text:
User talk:EventHorizon/Archive 1

Relationship to Jerzy

 * This section copied from User talk:EventHorizon just prior to making substantial deletions to it. --Jerzy(t) 07:03, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)

[The following two 'graphs including sig have been copied from User talk:Jerzy to their logical place in this sequence, by Jerzy(t) 00:47, 2004 Dec 14 (UTC):]
 * I liked your work on the Sophocles article.

 * A question, as it's been a long time since I've written to Wikipedia: when you come upon something that's not exactly clear, how do you deal with it in editing? For example, you read something and have no idea what the person meant to say. Do you leave it as it is, or remove it as incoherent? A few bits I was working on last night, I had no idea what the people meant. EventHorizon 04:48, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

EH, thanks for the compliment and welcome back to WP. It is with some sadness that i respond to your request at User talk:Jerzy by suggesting that you seek such advice from another of the many, many experienced WP editors. That request may well be sincere, and to the extent it is, it deserves a response from someone who can wholeheartedly respond to it without the excessive attention that i would simultaneously be giving to a suspicion that you are already connected to the affair currently under discussion at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Talk:Ambition (card game).
 * If you are, my assessment is that my energy would produce nothing i value;
 * If you are not, the assistance you could get from me would be compromised (at the very least in the form of inefficiency) by my (in that case mistaken) concerns about that possible connection.

So i limit myself to this smidge of advice: if you really have a history with WP, resume the use of your previous username. (You can get a replacement password if you've lost it.) I am hard-pressed (unless you intend disruption) to imagine a history that would be as damaging to your credibility in pursuing the program your user page states, as will your claim to have a history that you choose to conceal here. Collegially, Jerzy(t) 01:39, 2004 Dec 6 (UTC)

 * What is this Ambition card game story? I can't make sense out of that deletion debate. Who is 259/Mike Church?

 * I haven't used my old account since the summer of 2003, and I'd rather start anew. It's true that I'll be losing what administrative privileges I had, as well as the influence and weight that comes with ~2000 edits, but I'm willing to start fresh and new as a beginner. If people don't treat me with respect as a "dark horse", they won't if I reveal my 2000 edits of history. So far I haven't had any problems. EventHorizon 05:03, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[The following two 'graphs including sig have been copied from User talk:Jerzy to their logical place in this sequence, by Jerzy(t) 00:47, 2004 Dec 14 (UTC):]
 * You wrote on my talk page something about the "Ambition controversy". As I said when I replied, I'm not connected to that issue, and I don't really understand what the deal is. It seems bizarre that a card game would be so divisive.

 * I am curious, because this episode seems to be one that's important in the community, and it happened while I was on hiatus from Wikipedia. Furthermore, all the back history is so opaque that it's impossible for me to get a coherent feel of what's going on. To benefit my curiosity, what is this "Ambition" issue? When did it start and why are there so many strong opinions? EventHorizon 03:00, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I Stand Here in Amazement
I said to myself, But i said "Assume Good Intent".
 * Who would take note of my utterly prosaic editing of Sophocles? And
 * Who would use that to introduce themself, without even hinting at what it had to do with seeking me out? And
 * Who would start a quest to reform WP's governance by "making a fresh start" that makes their only hint of being qualified unverifiable, and reeks of having burned their bridges behind them?

Now here comes EventHorizon again:
 * Asking me, (the person who said EH should find another mentor, since i suspect EH might be a sockpuppet of, say, 259), twice, to explain the (to EH somehow mystifying) Mike Church events;
 * Explaining that inflammatory request as serving EH's "curiosity";
 * Echoing this month's 13-to-2 defeat of Church's professed admirer and admitted agent, the pseudonymous newbie User:259, by being the lone supporter of User:CheeseDreams's so-far-9-to-2 (fourth) failing VfD effort to similarly destroy evidence of a user's bad behavior;
 * Attempting, without discussion, to make a policy fact out of 259's absurd summary implying that for fairness we would let a lone barbarian use 3RR achieve parity in reversion with an unlimited number of responsible editors who are willing to further revert a patently unacceptable edit.

And i stand here in amazement. Here's the kindest interpretation that is, at this point, reasonable for me to give to your contact with me to date: that you are engaging in a harassment simply for your amusement; that is quite bad enough without bothering to evaluate further probabilities. Don't edit my talk page further unless your desire to communicate with me is endorsed by an admin who has read this and who says they have a good relationship with me. --Jerzy(t) 00:47, 2004 Dec 14 (UTC)

 * Fine. I won't contribute to your talk page. I don't know what you're trying to say, or who you're talking to, or anything else. If we ever cross paths, I will destroy you. Otherwise, there is no reason we should interact. You found a great solution. Cheers. EventHorizon 01:59, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Spin-off Discussion re Ambition

 * (Not Jerzy, but I'll interject.)

 * You asked: Who is 259/Mike Church? That's part of the problem-- no one knows. It has been proposed, variously, on and off Wikipedia, that:

 * Mike Church does not exist. (Proven false: A Mike Church does exist, and he's a student at Carleton.)
 * User:Mike Church is not said Mike Church, but an impersonator and a troll.
 * Mike Church = 259.
 * Mike Church = UninvitedCompany (a user who, on the surface, seems to have opposed MC.)
 * "259" is a 31-year-old political speechwriter in the Chicago area intending to hire MC into his consulting firm and wanting to clear his reputation. (Unlikely, only because Wikipedia didn't damage MC's reputation anywhere but Wikipedia, where he is basically persona non grata. Elsewhere he remains unknown.)
 * Mike Church is Jimbo Wales's sock-puppet account. (Highly unlikely; it's not known if Jimbo even has a sock-puppet account, and there's little reason to see why he would do this.)
 * This "Ambition" is an adaptation of a game played by pirates in the 19th century that this MC hopes to market at his own. (Very unlikely.)

 * In other words, there are a number of crackpot theories out there, none of which are very likely. I'd say it's reasonable to guess that 259 and the other supposed MC socks are not him, only because, if they were, Mike would have to be a lot more clever than he seems. What I read of Mike is a young, arrogant, hothead not capable of that sort of subtlety, and not capable of writing prose at the same level that his supposed "socks" are able to command.

 * What is known is that some "Mike Church", with a Carleton email address, exists and claims to have invented Ambition. So far, no one has challenged that claim. Several accounts, used solely for the vandalism of one of User:Isomorphic's subpage, appear to be unequivocal MC socks. However, other accounts were accused of being MC sock puppets, left Wikipedia, and were later proven (by state/country-of-origin verifications, etc.) not to be MC socks.

 * My belief, and I consider myself neither pro- or anti-Church, is that Mike Church should come clean about his activity, on his user page, and put all the suspicion to rest. In exchange, WP community would offer to erase all the back material on Talk:Ambition (card game) and Talk:Carleton College. Then there would be no more suspicion and the issue would be singularly uninteresting to everyone. However, I highly doubt that any such compromise would ever come to term; it means corralling a number of humongous egos, including that of a person who stormed off Wikipedia in disgust.

 * I'm signing anonymously, out of a desire not to get into this mess, but if you want to know who I am (so I can verify that I'm not partisan in this debate) we can chat. Did you say you left in 2003? I've got a guess at who you are/were.

 * Regards,

 * 152.163.100.133 05:32, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * There have been plenty of assertions by anonymous IPS or pseudonomous newbies, of non-sockpuppethood relating to Church and/or 259. Many reliable users -- i mean those with substantial, positive, and (need i say?) verifiable track records at WP -- nevertheless find the accusations compelling.  I am unaware of any WPian with such a record who believes there is any of the charges can be disproven.  (This suggests that any claim of proof that such an accusation is false, in the absence of reference to an endorsement of the claim by a reliable user, is no more helpful than any instance of the Big Lie. )
 * In this case, the assertion that IDing the country an IP is allocated to can (combined with knowledge of a person's whereabouts) suffice to disprove a sockpuppet claim is false. And anyone who understands what a proxy server is would find that obvious; anyone of normal intelligence who's even heard of anonymous-remailer sites should be able to re-invent proxy servers in their head while adding long columns of numbers.
 * --Jerzy(t) 00:47, 2004 Dec 14 (UTC)

Comment on Jerzy's input

 * The heading immediately above was added upon archiving, to provied a target for a link to this point in the file.
 * Reliable? Positive track records? Look, if all someone's going to do is throw around careless accusations, I don't see how they're that person is contributing anything positive to Wikipedia. EventHorizon 01:59, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC) [Italics & bold are refactoring, by Jerzy(t) 22:36, 2004 Dec 15 (UTC), to reflect both 01:59 and 02:01 edits by EH]
 * You're not reliable (I've read some of your contribs and your spelling sucks) so why should your definition of reliable be reliable? EventHorizon 02:01, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * It sounds like no one knows anything, then. That's not a big surprise.

 * Are you looking for me to chime in on this matter with my opinion?

 * I'm not ready to do so yet; it seems that this is a very complex issue with a lot of back history and negative energy. But let me get the story straight: this guy got into a fight over a card game? EventHorizon 17:56, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Explanation
The card game isn't half of it, really. Mike Church is basically someone who refused to get along with Wikipedia, and Wikipedia refused to get along with him. Most of the history is actually in Ambition (card game), which has been deleted, but some of it can still be found.

He (or someone else) started a page on his card game, Ambition, about a year ago. He made a lot of edits to the page anonymously, but all from the same IP range (167.22, I think) so it was obvious who was making them. He claimed that he didn't realize this would be ill-received; I tend to believe him.

His assets were strong writing skills, a willingness to be constructive with other people (as long as they didn't attack his card game), an adeptness at rewriting/cleanuping bad articles, and creativity in terms of writing useful articles most other people would've have thought to create. His flaws were that he was somewhat of a leftist POV pusher, and he tended to write articles on "trash" topics (in the quiz bowl sense of the word, e.g. pop-cult trivia) of borderline inclusibility, including (deleted) articles on crude memes from late-night comedy shows. Still, he mostly got along with Wikipedia over everything but his card game.

Mike actually wrote the article before Ambition became famous, and tried to link to it whereever he could. Most of his links were appropriate, but occasionally he pushed the envelope too far. He once wrote an article on an "Ambition trolling phenomenon" that he probably started, and that wasn't notable by any standard. It was apparently an effort to make a second-degree link between Internet troll and the page on his card game. This kind of behavior would lead to a backlash from the community in which legitimate links to Ambition (card game) were removed.

He was nominated for adminship by another user and summarily rejected. He left Wikipedia shortly after in disgust, nominating Ambition (card game) for deletion (for the second time). It survived.

The big issue now with Mike is that he may be editing pseudonymously (as might anyone) and there's no trust. A major part of this is that 90% of people who comment on the matter, from either side, do so anonymously-- those who post "pro-Church" fear harrassment from the community, those who post "anti-Church" fear harrassment from Mike. (I consider myself neither and am hedging my bets on both sides.) Both sides have accused the other of sock puppetry, and both sides have probably used it. User:Isomorphic wrote a damning subpage about Mike, who proved him right by transparent sock vandalism. Most of the people originally listed on that page were not MC socks, but the fact that Mike went and vandalized the page suggests there was something to hide. My guess is that User:38 and User:MathyGuy23 were the "true" sock puppets, as well as the transparent vandals against User:Isomorphic's page. The rest of that page is pretty much crack theory, though, and most of Wikipedia has accepted that.

User:259 plays the role of Mike's representative. All I know about "259" is that he's an older friend of Mike's who is very secretive about his offline identity, but is definitively not Mike.

The "Church issue" is extremely divisive: depending on whom you ask he's either a Randian hero or a devious shyster who used Wikipedia to manufacture his own fame. My opinion? He's neither: he's a decent guy who made some mistakes in an unforgiving Wikipedia. My advice is that you not comment on the matter until you've thoroughly researched it, and accept that you'll probably end up taking some flak on one side or the other. If you criticize Mike, expect to have your page (ineffectively) nominated for deletion; if you support him, anticipate having your identity questioned. 172.161.36.242 05:46, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

User:EventHorizon's response
Oh, I have an opinion. I don't know everything about this issue, but I know enough.

Keep in mind that I have no personal association with Mike Church, I've never played Ambition, and I really don't care on a personal level about him or his game, not at all. However, I do care about what the Mike Church debacle says about Wikipedia.

He's evidently, yes, a guy who "made some mistakes in an unforigiving Wikipedia." The matters at Talk:Ambition (card game) and other pages should be deleted. Why? Because they're now irrelevant to Ambition itself, and relevant only to the controversy they prolong by existing in the first place. If anybody wants to write an Ambition page, Wikipedia can confront the matter as it comes with a clean slate. It's obvious that most of the accusations about Mike Church aren't true; if some are, so what? I'm not saying Mike should be nominated for bureaucrat status; I'm saying that he has the right, if the "Ambition issue" re-emerges, for it to be discussed with a clean slate.

I do think that an Ambition article is probably worth including, but I wouldn't be qualified to write one, and I don't know who would be. Certainly Mike should stay away from it. If no third party steps forward to write the article, Wikipedia can go without it. EventHorizon 06:56, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

All in Summation
First off, User:Jerzy might claim that my motives were in relation to this "Mike Church" character and the card game, Ambition. He can say that. The record shows, however, that Mr. Jerzy was the first person ever to bring up Ambition. I didn't even know Ambition existed, and I still don't know who this Mike Church is.

I care about intellectual and social justice on Wikipedia. When I see or sense something wrong, I speak out about it. If this is going to make me a problem user in your eyes, Mr. Jerzy, well that's just a sacrifice I'll have to make. Oh well. EventHorizon 03:40, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Personal Attacks
[Entire section reformatted, via bracketed material, by Jerzy(t) 22:16, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC) to restore original structure.] You twice question ing ed me about User:Mike Church and his supporters. This was in response to my twice informing and advising you, in polite terms, but IMO clearly stating my desire not to discuss the subject with you. I pointed out to you how your preceding actions toward me forced me to act as i would if confident of your intent to harass: in light of your persistence, i fell back to giving you, without abuse, a clear limitation that i consider reasonable in view of your failure to heed my polite prior communications. [2 corrections, deleting struck-thru "[question-]ing" and "twice", &/or adding bold text, by Jerzy(t) 22:16, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC).]

You responded with 4 distinct personal attacks on this page:
 * 1) At 01:59, 2004 Dec 14, you made a personal attack via threat:
 * If we ever cross paths, I will destroy you.
 * 1) In the same edit, but a different section (where i had responded to an IP), by saying
 * Reliable? Positive track records? Look, if all someone's going to do is throw around careless accusations, I don't see how they're contributing anything positive to Wikipedia.
 * you mocked
 * 1) me for my reasonable choice of meanings in my use of "positive" (and arguably "reliable"), and
 * 2) my entire body of work here, whose size and duration would make your judging its worth the height of arrogance, even if your claimed 2000-edit oeuvre were verifiable and examinable
 * 3) At 02:01, in replacing "they're" by "that person is", you reiterated #2, and
 * 4) in a new sentence for the same 'graph, in that same second edit, reading
 * You're not reliable (I've read some of your contribs and your spelling sucks) so why should your definition of reliable be reliable?
 * 1) mocked me (again?) for my reasonable use of "reliable",
 * 2) mocked me for your irrelevant (and BTW unsubstantiated) claim about my spelling, and
 * 3) chose the word "sucks" where the context that you created
 * 4) * made its ambiguous connotation at best unreasonably negligent and
 * 5) * made it reasonable to infer intentional personal insult.

Since then, over 48 hours have passed, during which you made 4 edits in a period of 38 minutes, and another 21 edits in just under 2 hours. You passed up at least 4 great opportunities (one each at the start and end of each of those two sessions) to ameliorate these attacks.

I invite your efforts now at amelioration, on this page, via apologies, clarifications, corrections, rewording, and/or commitments to avoid repetition. --Jerzy(t) 03:46, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC)

 * [As to Jerzy's first "You twice ... prior communications." 'graph:]
 * Yes, I won't claim that any of that is untrue, but you brought the Mike Church matter up in the first place. I wouldn't have even known who he is if not for you. So I read up the back story and found the matter interesting, and wanted to know your perspective, as well as why you thought I was associated with the situation before I had even heard of it. I'm sorry if you felt harassed. I won't ask you to speak on the matter again. EventHorizon 18:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * In reformating, i did some rereading as well. You declined to "claim that any of that is untrue", but i find that i erred in writing that i made you aware twice of my concerns about the Church-supporters matter.  I wrote that on the 16th, summarizing what had started on the 5th; both the long hiatus in that initial phase of our interaction, and the innocently confusing fact that you wrote three notes (one on my talk, one here, and another on my talk), before i wrote my second, must have contributed my error: to my impression that i had already said something stronger than
 * compromised (at the very least in the form of inefficiency) by my (in that case mistaken) concerns about that possible connection
 * and softer than
 * Don't edit my talk page further unless....
 * I'm fairly confident that if i'd remembered that i'd only replied once before, that i'd have ratcheted up instead only as far as something like
 * I'm disappointed that you haven't taken seriously my concern about the disruptive influence of the possibility you're here solely to support or hide Church's bad behavior.
 * (I hope you have enough sense of humor left to crack a smile when i say "Now do you believe me in saying that would keep me from helping you efficiently?" -- i hope you will believe me, that it is i, not you, who is the butt of that little joke i make!) Let me stop at this point, and put this major lapse on my part out there, as information -- not expecting you to comment on it, but before my going forward from there to treat our respective responsibilities.
 * --Jerzy(t) 23:27, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC)
 * In response to your ameliorative posts above and below in this "Personal Attacks" sub-section:
 * There's a lot that could be said, but simply doesn't need to.
 * I'm making minor, clarifying, comments on the responses you made to 3 and 4 among my "4 ... attacks" points.
 * At the present end of the sub-section (after your & my comments that i subordinated to my "In closing" bullet), i'm making a substantive response to what you said there.
 * Following that, i'll discuss my imminently pending
 * archiving of the section that includes this sub-section,
 * removal of the parts, by both of us, that will probably serve WP (and incidentally you and me) better there than here, and
 * summaries that will avoid the evils of those parts simply disappearing from the enclosing section.
 * Finally, i'll offer some thoughts for your consideration about where you might want to go (or legitimately might not want to go) from here with this section.
 * --Jerzy(t) 06:30, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)

 * [As to Jerzy's point 1, complaining about a threat:]
 * You're right. I went way over the line. EventHorizon 18:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * [As to Jerzy's point 2, claiming EH "mock"-ed in saying
 * Reliable? Positive track records? Look, if all someone's going to do is throw around careless accusations, I don't see how they're contributing anything positive to Wikipedia.
 * :]
 * Again, I was being a jerk. EventHorizon 18:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * [As to Jerzy's point 3, referring to
 * replacing "they're" by "that person is"
 * :]
 * I was correcting my grammatical error, not yours. I make them as well, and often need to do multiple previews before I post. EventHorizon 18:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Yes, i understood that. You probably misunderstood what i meant, which was that when you made that fix, you saved the rest of the sentence again without removing the attack. (I probably contributed to confusing you by my 22:36, 2004 Dec 15 edit summary
 * Spin-off Discussion re Ambition - Refactor EH contrib to eliminate minor time-stamp forgery
 * I'd be better off with another term for changing one's own signed contrib, without ill intent, in a way that makes the time stamps not match up directly with the page history; i'll be thinking about that and taking suggestions.) I meant for "minor" to express that this "forgery" was just a clerical matter, with the potential confusion it could produce not even being worth discussing -- but it's my fault, not yours, that you missed that.
 * I was also being a bit hard-nosed with you, in making an analogy with criminal law: if you steal a million dollars and bury it for whatever time the statute of limitations on larceny prescribes, you aren't off scot free: you either (i dunno, and it may vary from state to state) are continuing the same criminal act, or are repeatedly committing new acts of the crime of possession of stolen property, as long as any of it is still under your control.  I was arguing that touching up the offensive sentence without removing the attack is worse than just letting the sentence alone.  I admit that, given that it was only two minutes later, it certainly was nowhere near as bad as writing it in the first place.  Probably i should have said something to the effect of "3 and a small fraction" instead of "4".
 * --Jerzy(t) 06:30, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)
 * [As to Jerzy's point 4, making various claims about several things including the word "sucks":]
 * I don't think "sucks" means anything more than "is bad" to most people. If you think I meant more than that, well I didn't. I was kind of pissed off by your surprising reaction to me and your demeanor on my talk page. EventHorizon 18:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * As i say, context is important, so i don't think you can reasonably assert that for most people "sucks" always has a single meaning. Nor, if i guess your approximate age, is your knowledge of what it means to others even as good as my poor knowledge. But in any case, what you say publicly in civil discourse is subject to a much stricter standard than a "most people" standard that you might apply in private with someone whose likely understandings you a better chance of gauging or dynamically correcting for.
 * Of course, you've now done a good job of changing the context, so we're now beating a dead horse.
 * --Jerzy(t) 06:30, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)
 * [In closing:]
 * Let's just stay out of each others' way. I don't get into wars too often, so we probably won't have problems. EventHorizon 18:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your relatively gracious response, which significantly eases my concerns. I'll respond ere long, but only after refactoring into a more Wiki-ish style (that you may want to take the trouble to learn): i've been known to comment on talk by interleaving beween points of a single editor's contrib, but i'm satisfied that it just doesn't work on a project that saves nearly everything, for more reasons than just fragmenting numbered lists into, as in this case, a nonsense format.
 * --Jerzy(t) 20:45, 2004 Dec 16 (UTC)
 * WP has won at least one award for "Community", and i don't think that occurred by editors in disagreement each staying out of the other's way. (In fact, in such a so-to-speak "divorce", who would get custody of the topic of MC and his defenders? Are you willing to settle for, say, Sophocles and a playwright to be named later? [wink])
 * The problem i have addressed here is not our disagreement about that topic, nor "ask[ing me] to speak on the matter", nor even a personality conflict, but your resorting to personal attacks in the face of much less significant difficulties than the one we are now wrapping up. That is why i mentioned possible "commitments to avoid repetition". I didn't and don't insist on that, but think about it.
 * --Jerzy(t) 06:30, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)
 * While the word "mandates" would be a tad strong, current practice strongly encourages removal of personal attacks, while keeping them accessible to those who seek them out. I'm
 * copying the whole Relationship to Jerzy section to User talk:EventHorizon/Archive 1 to serve as a record for the WP community, which is entitled to have access to it for, among other things, judging our respective behavior and, perhaps, considering whether it is a useful case history. (I also think it paints, at this point, a picture that each of us has some reason to take pride or satisfaction in.)
 * removing
 * the entire text within the subsection I Stand Here in Amazement,
 * two 'graphs, reformatted by me with text by you, from Spin-off Discussion re Ambition, and
 * the entire text within the subsection Personal Attacks,
 * constituting what i think we would agree needs no obvious future attention: the whole of
 * my complaint about your Ambition questions,
 * the attacks, and
 * our discussion to date of the them both.
 * replacing those passages with brief linked references to the corresponding parts of the archived text.
 * adding headings as necessary to satisfy those links.
 * --Jerzy(t) 06:30, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)
 * Finally, i remind you that the prohibition on personal attacks has nothing to do with trying to silence you, and that WP stands ready to protect your ability to express your opinion (within limits like no personal attacks, not suppressing others' opinions, and so on).
 * What i've said about not mentoring you applies fairly well to the task of trying to restate the other ideas your personal attacks were entangled with. I think i probably succeeded in doing that with your three-word personal attack on Votes for deletion/Vandalism in progress/CheeseDreams controversy, but i think doing as well at "writing for the enemy" here would be effortful and less likely of success.  You are in a far better position to write your own personal-attack-free critique of e.g., what you described as my "careless accusations".
 * (Actually, "careless" is either an inaccurate term for what you're trying to say, or an uncharitable guess at something you can never know about me (how much care i put into characterizing others' behavior), and thereby it probably shades into personal-attack territory. But "unfounded" is something you can reasonably use to express an informed opinion you may have (based on your assessment of what you think is the same evidence available to me), not about me but about the characterizations themselves.  Attack my statements and actions, which are much more worthy of your attention than whether or not i'm a prick.) (And BTW, stating a suspicion is not making an accusation -- tho your failing to make the distinction was IMO not a personal-attack issue.)
 * --Jerzy(t) 06:30, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)

title: User talk:EventHorizon/Archive 1


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Internets (colloquialism)

A misspeak is not necessarily a colloquialism, even if said by the President

No, but it can become a colloquialism (or something like it) if it passes into wide use. Just browse any discussion forum, especially politcal and technical ones (slashdot, atrios, dailykos for example) and you'll see "internets" used commonly as a derisive way of implying that someone is ignorant about technology. See the talk page for Internets for a do not delete vote by someone who was looking to see why everyone kept referring to "the internets" and found out in this entry. Charles 19:00, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

KEEP THIS: You're obviously a republican. 01:34, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep, see above, no bias in article either. Aviationwiz 17:56, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep, see above. --Benna 21:22, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep, see above. BenS 01:47, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep, see above. DrGonzo 02:24, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)

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


text:
Lynda Lopez

Lynda Lopez (born June 14, 1971) is an American journalist and author based in New York City. She is also a co-founder of Nuyorican Productions, an American production company founded in 2001 with Benny Medina which became active in 2006 with the release of South Beach. Lopez has anchored numerous media platforms. In 2020, Lopez authored the book AOC: The Fearless Rise and Powerful Resonance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, published by St. Martin's Press.

Early years
Lopez was born in the South Bronx and raised in the Castle Hill neighborhood of the Bronx borough within New York City, to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodríguez, a kindergarten teacher, and David López, a computer specialist. She has two older sisters: Leslie Ann, a teacher, and Jennifer, a singer and actress. Lopez received her primary and secondary education while growing up in the Bronx. After graduating from Preston High School in 1989, she enrolled at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, where she majored in broadcasting and communications.

Radio broadcasting
Lopez started her radio broadcasting career at WBAB and WLIR on Long Island. She later worked for WXXP-FM, also on Long Island, as both Assistant Program Director and Music Director. She then worked as a DJ for WKTU in the 10PM-2AM timeslot. After working for five years in radio, she landed a position as entertainment correspondent for WPIX's morning show.

Lopez was employed by WCBS Radio in Manhattan as a news anchor until August 2013, when she left to work for her sister Jennifer Lopez in Los Angeles. She returned to the station a year later, in the summer of 2014.

In February 2023, Lopez joined all-news WINS-AM/FM in New York City as midday news anchor.

Television
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, she worked as a VH1 VJ for a short time with Kane and Rebecca Rankin. In 2000, she hosted a special in which she interviewed her sister, Jennifer. The two discussed their childhood as well as Jennifer's rising music career. Some of J-Lo's music videos were played and her then-newest video for "Feelin' So Good" made its VH1 premiere during this special. During this time, Lopez was also the morning news entertainment reporter for the WB11 in New York City, WPIX.

In 2002, she became the host of Style Network's GLOW, a cable TV show dealing with women's beauty issues, while working as an entertainment reporter at the same time. Lopez reported the latest entertainment news and stories on WNBC-TV, cable entertainment TV program E! News Live, and Spanish-language WNJU.

In 2003, Lopez became a DJ for WNEW-FM, with her boyfriend at the time, Chris Booker, a New York disc jockey and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. In October 2003, she joined WCBS-TV as a part-time correspondent, after their show was canceled at WNEW-FM. In August 2004, Lopez was named anchor of WCBS' weekend morning show, making this her first news-anchor job. For unknown reasons, she had not been presented on-air television since early April 2006, and she officially left the employ of WCBS-TV in June 2006.

Co-anchor
On July 29, 2006, Lopez debuted as the weekend co-anchor (with Mike Gilliam) on the News Corp-owned WWOR-TV's My 9 Weekend News at 10. They replaced the team of Cathleen Trigg, who departed the station, and Rolland Smith, who retired. Lopez moved to WNYW-TV's Good Day New York in 2007 and anchored Fox 5 Live at 11am. Reid Lamberty joined her as co-anchor for the 5am hour and 11am hour on FOX 5. Lopez was replaced from WNYW-TV's Good Day New York by former CNN Headline News anchor Christina Park, and after returning to WWOR and her previous role she left television news altogether after the station ended weekend newscasts.

Awards and recognition
She won a 2001 New York Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Morning News Program as a co-host for WB 11 Morning News.

Personal life
Lopez was in a relationship with radio/television personality Chris Booker. They met in early 2002 at WNEW-FM in New York City, where they worked as co-hosts for the morning show. The couple separated in early 2005.

In 2008, Lopez had a daughter with her boyfriend Adam Goldfried. She and Goldfied subsequently separated.

title: Lynda Lopez


text:
User talk:Xwatcher

Hello Xwatcher. I'm puzzled to see that your first ever "contribution" to Wikipedia is removal of a logo from John Patrick Ennis. Please explain this alteration on the discussion page of the article. Thank you. -- Hoary 07:07, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)

The legality of including Image:TOHlogo.png is explained on the image description page. Removing it because you consider it "illegal" will probably be viewed as vandalism and will get you banned again. --MarkSweep 07:38, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Illegality of posting the logo
Posting a logo like that is most probably an instance of fair use, and thus not a copyright violation. If you think that it isn't fair use, please explain why. -- Khym Chanur 07:41, Dec 18, 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Xwatcher


text:
NFL Films

NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows. Founded as Blair Motion Pictures by Ed Sabol in 1962 and run by his son Steve Sabol until his death, it produces most of the NFL's filmed and videotaped content except its live game coverage, which is handled separately by the individual networks. NFL Films is based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

Founding
Founder Ed Sabol was a World War II veteran who worked selling topcoats after returning to the United States. In his spare time, he often used a motion picture camera, received as a wedding gift, to record his son Steve's high school football games. Inspired by his work, Sabol founded a small film company called Blair Motion Pictures, named after his daughter Blair. Sabol won the bidding for the rights to film the 1962 NFL championship game for $5,000, double the bid for the 1961 championship game. The film of that game impressed NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who asked the owners of the NFL to agree to buy out Sabol's company. Although the owners rejected Rozelle's proposal in 1964, they agreed a year later and renamed Sabol's company NFL Films. He received $20,000 in seed money from each of the league's 14 owners, and in return would shoot all NFL games and produce an annual highlight film for each team. As part of the AFL–NFL merger, NFL Films began covering the American Football League in 1968 under a newly established "AFL Films" division, which was simply the regular NFL Films crew wearing separate jackets to appease AFL loyalists.

On August 6, 2011, Ed Sabol was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a major contributor to the National Football League. Sabol died on February 9, 2015, at his home in Arizona.

Style
Much has been made of the Films style. Salon.com television critic Matt Zoller Seitz has called NFL Films "the greatest in-house P.R. machine in pro sports history...an outfit that could make even a tedious stalemate seem as momentous as the battle for the Alamo."

NFL Films productions follow certain patterns. Film is mostly used, one camera is dedicated entirely to slow motion shots, microphones are present on the sidelines and near the field to pick up both the sounds of the games as well as the talk on the sidelines, and narrators with deep, powerful, baritone voices are preferred. Narrators have generally been from the Philadelphia metropolitan area, with well-known announcers such as Jefferson Kaye, Harry Kalas, John Facenda, Andy Musser, Jack Whitaker, William Woodson, and current announcer Scott Graham all having narrated NFL Films presentations at various points in time. J.K. Simmons was tapped to narrate the company's one-hour recap of the 16–0 regular season of the 2007 New England Patriots, while actor Burt Lancaster was tabbed for narrations during 1969. Burl Ives narrated the 1971 Washington Redskins highlight film.

Team-specific films such as year-in-review films have occasionally been narrated by broadcasters or personalities involved with the team in question. Examples include the 1985, 2000, and 2001 Oakland Raiders season reviews being narrated by actor and former Raiders player Carl Weathers. Former Giant Frank Gifford periodically narrated New York Giants season reviews (notably the company's throwback-themed 2013 season recap) until he died in 2015, and ex-Giants teammate Pat Summerall narrated highlight films for many teams until he died in 2013. New England Patriots play-by-play announcer Gil Santos narrated the year-in-review films of the 1974, 1976, and 1978 seasons, and New Orleans Saints films from their inception in 1967 through 1979 were narrated by Don Criqui, who called Saints games for the NFL on CBS in the team's early years, and radio announcers Al Wester and Wayne Mack. Other programming such as "NFL Films Presents" and its Super Bowl Recap hosted by Carissa Thompson has been narrated by veteran actor and voice actor Leonard Dozier.

The style has been called tight on the spiral, a reference to the frequently-used slow-motion shot of the spinning football as it travels from the quarterback's hand to the receiver. This shot usually consists of showing the quarterback throwing the football, then the camera zooming in to focus on the spinning ball, as the ball starts to descend, the camera zooms out, showing the result of the ball travelling into the receiver's hands. NFL Films also dubs sound bites of local radio broadcasts over key plays, because radio announcers are typically more enthusiastic about their home teams than are network television broadcasters. In addition, NFL Films often uses multiple camera angles (with an emphasis on close-up shots that often exaggerate the speed of the players in real-time). The company's films also employ muscular orchestral scores from a wide variety of musicians, notably Sam Spence, Johnny Pearson (whose "Heavy Action" became the theme for Monday Night Football) Frank Rothman, Ralph Dollimore, Udi Harpaz, Malcolm Lockyer, Jan Stoeckart (under his varied stage names such as Jack Trombey), Peter Reno, Paul Lewis, Prameela Tomashek, Dave Robidoux and Tom Hedden. The company's use of KPM Musichouse (Now KPM Music) tracks also notably included Syd Dale; tracks include "Maelstrom" for the company's 1968 Minnesota Vikings season highlight reel and also the psychedelic-flavored jazz track "Artful Dodger" on the film recap of Super Bowl V, specifically during the montage which shows Johnny Unitas's 75-yard touchdown pass to John Mackey which was tipped in flight by Eddie Hinton and Mel Renfro before bounding to Mackey.

The company also makes prolific use of footage of players and coaches in the locker room after the game. With these techniques, NFL Films turns football games into events that mimic ballet, opera, and epic battle stories. Among the company's most famous creations is the poem and accompanying music cue "The Autumn Wind", which have become official themes for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Television programs
One of NFL Films' most popular series is Hard Knocks. With production run entirely from the field and the NFL Films facility, NFL Films and HBO follow one NFL team as they go through training camp, leading up to the beginning of the season.

NFL Films produces the Greatest Moments series, which details classic games from the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's (decade); the Lost Treasures series, which uses old NFL Films footage which had previously never been shown on television to look at football players, coaches, and referees; and NFL Films Presents, an umbrella title for other NFL Films productions that do not neatly fit an existing series (Katie Nolan serves as the current host of NFL Films Presents).

NFL Films also produces the NFL Game of the Week, which showcases a previous week's game of the current season. ION Television purchased the rights to air Game of the Week during the 2007 season.

Among other television programs NFL Films is credited for producing include NFL Total Access and much of the NFL Network's programming output. NFL Films also has a dedicated channel on free over-the-top service Pluto TV that launched in August 2019.

NFL Films' game highlights were also a staple of HBO's Inside the NFL for its entire run; this will continue on that show's new network Showtime, in addition to having the company produce the show. NFL Films also produced for Showtime the five-part miniseries Full Color Football: The History of the American Football League, which aired in the fall of 2009 as part of the American Football League 50th anniversary celebration.

NFL Films produces an annual highlight film for each team every season, distributed by home video. If a team had a good year the film often revels in each victory, while breezing through, or skipping altogether, losses during the season. Inversely, if a team suffered through a poor season, the highlights commonly attempt to still show the team in a good light, however difficult that may be. Losses and pitiful play is commonly, and conveniently, edited out, leaving only isolated moments of success, prompting the viewer to not always realize how bad the team might have been. Most films conclude by portraying teams optimistically for the upcoming season, whether founded or not.

The Sabols have used NFL Films to showcase their sense of humour, as in the Football Follies series. The Follies used blooper plays, such as fumbles, dropped passes, deflected or bobbled passes, players slipping and falling, mascots, the quarterback lining up behind the guard instead of the centre, and disorganization, and outtakes and silly narration.

The presence of NFL Films' cameras allowed for the preservation of video footage from many of the NFL's 1960s-era games in an era when sports telecasts were either broadcast live without any recording or whose films and tapes were destroyed and recycled for later use, a practice that did not fully stop until 1978. Without the presence of NFL Films, there would be no surviving footage of several of the early Super Bowls. In comparison, other major leagues that lacked the film resources that the NFL had to have archives missing up through the 1970s, with much of the time before that preserved only by Canadian television broadcasters. In Major League Baseball, the broadcasts of many World Series games before 1975 have been lost, and nearly all broadcasts of League Championship Series from the first series in 1969 to 1978 are gone.

Current programming
Source:

 * A Football Life
 * NFL Films Presents
 * Inside the NFL
 * NFL Turning Point
 * NFL Gameday All-Access
 * NFL Matchup
 * Peyton's Places
 * NFL Icons, released through Epix on October 2, 2021
 * Good Morning Football

Upcoming programming

 * Quarterback

Success
Although NFL Films earns more than $50 million in revenue a year and is expanding at a double digit rate, compared to the $18 billion in revenue that the NFL earns from television alone, most consider this to be minor. The real value of NFL Films is how it packages and sells the game and many credit it as a key reason that the NFL has become the most watched league in the United States.

In addition to covering the National Football League, NFL Films has also ventured into other unrelated documentary films, such as documenting the Munich Olympics massacre for one of NBC's Olympics telecasts and serving as back-up film photography for other major events, including the Stanley Cup Finals (NHL Original Productions), the NBA Finals (NBA Entertainment) and the World Series (MLB Productions). It also produced the video for Journey's 1983 hit single "Faithfully". NFL Films also has worked with Volkswagen Group in producing Audi's Truth in 24 series about Audi's efforts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans using the signature style to package and sell the marque's efforts in France.

The company has also done films for major college football programs, such as Colorado State University; the company's 1977 film on CSU's football program used John Denver's song "Rocky Mountain High" as well as an instrumental cover of The Beatles' song "Tell Me What You See", and noted alumni of the team who had gone on to NFL careers, such as Bill Larson of the Lions and Bill Kennedy of the Colts, Kevin McClain of the Rams, and Greg Stamrick of the Oilers.

NFL Films' distinctive style has been parodied in numerous commercials, particularly for the NFL's sponsors, including Sprint Nextel and Burger King.

NFL Films has won 112 Sports Emmys.

Music rights controversy with Sam Spence
Sam Spence was long involved in a controversial situation with the NFL regarding the rights to perform or use his music in any media outlets. In an interview, Spence reported he was convinced to sign a contract that relinquished all of the rights to his music to NFL Films under the promise that the League would return the document to him. Spence alleged that NFL Films claimed that his music was "stolen" and signing the document would empower them to protect the music in court.

Albums

 * The Power and the Glory: The Original Music & Voices of NFL Films (1998)
 * Autumn Thunder: 40 Years of NFL Films Music (2004)
 * NFL Country (1996)
 * Music from National Football League Films, LP NFL-1, c. 1970s.

Films

 * Truth in 24 (2008)
 * Lombardi (2011)
 * Fantasy Football (2022)
 * The Perfect 10 (2023)

NFL Films Lab
NFL Films operates its own in-house 16mm and 35mm Color Negative Processing Lab. This enables the film that is shot at each game to be rushed back to the Mt. Laurel facility and processed immediately so as to give the production team the maximum amount of time to produce its weekly shows.

The lab is open to the public for development needs. Clients include feature length and short films shot on location in Philadelphia as well as students at local universities.

The current lab is the third incarnation. The original lab was located in a building next to NFL Films original offices at 230 N 13th St in Philadelphia. The second lab was housed in the center of the NFL Films offices at 330 Fellowship Rd in Mt. Laurel, NJ. That entire one-story building has since been razed and replaced with a modern 4 story office building.

The third lab is located at the NFL Films current location in the Bishop's Gate industrial park in Mt. Laurel behind a two-story glass wall. This allows visitors to the offices to see the inner workings of the entire processing lab. Those on morning tours can often watch as employees develop film for use in weekly shows.

NFL Films Lab is also in charge of the archiving and maintenance of the vault. Containing over 100 continuous years of football footage, the vault houses all of the film that NFL Films has shot or acquired from other sources in its entire history. Currently, NFL Films is in the process of re-transferring all of its footage into high-definition format, although the original film will always be kept as it's likely to outlast tape medium in terms of degradation.

title: NFL Films


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South Island robin

The South Island robin (Petroica australis; also known in Māori as the kakaruwai) is a sparrow-sized bird found only in New Zealand, where it has the status of a protected endemic species. The birds are sparsely distributed through the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura, although the distribution is not continuous. The nominate, and the Stewart Island robin (P. australis rakiura) are the two subspecies. The species is closely related to the North Island robin (formerly P. australis longipes, now considered a distinct species), and also to the extremely rare black robin (P. traversi) of the Chatham Islands.

Taxonomy
The South Island robin has two subspecies: P. australis australis, the nominate form, and P. australis rakiura, the Stewart Island robin. These subspecies do not overlap in their distributions. The North Island robin (P. longipes), the tomtit (Petroica macrocephala), and the black robin (Petroica traversi) in the Chatham Islands are closely related species. P. traversi seems to be a Chatham Island derivative of P. australis, although the position of the most recent common ancestor has yet to be determined. The family Petroicidae of Australasian robins has a total of 49 species, mostly in Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea.

Fossil record
There is molecular phylogenetic evidence to suggest two waves of immigration by the Petroica genus from Australia. P. longipes and P. australis can be traced to the first and P. macrocephala to the second wave. The evidence suggests that P. longipes and P. australis began to diverge prior to the Pleistocene era, and that the two South Island subspecies of P. australis began to diverge after the Pleistocene era. The separation time for the former was about three million years, and only 10,000 years (i.e., postglacial) for the latter. Fossils of New Zealand robins can sometimes be found near pit fall deposits, as they do most of their feeding/foraging on the ground. The fossil record also indicates the robins' presence throughout lowland New Zealand until drastic habitat reduction through deforestation by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori and later European colonisers.

Description
The South Island robin is a small passerine, 10–18 cm in length and weighing around 35 g. North Island robins do resemble both females and juveniles of the South Island robins, as well as all the Stewart Island robins, which can sometimes make it difficult to distinguish between the three. The females and juveniles within a particular group of robins look similar to each other, although newly independent juveniles may not yet have the more lightly coloured breast patch. However, male North Island robins are almost black with a white spot just above the beak, as well as the greyish-white lower breast. Females and juveniles are greyer with more variable pale patches on their breasts and throats. Male South Island robins are dark grey, except for the distinct yellowish-white lower chest, while females and juveniles are again lighter grey with a less distinct breast. Finally, Stewart Island robins look similar to North Island robins (both males and females).

New Zealand robins are relatively long-lived; life-spans of at least 14 years have been recorded in the wild.

Distribution
Historically, the South Island robin inhabited much of the lowland of New Zealand's South Island, but its distribution has become much more patchy in the last century due to habitat loss and introduced predation. There are two populations on the east coast of the South Island, and they are slightly more common in the north and west. It has fared slightly better than the Stewart Island robin, which has been relegated to 3 subpopulations, all of which are in Leptospermum swamp scrubland—although this is not their preferred habitat, it is less heavily populated by mammalian predators. Total population was lower than 500 individuals at one point. A programme of translocation to predator-free islands (such as Ulva Island, Motuara Island, and Nukuwaiata Island) was instituted and proved relatively successful at establishing new populations (around 600 individuals on Motuara alone). In the South Island, P. australis has a strong affinity for Douglas fir plantations, instead of the native forests (kanuka trees) or Monterey pine plantations. This is apparently due to forest structure rather than strict food availability or viable nesting sites, as the species prefers structurally simple forests with dense, even canopies, and ground covered with leaf litter. When the population was introduced to Ulva Island, nesting was positively correlated with the presence of broad-leaved coastal vegetation.

Breeding
South Island robins are genetically monogamous, and extra-pair paternity is rare. As they do typically remain monogamous, are non-migratory, and remain on their breeding territories year-round, a male and female in one territory will compete for food resources during non-breeding times. Competition is reduced somewhat by slightly different foraging methods; however, they will steal from their mate's cache if given the opportunity. Males do dominate females, and thus will aggressively exclude females from food, such that females will only access food sources when unattended by the males. During breeding season, the female is solely responsible for nest building and incubation, and the male will provide the female and the hatchlings with food.

South Island robins become sexually mature between six and 12 months of age. They begin their breeding season fairly early in August or September (Southern Hemisphere spring) and thus can make use of the winter's remaining food stores during this time. They build open-cup nests in tree-forks or inside tree cavities. Incubation lasts 18 days, and chicks leave the nest after 21 days. Five to 25 days after fledglings leave the nest, the pair may breed again. Modal clutch size is two eggs, with the expected inverse correlation between dimensions and number of eggs. Replacement clutches, in the case of loss of eggs or nestlings to predation, can be produced relatively rapidly, within 3–10 days.

Feeding
Invertebrates, including earthworms, beetles, and other arthropods foraged from the leaf litter comprise most of the South Island robins' diet. Invertebrate prey may be cached whole or in portions. Single items are cached at separate sites. Prey is typically stored within 10 metres of where it was procured, even if the bird is outside its own territory. In the winter the primary cache is earthworms, while during the summer the trend is toward cicadas. South Island robins have a very good memory of their storage sites; a male was observed to empty as many as five consecutive caches before returning the stores to his mate during incubation. The birds have demonstrated an ability to differentiate and prioritise caches of varying sizes, up to 12 total items, without any training, which appears to be the highest recorded numerical competency of any wild animal. Because of its high metabolic rate, a robin might spend as much as 90% of its day foraging or storing during the winter. South Island robins have also been observed to eat berries on occasion; however, these are not cached.

Vocalisation
A male's call during non-breeding season is a series of loud notes with descending frequency, which start in rapid succession and finish slowly. During breeding season, the males resort to full song to court the females. Full song is a loud, clear, and continuous song, which can last for more than 30 minutes with very brief pauses, and is typically sung from the canopy or an emergent tree. Singing also appears to be performed as part of a strategic regulation of body mass. While robins sing during the dawn chorus as well as throughout the day, they seem to increase their singing according to food availability. When they have had more food, they will increase energetic behaviours, such as singing, to arrive at a strategic mass by dusk. Thus, even though two robins might begin the day with different weights, they will end the day with similar weights. A side-effect of this behaviour might be the showcasing of a particular male's ability to sequester resources: the longer he sings, the more capable he is of finding food, and thus a better candidate for a mate.

Conservation
The South Island robin is listed as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List. However, the Stewart Island robin (Petroica australis rakiura) has gone through a couple of bottlenecked populations recently because of deforestation and habitat loss, as well as introduced predators, such as rats, stoats, and feral cats. Because of this sharp decline in the Stewart Island population, several attempts have been made to translocate the Stewart Island robin to other islands nearby where introduced predators do not exist or have been eradicated (see above). However, many of these translocations have involved 12 or fewer colonising individuals, making inbreeding nearly unavoidable. This has led to some apparent immunocompetency issues as well as reproduction problems. On Motuara Island, high rates of hatching failure as well as fewer clutches were observed. Inbreeding and its genetic and immunological consequences, therefore, remain a concern with this subspecies.

In contrast, birds in the South Island do not show much genetic loss in comparison with historical populations, although their distribution on the island has become increasingly fragmented.

South Island robins and 1080 poison
A number of robin deaths have been recorded as a result of accidental 1080 poisoning following pest control operations. Most of these were associated with four specific operations in the 1980s that used poor-quality carrot baits. These instances aside, robins have generally responded well to pest control programmes using aerial 1080 operations, with increased chick and adult survival, and increases in population size. A 2012 scientific study of a marked population by the University of Otago during a contemporary 1080 poison operation using cereal baits showed no negative impact on robins, and suggested a likely population increase by reducing predation pressure from introduced mammals.

title: South Island robin


text:
Harmony Airways

Harmony Airways was an airline headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, a suburb of Vancouver. It operated holiday flights from Canada to Mexico, Hawaii and Las Vegas, Nevada. Its main base was Vancouver International Airport.

History
The airline was officially announced as HMY Airways (an abbreviation for Harmony) by David Ting Kwok Ho in February 2002. After acquiring two Boeing 757-200 jetliners in September and November 2002, the airline's inaugural flight flew from Vancouver in November 2002. The airline was wholly owned by David Ting Kwok Ho.

Throughout the mid 2000s, the airline steadily expanded, first within Canada, but it soon expanded to Hawaii and to many destinations in southern USA. Future plans included expanding into China, but those plans were never realized. The airline was renamed Harmony Airways in May 2004.

Harmony's telephone reservations were contracted to a dedicated call centre team at Vantis Corporation in Calgary, Alberta (later briefly renamed Vantis-TravelCLICK before closing down Calgary operations in October 2006). Vantis (previously known as VIP) was a third-party call centre based in Calgary before being acquired by TravelCLICK in October 2005, then having operations moved to Jamaica in October 2006. Harmony's call centre contract with Vantis-TravelCLICK ended after Harmony ceased operations in 2007.

From June 2006 to October 2006, Harmony Airways leased a Bombardier CRJ-100 to operate on their Vancouver - Calgary route. The aircraft was configured in a single-class 50-seat configuration, and was painted in a hybrid, United Express - Harmony Airways livery.

On March 27, 2007, Harmony Airways announced that it had issued layoff notices to all staff, and that it was ending scheduled flight service on April 9, 2007,  due to increasing fuel costs and having a hard time attracting full-service passengers amid low-cost competition, such as WestJet. Harmony also had a hard time attracting profitable business travelers, due to a lack of a frequent flier program and lacking services to popular business destinations.

Destinations
As of October 2006, Harmony Airways had services to the following destinations:

 * Palm Springs, California
 * Hilo, Hawaii
 * Honolulu, Hawaii
 * Maui, Hawaii
 * Toronto, Ontario
 * Calgary, Alberta
 * Oakland, California
 * New York, New York
 * Vancouver, British Columbia
 * Abbotsford, British Columbia
 * Las Vegas, Nevada
 * Los Angeles, California
 * Victoria, British Columbia (Seasonal)
 * Kelowna, British Columbia (Seasonal)
 * Edmonton, Alberta (Seasonal)

Fleet
The Harmony Airways fleet consisted of Boeing 757-200 aircraft. For a short period of time in 2006, Harmony Airways operated a Bombardier CRJ-100 aircraft on its Vancouver - Calgary route.

As of March 2007 the Harmony Airways fleet included four Boeing 757-200 aircraft. On March 22, 2007, the National Post reported that Harmony Airways would reduce its fleet to three 757s. In the summer of 2007, British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce purchased two of Harmony's 757s in order to harvest the plane's RB211-535 engines to support other customers' engine needs. Rolls-Royce then sold the remaining aircraft hulls to an American salvage company.

Services
Harmony Airways offered two classes of service on their Boeing 757-200 aircraft (the Bombardier CRJ-100 was single-class): Business and Economy class. Both classes were advertised as being full-service compared to WestJet and other low-cost alternatives.

Business Class
Available on Boeing 757-200 aircraft, Business Class was Harmony's flagship product. Business class was sometimes marketed as harmonyone. Seats had a pitch of 52 inches, and a width of 22 inches. Passengers were given personal AVOD (Audio Video On Demand) systems to use during the flight. Amenity kits were also provided.

Economy Class
Harmony Airways promoted their economy class as higher quality than other airlines, stating "We really shouldn't even use the word economy". Seats had a pitch of 32 inches. Harmony gave out free headphones in Economy class that passengers could keep, to use with the Inflight entertainment. Complimentary hot meals were served on longer routes.

title: Harmony Airways


text:
Talk:Whirlwind (novel)

Untitled
"The back cover of the first edition..." Of which book? tom 07:21, 2004 Dec 18 (UTC)

 * You did read the rest of the paragraph, right? --Paul A 02:52, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:WhirlwindBook.jpg
Image:WhirlwindBook.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 07:05, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

from http://www.gulfnexus.org/index_files/Mulapin_II.htm
31./32. Two stars on the stinger of the Scorpion: d.Sharur and d.Shargaz AK: Shaula, Al Shaulah, the stinger. Sargs in Latvian is "protector" and equals d.Shargaz. It was the "Scorpion King" who started the reigns of the Pharaohs of Egypt and Sargon of Akkad who was the first king of Akkad. Scorpio marked the Vernal Equinox 3117 BC. Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 22:03, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Does "Escape" actually exist?
I added the part about the "condensed version" called "Escape" a few years ago. My information was based upon an Amazon listing and a couple of other references. However, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to obtain or even physically see a copy of this alleged book. Can anyone confirm that it actually exists? The possibility exists that it might have been planned for release at some point but never actually got out (for a similar situtation, see William Burroughs' "Evil River"). 23skidoo (talk) 18:39, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Funny you should ask. I went a month ago to the library to see if I can Interlibrary Loan it. There's like three libraries in the United States that have it, mine is in the works but I probably won't see it before I get to Japan. If you can get it through Amazon or Alibris, snap it up, it's probably a rare single run. Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 18:47, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
 * In the UK it was published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton in 1995; a paperback was issued by Coronet the next year; and a reissued paperback was published by Hodder in 2006. I have certainly seen the hardback in public libraries in the past.  Jheald (talk) 13:20, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * My comment from years ago appears to have dated from a period when Escape was out of print. It can now be found on Amazon and other sites. Although I personally have never seen a copy in a store, it was reprinted in 2016 along with the other Asian Saga books. 23skidoo (talk) 16:58, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Captain Karim Peshadi
"Captain Karim Peshadi - Imperial Iranian Air Force, cousin of Sharazad, Shah-loyalist military commander of Kowiss Air Base, Hero of Dhofar and uncle of Sharazad, possibly based on Nader Jahanbani."

This sentence says Karim is both "cousin of Sharazad" and "uncle of Sharazad". Which is correct? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.49.70.8 (talk) 01:38, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Differences between Whirlwind and Escape
"Escape" is the abridged version of Whirlwind. The article mentions that Escape has some rewritten passages. Does Escape contain anything that cannot be found in Whirlwind? Or is it just an abridged version that is the same as Whirlwind with some cuts made to make it shorter? A detailed answer would really be helpful and appreciated. Thank you very much 103.237.36.248 (talk) 02:27, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I've yet to read it, but reviews of the book on Amazon (it was republished in 2016) seem to indicate it has material not included in the main novel and one review suggests Escape somewhat augments the original novel due to its added detail, so the impression is given is it's not just a condensed version of Whirlwind. I'd be interested in a detailed accounting of the differences, too. 23skidoo (talk) 17:00, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Whirlwind (novel)


text:
The Silence (The Twilight Zone)

"The Silence" is episode 61 (season 2, episode 25) of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The plot of this episode was based in part on the short story "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov. It's "the story of possibly the strangest bet ever to occur in the annals of chance." It originally aired on April 28, 1961 on CBS. It is one of the few Twilight Zone episodes to feature no supernatural or sci-fi elements.

Opening narration
The note that this man is carrying across a club room is in the form of a proposed wager, but it's the kind of wager that comes without precedent. It stands alone in the annals of bet-making as the strangest game of chance ever offered by one man to another. In just a moment, we'll see the terms of the wager and what young Mr. Tennyson does about it. And in the process, we'll witness all parties spin a wheel of chance in a very bizarre casino called - the Twilight Zone.

Plot
Colonel Archie Taylor, a gruff aristocrat, has difficulty enjoying his men's club because of the constant chatter of fellow member Jamie Tennyson. In an effort to shut Tennyson up, Taylor bets him US$500,000 that he cannot remain silent for one year. If Tennyson accepts the wager, a small glass-walled apartment will be erected in the club's game room, where he will be monitored by microphones so that he cannot speak without detection. He may only write notes to communicate, and the other members may observe him through the glass.

An offended Tennyson agrees, needing the money to pay the debts incurred by his wife's exorbitant spending. He proposes that Taylor put a check on deposit in his name, but the club members reject this request as Taylor has a strong standing of honor and credit. "[Tennyson's] courage against [Taylor's] credit" is accepted by both and the challenge begins the following night.

Taylor initially expects to win within a few weeks, but Tennyson surprises him by remaining silent for nine months. Taylor gets nervous and offers to pay Tennyson to call off the bet, starting with $1,000 before escalating to $6,000. When these fail, he suggests that Tennyson's wife is planning to leave him for another man. She has never responded to any of Tennyson's several written requests for a visit, giving weight to Taylor's insinuations. Tennyson seems gripped by despair at the thought of losing his wife, but nonetheless refuses to call off the bet.

On the last evening of the year, club member Alfred tells Taylor his behavior over the past months, particularly using Tennyson's wife as a threat, has severely damaged the club's esteem for him. As the clock chimes to officially signal that the one year has passed, Tennyson emerges to the congratulations of his fellow club members before he approaches Taylor and silently puts his hand out for the money. The embarrassed Taylor admits that he had lost his fortune several years earlier. He praises Tennyson's resolve and character and then announces his decision to resign from the club.

The distraught Tennyson scribbles furiously on a sheet of paper, perplexing the other men, who wonder why he does not speak. Taylor reads the note aloud: "I knew I would not be able to keep my part of the bargain, so one year ago I had the nerves to my vocal cords severed." Tennyson displays the scar on his throat from the operation, which he has concealed for the past year under scarves and turtlenecks.

Closing narration
Mr. Jamie Tennyson, who almost won a bet, but who discovered somewhat belatedly that gambling can be a most unproductive pursuit, even with loaded dice, marked cards, or, as in his case, some severed vocal cords. For somewhere beyond him, a wheel was turned, and his number came up black thirteen. If you don't believe it, ask the croupier, the very special one who handles roulette – in The Twilight Zone.

title: The Silence (The Twilight Zone)


text:
Pierre Akendengué

Pierre-Claver Akendengué (born April 25, 1943) is a Gabonese musician and composer. In 1997, he received his country's "Prix d'excellence" at the Africa Music awards in Libreville, honoring his body of work. He also serves as a cultural advisor for the government of Gabon.

Biography
Born on the island of Awuta, which is located just off the coast from Port-Gentil, Akendengué went to school in Port-Gentil, then studied psychology at the University of Caen in France during the 1960s. While in France, he met the singer Mireille, who encouraged his musical interests.

In 1974, Akendengué recorded his first album, Nandipo, which consisted of songs of his own composition, sung in French and Nkomi, accompanied by guitar, women choir, bass and the percussion of Nana Vasconcelos. He later set to music poems by P. E. Mondjegou, such as "Le Chant du Coupeur d'Okoumé" ("The Song of the Okoumé Cutter"). Returning to Gabon, he studied solfeggio and plainchant at a Catholic college, and presented spectacles showcasing traditional Gabonese forms in a concert setting.

In 1986, he received a doctorate from the University of Paris for his study of religion and education among the Nkomi.

Discography

 * 1974 Nandipo
 * 1976 Africa Obota
 * 1978 Eseringuila
 * 1979 Owende
 * 1980 Mengo
 * 1982 Awana W'Afrika
 * 1983 Mando
 * 1984 Réveil de l'Afrique
 * 1986 Piroguier
 * 1986 Sarraouinia
 * 1988 Espoir à Soweto
 * 1990 Silence
 * 1993 Lambarena
 * 1995 Maladadite
 * 1996 Carrefour Rio
 * 2000 Obakadences
 * 2004 Ekunda-Sah
 * 2005 Gorée
 * 2009 La Verité d'Afrique
 * 2013 Destinée
 * 2018 La couleur de l´Afrique

title: Pierre Akendengué


text:
Canada 3000

Canada 3000 Airlines Inc. was a Canadian discount charter airline offering domestic and international flights. It was the largest charter airline in the world at the time of its operation, with over 90 destinations worldwide, although it changed to scheduled service in 2000 after the Canadian Airlines and Air Canada merger. Canada 3000 competed with Air Canada, WestJet, and fellow charter airline Air Transat. In November 2001, the airline went out of business after a sharp decline in revenues following the September 11 attacks in the United States. There have been several attempts to restart the airline since then. The airline was headquartered in Etobicoke in the west-end of Toronto, Ontario.

Operations

The airline was created in 1988 by British airline Air 2000, initially for charter service to lease some of its airplanes for Canadian charter travel. The airline was denied license to operate by the National Transport Agency NTA because of the control and ownership of the UK firm. Air 2000 dropped out of an ownership position, and the airline started operations in December 1988. On May 1, 1989, by order of the NTA, it changed its name to Canada 3000. The next year the airline acquired Vacationair and a subsidiary was created in Mexico with the name Aerofiesta (not to be confused with the similarly named Aero Fiesta Mexicana, which was founded in 1993). The company's owners were the Deluce family (25%), chairman John Lecky (45%) and Adventure Tours (30%). Following the demise of Wardair, the company's goal was to become Canada's largest charter carrier, a position it attained in 1991.

The cover of the Canada 3000 summer of 1997 flight schedule stated the airline was serving destinations in Belgium, Denmark, England, Fiji, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland and the U.S. as well as Canada.

In 1998, co-founder and CEO Angus Kinnear was the recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for his contributions to commercial air transportation. As of 1998, the airline carried over 2.5 million passengers annually, and had destinations in 22 countries. In April 1998, Canada 3000 became the launch customer and first commercial operator of the Airbus A330-200.

In 1999, Canada 3000 purchased Holiday Travel Consultants based out of Vancouver from Richard and Shelley Carlin, which expanded to become Canada 3000's retail division under the name Canada 3000 Tickets. By the time it closed its doors, Canada 3000 had expanded its retail division to include 40 branch offices as well as three call centers in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

In 2000, Canada 3000 went public, raising $30 million in an IPO. In January 2001, Canada 3000 bought charter carrier Royal Aviation of Montreal, Quebec for $84 million. The company also acquired Royal Cargo Airlines' cargo division, renaming it to Canada 3000 Cargo. In March 2001 it also took over CanJet for $7.5 million in stock. In May 2001, following the merger of Canadian Airlines International with Air Canada, Canada 3000 also started operating scheduled flights. In October 2001, one month before its demise, Canada 3000 became the first airline to operate non-stop service from North America to India.

Collapse
On November 8, 2001 the company suddenly collapsed with no warning for travelers or employees. The company filed for bankruptcy, citing a downturn in air travel during the weeks following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The fleet was left grounded at various airports around the world, leaving 50,000 vacationers stranded. September 10, 2001 was a record booking day, but within a few days air traffic declined by 50%. The airline was offered a $75 million loan guarantee from the Canadian government under the condition of a 'viable business plan' being produced. By November 7, 2001, the airline had $260 million in debt, and only had $1.49 million in cash. In secret, it had applied to the Canada Labour Board for permission to cut labour costs by 30% by closing its Royal division immediately. The Board would not approve without union agreement. Union offers to cut 700 pilot and flight attendant positions did not provide enough savings immediately and the airline applied for bankruptcy protection on November 8, while it planned to continue flying. By the end of the day, airport authorities in Toronto and St. John's, Newfoundland had seized planes under court authority and the company directors decided to cease operations.

Out of bankruptcy, the Canada 3000 Cargo operation, which was still operating, was sold off and became Cargojet Airways, run by former Canada 3000 executive Ajay Virmani. In 2002, Michel Leblanc, the former owner of Royal Airlines and later a director with Canada 3000 went on to form another scheduled discount airline, Jetsgo, which lasted almost three years before it too collapsed and filed for bankruptcy protection on March 11, 2005. The CEO, Robert Deluce continued in the airline business with the successful Porter Airlines out of Toronto Bishop.

In 2005, a group of investors had planned to launch a new Canada 3000, with two Boeing 757-200s.

Fleet

Canada 3000 operated the following fleet:

title: Canada 3000


text:
Boeing XB-38 Flying Fortress

The XB-38 Flying Fortress was a single example conversion of a production B-17E Flying Fortress, testing whether the Allison V-1710 V type engine could be substituted for the standard Wright R-1820 radial engine during early World War II.

Design and development
The XB-38 was the result of a modification project undertaken by Vega (a subsidiary of Lockheed) on a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress to fit it with liquid-cooled Allison V-1710-89 V-12 engines. It was to be an improved B-17, and an alternative if the normally fitted air-cooled Wright R-1820 radial engines became scarce. Completing the modifications took less than a year, and the XB-38 made its first flight on May 19, 1943. Only one was built, and it was modified from a regular production aircraft.

The XB-38 delivered a higher top speed, but its ceiling was lower. After a few flights it was grounded due to exhaust gas leaks from the engine manifolds. Once this had been fixed, testing resumed until the ninth flight on June 16, 1943 when the inboard starboard engine caught fire and the crew bailed out. The XB-38 was destroyed and the project was canceled, in part because the V-1710 engines were in high demand for Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and North American P-51A Mustang fighters.

Operators

 * 🇺🇸 United States
 * United States Army Air Forces

title: Boeing XB-38 Flying Fortress


text:
User:Beetlenaut

I am a teacher and amateur astronomer. I work at Sean's Astronomy Shop in Battle Ground, Washington, USA. I am the webmaster, programmer, and instructor, and sometimes I sell telescopes, too. I've built two telescopes and currently use a my 10-inch (diameter) Dobsonian style scope when it stops raining long enough. I wrote the eyepiece_lens page in December, 2004. (It was as stub at the time.) I may not be responsible for later mangling!

I haven't been working on WP for almost a year. I was wanting to contribute to free and open source projects since I use many of them. I'm not a really GOOD programmer though, and I thought WP was a good way to help. It still is, but with my limited free time, I've been working on artwork for the OpenClipart library instead. I will work some more at WP if (when!) I have more free time.

http://www.seansastronomyshop.com

title: User:Beetlenaut


text:
Pascal Cygan

Pascal Cygan (born 29 April 1974) is a French former footballer. His favoured position was central defender, but he could also play as a left back.

After starting out at Lille in his country, Cygan would play four years in the Premier League with Arsenal and three in La Liga with Villarreal, in a 17-year professional career.

Early life
Cygan was born in Lens, Pas-de-Calais.

Lille
Cygan started his senior career in the ranks of lowly ES Wasquehal before going professional with Lille OSC in 1995, making his Division 1 debut that year but also going on to also spend three seasons in Division 2. In 1999–2000 he was an instrumental defensive element for the champions and, in the subsequent top-flight campaign, helped them achieve a third-place finish, with qualification to the UEFA Champions League.

In this time, Cygan was also promoted to the captaincy, seen as a role model to help develop the younger players. He was also winner of the Etoile d'Or in his last year in France.

Arsenal
Cygan joined Arsenal in July 2002 for £2 million, making his debut in a 1–1 draw with Chelsea on 1 September after coming on as a late substitute for Nwankwo Kanu. While he featured notably in some of the team's more important fixtures, he was mostly considered only a fringe player; he missed the 2003 FA Cup final through injury, but did pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 2004 after contributing with 18 appearances.

Cygan scored three goals for Arsenal in league action, including an unlikely brace in his first game of 2005–06 against Fulham (4–1 home win). Until then he had only netted once, against Everton in March 2003.

Also that season, following injuries to both Ashley Cole and Gaël Clichy, Cygan was drafted in as an emergency left back, and was even named in the Opta team of the week on 9 January 2006. Overall, his side won 12 of the 20 matches he played in and kept 11 clean sheets in the process. He suffered a hamstring injury in January against Middlesbrough and was unable to play again that season as he was fourth choice behind Sol Campbell, Philippe Senderos and Kolo Touré, with young Johan Djourou also competing for a place.

Cygan played 98 competitive games during his spell at Highbury, including 20 in the Champions League.

Spain
In August 2006, Cygan completed a transfer to Villarreal CF for a £2 million transfer fee, joining former Arsenal teammate and compatriot Robert Pires at the club. On 6 June 2008, after having been fairly used in his first two years, mainly due to consecutive serious injuries to Gonzalo Rodríguez, he signed a new one-year deal. However, following a lack of first-team opportunities in 2008–09, and with Villarreal unwilling to extend his contract for a further campaign, he left in July 2009; his La Liga goals came on 5 November 2006 against Real Betis (3–2 home win), and against Levante UD on 31 October 2007 (3–0, also at El Madrigal).

On 10 August 2009, Cygan joined FC Cartagena, recently promoted to Segunda División, on a one-year deal. Aged 37, he was released by the Murcians and retired from professional football.

Honours
Lille
 * Division 2: 1999–2000

Arsenal FA Cup 2005
 * Premier League: 2003–04
 * FA Community Shield: 2002, 2004

Individual
 * Etoile d'Or: 2001–02

title: Pascal Cygan