text:
Yield management

Yield management is a variable pricing strategy, based on understanding, anticipating and influencing consumer behavior in order to maximize revenue or profits from a fixed, time-limited resource (such as airline seats, hotel room reservations or advertising inventory). As a specific, inventory-focused branch of revenue management, yield management involves strategic control of inventory to sell the right product to the right customer at the right time for the right price. This process can result in price discrimination, in which customers consuming identical goods or services are charged different prices. Yield management is a large revenue generator for several major industries; Robert Crandall, former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, gave yield management its name and has called it "the single most important technical development in transportation management since we entered deregulation."

Definition
Yield management has become part of mainstream business theory and practice over the last fifteen to twenty years. Whether an emerging discipline or a new management science (it has been called both), yield management is a set of yield maximization strategies and tactics to improve the profitability of certain businesses. It is complex because it involves several aspects of management control, including rate management, revenue streams management, and distribution channel management. Yield management is multidisciplinary because it blends elements of marketing, operations, and financial management into a highly successful new approach. Yield management strategists must frequently work with one or more other departments when designing and implementing yield management strategies.

History
Deregulation is generally regarded as the catalyst for yield management in the airline industry, but this tends to overlook the role of global distribution systems (GDSs). It is arguable that the fixed pricing paradigm occurs as a result of decentralized consumption. With mass production, pricing became a centralized management activity and customer contact staff focused on customer service exclusively. Electronic commerce, of which the GDSs were the first wave, created an environment where large volumes of sales could be managed without large numbers of customer service staff. They also gave management staff direct access to price at time of consumption and rich data capture for future decision-making.

On January 17, 1985, American Airlines launched Ultimate Super Saver fares in an effort to compete with low cost carrier People Express Airlines. Donald Burr, the CEO of People Express, is quoted as saying "We were a vibrant, profitable company from 1981 to 1985, and then we tipped right over into losing $50 million a month... We had been profitable from the day we started until American came at us with Ultimate Super Savers." in the book Revenue Management by Robert G. Cross, Chairman and CEO of Revenue Analytics. The yield management systems developed at American Airlines were recognized by the Edelman Prize committee of INFORMS for contributing $1.4 billion in a three-year period at the airline.

Yield management spread to other travel and transportation companies in the early 1990s. Notable was implementation of yield management at National Car Rental. In 1993, General Motors was forced to take a $744 million charge against earnings related to its ownership of National Car Rental. In response, National's program expanded the definition of yield management to include capacity management, pricing and reservations control. As a result of this program, General Motors was able to sell National Car Rental for an estimated $1.2 billion. Yield management gave way to the more general practice of revenue management. Whereas revenue management involves predicting consumer behavior by segmenting markets, forecasting demand, and optimizing prices for several different types of products, yield management refers specifically to maximizing revenue through inventory control. Some notable revenue management implementations include the NBC which credits its system with $200 million in improved ad sales from 1996 to 2000, the target pricing initiative at UPS, and revenue management at Texas Children's Hospital. Since 2000, much of the dynamic pricing, promotions management and dynamic packaging that underlie e commerce sites leverage revenue management techniques. In 2002 GMAC launched an early implementation of web based revenue management in the financial services industry.

There have also been high-profile failures and faux pas. Amazon.com was criticized for irrational price changes that resulted from a revenue management software bug. The Coca-Cola Company's plans for a dynamic pricing vending machine were put on hold as a result of negative consumer reactions. Revenue management is also blamed for much of the financial difficulty currently experienced by legacy carriers. The reliance of the major carriers on high fares in captive markets arguably created the conditions for low-cost carriers to thrive.

Use by industry
There are three essential conditions for yield management to be applicable: If the resources available are not fixed or not perishable, the problem is limited to logistics, i.e. inventory or production management. If all customers would pay the same price for using the same amount of resources, the challenge would perhaps be limited to selling as quickly as possible, e.g. if there are costs for holding inventory.
 * That there is a fixed amount of resources available for sale.
 * That the resources sold are perishable (there is a time limit to selling the resources, after which they cease to be of value).
 * That different customers are willing to pay a different price for using the same amount of resources.

Yield management is of especially high relevance in cases where the constant costs are relatively high compared to the variable costs. The less variable cost there is, the more the additional revenue earned will contribute to the overall profit. This is because it focuses on maximizing expected marginal revenue for a given operation and planning horizon. It optimizes resource utilization by ensuring inventory availability to customers with the highest expected net revenue contribution and extracting the greatest level of ‘willingness to pay’ from the entire customer base. Yield management practitioners typically claim 3% to 7% incremental revenue gains. In many industries this can equate to over 100% increase in profits.

Yield management has significantly altered the travel and hospitality industry since its inception in the mid-1980s. It requires analysts with detailed market knowledge and advanced computing systems who implement sophisticated mathematical techniques to analyze market behavior and capture revenue opportunities. It has evolved from the system airlines invented as a response to deregulation and quickly spread to hotels, car rental firms, cruise lines, media, telecommunications and energy to name a few. Its effectiveness in generating incremental revenues from an existing operation and customer base has made it particularly attractive to business leaders that prefer to generate return from revenue growth and enhanced capability rather than downsizing and cost cutting.

Airlines
In the passenger airline case, capacity is regarded as fixed because changing what aircraft flies a certain service based on the demand is the exception rather than the rule. When the aircraft departs, the unsold seats cannot generate any revenue and thus can be said to have perished, or have spoiled. Airlines use specialized software to monitor how seats are reserved and react accordingly. There are various inventory controls such as a nested inventory system. For example, airlines can offer discounts on low-demand flights, where the flight will likely not sell out. When there is excess demand, the seats can be sold at a higher price.

Another way of capturing varying willingness to pay is market segmentation. A firm may repackage its basic inventory into different products to this end. In the passenger airline case this means implementing purchase restrictions, length of stay requirements and requiring fees for changing or canceling tickets.

The airline needs to keep a specific number of seats in reserve to cater to the probable demand for high-fare seats. This process can be managed by inventory controls or by managing the fare rules such as the AP (Advanced Purchase) restrictions. (30 day advance purchase, 21 day advance purchase, 14 day advance purchase, 7 day advance purchase, day of departure/walk up fares) The price of each seat varies directly with the number of seats reserved, that is, the fewer seats that are reserved for a particular category, the lower the price of each seat. This will continue until the price of seat in the premium class equals that of those in the concession class. Depending on this, a floor price (lower price) for the next seat to be sold is set.

Hotels
Hotels use this system in largely the same way, to calculate the rates. Yield management is one of the most common pricing strategies used in the hotel industry to increase reservations and boost revenue.

Rental
In the rental car industry, yield management deals with the sale of optional insurance, damage waivers and vehicle upgrades. It accounts for a major portion of the rental company's profitability, and is monitored on a daily basis. In the equipment rental industry, yield management is a method to manage rental rates against capacity (available fleet) and demand.

Intercity buses
Yield management has moved into the bus industry with companies such as Megabus (United Kingdom), Megabus (North America), BoltBus, and easyBus, which run low-cost networks in the United Kingdom and parts of the United States, and more recently, nakedbus.com and Intercape, which have networks in New Zealand and South Africa. Now operating and developed in Chile by SARCAN, a Chilean company that provides revenue and yield management systems focused on this industry, with the company Turbus as principal customer. Finnish low-cost inter-city bus service OnniBus, as well as Polish PolskiBus, bases its revenue flow on yield management.

Multifamily housing
In the multi-family residential industry, yield optimization is focused on producing supply and demand forecasts to determine rent recommendations for profit optimization. However, the use of the yield optimization systems is fairly new to the industry in the late 1990s, with Archstone Smith pioneering its use. The yield management systems include the LRO (Lease Rent Options) Revenue Management System from Rainmaker, the YieldStar Asset Optimization System from RealPage and PricingPortal product from Property Solutions International.

Insurance
Insurance companies use price (premium) optimization to improve profitability on policy sales. The method is widely used by property & casualty insurers and brokers in the UK, Spain and, to a lesser extent, in the US. Several vendors, such as Earnix, Willis Towers Watson, EMB, ODG, provide specialized pricing optimization software for the industry.

Telecommunications
On average, communications service providers use an average of just 35 to 40 percent of available network capacity. Recently, telecommunications software vendors such as Telcordia and Ericsson have promoted yield management as a strategy for communications service providers to generate additional revenue and reduce capital expenditures by maximizing the subscriber use of available network bandwidth. Approaches include basing a strategy on innovative services explicitly designed to use only spare capacity and borrowing proven methods from the airline industry. The approach can be more difficult to implement in the telecommunications industry than the airlines sector because of the difficulty to control and sometimes refuse network access to customers.

Similarities that exist between the airline and telecom industries include a large sunk cost combined with low marginal cost, perishable inventory, reservations, pricing flexibility and the opportunity to upsell. Differences that present challenges for communications service providers include low-value transactions and overall network complexity. Suggested approaches to executing a successful yield management strategy include accurate network information collection, bandwidth capacity allocation that does not impact service quality, the deployment of service management software such as real time policy and real-time charging, and using new marketing channels to target consumers with innovative services.

Online advertising
Yield management in online ad sales is in essence the same as in other industries above mentioned; managing the publishers supply/inventory (banner impressions) with the market demand, at the best price (CPM/RPM) while assuring highest possible fill rates.

Railways
While railways traditionally sold fully flexible tickets that were valid on all trains on a given day or even trains on several days, deregulation and (partial) privatization introduced yield management in the United Kingdom as well as for high speed services in Germany or France. Tickets for the same route can be as cheap as €19 but also go into the triple digits depending on departure time, demand, and the time the ticket is booked.

Skiing
Yield Management has shown increasing popularity in the ski industry, especially in the North American markets. This ranges from non-physical rate fences, including age and validity differentiation to fully dynamic prices. Determinants of such variable prices include date-specific expected demand factors (institutional and public holidays, weekends, weather, size and accessibility of the resort, etc.)

Pet boarding
With predictable demand far outnumbering fixed supply in the professional pet boarding industry, yield management has become an ever-popular practice for this segment of businesses. Much like the hotel industry, those systems help gauge which restrictions to implement, such as length of stay, non-refundable rate, or close to arrival, and also ensuring they are selling rooms and services at the right price to the right person at the right time.

Econometrics
Yield management and econometrics center on detailed forecasting and mathematical optimization of marginal revenue opportunities. The opportunities arise from segmentation of consumer willingness to pay. If the market for a particular good follows the simple straight line Price/Demand relationship illustrated below, a single fixed price of $50 there is enough demand to sell 50 units of inventory. This results in $2500 in revenues. However the same Price/Demand relationship yields $4000 if consumers are presented with multiple prices.

In practice, the segmentation approach relies on adequate fences between consumers so that everyone doesn't buy at the lowest price offered. The airlines use time of purchase to create this segmentation, with later booking customers paying the higher fares. The fashion industry uses time in the opposite direction, discounting later in the selling season once the item is out of fashion or inappropriate for the time of year. Other approaches to fences involve attributes that create substantial value to the consumer at little or no cost to the seller. A backstage pass at a concert is a good example of this. Initially yield management avoided the complexity caused by the interaction of absolute price and price position by using surrogates for price such as booking class. By the mid-1990s, most implementation incorporated some measures of price elasticity. The airlines were exceptional in this case, preferring to focus on more detailed segmentation by implementing O&D (Origin & Destination) systems.

At the heart of yield management decision-making process is the trade-off of marginal yields from segments that are competing for the same inventory. In capacity-constrained cases, there is a bird-in-the-hand decision that forces the seller to reject lower revenue generating customers in the hopes that the inventory can be sold in a higher valued segment. The tradeoff is sometimes mistakenly identified as occurring at the intersection of the marginal revenue curves for the competing segments. While this is accurate when it supports marketing decisions where access to both segments is equivalent, it is wrong for inventory control decisions. In these cases the intersection of the marginal revenue curve of the higher valued segment with the actual value of the lower segment is the point of interest.

In the case illustrated here, a car rental company must set up protection levels for its higher valued segments. By estimating where the marginal revenue curve of the luxury segment crosses the actual rental value of the midsize car segment the company can decide how many luxury cars to make available to midsize car renters. Where the vertical line from this intersection point crosses the demand (horizontal) axis determines how many luxury cars should be protected for genuine luxury car renters. The need to calculate protection levels has led to a number of heuristic solutions, most notable EMSRa and EMSRb, which stands for Expected Marginal Seat Revenue version a and b respectively. The balancing point of interest is found using Littlewood's rule which states that demand for $$R_2$$ should be accepted as long as

$$R$$2 $$\ge R$$1$$ * Prob( D$$1$$>x ) $$

where

$$R_2$$ is the value of the lower valued segment

$$R_1$$ is the value of the higher valued segment

$$D_1$$ is the demand for the higher valued segment and

$$x$$ is the capacity left

This equation is re-arranged to compute protection levels as follows:

$$y$$1$$ = Prob$$−1$$( R$$2$$/R$$1$$ )$$

In words, the seller wants to protect $$y$$1 units of inventory for the higher valued segment where $$y$$1 is equal to the inverse probability of demand of the revenue ratio of the lower valued segment to the higher valued segment. This equation defines the EMSRa algorithm which handles the two segment case. EMSRb is smarter and handles multiple segments by comparing the revenue of the lower segment to a demand weighted average of the revenues of the higher segments. Neither of these heuristics produces the exact right answer and increasingly implementations make use of Monte Carlo simulation to find optimal protection levels.

Since the mid-1990s, increasingly sophisticated mathematical models have been developed such as the dynamic programming formulation pioneered by Talluri and Van Ryzin which has led to more accurate estimates of bid prices. Bid prices represent the minimum price a seller should accept for a single piece of inventory and are popular control mechanisms for Hotels and Car Rental firms. Models derived from developments in financial engineering are intriguing but have been unstable and difficult to place the parameters in practice. Yield management tends to focus on environments that are less rational than the financial markets.

Yield management system
Firms that engage in yield management usually use computer yield management systems to do so. The Internet has greatly facilitated this process.

Enterprises that use yield management periodically review transactions for goods or services already supplied and for goods or services to be supplied in the future. They may also review information (including statistics) about events (known future events such as holidays, or unexpected past events such as terrorist attacks), competitive information (including prices), seasonal patterns, and other pertinent factors that affect sales. The models attempt to forecast total demand for all products/services they provide, by market segment and price point. Since total demand normally exceeds what the particular firm can produce in that period, the models attempt to optimize the firm's outputs to maximize revenue.

The optimization attempts to answer the question: "Given our operating constraints, what is the best mix of products and/or services for us to produce and sell in the period, and at what prices, to generate the highest expected revenue?"

Optimization can help the firm adjust prices and to allocate capacity among market segments to maximize expected revenues. This can be done at different levels of detail:
 * by goods (such as a seat on a flight or a seat at an opera production)
 * by group of goods (such as the entire opera house or all the seats on a flight)
 * by market (such as sales from Seattle and Minneapolis for a flight going Seattle-Minneapolis-Boston)
 * overall (on all the routes an airline flies, or all the seats during an opera production season)

Yield management is particularly suitable when selling perishable products, i.e. goods that become unsellable at a point in time (for example air tickets just after a flight takes off). Industries that use yield management include airlines, hotels, stadiums and other venues with a fixed number of seats, and advertising. With an advance forecast of demand and pricing flexibility, buyers will self-sort based on their price sensitivity (using more power in off-peak hours or going to the theater mid-week), their demand sensitivity (must have the higher cost early morning flight or must go to the Saturday night opera) or their time of purchase (usually paying a premium for booking late).

In this way, yield management's overall aim is to provide an optimal mix of goods at a variety of price points at different points in time or for different baskets of features. The system will try to maintain a distribution of purchases over time that is balanced as well as high.

Good yield management maximizes (or at least significantly increases) revenue production for the same number of units, by taking advantage of the forecast of high demand/low demand periods, effectively shifting demand from high demand periods to low demand periods and by charging a premium for late bookings. While yield management systems tend to generate higher revenues, the revenue streams tends to arrive later in the booking horizon as more capacity is held for late sale at premium prices.

Firms faced with lack of pricing power sometimes turn to yield management as a last resort. After a year or two using yield management, many of them are surprised to discover they have actually lowered prices for the majority of their opera seats or hotel rooms or other products. That is, they offer far higher discounts more frequently for off-peak times, while raising prices only marginally for peak times, resulting in higher revenue overall.

By doing this, they have actually increased quantity demanded by selectively introducing many more price points, as they learn about and react to the diversity of interests and purchase drivers of their customers.

Ethical issues and questions of efficacy
Some consumers are concerned that yield management could penalize them for conditions which cannot be helped and are unethical to penalize. For example, the formulas, algorithms, and neural networks that determine airline ticket prices could feasibly consider frequent flyer information, which includes a wealth of socio-economic information such as age and home address. The airline then could charge higher prices to consumers who are between certain ages or who live in neighborhoods with higher average wealth, even if those neighborhoods also include poor households. Very few (if any) airlines using yield management are able to employ this level of price discrimination because prices are not set based on characteristics of the purchaser, which are in any case often not known at the time of purchase.

Some consumers may object that it is impossible for them to boycott yield management when buying some goods, such as airline tickets.

Yield management also includes many noncontroversial and more prevalent practices, such as varying prices over time to reflect demand. This level of yield management makes up the majority of yield management in the airline industry. For example, airlines may price a ticket on the Sunday after Thanksgiving at a higher fare than the Sunday a week later. Alternatively, they may make tickets more expensive when bought at the last minute than when bought six months in advance. The goal of this level of yield management is essentially trying to force demand to equal or exceed supply.

When yield management was introduced in the early 1990s, primarily in the airline industry, many suggested that despite the obvious immediate increase in revenues, it might harm customer satisfaction and loyalty, interfere with relationship marketing, and drive customers from firms that used yield management to firms that do not. Frequent flier programs were developed as a response to regain customer loyalty and reward frequent and high yield passengers. Today, yield management is nearly universal in many industries, including airlines.

Despite optimizing revenue in theory, introduction of yield management does not always achieve that in practice because of corporate image problems. In 2002, Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, experimented with yield management for frequent loyalty card passengers. The fixed pricing model that had existed for decades was replaced with a more demand-responsive pricing model, but that reform proved highly unpopular with passengers and led to widespread protests and a decline in passenger numbers.

Experimental studies of yield management decisions
Recently, people working in the area of behavioral operations research have begun to study the yield management decisions of actual human decision makers. One question that this research addresses is how much might revenues increase if managers relied on yield management systems rather than their own judgment when making pricing decisions. Using methods from experimental economics, this work has revealed that yield management systems are likely to increase revenues significantly. Further, this research reveals that "errors" in yield management decisions tend to be quite systematic. For instance, Bearden, Murphy, and Rappaport showed that with respect to expected revenue maximizing policies, people tend to price too high when they have high levels of inventory and too low when their inventory levels are low.

title: Yield management


text:
Stevens's power law

Stevens' power law is an empirical relationship in psychophysics between an increased intensity or strength in a physical stimulus and the perceived magnitude increase in the sensation created by the stimulus. It is often considered to supersede the Weber–Fechner law, which is based on a logarithmic relationship between stimulus and sensation, because the power law describes a wider range of sensory comparisons, down to zero intensity.

The theory is named after psychophysicist Stanley Smith Stevens (1906–1973). Although the idea of a power law had been suggested by 19th-century researchers, Stevens is credited with reviving the law and publishing a body of psychophysical data to support it in 1957.

The general form of the law is
 * $$\psi(I) = k I ^a,$$

where I is the intensity or strength of the stimulus in physical units (energy, weight, pressure, mixture proportions, etc.), ψ(I) is the magnitude of the sensation evoked by the stimulus, a is an exponent that depends on the type of stimulation or sensory modality, and k is a proportionality constant that depends on the units used.

A distinction has been made between local psychophysics, where stimuli can only be discriminated with a probability around 50%, and global psychophysics, where the stimuli can be discriminated correctly with near certainty (Luce & Krumhansl, 1988). The Weber–Fechner law and methods described by L. L. Thurstone are generally applied in local psychophysics, whereas Stevens' methods are usually applied in global psychophysics.

The table to the right lists the exponents reported by Stevens.

Methods
The principal methods used by Stevens to measure the perceived intensity of a stimulus were magnitude estimation and magnitude production. In magnitude estimation with a standard, the experimenter presents a stimulus called a standard and assigns it a number called the modulus. For subsequent stimuli, subjects report numerically their perceived intensity relative to the standard so as to preserve the ratio between the sensations and the numerical estimates (e.g., a sound perceived twice as loud as the standard should be given a number twice the modulus). In magnitude estimation without a standard (usually just magnitude estimation), subjects are free to choose their own standard, assigning any number to the first stimulus and all subsequent ones with the only requirement being that the ratio between sensations and numbers is preserved. In magnitude production a number and a reference stimulus is given and subjects produce a stimulus that is perceived as that number times the reference. Also used is cross-modality matching, which generally involves subjects altering the magnitude of one physical quantity, such as the brightness of a light, so that its perceived intensity is equal to the perceived intensity of another type of quantity, such as warmth or pressure.

Criticisms
Stevens generally collected magnitude estimation data from multiple observers, averaged the data across subjects, and then fitted a power function to the data. Because the fit was generally reasonable, he concluded the power law was correct.

A principal criticism has been that Stevens' approach provides neither a direct test of the power law itself nor the underlying assumptions of the magnitude estimation/production method: it simply fits curves to data points. In addition, the power law can be deduced mathematically from the Weber-Fechner logarithmic function (Mackay, 1963 ), and the relation makes predictions consistent with data (Staddon, 1978 ). As with all psychometric studies, Stevens' approach ignores individual differences in the stimulus-sensation relationship, and there are generally large individual differences in this relationship that averaging the data will obscure.

Stevens' main assertion was that using magnitude estimations/productions respondents were able to make judgements on a ratio scale (i.e., if x and y are values on a given ratio scale, then there exists a constant k such that x = ky). In the context of axiomatic psychophysics, formulated a testable property capturing the implicit underlying assumption this assertion entailed. Specifically, for two proportions p and q, and three stimuli, x, y, z, if y is judged p times x, z is judged q times y, then t = pq times x should be equal to z. This amounts to assuming that respondents interpret numbers in a veridical way. This property was unambiguously rejected. Without assuming veridical interpretation of numbers, formulated another property that, if sustained, meant that respondents could make ratio scaled judgments, namely, if y is judged p times x, z is judged q times y, and if y is judged q times x, z is judged p times y, then z should equal z. This property has been sustained in a variety of situations.

Critics of the power law also point out that the validity of the law is contingent on the measurement of perceived stimulus intensity that is employed in the relevant experiments. , under the condition that respondents' numerical distortion function and the psychophysical functions could be separated, formulated a behavioral condition equivalent to the psychophysical function being a power function. This condition was confirmed for just over half the respondents, and the power form was found to be a reasonable approximation for the rest.

It has also been questioned, particularly in terms of signal detection theory, whether any given stimulus is actually associated with a particular and absolute perceived intensity; i.e. one that is independent of contextual factors and conditions. Consistent with this, Luce (1990, p. 73) observed that "by introducing contexts such as background noise in loudness judgements, the shape of the magnitude estimation functions certainly deviates sharply from a power function". Indeed, nearly all sensory judgments can be changed by the context in which a stimulus is perceived.

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

title: Stevens's power law


text:
Category:Perception

Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment.

title: Category:Perception


text:
Talk:Beta Israel

Please add Category:Ethnic groups in Israel
The lede says much of the Beta Israel community has migrated to Israel, so the category "Ethnic groups in Israel" should be added to this article. Please add " " to the bottom of the page. - 87.58.119.203 (talk) 15:36, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Source 32
[32] quotes Kaplan as "Steve" but his name is "Steven"! 37.168.18.41 (talk) 21:16, 15 October 2022 (UTC)

Forced conversion by Christians in 18th century needs a citation
Would like a source for this claim and to be more specific about the denomination that force converted Ethiopian Jews. Ethiopian Christians have been around since before the Nicene Council and have the oldest Bible in the world. They lived side-by-side with the Jews since the beginning so it's highly doubtful that Ethiopian Christians force converted Ethiopian Jews 1500 years later. C.a.kland (talk) 10:43, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

I need our help
my name is ermiyas haile i live in ethiopia tigray but now i'm in adiss by the case of conflict betwen federal geverment and state force.in this time i'm in bad life style my familes are in problem i went to move to israel my mother and my familes are bete israelawian that means felasha so who can help me to out from ethiopia and to join isreal 196.191.213.102 (talk) 13:18, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Beta Israel


text:
Branston

Branston may refer to:

Places in England

 * Branston, Leicestershire
 * Branston, Lincolnshire
 * Branston, Staffordshire

People with the surname

 * Frank Branston
 * Guy Branston
 * Jimmy Branston

Other uses

 * Branston (brand), a brand of savoury food in the UK

title: Branston


text:
Abraham Iris

The Abraham Iris was a two-seat touring airplane produced in France in the early 1930s in two slightly different versions, the Iris I with a 75 kW (100 hp) Hispano-Suiza piston engine, and the Iris II with a Renault engine. The Iris was a conventional parasol wing monoplane with a neatly faired-in engine.

title: Abraham Iris


text:
Turtling (gameplay)

Turtling is a gameplay strategy that emphasizes heavy defense, with little or no offense. A player who turtles minimizes risk to themselves while baiting opponents to take risks in trying to overcome the defenses.

In practice, games are often designed to punish turtling through various game mechanics.

As a metaphor, turtling refers to the defensive posture of a turtle, which retracts its limbs into its hardened shell for protection against predators. A player who concentrates on defense is said to behave like a turtle, reluctant to leave the safety of its shell for fear of suffering a lethal attack.

Fighting games
In the world of fighting games, especially those of the 2D variety, a turtle style of play is a defensive style that focuses on patience, positioning, timing, and relatively safe attack options to slow down the pace of the game and minimize the number of punishable mistakes made during the course of the match. This style can be very useful in timed matches, as it allows a player to deal a small amount of damage to an opponent, and then win the match by running down the clock. If available, players can turn off the timer to prevent such a strategy. Turtling can also be used to force an opponent into making punishable mistakes while minimizing the damage one takes. This is especially true when using projectile-heavy characters that are able to both maintain the pressure and stay out of harm's way. In a few other cases, turtling can be an effective strategy to minimize the offensive effects of temporary buffs.

Game mechanics can be designed specifically to discourage turtling. For example, super attack meters may build up faster when using aggressive attacks, and may even decrease as a result of blocking or not attacking. Games can also offer a greater variety of possible hit locations (e.g., utilizing mix-ups) that make it more difficult for a defender to successfully guess how to block or counter. Super Smash Bros. has a character's shield shrink as it is used and takes damage, but it will regenerate when not in use. It is also possible to "poke" shields, or hit vulnerable spots outside a character's shield while their shield is active, which is easier against smaller shields but can be circumvented by positioning the shield with the control stick. If the shield shrinks too much, it will shatter and stun the player for a short period of time. However, turtling is still possible because of various characters who rely heavily on projectiles.

Real-time strategy games
A turtle strategy is commonly used in real-time strategy video games. When turtling, the player protects their territory, to the exclusion of creating forces for attacking the enemy. A turtling strategy may work because it forces the opponent to be more aggressive and constantly force him to attack the turtling player until the map is mined out, and the opponent does not have any resources to replenish their forces. The most common way to turtle is to build large numbers of towers, turrets, and other defensive structures to fire on enemy units. Turtle armies may also incorporate large groups of artillery units to extend effective range and prevent opposing artillery units from attacking with impunity.

The turtling strategy has some major weaknesses. First, many games have units which out-range defensive buildings (catapults, artillery, etc.) and/or short-range units which are fast enough and tough enough to rush the defenses. The turtling strategy may then collapse (especially if overly dependent on choke points) as the more aggressive player destroys one group of defenses, destroys resource-gathering and unit-building facilities in that area, and then attacks another set of defenses, etc. (assuming that the attacker has been building reinforcements in the meantime). Another serious weakness of turtling is that it prevents the turtler from spreading across the map to acquire additional resources, and therefore lets the enemy use these resources to build more and often better offensive units. The seriousness of this disadvantage varies: it is most serious on maps where there are many resource patches and few opponents competing for them.

Under competitive multiplayer conditions, starting resources are often limited, and the turtling strategy involves devoting them all to defense while disregarding other objectives, the most important of which usually being to attack and secure other sources of income. While the turtle builds up his defensive shell, the "attacker" is free to take control of the rest of the map, providing them with an abundance of resources with which to build up a large force (including artillery which can outrange defensive structures, and superweapons, if applicable) and invade from all sides.

Turn-based strategy games
Turtling is also possible in TBS (turn-based strategy) games. It is probably best explained by a classic TBS game such as Risk. A player will simply accumulate armies in one place without attacking other players. As the game progresses, the turtle becomes stronger as other players will not risk attacking in fear of getting weak for no benefit. The turtle exploits the selfishness of other players to its advantage until it is powerful enough to start taking them out one by one. Solutions have been proposed to take the turtle out by cooperation as suggested by Ehsan Honorary.

The situation is similar in resource-based games as well. TBS games have much more scope for research than most RTS (real-time strategy) games, so the objective is usually to spend the minimum of resources on combat units and to focus on research and economic development until the player is in a position to build a large force of advanced units.

Tabletop miniature games and strategy board games
Turtling is also a strategy used in many non-computer games as well. In tabletop miniature combat games, victory may be determined by the amount of opposing units destroyed. By waiting for the opponent to make the first move, a tactical advantage can be gained in many systems. For this reason, many game systems have implemented a victory system involving territorial control to combat the effects of turtling. Turtling is also a strategy in many strategy board games, the strengths, and weaknesses of which are similar to those of turtling in real-time or turn-based computer strategy games.

title: Turtling (gameplay)


text:
Box mangle

The box mangle is said to have been invented in the 17th century. It consisted of a heavy frame containing a large box filled with rocks, resting on a series of long wooden rollers. Damp laundry could be laid flat under rollers, or wound round the rollers: sometimes enclosed in a sheet in order to keep the laundry clean. When the rollers were filled, one or two people pulled on levers or turned cranks to move the heavy box back and forth over the rollers. The mangle's primary purpose was to press household linen and clothing smooth.

This was a mechanical version of the hand-held mangle boards and rollers/pins used in many parts of northern Europe. Nowadays the word mangle suggests a wringing device for removing water from laundry in some English-speaking countries, but the box mangle was used for pressing and smoothing, and was an alternative to hot ironing for larger items. Flat items, like sheets and tablecloths, usually needed no further ironing.

The box mangle was a large and expensive affair and required a fair bit of labor to operate it. It was often used by very large households, commercial laundries or by self-employed mangle women who served their local area. In the 19th century new designs made it easier to operate, and before the middle of the century the upright, space-saving type with cloth pressed between two rollers had become familiar.

In the late 19th century the commercial steam laundry replaced the box mangle with the steam mangle, turned by steam power.

title: Box mangle


text:
Wikipedia:Goings-on/October 10, 2004

Welcome to Wikipedia's goings-on. This page is a central point for community members to collect current information about the community project and to report on recent goings-on. In a sense, it's an announcement page, but it is supposed to collect even those kinds of information that are normally not announced on pages like Announcements (e.g. arbitration progress, outspoken newcomers, amusing things, etc.). However, please notice that this page is explicitly not for discussion. When listing topics here that are being discussed or have been discussed, please link to the appropriate discussion page and discuss it there. For a project-wide update of events, see the Meta goings-on.

This page is archived in a weekly digest-like fashion, every Sunday at 0:00 UTC.

{| cellspacing=3 width="100%"
 * bgcolor="#fffff6" colspan="2" style="border: 1px solid black;padding-left:1em;"|

Goings-on in the week starting Sunday October 10 2004

 * Danny's contest begins.
 * Chicago meetup with Jimbo Wales scheduled for 24 October 2004. Sign up if you can attend.
 * Seattle meetup (without Jimbo Wales, but with lots of other Wikipedians) scheduled for Saturday, 6 November 2004. Sign up if you can attend.

 * - valign="top"
 * bgcolor="#fffff6" style="border: 1px solid black;padding-left:1em;"|

Articles featured on the Main Page
 * First Amendment (October 10)
 * Hebrew calendar (October 11)
 * Vulgar Latin (October 12)
 * Enigma machine (October 13)
 * Rondane National Park (October 14)
 * Humpback Whale (October 15)
 * George III (October 16)

 * bgcolor="#fffff6" style="border: 1px solid black;padding-left:1em;"|

Articles that gained "featured" status
 * Regular polytope (October 12)
 * Geography of Ireland (October 12)
 * Air Force One (October 12)
 * Margin of error (October 12)
 * Breastfeeding (October 12)
 * Victoria of the United Kingdom (October 16)
 * John Millington Synge (October 16)
 * Coconut crab (October 16)

Pictures that gained "featured" status
 * Fire Ants (October 11)
 * Pentakis Dodecahedron (October 11)
 * Large White caterpillar (October 11)
 * Halo around the sun (October 14)
 * Ladybird (aka Ladybug) (October 15)
 * }

title: Wikipedia:Goings-on/October 10, 2004


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wan Sin Man

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

Non-notable school student. --jpgordon {gab} 04:47, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)

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


text: User talk:65.247.35.18

title: User talk:65.247.35.18


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fan Lok Sang

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

Another unnotable HK student. --jpgordon {gab} 04:57, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete -- Infrogmation 04:59, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)

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


text:
Category:Belgian monarchs

This category is meant for kings of the Belgians.

title: Category:Belgian monarchs


text:
Talk:Small sausage in large sausage

I have never heard of this name and I plan to change it!!!Mababa 04:57, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Yes the current name is somewhat disgusting!!!

The name is changed. However the only source of the current English term is from one google result. Bobbybuilder 22:34, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

needs a picture of Xzibit
saying "yo dawg..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.61.164.169 (talk) 09:00, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Small sausage in large sausage


text:
User talk:Ahmeddeeq

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

 * Try the Tutorial, and feel free to experiment in the test area.
 * If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Remember Neutral point of view
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck!

[[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]]

P.S. One last helpful hint. To sign your posts like I did above (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type ~~~ (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~~~~ (4 tildes).

Nomination of Warsangali Sultanate for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Warsangali Sultanate is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Warsangali Sultanate until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Doug Weller talk 14:37, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Draft:Warsangali Sultanate

A tag has been placed on Draft:Warsangali Sultanate requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.lavitaistruzioniperluso.com/warsangali-sultanate.html. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. 1TWO3Writer (talk) 21:42, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ahmeddeeq


text:
South Texas

South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 million according to the 2017 census estimates. The southern portion of this region is often referred to as the Rio Grande Valley. The eastern portion along the Gulf of Mexico is also referred to as the Coastal Bend.

Greater Houston and Beaumont–Port Arthur are occasionally tied to the region, both for physically being on the southern end of the state and for businesses that use "South Texas" in its name. (i.e. South Texas School of Law, South Texas State Fair, etc). However, the two are more commonly associated with East Texas or Southeast Texas.

Geography
There is no defined northern boundary, although it is believed to be at the city of San Antonio and from an east to west line extending from the Rio Grande near Maverick County to the Gulf of Mexico, but turning southeast at or near Lavaca County, and continuing towards the Gulf of Mexico to separate it from East Texas and Southeast Texas. The Rio Grande serves as the western and southern boundaries and separates Texas from Mexico. The eastern portion of South Texas is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico. South Texas consists of 41 counties. Its terrain is flat, lying on the coastal plain. South Texas is so vast, that there are even subregions. The very southern tip of South Texas, called the Rio Grande Valley, has fertile soils and is known for its citrus production. The eastern portion of South Texas is often referred to as the Coastal Bend; here, coastal salt marshes, estuaries, and wetlands are scattered all around. The western and central parts are known as the South Texas Plains or the Brush Country. Mesquite trees and crop fields dominate the Brush Country.

Counties

 * The fastest growing county in South Texas is Guadalupe County, growing by 31.3% from 2010 to 2020.
 * The slowest growing county in South Texas is Refugio County, shrinking by 8.7% from 2010 to 2020.

Cities
Some people consider Houston to be in South Texas for several reasons: numerous businesses in the Houston region contain 'South Texas' in their titles. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas includes the Houston division. However, Houston is most accurately classified as being within Southeast Texas, a subregion of East Texas.

Lakes and reservoirs

 * Choke Canyon Reservoir
 * Lake Corpus Christi
 * Falcon Lake
 * Lake Amistad
 * Lake Findley
 * Mitchell Lake
 * Lake Casa Blanca
 * Brauning Lake
 * Calaveras Lake

Bays

 * Corpus Christi Bay
 * San Antonio Bay
 * Baffin Bay
 * Nueces Bay
 * Oso Bay
 * Copano Bay
 * Aransas Bay
 * Matagorda Bay
 * Lavaca Bay
 * Redfish Bay
 * Mission Bay

Estuaries and waterways

 * Rincon Bayou - a bayou in the Nueces River Delta, just north of the mouth of the Nueces River, for Location, see Nueces Bay
 * Elm Bayou - a bayou on the Victoria-Refugio County line
 * Gulf Intracoastal Waterway - a navigable route along the Gulf of Mexico without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea
 * Resacas of the Rio Grande Valley - many oxbow lakes found scattered throughout the lower Rio Grande Valley
 * Laguna Madre - a long, hypersaline bay that creates a barrier between Padre Island and mainland Texas

Islands

 * Padre Island
 * North Padre Island
 * South Padre Island
 * Mustang Island
 * Matagorda Island
 * Ward Island
 * San José Island

Climate
The climate of South Texas is varied. The area along the Mexican border is generally semi-arid (Köppen climate classification BSh), while the area from the coast inland to just west of San Antonio has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa). South Texas weather is affected by the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains to the west, the Gulf of Mexico to the east, and the Chihuahuan Desert to the west/northwest. Moisture from the Pacific is cut off by the Mexican Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental mountain ranges. Along the coast the climate is best exemplified in the summers when humidity is extremely high though at times arid, depending upon whether tropical moisture from the Gulf and sometimes from the Pacific is flowing in or if the region is cut off from any moisture by high pressure systems, causing long droughts, which occur every few years. Temperatures reach freezing only a few times in the winter and snowfall is rare, usually three inches or less. Summers in this zone are hot and humid, with daily averages above 90 °F. In addition, areas in Texas that are slightly inland from the Gulf of Mexico, such as San Antonio that border the semi-arid climate zone, generally see a peak of precipitation in the spring, and a deep, drought-like nadir in midsummer. The region itself sees a short wet season from March to May and another one from late August to October, and a dry season elsewhere in the year. Night-time temperatures are around 85 °F in summer. The region of South Texas includes the semi-arid ranch country and the wetter Rio Grande Valley. Considered to be the southernmost tip of the American Great Plains region, the inland region has rainfall similar to that of the Northern Plains. The coastal areas are warm most of the year due to currents of the Gulf of Mexico, but can get cold in winter if a strong front comes in, occasionally causing snow at sea level. Rain in the coastal region is more abundant than in the inland region, and subtropical forests line the Rio Grande. Inland, where it is drier, ranches dominate the landscape, characterized by thick, spiny brush and grasslands. The winters in the inland region are cooler and drier, as Arctic air can make it into the region, but snow is rare due to the lack of humidity. Summers are for the most part hot and dry, but at times can be humid if winds come off the warmer Gulf of Mexico. Tornadoes can occur in this region, but less frequently than in other parts of the state.

Hurricanes are the most dangerous weather systems to affect South Texas. Hurricane season is between June and November. However, the Texas coast gets affected usually between August and September, when systems sporadically organize in the southern Gulf around the Bay of Campeche or western Caribbean and the latter months forming off the coast of Africa.

Droughts- Although South Texas summers generally see rainfall in summer months, some years the lack of rain is persistent and leads to water shortages; lake levels drop significantly and lead to municipal water restrictions. In the summer of 2011, numerous records were set. On August 28, 2011, most of South Texas had temperatures reaching 110 °F, breaking many cities' record highs. Furthermore, 95% of the state faced an extreme or exceptional drought, according to the office of the Texas state climatologist. These drought conditions led to a string of dangerous wildfires across the state, and the enforcement of burn bans in 250 of the 254 counties in Texas.

Tornadoes do occur in this part of the state, but not as frequently as other parts. They approach, usually from the northwest to southeast, as a line of severe thunderstorms, mostly in the summer months and by cold fronts in fall.

Snow rarely falls south of San Antonio or on the coast except in rare circumstances. Of note is the 2004 Christmas Eve snowstorm, when 6 inches (150 mm) of snow fell as far south as McAllen.

Reptiles
• Texas tortoise

• Texas horned lizard

• Texas spiny lizard

• Green anole

• American alligator

• Western diamondback rattlesnake

• Texas coral snake

• Desert massasauga rattlesnake

• Kemp's ridley sea turtle

• Loggerhead sea turtle

• Leatherback sea turtle

• Green sea turtle

• Hawksbill sea turtle

Mammals
• Coyote

• Javelina

• Virginia opossum

• Bobcat

• White-tailed deer

• Mountain lion

• Jaguar

• Jaguarundi

• Ocelot

• Nine-banded armadillo

• Black-tailed jackrabbit

• Desert cottontail

• Striped skunk

• Ring-tailed Cat

Sealife
• Bottlenose dolphins

• West Indian manatee

• Barracuda

• Bluefish

• Tarpon

• Tiger shark

• Red drum

• Blue crab

• Stone crab

• Fiddler crab

• Lightning whelk

• Atlantic Spanish mackerel

• King mackerel

• Pinfish

• Pigfish

• Gafftopsail catfish

• Hardhead catfish

• Atlantic cutlassfish

• Atlantic croaker

• Striped mullet

• American eel

• Black drum

• Spotted seatrout

• Greater amberjack

• Florida pompano

• Common snook

• Crevalle jack

• Tripletail

• Cobia

• Eastern oyster

• Red snapper

• Vermilion snapper

• Sheepshead

• Lane snapper

• Bull shark

• Shortfin mako

• Atlantic blue marlin

• Southern flounder

Arthropods
• Southern black widow

• Black widow

• Brown recluse

• Texas brown tarantula

• Giant desert centipede

• Texas tan tarantula

• Fire ant

Birds
• Northern mockingbird

• Laughing gull

• American herring gull

• White-winged dove

• Green jay

• Brown pelican

• American white ibis

• Great white heron

• Osprey

• Anhinga

• Monk parakeet

• Roseate spoonbill

• Reddish egret

• Red-crowned parrot

Multicultural influences
South Texas is well known for strong Hispanic, primarily Mexican American and Tejano (the Spanish term for "Texan") influences, due to its proximity to Mexico. Tejanos and Mexicans living in South Texas are descended from the Spanish and Sephardic Jewish settlers of Mexico, from Mexican indigenous groups allied with the Spanish, such as Tlaxcaltec and Otomi peoples, and from local indigenous groups of South Texas who were missionized by the Spanish, particularly Coahuiltecans. These migrations occurred and have been ongoing since the early 1700s in South Texas. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the 1840s failed to secure land belonging to the Mexican settlers. The disputed area was between the Nueces River south of San Antonio and Corpus Christi, the King Ranch, and the Rio Grande. Recognized by neither Mexico nor the United States, the Republic of the Rio Grande was established in this region in 1840, lasting less than a year. Laredo served as its capital.

The Rio Grande Valley area played a significant role in the Mexican War of Independence, the Texas Revolution, the Mexican–American War, and the American Civil War, with many historical battle sites around the area. General Robert E. Lee resided at Fort Ringold (Rio Grande City) during this time as a colonel. President Zachary Taylor was General of the Army at Fort Brown (Brownsville) during the Mexican–American War.

The Texas Rangers gained popularity for their actions in South Texas during the Mexican bandit raids in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On May 25, 1876, a band of 40 Texas Rangers rode out of Laredo and headed north to the Nueces Strip. Their mission was to find, kill or capture John King Fisher, leader of a band of cattle rustlers and cut-throats who had been terrorizing the area. The Rangers were members of a select group known as the Special Force. Led by Leander McNelly, the Special Force was given the task to bring law and order to an area of South Texas that lay between Corpus Christi and the Mexican border. San Antonio has the most significant African American population in all of South Texas.

Rice
An important event in the development of South Texas and the Texas Gulf Coast rice industry was the introduction of seed imported from Japan in 1904. The Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Pacific Railroad invited Japanese farmers to Texas to help area farms in the production of rice. The seed the Japanese farmers brought with them was a gift from the Japanese emperor. The production of Japanese rice began at Webster in Harris County. The Gulf Coast rice industry is credited to the Saibara family.

Air

 * San Antonio International Airport
 * Corpus Christi International Airport
 * Laredo International Airport
 * Valley International Airport
 * Victoria Regional Airport
 * McAllen Miller International Airport
 * Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport
 * Alice International Airport
 * South Texas International Airport at Edinburg
 * Aransas County Airport
 * Kleberg County Airport
 * Duval-Freer Airport
 * Mustang Beach Airport
 * San José Island Airport

Passenger rail

 * San Antonio Amtrak station, serving two Amtrak lines; the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle; and Amtrak Thruway route serving Harlingen, Brownsville, and McAllen, Texas.

Interstate

 * I-2 (TX).svg I-2
 * I-10 (TX).svg I-10
 * I-35 (TX).svg I-35
 * I-37 (TX).svg I-37
 * I-69C (TX).svg I-69C
 * I-69E (TX).svg I-69E
 * I-69W (TX).svg I-69W
 * I-169 (TX).svg I-169
 * I-410 (TX).svg I-410

US Routes

 * US 59.svg US 59
 * US 77.svg US 77
 * US 83.svg US 83
 * US 87.svg US 87
 * US 90.svg US 90
 * US 181.svg US 181
 * US 281.svg US 281

Texas State Highways

 * Texas 4.svg TX 4
 * Texas 16.svg TX 16
 * Texas 44.svg TX 44
 * Texas 107.svg TX 107
 * Texas 141.svg TX 141
 * Texas 151.svg TX 151
 * Texas 255.svg TX 255
 * Texas 285.svg TX 285
 * Texas 286.svg TX 286
 * Texas 336.svg TX 336
 * Texas 358.svg TX 358
 * Texas 359.svg TX 359
 * Texas 361.svg TX 361
 * Texas 495.svg TX 495

International bridges
Laredo Eagle Pass Brownsville Los Indios Falcon Heights Hidalgo McAllen Pharr Progreso Rio Grande City Roma
 * Gateway to the Americas International Bridge
 * Juárez–Lincoln International Bridge
 * Texas Mexican Railway International Bridge
 * World Trade International Bridge
 * Laredo–Colombia Solidarity International Bridge
 * Eagle Pass–Piedras Negras International Bridge
 * Camino Real International Bridge
 * Union Pacific International Railroad Bridge
 * Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge
 * Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates
 * Gateway International Bridge
 * Free Trade International Bridge
 * Lake Falcon Dam International Crossing
 * McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge
 * Anzalduas International Bridge
 * Pharr–Reynosa International Bridge
 * Progreso–Nuevo Progreso International Bridge
 * Rio Grande City–Camargo International Bridge
 * Roma–Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge

Tourism
San Antonio Corpus Christi Laredo Rio Grande Valley Other
 * San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
 * The Alamo
 * Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
 * Six Flags Fiesta Texas
 * San Antonio River Walk
 * San Antonio Zoo
 * SeaWorld San Antonio
 * San Antonio Museum of Art
 * San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo
 * Mirador de la Flor (Selena Memorial Statue)
 * Texas State Aquarium
 * USS Lexington Museum Ship
 * Mustang Island and Mustang Island State Park
 * Padre Island National Seashore near Corpus Christi
 * Bayfest
 * Schlitterbahn
 * San Agustin de Laredo Historic District
 * Republic of the Rio Grande Capitol Building Museum
 * Washington's Birthday Celebration festivities during January and February
 * South Padre Island
 * Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville
 * Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle
 * King Ranch near Kingsville
 * Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Colleges

 * Alamo Community College District
 * San Antonio College
 * Palo Alto College
 * St. Philip's College
 * Northeast Lakeview College
 * Northwest Vista College
 * Coastal Bend College
 * Alice Campus
 * Main Campus (Beeville)
 * Kingsville Campus
 * Pleasanton Campus
 * Del Mar College
 * Laredo Community College
 * Laredo Community College South Campus
 * South Texas College
 * Main Campus, McAllen
 * Tech Campus, McAllen
 * Nursing and Allied Health Campus, McAllen
 * Mid-Valley Campus, Weslaco
 * Starr County Campus, Rio Grande City
 * Texas State Technical College
 * Texas Southmost College

Public universities

 * Texas A&M International University (Laredo)
 * Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
 * Texas A&M University–Kingsville (Texas A&I)
 * Texas A&M University–San Antonio
 * University of Houston–Victoria
 * University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
 * University of Texas at San Antonio
 * University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (2015)
 * University of Texas at Brownsville
 * University of Texas–Pan American

Private universities

 * Our Lady of the Lake University
 * St. Mary's University
 * University of the Incarnate Word
 * Trinity University
 * Texas Lutheran University

Sports
The only major professional sports team in South Texas is the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA.

Area codes

 * 210 - San Antonio, Bexar County
 * 361 - Corpus Christi, Alice, Victoria, Kingsville, Rockport, Falfurrias
 * 726 - San Antonio metropolitan area
 * 830 - Eagle Pass, Floresville
 * 956 - Laredo, Brownsville, McAllen, Mission, Edinburg
 * 979 - only the southern half of this area is in South Texas

title: South Texas


text:
Wikipedia:Resolving NPOV disputes

One of the most common types of edit wars on Wikipedia is the Neutral point of view dispute, in which two or more people begin reverting an article because of a disagreement on how best to present the article in a neutral point of view. These disputes tend to at once be extremely polarizing and vicious, and to be fairly simple to resolve with the addition of an outside mediator.

Some advice in resolving these disputes:

The nature of NPOV disputes
First of all, almost every NPOV dispute has some grain of truth, simply because NPOV writing is hard, and very few if any articles manage it without imperfection. Second of all, it tends to be the case that, in a heated NPOV dispute, all parties involved edit from a POV standpoint that they feel so strongly about that they believe it to be neutral.

The first step in resolving any NPOV dispute, therefore, is to actually read Neutral point of view. After reading it, go back to the dispute remembering this: It is not the job of Wikipedia to resolve disputes for once and for all. It's the job of Wikipedia to accurately and fairly describe the dispute.

Try something different
The second step is to try something different. If the edit you have made has been reverted three times already, odds are the person will revert it a fourth time. Also a fifth. If you try making a new edit, however, it may not be reverted. This will work even better if you read what the person you are arguing with is saying when they object to you, and try to change it to address their objections.

One way to rephrase objectionable language is to change assertions to a viewpoint that is ascribed to a documented source. This is almost never a violation of NPOV. Avoid the weasel words "Some people claim," which do not make a passage NPOV. What people claim it, and where do they do it? If you document that, it's very, very hard to raise an objection.

A second thing to consider is that few articles are ever made more NPOV through deletion. NPOV is not obtained by removing POV, but rather by adding balancing POVs, and phrasing statements so as to show that a debate exists on a matter. In many cases, the way towards a NPOV article is not to remove a claim, but to add counter-claims. This is true even if the claim is, in your view, patently absurd. If it's so absurd, after all, it should not be hard to muster a counter-claim that will persuade an average reader. And if you do that, you've taught the reader to look out for that claim and be skeptical of it – something you can't achieve by removing the claim entirely.

If that doesn't work
In many cases, rephrasing alone will go a long way towards resolving a NPOV dispute. Sometimes, though, in particularly vicious cases, the dispute will then settle on how to introduce and describe the person that a claim is being attributed to.

In most cases, it is best to do this in terms of the claim rather than the person. For instance, "Joe Schmo claims X, although this claim has proven controversial" is superior to "The controversial Joe Schmo claims X." If you must describe Joe Schmo to introduce him, you should take care to make that description NPOV, and to focus on his most relevant and important qualifications. Typically, it is best to err on the side of sympathy in introducing a source for a claim. Objections to the claim can always be added in sentences after the claim.

Two totally different articles
One particularly trenchant form of NPOV dispute occurs when communication has so broken down that reverts are going on between two entirely different versions of an article. In this case, the first and most important thing to do is to stop reverting. Before any meaningful progress can be made, the two versions need to be merged somehow. This may be as simple as appending one version to the other, or it may involve wholly abandoning one version in favor of adding the information back into the other. Either way, however, someone has to give in.

Protection
It may be tempting, in an NPOV dispute, to request page protection. This is generally unhelpful. For one thing, protected pages are considered harmful. For another, NPOV disputes are often best hammered out through a collaborative process in which each party tinkers a bit with the language to take the POV edge off of it. This is difficult when the page is protected. If you are inclined to request protection of a page, consider instead that it is very easy to stop a revert war if you are involved in it: Just stop reverting.

Instead, try to compromise and reach for common ground. That way protection is unnecessary. Remember that it is never entirely one person's fault when a page gets protected due to an edit war – it is a failure on the part of every editor involved in the page.

title: Wikipedia:Resolving NPOV disputes


text:
User talk:0101SOwk

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

 * Try the Tutorial, and feel free to experiment in the test area.
 * If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Remember Neutral point of view
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck!

[[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]]

P.S. One last helpful hint. To sign your posts like I did above (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type ~~~ (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~~~~ (4 tildes).

title: User talk:0101SOwk


text:
Ben Yehuda Street bombings

A series of attacks were perpetrated or ordered by Palestinian Arabs, some of them acting as suicide bombers, on Jewish targets in Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street from February 1948 onwards. Ben Yehuda Street was a major thoroughfare.

1948 (49-58 killed)
The attacks took place during the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, after the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in November 1947 and before the Israeli Declaration of Independence in May 1948.

On February 22, 1948, three British Army trucks led by an armoured car driven by Arab irregulars and British deserters exploded on Ben Yehuda Street killing from 49 to 58 civilians and injuring from 140 to 200. The bomb may have been intended to kill members of the Furmans (Palmach convoy escorts) who lodged in the Atlantic and Amdursky Hotels but had left on patrol shortly beforehand. In addition to the two hotels, the Vilenchick Building and the Kupat-Milveh Bank were destroyed. The bomb had been created by Fawzi al-Qutb. The convoy was led by a Jerusalemite militant, 'Azmi al-Ja'uni, who spoke fluent English and could pass himself off as a British officer. Two British deserters, Eddie Brown, a police captain who claimed that the Irgun had killed his brother, and Peter Madison, an army corporal, had been persuaded to join the attack, also by the promise of substantial financial rewards.

Aftermath
A leaflet stating that the explosion was in response to an Irgun bomb attack three days earlier, in Ramla, on 19 February, was distributed the following evening. It was signed by Abd al-Qadir, who assumed responsibility for the operation. Abd al-Qadir himself, in Cairo the day after, left a statement to Al-Ahram to the same effect and the Army of the Holy War High Command reiterated the declaration in Palestine. Husayn al-Khalidi, secretary of the Arab Higher Committee, deplored the act as 'depravity unfit for the Arab spirit,' while the Committee itself, in an attempt to distance itself from the incident, tried to throw doubt on the authenticity of Abd al-Qadir's public statements.

In the ensuing confusion, Jewish residents immediately blamed the British for the attack. David Ben-Gurion, on visiting the site of the carnage, has been cited as putting some responsibility for this Arab attack on the shoulders of Jewish thugs, stating, "I could not forget that our thugs and murderers had opened the way." The Irgun spread word ordering militants to shoot on sight any Englishman. By day's end, eight British soldiers had been shot dead, while a ninth was murdered while laid up in a Jewish clinic for treatment of a wound. Lehi also reacted several days later by blowing up a train full of British soldiers as it drew out of Rehovot station, killing 27.

The day after, on 23 February, a Jewish offensive, deploying mortars, was launched against the Arab neighbourhood of Musrara, in Jerusalem, killing seven Arabs, including an entire family. The Arabs believed it was in revenge for the Ben-Yehuda Street bombing, though, according to Israeli historian Itamar Radai, at the time the Jews and their official institutions blamed only the British for the incident.

1975 (15 killed)
On Friday, July 4, 1975, a refrigerator that had five kilograms of explosives packed into its sides exploded on Zion Square, a main city square connecting Ben Yehuda Street and Jaffa Road. Fifteen people were killed and 77 injured in the attack. Ahmad Jabara, who was responsible for placing the bomb, was arrested and sentenced to life and thirty years in prison, but was released by Israel in 2003 after serving 27 years as a gesture to Arafat, who then appointed him his adviser on prisoners affairs. He died in Ramallah in 2013.

On November 13, 1975, an explosive charge went off near Cafe Naveh on Jaffa Road, near the pedestrian mall. Six people were killed and 40 injured.

1976 (1 killed)
On April 9, 1976, a car bomb was dismantled on Ben Yehuda Street shortly before it was to have exploded.

On May 3, 1976, thirty-three passers-by were injured when a booby-trapped motor scooter exploded at the corner of Ben Yehuda and Ben Hillel Streets. Among those injured were the Greek consul in Jerusalem and his wife. The following day, on the eve of Independence Day, the municipality organized an event at the site of the attack, under the slogan "Nevertheless." One person is also reported to have died in the attack which was perpetrated by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

1997 (5 killed)
On September 4, 1997, three Hamas suicide bombers simultaneously blew themselves up on the pedestrian mall, killing five Israelis. The bombing was carried out by Palestinians from the village of Asira al-Shamaliya.

Three 14-year-old girls were killed in the attack: Sivann Zarka, Yael Botvin and Smadar Elhanan. Elhanan was the daughter of peace activist Nurit Peled-Elhanan and the granddaughter of Israeli general and politician Mattityahu Peled.

The family of Yael Botvin, a U.S. citizen, filed a lawsuit in the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

A default judgment of $251 million in compensatory and punitive damages was awarded to the relatives of Americans killed in the attack. There were few assets of the Iranian government in the United States following the judgment. The plaintiffs threatened to seize valuable Persian artifacts located in Chicago museums and sell them for proceeds, leading to the Chicago's Persian heritage crisis, as well as suing the account of the Bank Melli Iran in the Bank of New York, but having the United States Department of Justice speak as amicus curiae in support of Bank Melli, advising that the bank had no responsibility for turning the funds over, resulted in a ruling against the students.

2001 (11 killed)
On December 1, 2001, two suicide bombers detonated themselves on Ben Yehuda Street, followed by a car bomb set to go off as paramedics arrived. The suicide bombers killed eleven victims aged 15 to 21, including a number of soldiers out of uniform, and 188 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility, stating that it was in retaliation for the killing of senior Hamas militant Mahmud Abu Hanoud. A Hamas spokesman in Gaza stated that these bombings did not assuage its lust for vengeance and that it would carry out further bombings. Lawsuits were filed against Arab Bank, NatWest and Crédit Lyonnais alleging that they channelled money to Hamas.

title: Ben Yehuda Street bombings


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Shek Man Yi

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

More from the same unnotable HK school. --jpgordon {gab} 05:02, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I guess someone has started zapping this whole bunch from the same school. I shan't complain. --jpgordon {gab} 05:04, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)

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