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St Mary's University, Twickenham

St Mary's University, Twickenham is a public university in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, South West London. Its stated commitment is to the mission of the Catholic Church in higher education.

History
Originally founded in 1850 as a college for training Catholic schoolmasters, St. Mary's became a constituent college of the University of London Institute of Education in 1949. This affiliation ended in 1976, and the university's degree courses were then validated by the University of Surrey. Formerly called St Mary's University College, the university was granted full title by the Privy Council on January 23rd, 2014. Since July 2019, the university has hosted the Mater Ecclesiae College, whose Ecclesiastical faculties (enshrined since 2013 in the "Bellarmine Institute") were added after the closure of Heythrop College, University of London.

Strawberry Hill House and the Chapel in the Wood

The university is built on land previously attached to Strawberry Hill House, which was originally a small cottage on three acres of land by the River Thames. Horace Walpole, son of politician Robert Walpole, rented the cottage in 1747 and subsequently bought it. He reconstructed the house and added to the land, which now amounts to approximately 35 acre.

Walpole did not follow the conventional 18th-century fashion of classical building, but sought his inspiration from medieval styles, creating a notable early example of neo-Gothic architecture. Some of his contemporaries imitated his design; this house and the idea it embodied take their place in the history of architecture as "Strawberry Hill Gothic".

By the end of the 20th century, Strawberry Hill House had fallen into a state of disrepair, with the cost of reversing its condition too substantial for the college to meet. The Grade One listed building had been registered as a building at risk by English Heritage (now Historic England) in 1996, and in August 2002, the Strawberry Hill Trust was formed with a mission to restore the building and open it to the wider public. After the building was included in the 2004 World Monuments Fund Watch list of the world's 100 Most Endangered Sites and featured on the BBC Two programme Restoration, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Strawberry Hill Trust a £4.6 million grant in 2005. £370,000 in development funding and a £1.4M investment from St Mary's were also received, but finances still fell short of the projected £8.2M cost of restoration. The shortfall was finally met in 2007, and in July of that year, the lease was transferred from the Catholic Education Service to the Trust. Restoration began in 2008, and the house was opened to the public in September 2010 following the completion of the first phase of the £9M project.

Near the porter's lodge is what Bridget Cherry and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner describe as an "incongruous Walpole survival without its protective vegetation". The Grade I listed Chapel in the Wood is a garden building designed in 1772 by John Chute and was completed in 1774 by Thomas Gayfere the Elder. It was restored in 1954 as a chapel to include a shrine of the Virgin Mary, with new murals and stained glass by Harry Clarke. The stained glass that Walpole housed is now at its original home at Bexhill Church, Sussex.

Foundation
St Mary's was founded in 1850 on the initiative of Cardinal Wiseman. The Catholic Poor School Committee, which was concerned with providing primary education to children of poor Catholic people throughout the United Kingdom, purchased a former girls' school at Brook Green House, Hammersmith, and adapted it for use as a college with accommodation for 40 adult male students. A legal trust created on 16 July 1851 in connection with this property and its use as a training college for Catholic schoolmasters was confirmed in perpetuity.

The college was established on similar lines to that of the Brothers of Christian Instruction (les Frères d'Instruction Chrétienne) at Ploermel, Brittany, where English students were sent between 1848 and 1851. A French brother, Brother Melanie, was initially placed in charge of St Mary's College, until the appointment of an English principal, Rev. John Melville Glennie, in 1851.

The college opened with six adult male students who had begun their training at the novitiate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction. It was expected that students would join the teaching religious order, however in 1854, in response to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates, the decision was taken to admit lay students to the college. In 1855, additional accommodation was provided for 50 lay students, and by 1860 only lay students were attending the college.

The Catholic Church tried to found in 1873 a British Catholic University (Catholic University College, Kensington) but this Institution failed and closed in 1882.

With the appointment of the fourth principal, Father William Byrne CM in 1899, the association of the college with the Congregation of the Mission (usually known as the Vincentians) commenced. This inaugurated a period of change and augmentation, seen in the increase in staff and student numbers, the introduction of the office of Dean, and the extension of the college premises made possible by funding from the Catholic Education Council. At the same time the college was concerned with adjusting to the requirements of the Education Acts of 1902–03 and their effect on the development of elementary education.

In 1898 Inter-College Sports were introduced between Borough Road, St Mark's, St John's, Westminster and St Mary's Colleges. The college magazine, The Simmarian, began a new series in 1903–04. Originally in manuscript form, it became a printed paper in 1905 and is still published today.

Early 20th century
By 1924 there were 129 resident students at the college. Recognising the limitations of facilities at Hammersmith, the Principal the Very Rev J J Doyle, CM, along with Sir John Gilbert and Sir Francis Anderton, negotiated the sale of the Hammersmith site to the neighbouring J. Lyons and Co. in 1922, and in 1923 the purchase of the Walpole-Waldegrave property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from Lord Michelham.

The college moved to its Strawberry Hill site in 1925 despite the extensive new buildings, designed by S. Pugin-Powell, being at that point incomplete. It was not until June 1927 that the latter were officially opened. The new site provided accommodation for 150 students, with 190 students altogether.

The majority of students were from England and Wales and entered according to Board of Education regulations. There were also a number of private students from 1925 onwards, including approximately 40 coming annually from Northern Ireland, as well as students from Malta, and brothers from England and Wales. Private students lived in accommodation separate from the college.

Prior to 1928 the Certificate of Education course and examinations were jointly controlled by the Board of Education and individual training colleges. With the introduction of a new scheme for London teacher training colleges, the Board of Education retained its inspectorship functions, but delegated its authority over the courses and examination to the University of London. Under this scheme, the four resident male teacher training colleges in London (St Mary's, Strawberry Hill; Borough Road, St. Mark's and St. John's; and Westminster) were formed into a group under the supervision of University College London (UCL).

This group was jointly responsible with UCL for drawing up the syllabuses of the courses taught at the colleges, while the final examinations were designed to qualify students for the Certificate of Education awarded by the University of London. To direct the scheme, the Training College Delagacy was established, composed of representatives of the university, the teacher training colleges, religious denominations and local authorities. Meanwhile, two representatives of the University of London joined the governing board of St Mary's.

In 1930, in addition to the Certificate of Education course and examination, degree courses were provided at St Mary's University College leading to a University of London degree for successful candidates. At the same time a one-year colonial course was established at the college to train Priests and Brothers destined to join overseas missions. In 1935, responsibility for this course was transferred to the Jesuits.

After World War II
The college became a constituent college of the University of London Institute of Education, inaugurated on 19 December 1949, and the incorporation of the college into the institute was formally approved by the Senate of the university in April 1950, the college's centenary year.

In response to the increasing demand for teachers, it was agreed in 1959 to expand the college to 500 places. By 1966, there were 1,000 students. 1966 also saw the admission of the first full-time women students to the college. Other developments include the introduction in 1968 of an extra year's study for the conversion of the Teacher's Certificate to a Bachelor of Education degree, and in 1975, the first students pursuing the University of London Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Humanities and Bachelor of Science.

St Mary's association with the University of London came to an end in 1979. St Mary's degree courses were then validated by the University of Surrey in Guildford. Representatives from St Mary's College attended meetings of the University of Surrey Delegacy which was set up in 1980. In 1986 the first students of the college graduated with degrees from the University of Surrey.

With the retirement of Fr. Desmond Beirne as Principal in 1992, the college's educational links with the Vincentians came to an end, although the post of chaplain was held by a Vincentian (Rev Perry Gildea CM) until 1996 and one teaching post in the Religious Studies department (Rev Michael Prior CM) until later. Fr Beirne was replaced in 1992 by Arthur Naylor, the college's first lay Principal.

Early 21st century
In 2006, St Mary's became a University College and was granted the power to award its own degrees by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The university maintains study-partnerships with other universities across the globe, including the University of San Francisco, the University of St Thomas (Houston), St Mary's University, Halifax, Australian Catholic University and the Catholic University of America. In 2020, St Mary's entered into historic partnership with The University of Notre Dame Australia.

On 17 September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI visited St Mary's on the second day of his four-day UK state visit, the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II visited in 1982.

On 1 October 2010, Philip Esler became the university's second lay Principal. During 2010 and 2011, existing sports facilities were refurbished and an additional complex was added. The resulting £8.5 million sports centre was opened on 27 October by Lord Sebastian Coe, with Tim Brabants, David Weir, Rebecca Romero and Dave Bedford in attendance; the latter two, both St Mary's alumni, were inducted into the St Mary's Hall of Fame for Sports.

London 2012 and beyond
Eighteen St Mary's athletes comprising current and former students and members of the University Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) participated in 2012 Summer Olympics in athletics (Andrew Osagie and Mo Farah), rowing (Moe Sbihi) and hockey. David Weir won quadruple gold in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and Marathon at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

St Mary's was selected as a pre-Games training camp for the 2012 Summer Olympics by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Ireland. Endurance squads from the Chinese and Japanese Olympic teams also elected to be based at St Mary's pre-Games training camp. Athletes and officials from those four countries were ultimately joined by others from another six countries: the US, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Denmark and Mozambique.

The University College was granted full university title (status) by the Privy Council on 23 January 2014, becoming St Mary's University.

In July 2019 the ecclesiastical Faculties of Philosophy and Theology were transferred to St Mary's University and renamed Mater Ecclesiae College after their previous host institution, Heythrop College, University of London closed down.

Rio 2016
St Mary's saw 22 athletes attend both the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games in Rio, topping the record 18 selected for London 2012. The athletes contributed six medals to Team GB, ranking the university as the 25th most successful 'nation' on the medal table with three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal. Medallists at the Games include distance runner and alumnus Mo Farah. Elsewhere, rowers Moe Sbihi and Karen Bennett achieved gold and silver, respectively.

Other medallists included boxer Joshua Buatsi, who achieved Bronze and Simon Amor, who coached the Men's Rugby 7s squad to a silver medal.

Partnerships
St Mary's operates a number of partnerships with higher education providers, charities, sporting organisations, businesses, and religious organisations. Amongst these are The Royal Ballet, London Irish RFC, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Chelsea FC Foundation, University of Notre Dame, Union Theological College, University of Notre Dame Australia, Institut Catholique de Paris, amongst many others.

Academic profile
St Mary's University, Twickenham has a highly rated (Ofsted outstanding) teacher training programme and a range of sport and health degrees. The university is made of up one Academic Faculty and three Institutes:
 * Faculty of Sport, Allied Health and Performance Sciences
 * Institute of Business, Law and Society
 * Institute of Education
 * Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts

Staff are engaged in both national and international research, which was described as "world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour" in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) St Mary's has over 10 research centres, including the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society which opened on the 5 May 2016.

The university also runs a range of short courses and CPD sessions on weekends and during the evenings, including sport, health, nutrition and exercise. These are run by their Centre for Short Courses & CPD.

Chapel
The university's chapel, designed by Sir Albert Richardson, was built in 1962–63. Mass is held every Sunday morning and (during term time) on Sunday evening. During term times there is also a lunchtime Mass on weekdays.

Students' Union
The Students' Union (SU) was first housed in the original chapel and had a bar where the Baptismal font used to be. The SU was then moved to another building and the old chapel was converted into a lecture hall. After that SU building burnt down several years ago, the SU was moved to its current location in J-building.

The building has a bar with screens for viewing sporting events, and the SU hall underwent £50,000 of refurbishment in 2011 to convert it into an SU common room. There are a number of regular events in the bar and SU common room, such as discos and quiz nights.

Refectory and Shannon Suite
In 2008 the refectory underwent a £4 million investment to create a larger seating area with new kitchen facilities and a conference centre. It officially opened on 17 April 2008. Named after Very Rev Gerald Shannon CM (Principal of St Mary's 1941–1948), the Shannon Conference Suite is above the refectory and consists of three conference rooms with AV provision.

Libraries
The university operates two library buildings in support of teaching and research activity, both operated by the Library Services department. The Main Library is at the centre of the Strawberry Hill campus, providing study and IT facilities as well has housing print resources for most disciplines active within the university. The Naylor Library, opened in 2015, is at 99 Waldegrave Road, Teddington and provides further multi-format study facilities along with print resources related to teacher training and Education programmes. It also houses the university's Doctoral College and associated facilities for postgraduate research students. St Mary's Library Services has a print book collection of approximately 115,000 volumes. In addition it provides access to around 120,000 e-books and 55,000 e-journals for staff and students.

Sport facilities
The facilities below are used by staff, students, professional athletes and teams and community groups. These facilities formed part of the pre-Games training camp used by Olympic athletes and officials from 10 national teams in the run up to London 2012.

In 1999, St Mary's acquired 15.8 acre of land near Teddington Lock. This was named Teddington Lock Sports Campus and now features a mixture of playing fields, all-weather pitches and parking.

Sports centre
In 2011 Lord Coe officially opened St Mary's new £8.5 million sports centre, which received £500,000 of National Lottery funding from Sport England. A new building was constructed to create a single centre linking new facilities to the existing tennis hall and original 1960s sports block, which underwent refurbishment in 2010.

The centre includes a fitness suite and a sports hall. The fitness suite has 35 fitness equipment stations. In addition to this, there is a separate strength and conditioning suite that consists of 10 lifting platforms. The sports hall caters for a range of sports, from 5-a-side football to sport specific training and competition as the hall consists of the following:
 * 6 badminton courts
 * 4 cricket lanes
 * 1 basketball court
 * 1 netball court
 * 1 handball court

Sports hall
This multi-purpose facility, which underwent refurbishment in 2010, offers a variety of facilities suited to badminton, basketball, netball, mini tennis and a five-a-side football and can also cater for cricket, korfball, rugby union and rugby league.

Tennis hall
The tennis hall is the largest indoor facility and houses a variety of courts. It has been used by several national and international sports teams including the England, Australia and New Zealand All Blacks rugby union teams.

Athletics track
In 2017 the track was renamed the Sir Mo Farah track. Athletes from SMRAC (St Mary's Richmond Athletics Club) who use the track and St Mary's Uni students attended the official opening where Mo Farah opened it. The six-lane, 400 m synthetic athletics is floodlit and can be used all year round. It was opened in 2005 and underwent resurfacing in 2010. In addition to being used by students, it is used by local schools, St Mary's Richmond Athletic Club and world class athletes connected to the St Mary's Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) including Mo Farah, Joanne Pavey, Andrew Baddeley, Andrew Osagie and Stephanie Twell. In addition, the track has been used by Usain Bolt, the Kenyan National Long Distance team and the Chinese Marathon squad.

The track is UK Athletics-certified and has the following features:
 * 6 × 400 m lanes
 * Throwing cage
 * Javelin and shot put areas
 * Long jump and triple jump areas (2)
 * High jump and pole vault landing areas
 * Steeplechase water jump and adjustable barriers

Dance studio
The studio has a sprung floor, a surround sound system, a galleried lighting system and mirrored wall. This facility is used for dance and drama performances, aerobic and fitness sessions, boxing and martial arts.

Gymnasium
The gymnasium is fully equipped to cater for academic and club use, including four trampolines. The floor is sprung, which allows for a full programme of gymnastics to be undertaken. The gymnasium is a multi-use facility and can cater gymnastics, trampolining, martial arts and fitness classes.

Grass pitches
St Mary's has over 10 acre of playing fields on campus including a floodlit training area, two further training areas and a rugby pitch. Teams that have used these facilities include Harlequins Rugby League, the English, Irish and Australian rugby union squads and the New Zealand All Blacks.

Teddington Lock sports facilities
St Mary's also has extensive sporting facilities five minutes from the main campus at Teddington Lock: over 30 acre of playing fields with changing and storage areas, showers and toilets.

Accommodation
St Mary's University has halls of residence, most of which are on the main campus, or within walking distance.

Halls of residence

 * Lady Frances Court – De Marillac (known colloquially as 'New Halls')- Constructed in 2005 the De Marillac Hall is at the far end of the university's running track, adjacent to Graham, Wiseman and Doyle Halls. The three-storey building has 180 bedrooms, which are all single study bedrooms, with en-suite facilities along with utility kitchen/common rooms. There is also a lift access for disabled students.
 * Graham, Wiseman & Doyle – Named after the Very Rev Canon Thomas Graham DD (Principal of St Mary's, 1869–1899), Cardinal Wiseman and the Very Rev James Doyle CM (Principal of St Mary's, 1921–1930), these conjoining halls are at the far end of the sports track. Each hall consists of single study bedrooms with shared bathroom facilities and utility kitchens on three floors. In addition, each of these halls has its own common room. The total number of rooms in Graham is 34, Doyle has 34 and Wiseman has 47.
 * Clive Halls – Study bedrooms on two floors, with shared bathroom and utility kitchen facilities. The total number of bedrooms in Clive 'S' is 19, while Clive 'T' has 21 bedrooms and Clive "U" has 21, accommodating a maximum of 62 students in total.
 * Cronin – Named after the Very Rev Kevin Cronin CM (Principal of St Mary's, 1948–1969), these halls were built in 1993. They have three floors consisting of 69 en-suite single study bedrooms with shared utility kitchens.
 * Cashin – Named after the Very Rev Thomas Cashin CM (Principal of St Mary's, 1969–1976), these are the sister halls of Cronin and are built in the same style. This smaller building also has en-suite single study bedrooms and shared utility kitchens. There are three floors and 22 bedrooms in total.
 * Old House – in the main building adjacent to the administration area, Old House has 114 single study bedrooms on three floors with shared bathroom facilities and utility kitchens.
 * Waldegrave Park Houses – These are Victorian houses at the south edge of the campus on a residential road. Also known as 'Waldegrave Park Hostels', they have been converted to provide cheap student accommodation. There are nine separate houses which vary in shape and size, offering accommodation of either single study bedrooms or shared study bedrooms. They all have shared bathroom facilities and utility kitchens, the total number of bedrooms in each hostel ranging from 5 to 12.
 * Benedict XVI House – St Mary's lay community, in Waldegrave Gardens. The community comprise staff and full-time students, pursuing a life centred around prayer in the Roman Catholic tradition, study and service.

Notable alumni
• Jason Arday, Academic and fundraiser
 * Clara Amfo, Radio and television presenter
 * Nihal Arthanayake, Radio and television presenter
 * Anna Maria Ashe, newsreader and television presenter
 * Robert Beck, actor
 * Dave Bedford, athlete
 * Eamon Boland, actor
 * Joshua Buatsi, professional boxer and Olympic medalist
 * Chris Chibnall, English playwright, television writer and producer
 * Paul Clement, football manager
 * Philip Don, former football referee
 * Francis Ebejer, dramatist and novelist
 * Mo Farah, four-time Olympic champion athlete
 * Gordon Gray, Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh
 * Tom Grennan, musician
 * Toby Gold, Paralympic silver medallist
 * Stephen Henry, theatre director and producer
 * Philip Hoare, writer
 * Jonathan Holloway, theatre director and playwright
 * Roger Jupp, Anglican Bishop of Popondetta
 * John Junkin, actor
 * Lara Lewington, television presenter, journalist and former weather presenter
 * Eamonn McCrystal, Northern Irish pop tenor and TV-radio host
 * James McEvoy, educationist
 * Tim Murtagh, cricketer
 * Michael Melia, actor
 * Aled Miles, businessman
 * Margaret Moran, Labour Party politician and criminal
 * Tom O'Connor, actor and comedian
 * Andrew Osagie, Olympic 800 metres athlete
 * Emma Paton, sports journalist
 * Gordon Pirie, athlete
 * Pete Postlethwaite, actor
 * Les Reed, football coach
 * Rebecca Romero, Olympic gold medallist
 * Shelley Rudman, Olympic Skeleton medallist
 * Nicola Sanders, Olympic sprinter and hurdler
 * Moe Sbihi, Olympic gold and bronze medallist rower
 * Jemma Simpson, athlete
 * Georgia Steel, television personality and actress
 * Richard Thorpe, rugby union player
 * James Tindall, Olympic field hockey player
 * Stephanie Twell, middle distance runner
 * Christian Wade, rugby union player and former American football player
 * Matthew Wells, Olympic rower
 * Joe Wicks, fitness coach, television presenter and author

Notable academics

 * Cherie Blair CBE QC (Visiting professor in law)
 * Sir Vince Cable (Visiting professor)
 * Monsignor Thomas Capel (Vice-Principal, 1854–58)
 * Seán Ó Faoláin (Lecturer, 1929–33) – Irish short story writer who wrote his first two books while working at the college.
 * Reginald C. Fuller (Lecturer, 1968–1972) – later honorary Canon of Westminster Cathedral
 * Ruth Kelly (Pro Vice-Chancellor)
 * Mary McAleese (Distinguished Professor in Irish Studies)
 * Mick Woods (Sports Lecturer/Athletics Coach)
 * Dominic Bruce (OBE, MC, AFM, KSG, Member of the Board of Governors of St Mary's College)

title: St Mary's University, Twickenham


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POD (video game)

POD (POD: Planet of Death in Germany) is a futuristic racing video game for Microsoft Windows released by Ubi Soft in 1997.

Plot
Set in the distant future where humanity has successfully colonized one of Jupiter's moons, Io. After years of prosperity, a mining accident unleashes a deadly fungus from within the mining facility, causing widespread destruction and panic throughout the colony. Desperate, most of Io's population escapes the now-termed "p.o.d." (planet of death) while a few survivors remain, voluntarily or otherwise. With only one ship remaining, the survivors soup up cars, which they use to race each other in tournaments throughout the desolated city streets, and the winner of the final tournament will commandeer the last ship and escape to safety, leaving the others to die.

As the player (and narrator) wins the final race on the "HQ" circuit, the creeping fungus nearly engulfs the remaining portion of land where the platform with the last ship still stands. Ditching the vehicle, he successfully take off with the ship before the mold consumes the launch pad. As the last person to leave the "p.o.d.", the player witnesses Io's final stage of destruction: being reborn as a giant flower in outer space.

History
POD was influenced by games such as Super Mario Kart and Ridge Racer. It was published in 1997. It was one of the first games to support the MMX instruction set and came bundled as an OEM version with computers using Intel Pentium or Pentium II MMX processors, and some AMD K6 systems. The OEM 1.0 version did not support 3dfx cards or a network mode. A retail version of POD (called POD 2.0 by Ubisoft) was later released and featured more circuits and cars, plus support for 3dfx video cards and network play. A special multiplayer program called "Game Service" was provided by Ubisoft for POD players so that they could race on Ubisoft servers. POD was among the first games optimized for video cards with a 3dfx chipset using the Glide API. Only video cards with the 3dfx Voodoo 1 chipset were supported upon the game's release. Ubisoft later published patches, which added support for the Voodoo 2 using the Glide API and non-3dfx chipsets via Direct3D. Less than a year after publishing POD, Ubisoft issued an expansion pack under the title Back to Hell (also known as Extended Time in France) in late 1997. This pack contained 19 circuits and 15 new vehicles, including motorcycles, a floating purple batlike creature, and a witch riding a broom. Another version called POD: Gold was later released, which included POD, its expansion, plus a new sound set.

A port of POD for the Nintendo 64 was announced, but never released.

In the winter of 2000, Ubisoft released the game's successor, POD 2 (also known as POD 2: Multiplayer Online and POD: Speedzone), for the Sega Dreamcast console. It is another futuristic racing game, but players are able to attack their opponents. Each player is a miner on the colony of Damethra, and an alien virus has taken over the cars on the colony, creating mutant cars. It was one of the first games playable on SegaNet and one of the few games to support the Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor. The game features eight vehicles to use on five tracks. Bonus cars and tracks could be unlocked if the game was played online and the user had a Game Service account, but due to the shutdown of SegaNet, these are now inaccessible.

On October 6, 2011, POD was re-released by GOG.com, with added compatibility with modern operating systems.

Reception
Next Generation rated it three stars out of five, and stated that "Pod is a fantastic ride, with high-color graphics at high resolution and a steady, high frame rate. It could very well be the prettiest racing game you can buy right now."

Reviews

 * Electric Games (1997)
 * PC Multimedia & Entertainment (Apr 11, 1997)
 * Coming Soon Magazine (May, 1997)
 * Game-Over! (Jun 07, 1997)
 * Gamezilla (1997)
 * World Village (Gamer's Zone) (1997)

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

title: POD (video game)


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User talk:Lysy/History of Vilnius

The page has been moved to History of Vilnius.

title: User talk:Lysy/History of Vilnius


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User talk:Dknauss

Welcome!

'''Hello,, Welcome  to Wikipedia! '''I hope you like working here and want to continue. If you need help on how to name new articles, look at Naming Conventions, and for help on formatting the pages visit the Manual of Style. If you need general help, look at Help and the FAQ, and if you can't find your answer there, check the Village pump (for Wikipedia related questions) or the Reference Desk (for general questions). There's still more help at the Tutorial and the Policy Library. Also, don't forget to visit the Community Portal — and if you have any more questions after that, feel free to post them on my New-Users' Talk Page.'''

Additional tips:
 * Here are some extra tips to help you get around Wikipedia:
 * If you want to play around with your new Wiki skills, try the Sandbox.
 * Click on the Edit button on a page, and look at how other editors did what they did.
 * You can sign your name using three tildes, like this: ~~~. If you use four, you can add a datestamp too. Always sign comments on Talk pages, never sign Articles.
 * You might want to add yourself to the New User Log
 * If your first language isn't English, try Contributing to articles outside your native language

Happy editing! Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 18:02, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Creating Articles
Good work creating new articles. When you create things, it helps tremendously to assign them to an accurate category (see WP:CG for info). If you're really not sure about categories, at least assign your new articles a stub category (see WP:SC for info). By assigning a category, you help make sure your new articles don't get lost as 'orphans' that are not associated with related topics. Feco 19:56, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Plowman
I agree I really didnt look too hard, did a Google images search on Piers Plowman and picked the first one that had a plowman (it's one of the greatest hits medieval images). The article could easily benefit from 4 or 5 images, and this one could be superceeded by somthing else, it's a start. BTW your additions are excellent, the previous article was sadly lacking for a long time. Also welcome to the Medieval group. Stbalbach 01:49, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Robert Crowley
Why did you blank and mark for deletion the article Robert Crowley (c.1517–1588)? Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 22:45, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Because I created it, forgot how I distinguished it from the Robert Crowley (20thC dude) entry, couldn't find it in the search engine, and started a new one: Robert Crowley (printer). Someone else actually just changed it to that last designation, which is interesting in light of the fact that the small amount of scholarship on Crowley says he was not a printer but just a bookseller--though it's a specious argument (and one I reject) in the view of the leading and unparallelled expert on the early English print trade. He'll publish on the matter eventually, and I doubt anyone here is going to contest calling RC a printer. Anyway, the old info is edited and moved over there. Dan Knauss

 * I'm a bit confused. I renamed the article Robert Crowley (printer) (on the basis of the article), and there wasn't yet an article of that name; had it been deleted?  I've also moved the other Robert Crowley to Robert Crowley (CIA), and made Robert Crowley into a disambiguation page.

 * Incidentally, the standard format for for dates is: "(bbbb–dddd)", not "(born bbbb, died dddd)". Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 08:53, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Sorry for the confusion. The page you renamed was the second of two pages on the same man; I started it after losing the first. When it started showing up in the search engine, I marked it for deletion and consolidated the info on the newer page that you have properly renamed. I'll work on expanding it in the future.

 * Why did you delete the links for demy and probationer fellow, etc.? There are no entries for them, but creating links invites the creation of such entries, right? Dan Knauss

It's recommended that the ratio of links to text not be too high, and red links should only be included when there's a good chance that articles will be written. I very much doubt that a Wikipedia article could be provided for either of these (both of them out-dated terms suitable at best for Wiktionary, the former extremely obscure).

Note, incidentally, Manual of style. Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 15:09, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * I'll get around to writing them, for wiktionary or whatever. Since several entries use those terms, they need explanation. How can any knowledge be "out-dated" for an encyclopedia? If the likes of John Foxe and Edmund Spenser are not out-dated, then demy and sizar and probationer-fellow are relevant terms. Additionally, terminal punctuation goes inside the close-parenthesis. This is not Britopedia. Dan Knauss

 * 1) I didn't say that the knowledge was out-dated, but that the terms were. "Demy" probably belongs in Wiktionary (I can't see the scope for a Wikipedia article), but "Probationer Fellow" is just a straightforward combination of two English words, and wouldn't even appear in a dictionary.
 * 2) I'm disappointed that you didn't bother to look at the link to the Wikipedia manual of style, but chose instead to adopt a rather confrontational tone. The quotation-mark issue is clearly stated in the document to which I linked; punctuation goes outside inverted commas unless it's part of what is being quoted.  Moreover, the Manual of Style also says that the national variety of English should match the subject matter where relevant; thus an article on an English printer should use British English, and an article on an American printer should use U.S. English.  The creator of the article can use whatever style of English with which she's most familiar, but other editors are free (indeed, encouraged) to change it where appropriate. Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 08:07, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

That is an asinine style. Is T. S. Eliot American or English? I intend to post useful information; by the magic of wikipedia, editorial pedantry can be left to those who find it profoundly fulfilling. Dan Knauss

 * You were the one making an issue of punctuation by reverting my edits, and then asserting that my use of it was wrong despite my providing the link to the Manual of Style; I just quietly did the editing. If it pleases you to accuse others of pedantry in such cases, it's no skin off my nose.  If you don't like Wikipedia policy on style, though, argue against it in the proper place, but please don't try to impose your views on the community.  Mel Etitis  ( Μελ Ετητης ) 18:50, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Someone said pedantry is an accusation against people with higher standards. I'm not so sure. Arguing against a rule in the community is an attempt to impose a view. No community without impositions.

I'm afraid that I can't make much sense of this comment, whoever left it. However, to Dpknauss, wasn't it rather petty to change 'recognise' to 'recognize' in Vestments controversy, given the above? I realise that you're unwilling (or unable?) to use U.K. English spelling when you add text (e.g., 'humour'), but changing what's there is another matter. Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 21:30, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Look, I did that reflexively. It's not how I spell. If you want to nit-pick that stuff, wait until I'm done. Dan Knauss 16:59, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I changed the capitalization of "Christian" in the recently added book title, because the eccentric capitalization follows how the title was actually capitalized in the original publication. (Early printed books frequently capitalize eccentrically.) Dan Knauss

 * Hi Dan, I too find that specific language in our style manual to be somewhat asinine, but we must consider that the policy was written to address the large swath of articles where is it fairly easy to identify the appropriate dialect. In general having all of English Wikipedia in one dialect would be advantageous, but that would only be possible at the expense of having at least three English forks, which would clearly be wasteful. What we have is a compromise, but I like your attitude on it "by the magic of wikipedia, editorial pedantry can be left to those who find it profoundly fulfilling". Just realize that occasional a pedant is going to come nag you from time to time, but no one should fail to accept a statement that you don't feel competent writing in en_GB and that they are welcome to update your writing. --Gmaxwell 14:10, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks. Mel seemed to assume that I should be fluent in British spellings. Dan Knauss 17:27, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

User categorization
Greetings, Dpknauss! Please accept this message as an invitation to categorize your user page in the category Category:Wikipedians in Wisconsin and removing your name from the Wikipedians/Wisconsin page. The page will be removed when all users have been removed.

For more information, please see User categorisation and Category:Wikipedians by location. -- Roby Wayne  Talk •  Hist 04:04, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Metrical psalter
A note of thanks for your contributions to this article. The Daniell book skips over Crowley in favour of Sternhold and Hopkins. One question: do you have access to a copy of Crowley's rendition of Psalm 24? The remainder of the article uses this as a reference point since it was rhymed in most of the various versions. Smerdis of Tlön 16:25, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

 * yes, I have access to an electronic copy--the EEBO pdf scans of the STC microforms. would you like me to check something in it for you? Dan Knauss 17:28, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I was hoping that you would be able to give the first two verses of Crowley's translation of Psalm 24 to the article, for purposes of comparison with the versions from the other psalters. Smerdis of Tlön 11:49, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

 * No problem; it's in. I also added an image of Crowley's musical notation. Using the entry on neumes I tried translating it to modern notation to make a midi version, but I don't think I got it quite right, and I am stuck with pretty poor free composing software. Might try again later if no one else is interested. Dan Knauss 03:30, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for contributing to wikipedia
Thanks for contributing to wikipedia. The good and the bad of human behavior is here in cyberspace just as it is in meatspace. Please don't take the preening of the self-righteous too seriously. A "crime" in wikipedia-land is punished by being forbidden to edit for 24 hours! Imagine the immaturity you have to have for that to be a punishment. But the system works: the self-important do THOUSANDS of useful things every month to improve wikipedia and the immature DO feel punished for their immature disruptive behaviors. Just be aware "trust me" doesn't work in the context of wikipedia. Verifyablility is important. WAS 4.250

Good Work!
I would have emailed, but you didn't specify an address. Anyhow, I just wanted to say "Good work" on the Vestments Controversy article. Very professionally done.

I have a group of friends who get together regularly to discuss church history. This semester, we're focusing on the background to the Westminster Confession of Faith and our topic for this week is English Puritanism in the reign of Elizabeth I. I was about to write a synopsis of the Vestiarian Controversy when I discovered that your article covered the topic in much more depth than I would have been able to. (Which is unusual for Wikipedia, which often has pretty shallow treatment for topics like this.) Thanks again.

Adam_sk 01:48, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

 * thanks--glad it helped! Dknauss 22:39, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
 * p.s. did you check the John Hooper entry and others related to the Vest. row?

Across the sea..
here I come :) ..Hello Dan,

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Edoardo and I'm coming from Italian Wiki. I'm keen about Geoffrey Chaucer and about his work: so, I decided to write a little page about one of his work, Treatise on the Astrolabe. There is a problem: I know little about middle english, but I am not sure about my ability, so it would be pleasing to me to check if I really understand everything well. Do you know if there is a sort of paraphrase about Treatise on internet? I did not find it :(. Thank you in advice :)

Edoardo SkedO - Italian user

 * Edoardo, I'll take a look at what you've got. I only browsed through the Treatise once. I don't know of any sites on it. If google turns up nothing, look up larry d. benson's chaucer page at the harvard uni. website and try there. Dknauss 22:39, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Welcome back
Welcome back to Wikipedia. Let me know if there is any way I can be of further assistance to you. Cheers, alphachimp  21:58, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

 * thanks--looks like everything is fine! Dknauss 22:35, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Tnp.jpg
Thank you for uploading Image:Tnp.jpg. However, it currently is missing information on its copyright status. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously. It may be deleted soon, unless we can determine the license and the source of the image. If you know this information, then you can add a copyright tag to the image description page.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at the media copyright questions page. Thanks again for your cooperation.--The Evil Spartan 22:53, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I believe that, being a screenshot, pd-self does not apply in this instance. I would request that you read up a little more on our image policies - I would have tagged as a screenshot myself, but I don't know what kind of screenshot (e.g., )? The Evil Spartan 23:05, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Chaucer vs Dante, Petrarca and Boccacio
Hello Dknauss, I'm a little student and not a great critic. My ability to write in English is quite bad, so be kind with me :P. I don't think we can compare so much Chaucer with Italians writer, just because Chaucer's work are quite different from Divina Commedia, Decameron or Il Canzoniere: Canterbury Tales and Chaucer's Troilus were only influenced by those works. I don't like compare writers coming from different country and writing in different language, because I'm only italian native-speaker and maybe I can't really understand the quality and the abilites of this writer :). Anyway, reading Canterbury Tales, I think there's no comparison between Chaucer and Dante, more between Chaucer and Petrarca. In my humble opinion, Boccaccio and Chaucer are very similar, but not the same - Boccaccio makes me tickled pink, Chaucer less :). Decameron is fantastic.. :P

--SkedO 15:36, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

 * I don't recall ever comparing Chaucer and Boccaccio on Wikipedia. Boccaccio IS a major source for Chaucer, so of course there are similarities, and of course any two things that are similar are "not the same," i.e. identical. There IS a large body of academic writing in the fields of Comparative Literature, English and Italian literature that compares or does some kind of mutual consideration of the two authors.

It is a different thing altogether to judge the artistic merit of the two, which is invariably an effort to rationalize one's own tastes and preference for one thing over another. Such acts are interesting and informative in the area of literary history.

For instance, Chaucer became and English "great" when he was needed as such, or when such a thing was possible. In the English Renaissance and Reformation era, when there was an emerging English nation or state--which also happened to be officially Protestant with more and less official versions of the identity of the true church--a historical consciousness had to emerge as a matter of identity, faith and politics. What was one to do with the "medieval"--and "papist" past--which Chaucer was part of? various individuals and interests felt a need for an English literary canon of sorts and a pantheon of great authors, so they engaged in retrospective efforts to organize and authorize a usable past.

Under such processes, Chaucer had to be grafted onto older lineages, i.e. continental sources. One could say Chaucer was a successor to Italian greats, which ties him into the Latin, classical past with predecessors like Boccaccio playing the role of venerable fathers. Or if one had dislike of things Italian and Latinate, one could minimize their role and relevance, or say Chaucer is clearly superior, or simply regard him as an original, "pure English," in a rather nativist view of English history. People of this latter persuasion in the 16th century and after sometimes spun Celtic/Gaelic sources as significant, found "protestant ideas" in Chaucer, and created printed editions of the "Works of Chaucer" that imaged and sold him as such. Consequently there were--and remain--very different Chaucers accepted by different people for different reasons, and endless arguments as to what the "real truth" is/was. Dan Knauss (talk) 17:22, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Possibly unfree Image:Tnp.jpg
An image that you uploaded or altered, Image:Tnp.jpg, has been listed at Possibly unfree images because its copyright status is disputed. If the image's copyright status cannot be verified, it may be deleted. You may find more information on the image description page. You are welcome to add comments to its entry at if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. —Bkell (talk) 03:16, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

 * fixed. Dan Knauss (talk) 19:14, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Amelia Earhart
Hi Dan, thanks for your notes in the article talk page, but if the stress is made on the TIGHAR allegations of post-downing signals having credence, then I think a great deal of opposing viewpoints should be addressed. The vast majority of historians and researchers have dismissed these late July 2+ signals as hoaxes, or simple confusion. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 22:01, 24 October 2009 (UTC).
 * None of those historians and researchers were included in the article though--but TIGHAR was. Now TIGHAR has reversed its view and believes the Brown report is authentic. That needs to be updated. If you have any record of other views in dialogue with TIGHAR's latest position and the Brown transcripts, add them. Dan Knauss (talk) 22:06, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Both Butler and Lowell deal with the flood of hoax signals in the aftermath of the Earhart circumnavigation attempt. While I do not believe that Betty's recollections or her notebook could be classed as a hoax, it was a simple fooling of a teenager by someone who was perpetrating a hoax. I am not sure what has changed as the last entry I have on the TIGHAR site says: "We have what appears to be a real-time transcription of what were believed at the time to be post-loss radio transmissions from Amelia Earhart. TIGHAR has made no judgment at this time about the possible authenticity of the transmissions." FWiW, have you read the notebook? It's fragmentary, has spelling errors (and to me, doesn't ring true as the only way to transmit was if the aircraft were above water and the port engine was running). Bzuk (talk) 22:26, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
 * It sounds like you have appointed yourself head censor. It's possible Brown was hoaxed, but what evidence is there for that arbitrary speculation? It's also possible she heard Earhart. Yes I have read the notebooks, and I added a link in the refs to them. I think Ric Gillespie's analysis of the transcript is pretty compelling. But this is the issue here: the current article cites older and now revised TIGHAR research on Brown and uses Gillespie's book repeatedly while completely ignoring its whole chapter on Brown. Is TIGHAR's view on Brown the best possible case for the "yes there were post-crash transmissions" position? Clearly it is, so on that basis it should be included. It is not an issue of allowing or suppressing the information based on what you think really happened. Dan Knauss (talk) 22:38, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Maybe drop a little bit of the snark and we can discuss the issues; otherwise... FWiW Bzuk (talk) 01:27, 25 October 2009 (UTC).
 * Nothing precludes established editors from revising the Amelia Earhart article. Apparently you may have inadvertently made your first submission as an IP, or not logged in by username/id. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 01:56, 25 October 2009 (UTC).

Ichthus: January 2012
 In this issue...

- Ichthus is the newsletter of Christianity on Wikipedia • It is published by WikiProject Christianity For submissions contact the Newsroom • To unsubscribe add yourself to the list here
 * From the Editor
 * What are You doing For Lent?
 * Fun and Exciting Contest Launched
 * Spotlight on WikiProject Catholicism

Sweet Water
Hi. I've declined your speedy request for two reasons. One is that it isn't a valid reason to delete at CSD, and the other is because being defunct doesn't matter. I left this message on the talk page: "That doesn't matter on Wikipedia. If it was notable then, it still should be on here. George Washington's dead - do you think his article should be deleted? There are articles about many people and companies that are defunct - that's what an encyclopaedia is about. Directories only want to have current entities in their pages - but we're not a directory." Peridon (talk) 19:32, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Edit-a-thon in Madison

 * ART+FEMINISM EDIT-A-THON

 * Saturday, March 5th, 9:30 a.m. – noon
 * Madison Public Library (Madison, Wisconsin)
 * Bring a laptop! There will be snacks and daycare

RSVP on the event page if you plan to attend or have any suggestions. czar 00:53, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

 * You received this message because you are a member of Category:Wikipedians in Wisconsin. To opt-in to future Madison event messages, add yourself to the mailing list.

title: User talk:Dknauss


text:
Battle of Lovcha

The Battle of Lovcha, or Loftcha (today Lovech), took place during the siege of Plevna. Russian forces successfully reduced the fortress at Lovcha, which had protected Plevna's communication and supply lines. It was a part of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

Battle
In July 1877, shortly after the siege of Plevna began, the garrison's commander, Osman Pasha, received 15 battalions of reinforcements from Sofia. He chose to use these reinforcements to fortify Lovcha, which protected his lines of support running from Orchanie (present-day Botevgrad) to Plevna.

After the failure of the first two attempts to storm the city of Plevna, the Russians brought up significant reinforcements, and the investing army now totaled 100,000. Intent on cutting Osman's communications and supply lines, General Alexander Imeretinsky was sent out with 22,703 Russian troops to seize Lovcha.

On 1 September Generals Alexander Imerentinsky, Mikhail Skobelev, and Vladimir Dobrovolsky reached Lovcha and attacked the city. Fighting continued for the next two days. Osman marched out of Plevna to the relief of Lovcha, but on 3 September, before he could reach Lovcha, it fell to the Russians. Survivors of the battle withdrew into Plevna and were organized into 3 battalions. After the loss of Lovcha, these additional troops brought Osman's force up to 30,000, the largest it would be during the siege. The Russians settled on the strategy of a complete investment of Plevna, and with the loss of its major supply route, the fall of Plevna was inevitable.

title: Battle of Lovcha


text:
User talk:Penguinboxers007

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! Deb 18:04, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

If you want to be productive here, you will be welcomed. If you are just here to create joke articles, you will soon find yourself awarded and glorified. Deb 18:04, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Penguinboxers007


text:
User talk:W T L

Welcome!

'''Hello,, Welcome  to Wikipedia! '''I hope you like working here and want to continue. If you need help on how to name new articles, look at Naming Conventions, and for help on formatting the pages visit the Manual of Style. If you need general help, look at Help and the FAQ, and if you can't find your answer there, check the Village pump (for Wikipedia related questions) or the Reference Desk (for general questions). There's still more help at the Tutorial and the Policy Library. Also, don't forget to visit the Community Portal — and if you have any more questions after that, feel free to post them on my New-Users' Talk Page.'''

Additional tips:
 * Here are some extra tips to help you get around Wikipedia:
 * If you want to play around with your new Wiki skills, try the Sandbox.
 * Click on the Edit button on a page, and look at how other editors did what they did.
 * You can sign your name using three tildes, like this: ~~~. If you use four, you can add a datestamp too. Always sign comments on Talk pages, never sign Articles.
 * You might want to add yourself to the New User Log
 * If your first language isn't English, try Contributing to articles outside your native language

Happy editing! Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 18:04, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Berel Rodal (October 21)
 Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by HickoryOughtShirt?4 was:

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HickoryOughtShirt?4 (talk) 22:32, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

title: User talk:W T L


text:
User talk:217.10.50.85

Nomination of LDE(X) for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article LDE(X), to which you have significantly contributed, is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or if it should be deleted.

The discussion will take place at Articles for deletion/LDE(X) until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article.

To customise your preferences for automated AfD notifications for articles to which you've significantly contributed (or to opt-out entirely), please visit the configuration page. Delivered by SDZeroBot (talk) 01:01, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

title: User talk:217.10.50.85


text:
Ladir

Ladir is a former municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Ladir, Castrisch, Ilanz, Luven, Pitasch, Riein, Ruschein, Schnaus, Sevgein, Duvin, Pigniu, Rueun and Siat merged into the new municipality of Ilanz/Glion.

History
Ladir is first mentioned about 850 as Leitura.

Geography
Before the merger, Ladir had a total area of 7.2 km2. Of this area, 50.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

The former municipality is located in the Ilanz sub-district of the Surselva district. Before 2000, it was part of the Glenner district. It is located in the heights of the northern flank of the "Gruob" also known as the Ilanz area. It consists of the village of Ladir and the exclave alpine settlement of Dadens da Ladir on the Crap Masegn mountain. The municipality does actually not reach the plain in the valley nor the banks of river Rhine. The Senda Sursilvana multiday hiking trail passes the village as it follows the northern flank of the Vorderrhein through Falera and Siat, continuing towards Panix.

Demographics
Ladir had a population (as of 2011) of 115. , 9.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of 0%. Most of the population speaks Romansh(57.0%), with German  being second most common (41.1%) and French being third ( 1.9%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 53.1% male and 46.9% female. The age distribution,, in Ladir is; 6 children or 5.6% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 22 teenagers or 20.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 13 people or 12.1% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 13 people or 12.1% are between 30 and 39, 12 people or 11.2% are between 40 and 49, and 10 people or 9.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 13 people or 12.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 13 people or 12.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 5 people or 4.7% who are between 80 and 89.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 44.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (28.3%), the FDP (13.8%) and the SP (11%).

Ladir has an unemployment rate of 1.8%. , there were 9 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 3 businesses involved in this sector. 4 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 2 businesses in this sector. 5 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 2 businesses in this sector.

The historical population is given in the following table:

Education
The municipality has lacked a school since 1980. The children are educated in the neighboring municipality of Ruschein while secondary students are educated in Ilanz. In Ladir about 77.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Sights
The village Church of St. Zeno was first mentioned in 998. The choir wall paintings are worth seeing. Additionally, the municipality has an excellent view of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

title: Ladir


text:
List of future Interstate Highways

In the United States, future Interstate Highways include proposals to establish new mainline (one- and two-digit) routes to the Interstate Highway System. Included in this article are auxiliary Interstate Highways (designated by three-digit numbers) in varying stages of planning and construction, and the planned expansion of existing primary Interstate Highways.

Congressionally designated future Interstates
Several Congressional High Priority Corridors have been designated as future parts of the Interstate Highway System by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and amendments. By law, they will become interstates when built to Interstate standards and connected to other interstates.

Interstate 3
Interstate 3 is the proposed designation of an Interstate Highway Corridor under development in the Southeastern United States. It is planned to run from Savannah, Georgia, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Its number does not follow standard numbering conventions; under established numbering conventions, I-3 would normally run west of I-5 along the Pacific Coast. The unnumbered Interstate was established by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) legislation that also provided for Interstate 14. The "Interstate 3" designation has not been officially accepted by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) or the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), but is being used by the Georgia Department of Transportation and others to identify the highway. The number comes from the 3rd Infantry Division, which is based in Georgia. The exact route has not been finalized.

Interstate 7 or 9
Interstate 7 or Interstate 9 has been proposed by Caltrans for State Route 99 in central California. It would go from the split with I-5 at Wheeler Ridge (Wheeler Ridge Interchange) north through Bakersfield and Fresno to Stockton, where the proposed route turns west via the SR 4 freeway to a terminus at I-5 in the central part of that city. An alternate proposed terminus is located at the I-5/US 50/Capital City Freeway junction in Sacramento, where the future Interstate, after continuing north from Stockton along Route 99, can turn west along the Capital City Freeway, already an Interstate route (unsigned I-305), to connect with I-5, which extends north toward Redding. This also serves as a connector to the existing northern portion of Highway 99. The future Interstate's prospects for development to appropriate standards are tied to the Caltrans "Route 99 Corridor Enhancement Master Plan"; this document posits that when and if Interstate status is conferred, the route will be designated either I-7 or I-9.

In August 2005, with the passage of that year's SAFETEA-LU federal transportation legislation, SR 99 from Wheeler Ridge to Stockton and beyond to Sacramento was designated as High Priority Corridor 54, the California Farm-to-Market Corridor; this legislation also designated that corridor as a future segment of the Interstate System.

Interstate 42
The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) added the US 70 corridor between Garner and Morehead City, North Carolina, to the Interstate system by defining it as, first, High Priority Corridor #82 and subsequently designating it as a future Interstate. The Regional Transportation Alliance expected this corridor to be called I-46 or another suitable designation. At a meeting in La Grange, North Carolina, on March 17, 2016, the Super 70 Corridor Commission recommended that the designation of I-50 be sought for the US 70 Interstate corridor. The rationale for the I-50 numerical selection was cited as a number not in conflict with either an existing Interstate designation or currently applied to a U.S. Highway within North Carolina. This recommendation was forwarded to NCDOT for submission to AASHTO.

For the AASHTO Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering meeting in May 2016, NCDOT proposed I-36 for this route. However, AASHTO instead designated the route as I-42.

In March 2022, the Federal Highway Administration designated the 10 mi Clayton Bypass and the 22 mi Goldsboro Bypass, which have been built to Interstate Highway standards, formally as I-42 and NCDOT announced that the interstate would be signed by the end of the year. This, however, was delayed due to several projects on I-40 and the need for NCDOT to remove the North Carolina Highway 42 (NC 42) designation in Clayton to avoid confusion between that route and I-42. NCDOT plans to redesignate the Clayton portion of NC 42 to NC 36 with I-42 being signed within a year after the redesignation.

Interstate 905
Interstate 905 in California is proposed to replace California State Route 905.

Interstate 310 (Mississippi)
Interstate 310 is a proposed Interstate in Mississippi. Construction was supposed to begin in 2008 but never occurred. Much of the land clearing was done.

Interstate 422
Interstate 422 is a proposed beltway in Birmingham. Interstate 422 won't directly connect to I-22 so therefore a new connector known as Interstate 222 is proposed. A timeline for construction to begin has not been established.

Interstate 569
In April 2019, the Western Kentucky Parkway was originally proposed as Interstate 369 before being changed Interstate 569 in December 2019 as the Audubon Parkway was proposed to be Interstate 369.

Interstate 169 (Tennessee)
Interstate 169 is proposed to run along Tennessee State Route 22 from Union City to Martin.

title: List of future Interstate Highways


text:
Airds Moss

Airds Moss is a large area of moor in East Ayrshire, the site is a protected area because of the extensive blanket bogs. In 1680 it was the location of a clash between troops loyal to King Charles II and the covenanters under Richard Cameron in which Cameron was killed.

General description
Airds Moss lies between the towns of Cumnock and Muirkirk and situated between the rivers Ayr and Lugar. Aird Moss is 25 km long and 8 km wide and it is the largest area of blanket bog in the southern part of the old Strathclyde Region which has not been subjected to afforestation.

History
Airds Moss is known in the history of Scotland as the site of the Battle of Airds Moss. This took place on the 22 July 1680 when a party of 112 government troops commanded by Andrew Bruce of Earlshall loyal to King Charles II came across a group of covenanters on the road between Cumnock and Muirkirk. The covenanters were the smaller company and their leader was Richard Cameron. A brief battle occurred in which 9 covenanters were killed, 5 were captured and the rest escaped. Cameron was one of those killed, as was his brother Michael. 28 of the government troops were killed. The prisoners were taken to Edinburgh where they were later hanged. The battle is commemorated by a memorial in the shape of a squat obelisk with an inscription which was erected by the Scottish Covenanters Memorial Association. The famous Scottish infantry regiment, The Cameronians, took their name in honour of Richard Cameron.

Airds Moss was the location of the Tarrioch Ironworks, the only 18th century charcoal-fired blast furnace in southern Scotland. The Tarrioch Ironworks were constructed in the early 1730s by the Earl of Cathcart to take advantage of locally available materials, wood from the river valleys was used to make charcoal, water was diverted from the river to power a waterwheel which powered the furnace bellows and the local quarries produced hematite iron ore. The ironworks were in operation for around 20 years.

Conservation Interest
Airds Moss is one of the few areas of comparatively low-altitude blanket bog left in south-western Scotland, elsewherein this region conversion to agricultural use and afforestation have reduced the original extent of blanket bog. In some parts of Airds Moss the vegetation has been altered by historical drainage and quarrying for hematite and these areas are dominated by purple moor-grass (Molinia caerulea). Other parts of the site, where there is surface patterning and extensive area of more typical bog vegetation are dominated by heather (Calluna vulgaris), deergrass (Trichophorum cespitosum) and cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) while white beak-sedge (Rhynchospora alba), cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and carpets of the moss Sphagnum magellanicum can be locally abundant. The SAC has an area of around 1300 ha, of which roughly 900 ha consists of a mosaic of mire vegetation communities.

The area qualifies as a Special Protection Area because it contains breeding and wintering hen harrier, merlin, peregrine falcon, short-eared owl and European golden plover. Slightly more than 400 ha of the Moss is managed as a wildlife reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with the aim of improving the condition of the site and the neighbouring floodplain to benefit wildlife. This has included blocking drainage ditches and thousands of dams have been installed to restore water levels.

title: Airds Moss


text:
Buffalo and Rochester Railroad

The Buffalo and Rochester Railroad was a railroad company formed on December 7, 1850 by the merger of the Tonawanda Railroad and the Attica and Buffalo Railroad. The company remained in business for three years before it was merged with other companies into the New York Central Railroad.

History
Initially, the idea for this line came from the perceived need for a rail line to serve Steuben and Livingston Counties in New York. Farmers and merchants in the area proposed a route along the Cohocton and Genesee river valleys up to Avon. The route would thence go west to the Tonawanda Railroad at Batavia. This would have been an alternative to the Erie Railroad's plan to end its line at Dunkirk. The Erie declined, and the projected line became the Buffalo and Cohocton Valley Railroad. The side line from Avon to Batavia, however, became part of the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad.

The primary accomplishment of the railroad was the construction of a new route between Buffalo and Batavia. The original route went from Rochester to Batavia to Attica and then to Buffalo. In April 1852, the railroad opened a new line from Buffalo to Batavia. This shortened the distance between the two cities and became part of the New York Central Railroad's famed "Water Level Route". The Buffalo and Rochester sold its line between Attica and Depew (east of Buffalo) to the Buffalo and New York City Railroad, part of the New York and Erie Railroad system. The new owners converted the line to their six-foot gauge.

The railroad was one of ten that merged on May 17, 1853 to form the New York Central Railroad.

title: Buffalo and Rochester Railroad


text:
Talk:Castrato

Ambiguities
“…only approximatly 1% of fully or partially castrated boys developed into successful singers.” Was that partly because so few boys survived the castration? Without antiseptics or anaesthesia any surgery was very dagerous. I have heard that less than 20% survied castration under such circumstances. Anyone who know the real number?

Furthermore, I wonder what “fully or partially castrated” means. I can imagine three degrees of castration that could have been preformed in those days. The first degree means that you just open the scrotum and take out the tests. At the second the degree you cut off the whole scrotum. The third degree include the removal of all outer genitals. Can’t the autor express him- or herself more clearly?

2007-01-30 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

I agree. If you excise all but a small part of a testis... that part compensates by producing extra androgens, so effectively, although the individual is sterile, the secondary sexual characteristics are unchanged. The mortalitiy rate doesn't have to be that high either - today, a lot of farm animals are castrated without benefit of anything other than local anaesthetic (which obviously has no impact on survival, just making it safer for the vet!) and a sharp knife. There would have been some mortalities, but castration in pre-pubescent individuals is relatively easy, as the blood supply to the testes is relatively poor - heamostasis can usuall be ahieved simple with twisting and torsion of the spermatic cord/artery bundle. In addition, the smaller the testes, the easier the operation. Indeed, it used to be the case (no longer legal, at least in the UK) where cats were castrated simply by crushing the testes within the scrotum, without anaesthetic or even a blade, just using (strong) fingers. Apparently a similar method was also the practice with very young boys in Babylonian times. (Dlh-stablelights 09:13, 13 June 2007 (UTC))

As I understand it the boys where drugged with opium to make it easier for the “surgeon”. However, humans have a much weaker immune system than other mammals. My idea was that many castrated boys would have died from infections. Also, intentional bleeding was long used as an universal treatment to most diseases. Even if the blood loss from the surgery itself was not to large the bleeding “treatment” to the following infections would have added to that. As such accumulated blood loss may have killed even more boys. In short infections combined with their misdirected treatment would have killed most castrati: a death rate of 80% or more seams quite reasonable.

What is the medical consequences of having the tests crushed? Where such men normal except being sterile? Anyone who knows?

2007-06-22 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Gross! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.228.85.6 (talk) 13:00, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

References supplied
I've just done a big edit on this page, and supplied references, which I hope are sufficient for this page to get "upgraded" to one with proper citations. I'll add some images soon.--voxclamans 23:34, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Some of the assertions made in this page are not consistent with recent research, particularly the part about castrato voices being markedly different from the female voice. Scholar Roger Freitas, in particular, feels that the distinction was primarily in technique, and not innate voice quality. Most of the assertions made in this page are derived from research done by Angus Herriot and published in 1974. I will edit the page and add citations when I get a chance, but if someone else can do it before I can, it would be nice.--Dana Scheider 11:01, 17 November 2008 (PST) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.17.14.247 (talk)

Your remarks are very interesting. Perhaps the idea that castrato voices differed greatly from those of women originates from the clear physical differences between them, and the fact that castrati seem to have sung in their voce di petto for a far greater proportion of their range than women did (or indeed could, without damaging their voices). There is also a lot of contemporary anecdotal evidence about the difference in sound quality.--voxclamans (talk) 11:43, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

 * More references supplied to two sections, and therefore I have removed boxes requesting such.voxclamans (talk) 10:02, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Signs
I don’t think there was any written signs saying “here boys are castrated” in the time of Charles Burney. Remember, there was no compulsory education in that time. People who could read and write belonged to one out of two categories: those who needed it in their work and those who grew up in the upper classes. Almost everyone else was illiterate. Furthermore, people who owned any property to talk about usually not only wanted it to be inherited by their sons but also their grandsons. Parents who wanted their sons to be castrated most likely had no such property and where illiterate. So persons performing the surgery must had announced it in some way that did of the ability to read unnecessary. Maybe they had a picture at their doors showing the surgical instrument used. If that was too blatant for the Catholic Church they may have used sings based on animal analogies or Italian wordplay. It is even possible that they relied on hearsay to get patients. I really don’t know.

2007-06-22 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

You certainly make a very good point about the high level of illiteracy during the eighteenth century. However, it must be remembered that not all castrati came from poor (and therefore, as you remark, presumably illiterate) families; this was the case, for example, with Farinelli and Caffarelli. The rumour of at least one such advertising sign in Rome survived into the second half of the nineteenth century. As to inheriting property, it should also be remembered that large families were the rule (or at least, desired) in all strata of Catholic society during the eighteenth century. Little is known about how surgeons (or others) who performed the castrations advertised their services: since castration was forbidden under Canon Law and punishable by excommunication such people would, officially at least, have found it necessary to keep their activities clandestine. The Church is itself known to have had a hand in some castrations, for example, paying for the operation - for Senesino, amongst others.--voxclamans 21:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

The typical family in preindustrial Europe had five children out of which three survived until adulthood. Why would a rich couple want to have one of their sons castrated? Was it not equally important for sons to marry, have children and pass on the family name? Such questions might seem stupid to you, but I have quite hard to find out the motives of others.

2007-07-10 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Why would such questions be regarded as "stupid"? Far from it. I would be very interested to know where you found the statistic about "the typical family in pre-industrial Europe", please. The facts about Caffarelli are that, at the age of ten, he was given the income from two vineyards owned by his grandmother "that he might ... give attention to Music with the utmost propriety, towards which the said Gaetano is said to have a large inclination, desiring to be castrated and to be made a eunuch." (Translated from E. Faustini-Fassini, Gli astri maggiori del bel canto napoletano, in Note d'archivo 15, (1938), p12.) Why Caffarelli wanted this, I do not know, and we cannot ask him. As far as I am aware, it is not known for sure why Farinelli was castrated. voxclamans 09:26, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

My point was that most people did not have loads of children before Industrialism. How many children did you think they had? Also, did not the majority of castrati have illiterate parents? In that case written signs would have been inefficient at best.

2007-07-25 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Contradiction?
This article seems to contradict itself. In the section "Castrati in the European Classical Tradition" it says "In 1589, by the bull Cum pro nostri temporali munere, Pope Sixtus V re-organised that choir specifically to include castrati, and in 1599, they were first admitted into the Pope's personal choir of the Sistine Chapel...". This clearly seems to indicate that the Pope accepted the use of castrati in church choirs. But then in the section "Castrati in Opera" it says "Castration 'for music' was an almost totally Italian practice, and under the Catholic church's Canon Law, strictly illegal: it was mutilation, and thus punishable by excommunication." How could castration be "strictly illegal" if the Pope had specifically asked for castrati in his choir? Or is the church just that hypocritical? —Edward Tremel (talk) 17:40, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, they really were that hypocritical. Mind you, there is a quote in Isaiah somewhere about there being a special place in heaven reserved for eunuchs, or something like that, so perhaps they used that as justification. Then again, other parts of the old Testament (specifically Deuteronomy AFAICR) are quite castrato-hostile. I guess that's just the RC Church for you. Moreschi If you've written a quality article... 17:50, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

New to Wiki, noticed bias
Because of a misreading of the first canon of the Council of Nicea of 325 directed at clergy alone and, no doubt, based on the Mosaic ban against "castrated" priests mentioned in Leviticus 21:20 that is currently translated as "herniated," many Italians errouneously assumed (as many people still erroneously assume) that castration was and is a forbidden act of mutilation for all men by the Catholic church. This general ban would not only directly contradict a highly rational interpretation of Wisdom 3:14, 15; Isaiah 56:4, 5; Acts 8:26-40; and the teachings of Christ found in Matthew 5:29, 30; 18:1-9; 19:12 and Mark 9:42-48, it would make Rome look ridiculously hypocritical. It would also look blatantly hypocritical since castration is an ancient and internationally recognized aid to sexual purity, a clearly stated goal of Catholic holiness. In addition to the practices of the Vatican involving the castrati and its exultation of the scriptures just cited, Rome still considers Origen to be a Greek Father of the Church in spite of the strong belief that he castrated himself. Those who wish to protray Rome as violating its own teachings regarding castration clearly need to cite their sources for the alleged prohibition.

Thats super biased. Definitely not encyclopedic voice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.171.166.82 (talk) 09:05, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you think thatthe Roman church ever feared something that "would make Rome look ridiculously hypocritical." I think that their religion and behaviour does that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ariddles (talk • contribs) 00:00, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Did the procedure always involve removal of the testicles?
In William Berger's book about the life and opi of Verdi he runs through a brief history of opera and mentions that the practice of castration involved the severing of a duct in the boy's scrotum, stopping the boy's voice from breaking. It also led to the boy's sexual maturation being stopped which was clearly still barbaric but not in the same league as having the meat and two veg whipped off. Can anyone confirm/deny this? I can't find a referral to it anywhere else... Andrew Riddles (talk) 00:06, 26 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, this is fundamentally correct. From memory Western castration involved simply cutting the sperm ducts, I guess mostly because they didn't have the medical technology do to much more safely, and even that was pretty darn risky. In the Orient, castration did involve removal of a lot more. Moreschi (talk) 18:02, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

The changes boys undergo during puberty is caused by increased production of testosterone. This hormone is produced in the boys’ testes hence the name. To prevent or stop the process the testes had to be surgically removed. You seem to have mixed up castration with vasectomy. The later result in sterility but does not affect hormone production. As such the castrati had their testes surgically removed before their voices begun to break. The surgery may have involved the removal of part or all of the scrotum as well. I see no reason to think that they had their penises removed which is an other misunderstanding of “castration”. In some Asian countries all external genitals could be surgically removed which does not seem to have been unusual. This practise continues to this day on the Indian subcontinent albeit only illegally. Anyway, my point is that the castrati did have their testes removed – this is what “surgical castration” means in a strict medical sense – otherwise they would not have developed in the way they did.

2010-05-14 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

So, where does that leave the very first paragraph about the process where the writer speaks of a crushing "massage" as the way in which the procedure is performed? Is there a reference (anywhere) to that fact? Tom12ga (talk) 16:57, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

 * Not only is that crushing method uncited, but the entire "Method of Castration" section is completely uncited. There is even a quote in there from a source that is not named. It appears to have personal opinions mixed in with sentences that read like facts. I just edited it so it would sound somewhat more encyclopedic, but it needs a lot more work. I guess I'll put the 'citations missing' thing over the section and hope that whoever came up with this information comes back with sources. Ganstaman (talk) 17:07, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

 * I agree with you. I've actually removed the whole section Method of Castration which was partly original research and completely unreferenced. This is a long-standing article written by an expert on the history of castrato singers. That section was added a few months ago. Anyone who wishes to restore it must be prepared to provide inline citations to reliable sources for all the assertions. Voceditenore (talk) 19:06, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

List Of Opera Featuring Castrato Parts
Would it not be a good idea to create an article with a title such as List of Opera to feature Castrato Parts ? If there are no objections, I may begin doing that shortly :-) Baroque n Roll (talk) 16:42, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * That would need clear criteria as to what qualifies as a castrato role. There are many instances of "castrato roles" that were in fact originally written for women playing trouser roles. That is a rather knotty problem, but I would suggest that the best place to have such a debate would be Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Opera. Moreschi (talk) 17:03, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Um.... I suggest List of castrato opera roles. The use of "parts" in conjunction with "castrato", might lead to some rather unfortunate misinterpretations of the title. Seriously though, I think it could be viable, but I'd approach it slightly differently. You could at first restrict it to roles which were actually created by castrati. These are well documented. You could then have a section on roles created by female singers which were also sung by castrati. You'd probably find a fair amount for that since female singers were banned from the stage in the Papal States. I'd definitely leave out words like "featuring" from the title – too hard to define. Voceditenore (talk) 17:32, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

 * PS. Moreschi's right, you might get some good suggestions etc. with a wider audience at WikiProject Opera. Best, Voceditenore (talk) 17:35, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Two (possibly spurious) additions removed
I have removed the following two recent additions: I also find it odd that the same birth/death dates were given for both these added singers, with both allegedly dying at age 14. Voceditenore (talk) 07:30, 8 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Ethan Lawrence (1735–1749) – No evidence this person ever existed
 * Luigi Marchesi (1735–1749) – Note that the link is to this Luigi Marchesi (1754–1829) who was already on the list. I can find no evidence for a second Luigi Marchesi.

Another spurious addition
An IP editor has been repeatedly trying to add Thom Yorke to the section on famous castrati. Thom Yorke (born 1968) is the lead vocalist of the rock band Radiohead with two children. He is by no means a castrated 19th century opera singer. He may sing in falsetto (I'm not even sure if that's true), but that doesn't make him a castrato. Please provide a reference to a published reliable source which verifies that he is a castrato. And please read Wikipedia's policy on the biographies of living persons:
 * "contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced should be removed immediately and without discussion. This applies whether the material is negative, positive, neutral, or just questionable, and whether it is in a biography or in some other article."

- Voceditenore (talk) 15:18, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Vandalism
Section "Opera", para 2, beginning "Farinelli drew every . . ." doesn't make any sense to me. I am not sure if this is vandalism or just a hopelessly unclear quote. Darkman101 (talk) 16:18, 26 February 2013 (UTC)
 * It's an accurate quote from 1755 (hence the somewhat odd form of expression). Pickering was basically saying that everyone flocked to the Haymarket Theatre to hear Farinelli who had a fab voice and technique which drove everyone to ecstasy, but he was lumbering and clumsy like the pregnant cows that were still seen in various rural parts of London. The formatting was such that it wasn't obvious that it was a quote or where it came from. I've fixed that now. Can't do much about the clarity of the language, though. Voceditenore (talk) 16:47, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Imitator of the last castrato
Domenico Mancini was so good at imitating Alessandro Moreschi that he was mistaken for a castrato. Does anyone know if he suffered from natural defiance in testosterone? That would explain how he could be so good at imitating him.

2013-12-31 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.
 * He was a falsettist. You can hear him being interviewed on YouTube. Double sharp (talk) 03:33, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Castrato. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090630004501/http://www.jimmyscottofficialwebsite.org:80/ to http://malesopranos.com/cat/10/3-0/aris-christofellis
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20081017111540/http://www.ghionannini.com:80/Main.asp to http://www.ghionannini.com/Main.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090520014327/http://www.jimmyscottofficialwebsite.org:80/ to http://www.jimmyscottofficialwebsite.org/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 21:41, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

could somebody with an account create a redirect page from Castrata?
Castrata is a word and it has a meaning that should redirect to Castrato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrata — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.175.11.48 (talk) 22:37, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

Prohibition of castration in Italy
The incipit of the article contains a statement to the effect that castration "was made illegal in the Papal States, the last to prohibit them[?], in 1870". Since no source was cited, I had added the template "citation needed". User 138.88.149.170, however, has now removed the template adding a source stating that "in 1870 [prepubescent castration] was made illegal in Italy". This source does not evidently refer to the Papal States (which btw ceased to exist as a sovereign territorial entity exactly in 1870), but to the whole of Italy. The information it gives, moreover, is bogus because "eviration" had been a crime since the unification of the country in 1861 when the previous penal code of the Kingdom of Sardinia was extended to almost all of the new state (article 552). Consequently I am going to restore the template "citation needed". Unfortunately, I don't know, personally, when the Papal States or generally the Holy See prohibited castration, provided it was ever officially permitted.--Jeanambr (talk) 23:48, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

George Washington Carver
I removed a claim that George Washington Carver may have been castrated. The link was dead, and the page on him says nothing about it. Hamster Drink (talk) 08:15, 6 July 2022 (UTC)
 * The claim has been restored by user JMyrleFuller with a different reliable source. But I wonder: what does Carver have to do with castrati? I am not aware that he was a renowned opera or church singer who had been specially castrated for the purpose of preserving his beautiful voice to make him a singer. He was just a person who might have been castrated for whatever reason in his youth, no one knows at what age. The reference to his case would much better fit the article on Castration than the one on emasculated singers. Further, the whole section on modern castrati seems to me quite out of place: they are not at all modern "castrati", but falsettists who today strive to perform at their best the ancient castrato repertoire. In my opinion, these are two completely different historical phenomena.--Jeanambr (talk) 21:37, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Performance and Social Change
— Assignment last updated by Balloon releaser (talk) 19:32, 27 November 2022 (UTC)

LGBT?
Regarding the recent changes edited in this page by user Smasongarrison and user Gehenna1510 (see here and here), I fail to see what connection exists between castrati and the LGBT category. Jeanambr (talk) 23:33, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

 * I tagged it because it was nested within Category:LGBT. If you follow the categories on the page, you can get there via Category:Androgyny Mason (talk) 23:39, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

 * Indeed, I know next to nothing about how the thousands of categories and sub-categories that have been created on the English Wikipedia work. However, as a simple user, even after Mason's answer, I keep wondering: what ever is the so close actual connection between castrato singers of yore and 'LGBT', 'sexology and sexuality', and 'religion', that led to the inclusion of this talk page in those categories? And why just the talk page and not the main article? I also ping who made edits in this matter respectively in 2016 and 2017.--Jeanambr (talk) 20:41, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
 * What's your goal here? Are you *really* trying to understand why others consider this page interesting to those projects? Also, I don't understand what you mean by this: "And why just the talk page and not the main article" because the categories are on the main page. Projects get tagged on the talk page. Mason (talk) 20:47, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't think castrati have anything special to do with the 'LGBT', 'sexology and sexuality', and 'religion' categories and my goal would be to get the article removed from those categories. None of them are listed at the bottom of the main article, but only at the talk page's, where they are styled: "Categories:...". The categories listed at the bottom of the main article are precisely: Voice types, Castrati, Opera history, Italian opera terminology, Obsolete occupations, Androgyny. Jeanambr (talk) 21:52, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Ok -- projects are different from categories. The point of projects on a talk page is to track pages that interest specific wikiprojects. I think that there is no harm in keeping them and that there's some benefit to having multiple projects monitoring the page. Honestly, I think that your time is better spent elsewhere rather than on policing projects. Mason (talk) 21:57, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I can assure you that I have no intention of getting involved in policing projects, I'm only interested in the history of opera and this article is on my watchlist: when I see some edits that don't seem convincing to me, I just try to get them changed by discussing with other users, being also ready to change my mind. You asked me whether I was *really* trying to understand why others find this page interesting to their projects. Of course, I am, and I was willing to spend my time in it, but, unfortunately, your posts have not made me progress in understanding other users’ points of view on the subject. I only perceived a certain hostility but didn't find any new material to reason upon. Nevertheless, if you and others truly believe that castrati have some kind of logical connection with religion or LGBT, worthy of being specially highlighted within a reliable encyclopaedia, I am not going to raise further objections myself (while of course maintaining my strong disagreement) Jeanambr (talk) 00:34, 30 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Castrati are a type of eunuch, who have traditional associations with effeminacy. And castration has been used for religious reasons through history. Dimadick (talk) 05:00, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Castrato