UTC)

Abbreviation
Hooper & Whyld (1996) uses "ep" not "e.p.". (Am no linguist, seems the periods don't make sense, but have seen it lots.) Will chg to "ep" everywhere found unless consensus says not!? Cheers, --IHTS (talk) 22:10, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

 * You don't see either "ep" or "e.p." much in game scores. I am not sure that either one is more correct than the other.  Changing one to the other when you come across it doesn't sound like a way to improve things.  But if we are being inconsistent in a noticeable way, such as inconsistent within an article, that would be worth fixing. Bruce leverett (talk) 22:28, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

 * FIDE Laws of Chess Appendix C specifies "e.p.", so looks like both are correct. ("ep" seems cleaner & more in tune w/ shortening of notation per notation evolution history, and methinks we s/ use it, but oh well. ) --IHTS (talk) 22:33, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

 * Yeah of course it's rarely used, but not dead yet so needs mention. Dropping the periods per H&W was smart, putting another bullet in it. ;) --IHTS (talk) 22:47, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

Understanding
I always understood this move as, "You're capturing the enemy pawn while it's in the middle of its two-square move." Personally, I find that the most intuitive way to think about it. Do you think adding something like that into the article might make it easier for readers to wrap their heads around this move? ISaveNewspapers (talk) 20:35, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

 * Also, I'm pretty sure that's just what the name of the move means. "In passing" as in "while the pawn being captured is passing through." ISaveNewspapers (talk) 02:49, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

 * Cool expression, even tho haven't heard it before. IMO, w/ be redundant to "as if it had moved only one square", and, perhaps best to cement one expression in readers' minds (not two). --IHTS (talk) 12:13, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * We don't have to have both. It's possible to just replace the current one. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 02:19, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
 * My vote w/ be no on that, seeing that "as if it had moved only one square" is widely used in basic lit, as well as in OCC. --IHTS (talk) 05:35, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Agree. If conceiving it as "capturing in the middle of the 2 square move" works for you then knock yourself out, I'm not going to judge. But chess is very much a turn-based game. Player A makes a move, Player B makes a reply. So retain current wording. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 08:37, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I admit, it is strange to think of one side making a move while the other side is in the middle of making their move. But I find the commonly-seen alternative even stranger: you imagine the alternate-universe version of the enemy pawn that was moved only one square, and then you capture that. All this being said, we should keep in mind that the en passant capture is just a strange move in general. I think we are all able to agree on that.
 * Obviously, chess is very abstract, and a lot of weird stuff can happen besides this move; so maybe we can just accept that when a pawn is capturing en passant, it's literally just making an enemy pawn magically disappear somehow. But that has the potential to leave people wondering why that's the case. They might not understand how that relates to the actual name of the move, or how it relates to the rationale that led to the move being invented in the first place. Because even with the abstractness of chess, it still has its own internal logic. One of its basic concepts is: "If your piece moves to an enemy piece's location, the enemy piece is captured." Perhaps it would be useful to explain the en passant capture as an extension of that concept, rather than simply isolating it.
 * Of course, in order to definitively determine what description truly works best, we would need to experiment with real newcomers, which would be difficult. It is worth considering that, as noted previously, chess writers generally prefer "capture the enemy pawn as if it had been moved only one square"; however, this does not necessarily mean that it is the best way, only that it is good enough to work. Perhaps it really is best, but as I said, this is difficult to confirm or disprove. All we can do is make educated guesses, and that is what I have done.
 * This is my reasoning. If you have any thoughts on what I have said, I will hear you out. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 08:43, 24 December 2022 (UTC)
 * You haven't really proposed an alternative wording yet. MaxBrowne2 above sort of did, but if this is going to be a real argument, we need to have two versions of the paragraph to look at, and one of them has to be yours.  You can either propose something in this talk page, or by putting it in the article itself; since the discussion is already started here, might as well continue here, I suppose.
 * I might add that I am skeptical so far. Arguments like "But that has the potential to leave people wondering why that's the case" and "chess writers generally prefer XXX; however, this does not necessarily mean that it is the best way" don't get me interested in making a change.  But this is Wikipedia, and if you come up with a phrasing that you like, and none of us boffins really dislikes it, you may get to use it. Bruce leverett (talk) 04:57, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Here is my proposed alternate first paragraph:
 * "En passant ( French: [ɑ̃ paˈsɑ̃], lit. 'in passing') is a special method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn passed over, as if the enemy pawn was captured in the middle of its two-square move. The rule ensures that a pawn cannot use its two-square move to safely skip past an enemy pawn."
 * I only included the part about chess writers because someone else mentioned it earlier and I wanted to address that person's concerns. If they hadn't said anything about it, I wouldn't have said anything about it. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 02:25, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't have any objection to this. Would it improve the grammar to say, "... as if the enemy pawn were captured ..." ?  According to this grammarian (and presumably others, I remember this from my childhood), "were" is correct here, but perhaps it looks awkward to some readers. Bruce leverett (talk) 02:41, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * It's called the subjunctive mood or conditional mood. "If I was you" immediately brings to mind a Cockney English speaker to me. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 07:00, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I will make the edit now. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 09:15, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I am not actually convinced this is an improvement at all. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 11:10, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
 * It isn't an improvement. It's completely unnecessary and worse.  Do we have a WP:RS that describes en passant in that confusing way ("capturing in the middle of a move")?  I just checked "Mammoth Book of Chess" (Burgess) and "Lasker's Manual of Chess" (Em. Lasker) and they both use the sane description that the pawn can be captured as if it had moved only one square.  Quale (talk) 15:27, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

I don't like this proposed rewording, because it can lead to the misunderstanding that the enemy pawn never finished its move. It is well-described by the problem to the right. White plays 1.Bg2+, black responds 1...d5#, and White plays 2.cxd6 e.p.+! Black objects that this is illegal (it doesn't get White out of check), to which White responds that Black's d-pawn was cut down by en passant before it got to d5 and so never blocked White's check. I think the counterfactual framing is really needed to make it clear that, no, the Black pawn really made it to d5, and White is checkmated. Double sharp (talk) 09:13, 24 December 2022 (UTC)

 * Giving check just means that if it were your turn, you could make a move that captures the enemy king. The problem is you can't play cxd6 and Bxb7 at once, so it's not really check. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 10:44, 29 December 2022 (UTC)

En passant rights interacting with threefolds
The statement given in the article appears to be unclear on a certain kind of technicality. Suppose the game proceeds in Diagram 1 1.e4+ Kg6 2.Kf3 Kh5 3.Kg2+ Kg6 4.Kf3 Kh5 5.Kg2+. Is this a threefold or not? Theoretically the right to capture e.p. existed as a "pseudo-legal" move after 1.e4+, in the sense that an enemy pawn just moved two squares forward; but it could never really be exercised because 1...fxe3 e.p. wouldn't have gotten Black out of check.

Bewilderingly, the FIDE laws of chess seem to be self-contradictory here (Article 9.2). It writes that Positions as in (a) and (b) are considered the same, if the same player has the move, pieces of the same kind and colour occupy the same squares, and the possible moves of all the pieces of both players are the same. That means that this is a threefold, because Black's legal moves after 1.e4+, 3.Kg2+, and 5.Kg2+ are the same. On the other hand it is then written When a king or a rook is forced to move, it will lose its castling rights, if any, only after it is moved. This is despite the fact that the legal moves in question would be the same, if you have such a metaphysical castling right that could never be exercised. So in Diagram 2, 1...Bg3+ 2.Kf1 Bf4 3.Ke1 Bg3+ 4.Kf1 Bf4 5.Ke1 Bg3+ is not a threefold, because White's castling right was only lost after 2.Kf1! This is confirmed by Geurt Gijssen. I would guess that there are no metaphysical en passant rights (on the basis of them not being mentioned), but it hardly seems clear. (And what about if we added a wNg1 to Diagram 2 and play 1...Be3 2.Kf1 Bf4 3.Ke1 Be3 4.Kf1 Bf4 5.Ke1 Be3? Then the king was not forced to move, but castling was never a legal move to begin with, only a theoretical future possibility that 2.Kf1 ruled out!) Double sharp (talk) 12:31, 24 December 2022 (UTC)

 * That wording is from an outdated edition of the FIDE Laws of Chess. The relevant articles in the current edition are as follows:
 * 9.2.2 Positions are considered the same if and only if the same player has the move, pieces of the same kind and colour occupy the same squares and the possible moves of all the pieces of both players are the same. Thus positions are not the same if:
 * 9.2.2.1 at the start of the sequence a pawn could have been captured en passant
 * 9.2.2.2 a king had castling rights with a rook that has not been moved, but forfeited these after moving. The castling rights are lost only after the king or rook is moved.
 * Yeah, it's still a mess. But their intentions seem pretty clear. ISaveNewspapers (talk) 02:46, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
 * OK, this clarifies en passant. In Diagram 1, 1...fxe3 e.p. was impossible, so the positions are the same.
 * It is still a mess for castling, but that's not a problem for this article. Double sharp (talk) 04:43, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

As I now discover, this was heavily discussed on MatPlus a decade ago. It seems that metaphysical castling rights exist, but metaphysical en passant rights do not. Nonetheless I agree with Joost de Heer, Valery Liskovets, and Stewart Reuben that this is illogical. :) Double sharp (talk) 17:18, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Misconceptions about en passant
Should we address the misconception that en passant is forced? Not sure how common this misconception is, but I do see it arising from time to time. ComeAndHear (talk) 03:02, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
 * "Making the capture is optional, unless there is no other legal move." I think we have it covered. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 05:07, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Must have missed that. Do you think it belongs in the lede? ComeAndHear (talk) 11:26, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's needed. Casual players are typically not even aware of the rule, let alone have any misconceptions about it. I don't think this misunderstanding is common. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 20:03, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

Essay?
"This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (May 2024)"

I don't see how this is any of those types of essays. It clearly states the rule and gives examples. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 02:09, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

 * Agree, I don't think that tag is appropriate. It's intended for articles that might potentially violate NPOV, which is not the case here. The other issue, the complete lack of sources for the rules in chess variants, is valid. In fact I wouldn't mind seeing that section disappear altogether. About all that can be said on the topic is that some Western chess variants include the en passant rule or a variation of it. I don't think this is very interesting or important information. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 09:43, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

 * I think that is sufficient. I have Pritchard's big book of variations, so I could check.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 23:22, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Ruy Lopez discusses en passant
He also acknowledges that the rule was not universal at the time. I have a copy of the recent English translation. It's very wordy but I can quote chapter and verse if you like. MaxBrowne2 (talk) 03:18, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:En passant


text:
Talk:List of football clubs in Bulgaria

Moved the page from List of football teams in Bulgaria to here as this follows the norm for all but 3 other nations on the List of football teams article. Grunners 11:09, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of football clubs in Bulgaria


text:
Corvera de Asturias

Corvera de Asturias (Asturian: Corvera) is a municipality in the principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It shares a boundary to the north with Avilés and Gozón; to the east with Carreño and Gijón; to the south with Llanera and Illas and to the west with Castrillón. Its capital, Nubledo, has a population of more than 300 residents.

Corvera is the most eastern of the four counties forming the Great County of Aviles. It is situated in the northern-central area of the Principality of Asturias. It is 45.48 km2 in size and has a population of over 16,000 residents, mainly concentrated in the villages of Las Vegas and Los Campos. The main roads to get there are AS-19, AS-17 and A-8. The A-8 proceeds to Tabaza (Carreño) and the shopping centre Parque Astur.

History
The history of Corvera is linked to the history of Avilés, being a natural extension of it proceeding inland.

Several prehistorical settlements have been found in the county. The most interesting are those belonging to the Astures. They left their traces in two "castros" (fortified villages) that have not been excavated yet: Pico Castiello in Molleda and Castiellu in Camina, Solís. These "castros" were most probably used by the Romans, and we have some traces of their presence there, some of them so important as the Estela Antropomorfa de Molleda (human-shaped figure), nowadays can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias.In the 10th century the villages of the county of Aviles became together to form an only geographical entity known as the "Alfoz de Gauzzone"; but it is not until the year 1120 that we find the first written references to the county of Corvera in the Liber Testamentorum. In the 15th century, Corvera already appears as a county, independent of Aviles.

In the 19th century, the landscape of the area was mainly agricultural. The population centres were villages with a certain prestige in which we can still see palaces and Indiano houses. In the mid 20th century the iron and steel industry starts functioning in Avilés and the old rural centres begin to shelter the thousands of immigrants working for ENSIDESA (current Arcelor modifying the aspect of the county, due to the building of new districts near the factories, such as Tresona and Les Vegues.

Industries

 * Steel plant of Aceralia between Avilés and Corvera of Asturias.
 * Chemical plant of Du Pont.
 * Chemical plant of Fertiberia.

Parishes
The area of Corvera comprises seven parishes (administrative divisions):

Partnerships

 * Praia (🇨🇻)
 * Sal (🇨🇻)
 * Arroyo Naranjo (🇨🇺)
 * Maldonado

title: Corvera de Asturias


text:
Talk:Mercedes Lackey/to do

 * Move series to own articles:
 * Velgarth novels: what should we use as the name? Velgarth or Valdemar?
 * Elves on the Road
 * The Halfblood Chronicles

Remove duplicate entry of Heirs of Alexandria - it's listed twiec in her bibliography

title: Talk:Mercedes Lackey/to do


text:
John Ormonde

John Michael Ormonde (15 September 1905 – 25 June 1981) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician.

Early and personal life
He was born 15 September 1905 at Lismore, County Waterford, the son of John Ormonde, shopkeeper, and his wife, Ann Ormonde (née O'Brien). He was educated at the Lismore CBS. A member of Fianna Éireann, he delivered dispatches during the Irish Civil War, until his arrest before his seventeenth birthday in 1923. He was imprisoned in Lismore castle and Fermoy, but he escaped and remained on the run until the end of the civil war.

He attended De La Salle College Waterford and qualified as a teacher in 1928. He was appointed principal of Kilmacthomas national school, County Waterford, in 1932.

He married Hanna Mary Hickey, a nurse, in July 1931. They had one daughter and three sons. His son Donal was a Fianna Fáil TD for Waterford from 1982 to 1987.

Politics
A founder member of Fianna Fáil in Waterford, he became a member of Waterford County Council. He was elected to Dáil Éireann at a by-election in October 1947 as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford constituency. In 1957 he joined the cabinet of Éamon de Valera as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. He served in government until 1959. He lost his Dáil seat at the 1965 general election. He was elected to the Labour Panel at the 1965 election to the 11th Seanad.

title: John Ormonde