text:
Chengdu J-10

The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (NATO reporting name: Firebird ), is a medium-weight 4.5 generation, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft capable of all-weather operations, configured with a delta wing and canard design, with fly-by-wire flight controls, and produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF). The J-10 is mainly designed for air-to-air combat, but can also perform strike missions.

Development

In 1981, PLAAF Commander Zhang Tingfa submitted a proposal to Deng Xiaoping for the development of a third-generation fighter for CN¥500 million; it was accepted later that year by the Central Military Commission (CMC). It was the first Chinese aircraft program to incorporate modern development and acquisition processes. In one departure from the past, the supplier was now responsible directly to the customer; this allowed the PLAAF to communicate its requirements and ensure they were met; previously suppliers were responsible to their managing agency, which could produce products that failed to meet end user requirements. Another difference was the selection of a design through competition, rather than allocating a project to an institute and using whatever design that institute created.

Design proposals were made by the three major aircraft design institutes. Shenyang's proposal was based on its cancelled J-13 with a F-16-like strake-wing. Hongdu's proposal was MiG-23/Su-24-like with variable-sweep wing. Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute's (CADI) proposal was a Saab 37 Viggen-like design based on its cancelled J-9. CADI's proposal was selected in February 1984. The following month, CADI and Chengdu Fighter Factory were formally directed to develop and manufacture the aircraft, respectively. Song Wencong (宋文骢) became chief designer.

The engine was selected during the design proposal stage. Candidates were an improved Woshan WS-6, the WP-15, or a new engine. The new engine, ultimately the Shenyang WS-10, was chosen in 1983.

The State Council and the CMC approved the program in 1986, code-naming it "No. 10 Project". Interest waned in the following years which constrained funding and prolonged development. The Gulf War renewed interest and brought adequate resourcing. Unlike earlier programs, the J-10 avoided crippling requirement creep.

Technical development was slow and difficult. The J-10 represented a higher level of complexity than earlier generations of Chinese aircraft. About 60% of the aircraft required new technology and parts, instead of - according to Chengdu - the usual 30% for new aircraft; the high proportion reflected both requirements and limited domestic capability. Development and modernization of China's aviation industry occurred alongside the J-10; the program was an early Chinese user of digital design, modelling, and testing including computer-aided design (CAD) and computational fluid dynamics. The J-10 was the first Chinese aircraft to make major use of CAD for its structural design, allowing the detailed design to be completed in 1994. The hydraulics system was tested with physical models because of limited digital modelling capabilities.

The first J-10 was assembled in June 1997. Lei Qiang flew the first flight on 23 March 1998; Lei was chosen for his experience with modern, foreign, third-generation aircraft. PLA training units received the J-10 ahead of schedule starting in 2003. Weapons tests occurred in the fall of that year. The design was finalized in 2004. Rumors of crashes during flight testing were actually mishaps related to the AL-31 engine.

The J-10 became operational in 2006. It was officially unveiled by the Chinese government in January 2007, when photographs were published by Xinhua News Agency.

The Siberian Aeronautical Research Institute (SibNIA) from Russia was involved in the program by 2016. According to SibNIA, it was only observing and instructing as "scientific guides".

According to the images posted by China National Radio of a PLAAF live-firing exercise at an unspecified location in May 2021, J-10C Vigorous Dragons were equipped with distinctive exhaust nozzles of the WS-10B Taihang turbofan engine. This marks the first time the WS-10 has been officially seen on an operational J-10.

Disputed origins
In 1988 Israel's defense minister denied a report by The Sunday Times that Israel and China had agreed to develop a fighter derived from the IAI Lavi, a project based on the F-16. In 2006, Russia's SibNIA engineers believed that the J-10 was "more or less a version" of the Lavi, incorporating "a melting pot of foreign technology and acquired design methods... but there are a number of other pieces of other aircraft or technologies that are part of the configuration that they have acquired from different sources." In 2008, Janes claimed that the J-10 benefited from technical information from the Israeli project, citing senior Russian engineers who said they had heard this from Chinese colleagues.

The Chinese assert J-10's features claimed to be from the Lavi are from the manufacturer's own previous aircraft design, for example attributing the J-10's Lavi-like double canard configuration to Chengdu's work on the cancelled J-9 of the 1960s and 1970s; this view is supported by Song Wencong, who worked on the J-9 and became the J-10's chief designer, and PLAAF Major General Zhang Weigang.

Design
The J-10 was designed and developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute (CADI), a subsidiary of Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.

Airframe
The airframe is constructed from metal alloys and composite materials for high strength and low weight, the airframe's aerodynamic layout adopts a "tail-less canard delta" wing configuration. A large delta wing is mid-mounted towards the rear of the fuselage, while a pair of canards (or foreplanes) are mounted higher up and towards the front of the fuselage, behind and below the cockpit. This configuration provides very high agility, especially at low speeds, and also reduces stall speed, allowing for a lower airspeed during instrument approaches. A large vertical tail is present on top of the fuselage and small ventral fins underneath the fuselage provide further stability.

On J-10A, a rectangular air intake ramp and a splitter plate are located underneath the fuselage, providing the air supply to the engine. Newer variants, including J-10B and J-10C use a diverterless intake that does not require a splitter plate, and may reduce radar cross signature. Under the fuselage and wings are 11 hardpoints, used for carrying various types of weaponry and drop-tanks containing extra fuel. The retractable undercarriage comprises a steerable pair of nose-wheels underneath the air intake and two main gear wheels towards the rear of the fuselage.

The cockpit is covered by a two-piece bubble canopy providing 360 degrees of visual coverage for the pilot. The canopy lifts upwards to permit cockpit entry and exit. The controls take the form of a conventional centre stick and a throttle stick located to the left of the pilot. These also incorporate "hands on throttle and stick" (HOTAS) controls. A zero-zero ejection seat is provided for the pilot, permitting safe ejection in an emergency even at zero altitude and zero speed.

Due to the J-10's aerodynamically unstable design, a digital quadruplex-redundant fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system (FCS) aids the pilot in flying the aircraft. The FCS typically monitors pilot control inputs, preventing the pilot from accidentally exiting the flight envelope from applying too much control input during high performance flight situations. This is critical in canard wing aircraft, as they are capable of turning in a much tighter radius than conventional aircraft. The massive control surfaces are capable of moving so far that they can completely destroy the aircraft in flight at high airspeeds if not kept in check by the FCS.

Avionics
The cockpit has three liquid crystal (LCD) Multi-function displays (MFD) along with a Chinese developed holographic head-up display (HUD), all of which are fully compatible with a domestic Chinese advanced helmet mounted sight (HMS), claimed by Chinese to be superior to the HMS on the Sukhoi Su-27 sold to China.

Radar
According to Chengdu Aircraft Corporation officials the J-10 uses a multi-mode fire-control radar designed in China. The radar has a mechanically scanned planar array antenna and is capable of tracking 10 targets. Of the 10 targets tracked, 2 can be engaged simultaneously with semi-active radar homing missiles or 4 can be engaged with active radar homing missiles.

For J-10B, the nose cone is modified to accommodate an active phased array airborne radar (AESA) radar. The general designer of AESA for J-10B is Mr. Zhang Kunhui (张昆辉, 1963 -), the head of 607 Research Institute in Neijiang, Sichuan. Mr. Zhang Kunhui became the deputy head of 607th Research Institute in 1997, and four years later in 2001, he became the head of the institute, when the AESA program for J-10B started. The primary contractor of this AESA is the Radar and Electronic Equipment Research Academy of Aviation Industry Corporation of China located in Sichuan, formed in March 2004 by combining the 607th Research Institute and 171st Factory together with Mr. Zhang Kunhui was named as the head of the research academy. According to Chinese governmental media, the AESA for J-10B took 8 years to develop, finally completed in 2008, and Chinese fighter radars hence achieved a quantum leap in that it went from mechanically scanned planar slotted array directly into AESA, skipping the passive phased array PESA radar. Many suspected the radar is a PESA, but during its brief debuts in the 7th China International Defense Electronics Exhibition (CIDEX) in May 2010 and the 6th International Conference on Radar held in Beijing in Sept 2011, Chinese official sources have claimed it is an AESA.

Propulsion

The J-10 is powered by a single turbofan. The J-10A entered production with the Russian Salyut AL-31FN. The initial version generated a maximum static thrust of 12,500 kgf. In December 2013, Salyut reported it was testing an upgraded AL-31FN Series 3 for China with 250 hours more life and 1000 kg/f more thrust; the Series 3 would be equipped on the improved J-10B. Compared to the original Lyulka-Saturn AL-31F, the AL-31FN was fitted to the J-10 by rotating the gearbox and accessory pack to the underside.

The J-10s intended engine is the Chinese Shenyang WS-10. The WS-10 suffered development difficulties and production of the aircraft went ahead with the Salyut AL-31FN as a substitute. A pre-production J-10C flew with a WS-10 at the 2018 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition; the engine nozzle was modified for stealth and thrust vectoring (TVC). In March 2020, a video from Chinese state media showed a J-10C in PLAAF livery equipped with the WS-10B; WS-10B-powered aircraft were in service by November 2021.

Weaponry and external loads
The aircraft's internal armament consists of a Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin-barrel cannon, located underneath the port side of the intake. Other weaponry and equipment is mounted externally on 11 hardpoints, to which 5,600 kg of either missiles and bombs, drop-tanks containing fuel, or other equipment such as avionics pods can be attached.

Air-to-air missiles deployed may include short-range air-to-air missiles such as the PL-8 and PL-10 (on J-10C), medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missiles such as the PL-12 and PL-15 (on J-10C), unguided and precision guided munitions such as laser-guided bombs, air-to-surface missile such as KD-88, anti-ship missiles such as the YJ-91A, and anti-radiation missiles such as the YJ-91.

China

The first aircraft were delivered to the 13th Test Regiment on 23 February 2003. The aircraft was declared 'operational' in December of the same year, after 18 years in development.

The J-10C entered combat service in April 2018.

Pakistan
Negotiations for acquisitions for J-10A were started in 2006 when offered by China, but negotiations persisted into 2012 with the offer of the J-10B.

In September 2020, it was reported that Pakistan was interested in the J-10C. In December 2021, Pakistan announced the purchase of 25 J-10CEs, with an option for 11 more; they were expected to enter service in March 2022. On 4 March 2022, the first batch of 6 J-10CEs for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) landed at PAF Base Minhas (Kamra) after a ferry flight from Chengdu, China. They were officially inducted into the PAF's No. 15 Squadron Cobras based at PAF Base Minhas on 11 March 2022.

On 18 January 2024, Pakistan launched a series of air and artillery strikes inside Iran, targeting Baloch separatist groups, multiple JF-17C and Wing Loong II drones escorted by J-10CE launched attacks against BLA and BLF militant groups with GIDS B-REK Glidebombs. 9 terrorists were killed in the attack.

Exports to other countries
In 2009, AVIC planned to offer the J-10 and the CAC/PAC JF-17 Thunder for export. Flightglobal speculated an upgraded J-10B would be offered.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia is in talks with China to potentially buy J-10C fighter jets. Egypt has also expressed interest in purchasing 12 J-10C jets.

Variants

 * J-10A: Single seat variant. The export designation is F-10A or FC-20.
 * J-10AH: Naval version of J-10A.
 * J-10AY: Acrobatics variant of J-10A.
 * J-10S: Tandem-seated trainer variant of J-10A.
 * J-10SH: Naval version of J-10S.
 * J-10B: An upgraded J-10, initially identified as "Super-10". It features a lighter and stealthier diverterless supersonic inlet, a longer nose radome possibly housing an active electronically scanned array radar, an electro-optic targeting sensor (IRST, and laser rangefinder,) and a new electronic warning or countermeasures pod atop the vertical stabiliser. The aircraft is powered by the AL-31FN M1; one unit was flown with a WS-10A in July 2011 but that engine was not selected for the initial production batch. The aircraft's first flight occurred no later than December 2008.
 * J-10B TVC Demonstrator: A prototype fighter based on J-10B that is equipped with WS-10B thrust-vectoring control engine. The fighter has supermaneuverability, capable of performing the Cobra maneuver.
 * J-10C: An upgraded version of J-10B, it is equipped with an indigenous AESA fire-control radar and is equipped with imaging infrared seeker (IIR) PL-10, WS-10B engine and PL-15 air-to-air missiles.
 * J-10CE: Export version of J-10C.
 * J-10CY: Acrobatics variant of J-10C, replaced J-10AY.
 * J-10D: Electronic warfare variant with straight, protruding dorsal spine in the central airframe, containing electronic countermeasure and warfare systems.

Operators

 * People's Liberation Army Air Force: 220 J-10A, 55 J-10B, 220 J-10C, 70 J-10S as of 2022
 * People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force: 16 J-10AH, 7 J-10SH as of 2021
 * Pakistan Air Force: 36 J-10CE (20 delivered, 16 on order)
 * PAF Base Minhas (Kamra)
 * No. 15 Squadron Cobras (2022)
 * PAF Base Minhas (Kamra)
 * No. 15 Squadron Cobras (2022)

Accidents and incidents
On 12 November 2016, an August 1st Aerobatics Team training flight suffered a mid-air collision in Hebei. A twin-seat J-10 crashed. The pilot, Captain Yu Xu, and the co-pilot ejected, but Yu was struck by another J-10 and killed. Yu was the first woman certified to fly the J-10.

Specifications (J-10C)

title: Chengdu J-10


text:
Amelia Frid

Amelia Frid (born 30 July 1975) is an Australian former child actress who played Cody Willis in Neighbours. She retired from acting to concentrate on studies and her current profession is forensic psychology. Frid's final appearance in Neighbours as Cody Willis was 30 July 1991 which was her 16th birthday.

In 1988, Frid was cast as Molly in Adventures on Kythera. The series was not broadcast in Australia until 1991. Frid's final acting work was with former Neighbours co-star Ashley Paske (who played Matt Robinson) in Oxford where she played the princess in Aladdin.

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

title: Amelia Frid


text:
Nathan Astle

Nathan John Astle (born 15 September 1971) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. A right-handed batsman who played as an opener in One Day Internationals (ODI), while batting in the middle order in Test matches. In a career that spanned 12 years, Astle played 81 Tests and 223 ODIs accumulating 4,702 and 7,090 runs respectively. As of 2022, he is New Zealand's fourth-most prolific run scorer. Astle collected 154 wickets with his medium-paced bowling at the international level. He holds two records – scoring the fastest double century in Test cricket and the second highest individual score in the fourth innings of a Test match. Both the records were achieved when he made 222 against England in Christchurch in 2002. Astle was a member of the New Zealand team that won the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy. His innings of 145 not out is the highest individual score by a batsman in the ICC Champions Trophy, which he scored in the 2004 tournament.

Astle has played County Cricket in England for Derbyshire, Durham and Nottinghamshire, and for Canterbury in New Zealand. He was also a footballer who represented Rangers A.F.C. and good at auto racing.

Personal life
Astle was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he is still based; he is married to Kelly Astle and has two children. Astle and his wife Kelly run a childcare centre for which he is the director. His sister, Lisa Astle, represented the New Zealand women's team at the 1993 World Cup, and later married another first-class cricketer, Robbie Frew.

Domestic career
Born in 1971 at Christchurch, Astle joined the East Christchurch-Shirley Cricket Club, a cricket club that would produce cricketers like Bruce Taylor, Craig McMillan and Michael Papps. He used to bat at number 6, and played as a batsman who could bowl medium pace. During the 1990–91 season, Astle was selected to play for "New Zealand Young Cricketers" against "England Young Cricketers". Astle managed just 127 runs at an average of 31.75 in the three match series. The following year, Astle made his First-class debut for Canterbury against Central Districts. He hardly managed to score runs at the end of the first three seasons. During the 1994–95 season he aggregated 663 runs at an average of 55.25. He played three important innings during the season – 96 against Auckland, 175 against Northern Districts and 191 against Wellington. Following impressive performances in the season, he was noticed by the New Zealand selectors.

On 31 May 2006, Lancashire announced that Astle would be a short-term overseas replacement for Australian player Brad Hodge. In 2007 he played for Longton C.C in Staffordshire. He was a part of the Mumbai Champs team in the inaugural 20/20 Tournament of the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Debut years
Astle was selected for the ODI series against West Indies in 1995. He was again selected for the series against Sri Lanka where's he scored 95 in one of the matches thus enabling New Zealand level the series and ending their losing streak after 13 matches. It was under the insistence of Glenn Turner, then coach of New Zealand, Astle was selected for the Test side and started playing as an opener in ODIs. He was again selected for a five match ODI series in India. In the first four matches, he failed to score, but in the final match he recorded his first ODI century scoring 114 off 128 balls. New Zealand won the match and Astle was declared "man of the match", in spite of New Zealand losing the series 3–2. The following year Astle made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Trust Bank Park, Hamilton. In the ODI series, Astle scored a century in the first match and was named "man of the match". All in all, he scored 168 runs in the series averaging 56.00. Following that, Astle was named in the New Zealand squad for the 1996 Cricket World Cup that was held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He scored his first World Cup hundred in new Zealand's opening match, against England, of the tournament. However, Astle failed to score runs in the rest of the tournament, eventually ended up with 111 runs at an average of 18.5.

Following his dismal performance at the World Cup, Astle was selected for the two match Test series in West Indies. This was his second series after the one against Zimbabwe at home. Until then, he managed just 77 runs in four innings at an average of 19.25, In the first Test at Kensington Oval, he scored 54 (48 balls) and 125 in both innings of the Test. In the second innings he was involved in a partnership of 144 runs with Justin Vaughan for the fifth wicket, a record for New Zealand then. In spite of his performance in the match, New Zealand lost the match by ten wickets. He continued his good form with the bat as he scored 103 in the second Test, enabling New Zealand draw the match, although they lost the series 1–0. In the following year, Astle scored 106 against England in the 1st Test of the three–match series. He was involved in a partnership of 106 for the tenth wicket with Danny Morrison, a New Zealand record. His partnership with Morrison helped New Zealand secure a draw and prevented England from winning the test match.

Successful opener in ODIs
Astle was New Zealand's top run scorer in the 1997 Pepsi Independence Cup, a quadrangular tournament that also included India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In the first match against Pakistan, he scored 117 and took a career-best figure of four wickets for 43 runs; New Zealand won the match by 22 runs while Astle was named Man of the match. He followed that with 92 against India, a match which New Zealand lost. Although, New Zealand did not progress to the finals, Astle ended up as the fourth-most prolific run scorer with 218 runs at an average of 72.66. He was equally successful with the ball as he captured seven wickets at an average of 15.00. Astle also passed Martin Crowe's record number of one-day hundreds for New Zealand (four) during the tournament.

Astle's success as opener in ODIs continued throughout the season. In a home series against Zimbabwe, he was more consistent, scoring 351 runs including a century. He made scores exceeding 60 in four consecutive matches and was ultimately named "man of the series". Astle performed well in the subsequent series' such as the Singer-Akai Nidahas Trophy (1998) and the home series against South Africa accumulating close to 600 runs.

1999 World Cup failure
Although, Astle was consistent till 1999, he failed in the 1999 Cricket World Cup that took place in England. He managed just 79 runs in nine matches at an average of 8.77. he scored well in the Test series against England including a century. At the end of the century, Astle established himself as one of the key players in New Zealand.

At the end of 2000, New Zealand suffered heavy losses in the Test series against South Africa. Astle made a strong comeback in the ODI series against Pakistan, scoring 240 runs. In the final match of the series, he made 119 off 116 balls that contained 21 fours. During the innings he was involved in a record stand of 193 for the first wicket with captain Stephen Fleming. It helped New Zealand win the series. In the rain-affected 2001–02 Trans-Tasman Trophy against Australia, Astle scored moderately in the first two Tests and came back with a valiant 156 not out in the third Test. Though New Zealand had their upper hand throughout the series, it ended in a draw. In the tour he made a career best First-class score of 223 against Queensland. Following that, England visited New Zealand to play five ODIs and three Test matches. In the ODI series, he fared well scoring 221 runs in five innings at an average of 73.66 including a century in the last match. In the first Test, chasing a target of 550 runs, Astle batted at number five went on to make 222, his highest Test score. he set the record for the fastest double-century when he reached the landmark in 153 balls. He took 168 balls hitting 28 fours and 11 sixes before being the last man to be dismissed. During the innings he was involved in a partnership of 118 runs with injured Chris Cairns. Despite this New Zealand lost the match by 98 runs. As of 2013, it remains the second highest score by a player in the fourth innings of a Test match.

2003 World Cup and return
Astle made a remarkable comeback to the 2003 World Cup after disastrous performances in the previous two editions that appeared. He scored a century, second in World Cups, against Zimbabwe and finished the tournament with 213 runs from seven matches at an average of 42.60. Immediately following the World Cup, New Zealand toured India to play two Test matches. In the first Test at Ahmedabad, Astle scored 103, when New Zealand were struggling thus helping them save the match. The following year Astle went on to record his highest ODI score when he made 145 not out against USA at the ICC Champions Trophy 2004. By this time, his Test average dipped down; he went on to make only two more hundreds till the end of his career, including one against Zimbabwe. However, he continued his good form in ODIs. In August 2005, he made an unbeaten 115 against India at the final of the Videocon Tri-Series that was held in Zimbabwe. New Zealand won the tournament and Astle was adjudged "player of the match".

During the 2005 Chappell–Hadlee Series and the preceding tour to South Africa, Astle incurred media criticism along with fellow New Zealand cricket team teammates Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall and James Marshall, for a slump in form. As a result of this, he was dropped from the national team. However he returned to the side in 2006 for the home series against West Indies. He scored 118 not out at Christchurch, and ended up as New Zealand's leading run scorer of the tournament. Over the New Zealand summer, he scored 690 ODI runs from 11 matches at an average of 54.2. He received the "2005–2006 Walter Hadlee Trophy for Best New Zealand One-Day International batsman".

Retirement
While expected to make his fourth World Cup appearance, Astle announced his retirement from international cricket, while he was playing in the Commonwealth Bank Series, on 26 January 2007. He cited lack of motivation and his "patchy form" in the recent matches as reasons for retiring.

He played his last One-Day International on 23 January 2007 against England at the Adelaide Oval.

Playing style and influences
Astle has been described as the best ODI batsman New Zealand has ever produced. Apart from his role as a batsman, he was also an occasional partnership-breaking medium pace bowler and a competent slip fielder. Because of this multi-utility option he always enjoyed selection in the team but his laid-back attitude resulted him never been considered for the captaincy, despite his seniority.

Outside cricket
Astle has also been a competent soccer player, playing for Rangers A.F.C. in Christchurch, a club which also at one time had fellow cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee among its players. Astle also took up Auto racing in early 2010, competing predominantly at Woodford Glen Speedway, Christchurch, driving a Modified Sprint. Astle moved to full-sized Sprintcars after two seasons in a Modified Sprint, and has since competed in numerous speedway events across New Zealand.

Honours and awards
The New Zealand Cricket Almanack named him the "Player of the Year" on three occasions – 1995, 1996 and 2002. For his efforts, Astle received the "Player of the Year" award in 1998. He was also named New Zealand's "One-Day International Batsman of the Year" in 2006. In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, Astle was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cricket.

Records

 * During his career, Astle scored 16 ODI centuries. As of the end of 2019, this is the equal second highest for a New Zealander, and equal 21st overall.
 * Most ducks (getting out without scoring) in World Cups, with five.
 * Fastest double century in test cricket.

Coaching career
In 2009, Astle announced his intentions to make a career of coaching, and was appointed the head coach role of the Burnside West Christchurch University Cricket Club, a senior club in the Christchurch Metropolitan league, playing under the Canterbury Cricket Association.

title: Nathan Astle


text:
Jorge Vergara

Jorge Carlos Vergara Madrigal (3 March 1955 – 15 November 2019) was a Mexican businessman and film producer. He was the founder of the multi-level marketing company Grupo Omnilife. In addition to its health products business, Grupo Omnilife owns the football club C.D. Guadalajara. Vergara was also owner of Costa Rican football team Saprissa (2003–2011) and Major League Soccer club Chivas USA (2004–2014).

Vergara produced internationally recognized films such as The Assassination of Richard Nixon and the Oscar-nominated Y Tu Mamá También through the production company, Producciones Anhelo.

Business
Born in Guadalajara, Vergara once sold tacos on Mexican streets. Back in the 1980s Vergara sold condominiums and timeshares in Manzanillo, Mexico, where he met and began working with John Peterson.

When Peterson became a Herbalife salesperson, he recruited Vergara and together they began selling Herbalife products in Mexico. Since Herbalife had not received Mexican government approval to sell their products, Peterson and Vergara had to smuggle the products into the country. After six months of smuggling the products into Mexico, Herbalife took notice and began the process of getting government approval. Vergara was asked to help get the Herbalife products approved by the Mexican government and was instrumental in helping Herbalife's founder, Mark R. Hughes deal with the Mexican Government. This gave Vergara insight into how a multi-level company profits and expands into other countries. Vergara was partners with Roger Daley, Jim Fobair and Charlie Ragus. With already the 51% of the company, Vergara acquired the rest of Omnitrition at the end of the deal with his U.S. partners and took the whole control of Omnitrition de Mexico. Since its foundation in 1991, the privately owned corporation has grown from one company, Omnilife de Mexico, to comprise nineteen companies. Today, approximately 5.2 million people distribute Omnilife products in 22 countries, while the company has reached annual sales of nearly $4.2 billion.

Vergara was the director of Omnilife de Mexico from 1991 to his death.

Film
In 1999, Vergara met film director Alfonso Cuarón while seeking out filmmakers for his corporate movies. Cuarón, however, was more interested in filming Y Tu Mamá También, and gave Vergara the screenplay. A known lover of films, Vergara read it and right away proposed that they begin production. In the process they established a production company Producciones Anhelo that would go on to co-produce Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone, along with Pedro Almodóvar's El Deseo and del Toro's Tequila Gang. Anhelo also produced Sebastián Cordero's Crónicas.

In 2002, Variety named Vergara one of its Ten Producers to Watch. For the 2004 edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival, Vergara created the JVC Award for Best Director, which was given to Fernando Eimbcke for his feature debut Temporada de patos.

Chivas
Vergara gained ownership of the football team C.D. Guadalajara (popularly known as Chivas) in 2002. Shortly after he took ownership in Mexico, while attending the 2004 U.S. Major League Soccer All-Star Game, he announced intentions to expand Chivas to MLS.

Vergara and MLS inaugurated Chivas USA in 2004, and the team played its first official season in 2005 with Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles area as its home stadium. Chivas USA was initially successful; in its first five seasons of operation, the team recorded four straight MLS playoff appearances. Both performance and attendance declined sharply after 2009.

On 20 February 2014, Major League Soccer purchased Chivas USA from Vergara. They announced plans to sell to a buyer dedicated to keeping the club in Los Angeles, as well as a plan to rebrand the club. After being unable to find a buyer, the club folded following the 2014 season. A new club, Los Angeles FC, was founded in 2018, but with no connection to the former Chivas USA club.

Personal life
Vergara had six children.

Vergara and Rossana Lerdo de Tejada were married 10 June 2017 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Lerdo de Tejada is his widow.

Death
Vergara died on 15 November 2019 at the age of 64 in New York City as a result of a cardiac arrest.

title: Jorge Vergara


text: User talk:69.34.90.71

title: User talk:69.34.90.71


text:
Talk:Gas mark

[Untitled]
I always thought the Gas Mark system was discontinued when North Sea Gas was introduced, since the different pressure threw the calibration out of alignment. Confirm/deny? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lee M (talk • contribs) 19:55, 2004 December 19

 * It's still in use in the UK. They didn't replace all the gas ovens! 66.92.237.111 02:48, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

 * So that's why everything gets burnt if I use the recommended gas setting. Dejvid 09:47, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

 * It wouldn't be down to pressure but the heat of combustion of the different fuel mix. My butane or propane powered cooker goes up to gas mark 13 but on whatever I'm using now (I can't check, its 300 miles away and I'm in the land of electricity thats reliable enough to cook food with and run semiconductor plants on right now....), that amounts to about 160 Celsius. Its different on the other gas, whichever that is... --Kiand 17:46, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

The gas mark / Regulo mark is a temperature scale. It doesn't matter what fuel you're using, you're just setting a thermostat temperature. You could calibrate electric ovens using gas marks, though AFAIK this has never been done - UK electric ovens originally used Fahrenheit and now use Celsius. I suspect the gas mark system was used because early Regulo thermostats weren't accurate enough to allow a precise temperature to be set, but that's just a guess. --Ef80 (talk) 14:09, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Probably a typo
"It is still in use, however it is not as widespread as it was in the last half of the twentieth century."

Shouldn't this read "first half of the twentieth century?" – 24.113.82.222 20:38, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

 * With the earliest know usage being in the mid-1940s, the most common usage would be in the latter half of the 20th century. —MJBurrage • TALK  • 15:39, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

History: 1963 or 1958 or 1943 or...
Right now, there is a paragraph about "The draft 2003 edition of the OED..." that dates the word to 1943, and a second paragraph that talks about a hunt for the history of the term as one word ("gasmark") that was launched by the BBC and the OED. The link to the BBC was no longer valid, so I pointed it to the OED's page about the hunt. The OED has a page with the results of the hunt, but it doesn't mention looking for "gasmark" as one word, and the OED entry it links to cites a 1958 cookbook as the earliest reference. The entry is for the OED Online, which may differ from the paper version. I sort of think these two paragraphs should be combined and updated, but I'm not sure. If you're digging around at the BBC, it might be helpful to know that the series is called Balderdash and Piffle. "Gas mark" was in the first series, but most of the information on the BBC seems to refer to the new second series. – 70.185.217.138 04:48, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

 * I believe I have cleared this up: 1943 is the earliest known usage of the concept, and 1958 is the earliest known usage of the exact term "gas mark". (Note, 1963 was the earliest use of the exact term known to the OED before the BBC series.) —MJBurrage • TALK  • 16:11, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
 * The concept actually dates back to the 1920s, when the Regulo proprietary temperature regulation system was widely adopted by UK manufacturers. There are plenty of references to 'Regulo numbers' or 'Regulo marks' from the 1930s, e.g. 'Roast in a hot oven (Regulo 7) for an hour'. The patent eventually expired and there was a conscious attempt to de-brand the system by cookbook authors and public bodies from the 1950s onwards, which is why you start to see references to 'gas marks' without the Regulo name in the 60s. --Ef80 (talk) 16:40, 20 December 2016 (UTC)
 * I found this reference, which claims Regulo thermostats were developed in 1915 and first used in a commercial product by Radiation Ltd. of Birminham, UK in 1923. I don't think it's a good enough ref to use in the article, but I suspect it's correct. --Ef80 (talk) 16:44, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Modern UK Ovens
HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a UK resident, and every gas oven I've ever seen uses gas marks. I've just checked in my local Comet and of the 11 brand new gas ovens in the showroom, 10 were calibrated in Gas Marks. I'm therefore changing the erroneous part about modern gas ovens in the UK being marked in Celsius. Sjgower (talk) 12:51, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
 * In my experience living up and down the UK, most of my ovens were in Celcius. I suggest you find a citation to a reliable survey of ovens before adding a statement based on a sample size of 11. :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davedx (talk • contribs) 15:02, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Professional catering gas ovens are calibrated in celcius, as are exotic European domestic models imported in relatively small quantities. Mass market domestic gas ovens still use gas marks. UK cookery books and TV programmes almost always state oven temperatures in gas marks as well as celsius and (sometimes) farenheit. --Ef80 (talk) 15:36, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

Merger suggestion
I suggest that this article be merged with Oven temperatures, since they both cover the same subject with parallel material. This article should become a "redirect". —Saltmarsh 05:05, 8 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I disagree; whilst it's predominantly used as an oven temperature scale, it's not a dimensionless scale; Gas Mark can be readily converted to and from other temperature scales, making it a viable unit of measurement in it's own right. Since almost all other domain-specific units get their own pages (and can thus feature more clearly in other places such as List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement) I feel that Gas Mark should too! Eth-J (talk) 11:55, 29 July 2020 (UTC)

Accuracy
Having just set a pub quiz question about "What is gas mark 6 in Centigrade?", and re-checking the answers ahead of the quiz, I was surprised to see the answer here as "204". Checking several other sources, they are agreed on "200", which is what I'd already got as the answer. No time now to fully check or amend the article, but here are some of the sources:
 * http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/24/foodanddrink.baking6
 * http://www.cooks.com/recipe/w0hv0ye/oven-temperatures-and-conversions.html
 * http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kitchen/oventemp.htm
 * http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/conversion-guides
 * http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/equiv.htm
 * http://www.circlecity.co.uk/kitchen/conversions/gasmark_temperatures.php

Just found them by googling "Gas mark" with Centigrade. Pam D  10:04, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

 * You're confusing precision with accuracy. A quick check of your sources shows that they're rounding, which is fine: they're certainly accurate enough given the fact that most ovens aren't very precisely callibrated, but these are bad sources to complain that the article says 204 when it's "actually" 200.  400 F actually IS 204 C rounded to the nearest degree.  Rounded to the nearest 25, which is standard, 200 is right in a pub.  But not on Wikipedia.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.24.143.111 (talk) 16:45, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Gas Mark. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070625105319/http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/gas.html to http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/gas.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 21:27, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Gas Mark. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100630082718/http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/oventemperatures to http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/oventemperatures

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 15:34, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 29 October 2021

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved (non-admin closure) – MJL  ‐Talk‐☖ 03:36, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

Gas Mark → Gas mark – Doesn't look like the term is commonly capitalised – move per MOS:CAPS. User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 19:26, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Quite often lowercase in sources. Dicklyon (talk) 01:52, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

title: Talk:Gas mark


text: User talk:68.161.83.252

title: User talk:68.161.83.252


text:
Iván Helguera

Iván Helguera Bujía (born 28 March 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer.

Playing as either a central defender or defensive midfielder, with both good defensive and offensive skills, he represented five clubs during his professional career, notably Real Madrid – achieving team success as an important player – and Valencia. In his early 20s, he also had an unassuming abroad spell with Roma, going on to amass La Liga totals of 291 games and 21 goals over 11 seasons.

A Spanish international on nearly 50 occasions, Helguera represented the country at the 2002 World Cup and in two European Championships.

Early career and Real Madrid
Born and raised in Santander, Cantabria and brought up at local Racing Club, Helguera started playing professionally for Manchego CF and Albacete Balompié, appearing in 14 Segunda División games in the 1996–97 season for the latter. He was purchased by Serie A side AS Roma after that, alongside compatriot César Gómez, but left after one disappointing campaign to join RCD Espanyol, where his stellar performances as a defender under coach Marcelo Bielsa led to a Real Madrid deal even before 1998–99 had finished.

With Real Madrid from July 1999, Helguera was an instant first choice, and scored five and six La Liga goals in his second and fourth seasons (both ended with the national championship conquest) alternating between defender and midfielder. He was also instrumental in the capital team's two UEFA Champions League conquests: in the 2000 final, against fellow Spaniards Valencia CF, he started the match as a sweeper in a 3–0 win, appearing as stopper two years later in the 2–1 victory over Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Not a starter in his final two years, Helguera still made a total of 42 appearances, scoring in a 3–1 away defeat of Gimnàstic de Tarragona on 28 October 2006. At the start of his last season he was surprisingly stripped of his No. 6 jersey which went to new signing Mahamadou Diarra, given No. 21 and made to train with the youth team in anticipation of his leaving the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, even though his contract ran until June 2009. However, he later managed to fight his way back into the starting eleven, being somewhat influential in helping the club to the 2007 domestic league.

Valencia
On 20 July 2007, Helguera signed for Valencia on a three-year deal – upon joining, he stated that he had wanted to come to Valencia for a "long time" and was "delighted" to arrive at the club. He was relatively important during his debut campaign, also helping the Che to win the Copa del Rey.

However, after having appeared very rarely in the first part of the following season, Helguera's contract was cancelled on 12 December 2008, and both FC Dinamo București and Los Angeles Galaxy declared interest in signing the player, but nothing came of it and he retired from football later that year.

International career
Helguera was capped 47 times for Spain, the first coming on 18 November 1998 in an away friendly with Italy (2–2). He played for his country at UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2004, missing the 2006 World Cup after being omitted from the squad in the months before the tournament by national team coach Luis Aragonés.

Personal life
Helguera's younger brother, Luis, was also a professional footballer. A midfielder, he played in the first division for Real Zaragoza and Deportivo Alavés, and also in Italy.

He married his longtime girlfriend Lorena, and welcomed his first baby, a boy named Luca, on 30 November 2005.

International

 * Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Helguera goal.

Honours
Real Madrid
 * La Liga: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07
 * Supercopa de España: 2003
 * UEFA Champions League: 1999–2000, 2001–02
 * Intercontinental Cup: 2002
 * UEFA Super Cup: 2002

Valencia
 * Copa del Rey: 2007–08

title: Iván Helguera


text:
Multiflow

Multiflow Computer, Inc., founded in April, 1984 near New Haven, Connecticut, USA, was a manufacturer and seller of minisupercomputer hardware and software embodying the VLIW design style. Multiflow, incorporated in Delaware, ended operations in March, 1990, after selling about 125 VLIW minisupercomputers in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

While Multiflow's commercial success was small and short-lived, its technical success and the dissemination of its technology and people had a great effect on the future of computer science and the computer industry. Multiflow's computers were arguably the most novel ever to be broadly sold, programmed, and used like conventional computers. (Other novel computers either required novel programming, or represented more incremental steps beyond existing computers.)

Along with Cydrome, an attached-VLIW minisupercomputer company that had less commercial success, Multiflow demonstrated that the VLIW design style was practical, a conclusion surprising to many. While still controversial, VLIW has since been a force in high-performance embedded systems, and has been finding slow acceptance in general-purpose computing.

Technology roots
The VLIW (for Very Long Instruction Word) design style was first proposed by Joseph A. (Josh) Fisher, a Yale University computer science professor, during the period 1979-1981. VLIW was motivated by a compiler scheduling technique, called trace scheduling, that Fisher had developed as a graduate student at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University in 1978. Trace scheduling, unlike any prior compiler technique, exposed significant quantities of instruction-level parallelism (ILP) in ordinary computer programs, without laborious hand coding. This implied the practicality of processors for which the compiler could be relied upon to find and specify ILP.

VLIW was put forward by Fisher as a way to build general-purpose instruction-level parallel processors exploiting ILP to a degree that would have been impractical using what would later be called superscalar control hardware. Instead, the compiler could, in advance, arrange the ILP to be carried out nearly in lock-step by the hardware, commanded by long instructions or a similar mechanism. While there had previously been processors that achieved significant amounts of ILP, they had all relied upon code laboriously hand-parallelized by the user, or upon library routines, and thus were not general-purpose computers and did not fit the VLIW paradigm.

The practicality of trace scheduling was demonstrated by a compiler built at Yale by Fisher and three of his graduate students, John Ruttenberg, Alexandru Nicolau, and especially John Ellis, whose doctoral dissertation on the compiler won the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 1985. Encouraged by their compiling progress, Fisher's group started an architecture and hardware design effort called the ELI (Enormously Long Instructions) Project.

Business beginnings
ELI, which was to have 512-bit instruction words and initiate 10-30 RISC operations per cycle, was never built. Instead, Fisher, Ruttenberg, and John O'Donnell, who had led the ELI hardware project, started Multiflow in 1984 after failing to interest any mainstream computer companies in partnering in the ELI project. Originally, Multiflow was to have become a division of the workstation company Apollo Computer, but eventually it sought venture capital funding, closing its first round of financing in January, 1985, when the company already had about 20 employees. Donald E. Eckdahl, a former head of the NCR computer division, joined the company in 1985 as its CEO.

Multiflow delivered its first working VLIW minisupercomputers in early 1987 to three beta-sites: Grumman Aircraft, Sikorsky Helicopter, and the Supercomputer Research Center. A Trace 14/200 was demonstrated to the public at a supercomputing conference in May, 1987, in Santa Clara, California.

Innovative architecture
Multiflow's first computers were called the Trace 7/200 and Trace 14/200. The 7/ in the computer model number signified that the processor could initiate seven operations each cycle, using a 256-bit long instruction composed of 7 32-bit operations and a 32-bit utility field. The 7 operations were 4 integer/memory, 2 floating, and a branch. The 14/ models had twice as many of each instruction, and thus 512-bit long instruction words. Like many scientific-oriented processors of its day, the Trace had no traditional cache memory.

Multiflow also announced a 28/ model at the outset, and eventually these were built and sold to a few customers. The 28/ had 1024-bit instruction words. Having ordinary programs compiled for computers like these was unquestionably revolutionary, as no earlier computer had offered compiled ILP even like that of the 7/ models. The 28/ systems pushed these limits far beyond either academic or industrial conception. While only a few customer programs contained enough ILP to keep a 28/ busy, when they did the performance was remarkable, since the processor would then initiate close to all 28 operations on average.

Hardware
Each 7/ processor datapath comprised a control unit board, an integer ALU board, and a floating point board. The 14/ added a second integer ALU board and a second floating point board. Before many systems were in the field, faster 3rd party floating-point chips became available, and the /200 family was replaced by the object-code incompatible 7/300 and 14/300, and the 14/300 became by far the company's most popular model. In about 1988, a /100 entry level series was introduced as well, but these were essentially /300 systems with a slower clock. All the processors were built using CMOS gate arrays for the integer ALUs and registers, 3rd-party floating point chips, and medium-scale integrated circuits for the control and other portions.

In 1988, the company started development of an ECL /500 family, which was to feature a 14/ that could also be used as a multiprocessor of two 7/ models, but that system was not completed before the company ceased operations.

One example Trace system is in storage at the Computer History Museum.

Innovative software
Multiflow also produced the software tools for the systems it built. The systems ran Berkeley Unix. Probably, at the time the Multiflow systems were delivered, no computer that issued instructions longer than a single operation at a time had ever run a compiled mainstream operating system. Yet the entire Unix operating system and the usual tools all ran, with the usual portions compiled, on all the company's models.

The compiler was particularly noteworthy, as could be expected given Multiflow's technology. The company built a new compiler, in a similar style to that developed at Yale, but industrial-strength and with the incorporation of much commercially-necessary capability. In addition to implementing aggressive trace scheduling, it was known for its reliability, for its incorporation of state-of-the-art optimization, and for its ability to handle simultaneously many different language variants and all of the different object-code incompatible models of the Multiflow Traces. (While code from a 7/X00 could run correctly on a 14/X00, the nature of the architecture mandated that it would have to be recompiled to run faster than it did on the 7/.)

The compiler was generating correct code by 1985, and by 1987 it was producing code that found significant amounts of ILP. After 1987, with the press of customers and prospects, its development emphasized features and functionality, though performance-oriented improvement continued.

The compiler was so robust, and so good at exposing ILP independent of the system it was targeted for, that after Multiflow closed, the compiler was licensed by many of the largest computer companies. It has been reported that this included Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation, Fujitsu, Hughes, HAL Computer Systems, and Silicon Graphics. Other companies known to have licensed the technology include Equator Technologies, Hitachi and NEC. Compilers built starting from that code base were used for advanced development and benchmark reporting for the most important superscalar processors of the 1990s. Descendants of the compiler were still in wide use 20 years after it first started generating correct code (notably, Intel's icc "Proton" compiler and the NEC Earth Simulator compiler), and are often used as benchmark targets for new compiler development. MIT and the University of Washington are among the universities that received and used the compiler for advanced research purposes.

The Multiflow compiler was written in C. It pre-dated the popular use of C++ (Multiflow was a beta-site for the language). The compiler designers were strong believers in the object-oriented paradigm, however, and the compiler had a rather idiosyncratic style that encapsulated the structures and operations in it. This caused a steep learning curve for the many developers who used it after Multiflow's demise, but one that was usually considered a good investment because of the unique combination of ambitious compiling and rock-solid engineering the compiler offered.

Customers
While a few of Multiflow's sales went to organizations wishing to learn more about the new VLIW design style, most systems were used for simulation in product development environments: mechanical, aerodynamic, defense, crash dynamics, chemical, and some electronic. Customers ranged from a major metropolitan air-quality board to a major consumer detergent, food and sundries company, along with the expected heavy industry companies, research laboratories and universities. In 1987, GEI Rechnersysteme GmbH, a division of Daimler-Benz, began distributing Traces in Germany with great success, despite fierce competition from other minisupercomputer companies. In the following three years, Multiflow opened offices or had distributors in most of Western Europe and Japan, and opened offices in many US metropolitan areas.

Multiflow's end
Multiflow ended operations on March 27, 1990, two days after a large deal contemplated with Digital Equipment Corporation came apart. At that point, the board determined that the prospects for successful additional financing, in the amounts necessary to bring Multiflow to maturity, were too unlikely to justify the company's continuation. Multiflow's failure is often blamed anecdotally on “good technology, but bad marketing,” on “good software, but slow, conservative hardware,” on some property of its innovative technology, or even on the isolated location of its headquarters. The more likely cause was that its business plan was incompatible with seismic shifts in the computer industry. Building a full-scale, general-purpose computer company seemed to require many hundreds of millions of dollars (US) by 1990. But the killer micro revolution meant there would be a steady march of ever faster and cheaper competition. The economies inherent in microprocessors were inaccessible to startups in general, and incompatible with VLIWs, which would have required too much silicon for the densities of the time. (The first VLIW microprocessor was the Philips Life, the ancestor of today's TriMedia, delivered several years later.) Since the founding of Sun and SGI in the early 1980s, no new general-purpose computer company has succeeded without building computers for which there was an existing large software base, and none of the many minisupercomputer startup companies of the 1980s eventually succeeded.

Corporate culture
Multiflow was staffed by engineers, computer scientists, and other computer professionals who were attracted to the combination of a novel and challenging technology, an uphill battle, and the remarkable social experience of working in the most uniformly talented group they were ever likely to be a part of. The system was so novel that its engineering was widely expected to fail. Despite that, even though none of the employees (besides Eckdahl) had ever held senior engineering positions, Trace systems and their software were delivered on time, were robust, and exceeded their promised performance. In great part this was due to the talent level of those attracted to the company, and to the tremendous learning environment it was from the outset.

Following Multiflow's closing, its employees went on to have a widespread effect on the industry. The small core group of engineers and scientists, numbering about 20, produced 4 fellows in major American computer companies (2 of whom were Eckert-Mauchly Award winners), several founders of successful startups, and leaders of major development efforts at large companies. The only nontechnical person in the core group, hired out of business school, went on to lead corporate development at a major research lab. As Multiflow grew, it continued the tradition of hiring highly talented people: as one example, the documentation writer became one of the most influential editors in computer publishing. Multiflow's effect on the computer industry was very much its people in addition to its technology.

title: Multiflow


text:
Scouse (food)

Scouse is a type of stew typically made from chunks of meat (usually beef or lamb) with potatoes, carrots, and onion. It is particularly associated with the port of Liverpool; hence, the inhabitants of that city are often referred to as "scousers". The word "scouse" comes from lobscouse, a stew commonly eaten by sailors throughout northern Europe in the past, and surviving in different forms there today.

Description
Scouse is particularly associated with the port of Liverpool. The recipe for scouse is fairly broad; it was traditionally made from leftovers and whatever was in season. Guardian food writer Felicity Cloake describes scouse as being similar to Irish stew or Lancashire hotpot, though generally using beef rather than lamb as the meat. While ingredients can vary, those essentials are potatoes, carrots, onions, and chunks of meat, with beef favoured over lamb. These are simmered together for several hours. The meat may be seared first, then reserved while some of the potatoes are boiled; as they break up, thickening the mix, the meat and the rest of the potatoes are added, and the stew finished off.

A survey by The Liverpool Echo in 2018 confirmed that for the majority of cooks the basic ingredients are potatoes, carrots, onion and chunks of meat, though many advocated the addition of a stock cube, and a few also added other ingredients, such as peas, lentils or sweet potato, and herbs including rosemary, parsley and basil. The choice of meat varied: some cooks did not stipulate a particular meat; among those who did, beef was chosen rather than lamb by a majority of nearly two to one.

Although some argue that anything other than beef, potatoes, carrots, onion is not scouse, others point out that, as a thrift dish, it will contain "whatever veg you had... and...the cheapest cuts of meat". Some recipes suggest including marrowbones to thicken the stew. Proportions vary from equal amounts of meat and vegetables to a 1:5 proportion between meat and potato. A meatless version, known as "blind scouse", is also recorded, for vegetarians, or when people were too poor to afford meat. Scouse is generally served with pickled red cabbage or beetroot and crusty bread.

Origin
Scouse is strongly associated with the port of Liverpool and its hinterland in the northwest of England. Other parts of the country were slower to begin growing potatoes, but they were cultivated in Lancashire from the late 17th century onwards. By the late 18th century the potato-based lobscouse – by then also known simply as scouse – had become a traditional dish of the region. A 1797 description records that potatoes were "peeled, or rather scraped, raw; chopped, and boiled together with a small quantity of meat cut into very small pieces. The whole of this mixture is then formed into a hash, with pepper, salt, onions, etc., and forms a cheap and nutritive dish". An earlier reference from 1785 refers to "LOBS-COUSE, a dish much eaten at sea, composed of salt beef, [ship's] biscuit, and onions, well peppered and stewed together." The same recipe was used by nineteenth-century sailors. In the poorest areas of Liverpool, when funds ran too low for the purchase of even the cheapest cuts of meat, "blind scouse" would be made, using only vegetables.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that "scouse" is a shortened form of "lobscouse" a sailors dish from the 18th century. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, lobscouse "almost certainly has its origins in the Baltic ports, especially those of Germany", although it offers no evidence to support this assertion. The claim is repeated in a number of sources, though again, no reason given for this belief. Contrariwise, Crowley points out that lobscouse (as "lobs course") is mentioned by Smollett in 1750, while Friedrich Kluge dates its first appearance in German in 1878, and concludes the usage spread from Britain to northern Europe rather than vice versa.

Similar dishes are traditional in countries around the North Sea, such as Norway (lapskaus), Sweden (lapskojs), Finland (lapskoussi), Denmark, (skipperlabskovs), and northern Germany (Labskaus), though these differ from the original lobscouse and from each other. Swedish Lapskojs and Norwegian Lapskaus is a stew, like scouse, while German Labskaus is a form of hash. However, lobscouse is also different from scouse, being a type of gruel.

Origin of name
According to the OED "scouse" is a shortened form of "lobscouse" and has also been written as "lopscourse", "lobscourse", "lobskous", "lobscouce", and "lap's course". Its oldest quote is from 1707, by the satirist Edward Ward: "He has sent the Fellow ... to the Devil, that first invented Lobscouse."

The first known use of the term "lobscouse" is dated 1706, according to Webster's Dictionary. Tobias Smollett refers to "lob's course" in 1750. The roots of the word are unknown. The OED states that the origin is unknown, and goes on to compare the word to loblolly, which means a "thick gruel or spoon-meat, frequently referred to as a rustic or nautical dish or simple medicinal remedy; burgoo" and "perhaps [is] onomatopoeic: compare the dialectal lob 'to bubble while in process of boiling, said esp. of porridge', also 'to eat or drink up noisily'".

Kluge also states that the origin of lobscouse is unknown, and that it was loaned to German in the 19th century, where it was called labskaus. Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp states that lobscous originally was lob's course from a lob (a lump) and course (a dish) and that the word has travelled to Norwegian as lapskaus and Danish as lobskous.

The similarities with labs kauss in Latvian and labas kaušas in Lithuanian is called gobbledygook (Kauderwelsch) of the mind in Der Spiegel by Petra Foede. Foede translates Labs kausis to means a "good plate" in Latvian, and says that in Lithuanian they use labas káuszas for a "good plate". According to Gerhard Bauer káuszas in Lithuanian means a wooden ladle or dipper or a wooden drinking bowl and is the same word as Lettish kauśis and this Baltic word has been adopted in German as Kausche or Kauszel which means wooden jug, pitcher or drinking bowl.

Konrad Reich claims that Labskaus stems from a combination of Lappen, Lappenstücke or Bauchlappen from the pig and a Low German word Kaus which he explains as a plate or platter and concludes that Labskaus is a paraphrase for a plate of minced pork. Reich does not cite any sources to his claim.

Global Scouse Day
Since 2000 there has been an annual International or Global Scouse Day held, where bars, cafes and restaurants in Liverpool and around the world put scouse on the menu for the day, raising funds for charities.

Variations
Lobscouse is also remembered in other parts of the northwest. In the Potteries, a similar stew is known as "lobby", and people from Leigh, Greater Manchester, are known as "lobby-gobblers". In North Wales the full form is retained as "lobsgows" (Welsh: lapsgóws)

A version of scouse has been known on the Atlantic coast of Canada in Newfoundland and Labrador, from at least 1792. It is described as a sea dish of minced and salted beef, crumbled sea biscuit, potatoes and onions.

title: Scouse (food)


text:
FV Gaul

The fishing vessel Gaul was a deep sea factory ship based at Hull, United Kingdom. She was launched in December 1971 by Brooke Marine of Lowestoft, entering service during 1972 with the Ranger Fishing company, where she was registered at North Shields as Ranger Castor, SN18. She was renamed when Ranger Fishing was bought by British United Trawlers and re-registered at Hull as Gaul, H243. She sank some time on the night of 8–9 February 1974 in storm conditions in the Barents Sea, north of Norway. No distress signal was received and her loss was not realised until 10 February after she twice failed to report in. An extensive search operation was launched but no trace of the ship was found, apart from a lifebuoy recovered three months later. All thirty-six crew were lost. The president of the British Trawler Federation described the loss of the Gaul as "the worst ever single-trawler tragedy". The wreck was finally located in 1997.

Final voyage
Gaul sailed from Hull on the morning of 22 January 1974. Mate George Petty became ill and was put ashore at Lødingen on the 26th. Maurice Spurgeon joined the crew on the 28th at Tromsø and Gaul arrived at the fishing grounds off the north coast of Norway the following day. On 8 February the sea state became severe. Reports from the skippers of other trawlers in the area give the wave height at between 6.5 and 9m, wind between 7 and 10 on the Beaufort scale.

At 09:30 Gaul reported to British United Trawlers that she was "laid and dodging off the North Cape Bank". At 10:30, as was company policy, she reported  to the Orsino on the "Skipper's Freezer Schedule" – a summary of position, weather conditions, catch etcetera. A further report was due at 16:30 but Gaul, alone of the 17 British United Trawlers ships in the area at the time, failed to report.

By the afternoon of 10 February British United Trawlers had alerted their insurance company, UK Trawlers Mutual that Gaul had failed to report for two days. On the following morning the insurance company sent out a message to all the trawlers they insured reading "To all vessels fishing North Bank, Norway – all vessels please report any contact with the GAUL last reported fishing North Bank. Nil reports not required."

The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes was in the area and was ordered to commence searching. The search involved four other British ships, three Norwegian ships and 19 trawlers, coordinated by the Hermes. No evidence of the missing Gaul was found and the search was called off on the afternoon of 15 February.

The 1970s Formal Investigation
The original Formal Investigation in 1974 concluded that the most likely reason for her loss was that she was overwhelmed by a succession of very large waves in heavy seas and capsized. The preliminary investigation had also found deficiencies in the maintenance of chutes, doors and hatches on Gaul's sister ship Kurd, but the relevance of this fact was downplayed at the formal inquiry.

Gaul was one of the most modern ships in the UK fishing fleet — she was only 18 months old — and relatives of the crew were reluctant to accept the investigation findings.

In 1975 a TV programme claimed she had been sunk while engaging in espionage and over the years other theories, including conspiracy theories, have been advanced:

 * She was captured and interned by the Soviet Union because she was engaged in espionage.
 * She was sunk by a Soviet submarine for the same reason.
 * She collided with a submarine engaged in clandestine operations.
 * She was dragged under after snagging her trawling gear in secret undersea cables (SOSUS).

The wreck is found
In 1975 the Norwegian trawler Rairo reported snagging her nets on an undersea obstruction in the area where the Gaul was lost. In 1977, however, the UK government decided against launching a search based on this (and other similar) information, despite being confident that this was indeed Gaul. It was argued that such an investigation would add little new information in aid of safety at sea to justify the cost.

In 1997 a TV crew, with help from Norwegian experts located the wreck exactly where Rairo had reported the snagging of her nets. She was discovered to be located some 70 nmi off the northern coast of Norway and lying in 280 m of water.

This prompted UK Deputy Prime Minister (and Hull MP) John Prescott to ask the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport to carry out extensive surveys of the wreck, which it did in 1998 and 2002. During the latter part of the underwater survey in 2002, samples of bones and other human remains were recovered from the wreck, DNA tests conducted by the Forensic Science Service established that the remains came from four of the Gaul's crew. This finding quelled suspicions that the crew had been taken from the vessel by the Russians during cold war hostilities. After reviewing the factual evidence gained from the underwater surveys, the MAIB concluded that there was enough new evidence to warrant a new formal inquiry. The surveys revealed that some of Gaul's hatches and doors were open and, specifically, the outer non-return flaps and the inner covers to the duff and offal waste chutes were open. Additionally, the inner cover to the duff chute appeared to be secured open and the ship's steering gear (a steerable kort nozzle) was found to show between 10° and 15° of port helm. John Prescott concurred with the MAIB and a new investigation was launched (the 2004 Re-opened Formal Investigation (RFI)).

2004 inquiry
On 17 December 2004 the RFI concluded that these open chutes, doors and hatches had compromised the ship's watertight integrity and, combined with a following (and as already noted) heavy sea led to flooding on the factory deck. The RFI also postulated that an attempted emergency manoeuvre by the Gaul's officer of the watch (a perfectly logical move to try to turn 'into the sea') caused 100 tonnes of floodwater to surge across to the starboard side of the ship leading to capsize and a catastrophic loss of stability. Further flooding then took place through open doors, chutes and hatches until the Gaul lost her reserves of buoyancy, she then sank very rapidly, stern first.

The report of the RFI dismissed the notion that Gaul was involved in espionage or that she was in a collision. It found that she was not fishing at the time of her loss, which indicated that no snagging (of the nets) could have occurred. Regarding espionage the report did include, verbatim, the following submission from Commander Clark RN: "Skippers, radio officers and Mates of trawlers were involved in the low level observation and photography of Soviet vessels and aircraft and passive listening. This was on both a voluntary and an opportunity basis. General records and press cuttings on file indicate that some 30 to 40 Skippers were involved in the 1960s when this activity was at its peak. No records of trawler personnel involved in this activity exist in MOD files....However this type of intelligence gathering declined in the early 1970s. I have seen nothing to indicate that the crew of the FV GAUL were involved in this type of activity."

The commissioner for wrecks, Mr Justice Steel, told the inquiry that the 1974/5 inquiry had been inadequate and that it had been an "open secret" that the trawler had been involved in spying.

In the immediate wake of the report, relatives of the crew said they were not satisfied and claimed that the "truth was still to be told".

Memorial service
In February 2014, a memorial service was held on St. Andrew's Quay, Hull, to mark the 40th anniversary of the loss of the Gaul.

In 2024 there will be a multitude of different events held in Hull, from 8 to 15 February, in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of The Gaul.

title: FV Gaul


text:
Talk:Mutopia Project

Untitled

 * I hav removed the unref. tag, as everything claimed in the article can be found on the mutopia web site. A link to the project web site is provided. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.189.168.154 (talk) 12:38, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
 * And I've just reinstated it. There are no sources in this article. -- Trevj (talk · contribs) 15:57, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mutopia Project


text:
PA Media

PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and regional newspaper publishers. The biggest shareholders include the Daily Mail and General Trust, News UK, and Informa. PA Media Group also encompasses Globelynx, which provides TV-ready remotely monitored camera systems for corporate clients to connect with TV news broadcasters in the UK and worldwide; TNR, a specialist communications consultancy; Sticky Content, a digital copywriting and content strategy agency; and StreamAMG, a video streaming business. The group's photography arm, PA Images, has a portfolio comprising more than 20 million photographs online and around 10 million in physical archives dating back 150 years.

History
Founded in 1868 by a group of provincial newspaper proprietors, the PA provides a London-based service of news-collecting and reporting from around the United Kingdom. The news agency's founders sought to produce a more accurate and reliable alternative to the monopoly service of the telegraph companies.

In January 1870 the agency moved from temporary offices into new headquarters at 7 Wine Office Court, off Fleet Street. At 5am on Saturday 5 February 1870, its first press telegram was transmitted. The agency's first Editor-in-Chief was Arthur Cranfield, appointed in 1926.

In 1995, PA moved from Fleet Street to Vauxhall Bridge Road, enabling the company to rapidly expand its output particularly in the sports and new media divisions.

The Press Association launched the Ananova news website in 2000. Ananova was then sold to Orange.

In 2005, the company changed its name to PA Group.

In December 2013, PA Group sold its weather business MeteoGroup, Europe's largest private sector weather company, to global growth investment firm General Atlantic.

In February 2015, PA announced the sale of its finance publications divisions, which included TelecomFinance and SatelliteFinance.

In September 2018 it was announced that the news agency was renamed from Press Association to PA Media, and the umbrella company from PA Group Limited to PA Media Group Limited. This coincided with a move from their Vauxhall Bridge Road offices to a new space that would accommodate the move toward digital media.

The editor-in-chief of the news agency is Pete Clifton, who was appointed in October 2014.

In June 2024, the Central Arbitration Committee forced PA to recognize the National Union of Journalists as the official union representing PA's editorial employees. As of May, the bargaining unit was composed of 274 workers.

PA Training
PA Training is Europe's biggest journalism and media training company. It was formed in 2006, when the Press Association acquired Trinity Mirror's training centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. The NCTJ course in Newcastle has been around since 1969.

The business already owned the former Westminster Press-owned Editorial Centre and merged the two businesses to become PA Training.

Alamy
Alamy, a global stock photo agency with over 125 million images, was wholly acquired by PA Media in February 2020. The purchase enables PA Media to enter the international stock photography market.

Other subsidiaries
Other subsidiaries include Globelynx, founded in 2001; Sticky Content, acquired in full between 2013 and 2015; StreamAMG (Advanced Media Group), acquired in April 2017; and RADAR, founded in 2017.

title: PA Media


text:
Talk:Automat

Comments
(NO CHANGES MADE) The article says the window looks out into darkness and does not convey any further information. But presuming no artist of Hopper's caliber creates meaningless detail, what is that blue light, our there in the night just to the left of the bowl? It does not look like a street lamp. Hieronymous (talk) 21:15, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Is the Dec 10 addition by User:Kaszeta relevant? Vending machines are everywhere. I think they must be back-fed and contain some non-sandwich, non-candy, perishable food to qualify for comparison to Automats... I never saw these FEBO stores though.

 * I should've been a little more clear (and I've made edits): FEBO is indeed an automat. The vast majority of the store is a large bank of vending machines, which are open on the back, and are loaded with a variety of (mostly deep-fried) fresh food items directly from the kitchen, and seem to be very popular with the late-night Amsterdam crowd.  For reference, see  for a description, and  and  for images. -- Kaszeta 16:57, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Automat-like..?
Any good reason why the restaurant in Dark City is described as "Automat like"? I'm no historian on the matter (in fact that would be the only one I've seen :) but that does sound like what is described here, and they did call it an "automat" several times in the movie and it had a big neon sign on the storefront which read "AUTOMAT".

I'm just checking before making a change in case anyone feels it should remain the way it is. Thank you :) 216.228.174.81 06:44, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Changed it. Rattatosk 05:11, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Speaking of Dark City, I removed the entire "See Also..." section, since the only thing in that section was a note about the Automat in Dark City... which was already listed in the section for "Automats in Fiction".--Raguleader 23:28, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

past tense
This article uses the past tense improperly, especially since automats still exist. I've converted the lead, but I'll get back to the body later. Night Gyr 04:24, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I change the langauge of the intro back to present tense since a new automat recently opened in New York City in 2006 and automats still exist in other parts of the world. --Cab88 02:28, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Automats-in existence
Where are these automats-in existence? It should be noted that the recently opened automat in NYC filled a gap of over 15 years.Dogru144 18:58, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

 * According to the article, the Netherlands.--Raguleader 23:29, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

 * That's true. They're actually quite common here in the Netherlands. You'll find serveral of them in every city, and at least one in every train station.--KoKiv 13:48, 29 April 2007 (GMT) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.27.10.164 (talk) 11:49, 29 April 2007 (UTC).

The Flintstones
At least one episode of The Flintstones had a scene in an Automat.

Museums: Philadelphia and Washington
The Franklin Institute used to have an automat in the 1980s, but it was converted to some sort of fast food franchise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.185.49.154 (talk) 03:16, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

 * I remember the original lunchroom, but I think it had some of the first food vending machines, loaded from the front, rather than automat walls, reloaded from a kitchen in the back. David Spector (talk) 18:23, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
 * It had a genuine Horn & Hardart Automat in the 1950s. By the 1960s ordinary vending machines were installed in the cafeteria. And ultimately a McDonalds opened for efficient serving of elementary school field trips, a reliable revenue generator for what had devolved into essentially a theme park. MaggieL (talk) 19:43, 7 May 2023 (UTC)

In Washington, DC, the Museum of Technology and Industry (or whatever the Museum of American History was called back then) used to have an Automat, also, and it is now some sort of cafeteria.--71.203.125.108 (talk) 00:44, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

media/trivia section removed
An editor removed the "automats in media" section. Which is fine since it was kinda random; while a category for movies featuring an automat would be kinda nice, I'm not gonna put it together. In case anyone wants the content for some reason it's here. -- Akb4 (talk) 05:48, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

WP:FOOD Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Restaurants or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. You can find the related request for tagging here -- TinucherianBot (talk) 07:47, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Inconsistency re: countries
The end of the first paragraph says:
 * They are still very common in The Netherlands, but outside of there, few exist.

The last paragraph is inconsistent with that:
 * The automat food format is still popular in some other countries.

What other countries are those? In any case, I think these two should be merged into one. – McDutchie (talk) 01:19, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Also it seems kinda wrong that the majority of the article is about automats in the united states, then the "By Country" section lists information about them in countries besides the US. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.198.132.38 (talk) 06:05, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

 * Agree unless automats actually originated in the USA. The fact that other countries are not well represented probably reflects the random nature of the growth of WP. David Spector (talk) 18:26, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Loanword?
This is listed as a German loanword, but it isn't in my dictionary; does anyone have a dictionary that does list this?

Otherwise it should go to the "Glossary of German terms" category, at a push. Moonraker12 (talk) 17:25, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

in film
In The_Out-of-Towners_(1970_film) they pass by a Horn & Hardart a couple times on the way to their hotel. You can even see a poster in the window reading "Eat the country of your choice"...like the one HERE. (totally diff bldg, btw)

Given the rarity of sightings, might it be worth a quick mention under "In popular culture" or the like? Especially given that Neil Simon is quoted in the article.

They are on Park Ave between 39th and 40th in the story...does this correspond to an actual location of an H&H? (can't seem to find a list myself)

And now, I've gotta ask about the one in that PHOTO as well. Can someone ID that location from the subway stop? I must say, that looks NOTHING like a cafeteria there! 209.172.25.43 (talk) 08:02, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Automat Restaurants from "Patent Sielaff" - Before Horn & Hardart !

 * Sielaff Automaten Berlin - Max Sielaff, Automat inventor website
 * Before Horn & Hardart: European automats
 * Automat Restaurants from "Patent Sielaff" - Trade Catalogs and Pamphlets - oclc
 * Automat Restaurants - over 100 years ago - My Stockholm BLOG Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 12:06, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

Automatenrestaurant Qusisana

 * Token from Automatencafe Quisisana, 57 Kärntner street, Vienna, Austria
 * Austrian machine token - World of Coins
 * QUISISANA - Büffet, Gaststätte, Espresso, Restaurant (ca. 1950) 34 Maria hilfer straße, Wien VII
 * Automatenrestaurant Qusisana, Mariahilfer Straße 34 im 7, Vienna, Austria, 1972 from Pohanka, Reinhard; Sinalco-Epoche kenne ich Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 12:06, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Hotel Pension Quisisana Windmühlgasse 6 1060 Wien...Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 12:57, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
 * de:Quisisana... Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 13:36, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

Worth mentioning?
There's a new automat restaurant in San Fransisco that is taking off: 74.80.51.7 (talk) 18:22, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

US-centered article not in line with Wikipedia's guidelines
The automat is a Dutch/German invention, yet the whole first half of the article is about the vending machines in the US. I'm placing it under the "by country" list, because the content has nothing to do with automats around the world at all. SabasNL (talk) 19:13, 24 March 2017 (UTC)

Automat - United Kingdom edit
Dear Valella, Thank you reviewing the edit on the automat page. I changed the text few times to make it more neutral with no adversising.Could you please tell me what part would need changing to have the section added to the page? I need to say that I am not sure what part cause problem.

Everything I wrote are neutral facts and even if some part could sound promotional - it only describe the technology advancement of the new automats compared to the old one. I believe this is a main differentiator - and the future of this technology- that readers should know about.

More details would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your help. Regards,

Dom — Preceding unsigned comment added by Domdd (talk • contribs) 16:31, 6 October 2017 (UTC)

 * The issue I have is that the text is about a company which, in Wikipedia terms, is not notable and which is then described in some detail. This reads very strongly like advertising and promotional text and, in the context of the rest of the article, is way out of balance. If it simply said something like:

"Some recent automats in the UK use cutting edge technology and cloud based communications to optimise the management of their products in a cashless society.". This would need to be supported by an independent and reliable source that supported the text. If the company or its products were notable, then including a wiki-link to the appropriate article might well be acceptable. Please bear in mind that Wikipedia doesn't advertise and anything that reads as if it is an advertisement, almost always is an advertisement. Hope that this helps.  Velella  Velella Talk 21:22, 6 October 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Automat