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Agriculture in Australia

Although Australia is mostly arid, the nation is a major agricultural producer and exporter, with over 325,300 people employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing as of February 2015. Agriculture and its closely related sectors earn $155 billion a year for a 12% share of GDP. Farmers and grazers own 135,997 farms, covering 61% of Australia's landmass. Across the country, there is a mix of irrigation and dry-land farming. The success of Australia in becoming a major agricultural power despite the odds is facilitated by its policies of long-term visions and promotion of agricultural reforms that greatly increased the country's agricultural industry.

There are three main zones: the high rainfall zone of Tasmania and a narrow coastal zone (used principally for dairying and beef production); wheat, sheep zone (cropping (principally winter crops), and the grazing of sheep (for wool, lamb and mutton) plus beef cattle) and the pastoral zone (characterised by low rainfall, less fertile soils, and large scale pastoral activities involving the grazing of beef cattle and sheep for wool and mutton). An indicator of the viability of agriculture in the state of South Australia is whether the land is within Goyder's Line.

History
Agriculture in Australia has a lively history. Aboriginal Australians have been variously described as hunter-gatherer-cultivators and proto-farmers, as there is evidence that farming activities were undertaken prior to the arrival of Europeans, including tilling, planting and irrigating. However, these practices were non-industrialised and complementary to hunting, gathering and fishing. Whether the people could be termed agriculturalists is controversial. In 1788, the first European settlers brought agricultural technology from their homelands which radically changed the dominant practices. After some initial failures, wool dominated in the 19th century and, in the first half of the 20th century, dairying increased in its popularity, driven by technological changes like canning and refrigeration.

Meat exports were very significant in the development of Australian agriculture. By 1925, there were 54 export freezing works, capable of killing 6000 cattle and 90,000 sheep and lambs daily. Initially, the meat for British markets had to be frozen, but later beef could be exported chilled.

2000-2019
At the turn of the millennium, Australia produced a large variety of primary products for export and domestic consumption. Australia's production in the first five years was as follows: Australia's main crops were contrasting in preferred climate: sugar cane (typical of tropical countries), wheat and barley (typical of cold countries).

In 2018, Australia was the world's largest producer of lupin bean (714 thousand tons), the world's second largest producer of chickpeas (1 million tons), the world's fourth largest producer of barley (9.2 million tons) and oats (1.2 million tons), the 5th largest producer of rapeseed (3.9 million tons), the 9th largest producer of sugarcane (33.5 million tons) and wheat (20.9 million tons) and the 13th largest producer of grape (1.66 million tons). In the same year, the country also produced 1.2 million tons of sorghum, 1.1 million tons of potato, in addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as rice (635 thousand tons), maize (387 thousand tons), tomato (386 thousand tons), orange (378 thousand tons), fava beans (377 thousand tons), banana (373 thousand tons), pea (317 thousand tons), carrot (284 thousand tons), onion (278 thousand tons), apple (268 thousand tons), lentils (255 thousand tons), melon (224 thousand tons), watermelon (181 thousand tons), tangerine (138 thousand tons) etc.

2019
Late in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and Australian agriculture was heavily impacted by the resulting supply chain issues. The scarcity of freight space and disruption to Chinese New Year purchases was particularly painful, with China being Australia's largest export market and a particularly large buyer of live seafood.

China Tariffs
In May, the Australian government proposed an independent investigation of the origin of COVID-19. Shortly afterwards, China placed large restrictions on their imports of a number of Australian agricultural products, as well as coal. Agriculture is one of Australia's most trade-exposed economic sectors.

Labour shortages
The agricultural workforce was heavily reliant on international workers, and by the end of 2020, the pandemic resulted in a severe shortage of farm workers across the country. Much produce could not be picked, with losses estimated at $22 million, thanks to a backpacker workforce diminished from 200,000 to 52,000. The shortage lingered through 2021, with skilled labour also in short supply, leading to calls to double Australia's skilled migrant uptake.

Crops
Cereals, oilseeds and grain legumes are produced on a large scale in Australia for human consumption and livestock feed. Wheat is the cereal with the greatest production in terms of area and value to the Australian economy. Sugarcane, grown in tropical Australia, is also an important crop; however, the unsubsidised industry (while lower-cost than heavily subsidised European and American sugar producers) is struggling to compete with the huge and much more efficient Brazilian sugarcane industry.

Horticulture
In 2005, McDonald's Australia Ltd announced it would no longer source all its potatoes for fries from Tasmanian producers and announced a new deal with New Zealand suppliers. Subsequently, Vegetable and Potato Growers Australia (Ltd.) launched a political campaign advocating protectionism.

Viticulture
Although the Australian wine industry enjoyed a large period of growth during the 1990s, overplanting and oversupply led to a large drop in the value of wine, forcing out of business some winemakers, especially those on contracts to large wine-producing companies. At the time, the future for some Australian wine producers seemed uncertain, but by 2015 a national study showed that the industry had recovered and the combined output of grape growing and winemaking were major contributors to the Australian economy's gross output while the associated industry of wine tourism had also expanded. A follow-up report from 2019 demonstrated further consolidation, by which stage wine had become Australia's fifth-largest agricultural export industry, with domestic and international sales contributing AU$45.5 billion to gross output.

Wine producers were impacted by the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, with Adelaide Hills losing 30% of its vineyards. Grapes around the country were affected by smoke, with the smell affecting the wine produced.

Beef industry
The beef industry is the largest agricultural enterprise in Australia, and it is the second largest beef exporter, behind Brazil, in the world. All states and territories of Australia support cattle breeding in a wide range of climates. Cattle production is a major industry that covers an area in excess of 200 million hectares. The Australian beef industry is dependent on export markets, with over 60% of Australian beef production exported, primarily to the United States, Korea and Japan.

In southern Australia (NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and south-western Western Australia) beef cattle are often reared on smaller properties as part of a mixed farming or grazing operation, but some properties do specialise in producing cattle. The southern calves are typically reared on pasture and sold as weaners, yearlings or steers at about two years old or older. Artificial insemination and embryo transfer are more commonly used in stud cattle breeding in Australia, but may be used in other herds.

In the Top End, sub-tropical areas and in arid inland regions, cattle are bred on native pastures on expansive cattle stations. Anna Creek Station in South Australia, Australia is the world's largest working cattle station. The North Australian Pastoral Company Pty Limited (NAPCO) is now one of Australia's largest beef cattle producers, with a herd of over 180,000 cattle and fourteen cattle stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Australian Agricultural Company (AA Co) manages a cattle herd of more than 585,000 herd. Heytesbury Beef Pty Ltd owns and manages over 200,000 herd of cattle across eight stations spanning the East Kimberley, Victoria River and Barkly Tablelands regions in Northern Australia.

Prior to European settlement, there were no cattle in Australia. The present herd consists principally of British and European breeds (Bos taurus) in the southern regions, with Aberdeen Angus and Herefords being the most common. In northern Australia, Bos indicus breeds predominate along with their crosses. They were introduced to combine the resistance to cattle ticks and greater tolerance to hot weather.

In 1981, the industry was shaken by the Australian meat substitution scandal, which revealed that horse and kangaroo meat had been both exported overseas and sold domestically as beef.

Dairy
Domestic milk markets were heavily regulated until the 1980s, particularly for milk used for domestic fresh milk sales. This protected smaller producers in the northern states who produced exclusively for their local markets. The Kerin Plan (named after politician John Kerin) began the process of deregulation in 1986. The final price supports were removed in 2000 with the assistance of Pat Rowley, head of the Australian Dairy Farmers Federation and the Australian Dairy Industry Council. Deregulation ultimately saw 13,000 Australian dairy farmers produce 10 billion litres of milk in comparison to the 5 billion litres of milk produced by 23,000 farmers prior to deregulation, a 30% reduction in farmers with a 55% rise in milk production. As the Australian dairy industry grows, feedlot systems are becoming more popular.

Fisheries
The fisheries in Australia is a very large scale industry. Australia produces many species of fish, including farmed, sustainable and intensive, and wild caught such as tuna and other schooling fish.

Seaweeds
The shorelines, especially the Great Barrier Reef, are providing motivation to help the continent by using seaweed (algae) to absorb nutrients. Because of the giant number of natural Australian seaweeds, not only could seaweed cultivation be used to help absorb nutrients around the GBR and other Australian shores, cultivation could also help feed a large part of the world. Even the Chinese, who could be considered far more advanced in seaweed cultivation, are interested in the future of Australian seaweeds. Lastly, the GBR itself, because of the delicate corals, has lent itself to utilising seaweed/algae purposely as a nutrient reduction tool in the form of algae.

Olives
Olives have been grown in Australia since the early 1800s. Olive trees were planted by the warden of the self-funded penal settlement on St Helena Island, Queensland in Moreton Bay. By the mid-90s, there were 2000 ha of olives, and from 2000 to 2003 passed 20000 ha. By 2014 (Ravetti and Edwards, 2014) there were 2000 plantations, covering over 35000 ha, and producing 93500 tonnes of olives. 3000 tonnes were used as table olives and around 5-7,000 tonnes exported to the United States, China, the European Union, New Zealand and Japan. Between 2009 and 2014, Australia imported an average of 31000 tonnes predominantly from Spain, Italy and Greece. China's olive oil consumption is increasing, and Chinese investors have begun to buy Australian olive farms. Olive cultivars include Arbequina, Arecuzzo, Barnea, Barouni, Coratina, Correggiola, Del Morocco, Frantoio, Hojiblanca, Jumbo Kalamata, Kalamata, Koroneiki, Leccino, Manzanillo, Pendulino, Picholine, Picual, Sevillano, UC13A6, and Verdale. Manzanillo, Azapa, Nab Tamri and South Australian Verdale produce table olives.

Wool
Australia is the world's largest producer of wool. The Australian wool industry was worth $3.6 billion in 2022. The total number of sheep is estimated to be 75 million. In the late 1980s, the sheep flock was 180 million. Only 5% of Australia's wool clip is processed onshore. The Merino produces fine wool and was first introduced to Australia in 1797, with the breed being well-suited to the Australian environment. By the 1870s Australia had become the world's greatest wool-growing nation.

Political values
Historian F.K. Crowley finds that:
 * Australian farmers and their spokesman have always considered that life on the land is inherently more virtuous, more healthy, more important and more productive than living in the towns and cities. The farmers complained that something was wrong with an electoral system which produced parliamentarians who spent money beautifying vampire-cities instead of developing the interior.

The Country Party, from the 1920s to the 1970s, promulgated its version of agrarianism, which it called "countrymindedness". The goal was to enhance the status of the graziers (operators of big sheep ranches) and small farmers and justified subsidies for them.

Water management
Water management is a major issue in Australia. The nation is struggling with over-allocation issues and increasing variability. Effectively governing such issues has proven to be problematic. Public institutions responsible for water management include the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, which manages water resources in the Murray–Darling basin, Australia's largest river catchment.

Because of Australia's large deserts and irregular rainfall, irrigation is necessary for agriculture in some parts of the country. The total gross value of irrigated agricultural production in 2004-05 was A$9,076 million compared to A$9,618 million in 2000–01. The gross value of irrigated agricultural production represents around a quarter (23%) of the gross value of agricultural commodities produced in Australia in 2004–05, on less than 1% of agricultural land.

Of the 12,191 GL of water consumed by agriculture in 2004–05, dairy farming accounted for 18% (2,276 GL), pasture 16% (1,928 GL), cotton 15% (1,822 GL) and sugar 10% (1,269 GL).

Environmental issues
In 2006, the CSIRO, the federal government agency for scientific research in Australia, forecast that climate change will cause decreased precipitation over much of Australia and that this will exacerbate existing challenges to water availability and quality for agriculture.

Climate change has damaged farming productivity, reducing broadacre farm profits by an average of 22% since 2000. In 2023, the Department of Agriculture published a National Statement on Climate Change and Agriculture, exploring resilience in the agriculture sector.

Agriculture contributes 13% of Australia's total greenhouse emissions, however, much of this is methane of biological origin, rather than from fossil fuels.

Although native, kangaroos have been known to destroy fences and eat cattle feed, sometimes in problematic numbers.

Organic farming
As of 2021, $2.3 billion worth of commodities were produced in Australia by the organic agriculture sector, representing approximately 3% of agricultural output. Australia leads the world with 35 million hectares certified organic, which is 8.8% of Australia's agricultural land and Australia now accounts for more than half (51%) of the world's certified organic agriculture hectares.

Genetic modification
GM grains are widely grown in all states and territories in Australia with the exception of Tasmania, which is the last state to maintain a moratorium against GM. GM crops are regulated under a national scheme by the Gene Technology Regulator, through the Gene Technology Act 2000. As of 2022, there are four GM crops approved to be grown in Australia: cotton, safflower, carnations and canola. In particular, 99.5% of cotton growers in Australia use GM cotton.

Foreign land ownership
Australia has seen a major increase in foreign ownership of agriculture in the 2010s. According to a report in 2020, it was found that the amount of Australian agricultural land in foreign ownership, increased slightly from 13.4 to 13.8 percent.

A 2016 Lowy Institute poll found that 87% of respondents were against the Federal Government allowing foreign companies to buy Australian agricultural land a 6% points higher than a similar survey four years ago.

A 2022 ABC's Vote Compass Poll found that 88% of Australians want tighter controls on foreign ownership of farm land, which is an increase from Compass poll results in 2013 and 2016.

Animal welfare and live exports
Animal welfare has caused public concern, with exports of live animals particularly scrutinised. The practice of exporting live animals has received strong public opposition (a petition carrying 200,000 signatures of people opposed to live export was tabled in parliament ) and opposition from the RSPCA because of cruelty.

In 2022, the Labor Party committed to ending live exports of sheep, if elected. In 2023, they commenced the process, however, it is not likely to be completed within the government's first term.

In 2006, animal rights organisations including PETA promoted a boycott of Merino wool, as a protest against the practice of mulesing, a procedure used to prevent the animals from becoming fly blown with maggots. In 2004, due to the worldwide attention, AWI proposed to phase out the practice by the end of year 2010; this promise was retracted in 2009.

In 2022, new regulations for chicken welfare were introduced.

Farm safety
Farming is the most dangerous occupation in Australia. 55 farmers died while working in 2022. Accidents involving tractors accounted for 20 per cent and quad bikes for 14 per cent of deaths.

Information Technology
Drone technology, Self driver tractors, Online Marketplaces are recent and growing trends. There is little standardisation and no accreditation authorities, though the CSIRO and other independent organisations have evaluated individual developments, the lack of a coordinated approach and lead agency restricts developments and risks Australia's competitiveness.

Public governance
Before the Federation of Australia in 1901, individual state governments bore responsibility for agriculture. As part of the federation, the Department of Commerce and Agriculture was created to help develop the agricultural industry. The newly created Department of Trade and Customs had additional responsibilities for sugar agreements, as well as cotton.

These responsibilities were merged into a single agricultural department in 1956. Since the merger, the department responsible for agriculture has been renamed and re-structured many times:

 * 1956–1974 - Department of Primary Industry
 * 1974–1975 - Department of Agriculture
 * 1975–1987 - Department of Primary Industry
 * 1987–1998 - Department of Primary Industries and Energy
 * 1998–2013 - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
 * 2013–2015 - Department of Agriculture
 * 2015–2019 - Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
 * 2019–2020 - Department of Agriculture
 * 2020–2022 - Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
 * 2022– Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

title: Agriculture in Australia


text:
Kiki Dee

Pauline Matthews (born 6 March 1947) better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English pop singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records.

Dee is best known for the hit singles "Amoureuse" (1973), "I've Got the Music in Me" (1974) and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", her 1976 duet with Elton John, which reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her 1981 single "Star" became the theme song for the talent show Opportunity Knocks when it was revived by the BBC in 1987. In 1993, she performed another duet with John for his Duets album, a cover version of Cole Porter's "True Love", which reached number 2 in the UK. During her career, she has released 40 singles, three EPs and 12 albums.

Early life
Dee was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the age of 10 she won a local talent contest, and at 16 she had her first paid job in show business. "I realised when I sang at family parties and Christmases I'd suddenly get everyone's attention and, being the youngest of three, I thought what a brilliant attention-seeking ploy it was," stated Dee in a 2013 interview. She added: "My older brother had a lot of Elvis on vinyl and really that was my first introduction to music during the Fifties."

Aged 16, Dee worked at Boots in Bradford during the day, whilst in the evenings she sang songs with a dance band in Leeds. A record scout liked her singing and invited her to London to do an audition. There, in 1963, she signed as a solo artist to Fontana Records.

Musician
After singing with a local band in Bradford in the early 1960s, Dee began her recording career as a session singer. She sang backing vocals for Dusty Springfield, among others, but did not achieve solo success in the UK for many years. In 1963, Dee released her first single, "Early Night", the first of eleven singles on Fontana, none of which reached the charts. Her 1966 release "Why Don't I Run Away From You" (a cover of Tami Lynn's "I'm Gonna Run Away From You") was a big hit on Radio London and Radio Caroline, and she sang the B-side "Small Town" in her appearance in Dateline Diamonds the same year. Also in 1966, she achieved wider coverage by singing "Take a Look at Me" in the hit comedy, Doctor in Clover. She brought out an EP, Kiki In Clover – which included "Take a Look at Me" – at the same time as the film's release. She was one of the backing vocalists on the Love Affair’s 1968 UK number one single Everlasting Love She recorded her debut album, I'm Kiki Dee, in 1968 which included a series of Phil Spector-style tracks and covers. Her 1968 release "On a Magic Carpet Ride", which was originally a B-side, has remained popular on the Northern soul circuit. Much of her early recorded work for Fontana Records, was released on 24 January 2011, on the CD compilation I'm Kiki Dee.

Songwriter Mitch Murray created her stage name, and penned her first single, "Early Night". In the United States she became the first white British artist to be signed by Motown, releasing her first Motown single in 1970.

In the days before BBC Radio 1, Dee was a regular performer of cover versions on BBC Radio, and she starred with a group of session singers in the BBC Two singalong series, One More Time. She also appeared in an early episode of The Benny Hill Show in January 1971, performing the Blood, Sweat and Tears hit, "You've Made Me So Very Happy". Nevertheless, it was only after she signed with Elton John's label, The Rocket Record Company, that she became a household name in the UK. Her first major solo hits were "Amoureuse" (written by Véronique Sanson, with English lyrics by Gary Osborne) (1973) and "I've Got the Music in Me" (written by Tobias Stephen Boshell), the latter credited to the Kiki Dee Band (1974). In addition to her burgeoning career as a lead vocalist, she could sometimes be heard singing backing vocals on various John recordings, such as "All the Girls Love Alice" from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and various tracks on Rock of the Westies.

Her biggest hit came in 1976, when she replaced an ailing Dusty Springfield for the recording of a duet with John, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (pseudonymously written by John and lyricist Bernie Taupin). The single reached number 1 in both the UK and US, remaining at the top for six weeks in the UK. At the end of the summer, she played as support act to Queen at their Hyde Park concert in front of a crowd of 150,000 people. Prior to the concert, in an interview for Record Mirror, she stated, "My confidence is at an all-time high."

After a quiet period in the late 1970s, Dee launched a comeback in 1981, releasing one of her biggest hits, "Star", written by Doreen Chanter of the Chanter Sisters. This later became the theme music to the BBC1 programme Opportunity Knocks between 1987 and 1990. Dee joined forces again with John in 1981, recording a cover of the Four Tops' song "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" which was written by Ivy Jo Hunter and Stevie Wonder. Both of these were included on her album Perfect Timing, which became a modest hit on the album chart, and she supplied backing vocals for John's 1983 album Too Low for Zero. Dee also sang the song "What Can't Speak Can't Lie" (1983), composed and recorded by the Japanese jazz fusion group Casiopea, and with lyrics by Gary Osborne.

She performed at Live Aid in 1985, reprising "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with John, and performing backing vocals on the other songs in his set. After signing to Columbia, Dee released the album Angel Eyes in 1987. She contributed backing vocals to Elton John's 1992 album The One, and a year later recorded "True Love" with John for his 1993 album Duets.

Dee released the live album Almost Naked, a joint effort with Carmelo Luggeri in 1995, followed by the studio albums Where Rivers Meet (1998) and The Walk Of Faith (2005) with Luggeri. In September 2013, Dee and Luggeri released their third studio album, A Place Where I Can Go, on Spellbound Records. They have been touring together ever since and have played alongside Roger Taylor, Jack Bruce, Fish, Paul Young, Tom Robinson, Graham Gouldman and Madeline Bell.

In October 2009 she performed, with Luggeri, at London's Royal Albert Hall, in aid of the PRS for Music (formerly the Performing Right Society) for Music Members' Benevolent Fund.

Dee's single "Sidesteppin' with a Soul Man," released in October 2013, was her 40th single release.

Dee and Leggeri's album Long Ride Home was released in April 2022.

Musical theatre
Dee has also appeared in musical theatre, including a leading role in Willy Russell's West End musical Blood Brothers, in which she took on the role originally played by Barbara Dickson for the 1988 production and recording. She received an Olivier Award nomination in 1989 in the Best Actress in a Musical category. In 1990, she contributed to the last recording studio collaboration between Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, on the album Freudiana, performing "You're On Your Own" and part of "No One Can Love You Better Than Me".

In 2008, Dee's first DVD was released. Under The Night Sky was a collaboration with guitarist Carmelo Luggeri, filmed live at the Bray Studios in London; the music was produced by Ted Carfrae. That same year, several albums from her earlier 1970s–1980s Rocket catalogue were re-released by EMI Records, including an expanded edition of Almost Naked with extra tracks, such as a cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" and a new take on "Sugar on the Floor". The same year, Demon Records (UK) issued a remastered edition of Perfect Timing, with several bonus tracks, including an alternate mix of "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever."

Dee had previously starred in Pump Boys and Dinettes in London's West End, at the Piccadilly Theatre, from 20 September 1984 to 8 June 1985.

In popular culture
In 2019, Dee was portrayed by actress Rachel Muldoon in the Elton John biopic Rocketman.

Personal life
In her 40s, Dee was diagnosed with uterine cancer.

Discography
Kiki Dee has released 40 singles, three EPs and 22 albums.

DVDs

 * 2008 – Under the Night Sky Live (with Carmelo Luggeri) – New Wave Pictures (produced by Ted Carfrae)

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

title: Kiki Dee


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User:Faedra/Wikipedia the free lunch

Wikipedia the free lunch.

How often in life do you get anything for nothing is the question raised in this dispute.

Seldom, must be the answer, unless you are very fortunate or have some legal claim. A good example of the something for nothing culture has evolved into the Wikipedia free encyclopaedia.

Yes, it has been stated that any individual surfing the net, may freely copy a wikipedia article, but you can copy just about anything from the WWW, and once it has been de compiled and re associated with other material, it is difficult to really claim any previous copyright to have been violated.

I have copied many pages from Wikipedia, read them, and asked myself what have I gained, very little in fact, given the public access to original material available to any interested party in the modern world. Further as a contributor for several months having provided over 100 original pages, I find I have gained even less. A considerable amount of effort has to be put into into compiling an objective, accurate and useful article for any encyclopaedia, and the satisfaction from such effort does not come from seeing it at Wikipedia, or even on the web, but in fact from the effort stated.

Wikipedia has such a weak grip on its own content, having chosen to assimilate its content under the form of the GNU, that its material is redistributed by numerous other agents, many of whom seem to be providing a useful service to the educational establishment, the instrument of its downfall seems most likely in that it states itself to be a community. As such it is flawed, and heading for problems. Many authors initially happy to contribute to Wikipedia, have indicated that feel the 'community' a bunch of arrogant pirates, and full of their own self importance, (it is widely recognised how this behaviour is self defeating). This however is not the problem with the legality of the GNU, in the context of Wikipedia.

Whilst a statement exists on all pages that any contribution is licenced under the GNU, no method of obtaining a verification of this proposition is presented to the beginner. Whilst a simple javascript could be employed, it can not be back dated. I will, if compelled therefore challenge the Wikipedia GNU and present my 'wikified' texts to an independent publisher, with the intention of exposing this absurd proposition, a form of free licensing aimed at escaping responsibility, and duty of care for intellectual property.

I am not easily upset by genuine critism, but will not tollerate arrogance. Thousands of websites are available for those inclined to upload material of any sort, the math does not add up, when it is considered objectively, Wikipedia is rotten from the inside, and this is only noticeable after some experience with its methods of utilising the good will of its users. It remains potentially a valued resource for education, but is criticised for exploiting its members, beyond reasonable cause. If it is ever to evolve into a useful institution major reforms are required.

My first interest in the website manifest when I discovered that it was possible to make direct edits to existing pages, and encouraged by the advise, and warnings about responsibility whilst so doing I begun to take an active part in the program. However I soon noticed how very few people actually have anything of merit to contribute, and how most changes are simple at best, or just useful corrections made at random, by readers, in passing.

Whilst I am content to allow my contributions to be edited beyond recognition I have noticed that the main preoccupation of many 'Wikipedians' seems to be in spending time criticising work submitted, without taking the appropriate amount of time to make any alterations they might deem required, and this I find a mark of gross ignorance. I can find fault in just about anything if I wish to be negative, but this freedom does not give me the right to assume I am correct.

title: User:Faedra/Wikipedia the free lunch


text:
Urengoy gas field

The Urengoy gas field in the northern West Siberia Basin is the world's second largest natural gas field after South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field. It lies in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast, Russia, just south of the Arctic Circle. It is named after the settlement of Urengoy. The gas field is operated by Gazprom Dobycha Urengoy and serviced by the town of Novy Urengoy, founded in 1973.

History
Urengoy gas field was discovered in June 1966. The first drilling hole hit gas on 6 July 1966 and the field started production in 1978. On 25 February 1981, Urengoy extracted its first one hundred billion cubic meters (1011 m3) of natural gas. From January 1984, Urengoy gas started to be exported to Western Europe through the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline. A fire hit the Urengoy in 2021 which led to an increase in natural gas prices. In June 2022 the gas field caught fire again.

Production
The Urengoyskoye conventional gas field has over ten trillion cubic meters (1013 m3) in total deposits. It recovered by the end of 2021 more than 90% of its reserves. Its current output is six times lower than at its peak from 1985 to 1996, but this accounts still to 3% of the country's natural gas output. The Urengoy gas field extracts 230 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, plus condensate and oil. In September 2013, Gazprom announced that a total of 6.5 trillion cubic meters of gas had been produced.

title: Urengoy gas field


text:
Göd

Göd is a small city in Pest County, Hungary.

Location
The city is northeast of Budapest.

Economy
Göd has a thriving tourist trade. It has a thermal spa open almost 365 days a year with water rich in minerals.

Along the M2 motorway Göd is the second town to the north of Budapest, and the first one without large socialist-era housing estates. That is, the green belt around Budapest starts with Göd on the left bank of the Danube.

The Samsung SDI Hungary plant is one of Samsung SDI's trio of advanced Lithium-ion automotive battery production facilities: the others are in Ulsan (Korea) and Xi'an (China). The plant at Göd is not far from the Austria-based battery pack division of Magna Steyr which was acquired by Samsung SDI in 2015 for $120 million. In 2016-2017, the Ulsan plant trained several employees for the Hungary plant. The Ulsan plant had supplied the BMW i3, but the Hungary plant will provide the BMW i3, i5, and X5 with advanced Li-ion batteries.

Infrastructure
Göd is connected to Budapest (via Dunakeszi, southbound) and to Vác (via Sződliget, northbound) by railway and public roads. On an average weekday, there are buses and trains every 30 minutes to both directions. Vác is 15 minutes by car and by train, and 25 minutes by bus. Budapest Nyugati railway station is 30 minutes by train. Because of these benefits, Göd is sometimes categorized as a dormitory town, but it has a vivid social life: civil organizations, churches, galleries, clubs, a monthly newspaper, that make it different from an average dormitory town.

Famous people

 * Eugene Wigner – physicist, Nobel-prize winner;
 * Tivadar Huzella – biologist, cancer researcher, founder of the Biology Research Centre of Göd;
 * Fülöp Beck Ö – sculptor;
 * Gabriella Lakatos – ballet-dancer;
 * Kálmán Latabár – actor;
 * Mór Kóczán – sportsman, athlete (javelin throw), Olympic bronze medalist, Hungarian champion;

 * Zoltán Kammerer – sportsman (kayak), World Champion, European Champion, Olympic Gold winner;
 * Colonel Miklós Kiss (soldier) – hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848;
 * Gábor Koncz – actor;
 * László Arany – poet (son of János Arany)

Twin towns – sister cities
Göd is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 Marignane, France
 * Monthey, Switzerland
 * 🇷🇴 Paleu, Romania
 * 🇺🇦 Yanoshi, Ukraine

Sport
The local sports and football team is Gödi SE.

title: Göd


text:
Castration complex

The castration complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud, first presented in 1908, initially as part of his theorisation of the transition in early childhood development from the polymorphous perversity of infantile sexuality to the ‘infantile genital organisation’ which forms the basis for adult sexuality. The trauma induced by the child’s discovery of anatomical difference between the sexes (presence or absence of the penis) gives rise to the fantasy of female emasculation or castration.

Phallic stage
According to Freud the early stages of the child’s psychosexual development are characterised by polymorphous perversity and a bisexual disposition, and are the same for both sexes. Up to and including the phallic stage of this development the penis and clitoris are the leading erogenous zones. Once the castration complex is initiated with the child’s discovery and puzzlement over the anatomical difference between the sexes (presence or absence of the penis), it makes the assumption that this difference is due to the female's penis having been cut off or mutilated. The libidinal equivalence of penis/clitoris, based on the recognition by the child of only one genital organ, gives way to the fantasy that females have been castrated. This entails a legacy of castration anxiety for the boy and penis envy for the girl.

Oedipus Complex
Freud argued that the castration complex is closely linked to the Oedipus Complex, especially with its prohibitive and normative function. The structure and consequences of the castration complex are different for the boy and the girl, terminating the Oedipus Complex for the boy, initiating it for the girl. For the boy, anatomical difference (the possession of a penis), induces castration anxiety as a result of an assumed paternal threat made in response to his sexual thoughts and activities. In the case of the girl the absence of a penis is experienced as a deprivation, a wrong suffered which she attempts to deny, remedy or compensate for by seeking to have her own child. Accordingly the girl’s castration complex leads to the redirection of her libidinal desires toward the father and away from the mother, whom she resents for depriving her of the penis, and the concomitant displacement of the clitoris  by the vagina as the leading erogenous zone.

Primal phantasy
In his later work Freud includes the castration complex in the category of primal phantasies that are universal in their derivation from the incest taboo, the necessary founding condition for all human social and cultural formations. As such they have their effects independently of the individual subject's specific cultural setting.

title: Castration complex


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Frits van Turenhout

Frits van Turenhout (June 14, 1913 in Amsterdam – October 3, 2004 in Blaricum) was a Dutch sports journalist, appearing on both radio and television. He did this in a very solemn manner. He missed his own last broadcast due to an automobile accident he had on his way to the studio.

title: Frits van Turenhout


text:
Tatiana Tarasova

Tatiana Anatolyevna Tarasova (born 13 February 1947) is a Russian figure skating coach and national figure skating team adviser. Tarasova has been coach to more world and Olympic champions than any other coach in skating history. Her students have won a total of eight Olympic gold medals in three of the four Olympic figure skating disciplines, in addition to 41 gold medals at the European and World championships.

Personal life
Tatiana Tarasova is the daughter of Anatoly Tarasov, a famed ice hockey coach, who introduced her to figure skating at the age of five. She lived for more than a decade in Simsbury, Connecticut before moving back to Russia in 2006. She is the widow of Vladimir Krainev, who died in April 2011.

Competitive career
Tarasova competed in pair skating with Aleksandr Tikhomirov and Georgi Proskurin. With Proskurin, she was a two-time Soviet national medalist. They finished 7th at the 1965 World Championships and 4th at the 1966 European Championships. At 18 years of age, Tarasova sustained a career-ending injury.

Later career
Tarasova started coaching at age 19, at her father's insistence. Her most notable students have been Alexei Yagudin, Ilia Kulik, Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin, Oksana Grishuk / Evgeni Platov, Ekaterina Gordeeva / Sergei Grinkov, Marina Klimova / Sergey Ponomarenko, and Irina Rodnina / Alexander Zaitsev.

In the mid-1980s, Tarasova launched the Russian All-Stars, an ice ballet. She coached for ten years at Simsbury, Connecticut's International Skating Center before announcing her retirement from full-time coaching and moving back to Russia in 2006. A notorious chain smoker, Tarasova was known for smoking cigarettes during her coaching sessions.

Her students have included:
 * Mao Asada: She coached Asada from 2008 until 2010. Asada won the 2010 World title and 2010 Olympic silver medal under Tarasova. Tarasova continued to choreograph for her.
 * Shizuka Arakawa: Led her to win the World Championships in 2004 and Olympic gold medal in 2006 together with Nikolai Morozov.
 * Maxim Kovtun: Coached and choreographed his programs starting 2012.
 * Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin: Led them to four World Championships and the Olympic gold medal in 1988.
 * Artem Borodulin: Coached him and choreographed programs for him.
 * Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz: Coached 2000-2002 with Nikolai Morozov
 * Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski: Coached 1999-2001 with Nikolai Morozov.
 * Sasha Cohen: Coached her from 2002 until 2004. Was also her choreographer.
 * Annette Dytrt: Choreographed programs for her.
 * Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio: Coached 1997-2002.
 * Elene Gedevanishvili. Has worked with her during multiple periods of her career.
 * Timothy Goebel: Choreographed multiple programs for him.
 * Oksana Grishuk / Evgeni Platov: Led them to win 1997 World Championship and an Olympic gold medal in 1998.
 * Ekaterina Gordeeva / Sergei Grinkov: Coached in first professional time period 1990-1992.
 * Brian Joubert: choreographed his programs in the 2004-5 season.
 * Marina Klimova / Sergey Ponomarenko: Led them to 1992 World Championships and the Olympic gold medal.
 * Ilia Kulik: Was also his choreographer. Led him to win the Olympic gold medal in 1998.
 * Michelle Kwan: Choreographed her short and free programs for the 2005-6 season.
 * Evan Lysacek: Choreographed multiple programs for him.
 * Kevin Reynolds: Choreographed some of his programs.
 * Irina Rodnina / Alexander Zaitsev: Led them to win four World Championships 1975-1978 and two Olympic gold medals in 1976 and 1980.
 * Adelina Sotnikova: Choreographed her programs.
 * Denis Ten: Worked with him during periods of his career as well as choreographed programs for him.
 * Sergei Voronov: Choreographed programs for him.
 * Johnny Weir: Choreographed multiple programs for him.
 * Alexei Yagudin: Coached and choreographed him from 1998 to his retirement in 2003. Led him to three World Championships and an Olympic gold medal in 2002.

Tarasova is assisted by choreographer Jeanetta Folle.

Views
In March 2023, Tarasova lashed out at Canadian athletes who signed a petition calling for a continuation of the ban on Russian athletes amidst the Russo-Ukrainian War:

"We do not care if they don't want to see us. It always seemed to me that Canadians are a friendly, non-violent nation, they never showed themselves that way [negatively]. But here they can be understood – of course, they want to win, including in figure skating, at least something in [ice] dance. They don't need more competition. There is no other way to explain this statement. I don't want to believe that Tessa [Virtue] is an evil and unfair person. And I also think that we will participate in the [2026 Winter Olympic] Games."

Honours and awards
Tarasova was awarded Order of Friendship of Peoples (1984). In March 2008, she was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

 * Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (27 February 1998) - for outstanding athletic achievement at the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in 1998
 * Order of Honour (13 February 2007) - for outstanding contribution to the development of physical culture and sport and many years of fruitful activity
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice
 * Order of the Badge of Honour (1976)
 * Order of Friendship of Peoples (1984)
 * Honoured coach of the USSR (1975)
 * Honoured coach of the RSFSR (1972)
 * Honoured Artist of the RSFSR
 * Master of Sports of international class

title: Tatiana Tarasova


text: Category:Russian figure skating coaches

title: Category:Russian figure skating coaches


text: Category:Figure skating coaches by nationality


text: Category:Figure skating coaches

title: Category:Figure skating coaches


text:
Category:Coaches by sport

''Note: In some sports, the head coach is referred to as the "manager." See the subcategory for Category:Sports managers (below).''

title: Category:Coaches by sport


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Gidget (film)

Gidget is a 1959 American CinemaScope comedy film directed by directed by Paul Wendkos and starring  Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, James Darren, Arthur O'Connell, and the Four Preps.

The film is about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her romance with a young surfer.

The film was the first of many screen appearances by the character Gidget, created by Hollywood writer Frederick Kohner (based on his daughter Kathy). The screenplay was written by Gillian Houghton, who was then head writer of the soap opera The Secret Storm, using the pen name Gabrielle Upton. This would be Upton's sole contribution to the Gidget canon. The story was based on Kohner's 1957 novel Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas.

The film, which received one award nomination, not only inspired various sequel films, a television series, and television films, but is also considered the beginning of the entire "beach party film" genre. Gidget is credited by numerous sources (Stoked! A History of Surf Culture by Drew Kampion; The Encyclopedia of Surfing by Matt Warshaw; and Riding Giants, a documentary film by Stacy Peralta—to name just three) as the single biggest factor in the mainstreaming of surfing culture in the United States.

Plot
Francine Lawrence is about to turn 17 and is on her summer break between her junior and senior years of high school. She resists the pressure to go "man-hunting" with her girlfriends and laments the days when the girls had fun together without boys. Francine also rejects her parents wishing to fix her up on a date with the son of a friend of the family, Jeffrey Matthews.

On a jaunt to the beach with her well developed girlfriends, flat-chested tomboy Francine meets surfer Moondoggie. She quickly becomes infatuated with him, but he shows no romantic interest; at any rate, Francine is more attracted to surfing than man-hunting.

At home, Francine importunes her parents for $25 for a used surfboard. Russ and Dorothy Lawrence grant their daughter's request as an early birthday present and the excited youngster returns to the beach to surf. The gang dubs their female associate "Gidget", a combination of "girl" and "midget".

Gidget associates with an all-male surfer gang led by the worldly beach bum, The Big Kahuna. Kahuna is a Korean War Air Force veteran twice the age of Gidget who is fed up with all the rules he had to live by when he flew combat missions, and dropped out of normal society. He travels the hemisphere surfing with his pet bird. Moondoggie admires Kahuna and wants to emulate him by joining Kahuna in working his way on a freighter to go surfing in Peru at summer's end, instead of going to university as his self-made father plans. Kahuna and Gidget enjoy each other's company, with Gidget questioning how he can survive an aimless and lonely existence without a job. She questions whether if Kahuna knew then what he knew now would he still make the same lifestyle choice after leaving the Air Force. Kahuna later reflects on Gidget's words after the death of his only friend, the pet bird.

Hoping to make Moondoggie jealous, Gidget hires one of the other surfers in the gang to be her date to a luau party on the beach. Her plan backfires when the surfer she hired pawns the job off on none other than Moondoggie, unaware that he was the one Gidget wanted to make jealous. Gidget lies and tells Moondoggie that it is Kahuna that she wants to make jealous, and they have a romantic evening at the luau. Eventually, Moondoggie says something that upsets Gidget and, as she flees the luau, she runs into Kahuna and agrees to take him to a nearby beach house. Alone with Kahuna, Gidget tries to make Kahuna take her virginity. Amused, Kahuna attempts to call Gidget's bluff by pretending to take her up on her offer, but finds himself falling under her spell. Realizing what he was about to do and angry at the situation he's been put in, Kahuna throws her out of the beach house just as Moondoggie arrives. Gidget is mortified and escapes out of the back of the beach house as Moondoggie confronts Kahuna. The cops are called to break up the fight between Kahuna and Moondoggie and, after leaving the beach house, they find Gidget stranded with a flat tire and without her driver's license. They take her in to the police station. Gidget's father, having heard about the incident, decides to take over control of her social life, and orders her not to see the surfer gang again. Gidget feels devastated at her failure, at which point her mother points out the needlepoint sampler from her grandmother, on her own bedroom wall. She rereads it: "To Be A Real Woman / Is To Bring Out The / Best In A Man".

In the end, her father arranges a date for Gidget with Jeffrey Matthews that she grudgingly accepts. To her surprise, Matthews turns out to be Moondoggie. The two return to the beach to find Kahuna tearing down his beach shack and find out that he has taken a job as an airline pilot. Moondoggie and Gidget realize how they feel about each other and, as an act of romantic devotion, Moondoggie asks Gidget to wear his class pin. Kahuna cheerfully warns Moondoggie that Gidget is quite a woman.

Cast
Cast notes:
 * The studio wanted Elvis Presley to play the role of Moondoggie, but he was in the United States Army at the time.
 * Malibu surfers Miki Dora and Mickey Munoz appear in the surfing scenes.

Production
The film was shot in just 26 days during June–July 1958 at Leo Carrillo State Park and Columbia Pictures Studios. Sandra Dee originally was going to film the sequel Gidget Goes Hawaiian but didn't. Rose Marie Reid designed all of the women's swimsuits in the film.

Contemporary domestic reviews
Howard Thompson wrote in the New York Times of April 23, 1959, "[The film] is enough to make anybody leave one of the neighborhood theatres, where it opened yesterday, and light out for Long Island Sound. Pictorially, this mild little Columbia frolic, about a teen-age girl with boy trouble, seems an ideal way to usher in the beach season." He praised performers Dee, Robertson, and La Roche. A self-proclaimed "Screen Scout" for the San Francisco Examiner wrote that "the studio should have released it for the birds. Even Sandra Dee, cute as she is, couldn't save this one." Margaret Harford of the Los Angeles Mirror wrote that "Gabrielle Upton's screenplay forestalls censorship troubles. In her well-written script, overheated romance boils down to a wholesome and virtuous little frolic on the beach. And a crew of attractive young performers keeps things lively with seldom a dull moment." Harold Whitehead of the Montreal Gazette said that "this is a pretty aimless little item about surf-board acrobats and their peculiar views on life, but it is saved from complete lack of point by a charming performance from Sandra Dee, a pert little blonde teen-ager who is making a name for herself in the movies these days." A critic using the G.H.A. in the Montreal Star called it "a pleasant little comedy-romance [...] in which the teenagers are depicted as healthy and attractive young people— none of them are suffering from frustration or neurosis, none of them are juvenile delinquents. and none of them an psychopathic cases." A critic for the New York Daily News remarked that "adolescense is so seldom lensed without distortion that "Gidget" is a welcome sight for eyes sorely tired of the delinquency angle. Treated with neither acid nor saccharine, the film achieves a reasonably good facsimile of the aging teens. Even better, perhaps, is the 'flair for comedy in both dialogue and situation." Marjory Adams of The Boston Globe remarked called the film "sparking and very youthful entertainment, designed to appeal to those under 25, but the intelligence of the adult theatregoer won't be insulted." Myles Standish opened his review in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by writing: HEY, GANG! Just saw the snappiest teen-age picture! Sandra Dee, who’s really a baby though she’s getting a makeup as hardboiled as an old silent vamp, goes to Malibu Beach—that’s in Hawaii—on her vacation and mixes up with some icky boys who have nothing to do but show their muscles, suntan, ride surfboards, and make lazy passes at Sandra, which is all she rates. It’s called “Gidget,” and is at the Fox. Helen Bower of the Detroit Free Press called the film "summer sea-sand-and-sun fun" and noted that "older people can enjoy watching the bright, happy young ones idling away the hours on the Pacific ocean beach at Mali-bu, where much of the movie is set. They'll see some quite exciting surfboard riding, too, in the sport imported from our 50th state." Mildred Martin of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "the film is spiked with a song or two, spends endless Eastman Colored CinemaScope footage on "riding the curl" and other aspects of surfboarding and fairly crawls with energetic, carefree youth in all types of bathing costumes." R.H. Gardner of The Baltimore Sun wrote that "it would be ironic if in the rubble of our present civilization, future generations unearthed a print of "Gidget," for, after seeing it, they'd never understand the kind of people we were. The film, now at the Stanley, is in my experience unique. Its characters—answering to the names of Moondoggie, Kahoona, Lover Boy, B. L., Hot Shot, Waikiki, Lord Byron, etc.—look like human beings instead of shaggy dogs, cartoon creations or science-fiction monsters, but their behavior brands them as products of a culture with which I am totally unfamiliar." Kaspar Monahan of The Pittsburgh Press wrote that "although Gidget was obviously designed to appeal to the younger set, there's no law against an oldster viewing it and even enjoying it. In fact, I found the new arrival at the Harris a most refreshing and original slant on the troubles and problems besetting a young maiden on the threshold of womanhood." Leonard Mendlowitz of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph wrote that "there are no weighty problems or significant messages in this light and bright musical, might well have been called 'How Frannie Got her Fraternity Pin.'"

Contemporary international reviews
The film received generally negative reviews in other continents. Campbell Dixon stated, in The Daily Telegraph that Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's Journey Into Autumn, "which will corrupt nobody's morals, has an 'X' certificate. Gidget, a moronic story for teenagers about a girl suffering from sex in the head, is 'U', presumably because she is only 16 and, if she does succeed in getting herself seduced after long and patient effort, it will be all in girlish fun. Am I alone in finding these values a little odd?" John Waterman of the Evening Standard described Sandra Dee as "acting valiantly and with a background of brilliantly photographed surf-riding." Margaret Winxman of the Daily Herald said that "when it comes to chilling the spine, you can keep your electro-plated invaders from outer space, mangled marrows from the interior of the earth and finned things from the bottom of the sea. For me the most terrifying Monster of the lot is the all-American teenager—at least, as currently portrayed in Gidget. It isn't the noise they make—which is deafening. It isn't the lingo, they speak-which is untranslatable: It isn't even the capers they cut—which are maddening. It's their devilish disregard for anybody else's feelings, comfort or dignity which is so appalling. (Parents, of course, being strictly from 'squaresville,' are quite expendable.) And these, mark you. are supposed to be nice teenagers." Dick Richards of the Daily Mirror called the film "a frail little piece [that] will make anybody over the age of twenty-one feel very old and jaded." An unnamed critic for Australia's Sun-Herald newspaper called it an "unevenly coloured but passably pleasant and quite innocuous film." Colin Bennett of The Age called it "a picture that might be roughly described as a tusical, or teen-agers' musical." He added: Columbia's wardrobe department supplies Sandra Dee, the squeaking blonde in the title role, with 19 cute changes of bathing suit. Columbia's orchestra supplies three hit songs, all of which sounded awful to me. And Gidget's Mom supplies the sentiment: Gidget will know when true love comes along because she'll hear "little bells ringing in her heart."

By the end of summer, the bells have pealed and Gidget is wearing her fraternity pin which should keep her happy until next year, when, no doubt, we will be subjected to The Return of Gidget.

Retrospective reviews
Craig Butler in Allmovie notes, "Although the very title prompts snorts of derision from many, Gidget is actually not a bad little teenaged flick from the '50s. Great art it definitely isn't, but as frivolous, lighthearted entertainment, it more than fits the bill. Those who know it only by reputation will probably be surprised to find that it does attempt to deal with the problems of life as seen by a teenager—and that, while some of those attempts are silly, many of them come off quite well. It also paints a very convincing picture of the beach-bum lifestyle, much more so than the Frankie Avalon–Annette Funicello beach party movies."

Awards and nominations
The film received a 1960 Golden Laurel Award nomination for Top Female Comedy Performance for actress Sandra Dee.

title: Gidget (film)


text:
University of Costa Rica

The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: Universidad de Costa Rica, abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Montes de Oca, in the province of San José. It is the oldest and largest institution of higher learning in Costa Rica, originally established as the Universidad de Santo Tomás in 1843. Approximately 45,000 students attend UCR throughout the year.

History
The first institution dedicated to higher education in Costa Rica was the University of Saint Thomas (Universidad de Santo Tomás), which was established in 1843. That institution maintained close ties with the Roman Catholic Church and was closed in 1888 by the progressive and anti-clerical government of President Bernardo Soto Alfaro as part of a campaign to modernize public education. The schools of law, agronomy, fine arts, and pharmacy continued to operate independently. In 1940, those four schools were re-united to establish the modern UCR, during the reformist administration of President Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia.

The UCR remained the country's sole university until the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (Tecnológico de Costa Rica) and the National University of Costa Rica (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica) were opened by the government in 1972 and 1973, respectively. Years later, in 1979, another public university opened: the Distance State University (Universidad Estatal a Distancia), modeled after the British Open University, and lastly the National Technical University opened in 2008 after merging several trade schools. Today, Costa Rica has those five public universities, and approximately fifty-three small private ones, but the UCR remains the largest and most well funded institution.

Application
Costa Rican applicants to the UCR must take an admission test. This test is similar to the SAT in the United States. The score of this test is used along with the grades from the student's last years in high school to determine the student's admission score, which is later used to determine admission to a specific major and financial aid. 800 is the highest possible score on the admission test and 442 is the minimum score required for admission. Students who score 800 usually appear in the front pages of Costa Rican newspapers.

Undergraduate Admission is highly selective, having an acceptance rate of approximately 25%. In 2009, out of the 31.042 that completed the admission test, only 16,593 obtained a score above the 442 points required to gain admission. Gaining admission to the university, however, does not assure admission to a chosen departmental program or major. In 2007, only 60% of those admitted to the university were accepted into their chosen major. The remaining 40% have to take classes that may not work for their major, hoping it will lift their grade point average to the level necessary in order to be admitted to the program of their liking.

International applicants must revalidate their high school certificate and grades from their country of origin at the Ministry of Public Education (Ministerio de Educación Pública) in order to apply and take the admission test. Graduate school applicants must revalidate their undergraduate certificate also.

Campuses and local branches
The main campus is located on a 100 ha campus in San Pedro, San José (Rodrigo Facio campus). Other regional campuses are located throughout the country to reach plural eata Costa Ricans. The regional campuses are:

 * Western Campus (In the city of San Ramón, Alajuela): includes a local branch in Tacares, Grecia
 * Atlantic Campus (In the city of Turrialba, Cartago): includes a local branch in Paraíso, Cartago and another one in Guápiles, Limón
 * Guanacaste Campus (In the city of Liberia, Guanacaste): includes a local branch in Santa Cruz
 * Limon Campus (In the City of Port Limón, Limon).
 * Pacific Campus (In the city of Puntarenas, Puntarenas).
 * The Golfito Campus (Southern Pacific coast) (in the City of Golfito, Puntarenas).

The main campus in San Pedro offers the most diverse course curricula of any other campus, in addition to hosting the Medical School and graduate programs.

Social relevance

The university, while neutral on most aspects of Costa Rican life, defines itself as a secular and humanist institution. The university encourages social work and social research activities. In order to graduate, most students must work in the Trabajo Comunal Universitario (University Community Service), which is organized by the university. The university maintains a prestigious position in Costa Rican society and is the most often cited governmental institution in Costa Rican media. Opinions generated on scientific, ethical and economic matters strongly influence Costa Rican policies and public sentiment. Costa Rican law requires the Costa Rican Congress to request the university's opinion (amongst other institutions) on whether a new law should be approved or not.

UCR counts Costa Rica's Nobel laureate Oscar Arias, ex-presidents, many ministers, and many heads of the country's public institutions as alumni.

UCR is also part of the Consejo Nacional de Rectores (National Council of University Rectors), a watchdog body that overviews higher education quality, and recognition of university-level degrees from foreign countries. For many years, UCR grew in close partnership with public action of the State, forming the professional staff necessary for the growth of new public institutions such as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the Costa Rican Social Security Fund may Social (CCSS) and the State Bank.

Reputation and rankings
Currently, the university occupies the first place in Central America and the Caribbean, 19th place in Latin America and 511-520th place worldwide in the QS World University Rankings. In the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities it occupies the 4th place in Central America and the Caribbean, 28th in Latin America and 844 globally.

International cooperation
The university maintains international cooperation alliances with the DAAD (the German Academic Trust), the governments of Japan, France, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan (R.O.C.), the European Union, the OAS and United States research institutions such as the Organization for Tropical Studies, whose headquarters in Costa Rica are located within UCR's central campus (Rodrigo Facio campus). Other universities with ties to the University of Costa Rica are: University of Florida, State University of New York at Albany, University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, Rutgers University and the University of Kansas, which is the oldest standing agreement between two universities in the Western Hemisphere.

The university maintains academic relationships with more than 41 countries, including (in alphabetical order): Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (R.O.C.), Uruguay, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela.

Organization
UCR is divided into six major academic areas: Agricultural Sciences, Arts and Letters, Basic Sciences, Engineering, Health and Social Sciences. These areas are divided into colleges, schools and departments, research centers and institutes. The Graduate Studies System offers masters and doctorate degrees in a variety of academic fields.

Research institutes

The university manages 42 research institutes:

 * Center of Studies on Latin American Identity and Culture (CIICLA)
 * Institute of Linguistic Research (INIL)
 * Institute of Philosophical Research (INIF)
 * Agronomical Research Center (CIA)
 * National Research Center on Food Science (CITA)
 * Center for Research on Agribusiness (CIEDA)
 * Research Center on Grains and Seeds (CIGRAS)
 * Research Center on Animal Nutrition (CINA)
 * Research Center on Plant Protection (CIPROC)
 * Institute of Agronomical Investigations (IIA)
 * Molecular and Cellular Biology Research Center (CIBCM)
 * Center for Research on Materials Science & Engineering (CICIMA)
 * Research Center on Microscopic Structures (CIEMIC)
 * Research Center on Nuclear and Molecular Sciences ( CICANUM)
 * Research Center on Sea Sciences (CIMAR)
 * Environmental Pollution Research Center (CICA)
 * Research Center on Geological Sciences (CICG)
 * Electro-Chemical Energy Research Center (CELEQ)
 * Research Center on Natural Products (CIPRONA)
 * Center on Space Research (CINESPA)
 * Research Center on Geophysics (CIGEFI)
 * Research Center on Mathematics and Meta-mathematics (CIMM)
 * Research Center on Pure and Applied Mathematics (CIMPA)
 * Center for Research on Sustainable Development (CIEDES)
 * Institute of Investigations in Engineering (INII)
 * Research Center on Information and Communication Technologies (CITIC)
 * Central American Population Studies Center (CCP)
 * Center for Research and Training on Public Management (CICAP)
 * Research Center on Communication (CICOM)
 * Center on Women Studies (CIEM)
 * Center for Central American Historical Studies (CIHAC)
 * Research Center on Political Studies "Dr. José María Castro Madriz" (CIEP)
 * Institute of Investigations in Economic Sciences (IICE)
 * Institute of Investigations in Psychology (IIP)
 * Institute of Juridical Investigations (IIJ)
 * Institute of Social Research (IIS)
 * Research Center on Tropical Diseases (CIET)
 * Research Center on Abnormal Hemoglobins and Related Ailments (CIHATA)
 * Research Center on Neurosciences (CIN)
 * Clodomiro Picado Institute (ICP)
 * Institute of Pharmaceutical Research (INIFAR)
 * Institute of Investigations in Health (INISA)

Events
The school calendar runs from March to December, while the academic year in Costa Rican schools and high schools starts in February. The school year is divided into two semesters, plus one additional summer term that may be mandatory depending on the student's chosen career and that extends from early January to late February.

Semana U is an event held during the first semester and involves the participation of the different student organizations. There are many concerts, talks, expositions, and other activities.

The Expo UCR (sometimes called la Expo) is a bi-annual event that showcases the university's work and developments in various areas.

Transportation
An internal free shuttle moves students around its main campus and satellite areas (fincas) including the research campus, sports facilities, and a cluster of laboratories and research centers detached from the main campus by a river and several neighborhoods.

People
The following are notable individuals associated with the University of Costa Rica:

Alumni

 * Josette Altmann Borbón, First Lady of Costa Rica (1994–1998)
 * Andrea Álvarez Marín, member of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica
 * Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica (1986–1990; 2006–2010), Nobel Peace Laureate
 * María Luisa Ávila Agüero (born 1961), Minister of Public Health of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2011
 * Jeanette Benavides, doctor in physical chemistry, former NASA employee
 * Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica (2010–2014)
 * Helio Fallas, Vice President of Costa Rica (2014–2018)
 * Silvia Lara Povedano, politician and sociologist
 * Danny Vargas Serrano (born 1979), member of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica
 * Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica (2014–2018)
 * Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica (2018–2022)
 * Daniel Salas Peraza, current Minister of Public Health of Costa Rica (2018–)

Faculty

 * Marco Antei, mathematician
 * Fernando Baudrit Solera, former dean of the University of Costa Rica College of Law and public jurist
 * Juan Bernal Ponce, artist
 * Margarita Bertheau, artist
 * Dinorah Bolandi, artist
 * Mónica Aguilar Bonilla, archaeologist
 * Maria Eugenia Bozzoli, anthropologist
 * Víctor Cañas, architect
 * Bélgica Castro, actress
 * Francisco Dall'Anese, Attorney-General of Costa Rica
 * Eduardo Doryan, government official
 * Lola Fernández, artist
 * Helio Gallardo, philosopher
 * Mirta González Suárez, emeritus professor of psychology
 * Virginia Grutter, writer
 * Dora Emilia Mora de Retana, botanist
 * Alejandra Mora Mora, lawyer
 * Alice L. Pérez Sánchez, former Vice-Dean of Research
 * Montserrat Sagot, sociologist

title: University of Costa Rica


text:
User talk:Wifki

Welcome to Wikipedia. I notice that all of your edits so far have been to allege that various people are gay, and that they indulge in practices which some—including the subjects of your allegations—might find offensive. If you can provide information to back up your allegations, please do so. In the meantime they will be removed pending confirmation. --Phil | Talk 13:13, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)
 * Effort phil. Philisophical physically phucked phillie willy Phil huh? Nah thanks man, I mean vandalism ought to be dealt with SWIFTLY and DECISIVELY eh! really, good effort. thanks for getting rid of it because I used to vandalise wikipedia but i've turned over a new leaf of marijuana and started smokin' it. I'm a changed man Wifki 05:26, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

GLA
No problem, glad I could help. - Vague Rant 12:16, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

your correction of my user page
Hi Wifki - I realise that numbers over ten are written as digits, ("as per APA standard", it says in the introductory notes, and I did help write a book on them!). However, a certain amount of leniency is usually allowed for the numbers 11 and 12 in APA formatting. I was also unaware that those standards were strictly enforced for a person's own user page; a certain amount of license is surely allowed to people when they are describing themselves - certainly you have on your user page. Do you want me to correct the spelling and punctuation on that? Grutness 12:46, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Actually yes, that would be very helpful. But point taken. Wifki 12:52, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * PS - just read your reply on my page. S'alright. Sorry if i sounded a bit pissed off (I was a little! :)

Double work
It was kind of pointless to create a new page Wikipedia talk:Requests for comment/User:Sexual maniac just to put a speedy delete notice on it... Gady 14:50, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

VfD
There's no point in putting a VfD header on an article which has already gone through the VfD process and voting was to keep. RickK 22:08, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

Abbreviations
Hello. Thank you for the good work you've been doing removing vandalism from articles. One thing that might confuse some people, though, is the use of "rv" in the edit summary. I understand that you use it to indicate you are reverting someone's edit, but common usage here is to indicate that you are reverting the last edit before yours. If you are undoing what someone did earlier than the latest edit, you could just type something like "rm vandalism" ("rm" meaning "remove") in the edit summary so people don't think you are reverting the latest edit. Happy editing! SWAdair | Talk 08:25, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the tip, i'll remember to use rm in future. Wifki 12:07, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Stop adding allegations
You've been warned before to not adding allegations of homosexuality without information to back it. Don't keep doing it. —Lowellian (talk)  17:08, Nov 18, 2004 (UTC)

There's very little point to doing so when the article has already been listed on VfD, and doing so just confuses voters on VfD and requires them to check the history of the page to even find out what the page was really like. And while Robert Davis should be deleted, it is not a case of "vanity". Anyway, don't do it. —Lowellian (talk)  13:53, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)

Joe Dirt
Do you love Joe Dirt? Because you must have reverted the sideburns article back to contain that Joe Dirt / 90210 comment about a billion times. Honestly I don't think it belongs in the article, but hey, you are persistant! That's good for something. --MaxPower 19:49, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Better check out your facts before making accusations, sunny. I am the one trying to get rid of Joe Dirt and his sideburn bullshit. Be a bit more careful before putting defaming messages on my user page again! Wifki 13:10, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Can't we all just work together to make a better sideburns article?! Seriously though, it's ok to like Joe Dirt. I mean, maybe not? Also, I apologize. I will take your suggestion. Honestly. --MaxPower 14:13, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Nice words
Hi Wifki - just noticed your kind words about me on your user page! Many thanks - although I don't know what I did to deserve them! 12:16, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Article for Deletion
Greetings. You may be interested in voting on Articles for deletion/Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse (image free). Thanks. --Descendall 01:29, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands
Hey there. You nominated Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands for speedy deletion. It doesn't meet any of the criteria for such a deletion; the fact that it survived two Articles for Deletion discussions is a very good indicator of this. You might want to review Criteria for speedy deletion. -- SCZenz 15:22, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Snapofrocruble duck
Can you provide some more sources for your article? As you know, one's down (and isn't cached by google) and the other isn't in English. I can't find any hits for the word Snapofrocruble on Google, either. Is it perhaps mispelled? Thanks. -- Vary | Talk 16:01, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I also tried AltaVista for references, No luck. Could you check this species exists against verifiable sources? Also it would be helpful if the taxonimical classifcation and Latin Name were added to the article. ShakespeareFan00 16:06, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Spam in Jaycar
Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on Jaycar, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because Jaycar is blatant advertising for a company, product, group, service or person that would require a substantial rewrite in order to become an encyclopedia article. To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting Jaycar, please affix the template to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Please note, this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion, it did not nominate Jaycar itself. Feel free to leave a message on the bot operator's talk page if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot. --Android Mouse Bot 2 17:15, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Altronics Australia

A tag has been placed on Altronics Australia requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a person, organization (band, club, company, etc.) or web content, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. Miracle Pen (talk) 17:05, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

title: User talk:Wifki


text:
Biellmann spin

The Biellmann spin is a difficult variation of the layback spin in figure skating. It was made popular by world champion Denise Biellmann.

Description
The Biellmann spin is a difficult variation of the layback spin in figure skating. It is executed by the skater grabbing their free blade and pulling the heel of their boot behind and above the level of the head so that their legs are in an approximate full split, with the head and back arched upward. The spin demands high levels of strength and flexibility. The Biellmann increases the complexity of a skater's short or free program only if they execute eight revolutions, in either a backward and/or sideway position without any changes, before attempting the Biellmann and if they clearly increase the speed of the spin. Advanced novice skaters must complete six revolutions before executing a Biellmann spin. Like other categories of difficult spin variations, the Biellmann is counted in a skater's score, in both the short and free skating programs, only the first time it is completed.

The Biellmann spin was made popular by world champion Denise Biellmann. Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya invented and was noted for the double Biellmann spin with a foot change, which is executed by the skater reaching back with their hands, grabbing the blade of one skate and pulling it straight over their head, and then performing the same action with the other skate. The Biellmann spin, due to the flexibility required in executing it, is more commonly executed by women than by men. A notable exception is two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.

title: Biellmann spin


text:
West of Eden

West of Eden is a 1984 science fiction novel by American writer Harry Harrison.

Overview
In the parallel universe of this novel, Earth was not struck by an asteroid 65 million years before the present. Consequently, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event which wiped out the dinosaurs and other related reptiles never happened, leaving the way clear for an intelligent species to eventually evolve from mosasaurs, a family of Late Cretaceous marine lizards closely related to the modern monitor lizards.

The intelligent reptiloid species is called the Yilanè, and represents the dominant life form on most of the planet. However, during the evolutionary process, the species became non-viable on the North American continent and Caribbean area, leaving them free of Yilanè for millions of years and opening an ecological niche for a top predator. A human-like species, the Tanu, evolved to fill the niche in North America, but are only found on that continent. Unlike humans, which evolved from African primates, the Tanu have evolved from a lineage of New World monkey. By the time the novel begins, the humanoids have reached a late Stone Age level of technology and culture, with a number of societies having developed farming skills.

The Yilanè, having had millions of years of civilization, have a very advanced society primarily based on a mastery of the biological sciences, especially genetic engineering, so much so that almost every tool and artifact they use is a modified lifeform. Their boats were originally squids, their submarines are enhanced ichthyosaurs (here called uruketos), while their guns are modified monitor lizards which eject projectiles using pressurised gas.

The Yilanè are a matriarchal society. The females control all political, military, and scientific aspects of the culture and keep the males segregated. Males are primarily poets and artisans, and enjoy dull, pampered lifestyles. Repeated matings will kill males, so they are generally very wary of the females. The Yilanè language is incredibly complex, based on sounds, color (the Yilanè are able to alter the skin color on parts of their body, notably the hands, akin to chameleons) and body movements, and a key factor in social status among females is how well the language is mastered. As their emotions are directly and immediately translated into the movement of their bodies, Yilanè cannot lie. In order to deceive others they may only restrict their movements or go into a state of immobility until the emotion or thought has passed.

The Yilanè normally are inseparable from their society; if a city leader casts out a member of the Yilanè society, in a ritual which involves taking away her name, then the cast-out member will immediately die due to a reaction in her brain to the fear of being cast out. For this reason the Yilanè society has remained a monoculture for millions of years, with no divisions. However, by the time of the events in the novel, a new schism in the society has emerged for the first time, consisting of a group who call themselves the "Daughters of Life" (known as "Daughters of Death" to outsiders). The Daughters of Life are the first to reject the regimented society of the Yilanè, in favour of a higher power, the "Spirit of Life". Because of this belief in a power greater than that of the society's leaders, the usual fatal reaction to being cast out does not occur when a Daughter of Life is expelled by a leader.

Plot
The story revolves around the eventual discovery of the American continents by the Yilanè, who are searching for new resources and territories for colonization. Being reptiloid and cold-blooded, they target tropical and sub-tropical zones.

Eventually, they encounter the humanoids, whom they regard as barely sentient animals. The humanoids, in their turn, are terrified of the Yilanè. As the winters become colder the Tanu are forced to travel south into warmer climates to hunt, onto Yilanè territory. It is not long before a state of conflict exists between the two species.

The central characters are Vaintè, an ambitious Yilanè; Stallan, her vicious and obedient adjutant; and Kerrick, a "ustuzou" (the Yilanè word for mammal) who is captured by the reptiloids as a boy, and raised as a Yilanè. Kerrick eventually escapes to rejoin his own people, ultimately becoming a leader. Another notable Yilanè character is Enge, the leader of a faction of pacifist Yilanè who reject the militaristic and violent attitudes of their culture. This group is violently opposed by most other Yilanè, especially Vaintè. Enge befriends Kerrick, and acts as his teacher, while he lives with the Yilanè.

After Kerrick escapes he joins other humanoid tribes and journeys over the mountains, being pursued all the while by Vaintè, who wants nothing more than the absolute destruction of the ustuzou. After a number of victories, Kerrick realizes that despite the losses inflicted upon the Yilanè, the Yilanè will never stop pursuing the humanoids. Kerrick organizes an expedition back to the Yilanè city of Alpèasak where he was held as a boy, and burns it down. The North American continent is freed of the Yilanè.

Characters in West of Eden

 * Kerrick - The main protagonist of the story, a human raised among the Yilanè but leaves to live with his own people. Eventually he becomes their chief and helps to destroy the Yilanè capital.
 * Vaintè - The main antagonist of the story, she is a vain and selfish Yilanè who hates Kerrick and wants to kill him.
 * Herilak - Uncle of Kerrick, he was the brother-in-law of his father and the best hunter in the tribe.
 * Armun - The lover of Kerrick. She was shunned by other members of her tribe for having a harelip, but Kerrick falls in love with her despite it. Later she gives birth to their son.
 * Enge - A Yilanè who is what her people call a "Daughter of Life", a member of a group who have a high regard for life, including humans.
 * Stallan - A Yilanè who shares Vaintè's desire to kill Kerrick and all of humanity.

Creatures featured

 * ENTEESENAT: Elasmosaurus
 * EISEKOL: Steller's sea cow
 * ELINOU: Coelurosaurus
 * EPETRUK: Tyrannosaurus rex
 * GREATDEER: Megaloceros
 * HURUKSAST: Monoclonius
 * LONGTOOTH: Smilodon
 * MASTODON: American mastodon
 * NENITESK: Triceratops
 * ONETSENAST: Stegosaurus
 * TARAKAST: Segnosaurus
 * URUKETO: Ichthyosaurus
 * URUKTOP: Psittacosaurus
 * URUKUB: Apatosaurus

Reception
Dave Langford reviewed West of Eden for White Dwarf #59, and stated that "It's the density of background detail which makes this, not a Great book, but the best Harrison for some while. Nice illustrations, too."

Reviews

 * Review by Fritz Leiber (1984) in Locus, #278 March 1984
 * Review by Dan Chow (1984) in Locus, #280 May 1984
 * Review by Gary K. Wolfe (1984) in Fantasy Review, September 1984
 * Review by Don D'Ammassa (1984) in Science Fiction Chronicle, #60 September 1984
 * Review by Paul McGuire (1984) in Science Fiction Review, Winter 1984
 * Review by Tom Easton (1984) in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, December 1984
 * Review by C. J. Henderson (1984) in Whispers #21-22, December 1984
 * Review by Edward James (1984) in Vector 123
 * Review by Baird Searles (1984) in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Mid-December 1984
 * Review by W. Paul Ganley (1984) in Fantasy Mongers, #11 Summer 1984
 * Review by Frank Catalano (1985) in Amazing Science Fiction, January 1985
 * Review by L. J. Hurst (1985) in Vector 128
 * Review by Mary Gentle (1985) in Foundation, #35 Winter 1985/1986, (1986)
 * Review by Christopher Ogden (1986) in Paperback Inferno, #58
 * Review by Paul McGuire (1986) in Science Fiction Review, Spring 1986
 * Review [Italian] by Mario Tucci (1988) in Pioggia di stelle
 * Review by Graham Sleight (2010) in Locus, #597 October 2010
 * Review [German] by Christian Hoffmann (2018) in phantastisch!, #72

title: West of Eden


text:
Division of Bass

The Division of Bass is an Australian electoral division in Tasmania.

It includes most of the city of Launceston and its surrounds. It has traditionally been a marginal seat and has had more members than any other federal electorate.

Geography
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History
The division was one of the five established when the former Division of Tasmania was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for the explorer George Bass. It has always been based on the city of Launceston and surrounding rural areas, and its boundaries have changed very little in the century since its creation. For most of its history it has been a marginal seat, changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the conservative parties—since 1949 the Liberal Party. Its most notable member has been Lance Barnard, who was Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government. His resignation in 1975 was followed by Labor's heavy defeat in the Bass by-election, which is seen as the beginning of the end of the Whitlam government.

The Liberals won the seat at the 2019 election.

Bass has had the most different members of any federal electorate at seventeen.

Bass is currently the Coalition's 5th most marginal electorate, held by a 1.43% margin on the two-party-preferred vote.

title: Division of Bass


text:
Corpus albicans

The corpus albicans (Latin for "whitening body"; also known as atretic corpus luteum, corpus candicans, or simply as albicans) is the regressed form of the corpus luteum. As the corpus luteum is being broken down by macrophages, fibroblasts lay down type I collagen, forming the corpus albicans. This process is called "luteolysis". The remains of the corpus albicans may persist as a scar on the surface of the ovary.

Background
During the  first  few  hours  after  expulsion  of  the  ovum from  the  follicle,  the  remaining granulosa and theca interna cells change rapidly into lutein cells. They enlarge in diameter two or more times and become filled with lipid inclusions that give them a yellowish appearance.

This process is called luteinization, and the total mass of cells together is called the corpus luteum. A well-developed vascular supply also grows into the corpus luteum.

The granulosa cells in the corpus luteum develop extensive intracellular smooth endoplasmic reticula that form large amounts of the female sex hormones progesterone and estrogen (more progesterone than estrogen during the luteal phase). The theca cells form mainly the androgens androstenedione and testosterone. These hormones may then be converted by aromatase in the granulosa cells into estrogens, including estradiol.

The corpus luteum normally grows to about 1.5 centimeters in diameter, reaching this stage of development 7 to 8 days after ovulation. Then it begins to involute and eventually loses its secretory function and its yellowish, lipid characteristic about 12 days after ovulation, becoming the corpus albicans. In the ensuing weeks, this is replaced by connective tissue and over months is reabsorbed.

title: Corpus albicans


text:
Yuzhne

Yuzhne (Южне, ; formerly Южний, romanized: Yuzhnyi,    lit.  'southern' n. adj. in Russian) is a port city in Odesa Raion, Odesa Oblast (province) of south-western Ukraine. Yuzhne hosts the administration of Yuzhne urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It is situated on the country's Black Sea coast. Population:

Initially created as a settlement of the Odesa Portside Plant in the Small Adzhalyk Estuary, since 1981 it was transformed into a suburb of Odesa within the Suvorovsky District of the city. From the Southern Marine Terminal of the city port, the Odesa–Brody pipeline takes its beginning towards the Western Ukraine.

Until 18 July 2020, Yuzhne was incorporated as a city of oblast significance. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven, the city of Yuzhne was merged into newly established Odesa Raion.

The city's port Pivdennyi (formerly Yuzhnyi) is an internationally important oil terminal, and one of Ukraine's top three ports, with Odesa and Chornomorsk. These three nearby port cities have grown into a single conurbation, and Yuzhne is considered a satellite of Odesa.

Name
11 May 1978 by the order of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of the Ukrainian SSR the newly built populated place was given the name of the village Yuzhne. Although it sounds awkward in Ukrainian, the city's name is the Russian word for "Southern". The Ukrainian term for "Southern" would be Pivdenne. The city is located about 32 km east of Odesa.

The name has not changed since Ukraine obtained its independence in 1991.

In February 1993 the Verkhovna Rada declared to give the urbanized village a special status in the Odesa Oblast as a city of oblast significance. In 2000 the declaration of Verkhovna Rada #1914-III confirmed the city limits.

In April 2023 the city council of Yuzhne decided to rename the city since the city name was not in accordance with the requirements of the law "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language". It was stated that the name of the city did not meet the spelling norms and standards of Ukrainian (the state language). On 20 March 2024, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning decided to propose the name Port-Anental. The ultimate decision on the renaming will be made only after a vote.

Climate
Yuzhne has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa).

Sport
Yuzhne is home to the team BC Khimik in the Ukrainian Basketball Superleague, league champions in the 2014/15 season. Yuzhne is also home to the "BK Khimik" women's volleyball team, Ukrainian champions in 2010/11 and 2011/12. The handball team named HC Portovik plays in the highest men's League.

title: Yuzhne


text:
Talk:Letters patent

"Royla Letters patent" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Royla Letters patent. The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2020 May 5 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Regards, SONIC  678  23:03, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

"Judicial commission" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judicial_commission&redirect=no Judicial commission] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. BD2412 T 03:25, 25 May 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Letters patent