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Country Girls (band)

Country Musume (カントリー娘.) was a Japanese female idol music group that is a part of Hello! Project.

On November 5, 2014, Country Musume was rebooted and renamed Country Girls (カントリー・ガールズ) with new members.

Country Musume era
Country Musume was formed in 1999 and was termed as "Country Girls from Hokkaidō." The initial group consisted of native members of Hokkaidō, Rinne Toda, Azusa Kobayashi, and Hiromi Yanagihara.

Before the release of their first single in July 1999, Hiromi Yanagihara died in a car accident. After the accident, Azusa Kobayashi departed from the group and Rinne Toda carried on as a solo artist and released two singles under the "Country Musume" name by herself. In the summer of 2000, Asami Kimura joined the group and the duo released one more single.

Their popularity rose when Morning Musume's Rika Ishikawa—who is from Kanagawa—was lent to the group in April 2001. Country Musume had their first charting single in Japan with the release of "Hajimete no Happy Birthday." The trio, under the name "Country Musume ni Rika Ishikawa," released two singles and an album. Early in 2002, Mai Satoda was recruited to the group, although she initially auditioned to be a Morning Musume member.

The quartet released one single before Toda, the remaining original member bid farewell at the end of 2002. Afterwards, Kimura, Ishikawa, and Satoda released one more single.

In mid-2003, Country Musume had a major shift in its roster. Miuna Saito, who is from Shizuoka, was recruited to the group. Instead of Rika Ishikawa, the group featured Asami Konno and Miki Fujimoto, who are both Morning Musume and Hokkaidō natives. In this new formation (named "Country Musume ni Konno to Fujimoto"), the quintet has released three singles. In 2004, Country Musume (except the featured singers) participated in the fifth edition of Hello! Project's Folk Song series, where various H!P artists sang covers of Japanese and Western folk songs.

Asami Kimura and Miuna Saito graduated from Country Musume and Hello! Project on its 10th anniversary concert on January 28, 2007, leaving Satoda as the only remaining member.

Country Girls era
On February 11, 2014, it was announced during the ''Hello! Project 2014 WINTER ~GOiSU MODE~ ''concert held at Sendai Sun Plaza Hall that audition applications for Country Musume would be accepted until March 31, 2014. On August 7, it was announced that the Country Musume audition has come to an end without any additions.

On November 5, 2014, it was announced that Hello! Pro Kenshūsei members Risa Yamaki and Manaka Inaba, Morning Musume '14 auditionees Chisaki Morito, Uta Shimamura, and Mai Ozeki were selected to join Country Musume. Berryz Kobo member Momoko Tsugunaga was also added to the group to become their "playing manager," while Mai Satoda takes the role of "supervisor." It was also announced that Country Musume was renamed to Country Girls, hoping for the group to attract fans from overseas.

On March 25, 2015, Country Musume released their first single as Country Girls and their twelfth single overall with "Itōshikutte Gomen ne / Koi Dorobō".

On June 12, 2015, Uta Shimamura resigned from Country Girls due to issues between Up-Front and Uta's parents regarding the terms of her contract. Country Girls will continue as a five-member group, excluding group supervisor, Mai Satoda.

On June 24, Country Girls performed at the TV Tokyo Music Festival(2) along many other artists, including Morning Musume '15 and Morning Musume OG.

On August 5, Country Girls released their 2nd single "Wakatteiru no ni Gomen ne / Tamerai Summer Time."

On November 5, during Country Girls' first anniversary event in Shinjuku, it was announced that Funaki Musubu and Yanagawa Nanami would be joining the group.

On December 2, Country Girls performed at the UPDATE girls LIVE, alongside idol groups, Lyrical School and Tokyo Performance Doll.

On February 9, during the 67th Sapporo Snow Festival, Country Girls performed a special live entitled 'Country Girls Boogie Woogie LIVE'. It took place in Odori Park in front of the HTB Snow Square.

On February 18, Country Girls performed a joint live with Idol Renaissance for the DOUBLE COLOR session11 at Shinjuku BLAZE.

On February 28, Country Girls performed at the SKY PerfecTV! Ongakusai 2016.

On March 9, Country Girls released their 3rd single "Boogie Woogie LOVE / Koi wa Magnet / Ranrarun ~Anata ni Muchuu~". It is Yanagawa Nanami and Funaki Musubu's debut single.

On April 28, it was announced that Inaba Manaka would be taking a break from Country Girls' activities due to asthma. After consulting with her doctors, it was initially decided that she would be returning to Country Girls when she recovered from her illness. However, on August 4, she graduated from the group.

On September 28, Country Girls released their 4th single "Dou Datte Ii no / Namida no Request."

In November 5, during the Country Girls Live Tour 2016, Fuyu day concert at Shinjuku ReNY, Country Girls' second anniversary, Tsugunaga announced that she will be graduating from the group and Hello! Project on June 30, 2017.

On November 19, 2019, it was announced that all four members will be graduating from the group and Country Girls will suspend all activity. A final performance was held in December 26 at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA.

Former
The group was supervised by Mai Satoda (a former member of Country Musume)
 * Uta Shimamura
 * Manaka Inaba (Former later member of Juice=Juice)
 * Momoko Tsugunaga (Former member of Berryz Kobo)
 * Nanami Yanagawa (Former concurrent member of Juice=Juice)
 * Risa Yamaki (Former concurrent member of College Cosmos)
 * Chisaki Morito (Former concurrent member of Morning Musume)
 * Mai Ozeki
 * Musubu Funaki (Former concurrent member of Angerme)

Former

 * Rinne Toda
 * Azusa Kobayashi
 * Hiromi Yanagihara
 * Asami Kimura
 * Mai Satoda
 * Miuna Saito

DVD

 * 2003-11-17 Country Musume Single V Clips 1 (カントリー娘. シングルVクリップス 1)

title: Country Girls (band)


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Crocotta

The crocotta or corocotta, crocuta, leucrocotta, or leucrotta is a mythical dog-wolf of India or Aethiopia, linked to the hyena and said to be a deadly enemy of men and dogs.

Ancient accounts

Strabo, who uses the word "crocuttas", describes the beast as the mixed progeny of a wolf and a dog (Geographica, XVI.4.16]).

Pliny in his work Natural History (VIII.72 and 107) variously described the crocotta as a combination between dog and wolf or between hyena and lion.

"When crossed with this race of animals the Ethiopian lioness gives birth to the corocotta, that mimics the voices of men and cattle in a similar way. It has an unbroken ridge of bone in each jaw, forming a continuous tooth without any gum."

Pliny (VIII.72-73) also writes of another hyena-like creature, the leucrocotta, which he calls "the swiftest of all beasts, about the size of an ass, with a stag's haunches, a lion's neck, tail and breast, badger's head, cloven hoof, mouth opening right back to the ears, and ridges of bone in place of rows of teeth—this animal is reported to imitate the voices of human beings."

The Byzantine scholar Photius summarizing the book Indica, by the Greek author Ctesias, writes:
 * "In Ethiopia there is an animal called crocottas, vulgarly kynolykos [dog-wolf], of amazing strength. It is said to imitate the human voice, to call men by name at night, and to devour those who approach it. It is as brave as a lion, as swift as a horse, and as strong as a bull. It cannot be overcome by any weapon of steel."

Claudius Aelianus (aka Aelian) in his book On the Characteristics of Animals (VII.22) specifically links the hyena and corocotta and mentions the creature's fabled ability to mimic human speech Porphyry in his book On Abstinence from Animal Food (III.4), writes that "the Indian hyaena, which the natives call crocotta, speaks in a manner so human, and this without a teacher, as to go to houses, and call that person whom he knows he can easily vanquish."

According to the Augustan History, the emperor Antoninus Pius presented a corocotta, probably at his decennalia in AD 148. The historian Cassius Dio credits the later emperor Septimius Severus with bringing the crocotta to Rome, saying this "Indian species...was then introduced into Rome for the first time, so far as I am aware. It has the color of a lioness and tiger combined, and the general appearance of those animals, as also of a dog and fox, curiously blended."

Later bestiaries of the Middle Ages confounded these various accounts, so that one finds the largely mythical creature given differing names and various characteristics, real and imaginary. Among the characteristics not found in the ancient sources was the idea that the eyes of a crocotta were striped gems that could give the possessor oracular powers when placed under the tongue. The Aberdeen Bestiary describes a Leucrota as "a swift animal born in India. It is the size of an ass with the hindquarters of a stag, the chest and legs of a lion" and shows an illustration of it on Folio 15v.

Similarity to hyena
The scientific name of the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) was taken from the mythological crocotta, and there are some similarities in the description. Hyenas do have very powerful teeth and jaws, can digest a wide range of foods, are known to dig up human bodies for food, and can make unnervingly humanlike vocalizations (such as their famous laugh). Local folklore about hyenas often gives them powers such as gender switching (males and females are difficult to distinguish), shape shifting, and human speech—all of which encourages the belief that the hyena may have contributed to the original myth of the crocotta.

In literature
Jorge Luis Borges in his Book of Imaginary Beings expounds on the crocotta and the leucrocotta. Leucrocottas appear in Rick Riordan's The Demigod Diaries, where Luke and Thalia encounter a small pack of them in a haunted mansion. The leucrocotta is featured in Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, in the chapter "Leucrocota, the Wolf of the Evening", where the titular character names another person in the book as one, as a reference to his personality and lifestyle.

A talking Leucrotta appears in Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales: In The Night Garden and provides aid to the protagonists despite its fearsome appearance and reputation.

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

title: Crocotta


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Talk:Saraswati River (disambiguation)

Untitled
I removed details about Vedic Saraswati River because that one has its own article. Prater 22:05, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Requested move 21 January 2015

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

The result of the move request was: moved. Number   5  7  14:31, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Saraswati River → Saraswati River (disambiguation) – Sarasvati River is the primary topic and this article should redirect there. Redtigerxyz Talk 19:35, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

 * Support per nom. A perusal of these Google search results shows almost all refer to the Vedic river spelt "Sarasvati" at Wikipedia.  —  AjaxSmack   01:18, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

title: Talk:Saraswati River (disambiguation)


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Andrew Sihler

Andrew Littleton Sihler (born 25 February 1941 in Seattle) is an American linguist and comparative Indo-Europeanist.

Biography
Sihler received his Bachelor of Arts cum laude in 1962 from Harvard College, where he studied Germanic languages, literature, and linguistics. He earned his Master of Arts from Yale in 1965. Taking his doctorate in 1967, Sihler trained in general linguistics but with a concentration in historical-comparative linguistics — Indo-European in particular — studying under Warren Cowgill and Stanley Insler, among others. Upon graduation, he joined the faculty of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which he retired in the spring of 1999.

Sihler has contributed to Indo-European linguistics by showing that Edgerton's Law (an extension of Sievers' Law) is untenable when all the evidence is taken into account. In addition, he has written a comparative grammar of Greek and Latin intended to replace the one written by Carl Darling Buck some sixty years previously.

Andrew's brother William W. Sihler is a professor of finance in the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. The Sihler brothers are the grandnephews of Ernest Gottlieb Sihler and great-grandsons of Wilhelm Sihler. Gottlieb was a classics scholar whose works show little interest in historical linguistics. Wilhelm's university training was in philosophy, though he early was drawn to theology instead. He published short works on a variety of subjects.

Major works

 * New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin (Oxford University Press, 1995; ISBN 0-19-508345-8)
 * Language History: An Introduction (John Benjamins, 2000; ISBN 1-55619-969-4)
 * Edgerton's Law: The Phantom Evidence (Carl Winter, 2006; ISBN 3-8253-5167-X)

title: Andrew Sihler


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Plougastel-Daoulas

Plougastel-Daoulas (Plougastell-Daoulaz) is a commune in the Finistère department, located in the administrative region of Brittany, northwestern France.

Population
Inhabitants of Plougastel-Daoulas are called plougastels in French.

Breton language
The municipality launched a linguistic plan concerning the Breton language through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 28 October 2005.

In 2008, 18.98% of primary-school children attended bilingual schools.

Strawberries
The region is famous for its production of strawberries (gariguette de Plougastel). The New World species of strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, which had been introduced into France by Amédée-François Frézier (1682–1773), flourished in the marine climate of Plougastel. Gardeners there had observed that this species bore abundant fruit when Fragaria moschata and Fragaria virginiana were planted in alternating rows with it. There had been failed attempts to cultivate fragaria chiloensis in Anjou, Touraine, and the lower-Loire areas.

Tourism
The Albert Louppe Bridge or Plougastel Bridge over the Elorn River is within the commune.

International relations
Plougastel is twinned with Westport, County Mayo, a town in the west of Ireland, and also with Saltash, a town in the south-east of Cornwall, United Kingdom.

Église Saint-Pierre
The parish church was damaged during the bombing of the 22 and 23 August 1944 and subsequently rebuilt. It contains a notable "rosary" altarpiece and a "mise au Tombeau" both from the old church.

Chapelle Saint-Adrien
This chapel has an interesting 17th-century sculpture in wood entitled "Saint Martin et le Pauvre". It depicts Saint Martin's charitable works. See old postcard above showing the sculpture. The chapelle Saint-Adrien dates to 1549 according to the inscription over the south porch.

The chapel contains many statues of saints.

Chapelle Saint-Jean
Dating to the 15th century, enlarged in 1607 and restored in 1780. This chapel is associated with a pardon known as the "Pardon des Oiseaux".

Chapelle Saint-Guénolé
Dedicated to the founder of the abbey at Landévennec, the chapel was restored in 1896. A beam in the chapel bears the date 1514 and by the chevet window there is a stone inscribed "M. I. Le Galle. Cariou. v. 1706". The altarpiece dates to the 17th century and was restored in 1993. There is a statue in polychromed wood of Saint Guénolé in the chapel to the left side of the altarpiece. There are two triptychs in the chapel. One is the Saint Caradec triptych and the other is the Saint Louis triptych.

Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Fontaine-Blanche
This was once the priory of the abbey of Daoulas. The clock tower dates to 1702. There are three altars in the chapel dedicated to Saint Lawrence, Saint Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary ("Notre-Dame"). These were consecrated in 1508 by Jean Davesnes.

Chapelle Saint-Claude
Dates to the 16th century. The date 1652 is inscribed above the main entrance. A statue of saint-Claude on a throne is placed by the altarpiece by the main altar. Other dates inscribed are "H. et D. Le Maucaire prieur recteur de Plougastel Jan Corre Fabrique 1661" on the west façade, "Jehan Le Gall Fabrique 1661" on the gable of the south wing and in the sacristy "1747". A painting by Yves Hen in the chapel dates to 1661.

Other calvaries
Of the many calvaries around Plougastel-Daoulas, two involve the sculptor Roland Doré (sculptor).
 * The Calvary of Saint-Claude dates to 1630) and has sculptures depicting Saint Peter, Saint Yvese and a Pietà.
 * The Calvary at Saint-Guénolé.

The mystery of Plougastel
Not far from nearby Anse du Caro, a message is carved on a rock, beginning with "grocar drear diozeevbio", followed on by other writings in an unknown language. The text includes enigmatic drawings, such as a heart linked to a cross, and a sailboat close to the sea. Two numbers on the rock are decryptable: 1786 and 1787.

title: Plougastel-Daoulas


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Haunted Castle (video game)

Haunted Castle is a 1987 platform game developed and released by Konami for arcades. It is the second arcade game in the Castlevania franchise, following Vs. Castlevania, an arcade port of the original 1986 NES video game released in North America. Unlike the previous arcade title in the franchise, Haunted Castle is not a direct port of an existing console game, but a newly-developed arcade game running on custom JAMMA-based board.

The game has the player controlling Simon Belmont, who embarks on a journey to save his wife Selena from the clutches of Dracula.

Gameplay
Haunted Castle is a platform game with six stages, which are played through in a linear progression. The player controls the main character, whose primary weapon is a whip. He must fight various enemies which consist partially of skeletons, zombies, mermen, and hunchbacks. By destroying certain enemies, he can upgrade his primary weapon first to a more powerful spiked morning star, then to a sword. In addition, various "sub-weapons" can be obtained which provide different means of attack which consist of bombs (powerful ground attack), boomerangs (straight attack), stopwatches (freezes enemies), crosses (powerful straight attack), and torches (continuous ground attack). Hearts are collected to use the sub-weapons. The player can only carry one sub-weapon at a time.

Each of Haunted Castle's six levels conclude with a boss fight. Like in other games of the series, these bosses are generally taken from horror literature or legend, and include Medusa, Frankenstein's monster, and Dracula himself.

Multiple board versions exist, all of which have varying levels of difficulty. Version M is considered the most challenging, Version K and Version J are regarded as being easier to play.

Audio
The soundtrack was composed in part by Kenichi Matsubara, who previously worked on the soundtrack of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. There are several music tracks in Haunted Castle that have been reused in other Castlevania games. "Bloody Tears", first heard in the previously released Castlevania II, is used as the theme for Stage 3. Another arcade piece, the Stage 1 theme "Cross Your Heart", was reused in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin under the title "Crucifix Held Close" and as an unlockable song in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. It is part of the "Akumajo Dracula Medley" that appears in Konami's Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3 (originally appearing in the Japanese arcade and PlayStation 2 music game series Keyboardmania), along with "Bloody Tears". "Clockwork's Beat", which plays during Stage 5, was remixed in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow under the name "Underground Melodies" (actually the name of Haunted Castle's Stage 4 theme). Finally, "Don't Wait Until Night", played during Stage 6, which borrows hints of "The Silence of Daylight" (the town music from Castlevania II),, was remixed in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for Julius' theme "Heart of Fire", though this particular song is actually a medley of the Haunted Castle tune and "Heart of Fire" from Stage 5 of the original Castlevania.

Releases
A PlayStation 2 port of Haunted Castle was released by game publisher Hamster in May 2006 as part of the Oretachi Gēsen Zoku series. This port was only released in Japan.

In September 2017, Hamster released the game for the PlayStation 4 as part of their Arcade Archives line of digital releases. This version includes the option to play the Japanese, North American and European versions of the game. Haunted Castle is also included in Konami's Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, released digitally on April 19, 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam). Unlike the stand-alone Arcade Archive release, this version varies depending on the region.

Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Haunted Castle on their April 1, 1988, issue as being the sixth most-popular arcade game at the time.

Time Extension placed Haunted Castle last on its list of ranked Castlevania games. It was described that "It starts off well enough; the sprites are nice and large (a fact that makes it hard to avoid danger) and there are some amazing tunes here. However, the brutal difficulty level is clearly designed to suck in coins, and the controls feel stiff and awkward. [...] Outside of saying you've played it, there's little reason to seek this one out. It's dreadful."

title: Haunted Castle (video game)


text: User talk:142.165.226.13

title: User talk:142.165.226.13


text:
Vemork

Vemork is a hydroelectric power plant outside the town of Rjukan in Tinn Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power plant with a capacity of 108 MW.

Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water developing from the hydrogen production then used for the Haber process. During World War II, Vemork was the target of Norwegian heavy water sabotage operations. The heavy water plant was closed in 1971, and in 1988 the power station became the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum.

A new power plant was opened in 1971 and is located inside the mountain behind the old power plant.

History
In 1906, the then newly founded Norsk hydro-elektrisk Kvælstofaktieselskab started construction of what was to be the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. The 108 MW Vemork power station at the Rjukan Falls was the world's largest power plant when it opened in 1911, after four years of construction. The project was so expensive that the works had to be financed by overseas sources. The plant became the corporate precursor to Norsk Hydro. Ten 6 MW T/G sets were supplied by Voith and AEG (units 1–5) and Escher Wyss and Oerlikon (units 6–10).

In 1911, construction was complete. The plant itself, was built to power a factory producing artificial fertilizer by a new method invented by Kristian Birkeland. Later, Norsk Hydro developed and realized another project: the production of heavy water by means of electrolysis. The company built a unit for producing high concentrations of heavy water at the Vemork plant at Rjukan, although for what purpose was not stated. Production started in December 1934.

Heavy water sabotage
In 1940, the French Government purchased the entire stock, then available, of heavy water from Norway. The Germans had also offered to purchase it, but the Norwegian Government was told of its possible military use and gave it to a French agent, who smuggled it to France via England. That supply eventually went back to England. (see Tube Alloys)

During the German occupation of Norway in World War II, the production of heavy water was judged to be a serious enough threat that at least five separate attacks were launched in order to prevent the Germans from making an atomic bomb.

 * On 18 October 1942, four Norwegian SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents were parachuted in on a reconnaissance operation code-named 'Grouse'.
 * On 19 November 1942, Operation Freshman was conducted by the British as a Combined Operation involving the RAF and the Army, using two Halifax bombers, each towing a glider. Three of these aircraft crashed, and the survivors were captured and executed by the Germans.
 * In February 1943, SOE's Operation 'Gunnerside' parachuted another six Norwegian agents into the area, to join forces with the four from 'Grouse'. They successfully attacked the Rjukan electrolysis plant on the night of 28 February-1 March 1943, with the loss of 500 kg of heavy water and destruction of the heavy-water section of the plant.
 * On 16 November 1943, an American air raid took place, but there was minimal damage to the electrolysis building.
 * On 20 February 1944, a successful attack by Norwegian resistance sank the ferry "D/F Hydro" that was taking a shipment of heavy water to Germany.

It was later discovered that the Germans were not as close to making an atomic bomb as had been initially feared.

Today, the original power plant is an industrial museum. Its exhibitions cover both the heavy-water sabotage operations and the early Norwegian labor movement.

Other media
A Norwegian movie about the sabotage operation against the heavy water power plant was made in 1948, starring several of the original saboteurs, titled Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water (USA).

In 1954, a non-fiction account of the operation by one of its operatives, Knut Haukelid, Skis Against the Atom, was published by Willian Kimber, later revised by Fontana Books in 1973, and then by North American Heritage Press in 1989.

In 1965, director Anthony Mann made a rather less accurate film version of the story entitled The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris.

In 1975, a non-fiction book by Thomas Gallagher called Assault in Norway was published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. The book's cover states that the book is "the true story of the secret mission that blasted Hitler's dream of an atomic bomb."

Swedish metal band Sabaton put the song "Saboteurs" on the Coat Of Arms album in 2010 which tells the story

In 2003, British survival expert Ray Mears made a BBC documentary series and book called The Real Heroes of Telemark giving a more realistic view of the difficulties encountered in the mission to sabotage the heavy-water power plant.

In 2015, Håkon Anton Fagerås made a statue in bronze of Joachim Rønneberg on commission. It was unveiled by Princess Astrid in Ålesund.

In May 2016, a book by Neal Bascomb, The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Bascomb also wrote a young adult book, Sabotage: The Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb, published May 2016 by Arthur A. Levine Books.

title: Vemork


text:
Léon Charles Thévenin

Léon Charles Thévenin (30 March 1857, Meaux, Seine-et-Marne – 21 September 1926, Paris) was a French telegraph engineer who extended Ohm's law to the analysis of complex electrical circuits.

Biography
Born in Meaux, France, Thévenin entered the École polytechnique in Paris in 1876. Upon graduation, in 1878, he joined the Corps of telegraph Engineers (which subsequently became the French PTT). There, he initially worked on the development of long distance underground telegraph lines.

Appointed as a teaching inspector at the École supérieure de télégraphie in 1882, he became increasingly interested in the problems of measurement in electrical circuits. As a result of studying Kirchhoff's circuit laws and Ohm's law, he developed his famous theorem, Thévenin's theorem, L. Thévenin (1883) "Extension de la loi d’Ohm aux circuits électromoteurs complexes" [Extension of Ohm’s law to complex electromotive circuits], Annales Télégraphiques (Troisieme série), vol. 10, pages 222–224. Subsequently, added a footnote, changed the title, and published an article as: L. Thévenin (1883) "Sur un nouveau théorème d’électricité dynamique" [On a new theorem of dynamic electricity], Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences, vol. 97, pages 159–161. Long before Johnson published a paper, a note with faithful English translation of the full text, excluding footnote, was published as: Reprinted as:  After a considerable period of time, in another title, a manuscript with loose English translation of the full text was published as:  which made it possible to calculate currents in more complex electrical circuits and allowing people to reduce complex circuits into simpler circuits called Thévenin's equivalent circuits.

Also, after becoming head of the Bureau des Lignes, he found time for teaching other subjects outside the École Supérieure, including a course in mechanics at the Institut National Agronomique, Paris. In 1896, he was appointed Director of the Telegraph Engineering School, and then in 1901, Engineer in chief of the telegraph workshops.

He was a talented violinist. Another favorite pastime of his was angling. He remained single but shared his home with a widowed cousin of his mother and her two children whom he later adopted. Thévenin consulted several scholars well known at that time, and controversy arose as to whether his law was consistent with the facts or not. He died in Paris. Shortly before his death he was visited by a friend, J. B. Pomey, and was surprised to hear that his theorem had been accepted all over the world. In 1926, he was taken to Paris for treatment. He left a formal request that no one should accompany him to the cemetery except his family and that nothing be placed on his coffin but a rose from his garden. This is how he was buried at Meaux. Thévenin is remembered as a model engineer and employee, hard-working, of scrupulous morality, strict in his principles but kind at heart.

title: Léon Charles Thévenin


text:
Talk:Arales

--24.208.206.211 22:14, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)cool

title: Talk:Arales


text: User talk:130.67.215.219

title: User talk:130.67.215.219


text:
Tim Fox (American football)

Timothy Richard Fox (born November 1, 1953) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams from 1976 to 1986.

Fox was born in Canton, Ohio, where he played football at Glenwood High School. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and was a co-captain his senior year along with the only two time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin under the great coach Woody Hayes. Fox was selected in the first round (21st overall) in the 1976 NFL Draft by the Patriots. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1980. Fox remained in Foxboro, Massachusetts after he retired in 1987 for 12 years until 1999 when he decided to make Westwood, Massachusetts his new home. Tim currently resides in Hull, Massachusetts and Marco Island, Florida. Fox worked for R.R. Donnelley & Sons and was most recently Sales Director for the New England region prior to his retirement. He and his wife Deborah have two daughters, Haley and Landin, and one son, Christopher, as well as four grandchildren.

In 2016, Fox described himself and his declining cognitive abilities, as "...a living, breathing petri dish for CTE research.”

title: Tim Fox (American football)


text:
Cathy Young

Catherine Alicia Young (born Yekaterina Jung;  Екатерина Юнг; born February 10, 1963) is a Russian-American journalist. Young is primarily known for her writing about feminism and other cultural issues, as well as about Russia and the former Soviet Union. She is the author of two books, a frequent contributor to the American libertarian monthly Reason, and a regular columnist for Newsday. In 2022, she joined The Bulwark as a staff writer. She describes her political views as "libertarian/conservative".

Life and career
Born in Moscow to a Jewish family, Ekaterina Jung was 17 when her family emigrated to the United States in 1980. She became a naturalized citizen in 1987 as Catherine Alicia Young and graduated from Rutgers University in 1988. She completed her autobiography, Growing Up in Moscow: Memories of a Soviet Girlhood, published in 1989.

Young is a contributing editor at Reason. Since 2014, she has regularly contributed to Time magazine.

Views
In her second book, Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality, published in 1999, Young criticized both feminism and traditionalism from what she described as a "pro-equality point of view", a philosophy which she says may be called "feminism or something else". Young has defended the social media campaign Women Against Feminism.

Describing the Gamergate controversy in relation to feminism, Young has stated that she believes that Gamergate is a backlash against feminism but one that is "against a particular kind of feminism, one that has a tendency to look obsessively for offences, read ideology into everything, and demonize male sexuality under the pretext of stamping out 'the objectification of women'."

In 2015, Young wrote an article in The Daily Beast in which she interviewed the student whom anti-rape activist Emma Sulkowicz accused of rape. In a response, Sulkowicz described Young as an "anti-feminist", saying that Young published Facebook conversations between her and her alleged rapist to shame her. Heather Wilhelm wrote in RealClearPolitics that Young's article about Sulkowicz "sets aside the hype and soberly assesses the facts." Citing Young's article, Katie Zavadski described her in New York magazine as a "contrarian feminist".

Young supports legally recognizing same-sex marriages. She describes her political views as "libertarian/conservative".

Reception
Young co-founded the Women's Freedom Network in 1993. The group aims to provide an alternative to "extremist, ideological feminism" as well as to "antifeminist traditionalism". According to historian Debra L. Schultz, the group represents mostly "conservative ideologues in the political correctness debates".

In his book The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker identifies Young as an "equity feminist", and further describes her as an "iconoclastic columnist" who has argued against rape-related "dogma". She has also written stories critical of campus anti-rape activism. Commentary magazine stated that Young re-investigates "atrocious coverage of campus sexual assault myths" in the "hopes of setting the record straight and minimizing some of the incredible damage the accusations have done".

title: Cathy Young


text: User talk:69.142.166.168

title: User talk:69.142.166.168


text:
Talk:Lunar

Shouldn't this go in wiktionary?

Revert and move
Why was this reverted from a redirect and moved to this title? Moving to to a title with (disambiguation) doesn't change the fact that a disambiguation page is unnecessary when there are not multiple topics discussed on Wikipedia that could be referred to using the disambiguated term. The moon is not called just "lunar," and neither is "lunar distance," and the expert system article doesn't mention Lunar. The videogame series is thus the only applicable topic. Propaniac (talk) 19:12, 8 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Incidentally, I also don't know why the user who made this change also added a hatnote to Lunar (series) that says "Lunar redirects here," five minutes before he changed Lunar so that it doesn't redirect there anymore. Propaniac (talk) 19:14, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

 * Oops, sorry, I forgot to update that hatnote (I had to wait a couple of hours before the disambiguation page was deleted so I could make the move). I took care of that now, thanks for pointing it out. I did that in the first place because I hadn't noticed that "Lunar" had previously been a disambiguation page that was later overridden by a redirect. Once I noticed that, I realised it'd be better to move it to the disambiguation title instead of creating it from scratch, in order to preserve editing history.
 * As for the need for disambiguation, well I'm pretty sure most people doing a search for "Lunar" are actually looking for the RPG series. That's far from being the main term for that query . Thus, even though there's no concrete entity explicitly called "Lunar", the term is often related to several concepts, most of them referring to the Moon. Thus I find it reasonable that "lunar" shouldn't redirect to the RPG series, but to a disambiguation page (or be a disambiguation page itself).
 * --Waldir talk 21:47, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Could "lunar" also refer to other moons (around other planets)? On Mars, say, would an eclipse of Phobos be called a lunar eclipse? nagualdesign (talk) 13:56, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Requested move 6 February 2019

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

The result of the move request was: no consensus to move the page to the proposed title at this time, per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 20:40, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

Lunar → Lunar (disambiguation) – To redirect Lunar to Moon per WP:PRIMARYREDIRECT. Steel1943 (talk) 20:37, 6 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Support Although the series does get quite a few views [|Lunar_(series)|Lunar_(song)|Lunar_(sega_cd)] its name appears to derive from this concept. A Google search also shows things associated with the Moon and I'm pretty sure its primary in particular by long-term significance.  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 21:28, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

 * Oppose per Solar, Venusian, terrestrial, Martian, Jovian, Saturnian, Uranian, Neptunian - none of which are primary redirects to their associated celestial bodies. Mercurial doesn't either, but Mercurian does, but it is used so rarely there is no disambiguation page. -- Netoholic @  03:31, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Opppose per Netoholic. Can add Plutonian, Celestial, Marine and so on to that list. We have a All pages with titles beginning with Lunar that start "Lunar" so the reader is hindered by redirecting staight to "Moon". 94.21.238.64 (talk) 10:21, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Also Stellar. -- Netoholic @ 17:56, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Oppose per Netoholic. And per Netoholic only. Anon 94...64's added rationale is faulty, since DAB pages does not exist to list things that a name, only things called by that name exactly (at least least some of the time, even if they also have longer or other names). If "starts with ..." entries appear on a DAB page at all, it's only when they are very commonly sought by readers and they always go in the "See also" section. Our usual approach to this is actually an entry in "See also" that points to a starts-with search to bring up all such pages.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  10:34, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 *  Support [edit:Neutral, with the addition of the three lunar topics proposed by PC78 below]. The other items [edit: now expanded] on the lunar disambiguation page are either songs, a computer system, video games, or trivial compared to the common name designator for the Moon. Netoholic's list is helpful yet, on individual inspection, some are full articles while the items on the disambiguation pages make more sense than Lunar as they include gods and goddesses, fictional inhabitants of the planets, etc., and may be more likely to be searched as alternate terms than lunar. Randy Kryn (talk) 12:56, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I'm not convinced that people who specificaly search for "lunar" will be looking for a generic article about the Moon, and the relatively |Lunar_(series)|Lunar_(song)|Lunar_(sega_cd)|Lunar low number of pageviews for the dab page suggests I'm right. It's perhaps more likely people would be looking for something like lunar phase, lunar eclipse, lunar effect, etc. A better constructed dab page is probably the solution. PC78 (talk) 16:41, 7 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I am inclined to side with Netoholic and PC78 here. Nohomersryan (talk) 04:17, 9 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Support. Clear primary redirect. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:44, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Edit reversion 16 Feb 2019
in this edit I carried out a substantial clean up of this page, including adding new entries, and deleting partial title matches. I used the edit summary "Clean up per MOS:DAB. Remove partial title matches (still available from See also lookfrom and intitle searches". You reverted my edit with summary "Undid good faith revision, you've gutted much of the page". Indeed I did gut some of the page: would you please explain your reversion in terms of policy/guidance.  Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 19:41, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * I reviewed, and Shhhnotsoloud's changes seem appropriate, and in accordance to MOS:DAB. Specifically, this page had a laundry list of partial title matches which were appropriately removed.  No one interested in ancient calendaring systems would enter "Lunar" and reasonably expect to find an article on "Lunar mansion", for example. The dab page is not an index of things related to the Moon. I note that the See also section already includes lookfrom which a reader might find useful.  I support reverting back all the changes made to clean up this page. Coastside (talk) 20:22, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, thanks. Please also consider requesting a reopening of the above move discussion, because my neutral, and possibly 's oppose, were based on the inclusion of such language and links into the disg. page. Lunar means the Moon, and that seems to be the article for the common and primary redirect. Adding many of the lunar designates, and making sure that the initial link to 'Moon' was obvious, seemed a good compromise. Randy Kryn (talk) 20:47, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * I would leave it the way it is. It isn't critical that Moon is the primary topic of Lunar.  Most people interested in the moon would just look up "Moon" anyway. I would change the intro to:

Lunar most commonly refers to the Moon.

Lunar may also refer to: Coastside (talk) 21:53, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Lunar orbit, lunar landing, lunar eclipse, those and dozens of other examples all use "lunar" as either the proper name of the Moon or the common nickname for the Moon. Moon seems the obvious redirect. Even though a video game series, two songs, a design consultancy, a Linux system, a camera, and apparently the name of a birth control pill, all share the name, the most common usage of lunar is in reference to the Moon. Just wanted to give that viewpoint here and move my comment from neutral to Strong Support. Randy Kryn (talk) 23:06, 16 February 2019 (UTC)
 * (edit conflict) FWIW I don't think it hurts to include these things on the dab page, and we shouldn't blindly follow MOS guidelines where there's good reason not to. The basic argument above was that someone searching for "lunar" would perhaps be more intereted in subjects relating to the moon (though not the moon itself specifically), rather than a video game, or a song, or something else. PC78 (talk) 23:08, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, all. For now I've restored my clean-up, and added user:Coastside's revision to promote Moon as the primary topic. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 09:00, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Lunar


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The-n

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

The votes were 2 delete, 2 keep, 3 redirect. dbenbenn | talk 18:55, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The-n
Not notable - no potential to become encyclopedic JoJan 22:18, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Prime time programming block on the American cable network Noggin. Distinct from the rest of Noggin programming in that it is for preteens and teens as opposed to preschoolers. There's considerable potential for it to become encyclopedic, which it has, but under the title The-N. Redirect there. (Btw, other cable programming blocks with articles that come to mind: The Zone on YTV, Nick at Nite on Nickelodeon.) Samaritan 22:59, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Might as well keep as it's pretty much the same sort of thing as Nick at Nite and that has an entry. Also seems reasonable that this could be searched for.  Compared to other forms of culture (movies and music in particular) television doesn't seem to keep its own history very well, so TV history articles are particularly valuable. Andrew Lenahan - St ar bli nd  01:01, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect, nothing to merge. -Sean Curtin 03:15, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, nothing really left here to merge. Megan1967 07:23, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Mild keep, harmless, possibly helpful to someone. Wyss 20:42, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect, all content already in The-N. --  user:zanimum

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

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The-n


text:
Talk:Gabriela Sabatini

Untitled
Good edit by Candice 5.2.05 - thank you! MGTom 22:19, 2005 Feb 7 (UTC)

perfumes
the link for sabatini perfumes not working.... get this mesg: Diese Domain ist zur Zeit nicht erreichbar.

 * http://www.gabrielasabatini.net/index2.htm

subject of poem
Probably worth mentioning that Sabatini is also the subject of the best known (probably only) erotic tennis poem, "Bring Me the Sweat of Gabriela Sabatini," by Clive James

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94958404#94961183 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.250.46.182 (talk) 15:11, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

italian citizenship
now she is also italian citizen http://www.clarin.com/diario/2003/05/22/um/m-563412.htm213.140.17.100 (talk) 16:01, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

 * Isn't this really not notable to mention?
 * There's also nothing about her relationships. Though it is possible those are not known. 82.141.124.44 (talk) 11:20, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Trying to improve the page
I tried to improve this page by modifying the title section but got reverted. I am not trying to sabotage the page and I don't think my update is irrelevant.

If you ever want to use the section (which needs some further clean up), please use the following:

 * I did some minor editing in the reference section in order to remove some leftover graphic template fragments. Heliatrope Fish (talk) 05:23, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Singles wins (27)
Ratazana (talk) 22:07, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Request for wider input on discussion at WikiProject Tennis
There is a long, ongoing discussion at WP:Tennis about the tournament tables found in tennis articles on English-language Wikipedia (e.g., this type of table). The discussion is about whether the "official sponsored name" of a tournament - such as Pacific Life Open - or another tournament name without the sponsor - such as Indian Wells Masters - must be used in those articles. Please join the discussion here. Thanks. Tennis expert (talk) 09:22, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Argentine Jews?
Sabatini isn't Jew. : http://sportabc.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/gabriela-sabatini.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.252.41.64 (talk) 10:52, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

WP:LASTNAME
This article needs some work on last names, too many Steffis and repetition of full names that have already been used.--ukexpat (talk) 21:15, 6 September 2015 (UTC) ukexpat (talk) 21:15, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Gabriela Sabatini


text:
Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos

Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos (Greek: Γιώργος Δημητρακόπουλος; born 18 September 1952, in Athens) is a Greek politician and Member of the European Parliament for New Democracy; part of the European People's Party.

Background
Graduate of the Legal Faculty of the University of Athens (Public Law and Political Science Department) (1972–1976): postgraduate studies (Master of Arts) in International Affairs at the American University (Washington, 1977–1979); postgraduate studies in international law and diplomatic history at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Boston, 1979–1981).

Political career
Political affairs adviser in the Prime Minister's Diplomatic Office (1983–1986). Political affairs adviser in the Foreign Ministers' Diplomatic Office (1986–1989). Member of the European Parliament (from 1994). First Vice-Chairman of the Committees on Petitions and Citizens rights (1994–1999). Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway (1999–2000). Second Vice-President of the European Parliament (2002–2004). Chairman of the Conciliation Committee (2000–2004). Responsible for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.

Other appointments
Press and communications attaché at the Greek Embassy in Washington, USA (1977–1979). Diplomatic history researcher at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Boston, USA (1979–1981). Visiting professor at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs Institute of Diplomacy (Athens, 1983–1988).

title: Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos


text:
Ioannis Gklavakis

Ioannis Gklavakis (Greek: Ιωάννης Γκλαβάκης) (born 10 October 1949, in Thessaloniki) is a Greek politician. From 2004 to 2009 he was Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the New Democracy, part of the European People's Party and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and its Committee on Fisheries.

He was also a vice-chair of the Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Education

 * 1973: Graduate of Agronomy Faculty of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Career

 * from 1976: Nursery owner
 * since 2003: Sole representative for Greece of the Italian Horticultural Research Centre (C.R.P.V.)
 * 1984–2003: Board member of the Pan-Hellenic Confederation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (PASEGES)
 * 2002–2003: PASEGES Board Chairman (1990) and Vice-Chairman
 * 1997–2004: Member of the New Democracy Central Committee
 * 1990–1994: Member of the Aridaiai Municipal Council
 * 1994–2000: Member of the Pella Prefectural Council
 * 1981–2003: Chairman of the Pella Association of Nursery Gardeners
 * 1990–1993: Member of Greek Nurseries Technical Committee (1983–2004) Board Member of the Thessaloniki International Exhibition
 * 2003–2004: Board Member of the Greek Agricultural Research Institute (2001–2004), Vice-Chairman of the Greek Market Garden Society

title: Ioannis Gklavakis


text:
Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou

Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou is a Greek politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014, and served as First Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009. She was Regional Governor of the Ionian Islands from 2019 to 2023.

She was born and brought up at the island of Zakynthos, Greece. She studied Sociology (specialising in political sociology) at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). Her postgraduate studies followed at the Institute of European Studies of the same university. She was first elected as an MEP in 1999. She was re-elected in 2004 and in 2009. Her parliamentary work was rich and multifaceted with numerous interventions on issues like European integration, regional cohesion and economic development of Europe, the upgrading of women's participation and the presence of the EU at international level.

European Parliament
Responsibilities as Member of the European Parliament 2009–2014

Member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

Member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

Member of the Committee on Regional Development.

Member of the Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (PA-UfM).

President of the PA-UfM Working Group on the Euro-Mediterranean University of Slovenia (EMUNI).

Member of the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria).

Member of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat).

Member of the Delegation for relations with Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).

Member of the Working Group for the Middle East, very active in the peace process between Arabs and Israel, the promotion of cooperation between the GCC and the EU for security and development in the Mediterranean as well as in dealing with international crises.

In the framework of her parliamentary legislative work, in her capacity as rapporteur, she prepared resolutions, adopted by the plenary, regarding the MEDA programs, the EU funding of Palestine and the situation of the women in Mediterranean.

She is founding member of various intergroups: "Francophonie and cultural diversity", "Disability", "Family and childhood", "Tourism", "Islands", "Social Economy", "Conservation and Sustainable Development".

Responsibilities in the Bureau of the European Parliament as Vice-President (2007–2012)

Conciliation (negotiation with the Council for the final shaping of European legislation, in the framework of the co-decision procedure).

Information and Communication Policy.

Euro-Mediterranean cooperation including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM)..

President of the PA-UfM Working Group on the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI)

Euro-Arab relations.

Rodi Kratsa has represented the European Parliament at International Summits, like the 2008 G8 Parliamentary Speakers' Meeting held in Tokyo and Hiroshima, Japan as well as the 2011 G20 Speakers' Consultation held in Seoul, South Korea.

Action
International level

Active in the international and regional meetings of UNESCO issues concerning education, the promotion of women and the cultural heritage

Active in the framework of the International Organisation of Francophonie

Regular participant in international meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and international fora, like the Crans Montana Forum, the Doha Forum, WISE Forum (Qatar Foundation), the Women as Global Leaders Conference (Zayed University, UAE)

European level

Founding member of the Women of Europe Award (Brussels 1987)

President of the International Association for the Promotion of Women of Europe - Women of Europe Award (Brussels 2000)

Member of the Board of the European Centre of Culture (Geneva)

Member of the Cultural Council of the Union for the Mediterranean (France - 2009)

National level

Elected member of the Municipality Council of Athens (1998)

Member of the Board and the Executive Committee of the Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy (Athens, 1997)

Founding member and President of the European Centre of Communication and Information (Athens, 1989)

Founding member of the Greek part of the European Movement

Member of the Board and the Scientific Committee of the Child and Family Foundation (Athens)

Family
Rodi Kratsa is married to former Member of Greek Parliament and former Minister of Transports and Communications of New Democracy party, Apostolos Kratsas. They have two children, George, who studied law in London and Paris, specialises in European competition law (LSE University) and is now a PhD candidate, and Constance, who studied law and economics in London and specialises in trade and company law (UCL University).

title: Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou


text:
Systema Naturae

Systema Naturae (originally in Latin written Systema Naturæ with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers, Gaspard and Johann, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently throughout his book. The first edition was published in 1735. The full title of the 10th edition (1758), which was the most important one, was Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, which appeared in English in 1806 with the title: "A General System of Nature, Through the Three Grand Kingdoms of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, Systematically Divided Into their Several Classes, Orders, Genera, Species, and Varieties, with their Habitations, Manners, Economy, Structure and Peculiarities".

The tenth edition of this book (1758) is considered the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In 1766–1768 Linnaeus published the much enhanced 12th edition, the last under his authorship. Another again enhanced work in the same style titled "Systema Naturae" was published by Johann Friedrich Gmelin between 1788 and 1793. Since at least the early 20th century, zoologists have commonly recognized this as the last edition belonging to this series.

Overview
Linnaeus (later known as "Carl von Linné", after his ennoblement in 1761) published the first edition of Systema Naturae in the year 1735, during his stay in the Netherlands. As was customary for the scientific literature of its day, the book was published in Latin. In it, he outlined his ideas for the hierarchical classification of the natural world, dividing it into the animal kingdom (regnum animale), the plant kingdom (regnum vegetabile), and the "mineral kingdom" (regnum lapideum).

Linnaeus's Systema Naturae lists only about 10,000 species of organisms, of which about 6,000 are plants and 4,236 are animals. According to the historian of botany William T. Stearn, "Even in 1753 he believed that the number of species of plants in the whole world would hardly reach 10,000; in his whole career he named about 7,700 species of flowering plants."

Linnaeus developed his classification of the plant kingdom in an attempt to describe and understand the natural world as a reflection of the logic of God's creation. His sexual system, where species with the same number of stamens were treated in the same group, was convenient but in his view artificial. Linnaeus believed in God's creation and that there were no deeper relationships to be expressed. He is frequently quoted as saying: "God created, Linnaeus organized" (Deus creavit, Linnaeus disposuit). The classification of animals was more natural. For instance, humans were for the first time placed together with other primates, as Anthropomorpha. They were also divided into four varieties, as distinguished by skin color and corresponding with the four known continents and temperaments. The tenth edition expanded on these varieties with behavioral and cultural traits that the Linnean Society acknowledges as having cemented colonial stereotypes and provided the foundations for scientific racism.

As a result of the popularity of the work, and the number of new specimens sent to him from around the world, Linnaeus kept publishing new and ever-expanding editions of his work. It grew from eleven very large pages in the first edition (1735) to 2,400 pages in the 12th edition (1766–1768). Also, as the work progressed, he made changes: in the first edition, whales were classified as fishes, following the work of Linnaeus' friend and "father of ichthyology" Peter Artedi; in the 10th edition, published in 1758, whales were moved into the mammal class. In this same edition, he introduced two-part names (see binomen) for animal species, something that he had done for plant species (see binary name) in the 1753 publication of Species Plantarum. The system eventually developed into modern Linnaean taxonomy, a hierarchically organized biological classification.

After Linnaeus' health declined in the early 1770s, publication of editions of Systema Naturae went in two directions. Another Swedish scientist, Johan Andreas Murray issued the Regnum Vegetabile section separately in 1774 as the Systema Vegetabilium, rather confusingly labelled the 13th edition. Meanwhile, a 13th edition of the entire Systema appeared in parts between 1788 and 1793. It was as the Systema Vegetabilium that Linnaeus' work became widely known in England following translation from the Latin by the Lichfield Botanical Society, as A System of Vegetables (1783–1785).

Taxonomy
In his Imperium Naturæ, Linnaeus established three kingdoms, namely Regnum Animale, Regnum Vegetabile and Regnum Lapideum. This approach, the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms, survives until today in the popular mind, notably in the form of parlour games: "Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?" The classification was based on five levels: kingdom, class, order, genus, and species. While species and genus was seen as God-given (or "natural"), the three higher levels were seen by Linnaeus as constructs. The concept behind the set ranks being applied to all groups was to make a system that was easy to remember and navigate, a task which most say he succeeded in.

Linnaeus's work had a huge impact on science; it was indispensable as a foundation for biological nomenclature, now regulated by the Nomenclature Codes. Two of his works, the first edition of the Species Plantarum (1753) for plants and the 10th edition of the Systema Naturæ (1758), are accepted to be among the starting points of nomenclature. Most of his names for species and genera were published at very early dates, and thus take priority over those of other, later authors. In zoology there is one exception, which is a monograph on Swedish spiders, Svenska Spindlar, published by Carl Clerck in 1757, so the names established there take priority over the Linnean names. His exceptional importance to science was less in the value of his taxonomy, more his deployment of skilful young students abroad to collect specimens. At the close of the 18th century, his system had effectively become the standard for biological classification.

Animals
Only in the animal kingdom is the higher taxonomy of Linnaeus still more or less recognizable and some of these names are still in use, but usually not quite for the same groups as used by Linnaeus. He divided the Animal Kingdom into six classes; in the tenth edition (1758), these were:

 * 1) Mammalia comprised the mammals. In the first edition, whales and the West Indian manatee were classified among the fishes.
 * 2) Aves comprised the birds. Linnaeus was the first to remove bats from the birds and classify them under mammals.
 * 3) Amphibia comprised amphibians, reptiles, and assorted fishes that are not of Osteichthyes.
 * 4) Pisces comprised the bony fishes. These included the spiny-finned fishes (Perciformes) as a separate order.
 * 5) Insecta comprised all arthropods. Crustaceans, arachnids and myriapods were included as the order "Aptera".
 * 6) Vermes comprised the remaining invertebrates, roughly divided into "worms", molluscs, and hard-shelled organisms like echinoderms.

Humans
Linnaeus was one of the first scientists to classify humans as primates (originally Anthropomorpha for "manlike"), eliciting some controversy for placing people among animals and thus not ruling over nature. He distinguished humans (Homo sapiens) from Homo troglodytes, a species of human-like creatures with exaggerated or non-human characteristics, despite finding limited evidence. He divided Homo sapiens into four varieties, corresponding with the four known continents and four temperaments (some editions also classify Ferus wild children and Monstrosus monstrous to accommodate adaptations to extreme environments). The first edition included Europæus albescens (whitish Europeans), Americanus rubescens (reddish Americans), Asiaticus fuscus (tawny Asians), and Africanus nigriculus (blackish Africans). The tenth edition solidified these descriptions by removing the "ish" qualifiers (e.g. albus "white" instead of albescens "whitish") and revising the characterization of Asiaticus from fuscus (tawny) to luridus (pale yellow). It also incorporates behavioral and cultural traits that the Linnean Society recognizes as having cemented colonial stereotypes and provided the foundations for scientific racism.

Plants
The orders and classes of plants, according to his Systema Sexuale, were never intended to represent natural groups (as opposed to his ordines naturales in his Philosophia Botanica) but only for use in identification. They were used in that sense well into the 19th century. The Linnaean classes for plants, in the Sexual System, were:

 * Classis 1. Monandria
 * Classis 2. Diandria
 * Classis 3. Triandria
 * Classis 4. Tetrandria
 * Classis 5. Pentandria
 * Classis 6. Hexandria
 * Classis 7. Heptandria
 * Classis 8. Octandria
 * Classis 9. Enneandria
 * Classis 10. Decandria
 * Classis 11. Dodecandria
 * Classis 12. Icosandria
 * Classis 13. Polyandra
 * Classis 14. Didynamia
 * Classis 15. Tetradynamia
 * Classis 16. Monadelphia
 * Classis 17. Diadelphia
 * Classis 18. Polyadelphia
 * Classis 19. Syngenesia
 * Classis 20. Gynandria
 * Classis 21. Monoecia
 * Classis 22. Dioecia
 * Classis 23. Polygamia
 * Classis 24. Cryptogamia

Minerals
Linnaeus's taxonomy of minerals has long since fallen out of use. In the 10th edition, 1758, of the Systema Naturæ, the Linnaean classes were:

 * Classis 1. Petræ (rocks)
 * Classis 2. Mineræ (minerals and ores)
 * Classis 3. Fossilia (fossils and aggregates)

Editions
Gmelin's thirteenth (decima tertia) edition of Systema Naturae (1788–1793) should be carefully distinguished from the more limited  Systema Vegetabilium first prepared and published  by Johan Andreas Murray in 1774 (but labelled as "thirteenth edition").

The dates of publication for Gmelin's edition were the following:
 * Part 1: pp. [1–12], 1–500 (25 July 1788)
 * Part 2: pp. 501–1032 (20 April 1789)
 * Part 3: pp. 1033–1516 (20 November 1789)
 * Part 4: pp. 1517–2224 (21 May 1790)
 * Part 5: pp. 2225–3020 (6 December 1790)
 * Part 6: pp. 3021–3910 (14 May 1791)
 * Part 7: pp. 3911–4120 (2 July 1792)

title: Systema Naturae


text:
Manolis Mavrommatis

Manolis Mavrommatis (born August 15, 1941) is a Greek politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for New Democracy, belonging to the European People's Party.

Born in Platanias, Crete, he studied sociology in the University of Rome, as well as Cinema, Theater and Radio techniques. He started off as a director for short-films and documentaries and moved on to directing theatrical acts for both the radio and the stage. In 1975 he started working as a sports journalist and covered a variety of major sporting events (Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship etc.) up until his election to the European Parliament in 2004.

He is married to actress Rena Venieri and has a son, Michael Mavrommatis.

title: Manolis Mavrommatis


text:
Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou

 Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (born 29 July 1952 in Chios) is a Greek politician and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the New Democracy from 2004 to 2009, (part of the European People's Party). As a member of the European Parliament Mrs Panayotopoulos was vice-chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Petitions. She had a seat in its Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and had a substitute seat for the Committee on Legal Affairs.

In 2008 she won the Parliament Magazine MEP Award in the category of Employment and Social Affairs.

Education

 * 1974: Graduate in Greek and French literature (Athens)
 * 1976: Graduate in Byzantine and modern Greek literature (Athens)
 * 1977: diplôme d'études approfondies (DEA - University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne)
 * 1982: Doctorate in History (Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne 1982), Diploma in History and Byzantine Culture (Bari)
 * 1983: Specialist in Education and Vocational Guidance (Lyon II)

Career

 * 1975: Assistant French teacher
 * 1980-1990 Language teacher in lower and upper secondary schools in Greece (1984-1990 in Germany)
 * 1990-1996: Educational and vocational guidance counsellor Germany
 * 1993-1994: Deputy educational coordinator for Western Europe (Greece)
 * Teacher of modern Greek language and literature and Byzantine literature at the University of Bonn
 * 1996-1997: Lexicographic research (Bonn, Germany)
 * 1996-2003: Involved in compilation of Byzantine-Greek dictionary

Political

 * Member of Stuttgart (1984-1990) and Bonn (1990-2004) New Democracy Movement
 * 1998-2004: Representative of the Greek Confederation of Large Families in COFACE

Decorations

 * 1994: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
 * 2008: The Parliament Magazine MEP Award in the category of Employment and Social Affairs

title: Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou


text:
Georgios Papastamkos

Georgios Papastamkos (Γεώργιος Παπαστάμκος) (born 5 March 1955 in Platanorrevma, West Macedonia) is a Greek politician and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2014 for New Democracy, part of the European People's Party.

title: Georgios Papastamkos


text:
Antonis Samaras

Antonis Samaras (Αντώνης Σαμαράς, ; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as 14th Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his national political career as Minister of Finance in 1989; he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1992 (with a brief interruption in 1990) and Minister of Culture in 2009.

Samaras was previously best known for a 1993 controversy in which he effectively caused the New Democracy government, of which he was a member, to fall from power. In spite of this, he rejoined the party in 2004 and was elected to its leadership in a closely fought intra-party election in late 2009. He was the seventh party leader since it was founded in 1974.

Early life and education
Born in Athens, Samaras is the son of Doctor Konstantinos Samaras (a Professor of Cardiology) and Lena (née Zannas, a maternal granddaughter of author Penelope Delta). His brother, Alexander, is an architect. His paternal uncle, George Samaras, was a long-standing Member of Parliament for Messinia in the 1950s and 1960s.

Samaras grew up among the Athens well-connected families, playing tennis. At the age of 17, he won the Greek Teen Tennis Championship. He attended school in the Athens College (founded by his maternal great-grandfather, Stefanos Delta and Emmanouil Benakis, Delta's father-in-law) and graduated from Amherst College in 1974 with a degree in economics, and then from Harvard University in 1976 with an MBA.

Samaras and former Prime Minister George Papandreou were dormitory roommates during their student years at Amherst College, but became bitter political rivals. He is married and has a daughter and a son.

Early political involvement
Samaras has been elected as a Member of Parliament, initially for Messinia, from 1977 onward. In 1989 he became Minister of Finance, later advancing to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the New Democracy government of Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis (1990–1993), from which post he caused the Macedonia naming dispute to ignite. In a meeting of the Greek political leaders under the President of the Republic on the naming dispute on 13 April 1992, Samaras presented his own conditions for the solution of the crisis. These were rejected by both the President of the Republic, Konstantinos Karamanlis as well as the Prime Minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis. Samaras was subsequently removed from Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Foundation of Political Spring
After being removed from his post, Samaras founded his own party, Political Spring (Greek: Πολιτική Άνοιξη, romanised as Politiki Anoixi), located politically to the right of New Democracy. The defection of one Member of Parliament from New Democracy to Samaras' party caused the government's fall from power in 1993.

Political Spring gained 4.9% of the vote in the 1993 general election, earning ten seats in the Hellenic Parliament. It gained 8.7% in the 1994 European Parliament election, earning two seats. Its decline began in the 1996 general election, when it gained 2.94 per cent, just below the 3 per cent threshold necessary to enter parliament. It participated in the 1999 European Parliament election, but only got 2.3%, which was not enough to elect MEPs.

Return to New Democracy
Political Spring did not participate in the 2000 general election; Samaras publicly supported the New Democracy party. Before the 2004 general election, Samaras dissolved his party, rejoined New Democracy and he was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2004 European elections.

In the 2007 general election he was elected to the Hellenic Parliament for Messinia and consequently resigned from the European Parliament. He was succeeded by Margaritis Schinas. In January 2009 he was appointed Minister of Culture following a government reshuffle. In this capacity he inaugurated the new Acropolis Museum in July 2009. He was reelected in Messenia in 2009.

After New Democracy resoundingly lost the 2009 legislative election, Kostas Karamanlis resigned as head of the party, prompting a leadership race, and Samaras ran for the post. Early polls showed he was running neck-and-neck with the perceived initial favorite Dora Bakoyanni, the former Foreign Minister and former Athens mayor. Shortly thereafter, another leadership candidate, former Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, announced he was resigning his candidacy and would instead support Samaras. In a break with previous practice, an extraordinary party congress resolved that the new leader would be elected by party members in a countrywide ballot. Samaras' candidacy soared in opinion polls and finished the race as a favorite.

Leader of the Opposition
In the early morning hours of 30 November 2009, Samaras was elected the new President of New Democracy. Following early results showing Samaras in a comfortable lead, Bakoyanni, his main rival, conceded defeat and called Samaras to congratulate him. He accepted his election with a speech at the party headquarters, and pledged to carry out a broad ideological and organizational reform, aspiring to regain majority status. He was later instrumental in the expulsion of Bakoyanni (2010) for defying the party line and voting for an austerity measure required for European Union-International Monetary Fund backed lending.

Prime Minister George Papandreou announced his government's plans on 31 October to hold a referendum on the acceptance of the terms of a Eurozone bailout deal. The referendum was to be held in December 2011 or January 2012. Following vehement opposition from both within and outside the country, Papandreou however scrapped the plan a few days later on 3 November.

On 5 November, Papandreou's government only narrowly won a confidence vote in the Greek Parliament, and he called for immediate elections. The next day, Papandreou met with opposition leaders trying to reach an agreement on the formation of an interim national unity government. However, Samaras only gave in after Papandreou agreed to step aside, allowing the EU bailout to proceed and paving the way for elections on 19 February 2012.

After several days of intense negotiations, the two major parties along with the Popular Orthodox Rally agreed to form a grand coalition headed by former Vice President of the European Central Bank Lucas Papademos. On 10 November, George Papandreou formally resigned as Prime Minister of Greece. The new coalition cabinet and Prime Minister Lucas Papademos were formally sworn in on 11 November 2011.

Prime Minister of Greece
Following the May 2012 general election in which the New Democracy party became the largest party in the Hellenic Parliament, Samaras was asked by Greek President Karolos Papoulias to try to form a government. However, after a day of negotiations with the other parties, Samaras officially announced he was giving up the mandate to form a government. The task passed to Alexis Tsipras, Leader of Syriza, the second largest party, who was also unable to form a government. After the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) also failed to negotiate a successful agreement to form a government, emergency talks with the President of Greece ended with a new election being called while the outgoing Chairman of the Council of State Panagiotis Pikrammenos was appointed as Prime Minister of Greece in a caretaker government composed of independent technocrats.

Voters once again took to the polls in the widely watched June 2012 election. The New Democracy party came out on top in a stronger position with 129 seats, compared to 108 in the May election. On 20 June 2012, Samaras successfully formed a coalition with the PASOK (now led by former Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos) and the Democratic Left (DIMAR). The new government had a majority of 28 (which was later reduced to 18), with Syriza, the Independent Greeks (ANEL), Golden Dawn (XA) and the Communist Party (KKE) comprising the opposition. The PASOK and DIMAR chose to take a limited role in Samaras's Cabinet, being represented by party officials and independent technocrats instead of MPs.

The Democratic Left left the coalition on 21 June 2013 in protest at the closure of the nation's public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), leaving Samaras with a slim majority of 153 ND and PASOK MPs combined. The two remaining parties proceeded to negotiate a cabinet reshuffle that resulted in a significantly expanded role for PASOK in the new coalition government. A further reshuffle followed the 2014 European Parliament election.

Samaras implemented a series of reforms and austerity measures with the aim of reducing government budget deficits and making the Greek economy competitive. In 2013 he passed reform bills approving the layoff of 15,000 public employees, among them high school teachers, school guards and municipal policemen. At the same time, he cut value-added tax (VAT) in restaurants to 13 percent from 23 percent. He also passed a bill instituting the Single Property Tax and the auction of houses. The Minister of Administrative Reform and e-Governance Kyriakos Mitsotakis implemented an evaluation process on the public sector to locate surplus staff members.

Greece achieved a primary government budget surplus in 2013. In April 2014, Greece returned to the global bond market as it successfully sold €3 billion worth of five-year government bonds at a yield of 4.95%. Greece's credit rating was upgraded by Fitch from B− to B. Greece returned to growth after six years of economic decline in the second quarter of 2014, and was the eurozone's fastest-growing economy in the third quarter. Tourism also grew. It is estimated that throughout 2013 Greece welcomed over 17.93 million tourists, an increase of 10% compared to 2012. More than 22 million tourists visited Greece in 2014. On healthcare, Minister for Health Adonis Georgiadis gave complete free pharmaceutical coverage to more than 2.000.000 uninsured citizens, with the cost being set at 340 million euros.

On 9 December 2014, Samaras announced the candidacy of New Democracy politician Stavros Dimas for the position of President of Greece. Dimas failed to secure the required majority of MPs of the Hellenic Parliament in the first three rounds of voting. According to the provisions of the Constitution of Greece, snap elections were held on 25 January 2015, which were won by Syriza. Tsipras succeeded Samaras, who resigned as Leader of New Democracy on 5 July 2015, following the overwhelming victory of the "No" vote in the bailout referendum, naming Vangelis Meimarakis as transitional leader. Samaras had been backing a "Yes" vote, together with his party, before the referendum.

Views on minorities and migrants
In 2023, Samaras made controversial statements against the LGBTQI+ community, suggesting that LGBTQI+ rights have no place in Europe. He also disputed gender identity, arguing that only biological gender is real, and made xenophobic remarks against migrants, claiming that "they are tearing Europe apart". These remarks drew public backlash, with the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, failing to condemn them, stating that as a former Prime Minister, he has every right to express himself however he sees fit.

title: Antonis Samaras


text:
Nikos Vakalis

Nikos Vakalis (Νίκος Βακάλης, December 1939 – 23 March 2017) was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2009.

Biography
He studied Physics with a scholarship at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He served as a reservist officer (head of Faculty) in the Artillery. He founded the Frontistirio Vakalis in 1967. After studying the British educational system he founded in 1972 the College of Advance Education collaborating with the British examining bodies Cambridge, AEB and JMB.

In 1999 he extended his activities founding the publishing house Publications Vakali. He also entered the market of Information Technology with the founding of the training company e-master, and the company executive training market with the founding of the Business Training Centre.

He wrote and published the books "About Friction", "Mechanics", "Electricity" and "Thermodynamics" and many collections of exercises.

He was married to Helen Mpousiou and had two sons, Andonis who is 38 (Bachelor and Master in Finance from the University of London, England. Master in Educational Management from the Institute of Education, University of London, England) and Manolis who is 33 (Bachelor in Information Technology from the University of Sussex, England).

Trade-union and Political activities
He was:
 * Chairman of Students of Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
 * A founding member of New Democracy, Thessaloniki
 * General Secretary of the Management Committee of New Democracy (Thessaloniki Prefecture).
 * From 1998 to 2004 he was Chairman of the Management Committee of New Democracy (Thessaloniki Prefecture).

European Parliament

 * Member of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
 * Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
 * Committee on Regional Development (Substitute)
 * Member of the Delegation to the EU-India Joint Parliamentary Committee

Foreign Languages: English

title: Nikos Vakalis


text:
Ioannis Varvitsiotis

Ioannis Varvitsiotis (Ιωάννης Βαρβιτσιώτης; born 2 August 1933 ) is a Greek politician and a former government minister of Greece. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for New Democracy from 2004–2009, part of the European People's Party. He was defense minister of Greece from 2 July 1989 till 7 October 1989 and from 11 April 1990 till 13 October 1993. He was member of the Hellenic Parliament from 1974 until 2004.

title: Ioannis Varvitsiotis


text:
User:EventHorizon/next danger

A very real threat is imminent: collapse of the American nation. This would be incredibly sad. A nation of 300 million people, once a beacon of prosperity, cannot tumble into decline without great loss to the world. A large proportion of those reading Wikipedia today are Americans, and cannot bear this thought. However, civil and societal decline are no longer abstract disasters, described in history books. The threat is here, today.

The next danger to the United States is neither communism nor terrorism. Rather, the gravest threat now facing America somes from within: right-wing ideology and widening racial and socioeconomic gaps within the society. Chief executives of leading companies frequently make more than US$ 10 million, while the lower and middle classes continue to lose ground. This polarization cannot continue indefinitely: left unchecked, it will destroy the nation entirely.

At fault is the right-wing ideology often masked as "conservatism". Destroying the environment is not conservative. Neglecting public health is not conservative. Ignoring quality-of-life issues is not conservative. Allowing unchecked upper-class greed to reshape society ("middle-class squeeze", a phenomenon that is enlarging the opressed proletariat while constricting the true middle class) is not conservative. Lastly, fighting a costly war for oil interests is not conservative. Rather, these actions and positions are radical; they represent an intentional and marked departure from progress for the enrichment of the few.

Year by year, Europe continues to outpace the United States in terms of quality-of-life, social mobility, and even economic growth. The mostly urban "blue" regions of the United States are also making some progress in this regard. Yet the "red" areas — suburban and rural, predominantly conservative — continue to decay. The reason: the "conservative" American model does not work. The profit-maximizing ideology, which champions laissez-faire economic policies, is causing our social fabric to rot.

The next danger to the United States is not Osama bin Laden. It's downsizing executives, luxurification at the expense of an unmaintained public sector, and warmongering "neoconservatives" with lots of money but not an ounce of thought, much less class (side-jab).

In later essays I will discuss what must be done in order to save the United States from decay. This is a great nation, and saving it is more than possible. We must reorient ourselves by becoming more like Europe in terms of our outlook on politics, culture, civil rights, and human issues such as work and quality-of-life.

title: User:EventHorizon/next danger


text:
Kostis Hatzidakis

Konstantinos (Kostis) Hatzidakis (Κωνσταντίνος (Κωστής) Χατζηδάκης; born 20 April 1965 in Rethymno) is a Greek politician of New Democracy who has been serving as Minister for Νational Economy and Finance in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Within his party, he serves as vice president under Mitsotakis' leadership.

Prior to this, he served as the Minister for Labor and Social Affairs (2021–2023) and as Minister for the Environment and Energy (2019–2021).

Political career
Hatzidakis was elected President of the Youth Organisation of New Democracy (ONNED), serving from 1992 to 1994.

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–2007
Hatzidakis was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for New Democracy in the European elections of 1994, 1999 and 2004. During his time in parliament from 1994 until 2007, he served on the Committee on Regional Development. From 2004 until 2005. He was also a member of the Temporary committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007–2013. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the parliament's delegations to the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee (1994–1999); to the parliamentary cooperation committees for relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (1999–2004); and to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Career in national politics
In the 2007 Greek legislative election, Hatzidakis was elected to the Hellenic Parliament for the Athens B constituency and consequently resigned from the European Parliament.

Hatzidakis served as Minister for Transport and Communications from 2007 to 2009 and then as Minister for Development in 2009.

On 15 December 2010, Hatzidakis was ambushed and assaulted by violent rioters during a general strike at the height of the Greek government-debt crisis.

Minister for the Environment and Energy, 2019–2021
In his capacity as energy minister, Hatzidakis was tasked to work on a rescue plan for state-owned Public Power Corporation (PPC) which had been struggling with 2.7 billion euros ($2.99 billion) of unpaid bills from customers unable to pay during the country's financial crisis. From 2020, he also oversaw efforts to liquidate majority state-owned nickel producer LARCO, another company struggling under heavy debt, and then look for an investor for some of the company's assets. Under his leadership, Greece also began the sale of a minority stake in PPC-owned power distribution operator HEDNO and of power grid operator ADMIE in 2020.

Minister for Labor and Social Affairs, 2021–2023
In May 2021, Hatzidakis introduced the government's plans to overhaul Greek labour laws by liberalizing working hours, including by introducing a "digital work card" to monitor employees working hours in real time as well as increasing legal overtime to 150 hours a year.

Other activities

 * European Investment Bank (EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2023)
 * European Stability Mechanism, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2023)
 * International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2023)

title: Kostis Hatzidakis