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Colonial Africa

The colonial history of Africa spans from colonial period until the postcolonial period in the history of Africa.

Southern Africa
By the 1850s, British and German missionaries and traders had penetrated present-day Namibia. The Herero and Nama peoples competed for guns and ammunition, providing cattle, ivory, and ostrich feathers. The Germans were more firmly established than the British in the region. By 1884, the Germans declared the coastal region from the Orange River to the Kunene River a German protectorate, part of German South West Africa. They pursued an aggressive policy of land expansion for white settlements. They exploited rivalry between the Nama and Herero.

The Herero entered into an alliance with the Germans, thinking they could get an upper hand on the Nama. The Germans set up a garrison at the Herero capital and started allocating Herero land for white settlements, including the best grazing land in the central plateau, and made tax and labor demands. The Herero and Ovambanderu rebelled, but the rebellion was crushed and leaders were executed. Between 1896 and 1897, rinderpest impaired the Herero and Nama economy and slowed white expansion. The Germans continued the policy of making Namibia a white settlement by seizing land and cattle, and even trying to export Herero labor to South Africa.

In 1904, the Herero rebelled again. German General Lothar von Trotha implemented an extermination policy at the Battle of Waterberg, which drove the Herero west of the Kalahari Desert. At the end of 1905, only 16,000 Herero were alive, out of a previous population of 80,000. Nama resistance was crushed in 1907. All Nama and Herero cattle and land were confiscated from the very diminished population, with remaining Nama and Herero assuming a subordinate position. Labor had to be imported from among the Ovambo.

Nguniland

A moment of great disorder in southern Africa was the Mfecane, "the crushing." It was started by the northern Nguni kingdoms of Mthethwa, Ndwandwe, and Swaziland over scarce resource and famine. When Dingiswayo of Mthethwa died, Shaka of the Zulu people took over. He established the Zulu Kingdom, asserting authority over the Ndwandwe and pushing the Swazi north. The scattering Ndwandwe and Swazi caused the Mfecane to spread. During the 1820s, Shaka expanded the empire all along the Drakensberg foothills, with tribute being paid as far south as the Tugela and Umzimkulu rivers. He replaced the chiefs of conquered polities with indunas, responsible to him. He introduced a centralized, dedicated, and disciplined military force not seen in the region, with a new weapon in the short stabbing-spear.

In 1828, Shaka was assassinated by his half brother Dingane, who lacked the military genius and leadership skills of Shaka. Voortrekkers tried to occupy Zulu land in 1838. In the early months they were defeated, but the survivors regrouped at the Ncome River and soundly defeated the Zulu. However, the Voortrekkers dared not settle Zulu land. Dingane was killed in 1840 during a civil war. His brother Mpande took over and strengthened Zulu territories to the north. In 1879 the Zulu Kingdom was invaded by Britain in a quest to control all of South Africa. The Zulu Kingdom was victorious at the Battle of Isandlwana but was defeated at the Battle of Ulundi.

One of the major states to emerge from the Mfecane was the Sotho Kingdom founded at Thaba Bosiu by Moshoeshoe I around 1821 to 1822. It was a confederation of different polities that accepted the absolute authority of Moshoeshoe. During the 1830s, the kingdom invited missionaries as a strategic means of acquiring guns and horses from the Cape. The Orange Free State slowly diminished the kingdom but never completely defeated it. In 1868, Moshoeshoe asked that the Sotho Kingdom be annexed by Britain, to save the remnant. It became the British protectorate of Basutoland.

Sotho-Tswana
The arrival of the ancestors of the Tswana-speakers who came to control the region (from the Vaal River to Botswana) has yet to be dated precisely although AD 600 seems to be a consensus estimate. This massive cattle-raising complex prospered until 1300 AD or so. All these various peoples were connected to trade routes that ran via the Limpopo River to the Indian Ocean, and trade goods from Asia such as beads made their way to Botswana most likely in exchange for ivory, gold, and rhinoceros horn. The first written records relating to modern-day Botswana appear in 1824. What these records show is that the Bangwaketse had become the predominant power in the region. Under the rule of Makaba II, the Bangwaketse kept vast herds of cattle in well-protected desert areas, and used their military prowess to raid their neighbours. Other chiefdoms in the area, by this time, had capitals of 10,000 or so and were fairly prosperous. This equilibrium came to end during the Mfecane period, 1823–1843, when a succession of invading peoples from South Africa entered the country. Although the Bangwaketse were able to defeat the invading Bakololo in 1826, over time all the major chiefdoms in Botswana were attacked, weakened, and impoverished. The Bakololo and Amandebele raided repeatedly, and took large numbers of cattle, women, and children from the Batswana—most of whom were driven into the desert or sanctuary areas such as hilltops and caves. Only after 1843, when the Amandebele moved into western Zimbabwe, did this threat subside.During the 1840s and 1850s trade with Cape Colony-based merchants opened up and enabled the Batswana chiefdoms to rebuild. The Bakwena, Bangwaketse, Bangwato and Batawana cooperated to control the lucrative ivory trade, and then used the proceeds to import horses and guns, which in turn enabled them to establish control over what is now Botswana. This process was largely complete by 1880, and thus the Bushmen, the Bakalanga, the Bakgalagadi, the Batswapong and other current minorities were subjugated by the Batswana. Following the Great Trek, Afrikaners from the Cape Colony established themselves on the borders of Botswana in the Transvaal. In 1852 a coalition of Tswana chiefdoms led by Sechele I resisted Afrikaner incursions, and after about eight years of intermittent tensions and hostilities, eventually came to a peace agreement in Potchefstroom in 1860. From that point on, the modern-day border between South Africa and Botswana was agreed on, and the Afrikaners and Batswana traded and worked together peacefully. In the 1820s, refugees from the Zulu expansion under Shaka came into contact with the Basotho people residing on the highveld. In 1823, those pressures caused one group of Basotho, the Kololo, to migrate north, past the Okavango Swamp and across the Zambezi into Barotseland, now part of Zambia. In 1845, the Kololo conquered Barotseland.

At about the same time, the Boers began to encroach upon Basotho territory. After the Cape Colony had been ceded to Britain at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, the voortrekkers ("pioneers") were farmers who opted to leave the former Dutch colony and moved inland where they eventually established independent polities.

At the time of these developments, Moshoeshoe I gained control of the Basotho kingdoms of the southern Highveld. Universally praised as a skilled diplomat and strategist, he was able to wield the disparate refugee groups escaping the Difaqane into a cohesive nation. His inspired leadership helped his small nation to survive the dangers and pitfalls (the Zulu hegemony, the inward expansion of the voortrekkers and the designs of imperial Britain) that destroyed other indigenous South African kingdoms during the 19th century.

In 1822, Moshoeshoe established his capital at Butha-Buthe, an easily defensible mountain in the northern Drakensberg mountains, laying the foundations of the eventual Kingdom of Lesotho. His capital was later moved to Thaba Bosiu.

To deal with the encroaching voortrekker groups, Moshoeshoe encouraged French missionary activity in his kingdom. Missionaries sent by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society provided the King with foreign affairs counsel and helped to facilitate the purchase of modern weapons.

Aside from acting as state ministers, missionaries (primarily Casalis and Arbousset) played a vital role in delineating Sesotho orthography and printing Sesotho language materials between 1837 and 1855. The first Sesotho translation of the Bible appeared in 1878.

In 1868, after losing the western lowlands to the Boers during the Free State–Basotho Wars; Moshoeshoe successfully appealed to Queen Victoria to proclaim Lesotho (then known as Basutoland) a protectorate of Britain and the British administration was placed in Maseru, the site of Lesotho's current capital. Local chieftains retained power over internal affairs while Britain was responsible for foreign affairs and the defence of the protectorate. In 1869, the British sponsored a process by which the borders of Basutoland were finally demarcated. While many clans had territory within Basutoland, large numbers of Sesotho speakers resided in areas allocated to the Orange Free State, the sovereign voortrekker republic that bordered the Basotho kingdom.

Voortrekkers

By the 19th century, most Khoikhoi territory was under Boer control. The Khoikhoi had lost economic and political independence and had been absorbed into Boer society. The Boers spoke Afrikaans, a language or dialect derived from Dutch, and no longer called themselves Boers but Afrikaners. Some Khoikhoi were used as commandos in raids against other Khoikhoi and later Xhosa. A mixed Khoi, slave, and European population called the Cape Coloureds, who were outcasts within colonial society, also arose. Khoikhoi who lived far on the frontier included the Kora, Oorlams, and Griqua. In 1795, the British took over the cape colony from the Dutch.

In the 1830s, Boers embarked on a journey of expansion, east of the Great Fish River into the Zuurveld. They were referred to as Voortrekkers. They founded republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, mostly in areas of sparse population that had been diminished by the Mfecane/Difaqane. Unlike the Khoisan, the Bantu states were not conquered by the Afrikaners, because of population density and greater unity. Additionally, they began to arm themselves with guns acquired through trade at the cape. In some cases, as in the Xhosa/Boer Wars, Boers were removed from Xhosa lands. It required a dedicated imperial military force to subdue the Bantu-speaking states. In 1901, the Boer republics were defeated by Britain in the Second Boer War. The defeat however consummated many Afrikaners' ambition: South Africa would be under white rule. The British placed all power—legislative, executive, administrative—in English and Afrikaner hands.

European trade, exploration and conquest

Between 1878 and 1898, European states partitioned and conquered most of Africa. For 400 years, European nations had mainly limited their involvement to trading stations on the African coast. Few dared venture inland from the coast; those that did, like the Portuguese, often met defeats and had to retreat to the coast. Several technological innovations helped to overcome this 400-year pattern. One was the development of repeating rifles, which were easier and quicker to load than muskets. Artillery was being used increasingly. In 1885, Hiram S. Maxim developed the maxim gun, the model of the modern-day machine gun. European states kept these weapons largely among themselves by refusing to sell these weapons to African leaders.

African germs took numerous European lives and deterred permanent settlements. Diseases such as yellow fever, sleeping sickness, yaws, and leprosy made Africa a very inhospitable place for Europeans. The deadliest disease was malaria, endemic throughout Tropical Africa. In 1854, the discovery of quinine and other medical innovations helped to make conquest and colonization in Africa possible.

Strong motives for conquest of Africa were at play. Raw materials were needed for European factories. Europe in the early part of the 19th century was undergoing its Industrial Revolution. Nationalist rivalries and prestige were at play. Acquiring African colonies would show rivals that a nation was powerful and significant. These factors culminated in the Scramble for Africa.

Knowledge of Africa increased. Numerous European explorers began to explore the continent. Mungo Park traversed the Niger River. James Bruce travelled through Ethiopia and located the source of the Blue Nile. Richard Francis Burton was the first European at Lake Tanganyika. Samuel White Baker explored the Upper Nile. John Hanning Speke located a source of the Nile at Lake Victoria. Other significant European explorers included Heinrich Barth, Henry Morton Stanley (coiner of the term "Dark Continent" for Africa in an 1878 book), Silva Porto, Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Rene Caille, Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs, Gustav Nachtigal, George Schweinfurth, and Joseph Thomson. The most famous of the explorers was David Livingstone, who explored southern Africa and traversed the continent from the Atlantic at Luanda to the Indian Ocean at Quelimane. European explorers made use of African guides and servants, and established long-distance trading routes.

Missionaries attempting to spread Christianity also increased European knowledge of Africa. Between 1884 and 1885, European nations met at the Berlin West Africa Conference to discuss the partitioning of Africa. It was agreed that European claims to parts of Africa would only be recognised if Europeans provided effective occupation. In a series of treaties in 1890–1891, colonial boundaries were completely drawn. All of Sub-Saharan Africa was claimed by European powers, except for Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia.

The European powers set up a variety of different administrations in Africa, reflecting different ambitions and degrees of power. In some areas, such as parts of British West Africa, colonial control was tenuous and intended for simple economic extraction, strategic power, or as part of a long-term development plan. In other areas, Europeans were encouraged to settle, creating settler states in which a European minority dominated. Settlers only came to a few colonies in sufficient numbers to have a strong impact. British settler colonies included British East Africa (now Kenya), Northern and Southern Rhodesia, (Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively), and South Africa, which already had a significant population of European settlers, the Boers. France planned to settle Algeria and eventually incorporate it into the French state on an equal basis with the European provinces. Algeria's proximity across the Mediterranean allowed plans of this scale.

In most areas colonial administrations did not have the manpower or resources to fully administer the territory and had to rely on local power structures to help them. Various factions and groups within the societies exploited this European requirement for their own purposes, attempting to gain positions of power within their own communities by cooperating with Europeans. One aspect of this struggle included what Terence Ranger has termed the "invention of tradition." In order to legitimize their own claims to power in the eyes of both the colonial administrators and their own people, native elites would essentially manufacture "traditional" claims to power, or ceremonies. As a result, many societies were thrown into disarray by the new order.

Following the Scramble for Africa, an early but secondary focus for most colonial regimes was the suppression of slavery and the slave trade. By the end of the colonial period they were mostly successful in this aim, though slavery is still very active in Africa.

France versus Britain: the Fashoda crisis of 1898

As a part of the Scramble for Africa, France had the establishment of a continuous west–east axis of the continent as an objective, in contrast with the British north–south axis. Tensions between Britain and France reached tinder stage in Africa. At several points war was possible, but never happened. The most serious episode was the Fashoda Incident of 1898. French troops tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan, and a much more powerful British force purporting to be acting in the interests of the Khedive of Egypt arrived to confront them. Under heavy pressure the French withdrew securing British control over the area. The status quo was recognised by an agreement between the two states acknowledging British control over Egypt, while France became the dominant power in Morocco, but France suffered a humiliating defeat overall.

European colonial territories

Belgium
 * Congo Free State and Belgian Congo (today's Democratic Republic of the Congo)
 * Ruanda-Urundi (comprising modern Rwanda and Burundi, between 1916 and 1960)

France

 * French West Africa:
 * Mauritania
 * Senegal
 * French Sudan (now Mali)
 * French Guinea (now Guinea)
 * Ivory Coast
 * Niger
 * French Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)
 * French Dahomey (now Benin)
 * French Algeria (now Algeria)
 * Tunisia
 * French Morocco
 * French Somaliland (now Djibouti)
 * Madagascar
 * Comoros
 * French Equatorial Africa:
 * Gabon
 * Middle Congo (now the Republic of the Congo)
 * Oubangi-Chari (now the Central African Republic)
 * Chad

Germany
 * German Kamerun (now Cameroon and part of Nigeria)
 * German East Africa (now Rwanda, Burundi and most of Tanzania)
 * German South West Africa (now Namibia)
 * German Togoland (now Togo and eastern part of Ghana)

Italy
 * Italian North Africa (now Libya)
 * Eritrea
 * Italian Somaliland (now part of Somalia)

Portugal

 * Portuguese West Africa (now Angola)
 * Mainland Angola
 * Portuguese Congo (now Cabinda Province of Angola)
 * Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique)
 * Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau)
 * Cape Verde Islands
 * São Tomé e Príncipe
 * São Tomé Island
 * Príncipe Island
 * Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá (now Ouidah, in Benin)

Spain

 * Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara)
 * Río de Oro
 * Saguia el-Hamra
 * Spanish Morocco
 * Tarfaya Strip
 * Ifni
 * Spanish Guinea (now Equatorial Guinea)
 * Fernando Po
 * Río Muni
 * Annobón

United Kingdom

 * Egypt
 * Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (now Sudan)
 * British Somaliland (now part of Somalia)
 * British East Africa:
 * Kenya
 * Uganda Protectorate (now Uganda)
 * Tanganyika (1919–1961, now part of Tanzania)
 * Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania)
 * Bechuanaland (now Botswana)
 * Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
 * Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
 * British South Africa (now South Africa)
 * Transvaal (now part of South Africa)
 * Cape Colony (now part of South Africa)
 * Colony of Natal (now part of South Africa)
 * Orange Free State (now part of South Africa)
 * The Gambia
 * Sierra Leone
 * Nigeria
 * Cameroons (now parts of Cameroon and Nigeria)
 * British Gold Coast (now Ghana)
 * Nyasaland (now Malawi)
 * Basutoland (now Lesotho)
 * Swaziland

Independent states
 * Liberia, founded by the American Colonization Society of the United States in 1821; declared independence from the United States in 1847
 * Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) had its borders re-drawn with Italian Eritrea and French Somaliland (modern Djibouti), briefly occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941 during the Abyssinia Crisis;
 * Sudan, independent under Mahdi rule between 1885 and 1899. It was then under British rule from 1899 to 1956.

20th century
In the 1880s the European powers had divided up almost all of Africa (only Ethiopia and Liberia were independent). They ruled until after World War II when forces of nationalism grew much stronger. In the 1950s and 1960s the colonial holdings became independent states. The process was usually peaceful but there were several long bitter bloody civil wars, as in Algeria, Kenya and elsewhere. Across Africa the powerful new force of nationalism drew upon the organizational skills that natives learned in the British and French and other armies in the world wars. It led to organizations that were not controlled by or endorsed by either the colonial powers not the traditional local power structures that were collaborating with the colonial powers. Nationalistic organizations began to challenge both the traditional and the new colonial structures and finally displaced them. Leaders of nationalist movements took control when the European authorities exited; many ruled for decades or until they died off. These structures included political, educational, religious, and other social organizations. In recent decades, many African countries have undergone the triumph and defeat of nationalistic fervor, changing in the process the loci of the centralizing state power and patrimonial state.

World War I

With the vast majority of the continent under the colonial control of European governments, the World Wars were significant events in the geopolitical history of Africa. Africa was a theater of war and saw fighting in both wars. More important in most regions, the total war footing of colonial powers impacted the governance of African colonies, through resource allocation, conscription, and taxation. In World War I there were several campaigns in Africa, including the Togoland Campaign, the Kamerun campaign, the South West Africa campaign, and the East African campaign. In each, Allied forces, primarily British, but also French, Belgian, South African, and Portuguese, sought to force the Germans out of their African colonies. In each, German forces were badly outnumbered and, due to Allied naval superiority, were cut off from reinforcement or resupply. The Allies eventually conquered all German colonies; German forces in East Africa managed to avoid surrender throughout the war, though they could not hold any territory after 1917. After World War I, former German colonies in Africa were taken over by France, Belgium, and the British Empire.

After World War I, colonial powers continued to consolidate their control over their African territories. In some areas, particularly in Southern and East Africa, large settler populations were successful in pressing for additional devolution of administration, so-called "home rule" by the white settlers. In many cases, settler regimes were harsher on African populations, tending to see them more as a threat to political power, as opposed to colonial regimes which had generally endeavored to co-opt local populations into economic production. The Great Depression strongly affected Africa's non-subsistence economy, much of which was based on commodity production for Western markets. As demand increased in the late 1930s, Africa's economy rebounded as well.

Africa was the site of one of the first instances of fascist territorial expansions in the 1930s. Italy had attempted to conquer Ethiopia in the 1890s but had been rebuffed in the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Ethiopia lay between two Italian colonies, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea and was invaded in October 1935. With an overwhelming advantage in armor and aircraft, by May 1936, Italian forces had occupied the capital of Addis Ababa and effectively declared victory. Ethiopia and their other colonies were consolidated into Italian East Africa.

World War II: Political

Africa was a large continent whose geography gave it strategic importance during the war. North Africa was the scene of major British and American campaigns against Italy and Germany; East Africa was the scene of a major British campaign against Italy. The vast geography provided major transportation routes linking the United States to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. The sea route around South Africa was heavily used even though it added 40 days to voyages that had to avoid the dangerous Suez region. Lend Lease supplies to Russia often came this way. Internally, long-distance road and railroad connections facilitated the British war effort. The Union of South Africa had dominion status and was largely self-governing, the other British possessions were ruled by the Colonial Office, usually with close ties to local chiefs and kings. Italian holdings were the target of successful British military campaigns. The Belgian Congo, and two other Belgian colonies, were major exporters. In terms of numbers and wealth, the British controlled the richest portions of Africa, and made extensive use not only of the geography, but the manpower, and the natural resources. Civilian colonial officials made a special effort to upgrade the African infrastructure, promote agriculture, integrate colonial Africa with the world economy, and recruit over a half million soldiers.

Before the war, Britain had made few plans for the utilization of Africa, but it quickly set up command structures. The Army set up the West Africa Command, which recruited 200,000 soldiers. The East Africa Command was created in September 1941 to support the overstretched Middle East Command. It provided the largest number of men, over 320,000, chiefly from Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda. The Southern Command was the domain of South Africa. The Royal Navy set up the South Atlantic Command based in Sierra Leone, that became one of the main convoy assembly points. The RAF Coastal Command had major submarine-hunting operations based in West Africa, while a smaller RAF command dealt with submarines in the Indian Ocean. Ferrying aircraft from North America and Britain was the major mission of the Western Desert Air Force. In addition smaller more localized commands were set up throughout the war.

Before 1939, the military establishments were very small throughout British Africa, and largely consisted of whites, who comprised under two percent of the population outside South Africa. As soon as the war began, newly created African units were set up, primarily by the Army. The new recruits were almost always volunteers, usually provided in close cooperation with local tribal leaders. During the war, military pay scales far exceeded what civilians natives could earn, especially when food, housing and clothing allowances are included. The largest numbers were in construction units, called Pioneer units, with over 82,000 soldiers. The RAF and Navy also did some recruiting. The volunteers did some fighting, a great deal of guard duty, and construction work. 80,000 served in the Middle East. A special effort was made not to challenge white supremacy, certainly before the war, and to a large extent during the war itself. Nevertheless, the soldiers were drilled and train to European standards, given strong doses of propaganda, and learn leadership and organizational skills that proved essential to the formation of nationalistic and independence movements after 1945. There were minor episodes of discontent, but nothing serious, among the natives. Afrikaner nationalism was a factor in South Africa, But the pro-German Afrikaner prime minister was replaced in 1939 by Jan Smuts, an Afrikaner who was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire. His government closely cooperated with London and raised 340,000 volunteers (190,000 were white, or about one-third of the eligible white men).

French Africa
As early as 1857, the French established volunteer units of black soldiers in sub-Sahara Africa, termed the Tirailleurs Sénégalais. They served in military operations throughout the Empire, including 171,000 soldiers in World War I and 160,000 in World War II. About 90,000 became POWs in Germany. The veterans played a central role in the postwar independence movement in French Africa.

Authorities in West Africa declared allegiance to the Vichy regime, as did the colony of French Gabon Vichy forces defeated a Free French Forces invasion of French West Africa in the two battles of Dakar in July and September 1940. Gabon fell to Free France after the Battle of Gabon in November 1940, but West Africa remained under Vichy control until November 1942. Vichy forces tried to resist the overwhelming Allied landings in North Africa (operation Torch) in November 1942. Vichy Admiral François Darlan suddenly switched sides and the fighting ended. The Allies gave Darlan control of North African French forces in exchange for support from both French North Africa as well as French West Africa. Vichy was now eliminated as a factor in Africa. Darlan was assassinated in December, and the two factions of Free French, led by Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud, jockeyed for power. De Gaulle finally won out.

World War II: Military
Since Germany had lost its African colonies following World War I, World War II did not reach Africa until Italy joined the war on June 10, 1940, controlling Libya and Italian East Africa. With the fall of France on June 25, most of France's colonies in North and West Africa were controlled by the Vichy government, though much of Central Africa fell under Free French control after some fighting between Vichy and Free French forces at the Battle of Dakar and the Battle of Gabon. After the fall of France, Africa was the only active theater for ground combat until the Italian invasion of Greece in October. In the Western Desert campaign Italian forces from Libya sought to overrun Egypt, controlled by the British. Simultaneously, in the East African campaign, Italian East African forces overran British Somaliland and some British outposts in Kenya and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. When Italy's efforts to conquer Egypt (including the crucial Suez Canal) and Sudan fell short, they were unable to reestablish supply to Italian East Africa. Without the ability to reinforce or resupply and surrounded by Allied possessions, Italian East Africa was conquered by mainly British and South African forces in 1941. In North Africa, the Italians soon requested help from the Germans who sent a substantial force under General Rommel. With German help, the Axis forces regained the upper hand but were unable to break through British defenses in two tries at El Alamein. In late 1942, Allied forces, mainly Americans and Canadians, invaded French North Africa in Operation Torch, where Vichy French forces initially surprised them with their resistance but were convinced to stop fighting after three days. The second front relieved pressure on the British in Egypt who began pushing west to meet up with the Torch forces, eventually pinning German and Italian forces in Tunisia, which was conquered by May 1943 in the Tunisia campaign, ending the war in Africa. The only other significant operations occurred in the French colony of Madagascar, which was invaded by the British in May 1942 to deny its ports to the Axis (potentially the Japanese who had reached the eastern Indian Ocean). The French garrisons in Madagascar surrendered in November 1942.

title: Colonial Africa


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Paolo Cirino Pomicino

Paolo Cirino Pomicino (born 3 September 1939) is an Italian politician, who was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2006 Italian general election representing the Christian Democracy for Autonomies.

Biography
Pomicino was born in Naples. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery and entered Christian Democracy for which he became first a member of Naples' city council, and then member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1976, a position he held until 1994.

A member of Giulio Andreotti's current, he was under minister of the Public Functions (1988-1989) and Minister of the Budget (1989-1992). He was nicknamed o' ministro ("The minister" in Neapolitan dialect). During his membership of DC, he has been convicted for illegal financing (sentenced to 1 year and 8 months) and he negotiated (thereby admitting guilt) 2 months for corruption and hidden funds. He was also involved in the scandal of the funds management for the reconstruction after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

Previously he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Southern region, elected on the UDEUR ticket. He sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and was a member of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia and a substitute for the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (including Libya). His attendance to the European Parliament plenary sessions, however, ranks among the lowest, with a mere 44 presences between 2004 and 2006.

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

title: Paolo Cirino Pomicino


text:
George Clapp Vaillant

George Clapp Vaillant (April 5, 1901 – May 13, 1945) was an American anthropologist.

George Clapp Vaillant was born 1901 in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Noble and Greenough School in his hometown. After finishing his secondary education at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he went to Harvard University where he received his bachelor's degree in 1922 and Ph.D. in 1927. His Ph.D. thesis established a chronology of Maya ceramics. Later on, his work launched the historical sequence of cultures in pre-Columbian Mexico.

During his college years, he worked at the Harvard Peabody Museum, and continued on excavating in Pecos, New Mexico. At the American Museum of Natural History in New York, N.Y., Vaillant was appointed the position of Assistant Curator in 1927, and promoted to Associate Curator three years later. He became an Honorary Curator at AMNH in 1941, when he accepted an invitation to become the Museum Director at the University of Pennsylvania. His position there was interrupted during the war when he became an Honorary Professor at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico in 1942, followed by a year in Peru where he served as the US State Department Cultural Relations Officer stationed in Lima (1943-1944). In 1944, he returned to Philadelphia, resuming his museum directorship at Penn.

Vaillant was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1943.

Vaillant conducted archaeological expeditions in the Southwest from 1921 to 1922 and 1922 to 1925, in Egypt from 1923 to 1924, and in Central America in 1926 and 1928 to 1936. He also organized archaeological programs throughout Latin America. Three major excavation sites in the Basin of Mexico, Zacatenco, Ticomán, and El Arbolillo, are located.

Aztecs of Mexico: Origins, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation was completed in 1941, and a second edition was published posthumously. His other book, Indian Arts in North America, was written in 1939. Vaillant also wrote several monographs on Middle American excavations.

Vaillant was known for the reconstruction of the early stages of Mexican Culture. His excavations at Zacatenco, Ticomán and El Arbollo established the framework for the Formative or Preclassic period in central Mexico. He was also known for his synthesis of Aztec history, which is also written in Aztecs in Mexico. Throughout his research of relating archaeology to the events and descriptions of colonial sources and Mexican traditions, Vaillant concentrated on problems of chronology and culture history. Later in his career Vaillant excavated at several Aztec sites (Chiconautla and Nonoalco), but failed to publish these projects. Several decades later Christina Elson and other scholars at the American Museum of Natural History completed the study of artifacts from these sites and began a program to publish them.

Vaillant shot himself in Devon, Pennsylvania in 1945, at the age of 44. His wife found him in their yard, a revolver next to him and a fatal wound through his head. The last person to see him alive was his elder son and namesake, George Eman Vaillant, who at that time was 10 years old.

Major publications

 * Vaillant, George C. (1930)  Excavations at Zacatenco. Anthropological Papers vol. 32, no. 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
 * Vaillant, George C. (1931)  Excavations at Ticoman. Anthropological Papers vol. 32, no. 2. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
 * Vaillant, George C. (1935)  Excavations at El Arbolillo. Anthropological Papers vol. 35, no. 2. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
 * Vaillant, George C. (1939)  Indian Arts in North America. Harper and Brothers, New York.
 * Vaillant, George C. (1941)  Aztecs of Mexico: Origin, Rise and Fall of the Aztec Nation. Doubleday Doran, Garden City.

title: George Clapp Vaillant


text:
Egg donation

Egg donation is the process by which a woman donates eggs to enable another woman to conceive as part of an assisted reproduction treatment or for biomedical research. For assisted reproduction purposes, egg donation typically involves in vitro fertilization technology, with the eggs being fertilized in the laboratory; more rarely, unfertilized eggs may be frozen and stored for later use. Egg donation is a third-party reproduction as part of assisted reproductive technology.

In the United States, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine has issued guidelines for these procedures, and the Food and Drug Administration has a number of guidelines as well. There are boards in countries outside of the US which have the same regulations. However, egg donation agencies in the U.S. can choose whether to abide by the society's regulations or not.

History
The first child born from egg donation was reported in Australia in 1983. In July 1983, a clinic in Southern California reported a pregnancy using egg donation, which led to the birth of the first American child born from egg donation on 3 February 1984. This procedure was performed at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine. In the procedure, which is no longer used today, a fertilized egg that was just beginning to develop was transferred from one woman in whom it had been conceived by artificial insemination to another woman who gave birth to the infant 38 weeks later. The sperm used in the artificial insemination came from the husband of the woman who bore the baby.

Before this development, thousands of infertile women, single men and same-sex male couples had adoption as the only path to parenthood. The donation of human oocytes and embryos has since become a common practice similar to other donations such as blood and major organ donations. The practice of egg donation has sparked media attention and public debate, and has had a substantial impact on the field of reproductive medicine.

This scientific breakthrough changed the possibilities for those who were unable to have children due to female infertility and for those at high risk for passing on hereditary disorders. As IVF developed, the procedures used in egg donation developed in parallel: the egg donor's eggs are now harvested from her ovaries in an outpatient surgical procedure and fertilized in the laboratory, the same procedure used on IVF patients. The resulting embryo or embryos are then transferred into the intended mother instead of into the woman who provided the egg. Donor oocytes thus give women a mechanism to become pregnant and give birth to a child that will be their biological child, but not their genetic child. In cases where the recipient's womb is absent or unable to carry a pregnancy, or in cases involving gay male couples, the embryos are implanted into a gestational surrogate, who carries the embryo to term, per an agreement with the future parents. The combination of egg donation and surrogacy has enabled gay men, including singer Elton John and his partner, to have biological children. Oocyte and embryo donation now account for approximately 18% of in vitro fertilization recorded births in the US.

This work established the technical foundation and legal-ethical framework surrounding the clinical use of human oocyte and embryo donation, a mainstream clinical practice, which has evolved over the past 25 years. Since the initial birth announcement in 1984, there have been well over 47,000 live births resulting from donor oocyte embryo transfer recorded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States to infertile women, who would not have been able to have children by any other existing method.

The legal status and cost/compensation models of egg donation vary significantly by country. It may be totally illegal (e.g., Italy, Germany, Austria); legal only if anonymous and gratuitous—that is, without any compensation for the egg donor (e.g., France); legal only if non-anonymous and gratuitous (e.g., Canada); legal only if anonymous, but egg donors may be compensated (the compensation is often described as being to offset her inconvenience and expenses) (e.g., Spain, Czech Republic, South Africa, Greece); legal only if non-anonymous, but egg donors may be compensated (e.g., the UK); or legal whether or not it is anonymous, and egg donors may be compensated (e.g., the US).

Indication
A need for egg donation may arise for a number of reasons. Infertile couples may resort to egg donation when the female partner cannot have genetic children because her own eggs cannot generate a viable pregnancy, or because they could generate a viable pregnancy but the chances are so low that it is not advisable or financially feasible to do IVF with her own eggs. This situation is often, but not always based on advanced reproductive age. It can also be due to early onset of menopause, which can occur as early as their 20s. In addition, some women are born without ovaries, while some women's reproductive organs have been damaged or surgically removed due to disease or other circumstances. Another indication would be a genetic disorder on part of the woman that either renders her infertile or would be dangerous for any offspring, problems that can be circumvented by using eggs from another woman. Many women have none of these issues, but continue to be unsuccessful using their own eggs—in other words, they have undiagnosed infertility—and thus turn to donor eggs or donor embryos. As stated above, egg donation is also helpful for gay male couples using surrogacy (see LGBT parenting).
 * Congenital absence of eggs
 * Turner syndrome
 * Gonadal dysgenesis
 * Acquired reduced egg quantity / quality
 * Oophorectomy
 * Premature menopause
 * Chemotherapy
 * Radiation therapy
 * Autoimmunity
 * Advanced maternal age
 * Compromised ovarian reserve
 * Other
 * Diseases of X-Sex linkage
 * Repetitive fertilization or pregnancy failure
 * Ovaries inaccessible for egg retrieval

Types of donors
Donors includes the following types:
 * Donors unrelated to the recipients who do it for altruistic and/or monetary reasons. In the US they are anonymous donors or semi-anonymous donors recruited by egg donor agencies or IVF clinics. Such donors may also be non-anonymous donors, i.e., they may exchange identifying and contact information with the recipients. In most countries other than the US and UK, the law requires such donors to remain anonymous. US donors are often recruited by agencies who act as intermediaries, typical with promises of money and altruistic rewards.
 * Designated donors, e.g. a friend or relative brought by the patients to serve as a donor specifically to help them. In Sweden and France, couples who can bring such a donor still get another person as a donor, but instead get advanced on the waiting list for the procedure, and that donor rather becomes a "cross donor". In other words, the couple brings a designated donor, she donates anonymously to another couple, and the couple that brought her receives eggs from another anonymous donor much more quickly than they would have if they had not been able to provide a designated donor.
 * Patients taking part in shared oocyte programmes. Women who go through in vitro fertilization may be willing to donate unused eggs to such a program, where the egg recipients together help paying the cost of the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedure. It is very cost-effective compared to other alternatives. The pregnancy rate with use of shared oocytes is similar to that with altruistic donors.

Procedure
After being recruited and screened, an egg donor must give informed consent before participating in the IVF process. Once the egg donor is recruited, she undergoes IVF stimulation therapy, followed by the egg retrieval procedure. After retrieval, the ova are fertilized by the sperm of the male partner (or sperm donor) in the laboratory, and, after several days, the best resulting embryo(s) is/are placed in the uterus of the recipient, whose uterine lining has been appropriately prepared for embryo transfer beforehand. If a large number of viable embryos are generated, they can be cryopreserved for future implantation attempts. The recipient is usually, but not always, the person who requested the service and then will carry and deliver the pregnancy and keep the baby.

The egg donor's process in detail
Before any intensive medical, psychological, or genetic testing is done on a donor, they must first be chosen by a recipient from the profiles on agency or clinic databases (or, in countries where donors are required to remain anonymous, they are chosen by the recipient's doctor based on their physical and temperamental resemblance to the recipient woman). This is due to the fact that all of the mentioned examinations are expensive and the agencies must first confirm that a match is possible or guaranteed before investing in the process. Each egg donor is first referred to a psychologist who will evaluate if she is mentally prepared to undertake and complete the donation process. These evaluations are necessary to ensure that the donor is fully prepared and capable of completing the donation cycle safely and successfully. The donor is then required to undergo a thorough medical examination, including a pelvic exam, a blood test to evaluate hormone levels(notably Anti-Müllerian hormone), infection risk, Rh factor, blood type, and drug use, and an ultrasound to examine her ovaries, uterus and other pelvic organs. A family history of approximately the past three generations is also required, meaning that adoptees are usually not accepted because of the lack of past health knowledge. Genetic testing is also usually done on donors to ensure that they do not carry mutations (e.g., cystic fibrosis) that could harm the resulting children; however, not all clinics automatically perform such testing and thus recipients must clarify with their clinics whether such testing will be done.

Once the screening is complete and a legal contract signed, the donor will begin the donation cycle, which typically takes between three and six weeks. An egg retrieval procedure comprises both the Egg Donor's Cycle and the Recipient's Cycle. Birth control pills are administered during the first few weeks of the egg donation process to synchronize the donor's cycle with the recipient's, followed by a series of injections which halt the normal functioning of the donor's ovaries. These injections may be self-administered on a daily basis for a period of one to three weeks. Next, follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH) are given to the donor to stimulate egg production and increases the number of mature eggs produced by the ovaries. Throughout the cycle the donor is monitored often by a physician using blood tests and ultrasound exams to determine the donor's reaction to the hormones and the progress of follicle growth.

Once the doctor decides the follicles are mature, they will establish the date and time for the egg retrieval procedure. Approximately 36 hours before retrieval, the donor must administer one last injection of HCG hormone to ensure that her eggs are ready to be harvested. This hormone will produce a LH hormone concentration peak and induce follicular development. The oocytes are then retrieved from developed follicles via ovarian punction. This extraction must occur before ovulation, as oocytes are too small to be identified once they leave the follicle, and if the appropriate time window is missed the donation cycle will need to be repeated.

The egg retrieval itself is a minimally invasive surgical procedure lasting 20–30 minutes, performed under sedation by an anesthetist, to ensure the donor is kept completely pain free. Egg donors may also be advised to take a pain-relieving medicine one hour before egg collection, to ensure minimum discomfort after the procedure. A small ultrasound-guided needle is inserted through the vagina to aspirate the follicles in both ovaries, which extracts the eggs. After resting in a recovery room for an hour or two, the donor is released. Most donors resume regular activities by the next day.

Results
In the United States, egg donor cycles have a success rate of over 60%. (See statistics at http://www.sart.org.) When a "fresh cycle" is followed by a "frozen cycle", the success rate with donor eggs is approximately 80%.

With egg donation, women who are past their reproductive years or menopause can still become pregnant. Adriana Iliescu held the record as the oldest woman to give birth using IVF and donated egg, when she gave birth in 2004 at the age of 66, a record passed in 2006. According to a 2002 study, egg donations had a 38% success rate in cases of women past their reproductive years.

Intended parent motivation
Women may resort to egg donation because their ovaries may not be able to produce a substantial number of viable eggs. Women may experience premature ovarian failure and stop producing viable eggs during their reproductive years. Some women may be born without ovaries. Ovaries damaged by chemotherapy or radiotherapy may also no longer produce healthy eggs. Older women with diminished ovarian reserves or older women who are going through menopause could also become pregnant with egg donation.

Women who produce healthy eggs may also elect to use a donor egg so they will not pass on genetic diseases.

Donor motivation
An egg donor may be motivated to donate eggs for altruistic reasons. A survey of 80 American women showed that 30% were motivated by altruism alone, another 20% were attracted only by monetary compensation, while 40% of donors were motivated by both reasons. The same study found that 45% of egg donors were students the first time they donated and averaged $4,000 for each donation.

Although the donors may be motivated by both monetary and altruistic reasons, egg agencies desire and prefer to choose donors that are strictly providing eggs for altruistic reasons. The European Union limits any financial compensation for donors to at most $1500. In some countries, most notably Spain and Cyprus, this has limited donors to the poorest segments of society. In the United States, donors are paid regardless of how many eggs she produces. A donor's compensation may increase for each additional time she provides eggs, especially if the donor's eggs have a history of reliably resulting in the recipient becoming pregnant. In the United States, egg-broker agencies are known for advertising to college students who are more likely to be in financial situations that motivate them to participate for the financial compensation. It is not unusual for one student to donate many times. Often, this is done without consideration of potential long-term health consequences. Such a student is arguably not making the decision to donate her eggs autonomously due to her unfavorable financial situation.

Egg donor
The procedures for the donor and the medication given to her are identical to the procedures and medications used in autologous IVF (i.e., IVF on patients who are using their own eggs). The egg donor thus has the same risk of complications from IVF as an autologous IVF patient would, such as bleeding from the oocyte recovery procedure and reactions to the hormones used to induce hyperovulation (producing more than one egg), including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) and, rarely, liver failure.

According to Jansen and Tucker, writing in the same assisted reproductive technologies textbook referenced above, the risk of OHSS varies with the clinic administering the hormones, from 6.6 to 8.4% of cycles, half of them "severe". The most severe form of OHSS is life-threatening. Recent studies have found that donors were at less risk of OHSS when the final maturation of oocytes was induced by GnRH agonist than with recombinant hCG. Both hormones were comparable in the number of mature oocytes produced and fertilization rates. A larger study in the Netherlands found 10 documented cases of deaths from IVF, with a rate of 1:10,000. "All of these patients were treated with GnRH agonists and none of these cases have been published in the scientific literature."

The long-term effect of egg donation on donors has not been well studied, but because the same medications and procedures are used, it is likely similar to the long-term effects (if any) of IVF on patients using their own eggs. The evidence of increased cancer risk is equivocal; some studies have found a slightly increased risk, particularly for those with a family history of breast cancer, while other studies have found no such risk or even a slightly reduced risk in most patients. 1 in 5 women report psychological effects—which may be positive or negative—from donating their eggs, and two-thirds of egg donors were happy with the decision to donate their eggs. The same study found that 20% of women did not recall being aware of any physical risks. In accordance with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines, female donors are given a limit of 6 cycles that they may donate in order to minimize the possible health risks. Initial evidence suggests that repetitive oocyte donation cycles does not cause accelerated ovarian aging, evidenced by absence of decreased anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in such women.

Intended parent
The recipient has a minimal risk of contracting a transmittable disease. While the donor may test negative for HIV, such testing does not exclude the possibility that the donor has contracted HIV very recently, so the recipient faces a residual risk of exposure. In the US, the FDA requires full infectious disease testing no more than 30 days prior to retrieval and/or transfer. Many clinics require that donors be retested a few days prior to retrieval so the risk to the recipient is minimal. Intimate partners of both the egg donor and the recipient are also tested.

The recipient must also trust that the medical history provided by the donor and her family is accurate. As American donors are paid thousands of dollars, such compensation may drive deceptive behaviors from donors. However, a full psychological evaluation is required by most IVF clinics, providing some evaluation of donor trustworthiness.

In most cases, there is no ongoing relationship between the donor and recipient following the cycle. Both the donor and recipient agree in formal legal documents that the donation of the eggs is final at the time of retrieval, and typically both parties would like any "relationship" to conclude at that point; if they prefer continued contact, they may provide for that in the contract. Even if they prefer anonymity, however, it remains theoretically possible that in the future, some children may be able to identify their donor(s) using DNA databanks and/or registries (e.g., if the donor submits her DNA to a genealogy site and a child born from her donation later submits its DNA to the same site).

Multiple birth is a common complication. Incidence of twin births is very high. At the present time, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends that no more than 1 or 2 embryos be transferred in any given cycle. Remaining embryos are frozen, whether for future transfers if the first one fails, for siblings, or for eventual embryo donation.

There appears to be a slightly higher risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension in pregnancies of egg donation.

Fetus
Pregnancies with egg donation are associated with a slightly increased risk of placental pathology. The local and systemic immunologic changes are also more pronounced than in natural pregnancies, so it has been suggested that the association is caused by reduced maternal immune tolerance towards the fetus, as the genetic similarity between the carrier and fetus from an egg donation is less than in a natural pregnancy. In contrast, the incidence of other perinatal complications, such as intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth and congenital malformations, is comparable to conventional IVF without egg donation.

Custody
Generally legal documents are signed renouncing rights and responsibilities of custody on the part of the donor. Most IVF doctors will not proceed with administering medication to any donor until these documents are in place and a legal "clearance letter" confirming this understanding is provided to the doctor.

Legality and financial issues
The legal status and cost/compensation models of egg donation vary significantly by country. It may be totally illegal (e.g., Italy, Germany); legal only if anonymous and gratuitous—that is, without any compensation for the egg donor (e.g., France); legal only if non-anonymous and gratuitous (e.g., Canada); legal only if anonymous, but egg donors may be compensated (the compensation is often described as being to offset her inconvenience and expenses) (e.g., Spain, Czech Republic, South Africa); legal only if non-anonymous, but egg donors may be compensated (e.g., the UK); or legal whether or not it is anonymous, and egg donors may be compensated (e.g., the US). Because most countries prohibit the sale of body parts, egg donors generally are paid for undergoing the necessary medical procedures rather than for their eggs. In other words, if they complete the cycle, they will be paid the agreed price regardless of how many (or how few) eggs are retrieved.

In countries that prohibit compensation there is an extreme dearth of young women willing to go through this procedure. Additionally, in most countries where it is legal and compensated, the law places a cap on the compensation and that cap tends to be in the vicinity of $1000–$2000. In the US, no law caps the compensation, but the American Society for Reproductive Medicine requires member clinics to abide by their standards, which provide that "sums of $5,000 or more require justification and sums above $10,000 are not appropriate." The "justification" for payments over $5000 may include previous successful donations, unusually good family health history, or membership in minority ethnicities for which it is more difficult to find donors.

As a result of these legal and financial differences around the world, egg donation in the US is much more expensive than it is in other countries. For instance, at one top US clinic it costs more than $26,000 plus the donor's medications (another several thousand dollars).

Having an attorney draft a contract is recommended in order to ensure that the donor has no possible legal rights or responsibilities over the child or any frozen embryos. Hiring an attorney who specializes in reproductive law is thus strongly recommended, at least in the United States; other countries may have other procedures for clarifying the parties' rights, or may simply have legislation that defines the parties' rights. In the US, before the egg donor's IVF cycle begins she typically must sign the Egg Donor Contract, which specifies the rights of the donor and the recipient(s) with respect to the retrieved eggs, the embryos, and any children conceived from the donation. Such contracts should specify that the recipients are the legal parents of the child and the legal owners of any eggs or embryos resulting from the cycle; in other words, while the donor has the right to cancel the cycle at any time prior to egg donation (although if she does so the contract generally provides that she will not be paid), once the eggs are retrieved they belong to the recipient(s). In individual cases the donors and parents may also wish to negotiate terms relating to any unused embryos (e.g., some donors would prefer that unused embryos be destroyed or donated to science, while others would prefer or allow them to be donated to another infertile couple). Some states have also adopted the Uniform Parentage Act, which provides that the recipient or recipients have complete parental responsibility of the conceived child.

In Buzzanca v. Buzzanca, 72 Cal. Rptr.2d 280 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998), the court held that both the recipient and the father of a child conceived through anonymous sperm and egg donation and carried by a surrogate were the legal parents of the child by virtue of their procreative intent. Therefore, the father was required to pay child support even though he sought a divorce before the child was born.

Donor registries
A donor registry is a registry to facilitate donor conceived people, sperm donors and egg donors to establish contact with genetic kindred. They are mostly used by donor conceived people to find genetic half-siblings from the same egg- or sperm donor.

Some donors are non-anonymous, but most are anonymous, i.e. the donor conceived person does not know the true identity of the donor. Still, they may get the donor number from the fertility clinic. If that donor had donated before, then other donor conceived people with the same donor number are thus genetic half-siblings. In short, donor registries match people who type in the same donor number.

Alternatively, if the donor number is not available, then known donor characteristics, e.g. hair, eye and skin color may be used in matching.

Donors may also register, and therefore, donor registries may also match donors with their genetic children.

The largest registry is the Donor Sibling Registry- with more than 25,000 members, the DSR has matched almost 7,000 donor conceived people with their egg and sperm donors, as well as with their half siblings. Alternate methods of providing an information link between the donor and recipient (both agreeing to stay registered on the DSR) are often provided for in the legal document (referred to as the "Egg Donor Agreement".)

Embryo donation
An alternative to egg donation in some couples, especially those in whom the male partner cannot provide viable sperm, is embryo donation. Embryo donation is the use of embryos remaining after a couple's IVF treatments have been completed, to another individual or couple, followed by the placement of those embryos into the recipient woman's uterus, to facilitate pregnancy and childbirth. Embryo donation is more cost-effective than egg donation on a "per live birth" basis. Another study has found that embryos created for one couple, using an egg donor, are often made available for donation to another couple if the first couple chooses not to use them.

Psychological and social issues
Quality of Parent-Infant Relationships

Quality of parent-child attachment in early infancy has been recognized as a crucial factor of a child's socioemotional development. The formation of a quality and secure attachment is largely influenced by parental representations of the parent-child relationship. Concern regarding relationship quality and attachment security in egg donor families is understandable and typically stems from the absence of genetic material shared between the mother and child. However, it has been discovered that the mother's endometrium can generate epigenetic changes in the embryo. Therefore, the embryo from an oocyte donation will have something from the mother who has received the donated oocyte. Specifically, embryos can uptake miRNAs from exosomes secreted by endometrium, so, Hsa-miR-30d secreted by the human endometrium, is taken up by the pre-implantation embryo and might modify its transcriptome. In recent years, researchers have begun to question if lack of genetic commonality between mother and child inhibits the ability to form a quality attachment.

In a recent study, quality of infant-parent relationships was examined among egg donor families in comparison to in vitro fertilization families. Infants were between the ages of 6–18 months. Through use of the Parent Development Interview (PDI) and observational assessment, the study found few differences between family types on the representational level, yet significant differences between family types on the observational level. Egg donation mothers were less sensitive and structuring than IVF mothers, and egg donation infants were less emotionally responsive, and involving than IVF infants. No differences were found in relationship quality between egg donor fathers and IVF fathers representationally or observationally. Due to the developmental implications of forming healthy parent-child relationships in early infancy, the finding that egg donor mothers were less sensitive and structuring towards their infants raises concern about attachment styles among egg donor families, and the impacts it may have on infants' future socioemotional development.

Telling the child
Most psychologists recommend being open and honest with children from an early age. Groups for donor conceived children make a strong case for the rights of children to have access to information about their genetic background. For donor conceived children who find out after a long period of secrecy, their main grief is usually not the fact that they are not the genetic child of the mother who raised (and, usually, gave birth to) them, but the fact that their parents lied to them, causing loss of trust. Furthermore, assuming that egg-donor conceived children have essentially the same reaction as sperm-donor conceived children, the overturning of one's lifelong understanding of who one's genetic parents were may cause a lasting sense of imbalance and loss of control.

Telling the children that they were donor conceived is recommended, based on decades of experience with adoption (and more recent feedback from donor-conceived children) showing that not telling children is harmful to the parent-child relationship and to the child psychologically. Even parents who would normally be extremely reluctant to tell the child should consider telling if any of the following scenarios applies:
 * When anyone other than the parents know about the donation, such that the child might find it out from somebody else.
 * When the recipient carries a significant genetic disease, since telling the child will reassure the child that they do not carry the disease.
 * Where the child is found to have a genetically transmitted disorder and it is necessary to take legal action which then identifies the donor.

Conversely, when the child is being raised in a religion or a culture that strongly disapproves of donor conception (e.g., a Catholic country where egg donation is illegal), that may counsel against telling the child, at least until the child is much older and clearly capable of understanding why they were not told earlier and of keeping that information to themself.

A systematic review of factors contributing to parental decision-making in disclosing donor conception has shown that parents cite the child's best interest as the main factor they use to make the decision. Parents who disclose donor conception to the child emphasize the importance of an honest parent-child relationship, while parents who do not disclose express their desire to protect the child from social stigma or other trauma. Health care staff and support groups have been demonstrated to affect the decision to disclose the procedure. It is generally recommended that parents who disclose should do so in age-appropriate ways, ideally starting well before the age of five with a discussion of the fact that their parents needed help to have a child because certain things are needed to make a child—namely, sperm and eggs—and because the parents did not have one of those things, a nice woman gave it to them.

Families sharing same donor
Having contact and meeting among families sharing the same donor generally has positive effects. It gives the child an additional extended family and may help give the child a sense of identity by answering questions about the donor. It is more common among open identity-families headed by single men/women. Less than 1% of those seeking donor-siblings find it a negative experience, and in such cases it is mostly where the parents disagree with each other about how the relationship should proceed.

Other family members
Parents of donors may regard the donated eggs as a family asset and may regard the donor conceived people as grandchildren.

Donor marketing
For a donor to be accepted by an agency and repeatedly used she must be marketable and appealing to the recipients. Although egg donation is a significant, life-giving act, the companies participating in this industry still have to operate with an economical mind-set. Matches between egg recipients and egg donors are what make the profit for the company and achievable to continue these processes for others. The most sought-after donors tend to be those who are (1) proven (i.e., have donated before and produced a pregnancy from it, proving themselves both fertile and reliable); (2) conventionally attractive; (3) healthy, with good family health histories; and (4) smart, well educated. Donor profiles presented on agency websites are their primary marketing tool to find recipients and learn what these future consumers want. On the donor profiles listed on the agency website for recipients, or "clients", to peruse for their desired egg match, "physical characteristics, family health history, educational attainment (in some cases, standardized test scores, GPA, and IQ scores are requested), as well as open-ended questions about hobbies, likes and dislikes, and motivations for donating" are included. Donors are encouraged to submit attractive photos and are advised of what the recipient finds as desirable. Profiles that are at some point deemed unacceptable are deleted, whether it be because their personalities did not stand out or their portrayals were viewed as negative in some way. Overweight volunteers for donation are also most often not accepted, not just because of conventional views on physical attractiveness but also because women with a higher body-mass index tend to respond differently (less well) to ovarian stimulation drugs and IVF clinics thus generally recommend that patients not use donors with higher BMIs. Egg donors also have a higher standard of physical appearance than sperm donors; many sperm donors are not required to provide adult photographs of themselves, or in some cases, any photographs.

Religious views
Some Christian leaders indicate that IVF is acceptable (provided that no fertilized embryos are discarded in the process). Many Christian couples who cannot have children thus can go for IVF, with both the husband's sperm and the wife's egg and this is in line with the church's teaching. However, the issue is more problematic with donor eggs.

There are also some Christian leaders (especially Catholic) who are concerned about all in vitro fertility therapies because they disrupt the natural act of conceiving a child where gamete donations, both egg and sperm donations, are seen to "compromise the marital bond and family integrity". and they encourage infertile couples to consider adoption instead.

In the Orthodox Jewish community there is no consensus as to whether an egg donor needs to be Jewish in order for the child to be considered Jewish from birth. In the 1990s religious authorities said that if the birth mother was Jewish that the child would be Jewish as well, but in the past few years rabbis in Israel have begun to reconsider, which in turn is causing more debate around the world. Conservative Rabbi Elliot Dorff has suggested that there are arguments for both sides (birth mother or genetic mother) in religious scripture. Dean of the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University believes that any child where the birth mother or the genetic mother isn't Jewish should go through a conversion process in infancy, to be sure that their Judaism isn't questioned later in life. This is not an issue in the reform community for two reasons. First, only one parent must be Jewish for the child to be considered Jewish; thus, if the father is Jewish, the mother's religion is irrelevant. Second, if the mother who carries the pregnancy and gives birth is Jewish, reform Jews will generally consider that child to be Jewish from birth because it was born of a Jewish mother.

title: Egg donation


text:
Fryxell (crater)

Fryxell is a small lunar impact crater that lies amidst the western inner ring of the Montes Rook. It is named for Roald H. Fryxell, an American geologist. It was previously designated Golitsyn B, a satellite of Golitsyn, before being assigned a name by the IAU. This crater is located on the Moon's far side, at the extreme edge of the region of the surface sometimes brought into view of the Earth due to libration. Even under rare conditions of favorable lighting and libration, this area would only be seen from the side amidst a rugged range of mountains. Thus this crater is best observed from orbit.

This formation is roughly circular, but with a slightly polygonal appearance. It is a bowl-shaped formation with a darker interior floor that is relatively featureless. The inner walls of Fryxell have a higher albedo than the surrounding terrain, and so appear relatively bright.

title: Fryxell (crater)


text:
List of settlements in the Kilkis regional unit

This is a list of settlements in the Kilkis regional unit in Greece:

 * Agia Paraskevi
 * Agios Markos
 * Agios Petros
 * Akritas
 * Amaranta
 * Anavryto
 * Anthofyto
 * Antigoneia
 * Aspros
 * Axiochori
 * Axioupoli
 * Cherso
 * Chorygi
 * Chrysopetra
 * Drosato
 * Efkarpia
 * Eiriniko
 * Elliniko
 * Eptalofos
 * Evropos
 * Evzonoi
 * Fanos
 * Filyria
 * Fyska
 * Gallikos
 * Gerakari
 * Gorgopi
 * Goumenissa
 * Griva
 * Idomeni
 * Iliolousto
 * Isoma
 * Kampanis
 * Karpi
 * Kastaneri
 * Kastanies
 * Kato Theodoraki
 * Kentriko
 * Kilkis
 * Koiladi
 * Kokkinia
 * Korona
 * Koronouda
 * Kristoni
 * Leipsydrio
 * Limnotopos
 * Livadia
 * Mandres
 * Mavroneri
 * Megali Sterna
 * Megali Vrysi
 * Melanthio
 * Mesia
 * Mesiano
 * Mikro Dasos
 * Mikrokampos
 * Mouries
 * Myriofyto
 * Nea Santa
 * Neo Agioneri
 * Neo Gynaikokastro
 * Palaio Agioneri
 * Pedino
 * Pefkodasos
 * Pentalofo
 * Plagia, Kilkis
 * Plagia, Paionia
 * Polykastro
 * Polypetro
 * Pontoirakleia
 * Pontokerasia
 * Ryzia
 * Skra
 * Stathis
 * Stathmos Mourion
 * Stavrochori
 * Terpyllos
 * Theodosia
 * Toumpa
 * Tripotamos
 * Vafiochori
 * Vaptistis
 * Vathy
 * Xylokeratia


text:
John Oxenford

John Oxenford (12 August 1812 – 21 February 1877) was an English dramatist, critic and translator.

Life
Oxenford was born in Camberwell, London, his father a prosperous merchant. Whilst he was privately educated, it is reported that he was mostly self-taught in Greek, Latin and modern languages. He began his literary career by writing on finance, though later became the author of many translations from German, notably of Goethe's Dichtung und Wahrheit (1846) and Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe (1850).

Oxenford's primary interest was in the theatre and over sixty-eight plays are attributed to him. His first play was My Fellow Clerk, produced at the Lyceum Theatre in 1835. This was followed by a long series of pieces, the most famous of which was perhaps the Porter's Knot (1858) and Twice Killed (1835). He also wrote many operatic libretti, including eight for George Alexander Macfarren, including Robin Hood (1860) and Helvellyn (1864). Oxenford was an acquaintance of Charles Dickens, and he adapted Oliver Twist for the stage in 1868. Later in life he became dramatic critic of The Times and wrote a version of Last Days of Pompeii in 1872.

Bryan Magee, in his The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, described how Oxenford contributed to the promulgation of Schopenhauer's work. Oxenford's anonymous Westminster Review 1853 article, "Iconoclasm in German Philosophy," was written in order to present Schopenhauer as a critic of Hegel. It was translated and published in the Vossische Zeitung, which resulted in German readers showing enthusiastic and enduring interest in Schopenhauer's writings. It also advanced the cause of Richard Wagner in Britain.

He died in Southwark on 21 February 1877.

Legacy
His 1835 one-act A Day Well Spent, after expansion, translation, and rewriting, formed the basis of Thornton Wilder's 1954 play The Matchmaker, which itself was the basis of the 1964 stage musical Hello, Dolly! and its 1969 film adaptation.

Many references to his pieces will be found in The Life and Reminiscences of E. L. Blanchard (ed. C Scott and C Howard, 1891).

title: John Oxenford


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Rick Davis

Richard Dean Davis (born November 24, 1958) is an American former soccer midfielder, and former captain of the U.S. National Team for much of the 1980s. He is considered by fans the best U.S.-born player of the North American Soccer League era and is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Youth
Davis was born in Denver, Colorado, and began playing soccer at the age of seven for an AYSO soccer team in Claremont, California. He was an All-American high school player at Damien High School in La Verne, California. In 1977, he played a single season of college soccer at Santa Clara University While at Santa Clara, he was a member of the Broncos team which took the U-19 National Open Championship (McGuire Cup).

Professional
An American on a team of international superstars with the New York Cosmos, he helped the team to three NASL league titles in 1978, 1980 and 1982. He began playing with the team during the 1978 season and was selected as the 1979 North American Player of the Year in his second season. He was selected as an NASL all-star Honorable Mention in the 1983 season.

In 1983, the St. Louis Steamers of the Major Indoor Soccer League signed Davis away from the Cosmos. Davis moved just in time to avoid the collapse of the Cosmos. Despite numerous nagging injuries, Davis led the Steamers in scoring and was an integral part of the team's run to the MISL championship series which the Steamers lost to the Baltimore Blast. He played one more season with the Steamers before moving to the New York Express, an MISL expansion team heavily staffed by former Cosmos players. The team lasted until the 1986-1987 All-Star break when it folded.

In March 1987, Davis moved to the Tacoma Stars for the remainder of the 1986–1987 season. In January 1989, Davis injured his knee, requiring multiple surgeries. He was on the roster for the 1989 Seattle Storm of the Western Soccer Alliance. In 1990, he retired from playing professional soccer.

National team
Davis became an integral part of the U.S. national team in 1977, first with the U.S. Olympic team and U20 teams, then the senior national team. Between September 11 and October 4, 1976, the U.S. U-20 national team played the qualifying games for the 1977 FIFA World U-20 Championship. While the team went 5–2, it failed to qualify. Davis led the team scoring with eight goals. When he was 18 years old, he made his senior national team debut in a September 15, 1977 match against El Salvador. Even more, he scored his first international goal in that game. He became a regular on the team, playing in all eight U.S. matches in 1977. Davis continued to play for the Olympic team, which qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics. However, President Carter's boycott of those games, held in Moscow, stopped the team from competing. Davis played for the U.S. in the 1984 Olympics, where he scored two goals in the U.S. victory over Costa Rica. In 1984, he was also named the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, the first year of the award. He played again at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Davis' experience and leadership led him to being named captain of the U.S. national team. In this capacity, he led the team during 1988, and was looking forward to the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying games in 1989. However, he suffered a serious knee injury in January 1989. Although he tried to work himself back into shape in order to make the World Cup roster, U.S. coach Bob Gansler never called him back to the team, and Davis retired from playing. Overall, he earned 36 caps (a record at the time), scoring nine goals for the senior national team.

Team management
After his retirement from playing, Davis became the head coach and general manager of the Los Angeles Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League. In 2004, he was named Director of Programs for AYSO, and in 2006, he was named its National Executive Director. On March 9, 2010, AYSO announced the resignation of Davis effective May 11, 2010. In the fall of 2018 Rick joined the coaching staff for the Salina Central Men's Soccer Team.

Broadcasting
Davis has also had a long career in soccer broadcasting. In 1989, he and JP Dellacamera provided live commentary for the match pitting the champions of the Western Soccer Alliance and the American Soccer League. He would provide television commentary at both the 1990 and 1994 World Cups for ABC. He continues to work as a commentator for Los Angeles Galaxy games.

Davis was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001.

title: Rick Davis


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Philip Claeys

Philip Claeys (born 24 May 1965) is a Belgian Flanders-based politician for the Vlaams Belang.

Political career
Claeys was a Member of the European Parliament from 2003 to 2014. He participated in the international counter-jihad conferences in Brussels in 2007 and in 2012. Since late 2010, he was a board member of the eurosceptic party European Alliance for Freedom, which was dissolved in 2016. From 2017 to 2019 he was the secretary-general of the Europe of Nations and Freedom group, and since 2019 he has been secretary of the Identity and Democracy group.

title: Philip Claeys


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WD Austerity 2-8-0

The War Department (WD) "Austerity" 2-8-0 is a type of heavy freight steam locomotive that was introduced in 1943 for war service. A total of 935 were built, making this one of the most-produced classes of British steam locomotive. They were nicknamed Ozzies by the railwaymen.

Overview
The Austerity 2-8-0 was based on the LMS Stanier Class 8F, which until that point had been the government's standard design. Various modifications were made to the 8F design by Robert Riddles to prioritise low cost over design life. These included a boiler of simpler construction which was parallel rather than tapered and a round-topped firebox rather than a Belpaire firebox. The firebox was made of steel rather than the rarer and more expensive copper.

The North British Locomotive Company (NBL) of Glasgow built 545 (split between their two works at Hyde Park and Queen's Park) and the Vulcan Foundry (VF) of Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, built 390. North British also built a larger 2-10-0 version. WD nos. 800–879 were ordered as LMS Class 8F. No. 9312, the last one built, was named Vulcan when new. NBL builder's plates were not all in correct sequence, and were mixed up between the two works as well as between batches. All locomotives had their WD numbers increased by 70000 prior to shipping to mainland Europe; those completed after 5 September 1944 carried their 70000 series numbers from new. All but three (WD nos. 77223, 77369 and 79250) saw service with the British Army in mainland Europe after D-Day.

Post-war disposal
After the end of the conflict, the War Department disposed of 930 locomotives (two engines being retained by the War Department and three being scrapped).

200 were sold to the LNER, which classified them as "Class O7" and numbered them 3000–3199. In 1948, 533 more were purchased by the British Transport Commission.

With the formation of British Railways, the 733 locomotives were renumbered into the 90000–90732 series. Only one of those, No. 90732, was named, becoming Vulcan, after the Vulcan Foundry where many of the locomotives were built.

In 1946, 12 were exported to the British colony of Hong Kong to work the Kowloon–Canton Railway. Six were scrapped in 1956, but the final two survived until September 1962.

The other 184 locomotives remained in mainland Europe, mostly working in and around the Netherlands for Nederlandse Spoorwegen.

Finally, one went to the USATC (WD no. 79189) in an exchange for an USATC S160 Class locomotive in the postwar exchange of WD and USATC locomotives.

Postwar WD service
Two locomotives continued to be held in WD stock, seeing service on the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire, along with two of the WD Austerity 2-10-0s and other smaller locomotives. In the WD 1957 renumbering scheme, they were renumbered 400/1. Details were as follows:

Accidents and incidents

 * Soham rail disaster: On 2 June 1944, WD locomotive No. 7337 was hauling a freight train which caught fire as it approached Soham, Cambridgeshire. The train consisted of 51 wagons carrying bombs. The train was divided behind the burning wagon, with the front portion being taken forward with the intention of isolating the wagon in open countryside. Its cargo detonated at Soham station, killing the fireman and the Soham signalman and injuring the train's driver and guard. Soham station was severely damaged, but the line was re-opened within eighteen hours. For their actions, Benjamin Gimbert and James Nightall were awarded George Crosses.
 * On 16 August 1945, WD locomotives 77125 and 77238 were involved in a head-on collision near Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. Both locomotives were scrapped.
 * On 6 November 1945, NS 4485 (ex WD 77183) was seriously damaged after a head-on collision between a single locomotive (no pilot and driver refused to wait) coming from Kleve and SL66 coming from Groesbeek near Kranenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. The locomotive was sent for repairs to the workshop in Mechelen (B) but, on September 26, 1946 it was sent to Roosendaal (NL) and written off there on 15 January 1947.
 * On 26 January 1945, NS 4504 (ex WD 78693) was seriously damaged after a head-on collision between RF39 and train 4505 on the single track railway bridge in Ravenstein. The locomotive was sent for repairs at the workshop in Mechelen (B) but, on September 26, 1946, was eventually sent to Roosendaal (NL) and written off there on 15 January 1947.
 * On 17 September 1950, WD locomotive No. 77195 ran away from Neville Hill Locomotive Shed, Leeds, Yorkshire and subsequently crashed through buffers at Marsh Lane Goods Yard, Leeds.
 * On 2 December 1953, locomotive No. 90048 ran off the end of the loop at Billingham, County Durham whilst hauling a train. An express freight train ran into the wreckage and was derailed.

Preservation
One WD 2-8-0 is preserved. Vulcan Foundry works No. 5200 was repatriated from Sweden to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. It was SJ Class G11 number 1931. It was overhauled to its original condition, finished in 2007, which involved building a new cab and tender, to become BR "No. 90733". After test runs, 90733 ran its first passenger train on Monday 23 July 2007.

title: WD Austerity 2-8-0


text: User:Fish Supper

title: User:Fish Supper


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Werner Roth (comics)

Werner Roth (January 27, 1921 – June 1973 ) was an American comic book artist, perhaps best known for immediately succeeding Jack Kirby on Marvel Comics' The X-Men.

Career
Roth's work began appearing in Marvel Comics, then known as Atlas Comics, in 1953. Atlas editor Stan Lee has described being impressed with Roth's portfolio, particularly his drawings of women, "So I took his samples to show [then-publisher] Martin Goodman. I suggested we should use Werner, even create a comic for him. Which we did, and that was how Lorna, the Jungle Girl was born." Roth drew the first dozen issues of Lorna. He drew a number of other features for Atlas, including most of the stories of the Apache Kid. He later drew romance stories for DC Comics.

Roth returned to Marvel to work on the X-Men in 1966, initially using the pseudonym Jay Gavin, taken from the names of his two sons, to conceal his Marvel work from his editors at DC. His true name was revealed in the "Bullpen Bulletins" page of Fantastic Four #54. X-Men series writer Roy Thomas later commented that Roth, though a talented artist, was a poor fit for the X-Men, being more oriented towards character interactions and relationships than action.

Roth later drew more Western comics for Marvel, and penciled issues of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane for DC Comics.

DC Comics

 * Girls' Love Stories #164 (1971)
 * Heart Throbs #62, 66, 83, 85 (1959-1963)
 * House of Secrets #82 (1969)
 * Love Stories #151 (1973)
 * The Phantom Stranger (vol. 2) #4 (1969)
 * Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #106-121 (1970-1972)
 * The Unexpected #115, 119, 133 (1969-1972)

Marvel Comics

 * Apache Kid #2-9, 13-19 (1951-1956)
 * Avengers Annual #2 (1968)
 * Kid Colt, Outlaw #62, 133, 138-140 (1956-1969)
 * Lorna the Jungle Girl #6-12, 19 (1954-1956); formerly Lorna the Jungle Queen #1-5 (1953-1954)
 * Marvel Tales #96, 113, 148 (1950-1956)
 * Mystic #7, 10-11, 19 (1952-1953)
 * Rawhide Kid #67, 79 (1968-1970)
 * Strange Tales #34, 62, 66 (1955-1958)
 * Tales to Astonish #96-98 (1967)
 * Venus #8-10, 12 (1950-1951)
 * X-Men #13-29, 31-33, 35, 38-57 (1965-1969)
 * Yellow Claw #1 (1956)

title: Werner Roth (comics)


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Talk:Sergey Lukianenko

There are pages for Sergey Lukianenko and the alternate spelling Lukyanenko. I'm not sure how it is decided what to do here, but something should be done.
 * IMHO, the author of this page should stop working on this article and try to incorporate its contents into the other one. --Targi 02:40, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sergey Lukianenko


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User talk:Fish Supper

Comments
Slrubenstein has been blocked for violating the 3RR on Jesus. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 23:21, Apr 19, 2005 (UTC)

Alerts

 * Danger Will Robinson, danger!

Welcome to the Wikipedia
I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library

For more information click  here . You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

Sam Spade 23:51, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Jesus
Is that a carnation in your lapel, madam? Grace Note 04:32, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but I cannot unblock you now. User:Slrubenstein has also been blocked, though by another administrator. I cannot unblock one of you without doing so to the other, and I cannot unblock both of you, as I would be overruling the decisions of two other administrators. -- Emsworth 10:38, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Fish Supper