text: User talk:160.36.97.60

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

title: User talk:160.36.97.60


text:
Barbara Samson

Barbara Samson (born February 7, 1975) is a French poet who was infected with HIV at the age of seventeen. Her story was made into the French television film Being Seventeen.

Samson sought treatment for an eating disorder at the age of seventeen. While staying in a French health clinic, she fell in love with another patient who wrote love poems for her. She later discovered that the poems were translations of Jim Morrison's lyrics of The Doors' rock songs. Her lover had also concealed his HIV-positive status, which Samson in turn contracted. She told nobody about her illness, because she was so ashamed. Barbara met Eric and in 1994 they opened together the "sidaction", a programme which was on almost every French television channel. She also toured numerous schools to speak about AIDS.

Samson wrote an autobiography, On n'est pas sérieux quand on a dix-sept ans ("Nobody Is Serious When They're Seventeen"). The book became a bestseller in France and was translated into eight languages.

, Barbara Samson lives and works in France. She visited Ohio University in the spring of 2003 to speak about living with HIV.

title: Barbara Samson


text:
Nonius Philippus

Nonius Philippus was a governor of Britannia Inferior, a province of Roman Britain by AD 242. Little else is known of him as he is mentioned only on a dedication at Old Carlisle.

title: Nonius Philippus


text: User talk:84.13.3.57

title: User talk:84.13.3.57


text:
Talk:Xenu/Archive 1

Arbitrary section header
I'm a great fan of "Operation Clambake", personally, but I'm unsure whether in its current form this article is sufficient. Perhaps some rewriting is in order? -- April

Many years ago I read an article on Scientology in Readers' Digest. It said Scientological doctrine included something called "elite thetans". Are these the same as what you call body thetans? If not, what is the difference? n8chz

 * Body thetans are not "elite thetans." Having never read the article in question, I would assume the "elite thetan" refers to a Cleared Theta Clear--a thetan operating at Tone 40. A body thetan is generally only a small "piece" of another thetan attached to the body (to keep the thetan in line, encourage abberations, pain, etc.). It is important to note than despite all the attention critics give to Body Thetans, they are really not all that important in the course of things: they can only encourage problems, never cause them. Obviously the secrecy with which the Church masks BTs makes it seem as though they were a big deal.

I'm afraid that this article is far too partisan (as much as I agree with it...). We probably want something a little more neutral than an anti-Scientology tract. --Stephen Gilbert

Leaflet now moved out into its own article.

 * With the leaflet moved to another page, I don't see how this article can still be called biased?--branko

Added link to Hubbards own writings about Xenu, that should make it balanced, no? --AC

Xemu/Xenu
Isn't there a tape transcript where Hubbard said "name of Xenu, could be Xemu" or the other way around? That should be referenced - David Gerard 20:45, Mar 16, 2004 (UTC)

 * In the very early materials, his name was Xenn. Basically it comes down to the fact that the name is not English (or any other Earth language), so transcription into Roman characters is always going to be a problem.

 * Found and inserted a sort of reference. I could venture back onto alt.religion.scientology if I were feeling up to it ... - David Gerard 23:22, May 18, 2004 (UTC)

Text/summaries of OT III
Wouldn't it be a little dangerous for the wp to put the text/summary of the story up here? The Church of Scientology are known to be rather litigious... Perhaps I'm being paranoid. I'd like to be just paranoid. In any case, I don't think we shouldn't have the text up, but is there a way of setting it up so we would be protected? Dysprosia 05:11, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

 * There is no insurance against a lawsuit. The only insurance would be not to mention them at all.
 * The text here is derived from the public domain Xenu leaflet by Roland Rashleigh-Berry, which they have conspicuously failed to sue for the past seven years. It's my own words as derived from a public domain source which was someone else's own words telling the story - that's as unencumbered as it gets and tells the same story.
 * -David Gerard 07:06, May 19, 2004 (UTC)

 * There is no insurance against a lawsuit. The only insurance would be not to mention them at all.
 * Of course, I mean to say, attribute it in a form as to not appear to come directly from us. Dysprosia 07:10, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

 * I have plenty of personal experience with Scientology's litigous nature, and my name's already in the edit summary ... I synopsised the Xenu leaflet further because the original text for this article was in fact the Xenu leaftlet (check the history), which was fine from a copyright point of view, but wasn't really encyclopaedic in its tone.

 * Feel free to amend the text if you have something better, of course! - David Gerard 08:43, May 19, 2004 (UTC)

Concerns about non-NPOV style
A few things give me concern about bias in this article:

Does the church acknowlege that OTIII is what this article claims it is? Should there maybe be an acknowledgement that this information is insubstantiated?

The "Church of Scientology and Xenu" section uses rather loaded language, along with some snarky jabs at the Church, especially the pnuemonia wisecrack.

Parts of the summary give me concern as well, including "use" of "quotation marks" and especially the DC-8 explanation. Was this similarity noted in the OTIII documents, or is this an observation made by Clambake et al? It seems in there specifically to ridicule the story.

--GregoryWeir 07:17, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC) (biased against Scientology)

 * The CoS has sued people over this as a copyright violation ... thus confirming its content. They have also confirmed the Xenu story explicitly in court (Warren McShane, the case against Arnie Lerma, 1995). This does need proper references. I wrote the summary, and the quotation marks indicate the actual wording used in OT-III; I could italicise to make it clearer. The comparison to DC-8s should be made a quotation too (that was a comparison Hubbard made) - David Gerard 20:32, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I have deleted the snide sentence about pneumonia, italicised the words in quotes to indicate they are in fact quotes, and added more references. How's the current version?

 * I would also be interested to hear from our CoS readers on whether they feel this article violates NPOV, and if so how that could be remedied - David Gerard 21:29, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Looks better to me. --GregoryWeir 01:02, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

NPOVing
I felt there was still a lot of NPOV work to be done on this article. I completely deleted the following paragraph:
 * Critics of Scientology claim that the Xenu story is ultimate proof that Scientology is a scam and a confidence trick. They note that after spending thousands of dollars and investing years of their lives to reach the level of OT III, Scientologists learn that the true origins of human existence are based on a story that appears, to novices, to be badly written science fiction.

This paragraph was just unnecessary. The tale of Xenu speaks for itself; a reader can figure out without being prompted that it is "badly written science fiction". Also, "the Xenu story" sounded snide, so I replaced instances of it with "the tale of Xenu". I moved the picture to the section discussing criticisms; the lead picture should be the official CoS representation of Xenu, not a critic's parody of it. I removed the article from the "fictional aliens" category, as implying that Xenu is fictional is obviously POV. I edited the account of the story to make it sound less silly (... well, as much as reasonably possible anyway). The fiction spoiler warning seemed inappropriate for religious scripture, so I replaced it with a custom warning (which, as a bonus, can be read as dry humor in addition to a genuine warning to Scientologists :). --Redquark 03:43, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I put back that paragraph - that is the critical viewpoint, succinctly expressed, and needs mention. And quite a few people left when they found out what OT III actually was, e.g. Roland Rashleigh-Berry. (I was particularly pleased to find a referenced Church viewpoint for the following para!) I see no reason to delete the cat. I might link to Peter Forde's scientific evaluation of OT III. The new spoiler warning is very good! I moved the pic back up because it needs to be higher up for good article layout; I am unaware of any official CoS depictions of Xenu. Including the first page of OT III as fair use would probably be encyclopaedic (and they've yet to try suing Dave Touretzky), but I think it'd count as really tweaking their noses hard ... I like 'story' better than 'tale' and think either could be taken badly - David Gerard 16:49, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * 16:58, 12 Dec 2004 Fubar Obfusco (Removing category "fictional aliens" again. We wouldn't put "fictional people" on [{Satan]] or Jesus ... :)) - OK, you have a point there - David Gerard 17:05, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Origins of the Xenu story
The origin paragraph I've added mentions Hubbard's prodigious drug consumption of the time. This looks out of place, but (a) every account I've read of OT III's beginnings points this out (b) a lot of casual observers have noted that "Body Thetans" do in fact sound quite a lot like the "crawling insects on the skin" symptom of barbiturate withdrawal ... Anyone want a go at making this para seem more obviously relevant and hooked into the rest? - David Gerard 12:36, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Scientology org storefront picture
Is the picture of the Scientology storefront really directly relevant to this article? We have articles on Church of Scientology as well as Scientology. The picture is not a picture of Xenu, nor is it a picture directly pertaining to Xenu (as is, say, the picture from the OT III manuscript).

We would not put a picture of a cathedral on the article Antichrist, nor would we put a picture of a mosque on Iblis. It seems equally out of place to put a Scientology org on the article about this enemy figure from Scientology. --FOo 04:57, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * This article is relating to a high level teaching of the Church of Scientology, I cannot think of a more appropriate location for this photo. That would be like mentioning Christianity without any of its symbology or "The Devil" without his "Horns/Tail". Since there are no photographs of the being known as Xenu, and since we are trying to give this article relevant images since its FAC nomination I feel this is appropriate.

 * I have neither deleted nor buried the image of the OT III manuscript. However it is a potential liability, the image of the Church is not. Your argument/comparison that this is putting a cathedral with the Antichrist is irrelivant at best. Alkivar 05:24, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Also I would like to point out this hypocracy is a neutral, non debated (in the Scientology article anyway) image being removed for POV, yet an OBVIOUS POV image of a man in an alien costume is allowed to remain. Alkivar 05:39, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * You're absolutely right, that image certainly doesn't belong here either. Mkweise 05:56, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Strongly agree with your removal of this image. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 09:04, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)

 * I put the image there in the first place because the article had no other image. I agree it's entirely superfluous now and better gone - David Gerard 10:44, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Categories
I didn't originally put them on (oops, it was me that put "Fictional aliens" on), but I kept Category:Fictional aliens and Category:Villains for Xenu's status as a fictional character in Revolt in the Stars. It is true that that's not at all what Xenu is famous for ... - David Gerard 10:44, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Urine contains large amounts of urea, an excellent source of nitrogen for plants.

 * Scientology states they [Body Thetans] are the source of most of mankind's problems and can only be freed by auditing them to remove their reactive minds.

That sentence contains a whole bunch of inaccuracies. Firstly, there is a Hubbard quote where he specifically says that standard tech (auditing) is not the only way to clear people, just the only way that can easily be taught to anyone.

Secondly, Scientology doctrine states that the source of most problems in the lives of people who have completed the bridge up to OT III - let's not forget that OT III is just one part of the bridge, which has many other strange tales to tell.

Lastly, the goal of OT III is to "detatch" BTs from the reactive mind of the preclear (subject), not to free the BTs of their own reactive minds.

Mkweise 19:06, 14 Dec 2004

 * Hmmm. I was going by Dave Touretzky's NOTs Scholars Page, which seemed to me to say that you needed to clear the BTs to get them to drop off. Of course, he did point out that this was not standard Dianetic auditing, but New Era Dianetics which is of course totally different.

 * This is like arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a cowpat ... Of course, it's all verbal tech by definition.

 * I'm tempted to ask on a.r.s. If I dare risk being sucked back in again. - David Gerard 22:35, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I've posted a request for help, with cites, to a.r.s - David Gerard 23:17, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * As you doubtlessly are aware, the original OT III course materials as published by Mr. Hubbard can be obtained using a simple google search. I think this article should be based as closely as possible on those, otherwise we're just putting random peoples' words into Hubbard's mouth. Mkweise 19:49, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Of course. But references are good thing, and the text of related Hubbard writings is also important - David Gerard 21:04, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

last edits - important points

 * 1) Not just mental illness, but problems in general.
 * 2) The story isn't really better known as "Incident II". The CoS still advertises it as "The Wall Of Fire" (without saying what it is).
 * 3) Information on Xenu leaked well before the Internet.
 * 4) Information on Xenu is in a lot more Hubbard material than OT III, as detailed in the article (mostly the "Assists" lecture, with allusions in various other written and spoken material).
 * 5) The letter quote about "popping pinks and greys" is from evidence admitted in the case the CoS brought against Gerry Armstrong in 1984; it's not just "from one critic's unauthorized biography", which is a wording that seems to unfairly diminish its veracity. - David Gerard 21:04, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, problems that can be solved by auditing...
 * "Incident II" when referring to the events themselves. "Wall of Fire" in the context of "running the Wall of Fire" = auditing memories of Incident II.
 * OK, but that still doesn't make it public domain (q.v.)
 * The OT III assists were incorporated into the OT III course, but either wording is OK
 * You're saying it's established fact that those were Hubbard's own words? If so, that should be stated.
 * Mkweise 21:28, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * But Scientology can help you with ANY problem! Just ask them! "the public domain" in the sense of being out there and not a secret, rather than the copyright status. I suppose it's ambiguous, but it's the correct phrase, e.g., when a trade secret escapes. The reference (which readers can follow the link to) says where the letter came to public light; I'll see if I can mention it in the paragraph in a non-clunky way. Or better yet, find a more direct reference to or copy of the letter. - David Gerard 21:40, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Rather than inline, I've listed the case name and number in the reference - David Gerard 11:10, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

"Four quadrillion"
"Four quadrillion years ago" divided by the estimated age of the universe (13 billion) equals roughly 307,692. Did this guy really say "quadrillion" or was there a miscommunication somewhere??? - 12.11.183.254

 * He really said "four quadrillion". Search on Google, there are lots of copies of the text of OT III (in the Fishman Affidavit) available - David Gerard 20:04, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Maybe quadrillion should be wikilinked? ie quadrillion - I don't think most people would know this number. 81.5.150.113 01:31, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Spoiler warning
I'm so tempted to put one on this page. Just sayin' --L33tminion | (talk) 03:11, Dec 18, 2004 (UTC)

 * there was one... its since been moved to BJAODN. Alkivar 08:19, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * There's a sort of spoiler. There is no point in a spoiler just to make fun of Scientology - if a spoiler is to mean anything, it must actually be aimed at the audience who would want to know not to read this stuff. So I've tried to write one aimed at Scientologists who don't want to read upper-level material before they're ready.

 * Note that it is very easy to take the piss out of the "by pneumonia etc" warning. But read the quote from OT III (it's in the article) - it's not merely reading about it, it's running it, i.e. trying to audit yourself in the prescribed Scientology manner on it. So a pisstake warning is (IMO) inappropriate.

 * (Besides, even if one does consider it ludicrous, being utterly low-key in the writing style is entirely effective. The material ... speaks for itself. - David Gerard 22:09, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Sea Org logo
From the article: Its logo, a wreath with 21 leaves, represents the 21 stars of Xenu's Galactic Confederacy.

The depicted logo has ... count 'em ... 26 leaves. Thirteen on each branch, in six pairs and one at the top. Who's the bozo -- Wikipedia, Elron, or Xenu? :) --FOo 19:04, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Oops - thanks for spotting that! -- ChrisO 19:17, 19 Dec 2004

 * Do we have good refs on hand for the Sea Org bit, particularly the "explicitly"? (You know this stuff better than I do, I assume you have them there somewhere ;-) - David Gerard 19:19, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Found it: "the star is the confederation and each one of those leaves is counted, it's the number of stars" - "Ron's Talk to Pubs Org World Wide", tape of April 1968. -- ChrisO 11:47, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I should note elsewhere that I've seen it said they have 22 stars on some other part of their insignia to represent the 22 stars of the Galactic Confederacy ... - David Gerard 19:24, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Covers with themes from R6
Chris - do you have a ref on the cover of Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science? The current cover isn't on this theme, and I'm not sure when the book was actually released ... - David Gerard 23:27, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I believe it's the 1972 edition, which I've seen in the British Library. The book was first printed in 1953 and, as you noticed, it's been reprinted since. -- ChrisO 23:32, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I own a hardback copy of the 1972 printing of Dianetics, & the cover is dark green, & except for a symbol on the spine (a pyramid divided into 4 parts horizontally inside of a circle) lacks any other decoration. On the reverse of the title page is a list of the printings this book has gone thru (21 of them!), & there were 4 in 1968: in January, May, July & August.

 * This printing is of interest, for it has material not present in the more recent printings of Dianetics. For example, instead of a dedication to Will Durant, the dedication in this copy is "To the famous Magician/GEORGE WICHELOW/England's First Dianeticist."

 * Obviously, we all know this must be a forgery. Only squirrels alter the tech. I guess the next time I make a purchase in a used bookstore, I shall try to spend more than a dollar on a book. -- llywrch 02:56, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

New stuff
Chris, the new stuff on the early origins of OT III has actually enlightened me to whole new degrees of Scientology whackiness, and I've been following this stuff for nine years. Well done. I think ... - David Gerard 12:05, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I remembered writing something about Hubbard's early work on a.r.s. ages ago - I revisited it and found that it exactly paralleled OT III, to a degree that I hadn't really appreciated before. No wonder the CoS has withdrawn it!

 * Also, I've found a very nice USGS image of an exploding volcano - on Hawaii, appropriately enough - that looks just like the one from Dianetics (see Image:Puu oo). It's perfect for illustrating this article. -- ChrisO 13:04, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Featured article candidacy
This article has been listed on WP:FAC for over a week now and has received no (actionable) objections. Can it now be promoted to featured article status? -- ChrisO 13:04, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Probably, but we should wait for someone else to do it for us - David Gerard 13:32, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Hubbard's motorbike accident?
Chris - in Bodies In Pawn, you mention that "it appears that the injuries sustained by Hubbard were actually caused by his falling off his motorbike on a mountain road. He suffered a broken arm and broken ribs, but refused to let a doctor treat him." If you have the reference for this, it'd be worth mentioning in the "origins" section - David Gerard 17:25, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * That's a very old essay. :-) I'd got the dates wrong - the motorcycle accident was actually on Tenerife in 1973, so it has no connection with OT III.  There's no evidence that I'm aware of that he suffered the injuries he claimed in 1967. -- ChrisO 22:09, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Arslycus/arse-lickers
I've restored this point because it raises a significant issue - I think that, at least in the early days, Hubbard was tongue-in-cheek about a lot of things. But later on, he very evidently came to believe completely in everything that he spouted, no matter how improbable, and insisted that it was all true even when it plainly wasn't or couldn't be. (This is why his official biography is such a mess.) It would have been very like Hubbard to make up a name like "Arslycus" (bear in mind that he was an Anglophile so he would have certainly known the expression "arse-lickers") as a joke name for an extraterrestrial civilisation. -- ChrisO 22:44, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Hmmmmmmmmm okay. Was he living in the UK by the time he invented Arslycus? - David Gerard 23:08, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * He was in and out of the country at that time (there was tight visa restrictions on Americans in those days and the Home Office had already decided that he was an "undesirable" and didn't want to make life easy for him). He lived in St John's Wood, of all places (the house where he lived was 30 Marlborough Place, near the Abbey Road Studios - it's still there). He first mentioned Arslycus in Philadelphia on 1 December 1952 (in the first of the Philadelphia Doctorate Course Lectures) after leaving the UK a short time earlier following the expiration of his 3-month visa. The timing suggests that he came up with Arslycus while he was in St John's Wood. -- ChrisO 23:26, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Featured article discussion
(copied from Featured article candidates/Xenu for future reference)

Self-nomination. I ran it past the checklist ... - David Gerard 23:37, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support - anything to piss off the whackjobs known as the Scientology Cult. I could come up with more plausible crap to base a cult off than this.
 * That's not a very loving attitude ;-p - David Gerard 13:57, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Now for things i'd like to see fixed:
 * needs more images, it mentions covers and sketches, lets get some up there.
 * I may throw in the cover of Dianetics. What sketches? - David Gerard 13:57, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Sorry sketches is not really the word I meant, I meant perhaps an image to illustrate the Xenu/Xemu discrepancy since its in L Ron's own handwriting. However the cover for Dianetics is a nice addition, and quite useful to correlate with the description of the whole H-bomb volcano section. Alkivar 18:35, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I was reluctant to put the scanned page of OT III in, even though it's arguably of encyclopaedic fair use and they haven't attempted to sue Dave Touretzky who's had it up as "academic research" for nine years, because that would be tweaking their noses really hard ... but maybe of that one word - David Gerard 12:06, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I've put the scan of the word "Xenu" in - David Gerard 12:41, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * minimal coverage of L Ron not even a small paragraph just a 1 sentance sidenote, needs a bit more.
 * What are you thinking of that isn't covered by a link back to his name? - David Gerard 13:57, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not suggesting a complete bio if thats what your thinking but perhaps more than simply "L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, also wrote a film script about him." in the lead in. Alkivar 18:35, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I've added a paragraph on how he wrote OT III (drunk and on drugs) - David Gerard 12:06, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * a split between external links and references to back up the article. Alkivar 07:42, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * That could be difficult - the things listed do in fact serve both purposes. What links would you put in one and what in the other? - David Gerard 13:57, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Have separated out the reference-only ones. How's that? - David Gerard 14:41, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * MUCH BETTER! Alkivar 18:35, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Support, but I'd like the implications summarized. I know that I can hit the wikilink on body thetans and stuff, but it would be nice to have a sentence or two that sketches out the broader beliefs that put this in context.  My only concern is that if this hits the main page, we're going to get even more noisome editing.  Geogre 15:08, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I've actually invited Scientologist editors to look over this page before, but none have taken me up on the offer. Shouldn't be more contentious on the main page than GNU/Linux naming controversy ... Will see if I can find suitable consensus summaries of the implications to put in and reference - David Gerard 16:14, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * By 'implications' I assume you meant the point of the whole thing, i.e. that you are covered in the souls of murdered space aliens and they cause all your problems and you have to audit them off. I've summarised that much in the second paragraph of the intro - David Gerard 17:04, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support It's worth it even if we get invaded by an army of Scientology lawyers GeneralPatton 23:46, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support, if only to prove that Wikipedia can present worthy subjects that other encyclopedias won't even mention. --Modemac 00:40, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support, but I would prefer this article not to appear on the front page, to avoid the possibility of having Wikipedia sued by Scientology. (See Scientology vs. the Internet -- it's not impossible.)  Risking your own skin to fight Scientology is one thing, but risking Wikipedia is another.  It's true that this is "giving in" to Scientology's threats, but in this case I think Wikipedia's financial health is paramount. --Redquark 06:00, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Scientologists are, of course, welcome to edit this article and add their own perspective. --Modemac 12:12, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Wow, that is extraordinarily weird, if I may say so. I'll support, even though it's really too short, because the secretive nature of the subject might make further expansion difficult and just because it's so damn interesting. Everyking 09:00, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Tried to expand it a bit - how Hubbard wrote it. I'm trying to think of other things to say about Xenu that are worth encyclopaedic coverage - David Gerard 12:06, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support, considering how hard it is to write a decent NPOV article from Hubbard's ramblings, this is as close as it will get. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 13:52, Dec 13, 2004 (UTC)
 * The recent nomination of Thursday October Christian showed me that there are some articles where so little is known that it is not possible to get to a length appropriate for a featured article, and where expanding the article will become original research. Xenu is just long enough to qualify. I don't think "because it will annoy the scientologists" is a reason for featuring an article, though. With those caveats and qualifications, I support featured article status. Dbiv 17:50, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's that short! (I don't think Thursday October Christian is too short either, FWIW.) That said, I've been looking around for stuff to expand it with - David Gerard 20:41, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. I don't think a mocking image is appropriately NPOV for the lead image. L. Ron's handwriting sample is priceless though, and arguably a much better image. Otherwise I would support. Seems very well done, and is long enough unless someone can find something important it doesn't cover. - Taxman 18:57, Dec 13, 2004 (UTC)
 * I put that image in because it didn't have any other image at the time, and there is no official Scientology depiction of Xenu. The grey alien theme is very common with the critics, even if it has no official basis. I may swap the two around in the article - David Gerard 20:41, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I buried the image to the bottom of the article and added a more NPOV image to the top of the page. Should make it appear more NPOV overall. Alkivar 03:51, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Might I suggest that a picture of an exploding volcano (Stromboli perhaps?) be used as the main image - it would be appropriate at least. -- ChrisO 03:12, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support, if we can make the captions full sentences. - Ta bu shi da yu 05:35, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I can't see a way to do so that wouldn't be fatuous. They're really not standalone items. What would you suggest? - David Gerard 12:30, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * OK, they're both full sentences now! - David Gerard 23:31, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Oppose: Subject too esoteric to be of general interest. Mkweise 06:42, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid this would be a non-actionable objection, being of general interest is not a FA criteria, not to mention the fact that general interest is all in the eye of the beholder. See What is a featured article. -- [[User:Solitude|Solitude\talk]] 09:02, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Objection is not actionable. And besides the quality of content is the only thing that matters to be featured, not the subject matter. - Taxman 13:48, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * According to our policy, objections must state a specific issue/issues that can be addressed and fixed. GeneralPatton 02:49, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. It covers the subject well and has excellent supporting material. The subject itself... man, this is one odd bunch of people... Radagast 14:19, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. It's long enough. Filiocht 16:05, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * Oppose for now . Support. I think this article is very good, and really close to being of featured article quality, and it ought to be featured soon. But it needs some work on style and readability, particularly in the introduction. I also think it needs a little time to age. It has just recently become what looks to be pretty NPOV, but the article could use some input from a Scientologist or two, just to make doubly sure that the article is accurate and adequately explains their point of view, so that when the article is featured, it doesn't get pounced-on. [[User:COGDEN|CO GDEN (talk)]] 22:13, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
 * That isn't really all that actionable. It's had a Scientologist contributor, User:I'm4aNPOV, who was even posting from a CoS office. He didn't stick around, though. If this is to be regarded as actionable, where would you suggest we recruit one from? Also, please state your problems with style and readability with specificity (e.g. on a section or paragraph level), so that they will be actionable. The article has been around a while; this version isn't terribly different from how it's been over the past six months, the main difference being it now has references for everything - David Gerard 22:37, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * User:I'm4aNPOV only appears to have made one edit, and that was to remove a link. Regarding readability, I went ahead and made some changes myself. I'm not an expert in their area, so my changes should be verified. My main remaining objection regards the mention that Hubbard was on drugs when he wrote OT III. I think this needs an explanation or some sort of apologetics from a Scientologist, because I'm sure they have a POV on this issue that isn't represented. We don't necessarily need an actual Scientologist to help out with this, but there are probably explanations out there on the web that might be included. [[User:COGDEN|CO GDEN (talk)]] 01:12, Dec 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * Nice edits - thank you! I'm trying to track down a better source on the letter with the quote. The quote seems to be accurate. The paragraph doesn't flow perfectly, but every source I checked on its origins says he was drugged to the gills at the time. I'm looking for a credible reference (i.e., preferably not a Usenet post) comparing the "body thetans" story to the crawling insects on the skin feeling of barbiturate withdrawal. CoS representatives have denied the drugs story on a.r.s, but the letter was brought up in court (CoS vs Armstrong) in 1984 and never actually challenged - it seems Hubbard did in fact say just that, in those words. I've posted to a.r.s asking for help on this stuff, and for a Scientologist viewpoint (which may or may not be a CoS viewpoint). User:I'm4aNPOV was quite aware of Xenu, having made some controversial edits to Scientology and discussed such matters on that talk page - David Gerard 02:32, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm pleased with the article as it currently stands. All my reservations have been resolved; therefore, I am changing my vote, and I hope the article gets featured. [[User:COGDEN|CO GDEN (talk)]] 20:19, Dec 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * Support, if only for one of the most humorous disclaimers ever. Almafeta 02:22, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not actually sure the disclaimer will survive NPOV ;-) It's a bit pointed - David Gerard 02:32, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Straight-faced, surely! If we're to present a NPOV we have to take the Scientologists' concerns seriously, right? ;-) -- ChrisO 02:34, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I dont think I ever read the disclaimer before you mentioned it... LOL, I nearly peed myself. Alkivar 02:29, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. I've made some fairly major edits to fix some outstanding issues raised here. -- ChrisO 02:26, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * You've done wonders for it - David Gerard 02:32, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support, so long as that disclaimer is kept. Fantastic. - Ta bu shi da yu 02:46, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid I can't guarantee that ... it still smells a bit POV to me. The health warning should go with the bit in which Hubbard claims it killed everyone who found it before - David Gerard 09:40, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Never mind, it's preserved for posterity at BJAODN... -- ChrisO 00:27, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I fear I've already moved the silly bit of the disclaimer to the relevant paragraph of the body text. I hope you will still consider the article up to standard ;-) - David Gerard 08:04, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: Why are the references done up so weirdly? Shouldn't there be one ==References== section per Cite sources? Johnleemk | Talk 03:10, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Ask User:ChrisO - David Gerard 09:40, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * It's a bit clumsy, I admit, but it seemed a better way of doing it (and thanks to whoever hyperlinked the footnotes) than having notations like "(Miller p. 75)" next to a section of text. Is there a better way of making it user-friendly? -- ChrisO 00:27, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I think we need that mooted new reference syntax - specifically, automatic footnote renumbering - David Gerard 01:38, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Article would make an interesting contribution to the FA library. Jacob1207 16:16, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Support. Something you'd never see in another encyclopaedia. And yet it's definetly up to the level. - V 23:47, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Confidential
I'll start off by saying I don't know anything about scientology. But the warning at the top of this page kind of gives me the jitters; we shouldn't be including stuff that isn't supposed to be included. Can somebody clarify just what it means to reveal "confidential upper-level course material"? Cookiecaper 04:54, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * There's nothing here that contravenes Wikipedia policy, copyright law, or the like. It is "confidential" only within the Scientology organization. That is, lower-level members are not supposed to know the "inner secrets".

 * Scientology says this is because they are dangerous secrets that most people are not ready to experience, and that people can even get sick and die from trying to comprehend them fully. Critics of Scientology generally respond that Scientology says these things because the "inner secrets" are pretty transparent fiction, and that any non-Scientologist who hears of them is pretty damned unlikely to want anything to do with Scientology. --FOo 06:04, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I believe this article does take the unencyclopedic tone of an exposé in places. The diet consisting of drugs claim, for example, seems as fantastic as the apparent quotes from the story. Are they quotes? What is the source? Cool Hand Luke  09:48, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * The sources are listed at the beginning of the story section - anything in quotes is a direct quote from OT-III or from "Assists". If you can think of a way to make this clearer without it being unwieldy or clumsy, feel free. The diet of drugs is heavily referenced as well. (L. Ron Hubbard's prodigious drink and drug consumption in general is verified by multiple sources; the refs here are particularly during OT-III.)

 * This shit is indeed unbelievable, which is why the article's been referenced to the hilt. But if you can think of useful ways to make it clearer that it really is all referenced and documented, then the article needs it - David Gerard 11:05, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Something I don't understand at all is why, if Xenu is supposed to be a secret kept from lower level Scientologists, Hubbard would try to make a movie about him. Not a very good way to keep people from hearing the story. User:24.136.35.3

 * The ways of Ron are evidently beyond mortal ken - David Gerard 00:11, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Religious disclaimer
I took the religious disclaimer out and put it as a senetence in the introduction. I did this because I think to do otherwise would set a very bad precedent. →Raul654 20:48, Jan 31, 2005 (UTC)

 * You got a point there. Quoting the pneumonia warning in Ron's words works for me - David Gerard 21:13, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Is OT III obsolete?
Has OT III been superseded by NOTS or not? Back during the heyday of the a.r.s. wars, I thought it had been stated by David Mayo that NOTS had actually replaced the original OT levels. The original 0Ts had since been moved to a "higher" level, so that OT III is now something like OT VIII. --Modemac 00:58, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I should ask again on a.r.s. What's the Touretzky page say? I understood that OT IV-VII had been replaced with NOTs, but that OT III was still in place to explain where all the body thetans had come from. Operating thetan would be a good place to detail this. - David Gerard 11:38, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Much as large scale bowlderization of "original" Hubbard work has become comonplace in newer editions, I have never heard any suggestion that OT III itself has been supplanted or altered.

What's often missed, as far as I can tell, is that OT II, which reveals that Jesus Christ and Christianity is an "implant" is itself a "shock" to those "advancing up the 'Bridge'" which leaves the acolytes (of the Western/Christian pursuasion) so stunned that OT III revelations are far less disruptive than they would be otherwise.

This is well in keeping with the "gradient" (or; Boiled Frog) approach to Scientology "Training".

NOTs (New Era Dianetics for OTs) is often depicted by Scientology Critics as the smoking gun or "Bait and Switch" of Scientology® in that it seems to imply that the original "engrams" of Dianetics are completely supplanted by the "Body Thetans" of OT III and above. (Everyone at any OT level must have attested to being "Clear", which means he *has* no "Engrams".)

"What is a Body Thetan" is itself a subject worthy of discussion, but, at least in this comment, I think it's important to realize that a "Body Thetan" is *not* in any way different than the "Thetan" who is advancing "Up The Bridge"; but merely not the "Thetan" who happened to bring his "Meat Body" into the Church of Scientology for "Processing".

A "Body Thetan" is a "Thetan"; with no less right to the "Meat Body" than the Thetan who joined the Church.

At the OT Levels, the Scientologist Thetan, who has already attested to the state of "Clear" discovers that the only reason his attestation isn't resulting in the promised "Wins" and abilities of being "Clear" is that he may have cleared himself, but he is still infested with *other* Thetans who are *not* Clear.

The purpose of NOTs is to locate and "blow" (or release) these superfluous "Body Thetans"; thus reducing the number of Thetans competing for control of the "Meat Body" to one, Clear, and Scientologist Thetan.

So, it's not directly true that the concept of "Engrams" is supplanted by the concept of "Body Thetans".

Joe Lynn

Xenu/OT III on MSNBC
Take a look at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6908975/ :

 * "I intend to make Scientology as accessible to as many people as I can. And that is my goal," Elfman said. To do this, she says, it is my "duty to clear the planet." By "clearing" she means to rid the world of "body thetans" — aliens who Scientologists believe inhabit the earth from a nuclear explosion 75 million years ago.

Hmm! -- ChrisO 22:44, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Obviously they need a pointer here! - David Gerard 11:12, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Space plane
I'm really unsure about the artist's impression space plane - it does appear to be taking the piss. The picture from the Xenu leaflet was removed (see above) as soon as we had pictures that were directly relevant - David Gerard 11:12, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * The picture from the Xenu leaflet showed Xenu as a bug-eyed grey alien in a robe waving a laser gun, which is absolutely not what Hubbard portrayed him as - that was pure invention on the part of a critic. The space plane pic is very different, as it's an exact representation of what Hubbard describes. (The only extrapolation I've made is to put the Galactic Confederation insignia on the tailplane.) In fact, it's more accurate than many famous artists' impressions of religious subjects - for instance, Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi shows its subjects in Renaissance Italian dress, which is definitely not biblically accurate!

 * I think your reaction is due to the fact that the subject of the image is ridiculous. The representation of it is entirely as described - it's literally a DC-8 in outer space. -- ChrisO 12:09, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Possibly. I've added to the caption to emphasise that this is per Hubbard's description - David Gerard 13:59, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Are we asking for it?
My view of Scientology is - how should I put this - quite possibly skewed towards the negative. There were concerns in the nomination page that making this an article of the day could bring trouble. I agree wholeheartedly. Is it safe to assume that CoS does not have a case - or, to be cynical, that they care about that? -- Kizor 10:15, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Raul and I ran it past Jimbo. The only thing they could plausibly claim on about this article are fair-use quotes and images, and all are blatantly academic fair use, we think - the book cover, the handwriting sample, the Sea Org logo. The CoS has also had an editor work on this article (user:I'm4aNPOV, who edited from a CoS IP, and now edits as User:Nuview - good and/or sincere edits too, IMO) and have been invited repeatedly on alt.religion.scientology to stop by, which may cause problems for a claim.

 * Besides, imagine how spectacularly mediapathic it would be. "Scientology Sues Encyclopedia" - what next, "Scientology Sues Cute Fluffy Kittens"? And, of course, the text is still widely reproducible under the GFDL - David Gerard 14:09, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Hm. Certainly looks good to me. Thank you. - Kizor 14:51, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Explosive force calculations
''Thousands of hydrogen bombs with a cumulative explosive force equivalent to gigatonnes of TNT would have had to have been used. This would certainly have left physical traces...''

Is this strictly true? The article calculates the size of the pile of bodies to be a mile deep and six miles on a side. I'm pretty sure some hydrogen bombs have fireballs with radii in the mile range. Twenty or thirty bombs total might do the trick. Of course, I find the story every bit as implausible as most of you, but I think this rebuttal might be overstating things a bit. Perhaps someone could do some math better than my back of the envelop calculations and update the section if necessary? -Matt (user:130.39.141.185)

 * This bit does verge somewhat on original research. I wonder if the Peter Forde paper says anything about it - David Gerard 17:16, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I've added more detail from Forde. The calculations do appear to be original to Wikipedia, but I'd be surprised if no-one had run through them before; there's likely to be a source somewhere - David Gerard 17:38, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Useless clutter
I think one could delete:

The space planes were exact copies of Douglas DC-8s, "except the DC-8 had fans, propellers on it and the space plane didn't." (DC-8s have jet engines, not propellers, although Hubbard may have meant the turbine fans.) -- unsigned comment by Taghawi-Nejad

 * Why would we delete that? That is how Hubbard described the space planes, right down to being wrong about the planes he was comparing them to. -- Antaeus Feldspar 18:35, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Jet engines
That has to be a mistake when refering to the fact that the DC-8's use jet engines in outer space. That is very, very impossible. User:65.50.31.31

 * But, but they were like space and stuff! - David Gerard 00:11, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Well, if you read it, Hubbard doesn't say the space planes had jet engines -- he doesn't say what kind of engines the space planes had at all. What he wrote is "DC-8 airplane is the exact copy of the space plane of that day. No difference, except the DC-8 had fans, propellers on it, and the space plane didn't."  Hubbard is mistaken about what kind of engine the DC-8 had but he doesn't claim what kind the space plane did have. -- Antaeus Feldspar 02:09, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Xenu/Archive 1


text:
Albert Yorke, 6th Earl of Hardwicke

Albert Edward Philip Henry Yorke, 6th Earl of Hardwicke, DL (14 March 1867 – 29 November 1904), styled Viscount Royston between 1873 and 1897, was a British diplomat and Conservative politician.

Background
Hardwicke was the only son of Charles Yorke, 5th Earl of Hardwicke, and Lady Sophia Georgiana Robertina, daughter of Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley.

Diplomatic and political career
Hardwicke was an Honorary Attaché in Vienna between 1886 and 1891. He entered the House of Lords on the death of his father in 1897 and made his maiden speech in February 1898. He served under Lord Salisbury and Arthur Balfour as Under-Secretary of State for India between 1901 and 1902 and again from 1903 until his death, and under Balfour as Under-Secretary of State for War between August 1902 and 1903. He made his last speech in the House of Lords in August 1904, three months before his death. Apart from his career in national politics he was a member of the London County Council between 1897 and 1901 and a deputy lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.

Personal life
Lord Hardwicke died in November 1904, aged only 37. He was unmarried and was succeeded in the earldom by his uncle, John Manners Yorke.

title: Albert Yorke, 6th Earl of Hardwicke


text:
Octavius Sabinus

Octavius Sabinus was a governor of Britannia Inferior, a province of Roman Britain some time between c. AD 262 and 266.

An inscription at Lancaster mentions him in connection with repairs there. It indicates that he was of the senatorial rank rather than the third century norm of giving military commands such as this to officers of equestrian standing.

title: Octavius Sabinus


text:
Bruce Cohen

Bruce L. Cohen (born September 23, 1961) is a film, television, and theater producer. He is best known for his production of the Academy Award nominated films Milk, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Beauty, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Early life and education
Cohen was born to a Jewish family and raised in Falls Church, Virginia. In 1983, he graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies.

Career
After school, Cohen moved to Los Angeles, where he accepted a clerical job as a Directors Guild of America trainee on Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, and went on to serve as associate producer and first assistant director on Spielberg's Hook. In 2000, Cohen won the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing American Beauty. The film, directed by Sam Mendes, won a total of five Oscars, as well as the Golden Globe, British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA), and Producers Guild of America (PGA) awards.

He later earned additional Best Picture nominations for Milk and Silver Linings Playbook. Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, as well as the PGA's Stanley Kramer Award. Silver Linings Playbook, written and directed by David O. Russell, was nominated for eight Oscars. It was the first film in 31 years to be nominated in all four acting categories, with Jennifer Lawrence going on to win the Oscar for Best Actress.

Other films Cohen has produced include Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton, which was nominated for both Golden Globe and BAFTA Best Picture awards. In 2013, he served as lead producer of the stage musical version of Big Fish on Broadway, under the direction and choreography of five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman.

On television, Cohen was executive producer of the ABC series Pushing Daisies, which won a total of seven Emmys and was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Comedy. He was also executive producer of the CBS special Movies Rock. In 2011, he was nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for producing the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

Cohen is on the Board of Governors of the Producer's Guild, having served two terms as vice president of motion pictures, and is on the Executive Committee of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is president of the board of directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the recently successful Supreme Court case to have California's Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional.

In 2019, Bruce Cohen joined the Advisory Board for the Harlem Film House, which presents the Hip Hop Film Festival, an annual event that focuses on filmmakers from the global culture of hip hop and also promotes financial sustainability for independent filmmakers from marginalized or economically disadvantaged communities.

Personal life
He is married to Gabriel Catone and they have a daughter.

Filmography
Cohen was a producer on all films unless otherwise noted:

Film

 * Second unit director or assistant director

 * As an actor

 * Script and continuity department

 * Thanks

Television

 * Miscellaneous crew

title: Bruce Cohen


text:
Gulf War oil spill

The Gulf War oil spill, or the "Persian Gulf oil spill", was one of the largest oil spills in history, resulting from the Gulf War in 1991. In January 1991, Iraqi forces allegedly began dumping oil into the Persian Gulf to stop a U.S. coalition-led water landing on their shores. Despite quite high initial estimates, the spill likely was about 4,000,000 US barrels (480,000 m3). Within the following months of the spill, most clean-up was targeted at recovering oil, and very little clean-up was done on Saudi Arabia’s highly-affected beaches. An initial study in 1993 found that the spill will not have long-term environmental consequences, but many studies since 1991 have concluded the opposite, claiming that the spill is responsible for environmental damage to coastline sediments and marine species and ecosystems. Considered an act of environmental terrorism, the spill was a heated political move that had implications for the larger Gulf War and temporarily damaged Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Background
The Gulf War oil spill came out of the Gulf War that took place from 1990-1991. The war—fought between Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, and the Coalition forces—started with Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The invasion was a result of long-standing territorial and oil disputes. Several months into the war, Coalition forces led attacks on Iraqi military in Iraq and Kuwait on January 16, 1991. Nearly a week later, Iraqi forces countered these attacks by dumping oil into the Persian Gulf, ultimately resulting in the massive Gulf War oil spill. According to Energy Secretary James D. Watkins, US military had already prepared for such a move, as Saddam Hussein had previously threatened to dump oil into the Persian Gulf.

The spill
At the end of January 1991, Iraq began to deliberately spill massive amounts of oil into the Persian Gulf, in an apparent attempt to foil a potential landing by US Marines on Kuwait's coast. It also made commandeering oil reserves dangerous for US and Coalition forces as visibility and movement were inhibited. Joyner and Kirkhope also posit that the spill could have been an attempt by Iraqi forces to cut off important water supplies for Coalition forces in Saudi Arabia. In a complaint to the United Nations, Iraq refuted allegations that they had intentionally caused the spill, claiming that American airstrikes had caused a discharge of oil from two Iraqi tankers.

Coalition forces determined the main source of oil to be the Sea Island Oil Terminal in Kuwait, which spilled approximately 70,000 to 80,000 tons of oil each day for a week. On January 26, three US F-117 fighter-bombers destroyed pipelines to prevent further spillage into the Persian Gulf. Several other sources of oil were found to be active: tankers and a damaged Kuwaiti oil refinery near Mina Al Ahmadi, tankers near Bubiyan Island, and Iraq's Mina Al Bakr terminal.

Early estimates from the Pentagon on the volume spilled hovered around 11000000 USbbl. These numbers were significantly adjusted downward by later, more-detailed studies; government researchers placed the volume of oil spilled between 4000000 USbbl and 6000000 USbbl, while private researchers placed it between 2000000 USbbl and 4000000 USbbl.

The slick reached a maximum size of 101 mi by 42 mi and was 5 inches (13 cm) thick in some areas. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the size of the spill, figures place it several times the size (by volume) of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, making it one of the—if not the—largest oil spills in history.

Clean-up
After the spill’s occurrence, most clean-up efforts went into recovering the oil by skimming it from the water’s surface. By April 1991, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil had already been recovered. However, the clean-up process was impeded by a lack of funding and equipment as well as by the ongoing Gulf War. With these obstructions and most clean-up efforts being focused on oil recovery, very little clean-up was done on Saudi Arabia’s beaches. In a Wall Street Journal article written 14 months after the spill, Ken Wells reported that an estimated 375 miles (604 km) of shoreline remained covered in oil. The lack of attention given to Saudi Arabia’s beaches and other sensitive environments, such as mangrove forests and marshes, brought the Saudi government under attack by environmentalist groups concerned about the lasting effects of the oil.

Environmental impact
From the first reports of the spill in January 1991, the possible environmental damage it could cause was at the forefront of many minds. Lippman and Booth, reporting for The Washington Post on January 26, 1991, cited multiple experts who had high concerns about the spill and its impacts on the environment, calling it an “ecological disaster.” Despite the industry that skirts the Persian Gulf, the area still supports a diverse ecosystem, including endangered and endemic species. Following the spill, researchers and environmentalists had serious concerns about the mortality of the Persian Gulf’s ecosystem. Research on the spill’s impacts on the environment began as soon as possible after the spill, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) already having preliminary results in April 1992, as reported by Ken Wells for The Wall Street Journal. Such research has continued through 2020.

In 1993, The New York Times reported that a study sponsored by UNESCO, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States found the spill did "little long-term damage" to the environment, with about half the oil evaporating, 1000000 USbbl getting recovered, and 2000000 USbbl to 3000000 USbbl washing ashore, mainly in Saudi Arabia. Linden and Husain similarly estimated in 2002 that about 30-40% of the oil was removed by evaporation.

However, more recent scientific studies have tended to disagree with the 1993 assessment of the long-term ecological damage. US geochemist Dr. Jacqueline Michel asserted in 2010 that the oil spill had dramatic long-term effects on the environment, explaining that her research found that a large amount of the oil remained after 12 years due to its abnormally high ability to penetrate Gulf sediments. Linden and Husain found that in 2002, on average, oil penetrated about 10 cm, but in some circumstances, oil penetrated almost 50 cm, a depth that lengthens the natural degradation process significantly. In 2001, having studied Gulf sediments along with small crustaceans that live in the sediments known as ostracods, Mostafawi found that offshore sediments and the organisms in them were still affected by the 1991 spill. In 2017, Joydas et al. concluded that, while open water areas had low concentrations of hydrocarbons in the sediment, secluded bay areas had “alarming levels” that threatened the quality of life of organisms in such areas.

Researchers have focused on the health of the unique habitats of the Persian Gulf, including coral reefs, salt marshes, mud flats, and mangrove forests (Booth). Linden and Husain in 2002, as well as Issa and Vempatti in 2018, found that coral reefs were relatively unaffected by the oil spill. Some researchers found that marshlands and mud tidal flats continued to contain large quantities of oil, over nine years later, and full recovery is likely to take decades. In 2001, German geographer Dr. Hans-Jörg Barth found that salt marshes still suffered significantly from the spill while rocky shores and mangroves showed a full recovery. He attributes the delayed recovery of the salt marshes to the lack of wave action/physical energy and oxygen in the environment, important factors to the natural degradation of oil. Issa and Vempatti also found that mangrove forests had mostly recovered by 1995. Michel et al. found that salt marshes had a low recovery rate after the oil spill but found that mangrove forests had not recovered in 2003.

Linden and Husain in 2002, as well as Issa and Vempatti in 2018, reported that the oil had largely lost its toxicity by the time it reached shore; however, the oil coated vegetation and blocked light and air, damaging it. Both groups of researchers also found that the spill caused the death of many seabirds, including almost 30,000 grebes and cormorants, by coating the birds’ feathers. Linden and Husain found that marine turtles were relatively unaffected by the spill, except the Hawksbill sea turtle had a lower hatching rate that could have been caused by the 1991 spill. They also concluded that fish species in the northern Gulf were relatively unaffected by the spill.

Political and economic impacts
In the first days of the spill, President George Bush was quoted as calling the spill strategy a “sick” act by Saddam Hussein. In January 1991, Andrew Rosenthal for The New York Times observed the US government’s eagerness to utilize the act to further demonize Saddam Hussein and to solidify Hussein as deeply immoral. A representative of the Pentagon Pete Williams described the spill as “environmental terrorism,” and Roger E. McManus of the Center for Marine Conservation stated Hussein “should be held accountable for his despicable crimes against the environment." The Gulf War oil spill is considered “the world's first known act of large-scale eco-terrorism."

The Gulf War oil spill caused significant economic damage to the fishing and oil industries around the Persian Gulf. Because of the war, and particularly because of the spill, fish and prawn fishing in the Gulf were halted in 1991. The spill also led to damage of fishing equipment and infrastructure. According to Issa and Vempatti, the spill caused a 1.5-2% loss of Kuwait’s oil reserves---a $12.3 billion to $38.4 billion loss.

title: Gulf War oil spill


text:
Violet click beetle

The violet click beetle (Gambrinus violaceus, formerly Limoniscus violaceus ) is a black beetle, 12 mm long, with a faint blue/violet reflection. It gets its name from the family habit of springing upwards with an audible click if it falls on its back. It occurs in Europe.

Description
The adult beetle is long and slender, about 12 mm long, with many small puncture marks on its pronotum, and longitudinal striations on its elytra. The pronotum is greyish-black and the elytra are black with a purplish iridescence. The larvae are whitish and resemble mealworm grubs.

Ecology
This sapro-xylophagous beetle is found only in the heart of decayed ancient trees, specifically in undisturbed wood-mould at the base of central cavities: in Britain it has been found only in beech and ash trees. Its very specific habitat requirements mean that the beetle is very rare, and even at the three sites where it has been found, there are few suitable trees, and their number is declining. One of the host trees at Windsor blew down in the Great Storm of 1987, but was re-erected solely as a host for the violet click beetle. English Nature's conservation efforts continue in an effort to create more suitable trees, including by erecting more decaying trees, and artificially ageing some others. Windsor Forest is considered to be the most important site in Britain for invertebrates associated with the decaying timber of ancient trees. In Hungary, the larvae occupy cavities filled with wood mould near the base of hollow Turkey oaks (Quercus cerris), but also in similar cavities in lime (Tilia), ash (Fraxinus) and maple (Acer) trees.

Conservation status
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed the conservation status of the beetle as Endangered.

The beetle is listed in Annex II of the EC Habitats Directive and Schedule 5 of the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is also listed as Endangered in the GB Red List. It is to be found in only a few locations in Europe, including three sites in Britain. These are Windsor Forest (where it was first found in 1937), Bredon Hill in Worcestershire (1989), and Dixton Wood SSSI in Gloucestershire (1998). The violet click beetle is one of the species that the Back from the Brink project aims to save from extinction in Britain.

title: Violet click beetle


text:
LGBT themes in video games

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) characters have been depicted in video games since the 1980s. Throughout the history of video games, LGBT characters have been almost nonexistent for a long time, reflecting the overall heteronormativity of the medium. While there has been a trend towards greater representation of LGBT people in video games, they are frequently identified as LGBT in secondary material, such as comics, rather than in the games themselves. Often, LGBT characters and themes, when they are included, are underrepresented, minimized, or watered down. Queer games and characters have also often found themselves being the subjects of cultural crossfires or moral panics. In 2018, Sam Greer of GamesRadar+ found only 179 games commercially released games with any LGBT representation, only 83 of which have queer characters who are playable characters, and only 8 of those games feature a main character who is pre-written as queer as opposed to them being queer as an option.

Depictions of LGBT characters
A number of recurring tropes, themes and archetypes have developed in the gaming industry in regard to LGBTQ+ identity. These are similar to how other forms of popular culture, such as Hollywood films and TV shows, dealt with LGBTQ+ themes.

As in other media, LGBT characters in games often suffer from the "bury your gays" trope, a long-lasting narrative convention that requires that LGBT characters die or meet another unhappy ending. According to Kotaku, these characters are "largely defined by a pain that their straight counterparts do not share". Facing challenges that "serve as an in-world analogy for anti-LGBTQ bigotry", they are defined by tragedy that denies them a chance at happiness.

Comical gender confusion
A common method of introducing LGBT characters is to reveal their sexual orientation through gender inversion. A male character's homosexuality is often indicated by making him a sissy character with effeminate or flamboyant mannerisms, dress, and speech. The underlying assumption is that homosexuals are also frequently transgender and, therefore, possess mannerisms stereotypical of the opposite sex. This technique has been widely used in Hollywood movies (to circumvent the Production Code's ban on "sexual perversion"), as well as in Vaudeville. Although mainly used in video games for its comedic value, gender confusion has also been used as a tool to offer social commentary about sexism or homophobia. The censorship codes of Nintendo and Sega limited the usage of gender inversion to exclusion of cross-dressing until 1994.

Transgender characters in video games
Capcom created Final Fight for the arcade in 1989. The game involved players choosing among three fighters on a quest to save the mayor's daughter, who was kidnapped by a criminal gang known as Mad Gear. In 1990, Capcom presented Nintendo with a version of the game for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). According to David Sheff's book Game Over, Nintendo stated that Capcom could not put a female enemy in a video game published for the SNES, as that violated Nintendo's ban on violence against women. Capcom countered that there were no female enemies in the game, revealing that the female characters Roxy and Poison were transsexuals. The characters were nevertheless removed from the international versions of the SNES port (the Japanese Super Famicom version retained the characters). However, in 1993, Sega obtained the rights to release the game for their Sega CD. In a sign of Sega's more liberal policies, Poison and Roxy could remain in the international versions, but with less-provocative clothing, and there could be no indication of their transgender status. (Sega of America later removed a homosexual boss and unlockable playable character called Ash from the international versions of Streets of Rage 3.)

In the 2016 role-playing video game Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, there is an optional dialogue tree in which the cleric Mizhena mentions that she was raised as a boy, indicating that she is a trans woman. This, along with a reference to the Gamergate controversy, attracted contention resulting in online harassment and insults towards the developers, especially against the game's writer Amber Scott. The game's Steam, GOG and Metacritic pages were bombarded with complaints that the transgender reference constituted "political correctness," "LGBT tokenism", "SJW pandering" and pushing a political agenda. On an April 2016 post, Beamdog announced they would expand Mizhena's story, saying in part, "In retrospect, it would have been better served if we had introduced a transgender character with more development." Paul Tumburro of CraveOnline termed this as "spineless and disappointing" stating that Beamdog's founder Trent Oster refused to acknowledge the transphobic criticisms leveled at the game.

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, developers introduced a not-obviously gendered character named Sheik. Eventually, Sheik is revealed to be Princess Zelda in disguise. Sheik never self identifies with any set of pronouns in the game; however, a character in the game refers to Sheik with male pronouns. Sheik's presence and gender ambiguity in Ocarina of Time created the “Sheik Gender Debate.” Two sides were taken in this debate – one that believed Sheik was simply cross dressing. The other side believed that Sheik was Princess Zelda assuming a male gender identity using some sort of magic. In 2014, Polygon asked Nintendo for a comment on the “Sheik Gender Debate.” Bill Trinen gave an official statement saying “The definitive answer is that Sheik is a woman – simply Zelda in a different outfit.”

In the 2016 Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link cannot enter Gerudo Town unless he dresses up as a woman. The player must find a character named Vilia in order to buy the women's clothing for Link. Vilia outwardly appears female, but upon speaking to her, the noises made when she speaks are deep. During a dialogue sequence between Link and Vilia, Vilia's face mask blows off in the wind to reveal – to Link's surprise – what appears to be facial hair. It is revealed that Vilia is merely a cross-dressing male Hylian in official media, such as Creating a Champion. However, it is not uncommon for fans to consider Vilia to be a trans woman.

The 2018 indie game Celeste had hinted and led to speculation by media and players that the player-character, Madeline, was a trans woman. This was later confirmed by the game's lead developer, Maddy Thorson, who herself has come out as a trans woman, the game in part an allusion to her own identity issues prior to opting to coming out.

Released in 2020 by Dontnod Entertainment, Tell Me Why features two main characters, one of which being Tyler Ronan, a trans man and the first transgender protagonist to be featured in a triple-A video game. The development team worked closely with LGBT charity GLAAD in order to ensure that Tyler's story was an "authentic representation of the trans experience". As part of this, trans actor August Aiden Black was cast to voice Tyler and worked collaboratively with the writers and developers.

Bridget from the fighting game series Guilty Gear was first introduced as a child who was assigned male at birth, was raised as a girl due to the superstitions of her village, and was secure in her gender identity as a feminine-presenting boy. In the 2021 game Guilty Gear Strive, Bridget appears as a DLC character, and she comes out as a transgender woman.

Gay characters in fighting games
Having gay male characters in fighting games can challenge the perception of homosexuality and masculinity. Nevertheless, hints about a particular character's sexual orientation in a fighting game often take the form of stereotypical femininity in an otherwise tough masculine character.

In the Mortal Kombat series, Kung Jin is a homosexual character. The story mode of Mortal Kombat X features an exchange between Jin and Raiden that implies Jin's sexuality. Jin's homosexuality was confirmed by NetherRealm Studios cinematic director Dominic Cianciolo. The same game also implies that Mileena and Tanya are in a relationship, or at least show obvious attraction to each other.

In Fighting EX Layer, the character Sharon has been revealed to be lesbian, making her one of the first openly lesbian characters in a fighting game.

Gay characters in action games
In 1996, Night Slave was a shooter RPG released for the PC-98 that have cut scenes in which occasionally contain lesbian adult content.

The PlayStation 3 game The Last of Us (2013) was praised for its gay and lesbian characters, including teenage protagonist Ellie. GLAAD, the American organization promoting the image of LGBT people in the media, named the supporting character Bill one of "the most intriguing new LGBT characters of 2013".

LGBT visual novels and independent games
Many visual novels and independent games are created by independent creators and may sometimes include or be focused on LGBT themes and narratives. Many of these narratives themselves sometimes come from the personal perspective of a member of the development team. These depictions tend to be more similar to the struggles of being LGBT in the real world but often take place in universes where homosexuality is normalized and acceptable. One of the first known games with LGBT themes was Caper in the Castro in 1989, a detective adventure game that was written in the onset of the United States AIDS crisis when queer people were being mistreated and their struggles were being largely ignored. The game's author, C.M. Ralph, wrote the story to help promote awareness of LGBT themes of the time.

In the 2013 exploration visual novel Gone Home, the player takes on the role of a young woman who returns to her dilapidated household which is mysteriously empty. By collecting clues, she uncovers that her sister has recently come out to her family as a lesbian which caused an issue between the protagonist's parents and the elder daughter herself. This leaves the house in disarray and leaving the player a non-linear way of piecing together the situation.

In the 2015 action-visual novel Life Is Strange, you take on the role of Max Caulfield, an eighteen-year-old student and photographer who has discovered that she can turn back time at will. She uses this power to try and save her town after seeing its destruction in a vision in tandem with solving a mystery of a girl who had gone missing before the beginning of the story. Throughout the story, Max and Chloe Price bond. Chloe is a friend from Max's childhood and helps Max throughout the series as they try to stop the destruction of their town together as they develop a better understanding of one another as both friends and lovers. Chloe Price is an implied Lesbian, while Max Caulfield's sexuality is mostly unknown. Ultimately, Life is Strange is met with some criticisms on the writing with the player ultimately having to choose between saving Chloe and letting all other characters and their town be destroyed or by letting Chloe die and saving the entirety of the town. If you chose a route where you make your main love interest Chloe Price, you have a goodbye kiss in the Sacrifice Chloe ending.

In the 2017 independent visual novel Butterfly Soup, you take on the respective roles of four queer Asian-American girls who attend their first year of high school and their local baseball club. The plot mostly follows the lives of Diya and Mihn-Soo, and deals with many themes such as child abuse and homophobia but retains a very lighthearted theme overall.

In the 2017 visual novel Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator, the protagonist which is a created character, can assume the identity of a cisgender male, or a transgender male, and is also given the option to be bisexual or homosexual, which is denoted by having a conversation with the protagonist's daughter about her life up to this point. Most of the characters themselves don't reference their sexuality in any way, but some are clearly bisexual or at least, bi-curious, as evidenced by the character Joseph who in-game is married with a wife and several children but is still a romance-able character. The character Damian who is a romance-able option in the game is also revealed to be a transgender male at the beginning of his playable content as evidenced by his dialogue and his use of a chest binder.

In the 2018 visual novel Monster Prom, you can play as one of four characters based on contemporary popular monsters in popular culture. Monster Prom is treated as a single-player experience and also a competitive experience. Monster Prom while more on the side of fantasy deals with themes like coming of age situations and a queer outlook on specific historical events, as well as Lovecraftian fiction and aesthetics. Monster prom also is the first major visual novel to include an option to identify as non-binary, with the option to use different pronouns at the beginning of the game.

Same-sex relationships
Same-sex relationships as an option available to players in video games were first portrayed in the role-playing genre.

The original Game Boy game Great Greed, released in September 1992, featured the possibility of your male protagonist's marriage to a variety of characters at the end of the game that included any of the king's daughters (except the eleven year old), the elderly court magician, the queen, and even the king himself. While possibly not the absolute earliest appearance of same-sex relationships in video games it is much earlier than the current runner-up, Fallout 2.

Fallout 2 (1998) is the second game to allow players to marry a character of the same sex, and Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999) allows players to engage in a same-sex relationship. Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000) depicted a romance between the player character and NPC Telsia Murphy, which played out the same way regardless of whether the player chose to play male "Alexander" or female "Alexandra". Fable (2004) allowed same-sex marriage among a wide range of domestic activities. In life simulator The Sims (2000), the sexual orientation of characters was set depending on the player's actions. However, same-sex couples were described as "roommates", and they could not get married. Same-sex marriage was made available in the 2004 sequel Sims 2.

BioWare's RPGs, including the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series (since 2003), Mass Effect series (since 2007), and Dragon Age series (since 2009) are particularly noted for their inclusion of LGBT characters and same-sex romance options. The Elder Scrolls series made same-sex relationships available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). Among Japanese RPG series, Final Fantasy allowed same-sex relationships with a patch to Final Fantasy XIV in 2014, and Fire Emblem did so with Fire Emblem Fates (2016).

The release of The Temple of Elemental Evil, a role-playing video game developed by Troika Games, created controversy in 2003 due to the availability of the option for a male character to enter a same-sex marriage. In the town of Nulb, a pirate named Bertram begins flirting with male characters in the party and offers a lifetime of love and happiness in exchange for his freedom. This relationship was noted as another example of video games "pushing the boundaries" by The Guardian. Game developers and publishers generally did not object to the inclusion of a homosexual story option. Criticism of the relationship came primarily from gamers who felt that gay characters should not be included in video games. Industry observer Matthew D. Barton commented on the irony of so-called "geeky gamers", subject to stereotyping themselves, stereotyping gays in their opposition. Producer Tom Decker defended the move, saying in an interview with RPG Vault: "I particularly felt strongly that since we had several heterosexual marriages available in Hommlet, we should include at least one homosexual encounter in the game and not to make it a stereotyped, over the top situation, but on par with the other relationships available in the game". Bertram was named #6 on GayGamer.net's Top 20 Gayest Video Game Characters.

Undertale (2015) which won IGN's best PC Game of 2015 features a gender-neutral playable main character, Frisk. During the game, depending on the route the player takes, may encounter a dating simulation in which the gender of both parties are unclear and a major plot line is the development of a lesbian relationship between Undyne and Alphys.

The Outer Worlds (2019) features companion Parvati Holcomb, an asexual homoromantic, who can develop a relationship with Junlei Tennyson, a fellow engineer, with the help of the player by means of a sidequest.

Nintendo
In order to legally release a game for a Nintendo system, a developer must first obtain permission from Nintendo, which reserves the right to preview the games and demand changes before allowing their release. In this way, Nintendo exercises quality control and can prevent any content they deem objectionable or offensive from being released on their systems. Prior to the introduction of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994, a game sold for a Nintendo system could neither display, nor make reference to, illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol, violence against women, blood and graphic violence, profanity, nudity, religious symbols, political advocacy, or "sexually suggestive or explicit content."

In 1988, a creature in Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. 2, the miniboss named Birdo, was described in the original instruction manual as thinking he was a girl and wanting to be called "Birdetta". This was later censored by Nintendo of America in future appearances of the character. In 1992, Enix was ordered to remove a gay bar from Dragon Warrior III, among other content changes, before the game could be sold for a Nintendo system. The SNES version of Ultima VII: The Black Gate also had to be substantially altered from its original computer edition in order to remove potentially objectionable content, including ritual murders, and the option to have a male or female "bedmate" if the player paid a fee at the buccaneer-run island.

By the late 1990s, Nintendo had largely abandoned these censorship policies, as they felt the inclusion of ESRB ratings on the packaging would suitably communicate to consumers whether potentially objectionable content could be found in the game. In 2000, British video game developer Rare released Banjo-Tooie for the Nintendo 64, featuring a gay frog bartender named "Jolly Roger." The frog wanted Banjo & Kazooie to rescue his co-worker, Merry Maggie, a cross-dressing amphibian who appeared to be Jolly Roger's lover. Jolly Roger would return as a playable character in the Game Boy Advance game Banjo-Pilot (2005). Rare would also release Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001) for the Nintendo 64, featuring an alcoholic squirrel named Conker and his adventures in a world where all of the characters are foul-mouthed creatures who made various dirty jokes in reference to hangovers, homosexuality and oral sex. Enix re-released Dragon Warrior III for the Game Boy Color and was allowed to keep all of the original content, provided the game was given a Teen rating by the ESRB.

Although there is no policy anymore against featuring such content, Nintendo has come under fire for omitting the option of same-sex romance and LGBT expression in their franchises (as well as third-party games released on Nintendo Consoles) on several occasions, with the most notable and vocal controversy stemming from the video game Tomodachi Life. Marriage plays a big role in the game, which does not include the option of same-sex marriage.

With the release of the Nintendo Switch, the current Nintendo president, Shuntaro Furukawa has been quoted, saying that the company will not censor third party releases, believing that the rating systems such as CERO and the ESRB for example, are more than enough to provide content regulation as well as the built in parental controls. Since then, games with LGBT themes and expressions have been released on the console itself unchanged, with ports such as Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator and 2064: Read Only Memories listed on the eShop itself. Nintendo's stance on this applying to their first party franchises however is currently unknown, though the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons made news over its genderless options.

Sega
Like Nintendo, Sega policed the content of games for Sega systems. Unlike Nintendo, Sega's initial system of censorship was more liberal. Their content code allowed games to have blood, more graphic violence, female enemies, and more sexually suggestive themes.

Although Sega allowed LGBT themes and characters in games sold for its home console systems, Sega often chose to tone down or erase LGBT characters when porting Asian games to American markets. In Phantasy Star II, a musician's homosexuality was edited so that the only acknowledgment of his sexual orientation was his practice of charging all male characters less money for his music lessons.

In 1992, when Final Fight CD was released for the Sega CD and Vendetta was released for the Sega Genesis, minor transgender and homosexual enemies were censored. Sega's Streets of Rage 3 removed a gay villain wearing Village People attire and transformed a transsexual villain into a man with long hair.

In 1993, Sega developed the Videogame Rating Council to give content-based ratings to all games sold for a Sega system, thus reducing the need for Sega to maintain a content code for its developers. When Rise of the Dragon was developed by Dynamix for the Sega CD, a transgender bar patron was retained from the original computer edition, as was a gay joke relating to the playable character mistaking his girlfriend for a man with long hair. As a result, the game was given the council's "MA-17" rating.

Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
In 1994, several top gaming publishers formed the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) as the trade association of the video game industry. Shortly after its creation, the ESA established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to independently assign individual games content ratings and descriptors according to a variety of factors. Identification of sexuality falls under the sexual content description which is allowed for games rated Teen to Adults Only.

Following the establishment of the ESRB, console developers relaxed their in-house regulations in favor of ESRB ratings. In 1994, Sega dissolved its Videogame Rating Council after only one year in existence.

Asian games
Most games made in Japan, Korea and Taiwan are produced for local audiences. In Japanese popular culture, gay and bisexual men were often considered bishōnen, which translates as "beautiful boys." This was also tied to the success in Japan of comic books and animation with open and subtle LGBT characters. A select genre of adult pornographic Japanese games called H-games includes gay male and gay female subgenres. This material generally does not make it over to the west in English, and western reviews of the gay male video games tend to see the homosexuality as a gimmick in an otherwise mediocre game. However, homosexuality, while relatively innocuous among celebrities in Japan, can still be considered an oddity due to Japan's regimented and conservative social structure. Despite a lack of strong social stigma, homosexuality in men is commonly misconstrued with transgenderism and transvestism in Japan and open homosexuality is rare, due to conformity.

Marketing to LGBT consumers
The belief that young, white, heterosexual males were the force driving the industry forward was strongly challenged by the record-breaking success of The Sims. Video game developer Maxis had resisted Will Wright's goal of creating the title on the grounds that "girls don't play video games." The title was seen as unappealing to young heterosexual males. In the 1990s, the industry began to make some effort to market games to women by creating software titles with strong, independent female characters, such as those in Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Some video game companies are now moving to further expand their marketing base to include the perceived market of affluent homosexual young men by including LGBT characters and supporting LGBT rights. BioWare included female same-sex scenes in Mass Effect, female same-sex relationships in Mass Effect 2 and same-sex relationships for either gender in Mass Effect 3, and allowed sexual interaction between any gender groups in Dragon Age: Origins. In Dragon Age II, this was taken even further by allowing all romance-able party members to be romanced by any gender (with the exception of a particular DLC-only companion), as opposed to the first game's requirement of choosing between two bisexual rogues.

Even some games that are considered to appeal mainly to the non-traditional demographic continue to censor homosexuality. For instance, despite the tremendous success of The Sims, even the most recent version of the franchise suppresses homosexual identity. Autonomous romantic interactions exist only for heterosexual characters by default. In The Sims 3, players must manually initiate multiple same-sex romantic interactions before a character will be "converted" to homosexuality and begin to engage in such interactions autonomously. The town will then be marked gay-friendly, unlocking the autonomy for other characters. If a player does not force at least one character to engage in same-sex advances several times, the player's town will have no visible homosexuality.

Recognition
GLAAD announced it had created a new category to recognize video games and debuting in its 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2019, acknowledging those games with positive depictions of LGBT themes.

Criticism
Critics of the suppression of gay identity often conclude that, as homosexuality is normalized in broader culture, it will be in video games as well.

A 2006 survey exploring gay gamers was the first academic study of any gamer group. With about 10,000 respondents, the survey exhibited a reverse bell curve of gamer sexuality, with most people identifying as either completely heterosexual or homosexual.

A 2009 academic paper explored the cultural production of LGBT representation in video games and found that factors that would lead to a significant increase in LGBT content included: the presence of motivated producers in the industry (those that are personally, politically, or commercially interested in LGBT content), how the audience for a text or medium is constructed (what the public backlash from both the LGBT community and conservative groups will be, as well as industry-based reprisals in the form of censorship or ratings), the structure of the industry and how it is funded, and how homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender identities can be represented in the medium.

title: LGBT themes in video games


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File:Dublin County Council.png

Summary
Arms of Dublin County Council

Source: http://www.ngw.nl/int/ier/counties/dublin.htm

Fair use as the corporate logo of a historic organisation - no longer in existence - and for cultural value.

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M-75 (Michigan highway)

M-75 is a 11.768 mi segment of state trunkline highway located in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. This highway serves as a loop off US Highway 131 (US 131), providing access to Boyne City. The highway happens to be geographically close to Interstate 75 (I-75), but they are not related.

Route description
M-75 begins in downtown Boyne Falls at an intersection with US 131. It follows Mill Street northwesterly out of town, passing to the north of a lake and the Boyne Mountain Airport. The airport property ends at the intersection with C-48 west of Boyne Falls. M-75 runs parallel to the Boyne River until it turns west near the Boyne City Municipal Airport to enter the community of Boyne City on East Division Street. Two blocks further west, it meets C-73/East Jordan Road next to the Maple Lawn Cemetery. Next to the cemetery, the highway follows Boyne Avenue northwesterly into downtown. The trunkline turns north on East Street to cross the Boyne River and then turns east on State Street passing Rotary Park on the way out of town. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) measures the average annual daily traffic (AADT) in traffic surveys. AADT is a measure of the average traffic levels for a section of roadway on any given day of the year. The southern segment of M-75 carried 6,500 vehicles daily in the 2007 survey. Of these vehicles, commercial traffic was measured at 280 trucks.

East of Boyne City, M-75 turns northward and runs in that direction until turning again to follow the south shore of Walloon Lake. There it follows North Shore Drive into the town of Walloon Lake. M-75 ends at an intersection with US 131. The roadway continues eastward as C-81/Springvale Road. This northern segment carried 4,100 vehicles and 170 trucks in 2007. Neither segment is listed on the National Highway System, a system of strategically important highways.

History
In 1919, the trunkline running through Boyne City was originally labeled M-57. In 1927, the entire highway was renumbered, and since this change, the trunkline has carried the M-75 moniker. The M-75 designation was left unaltered when US 27 between Gaylord and Indian River was converted to a freeway; this freeway was redesignated as I-75 in 1962. Some states, such as California, do not allow two highways in their state to carry the same highway number, which is not the case in Michigan. A reconstruction project in 1966 bypassed some sharp curves in the roadway and straightened sections between Boyne City and Walloon Lake. As of 2008, the highway remains unaltered since the reconstruction.

title: M-75 (Michigan highway)


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User:ParkingStones/Low-power broadcasting

Low-power broadcasting is the concept of broadcasting at very low power and low cost, to a small community area. These stations tend to serve small towns, if not completely rural areas in the United States, largely because they cannot fit into large cities already crowded by full-power stations.

FM radio
In the U.S., the FCC finally re-legalized LPFM licenses, after the NAB, CPB, and NPR convinced them to stop issuing the FM class D license in 1978, which forced many stations off the air.

The Prometheus Radio Project is an advocacy group for LPFM.

LPFM classes in the United States:
 * Class L1 (LP100) is from 50 to 100 watts ERP.
 * Class L2 (L10) is at least 1 and up to 10 watts ERP.
 * Class D is 10 watts TPO or less, regardless of ERP, and are no longer issued for LPFM services (since 1978), though they are still issued for broadcast translators.

AM radio
LPAM is generally not licensed in the U.S., but is allowed on the campus of any school, so long as the normal Part 15 rules are adhered to when measured at the edge of the campus. Most college radio stations started out this way. Stations may have freestanding radio antennas, or may use carrier current methods to ride on power lines. These signals cannot pass through transformers, however, and are prone to the electromagnetic interference of the alternating current.

The exception is Travelers' Information Stations (TIS), sometimes also called highway advisory radio (HAR). These are licensed LPAM stations set up by local transportation departments to provide bulletins to motorists and other travelers regarding traffic and other delays. These are often near highways and airports, and occasionally other tourism attractions such as national parks. Only governments may have licenses for TIS/HAR stations, and music is disallowed.

Television
LPTV is common in the U.S., where stations are free to either originate their own programming, or to relay a main TV station as a broadcast translator.

Some LPTV stations which broadcast their own programming were allowed a slight upgrade to a new "class A" status.