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Armand Barbès

Armand Barbès (18 September 1809 – 26 June 1870) was a French Republican revolutionary and an opponent of the July Monarchy (1830–1848).

He is remembered as a man whose life centers on two days:

 * 12 May 1839, the day of the uprising the Republicans tried to overthrow the king, Louis Philippe. His ill-considered actions on this day led to a sentence of life imprisonment; he was, however, released by the revolution of 1848; and
 * 15 May 1848, the day when demonstrators invaded the Assemblée Nationale, where Barbès had been serving as a deputy for about three weeks. The demonstrators' apparent aim was to urge the government to exercise whatever influence it could to support Poland's liberation. Things got out of hand, however, and Barbès got caught up in what was perceived as a coup d'état through the imposition of a provisional government.

Barbès was again imprisoned, but he was pardoned by Napoleon III in 1854. He fled into exile in the Netherlands, where he died on 26 June 1870, only weeks before the end of the Second Empire in France.

He was nicknamed the Bayard of Democracy, presumably in honor of the chevalier Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1476–1524). He was called the "scourge of the establishment" by Karl Marx.

Youth
Barbès was born into a middle-class family in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. His father, an army surgeon from Carcassonne in the département of Aude, was born in Capendu, also in Aude. He was a veteran of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Posted to Guadeloupe in 1801, he remained there until the fall of the First Empire in 1814.

In 1828, he moved to Paris, joined the Republican party, and started to study Law. His parents died that year, leaving him a hefty inheritance. He was chosen to lead the local battalion of the National Guard during the 1830 revolution. The elder Barbès financed the battalion out of his own pocket.

In 1834, his membership in a Jacobin-leaning organization, the Société des Droits de l'Homme (Society for the Rights of Man), led to his first arrest. Released in early 1835, he served as a lawyer for 164 defendants indicted for republican insurgency during 1834, and, in July 1835, he assisted twenty-eight of them to escape from Sainte-Pelagie prison in Paris, an institution reserved for political troublemakers.

In 1834, the Society for the Rights of Man, at about the time of Barbès's arrest, was dismantled by the police. He responded by founding the short-lived Society of Avengers, which was followed, the next year, by the League of Families, the organization for which Barbès composed the oath of membership, a must for all aspiring conspirators. This began his long and tumultuous "collaboration" with Louis Auguste Blanqui. On 10 March 1836, Barbès and Blanqui were arrested by the police while loading ammunition in the apartment they shared in Paris. Barbès, sentenced to one-year imprisonment, was pardoned in 1837, and he spent several months, after his pardon, with his family in Carcassonne. There, he devised plans for a new secret society and wrote the brochure that will remain his only contribution to revolutionary literature, "A Few Words to Those who Sympathize with Workers without Work".

When he returned to Paris in 1838, he joined with Blanqui and Martin Bernard (politician) to form yet another republican secret society, the very proletarian Society of Seasons.

The Society of Seasons
The Society of Seasons was organized on the principle of a hierarchy of cells. A "week" was a group of six men and a leader. Four "weeks" made a "month" of twenty-eight "days" (actually, twenty-eight initiates, plus a leader.) Three months constituted a "season", and four "seasons" made a "year". At its height, the Society comprised more than three "years".

The founding of the Society of Seasons led directly to the Barbès-led insurrection of 12 May 1839. At this time, Barbès, Blanqui, and Martin were three Republicans cut from the same cloth. They were of the same generation, with the same youthful commitment to revolutionary struggle, and shared a common experience of oppression, trials, and imprisonment. Then, their paths diverged.

The 1839 coup
On 12 May 1839, the Society of Seasons and its approximately nine hundred members felt strong enough to attempt a coup d'état in Paris. Four hundred insurgents managed to seize the National Assembly, the city hall, and the Palace of Justice, but they were unable to maintain their grip for more than a few hours because of a lack of numbers and weapons. Following the failure of this insurrection, Barbès was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to 'life imprisonment' mainly due to the intervention of Victor Hugo. Also, these events led to a divorce between Barbès and Blanqui, which became a severe impediment to the extreme left during the revolution of 1848 and later in the century.

Barbès was sent to Mont-Saint-Michel on 17 July 1839 with three other convicts, including Martin Bernard, who left a detailed account of their time in prison. (Blanqui and five other insurgents joined them on 6 February 1840.)

Upon their arrival, the inmates fought against the rigors of solitary confinement by maintaining a continuous din from the windows, up the chimneys, and through the walls. After repeated trials, Barbès, Bernard, and an old comrade, Delsade, managed to open the doors of their cells to meet. Discovered in April 1841, they were punished by imprisonment in the "loges" section of the prison, in view of the warder on duty. The prison administration then equipped their cells with double gates to prevent them from approaching the cross in what, after all, had been an abbey before its conversion to a high-security prison at the time of the French Revolution.

On the nights of 10 and 11 February 1842, Barbès, Blanqui, and others attempted to escape in fog using a rope made of knotted sheets. Barbès was the first over the wall, but he was injured in the fall, which doomed the escape attempt. All of them were confined again in their cells. Shortly after that, Barbès contracted what he called consumption (tuberculosis), probably, in fact, persistent bronchitis brought on by the cold and damp of Mont-Saint-Michel.

Barbès and Blanqui
Blanqui, the prime mover of the 1839 coup, seems to have believed that Barbès, who had been away from revolutionary activities for a short while, lacked resolve, that he was exhausted from repeated discouragements, and that this attitude in Barbès disheartened his fellow insurgents, leading to a failure of the coup.

When he was released from prison in 1848, Barbès seemed to have regained his enthusiasm, and he rallied the revolutionary left in a more moderate and pragmatic direction to oppose Blanqui. Guided by Alphonse de Lamartine, he formed the Club of the Revolution to counteract Blanqui's Central Insurrection Society, an organization prudently renamed the Central Republican Society.

Owing to his previous brief military experience in the Aude, Barbès was appointed colonel of the National Guard of the Twelfth District, and, ironically, he led his troops, on 16 April 1848, against a workers' demonstration led by Louis Blanc and Blanqui. Workers had demanded a more active social program and especially the postponement of the imminent elections to the constituent National Assembly. The protesters foresaw that the government had no time to "educate" the provincials, so the new Assembly would be dominated by Parisian conservatives and reactionaries.

A month earlier, in March 1848, the hostility between Barbès and Blanqui had erupted with the publication in the mainstream press of the so-called document Taschereau, said to be derived from police records. This document purportedly proved that Blanqui had betrayed his fellow conspirators during the 1839 coup. A goodly number of historians now consider it highly likely that this document was "a false broadcast, in the form of leaks by the government" to destabilize and undermine. If so, it worked. Barbès apparently believed in the authenticity of this document, and this caused "terrible divisions" among those of the left, divisions still present at the end of the century.

The two men, who had become distrustful of one another, ended up hating each other with the same passion that had fueled their early revolutionary collaboration. Nonetheless, both are major figures in the Republican pantheon, where they both enjoy a reputation as uncompromising revolutionaries, never diminished by the inevitable compromises necessitated by the exercise of power. Barbès, perhaps more thoughtful than his colleague, was fascinated by Blanqui, who was romantic, brave, but prone to impulses. Beyond this fascination, Barbès hoped to channel the might of the volcanic Blanqui, but, he was, many suppose, secretly afraid of Blanqui's capacity for unreason and violence.

The treason of Barbès
Released from prison in 1848, Barbès seemed to his contemporaries to be obsessed with thwarting Blanqui. Elected to the Constituent Assembly of 23 April 1848, Barbès, at the extreme left of the chamber, represented his native department of Aude. His parliamentary career was brief, however, since, on 15 May, demonstrators invaded the Assembly, under the pretext of presenting a petition urging the government to become more involved in the liberation of Poland. Barbès, initially opposed the demonstration, and he tried to disperse the crowd, but he seemed to lose his head when he saw Auguste Blanqui in the assembly chamber.

In an effort to seize the demonstration as a tool to bludgeon his enemy, he sparked a riot in front of the city hall, where a new, and more radical, republic was proclaimed. The insurgency was 'deflated' by itself when National Guard arrived to stop Barbès. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in April 1849 by the High Court of Justice, after he was found guilty of two major charges, an attack that aimed to overthrow the government, and incitement to civil war.

Later, Karl Marx wrote in Class Struggles in France: "On 12 May [1848, the proletariat] sought unsuccessfully to regain its revolutionary influence, but only managed to deliver to the bourgeoisie's jailers their most energetic leaders." Modern historians have been even less kind: George Duveau, the historian, described the event as a "tragic and absurd farce which had, from the beginning, no prospect of success."

Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1849, Barbès was released by Napoleon III in 1854. However, he never returned to France. He had spent all but a few weeks of the previous fifteen years in confinement as a political prisoner. He realized that returning to French society would only tempt him to further political involvement, so he withdrew into voluntary exile at the Hague, where he died on 26 June 1870, aged 60.

He is buried in the private domain of Fourtou at Villalier, Aude.

French bibliography

 * "'Quelques mots à ceux qui possèdent en faveur des Prolétaires sans travail."' Barbès Carcassonne, 1837
 * Karl Marx, « Luttes de classe en France », s.d.
 * B.M. de Saint-Étienne, Correspondance de Martin Bernard. s.d.
 * Tchernoff, I. Républicain sous la monarchie de juillet (Paris, 1905) par M. Le parti.
 * Wasserman, Suzanne. Clubs de Barbès et de Blanqui en 1848, Les... (Paris)
 * " Deux jours de condamnation à mort ", par Armand Barbès, 1re édition Bry ainé Paris 1848,2e Edition Pellet Paris 1849,3e Edition Pagnerre Paris 1870, 4e Edition Boulanger Paris 1893, 5e Edition l'Atelier du Gué Villelongue d'Aude 2005.
 * “Dictionary of France from the 1815 Restoration to the Second Empire”, dirigé par Edgar Leon Newman, New York, Greenwood Press, 1987.
 * Georges Clemenceau, Une jeunesse républicaine’’ Paris, s.d.
 * "Barbès et les hommes de 1848", colloque de Carcassonne organisé en nov. 1998 par l’association Les Audois, les Archives départementales de l’Aude et l’Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, sous la direction de Sylvie Caucanas et Rémy Cazals.
 * À l'occasion de l'exposition "Barbès – 1848" (nov. 1998-fév 1999) à Carcassonne (Maison des Mémoires), un catalogue a été édité : Armand Barbès et la Révolution de 1848, par Sylvie Caucanas et Marie-Noëlle Maynard, Carcassonne, Musée des Beaux-Arts et Archives départementales de l’Aude, 79 p.
 * Le Journal, 27 nov. 1896 (cité par Jean-Baptiste Duroselle : Clémenceau, Paris, Fayard, 1988, p. 51).
 * Armand Barbès (1809–70), 3 vol. par Jean-François Jeanjean. (Paris et Carcassonne, 1909–52).
 * "Armand Barbès, un révolutionnaire romantique" par Roger Merle, Privat, 1977.

title: Armand Barbès


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Wikipedia talk:Wikimediation/Ed Poor

Guys, without prejudice to the issue, please don't use terms like desysop or ban in this context. Snowy, you were still an Administrator for the entire (3 hour?) period during which I unilaterally suspended your ability to exercise sysop rights. William, you were still a member in good standing of Wikipedia during the (what was it? 10 minutes?) period during which I blocked you from editing pages. Call it a "suspension" maybe, but nobody ever took it as a "removal from your position" or as an "exile from the community".

Even if I may have been wrong to suspend your power, I had neither the ability nor the intent to change your standing in the Wikipedia community. In both cases, it was just a wake up call, the electronic equivalent of giving your shoulder a little shake. "Hold on, there, fella, do you realize what you're doing?"

(I've expended a lot of effort to preserve, defend, and improve Wikipedia - because I care about the safe settlement of the world's knowledge. A wheel war between sysops would be disastrous for a serious, scholarly project. Adminstrators must not fight with each other. Nothing could make users lose confidence in the integrity of the project faster than that.

(And whatever my shifting opinion is of Dr. Connolley's scientific knowledge, providing him with anything less than a full welcome hurts the project more than any supposed "balancing" of my (correct) ideas and his (incorrect) ideas - even supposing for sake of argument that I'm "right" about GWT. The point is, to use Wikipedia as a neutral expositor of the points of view. I think even Dragon's Flight would agree. And that's why I have amended or clarified my remarks so many times. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of other scientists are watching how we treat Dr. C.) Uncle Ed 11:25, July 13, 2005 (UTC)

 * Fair enough. I'll rephrase the section. Snowspinner 13:21, July 13, 2005 (UTC)

 * Ditto; it was a 1h block, not a ban: I've corrected myself. But I maintain what I said about psuedoscience... and thats not even part of the Climate Wars! William M. Connolley 16:55:41, 2005-07-13 (UTC).

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

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Talk:Big Dada

External links modified
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title: Talk:Big Dada


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Regiment Infanterie Oranje Gelderland

The Regiment Infanterie Oranje Gelderland is a mechanized infantry regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army. Re-established in 2006 it forms the mechanized infantry battalion 45 Painfbat RIOG. It operates the newly acquired CV90 Infantry fighting vehicle.

title: Regiment Infanterie Oranje Gelderland


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Brian Keith Jones

Brian Keith Jones (born 1947), formerly known as Brendan John Megson and Whispen, is an Australian sex offender who was convicted of the abduction and sexual assault of six male children between 1979 and 1980. Jones was given the nickname Mr Baldy for shaving his victims' hair and dressing them in female clothing during the attacks.

Criminal background
He pleaded guilty to 17 charges, including six of indecent assault on a male under 16, six of abduction, two of burglary and two of theft. He was sentenced to 14 years jail with a non-parole period of 12 years. After remissions of one-third, he was paroled in 1989 and he raped a nine-year-old-boy and sexually abused the victim's six-year-old brother within weeks. He was convicted of aggravated rape, sexual penetration of a child under 10 and three counts of indecent assault, and was sentenced in 1992 to 14 years imprisonment with a non parole period of 12 years to be served cumulatively with the balance of parole that he breached.

Under the terms of the sentence, Jones was eligible for parole in August 2003, and was eventually released from HM Prison Ararat in July 2005 with the strictest parole conditions ever given to a Victorian prisoner. The extended supervision order imposed 23 conditions, restricting his movements and contact with other people, and was to wear an electronic anklet to allow monitoring 24 hours a day. Jones was first settled in an undisclosed residential area, later revealed to be in the area, causing public outcry over his placement near schools and playgrounds. After a vigil by protesters outside the house, Jones was moved from this address to a cottage within the perimeter of HM Prison Ararat.

On 7 August 2005, talk radio show host Derryn Hinch revealed Jones' living arrangements on air; Hinch's comments caused controversy in the Melbourne suburb of Frankston, where residents attacked the house named on air and abused its occupants, and a local supermarket began a petition to remove Jones from the area. Hinch later revealed his comments were mistaken and Jones was not living at the Frankston address.

The following day the Victorian government represented by Peter Faris applied to the County Court of Victoria for a 15-year supervision order under the Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act, enabling Jones to be supervised once his parole term expired. Jones appeared in court via video-link and did not contest the application.

In August 2006, Jones was caught wandering the streets of Ararat, in breach of his supervision order and was arrested by prison officers and was imprisoned indefinitely for multiple breaches of his parole conditions. For two weeks in 2008, power was lost to the electronic equipment set up to monitor Jones' movements. Authorities believed he deliberately disconnected the mains power supply to the monitoring unit in his cottage. In 2016 under supervision, he was attending the Salvation Army men's shed program.

title: Brian Keith Jones


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Talk:Drug use

Untitled

 * Laurel Bush 11:29, 13 July 2005 (UTC).

Above written when article redirected to Recreational drug use.
 * Laurel Bush 09:21, 14 July 2005 (UTC).

Now that the drug page is destroyed, it makes more sense to redirect to recreational drug use again. --Thoric 06:43, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

All drug use is recreational? I dont think so. Laurel Bush 10:12, 21 November 2005 (UTC).
 * No, but the drug disambiguation page isn't even specific only to drugs. We need a new drug page.

Called Drug (substance), perhaps? Laurel Bush 12:56, 22 November 2005 (UTC).

Below is an small arcticle that you might find useful.

Drug abuse occurs when a person's use of a drug interferes with his or her daily life. Usually people use drugs to treat medicial conditions. However, drug abusers do not use drugs as medince but as a way of coping with loneliness, boredom, or other nonmedicial problems. Drug abuse can lead to physicial dependence, or psychology depence. Although many people abuse illegal drugs such as cocaine or heroin, most drug abuse in the U.S occurs with legal drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, inhalants, and prescription drugs.

Alcohol is a drug that slows down the central neveous system. It interferes with thinking and movement.

Tobacco contains nicotine, a stimulant that smokers find pleasent and realxing. However, nicotine is highly addictive. Tobacco can cause lung cancer, heart dieases, and other illnesses.

People who abuse inhalents sniff substances such as glue or cleaning fluids. A person inhalents feels giddy. Inhalents can coat the lining of the lungs, resulting in coma or even death.

Prescription drugs are drugs ordered by the doctors's command.

Drug abuse can result in poor school or job performance. SSBM Pro 03:13, 15 May 2007 (UTC)SteveNash11

Someone seems to have lost or destroyed the plot above I am not about to go through the page's history to see how and when Laurel Bush (talk) 16:54, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Drug-related articles a mess
Wikipedia's drug-related articles are generally a mess Perhaps this is because current thinking about drugs is generally a mess Perhaps there is no coherent objective way of thinking and writing on the subject We have laws seemingly dedicated to the notion that drugs are evil, and the use of force (sometimes lethal) to suppress their production and supply Somehow, at the same time, we have a vast legal drugs industry, for ever chasing the holy grail of immortality I offer the following as potentially useful definitions:
 * Controlled drug: drug within the scope of laws which are named, effectively, as drug control laws, for example, in the United Kingdom, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Drugs Act 2005
 * Pharmaceutical drug: product of a body, pharmaceutical company or drug company, which is licensed to produce and supply controlled drugs as medicines
 * Legal drug:
 * pharmaceutical drug, provided it is not held contrary to drug control laws; or
 * drug falling outside the scope of drug control laws and not otherwise illegal, for example, in the United Kingdom, alcohol or tobacco,
 * Illegal drug:
 * drug held contrary to drug control laws; or
 * drug falling outside the scope of drug control laws and defined as illegal in some other way, for example, in the United Kingdom, alcohol sold to someone under the age of 18

"Illicit drug use" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Illicit drug use and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 May 11 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Sangdeboeuf (talk) 06:36, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

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Mount Tabwemasana

Mount Tabwemasana is the highest peak in Vanuatu, and one of the highest mountains in the Pacific. At 1879 m, Tabwemasana towers above the surrounding mountains and provides fantastic views toward the Coral Sea in East. Located on the isolated west coast of the island of Espiritu Santo. Mount Tabwemasana actually consists of two peaks and local folklore believes that these two peaks (male and female) come together in embrace at night.

Until the 1970s the village of Kerepua was located on the flanks of Tabwemasana, a full day's walk to the coast through thick rainforest. However, in the late 1970s like many other mountain villages, Kerepua was relocated to the coast and now provides the launching pad for any summit attempt.

Very few tourists climb Tabwemasana each year, with the number reaching the summit generally less than six persons per year. This is primarily due to the isolated location of the mountain and the physical difficulty of ascending the peak. Those wishing to climb Tabwemasana must first take a boat from the village of Tasiriki to Kerepua. From Kerepua you trek up a river before leaving the valley for a steep ascent up the mountain. Guides are required as the track is very difficult to follow.

The tree species Metrosideros tabwemasanaensis is found only on Mount Tabwemasana.

title: Mount Tabwemasana


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Taveuni

Taveuni (pronounced ) is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, with a total land area of 434 km2. The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated 6.5 km east of Vanua Levu, across the Somosomo Strait. It belongs to the Vanua Levu Group of islands and is part of Fiji's Cakaudrove Province within the Northern Division.

The island had a population of around 19,000, some 75 per cent of them indigenous Fijians, at the 2015 census. Taveuni has abundant flora and is known as the 'Garden Island of Fiji'. It is a popular tourist destination. Tourists are attracted by the excellent diving opportunities, prolific bird life, bushwalks and waterfalls. Central parts of the island receive very high rainfall. Being volcanic in origin, Taveuni's soils have supported the island's most historically significant industry, agriculture.

Geography

Taveuni is located at the northern end of the Koro Sea, and is entirely the product of volcanic activity. Fiji's third largest island is separated from Vanua Levu by the Somosomo Strait. The island is between 10 and 14 km wide and 42 km long, representing the top of a dormant, elongated shield volcano which erupted from a northeast–southwest trending rift on the ocean floor. About 150 volcanic cones dot the island, including Uluigalau, Fiji's second highest peak at 1,241 m, and Des Vœux Peak, next in height at 1,195 m. There have been at least 58 volcanic eruptions since the first human settlement around 950-750 BC, all of which affected the southern two-thirds of the island. Major eruptions from 300 to 500 AD caused abandonment of the southern areas until about 1100 AD. The latest eruption produced a lava flow at the southern tip of the island around 1550. The island's central ridge delineates the greatest volcanic activity surrounding volcanic vents.

Lake Tagimaucia is one of Taveuni's most famous tourist attractions. It occupies a volcanic crater at an altitude of 800 m, and is the habitat of the rare tagimaucia flower. Fiji's most famous waterfalls, the Bouma Falls, are also on the island, located in the Bouma National Heritage Park. South of Vuna village and the lagoon, jet black rocks litter an area known as the South Cape where Taveuni's last volcanic eruption spilled into the sea around 500 years ago. The highlight of the region is the Matamaiqi blowhole with geysers created by trade winds crashing against the volcanic rocks. About 20 minutes on foot from the town of Waiyevo is the Waitavala Waterslide. This entirely natural streambed chute plummets for about 50 metres down the lush hillside and is a favourite haunt for local children and brave tourists. In eastern Taveuni the Savulevu Yavonu Waterfall empties into the ocean. Tavoro Creek, Somosomo Creek, Waimbula River and the islands most notable waterways.

Many of Taveuni's best known attractions lie underwater. There are three major, distinct diving areas around the island. To the north of Taveuni lie in close proximity the islands of Qamea and Matagi with their surrounding reef systems. The Rainbow Reef and Vuna Reef are famous for diving and snorkeling, respectively. The Rainbow Reef, on the western side of the narrow Somosomo Strait between Taveuni and Vanua Levu, is known as one of the world's premier soft coral dive areas and the soft coral capital of the world The horseshoe-shaped Vuna Lagoon, near the southern end of the island, is much appreciated by divers for the opportunity to see larger pelagic and schooling fish species on the exposed southern side of the reef, whereas the sheltered western parts provide pristine soft and hard coral gardens. Migrating humpback whales pass the island in July.

An interesting note is that the island of Taveuni crosses the east–west antimeridian, so the "north-eastern" portion of the island is located at -179 degrees longitude and the south-western part at +179 degrees longitude. This is often an example that causes havoc to GIS software, in which a polygon geometry around the perimeter of the island is incorrectly rendered and wraps around the globe.

To protect Fiji's wildlife, two sanctuaries have been created on the island of Taveuni, namely the Ravilevu Nature Reserve on the east coast, and the Taveuni Forest Reserve in the middle of the island. The potential to be nominated as a World Heritage Site contributes to the island's national significance, as outlined in Fiji's Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

Settlements

The population is concentrated mostly on the more sheltered western side of the island. Taveuni has eight major villages. Halfway down the west coast is the administrative centre of Waiyevo. The largest urban area, however, comprises the twin villages of Somosomo and Naqara. As the traditional fiefdom of the Tui Cakau, one of Fiji's highest-ranked chiefs, Somosomo is regarded as the capital of the Tovata Confederacy, while Naqara, an Indo-Fijian settlement, is the island's commercial centre. The main hospital is located at Waiyevo while a number of nursing stations and health centres are located around the island. Other settlements include Bouma, Deleni, Gacaavulu, Kanacea, Korovou, Lavena, Matei, Naselesele, Navakawau, Salialevu, Soqulu, Vuna, Wairiki, and Welagi.

Climate
The climate of Taveuni and Fiji is tropical without temperate extremes. It has been described as typical highland. Between November and April, the area is prone to tropical cyclones. Rainfall rates on the island are high because the central mountains produce precipitation by orographic uplift. As much as 10 m of rain falls annually on the eastern side of the island, but the western side is sheltered from the southeast trade winds by the ridge that runs the length of the island. The central ridge experiences a wet upland climate which supports montane and submontane forests. Near Mount Koroturanga, 9,970 mm of mean, annual rainfall has been recorded. A 2011 study identified coastal erosion, flooding and water availability and supply as the most significant impacts of climate change on some of the villages on Taveuni.

History

In 1643, Abel Tasman became the first European to sight Taveuni. Visibility was poor, and he mistook the peaks of Taveuni for separate islands. Historically, Vuna was considered the paramount village on Taveuni when the Tui Cakau (Ratu Yavala) resided there, but tribal warfare eventually established the supremacy of Somosomo. In the late 1860s, the Tongan warlord Enele Ma'afu, who had conquered the Lau Islands, was defeated by the Tui Cakau's army in a skirmish at Somosomo. Several islands that sided with Ma'afu were sold by the Tui Cakau at that time to European settlers as punishment, and their inhabitants were moved to Taveuni. The villages of Lovonivonu and Kanacea are populated with their descendants.

In fact, Enele Ma'afu was not defeated by the Tui Cakau's army as stated above. He was in Tonga at that time. In July 1862, Ma’afu went for a visit to Tonga with Tui Bua to seek resolution about his campaign in Fiji with the Tongan Parliament. During his absence, Wainiqolo, one of his lieutenants, waged war on Golea. Wainiqolo was shot dead on the beach at Wairiki and the Tongans were slaughtered.

Wainiqolo had taken Tui Cakau prisoner when Golea was involved in an internal Cakaudrove campaign. It was an opportune time for Wainiqolo to initiate his campaign whilst Golea was involved in an internal struggle on Vanualevu. Ma’afu never forgave Wainiqolo for the act that he did and removed all land allocated to him. Historians saw this anger as confirmation that Ma’afu was not part of the Wainiqolo plot to conquer Tui Cakau while he was away in Tonga. The unprovoked attack by Wainiqolo was regarded by the Tui Cakau as cancelling his obligation to respect the right of Ma’afu to islands which had been formerly part of Cakaudrove chiefdom. Golea proceeded to resell the whole of Vanuabalavu to Europeans.

On 3 February 1865, a Court of Arbitration was convened by British Consul Jones who handed down the Court's decision that Ma’afu was the lawful owner of Vanuabalavu and associated islands. Ma’afu immediately executed an affidavit the following day stating that Vanuabalavu and all the other lands given to him. The life of Enele Ma'afu the Tui Lau has been documented in the "Summary of Key Historical Events". Na Tikina Makawa o Vuna was not defeated by Somosomo as the above statement reads. In fact, historically, Taveuni was owned and controlled by two distinct Chieftainship, Tikina o Vuna from the south, and one in the north of Taveuni. The Tui Cakau has his land across water from Taveuni island and the central part of Taveuni.

In 1876, a 2.4 m horse tramway was constructed on the Selia Levu estate to transport sugar cane to a mill.

Recent
The Taveuni F.C. was founded in 1947. Bouma Forest Park, later renamed Bouma National Heritage Park was established in 1990 after landowning clans became concerned by the threat of logging. The reserve has expanded to cover roughly one third of the island. In January 2003, Severe Tropical Cyclone Ami crossed the island. In January 2008, Cyclone Gene caused widespread damage on the island. In March 2010, the island was hit by Severe Tropical Cyclone Tomas. The eye of the storm passed within 30 km of the island and produced a significant tidal surge and high waves.

Flora and fauna

Nearly all plants and animals indigenous to Fiji are found on Taveuni, which has suffered less devastation from land clearance than other areas of Fiji. The absence of the mongoose, a major predator, has also played a part in the survival on Taveuni of land crabs, the unique Fiji fruit bat, the Taveuni silk bat, and some unique species of palm. The island is the second largest in the Pacific Ocean to be free from the mongoose. Other species found on the island include the Fiji banded iguana and both Platymantis vitiensis and P. vitianus frog species. The critically endangered Fijian monkey-faced bat is found only on Taveuni. It was discovered by scientists in 1977. The flowering plant Balaka seemannii, which is endemic to Fiji, is found on the island.

The green iguana or American iguana has been introduced to the Fijian islands. The lizard poses a threat because it has no natural enemies, can reach a high population density, eats the taro plant and because it carries Salmonella bacteria which can be transferred to humans if bitten. In 2013, an eradication program coordinated by the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji saw a bounty placed on both adult and juvenile American iguanas as well as their eggs.

Taveuni is also home to the Taveuni beetle, maroon shining parrot, Fiji goshawk, azure-crested flycatcher, Fiji white-eye, Fiji parrot finch, orange dove, and the kula parrot, and the Australian magpie, introduced to control coconut pests, has proliferated on the island. The critically endangered red-throated lorikeet has been found here. In total, 22 regional endemic bird species have been recorded on Taveuni. The total number of bird species found on the island is closer to 100.

Economy

The island's agricultural output is a significant contributor to the Fijian economy.

Copra has been traditionally the most important crop produced on Taveuni, and has always been the staple of the local economy. In recent times farmers have mainly shifted to growing taro, kava and other speciality crops like vanilla, along with tropical fruit and coffee. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), cotton was raised on Taveuni and exported to Europe. Sugarcane was also grown for a brief period. Livestock such as sheep, cattle and poultry are also raised, but animal husbandry lags behind crop production in terms of economic importance. In recent times, tourism has become a contributor to the local economy, with about a dozen small resorts providing accommodation options for visitors and employment and business opportunities to the local population.

Language
The Taveuni dialect of Fijian reflects Tongan influence. One of its most distinctive features is the replacement of the consonant 'k' by a glottal stop. The Tui Cakau is therefore known locally as the Tui Ca'au.

Notable Taveunians
Taveuni notable peoples of high birth, other settler societies or ordinary Fijian (Indigenous) residents can be traced back to the era before European contact through to Deed of Cession of Fiji with Great Britain to Fiji Independence and today. Taveuni has 5 main key main villages which has their own Paramount Chiefs. These Chiefs are crucial in keeping their people informed of changes and updates on developments in Fiji. These are those that have helped shaped Taveuni and holding together its people. Perhaps the best-known Taveuni resident internationally was Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau (1918–1993), Fiji's last Governor-General and first President, who was also Tui Cakau. The Ganilau family is a branch of the Ai Sokula clan, to which the present Tui Cakau and former Cabinet Minister Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu also belongs. He died in 1993, and was buried there. Another notable Taveunian is Fiji's former First Lady, Adi Salaseini Kavunono, wife of President Ratu Josefa Iloilo (2000–2009). Ratu Jone Yavala Kubuabola served as Fiji's Minister for Finance from 2000 to 2006. He was also a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

Ratu Inoke Kubuabola (younger brother of Ratu Jone Yavala Kubuabola) is a Fijian politician who served as Leader of the Opposition in 1999 and 2000. He became leader of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei, or SVT, following its defeat in the 1999 election and the subsequent resignation of its leader, the defeated Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, from Parliament. Kubuabola served as Fiji's High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2005. In late 2005, he attempted to handle the problem of Fijian security guards, whom some accused of being mercenaries, operating illegally on the island of Bougainville. The incident embarrassed the Fijian government and threatened to strain relations between the two countries. On 4 May 2006 Kubuabola was posted to Tokyo as Fiji's Ambassador to Japan and Korea, replacing Ratu Tevita Momoedonu. He remained in this position until July 2009; on 24 July, he was named Minister for Foreign Affairs by the Interim Government, a position he still holds. The Kubuabola family is a branch of the Ai Sokula clan.

Isikeli Vuruna, a rugby union footballer, was born on Taveuni.

Cultural references
Both Avengers of the Reef and Return to the Blue Lagoon were partially filmed on the island.

Fantasy Island (film) was also filmed on the island.

title: Taveuni


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Chaharshanbe Suri

Chaharshanbeh Suri or Charshanbeh Suri (  lit. 'Scarlet Wednesday'), is an Iranian festival of the fire dance celebrated on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, of ancient Zoroastrian origin. It is the first festivity of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.

Etymology
The Persian name of the festival consists of (چهارشنبه), the Persian word for Wednesday, and  (سوری), which has two meanings; it may mean "festive" and it may also mean "scarlet" (in traditional Persian and some current local dialects in Iran), which stems from the reddish theme of fire. The names of the festival in other languages include Azerbaijani (in Ardabil and Tabriz), Kurdish  and  (in Kurdistan),  (in Piranshahr) and Isfahani Persian  (in Isfahan). The importance of fire is evident in the stone inscriptions of the Achaemenid kings, and the very first mantra of the Rig Veda is in praise of fire. Chaharshanbe Suri and Holi share roots in ancient Aryan religions.

Jumping over the fire
People collect brushwood in an open, unrestricted outdoor area prior to the festival's commencement. At sunset, after making one or more bonfires, they jump over the flames, singing, literally meaning "[let] your redness [be] mine, my paleness yours", or a local equivalent of it. This is considered a purification practice.

Spoon-banging
Charshanbe Suri includes a custom similar to trick-or-treating that is called (قاشق‌زنی), literally translated as "spoon-banging". It is observed by people wearing disguises and going door-to-door to hit spoons against plates or bowls and receive packaged snacks.

Fortune telling (fāl)
Another popular practice on Chaharshanbe Suri is fortune telling from a jug (fāl-e kūza, fāl-e bolūnī), usually one with a wide mouth (bolūnī). Everyone present puts an ornament—a ring, bracelet, an earring—that he or she has been wearing into the jug. Then slips of paper inscribed with verses or sentences containing auguries—the number of slips must equal the number of people present—are put into the jug. A young child is assigned to reach into the jug and pull out one piece of paper and give it to the most learned or literate man in the party. Then the child pulls one of the ornaments from the jug. The man reads aloud the verse on the piece of paper, and the owner of the ornament learns from it what his or her fortune will be. In many places, including Isfahan and towns in central Iran, it is customary to take the fortunes from a copy of the dīvān of Ḥāfeẓ, rather than from pieces of paper. The reader chooses a verse at random as the fortune for the owner of the object taken from the pot. At Isfahan a small mirror and a box of collyrium, which supposedly bring good luck, are added to the ornaments in the jug (for similar customs connected with the first evening of winter, Šab-e Čella, see Enjavī, e.g., I, pp. 26, 126; II, p. 165).

Burning rue (esfand)
Burning rue seeds (испанд) or frankincense (kondor) at parties on the eve of Chaharshanbe Suri is a widespread practice in most regions of Persia, being considered a necessary precaution against the evil eye and malevolent spirits, devils, and genies (cf. above on fumigation to avoid the evil eye). While rue and a small amount of salt are thrown on the fire the people recite rhymes, which, though varying with the local dialects, usually go something like this: “Rue shrubs and rue seeds (esfandūne, i.e., esfand-dāna), rue shrubs with thirty-three seeds (dūne), rue shrubs know themselves; let them blast (be-tarkūne, i.e., be-tarakānad) the jealous eye” (or “the evil eye”).

Dropping the sash (šāl-andāzī)
On the eve of Chaharshanbe Suri (and also on Šab-e Čella, see, e.g., Enjavī, I, p. 25) a young man who wishes to know his chances with a particular girl fastens a rope, a sash, or a long piece of cloth to a basket and, accompanied by a member of his family, drops it through an opening or chimney of the girl’s home or drapes it from her roof or over the door. Holding one end of the rope, he hides, and when he feels a slight tug he reels in the basket to find what the head of the girl’s family has put in it (or tied to the rope); from this object he can judge whether or not the family looks on him with favor. Sometimes he puts a present for the girl in the basket—an apple, a pomegranate, an egg, or some other village product; if the girl takes his present out of the basket, it is a sign of acceptance. In some villages this ritual is performed merely as a means of fortune telling. It is popular mainly in northern regions of Iran (Azerbaijan, Āstārā, Gīlān, Zanjān, Qazvīn, Sāva, Āštīān).

Wish-granting snacks (Ajeel e Chaharshanbe Suri)
Persian tradition holds that eating a special mix of sweet and sour nuts and fruit, called Ajeel e Chaharshanbe Suri, on Chaharshanbe Suri makes wishes come true. It is a mixture of nuts and dried fruits, such as pistachios, almonds, chickpeas, and raisins.

Ancient origin
The festival has its origin in ancient Iranian rituals. The ancient Iranians celebrated the festival of Frawardigan, the last five days of the year in honor of the spirits of the dead, which is today referred to as Farvardinegan. They believed that the spirits of the dead would come for reunion. The seven holy immortals (Amesha Spenta) were honored, and were bidden a formal ritual farewell at the dawn of the New Year. The festival also coincided with festivals celebrating the creation of fire and humans. By the time of the Sasanian Empire, the festival was divided into two distinct pentads, known as the lesser and the greater. The belief had gradually developed that the "lesser " belonged to the souls of children and those who died without sin, while the "greater " was for all souls.

Qajar Persia
A custom once in vogue in Tehran was to seek the intercession of the so-called "Pearl Cannon" on the occasion of Chaharshanbe Suri. This heavy gun, which was cast by the foundry-man Ismāil Isfahāni in 1800, under the reign of Fath-Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty, became the focus of many popular myths. Until the 1920s, it stood in Arg Square (میدان ارگ, ), to which the people of Tehran used to flock on the occasion of Charshanbe Suri. Spinsters and childless or unhappy wives climbed up and sat on the barrel or crawled under it, and mothers even made ill-behaved and troublesome children pass under it in the belief that doing so would cure their naughtiness. These customs died out in the 1920s, when the Pearl Cannon was moved to the Army's Officers' Club. There was also another Pearl Cannon in Tabriz. Girls and women used to fasten their dakhils, pieces of a paper or cloth inscribed with wishes and prayers, to its barrel on Charshanbe Suri. In times, the cannon had been used as a sanctuary for political or non-political fugitives to be immune to arrest or to protest from family problems.

Sadegh Hedayat, an Iranian writer of prose fiction and short stories, published a book,, in reference to the cannon that criticizes the old beliefs in Iranian folklore. The book also mentions the origin of the Pearl Cannon.

Modern era
Today, the Pearl Cannon is placed in the opening of Building Number 7 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 30th Tir Avenue. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism is still in talks with the ministry to remove the gun to a museum.

In Stockholm, Sweden, the annual festival is one of the largest Chaharshanbe Suri concerts and festivals in the world and is broadcast nationally on Sveriges Television and internationally on Manoto.

Food of Chaharshanbe Suri
Families customarily enjoy snacks during the evening and a supper at night after the end of the festivities. The usual snacks are nuts and dried fruits (ājīl), including salted hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, prunes, apricots, and raisins. The supper depends on available local ingredients. In Kermān and Shirāz the main dish is usually polow with pasta soup; the longer the pasta strands, the better the chances for a long life for each member of the family. In Māzandarān, Gorgān, Gīlān, and Tehran, sabzī-polow with fish is most often eaten. In Qazvīn and Garmsār sabzī-polow is made with wild herbs from the desert. In Khorasan several kinds of polow (with lentils, pasta, herbs, and vetch) are traditionally served.

Relations to other holidays
Prior to changes introduced to the Iranian calendar, Chaharshanbe Suri and the Yazidi festival Çarşema Sor overlapped in dates. The two seem connected, although some Yazidi claim that the name Çarşema Sor is a recent one and the festival was celebrated under other names dedicated to the Peacock Angel.

title: Chaharshanbe Suri


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Talk:Oxford University Labour Club

Untitled
I'm interested to discover whether anyone else know anything about OULC history, that we can put in this article...Oxymoron 11:36, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

"Both differ notably in their political outlook from former Chair Niklas Albin Svensson (Hot Lips), a Marxist." - inappropriate

 * Generally cleaned up, copy edited, removed various apparent statements of opinion. Some citations would be nice! The whole section on "Splits since 1940s" needs some kind of support. Mtpt 20:47, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

I wrote most of the section on the splits in 1940, based on research of the club's archives in the Bodleian Library. I'm going back this summer to produce a fuller account of the club's entire history, which will be added here - citations and all.

David Green, Lincoln College, Treasurer-Elect, OULC

Oxymoron 13:11, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

 * David - have you considered getting some documents scanned and submitting them to Wikimedia? Presumably the Club holds copyright, and could agree to license them. Given the involvement of the likes of Roy Jenkins and Iris Murdoch they would likely be of interest beyond this article. Mtpt 14:22, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I've undone the revert by 129.67.98.2, which simply reintroduces all the POV and uncited elements from before. Mtpt 20:38, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

 * And again... this time from 129.67.97.15 Mtpt

 * "yet another" is POV - as are the various "strongs" (strong ties, presence etc.) but those could be supported by citations?. As for noting that Van Nooijen was unsuccessful in each of the listed elections, this needs to be there to avoid confusion. The other candidates referred to were successful.Mtpt 18:39, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Oscar Van Nooijen
I've removed the references to Van Nooijen's unsuccesful candidacies, leaving his position with Oxford East. Leaving aside the question of whether it is POV to call someone who stands for election, and doesn't win, an "unsuccesful" candidate, particularly when the only other individuals listed by name are successful candidates, his various candidacies are listed on the page about him which is the appropriate place for biographical information about an individual. The references to "former" and "recent former" OULC members are questionable, but could be justified on the basis that they demonstrate the numbers of OULC members involved. Mtpt 15:57, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Recent Additions to this page
Well done whoever collected the research and references on the pre-war OULC. Will we be treated to any more? (Tdgtdg 20:46, 29 March 2007 (UTC))

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 21:23, 20 April 2022 (UTC)
 * 1 - New Logo Design.png

Need to source statements - and delete inaccuracies
Unfortunately, there may be a number of inaccuracies in this article. This underlines the need to supply in-line references for statements, as has already been noted. I do have some direct knowledge : as a student I was the Club's chair in Michaelmas 1972 and remained active to 1976. During my time as a tutorial fellow (1977-1987) I was an Oxford city councillor and the Club's Senior Member.

Possible Inaccuracies - I am pretty certain that Peter Mandelson and Andrew Smith were not members of the Club's Executive Committee. My memory is that Barbara Roche, and Maria and Angela Eagle, were active on the Executive committee. I am less sure about David and Ed Miliband.

Possible sources for references - biographical directories (Who's Who, People of Today) and the student papers (Cherwell, Isis). Gwedi elwch (talk) 20:23, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Oxford University Labour Club


text: Category:Portuguese businesspeople

title: Category:Portuguese businesspeople


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Kinnaird Head

Kinnaird Head (An Ceann Àrd, "high headland") is a headland projecting into the North Sea, within the town of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, on the east coast of Scotland. The 16th-century Kinnaird Castle was converted in 1787 for use as the Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, the first lighthouse in Scotland to be lit by the Commissioners of Northern Lights. Kinnaird Castle and the nearby Wine Tower were described by W. Douglas Simpson as two of the nine castles of the Knuckle, referring to the rocky headland of north-east Aberdeenshire. The lighthouse is a category A listed building. and the Wine Tower (perhaps from Wynd Tower). is a scheduled monument. The buildings around the base of the lighthouse are the work of Robert Stevenson.

Kinnaird Castle
, also known as Fraserburgh Castle and Kinnairdshead Castle, was begun in March 1570. The builder was Sir Alexander Fraser, 8th laird of Philorth (c.1536–1623), who also transformed the fishing village of Faithlie into the burgh of Fraserburgh in the 1590s. However, the building of the castle led to such expenses that he was forced to sell Philorth Castle, the family home.

Alexander, 10th of Philorth, fought for the king at the Battle of Worcester (1651). Despite being badly wounded, he survived to live into his eighties. In 1669 he inherited the title of Lord Saltoun, and in later years he had apartments at Kinnaird Castle The last people to reside in the castle were Henrietta Fraser (1698-1751) daughter of the 12th Lord Saltoun, and her husband John Gordon of Kinellar (1684-1764). In 1787, it was leased to the Trustees of the Northern Lights, who turned it into Kinnaird Head Lighthouse. Designed by Thomas Smith, the lamp was first lit on 1 December. The structure was rebuilt in the 1820s and superseded by a new lighthouse in 1991. It now houses the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, which incorporates the original lighthouse and a modern building housing collections of lenses and other artifacts from many lighthouses across Scotland.

Wine tower
The wine tower is a small, three-story tower located approximately 50 m from Kinnaird Head Lighthouse. The tower has been dated to the 16th century and may have gained its name through use as a store associated with the castle. The tower is accessed via the second floor and contains elaborate carved stone pendants, reputedly the result of its use as a covert chapel for the Catholic wife of Protestant Alexander Fraser. It is reputed that in the cave below, one of the Fraser family imprisoned his daughter's boyfriend, leaving him to drown there. The daughter then jumped from the roof of the tower. There is red paint on the rocks below to illustrate her blood. According to local tradition, the tower is said to be haunted.

title: Kinnaird Head


text: File:ICC-cricket-member-nations.png

title: File:ICC-cricket-member-nations.png


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Kristen Skjeldal

Kristen Skjeldal (born 27 May 1967) is an Olympic champion and cross-country skier from Norway. He has won three olympic medals: two gold and one bronze. He won his first gold medal in the 4 × 10 km relay at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. He finished fourth in 30 km freestyle event at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, but was awarded the bronze medal upon Spain's Johann Mühlegg EPO-doping disqualification. Subsequently, devices for blood doping were found at the hotel room of the doctor for the Austrian cross-country team. Since Skjeldal won the bronze behind two Austrians, many regard him as the real olympic champion. Skjeldal also won a gold medal in 4 × 10 km relay at those same games.

His best finish at the Nordic skiing World Championships was a sixth in the 50 km event in 1999. Skjeldal has also won thirteen cross-country skiing events of various distances between 1991 and 2006.

Skjeldal was still an active skier in 2005, located in his ski club in Bulken, Norway. His brother Gudmund Skjeldal also has participated in the Olympics.

In 2005 Gudmund published a biography about his brother, called Den siste langrennaren.

Almost 45 years old, Skjeldal did a remarkable comeback at the Norwegian Championship 2012, finishing eight at the 15 km free, beating all of the Norwegian team elite squad, except Martin Johnsrud Sundby, who won.

Cross-country skiing results
All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

 * 3 medals – (2 gold, 1 bronze)

Individual podiums

 * 1 victory
 * 11 podiums

Team podiums

 * 12 victories
 * 22 podiums

Note:  Until the 1994 Olympics, Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

title: Kristen Skjeldal


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Ice Hockey (1988 video game)

Ice Hockey (アイスホッケー) is a 1988 ice hockey video game published and developed by Nintendo, originally for the Famicom Disk System. It was later released in North America and in some PAL regions on the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 2006, it was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in Japan, North America, and some PAL regions.

Ice Hockey is based on the sport of the same name, with the objective of the game being to get more points than the opposing player by hitting round, black pucks into the opposing goal with a hockey stick. It is well-regarded by critics, and has been often cited as one of the best games for the NES.

Gameplay
The play and mechanics of Ice Hockey are mostly similar to that of ice hockey in real life. The objective for both teams is to hit a black puck with a hockey stick into the opponent's goal. Teams are made up of five players including the goaltender, as opposed to six in real life. Players wear ice skates, which are used to skate across the icy rink. Each game is made up of three periods, with the victory going to the team who has the most points at the end of the game. At the beginning, two opposing players from each team face off in the middle of the rink. The player selects from three kinds of hockey player: the first is fast, weak, and feeble, but is good at the face-off; the second is average in all qualities, and the third is slow and poor at the face-off, but very powerful, both in body checking and shooting strength. The arena is similarly designed to a real-world ice hockey arena. The rink is coated in ice, with a goal on either side of the arena. There are a variety of marked areas, including the goal line that the puck must cross to score, the attacking/defending zone which is situated closely to each goal, the face-off spot, the neutral spot, and others. Each side of the rink has exactly the same design. If two opposing players fight for the puck for a certain amount of time, other players join the fight, resulting in the player from the losing team in the fight being put in the penalty box for a period of time.

Regional differences
There are some regional differences in the team roster line-ups. In Japan's Famicom Disk System version, the lineup is Japan (JPN), United States (USA), Czechoslovakia (TCH), Canada (CAN), Poland (POL), and the Soviet Union (URS).

For the PAL versions, Nintendo removed Japan from the team roster and included Sweden instead. For the North American and European version, Nintendo included these six teams: the United States (USA), Sweden (SWE), Czechoslovakia (TCH), Canada (CAN), Poland (POL), and the Soviet Union (URS).

There are also differences in the music. In the Japanese version, the music for the in-game play, and for scoring a goal, is completely different from the US version.

Reception and legacy
Ice Hockey was rated the 142nd best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list. Electronic Gaming Monthly listed it as number 94 on their 100 best console video games of all time, remarking that it "has some of the most hilarious gameplay of any sports game ever, yet it still requires a lot of skill to play and accurately represents the excitement of real hockey. Fights turn into brawls, close games raise the crowd noise up when the game clock reaches two minutes, and the available team members vary in ability, making for (gasp!) strategic play." It was also included in IGN's top 100 NES games list, ranking at 100. Mark Bozon praised it for being the most addictive of Nintendo's early sports titles, commenting that it was in his NES as often as Super Mario Bros. 3 was. Aaron Thomas of GameSpot also commended the Virtual Console re-release for being "one of those rare NES sports games that's almost as much fun to play today as it was when it was released."

Hideki Konno, the designer of the game, later went on to direct and produce classic Nintendo titles such as Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and Luigi's Mansion.

title: Ice Hockey (1988 video game)


text:
Francisco Serrano, 1st Duke of la Torre

Francisco Serrano Domínguez, 1st Duke of la Torre, Grandee of Spain, Count of San Antonio (17 December 1810 – 25 November 1885) was a Spanish marshal and statesman. He was Prime Minister of Spain in 1868–69 and regent in 1869–70.

Early life and education
Serrano was born on 17 December 1810 in the Isla de León (current day San Fernando), in the Bay of Cádiz. He was son of Francisco Serrano y Cuenca and Isabel Domínguez de Guevara Vasconcelos. His father, born in Lopera, parish of Purísima Concepción, was a general officer and a Liberal. His mother was born in Marbella circa 1780.

Serrano began his studies at Vergara in the Basque provinces.

Military career
Following his father into the military, he became a cadet in 1822 in the Sagunto regiment, cornet in 1833 in the lancers of Sagunto, and passed into the carabiniers in 1829. When the Carlist agitation began in 1833, he transferred into the cuirassiers. He formed part of the escort that accompanied Don Carlos, the first pretender and brother of Ferdinand VII, to the frontier of Portugal.

As aide-de-camp of Espoz y Mina, then under the orders of generals Córdova and Espartero, in the armies of Queen Isabella, Serrano took such an active part in the First Carlist War from 1834 to 1839, that he rose from the rank of captain to that of brigadier-general. He was awarded the Cross of San Fernando and many medals. He was also granted the 155th Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.

In 1839, he was elected as a member of Cortes for the first time for Málaga. In 1840 he was promoted to the rank of general of division and commander of the district of Valencia, which he relinquished to take his seat in congress.

Political career
From that day Serrano became one of the chief military politicians of Spain. In 1841, he helped Espartero to overthrow the regency of Maria Christina of Bourbon-Sicily. In 1843, at Barcelona he made a pronunciamiento against Espartero. He was appointed as the minister of war in the cabinet of Joaquín María López y López, which convoked the Cortes that declared Queen Isabella of age at thirteen. He served in the same capacity in an Olozaga cabinet, sulked as long as the Moderates (Moderados) were in office.

In 1845, he was appointed as a senator, and in 1848 as captain-general of Granada. From 1846 to 1853, he was away from politics, living on his Andalusian estates or traveling abroad.

On 29 September 1850 in Madrid, Serrano married his first cousin, Antonia Domínguez y Borrell, Guevara y Lemus, 2nd Countess of San Antonio, with whom he had five children.

Serrano assisted Marshal Leopoldo O'Donnell in the military movements of 1854 and 1856, and was his staunch follower for twelve years.

Captain-General of Cuba
O'Donnell appointed Serrano as marshal in 1856 and captain-general of Cuba from 1859 to 1862. Serrano governed that island with success, and helped carry out the war in Santo Domingo. He was the first viceroy to advocate political and financial reforms in the colony.

Return to the Peninsula
On his return to Peninsular Spain, O'Donnell made him Duke of la Torre (Duque de la Torre), Grandee of Spain of the first class, and the 139th Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving from 18 January to 2 March 1863. Serrano risked his life in helping O'Donnell quell the insurrection of 22 June 1866 at Madrid. He was awarded with the Order of the Golden Fleece.

After the death of O'Donnell, Serrano became the leader of the Liberal Union Party. As president of the senate, he assisted Ríos Rosas to draw up a petition to Queen Isabella against her Moderate ministers, for which both were exiled.

The Glorious Revolution
Serrano began to conspire with Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, Prim and Sagasta. On 7 July 1868, González Bravo had Serrano and other generals arrested and taken to the Canary Islands. There Serrano remained until Admiral Topete sent a steamer to bring him to Cadiz on 18 September that same year.

On landing he signed the manifesto of the revolution with Prim, Topete, Sagasta, Martos and others, and accepted the command of the revolutionary army. He routed the troops of Queen Isabella under the orders of the Marquess of Novaliches at the bridge of Alcolea. The queen fled to France, and Serrano, having entered Madrid, formed a Provisional Government.

1868–1871 Provisional Government
In February 1869, he convoked the Cortes Constituyentes; he was appointed successively as president of the executive, Prime Minister of Spain, and Regent from 3 October 1868 to 18 June 1869. Serrano ruled impartially, respecting the independence of the Cortes and cabinets. He acceded to their selection of Amadeus I of Savoy as king, although he would have preferred Montpensier.

As soon as Amadeus reached Madrid, after the death of Prim, Serrano consented to form a coalition cabinet, which lasted only a few months. Serrano resigned and took the command of the Italian king's army against the Carlists in northern Spain. He tried to form one more cabinet under King Amadeus as the 65th Prime Minister of Spain on 6 June 1872, but resigned on 12 June when that monarch declined to give his ministers dictatorial powers and sent for Ruiz Zorrilla. His mistakes led to Amadeus abdicating the throne on 11 February 1873.

Conspirations against the Republic
Serrano opposed the federal republic, and conspired with other generals and politicians to overthrow it on 23 April 1873. Having failed, he went into exile in France. On the eve of his coup d'état of 3 January 1874 that sought to thwart the Federal Republic, the leading instigator, the General Manuel Pavía, sent for Serrano to take the leadership.

Dictatorship of Serrano
Serrano again took the title of president of the executive; he tried to form a coalition cabinet, but Cristino Martos and Sagasta soon quarrelled. His next cabinet was presided over by Sagasta. The military and political unrest continued, and at the end of December 1874, the Bourbons were restored by another pronunciamiento.

During the eleven months he remained in office, Serrano devoted his attention chiefly to the reorganization of finance, the renewal of relations with American and European powers, and the suppression of revolt.

Later life
After Alfonso XII ascended the throne in 1875, Serrano spent some time in France. He returned to Madrid in 1876, attended palace receptions, took his seat as a marshal in the senate, and flirted politically with Sagasta and his party in 1881. He finally gave his support to the formation of a dynastic Left with a democratic program defended by his nephew, General López Domínguez.

He died in Madrid on 25 November/26 November 1885, twenty-four hours after Alfonso XII, son of Isabella II, and purportedly, her husband and cousin Francis, although Alfonso's true biological paternity is uncertain.

title: Francisco Serrano, 1st Duke of la Torre


text:
User talk:GrantsaUK

d'Urban
nightmare number of possible spellings. Please do not create a parallel article. -- RHaworth 11:41, 2005 July 13 (UTC)

Response
He is referred to as Sir Benjamin d'Urban, which is what people will use to find him. no articles come up under search for him.

 * Please sign all contribs to talk pages with ~
 * Sorry - my mergeto tag was misleading. You do not simply copy and paste articles. You create redirects - why should I create them for you?
 * Wiki policy is to strip people's titles (eg. Sir) from article titles (eg. Benjamin d'Urban). For example Sir Benjamin Guinness and Sir Bernard Lovell are both redirects. I would say that Benjamin d'Urban is the correct title. If you prefer Benjamin D'Urban, which is probably equally acceptable, you will need to contact an admin to do the move.
 * Feel free to create more redirects from the titled form of his name. You have plenty of choice: Sir Benjamin d’Urban, Sir Benjamin D’urban, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, Sir Benjamin d'Urban, Sir Benjamin D'urban, Sir Benjamin D'Urban !
 * -- RHaworth 14:46, 2005 July 13 (UTC)

title: User talk:GrantsaUK


text:
Phytolith

Phytoliths (from Greek, "plant stone") are rigid, microscopic structures made of silica, found in some plant tissues and persisting after the decay of the plant. These plants take up silica from the soil, whereupon it is deposited within different intracellular and extracellular structures of the plant. Phytoliths come in varying shapes and sizes. Although some use "phytolith" to refer to all mineral secretions by plants, it more commonly refers to siliceous plant remains. In contrast, mineralized calcium secretions in cacti are composed of calcium oxalates.

The silica is absorbed in the form of monosilicic acid (Si(OH)4), and is carried by the plant's vascular system to the cell walls, cell lumen, and intercellular spaces. Depending on the plant taxa and soil condition, absorbed silica can range from 0.1% to 10% of the plant's total dry weight. When deposited, the silica replicates the structure of the cells, providing structural support to the plant. Phytoliths strengthen the plant against abiotic stressors such as salt runoff, metal toxicity, and extreme temperatures. Phytoliths can also protect the plant against biotic threats such as insects and fungal diseases.

Functions
There is still debate in the scientific community as to why plants form phytoliths, and whether silica should be considered an essential nutrient for plants. Studies that have grown plants in silica-free environments have typically found that plants lacking silica in the environment do not grow well. For example, the stems of certain plants will collapse when grown in soil lacking silica. In many cases, phytoliths appear to lend structure and support to the plant, much like the spicules in sponges and leather corals. Phytoliths may also provide plants with protection. These rigid silica structures help to make plants more difficult to consume and digest, lending the plant's tissues a grainy or prickly texture. Phytoliths also appear to provide physiologic benefits. Experimental studies have shown that the silicon dioxide in phytoliths may help to alleviate the damaging effects of toxic heavy metals, such as aluminum. Finally, calcium oxalates serve as a reserve of carbon dioxide in Alarm photosynthesis. Cacti use these as a reserve for photosynthesis during the day when they close their pores to avoid water loss; baobabs use this property to make their trunks more flame-resistant.

History of phytolith research
According to Dolores Piperno, an expert in the field of phytolith analysis, there have been four important stages of phytolith research throughout history.
 * 1) Discovery and exploratory stage (1835–1895): The first report on phytoliths was published by a German botanist named Gustav Adolph Struve in 1835. During this time another German scientist named Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg was one of the leaders in the field of phytolith analysis. He developed the first classification system for phytoliths, and analyzed soil samples that were sent to him from all around the world. Most notably, Ehrenberg recorded phytoliths in samples he received from the famous naturalist, Charles Darwin, who had collected the dust from the sails of his ship, HMS Beagle, off the coast of the Cape Verde Islands.
 * 2) Botanical phase of research (1895–1936): Phytolith structures in plants gained wide recognition and attention throughout Europe. Research on production, taxonomy and morphology exploded. Detailed notes and drawings on plant families that produce silica structures and morphology within families were published.
 * 3) Period of ecological research (1955–1975): First applications of phytolith analysis to paleoecological work, mostly in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Classification systems for differentiation within plant families became popular.
 * 4) Modern period of archaeological and paleoenvironmental research (1978–present): Archaeobotanists working in the Americas first consider and analyze phytolith assemblages in order to track prehistoric plant use and domestication. Also for the first time, phytolith data from pottery are used to track history of clay procurement and pottery manufacture. Around the same time, phytolith data are also used as a means of vegetation reconstruction among paleoecologists. A much larger reference collection on phytolith morphology within varying plant families is assembled.

Development in plants

Soluble silica, also called monosilicic or orthosilicic acid with a chemical formula of (Si(OH)4), is taken up from the soil when plant roots absorb groundwater. From there, it is carried to other plant organs by the xylem. By an unknown mechanism, which appears to be linked to genetics and metabolism, some of the silica is then laid down in the plant as silicon dioxide. This biological mechanism does not appear to be limited to specific plant structures, as some plants have been found with silica in their reproductive and sub-surface organs.

Chemical and physical characteristics
Phytoliths are composed mainly of noncrystalline silicon dioxide, and about 4% to 9% of their mass is water. Carbon, nitrogen, and other major nutrient elements comprise less than 5%, and commonly less than 1%, of phytolith material by mass. These elements are present in the living cells in which the silica concretions form, so traces are retained in the phytoliths. Such immobilised elements, in particular carbon, are valuable in that they permit radiometric dating in reconstructing past vegetation patterns. The silica in phytoliths has a refractive index ranging from 1.41 to 1.47, and a specific gravity from 1.5 to 2.3. Phytoliths may be colorless, light brown, or opaque; most are transparent. Phytoliths exist in various three-dimensional shapes, some of which are specific to plant families, genera or species.

Single cell and conjoined phytoliths
Phytoliths may form within single cells, or multiple cells within a plant to form 'conjoined' or multi-cell phytoliths, which are three-dimensional replicas of sections of plant tissue. Conjoined phytoliths occur when conditions are particularly favourable for phytolith formation, such as on a silica rich substrate with high water availability

Pathogenic stress on phytolith formation
Silica is not considered an essential nutrient for plants such as nitrogen or phosphorus. However, silica-aided phytoliths can help a plant be more resilient against biotic and abiotic stressors. Silica is bioactive, meaning it is able to change the expression of certain plant genes to jumpstart a defensive response against these stressors. In terms of fungal infections, the deposition of silica has been shown to create a physical barrier between invading fungi and the plant. Some factors however can have very damaging effects on the plant and limit or alter phytolith production.

In 2009, researchers at the Rock Springs Agricultural Experiment Station at The Pennsylvania State University investigated the effects of pathogenic viruses on phytolith production in Cucurbita pepo var. Texana. The plants that were affected by either mosaic virus (carried by aphids) or bacterial wilt disease (carried by cucumber beetles) were infected on their own to replicate natural conditions and all plants were grouped into three categories: healthy plants sprayed to prevent insect herbivory, plants infected with mosaic disease, and plants infected with bacterial wilt disease.

Analysis after harvest yielded 1,072 phytoliths from forty-five plants. Plants affected by mosaic disease experienced a decrease in phytolith size. This is because the virus constricts overall plant growth and therefore phytolith growth as well. Contrastingly, plants affected with bacterial wilt disease resulted in much larger phytoliths but they were abnormally shaped. This could be due to the bacteria causing constriction of the hypodermal cells, causing an influx of silica deposits.

Patterns of phytolith production
Because identification of phytoliths is based on morphology, it is important to note taxonomical differences in phytolith production.

Families with high phytolith production; family and genus-specific phytolith morphology is common:
 * Acanthaceae, Aceraceae, Annonaceae, Arecaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Bromeliaceae, Burseraceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Commelinaceae, Costaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Cyatheaceae, Cyperaceae, Dilleniaceae, Equisetaceae, Heliconiaceae, Hymenophyllaceae, Magnoliaceae, Marantaceae, Moraceae, Musaceae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae, Podostemaceae, Selaginellaceae, Ulmaceae, Urticaceae, Zingiberaceae

Families where phytolith production may not be high; family and genus-specific phytolith morphology is common:
 * Capparaceae, Cupressaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Flagellariaceae, Joinvilleaceae, Pinaceae, Polypodiaceae, Restionaceae, Taxaceae, Taxodiaceae

Families where phytolith production is common; family and genus-specific phytolith morphology is uncommon:
 * Aristolochiaceae, Chloranthaceae, Combretaceae, Hernandiaceae, Loranthaceae, Menispermaceae, Piperaceae, Sapotaceae, Verbenaceae

Families where phytolith productions varies; family and genus-specific phytolith morphology is uncommon:
 * Clusiaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Sterculiaceae

Families where phytolith production is rare or not observed:
 * Agavaceae, Alismataceae, Amaranthaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Araliaceae, Araucariaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Bignoniaceae, Bixaceae, Bombacaceae, Burmanniaceae, Cactaceae, Campanulaceae, Caricaceae, Cartonemataceae, Chenopodiaceae, Convolvulaceae, Cycadaceae, Cyclanthaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Ericaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Gnetaceae, Guttiferae, Hydrocharitaceae, Iridaceae, Juglandaceae, Juncaceae, Labiatae, Lacistemnaceae, Lauraceae, Lecythidaceae, Lentibulariaceae, Liliaceae, Loganiaceae, Malpighiaceae, Mayacaceae, Melastomataceae, Meliaceae, Myristicaceae, Myrtaceae, Myrsinaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Olacaceae, Oxalidaceae, Pedaliaceae, Podocarpaceae, Polygonaceae, Pontederiaceae, Potamogetonaceae, Primulaceae, Proteaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Salicaceae, Sapindaceae, Saxifragaceae, Smilacaceae, Solanaceae, Theaceae, Tiliaceae, Trioridaceae, Typhaceae, Vitaceae, Violaceae, Winteraceae, Xyridaceae, Zygophyllaceae

Archaeology
Phytoliths are very robust, and are useful in archaeology because they can help to reconstruct the plants present at a site when the rest of the plant parts have been burned up or dissolved. Because they are made of the inorganic substances silica or calcium oxalate, phytoliths don't decay with the rest of the plant and can survive in conditions that would destroy organic residues. Phytoliths can provide evidence of both economically important plants and those that are indicative of the environment at a particular time period.

Phytoliths may be extracted from residue on many sources: dental calculus (buildup on teeth); food preparation tools like rocks, grinders, and scrapers; cooking or storage containers; ritual offerings; and garden areas.

Sampling strategies

 * 1) Cultural contexts: The most important consideration when designing a sampling strategy for a cultural context is to fit the sampling design to the research objectives. For example, if the objective of the study is to identify activity areas, it may be ideal to sample using a grid system. If the objective is to identify foodstuffs, it may be more beneficial to focus on areas where food processing and consumption took place. It is always beneficial to sample ubiquitously throughout the site, because it is always possible to select a smaller portion of the samples for analysis from a larger collection. Samples should be collected and labeled in individual plastic bags. It is not necessary to freeze the samples, or treat them in any special way because silica is not subject to decay by microorganisms.
 * 2) Natural contexts: Sampling a natural context, typically for the purpose of environmental reconstruction, should be done in a context that is free of disturbances. Human activity can alter the makeup of samples of local vegetation, so sites with evidence of human occupation should be avoided. Bottom deposits of lakes are usually a good context for phytolith samples, because wind often will carry phytoliths from the topsoil and deposit them on water, where they will sink to the bottom, very similar to pollen. It is also possible and desirable to take vertical samples of phytolith data, as it can be a good indicator of changing frequencies of taxa over time.
 * 3) Modern surfaces: Sampling modern surfaces for use with archeobotanical data may be used to create a reference collection, if the taxa being sampled are known. It may also serve to "detect downward movement of phytoliths into archaeological strata". Taking point samples for modern contexts is ideal.

Laboratory analysis
The first step in extracting phytoliths from the soil matrix involves removing all non-soil and non-sediment material. This can include stone or bone tools, teeth, or other various prehistoric artifacts. Clay has a strong ability for holding onto phytoliths and also must be removed using a centrifuge technique. Once the sample is left to only house soil and sediment components, phytoliths can be separated through a variety of techniques. Pressurized microwave extraction is a fast method but does not produce as pure of results as other methods. Dry ashing tends to break up phytoliths better than wet ashing. Ethanol can also be added to the sample and lit on fire, leaving only the phytoliths behind One of the most effective methods of phytolith isolation is heavy liquid flotation. Over time, different liquids have been utilized as technology changes, each still carrying different advantages and disadvantages to the separation process. Current liquids used include zinc bromide, hydrochloric acid, or sodium polytungstate which are added to the sample. After flotation occurs, the separated phytoliths and liquid are moved to another container where water is added. This lowers the solution's density, causing the phytoliths to sink to the bottom of the container. The phytoliths are removed and rinsed several times to ensure all of the flotation solvent has been removed and they are placed in storage. Phytoliths can either be stored in a dry setting or in ethanol to prevent abrasion.

When examining the sample, polarized light microscopy, simple light microscopy, phase contrast microscopy, or scanning electron microscopy can be used. The sample should be placed in a mounting media on the slide which can be Canada Balsam, Benzyl Benzoate, silicon oil, glycerin, or water. The target phytolith count is dependent on the objectives, research design, and conditions of the archaeological site from which they were obtained. However, a count of two hundred phytoliths are recommended as a good starting point. If the conditions warrant, more should be counted. It is still not possible to isolate plant DNA from extracted phytoliths.

Burned phytoliths
When looking at a phytolith through a microscope lens, it will usually appear clear against the microscope's light. However phytoliths dark in color are found in the archeological record; these phytoliths display evidence of fire exposure. Gradation of darkness can be used to calculate past environmental fires. Darker phytoliths are correlated with higher carbon residue and fires with higher temperatures which can be measured on the Burnt Phytolith Index (BPI). Burned phytoliths can also appear melted in addition to darkened color.

Fires which cause burned phytoliths can be ignited by anthropogenic or non-anthropogenic sources and can be determined through charcoal and burned phytolith analysis. It is believed that during prehistoric times, an increase in intensive land use such as through agriculture, caused an increase in anthropogenic fires while non-anthropogenic fires could have resulted from lightning strikes. Fire intensity depends on available biomass which usually peaks in the dry, fall season.

Contribution to archaeobotanical knowledge

 * Phytolith analysis is particularly useful in tropical regions, where other types of plant remains are typically not well preserved.
 * Phytolith analysis has been used to retrace the domestication and ancestral lineage of various plants. For example, research tracing modern lineages of maize in South America and the American Southwest using phytolith remains on ceramics and pottery has proven to be enlightening. Recent genetic data suggests that the oldest ancestor of Zea mays is teosinte, a wild grass found in southwest Mexico. The Zea mays lineage split off from this grass about six to seven thousand years ago. Phytolith analyses from Bolivia suggest that several varieties of maize were present in the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia almost 1000 years before the Tiwanaku expansion, when it was previously thought to have been introduced in the region. This case is not isolated. Around the same time, certain varieties of maize could be found with ubiquity across part of South America, suggesting a highly frequented and established trade route existed. Phytolith data from the southeastern United States suggest that two different lineages of maize were introduced from two different sources. Research that hopes to discover more specific information about the spread of maize throughout the southeastern United States is currently under way.
 * To date, phytolith analyses have also been popular for studies of rice. Because the morphology of rice phytoliths has been significantly documented, studies concerning the domestication of rice, as well as crop processing models using phytolith analyses, are insightful. In one study, phytolith analysis was used to complement macro-remains sampling in order to infer concentrations of plant parts and predict crop processing stages.
 * Phytolith analysis has been useful in identifying early agriculture in South East Asia during the Early Holocene.

Tracing the history of plant-human interactions

 * Jigsaw puzzle-shaped phytoliths observed from sites in Greece but not from Israel may relate to climatic difference, possibly relating to irrigation performed for legume plant management.
 * Cucurbita (squash and gourd) phytolith data from early Holocene sites in Ecuador indicate that the plant food production occurred across lowland South America independent from Mesoamerica.

Problems with phytolith analysis of remains
Taxonomic resolution issues deriving from the multiplicity and redundancy problems can be dealt with by integrating phytolith analysis with other areas, such as micromorphology and morphometric approaches used in soil analysis. It is suggested that using phytolith data from food residues (on ceramics, usually) can decrease the bias from both of these problems, because phytolith analysis is more likely to represent crop products and identification of phytoliths can be made with more confidence. Also, food residues do not usually accumulate extraneous deposits. In other words, the samples are more likely to represent a primary context.
 * 1) Multiplicity: different parts of a single plant may produce different phytoliths.
 * 2) Redundancy: different plants can produce the same kind of phytolith.
 * 3) Some plants produce large numbers of phytoliths while others produce only few.

Palaeontology and paleoenvironmental reconstructions
Phytoliths occur abundantly in the fossil record, and have been reported from the Late Devonian onwards. Robustness of phytoliths make them available to be found in various remains including sedimentary deposits, coprolites, and dental calculus from diverse environmental conditions. In addition to reconstructing human-plant interactions since the Pleistocene, phytoliths can be used to identify palaeoenvironments and to track vegetational change. More and more studies are acknowledging phytolith records as a valuable tool for reconstructing pre-Quaternary vegetation changes (e.g.,     ). Occasionally, paleontologists find and identify phytoliths associated with extinct plant-eating animals (i.e. herbivores). Findings such as these reveal useful information about the diet of these extinct animals, and also shed light on the evolutionary history of many different types of plants. Paleontologists in India have recently identified grass phytoliths in dinosaur dung (coprolites), strongly suggesting that the evolution of grasses began earlier than previously thought.

Phytolith records in the context of the global silica cycle, along with CO2 concentrations and other paleoclimatological records, can help constrain estimates of certain long-term terrestrial, biogeochemical cycles and interrelated climate changes.

Light intensity (e.g., open versus closed canopies) can affect cell morphology, especially cell length and area, which can be measured from phytolith fossils. These can be useful for tracing fluctuations in the ancient light regime and canopy cover.

Freshwater oases and related landscape changes that could have affected plant-human interactions were reconstructed through synthesizing phytolith, pollen, and paleoenvironmental data in the well-known early hominin site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

Comparisons between paleorecords of phytolith remains and modern reference remains in the same region can aid reconstructing how plant composition and related environments changed over time.

Though further testing is required, evolution and development of phytoliths in vascular plants seem to be related to certain types of plant-animal interactions in which phytoliths function as a defensive mechanism for herbivores or related to adaptive changes to habitats. Japanese and Korean archaeologists refer to grass and crop plant phytoliths as "plant opal" in archaeological literature.

Gallery
For extended examples of phytolith taxonomy, see the University of Sheffield's comprehensive Phytolith Interpretation page.

Carbon sequestration
Research, particularly since 2005 has shown that carbon in phytoliths can be resistant to decomposition for millennia and can accumulate in soils. While researchers had previously known that phytoliths could persist in some soils for thousands of years and that there was carbon occluded within phytoliths that could be used for radiocarbon dating, research into the capacity of phytoliths as a method of storing carbon in soils was pioneered by Parr and Sullivan who suggested that there was a real opportunity to sequester carbon securely in soils for the long term, in the form of carbon inclusions in durable silica phytoliths.

During the mineralization process which creates the phytolith, many different nutrients are absorbed from the soil including carbon which forms Phytolith Occluded Carbon (PhytOC). Phytoliths are able to hold PhytOC in the soil for thousands of years, much longer than other organic methods. While this yields phytoliths as an important area of study regarding carbon sequestration, not all plant species produce analogous results. For example, phytoliths derived from oats can hold 5.0% to 5.8% carbon while sugarcane phytoliths can yield 3.88% to 19.26% carbon. Different species and subspecies hold different carbon storage potential within the silica rather than within the plant itself. Therefore, total PhytOC sequester largely depends on the condition of the biome such as grassland, forest, or cropland, and is influenced by climate and soil conditions. Proper upkeep of these ecosystems can boost biomass production and therefore more silica and carbon uptake. Proper conservation methods could include controlled grazing or fires.

While carbon sequestration is a potentially important way to limit atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations in the long term, the use of phytoliths to achieve this must be balanced against other uses that might be made of the same biomass carbon (or land for producing biomass) to reduce GHG emissions by other means including, for example, the production of bioenergy to offset fossil fuel emissions. If enhanced phytolith production results in a reduced availability of biomass for other GHG mitigation strategies, its effectiveness for lowering net GHG emissions may be reduced or negated.

title: Phytolith


text:
Ron Wyatt

Ronald Eldon Wyatt (June 2, 1933 – August 4, 1999), was an American nurse anesthetist and amateur archaeologist, who claimed to have made almost 100 biblical archaeology discoveries. One of his more notable claims is the supposed landing place of Noah's Ark at the Durupınar site.

Wyatt's claims have been described as "fraudulent", in "the category of trash which one finds in tabloids such as the National Enquirer", and been criticized by scientists, historians, biblical scholars, and some creationists, and are not considered credible by professional archaeologists and biblical scholars.

Life and career
Wyatt was working as a nurse anesthetist in a hospital in Madison, Tennessee, when, in 1960, he saw a picture in Life of the Durupınar site, a boat-like shape on a mountain near Mount Ararat. The resulting widespread speculation in evangelical Christian circles that this might be Noah's Ark started Wyatt on his career as an amateur archaeologist. From 1977 until his death, in 1999, he made more than a hundred trips to the Middle East, his interests widening to take in a great variety of references from the Old and New Testaments. By the time of his death, Wyatt claimed to have discovered several sites and artifacts related to the Bible and biblical archaeology.

Death
Wyatt died of bone cancer, on August 4, 1999, aged 66, at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. His remains are buried in Polk Memorial Park Cemetery, in Columbia, Tennessee.

Criticism
The Garden Tomb Association of Jerusalem states the following, in a letter issued to visitors on request:

"The Council of the Garden Tomb Association (London) totally refutes the claim of Wyatt to have discovered the original Ark of the Covenant or any other biblical artifacts within the boundaries of the area known as the Garden Tomb Jerusalem. Though Wyatt was allowed to dig within this privately owned garden on a number of occasions (the last occasion being the summer of 1991) staff members of the Association observed his progress and entered his excavated shaft. As far as we are aware nothing was ever discovered to support his claims nor have we seen any evidence of biblical artifacts or temple treasures."

Joe Zias, an archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), has stated that "Ron Wyatt is neither an archaeologist nor has he ever carried out a legally licensed excavation in Israel or Jerusalem. In order to excavate one must have at least a BA in archaeology which he does not possess despite his claims to the contrary. ... [His claims] fall into the category of trash which one finds in tabloids such as the National Enquirer, Sun etc."

Wyatt's official organization, Wyatt Archaeological Research (WAR), claims that the IAA has always been aware of the excavations and issued "verbal permits" for most of them and official permits to all WAR excavations since 2002. Nevertheless, the only evidence of WAR's involvement in a legitimate excavation sanctioned by the IAA relates to WAR's helping to fund a dig in 2005.

Some Evangelicals have also been critical of Wyatt's claims. Answers in Genesis called Wyatt's claims "fraudulent". David Merling, a Seventh-day Adventist and a professor of archaeology, addressed the issues of Wyatt's Noah's Ark and anchor-stones:

"While the Durupinar site is about the right length for Noah's ark, [it is]... too wide to be Noah's ark. Wyatt has claimed that the 'boat-shapedness' of this formation can only be explained by its being Noah's ark, but both Shea and Morris have offered other plausible explanations. Likewise, Wyatt has argued that the standing stones he has found are anchors, while Terian is aware of similar stones outside the Durupinar site area that were pagan cultic stones later converted by Christians for Christian purposes."

title: Ron Wyatt


text: User talk:203.190.143.202

title: User talk:203.190.143.202


text:
Talk:Lusser's law

Now we need to explain series system. -- Karada 11:44, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Lusser's law


text:
Tecmo Baseball

Tecmo Baseball is a baseball video game developed by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in January 1989 exclusively for the North American market.

Summary
There are three modes in the game; one-player, two-player, and watch (zero-player). In addition to games between teams, there is also an all-star game with the best players in the game.

The game features a National division (comparable to the National League) and an American division (comparable to the American League, although both divisions only include seven teams each. The National teams are: St. Louis, San Francisco, New York, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. The American division teams are: Minnesota, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Boston, California, and Texas.

All the players on the teams have names and statistics similar to those of real Major League ballplayers. For example, a player on the Detroit team was named Arex but his statistics were those of Alan Trammell of the Detroit Tigers in 1987. The best teams in the game are St. Louis and Minnesota, the two teams that played each other in the 1987 World Series.

title: Tecmo Baseball