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Global workspace theory

Global workspace theory (GWT) is a framework for thinking about consciousness proposed by cognitive scientists Bernard Baars and Stan Franklin in the late 1980s. It was developed to qualitatively explain a large set of matched pairs of conscious and unconscious processes. GWT has been influential in modeling consciousness and higher-order cognition as emerging from competition and integrated flows of information across widespread, parallel neural processes.

GWT analogizes the mind to a theater, with conscious thought being like material illuminated on the main stage. The brain contains many specialized processes or modules that operate in parallel, much of which is unconscious. Attention acts as a spotlight, bringing some of this unconscious activity into conscious awareness on the global workspace. The global workspace is a functional hub of broadcast and integration that allows information to be disseminated across modules. As such it can be classified as a functionalist theory of consciousness.

When sensory input, memories, or internal representations receive attention, they enter the global workspace and become accessible to various cognitive processes. As elements compete for attention, those that succeed gain entry to the global workspace, allowing their information to be distributed and coordinated throughout the whole cognitive system.

GWT resembles the concept of working memory and is proposed to correspond to a 'momentarily active, subjectively experienced' event in working memory. It facilitates top-down control of attention, working memory, planning, and problem-solving through this information sharing.

In the 'theater of consciousness', a 'spotlight of selective attention' shines a bright spot on stage, revealing the contents of consciousness. Behind the scenes, in the dark, are the director (executive processes), stagehands, scriptwriters, scene designers, and the like. They shape the visible activities in the bright spot but are themselves invisible.

While aspects of GWT are matters of debate, it remains a focus of current research, including brain interpretations and computational simulations. It serves as a central information exchange, rather than a locus of cognition itself, enabling different specialized brain networks to interact and supporting integrated and adaptive responses.

Bernard Baars derived inspiration for the theory as the cognitive analog of the blackboard system of early artificial intelligence system architectures, where independent programs shared information.

Global Workspace Theory is one of the leading theories of consciousness.

The model
GWT involves a fleeting memory with a duration of a few seconds (much shorter than the 10–30 seconds of classical working memory). GWT contents are proposed to correspond to what we are conscious of, and are broadcast to a multitude of unconscious cognitive brain processes, which may be called receiving processes. Other unconscious processes, operating in parallel with limited communication between them, can form coalitions which can act as input processes to the global workspace. Since globally broadcast messages can evoke actions in receiving processes throughout the brain, the global workspace may be used to exercise executive control to perform voluntary actions. Individual as well as allied processes compete for access to the global workspace, striving to disseminate their messages to all other processes in an effort to recruit more cohorts and thereby increase the likelihood of achieving their goals. Incoming stimuli need to be stored temporarily in order to be able to compete for attention and conscious access. Kouider and Dehaene predicted the existence of a sensory memory buffer that maintains stimuli for "a few hundreds of milliseconds." Recent research offers preliminary evidence for such a buffer store and indicates a gradual but rapid decay with extraction of meaningful information severely impaired after 300 ms and most data being completely lost after 700 ms.

Baars (1997) suggests that the global workspace "is closely related to conscious experience, though not identical to it." Conscious events may involve more necessary conditions, such as interacting with a "self" system, and an executive interpreter in the brain, such as has been suggested by a number of authors including Michael S. Gazzaniga.

Nevertheless, GWT can successfully model a number of characteristics of consciousness, such as its role in handling novel situations, its limited capacity, its sequential nature, and its ability to trigger a vast range of unconscious brain processes. Moreover, GWT lends itself well to computational modeling. Stan Franklin's IDA model is one such computational implementation of GWT. See also Dehaene et al. (2003), Shanahan (2006) and Bao (2020).

GWT also specifies "behind the scenes" contextual systems, which shape conscious contents without ever becoming conscious, such as the dorsal cortical stream of the visual system. This architectural approach leads to specific neural hypotheses. Sensory events in different modalities may compete with each other for consciousness if their contents are incompatible. For example, the audio and video track of a movie will compete rather than fuse if the two tracks are out of sync by more than 100 ms., approximately. The 100 ms time domain corresponds closely with the known brain physiology of consciousness, including brain rhythms in the alpha-theta-gamma domain, and event-related potentials in the 200–300 ms domain.

However, much of this research is based on studies of unconscious priming and recent studies show that many of the methods used for unconscious priming are flawed.

Global neuronal workspace
Stanislas Dehaene extended the global workspace with the "neuronal avalanche" showing how sensory information gets selected to be broadcast throughout the cortex. Many brain regions, the prefrontal cortex, anterior temporal lobe, inferior parietal lobe, and the precuneus all send and receive numerous projections to and from a broad variety of distant brain regions, allowing the neurons there to integrate information over space and time. Multiple sensory modules can therefore converge onto a single coherent interpretation, for example, a "red sports car zooming by". This global interpretation is broadcast back to the global workspace creating the conditions for the emergence of a single state of consciousness, at once differentiated and integrated.

Alternatively, the theory of practopoiesis suggests that the global workspace is achieved in the brain primarily through fast adaptive mechanisms of nerve cells. According to that theory, connectivity does not matter much. Critical is rather the fact that neurons can rapidly adapt to the sensory context within which they operate. Notably, for achieving a global workspace, the theory presumes that these fast adaptive mechanisms have the capability to learn when and how to adapt.

Criticism
J. W. Dalton has criticized the global workspace theory on the grounds that it provides, at best, an account of the cognitive function of consciousness, and fails even to address the deeper problem of its nature, of what consciousness is, and of how any mental process whatsoever can be conscious: the hard problem of consciousness. A. C. Elitzur has argued, however, "While this hypothesis does not address the 'hard problem', namely, the very nature of consciousness, it constrains any theory that attempts to do so and provides important insights into the relation between consciousness and cognition.", as much as any consciousness theory is constrained by the natural brain perception limitations.

New work by Richard Robinson shows promise in establishing the brain functions involved in this model and may help shed light on how we understand signs or symbols and reference these to our semiotic registers.

title: Global workspace theory


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Overkill (Motörhead album)

Overkill is the second studio album by English rock band Motörhead, released in March 1979. It was the band's first album with Bronze Records. Kerrang! magazine listed the album at number 46 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". American thrash metal band Overkill was named after this album.

Background
Bronze Records signed Motörhead in 1978 and booked them time in London's Wessex Studios to record a single consisting of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" and a new song by the band called "Tear Ya Down". The band toured to promote the single "Louie Louie", which became a modest hit, while Chiswick released the Motörhead album in white vinyl, to keep the momentum going. In the Classic Albums documentary on the making of Ace of Spades, Gerry Bron of Bronze Records admits: ""The first time I heard Motörhead was when I listened to a single that I put out without hearing, which is "Louie Louie," and when I heard it I was absolutely horrified. I thought it was the worst record I've ever heard, so it was a bit of a shock. The bigger shock was, having put out a record I thought was terrible, it went straight into the charts at #72. But I actually put the record out as a favour.""

Sales of the single brought the band their first appearance on BBC Television's Top of the Pops, which gave Bronze the confidence to get the band back into the studio to record a second album. In the 2011 book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead, biographer Joel McIver quotes guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke: ""We had so many false starts and disappointments by the time Overkill came around in 1978 we had stored up a lot of energy and ideas – and we were just waiting for the opportunity to show what we could do. Also we had a great following, and we always felt we owed the fans who had been with us from the beginning..""

Speaking to James McNair of Mojo in 2011, frontman Lemmy concurred: ""[...] by the time of Overkill we were getting our sound together.""

Recording
Overkill was co-produced by legendary producer Jimmy Miller, who had previously worked with Traffic and the Rolling Stones, and recorded at Roundhouse Recording Studios and Sound Development Studios in London. "Damage Case" was co-written by the band and Mick Farren of The Deviants. In his autobiography White Line Fever, Lemmy claims that he wrote the words to "Metropolis" "in five minutes" after seeing the movie of the same name at the Electric Cinema in Portebello Road, and also claims that he always wanted Tina Turner to record "I'll Be Your Sister", insisting: ""I like writing songs for women. In fact, I've written songs with women. I've been called a sexist by some factions of radical, frigid feminists (the kind who want to change the word manhole to personhole, that kind of crap), but they don't know what they're talking about.""

The title track is notable for Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor's use of two bass drums. In the documentary The Guts and the Glory the drummer recalls: ""I always wanted to play two bass drums but I always said to myself, 'No, I'm not gonna be one of these wankers who goes on stage and has two bass drums and never even fuckin' plays 'em'. Not until I can play 'em. So I got this other bass drum and I used to get to rehearsals a couple of hours before the other guys and just practise, you know, just sit there going (mimes kicking with both feet) like running, or something like that...I was actually playing that riff, just trying to get my coordination right, when Eddie and Lemmy walked in, and I was just about to stop and they went, 'No, don't stop! Keep going!'...And that was how Overkill got written.""

Sleeve artwork
Joe Petagno, the sleeve artist, had this to say about the cover of the album, which he felt rushed into because the band could not find him: ""I had about a week and a half to get it finished... But it was always a disappointment for me, personally. It should have been multi-layered. It was supposed to have a feeling that there was more to it, there were going to be more bits and pieces. In a way, I kind of did it on the Inferno thing. I sort of took my revenge on the new trinity. In a way.""

Release
The first release from those sessions was the single release of the title track backed with "Too Late, Too Late" in 7" and 12" pressings. In June 1979, "No Class" was lifted from the album as a follow-up single, backed with a previously unreleased song, "Like a Nightmare". While the Chiswick album Motörhead had been a hasty affair (although it had a sub-bootleg quality which some fans found appealing) Overkill had more spring and bounce, and a title track that would become a show-stopper for years to come. Three weeks after the initial release of the album in black vinyl, the album was released in a limited edition of 15,000 in green vinyl. With a view to increasing the sales, the single was released in three different covers, one each of Lemmy, Clarke and Taylor. The album was reissued on Cassette, CD and vinyl by Castle Communications in 1988, coupled with Another Perfect Day, Bronze having issued a cassette of the album coupled with Bomber in 1980.

Reception
Overkill was an unexpected success, reaching No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart. It is considered by many to be a vast improvement over the band's debut and the album where they laid the foundation for their classic sound. AllMusic stated that, "Motörhead's landmark second album, Overkill, marked a major leap forward for the band, and it remains one of their all-time best, without question. In fact, some fans consider it their single best, topping even Ace of Spades. It's a ferocious album, for sure, perfectly showcasing Motörhead's trademark style of no holds barred proto-thrash – a kind of punk-inflected heavy metal style that is sloppy and raw yet forceful and in your face."

In 2005, Overkill was ranked number 340 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. However, it has also been criticised for being one dimensional, sloppy and unskilled

Writing in the 2011 book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead, biographer Joel McIver called the album "a revelation. To this day it contains six all-time classics, which is saying something from a band whose career has lasted 35 years or more."

Original release
All tracks are written by Kilmister, Clarke and Taylor, except where noted.

Sanctuary Records 2005 2-CD deluxe edition
Disc one includes the original album without bonus tracks.

 * The track list in the liner notes incorrectly have 18 tracks listed, as they have repeated tracks 9 & 10 as track 9 twice. They also have Richard Berry incorrectly credited for disc 1 tracks 1, 5 & 9, when correctly it is disc 1 tracks 1-3 and disc 2 track 10. The rear of the cover has all this printed correctly though.

Personnel
Per the album's liner notes.

Motörhead

 * Lemmy – bass guitar, vocals, bass solo on "Stay Clean", second guitar solo on "Limb from Limb"
 * "Fast" Eddie Clarke – guitars
 * Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor – drums

Production

 * Jimmy Miller – producer, remixer
 * Neil Richmond – producer on ("Louie Louie", "Tear Ya Down")
 * Ashley Howe – engineer
 * Trevor Hallesy – engineer
 * Darren Colin Burn - tape operator
 * Giovanni Scatola – mastering (2005 remaster)
 * Joe Petagno – cover design
 * Curt Evans – cover design (2005 remaster)

2005 deluxe edition remaster

 * Steve Hammonds – release coordination
 * Jon Richards – release coordination
 * Malcolm Dome – sleeve notes
 * Mick Stevenson – project consultant, photos and archive memorabilia

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

title: Overkill (Motörhead album)


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Corey DePooter

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Postdlf 23:32, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Corey DePooter
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:52, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC)
 * Delete. Clear memorial. -R. fiend 19:22, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - Another sad Columbine story - but Wiki is not a memorial and it is not noteworthy Brookie 19:37, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Megan1967 02:05, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect - David Gerard 17:28, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre to discourage re-creation. —Korath (Talk) 13:32, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


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Worker cooperative

A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner who each have one vote. Worker cooperatives may also be referred to as labor-managed firms.

History
Worker cooperatives rose to prominence during the Industrial Revolution as part of the labour movement. As employment moved to industrial areas and job sectors declined, workers began organizing and controlling businesses for themselves. Worker cooperatives were originally sparked by "critical reaction to industrial capitalism and the excesses of the industrial revolution," with the first worker owned and managed firm first appearing in England in 1760. Some worker cooperatives were designed to "cope with the evils of unbridled capitalism and the insecurities of wage labor".

The philosophy that underpinned the cooperative movement stemmed from the socialist writings of thinkers including Robert Owen and Charles Fourier. Robert Owen, considered by many as the father of the cooperative movement, made his fortune in the cotton trade but believed in putting his workers in a good environment with access to education for themselves and their children. These ideas were put into effect successfully in the cotton mills of New Lanark, Scotland. It was here that the first co-operative store was opened. Spurred on by the success of this, he had the idea of forming "villages of co-operation" where workers would drag themselves out of poverty by growing their own food, making their own clothes and ultimately becoming self-governing. He tried to form such communities in Orbiston in Scotland and in New Harmony, Indiana in the United States of America, but both communities failed.

Similar early experiments were made in the early 19th century and by 1830 there were several hundred co-operatives. Dr William King made Owen's ideas more workable and practical. He believed in starting small and realized that the working classes would need to set up co-operatives for themselves, so he saw his role as one of instruction. He founded a monthly periodical called The Co-operator, the first edition of which appeared on 1 May 1828. This gave a mixture of co-operative philosophy and practical advice about running a shop using cooperative principles.

Modern movement
The first successful cooperative organization was the consumer-owned Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, established in England in 1844. The Rochdale Pioneers established the 'Rochdale Principles' on which they ran their cooperative. This became the basis for the development and growth of the modern cooperative movement. As the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution was forcing more and more skilled workers into poverty, these tradesmen decided to band together to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford.

With lessons from prior failed attempts at co-operation in mind, they designed the now famous Rochdale Principles, and over a period of four months, they struggled to pool one pound sterling per person for a total of 28 pounds of capital. On 21 December 1844, they opened their store with a very meager selection of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal, and a few candles. Within three months, they expanded their selection to include tea and tobacco, and they were soon known for providing high quality, unadulterated goods.

The International organization representing worker cooperatives is CICOPA. CICOPA has two regional organizations: CECOP – CICOPA Europe and CICOPA Americas.

Today
When the current cooperative movement resurfaced in the 1960s, it developed mostly on a new system of "collective ownership" where par value shares were issued as symbols of egalitarian voting rights. Typically, a member may only own one share to maintain the egalitarian ethos. Once brought in as a member and after a period of time on probation usually so the new candidate can be evaluated, they would be given the power to manage the coop without "ownership" in the traditional sense. In the UK, this system is known as common ownership.

In Britain, this type of cooperative was traditionally known as a producer cooperative; and while it was overshadowed by the consumer and agricultural types, it also made up a small section of its own within the national apex body, the Cooperative Union. The 'new wave' of worker cooperatives that took off in Britain in the mid-1970s joined the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM) as a separate federation. Buoyed up by the alternative and ecological movements and by the political drive to create jobs, the sector peaked at around 2,000 enterprises. However, the growth rate slowed, the sector contracted, and in 2001 ICOM merged with the Co-operative Union (which was the federal body for consumer cooperatives) to create Co-operatives UK, thus reunifying the cooperative sector.

Since 2006, Co-operatives UK's Worker Cooperative Council wrote and updated a worker co-operative code, the booklet that "sets out what anyone should expect and should work together to achieve, as a member of a worker co-operative".

In 2018, Google announced a $1 million grant to a platform cooperative development kit in collaboration with 5 pilot cooperatives, which are all worker-owned.

Longevity and resilience
According to an analysis of all businesses in Uruguay between 1997 and 2009, worker cooperatives have a 29% smaller chance of closure after controlling for variables such as industry. In Italy, worker owned cooperatives that have been created by workers buying a business when it is facing a closure or put up to sale have a 3-year survival rate of 87%, compared to 48% of all Italian businesses. A 2012 study of Spanish and French worker cooperatives found that they "have been more resilient than conventional enterprises during the economic crisis." In France, the three year survival rate of worker cooperatives is 80–90%, compared to the 66% overall survival rate for all businesses. During the 2008 economic crisis, the number of workers in worker owned cooperatives in France increased by 4.2%, while employment in other businesses decreased by 0.7%. More than three quarters of UK co-op start-ups (76%) are still flourishing after the difficult first five years, however, other business forms are far less likely to survive, with only 42% of all new UK companies making it through to the end of year five.

Pay and employment stability
A 2006 study found that wages on co-ops pay in Italy were 15 to 16 percent lower than those that capitalist firms paid on average, and were more volatile, while employment was more stable. After controlling for variables, such as schooling, age, gender, occupation, industry, location, firm-size, user cost of capital, fixed costs, and deviations in its real sales, this changed to 14 percent. The authors suggest this might be due to worker cooperatives being more likely than capitalist firms to cut wages instead of laying off employees during periods of economic difficulty, or because co-op workers may be willing to accept lower wages than workers in capitalist firms. A study looking at all firms in Uruguay concluded that when controlling for variables such as industry, firm size, gender, age and tenure, workers employed in a worker-managed firm earn 3 percent higher wages compared with similar workers employed in the conventional firms. However, this wage premium declines significantly with increasing pay and becomes negative for top earners. According to research by Virginie Pérotin, which looked at two decades worth of international data, the tendency for greater wage flexibility and employment stability helps explain why some research observes higher and others lower pay in worker cooperatives relative to conventional businesses. A study by The Democracy Collaborative found that in the US, worker cooperatives can increase worker incomes by 70 to 80 percent.

Pay inequality
In the Mondragon Corporation, the world's largest worker cooperative, the pay ratio between the lowest and the highest earner was 1:9 in 2018. The ratio is decided by a democratic vote by the worker-members.

In France, the pay ratio between the highest and lowest paid 10% of the employees is 14% lower in worker cooperatives than in otherwise similar conventional firms.

Productivity
According to Virginie Pérotin's research which looked at two decades worth of international data, worker cooperatives are more productive than conventional businesses. Another 1987 study of worker cooperatives in Italy, the UK, and France found "positive" relationships with productivity. It also found that worker cooperatives do not become less productive as they get larger. A 1995 study of worker cooperatives in the timber industry in Washington, USA found that "co-ops are more efficient than the principal conventional firms by between 6 and 14 percent".

Worker satisfaction, trust, health and commitment
According to a study drawing on a questionnaire from the population of the Italian province of Trento, worker cooperatives are the only form of enterprise that fosters social trust between employees. A survey conducted in Seoul suggests that in conventional firms, employees become less committed to their job as their work becomes more demanding; however, this was not the case in worker cooperatives. In the US, home health aides in worker cooperatives were significantly more satisfied with their jobs than in other agencies. A study from 2013 about home aid workers found that "Home health aides at the worker-owned, participative decision-making organization were significantly more satisfied with their jobs than those at other agencies." One 1995 study from the US also indicates that "employees who embrace an increased influence and participation in workplace decisions also reported greater job satisfaction" and a 2011 study in France found that worker-owned businesses "had a positive effect on workers' job satisfaction." One 2019 study indicates that "the impact on the happiness of workers is generally positive".

Environment
A 1995 analysis published in Ecological Economics suggests that "cooperatives will tend to use natural resource inputs more efficiently and will be less growth oriented than corporations."

Definition of worker cooperative
Many definitions exist as to what qualifies as a workers' cooperative. CICOPA, the International Organisation of Industrial, Artisanal and Service Producers' Cooperatives, gives an 8-page definition in their World Declaration on Workers' Cooperatives, which was approved by the International Co-operative Alliance General Assembly in September 2005. Below is the section on the basic characteristics of workers' cooperatives:

 * 1) They have the objective of creating and maintaining sustainable jobs and generating wealth, to improve the quality of life of the worker-members, dignify human work, allow workers' democratic self-management and promote community and local development.
 * 2) The free and voluntary membership of their members, in order to contribute with their personal work and economic resources, is conditioned by the existence of workplaces.
 * 3) As a general rule, work shall be carried out by the members. This implies that the majority of the workers in a given worker cooperative enterprise are members and vice versa.
 * 4) The worker-members' relation with their cooperative shall be considered as different from that of conventional wage-based labor and to that of autonomous individual work.
 * 5) Their internal regulation is formally defined by regimes that are democratically agreed upon and accepted by the worker-members.
 * 6) They shall be autonomous and independent, before the State and third parties, in their labor relations and management, and in the usage and management of the means of production.

Even though there is no universally accepted definition of a workers' cooperative, they can be considered to be businesses that make a product or offer a service to sell for profit where the workers are members or worker-owners. Worker-owners work in the business, govern it and manage it. Unlike with conventional firms, ownership and decision-making power of a worker cooperative should be vested solely with the worker-owners and ultimate authority rests with the worker-owners as a whole. Worker-owners control the resources of the cooperative and the work process, such as wages or hours of work.

As mentioned above, the majority—if not all—of the workers in a given worker cooperative enterprise are worker-owners, although some casual or wage workers may be employed with whom profits and decision making are not necessarily shared equally. Workers also often undergo a trial or screening period (such as three or six months) before being allowed to have full voting rights.

Participation is based on one vote per worker-owner, regardless of the number of shares or equity owned by each worker-owner. Voting rights are not tied to investment or patronage in the workers' co-operative, and only worker-owners can vote on decisions that affect them. In practice, worker co-operatives have to accommodate a range of interests to survive and have experimented with different voice and voting arrangements to accommodate the interests of trade unions, local authorities, those who have invested proportionately more labor, or through attempts to mix individual and collective forms of worker-ownership and control.

As noted by theorists and practitioners alike, the importance of capital should be subordinated to labor in workers' cooperatives. Indeed, Adams et al. see workers' cooperatives as "labor-ist" rather than "capital-ist":

"Labor is the hiring factor, therefore the voting and property rights are assigned to the people who do the work and not to capital, even though the worker-members supply capital through membership fees and retained earnings...Any profit or loss after normal operating expenses is assigned to members on the basis of their labor contribution."

Nevertheless, recent developments in the co-operative movement have started to shift thinking more clearly towards multi-stakeholder perspectives. This has resulted in repeated attempts to develop model rules that differentiate control rights from investment and profit-sharing rights.

In short, workers' co-operatives are organized to serve the needs of worker-owners by generating benefits (which may or may not be profits) for the worker-owners rather than external investors. This worker-driven orientation makes them fundamentally different from other corporations. Additional cooperative structural characteristics and guiding principles further distinguish them from other business models. For example, worker-owners may not believe that profit maximization is the best or only goal for their co-operative or they may follow the Rochdale Principles. As another example, worker cooperatives' flattened management structure and more egalitarian ideology often give workers more options and greater freedom in resolving work-place problems.

Profits (or losses) earned by the worker's cooperative are shared by worker-owners. Salaries generally have a low ratio difference which ideally should be "guided by principles of proportionality, external solidarity and internal solidarity".

Internal structure
If exercised directly, all members meet regularly to make—and vote on—decisions on how the co-operative is run. Direct workers' cooperatives sometimes use consensus decision-making to make decisions. Direct worker control ensures a formally flat management structure instead of a hierarchical one. This structure is influenced by activist collectives and civic organizations, with all members allowed and expected to play a managerial role. Such structures may be associated with political aims such as anarchism, libertarian socialism, distributism, and participatory economics.

Some workers' cooperatives also practice job rotation or balanced job complexes to overcome inequalities of power as well as to give workers a wider range of experiences and exposure to the different jobs in a workplace so that they are better able to make decisions about the whole workplace. This has proved sustainable with workforces as large as 300, as at Suma Wholefoods.

Worker collectives
The term 'worker collective' is sometimes used to describe worker cooperatives which are also collectives: that is, managed without hierarchies such as permanent manager roles.

Definition
The principle of common ownership was codified in UK law in the Industrial Common Ownership Act 1976 which defines a "common ownership enterprise" as:

a body as to which the registrar has given, and has not revoked, a certificate stating that he is satisfied—

 * (a) that the body is—

 * (i) a company which has no share capital, is limited by guarantee and is a bona fide co-operative society; or

 * (ii) a registered society within the meaning of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014; and

 * (b) that the articles of association or rules of the body include provisions which secure—

 * (i) that only persons who are employed by, or by a subsidiary of, the body may be members of it, that (subject to any provision about qualifications for membership which is from time to time made by the members of the body by reference to age, length of service or other factors of any description which do not discriminate between persons by reference to politics or religion) all such persons may be members of the body and that members have equal voting rights at meetings of the body,

 * (ii) that the assets of the body are applied only for the purposes of objects of the body which do not include the making over of assets to any member of the body except for value and except in pursuance of arrangements for sharing the profits of the body among its members, and

 * (iii) that, if on the winding up or dissolution of the body any of its assets remain to be disposed of after its liabilities are satisfied, the assets are not distributed among its members but are transferred to such a common ownership enterprise or such a central fund maintained for the benefit of common ownership enterprises as may be determined by the members at or before the time of the winding-up or dissolution or, in so far as the assets are not so transferred, are held for charitable purposes; and

 * (c) that the body is controlled by a majority of the people working for the body and of the people working for the subsidiaries, if any, of the body.

The principle is typically implemented through inserting two clauses in a company's memorandum of association, or an industrial and provident society's rules:
 * The first provides that the company's assets shall be applied solely in furtherance of its objectives and may not be divided among the members or trustees.
 * The second provides for "altruistic dissolution", an "asset lock", whereby if the enterprise is wound up, remaining assets exceeding liabilities shall not be divided among the members but shall be transferred to another enterprise with similar aims or to charity.

Examples
A very significant early influence on the movement has been the Scott Bader Commonwealth, a composites and specialty polymer plastics manufacturing company in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, which its owner Ernest Bader gave to the workforce in installments through the late 1950s to early 1960s. Contrary to the popular concept of common ownership organizations as being small organisations, this is a high-technology chemical manufacturer whose turnover has exceeded £100 million per annum since the early 1990s with a workforce of hundreds. In London, Calverts is an example of an established worker co-operative with a policy of pay parity. From the collective movement, one of the most successful ventures is probably Suma Wholefoods in Elland, West Yorkshire.

Internal Capital Accounts/Member Buy-Ins
Internal Capital Accounts (ICA's), also known as Member Buy-Ins, are shares of capital distributed equally and exclusively to workers. They act as a mandated buy-in loan to the cooperative that generates financial return over time in the form of interest. ICA's are typically equal to a specific term's wages, like an annual salary, that is given a fixed rate of return that is not directly tied to the cooperative's losses or profits.

Cooperatives in low-income communities often raise donations to assist workers in meeting the ICA Buy-In requirement, as in the case of the Mariposa Food Coop. This method of financing is one of the most prominent due to its high rates of success in maintaining financial stability for cooperatives. When the cooperative allocates profits, a significant portion are paid back to the workers through these capital accounts. The Mondragon Corporation utilizes a 10-20-70 system, in which 10% of profits are placed into community development and infrastructure programs, 20% back into corporate reserves, and 70% into individual capital accounts.

In certain cases, like the Mumbai Tiffin Box Supplier's Association in India, Member Buy-In's allow cooperatives to become completely financially independent from other sources of investment.

Committed Capital/Preferred Stock
Committed Capital, also known as Preferred Stock, are shares of capital offered to external accredited investors that are not a part of the cooperative. In order to maintain workers' ownership over the firm's decisions, these external investors have limited to no voting rights within the cooperative. Committed Capital often have non-guaranteed rates of return. However, Equal Exchange, a U.S.-based worker cooperative, offers preferred stock that still ensures at least a 5% return rate even during periods of economic recession.

Because the communal ownership model of cooperatives makes it difficult for investors to determine the credit and reliability of their investments, they often rely on close analysis of the structure, management, and experience of each cooperative in order to decide in which one to acquire stock.

State Financing
In many countries, the state provides loans or direct funding for worker cooperatives' production, community programs, and investments. Government funding is especially important in assisting newly developing cooperatives in securing finances for the initial stages of business.

In Spain, the Basque Government assists in financing cooperatives within the Mondragon Corporation and for many of Mondragon's education and healthcare programs. Additionally, the Basque Government financially assists Mondragon in acquiring declining capitalist businesses and transitioning them into worker cooperatives.

The Indian government provides financing, often in the form of loans, to new cooperatives. The government of Kerala and the Khadi Development and Village Industries Commission in India often provide initial loans for cooperatives in order to help them eventually transition into relying primarily on Internal Capital Accounts.

In 1978, the UK government set up the National Cooperative Development Agency and in subsequent years common ownership was promoted as a model to create employment, leading approximately 100 local authorities to establish cooperative development agencies. The Industrial Common Ownership Act authorized the Secretary of State for Industry to make grants and loans to organizations that assisted common ownership and cooperative enterprises. Grants were made to the Industrial Common Ownership Movement and the Scottish Co-operatives Development Committee, while loans were administered through Common Ownership Finance Ltd. However, this section was repealed in 2004.

The Italian Government, through the Legge Marcora (Marcora Law) provisions of 1985, reformed in 2001, has established a financing mechanism of patient capital for creating worker cooperatives, social cooperatives, and for worker buyouts of firms that are in trouble or that have retiring owners, especially for traditional businesses that require extra financial assistance while transitioning or converting into cooperatives. Originally, this state investment was equivalent to three times the collective internal capital account investment from workers. As of 2001, the state investment is on a 1:1 ratio with workers' capital contributions.

Canadian worker cooperatives also rely on government funding to finance their early development. State sources of finance, which often come in the form of grants, include the Quebec Local Development Centre, the Co-op Development Initiative, and the Young Entrepreneurs program.

Financing via Traditional Business Transitions
When the owner of a traditional business decides to resign and transition the ownership of the firm into a workers' cooperative, they often provide initial financial investment. However, this typically is not a sustainable form of capital investment and cooperatives often use it to begin business and then transition to depend on other forms of finance. Examples of this method of financing include Select Machines, Inc., Metis Construction, A Slice of New York, and Rock City Roasters.

The transition process often takes several years and is executed in 5 stages. First, the selling owners must evaluate if a transition is an appropriate step for the business and must consult with advisors and employees regarding new leadership changes. Second, the selling owner must employ specialists to determine the legal and financial logistics of the transition. Third, a transition group or the selling owner must organize the new managerial structure, business practices, and ownership policies. Fourth, legal contracts are signed to establish the new management while methods of finance are drawn upon to jumpstart the newfound cooperative. Fifth, an adjustment period occurs in which training is provided for workers regarding new business policies.

External Finance Firm Investment
Most finance firms that specialize in providing capital for worker cooperatives are Cooperative Funds and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI's). CDFI's often do not supply the majority of finance for cooperatives, but act as collateral for other forms of investment and/or as support for another form of finance. Additionally, many cooperatives utilize external finance for improvements to their physical capital in order to improve productivity. Several U.S. CDFIs include the Cooperative Fund of New England, the Common Wealth Revolving Loan Fund, the Shared Capital Cooperative of Minneapolis, and Capital Impact Partners.

In France, worker cooperatives contribute funds to the SOCODEN (Société coopérative de développement et d'entraide), a cooperative financial institution that finances developing and struggling cooperatives. Additionally, this fund provides collateral for other sources of funding and subsidies for interests on loans for these cooperatives.

Direct Public Offerings
Direct Public Offerings (DPO's) are loans or donations generated either socially by communities or individually by both accredited and non-accredited investors. The voting rights that this investment produces for the community or investor varies depending on the cooperative and offering type. This form of financing is especially popular with cooperatives that provide services to local communities. One of the primary attributes of DPO's that attract cooperatives is that by advertising investment opportunities to local communities, the firm not only generates financial capital but it also employs an efficient method of advertising that keeps the community engaged in the firm's products and success. For cooperatives undergoing an ownership transition, DPO's are often a source of financial support to the initial loan of the retiring owner. Examples of firms that have utilized Direct Public Offerings for financial support are Real Pickles and the CERO Cooperative.

Peer Financing
Many worker cooperatives utilize surplus profits to provide loans or establish offering funds in order to support other developing or struggling cooperatives. These funds are also used as collateral for other forms of finance by cooperatives in need. Examples of Peer Financing in the U.S. include the Evergreen Cooperatives, the Share Capital Cooperative, and the Valley Alliance of Worker Cooperatives.

In Italy, large cooperative federations utilize excess profits to develop peer financing funds that not only financially assist other cooperatives, but are also used for workers' training programs and for research into cooperatives.

France's worker cooperatives, otherwise known as sociétés coopératives et participatives (SCOPs), are required to allocate a small portion of profits to a financial fund for other French worker cooperatives in cooperative federations.

Political philosophy of workers' cooperatives
The idea of achieving economic democracy through worker ownership on a national scale has been argued by economist Tom Winters, who states that "building a cooperative economy is one small step on the journey to reclaiming the wealth we all collectively create."

An economic model: the labor-managed firm
Economists have modeled the worker cooperative as a firm in which labor hires capital, rather than capital hiring labor as in a conventional firm. The classic theoretical contributions of such a "labor managed firm" (LMF) model are due to Benjamin Ward and Jaroslav Vanek.

In the neoclassical version, the objective of the LMF is to maximize not total profit, but rather income per worker. But such a scenario implies "perverse" behavior, such as laying off workers when output price rises so as to divide increased profits among fewer members. Evidence supporting such behavior is lacking, however; a review of the empirical economics literature is found in Bonin, Jones, and Putterman. But alternative behavioral models have been proposed. Peter Law examined LMFs that value employment and income. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen examined pay according to work and according to need. Nobel Laureate James Meade examined behavior of an "inegalitarian" LMF. Worker cooperatives tend to have a more compressed wage distribution, which can potentially turn off high-ability workers, potentially causing the cooperative to suffer a "brain drain" as they leave to seek higher wages elsewhere, though this effect is less of an issue in a cooperative with a less compressed wage distribution. Hiring managers from capitalist firms can be very difficult because of the lower wages.

Generally, the evidence indicates that worker cooperatives have higher productivity than conventional companies although this difference may be modest in size. Research indicates that employee ownership can improve company performance, increase firm stability, increase survival rates and reduce layoffs during a crisis, though the effect is small and only an average, meaning it is not necessarily guaranteed to bring benefits. A 2016 metanalysis concluded that employee ownership had a small positive effect on firm performance but no effects on efficiency or growth-related outcomes. However some researchers have argued that while cooperatives can have higher performance in some circumstances, there is generally little difference in performance between cooperatives and conventional firms and that ultimately they are, on average, just as productive as each other. Economists have explained the clustering of worker coops through leagues or "supporting structures" Regions where large clusters of worker cooperatives are found supported by leagues include Mondragón, in the Basque region of Spain, home of Mondragón Cooperative Corporation and in Italy, particularly Emilia-Romagna. Leagues provide various kinds of scale economies to make coops viable. But as leagues need coops to start them the result is a chicken or egg problem that helps explain why few coops get started. Research has suggested that the primary appeal of a cooperative for its members is in security of employment, as workers can actually become decoupled from a cooperative's ostensible worker ownership (due to a mixture of interests and the more individualistic values of more recent workers), making secure employment, particularly in economically precarious times, a major draw. While it has been suggested that cooperatives could be a solution to unemployment, research indicates that this is unlikely to be the case.

Worker cooperatives do not seem to differ in innovation or management capabilities from conventional firms. Workers at cooperatives tend to report higher levels of involvement in their tasks, more positive evaluations of supervisors and greater fairness in their perception of the amount of wages they received and methods of payment. Employment in worker-owned firms tends to be more stable than conventional firms, which fluctuate more. This was attributed to conventional firms fixing wages and having to lay off employees during times of economic difficulty, as workers would not accept a wage cut since they could not guarantee restoration of their original wages at a later date, requiring workers to be laid off instead. In a cooperative, workers can accept a wage cut since they know they can restore it at a later date. Cooperatives have a higher survival rate than traditional firms, which seems to be down to greater employment stability and willingness of workers to make adjustments to allow the firm to survive, rather than other possible explanations like greater productivity or financial strength. Worker cooperatives and conventional firms tend to have similar wages after controlling for other possible variables, with any wage differentiation being due to other characteristics aside from firm organization. If the workers are not satisfied with their work and participation, they can express their disengagement with higher rates of absenteeism. Managers can refrain from proposing controversial, needed changes if they feel that they would be rejected by the workers.

Europe
Worker co-operation is well established in most countries in Europe, with the largest movements being in Italy, Spain, and France.

The European Cooperative Statute, which has been in force since 2006, permits worker cooperatives to be created by individuals or corporate bodies in different EU countries. It is a loose framework that devolves much detail to the national legislation of the country in which the European Cooperative Society (ECS) is registered. It permits a minority of shares to be held by 'investor members' which are not employees.

France
Workers' associations were legalized in 1848 and again in 1864. In 1871, during the Paris Commune, workshops abandoned by their owners were taken over by their workers. In 1884 a chamber of workers' cooperatives was founded. By 1900 France had nearly 250 workers' cooperatives and 500 by 1910. The movement was to rise and fall throughout the twentieth century, with growth in 1936, after the Second World War, between 1978 and 1982 and since 1995.

In 2004 France had 1700 workers' co-operatives, with 36,000 people working in them. The average size of a co-operative was 21 employees. More than 60% of co-operative employees were also members. French workers' co-operatives today include some large organisations such as and. Other cooperatives whose names are generally known to include the magazines Alternatives économiques and Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, the driving school ECF CERCA and the toy manufacturer "Moulin Roty".

Italy
According to EURICSE there are 29,414 worker cooperatives in Italy. A study conducted by the organization measured the survival rates of worker buyouts (WBOs) of failed firms that transitioned to worker cooperatives in the manufacturing sector and found that they generally had greater rates of survival than the average for all Italian businesses in the same sector.

Pencavel et al. (2006) found that in the north of Italy, the area where the most co-ops are located, employing around over 4% of the labour force, actually paid their workers 14% less than capitalist firms and their wages were more volatile. This was after controlling for various variables, such as schooling, age, gender, occupation, industry, location, firm-size, user cost of capital, fixed costs, and deviations in its real sales. The cooperative movement in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, successfully melds two divergent philosophical currents: Socialism and Catholicism. With more than a century of cooperative history, the region includes more than 8,000 cooperatives.

Spain
Spain is home to over 17,000 worker cooperatives. One of the world's best known examples of worker cooperatives is the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation in the Basque Country.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party's enthusiasm for worker cooperatives was at its highest in the 1970s and 1980s, with Tony Benn being a prominent advocate. The principle has also found some support from the more radical wing of the Liberal Democrats, such as from Michael Meadowcroft.

A small number of such co-operatives were formed during the 1974 Labour Government as worker takeovers following the bankruptcy of a private firm in a desperate attempt to save the jobs at risk. However the change in ownership structure was usually unable to resist the underlying commercial failure. This was true in particular of the best known, the Meriden motor-cycle cooperative in the West Midlands which took over the assets of the ailing Triumph company, although there were instances of successful employee buy-outs of nationalized industries in the period, notably National Express. Meanwhile, many more worker co-operatives were founded as start-up businesses, and by the late 1980s, there were some 2,000 in existence. Since then the number has declined to about 400 in 2022.

Co-operatives are typically registered under either the Companies Act 2006 or the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (IPS), though other legal forms are available. A number of model rules have been devised to enable cooperatives to register under both acts; for workers' cooperatives, these rules restrict membership to those who are employed by the workplace. Most workers' co-operatives are incorporated bodies, which limits the liability if the co-operative fails and goes into liquidation.

The largest examples of a British worker cooperatives include, Suma Wholefoods, Bristol-based Essential Trading Co-operative and the Brighton-based Infinity Foods Cooperative Ltd.

In 2022 a new federation of worker co-operatives in the UK, workers.coop, was founded.

United States
National organization

The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives is the only organization in the U.S. representing worker cooperative interests nationally. Offering a voice on national level, promoting the worker co-operative model, uniting co-ops at conferences and providing a base of support and technical assistance to the worker co-operative community.

Regional organizations

The Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy and Western Worker Co-operative Conference hold conferences every other year for their respective regions. In addition, there are national and regional nonprofit organizations that focus on providing technical support and assistance to both create new worker cooperatives (start-ups) and conversions of existing businesses into worker cooperatives, usually when the business owner is retiring and wants to sell the company. These organizations include Democracy at Work Institute (created by the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives), Cooperative Development Institute, Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Vermont Employee Ownership Center, Rhode Island Center for Employee Ownership, Project Equity, and others.

Cooperation Jackson is a federation of cooperatives based in Jackson, Mississippi, which seeks to build worker-owned coops and other locally operated institutions.

The Freedom Quilting Bee was a notable cooperative founded in Alabama during the midst of the Civil Rights movement, and was instrumental in helping underprivileged black workers in the area escape poverty, amassing enough success to fill orders for major department stores such as Sears while helping to spark contemporary interest in quilting.

Canada
Worker co-ops in Canada are represented by the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation (CWCF). Members of the CWCF are found throughout English Canada.

Ontario has its own federation with well-developed standards. Quebec has a distinct worker co-operative history, and is presently organised into a number of regional federations.

Mexico
After the revolt on 1 January 1994 from EZLN, the indigenous people in Chiapas started the reconstruction of their Zapatista coffee cooperatives.

Venezuela
Hugo Chávez, in his effort to democratize the workforce, established a lot of worker-owned and operated cooperatives the moment he got into office, in 1998. By 2006, there had been 100,000 worker co-ops set up, which represented around 1.5 million workers. From day one, he made sure to give them cheap start-up credit, technical training, and preferential treatment with government purchases of goods and equipment. Not even a year later, in 1999, he increased the number of co-ops that got tax incentives. A 2006 census showed that 50% of the co-ops were either functioning improperly or were simply created just to get access to public funds.

Argentina
In response to the economic crisis in Argentina, many Argentinian workers occupied the premises of bankrupt businesses and began to run them as worker-owned cooperatives. As of 2005, there were roughly 200 worker-owned businesses in Argentina, most of which were started in response to this crisis. By 2020, around 16,000 Argentine workers were running over 400 recuperated enterprises in Argentina. The documentary film The Take described this phenomenon journalistically, while Marcelo Vieta's book, Workers' Self-Management in Argentina, provides and extensive academic, case study, and historical account of the phenomenon. The overall survival rate of these recuperated firms is almost ninety percent, displaying the resilience of the model even in times of economic turmoil.

According to a recent statement by the International Co-operative Alliance, cooperative businesses (most of which are not worker co-ops) in Argentina have nearly 20 million members across a number of business sectors from health care to housing to factory work and beyond. These businesses are increasing in number at a drastic rate, with over 6,000 having been created in 2012 alone.

Worker-owned cooperatives in Argentina have played a role in developing their surrounding communities. For example, the worker-owners of FaSinPat voted to use excess profits to establish education programs, healthcare facilities, and recreational activities for its neighborhood.

The overall number of worker cooperatives within Argentina seems to be at over 23,000.

India
India has a substantial set of laws, rules & regulations for enterprises in the co-operative sector.

The Indian Coffee Houses in India were started by the Coffee Board in the early 1940s, during British rule. In the mid-1950s the Board closed down the Coffee Houses, due to a policy change. The thrown-out workers then took over the branches, under the leadership of A. K. Gopalan and renamed the network as Indian Coffee House. This history is recorded in Coffee Housinte Katha, a book in Malayalam, the mother tongue of A. K. Gopalan. The author of the book is Nadakkal Parameswaran Pillai one of the leaders of the ICH movement. Another very large network of worker coops is Kerala Dinesh Beedi, originally started by exploited beedi rollers.

Comparison with other work organizations
There are significant differences between ends and means between firms where capital controls labor or firms where the state controls both labor and capital. These distinctions are easily seen when measured by essential elements of commerce: purpose, organization, ownership, control, sources of capital, distribution of profits, dividends, operational practices, and tax treatment. The following chart compares the commercial elements of capitalism, state ownership, and cooperative worker-ownership. It is based on US rules and regulations.

title: Worker cooperative


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Isaiah Shoels

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Postdlf 23:33, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Isaiah Shoels
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:54, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC)
 * Delete - Another sad Columbine story - but Wiki is not a memorial and it is not noteworthy Brookie 19:37, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, memorial. Besides, the statement that he was killed because of his race is speculation. They killed plenty of white kids too. -R. fiend 19:51, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, POV, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Megan1967 02:06, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre. Gamaliel 02:51, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect - David Gerard 17:27, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre to discourage re-creation. —Korath (Talk) 13:33, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User:Garzo/projects/sandbox

 * PURGE CACHE

Syriac alphabet
* These letters do not join to the following letter (to the left). In some older texts, all letters can join to the left. In some styles of Madnhāyā script, Taw-Ālaph form a ligature, whereas Taw does not usually join to the left.

Narsai and Jacob timeline

 * c.399 — Narsai born at ‘Ain Dulba in Ma‘alta
 * 412 — Rabbula becomes bishop of Edessa
 * 431 — Council of Ephesus: Rabbula supporst Cyril of Alexandria and burns the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia
 * 435 — Rabbula dies and Ibas becomes bishop of Edessa
 * c.437 — Narsai begins to teach at the School of Edessa
 * 449 — Ibas condemned by the Latrocinium of Ephesus, and replaced by Nonnus
 * 451 — Ibas restored by the Council of Chalcedon
 * 451 — Jacob born in Kurtam on the Euphrates
 * 457 — Ibas dies and is succeded by Nonnus
 * 471 — Cyrus becomes bishop of Edessa, and Narsai leaves for Nisibis
 * 489 — Emperor Zeno closes the School of Edessa
 * 496 — The Statutes of the School of Nisibis show Narsai is still alive there
 * c.502 — Narsai dies in Nisibis
 * 503 — Shah Kavadh I lays bitter siege to Amid
 * 519 — Jacob elected as bishop of Batnan da-Srugh
 * 519–520 — Jacob writes a letter to the Ḥimyarite Christians of Najrān
 * 29 Novemeber 521 — Jacob dies in Batnan da-Srugh

School of Nisibis timeline (from Becker)

 * 363 — Julian the Apostate dies; Nisibis ceded to the Sasanian Empire; Ephrem of Nisibis migrates to Edessa
 * 373 — Ephrem dies
 * 399 — Evagrius of Pontus dies
 * c.400 — Greek Patristic literature begins to be transalted into Syriac
 * 428 — Theodore of Mopsuestia dies
 * 431 — Council of Ephesus (Third Ecumenical Council)
 * 435/6 — Bishop Rabbula of Edessa dies
 * 449 — 'Robber' Council of Ephesus
 * 451 — Council of Chalcedon (Fourth Ecumenical Council)
 * 457 — Ibas, Bishop of Edessa, dies
 * 474–475, 476–91 — Reign of Zeno
 * 489 — Closure of the School of the Persians of Edessa
 * c.500 — Neoplatonic Commentaries begin to be translated into Syriac
 * 503 — Narsai dies after this date
 * c.510–569 — Abraham of Bēt Rabban, head of the School of Nisibis
 * 517/26 — Ammonius the Neoplatonist dies
 * 521 — Jacob of Serugh dies
 * 527–565 — Reign of Justinian
 * 531–579 — Khosro I
 * 533–543 — Three Chapters Controversy
 * c.536 — Sergius of Rēš‘aynā dies
 * 542–c.549 — Junillus Africanus, Quaestor Sacri Palatii at Justinian's court
 * 540–552 — Catholicate of Mār Abā
 * 553 — Council of Constantinople (Fifth Ecumenical Council)
 * 569 — Terminus post quem for the Ecclesiastical History of Barḥadbĕšabbā
 * 571–c.610 — Ḥĕnānā, head of the School of Nisibis; period in which the Cause was composed (probably before 605)
 * c.571 — Monastery of Abraham of Kaškar founded
 * 590–628 — Khosro II
 * 596 — East-Syrian Synod under Catholicos Sabrīšō‘
 * 602 — Proem of the Statutes of the School of Nisibis
 * 605 — East-Syrian Synod under Catholicos Gregory I
 * 612 — East-Syrian Synod under Bābai the Great
 * 614/15 — Gabriel's Colophon
 * 628 or 630 — Bābai the Great dies
 * 637 — Fall of Seleucia-Ctesiphon to the Arabs
 * 659 — Catholicos Īšō‘yahb III dies
 * late C7 — Isaac of Nineveh, Dadīšō‘ Qaṭrāyā, Simeon d-Ṭaybūtēh
 * 823 — Timothy I dies
 * late C8 – mid C9 — Īšō‘dĕnaḥ of Basra, Book of chastity
 * C9 — Thomas of Margā, Book of Governors
 * 912–1020 — Chroncile of Siirt

title: User:Garzo/projects/sandbox


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Matthew Kechter

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Postdlf 23:34, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Matthew Kechter
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:55, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC) Redirect to Columbine High School massacre
 * Delete, same as the others. Memorial. -R. fiend 19:55, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Megan1967 02:07, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * redir - David Gerard 17:49, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre to discourage re-creation. —Korath (Talk) 13:33, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User talk:CCY~enwiki

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them:

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Revelation
I dont like you anymore ccy--Junggi 20:04, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

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

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

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Renamed
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title: User talk:CCY~enwiki


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/John Tomlin

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Postdlf 23:35, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

John Tomlin
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:55, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC)
 * Delete - Another sad Columbine story - but Wiki is not a memorial and it is not noteworthy Brookie 19:37, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. -R. fiend 19:56, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Megan1967 02:08, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * redir - David Gerard 17:49, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre to discourage re-creation. —Korath (Talk) 13:34, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text: User:Garzo/projects/template

title: User:Garzo/projects/template


text:
Worli Fort

The Worli Fort is a fort in Worli, Mumbai, India. Though often incorrectly assumed to have been built by the Portuguese, the fort was built by the British around 1675 on Worli Hill. Worli Fort overlooked Mahim Bay at a time when the city comprised just seven islands and was used as a lookout for enemy ships.

The centuries-old village is home to one of the oldest communities of fisherfolk which is still existing in Mumbai.

The area around Worli Hill is also known for its fossils and geology

History
Worli Fort traces its origins back to the 17th century when it was constructed by the Portuguese as a strategic outpost to protect their territories along the western coast of India. The fort served as a defensive structure guarding the southern approach to the island of Bombay (now Mumbai) and the entrance to the Mahim Bay.

In 1661, control of Bombay was transferred from the Portuguese to the British as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza upon her marriage to Charles II of England. Subsequently, Worli Fort came under British rule, and it underwent several modifications and reinforcements over the years to strengthen its defenses.

Architecture and design
Worli Fort is built using locally available basalt rock, characteristic of many forts in the region. The fortification consists of ramparts, bastions, and gateways, typical of Portuguese military architecture of the time. The fort originally housed barracks, ammunition storage facilities, and living quarters for the garrison.

The strategic location of Worli Fort provides views of the Arabian Sea and the Mumbai coastline, making it a tourist attraction and a favorite spot for locals to enjoy sunsets.

Significance
Worli Fort played a role in Mumbai's maritime history, serving as a sentinel against potential invasions and attacks from the sea. It was one of several coastal forts that formed a defensive network around the island of Bombay, safeguarding its trading interests and maritime routes.

In addition to its military significance, Worli Fort holds cultural importance as a heritage site that reflects Mumbai's colonial past and architectural heritage.

Tourism
Today, Worli Fort is a tourist destination and a recreational spot for locals. Visitors explore the fort's ruins, walk along its ramparts, and take in the views of the Arabian Sea. The fort's proximity to the Worli Sea Face promenade makes it accessible to tourists and residents alike.

title: Worli Fort


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kyle Velasquez

Kyle Velasquez
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:56, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC)


text:
Little Orme

The Little Orme (Rhiwledyn, also known as Trwyn y Fuwch, Trwyn y Gogarth and Y Gogarth Fach) is a headland in Llandudno, Wales. It is 141 m in height. It is one of two headlands situated at either end of Llandudno Bay, the other larger headland used by tourists is the Great Orme. The Little Orme has public footpaths and two summits, the higher summit has a trig point.

History
The Little Orme was inhabited during the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, notably the Pant y Wennol cave.

A small hoard of Iron Age Celtic metalwork was found in a cave on the Little Orme.

The medieval chapel of Blessed Mary of Penrhyn, abandoned in 1930 and now in ruins, is at the foot of the Little Orme in the grounds of Penrhyn Hall at Penrhyn Bay.

On 14 April 1587, printing material for Catholic literature was found in a cave on the Little Orme, where it had been used by the recusant Robert Pugh (squire of Penrhyn Hall) and his Chaplain Father William Davies to print Y Drych Cristianogawl (The Christian Mirror), the first book to be printed in Wales. They had taken refuge there during the persecution of Catholics instigated by Queen Elizabeth I in May 1586.

The Royal Artillery coastal gunnery school, 198 battery, was posted to Little Orme during the Second World War. Target practice was undertaken from the headland to anchored boats, and unspent ammunition and unexploded shells may still be encountered offshore. Gun emplacements and ancillary buildings were in situ until at least the early 1960s, but the site has since been landscaped.

Ecology and environment
Parts of the Little Orme (notably the NWWT's Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve) are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The North Wales Bird Trust is located on its lower slopes, and the Little Orme is a warden-patrolled sanctuary for sea birds. Bird viewing around the cliffs can be facilitated by trips using small boats.

Seals visit the headland and can be seen at Angel Bay during the breeding season.

Uses
Unlike the Great Orme, the Little Orme has not been developed for copper mining or tourism. There has been limestone quarrying since the mid-19th century on the Penrhyn Bay side, where the Little Ormes Head Quarry tramway was situated. It was centred on Porth Dyniewyd and served by its own narrow gauge railway, but quarrying ceased in 1936. There is some farming on the lower slopes.

The North Wales Path runs across the Little Orme, using the several public footpaths on its summit.

The cliffs are a popular challenge for highly experienced rock climbers. The Coast Guard Rescue Unit use the Little Orme for training. Otherwise, it is a popular sightseeing location and walking/hiking site.

title: Little Orme


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dave Sanders

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Postdlf 23:37, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Dave Sanders
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:57, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC)
 * Delete - Another sad Columbine story - but Wiki is not a memorial and it is not noteworthy Brookie 19:37, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. -R. fiend 20:00, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Megan1967 02:09, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * redir - David Gerard 17:43, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre to discourage re-creation. —Korath (Talk) 13:34, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Daniel Mauser

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Postdlf 23:38, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Daniel Mauser
Wikipedia is not a memorial Uncle G 18:58, 2005 Feb 1 (UTC)
 * Delete. Agreed. A full list of the victims might be appended to the article on Columbine High. --Wetman 19:17, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - Another sad Columbine story - but Wiki is not a memorial and it is not noteworthy Brookie 19:37, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. -R. fiend 20:01, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Megan1967 02:10, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * redir - David Gerard 17:43, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Columbine High School massacre to discourage re-creation. —Korath (Talk) 13:34, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User talk:Impack

Hi everyone wat up

title: User talk:Impack


text:
Battle of El Mazucu

The Battle of El Mazucu was fought between 6 and 22 September 1937, between the Republican and Nationalist armies during the Spanish Civil War as a part of the War in the North campaign. The Republican defence of El Mazucu and the surrounding mountains halted the Nationalist advance into eastern Asturias, despite their forces being outnumbered sevenfold. After weeks of intense fighting over extreme terrain the defenders were eventually overwhelmed, and the Nationalists were then able to link up with their forces advancing from León, leading to the fall of Gijón and the abandonment of Asturias, the last Republican province in North-West Spain.

This battle was almost certainly the first use of carpet bombing against a military target.

Prelude
Following the fall of Bilbao and the defeat of the Republican forces defending Santander, the Republican stronghold of Asturias was isolated from the Republican armies in the south and east of Spain. The leader of the Nationalist forces surrounding Asturias, General Fidel Dávila, attacked from the south and from the east, expecting little resistance from the demoralized Republicans.

The first republican line, along the Deva River, was soon overrun, and the town of Llanes fell on 5 September 1937. However, the routes the Nationalists then had to take were commanded by the limestone walls of the Sierra de Cuera on the north of the front and the Deva Gorge to the south. The Nationalists had to clear the defenders from these mountains in order to advance, and to do that they planned a pincer movement moving southwest from Llanes and west, along Cares river, from Panes towards Cabrales.

On both fronts, the rugged terrain and stiff Republican resistance halted the advance. It was then clear that the mountains of the Sierra de Cuera were vital to the defence of Asturias, and the key to the Sierra de Cuera was the pass of El Mazucu.

The combatants
The Nationalist forces comprised four Brigades of Navarre (33,000 men), under the command of General José Solchaga Zala (Solchaga) in Llanes, with 15 artillery batteries and strong air support (including the German Condor Legion, partly based on the Cue Aerodrome). The pass of El Mazucu is only five km from the sea, and so the cruiser Almirante Cervera was also able to use its 6 in. guns in the action.

The Asturian and some Basque and Santander forces (Republicans) comprised three weakened brigades (fewer than 5,000 men in all), under the command of Colonels Juan Ibarrola Orueta and Francisco Galán Rodríguez (Ibarrola and Galán) in Meré, with little artillery and no air support.

The battle
The attack on El Mazucu began with an assault by the Nationalist Navarrese I brigade on 6 September. This was repulsed, and at the same time the southern advance of the pincer movement was also stopped. In response to these setbacks, the German Condor Legion was called in and for the first time carpet-bombed a military target, the Republican forces defending the approach to El Mazucu.

On 7 September further attacks were halted and the fronts stabilized; a noted Republican commander, Higinio Carrocera, arrived, with three battalions and 24 heavy machine guns. Carpet-bombing with explosive and incendiary bombs continued all day.

The next day in dense fog, fierce hand-to-hand fighting inflicted severe losses on both sides. The Nationalists gained some 2 km on the southern front, which the Republicans were unable to recapture.

The Nationalists used the following day to shell the positions defending El Mazucu, and two Republican battalions were forced to retreat, although the Nationalists were unable to take advantage of the withdrawal. For the rest of that day and the next, waves of bombings and artillery bombardment were each followed by a Nationalist infantry attack, each in turn cut down and turned back by the Republican machine-guns.

The fog having returned on 10 September, an all-out attack by the I Brigade took the hill of Biforco (below the pass of El Mazucu), but this was still dominated by the heights of Llabres, from where the Republicans hammered the area with machine guns and rolled down carbide drums filled with explosive. For the first time since the start of the battle, hot food reached the Republican front lines.

During the next two days, on the southern front, the Nationalists could not make progress along the valley, so had no option but to advance up the ridge of the Sierra towards Pico Turbina. This peak, at 1,315m, is a formidable obstacle with slopes of 40° and an almost moon-like karst terrain. There were no tracks, even for mules, so supplies and ordnance were largely carried by hand. The weather was bad, too, so aircraft could not operate – but the fog also hid the attacking forces.

By 13 September the Republican front to the north-west of El Mazucu began to weaken under the relentless artillery bombardment, and the Republicans were forced to yield Sierra Llabres, whose height commands both the village of El Mazucu and the western approaches on 14 September. The village of El Mazucu itself was then indefensible. To the south, Pico Turbina was almost taken, but the attack was driven back with hand-grenades, in confused fighting in dense fog.

El Mazucu and its surrounds were occupied on 15 September, and the Republicans in that sector fell back to Meré. To the south, the Republicans still held the heights of Pico Turbina and Peñas Blancas (the summits of Peña Blanca). Pico Turbina was taken, and Peña Blanca was almost encircled as Arangas and Arenas fell to the Nationalists the next day.

The three summits of Peñas Blancas now formed the only salient from the Republican line along the Bedón river. Initial Nationalist assaults failed, and so sixteen battalions were brought up to reduce the positions. Air support was minimal due to the weather, and on the ground, rain turned to snow on the heights.

The better weather on 18 September at noon brought three waves of airborne strafing from 'strings' of Junkers and Fiat fighters, and possibly Heinkel 51s based on the Cue Aerodrome. After each attack, the inevitable infantry assault was beaten off by machine guns and hand grenades. For four full days, the pattern was repeated: aircraft and mortars pounded the remaining defenders, the Navarrese infantry attacked, and were repulsed. Until 22 September "the red flag waved on the highest peak". On that day, the Peñas Blancas were finally overrun.

Aftermath
The defence of El Mazucu offered the hope of stemming the Nationalist advance until winter; if that had been achieved, then the course of the war would have been different. As it was, the attackers suffered a costly delay. The defenders regained their honour, battered in Santander, but also at great cost. The third parties involved, notably the Condor Legion, learned many lessons which were later applied in the European theatre of the World War that followed.

The defence of El Mazucu also allowed the Republicans further west in Asturias a certain breathing space and a chance to regroup, but ultimately this made little difference. The Nationalists on the Eastern front soon joined up with the forces advancing from León at Infiesto, and closed in on Gijón. Gijón, the last republican stronghold in Northern Spain, fell on 21 October.

title: Battle of El Mazucu


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Guy Hollingworth

Guy Hollingworth (born 1974) is an English barrister, conjurer, author and lecturer. As a conjurer he is known for his skilful performances of card magic and for his books and lectures in which he presents original tricks and routines.

Career
Hollingworth first became interested in magic at the age of 13 when he was a pupil at St Paul's School, a private school in west London. The school has a magic club called The Prestige Society, which Hollingworth joined in preference over activities such as classics or sports practice which he would otherwise have been expected to do. He was inspired by seeing footage of magician Channing Pollock, which was shown as part of the television series The Best of Magic, broadcast by Thames Television in 1989–90. Hollingworth has stated that he was also influenced during the same period by seeing Ricky Jay perform on the Channel 4 television series The Secret Cabaret. Hollingworth began his performing career with a show at the school open day. He later graduated in industrial design and subsequently in law. At the same time he continued performing magic as well as developing new tricks. Such was his success that he also began to be asked to give lectures to other magicians. He currently works full-time as a barrister specialising in intellectual property law, but continues to give occasional magic performances.

Hollingworth's best known creation is his trick The Reformation, in which a signed playing card is torn into four pieces and then visibly restored one piece at a time. He is also well known for his book, Drawing Room Deceptions. Some of his card magic is presented in his commercially available videos The Reformation, The London Collection and Routines directed by filmmaker and magician Anthony Davis. He was also featured on NBC's World's Greatest Magic III TV special. In August 2008, he presented a well-received show at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival entitled "Expert at the Card Table", which was based on a 1902 book of the same title.

Publications

 * FISM Lecture Notes (limited edition)
 * Drawing Room Deceptions
 * Quartet: A card and ten routines therewith
 * Waiting for Inspiration Lecture Notes

Videos

 * The Reformation (limited edition)
 * The London Collection
 * Routines
 * The Hollingworth Collection (limited edition Box-Set with commemorative playing cards)

Marketed tricks

 * Quartet – a playing card, included with a booklet of 10 routines or separately in packs of 3
 * Once Upon a Time – a small fairy tale book featuring three magical routines suitable for children

Television appearances

 * The World's Greatest Magic III (USA)
 * Heroes of Magic (UK)
 * Illusoes with Luis de Matos (Portugal)
 * Britain's Worst Cheats (UK)
 * 50 Greatest Magic Tricks (UK)
 * The Five Greatest Magicians in the World (Japan)
 * History of Magic – Close Up Magic (UK)

title: Guy Hollingworth