text:
4 Maccabees

4 Maccabees, also called the Fourth Book of Maccabees and possibly originally known as On the Sovereignty of Reason, is a book written in Koine Greek, likely in the 1st or early 2nd century. It is a homily or philosophic discourse praising the supremacy of pious reason over passion. It is a work that combines Hellenistic Judaism with influence from Greek philosophy, particularly the school of Stoicism.

The work is largely an elaboration of the stories of martyrdom in the book 2 Maccabees: that of the woman with seven sons and the scribe Eleazar, who are tortured to death by Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes in an attempt to make them renounce their adherence to Judaism. What 2 Maccabees covered in one chapter and a half, 4 Maccabees extends to a full 14 chapters of dialogue and philosophical discussion. 4 Maccabees recasts the story as one of reason and logic: the martyrs will be rewarded in the afterlife, so it is rational to continue to obey Jewish law, even at the risk of torture and death.

Synopsis
"I could prove to you from many and various examples that reason is dominant over the emotions, but I can demonstrate it best from the noble bravery of those who died for the sake of virtue, Eleazar and the seven brothers and their mother. All of these, by despising sufferings that bring death, demonstrated that reason controls the emotions."

- 4 Maccabees 1:7–9 (NRSV)

The work consists of a prologue and two main sections. The first advances the philosophical thesis on the basis of examples from the Law of Moses and the biblical tradition while the second illustrates the points made using examples drawn from 2 Maccabees: the martyrdom of Eleazar and the woman with seven sons under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire. The last chapters concern the author's impressions drawn from these martyrdoms. It has been suggested that, while 2 Maccabees was written with appeals to emotion, sentiment, and drama (pathos), 4 Maccabees considerably more intellectual about the matter. The martyred woman calmly debates her captors, explaining why her actions are rational given God's promise of rewards in the afterlife, akin to arguments favored by Stoic philosophy. The author of 4 Maccabees still appreciates the power of arousing emotions, however. The work goes into more grisly detail concerning the martyrdoms themselves than 2 Maccabees; "even now, we ourselves shudder as we hear of the suffering of these young men" (4 Maccabees 14:9). The author has the clear rhetorical intent of arousing admiration and emulation of these examples of devotion to the Jewish law.

The work is in fluent and complicated Greek using the rhetorical argumentative style of the time. Harry Orlinsky describes it as "an elaborate variation, in philosophical and highly dramatic vein, of the theme" of 2 Maccabees 6:18–7:4. The work uses secular allusions to Greek-style athletics and military contests, calling Eleazar a "noble athlete" and the martyred mother of the seven sons a "soldier of God".

The work defends the merits of Judaism in a Hellenized world. According to it, devout practice of Judaism perfects the values held dear in Greek and Roman contexts, with the martyrs presented in terms reminiscent of Greek sages.

Authorship, date, and title
The author of the work is unknown. The book is ascribed to the Jewish historian Josephus by Eusebius and Jerome, and this opinion was accepted for many years, leading to its inclusion in many editions of Josephus' works. Later scholars have rejected this claim of authorship, however. There are differences of language and style; 4 Maccabees makes several historical errors that Josephus's work does not make; and the ideology of the two seems to conflict (Josephus favored accommodation toward Gentile practices, not the uncompromising stance seen in 4 Maccabees). The author was probably not from Roman Judea, as the book includes a minor geographical mistake about the layout of Jerusalem, Judea was largely Aramaic-speaking in the era, and the tone of the work suggests the defense of a cultural minority in a Hellenistic environment. As such, he was probably a diaspora Jew, although from where is unclear. Alexandria was the largest site of literary Greek Jewish works in the era, but scholars such as Hans Freudenthal and Eduard Norden think that the religious outlook of the book does not easily match Alexandrian Jewish thought. Moses Hadas suggests that Antioch in Roman Syria was a more likely site for composition: a thoroughly Hellenized and Greek-speaking city with a large Jewish minority that revered the martyrs, judging by later Christian churches dedicated to the "Maccabean martyrs" in Antioch, as well as certain word usage that was rare among Alexandrian works such as 3 Maccabees.

The original title of the work, if any, is uncertain. The Septuagint is what gave it its modern name of "4 Maccabees" to distinguish it from the other books of Maccabees in it, but it almost certainly was not the original title of the work. Eusebius and Jerome wrote that the work of Josephus on the martyrdoms of the Maccabees – presumably 4 Maccabees – was called "On the Sovereignty of Reason", suggesting that might have been the original title. This title would be consistent with the conventions of Greek philosophical and ethical works of the period (e.g., Seneca's "On Anger," "On Benefits," "On the Constancy of the Wise Person").

The book is generally dated between 20 and 130 CE. Elias J. Bickerman suggests a composition date somewhere between 20–54 CE; Moses Hadas agrees with that range and further suggests that perhaps around 40 CE during the reign of Roman Emperor Caligula would fit. Other scholars such as André Dupont-Sommer support a later date, perhaps during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (118–135 CE).

The last chapter differs from the earlier chapters in style, and is a somewhat disorganized summary of what has been stated before. According to some scholars, this might be evidence that the last chapter is a later addition to the work, though this is disputed. The argument in favor of it being an original part of the composition is that the book would have a weak ending without the final chapter, and that the style and vocabulary of the final chapter is not as different as claimed. The change of direction with chapter 17 supports the view of the work as a homily held before a Greek-speaking audience on the feast of Hanukkah, as advanced by Ewald and Freudenthal, where this would be a rhetorical element to draw the listeners into the discourse. Others hold that a homily would have to be based on scriptural texts, which this work is only loosely.

In terms of genre, the book resembles both the panegyric or encomium (speeches in honor of a particular person or subject) as well as the philosophical diatribe. The work has a clearly Stoic stamp as the thesis it seeks to demonstrate is that "pious reason exercises mastery over the emotions" (4 Maccabees 1:1). The adjective "pious," however, is critically important: the author is altering the common topic ("reason can master the emotions") in order to suggest that it is the mind that has been trained in the piety and exercises in the practices of the Jewish Law that is equipped to exercise the mastery that Greek ethicists praise. The work resonates also with sentiments articulated by other philosophical schools such as Platonism as well.

Theology
The writer believes in the immortality of the soul, but never mentions the resurrection of the dead. Good souls are said to live forever in happiness with the patriarchs and God, but even the evil souls are held to be immortal. The suffering and martyrdom of the Maccabees is seen by the author to be vicarious for the Jewish nation, and the author portrays martyrdom in general as bringing atonement for the past sins of the Jews. In this it is similar to the Testament of Moses, which was written or updated around the same time period, and similarly praises the virtues of martyrdom and resistance.

While the setting of the book is during the Seleucid and Maccabee period of Judea, it is generally believed that the author intended to apply the lessons from this era in his current time. The book thus functions as an endorsement of fidelity to Jewish customs and law and against assimilation to Gentile practice where this conflicted with the Torah.

David A. deSilva considers the work's depiction of personal trust and faithfulness toward God as being in line with early Christian theology; notably, he argues that the Jewish Christian Epistle to the Hebrews has a similar viewpoint on the matter of the meaning of faith. The work also seems to have proto-Christian views on the nature of atonement: that the sacrifice of animals at the Temple (impossible in the Maccabean era, as well as for diaspora Jews in the author's era) could be replaced by a sacrifice of "obedience unto death" by faithful humans. While it is difficult to know for sure, deSilva also hypothesizes that the kind of promotion of the value of the Jewish Law for shaping an ethical life might have been used by the Jewish Christians who sought to persuade Gentile Christians also to adopt a Jewish way of life. These Jewish Christians, however, have not left a written legacy of their own; we have access to their arguments only as reflected in Paul's letters angrily denouncing their understanding of Christianity.

Canonicity
4 Maccabees enjoyed little influence on later Judaism. Hellenistic Judaism waned with time, and the book was not translated to Hebrew in its era. It was not included in the Masoretic canon of Hebrew scriptures, the Tanakh, and thus was not considered canonical by later Jews. Stories of the martyrs did circulate among Jews in rabbinic literature, but likely from independent traditions rather than 4 Maccabees directly.

The work was preserved largely among Christians. These early Christians both were interested in stories of martyrdom and generally admired Stoicism. The book seems to have been reasonably esteemed in the early Christian church: sermons and works of John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Ambrose evince familiarity with 4 Maccabees. The popular Martyrdom of Polycarp exhibits many similarities with the stories in 4 Maccabees. Despite circulating among early Christian communities who used versions of the Septuagint that included 4 Maccabees, church councils were generally more skeptical. They did not include the work as canonical nor deuterocanonical. As a result, it is not in the biblical canon for modern Christians. If the Gelasian Decree is taken as an accurate record of the "Damasine canon" compiled by Pope Damasus I (366–383 CE), then neither 3 Maccabees nor 4 Maccabees was in the Western, Latin church's list of canonical books of the 4th century. The book was not translated by Jerome into the Latin Vulgate. As a result, the work was generally obscure in Latin-reading Western Europe.

In the Greek-reading East, it seems the work was more popular, but still failed to be included in later canon lists. The Eastern Orthodox Canon was laid out in the Quinisext Council in Trullo (692 CE). The Trullo list included the first three books of Maccabees, but did not include 4 Maccabees as canonical. Historically, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church printed 4 Maccabees in their Bibles together with the rest of the Old Testament, but this did not entail that they officially considered 4 Maccabees "canonical." More recently, the Greek Church moved it to an appendix and a recent Georgian Bible marks it as "noncanonical." It was included in the 1688 Romanian Orthodox and the 18th-century Romanian Catholic Bibles where it was called "Iosip" (Josephus). It is no longer printed in Romanian Bibles today.

The Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic language Oriental Orthodox Churchs do not include the book as canonical either. Some ancient manuscripts of the Syriac Orthodox church include the work, but this trend eventually stopped.

Manuscripts and translations
4 Maccabees is in two of the three of the most ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint: the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) and the Codex Alexandrinus (5th century). It is not, however, in the Codex Vaticanus. With the exception of the section 5:12-12:1, it is found also in the eight or ninth-century Codex Venetus. There are over 70 extant Greek manuscripts of 4 Maccabees.

Four pre-modern translations of 4 Maccabees are known. There survives a complete Syriac translation, as well as a Latin adaptation under the title Passio Sanctorum Machabaeorum (Suffering of the Holy Maccabees). One of the Syriac versions was titled The Fourth Book of the Maccabees and Their Mother. The Latin text was made around the same time as Ambrose's De Jacob et vita beata (388), which includes an independent partial translation of 4 Maccabees. The Passio was probably completed before the appearance of the Vulgate Bible in 405–406 and was probably produced in Gaul. Fragments of an abridged Sahidic Coptic translation were discovered by Enzo Lucchesi in the 1980s. They have been edited and translated into English. Maximus the Greek produced an abridged Slavonic translation.

The Fourth Book of Maccabees is not in the Vulgate and so is absent from the Apocrypha of the Roman Bible as well as from Protestant Bibles.

Erasmus published at Cologne in 1524 a very free Latin paraphrase of 4 Maccabees, possibly based on the Passio. After the invention of the printing press, 4 Maccabees was first mass printed in a 1526 edition of the Septuagint made in Strasbourg, albeit one based on a less reliable manuscript with a number of printer's errors.

title: 4 Maccabees


text:
Real World Records

Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at Real World Studios, in Box, Wiltshire, England.

History
The goal of its founding in 1989 was to give talented musicians from around the world access to state-of-the-art recording facilities and audiences beyond their geographic region. The musical relationships formed at WOMAD festivals were also intended to lead to new music recordings. As a result, the music label is known for bringing together musicians who share a common interest in music in general. New recording methods and new meeting places are created.

In 1999, the label had sold over 3 million records worldwide and released 90 albums. In 2015, it had reached the mark of over 200 albums.

Many of the released recordings continue to be made at Real World Studios, also founded in 1989, whose facilities support the goals of Real World Records.

In 2011, EMI Music Publishing renewed the distribution deal for the Real World catalogue outside of the United Kingdom, thereby also covering the United States for the first time.

Artists

 * Afro Celt Sound System
 * Ashkhabad
 * Ayub Ogada
 * Bernard Kabanda
 * Big Blue Ball (various artists)
 * Blind Boys of Alabama
 * Charlie Winston
 * Creole Choir of Cuba
 * Dengue Fever
 * Farafina
 * Fatala
 * Geoffrey Oryema
 * Guo Brothers
 * Hoba Hoba Spirit
 * Jasdeep Singh Degun
 * Johnny Kalsi
 * Joi
 * Joseph Arthur
 * Les Amazones d'Afrique
 * Little Axe
 * Mamer
 * Maryam Mursal
 * Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
 * Ozomatli
 * Paban Das Baul
 * Pan-African Orchestra
 * Papa Wemba
 * Peter Gabriel
 * Portico Quartet
 * Rupert Hine
 * Samuel Yirga
 * Sheila Chandra
 * Sevara Nazarkhan
 * Spiro
 * The Imagined Village
 * U. Srinivas
 * Värttinä
 * Yungchen Lhamo

Partial discography

 * ABoneCroneDrone, Sheila Chandra, 1996
 * Among Brothers, Abderrahmane Abdelli, 2003
 * And I'll Scratch Yours, various artists, 2013
 * Atom Bomb, The Blind Boys of Alabama, 2005
 * Beat the Border, Geoffrey Oryema, 1993
 * Big Blue Ball, various artists, 2008 (recorded 1991, 1992, 1995)
 * Big City Secrets, Joseph Arthur, 1997
 * Black Rock, Djivan Gasparyan & Michael Brook, 1998
 * Coming Home, Yungchen Lhamo, 1998
 * Djabote, Doudou Ndiaye Rose, 1992
 * Emotion, Papa Wemba, 1995
 * En Mana Kuoyo, Ayub Ogada, 1993
 * Espace, Tama, 2002
 * Go Tell It On the Mountain, Blind Boys of Alabama, 2003
 * Higher Ground, The Blind Boys of Alabama, with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and special guest Ben Harper, 2002
 * In Your Hands, Charlie Winston, 2009
 * Le Voyageur, Papa Wemba
 * My Songs and a Poem, Estrella Morente, 2001
 * Mustt Mustt, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook, 1990
 * ''New Blood, Peter Gabriel, 2011
 * Night Song, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook, 1995
 * Night to Night, Geoffrey Oryema, 1996
 * Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, Peter Gabriel, 1989
 * Pod, Afro Celt Sound System, 2004
 * Plus from US, various artists, 1993
 * Quick Look, Pina, 2002
 * Rama Sreerama, U. Srinivas, 1994
 * Real Sugar, Paban Das Baul & Sam Mills, 1997
 * Sampradaya, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, with Rahul Sharma, Shafaat Ahmed Khan & Manorama Sharma, 1999
 * Scratch My Back, Peter Gabriel, 2010
 * Serious Tam, Telek, 2000
 * Sezoni, Mara! with Martenitsa Choir, 1999 (original release on Rufus Records, 1997)
 * Songs for the Poor Man, Remmy Ongala, 1989
 * The Journey, Maryam Mursal, 1998
 * The Last Prophet, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party, 1994
 * The Truth (Ny Marina), The Justin Vali Trio, 1995
 * The Zen Kiss, Sheila Chandra, 1994
 * Tibet, Tibet, Yungchen Lhamo, 1996
 * Trance, Hassan Hakmoun and Zahar, 1993
 * Untold Things, Jocelyn Pook, 2001
 * Up, Peter Gabriel, 2002
 * Us, Peter Gabriel, 1992
 * Volume 2: Release, Afro Celt Sound System, 1999
 * Volume 3: Further in Time, Afro Celt Sound System, 2001
 * Weaving My Ancestor's Voices Sheila Chandra, 1992
 * Yo‘l Bo‘lsin, Sevara Nazarkhan, 2003

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

title: Real World Records


text:
Outline of working time and conditions

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to working time and conditions:

Legislation

 * See Category:Employment law

Working time

 * See Category:Working time
 * Flextime

Working conditions

 * Biosafety level
 * Casual Friday
 * Decent work
 * Dress code
 * Gainful employment
 * Happiness at work
 * Industrial noise
 * Industrial and organizational psychology
 * Managing up and managing down
 * Office humor
 * Occupational justice
 * Occupational safety and health
 * Occupational Safety and Health Administration
 * Protective clothing
 * Temporary work
 * Whistleblower
 * Work–life balance
 * Workplace politics

Adverse conditions

 * Employment discrimination
 * Workplace bullying
 * Legal aspects of workplace bullying
 * Organizational retaliatory behavior
 * Workplace deviance
 * Hostile work environment
 * Work accident
 * Occupational apartheid
 * Occupational stress
 * Occupational injustice
 * Work–family conflict
 * Workplace incivility
 * Job lock
 * Unpaid work

title: Outline of working time and conditions


text:
Logarithmic form

In algebraic geometry and the theory of complex manifolds, a logarithmic differential form is a differential form with poles of a certain kind. The concept was introduced by Pierre Deligne. In short, logarithmic differentials have the mildest possible singularities needed in order to give information about an open submanifold (the complement of the divisor of poles). (This idea is made precise by several versions of de Rham's theorem discussed below.)

Let X be a complex manifold, D ⊂ X a reduced divisor (a sum of distinct codimension-1 complex subspaces), and ω a holomorphic p-form on X−D. If both ω and dω have a pole of order at most 1 along D, then ω is said to have a logarithmic pole along D. ω is also known as a logarithmic p-form. The p-forms with log poles along D form a subsheaf of the meromorphic p-forms on X, denoted
 * $$\Omega^p_X(\log D).$$

The name comes from the fact that in complex analysis, $$d(\log z)=dz/z$$; here $$dz/z$$ is a typical example of a 1-form on the complex numbers C with a logarithmic pole at the origin. Differential forms such as $$dz/z$$ make sense in a purely algebraic context, where there is no analog of the logarithm function.

Logarithmic de Rham complex
Let X be a complex manifold and D a reduced divisor on X. By definition of $$\Omega^p_X(\log D)$$ and the fact that the exterior derivative d satisfies d2 = 0, one has
 * $$ d\Omega^p_X(\log D)(U)\subset \Omega^{p+1}_X(\log D)(U)$$

for every open subset U of X. Thus the logarithmic differentials form a complex of sheaves $$( \Omega^{\bullet}_X(\log D), d) $$, known as the logarithmic de Rham complex associated to the divisor D. This is a subcomplex of the direct image $$ j_*(\Omega^{\bullet}_{X-D}) $$, where $$ j:X-D\rightarrow X $$ is the inclusion and $$ \Omega^{\bullet}_{X-D} $$ is the complex of sheaves of holomorphic forms on X−D.

Of special interest is the case where D has normal crossings: that is, D is locally a sum of codimension-1 complex submanifolds that intersect transversely. In this case, the sheaf of logarithmic differential forms is the subalgebra of $$j_*(\Omega^{\bullet}_{X-D})$$ generated by the holomorphic differential forms $$\Omega^{\bullet}_X$$ together with the 1-forms $$df/f$$ for holomorphic functions $$f$$ that are nonzero outside D. Note that
 * $$\frac{d(fg)}{fg}=\frac{df}{f}+\frac{dg}{g}.$$

Concretely, if D is a divisor with normal crossings on a complex manifold X, then each point x has an open neighborhood U on which there are holomorphic coordinate functions $$z_1,\ldots,z_n$$ such that x is the origin and D is defined by the equation $$ z_1\cdots z_k = 0 $$ for some $$0\leq k\leq n$$. On the open set U, sections of $$ \Omega^1_X(\log D) $$ are given by
 * $$\Omega_X^1(\log D) = \mathcal{O}_{X}\frac{dz_1}{z_1}\oplus\cdots\oplus\mathcal{O}_{X}\frac{dz_k}{z_k} \oplus \mathcal{O}_{X}dz_{k+1} \oplus \cdots \oplus \mathcal{O}_{X}dz_n.$$

This describes the holomorphic vector bundle $$\Omega_X^1(\log D)$$ on $$X$$. Then, for any $$k\geq 0$$, the vector bundle $$\Omega^k_X(\log D)$$ is the kth exterior power,
 * $$ \Omega_X^k(\log D) = \bigwedge^k \Omega_X^1(\log D).$$

The logarithmic tangent bundle $$TX(-\log D)$$ means the dual vector bundle to $$\Omega^1_X(\log D)$$. Explicitly, a section of $$TX(-\log D)$$ is a holomorphic vector field on X that is tangent to D at all smooth points of D.

Logarithmic differentials and singular cohomology
Let X be a complex manifold and D a divisor with normal crossings on X. Deligne proved a holomorphic analog of de Rham's theorem in terms of logarithmic differentials. Namely,
 * $$ H^k(X, \Omega^{\bullet}_X(\log D))\cong H^k(X-D,\mathbf{C}),$$

where the left side denotes the cohomology of X with coefficients in a complex of sheaves, sometimes called hypercohomology. This follows from the natural inclusion of complexes of sheaves
 * $$ \Omega^{\bullet}_X(\log D)\rightarrow j_*\Omega_{X-D}^{\bullet} $$

being a quasi-isomorphism.

Logarithmic differentials in algebraic geometry
In algebraic geometry, the vector bundle of logarithmic differential p-forms $$\Omega^p_X(\log D)$$ on a smooth scheme X over a field, with respect to a divisor $$D = \sum D_j$$ with simple normal crossings, is defined as above: sections of $$\Omega^p_X(\log D)$$ are (algebraic) differential forms ω on $$X-D$$ such that both ω and dω have a pole of order at most one along D. Explicitly, for a closed point x that lies in $$D_j$$ for $$1 \le j \le k$$ and not in $$D_j$$ for $$j > k$$, let $$u_j$$ be regular functions on some open neighborhood U of x such that $$D_j$$ is the closed subscheme defined by $$u_j=0$$ inside U for $$1 \le j \le k$$, and x is the closed subscheme of U defined by $$u_1=\cdots=u_n=0$$. Then a basis of sections of $$\Omega^1_X(\log D)$$ on U is given by:
 * $${du_1 \over u_1}, \dots, {du_k \over u_k}, \, du_{k+1}, \dots, du_n.$$

This describes the vector bundle $$\Omega^1_X(\log D)$$ on X, and then $$\Omega^p_X(\log D)$$ is the pth exterior power of $$\Omega^1_X(\log D)$$.

There is an exact sequence of coherent sheaves on X:
 * $$0 \to \Omega^1_X \to \Omega^1_X(\log D) \overset{\beta}\to \oplus_j ({i_j})_*\mathcal{O}_{D_j} \to 0,$$

where $$i_j: D_j \to X$$ is the inclusion of an irreducible component of D. Here β is called the residue map; so this sequence says that a 1-form with log poles along D is regular (that is, has no poles) if and only if its residues are zero. More generally, for any p ≥ 0, there is an exact sequence of coherent sheaves on X:
 * $$0 \to \Omega^p_X \to \Omega^p_X(\log D) \overset{\beta}\to \oplus_j ({i_j})_*\Omega^{p-1}_{D_j}(\log (D-D_j)) \to \cdots \to 0,$$

where the sums run over all irreducible components of given dimension of intersections of the divisors Dj. Here again, β is called the residue map.

Explicitly, on an open subset of $$X$$ that only meets one component $$D_j$$ of $$D$$, with $$D_j$$ locally defined by $$f=0$$, the residue of a logarithmic $$p$$-form along $$D_j$$ is determined by: the residue of a regular p-form is zero, whereas
 * $$\text{Res}_{D_j}\bigg(\frac{df}{f}\wedge \alpha\bigg)=\alpha|_{D_j}$$

for any regular $$(p-1)$$-form $$\alpha$$. Some authors define the residue by saying that $$\alpha\wedge(df/f)$$ has residue $$\alpha|_{D_j}$$, which differs from the definition here by the sign $$(-1)^{p-1}$$.

Example of the residue
Over the complex numbers, the residue of a differential form with log poles along a divisor $$D_j$$ can be viewed as the result of integration over loops in $$X$$ around $$D_j$$. In this context, the residue may be called the Poincaré residue.

For an explicit example, consider an elliptic curve D in the complex projective plane $$\mathbf{P}^2=\{ [x,y,z]\}$$, defined in affine coordinates $$z=1$$ by the equation $$g(x,y) = y^2 - f(x) = 0,$$ where $$f(x) = x(x-1)(x-\lambda)$$ and $$\lambda\neq 0,1$$ is a complex number. Then D is a smooth hypersurface of degree 3 in $$\mathbf{P}^2$$ and, in particular, a divisor with simple normal crossings. There is a meromorphic 2-form on $$\mathbf{P}^2$$ given in affine coordinates by
 * $$\omega =\frac{dx\wedge dy}{g(x,y)},$$

which has log poles along D. Because the canonical bundle $$K_{\mathbf{P}^2}=\Omega^2_{\mathbf{P}^2}$$ is isomorphic to the line bundle $$\mathcal{O}(-3)$$, the divisor of poles of $$\omega$$ must have degree 3. So the divisor of poles of $$\omega$$ consists only of D (in particular, $$\omega$$ does not have a pole along the line $$z=0$$ at infinity). The residue of ω along D is given by the holomorphic 1-form
 * $$ \text{Res}_D(\omega) = \left. \frac{dy}{\partial g/\partial x} \right |_D =\left. -\frac{dx}{\partial g/\partial y} \right |_D = \left. -\frac{1}{2}\frac{dx}{y} \right |_D. $$

It follows that $$dx/y|_D $$ extends to a holomorphic one-form on the projective curve D in $$\mathbf{P}^2$$, an elliptic curve.

The residue map $$H^0(\mathbf{P}^2,\Omega^2_{\mathbf{P}^2}(\log D))\to H^0(D,\Omega^1_D)$$ considered here is part of a linear map $$H^2(\mathbf{P}^2-D,\mathbf{C})\to H^1(D,\mathbf{C})$$, which may be called the "Gysin map". This is part of the Gysin sequence associated to any smooth divisor D in a complex manifold X:
 * $$\cdots \to H^{j-2}(D)\to H^j(X)\to H^j(X-D)\to H^{j-1}(D)\to\cdots.$$

Historical terminology
In the 19th-century theory of elliptic functions, 1-forms with logarithmic poles were sometimes called integrals of the second kind (and, with an unfortunate inconsistency, sometimes differentials of the third kind). For example, the Weierstrass zeta function associated to a lattice $$\Lambda$$ in C was called an "integral of the second kind" to mean that it could be written
 * $$\zeta(z)=\frac{\sigma'(z)}{\sigma(z)}.$$

In modern terms, it follows that $$\zeta(z)dz=d\sigma/\sigma$$ is a 1-form on C with logarithmic poles on $$\Lambda$$, since $$\Lambda$$ is the zero set of the Weierstrass sigma function $$\sigma(z).$$

Mixed Hodge theory for smooth varieties
Over the complex numbers, Deligne proved a strengthening of Alexander Grothendieck's algebraic de Rham theorem, relating coherent sheaf cohomology with singular cohomology. Namely, for any smooth scheme X over C with a divisor with simple normal crossings D, there is a natural isomorphism
 * $$ H^k(X, \Omega^{\bullet}_X(\log D)) \cong H^k(X-D,\mathbf{C})$$

for each integer k, where the groups on the left are defined using the Zariski topology and the groups on the right use the classical (Euclidean) topology.

Moreover, when X is smooth and proper over C, the resulting spectral sequence
 * $$E_1^{pq} = H^q(X,\Omega^p_X(\log D)) \Rightarrow H^{p+q}(X-D,\mathbf{C})$$

degenerates at $$E_1$$. So the cohomology of $$X-D$$ with complex coefficients has a decreasing filtration, the Hodge filtration, whose associated graded vector spaces are the algebraically defined groups $$H^q(X,\Omega^p_X(\log D))$$.

This is part of the mixed Hodge structure which Deligne defined on the cohomology of any complex algebraic variety. In particular, there is also a weight filtration on the rational cohomology of $$X-D$$. The resulting filtration on $$H^*(X-D,\mathbf{C})$$ can be constructed using the logarithmic de Rham complex. Namely, define an increasing filtration $$W_{\bullet} \Omega^p_X(\log D) $$ by
 * $$W_{m}\Omega^p_X(\log D) = \begin{cases}

0 & m < 0\\ \Omega^{p-m}_X\cdot \Omega^m_X(\log D) & 0\leq m \leq p\\ \Omega^p_X(\log D) & m\geq p. \end{cases} $$ The resulting filtration on cohomology is the weight filtration:
 * $$ W_mH^k(X-D, \mathbf{C}) = \text{Im}(H^k(X, W_{m-k}\Omega^{\bullet}_X(\log D))\rightarrow H^k(X-D,\mathbf{C})).$$

Building on these results, Hélène Esnault and Eckart Viehweg generalized the Kodaira–Akizuki–Nakano vanishing theorem in terms of logarithmic differentials. Namely, let X be a smooth complex projective variety of dimension n, D a divisor with simple normal crossings on X, and L an ample line bundle on X. Then
 * $$H^q(X,\Omega^p_X(\log D)\otimes L)=0$$

and
 * $$H^q(X,\Omega^p_X(\log D)\otimes O_X(-D)\otimes L)=0$$

for all $$p+q>n$$.

title: Logarithmic form


text:
Talk:Afro Celt Sound System

Untitled
"Realworld records". Normally spelled with a space. I have created an article on "Real World Records".

Link suggestions
An automated Wikipedia link suggester has some possible wiki link suggestions for the Afro_Celt_Sound_System article, and they have been placed on this page for your convenience. Tip: Some people find it helpful if these suggestions are shown on this talk page, rather than on another page. To do this, just add to this page. — LinkBot 01:01, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Sources belong on the talk page until used!
There was a link farm of both fan sites, links to listen to, or download music-- commercial sales references that do not qualify for use, and others just as unusable, or I would have placed them here for later use. Sources do not belong in the External links section! Please in the future, place them here. Thanks! --Leahtwosaints (talk) 07:02, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Tone
This has got a few overripe bits of language such as "an energetic global fusion the likes of which the music world had not yet seen." Can we pull it back from the brink of fandom please? best wishes DBaK (talk) 22:49, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Death of Simon Emmerson
Simon Emmerson died in March 2023. 173.88.246.138 (talk) 05:02, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Afro Celt Sound System


text:
The Wenlock Arms

The Wenlock Arms is a public house in Hoxton, in London's East End, which began trading in 1787. The pub is located halfway between Old Street and Angel, just off the City Road and the City Road Basin and Wenlock Basin on the Regent's Canal. The pub has won awards for the quality and range of its cask ales.

History
The Wenlock Arms first opened for business in 1787 and was operated by the nearby Wenlock Brewery as a "brewery tap".

John Lane (1808–1873) owned and ran the Wenlock Brewery from 1840 until his death, initially as "Lane & Bowden" (the 1842 Post Office Directory mentions “LANE & BOWDEN, Ale Brewers, 9 Wenlock Road”). John's brother-in-law, John Mitchell (1813–1868), was brewery foreman in 1851 (mentioned in the census). Various other members of the Mitchell family worked at the brewery from time to time. These included John Mitchell's older brother Thomas (mentioned in the census as being foreman at the brewery in 1871), another John Mitchell (a cousin; c. 1820–1849), as well as at least three of John Lane's brothers. Yet another John Mitchell, John Hoffe Mitchell, was joint executor of John Lane's will.

In 1873, ownership passed to John Lane's youngest son, Robert George. Robert, after brewing in Alton, Hampshire, and marrying Parisienne Louise Marie Julienne Isabel Jean dit Saussay in 1876, died of pneumonia in 1880, aged only 31. After this the brewery became the property of one Richard Alfred Glover, before being taken over by Glover Bell & Co in 1887.

John Lane, his wife Eliza Beaven (Mitchell), four of their children – including Robert George and another son Frederick (who committed suicide by shooting himself in 1874) – are buried in Abney Park Cemetery. Buried next to them are members of the Mitchell family.

When the New London Brewery, of Lambeth, London, went into voluntary liquidation on 13 January 1925, their licensed houses were bought by the Wenlock Brewery.

Wenlock Fireside Ale was recreated starting from 1 November 1999 by the Museum Brewery, Burton, and was available throughout the year 2000.

Building and interior
The pub building, built in 1835, is a survivor of the wartime bombing of the area, and retains a traditional pub interior.

Cask ale
The Wenlock Arms is a renowned cask ale public house in London, and has been named North London Pub of the Year by the local CAMRA branch on four occasions since it reopened in 1994. The pub competes in the north category, despite its East End location, as CAMRA use postal districts to define their competition sectors.

Cultural references
"Terror at Wenlock Brewery" was published in 1998 by Stephen Sadler, and tells of The Blitz.

David Beckham used to join his grandfather for drinks at the Wenlock Arms, even after he became a superstar.

The Wenlock Arms features in the opening titles of the television show Al Murray's Compete for the Meat.

The Wenlock Arms was used as a location for Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's film The World's End, released in 2013 starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, and Rosamund Pike.

Conservation
In September 2010, news emerged that the Wenlock Arms was planned to be demolished, and in response a campaign to save the pub was started. On 7 September 2011, an application to demolish the existing building and replace it with a new development was registered with Hackney Council. The consultation period ran until 10 October 2011. There was also a new application (October 2012).

The Wenlock arms is now in a conservation area, and receives protection as a result. The decision to extend the Regents Canal Conservation Area was taken by Hackney Council (Cabinet) on 19 December 2011. After a period of closure, the pub was finally rescued after a vigorous campaign led by the local community and CAMRA. It reopened on 3 June 2013. The pub itself underwent renovation, floors upstairs being extended for residential accommodation.

title: The Wenlock Arms


text:
Talk:Criticism of Walmart

Biased by definition of the title
The very title of this article states it as a biased view point, containing only criticism of Walmart. In this article numerous complaints against Walmart are described but it is rarely mentioned what Walmart did to address those issues, nor are any beneficial activities of Walmart mentioned, such as:

Hurricane Katrina ravaged America’s Gulf Coast. The storm hit some of Walmart’s stores and clubs. Some of the company’s employees lost their homes and savings; a few lost their lives. Still, Walmart associates in the region rose to meet the challenges.

One store manager in Waveland, Mississippi, took a bulldozer to clear a path into and through her store, finding every dry item she could to give to neighbors who needed shoes, socks, food and water. "She didn’t call the Home Office and ask permission," Scott noted. "She just did the right thing."

In Katrina’s aftermath, government agencies, relief agencies and communities turned to Walmart (and other companies) to help. Walmart, with its sophisticated and highly efficient logistics operation, was able to get supplies to where they were needed far faster than federal and state agencies could. It was a shining moment for the company, and some much-needed positive press.

I do not work for Walmart, but upon reading this article it simply struct me as biased, one sided and unfair. There are statements such as:

While Walmart did "stabilize" the landslide, many residents said that Walmart merely stabilized the hillside so that it could continue with work to build the store.

What information did these residents have as to Walmart's motive? How was this landslide Walmart's fault? Might this not have happened to anyone attempting to construct a building on this site? Was there any reason to think that an attempt to build on the site would cause such a landslide? If that were even the case, would not the responsibility fall upon the city's build and zoning department to deny the construction request, or insist that certain precautions be taken? And after all this despite the unsubstantiated claim that "Walmart merely stabilized the hillside so that it could continue with work to build the store", the store was not constructed on this site, but was built somewhere else. Doesn't this run counter to the claim that "Walmart merely stabilized the hillside so that it could continue with work to build the store"?

This is one example, if you read through this article, you will see many other places where it is stated that so and so claims that… and opponents say…, etc. Just because they say it does not make it so. Perhaps instead of an article that is titled "Criticism of Walmart" it should be titled "The Reputation of Walmart" and should included at least some discussion of things that Walmart is trying to do right like the Katrina example I gave above. Don't get me wrong,I think Walmart has many issues, not the least of which is that many of their products are imported, taking jobs away from US workers, but I think the subject deserves a fair discussion, and this article is not it.

To quote "Criticism of Wikipedia"

The purpose of the Wikipedia project has been criticized for the uneven handling, acceptance, and retention of articles about controversial subjects.

and

Further concerns are that the organization allows the participation of anonymous editors (facilitating editorial vandalism); the existence of social stratification (allowing cliques); and over-complicated rules (allowing editorial quarrels), which conditions permit the misuse of Wikipedia.

Unreliable content; in “Wikipedia: The Dumbing Down of World Knowledge” (2010), Edwin Black characterized the editorial content of articles as a mixture of “truth, half-truth, and some falsehoods”.[1] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.115.249.137 (talk • contribs) 19 November 2015 10:52 (UTC)

=Walmartsucks.com page = Walmartsucks.com was a website created by a "a disgruntled customer" which created a long running dispute with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart filed a case with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against the walmartsucks.com website. Wal-mart accused Kenneth J. Harvey, owner of walmartsucks.com, of attempting to extort money from Wal-Mart. Harvey asked Wal-Mart for 5 million dollars for the site. Harvey said it was "as a joke", what representatives of Wal-Mart called "extortion". "The WIPO [later] changed its opinion in light of US law."

Additions
I suggest we add a section summarizing the information present on the Walmart opioids settlement article. Roasted (talk) 06:27, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Criticism of Walmart


text:
Cedar Bluff

Cedar Bluff is the name of cities in the United States:

 * Cedar Bluff, Alabama
 * Cedar Bluff, Iowa
 * Cedar Bluff, Mississippi
 * Cedar Bluff, Virginia

Also:
 * Cedar Bluff Reservoir, Trego County, Kansas
 * Cedar Bluff State Park, Trego County, Kansas
 * Cedar Bluff (Union, South Carolina), a NRHP-listed house
 * Cedar Bluff, a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee

title: Cedar Bluff


text:
Mielec County

Mielec County (powiat mielecki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland. Its administrative seat and largest town is Mielec, which lies 50 km north-west of the regional capital Rzeszów. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. The only other towns in the county are Radomyśl Wielki, lying 16 km south-west of Mielec, and Przecław, 11 km south of Mielec.

The county covers an area of 880.21 km2. As of 30 VI 2019 its total population was 136,591, out of which the population of Mielec was 60,366, that of Radomyśl Wielki 3,231, and the rural population 72,994 (including approximately 1775 for the population of Przecław, which became a town in 2010).

Neighbouring counties
Mielec County is bordered by Staszów County and Tarnobrzeg County to the north, Kolbuszowa County to the east, Ropczyce-Sędziszów County and Dębica County to the south, and Dąbrowa County to the west.

Administrative division
The county is subdivided into 10 gminas (one urban, two urban-rural and seven rural). These are listed in the following table, in descending order of population.

title: Mielec County


text:
User talk:Gteschl~enwiki

Home page

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Gteschl. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Gteschl~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 00:11, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 13:28, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Gteschl~enwiki


text:
Munster, Haut-Rhin

Munster (Münster im Elsass) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is located in the valley of the river Fecht, in the Vosges mountains about 15 kilometres west of Colmar on the D417 road to the Col de la Schlucht and Épinal.

The site of a 7th-century abbey or monastery, which gave the place its name, it is famous for its cheese (the Munster cheese).

Population
The town's inhabitants are known in French as munstériens.

People

 * Albert Schweitzer grew up in the nearby village of Gunsbach in the late 19th century, when the region was known as Elsaß-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine) and was part of the German Empire. The village is home to the international Albert Schweitzer association AISL (Association Internationale Schweitzer Lambaréné).
 * Dom George Franck (c.1690 – 1760) organist and composer was born in Munster.

title: Munster, Haut-Rhin


text:
Quilty

Quilty is an Irish family name which has spread throughout the English-speaking world.

Origins and history
The name "Quilty" is an Anglicized form of the ancient Gaelic name of "Caoilte" (pronounced: Kweelteh). There was a mythic Celtic warrior (c. 3rd Century A.D.) by the name of Caílte mac Rónáin, who was a member of the Fianna and the nephew of Fionn mac Cumhaill. According to legend he lived long enough to be baptized by St. Patrick (c.389-461). The book "If You're A Wee Bit Irish: a chart of old Irish families collected from folk tradition" by William Durning (1978) recounts an alleged ancestry of Caoilte back to Adam. James Joyce (1882–1941) in chapter twelve of his masterpiece, Ulysses, (1922) has "The tribe of Caolte" as one of the twelve tribes of Ireland in a biblical parallel to the twelve tribes of Israel. Quilty is also a small town in County Clare Ireland, though this quilty is an anglicization of a different Irish word "coillte" meaning "woods". The name is considered a sept of the dynastic Dál gCais of the Kingdom of Thomond, and has the motto "Lámh Ládir an Nachtar" meaning "the strong hand uppermost."

There are various spellings of the name: Caoilte, Caolte, and Cuallta in Gaelic, and Kielty, Kealty, Keelty, Keilty, Kelty, Kilty, and Quilty (with or without an O' or Mc or Mac) in English. The most common variants are Kielty and Quilty. The name is possibly a derivation of caol meaning slender.

In 1850 there were over 75 families bearing the name of "Quilty" in Ireland, over half of them in County Limerick. As of 2005, there were about 300 families bearing the name of "Quilty" in the United States alone, almost half them in the northeast, with the highest concentrations in the states of Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Illinois, and California.

Notable people with the surname

 * Andrew Quilty, Australian photographer, cousin of Ben
 * Ben Quilty (born 1973), Australian painter
 * Johnny Quilty (1921–1969), Canadian ice hockey player
 * Michelle Quilty (1990–), Irish camogie player
 * Sean Quilty (1966–2022), Australian Olympic marathon runner
 * Sylvester "Silver" Quilty (1891–1976), Canadian football player
 * Tom Quilty (1887–1979), Australian station owner, philanthropist and poet
 * Tim Quilty, Australian politician.

Fictional characters with the name Quilty

 * Bridie Quilty, protagonist in the film I See a Dark Stranger (1941), played by Deborah Kerr
 * Clare Quilty, a fictional character in the 1955 novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Other uses of the name Quilty

 * Places
 * Quilty, County Clare, is a village on the west coast of Ireland
 * Quilty Nunataks, a geographic feature of Antarctica named for geologist Patrick Quilty
 * In music
 * Quilty was an Irish folk group named after the Clare village, mainly hailing from County Londonderry, who released one album entitled "Music of Ireland" through Arfolk/Escalibur in 1979.
 * Clare Quilty is a rock group from Virginia, USA, named for the character from Lolita
 * In fiction
 * The Quilties are a fictional race in the novel The Gnome King of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson
 * Media
 * Quilty was an American magazine published by F+W between 2011 and 2018.

title: Quilty


text:
Wenlock Basin

The Wenlock Basin, is a 320 metre long canal basin on the Regent's Canal, in the Hoxton area of the London Borough of Hackney, United Kingdom. The City Road Basin lies just to the west of Wharf Road and is in the neighbouring London Borough of Islington.

There are private residential moorings at the North end, with their own entrance gate and entryphone on Wharf Road. The basin itself narrows considerably towards the South - and is not deep enough to be navigable by anything other than canoe.

Unlike the Regent's Canal and City Road Basin, Wenlock Basin is not owned or managed by the Canal & River Trust.

History
The basin was constructed in 1826 and is close to the entrance of the Islington Tunnel, where a tug service operated until the 1930s. The opening of the basin went badly wrong, with the cofferdam separating it from the Canal collapsing, prematurely filling the basin and leading to the water level of the canal falling by 13 inches. Traffic on the canal was halted until rainfall could restore the water levels.

The basin took the name of Wenlock Barns, a local farm. The name Wenlock was used by an electoral ward of the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, it was also, for a time, the name of a ward in the London Borough of Hackney.

Residential developments
Wenlock Basin is accessible only to residents. The development consists of the following buildings:
 * The Royle Building, one of the earliest schemes on the basin, originally the Royle printworks at the junction of the Regent's Canal and Wenlock Basin. Converted to almost 100 loft apartments with a small number of bachelor apartments newly built on the roof during the conversion.
 * The Canal Building, next to the Royle Building and extending more directly along Regent's Canal, is an art-deco style warehouse originally refurbished and sold as 79 shells.
 * Union Wharf, A development of 90 loft-style apartments and live/work units designed and built by Persimmon Homes (formerly the Beazer Group).
 * Estilo, A mixed-use development of 43 one, two and three-bedroom units overlooking Wenlock Basin completed in 2006 by Telford Homes.
 * Micawber Wharf, a development of 18 studios, flats and live work/units completed in 2008. Designed by Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects, and developed by Isotop.
 * The Wenlock Building, New mixed use development of 82 units on the west side of the basin at its junction with the Regent's Canal. Design by Johnson Naylor Architects, developed in a joint venture between Londonewcastle and Modern City Living, completed in late 2008.

Businesses
While no longer serving the original cargo handling and warehousing business, a number of modern businesses have office space on Wenlock Basin, either in the ground floor business units of the larger residential developments - or in their own property directly backing on to the basin. They include the Victoria Miro Gallery, a leading British contemporary art gallery in London run by Victoria Miro, and the British Ecological Society, a learned society in the field of Ecology.

title: Wenlock Basin


text:
Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Precedents

This is an archive of a few past RFD discussions, listed here because they illustrate a precedent.

These discussions are no longer active; please do not edit them.

Should extremely rare typo redirects be kept?
No.

 * Deleted: Espewranto → Esperanto.
 * Deleted: George Woshingtin → George Washington.

Should plural redirects with no links from the article space be kept?
Yes.

 * Kept: Orcs → Orc.

Should ancient CamelCase redirects be kept?
For those who don't know what this is about: In the very early days of Wikipedia, they didn't have the  syntax for links - instead, any word in CamelCase was a link. Article names were all in CamelCase so the links could find them. When they switched to the new syntax, all the articles were renamed, but redirects were left behind for e.g. offsite links. If deleted, make sure to check to see if the redirect includes the edit history of the article. (See also Template:R from CamelCase).

Yes, in general. (This is particularly true if the redirect includes the edit history of the article.)
 * Kept: AbdicatioN → Abdication
 * Kept: SelfExplanatory → Self-explanatory
 * Kept: AustriaLanguage → Austrian language
 * Kept: TopOlogy → Topology
 * Kept: FinlanD → Finland

No, if Google can find no links to it.
 * Deleted: SurJection → Surjection.
 * Deleted: SocceR → Soccer.

Should redirects from city names in other languages be kept?
Yes, if they are either i) forms that were ever commonly used in English, or ii) forms in the native language(s) of the city.

 * Kept: Beyrouth → Beirut
 * Kept: Warschau → Warsaw

Should redirects from lengthy full names be kept?
Yes.

 * Kept: John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute → John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute.

Should redirects to other spaces be kept?
There appears to be no hard and fast rule for redirects from one namespace to another, although they are often inherently suspect. In general, they are kept if there is enough support/usage for them, but short a high level of usage, they are often deleted.

Redirects from the main article namespace to other namespaces (Wikipedia:, Meta:, all Talk:, etc) are particularly problematic, as Avoid self-references explains, since many sites take only a copy of the Wikipedia article content, without taking the rest of the system. A good initial filter is that redirects from the article namespace to other namespaces should only exist if there's no usage outside Wikipedia for the term. (Use of the Selfref template may also be appropriate.)

Yes.

 * Kept: VfD → Wikipedia:Votes for deletion
 * Kept: Recent Changes → Wikipedia:Recent Changes
 * Kept: No personal attacks → Wikipedia:No personal attacks
 * Kept: Assume good faith → Wikipedia:Assume good faith
 * Kept: Wikipedia is not paper → Meta:Wiki is not paper
 * Kept: Wikipedia:Don't be a dick → Meta:Don't be a dick

(Note: This precedent is out of date; The last (Wikipedia: to Meta:) redirect has been kept, but all the others have been retargeted to the article namespace or deleted.)

No.

 * Deleted: Redlink → Wikipedia:Redlink
 * Deleted: Admin → Wikipedia:Administrators
 * Deleted: Confessed Wikipediholics → Wikipedia:Confessed Wikipediholics
 * Deleted: Fangush → Wikipedia:Fangush
 * Removed: Redirection -> Wikipedia:Redirect (turned into redirect to Redirect instead)
 * Deleted: Kill the socks → WP:SOCK
 * Deleted: Deletionism → Meta:Deletionism
 * Deleted: Sofixit → Template:Sofixit
 * Deleted: BEEFSTEW → User:Dpbsmith/BEEFSTEW
 * Replaced: User:JimRaynor → Jim Raynor

Should insulting nickname redirects be kept?
The general rule of thumb is that if there is evidence that they are widely used, they are kept (although they may be redirected to a relevant article about nicknames, rather than left pointing directly to the subject), but failing that, they are often deleted.

Yes.

 * Kept: Dumbya → George W. Bush (left pointing to List of U.S. Presidential nicknames)
 * Kept: Slick Willy → Bill Clinton (ditto)
 * Kept: Algore → Al Gore
 * Kept: Butcher of Baghdad → Saddam Hussein
 * Kept: Smirking Chimp → George W. Bush (turned into a stub about the website of that name)

No.

 * Deleted: Commander Codpiece → George W. Bush
 * Deleted: Dangerous warhead → George W. Bush
 * Deleted: Dubyass → George W. Bush
 * Deleted: Illiterate cowboy → George W. Bush
 * Deleted: Jarge Shrubya → George W. Bush
 * Deleted: Dunse → George W. Bush
 * Deleted: Religious nut → George W. Bush


text:
Talk:Districts of Germany

Cities with over 100,000 inhabitants that are no urban districts
The article says that in Northrine-Westfalia, there are several cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants that nevertheless belong to a rural district. In the list, the towns of Iserlohn and Witten were mentioned as examples. However, Iserlohn has never had more than 100,000 inhabitants (it has some 95,000 plus), and Witten has lost some inhabitants and now only has some 98,000 plus. Therefore, I deleted these two city names, since they are no longer (or have never been) appropriate examples.

I don't know why, but both Iserlohn and Witten are often incorrectly referred to as cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants - but only in the English Wikipedia. I've already read that in several other (English) articles before. I can understand that in the case of Witten, which has once been a major city, but I wonder whoever started to claim that Iserlohn was a major city. It has never been, and the assumption that it is will not become less wrong, if a wrong claim is quoted and referred to regularly ... ;) All the information that I give here can easily be checked by visiting these two city articles in the English or German Wikipedia.

--79.253.234.19 (talk) 16:08, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

I've now added the city of Moers (in the list mentioned above), which has a little more than 100,000 inhabitants but belongs to the Kreis of Wesel.

---79.253.241.25 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 12:50, 27 November 2010 (UTC).

Untitled
I've moved this here from List of German districts after realising it's no longer a list, but only links to the two sublists. Those sublists would be too long to go on one page. There are however lots of links from other pages to List of German districts so I am leaving that page as a redirect. Hope that is OK. Saintswithin 11:03, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

District Parliament // Kreistag and District administration // Landrat
According to the article text: "The district parliament, the Kreistag, is a representative organ of the district and is responsible for local self-administration. It has only executive, but no legislative powers." [emphasis added] and "The district administration is chaired by an officer known as Landrat or Landrätin." It would seem to me that the latter is actually the executive, while the parliament (as deliberative assemblies tend to be) is the legislative. Is this a typographical error (Kreistag actually is legislative) or am I just mistaken and the Germans do things a little differently? Thnx hellenica 14:50, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

 * No, you are right. The "Kreistag" (the parliament (-tag) of the Land(kreis)) is the legislative, whereas the administration and the executive is with the Landrat/Landrätin. -- till we ☼ ☽ | Talk 18:57, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
 * This comment may come quite late after more than seven years, but the formula Kreistag = legislative, Landrat = executive is not correct from a legal point of view; in books on German local administrative law, it is often emphasised that the Kreistage (and the same goes for city councils) are themselves part of the executive, just like the Landrat - executive powers are shared between the two. Kreistage do not possess legislative powers, which, in Germany, are located at the state and federal level only. SchnitteUK (talk) 16:07, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

country vs district
There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia_talk:German-speaking_Wikipedians%27_notice_board trying to reach a broad consensus as to use the term county (as used by the German foreign ministry) or the term district as currently used in a lot of articles of the German area term Landkreis. Agathoclea 11:04, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I agree. A district is a county. Gerhard51 22:25, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Please see the discussion at Wikipedia talk:German-speaking Wikipedians' notice board/Archive 2, in particular the link to the PDF from the EU, where they explicitly recommend translating this term as "district". The page should be moved back to its previous name. —Angr 08:59, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree with Angr. "District" is standard form across all German district-related articles. I see no reason to move this page to a different name, and all previous discussions we had favored "district" over "county" as the better term. We use "county" only as "territory ruled by a count". The page should be moved back. Kusma (talk) 19:22, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
 * We use "county" only as "territory ruled by a count" I don't think this accurately reflects common usage of the term "county" in Germany (when Germans are speaking English). It is perfectly common in Germany, in oral use as well as in writing, to use the word "county" in reference to the counties of, say, the United States or Ireland, which are not (and in the case of the U.S., have never in their history been) ruled by a count. SchnitteUK (talk) 16:11, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

 * I've placed a note on Gerhard's user page asking if he'd make a comment, as I feel it would be a bit rude to change it back without asking, after he has gone to such trouble to change it. On the other hand, I also went to a lot of trouble to find a good translation :-) so I hope Gerhard will please look at the discussion, and perhaps also the definition of county, and note that "district" is the term used in all the other Wikipedia articles on the topic. Thanks, Saint|swithin 12:23, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

 * BTW, Gerhard, just as an illustration, you put a link to the Federal Ministry of the Interior which uses the word "county" once; if you look on their webpage you will find other examples where they use the word "district" - their use is not consistent, whereas the EU at least has an official document saying what to use by preference.

 * Fed. Ministry of Interior: "... whereas under the previous Federal law instructions the districts or cities outside districts had to take responsibility for this." "während nach den bisherigen bundesrechtlichen Vorgaben hierfür zwingend die Kreise oder kreisfreien Städte zuständig waren."  Saint|swithin 12:46, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

 * By all rights the page should be moved back to its original state and if there is still a call for the move a RM should be filed. But most likely waiting for the authors reply will be better, as it will also involve a lot of reverting of other of his edits which I would only use rollback/undo with his consent - and using full editsummaries is a bit too much work for me right at this moment. Agathoclea 13:07, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

I did a real double-take at the current lead sentence: "German counties, unusually named Districts...". That's bordering on the sense-free. If it's so unusual (which does not seem to be the case), why would one want to mention it as an alternative so prominently (and either way, it's an extremely awkward substitution). Pending some coordinated decision to which over to a consistent use of "county" over "district" across WP, I'd strongly favour a move-and-revert back. Alai 10:46, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Gerhard's English is excellent, of course, but here he must mean "rarely" or "in rare cases", although his opinion actually seems to be "not" :-). (NB: "unusually named" means "having an unusual name", which is why this sounds strange to native ears.) Saint|swithin 12:02, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * My native language is indeed a southern German dialect :-) Gerhard51 21:30, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

 * From Gerhard's talk page, please excuse me for taking the liberty ...
 * I already made no further changes after I noticed the mass of information behind the links, I only went at the peak. And I didn't find the discussion about the naming of the EU, sorry Saintswithin, no offends were intented. Anyway it is nice to find out that the EU developed naming conventions differing from those of the German government and outside of any practical use. I'll read the whole thing with some time about the weekend. Kind regards,  Gerhard51 20:22, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Not sure what you mean by "outside of any practical use" Gerhard, but here are some more points to note:
 * de:Grafschaft is the translation for the British county, and has a specific historical meaning in Europe, including Germany. (| historical meaning at Deutsches Wörterbuch) This meaning may have been lost in the USA, but Wikipedia claims not to prefer American usage over British, and Germany has no special link to the USA, as it does (obviously) to Europe.
 * The German government also uses "district", see above and | this Google search
 * Dictionary translations:
 * - (= Stadtkreis, Landkreis) district; (= Gemeindewahlkreis) ward; (= Landeswahlkreis) constituency; Kreis Leipzig Leipzig District, the District of Leipzig Collins e-Großwörterbuch DE-EN
 * - (Bezirk) district Langenscheidt Muret-Sanders Großwörterbuch DE-EN
 * Saint|swithin 12:22, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

 * OK, with the benefit of that gloss I can see what was meant -- apologies to Gerhard if my initial comments on his choice of words were somewhat harsh. But it seems to be far from rare for them to be called districts, and the above seems to confirm it being in fact the most common.  I'll move it back later tonight if there are no urgent objections.  (While it's admirable that a revert-fest didn't break up, it's swinging somewhat to the other extreme if we have to wait around for a week before editing it at all...)  Alai 17:10, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
 * As I said earlier it should be done. It also involves reverting a few other edits, but gladly not too many as Gerhard kindly refrained to make more changes across all related articles and templates. Personally I'd like to point out that in the discussion about 1 1/2 years ago this section alludes to I initially favoured county, but the arguments were too compelling. Any change from that thoroughly discussed naming should go through WP:RM if Gerhard or someone else still feels county is the way to go (plus please consider the effort of changing an estimated 20000 articles and templates). Agathoclea 19:21, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

On a related note, I have begun a CFD on Category:Counties of Prussia at Categories for discussion/Log/2007 October 27. Olessi 17:28, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

 * No objections to move it back, it's anyway already done. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. I'm still stunned about the district. I discussed it this weekend and everybody was suprised too. The use of district in the future instead of county will cause changes in a heavy lot of online-documents and paper documents I know.Gerhard51 20:20, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

The official office of the "Deutscher Landkreistag" in Brussels calls itself "German County Association". So probably County is the apropriate term. District in the nomenclatura is the "Regierungsbezirk" which is a level higher in the self-governance level. The German County Association, I'm working for, would highly recomend if wikipedia could follow this nomenclatura. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.78.210.19 (talk) 15:53, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I know I'm very late to the game, but I want to add that linguistically, a "county" is a "Grafschaft" in Germany, as it derives from "count"/"Graf", as was stated previously. Now, there is actually a "Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim" in Lower Saxony, and if "Landkreis" were to be translated as "county", then this would be "Bentheim County county" :-D ... 2001:16B8:322D:9400:156B:DF1:262:F203 (talk) 10:21, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

To reopen the discussion:
The correct description for a Landkreis seems to be County. The Deutscher Landkreistag calls itself German County Association. This really makes sense. In the context of the EU the federal system of Germany is structured as follows: 1)	municipalities, which are local self-government bodies 2)	counties, which are also local self-government bodies 3)	districts, which are only an administrative level of the administration of the Bundesland, therefore they are better called “regional district” 4)	federal states also called regions in the European context or land This wording is used in the European context by the German County Association, the German Association of Town and municipalities and the German Association of Cities which are the official representatives of the local government bodies. This Nomenclature makes a clear differentiation between the self-government bodies, which are granted by the German constitution and the merely administrative level of the regional district. According to this definition the kreisfreie Stadt should be called County Borough. The term County Borough, even though it is now historical, describes perfectly the fact that this is a city or town independent to a county and with the self-governance competencies of a county. Therefore sombody should change this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gereonmc (talk • contribs) 16:25, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

The source from the official webpage —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gereonmc (talk • contribs) 18:04, 25 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I must admit, I was also surprised to see the term district used; that is usually the translation of the German word bezirk. In the United Kingdom at least, landkreis is usually translated as county and kreisfreie stadt as county borough.  The term county borough is not historic, as Gereonmc suggests, and is still used in Wales.  The historic term grafschaft would normally be translated as duchy or dukedom.  In view of the confusion and contradictory translations, it might be better to use the original German term kreise.  Skinsmoke (talk) 03:03, 8 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Bezirk was the term for districts in the GDR and have since been abolished. German election districts are now called Wahlkreise.
 * I would say these Kreise are district, not counties, but amts are counties. Do you even know what you said Gereonmc? "which are only an administrative level of the Bundesland", yes exactly, that is what a Kreis is, an administrative division of a German state (administrative level = administrative district). But that's not the same as a regional district, which pursely serves as geographic division. If you think a Kreis is a county, according to your source, what would be the district of a German state? There is no administrative level below a state and above the Kreise (except maybe for the Regierungsbezirke in some but not the majority of German states and hence not reconized by the EU). Chris.usnames (talk) 21:22, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Factual accuracy
The article suggests that the competencies and responsibilities of the Kreise (sing. Kreis), whether you would like to call them districts or counties, are the same allover Germany. Since the laws on the responsibilities of the municipalities, including the Kreise, differ from Land to Land, the list cannot be correct. Needless to say that the state laws on municipalities vary very much, since different states apply completely different concepts, and they are subject to a lot of change, too. Just to mention the example of North Rhine-Westphalia, that state had exactly copied the British administrative system into its own laws, but later on developed something completely different. Thus, someone who is competent on this subject should revise the article. Is there any German local politician who can write in proper English and would do this job? --DanSchultz (talk) 12:18, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Good luck finding one who is willing to do that? 3 years later, nobody has so far shown up. Local politicians don't even care about the jurisdiction they are supposed to govern, so why would they bother to write on such an article? The problem is that even if a German city has charter, that doesn't mean anything about what they can do. Increasingly in last years power is taken away from local government and given to higher level government. And governments of the same level get merged. They are even talking about merging states. I don't know what these crazy Germans think a federal government (I heard it's mandated by the German constitution) but this mess of a country more looks like a central government with all these changes dictated by the German administration. So unlike in the US, in Germany you cannot say for all eternity what the responsibilities of the different levels of government are. I would write "their functions and responsibilities may differ and be subject to change" (after every election). Chris.usnames (talk) 21:45, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

county vs district
The office of the association of the German Landkreise (der deutsche Landkreistag) calls itself German County Association. Therfore it would be logic to take this expression. Who is in charge of nameming hisself if not the association in question? District is used in the official nomeclatura as the word for Regierungsbezirk. As the Regierungsbezirk is part of the Länder administration whereas the counties are part of the local self government, there are differences which are crucial to understand the german federal system. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.78.210.19 (talk) 14:32, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Your logic is questionable, since anybody can start "the Union States of America, Inc." and be it the association of "the Independent State of California, LLC" and "1st State of Delaware Corporation." That doesn't mean that "the Union States of America" are an association of states. The same way would it be unreasonable to say that the "German County Association" is an association of counties. But where actually did you find the term "German County Association" - it's not on their website and it doesn't show up in search engines. So scrap all of what you said, you were begging the question. Chris.usnames (talk) 22:35, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The Deutscher Landkreistag is not just any sort of private association with a fancy made-up name. It does represent all districts/counties in Germany and has been given, by its members, an explicit mandate to represent the interests of the districts/counties vis-à-vis state governments, the federal government and the public at large. It is not an overly powerful institution, but when it comes to finding someone speaking on behalf of the districts/counties, it's the best thing you will find. And it does use the name "German County Association" itself when publishing documents in English. See here. SchnitteUK (talk) 22:26, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

But "district" is official standard in EU, see f.e.NUTS- Official documents and translations use "district". I don´t know why "Deutscher Landkreis Tag" uses "county". district is correct. Landkreis = district, Regierungsbezirk (only in some Bundesländer) = government / administrativ districts /regions (ManfredV (talk) 19:44, 14 January 2014 (UTC))
 * Well, that is precisely what we are discussing here: Which is the correct usage? You say district, I say county. NUTS is a document for a very specific and narrow purpose, namely statistics; it's certainly not an authoritative source on local government in Germany, so I don't see a reason to find that cite more binding than the usage of the county association itself. SchnitteUK (talk) 14:02, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Besides, the translation Kreis = district in the NUTS context you link to appears to be something Wikipedia itself came up with. Here's the NUTS document from the Eurostat website itself. I couldn't find an instance in it where "Kreis" in German is explicitly translated as "district" in English; the document uses "Kreis" as a loan word without translating it. SchnitteUK (talk) 14:08, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Circular error
I took the liberty of editing the "circles" out of the article. This is silliness to the max.

I’m German by birth and lived in the USA for 30 years. I can assure you that nobody in Germany thinks of a circular object with an equidistant radius when the term “Kreis” or “Landkreis” comes up in an administrative or political context.

Just like a “circle” in English, a “Kreis” can take on many meanings in German, more in the German than in the English language.

My trusted Leo English-German dictionary translates “Kreis” as follows:

 * circle (as in, well, a circular shape)
 * circle (as in a circle of people, such as "inner circle")
 * circuit    (as in a circuit of people or interests, "the fashion circuit")
 * circuit (as in electric circuit)
 * county
 * crease (in cricket or hockey)
 * cycle
 * district
 * ring
 * sphere   (not as a ball, as in "sphere of influence")

Just like the English “circle”, which can mean anything from circle of acquaintances to aiming circle, the German “Kreis” will derive its true meaning from the context.

Sorry, but in this context, a German speaker will cringe when he or she reads “This article is about the "Circles" (Kreise) of Germany.” A charitable assumption would be that the article was written by Google translate. Why not "spheres" or "creases" of Germany?

As far as the big “district” vs “county” controversy goes: From an American perspective, I would tend much more towards “county.” It has a function similar to a German “Kreis” or “Landkreis” (it’s the same.) “District” evokes urban associations in me, as in “financial district” or “garment district.” But other than the silly circles, neither “county” nor “district” will awaken strong emotions in me.

I also took out that the equivalent of Regierungsbezirk "in other nations is the county or arrondissement." Not always true. A "Regierungsbezirk Oberbayern" and a "2e arrondissement" of Paris are not equivalent at all. Which goes to show that the article could use some references.

The "Reichskreis" of the Holy Roman Empire could go also. It has nothing to do with the topic at all. Any emotional attachments?

Dankeschön. BsBsBs (talk) 08:49, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Hey, was this "circular error" discussion written by a single person, since it only contains one signature? Maybe this person should take one position in the discussion only. Ok, here are my thoughts. Yeah, circles is silly, but circuit is just fine (as in the 8th Circuit of Appeals of the US). A meaning of district in English is not only limited to urban zoning. Other kinds of districts in America are for example school districts, congressional or state election districts, or judicial districts. District fits better to Kreis, I would apply the term county to the amts or Verwaltungsgemeinschaften.Chris.usnames (talk) 22:11, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The subject has long been discussed and sourced. The translation we use is district. Agathoclea (talk) 08:08, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Of course, district is correct.

1. The European Union has standards, and they use "district" for Landkreis NUTS

2. "district" is BE and "county" AE, and it is international standard that BE is used in official documents and translations, so fe. EU-countries use BE

3. German authorities and administrations usually use "district" in english translations. I don´t know why Deutscher Landkreistag use "county", but "district" is correct in official use ManfredV (talk) 21:16, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

“District court”
The section district court in the article creates the impression that the Landgerichte (called “district courts” in the article) are strongly connected to the Landkreise or Kreise (districts) of Germany. I'm not aware of such a connection. There are about 116 Landgerichte in Germany but 295 Landkreise and Kreise (rural districts or districts) plus a little more than 100 Stadtkreise or kreisfreie Städte (urban districts or district independent towns). I propose to delete the section “district court”. – Ocolon (talk) 21:15, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

I agree. "Landgericht" is not connected to political districts. Is it correct to translate "Landgericht" as "district court"? I don´t know. But I think "district court" is more similar to "Amtsgericht", but structure of german justice is not the same as political structure. Many capitals of districts have an "Amtsgericht" or "Landgericht", but not all and many "Landgerichte" are responsible for more districts. F.e there´s an "Amtsgericht" Fürth for both urban and rural district and an "Amtsgericht" Nürnberg for N. urban district. And "Landgericht Nürnberg-Fürth" is for all of them and some districts more.ManfredV (talk) 20:41, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the explanation. I've removed the section from the article. – Ocolon (talk) 09:00, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

 * In fact the Landkreise are very closely related to the Amtsgerichte (though urban and rural district of the same name usually go together as one Amtsgericht, and some very few fusioned Landkreise have retained the Amtsgerichte of more than one of the constituent former-counties); the Landgerichtsbezirk typically is in between the Regierungsbezirk and the Landkreis, right in the middle, though sometimes it cuts Regierungsbezirk-borders.--2001:A61:2091:2201:1195:55E5:1213:9BE6 (talk) 17:53, 14 August 2017 (UTC)

In history districts and Amtsgerichte were closely related until 1945 or even the 1970ies in old FRG. But since then both sides had some changes. Smaller districts were merged to larger ones. Esp. after german reunification a lot of changes happened in former GDR since 1990. Justice also made some reforms. There are still many Amtsgerichte which are (more or less) responsible for a district area. But there are also large districts which have more Amtsgerichte in their region. And Amtsgerichtsbezirke are often not accurate to district area. F.e. in district Nürnberger Land we have Amtsgerichte Lauf and Hersbruck (both former districts). But Amtsgericht Nürnberg (N. is an urban district and not part of rural district) is register court and court for insolvencies in Nürnberg City, Nürnberger Land and Schwabach district. Another: In Südwestpfalz region we have Amtsgericht Pirmasens (responsible for P. urban district and eastern and central parts of Südwestpfalz district) and Amtsgericht Zweibrücken (for Z. urban district and western parts of Südwestpfalz). But Amtsgericht Zweibrücken is also register court for Amtsgericht Landstuhl (part of Kaiserslautern district). There are many more examples. So many Amtsgerichtsbezirke include the same area as rural and urban districts (but not accurate) but many others don't (or do no more) since reforms in political and justice structures. ManfredV (talk) 10:24, 15 August 2017 (UTC)

B roads
B roads are bundesstrassen. then you get Landstrassen(literally country roads) and then you get Kreisstrassen. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.186.60.243 (talk) 19:27, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

 * Fixed, thank you for pointing this out. Looks like the exact meaning of B road is differing from country to country. I also moved your comment - new sections are usually added at the bottom of talkpages. GermanJoe (talk) 19:38, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

administration level
Some german states have "Regierungsbezirke" (government districts / administrative districs): Bavaria, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. These are between states and districts.ManfredV (talk) 17:03, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Districts of Germany


text:
François Levaillant

François Levaillant (born Vaillant, later in life as Le Vaillant, "The Valiant") (6 August 1753 – 22 November 1824) was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, travel writer, and noted ornithologist. He described many new species of birds based on birds he collected in Africa and several birds are named after him. He was among the first to use colour plates for illustrating birds and opposed the use of binomial nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus, preferring instead to use descriptive French names such as the bateleur (meaning "tumbler or tight-rope walker") for the distinctive African eagle.

Life
François Vaillant was born in Paramaribo, the capital of Dutch Guiana (Surinam), the son of Nicolas François, a French lawyer from Metz who had fled there after eloping with his mother Catherine Joséphine and then took up a position as the French Consul. Growing up amid forests, François took an interest in the local fauna, collecting birds and insects. His family returned to France in 1763. In 1772, François joined the Berry cavalry regiment as a cadet officer in Metz but was eventually rejected as an officer because he was not tall enough. He married Suzanne de Noor in 1773. He worked with a local apothecary, Becoeur, who had developed an arsenic-based soap to preserve birds. In 1777, he moved to Paris and started a career as a trader in natural history specimens.

Cape travels
He went to the Cape of Good Hope in 1780, at the age of 27, nominally as a gunner's mate for the Dutch East India Company, but almost certainly sponsored by the Treasurer-General, Jacob Temminck with the understanding that he would strengthen Temminck's collection. He decided to study the bird and animal life in their natural habitat. At that time, South Africa was a relatively unknown and exotic location and he collected specimens that would establish his reputation within the scientific community until July 1784 when he made his way back to Holland and France. He made three journeys, one around Cape Town and Saldanha Bay (April to August 1781), one eastwards from the Cape (December 1781 to May 1783) and the third to the Orange River and into Great Namaqualand (June 1783 to c. May 1784). Researchers have to some extent adjusted the dates supplied by Levaillant. During the first expedition his collection was on the vessel Middelburg, which was attacked and sunk by the English in Saldanha Bay. He did however manage to return with over 2000 specimens of birds, insects, mammals and plants. During this trip he changed his name to Le Vaillant.

An illustrative map of his travels was produced around 1790 for King Louis XVI. Measuring nine feet wide and six feet high, the map depicts the travels and the landscape met with. The cartographic elements of the map were made by Perrier with the insets of animals and landscapes by Van Leen. The birds were by Reinold. Sixty two pictures of fauna and flora were stuck onto the map. One of the animals depicted is the now extinct bluebuck.

Return to Europe
On his return he published Voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique (1790, 2 vols.), and Second voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique (1796, 3 vols.), both of which were best sellers across Europe, translated into several languages. He had his drafts edited by Casimir Varon. It has been suggested that the success of the first book drove him to become more creative in the descriptions of the second voyage, many parts of which are considered to be fiction. He also published Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique (1796–1808, 6 vols.) with drawings by Jacques Barraband, Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis (1801–06), Histoire naturelle des cotingas et des todiers (1804) and Histoire naturelle des calaos (1804). He rarely sketched the birds in their natural environment but collected the skins which were stuffed and mounted on his return. More talented artists were then commissioned to illustrate the specimens for printing. Levaillant's illustrations often influenced scientific names given by, among others, Vieillot, Stephens and Wilkes.

He and De Noor divorced when divorce became legal during the French Revolution. By then he had already started a relationship with Pierrette Foyot, whom he married in Paris in June 1789. Pierrette was the daughter of judge Didier Francois Foyot of Sezanne. A dowry of 50,000 francs helped the couple and they had four children (including a son named Jean-Jacques Rousseau Levaillant who took an interest in ornithology). Levaillant claimed later to have been in prison during the time of the French Revolution but this was untrue—he was in fact close to many revolutionary figures and even applied for a post at the Natural History Museum through the Committee for Public Safety. Foyot's family gave them an estate at La Noue, near Sézanne and Levaillant moved between La Noue and Paris where he kept up a business as naturalist. After Foyot's death in May 1798, Levaillant lived with a younger woman, Rose Dubouchet, with whom he had four children. He died in La Noue in 1824. Four of his sons served in the French army, all earning the Légion d'honneur. By the time of his death, the family name had become Levaillant. Through Foyot's family, he was a grand uncle of the French poet Charles Baudelaire, who read Levaillant avidly as a young student.

Specimens
Levaillant's fame as collector in his lifetime was based on bringing back the first giraffe skeleton to France. He also sold a significant collection to the Paris Natural History Museum, including in the sale not only the Bluebuck, a major collection of African birds, but insects and the secret of Becoeur's arsenical soap, which was widely used in taxidermy till the 1950s. Over 2,000 bird skins were sent to Jacob Temminck, who had financed the expedition, and these were later studied by his son Coenraad Jacob Temminck and included in the collection of the museum at Leiden. Other specimens were kept in the cabinet of Joan Raye, heer van Breukelerwaert (1737-1823). This collection was bought by the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in the late 1820s, which is now the Naturalis in Leiden.

Traveller and ethnographer
As a traveller in Africa, Levaillant tended to describe the African people with sympathy. He shared Rousseau's idea of the "Noble savage" and condemnation of civilization. He called his "Hottentot" companion Klaas his brother and his equal and was one of the first to describe a close relationship between Western explorer and an indigenous man. One of Levaillant's acquisitions on his travels was a chacma baboon that he called Kees. In his writings, he wrote about how he shared food and drink with Kees and considered him a simple soul who was more loyal than many humans. He described the beauty of Narina, a name that he used for a young Gonaqua woman, naming her after a flower. His portrayal of their flirtation influenced early South African novels before such relationships became less socially acceptable in the later colonial period. The portrayal of Narina was probably influenced by the images of exotic beauty from Tahiti in other travelers' accounts. She was a precursor to Sarah Baartman the Hottentot venus. He also perceived Dutch settlers in a negative way, attacking them for acting brutally against indigenous people. A brave experimenter, he allowed a Hottentot medicine man to diagnose him when he fell ill and wrote of the successful treatment and cure. By travelling around southern Africa, observing the wild and reflecting upon himself and mankind, it has been claimed that Le Vaillant was the pioneer of a genre of travel writing while also inventing the idea of a wildlife "safari" although he did not use that word of Arabian origin.

Ornithology
Le Vaillant was opposed to the systematic nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus and only gave French names to the species that he discovered. Some of these are still in use as common names, such as bateleur, the French word for tumbler, for the way the bird playfully falls in flight. Other naturalists were left to assign binomial names to his new discoveries, some of these commemorate his name:
 * Crested barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii) Ranzani, 1821
 * Levaillant's cisticola (Cisticola tinniens) (Lichtenstein, 1842)
 * Levaillant's cuckoo (Clamator levaillantii) (Swainson, 1829)
 * Levaillant's parrot also known as the Cape Parrot (Poicephalus robustus) (Gmelin, 1788)
 * Levaillant's tchagra (Tchagra tchagra) (Vieillot, 1816)
 * Levaillant's woodpecker (Picus vaillantii) Malherbe, 1847

Le Vaillant was among the first to consider the use of coloured plates of birds in his descriptions. He mounted his bird specimens, preserved with arsenic soap, in lifelike positions and the illustrators showed them in near realistic poses. He ensured that the fiscal shrike was shown along with an insect impaled on thorn. His descriptions of bird behaviour were also considered to be pioneering. He called the African fish eagle Vocifer for its distinctive and loud yelping calls made while throwing back its head. He was also the first to use musical annotation to describe bird song. A very careful observer of behaviour, he was among the first to notice that the rosy-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) nested within the nests of the sociable weaver (Philetairus socius). It has been suggested that he may well have been a major influence in the style and art of John James Audubon.

An analysis of Le Vaillant's collections made by Carl Sundevall in 1857 identified ten birds that could not be assigned definitely to any species, ten that were fabricated from multiple species and fifty species that could not have come from the Cape region as claimed.

Legacy
The South American fish Brachyplatystoma vaillantii is named after him.

Works

 * in two volumes.
 * vol.1, vol. 2, vol 3
 * Vol 1 Vol 2
 * in two volumes.
 * in three volumes.
 * in six volumes.
 * (Map illustrating the travels of Le Vaillant)]
 * (Map illustrating the travels of Le Vaillant)]

in English translation:
 * Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3
 * Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3

title: François Levaillant