text:
Sembrancher

Sembrancher is a municipality in the district of Entremont in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

History
Sembrancher is first mentioned in 1177 as Sancti Pancratii de Branchi. Its German name St Branschier is no longer used.

Geography
Sembrancher has an area,, of 17.7 km2. Of this area, 17.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 63.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and 15.3% is unproductive land.

The municipality is the capital of the district of Entremont. It is located at the confluence of the Dranse de Bagnes and the Dranse d'Entremont along the road over the Great St Bernard Pass. It lies about 10 km distant from Verbier ski resort and Martigny.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, in base Coupeaux Argent, issuant from sinister an Arm proper clad Vert and cuffed Argent holding a branch Or.

Demographics
Sembrancher has a population of. , 9.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 3%. It has changed at a rate of 3% due to migration and at a rate of -0.4% due to births and deaths.

Most of the population speaks French (778 or 98.2%) as their first language, German is the second most common (6 or 0.8%) and Italian is the third (4 or 0.5%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The population was made up of 369 Swiss men (43.7% of the population) and 54 (6.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 381 Swiss women (45.1%) and 41 (4.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 491 or about 62.0% were born in Sembrancher and lived there in 2000. There were 190 or 24.0% who were born in the same canton, while 73 or 9.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 36 or 4.5% were born outside of Switzerland.

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 28.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 53.2% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.1%.

, there were 347 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 367 married individuals, 52 widows or widowers and 26 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 299 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 98 households that consist of only one person and 40 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 307 households that answered this question, 31.9% were households made up of just one person and there were 3 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 63 married couples without children, 120 married couples with children. There were 10 single parents with a child or children. There were 5 households that were made up of unrelated people and 8 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.

there were 171 single family homes (or 67.3% of the total) out of a total of 254 inhabited buildings. There were 62 multi-family buildings (24.4%), along with 11 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (4.3%) and 10 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (3.9%).

, a total of 279 apartments (74.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 75 apartments (20.0%) were seasonally occupied and 21 apartments (5.6%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.4 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0.75%.

Sights
The entire small city of Sembrancher is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 47.64% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (21.05%), the SVP (17.15%) and the SP (9.05%). In the federal election, a total of 390 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 62.7%.

In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 390 votes were cast, of which 14 or about 3.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 64.8%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 382 votes were cast, of which 29 or about 7.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 63.3%, which is similar to the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy
Its spring water has a high fluorine content and is sold as 'Sembrancher'.

, Sembrancher had an unemployment rate of 5.3%. , there were 36 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 18 businesses involved in this sector. 138 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 19 businesses in this sector. 129 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 26 businesses in this sector. There were 342 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 35.4% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 244. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 128 of which 93 or (72.7%) were in manufacturing and 33 (25.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 96. In the tertiary sector; 35 or 36.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 3 or 3.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 9 or 9.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 3.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 8 or 8.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 6 or 6.3% were in education and 23 or 24.0% were in health care.

, there were 163 workers who commuted into the municipality and 220 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 10.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 72.8% used a private car.

Religion
From the, 705 or 89.0% were Roman Catholic, while 29 or 3.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 individual who belongs to another Christian church. There were 3 (or about 0.38% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 1 individual who belonged to another church. 49 (or about 6.19% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 4 individuals (or about 0.51% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education
In Sembrancher about 258 or (32.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 48 or (6.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 48 who completed tertiary schooling, 83.3% were Swiss men, 14.6% were Swiss women.

, there were 55 students from Sembrancher who attended schools outside the municipality.

Transport
The municipality has a railway station, Sembrancher, on the Martigny–Orsières line.

title: Sembrancher


text:
Iodine (125I) human albumin

Iodine (125I) human albumin (trade name Jeanatope) is human serum albumin iodinated with iodine-125, typically injected to aid in the determination of total blood and plasma volume.

Iodine-131 iodinated albumin (trade name Volumex) is used for the same purposes.

Medical uses
Iodine (125I) human albumin is used to determine a person's blood volume. For this purpose, a defined amount of radioactivity in form of this drug is injected into a vein, and blood samples are drawn from a different body location after five and fifteen minutes. From the radioactivity of these samples, the original radioactivity per blood volume can be calculated; and knowing the total amount of radioactivity injected, one can calculate the total blood volume.

It can also be used to calculate the blood plasma volume using a similar method. The main difference is that the drawn blood sample has to be centrifuged to separate the plasma from the blood cells.

Contraindications
The US Food and Drug Administration lists no contraindications for this drug.

Adverse effects
There is a theoretical possibility of allergic reactions after repeated use of this medication.

Pharmacokinetics
Iodine-125 is a radioactive isotope of iodine that decays by electron capture with a physical half-life of 60.14 days. The biological half-life in normal individuals for iodine (125I) human albumin has been reported to be approximately 14 days. Its radioactivity is excreted almost exclusively via the kidneys.

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

title: Iodine (125I) human albumin


text:
Talk:Barry Chamish

Untitled
"In the book Chamish disagrees that Rabin was assassination by a lone Zionist gunman, as is widely accepted to be the case" Widely agreed by whom? Rabin was murdered by a conspiracy, Amir's brother and another accomplice were likewise convicted of complicity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.181.15.218 (talk) 20:52, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

Extreme stubbing
I was forwarded an email complaint from someone, apparently Mr. Chamish, that we call him a "Holocaust Denier" when he isn't. I took one glance at the article and I am horrified by it. It is full of BLP violations. I am taking an extreme step right now and stubbing the article. I think every single claim in the article should be carefully checked and only re-inserted if it is sourced to a reliable source. As it stands now, the article is absolute crap.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 21:59, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Good move. "Absolute crap" is putting it mildly. That is one of the lamest entries I have ever read on Wikipedia (or was, before you stubbed it.) Having actually read Chamish's stuff, there's not a "Holocaust denial" anywhere in sight; he totally accepts the history, yet in the (now gone) text, there were at least a half-dozen references to "Holocaust denier," "Holocaust denial sites," etc. The article as was posted was totally un-sourced and filled with nothing but a list of one-sided dismissals. That's scarcely NPOV, and every sentence seemed to violate the Wikipedia rules on biographies of living persons. Ted Newsom (talk) 22:13, 24 February 2011 (UTC)Ted Newsom
 * Incredibly, one of the closest things to a reliable source that we do have in the article, an article by Daniel Pipes, says of Chamish that "he is not a Holocaust denier." . This is from an article about him that is otherwise unrelenting scorn.  Incredible.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 22:15, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
 * There is a history of abusive vandalism of this article by the Runtshit vandal. See in particular Suspected sock puppets/Zuminous, though several other edits by Runtshit socks also make such edits. Many of the recent abusive edits share similar characteristics, and I have created an SPI. RolandR (talk) 22:56, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I am leaning more and more towards a nomination for deletion. So far, no one (including me, I'm sorry to report) has gotten the energy to try to write a better article.  My review of the reliable sources suggest that the whole thing would be pretty thin anyway... to the extent he has gotten much mainstream notice, it's just as a "conspiracy theorist" - there seems to be virtually no information with which we could write a real biography.  I will wait a few more days, though, to see if anything emerges.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 01:51, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I personally don't see anything in what few sources that exist to indicate this individual meets notability and aside from that as Jimbo states there are so few references even if he did their would be no way to source most information. I think deletion would probably be best. --108.18.194.162 (talk) 14:15, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

That's a pretty empty attitude. The guy has written a number of books which have sold big numbers both here and in Israel; he clearly had a legitimate career in mainstream journalism before specializing in political and/or conspiratorial subjects; his reputation and statements cause a ruckus-- like the vandalism on this board. Like him or not, just those things alone would qualify him as "notable," as much as, for example, an entry on The Daily Bell website, Mark Lane or lizard-author David Icke, to use some varied examples. The problem is not availablity of information (there is plenty around, pro and con) but intentional vandalism. Reading this is like reading a history of the ACLU as written by the Koch brothers. Ted Newsom (talk) 16:59, 28 February 2011 (UTC)Ted Newsom
 * Hi, thanks for commenting, would you please when you make claims on the talkpage please provide the citations to support then as reviewers can better assess the situation, thanks. Off2riorob (talk) 17:05, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

 * I'm more interested in the Scrabble angle than the Holocaust myself but notice that the subject was "connected" to Holocaust denial by the Jerusalem Post five years ago. See .  This sounds like a guilt-by-association smear but it doesn't seem to be our doing. Colonel Warden (talk) 16:13, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

pejorative description by Daniel Pipes removed
I have several times removed a pejorative description of Chamish given by Daniel Pipes is some book review. It has variously been labled "criticism" or "book review". We don't go about cherrypicking pejorative description of BLP subjects. If there's notable discussion of his theories, then as part of that views of them might be given, but not simply some out of context critical description.--Scott Mac 23:03, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

 * This is an individual with fringe views and stripping it of all critical content renders it out of objective balance. That said, I'm past worrying about it. Carrite (talk) 22:12, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Good work
Thank you, Off2riorob and Carrite for rewriting the article. Keegan (talk) 07:25, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Pending Changes
Please do not remove pending changes from this article without discussion. It was not set as part of the trial, but because of distinct and particular BLP concerns with this article. I am happy to discuss whether this is the best approach for the article, a pragmatic approach to a BLP needs to take precedence over whatever general experiments and discussions are currently happening over FR.

This article has had major BLP issues, and has ongoing problems with edits. It is therefore useful not to have any edit immediately published before being scrutinised, and (if no one else does it) I am willing to scrutinise all edits. The scenario is liable to long term, so absolute prevention methods like protection or semi-protection are undesirable, but the traffic is low enough to scrutinise all edits. I use common sense and the available tools to do what I can for specific articles, and I'm happy to change from this pragmatic approach if someone tells me how using this tool is detrimental to the article in question, or to the goal of encouraging people to improve such articles.--Scott Mac 09:02, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Hay Guise...
In the Career section, the publication date for Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin? is off by ten years. The next time you go protecting a page, doing a little proofreading first wouldn't hurt. 68.127.147.246 (talk) 08:34, 10 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Fixed, thanks! Happy138 (talk) 10:35, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 September 2016
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Chamish 62.211.168.181 (talk) 03:04, 21 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. — JJMC89  (T·C) 03:24, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

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Conspiracy Theories on Sabbatai Zevi
Could we include a section or some information about his theories on Sabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank? I know it's not a palatable theory to most, but it's one of his theories.

Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust by Barry Chamish (2005-05-04) Mass Market Paperback – 1890

Barry Chamish The Sabbatean Frankists — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eitherway123 (talk • contribs) 17:02, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Barry Chamish


text:
François Girard

François Girard (born January 12, 1963) is a French Canadian director and screenwriter from Montreal. Born in Saint-Félicien, Quebec, Girard's career began on the Montreal art video circuit. In 1990, he produced his first feature film, Cargo; he attained international recognition following his 1993 Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, a series of vignettes about the life of piano prodigy Glenn Gould. In 1998, he wrote and directed The Red Violin, which follows the ownership of a red violin over several centuries. The Red Violin won an Academy Award for Best Original Score, thirteen Genie Awards and nine Jutra Awards.

He has also directed various works for the stage, including Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Oedipus Rex, and Alessandro Baricco's Novecento at the Edinburgh International Festival; Kafka's The Trial, adapted for the stage by Serge Lamothe at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa; the oratorio Lost Objects at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Siegfried in Toronto; and The Lindbergh Flight and The Seven Deadly Sins, first in Lyon and then in Edinburgh. Girard has also produced a residency show for Cirque du Soleil, Zed, in Tokyo and Zarkana, which opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York in the summer of 2011.

In 2013, the Metropolitan Opera in New York opened a new production of Richard Wagner's Parsifal directed by Girard. The production received near universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

His television credits include Le dortoir, Peter Gabriel's Secret World and The Sound of the Carceri, one of the six episodes of Yo Yo Ma Inspired by Bach.

Filmography

 * Cargo (1990)
 * Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993)
 * The Red Violin (1998)
 * Silk (2007)
 * Boychoir (2014)
 * Hochelaga, Land of Souls (2017)
 * The Song of Names (2019)

title: François Girard


text:
Talk:Detroit Zoo

Untitled
This page really needs some updates on the recent string of deaths at the Detroit Zoo. (comment added by anon, 13:32, July 16, 2005)

Photos needed
Photos of entry and some exhibits including Artic Ring of wildlife glass tunnelThomas Paine1776 19:00, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I've got some really cool photos (at home) and I'll be going to the zoo soon, so I can take some more if needed. I also an awesome mpeg video of the polar bears swimming around the tunnel but I don't think that will upload to wiki. —MJCdetroit 19:16, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks, the Detroit Zoo nice place, photos should reflect it, The entry way with gate and flags, fountains, grounds, train, exhibits, etc.,Thomas Paine1776 17:14, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Edits I made today.
I removed the Expo link because it talks negatively about the zoo in a way that it is not very factual. The person did not do his research about all the behind the scenes stuff that happens in NAIC and other things.

I confirmed the Kangaroo count this week too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ecvogel (talk • contribs) 03:22, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Broken Link
The "History of the zoo" link, under External Links, is broken. TheDork (talk) 04:58, 8 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Marked it with dead link though it is unclear if there is something temporarily wrong with the Detroit News webserver, or if the link is actually truly dead. — MrDolomite • Talk 14:59, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Bad Link
The hot link "Drill" from the expandable list of animals, goes to a page on the tool (for making holes) rather than information on the animal. Smith editor (talk) 18:37, 24 July 2012 (UTC)Smith_editor 24July2012
 * In the future, WP:JUSTFIXIT. It would have taken less time to look for an animal in Drill (disambiguation) and fix the link than it did to report the problem here. — SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ɖ⊝כ⊙þ Contrib.  02:23, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

Propose removing "Animals" section
The "Animals" section (which I have cleaned up per WP:MOS – do not capitalize the common names of species) and turned into a normal paragraph, should simply be deleted. Point #1 is the most important. Article content is not magically exempt from WP:V simply because it's in list form.
 * 1) It's unsourced and probably unsourceable.
 * 2) It's unencyclopedic trivia.
 * 3) It can never be complete, unless it reached completely absurd proportions.
 * 4) It's prone to errors ("I think I saw a snow leopard or something there the other month, so I should add that.") and vandalism.
 * 5) It will always be out-of-date, since zoos lose and obtain new animals on a frequent basis.
 * 6) The vast majority of zoo articles do not have a pointless list like this, so including one is weird and inconsistent.

Mention of especially notable animals that a zoo has, like very endangered species, is appropriate, but there is no compelling reason to do this as a list. It actually make much more sense to write a paragraph about this, including why the animals are important/noteworthy.

— SMcCandlish Talk⇒ ɖ⊝כ⊙þ Contrib.  02:18, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

Reformatting the Article
Hey all, I've been thinking this for a while, but I really think that this article needs to be completely revamped. We use the Zoological Society section like a big "About Us" section, the Animals section is nauseating to look at, and the Current Activities section will eventually become a History section because we will only add to it, but not delete old news. If no one objects, I'm going to reformat much of the article to look more like the National Zoo's article. I think they do a pretty good job with organization. Content wise, not much here will change; it's just not a well-organized article. Thanks, and do give me feedback. Bnosnhoj (talk) 17:45, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

The article as I read it today was definitely written by the zoo itself - it even refers to the zoo as "we" and describes non-encyclopedic material (such as the zoo keepers saying their yak is very smart). I hope someone who enjoys reformatting articles can take a stab at this one; its length makes it overwhelming for me. Jnmwiki (talk) 21:42, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

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Long-term copyvio
I've removed content which was copied from the zoo's website, which comprised most of the article. The edit history shows a pattern of several users (including the now-blocked ) adding copy-pasted sections dating back to 2015. has been active in this activity as recently as June 2018.

The source content is spread across a number of pages, making the violations difficult to track down. Much of the remaining text has the same promotional tone and may be copied from pages which have since been changed or removed. –dlthewave ☎ 18:21, 12 July 2018 (UTC)

Too many photos (and reopening discussion on removing list of animals)
Someone must have been camera happy at the zoo, which is fun, but do we really need dozens of images for individual animals piled into the article? A few images of animals would be nice, but there is way too many unnecessary images. It makes the whole article look unprofessional, and no other well-written zoo article has such a lengthy gallery. No, the Detroit Zoo article is not written very well at all. Some of the GA-class zoo articles, such as Phoenix Zoo or Tennessee Aquarium, have minimal pictures and are constructed well. Unfortunately, the same poor issues can be said for the nearby Toledo Zoo. Additionally, none of the good articles have lengthy lists of all their animals, and I believe such a long list may fall under WP:DIRECTORY in the same way that malls do not list every one of their stores or schools do not mention every one of their teachers. They are constantly changing elements and largely unnecessary information. I propose eliminating the entire "directory" of animals and all of the accompanying pictures. The only pictures that should be used should be for major exhibits or rarer animals.—Notorious4life (talk) 00:33, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree that the lists are excessive and difficult to keep up-to-date. It would make sense to only include animals that have been mentioned by independent sources. –dlthewave ☎ 00:53, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

1990 chimp incident
In 1990 there was a chimp incident where Jo-Jo was rescued while being chased by another chimp, so, can this be on this page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.147.84.144 (talk) 18:04, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Detroit Zoo


text: Category:Railway museums

title: Category:Railway museums


text:
User talk:Nosara

Spanish-filipino mestizos

The estimate made that 1% of the Philippines is of predominantly Spanish-filipino descent may in fact be an overestimation. This statement cannot be supported by personal convictions or ignorant accusations but can in fact be at least partially backed up by statistics.We often cringe about the likelihood of the often skewed nature of statistics and of the often poorly defined definitions of what's what. But,if consistent, these statistics can shed some much needed light onto the already heated debate about the spanish-filipino mestizo.

At one end we have Domingo Abello's conclusions that at the turn of the 18th century Spanish and Spanish mestizos numbered less than 4000 out of 2.5 million so-called indios, or about 0.16%(McFerson,2002). If we look at a 1779 census of the population of the Archdiocese of Manila, 6, 059 people out of 385, 498 were of Spanish descent, or about 1.6%. Of the 6059, 348 were peninsulares, 1436 were criollos and 4275 were spanish-mestizos (Cushner, 1971). If we take these numbers in proportion with the whole archipelago's population at the time, which had far fewer spanish-filipinos, it would suggest that up to 0.28% of the Philippines were of whole or partial Spanish descent in 1779.

In 1810, of 2, 515, 406 people on the Archipelago less than 4000 were Spanish or Spanish mestizos, about 0,16%.Note that Mexicans and Mexican-filipino mestizos were included in the Spanish and Spanish-filipino mestizo grouping.(http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html)

Furthermore, statistics in 1883 state that all peoples with a deemed-significant Spanish-descent (spaniards, criollos, and spanish-filipino mestizos), made up only 0.2925%, or around 17 550, of the total Philippine archipelago of 6 million (McFerson,2002).

However, Agustin de la Cavada Mendez de Vigo stated that in 1881 people of whole and partial Spanish ancestry were as follows (McFerson, 2002): Luzon- males: 4087,   females: 4382

Visayas-   M: 575,      F:508

Mindanao-  M: 105,      F: 53

subtotal-  M:4767,      F:4943

total -       9710 (or around 0.16%) As we can see here, it suggests that over 87% of spanish-descended peoples were located in Luzon.

In the well-cited 1903 census we find that of 7, 635, 426 people, 0.2% or 15,419 were european mestizos, while 0.2% or 14,271 were caucasions of European descent(half of them being americans). Thus,0.4% of the archipelago were of european ancestry.

If this trend of the percentage Spanish-filipino mestizos hovering well-below 1% continues today from around 0.16% to 0.4%, than they would number from 144,000 to 360, 000.

Debate about these statistics are sure to surface, and rightly so. But if we consider the 18th and 19th spanish practice of the casta system and the documentation of the spanish subjects, these can provide a bit of insight to the many filipinos who are uncertain about their ancestry and to those who would like to know some information about today's spanish-filipino mestizo numerical reality. Some of my sources are: 1) Mixed Blessing: the Impact of the American Colonial Experience on Politics and Society in the Philippines. Hazel M. McFerson, forwarded by Fidel V. Ramos. West Port: Greenwood Press, 2002. 2) Spain in the Philippines, From Conquest to Revolution. Nicholas P. Cushner. 1st ed. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University. Rutland, Vt:C.E.Tuttle Co. 1971, 3) http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html

For some interesting insight take a look at Emily Monroy's article http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/emily_monroy/race_mixing.asp

title: User talk:Nosara


text:
Kaszuby

Kaszuby may refer to:
 * Kashubia, a region in northern Poland, Kaszëbë in Kashubian, Kaszuby in Polish
 * Kaszuby, Lublin Voivodeship, East Poland
 * Kaszuby, Ontario, Canada

title: Kaszuby


text:
Samphanthawong district

Samphanthawong (สัมพันธวงศ์, )) is one of the 50 districts (khet) of Bangkok, Thailand. Regarded as Bangkok's Chinatown, it is the smallest district by area in Thailand. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bang Rak, Khlong San (across Chao Phraya River), and Phra Nakhon.

History
The area has been a Chinese community since the early days of Bangkok. Originally living in what is now the Phra Nakhon district, they were relocated here when the capital was set up. The narrow Sampheng Lane (สำเพ็ง, now called Wanit I Road, วานิช 1) was the district's main street until Yaowarat Road was constructed in 1892 during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. Sampheng Lane is depicted on the back of series 15 20 baht banknotes, to commemorate an important post-World War II visit by young king Rama VIII (accompanied by HM's brother, Prince Bhumibol, with his ever-present camera). Nowadays, Yaowarat Road remains the heart of Bangkok's Chinatown.

The area now in the Samphanthawong district was once three separate amphoes, Samphanthawong, Sam Yaek, and Chakkrawat, established on 15 October 1915 when old districts were overhauled and replaced by 25 new districts to cover inner Bangkok. Sam Yaek District and Chakkrawat District were later merged into Samphanthawong District. The district became Khet Samphanthawong in 1972. It is believed that the name Samphanthawong was derived from Wat Samphanthawongsaram, the temple near the district office when it was first built. Now the district office has moved to Yotha Road in Talat Noi Sub-district.

Administration
The district is divided into three sub-districts (khwaeng).

Yaowarat Road

Yaowarat Road (เยาวราช) is about 1.5 km in length. Along both sides, gold shops and Chinese restaurants: noodles, rice, dim sum, bird's nest soup are found. More shops, especially those selling fruit and Chinese traditional medicine, can be found in the small lanes branching off the main road. A gate was built to celebrate King Bhumibol's 72nd birthday. It is on Odeon Circle, (named after a cinema that once stood nearby) at end of Yaowarat Road.

Temples and shrines

Some of well-known Thai Buddhist Temples in the district are:
 * Wat Traimit (วัดไตรมิตรวิทยารามวรวิหาร) is known for its giant Buddha image made from solid gold and weighing about 5.5 tonnes. The gold was hidden under plaster for centuries until being rediscovered in 1954.
 * Wat Pathum Khongkha (วัดปทุมคงคา) is an ancient wat, renovated and renamed Wat Sampheng during the King Rama I period.
 * Wat Chakkrawat (วัดจักรวรรดิราชาวาสมหาวิหาร) or Wat Sam Pluem (วัดสามปลื้ม)
 * Wat Samphanthawongsaram (วัดสัมพันธวงศาราม วรวิหาร) or Wat Ko (วัดเกาะ), a Dhammayuttika temple. Its name is the origin of the district's name and was Dan Beach Bradley's first residence in Thailand.

Many Chinese temples and shrines are also here, including:
 * Leng Buai Ia Shrine (ศาลเจ้าเล่งบ๊วยเอี๊ยะ), the oldest shrine in the area, about 300 years old, is considered the oldest Teochew shrine in Thailand.
 * Ah Nia Geng Shrine (ศาลเจ้าอาเนี้ยเก็ง) or Chue Pui Nia Nia Shrine (ศาลเจ้าฉื่อปุยเนี่ยเนี้ย), a shrine to Kuan Yin.
 * Guan Di Shrine (ศาลเจ้าพ่อกวนอู), shrine to Lord Guan and His horse Sek Tao, in Talat Khao.
 * Thien Fah Foundation (มูลนิธิเทียนฟ้า), the first foundation registered in Thailand, established to provide health care for the poor. There is a Guan Yin shrine inside the hospital.
 * Bunyasamakhom Shrine (ศาลเจ้าโรงเจบุญสมาคม)
 * Chó-su-kong Shrine (ศาลเจ้าโจวซือก๋ง), a shrine to Qing Shui Zu Shi, the oldest Hokkien shrine in Thailand, in Talat Noi, used to organize the largest Chinese vegetarian food festival in the country.

The most famous Chinese temple in the area, Wat Mangkon Kamalawat (วัดมังกรกมลาวาส), popularly known as Wat Leng Noei Yi (วัดเล่งเน่ยยี่), lies just outside the Samphanthawong boundary in the neighboring Pom Prap Sattru Phai District.

Other places

There are other places of historic interest in Samphanthawong. Wat Mae Phra Luk Prakham (วัดแม่พระลูกประคำ) or Holy Rosary Church, on the bank of Chao Phraya River, is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Bangkok. It is more widely known by its older name, Wat Kalawar (วัดกาลหว่าร์), named after Calvary. It was first built in 1787 during King Rama I period by settlers who migrated from Ayuthaya when the city was lost to Burma. The current building was constructed in 1890.

Upriver from the church is Thailand's first commercial bank building. The building was constructed in 1904 and houses the Talat Noi Branch of Siam Commercial Bank. Downriver from Holy Rosary Church is River City Shopping Complex, a shopping center specializing in arts and antiques.

There are numerous markets around Samphanthawong. There are many shops and stalls along Yaowarat, Sampheng (now Wanit 1), and Charoen Krung Roads, especially at night and during weekends. Saphan Lek, the older name of the bridge crossing Khlong Ong Ang canal on Charoen Krung Road, is a narrow strip along both sides of Khlong Ong Ang with small shops selling goods. Nearby is Woeng Nakhon Khasem (เวิ้งนาครเขษม) or "thieves market". The Khlong Thom Market (in Pom Prap Sattru Phai District), once a famous market for low cost goods and electronics, is a large area of several blocks on the opposite side of Charoen Krung Road. The small lanes inside the blocks were fully packed with stalls operating on Saturday nights till Sunday mornings, but it is now closed as part of a pavement cleanup campaign in March 2015.

Festivals
Several Chinese festivals are held here yearly. Yaowarat Road is often closed to traffic during these periods.
 * Chinese New Year Festival (เทศกาลตรุษจีน) is the biggest festival with dragon dances, lion dances, and people dressed in red.
 * Mid-Autumn Festival (เทศกาลไหว้พระจันทร์) with shops selling mooncakes.
 * Chinese Vegetarian Food Festival (เทศกาลกินเจ) (1st to 9th day of 9th lunar month) is a nine-day period when many Chinese practice vegetarianism and dress in white. All over Yaowarat Road, vegetarian food stalls with yellow flags and the Chinese character 齋 in red can be seen. Some foods look like meat but are made from soybeans.

Notable people

 * Puey Ungphakorn: economist
 * Kunoi Vithichai: professional boxer
 * Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi: businessman
 * Chuwit Kamolvisit (Davis Kamol): businessman, politician, TV host
 * Somkid Jatusripitak: economist, politician

title: Samphanthawong district


text:
L'après-midi d'un faune (poem)

L'après-midi d'un faune (or "The Afternoon of a Faun") is a poem by the French author Stéphane Mallarmé. It describes the sensual experiences of a faun who has just woken up from his afternoon sleep and discusses his encounters with several nymphs during the morning in a dreamlike monologue.

It is Mallarmé's best-known work and a hallmark in the history of symbolism in French literature. Paul Valéry considered it to be the greatest poem in French literature.

History
Initial versions of the poem, originally titled Le Faune, intermède héroique were written between 1865 (the first mention of the poem is found in a letter Mallarmé wrote to Henri Cazalis in June 1865) and 1867. Mallarmé submitted the first text to the Théâtre-Français in 1867, only to be rejected. Ten years later, under the title Improvisation d’un Faune the work was rejected again, this time by publisher Alphonse Lemerre, who had previously published Mallarmé's work in Parnasse contemporain. Mallarmé left Lemerre and found Alphonse Derenne, an editor, publisher, and bookseller of primarily medical books who sought to expand his business. The final text was published in 1876 (see 1876 in poetry) by Derenne under the present title L'après-midi d'un faune. For the publication, Mallarmé's long-time friend, Édouard Manet, created four wood-engraved embellishments which were printed in black, and hand-tinted in pink by Manet himself in order to save money.

Mallarmé's poem would provide the inspiration for many musical works, the most prominent of which being Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy. Other composers who drew subject matter and inspiration from Mallarmé’s poetry include Maurice Ravel in Trois poèmes de Mallarmé (1913), Darius Milhaud with Chansons bas de Stéphane Mallarmé (1917), and Pierre Boulez, with his hour-long solo soprano and orchestra piece Pli selon pli (1957–62). The poem also served basis for the ballets Afternoon of a Faun by Vaslav Nijinsky (1912), Jerome Robbins (1953) and Tim Rushton (2006). Debussy's orchestral work and Nijinsky's ballet would be of great significance in the development of modernism in the arts.

Translations

 * (English) The Afternoon of the Faun, translated by Roger Fry, in The Poems of Mallarmé, Chatto and Windus, 1936
 * (English) A Faun in the Afternoon, translated by E. H. Blackmore and A. M. Blackmore, in Collected Poems and Other Verse, 2006
 * (English) Collected Poems: A Bilingual Edition, Stéphane Mallarmé, translated by Henry Weinfield, University of California Press, (1st edition 1994 ISBN 9780520948112; 2nd edition 2011 ISBN 0520948114)
 * (Finnish) Faunin iltapäivä: valitut runot, Einari Aaltonen, 2006

title: L'après-midi d'un faune (poem)


text:
Charfield railway station

Charfield railway station served the village of Charfield in South Gloucestershire, England. The station was on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, originally a broad gauge line overseen by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but later taken over by the Midland Railway and converted to standard gauge.

History
Charfield station opened with the Bristol and Gloucester line on 8 July 1844 and had substantial Brunel-designed buildings on both platforms. There were sidings to the north and south, and those to the north were converted to loops to allow slow trains to be overtaken by faster trains.

In 1928, the Charfield railway disaster occurred when a southbound night-time mail train overran signals into a goods train manoeuvring into these sidings, and in the collision the mail train was diverted into the path of a northbound freight train. Gas from the mail train ignited and 15 people died in the blaze. According to some accounts, among them were two children whose identity was never established.

Passenger services were withdrawn from Charfield on 4 January 1965 with the removal of stopping services on the Bristol to Gloucester line. Goods services were withdrawn on 6 September of the same year. The main station building and the station master's house remain, in residential use.

Proposed reopening
Services between Bristol and Birmingham pass through Charfield. There have been discussions about the viability of reopening the station. The costs would be shared between Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire councils since, although the station would be in South Gloucestershire, the nearby town of Wotton-under-Edge would be a principal beneficiary.

In February 2019, the West of England Combined Authority announced a £500,000 feasibility study into plans for two new bypasses and work to see whether Charfield is viable for reopening to passengers. In June 2019, a further £900,000 was allocated for the production of a full business case for the reopening of the station.

The January 2020 version of the Joint Local Transport Plan 4 (JLTP4, led by the West of England Combined Authority ) proposed to deliver by 2023–2024 a "New station at Charfield funded through the WECA Investment Fund, to support housing growth".

In June 2020, Councillor Toby Savage, leader of South Gloucestershire Council, mentioned the possibility of re-opening Charfield station during an announcement of plans for enhanced services between Bristol and Gloucester.

A plan agreed by the West of England Combined Authority on 8 December 2020 set out projects that could potentially be delivered between 2020 and 2030, including the reopening of Charfield station.

A 12-week public consultation on the re-opening proposals was held between 19 October 2021 and 10 January 2022, with the new station proposed to open during Spring 2027.

Planning permission for the new station (South Gloucestershire Council, ref P22/05778/R3F) was granted in March 2023.

title: Charfield railway station


text:
Talk:Ladera Ranch, California

New Urbanist communities category
Ladera Ranch is an example of New Urbanist planning principles. What reason is there for removing it from that category? Dystopos 17:40, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Agreed.
 * The neighborhood has a discernible center. This is often a square or a green and sometimes a busy or memorable street corner. A transit stop would be located at this center.
 * Most of the dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center, an average of roughly 2,000 feet.
 * There are a variety of dwelling types -- usually houses, rowhouses and apartments -- so that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy may find places to live.
 * At the edge of the neighborhood, there are shops and offices of sufficiently varied types to supply the weekly needs of a household.
 * A small ancillary building is permitted within the backyard of each house. It may be used as a rental unit or place to work (e.g., office or craft workshop).
 * An elementary school is close enough so that most children can walk from their home.
 * There are small playgrounds accessible to every dwelling -- not more than a tenth of a mile away.
 * Streets within the neighborhood form a connected network, which disperses traffic by providing a variety of pedestrian and vehicular routes to any destination.
 * The streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees. This slows traffic, creating an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles.
 * Buildings in the neighborhood center are placed close to the street, creating a well-defined outdoor room.
 * Parking lots and garage doors rarely front the street. Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys.
 * Certain prominent sites at the termination of street vistas or in the neighborhood center are reserved for civic buildings. These provide sites for community meetings, education, and religious or cultural activities.
 * The neighborhood is organized to be self-governing. A formal association debates and decides matters of maintenance, security, and physical change. Taxation is the responsibility of the larger community.
 * Ladera Ranch has most of these characteristics. Sincerely,  Short Verses  (talk) 18:22, July 16, 2005 (UTC)

 * Ladera Ranch is not new urbanism and does not claim to be. Its street and block pattern is highly disconnected and hierarchical, with cul-de-sacs predominating. Most residences are not within walking distance of mixed use (although the distances to schools are reasonably good). Many residences are not even within walking distance of the private clubs. Portions of the development are gated and therefore removed from the public realm. None of the organizations that maintain comprehensive directories of new urban developments -- the Congress for the New Urbanism, The New Urban News, and The Town Paper -- list Ladera Ranch.

 * Ladera Ranch does feature a variety of attractive house styles and types, green building features, an extensive trail system, and more mixed use than is usually found in suburban developments. It is a hybrid of new urban and conventional suburban characteristics. LaurenceJA 00:53, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * It's obviously not a strict implementation of canonical New Urbanism, but it does lean heavily on practices brought back into planning discourse by the New Urbanist movement. More can be said about Ladera Ranch by elaborating it's relationship to New Urbanism (as evidenced by this page and 136 Google results for "ladera ranch" + "new urbanism") than could really be said outside of that context. Perhaps the most productive thing to be done is to move some of this discussion of Ladera Ranch planning back into the main article and then revisit the categorization. Dystopos 03:07, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Most of the pages returned by such a Google search note the hybrid character of Ladera Ranch. I should mention also that Los Angeles: Building the Polycentric Region (2005), the definitive reference book on new urbanism in the Los Angeles region, also does not include Ladera Ranch. There are a great many hybrid developments in the U.S., possibly as many as there are new urban developments. The TND Design Rating System is a set of standards designed to draw distinctions along that spectrum. LaurenceJA 13:27, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Are you, in fact, the author of the TND Design Rating Standards? My initial impression is that using such a tight analysis to filter "true" new urbanism from "hybrids" is bound to involve POV. Nevertheless, these references seem to be, as you say, definitive. I won't continue to challenge the recategorization. I think a discussion of Ladera Ranch's relationship to New Urbanist principles would still be useful in this article. Dystopos 14:53, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

 * All rating systems involve POV, if only in the choice of standards if nothing else. It’s especially true in the field of urban design which is a blend of art and science.  The important questions in this case are: Are the standards transparent?  Do they provide sufficient guidance to give reasonably repeatable results?  And finally, do they identify places that have the desired benefits of new urban design?

 * I also like the idea of an open, online system for rating many neighborhoods -- a survey system to tap into the wisdom of crowds. The main thing you’d need is a way to identify the criteria you base your judgments on. And then for users, a way to select the criteria they’re interested in seeing. LaurenceJA 00:07, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

 * There's a distinction to be made between "rating" and "categorizing" here. Even a bad example is an example. So, no, it's not particularly pertinent in this case to ask if the places "have the desired benefits of new urban design" - it is more important that they drew planning principles from New Urbanism. But anyway, I think you've shown that Ladera Ranch, good or bad, is not a particularly strong example, and need not be categorized as a New Urbanist community. Dystopos 01:42, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

 * There is new urbanism that is good in some respects, new urbanism that is bad in some respects, and there is development that is not new urbanism. Evaluation is required in order to classify. LaurenceJA 10:55, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

Notable residents
I am removing the list of notable residents for the following reasons:
 * Rob Johnson (American football) - Retired NFL Football Player
 * No reference on this article or at his article to Ladera Ranch
 * Martin J. Gruenberg - Vice Chairman of the FDIC
 * No article and no reference (notable?)
 * Mike Napoli - American MLB Baseball Player
 * No reference on this article or at his article to Ladera Ranch
 * Connor Traut - American Web Show Host and WWW Networker
 * No article and no reference (notable?)
 * Warren G - Rap Artist
 * No reference on this article or at his article to Ladera Ranch

This list needs references, either at this article or on their own article, to establish that these individuals live/lived in Ladera Ranch. Alanraywiki (talk) 21:50, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Nikki Catsouras
Do not remove * Nikki catsouras, She is a resident and that's all that matters. Removing so is vandalism.
 * No, that's not all that matters. See WP:BIO and WP:NLIST.  Her accident was notable, but she is not for Wikipedia purposes.  Please stop listing her and the description "reckless driver". 72Dino (talk) 16:03, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

 * Note Notable in the sense of being "famous", or "popular" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.179.150 (talk) 16:06, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

 * Driving 130mph in a public road is not reckless. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.179.150 (talk) 16:10, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Not on the 241, it isn't...173.74.10.29 (talk) 01:23, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

 * We obviously do not agree on the Wikipedia definition of "notable". You have been trying to add her and the description "reckless driver" for some time now.  Because there are only two of us involved in this dispute, I will request a third opinion. 72Dino (talk) 16:15, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * This should not be re-added. The person herself is not notable, see WP:BLP1E.  Adding her as "reckless driver" goes against policy and is also deplorable.  The Interior  (Talk) 16:34, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Removed Ladera Ranch Civic Council election results
I don't believe that the election results of a community group are notable, and not something I've seen on any other town's wikipedia page. Therefore, I've removed the election results for the LRCC and cleaned up the descriptions of it and other local groups. Fitnr (talk) 22:32, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Ladera Ranch, California


text:
Verbier

Verbier is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais. It is a holiday resort and ski area in the Swiss Alps and is recognised as one of the premier off-piste resorts in the world. Some areas are covered with snow all year. Skiers have settled in the Verbier area in order to take advantage of the steep slopes, varied conditions, and resort culture.

Geography
Verbier is located in the municipality of Val de Bagnes in the Swiss canton of Valais. The village lies on a south oriented terrace at around 1,500 metres facing the Grand Combin massif. The terrace lies on the east side of the Val de Bagnes, a valley located south of Martigny.

Verbier had 2767 permanent residents in 2006. The number of residents can rise to 35,000 in the winter season. There is a noticeable population of Scandinavian and British residents.

Education
The town has a public school system for its residents up until high school level, when locals must travel down into the valley for schooling. In September 2010, the Verbier campus of St. George's (now called Verbier International School), a private international school, was founded and opened its doors in the Chalet Mascotte at the entrance of the village. Verbier also has a newly founded school as of January 2021 called Copperfield Verbier, in Le Hameau.

History
Verbier has been an Alpine resort with guests from European countries since the early 20th century. During World War I, the local economy suffered from a lack of tourist revenue as people were unable or unwilling to travel to Switzerland from countries at war. From 1916 to 1918 Verbier, along with other Alpine resorts, housed interned German, French and British soldiers who required medical treatment.

Artists and photographers
There is a vibrant community of photographers and artists in Verbier, most born out of winter sports action photography.

Transport
Verbier can be accessed by road or by train. From Martigny a regional train (known as the Saint-Bernard Express) leads to Le Châble. From Le Châble a cable car (or a post bus) goes up to Verbier. Martigny is a 1 hour 45 minute journey from Geneva and a 20 min journey from Sion, travelling with Swiss Federal Railways.

Verbier has only one access road which starts in the town of Le Châble. From Sembrancher (near Le Châble) a road leads to the Great St. Bernard Pass and another to Martigny or to the Col de la Forclaz. Verbier is around 2 hours' drive from Geneva, 1 hour from Chamonix (Col de la Forclaz) and 1 hour from Aosta (Great St. Bernard Pass).

The nearest international airport is Geneva Airport. Minibus transfers are available from the airport to Verbier center during the winter ski season.

The village is small enough to be explored on foot, but free buses run throughout the resort regularly during the day.

Skiing
Verbier's ski domain ranges from 1500 m (Verbier Village) up to 3330 m (Mont Fort) from which there is a panoramic view of the Alps encompassing the Matterhorn Cervin, Dom, Dent Blanche, Dent d'Hérens, Grand Combin and Mont Blanc massif. It is part of the "Four Valleys" ("4 Vallées") ski area, which includes the ski resorts of Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz, La Tzoumaz, and Thyon with a claimed total of 410 km marked runs. However, an independent expert measured that the real extent of marked runs is 164 km rather than 410 km.

The ski area is divided into four sectors: Medran, Les Savoleyres, Mont Fort and Bruson. Verbier forms the western section of the 4 valleys ski area. A 4 Valley pass allows a tour all the way from Verbier to La Tzoumaz, Nendaz, Veysonnaz, Les Masses, Thyon and back.

The Verbier section of the 4 Valleys ski area has recent lifts made by Leitner, CWA, Poma and Garaventa AG, all operated by Téléverbier SA. In Verbier alone, there are 35 lifts (within the Verbier, Savoleyeres/La Tzoumaz and Bruson sector). A standard Verbier pass gives access to this entire sector, 33 standard ski runs, two snowparks, one "Jardin de Neige" (a relatively flat area that is used for small children learning to ski), four cross-country pistes and two walking areas.

Off-piste
Verbier is known for its off-piste and itinerary runs. Amongst these are popular mogul fields Tortin, Gentianes, Mont Fort and Plan du Fou as well as more advanced itineraries Vallon D'Arbi and Mont Gelé (which are often closed). Notable off-piste runs are the Backside of Mont Fort, Bec des Etagnes, Stairway to Heaven, Highway, Marlenaz, Croix de Coeur, Bacombe, Col des Mines, Creblets, Couloir de la Banane, Col de la Mouche, The Rocky Garden, The Hidden Valley (down to Auddes-sur-Riddes), Couloir des Dix, Col de la Banane, and the less accessible Bec des Rosses, annual host for the finals of the Freeride World Tour. Off-piste skiing can be dangerous, and sometimes lethal, due to the risk of avalanches, hidden obstacles, crevices, extremely steep runs, and other hazards. In the 2012–13 season, a skier was killed by an avalanche on the Col de la Mouche and two others died at the Bec des Etagnes.

Verbier is one of only a few resorts to contain a mountain with no pistes coming down it (Mont Gelé). On rare occasions, it is also possible to ski 700 vertical metres from Verbier (1500 m) to Le Châble (800 m) in the valley below, though such a run now entails going through terrain with felled trees and other obstacles. The off-piste run from Col des Gentiannes (2,950 m) down to Le Chable is a better option, but it is important to check that snow conditions are good and that there is no avalanche risk. Also, some of the trails from Col des Gentiannes to Le Châble lead to dead-ends and dangerous rockfaces, so it is essential to be familiar with the terrain before attempting to ski down to Le Châble from Gentiannes.

The nearest heli-ski landing spots are Rosablanche, Petit Combin, and Trient Glacier.

Verbier is a stop on the most commonly taken route by skiers of the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt.

Ski and snowboard schools
Various ski and snowboard schools offer private lessons, group lessons, clinics, and performance coaching. Mountain-guide companies and a few independent mountain guides complete the offerings. Ski and snowboard schools include Performance Verbier, Alpinemojo Ski and Snowboard School, La Fantastique, Altitude Ski and Snowboard School, New Generation Ski School, European Snowsport and the Swiss Ski School.

Summer skiing
In 1983, 2 T-bar lifts were installed on the glacier to allow skiing all year. The lifts took 7 minutes and 30 seconds to ride and had a rate of 2,400 people per hour. The summer skiing last operated during July 1999.

In April 2012, the website SeeVerbier.com published a report as part of an April fools joke claiming that the resort would re-open for summer skiing during June.

As a result of exceptional weather conditions, Verbier was able to offer skiing on 13 and 14 July 2013. 1,630 people attended the event.

Summer
In the summertime, there are 400 km of hiking trails and hikers can follow the tracks of the chamois and ibex through the mountains, some of them covered with snow all year round. There are 200 km of mountain bike piste. Other activities include climbing, paragliding, swimming, golf, badminton, Ice karting, and trips aboard the mountain railways in the area. Every summer, the Verbier Festival takes place, featuring seventeen days of musical performances at the invitation of founder Martin Engström.

Society
Verbier is also a popular holiday destination for celebrities and royalty, including The Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Sarah, Duchess of York (who is in the process of selling her chalet) and her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, James Blunt, Diana Ross, Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Branson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark. The Swedish royal family and the Belgian royal family also come here. It caters to British customers, but also receives many visitors from Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France, Austria, the United States of America and South Africa.

Events
Recurring events include:
 * the most prestigious extreme skiing and snowboarding contest, the Xtreme Verbier which is the final of the FWT
 * the XSpeedski, FIS World Championship + Pro Race
 * the Patrouille des Glaciers, ski mountaineering race every second year at the end of the ski season
 * the Verbier Festival, Appraised international music festival
 * the Grand Raid Cristalp, Mountain bike race Verbier - Grimentz
 * the Grand Concours Hippique, a horse show featuring Grand Prix show jumping qualifiers
 * Exercise White Knight, the British Army's RAC & AAC Downhill Championships and race training camp since 1983.
 * Polaris Festival, Electronic Music Festival.

Other events

 * Stage 8, 2005 Tour de Suisse - Pablo Lastras
 * Stage 6, 2008 Tour de Suisse - Kim Kirchen
 * Stage 15, 2009 Tour de France - Alberto Contador
 * Stage 8, 2014 Tour de Suisse - Esteban Chaves

Notable residents

 * Paddy McNally, Formula One businessman and socialite
 * Richard Branson (born 1950), British business magnate
 * James Blunt (born 1974), English singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer
 * George Downing (born 1963), property magnate
 * Raymond Fellay (1932–1994), Swiss Olympic alpine skier
 * Itamar Biran (born 1998), Israeli Olympic alpine ski racer
 * Christopher Wood, Jefferies Global Head of Strategy

title: Verbier


text:
Charfield railway disaster

The Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928 in the village of Charfield in the English county of Gloucestershire. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Leeds to Bristol night mail train failed to stop at the signals protecting the down refuge siding at Charfield railway station. The weather was misty, but there was not a sufficiently thick fog for the signalman at Charfield to employ fog signalmen. A freight train was in the process of being shunted from the down main line to the siding, and another train of empty goods wagons was passing through the station from the Bristol (up) direction.

The mail train collided with the freight train and was derailed, coming into collision with the up train underneath the road bridge to the north of the station. Gas used to light the carriages ignited, and four carriages were burnt out. The driver and fireman of the mail train claimed that they had seen a clear distant signal on approach to the station, and therefore had assumed that the home signals protecting the station were also clear; however, testing of the signals after the accident confirmed that the distant had been correctly in the yellow "caution" position. The driver and fireman were charged with manslaughter, but were subsequently acquitted.

Background
Early in the morning of 13 October, three down trains (the LMS parcels and goods trains and the GWR goods train) were expected to pass through Charfield.

The two goods trains were proceeding much slower than the parcels train. To prevent delays to the more important parcels train, signalmen H. Button of Charfield Box and R.H Smith of Berkeley Road Junction (the block post before Charfield) agreed to shunt the two goods trains clear. Button shunted the LMS Goods Train into a siding at Charfield whilst Smith shunted the GWR Goods Train into a siding at Berkeley Road Junction. The parcels train raced through the stations. After signalman F.W Booking of Wickwar (the signalbox after Charfield) signalled "out of section" to Button, he signalled for the LMS goods train to depart the sidings. However, the driver of this train chose to spend five minutes taking on water at Charfield, something he wasn't booked to do. Nor did he inform Button of this. As a result, the original plan for the GWR goods train had to be altered. The mail train meanwhile was fast approaching Charfield and with this in mind, Button was forced to shunt the GWR goods train into the sidings in Charfield once the LMS goods train had left.

Trains involved
The 10:00 pm LMS down passenger and mail express from Leeds to Bristol consisted of Midland Railway Class 3 4-4-0 No. 714 steam locomotive hauling a 6-wheel tender, a 6-wheeled parcels van, a goods van, a composite passenger coach, two third-class coaches, another composite coach, a TPO sorting van, a TPO tender, a pair of TPO vans and a passenger brake van. Of these cars, the parcels van, front composite, both 3rd class Coaches and all four TPO vehicles' lighting was powered by flammable gases. In total, the train was carrying 23 gas canisters in these carriages. Only the front goods van had been constructed with electrical lighting, whilst the rear composite and brake van were built to use gas lighting, but had been converted. All eleven carriages were wooden and old at the time of the crash, with the newest coach being the goods van which was built in 1915; the oldest vehicles were the TPO vans which dated back to 1885.

All but the two front vans on the train had vacuum brakes which could be activated from the locomotive. The locomotive also carried a steam brake to brake itself and its tender. Both brakes were able to be activated from the footplate of the engine, and the vacuum brakes could be activated from the guard's van. In the locomotive was driver E.H Aldington and fireman F.C Want whilst in the brake van at the rear of the train was guard Miller. All three men knew each other well and were experienced. Aldington had worked on the railways since 1891, had been driving goods trains since 1916 and passenger trains since 1924. His last working day prior to the crash was 12 October, where he had driven the 1:45 am mail train from Birmingham to Bristol and then the 7:40 am Birmingham to Bristol mail train. Aldington had considerable experience running on this line, having been scheduled to work it every five days for eleven weeks. Fireman F.C Want had worked on the railways since 1917 with nine and three quarters of a year as a fireman and had known Aldington since December 1926. Unlike Aldington, Want was much less experienced on the route, having only handled it 30 times before. Guard Miller had worked on the railways since 1921.

The 9:15 pm Great Western Railway (GWR) down semi-fitted goods train from Oxley bound for Bristol. This train consisted of GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0 Locomotive No. 6381, a 6-wheeled tender, forty-nine loaded wagons and a brake van. The locomotive, tender and the front fifteen wagons had vacuum brakes to be operated from the engine, but the remaining 34 wagons were braked from the brake van. The crew aboard this train consisted of driver Gilbert and fireman H. Sutton in the engine and guard W. Fortune in the brake van.

The 4:45 am LMS up empty goods train from Westerleigh to Gloucester consisted of a 0-6-0 locomotive hauling its tender, forty-five empty wagons and a brake van. The crew aboard this train consisted of driver G. Honeyfield and fireman A. Clarke in the engine and guard Callaway.

Although not in the crash itself, two more trains were involved in the lead-up to the disaster, these being the 12:45 am down parcels train from Leicester to Bristol and the 10:35 pm down goods train from Washwood Heath to Bristol, both operated by the LMS.

Crash
Approaching Charfield at high speed, Aldington told Want to look out for the down distant signal, even though Want wasn't as experienced on this line as he was, and the fog and lack of knowledge meant he was unsure as to the signal's location. However, 60 yards from the down distant, Want claimed to see the green signal and said to Aldington "He's got it off mate!" before shovelling in some more coal to the engine. As he returned the shovel to the tender, Aldington saw the GWR goods engine emerge from the fog. Realizing a collision was about to occur, he quickly applied the brakes before ducking down.

The mail train crashed into the GWR goods train, the engine of the LMS train clipping the edges of the two front-most goods vans of the GWR train before crashing into the tender, which at that point was slightly askew of the main line as it was being shunted clear. The LMS engine crashed into the right-hand side of the GWR tender and derailed to the right, ploughing into two empty wagons of the up LMS train before it overturned onto its right side against the up slope near the bridge. The GWR tender was flung onto its left side against the north side of the bridge, while the GWR engine became wedged against the abutment, causing the first six vehicles (the parcel van, the other van, the front composite, the two 3rd class carriages and the rear composite) to become wedged under the bridge.

Whilst the engine of the mail train was derailed and tossed clear, the tender was derailed but remained on the track. The sudden deceleration caused the two vans, the front composite coach and first 3rd class coach to violently telescope. The rear 3rd class coach hit the rear of the front coach, forcing the front of the carriage to become entangled with the coach ahead of it, causing both underframes to bend upwards until it came to rest leaning on the north side of the bridge. Part of the roof was torn off and thrown onto the bridge. The rear composite and the cars behind it came to an abrupt halt, but remained on the rails, each receiving varying amounts of damage.

The GWR goods train's first two wagons which were still being shunted clear when the LMS train hit received glancing blows whilst the tender of the train received the brunt of the impact. Both 6381's tender and engine were pinned against the wall by the mail train's carriages. The remaining forty-seven wagons mostly received either minor damage or were undamaged. Fortune's brake van was completely undamaged and the forty-seven wagons were able to be taken back.

The Westerleigh goods train was still passing under the bridge at the time of the collision. The engine and eight wagons were clear of the site when the collision occurred. The locomotive and front six wagons were undamaged, but the seventh and eighth were derailed, although they remained attached to the locomotive and upright, being dragged down the line until Honeyfield and Clarke realised what had occurred. The ninth wagon was derailed by the LMS mail locomotive, skidding into the down cutting by the bridge just ahead of the locomotive. The tenth wagon was hurled by the engine off the rails and collided with the down cutting of the bridge, coming to a halt close to the GWR engine. The eleventh wagon followed the tenth, clipping the mail train's tender which stopped it. The twelfth wagon came loose from the eleventh after colliding with it and being pushed so it was facing opposite to the rails. The thirteenth wagon was derailed and collided with the rear of the twelfth wagon. The fourteenth wagon had been pushed by the LMS mail locomotive's momentum off the Rails, facing parallel to the down line with minor damage. The fifteenth wagon had clipped the rear right-side of the fourteenth wagon and had derailed to the right of it. The sixteenth wagon was derailed at the front left side and the rear right side. The seventeenth wagon's coupling to the sixteenth broke in the collision and was slightly derailed. The eighteenth wagon had similarly been slightly derailed but was undamaged. The remaining 29 wagons and Callaway's van were undamaged and remained on the rails.

As Aldington had applied the brakes of the train and ducked, when the locomotive derailed he was mostly uninjured, although he was buried in coal for ten minutes before he was pulled clear of it. Want similarly was mostly uninjured although he too was buried in coal, but was able to climb out of it unlike Aldington. Even though his brake van was undamaged and remained on the rails, the sudden stop flung Miller from his chair, dislocating his shoulder.

Before Button ordered him to shunt clear, Gilbert saw the Charfield down distant turn to red after his engine passed by it. In the collision, Gilbert and Sutton were both thrown amongst the coals and were injured, Sutton receiving minor injuries whilst Gilbert was more seriously injured. In preparation for the shunting activity, Fortune had dismounted his van at Charfield Station and when the train began to shunt, he walked with the train along the platform before following it beside the tracks and was guiding Sutton and Gilbert (Sutton later claimed that he was unable to see anything outside the engine due to the thick fog) into the siding when the collision occurred. He was uninjured as he had been standing well behind the GWR locomotive.

Driver Honeyfield and Clarke of the Westerleigh goods train meanwhile had passed under the bridge at about 20 mph when he felt a tugging sensation on the train. Both men thought that it was nothing serious and continued before stopping the train at the up advance signal which was set to danger by Button after the collision. Looking back, they realized what had happened to his train. Guard Callaway of the Westerleigh goods train was slightly injured in the sudden stop of his train, but otherwise fine.

Fire
In the aftermath of the collision, as in earlier railway crashes at Quintinshill, Hawes Junction and Thirsk, a fire broke out. It is believed that the gas cylinders of the first four cars were punctured and a cloud of gas quickly formed under the bridge and a fire broke out. Although many likely perished in the collision, it seems likely that the majority of the 14 passenger fatalities were due to the fire.

Seven of the 11 cars of the mail train (the two vans, the brake van, both composites and both 3rd class coaches) were completely destroyed by the fire. In a combination of the fire and the collision, the ninth to seventeenth wagons were completely destroyed. Two of the GWR goods train's wagons (the two the mail train clipped) were both completely destroyed.

Victims
Intense fire made identification of the dead and even a complete body count difficult, but it is believed that 15 people died and a further 23 were injured. (The official report lists 16 deaths and 41 injuries). There is a memorial to remember those who lost their lives at St James Church in Charfield.

Archie Ayres was the local carpenter in 1928 and was regularly employed by the local undertakers, Goscombes, to make coffins. He made the coffins for the fifteen people killed in the train crash. According to his daughter, Mrs Smith (née Ayres) in 1999, he made thirteen coffins plus two small boxes. The latter contained the remains that could not be associated with particular individuals. According to L T C Rolt in Red for Danger, the crash blazed for twelve hours.

Aftermath
Seconds after the collision, Button informed the company control office at Fishponds of the accident and requested ambulances, maintenance staff, cranes and other assistance to be sent from Bristol and Gloucester. Guard Callaway of the Westerleigh goods train meanwhile informed the Charfield stationmaster of the crash, the stationmaster arriving at 5:38 am, only eight minutes after Callaway had called him. Having established that Button had informed Booking and Smith of the obstruction, the stationmaster quickly informed the heads of LMS before making a human chain of rescuers to haul buckets of water to the fire whilst allowing people to take axes to cut their way into the wrecked train. The first doctors from Wotton-under-Edge arrived at 6:20 am whilst a special train carrying doctors arrived from Bristol at 7:17 am.

After extracting themselves from the coal, both Aldington and Want made their way to Button's signalbox and said "What is the meaning of this? Your distant was off!" but Button replied that such a thing was impossible. Button was correct, as he could not have 'pulled off' any down signal, and while the down distant showed clear via the repeater, this was found to be due to debris on the actuating cables and the weight of the debris was not enough to lower the blue lens (semaphore signals were lit with paraffin oil lamps at the time, which gave a distinctly yellowish flame - a blue lens covering the lamp would result in a green light being shown) to show the green light Want claimed to have seen.

When Want and Aldington were sent to trial for manslaughter, neither attempted to excuse themselves because of the poor weather or lack of fogmen, but rather put emphasis on the fact that the distant signal was at clear. Aldington said when the mail train was approaching Charfield, he was standing behind Want who was keeping his eyes out for signals which both saw as green. Because of this, Aldington assumed the station was clear of traffic and could proceed through to Wickwar. However, error by Button was ruled out in the investigation, since Button's signals would not be able to change the down distant due to the GWR Train occupying the section. The only possibilities were that Aldington and Want did not see the down distant, or that they saw the signal, which had been somehow set to green. The only way the latter could occur was if something heavy weighed down the cables, or if they had been sabotaged. However, no traces of either were found and the mystery remains to this day.

Causes
The block telegraph instruments at Charfield had three different positions: train on line, line clear and line blocked. Not only was it in control of the station and sidings, the signal box was a block post for two sections: Berkeley Road to Charfield (up line) and Charfield to Wickwar (down line), and was in control of signals for the entrance to the station and the following block sections on each line. (This was standard block working – even though the box may control a section it controlled the signals for the entrance to next section along the line.) The down line signals protected trains in both the down line of the station and Charfield to Wickwar section of the down line which followed. It was on the down line that events would occur. The block instrument could not be set to 'line clear' until the train on the line had passed over a treadle at the next signal box and the signalman in the box had sent his consent by telegraph. The block instruments were interlocked with the signal levers so that unless the respective instrument stood at 'line clear', they could not be cleared to accept a train. This prevented any false signals being given by mistake.

When the GWR goods passed Button's 'clearing point' signal (the end of the section) at 5:13 am, it released the treadle and thus allowed the section from Berkeley road to Charfield to be cleared. He then shouted to Gilbert and Sutton of the goods train to shunt and 'pulled off' his shunting disc signal. At this time, nothing was out of the ordinary. It was less than an hour before dawn, and the railway tracks were shrouded with fog. Due to the fog, Button could not see his down distant signal or his down outer home signal (both were connected to electrical repeaters which showed the signal position via an instrument in his box), but he could see his 'fog object' and therefore saw no need to call out fogmen. The section from Berkeley Road to Charfield was clear, and therefore Button could accept the LMS night mail from Smith. He was perfectly justified in doing so, given that had a quarter of a mile clear between the clearing point signal and his outer home signal (the first "stop" signal controlled by Charfield box)- there was plenty of space for the mail to stop. The station, however, was occupied by the shunting goods train and therefore his signals stood at danger. He accepted the mail at 5:14 am.

The signals at Charfield should have been at danger, since the block system employed left no room for human error on the signalman's part. The outer home signal (which was at danger) at Charfield, was fitted with a track circuit. The GWR goods train was nearly clear of the line and the Westerleigh empty up goods train was approaching from Wickwar, when Button happened to notice the indicator for this track circuit. It changed to 'occupied', but then Button then saw to his alarm the indicator fly back to 'clear' again. This could mean only one thing: the mail had failed to stop at the signal. Having not heeded the distant signal which should have been at caution, Aldington and Want of the mail had assumed the line to be clear and had passed the home signal at around sixty miles an hour. To make matters worse Button had accepted the up goods train, which was approaching the road bridge. There was no error in Button's part in doing this, but it meant that the mail was running into a bottleneck – the track was in a cutting with a road bridge spanning both main lines, the sidings cutting off at the road bridge. Both main lines were blocked.

Prevention
The report on the accident by Colonel Pringle stated that the LMS conversion from gas to electric lighting was not going as fast as the Board of Trade (HMRI) had hoped, and had the rolling stock of the train been electrically lit, the effects of the collision would have been greatly mitigated. It also recommended the installation of the GWR invention of automatic train control, a system which worked by having an insulated steel bar laid centrally between the rails at all distant signals. When a train passed over it, the bar made contact with a spring-loaded shoe and so raised it. When the lever in the signal box was at 'clear', the bar was electrified and when a train passed over it a bell was sounded in the cab because the current passed through the shoe. However, when the lever was at 'caution', the shoe remained dead and when it was raised it broke an electrical circuit in the locomotive, sounding an alarm whistle in the cab and opening an air valve on the brake pipes, thus clearing the vacuum and applying the automatic vacuum brakes. This alone could have prevented the disaster.

It was undoubtedly clear that the disaster was caused due to Want and Aldington Overrunning the Signal but LMS management shared some responsibility for not quickening the pace of the conversion of lighting in trains (which the Ministry Of Transport had declared must occur after the train crash at Ais Gill in 1913 and that the driver of the LMS goods train from Washwood Heath also shared a minor role in the accident, as he had chosen to take water in Charfield after being shunted there to allow the parcels train through, without telling Button. Had he chosen to take water at the scheduled point, then the GWR goods train would not have been delayed and been forced to shunt again for the mail train at Charfield.

title: Charfield railway disaster


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nori (Look Around You)

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. Dmcdevit·t 07:28, July 27, 2005 (UTC)

Nori (Look Around You)
Not notable. Suggest that this is moved into a section in the Look Around You article. The illustration is nice however. Richard W.M. Jones 17:41, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. This is just a little snippet of nonsense in a commentary track on a DVD, it doesn't even warrant a mention in the main Look Around You article. AdorableRuffian 18:47, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable. WMMartin 18:53, July 16 2005 (UTC)
 * Do not Delete. This is an instance of a bonafide meme circulating in at least three major schools of technology: the Massachusettes Institute of Technology, Rodchester Institute of Technology and Cornell. georgelazenby 15:39, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Whilst I agree that it's the job of Wikipedia to document substantial memes, it's not obvious to me that we should be including every catchphrase in the world. :-) WMMartin 15:21, July 19 2005 (UTC)
 * I point to the substantial cluster of articles documenting the tradition of hacks at only one school, MIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_%28technology_slang%29 and the fact that this single-school memword, 'hack' has since worked its way into the popular culture, thanks, no doubt, to the promenance MIT grads had in tech after graduation. Who's to say that 'nori' will not achieve the same status? georgelazenby 09:31, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
 * George, I think you're making a very fair point. If 'nori' does acquire the same patina of commonplace usage that 'hack' has, I'd fully support its inclusion. But, as yet, it hasn't. WMMartin 22:01, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Entreprise de recherches et d'activités pétrolières

Entreprise de recherches et d'activités pétrolières is a French petroleum company created in 1965 by the merger of RAP (Régie autonome des pétroles) and BRP (Bureau de recherche des pétroles). In 1976 ERAP merged with the oil company Société nationale des pétroles d’Aquitaine (SNPA) giving birth to Société nationale Elf Aquitaine (SNEA), better known as Elf Aquitaine. Later this company merged with TotalFina into TotalFinaElf, which later changed its name to TotalEnergies.

Today ERAP is a state-owned company (Établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial), making investments in sectors of energy, pharmacy and telecommunication.


text:
Wikipedia:Peer review/Elf/archive1

Elf
By the combined work of a great many contributors, this article has successively evolved beyond the 33kb limit, and it is about time it had a peer review. Opinions on style, encyclopedic relevancy and references would be especially appreciated. --Salleman 17:42, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Edit: Please give me your opinion as to whether I should add the 30 or so works of modern fantasy mentioned in the article to the reference list? How do I reference "the Harry Potter book series" for example? --Salleman 07:47, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Not bad. Merge the tiny paras into larger, more readable, move all external links from main body to notes section. Perhaps a few more pictures could be added? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 19:31, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Old PD images of elves are hell to find, really. Only the act of God directed me to that one by Richard Doyle. Promotional images of fantasy elves can be found in abundance, but I don't know if spamming that section with them is going to make anyone happier. I have added an image (of questionable quality) of Marcus from Bad Santa as an example of a Christmas elf, though. I'll start working on the short paras later.
 * Try using Boilerplate_request_for_permission. Quite a few artists/companies are willing to give some images free (PD/GNU FDL/CC), provided they got some recognition (link back, name, etc.). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 20:06, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
 * It looks good, but I agree with Piotrus that something needs to be done about the one sentence paragraphs. I would also like to see references from more than one author. - SimonP 22:36, July 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * We actually have two scholarly references, with a runner-up in Keightley. Schön is the reference for most of the "Scandinavian elves" section. I just don't see the point in noting every second sentence, and I don't know the academic system to refer a whole section to a particular work. On top of that we have a vast amount of original sources, mainly from the "fantasy elves" section. But I agree: references is the major problem with this article.
 * Edit: I have made the note system more homogenous and mentioned Schön in a note.

 * I've seen mythical elves referred to as "trooping fairies" in English lore, as they were believed to travel in well-organized bands. But I don't see this mentioned here. Probably the modern fairy section could be split out into it's own page with a brief summary paragraph on the Elf page. Thanks. — RJH 22:47, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Trooping fairies, as opposed to singular fairies, are fairies (whatever one puts into that word; usually mythical/folkloric beings of human-like manifestation in general) who appear in groups. It is not a synonym for "elves." --Salleman 20:19, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * It seems to be written like some parts of the Witch article that I had been cleaning up a while ago, but the organiztion is fairly good and much better than the witch article. — Stevey7788 (talk) 17:23, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Can you elaborate? Is it just the organization or is it the style and/or factuality that you are disputing? --Salleman 20:19, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

I think it is misguided to demand a lot of references, as most of the information on Scandinavian elves are common knowledge (at least to Scandinavians). But I am afraid that people will demand such references, since this subject is very sensitive to information from popular culture and original research. That said, I think the article is excellent.--Wiglaf 08:59, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I completely agree with Wiglaf and I for one would object if the article was FAC:ed in this state. It is quite pointless to use footnotes for things like word etymologies or quotes from texts when it is already clearly stated in the text where the quote comes from. Footnotes are not supposed to be used to reference obvious, undisputable and uncomplicated facts like these. They're supposed to be references to quotes when the text doesn't disclose the source (but avoiding to mention this in the text is just silly) or explanations which would fit in the text for whatever reason. The type of footnotes used are also not helpful since you can't click one to get straight to the notes-section. Simply listing what works that have been referenced in the "Reference" section is enough. There's also a factual errors in the article:
 * The helpers of the Swedish Santa are separate creatures from elves. The full term for them is actually "tomtenisse", where "tomte" is actually the key word and is the term for the Swedish "house gnome" (or something like it), which is a completely different creature. Nisse is often used separatly, though. To Swedes a "tomte" or a "nisse", or the two combined would under no circumstance be associated with elves like in English-speaking countries and including them in this article is very misleading and strikes me as very Anglo-centric. Furthermore the plural form of nisse is nissar, not nisser.
 * The word "alv" in Swedish is these days only used for the elves in Tolkien's books and the latter day RPG offspring, and they are not male, but rather androgynous and used for both male and female elves. The older form is "alf", with "alv" being the modern spelling, and is considered to be more or less synonymous with älva. The Swedish elves of folk myth that are known to most people are refered to as älvor and are (historically) indeed feminine even by grammatical gender. Älva is never used to refer to Tolkien's elves, female or male.
 * Peter Isotalo 13:41, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Tomtenissar for Santa's helpers may be more common than plainly nissar in Sweden, but not so in Norway and Denmark, where nisse indeed is pluralized as nisser.
 * Although there is a male elven king, I believe he is called älvkonungen or älvakonungen in the accounts, so you are probably right. Alv is just a reformed spelling of alf from Norse mythology. There is work to be done on the Scandinavian elves section. I'm in the process of reading some books. :) --Salleman 20:32, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Swap some of the image justification about, so that Post Tolkien Fantasy Elves looks neater... that image could do with being on the right OR shrink the text under the image OR expand the text to the right of the image, so the list below is all in line. Minor point on an otherwise great piece. --PopUpPirate 17:19, August 11, 2005 (UTC) - edit - done it --PopUpPirate 17:20, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

title: Wikipedia:Peer review/Elf/archive1


text:
Bustier

A bustier or bustiere is a form-fitting garment for women traditionally worn as lingerie. Its primary purpose is to push up the bust by tightening against the upper midriff and forcing the breasts up while gently shaping the waist. Nowadays, it might also be worn as a push-up bra under a low-backed dress or as a camisole for outerwear. The bustier can also be worn as a half-slip under sheer upper garments if a bold display of the midriff is not desired.

A bustier resembles a basque, but it is shorter. It reaches down only to the ribs or waist.

Modern bustiers are often made with mesh panels rather than the traditional boning.

title: Bustier