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Karolos Papoulias

Karolos Papoulias (Κάρολος Παπούλιας ; 4 June 1929 – 26 December 2021) was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015.

A member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), he previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1993 until 1996.

Early life
Karolos Papoulias was born in the village of Molyvdoskepastos, Ioannina on 4 June 1929, and was the son of Major General Gregorios Papoulias. He attended primary school in Pogoniani and secondary schools in Pogoniani, Zosimaia School in Ioannina, and in the Paleo Faliro and Pangrati districts of Athens. The Nazi invasion of Greece in April 1941 caught him studying in Pogoniani and Papoulias joined the armed resistance against the Germans. He obtained a law degree from the University of Athens, a master's degree in public international law and international relations from the University of Milan, and a doctorate in private international law from the University of Cologne with a doctoral thesis entitled: "Erwerb und Verlust des unmittelbaren Besitzes im griechishen und deutschen Recht" ("The acquisition and loss of immediate possession in Greek and German law"). He was in West Germany at the time of the 1967 coup d'état and Papoulias headed the organization of the Democratic Socialist Union Abroad, which was responsible for mobilizing Greek workers, students and scientists in Europe against the new junta of the Colonels. He also founded the first trade union organization of the resistance and collaborated with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Papoulias was an associate of the Munich Institute for Southeast Europe. A onetime pole vault national champion and national volleyball team player, Papoulias was chairman of the National Sports Association. He was also a founding member and president of the Association for the Greek Linguistic Heritage.

Papoulias was active in the left-wing EPON youth as a young man.

Role in PASOK, parliamentary, and government offices
Papoulias was a founding member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and a close associate of its leader Andreas Papandreou. From December 1974 on he was continually elected to the PASOK Central Committee. He was also member of the Coordination Council, the Executive Bureau and the Political Secretariat, as well as Secretary of the PASOK International Relations Committee from April 1975 to 1985. For a number of years he was also a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Socialist and Progressive Parties of the Mediterranean.

He was first elected to the Greek Parliament in 1977 for Ioannina, and held his seat continuously through the subsequent legislative elections until his 2004 election as President of the Republic. Under Andreas Papandreou government, Papoulias was deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, from 1981 to 1985, and from 1985 to 1989 and from 1993 to 1996, Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the ecumenical government of Xenophon Zolotas he served as deputy minister of National Defense between 1989 and 1990. During Costas Simitis' first ministerial term, he was for several years, from 1998 to 2004, president of the Permanent Committee of National Defense and Foreign Affairs.

Minister for Foreign Affairs: 1985–1989, 1993–1996
In the 1980s, Papoulias played a key role in trying to reach a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He mediated a safe departure of trapped Palestinian militants and Yasser Arafat from Lebanon aboard Greek vessels in 1983. He created diplomatic relations with the Arab world and achieved the normalization of relations between Greece and Egypt and the establishment of tripartite cooperation between Iran, Armenia, and Greece. He held talks with a total of 12 Turkish Foreign Ministers to normalize Greco-Turkish relations. This resulted in the signing of the Papoulias-Yılmaz memorandum in 1988.

He supported Turkey's European aspirations conditional on their respect for international law and European Union values.

In his term between 1993 and 1996 and particularly at the crucial Essen Summit he played an important role in starting accession talks between the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union.

As president-in-office of the European Union and member of the contact group for the former Yugoslavia he worked to bring about a resolution of the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He signed the Interim Agreement with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, aiming at the establishment of better relations between that nation and Greece.

He was very interested in relations between Greece and the Balkan states and it was upon his initiative that the first meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Balkans was organized in Belgrade in 1988. There, he began talks with Bulgaria and the then Soviet Union on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

He was responsible for the signing of the protocol of mutual civil and military assistance with Bulgaria in the 1980s. He restored friendly and neighbourly relations with Albania by ending the state of war between that country and Greece.

Papoulias was supportive of any step towards détente, peace, and disarmament e.g. the "Initiative of the Six" for peace and disarmament, the participation of Greece in the Conference on Disarmament and Peace in Europe and in the Conference for the Abolition of Chemical Weapons, his proposals to create a nuclear-free zone in the Balkans and the promotion of the idea of making the Mediterranean a sea of peace and cooperation. The JANNINA 1 tripartite cooperation conference, between Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania, was his idea and he was a strong supporter of the Black Sea Conference, which he also chaired.

With his visit to Washington, D.C. in 1985 and the return visit of Secretary of State George Shultz, he revitalized Greek-U.S. relations which had gone through a delicate phase during the previous years.

First term: 2005–2010
On 12 December 2004, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, leader of the governing New Democracy party, and George Papandreou, leader of the PASOK opposition, nominated Papoulias for the presidency. That same day Karamanlis made it public in a televised message. In fact, he had already communicated this decision to Papoulias in a phone call on 5 December, as he had been discussing his candidacy with him since the summer. Papoulias won over the other four candidates that PASOK and ND had been negotiating. On 8 February 2005, he was elected by 279 of 300 votes to a five-year term. He was sworn in as the 6th President of the Third Hellenic Republic on 12 March 2005, succeeding Konstantinos Stephanopoulos.

In December 2008, the police killing of a 15-year-old protester, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, sparked four days of riots in Athens. Papoulias called for calm to "honor Alexis' memory peacefully".

At the inauguration of the Acropolis Museum on 20 June 2009, Papoulias demanded the return of the Elgin Marbles from the United Kingdom, which were torn from the Parthenon by the British, because "it is time to heal the wounds of the monument with the return of the marbles that belong to it".

Second term: 2010–2015

After securing the support of the two major political parties, Papoulias was re-elected to a second and final term on 3 February 2010 with a parliamentary majority of 266 votes. His second term in office was mired in the country's worsening financial crisis and large demonstrations and protests. This resulted in successive changes of government of different political orientations, with the appointment of conservative, socialist, socialist-conservative and left-wing governments.

Following the government's agreement with the International Monetary Fund on 3 May 2010, Papoulias expressed on 5 May that "our country has reached the limit of disaster" after the general strike that day turned violent and in which three bank workers were killed when the offices were set on fire by protesters.

On 28 October 2011, Greece's national day, protests occurred throughout the country. In Thessaloniki, protesters managed to prevent the annual military parade from taking place and chanted slogans against Papoulias, calling him, among other things, a "traitor" and he was forced to leave the area. On that day Papoulias' emotional statement is remembered, in which he said that "I became a guerrilla when I was fifteen years old to fight against Nazism".

George Papandreou offered Papoulias his resignation as Prime Minister on 5 November 2011 to secure approval of the €130 billion euro bailout deal, and he appointed Lucas Papademos as his caretaker successor on 10 November. Papademos resigned few months after, in April 2012 and asked Papoulias to dissolve the Parliament and call for a snap election, scheduled for 6 May of that year.

On 15 February 2012 Papoulias resigned his salary as president. A few months later it was revealed that his salary was not withdrawn, but decreased.

That same month, when Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said that Greece should delay its elections and install a technocratic government, Papoulias replied that "we are all obliged to work hard to overcome this crisis, but we cannot accept Mr. Schäuble's insults. Who is Mr. Schäuble to insult Greece? Who are these Dutch? who are these Finns? We have always defended not only the freedom of our country, but the freedom of Europe".

After no party won an absolute majority of seats in the May 2012 legislative election, Papoulias called all party leaders to a meeting on 13 May following the terms of section 37 of the constitution, in a final attempt to form a national unity government. After he had met with all represented parties over the course of the day, he decided to call for a second meeting the next day with the PASOK, ND and DIMAR. The talks failed on 15 May, with an early election expected in June. So Papopulias appointed a caretaker cabinet under Council of State president Panagiotis Pikrammenos on 16 May, and the election date set for 17 June. At the same time, Papoulias was told by the head of the Bank of Greece George Provopoulos that local financial institutions were concerned about a bank run with the increased rate of withdrawal of euros, which were up to 700 million. Papoulias stated that "there is, of course, no panic, but there is fear that could develop into panic" acknowledging that Greeks on 14 May had withdrawn 800 million euros from the country's banking system.

With the victory of ND leader Antonis Samaras in the elections, Papoulias tasked him to form a government. On 20 June he invested Samaras as the new Prime Minister.

The murder of rapper and anti-fascist Pavlos Fyssas in September 2013 by a Golden Dawn neo-fascist sparked a wave of outrage in Greece and Papoulias stated that "it's my supreme duty as president of the republic to defend democracy and the Greek people from the storm that is approaching" and protect Greeks from neo-fascism. In 2014, during an official visit by German President Joachim Gauck Papoulias demanded that talks be scheduled as soon as possible on Greek claims for war reparations for the brutal German occupation during World War II.

His presidential term ended in March 2015 and he was replaced by Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who was elected Greece's new president in a parliamentary vote in February 2015.

Personal life and death
Papoulias was married to Mary Panou and together, they had three daughters. Apart from his native Greek, he also spoke English, French, German, and Italian.

He died on 26 December 2021 in Athens at the age of 92. The Greek government announced three days of national mourning on December 27–29 with flags down to half-mast. His state funeral took place on 29 December at the church of Agios Spyridon in Pagrati and was attended by the country's highest authorities. The following day he was buried on the island of Lake Ioannina.

Honours

 * Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, 1983)
 * Second Class of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland, 1995)
 * Jubilee Medal "60 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (Russia, 2005)
 * Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (Austria, 2007)
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav (Croatia, 2007)
 * Knight of the Order of the Elephant (Denmark, 2006)
 * Knight Grand Cross with Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2006)
 * Knight of the Order of the Seraphim (Sweden, 2008)
 * Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (Finland, 2009)
 * Knight of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland, 2013)
 * Order of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia, 2013)

title: Karolos Papoulias


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Kylver Stone

The Kylver stone, listed in the Rundata catalog as runic inscription G 88, is a Swedish runestone which dates from about 400 AD. It is notable for its listing of each of the runes in the Elder Futhark.

Description
The Kylver stone was found during the excavation of a cemetery near a farm at Kylver, Stånga, Gotland in 1903. The stone was a flat limestone rock used to seal a grave and the runic inscription was written on the underside, and could therefore not be read from above. The dating of the stone from 400 CE is based upon the archeological dating of the graves.

The Kylver stone was removed from Gotland and brought to the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm where it is on display.

The fact that the inscription was on the inside of a cover to a grave has resulted in speculation that it represented a use of the Elder Futhark to pacify the dead man in some manner. However, it has been pointed out that there is nothing in the inscription to support this. In addition, there is no evidence that the inscription was made for the purpose of being used on the cover of a grave. There are many examples where stone with runic inscriptions was reused for other purposes. It has been suggested that the likely purpose of making the inscription was for practice or instruction in the carving of the Elder Futhark.

Inscription
The Kylver stone is inscribed with the earliest known sequential listing of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark,

with the a (ᚨ), s (ᛊ), and b runes (ᛒ) mirrored compared to later use, and the z rune (ᛉ) upside down (ᛦ). The dots in the image indicate incorrect or unorthodox forms like these in the original inscription. The f (ᚠ) and w runes (ᚹ) runes are only partially inscribed.

After the last rune follows a spruce- or tree-like rune, with six twigs to the left and eight to the right of a single stave. This is interpreted as a bindrune of stacked Tiwaz rune, or possibly of six Tiwaz and four Ansuz runes to invoke Tyr and the Æsir for protection.

At a separate space the word ᛊᚢᛖᚢᛊ sueus is inscribed. The meaning of this latter palindromic word is unknown, but it is possible that it is associated with magic. One suggestion presented by Marstrander is that it is a magical writing of the word 'eus' (the nominative form of the word horse) starting from the e and writing either way. However, this suggestion has been criticized as being "linguistically impossible" for that time period. The small inscription also uses the Younger Futhark version of the s-rune. It is also possible that it refers to the Germanic tribe of the Suiones that inhabited the region, whose realm laid the basis for what became Sweden.

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

title: Kylver Stone


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Caramac

Caramac was the brand name for a caramel-based confectionery created by Mackintosh's, and was manufactured by Nestlé. It was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1959 and discontinued in 2023. The name is derived from the syllabic abbreviation of Caramel and Mackintosh.

A similar confection is used in the covering of McVitie's Gold biscuit bar. A limited edition Caramac Kit Kat bar was released in the United Kingdom in 2005 and due to popular demand it was brought back in 2007.

In 2015 a buttons version was launched.

In November 2023, Nestle announced that they would be withdrawing the Caramac from their range due to low sales.

History
The name of the product was determined in a competition. The competition was held in what was the Norwich factory of Mackintosh's, and won by Barbara Herne. The bar was made at the old Norwich factory until its closure in 1996, when production transferred to Fawdon on Tyneside.

Design
The bar was a light brown colour and was manufactured using sweetened condensed milk, butter, various flavourings, and sugar. It was packaged in a red and yellow wrapper.

title: Caramac


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Shuafat

Shuafat (شعفاط  ), also Shu'fat and Sha'fat, is a mostly Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles north of the Old City, Shu'fat has a population of 35,000 residents.

Next to the Shuafat neighbourhood there is a refugee camp of the same name, which was established by King Hussein of Jordan in 1965 to house Palestinian refugees from the Jerusalem, Lydda, Jaffa, and Ramleh areas, after the Muascar camp in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City had been closed.

Shuafat borders Pisgat Ze'ev and Beit Hanina on the north, Shu'fat refugee camp on the east, French Hill on the south, and Ramat Shlomo on the west. Shu'fat is located in the part of the West Bank which was included in the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem after its occupation in 1967.

Etymology
Conder and Kitchener suggested that Shuafat's name derives from the Jewish king Jehoshaphat, but it could be a corruption of Mizphe or Sapha. It is possible that the name of this town was altered by the Crusaders or that it was slightly modified from the word Sh'af (plural Sh'afat), which means mountain top.

Edward Henry Palmer gave "p.n" as the meaning for the name, (""p.n": (proper name) after a name, mean either that it is a common Arabic personal appellation, or that it is a word to which no meaning can be assigned"), and added "The village is said by the peasantry to have been named after a king Shafat (perhaps Jehoshaphat)."

Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau reported several traditions regarding the name of the village. According to one tradition, told by a local woman, Sha'fat was known in ancient times under the name of Alaikou. According to a second tradition, it was known in the past as Deir Mahruk, "the burned covent". A third tale, "evidently of Christian origin", also linked the place to Jehoshaphat. It asserted that "there was once upon a time at Sha'fat a king named Yachafat, who is mentioned in the Tora; it was he who gave his name to the country". Clermont-Ganneau noted that the Hebrew name Jehoshaphat does not contain the 'ayin that exists in Sha'fat, and therefore, this tale was an "entirely artificial tradition", which was possibly influenced by the nearby valley of Josaphat.

History
The area of Shuafat has been intermittently settled, with the oldest architectural findings dating to the Chalcolithic period 7000 years ago. Findings from the 2nd–1st century BC revealed the presence of a fortified agricultural settlement by that period. The settlement reached its largest size in the Roman period, between 70–130 CE, before being abandoned or destroyed after the 135 CE Bar Kokhba Revolt, only to be re-inhabited on a smaller scale in the 2nd–4th centuries.

Late 19th-century Biblical historians have suggested that it might be linked to Mizpah in Benjamin, and Nob, while one 21st-century review suggested Gebim, though cautioning that it remains uncertain.

Second Temple Period
Following a 1991 archaeological dig conducted by Alexander Onn and Tzvi Greenhut which unearthed a 2nd century BCE fortified agricultural settlement near Shuafat, an underground room in the complex was dated to the early first century BCE, and identified as a prayer room or synagogue. Subsequently, this interpretation of the site was strongly questioned. In 2008, Rachel Hachlili stated that the structure is no longer considered to have been a synagogue. The settlement was abandoned after being severely damaged by the 31 BCE earthquake.

Jewish tombs dating to this period have also been discovered at Ramat Shlomo, at what was formerly known as Shuafat Ridge. A large quarry, possibly linked to Herod's expansion of the Second Temple, dating to the period has also been found in Ramat Shlomo.

During an archaeological salvage dig conducted near the Shuafat refugee camp in preparation for the laying of the tracks for the Jerusalem Light Rail system, the remains of a Jewish settlement from the Roman period were discovered. The settlement was on the main Roman road leading northward from Jerusalem towards Shechem/Flavia Neapolis. It was inhabited between the two main revolts of the Jews against the Romans, as it was established after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and was suddenly abandoned around 130 CE, shortly before the outbreak of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–36). It is described as a 'sophisticated community impeccably planned by the Roman authorities, with orderly rows of houses and two fine public bathhouses to the north.'

At the time of its discovery, the site was said to be the first indication of an active Jewish settlement in the area of Jerusalem after the city fell in 70 CE, and with a presumed total surface area of c. 11 dunams (minimum length 310 m, width c. 35 m), it was also considered the largest Jewish settlement of the time "in the vicinity of Jerusalem". The main indication that the settlement was a Jewish one is the large and varied assemblage of chalkstone vessels found there. Such vessels, for food storage and serving, were only used by Jews because they were believed not to transmit impurity. Some of the vessels discovered there belong to a type only found after 70 CE. An even more conclusive archaeological evidence of the Jewish character of a settlement is the presence of Jewish ritual baths, several of which were found during later work.

The presence of the public bathhouses, the delay in finding Jewish ritual baths, and the discovery of imported Italian and Greek wine produced by non-Jews, which the very purity-concerned Jews of the time would have avoided, made researchers at first speculate whether the settlement might have been a mixed Jewish-Roman (pagan) one, with the bathhouses operated by Jews for the benefit of Roman soldiers. The quality of the buildings and other findings, such rich coin hoards, cosmetics, stone vessels and imported wine, attest to the wealth of the inhabitants.

Late Roman and Byzantine periods
The abandoned or destroyed site was resettled on a smaller scale in the second–fourth centuries CE, with agricultural terraces recently exposed west of Shuʽfat Street.

Crusader period
The place was known to the Crusaders as Dersophath or Dersophach. In March 1179, it was noted that its revenues went to the abbey of St Mary of Mount Sion as the result of a grant made by Anselm de Parenti.

Remains of a Crusader structure in the center of the village have been found. Guérin thought it was possibly a church: "One [house] which still today bears the name El-Kniseh (the church), presents the remains of a Christian sanctuary facing east, whose windows were pointed and which dates in all likelihood from the Middle Ages. Some fine ashlars of antique appearance had been used, along with other smaller material, in the construction of this little church." However, Schick found no church, "simply an old Crusading building with two preserved windows. The walls are about 6 feet thick, against which the fellaheen houses are built and so it is not easy to recognise. It was a kind of khan built in the usual Crusading way, with a vault a little higher in the middle than semi-circular." Seikh 'Abd-allah's tomb was built on top of this church.

Mamluk period
Archaeologists discovered that agricultural terraces from the area were built and covered with topsoil during the Mamluk period (1260–1516).

Ottoman period
The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 Shuafat appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had eight Muslim families who paid taxes on wheat, barley, vineyards and other agricultural produce; a total of 2,200 akçe.

In 1838, Edward Robinson described Shuafat as a small Muslim village with the remains of an old wall, while de Saulcy, who saw it in 1851, wrote that "this village has the appearance of a castle of the middle ages with a square keep."

The French explorer Guérin visited in 1863 and noted that the village was situated on an elevated plateau "from which one can make out perfectly the cupolas and minarets of Jerusalem," and that it counted 150 inhabitants. He described the houses as for the most part fairly old and vaulted internally. He noted the remains of a church called al-Kanisa, facing east. He thought it was a Frankish church. He also passed by in 1870. An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed 23 houses and a population of 90, counting men only.

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Shuafat as "A small village, standing on a flat spur immediately west of the watershed, surrounded with olive-trees. It has wells to the north. There is a sacred chapel of Sultan Ibrahim in the village." In 1896 the population of Scha'fat was estimated to be about 276 persons.

The Ottomans built a road in the same place as the old Roman road linking Jerusalem to Nablus.

British Mandate period
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sha'afat had a population 422, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 539, still all Muslims, in 123 houses.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Shu'fat was 760, all Muslims, and it had 5,215 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 484 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 2,111 for cereals, while 62 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian period
The town of Shuafat was to be the most northernmost point of the corpus separatum proposed in 1947 for Jerusalem and its surrounding villages, which "in view of its association with three world religions" was to be "accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine and should be placed under effective United Nations control".

In mid-February, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, leader of Palestinian irregulars in the area, tried to persuade the residents of Shuafat to attack the neighbouring Jewish village of Neve Yaakov but the invitation was declined. On 13 May the villagers were evacuated on orders from the Arab Legion. Shortly afterwards the Palmach captured Shuafat, destroying many of the buildings. Shuafat was then occupied by Jordan, which annexed the West Bank in April 1950.

Jordan's king Hussein also built a palace here.

In 1961, the population of Shuafat was 2,541, of whom 253 were Christian.

Shuafat refugee camp
In the wake of the 1948 war, the Red Cross accommodated Palestinian refugees in the depopulated and partly destroyed Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. This grew into the Muaska refugee camp managed by UNRWA, which housed refugees from 48 locations now in Israel. Over time many poor non-refugees also settled in the camp. Conditions became unsafe for habitation due to lack of maintenance and sanitation, but neither UNRWA nor the Jordanian government wanted the negative international response that would result if they demolished the old Jewish houses.

In 1964, a decision was made to move the refugees to a new camp constructed on mostly Jewish land near Shuafat. Most of the refugees refused to move, since it would mean losing their livelihood, the market and the tourists, as well as reducing their access to the holy sites. In the end, many of the refugees were moved to Shuafat by force during 1965 and 1966.

1967 and aftermath
After the Six-Day War in 1967, East Jerusalem, including the town and refugee camp, was occupied and later annexed by Israel and were incorporated into the Jerusalem municipal district. The residents were offered Israeli citizenship, but most refused it as they considered the area to be illegally occupied. Many accepted permanent residency status instead.

According to ARIJ, Israel has illegally and unilaterally redrawn the boundaries of Jerusalem Municipality, and confiscated 3,989 dunams of Shu’fat land (47% of the total town's area) in order to establish five Israeli settlements:
 * 1,494 dunams for Rekhes Shufat (Ramat Shlomo)
 * 1,446 dunams for Ramot (Ramot Allon)
 * 416 dunams for Ramat Eshkol
 * 239 dunams for Pisgat Amir
 * 394 dunams for Giva't Shappira (French Hill)

The Shuafat refugee camp is the only Palestinian refugee camp located inside Jerusalem or any other Israeli-administered area. While its residents carry Jerusalem identity cards, which grants them the same privileges and rights as regular Israelis, the camp itself is largely serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, even though 40 - 50% of the camp's population are not registered refugees. The Israeli West Bank barrier was partially constructed between the camp and the rest of Shuafat and Jerusalem. Some health services are provided by Israeli clinics in the camp. The Israeli presence is limited to checkpoints controlling entry and exit. According to Ir Amim, the camp suffers from high crime as Israeli Police rarely enter due to security concerns and the Palestinian Civil Police Force do not operate in Israeli-administered municipalities. Unlike other UN-run refugee camps, residents of Shuafat camp pay taxes to the Israeli authorities.

The Shuafat Ridge next to the township was declared a 'green zone' to stop Palestinians in Shuafat from building there, until the opportunity arose to unfreeze its status as a green area and open it up for a new Jewish neighbourhood, as Teddy Kollek openly admitted.

In a survey conducted as part of the research for the book Negotiating Jerusalem (2000), it was reported that 59% of Israeli Jews supported redefining the borders of the city of Jerusalem so as to exclude Arab settlements such as Shuafat, in order to ensure a "Jewish majority" in Jerusalem.

In July 2001, the Israeli authorities destroyed 14 homes under construction in Shuafat on the orders of then mayor Ehud Olmert, who said the structures were built without permits. No one was yet living in them. The families acknowledged they do not own the land they built on, but believed they had permission to build there from Islamic Trust religious authorities and argue that obtaining permits to build legally is nearly impossible. Olmert said the houses were being constructed on public land in a "green area" and posed a security threat to the Jews of Pisgat Zeev. According to Isabel Kershner of the New York Times, Shuafat suffered from an absence of municipal planning, overcrowding, and potholed roads in 2007.

As prime minister, Ehud Olmert questioned whether the annexation of areas like Shuafat into the Jerusalem area was necessary. The Israeli initiative to transfer control of the area to the Palestinian National Authority led to a split in the community: A camp official favored being under Palestinian sovereignty, while the neighborhood's mukhtar rejected the plan, citing his residents' participation in Israeli elections as well as the danger of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

In 2012, Sorbonne scholar Prof. Sylvaine Bulle cited the Shuafat refugee camp for its urban renewal dynamic, seeing it as an example of a creative adaptation to the fragmented space of the camps towards creating a bricolage city, with businesses relocating from east Jerusalem there and new investment in commercial projects.

Three stations of the First 'Red' Line of the Jerusalem Light Rail are situated in Shuafat: Shuafat North, Shuafat Central and Shuafat South.

The neighbourhood's Main Street, Shuafat Road, was previously part of route 60. In the 1990s a new route was built to the east of the neighbourhood, a dual carriageway with 3 lines in each direction, relieving traffic congestion along the road.

In 2014, the 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir was kidnapped from near his home in Shuafat. He was then murdered by his kidnappers, who were Jewish extremists.

title: Shuafat


text:
Lepta

Lepta (Лепта, Contribution) is the second full-length album by the Russian folk metal band Arkona. It was released on 30 December 2004 through Sound Age Production.

Track listing

 * 1) "Sotkany Veka" (Woven Ages) – 4:14
 * 2) "Lepta o Gneve" (Contribution to Wrath) – 5:26
 * 3) "Chyornye Debri Voyny" (Black Thickets of War) – 4:29
 * 4) "Zarnitsy Nashey Svobody" (Dawns of Our Freedom) – 5:40
 * 5) "Vyidu Ya na Volyushku" (I'll Come to the Free Lands) – 3:37
 * 6) "Voin Pravdy" (Warrior of Truth) – 05:46
 * 7) "Marena" – 7:24
 * 8) "Epilog" – 1:51
 * 9) "Oy, To Ne Vecher..." (Oh, That Is Not Eve) – 3:12

Track # 3 is dedicated to the memory of those fallen in the terrorist attacks in Russia. Track # 9 is a Russian folk song.

Original track listing (in Russian)

 * 1) "Сотканы века"
 * 2) "Лепта о гневе"
 * 3) "Черные дебри войны"
 * 4) "Зарницы нашей свободы"
 * 5) "Выйду я на волюшку"
 * 6) "Воин правды"
 * 7) "Марена"
 * 8) "Эпилог"
 * 9) "Ой, то не вечер..."

Credits

 * Masha "Scream" – vocals, keyboards, flute
 * Alexei "Lesyar" Agafonov – vocals (track #3)
 * Sergei "Lazar" – guitars
 * Ruslan "Kniaz" – bass
 * Vlad "Artist" – drums

title: Lepta


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Xenuphobia

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

Xenuphobia is an invented word that has not been used by either Scientologists or critics of Scientology. The article does not follow a neutral point of view. No Wikipedia articles link to it, and it has existed in limbo with a disputed header since it was first written in July of 2004. Furthermore, I state this as a person who does not support Scientology, but does support a neutral point of view in Wikipedia. --Modemac 12:22, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. This was one of a spate of articles against Scientology at the time. Many of the others have been brought to a usable condition, but yeah, this is an invented term. Also doesn't contain any useful information not in Xenu - David Gerard 12:40, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Orphaned neologism, no useful content. Andrewa 19:32, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Neologism from outer space. Geogre 19:39, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. It's a joke, not a serious concept that needs any sort of explanation. -- Antaeus Feldspar 01:22, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete this borderline nonsense/vandalism. Wyss 12:37, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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


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Fiat Strada

The Fiat Strada is a subcompact pickup truck (B-segment) produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat since 1998. It is mainly produced in Brazil and marketed throughout Latin America, whereas the first-generation Strada was also assembled in South Africa and exported to Europe from Brazil.

Based on a unibody chassis with front-wheel drive configuration, the Strada shares its platform with several Fiat subcompact cars such as the Palio, Siena, and Uno. , the Strada is the smallest of three Fiat pickup trucks, which include the larger unibody Toro and the body-on-frame Titano.

First generation (278; 1998)
Launched in October 1998 in Brazil, the first-generation Strada is the cargo carrying derivative of the "Project 178". The Strada was made to replace the Fiat City, a pickup version of the Fiorino, a commercial derivative of the Fiat Uno. The Strada features a maximum loading capacity of 700 kg and a cargo space of 1770 mm x 1314 mm.

In Europe the Strada was launched in April 1999 with two engines: the 1.2 Fire petrol with 73 hp-metric and the 1.7 turbodiesel with 70 hp-metric.

2001 revision
In 2001, the model had its first facelift. The new design was made by the Italian design guru Giorgetto Giugiaro. The facelift included a new front and interior. The Mark II series marked the début of an extended-cab version. In 2002, Fiat do Brasil launched the first version of a Fiat Strada Adventure, with "off-road" looks.

2004 revision
The new Mark III was launched in 2004. It has a revised front and interior design taken from the Palio (and also designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro). Also, a second version of the Strada Adventure was built, with the same features of the Weekend Adventure. It was offered in Europe with the relatively modern 1.9-L JTD diesel engine.

In South Africa, the Strada is offered in four variants: 1.2 Fire MPI EL, 1.6 Torque MPI EL, 1.6 Torque MPI ELX (same as the EL but with colour-coded bumpers and mirrors, electric windows, driver's airbag, and air conditioning), and 1.7 turbo diesel EL. Fiat South Africa also introduced the X-Space model, which stretches the cab by 30 cm. This model is available in two models, the standard X-Space and the X-Space Adventure (which has similar specifications to the standard 1.6 ELX model). Both X-Space models are powered by the 1.4 Fire MPI engine.

In Europe, it is available only with the 1.3 Multijet 16V diesel engine with 85 hp-metric and Euro 4 standard emission level.

2009–2013
Unveiled in summer 2009, the all-new Mark IV model was put on sale in the end of 2009. Whilst the model shares its name with the previous Strada, a large number of its components are new, including a new bodyshell. For the rest of the South America, the new Strada was introduced in mid-2010. The design is inspired by the Fiat Grande Punto with many elements similar to the latest versions of the family Palio and Siena. The fourth-generation Strada is built in four different versions: Working, the basic version, Trekking, with more goodies, the Sporting for sportier style with aero kit body style, and the Adventure with a locking differential dedicated to off-road use. In 2010, Fiat do Brazil introduced a new double-cab version (also called Strada Cabina Dupla) with four seats, but maintaining the same wheelbase.

The engines used are the Fiat 1.4-L 16V Fire Flex (85 PS) and the 1.8-L 16-V Ecotec Flex (114 PS). For diesel, the 1.3-L 16V Multijet unit with 87 PS is also available.

The Strada was relaunched for Italy and other selected European markets in 2012.

2013–2021
At the end of 2013, Fiat unveiled the latest facelift of the Strada (as a model year 2014) based on the 2009 version. The new Strada introduced a new front fascia and new rear lights, and the double-cab version is available with the suicide-style rear doors. Three versions are sold in South America: Working, Trekking and Adventure with four different body styles.

For the 2015 model year, the Fiat Strada was rebadged by Ram Trucks for the Mexican market as the Ram 700.

In 2018, total sales of the Strada in the Brazilian market surpassed 1.4 million of units.

Second generation (281; 2020)
The second generation of the Fiat Strada (codeproject 281) was presented on June 26, 2020 in Brazil and is based on the new MC-P modular platform derived from the Fiat Argo with the front MacPherson suspension and part of the cabin taken from the Fiat Mobi model and the rear suspension taken from the Brazilian Fiat Fiorino (327). For the first time the Strada was produced in the double cab 4-door version with 5-seats.

The second generation of Strada introduce the large silver-colored Fiat front logo replacing the previous one, a small Italian flag inserted in the grid and LED light clusters. The side and tail, on the other hand, appear more classic, with the possibility of choosing between the two and four-door versions featuring a different capacity: 720 kg and 1,354 liters for the first and 650 kg and 844 liters for the second. In order to ensure maximum mobility even on rough surfaces, the raised structure allows the car to lift from the ground by 211 mm and a front angle of attack of 24 degrees. The interior reproduces some of the contents of the Fiat Uno (327) produced in Brazil, even if some secondary controls are modified. In addition to the display at the center of the instrumentation, there is also an UConnect 5 infotainment with 7-inch touchscreen, bluetooth, wireless, compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Starting on 18 November 2020, the rebadged RAM 700 saw a new generation for the Mexican market. It is offered in the SLT (regular and crew cab), Bighorn, and Laramie trim levels.

Engine
The range of engines consist in the 1.4 Fire EVO Flex 8 valve (85 HP petrol and 88 HP ethanol) of the Endurance versions and the 1.3 Firefly Flex 8 valve (101 HP petrol and 109 HP ethanol) of the Freedom, Volcano and ranch, both with the five-speed manual gearbox gears and simulated 7-speed cvt-type automatic transmission and the E-Locker traction control system. As of August 2023, the Ultra and Ranch versions will feature the new 1.0-liter gasoline/ethanol turbo engine, producing 125/130hp and 20.4 kgfm coupled to a CVT gearbox that simulates 7 gears.

Safety
The Strada has 4 airbags, electronic stability control (ESC) Ventilated Front disc brakes and drum brakes in the rear.

Latin NCAP
The Latin American Strada with airbags and ESC received 1 star from Latin NCAP in 2022 under its new protocol (similar to Euro NCAP 2014).

title: Fiat Strada


text: File:Xenu-LRH-handwriting.png

title: File:Xenu-LRH-handwriting.png


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Duchy of Spoleto

The Duchy of Spoleto (Ducato di Spoleto, Ducatus Spolitanorum) was a Lombard territory founded about 570 in central Italy by the Lombard dux Faroald. Its capital was the city of Spoleto.

Lombards

The Lombards invaded northern Italy in 568 and began their conquest of the peninsula eventually establishing the Kingdom of the Lombards. Following the conquest of the north, the Lombards moved into central and southern Italy capturing the important hub of Spoleto in 570. In 572, the Lombards captured the northern city of Pavia after a siege of three years and established the first capital city of their new Kingdom. As time progressed, the captured territories were divided by the Lombard king among numerous dependent dukes.

A decade of interregnum after the death of Alboin's successor (574), however, left the Lombard dukes (especially the southern ones) well settled in their new territories and quite independent of the Lombard kings at Pavia. By 575 or 576 Faroald had seized Nursia and Spoleto, establishing his duchy and sponsoring an Arian bishop. Within Spoleto, the Roman capitolium dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva had already been occupied by the bishop's cathedral (the see was founded in the 4th century) which incorporated the pagan structure (now the church of San Ansano). The Lombard dukes restored the fortifications of the high rocca, whose walls had been dismantled by Totila during the Gothic War.

The dukes of Spoleto waged intermittent war with the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna, and Spoleto's territories fluctuated with the fortunes of the times over much of Umbria, Lazio, the Marche and the Abruzzi. Never as important as the Duchy of Benevento, Spoleto has a fairly obscure spot in Lombard history, nevertheless. Its second Duke Ariulf made frequent expeditions against the Byzantines (in 579–592 against Ravenna and in 592 against Rome). Ariulf was succeeded by Theudelapius, son of Faroald, whom the Catholic Encyclopedia credits with the first building of Spoleto's cathedral. Then came Atto (653), Thrasimund I (663), and Faroald II (703), who ruled conjointly with his brother Wachilap. Faroald II captured Classis, the port of Ravenna, according to Paul the Deacon's History of the Lombards: "In that time too Faroald, the first dux of the Spoletans, invading Classis with an army of Lombards, left the wealthy city despoiled and bare of all its riches." He was then obliged by Liutprand, King of the Lombards to restore it, a measure of the loose central control of Lombard rule that Liutprand was occupied in tightening, at least as Paul interpreted events for his Frankish patrons. At Spoleto Faroald was deposed by his son Transemund II (724), who also rebelled against Liutprand and formed an alliance with Pope Gregory III, who sheltered him in Rome in 738. Ilderic, who had replaced him as duke, was slain by Transemund in 740, but in 742 Transemund was forcibly retired to a monastery by Liutprand, who conferred the duchy that he had rewon by force of arms upon Agiprand (742). By the time of Liutprand's death (744), Spoleto was more securely in central control from Pavia, and Theodicus succeeded peaceably. Three 8th-century dukes were Kings of the Lombards, a sign that in that period Spoleto was linked more closely to the kingdom than was Benevento.

Imperial fief
In 776, two years after the fall of Pavia, Spoleto fell likewise to Charlemagne and his Carolingian Empire, and he assumed the title King of the Lombards. Though he granted the territory to the Church, he retained the right to name its dukes, an important concession that can be compared to the as-yet uncontested Imperial right to invest territorial bishops, and perhaps at times a matter of contention between emperor and papacy, for Pope Adrian I had recently named a duke of Spoleto.

In 842, the former duchy was resurrected by the Franks to be held as a Frankish border territory by a dependent margrave. Among the more outstanding of the Frankish dukes, Guy I divided the duchy between his two sons Lambert and Guy II, who received as his share the lordship of Camerino, which was made a duchy. Lambert was a doughty fighter against Saracen raiders, but an individual who equally massacred Byzantines (as in 867), and was deposed in 871, restored in 876, and finally excommunicated by Pope John VIII. In 883 Guy II reunited the dukedom, henceforth as the Duchy of Spoleto and Camerino. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, Guy had himself crowned emperor of the Romans and king of Italy by Pope Stephen V (891). The following year Pope Formosus crowned Guy's son Lambert II as duke, king and emperor.

The dukes of Spoleto continued to intervene in the violent politics of Rome. Alberico I, Duke of Camerino (897), and afterwards of Spoleto, married the notorious Roman noblewoman Marozia, mistress of Pope Sergius III (904–911), and was killed by the Romans in 924. His son Alberico II overthrew the senatrix in 932 though her son, his half-brother, was Pope John XII. About 949, the Frankish King Berengar II of Italy takes Spoleto from the margrave, diminishes the size of the duchy, and sets aside territory that will become the March of Fermo.

At that time, Emperor Otto I detached from the Duchy of Spoleto the lands called Sabina Langobardica and presented them to the Holy See. Now the control of Spoleto became increasingly a gift of the emperors. In 967, Otto briefly united the Duchy of Spoleto with that of Principality of Capua and Benevento, which was then ruled by Pandulf Ironhead. After Pandolf's death in 981, the joint principality of Spoleto, Capua and Benevento is partitioned amongst the sons of Pandulf, who fight endlessly to gain supremacy. Landulf IV gains Spoleto, Capua, and Benevento, while Pandulf II receives Salerno. Then in 989 Otto III detached Spoleto and granted it to Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany. Later in December 998, Otto appointed Adhemar of Capua as the duke of Spoleto. Adhemar ruled four years until the duchy is united a second time with Tuscany in 1003.

During the Investiture Controversy with the papacy, Emperor Henry IV named other dukes of Spoleto. In 1152, the emperor gave the duchy to Guelf VI of Este. The city was destroyed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa three years later, but was soon rebuilt. After that, the dukedom was held by the family of the Werner (Guarnieri) of Urslingen, margraves of Ancona. In 1183, Frederick appointed Conrad of Urslingen as the duke. Conrad ruled until 1190 when Frederick died and the Guelphs seized the principality and positioned Pandulf as the duke. Five years later after Henry VI succeeded Frederick I as emperor, Conrad regained the position as duke of Spoleto. After Henry VI died in 1197 and Otto of Brunswick became the king of Italy in 1198, however, Conrad left the position and ceded Spoleto to Pope Innocent III.

Papal fief
In 1201, in support of Pope Innocent's desire to strengthen the dominion of the Papal States, Otto made a gift of the Imperial rights for Spoleto to the Papacy. In 1209, after the death of Philip of Swabia, however, Otto became the Holy Roman Emperor and reneged on his earlier promises to support the Pope. Otto set his sights on reestablishing Imperial power and occupied Spoleto until 1213 when the duchy was brought back under papal rule with a governor, usually a cardinal. However, Spoleto remained a pawn in the struggles between the Papacy and Frederick II until the extinction of the House of Hohenstaufen in 1254.

Ultimately, the territories of Spoleto were annexed to the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. The title of Duchy of Spoleto was later used by members of the House of Savoy.

title: Duchy of Spoleto


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Kenneth Colley

Kenneth Colley (born 7 December 1937) is an English film and television actor whose career spans over 60 years. He came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as his roles in the films of Ken Russell and as Jesus in Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Career
Colley was born in Manchester, Lancashire. One of his early appearances on British television was as Noah Riley in the 1970s police drama The Sweeney, in an episode entitled Trap. He played Jesus in The Life of Brian, having also appeared in the earlier Monty Python-related production Ripping Yarns episode "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite" alongside Michael Palin. As a Shakespearean actor he played the Duke of Vienna in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Measure for Measure in 1979.

Colley worked extensively with British director Ken Russell from the early 1970s to the early 1990s as part of a repertory of actors who appeared across Russell's television and film work. He played the role of Modest Tchaikovsky in the film The Music Lovers (1971). He went on to play the role of LeGrand in Russell's The Devils (also 1971); he played the journalist Krenek in the biopic Mahler (1974); the composer Frédéric Chopin in Lisztomania (1975); Mr Brunt in Russell's adaptation of The Rainbow (1989) by D. H. Lawrence. His last role for Russell was as Captain Dreyfus in the film Prisoner of Honor (1991), which dealt with the Dreyfus affair.

For his work in the Star Wars franchise, Colley's role as Admiral Piett is noted for differing from the other ill-fated Imperial officers who appeared alongside him in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), as Colley was the only actor to play an Imperial officer in a second Star Wars film, reprising his role in Return of the Jedi (1983). Colley reprised his role as Piett in the Cartoon Network animated special Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out in September 2012. Coincidentally, Colley and David Prowse had a part in the fantasy film Jabberwocky (1977).

Colley also played a notable role in the 1982 Clint Eastwood film Firefox, where he played a Soviet colonel tasked with the protection of the Firefox and its secrets. He went on to play SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel in the Second World War drama War and Remembrance.

Colley has directed one film to date, Greetings (2007), a horror film starring Kirsty Cox, Henry Dunn and Ben Shockley.

In 2017, Colley recorded a series of short narrations for inclusion on Pop Wasteland, an album by Folkestone band Phenomenal Cat.

Personal life
Colley lives in Hythe, Kent.

According to comments which Terry Gilliam (who directed him in Jabberwocky and acted with him in Life of Brian) made in the DVD audio commentaries for both films, Colley has a stammer in real life. When he had a role in a film, however, he could recite the lines perfectly. Stuttering is a character trait, however, in his role as the Accordion Man in the 1978 BBC television drama Pennies from Heaven.

title: Kenneth Colley


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Talk:Main Page/Archive 30

Christmas, Wikipedia Main Page and Wikimedia Commons
I suggest upload images and MIDI files to Wikimedia Commons and use them in the Wikipedia Main Page during Christmas. To midi would be added a link to heard it in Commons.
 * Are you suggesting midis that automatically play when people visit. Cute, but we're an encyclopedia. -- user:zanimum

 * Midis are not automatically played by Wikimedia. So, don't worry about it. It's optional. You have to click in the link to heard the music.And like optional, I want Christmas midis, that we can optain from the public domain, usign GNU LilyPond and the musical score to obtain the file using LilyPond from http://www.mutopiaproject.org/ --Mac 05:21, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * I hope the Christmas decorations are optional, too. And well concealed.  This is an encylopedia.  --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 11:17, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yes, like a cute Wikisanta to replace the top left logo, I for one would like to start out the inevitable contest with this attempt ;) -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 09:32, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)PS. No MIDI, *yugh*!

 * I like this santa logo, I can include from now in my personal page.

 * for santa's sake, no MIDI, please! (the logo is nice, though) dab 09:57, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * There's two tops to the hat, hanging down? (There seems to be a pom-pom on either side of the Wikipedia globe. I have nothing against this sort of thing, and frankly was going to suggest we consider doing as Google. Max of one like logo every month, and presumably only the English Wikipedia would do it, for the sake of simplicity. But we could have all kinds of things for different holidays and anniversaries. Nothing morbid though, and no cartoons, despite the fact I love cartoons. Just classy things like this. -- user:zanimum

 * Yes, please. I like this different holidays idea. I though about it initially and begin with Christmas. This is going to increase my culture . Thanks. --Mac 05:21, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Why not Chanukah or Kwanzaa? Should we adapt the logo for Thanksgiving or May Day, notable holidays in English-speaking countries? How about not doing any of that at all and keeping it neutral? We ain't Google. The English Wikipedia is in English, not about Western culture. We all know the bias is there, but that doesn't mean we have to advertise it in logos, no matter how much we like Christmas ("Christmas is a time when people of all religions come together to worship Jesus Christ." —Bart Simpson in The Simpsons).

 * Also, using auto-playing MIDIs qualify people of all religions for spending their afterlife in hell, but that's just my opinion. :-) JRM 11:37, 2004 Nov 26 (UTC)

 * but then only an American would have such qualms about political correctness, so not placing santa's hat will express regional bias ;o) come on, what is the connection between a whacky red hat and "worship of Jesus Christ"? Not that I am very much into the idea, but it is harmless. dab 18:19, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * The red hat implies an endorsement of the Christian holiday. -- Emsworth 20:42, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * it implies endorsement of the notability of a bearded elf flying around in a sleigh. dab 09:24, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * I like the idea of changing the logo - and why not do it for some other events as well... --Frankie Roberto 23:44, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Changing the logo is looking for trouble. It brings us into POV territory. If we allow this then why not a menora or the black stone of mecca or ayer's rock (or whatever people call it now). You can't be POV if you don't say anything.[[User:BrokenSegue|BrokenSegue]] 14:44, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * "You can't be POV if you don't say anything" — great! How about a new logo featuring this as WP's motto? dab 15:30, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Midi files are not currently possible anyways, see: Wikipedia talk:Sound. Hyacinth

 * Midi files are possible. I suggest create a repository that can be used by some wikipedians that want to use it. And it's the initial step to make more similar events for different hollidays. So, it would be optional, who want it, can use it. Who no, can not. --Mac 05:21, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I agree that we should make an effort to decorate the Main Page for christmas. Before the usual hacks start up with the "but we're a multicultural ... blah blah ... favouring one over another ... blah blah..." (I've heard it before, numerous times), may I point out a few things: As a result, I do not see the problem with having some generic form of decoration on the Main Page, so long as it's not a nativity scene or anything like that. How about tangled lights? - Mark 09:31, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * The French Wikipedia decorates at Christmas
 * Major sites like Google and Yahoo! decorate
 * This is the English language Wikipedia, and while I accept not all native English speakers are Christian, a significant proportion are
 * The festive celebrations of the season are celebrated by people of diverse beliefs

 * And to add to the above statement, may I point out that for a large number of people celebrating Christmas has nothing to do with religion. It is merely a holiday to celebrate the cold and short days in comfort with friends and family. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 10:03, Nov 28, 2004 (UTC)
 * It's a shame then that it seems to always be held in mid-summer where I live.-gadfium 21:09, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Oeff, shame on me and my northern hemisphere POV! -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 21:42, Nov 28, 2004 (UTC)

 * Alright, as one of those hacks, I accept that the majority argument holds some sway. But I'm even more strongly convinced that we shouldn't do it because everyone else does. Google and Yahoo decorate. Great for them. The French Wikipedia does. Great for them, and let's start a MetaWiki initiative to spread Christmas decoration to all relevant countries! I'm not about to blow the cultural bias argument out of proportion, so I'll just leave it my personal opinion that Wikipedia shouldn't bother with this sort of cuteness. Then again, if people just can't live without it, I'll politely ignore it. JRM 09:22, 2004 Nov 29 (UTC)
 * Re-reading the above, I'd like to add "bah humbug". :-) JRM 09:22, 2004 Nov 29 (UTC)
 * I have some understanding for the 'no excessive cuteness' argument. with all the icons (in stub templates etc) WP is starting to look like a KDE desktop :-\ In any case, I prefer not to have a santa icon for 'reduce cuteness' than for 'no cultural bias' reasons :o) — I agree with the overall "bah humbug" verdict, though. dab 12:54, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It would be harmless, but it would annoy me. I'm a Jewish atheist and I rather resent the Christmas references that come out every year around this time in supposedly neutral places, like government buildings and public school. Don't make Wikipedia like them, I beg you! Andre ( talk )A| 22:58, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

Oh yeah, and as for Google, they decorate for lots of other things, like Thanksgiving, Independence Day (U.S.), Canada Day, the Chinese New Year, etc. Andre ( talk )A| 23:00, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * I wouldn't mind decorating for other significant recurring holidays as well, like lunar new year etc. The problem with Wikipedia is that it's so serious and plain. I think there is too much emphasis on functionality and too little emphasis on aesthetics and atmosphere. As it stands, our current Main Page has all the festivity of a mortuary. - Mark 10:25, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * How far do we take it, though? I'd hate to see Wikipedia getting to the point that it does stuff like black borders to mark an instance of serious terrorism.  Encyclopedias aren't, or shouldn't be, fora for public comment.  Functional is good. People can go elsewhere for eye candy. --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 11:15, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * If we only want people to browse Wikipedia when they are conducting research, then it's fine as it is. If we want people to join in the community, we need to make it welcoming, not boring. - Mark 06:16, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * If I found it boring I wouldn't be here at all. Some of us are here because we're trying to get away from the jingles and consumerist superficiality of the mall. Shantavira 11:45, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Uhh it's just decorations. We're not putting "click here to get your last-minute Christmas shopping out of the way!" links in bold red type with bombastic jingles playing on permanent loop in the background... If you can't hack a piece of tinsel or holly or a candle or something like that, then I'm not sure Wikipedia will be an adequate escape from the consumerist superficiality of your local shopping centre... - Mark 08:21, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

If Christmas involves you, you already know about it, we don't need to change wikipedias logo: its fine as it is.

'''Sticking a santa hat on top of the Wickipedia logo is absurd. This is a Coca Cola trademark, and we're having some sort of debate about POV? We're not Google. Make your personal pages 'festive.' Leave commercialized solstice festivals out of the main page. MARK: this cultural icon is not at all welcoming, it's POV; yourself and the other 'fesitve-izers' don't have a leg to stand on. Your claims that most English speakers are Christian is irrelevant: the entire concept of neutrality precludes arguments about majority viewpoints. The country with the most English speakers is China, so what's the Chinese Wickipedia doing? Let's make this encyclopedia more festive and welcoming? Nonsense. Let's make it more comprehensive: work on a stub, instead of festive-izing. rmbh 20:58, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)'''

 * Very well said. - 128.12.44.105

 * I never endorsed the Father Christmas hat proposal. I feel it is rather ugly. I was hoping for something more subtle, like a low-contrast image of a bauble or something in the background of the Main Page sections, instead of the solid colour there now. If it looks okay, we could look at keeping some form of image there permanently as part of the constant strive to improve the look of the most-viewed page on Wikipedia. Here is how the Main Page looked on the day that I first visited Wikipedia; compare it to now. If you think there is no point improving the look of the Main Page and interface, then perhaps we should set it back to the original (UseModWiki-default) skin. As for working on a stub, I'll leave the stub-busting to you and the scores of other active users. This is not an issue of resource-allocation. - Mark 09:56, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Mac's reasoning is typical of a North American POV asserting OVER and OVER AGAIN what a North American finds the world SHOULD do to make the world more comfortable for the North American. No matter how much other people (non North Americans) argue about diverse (non North American) sensitive POVs, Mac seems to not understand. It's not because Mac doesn't want to or is unable to understand, it's because Mac simply feels Wikipedia should reflect his personal perception of time appropriate to his cultural views, i.e. Christmas settings, mood, holiday, etc. perpetuated by a predominantly Christian advertising vehicle - given that it has not religion as its focus but a religious connotation that like it or not comes with the brand, e.g. the word Christmas is derived from Christ not from Holiday or Festivites -.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to have a website you frequently visit reflect your POV or holiday spirit, etc. The question is not whether Mac's view is correctly reflected by a website, but moreover whether a 'branding' change to the website's public relational image is fairly, adequately, and indiscriminatorily (NPOV) representative and supportive of Wikipedia's policy. If Wikipedia wants to maintain an NPOV, one can glean from the heated conversation around the above topic, that such a position would be very hard to defend should a Christmas theme be implemented, as well as any other culture specific theme (lunar year, Chinese dragons, Jewish menorah's, Islamic symbols, or any other for that matter). Ehsanjoon 01:08, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree, there is no justification for a gratuitous display of bias on the main page. --[[User:Eequor|ᓛᖁ  [[Image:Venus symbol (blue).gif|♀]] [ ᑐ ]]] 00:56, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I have just a few questions for Ehsanjoon. Firstly, who is this Mac from North America of whom you speak? If you meant me, I am from just about the opposite side of the world to North America. (EDIT 09:28, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC): Ahh, that Mac). Secondly, are you planning to use your brand new user account for anything other than this discussion? I find it concerning that people would register a new account specifically for this topic, I don't think it's that controversial or heated. It means either it's a very hot topic and random anons want to comment so much they register, or someone badly wants community opinion to look like it's swaying their way, or someone wants to remain relatively anonymous. Finally, I have to say your argument was one of the best put so far in this discussion. However, if anything, the bias would be towards Europe, not North America. As for the whole commercialisation argument, it has some truth in it, but there are plenty of symbols for Christmas which retain its traditional meaning. - Mark 09:24, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I do plan to do something more constructive than this, Mark. It just happens that my first active contribution turned out to be this one, a matter of simple probability. I signed up right away because I did not want to 'contribute' anonymously and in fact intend to continue my contribution beyond talk and discussions. We will see what happens. Happy holidays. Ehsanjoon 19:02, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Why don't we just scrap all the holiday stuff and just decorate with winter decorations? This way we could remain POV yet still not seem dull. Dean-O 8:45, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Because it isn't winter everywhere in the world. (Note:I removed a leading space from Dean-O's comment above as that causes Wikipedia to treat the line as preformatted text) -gadfium (talk) 03:18, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Sorry I'm new to Wikipedia. However, If this is an English Wiki, Isn't it winter in most of the English speaking world? Also people would be less offended by winter than by a religous holiday. Dean-O 9:38, 09 Dec2004

 * it's summer in the southern hemisphere. --空向 04:19, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)

Svyatoy kolodets
Why on earth would Svyatoy kolodets ("the holy fountain") redirect to this page :O ? dab 10:49, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Hmmm (cur) (last) 12:11, Nov 25, 2004 Blankfaze (Svyatoy kolodets moved to Talk:Main Page), maybe Blankfaze can elaborate? -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 11:09, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)
 * Heh, nope, I don't know what it's about. Someone page-move-vandalised this page by moving it to Svyatoy kolodets.  I simply moved it back (leaving of course a redirect which I then forgot to delete). BLANKFAZE | (что??) 11:31, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * See  this  evidence. Ancheta Wis 14:21, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC).

"Text only" link should be renamed
In the top-right of the main page, there is a link named "Text only" which opens a table-free version of the page. The problem is, the table-free versio is NOT text-only -- it still includes images, for instance. The link should be renamed to "Table-free version" or something similar. MCBastos 18:33, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * 'Done. →Raul654 10:48, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

Christmas 2004
I suggest help with the Christmas 2004 special and include special material in Wikipedia Mainpages. See Christmas 2004.

Code Typo
On the ninth line ("other languages"), </i></tt> should be <tt></li></tt>. Kdau 00:11, 2004 Nov 28 (UTC)

January 2001
Shouldn't 2001 be 2001? --Elijah 06:27, 2004 Nov 28 (UTC)

From time to time, someone removes many of the not very necessary links in the intro text; later, they creep back in in a form of link bloat. Trying to say as much as possible in a few sentences makes linking to everything tempting, but we should think about that some of the links are really important, like the links telling people about us and our history, about our specialities (editing and licensing) etc. We shouldn't have too much of other links, like 2001 which doesn't provide anything remotely interesting in comparison, to obscure the important ones. ✏ Sverdrup 16:20, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Wickipedia/Software catalogue?
The current main page feature article (Mozilla Firefox) is POV. And tacky, Even though I like open source software, something dissing IE shouldn't be the feature article. We have more 'encyclopedic' material. rmbh 09:20, Nov 28, 2004 (UTC)

 * You can address your concerns on the talk page of the article in question, at any time can an article be marked as POV by adding the to the article, but be sure to point out your criticism in detail on the talk page when you do. Also note that articles are not featured arbitrarily, they undergo due process at Featured article candidates, so it is a good idea to monitor that page if you want to help keeping Featured articles NPOV. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 10:07, Nov 28, 2004 (UTC)

Tehran mispelled as Teheran
I've never seen Tehran spelled any other way, so please excuse my ignorance if it is spelled correctly. Tim 20:53, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * See the article on Tehran. "Teheran" is an alternate spelling.  BLANKFAZE  | (что??) 21:00, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Placenames are often spelled differently depending on the language they are displayed in. Ex: Moskva (russian), Moscow (English), Moscou (French). The same holds for Tehran.
 * Indeed. My opinion is that one should cease to use "foreign" names on geo. locations altogether - this is, by the way, a feature predominantly English\American - Firenze becomes Florence, Venezia becomes Venice, or even people; Johannes becomes John, Lukas becomes Luke? What is this? It does bother me a lot. Sometimes it leads to faults, such as København becoming Copenhagen - havn means harbour, whereas hagen means garden.--TVPR 08:50, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

IMPORTANT: inaccuracy/POV on main page
The few words of the featured article section on the main page states: "Mozilla Firefox is a free web browser". Although I am a long-term fan of Firefox (from before Phoenix 0.1), I think this should be changed to reflect that most people believe that Firefox (at least in the form available at ) is non-free, and it should be noted that the Mozilla Foundation refuse to state, as Wikipedia has, that it is free.

You should at concede that this statement is very POV & should at least be changed to state that its freedom (or lack thereof) is in dispute. (In fact I'm just replying to an email from RMS on Firefox's lack of freedom.) I meant to comment on this in talk: Mozilla Firefox a couple of weeks ago. I will do so now.

Table-Free Not For Me or Anybody...
Really, I think this is just extra clutter and worst of all, it's in the most noticeble part of Wikipedia. How many people will seriously have such a subpar browser (like Links)? 1%? What's that. No? 0.5%? What, even lower? 0.2% of viewers? Not even that,!!?? Hmmm... Maybe we are alienating most people while trying to please everybody. Sure you do not have to use it, but the more things you see that you do not use, (or have to use) the more intimidating, and unusable the site will become/ Exigentsky

 * I'm one who has a sub-par browser - Internet Explorer on an iPaq, most recent version as far as I know, although it doesn't seem to have a version number, built in to Rom with Windows Mobile 2003 SE. This is not the same as IE 6 on a Windows desktop system. I use Wikipedia through the wireless connection built into the iPaq, and the main page was *very* slow to load, so I switched to the table-free version. In the last few days, the normal main page loads quite acceptably for me, presumably due to the changes away from tables within it. (I'm not using the iPaq to post this now. I usually only browse with it, not edit).

 * I could download a better browser, but there are no decent free browsers (as far as I know) for iPaq/Pocket PC. I am looking forward to a Pocket PC version of Firefox.-gadfium 01:36, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * If there is a table-free version, it should not be so prominent.

 * It's very useful to have a low-bandwith/table free version for people accessing Wikipedia from a wireless/cell phone or WAP phone. It should be quite prominent so that first-time users locate it quickly without giving up in frustration trying to find the link.  Also in general a text browser friendly option should be provided for general web accessibilty.  Just because you don't know many people who don't use IE or Firefox/Mozilla, doesn't mean they don't exist. --Lexor|Talk 04:27, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * I know many people using Opera, Mozilla, Firefox, Konqueror and derivatives, not one of them uses table-free. I understand it's useful for some, but I think it should be in the preferences, not the front page. Exigentsky 07:46, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * lynx, w3m, Blazer (for Treo 600 and PalmOne phones) all benefit and/or require the table free version. --Lexor|Talk 10:50, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * Even the 'tabled' version looks nice in lynx; that's not the problem. it's more for mobile gadgets: imho, the table-free version should also be lighter. people accessing it are likely to pay for the byte transferred (gprs), and don't want to download the links to a zillion "WPs in other languages" every time they access the main page. dab 11:52, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Editing the Main Page Unfriendly
Too many sections are not up to date enough, and documentation is lacking.

Even Editing_the_main_page is outdated and has not been changed to fit the new design. Exigentsky
 * To state the obvious (someone has to) - we aren't feeling an great pressure to make it easy for people to edit the main page. In fact, when we have done so, it's usually an open invitation for abuse and vandalism. →Raul654 09:10, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)
 * That doesn't mean it should be left like this, and I can't seem to fix it. -Exigentsky 14:26, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

What's with all the clutter? Just when Wikipedia became more usable...
Why does the Navigation box have a link to "Current events', this is easily acessible through the Main page and anyone interested can add this to their bookmarks themselves. This is only extra clutter. Remember the clutter of the old design? I hope it's not heading that way. Exigentsky 04:11, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

Election banner?
There should be an ArbCom election banner either on the main page or on the Community Portal page. --Ce garcon 04:27, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * As has been said repeatedly - the main page is for our readers, not our users. The community portal is more appropriate. →Raul654 04:34, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)
 * Well then there should be one on the Community Portal. As far as I know, right now there isn't one there either. --Ce garcon 04:38, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I've been asking for this on the village pump (proposals) page. We need to spread the word about this demand for a proper democratic election. It's not if all Wikipedia users don't get a chance to hear about it and take part if they wish.WikiUser 21:52, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * From the village pump page:"I've seen that banner and it's a good idea. Can some Administrator, a helpful one like say Angela, put it on the main page. These elections are for arbitrators who'll be there for 1, 2 or 3 more years. Everyone ought to get a chance to know about it. From the endorsments and oppose/comments pages it seems that it's only the usual active people that are involved at the moment.WikiUser 21:47, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC) "

Print version of the main page
The print version of the main page includes : All New articles: 5 10 15 20 25 30 Orphans: 5 Categories: 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 The links are expanded to ugly, useless pieces of text on paper. Also, the new CSS version is completely messed up in printing, on both Firefox and Win2000 IE6. JRM 12:17, 2004 Nov 30 (UTC)
 * Not sure what you are referring to, but I assume with print version you mean the "table free" version? I do not see any lenghty list with categories in that view, do you have screenshots of that issue? The CSS version indeed looks messed up in print preview, I'm not a CSS expert so I don't know how easy that is to fix. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 12:30, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)
 * Sure: go to Image:Main page print preview 2004-11-30.jpg. This applies to both Firefox and IE (though they give slightly different previews, obviously.) I am assuming that this is WYSIWYG, of course, and that it's not a mistake of either browser (I haven't actually printed it, mind you). JRM 12:54, 2004 Nov 30 (UTC)
 * It also occurs to me that we are probably talking past each other; for the record, I mean the print preview of the vanilla main page as it pops up in your GUI browser), not any alternate versions. (And contrary to what might be expected, this has been known to print rather nicely—for some revisions. :-) JRM 13:04, 2004 Nov 30 (UTC)

 * I tried putting an "@media:print" styling in the template to hide it, but it didn't seem to work. Maybe we could get a Developer to add a class in the print stylesheet that will hide it... - IMSoP 18:56, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Spoilers on main page?
Are spoilers acceptable on the main page? I want to post something about Ken Jennings (on Jeopardy) loosing after 75 episodes, around 8 PM tonight. It would be up after the game, as to not be a spoiler for EST viewers, but this would be a spoiler for the rest of the continent. And, even if it was posted once Hawaii saw it, then it would still be a spoiler for some international countries that don't air the show immediately.

But then, it's not really a spoiler, as anyone who watches Ken and surfs the net or reads a newspaper already knows about his loss. There's 598 newspapers who've printed an article on the topic.

So, what do I do? -- user:zanimum
 * I presume you mean adding it to the In the news section? One of the guidelines for ITN is that the topic needs to be internationally important or at least interesting. I highly doubt someone doing well on a game show in the USA qualifies, seeing enough people complained when ITN featured Dan Rather's resignation, which I think has more international impact than Jeopardy. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 21:02, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * Where do you intend inserting such local trivia? It's not suitable for "In the news", and too current and not fitting the purpose (I would think) for "Did you know". zoney ♣ talk 21:12, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * http://demo.wikinews.org

 * He has broken every worthwhile record in international television game show history, and has tested the limits of "celebrity". -- user:zanimum
 * Well, my reaction was who? (Ken Jennings) what? (Jeopardy), and I expect the reaction of most other non-Americans would be the same... [[User:MikeX|MikeX (Talk)]] 11:28, Dec 1, 2004 (UTC)
 * As was mine. Can't see why this would feature on the main page at all. Filiocht 15:34, Dec 1, 2004 (UTC)

 * you must be kidding. if you can add that, i should be able to add something about my nephew playing a star role in his kindergarten "graduation" last week.

Battle of the bulge..Jeopardy connection?
Ken Jennings finally lost on Jeopardy, as I understand it one of the Daily doubles he got wrong was "What is Bastogne?". This morning, the Battle of the Bulge is the Featured article?

Coincidence?
 * According to the page history for the template, I scheduled Battle of the Bulge at 01:35 Est on Nov 30. The news about the Ken Jennings loss did not break until 18:00 that day. So yes, it is a coincidence. →Raul654 16:02, Dec 1, 2004 (UTC)

 * Technically Raul could have been in the Jeopardy audience the day Jennings lost, I believe it was taped somewhere in September, and planned this way ahead! But that's pure speculation, I do not believe Raul is capable of such an evil scheme ;) -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 16:13, Dec 1, 2004 (UTC)

The Plague: Need help!
I moved this query to the reference desk. JRM 09:39, 2004 Dec 2 (UTC)

George Galloway allegations
Since the allegations that George Galloway was in the pay of Saddam Hussein made it onto our main page last year, it seems only fair that we should report with equal weight the fact that a court has found that the allegations were libellous. Please could an administrator copy the relevant news item from current events onto the main page. Thank you. GrahamN 2 Dec '04 (not logged in because I've forgotten my password)

 * I would say the earlier news story shouldn't have been on ITN - it's a quite local UK issue really. As I doubt Wikipedia's ITN is even now very high profile as regards a news source, I think it's reasonable enough not to bother bringing this up. It's not like someone is going to be irate about us not reporting the court finding him innocent - and after all, we didn't make the original allegations. I would hope that the previous allegations were presented as such in our news item! zoney ♣ talk 21:54, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I've no idea what you mean by "ITN". You are quite right that the original story did not merit inclusion on our main page. That is exactly why it is important to give equal prominence to the correction. GrahamN 2 Dec '04

 * Wikijargon, ITN = In The News. Confusing if you're familiar with the other ITN admittedly! zoney ♣ talk 23:01, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't know what you mean by "local UK issue" in this context. It's a series of allegations affecting the former government of Iraq, several other Middle East governments and individual that backed Galloway's Mariam appeal, one very highly respected U.S. newspaper, and the Canadian former owner of the Daily Telegraph, as well as an MP in the UK Parliament.  Looking at In the News today I see that prominence is given to "United States President George W. Bush chooses former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik to succeed Tom Ridge as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security."  This is of equal interest, in my opinion, but it could easily be argued that it's a "local US issue". --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 11:27, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

You can be sure if the verdict had gone the other way there would be none of this talk about it being a local UK issue! I've just discovered that you no longer have to be an administrator to amend the "in the news" section, so I am adding this story in place of the one about the death of the Dutch aristocrat, which was intersting, but relatively obscure for international readers. I hope this is not a breach of any new policy that I'm not aware of. Thanks. User:GrahamN 3 Dec '04
 * Go for it. I agree we should redress the balance. Filiocht 13:15, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

Lorne 'Gump' Worsley
I noticed on a cross reference that there was no entry for Gump Worsley so I did one. Now it is apparent that there are two - see Canadian hockey players then search Gump Worsley.

There should not be two. (Above entered 01:09, 3 Dec 2004 UST by 205.206.187.4]])

 * I took care of this by merging the two articles. If you go to Lorne Gump Worsley now it should redirect you to the merged article.  Please review it and let me know if I got anything wrong. --[[User:Tony Sidaway|Tony Sidaway|Talk]] 11:38, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Typo on main page.
"asking Congress curb" should be "asking Congress to curb"

Mention on main page Wikipedia is largest encyclopedia (continued)
On 13 Nov I proposed the following changes ("the world's largest encyclopedia" and "growing")to the main page :

 * Welcome to Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia. Wikipedia is a growing, free-content encyclopedia in many languages that anyone can edit. In this English edition, started in January 2001, we are working on articles. Visit our Community Portal to find out how you can edit an article, or experiment in the sandbox.

Compared with the present version:

 * Welcome to Wikipedia, a free-content encyclopedia in many languages that anyone can edit. In this English edition, started in January 2001, we are working on articles. Visit our Community Portal to find out how you can edit an article, or experiment in the sandbox.

It seems like many people are initially skeptical about the idea of an encyclopedia editable by anyone. I think these proposed changes introduce readers to why Wikipedia is important, not just another unofficial internet information repository. They also strongly define Wikipedia as a progressive phenomenon, which I think is very psychologically powerful: 'good now, and getting better.'

It looks to me like these additions will not push the introductory paragraph past the 3 lines it currently occupies on the main page.

The "largest encyclopedia" page I created for this proposal tries to give a concise summary of the limitations of comparing article count or word count with traditional encyclopedias (quality and authority).

Read the largest encyclopedia page. I think it's time Wikipedia acknowledged this achievement. --Nectarflowed 10:23, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * The problem with this (as you do point out on the page) is that quantity doesn't equal quality. Putting this in sets us up for easy ridicule when people notice that some more-or-less major topic has no article, a short article, or a verbose but crappy article (all of which has occurred and does occur from time to time), and then comparing this with articles on minor topics that have an inordinate amount of detail. Add to that that Wikipedia is not your standard encyclopedia: as Wikipedia observes, we include some things that aren't typically part of an encyclopedia, and our claims of being the largest include these "non-encyclopedic" (from a traditional POV) things. We could state the word count along with the article count (though even this smacks of quantityism), but I think that's as far as it should go. "Largest encyclopedia" is still too controversial to go on the main page, IMO.
 * Finally: I think we should put first and foremost that Wikipedia is free, not that it's the largest. JRM 13:58, 2004 Dec 3 (UTC)

 * also, a lot of these words are from the 1911 Britannica (a debt not acknowledged so prominently), and other works of reference from the 1910s. you could argue that WP is a 1910s encylopedia with random additions of 2000s popular culture and crankiness >.< WP is not a direct competitor of the Britannica (yet), and the Britannica is not a direct competitor of WP (ever). [[User:Dbachmann|dab ( T )  ]] 18:42, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Sister projects
Hello, today i created a new template for all sister projects for german wikipedia, commons and wikinews. Perhaps you can have a look and transfer it to this main page if you want :-) See: template for commons, all the textless images are stored there. --Bdk 08:28, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Cascade Homepage
It appears that the front page article has appeared over and over within itself, either very clever or a very big error.

 * I say we keep it like this!

Wikipedia Skin
Just two question, how can I make my own skin for wikipedia? Is there in planning a new skin in general? Thanks --ThomasK 17:33, Dec 5, 2004 (UTC)
 * It's in the preferences (log in and click preferences on the top right. Then click "skin" and you can choose). I prefer "classic" (aka, the old skin). →Raul654 18:11, Dec 5, 2004 (UTC)

'''I know this already, but there is under Preferences "My Skin". So how I can I make it and is there a new skin available soon? --ThomasK 18:48, Dec 5, 2004 (UTC)'''
 * The "My Skin" allows you to replace the entire CSS of the monobook skin with the content of User:ThomasK/myskin.css, and thus change more-or-less any aspect of it. Alternatively, you can select the monobook skin (as a "base") and use User:ThomasK/monobook.css to override specific rules. See Help:User style and Gallery of user styles.

 * As for new "official" skins, the next version of the software makes it easier for developers to make even more major skin customizations, so while there is no new skin currently under development, there may be increased third-party activity in that area soon (although, now I look at the customisation gallery myself, some of those are approaching the status of skins in their own right). - IMSoP 19:30, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I tried making my own skin a while back, but when I downloaded the Wikipedia code I realized to my horror that much of the stylesheet was closely tied to some php code. Basically, it's nearly impossible to change the overall look of wikipedia without major hacks and ugly css.  I'd wait until someone goes through and rehashes the code. -- Sean Kelly 17:07, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Memory Alpha
'''I would like it if you guys posted a link to Memory Alpha on the main page. I would like if you did it soon, but if you don't want to, please give me a good reason in one response. Try to respond to me very soon.- B-101 23:49, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * As was established previously, the main page is for Mediawiki projects only. It has been suggested that we a page with "friends of wikipedia" whose licenses are compatible with the GFDL and with whom we can swap articles. This would certainly include memory alpha, disinfopedia, and (when the GFDL and CC licenses become compatible) Wiki-travel. →Raul654 23:59, Dec 5, 2004 (UTC)
 * That's "Wikimedia projects". Memory Alpha uses MediaWiki as well. :) -- Cyrius|✎ 00:10, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Erm, yes, that's what I meant to say ;) →Raul654 00:13, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC) - I blame the developers for choosing such an easily-confused name :p →Raul654 00:13, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)'''

Does this mean that Memory Alpha is willing to merge its content? I've proposed before, and we haven't got to far. -- user:zanimum

US-Centrism
Can today's featured article actually mention where Zion National Park *is*? I'd never heard of it before, and I assumed it was in Israel.
 * The article was updated, and I have updated the FA template accordingly. →Raul654 00:27, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

Typo in "Selected anniversaries"
December 6 anniveraries, search and replace "leadin to" with "leading to". --MarkSweep 02:02, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Also, replace "beliving" with "believing" --Calton 04:00, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Thanks for pointing it out, fixed now.gadfium 04:15, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

WikiNews
Can we have a link in the News section of Main Page to Wikinews, Seabhcán 16:05, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

There it is already. --ThomasK 16:53, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

nazi scientist
i would like to know what other people thought on the subject of the nazi scientist and how their efforts effected the medical medicines we use today. also i would like to know what people thought about the subject that since the nazi scientist were the first to find hiv/aids by experimenting on people if they (nazi scientist) started to find cure then would we be at point now with a cure?

 * I think it sounds ridiculous, AIDS was discovered in 1981. Nvrmnd 07:10, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Actually, the first case known case of AIDs occured in the 1950's. It would be another 20 years before it really took off though. However, I think I can answer the last part of that question - even if the symptoms of AIDs were thoroughly documented by the Nazis, they would have had NO IDEA what they were observing. It would be another 25 years before anybody would have any idea what a retrovirus is, let alone how to treat it. →Raul654 07:14, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)

Featured article typo (Palladian architecture)
The summary should say "palladian" not "palladianism". The article itself is correct. 68.81.231.127 01:09, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Incomplete sentence
The last sentence of the "Today's featured article" section (Palladian architecture) is incomplete: "To explain fully the term Palladian as used outside of Italy one must first understand true Palladian as designed by the master architect" Also, this sentence doesn't make any sense on its own; it seems to lead into another thought which isn't present. Would someone please delete this last sentence? I'd delete it myself, but the page is locked from editing. - Brian Kendig 12:44, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Norwegian/Norsk/Bokmål/Nynorsk
On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page there are the two language names Norsk (Norwegian) Nynorsk

This is inaccurate and confusing. There are two official languages in Norway, in our languages called "Bokmål" and "Nynorsk". So the first one "Norsk (Norwegian)" is really "Bokmål". I guess that there was no "Nynorsk" articles when the first Norwegian entered articles, so he just called his Bokmål "Norwegian". This is somewhat correct, but inaccurate. Somewhat - but not quite - similar to using a language name "Canadian" for either English or French.

 * This is wrong. On the main Norwegian wikipedia you can use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, as it plainly says on the Norwegian main page: "Målform – Bidragsytere kan skrive på alle norske målformer (bokmål, riksmål og nynorsk)." So the name is not inaccurate. However, it may be confusing that "Nynorsk" is not translated into English. DBrane 10:08, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Sometimes there are objective facts, that should not be subject to a majority "vote" in a small group. The democratically chosen Norwegian Parliament HAS decided the names in a vote in 1929. And they are the ones who have a right to decide the names of the language(s) in Norway - whatever the WikiPedia community thinks. The two official languages in Norway ARE called "Nynorsk" and "Bokmål", whatever the Wikipedia community decides. Wikipedia should not primarily be a forum for political activism, but a forum for collecting and presenting facts as objectively as possible.

So the names should be changed to        Bokmål (Norwegian) Nynorsk (Norwegian)

Or one could even use the correct technical English names used in English linguistic litterature - this might be more understandable for foreignors. The names in English are: Bokmål (Dano-Norwegian) Nynorsk (New Norwegian)

Note that many Bokmål-users don't like the term Dano-Norwegian very much, it seems as if they want to "forget" that its origin is foreign (Danish). But Dano-Norwegian is the common term used in English texts, like encyclopedias, etc. "Dano-Norwegian" actually nearly became the official language name in the same parliament vote in 1929. But it was defeated by one - 1 - vote, and therfore the name is now Bokmål. Please correct the entry.

 * Nynorsk should remain as it is because it is the old language as it was used back in the time that is used to write articles in nn:. Maybe it is useful to change the way they are written on the Main page but it should remain Bokmål and Nynorsk in the statistical pages for an easier way to recognise both. Also, beause the reglementation was abandonned in 2002, both languages went farther apart that before and went almost back to their origin. 24.201.116.26 18:16, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Main Page/Archive 30


text:
Papoulias

Papoulias (or Papoulia, maiden name) is a Greek surname. It is the surname of:

 * Evelina Papoulia (born 1971), Greek actress and dancer
 * Georgios Papoulias (1927–2009), Greek politician and diplomat
 * Karolos Papoulias (1929–2021), Greek politician and President of Greece
 * Panagiotis Papoulias (born 1969), Greek runner

title: Papoulias