text:
Classic BattleTech

Classic BattleTech is a table-top wargame set in the fictional BattleTech universe that simulates combat between futuristic mechanized forces. Originally published by FASA Corporation, the game is now produced by Catalyst Game Labs under license from WizKids. The term "Classic" is used to differentiate the original game from variants and related games that have derived from it, such as MechWarrior: Dark Age. The game has an extensive range of 1/285 scale miniatures.

Gameplay
BattleTech is a turn-based multiplayer game, typically played on a map divided into hexagonal grids with figurines or counters representing military units. Paper record sheets provide detailed information about each unit, including its armament, armor and equipment, and are used to track damage, heat buildup, ammunition and various other data. Players use two six-sided dice to determine variable results, such as whether a shot strikes its target and the location it hits.

Of the units represented in the game, the most common are BattleMechs, also known as 'Mechs: large, semi-humanoid fighting machines controlled by human pilots. While pre-designed 'Mechs, vehicles, and other military units are provided with the game, a complex system of design rules allows players to create their own custom units even in the introductory boxed set.

History
FASA Corporation published the first BattleTech game set in 1984 as BattleDroids, and throughout the '80s and '90s released a wide range of supplemental books and materials for the series. FASA ceased producing BattleTech in 2001 and sold the franchise to WizKids. FanPro licensed the rights from WizKids and under the new name Classic Battletech continued to release sourcebooks and supplements. In June 2007, Catalyst Game Labs (a subsidiary of InMediaRes Productions, LLC) acquired the license to Classic BattleTech, and has reiterated its commitment to publishing quality products. Catalyst also retained many of the staff members who worked for FanPro. Catalyst Game Labs also reverted the name back to BattleTech in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the game's release.

Publications
The latest iteration of the BattleTech rules is Total Warfare (2006), a streamlined compendium intended to integrate the numerous rules sets that have governed the series into a single, comprehensive volume that details the tournament legal and/or standard rules set for game play. Total Warfare is supplemented by six or more other books (some pending):
 * 25th Anniversary Introductory Box Set, the fifth edition of the introductory box set includes all of the materials a player needs to play the game. The set includes a "quick-start" rulebook as well as a standard rulebook, plastic miniatures and record sheets of many common BattleMechs, two heavy cardboard game boards with reversible maps, and Inner Sphere at a Glance, a book detailing the game's universe.
 * Total Warfare, the primary rulebook for BattleTech. It also includes the rules for playing the air combat game of AeroTech as well.
 * TechManual, which presents the design rules for making custom units that comply with the standard game play rules.
 * Tactical Operations, offering advanced rules and advanced or experimental equipment beyond those in Total Warfare and TechManual. In 2020, this product was split into Tactical Operations: Advanced Units & Equipment, and Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules.
 * Strategic Operations, updating BattleForce 2 & Aerotech 2 Revised to provide a faster-paced or large-scale version of the game as well as adding advanced rules campaign elements such as repair, customization & salvage to the tactical game.
 * Interstellar Operations, advanced rules to allow the player become star lords of Succession State or Khan of their respective Clan. This is similar to previous FASA product named Succession Wars and rules found in FanPro source book named Combat Operations.
 * A Time of War (BattleTech Roleplaying Game, fourth edition), describing how to create characters and run RPG missions.

FanPro intended these six books to be the official core rules set that will govern all gameplay within the BattleTech franchise, be it ground combat, space combat or role-playing. Since 2007, Catalyst Game Labs has assumed control of the franchise. The core rule plans are continuing to be refined as rule books come out.

Reception
Scott Tanner reviewed BattleTech in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 78. Tanner commented that "All in all, the BattleTech system is a very welcome addition to the gaming world, and is a worthwhile investment for those interested in the subject matter."

Stephan Wieck reviewed Battletech in White Wolf #7 (1987), rating it an 8 out of 10 and stated that "if the true test of any game is its playability, then Battletech is a good system. It is extremely easy to gamemaster and fun to play, at an hourly price that eventually beats the movies.."

In 1997, the fourth edition of BattleTech won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1996.

Classic BattleTech won the 2007 Origins Award for Best Miniatures Rules of the Year.

The original BattleTech was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame.

Reviews

 * Adventurer (Issue 7 - Feb 1987)
 * Different Worlds #45
 * Arcane #11 (October 1996)
 * Casus Belli #32 (Apr 1986)
 * Australian Realms #10

Supplements

 * BattleTech: Map Set 1 (1985)
 * Tales of the Black Widow Company (1985)
 * The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1 (1988)
 * BattleTech Compendium (1990)
 * BattleTech Tactical Handbook (1994)
 * The Periphery (1995)
 * Technical Readout: 3058 (1995)
 * BattleTech Record Sheets (1996)
 * The Fall of Terra (1996)

title: Classic BattleTech


text:
Gazeta.Ru

Gazeta.Ru (Газета.Ru) is a Russian news site based in Moscow. In 2012, ownership of Gazeta.Ru was transferred to Alexander Mamut. In 2020, the state-owned company Sberbank became the sole owner of Gazeta.Ru ' s holding company, Rambler Media Group.

History
Gazeta.Ru was launched in 1999 as a project with the Foundation for Effective Politics (rus. Фонд эффекти́вной поли́тики) under the leadership of Anton Nosik. In February 1999 the first publication was published. In September 1999 the publications Vesti.ru and Lenta.ru were created, and the brand Gazeta.ru was sold to the company Yukos, which created a new edition under the leadership of former editor-in-chief of the daily business newspaper Kommersant, Vladislav Borodulin. After its time under Vladislav Borodulin who owned 100% of the stock, Gazeta.Ru was sold to Sekret Firmy in 2005, a publishing house owned by Alisher Usmanov since 2006. In 2005 Aleksandr Pisarev served as chief editor for one year.

He was replaced by Mikhail Mikhailin who held its position till 2010. Then Mikhail Kotov became chief editor, but he left Gazeta.ru in 2013, because he didn't agree with the power shift in the newspaper.

In 2012 Alisher Usmanov sold his interest in SUP Media to Alexander Mamut. In 2013 companies SUP Media and Rambler-Afisha were united in the Combined company Afisha.Rambler.SUP (from 2014 Rambler&Co).

In 2013 Svetlana Lolaeva, a member of staff since 2007, served as chief editor and, in the same year, was replaced by Svetlana Babaeva, a former employee of Izvestia and RIA Novosti. In 2016 Olga Alekseeva was announced as chief editor.

In October 2019, Sergey Rybka became the chief editor. Gazeta.Ru is the 50th most-visited website in Russia, according to Alexa Internet rankings.

Content
Gazeta.Ru is sociopolitically oriented and features continually updated daily news. Gazeta.Ru is also known for its editorials, op-eds, columns and online interviews with politicians and economists. In 2001 Gazeta.ru published an online-interview with president Vladimir Putin.

According to Medialogy, Gazeta.Ru was one of the three most cited news sources in the country in November 2014.

The video projects "Tea Party" and "7 minutes with Maxim Shevchenko" were launched in May 2016. The hosts of the first program were Georgy Bovt, the newspaper's columnist, and Ekaterina Vinokurova, a special correspondent for the Ural Internet publication Znak.com.

Columnists (different periods)

 * Yulia Latynina, writer and journalist
 * Igor Irtenyev, poet
 * Valery Panyushkin, journalist and writer
 * Aleksandr Kabakov, writer
 * Irina Yasina, economist
 * Aleksandr Auzan, economist
 * Georgiy Bovt, political scientist
 * Vadislav Inozemtsev, political scientist
 * Areg Galstian, political scientist
 * Fyodor Lukyanov, political scientist
 * Sergey Aleksashenko, economist
 * Nataliya Gevorkyan, writer and journalist

Chief editors

 * Anton Nossik (1999)
 * Vladislav Borodulin (1999 – 2005)
 * Aleksandr Pisarev (2005 – 2006)
 * Mikhail Mikhailin (January 2006 – July 2010)
 * Mikhail Kotov (2010 – March 2013)
 * Svetlana Lolaeva (March – September 2013)
 * Svetlana Babaeva (2013 – July 2016)
 * Olga Alekseeva (July 2016 – October 2019)
 * Sergey Rybka (October 2019 – present day)

Criticism
In November 2013, social networks drew attention to the material “Navalny found terra incognita” about the publication by politician Alexei Navalny of information about the dacha cooperative “Sosny” (Pine trees), where a number of members of the “United Russia” party live. In it, the author of Gazeta.Ru complained about the inability to get through to opposition political scientists, which is why the article presented only the point of view of pro-government figures.

In February 2015, the Los Angeles Times journalist Sergey Loiko, who covered the War in Donbass, published a correspondence with the deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta.Ru,. In it, the Russian media manager expressed physical threats, along the way accusing his colleague of working for the "bosses in the states".

On March 31, 2015, the Anonymous International group posted for free download SMS correspondence for 2011–2014 of, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Internal Policy. In one of the messages, the official addressed the top manager of Rambler,, and through him, the editor-in-chief of Gazeta.Ru Svetlana Babaeva with demands to urgently respond to criticism of the Olympic Games in Russia from Viktor Shenderovich. The next day Gazeta.Ru released an editorial beginning with the words "It's amazing how much the Internet prevents ordinary Russians from recklessly enjoying the Olympic Games”. The article discussed how unfairly bloggers criticize the Olympic Games in Sochi.

In April 2016, Bloomberg News columnist Leonid Bershidsky called Gazeta.Ru a "pro-Putin media" acting in the interests of the Russian authorities.

On November 23, 2020, Gazeta.Ru published an article containing a fake quote from Antony Blinken about Putin and the Russian people. Subsequently, based on the article, inaccurate information was reprinted by a number of other Russian media.

On November 24, 2020, an article appeared in Gazeta.Ru stating that the West decided to replace Alexey Navalny with his wife Yulia. Gazeta.Ru named "german Abendlich Hamburg" as the source of this information. Next day, a German-based newspaper OstWest published an article revealing the spread of false information by a number of Russian media outlets, including Gazeta. According to OstWest and Die Welt, "german Abendlich Hamburg" is a Russian website that is disguised as German and copies articles from the Russian state broadcaster RT. Sara Pagung, expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, commenting on the appearance of an article in Gazeta.Ru, notes that "It is not uncommon to create fake news pages that you can then refer to. Later, larger media pick it up".

Awards and recognitions
In 2009 Gazeta.Ru was recognized as the best business media at the All-Russian Business Journalism Content of the RUIE.

In 2010 Gazeta.Ru was awarded in the category “Section of the Year” at the RUIE All-Russian Business Journalism Content.

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

title: Gazeta.Ru


text:
Nezavisimaya Gazeta

Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Независимая газета) is a Russian daily newspaper.

History and profile
Nezavisimaya Gazeta was first published on 21 December 1990. It was one of the most important daily newspapers in the early post-Soviet period, when it was seen as close to the opinion of the Moscow intelligentsia. The paper was temporarily closed for four months in 1995. Then it became part of the "Berezovsky Media Group".

In 2007, following Berezovsky's political and economical disgrace, Nezavisimaya Gazeta was bought by Konstantin Remchukov, who became the new editor-in-chief, and his wife Yelena. Following the acquisition, the paper became mildly critical of the Putin administration. For example, it criticized the Kremlin's tightening control over the Central Election Commission and the Russian Academy of Science and in 2014 it was openly critical towards the annexation of Crimea by the Russia Federation. Nevertheless, Nezavisimaya Gazeta is much more moderate towards the Russian government than radical opposition publications, such as Novaya Gazeta and Meduza.

Information ranging from a wide variety of sources, such as reporters, political scientists, historians, art historians, as well as critics is published in the newspaper. The newspaper also offers eight supplements and covers the issues of politics, society, culture and art.

authors: Медведев Владимир

title: Nezavisimaya Gazeta


text:
Moskovskij Komsomolets

Moskovskij Komsomolets (Московский комсомолец) is a Moscow-based daily newspaper with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its topical reporting on Russian politics and society.

History
The newspaper was first published by the Moscow Committee of the Komsomol on 11 December 1919 as Yuny Kommunar (Юный коммунар). Over the next years it changed its name several time, starting a few months after the first issue when it became the Yunosheskaya Pravda (Юношеская правда). In 1924, after Vladimir Lenin's death, it was renamed to Molodoy Leninets (Молодой ленинец). It took its present-day name in September 1929.

Between 1931 and 1939, the paper ceased publication. It was revived in 1940, but not for long: World War II interrupted publishing again in August 1941. Publishing resumed only on 2 October 1945. Until 1990, it served as the organ of the Moscow Committee and the Moscow City Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. In 1991, it was taken over by its editorial staff.

Editors-in-chief
Since 1983, Pavel Gusev serves as MK editor-in-chief.

Previous editors-in-chief include:
 * Aleksandr Subbotin (1951–1958)
 * Arkady Udaltsov (1968–1974)
 * Lev Gushchin (1977–1983)

Contents
The paper specialises in topical social and political material, economic surveys, city news, urban chronicles and diverse information.

ZD Awards
MK is also known as the host of Russia's oldest hit parade – the Zvukovaya Dorozhka (Звуковая дорожка). It was founded in autumn 1975 by Yu. V. Filonov. Also called the ZD Awards, it features both Russian and international acts. Since 2003, it has been held in concert halls. It is considered one of the major Russian music awards.

Conflict around the article "Political prostitution has changed gender"
On 16 March 2013, an article by Georgy Yans, titled "Political prostitution has changed gender", appeared in MK. In it, Yans wrote about the political careers of three female State Duma deputies from United Russia: Olga Batalina, Ekaterina Lakhova, and Irina Yarovaya.

On the same day, United Russia State Duma deputy Andrey Isayev promised on Twitter to "toughly" deal with the authors who allowed themselves to enact a "dirty attack on three female deputies," while calling the bloggers who responded to his tweet "small creatures" who "we are indifferent to."

On 20 March 2013, United Russia deputies Sergey Neverov, Alexander Sidyakin, Sergei Zheleznyak, Robert Schlegel, Olga Batalina, Ekaterina Lakhova, and Mikhail Markelov wrote requests to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they asked to check the publication of an advertisement of "dubious nature" in MK. In their opinion, the editor-in-chief of MK "cannot help but know about the true nature of these advertisements." Gazeta.ru associated this move by the deputies with the conflict between Andrey Isayev and MK.

On 22 March 2013, United Russia deputies demanded that the building of the editorial office of MK be returned to Moscow ownership. The initiators were four members of the United Russia faction - Anatoly Vyborny, Daniil Volkov, Vladimir Ponevezhsky, and Valery Trapeznikov.

In October 2013, unknown persons bombarded the newspaper's editorial office with smoke bombs. Pavel Gusev believes that "some people from United Russia" are behind the attack, and the action itself is an act of revenge for the article.

Circulation
According to a poll conducted in May 2004 by the Levada Center, 9% of the Russians and 33% of the Moscovites who responded, read the paper "more or less regularly". For the year 2000 the poll reports 11% and 40%, respectively.

It has a printed circulation of between 700,000 and 930,000 copies.

title: Moskovskij Komsomolets


text:
Russkiy Kurier

Russkiy Kurier (Русский курьер, translated as Russian Courier) was a Moscow-based daily newspaper.

History
It was founded in 2003 by Igor Golembiovsky, a journalist who had left Novye Izvestiya after being dismissed by the post of editor; Golembiovsky said his firing was due to political reasons, because of his opposition to Vladimir Putin's government. In the beginning of the newspaper, journalists, who had left Novye Izvestiya a few months earlier, participated. Igor Golembiovsky, Otto Lacis, Sergey Agafonov, Elena Yampolskaya, Zoya Svetova, Alina Rebel and others were authors. "Publishing House Kh. H. S. PUBLISHING HOUSE" under the direction of Igor Yakovenko, then Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia, was the newspaper’s publisher.

The newspaper shut down in April 2005 for financial reasons. Chief editor Golembiovsky and the entire staff were dismissed. On May 30, 2005, the newspaper resumed work with Sergey Frolov as new chief editor. His new concept was to create a newspaper of national interests.

In 2013 it launched its online version on its homepage ruscur.ru. In 2017 Russkiy Kurier ceased publication.

title: Russkiy Kurier


text:
The Moscow News

The Moscow News, which began publication in 1930, was Russia's oldest English-language newspaper. Many of its feature articles used to be translated from the Russian language Moskovskiye Novosti.

Soviet Union
In 1930 The Moscow News was founded by American socialist Anna Louise Strong, who was one of the leaders of the Seattle General Strike in 1919. It was approved by the Communist leadership—at that time already dominated by Joseph Stalin—in 1930 as an international newspaper with the purpose of spreading the ideas of socialism to international audience. The paper was soon published in many languages, including major world languages, such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Hungarian, and Arabic, as well as languages of neighboring countries, such as Finnish.

The first head of the foreign department of the Moscow News was British communist Rose Cohen. She was arrested in Moscow in August 1937, and shot on November 28, 1937 (she was rehabilitated in the USSR in 1956). In 1949, the Moscow News was shut down after its editor-in-chief, Mikhail Borodin, was arrested (and most likely died in a prison camp (Gulag).

The paper resumed publication under the supervision of the Communist Party on January 4, 1956.

In 1985, during the tenure of Gennadi Gerasimov as editor-in-chief, he hired Bob Meyerson as an editor stylist (a re-write editor). At that point Meyerson (who had spent a year at the Moscow State University as a graduate student and also a year at the Pushkin Russian Language Institute, and was the only American pacifist living full-time in the Soviet Union) became the only American working for any Soviet newspaper during the next three years. In addition to his daily editing duties, Meyerson managed to write about a dozen articles featuring courageous American tourists who had come to the USSR as bridges for peace. Simultaneously, those articles promoted freedom of speech in the USSR by highlighting the efforts of rare topics such as citizen diplomacy, civil disobedience, and the dangers of nuclear energy, the dangers of nuclear war, and the work of some US diplomats in Moscow who intentionally or unintentionally were perpetuating the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.

Thanks to some key help from several of his co-workers, and the support of Gerasimov and several American sponsors, in 1988 Meyerson was able to found the first branch of Toastmasters International ever in a communist country, which marked the first time that courses in public speaking were allowed at the Moscow State University, which was Mikhail Gorbachev's alma mater.

At Gerasimov's request, in early 1989, Meyerson founded a second Toastmasters club in Moscow, this time at Gerasimov's alma mater, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). A third club for working professionals was founded later that year, with Meyerson suggesting a name that would encourage the members not to be afraid to speak out. That club was "The Moscow Free Speakers," and remarkably, it was still functioning in 2016.

When Gennad Gerasimov left The Moscow News in 1986 to become the official press spokesman for Gorbachev, he was replaced by Yegor Yakovlev. In 1988 Gorbachev met English publisher Robert Maxwell and asked for his help in updating the newspaper. A small team of top Daily Mirror executive journalists was set up in Pushkin square and worked with Yakovlev creating a redesign and waiting for news of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in order to relaunch the newspaper with the headline “Coming home!” The newspaper began to break one taboo after another during the era of Gorbachev's reforms known as glasnost (openness) and perestroika (rebuilding)[2] and sales soared, often selling out within 15 minutes of publication. When Revel Barker, Mirror managing editor, addressed the Moscow News journalists on the concept of a free press, they accused him of “bringing about the downfall of the Soviet Socialist system”. During that time some communists were so infuriated at the paper's shocking revelations and criticism that they started referring to The Moscow News as "yellow press." Around 1989 there was a suspicious late night fire in a prestigious restaurant on the ground floor of the same building housing The Moscow News headquarters. There was one fatality as someone slipped from an ice-covered second floor window. Due to considerable water and structural damage to the English-language section of the paper, the staff had to relocate several blocks away to a much newer building on Kalininsky Prospekt. About a year later, after the former fire-damaged building had been renovated, the staff moved back to Pushkin Square.

In 1992, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Meyerson left The Moscow News, but stayed in Russia for two more years. Alexander Vainshtein became chief editor of the newspaper. In 2003 The Moscow News was sold to the Yukos-funded Open Russia Foundation.

In 2004, the Moscow News began to introduce a fully colored front-page.

Russian Federation
Perhaps in the mid-1990s, Sergey Roy became the editor-in-chief.

Under President Vladimir Putin, and suffering from declining sales, Moscow News was bought by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of Russia's oligarchs and owner of Yukos. Khodorkovsky hired Yevgeny Kiselyov, an outspoken liberal journalist who started a scandal in the ranks by firing nine veteran journalists. Kiselyov was eventually replaced by Arkady Gaidamak, an Israeli businessman, who became owner of the newspaper in October 2005.

The Moscow News has had numerous other owners: Ogonyok, International Book, and the All-Union Society of Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries among others have had a stake in the historic newspaper at one time or another. In 2007, the English version of The Moscow News was partially owned by the RIA Novosti news agency, with some of articles translated from Moskovskiye Novosti.

Between January and September 2007, the paper was managed by Anthony Louis, who introduced several changes. The paper's format was changed to a completely new layout with new fonts and masthead design. The paper went from 16 to 32 pages and featured a variety of popular columnists, both Russian and foreigners.

Local and business coverage was expanded, as well as a sport and local section that features regular original writing by staff writers, most of whom are expatriates living in Moscow. Distribution on domestic and international Aeroflot flights was reintroduced as well. The paper was available free of charge at many business establishments in the Russian capital, and was sold in kiosks at prominent locations, such as Pushkin Square. Between September 2007 and February 2009, the editor-in-chief was Robert Bridge.

Closure
In the summer of 2012, the paper started appearing less often, dropping being from a bi-weekly to being a weekly, and its news and politics sections took on a broader, more in-depth focus. It ran occasional advertisement, and was distributed mainly free of charge. It continued to cover both Russian and global news and columns by writers including Mark Galeotti. The paper was financed entirely by its owners. It ceased publication in 2014 and became a web-only news medium, although from two months later the web edition was no longer updated. The printed paper's last editor-in-chief was Natalia Antonova.

On January 23, 2014, the paper ceased appearing in print "by order of the management". On March 14, 2014, the paper "ceased updating materials on its news website, Facebook page and Twitter account due to the liquidation process and reorganization of its parent company, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti". Both events followed President Vladimir Putin's December 9, 2013 abolition of the state-owned news agency, which would be merged in 2014 into a new news agency Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today). Editor Natalia Antonova wrote in a March 14 farewell signed article: "If you write about Russia with any kind of nuance, you may confuse and anger many people. At first this will scare you, then it will infuriate you, then you'll get used to it."

The newspaper can be viewed in its entirety from 1930 – 2014 in a digital archive.

Editors-in-chief

 * 1932–1949: Mikhail Borodin
 * 1983–1986: Gennadi Gerasimov
 * 1986–1991: Yegor Yakovlev
 * 1991–1995: Len Karpinsky
 * 1995–2003: Viktor Loshak
 * 2003–2005: Yevgeny Kiselyov
 * 2006–2007: Vitaly Tretyakov

title: The Moscow News


text:
Vremya Novostei

Vremya Novostei (Время новостей, translated as News Time) was a Russian business socio-political daily newspaper based in Moscow.

Vremya Novostei was founded in 2000 by former Vremya MN newspaper journalists led by editor-in-chief Vladimir Gurevich retiring in consequence of the non-payment of wages. The first issue was published on March 16, 2000, and the last issue was published on December 17, 2010.

In February 2011, Vremya Novostei was relaunched as Moskovskiye Novosti, but ceased publication in February 2014.

title: Vremya Novostei


text:
Trud (Russian newspaper)

Trud (Труд, Labor) is a Russian newspaper.

Trud's first issue was on February 19, 1921, in Moscow, in what was then the Soviet Union. Under the Soviet state, the paper published the work of famous writers and poets, including Vladimir Mayakovsky, Nikolai Rubtsov, Yuri Nagibin, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Trud was the press organ of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. It emphasized labor and economic analyses and included official decrees and orders. In 1990 the paper's circulation reached 21.5 million, the world's largest according to the Guinness Book of Records.

In the years following the end of the Soviet Union, about 21 million of these readers were lost and the paper fell into decline. In 2007, the media asset management group PromSvyazCapital created the holding company Media3. Media3's holdings included Trud, other newspapers including Argumenty i Fakty, and other assets.

In February 2008, the daily newspaper was completely re-branded, the format changed from broadsheet to full-color tabloid, and the only nationwide job classifieds section included. In 2009 the paper's website saw a major updating.

On May 1, 2011, after a number of editorial changes, Media3 terminated its contract with the publishing house JSC (Labor Publishing House) for JSC to produce content for Trud (including the Sunday edition and the online version). The announced reason was to cut costs and improve the profitability of all the businesses held by the media company Media3. Content for Trud was to be purchased from editorial units of the holding company, particularly Argumenty i Fakty. Media3 also contemplated the sale of some publishing projects operating under the Trud brand.

In January 2012, Trud was purchased from Media3 by Newspaper "Labor" LLC and returned to its historic building at 9 Grand Dmitrovka Street. In February 2012 was announced that the new owners of Trud would be the Institute of Free Journalism, founded by Sergei Choi (Deputy Chairman of RusHydro and an associate of United Russia co-chairman Yury Luzhkov) and the journalists Valery Simonov and Yuri Ryazhskiy. As of 2013, Trud is published three times a week.

title: Trud (Russian newspaper)


text:
Rossiyskaya Gazeta

 (Российская газета) is a Russian newspaper published by the Government of Russia. The daily newspaper serves as the official government gazette of the Government of the Russian Federation, publishing government-related affairs such as official decrees, statements and documents of state bodies, the promulgation of newly approved laws, Presidential decrees, and government announcements.

History
Rossiyskaya Gazeta was founded in 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR during the glasnost reforms in Soviet Union, shortly before the country dissolved in 1991. Rossiyskaya Gazeta became official government newspaper of the Russian Federation, replacing Izvestia and Sovetskaya Rossiya newspapers, which were both privatized after the Soviet Union's dissolution.

The role of Rossiyskaya Gazeta is determined by the Law of the Russian Federation N 5-FZ, dated 14 June 1994 and entitled "On the Procedure of Publication and Enactment of Federal Constitutional Laws, Federal Laws and Acts of the Houses of the Federal Assembly", by the Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, dated 23 May 1996 No. 763, "On the Procedure of Publication and Enactment of the Acts of the President of the Russian Federation, of the Government of Russia, and Statutory Legal Acts of the Federal Executive Authorities", as well as that dated 13 August 1998 No. 963, "On Adoption of Amendments to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 23 May 1996 № 763, "On the Procedure of Publication and Enactment of the Acts of the President of the Russian Federation, of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Statutory Legal Acts of the Federal Executive Authorities".

Criticism
The 18 September 2007 issue featured a sheet devoted to the Polish film Katyń, directed by Andrzej Wajda, about the 1940 Katyn massacre. A short comment by Alexander Sabov was published, claiming that the widely accepted version of Soviet responsibility is based on a single dubious copy of a document, therefore evidence for it is not reliable. Subov's comment immediately provoked media frenzy in Poland, and on the following day the issue of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published relevant documents signed by Lavrenty Beria authorizing the massacre.

In May 2024, the European Union accused the newspaper of spreading propaganda and placed it on its sanctions list.

title: Rossiyskaya Gazeta


text:
Moskovskiye Novosti

Moskovskiye Novosti (Московские новости, Moscow News) was a Russian-language daily newspaper in Russia relaunched in 2011. The paper - by then a 'youth-oriented' free sheet handed out at more than 850 places around Moscow - on 23 January 2014 announced that it would cease publication on 1 February that year.

It had been a long-established weekly newspaper aimed at an educated, elite audience. Between 2005 and 2008 it was owned by Arcadi Gaydamak. Much of the paper's content in the Soviet period was translated into English and printed in the English-language Moscow News.

During perestroika, its liberal political stance - and its role as "the bridge between the USSR and the Western world" - gained Moskovskiye Novosti widespread popularity.

The newspaper was established in 1980 and ceased publication on 1 January 2008. International news agency RIA Novosti relaunched it and Moscow News in February 2011 in partnership with the Vremya Publishing House, publisher until 2010 of Vremya Novostei and owner of the Moskovskiye Novosti title. The paper was to be available in print, web and mobile device app formats.

The Moscow city authorities were in March 2014 negotiating to buy the paper for an undisclosed sum from RIA Novosti, which was being broken up by Rossiya Segodnya, a media group created in December 2013 by presidential decree. The paper would help extend the authorities' reach when publicising its policies by complementing the weekly Argumenty i Fakty, which city hall had acquired by agreeing to take over responsibility for its liabilities, sources told the Moscow Times.

RIA Novosti's acting editor-in-chief, Irakly Gachechiladze, in March 2014 told reporters: "The decision has been made to sell [Moskovskiye Novosti] to the Moscow authorities. The conditions of the deal are being agreed on." In January 2014, the Lenta.ru news portal had quoted him as saying: "The sale of the newspaper to the Moscow authorities is decided...Now we will co-ordinate the deal." He had said then that city hall would take over the paper, its website and its editorial staff. Lenta's sources said the committee charged with liquidating RIA Novosti, which December 2013's presidential decree had merged into the new Rossiya Segodnya media group, did not think that paying for the paper's production was 'appropriate'.

In farewell postings dated 24 April 2014 on the paper's vKontakte page, its staff told readers: 'Everyone knows who's to blame, we know what to do...We're sorry to say goodbye to you indefinitely. Our site won't be updated for some time. But we hope that that time will be short and fly by! Until next time! We'll miss you, too!'

title: Moskovskiye Novosti


text:
Tribuna

Tribuna (Трибуна) is a weekly Russian newspaper that focuses largely on industry and the energy sector.

History
Tribunas published its first publication in July 1969. Until 1990, the newspaper titled the Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya, then it was renamed into the Rabochaya Tribuna. In 1989 the newspaper was closed by the CPSU Central Committee; one year later it was reorganized as Rabochaya Tribuna.

Since April 1998 for newspaper fixed the current title. Since the 2000s (decade) it is owned by media holding Gazprom Media. Oleg Kuzin has been serving as chief-editor since 2004.

Awards and recognitions
In 2009, on its 40th anniversary, the newspaper was awarded the national Iskra prize in the  special category For a significant contribution to the development of civil society.

title: Tribuna


text:
Narikala

Narikala (ნარიყალა) is an ancient fortress overlooking Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and the Mtkvari (Kura) River. The fortress consists of two walled sections on a steep hill between the sulfur baths and the botanical gardens of Tbilisi. On the lower court there is the recently restored St Nicholas church. Newly built in 1996–1997, it replaces the original 13th-century church that was destroyed in a fire. The new church is of "prescribed cross" type, having doors on three sides. The internal part of the church is decorated with the frescos showing scenes from both the Bible and the history of Georgia.

History
According to the legend, it was built by the king Vakhtang I Gorgasali of the ancient Kingdom of Iberia.

Archaeological studies of the region have, however, revealed that the territory of Tbilisi was settled by humans as early as the 4th millennium BC. The earliest written accounts of settlement of the location come from the second half of the 4th century AD, when a fortress was built during King Varaz-Bakur's reign (ca. 364). Towards the end of the 4th century, the fortress fell into the hands of the Persians, but was recaptured by the kings of Kartli by the middle of the 5th century. It was considerably expanded by the Umayyads in the 7th century and by king David the Builder (1089–1125), respectively. The Mongols renamed it the "Narin Qala" (i.e., "Little Fortress"). Most of the extant fortifications date from the 16th and 17th centuries. Rostom, the Safavid-appointed vali/king of Kartli, fortified the surroundings of the fortress and transferred control of the fortress to the Iranians. In 1827, parts of the fortress were damaged by an earthquake, and were subsequently demolished.

title: Narikala


text:
Category:Transport in Glasgow

 * Transport in Glasgow, Scotland.

title: Category:Transport in Glasgow


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Josane peer

 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 delete. Joyous 00:58, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)

Josane peer
Comment moved from Pages needing translation into English:
 * Portuguese, parts copied from . I don't know if the license is compatible with GFDL. Sietse 11:02, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Normally we give these things 2 weeks to get translated, but I don't want to waste someone's time doing it. Looks like it's all cut-and-paste, possibly copyright issues; at best a marginally notable Brazilian "post-punk" act; little of what is written here is encyclopedic; mistitled at that. Subject might be worth an article, but this is not a useful start. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:52, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Has someone read what it says? it's spam! 'Viva a pirataria e as formas alternativas de fazer e divulgar arte!' means 'Live the piracy an the alternative forms of making and divulgating art!', promoting a copyright violating ideology. (I'm a Spanish speaker, that's why I can understand Portuguese fairly good). --Neigel von Teighen 21:58, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, on the basis of the above opinion by a recent but consistent contributor. Thanks for your input! Andrewa 08:28, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. This native Portuguese speaker assures you there's nothing there worth keeping. It's a personal article about how the big recording companies are destroying the "alternative music" in Brazil. JoaoRicardo 02:14, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, article as it stands is un-encyclopaedic, possible advertisement. Megan1967 02:15, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, it's a rant. Wyss 23:47, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

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


text:
Fantasy Productions

Fantasy Productions Medienvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH (a.k.a. FanPro) is a German publishing company based in Erkrath.

History
The company was founded in 1983 by Ulrich Kiesow, Werner Fuchs and Hans Joachim Alpers to produce small metal miniature figures. When the Droemer Knaur Verlag and the Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH published Kiesow's role playing game "Das Schwarze Auge", Kiesow organised the editorial work at FanPro. After the bankruptcy of the Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH in 1997, FanPro published Das Schwarze Auge by itself.

FanPro LLC
Fantasy Productions had spent years translating FASA products into German, and when FASA closed in 2001, WizKids licensed some of the FASA game rights to the Fantasy Productions principals. Fantasy Productions expressed interest in obtaining a license for Shadowrun before Rob Boyle was able to make a bid, so Fantasy Productions founder Werner Fuchs invited Boyle to visit him in Germany, and Boyle soon set up and ran the new corporation FanPro LLC, created by two Fantasy Productions principals and Boyle. Fantasy Productions created FanPro LLC as a subsidiary in the USA to hold the FASA game line rights. FanPro licensed Shadowrun in early 2001 with Boyle as Line Editor, and FanPro also licensed Battletech six months later and hired Randall Bills to continue working as Battletech Line Editor; Bills became the second and only other employee of FanPro LLC. FanPro LLC also began producing English translations of German role-playing games beginning with The Dark Eye (2003), a translation of the top German fantasy RPG Das Schwarze Auge (1984) which on its fourth edition (2002) in Germany by Fantasy Productions; The Dark Eye was centered on a metaplot like the FASA game lines, which was advanced in both adventures and the magazine Aventurische Bote from Fantasy Productions. The Dark Eye did not sell well in the US, so FanPro LLC did not further supported the game and did not publish Degenesis as intended in late 2006 as another translation of a second German RPG.

From 2001 to 2005, FanPro LLC released over a dozen original Shadowrun titles and reprinted core titles that FASA had originally released. In 2005, FanPro LLC released Shadowrun, Fourth Edition. Likewise, FanPro LLC continued to release new Classic BattleTech books in English, and in 2006 released Total Warfare, the first in a series of revised full-color books for Classic BattleTech. FanPro GmbH continued to translate these books into German, along with German-only Shadowrun books.

Licenses selling
Until early in 2007 FanPro was a publisher for fantasy books and various role playing games. The company owned licensing agreements with WizKids to produce the German-language versions of Classic BattleTech, Shadowrun, Pirates of the Spanish Main, and the "Clix" games of Mage Knight and HeroClix.

FanPro maintained a small staff so they used the fulfilment company Fast Forward Entertainment for warehousing and shipping but when that company went under, they took the profits that they had not yet paid FanPro for their books. Fantasy Productions in Germany began divesting themselves of game properties in April 2007 due to their own difficulties, first selling Das Schwarze Auge and soon all the others; Fantasy Productions needed support from the gaming stock that FanPro LLC warehoused, so while FanPro LLC needed support from Fantasy Productions they were instead supporting Fantasy Productions. Boyle and Bills attempted to purchase FanPro LLC from Fantasy Productions but when that failed they threatened to leave bid for the WizKids licenses when they came up for renewal; WizKids came to mediate and while they would not allow Boyle and Bills to start a new company, they did grant the licenses to InMediaRes. The license for Das Schwarze Auge went to Ulisses Spiele. Since then the company focuses on publishing novels only, although it continued its preexisting novel series for Das Schwarze Auge ; the Shadowrun and BattleTech series ceased publications in 2008, following disagreements between WizKids and Fantasy Productions concerning the German licence for those properties.

title: Fantasy Productions


text:
User talk:Spoogie~enwiki

Please stop adding nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism. If you were just trying to experiment, then use the sandbox instead. Thank you.

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

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

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Spoogie. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Spoogie~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 03:08, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 19:09, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Spoogie~enwiki


text:
William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster

William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and 4th Baron of Connaught (17 September 1312 – 6 June 1333) was an Irish noble who was Lieutenant of Ireland (1331) and whose murder, aged 20, led to the Burke Civil War.

Background
The grandson of the 2nd Earl Richard Óg de Burgh via his second son, John, William de Burgh was also Lord of Connaught in Ireland, and held the manor of Clare, Suffolk.

He was summoned to Parliament from 10 December 1327 to 15 June 1328 by writs addressed to Willelmo de Burgh. He is considered the first Baron Burgh. In March 1331 he was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland, serving until November 1331.

Marriage and issue
The 3rd Earl of Ulster married, before 16 November 1327 (by a Papal Dispensation dated 1 May 1327), Maud of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth. They had one surviving child, Elizabeth, who was 13 months old when her father was murdered.

She married Lionel of Antwerp, third son of Edward III of England.

Maud remarried to Sir Ralph Ufford, Justiciar of Ireland 1344–46, and had further issue. She was said to have had great influence over her second husband.

Murder
In February 1332, at Greencastle, near the mouth of Lough Foyle, he had his cousin Sir Walter Liath de Burgh starved to death. In revenge, Sir Walter's sister, Gylle de Burgh, wife of Sir Richard de Mandeville, planned his assassination.

In June 1333, he was killed by de Mandeville, Sir John de Logan, and others. His widow, Maud (or Matilda), offered a reward for the capture of de Mandeville and his wife.

The Annals of the Four Masters noted that "William Burke, Earl of Ulster, was killed by the English of Ulster. The Englishmen who committed this deed were put to death, in divers ways, by the people of the King of England; some were hanged, others killed, and others torn asunder, in revenge of his death."

Maud fled to England, where she remarried, was again widowed in 1346, and then became an Augustinian canoness at Campsey Priory in Suffolk, where she is buried. Upon his death, the various factions of the de Burghs, now called Burke, began the Burke Civil War for supremacy.


text:
Christos Papakyriakopoulos

Christos Dimitriou Papakyriakopoulos (Χρήστος Δημητρίου Παπακυριακόπουλος; June 29, 1914 – June 29, 1976), commonly known as Papa, was a Greek mathematician specializing in geometric topology.

Early life
Papakyriakopoulos was born in Chalandri, then in the Municipality of Athens, now in North Athens.

Career
Papakyriakopoulos worked in isolation at Athens Polytechnic as research assistant to Professor Nikolaos Kritikos. But he was enrolled as research student at Athens University, being awarded a PhD in 1943 on the recommendation of Constantin Carathéodory. In 1948, he was invited by Ralph Fox to come as his guest at the Princeton University mathematics department because Fox had been impressed by a letter from Papakyriakopoulos that purported to prove Dehn's lemma. The proof, as it turned out, was faulty, but Fox's sponsorship would continue for many years and enabled Papakyriakopoulos to work on his mathematics without concern for financial support.

Papakyriakopoulos is best known for his proofs of Dehn's lemma, the loop theorem, and the sphere theorem, three foundational results for the study of 3-manifolds. In honor of this work, he was awarded the first Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry in 1964. From the early 1960s on, he mostly worked on the Poincaré conjecture. Bernard Maskit produced counterexamples about his proof three times.

Tribute
The following unusual limerick was composed by John Milnor, shortly after learning of several graduate students' frustration at completing a project where the work of every Princeton mathematics faculty member was to be summarized in a limerick:
 * The perfidious lemma of Dehn
 * Was every topologist's bane
 * 'Til Christos D. Pap-
 * akyriakop-
 * oulos proved it without any strain.

This may be the only limerick where one word spans three lines. The phrase "without any strain" is not meant to indicate that Papa did not expend much energy in his efforts. Rather, it refers to Papa's "tower construction", which quite nicely circumvents much of the difficulty in the cut-and-paste efforts that preceded Papa's proof.

Other activities
Papakyriakopoulos sympathized with leftist politics and in 1941 joined the student branch of the National Liberation Front (EAM). When he went to live in the US, in 1948 the Greek authorities reported him to the American authorities as a "dangerous communist" and asked for his extradition, but Princeton Institute of Advanced Study gave him protection as it had done with others suffering political persecution.

He was a reclusive character, spending most of his time in his office listening to his beloved Richard Wagner. Legend has it that in the United States he lived for 25 years in the same hotel room he used when he first arrived in the country, all of his belongings inside his original luggage.

Death
Papakyriakopoulos died of stomach cancer at age 62 in Princeton, New Jersey.

title: Christos Papakyriakopoulos


text:
Edward S. Rogers Sr.

Edward Samuel Rogers Sr. (June 21, 1900 – May 6, 1939) was a Canadian inventor and pioneer in the radio industry who founded the Rogers Vacuum Tube Company and the CFRB radio station in Toronto, Ontario. His only child, Edward S. Rogers Jr., established Rogers Communications.

Early life and family
Rogers was born on June 21, 1900, in Toronto, Ontario. During his childhood, his family lived at 49 Nanton Avenue in the Rosedale neighbourhood of Toronto.

His father, businessman Albert Stephen Rogers (1860–1932), was a director of Imperial Oil (after his Queen City Oil Company was bought out) and formerly a partner in Samuel and Elias Rogers Coal Company (later Elias Rogers and Company). The coal firm had been founded in 1876 by his Quaker father, Samuel Rogers, and uncle Elias Rogers. The latter served as a Toronto alderman for St. Lawrence Ward in 1887.

The family descends from Timothy Rogers (1756–1834), a Quaker leader who established Newmarket and Pickering in what is now the province of Ontario.

Career
Rogers first became interested in radio when he saw a receiver at age 11. By 1913, he was noted in local newspapers for his skill at operating a radio station, which at the time was an impressive technical accomplishment. Rogers worked as a radio officer on Great Lakes passenger ships during the summers of 1916-1919 inclusive. He graduated from the University of Toronto Schools in 1919. Two years later, Rogers operated the only Canadian (and only spark-gap) station to successfully compete in the first amateur trans-Atlantic radio competition. Rogers held the amateur radio call sign 3BP, and joined the Canadian chapter of the American Radio Relay League in 1921.

In the early 1920s, radio transmitters and receivers ran on large and expensive batteries to provide the high voltages needed for the vacuum tubes used. Early attempts at producing a radio receiver to operate on household alternating current were unsuccessful, since tubes designed for the low current supply from batteries were unsatisfactory when operated on 25- or 60-hertz alternating current. The batteries were also extremely large and bulky.

In April 1924, Rogers travelled to the United States and saw experimental AC receiving tubes at the laboratories of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. He purchased the patent rights to the experimental alternating current tubes of Frederick S. McCullough. After further development, Rogers produced a design of vacuum tube that would operate on alternating current.

By 1925, Rogers had introduced not only a complete radio receiver using the new tubes, but had also produced a "battery eliminator" (power supply) that could be used with other manufacturers' receivers to eliminate the expensive batteries. By August 1925, the Rogers batteryless radio was in commercial sales, the first radio receiver in the world to operate from household current. At a time when a schoolteacher might earn $1,000 per year, the top-of-the-line Rogers radio sold for $370. Rogers formed the company "Standard Radio Manufacturing" (later Rogers Vacuum Tube Company) to produce radio receivers using the new design of vacuum tubes.

In 1927, Rogers founded CFRB (Canada’s First Rogers Batteryless) radio station. The station is owned today by Bell Media.

Marriage and death
In 1930, Rogers married Velma Melissa Taylor. Three years later, they had a son, Edward S. Rogers Jr., who grew up to build Rogers Communications into a media conglomerate.

Rogers died suddenly in 1939 due to complications of a hemorrhage. He was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto. Velma Rogers subsequently married John Graham, a Toronto lawyer, who became the stepfather of Edward Rogers Jr.

Honours and awards
Rogers was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Telecommunications Hall of Fame alongside his son in 2006. In 2000, Rogers and the "batteryless radio" were included as one of the Canada Post millennium stamps.

Relatives
Members of Rogers' family included:
 * Albert Stephen Rogers (1860–1932): Rogers' father; a prominent businessman who also served as chairman of Rogers Majestic.
 * Joseph Elsworth Rogers (1898–1960): Rogers' brother; served as vice-president of Rogers Majestic until 1939, then as head from 1939 to 1960.
 * Samuel Rogers (1835–1903): father of Albert Stephen Rogers; partner in coal business with Elias Rogers, then founded the Samuel Rogers Queen City Oil Works, which became the Queen City Oil Company and was later amalgamated with Imperial Oil.
 * Elias Rogers (1850–1920): youngest brother of Samuel Rogers; partner with Samuel in coal business, which subsequently became Elias Rogers and Company.
 * Alfred Selby Rogers (1874–1953): nephew of Samuel Rogers and only surviving son of Elias Rogers; inherited the coal business from his father.
 * Elias Rogers Sr. (1806–1850): father of Samuel and Elias Rogers (inter alios), and son of Asa and Mary Rogers.
 * Timothy Rogers (1756–1834): a Quaker leader whose daughter Mary (1782–1809) married Asa Rogers (1781–1834); their eldest son was Elias Rogers Sr.

title: Edward S. Rogers Sr.


text:
Birkhoff interpolation

In mathematics, Birkhoff interpolation is an extension of polynomial interpolation. It refers to the problem of finding a polynomial $$P(x)$$ of degree $$d$$ such that only certain derivatives have specified values at specified points:
 * $$ P^{(n_i)}(x_i) = y_i \qquad\mbox{for } i=1,\ldots,d, $$

where the data points $$(x_i,y_i)$$ and the nonnegative integers $$n_i$$ are given. It differs from Hermite interpolation in that it is possible to specify derivatives of $$P(x)$$ at some points without specifying the lower derivatives or the polynomial itself. The name refers to George David Birkhoff, who first studied the problem in 1906.

Existence and uniqueness of solutions
In contrast to Lagrange interpolation and Hermite interpolation, a Birkhoff interpolation problem does not always have a unique solution. For instance, there is no quadratic polynomial $$P(x)$$ such that $$P(-1)=P(1)=0$$ and $$P^{(1)}(0)=1$$. On the other hand, the Birkhoff interpolation problem where the values of $$P^{(1)}(-1), P(0)$$ and $$P^{(1)}(1)$$ are given always has a unique solution.

An important problem in the theory of Birkhoff interpolation is to classify those problems that have a unique solution. Schoenberg formulates the problem as follows. Let $$d$$ denote the number of conditions (as above) and let $$k$$ be the number of interpolation points. Given a $$d\times k$$ matrix $$E$$, all of whose entries are either $$0$$ or $$1$$, such that exactly $$d$$ entries are $$1$$, then the corresponding problem is to determine $$P(x)$$ such that
 * $$ P^{(j)}(x_i) = y_{i,j} \qquad\forall (i,j) / e_{ij} = 1 $$

The matrix $$E$$ is called the incidence matrix. For example, the incidence matrices for the interpolation problems mentioned in the previous paragraph are:
 * $$ \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \qquad\mathrm{and}\qquad \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}. $$

Now the question is: Does a Birkhoff interpolation problem with a given incidence matrix $$E$$ have a unique solution for any choice of the interpolation points?

The case with $$k=2$$ interpolation points was tackled by George Pólya in 1931. Let $$S_m$$ denote the sum of the entries in the first $$m$$ columns of the incidence matrix:
 * $$ S_m = \sum_{i=1}^k \sum_{j=1}^m e_{ij}. $$

Then the Birkhoff interpolation problem with $$k=2$$ has a unique solution if and only if $$S_m\geqslant m \quad\forall m$$. Schoenberg showed that this is a necessary condition for all values of $$k$$.

Some examples
Consider a differentiable function $$f(x)$$ on $$[a,b]$$, such that $$f(a)=f(b)$$. Let us see that there is no Birkhoff interpolation quadratic polynomial such that $$P^{(1)}(c)=f^{(1)}(c)$$ where $$c=\frac{a+b}{2}$$: Since $$f(a)=f(b)$$, one may write the polynomial as $$P(x)=A(x-c)^2+B$$ (by completing the square) where $$A,B$$ are merely the interpolation coefficients. The derivative of the interpolation polynomial is given by $$P^{(1)}(x)=2A(x-c)^2$$. This implies $$P^{(1)}(c)=0$$, however this is absurd, since $$f^{(1)}(c)$$ is not necessarily $$0$$. The incidence matrix is given by:
 * $$ \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix}_{3\times3} $$

Consider a differentiable function $$f(x)$$ on $$[a,b]$$, and denote $$x_0=a,x_2=b$$ with $$x_1\in[a,b]$$. Let us see that there is indeed Birkhoff interpolation quadratic polynomial such that $$P(x_1)=f(x_1)$$ and $$P^{(1)}(x_0)=f^{(1)}(x_0),P^{(1)}(x_2)=f^{(1)}(x_2)$$. Construct the interpolating polynomial of $$f^{(1)}(x)$$ at the nodes $$x_0,x_2$$, such that $$\displaystyle P_1(x) = \frac{f^{(1)}(x_2)-f^{(1)}(x_0)}{x_2-x_0}(x-x_0)+f^{(1)}(x_0)$$. Thus the polynomial : $$\displaystyle P_2(x) = f(x_1) + \int_{x_1}^x\!P_1(t)\;\mathrm{d}t$$ is the Birkhoff interpolating polynomial. The incidence matrix is given by:
 * $$ \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}_{3\times3} $$

Given a natural number $$N$$, and a differentiable function $$f(x)$$ on $$[a,b]$$, is there a polynomial such that: $$P(x_0)=f(x_0)$$ and $$P^{(1)}(x_i)=f^{(1)}(x_i)$$ for $$i=1,\cdots,N$$ with $$x_0,x_1,\cdots,x_N\in[a,b]$$? Construct the Lagrange/Newton polynomial (same interpolating polynomial, different form to calculate and express them) $$P_{N-1}(x)$$ that satisfies $$P_{N-1}(x_i)=f^{(1)}(x_i)$$ for $$i=1,\cdots,N$$, then the polynomial $$\displaystyle P_N(x) = f(x_0) + \int_{x_0}^x\! P_{N-1}(t)\;\mathrm{d}t$$ is the Birkhoff interpolating polynomial satisfying the above conditions. The incidence matrix is given by:
 * $$ \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ \end{pmatrix}_{N\times N} $$

Given a natural number $$N$$, and a $$2N$$ differentiable function $$f(x)$$ on $$[a,b]$$, is there a polynomial such that: $$P^{(k)}(a)=f^{(k)}(a)$$ and $$P^{(k)}(b)=f^{(k)}(b)$$ for $$k=0,2,\cdots,2N$$? Construct $$P_1(x)$$ as the interpolating polynomial of $$f(x)$$ at $$x=a$$ and $$x=b$$, such that $$P_1(x)=\frac{f^{(2N)}(b)-f^{(2N)}(a)}{b-a}(x-a) +f^{(2N)}(a)$$. Define then the iterates $$\displaystyle P_{k+2}(x)=\frac{f^{(2N-2k)}(b)-f^{(2N-2k)}(a)}{b-a}(x-a) +f^{(2N-2k)}(a) + \int_a^x\!\int_a^t\! P_k(s)\;\mathrm{d}s\;\mathrm{d}t $$. Then $$P_{2N+1}(x)$$ is the Birkhoff interpolating polynomial. The incidence matrix is given by:
 * $$ \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 \cdots \\ 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 \cdots \\ \end{pmatrix}_{2\times N} $$

title: Birkhoff interpolation


text:
User talk:Bkonrad/Archive 4

__NOINDEX__

categorization
Got your message about all my Category:New Zealand edits. Please don't just roll back all my changes; just delete the NZ category from articles as appropriate. I have done other edits besides the categories... thanks, Rob 12 Oct 2004

France
Hi! Do you think it's possible to determine if France is the most visited country in the world? Another user insists on inserting this, but statistics may vary. Marcus2 19:15, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm in no position to be able to say whether or not it is possible to determine if France or any other country is the most visited country in the world. However, I would insist that any such assertion has to be attributed to a credible source. And if there are other source that differ, then I suppose that either A) all would have to be included or B) all would be excluded (especially if there is wide disparity between the sources). older ≠ wiser 19:22, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Why should they be together??
They are 3 different highways that all happen to have the same name. Any real reason for them to all be on one article?? (A real reason would be if they are related, a not-so-real reason would be if they all have one name.) 66.32.244.69 01:01, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Because

 * 1) They are all I-475.
 * 2) There is not all that much to say about each one individually to warrant separate articles.
 * 3) The parenethically disambiguated names look bad in the category listing.
 * 4) Nearly all of the other three digit interstates are done this way.

older ≠ wiser 01:04, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * You've heard about expanding articles, haven't you?? Why can't you try to expand them rather than merging them?? 66.32.244.69 01:05, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * There's something to be said for consistency. I didn't see anything worth expanding and thought they were much better off in one article. older ≠ wiser 01:07, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Azalia, MI
My fault. Seems that the elevation I found was the average elevation for Azalia's zip code, 48110. I have removed it because of the inaccuracy. Take care. MattSal 20:32, Sep 7, 2004 (UTC)

Revert
Uh, why did you revert me? →Raul654 02:32, Sep 8, 2004 (UTC)

Arbitration request filed
Changing talk page comments is one thing, but altering votes on VfD is quite another. I've filed an arbitration request - see Requests for arbitration and Requests for arbitration/Rex071404 2 for details. Thanks. [[User:Neutrality|Neutrality (talk)]] 22:27, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Shanagolden
Is there more than one Shanagolden in Wisconsin? RickK 22:50, Sep 9, 2004 (UTC)

 * Not that I know of. I'm renaming all the towns in Wisconsin, which are secondary subdivisions of counties, so that they all use a consistent form. Previously some were named variously as

 * Townname (town), Wisconsin
 * Townname (town), Countyname, Wisconsin
 * Townname, Wisconsin
 * Townname, Countyname, Wisconsin
 * And even Townname Town, Wisconsin (where "Town" was not part of the name of the town)
 * And I may be overlooking a few as well. older ≠ wiser 22:56, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

You're just doing towns? Not cities? RickK 23:00, Sep 9, 2004 (UTC)

 * That's correct. Cities and villages are an entirely different type of municipality than Towns. There is only one village with the same name as a city (Superior, Wisconsin and Superior (village), Wisconsin. There are numerous cases of multiple towns with the same name and of towns that have the same name as a city or village. The city or village is almost always more well known than any town with the same name. My goal is to rename the towns to consistently include the county name so that 1) the city and village can occupy the undisambiguated name and 2) the list of towns will inCategory:Towns in Wisconsin will not appear like a hodge-podge. older ≠ wiser 23:14, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * OK, thanks. RickK 04:31, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)

Great Lakes
Moved to Talk: Great Lakes

More about Rex
I don't know whether you still have much interest in the Rex071404 arbitration. The committee is now considering the following as one of its proposed findings of fact: "The compaining witnesses in this matter, because of their numerical majority, felt that Rex071404 did not represent a point of view which had a magnitude of importance equal to theirs, despite its societal significance." I got pretty cheesed off at this. The short of it is that we're being unjustly criticized, without even being told that there was a complaint against us. The long of it is here, here and here. It's produced a pretty typical exchange between Rex on one side and Gamaliel and me on the other. I mention all this only because the ArbCom is considering a proposed finding that, IMO, reflects badly on you, so I thought you ought to know about it in case you want to get involved. If you have more will power than I do and can resist the temptation to keep wasting time on this stuff, more power to you! JamesMLane 09:10, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * They are asserting that you felt a certain way. Only you know how you feel, and they have no right to speculate as to your feelings, and esp. not to arbitrarily assert a characterization of them against your will.  I would simply say something like "I do not feel this way.", in addition to any other comment you wish to offer, if indeed, this is not the way you feel.  Also, I don't think your feelings are relevant to the case, and they should not be part of the judgement.  The case concerns actions, not speculations of feelings or motives.  Kevin Baas | talk 21:06, 2004 Sep 13 (UTC)

Patriot Day a legal holiday?
Hiya.. I wondered about that myself, but then I thought, "self, you're not American, you wouldn't know if it was a legal holiday or not, just format the table entry properly and let someone else worry about it." So I did. :-) —Stormie 00:49, Sep 14, 2004 (UTC)

Treaty of Ghent
I saw you removed the treaty text from the article, because it belongs to Wikisource. Is this text already in the wikisource ? If yes, under what name ? I'll make a link to it. Lvr 14:54, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't know whether it is in wikisource already or not, I don't go there often. All I know is that Wikipedia is not intended to be a repository for source documents. The text is easily available from the article's history or from any number of external sources if you want to place it in wikisource (if it is not already there). older ≠ wiser 15:03, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Wisconsin Towns and Villages
I stumbled randomly (literally) onto the page for Star Prairie (town), Wisconsin and I decided to switch it around with Star Prairie (village), Wisconsin, because the town is more populous than the village. Now that I have looked at it a little more, it looks like this may have been a mistake. It appears that the "town" in Wisconsin local government is something like the "town" of New England governments, i.e. more like the "township" in most states. I am additionally confused, however, because a website I found says that towns cover all the area of Wisconsin which is not part of a city or a village, but the Wikipedia article says that Star Priarie Village is partly located inside Star Prairie Town. Do you have any information which can clarify this? If my second thought is right, then I will move the village back to Star Priarie, Wisconsin. While we're at it, doesn't the disambiguation Star Prairie (town), Wisconsin look weird? Shouldn't the context parenthesis go at the end of the title? Do you know if this naming convention has been discussed? - Nat Krause 11:53, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * More directly to the point than the below ramblings:
 * Because towns were initially defined as geographical areas, many times cities and villages are located within a town (even though they may be politically independent). For larger cities, the location relative to nearby towns is mostly irrelevent (unless they share names). For small cities and villages, the surrounding towns are generally a much larger area and the relative locations of the entities are somewhat more significant.
 * Yes, the village should be at Star Prairie, Wisconsin while I would move the town to Star Prairie, St. Croix County, Wisconsin (although you can leave it as is for now--I'll get to St. Croix County eventually).
 * Yes, the disambiguation form of "Star Prairie (town), Wisconsin" does look odd, but thanks to Rambot, we have hundreds, if not thousands, of such article names. Despite the oddity, the form is at least familiar enough to those of us working through the Rambot articles--I would not advocate changing the disambiguation format at this point--especially since I am in the process of modifying all the Wisconsin towns to eliminate "(town)" in the title (see below).

 * Yes, the situation is rather confusing, to say the least. I think towns in Wisconsin are similar to towns in New England (although I'm not that familiar with the NE situation) and with Townships in Michigan and other midwestern states (which I am more familiar with). Basically way back when these states were unpopulated, the states set up counties to facilitate settlement (initially to provide some order for land sales and secondarily for governance). In many cases the counties were nothing more than lines drawn on a map until enough people moved in to organize a county government. It is much the same for towns and townships. Counties were subdivided into a number of towns/townships, usually of approximately equal area. These were first of all simply a system for land management. Only after sufficient people moved into an area would a town/township government be organized (it may be of interest to note that even today many towns/townships are technically unorganized, in that governmental functions are handled directly by the county--yet the Census Bureau still uses the divisions for statistical reporting and hence Rambot created articles for them which may give the impression that there is some organized government--unfortunately, I haven't found any resource that provides information about which towns/townships are organized and which are not). But I digress.

 * Back to your query, Cities and Villages are an entirely different form of local government, in which residents of a specific area incorporate to form the municipality. That is, counties and towns/townships are defined by the the legislature while cities and villages are largely self-determined entities. Cities are independent of the towns/townships they may lie within, while Villages may continue to receive some services from the township, but may also be just as independent as cities. In any case, there are often cities or villages with the same name as the town/township they are located in. The city or village is almost always the primary locality, even when the town may be more populous--the city or village will have a much greater population density. The town's population is usually spread across a larger area than the city or village.

 * So anyhow, what I have been doing is ALWAYS use the unqualified name for the city or village. So it would be the village of Star Prairie, Wisconsin while the town would be at Star Prairie, St. Croix County, Wisconsin. I have been adding the county to all Wisconsin town names because 1) they are in fact subdivision of the county and 2) there are often many towns with the same name while there is only one case where a village has the same name as a city. So the logic is that if it has the county name in it, it is a town and if it does not, then it is a city or village. Hope that helps. older ≠ wiser 12:21, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hi. I notice you have been doing a lot of moves of towns in Wisconsin, such as Seif, Wisconsin to Seif, Clark County, Wisoncsin. I read what you wrote above, but it is normal to only do this where there are two towns of the same name in the state. Basicly most people don't care what county a town is in, and doing this for all towns in the US would double the number of articles on those towns (there are tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of them). If we don't do them for all towns, then we are going to have different naming conventions for different states, which will be worse. DJ Clayworth 14:09, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't see how it would double the number of articles. Redirects, yes, but what is the problem with that? My main rationale for doing so is twofold--1) towns are in fact subdivisions of the county they are in. Unlike cities or villages a town's boundaries never cross county boundaries. 2) consistency (and this is what started me on this) the Category:Towns in Wisconsin was a hodge-podge of various naming conventions such as
 * Townname (town), Wisconsin
 * Townname (town), Countyname, Wisconsin
 * Townname, Wisconsin
 * Townname, Countyname, Wisconsin
 * And even Townname Town, Wisconsin (where "Town" was not part of the name of the town)
 * I felt that was rather confusing, besides being quite messy. You write "most people don't care what county a town is in" and I'd argue that most people really don't care about most towns at all--they are minor civil divisions and with a few exceptions are entirely unnotable. Towns are in fact inextricably linked to the county they are within. As for other states, I don't see any problem with handling it on a case by case basis since the actual status of towns varies considerably from state to state. older ≠ wiser 14:21, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I understand the desire to bring uniformity in naming. But "Mytown, State" is really well-understood even outside the US. In the rest of Wikipedia this seems to be the norm, except when there is an ambiguity. So we would write "Mytown, Acounty, State" and "Mytown, Bcounty, State" if there are two of the same name, and write "Myplace (town), State" and "Myplace (county), State" where there is a town and county of the same name. DJ Clayworth 15:08, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Um, actually in no case that I am aware of would you ever use "Myplace (county), State", even where there are cities, villages or towns with the same name. It is always "Countyname County, State". My point is that (at least in Wisconsin), towns are a secondary division of the county. In general, most people are largely unaware of their existence. The way in which Rambot generated these articles from U.S. Census data has, IMO, given the towns inordinate prominence. They are an entirely different type of municipality from cities and villages with extremely limited powers of governance. They are quite simply divisions of a county and my naming scheme reflects that. In cases where there is no ambiguity, Myplace, State will redirect to Myplace, County, State and there is no problem. In cases where there is a city/village with the same name, Myplace, State will go to the city/village because that is what most people will be looking for (try the postal service zip code lookup--in ever case I tried, and I've tried quite a few, Myplace, State will list the zip code for the city/village and not the town). Where there is ambiguity, there are notes indicating the existence of the other entity. In cases where there are multiple towns with the same name, the disambiguation is at Myplace, State (or at Myplace (town), State, if there is a city/village with the same name) and again notes to indicate the existence of the other entities. older ≠ wiser 15:36, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the information. I will change back the Star Prairie entries, or at least, the entry for the village actually, I can't move the village back to Star Prairie, Wisconsin, but at least I changed the redirect.  I'm not sure about your plan of having the towns all at Townname, Countyname, Wisconsin.  It seems like that will produce some ambiguity in situations where there is a town and a village of the same name both in the same county.  I don't see what's wrong with Townname Town, Countyname, Wisconsin.  One doesn't write Madison City, Wisconsin, but one does write Dane County, Wisconsin or Jefferson Township, Illinois and since Wisconsin towns are more like counties than like cities, Star Prairie Town, Wisconsin sounds right to me. - Nat Krause 14:59, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * That would be reasonable, except most of the towns refer to themselves as "Town of Townname" rather than "Townname Town" and I understand that generally reflects local usage as well (although, confusingly, some also refer to them as townships). As for the cases where there is a city/village with same name as a town in the same county--in most cases, people will be looking for the city/village, which will have the unqualified name and I am adding notes to both the city/village and town articles pointing out the existence of the other entity. I mean, for many people, having "(town)" or "(city)" or "(village)" in the title really doesn't help all that much since many people, even in the U.S., are oblivious to the distinctions between cities, towns, and villages. They're likely to be looking for a locality named X and don't particularly care whether it is a city, village or town. The only place I'm not too happy with the arrangement at this time is with how the list appears in the County Category, where the cities, villages and towns comingle. I'm thinking that it may be useful to place the towns in a subcategory of the county, something like Category:Towns in Adams County, Wisconsin.

 * Hmmm, in formal situations, to take an Illinois example, Cook County refers to itself as "County of Cook", but we still have the wikipedia article at Cook County, Illinois. Of course, that does reflect everyday usage, which you also brought up.  Town of Star Prairie, St. Croix County, Wisconsin, maybe?  Not that it's important.  And you're right that, in an ideal world, the county entries would separate out towns from cities and villages. - Nat Krause 17:01, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Although naming the articles "Town of X" would solve some problems, it'd probably make sorted lists (especially the automatically sorted categories) kind of ugly. I'm still not sure about creating subcategories for towns under the county, since that would involve some redundancy--I'd still want every town to also appear in Category:Towns in Wisconsin and the county subcategories should probably also be included in that category, resulting in recursion, which some people really dislike in categories. FWIW, I am slowly sorting out the cities, villages and towns as listed on the county articles. For example, see Clark County, Wisconsin or any of the counties starting with A or B. older ≠ wiser 17:17, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Spring Arbor, Michigan
As a life-long resident of Spring Arbor, I have an accurate understanding as to what the community is. I have been attempting to compile the history of the community, but every time I make the corrections my work is reverted to the previous inaccurate articles. Spring Arbor is a township and the downtown area along M-60 is a downtown development area as established by township ordinance. This area was never a community in itself, nor does it resemble a village. It is designated as a CDP by the Census bureau for statistical purposes, but the boundaries do not match the DDA and do not include all of Spring Arbor.

Before 1858, a Village of Spring Arbour had been planned along what is now Hammond and Cross roads, however the Free Will Baptists moved to what is now Hillsdale College and the development fell apart. There are no buildings remaining in this area, but there is a small park next to my first house that was established in 1992. Sadly, most of the historical buildings in Spring Arbor have either burned or have been torn down.

The property owned by the college included several hundred acres of farmland and in 1887 the Free Methodists bought this property and established a seminary along M-60. The seminary eventually became a High School, then a Junior College, then a College and three years ago a University. The area around what is now the University began to develop as Spring Arbor transformed from a farm community to a mixture of suburban and rural residents. However, this development did not occur until the early 1960s and many of the housing developments were not centred in a single area of the township, which is why they are scattered at various points in the township.

The downtown area along M-60, however is unique in that it is the only area that had grown with a grocery store, post office, three restaurants, two banks and other commercial areas. Last year a small shopping centre was built just east of the area designated by the Census bureau as a CDP as have several new housing developments.

The DDA does not include most of the housing developments but does include the university and its housing, the commercial establishments along M-60, continuing along to Emerson Road. a second Development Area known as "King's Point" exists between Moscow Road eastward to the town line.

Now, hopefully some of the confusion about my corrections to articles will allow me to continue adding information about the community without interference from users who do not come from Spring Arbor and who do not have the basic knowledge necessary to contribute to the articles.

Townships, Charter Townships and CDPs
I plan on putting the township information at Spring Arbor Township, Michigan. What I am attempting to do (when it is complete) is put all information about Spring Arbor at "Spring Arbor, Michigan" The demographics and geographical information for the township and the CDP will be placed on their respective pages with direct links from Spring Arbor, Michigan.

Spring Arbor is a community, not a CDP. The CDP is a statistical designation, and the information associated with it should be appropriately posted at the page for the CDP, with a link from Spring Arbor, Michigan.

Please do not make changes to my articles while I am attempting to compile as much information about my community as possible. After I will have completed the information, I'll be sure to make a posting on your talk page so that you can make the necessary adjustments for standardization.

Inasmuch as I appreciate you taking the time to establish articles about the various communities in Michigan, I noticed that you do not actually write anything about the communities, but instead merely post the CDPs as the community itself with the Census information. As a life-long resident of Spring Arbor, and an active participant in community life and local government, I can accurately state that the CDP was created by request of the township for statistical purposes to track growth in the area immediately surrounding what is now the University. If you would like to verify this information, a copy of the request is on record in the Spring Arbor Archives and I'm sure the Census also has a copy.

Again, I appreciate your contributions, but to assume that CDPs are separate communities without accurately researching why they were established will mislead readers of the articles. The CDP information belongs on Wikipedia and I have created a page for that information: "Spring Arbor, Michigan (CDP)." "Spring Arbor, Michigan" will have a direct link to the CDP article in the demographics section. I will also add a Spring Arbor, Michigan (disambiguation) page to clarify the differences between each article.

As for the difference between Townships and Charter Townships, I would ask that you please read the official names of those municipalities, their legal framework, origin of authority, et cetera. Charter Townships are incorporated units of government organized under the Charter Township Act of 1947, unlike Townships which are not incorporated but are instead organized under statute. Michiganlegislature.org contains all of the Michigan Compiled Laws and it is available free of charge to anyone. Chapters 41 and 42 are the two sections governing the two units of government.

Villages
Thanks for making the wording in Village and Political subdivisions of New York State more precise. I can see how the previous wording, for whch I think I may be at least partly responsible, might lead to confusion and misinformation.--[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo >>Talk<<]] 12:57, Sep 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree about local governments. I am fascinated by articles on local govermnet areas in England, but I'll be darned if I can figure out what the heck they've done.  As I side note, being a native of Westchester County, New York (but in Brooklyn now), I am taking it upon myself to fix a screw-up by the bot wherein many hamlets/communities/CDPs have been incorrectly designated as towns.  I think this happened through New York state.--[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo  >>Talk<<]] 13:27, Sep 17, 2004 (UTC)

DIA
Good catch on the missing s on the museum's name. I am afraid I have to admit I started the worng spelling a year and a half ago. And I had a museum brochure sitting on my computer desk the whole time. Oops. Rmhermen 13:06, Sep 21, 2004 (UTC)

Great Miami as a Boundary
Thanks for defining the Treaty of Greenville Line. I have this stuff in one of my commonplace books, but didn't have it at hand. Glad to know you did. Ohio history, especially regarding southwestern Ohio, is one of my interests and if I can help you out, please let me know. Ave atque vale! PedanticallySpeaking 20:10, Sep 22, 2004 (UTC)

Maps
All due credit goes to one Charles C. Royce. Good times: [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=gmd&action=browse&fileName=gmd370m/g3701m/g3701em/gct00002/ct_browse.db&displayType=3&maxCols=3&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3701em+gct00002))&title2=Indian%20land%20cessions%20in%20the%20United%20States,%20comp.%20by%20Charles%20C.%20Royce,%20with%20introduction%20by%20Cyrus%20Thomas.&linkText=Back+to+bibliographic+information Indian land cessions in the United States, comp. by Charles C. Royce, with introduction by Cyrus Thomas: Map image gallery] + USGenWeb Digital Archives Map Project: Indian Land Cessions in the United States

Valid point about category for CDP
66.167.253.140 03:05, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC): Thanks for the message. What I think is really needed is a per-state category for artificially-defined communities which exist only for census purposes. That's a significantly smaller subset of all places that the Census Bureau calls a CDP. For example, West Side Highway, Washington, and Garden Home-Whitford, Oregon, to name just two.

Category/ization
Thanks for noticing my error on removing the link--I looked at the link, then the URL, then the link THREE TIMES just to be sure. Arrgh. Must have been too late to be editing anything. --NathanHawking 20:53, 2004 Oct 5 (UTC)

FYI
The type of spelling officially recognised in China is that of British English, no doubt stemming from the fact that Britain ran Hong Kong for a hundred years. I don't believe that though is pertinent (is it?) Nicholas 22:13, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Only if China were primarily an English-speaking country. In this case, I think the relevant guidelines are to be internally consistent within the article and to respect the original author's preference. Not that I really care all that much, but I did notice that some of the other space programme articles were originally spelled as "program" and were later renamed. Seems those snuck in under the radar of anyone who cared at the time. older ≠ wiser 22:21, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)

ersatz obscurantist?
What exactly did I say that was less than clear for you? I will admit to being intentionally vague at times, but only out of concern for NPOV, and to maintain a focus on the article, rather than the POV's of individual editors. I have to say I think you either caught me in an off moment, or perhaps you have a particularly unusual way of interpreting others, because I've never been described in such a way. Usually the problem others have with me is due to their reading too much into what I'm saying, or simply being offended by what I have said, or who I am (or who they think I am). This obscurantist stuff strikes me as significantly off the mark, and I'd love to clear things up if at all possible. Sam [Spade] 22:23, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * My reply can be found here. P.s. I think older does = wiser, at least in the case on an individual. For example, a random 30yr old may well be wiser than a random 50yr old, but the same individual will necessarilly be wiser at age 50 than at age 30, outside of extreme brain trauma, mental ailment, etc.. I know I'm wiser now than I was 10 yrs ago! Cheers, Sam [Spade] 12:52, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Peacock/weasel terms
Both have notices to the effect that they are disputed at the end of the article (or at least they did as of yesterday), and both have extensive discussion and voting on their respective talk pages. Kwertii 21:37, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * They used to be at the top, but the pro-weasel/peacock term contingent insisted on moving them to the bottom, and I didn't feel like arguing about it. Please feel free to move them back to the top - I think they ought to be there, too. Kwertii 02:45, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hi
Hi, Bkonrad. I'm up for adminship again, in case you want to vote. Warmest regards, [[User:Neutrality|Neutrality (talk)]] 03:01, Oct 12, 2004 (UTC)

North American Man-Boy Love Association
Would you please sanction user:Corax who abuses Talk:North American Man-Boy Love Association to fill it with propaganda about the harmlessness of child abuse, accuses me of sexual hysteria, and asks me to see a therapist. Get-back-world-respect 13:43, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Fort de Chartres
Fort de Chartres is a location as well as a structure. C.f. Fort Randall, South Dakota, which I originally entered without the state but someone else later moved to its current name. There is at least one other article with a link to Fort de Chartres, Illinois, and the combination of these two is what made me change the link.

I am visiting Fort de Chartres this weekend and will be taking some pictures and hope to have time to write an article for it soon thereafter. --Kbh3rd 21:37, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Visited, photographed, and wrote. See Fort de Chartres and  feel free to improve.  I may change the picture.  --Kbh3rd 12:33, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Nick Biddle
I did the disambig changes for Nicholas Biddle (had always planned to, but thanks for the reminder). We could argue about what "more notable" means. Certainly few in the Navy care about a banker, but I suspect the same can be said for the financial world caring about a naval officer. Regards. Jinian 17:42, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Thank you for fixing WP:RfC
The deletion was definitely inadvertant; in fact, I'm still not sure how it happened -- I know I hit the wrong button at the wrong time, while a save was already in progress, but how that worked out to saving the version I wanted, and then saving over it a page with massive deletions to sections I didn't even touch -- I have no idea.

I tried to fix it myself but had no luck, it kept telling me that the version I was trying to go back to couldn't be found in the database. -- Antaeus Feldspar 19:54, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Toledo War issues
See Talk:Toledo War

Fort Miami
Thanks for cleaning it up Jeff Knaggs 14:10, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Bkonrad/Archive 4


text:
Margaret Dongo

Margaret Dongo (born 14 March 1960) is a Zimbabwean politician known for speaking in favor of women's rights and out against corruption. She was an ex-combatant of the 1970s liberation war, served in parliament, and helped establish the Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (ZUD).

Liberation war
In 1975, at age 15, Dongo left secondary school to cross into Mozambique and join the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), adopting the moniker Tichaona Muhondo ("The Battle will Decide"). She described then-ZANLA commander Josiah Tongogara as "principled. He was unwavering in knowing what he was fighting for and could not easily be driven into corruption. I believed in him." In December 1979 Dongo was one of the last people to see him alive, explaining later that "We were 18 girls who were having a function and he came to say a few words to bless the occasion."

With the ceasefire, Dongo took a typing course and obtained a telex diploma. In 1980 she worked for the ruling ZANU-PF party in a variety of roles, and then in Mugabe's Prime Ministerial office. She married and had three children.

Parliament
In 1989 she co-founded the National Liberation War Veterans Association to secure the rights of marginalised war veterans. In 1990, sponsored by the NLWVA, Dongo became an MP for Harare East. In Parliament she was an advocate of democracy, human rights, and marginalised groups in Zimbabwe. Her willingness to challenge the ZANU-PF leadership when she felt they had not helped on these issues led to her deselection, and at the 1995 election the boundaries of her constituency were altered in a way unfavourable to her chances of holding the seat.

Opposition to Mugabe
She stood again for Harare South as an Independent against ZANU-PF's Vivian Mwashita in 1995. After her defeat by 1,000 votes was announced, Dongo was convinced that the election had been rigged, and challenged the result in court. The subsequent case revealed serious defects in the electoral roll, including the registration of many non-resident voters, suggesting that at least 41% of the names on the roll were inaccurate, and the court judgment in August 1995 invalidated the election. She went back to Harare South as an independent candidate in the re-run. On 25 November 1995 she won the rerun with 3,075 votes to 1,630 for Mwashita, and continued her fight in parliament as a strong advocate for human rights and democracy. She was one of only three opposition MPs.

Dongo hoped to oppose Robert Mugabe in the 1996 Presidential elections but did not meet the minimum age requirement of 40 years. She called on Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Ndabaningi Sithole to withdraw from the election because their participation lent it legitimacy, remarking that "the presidential elections are only for the consumption of the international and donor community, and not for oppressed Zimbabweans". Both did eventually withdraw. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation was said to have banned its reporters from covering her activities.

On 19 December 1998 Dongo formed the Zimbabwe Union of Democrats in preparation for the 2000 elections. However, she did not get on with Morgan Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change when that party was created to challenge ZANU-PF control, and the ZUD remained small. Dongo regarded the MDC as being comparable to the Movement for Multiparty Democracy in Zambia which had failed, in her analysis, to live up to its name despite defeating Kenneth Kaunda.

Land Reform
After the 2000 land redistribution, she requested and received a parliamentary written answer in January 2001 detailing beneficiaries. Including land rented out under the tenant farm scheme since 1990, only a handful of these, which range from very large farms to smallholdings, had been given to genuine farmers. According to her, the majority of state-owned commercial farms leased out under Zimbabwe's land resettlement programme had been given to well-connected individuals, most of whom are absentee landlords with no farming experience. Many of the new owners had been given leases for 98 years at advantageous prices, while others have yet to have their lease rates assessed.

She said: "I appeal to my fellow war veterans not to let your suffering be used by selfish and greedy politicians who caused your suffering. This will not benefit you at the end of the day. Comrades, you should stand up and be a watchdog of the government. If you do not, you will have fought for nothing."

2000 election
Attempting to retain her seat in the 2000 election, Dongo's house was attacked by a group of 60 opponents who threw rocks through the windows. She lost heavily with the MDC taking the seat.

Post-2000 election
After the loss in 2000, she studied at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In August 2015 Dongo announced the formation of a new political party, Movement for People First. Joice Mujuru leads the party and Dongo serves as chairperson for the women's wing.

title: Margaret Dongo