text:
The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs

The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs is a 1988 compilation album of Phil Ochs' works on A&M Records recorded between 1967 and 1970. With varying amounts of tracks from the albums, between two and five, from each album except Gunfight At Carnegie Hall (which was unrepresented), it paints a portrait of Ochs' later works that does not emphasize his folk songs, instead presenting the more introspective and/or experimental tracks. It did feature a live version of "I Ain't Marching Anymore" later reissued as a part of the 1991 album that presented the entire concert from which it was culled, There And Now: Live in Vancouver 1968.

Now out of print, it has been replaced by 2002's 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Phil Ochs and 2004's Cross My Heart: An Introduction to Phil Ochs.

Track listing
All songs by Phil Ochs.
 * 1) "Tape from California" – 6:46
 * 2) "Flower Lady" – 6:03
 * 3) "Half A Century High" – 2:50
 * 4) "The Scorpion Departs but Never Returns" – 4:14
 * 5) "The War Is Over" – 4:22
 * 6) "One Way Ticket Home" – 2:35
 * 7) "Rehearsals for Retirement" – 4:11
 * 8) "Chords of Fame" – 3:30
 * 9) "Gas Station Women" – 3:29
 * 10) "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" – 3:41
 * 11) "Pleasures of the Harbor" – 8:07
 * 12) "Kansas City Bomber" – 2:27
 * 13) "White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land" – 3:31
 * 14) "Jim Dean of Indiana" – 5:01
 * 15) "No More Songs" – 4:15
 * 16) "I Ain't Marching Anymore" (Live) – 4:31

Source listing

 * Tracks 1, 3, 5 and 13 from Tape From California (1968)
 * Tracks 2, 10 and 11 from Pleasures Of The Harbor (1967)
 * Tracks 4 and 7 from Rehearsals For Retirement (1969)
 * Tracks 6, 8, 9, 14 and 15 from Greatest Hits (1970)
 * Track 12 from the 1973 single
 * Track 16 was performed live in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday, March 13, 1969. According to the liner notes of the CD, this performance was Ochs' first since his arrest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but this is incorrect.

title: The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs


text:
Wedtech scandal

The Wedtech scandal was an American political scandal involving the award of government contracts. It was first brought to light in 1986.

History
The Wedtech Corporation was founded in the Bronx, New York by John Mariotta, and originally manufactured baby carriages. But after a number of years, Mariotta brought in a partner, Fred Neuberger, and began focusing on winning small business set-aside contracts for the Department of Defense.

As a major employer in a depressed part of New York City, Wedtech enjoyed a strong local reputation and was even praised by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan for the jobs it provided for those who might otherwise be forced onto welfare rolls. Mariotta was praised as the Small Business Owner of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Wedtech had won many of its defense contracts without competitive bidding under a Small Business Administration program that gave preference to minority-owned businesses, despite the fact that Fred Neuberger, not a member of any government recognized minority, owned a majority of the company's stock, thus disqualifying Wedtech as a minority-owned business. To keep Neuberger's controlling ownership secret, the company committed fraud, forging papers that claimed Mariotta was still the primary owner of the company.

When Wedtech went public, it gave shares of stock to law firms (as payment for legal services), including Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent & Sheinfeld. Some of the law firms employed members or relatives of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Bronx Congressmen Mario Biaggi and Robert Garcia. Both would later resign their seats due to their roles in the scandal and were subsequently jailed, as were State Senators Clarence Mitchell III and Michael Mitchell of Maryland. With undisclosed holdings in Wedtech, they used their positions to help Wedtech win federal work.

Another key figure in the scandal was Paul Castellano's first cousin, Maj. General Vito Castellano who occupied key capitol positions in Albany, such as the former commander of the New York National Guard and Governor Mario Cuomo's former chief of staff.

Vito Castellano pled guilty to state charges of tax evasion in connection with payments from the Wedtech Corporation. Indicted on charges of bribing Mr. Castellano was Bernard C. Ehrlich, who Castellano had promoted to commanding officer of the 42d Infantry Division of the National Guard.

Wedtech then began extending its reach to the White House, utilizing President Reagan's press secretary, Lyn Nofziger, to contact public liaison officer (and future Senator) Elizabeth Dole.

Through Dole, Wedtech won a $32 million contract to produce small engines for the United States Army. This was only the first of many no-bid deals that eventually totaled $250 million.

By the final years of Reagan's second term, Wedtech's crimes had become too numerous to hide. An independent counsel was appointed by Congress, which later charged Attorney General Edwin Meese with complicity in the scandal (his close friend had worked as a lobbyist for the company and sought help from Meese on Wedtech contract matters). While Meese was never convicted of any wrongdoing, he resigned in 1988 when the independent counsel delivered the report on Wedtech.

Independent counsel McKay never prosecuted or sought indictment of Meese, but in his official report, which is still confidential, he was highly critical of Meese's ethics and urged further investigation of Meese's role in that scandal and others (such as Meese's efforts to help Bechtel Corporation build an oil pipeline for Saddam Hussein's Iraq).

In all, more than 20 state, local, and federal government officials were convicted of crimes in connection to the scandal. Some of these convictions, however, were reversed on appeal in 1991 when it was found that Anthony Guariglia, former Wedtech president and a star government witness, had committed perjury, and that the prosecutors had reason to know he was committing perjury. Guariglia had been convicted of lying about stopping his compulsive gambling, and an appeals court found that the jury would have likely discredited his testimony if it had known about the perjury.

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

title: Wedtech scandal


text:
Waverider (character)

Waverider is a superhero appearing in media published by DC Comics universe. He was created by Archie Goodwin and Dan Jurgens, with the first version of the character, Matthew Ryder, first appearing in Armageddon 2001 #1 (May 1991). A second version of the character is a Hypertime-line counterpart and partner of the original, who became Waverider after his superpowered doppelgänger's death during the storyline Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! (September 1994).

A third version of the character first appeared in Convergence: Booster Gold #2 (July 2015) as a reborn older version of the pre-Flashpoint Booster Gold (also created by Jurgens). After his transformation, he is instrumental to saving the multiverse in Convergence #8. His powers are the same as the original Waverider, but his knowledge and history are Booster Gold's.

Fictional character biography
In the year 2030, the world had been ruled by a villain named Monarch, who destroyed all of the Earth's superheroes. Matthew Ryder, a scientist, who remembered the time he was a child and was saved by a superhero from a collapsing building, decided to fight against Monarch's dictatorship. Matthew discovered that Monarch might have been a former hero, so Matthew built a time machine to travel to the past to find out which hero would become Monarch. Unlike previous test subjects who had died when they tried the time machine, Matthew survived. However, he was merged with the time stream and was given numerous powers, two of them being to travel through time at will and to predict a person's future. With his new powers and appearance, Matthew took up the superhero name Waverider.

Making his way into the year 1991, Waverider predicted the futures of numerous heroes in his search for Monarch. When Waverider accidentally came into contact with Captain Atom, the interaction of their powers resulted in a massive amount of temporal energy being unleashed. This created an opening in the quantum field, which allowed Monarch, who had been monitoring Waverider's actions, to travel back in time to ensure his own existence. When Monarch later killed Dove, her partner Hawk became enraged, beat Monarch, and unmasked him, only to see that Monarch was Hawk himself.

Post-Armageddon
Waverider and various heroes who he gathered defeated a demonic being called Abraxis. Later, while Waverider was traveling through the time stream, he encountered an alternate timeline doppelgänger of himself, who was still a regular human (since Monarch's future reign had been erased). Following this, both Matthew Ryders joined the Linear Men, a group that contained time-traveling beings who protected the time stream, with the powerless Ryder eventually become the team's leader. Despite the Linear Men's policy of non-intervention in the timeline – to the point that Waverider was discouraged from preventing Superman's death during his first battle with Doomsday – Waverider came to Superman's aid when he discovered that Doomsday had returned to life and was now working with the Cyborg Superman. Recognizing the danger of Doomsday's existence, Waverider showed Superman a detailed vision of the past to explain the circumstances of Doomsday's origin as a genetically engineered being capable of evolving to overcome anything that proved capable of killing him. Waverider also discovered that Doomsday's hatred of Superman was due to Doomsday's traumatic origins on Krypton leaving him with a deeply rooted hatred of Kryptonians. The two heroes seemingly defeated the monster by taking him to the end of time, where the imprisoned Doomsday was destroyed by entropy as the universe itself collapsed. Later, during Zero Hour, Waverider was killed by Extant, who had evolved from Monarch. His alternate self, Matthew Ryder, was still alive, and was shortly thereafter contacted by Metron. Metron told Matthew that he had to become Waverider, and that he was the only one who could use time travel to save the universe. Matthew was then transformed into a new version of Waverider, and took the role his previous self did: helping a select group of heroes defeat Extant and Parallax's effort to recreate time the way that Extant and Parallax wanted it by triggering their own Big Bang with the aid of Damage.

Death
Junior and Georgia, two descendants of the villain Doctor Sivana, rebuilt their father's sphere of Suspendium which let them travel in time. Although they were able to open a gateway in the past, they ultimately had to stop their experiment. Right before shutting down the machine, they saw Waverider in the timestream but failed to recognize him. Later, Waverider was seen talking with the dying Time Commander, one of the former time-traveling villains who Waverider had tried to recruit in his efforts to save the timeline. Skeets, infected and controlled by Mister Mind, then arrived and killed the Time Commander. He then asked Waverider where and "when" Rip Hunter was in the time stream. When Waverider refused to tell Skeets the answer, Skeets brutally tortured Waverider. Skeets later implied that he killed Waverider and was wearing his skin.

Linear Woman
Black Beetle, Despero, Ultra-Humanite, and Degaton had intended on finding Rip Hunter and killing him, so that the time stream would no longer be guarded. Black Beetle took his allies to a destroyed Vanishing Point and revealed that Rip Hunter and the Linear Men were never in agreement about how to handle time. He also revealed that Rip Hunter, tired of the Linear Men's interference, locked them away in a cell at Vanishing Point. The four villains then found the cell and tore it open, seeing an alive Matthew Ryder and Liri Lee in it. Black Beetle asks the Linear Men to help bring Waverider back to life. But Supernova prevents Black Beetle from succeeding, and sends the Time Stealers back to the present, although Black Beetle escapes. The Linear Men follow Black Beetle. They then teleport through time to search for Waverider's corpse in the desolate wasteland of Earth's future. After Black Beetle finds Waverider's corpse, he double-crosses them, revealing his plan to use Waverider's power to become invulnerable. Black Beetle attempts to fuse with Waverider's corpse's power, but he is thwarted by Supernova. Instead, Liri fuses with Waverider's corpse to become Linear Woman, after which Black Beetle escapes. Rip Hunter and the rest of the Time Masters then arrive. However, Linear Woman refuses to agree with Rip Hunter's rules of time travel, and teleports herself and Matthew through the timestream.

Booster Gold
As the older iteration of pre-Flashpoint Booster Gold is dying due to excessive time travel, his son, Rip Hunter, has the New 52 Booster take him to Vanishing Point, where the older Booster is taken to a secret room. The original surrenders his body to the time stream and emerges as a new version of Waverider. Waverider then takes the other Booster and his sister, Goldstar, to the planet Telos, where they resurrect the godlike version of Brainiac responsible for the Convergence crisis and convince him to undo it.

Powers and abilities
Waverider can time-travel at will, and is capable of accessing the time stream and monitoring it. He can also access a person's aura, and, by touching them, can predict their most likely future at any time in their life. When he first received his powers, his entire appearance was transformed from a normal-looking man into a being with fiery hair and yellow skin with a black outline along the back of his body. Waverider can also fly at the speed of light, can fire quantum energy blasts, and can become invisible and intangible.

Television

 * Waverider makes non-speaking cameo appearances in Justice League Unlimited as a member of the Justice League.
 * In Legends of Tomorrow, Rip Hunter's timeship is called the Waverider, with Gideon serving as the ship's A.I.

Merchandise

 * An action figure of the character was included as part of Mattel's Justice League Unlimited toy line in early 2006.

title: Waverider (character)


text:
The Downs Malvern

The Downs Malvern is a private prep school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1900. It is located on a 55 acre site in Colwall in the County of Herefordshire, on the western slopes of the Malvern Hills. The school takes children aged 2 to 13 and comprises a nursery, kindergarten, pre-prep, and preparatory school; the preparatory school takes both day students and boarders. The Headmaster since 2020 has been Andy Nuttall. Fees are currently up to £21,471 pa for full boarders and up to £16,221 pa for day pupils.

Since 2008 the Downs has been the preparatory school for Malvern College.

A distinctive feature of the school is its miniature-gauge railway, the Downs Light Railway, which was begun in 1925. Complete with a tunnel and a station, it is the world's oldest private miniature railway.

History
The Downs School at Colwall was founded in 1900 by Herbert Jones, who had been educated in Cambridge and was headmaster at Leighton Park School when he and his wife Ethel Jones founded the Downs Malvern as a preparatory school for boys. It opened with four pupils, and slowly expanded, with 40 pupils in 1918.

The Jones were Quakers, and the Downs was unusual in being a Quaker school, a status which would eventually fade away. The Quaker ambience meant that several of the staff were conscientious objectors in the First World War. It was also unusual in pioneering extra-curricular activities, such as music and hobbies, for its pupils. This innovation would eventually spread across the mainstream preparatory schools.

In 1920 the Joneses left, and were succeeded by the second master, Geoffrey Hoyland, one of the conscientious objectors. He had married into the Cadbury family and used the family's wealth to expand and improve the school during his tenure as headmaster. Hoyland built new buildings, introduced student self-government and an innovative curriculum with an emphasis on science and the arts. Under his supervision, the pupils built and maintained a miniature railway, the only one in any English school at the time, which still survives. Among the notable masters he hired were the painter Maurice Feild and the poet W. H. Auden.

Frazer Hoyland succeeded his brother Geoffrey as headmaster in 1940. He increased the school's emphasis on music and drama. Shortly after the war the poet James Kirkup taught at the school for four terms, and wrote his first collection there. Julius Harrison composed a cantata and sonata for the school's Jubilee in 1950.

William Vaughan Berkley became headmaster in 1952, and remained until 1969. In 1957, he appointed as English master the actor Anthony Corfield, who sustained an active programme in drama for more than thirty years. James Brown, who had been assistant head to Berkley, became headmaster in 1969. He wrote the history of the school, The First Five (meaning the first five headmasters), published in 1988. Brown was succeeded as headmaster by Christopher Syers-Gibson, D. H. M. Dalrymple, Ian Murphy, Andrew Auster, J. Griggs, and, in 1999, Christopher Black.

By the end of the twentieth century the school was coeducational and included a nursery, kindergarten and pre-prep as well as the original preparatory school.

Alastair Ramsay became the next headmaster and, in 2008, the school merged with Malvern College prep school, on The Downs' existing site. The name was changed to The Downs Malvern to reflect its new stewardship. In September 2009 Alastair Cook became headmaster.

Andy Nuttall became Headmaster of The Downs Malvern in May 2020.

The Downian Society draws its membership from former pupils, employees and associates of the school.

W. H. Auden at the Downs
The poet W. H. Auden spent three years teaching English at The Downs during 1932–1935. He returned for the summer term in 1937 when the English master was away. He was loved as one of the more extravagant and eccentric teachers, who supplemented his teaching of English by teaching pupils how to make spitballs stick to the ceiling.

He helped to found the school magazine The Badger in 1933, and his contributions to it included poems about school personalities. He continued to contribute occasionally after he left the school. In 1935 he wrote, composed, and organised a musical revue, in which the entire school took part, and reused some of the lyrics in his play The Dog Beneath the Skin. In 1937 he wrote a preface to the catalogue of an exhibition in a London gallery of paintings by present and former members of the school. Auden lived at the school in a cottage that he named "Lawrence Villa" (one of his allusions to D. H. Lawrence). During the summer term, he used to sleep out on the lawn; thus the opening line of his poem "Out on the lawn I lie in bed".

Benjamin Britten, Hedli Anderson and William Coldstream visited Auden at the school several times to work on their collaboration for the GPO Film Unit, and to perform music and teach art to the pupils.

Among the poems that Auden wrote at the Downs were Hearing of harvests; his evocation of his Vision of Agape in June 1933, Out on the lawn I lie in bed (later dedicated to Geoffrey Hoyland); Our hunting fathers; Look, stranger; and, during his return in 1937, the despairing Schoolchildren. He was particularly taken with one of his pupils, Michael Yates, with whom he fell in love for some years and later maintained a lifelong friendship. Auden's time at The Downs was one of the happiest periods in his life.

The epigraph to Auden's posthumously published play The Chase (written in 1935) was a poem by a Downs pupil, John Bowes, which had been mocked by the other pupils in Auden's class. Auden rebuked them, saying that the poem was not only satisfactory but that he would use it in his next book. Bowes and Auden corresponded in later years, and Auden stayed with Bowes and his wife in Cheltenham in 1972.

Downs Light Railway
The Downs Light Railway is a distinctive feature of the school. This miniature-gauge railway was begun in 1925 and, complete with a tunnel under Brockhill Road and a station, is situated within the school grounds. It maintains working engines under both steam and petrol power and is used as an extra-curricular activity to teach pupils a range of skills.

Former pupils

 * Derek Bangham (1924–2008), research scientist
 * James I. C. Boyd, railway historian
 * Gurney Braithwaite, Conservative politician
 * John Crabtree, lawyer and businessman; Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands
 * Patrick George, painter
 * Sir Lawrence Gowing, painter
 * W. Brian Harland (1917-2003), geologist
 * Sir Alan Hodgkin, neuroscientist and Nobel laureate
 * Humphrey Kay (1923–2009), pathologist and haematologist
 * Peter Parker, author and journalist
 * Drummond Hoyle Matthews, geologist and marine geophysicist
 * Will Merrick, actor
 * Lionel Penrose, medical expert and mathematician
 * Roland Penrose (1900 – 1984), artist, historian and poet.
 * Frederick Sanger, biochemist and the fourth person to become a double Nobel Laureate
 * A. J. P. Taylor, historian
 * Donald Wright, schoolmaster
 * Michael Yates, television designer

title: The Downs Malvern


text:
Thomson Marconi Sonar

Thomson Marconi Sonar or TMS was formed in 1996 by the merger of the sonar systems businesses of French defence electronics specialist Thomson-CSF and British company GEC-Marconi after the payment of a balance by the latter. The new company was 50.1% owned by Thomson-CSF and 49.9% by GEC-Marconi. Denis Ranque was appointed as its CEO. The new company would head 3 operational entities:

 * The French entity, Thomson Sintra (based in Brest and Sophia Antipolis), was brought in by Thomson-CSF. It was the European leader in defence-related sonar systems and the world's second after Lockheed Martin Loral, with annual sales of 1.5 billion francs, split between submarine sonars (35%), anti-submarine warfare systems or ASM (27%), mine warfare (15%) and airborne sonars (18%).
 * The British entity was made up of GEC-Marconi's sonar division, which had annual sales of 90 million pounds (700 million francs) as well as a company already co-owned by it and Thomson-CSF called Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems (with about 400 million francs in sales).
 * A third entity in Australia, called TMS Pty, was composed of the two groups' establishments operating in the sector.

With the merger of GEC's defence business Marconi Electronic Systems and British Aerospace in 1999, the resulting BAE Systems acquired Marconi's 49.9% share in TMS. BAE, through an options agreement, forced Thomson-CSF (now called Thales) to purchase its stake in 2001. The company therefore became entirely owned by Thales and was renamed Thales Underwater Systems.

Products

 * Submarine sonar and surface ship sonar
 * Minehunter sonar
 * Airborne acoustic processors and dipping sonars (helicopter applications)
 * Sonar support systems and trainers
 * Communication systems

title: Thomson Marconi Sonar


text:
Talk:Arthur Phillips

Untitled
Is this the same Arthur Phillips that appeared on Jeopardy's Ulitmate Tournament of Champions? --OntarioQuizzer 23:31, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I really think so. I think he told Alex Trebek that he was a novelist.

OntarioQuizzer, watch your spelling.

-Is he really a "best selling" novelist?

-I do not think he is a best selling novelist according to any sources I can find. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Drunkencorgimaster (talk • contribs) 01:16, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Wow, this page is just an add for this clown. Why does it have a link to his page? It IS his page.--70.249.61.95 (talk) 01:02, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
 * HE was on the NYTimes best seller list at least once, per a quick search.--Milowent • talkblp-r 14:25, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Arthur Phillips


text:
Franz von Paula Gruithuisen

Franz von Paula (Franciscus de Paula) Gruithuisen (19 March 1774 – 21 June 1852) was a Bavarian physician and astronomer. He taught medical students before becoming a professor of astronomy at the University of Munich in 1826.

During his period of medical studies and instruction, he was noted for his contributions to urology and lithotripsy. He developed ideas on safer methods to remove bladder stones transurethrally, and his instruments served as models for subsequent devices.

Like others before and since his time, Gruithuisen believed that the Earth's Moon was habitable. He made multiple observations of the lunar surface that supported his beliefs, including his announcement of the discovery of a city in the rough terrain to the north of Schröter crater he named the Wallwerk. This region contains a series of somewhat linear ridges that have a fishbone-like pattern, and, with the small refracting telescope he was using, could be perceived as resembling buildings complete with streets. He published his observations in 1824, but they were greeted with much skepticism by other astronomers of the time. His claims were readily refuted using more powerful instruments. Gruithuisen was also the first to suggest that craters on the Moon were caused by meteorite impacts.

He is also noted for the discovery of bright caps on the cusps of the crescent Venus, which he attempted to explain by proposing that jungles on Venus grew more rapidly than in Brazil due to the proximity of the planet to the Sun, and that as a consequence the planet's inhabitants celebrated fire festivals during which they burned massive amounts of vegetation.

Gruithuisen lived at 24 Brienner Straße in Munich shortly before his death. The crater Gruithuisen on the Moon is named for him. Gruithuisen and his theories are mentioned in one of Giacomo Leopardi's Small Moral Works: Dialogo della Terra e della Luna (Dialogue between the Earth and the Moon). Mentioned too in "De la Terre à la Lune" Jules Verne

title: Franz von Paula Gruithuisen


text:
Non homologué

Non homologué is a 1985 album recorded by French artist Jean-Jacques Goldman. It was his fourth studio album and was released in September 1985. Goldman composed all the songs except "Je te donne", written in collaboration with Michael Jones. The album was recorded at Studio Gang by Jean-Pierre Janiau, assisted by Olivier do Espirito Santo. It was released by JRG/NEF and produced by Marc Lumbroso.

It provided three highly successful singles :"Je marche seul" (#2), "Je te donne" (#1) and "Pas toi" (#5). The album was also successful : it went straight to number-one on 6 October 1985 on the SNEP albums chart and topped for nine non consecutive weeks. It remained for 61 weeks in the top ten.

Track listing

 * Vinyl
 * 1) "Compte pas sur moi" — 5:24
 * 2) "Parler d'ma vie" — 4:53
 * 3) "La vie par procuration" — 4:12
 * 4) "Délires schizo-maniaco-psychotiques" — 3:58
 * 5) "Je marche seul" — 4:03
 * 6) "Pas toi" — 5:29
 * 7) "Je te donne" (duet with Michael Jones) — 4:24
 * 8) "Famille" — 5:22
 * 9) "Bienvenue sur mon boulevard" — 4:11
 * 10) "Confidentiel" — 2:35

 * CD
 * 1) "Compte pas sur moi" — 5:26
 * 2) "Je te donne" (duet with Michael Jones) — 4:25
 * 3) "Famille" — 5:33
 * 4) "La vie par procuration" — 4:13
 * 5) "Parler d'ma vie" — 5:08
 * 6) "Pas toi" — 5:31
 * 7) "Bienvenue sur mon boulevard" — 4:14
 * 8) "Elle attend" — 3:17
 * 9) "Délires schizo-maniaco-psychotiques" — 3:59
 * 10) "Je marche seul" — 4:03
 * 11) "Confidentiel" — 2:36

Personnel

 * Roland Romanelli - accordion
 * Claude Samard- banjo
 * Guy Delacroix, Claude Le Péron (Je te donne) - bass guitar
 * Marc Changereau, P. A. Dahan, Guy Delacroix, Christophe Deschamps, Jean-François Gauthier - drums and percussion
 * Michael Jones, Guy Delacroix, J. L. Delest, P. Gaillard, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Robert Goldman, Jean-Pierre Janiaud - vocals
 * Jean-Jacques Goldman - acoustic guitar
 * Jean-Jacques Goldman, Michael Jones, Non Krief - electric guitar
 * Georges Rodi - organ
 * Jean-Yves d'Angelo, Guy Delacroix, Jean-Jacques Goldman - piano
 * Guy Delacroix - programming
 * Jean-Jacques Goldman, Roland Romanelli - synthesizer
 * Chet Baker - trumpet
 * Patrice Mondon - violin

title: Non homologué


text:
Talk:IP Multimedia Subsystem

Comparison with UMA/GAN
Could this page use some information on the differences between IMS/UMA(GAN) and how they compete, differ and complement each other?

UMA/GAN is about mobile devices, whereas IMS is about any device, fixed or mobile, connected to a big single network through SIP/IP.

Optimization
I believe that in the article should be add some info related to ADAMANTIUM project, which is a european research project that aims at optimizing current IMS infrastructure with a Perceived Quality of Service aware adaptation management system. For more info please have a look at http://www.ict-adamantium.eu/

I found this article useful but I don't understand the statement: IMS is an optimization of the network, and investments for such optimization are questionable

Alastair Rae 16:07, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

ChrisBarron I would explain optimisation as follows. If you first of all just take the words as plain english 'optimisation' can be taken to mean make best use of. The IMS protocol suite will be capable of establishing a session between two devices with a minimum of interconnecting stages. In a telecom network, fixed, mobile or even VoIP, each stage generates a charge and therefore revenue to the carrier. There is something of a disincentive for networks to invest in such optimisation. The converse argument is that the network with the most effective IMS will cause users to migrate more and more devices and sessions towards it and therefore increase overall revenue. At this point we start to get into economics rather than technology - but see [| Hotellings law]-- Chris 00:33, 25 Dec 2005

Expert writer core dump syndrome
Hi, I looked this page to learn what IMS is. The author obviously is well versed in IMS, but I found the article suffers from "expert writer core dump syndrome". It's very hard to follow if you don't already understand the material. I was thrown off by the first paragraph. In one sentence it says IMS is a VoIP implementation... and then the next says IMS is used to offer multimedia services; multimeda services encompass more than just Voip, so the first sentence is negated by the second. Also what does "network controlled" mean in the last sentence, first para? I think you are trying to pack too much info in for the overall good

Point taken, but these first sentences came out of a real "introductory text". Note that VOIP is more than voice, it's really multimedia-over-ip : audio, video, graphics, data, ... The phone operators really want to merge everything together (all Internet services), even in mobile packages. But it's still about communication, not an Internet terminal or something. "network controlled" means that they still want full control over everything what happens (read: you'll have to pay) -- Bluezy

no advertising links
Several people have been adding links under the "external links" section, that point to various websites of telecommunications companies. At first they were useful, when they were white-papers, that explained what IMS was. But what's the point if there are a dozen links to similar content ? Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a directory listing for advertisement purposes.

Last week, someone tried to add a link that was called "Leading provider of SIP MobileVOIP based Solutions" (I won't mention the name of the company). That was a pure advertisement, and didn't add any value to this page.

I finally decided to remove all links, even the one from my own company (that was pretty neutral), except the 3GPP ones (that define the standard), and the one from LightReading (that present a neutral overview). I even removed the one from my own company. When a good link is presented, that explains IMS or a particular aspect of it, we can accept it. But please, no more marketing papers or products placement.

--Bluezy 21:45, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

I was trying to add a link to the Open Source IMS Core project (www.openimscore.org) that actually deals exactly with IMS core networks. I would argue that although yes, this is advertisement for the project itself, this is not a commercial one, so does this still categorize at advertising? Of course there are ties to the project contributors, the community is self driven and as such independent.

The targets of this project are clearly educational, towards what is and how does IMS work. Started in 2006, now there's a community of 500+ subscribers on the mailing list. The project offers prototypical implementations of the core network components, with things like a ready-to-run IMS in a bottle, all obviously as a community effort free of charge.

--Vingarzan (talk) 14:53, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

RFC
Shouldn't the link for RTP's RFC in the "IETF Specs" section point to RFC 3550 instead of 1889 as 3550 obsoletes 1889 ?

Mat 86.203.206.68 12:19, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

You're right, RTP was updated in 2003. But most SIP phones only implement RFC 1998, the changes are not so important for small-scale implementations (see RFC 2550 appendix B). --Bluezy 15:09, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

I-CSCF x IBCF
Latest issue add: "From Release 7 onwards this function is removed from the I-CSCF and now part of the IBCF (Interconnection Border Control Function). The IBCF is used as gateway to external networks, and provides NAT and Firewall functions (pinholing). " Could you please update also the figure to show the IBCF?

Image request: Interfaces
The table of interfaces needs a diagram (or at least a very prominent link to one elsewhere) to show where these various interfaces logically reside. At one time (late October '06), I recall there was a diagram immediately above the table but it seems to have been lost. If it was removed because of an inaccuracy or usage problem, it should have been flagged for replacement, not just trashed. DKEdwards 22:59, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Diagram was deleted due to the license problem (it was a image scan from a book). I think, that image http://www.tech-invite.com/img/ims/ims.gif can be added, but I'm not sure about copyrights also. Alny 16:40, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Categorization
Regarding the removal of IP Multimedia Subsystem from Voice over IP:
 * Since it is included in VoIP protocols, it should not be included in the parent, unless there is a specific reason.
 * - TJJFV 00:59, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Advantages and Issues
I've been meaning to write why I tagged this section but I have been distracted. So here goes nothing.......

The entire Advantages and Issues section is terrible. The section begins with weasel words and descends from there. Ignoring the awkwardness, particularly the "Debate" in the second section, there appears to be a complete misunderstanding of context, in terms of where IMS is intended to be used.

IMS's intended role can be summed up as:

"I am Megatelco. I want to migrate my network to 4G (WiMAX, LTE UMTS, etc), I want my customers to be able to purchase integrated devices that work on my network (from me, from others) and 'just work'. For example, if they buy a cellphone, the cellphone isn't going to 'just work' if the customer has to install Skype or Vonage before using it, and organize service provision from third parties. If it, on the other hand, supports the collection of standards Megatelco supports, then all the user has to do is insert the SIM card, and their phone works. It works as a phone. They can sell it as a phone."

In the context of that, most of the questions and answers are either ridiculous or irrelevent or both. Does IMS replace free VoIP? No, it doesn't. Does free VoIP suffer through the existance of IMS? Nope. Does the pre-existance of ISDN or GSM indicate IMS is redundant? Erm, nope, because, GAN aside, neither runs over IP, and GAN is hardly an ideal, complete, integrated, efficient, system.

There's no point/counterpoint necessary here. Either you "get it" and understand the role, or you make irrelevent comparisons to technologies that do not deliver the intended purpose of IMS. You might just as well go into a point/counterpoint about how entirely unnecessary HTTP is when we have UDP packets.

 * HTTP means we can deliver files in a standard way
 * Counterpoint: But files are just data. They can be transfered in UDP packets
 * Countercounterpoint: UDP packets are too small and do not guarantee delivery
 * Countercountercounterpoint: You can send lots of them and use delivery confirmation packets

(The actual real point is you can't make a web browser or a web server without a standard for transfering pages, and an ISP, OS vendor, and computer maker would find it hard to provide integrated interoperable solutions without having those protocols set up.)

I'll try to rewrite this over the coming month, but if anyone wants to make a start (or just comment on the above) I'd be delighted. Squiggleslash 15:16, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree completely. It was originally a small list of items to help compare with other systems (Advantages & Issues)), but then people started to add counter-points, then counter-counter-points, etc ... Especially what is now the 'Differences' section. It currently looks like something for the Talk-page, but doesn't belong in the main article. --Bluezy 10:57, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I did a first attempt at a rewrite. I hope I haven't offended anyone with it, but I have tried to emphasise the context of IMS, which hopefully will reduce the likelihood of these kinds of "debates" appearing again. I tried to keep the same information in, though in many cases the rewording leaves the information there by implication. Any comments would be welcome.Squiggleslash 14:31, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

How about a first sentence that is understandable by a normal human? After that, run with it, but this is a general use encyclopedia so the top level should try to provide clarity. The article is beautiful to behold, but opaque with deeply nested jargon. I am a programmer who gets "Telephony" magazine in the mail for reasons unknown - all jargon, unexplained acronyms, hoped to get a clue here. I did get a clue but there is obviously a culture gap between telco folks and the rest of humanity. C Ross feb 6, 2007

Any better? --Squiggleslash 15:13, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Squiggleslash - Let me reword your argument slightly differently to reflect an alternative way in which IMS may be perceived? After all - all the potential views should be represented.

"I am Megatelco. I want to migrate my network to IMS based systems. I would like to ensure that things only 'just work' when they pay us for our own premium service. I would like to ensure services like 'vonage', 'skype' as well as 'youtube' do not 'just work' and reduce usage of my more expensive phone tariffs and are bandwidth limited in comparison to our own services. I want to access control 3rd party provisioning and protect our revenue before some aspects of our business model slip away while consumers find cheap or worse still free services. I want to avoid becoming 'just a utility'."

This could go two ways - it could be used as an enabling platform to make for a richer, smoother user experience, or it could be used as a cynical, competition crushing, monopolistic, cartel forming economic weapon. I will leave it to the success, failure, and market to determine exactly what it works out. Some of us as shareholders win either way. 213.46.174.149 16:36, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Except that has nothing to do with IMS. If Megatelco wants to block Vonage, Skype, and other third parties, support for IMS has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the ability to do so. Your rewording is inaccurate, reeks of paranoid hysteria, and does not belong in a discussion about IMS. I'm amazed you'd even think it would be.

Let's keep the page to a technical discussion, rather than a more general discussion about the behaviour of the telcos when that behaviour has nothing whatsoever to do with the topic at hand. --Squiggleslash 16:51, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Squiggleslash, I would tend to agree with you that such views are quite hysterical, however, I have heard similar things uttered in the board room of a group who supply technology to a single MegaTelco, which boiled down to rolling out IMS and then traffic shaping Skype to gain revenue. It is not as unlikely as it may have sounded. I don't think IMS is the technology that would do the traffic shaping (at least my understanding is that it does not encompass traffic shaping), but that it could be coupled with Anti-NN (Network Neutrality) technology and lobbying to maximise revenue. All-in-all it could actually work out pretty well for Telco's if they collaborate on it (to stop people tarting and just switching to the few providers who remain neutral). 82.153.19.100 13:05, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

 * So what is the relevence here? My point was that the bizarre "Point...Counterpoint" thing wasn't encyclopedic and definitely was irrelevent to the article, with the writers missing the point more often than they stayed on-topic. IMS has nothing to do with traffic shaping or operators controlling the network. It's an open standard that anyone can implement. It neither helps nor hinders the blocking of third party VoIP services. It's merely a way to ensure that someone can produce standardized integrated devices for 4G networks that work the way both operators and customers expect.

 * Or is the point that Megatelco wants to sell VoIP, and even that is wrong? Because it isn't. Megatelco is, today, selling voice services. They want a better platform, a more efficient, more flexible platform, in the near future. Migrating their own network to use IP as an underlying protocol is one way to achieve that. What legitimate interest is served by saying "Yes, you're allowed to upgrade your network, but you can no longer sell the same services"? --Squiggleslash 13:31, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Please may I point out that the naming of this section betrays a misunderstanding of what IMS is i.e IMS is NOT another form of VoIP! Note also Squigglesquash most of what is written here about Integrated service benefits or criticisms are personal opinions that have little place in a discussion of IMS. We need to be honest: given the changes and discussions on this page, it is clear that IMS is something of a hot issue and I would rather see some of the benefits and/or criticsms of the claims of IMS rather than a side discussion on "integrated service benefits". Examples: often there are claims made that (1) IMS aids service creation (2) IMS helps charging and so on. Critics respond respond indicating why these statements can be challenged. This is what should be in Wikipedia, people should come here get the basic facts understand that there is contention and walk away. Additionally, it should be clear there are commercial sensitivities here, some companies have spent (and are spending) a lot of money developing technology that has hasn't quite caught on, and true some operators are talking about it but in general operators have been ambivalent towards IMS. I don't want to jump in and make all the changes now, i would rather that you guys thought a bit more about this and then we could together do something better here. wirelesspond 13:10, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

 * IMS is a way of implementing (amongst other technologies) VoIP so it's reasonable it would be compared to other forms.

 * Either something is a statement of fact or it isn't. If it isn't, then you need to say in what way it is false, and we'll remove the statement from the page. The article is NOT the place for a debate and the way it was worded was terribly unencyclopedic.

 * I stand by every statement I've made. Every statement I've made I've ensured is as accurate as it can be within the context given. I don't really see contention either, I replaced a section of Wikipedia that had barely anything to do with the topic at hand with relevent text. Do we seriously give room to debates on the article pages especially when those debates have nothing to do with the topic at hand?

 * As far as the latter comments go, the LTE project hasn't reported yet, and UMB is similarly yet to be finalized. IMS is, for the most part, intended for all-IP networks. With the exception of a handful of WiMAX networks, that aren't the intended audience for this technology, what all-IP networks exist right now? How many 2G and 3G operators are replacing their networks with all-IP networks today? How can something be judged as failing to have "catched on" when nobody expected any serious roll out of the technology yet? Has Mac OS X Leopard similarly been a total flop? --Squiggleslash 13:31, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Squiggleslash, yes, either something is fact or not. You have titled this "IMS and other forms of VoIP". BUT IMS is not VoIP, it is just as absurd as writing "SIP and other forms of VoIP". Your paragraph 3: (a) The baby has been thrown out with the bath water by your editorial removal of a part of the entry (there are some important points made here by both sides and a synopsis of them would have been very helpful) and (b) your comments, IMHO, about Integrated services are largely tangential here - i do appreciate that you were "trying to keep the peace" and i do not begrudge these opinions (if you want to retain them perhaps you should start a new Wikipedia entry on integrated services or something like that). Your last paragraph is symptomatic of some of your comments/entries here i.e. there is an element of truth in them but they often don't represent the whole picture to the extent that they end up being misleading entries. IMS is not all about tomorrow: 3GPP R5 is about today - and the standard has been available for ages. Nothing stops people putting in CSCF's and HSS's in their networks, they don't need All-IP networks to do this. The commercial fact is that several major vendors are actively selling IMS today for deployment today. Many companies claim IMS is central to FMC *today*. The second half of para 3: I am bewildered, as I am active in and aware of the huge debate going on in the industry at the moment. This should be an entry for an encyclopedia, people have a right to know both the technical and commercial issues. It is perfectly OK to say here that the merits of IMS are not universally accepted (there are several articles and analyst reports on the matter). Wirelesspont 22:20, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

1. As commented above, IMS is a way to implement (amongst other things) VoIP. No, it's not the same as saying "SIP and other forms of VoIP" because SIP really is just a transport mechanism, whereas IMS standardizes VoIP services (amongst others), that, indeed, is one of the things that distinguishes it from SIP.

2. It would help if you actually talked about what it is you disagree with and described your objections. If you're referring to yesterday's edit, I removed something that had previously only been there "to keep the peace". The comment was bullshit, and needed to be removed. It is undeniable that the existance and implementation of IMS has no effect whatsoever on an operator's ability to block or degrade the service of competing VoIP operators. That's fact, not opinion, and would easily be proven wrong if it were not so.

3. My last paragraph is not in any way misleading. IMS (and FMC) is not about "today", it's being developed for tomorrow. Yes, there are prototype and early releases of the system intended to allow operators of existing networks to put their toes in the water before high bandwidth/low latency networks required for the roll out of more mainstream networks become available; and yes, naturally, those who are forward thinking enough are trying to build it into new devices and technologies to keep them future-proof; but the simple FACT of the matter is that no operator, today, could roll out a 100% all-IP IMS based network if they wanted, because the technologies are simply not ready yet. What's the available bandwidth in an HSDPA/HSUPA network? IMS is a forward looking technology, designed as an early component of what's to come, not a current technology that anyone expects to be mainstream today. Why do you think it's based around IPv6? (And no, the fact some people may be pushing today it isn't something I care about. That's not the goal.)

As far as your last paragraph goes: It is not acceptable to have a debate, let alone a "Point...counterpoint" section, in an encyclopedia. This is what was removed and what you appear to be criticising me for. The current entries, which can be expanded, are truthful and unlike what was replaced are actually relevent. The complaints that were made in the "debate" are utterly irrelevent to this article - IMS is not a plot (whether they have one or not) by big telcos against those without infrastructure, because it can't act that way. IMS does offer advantages for networks that want to operate All-IP networks (which is what both UMB and UMTS release 8 are. Circuit switching is not going to be a choice for them) based upon being a standardized, integrated, technology. The fact the technology replicates ISDN is not a "negative" given the technology is intended to implement the same features in an environment where circuit switching will be unavailable. etc.

Regardless of what the intentions are of mobile operators from a competition standpoint, they're going to want an integrated standard for voice and similar services when they migrate from current circuit switched technologies to (very near) future all-IP systems. That's the context of IMS. That's what it's here for. It may or may not be better or worse than competing standards, but those points have yet to be raised by anyone. --Squiggleslash 13:38, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

1. IMS is not a form of VoIP. IMS does not standardise VoIP. Please point me precisely to the IMS specification which does this. If you don't have easy access to the very large IMS specs please read Camarillo's or Poiksella's books (as a pointer Camarillo's 381 page book on IMS mentions VoIP in three places (pgs 5, 7, 259) and never more than two sentences in each place "VoIP" appears). And never is it claimed that IMS is a form of VoIP or vice versa. Simply put: IMS is a component of a generic architecture for offering services for IP.

2. The whole of the "IMS and other forms of VoIP" section needs to rewritten. The only reason a section is needed here is to indicate specific problems and issues. The problem(s) here started with people making some claims related to IMS hype. Some people objected to these claims and we saw the result ....

3. It seems that we live on different planets. Yes it is true that all-IP is aspirational but this should not detract from the fact that IMS is here today. IMS is being sold as a to do FMC *today*. This is whole reason for the resurgence of the IMS hype. The original hype curve (directed towards wireless opertaors) tailed out as it became clear that benefits such as service creation and charging were not quite what they seemed. Then fixed line operators were sold the idea of IMS for FMC. Hence the new hype curve. This is not new, lots of technologies get hyped. Then either the technlogy peters out or finds some good use. Pop over to 3GSM in Barcelona, this week, and have a look at some of the stands. You will have a great opportunity to understand what is happening in the telco industry (including the IMS space). BTW, if you don't agree that IMS is being sold today then do a google serach and provide an explanation for what is going on in the industry.

4. Your opinion about should be in or not in a encyclopedia is your opinion. This encyclopedia is more than your opinion. I am not asking for a debate in the main entry. But I am asking that if there are various view points they get reflected. I believe some of what was there before was very very relevant (some wasn't). Several of the comments you make above, starting "As far as you last paragraph ..." don't resonate with me. You are too focused on some of the wrong statements somebody/some people have made; not withstanding the wrong statements there were lots of very accurate statements too, as I previously said you have thrown the baby out with the bath water.

5. If all you are saying was acceptable and agreed then this discussion (peoples comments, our exchange) would not be occuring. True some of the comments may be incorrect, but I don't sense maliciousness in the comments, so we should carefully consider the content and the intent before we sweep them aside.

I could have stepped in and unilaterally made some changes but instead I am inviting you to consider that your view and opinions here may not necessarily be right and are certainly not agreed. I will of course make changes in due course but I wanted to have a discussion first. -- Wirelesspont 12:30, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

1. Your reasoning is specious. Nobody would expect the letters "VoIP" to appear in the specs. IMS was developed so that mobile operators could offer the same services over IP as they do circuit switched networks. The standard doesn't even need to standardize codecs, given those are higher level concepts already defined by implication of what goes over the virtual circuits IMS implements. The primary purpose of IMS to allow mobile operators to offer mobile phones that work over all-IP networks. That is, by definition, voice over IP.

2. It may well do, but you haven't identified an issue other than making the bizarre claim that IMS is not used to implement standardized, interoperable, voice/etc services over IP. All you've done so far is claim I'm "expressing an opinion" and that I went too far in removing a debate from the middle of an encyclopedia article.

3. Perhaps you'd like to reword point 3 so it makes some kind of sense? (OTOH, don't bother, see below)

4. Yes, you are asking for a debate in the main entry. If you're not, you wouldn't be criticising me for removing it. And my opinion about what might be valid for an encyclopedia may be an "opinion", but your pointing that out suggests you have no counter argument. "Oh, what you say is just your opinion anyway, and BTW I was never arguing (what I've been arguing)" Very constructive, well done.

5. I removed a un-encyclopedic debate from the middle of an article. I ensured all the FACTUAL and RELEVENT points made in that debate are still mentioned in the replacement. I disagree with the only other two criticisms you've made - the suggestion that IMS is not in any form VoIP, despite the fact that its entire reason for development was to ensure mobile operators could offer the same standardized services over an all-IP network as they do using their current circuit switched systems, and the suggestion that it's success or failure can be judged today when no 4G networks actually exist and are expected to exist. (As if the success or failure is actually important right now anyway.) If you want to say "It's failed to take off in areas outside of its original purpose", then that probably is a judgable comment (though any inroads into applications outside of 4G services constitutes a measure of success), but to judge the entire thing as a failure when the lower levels of future all-IP replacements to 3G UMTS and CDMA2000 have yet to be standardized is exceedingly premature.

I'm sorry it appears to have pissed two people off, but

 * What was there was inappropriate. I don't care some think that's an opinion, I can't see how a debate is a legitimate part of an article that's supposed to pass on facts. I'm glad you appear to now agree with that, even if you do think it's just my opinion! The replacement covered all relevent issues raised in the "debate" in a factual way.
 * IMS does not in any way help or hinder the world conquest ambitions of large telcos, it just makes 4G viable. No matter what VoIP system you adopt, you can port block or degrade the quality of traffic not matching that profile. You can use exactly the same protocols as Vonage, and make Vonage unusable. IMS does not in any way help or hinder your ability to cut off competitors.
 * IMS is (amongst other things) a VoIP solution for future all-IP networks that replace 3G UMTS (and possibly others.) It provides the virtual circuits needed to replicate the circuit switching of older network technologies. Its primary reason for development is to make voice services work in an all-IP context. It is as much of a VoIP system as IAX, and more of one than SIP. People will, legitimately, make comparisons.
 * Judging success and failure is of questionable merit anyway, and right now would be premature.
 * The context of the "debate" was wrong, as evidenced by the concern that IMS was redundant because ISDN already exists, the allusions to conspiracies by telcos, and others.

I'm sure you can find something that's actually factually incorrect in my rewrite, that's what the "Edit" button is for. Right now though, I'm not seeing it. As it is, I'm beginning to wish I'd just deleted the entire section, rather than trying to make a pigs ear into something informative.

I'll leave you all to get the last word. I'm removing this article from my watchlist. Between the conspiracy theorists and the unconstructive critics this whole thing is just leaving me depressed. --Squiggleslash 13:54, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Squiggleslash dude, Common man don't be depressed. I'd buy you a beer, you make a LOT of good points. I don't think that everything that you are saying is hogwash - because it isn't. Man, VoIP is not IMS - implied or otherwise. VoIP can run over IMS; end of story, dude. Yeah, I accept that debate should not be part of the main entry; all I am saying is that if some "facts" are not accepted as facts then we need to recognise that in the article - and if there are opposing opinions (where relevant) they need to be indicated (this is not quite the same as debate - simply an indication of opposing view points!). BTW, I agree with you, and repeat again, some of the comments that people made against IMS, in previous versions of this article, were simply wrong like the ISDN one you quote(!) Man I don't want to have the "last word", I wanted us to agree! This article is going to seen by many people, I want to it to make sense, I want it to a be a door which allows others to see that there are some diverse opinions here! -- Wirelesspont 22:44, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

I think we should start over. I have edited most of the content here, and added the first Advantages/Issues section here. But it grew out of hand, and people started to add points, counter-points and counter-counter-points. Really ugly. This is an encyclopedia, not a discussion forum. In my opinion it should be something like 20 lines maximum, like it was originally.

Note that I'm not a systems architect, but I work for the largest telecom manufacturer, and I'm one of the core developers.

This was how it was 1 year ago :

Advantages & Issues

Advantages over existing systems

* The core network is independent of a particular access technology * Integrated mobility for all network applications * Easier migration of applications from fixed to mobile users * Faster deployment of new services based on standardized architecture * An end to unique or customized applications, leading to lower CAPEX and OPEX * New applications such as presence information, videoconferencing, Push to talk over cellular (POC), multiparty gaming, community services and content sharing. * Evolution to combinational services, for example by combining instant messaging and voice * User profiles are stored in a central location

Advantages over free VoIP

It's possible to run free VoIP applications over the regular Internet. Then why do we need IMS, if all the power of the Internet is already available for 3G users?

* Quality of Service : The network offers no guarantees about the amount of bandwidth a user gets for a particular connection or about the delay the packets experience. Consequently, the quality of a VoIP conversation can vary dramatically throughout its duration. * Charging of multimedia services : Videoconferences can transfer a large amount of information, but the telecom operator can't charge separately for this data. Some business models might be more beneficial for the user (for instance: a fixed price per message, not per byte); others might charge extra for better QoS. * Integration of different services : an operator can use services developed by third parties, combine them, integrate them with services they already have, and provide the user with a completely new service. For example: if voicemail and text-to-speech is combined, a voice version of incoming text messages can be provided for blind users.

Issues

* Benefits need to be further articulated in terms of actual savings. * IMS is "operator friendly" which means that it provides the operator with comprehensive control of content at the expense of the consumer. * IMS uses the 3GPP variant of SIP, which needs to interoperate with the IETF SIP. * IMS is an optimization of the network, and investments for such optimization are questionable.

-- Sorry man, the "advantages/issues" section that was here a year ago started the problems in the first place - i really hope that what we eventually put here is different from what was here before. The debate is occurring becuase of the misinformed entry. Fully agree that this is an encyclopedia not a discussion forum. Nevertheless, encyclopedia entries should contain facts and they should also indicate, where relevant, that there may be disputes. Some of the arguments that have appeared here and in the article can be disregarded as they are factually incorrect. But some can't and need to be considered for the rewrite. The old write up, mentioned a moment ago, and is being proposed to be reinserted now, has several fundamental flaws; e.g. it is wrong and even absurd to write about "advantages over free VoIP" because IMS does not compete with VoiP, one is an architecture component and the other is an application! Similarily, while not totally inaccurate the entries under "QoS" or "Charging" are misleading in this context (and so on ...). I don't have a lot of time but will come back to this soon and slowly build it up again. Wirelesspont 20:27, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Wirelesspont, the remark about the old version of the section was from me (bluezy), not from Squiggleslash. And I included it here instead of pasting it in the page again, so that was can improve it, not discussing it again. Note that most of the section came from the Camarillo/García-Martín book, and from marketing material from my company. Hence the section called 'advantages', which might have been better called 'differences. --Bluezy 19:19, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

ok, let's start again. I'll avoid the titles 'advantages' and 'disadvantages' (like in marketing material), just highlighting the differences with other systems. Documenting and informing the public about them is the purpose of Wikipedia, not opening a discussion.

(note: this is still a work in progress !)

Differences
Here a few of the differences with other phone systems. Note that these differences can also be achieved in other ways. IMS is an implementation of VoIP by the existing telecommunication operators, but is not the only possible one.

Differences with existing phone systems

 * IMS promises access independence - it can be used over all networks : fixed, mobile or wireless. This means that a user can be reached with a single phone number, redirecting the call to the cheapest or most appropriate network.

 * Interaction with existing phone systems is provided with gateways. This not only allows to call people on non-IMS networks, but can also provide those people with advanced features, without modifying their existing telephone exchanges (which are embedded in IMS). For example, a POTS can receive a videocall by having it redirected to another device, or by storing it into a videomail server. Existing applications like SMS can be integrated with Instant messaging services.

 * IMS is a standardized architecture, which should allow for faster and easier development of services (previously, services had to be developed separately for different phone systems, because of the proprietary architectures).

 * User profiles are stored in a single central location (the HSS), even when shared by different servers, which makes provisioning much easier.

 * New applications such as presence information, videoconferencing, Push to talk over cellular (POC), multiparty gaming, community services or content sharing.

Differences with other VoIP systems

 * IMS promises gateways with existing phonesystems (including POTS). While other VoIP systems can provide the same, IMS is implemented by the old [[Telephone company|telecommunication operators, and they might be better placed to do the integration. Or they could make it more difficult to interoperate, by charging high interoperate fees, which they won't apply to their own IMS customers.

 * IMS is designed to use IPv6, unless Early IMS is used. This might make its introduction more difficult since not every device is ready to use IPv6.

 * IMS networks use the Internet protocol, but that doesn't mean that you can easily use personal computers with soft phones. Telecom operators might only allow certain VoIP software to talk to their systems. Or they might even make sure to block other software like Skype, in order to protect their income.

 * IMS uses the 3GPP variant of SIP, which needs to interoperate with the IETF SIP. This might force changes to existing SIP clients. For example, secure authentication is done using AKA, which can only work with a USIM. This limits a soft phone to the lesser secure HTTP Digest.

(note: this is still a work in progress !) --Bluezy 22:35, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Bluezy, I understood the remark about the old section was from you and not Sguigglelash - and I understand that you were suggesting that it be used to start a rewrite. I don't think that the old entry is a good basis for a section here. In terms of quotes from Camarill/Garcia Martin - if you are quoting them make it clear where and how. Quoting out of context misleads. In terms of your marketing dept sourced material well i don't want to say much about that other than it is helping to confuse. The main contention that I have and I repeat it again it is simply wrong to suggest VoiP is a form of IMS or IMS is a form of VoIP. This is factually incorrect. One is an application the other is an architecture. Camarillo et al. nor Poiksella et al. nor anyone who is actively working in this 3GPP standards space would say such a thing. The titles "Differences with existing phone systems" and "Differences with other VoIP systems" are just simply wrong or misleading (in this context) and most of the content below those titles is bland stuff that doesn't mean anything or is out of context and so can be misleading. I will get back to the article soon, but won't use the above suggestions as the starting point. Wirelesspont 11:48, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

ok, here goes the application versus architecture debate again. Sigh. Ok, I go back to actually implementing and testing the stuff. And selling. --Bluezy 13:24, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Wirelesspont, why did you remove the section about Early IMS, and change it in a section about Early IMS Security ? It's not only security that is a problem in early deployments, although it's a very large part of it (I think you mean the lack of IPSEC and AKA). In my experience, most SIP-phones aren't even capable of working in IPv6, use only Http-Digest, do not use DNS NAPTR, do not use registration-subscriptions, etc ... It will be a long time before we'll see real IMS phones and networks, so there is a need for early IMS networks. In my experience with tests and customers demonstrations, the most important aspects are support for IPv4 and http-digest. The rest will come later. See TR 23.981 "Interworking aspects and migration scenarios for IPv4-based IMS implementations (early IMS)". --Bluezy 23:34, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Bluezy, The original entry said: "There is a need for an IMS version that offers similar features but doesn't require the investments necessary for full IMS. This version has been defined as Early IMS, and has the following advantages:" I also note that in your comment above you refer to TR 23.981 "Interworking aspects and migration scenarios for IPv4-based IMS implementations (early IMS)". (1) The TR (whether v6.4.0 (2005-09) or v5.0.0) is actually called "Interworking aspects and migration scenarios for IPv4 based IMS Implementations". OK, so what is the point? Firstly, 3GPP does not define "early ims". It simply recognises that there will be implementations which do not have, for example, IPv6 support, and that 2G phones may need to use "ims services" without having the benefit of a USIM interface. Is it IMS or is it not? Even TR23.981 quite correctly refers to IPv4 based implementations. (2) It is silly to talk about "advantages" because "early IMS" is an informal term used to describe a transition phase. (3)Wrt to your example above, note that 3GPP specs rule out http digest as an authentication method even for so called "early ims implementations". But admittedly the standards are evolving as there are some moves afoot to include "http digest" as a authentication method in TISPAN.   I am not averse to some comments being made about early implementations of IMS lacking certain capabilities and interworking to these implementations will be needed (perhaps in the arch section). Wirelesspont 13:56, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Missing interfaces
3GPP TR 24.880 is mentioning the interfaces Sr/Cr which are not in the table. Additionally Mb - the RTP interface between MRFP and endpoint devices - is missing. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.233.250.7 (talk) 10:55, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

done --Bluezy 10:24, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Application Servers and Applications
My addition of IP Centrex to the list of services generated a back-and-forth reverting session that kind of surprises me. The list of services does not claim that these services are IMS-specific; it is just a series of examples of services that can be implemented by application servers on top of an IMS core. Can I ask that an agreement be reached as to the purpose of the list of applications in the Application Servers section? JanCeuleers 13:14, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
 * In my opinion the list was not really useful, it added to the length of the article and more served as a bit of a propaganda item (as did the comment that the AS makes it easy to integrate applications in). Suggest that the list should be minimal and really only refer to some specific IMS things. I am fine with, for example, VCC as this is is being dealt with actively in the standards environment.  What is the point of adding mms, sms and every call feature one can think off? Then might as well put every mobile application under the sun and make this completely and totally useless. So I am grateful to you for adding IP centrex as that was the "tipping" point which made me go back and think "hey, what are we doing here?". There are also some other issues, e.g. some examples equated the AS with the whole of an OMA enabler such as PoC. PoC could be a AS but is not necessarily so. BTW, some thoughts on rewording this section won't go amiss .... 194.72.92.36 14:04, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I believe that the point that IMS can support "mundane" applications (such as voice mail and supplementary services such as call forwarding) is important and worth making. It conveys the message (by example) that IMS is not a "fly-by-night" architecture aimed at providing new services that might not remain relevant for very long. It demonstrates that IMS is sufficiently generic an architecture that it can (in time) supplant the legacy rather than having to be implemented as an overlay. I'll grant you that a mere list of such services is perhaps not the best way of making that point. Such a list would certainly not need to aim to be complete either. JanCeuleers 17:14, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * OK. Several fair points here. To address the point we need to state here that IMS may used to provide present services *too*. Lots of patchwork is being done to IMS - the replication is proving to be non-trivial hence all the interesting additional work in 3GPP R7, R8 and also TISPAN and so on. I note that there are several pieces of on-going working to, for example, perform interworking to legacy systems - often non-trivial. 194.72.92.36 13:01, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

--Bluezy 17:03, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * removing the OSA-SCS reference ? That doesn't make any sense since it's listed in the sentence before that. And if OSA-SCS has to go, then should IM-SSF go too. Why remove one and leave the other ? If the idea is to simplify, then all other references to the 3 types should be removed from the document (like in the table).
 * The phrase "This allows third party providers an easy integration and deployment of their value added services to the IMS infrastructure" is not a reference to the fact it would be easier to develop application servers, since there would be only a single interface that fits all vendors. Something which doesn't exists today. Nobody said that it would be easier than existing servers (it could better or it could be not).
 * and if don't like a list of the different services that can exist in IMS (or in other systems), then it should be added as a separate page. Information is currently spread over many documents, most of which are in Category:Telephone service enhanced features and Category:calling features (but not all, it's out-dated anyway). Note that it's about services, not application servers.

 * The Sr interface is missing in the graphics. It should connect MRFC with an Application server. This leads to the discussion: SIP application server versus http application server. Should an http application server be added to the diagram? The Sr interface needs not to be connected to the SIP AS, it might connect the MRF to any other AS.

-- Superwallah 9:04m, 15 August 2012 (CET)

What is service layer?
Telecom manufacturers like Ericsson often talk about the service layer. What OSI layer is that? It is mentioned in this article. There should be an article about it. Mange01 14:58, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Who says that this is an OSI layer ? It's a name for everything that deals with services in the 3GPP model - all the application servers etc ... Not necessarily provided by the same company that gives you the basic connection. A bit similar to Local loop unbundling.

 * Services offered to whom? Why not write an article on Service layer? Mange01 (talk) 16:16, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

The terms "service layer", "network layer" and "IMS layer" are used by ITU, ETSI, 3GPP/3GPP2 to describe functions of their NGN-switch concepts. For IMS "service layer" is used as another word for application layer, in the ITU slang the term also includes the functions of the IMS layer. Those layers are populated not with network protocols, but with networking devices like SIP switches, SBCs and so on.--Kgfleischmann (talk) 10:26, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

 * A service layer article is now created. Please improve it. Mange01 (talk) 07:46, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

'NGN Interconnection' section
(I think that the 'NGN Interconnection' section should be rewritten) --Bluezy 09:55, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Relation to Intelligent network services?
Is it correct to say as in the Intelligent network article: "The upcoming IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) standards can be seen as a hybrid of intelligent network services and Internet services for cellular multimedia communication." Mange01 15:04, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * No, IMS is a way to utilise packet networks for tecommunications and so replace PSTN (POTS and ISDN) and PLMN. IN added the possible use of external databases for call control decisions in telecommunication switches. ETSI defines the relationship between IMS and IN: "The purpose of the IM SSF is to enable access to IN service logic programs hosted in legacy SCPs". --Kgfleischmann (talk) 10:26, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

This discussion continues at Talk:Intelligent network. Mange01 (talk) 09:21, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Recent edits of Tmaufer
User:Tmaufer added some content about a IMS related conference to this article As WP is no advertising platform I strongly believe the stuff should be deleted. Other opinions? --Kgfleischmann (talk) 06:12, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

 * Speaking for myself, thought that the IMS Forum activity (Plugfest VI) is relevant and as it's a quasi-standards body and not really a company, that wouldn't qualify as advertising. The GMI event, similarly, is an activity of a group that is a quasi-standards body (the MSF) and I tried to provide relevant links. To me, pages about technology should show that it's relevant or being deployed or somehow active, especially for new technologies. Another reason I like the GMI event is that it's an usual application of IMS. The exisitng IMS tests (Plugfests I - IV) have been about one application: VoIP. GMI shows that IPTV is also an IMS application. This broadens the scope (to me) of what IMS is. I certainly understand about wanting to not have advertising, but to me there has to be an associated commercial interest for it to be advertising and in neither the IMS Forum or the MSF is there such a commercial interest. They are non-profits. The text I added was done in the spirit of proving the maturity of the IMS market. Tmaufer (talk) 07:51, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok, I'll think about, what you are saying and dig a bit deeper into the Plugfest stuff. But conference announcements and infos about companies plans to come are no notable contents for an encyclopedia. --Kgfleischmann (talk) 18:49, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed...mentioned the companies only to reinforce the "IMS is getting more real" meme. Tmaufer (talk) 00:16, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
 * What's the next step? I think you should wikify "your" paragraph! Here a few ideas:
 * Keep the stuff out of the intro (exept the relationship to NGN)
 * A new chapter about IMS testing
 * If you have an overview, possibly - I'm not really shure about this - a short overview about the most notable IMS-events

Cheers, --Kgfleischmann (talk) 20:34, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a plan. How about you create the placeholder for the new article and I'll insert the content. I'm not sure how to start a new wikipage. Tmaufer (talk) 23:50, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Starting an article (instead of a chapter) is quite easy: enter the name of the article into the search field (left column), press GO, if the name is not yet used you get a info page with instructions. --Kgfleischmann (talk) 05:38, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Check this out: Next Generation Networking Applications. Please help add to it and add references as approproiate. I tried to add as many wikilinks as I could think of, and external links to organizations where wikilinks don't exist. Tmaufer (talk) 21:06, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

"See also" section
This section has many entries; some of them do not seem to be related to IMS (or very indriectly): SIGTRAN, Generic Access Network, VOLGA Forum - Voice over LTE. Unless someone can justify their relation to IMS, I suggest to remove them. --Aintneo (talk) 09:49, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I removed all the links that I could find already present in the article. Many of the remaining links should be worked into the main body of the article, such as a listing of existing/proposed IMS services.  What remains, ideally, should have a brief sentence explaining what it is in relation to IMS. -Verdatum (talk) 21:24, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Network 2020 from GSMA
I would expect some mention of Network 2020 as part of this IMS article... but this is missing... :-( 87.205.171.87 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 19:15, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

nit/typo in History paragraph
Towards bottom of History paragraph, the float/expansion over the highlighted "EPS" term, maps to the "SAE" definition. Anybody qualified out there to update and correct it?

v/r rog Rog frx (talk) 17:07, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:IP Multimedia Subsystem


text:
Segment (handwriting)

A segment of handwriting is a piece of the pen-tip trajectory between two defined segmentation points. If the occurrence of a minimum in the absolute (tangential) velocity is used as a heuristic for segmentation, the pen-tip trajectory can be subdivided into segments corresponding to ballistic strokes.

In handwriting recognition or optical character recognition, other terminologies may be used, such as the term glyph for a non-character (i.e.: sub character or multi-character) pattern.

title: Segment (handwriting)


text:
User talk:Whyhoo

Welcome to the Wikipedia
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(Sam Spade | talk | contributions) 23:32, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Whyhoo


text:
Antioch Bridge

The Antioch Bridge (officially the Senator John A. Nejedly Bridge) is an automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian bridge in the western United States. Located in northern California, it crosses the San Joaquin River-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel, linking Antioch in Contra Costa County with Sherman Island in southern Sacramento County, near Rio Vista.

Named after state senator John Nejedly, the bridge is signed as part of State Route 160. Unlike other toll bridges in California, it has only a single lane of traffic for each direction. It is one of several bridges in the Bay area that are traversable by pedestrians and bicyclists in addition to automobiles. The current bridge was completed in 1978, is 1.8 mi in length, and opened to traffic that December.

1926 toll bridge
The original structure was completed in 1926 by the American Toll Bridge Company (Aven Hanford and Oscar Klatt), who went on to build the original span of the Carquinez Bridge. The bridge was opened on 1 January 1926 as a connecting link on the coast-to-coast Victory Highway. Hanford and Klatt, officials with the Rodeo-Vallejo Ferry Company, had organized the American Toll Bridge Company in 1923, which built the bridge at a cost of greater than US$2000000 1923.

The Delta Bridge corporation had formed in December 1922, but did not complete a bridge at Antioch. Delta Bridge had received a franchise to build in June 1923.

The 1926 bridge featured two spans each 270 ft long which provided a clearance of 70 ft below when opened. The original lift span bridge was plagued with problems throughout its lifetime. Heavy traffic could cross it at no more than 15 mph, and its narrow shipping channel led to collisions with freighters in 1958, 1963, and 1970.

State purchase
In 1937, Assemblyman Earl D. Desmond urged the California Toll Bridge Authority to acquire the Antioch Bridge. Desmond believed that by purchasing the bridge, tolls could be eliminated, which would spur economic growth. Director Frank W. Clark negotiated with the American Toll Bridge Company, and the state of California acquired ownership of both the Antioch and Carquinez Bridges at a cost of US$5943000 1940 on September 16, 1940. Tolls were reduced immediately and further reduced in 1942.

Marine traffic collisions
The narrow ship channel afforded by the raised span led to marine traffic colliding with the bridge in 1958 (rammed by Kaimana), 1963 (rammed by Pasadena) and 1970 (rammed by Washington Bear).

The 1970 collision spurred efforts to build a replacement bridge. In that incident, the lift span was stuck in the raised position. The bridge tender could not leave the bridge and remained in the control house for 20 hours. Local firemen eventually made their way to him and brought him out. The bridge was closed for repairs for 5 months.

1978 replacement bridge
Sen. Nejedly authored Senate Bill 25, which later became Chapter 765 of the California Statutes of 1972, authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds to fund the construction of a replacement to the existing bridge. The bill cited the recent extended disruptions in bridge service from marine traffic damage as well as flooding of the approaches.

The high-level bridge opened in December 1978. Shortly before completion, the replacement bridge was named to honor Sen. Nejedly.

Tolls
Tolls are only collected from northbound traffic at the toll plaza on the south end (Antioch) of the bridge. All-electronic tolling has been in effect since 2020, and drivers may either pay using the FasTrak electronic toll collection device, using the license plate tolling program, or via a one time payment online. Effective, the toll rate for passenger cars is $7. During peak traffic hours, carpool vehicles carrying three or more people, clean air vehicles, or motorcycles may pay a discounted toll of $3.50 if they have FasTrak and use the designated carpool lane. Drivers must pay within 48 hours after crossing the bridge or they will be sent a toll violation invoice. No additional fees will be added to the toll violation if it is paid within 21 days.

Historical toll rates
Crossing the original 1926 bridge required a toll, but tolls were removed in 1945 after the state bought the bridge in 1940. Under the ownership of the American Toll Bridge company, in 1940, tolls were 45   cents per car (equivalent to $ in ) plus five    cents (equivalent to $ in ) per passenger. After the state took ownership, tolls were immediately reduced to thirty cents per car (equivalent to $ in ) for up to four passengers. In 1942, tolls were further reduced to 25   cents per car (equivalent to $ in ). then removed three years later. Tolls were reinstated in 1978 with the completion of the new span at fifty cents per car (equivalent to $ in ), collected northbound only.

The basic toll (for automobiles) on the seven state-owned bridges, including the Antioch Bridge, was raised to $1 by Regional Measure 1, approved by Bay Area voters in 1988. A $1 seismic retrofit surcharge was added in 1998 by the state legislature, originally for eight years, but since then extended to December 2037 (AB1171, October 2001). On March 2, 2004, voters approved Regional Measure 2, raising the toll by another dollar to three dollars (equivalent to $ in ). An additional dollar was added to the toll starting January 1, 2007, to cover cost overruns concerning the replacement of the eastern span.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional transportation agency, in its capacity as the Bay Area Toll Authority, administers RM1 and RM2 funds, a significant portion of which are allocated to public transit capital improvements and operating subsidies in the transportation corridors served by the bridges. Caltrans administers the "second dollar" seismic surcharge, and receives some of the MTC-administered funds to perform other maintenance work on the bridges. The Bay Area Toll Authority is made up of appointed officials put in place by various city and county governments, and is not subject to direct voter oversight.

Due to further funding shortages for seismic retrofit projects, the Bay Area Toll Authority again raised tolls on all seven of the state-owned bridges in July 2010. The toll rate for autos on the Antioch Bridge was thus increased to five dollars (equivalent to $ in ).

In June 2018, Bay Area voters approved Regional Measure 3 to further raise the tolls on all seven of the state-owned bridges to fund $4.5 billion worth of transportation improvements in the area. Under the passed measure, the toll rate for autos on the Antioch Bridge was increased to six dollars on January 1, 2019, and will rise to $7 in 2022 and $8 in 2025.

In September 2019, the MTC approved a $4 million plan to eliminate toll takers and convert all seven of the state-owned bridges to all-electronic tolling, citing that 80 percent of drivers are now using Fastrak and the change would improve traffic flow. On March 20, 2020, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, all-electronic tolling was placed in effect for all seven state-owned toll bridges. The MTC then installed new systems at all seven bridges to make them permanently cashless by the start of 2021. In April 2022, the Bay Area Toll Authority announced plans to remove all remaining unused toll booths and create an open-road tolling system which functions at highway speeds.

Animal incidents
In 1965, three circus lions escaped from a truck passing over the Antioch Bridge. Two were quickly recaptured, but one drowned after falling into the river.

Humphrey the Whale was stranded near the Antioch Bridge in 1985.

title: Antioch Bridge


text:
User talk:Chookus

Welcome to the Wikipedia
Here are some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library
 * Utilities
 * Cite your sources
 * Verifiability
 * Wikiquette
 * Civility
 * Conflict resolution
 * Neutral point of view
 * Pages needing attention
 * Peer review
 * Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense
 * Brilliant prose
 * Featured pictures
 * Boilerplate text
 * Current polls
 * Mailing lists
 * IRC channel

Feel free to contact me personally with any questions you might have. About, Help desk, and Village pump are also a place to go for answers to general questions. To read up on the latest wikinews, have a look at the Wikipedia Signpost.

You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

(Sam Spade | talk | contributions) 23:33, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Chookus