text:
Hong Kong Railway Museum

The Hong Kong Railway Museum is a railway museum in Tai Po, Hong Kong. It is now under the management of the Leisure and Cultural Service Department. Opened on 20 December 1985, it is located at the site where the old Tai Po Market railway station was built in 1913. Admission to the museum is free.

History
The Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section) opened in 1910 in Tai Po Market was one of the stops in the New Territories. The station building was erected in 1913. Since then, it has acted as a centre of administration and trade, which indirectly boosted Tai Po Market's economy by bringing traders there.

The Kowloon–Canton Railway was electrified in 1983 and the station was taken out of service, with the opening of the new Tai Wo station north of it and the new Tai Po Market station south of it. One year later, the Old Tai Po Market Railway Station was declared a monument. The site, together with the buildings and relevant exhibits, were then given to Regional Council by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation for the of the museum.

The museum opened on 20 December 1985.

Architecture
The building of the station is unique in the way of architectural style among original Kowloon–Canton Railway (British Section). It is of indigenous Chinese architectural style, with many small figures decorating the exterior, such as are commonly found in existing old southern Chinese temples.

Inside the museum
On the left of the museum, there is an exhibition room of train tickets and train models of not only KCR trains but also Japanese Shinkansen and Eurostar. The further internal part of the room is a refurbished ticket office and signalling house.

Vehicles on the track
Two locomotives are on exhibition at the museum:
 * EMD G12 Diesel-electric locomotive #51, introduced in Hong Kong in 1955, which is called "Sir Alexander", named after former Governor Alexander Grantham. This was the first diesel electric locomotive in Hong Kong and marked KCR's transition from steam to diesel. After a new batch of diesel locomotives arrived in Hong Kong in late 2003, the Sir Alexander retired from service. KCR Corporation staff spent more than 1000 hours restoring it to its original 1955 appearance, removing rust, repainting it dark green, and restoring the traditional logo. It was donated to the museum on 18 May 2004.
 * A W. G. Bagnall 0-4-4T narrow gauge steam locomotive #17BG, restored from the Philippines in 1995. The locomotive is one of two that formerly ran on the narrow gauge Sha Tau Kok Railway line between Fanling and Sha Tau Kok. When that closed, they were used by sugar mills in the Philippines. The other locomotive of the pair was also brought back to Hong Kong and is reported to be undergoing restoration.

There are seven coaches on the tracks for public viewing and appreciation of the contrast between the old and the new.
 * A 1911 third-class coach, #302
 * A 1921 engineering brake coach, #002
 * A 1921 third-class coach, #313
 * A 1955 third-class coach, #223 (an educational video room)
 * A 1955 luggage coach, #229
 * A 1964 first-class coach, #112
 * A 1976 ordinary-class coach, #276

There are also a pump trolley and a diesel-engined railcar.

A 1:1 scale model of a non-refurbished East Rail line Metro Cammell EMU was once on display at the Museum, but was removed to make space for locomotive #51.

title: Hong Kong Railway Museum


text:
Brown teal

The brown teal (Anas chlorotis; pāteke) is a species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas native to New Zealand. For many years it had been considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland and Campbell teals in Anas aucklandica; the name "brown teal" has also been largely applied to that entire taxon. Common in the early years of European colonisation, the "brown duck" (as it had been often referred to) was heavily harvested as a food source. Its numbers quickly fell, especially in the South Island, and in 1921 they became fully protected. Captive breeding and releasing into predator-controlled areas has seen good localised populations re-introduced around the country in recent years.

Description
There are no distinctive differences between a male, female and a juvenile brown teal during non-mating season. They all have a white ring around their eyes as well as a mottled brown color on their heads and throat. During breeding season the male will begin to change color, now having a green colored head, chestnut colored breast and a white stripe on each side of their body. They will sometimes also have a white clerical neck band. This does vary as some males do tend to be more colorful than others.

Taxonomy
Pateke is the progenitor of the flightless Auckland teal and Campbell teals but all are now recognised as separate species on account of their geographic isolation and their plumage, size and genetic distinctions. The insular A. aucklandica and A. nesiotis are recognised as distinct species, but are still sometimes referred to as being part of the "brown teal group". The use of the name 'pateke' is now common and is specific for this particular species.

Concerns have been raised about establishing genetically similar populations during re-introduction. The original captive pateke were sourced from Great Barrier Island, where only one haplotype was found in abundance, compared with eleven haplotypes found in the other remaining population at Mimiwhangata. The newly released flocks exclusively contain these birds of captive origin, and diversity is perhaps now not being fully represented in the National population.

The former population of Fiordland brown teal, which died out by 2013 has been replaced with captive-origin birds. Sequencing showed striking similarity to grey duck and mallard sequences, with which they group. It therefore seems extremely likely that the former Fiordland population of brown teal have at sometime in the past hybridised extensively with these invading species.

Behaviour
The brown teal is largely nocturnal in habit by dabbling duck standards. This is an evolutionary response to natural diurnal predators such as the New Zealand falcon, Eyles' harrier, or skuas further south in their range. Brown teal have no defense against introduced cats, dogs, stoats & ferrets, which can kill adults & ducklings, or against rats which eat eggs.

Diet
It feeds by dabbling and upending, like its relatives. Its diet consists mainly of aquatic invertebrates like insects and their larvae, or crustaceans. It appears quite fond of mollusks. Small species such as pipi (Paphies australis) and large wedge shell (Macomona liliana) are eaten whole and crushed in the gizzard. For feeding on larger cockles such as Austrovenus stutchburyi (New Zealand cockle), at least some New Zealand teals have developed a peculiar technique, as of now undocumented in other birds, to force their rather soft bills between the cockle shells and tear out the flesh with a jackhammer-like pumping motion. At night brown teal will forage on land some distance from the streams used as a refuge during the day (Worthy 2002).

Breeding
Nest of dry grass near water or under shelter of large Carex, heavily lined with down. A clutch of four to eight creamy-brown eggs is laid. Incubation is done by only the female and takes 27–30 days. The male stays in his territory as a guard, aggressive to all other waterfowl.

Distribution & conservation
This species is endangered and occurs predominantly on offshore islands but also in predator-proof sanctuaries on the mainland such as Tawharanui Regional Park. Formerly, it was widespread on the New Zealand mainland, but it disappeared there due to introduced predators like cats, dogs and rats, which easily preyed on this unwary, weakly flying bird. According to the IUCN categorization as VU D1, fewer than 1000 adult birds remain. The species has recently been upgraded to endangered by Birdlife International (Birdlife 2007), and the change will be reflected in the next update of the IUCN red list.

Apart from Fiordland's Arthur Valley, there is only one other site in the South Island where brown teal live in the wild: since 2017, the Department of Conservation and Project Janszoon have released just under 300 of the waterfowl in the Awapoto River in Abel Tasman National Park. The birds are successfully breeding in that location.

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

title: Brown teal


text:
Talk:Main Page/Archive 29

credibility
I'm wondering how credible this site is. I'm wondering how many people are actually attacking this site with intentional false information. I don't mean vandalism but sabotage. I have seen a study that suggests that many points of view can often narrow down to the correct point of view, but according to a recent article, the page on Alexander Hamilton has gone the opposite direction. If there really is a sabotage attempt, you may want to look for a nondestructive method of stopping it.

 * The credibility of Wikipedia compared to traditional encyclopedias is something that is discussed on this site, and there is much to debate about. This debate won't be resolved any time soon, but should be noted that many news sources have written positively about Wikipedia.  You can see awards and news clippings on the Wikimedia trophy page and a more complete listing of news clippings here.

Highlights include:
 * Top 10 reference sites (award) - The UK Daily Mirror, Oct. 17, 2003
 * Top 100 Top Websites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without (award)- PC Magazine, Apr. 20, 2004
 * Web User Awards 2004. "Best Factual Website". Joint winner with BBCi News. From Web User, a UK Internet magazine.
 * "One of the best reference resources on the Web..." (Andrew Kantor, USA Today.com, Mar. 26, 2004)
 * "One of the most reliably useful sources of information around, on or off-line." (BBC News, Apr. 23, 2004)
 * "Surprisingly Good", (The Economist, June 10, 2004)
 * "...Wikipedia is clearly one of the Internet's top five information tools. No other free online resource -- none -- can give you such a quick and useful briefing on practically any subject you can think of.", (Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun Times, July 20, 2004)
 * According to a Wall Street Journal article from February 2004, researchers have found that there are frequent instances of vandalism at Wikipedia, but that these are often quickly resolved:
 * "Recent research by a team from IBM found that most vandalism suffered by Wikipedia had been repaired within five minutes. 'We were surprised at how often we found vandalism, and then surprised again at how fast it was fixed,' says Martin Wattenberg, a researcher in the IBM TJ Watson Research Center, in Cambridge, Mass."

--Nectarflowed 21:19, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * "The truth is that Wikipedia reveals what is normally hidden in an encyclopedia: the countless decisions that lie behind each entry. The only difference is that in Wikipedia, the decision-making never stops and the debates are often robust to say the least." the Guardian (UK)

Well, Wikipedia has is not based on any logical or scientific approach. That makes it possible to maintain and administrate information that can be contradictory to itself. NPOV is an attempt to cut senseless information, but it fails, because giving room to different ideas what is is not what is. -[Apparently posted by same user as first paragraph -ed.]

The problem are newly created articles, as they have no-one watching them. Sure, obvious nonsense gets deleted, but subtle mistakes survive. It happened a couple of times that I created an article, accidentially containing false information. If I hadn't noticed and gone back to fix it, it would probably have remained there for a long time, because my article passed the superficial 'no-nonsense', and after that, nobody was watching it. I think, nay, know, there is a lot of false information in WP. I guess it will asymptotically improve over time, but I am afraid not asymptotically approaching 100%, but maybe 90% or 95%. WP will never be error-free.dab 14:48, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * But then again, neither will Encyclopedia Brittannica Gkhan 18:23, Nov 18, 2004 (UTC)

 * The is a problem with the wikipedia philosophy that is difficult if not impossible to solve. The problem of truth. Wikipedia will never contain the truth because TRUTH is not about democracy or concensus. On Wikipedia, the majority will write what suits their desires. But we all know that even if only 1 person in the whole world knows the truth about a certain topic, it doesn't cease being true. Wikipedia has become a Point of View archive. True articles are watered down and mutilated to appeal to the majority who disagree with it. False articles are endorsed by the majority that don't know better. Intellectual honesty is not a big component which is unfortunate. Of course there are a few good articles but the trend is sadenning. --Minkwe 22:13, 01 Dec 2004 (ETC)

It's interesting how people regard Wikipedia as having a credibility problem, but other traditional encyclopedia's are assumed to be "right". It reminds me how the population during the Great War regarded newspapers as truthful, and believed everything that was printed, despite the propaganda that was pumped out, distorting the truth. The skepticism that accompanies a Wikipedia reader, along with the discussion pages, and editing history, provide more valuable information than a standard page. Sure, some of the information might be false. But the difference between Wikipedia, compared to traditional encyclopedia's, is that we are forced to do our own research. You'd be a fool to take Wikipedia's articles as fact. But you are also a fool to take Brittannica's as fact as well. Read. Think. Research more. Wikipedia encourages you to look further. Biz 02 Dec 2004

 * This is an important topic many Wikipedia editors and people outside of the project are interested in. Wikipedia should really have an article (e.g. wikipedia credibility)that explores all the points within this issue.  --Nectarflowed 08:29, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I think there is a greater reflection of truth here then normally. Say an article seems to be in constant flux because two opposing sides are trying to manipulate it to different ends. I think this reflects that the truth of the matter has yet to be resolved. Articles that are constantly changing are most likely more contentious than others. The many changes represent there ambiguous nature. Also the idea that anyone can really get to "Truth" seems a little out there. I think we have to settle with truth. I think wikipedia reflects truth in a better since than anything else humans have made.

 * Well, some portions of Wikipedia are more reliable than others. What is good to remember is that Wikipedia is a site for and by white male Euroamerican teenagers.. however, you can expect to find accurate information on, among other things, mathematics, physics, chemistry (except the articles on drugs, which mostly glorify drug use and omit the dangers) etc. Always have a real encyclopedia nearby.

Arab-Israeli conflict
"U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reiterate calls for a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict."

"Two-state solution" redirects to "two state solution." This should be fixed. Mkilly 19:55, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Typo
Authorizing, in the Nixon calendar item. Baylink 01:21, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * On American topics, American English should be used (see the guidelines on US vs. UK English). If you still want to edit, go ahead --Eddi 20:30, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Sorry: I wasn't clear. It was mispelt even for American english.  And it appeared to be locked, or I *would* have fixed it myself.  Baylink 21:18, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * I should be sorry for not checking history. Stupid me. :) --Eddi 21:25, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Ex-Britannica Editor Reviews Wikipedia
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/11/16/1319242.shtml?tid=95&tid=1 (somebody go fix Alexander Hamilton ;o) it was of course fixed before I even got there. dab 14:32, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Felix the cat Main page
Remove this scandalous image from the article felix the cat !!!!!!--ThomasK 16:39, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)==Felix the cat Main page ==

Remove this scandalous image from the article felix the cat !!!!!!--ThomasK 16:39, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)
 * Urgh, I was about to report that too. Who did that? --Frankie Roberto 16:42, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I tried to change the main page to point to Martika for a temporarily less offensive link but it didnt work. Pacian 16:43, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * It does seem to have worked now... --Frankie Roberto 16:45, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Can we get rid of the pornographic picture on the main page please? Perhaps the main page could be made uneditable, infact I thought it was already. I am viewing this in a university and could easily get into trouble for looking at porn. I also suggest that the community portal page be looked at. Kevo00 16:49, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I believe the main page is uneditable, but someone changed the picture in the article itself, so even if the main page cannot be editted, the articles within still can. It appears fixed now. Indigo 16:55, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * It does not appear fixed to me. --68.57.8.167 18:26, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * It is not fixed. ---NamfFohyr; 16 Nov, 2004; 18:55 UTC
 * I edited the template to contain no image, as a last-ditch effort. Better to risk no-cartoon than the current, offensive image! ---rmbh; 16 Nov, 2004; 20:32 (UTC)
 * Not only didn't my changes stick, I got blamed for vandalising the page! rmbh 23:28, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

 * Please see "Image vandalism and protection" below

Hello everybody!!!This WIKIPEDIA is a very good innovation, it's a figata!!!Compliments to all who write something in this...cronological speculation(what for cronological speculation?...we don't know!) Bye bye by Vero&Fede Italy...Write soon!!! ^___^

Wikipedia.info redirection?
After reading the earlier discussion about the domain wikipedia.info, I visited the domain in question, and got a "wiki does not exist" message. When I go to wikipedia.com, I'm "redirected" to wikipedia.org. Why not with wikipedia.info? -- Adolph Wales 18:03, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Image vandalism and protection
Perhaps we ought to protect any images used on the main page for the duration of that use? That way first-time visitors won't be surprised with goatse images (or worse). —No-One Jones (m) 19:47, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * What 'e said. The vandals learn fast, I'm afraid; designing the WP to be user friendly makes it easy to master in a short period of time, which means that vandals don't have to work very hard to learn how to screw with us. Maybe (but only maybe) we should go back to having templates on the Main Page be admin-only; I'm not sure it was the image itself that was vandalized, although those are equally vulnerable. -Litefantastic 20:27, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, for obvious reasons the images are way more vulnerable because of the way they are implemented in MediaWiki. An admin only front page is the weak answer, I think textwise we're dealing with vandalism very quickly, and thanks to the large amount of editors working on it we have a very dynamic front page which is good, keeps things interesting, people putting goatse images on main should get a perm ban. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 20:44, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

Because the amount of vandalism of the featured article write up has increased dramatically recently, I am strongly leaning towards protecting them from now on. →Raul654 21:00, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

So you all know the discussion of this particular vandal is at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/November 16, 2004. -- user:zanimum

I had to turn off the 'In the News' template. I don't think that'll stop the vandalism, but it might get across the point that we're having problems to the people who can protect the pages. -Litefantastic 22:07, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Felix the Cat incident - The Ban
Originally started on Silsor's talk page, by Zanimum

I've extended the ban on 192.197.71.189 to indefinite, because a goatse.cx on the main page is beyond unacceptable. -- user:zanimum
 * It would probably be better if you shortened that IP block to something more in terms of weeks, since we have no way of knowing how many people use it to access Wikipedia or when it will change hands. Blocking anonymous vandals for a length of time is more useful as a temporary deterrent. silsor 18:49, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

 * We should try to track the anon's ISP and contact them, they might be able to track who was using the IP at the time, a willing ISP would be able to take action, especially if it's from a school or university. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 21:39, Nov 16, 2004 (UTC)

WHOIS turns up the following:

[Removed] (see below)

I would suspect the government of Canada looks down on their networks being used to post disgusting pornography on public websites. —No-One Jones (m) 21:44, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Can someone confirm what happened, I think this image was overwritten with the Goatse image: Image:Felix 1936.jpg, but it doesn't show any vandalism in the history, especially not at the time the complaints started raining in. Anyone know for sure what happened? If we're contacting the ISP we need to have an exact time to report, and we need to contact them ASAP. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 07:45, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * Based on the upload log:

→Raul654 07:51, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * 18:22, 16 Nov 2004 Palnatoke uploaded "Felix.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 18:20, 16 Nov 2004 Silsor uploaded "Felix.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 18:15, 16 Nov 2004 192.197.71.189 uploaded "Felix.jpg"
 * 17:35, 16 Nov 2004 ALoan uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 17:35, 16 Nov 2004 ALoan uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 17:15, 16 Nov 2004 Dugnorth uploaded "Felix.jpg" (Felix the Cat)
 * 17:02, 16 Nov 2004 Evil saltine uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 17:02, 16 Nov 2004 Evil saltine uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 16:46, 16 Nov 2004 Orpheus Machina uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 16:38, 16 Nov 2004 Aquatopia uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg" (Reverted to earlier revision)
 * 16:31, 16 Nov 2004 192.197.71.189 uploaded "Felix_1936.jpg"

I have sent an extensive abuse report to the Internet support department of the ISP managing the anon's address. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 08:24, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * Hopefully this particular user will be terminated, or at least warned, by the Canadian government agency s/he is with. In any case, there's no need for indefinite protection.  Pakaran (ark a pan) 12:14, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The general contact address for [removed]. Any volunteers to contact? Actually, all employees of this and many other departments are listed online. One of the subcategories of [removed] likely names the culprit, whomever they are. -- user:zanimum

Folks - the IP was faked. This has been confirmed by the devs. Anyone who has written needs to consider writing again quick. And perhaps we need to think about only making such complaints through some sort of official channel -- sannse (talk) 21:41, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The IP concerned was faked. Anyone who contacted the registrant for the IP address 192.197.71.189 should withdraw their incorrect report. The IP actually responsible for uploading the image was 158.64.72.230. That IP created an account called "192.197.71.189" to do the uploading. The IP and image links are as follows:

158.64.72.230 ( not a known proxy)(whois): 83.99.48.97 ( not a known proxy) (whois

... work in progress... food has interrupted my research but this may be IPs who I've previously blocked for creating 40+ vandalism accounts. Jamesday 21:54, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Dante Alighieri made me aware of the fact that the 192 anon has been framed, it is worrysome that it is so easy to emulate an anonymous user by using an IP as account name. Why not filter these out at account creation? I have immediately written a new mail to the internet support department explaining the situation. The reason I took action in the first place is because the vandalism already seemed to be disappearing in the Featured article of the day archive. Sending complaints for vandalism through a central organisation or person is a good idea, but that means there should be a policy and a way to actually build these complaints. As it is, WP:VIP is not suitable. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 21:56, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * Has someone brought this bug to a developer's attention? This seems to need fixing ASAP. -- The Anome 10:43, Nov 18, 2004 (UTC)
 * That bug was fixed two years ago already, but was recently reintroduced - and fixed again now according to Brion Vibber on the Village Pump. Strange that some vandals find the security holes so fast. andy 13:04, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

158.64.72.230: hal.lgl.lu — http://lgl.lu/ "Lycée de Garçons de Luxembourg". what an asshole (so to speak:) dab 11:07, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * why do we have the policy of not making public the IPs of edits by logged in users, btw? dab 12:50, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

RIPE gives this abuse contact for this network (158.64.0.0/16): descr:       Reseau Teleinformatique de l'Education Nationale descr:       Educational and research network for Luxembourg person:      Theo Duhautpas address:     Fondation RESTENA address:     6, rue Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi address:     L-1359 Luxembourg phone:       +352 42 44 09 fax-no:      +352 42 24 73 e-mail:      theo.duhautpas  restena.lu -- Karada 12:52, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * well, that's the national educational network operator. they will not be able to do much about a kid posting goatse from his school's library. If we address the school directly, they may be able to identify the offender, or if not, at least be motivated to threaten sanctions for computer abuse. dab 13:20, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Protect main page?

 * Moved to Wikipedia talk:Protection policy

Anti-French Violence
I think linking the phrase "Anti-French Violence" in a lead sentence about the conflict in the Ivory coast to an article title "Anti-French Sentiment" in the US is POV and silly.

Any help out here?
Wikipedia seems to be very interesting! I'm on a research for a suitable writing script for my language. I want ot combine chinese and japanese scripts with a tutorial in english. At this stage I have no clue whether Wikipedia will help me in my project!

Any help out here?

deebee

 * you can ask your question at the Reference desk. Also, it might help if you told us, which is your language -- are we talking about a fictional language? Also, feel free to actually read the articles, Chinese script, Japanese_language. dab 14:14, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Request To Sysops

 * Dear Sysops, can we put up a new section in the Wikipedia In Other Languages of a new section which says Wikipedias with 100,000 articles or more? Thanks, User:Chan Han Xiang

4E5
We just hit the 400,000-articles barrier, people! dab 15:57, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Iraq flag contains propaganda!
better remove this immediately!

 * I'll elabourate on that. The image "Newiraqflag.gif" appears to be a gif animation.  After a few seconds of displaying Iraq's flag, the message "Governor Adolph Bush did it only for the oil!" appears.  (Also, the source of the image is not specified.)

Falsifian 21:37, 2004 Nov 20 (UTC)

Again, this is why we need to protect images that go on the main page! —Lowellian (talk)  22:33, Nov 20, 2004 (UTC)

 * It appears that this image was never modified, so protection wouldn't have done anything. The original version had the message.  Maybe the solution is just to be very wary of gifs.  (Are there any other common image formats that support animation?)  --Falsifian 23:06, 2004 Nov 20 (UTC)
 * I have removed the message from the image and replaced it. Tom- 01:06, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * it may be propaganda, but it sure is easier on the eyes than goatse (sorry:) dab 12:45, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Let's avoid animation! =b And no, there are not. -Fennec (はさばくのきつね) 06:15, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * My guess is that the image was modified. Until recently there was a security hole that allowed for images to be replaced without any record. It is believed to be fixed. -- Cyrius|✎ 14:44, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Quake "Did you know"
Minor quibble, but in this line:

...that development on Star Wars Quake lasted for six years, and is probably the most famous Quake mod to never be completed?

"Star Wars Quake" and "Quake" should both be italicized. I know that Tutorial (Formatting) only specifies books and movie names, but lately most Wiki pages italicize game names as well for largely the same reasons (the whole "longer work" deal and all). --Shadow Hog 16:36, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Fixed. Fredrik | talk 16:43, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Thanks. --Shadow Hog 18:10, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hiding Header
When I put the cursor over the "log in" area at the top right of the screen, it jumps under the logo on the top left. This makes it so you can't reach it in Wiktionary. This happens whether or not you are logged in. I have not checked the other Wikiplaces. Please fix this, someone.

Typo on main page.
Typo: "the Indus Civilization cvered ..." should be "covered".

Sorry about the blanking. I thought I was just editing a new comment. :(
 * I don't think that that was you. -- ABCD | Talk 02:02, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Featured article copyvio?
See Talk:Indus Valley Civilization; do we have a copyvio on our featured article? I'm unfamiliar with the history of this article and would rather have someone who's worked on the article take a look at it. —Lowellian (talk)  20:54, Nov 22, 2004 (UTC)

 * this is appalling . the article was featured at a completely different stage, back in March. It was nominated in January. See Featured_article_candidates/Featured_log/October_2003_to_April_2004. There was no discussion at all. Nobody commented, and it was simply considered FA'd. Maybe our FA standards have changed? Maybe we need a FA patrol looking for deterioration of FAs? The person picking the FA of the day should at least do some checking of this kind. In any case, an article that has reached FA standard doesn't necessarily remain on FA standard on WP, this much is obvious. WP is doomed to "eternal vigilance". dab 22:08, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * It wasn't featured in March. Today's featured article/March 2004 -- user:zanimum
 * well, the Template:Featured was added in March. So maybe it wasn't really featured at all, ever. dab 11:07, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Isn't there a page for requesting to unfeature articles? Andre ( talk )A| 22:38, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * Featured article removal candidates to remove their status as featured article. As far as taking down a featured article of the day, it's my call, really, but that's extremely rare and has only happened twice (one time unnecessarily, IMHO). →Raul654 23:51, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

Charlie Dog Page removed
Sorry, there were false claims against the Chuck Jones cartoon dog character.

user 6:15 P.M.
 * Fixed. It was a blanking.  In the future, you can check the history of the page, click on the previous edit to see what was there before, press edit, and then press save :).  Or you can just ask somebody else to take care of it.  Thanks for the alert. -[[User:Frazzydee|Frazzydee|✍]] 23:20, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I tried to fix the page as fast, but Jeff Schiller came in, has changed the pages about the dog away from the older version, I got blamed of ruining the article.

 * Check the history on this (both the Charlie Dog page, the Talk:Charlie Dog page). You (or someone within your IP range) is continually vandalizing this page as well as my own statements on the Talk page.  You have also started vandalizing the Bugs Bunny page.  Regards, Jeff schiller 00:01, 2004 Nov 24 (UTC)

Many people don't know who the two characters are, but sadly, their old 40's and 50's cartoons are now gone, disappeared from cable television, also people these days don't know anything about classical music.

Wow! Vandalism!
Someone should probably remove it. Comrade Tassadar 06:29, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

how? I thought only the admins could edit the front page. --Jazz Remington 06:31, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Whoa, it appeared one did quite quickly. Ignore this, then. Comrade Tassadar 06:32, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC) Have I become schizophrenic? I just saw it again for a few seconds. Comrade Tassadar 06:33, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Someone also should change the page back to the older version of November 22nd, and protect this page. Despite, I am a classical music fan, but other people claim the dog did appear in the 1970s cartoons with popular music in background, but Jeff Schiller argued he was not, before that, he said he was not involved with the Great-Dane. Well, I give up.

 * What are you talking about? I fail to see how your comments related to Charlie Dog are relevant to this discussion about vandalism of the Main_Page.  With regards to our debate about Charlie Dog, if you can please provide some proof of the 1970s cartoon you are talking about it would be appreciated, but please confine the discussion to the Talk:Charlie Dog page.  Regards, Jeff schiller 00:06, 2004 Nov 24 (UTC)

Wikifilm
There's a project called Wikifilm, that I'm proposing. -- user:zanimum

Main Page - remake in CSS
I've re-done the Main Page using CSS instead of tables as much as I can (just one table with two cells remains). Please help test it in any browser you have, it should be almost identical to the current Main Page. Please list any problems on the test page's talk page. Thanks, Tom- 22:15, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Bravo! BLANKFAZE | (что??) 22:26, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * It works fine on my current machine, but remember there's enough browsers out there that are gonna have trouble with this. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 16:13, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)
 * This is now live. Tom- 21:29, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Awesome. Screw browsers that have problems with it.  CSS has been a W3C recommendation for HOW LONG now? BLANKFAZE | (что??</b><b style="font-size:90%;">)</b> 21:39, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I haven't actually found a browser which has a problem with it yet. And this version works better than the previous tables version on Netscape 4 - the old version used to crash it! Tom- 21:52, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Hmm. I hope that comment was at least a little bit ironic; some people really don't like being told to "upgrade or else", you know... In fact, somebody on the Help desk the other day was complaining that "Wikipedia crashes Netscape" - they haven't responded to my request for clarification yet, but they seemed to be implying it was just this one page that was triggering the problem; so I wondered if it was the relatively complex CSS that was causing this, but haven't got round to testing it. Do the dates check out with your recoding, or was it still mainly tables at the time that comment was left? - IMSoP 21:56, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * OK, you're officially absolved of blame for this; I've just tested, and it's a whole lot weirder than one version working and another not... - IMSoP 22:34, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Meh. Now I'm just confused! First I thought your changes might actually be breaking the browser; then they seemed to be irrelevant, and I was getting weird differences between .../wiki/Main_Page (crashed) and .../w/wiki.phtml?title=Main_Page (didn't); now I can't get it to crash at all! I can only think that the weirdness was just a caching issue (this testing was all done after you'd made the change, but not long after). So, um, thanks; and sorry. Um... - IMSoP 22:44, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * The non-CSS version (with lots of tables) was crashing NS4. The new almost-only-CSS version doesn't crash NS4. You were probably seeing the old version due to caching. Tom- 23:03, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Discovery of Tasmania?
It says today that "1642 - Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania." I would like to disagree. From a NPOV, it would seem like Abel Tasman was the first European (or white person, or whomever) to voyage to Tasmania, as there were an estimated 5000 indigenous peoples living there at the time of his voyage. I would strongly recommend this be changed, I feel it's not NPOV and that it makes Wikipedia seem European-centric, which it should not be. User:Machinebuster

 * perhap[s change it to "1642 - Abel Tasman was the first European voyager to map Tasmania." Or some such similar. The same should also be said of any explorer opening up regions which are already inhabited. --BrianWalker 07:18, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * The Tazmania article seems to deal with it well, writing that Tasman was the first European voyager to sight Tasmania (I think this is more accurate than "map").--Nectarflowed 08:07, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania on that date. The statement does not imply that he was the first person to discover Tasmania. Considering the island and an adjacent sea is now named after him, I see no problem with listing the date that this voyager happened upon the island. If it stated "1642 - Tasmania is discovered" then maybe it'd be a different story. - Mark 06:13, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Wikimedia for the Nobel Peace Prize
Suggested in Wikimedia for Nobel Peace Prize --Mac 17:52, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Obscene vandalism
i like the penis on the main page. not. 128.61.79.26

 * I demand capital punishment for this porno idiots.   Yes,hard but wikipedia is recently under attack by this crackpots. user:ThomasK

 * It was reverted almost immediately, so no harm done. user:GrahamN (serial password amnesiac)

There is still harm done, probably coming soon wikipedia will called pornpedia.

These crackpots.

--ThomasK 16:27, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

More Vandalism
''Important announcement!

Wikipedia contributors are fucking nerds and geeks! Look at the article on African art compared to a silly song called "La La". The fact that such sysmatic bias is apparent is why you should never take Wikipedia seriously!

Expect this to be reverted for vandalism but this is the truth! Lololol! Vandals are always right!''

Jesus H. Christ, come on. If you object to the content that much, fix it. - Kade - Dec 3rd, 2004

-- -- Yes, i'm going to fix it as well but you're faster than me....And JESUS TAPDANCING CHIRST, what the hell is wrong with people these day? Mgz - Dec 3rd, 2004 couple minutes later

 * The IP address used belongs to the "Greek High-School Internet Network". The actual thing that was vandalized was Template:WikipediaSister. I blocked the IP address for 6 months, although I expect someone is going to say that's an abuse of my admin powers. -- Cyrius|✎ 00:06, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * That's an abuse of your admin powers.
 * But seriously, of course it's not. Admins are there to block. Six months seems knee-jerk excessive for one instance of vandalism, though, even if the vandalism is particularly "high-profile". If you had the ICBM coordinates of the school, would you use them? :-) JRM 00:20, 2004 Dec 4 (UTC)

 * 24 hours would have been more appropriate. The mischievous will always find an IP that we have not blocked yet. Blocking is only an immediate, short term remedy. You cannot block an entire school from edting for half a year because someone posted "Lololol! Vandals are always right!" from there. [[User:Dbachmann|dab ( T ) ]] 11:39, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Main Page/Archive 29


text:
Wheels Car of the Year

Wheels Car of the Year (commonly abbreviated to COTY) is an annual automotive Car of the Year award presented by Wheels magazine. The publisher claims that it is the world's oldest continuous motoring award of its kind. The award is given to the best newly released vehicle each year.

History
Since 1963, Wheels has awarded the title of Car of the Year. In its inaugural year, the French Renault 8 became the inaugural COTY winner, which was built in many countries including Australia.

The original intention of COTY was to promote excellence in the Australian car manufacturing industry, dominated at the time by Ford, Holden, Chrysler, Datsun and Toyota. With the fuel crisis in the 1970s, European makers also based in Australia, such as Renault and Volkswagen, began closing their local assembly plants. With a shrinking local manufacturing base and reliability and quality issues that affected Australian-made cars, Wheels changed the basis of the award to include imported cars. At first, this was condemned by the local industry, unions and media, however, the approach permitted local products to be judged on a global basis. This, in turn, is claimed to have contributed towards a more competitive local industry and sees each winner heavily advertised as a COTY winner.

The award is given on an annual basis, except in 1972, 1979 and 1986 when, under the stewardship of the then-editor Peter Robinson, no newly released car in those years was considered worthy of the award.

The withholding of the award in 1972 and 1979 twice coincided with the release of a new Ford Falcon (the XA and XD series). On the second occasion, as the Falcon (XD) was a sales success and leading candidate for the 1980 COTY award, the then deputy manager of Ford Australia, Edsel Ford II, took out a 1-page advertisement in Wheels magazine, depicting the Falcon and other contenders as lemons and stating "There are times when being a lemon is not a bitter experience at all". This was both in answer to the award's withdrawal against the Falcon and Wheels' cover for March 1980, which was a four-wheeled lemon under the title "NO CAR OF THE YEAR".

The first imported car to win the award was the Japanese Honda Accord for 1977. In 1982, the award was shared for the first time between badge engineered cars and, in 1991, between completely different types of cars. Over the years, the COTY criteria has been further refined and, for 2004, it was amended to allow any Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) to be eligible for the first time, permitting the Australian-made Ford Territory to take the title. For 2011, the Honda CR-Z instead became the first hybrid to win the award.

Starting from 2015, the temporal basis of how the award is branded has been changed such that, the award now carries the year of when the winner was announced, instead of the preceding year when testing took place. Consequently, what would have been the 2015 COTY winner is instead be the winner for 2016 and so forth.

COTY winners
To date, in chronological order, the award winners (by name including series where available) have been the following:

• 1963 Renault 8

• 1964 Morris 1100

• 1965 Ford XP Falcon

• 1966 Ford XR Falcon

• 1967 Chrysler VE Valiant

• 1968 Holden HK Monaro

• 1969 Holden LC Torana

• 1970 Renault 12

• 1971 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger

• 1972 – award withheld

• 1973 Leyland P76 V8

• 1974 Volkswagen Passat (B1)

• 1975 Holden TX Gemini

• 1976 Volkswagen Golf Mk1

• 1977 Honda Accord

• 1978 Holden VB Commodore

• 1979 – award withheld

• 1980 Mazda 323 (BD)

• 1981 Mercedes-Benz 380 SE (W126)

• 1982 Holden JB Camira

• 1983 Mazda 626 (GC) and Ford AR Telstar

• 1984 Mitsubishi Nimbus

• 1985 Mitsubishi TM Magna

• 1986 – award withheld

• 1987 Honda Prelude

• 1988 Holden VN Commodore

• 1989 Mazda MX-5 (NA)

• 1990 Lexus LS 400 (XF10)

• 1991 Honda NSX and Nissan Pulsar (N14)

• 1992 Mazda 626 (GE) and Ford AX Telstar

• 1993 Holden VR Commodore

• 1994 Subaru Liberty

• 1995 Honda Odyssey

• 1996 Mitsubishi TE Magna/KE Verada

• 1997 Holden VT Commodore

• 1998 Subaru Liberty

• 1999 Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W220)

• 2000 Subaru Impreza

• 2001 Holden XC Barina

• 2002 Ford BA Falcon

• 2003 Mazda RX-8

• 2004 Ford SX Territory

• 2005 Mazda MX-5 (NC)

• 2006 Holden VE Calais

• 2007 Mercedes-Benz C-Class (W204)

• 2008 Honda Accord Euro

• 2009 Volkswagen Golf Mk6

• 2010 Volkswagen Polo Mk5

• 2011 Honda CR-Z

• 2012 Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ

• 2013 Volkswagen Golf Mk7

• 2014 BMW i3

• 2015 – temporal basis for award changed

• 2016 Mazda MX-5 (ND)

• 2017 Mazda CX-9 (TC)

• 2018 Volvo XC60

• 2019 Volvo XC40

• 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC

• 2021 Mazda CX-30

• 2022 Kia EV6

• 2023 Ford Everest

 * Notes

Multiple awards by manufacturer
Includes award won by the S-Class predecessor—the Mercedes-Benz 380 SE (W126).

title: Wheels Car of the Year


text:
Weihai

Weihai, formerly Weihaiwei , is a prefecture-level city and major seaport city in easternmost Shandong province of China. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest mainland Chinese city to South Korea (specifically, Chengshan to Yeonpyeongdo).

Compared with the 2,804,771 people in the 2010 Chinese census, there has been a total increase of 101,777 people over the past decade, an increase of 3.63%, with an average annual growth rate of 0.36%. Weihai's population was 2,906,548 as of the 2020 Chinese census, of whom 1,164,730 lived in the current built-up (or metro) area of (Huancui District) even though Wendeng district to the south with 563,529 inhabitants is soon being conurbated. There are two county-level cities within Weihai; Rongcheng had a built up area with 714,211 inhabitants, while Rushan had 464,078 inhabitants in 2020. A subway is planned with 4 lines and 204.6 km route length to link all city districts. The first phase, Line 1 and 2 is planned for 2025.

History
Prehistorically, it was inhabited by Dongyi tribes, and it was annexed into China Proper by the state of Qi in 567 B.C.

Before the 14th century, Weihai was a minor fishing settlement. In 1398, during the Ming dynasty, it became a military stronghold (wei) to defend against raids by the wokou. The fortification at Weihai was constructed in 1403, and contained walls almost 2 miles (3.2 km) in circumference.

Weihaiwei was the base for the Beiyang Fleet during the Qing Dynasty. In 1895, the Japanese captured it in the Battle of Weihaiwei, which is regarded as the last major battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese then evacuated Weihaiwei on 24 May 1898, after which it was occupied by the British.

The core of Weihai (now Huancui District) was ruled by the British from 1 July 1898 to 1930 under lease agreement with the Chinese empire, with Port Edward (the center of the original Weihai city, now in Huancui District) serving as the capital. A Royal Navy base was built on Liugong Island.

Weihaiwei became an integral part of China after it was returned to the Republic of China on 1 October 1930, but Liugong Island and its facilities were leased back to the U.K. until 1940.

Weihaiwei was occupied by the Japanese from 1938 to 1945. There was a withdrawal of most British forces and supplies from Liugong Island, and finally a Japanese military landing and occupation of the island in 1940.

The region was formally incorporated into Shandong province on 10 May 1945. In 1949, Weihaiwei City was established, and its name was shortened to Weihai after the Communist revolution.

Since 2003, a replica of the Chinese battleship Dingyuan has been anchored here as a museum ship and memorial for Chinese veterans of the First Sino-Japanese War.

Administrative divisions
The prefecture-level city of Weihai administers four county-level divisions, including two districts and two county-level cities.

These are further divided into 66 township-level divisions, including 52 towns and 14 subdistricts.

Geography and climate
Weihai is located on the northeastern shore of Shandong; its administrative area includes Chengshantou (成山头), the easternmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula (Shantung Peninsula). The city is surrounded by sea on three sides; its port is protected by Liugong Island.

Weihai experiences a continental climate, and it is climactically influenced by the surrounding Yellow Sea and the Siberian high. Springtime warming and autumn cooling are delayed by one month, winds are generally high, and the average diurnal temperature variation throughout the year is small—at only 6.73 C-change. Winters are cold and dry, but still warmer than inland regions at the same latitude; the average temperature in January is −0.9 °C. Summers are hot and humid, but much cooler than inland regions at similar latitude like the North China Plain (for about 5~10°C) and August averages 24.7 °C; the annual mean is 12.48 °C. More than two-thirds of the annual precipitation occurs from June to September, and there are nearly 2,540 hours of sunshine per year.

Economy
Weihai is a commercial port and major fishing center with some light industries. Due to its close proximity to South Korea, Weihai also has a large Korean business community and receives many Korean tourists. Weihai is also a key production area for peanuts and fruit.

Industrial Zone
Weihai Economic & Technological Development Zone is a state-level development zone approved by the State Council on 21 October 1992. The administrative area has an area of 194 km2, including the programmed area of 36 km2 and an initial area of 11.88 km2. Its nearest port is Weihai Port, and the airport closest to the zone is Dashuibo Airport.

Weihai Export Processing Zone (EPZ) was set up by the approval of the State Council on 27 April 2000. Weihai EPZ is located in Weihai Economic & Technological Development Zone with programmed area of 2.6 km2. Weihai EPZ belongs to comprehensive export & processing zone. The EPZ is located 30 km from Weihai Airport, 3 km to Weihai Railway Station and 4 km from Weihai Harbor.

Weihai Torch Hi-Tech Science Park is a state-level development zone approved by the State Council in March 1991. Located in Weihai's northwest zone of culture, education and science, the Park has the total area of 111.9 km2, a coastline of 30.5 km and 150,000 residents. It is 3 km away from the city center, 4 km away from Weihai Port, 10 km away from Weihai Railway Station, 30 km away from Weihai Airport and 80 km away from Yantai Airport.

Transportation
Weihai Dashuipo Airport serves the city with regular service to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin domestically and the South Korean airport of Seoul–Incheon, as the fourth busiest airport in Shandong following Qingdao, Jinan and Yantai.

Qingdao–Rongcheng intercity railway offers the high-speed rail services directly to Shanghai Hongqiao, Beijing South, Jinan, Jimo North (Qingdao North soon) and Yantai, with five rail stations, Weihai, Weihai North, Wendeng, Wendeng East and Rongcheng.

As for conventional rail services, The K8262 train depart every day at and 10:18 PM respectively for Jinan, the provincial capital, the K412 goes directly to Beijing at 8:54 PM, and the No. K1068 train leaves at 9:38 AM for Hankou, one of the three railway stations of Wuhan, Hubei. Internally, the city is served by more than 50 bus routes.

Education
Campuses of Shandong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Harbin University of Science and Technology, as well as Shandong Jiaotong University are located in Weihai.

Secondary Schools
 * Weihai No. 1 High School (威海市第一中学，威海一中)
 * Weihai No. 2 High School (威海市第二中学，威海二中)
 * Weihai No. 3 High School (威海市第三中学，威海三中)
 * Weihai No. 4 High School (威海市第四中学，威海四中)

Eponymy

 * The minor planet 207931 Weihai is named after this city.

title: Weihai


text:
Motor Trend Car of the Year

The Motor Trend Car of the Year (COTY) is an annual Car of the Year award given by Motor Trend magazine to recognize the best new or significantly refreshed car in a given model year.

Background
Motor Trend, which debuted in 1949, was the first publication to name a Car of the Year. The inaugural Motor Trend Car of the Year award recognized Cadillac's V8 engine in 1949.

The earliest awards were given to the manufacturer or division, not for a specific vehicle. The 1958 Ford Thunderbird became the first single model to be selected. In 1970, the Ford Torino won the COTY while Motor Trend selected the Porsche 914 for its first Import COTY award.

In 1972, the low-volume imported Citroën SM won the overall COTY award. Between 1976 and 1999, the COTY award was split in two: Domestic COTY and Import COTY.

The trophy was recombined in 2000 because the distinctions between domestic and import cars became increasingly difficult. The award has expanded to include a pickup truck (starting in 1979) and a separate sport utility vehicle (starting in 1999), which are recognized separately from the Car of the Year.

Over time, other publications and organizations have copied Motor Trend's Car of the Year award and created their own. These COTY designations may focus on regional markets, vehicle types, specific market segments, or other criteria. Some examples include the European Car of the Year that began in 1964 by a collective of automobile magazines, the Green Car of the Year selected by a panel of automotive and environmental experts, the Tow Car of the Year chosen by selected sponsors in the industry, and the Fleet Car of the Year that is voted by professional fleet managers.

Impact
Motor Trend's Car of the Year is "one of the most prestigious honors bestowed in the auto industry."

The trophy for the winner, a depiction of calipers, is often used in the winning automaker's marketing and advertising. Most cars that win the award report a spike in sales.

Criteria
To be eligible for the award, a car must be an "all-new" or "substantially upgraded" vehicle that has been on sale within twelve months from the previous November, vehicles that have been on sale for over five years are ineligible for the award.

Between the contenders, it is not a comparison test. In 2014 as an example, the Motor Trend judges debated and evaluate each vehicle against six key criteria:

Motor Trend also only considers cars with base MSRPs less than $150,000 in order to avoid expensive luxury and super cars dominating the competition.

Vehicles are subjected to a battery of tests: standard car tests such as skid-pad ratings, acceleration and quarter-mile times, and evaluations of the interiors are combined with a track run conducted by Sports Car Club of America-licensed testers and taking the cars out on normal roads to test their drivability under normal conditions, and fuel economy. Trucks and SUVs add towing capacity and speed, plus an off-road course, to the normal regimen.

Car of the Year Winners
Note that in 1970 and between 1976-2000, the Car of the Year award was split into two categories, domestic and import.

Import Car of the Year Winners
Introduced in 1970 for one year and then brought back in 1976 due to differences between imports and American cars. The award was discontinued after the 1999 model year when the difference between what was a domestic and an import had started to become problematic.

SUV of the Year Winners
"SUV of the Year" was split from "Truck of the Year" in 1999.

Performance Vehicle of the Year Winners
Motor Trend began their Performance Vehicle of the Year award in 2022.

Car of the Year (China)
Motor Trend magazine's China-market cousin, Auto Club-Motor Trend, also issues a "Car of the Year" award for that market.

Car of the Year

 * 2011: BMW Brilliance 5 Series (long wheelbase)
 * 2010: Shanghai-GM Buick Regal
 * 2009: GAC-Honda Accord
 * 2008: FAW-Volkswagen Magotan(Passat B6)
 * 2007: GAC-Toyota Camry
 * 2006: FAW-Toyota Crown
 * 2005: Changan-Ford Mondeo
 * 2004: FAW-Mazda 6
 * 2003: Shanghai Volkswagen Polo

SUV of the Year Winners

 * 2011: FAW-Volkswagen Audi Q5
 * 2010: GAC Toyota Highlander
 * 2009: Dongfeng Nissan X-Trail
 * 2008: Guangqi Honda CRV
 * 2007: Countermanded
 * 2006: Shanghai GM SRX
 * 2005: Guangqi Honda CRV
 * 2004: Changfeng Automobile Liebao Feiteng

title: Motor Trend Car of the Year


text:
Bernier's teal

Bernier's teal (Anas bernieri), also known as the Madagascar teal, is a species of duck in the genus Anas. It is endemic to Madagascar, where it is found only along the west coast. Part of the "grey teal" complex found throughout Australasia, it is most closely related to the Andaman teal.

Taxonomy
The Bernier's teal was first described by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub in 1860 under the binomial name Querquedula bernieri. It is one of many dabbling ducks in the genus Anas. It is one of the "grey teals", a group of related ducks found across Australasia. DNA studies suggest that it may have been a sister species with Sauzier's teal (which was found on the nearby islands of Mauritius and Réunion until it became extinct). Studies further suggest that its closest living relative is the Andaman teal, and confirm that it is related to the gray teal. There are no subspecies.

The duck's common and species names both commemorate Chevalier Bernier, a French naval surgeon and naturalist who collected nearly 200 specimens of various species while stationed in Madagascar. The genus name Anas is a Latin word meaning "duck".

Description
This is a small duck, measuring 40 to 45 cm in length, and ranging from 320 to 405 g in mass; males average slightly heavier than females. Adult and immature birds of both sexes look the same, though males are slightly larger than females. The plumage is predominantly warm brown. The bill is reddish, and the legs and feet are a dull reddish-orange.

Range and habitat
Bernier's teal is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is found in mangrove forests. It rarely leaves this habitat, where it favors open shallow ponds and lakes, mostly brackish. Its range encompasses the whole of the west coast and the extreme north-east. It is known to breed at a few sites, central and north-west coasts. Subfossil evidence from the Holocene period shows that the teal formerly had a much wider distribution across the island.

Voice
The male Bernier's teal whistles, while the female's call is described as "a croaking quak".

Diet and feeding
Bernier's teal typically spends much of its day actively feeding. It wades at the edge of shallow water, filtering mud and dabbling at the water's surface. It feeds on invertebrates, plant materials, and insects.

Breeding
All known nests of wild Bernier's teal have been found either above or close to water in grey mangrove trees, in holes 1 – above the water's surface. In captivity, the species will also use nest boxes. The birds add no materials to the nest. Instead, the female lays her eggs directly on floor of the cavity, covering them initially with wood shavings or rotting bits of wood and later with down feathers from her own breast. In captivity, clutch sizes varied from 3 to 9, with an average of 6.75 eggs per female. The eggs are pale buff in colour, smooth and elliptical in shape, measuring 46 x on average. This is smaller than the eggs of any of the other "grey teals". Only the female incubates the eggs.

Conservation status
Bernier's teal is on the verge of extinction. There are only about 1500 left in the world. The reason these ducks are on the verge of extinction is because their natural habitat, mangrove forests, are being destroyed for timber and fuel, and to expand cultivation. Hunting for food is also a threat.

The species is now held in wildfowl collections throughout the world, and several captive breeding programs exist. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on Jersey, for example, has reared nearly 100 since starting their breeding program in 1995. In the US, Sylvan Heights Bird Park in North Carolina and the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky have both successfully fledged ducklings.

title: Bernier's teal


text:
User talk:Marcello

Welcome to the Wikipedia
Here are some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library
 * Utilities
 * Cite your sources
 * Verifiability
 * Wikiquette
 * Civility
 * Conflict resolution
 * Neutral point of view
 * Pages needing attention
 * Peer review
 * Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense
 * Brilliant prose
 * Featured pictures
 * Boilerplate text
 * Current polls
 * Mailing lists
 * IRC channel

Feel free to contact me personally with any questions you might have. The Village pump is also a good place to go for quick answers to general questions. You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

Be Bold!

[[User:Sam Spade|Sam Spade Arb Com election]] 15:23, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Marcello


text:
User talk:Drdefcom~enwiki

Well, this is my user talk

Hi!
Hi! (see also User talk:81.165.130.78!). Yep, posting on someone's talk page is the best way to get in touch with someone, although you can also write on the article talk page, too. One useful feature is to "sign" your posts with four tildes: ~ ; that gets replaced with your name and the date, and helps keep track of who's saying what/when. If you've got any questions, please do ask, I'd be happy to help. Welcome again! — Matt 15:30, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Hi, yes I did try out your simulator -- it looks great, although I didn't realise you could lift out the rotors and fiddle with the ring settings. I'll have to try it out again! If you want to upload a diagram, you can use the "Upload file" link in the Toolbox. On that page there's a number of instructions on how to upload an image, how to label it, and how to add it to a page, and so on; but please make sure that either 1) you own the copyright or 2) the copyright holder has granted permission to use the image under, say, the GFDL. — Matt 18:20, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Enigma diagram
Nice diagram for the wiring at Enigma machine! I don't suppose you could make a "PNG" version? Currently, the image is in JPEG format, which is more suited for photographs. Diagrams are usually better off in a lossless-format. Cheers! — Matt 18:28, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Thanks, it looks a lot cleaner now. I had another play with your simulator, and it's a lot of fun to be able to move the rotors around graphically. Nice stuff. — Matt 19:30, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I've deleted the old JPEG version. — Matt 21:24, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

M-209
Nice looking simulator! I'll have to try it out sometime. Coincidentally, I've been working the past few days on turning my M-209 Blender model into a full-fledged simulator (since Blender has powerful Python scripting); I still have quite a bit of modelling left to do, but I've successfully created an interface for setting the lugs to the desired positions (with all changes shown in the 3D view). Eventually, I'd like it to be capable of a complete encoding/decoding, with different 3D views to show the internal workings during encoding. I'll probably be needing to consult with you later, to get your advice and comments :-) -- Wapcaplet 04:25, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Removing talk page threads
Hi,

You appear to have just deleted a talk page thread. Old talk page threads are archived, not deleted. Am I missing something here? Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 15:54, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

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title: User talk:Drdefcom~enwiki


text:
Edward Ramsay

Edward Bannerman Ramsay, (17 January 1793– 27 December 1872), usually referred to as Dean Ramsay, was a clergyman of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and Dean of Edinburgh in that communion from 1841, has a place in literature through his Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character, which had gone through 22 editions at his death. It is a book full of the personality of the author, and preserves many traits and anecdotes.

Life

Ramsay was born in Aberdeenshire on 31 January 1793, the fourth son of Elizabeth Bannerman and Sir Alexander Ramsay, Baronet of Balmain and Fasque.

He spent much of his early life in Yorkshire, attending the Cathedral Grammar School in Durham from 1806. He then attended St John's College at Cambridge University, graduating in 1815. He was then appointed curate of Rodden and of Buckland Dinham, Somerset. In 1824 he came to Edinburgh to serve as curate to St George's on York Place before being appointed minister of St John's Episcopal Church on Princes Street in 1830, where he then remained until death. This appointment followed the death of Bishop Daniel Sandford, founder of the church. His house from this period was a very large townhouse on the edge of the Moray Estate, 7 Darnaway Street, only five minutes walk from his church through Charlotte Square.

In 1838 he formed a new branch of the church, thereafter known as the Scottish Episcopal Church Society. In 1841 he was elected Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh.

Over and above his religious activity he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1827, his proposer being Sir David Brewster. He served as the Society's vice-president from 1859 to 1862.

He was also one of the founders of Glenalmond College.

He died at 23 Ainslie Place on the Moray Estate in Edinburgh on 27 December 1872. His memorial service was led by Rt Rev Henry Cotterill. He was buried in the eastern enclosure attaching the church.

His public memorial, an imposing 7.3m high Celtic cross in Shap granite with bronze sculpted panels, is on Princes Street in the grounds of St John's, Edinburgh, facing Charlotte Street. It was designed by the architect Robert Rowand Anderson and built by Farmer & Brindley of London. The bronze panels are by F. A. Skidmore. It was erected in 1879.

Legacy
The Episcopal Church still runs a charitable trust, The Dean Ramsay Fund, in his name.

Publications
He co-wrote Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character with his friend Cosmo Innes.

Family
His brother was Admiral Sir William Ramsay KSB (1798-1871).

He married Isabella Cochrane, daughter of Thomas Cochrane, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Nova Scotia, in 1829. They had no children.

Publications

 * A Catechism Compiled and Arranged for the Use of Young Persons (1835)
 * The Christian's Almoner (1840)
 * Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character (1857)

title: Edward Ramsay


text:
Farooq Abdullah

Dr. Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician and current President of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982, and as the union minister for New and Renewable Energy between 2009 and 2014. He is the son of the 1st elected Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah, and father of former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah.

Early life and education
Farooq Abdullah was born to the veteran statesman and National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah and Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah. He studied at Tyndale Biscoe School, and subsequently received his MBBS degree from SMS Medical College, Jaipur. He subsequently travelled to the UK to practice medicine.

Family
He is married to Molly, a nurse of British origin. They have a son, Omar, and three daughters, Safia, Hinna, and Sara. Their son Omar Abdullah is also involved in state and national politics, who was a member of the Lok Sabha and was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Sara was married to Congress leader Sachin Pilot, whose divorce news has come recently.

Entry into politics
Abdullah was elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in the 1980 General Election.

Chief Minister, 1982–1984
Abdullah was a novice in the political arena of Jammu and Kashmir when he was appointed president of the National Conference in August 1981. His main qualification was that he was the son of Sheikh Abdullah. After his father's death in 1982, Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of the state. In 1984, a faction of the National conference led by his brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah broke away, leading to the collapse of his government and his dismissal. Shah subsequently became the Chief Minister with the support of the Congress.

1984–1996
In 1986, G.M. Shah's government was dismissed after the communal 1986 Kashmir riots in South Kashmir, and a new National Conference–Congress government was sworn in with Abdullah as the chief minister, after the Rajiv-Farooq accord.

A new election was held in 1987 and the National Conference–Congress alliance won the election amid allegations of fraud and widespread election rigging by the National Conference. This period saw a rise in militancy in the state, with the return of trained militants in J&K and incidents that included the kidnapping of the daughter of the Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The period also witnessed the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley. Subsequently, Farooq Abdullah resigned in protest after Jagmohan was appointed the governor, and the state's assembly was dismissed. He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom.

Chief Minister, 1996–2002
After returning to India, and winning the Legislative Assembly elections in 1996, Abdullah was once again sworn in as chief minister of the state, his fifth time. His government lasted for a full six-year term. In 1999, the National Conference joined the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led National Democratic Alliance, and his son Omar Abdullah was subsequently appointed a union minister of state for External Affairs.

Subsequent political career
In the 2002 Legislative Assembly elections, Omar Abdullah was chosen to lead the National Conference, while Farooq Abdullah intended to continue his political career at the Central level. The National Conference lost the election and a coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took office.On that year Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 promised to make Abdullah the vice president, but later reneged on his promise because of Abdul Kalam's nomination to President and Krishan Kant's disagree.

Farooq Abdullah was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2002 from Jammu and Kashmir and re-elected in 2009. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in May 2009 and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Srinagar. Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister of New and Renewable Energy.

Abdullah contested the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat again in the 2014 General Election, but was defeated by the People's Democratic Party candidate Tariq Hameed Karra. In 2017, Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from the position, leading to a by-election for the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Abdullah got 48,555 votes and defeated PDP candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan by 10,700 votes.

On 16 September 2019, Abdullah became the first mainstream politician to be detained under the Public Safety Act. Prior to this, Abdullah was under house arrest since the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. He was released from house detention under the PSA after seven and a half months on 13 March 2020.

In 2022, before the election of the President of India, Mamata Bannerjee along with several other opposition leaders had proposed Abdullah's name as the Opposition's candidate. But Abdullah declined the offer stating that he wanted to remain in active politics for more years and was concentrated in the Kashmir Union Territory issue.

370 Hearing
After his son Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah made his presence in the Supreme court of India in relation to Article 370 hearing.

title: Farooq Abdullah


text:
Thomas Buchanan Read

Thomas Buchanan Read (March 12, 1822 – May 11, 1872) was an American poet and painter. His portraits include many famous individuals including Robert Browning, Joseph Harrison Jr., William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Alfred Tennyson.

He first achieved national prominence in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied under sculptor Shobal Vail Clevenger and opened an art studio sponsored by wealthy horticulturist Nicholas Longworth. He chafed under criticism from Longworth and moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he befriended poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and painter Washington Allston. He moved to Rome, Italy, and opened a studio, but achieved most of his artistic success while living in Florence, Italy. He was briefly associated with the Pre-Raphelite Brotherhood. He returned to the United States during the American Civil War and served as a major in the Union Army.

His most well known poem, "Sheridan's Ride", depicts Union General Philip Sheridan's charge at the Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War. Read gave recitations of the poem to the public and troops to build support for the war in the North. The poem's popularity also prompted the creation of several paintings by Read depicting the scene.

Early life and education
Read was born on March 12, 1822, in Corner Ketch, a hamlet near Downingtown, Pennsylvania. He received only an elementary school level of education. After the death of his father, he apprenticed with a local tailor then moved to Philadelphia and worked as a grocer and tobacconist. At age 15, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to live with his sister. He worked painting signs and apprenticed under sculptor Shobal Vail Clevenger. He also worked as an actor impersonating female roles due to his slight build.

Career
In Cincinnati, Read established a portrait studio with the assistance of the wealthy horticulturist Nicholas Longworth. In 1840, he gained national prominence through his portrait of Whig presidential candidate William Henry Harrison. He also published his first poetry collection in the Cincinnati Chronicle and Times. He parted ways with Longworth due to criticism of his work. In 1841, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and became friends with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and painter Washington Allston. Longfellow hired Read to paint a portrait of his daughters which is considered one of his best works.

In 1843, he published a series of poems in the Boston Courier which later became the basis for the book Lays and Ballads.

In 1846 he moved backed to Philadelphia and in 1850, he moved to Rome, Italy, where he opened a studio and achieved success in art and literature. He returned to the United States in 1861 at the outbreak of the American Civil War and joined the Union Army. He served as a major on the staff of General Lew Wallace and gave public performances of his war songs to rally the Union troops. After one such performance, future president General James A. Garfield wrote to Read and thanked him for "the pleasure of hearing your words".

His most famous poem is Sheridan's Ride which depicts Union General Philip Sheridan's calvary charge at the Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War. It was printed in the New York Tribune on election day 1864 on the front page and may have impacted the margin of victory for Abraham Lincoln. The work proved so popular, he was asked by Union League of Philadelphia to create a painting of the subject matter. He ended up making several copies of the painting, 17 of which still exist.

President Ulysses S. Grant purchased the painting of "Sheridan's Ride" with the intent to hang it in the White House. It remained with the Grant Family until 1939, when it was donated to the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

His portrait work also includes Robert Browning, Joseph Harrison Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Tennyson, and the Queen of Naples. Over the course of his career, he produced 60 significant paintings from studios in the United States, Dusseldorf, Florence, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Rome.

Read also wrote a prose romance, The Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard, and several books of poetry, including The New Pastoral, The House by the Sea, Sylvia, and A Summer Story. Some of the shorter pieces include Drifting, The Angler, The Oath, and The Closing Scene. Read was briefly associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His greatest artistic popularity took place in Florence, Italy where he was colleagues with other writers and artists such as Joel Tanner Hart, Hiram Powers, George Sand, and Frances Milton Trollope.

In 1871, Read sustained serious injuries from a carriage accident and never fully recovered. He returned to the United States in 1872 but contracted pneumonia during the journey and died soon after arriving at port in New York City. He was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Personal life
In 1843, Read married Mary J. Pratt and together they had three children. During a trip to Italy in 1853, his wife and daughter died due to illness. He was re-married in 1867 to Harriet Dennison.

Legacy
Three of his paintings are held in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum - "The Harp of Erin", "Hero" and "Portrait of an Old Man". His painting of Longfellow's children is in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and a self-portrait is in the Washington National Gallery of Art. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has two of his paintings in their collection: a portrait of Joseph Harrison Jr. and "The Flight of the Arrow".

In 1908, the Thomas Buchanan Read School in the Elmwood Park neighborhood of Philadelphia was named in his honor.

In 1922, the Chester County Historical Society erected a historical marker near the home where Read was born.

Literary works

 * Paul Redding: A Tale of the Brandywine, Boston: A. Tompkins and B.B. Mussey, 1845
 * Poems, Philadelphia: Parry & M'Millan, 1847
 * The Female Poets of America With Portraits, Biographical Notices, and Specimens of Their Writings. 1849
 * Lays and Ballads, Philadelphia: George S. Appleton, 1849
 * Thoraren the Skald. 1850
 * The Stolen Child. 1850
 * Edward A. Brackett's Marble Group of the Shipwrecked Mother and Child. 1852
 * The Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard. 1853
 * The New Pastoral., Philadelphia: Parry & M'Millan 1855
 * The House by the Sea. A Poem., Philadelphia: Parry & McMillan, 1855
 * Sylvia, or, The Last Shepherd An Eclogue, and Other Poems. 1857
 * Rural Poems., London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857
 * James L. Claghorn, Esq. 1860
 * A Summer Story, Sheridan's Ride and Other Poems., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1865
 * The Descent of the Eagle. 1865
 * The Soldier's Friend. 1865
 * The Eagle and the Vulture. 1866
 * The Poetical Works of Thomas Buchanan Read: Complete in Three Volumes. 1867

title: Thomas Buchanan Read


text:
Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł

Mikołaj Radziwiłł, nicknamed The Red (Polish Rudy, Lithuanian: Radvila Rudasis, Belarusian: Мікалай Радзівіл Руды), also known as Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Sixth (1515 – 27 April 1584), was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, voivode of Vilnius, Grand Chancellor of Lithuania (since 1566), and Grand Lithuanian Hetman (1553–1566 and since 1576) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Together with his cousin Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł and the Radziwiłł family were granted title and position as Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

His father was Jerzy Radzwiłł, called "Victor," a Lithuanian hetman. His mother was Barbara Kolanka, daughter of voivode of Podolia Paweł Kola, a representative of a wealthy Małopolska family. His sisters were Anna and Barbara, later the wife of Polish King Sigismund Augustus. Mikołaj Radziwiłł received, not the best, home education. His first language was Polish, which he used on a daily basis. He also knew Ruthenian, the official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He read and wrote in both Polish and Ruthenian, although his handwritten letters are written in illegible and careless handwriting, indicating the magnate's low level of calligraphy. He did not know Latin, or knew it at a completely rudimentary level. The education was supplemented by service at the royal court in Kraków. Radziwiłł himself did not value university education highly, and did not send his sons to university, limiting their training to home education.

In 1532, Mikołaj was betrothed to the daughter of Grand Crown Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki, Anna. The marriage never occurred, as the bride died in 1536 before reaching marriageable age. Mikołaj's first participation in public life was in the Lithuanian-Moscow War of 1534 at his father's side.

Mikołaj Radziwiłł spent many years as a military commander. One of his most notable victories was achieved at the head of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army during the Battle of Ula of 1564 when his forces defeated Ivan the Terrible's much larger forces. Under King Stephen Báthory, he was fairly successful in defending the eastern borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania against the Muscovy. His political career was marked by his alliance with his cousin Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł with whom he opposed the other notable Lithuanian families in the rivalry for the dominant status in the Great Duchy. The alliance marked the formation of a dynastic-like cooperation between Radziwiłłs and showed how family interests could affect magnates relations with the Commonwealth.

Mikołaj Radziwiłł became an advocate of Lithuanian sovereignty and thus a vocal opponent of the political Polish–Lithuanian union at Lublin in 1569. Unlike the other magnates, he refused to sign the Act as harmful to the interests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

He was one of the most prominent converts and advocates of Protestantism in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and his line of the family became devoted members and defenders of the Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church until its extinction.

He was immortalized in the epic poem Radivilias (1592).

title: Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł


text:
Clara Reeve

Clara Reeve (23 January 1729 – 3 December 1807) was an English novelist best known for the Gothic novel The Old English Baron (1777). She also wrote an innovative history of prose fiction, The Progress of Romance (1785). Her first work was a translation from Latin, then an unusual language for a woman to learn. She was a near-contemporary of the bluestockings ladies of Elizabeth Montague's circle.

Early life
Clara Reeve was born in Ipswich, one of the eight children of Reverend William Reeve MA, Rector of Freston and of Kirton, Suffolk, and perpetual curate of St Nicholas, Ipswich. Her mother was the daughter of William Smithies, a goldsmith and jeweller to King George I. Vice-Admiral Samuel Reeve (c. 1733–1803) was her brother.

Reeve described her father and her early life in a letter to a friend: "My father was an old Whig; from him I have learned all that I know; he was my oracle; he used to make me read the Parliamentary debates, while he smoked his pipe after supper. I gaped and yawned over them at the time, but, unawares to myself, they fixed my principles once and for all. He made me read Rapin's History of England; the information it gave made amends for its dryness. I read Cato's Letters by Trenchard and Gordon; I read the Greek and Roman histories, and Plutarch's Lives: all these at an age when few people of either sex can read their names."

Career
After the death of her father in 1755, Reeve lived for a time with her mother and sisters in Colchester, then moved into her own house in Ipswich. There her first piece of authorship was a translation from Latin of the historical allegory Argenis by John Barclay, which she entitled The Phoenix (1772). She was saddened by the reception her translation received, later writing, "It was the best book I ever gave to the public, and the worst received."

Reeve published at least 24 volumes over a 33-year career as an author. They included five novels, of which only The Champion of Virtue and The Old English Baron (1777) became well known. The latter was written in imitation of The Castle of Otranto or as a rival to it. The two have often been printed together. The first edition, entitled The Old English Baron, was dedicated to the daughter of Samuel Richardson, who is said to have helped Reeve to revise and correct it. It would have a noticeable influence on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818).

Reeve also wrote an epistolary novel, The School for Widows (1791), followed by Plans of Education (1792), whose focus was on issues of female education. Her innovative history of prose fiction, The Progress of Romance (1785), can be seen as a precursor to modern histories of the novel. It specifically upholds the tradition of female literary history heralded by Elizabeth Rowe (1674–1737) and Susannah Dobson (died 1795). One story in the work, "The History of Charoba, Queen of Egypt", inspired Walter Savage Landor's first major piece, Gebir (1798).

Reeve seems to have managed her publishing career personally, rather than relying on male relations to deal with publishers on her behalf.

Death
Reeve led a retiring life and left little biographical material. She died in Ipswich and was buried, as she wished, in the churchyard of St Stephen's, next to her friend the Reverend Derby.

Influence
Written in response to Walpole's Castle of Otranto, The Old English Baron was a major influence on the development of Gothic fiction, gaining popularity for the genre in universities and among general readers. A contextual introduction that looks at Reeve in the context of late 18th-century women's writing and the history of the Gothic can be found in this book. Henrietta Mosse was to use this story as a model for her own novel, The Old Irish Baronet in 1808.

Although Reeve's The Progress of Romance, was long overlooked by scholars, Garry Kelly has called it "not only a pioneering history and defense of "romance" from antiquity to the mid-eighteenth century but also a ground- breaking work of literary scholarship by a woman".

Reeve's contribution to developing Gothic fiction can be demonstrated on at least two fronts. First there is the reinforcement of the Gothic narrative framework as one that focuses on expanding the imaginative domain to include the supernatural, but without losing the realism that marks the novel that Walpole pioneered. Secondly, Reeve also sought to find an appropriate formula for ensuring that fiction is believable and coherent. She spurned specific aspects of Walpole's style, such as his tendency to blend in humour or comedy that diminishes the Gothic tale's ability to induce fear. In 1777, Reeve enumerated Walpole's excesses: "a sword so large as to require an hundred men to lift it; a helmet that by its own weight forces a passage through a court-yard into an arched vault, big enough for a man to go through; a picture that walks out of its frame; a skeleton ghost in a hermit's cowl..."Although successive Gothic writers did not fully heed Reeve's emotional realism, she posited a framework that keeps Gothic fiction within the realm of the probable. This remained a challenge for authors after publication of The Old English Baron. Beyond its providential context, the supernatural often risked veering towards the absurd.

Works

 * The Phoenix (1772), an abridged translation of John Barclay's Argenis
 * The Champion of Virtue (1777), republished as The Old English Baron (1778)
 * The Two Mentors: A Modern Story (1783)
 * The School for Widows: A Novel (1785)
 * The Progress of Romance (1785)
 * The Exiles, or, Memoirs of the Count de Cronstadt (1788)
 * Plans of Education (1792)
 * The Memoirs of Sir Roger de Clarendon (1793)
 * Destination, or, Memoirs of a Private Family (1799)
 * Edwin, King of Northumberland: A Story of the Seventh Century (1802)

title: Clara Reeve


text:
Thomas Mayne Reid

Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was a British novelist who fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave labour, and the lives of American Indians. "Captain" Reid wrote adventure novels akin to those by Frederick Marryat and Robert Louis Stevenson. They were set mainly in the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica. He was an admirer of Lord Byron. His novel Quadroon (1856), an anti-slavery work, was later adapted as a play entitled The Octoroon (1859) by Dion Boucicault and produced in New York.

Early years
Reid was born in Ballyroney, a hamlet near Katesbridge, County Down, in present-day Northern Ireland, the son of Rev. Thomas Mayne Reid Sr., a senior clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and his wife. His father wanted Reid to become a Presbyterian minister, and in September 1834 the youth enrolled at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He stayed for four years, but lacked motivation to complete his studies and graduate. He headed back to Ballyroney to teach at a school.

In December 1839 Reid boarded the Dumfriesshire, bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving in January 1840. He soon found a job as a corn factor's clerk in the corn market. After six months in New Orleans, he is said to have left for refusing to whip slaves. Reid later used Louisiana as the setting of one of his successful books, an anti-slavery novel entitled The Quadroon (1856).

Reid travelled to Tennessee, where on a plantation near Nashville he tutored the children of Dr. Peyton Robertson. Some twenty years later, Reid would make mid-Tennessee the setting for his novel The Wild Huntress. After Robertson's death, Reid founded a short-lived school in Nashville.

In 1841 he found work as a clerk for a provision dealer in either Natchez, Mississippi, or Natchitoches, Louisiana (the latter seems likelier). Although Reid later claimed to have made several trips West in this period, on which he purportedly based some of his novels, the evidence for this is sketchy and confusing at best.

Literary career
In late 1842 Reid arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began writing prose and poetry for the Pittsburgh Morning Chronicle under a pen-name, the Poor Scholar. He also apparently worked as a carrier for the paper. His earliest verifiable work is a series of epic poems called Scenes in the West Indies.

In early 1843, Reid moved to Philadelphia for three years, working as a journalist and periodically publishing poetry in Godey's Lady's Book, Graham's Magazine, the Ladies National Magazine and elsewhere, still using his Pittsburgh pseudonym. There he met Edgar Allan Poe, who became a drinking companion for a time. Poe would later call Reid "a colossal but most picturesque liar. He fibs on a surprising scale but with the finish of an artist, and that is why I listen to him attentively."

When the Mexican–American War began in the spring of 1846, Reid worked as a correspondent for the New York Herald in Newport, Rhode Island. HE set one of his novels here. At this time, he added the pen-name Ecolier to the Poor Scholar. On 23 November 1846, Reid joined the First New York Volunteer Infantry as a second lieutenant, leaving by ship with the regiment in January 1847. They camped for several weeks at Lobos Island before joining Major General Winfield Scott's invasion of Central Mexico, which began on 9 March at Vera Cruz. Reid as Ecolier was a correspondent for a New York paper, Spirit of the Times, which published his Sketches by a Skirmisher. On 13 September, at the Battle of Chapultepec, Reid received a severe thigh wound while leading a charge. He was afterward promoted to first lieutenant for bravery in battle. On 5 May 1848 he resigned his commission and in July returned to New York with his regiment.

Love's Martyr, Reid's first play, was staged at the Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, for five nights in October 1848. He published War Life, an account of his army service, on 27 June 1849.

Learning of the Bavarian Revolution, Reid headed for England to volunteer, but after the Atlantic crossing changed his mind and went home to Ireland instead.

He soon moved to London and in 1850 published his first novel, The Rifle Rangers. This was followed by The Scalp Hunters (1851; dedicated to Commodore Edwin W. Moore, whom he met in 1841), The Desert Home (1852), and The Boy Hunters (1853). The last, set in Texas and Louisiana, was a "juvenile scientific travelogue" that become a favourite with young Theodore Roosevelt, who became a Reid fan. That year Reid married 15-year-old Elizabeth Hyde, daughter of his publisher, G. W. Hyde, an English aristocrat and his wife.

After time off with his new bride, Reid returned to writing. He continued to base his novels on his adventures in America. Several more were successful: The White Chief (1855), The Quadroon (1856), Osceola (1858) and The Headless Horseman (1865). He spent money freely, including building in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, a sprawling "Rancho", a reproduction of a Mexican hacienda he had seen during the Mexican–American War, where he took to farming. This extravagance led to bankruptcy in November 1866, from which he was discharged in January 1867. That October he left London for Newport, Rhode Island, hoping to repeat his past success in the U.S.. He returned to New York in 1867 and founded the Onward Magazine there.

Last years
Reid lectured at Steinway Hall in New York and published the novel The Helpless Hand in 1868, but his popularity had declined in America. His wound from Chapultepec started to bother him and he was hospitalized for several months at St Luke Hospital in 1870. His wife hated the United States. After he was released from the hospital, they returned to England on 22 October 1870, to live at Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

In England, Reid continued to write stories and reworked some earlier novels. "The Death Shot" was published in the Penny Illustrated Paper. In October 1874, an abscess formed on the knee of his wounded leg, leaving him unable to walk without crutches. He was joint editor with John Latey of The Boys' Illustrated News for ten months from 6 April 1881. He wrote and published in it "The Lost Mountain; a Tale of Sonora."

About this time Reid's creative energy began to flag and he lost popularity, so he turned to farming near Ross in Herefordshire. He continued to write. His last novel, No Quarter, set in the Parliamentary wars, and his last boys' book, The Land of Fire, were published after his death on 22 October 1883. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, now part of London. His tombstone quotes from The Scalp Hunters: "This is 'weed prairie'; it is misnamed: It is the Garden of God."

Influence and legacy
Books such as the Young Voyagers were highly popular, especially with boys. His tales of the American West were also popular with children across Europe and Russia. Many became popular in Polish or Russian translations, including The Rifle Rangers (1850), Scalp Hunters (1851), Boy Hunters (1853), War Trail (1851), Boy Tar (1859), and Headless Horseman (1865/6). Several Russian and Polish writers have noted the influence of his works in their childhoods.

For instance, Vladimir Nabokov recalled The Headless Horseman as a favourite adventure novel of his boyhood – "which had given him a vision of the prairies and the great open spaces and the overarching sky." At age 11, Nabokov translated The Headless Horseman into French alexandrines. Alexander Bek mentions the well-read K. K. Rokossovsky, future Marshal of the Soviet Union, referring to Reid's work in early 1942. The Polish writer Czesław Miłosz cites Russian translations of Reid as well-remembered early reading matter, by which he also learned Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet. A chapter on Reid appears in his essay collection Emperor of the Earth (1976). Anton Chekhov in Island, a Journey to Sakhalin (1893–94) mentions "Mayne Reid" in Chapter 10: "The morose, angry sea has spread itself boundlessly for thousands of versts. When a little boy has been reading Mayne Reid and his blanket falls off during the night, he starts shivering, and it is then that he dreams of such a sea."

United States President Theodore Roosevelt, in his autobiography, credits Reid with being a major early inspiration. The shy, asthmatic upper-class boy, Teddy Roosevelt, grew up to pursue naturalistic zoology and adventure travel. Russell Miller, in his biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, credits Reid as one of the writer's favourite childhood authors and a great influence on his writings.

While almost completely forgotten in the Western world, Reid's novels are popular in Russia and Eastern Europe, being considered a part of Western literature canon and published under the category of "World Classics" (along with Jack London and Fenimore Cooper).

Although Reid called himself and is listed often as Captain, Francis B. Heitman's definitive Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army shows he only reached the rank of lieutenant.

title: Thomas Mayne Reid