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Talk:Ombudsman against Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation (Sweden)

Untitled
I think this page should be moved to Ombudsman against Discrimination on grounds of Sexual Orientation, which is the full translation of HomO used on the English home page and in the article Government Agencies in Sweden. Also, the Swedish Wikipedia has placed the article under the full name, Ombudsmannen mot diskriminering på grund av sexuell läggning. Of course the article should still mention the "HomO" short form and its allusions. Alarm 00:08, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Ouch.. my first article! And created because I thought the name was cool, yet. No, but I agree. Only, are you sure we should have that capitalization of the new name? Government Agencies in Sweden ought itself to be moved, to lowercase "agencies", so I don't think it was created by a real capitalization expert (and incidentally it uses the form "Swedish Ombudsman against Discrimination because of Sexual Orientation", not quite the same). The English HomO homepage is of course the authority on the official English translation, but they're by no means authorities on English capitalization, and I think the most correct thing there would be to ferret out wiki caps policy for such titles. But you're welcome to move it, as far as I'm concerned. The edits not made by me are exceedingly minor. The disambig page for Homo ought to be changed, too. Thanks. Bishonen | Talk 01:21, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I'm not a capitalization expert either. But after having looked at Naming conventions, I think the name of a government agency could be regarded as a proper noun, and thus capitalized. Have a look at Ombudsman for examples with Ombudsman in a native English use. Also, all U.S. government agencies seem to be capitalized - for example Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Archives and Records Administration and all the rest in List of United States federal agencies. But even if we go for caps we still need to decide whether to use "on Grounds" or "on grounds"...

 * Oh, and I didn't really notice that Government Agencies in Sweden uses "because of" instead of "on grounds of", but just as you point out the form used on the HomO home page should be used (and it sounds better, too). A more relevant question might be if "Ombudsman..." should be preceded by "Swedish" as it is in Government Agencies in Sweden. This leaves us with at least 7 viable alternatives:

 * 1. Ombudsman against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation
 * 2. Ombudsman against Discrimination on grounds of Sexual Orientation
 * 3. Ombudsman against Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation
 * 4. Swedish ombudsman against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation
 * 5. Swedish Ombudsman against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation
 * 6. Swedish Ombudsman against Discrimination on grounds of Sexual Orientation
 * 7. Swedish Ombudsman against Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation

 * Phew! I lean towards #7, but I would be grateful for your thoughts on this.

 * BTW, I agree that Government Agencies in Sweden would probably sit better at Government agencies in Sweden - or even List of Swedish government agencies. I'll take that to its talk page. Alarm 16:44, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah... see how the category is Category:Swedish government agencies? Oh, sheesh, look at all those pages linking to Government Agencies in Sweden! I had a feeling there might be quite a few. A person could spend a really, really dull afternoon fixing all the links and redirects after a move of that page. :-( Rather than take it on, people seem to have used capitalized "Agencies" in the headings inside the article, too, where it looks even weirder. And inside the articles for the separate agencies too, going by my sampling.
 * I also prefer no. 7, on Grounds of Logic and Consistency ;-) . That's a very good point you make about the capitalization of the British ombudsmen and the American govt agencies. Thanks, Alarm. Bishonen | Talk 18:24, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Restoring article
This article was turned into a redirect to Gay rights in Sweden without prior discussion. Most of the content was pasted into that article. While gay rights certainly is the main subject of interest for HomO, I find the restructuring somewhat problematic for several reasons. One is that it could be argued that HomO's area of responsibility is somewhat bigger than simply "gay rights". Another is that HomO is a government agency and some information about its structure, administration, and budget seems out of place in a "Gay rights" article. Also, placing Gay rights in Sweden in Category:Swedish government agencies is outright wrong and simply confusing. Upholding the difference between the office/agency and the rights they supervise will make categorizing much easier. Alarm 22:36, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

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Picea glauca

Picea glauca, the white spruce, is a species of spruce native to the northern temperate and boreal forests in North America. Picea glauca is native from central Alaska all through the east, across western and southern/central Canada to the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, and south to Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Upstate New York and Vermont, along with the mountainous and immediate coastal portions of New Hampshire and Maine, where temperatures are just barely cool and moist enough to support it. There is also an isolated population in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. It is also known as Canadian spruce, skunk spruce, cat spruce, Black Hills spruce, western white spruce, Alberta white spruce, and Porsild spruce.

Description
The white spruce is a large evergreen conifer which normally grows to 15 to 30 m tall, but can grow up to 40 m tall with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5 to 10 cm across. The crown is narrow – conical in young trees, becoming cylindrical in older trees. The shoots are pale buff-brown, glabrous in the east of the range, but often pubescent in the west, and with prominent pulvini. The leaves are needle-like, 12 to 20 millimetres long, rhombic in cross-section, glaucous blue-green above (hence glauca) with several thin lines of stomata, and blue-white below with two broad bands of stomata.

The cones are pendulous, slender, cylindrical, 3 to 7 cm long and 1.5 cm wide when closed, opening to 2.5 cm broad. They have thin, flexible scales 15 mm long with a smoothly rounded margin. They are green or reddish, maturing to pale brown 4 to 8 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 2 to 3 mm long, with a slender, 5 to 8 mm long pale brown wing.

Seeds
Seeds are small, 2.5 to 5 mm long, oblong, and acute at the base. Determinations of the average number of sound seeds per white spruce cone have ranged from 32 to 130.

Common causes of empty seed are lack of pollination, abortion of the ovule, and insect damage.

The average weight per individual seed varies from 1.1 mg to 3.2 mg.

Each seed is clasped by a thin wing 2 to 4 times as long as the seed. Seed and wing are appressed to the cone scale. Embryo and megagametophyte are soft and translucent at first; later the endosperm becomes firm and milky white, while the embryo becomes cream-coloured or light yellow. At maturity, the testa darkens rapidly from light brown to dark brown or black. Mature seeds "snaps in two" when cut by a sharp knife on a firm surface.

White spruce cones reach their maximum size after 800 GDD. Cone moisture content decreases gradually after about 1000 GDD.

Cone colour also can be used to help determine the degree of maturation, but cones may be red, pink or green. Collection and storage dates and conditions influence germination requirements and early seedling growth.

A bushel (35 L) of cones, which may contain 6500 to 8000 cones, yields 6 to 20 oz of clean seed.

Seed dispersal begins after cone scales reflex with cone maturation in the late summer or early fall of the year of formation. Cones open at moisture contents of 45% to 70% and specific gravities of 0.6 to 0.8. Weather affects both the initiation and pattern of seed dispersal, but cone opening and the pattern of seed dispersal can vary among trees in the same stand. Even after dispersal has begun, cold, damp weather will cause cone scales to close; they will reopen during dry weather. Most seed falls early rather than late, but dispersal may continue through fall and winter and even into the next growing season. Seed dispersal occurs mainly in late summer or early fall.

White spruce seed is initially dispersed through the air by wind. Both the initiation and pattern of seed dispersal depend on the weather, but these can vary among trees in the same stand. Small amounts of white spruce seed are normally dispersed beyond 100 m from the seed source, but exceptionally seeds have been found more than 300–400 m from the nearest seed source.

Root system

The root system of white spruce is highly variable and adaptable, responding to a variety of edaphic factors, especially soil moisture, soil fertility, and mechanical impedance. On soils that limit rooting depth, the root system is plate-like, but it is a common misconception to assume that white spruce is genetically constrained to develop plate-like root systems irrespective of soil conditions. In the nursery, or naturally in the forest, white spruce usually develops several long 'running' roots just below the ground surface.

The structure of the tracheids in the long lateral roots of white spruce varies with soil nitrogen availability.

Stem

White spruce can live for several hundred years, with an estimated average lifespan of 250 to 300 years.

Slow-growing trees in rigorous climates are also capable of great longevity. White spruce 6 to 10 m high on the shore of Urquhart Lake, Northwest Territories, were found to be more than 300 years old.

Bark
The bark of mature white spruce is scaly or flaky, grey-brown or ash-brown, but silvery when freshly exposed. Resin blisters are normally lacking, but the Porsild spruce Picea glauca var. porsildii Raup has been credited with having smooth resin-blistered bark.

White spruce bark is mostly less than 8 mm and not more than 9.5 mm thick.

Chemistry
Isorhapontin can be found in spruce species such as the white spruce.

P. glauca has three different genomes; a nuclear genome, a mitochondrial genome, and a plastid (i.e. chloroplast) genome. The large (20 Gbp) nuclear genome of P. glauca (genotype WS77111) was published in 2015, and the organellar (plastid and mitochondrial) genomes (genotype PG29) were published in SD Jackman et al. 2015. The plastid genome of P. glauca (genotype WS77111) has also been published.

Varieties

Several geographical varieties have been described, but are not accepted as distinct by all authors. These comprise, from east to west:
 * Picea glauca var. glauca (typical or eastern white spruce): from Newfoundland west to eastern Alberta, on lowland plains.
 * Picea glauca var. densata (Black Hills white spruce): The Black Hills in South Dakota.
 * Picea glauca var. albertiana (Alberta white spruce): The Rocky Mountains in Alberta, British Columbia and northwest Montana.
 * Picea glauca var. porsildii (Alaska white spruce): Alaska and Yukon.

The two western varieties are distinguished by pubescent shoots, and may be related to extensive hybridisation and intergradation with the closely related Engelmann spruce found further south in the Rocky Mountains. White spruce also hybridises readily with the closely related Sitka spruce where they meet in southern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia; this hybrid is known as Picea × lutzii.

Distribution and habitat

White spruce has a transcontinental range in North America. In Canada, its contiguous distribution encompasses virtually the whole of the Boreal, Subalpine, Montane, Columbia, Great Lakes–St. Lawrence, and Acadian Forest Regions, extending into every province and territory. On the west coast of Hudson Bay, it extends to Seal River, about 59°N, "from which the northward limit runs apparently almost directly north-west to near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, or about latitude 68°". Collins and Sumner reported finding white spruce within 13 km of the Arctic coast in the Firth Valley, Yukon, at about 69°30′ N, 139°30′ W. It reaches within 100 km of the Pacific Ocean in the Skeena Valley, overlapping with the range of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), and almost reaching the Arctic Ocean at latitude 69° N in the District of Mackenzie, with white spruce up to 15 m high occurring on some of the islands in the Delta near Inuvik. The wide variety of ecological conditions in which 4 Quebec conifers, including white spruce, are able to establish themselves, was noted by Lafond, but white spruce was more exacting than black spruce. In the United States, the range of white spruce extends into Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Alaska, where it reaches the Bering Strait in 66°44′ N" at Norton Bay and the Gulf of Alaska at Cook Inlet.

Southern outliers have been reported in southern Saskatchewan and the Cypress Hills of southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, northwestern Montana, south-central Montana, in the Black Hills on the Wyoming–South Dakota boundary, on the Manitoba–North Dakota boundary, and at Shushan, New York.

White spruce is the northernmost tree species in North America, reaching just north of 69°N latitude in the Mackenzie River delta. It grows between sea level and an elevation of 1520 m. Its northern distribution roughly correlates to the location of the tree line, which includes an isothermic value of 10 C for mean temperature in July, as well as the position of the Arctic front; cumulative summer degree days, mean net radiation, and the amount of light intensities also figure. White spruce is generally found in regions where the growing season exceeds 60 days annually.

The southern edge of the zone in which white spruce forms 60% or more of the total stand corresponds more or less to the July isotherm of 18 C around the Great Lakes; in the Prairie Provinces its limit is north of this isotherm. During the summer solstice, day length values range from 17 hours at its southern limits to 24 hours above the Arctic Circle.

One of the hardiest conifers, white spruce in parts of its range withstands mean daily January temperature of -6.7 C and extreme minimum temperatures as low as -56.5 C; minimum temperatures of -50 C are general throughout much of the range except the southernmost and southeasternmost parts. By itself, or with black spruce and tamarack (Larix laricina), white spruce forms the northern boundary of tree-form growth. White spruce up to 15 m in height occur at 69°N on islands in the Mackenzie Delta near Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. Hustich (1966) depicted Picea spp. as forming the northernmost limit of tree growth in North America.

The arctic or northern timberline in North America forms a broad transition zone from Labrador to northern Alaska. In Labrador, white spruce is not abundant and constitutes less than 5% of the forest, with a range that coincides very closely with that of black spruce but extending slightly further north.

The range of white spruce extends westwards from Newfoundland and Labrador, and along the northern limit of trees to Hudson Bay, Northwest Territories, Yukon, and into northwestern Alaska. Across western Canada and Alaska, white spruce occurs further north than black spruce, and, while poplar (Populus), willow, and birch may occur along streams well into the tundra beyond the limits of spruce, the hardwoods are usually no more than scrub. Spruce characteristically occurs in fingers of tree-form forest, extending far down the northern rivers and as scattered clumps of dwarfed "bush" spruce on intervening lands. In Manitoba, Scoggan noted that the northernmost collection of white spruce was at latitude 59°48’N, but Bryson et al. found white spruce in the northern edge of continuous forest in central Canada at Ennadai Lake, about 60°45′ N, 101°’W, just north of the northwest corner of Manitoba. Bryson et al. noted that the forest retained "the same general characteristics as when it was first described [by Tyrrell ] in 1896". Collins and Sumner reported finding white spruce within 13 km of the Arctic coast in the Firth valley, Yukon, at about 69°30′ N, 139°30′ W, and Sargent noted that white spruce in Alaska "reached Behring Strait in 66°44′ N".

Climate, especially temperature, is obviously a factor in determining distributions of northern flora. Halliday and Brown suggested that white spruce's northern limit corresponds "very closely" with the July mean monthly isotherm of 10 °C in Ungava, but that the northern limit west of Hudson Bay was south of that isotherm. Other climatic factors that have been suggested as affecting the northern limit of white spruce include: cumulative summer degree days, position of the Arctic front in July, mean net radiation especially during the growing season, and low light intensities. Topography, soil conditions, and glaciation may also be important in controlling northern limits of spruce.

The southern limit of distribution of white spruce is more complex. From east of the main range of coastal mountains in British Columbia, the southern continuous limit of white spruce is the forest/prairie interface through Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the northern parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, central Michigan, northeastern New York, and Maine. Sargent and Harlow and Harrar also included Vermont and New Hampshire; and, while Dame and Brooks excluded New York and states further west, they included Massachusetts as far south as Amherst and Northampton, "probably the southern limit of the species" in that area. Nisbet gave the range of white spruce as extending to "Carolina", but he did not recognize red spruce as a species and presumably included it with white spruce.

Towards the southern parts of its range, white spruce encounters increasingly effective ecological competition from hardwoods, some of which may reinforce their growth-rate or sprouting competitiveness with allelopathic depredation of coniferous regeneration. Further southward extension of the distribution is inhibited by white spruce's cold requirement.

As an exotic species
As an exotic, white spruce is widespread but uncommon. It was introduced into England and parts of continental Europe in or soon after the year 1700, into Denmark about 1790, and into Tasmania and Ceylon shortly before 1932.

Nisbet noted that firmly-rooted white spruce served very well to stabilize windswept edges of woods in Germany. In a narrow belt of mixed Norway and white spruces over an extremely exposed hilltop crest at high elevation in northern England, the Norway spruce were "completely dwarfed" whereas the white spruce had reached heights of between 3 and 4.3 m. The age of the belt was not recorded, but adjoining 66-year-old stands may have been of the same vintage.

White spruce has also been used as a minor plantation species in England and Scotland. In Scotland, at Corrour, Inverness-shire, Sir John Stirling Maxwell in 1907 began using white spruce in his pioneering plantations at high elevations on deep peat. However, plantations in Britain have generally been unsatisfactory, mainly because of damage by spring frosts after mild weather had induced flushing earlier in the season. However, the species is held in high regard in the Belgian peat region, where it grows better than do the other spruces.

Ecology

White spruce is a climax canopy tree in the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. It generally occurs on well-drained soils in alluvial and riparian zones, although it also occurs in soils of glacial and lacustrine origin. The understory is dominated by feather mosses (Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi, Ptilium crista-castrensis) and fork mosses, and occasionally peat moss. In the far north, the total depth of the moss and underlying humus is normally between 25 and 46 cm, although it tends to be shallower when hardwoods are present in the stand.

White spruce grows in soils with pH values of 4.7–7.0, although they have been found in soils as acidic as 4.0 in subalpine fir forests in the Northwest Territories. A presence of calcium in the soil is common to white spruce found in northern New York. White spruce most commonly grows in the soil orders of Alfisols and Inceptisols. Soil properties such as fertility, temperature, and structural stability are partial determinants of the ability of white spruce to grow in the extreme northern latitudes. In the northern limits of its range, white spruce is the climax species along with black spruce; birch and aspen are the early succession species. Wildfires typically occur every 60 to 200 years, although they have been known to occur as infrequently as every 300 years.

White spruce will grow in USDA Growing Zones 3–7, but is not adapted to heat and humidity and will perform poorly in a hot climate. The tree attains its greatest longevity and growth potential in Zones 3–4.

Wildlife such as deer, rabbits, and grouse browse the foliage during the winter.

Soils
White spruce occurs on a wide variety of soils, including soils of glacial, lacustrine, marine, and alluvial origins; overlying basic dolomites, limestones and acidic Precambrian and Devonian granites and gneisses; and Silurian sedimentary schists, shales, slates, and conglomerates. The wide range of textures accommodated includes clays, even those that are massive when wet and columnar when dry, sand flats, and coarse soils. Its occurrence on some organic soils is not characteristic, except perhaps on shallow mesic organic soils in Saskatchewan and in association with black spruce on organic soils in central Yukon.

Podzolized, brunisolic, luvisolic, gleysolic, and regosolic (immature) soils are typical of those supporting white spruce throughout the range of the species. Soils supporting white spruce are most commonly Alfisols or Inceptisols. In the podzol region of Wisconsin, white spruce occurs on loam podzols, podzolized gley loams, strongly podzolized clays, gley-podzol clays, stream-bottom soils, and wood peat. Moist sandy loams also support good growth. On sandy podzols, it is usually a minor species. Good development occurs on moist alluvium on the banks of streams and borders of swamps. White spruce makes good growth on well-drained lacustrine soils in Alberta Mixedwoods, on moderately-well-drained clay loams in Saskatchewan,, and on melanized loams and clays (with sparse litter and a dark-coloured organically-enriched mineral horizon) in the Algoma district of Ontario.

White spruce becomes less accommodating of soil with increasing severity of climate. The distribution of white spruce in Labrador seems to depend almost entirely on the character of the soil, and between the southwestern shores of Hudson Bay and the northeastern regions of Saskatchewan, white spruce is confined to very local physiographic features, characterized by well-drained or fertile soils.

On dry, deep, outwash deposits in northern Ontario, both white spruce and aspen grow slowly. But, broadly, white spruce is able to tolerate considerable droughtiness of sites that are fertile, and no fertile site is too moist unless soil moisture is stagnant. Soil fertility holds the key not just to white spruce growth but to the distribution of the species. At least moderate fertility is needed for good growth, but white spruce occurs on many sites where nutrient deficiencies depress its growth more than that of black spruce, red spruce, Norway spruce, and the pines generally. Minimum soil-fertility standards recommended for white spruce sufficient to produce 126 to 157 m3/ha of wood at 40 years are much higher than for pine species commonly planted in the Lake States (Wilde 1966): 3.5% organic matter, 12.0 meq/100 g exchange capacity, 0.12% total N, 44.8 kg/ha available P, 145.7 kg/ha available K, 3.00 meq/100 g exchangeable Ca, and 0.70 meq/100 g exchangeable Mg.

Forest floors under stands dominated by white spruce respond in ways that vary with site conditions, including the disturbance history of the site. Composition, biomass, and mineral soil physical and chemical properties are affected. In Alaska, the accumulation of organic layers (to greater thicknesses in mature stands of spruce than those in hardwood stands on similar sites) leads to decreased soil temperatures, in some cases leading to the development of permafrost. Acidity of the mineral soil sampled at an average depth of 17 cm in 13 white spruce stands on abandoned farmland in Ontario increased by 1.2 pH units over a period of 46 years.

A considerable range of soil pH is tolerated by white spruce. Thrifty stands of white spruce in Manitoba have developed on soils of pH 7.6 at only 10 cm below the surface, and pH 8.4 at 43 cm below the surface; rooting depth in those soils was at least 81 cm. An abundant calcium supply is common to most white spruce locations in New York state. Chlorosis was observed in young white spruce in heavily limed nursery soils at about pH 8.3. Wilde gave 4.7 to 6.5 as the approximate optimum range of pH for white spruce in Wisconsin, but optimum growth seems possible at pH levels up to 7.0 and perhaps higher. Alluvium on the floodplains of northern rivers shows pH levels from 5.0 to 8.2. High-lime ecotypes may exist, and in Canada Forest Section B8 the presence of balsam poplar and white spruce on some of the moulded moraines and clays seems to be correlated with the considerable lime content of these materials, while calcareous soils are favourable sites for northern outliers of white spruce.

Mature stands of white spruce in boreal regions often have well-developed moss layers dominated by feather mosses, e.g., Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi, Ptlium crista-castrensis, and Dicranum, rather than Sphagnum. The thickness of the moss–organic layer commonly exceeds 25 cm in the far north and may approach twice that figure. The mosses compete for nutrients and have a major influence on soil temperatures in the rooting zone. Permafrost development in parts of Alaska, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories is facilitated by the insulative organic layer (Viereck 1970a, b, Gill 1975, Van Cleve and Yarie 1986).

Cold hardiness

White spruce is extremely hardy to low temperatures, provided the plant is in a state of winter dormancy. Throughout the greater part of its range, white spruce routinely survives and is undamaged by winter temperatures of −50 C, and even lower temperatures occur in parts of the range. Boreal Picea are among the few extremely hardy conifers in which the bud primordia are able to survive temperatures down to -70 C.

Especially important in determining the response of white spruce to low temperatures is the physiological state of the various tissues, notably the degree of "hardening" or dormancy. A natural progression of hardening and dehardening occurs in concert with the seasons. While different tissues vary in ability to tolerate exposure to stressful temperatures, white spruce, as with woody plants in general, has necessarily developed sufficient winter hardiness in its various tissues to enable them to survive the minimum temperatures experienced in the distribution range.

White spruce is subject to severe damage from spring frosts. Newly flushed shoots of white spruce are very sensitive to spring frost. This sensitivity is a major constraint affecting young trees planted without overstorey nurses in boreal climates.

Forest succession

Forest succession in its traditional sense implies two important features that resist direct examination. First, classical definitions generally connote directional changes in species composition and community structure through time, yet the time frame needed for documentation of change far exceeds an average human lifespan. The second feature that defies quantitative description is the end point or climax.

Floodplain deposits in the Northwest Territory, Canada, are important in relation to the development of productive forest types with a component of white spruce. The most recently exposed surfaces are occupied by sandbar vegetation or riparian shrub willows and Alnus incana. With increasing elevation, the shrubs give way successively to balsam poplar and white spruce forest. In contrast, older floodplains, with predominantly brown wooded soils, typically carry white spruce–trembling aspen mixedwood forest.

Interrelationships among nutrient cycling, regeneration, and subsequent forest development on floodplains in interior Alaska were addressed by Van Cleve et al., who pointed out that the various stages in primary succession reflect physical, chemical, and biological controls of ecosystem structure and function. Thus, each successional stage has a species combination in harmony with site quality. Short-circuiting succession by planting a late successional species such as white spruce on an early successional surface may result in markedly reduced growth rates because of nitrogen insufficiency. Without application of substantial amounts of fertilizer, use would have to be made of early successional alder and its site-ameliorating additions of nitrogen.

Neiland and Viereck noted that “the slow establishment and growth of spruce under birch stands [in Alaska] may be partially due to effects of shading and general competition for water and nutrients, but may also be more directly related to the birch itself. Heikinheimo found that birch ash inhibited white spruce seedlings, and Gregory found that birch litter has a smothering effect on spruce seedlings.".

On dry upland sites, especially south-facing slopes, the mature vegetation is white spruce, white birch, trembling aspen, or a combination of these species. Succession follows in one of two general patterns. In most cases, aspen and birch develop as a successional stage after fire before reaching the spruce stage. But, occasionally, with optimal site conditions and a source of seed, white spruce will invade with the hardwoods or within a few years thereafter, thereby producing even-aged white spruce stands without an intervening hardwood stage.

Associated forest cover

The White Spruce Cover Type may include other species in small numbers. In Alaska, associates include paper birch, trembling aspen, balsam poplar, and black spruce; in western Canada, additional associates are subalpine fir, balsam fir, Douglas-fir, jack pine, and lodgepole pine. Seral species giving way to white spruce include paper birch, aspen, balsam poplar, jack pine, and lodgepole pine. On certain river bottom sites, however, black spruce may replace white spruce. Earlier successional stages leading to the white spruce climax are the white spruce–paper birch, white spruce–aspen, balsam poplar, jack pine, and lodgepole pine types. The type shows little variation. The forest is generally closed and the trees well formed, other than those close to the timberline. Lesser vegetation in mature stands is dominated by mosses. Vascular plants are typically few, but shrubs and herbs that occur “with a degree of regularity” include: alder, willows, mountain cranberry, red-fruit bearberry, black crowberry, prickly rose, currant, buffaloberry, blueberry species, bunchberry, twinflower, tall lungwort, northern comandra, horsetail, bluejoint grass, sedge species, as well as ground-dwelling mosses and lichens. Several white spruce communities have been identified in interior Alaska: white spruce/feathermoss; white spruce/dwarf birch/feathermoss; white spruce/dwarf birch/sphagnum; white spruce/avens/moss; and white spruce/alder/bluejoint.

Of the Eastern Forest Cover Types recognized by the Society of American Foresters, only one, White Spruce, names that species in its title. The eastern White Spruce Cover Type, as defined, encompasses white spruce both in pure stands, and in mixed stands "in which white spruce is the major [undefined] component."

In most of its range, white spruce occurs more typically in association with trees of other species than in pure stands.

White spruce is an associated species in the following Eastern Forest cover types, by the Society of American Foresters; in the Boreal Forest Region: (1) jack pine, (5) balsam fir, (12) black spruce, (16) aspen, (18) paper birch, and (38) tamarack; in the Northern Forest Region: (15) red pine, (21) eastern white pine, (24) hemlock-yellow birch, (25) sugar maple-beech-yellow birch, (27) sugar maple, (30) red spruce-yellow birch, (32) red spruce, (33) red spruce-balsam fir, (37) northern white-cedar, and (39) black ash-American elm-red maple.

Predators

Outbreaks of spruce beetles have destroyed over 2300000 acre of forests in Alaska.

Although sometimes described, e.g., by Switzer (1960), as relatively resistant to attack by insects and disease, white spruce is far from immune to depredation. Important insect pests of white spruce include the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana), the yellow-headed spruce sawfly (Pikonema alaskensis), the European spruce sawfly (Gilpinia hercyniae), the spruce bud moth (Zeiraphera canadensis), and spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis). As well, other budworms, sawflies, and bark beetles, gall formers, bud midges, leaf miners, aphids, leaf eaters, leaf rollers, loopers, mites, scales, weevils, borers, pitch moths, and spittlebugs cause varying degrees of damage to white spruce.

A number of sawflies feed on spruce trees. Among them European spruce sawfly, yellow-headed spruce sawfly, green-headed spruce sawfly and the spruce webspinning sawfly.

More than a dozen kinds of looper feed on the spruces, fir, and hemlock in eastern Canada. The full-grown larvae of the larvae vary in length from 15 mm to 35 mm. Some feed briefly in the fall and complete their feeding in the spring; others feed mainly in the summer; still others feed mainly in the late summer and fall.

The fall and spring feeding group includes the dash-lined looper (Protoboarmia porcelaria indicataria), the diamond-backed looper (Hypagyrtis piniata), the fringed looper (Campaea perlata), and the false loopers (Syngrapha species). The summer feeding group includes the false hemlock looper (Nepytia canosaria Walker), occasionally occurring in large numbers and usually in conjunction with the hemlock looper (Lambdina fiscellaria), the Eupithecia species, the yellowlined conifer looper (Cladara limitaria), and the saddleback looper (Ectropis crepuscularia).

The late summer and fall group includes the common spruce-fir looper (Semiothisa signaria dispuncta) and the similar hemlock angle (moth) Macaria fissinotata on hemlock, the small spruce loopers Eupithecia species, the gray spruce looper Caripeta divisata, occasionally abundant, the black-dashed hydriomena moth (Hydriomena divisaria), and the whitelined looper (Eufidonia notataria).

Cultivars

Numerous cultivars of various sizes, colours and shapes have been selected for use in parks and gardens. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
 * Picea glauca ‘Echiniformis’
 * Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Alberta Globe’
 * Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’

'Conica' is a dwarf conifer with very slender leaves, like those normally found only on one-year-old seedlings, and very slow growth, typically only 2 - 10 cm per year. Older specimens commonly 'revert', developing normal adult foliage and starting to grow much faster; this 'reverted' growth must be pruned if the plant is to be kept dwarf.

Uses

The wood of white spruce is of a lower quality than that of Engelmann spruce, but is stronger. It was used to make shelters and as firewood by Native Americans and European settlers in Alaska, where lodgepole pine does not grow. The wood is of major economic importance in Canada, being harvested for paper and construction. It is also used as a Christmas tree.

The wood is also exported to Japan where, known as "shin-kaya", it is used to make go boards as a substitute for the rare kaya wood.

Black Hills spruce (Picea glauca var. densata) is used for bonsai.

White spruce is the provincial tree of Manitoba and the state tree of South Dakota.

The new growth or tips of white spruce is used in beer making, gin production, flavouring pop, candy making or in pickles and preserves.

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

title: Picea glauca


text:
Talk:Ancient Greek philosophy

Sophism or sophistry?
"Sophism" seems to be ill defined. Soophistries ans sophisms are species of clever wordplay. I don't think sophistry counts as philosophy. Sophistry certainly isn't philosophy. They deserve the proper attention but this is not the kind of attention they deserve. 109.245.32.68 (talk) 18:35, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

The section called Sophism should be removed. Sophistry is obviously not philosphy. And neither are the sophists actual philosophers. They were ancient charlatans.

The article is badly written. It's editors dont know the difference between sophistry and philosophy or pretend that they do not care either way. They seem to make the mistake of confusing clever and cunning men for the wise and truly admirable ones. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.245.32.68 (talk) 18:47, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

Ддд
Джщдщдддддддддддддддддддддддщдддщддддщдддщддд 89.113.141.35 (talk) 23:29, 21 October 2022 (UTC)

Update notice
I don't believe this article needs to be updated, as its reliance on 19th century sources is legitimate, as its subject is ancient Greek philosophy. Given that all the information on this would already have come out, the only reason I could think it would need to be updated is if there were a corrected mistranslation of ancient Greek writing or something new discovered, which are unlikely, so I do NOT think this has to be or should be updated. 135.134.137.88 (talk) 03:27, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ancient Greek philosophy


text:
Jim Kelly (martial artist)

James Milton Kelly (May 5, 1946 – June 29, 2013) was an American athlete, martial artist, and actor. After winning several karate championships, Kelly rose to fame in the early 1970s appearing in various action films within the martial arts and blaxploitation genres. Kelly played opposite Bruce Lee in 1973's Enter the Dragon, and had lead roles in 1974's Black Belt Jones as the title character and Three the Hard Way as Mister Keyes.

Early life and athletic career
Kelly's father ran a locker-rental service for Navy personnel. Jim began his athletic career at Bourbon County High School in Paris, Kentucky, competing in basketball, football, and track and field. He attended the University of Louisville on a football scholarship, but left during his freshman year after a coach referred to a black teammate with a racial slur. Instead he began to study Shorin-ryu karate.

Kelly began his martial arts career under the tutelage of Sin Kwang The' (Shaolin-Do) in Lexington, Kentucky. He trained in Okinawan karate under the direction of Parker Shelton, Nate Patton, and Gordon Doversola. During the early 1970s, Kelly became one of the most decorated world karate champions in the sport. In 1971, he won four prestigious championships that same year, most notably, the World Middleweight Karate title at the 1971 Long Beach International Karate Championships. Kelly opened his own dojo, which was frequented by numerous Hollywood celebrities and which ultimately landed him in the movies.

In addition to his martial arts and film careers, Kelly also became a professional tennis player. He played amateur tennis in the 1970s at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. In 1975, he joined the USTA Senior Men's Circuit. He ultimately reached the No. 2 ranking in senior men's doubles in the state of California and the top ten in the state in senior men's singles. Later in life, he became the owner and director of a tennis club in the San Diego area.

Acting career
Kelly was the first black martial arts film star. His first film role was a martial arts instructor in the thriller feature film Melinda (1972). He got it after being asked by the film's writer, to whom he was introduced by one of his karate students, to teach martial arts to its star, Calvin Lockhart. Kelly then co-starred alongside Bruce Lee in the blockbuster, Enter the Dragon (1973). He played Williams, a martial artist invited to a tournament run by crime lord and renegade Shaolin monk Han. The role was originally intended for actor Rockne Tarkington, who unexpectedly dropped out days before shooting in Hong Kong. Producer Fred Weintraub had heard about Kelly's karate studio in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, went there to see him, and was immediately impressed. That film gave him his most memorable lines:

"Han (Shih Kien): We are all ready to win, just as we are born knowing only life. It is defeat that you must learn to prepare for. Williams (Kelly): I don't waste my time with it. When it comes, I won't even notice. Han: Oh? How so? Williams: I'll be too busy looking good."

This appearance also earned Kelly a three-film contract with Warner Brothers and led to starring roles in a string of martial arts-themed blaxploitation films. The first was Black Belt Jones (1974), in which he plays a local hero who fights the Mafia and a drug dealer threatening his friend's dojo. This and most of his other roles played up the novelty of an African-American martial arts master. His other two Warner Brothers films were Golden Needles (1974), with Joe Don Baker and Elizabeth Ashley, and Hot Potato (1976), in which he reprises his role as Black Belt Jones and rescues a diplomat's daughter from the jungles of Thailand. He also made three films with black action heroes Jim Brown and Fred Williamson: Three the Hard Way (1974), in which he plays a martial artist who helps Brown and Williamson stop a black genocide plot, Take a Hard Ride (1975), a Spaghetti Western in which he plays a mute Indian scout skilled in martial arts, and One Down, Two to Go (1982), in which he plays a co-owner of an international martial arts dojo. In the late 1970s, he also starred in the low-budget films Black Samurai (1977), Death Dimension (1978), and Tattoo Connection (1978).

After his appearance in One Down, Two to Go, Kelly rarely appeared in movies. He did appear in two episodes of the TV series, Highway to Heaven, in 1985 and 1986. A deleted scene from the film Undercover Brother (2002), included on the DVD extra features, shows him in a cameo appearance with Eddie Griffin. In his last film, Kelly made a cameo appearance as Cleavon Washington in Afro Ninja (2009), produced, directed by, and starring veteran stuntman Mark Hicks. In a 2010 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kelly explained his absence from film:

"I never left the movie business. It’s just that after a certain point, I didn’t get the type of projects that I wanted to do. I still get at least three scripts per year, but most of them don’t put forth a positive image. There’s nothing I really want to do, so I don’t do it. If it happens, it happens, but if not, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished."

Film and television director and producer Reginald Hudlin described Kelly's enduring identity: “The iconography that Jim Kelly established as the cool martial artist with the giant ‘fro resonates to this day. If within only a few films you can create an image that lasts over 30 years, you must have done something really right. And he did.”

Personal life and death
Kelly was married twice and had one child. From 1967 to 1968, Kelly was married to his college sweetheart Marilyn Dishman. His second marriage was from 1980 until his death in 2013, to Marcia Bentley. From 1973 to 1976, Kelly dated film actress Rosalind Miles. On June 29, 2013, Kelly died of cancer at his home in San Diego, California. He was 67 years old.

Film

 * Melinda (1972) – Charles Atkins
 * Enter the Dragon (1973) – Williams
 * Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon (1973) – Self
 * Bruce Lee, the Man and the Legend (1973) – Self
 * Black Belt Jones (1974) – Black Belt Jones
 * Three the Hard Way (1974) – Mister Keyes
 * Golden Needles (1974) – Jeff
 * Take a Hard Ride (1975) – Kashtok
 * Hot Potato (1976) – Jones
 * Black Samurai (1977) – Robert Sand
 * Death Dimension (1978) – Lt. Detective J. Ash
 * E yu tou hei sha xing (a.k.a. The Tattoo Connection, Black Belt Jones 2) (1978) – Lucas
 * Mr. No Legs (a.k.a. The Amazing Mr. No Legs) (1978)
 * The Amazing Mr. No Legs (a.k.a. Mr. No Legs) (1979)
 * One Down, Two to Go (1982) – Chuck
 * Bruce Lee, the Legend (1984) – Self
 * The Last Match (a.k.a. L'ultima meta) (1990)
 * The Silent Force (1991)
 * Necessary Roughness (1991)
 * Powerplay (1992)
 * Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee (1993) – Self
 * Stranglehold (1994) – Executive #4
 * Ultimatum (1994) – Executive
 * Far East (1994) – Self
 * Martial Arts Master: The Life of Bruce Lee (1994) – Self
 * Bruce Lee: The Immortal Dragon (1994) – Self
 * Top Fighter (1995) – Self
 * Afros, Macks & Zodiacs (1995)
 * The Way of the Little Dragon (1997) – Self
 * Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (1998) – Self
 * Bruce Lee: The Intercepting Fist (1999) – Self
 * A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) – Self
 * Bruce Lee and Kung Fu Mania (2001) – Self
 * The Unbeatable Bruce Lee (2001) – Self
 * BaadAsssss Cinema (2002) – Self
 * Undercover Brother (2002) – Self
 * Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted (2004) – Self
 * Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006) – Self
 * Afro Ninja (2009) – Cleavon Washington
 * Adventure Scouts Honor (2010) – Mental patient
 * Kashtok Speaks (2011) – Self
 * I Am Bruce Lee (2012) – Self
 * Birth of the Living Dead (2013) – Self(archive footage)
 * They Love (2014) – Self(archive footage)
 * Where I Belong (2017) – Self(archive footage)
 * Karmic Justice (2019) – Self(archive footage)
 * Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson (2019) – Self(archive footage)
 * Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019) – Self(archive footage)

Television

 * Highway to Heaven (1985–1986) – Reporter, station attendant (2 episodes)

title: Jim Kelly (martial artist)


text: User talk:66.191.182.151

title: User talk:66.191.182.151


text:
Peschiera

Peschiera may refer to:

 * Peschiera, a genus of plants considered to be a synonym of Tabernaemontana
 * Peschiera Borromeo, in the province of Milan, Italy
 * Peschiera del Garda, in the province of Verona, Italy
 * Peschiera del Garda railway station

title: Peschiera


text:
Talk:Ekron

Untitled
In (2 Kings 1): "When Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which [was] in Samaria, and became ill, he sent messengers to inquire of the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness." Can anyone familiar with the Hebrew tell us whether the deity of Ekron is given a gender in the Hebrew text that is rendered "god"? --Wetman 00:12, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

In the Hebrew version of the bible the name of the god is Baal-Zebub, which may be a variant of the known Canaanite god Baal Zabbul. It is refered in the text as a male god. Marom 16:57, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I removed the inaccurate reference to Akron, Ohio. Mormonchess 17:37, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Ekron, Kentucky
How did the town of Ekron, Kentucky get its name? (anonymous)
 * ...and the city of Akron, Ohio, deleted from the article? --Wetman 01:36, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

 * I added a disambig page to deal with cities named after, or similar to Ekron Brando130 22:16, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

On Eras
I have not reverted the wholesale changing of BC to BCE on the article, but I have removed notices on the article and talk page that seem to be made to ward off other editors from doing so. For one thing, the BC/BCE issue is not yet fully resolved, but the original creation of this article used both conventions (compare 712 BCE / 603BC) and the article did not have a totally consistent convention for almost a year  (at which time it went to BC, where it stayed until changed, almost two and a half years later)

Additionally, there is no consensus that the original author's convention must or should be used, most editors in fact dont seem to support this. (See for example ) Brando130 22:24, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Misinformed or disingenuous? When I created this page, 27 November 2003, I employed the BCE convention perfectly consistently throughout, as any educatecd person would have done. "BC/AD" is perfectly okay in the context of Christian subjects; it is not used in archaeology. There is in fact a Wikipedia consensus to use whatever convention has been established, on a page-by-page. I am returning the commented-out notice to the top of the page: removing it is a gross discourtesy. --Wetman 00:45, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

 * You really shouldn't phrase it like that ("perfectly consistent.. as any educated person would have done..") in light of the fact that the link you provide clearly uses both conventions (again, compare 712 BCE with 603 BC on that link) - That may be a typo, but it is not clearly established Wikipedia policy that BC be confined to Christian topics, and I have already provided a link demonstrating one example that the original author's convention is not accepted as the standard in all cases. The article's overall 'established' convention is not necessarily the unilateral convention of the original author, and btw, the gross discourtesy, in my opinion, would have been to revert the dates, which I avoided doing. Brando130 18:52, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Also, the wholesale statement that BC is not used in archaeology is false. I can cite archaeological material that uses BC throughout, just with what's sitting right in front of me as an example Price, T. Douglas "Principles of Archaeology" (McGraw-Hill, 2007) Brando130 18:58, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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title: Talk:Ekron


text:
Dick Weber

Richard Anthony Weber (December 23, 1929 – February 13, 2005) was an American professional ten-pin bowler and founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Along with Don Carter, Weber is widely regarded as professional bowling's first superstar. He is one of only eight players in history to accumulate at least 30 career PBA Tour titles, and was also the first player to reach that plateau.

Bowling accomplishments
Weber made his first bowling headlines during the early 1950s, while working as a mailman in his native Indianapolis. In 1955 he moved to Florissant, Missouri to join the bowling team named the Budweisers (after the popular American beer brand). The team established a long-standing 5-man ABC league series record on March 12, 1958, at the National Team Match Games at Floriss Lanes in St. Louis, Missouri by toppling 3,858 pins with 138 strikes. This broke the previous ABC record for a 5-man team of 3,797 set in 1937. Weber himself rolled games of 258, 258 and 259 on the record-setting day for a 775 series. The Budweisers' record wasn't broken until 1994.

In 1958, Weber became a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association, which he subsequently dominated. Weber captured his first PBA title in the second tournament of the inaugural 1959 season, and won three of the PBA's first four tournaments.

He went on to win 10 of the first 23 PBA tournaments, including winning seven titles in the 13-event 1961 PBA season. Only Mark Roth has won more titles in a PBA season with eight victories in 1978, but Roth's feat was accomplished over a 35-event season.

During his career, Weber won titles in 30 PBA Tour events, including four major titles. All of his major titles were earned in the BPAA All-Star, which later became the U.S. Open. Weber won this tournament four times in a five-year span (1962, '63, '65 and '66). He was twice runner-up in the Firestone Tournament of Champions (1965 and 1966). He earned his final PBA Tour title at age 47 in the 1977 King Louie Open. He went on to capture six PBA Senior Tour events, amassing a total of 36 PBA titles in both categories.

He was PBA Player of the Year in 1965, and earned BPAA National Bowler of the Year honors three times (in 1961, 1963 and 1965). He was named an All-American ten times, and in 1999 was ranked #2 bowler of the 20th Century by Bowlers Journal. In 2002 Weber also became the first player to win at least one PBA title in six decades (counting PBA Senior events).

Despite already being 29 years old when the first PBA tournament took place in 1959, Weber managed to cash over $930,000 in career PBA earnings. He also enjoyed a decades-long sponsorship agreement with AMF bowling.

League bowling in the United States had its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s, partly due to the influence of pros like Weber and Don Carter. Several PBA pros like Johnny Petraglia claimed to be inspired by Dick Weber: "The main reason I went on Tour was Dick Weber. When I was 14, I saw him do an exhibition in Madison Square Garden. When I left I remember saying to myself: 'I know what I want to do now; I want to be like Dick Weber.'"

Both Weber and his son Pete are members of the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame and the PBA Hall of Fame. When Pete won his first PBA title in 1982, it marked the first time in history that a father and son had both won PBA Tour titles. The feat has since been matched by Don and Jimmy Johnson, Don and Eugene McCune, Guppy and Kyle Troup, and Eugene and Kevin McCune.

In 1999, Dick Weber was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The PBA ranked him 3rd on its 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years." Only all-time titles leaders Earl Anthony and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. ranked higher.

Personal
Weber was also known as a tireless ambassador of his sport, and rarely passed up an opportunity to promote it. One promotion had him bowling the highest (altitude) game ever in "Operation AstroBowl," which took place on a Boeing 707 on January 7, 1964. This was a joint campaign for American Airlines' Cargo Service. The aircraft used was an all-cargo Boeing 707 with a single AMF lane installed in the main cargo hold. The flight was from New York to Dallas. Weber also appeared several times on Late Show with David Letterman.

On February 13, 2005, Richard Anthony Weber died in Florissant, Missouri, at age 75. On the day of his death, Weber had just returned from a United States Bowling Congress (USBC) meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He showed no prior sign of ill-health but experienced serious breathing problems that evening and paramedics were unable to revive him. The underlying cause of death was not known, but was ultimately due to respiratory failure. Dick Weber was survived by his wife Juanita, one daughter, and three sons including the aforementioned Pete, also a professional bowler, and Richard "John" Weber Jr., who became a PBA employee and served in various positions for the PBA Regional Tour, PBA50 Tour and PBA Tour. On April 27, 2024, John became the third member of the Weber family to be inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame, being honored for Meritorious Service.

Juanita Weber, also an avid bowler who once won a state championship, died on April 13, 2020, at the age of 89.

Media presence and tributes
Weber also produced his own training video called Let's Bowl With Dick Weber. Its blurb reads: "Voted 'one of the best bowlers that ever lived,' Weber has held the PBA presidency and 26 PBA titles in a career that spans four decades. Weber covers all the basics: bowling accessories, proper ball weight and fit, stance, follow through, delivery and release. He even gives tips for aiming and addresses some of the common faults of new bowlers. This unique, in-depth video brings the elements of high-precision sport into your living room so you can practice these tips at the alley and begin building your bowling skills."

The Weber Cup, named after Dick, is a Ryder Cup-style event that pits European and American ten-pin bowlers against one another. It is held annually in England. From 2008 to 2010, the PBA had a tour stop named the Dick Weber Open. In 2011, the PBA named its all-new playoff series the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs.

On April 17, 2006, the inaugural Dick Weber Tribute was held in St. Louis. Organized by Bill McCorkle, the event attracted many of bowling's top luminaries. The event was attended by over 20 members of the Weber family, representing four generations, as well as over 50 professional bowlers, including champions and members of the Hall of Fame. The highlight of the evening came when Pete Weber delivered a moving tribute. Many in the audience had never seen this side of him before.

A documentary on the life and fame of Dick Weber was released on March 23, 2007, by Live Technologies, Inc. and Bill McCorkle. It consists of interviews with many current and former professional bowlers, family, and sportscasters as well as footage covering Weber's 60-year history as a professional athlete.

Weber's legacy also lives on through the Bowling Proprietors Association of America (BPAA), which began giving out an annual BPAA Dick Weber Bowling Ambassador award in 2006 (won that year by Dick Ritger). The most recent award winner was Kyle Troup in 2022.

title: Dick Weber


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Marc Helwani

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was DELETE. jni 08:38, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Marc Helwani
Are millionaires today a dime a dozen, or is this person noteworthy? I could not verifiably corroborate any of the claims within this article. Is this a case of vanity, a hoax, or otherwise? A google search for this person results in a single match. One hit. GRider\talk 00:15, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.
 * Delete. Article almost reads like a friend made it as a joke or something.  If he were the youngest millionaire, I might think about it.  But third?  And totally unverifiable?  Sorry, no. – Beginning 02:22, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable - 2 Google hits, possible vanity. Megan1967 05:34, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, "Who Cares!?!?" —Korath (Talk) 08:03, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)


text:
User:Expatkiwi

About me
Expatkiwi: Damon Seath (a psuedonym). Former New Zealander now living in California, USA.

I'm married, with one son. My interests are: Vexillology, Military History, Graphic Design, Political Science, and Australian Rules Football. I'm the author of 'An Unexpected Visitor' (Copyright 2005 Moon Maiden Publishing), 'Revenge of the Normal Fringe' (Copyright 2006 Moon Maiden Publishing), and 'Celebrations, Transformations, and Assassinations' (Copyright 2006 Moon Maiden Publishing).

I tend to be centralist in my political leanings (Social Democratic), though I have caused a few raised eyebrows with my support of Somaliland, Taiwan, and Northern Cyprus. I think very highly of both my birth nation and adopted nation, and regard the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and Rhodesia's UDI as the most profound documents ever written by Mankind. Freedom is an inalienable right.

May God Bless, Protect and Defend the United States Of America, Her Majesty's Realm of New Zealand, the Republic of Somaliland, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

My favorite quotes

 * "Blessed Saint Leibowitz, Keep 'em dreamin' down there". Randy Claggett

 * "All the soul of man is resolution, which in valiant men falters never, until their last breath". Ian Douglas Smith (1965)

 * "If we are marked to die we are enow to do our country loss, and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor". William Shakespeare (Henry V)

 * "Eat plutonium death, you disgusting alien weirdoes!". D.R. and Quinch

 * "Dit is ons Erns". Inscription on the Afrikaanse Taalmonument, Paarl, South Africa.

Wikipedia Awards
The Barnstar of Diligence was given to me by Inanna for my overall contributions to WIKIPEDIA. Awarded on January 31, 2006. The Barnstar of National Merit was given to me by Son of the Tundra for my work on the TRNC pages. Awarded October 1, 2005.

title: User:Expatkiwi


text:
Dan Crippen

Dan Crippen (born March 18, 1952, in Canistota, South Dakota) was the executive director of the National Governors Association from 2011 to 2015. He now serves as member of the Board of Trustees to the Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. and a member of the advisory board of the Peterson Center on Healthcare. He is a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and assistant to the president for Ronald Reagan. Crippen served on NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. He graduated from the University of South Dakota (B.S. 1974) and Ohio State University (M.A. 1976; Ph.D. 1981).

Reagan years
From 1981-1985 Crippen served as chief counsel and economic policy advisor for Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker. When Baker became President Reagan's Chief of Staff in 1987, Crippen followed Baker to the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1987-1988 and Domestic Policy Advisor and Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1988-1989. Republicans hoped that Crippen would be a strong proponent of Reagan's appropriations bills and that he could mend relations with Congress. After Reagan left office in 1989, Crippen turned to the private sector, as a principal of Washington Counsel (1996-1999), a law and lobbying firm; Merrill Lynch as an executive director; and The Duberstein Group, a public relations consulting firm, as founder and vice president.

Congressional Budget Office
He was Director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1999-02-01 to 2003. Republican leaders selected Crippen as a somewhat moderate candidate, drawing the ire of members of both parties, who sought a more ideological director. A 2003 article in The Wall Street Journal suggested that he may have lost his chance at reappointment for failing to support dynamic scoring, a practice inspired by supply-side economics.

NASA and present day
On July 28, 2004 NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe selected him to serve on NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP).

He was also a member of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group, which helped set policies to return the Space Shuttle to flight after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

In February 2005, he was briefly mentioned as a possible NASA Administrator.

Crippen still works in the private sector, largely focusing on healthcare issues, and does some public speaking. In a 2005 editorial in The Washington Post, Crippen called for increased use of technology to reduce healthcare costs, altering the service structure by delegating more services to nurses and other hospital staff, and studying the subset of the Medicare population which uses the majority of the resources. Crippen serves on the board of directors of Eclipsys.

In early 2011, Crippen was named executive director of the National Governors Association. He served in that position until 2015. He also served on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

In 2012 Crippen was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

title: Dan Crippen


text:
Kazam

Kazam was a UK based smartphone brand established in 2013 by former HTC employees. The brand gathered publicity by offering free screen replacements for their products.

It was a subsidiary of Meridian Capital Partners, which also owned phone brand Wileyfox. Documents submitted to Companies House show that Kazam went into administration in April 2017 and into liquidation in April 2018.

title: Kazam


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User talk:ParkingStones

One informal way of avoiding disruption when writing a new article that isn't quick to write is to do it offline, and then create-and-save the whole thing in one go. To gain the benefits of being able to try and correct wiki markup while doing so, though, many people begin articles in their user-space subpages before copy-pasting them whole into new articles. For instance, you could begin the article at User:ParkingStones/Micro radio and edit until satisfied, and then copy the code into the article's page.

If it's already started, though, you might just have to spend some time hashing out on the Talk page of the article exactly what the article should be about. Writing your version of the article as above and then pointing people to it from the Talk page, with appropriate explanation of where you're going with it, might be an option.

To be fair to the other user who disagreed with you, from what little I know about what I think you mean by "micro radio", I would lump it together with Pirate radio too, though I know it's not a phenomenon confined to the USA like that editor seems to believe. My and his lack of knowledge on the subject doesn't mean you can't show us the error of our preconceptions by writing an article that stands on its merits, though. However, do be prepared for the possibility that, even having written a brilliant and detailed article on micro radio, the WP community may arrive at consensus to move, merge, mangle, delete, etc. it. It's the nature of the beast, I'm afraid, but it's also the source of the beast's strength. The best defense against the most upheaving possibilities is to make sure the article isn't redundant and stands on its own merits as "encyclopedic."

(No, I'm not "beginning" on LJ—I just noticed the exchange on my Friends list and thought to drop a line here. :-) Cheers! — Saxifrage | ☎ 00:19, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)

File:Olbermann First Commentary.PNG listed for deletion
An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, File:Olbermann First Commentary.PNG, has been listed at Files for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Damiens .rf 16:25, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:ParkingStones


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Great Stork Derby

The Great Stork Derby was a contest held from 1926 to 1936. Female residents of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, competed to produce the most babies in order to qualify for an unusual bequest in a will.

Background
The race was the product of a scheme by Charles Vance Millar (1853–1926), a Toronto lawyer, financier, and practical joker, who bequeathed the residue of his significant estate to the woman in Toronto who could produce the most children in the decade following his death.

It is one of many unusual bequests in his will, along with giving a vacation home in Jamaica to a group of three men who detested each other under the condition that they live in the estate together indefinitely, brewery stocks to a group of prominent teetotal Protestant ministers if they participated in its operations and collected its dividends, and jockey club stocks to a group of anti-horse-racing advocates.

Litigation over the validity of the contest was resolved when the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the clause's validity. The Court further held the clause did not encompass children born out of wedlock, or stillborn.

Competition
Eleven families competed in the "baby race." Seven of them were disqualified, but eventually Judge William Edward Middleton ruled in favour of four mothers (Annie Katherine Smith, Kathleen Ellen Nagle, Lucy Alice Timleck and Isabel Mary Maclean) who each received $110,000 for their nine children ($ in  dollars). Three of the four had to pay back relief money given to them by the City of Toronto government. Two of the disqualified candidates, Lillian Kenny and Pauline Mae Clarke, each received $12,500 out of court in exchange for abandoning pending appeals.

In popular culture
The Canadian 2002 TV movie The Stork Derby, depicted the stories of Lillian Kenny, Pauline Mae Clarke and Grace Bagnato and starred Megan Follows. The film was based upon Elizabeth Wilton's book Bearing The Burden: The Great Toronto Stork Derby 1926–1938.

In February 2019, the radio program This American Life covered the story in some detail.

In 2016, Toronto's Muddy York Brewing Company produced a Stork Derby Stout as a nod to the unusual event.

The 2023 novel Prize Women by Caroline Lea is a fictionalized account of the Stork Derby, and includes several real-life figures as characters.

title: Great Stork Derby


text: User talk:80.42.191.83

title: User talk:80.42.191.83


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Sunlounger

A sunlounger (British "sun lounger") is a chair-like device, typically placed in a patio, garden, or swimming pool deck, or used as beach-side outdoor furniture.

They are often constructed from wood, formed plastic, or metal and indoor fabrics. They have designed adjustable backs for people to lie down, or sit up on, (recline) while relaxing. Somewhat like a deckchair and bed-like in nature, the rear surface can be up to allow the user to sit up and read, or it can be reclined to a flat surface to allow sleeping in the horizontal position (supine and prone position).

Use
They are popular and widespread across tourist resorts in Europe and also by swimming pools.

title: Sunlounger


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User:Clarkefreak

About Me
My namesake

Bragging
I am the official winner of the Mind Benders Round 3.

My Shortcuts
Wikipedia To-Do List

title: User:Clarkefreak