text:
Donnie Brasco (film)

Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Mike Newell, and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche appeared in supporting roles. The film, written by Paul Attanasio, is based on the 1988 nonfiction book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley.

The film is based on the true story of Pistone (Depp), an FBI undercover agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias Donnie Brasco, a jewel thief from Vero Beach, Florida. Brasco maneuvers his way into the confidence of an aging Mafia hitman, Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino), who vouches for him. As Donnie moves deeper into the Mafia, he realizes that not only is he crossing the line between federal agent and criminal, but also leading his friend Lefty to an almost certain death.

Donnie Brasco premiered in Century City on February 24, 1997, and was released on February 28, 1997, by TriStar Pictures. The film was a box office success, earning $124.9 million against its $35 million budget, and received positive reviews from critics. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot
In 1978 New York City, Lefty Ruggiero, an aging enforcer in the Bonanno crime family, meets Joseph D. Pistone, a young undercover FBI agent posing as jewel thief "Donnie Brasco". Donnie insists that a diamond Lefty has acquired from a strip club owner is fake; when the two confront the owner, Donnie beats him and takes his car as repayment. Lefty teaches Donnie the rules of the Mafia and introduces him to members of his crew, including Sonny Black, Nicky, Paulie, and rival crew leader Sonny Red. After the boss of the family is killed, Sonny Black is promoted to lead the crew; Lefty resents the decision, believing that his years of service make him more deserving. As the crew runs a series of successful shakedowns and hijackings in the city, Pistone exploits his position as an associate in Lefty's crew to gather information for the FBI via wiretap recordings. He also forms a genuine bond with Lefty, who is struggling with family issues and a lifetime of debt.

Pistone is asked by his FBI supervisor to incorporate Miami-based undercover FBI Agent Richie Gazzo into the Donnie Brasco operation. He persuades Lefty to meet with Richie and set up an illegal gambling racket in a long-closed tavern he owns. Lefty hopes to impress the local mob boss, Santo Trafficante Jr., by throwing a yacht party and persuading him to support his new business. Sonny Black finds out about Lefty's plan and intercedes by ingratiating himself to Trafficante and officially taking Donnie under his wing. Lefty believes Donnie has betrayed him and cuts ties with him until Lefty's son nearly dies of an overdose and Donnie is the only one who comes to comfort him. Pistone's marriage with his wife Maggie continues to worsen due to long absences while undercover, leaving her alone to look after their three daughters. Pistone's behavior increasingly becomes more like that of the criminal he pretends to be, even hitting Maggie when she talks back to him.

On its opening day, Sonny Black's club is raided by corrupt Miami Police officers on Trafficante's payroll as a favor for Sonny Red. Suspecting a setup, Sonny Black and his crew return to New York and gun down Sonny Red and two other mobsters in an ambush. Lefty kills Nicky afterward for lying about a drug deal and because Sonny Black suspected that he snitched on the crew in Florida. Donnie is brought in to help clean up and dispose of the bodies. Sonny Black becomes the new boss and orders Donnie to kill Sonny Red's son, Bruno, so that Donnie can officially become a member of their family. As Lefty and Donnie stake out Bruno's hiding place, Donnie tries to offer Lefty money to leave the Mafia, but Lefty begins questioning his loyalty at gunpoint. Before they can kill Bruno, the FBI arrests them both (to protect Donnie's cover) and ends the investigation.

FBI agents visit Sonny Black's hangout and reveal Donnie's true identity to the crew. When Lefty is called to a meeting with his crew, he puts his valuables away for his wife to find before leaving, knowing that he will be killed for letting an FBI agent infiltrate the Bonanno family. In a small private ceremony, Pistone receives a medal and a reward check of $500 for his service, and Maggie asks him to come home afterward.

The end title cards state that the evidence collected by Pistone in the Donnie Brasco operation led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions. Pistone lives with his wife under an assumed name in an undisclosed location, with a $500,000 open contract on his head.

Production
When Pistone's book, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia was published in 1988, Louis DiGiaimo, who worked as a casting director for Barry Levinson, was a childhood acquaintance of Joseph D. Pistone, and served as a consultant for the book, bought the film rights. DiGiaimo brought it to Levinson's Baltimore Pictures, as well as producers Mark Johnson and Gail Mutrux, who then turned to Paul Attanasio to write the script. Stephen Frears was initially hired as director for the film, but when Goodfellas, another mob film, was released in 1990, the planning for the film was pushed back. Frears was adamant about casting Pacino to play Lefty. After several years of development hell, Frears was eventually replaced with Mike Newell as director, and development picked up in 1996. Pacino and Depp were ultimately cast in the co-starring roles, and Pistone was hired as a consultant to help them develop their characters.

Releases
Donnie Brasco premiered in Century City, California on February 24, 1997. It was given a wide release in North America on February 28, 1997. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 2, 1997.

Donnie Brasco was released on DVD in October 2000 as a "special edition" with bonus materials such as commentary tracks. In January 2006, Donnie Brasco was released as part of a DVD mob box set along with Snatch, Bugsy and The American Gangster. In May 2007, Donnie Brasco was released on Blu-ray in an extended cut.

Box office
Donnie Brasco was released theatrically in North America on February 28, 1997. The film earned $11.6 million from 1,503 theaters during its opening weekend. It went on to earn $41.9 million in North America and $83 million from other markets, for a total of $124.9 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Donnie Brasco has an approval rating of 88% based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A stark, nuanced portrait of life in organized crime, bolstered by strong performances from Al Pacino and Johnny Depp." Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average rating of 77 out of 100, based on 21 critics, reports the film has "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "a sharp, clever encounter, overturning all manner of genre cliches and viewer expectations... and the best crime movie in a long while, is full of similar surprises as it leads Mr. Pacino and Johnny Depp through a fine-tuned tale of deception." Entertainment Weekly called it a "wonderfully dense, clever, and moving gangland thriller", and gave it an A−, also praising Paul Attanasio's screenplay as "a rich, satisfying gumbo of back stabbing, shady business maneuvers, and mayhem." Siskel and Ebert gave Donnie Brasco "two thumbs up" on their syndicated television series. In his print review, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three and a half stars out of four: the film had one of Pacino's best performances, and, according to Ebert, Donnie Brasco was rare in depicting "two men who grow to love each other, within the framework of a teacher-student relationship." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised the film, saying that "Donnie Brasco is one terrific movie." Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a positive review and said that Donnie Brasco was "a first class Mafia thriller."

Critics praised Depp's performance especially: a Salon.com review hailed Depp's performance as "sensational." New York Magazine called him "graceful" and found his acting highly believable: "We can believe that the mob might take him for a tough, ambitious young hood—he has the wariness and the self-confidence that creates an aura."

According to Charles Taylor in his review for Salon.com, both Pacino and Depp are "in top form"; in remarking on Pacino's frequent collaborations with younger actors (Sean Penn, John Cusack), Taylor called Donnie Brasco "the best in this series of duets" and singled out Pacino's skills: "His final scene is all the more heartbreaking for the economy of gesture and feeling he brings it. It's an exit that does justice to both the actor and the role, and it leaves an ache in the movie." Entertainment Weekly reserved its highest praise for Pacino: "If Donnie Brasco belongs to any actor, though, it's Al Pacino." The Playlist called it one of Pacino's best performances, writing "though Scent of A Woman, Two Bits and even (relatively) Heat showcased Pacino at his most exuberantly grandiose, Brasco brings him back to a performance of stealth and nuance".

title: Donnie Brasco (film)


text:
National Justice Museum

The National Justice Museum (formerly known as the Galleries of Justice Museum and, historically, the Shire Hall and County Gaol) is an independent museum on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England.

The museum is housed in a former Victorian courtroom, prison, and police station and is therefore a historic site where an individual could be arrested, tried, sentenced and executed. The courtrooms date back to the 14th century and the gaol to at least 1449.

The building is a Grade II* listed building and the museum is a registered charity.

Early history
The earliest confirmed use of the site for official purposes was by the Normans, who appointed sheriffs to keep the peace and collect taxes; hence the site was sometimes referred to as the Sheriff's Hall, the County Hall or the King's Hall. The first written record of the site being used as a law court dates from 1375. The first written reference to its use as a prison is in 1449.

Eighteenth century
Over the centuries, the courts and prison were developed and enlarged. In 1724, the courtroom floor collapsed. The Nottingham Courant in March 1724 recorded:

"On Monday morning after the Judge had gone into the County Hall, and a great crowd of people being there, a tracing or two that supported the floor broke and fell in and several people fell in with it, about three yards into the cellar underneath. Some were bruised, but one man named Fillingham was pretty much hurt, one leg being stripped to the bone, and was much hurt. This caused a great consternation in the Court, some apprehending the Hall might fall, others crying out fire etc.; which made several people climb out of the windows. The Judge being also terribly frightened, cried out "A plot! A plot!" but the consternation soon being over the Court proceeded to business."

The hall was rebuilt between 1769 and 1772. The architect was James Gandon of London and the cost around £2,500. The builder was Joseph Pickford of Derby. The design for the building involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto High Pavement: the right hand section of three bays featured a round headed doorway flanked by two round headed windows and full-height Ionic order columns; there was a rectangular blank panel above the doorway flanked by roundels. The inscription on the top of the building reads:

"This County Hall was erected in the year MDCCLXX and in the tenth year of the reign of His Majesty George III."

The building was originally fronted by a high palisade.

Nineteenth century
Additional wings were added to the building between 1820 and 1840. Changes were made to the nisi prius court in 1833. The judges' retiring room, barristers' robing room and office for a clerk were added in 1844. A new grand jury room was added in 1859 to designs by the architect Richard Charles Sutton. Until 1832 most Nottingham hangings took place at Gallows Hill, but in 1832 they transferred to the Shire Hall. The last public execution was held in 1864, when Richard Thomas Parker was hanged.

Executions were held on a scaffold erected over the stone steps in front of the central doorway, within the small enclosure created by closing the gates of the iron railings. The drop was described as approximately level with the lintel of the door. Three small square stone insets in the steps are, in local legend, the sockets where the "Three-legged Mare" scaffold feet were set, but this design of scaffold was never used at Nottingham and the steps themselves post-date the 1876 fire (see below) and public hangings. After the abolition of public executions in 1868, most hangings took place at the Borough Gaol but on 21 November 1877 Thomas Gray was hanged in a yard at the rear of the Shire Hall.

In 1876, major improvements were made and the front was redesigned in an Italianate style by William Bliss Sanders of Nottingham. Within a few weeks, a fire broke out and nearly destroyed all of the newly completed work. Following the fire, the courts were largely rebuilt by Thomas Chambers Hine between 1876 and 1879; but the gaol was closed in 1878.

Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888, which established county councils in every county, the building also became the meeting place of Nottinghamshire County Council.

Twentieth century to date
A police station was built adjacent the building in 1905. After the County Council moved to County Hall (a larger and more modern complex located on the south bank of the River Trent) in 1954, the Shire Hall continued in use as the home of Nottingham's civil and criminal courts until 1991, when Nottingham Crown Court was opened on Canal Street.

The Galleries of Justice Museum opened in the building in 1995. It was refurbished and rebranded as the National Justice Museum in 2017. The building houses two courtrooms, an underground jail and a site used for executions.

Exhibitions
The Crime Gallery includes a range of family activities, interactive exhibits and exhibitions exploring a range of topics relating to crime and punishment. The area also includes the dock from Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

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

title: National Justice Museum


text:
Frank Nighbor

Julius Francis Joseph Nighbor (January 26, 1893 – April 13, 1966) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played primarily for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL). He also played for the Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA, Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), and Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL. Nighbor won the Stanley Cup once with the Millionaires and four times with the Senators. He was also known as the "Pembroke Peach", "The Flying Dutchman" and as "Peerless Frank."

An excellent defensive forward, Nighbor's poke check, backchecking, and bodychecking abilities thwarted enemy forwards' scoring attempts. For his somewhat high penalty totals, he was a clean player and one of the last 60-minute hockey players. For his contributions on the ice, Nighbor was the first player to be awarded the Hart Trophy and the first to be awarded the Lady Byng Trophy.

Playing career
Frank Nighbor began his career with the Pembroke Debaters in his hometown of Pembroke, playing in the Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League (UOVHL) in 1910–11. While playing in the UOVHL Nighbor won the Citizen Shield, as champions of the Ottawa Valley, after Pembroke defeated Vankleek Hill 10 goals to 8 on March 1, 1911.

Nighbor first played professionally for the Port Arthur Bearcats of the Northern Ontario Hockey League (NOHL) in 1911. Fellow Pembroke native Harry Cameron was invited to play for Port Arthur but refused to go without Nighbor. The club agreed to bring Nighbor along, but they left him on the bench until injuries gave him an opportunity to play. He made the most of his opportunity by registering six goals in his first appearance.

In 1912, Nighbor joined the new Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA where he scored 25 goals in 18 games. He only played the one season in Toronto, jumping to the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA the following season for two seasons, and was an important member of the Millionaires team which won the Stanley Cup over the Ottawa Senators in 1915.

Nighbor returned east after the Stanley Cup series and joined the Senators, whom he would play for until 1930. He was an important part of the team's 1920s run, winning four more Cups in 1920, 1921, 1923, and 1927. He had his best season in 1916–17, scoring 41 goals in 19 games, finishing tied for the league lead with Joe Malone. In 1919–20 he scored 26 goals and had 15 assists in just 23 games, then had a further 6 goals in 5 playoff games and led the Senators to their first Cup in the NHL. Nighbor won the Stanley Cup again with Ottawa in 1921, 1923, and 1927.

Late in the 1925 season, Lady Byng, wife of the Governor-General of Canada Lord Julian Byng and an avid Senators fan, invited Nighbor to Rideau Hall after a game. She showed Nighbor an ornate trophy and asked him if he thought the NHL would accept it as an award for its most gentlemanly player. Nighbor said he thought it would be a good idea—and to his surprise, Lady Byng presented him the trophy on the spot, making him the first winner of the Lady Byng Trophy. A year earlier, he had been the first winner of the Hart Trophy.

In 1929–30, Nighbor was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, as part of the fire sale of the failing Senators, for Danny Cox and cash. He played 22 games for the Maple Leafs and retired in the off-season. In 1931–32 he made a brief comeback, playing one game for the Buffalo Bisons in the IHL.

Playing style
Nighbor was considered a master of the "sweep check," the act of laying the stick down flat on the ice and moving it in wide, circular motions, as well as the "poke check", an almost entirely different action, taking the puck off the opponent's stick. He was skilled and crafty with the puck and a good scorer. He impressed with his sportsmanship, inspiring Lady Byng to donate the Lady Byng Trophy in his honour to the "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability", and she presented it personally to him. The February 25, 1916, issue of the Ottawa Citizen claimed that Nighbor, up to that point in his career, had never taken a major penalty and that most of his fouls were tripping penalties or accidental fouls related to his famous poke check.

Nighbor spent the majority of his playing career as a centre forward, but early on in his professional career, while with the Toronto Blueshirts and the Vancouver Millionaires, he was also deployed as a left winger.

Outside of his strong stick techniques Nighbor also had good speed, and when the Ottawa Senators were at the top of the hockey world in the early 1920s they were known as a strong third-period threat who would run on all cylinders for all 60 minutes. Seattle Metropolitans star forward Frank Foyston gave high praise to Nighbor and the Senators after the 1920 Stanley Cup Finals, where the Senators won the deciding fifth game of the series 6 goals to 1 after having scored five unanswered goals in the third period. Foyston said Nighbor had the Seattle forward line "demoralized with his speed and poke check."

In a 1960 interview with Bill Westwick (son of Harry "Rat" Westwick) of the Ottawa Journal, Nighbor claimed he had learned his famous poke checking technique from watching Port Arthur teammate Jack Walker, denying a claim from Jack Adams that he must have learned it from watching Fort William player Joel Rochon.

Post-playing career
Nighbor coached the Buffalo Bisons and London Tecumsehs of the International League and the New York Rovers of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League. He would later turn to an insurance business he was a partner in and run it until he became ill. Nighbor died of cancer on April 13, 1966, in Pembroke at the age of 73. Nighbor was survived by four children: Frank Stanley, Patrick, Pauline and Catharine. Nighbor was married twice. His first wife died in 1930 of tuberculosis. His second wife died in 1950.

Nighbor was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. He has also been inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame and the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame. In 1998, he was ranked number 100 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In March 2010, at a Quebec auction, an American collector paid $33,000 USD to secure Nighbor's game-worn Ottawa Senators sweater from the 1926–27 season. A street in Ottawa's Kanata neighbourhood is named in memory of Nighbor - "Frank Nighbor Place."

Achievements

 * Stanley Cup – 1915 (with Vancouver), 1920, 1921, 1923, 1927 (with Ottawa)
 * Hart Trophy – 1924
 * Lady Byng Trophy – 1925, 1926
 * NHA scoring leader – 1916–17

title: Frank Nighbor


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Richard meredith

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. — Trilobite (Talk) 15:23, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Richard meredith
Total vanity, no evidence of encyclopedic content. Kelly Martin 15:27, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)
 * Geogre's Law strikes again. This is not Richard C. Meredith the science-fiction author. Delete. Uncle G 15:55, 2005 Jun 5 (UTC)
 * Maybe a delete and redirect to Richard C. Meredith? --TenOfAllTrades (talk/contrib) 22:45, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and redirect to Richard C. Meredith ··gracefool |☺ 08:12, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Create page Richard Meredith and redirect it to the sci-fi author. Pavel Vozenilek 20:56, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Chinese pyramids

The term Chinese pyramids refers to pyramidal shaped structures in China, most of which are ancient mausoleums and burial mounds built to house the remains of several early emperors of China and their imperial relatives. About 38 of them are located around 25 km – 35 km north-west of Xi'an, on the Guanzhong Plains in Shaanxi Province. The most famous is the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, northeast of Xi'an and 1.7 km west of where the Terracotta Army was found.

Earliest tombs
The earliest tombs in China are found just north of Beijing in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and in Liaoning. They belong to the Neolithic Hongshan culture (4700 to 2900 BC).

The site of Niuheliang in Liaoning contains a pyramidal structure.

Information available in the West

In 1667 the Jesuit Father Athanasius Kircher wrote about Chinese pyramids in his book China monumentis Illustrata.

The existence of "pyramids" in China remained little known in the Western world until the 1910s. They were documented in large numbers around Xian, first in 1912 by the Western traders Fred Meyer Schroder and Oscar Mamen, and also in 1913 by the expedition of Victor Segalen. He wrote about the First Emperor's tomb, and about the other mound tombs in the region in his Mission archéologique en Chine (1914): L'art funéraire à l'époque des Han.

Sensational claims
The introduction of pyramids in China to popular attention came soon after World War II. Many early stories were focused on the existence of a "Great White Pyramid" (Maoling). This is the tomb of Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BC) located in Xingping, Shaanxi Province.

U.S. Army Air Corps pilot James Gaussman is said to have seen a white jewel-topped pyramid during a flight between India and China during World War II. Colonel Maurice Sheahan, Far Eastern director of the Trans World Airline, gave an eyewitness account of his encounter with a pyramid in the March 28, 1947 edition of The New York Times. A photo of Sheahan's pyramid appeared in The New York Sunday News on March 30, 1947. This photograph later became attributed to James Gaussman.

Chris Maier showed that the pyramid in the photo is the Maoling Mausoleum of Emperor Wu just outside Xi'an. Pseudohistorians, through promoting their theories, have increased western awareness of these pyramids. Hartwig Hausdorf speculated it was built by aliens, and Philip Coppens repeated this theory.

Despite claims to the contrary, the existence of these pyramid-shaped tomb mounds was known by scientists in the West before the publicity caused by the story in 1947. Shortly after the New York Times story, Science News Letter (now Science News) published a short item saying: "The Chinese pyramids of that region are built of mud and dirt and are more like mounds than the pyramids of Egypt, and the region is little travelled. American scientists who have been in the area suggest that the height of 1000 ft, more than twice as high as any of the Egyptian pyramids, may have been exaggerated, because most of the Chinese mounds of that area are built relatively low. The location, reported 40 mi southwest of Sian, is in an area of great archaeological importance, but few of the pyramids have ever been explored."

Some of the pyramids of Xi'an are currently tourist attractions, such as for example the Han Yang Ling Mausoleum of the Western Han dynasty, and several of them have museums attached to them.

Zhou dynasty tombs complex near Luoyang, Henan

 * Tomb of King Ling of Zhou 34.625°N, 112.3753°W
 * Tomb of Three Kings of Zhou 34.628°N, 112.3829°W

Zhao Kings' tombs complex near Handan, Hebei

 * Tomb of King of Zhao state 36.7067°N, 114.4189°W

Yan King's burial mounds in Yixian, Hebei

 * Burial complex in ancient Xiadu 39.3049°N, 115.5407°W

Qin dynasty mausoleums near Xi'an, Shaanxi

 * Tomb of First Emperor in Lintong 34.3812°N, 109.254°W .This is the largest Chinese burial mound. The original height was 76 m, the present height is 47 m, and the dimensions are 357 x. It was built during the short-lived imperial Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).
 * Tomb of Emperor Qin Ershi in Xi'an.

Western Han dynasty mausoleums complex in Xianyang and around Xi'an, Shaanxi
Maoling Mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Wu of Han 34.3381°N, 108.5697°W. The size is 222 m x 217 m.
 * Tomb of Empress Li 34.3403°N, 108.562°W
 * Tomb of Princess Yang Xin

Pingling Mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Zhao of Han 34.3618°N, 108.6401°W
 * Tomb of Empress Shangguan 34.3631°N, 108.6305°W

Yanling Mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Cheng of Han 34.3749°N, 108.698°W
 * Tomb of Empress Xu 34.3746°N, 108.6847°W
 * Tomb of Consort Ban 34.3798°N, 108.7045°W
 * Tomb of Empress Zhao Feiyan

Kangling Mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Ping of Han 34.3978°N, 108.7124°W
 * Tomb of Empress Wang

Weiling Mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Yuan of Han 34.3903°N, 108.7391°W
 * Tomb of Empress Wang 34.3932°N, 108.7338°W

Group of two "tombs of Zhou Kings" (possibly from Han era):
 * Tomb of King Wu of Zhou
 * Tomb of King Wen of Zhou

Yiling mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Ai of Han 34.4009°N, 108.7646°W
 * Tomb of Empress Fu 34.4026°N, 108.7725°W

Anling mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Hui of Han 34.4229°N, 108.8413°W
 * Tomb of Empress Zhang Yan 34.4232°N, 108.837°W
 * Tomb of Marquis Zhang Ao (father of Empress Zhang Yan) 34.4277°N, 108.8512°W
 * Tomb of Princess Lu of Yuan (mother of Empress Zhang Yan)

Changling mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Gaozu of Han 34.4347°N, 108.8766°W
 * Tomb of Empress Lü 34.4338°N, 108.8813°W
 * Tomb of Consort Qi

Yangling mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Jing of Han 34.4438°N, 108.9408°W
 * Tomb of Empress Wang 34.4463°N, 108.9475°W

Baling mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Wen of Han (The tomb of the Emperor himself does not feature a pyramidal mound, due to his death wish)
 * Tomb of Empress Dou 34.2358°N, 109.1186°W
 * Tomb of Empress Dowager Bo 34.221°N, 109.0963°W

Duling mausoleum group:
 * Tomb of Emperor Xuan of Han 34.1811°N, 109.0223°W
 * Tomb of Empress Wang 34.179°N, 109.0284°W
 * Tomb of Empress Xu 34.1273°N, 109.0558°W

Yangling, Shaanxi

 * Tomb of Emperor Wen of Sui 34.288°N, 108.0229°W

Xining, Qinghai

 * The Lianghu Altar (凉虎台) 36.6329°N, 101.7461°W

Tang dynasty mausoleums in Shaanxi
The eighteen mausoleums of the Tang dynasty emperors (唐十八陵) in the valley of the Wei River north of the Qin Mountains (秦岭). Most are natural hills shaped by man, and they are among the biggest Chinese mausoleums, such as Qianling (乾陵), joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and of the Empress Wu Zetian. Some mausoleums feature a burial mound:
 * Chongling Mausoleum of Emperor Dezong of Tang34.7074°N, 108.8285°W
 * Jinling Mausoleum of Emperor Xianzong of Tang34.571°N, 108.2659°W
 * Tomb of Princess Chengyang of Emperor Taizong 34.6156°N, 108.4931°W
 * Tomb of Princess Xincheng of Emperor Taizong 34.6237°N, 108.4989°W

Mausoleum of Emperor Xiaojing of Tang near Goushi, Henan

 * Tomb of Emperor Xiaojing of Tang 34.6328°N, 112.8111°W
 * Tomb of Empress Ai

Elsewhere

 * Shou Qiu in Qufu, Shandong – a small pyramidal monument believed to be the birthplace of the Yellow Emperor, located adjacent to the Shaohao Tomb
 * Janggun-chong (Jiangjunzhong 將軍塚) Step Pyramid in Jilin, "Tomb of the General", is supposed to be the mausoleum of King Jangsu (Ko. 장수왕 Ch. 長壽王) (413–491), king of Goguryeo, an ancient Korean kingdom. It belongs to the Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom on the World heritage list. Nearby is the Taewang-neung / Taiwangling (태왕릉, 太王陵) Pyramid believed to be the burial of King Gwanggaeto the Great (Ko. 광개토태왕; Ch. 廣開土太王) (391–413); while twice bigger than Janggun-chong, it is in bad shape and Janggun-chong is touted as the touristic highpoint of the site.
 * Shimao a Neolithic site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi with a large stepped pyramid with palaces at its top and used also for artisan or industrial work
 * The Western Xia tombs of the Tangut Empire near Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, northwestern China, a large number of tombs covering some 50 km2 are referred to as 'Chinese Pyramids'.

title: Chinese pyramids


text: Template:Communist Czechoslovakia

title: Template:Communist Czechoslovakia


text:
User talk:Thkoch2001/Rockmusic and youth

Thkoch2001, did you know that this page is listed in one or more categories, probably because it includes pages that are in those categories? For example, check out the Gay icons category. Andrew Moylan 15:28, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC).

I just noticed this myself, it really needs to be fixed but the only ways I can think to do it are to either turn these transclusions into ordinary links or to subst: them in and then edit the category tags, both of which are pretty major changes. I'll leave a note for him on his German user talk: page to hopefully draw his attention here, but I note that he's only made two edits with this account here so if he doesn't respond in a few days I'll go ahead with one of those solutions in the meantime. Bryan 09:50, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

He's just fixed it. Thanks, Thkoch! Bryan 16:48, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)


text:
The Jewish Post & News

The Jewish Post & News of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is Western Canada's first and oldest Anglo-Jewish newspaper, so described because its language was English rather than Yiddish though its concerns were those of the Canadian Jewish community particularly in Western Canada.

The Jewish Post
Originally known as The Jewish Post, it was founded in 1925 by Ben Cohen. After going through a succession of owners it was purchased in 1984 by its then-editor, Matt Bellan, along with his brother Bernie, and the paper's then-advertising manager, Gail Frankel. In 1987, The Jewish Post purchased the rival Western Jewish News and the title after the merger of the two publications was changed to The Jewish Post & News. In August 2007, the newspaper changed its publication schedule from weekly to bi-weekly. In 2008, Matt Bellan retired as editor of the paper. Bernie Bellan worked as both editor and publisher until retiring in 2024. He then donated the newspaper to the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre.

Western Jewish News
The Jewish Post was in direct heated competition with the Winnipeg-based Western Jewish News established by Sam Berg in 1926, just a few weeks after establishment of The Post. The Jewish Post was also in rivalry with Der Yiddishe Vorte (also known as The Israelite Press), a Yiddish-language daily that started in 1911 that after many years was published as a weekly. All three, the Post, the News and Der Yiddishe Vorte served the Jewish communities from Northern Ontario all the way to British Columbia with both news and advertising. Rivalry continued as The Israelite Press reverted to a weekly half-English, half-Yiddish weekly in the early post-Second World War years, finally ceasing publication in 1976.

The Jewish Post & News
The Western Jewish News engaged in a fierce fight for advertising with the Jewish Post for six decades until it was purchased by The Jewish Post in 1987, resulting in the paper's merger and current name of The Jewish Post & News which continues publishing to this day.

title: The Jewish Post & News


text:
Human trafficking in Saudi Arabia

With respect to human trafficking, Saudi Arabia was designated, together with Italy, Japan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Israel, Iceland, Norway, and Angola, as a Tier 2 country by the United States Department of State in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report required by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 on which this article was originally based. Tier 2 countries are "countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards". The 2021 report shows some effort by the Kingdom to address the problems, but continues to classify the Kingdom as a Tier 2 country.

U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2 Watchlist" in 2017 and upgraded it to "Tier 2" in 2021. "The Government of Saudi Arabia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Saudi Arabia was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included reporting more investigations, prosecutions, and convictions overall, particularly for forced labor; implementing its national referral mechanism (NRM); and providing robust training on the mechanism, identification, and referral procedures across all government agencies."

Saudi Arabia is historically a known destination for men and women from South East Asia and East Africa trafficked for the purpose of labor exploitation, and for children from Yemen, Afghanistan, and Africa for forced begging. Hundreds of thousands of low-skilled workers from Pakistan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya migrate voluntarily to Saudi Arabia; some fall into conditions of involuntary servitude, suffering from physical and sexual abuse, non-payment or delayed payment of wages, the withholding of travel documents, restrictions on their freedom of movement and non-consensual contract alterations.

Prosecution of abusive Saudi Arabian employees
According to the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, the government maintained law enforcement efforts. The 2009 anti-trafficking law criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed punishments of up to 15 years’ imprisonment, a fine or both; penalties increased under aggravating circumstances, including trafficking committed by an organized criminal group or against a woman, child, or person with disabilities. These penalties were sufficiently stringent; however, by allowing for a fine in lieu of imprisonment, the penalties for sex trafficking were not commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes such as kidnapping, false imprisonment, or sexual abuse. To date, 30 abusive employers have been barred from hiring workers. The government provides training for police officers to recognize and handle cases of foreign worker abuse.

Protection
The Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development operated shelters across the country for vulnerable populations and abuse victims, and it reported the government allocated approximately $6.67 million to specifically support trafficking victims during the year. The ministry operated shelters for child victims of forced begging in Mecca, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina, Qassim, and Abha, in addition to welfare centers for vulnerable female domestic workers and trafficking victims in 13 locations throughout the Kingdom. Each shelter provided accommodation, social services, health care, psychological counseling, education, and legal assistance. The Saudi government offered these services to all 173 victims it referred to care during the reporting period. Diplomats from labor-source countries had regular access to their nationals residing in government-run shelters and reported conditions and quality of services in the shelters varied slightly across the Kingdom but were overall satisfactory and safe. Some embassies and consulates—including those of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Uganda—also operated shelters for their respective nationals. Foreign diplomats noted that Saudi officials frequently left potential trafficking victims at their respective embassies rather than referring them to Saudi shelters and noted that Saudi government shelters accepted only female domestic workers. The government did not have shelters to accommodate male victims or females from other employment sectors. The government demonstrated overall uneven efforts to protect trafficking victims. During the reporting period, the government identified 1,175 potential victims and referred 185 to government shelters for care. Of the 105 potential victims identified and referred to care by NGOs and international organizations, all were female foreign nationals, including 43 victims of forced labor, 60 victims of forced begging and "slavery-like practices", and two victims of sex trafficking. The victims were nationals of Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Vietnam, and Yemen.

Prevention
Saudi Arabia's efforts to prevent trafficking include: distributing information at embassies abroad, licensing and regulating the activities of recruitment agencies, monitoring immigration patterns and visa issuance, and promoting awareness through the media and religious authorities. The government has begun working with UNICEF and the Yemeni Government to prevent trafficking of children for begging. A plan envisioned several years ago to distribute information to foreign workers at Saudi Arabian airports upon arrival has not been implemented. Religious leaders have preached sermons in mosques about the evil of abusing employees.

In 2008 Saudi controlled media mounted a public relations campaign advocating compassionate treatment of domestic employees and foreign workers. The campaign was controversial with critics complaining that it presented a negative view of Saudi behavior.

title: Human trafficking in Saudi Arabia


text:
Huang Sheng-shyan

Huang Sheng-shyan or Huang Xingxian (1910 – December 1992) was a Chinese martial artist. He was a practitioner and promoter of the art of tai chi.

Biography
He was born in Minhou County, Fujian province in Mainland China. He began studying Fujian White Crane with Xie Zhongxian at the age of 14. In 1947 he resettled in Taiwan where he became a disciple of Cheng Man-ch'ing. Yang Chengfu as the grandson of the Yang style founder, had been Cheng Man-ching’s teacher.

Huang committed himself to this tradition for the next 45 years. In 1955 Huang along with eight fellow students of Cheng Man-ch'ing, represented the Shih Chung Association, in the Provincial Chinese Martial Arts Tournament. Huang was adjudged champion in the tai chi section and runner-up in the open section. Huang emigrated to Singapore in 1956 and then in the 60’s moved to Malaysia, both times with the express purpose of propagating taijiquan.

By Robert W. Smith's mediation, Huang fought a challenge match against Donn F. Draeger. Although Huang lost by way of a judo choke, Draeger praised his skill, stating "the man could push, I'll give him that. I must have gone twenty feet back."

At the age of 60 Huang Sheng-shyan again demonstrated his abilities in taijiquan by defeating Liao Kuang-cheng, the Asian champion wrestler, 26 throws to 0 in a fund raising event in Kuching Malaysia.

By the time of his death in December 1992, he had established 40 schools and taught 10,000 people throughout South East Asia. Huang was considered by some to be the most highly achieved student of Cheng Man-ch'ing. In Robert W. Smith's book, Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods Smith writes: "[William] Chen probably climbed higher than any of Cheng Man-ch'ing’s students, except the converted White Crane boxer Huang Sheng-hsien (who after learning [tai chi] moved to Singapore and acquired some fame there...)"

title: Huang Sheng-shyan


text:
Damoh

Damoh is a city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is known for The Bade Baba Temple at Kundalpur, a Jain pilgrimage site. It is one of the major cities of Madhya Pradesh. The city is also the district headquarters of Damoh district.

It is the fifth-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh. It is also known for Singrampur Nidan Waterfall, Singorgarh fort, Nohleshwar Temple,Nohta,etc.

Damoh is an important Tourism, Culture, Industrial, Business Centre and Economical Hub of india and Damoh is also best cities in India for ease of doing business and services.

The Bade Baba Temple at Kundalpur and Singrampur Wildlife Sanctuary Singorgarh fort are primarily tourism and culture places of Damoh where tourist comes from across the world to visit these Places and contribute the indian economy.

Heidelberg Cement India's biggest Cement plant at narsinghgarh and Mysore Cements Limited at Imlai area are the popular industries situated at damoh and important for employment.

Early history
Stone Age tools have been found in Singrampur Valley and it is believed that the area has been inhabited for thousands of years. Around the fifth century, it was part of the empire of Guptas of Pataliputra. This has been evidenced by plaques and coins, and monuments from the reigns of Samudragupta, Chandragupta I, and Skandgupta. From the eighth to twelfth centuries, some parts of the Damoh district were in the Chedi Empire, ruled by the Kalchuri dynasty from its capital Tripuri. The temple at Nohta demonstrates Kalchuri's influence in the tenth century. Some regions of the district were under the Chandels of the Jejak-Bhukti.

Sultans
Around the beginning of the fourteenth century, the administrative centre of the Chanderi province of the Khalji dynasty was moved to Damoh.

The era of Muslim rule began in the fourteenth century. Stone carvings at Salaiya and Batiyagarh mention Khalji and Tuglaq Sultans. The Sultan of Malwa later annexed the region.

Gond and Maratha rule
In the last quarter of the fifteenth century, Sangram Shah of the Gond dynasty annexed the region into his empire organised around 52 forts. This was an era of peace and prosperity for the region. In Singrampur, Rani Durgawati attained martyrdom battling against the Mughal Empire, represented by its General Asaf Khan and his army.

Bundelas entered the region for a brief time span, after which Marathas took over in 1732. Marathas remained in control until the British annexed the Marathas kingdom after the death of Peshwa in 1888. The Diwanji ki Talaiya and the Ram Mandir were constructed by the Maratha administrators.

Modern history
Raja Hirde Shah, Lodhi king of Damoh, played an important part in the Bundela, Gond and Lodhi Uprising of 1842.

Damoh took part in the struggle for independence from the British. Under the leadership of Thakur Kishore Singh of Hindoria, Raja Devi Singh of Singrampur, Pancham Singh of Karijog, Gangadhar Rao of Mangarh, Raghunath Rao, Mejban Singh, and Govind Rao were among those who took part in the 1857 revolt.

Damoh suffered from famine in 1896-97 and 1900. By 1899 the India Midland Railway had completed the construction of Sagar–Damoh link and Damoh–Katni links. Freedom fighter Seth Govind Das was jailed in Damoh in 1923, and wrote a number of Hindi plays while imprisoned. In 1929, Acharya Shantisagar visited Damoh, the first such visit by a Digambar Muni to Damoh after several centuries.

In 1933, Mahatma Gandhi visited Damoh. In 1946, Sagar University was established as the region's primary centre for higher education.

In 1947, with India's independence from British Raj, the Central Provinces were reorganised as the state of Madhya Pradesh. The town of Damoh had its first-degree college established in 1961 by Shiksha Prasar Samiti, a volunteer organisation.

Location
Damoh is located at 23.88°N, 79.45°W. It is at an average elevation of 595 m.

Demographics
According to the 2001 India census, Damoh city had a population of 112,160 (total urban population is 147,661). Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. Damoh had an average literacy rate of 73%, above the national average of 59.5%: male literacy was 89% and female literacy was 66%. 14% of the population was under 6 years of age.

Government and administration
Damoh city has a Nagar Palika Parishad with the elected head Malti Asati. Tarun Rathi is the current DM & Collector for the Damoh District. The current Member of Legislative Assembly from Damoh constituency is Mr. Ajay Kumar Tandon.

Notable people

 * Sunil Lahri, actor, best known for portraying Lakshmana in the television show Ramayan (1987-1988)

 * Chahat Pandey, TV Actress

title: Damoh


text:
Harry Oliver (ice hockey)

Harold "Pee-Wee" Oliver (October 26, 1898 – June 16, 1985) was a Canadian ice hockey forward who played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) and the Boston Bruins and New York Americans of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1921 and 1937. He was a member of the Tigers' 1924 WCHL championship and won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 1929. Oliver played nearly 600 games in a professional career that spanned 16 seasons and scored 217 goals. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967.

Playing career
Oliver grew up in Selkirk, Manitoba and played both junior and senior hockey with the Selkirk Fishermen. Oliver and the Fishermen won the Manitoba Senior Hockey League in 1919 and challenged the Hamilton Tigers for the Allan Cup. Oliver scored a goal in the second game, but the Fishermen lost the two-game series on total goals, 7–6. He left Selkirk for a professional career in Calgary in 1920. He played one season with the Calgary Canadians of the independent Big-4 League in 1919–20 then moved to the Calgary Tigers and the new Western Canada Hockey League. Oliver quickly established himself as a star player in the WCHL, using his speed and shot to earn positions as a First-Team All-Star in both 1924 and 1925. He was a key member of the Tigers' team that won the 1923–24 WCHL championship, and lost to the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup.

When the WCHL collapsed in 1926, Oliver's rights were bought by the Boston Bruins. His NHL career began on a line with Bill Carson and Percy Galbraith, and he led the Bruins in scoring each of his first three seasons with the team. Oliver scored four goals in a game versus Chicago on January 11, 1927, becoming the first Boston Bruin to attain that feat. He won the Stanley Cup with Boston in 1929 and remained with the organization for eight years. Oliver became the first Boston Bruin to score a playoff overtime goal when he notched the winner on March 20, 1930 versus the Montreal Maroons. The Bruins sold his rights to the New York Americans in 1934, and Oliver completed his career with three seasons in New York. Well regarded for his gentlemanly nature on the ice, Oliver was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967, and is an honoured member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

Following his career, Oliver returned to Selkirk, working first as an electrician, then moved to Winnipeg where he worked for the Weights and Measures Department of the Canadian Government. He died in 1985.

title: Harry Oliver (ice hockey)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ninjad

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. — Trilobite (Talk) 15:23, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Ninjad
Neologism, and not even all that good of one. Kelly Martin 15:30, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Neologism. --Tabor 20:45, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Agreed - neologism, Tobycat 06:00, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ninjad


text:
Phoronis

Phoronis is one of the two genera of the horseshoe worm family (Phoronidae), in the phylum Phoronida. The body has two sections, each with its own coelom. There is a specialist feeding structure, the lophophore, which is an extension of the wall of the coelom and is surrounded by tentacles. The gut is U-shaped. The diagnostic feature that distinguishes this genus is the lack of epidermal invagination at the base of the lophophore. These worms are filter feeders. They live on hard substrates or soft sediments in marine environments throughout the world. They have different modes of reproduction which help with their success.

The scientific name of the larval form is Actinotrocha.

Etymology
The generic name refers to Phoronis (better known as Io), a Greek mythological character sometimes conflated with Isis. Thomas Strethill Wright, of Edinburgh, did not give a specific reason for choosing the name.

Species

 * Phoronis australis Haswell 1883
 * Phoronis embryolabi Temereva & Chichvarkhin, 2017
 * Phoronis emigi Hirose et al. 2014
 * Phoronis hippocrepia Wright 1856
 * Phoronis ijimai Oka 1897
 * Phoronis muelleri Selys-Lonchamps 1903
 * Phoronis ovalis Wright 1856
 * Phoronis pallida (Schneider 1862) Silén 1952
 * Phoronis psammophila Cori 1889
 * Phoronis savinkini Temereva & Neklyudov, 2018

Phoronis architecta is no longer accepted and is considered to be a synonym of Phoronis psammophila. Similarly Phoronis vancouverensis is considered to be a synonym of Phoronis ijimai.

A 2018 phylogenetic analysis indicates that Phoronis is paraphyletic, while Phoronopsis is a monophyletic genus.

Distribution
Horseshoe worms are not very sensitive to environmental conditions and are therefore considered to be both eurythermic and euryhaline animals. While they are not very sensitive, there are some factors that can impact their distribution such as current strength (as they are filter feeders), the result of asexual reproduction, predation in the area, and local fauna which they may have to compete with. However, horseshoe worms have a relatively global distribution as they can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

Tube
The horseshoe worms live in tubes that are fully imbedded in the soil and are formed during digging or boring. The tubes are produced by the worm's epidermal glands. These tubes have an inner organic cylinder and an outer layer. The inner layer is composed of three parts: the inner film, middle film, and outer film. These thin films are composed of fibers from the worms that form nets that make up these tubes.

Nervous and digestive systems
These worms have a nervous system that consists of a dorsal ganglion, a tentacle nerve ring, an inner nerve ring, intertentacular groups of perikarya, and tentacle nerves. These tentacles nerves have three groups: abfrontal, frontal, and laterofrontal. They have a U-shaped gut, meaning their anus is close in distance to their mouths and their digestive tract consists of three parts: the mouth, the stomach, and the anus.

Lophophore
The lophophore structure has evolved from a simple, oval shape to the horseshoe shape from which the worms get their name, even into a complex spiral structure. These worms can regenerate their lophophores when injured or even voluntarily drop their lophophores as Phoronis ovalis does when it is laying eggs. The lophophore is used for both respiration and feeding. The tentacles of the lophophores have cilia on them which move water towards their mouth to filter out small particulates. Through moving water over the tentacles of the lophophore, they act as an organ for gas exchange and allow oxygen into the blood as it passes through.

Embryos
Generally, Phoronis species have benthic adults with lecithotrophic larvae. These species incubate their embryos in various ways. Some species release their embryos into the water column and they develop there. In other species, embryos are incubated among the tentacles of the adult worms. Recently, it was discovered that some species even exhibit viviparity, where the embryos are incubated in the coelom of their mother's tube and the "hatch" to produce feeding actinotroch larvae. There is a correlation between egg size and development type: allowing embryos into the water column to develop takes less energy and can therefore produce more eggs. Incubating in the tube's coelom takes more energy so less eggs are produced.

Larvae
The lecithotrophic larvae, given the name actinotroch, are pelagic and float in the water column. This allows for wider dispersal of species. The larvae have also developed different morphologies over time such as differing pigmentation and arrangement of blood masses.

Adult
When they are full grown, these worms typically have thin but long bodies that can grow up to 50 cm. The adults are typically colonial and can grow around each other in order to support each other.

Reproduction
Phoronis can be either gonochoristic or hermaphroditic. The worms create sperm and eggs through the processes of spermiogenesis and oogenesis. Spermiogenesis leads to the creation of a spermatophore, which is inserted into the metacoelom to combine with the eggs in two ways. The small fertilized eggs, numbering up to 500, are then released through spawning into the water column where the larvae develop over a period of 3 weeks before settling to change into the adult stage. Others lay fewer, larger eggs, and after fertilization, do not release them until they have hatched. These larvae are only in the water column for a period of 4 days before settling to find their home.

Parasite
Some phoronid species have microsporidia-like spores that were discovered in 2017. This was the first recorded instance of phoronids being hosts to parasites. These microsporidia were named Microsporidium phoronidi.

title: Phoronis


text:
User:Ksnortum

Ksnortum and AntiEntropy are both handles for me, Knute Snortum. Below are my known biases so you can know somthing about me and I can better write from a nuetral point of view. If you think I'm not doing that, you can always talk to me.

The name AntiEntropy comes from a conversation I had with my father when I was a teenager. I asked him why humans were around at all, since entropy was the rule in the universe. He responded, "We are a temporary enclave of anti-entropy." That phrase has stuck with me, although I tend to see it with a certain irony.

Politics
I'm a moderate politically. I lean right of center on some issues and left on others. I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. I voted for John McCain in 2008 but I really wanted Barack Obama to win. I voted for him in 2012. I am a member of the Republican Party but I'm reconsidering this (I am officially a Democrat now). I hate talk radio (except for NPR).

Religion
I am a Protestant Christian without any other strong denominational ties. I am an ethnic Jew in the sense that my mother is Jewish. My mother is a Holocaust survivor. My father was a university professor and an agnostic.

Science
I am an amateur scientist, especially Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics. My vocation is as a software developer for a small company. Basically, I am a geek.

I see no conflict in being scientific and religious. One of my favorite books on this subject is The Mind of God by Paul Davies.

Music
I am a musician. I play piano at an early advanced level. I also play guitar and drums well enough to by asked to play them now and then. I used to be a fair trombonist in college. I play a mean kazoo. I enjoy and play nearly all types of music, including Jazz, Rock, Clasical, Folk, Blues, Bluegrass, and some Pop.

Comics
I love comics, especially webcomics, Manga, and Anime. I may seem a bit old for Anime, but remember, I grew up with Speed Racer and Astro Boy. I'm not really into Sailor Moon but I do own a Powerpuff Girls DVD. (It was given to me, but I still enjoyed it.) You can see more about what I read and what I think about webcomics at my external home page and at the webcomics list.

I've been working on -- but never finished -- an extended version of the Bruno (webcomic) article here

A Dave Kelly article that (hopefully) won't be deleted:

Stats
I was born on January 22nd. I'm writing that here so I don't forget. I'm going to write a program that will display my age:

 * How old I am

If you're interested in the Perl code, it's a really simple CGI you can download here.

Wikipedia References
Here are some Wikipedia newcomer references I want to save, but get off my talk page.

Bad Rendering
The surjection article isn't rendering correctly for Firefox or IE (at least for me) so I'm trying to fix it here.

 * I'm done with it. I wonder how to get rid of it?

 * Deleting a subpage

Working on Orthogonal
I'm going to take a stab at writing the into to orthogonal. I'll be playing with the article here.

I messed up. The article is orthogonality. I'm keeping the subpage; I'll just have to remember not to create a new page.

Okay, I'm done. Admins, please delete the subpage.

title: User:Ksnortum


text:
Strategic entry deterrence

In the theories of competition in economics, strategic entry deterrence is when an existing firm within a market acts in a manner to discourage the entry of new potential firms to the market. These actions create greater barriers to entry for firms seeking entrance to the market and ensure that incumbent firms retain a large portion of market share or market power. Deterring strategies, might include an excess capacity, limit pricing, predatory pricing, predatory acquisition (hostile takeovers) and switching costs. Although in the short run, entry deterring strategies might lead to a firm operating inefficiently, in the long run the firm will have a stronger holder over market conditions.

Preemptive deterrence
An incumbent who is trying to strategically deter entry can do so by attempting to reduce the entrant's payoff if it were to enter the market. The expected payoffs are obviously dependent on the number of customers the entrant expects to have – therefore one way of deterring entry is for the incumbent to "tie up" consumers.

The strategic creation of brand loyalty can be a barrier to entry – consumers will be less likely to buy the new entrant's product, as they have no experience of it. Entrants may be forced into expensive price cuts simply to get people to try their product, which will obviously be a deterrent to entry.

Similarly, if the incumbent has a large advertising budget, any new entrant will potentially have to match this in order to raise awareness of their product and a foothold in the market – a large sunk cost that will prevent some firms entering.

Before its patent on aspartame expired, Monsanto engaged in preemptive deterrence when it signed contracts with its biggest customers, Coke and Pepsi. Because Monsanto locked in the consumers of Coke and Pepsi through its contracts, it made entry into the soda market less desirable because potential entrants would have less consumers and, in turn, less profit. Furthermore, if another firm decided to enter the market and obtain contracts with other soda brands, it would be less likely to attract as many customers as Monsanto because customers are loyal to Coke and Pepsi due to their popularity.

Another example is when Xerox created hundreds of patents that were never used (sleeping patents) in order to make it more difficult for an entrant to challenge its monopoly on plain-paper photocopying. By creating so many patents, Xerox made it harder for potential entrants to create patents relating to plain-paper photocopying - increasing entry costs - and less firms were likely to enter the photocopying market.

In both of these examples of strategic deterrence, prior action was taken by incumbents in order to reduce the probability of a subsequent entry by another firm into the market.

Excess capacity
Strategic excess capacity may be established to either reduce the viability of entry for potential firms. Excess capacity take place when an incumbent firm threatens to entrants of the possibility to increase their production output and establish an excess of supply, and then reduce the price to a level where the competing cannot contend.

Excess capacity typically occurs in markets with firms that have a natural monopoly. Economist Dr. William W. Sharkey established five key aspects that lead to a monopolized industry;

 * 1) The product or service is essential;
 * 2) The location for production supersedes alternatives;
 * 3) The outputs are not storable;
 * 4) The product is produced at an economies of scale; and
 * 5) The product is can only be produced by a single supplier.

Limit pricing
In a particular market an existing firm may be producing a monopoly level of output, and thereby making supernormal profits. This creates an incentive for new firms to enter the market and attempt to capture some of these profits. One way the incumbent can deter entry is to produce a higher quantity at a lower price than the monopoly level, a strategy known as limit pricing. Not only will this reduce the profits being made, making it less attractive for entrants, but it will also mean that the incumbent is meeting more of the market demand, leaving any potential entrant with a much smaller space in the market. Limit pricing will only be an optimal strategy if the smaller profits made by the firm are still greater than those risked if a rival entered the market. It also requires commitment, for example the building of a larger factory to produce the extra capacity, for it to be a credible deterrent.

However, limit pricing does not always need to be enacted. Many industries use limit pricing as a signaling technique. Signaling is possible here because entrants do not ever have all the information on profit margins of existing companies or the true matrix outcome. When considering entering the market, an entrant must build an outcome matrix and rely on observable factors from the incumbent companies. This gives existing firms the ability to use observable variables to confuse entrants as a strategic barrier to entry. For example, a firm may change its price, leading the incumbent to infer the marginal cost of a product (incorrectly). This could lead a firm with a high-cost structure to charge a low price in order to deter competition or a firm with a low-cost structure to charge a high price to confuse entrants and hopefully deter them.

Predatory pricing
In a legal sense, a firm is often defined as engaging in predatory pricing if its price is below its short-run marginal cost, often referred to as the Areeda-Turner Law, which forms the basis of US antitrust cases. The rationale for this action is to drive the rival out of the market, and then raise prices once monopoly position is reclaimed. This advertises to other potential entrants that they will encounter the same aggressive response if they enter. According to Luís M. B. Cabral, as long as a potential entrant believes that an incumbent will take action to limit its profits, strategies like predatory pricing can be successful, even if the entrant misreads the situation and the incumbent does not act aggressively towards other entrants.

In the short run, it would be profit maximizing to acquiesce and share the market with the new entrant. However, this may not be the firm's best response in the long run. Once the incumbent acquiesces to an entrant, it signals to other potential entrants that it is "weak" and encourages other entrants. Thus the payoff to fighting the first entrant is also to discourage future entrants by establishing its "hard" reputation. One such example occurred when British Airways engaged in a competition war with Virgin Atlantic throughout the 1980s over its transatlantic route. This led to Virgin Atlantic chairman, Richard Branson, to say that competing with British Airways was "like getting into a bleeding competition with a blood bank."

Predatory acquisition
Incumbent firms can eliminate the possibility of competition from entering firms by acquiring enough shares from the target firm in order to gain a desired level of control. Predatory acquisitions occur when one firm seeks to purchase a share of a smaller target firm anonymous to the management of the target firm. Predatory acquisitions commonly arise to form a new majority, and establish a greater voting power in order to effect a change.

Switching costs
Switching costs represent the expenses a consumer faces in the light of changing to the product or service to a competing firms. Switching costs are not strictly monetary. To forestall customers from defecting, a company might employ a number strategies that increases a customer's perceived and fiscal costs when switching. The costs associated with switching commonly fall under three categories; procedural, financial, and relational. Procedural switching costs credited to the time and effort spent in completing the change. A firm might financially deter their customers from leaving by enforcing an exit fee. Relational switching costs refer to the inconveniences that are evoked in learning to use the new product or service.

title: Strategic entry deterrence