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Jérôme Bicamumpaka

Jerome Clement Bicamumpaka is a Rwandan politician. He is one of the 402 co-founders of the Rwandan political party MDR (Mouvement Démocratique Républicain), a democratic opposition party, created in Kigali on July 1, 1991. He was born on November 4, 1957, in Mukono (Rwaza), in Ruhondo commune, Ruhengeri prefecture.

An economist by training and consultant by profession, he joined the Interim Government of Rwanda on April 9, 1994, as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. This government was in power for only three months, from April 9 to July 17, 1994.

Exiled in mid-July 1994, Bicamumpaka moved first to Kinshasa, Zaire, then to Yaoundé, Cameroon, where he tried to work as a consultant.

On April 6, 1999, he was arrested by the Prosecutor of the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) who accused him of crimes including genocide. Twelve and a half years later, he was acquitted of all charges by the Trial Chamber of the ICTR and released. Bicamumpaka was then taken into the care of the ICTR Registry in Arusha. Awaiting the opportunity to join his family in Canada, he has since resided in Tanzania.

Birth, education and political affiliation
Jerome Bicamumpaka is the son of Balthazar Bicamumpaka and Basile Ntakazalimara. Born into a practicing Christian family, he was baptized while still a baby. His father, Balthazar Bicamumpaka, was an important figure in Rwandan politics from the 1950s to the 1960s; he worked for the abolition of the ubuhake (the old Rwandan social order, somewhat akin to feudalism), the advent of representative government, and Rwandan independence from Belgium. He is considered to be a founding father of the Republic of Rwanda, proclaimed in Gitarama on January 28, 1961, alongside, among others, Grégoire Kayibanda, Dominique Mbonyumutwa, Vénuste Kayuku, Joseph Habyarimana Gitera, and Jean-Baptiste Rwasibo. He served as a minister from 1960 to 1965, then as president of the National Assembly of Rwanda from 1965 to 1969. Following a political crisis in 1968, he retired from politics in September 1969 to engage in business. He died on May 13, 1981, and was buried in Rwaza.

Bicamumpaka completed his primary and secondary school education in Rwanda, but in 1977, he was obliged, for family reasons, to engage in business alongside his father. Seven years later, he resumed his studies by enrolling in the Faculty of Economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium. He completed his education at the Institute of Administration and Management of the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL School of Management) in 1989.

At the end of his studies, he returned to Rwanda and formed a management consulting company, with clients including private companies, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, state projects, and government ministries.

Bicamumpaka entered politics by co-founding the MDR IN 1991. The party platform included the development of democracy in Rwanda, support for public freedoms, economic liberalization to strengthen the private sector, and aid for Rwandan refugees. The MDR quickly became the main political party of the Rwandan democratic opposition. The establishment of the MDR coincided with the Rwandan Civil War, and sought to provide opposition to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), once President Juvénal Habyarimana and his party, the MRND, had finally accepted the establishment of a multiparty system in Rwanda.

Bicamumpaka held several posts in the MDR. He quickly became a member of the party's secretariat committee in Ruhengeri prefecture, and a member of the committee in charge of studies and party programs. In 1992, he became chairman of this commission and at the same time a member of the party's Political Bureau, made up of 44 people from the eleven prefectures of Rwanda.

After the signing between the Government of Rwanda and the RPF, in Arusha, of the Protocol on the sharing of power and in view of the signing of the Arusha Peace Agreement which will take place on August 4, 1993, the MDR party is asked to designate the eleven deputies who will represent it in the Transitional National Assembly. In July 1993, Bicamumpaka was elected deputy of the MDR party, at the prefectural congress held in Ruhengeri. The National Transitional Assembly was to bring together representatives of approved Rwandan political parties, as well as those of the RPF. However, despite several attempts to set up the organs provided for in this Peace Agreement, none of them could be put in place before the fateful date of April 6, 1994.

In February 1994, when Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu was designated to lead the transitional government, he asked the MDR to nominate candidates for the three ministerial posts that were due to him. Bicamumpaka was one of the three MDR candidates submitted for the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, even though he also held elected office.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana was shot down while trying to land at Kanombe International Airport.

Following negotiations between the officials of the UNAMIR (United Nations Mission for assistance in Rwanda), the Rwandan military officials and those of the five political parties that had participated in the Government since April 16, 1992, a new Government was set up in place. It will be better known as the Rwandan Interim Government. The leaders of the MDR party proposed Jerome C. Bicamumpaka for the portfolio of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, as the Political Bureau had done two months earlier. This is how he entered the government, in a chaotic environment of war, massacres of civilians and paralysis of all political and administrative organs of the Rwandan state.

The Rwandan Interim Government had received from the five political parties that made it up, a threefold mission, namely:

 * To ensure the effective management of state affairs, with particular emphasis on the rapid restoration of order and    the security of persons and property;
 * To continue discussions with the RPF for the establishment of the institutions of the broad-based transition, within a    period not exceeding six weeks; and finally,
 * To tackle energetically the problem of food shortage by seeking ways and means to help the disaster-stricken    populations of certain prefectures and those displaced by war.

The legitimacy of the Rwandan Interim Government could not be questioned as some people close to the RPF are still trying to do more than twenty-seven years after its establishment. In fact, not only did its establishment comply with the laws of Rwanda, as well as all the protocols signed between the Government of Rwanda and the RPF, during the Arusha negotiations, but also this legitimacy was recognized by the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, on May 25, 1994, in New York.

Bicamumpaka was sworn in as Minister on April 9, 1994. The investiture ceremony took place at the Hôtel des Diplomates. As part of his ministerial responsibilities, he decides to meet urgently the ambassadors of different countries accredited to Rwanda. These are mainly those from the following countries: The Kingdom of Belgium, France, the United States of America, the Holy See and those responsible for UNAMIR. Having made contact with these ambassadors, their meeting is scheduled for the afternoon of April 9, 1994, at their respective residences. The objective pursued by Bicamumpaka for these meetings was to call on their respective governments to come to the aid of Rwanda and its people, by stopping the massacres of civilians, as well as the war, and by encouraging the immediate resumption of negotiations between the Government and the RPF, with the aim of finally putting in place the organs provided for by the Arusha Peace Agreement. To this end, Bicamumpaka proposed to the Belgian and French Governments, respectively, through their ambassadors, to use their respective forces present in Rwanda or in the region, to stop the massacres and protect civilians, starting with the city of Kigali. It was in this context that at the request of the Belgian Ambassador, Johan Swinnen, he intervened energetically in the Government, on the evening of April 9, 1994, so that a thousand Belgian commandos stationed in Kenya be authorized to land at Kanombe international airport, in particular for the evacuation of Belgian citizens resident in Rwanda. The first of these commandos were able to land the next day in the morning. There is no doubt that without his decisive and rapid action which enabled Belgian troops to deploy in Rwanda and to rescue Belgian citizens there, it would not be ten Belgians who could have been counted as dead in Rwanda, but several dozen civilians and soldiers! But after these soldiers finished rescuing the Belgians and evacuating them, their Government decided to withdraw them immediately. Of the four ambassadors Bicamumpaka wanted to meet on the afternoon of April 9, 1994, only Ambassador Rawson of the United States of America failed him, without any explanation. But to all these diplomats, the message from the Rwandan minister was the same, as the Ambassador Swinnen testified before the Trial Chamber of the ICTR in Bicamumpaka's trial.

From April 10, 1994, the latter wrote several diplomatic notes intended to inform the United Nations in particular (Security Council, General Secretariat, General Assembly, African Group, Group of Non-Aligned States, UNAMIR, etc.), the Organization of African Unity (OAU), countries which had bilateral relations with Rwanda, as well as several international organizations of which Rwanda was a member. The leaders of these organizations and countries have all received these Notes Verbales. Among the latter, we can cite the following:

 * On April 10, 1994, a first Note Verbale was drafted and sent to all recipients, with the President of the UN Security Council first, with distribution to all its members.
 * On April 11, 1994, a second Note Verbale was sent to UNAMIR officials in Kigali.
 * On April 15, 1994, a third Note Verbale was also sent to all recipients, first with the President of the UN Security Council, with distribution to all its members.
 * On April 20, 1994, a fourth Note Verbale[18] was sent to UNAMIR.

In his diplomatic notes, Bicamumpaka described the chaotic and catastrophic situation in which the Rwandan people were living, the massacres of civilians and the dramatic consequences of the war which had resumed in the leader of the RPF, and asked for immediate and urgent assistance to end them, as well as the creation of conditions for the establishment of the organs provided for in the Arusha Peace Agreement. Although it was difficult for him to be well informed of what was happening on the ground in Rwanda, given the chaos that reigned, he did not hesitate to speak about the fact that the Tutsis seemed to be the most targeted. by the killers, in the city of Kigali. He thus called for an intervention so that the killings of civilians were stopped before they spread to the rest of the country. He called on UNAMIR officials to deploy to Kigali to stop the massacres of civilians. During his meeting with General Roméo Dallaire at the Hôtel des diplomats on the afternoon of April 11, 1994, the latter promised to act, but it was only words! As we know all these calls for help from the Rwandan people apparently fell on plugged ears, and the Rwandan people paid a heavy price.

Almost all of the embassy staff were evacuated on April 12, 1994. Only the Chinese Embassy staff remained in Kigali. Moreover, for security reasons, the Rwandan Interim Government moved from Kigali to Gitarama that same day. Diplomatic work could therefore only be done outside the country. This is how Bicamumpaka travelled abroad, first to Burundi, whose president was killed in the attack on the Rwandan presidential plane. He then travelled to Kinshasa, Zaire, Europe, and the United Nations headquarters in New York. He also participated in the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Tunis.

During these trips, he met several political and diplomatic personalities, and the message addressed to them was the following: to call for the help of Rwandans who were perishing for unacceptable reasons, to do everything to help stop the massacres of civilians and the war, to come in humanitarian aid to the Rwandan people, to do everything to ensure that political dialogue is rapidly initiated between the warring parties in order to create the conditions for the implementation of the Arusha Peace Agreement signed on August 4, 1993, etc..

During these meetings in New York, Paris, Bonn, Tunis, and elsewhere, Bicamumpaka observed that some of the major world powers had a bias on the Rwandan crisis and even wanted one of the parties to war have the upper hand and seize all the power. Which was the opposite of the spirit and the letter of the Arusha Peace Agreement, and did nothing to stop the massacres of civilians in Rwanda. These governments were only waiting for this seizure of power, and this is what took place in mid-July 1994. It was only then, and only then, that they mobilized massively to come to the aid of the Rwandan population, both those of the interior and those who had taken refuge in neighbouring countries. Obviously, the scale of the massacres of civilians and the distress of the Rwandan population in general were not sufficient to arouse the commitment of these countries to come to the aid of Rwanda.

Exile and arrest
Bicamumpaka left Rwanda for good on July 17, 1994, for neighbouring Zaire. He lived in Kinshasa until December 1995, before settling permanently in Cameroon with his family.

On April 6, 1999, Cameroonian gendarmes accompanied by members of the ICTR's Office of the Prosecutor arrived at the offices of one of Bicamumpaka's clients, located not far from Yaoundé. While on an advisory mission to this industrial company, an ICTR agent came to his office and informed him that he was under arrest at the request of the ICTR Prosecutor, Louise Arbor. But, strangely enough, this agent does not carry either the arrest warrant or the indictment that would have been drawn up against Bicamumpaka. It was therefore an illegal arrest. Bicamumpaka was taken to the Cameroon Judicial Police headquarters in Yaoundé, where he will remain until his transfer to Arusha, at the ICTR headquarters, four months later.

Legal proceedings and acquittal
The charges against Bicamumpaka were conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, rape), and the violation of article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II.

During his first appearance before the Trial Chamber, Bicamumpaka refused to plead guilty or not guilty, because the registrar of the ICTR had refused his request to be represented by a lawyer of his own choosing. The trial opened on November 6, 2003, and the proceedings against the four defendants lasted almost five years.

The judges deliberated for three years before Bicamumpaka was acquitted on September 30, 2011. During the delivery of the judgment, the president of the seat declared that the prosecutor had accused Bicamumpaka and his three co-defendants of extremely serious crimes, but that the defendants had produced ample exculpatory evidence.

Release and post-acquittal
After his acquittal, Bicamumpaka was immediately released. The prosecutor chose not to appeal the verdict..

The Registry of the ICTR immediately took charge of him for his stay in Arusha, while waiting to be able to join his family. The latter was staying in Canada and had in the meantime become Canadian. The administrative procedures with Immigration Canada will last several years, and today for almost four years, Jerome C. Bicamumpaka is still waiting for the Canadian Minister of Public Security to issue him a ministerial exemption allowing him access to Canadian territory and to be reunited with his family. By now he will have spent more than ten years in Arusha, awaiting this reunification.

On December 8, 2021, the Registrar of the Residual Mechanism (UN-IRMCT) who took over from the ICTR in this charge of his management informed him that he would no longer benefit from the protection of the United Nations and his care, in Tanzania, because he would have declined the offer made to him to be relocated to Niger! In fact, on November 18, 2021, the Registrar told him that he had to travel to Niger within two weeks for his final relocation, along with eight other people awaiting a host country. He then declined this offer, imposed unilaterally and brutally, because it was contrary to the UN-IRMCT Headquarters Agreement, in particular in its article 39(1), then for medical reasons, in view of the precariousness of medical care in Niger! Indeed, by doing so, the Registrar had violated his rights. On December 16, 2021, Jerome C. Bicamumpaka then had to initiate legal proceedings before the President of the UN-IRMCT, in order to be restored to his rights. This was done on December 20, 2021, following a decision by the President of the UN-IRMCT. The final judicial decision on the merits is expected in the coming weeks. Today Jerome C. Bicamumpaka still resides in Arusha, under United Nations protection, waiting to be reunited with his family.

title: Jérôme Bicamumpaka


text:
Árpád Pusztai

Árpád János Pusztai (8 September 1930 – 17 December 2021 ) was a Hungarian-born British biochemist and nutritionist who spent 36 years at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was a world expert on plant lectins, authoring 270 papers and three books on the subject.

In 1998, Árpád Pusztai publicly announced that the results of his research showed feeding genetically modified potatoes to rats had negative effects on their stomach lining and immune system. This led to scientific criticism. Pusztai was suspended and his annual contract was not renewed. The resulting controversy became known as the Pusztai affair.

Life and career
Pusztai was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 8 September 1930. He was a student of the high school Óbudai Árpád Gimnázium and later obtained a diploma in chemistry in 1953 from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He worked for three years as an associate scientist at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences before the Hungarian revolution against Soviet control in 1956. After the failed revolution, Pusztai escaped to a refugee camp in Austria and from there made his way to England. He completed his doctorate in biochemistry at the Lister Institute in London and continued there with his post-doctorate. In 1963, he was invited to join the Protein Research Department at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. Pusztai worked at the Rowett Institute for the next 36 years, predominately studying plant lectins. During that time, he discovered glycoproteins in plants, authored over 270 research papers, published 3 books, and was considered an "internationally renowned expert on lectins". He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1988 and has received fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust. Árpád Pusztai was married to Dr Susan Bardócz, with whom he worked at the Rowett Institute. He had two daughters from his first marriage and a stepson from his marriage to Dr. Bardócz. He died at his home in Aberdeen on December 17, 2021, at the age of 91.

Pusztai affair
In 1995, Pusztai began research on genetically modified potatoes containing the GNA lectin gene from the snowdrop plant. His research team fed raw and cooked genetically modified potatoes to rats, using Desiree Red potatoes as controls. In 1998, Pusztai said in an interview on a World in Action programme that his group had observed damage to the intestines and immune systems of rats fed the genetically modified potatoes. He also said, "If I had the choice, I would certainly not eat it," and "I find it's very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs."

This resulted in a media frenzy, and the director of the Rowett Institute, Philip James, after initially supporting Pusztai, suspended him and banned both him and Susan Bardocz from speaking publicly. He also used misconduct procedures to seize the raw data. The Rowett Institute eventually published an audit criticizing Pusztai's results and sent the raw data to six anonymous reviewers, who also criticized Pusztai's work. Pusztai sent the audit report and his rebuttal to scientists who requested it, and in February 1999, twenty-one European and American scientists released a memo supporting Pusztai.

James and the Rowett Institute released a statement on August 10 falsely accusing Pusztai of using a lectin (Concanavalin A) that was a known toxin. This wasn't true. Pusztai had used the snowdrop lectin, but a gag order prevented him from defending himself publicly until 1999.

Pusztai's experiment was eventually published as a letter in The Lancet in 1999. Because of the controversial nature of his research, the letter was reviewed by six reviewers - three times the usual number. One publicly opposed the letter, another thought it was flawed, but wanted it published "to avoid suspicions of a conspiracy against Pusztai and to give colleagues a chance to see the data for themselves," while the other four raised questions that were addressed by the authors. The letter reported significant differences between the thickness of the gut epithelium of rats fed genetically modified potatoes and of rats fed the control diet.

The Royal Society of Medicine declared that the study ‘is flawed in many aspects of design, execution and analysis’ and that ‘no conclusions should be drawn from it’. For example, too few rats per test group were used to derive meaningful, statistically significant data.

He was one of several scientists interviewed in the 2010 documentary Scientists Under Attack: Genetic Engineering in the Magnetic Field of Money who, based on their findings, have criticized the use of genetic modification for food.

Aftermath
Pusztai's annual contract at Rowett was not renewed following the incident and he moved back to Hungary. He gave lectures on his GE potato work and on claimed dangers in general of genetic engineering of crop plants. In 2005, he received the Whistleblower Award of the Federation of German Scientists and the German section of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). In 2009, Pusztai and his wife, Prof. Bardócz Zsuzsa, received the Stuttgart Peace Prize.

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

title: Árpád Pusztai


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Smørrebrød

Smørrebrød (originally smør og brød, "butter and bread" ), smørbrød "butter bread" (Norwegian), or smörgås "butter goose" (Swedish), is a traditional open-faced sandwich in the cuisines of Denmark, Norway and Sweden that usually consists of a piece of buttered rye bread (rugbrød, a dense, dark brown bread), topped with commercial or homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads, and garnishes.

Bread
Bread is a very important part of the Scandinavian diet, primarily rugbrød, which is sourdough rye bread. It is a dark, heavy bread which is often bought sliced, in varieties from light-coloured rye to very dark, and from refined to whole-grain. Some toppings are served on franskbrød ('French bread'), a very light, crusty wheat bread. The bread is usually buttered, though for some variants, a spread of lard is customary.

Toppings
Traditional toppings include pickled herrings (plain, spiced or curried), slightly sweeter than Dutch or German herrings; thinly sliced cheese in many varieties; sliced cucumber, tomato and boiled eggs; pork liver-paste; dozens of types of cured or processed meat in thin slices, or smoked fish such as salmon; mackerel in tomato sauce; pickled cucumber; boiled egg, and rings of red onion. Mayonnaise mixed with peas, sliced boiled asparagus and diced carrot, called italiensk salat ('Italian salad'), remoulade or other thick sauces often top the layered open sandwich, which is usually eaten with utensils. It is custom to pass the dish of sliced bread around the table, and then to pass around each dish of toppings, and people help themselves.

More festive meals can be loosely divided into courses: fish toppings first (such as herring, shrimp, or smoked salmon) followed by cold cuts and salads, and finally cheese with bread or crackers and fruit. One or several warm dishes are often served with the meats on special occasions, such as breaded plaice filet, fried medister sausage, frikadeller with pickled red cabbage, or mørbradbøf (pork tenderloin with sauteed onions or a creamy mushroom sauce). Toppings change with the seasons and some are mostly associated with Easter or Christmas lunches, like head cheese and æbleflæsk (lit. 'apple pork', roast pork or bacon in apple sauce). Summer offers lighter fare such as smoked mackerel, sommersalat (lit. 'summer salad', radish and cucumber in a smoked cheese dressing), new potatoes, and freshly peeled shrimp.

Hundreds of combinations and varieties of smørrebrød are available, and some traditional examples include:

 * Dyrlægens natmad (Danish: 'veterinarian's midnight snack') – on a piece of dark rye bread, a layer of liver pâté, topped with a slice of salt beef and a slice of meat aspic. This is all garnished with raw onion rings and garden cress.
 * Eel – smoked eel on dark rye bread, topped with scrambled eggs and sliced radishes or chopped chives.
 * Leverpostej – warm rough-chopped liver pâté served on dark rye bread, topped with bacon, and sautéed mushrooms.
 * Roast beef – thinly sliced and served on dark rye bread, topped with a portion of remoulade, and decorated with a sprinkling of shredded horseradish and toasted onion.
 * Eggs and prawns – Thin slices of egg and prawns on either rye bread or white bread topped with tomato, mayonnaise, and lemon, and garnished with garden cress.
 * Roast pork – thinly sliced and served on dark rye bread, topped with red sweet and sour cabbage and thinly-sliced pickles and garnished with a slice of orange.
 * Salmon – slices of cold-smoked salmon or gravlax (cured salmon) on white bread, topped with shrimp and garnished with a slice of lemon and fresh dill.
 * Spiced meat roll – thin-sliced cold cut, garnished with a thick slice of sky, raw onion rings and garden cress.
 * Stjerneskud (lit. "shooting star") – on a base of buttered white bread, two pieces of fish: a piece of steamed white fish on one half, a piece of fried, battered plaice on the other half. On top is piled a mound of shrimp, which is then garnished with a dollop of mayonnaise, red caviar, and a lemon slice.
 * Tartar – raw lean beef mince with salt and pepper, served on dark rye bread, topped with raw onion rings, grated horseradish and a raw egg yolk.

In literature
The Dano-Norwegian poet Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785) wrote a classic poem about smørrebrød: "At Smørrebrød er ikke Mad,

Og Kærlighed er ikke Had,

Det er for Tiden hvad jeg veed

Om Smørrebrød og Kærlighed." "That Smørrebrød is not food,

and love is not hate,

that is so far all I know

about Smørrebrød and love."

Literature

 * Katrine Klinken, Smørrebrød – Danish open, Thaning & Appel, 2008.
 * Ida Davidsen and Mia Davidsen, Open your heart to the Danish open – : the Davidsen dynasty and their best recipes, Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2006. ISBN 978-87-614-0400-8.
 * Inge Lotz, Danish open sandwiches, Aschehoug Fakta, 1997. ISBN 87-7512-668-0.
 * Troelsø, Ole (2012), Smørrebrød i Danmark - Stederne, stykkerne og historien, København: Forlaget Lucullus, ISBN 9788799551606.
 * Dine with the Danes Video of Danish open-face sandwiches

title: Smørrebrød


text:
Gavril Atanasov

Gavril Atanasov (Гаврил Атанасов) (1863–1951) was a prominent Macedonian icon painter in the 19th century from Berovo (Malesh region), in Ottoman Vardar Macedonia (present-day North Macedonia). His father was from Kruševo but moved to Berovo where Gavril was born in 1863. Gavril went to the Bulgarian school in Berovo. He painted around Berovo (Malesh region). Gavril Atanasov was the author of the icon of St. Demetrius in the church "Saint Demetrius" in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.

One of the monasteries where his painting can be found is the St. Arhangel Mihail Monastery in Berovo.

title: Gavril Atanasov


text:
Service Improvement Plan

The Service Improvement Plan (SIP) was a program, during the years 2001–2009, mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to provide a defined level of basic telephone service to all Canadians, other than those so isolated that it is costly and impractical to reach. The companies completed the programs in the middle of the 2000-2009 decade, with a cut-off of availability to customers in 2007 or 2008 (Customers who did not act on the program must now bear the full cost of service improvement).

Origin
The process leading to SIP actually had its origins with an application on October 15, 1996 by Sprint Canada (owned by Call-Net) for an order by the CRTC to Northwestel to interconnect for long-distance service. On February 28, 1997, the CRTC denied the application, but started a public proceeding to determine if NorthwesTel's service area should have long-distance competition.

As a result of public hearings during 1997 on the issue, it became evident to the CRTC that there were locations that considered their phone service to be inferior. The CRTC issued Public Notice 97-42, Service to High Cost Serving Areas (PN 97-42). The objective was to hold hearings across Canada to determine a definition of basic service and to define high cost serving areas.

The CRTC held regional consultations on the issues of PN 97-42 in eight locations from Whitehorse, Yukon to Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador during May and June 1998, and received comments and submissions from the public, telephone companies and other organizations. In some locations, video conferencing or audio conferencing brought additional communities into the regional consultations.

On October 19, 1999, the CRTC issued Telecom Decision 99-16], defining basic service as including security features such as Caller ID, local dial-up connectivity to the Internet, access to long-distance service, among other things. The CRTC also found that Northwestel's operating area was entirely a high-cost serving area, and that supplementary funding may be required to raise the level of phone service and to maintain that service in the face of competition.

Most incumbent local exchange carrier phone companies in Canada were ordered to submit Service Improvement Plans in order to bring all of their customers up to the basic service objective, and to provide service to unserved customers. Among the companies affected by this order were Northwestel, Bell Canada, Telus, MTS of Manitoba, NewTel of Newfoundland, SaskTel of Saskatchewan and Telebec of Quebec.

Implementation
Projects covered by the Service Improvement Plan included upgrade of long-distance circuits (often outdated microwave lines), replacement of central office equipment (again, often outdated), replacement of assorted radio telephone service technologies with wireline service or fixed radio link wireless services providing direct dial capability, and extension of service to unserved customers, again, with wireline or fixed radio link wireless services.

Cost sharing was a feature of the program. The benefitting customer paid a portion of the charges, usually the first $1,000 of usually the first $25,000. If the cost exceeded $25,000 to serve a customer, the customer was usually responsible to pay $1,000 plus any cost that exceeded $25,000. Such high cost was rare, and usually only occurred where the telephone company needed to install new microwave relay towers to service the customer.

The telephone companies typically phased the program over several years, usually no more than four, with the focus on improving service to the larger groups of customers first, and providing new service to larger groups of unserved customers first.

In the case of Northwestel, the four-year program involved distributing the project over the four jurisdictions the company's operating area covered: northern British Columbia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

One small effect of the program was to better define ILEC service territories in rural areas that had not previously been served. For example, Northwestel and Telus more clearly defined the service boundary between Wonowon and Fort St. John, British Columbia.

The Fort Fitzgerald, Alberta area was transferred to Northwestel as a result of an order in 2003, since it could be served by Northwestel at a much lower cost than by Telus. Fort Fitzgerald was a minor contentious issue with Telus, as Northwestel claimed it did not serve Alberta, while Telus stated that Northwestel did have some customers in Alberta, possibly having been served by the Fort Smith Telephone Company before it was sold in 1964 to the predecessor of Northwestel.

Northwestel area implementation
Northwestel was required to file its SIP by January 31, 2000, a year before the requirement on the other companies.

The plan largely consisted of replacing equipment in exchanges and on long-distance networks. This equipment was mostly manufacturer-discontinued, or no longer supported, but the equipment continued to meet the company's operational requirements. Much of this equipment was on routes and in communities where economic activity would not generate the revenue required to replace the equipment, without carrying loans over an extremely long period of time. This had the effect that a market case could not be generated to gain shareholder (Bell Canada) approval to spend the limited capital funding to replace it with modern equipment.

The original planned cost was $76 million. The CRTC cut the program to $67 million, eliminating a plan for local dial-up Internet access in small communities, and also removing Caller ID as part of the basic service objective within the Northwestel operating area. Many existing exchanges cannot support Caller ID, but the only reason to replace them was to provide this feature, therefore, the CRTC ruled that the cost was too high.

In 2003, however, at the company's request, the CRTC reviewed the issue of local access to the Internet, found that other Internet service providers had not expanded service to unserved communities, and authorized Northwestel to provide the service, under the SIP program, to any small community that did not already have a local provider.

An effort in 2002–2003 to have Caller ID covered under the program, in response to community demands for its safety features, was also refused. However, four fairly large communities were allowed to have the cost included under the program, since the CRTC decided the market conditions were favourable in those four locations.

One of the key elements of the SIP program for Northwestel was the provision of new and improved service to customer premises. Numerous rural areas had no wireline service, and the few customers in those subdivisions with service had some form of wireless service, cellular when possible, manual radio telephone service elsewhere. Some customers could not use any wireless service, even satellite phones, due to their location in a gully with a hill to the south.

The SIP program focused on providing wireline, where feasible, to these areas. As the program met these needs, existing customers served by party line service, or private lines with a long reach back to the central office, were next to be upgraded. (Such long lines had a resultant hum on the line caused by amplifiers. They also had low fax/modem speeds due to signal attenuation.) Finally, individual isolated customers requiring fixed radio link services were to be provided service.

All three aspects — exchange replacement, long-distance route improvement and customer premises connections — were spread over the four-year phasing of the program of the 2001 planning year to the 2004 planning year. Work continued into 2007.

title: Service Improvement Plan


text: User talk:71.108.91.7

title: User talk:71.108.91.7


text:
User talk:Bornyesterday

UMD
Hey there. I contacted an admin about the problem with the Gary pic.-PhattyFatt 18:22, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Battle of Myriokephalon
Can I ask what specifically is wrong with the tone of the article? It's hard to fix if you don't say what's wrong with it. Adam Bishop 20:15, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Ah yeah. I meant to get to that, but was at work, with too little time to effectively edit the text and got distracted before I could comment. Reading the article, it felt that it was a bit off in the way some of the events were phrased. Some of the statements were a too "intimate" (for lack of a better word) or were made with information that ought to have been provided in the article. Case in point for both of those qualities is the statement: At this point Manuel had about 25 000 men, although he may have had as many as 50 000. It would be more appropriate to say something along the lines of: "Manuel had an army that has been reported at being anywhere from 25k to 50k men."

Also, things like "Manuel gathered an army, supposedly so large that it spread across ten miles" and "Both routes lay on a heavily wooded route, where the Turks could easily hide and set up ambushes; the army moving towards Amasia was destroyed in one such ambush, and Turkish envoys brought Manuel Andronicus' head" are informative, yes, but they are poorly worded with regard to what you are trying to get across. For the latter, I think that the weakness is in the section after the semicolon. Better to make it into two separate sentences. One saying that the army led by Andronicus was destroyed by ambush. The second saying that Andronicus was slain and that his head was sent to Manuel. And saying "brought Manuel Andronicus' head" was confusing to read because "Manuel Andronicus" reads as if it is a single name. Bornyesterday 21:52, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

 * Oh, okay...well, wouldn't it be easier to fix it yourself, when you have time? If you can phrase something better, please do! Adam Bishop 03:18, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yea, that "when you have time" part is the big kicker. Bornyesterday 13:06, Jun 21, 2005 (UTC)

AFW for letters?
I'm not familiar with any Alpha Phi Omega chapter which uses the latin letters AFW for their group. As far as I can tell, the only standard use of AFW to refer to the fraternity is simply that the standard Windows Word Symbols Font uses those letters to generate the greek letters Alpha Phi Omega. Please respond to let me know which chapters use that publicly.

Thank You Naraht 02:38, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC) Alpha Phi Omega alumni volunteer.

I don't know of any chapters as a whole that use it, but I remember at the convention in 2002 that one of the surveys in the daily newsletter was about how people referred to the fraternity. And AFW was one of the choices. Because Phi is an F and Omega is a W, not P and O (Pi and Omicron). Bornyesterday 07:34, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree with you that Phi is an F, but Omega and are both "leftovers". They (The people who made the symbols code) had to match up letters in the Roman Alphabet with no greek equivalent with those in the Greek Alphabet that don't have one. Omega is matched with W, mostly because of the shape of the Lower Case Omega, which turns out to be just chance it looks like a w. Some of the other matchups are worse: Q with Theta? And Eta with H is the fact that they look alike in Capital. But Eta is a vowel.

 * Omicron and Omega *both* match with the roman O. Omicron *always* has the short O sound like both Os in the roman writeout of the name of the letter or "cot" where Omega has a long O sound like the O in the name of the letter or Coat. So as long as we keep saying A Phi Ooooh, we *are* abbreviating it correctly. :)

 * Good to see other brothers on Wiki!

Naraht 16:53, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Re: HT alt histories
I think the key alternate histories of the Civil War ought to be included into the list of related novels. In The Guns of the South (while probably not the best of the alt-hists, a good one), Turtledove looks at the many different issues about the cause of the war and does so quite well. Simply because he changes the outcome of the war and includes timetraveling south african nazis doesn't mean it is of any less value when reading other fictional stories about the war. Some of the well-known stories don't even deal with the war except as a background for story lines that don't deal with the issues of the war at all. The Red Badge of Courage is a story that could be told in any war, not just the American Civil War. But the topics that HT covers in Guns could only all be covered in a story about the Civil War. What makes Red Badge fit there better than Guns when the latter is much more relevant to THE war itself as opposed to war in general? -- Bornyesterday 21:37, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

 * I happen to be a big A-H fan, so I can partially sympathize with your points. But: (1) This article is way too long and I try to resist additions to the booklists, if only because it will inspire other additions and spiral out of control. (2) The focus of this Novels section, which is rather uncommon in Wiki history articles, is to highlight famous works. RBoC is a piece of classic American literature, along with Killer Angels. (Yes, you may quibble with some of the ones in the list, but I'd rather see you delete some than add more.) Turtledove is not classic and mentioning his Guns book to any serious CW person will get you a big laugh. Guns isn't even his most serious A-H of the CW--see Timeline-191. I could possibly tolerate one entry of the all-time classic A-H novel, but there isn't one. There are dozens of equally obscure works, some semi-serious analyses, others pure science-fantasy.

 * I think it would be legitimate for you to write an article Alternate histories of the American Civil War and point to it in the See Also, but I'd prefer to keep such books out of the main article so they don't proliferate. Hal Jespersen 23:12, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

Alpha Phi Omega brothers on Wikipedia.
There is now a Category set up for Alpha Phi Omega wikipedians at. See the page for how to add yourself into this category.

Congrats
Congratulations on your graduation!

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:04, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Bornyesterday


text:
Talk to Her

Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella) is a 2002 Spanish psychological melodrama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Geraldine Chaplin, and Rosário Flores. The film follows two men who form an unlikely friendship as they care for two women who are both in comas.

The film was a widespread critical and commercial success, with singled-out praise towards its direction, performances and especially its screenplay, winning the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film while Almodóvar won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, marking one of the few times where a non-English speaking film won this category. It is generally regarded as one of the best films of the 2000s, one of the best films of the 21st century, as well as Almodóvar's magnum opus.

Plot
The story unfolds in flashbacks, giving details of two relationships that become intertwined.

At a performance of Café Müller, a dance-theatre piece by Pina Bausch, Benigno Martín and Marco Zuluaga are seated next to each other. Benigno notices tears on Marco's face.

Marco is a journalist and travel writer who sees a TV interview with Lydia González, a famous matador. He thinks that an article about her would be interesting and contacts her. The news that she has broken up with her boyfriend "el Niño de Valencia", another matador, has been all over the tabloids. When Marco confesses that he is a journalist who knows nothing about bullfighting, she becomes angry and abruptly exits his car outside her house. He starts to drive off but stops when he hears a scream from inside her house. Lydia rushes out: Marco goes inside to kill a snake. They become friends and, later, lovers. One day, Lydia says that she has something important to say after the bullfight that afternoon, during which she is gored and becomes comatose. Marco remains by her side at the hospital and befriends Benigno, who recognizes him from the theatre. A doctor tells Marco that there is no reason to remain hopeful about Lydia.

Benigno is obsessed with Alicia Roncero, a beautiful dancer whom he watches practicing in the studio that he can see into from the apartment where he lives with his invalid mother. To care for her, he became a nurse and a beautician. After his mother dies, he finds the courage to talk to Alicia. When she enters her building, Benigno notices that it is also the office of Dr. Roncero, a psychiatrist. As a ruse to gain access to Alicia's apartment, Benigno makes an appointment to see the doctor, where he talks about the years he cared for his mother and says that he is lonely and a virgin. That night, Alicia is struck by a car and becomes comatose. In the hospital, where Benigno is assigned to care for her, he talks to her as if she were awake. He tells Marco that he should talk to Lydia because, even when in a coma, women understand men's problems. In response to Dr. Roncero's questioning, Benigno says that he is gay, presumably so that the doctor will not be suspicious of his intimate care of Alicia.

"El Niño de Valencia", whom Marco finds in Lydia's room one day, tells Marco that he and Lydia had reconciled, which she had planned to tell Marco before the goring incident. He also says that he should care for her now. Marco goes into Alicia's room and opens his heart to her. When Benigno appears, he tells Marco that he always thought Marco and Lydia would separate. A nurse expresses concern that Alicia has not had a period in two months and appears bloated. In the hospital parking lot, Benigno tells Marco of his desire to marry Alicia.

The hospital staff discover that Alicia is pregnant because she was raped. Further investigation reveals that her chart does not indicate her missed period. Benigno admits to falsifying the chart. Another orderly reports having overheard Benigno's conversation with Marco about wanting to marry Alicia.

Unaware of Alicia's pregnancy, Marco leaves for Jordan to write a travel book. Months later, he reads in a newspaper that Lydia died without awakening from her coma. When he calls the hospital to talk to Benigno, a nurse tells him that he is in prison for Alicia's rape. Benigno asks Marco to find out what has happened to her. Marco stays in Benigno's apartment, from which he sees Alicia in the dance studio doing rehab exercises with her teacher, Katrina, and he learns that Alicia had a stillborn baby.

Marco receives a voicemail from Benigno saying that he cannot live without Alicia. Marco rushes to the prison, where Benigno has left him a farewell letter: Marco visits his grave and tells him about the stillbirth and Alicia's recovery.

The film ends in the theatre where it began, with Alicia and Katrina sitting a few rows behind Marco at the dance performance. Marco is seen turning back to look at a smiling Alicia and, echoing a caption that had appeared for the couples "Marco y Lydia" and "Benigno y Alicia," the words “Marco y Alicia” appear on the screen.

Music
The music was composed by Alberto Iglesias.

A scene shows the Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso singing "Cucurrucucú paloma" (in Spanish) at a party.

Box office
The film grossed $9,285,469 in the United States and $41,716,081 internationally for a worldwide total of $51,001,550.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 91% based on reviews from 137 critics, and an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus states: "Another masterful, compassionate work from Pedro Almodóvar". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on reviews from 34 critics.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it four out of four, and wrote: "Combines improbable melodrama (gored bullfighters, comatose ballerinas) with subtly kinky bedside vigils and sensational denouements, and yet at the end, we are undeniably touched." A.O. Scott of the New York Times named Talk to Her "The best film of the year".

Accolades
Talk to Her was not submitted as Spain's pick for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mondays in the Sun was selected instead.

 * Wins
 * 2002 Academy Awards:
 * Best Original Screenplay - Pedro Almodóvar
 * Argentine Film Critics Association ("Silver Condor"): Best Foreign Film
 * 2003 BAFTA Awards:
 * Best Film Not in the English Language
 * Best Original Screenplay - Pedro Almodóvar
 * 2003 Bangkok International Film Festival ("Golden Kinnaree Award"): Best Film, Best Director - Pedro Almodóvar
 * Bodil Awards: Best Non-American Film
 * Bogey Awards: Bogey Award
 * Cinema Brazil Grand Prize: Best Foreign Language Film
 * Cinema Writers Circle Awards (Spain): Best Original Score - Alberto Iglesias
 * Czech Lions: Best Foreign Language Film
 * 2003 César Awards: Best European Union Film
 * European Film Awards: Best Film, Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar), Best Screenwriter - Pedro Almodóvar
 * French Syndicate of Cinema Critics: Best Foreign Film
 * 2003 Golden Globe Awards:
 * Best Foreign Language Film
 * Goya Awards (Spain): Best Original Score - Alberto Iglesias
 * Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director - Pedro Almodóvar
 * Mexican Cinema Journalists ("Silver Goddess"): Best Foreign Film
 * National Board of Review: Best Foreign Language Film
 * Russian Guild of Film Critics ("Golden Aries"): Best Foreign Film
 * Satellite Awards: Best Motion Picture: Foreign Language, Best Original Screenplay - Pedro Almodóvar
 * Sofia International Film Festival: Audience Award – Best Film
 * Spanish Actors Union: Performance in a Minor Role: Female - Mariola Fuentes
 * TIME Magazine: Best Film
 * Uruguayan Film Critics Association: Best Film (tie)
 * Vancouver Film Critics Circle: Best Foreign Film

 * Nominations
 * 2002 Academy Awards:
 * Best Director - Pedro Almodóvar
 * British Independent Film Awards: Best Foreign Film – Foreign Language
 * Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards: Best Foreign Language Film
 * Chicago Film Critics Association: Best Foreign Language Film
 * David di Donatello Awards: Best Foreign Film
 * European Film Awards: Best Actor (Javier Cámara), Best Cinematographer - Javier Aguirresarobe
 * Satellite Awards: Best Director - Pedro Almodóvar

Legacy
In 2005, Time magazine film critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel included Talk to Her in their list of the All-TIME 100 Greatest Movies. Paul Schrader placed the film at #46 on his canon of the 60 greatest films. Sight & Sound magazine included the film in its list of "30 great films of the 2000s". In a 2016 BBC poll, critics voted the film the 28th greatest since 2000.

title: Talk to Her


text: User talk:Moto Perpetuo

title: User talk:Moto Perpetuo


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Star Bars

 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. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 04:03, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Star Bars
I propose to name next BJAODN section "The Bad Jokes Strike Back"... I haven't found anything to support the existance of a "Star Bars", unless we are talking about chocolate bars. Looks like a hoax. Sarg 21:12, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Google only yields food results, so my vote's delete. Mr Bound 21:17, May 26, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, nonsense. Megan1967 05:41, 27 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and feed those responsible to the sarlacc. — Phil Welch 05:53, 28 May 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:
Cambridge Spies

Cambridge Spies is a four-part British drama miniseries written by Peter Moffat and directed by Tim Fywell, that was first broadcast on BBC Two in May 2003 and is based on the true story of four brilliant young men at the University of Cambridge who are recruited to spy for the Soviet Union in 1934.

Plot
The series is set from 1934 to 1951 and follows the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt and Donald Maclean, who whilst studying at the University of Cambridge are courted by Soviet agents and recruited into a world of covert intelligence and espionage. Fueled by youthful idealism, a passion for social justice, a talent for lying and a hatred for fascism, the four take huge personal risks to pass Britain's biggest secrets to Moscow. Across almost twenty years of spying and treachery, the four are bound by their beliefs, the secrets they know about one another, and the knowledge that they stand or fall together.

Production
Cambridge Spies was commissioned by Jane Tranter, BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning and production was announced on Cambridge Spies in August 2003. The BBC announced that it wanted the audience to be able to sympathise with the spies, whom it would portray as "incredibly glamorous". A BBC spokeswoman said it would be a "fresh" take on the story, and that it was the first time the story of the group as a whole had ever been tackled by film-makers.

Filming
Filming for Cambridge Spies began in September 2003 at locations in England and Spain. Filming took place at the University of Cambridge, where four days into filming a truck loaded with prop bicycles was stolen from outside a Cambridge hotel and emptied of its contents.

Various locations in London were used, such as One Great George Street, St. James's Park, Regent's Park, Hyde Park, Ham House; and Highgate Cemetery.

Locations in Spain were used as well with scenes set in Vienna, Austria, being filmed in Barcelona and scenes depicting the 1937 bombing of Guernica were filmed in Madrid.

Ratings
Viewing figures for the series averaged at 2 million per episode.

Critical reception
Mark Lawson from The Guardian said "Cambridge Spies is high-class drama, but historically it's best regarded as a cover story".

Appearing on Newsnight, Will Self, of the Evening Standard said "I think the historical inaccuracy is unforgivable. These are recent events. The real story is exciting and incredibly revealing of the nature of the British establishment at the time and on an enduring level. The historical liberties that have been taken, kick off from the start".

Home Media
The complete series was released on DVD on 2 June 2003.

title: Cambridge Spies


text:
User:Jeffhoy

Greetings! My name is Jeff Hoy. I have have made minor updates to several hundred articles; generally I correct grammar, spelling, and clarity (like double negatives) while reading through topics that interest me.

I am a huge fan of Wikipedia. It is one of humankind's greatest achievements - the free availability of knowledge is critical to our progress as a species. So we should all shout a big THANKS! to the founders, content authors, and supporters of this site.

title: User:Jeffhoy


text:
User talk:Isbass

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.

title: User talk:Isbass


text:
Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion

Stub types for deletion was a venue for the discussion of stub templates, stub categories, and stub redirects. It was abolished after an RfC on the talk page.

 * For the nomination instructions that formerly applied to this venue, see /About.
 * For the administrator instructions that were used, see /Administrator instructions.

Archived discussions
See Stub types for deletion/Log, or use the search box below:

title: Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion


text:
Talk:Thermographic camera

Additional Proposal to Change Article:

FLIR - Forward Looking Infrared Cameras are military infrared systems designed to look down and forward (generally from aircraft). As Such, I am removing the first reference to Flir.

http://www.militaryinfrared.com/

FLIR is also a brand name of camera, as is Fluke. These are two of the most common ones. I believe the author who wrote that FLIR cameras are essentially the same as infrared cameras has this counfusion as a result of this.

I am a Nachi-Certified Infrared Inspector and use the Fluke TI-32 for most applications. Feel free to hit me up on my talk page to ask for images. I am more than happy to either upload ones I already have, or take ones specifically for this article.

CincyBuyers (talk) 03:19, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Proposal to change article:

There is a need to clarify the difference between Thermal camera and Infrared cameras. Thermal cameras being far infrared and useful in measuring temperature differences, and near infrared being nightvision and cameras working on IR LED illumination. Perhaps a disambiguation page with a link to a near infrared article and another linking to far infrared article or perhaps a change of this article to two sections? I hesitate to make the change myself since the authors of this page obviously know more about the subject than myself but still i feel the ambiguity is too great in this article in its current form and is limiting the articles use in imparting knowlege of the subjects two distinct realms. —Preceding unsigned comment added by windkin (talk • contribs) 17:13, 26 May 2005

 * I agree completely, as a result I decided to be bold and rename the article to thermographic camera. The existing article seems to confuse near and far infrared seeing but focus mostly on far, I'll make a quick pass to remove more of the near IR stuff and it can grow from there. Gmaxwell 15:40, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Should this get mergded with FLIR?---User:Rayc
 * Yes! --Gmaxwell 07:52, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

But is there a separate article on near infrared cameras for nightvision? And isn't the link at the bottom for more information on other applications purely commercial?--shtove 21:23, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, Infrared_photography, Image_intensifier, and Night vision. Feel free to clean it up. The whole subject area is a bit messy. --Gmaxwell 22:29, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

All the infrared pages are quite a mess with a lot of miss-information and half-truths. I would recommend that firstly there must be an basic Infrared page, then all the other pages leading from that one. Here some of the basics: The infarred (IR) radiation occurs between 0.78um to 1000um (not 14um as in most pages). There is a lot of debate among scholars about the division of the IR spectrum. The most popular being accordong to sensor sensitivity: Near infrared(NIR)             0.78um - 1um Short Wavelength IR (SWIR)     1um - 3um Medium Wavelength IR (MWIR)    3um - 6um Long Wavelength IR (LWIR)      6um - 15um (also referred to alot of the time as the thermal band) Very Long Wavelength IR (VLWIR) 15um - 1000um Pranksta 09:20, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

It would be useful to have examples of how much these devices cost and where they are sold.

Dog Picture
Can we get a new picture? That one just freaks me out. Also, I'm not easily freaked out, so I can't imagine how old people feel about that satanic dog on the top of the page. 68.143.88.2 18:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I totally agree. I just came to this discussion page to post that. 99.233.49.126 (talk) 21:29, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Any furry animal with his eyes open in a thermal image will have the same spooky look. The eyes, mouth and ears are losing heat faster than the furred parts of the face. I think it is illustrative and appropriate. Rhodesh (talk) 01:51, 3 June 2009 (UTC) yes The picture should be changed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.64.67.186 (talk) 03:07, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

IR Sensor
Why IR Sensor redirects here? Most of IR Sensor are not used in cameras!M.Campos (talk) 22:34, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Thermographer training and certification
This whole section reads like an ad. Is there any reason for its inclusion? The information is only tangentially related to thermal imaging. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii (talk • contribs) 03:32, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Ghost Hunting
I made some changes to this section for factual errors and clarity. I changed "every episode of Ghost Hunters and other paranormal programs" to "Some episodes of Ghost Hunters and other paranormal programs" because the thermal camera is not used in every episode of Ghost Hunters (much less every other paranormal program ever aired, as implied). While the findings in nearly all of those episaodes cannot be proven to be anything but false positives, they also haven't been proven not to be. In the spirit of the fact that (from a strictly scientific perspective) they are likely to be false positives, I kept that language in. I also linked to the wikipedia article on false positives. --AnalogWeapon (talk) 16:35, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

This section should be removed. It has no business on a technical article about Infared detection —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.166.144.40 (talk) 06:38, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Can a normal digital camera be rebuilt into a thermographic camera?
Can a normal visible-light digital camera with a charge coupled device be modified to function as a low-cost amateur temperature sensing heat-field camera?

This question is mainly due to the fact that big-name companies like FLIR charge ridiculous sums of money for low resolution professional thermographic camera systems. Woohoo, $20,000 for a "FLIR T620" 640x480 thermographic camera:
 * http://www.google.com/search?q=FLIR+T620

I have seen several types of standard CCD camera modifications explored separately on the web. Can these be combined to achieve amateur IR thermographic imaging at low cost?

1. Give basic IR detection capability to a standard CCD camera by removing a manufactuer-installed IR filter over the CCD, and installing a visible-light filter over the lens:
 * http://www.astrosurf.com/buil/d70/ircut.htm

2. A homemade CCD chiller using dry ice, for DSLR astronomy photographs with less noise, would also improve CCD sensitivity to ambient IR. Normal CCD sensitivity keeps improving when chilled down to about -170 C before performance declines again, and dry ice sublimates at -70 C so this allows for easy amateur low-temperature regulation:
 * http://www.aznightsky.com/dryicecoldbox.htm

4. Canon cameras can be hacked and reprogrammed to do things never intended by the manufacturer, with the Canon hack development kit (CHDK). Is thermographic imaging possible just by using new programming to read the CCD differently?
 * http://chdk.wikia.com

Also, refrigeration systems mainly work by creating a temperature depression relative to ambient, and peltier coolers can easily manage about 30 C temperature difference, plus it is solid state device with no specific operating range like pressure-based refrigerants, so a peltier removing heat from a CCD, and transferring the heat to sublimating dry ice should allow amateur cooling to -100 C with not much cost.

- Dale Mahalko - DMahalko (talk) 11:49, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Flir One
I was wondering whether the Flir One could be mentioned ? It is a camera that can be fitted to a smartphone, and is very, very cheap, at least for this type of camera. See www.flir.com/flirone/

title: Talk:Thermographic camera


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Biblical Patriarch Dynasties

 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. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 04:02, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Biblical Patriarch Dynasties
Original research Jayjg (talk) 21:14, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Jayjg (talk) 21:14, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete POV original research--Doc (?) 21:33, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete because it's gibberish. IZAK 02:17, 27 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, POV original research. Megan1967 05:41, 27 May 2005 (UTC)
 * If this is derived from the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar, then merge with that article. If dates are from a different established scholarly source, merge with that article. Otherwise delete. -- Decumanus 05:44, 2005 May 27 (UTC)
 * Delete, considerable original research. The spelling is idiosyncratic, as well.  Qeynan?  That's Canaan.  Mahalel?  That's Mahalalel.  Yared?  That's Jared.  RickK 19:17, May 27, 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:
Christian Mayer (astronomer)

Christian Mayer (20 August 1719 – 16 April 1783) was a Moravian-German Catholic priest, astronomer and teacher.

Life
He was born in Mederitz, Moravia. He became educated in Greek, Latin, mathematics, philosophy, and theology, although his place of studies is unknown. In his early twenties he decided to become a Jesuit, a path which caused him to leave his home due to the disapproval of his father. He entered the Society of Jesus in Mannheim in 1745. After completing his training he began teaching humanities.

By 1752, his reputation was such that he was selected as a professor of mathematics and physics at Heidelberg. By this age, however, he had developed a strong interest in astronomy. He was appointed Court Astronomer at Mannheim, and was tasked with selecting the instruments for the new observatories at Schwetzingen and Mannheim. With these completed, he was able to pursue his astronomical studies, and published numerous works. In 1769 he was invited to St. Petersburg to observe the transit of Venus, which he did together with Anders Johan Lexell. In 1773, the Jesuit order was dissolved by Pope Clement XIV, and consequently he was removed as Court Astronomer. However he was still able to continue his astronomical observations and studies. He applied for and was granted in December 1765 a Fellowship of the Royal Society and in 1768 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

He is most noted for pioneering the study of binary stars, although his equipment was ill-suitable for distinguishing between true binaries and coincident star alignments. In 1777-78 he compiled a catalog of 80 double stars, which he published in 1781.

During his lifetime he became a member of numerous learned societies. He died in Heidelberg.

 * Pantometrum Pacechianum, seu instrumentum novum pro elicienda ex una statione distantia loci inaccessi, 1762, Mannheim.
 * Basis Palatina, 1763, Mannheim.
 * Expositio de transitu Veneris, 1769, St. Petersburg.
 * Nouvelle méthode pour lever en peu de temps et à peu de frais une carte générale et exacte de toute la Russie, 1770, St. Petersburg.
 * Gründliche Vertheidigung neuer Beobachtungen von Fixsterntrabanten welche zu Mannheim auf der kurfürstl. Sternwarte endecket worden sind, 1778, Mannheim.
 * De novis in coelo sidereo phaenomenis in miris stellarum fixarum comitibus, 1779, Mannheim

Honors

 * The crater C. Mayer on the Moon is named after him.

title: Christian Mayer (astronomer)


text: User talk:193.219.28.149

title: User talk:193.219.28.149


text:
Triple play (disambiguation)

A triple play is a baseball play in which three outs are made as a result of continuous action without any intervening errors or pitches between outs.

Triple play may also refer to:

 * Triple play (telecommunications), the grouping of Internet access, TV and telephone service
 * Triple play, a group of methods for distributing Mobile digital TV
 * Triple Play (FIRST), a game for the 2005 FIRST Robotics competition
 * Triple Play, a 1974 film by Ray Dennis Steckler
 * Triple Play, a 1997 book by Elizabeth Gunn
 * A kind of multi-play video poker
 * A thin type of magnetic tape
 * Triple Play series, a baseball video game series by EA Sports
 * Triple Play, a pricing game played for 3 cars on The Price Is Right
 * Triple Play, a game show sketch on PBS' Square One Television
 * A Triple Play (optical discs), which provides the buyer with three formats of the movie or TV show they have purchased
 * Triple Play (film), a 2004 American film starring Zac Efron
 * Triple Play (Johnny Hodges album), 1967
 * Triple Play (Lucky Peterson album), 1990
 * Triple Play (Martin Pizzarelli album)

title: Triple play (disambiguation)


text:
User:Ventolin

I am a graduate of Computational Linguistics and German from Ireland, now working in German-speaking areas of Europe as a Software Engineer. My contributions to Wikipedia are, for the most part, very minor corrections.

My personal website is ventolin.org

My name, ventolin, refers to a song by the music maker Richard D James (Aphex Twin) from his album I Care Because You Do. The songname itself is a reference to a drug used in asthma inhalers.

That's all for now.

title: User:Ventolin


text: User talk:136.145.54.123

title: User talk:136.145.54.123


text:
Donovan Swailes

Donovan Swailes (August 12, 1892 – December 10, 1984) was a Canadian politician and musician in Manitoba. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation from 1945 to 1959.

Swailes was born and raised in Leeds, England, and worked in the textile industry. His father was a coal miner, who later worked in a woollen mill. His mother was active in the Salvation Army and the suffragette movement, and served time in prison for smashing windows in a London department store during a demonstration. The younger Swailes played the trombone for the Salvation Army and took courses from the University of Leeds. During World War I, he worked as a musician at the Opera House in Cork, Ireland, and later for the Australian Navy. After the war, he toured New Zealand with a professional band.

He moved to Canada in 1920, and became involved in the country's labour and social-democratic movements. He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1925, and later became the first president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour. In 1943, he represented Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council at the Convention of the American Federation of Labour. In the same year, he was elected secretary-treasurer of the Manitoba CCF. He served on the board of directors of the Winnipeg Musicians Union, the Executive Committee of Family Bureau, and the Advisory Board of the Manitoba Department of Education.

Originally a farmer after moving to Canada, Swailes later became a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Hugh Ross and Bernard Naylor. He became Secretary of the Musicians' Union in 1934.

He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1945, for the Winnipeg constituency. At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members by a single transferable ballot. Swailes finished thirteenth on the first count, but was declared elected to the seventh position on the thirteenth count following transfers from other CCF candidates. Swailes was an important organizer for the CCF in this campaign, working with David Lewis and Lloyd Stinson.

Winnipeg's electoral map was redrawn for the 1949 provincial election. Swailes ran for re-election in the Winnipeg Centre constituency, which elected four members via a single transferable ballot. He finished in second place, and was declared elected on the first count. In the 1953 election, he was re-elected at the top of the poll.

Swailes ran for Mayor of Winnipeg in 1948 losing to Garnet Coulter. He ran again in 1952, but finished third against Coulter and Stephen Juba.

Winnipeg abandoned multi-member constituencies for the 1958 provincial election and Swailes was re-elected in the constituency of Assiniboia, defeated Progressive Conservative George William Johnson by 131 votes. Assiniboia was a marginal seat, and Swailes had little assistance from party headquarters in this campaign. He was defeated in the 1959 election, losing to Johnson by 217 votes.

Swailes was elected to the Winnipeg city council later in 1959, and served for over a decade. He attempted a comeback at the provincial level in the 1962 provincial election, running in Winnipeg Centre as a candidate of the New Democratic Party (which replaced the CCF in 1961). He finished a surprisingly poor third against Progressive Conservative James Cowan, but was re-elected in the third ward of Winnipeg's City Council in 1963.

Former CCF leader Lloyd Stinson once described Swailes as "the hardest worker on the opposition side". He was active in many issues, and often criticized the Douglas Campbell administration for its conservatism.

He died in Victoria, British Columbia at the age of 92.

Swailes's brother, Robert Swailes, was a parliamentarian in British Columbia.

title: Donovan Swailes


text:
Hammerhead Networks

Hammerhead Networks was a computer networking company based in Billerica, Massachusetts.

It produced software solutions for the delivery of Internet Protocol service features.

History
It was founded in April 2000 by Eddie Sullivan, who also served as its CEO.

It was acquired by Cisco Systems on May 1, 2002, in a stock transaction worth up to US$173M. Cisco had previously owned a minority interest. It had 85 employees at the time of the acquisition.

title: Hammerhead Networks


text:
User talk:Darin

Hello. Could you add the various articles on statistics that you've created to the list of statistical topics? I've taken care of Wald test and score test, but I surmise that there may be others. Michael Hardy 21:16, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

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 Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Homeschooling project
Hello, My name Master Scott Hall (you can call me Scott). I am relatively new contributing to Wikipedia, though I have been a user of it for some time. I am currently soliciting for interest in a Wikiproject that I have proposed on the subject of homeschooling. Before finding Wikipedia, my wife and I were seriously considering, but not quite convinced, to home educate our children.

After discovering the depth, scope, and long-term goals of Wikipedia, as well as the individuals driving it, I am convinced that WP has the potential to revolutionize homeschooling. I am also convinced that home education is the right choice for my family. I have, however, been somewhat discouraged by the oversight of home education in most of the education related projects on WP. There are many potential reasons for this discrepency, but I have resolved to try to do something about it.

Although I personally have very limited experience in building complex Wikiprojects, -templates, -portals, etc., I am confident that the right team can be assembled to tackle these issues. I would like to invite you to join this effort to make Wikipedia the resource for the home education of our children. If you are interested, please visits the temporary project page I have set up. Thank you --Master Scott Hall 00:11, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Update: The proposed project on Homeschooling was met with a very positive response. As a result, the project has been ugraded to an official WikiProject and can be found at WikiProject Alternative education. We have several experienced Wikipedians on board, as well as some new faces. We still need contributors with backgrounds in education, education theory and philosophy, and specific alternative education methods, such as homeschooling, charter schools, and E-learning from both teacher and student perspectives. There is also a lack of quality resources regarding anti-alternative education issues. If are interested in contributing or just have an interest, please visit the project page, or if you prefer, ask us a question. Thank you again, Master Scott Hall 18:46, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Toolserveraccount
Hello Darin, please send your real-name, your prefered login-name and the public part of your ssh-key to. We plan to create your account soon then. --DaB.

source
Hi Darin,

I have found the article you have stared Risk_function - may I ask you for the source of the formula provided.

Thank you in advance.

Regards, Aretai —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aretai (talk • contribs) 16:52, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

source too
Hi Darin,

I have found the article you have stared Inverse-chi-squared distribution distribution and I'd like to know the source from with you got the Characteristic Function Formula. Would you mind to post it here, please?

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

Juan

title: User talk:Darin


text:
Eisenstein's theorem

In mathematics, Eisenstein's theorem, named after the German mathematician Gotthold Eisenstein, applies to the coefficients of any power series which is an algebraic function with rational number coefficients. Through the theorem, it is readily demonstrable, for example, that the exponential function must be a transcendental function.

Theorem
Suppose that

 * $$\sum_{}^{} a_n t^n$$

is a formal power series with rational coefficients an, which has a non-zero radius of convergence in the complex plane, and within it represents an analytic function that is in fact an algebraic function. Then Eisenstein's theorem states that there exists a non-zero integer A, such that Anan are all integers.

This has an interpretation in terms of p-adic numbers: with an appropriate extension of the idea, the p-adic radius of convergence of the series is at least 1, for almost all p (i.e., the primes outside a finite set S). In fact that statement is a little weaker, in that it disregards any initial partial sum of the series, in a way that may vary according to p. For the other primes the radius is non-zero.

History
Eisenstein's original paper is the short communication Über eine allgemeine Eigenschaft der Reihen-Entwicklungen aller algebraischen Funktionen (1852), reproduced in Mathematische Gesammelte Werke, Band II, Chelsea Publishing Co., New York, 1975, p. 765–767.

More recently, many authors have investigated precise and effective bounds quantifying the above almost all. See, e.g., Sections 11.4 and 11.55 of the book by E. Bombieri & W. Gubler.

title: Eisenstein's theorem


text: User talk:Realbro

title: User talk:Realbro


text:
User talk:Dzou

Licensing info
Can you please add licensing and source information to ?

If you took this photo, I encourage you to release it under the GFDL or one of the GFDL-compatible Creative Commons licenses, which will allow it to be used freely just like the text of Wikipedia. See Image copyright tags for more information.

If you do not add any licensing or source info, the image may tagged as a Possible Unfree Image and subsequently deleted.

-Fadookie 10:16, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Yup, I took the picture. It has been GFDL'ed. Sorry about not doing that before.

--dzou 07:08, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks a lot!
 * Don't worry, not everyone knows about Wikipedia's policy on images. I think the upload form has been changed to clarify it.
 * -Fadookie Talk 08:59, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:51, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Dzou


text:
Envision

Envision may refer to:

Organizations

 * Envision EMI, a management company  based in Virginia, USA
 * Envision Energy, a wind turbine manufacturer and energy technology company based in Shanghai, China
 * Envision Financial, a financial institution based in British Columbia, Canada
 * Envision Healthcare, a hospital company based in the United States
 * Envision Racing, a racing team that competes in Formula E
 * Envision Schools, a school management organization based in San Francisco, USA
 * Envision, Inc., a not-for-profit based in Wichita, Kansas, USA

Vehicles

 * Buick Envision, crossover vehicle
 * EnVision, a Venus orbiter in development

Other

 * Olivetti Envision, an Italian multimedia device
 * Envision (song), by the band Theatre of Tragedy

title: Envision


text:
User:Dimimimon5

A blocked user, Dimimimon4, continues editing under this account. -Hapsiainen 21:19, May 26, 2005 (UTC)

title: User:Dimimimon5


text:
Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective

Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective is a video game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld console. Based on the manga and anime series YuYu Hakusho created by Yoshihiro Togashi, the plot follows the central character Yusuke Urameshi, a street-brawling, often truant teenager who dies trying to save a young boy's life. After meeting an incarnation of the Grim Reaper, Yusuke is given a second chance at life as a "Spirit Detective", a protector of the living world.

Spirit Detective is an action-adventure game that retells the various events of the anime's story arc of the same name. The player takes control of one of six characters from the series and must complete various objectives from collecting items and completing mazes to battling enemies and occasional bosses. Spirit Detective was co-developed by Sensory Sweep Studios and Screaming Games as part of a western region publishing deal from Atari. Spirit Detective is the first Yu Yu Hakusho game that never saw a release in Japan.

Critical reception for Spirit Detective has been mostly unfavorable. While separate reviewers had their own qualms about the game, nearly all complained of monotonous gameplay and boring visuals.

Plot and gameplay
Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective is based on the manga and anime series YuYu Hakusho by author Yoshihiro Togashi. The plot follows Yusuke Urameshi, a 14-year-old with a bad attitude and a tendency for truancy and street fighting. One day, Yusuke spots a child playing with a ball in the street, the protagonist pushes the child out of the way of a speeding car, only to be struck and killed himself. Yusuke's ghost is suddenly greeted by Botan, a cute girl who introduces herself as the Grim Reaper. She informs Yusuke that, due to his noble actions, he will be given a second chance at life as a "Spirit Detective", an investigator of cases involving apparitions and demons on Earth. Spirit Detective retells events from the anime's initial story arc of the same name, consisting of the show's first 25 episodes.

Spirit Detective is an action-adventure game in which the player must complete various storyline scenarios using one of six characters at any given time. The player is able to move freely within the game's maze-like environments and is guided to specific objectives using a compass, located at the top of the screen. Objectives include picking up items or engaging in battle with foes. Combat consists of hand-to-hand or melee attacks, as well as special spirit abilities unique to four of the protagonists (Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei). The player's health, spirit energy, and experience are represented by gauges. Items that refill health and spirit energy may be found strewn throughout many of the levels. Defeating enemies will reveal orbs that can be collected for experience. If enough of them are picked up, the character's health, spirit energy, and strength will increase. Although most levels require the use of one particular character, later levels allow the player to switch among the four aforementioned heroes.

Development
Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective was developed by the US company Sensory Sweep Studios in association with Screaming Games. Before its development, a multitude of licensed video games based on Yu Yu Hakusho were released in Japan during the anime television series' original airing. The anime began its broadcast in North America in 2002, gaining popularity on the afternoon Cartoon Network block Toonami. In June 2003, the gaming company Atari and Funimation Entertainment, the English licensor for the YuYu Hakusho anime, established a publishing agreement for video games in western regions. Spirit Detective for the GBA is the first Yu Yu Hakusho game title in this deal. The two companies had found previous success with another Funimation license, Dragon Ball Z.

Spirit Detective is Sensory Sweep's first published game. According to the company's Devon Hargraves, a team of 15 individuals took about five months to develop Spirit Detective. Although were not given a lot of time to adjust their engine, the team attempted to include all aspects of the Spirit Detective saga. Hargraves acted as a "jack-of-a-trades" designer for the game, working on the design documentation, giving game ideas and feedback, designing levels, and writing part of the script. Screaming Games had a more indirect involvement with the game's development by helping Sensory Sweep and Atari "line up" and "flesh out the project and all of the documentation". Spirit Detective was officially announced by Atari in August 2003. The game was released in North America on December 9, 2003 and in Europe on April 1, 2005. Spirit Detective was later released in a double-pack with Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu in North America on November 3, 2006.

Reception
The game received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. One universal complaint about the game was the very repetitive and thus unenjoyable nature of the gameplay. Adam Tierney of IGN lambasted the combat with enemy AI, the required use of the compass in the maze-like levels, and the discouragement of exploration. Eduardo Zacarias of GameZone found that the battles become "more of a nuisance rather than an entertaining challenge"; he did credit the developer's attempt at variety with the unique objectives in each stage. Nintendo World Report writer Michael Cole chose Spirit Detective among the worst games he has played, noting poor collision detection, significant lag when using special attacks, and virtually no challenge in its battles or collection missions. Cole was satisfied with the integration of episode plot devices into the levels and the inclusion of minigames.

Most critics disapproved of the graphics in Spirit Detective, while opinions about other aspects of the presentation have been largely mixed. Tierney called the backgrounds "dull" and "bland", the looping music "weak", and static menus "bland", but did take pleasure in the pre-rendered models and the clever text used in the storyline adaptation. Contrarily, Cole thought the plot "flows like a low-budget clip show", requiring the player to be familiar with the anime and allegedly neither introducing characters and situations in a proper fashion nor including all portions of the story arc. Like Tierney, Zacarias was unmoved by the graphics and accompanying music, but was impressed by the fighting animation and sound effects. Cole described the use of official in-game artwork as a plus, but remarked the audio as "horrible".

Despite the game's poor critical reception, Atari's North American division reported satisfying financial results for its third quarter of 2003, naming Spirit Detective as one of the contributing titles. Sensory Sweep Studios and Screaming Games collaborated once more for the release of Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics for the GBA in 2004.

title: Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective


text:
Death of a Princess

Death of a Princess is a British 1980 drama-documentary produced by ATV in cooperation with WGBH in the United States. The drama is based on the true story of Princess Mishaal, a young Saudi Arabian princess and her lover who had been publicly executed for adultery. Its depiction of the customs of Saudi Arabia led some Middle Eastern governments to oppose its broadcast under threat of damaging trade relations.

Form
The film was based on numerous interviews by journalist Antony Thomas, who, upon first hearing the story, grew passionately curious about its veracity, soon drawing upon contacts in the Arab world for their insights and opinions. Because of the candid and sometimes critical nature of the interviews, Thomas and ATV executives decided not to make the film as a straight documentary but instead to dramatise it with actors.

Thomas was played by Paul Freeman under the name "Christopher Ryder". The identities of the interviewees were obscured, and the actors chosen to replace them were based only loosely on their subjects. The character of Elsa Gruber, played by Judy Parfitt, was based on Rosemarie Buschow, a German woman who had worked for the Saudi Royal Family as a nanny.

There was only one exception, an Arab family who played themselves. The fictitious nation in which the drama was set was called "Arabia", which some viewers took to mean Saudi Arabia. The name of the princess was never said.

Death of a Princess depicts Thomas' focus on "the Princess", as her story became his vehicle through which important facets of Islamic culture in Saudi Arabia were revealed, including traditions and customs as well as gender roles and sexuality. Thomas later explained that he had only reconstructed scenes where he was confident that they did happen, although he included film of interviewees telling him information which he did not believe.

Controversy
A critically acclaimed film shown on ITV in the United Kingdom on 9 April 1980, it provoked an angry response from the Saudi government. While resisting pressure not to show the film, ATV agreed to include an introductory comment that said:

"The programme you are about to see is a dramatized reconstruction of certain events which took place in the Arab world between 1976 and 1978. We have been asked to point out that equality for all before the law is regarded as paramount in the Moslem world."

The British ambassador to Riyadh, James Craig, was asked to leave the country, while restrictions were placed on the issuing of visas to British businessmen. Saudi Arabia, along with Lebanon, banned British Airways' Concorde from its airspace, making its flights between London and Singapore unprofitable. While the Saudi response had initially driven a UK press reaction against the attempted censorship, when export orders began to be cancelled, the press began to question whether it had been right to show the film. British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington found the film "deeply offensive", he "wished it had never been shown", but "to ban a film because we do not like it or even because it hurts our friends" was not an option for the country's government. Similarly, the US government received enormous political pressure from Saudi Arabia to censor its broadcast. On 8 May 1980, Mobil Oil placed an advertisement in The New York Times and other newspapers condemning the film, which it described as "a new fairy tale". It quoted a letter to the New Statesman by Penelope Mortimer, who had worked with Thomas on the film:

"With the exception of Barry Millner, who had already sold his story to the Daily Express, Rosemary [sic] Buschow, and the Palestinian family in Beirut, every interview and every character in the film is fabricated. The 'revelation' of the domestic lives of the Saudi princesses—man-hunting in the desert, rendezvous in boutiques—was taken entirely on the evidence of an expatriate divorcée, as was the story of the princess first seeing her lover on Saudi television. No real effort was made to check up on such information. Rumour and opinion somehow came to be presented as fact... the audience, foolishly believing it to be authentic, is conned."

While Buschow had advised Thomas on the making of the film, she later told the Associated Press that it should not have been made, adding that "it achieved nothing but discord... every family has a black sheep, and this is a large family of around 5,000 people".

After some stalling, it was eventually broadcast by the PBS programme World in most of the US on 12 May 1980, with only 16 out of 200 PBS stations choosing not do so. In one example, South Carolina Educational Television canceled the broadcast of the film across its network, a decision influenced by fact that the then-U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, John C. West, had formerly been the state's Governor. Among the other PBS stations chose not to air the film were KUHT in Houston, Texas, KLCS in Los Angeles, California, & Alabama Public Television Network In the Netherlands, NOS showed the programme, with the broadcaster claiming that there had been "no controversy about it here" and that it had not been contacted by the Saudi Government. This was despite an earlier demonstration by Muslims outside the NOS building in Hilversum. However, in Sweden, the rights were bought, at a premium, by a video company, Scanvideo, which decided that the economy "would suffer great harm if it were shown, and decided that it must not be shown". By contrast, the film was shown in neighbouring Norway by public broadcaster NRK.

In Australia, the programme was shown on the Seven Network, although the acting Prime Minister, Doug Anthony, asked the channel not to show it, as it might jeopardise trade deals with Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. He denounced the film as "grossly offensive to the Saudi Arabian Royal Family and government". The Cattlemen's Union of Australia also campaigned against the film being shown, with its executive director arguing that it was "stupid to risk future trade relations, job opportunities and export income for a brief period of sick entertainment". After the screening of the programme, Australian businesses reported delays in obtaining visas for Saudi Arabia as a result.

As a result of playing the role of the Princess, Egyptian actress Suzanne Abou Taleb, according to People magazine, "was put on a blacklist by Egyptian TV, film and theatre producers, who are dependent on Saudi petrodollars". The measure had exactly the opposite of its intended effect, increasing her public prominence and she became one of the most popular actresses in Egypt, under the name Sawsan Badr. Paul Freeman's performance as Christopher Ryder was seen by Steven Spielberg, who noted his piercing eyes; this observation led to his casting as René Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In a retrospective interview for the Frontline rebroadcast, Thomas described his reasons for making the film:

"I set off to investigate this story with the idea of doing it as a drama, and gradually I realized that something completely different was developing. Where I traveled through the Arab world, the story was celebrated. Everyone had their own version of that story, all very, very different. ... Whoever I spoke to—whether they were Palestinians, whether they were conservative Saudis, whether they were radicals—they attached themselves to this princess. She'd become a myth. And they identified with her, and they kind of co-opted her to their cause. People were discussing things with me about their private lives, about their sexual feelings, about their political frustrations, that they'd never discussed with me before. ...Somehow this princess was sort of like a catalyst. And after thinking about it seriously, I thought, my gosh, this is perhaps an even more interesting story to tell."

In Edward Said's book Covering Islam, he discusses the release of Death of Princess and the Saudi response. He argues that although the Saudis opposed the showing of the film and used their money to try and coerce PBS from televising it, they lacked the cultural capital that the West had over representation of Muslims in the media. The Saudis opposed it for its implications of Saudi royal family corruption, but also because it only reinforced images of Sharia law that Westerners understand; punishment.

The film has never been broadcast again in the UK, although there was a private screening at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2009. It was re-broadcast in the US by Frontline in April 2005, for its 25th anniversary. This was under limited terms described in its original contract, meaning that because of copyright and issues with royalties, it is not available for Internet viewing through PBS.

In popular culture

 * Not the Nine O'Clock News made a spoof apology to the Saudis on their television series which was the first track on their eponymous 1980 album.
 * The BBC comedy The Young Ones referred to the diplomatic crisis when a character dressed as an Arab sheikh told an aide that he wished to see the British ambassador. The aide replied "Certainly your Highness. Which piece would you like to see first?".
 * A 1982 Yes Minister episode ("The Moral Dimension") refers to a diplomatic incident as "the greatest crisis since Death of a Princess".

title: Death of a Princess