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Betula papyrifera

Betula papyrifera (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch ) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named after the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper-like layers from the trunk. Paper birch is often one of the first species to colonize a burned area within the northern latitudes, and is an important species for moose browsing. Primary commercial uses for paper birch wood are as boltwood and sawlogs, while secondary products include firewood and pulpwood. It is the provincial tree of Saskatchewan and the state tree of New Hampshire.

Description
Betula papyrifera is a medium-sized deciduous tree typically reaching 66 ft tall, and exceptionally to 130 ft with a trunk up to 30 in in diameter. Within forests, it often grows with a single trunk but when grown as a landscape tree it may develop multiple trunks or branch close to the ground.

Paper birch is a typically short-lived species. It handles heat and humidity poorly and may live only 30 years in zones six and up, while trees in colder-climate regions can grow for more than 100 years. B. papyrifera will grow in many soil types, from steep rocky outcrops to flat muskegs of the boreal forest. Best growth occurs in deeper, well drained to dry soils, depending on the location.

 * In older trees, the bark is white, commonly brightly so, flaking in fine horizontal strips to reveal a pinkish or salmon-colored inner bark. It often has small black marks and scars. In individuals younger than five years, the bark appears a brown red color with white lenticels, making the tree much harder to distinguish from other birches. The bark is highly weather-resistant. It has a high oil content and this gives it its waterproof and weather-resistant characteristics. Often, the wood of a downed paper birch will rot away, leaving the hollow bark intact.
 * The leaves are dark green and smooth on the upper surface; the lower surface is often pubescent on the veins. They are alternately arranged on the stem, oval to triangular in shape, 4 - 10 cm long and about two-thirds as wide. The leaf is rounded at the base and tapering to an acutely pointed tip. The leaves have a doubly serrated margin with relatively sharp teeth. Each leaf has a petiole about 2.5 cm long that connects it to the stems.
 * The fall color is a bright yellow color that contributes to the bright colors within the northern deciduous forest.
 * The leaf buds are conical and small and green-colored with brown edges.
 * The stems are a reddish-brown color and may be somewhat hairy when young.
 * The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins; the female flowers are greenish and 3.8 cm long growing from the tips of twigs. The male (staminate) flowers are 2-4 in long and a brownish color. The tree flowers from mid-April to June depending on location. Paper birch is monoecious, meaning that one plant has both male and female flowers.
 * The fruit matures in the fall. The mature fruit is composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts. They drop between September and spring. At 15 years of age, the tree will start producing seeds but will be in peak seed production between 40 and 70 years. The seed production is irregular, with a heavy seed crop produced typically every other year and with at least some seeds being produced every year. In average seed years, 1000000 /acre are produced, but in bumper years 35000000 /acre may be produced. The seeds are light and blow in the wind to new areas; they also may blow along the surface of snow.
 * The roots are generally shallow and occupy the upper 24 in of the soil and do not form taproots. High winds are more likely to break the trunk than to uproot the tree.

Genetics and taxonomy
B. papyrifera hybridizes with other species within the genus Betula.

Several varieties are recognized:
 * B. p. var papyrifera the typical paper birch
 * B. p. var cordifolia the eastern paper birch (now a separate species); see Betula cordifolia
 * B. p. var kenaica Alaskan paper birch (also treated as a separate species by some authors); see Betula kenaica
 * B. p. var subcordata Northwestern paper birch
 * B. p. var. neoalaskana Alaska paper birch (although this is often treated as a separate species); see Betula neoalaskana

Distribution
Betula papyrifera is mostly confined to Canada and the far northern United States. It is found in interior (var. humilus) and south-central (var. kenaica) Alaska and in all provinces and territories of Canada, except Nunavut, as well as the far northern continental United States. Isolated patches are found as far south as the Hudson Valley of New York and Pennsylvania, northern Connecticut, and Washington. High elevation stands are also in mountains to North Carolina, New Mexico, and Colorado. The most southerly stand in the Western United States is located in Long Canyon in the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. This is an isolated Pleistocene relict that most likely reflects the southern reach of boreal vegetation into the area during the last Ice Age.

Ecology
In Alaska, paper birch often naturally grows in pure stands by itself or with black or white spruce. In the eastern and central regions of its range, it is often associated with red spruce and balsam fir. It may also be associated with big-toothed aspen, yellow birch, Betula populifolia, and maples.

Shrubs often associated with paper birch in the eastern part of its range include beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta), common bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), dwarf bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), raspberries and blackberries (Rubus spp.), elderberry (Sambucus spp.), and hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium).

Successional relationships

Betula papyrifera is a pioneer species, meaning it is often one of the first trees to grow in an area after other trees are removed by some sort of disturbance. Typical disturbances colonized by paper birch are wildfire, avalanche, or windthrow areas where the wind has blown down all trees. When it grows in these pioneer, or early successional, woodlands, it often forms stands of trees where it is the only species.

Paper birch is considered well adapted to fires because it recovers quickly by means of reseeding the area or regrowth from the burned tree. The lightweight seeds are easily carried by the wind to burned areas, where they quickly germinate and grow into new trees. Paper birch is adapted to ecosystems where fires occur every 50 to 150 years For example, it is frequently an early invader after fire in black spruce boreal forests. As paper birch is a pioneer species, finding it within mature or climax forests is rare because it will be overcome by trees that are more shade-tolerant as secondary succession progresses.

For example, in Alaskan boreal forests, a paper birch stand 20 years after a fire may have 3000 - 6000 /acre, but after 60 to 90 years, the number of trees will decrease to 500 - 800 /acre as spruce replaces the birch. After approximately 75 years, the birch will start dying and by 125 years, most paper birch will have disappeared unless another fire burns the area.

Paper birch trees themselves have varied reactions to wildfire. A group, or stand, of paper birch is not particularly flammable. The canopy often has a high moisture content and the understory is often lush green. As such, conifer crown fires often stop once they reach a stand of paper birch or become slower-moving ground fires. Since these stands are fire-resistant, they may become seed trees to reseed the area around them that was burned. However, in dry periods, paper birch is flammable and will burn rapidly. As the bark is flammable, it often will burn and may girdle the tree.

Wildlife
Birch bark is a winter staple food for moose. The nutritional quality is poor because of the large quantities of lignin, which make digestion difficult, but is important to wintering moose because of its sheer abundance. Moose prefer paper birch over aspen, alder, and balsam poplar, but they prefer willow (Salix spp.) over birch and the other species listed. Although moose consume large amounts of paper birch in the winter, if they were to eat only paper birch, they may starve.

Although white-tailed deer consider birch a "secondary-choice food," it is an important dietary component. In Minnesota, white-tailed deer eat considerable amounts of paper birch leaves in the fall. Snowshoe hares browse paper birch seedlings, and grouse eat the buds. Porcupines and beavers feed on the inner bark. The seeds of paper birch are an important part of the diet of many birds and small mammals, including chickadees, redpolls, voles, and ruffed grouse. Yellow bellied sapsuckers drill holes in the bark of paper birch to get at the sap; this is one of their favorite trees for feeding on.

Conservation
As of 2023, the conservation status of paper birch is considered of least concern according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, the species is considered vulnerable in Indiana and Nebraska, imperiled in Illinois, Virginia, and West Virginia, and critically imperiled in Colorado and Tennessee. These areas represent the southerly and southwesterly edge of the paper birch's range.

Uses

Betula papyrifera has a moderately heavy white wood. It makes excellent high-yielding firewood if seasoned properly. The dried wood has a density of 37.4 lb/ft3 and an energy density 20300000 btu/cord. Although paper birch does not have a very high overall economic value, it is used in furniture, flooring, popsicle sticks, pulpwood (for paper), plywood, and oriented strand board. The wood can also be made into spears, bows, arrows, snowshoes, sleds, and other items. When used as pulp for paper, the stems and other nontrunk wood are lower in quantity and quality of fibers, and consequently the fibers have less mechanical strength; nonetheless, this wood is still suitable for use in paper.

The sap is boiled down to produce birch syrup. The raw sap contains 0.9% carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose) as compared to 2 percent to 3 percent within sugar maple sap. The sap flows later in the season than maples. Currently, only a few small-scale operations in Alaska and Yukon produce birch syrup from this species.

Bark
Its bark is an excellent fire starter; it ignites at high temperatures even when wet. The bark has an energy density of 5740 cal/g and 3209 cal/cm3, the highest per unit weight of 24 species tested.

Birch bark is used in a number of crafts by various Native American tribes (e.g. Ojibwe). In the Ashinaabe language birch bark is called wiigwaas. Panels of bark can be fitted or sewn together to make cartons and boxes. The bark is also used to create a durable waterproof layer in the construction of sod-roofed houses. Many indigenous groups (i.e., Wabanaki peoples) use birchbark for making various items, such as canoes, containers, and wigwams. It is also used as a backing for porcupine quillwork and moosehair embroidery. Thin sheets can be employed as a medium for the art of birchbark biting.

Plantings
Paper birch is planted to reclaim old mines and other disturbed sites, often bare-root or small saplings are planted when this is the goal. Since paper birch is an adaptable pioneer species, it is a prime candidate for reforesting drastically disturbed areas.

Paper birch is frequently planted as an ornamental because of its graceful form and attractive bark. The bark changes to the white color at about 3 years of growth. Paper birch grows best in USDA zones 2–6, due to its intolerance of high temperatures. Betula nigra, or river birch, is recommended for warm-climate areas warmer than zone 6, where paper birch is rarely successful. B. papyrifera is more resistant to the bronze birch borer than Betula pendula, which is similarly planted as a landscape tree.

Pests
Bronze birch borer is a major pest among birch species. Under repeated infestation or stress to the tree from other sources, bronze birch borers may kill the tree. The insect bores into the sapwood, beginning at the top of the tree and causing death of the tree crown. The insect has a D-shaped emergence hole where it chews out of the tree. Healthy trees are resistant to the borer, but when grown in less than ideal conditions, the defense mechanisms of the tree may not function properly. Chemical controls exist.

Birch skeletonizers are moths which lay their eggs on the surfaces of birch leaves. Upon hatching, the larvae feed on the undersides of the leaves and cause browning.

Birch leafminer is a species of sawfly and a common pest that feeds from the inside of the leaf and causes the leaf to turn brown. It was introduced to the United States in the 1920s. The first generation appears in May but there will be several generations per year. Severe infestations may stress the tree and make it more vulnerable to the bronze birch borer.

title: Betula papyrifera


text: User talk:65.102.191.234

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

title: User talk:65.102.191.234


text:
Ginga (satellite)

ASTRO-C, renamed Ginga (Japanese for 'galaxy'), was an X-ray astronomy satellite launched from the Kagoshima Space Center on 5 February 1987 using M-3SII launch vehicle. The primary instrument for observations was the Large Area Counter (LAC). Ginga was the third Japanese X-ray astronomy mission, following Hakucho and Tenma (also Hinotori satellite - which preceded Ginga - had X-ray sensors, but it can be seen as a heliophysics rather than X-ray astronomy mission). Ginga reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 1 November 1991.

Instruments

 * Large Area Proportional Counter (LAC 1.5-37 keV)
 * All-Sky Monitor (ASM 1-20 keV)
 * Gamma-ray Burst Detector (GBD 1.5-500 keV)

Highlights

 * Discovery of transient Black Hole Candidates and study of their spectral evolution.
 * Discovery of weak transients in the galactic ridge.
 * Detection of cyclotron features in 3 X-ray pulsars: 4U1538-522, V0332+53, and Cep X-4.
 * Evidence for emission and absorption Fe feature in Seyfert probing reprocessing by cold matter.
 * Discovery of intense 6-7 keV iron line emission from the Galactic Center region.

title: Ginga (satellite)


text:
Rex Whistler

Reginald John "Rex" Whistler (24 June 1905 – 18 July 1944) was a British artist, who painted murals and society portraits, and designed theatrical costumes. He was killed in action in Normandy in World War II. Whistler was the brother of poet and artist Laurence Whistler.

Biography
Reginald John Whistler was born in England on 24 June 1905, in Eltham, Kent (now part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich), the son of architect and estate agent Henry Whistler and Helen Frances Mary, the daughter of Rev. Charles Slegg Ward, vicar of Wootton St Lawrence, and through her mother a descendant of the goldsmith and silversmith Paul Storr.

His best known work during the early part of his career was for the former café at the Tate Gallery, completed in 1927 when he was only 22, but now viewed as problematic for stereotyped depictions of black and Chinese figures. He was commissioned to produce posters and illustrations for Shell Petroleum and the Radio Times. He also created designs for Wedgwood china based on drawings he made of the Devon village of Clovelly, and costumes "after Hogarth" for the premiere production of William Walton's ballet The Wise Virgins, produced by the Sadler's Wells Company in 1940.

Whistler's elegance and wit ensured his success as a portrait artist among the fashionable; he painted many members of London society, including Edith Sitwell, Cecil Beaton and other members of the set to which he belonged that became known as the "Bright Young Things". His murals for Edwina Mountbatten's 30-room luxury flat in Brook House, Park Lane, London were later installed by the Mountbattens' son-in-law, decorator David Hicks, in his own houses.

Second World War

When war broke out, although he was 35, Whistler was eager to join the army. He was commissioned into the Welsh Guards as a Second lieutenant in June 1940. He served in the Guards Armoured Division.

During the war he was the burial officer of his regiment, and his soldiers became somewhat suspicious of the 20 crosses he carried on his tank. He decided that just because he was at war it did not mean he could not paint, and he therefore also carried a bucket hanging off the side of his tank for his paintbrushes.

Death
Whistler is said to have predicted his own death. Just days before he was killed, he remarked to a friend that he wanted to be buried where he fell, not in a military cemetery. On the night before his death, a fellow officer named Francis Portal came up to him, and they talked for a while. Before they parted, Portal remarked, "So we'll probably see each other tomorrow evening." Wistfully, Whistler replied, "I hope so." He was killed on 18 July 1944, after he left his tank to go to the aid of other men in his unit. His body now lies in Section III, Row F, Grave 22 of Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery, situated 10 kilometres east of Caen. Reportedly, The Times received more letters about Whistler's death than for any other war victim.

A memorial glass engraving by his brother, Laurence Whistler (the Rex prism) was placed at the Morning Chapel at Salisbury Cathedral. Laurence also wrote a biography of his brother The Laughter and the Urn (1985).

Whistler's death is mentioned in a letter to Alec Guinness in Sir John Gielgud A Life in Letters, edited by Richard Mangan (Arcade Publishing 2004), p. 75. Gielgud notes that "Whistler's death is a major tragedy" adding that "He wanted to prove that 'artists can be tough' and alas, he has done so—but the world is greatly the poorer for his sacrifice".

Archive
In 2013, the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum acquired an archive, compiled by Laurence Whistler after Rex's death, consisting of thousands of drawings, book illustrations, stage and mural designs and other material by Whistler. The museum mounted an exhibition based on this material in the summer of 2013.

Works

 * An Anthology of Mine (published posthumously), London: Hamish Hamilton (1981)
 * Self-Portrait in Welsh Guards Uniform, oil on canvas (May 1940)
 * OHO!, reversible drawing with words by Laurence Whistler. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head (1946)
 * "Capriccio" in the dining room at Plas Newydd the historic home of the Marquess of Anglesey in North Wales now part of the National Trust (1938)
 * The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats, mural. London: Tate Britain (commissioned 1927). The mural has become controversial due to its depiction of slavery and stereotypical Chinese figures.
 * Ave Silvae Dornii, Dorneywood House, Buckinghamshire, now part of the National Trust. This large painting (198.1 × 205.7 cm) is positioned to give the impression you are looking straight through the house into the garden when you enter through the front door. It was commissioned by the 1st Baron Courtauld-Thomson (1928).

title: Rex Whistler


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User talk:Kyleca

A belated

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Template in talk
Use the  tag and it won't parse. siafu 01:15, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Continuous automaton
I know you meant well, but Physicsdaily is a Wikipedia mirror. See http://www.physicsdaily.com/copyright.html. Please make sure you know for sure that an external article appearing to have identical content is not copying from Wikipedia itself. Dysprosia 2 July 2005 04:11 (UTC)

title: User talk:Kyleca


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bunchies

 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. -- AllyUnion (talk) 12:07, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Bunchies
Some kind of cute character. Only a couple of hundred Google hits after you exclude references to other kinds of bunchies. Not notable. Unencyclopedic. Delete --BM 14:33, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Move to bunchie, cleanup. This article is atrocious, but bunchies are all over the web. The only problem with the Google test in this case is that images frequently appear without any caption or name, so most who have seen them only know them as "those freaky green galloping mutant giraffe thingies" or something like that.   — Gwalla | Talk 02:43, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete unless they are shown to be called bunchies as opposed to those freaky ... etc. Notability not established to my satisfaction, but I'm open to being shown otherwise. HyperZonktalk 02:59, Feb 21, 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:
QPS

QPS may refer to:

Computing

 * Quark Publishing System, a collaborative workflow management system
 * Queries per second, a measure of high-load servers' performance

Organisations

 * Queensland Police Service, Australia
 * Quaker Peace and Service, former name of Quaker Peace and Social Witness, a UK Quakers organisation committee
 * Quincy Public Schools, Massachusetts, US

Technology

 * Quality Performance System

title: QPS


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Kampong (disambiguation)

A kampong is a village in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore, and a port in Cambodia.

Kampong may also refer to:

Places

 * Brunei
 * Kampong Bukit, village in Tutong District, Brunei

 * Cambodia
 * Kampong Cham Province, province in Eastern Cambodia, bisected by the Mekong River
 * Kampong Chhnang Province, also known as "Port of Pottery", province in Central Cambodia
 * Kampong Speu Province, province in southwestern Cambodia
 * Kampong Thom Province, province on the banks of the Stung Saen River in northwestern Cambodia, bordering the Tonie Sap
 * Kampong Thom (city), provincial capital of Kampong Thom Province, sometimes referred to as Kampong
 * Kampong Som, another name for Sihanoukville

 * Singapore
 * Kampong Glam, a neighbourhood in Singapore

 * United States
 * The Kampong, a large tropical garden in Miami, Florida

 * Australia
 * Kampong, another name for the northern settlement area on Christmas Island, Flying Fish Cove

 * Sri Lanka
 * Kampong Kertel, another name for Slave Island, Colombo
 * Kampung Pangeran, a local name for an area in Hultsdorf, Colombo
 * Kampung Katukelle, another name for Katukele, Kandy
 * Kampong Pensen, an area in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Other uses

 * Kampong (field hockey club), a Dutch field hockey club in Utrecht
 * Kampong, common name for Oroxylum indicum, a tree native to South-East Asia

title: Kampong (disambiguation)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Butter Palm

 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. -- AllyUnion (talk) 12:28, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Butter Palm
Article about a 50 pound statue of a Palm tree carved out of butter, which won a prize at the Minnesota State Fair and briefly got some media attention. Not encyclopedic or notable. Delete. --BM 14:36, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete you seem to be mistaken though: it's not a palm tree, it's a PalmPilot! Andrew Lenahan - St ar bli nd 22:36, Feb 20, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Sigh. Radiant! is of course correct re: notability. I think I let my love for the outre influence my decision. In any event, I will be expecting Radiant to archive all of these deleted trivia articles on his/her computer to restore when WikiTrivia is created! ;) Keep. Despite the trivial, it still is in Trivial Pursuit. I hate to think of kids in the future trying to confirm this an coming up empty-handed. (Only slightly tongue-in-cheek.) HyperZonktalk 18:14, Feb 21, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Wikipedia is explicitly not a repository of all trivia.  "Good enough for Trivial Pursuit" is not automatically "good enough for Wikipedia".  Rossami (talk) 02:26, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep if it made it into a notable game like "trivial pursuit". Kappa 03:19, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC), at least pending transfer to a possible "wikitrivia" project. Kappa 08:46, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Gamaliel 06:52, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Trivial is the opposite of notable. Those who are interested in trivia should go to the MetaWiki site, as there's currently talk about creating a WikiTrivia project (similar to WikiQuotes). Radiant! 14:54, Feb 23, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per Radiant. —Korath (Talk) 17:58, Mar 1, 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:
Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/La Shawn Barber

Who cares? This kind of childish crap is clear testiment to the fact that this "encyclopedia" will never be worth anything. I don't see the difference between it and a saved text file from any bunch of teenagers chatting online. What a waste. -- 148.78.249.33

Why is the majority of the discussion struck out? And why am I being labelled a "very new user"? Anyone who took a moment could see that I edited my user page last November and made my first contribution with a username last August. I do not contribute in high volume, but I am certainly not a "very new user". One might also notice that I attempted to clean up the article in question, and even stated that I do not know much about Ms. Barber; I am not here on a campaign for this particular article, though I find it fascinating the way it's being mishandled. -- asciident 07:20, 27 February 2005 (UTC) Ir was probably just a mistake. It seems the person was in a hurry when they orginally made the table. Just move yourself. The admin who tallies the votes reviews all the votes for this kind of mistake. 172.193.53.45 00:51, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)


text: User talk:203.144.143.3

title: User talk:203.144.143.3


text:
Mathieu Turgeon

Mathieu Turgeon (born August 2, 1979) is a Canadian trampoline gymnast, born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.

Turgeon won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in individual trampoline and qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics but failed to make the final. He is noted for performing very difficult routines.

Turgeon retired from competition in 2007 to pursue a career as a chiropractor, though he still performs in trampoline demonstrations.

title: Mathieu Turgeon


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Bhāṣā

Bhāṣā (or one of its derived forms) is the word for "language" in many South and Southeast Asian languages, which derives from the Sanskrit word  (भाषा) meaning "speech" or "spoken language". In transliteration from Sanskrit or Pali, bhasa may also be spelled bhasa, basa, or phasa.

The word Bahasa in English is sometimes used to refer specifically to the Malay language (including Indonesian and Malaysian standards), this standalone usage however is considered incorrect within the language: when referring to other languages, a non-capitalized bahasa ("language") is used preceding a toponym or ethnonym (e.g. bahasa Ingg[e]ris "English", bahasa Italia "Italian").

title: Bhāṣā


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Gornergrat Infrared Telescope

The Telescopio InfraRosso del Gornergrat (TIRGO), or the Gornergrat Infrared Telescope, was located on the northern tower of the Kulm Hotel at Gornergrat (3135 m altitude) near Zermatt, Switzerland. It was a 1.5 m Cassegrain telescope with a tip-tilt correcting secondary and optimized for infrared observations, but was decommissioned in March 2005. The telescope and related instrumentation were run by the Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA - C.N.R.), sezione di Firenze (former CAISMI), with the assistance of the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri and the Dipartimento di Astronomia e Scienza dello Spazio of the University of Florence.

title: Gornergrat Infrared Telescope


text:
Talk:Intrinsic equation

Image?
there's an example image at Intrinsic_coordinates.png which is currently linked to by nothing! I tried to add it but it ended up too big and I don't know how to format it, maybe someone who knows syntax could help? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.192.127.152 (talk) 21:42, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

The formulae look a bit messy - instead of using the square root cubed, would it be better to go for a single exponent of 3/2? - Drw25 14:43, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I tried to do that but I couldn't get LaTeX to do it... LukeSurl 21:57, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Sorted. If you want a power consisting of more than one character, you have to enclose the power in braces: { }. Hammerite

I changed uppercase psi to lowercase psi because I'm pretty sure it is the standard notation. 82.32.8.175 19:54, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Not a true coordinate system?
Generally, a coordinate system is a means by which an arbitrary point in the plane or space can be identified. This isn't true of intrinsic coordinates: points outside of the curve have no (s, ψ) coordinates, and different intrinsic equations can lead to the same (s, ψ) being in completely different places relative to the s = 0 point.

This doesn't seem to make sense: "it may break down entirely when straight lines are considered". This is no more true than it is that Cartesian coordinates may break down when you consider vertical lines. Just as a vertical line in Cartesian coordinates is x = k, so a straight line in intrinsic coordinates is ψ = k.

Moreover, why s = f(ψ)? ψ = f(s) is much more general. -- Smjg 15:59, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The name of the article should be changed to 'Intrinsic equation'. Authoritative sources such as Mathworld use this and not 'Intrinsic coordinates' which, unless there is some meaning that I'm not aware of (and I've googled the phrase to see if I could find one), makes no sense.--RDBury (talk) 13:00, 13 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Also the article essentially defines the Whewell equation, the term intrinsic is more generic than that. I'm going to try to move the article, find some references, and make the appropriate changes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RDBury (talk • contribs) 13:08, 13 July 2008 (UTC)
 * The changes were made. I tried to preserve as much of the original material as possible by merging with other articles and creating a new one. The conversion section was deleted because the it's not really possible to carry out in practice. To get an equation relating arc length and tangential angle you must find both of these quantities in terms of the parameter and then eliminate the parameter. Arc length is usually given by an integral that can't be solved in closed form and the expression for tangential angle can be complicated, so eliminating the parameter from these two equations is more or less out of the question. Try to do this with the ellipse to appreciate the difficulties involved.--RDBury (talk) 17:53, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Once upon a time this article had some very useful reference information which has been wiped clean - is there any reason behind this?

Cte
The equation of a circle (including a line) for example is given by the equation $\kappa(s)=Cte$ where $s$ is the arc length and $\kappa$ the curvature.

And what's Cte? French constante? —Tamfang (talk) 20:53, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

 * At some point Cte was changed to 1/r. —Tamfang (talk) 21:09, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Intrinsic equation


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Bobby Hackett

Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was a versatile American jazz musician who played swing music, Dixieland jazz and mood music, now called easy listening, on trumpet, cornet, and guitar. He played Swing with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played Dixieland music from the 1930s into the 1970s in a variety of groups with many of the major figures in the field, and he was a featured soloist on the first ten of the numerous Jackie Gleason mood music albums during the 1950s.

Biography
Bobby Hackett was born in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. his father was a blacksmith, his mother a housewife. Because his family was poor, with nine children, he quit school at 14 to play guitar and violin in a band in a local Chinese restaurant. After he saw Louis Armstrong perform, he learned to play the cornet and trumpet. "I've never been the same since," he told long-time New Yorker jazz critic Whitney Balliett in 1969. "That man was and is the greatest hot-trumpet player in jazz." In Providence, he played in a couple of other local bands, then one in Syracuse, New York and another on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He spent a couple of seasons in a band in Boston and Providence with Brad Gowans and clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, then led another band in Boston. After jazz critic George Frazier praised him in several articles, he moved to New York City in 1937. First he played with clarinetist Joe Marsala (later a songwriter) and then spent a year playing at Nick's, a Greenwich Village bar known for its Dixieland music. While there he became part of Dixieland musicians that included Pee Wee Russell, Brad Gowans, Zutty Singleton, Billy Butterfield, Dave Tough, Joe Sullivan, and Eddie Condon.

Although he always said he was a follower of Armstrong, he made his name as a follower of cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. In 1938 Benny Goodman hired the talented 23 year old to recreate Bix's "I'm Coming Virginia" solo at his (Goodman's) 1938 Carnegie Hall concert.

In the late 1930s, Hackett played lead trumpet in the Vic Schoen Orchestra, which backed the Andrews Sisters.

In the 1940 Fred Astaire movie, Second Chorus. Hackett can be heard on the soundtrack. He dubbed the trumpet playing of Fred Astaire in two numbers. In the movie, Astaire is a trumpet player in Artie Shaw's orchestra.

In 1939, the talent agency MCA asked Bobby Hackett to form a big band with its backing. When the band failed, he was in substantial debt to MCA. He joined the bands of Horace Heidt and then Glenn Miller in 1941 and 1942 to pay this debt. To make matters worse, his lip was in bad shape after dental surgery, making it difficult for him to play the trumpet or cornet. Glenn Miller offered him a job as a guitarist. "When I joined the band and I was making good money at last, [...] [jazz critics] accused me of selling out. Hell I wasn't selling out, I was selling in! It's funny, isn't it, how you go right into the wastebasket with some critics the minute you become successful."

Despite lip problems, Hackett could play occasional short solos, and he can be heard playing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra on the 1942 "A String of Pearls". Hackett referred to this solo as 'just a little exercise'. Balliett says the twelve-bar solo "remains in its design (scale), tone (moonlike), and lyricism (Bach) one of the recorded improvisational wonders."

In the mid-40s he was in Glen Gray's orchestra for two years. In 1946 he joined the music staff at ABC where he remained for 15 years. Feather points out this gave Hackett a steady income. He continued his live performances and recordings while there. He was playing regularly at Eddie Condon's and other clubs.

A dream come true for Hackett was his inclusion in Louis Armstrong's 1947 Town Hall Jazz Concert. He was music director for the concert and second cornet. Baillett says of the concert, "Hackett's background figures made Louis Armstrong sound like a nightingale."

In November 1947, he recorded two sides with Frank Sinatra. The first, on November 5, was "I've Got a Crush on You," arranged and conducted by George Siravo with a small group. Released the same year, it reached number 21 on the pop charts. On November 9, he recorded "Body and Soul" with Sinatra and a large orchestra arranged and conducted by Alex Stordahl. This recording was held back until June 1949, when it was one of the eight recordings on Sinatra's fourth Columbia album, Frankly Sentimental. Since then, two other takes have been released by Columbia.

Hackett took a leave of absence from ABC from 1951 to 1952 to organize a septet that played in several night clubs, including New York's The Embers. Five years later he organized another sextet that played at the Henry Hudson Hotel and several jazz festivals.

His profile increased after he was hired by Jackie Gleason as a cornet soloist for seven of Gleason's mood music albums. Beginning in 1952, he appeared on Gleason's first Capitol Records album, Music for Lovers Only. The record — as well as all of Gleason's next 10 albums — went gold. He appeared on six more of Gleason's albums. This association led directly to his signing with Capitol Records and performing trumpet and flugelhorn solos on several popular albums, including the best selling concept albums of Frank Sinatra. In 2001, whenMosaic Records released The Complete Capitol Bobby Hackett Solo Sessions on a five-CD limited edition set, most of the tracks were from Gleason's mood music albums. According to the liner notes, Hackett was paid $30,000 to $40,000 for six albums for Gleason.

In 1954, he appeared as a regular on the ABC variety show The Martha Wright Show, also known as The Packard Showroom.

In 1965, he toured with the singer Tony Bennett. In 1966 and 1967, he accompanied Bennett on two European tours. In the early 1970s, he performed separately with Dizzy Gillespie and Teresa Brewer.

In 2012, Hackett was selected to be inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.

Personal life
Bobby Hackett married Edna Lillian Lee Hackett (d. 2000) in 1937. The Hacketts lived primarily in New York City and spent summers on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They had a daughter, Barbara (d. 2003); and a son, Ernie, who became a professional drummer.

Hackett was a Freemason and was active with St. Cecile Lodge #568, a lodge specifically for musicians and artists.

Hackett died in 1976 of a heart attack at the age of 61.

As leader

 * Soft Lights and Bobby Hackett (Capitol, 1954)
 * In a Mellow Mood (Capitol, 1955)
 * Coast Concert (Capitol, 1956)
 * Gotham Jazz Scene (Capitol, 1957)
 * Rendezvous (Capitol, 1957)
 * Bobby Hackett At The Embers (Capitol, 1958)
 * Don't Take Your Love from Me (Capitol, 1958)
 * Jazz Ultimate with Jack Teagarden (Capitol, 1958)
 * The Bobby Hackett Quartet (Capitol, 1959)
 * Blues with a Kick (Capitol, 1959)
 * Hawaii Swings (Capitol, 1960)
 * Dream Awhile (Columbia, 1960)
 * The Most Beautiful Horn in the World (Columbia, 1962)
 * Night Love (Columbia, 1962)
 * Bobby Hackett Plays Henry Mancini (Epic, 1962)
 * Plays the Music of Bert Kaempfert (Epic, 1964)
 * Hello Louis!: Plays the Music of Louis Armstrong (Epic, 1964)
 * Trumpets' Greatest Hits (Epic, 1965)
 * A String of Pearls (Epic, 1965)
 * Trumpet de Luxe with Billy Butterfield (CBS [Japan], 1966)
 * Creole Cookin (Verve, 1967)
 * That Midnight Touch (Project 3, 1967)
 * A Time for Love (Project 3, 1967)
 * Bobby/Billy/Brazil (Verve, 1968)
 * This Is My Bag (Project 3, 1969)
 * Live at the Roosevelt Grill (Chiaroscuro, 1970)
 * The Bobby Hackett 4 (Hyannisport, 1972)
 * Bobby Hackett and Vic Dickenson at the Royal Box (Hyannisport, 1972)
 * What a Wonderful World (Flying Dutchman, 1973)
 * Strike Up the Band (Flying Dutchman, 1975)
 * Live in New Orleans (Riff, 1976)
 * Featuring Vic Dickenson at the Roosevelt Grill (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
 * Tin Roof Blues (Honey Dew, 1977)
 * Butterfly Airs Vol. 1 (Honey Dew, 1977)
 * Jazz Session (CBS, 1980)

As sideman
With Jackie Gleason
 * Music for Lovers Only (Capitol, 1952)
 * Music to Make You Misty (Capitol, 1953)
 * Music, Martinis, and Memories (Capitol, 1954)
 * Jackie Gleason Presents Autumn Leaves (Capitol, 1955)
 * Music to Remember Her (Capitol, 1955)
 * Music to Change Her Mind (Capitol, 1956)
 * Jackie Gleason Presents Music for the Love Hours (Capitol, 1957)
 * Jackie Gleason Presents Lush Musical Interludes for That Moment (Capitol, 1959)
 * The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Pickwick/33, 1967)

With others ( Frankie Laine 1955 'Te Amo')
 * Louis Armstrong, Town Hall (RCA Victor, 1957)
 * Tony Bennett, The Very Thought of You (Columbia, 1965)
 * Tony Bennett, A Time for Love (Columbia, 1966)
 * Teresa Brewer, Good News (Signature, 1974)
 * Ruth Brown, Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1957)
 * Jim Cullum Jr., Goose Pimples (Audiophile, 1967)
 * Eddie Condon, Bixieland (credited as Pete Pesci, Columbia, 1955)
 * Eddie Condon, Midnight in Moscow (Epic, 1962)
 * Eddie Condon, Eddie Condon On Stage (Saga, 1973)
 * Dizzy Gillespie, Giants (Perception, 1971)
 * Benny Goodman, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (Columbia, 1950)
 * Bill Kenny, I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You (Decca, 1951)
 * Glenn Miller, A String of Pearls (Bluebird, 1941)
 * Glenn Miller, Rhapsody in Blue (Victor, 1942)
 * Frank Sinatra, I've Got a Crush on You (Columbia, 1947)
 * Frank Sinatra, Body and Soul (Columbia, 1947)
 * Jack Teagarden, Jack Teagarden!!! (Verve, 1962)
 * Lee Wiley, Night in Manhattan (Columbia, 1955)

title: Bobby Hackett


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LiTraCon

LiTraCon is a translucent concrete building material. The name is short for "light-transmitting concrete". The material is made of 96% concrete and 4% by weight of optical fibers. It was developed in 2001 by Hungarian architect Áron Losonczi working with scientists at the Technical University of Budapest.

LiTraCon is manufactured by the inventor's company, LiTraCon Bt, which was founded in spring 2004. The head office and workshop is near the town of Csongrád. all LiTraCon products have been produced by LiTraCon Bt. The concrete comes in precast blocks of different sizes.

The most notable installation of it to date is Europe Gate - a 4 m high sculpture made of LiTraCon blocks, erected in 2004 in observance of the entry of Hungary into the European Union. The product won the German "Red Dot 2005 Design Award" for 'highest design qualities'.

Though expensive, Litracon appeals to architects because it is stronger than glass and translucent, unlike concrete. It was considered as possible sheathing for New York's One World Trade Center.

title: LiTraCon


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Eastbridge Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr, Canterbury

Eastbridge Hospital, also known as The Hospital of Saint Thomas Becket the Martyr, is a Hospital in the old sense of the word short for Hospitality and was founded in the 12th century in Canterbury, England, to provide overnight accommodation for poor pilgrims who were travelling to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. It is now one of the ten almshouses still providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury and is a grade I listed building.

History
The hospital is situated on the King's-bridge, next to the Franciscan Gardens Greyfriars, near the Westgate, in Canterbury. It was founded after the brutal murder of Saint Thomas Becket in 1170, possibly as early as 1176, when Canterbury Cathedral became a site of pilgrimage; the hospital provided accommodation for poor pilgrims. The Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society suggests that All Saints Cottage in the city may have been a subsidiary hostel for the hospital. The earliest name recorded as founder is that of Edward FitzOdbold c. 1180, with further endowments by Archbishop Hubert Walter around 1203. For many years, no special statutes were enacted, nor were any rules laid down for the treatment of pilgrims.

The original building consists of an entrance hall (vestibule), undercroft, refectory and chapel, all built in around 1180. Like the ancient Entrance Hall beneath it, the Pilgrims’ Chapel dates from the twelfth century, but assumed its present proportions in the fourteenth century. The roof of the Pilgrims’ Chapel is a fine example of its kind: the style of woodwork and joinery indicate that it was built around 1285, all beams are authentic except the first two panels which collapsed and were replaced. The Undercroft's original function was as a dormitory, and architecturally shows the period of time where the round-headed arch was giving way to the Gothic style of pointed arch.

The Refectory is a large open room originally used as a dining space. On the north wall is a painting of Christ in Majesty/ Our Lord in Glory, between the symbols of the four Evangelists dating from the thirteenth century. This fresco was only uncovered when the chimney and fireplace installed around the time of the dissolution were removed in 1879, and it has been conserved since its revelation.

Approval for the funding of a Chantry Chapel was sanctioned by Archbishop Sudbury in 1375; the original document confirming this endowment is housed in the Canterbury Cathedral archives. (Chantries were abolished in 1547, and this fell into disrepair until it was reclaimed and restored for its original use in 1969.)

In the fourteenth century the hospital was reformed by Archbishop John de Stratford, during the reign of Edward III; he created ordinances, as well as a code of regulations to be acted on concerning pilgrims. He ruled that every pilgrim in health could rest in the hospital for one night at the cost of four pence, that weak and infirm applicants were to be preferred to those with better health, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the bedding and administer medicines to the sick. He also appointed a Master in priest's orders, under whose guidance a secular chaplain served. Further lands and revenues from parishes were given by Stratford and by Archbishop Simon Sudbury.

This institution survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries and other religious houses during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, although the pilgrimage to St Thomas of Canterbury did not survive this period. In 1569 Archbishop Matthew Parker issued new ordinances governing the Hospital and its Master which specified the maintenance of twelve beds for the 'wayfaring poor' and established a school in the chapel for twenty boys. This arrangement was confirmed by Archbishop John Whitgift by Act of Parliament in 1584.

The school survived until 1880. Inscriptions from the last cohort can be seen on a pillar in the refectory. The chapel was then little used until its restoration by the Master in 1927. Further restoration work has taken place during the twentieth century. Much of this work was financed by sale of some of the hospital's lands at Blean at the foundation of the University of Kent in the 1960s. A list of the Masters of the Eastbridge Hospital up to the end of the eighteenth century is given by Edward Hasted. The newest master is Revd Dr. Perry Butler who was appointed on 29 December 2022.

Modern Eastbridge
Between 2014 and 2019, extensive restoration took place to preserve those rooms situated directly over the River Stour. This work was supported by the Viridor Credits scheme, which funds community, heritage, and biodiversity projects. It was formally opened to the public by the Bishop of Dover on 23 March 2019, and named after Archbishop William Juxon, who was a generous benefactor during his tenure, and donated money in 1660 to repair the Brother's Lodgings.

Eastbridge Today
Eastbridge is still a functional almshouse to this day, providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury and Ukrainian refugees in areas of the buildings inaccessible to the public. Eastbridge is classed as a Grade I listed building and historical site, which is open for visitors and pilgrims. Adult tickets cost £4.50 and children are £3 unless accompanied by an adult, guided tours are subject to availability. All tour guides are fully trained, love history and are very knowledgeable.

Eastbridge is administered by Trustees whose main aims are the maintenance of the ancient buildings, which are of national historic interest, and the welfare of the almshouse residents (Indwellers).

Eastbridge welcomed their first female Clerk & Receiver in June 2022, Louise Knight.

Eastbridge Hospital charity no. 213319


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Betula alleghaniensis

Betula alleghaniensis, the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the past its scientific name was Betula lutea.

Betula alleghaniensis is the provincial tree of Quebec, where it is commonly called merisier, a name which in France is used for the wild cherry.

Description

Betula alleghaniensis is a medium-sized, typically single-stemmed, deciduous tree reaching 60-80 ft tall (exceptionally to 100 ft) with a trunk typically 2-3 ft in diameter, making it the largest North American species of birch. Yellow birch is long-lived, typically 150 years and some old growth forest specimens may last for 300 years.

It mostly reproduces by seed. Mature trees typically start producing seeds at about 40 years but may start as young as 20. The optimum age for seed production is about 70 years. Good seed crops are not produced every year, and tend to be produced in intervals of 1–4 years with the years between good years having little seed production. The seeds germinate best on mossy logs, decaying wood or cracks in boulders since they cannot penetrate the leaf litter layer. This can lead to odd situations such as yellow birches with their roots growing around a tree stump, which when it eventually rots away leaves the birch standing atop stilt-like roots. Yellow birch saplings will not establish in full shade (under a closed canopy) so they typically need disturbances in a forest in order to establish and grow. The tree is fairly deep-rooted and sends out several long lateral roots.

 * The bark on mature trees is a shiny yellow-bronze which flakes and peels in fine horizontal strips. The bark often has small black marks and dark horizontal lenticels. After the tree reaches a diameter greater than 1 ft the bark typically stops shredding and reveal a platy outer bark although the thinner branches will still have the shreddy bark. There is an uncommon, alternate form of the tree (f. fallax) which grows in the southern part of the range. F. fallax has darker gray-brown bark which shreds less than the typical form.
 * The twigs, when scraped, have a slight scent of wintergreen oil, though not as strongly so as the related sweet birch (B. lenta), which is the only other birch in North America to also smell of wintergreen. However, the potency of the odor is not considered a reliable identification method unless it is combined with other characteristics.
 * The leaves are alternately placed on the stem, oval in shape with a pointed tip and often a slightly heart shaped (cordate) base. They are 2-5 in long and typically half as wide with a finely serrated (doubly serrate) margin. They are dark green in color on the upper side and lighter on the bottom, the veins on the bottom are also pubescent. The leaves arise in pairs or singularly from small spur shoots. In the fall the leaves turn a bright yellow color.
 * The leaf has a very short petiole 1/4 - 1/2 in long.
 * The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins which open in later spring. Both male and female flowers will occur on the same tree making the plant monoecious. The male catkins are 2-4 in long, yellow purple, pendulous (hang downwards), and occur in groups of 3-6 on the previous year's growth. The female catkins are erect (point upward) and 1.5-3 cm long and oval in shape, they arise from short spur branches with the leaves. The fruit, mature in fall, is composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.
 * The seed is a winged samara with two wings which are shorter than the width of the seed which matures and gets released in autumn.

Similarity to Betula lenta
Both yellow birch and sweet birch (B. lenta) have nearly identical leaf shape and both give an odor of wintergreen when crushed. Seedlings of the two species can be very hard to tell apart. To differentiate the two, the range, buds, or bark must be examined. The ranges do overlap in Appalachia where they commonly grow together, but sweet birch does not grow west of Ohio or north into Canada whereas yellow birch does. Sweet birch also has black non-peeling bark compared to the lighter, bronze colored, peeling bark of yellow birch. For young trees where bark has not yet developed, yellow birch can also be identified by its hairy buds and stems; sweet birch has hairless buds.

Taxonomy
The yellow birch was first described by François André Michaux in 1812 as Betula lutea. In 1904, Nathaniel Lord Britton described what he considered to be a new closely related species of birch as Betula alleghaniensis, differing from B. lutea by its shorter fruiting scales and mostly cordate (vs. rarely cordate) leaf bases. After comparing the descriptions and illustrations of B. lutea and B. alleghaniensis, Merritt Fernald found the latter to be identical to B. lutea, but did confirm the existence of two varieties. Later, the name Betula lutea was determined illegitimate as it was superfluous to the older name that Michaux had listed as a synonym, Betula excelsa Aiton (1789). Additionally, the type specimen of Betula excelsa was found not to be a yellow birch, making Betula alleghaniensis the oldest and correct replacement name for the illegitimate B. lutea.

The specific epithet alleghaniensis means "of the Allegheny Mountains". In addition to "yellow" or "golden" birch, B. alleghaniensis has also been called gray birch, silver birch, tall birch, and swamp birch, though it shares several of these names with other Betula species.

Varieties
Several varieties have been named, but are not recognized as distinct by modern authors:
 * B. a. var. alleghaniensis — scales on the fruiting catkins 5–8 mm
 * B. a. var. macrolepis (Fernald) Brayshaw — scales on the fruiting catkins which measure 8–13 mm
 * B. a. var. fallax (Fassett) Brayshaw — dark brown bark that typically does not exfoliate into shreds or curly flakes at the surface, especially noticeable when the bark is wet

Hybrids

 * It hybridizes with Betula pumila to form Betula × purpusii in larch swamps. These hybrids are rather common and shrubby in growth pattern and may have an odor of wintergreen or rusty-hairy twigs. The leaf shape is intermediate between both species.
 * It can also hybridize with Betula papyrifera in northern regions where their ranges overlap. It has seldom been reported but is thought to be more common than realized. In most features it is intermediate between the two parents.

Range and climate
Its native range extends from Newfoundland to Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario, and the southeast corner of Manitoba in Canada, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia. While its range extends as far south as Georgia, it is most abundant in the northern part of its range. In southern Pennsylvania, it is rare and generally only found along bodies of water in cool, mature woods, and it only occurs at high elevations from Maryland southward. It grows in USDA zones 3-7.

B. alleghaniensis prefers to grow in cooler conditions and is often found on north facing slopes, swamps, stream banks, and rich woods. It does not grow well in dry regions or regions with hot summers and will often last only 30–50 years in such conditions. It grows soil pH ranging from 4-8.

Ecology
The twigs are browsed on by whitetail deer, moose and cottontails Deer eat many saplings and may limit regeneration of the species if the deer population is too great. Ruffed grouse and various songbirds feed on the seeds and buds. Due to the thin bark of the tree yellow bellied sapsuckers feed on this tree by drilling holes in the tree and collecting the sap. Broad-winged hawks show a preference for nesting in yellow birch in New York.

Several species of Lepidoptera including the mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) and dreamy duskywing (Erynnis icelus) feed on B. alleghaniensis as caterpillars.

Yellow birch is often associated with eastern hemlock throughout its range due to their similar preferences in habitat. It mostly grows from 0–500 m in elevation but may grow up to 1000 m. It reaches its maximum importance in the transition zone between low elevation deciduous forests and high elevation spruce and fir forests. Due to the thin bark and lack of ability to resprout, it is easily killed by wildfire.

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) exerts allelopathic effects on seedlings of yellow birch and decreases their growth ability. The inhibitory chemical is exuded from the roots of the sugar maple and has a very short soil half-life, it no longer has effects on birch after 5 days.

Conservation status
It is listed as endangered in Illinois. Globally, the species is considered to be of "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Uses
Yellow birch is considered the most important species of birch for lumber and is the most important hardwood lumber tree in eastern Canada; as such, the wood of Betula alleghaniensis is extensively used for flooring, furniture, doors, veneer, cabinetry, gun stocks and toothpicks. It was once popular for wagon wheels. Most wood sold as birch in North America is from this tree. Its wood is relatively strong, close grained, and heavy. The wood varies in color from reddish brown to creamy white and accepts stain and can be worked to a high polish. Like most birches, yellow birch wood rots quickly due to its tendency to trap moisture. The cellulose from rotting birch logs was collected by Native Americans and used as a quick fire starter.

In the past, yellow birch has been used for distilling wood alcohol, acetate of lime and for tar and oils. Oil of wintergreen can be distilled from the bark.

The papery, shredded bark, is very flammable due to its oil content and can be peeled off and used as a fire starter even in wet conditions.

Yellow birch can be tapped for syrup similarly to sugar maple, and although the sap has less sugar content, it flows in greater quantity than sugar maple. When the sap is boiled down, the wintergreen evaporates and leaves a syrup not unlike maple syrup. The sap can also be used as is in birch syrup or may be flavored. Tea can also be made from the twigs and inner bark.

Native American ethnobotany
Yellow birch has been used medicinally by Native Americans as a blood purifier and for other uses. The Ojibwe make a compound decoction from the inner bark and take it as a diuretic. They also make use of Betula alleghaniensis var. alleghaniensis, taking of the bark for internal blood diseases, and mixing its sap and maple sap used for a pleasant beverage drink. They use the bark of var. alleghaniensis to build dwellings, lodges, canoes, storage containers, sap dishes, rice baskets, buckets, trays and dishes and place on coffins when burying the dead.

title: Betula alleghaniensis


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High Energy Stereoscopic System

High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the photon energy range of 0.03 to 100 TeV. The acronym was chosen in honour of Victor Hess, who was the first to observe cosmic rays.

The name also emphasizes two main features of the installation, namely the simultaneous observation of air showers with several telescopes, under different viewing angles, and the combination of telescopes to a large system to increase the effective detection area for gamma rays. H.E.S.S. permits the exploration of gamma-ray sources with intensities at a level of a few thousandth parts of the flux of the Crab Nebula.

H.E.S.S. consists of five telescopes: four with mirrors just under 12 m in diameter, arranged as a square with 120 m sides, and one larger telescope with a 28 m mirror, located at the centre of the array. The four 12 m telescopes began operation in 2004, with the 28 m telescope added as an upgrade (called H.E.S.S. II) in 2012.

As with other gamma-ray telescopes, H.E.S.S. observes high energy processes in the universe. Gamma-ray producing sources include supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei and pulsar wind nebulae. It also actively tests unproven theories in physics such as looking for the predicted gamma-ray annihilation signal from WIMP dark matter particles and testing Lorentz invariance predictions of loop quantum gravity.

H.E.S.S. is located in the Khomas highlands of Namibia near the Gamsberg mountain, an area well known for its excellent optical quality. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in Summer 2002; all four were operational in December 2003.

In 2004 H.E.S.S. was the first IACT experiment to spatially resolve a source of cosmic gamma rays.

In 2005, it was announced that H.E.S.S. had detected eight new high-energy gamma ray sources, doubling the known number of such sources. As of 2014, more than 90 sources of teraelectronvolt gamma rays were discovered by H.E.S.S.

In 2016, the HESS collaboration reported deep gamma ray observations which show the presence of petaelectronvolt-protons originating from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and therefore should be considered as a viable alternative to supernova remnants as a source of petaelectronvolt galactic cosmic rays.

title: High Energy Stereoscopic System


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Talk:Region (Europe)

merge with Regions of Europe?
I wonder if we maybe better merge these two articles. I think the concepts are too easily confused unless covered in the same article. --Johan Magnus 14:48, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Umm. One is of intra-national regions, t'other of inter-national ones. They're quite different, to my mind at least.
 * James F. (talk) 17:31, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Most definitely, yes. That's why I think it would be important to contrast the concepts in the same article — i.e. in order to avoid unintended confusion. --Johan Magnus 18:10, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Ah, I see. Hmm. Possibly. Anyone else want to chip in?
 * James F. (talk) 19:49, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * I wrote I wonder... — I'm not in any way convinced :-))
 * Johan Magnus 11:07, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

A bit confused
I'm having problems parsing the first sentence: "The European Union follows to strengthen the Regions of Europe as the layer of EU government administration directly below the nation state level."

Follows to strengthen? Can someone rework that a bit? JohnRDaily 01:23, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I've made the text more legible, but I don't know how accurate the result is. -JohnRDaily 02:35, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Official status
What are the sources for the division of Sweden into Götaland, Svealand and Norrland in this system? That division is a historical and cultural division, but it is not an administrative division in any way, at least I haven't heard of it being used as such. And I've lived in Sweden for 20 years... Also, the flags seem very inaccurate. The flag of Skåneland is not used in the whole of Götaland, only in the south. The Sami flag is only used by the Sami, and the flag of Sweden is of course not used only in Svealand. Also, the flag used for the Oulu Province is the Ingrian flag, and Ingria is an area on the south-eastern border between Finland and Russia, far away from Oulu... /130.243.135.145 18:12, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I'm currently going through all the countries, adding numbers and correcting them, and using correct flags (if any). I'm afraid I haven't been able to find a source on the internet yet, so I can't say too much about the rather historical divisions for the Swedish and Czech partitions, and the Greek division is mainly guesswork on my part... — Nightst a  llion  (?) 06:53, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks, it seems more correct now. However, I wonder why Nord-Pas de Calais and Pays-de-la-Loire, which are separated by both Normandy and Picardy, are counted as one region. /130.243.135.145 23:05, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I have seen Nord-Pas de Calais and Picardie as beeing combined before. Pays de la Loire I guess stays on its own.

The data for Ulster arent right cause for this region only the RoI area counts.

This whole list is currently based far too much on assumptions -- mine, mainly -- and far too little on source. Can someone please come up with references for this? — Nightst a  llion  (?) 08:51, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Isle of Man
The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom's membership, although Gibraltar is. The IOM is a Crown Colony, like Guernsey and Jersey, and therefore attached to the British Crown, but not the United Kingdom.

 * "Crown dependency". On the other hand, Eurostat refuses to recognise Gibraltar as a NUTS region.

Pairing of regions
What is the justification for pairing some of these regions (e.g. North East England and North West England or Navarra and La Rioja)? The first line "The European Union created the Regions of Europe as the layer of EU government administration directly below the nation-state level" is simply not true. The whole thing looks like POV original research and should in muy view be replaced by a brief factual description of the Committee of the Regions and a pointer to Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics.--Henrygb 18:18, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I have no idea, actually. I tried to find some references for this, but was unable to. — Nightst a  llion  (?) Seen this already? 01:34, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Do these regions actually exist?
I've had a very good look around, particularly the EU's website and have come to the conclusion that there's no such thing as the sort of EU regions this page is talking about. In the context of the EU, "region" is quite a loose term, just as it has been historically. The actual list of regions depends on what they are being used for. There is a hierarchy of areas used for statistics, NUTS. It seems various levels or combinations of these areas are used as "regions" in other contexts.

Now, I had prevously thought that there was such thing as EU Regions, which were imposed on us by the EU. I thought these were used when EU bodies such as the Regional Development Fund. But as with many editors comtributing this page (or at least I suspect, apologies if I'm wrong) I'm looking at it from a UK perspective. In the UK, we didn't have regions before. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are logical regions, but the "Government Office Regions" of England often seem artificial, so must have been invented by the EU. I'd heard it argued by Europhiles that it was up to member states to decide on their administrative boundaries, but you never know whether to believe it.

If you look at the site on EU regional policy, you'll see that they list Cornwall as a "region" eligible to receive aid. Scotland is also sibdivided into several regions such as "Highland and Islands". In fact, these boundaries are based on NUTS2, see map.

The EU's Committee of the Regions "provides local and regional authorities with a voice at the heart of the European Union", but these authorities can be anything from a German federal state government to an English county council.

The closest thing to the regions this Wikipedia page is talking about can be found on a clickable map on the EU site. For some member states, it has solid red lines for "Regional boundaries". It then has dashed lines for "Boundaries between administrative units". Some countries only have the latter, but there is no correspondance between size of the area and whether they call them regions. e.g. Sweden has no regions, but Lithuania has lots of small regions. Latvia is divided up into similar areas to Lithuania, but they are not called regions. Other examples of "regions" are Irish provinces (which have no administrative function) and German Länder, which are federal states.

Each member state can also decide how to conduct its elections to the EU parliament. In the UK, we have regional votes, but that doesn't follow across the EU. In this context, they are no more than electoral regions.

From all this, I would conclude that there are no set regions that form part of a rigid hierarchy (EU—member state—region-...) It's up to each member state to decide how it is subdivided. In the UK context, it seems that regions are imposed on us not by the EU, but by John Prescott (so I'm not suggesting they are any more welcome!)

I welcome any comments to any of the points raised here. But really I think this page is confusing and inaccurate, and should probably be listed as an AfD.  J Rawle  (Talk) 14:44, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

 * I'm pretty certain you're right, yeah. — Nightst a  llion  (?) Seen this already? 20:36, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Neither the EU nor John Prescott invented the English "Government Office Regions" - they were administrative regions set up by the previous Conservative government. What Prescott did was (a) merge Merseyside with the North West and (b) adopt them as a basis for his regional policy to avoid having a lengthy debate over boundaries.  The EU accepted them as NUTS 1 regions.  In the UK NUTS 2 and 3 are fairly artificial.  In Spain NUTS 2 and 3 are administrative (communities and provinces) while NUTS 1 is artificial.  And it varies in other countries. --Henrygb 00:06, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

 * They also changed other boundaries, in the east and south-east for example. Anyway, I think the list on this page doesn't mean anything. Everything people need to know is covered in other articles, e.g. NUTS (what comprises a certain level in each country is well-explained on that page) and Committee of the Regions. If a country has particular regional or local administrative structure, it's best discussed on that country's page (and I'm sure it already will be!)  J Rawle  (Talk) 00:28, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * PS off-topic a bit, but I wish they'd invent some better English regions. East- and West Midlands are fairly close to people's natural alliances I would say (speaking as someone from that area) but why couldn't they have more sensible things such as "East Anglia" and "The Westcountry". And if only they matched ceremonial county boundaries: then we could be rid of "The Humber" – Humberside in disguise – once and for all.

 * "They"? The change to the East/South East (Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex) was a part of the Conservatives' Government Office responsibilities. It does not make it good or bad. --Henrygb 01:08, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * As far as I could find: EU citizens live in some 240 regions, 800 cities of +50.000 inhabitants and those Europeans living in the EU Rural Areas, the countryside. More: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/digpub/regions/ - sorry, no more time. Talk more some other time :), SvenAERTS (talk) 11:39, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Regions of Hungary – wrong?
I've just created NUTS:HU and the three main (NUTS 1) regions described there are quite different from those mentioned in this chart. The three main regions of Hungary according to this article are "Central Hungary", "Transdanubia" and "Great Plain and North" (I'm not sure of the English name of the latter but I'm practically sure of its extent). I have several sources for them (see its "Sources and external links" section). Are these regions different from the NUTS 1 or is the data wrong in this chart? Adam78 01:12, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
 * The charts is most likely completely made up. I've now removed it for good after considering it for quite some time, as I haven't been able to find *any* sources. — Nightst a  llion  (?) 12:33, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Region (Europe)


text:
Meath (Dáil constituency)

Meath was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1923 to 1937 and from 1948 to 2007. The method of election was proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).

History and boundaries
The constituency was first created under the Electoral Act 1923 for the 1923 general election, electing 3 deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs). It was abolished in 1937. It was recreated under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 for the 1948 general election, again electing 3 deputies. It gained a fourth seat in 1977 and a fifth seat in 1981.

It was abolished for the 2007 general election, being divided into the two new 3-seat constituencies of Meath East and Meath West.

The constituency spanned the entire area of County Meath in Leinster, taking in Navan, Trim and Ashbourne. It also included small parts of County Kildare.

1959 by-election
Following the death of Fianna Fáil TD James Griffin, a by-election was held on 22 July 1959. The seat was won by Fianna Fáil candidate Henry Johnston.

title: Meath (Dáil constituency)


text:
High Resolution Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector

The High Resolution Fly's Eye or HiRes detector was an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observatory that operated in the West Desert of Utah from May 1997 until April 2006. HiRes (HiRes-I, HiRes-II, and HiRes prototype) used the "atmospheric fluorescence" technique that was pioneered by the Utah group first in tests at the Volcano Ranch experiment and then with the original Fly's Eye experiment. The experiment first ran as the HiRes prototype in a tower configuration operating in conjunction with the CASA (Chicago Air Shower Array) and MIA (Michigan Muon Array). The prototype was later reconfigured to view 360 degrees in azimuth. HiRes-II followed later and was located on a hilltop about 13km away. HiRes-I and HiRes-II operated in stereo.

Hardware and development
The High Resolution Fly's Eye used larger mirrors and smaller pixels as compared with the original Fly's Eye, hence the name. A prototype of the HiRes experiment operated between 1993 and 1996 at the original Fly's Eye-I site (Five Mile Hill). It was configured in a tower viewing a narrow wedge of sky from 3–73 degrees in elevation. First the Utah ground array and later the CASA and MIA (ground array and muon array) experiments were placed on the surface in the view of the HiRes prototype. This then became the first "hybrid experiment" collecting information both on the development of the air shower induced by the incident cosmic ray, but also measuring the shower's footprint at the Earth's surface and 3 m below surface (with the buried muon array). The HiRes prototype was disassembled early in 1997 to become part of the final HiRes configuration.

In its final configuration, HiRes was composed of two sites separated by 12.6 km. The sites were located on hilltops in Dugway Proving Grounds, a U.S. Army test facility in the West Desert of Utah. HiRes-I (located on Five Mile Hill or Little Granite Mountain(40.1953°N, -112.8363°W)) had one ring of 22 telescopes viewing from 3–17 degrees in elevation. HiRes-I was instrumented with sample and hold electronics which took a "snapshot" of the extensive air shower generated when the incident cosmic ray interacted with the atmosphere. Meanwhile, HiRes-II (located on Camel's Back Ridge (40.13194°N, -112.95896°W)) had two rings of telescopes to provide viewing higher into the atmosphere. It observed from 3 to 31 degrees in elevation.

HiRes-II was instrumented with a flash analog to digital converter (FADC) so that it essentially made movies of the cosmic ray events. Both observatory sites provided full azimuthal coverage (360 degrees in azimuth). They were operated independently on moonless clear nights. The duty cycle of HiRes was close to 10%.

Accomplishments
The HiRes discovered the Oh-My-God particle, an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray, on 15 October 1991.

The HiRes experiment made the first observation of the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin limit (GZK cutoff) which is an indication of the highest energy cosmic rays interacting with the cosmic microwave background and the universe becoming opaque to their propagation.

In 2010 final results of the HiRes experiment confirmed the GZK cutoff.

A follow-on experiment to the High Resolution Fly's Eye and Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) experiments is the Telescope Array Project which began data collection in central Utah in 2007. A similar approach, but with the water-Cherenkov detectors, has been employed for the Pierre Auger Observatory which began collecting data in 2004.

Awards
Dr. Pierre Sokolsky and Dr. George Cassidy, both of the University of Utah, received the 2007 Panofsky Prize for their work on the HiRes experiment.


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Easybets

 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. -- AllyUnion (talk) 12:31, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Easybets
Advertising for commercial gambling web-site. Not encyclopedic. Delete. --BM 14:49, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and cleanup - site gets a decent number of Google hits and has a fairly high Alexa traffic rank of 5,732. -- Cyrius|✎ 19:28, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. As of now, it looks more like self-promotion. Even though it may have a decent number of Google hits, it does not necessarily mean it is notable. Zzyzx11 20:02, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep per Cyrius. Could be advertising, could be good faith, so I'll assume good faith. Kappa 20:23, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Gamaliel 20:26, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, advertisement, promo. Megan1967 22:26, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete as above. Radiant! 22:27, Feb 20, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete --nixie 23:31, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Tough decision, as it does smell of advertising (and possibly non-notability). However, they've been online for eight years now and are highly ranked on Alexa. Another case in which I'm open to convincing. However, it will need to be more than a dicdef. HyperZonktalk 03:03, Feb 21, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete all promos. -- Riffsyphon1024 03:04, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Please do not encourage wikispam. —Korath (Talk) 17:58, Mar 1, 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: User talk:128.239.208.184

title: User talk:128.239.208.184


text: User talk:68.253.218.10

title: User talk:68.253.218.10


text:
Nikolai Andrianov

Nikolai Yefimovich Andrianov (Никола́й Ефи́мович Андриа́нов; 14 October 1952 – 21 March 2011) was a Soviet and Russian gymnast.

He held the record for men for the most Olympic medals at 15 (7 gold medals, 5 silver medals, 3 bronze medals) until Michael Phelps surpassed him at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Andrianov is the third athlete (male or female) in cumulative Olympic medals after Phelps's 28 and Larisa Latynina's 18. Andrianov won the most medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics with 6 individual medals and one team medal. Within the sport of Men's Artistic Gymnastics, he also holds the men's record for most individual Olympic medals (12) and shares the male record for most individual Olympic gold medals in gymnastics (6) with Boris Shakhlin and Dmitry Bilozerchev (the latter of which only if you count the 1984 Alternate Olympics). In many other rankings among all-time medal winners at the Olympic, World, and European levels, he ranks very high (for example, he is second only to Vitaly Scherbo in total individual medal counts at either the gold level or any level at the combined Olympic and World levels as well as at the combined Olympic, World, and European levels), easily making him one of the most decorated gymnasts of all time.

Early life and Olympic career
Andrianov entered the Children and Youth Sports School of the Burevestnik sports society in Vladimir at age 11. His first international success came in 1971 at the European Championships in Madrid, where he won two gold medals. Between 1971 and 1980 he won many international gymnastics competitions, including the Olympic Games, world championships and European championships.

Andrianov's first Olympic medal was a gold in the 1972 floor competition. He dominated the 1976 gymnastics competition, winning four golds, including the all-around, two silvers, and a bronze. These medals included golds in the floor exercises, rings, and vault, as well as a prized gold in the 1976 all-around. His record of four gymnastic golds at a single games stood until Vitaly Scherbo won six other medals in 1992.

Andrianov took the Olympic Oath for athletes at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In the gymnastics competition, he won two more golds, two silvers, and a bronze. Andrianov's golds in that Olympics were in the vault and team competition, his silvers were in the all-around and floor exercises, and his bronze medal was in the horizontal bar. He retired shortly after that year's Olympics.

Later life
Andrianov married another famous Soviet gymnast, two-time Olympic champion Lyubov Burda. Together they worked as children's gymnastics coaches, with Andrianov being the head coach of the Soviet national men's junior team in 1981–1992. In 1990–1992 he also coached the Soviet senior gymnastics team, and in 1990–1993 headed the Soviet and later the Russian Gymnastics Federation.

In 2001, Andrianov was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Between 1994 and 2002 he coached the Japan Olympic gymnastics team, on the invitation of his former rival, Mitsuo Tsukahara. Andrianov coached Tsukahara's son, Naoya Tsukahara, and both father and son credit him with raising Naoya's skills and confidence to equip him to compete at the international level. In 2002 he became the director of gymnastics at the N.G. Tolkachyov Specialized Children and Youth sports school in Vladimir, where he first began the sport as a youth.

Illness and death
In his final years, Andrianov developed the degenerative neurological disorder multiple system atrophy and in his final months was unable to move his arms or legs or talk. Andrianov died on 21 March 2011 at the age of 58, in his hometown of Vladimir. Russia's national gymnastic team coach, Alexander Alexandrov, called the death "tragic", but stated that he had been ill for a long time.

Honours and awards

 * Order of Lenin
 * Order of the Badge of Honour
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour
 * Medal "For Labour Valour"
 * Lenin Komsomol Prize

title: Nikolai Andrianov


text:
Lemn Sissay

 Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, was chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2015 until 2022, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trustees two years later, having previously been appointed one of the museum's fellows. He was awarded the 2019 PEN Pinter Prize. He has written a number of books and plays.

Early life
Sissay's mother, Yemarshet Sissay, arrived in Britain from Ethiopia in 1966. Pregnant at the time, she was sent from Bracknell in Berkshire to a home for unmarried mothers in Lancashire to give birth. His birth father, Giddey Estifanos, was a pilot for Ethiopian Airlines, who died in a plane crash in 1972. Sissay was born in Billinge Hospital, Wigan, Lancashire, in 1967. Norman Goldthorpe, a social worker assigned to his mother by Wigan Social Services, found foster parents for Sissay while his mother returned to Bracknell to finish her studies.

Goldthorpe named Sissay "Norman" and put him in the care of foster parents, telling them to treat the placement as an adoption. The events are depicted in the play Something Dark and in the BBC documentary Internal Flight. His strongly religious foster parents wanted to name him Mark after the Christian evangelist Mark and give him their surname, Greenwood.

When Sissay was 12 years old, his foster parents—who, by then, had three biological children of their own—placed him in a children's home and said that no one from their family would contact him again.

Between the ages of 12 and 17, Sissay was held in a total of four children's homes. With no surrogate or birth family to turn to when he aged out of the care system, he was finally given his birth certificate, which revealed the name of his mother, Yemarshet Sissay, and his own legal name, Lemn Sissay. He was also given a letter from his files, dated 1968, written by his mother to Norman Goldthorpe, pleading for her son's return. She wrote: "How can I get Lemn back? I want him to be with his own people, his own colour. I don't want him to face discrimination." From the point of leaving care, he began the search for his mother and took back his real name.

At the age of 17, Sissay used his unemployment benefit money to self-publish his first poetry pamphlet, Perceptions of the Pen, which he sold to striking miners in Lancashire. When he was 18 years old, he moved from Atherton to the city of Manchester. At 19, he was a literature development worker at Commonword, a community publishing cooperative in Manchester.

Sissay met his birth mother when he was 21, after a long search. She was working for the United Nations in the Gambia.

Career
Sissay released his first book of poetry in 1988 at the age of 21, and since the age of 24 he has been a full-time writer, performing internationally. In 1995, he made the BBC documentary Internal Flight about his life. His 2005 drama Something Dark deals with his search for his family, and was adapted for BBC Radio 3 in 2006, winning the UK Commission for Racial Equality's Race in the Media Award (RIMA).

In 2007, Sissay was appointed artist-in-residence at London's Southbank Centre. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has worked with the British Council and is a patron of the Letterbox Club, supporting children in care. His work has featured at the Royal Academy and the British Film Institute. Sissay was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Huddersfield in 2009 and was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours. In 2014 Sissay was appointed as a Fellow of the Foundling Museum.

Sissay's television appearances include The South Bank Show and the BBC's series Grumpy Old Men. As a radio broadcaster he makes documentaries for the BBC. He is a regular contributor on BBC Radio 4's programme Saturday Live, which in 2008 was nominated for two Sony Awards. He also contributes to the BBC's Book Panel.

In 2015, Sissay became the patron of ALL FM 96.9 Community Radio in Manchester, and he said: "I've always loved All Fm, partly because it's such diverse radio (with shows in Urdu, Polish, Somali, Persian, Cantonese and more), but also because it played 'Architecture' (Bertallot & Mo-Dus Remix), which I'd lost and the All Fm DJ sent me a copy." Sissay's poems are read frequently on All Fm and one of its older presenters, Li, aged 84, translated and read his poem "Invisible Kisses" in Mandarin and English. She said: "I love his poetry because it is so moving and not skin-deep."

In June 2015, Sissay was elected as chancellor of the University of Manchester for a seven-year term by university staff, registered alumni and members of the General Assembly. He took up his new role on 1 August, with an installation ceremony held on Foundation Day at the university on 14 October 2015, at which he said: "Reach for the top of the tree and you may get to the first branch but reach for the stars and you'll get to the top of the tree. My primary aim is to inspire and be inspired. I am proud to be Chancellor of this fantastic university and extremely grateful to everyone who voted for me." In the same month, Sissay was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

In January 2016, Sissay wrote an article in The Guardian about the Foundling Museum's "Drawing on Childhood" exhibition in which he noted: "How a society treats those children who have no one to look after them is a measure of how civilised it is. It is scandalous that a prime minister should have to admit, as David Cameron did last autumn, that the care system 'shames our country' and that Ofsted should report that there are more councils judged as 'inadequate' than 'good' for their children’s services." Later that year, Sissay became the patron of theatre company 20 Stories High, based in Toxteth, Liverpool, which creates diverse theatre including beatboxing, singing, puppetry and other media. In October of the same year, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the series Lemn Sissay's Origin Stories, in which he discussed his life; it was rebroadcast a year later.

In April 2017, Sissay joined the Foundling Museum's board of trustees. Later that year it was announced that he would appear in a revival of Jim Cartwright's 1986 play Road at the Royal Court Theatre. In September 2017, Sissay used his position as chancellor of the University of Manchester to launch a new bursary with the purpose of increasing the numbers of black men taking up careers in law and criminal justice. The initiative, part of the university's school of law's Black Lawyers Matter project, was created after it was found that "out of some 1,200 undergraduates, only 14 UK-based Black males of African and Caribbean heritage were registered on law and criminology courses, and of these none were from lower socio-economic backgrounds".

In the same year, he staged a one-off show, entitled The Report, based on a psychologist's report about Sissay's early life and how it affected him. The show details his experience with social services, foster homes, abuse and his psychiatric diagnoses: post-traumatic stress disorder, avoidant personality disorder and alcohol use disorder. He brought a case against Wigan Council that was settled in 2018 with a six-figure payout and a formal apology to Sissay for the treatment he suffered when in care.

In June 2019 it was announced that Sissay had won the 2019 PEN Pinter Prize, awarded to writers who take an "unflinching, unswerving" view of the world, with one of the judging panel, Maureen Freely, saying: "In his every work, Lemn Sissay returns to the underworld he inhabited as an unclaimed child. From his sorrows, he forges beautiful words and a thousand reasons to live and love."

In January 2020, Sissay joined the Booker Prize judging panel, alongside Margaret Busby (chair), Lee Child, Sameer Rahim and Emily Wilson.

In December 2020, he was featured walking in Dentdale towards England's highest railway station, in the Winter Walks series on BBC Four.

In May 2021, Sissay appeared on BBC One's Have I Got News for You, hosted by Romesh Ranganathan, alongside fellow panellists Ian Hislop, Paul Merton and Jo Brand.

Sissay was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to literature and charity. He was quoted in the Hackney Gazette as saying: "I'm honoured.... If you had gone to my 17-year-old self and said: 'In 2021 the Queen's going to give you [an honour], I would have said: 'No way.' So it's worth believing." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

In October 2023, Sissay participated in Series 7, Week 5 of Richard Osman's House of Games.

Books

 * Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist. Bogle-L'Ouverture, 1988. ISBN 978-0-90452-144-3.
 * Rebel Without Applause. Bloodaxe Books, 1992 (Canongate Books, 2000). ISBN 978-1-84195-001-3.
 * Morning Breaks in the Elevator. Canongate Books, 1999. ISBN 978-1-84767-743-3.
 * The Fire People (editor). Payback Press, 1998. ISBN 9780862417390.
 * The Emperor's Watchmaker. Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2001. ISBN 978-0-74754-755-6.
 * Listener, Canongate Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84195-895-8.
 * Hidden Gems (ed. Deirdre Osborne; Sissay contributed "Something Dark"), Oberon Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84002-843-0.
 * Refugee Boy, Bloomsbury stage adaptation of Benjamin Zephaniah's novel Refugee Boy, 2013. ISBN 978-1-47250-645-0
 * My Name Is Why, autobiography of his early life, with observations on the British care system. Canongate Books, 2019. ISBN 978-1-78689-234-8
 * Let the Light Pour In (Canongate Books, 2023, ISBN 978-1805301134)

Plays

 * Skeletons in the Cupboard (1993), Bury Metro Arts
 * Don't Look Down (1993)
 * Chaos by Design (1994), Community Arts Workshop
 * Storm (2002), Contact Theatre
 * Something Dark (2006), Battersea Arts Centre/Contact Theatre/Apples and Snakes
 * Why I Don't Hate White People (2011), Hammersmith Lyric Theatre
 * Refugee Boy (2013), West Yorkshire Playhouse
 * Metamorphosis (2023), Frantic Assembly

BBC radio plays

 * Chaos by Design (BBC Radio 1994)
 * Something Dark (BBC Radio 2006)
 * Something Dark – Live (ABC 2012)
 * Why I Don't Hate White People (BBC Radio 3, 2010)

title: Lemn Sissay