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Golden jackal

The golden jackal (Canis aureus), also called the common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Eurasia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is smaller and has shorter legs, a shorter tail, a more elongated torso, a less-prominent forehead, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle than the Arabian wolf. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its widespread distribution and high density in areas with plenty of available food and optimum shelter.

Despite its name, the golden jackal is not closely related to the African black-backed jackal or side-striped jackal, which are part of the genus Lupulella. It is instead closer to wolves and coyotes. The ancestor of the golden jackal is believed to be the extinct Arno river dog that lived in southern Europe. It is described as having been a small, jackal-like canine. Genetic studies indicate that the golden jackal expanded from India around 20,000 years ago, towards the end of the last Last Glacial Maximum. The oldest golden jackal fossil, found at the Ksar Akil rock shelter near Beirut, Lebanon, is 7,600 years old. The oldest golden jackal fossils in Europe were found in Greece and are 7,000 years old. There are six subspecies of the golden jackal. It is capable of producing fertile hybrids with both the gray wolf and the African wolf. Jackal–dog hybrids called Sulimov dogs are in service at the Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow, where they are deployed by the Russian airline Aeroflot for scent-detection.

The golden jackal is abundant in valleys and beside rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores, but rare in foothills and low mountains. It is a social species, the basic social unit of which consists of a breeding pair and any young offspring. It is very adaptable, with the ability to exploit food ranging from fruit and insects to small ungulates. It attacks domestic fowl and domestic mammals up to the size of domestic water buffalo calves. Its competitors are the red fox, steppe wolf, jungle cat, Caucasian wildcat, the raccoon in the Caucasus and in Central Asia, and the Asiatic wildcat. It is expanding beyond its native grounds in Southeast Europe into Central and Northeast Europe into areas where there are few or no wolves.

Etymology and naming
The word 'jackal' appeared in the English language around 1600. It derives from the Turkish word çakal, which originates from the Persian word šagāl. It is also known as the common jackal.

Taxonomy
The biological family Canidae is composed of the South American canids, the fox-like canids, and the wolf-like canids. All species within the wolf-like canids share a similar morphology and possess 78chromosomes, allowing them potentially to interbreed. Within the wolf-like canids is the jackal group, which includes the three jackals: the black-backed jackal (Lupulellamesomela), the side-striped jackal (Lupulella adusta), and the golden jackal (Canis aureus). These three species are approximately the same size, possess similar dental and skeletal morphology, and are identified from each other primarily by their coat color. They were once thought to have different distributions across Africa with their ranges overlapping in East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania). Although the jackal group has traditionally been considered as homogenous, genetic studies show that jackals are not monophyletic (they do not share a common ancestor),  and they are only distantly related. The accuracy of the colloquial name "jackal" to describe all jackals is therefore questionable.

Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) passes along the maternal line and can date back thousands of years. Thus, phylogenetic analysis of mDNA sequences within a species provides a history of maternal lineages that can be represented as a phylogenetic tree. A 2005 genetic study of the canids found that the gray wolf and dog are the most closely related on this tree. The next most closely related are the coyote (Canis latrans), golden jackal, and Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), which have all been shown to hybridize with the dog in the wild. The next closest are the dhole (Cuon alpinus) and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), which are not members of genus Canis. These are followed by the black-backed and side-striped jackals, members of the genus Lupulella and the most basal members of this clade.

Results from two recent studies of mDNA from golden jackals indicate that the specimens from Africa are genetically closer to the gray wolf than are the specimens from Eurasia. In 2015 a major DNA study of golden jackals concluded that the six C.aureus subspecies found in Africa should be reclassified under the new species C.anthus (African wolf),  reducing the number of golden jackal subspecies to seven. The phylogenetic tree generated from this study shows the golden jackal diverging from the wolf/coyote lineage 1.9million years ago and the African wolf diverging 1.3million years ago. The study found that the golden jackal and the African wolf shared a very similar skull and body morphology and that this had confused taxonomists into regarding these as one species. The study proposes that the very similar skull and body morphology is due to both species having originated from a larger common ancestor.

Evolution
The Arno river dog (Canis arnensis) is an extinct species of canine that was endemic to Mediterranean Europe during the Early Pleistocene around 1.9million years ago. It is described as a small jackal-like dog and probably the ancestor of modern jackals. Its anatomy and morphology relate it more to the modern golden jackal than to the two African jackal species, the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal.

The oldest golden jackal fossil was found at the Ksar Akil rock shelter located 10 km northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. The fragment of a single tooth is dated approximately 7,600 years ago. The oldest golden jackal fossils found in Europe are from Delphi and Kitsos in Greece and are dated 7,000–6,500 years ago. An unusual fossil of a heel bone found in Azykh Cave, in Nagorno-Karabakh, dates to the Middle Pleistocene and is described as probably belonging to the golden jackal, but its classification is not clear. The fossil is described as being slightly smaller and thinner than the cave lynx, similar to the fox, but too large, and similar to the wolf, but too small. As the golden jackal falls between these two in size, the fossil possibly belongs to a golden jackal. The absence of clearly identified golden jackal fossils in the Caucasus region and Transcaucasia, areas where the species currently resides, indicates that the species is a relatively recent arrival.

A haplotype is a group of genes found in an organism that is inherited from one of its parents. A haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a single mutation inherited from their common ancestor. The mDNA haplotypes of the golden jackal form two haplogroups: the oldest haplogroup is formed by golden jackals from India, and the other, younger, haplogroup diverging from this includes golden jackals from all of the other regions. Indian golden jackals exhibit the highest genetic diversity, and those from northern and western India are the most basal, which indicates that India was the center from which golden jackals spread. The extant golden jackal lineage commenced expanding its population in India 37,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, 25,000 to 18,000 years ago, the warmer regions of India and Southeast Asia provided a refuge from colder surrounding areas. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the beginning of the warming cycles, the golden jackal lineage expanded out of India and into Eurasia to reach the Middle East and Europe.

Outside of India, golden jackals in the Caucasus and Turkey demonstrate the next highest genetic diversity, while those in Europe indicate low genetic diversity, confirming their more recent expansion into Europe. Genetic data indicates that the golden jackals of the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece and the Dalmatian coast in Croatia may represent two ancient European populations from 6,000 years ago that have survived into modern times. Jackals were absent from most of Europe until the 19th century, when they started to expand slowly. Jackals were recorded in Hungary with the nearest population known at that time being found in Dalmatia, some 300 kilometers away. This was followed by rapid expansion of jackals towards the end of the 20th century. Golden jackals from both Southeast Europe and the Caucasus are expanding into the Baltic. In the Middle East, golden jackals from Israel have a higher genetic diversity than European jackals. This is thought to be due to Israeli jackals having hybridized with dogs, gray wolves, and African golden wolves, creating a hybrid zone in Israel.

Admixture with other Canis species
Genetic analysis reveals that mating sometimes occurs between female jackals and gray wolves, producing jackal-wolf hybrids that experts cannot visually distinguish from wolves. Hybridization also occurs between female golden jackals and male dogs, which produces fertile offspring, a jackal–dog hybrid. There was 11–13% of ancient gene flow into the golden jackal from the population that was ancestral to wolves and dogs, and an additional 3% from extant wolf populations. Up to 15% of the Israeli wolf genome is derived from admixture with golden jackals in ancient times.

In 2018, whole genome sequencing was used to compare members of the genus Canis. The study supports the African wolf being distinct from the golden jackal, and with the Ethiopian wolf being genetically basal to both. There is evidence of gene flow between African golden wolves, golden jackals, and gray wolves. One African wolf from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula showed high admixture with the Middle Eastern gray wolves and dogs, highlighting the role of the land bridge between the African and Eurasian continents in canid evolution. There was evidence of gene flow between golden jackals and Middle Eastern wolves, less so with European and Asian wolves, and least with North American wolves. The study proposes that the golden jackal ancestry found in North American wolves may have occurred before the divergence of the Eurasian and North American wolves.

Subspecies and populations
The golden jackal was taxonomically subordinated to the genus Canis by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication Systema Naturae. 13 subspecies were described since then.

Description
The golden jackal is similar to the gray wolf but is distinguished by its smaller size, lighter weight, more elongated torso, less-prominent forehead, shorter legs and tail, and a muzzle that is narrower and more pointed. The legs are long in relation to its body, and the feet are slender with small pads. Males measure 71–85 cm in body length and females 69–73 cm. Males weigh 6 – and females weigh 7–11 kg. The shoulder height is 45 – for both. In comparison, the smallest wolf is the Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs), which weighs on average 20 kg.

The skull is most like that of the dingo, and is closer to that of the coyote (C.latrans) and the gray wolf (C.lupus) than to that of the black-backed jackal (L.mesomalas), the side-striped jackal (L.adustus), and the Ethiopian wolf (C.simensis). Compared with the wolf, the skull of the golden jackal is smaller and less massive, with a lower nasal region and shorter facial region; the projections of the skull are prominent but weaker than those of the wolf; the canine teeth are large and strong but relatively thinner; and its carnassial teeth are weaker. The golden jackal is a less specialized species than the gray wolf, and these skull features relate to the jackal's diet of small birds, rodents, small vertebrates, insects, carrion, fruit, and some vegetable matter. It was once thought that golden jackals could develop a horny growth on the skull referred to as a "jackal's horn" which usually measured approximately 13 mm in length and was concealed by fur. Although no evidence of its existence has been found, belief in it remains common in South Asia. This feature was once associated with magical powers by the people of Sri Lanka.

The jackal's fur is coarse and relatively short, with the base color golden, varying seasonally from a pale creamy yellow to a dark tawny. The fur on the back is composed of a mixture of black, brown, and white hairs, sometimes giving the appearance of the dark saddle like that seen on the black-backed jackal. The underparts are a light pale ginger to cream color. Individual specimens can be distinguished by their unique light markings on the throat and chest. The coats of jackals from high elevations tend to be more buff-colored than those of their lowland counterparts while those of jackals in rocky, mountainous areas may exhibit a grayer shade. The bushy tail has a tan to black tip. Melanism can cause a dark-colored coat in some golden jackals, a coloring once fairly common in Bengal. Unlike melanistic wolves and coyotes that received their dark pigmentation from interbreeding with domestic dogs, melanism in golden jackals probably stems from an independent mutation that could be an adaptive trait. What is possibly an albino specimen was photographed in southeastern Iran during 2012.

The jackal moults twice a year, in spring and in autumn. In Transcaucasia and Tajikistan, the spring moult begins at the end of winter. If the winter has been warm, the spring moult starts in the middle of February; if the winter has been cold, it begins in the middle of March. The spring moult lasts for 60–65 days; if the animal is sick, it loses only half of its winter fur. The spring moult commences with the head and limbs, extends to the flanks, chest, belly and rump, and ends at the tail. Fur on the underparts is absent. The autumn moult occurs from mid-September with the growth of winter fur; the shedding of the summer fur occurs at the same time. The development of the autumn coat starts with the rump and tail and spreads to the back, flanks, belly, chest, limbs and head, with full winter fur being attained at the end of November.

Ecology
The golden jackal inhabits Europe and Southwest, Central, South, and Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's omnivorous diet allows it to eat a large range of foods; this diet, together with its tolerance of dry conditions, enables it to live in different habitats. The jackal's long legs and lithe body allow it to trot over great distances in search of food. It is able to go without water for extended periods and has been observed on islands that have no fresh water. Jackals are abundant in valleys and along rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores, but are rare in foothills and low mountains. In Central Asia they avoid waterless deserts and cannot be found in the Karakum Desert nor the Kyzylkum Desert, but can be found at their edges or in oases. On the other hand, in India they can be found living in the Thar Desert. They are found in dense thickets of prickly bushes, reed flood-lands and forests. They have been known to ascend over 1000 m up the slopes of the Himalayas; they can withstand temperatures as low as -25 C and sometimes -35 C. They are not adapted to snow, and in snow country they must travel along paths made by larger animals or humans. In India, they will occupy the surrounding foothills above arable areas, entering human settlements at night to feed on garbage, and have established themselves around hill stations at 2000 m height above mean sea level.

They generally avoid mountainous forests, but may enter alpine and sub-alpine areas during dispersal. In Turkey, the Caucasus, and Transcaucasia they have been observed up to 1000 m above mean sea level, particularly in areas where the climate supports shrublands in high elevations. The Estonian population, which marks the only population of this species adapted to the boreal region, largely inhabits coastal grasslands, alvars, and reed beds, habitats where wolves are seldom present.

Diet
The golden jackal fills much the same ecological niche in Eurasia as the coyote does in North America; it is both a predator and a scavenger, and an omnivorous and opportunistic forager with a diet that varies according to its habitat and the season. In Keoladeo National Park, India, over 60% of its diet was measured to consist of rodents, birds, and fruit. In the Kanha Tiger Reserve, 80% of its diet consists of rodents, reptiles and fruit. Vegetable matter forms part of the jackal diet, and in India they feed intensively on the fruits of buckthorn, dogbane, Java plum, and the pods of mesquite and the golden rain tree. The jackal scavenges off the kills made by the lion, tiger, leopard, dhole, and gray wolf. In some regions of Bangladesh and India, golden jackals subsist by scavenging on carrion and garbage, and will cache extra food by burying it. The Irish novelist, playwright and poet, Oliver Goldsmith, wrote about the golden jackal: "... Although the species of the wolf approaches very near to that of the dog, yet the jackal seems to be placed between them; to the savage fierceness of the wolf it adds the impudent familiarity of the dog ... It is more noisy in its pursuits even than the dog, and more voracious than the wolf."

In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, golden jackals primarily hunt hares and mouse-like rodents, and also pheasants, francolins, ducks, coots, moorhens, and passerines. Vegetable matter eaten by Jackals in these areas includes fruits, such as pears, hawthorn, dogwood, and the cones of common medlars. The jackal is implicated in the destruction of grape, watermelon, muskmelon, and nut crops. Near the Vakhsh River, their spring diet consists almost exclusively of plant bulbs and the roots of wild sugar cane, while during winter they feed on wild stony olives. Around the edges of the Karakum Desert, jackals feed on gerbils, lizards, snakes, fish, muskrats, the fruits of wild stony olives, mulberry, dried apricots, watermelons, muskmelons, tomatoes, and grapes.

In Dalmatia, the golden jackal's diet consists of mammals, fruits, vegetables, insects, birds and their eggs, grasses and leaves. Golden jackals change their diet to more readily available foods. In Serbia, their diet is primarily livestock carcasses that are increasingly prevalent due to a lack of removal, and this may have led to the expansion of their population. In Hungary, 55% of their diet is composed of common voles and bank voles, and 41% is composed of wild boar carcasses. Information on the diet of the golden jackal in northeastern Italy is scant, but it is known to prey on small roe deer and hares. In Israel, golden jackals are significant predators of snakes; during a poisoning campaign against golden jackals there was an increase in human snakebite reports, but a decrease when the poisoning ceased.

Competition
The jackal's competitors are the red fox, wolf, jungle cat, wildcat, and raccoon in the Caucasus, and the steppe wildcat in Central Asia. Wolves dominate jackals, and jackals dominate foxes. In 2017 in Iran, an Indian wolf under study killed a golden jackal. In Europe, the range of wolves and jackals is mutually exclusive, with jackals abandoning their territory with the arrival of a wolf pack. One experiment used loudspeakers to broadcast the calls of jackals, and this attracted wolves at a trotting pace to chase away the perceived competitors. Dogs responded to these calls in the same way while barking aggressively. Unleashed dogs have been observed to immediately chase away jackals when the jackals were detected. In Europe, there are an estimated 12,000 wolves. The jackal's recent expansion throughout eastern and western Europe has been attributed to the extermination of the local wolf populations. The present diffusion of the jackal into the northern Adriatic hinterland is in areas where the wolf is absent or very rare. In the past, jackals competed with tigers and leopards, feeding on the remains of their kills and, in one case, on a dead tiger. Leopards and tigers once hunted jackals, but today, the leopard is rare, and the tiger is extinct in the jackal's range. Eurasian lynxes have also been known to hunt jackals.

Red foxes and golden jackals share similar diets. Red foxes fear jackals, which are three times bigger than them. Red foxes will avoid close proximity to jackals and fox populations decrease where jackals are abundant. Foxes can be found only at the fringes of jackal territory. There is however one record of a male golden jackal interacting peacefully with multiple red foxes in southwestern Germany.

Striped hyenas prey on golden jackals, and three jackal carcasses were found in one hyena den.

A 2022 study indicated that the presence of golden jackals in portions of Eastern Europe leads to a decrease in the population of invasive raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides), indicating a potentially positive consequence of the jackal colonization of Europe.

Diseases and parasites

Some golden jackals carry diseases and parasites harmful to human health. These include rabies, and Donovan's Leishmania that is harmless to jackals but may cause leishmaniasis in people. Jackals in southwestern Tajikistan can carry up to 16 species of parasitic cestodes (flatworm), roundworms, and acanthocephalans (thorny-headed worms), these are: Sparganum mansoni, Diphyllobothrium mansonoides, Taenia hydatigena, T.pisiformis, T.ovis, Hydatigera taeniaeformis, Dipylidium caninum, Mesocestoides lineatus, Ancylostoma caninum, Uncinaria stenocephala, Dioctophyma renale, Toxocara canis, Toxascaris leonina, Dracunculus medinensis, Filariata and Macracanthorhynchus catulinum. Jackals infected with Dracunculus medinensis can infect bodies of water with their eggs, which cause dracunculiasis in people who drink from them. Jackals may also play a large part in spreading coenurosis in sheep and cattle, and canine distemper in dogs. In Tajikistan, jackals may carry up to 12 tick species (which include Ixodes, Rhipicephalus turanicus, R.leporis, R.rossicus, R. sanguineus, R.pumilio, R.schulzei, Hyalomma anatolicum, H.scupense and H.asiaticum), four flea species (Pulex irritans, Xenopsylla nesokiae, Ctenocephanlides canis and C.felis), and one species of louse (Trichodectes canis).

In Iran, some golden jackals carry intestinal worms (helminths) and Echinococcus granulosus. In Israel, some jackals are infected with intestinal helminths and Leishmania tropica. In Romania, a jackal was found to be carrying Trichinella britovi. In northeastern Italy, the jackal is a carrier of the tick species Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus, and the smallest human fluke Metagonimus yokogawai that can be caught from ingesting infected raw fish. In Hungary, some jackals carry dog heartworm Dirofilaria immitis, and some have provided the first record in Hungary of Trichinella spiralis and the first record in Europe of Echinococcus multilocularis. A golden jackel from Iran was found to be a host of an intestinal acanthocephalan worm, Pachysentis canicola.

Social behavior
Golden jackals exhibit flexible social organization depending on the availability of food. The breeding pair is the basic social unit, and they are sometimes accompanied by their current litter of pups. In India, their distributions are a single jackal, 31%, two jackals, 35%, three jackals, 14%, and more than three jackals, 20%. Family groups of up to 4–5 individuals have been recorded. Scent marking through urination and defecation is common around golden jackal den areas and on the trails they most often use. Scent marking is thought to assist in territorial defense. The hunting ranges of several jackals can overlap. Jackals can travel up to 12 – during a single night in search of either food or more suitable habitat. Non-breeding members of a pack may stay near a distant food source, such as a carcass, for up to several days before returning to their home range. Home range sizes can vary between 1–20 km2, depending on the available food.

Social interactions such as greetings, grooming, and group howling are common in jackals. Howling is more frequent between December and April when pair bonds are being formed and breeding occurs, which suggests howling has a role in the delineation of territory and for defense. Adult jackals howl standing and the young or subordinate jackals howl sitting. Jackals are easily induced to howl and a single howl may solicit replies from several jackals in the vicinity. Howling begins with 2–3 low-pitched calls that rise to high-pitched calls. The howl consists of a wail repeated 3–4 times on an ascending scale, followed by three short yelps. Jackals typically howl at dawn and in the evening, and sometimes at midday. Adults may howl to accompany the ringing of church bells, with their young responding to sirens or the whistles of steam engines and boats. Social canids such as golden jackals, wolves, and coyotes respond to human imitations of their howls. When there is a change in the weather, jackals will produce a long and continuous chorus. Dominant canids defend their territories against intruders with either a howl to warn them off, approach and confront them, or howl followed by an approach. Jackals, wolves and coyotes will always approach a source of howling. Golden jackals give a warning call that is very different from their normal howling when they detect the presence of large carnivores such as wolves and tigers.

Reproduction
Golden jackals are monogamous and will remain with the one partner until death. Female jackals have only one breeding cycle each year. Breeding occurs from October to March in Israel and from February to March in India, Turkmenistan, Bulgaria, and Transcaucasia, with the mating period lasting up to 26–28 days. Females undergoing their first estrus are often pursued by several males that may quarrel among themselves. Mating results in a copulatory tie that lasts for several minutes, as it does with all other canids. Gestation lasts 63 days, and the timing of the births coincides with the annual abundance of food.

In India, the golden jackal will take over the dens of the Bengal fox and the Indian crested porcupine, and will use abandoned gray wolf dens. Most breeding pairs are spaced well apart and maintain a core territory around their dens. Den excavations commence from late April to May in India, with dens located in scrub areas. Rivulets, gullies, and road and check-dam embankments are prime denning habitats. Drainage pipes and culverts have been used as dens. Dens are 2–3 m long and 0.5–1 m deep, with between 1–3 openings. Young pups can be moved between 2–4 dens. The male helps with digging the den and raising the pups. In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the burrow is located either in thick shrub, on the slopes of gullies, or on flat surfaces. In Dagestan and Azerbaijan, litters are sometimes located within the hollows of fallen trees, among tree roots, and under stones on river banks. In Central Asia, the golden jackal does not dig burrows but constructs lairs in dense tugai thickets. Jackals in the tugais and cultivated lands of Tajikistan construct lairs in long grass, shrubs, and reed openings.

In Transcaucasia, golden jackal pups are born from late March to late April, and in northeastern Italy during late April; they can be born at any time of year in Nepal. The number of pups born in a single litter varies geographically. Jackals in Transcaucasia give birth to 3–8 pups, Tajikistan 3–7 pups, Uzbekistan 2–8 pups, and Bulgaria 4–7 pups; in India the average is four pups. The pups are born with closed eyes that open after 8–11 days, with the ears erecting after 10–13 days. Their teeth erupt at 11 days after birth, and the eruption of adult dentition is completed after five months. Pups are born with soft fur that ranges in color from light gray to dark brown. At the age of one month, their fur is shed and replaced with a new reddish-colored pelt with black speckles. The pups have a fast growth rate and weigh 0.201 – at two days of age, 0.560 – at one month, and 2.700 – at four months. Females possess four pairs of teats, and lactation lasts for up to 8–10 weeks. The pups begin to eat meat at the age of 15–20 days.

Dog pups show unrestrained fighting with their siblings from 2 weeks of age, with injury avoided only due to their undeveloped jaw muscles. This fighting gives way to play-chasing with the development of running skills at 4–5 weeks. Wolf pups possess more-developed jaw muscles from 2 weeks of age, when they first show signs of play-fighting with their siblings; serious fighting occurs during 4–6 weeks of age. Compared to wolf and dog pups, golden jackal pups develop aggression at the age of 4–6 weeks, when play-fighting frequently escalates into uninhibited biting intended to harm. This aggression ceases by 10–12 weeks when a hierarchy has formed. Once the lactation period concludes, the female drives off the pups. Pups born late remain with their mother until early autumn, at which time they leave either singly or in groups of two to four individuals. Females reach sexual maturity after 10–11 months and males at 21–22 months.

Foraging

The golden jackal often hunts alone, and sometimes in pairs, but rarely hunts in a pack. When hunting alone, it trots around an area and occasionally stops to sniff and listen. Once prey is located, the jackal conceals itself, quickly approaches its prey and then pounces on it. Single jackals hunt rodents, hares, and birds. They hunt rodents in grass by locating them with their hearing before leaping into the air and pouncing on them. In India, they can dig Indian gerbils out from their burrows, and they can hunt young, old, and infirm ungulates up to 4–5 times their body weight. Jackals search for hiding blackbuck calves throughout the day during the calving period. The peak times for their searches are the early morning and the late evening. When hunting in pairs or packs, jackals run parallel to their prey and overtake it in unison. When hunting aquatic rodents or birds, they will run along both sides of narrow rivers or streams and drive their prey from one jackal to another.

Pack-hunting of langurs is recorded in India. Packs of between 5 and 18 jackals scavenging on the carcasses of large ungulates is recorded in India and Israel. Packs of 8–12 jackals consisting of more than one family have been observed in the summer periods in Transcaucasia. In India, the Montagu's harrier and the Pallid harrier roost in their hundreds in grasslands during their winter migration. Jackals stalk close to these roosting harriers and then rush at them, attempting to catch one before the harriers can take off or gain sufficient height to escape.

In Southeastern Asia, golden jackals have been known to hunt alongside dhole packs. They have been observed in the Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar, India, following Indian wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) when these are on a hunt, and they will scavenge off wolf kills without any hostility shown from the wolves. In India, lone jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationships with tigers. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will associate themselves with a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills. A kol-bahl will even alert a tiger to prey with a loud "pheal". Tigers have been known to tolerate these jackals, with one report describing how a jackal confidently walked in and out between three tigers walking together. Golden jackals and wild boar can occupy the same territory.

Conservation

The golden jackal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its widespread distribution, with it being common throughout its range and with high densities in those areas where food and shelter are abundant. In Europe, golden jackals are not listed under the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora nor the 1979 Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Golden jackals in Europe fall under various international legal instruments. These include the 1979 Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, and the 1992 European Union Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Council Directive provides both guidance and limits on what participating governments can do when responding to the arrival of expanding jackals. These legislative instruments aim to contribute to conserving native wildlife; some governments argue that the golden jackal is not native wildlife but an invading species. The Golden Jackal informal study Group in Europe (GOJAGE) is an organization that is formed by researchers from across Europe to collect and share information on the golden jackal in Europe. The group also has an interest in the golden jackal's relationship with its environment across Eurasia. Membership is open to anyone who has an interest in golden jackals.

In Europe, there are an estimated 70,000 golden jackals. They are fully protected in Albania, North Macedonia, Germany, Italy, Poland and Switzerland. They are unprotected in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Greece. They are hunted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Their protection in Austria and Turkey depends on the part of the country. Their status in Moldova is not known.

The Syrian jackal was common in Israel and Lebanon in the 1930s–40s, but their populations were reduced during an anti-rabies campaign. Its current status is difficult to ascertain, due to possible hybridisation with pariah dogs and African golden wolves. The jackal population for the Indian subcontinent is estimated to be over 80,000. In India, the golden jackal occurs in all of India's protected areas apart from those in the higher areas of the Himalayas. It is included in CITES AppendixIII, and is listed in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, under ScheduleIII, thus receiving legal protection at the lowest level to help control the trade of pelts and tails in India.

In folklore, mythology and literature

Golden jackals appear in Indian folklore and in two ancient texts, the Jakatas and the Panchatantra, where they are portrayed as intelligent and wily creatures. The ancient Hindu text, the Mahabharata, tells the story of a learned jackal who sets his friends the tiger, wolf, mongoose, and mouse against each other so he can eat a gazelle without sharing it. The Panchatantra tells the fable of a jackal who cheats a wolf and a lion out of their shares of a camel. In Buddhist tales, the jackal is regarded as being cunning in a way similar to the fox in European tales. One popular Indian saying describes the jackal as "the sharpest among beasts, the crow among birds, and the barber among men". For a person embarking on an early morning journey, hearing a jackal howl was considered to be a sign of impending good fortune, as was seeing a jackal crossing a road from the left side.

In Hinduism, the jackal is portrayed as the familiar of several deities with the most common being Chamunda, the emaciated, devouring goddess of the cremation grounds. Another deity associated with jackals is Kali, who inhabits the cremation ground and is surrounded by millions of jackals. According to the Tantrasara scripture, when offered animal flesh, Kali appears in the form of a jackal. The goddess Shivaduti is depicted with a jackal's head. The goddess Durga was often linked to the jackal. Jackals are considered to be the vahanas (vehicles) of various protective Hindu and Buddhist deities, particularly in Tibet. According to the flood myth of the Kamar people in Raipur district, India, the god Mahadeo (Shiva) caused a deluge to dispose of a jackal who had offended him. In Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories collected in The Jungle Book, the character Tabaqui is a jackal despised by the Seeonee wolf pack due to his mock cordiality, his scavenging habits, and his subservience to Shere Khan the tiger.

Attacks on humans
In the Marwahi forest division of the Chhattisgarh state in eastern India, the jackal is of conservation value and there were no jackal attacks reported before 1997. During 1998–2005 there were 220 reported cases of jackal attacks on humans, although none were fatal. The majority of these attacks occurred in villages, followed by forests and crop fields. Jackals build their dens in the bouldery hillocks that surround flat areas, and these areas have been encroached by human agriculture and settlements. This encroachment has led to habitat fragmentation and the need for jackals to enter agricultural areas and villages in search for food, resulting in conflict with humans. People in this region habitually chase jackals from their villages, which leads to the jackals becoming aggressive. Female jackals with pups respond with an attack more often than lone males. In comparison, over twice as many attacks were carried out by sloth bears over the same period. There are no known attacks on humans in Europe.

Livestock, game, and crop predation
The golden jackal can be a harmful pest that attacks domestic animals such as turkeys, lambs, sheep, goats, domestic water buffalo calves, and valuable game species like newborn roe deer, hares, coypu, pheasants, francolins, grey partridges, bustards and waterfowl. It destroys grape, coffee, maize, sugarcane, and eats watermelons, muskmelons, and nuts. In Greece, golden jackals are not as damaging to livestock as wolves and red foxes but they can become a serious nuisance to small stock when in great numbers. In southern Bulgaria, over 1,000 attacks on sheep and lambs were recorded between 1982 and 1987, along with some damage to newborn deer in game farms. The damage by jackals in Bulgaria was minimal when compared to the livestock losses due to wolves. Approximately 1.5–1.9% of calves born in the Golan Heights die due to predation, mainly by jackals. The high predation rate by jackals in both Bulgaria and Israel is attributable to the lack of preventative measures in those countries and the availability of food in illegal garbage dumps, leading to jackal population explosions.

Golden jackals are extremely harmful to fur-bearing rodents, such as coypu and muskrats. Coypu can be completely extirpated in shallow water bodies. During 1948–1949 in the Amu Darya, muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal fecal contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals. Jackals also harm the fur industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry.

Hunting

During British rule in India, sportsmen conducted golden jackal hunting on horseback with hounds, with jackal coursing a substitute for the fox hunting of their native England. They were not considered as beautiful as English red foxes, but were esteemed for their endurance in the chase with one pursuit lasting $3 1/2$ hours. India's weather and terrain added further challenges to jackal hunters that were not present in England: the hounds of India were rarely in as good condition as English hounds, and although the golden jackal has a strong odor, the terrain of northern India was not good in retaining scent. Also, unlike foxes, jackals sometimes feigned death when caught and could be ferociously protective of their captured packmates.

Jackals were hunted in three ways: with greyhounds, with foxhounds, and with mixed packs. Hunting jackals with greyhounds offered poor sport because greyhounds were too fast for jackals, and mixed packs were too difficult to control. From 1946 in Iraq, British diplomats and Iraqi riders conducted jackal coursing together. They distinguished three types of jackal: the "city scavenger", which was described as being slow and so smelly that dogs did not like to follow them; the "village jack", which was described as being faster, more alert, and less odorous; and the "open-country jack", which was described as being the fastest, cleanest, and providing the best sport of all three populations.

Some indigenous people of India, such as the Kolis and Vaghirs of Gujarat and Rajasthan and the Narikuravas in Tamil Nadu, hunt and eat golden jackals, but the majority of South Asian cultures consider the animal to be unclean. The orthodox dharma texts forbid the eating of jackals because they have five nails. In the area of the former Soviet Union, jackals are not actively hunted and are usually captured only incidentally during the hunting of other animals by means of traps or shooting during drives. In Transcaucasia, jackals are captured with large fishing hooks baited with meat and suspended 75 - 100 cm from the ground with wire. The jackals can only reach the meat by jumping, and are then hooked by the lip or jaw.

Fur use
In Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union, golden jackals are considered furbearers of low quality because of their sparse, coarse, and monotonously colored fur. Jackal hairs have very little fur fiber; therefore, their pelts have a flat appearance. The jackals of Asia and the Middle East produce the coarsest pelts, though this can be remedied during the dressing process. Elburz in northern Iran produces the softest furs. Jackal skins are not graded to a fur standard, and are made into collars, women's coats, and fur coats. During the 1880s, 200 jackals were captured annually in Mervsk and in the Zakatal area of the Transcaucasus, with 300 jackals being captured there during 1896. In this same period, a total of 10,000 jackals were taken within Russia and their furs sent exclusively to the Nizhegorod fair. In the early 1930s there were 20,000–25,000 jackal skins tanned annually in the Soviet Union, but these could not be utilized within the country, and so the majority were exported to the United States. Commencing from 1949, they were all used within the Soviet Union.

Sulimov dog

The golden jackal may have once been tamed in Neolithic Turkey 11,000 years ago, as there is a sculpture of a man cradling a jackal found in Göbekli Tepe. French explorers during the 19thcentury noted that people in the Levant kept golden jackals in their homes. The Kalmyk people near the Caspian Sea were known to frequently cross their dogs with jackals, and Balkan shepherds once crossed their sheepdogs with jackals.

The Russian military established the Red Star kennels in 1924 to improve the performance of working dogs and to conduct military dog research. The Red Star kennel developed "Laikoid" dogs, which were a cross-breed of Spitz-type Russian Laikas with German Shepherds. By the 1980s, the ability of Russia's bomb and narcotic detection dogs were assessed as being inadequate. Klim Sulimov, a research scientist with the DS Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection, began cross-breeding dogs with their wild relatives in an attempt to improve their scent-detection abilities. The researchers assumed that during domestication dogs had lost some of their scent-detection ability because they no longer had to detect prey. Sulimov crossed European jackals with Laikas, and also with fox terriers to add trainability and loyalty to the mix. He used the jackal because he believed that it was the wild ancestor of the dog, that it had superior scent-detecting ability, and, because it was smaller with more endurance than the dog, it could be housed outdoors in the Russian climate. Sulimov favored a mix of one quarter jackal and three-quarters dog. Sulimov's program continues today with the use of the hybrid Sulimov dogs at the Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow by the Russian airline Aeroflot.

The hybrid program has been criticized, with one of Sulimov's colleagues pointing out that in other tests the Laika performed just as well as the jackal hybrids. The assumption that dogs have lost some of their scent-detection ability may be incorrect, in that dogs need to be able to scent-detect and identify the many humans that they come into contact with in their domesticated environment. Another researcher crossed German Shepherds with wolves and claimed that this hybrid had superior scent-detection abilities. The scientific evidence to support the claims of hybrid researchers is minimal, and more research has been called for.

title: Golden jackal


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Talk:Warrant (German band)

from Vfd
On 18 Feb 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was keep. See Votes for deletion/Warrant (German band) for a record of the discussion.

Diskografie

 * 1985 First Strike
 * 1985 The Enforcer
 * 2000 The Enforcer, First Strike

Weblinks

 * Offizielle Website (deutsch/englisch)

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

title: Talk:Warrant (German band)


text: Category:Ghanaian politicians

title: Category:Ghanaian politicians


text:
Talk:Games engine

There already exists a good detailed article called "Game Engine" - should this be a redirect???

title: Talk:Games engine


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File:AceofBaseTheSignAlbumcover.jpg

Fair use in The Sign (Ace of Base album)
This image is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
 * 1) No free or public domain images have been located for this single.
 * 2) The image is of lower resolution than the original cover. Copies made from it will be of inferior quality, and could not be used as artwork on illegal CD copies of the single.
 * 3) It does not limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the CD in any way.
 * 4) The image is used for information purposes only to illustrate the album in question
 * 5) It is historically significant since it was made by a famous artist.

title: File:AceofBaseTheSignAlbumcover.jpg


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J. Kenneth Grider

J. Kenneth Grider (October 22, 1921 – December 6, 2006) was a Nazarene Christian theologian and former seminary professor primarily associated with the followers of John Wesley who are part of the Holiness movement.

Early life
J. Kenneth Grider was born October 22, 1921, in Madison, IL to William Sanford and Elizabeth (Krone) Grider. In 1948, he got a M.A. from the Drew University, Madison, New Jersey in 1950. In 1947, he graduated from the Nazarene Theological Seminary. He received his PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1952.

Career
Grider was a distinguished visiting professor of theology at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL, and professor of theology emeritus at Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City. He taught courses in Hurlet Nazarene College (Scotland), Point Loma Nazarene University, Olivet Nazarene University, Southern Nazarene University, Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, and extension courses in Mexico and the Philippines.

He was an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene.

He was one of the translators of the New International Version of the Bible, working at two committee levels on six New Testament books. His "magnum opus" is the systematic theology A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology (1994). He also wrote over 2,000 poems, articles, commentaries, essays, and lessons and contributed to numerous symposia. He was the editor of The Seminary Tower for 36 years.

Theology
Grider had Arminian soteriological views in the Wesleyan tradition, and was a supporter of the governmental theory of atonement view.

Death
Grider died December 6, 2006, in Chandler, AZ.

Awards
In 1966, Grider received the Olivet Nazarene University's Clergy Alumnus of the Year award. In 1991, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Olivet Nazarene University. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Wesleyan Theological Society.

title: J. Kenneth Grider


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Mikulov

Mikulov (Nikolsburg; ניקאלשבורג, Nikolshburg) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,600 inhabitants. The historic centre of Mikulov is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation.

Etymology
The name is derived from the personal name Mikul (an abbreviated form of Mikuláš, which is a Czech variant of Nicholas). In the earliest times, the German name Nikolsburg prevailed, which was then Czechized as Nyklspurg and Nyklšpurk. The name Mikulov has been used since the 19th century.

Geography
Mikulov is located about 18 km northwest of Břeclav and 42 km south of Brno, on the border with Austria. It borders the Austrian municipality of Drasenhofen.

Mikulov lies mostly in the Mikulov Highlands, but the municipal territory also extends into the Lower Morava Valley on the east and into the Dyje–Svratka Valley on the west. The highest point is the hill Turold at 385 m. Most of the municipal territory lies within the Pálava Protected Landscape Area.

The Mušlovský and Včelínek streams flow through the territory and supply a set of ponds, the largest of which are Nový (with an area of 31 ha) and Šibeník (with an area of 23 ha). Another notable body of water is Janičův vrch, a flooded former sandstone quarry, which is protected as a nature monument and occasionally used for swimming.

History
A deed that mentioned existence of Mikulov in 1173 is a hoax from the 14th century. The first trustworthy written mention of Mikulov is from 1249. It is a deed, issued by the Přemyslid margrave Ottokar II, who granted a castle and the surrounding area to the Austrian noble Henry I of Liechtenstein. In 1279, Mikulov was given market rights.

In 1526, the Anabaptist leader Balthasar Hubmaier came from Switzerland to Mikulov, where he was captured and arrested by the forces of King Ferdinand I the following year. The Liechtenstein family owned the estate until 1560. In 1572, Emperor Maximilian II granted the fief to his ambassador to the Spanish court, Adam of Dietrichstein. From 1575 until the 20th century, Mikulov remained the proprietary possession of the Dietrichstein family and its Mensdorff-Pouilly successors.

After 1575, the Renaissance reconstruction of the town began. During the rule of Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein, the town was transformed into a representative economic, architectural, and cultural residence, and for a time it became one of the most important towns in Moravia. In 1621, during the Thirty Years' War, Franz von Dietrichstein signed the Treaty of Nikolsburg with the Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen at Mikulov Castle. Mikulov Castle became the place for many political meetings of important personalities, e.g. Albrecht von Wallenstein, Emperor Ferdinand II and Napoleon.

A significant moment in the history of the town was the invitation of the Piarists by Franz von Dietrichstein. They established a college here and renovated the medieval church and hospital. After a fire damaged the original Mikulov Castle in 1719, the Dietrichstein family reconstructed the castle to its present appearance. After the Austro-Prussian War, Count Alajos Károlyi began work on a peace treaty in the town that led to the Treaty of Prague in 1866.

The German population presented a majority until 1945. In 1890, it formed 98% of the population and in 1930 formed 82% of the population. Following World War II, the town's German population was expelled by the Czechoslovak government, according to the Beneš decrees.

Jewish population
The beginning of the Jewish settlement in Nikolsburg dates as far back as 1421, when Jews were expelled from Vienna and the neighboring province of Lower Austria by the duke of Austria, Albert II of Germany. The refugees settled in the town situated close to the Austrian border, some 85 km from the Austrian capital, under the protection of the princes of Liechtenstein. Additional settlers were brought after the expulsion of the Jews from the Moravian royal boroughs by King Ladislaus the Posthumous after 1454.

The settlement grew in importance, and in the first half of the 16th century, Nikolsburg became the seat of the regional rabbi of Moravia, thus becoming a cultural centre of Moravian Jewry. The famous rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, who is said to have created the golem of Prague, officiated here for twenty years as the second regional rabbi between 1553 and 1573. Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein, son of Adam von Dietrichstein, was a special protector of the Jews, whose taxes were considered necessary to finance the Thirty Years' War.

In the first half of the 18th century, the congregation in Nikolsburg totalled over 600 families, comprising the largest Jewish settlement in Moravia. The census decreed by Empress Maria Theresa in 1754 ascertained that there were some 620 families established in Nikolsburg (i.e. the Jewish population of about 3000 comprised half of the town's inhabitants). Only a small number of Jews could make their living in the town as artisans; the rest had to become merchants. The congregation suffered severely during the Silesian Wars between 1740 and 1763, when they had to furnish the monarchy with their share in the supertaxes exacted by the government of Maria Theresa from the Jews of Moravia.

Quite a number of Nikolsburg Jews continued to earn their livelihood in Vienna, where they were permitted to stay for some time on special passports. The freedom of residence, which was conceded to the Jews in Austria in 1848, reduced the number of resident Jews in Nikolsburg to less than one-third of the population it contained at the time of its highest development. In 1904, there were 749 Jewish residents in the town, out of a total population of 8,192. In 1938, prior to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the town population totaled about 8,000 mostly German-speaking inhabitants. Out of these, 472 were Jewish. The Jewish settlement in Nikolsbgurg ceased to exist during World War II, as only 110 managed to emigrate in time, and 327 of Mikulov's Jews did not survive the Holocaust. On 15 April 1945, 21 Hungarian Jewish prisoners working in a clay pit were massacred.

Economy
Mikulov is a centre of Czech wine-making due to its favorable geographic location and climate, as well as its unique history. Mikulov is the centre and the namesake of the Moravian wine sub-region called the Mikulovská wine region. Twelve registered cadastral vineyard tracts are situated within the Mikulov wine village as defined under the Czech Viticulture Act.

The largest employer with headquarters in Mikulov is Gebauer a Griller Kabeltechnik, a manufacturer of electric wires and cables. The company employs more than 1,000 people. The second notable industrial company is Copeland Czech, a manufacturer of piston compressors and condensing units with more than 250 employees.

Transport
In the south, there is the road border crossing Mikulov / Drasenhofen. The I/52 road is part of the European route E461 and is to be extended as the D52 motorway. The second main road in Mikulov is I/40, which splits from I/52 and connects Mikulov with Břeclav.

Mikulov is located on the railway line Znojmo–Břeclav.

Sights
The main sight is Mikulov Castle, which was originally built in the Romanesque style. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and again in the late 17th century in the Baroque style. The last major reconstruction was made after a fire in 1719. Today it is the seat of the Regional Museum in Mikulov.

The historic town square was founded in the late 16th century near the castle. It contains Renaissance houses from the first half of the 17th century. One of the most significant houses is the U Rytířů House decorated with sgraffito. In the middle of the square is a fountain from around 1700 and monumental Baroque Holy Trinity Column from 1723–1724.

In Mikulov there are several historic churches. The originally Romanesque Church of St. Wenceslaus was built in the early 15th century and includes an ossuary. The Baroque Church of St. John the Baptist was consecrated in 1679 and belonged to the Piarist College. The interior was decorated by painter Franz Anton Maulbertsch. The neo-Gothic Orthodox Church of St. Nicolas was built in 1903. On Svatý Kopeček Hill, there is the Chapel of St. Sebastian. The path to the chapel is lined by Stations of the Cross.

The history of the Jewish community can be observed by a trail through the old Jewish quarter. The synagogue, originally built in the 16th century and rebuilt as Baroque after a 1719 fire, is the only preserved synagogue in Moravia of the so-called Polish type. It houses an exposition on Rabbi Loew and Jewish education in Moravia. The large Jewish cemetery, one of the most significant in the country, was founded in the mid-15th century. It contains around 4,000 tombs, with the oldest preserved readable tomb dating from 1605.

Another important sight is the Dietrichstein tomb. It was originally the Church of Saint Anne, built as a copy of the Holy House of Loreto in 1623–1656. In the mid-19th century, it was converted into the family tomb of the Dietrichstein family.

Beginning in Mikulov, the Mikulov Wine Trail, measuring 62 km, winds throughout the Mikulovská wine region and is a feature of wine tourism in the area.

Born in Mikulov

 * Johann Ferdinand Hertodt (1645–1722), German physician and writer
 * Moses ben Avraham Avinu (?–1733/34), Moravian-Austrian printer and author
 * Jakab Fellner (1722–1780), German-Moravian Baroque architect
 * Joseph Antony Adolph (1729 – c. 1771), painter
 * Joseph von Sonnenfels (1732–1817), Austrian-German jurist and novelist
 * Anton Joseph Leeb (1769–1837), Mayor of Vienna (1835–1837)
 * Romeo Seligmann (1808–1892), Austrian physician and medical historian
 * Heinrich Landesmann (1821–1902), Austrian poet and philosophical writer
 * Heinrich Auspitz (1835–1886), Austrian dermatologist
 * Leopold Oser (1839–1910), Austrian physician
 * Elkan Bauer (1852–1942), Austrian composer
 * Max Pohl (1855–1935), Austrian actor
 * Erich Fritz Schweinburg (1890–1959), Austrian writer and attorney
 * Adolf Schärf (1890–1965), Austrian politician and President of Austria (1957–1965)
 * Manfred Ackermann (1898–1991), Austrian politician
 * Karel Krautgartner (1922–1982), musician

Resided in Mikulov

 * Balthasar Hubmaier (c. 1480–1528), German Anabaptist leader
 * Leonhard Schiemer (c. 1500–1528), Austrian Anabaptist writer
 * Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein (1596–1655), owner of the Mikulov estate
 * Aaron Samuel Kaidanover (1614–1676), Polish-Lithuanian rabbi
 * Joseph Almosnino (1642–1689), Greek-Serbian rabbi
 * Judah he-Hasid (1660–1700), Jewish preacher
 * Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin (1745–1815), Polish rabbi
 * Abraham Trebitsch (1760–1840), Austrian Jewish scholar
 * Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827), Polish rabbi
 * Abraham Neuda (1812–1854), Moravian rabbi
 * Joel Deutsch (1813–1899), Jewish writer and deaf educator
 * Simon Bacher (1823–1891), Hungarian Neo-Hebraic poet
 * Meyer Kayserling (1829–1905), German rabbi
 * Samuel Baeck (1834–1912), German rabbi
 * Karl Renner (1870–1950), Austrian politician, President of Austria (1945–1950)

Rabbis

 * Judah Loew ben Bezalel (c. 1553–1573)
 * Yom-Ṭob Lipmann Heller (1624– )
 * Menahem Mendel Krochmal (1648–1661)
 * Gershon Ashkenazi (1661– )
 * David Oppenheim (1690–1702)
 * Shmuel Shmelke (1772–1778)
 * Mordecai Benet (1789–1829)
 * Nahum Trebitsch (1831–1842)
 * Samson Raphael Hirsch (1847–1851)
 * Solomon Quetsch (1855–1856)
 * David Feuchtwang (1892–1903)

Twin towns – sister cities
Mikulov is twinned with:
 * 🇸🇰 Bardejov, Slovakia
 * 🇸🇰 Galanta, Slovakia
 * Katzrin, Golan Heights

 * 🇨🇿 Šumperk, Czech Republic
 * 🇵🇱 Tuchów, Poland

title: Mikulov


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Roberto Di Matteo

Roberto Di Matteo (born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player.

During his playing career as a midfielder. He played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau early in his career. After winning the Swiss league title with Aarau in 1992–1993, he joined Serie A team Lazio where he played under managers Dino Zoff and Zdeněk Zeman. After three seasons at Lazio, he joined Chelsea in 1996 for £4.9 million fee, a club record at the time. He retired as a player in February 2002 at the age of 31 following injury problems.

Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, he was capped 34 times for Italy, scoring two goals, and played in UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Di Matteo began his managerial career with Milton Keynes Dons, whom he took to the League One playoffs in 2008–09 before leaving to return West Bromwich Albion to the Premier League. As caretaker manager of Chelsea, he steered the club to double title success, winning both the FA Cup and the club's first UEFA Champions League title in 2012, but was dismissed later that year. He coached Schalke 04 for seven months in 2014–2015 and Aston Villa for four months in 2016.

Early career
Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland to Italian parents from Abruzzo, Di Matteo began his career with Swiss club Schaffhausen, before joining Aarau in 1991. He won the Swiss Nationalliga A with Aarau in 1993.

Lazio
He signed for Lazio in the summer of 1993 on a free transfer. Di Matteo became a regular starting-11 member of the Lazio side in midfield under managers Dino Zoff and later Zdeněk Zeman, and he made his debut for the Italy national team during his three seasons with the Rome club. Under Zeman, he was frequently deployed in the central midfield role, in which he was required to aid the team defensively – thanks to his formation as a sweeper during his youth – as well as offensively and creatively. During his time at the club, he developed into one of the top two-way central midfielders in Italy.

Chelsea
Di Matteo scored the winner against Middlesbrough on his home debut for Chelsea. His passing ability and accurate long-distance shooting saw him become one of the driving forces of Chelsea's resurgence in the late 1990s, along with several other Italian players. He contributed nine goals in his first season, including long-range efforts against both Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon. He helped the club finish sixth place in the league, their highest placing since 1989–90, and reach the 1997 FA Cup final at Wembley. Within 42 seconds of the kick-off of the final against Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the opening goal from 30 yards and Chelsea won 2–0. Di Matteo's goal was the fastest in a Wembley FA Cup final until the record was broken by Louis Saha for Everton in 2009.

The following season Di Matteo again proved his worth to the team, contributing ten goals and numerous assists, as Chelsea went on to claim the Football League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup, their first European honour since 1971. In the League Cup final, again against Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. Di Matteo played in midfield next to Gus Poyet, Dennis Wise and Dan Petrescu in the 1998–99 season as Chelsea finished third. During the 1999–2000 season Di Matteo was sidelined by injury but returned late in the season to score a handful of crucial goals, including his third Cup-winning goal at Wembley, once again in the FA Cup. In a dour match, Di Matteo capitalised on an error by Aston Villa goalkeeper David James to score the winner in the 72nd minute, handing Chelsea their fourth major trophy in three years. This led Di Matteo to comment on the old Wembley Stadium saying "It's a shame they're tearing the old place down it has been a very lucky ground for me".

Early into the 2000–01 season, Di Matteo sustained a triple leg fracture in a UEFA Cup tie against Swiss side St. Gallen and did not play for the next eighteen months. He gave up on hopes of returning from this injury in February 2002 and retired at the age of 31. In his six years at Chelsea, Di Matteo made 175 appearances and scored 26 goals.

International career
Di Matteo made his Italy debut under Arrigo Sacchi on 16 November 1994 in the Stadio La Favorita in Palermo. He came on as a 55th-minute substitute for Demetrio Albertini as Italy lost 2–1 to Croatia in qualification for UEFA Euro 1996. He made his first start in his second cap, a friendly 3–1 victory over Turkey on 21 December 1994 in the Stadio Adriatico in Pescara. Di Matteo played two of Italy's group matches in UEFA Euro 1996, against Russia and Germany. His first goal was scored on his 23rd cap, in qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, on 30 April 1997 in a 3–0 win against Poland in Naples. Di Matteo only scored one more goal for Italy, in a friendly win over Slovakia on 28 January 1998. He was a member of Italy's FIFA World Cup team in 1998 and played two of their group games, against Chile and Cameroon. The match against Cameroon in Montpellier was his last game for Italy; in total he made 34 caps for Italy between 1994 and 1998, scoring 2 goals.

Style of play
Under his Lazio managers Zeman and Dino Zoff, Di Matteo was frequently deployed in the central holding midfield role in the team's 4–3–3 formation, in which he was required to aid the team defensively, owing to his formation both as a sweeper and as a centre-back in a zonal defence during his youth in Switzerland. He was also important in helping his team offensively and creatively, functioning as a deep-lying playmaker for Lazio under Zeman, and helping to set the tempo of his team's play and create chances through his precise passing range, technique, control, finesse, composure, and vision; as such his role was often likened to that of a metodista ("centre-half," in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively. During his stint in Rome, he was regarded as one of the best two-way central midfielders in Italy, and was also later considered to be one of the top midfielders in the Premier League during his time in England, becoming a key player for Chelsea in the late 90s. Di Matteo was also capable of playing in a more offensive midfield roles, due to his ability to make forward surging runs, as well as his accurate long–range shot.

Milton Keynes Dons
On 2 July 2008, Di Matteo succeeded former England midfielder Paul Ince as manager of Milton Keynes Dons on a one-year contract, after Ince took the manager's job at Premier League club Blackburn Rovers. A club statement by the Dons said that both Di Matteo and the club were "young, ambitious and hungry to succeed". On 26 November that year, Di Matteo took former Chelsea teammate and Norwegian international striker Tore André Flo out of retirement by signing him on a contract until the end of the season. In his only season at Stadium MK, Di Matteo led his team to third place in League One behind Leicester City and Peterborough United. They then lost a play-off semi-final on penalties to Scunthorpe United, with Flo missing the decisive penalty in sudden death.

West Bromwich Albion
Di Matteo was appointed manager of West Bromwich Albion on 30 June 2009, shortly after their relegation from the Premier League and the exit of former manager Tony Mowbray to Celtic. His selection was unanimous among the club's board. In his first season, the team finished second in the Championship, behind Newcastle United, and won automatic promotion to the Premier League on 10 April with three games remaining after defeating Doncaster Rovers 3–2.

On the opening day of the 2010–11 Premier League season on 14 August 2010, Di Matteo paid a return visit to Stamford Bridge as head coach of West Bromwich Albion. He was well received by the home fans, but saw his side lose 6–0 to Chelsea. Better results in following matches led to the best start in a Premier League season by the club, and Di Matteo was also named Premier League Manager of the Month for September 2010. During December 2010 and January 2011, the club had a period of poor form, winning only two of ten matches. After a 0–3 defeat to Manchester City on 5 February 2011, he was relieved of his duties with immediate effect, and first-team coach Michael Appleton was appointed caretaker manager. West Bromwich Albion finished the season in eleventh position.

2011–12
Di Matteo was appointed assistant to André Villas-Boas, the new manager of Chelsea, on 29 June 2011. On 4 March 2012, following the dismissal of Villas-Boas, Di Matteo became caretaker manager of Chelsea until the end of the season. Shortly after his appointment, Di Matteo brought in former Chelsea teammate Eddie Newton to work as his assistant. Di Matteo started his stewardship of Chelsea in winning form, with victories over Birmingham City, in a fifth round FA Cup match; Stoke City in a Premier League fixture; and Napoli in the last 16 second leg match in the UEFA Champions League, winning 4–1 to overturn the deficit in the first leg which Villas-Boas' Chelsea had lost 3–1.

Di Matteo continued his form with Chelsea, by beating Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semi-final 5–1 at Wembley and Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals. On 24 April 2012, Di Matteo led Chelsea to a 3–2 aggregate win over holders Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semi-final, winning 1–0 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, and following this with a 2–2 draw in the second leg at the Camp Nou despite having captain John Terry sent off in the first half. On 5 May, Chelsea won 2–1 against Liverpool in the 2012 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, to win their first trophy in the 2011–12 season.

On 19 May 2012, Di Matteo guided Chelsea to victory in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, defeating Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. The match had ended 1–1 after extra time with Chelsea coming out victorious in the penalty shootout. This was Chelsea's first Champions League title, and qualified them for the 2012–13 Champions League, in place of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. With this win Chelsea also became the first London club to win the Champions League.

2012–13

On 13 June 2012, Chelsea announced that Di Matteo had been appointed manager and first-team coach on a permanent basis signing a two-year contract with the club. Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: 'Although he (Di Matteo) has set the bar very high in the short time he has been in charge, we know that Roberto is the right man to lead Chelsea onto further success.' Gourlay added: 'We are already looking forward to the 2012–13 season which kicks off when Roberto, his staff and players return for pre-season.' Chelsea lost in the 2012 FA Community Shield to Manchester City 2–3. His team started the 2012–13 Premier League well, with victories against Wigan Athletic, Reading, and Newcastle United. They lost the 2012 UEFA Super Cup 4–1 to Atlético Madrid in Monaco on 1 September. The good early season form continued with four successive Premier League wins against Stoke City, Arsenal, Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur.

In the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, Chelsea drew 2–2 with Juventus and beat Danish club Nordsjælland 4–0 away. Their form declined after this, however, losing to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and to Manchester United at home in the Premier League. Chelsea's chances of advancing through their Champions League group were raised with a 3–2 home victory against leaders Shakhtar, but on 21 November 2012, Di Matteo was sacked following their 3–0 away loss to Juventus in the Champions League, which all but eliminated them from the competition. Di Matteo had lasted just eight months as manager of Chelsea despite winning two major trophies, causing the decision to be controversial with many pundits and club fans. Later that day, Rafael Benítez was brought in as Chelsea's interim manager until the end of the season.

In November 2013, it was reported that Di Matteo was still being paid £130,000-a-week by Chelsea because the two parties had never agreed on a pay-off settlement and that he would continue to be paid in full until June 2014 unless he took another job before then.

Schalke 04
On 7 October 2014, Di Matteo was hired as the successor to Jens Keller at Schalke 04. At that point, Schalke sat 11th in the Bundesliga and had already been eliminated from the DFB-Pokal. Di Matteo was the third Italian head coach in the history of the Bundesliga, preceded by Giovanni Trapattoni and Nevio Scala.

He won his first match 2–0 against Hertha Berlin on 18 October, with goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Julian Draxler. Schalke advanced from their Champions League group, with Max Meyer scoring the only goal in their final group match away to NK Maribor on 10 December. On 10 March 2015, Schalke defeated Real Madrid 4–3 in Madrid. However, Schalke lost 2–0 in the first leg on 18 February and 5–4 on aggregate. He resigned on 26 May 2015 after the team qualified for the UEFA Europa League by finishing sixth, following a run of two wins in ten matches which cost them a place in the Champions League.

Aston Villa
On 2 June 2016, Di Matteo was appointed the manager of newly relegated Championship club Aston Villa, working under the new chairman Tony Xia and Keith Wyness. Di Matteo's former Chelsea teammate Steve Clarke was appointed as his assistant on the same day. On 3 October 2016, Di Matteo was sacked as manager after a string of poor results culminating in a 2–0 defeat at Preston North End.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
On 4 January 2023, Di Matteo was appointed as a technical advisor to the South Korean football club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Personal life
Di Matteo is married, the name of his wife is Zoe, and they have three children.

In 2005, he appeared on the MTV show, Footballer's Cribs, where he spoke about his injury and subsequent physiotherapy.

Player
Aarau
 * Nationalliga A: 1992–93

Chelsea
 * FA Cup: 1996–97, 1999–2000
 * Football League Cup: 1997–98
 * FA Charity Shield: 2000
 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1997–98
 * UEFA Super Cup: 1998

Manager
West Bromwich Albion Chelsea
 * Football League Championship runner-up: 2009–10
 * FA Cup: 2011–12
 * UEFA Champions League: 2011–12

Individual
 * Premier League Manager of the Month: September 2010
 * Swiss Sports Awards Coach of the Year: 2012
 * LMA FA Cup Manager of the Year: 2012
 * League One Manager of the Month: November 2008

title: Roberto Di Matteo


text:
Talk:Dahu

Untitled
It is not a "lizard-like creature" but an "izard-like creature". Izard is a variety of the chamois found in the Pyrenees. Correction made in the main page. Dom 15:20, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It might be that the dahu comes from basque mythology, but it seems that the region where this legend is most alive is the french alpine region around Grenoble. The dahu there looks most often like a chamois. --Philipum 11:38, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Do we really have to spread this hoax further? The nearly serious treatment it gets on fr:Dahu is already too much, IMHO. Lupo 11:58, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
 * From experience, I've learned that those who say "in my humble opinion" are actually not humble at all, but are merely pointing out that they think other people should be humbled by his or her "fascinating" opinion. Just because something is a hoax, that doesn't mean it's not notable. In fact, creatures like the jackalope get more attention and space devoted to them than the dahu does.67.167.26.239 22:19, 16 January 2007 (UTC) Chris G.
 * is it a hoax or genuine folklore? From the references, it could be just a website, but if it is real folklore from around Grenoble, we should keep the article. But we need a (printed) reference. dab (ᛏ) 07:57, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
 * I grew up in the Grenoble region, and I can assure you that this is genuine folklore. As a child, my parents brought me to several "dahut hunts" (which basically involve running around in the snow lots, and then the grown-ups drinking a lot of mulled wine). I also remember that there used to be a disco called "Le Dahut". There is some contention on the spelling (with or without trailing t), but Google already brings up quite a number of mentions. I haven't read a book about it myself, but there are several in French as a search in Amazon.fr will reveal: http://amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_w/403-9719628-4380438?__mk_fr_FR=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dahu. Several of those are just guides to the Grenoble region. --Darobin 2007-05-07.

 * dahu exists even in italia ;D Alvaro
 * a lot of people know this story of "dahut", in france, not just in grenoble. Alvaro 05:11, 2005 May 29 (UTC)

Is the Dahu really a creature of basque mythology?
I have serious doubts whereas the Dahu comes from Basque mythology. Actually, I am not sure it can enter into the category mythology: Folklore or even Joke would be more appropriate. Are there people who really believe in the Dahu, except children? --Philipum 6 July 2005 11:29 (UTC)

The dahu legend was born in the alps mountains so it is common with people from france, switzerland and italy. It has become a popular prank when go sking.

Dahut and Dahu
The mythical animal has nothing to do with the Breton princess. After the drowning of Ys, Dahut is transformed into a meremaid.--Arskoul (talk) 21:43, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
 * When you says Dahut became a mermaid after the drowning of Ys, I agree with you but, firstly, the association between the princess and the animal be part of the modern folklore (and not the ancient legends, as the legend of Ys) and, secondly, this story don't says when Dahut was transformed into that animal. And I add I heard it, in French, of course, before reading this article. Nicolas.le-guen (talk) 23:30, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

@Lupo, who is not well-informed
What's our folklore. I'm from the French Alps. Dahut hunting is a famous joke, but this legendary animal is really part of our history and folklore, I was told often tales about the Dahut from my grand-mother. A humourous legend, but not a hoax.

I don't understand people who are ignorant of this legend and claim it took too much place on wikipedia. Dahu are in every French encyclopedia, so it doesn't desserve a place in Wikipedia. Some people are too self-assured.

I add some references:

[user: DePAssage] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.168.223.232 (talk) 21:08, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Description
The second half of the "Description" section desperately needs inline citations, and some copy-editing. I rewrote the first half, which seemed to be almost word-for-word lifted from the source I added, but I can find no backup for the assertions made in the second half, and may delete it if it references are not added. Matuko (talk) 17:07, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Dahu


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Grae Phillips

 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 16:27, Mar 6, 2005 (UTC)

Grae Phillips
Drag queen entertainer, with an own website that isn't very googleworthy. Even if s/he would be notable, the current article is very non-encyclo. Radiant! 15:21, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete as spam. Miss Pippa 18:07, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Good heavens! A man that dresses as a woman! Who has ever heard of such a thing? Delete until she gets at least near the fame of Lady Bunny or RuPaul. HyperZonktalk 18:36, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - it's a drag queen, big whoop. Smells like an ad. -- Cyrius|✎ 00:14, 1 Mar 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:
Talk:Jane Dornacker

Helicopter accident
The helicopter didn't "stall" there was a mechanical failure of the main rotor. The NTSB accident report is available at:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X35064&key=1

Better wording might be to say: "when the helicopter sufferend mechanical failure in mid broadcast and crashed"

--Boren 18:33, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

from Vfd
On 18 Feb 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was keep. See Votes for deletion/Jane Dornacker for a record of the discussion.

Fair use rationale for Image:LeilaAndTheSnakes BackCover.png
Image:LeilaAndTheSnakes BackCover.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:18, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Possible copyright violation
The entire article appears to contain most of the same text as this page. --Zippy (talk) 08:40, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:Jane Dornacker


text: User talk:83.103.233.149

title: User talk:83.103.233.149


text:
Love Music Hate Racism

Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) is a music-oriented antiracism campaign based in Britain. The campaign aims to bring people together and promote unity through the power of music. LMHR was born in the tradition of the Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement of the late 1970s. The campaign held many successful festivals in the early 2000s such as a Victoria Park carnival and at Stoke Britannia Stadium, at which tens of thousands of people attended and international artists performed.

It is closely associated with Unite Against Fascism (UAF)/Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), the successors of the Anti-Nazi League (ANL); ANL co-founder Paul Holborow described LMHR, UAF and SUTR as "stand[ing] in [the ANL's] tradition."

Organisation
LMHR is a broad based campaign made up of antiracism campaigners, musicians, music industry professionals and educators. It has local groups in towns and cities around Britain. Its current spokespeople include Atlantic Records VP Paul Samuels, and in the past have included its convener and national organiser Martin Smith  and Zak Cochrane.

History
LMHR was set up in 2002 in response to the perceived increase in support for the far right British National Party. The first big LMHR concert was a festival in Manchester's Platt Fields Park, headlined by Doves and Ms. Dynamite.

Over the years it has gained the support of several acts in the UK of varying genres, including rock acts such as Ed Sheeran, Pete Doherty and Blood Red Shoes, grime acts like Roll Deep and Lowkey,  punk rock acts like the King Blues, and jazz musicians like Courtney Pine. Due to this breadth and due to the organisation's belief that society's diversity is reflected in music, most LMHR concerts include several music genres.

In October 2007 LMHR ran a campaign in the music magazine, NME. In December 2007 the campaign announced that it would mark the 30th anniversary of the RAR/ANL carnival and procession with a similar event in Victoria Park on 27 April 2008.

The singer Morrissey donated money to the organisation in 2007 and again in 2008 to enable its Victoria Park event to go ahead, although in 2010 LMHR spokesperson Martin Smith said it would no longer accept his donations after he made an allegedly racist comment about Chinese people.

In 2018, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Kate Osamor and other prominent figures signed a statement calling for support for the organisation, alongside its sibling organisations Unite Against Fascism and Stand Up To Racism.

Love Music Hate Racism is launching a campaign called '#BeautifulResistance' to run for a fortnight between 8–22 March 2019 involving co-ordinated activities across the music industry including music labels, promoters, venues, music press, festivals, footballers, artists, managers and more.

title: Love Music Hate Racism


text: File:DivinylsAlbumcover.jpg

title: File:DivinylsAlbumcover.jpg


text:
Talk:Needville Harvest Festival

from Vfd
On 18 Feb 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was redirect to Needville, Texas. See Votes for deletion/Needville Harvest Festival for a record of the discussion.

title: Talk:Needville Harvest Festival


text:
Mâäk's Spirit

Mâäk’s Spirit is a Belgian avant-gardist jazz band. They recorded their first album live in Ghent in 1998. The band was then composed of Jeroen Van Herzeele (alto saxophone), Laurent Blondiau (trumpet and flugelhorn), Salvatore La Rocca (double bass) and Hans Van Oosterhout (drums). For the next two albums, the line-up changed to :
 * Jeroen Van Herzeele (tenor saxophone)
 * Laurent Blondiau (trumpet)
 * Michel Massot (tubas, trombone)
 * Jean-Yves Evrard (guitar)
 * Otti Van Der Werf (acoustic bass)
 * Eric Thielemans (drums)

Discography

 * "Live" (1998)
 * "Le nom du vent" (2003)
 * "Al Majmaâ" featuring Gnawa Express de Tanger and Baba Sissoko (2004)

title: Mâäk's Spirit


text:
Picea orientalis

Picea orientalis, commonly known as the Oriental spruce or Caucasian spruce, is a species of spruce native to the Caucasus and adjacent northeast Turkey.

Description
It is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 30–45 m tall or 98–145 feet (exceptionally to 57 m), and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m (exceptionally up to 4 m). The Caucasian Spruce can also be found in Northern Iran, though its numbers have decreased due to deforestation.

The shoots are buff-brown and moderately pubescent (hairy). The leaves are needle-like, the shortest of any spruce, 6–8 mm long, rhombic in cross-section, dark green with inconspicuous stomatal lines. The cones are slender cylindric-conic, 5–9 cm long and 1.5 cm broad, red to purple when young, maturing dark brown 5–7 months after pollination, and have stiff, smoothly rounded scales.

Cultivation
It is a popular ornamental tree in large gardens, valued in northern Europe and the USA for its attractive foliage and ability to grow on a wide range of soils. It is also grown to a small extent in forestry for Christmas trees, timber and paper production, though its slower growth compared to Norway spruce reduces its importance outside of its native range. P. orientalis and the cultivars 'Aurea' and ‘Skylands’ have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. A frequently seen ornamental cultivar is Picea orientalis 'Aureospicata', which has gold-coloured young foliage in the spring.

title: Picea orientalis


text:
User talk:BoHawk

Welcome to the Wikipedia
I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library
 * Utilities
 * Cite your sources
 * Verifiability
 * Wikiquette
 * Civility
 * Conflict resolution
 * Neutral point of view
 * Pages needing attention
 * Peer review
 * Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense
 * Brilliant prose
 * Featured pictures
 * Boilerplate text
 * Current polls
 * Mailing lists
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Feel free to contact me personally with any questions you might have. About, Help desk, and Village pump are also a place to go for answers to general questions. To read up on the latest wikinews, have a look at the Wikipedia Signpost. You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

(Sam Spade | talk | contributions) 15:29, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:BoHawk


text:
Stan Newens

Arthur Stanley Newens (4 February 1930 – 2 March 2021) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1983, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999.

Born in Bethnal Green, Newens was educated at Buckhurst Hill County High School. He died in March 2021 at the age of 91.

Career
Newens was a conscientious objector during National Service and worked as a coalminer in Staffordshire. He graduated in History from University College London, and became a schoolteacher. In 1949 he joined the Labour Party, and was still a member. At UCL, he met Anil Moonesinghe, a Sri Lankan Trotskyist, who was later to become a Cabinet Minister in Sri Lanka, and joined the Socialist Review Group led by Tony Cliff, a former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), which later became the Socialist Workers Party (SWP); he left this group in 1959. He held several posts in the National Union of Teachers and was chairman of the Movement for Colonial Freedom and president of the London Co-operative Society.

Newens subsequently represented two Essex constituencies as a Labour MP. He was elected for Epping in 1964, and lost the seat in 1970. In 1974, he became the first MP for Harlow, but lost the seat in the Conservative landslide of 1983. Following this, he became an MEP for the London Central constituency in 1984, which he served until 1999. He stood for Harlow again in 1987, but was not successful in being re-elected to the House of Commons.

He held several senior positions, including Vice Chair of the PLP Foreign Affairs Group and Chair and Deputy Leader of the Labour Group of MEPs. He was generally seen as a prominent left-winger, campaigning against the Vietnam War and for other international causes.

Other work
Newens was an active trade unionist, and wrote numerous pamphlets and books, including The Case Against Nato (1972), Third World: Change or Chaos (1977), A History of Struggle: 50th Anniversary of Liberation, formerly the Movement for Colonial Freedom (2004) and Nicolae Ceausescu: The Man, His Ideas and His Socialist Achievements (1972). He was also a local historian of Essex and East London; his book "A History of North Weald Bassett and Its People" was published in 1985, and his study of writer Arthur Morrison was published in Loughton in 2008.

His autobiography, In Quest of a Fairer Society: My Life and Politics, was published in November 2013 by The Memoir Club.

Publications

 * Talking with Nicolae Ceaușescu : an interview with Stan Newens (1982). London : London Co-operative Society Political Committee.
 * Nicolae Ceaușescu: the man, his ideas and his socialist achievements (1972). Presented by Stan Newens. Nottingham : Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation.
 * The case against N.A.T.O.: the danger of the nuclear alliances (1972). London.
 * A history of North Weald Bassett and its people (1985). Stan Newens. North Weald : Nuclear Printing Co.
 * Nicolae Ceaușescu: The Man, his ideas, and his Socialist Achievements (1972). Stan Newens. Spokesman Books.
 * The memoirs of an old East-Ender Arthur Ernest Newens (1899-1977); edited with an introduction by Stan Newens. (2006). Harlow : A.S. Newens.
 * Working together : a short history of the London Co-op Society Political Committee (1988). Stan Newens. London : CRS London Political Committee.
 * Arthur Morrison : the novelist of realism in East London and Essex (2008). Stan Newens. Loughton : Alderton.
 * The Kurds - a people's struggle for peace and justice (1994). Liberation.
 * Leah Manning (1991). Ron Bill and Stan Newens. Harlow : Leah Manning Trust in association with Square One Books.

title: Stan Newens


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Grant Park Neighborhood Association

 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. Rossami (talk) 01:07, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Grant Park Neighborhood Association
Very localized club, relevant only if you live in a certain neighborhood of Atlanta. Radiant! 15:33, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable. Miss Pippa 18:01, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - neighborhood associations fall below my personal bar of granularity. -- Cyrius|✎ 00:12, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Perfectly good local content article. --Gene_poole 00:46, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * A sentence and a link does not make a good article, delete --nixie 01:37, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Local information is relevant. Furthermore, this article could be expanded. Andrew pmk 01:28, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, notablility not established. There are literally millions, maybe tens of millions, of such associations. Some of them are notable. Nothing in this article indicates why this one would be. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:20, Mar 5, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not sufficiently notable in an encyclopedic sense. Jonathunder 05:06, 2005 Mar 8 (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:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Granges

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

Comment: The lack of civility demonstrated by a few members in this discussion thread is disturbing. Please remember to assume good faith. Rossami (talk) 01:04, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Granges
Small-time localized political party that never amounted to anything much. Now defunct. Since the word googles a lot, this article might be better spent discussing something else entirely. Radiant! 15:34, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Maybe, since we can always look them up in Britannica instead. Kappa 16:54, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Grange movement. Kappa 16:57, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * I agree. Redirect. Miss Pippa 18:03, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge and Redirect to Grange movement. This article appears to have at least a little bit of expanded information. Ah, what the heck, I'll do the merge hopefully by the time you have read this. HyperZonktalk 18:39, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment: In fact, in doing research for the merged information, I found that there are substantive errors in this article. Merge (of correct information) is now complete. HyperZonktalk 19:09, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Thank you Zonk. Kappa 00:39, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * I love the comment "never amounted to much." :) I hope the nominator isn't American. If so, it's quite an embarassment.-- Decumanus 01:20, 2005 Mar 1 (UTC)
 * Nope, I'm not. That was because of this line, "Eventually farmers lost interest because of the failure of most of the legislation the Granges proposed." Radiant! 08:22, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
 * Well that's a relief! -- Decumanus 08:39, 2005 Mar 1 (UTC)
 * Actually the Granges were an important and influential movement, and still around today...but they are already covered in another article. Merge and redirect to Grange movement. Kaibabsquirrel 03:12, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Obviously, redirect. A textbook example of how not to demonstrate notability in an article. "Napoleon was a Corsican corporal who later was active in French politics." -- Jmabel | Talk 01:23, Mar 5, 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect, I wish radiant! would actually check rather than just delete everything. Bluemoose 20:35, 12 Mar 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.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Granges


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Grateful Dead Concerts 1965

 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 16:23, Mar 6, 2005 (UTC)

Grateful Dead Concerts 1965
Apart from the fact that this article is a calender and doensn't contain any information - I believe it's established by now that tours of a band do not generally deserve separate articles? Radiant! 15:36, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Some editors feel that a not-yet-started tour of a not-very-notable lip-synching performer is article-worthy; see Votes_for_deletion/Ashlee_Simpson_U.S._tour%2C_2005. However, the result of that VfD was delete, which is how I must vote this time, despite being a fan of the band in question.  The Dead were noteworthy; the Deadhead fan phenomenon was perhaps more noteworthy than anything else of the sort; but a list of concerts, even ones that already happened verifiably, is not encyclopedic by WP's standards.  Barno 20:22, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. It's just links to pages that haven't been created yet. Miss Pippa 17:58, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. There used to be several dozen of these pages, but the rest were deleted some months ago. - SimonP 21:37, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - not an article, list of links to articles which do not exist and have not been created in the five months since the list was made. -- Cyrius|✎ 00:08, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * As an additional comment, I would have speedy deleted this as little/no context or definition. -- Cyrius|✎ 00:11, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment, had the person connected all these links and actually made all this sub-article pages, then what would the consensus be? -- Riffsyphon1024 00:15, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Interesting question. Personally I'd have voted for merging the lot of them. Because the descriptions of all the concerts are likely to be very similar, and even most fans wouldn't care to compare most of them for details. Radiant! 08:43, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete--nixie 01:48, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, a list of empty links - not very useful or encyclopaedic. Megan1967 04:09, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Foobaz · ✐  04:11, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, fancruft. Delete it before all those red links get filled in.  RickK 06:03, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. It would be nice if, upon its completion, a reader could find a list of every single Grateful Dead concert that ever took place here. What is gained by such an article's deletion? 141.225.146.182 21:55, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Long lists of trivia aren't encyclopedic. Radiant! 08:43, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. sounds cool to me how about doing the later tours too?
 * If you would like your vote to count, you'll have to log in and sign with ~ . Foobaz · ✐  02:41, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Nothing against the Dead (hey, I like "Uncle John's Band"), but this is not encyclopedic.   — Gwalla | Talk 04:50, 2 Mar 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.