text:
Talk:Semitism/Archive 1

I am Jewish and I have never heard any other Jew use "semitism" as our term "for cultural unity, to counter the natural assimilation that follows life within larger culture-societies." This sounds like a neologism -- who invented it? Who uses it? The article makes sweeping claims about how the word is used, but no concrete information on who uses it this way. Is this for real? Slrubenstein

 * Hm. I didnt know the meaning of the term neologism. According to article, though, "radar" is a neologism - a"new" word; even though it was coined in 1934 thereabouts. So, according to this definition, anti-Semitism is neologic. Follow?

 * I could stake a defense on the above, but I want you to consider the article, its substance, plausibility, and how it fits into the whole picture, logically, and without prejudice. Lastly, I would as you to please consider the meaning of objecting to the existence of a term for which there exists a negative of.
 * Be well, -Steven
 * p.s. If that doesnt work, then Ill go through the labors of finding actual sources... "how quaint."

"go through the labors of finding actual sources?" Please! This is what we are supposed to do before writing an encyclopedia article! One does research before writing!

I do not have problems with articles on neologisms like radar, where the neologism is widely used, and the article can state (backed up by sources) who coined the neologism, when, and where. If "semitism" is a neologism that is in wide use, and the article can inform us as to how it came into use, that would be fine (which is what I wrote above). But from what you wrote on the anti-semitism talk page, it sounded like you were making the word up. I would still like to give you the benefit of the doubt. But if you did make it up -- well, that is just wrong for wikipedia. This is not a vehicle for expressing our own opinions and for promoting neologisms of our own invention; it is a vehicle for summarising the current state of knowledge, or debates about, a particular issue. If this is not a neologism of your own invention I apologize now -- but reiterae what I wrote above: the article must explain who coined the word and in what context, and give an account of how and why it spread in usage (e.g. "radar" is a needed neologism to describe a new invention, and it became a widely accepted word because the invention was so important during WWII and became standard equipment on many vehicles after). Slrubenstein

There is no such thing as "Semitism

Another article: There is no such thing as "Semitism -RK

Hey there, RK, are you gonna stop, for a minute? -Stevert

RK, you're asking a systop to ban stevertigo but haven't provided any rational reason for it. I read the article and while it does have NPOV problems, it's hardly racist in any way obvious to me. Stevertigo, you offered to cite sources that this term exists. Please do so, as I've never heard it, so I'm currently leaning towards deletion (after there is a civil and reasonable discussion about whether or not to do so). Tokerboy

I removed this until it can be improved:

Semitism is a neologic term describing political, social, and cultural attitudes that are in harmony with the majority of Jewish opinion. As all societies are not homogenous, Semitism, more than anything else represents an attitude that defends a unity within Jewish society as to the nature of its identity, and purpose. The attitudes of Semitism, largely reflect similar attitudes of ethnic unity within all cultures, particularly "endangered" ones.

Where distinct ethnic divisions exist, enthoconvergent forces are seen to have the effect of scattering a population, and destructively weakening its culture. Further, cultures threatened by this phenomenon see this as highly destructive, and refer to it as "assimilation". Semitism has, historically, been largely successful in keeping a certain cohesion among Jews. In the modern global context of hyper-transport, hypercommunication, and limited land and resources, the threat of "hyper-assimilation" is only another burden to Semisists, who continue to try to patch, within their own communities, cracks in their percieved cohesion.

A problem semitists and other ethnic cultures face is the new concept of their own traditions as being outside of newer, perhaps more developed values - such as those that reflect unitarianist and multi-ethnic points of view. The struggle of Jews in history has largely been the attempt to simply hold onto their culture. The reason is that within larger, more dominant cultures, Jews have felt that it is they who must compromise their culture.

In marriage, for example, the woman has historially compromised to her husbands' culture. While in a person to person context of a human relationship; these issues seem, from a developed-world point of view, as being quite normal. But to the Semitist, this still represents an erosion of his culture, considering that the tendency of the majority culture to migrate to the minority culture is slight, by comparison. This is also compounded, in Judaism, with the nature of Jewish culture being decided by inheritance, alone. Though today, the issue of universalism; inclusiveness of converted Jews, is a contentious issue.

Within Judaism today, there are emerging attitudes that reflect an anti-Semitist view, that Judaism can be a universalist culture, while still maintining its culture.

Anti-Semitism, has long been used as a term describing a specific type of anti-Jewish attitude. However, it is now often used as an ad hominem attack, quite indiscriminately; even against Jews themselves.

See also Aryanism, Hispanism,  [[Sovietism,

I think the article must make clear who invented this word and under what conditions; shose definition of "semitism" is being used, and name some avowed self-identified "semitists". Slrubenstein

Hey Toker. Jeesh, Im glad RK doesnt have sysop status. Just delete it ! RK says. Quite the classical, he is. Im working on it: This google search reveals some varied use of the term, in light discussion. A new word springs forth. Its quite common. -Stevert

Interesting...Webster's (www.m-w.com) defines a semite as being "a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs b : a descendant of these peoples", but defines anti-semitism as what amounts to "Jew hatred". matt

 * Tokerboy, I have raised my own objections above. I think I can say a bit more, based on RK's points.  "Anti-Semitism" was coined by a racist.  The reason that person coined this term, instead of using the phrase "anti-Jew," was to make clear that he was refering to a race, not a religion.  I think RK's point -- which I agree with (so maybe I am reading him in a biased way), is two fold: that it is wrong to define anti-Semitism to include hatred of Arabs (who, like Jews, speak a "semitic" language) because the term refers specifically to Jew-hatred.  Second, although anti-semites define Jews as a race, Jews do not consider themselves to be a race (in the particular way that anti-semites think of "races").  Despite this, we use the word because it has established itself as a term describing a form of racism.  But to coin a word, "semitism," to describe the "race" that anti-semites hate, is to play into their hands. In any event, the contents of the article does not correspond to anythink I have ever heard of and I doubt its scholarly value. Slrubenstein

Just saw this article. WOW! I have to agree with Slr and RK. I have never heard this term before. What is its source? What is the basis of its definition, as given in the article? Where is it defined as that (besides on Wikipedia). Finally, can someone please explain to me how the following statement: A problem semitists and other ethnic cultures face is the new concept of their own traditions as being outside of newer, perhaps more developed values - such as those that reflect unitarianist and multi-ethnic points of view. Cultural imperialism aside, how is it possibly NPOV to rate in terms of more or less developed? Danny 00:00 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

Googling does seem to reveal varied use of the term, but not with any consistency. It seems to refer to anything characteristic of the large class of Semitic ethnicities, such as cultural mores, words, attitudes, etc. Anyway, I didn't intend to get into a discussion about whether or not the article deserves to exist as it was or in any form, I was just responding to RK's request that a sysop (such as myself) ban stevertigo for racism... RK, please don't be so alarmist. There's lots of reasons to oppose this article, but constantly calling virtually anyone racist for no apparent reason makes me want to distrust you even when you are right. Stevertigo may be wrong, stupid, self-centered, misguided or even anti-Semitic, but all his article seems to be saying is that there is such a thing as "Jewish culture" and it is called "Semitism". Tokerboy
 * I'm not saying Stevertigo is any of those things, just that it's possible yet still doesn't reflect on the quality of his contributions to this or any other article. Tokerboy

"Semitism" is certainly a word: However, it seems to be a somewhat vague adjective, and not something we need an article about, as it would be covered by the Jewish topics we already have. -- Stephen Gilbert 00:14 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)
 * http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=Semitism
 * http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=semitism

well, Im juggling tasks right now, so briefly: RK, Danny, SLRub... but mostly RK... who outright makes a horses ass of himself on a regular basis. Im curious how you all felt when you read that semitism is in the MW dictionary? Keep that feeling in mind, when you decide to assume things. As for meaning and use... what about Philo-Semitism? there we have two terms, which include the word semitism... one of them being the inverse of... (which RK and others have previously stated that its use applies to Jews only. )

I dont have a word for RK - he repeatedly calls me an "anti-Semite", and he no would doubt be an embarrassment to his particular ethnicity, if most of his people were'nt smart enough to attribute his stupidity to him alone.

By the logic of SG, above - that it would "aready be covered", ( and therefore its in need of censoring ) - this would mean that anti-Semitism itself is "already covered" under the heading of racism. ( Racism> Anti-aryanism,anti-Semitism, anti-nihonwenism, anti-Asianism, anti-Africanism etc...)

Note, that of the above "categories" - only three stand out as being vague or indistinct - a-aryan (what is "white") anti-semitism (what is"semitism" again) and "anti-nihonwenism" - "anti-Japanesism" (is this really a phenomenon?)

you all raise interesting points. And most of you seem to be of Jewish decent. Im I to make some inference from this? How is it that RK is gallant and unrestrained in editing article after article, Is-Pal conf, islamism, al-qaeda, terrorism, ad inf.... none of these things are about Judaism. Theyre about Arabs. How do rabid racist like RK, and the passive racists like some who unwittingly support him propose to make indiscriminate and unhindered comment on Arab issues, disguised as NPOV? At the same time, proclaiming defense of this term, - for which he says "it doesnt even exist" - I would have loved to see his face when he came across the MW and AH dictionaries.

What am I to say to all of this? Can there be any argument that there is no "Semitist" bias? Amer Heritage Dic defines it as

 * SYLLABICATION: Sem·i·tism
 * PRONUNCIATION:  sm-tzm
 * NOUN: 1. A Semitic word or idiom. 2. Semitic traits, attributes, or customs. 3. A policy or predisposition in favor of Jews.

Semitism (Page: 1309) Sem"i*tism (?), n. A Semitic idiom; a word of Semitic origin. [Written also [[Shemitism]

Now, give me credit for writing, in extremely short time, a decent stub. It even avoids the simplistic definition of predisposition - (preference).

Its unfortunate that we here at en.wikipedia dont have adequate Arab representation. This doesnt mean that we let people like RK jump over everything that cuts through his crap. He scatters inuendo, and anti-Arab propaganda around, and I - ethnically "Irish-American Catholic", am among a few to dispute his crap. Please Dan, SL, dont let this be a fight of SV against "all Jews everywhere" or (more ttp) of SV vs RK...... time is too precious, and Im weary of arguing with the fool, and such foolishness its often bound to me seen as mine. Murphy's Law, of course. Be well, Without any objective objections, Im restoring the article later, when I have time. --Stevert

Hi, Stevert. I guess I will give the first response to you. Obviously, this should not be seen as a fight between "you or anyone else and all Jews everywhere." I will, however, disagree with some of what you say, which I think you will agree is legitimate. Our goal should not be to score points against each other's beliefs, but to come to some common consensus about what is NPOV and report on it accordingly. By the way, you are also right in assuming that I am socially and culturally Jewish--I'm not too keen on any definition of ethnicity that fits my particular circumstances (long story ...). I am also professionally Jewish, working at a Jewish museum developing curricula and actually dealing with a lot of these issues in a professional capacity. While I am the first to admit that my education, focusing on Judaic studies, may prejudice some of what I write, so will the facts that I am also a staunch agnostic (I think God is too irrelevant to address the issue of its existence), a socialist, and the holder of three passports (American, Canadian, and Israeli). Before you jump to any conclusions, I also define myself as a disillusioned Zionist and currently a "cultural autonomist" (I believe in the preservation of a Jewish cultural identity in the Diaspora).

Why am I saying all of this? To give you some idea of the complexity of defining one's self as Jewish. There are too many interpretations and shades of interpretations within Jewish life to define Jewish identity as a homogeneous unit. There have always been fierce debates within Jewish life to give some uniform definition of what being Jewish is. Furthermore, Jewish identity is not stagnant. It is ever growing and developing and it is ever changing. Very few (if any) Jews today have the same sense of identity that their grandparents had 100 years ago.

Nevertheless, people who identify as Jews do share a certain sense of kinship with other people who identify as Jews. Kinship, however, is not particularism. Unfortunately, particularism also exists among Jews in some quarters, but in many quarters it does not. Even here, there is no homogeneity.

As for your comments: I was surprised to see that Semitism appeared in the dictionary cited. Never did I say it did not exist. I questioned whether it existed and found out it did. Looking at the term, I still see it defined primarily in terms of linguistics, rather than of ethnicity (the third definition), and even that definition does not go quite so far as your article would have it.

You bring up philo-Semitism. If you look above, I was the one who introduced it into the discussion, so I know that that term does exist and how it is used. Both that term and anti-Semitism, however, generally refer to the attitudes of outsiders to Jews: Anti-s hate them; philo-s love them. The term you are introducing adds an entirely new dimension to the discussion--what do Jews themselves think about Jews? While that is the basis of your article, I still do not find that in either of the two definitions you bring. What is the source of your definition? Also, I would be grateful if you would address my concern about cultural imperialism ("perhaps more developed values"). (Something to look up on the topic with reference to Judaism is the Toynbee-Herzog debate in the 1950s. You can find the transcript online.)

I hope it doesn't surprise you that I am also upset that there is what I believe to be an anti-Islamic and anti-Arab bias in many of the articles. I concur with you that more knowledgeable Arab and Muslim contributors be encouraged to participate in the discussions so that their voices be heard. Your claim, however, that it is a "Semitist" bias does not bode well with me. After all, I am a self-proclaimed Jew, a committed Jew, and an active Jew, yet I agree with you on that point. And I am not an anomaly. Most of my Jewish friends and colleagues would agree with that point too.

As for objective objections: the first definition gives something only vaguely similar to what you wrote as its third point. The second definition doesn't mention it at all. That doesn't convince me. In academic forums, I may be limited in scope, but I have never encountered the term before (I am flipping through an old Akkadian textbook I have around the house to see if they use it), and certainly never in the context you use it. I therefore think that it needs further consideration. Danny 02:28 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC) Oh, and sorry my response is so long.

Sorry Danny, I havent read your above yet, this is just cut and paste, while I go eat.

 * Jews do not consider themselves to be a race (in the particular way that anti-semites think of "races").Slrubenstein

 * Ah yes, the ever-morphic identity of the everlasting xenoculture. I thought we were in agreement - "race" is an invalid word in any context - everybodys related to within +-75K years. "Ethnicity", simply refers to the sociogeographical ( cultural/religious ) differences. -SV

 * I think the article must make clear who invented this word and under what conditions; shose definition of "semitism" is being used, and name some avowed self-identified "semitists". Slrubenstein

 * who "invented" the word "grok". Ok bad example, how about "English"  or "Hebrew" -SV  "hiberu" ? :)

 * I do not have problems with articles on neologisms like radar.... is widely used (1) and the article can state (2) (backed up by sources) who ( 3.) coined the neologism, (4) when, and (5) where. If (6) "semitism" is a neologism that is in wide use, and the article can inform us (7) as to how (8) it came into use, that would be fine (which is what I wrote above. Slrubestien

 * Are you sure you dont have any more qualifications for what constitutes a stub, SlRub?

 * Interesting...Webster's (www.m-w.com) defines a semite as being "a member of any of a number of peoples... but defines anti-semitism as what amounts to "Jew hatred". matt

 * Precisely, matt - hypocricy goes as deep as to the level of semantics!? wow. No wonder this stuff is hard to figure out. -SV

 * However, it seems to be a somewhat vague adjective, and not something we need an article about, as it would be covered by the Jewish topics we already have. -- Stephen Gilbert

 * No its not. Its a noun - a thing. - "Function: noun Date: 1851... " ahem. -SV

 * all his article seems to be saying is that there is such a thing as "Jewish culture" and it is called "Semitism" 'Tolker

 * Thats a bit simplistic, but... thanks. ...But what I am saying is that Semitism is a culture/ethnic- based predisposition, and then I went into some of the basics about assimiculture, and the varied opinion of "being assimilated" as a threat to culture.

all done on a shoestring budget, and less than 20 mins.

 * Anyway, I didn't intend to get into a discussion about whether or not the article deserves to exist as it was or in any form, I was just responding to RK's request that a sysop (such as myself) ban stevertigo for racism... Toker

 * I wonder if RK has a history of this, and whether it merits a suspension - a time-out in the corner, if you will. Of the numerous times he has called me an anti-Semite, in just a few discussions, - I have no count. And in all cases, these have been reactive, alarmist - and I wont say undeserved, because its not about who deserves what. Hmm...

 * "newer, perhaps more developed values - such as those that reflect unitarianist and multi-ethnic points of view."-Danny, quoting Sv

 * Yes, Daniel, its fishy... gimme a break. I was trying (too hard ) to explain a conflict that ethnic minorities have, in reconciling their presence within another culture, hence Jews in the US, and the tendencies of living within a different culture to sap the minority. "Mr. Dan, Im in love with your daughter. No, Mr Dan Im not Jewish. Youre not cool with that? Why?"  Entropy applied to culture. If is not resisted, the culture becomes assimilated. Its my kind reasoning to explain for people like RK.   -Stevert

There _has_ to be a way of dealing with this so as to maintain articles on semitism and anti-semitism, while still doing the right thing by those of the Jewish persuasion. I (a roman catholic, BTW) have come to the conclusion that semitism and anti-semitism are anomalous, and quite likely defined formally by someone who did not do their homework on the base work, semite. Maybe the people who defined them were "racists". Who knows? What is done is done. Its not our fault that some ignorant people defined these words n years ago.

'A Modest Proposal...'

The words are anomalous, but they are commonly used. I admit I haven't ever seen "semitism" in a sentence, but it seems illogical to have ant-semitism and not semitism. Perhaps instead of arguing, we should work together (objectively) to clarify these words in their articles as a pre-amble to the article. Let's recruit a couple more Jews to make sure we are getting a neutral point of view on this topic, and a few of us faithless disilusioned Christians who don't care either way can verify that the text looks neutral.

matt 03:11 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

This is my response to Danny, skipping Matt for now - apologies...SV

As I learn.. one of the things Im discovering is the varied opinions among Jews, about all aspects of their status as Jews. Is it just a light, historical reference. Who isnt a Jew? - I might ask, as a yosu-miru ... As a Christian, am I not also a Jew? Another thing I notice is the fact that religious Judaism, being old and ripe, has settled to a degree that its spawn have not. With this maturity, comes a sense of secularism, call it atheism, if you like, or agnosticism... perhaps Deism fits best. In this respect the line between Secular American Deist Jews and Secular American Deist Christians... seems almost invisible. Perhaps this is what I meant by "development". But the obstacles to this agreement are, of course, the literalists, and the Orthodox, and the devout, the faithful, the conservative ( with their WikiLove), - those for whom belief hold no understanding... Its a static entity, wherin human issues must fight for their righful place, rather than being simply accepted. Our American society embodies a "experiment" (poor word-implies acceptablility of failure), in tolerance (another poor word for respect) Substituting good words for the poor ones, We have an opportunity to learn a new kind of respect: The kind that is familiar with the unfamiliar.

...Back to reality... So, we have here an article, which if well done, promises to reveal differences among Jews in their attitudes toward other cultures. I apologise for the accusation of a "Semist bias" - the fact that I used the term at all, however, I think serves my premise, and it was to this effect that is mostly why I used it. Ill admit to some degree of frustration, for which I cannot excuse..

I would be happy with leaving the article as I wrote it, and not interrupt the natural re-ordering process. Since we all seem now to be in some agreement that there is such a thing, as "semitism", and that the argument that says that "this belongs elsewhere," is too apparently a logic that is only fashionably applied. We are only human. Stevert

I'm not in agreement. Frankly, I don't really understand a lot of what you are saying. On the other hand, even if there is such a thing as "semitism," I have yet to see it defined anywhere as you defined it. Furthermore, in one of my comments on anti-Semitism, I explained how the term was created as a euphemism, just like bathroom. It seems that we are bending over backwards to explain a euphemism literally. Does a bathroom require a bath? Danny 03:23 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

hmm, I see your point. Ive got to go. I appreciate the depth of your responses, in general, Danny. As far as "bending over backward to explain euphemisms" well.. there's familiar precedent for this behaviour. Be well, and goodnight. -SV:)

Good nite! :-) Danny 03:31 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

In addition to endorsing everything that Danny has written, I just want to make a few brief responses to Sv.

 * I do not know what you mean by xenoculture, but I really do not understand why you claim that we have all agreeed that race is a meaningless term, when you were bringing it up. I do not mean that you used the word "race" or even that you intended to.  But RK's point, and mine, is that any meaning that "semitism" has is rooted in racial thinking, so if we want to avoid race, we should avoid this word.  One of the first assaults on racist science was the argument that group and language boundaries are not isomorphic.  People once claimed that they were -- thus, if "semitic" refers to a family of languages, it also refers to a family of people (and some definitions reproduce this false logic).  But that just isn't true, and it is based on dangerous assumptions even you seem to reject.

 * Perhaps "semitism" is a word -- I do not question that in and of itself; I just point out that I never heard of it, and given that I studied at a seminary and know an awful lot of Jews, when the article claims that semitism is how Jews talk or think of themselves, you can understand why I have a strong reaction.

 * I do know that "semitic" and "philo-semitic" are words, as well as "anti-semitic," although these words do not mean the same thing (semitic generally refering to a language family, philo/anti-semitic refering to attitudes non-Jews have towards Jews). That the meaning of these similar words are in some way inconsistent is not a sign of hypocrisy, it is a common feature of language.  The word "cleave" and "sanction," depending on context, can each have two opposite meanings -- this doesn't make English hypocritical, it makes language rich and complex.

 * I also know that just because semite and anti-semitic are words, does not mean that the word "semitism" naturally must exist as well. There is a word "chair."  That does not mean that there must necessarily also be a word "chairism."  Maybe the word does exist -- all I am saying is that it doesn't "have" to exist.

 * You ask who invented the neologism "Grok" and then say that this is a bad example. I say, "No, Sv, it is a fabulous example."  I do not know who invented the word "English."  But don't you see: if semitism is (as you now seem to agree) a neologism, we should compare it to other neologisms like grok, not to words that are not neologisms, like "English."  The reason I do not know who invented "English" is that it was invented so long ago.  The reason it doesn't matter who invented it is because it is so widely used.  But "grok" was not invented a long time ago, so we can know who invented it (Heinlein); nor is it so widely uesed, so it is important to discuss its origin and spread.  The same goes for "semitism"

 * Finally, I am sorry you think that RK, Danny, and I think that non-Jews have no right to write about Jews or Judaism. I do not know why you think that.  I think Danny, RK, and I have all drawn on non-Jewish scholarship about Jews in our contributions here.  But we draw on the work of non-Jewish scholars, people who have done solid research.  And this is, and has been, my question to you which you have not yet answered: before you wrote the first version of this article, what research did you do?  Well?  Please tell us: what research did you do before you wrote the first version? Slrubenstein

 * " I do not mean that you used the word "race" or even that you intended to. But RK's point, and mine, is that any meaning that "semitism" has is rooted in racial thinking, so if we want to avoid race, we should avoid this word."

 * On the very surface, I would agree with this, but c'mon.... We live in a world of racist stereotypes, each of which is slowly being changed to its valid, rather less volatile meaning. Take anti-Semitism. We can stipulate to it as being a kind of racism, dont agree? I think thats being too particular, but perhaps the disagreement is about Race itsef? Racism, therefore, is not a valid term either, because we here all know that race is an invalid distinction. Do we get rid of racism? The article, I mean. By partucular, of course, I do mean "predisposition towards...."

 * "Perhaps "semitism" is a word -- I do not question that in and of itself; I just point out that I never heard of it, and given that I studied at a seminary and know an awful lot of Jews, when the article claims that semitism is how Jews talk or think of themselves, you can understand why I have a strong reaction."

 * Hmm. Yes! Yes!... No doubt this is how Arabs feel when they come across articles like Islamism. Unfortunately this kind of sublimely (for lack of a better word - anti-Semitic? sometimes..) racist rhetoric permeates the culture. I realize now, after a beautiful nights sleep, that this must be what its like to try to explain water to a fish.

If you point to it, theyll think your pointing at a rock, or something. "Wah-tur? - No, we call that 'a rock"". Iraq? hehe.

 * "I also know that just because semite and anti-semitic are words, does not mean that the word "semitism" naturally must exist as well. There is a word "chair." That does not mean that there must necessarily also be a word "chairism." Maybe the word does exist -- all I am saying is that it doesn't "have" to exist."

 * Ah, yes. But it does. The question is, what does it mean? And perhaps, yes its a term coined in a rhetoric-propaganda context. ("rabid Islamic fundamentalism" - practially racist.) Logically, it means something like what I wrote. Of course, Arabs can, (and apparently, already have)  use it in a ethnically derisive context. This means, the term, if we agree, should have any validity at all, should be defined outside of the propaganda context. Unfortunately for people like RK, this represents a mirror, within which he is forced to see himself and the invalidity, and stark anti-NPOV of his previous agendas. My agenda, is clear, and Im not shy about it... to swing the balance from pro-Israel-anti-Arab to PNPOV. Perfect NPOV. This quest for perfection is no doubt flawed, but we all use this term to represent a striving for an idealized concept called "perfection".

 * Interestingly, reading the rhetoric on that "Arab symposium", I would point out its near-identical character to RK's characterizations. In fact, I dont disagree with it on the surface at all - except to say that under the rhetoric lies a very insidious agenda. This characterization goes both ways, or at least it does with me. The hard part, Ill admit for me is to see my own culture in an objective way, and this is why I dont object much when people badmouth Catholicism, or the Irish, or Western foriegn policy. ("We have to reserve the right to bomb the niggers" -Lloyd George) I will correct these when they gets out of hand, like on the IPF article, which wasnt really a derisive diatribe so much as an exact article that lost track of its human elements. Perhaps this is what your objecting to in Semitism?

 * ... I included "neologism" only as a joke to lighten things up, and rightly so. It doesnt really belong in the article... "radar" doesnt have it... its axiomatic... although, it would be nice to someday to link to terms in their related context, in a map style deal...software issue.

 * Finally, I am sorry you think that..."

 * No, I dont, I do exagerrate a little, quite normally when I think its more important to make a point. (and when Im outnumbered, and slow to type.) And I don't think of you three all in the same way either. RK has been a royal pain in your p'tookus at times as well, from what Ive gathered. Probably his limited imagination: Being "more important than knowledge" and all, you'd think more people would choose the former.

-Be well. -Stevertighosticism

ps: clarification: "...its near-identical character to RK's characterizations. In fact, I dont disagree with it on the surface at all - except to say that under the rhetoric lies a very insidious agenda.-

Perhaps, I got this backwards - perhaps the 'bark is worse than the bite', and the idea behind this "syposium" is sincere - as counter-propaganda, only its garnished with the typical rhetoric that most isolated, xenophobic societies have...-sv

 * Sv writes, "No doubt this is how Arabs feel when they come across articles like Islamism." and revelas his own racialist misunderstanding. Many Arabs are not Muslim, and most Muslims are not Arabs.  You would have been closer to the mark had you written, "...how Indonesians feel..."  In any event, maybe many Muslims would be offended -- I do not say no doubt because I think it is an imperialist presumption to speak for them.  Certainly if a self-identified Muslim commented critically on that page, I would take their comments very seriously.  In any event, the page states clearly that the term is widely used by Western Scholars of the Islamic world -- the article is not making up a word, it is reporting on how others use a word.  This article provided no such context. Slrubenstein

"revelas his own racialist misunderstanding" - Oh you know what I mean.. While I may make the casual mistake of generalizing, your making the deliberate mistake of specifying! Your role as neutral observer, appears compromised, Professor Rubenstein. -Stevert

 * I am not sure what you mean, Sv -- I never claimed, nor claim, that I am a "neutral observer." Like most people here, I do claim to be committed to articles that are accurate and well-researched accounts of various areas of knowledge, and to NPOV.  By the way, you never answered my last question (in the last bullet point) in the section above. Slrubenstein

Im taking my time, in responding to this SlRub. In a sense, I need to sort out a few things. Among them is 1. policy: do you have a case in simply deleting this article. 2. Are you sincere in your presentation of moderacy and NPOV, with respect to this issue, which no doubt is of some concern to you.? "Neutral observer" was poorly chosen on my part.... Thats all for now. Time is on our side. Be well. -SV

p.s (If you thought "What did he mean by 'our'" - you may be laboring a hyper-reactive misconception )

 * all of my comments above, including in the archived talk section, were sincere; moreover, I have strived to make my reasons clear in a way that any scholar, Jewish or non-Jewish, could understand and appreciate (whether they would agree with me or not) Slrubenstein

What exactly is Jew-baiting anyway? It sounds anti-Semitic in its own right. I understand political trojan horses, and all, but... Do Indians call people "Indian giver"... LOL: Jerry Seinfeld... hey! Proof I'm not anti-Semitic. I like Seinfeld...             ...heh.

Judeocentrism, has been created, (albeit not proven) to leave this topic for a while... A rule in the Go is dont make moves that are aji-Keshi: I highly recommend Go, btw, and would be happy to teach anyone....

Your comments, everyone are much appreciated, and I know the feeling is mutual. Challenges make us stronger. -Stevert

I'm going to take this from the top. My apologies in advance for lack of tact - as so often on Fridays, I'm tired and frazzled. Please read all the way through before responding - it's not all negative by any means! The original entry:

 * Mistakes the term, the primary meaning of which is linguistic. Given that rather minor point -

 * Describes "semetisim" as a special case of ordinary ethnocentrism. Fails to bring any evidence to suggest that there is anything particularly "special" about this case. (As opposed to, say, ethnocentrism among the Irish, or New Zealanders, or Catholics - whatever.)

 * Maintains that "the attitudes of Semitism largely reflect the attitudes" of ... well, of any other comparable social group. Mentions pride, unity, assimilation ... all things that go with social groups and their relationships - both internal and external - the way ink and paper go with books. Thus far, mistaken terminology aside, it is as uncontroversial as it is pointless.

 * Makes claims that "Judaism and its related cultural traditions and values are not open to scrutiny from outsiders". Brings no evidence to suggest that this is different from, say, Catholicism or Communism.

 * Claims that the term anti-Semitism is "often used as an ad hominem attack ... even against Jews themselves". Again, this is "of course" stuff. Exactly the same sort of tactic is used in just about any political disagreement you care to mention - "developers" vs "environmentalists", for example.

As a whole, not an article that should cause anyone to have a heart attack, but it actually says little that isn't obvious and banal, and yet manages to seem like a veiled attack on Judaism in general. In summary, although the topics it hints at could be worthy ones, investigating them is not a task to be taken on lightly. In this version, the article has nothing useful to say and is best deleted.

Several revisions later, the one as of 22:49 Feb 5, 2003:

 * Much better to start with - it reads rather well now, at least the start.
 * Alas, the overall message - or I should say, lack of message - remains much the same. Perhaps it would be better shrunk down to its central point. This can be done in a single sentence: "Jews are people rather like other people, and Jewish culture is rather like other cultures too." Read it over: that's what it says. This leads to the next point:
 * What, besides that banality, does it have to offer? There is a confused and (to my mind) vaguely insulting para about marriage, culture and assimilation, and another generality cloaked as a description of what "the Semitist" believes, which actually just outlines the universal issue of maintaining identity that all minority cultures have faced since  the beginning of time.

Summary: a little clearer, a little more insulting, just as pointless as it stands. And yet it raises issues that seem to me to be important, even vital ones. If I seem to be on the one hand damning Stvertigo for writing a pointless article, and on the other hand praising him for raising worthy issues, that's exactly right. (A very quick skim of the second talk page seems to bear this more positive view out.)

A short edit war later, it is empty, bar "Racist-coined misnomer for Judeocentrism". As will become clear, I don't think that that is any better.

Let's move on to the talk pages. The term exists in dictionaries. My quick Googling found:

 * The American Heritage dictionary says: NOUN: 1. A Semitic word or idiom. 2. Semitic traits, attributes, or customs. 3. A policy or predisposition in favour of Jews.
 * Webster's 1913 edition only includes the first meaning: A Semitic idiom; a word of Semitic origin.
 * But I don't ever really trust on-line dictionaries, let's turn to the real thing: my faithful 1977 Shorter Oxford: 1. The attributes characteristic of the Semeitic peoples. Also, the fact of being Semetic. b. Jewish ideas or influence in politics or society 1885. 2. A Semetic word or idiom 1886.

It seems, then, that the word itself is not a neologism at all and in fact the "new" sense is older than the more broadly recognised linguistic sense. My first point above, that the original entry "mistakes the term" is obviously wrong.

Danny, I agree with you about "newer, perhaps more developed values". We should avoid phrases like that - or, more to the point, we should avoid the thinking that produces phrases like that. But let me recast that sentence a little, just to show the general problem of which this is a specific instance in a different light. A problem the Ibo and other African cultures face is the new concept of their own tradition of female genital mutilation as being outside of newer, perhaps more developed values - such as those that reflect unitarianist and multi-ethnic points of view. Just where do we draw the line? (Not expecting answers here - just raising the question, and perhaps hinting that it is impossible to study human beings from an unbiased point of view.)

More generally, the call for banning of a contributor for this article seems to me to be way over the top. Only if it were one of a long series of racist contributions, including much more explicitly racist entries than this one, would such a call be something that ought to be considered. (Please note: I make no comment about Stevertigo's past here: I don't recall reading any of his other work for good or ill. I am commenting on this present entry and this present entry only, for (so far as I recall) it is the only one that I have seen.)

Stephen Gilbert puts the whole thing in a nutshell: a somewhat vague adjective, and not something we need an article about, as it would be covered by the Jewish topics we already have.

But that notwithstanding, there is a wealth of interest in examining the relationships within and between cultures, the Jewish culture no less than, and quite possibly more than, most cultures. This is almost certainly not the right article to do it in, but, sooner or later, the attempt should be made, and STV seems to have started the ball rolling in that direction. Good for him! I have no expertise in Jewish culture, but quite a deal of training in the study of societies generally. It seems to me that a cooperative effort between Jews (like SLR and Danny) and non-Jews (like STV) could produce some outstanding results here. I'd be interested in taking part myself, but I am way over committed to other projects already. (I could spend about 9 lifetimes on Wikipedia.)

OK, cop-out time for me. I got about one-third of the way down the second talk page and two things happened: (a) I got the strong impression that there is some really useful rational discussion and understanding starting to happen in this thread. Very encouraging. And (b) my brain went splat - I just can't concentrate for a long time the way I used to when there was younger blood in my veins. I'll take a break and go play with something nice and easy, like the proper wiki names for aircraft, and come back to this tomorrow maybe. (Disclaimer: as is probably obvious by now, I am not Jewish, nor do I have any religious belief.)

Tannin 15:13 Feb 7, 2003 (UTC)

 * Tannin, thank you for your constructive and thoughtful comments, most of which I agree with. I do have one comment to add: I think the basic issue is, what is the function of Wikipedia?  I think it should be a little mor elike a conventional encyclopedia, and a little less like a chat-room. A number of contributers are intelligent, well-informed, and interesting, so there is an unlimited potential for thoughtful discussion.  Thus, I think it is very important to limit such discussion to improving legitimate articles.  With all the discussion, much of it thoughtful, my initial judgement has not changed: the semitism article was a mistake. Slrubenstein

title: Talk:Semitism/Archive 1


text:
File:Riesz50.png

Riesz function in the range 0 to 50

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

title: File:Riesz50.png


text:
Nationwide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election

Scientific, nationwide public opinion polls conducted relating to the 2008 United States presidential election include:

Two-way contest: Barack Obama vs John McCain
Graphical summary by monthly average

 Three-way contest

Two-way contest
Related article: Graphical Representations of Two-Way Contest Data

Democratic nominee vs. Republican nominee
Three-way race Four-way race

Three-way contest
See

Candidate distinctions

 * Would you be willing to vote for a female presidential candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for an African American presidential candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for a Mormon (a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) presidential candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for a Roman Catholic presidential candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for a Jewish presidential candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for a Hispanic presidential candidate in 2008?

Would you be willing to vote for a thrice-married candidate in 2008?

Would you be willing to vote for a seventy-two year old candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for a homosexual candidate in 2008?

 * Would you be willing to vote for an atheist candidate in 2008?

Candidate ideology

 * Do you think the following candidate is too liberal, too conservative, or about right?


text: Template:Calabria

title: Template:Calabria


text:
Talk:Chris Hondros

Death date?
This article is in the past tense already but there is no death date given yet. Come on people. =p 20 April, 2011. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie Say Shalom! 18:44, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

 * His death was originally reported by Reuters, I think, but the report was just rescinded. His status is unclear at this moment. --NellieBly (talk) 19:24, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

 * The source being used to confirm his death actually says he alive but gravely injured - I'm reverting edits that say he's dead. GiantSnowman 19:27, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

The NYT says that he has died of his injuries, unfortunately. I'm going to re-add it. -Hit bull, win steak(Moo!) 22:09, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

 * A source, a source, my bottle of soda for a source. =p Here is the Times article . It says he died from complications due to severe brain trauma basically. Poor guy. The New York Times is official enough for me. Requiescat In Pace. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie Say Shalom! 22:19, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Cause of death
From the reports I have read from various News outlets, Chris Hondros was killed by mortar fire (NOT an RPG as stated in this article) and none have specifically said Government Forces are guilty of this offence, although it may be the case. Changes anyone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.54.143.117 (talk) 00:59, 21 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Don't suppose you have links to any of those handy? =) Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie Say Shalom! 06:36, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Chris Hondros. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110425085313/http://www.indiewire.com:80/article/2011/04/20/reports_restrepo_director_tim_hetherington_killed_in_libya to http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/04/20/reports_restrepo_director_tim_hetherington_killed_in_libya

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

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 01:05, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Chris Hondros. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20061120185957/http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0128-35.htm to http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0128-35.htm

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

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 19:04, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Creating Samar Hassan page?
Is Samar Hassan worthy of her own page?

Samar Hassan is the little girl in the photo:

 * http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/middleeast/07photo.html?_r=0
 * http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/middle_east_shooting_in_tal_afar/html/1.stm
 * http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/samar-hassan-screams-after-her-parents-were-killed-by-u-s-news-photo/52020375
 * google images
 * http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/05/07/world/07photo2_337.html

Moscowamerican (talk) 03:58, 21 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Not noteworthy enough if they're only known for the one event. -Lopifalko (talk) 08:53, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Chris Hondros. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070303000231/http://bop.nppa.org/2006/still_photography/winners/INS/63710/124351.html to http://bop.nppa.org/2006/still_photography/winners/INS/63710/124351.html

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

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 22:55, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Chris Hondros. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140331074143/http://imagery.gettyimages.com/getty_images_grants/CHF.html to http://imagery.gettyimages.com/getty_images_grants/CHF.html

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

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 19:15, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 22:36, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Chris Hondros.jpg

title: Talk:Chris Hondros


text:
External sorting

External sorting is a class of sorting algorithms that can handle massive amounts of data. External sorting is required when the data being sorted do not fit into the main memory of a computing device (usually RAM) and instead they must reside in the slower external memory, usually a disk drive. Thus, external sorting algorithms are external memory algorithms and thus applicable in the external memory model of computation.

External sorting algorithms generally fall into two types, distribution sorting, which resembles quicksort, and external merge sort, which resembles merge sort. External merge sort typically uses a hybrid sort-merge strategy. In the sorting phase, chunks of data small enough to fit in main memory are read, sorted, and written out to a temporary file. In the merge phase, the sorted subfiles are combined into a single larger file.

Model
External sorting algorithms can be analyzed in the external memory model. In this model, a cache or internal memory of size $M$ and an unbounded external memory are divided into blocks of size $B$, and the running time of an algorithm is determined by the number of memory transfers between internal and external memory. Like their cache-oblivious counterparts, asymptotically optimal external sorting algorithms achieve a running time (in Big O notation) of $$O \left(\tfrac{N}{B}\log_{\tfrac{M}{B}} \tfrac{N}{B} \right)$$.

External merge sort
One example of external sorting is the external merge sort algorithm, which uses a K-way merge algorithm. It sorts chunks that each fit in RAM, then merges the sorted chunks together.

The algorithm first sorts $M$ items at a time and puts the sorted lists back into external memory. It does a $\tfrac{M}{B}$-way merge on those sorted lists, recursing if there is not enough main memory to merge efficiently in one pass. During a merge pass, $B$ elements from each sorted list are in internal memory, and the minimum is repeatedly outputted.

For example, for sorting 900 megabytes of data using only 100 megabytes of RAM:
 * 1) Read 100 MB of the data in main memory and sort by some conventional method, like quicksort.
 * 2) Write the sorted data to disk.
 * 3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all of the data is in sorted 100 MB chunks (there are 900MB / 100MB = 9 chunks), which now need to be merged into one single output file.
 * 4) Read the first 10 MB (= 100MB / (9 chunks + 1)) of each sorted chunk into input buffers in main memory and allocate the remaining 10 MB for an output buffer.  (In practice, it might provide better performance to make the output buffer larger and the input buffers slightly smaller.)
 * 5) Perform a 9-way merge and store the result in the output buffer. Whenever the output buffer fills, write it to the final sorted file and empty it. Whenever any of the 9 input buffers empties, fill it with the next 10 MB of its associated 100 MB sorted chunk until no more data from the chunk is available.

The merge pass is key to making external merge sort work externally. The merge algorithm only makes one pass through each chunk, so chunks do not have to be loaded all at once; rather, sequential parts of the chunk are loaded as needed. And as long as the blocks read are relatively large (like the 10 MB in this example), the reads can be relatively efficient even on media with low random-read performance, like hard drives.

Historically, instead of a sort, sometimes a replacement-selection algorithm was used to perform the initial distribution, to produce on average half as many output chunks of double the length.

Additional passes
The previous example is a two-pass sort: first sort, then merge. The sort ends with a single k-way merge, rather than a series of two-way merge passes as in a typical in-memory merge sort. This is because each merge pass reads and writes every value from and to disk, so reducing the number of passes more than compensates for the additional cost of a k-way merge.

The limitation to single-pass merging is that as the number of chunks increases, memory will be divided into more buffers, so each buffer is smaller. Eventually, the reads become so small that more time is spent on disk seeks than data transfer. A typical magnetic hard disk drive might have a 10 ms access time and 100 MB/s data transfer rate, so each seek takes as much time as transferring 1 MB of data.

Thus, for sorting, say, 50 GB in 100 MB of RAM, using a single 500-way merge pass isn't efficient: we can only read 100 MB / 501 ≈ 200 KB from each chunk at once, so 5/6 of the disk's time is spent seeking. Using two merge passes solves the problem. Then the sorting process might look like this:

 * 1) Run the initial chunk-sorting pass as before to create 500×100 MB sorted chunks.
 * 2) Run a first merge pass combining 25×100 MB chunks at a time, resulting in 20×2.5 GB sorted chunks.
 * 3) Run a second merge pass to merge the 20×2.5 GB sorted chunks into a single 50 GB sorted result

Although this requires an additional pass over the data, each read is now 4 MB long, so only 1/5 of the disk's time is spent seeking. The improvement in data transfer efficiency during the merge passes (16.6% to 80% is almost a 5× improvement) more than makes up for the doubled number of merge passes.

Variations include using an intermediate medium like solid-state disk for some stages; the fast temporary storage needn't be big enough to hold the whole dataset, just substantially larger than available main memory. Repeating the example above with 1 GB of temporary SSD storage, the first pass could merge 10×100 MB sorted chunks read from that temporary space to write 50x1 GB sorted chunks to HDD. The high bandwidth and random-read throughput of SSDs help speed the first pass, and the HDD reads for the second pass can then be 2 MB, large enough that seeks will not take up most of the read time. SSDs can also be used as read buffers in a merge phase, allowing fewer larger reads (20MB reads in this example) from HDD storage. Given the lower cost of SSD capacity relative to RAM, SSDs can be an economical tool for sorting large inputs with very limited memory.

Like in-memory sorts, efficient external sorts require O(n log n) time: exponentially growing datasets require linearly increasing numbers of passes that each take O(n) time. Under reasonable assumptions at least 500 GB of data stored on a hard drive can be sorted using 1 GB of main memory before a third pass becomes advantageous, and many times that much data can be sorted before a fourth pass becomes useful.

Main memory size is important. Doubling memory dedicated to sorting halves the number of chunks and the number of reads per chunk, reducing the number of seeks required by about three-quarters. The ratio of RAM to disk storage on servers often makes it convenient to do huge sorts on a cluster of machines rather than on one machine with multiple passes. Media with high random-read performance like solid-state drives (SSDs) also increase the amount that can be sorted before additional passes improve performance.

External distribution sort
External distribution sort is analogous to quicksort. The algorithm finds approximately $$\tfrac{M}{B}$$ pivots and uses them to divide the $N$ elements into approximately equally sized subarrays, each of whose elements are all smaller than the next, and then recurse until the sizes of the subarrays are less than the block size. When the subarrays are less than the block size, sorting can be done quickly because all reads and writes are done in the cache, and in the external memory model requires $$O(1)$$ operations.

However, finding exactly $$\tfrac{M}{B}$$ pivots would not be fast enough to make the external distribution sort asymptotically optimal. Instead, we find slightly fewer pivots. To find these pivots, the algorithm splits the $N$ input elements into $$\tfrac{N}{M}$$ chunks, and takes every $$\sqrt{\tfrac{M}{16B}}$$ elements, and recursively uses the median of medians algorithm to find $$\sqrt{\tfrac{M}{B}}$$ pivots.

There is a duality, or fundamental similarity, between merge- and distribution-based algorithms.

Performance
The Sort Benchmark, created by computer scientist Jim Gray, compares external sorting algorithms implemented using finely tuned hardware and software. Winning implementations use several techniques:

 * Using parallelism
 * Multiple disk drives can be used in parallel in order to improve sequential read and write speed. This can be a very cost-efficient improvement: a Sort Benchmark winner in the cost-centric Penny Sort category uses six hard drives in an otherwise midrange machine.
 * Sorting software can use multiple threads, to speed up the process on modern multicore computers.
 * Software can use asynchronous I/O so that one run of data can be sorted or merged while other runs are being read from or written to disk.
 * Multiple machines connected by fast network links can each sort part of a huge dataset in parallel.
 * Increasing hardware speed
 * Using more RAM for sorting can reduce the number of disk seeks and avoid the need for more passes.
 * Fast external memory like solid-state drives can speed sorts, either if the data is small enough to fit entirely on SSDs or, more rarely, to accelerate sorting SSD-sized chunks in a three-pass sort.
 * Many other factors can affect hardware's maximum sorting speed: CPU speed and number of cores, RAM access latency, input/output bandwidth, disk read/write speed, disk seek time, and others. "Balancing" the hardware to minimize bottlenecks is an important part of designing an efficient sorting system.
 * Cost-efficiency as well as absolute speed can be critical, especially in cluster environments where lower node costs allow purchasing more nodes.
 * Increasing software speed
 * Some Sort Benchmark entrants use a variation on radix sort for the first phase of sorting: they separate data into one of many "bins" based on the beginning of its value. Sort Benchmark data is random and especially well-suited to this optimization.
 * Compacting the input, intermediate files, and output can reduce time spent on I/O, but is not allowed in the Sort Benchmark.
 * Because the Sort Benchmark sorts long (100-byte) records using short (10-byte) keys, sorting software sometimes rearranges the keys separately from the values to reduce memory I/O volume.

title: External sorting


text:
Camucia

Camucia is a small town in Tuscany in central Italy. It is a frazione of Cortona. Sitting at the base of the hill on which Cortona lies, it serves as the railway station for the historic town, on the main Florence - Rome line.

title: Camucia


text:
Talk:Wiedergutmachung

Untitled
I would like to see sources for these statements made in the article: I would also like to see sources that verify whether these questions have been raised: Where have these questions been raised, and by whom? Thanks, silsor 20:43, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * As of the mid 1980s nearly 5 million claims had been filed and paid.
 * Nearly all of the claims were from USA and Israel.
 * People have been imprisoned and lost their careers for just bringing up such issues in a public forum.
 * Projections were being made that by year 2005 more than 7 million claims will be filed.
 * 1) The statistics does not add up with the total number of Jews in Europe (or even perhaps in the whole world) at the time of WW-II (for instance, if 6 million perished in WW-II and another 6 million filed for Wiedergutmachungsgeld, that is already 12 million)
 * 2) Why has the number of claims increased instead of decreased?
 * 3) Why are the claims filed in USA and Israeli courts and not in German courts?
 * 4) Why did so many victims wait until now 50 to 60 years after the end of WW-II to file for Widergutmachung (and other claims for reparations)?

 * Indeed, I was coming to this Talk: page to ask these exact question. As of now, the article is entirely unsourced, and appears to have many POV issues as well. Jayjg (talk)  20:59, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Agreed with above. These claims seriously need sources. Isomorphic 21:08, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Hello to all. Unfortunately in Germany there is a federal law that even discussing, let alone publishing, any such issues instantly constitutes a punishable federal offence, including jail.  Indeed a number of people who were most definitely NOT Neo-Nazi's or even Nazi-sympaths, have been severely punished, including cases of imprisonement.  I am afraid, the only published sources that I can refer you on this, would be what would immediately put a big label of "neo-nazi", "anit-semite" or "holocaust denier" on my forehead. If you do even a minimum bit of fair and objective search, you can determine if what I wrote contains truth or not.  --JoergenF 21:25, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Usually authors of articles have to provide the sources; others may not know where they are, or how to find them. Jayjg (talk) 21:31, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * You are not being labeled, but you'll have to back up your statements (see my concerns below). JFW | T@lk  21:29, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Surely if people are being put in jail for discussing Wiedergutmachung in Germany, there would be some public records of the court proceedings, convictions, and sentencing of these people. If this were the case, it would surely be a matter of critical importance to this article, and several other articles I can think of (like, say, Censorship). However, it would need to have sources cited. Without that, Wikipedia has to regard the claim as an utterly unproven allegation. --FOo 01:12, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I point out that if there is indeed a German law that prohibits JoergenF from citing the sources for the questions he had in the article text earlier, that same law likely would also have prohibited him from putting the questions themselves in the article in the first place.  This mysterious law seems quite bizarre if it allows one to report in an encyclopedia article that certain questions are being asked about the Wiedergutmachung, but prohibits one from specifying who is asking them, when, where, etc. --BM 02:11, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Tone
The original tone of this article was very much that of a conspiracy theory. The four "questions" must have been asked by someone to become encyclopedic. The author cannot use Wikipedia to ask these questions. Therefore, I'm removing them until they are sourced.

A quick Google check did not return a "German federal law" forbidding discussing these four questions. I removed this until the author provides a source (with StB number). JFW | T@lk  21:29, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * This is outright censorship. According to your personal page, you are a Dutch doctor.  It would be almost impossible then if you are unaware of BRD federal laws on this issue especially if you know what "StB number" is.  Therefore, I am afraid, it appears that you are being disingenuous about this and extending the ugly censorship that exists in Germany in this regard, onto Wikipedia.  --JoergenF 21:35, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Disingenuous? Censorship? Please address the real issues, not what you think of other editors. The claim cannot be backed up, so it needs your help in establishing proof. This is an encyclopedia, not a messaging board for free speech policy in Germany. JFW | T@lk  13:00, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Please read Cite sources and No original research. Jayjg (talk) 21:42, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * That is completely false. It might be censorship if you added information with a reliable source, and then somebody removed it.  Until you provide a source, your information is only as reliable as adding "Hitler was a homosexual" to Adolf Hitler. silsor 21:47, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)

 * This is not any original research (although I personally used to keep track of the statistics of BEG that used to be publicly avaialbe for some time). The think is that if I give ANY published reference on this I would immediately categorized as one of the labels like "neo-nazi", holocaust denier", anti-semite", "historical revisionist" and the like. That would be enough to delete not only this article, but ban me from this forum. --JoergenF 21:51, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Joergen, I don't know where you've posted before, but Wikipedia is nothing like the site you describe. If you provide sources, your information will be allowed in the article, though there may be some work to compromise over how to present it.  A neo-Nazi or holocaust denier who did choose to post here (and I have no interest in labeling you as one....I doubt the other users do either) would not be banned for it as long as they abided by our policies to avoid personal attacks, seek compromise, cite sources, etc.  They might find people a bit hostile at times, but they would not be silenced unless they broke policy, and simply having a political viewpoint (however unpopular) is not a violation of policy. Jwrosenzweig 21:54, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * If you do a search on "BEG wiedergutmachung" you will already find multiple authentic sites without me associating myself with any labels and insinuations. --JoergenF 21:57, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * You are completely welcome to edit the page no matter who you are, as long as you adhere to Wikipedia policy. silsor 21:58, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)

 * The search you suggest gives me no hits in English to support your claims. Can you tell me which of the ones in German I should pipe through a translator to see if they support your claims? - UtherSRG 22:03, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * I get some English links from that, by clicking the link at the top of the search results. silsor 22:09, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)

 * If we go as far as page 3 we can find some christian fundermentalists trying t make a point in the same direction as the questions about halfway down the page I future I suggests JoergenF does his own researchGeni 22:13, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * OK, there are many authentic sources that you can use for comparison. For example, you can use the book "The Holocaust Industry" by Professor Norman G. Finkelstein, who himself is the child of a mother and father who were both Jewish *AND* in Nazi concentration camps.  His book is translated in most major langauges of the world, and of course the original is in English.  He used to be a professor of the State University of New York, but after the publication of his book, The Holocaust Industry he was harrassed out of his job and now he is a professor at another university.  Some of the absolute highest echelons of world-class scholarship have praised his book for accuracy, thoroughness and objectivity.  here is his official website:   --JoergenF 22:23, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Very good. You're getting closer. Now can you cite where he raises the question you posed? Or does he raise a different set of questions? And, to maintain a NPOV can you provide possible answers to those question from both sides of the arguement? - UtherSRG 22:32, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * I do not have the book here with me at the moment. Is it a Wikipedia requirement to not only provide a book but also page number and chapter number, etc?  That would put enough burden and responsibility on volunteer contributors to not be able to controbute in a practical way.  That would be the kind of detail you would expect from a well-paid staff such as the major commercial or academic encyclopaedias have (and even in their case, I don't think they provide page numbers or greater details, they just mention the source).  At any rate, this book is academic, authentic and well-respected.  Naturally, it is deeply hated by its opponents.  --JoergenF 22:37, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Joergen, we do often ask for page numbers -- it is important to remember that volunteering here is very much like being on the staff of a major encyclopedia....since volunteers are our staff, and we are currently a very major encyclopedia (in terms of uses per day). A request for a page number from a fellow editor is seen as a reasonable request, especially on controversial topics (where we want to be especially careful to be accurate).  While you may think the request places a heavy burden on contribution, we have many fine editors who do not see it as one, and who have obviously contributed in a practical way, given the size and popularity of this site -- we do place serious demands on contributors, but I think it's fair to say that the quality of Wikipedia's results justifies such high standards.  I hope you can understand this reasoning, and that you are willing to comply, Jwrosenzweig 22:51, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It is not entierly clear what the topic for this article is. Germany seems to have quite a few laws regulating paymets to individuals, states and organisations due to the WWII crimes. Wiedergutmachung is also a German word and no doubt has a translation in English. Palestine-info 00:22, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Commonsense answers to the questions
1) The statistics does not add up with the total number of Jews in Europe (or even perhaps in the whole world) at the time of WW-II (for instance, if 6 million perished in WW-II and another 6 million filed for Wiedergutmachungsgeld, that is already 12 million)

 * Wiedergutmachungsgeld is payable to any victim of Nazi persecution -- not just Jewish victims. There are a considerable number of Gentile victims when we include forced labourers and victims of the Gestapo in the occupied countries of Western Europe.

2) Why has the number of claims increased instead of decreased?

 * These were traumatic events. People have taken years to come to terms with them to the extent that they can actually consider speaking about them to a tribunal or court of law. No doubt there are those who still require more time to do so. Because of this human characteristic, claims would be expected to start slowly and build over the years. In addition many of the claimants were children or young adults during the 1950s and 1960s and would have been unable to decide to claim at the time, or would have had other priorities.

3) Why are the claims filed in USA and Israeli courts and not in German courts?

 * Because of agreements made between the governments of the three countries to make it easier for victims to sue.

4) Why did so many victims wait until now 50 to 60 years after the end of WW-II to file for Widergutmachung (and other claims for reparations)?

 * See the answer to question two. Also note that people's self confidence tends to become greater as they become older. They also have more free time after they have retired from working and so can afford to follow up on a claim which they may have been putting off for years.

These are the common sense answers. I don't have any sources for them though so they don't belong in the article. -- Derek Ross | Talk 00:30, 2005 Feb 8 (UTC)

The (rethoric and secret) questions seem to have originated here Palestine-info 02:25, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It is fine to discuss these questions in articles on Nazism/Holocaust etc. The answers to them are quite straightforward, so they need not be put to the reader as rhetorical questions (don't talk to the camera!), the context can be provided matter-of-factly. As for this article, what is it even about? If you want to discuss Finkelstein, go to Norman Finkelstein. If you want to discuss the Holocaust, go to Holocaust. This is an article about a German term for "reparation"? Fine, let's just summarize the information from the germany-info.org external link. dab (ᛏ) 06:25, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Dab, this is encyclopedic. It is an example of the way Germany addressed the needs of Holocaust survivors, and has gone a long way into improving living conditions for those who had difficulty adapting in Israel/the USA etc. Some survivors have refused Wiedergutmachung, calling it a betrayal and an insult to the memory of lost family members. JFW | T@lk  21:34, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Book and page
"Is it a Wikipedia requirement to not only provide a book but also page number and chapter number, etc? That would put enough burden and responsibility on volunteer contributors to not be able to controbute in a practical way."

 * Often this requirement is not met, but it is easy when reading a book and have that information to also edit Wikipedia. Fred Bauder 01:23, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)

 * Agreed. It should also be noted that some articles need more precise citation than others. If you are writing on an uncontroversial topic, you may be able to get away without any form of citation, but the more controversial a topic is, the better your citations need to be. When people find it difficult to believe what an article is stating, precise citation becomes essential. -- Derek Ross |  Talk 01:31, 2005 Feb 8 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wiedergutmachung


text: File:R.E.M. - Losing My Religion.jpg

title: File:R.E.M. - Losing My Religion.jpg


text:
User:Faethon22

I am Faethon
Hi all!

I am [Faethon] As always, my login is Faethon22 and my password Faethon22.

My history
My [original account] has been vandalized and its password taken. The same happened with [Faethon2]. Then someone (probably [Carnildo]) registered [Faethon3], [Faethon4], [Faethon5] [Faethon6], [Faethon7], [Faethon8] and [Faethon9] to prevent me to register a new Faethon account. Fortunately there is always a bigger number to choose, so I register [Faethon10] that has been abused and [Faethon11] that has been abused too by someone (only admins know who is he). Then I registered [Faethon12], hoping this account is not going to be abused. Unfortunately it was abused too, and someone also registered [Faethon13], [Faethon14], [Faethon15] [Faethon16], [Faethon17], [Faethon18], [Faethon19], [Faethon20] and [Faethon21]

 * I'm going to be honest and claim responsibility for a few of those. Also [Faethon0] and [FaethonX].  -- Scott  eiπ  04:45, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)

What I did to escape from vandalism
So I registered [Faethon22] hoping this account is not going to be abused. Fortunately, even in case they are going to abuse my brand new account again, there are always unregistered accounts to choose like [Faethon23], [Faethon24] e.t.c. (You can easily check wheither a FaethonX's account is registered or not. Just have a look in contributions link. If FaethonX name is [grey] it is not registered. If it is [blue] or [red], it is registered.)

Where are the admins?
'''Where are the admins to protect my user front page and my password? Why they let abusers to vandalize my user page and abuse my account by changing my password?'''.

I am asking the admins to protect me, either to change my password to Faethon in my original Faethon account, or fix the password of the Faethon22 account always to be Faethon22. Nobody should be able to change the password, except if asked for it with a message signed with my key.

 * if you dont want ppl changing your page and pass, then dont put your pass on your page !!! --88.108.227.175 11:09, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

 * This user is correct. YOU are the only one that can change your password, either while you're logged in as yourself at Special:Preferences, or by using the lost password feature on the login screen. Admins have no control over your password. —Lantoka ( talk 11:11, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

My Rules
[Same as Faethon11].

I am thinking about a rule that is going to define wheither the votes of a FaethonX account should be considered valid ones or not. I have to discuss it with [Andrewa] first. Are only the votes of FaethonX valid ones, where X is the maximum X? Are only the signed by my public key votes valid? Or, all votes of all FaethonX accounts are valid with the condition to have their password unlocked and set to the default FaethonX password? I dont know... I hope Andrewa is going to help me to form this rule ...

My Public Key
[Same as original Faethon account]

title: User:Faethon22


text:
XEPN-AM

XEPN were the call letters of a border-blaster radio station licensed to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.

It broadcast initially on 885 kHz with a power of 100 watts. The station was gone by the late 1930s, and in 1963, a new XEPN was created, this time on 920 kHz at Paracho, Michoacán. That station no longer exists.

title: XEPN-AM


text:
Divis

Divis is a hill and area of sprawling moorland north-west of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. With a height of 1,568 ft (478 m), it is the highest of the Belfast Hills. It is joined with the neighbouring Black Mountain, and in the past they may have been seen as one. Divis transmitting station is on the summit. The mountain extends north to the Antrim Plateau and shares its geology; consisting of a basaltic cover underlain by limestone and lias clay.

Only recently have the Divis area and its surrounding mountains been handed over to the National Trust; from 1953 to 2005, it was under the control of the Ministry of Defence. It was also used as a training area for the British Army. It might have been released earlier, but due to the period of unrest known as the Troubles, the British Government and military viewed the area as a useful vantage point, overlooking Belfast.

title: Divis


text:
Canarium luzonicum

Canarium luzonicum, commonly known as elemi, is a tree native to the Philippines. The oleoresin harvested from it is also known as elemi.

Synonyms

 * Canarium carapifolium G.Perkins
 * Canarium oliganthum Merr.
 * Canarium polyanthum G.Perkins
 * Canarium triandrum Engl.
 * Pimela luzonica Blume

Description
Canarium luzonicum is a large evergreen tree growing to a maximum height of about 30 m. The leaves are alternate and are pinnate. Clusters of flowers, which are pollinated by insects, are followed by thick-shelled nuts with edible kernels.

Uses

Elemi resin is a pale yellow substance, of honey-like consistency. Aromatic elemi oil is steam distilled from the resin. It is a fragrant resin with a sharp pine and lemon-like scent. One of the resin components is called amyrin.

Elemi resin is chiefly used commercially in varnishes and lacquers, and certain printing inks. It is used as a herbal medicine to treat bronchitis, catarrh, extreme coughing, mature skin, scars, stress, and wounds. The constituents include phellandrene, limonene, elemol, elemicin, terpineol, carvone, and terpinolene.

The seed kernels are used for food, both raw and cooked. An edible oil can be extracted from the seeds, and the pulp can be stewed but is somewhat insipid. The young shoots can be boiled and eaten as a vegetable.

History of the name
The word elemi has been used at various times to denote different resins. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the term usually denoted a resin from trees of the genus Icica in Brazil, and before that it meant the resin derived from Boswellia frereana. The word, like the older term animi, appears to have been derived from enhaemon (ἔναιμον): the name of a styptic medicine said by Pliny to contain tears exuded by the olive tree of Arabia.

"The name Elemi is derived from an Arabic phrase meaning 'above and below', an abbreviation of 'As above, so below' and this tells us something about its action on the emotional and spiritual planes."

title: Canarium luzonicum


text:
North Wales and Liverpool Railway

The North Wales and Liverpool Railway (NWLR), was the name given to the joint committee formed to construct a railway between Bidston, on the Wirral Railway and Hawarden on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's (MSLR) Chester & Connah's Quay Railway from Chester to its link with the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQR): the committee was between the two latter Railways. When the WMCQR went into receivership in 1897 the MSLR (by then known as the Great Central Railway) bought the combined WMCQR and the Bidston extension. The committee was dissolved in 1904.

The line now forms the Northern part of the Borderlands Line.

title: North Wales and Liverpool Railway


text:
Early Jurassic

The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma (million years ago), and ends at the start of the Middle Jurassic 174.7 ±0.8 Ma.

Certain rocks of marine origin of this age in Europe are called "Lias" and that name was used for the period, as well, in 19th-century geology. In southern Germany rocks of this age are called Black Jurassic.

Origin of the name Lias
There are two possible origins for the name Lias: the first reason is it was taken by a geologist from an English quarryman's dialect pronunciation of the word "layers"; secondly, sloops from north Cornish ports such as Bude would sail across the Bristol Channel to the Vale of Glamorgan to load up with rock from coastal limestone quarries (lias and Carboniferous limestone from South Wales was used throughout North Devon/North Cornwall as it contains calcium carbonate to 'sweeten' (i.e.neutralise) the acidic Devonian and Carboniferous soils of the West Country); the Cornish would pronounce the layers of limestone as 'laiyers' or 'lias'; leac  is Gaelic for "flat stone".

Stratigraphy
There has been some debate over the actual base of the Hettangian Stage, and so of the Jurassic System itself. Biostratigraphically, the first appearance of psiloceratid ammonites has been used; but this depends on relatively complete ammonite faunas being present, a problem that makes correlation between sections in different parts of the world difficult. If this biostratigraphical indicator is used, then technically the Lias Group—a lithostratigraphical division—spans the Jurassic / Triassic boundary.

United Kingdom
There are extensive Liassic outcrops around the coast of the United Kingdom, in particular in Glamorgan, North Yorkshire and Dorset. The 'Jurassic Coast' of Dorset is often associated with the pioneering work of Mary Anning of Lyme Regis. The facies of the Lower Jurassic in this area are predominantly of clays, thin limestones and siltstones, deposited under fully marine conditions.

Lias Group strata form imposing cliffs on the Vale of Glamorgan coast, in southern Wales. Stretching for around 14 mi between Cardiff and Porthcawl, the remarkable layers of these cliffs, situated on the Bristol Channel are a rhythmic decimetre scale repetition of limestone and mudstone formed as a late Triassic desert was inundated by the sea.

Ammonites
During this period, ammonoids, which had almost died out at the end-of-Triassic extinction, radiated out into a huge diversity of new forms with complex suture patterns (the ammonites proper). Ammonites evolved so rapidly, and their shells are so often preserved, that they serve as important zone fossils. There were several distinct waves of ammonite evolution in Europe alone.

Marine reptiles
The Early Jurassic was an important time in the evolution of the marine reptiles. The Hettangian saw the already existing Rhaetian ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs continuing to flourish, while at the same time a number of new types of these marine reptiles appeared, such as Ichthyosaurus and Temnodontosaurus among the ichthyosaurs, and Eurycleidus, Macroplata, and Rhomaleosaurus among the plesiosaurs (all Rhomaleosauridae, although as currently defined this group is probably paraphyletic). All these plesiosaurs had medium-sized necks and large heads. In the Toarcian, at the end of the Early Jurassic, the thalattosuchians (marine "crocodiles") appeared, as did new genera of ichthyosaurs (Stenopterygius, Eurhinosaurus, and the persistently primitive Suevoleviathan) and plesiosaurs (the elasmosaurs (long-necked) Microcleidus and Occitanosaurus, and the pliosaur Hauffiosaurus).

Terrestrial animals
On land, a number of new types of dinosaurs—the heterodontosaurids, scelidosaurs, stegosaurs, and tetanurans—appeared, and joined those groups like the coelophysoids, prosauropods and the sauropods that had continued over from the Triassic. Accompanying them as small carnivores were the sphenosuchian and protosuchid crocodilians. In the air, new types of pterosaurs replaced those that had died out at the end of the Triassic. But in the undergrowth were various types of early mammals, as well as tritylodont synapsids, lizard-like sphenodonts, and early lissamphibians.

title: Early Jurassic


text:
North Wales Wildlife Trust

The North Wales Wildlife Trust (NWWT) (Welsh: Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gogledd Cymru) is the Wildlife Trust for North Wales. Established in 1962, it covers the vice counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Merionethshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire with over 9300 members. It is a registered charity and a member of the Wildlife Trusts Partnership with the head office being located in Bangor and its eastern office located at Aberduna nature reserve in Flintshire.

The aims of the NWWT are:

 * To conserve north Wales' wildlife for the future.
 * To increase the understanding of north Wales' wildlife and its natural environment.
 * To apply this knowledge of practical wildlife conservation in nature reserves and elsewhere throughout north Wales.
 * To enhance the enjoyment of and access to north Wales' wildlife by members of the public.

History
The history of the NWWT can be traced back to 1953 when two botanists RH Roberts, a local headmaster and WS "Bill" Lacey, a lecturer in University College of North Wales who carried out vegetation surveys and recommended that the fens of Cors Goch and Cors Geirch be acquired as nature reserves. In 1962, the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves stepped in to make a holding purchase until a local conservation body could be established to buy and manage nature reserves. In 1962, 65 people met and formed The North Wales Naturalists from which a council of ten was elected with Colonel JC Wynn Finch as chairman and Dr WS Lacey as Hon Secretary. By 1965, the Trust had 359 members and three nature reserves covering just over 145 acres. Over the following years, several other local Trusts would provide their reserves and assets to the North Wales Naturalists and while some larger branches would be separated to form independent Trusts; 1972 West Wales Trust formed the Meirionnydd Branch, 1982 Montgomeryshire Branch became the Montgomeryshire Trust for Nature Conservation, 1988 the Trust was renamed as the 'North Wales Wildlife Trust'.

Bill Lacey (Lacey Lecture)
The annual Lacey Lecture, presented by the NWWT, is a tradition which has been going for over 15 years. It is in memory of Professor William Lacey, known as 'Bill' Lacey who achieved great academic distinction and international standing in palaeobotany. He was also a teacher and a practical man when it came to conservation. He became the NWWT's first secretary, was its chairman for 14 years and then president.

Lacey was an academic, teacher and practical conservationist.
 * 2023 Jake Davies
 * 2022 Craig Bennett
 * 2021 Erica McAlister (from BBC radio 4)
 * 2020 Paul Allen (of CAT)
 * 2019 Dave Goulson
 * 2018 Philip Hoare
 * 2017 Peter Smith (of the Wildwood Trust)
 * 2016 Trevor Dines
 * 2015 Nick Baker
 * 2014 Nigel Brown
 * 2013 Chris Baines (second lecture)
 * 2012 Natasha de Vere
 * 2011 Mike Dilger
 * 2010 Graham Harvey
 * 2009 Callum Roberts
 * 2008 Brent Elliot
 * 2007 Paul Evans
 * 2006 Michael Leach
 * 2005 Aubrey Manning
 * 2004 Jill Attenborough
 * 2003 Iolo Williams
 * 2002 Chris Baines
 * 2001 Robert Swan

Reserves
The NWWT manages the following 35 nature reserves (1,821 acres in total):

 * Abercorris
 * Aberduna
 * Big Pool Wood
 * Blaen y Weirglodd
 * Bryn Pydew
 * Caeau Pen y Clip
 * Caeau Tan y Bwlch
 * Cemlyn Bay
 * Coed Cilygroeslwyd
 * Coed Crafnant
 * Coed Porthamel
 * Coed Trellyniau
 * Coed y Felin
 * Cors Bodgynydd
 * Cors Goch
 * Cors y Sarnau
 * Ddol Uchaf
 * Eithinog
 * Gogarth (with a trust shop on the summit complex of the Great Orme)
 * Gors Maen Llwyd
 * Graig Wyllt
 * Gwaith Powdwr
 * Maes Hiraddug
 * Marford Quarry
 * Mariandyrys
 * Minera Quarry (part of Minera SSSI)
 * Morfa Bychan
 * Nantporth
 * Old Pulford Brook Meadows
 * Pisgah Quarry
 * Porth Diana
 * Rhiwledyn
 * Spinnies, Aberogwen
 * Traeth Glaslyn
 * Y Graig

The NWWT also owns 450 acres at Bryn Ifan, where it intends to restore Celtic rainforests to the upland farms.

NWWT runs four Living Landscapes projects, extending conservation work off reserves and onto private sites by working with landowners. They are currently the Alun and Chwiler, Anglesey Fens, River Dee and Wrexham Industrial Estate Living Landscapes. This work improves opportunities for people and wildlife and follows the principles of bigger, better and more connected landscapes. Within the Wrexham Industrial Estate project the trust manages sites on behalf of corporate bodies, while further supporting other organisations to advise best management practices for wildlife conservation on their own land.

"'We work with businesses, landholders, farmers and community groups on and around the Wrexham Industrial Estate, advising on conservation land management and improving connectivity for wildlife across one of the largest industrial areas in the UK. This involves carrying out surveys for conservation priority species, mapping habitats and drawing up management prescriptions for businesses operating on the industrial estate.' - Jonny Hulson, Living Landscape Officer"Other projects run by NWWT include:

Living seas, which helps run Seagrass Ocean Rescue in conjunction with World Wide Fund for Nature, Project Seagrass and Swansea University. And Project SIARC, which won Wales Project of the Year in the 2023 National Lottery Awards.

The Stand for Nature Youth project, Including a climate conservation traineeship once a year. The Welsh Beaver project. And a variety of Invasive and Non-Native species work.

The charity has 2 subsidaries, NWWT trading company, and Enfy Ecolocical services

Local branches
It has local members branches (who organise and lead local walks, talks and meetings), each member of the NWWT will automatically become a member of their local branch, however. They are:
 * Anglesey Branch
 * Conwy Valley Branch
 * Arfon Branch
 * Clwydian Branch (covering Denbighshire and Flintshire)
 * Meirionydd Branch
 * Wrexham & Dee Valley Branch

title: North Wales Wildlife Trust


text:
Vermilion Sands

Vermilion Sands is a collection of science fiction short stories by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1971. All the stories are set in an imaginary vacation resort called Vermilion Sands which suggests, among other places, Palm Springs in southern California. The characters are generally the wealthy and disaffected, or people who make a living off them, as well as parasites of various kinds.

In the preface, Ballard himself wrote: "Vermilion Sands has more than its full share of dreams and illusions, fears and fantasies, but the frame for them is less confining. I like to think, too, that it celebrates the neglected virtues of the glossy, lurid and bizarre."

A Times Literary Supplement review describes the collection's surrealist mood : "J.G. Ballard is … one of the most accomplished creators of evocative landscapes in modern fiction … he achieves this effect partly by painting his desert in the manner of Dali, a mixture of appalling clarity and the exotic."

Stories
Vermilion Sands contains the following stories:
 * "Prima Belladonna" (1956)
 * "The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista" (1962)
 * "Cry Hope, Cry Fury!" (1966)
 * "Venus Smiles" (1957)
 * "Studio 5, The Stars" (1961)
 * "The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D" (1967)
 * "Say Goodbye to the Wind" (1970)
 * "The Screen Game" (1962)
 * "The Singing Statues" (1962) [not included in earlier US editions]

Exotic technology
Each story concentrates on different media - in some cases more than one - and most of them focus on a particular innovative, usually rather decadent/baroque twist on an existing artistic medium. For instance:
 * "Prima Belladonna" focuses on music, especially singing, via singing plants and a 'mutant' voice.
 * "The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista" focuses on architecture, via mobile, mood-sensitive houses.
 * "Cry Hope, Cry Fury" focuses on painting, through paints that respond to the presence of light/objects (an example of decadence through the evaporation of skill).
 * "Venus Smiles" focuses on sculpture, through the creation of a (strangely growing) sound sculpture.
 * "Studio 5, The Stars" focuses on poetry, through automated poetry machines (another example of skill vanishing, this time into automation).
 * "The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D" focuses on a peculiar kind of sculpture made by carving clouds - painting also appears in this story.
 * "Say Goodbye to the Wind" focuses on fashion via living fashion and sound jewelry (non-aural music and erotic food are also mentioned in passing).
 * "The Screen Game" has no unusual technologies, but an unusual aesthetic - jewels and screens dominate.
 * "The Singing Statues" returns to sound sculpture (which may have been why it was removed from the American Berkley Medallion edition of 1971).

Although the characters themselves often exhibit the same obsession, anomie and psychological disintegration typical of Ballard's characters, the emphasis on elaborate and sometimes humorously imagined art forms gives these stories a playfulness unusual in his other stories. A few other stories not set in Vermilion Sands are comparable because of their similar artistic games, especially "Sound-Sweep" (1960, on music/opera) and "Passport to Eternity" (1962, full of decadent trends and live fashions).

Popular culture references

 * The song "Vermilion Sands" on the Buggles album Adventures In Modern Recording is probably referring to this collection.
 * A 1980s Japanese progressive rock band was called "Vermilion Sands". Their album featured a song entitled "The cloud-sculptors of Coral D".
 * Vermilion Sands is the name taken by a garage-pop band from Treviso, Italy.
 * Brighton, England based electronic band Fujiya & Miyagi makes many references to the visual/conceptual lexicon in Vermilion Sands in their song "Swoon" which appears on their eponymous sixth album.
 * In 2014 a temporary installation at the Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver was inspired by Vermilion Sands.
 * The song "The House" on the Róisín Murphy album Hit Parade refers to this book in the lyrics.

title: Vermilion Sands


text:
User:Dpeterson

My name is Daniel John Peterson and I live in Davis California. No I do not surf and I don’t live at a beach or the mountains. I am a junior at da Vinci high school which is a part of the new tech high school system. I play lacrosse almost every day and after that I sleep and that is about all I do with my life.

title: User:Dpeterson


text:
XET-AM

XET-AM, nicknamed La T Grande, is a commercial AM radio station on 990 kHz at Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. It is part of Multimedios Radio's Monterrey station cluster. The transmitter is located in San Nicolás de los Garza, near Monterrey.

History
XET went on the air in March 1930 as Monterrey's second radio station after XEH. It was founded by Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta. and eventually became a border blaster targeting the United States in English with a 50,000 watt signal. Studios were located at Galeana and Hidalgo streets. In the 2000s, it reduced its power to 20,000 watts. Azcárraga later sold the station to Cervecería Cuauhtémoc.

The Carter Family worked at the station in its early years, performing their country music and bluegrass music. As the station could be heard at night in the parts of the United States, XET helped the Carter Family's music became well-known. In February 1939, over the air live, Sara Carter dedicated the song I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes to her long-lost boyfriend Coy Bayes. On February 20, 1939, Sara Carter and Coy Bayes married at Brackettville, Texas.

In the 1970s, Grupo Estrellas de Oro, the predecessor to Multimedios Radio, acquired XET.

title: XET-AM