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User:Nobs01/Agent handling

Agent handler is a generic term common to many intelligence organizations which can be applied to Case Officers, those who aspire to be Case officers, "controllers", contacts, couriers and other assorted trainees.

The Business
Intelligence and Counterintelligence actually are two entirely different fields. Many writings on the subject of espionage often jumble the two together as the samething, yet it is important to understand the separation. They are entirely different specialties, with different objectives, and a different mindset required from those working in the field. Like the offense and defense on a football team, their approach to the game is entirely different, extending even their own terminology.

What can be learned from a successful espionage operation usually comes from counterespionage files, which then has the tendency to give a distorted or opaque view. For example, what is known about the CPUSA's secret apparatus, which operated a very large and successful organization in the United States from about 1921 to 1945, comes largely from FBI and SIS counterintelligence files. And these files really are fragmentary, given the time in question. While counterintelligence agents successfully identified perhaps a third of CPUSA & Soviet operatives between 1945 and 1950, only personal memoirs of the intelligence operatives in question, or successful testimony if it can be believed, or a peak into Soviet and Comintern archives, gives us a clue as to what the entire organizations' mission was and how they set about it for two and a half decades. The FBI counterintellignece files very often only contain three weeks of direct surveillance on their activities, and those being surveilled learned the operation had been compromised, so they broke their usual pattern of conduct. The terminology regarding their methods and objectives which makes its way into the history books however, usually comes from the counterintelligence source.

Counterintelligence
The objective of counterintelligence is to identify an intelligence operative. However, the intelligence operative's objective is not simply to evade detection; he has a more important mission to perform, and avoiding counterintelligence detection is just part of performing that mission. Once the identification has been made by counterintelligence, the operative is not just arrested and carted off to jail as in most crimes; a decision must be made, and he usually is temporarilly left in place so as not to tip off how he came to be identified, which would have the effect of compromising other counterintelligence operations.

First, he must be cut off from access to further secure information, without him knowing, then fed an elaborate stream of credible disinformation. Then an assessment must be made as to the extent of the damage and what information has been compromised. Eventually, the "mole" and his "handlers" will realize their operation has been compromised because of the useless disinformation being passed, yet this buys time for the difficult process of "walking the dog backwards" to determine what has been compromised within the target organization. That's the point at which an arrest is usually made, though sometimes the process of feeding disinformation can be useful, so a discovered agent may be left in place for years.

Occassionally attempts are made to "turn" a mole, that is, gain his cooperation without exposing to his controllers that his cover has been blown. This can make him an unwilling agent of either side, either to continue the feed of disinformation, or being coerced at threat of imprisonment to betray his compatriot organization. In the famous case of Arkady Schevchenko, Soviet diplomat to the United Nations who asked to defect, rather than accept his defection, CIA required he remain in place and engage in espionage. Schevchenko was a professional diplomat, not a spy, and the stressful work he found nerve wracking. This is another example of CIA's inability to penetrate a target organization and coercing the wrong "recruit" into the business.

MICE
The concept of "MICE" originated among American counterintelligence in an effort to understand what motivates a person to be willing to betray their own country. It can be regarded as one of America's contributions to the art and science of the business, now that both intelligence and counterintelligence agencies worldwide rely upon this simple mneumonic, to spot potential recruits or identify potential agents in the service of a foreign organization. The concept is simple, it is either money, ideology, coersion, or excitement, that causes a person to be willing to betray their friends and neighbors, their whole country, and go into the service of a foreign espionage organization. Sometimes "intrigue" is substituted for ideology, or "ego" for excitment, but the end result is the same. No one has produced a better list of motivations that traitors and espionage artists fall into.

Individuals who are motivated to betray their counrty for money, or greed, tend to be persons who feel life has cheated them out of their just rewards, so they have no qualms of being fairly compensated, in their own eyes, for their worth. At the same they can get back at the society which has misunderstood and not appreciated their talents. When Aldrich Ames bought an $80,000 Jaguar there wasn't the slightest pretense of hiding the fruit of his labors.

Ideology, however is the opposite end of the pole. These people are deeply committed to a system of beliefs they perceive sustains them, their families, communities, and their friends. And they will risk their lives for no payment, service to the cause being their reward. Both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, as is becoming clearer now, were "patsies", or fall guys for a much larger conspiracy, most of whom walked away unscratched. But the Rosenbergs, Ethel too, were willing patsies, martyrs to a cause for which Julius was willing to see his own wife executed rather than implicate others, and Ethel was willing to orphan her own children, in service to the cause. As to intrigue, Kim Philby, who rose to the number two spot in British intelligence, and was poised to become head, assisted the United States to establish a peacetime espionage organization, but in doing compromised the CIA from it's founding, origninally was recruited into Soviet intelligence to spy on his father, St. John Philby.

Coersion can be used against an unwilling participant, homosexuality and bribery being two of the most common. The classic example of homosexuality is Donald Maclean who was compromised by Guy Burgess. As to bribery, once a government official takes a bribe, he is forever in the possession of those who paid him. He must continue taking money, whether he wants to or not, for fear of exposure. Coersion can also be used against a loved one, which can range from fear of exposure to violence and even murder.

John Walker was a juvenile delinquent ordered to enlist by a juvenile court judge or serve time in reform school. He chose the Navy and rose to a position of trust in charge of submarine fleet codes. Walker became very good at his work and was well compensated, but the sheer adrenaline rush of excitement was his motivation in everything he did.

Intelligence
The objective of the intelligence operatives, on the other hand are many and bountiful. In fact, there is no one single job among operatives. Each has his own particular position within an organizatrion. At the high end, it may be to penetrate and infiltrate a target organization. That is, to either infiltrate a target organization with one of your own personal, or to gain by MICE, and agent in place. If the job is to handle an agent in place, that requires a Case Officer or oversee the agent. Sometimes this is done indirectly, through lower level "handlers", "controllers", contacts and such. The CIA is fond of using "agents of influence", these really are second hand sources directed at a target, like the maid to an ambassador who digs through the trash for memoranda for example, because the CIA recognizes its weakness at the direct approach of recruitment.

Other positions among intelligence operatives are in support functions, primarily maintainence and operation of "safehouses", courier, etc.

Case Officer
The relationship between Case Officer and agent is very much akin to that of a psychiatrist and patient, because very often the person willing to become involved in espionage and the betrayal of his country, are people with emotional problems, or they develop serious emotional problems from the stress which is just in the nature of the work. The Case Officer is the complete intelligence professional in the operational field, ever the cool, level headed, in control of his emotions. Always ready to deal with a crisis, be it personal or imagined, or of the dreaded breach of security protocol type, sloppiness, laziness, stupidity, lack of motivation, carelessness. The Case Officer must constantly be looking after these concerns and be ready to mentor and exhort the bedraggled agent to carry on.

However, real history shows that after a source (agent) has been exploited, he is often no longer handled well by many services e.g. BND, MI6 and others. In reality agents are given incentives and promises are made which then turn out to become broken. Since probably every major service can be assumed to be penetrated by moles, every agent runs the risk of being tipped off, which happens frequently after major defectors change sides. Many Case officers privately lack respect of the agent who is risking his life, viewing them as most societies view people who betray their own friends, as scum. Norbert Juretzko of BND, for example, got sacked after they found he did not file the real names of his Russian spies, keeping them from being shot after KGB received their filed names.

Agent, recruitment, and training
The term "agent" refers to "one who acts on behalf of another", the "another", in this case being an organization or government. Agents can be either witting or unwitting. They can also by willing of unwilling. Agents are almost always a foreign national who is under the direction of an agent handler or controller. In the case of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, this handler is known as a Case Officer.

The spotting of potential recruit often is conducted through skimming of trade journals and professional proceedings for subject experts names and affiliations, vulnerable political and technical delegation members, trade conferences attendees, and foreign travellers whose activities make them potential subjects for coersion or inducement.

The assessment of a potential agent includes verification of their credentials and bona fides or true identities. A risk analysis should be conducted to determine the dangers of approaching the target recruit with a 'pitch' for cooperation. This is either done 'cold,' where the recruiter has no prior contact with the target, or 'warm,' in which the handler and the target are prior acquaintances. Recruitment of an agent can take many months or even years to accomplish.

After recruitment agents are given the training required to conduct espionage activities safely and effectively. CIA training often includes various tradecraft such as clandestine communications, elicitation, surveillance and countersurveillance, photographic and audio recording, concealment device construction, demolitions, use of small arms, all depending on the persons fitness and skills.

In some forms of infiltration, the agent may be provided with a false identity, which CIA calls a cover or legend, that might aid in their access and operability in regards to the target. Sometimes false or reproduced documentation, disguises, and other identity support techniques are used.

Agent in place
An agent in place refers to a subject known within a society, known to his friends, who may even have a position inside a government, and is willing to cooperate or assist. Case handling in these instances require much more caution, security, and training. It is extremely dangerous for both the Case officer and agent to publicly meet and have face to face contact, though initially this may be necessary to establish bona fides and some training regarding contacts. Usually the agent in place is then handed off to an inoccuous cutout, or series of cutouts, who act as go-betweens and courier, delivering instructions and retrieving material.

Unwitting agent
Sometimes after a risk analysis, it is determined recruitment is unfeasible. Yet the target may be valuable and someone close to him is willing, hence useful information can be gained unwittingly. Two example are Stephen S. Attwood and Walter Lippmann, in Attwoods case someone connected with the university he taught at was working Soviet intelligence; in Lippmann's case his personal stenographer had knoweldge of all his Washington D.C. contacts and their conversations. Wen Ho Lee, it appears now, through sloppy work habits and carelessness on both his part and Los Alamos National Laboratory, unwittingly passed vital information to the Chinese Communist Government.

Fronts and cutouts
A front organization in espionage functions within a system of "cutouts". A "cutout" is intended to shied or isolate a higher level infiltrator who has "penetrated" the target organization (governmnet bureau, for example). Once the Department penetration has been made, the higher level infiltrator may have any of three jobs: (1) to bring within the government agency, and to protect, lower level appointees who are also infiltrators; (2) to provide information from within the penetrated target organization to an outside intelligence organization; or (3) a combination of both.

A "ring" within a penetrated bureau consists of several collectors of information from different areas within the penetrated bureau. The most valuable source must be protected; so often the least "productive" infiltrator, i.e. the person lowest on the totem pole within the penetrated target, whose knowledge and ability to collect information is second or third hand, functions as the head of the group. He carries the information from higher level gatherers to outside persons, so as to "cutout" contact between a high level infiltrator and a foreign intelligence organization.

So the most valuable and productive members of the ring are isolated from contact with foreign Agent case officers, which is safest for both. One member gathers all the collected material from all infiltrators, then will pass the information to another cutout outside the government. That second cutout likewise is usually a natural citizen, though not employed by the target government, but who then can transmit the information directly to the foreign intelligence service.

The extensive use of cutouts, so long as they are trusted and reliable persons, can become a long chain of individuals. This performs another purpose, similiar to the extensive use of "front organizations"; by their sheer number, it becomes a shell game with counterintelligence investigators, who have finite and limited resources. When suspicion arises, the large number of persons and organizations connected to the conspiracy can devour endless hours and cost, which has the effect of slowing down the process of exposing an espionage organization.

Residuals
Valuable spies are sometimes not hanged but exchanged for spies from the opposite country. Many agencies tell their spies that they will not be forgotten in a foreign prison, but this is not always the case. During the Cold War many exchanges with eastern-bloc agents were made on the Glienicke Bridge between East Germany and West Berlin.

title: User:Nobs01/Agent handling


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Talk:Ayla (Chrono Trigger)

Descriptions
Will Someone put up descriptions of the single techs please. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Guardian of Light (talk • contribs).

Need English quotes of the sources
What is the source for the Chrono Trigger V-Jump Player's Guide ref? I think you need to put English-translated quotes of that ref in the References because as it is the statements are very hard to verify. For example one of the sentences say "Ayla's hair was originally straight, but graphic designer Masanori Hoshino wanted her hair to be a "wilder, wavy style," so they had Toriyama change it", and the source used is V-Jump, but if I go read the Tsushin link there is a similar quote of Masanori Hoshino talking about Ayla's "wilder, wavy hairstyle"... so is this a mistake you meant to use Tsushin as the source or do both V-Jump and Tsushin mention this anecdote? In both cases there would be less confusion if we had an English link for V-Jump... Pietro Nelli (talk) 21:09, 6 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Looking into it, I can elaborate on these. First off, I'm not sure what you mean with the "Famicom Tsushin" link. Indeed, shmuplations includes the hair bit in the article, but as it says on the sidebar, many details are mentioned in multiple sources. The owner of Shmuplations was able to find the Famicom Tsushin and verify the bit about her being Tokita's favorite character to create, but was not able to find the direct source of the other information. However, I was able to source the hair bit to VJump Magazine after finding translations of Toriyama's notes, which would suggest to me that the hair bit was merely referenced multiple times. - Bryn (talk) (contributions) 00:02, 7 October 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm also very unsure of other edits of yours. Why are you removing The Escapist as a source, and why do you remove the note about Tokita creating her when the detail of him basing her on another person is verified? It would be strange for someone to say that when the character was not created by them. - Bryn (talk) (contributions) 00:10, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Ayla (Chrono Trigger)


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Oscar Espinosa Chepe

Óscar Manuel Espinosa Chepe (November 29, 1940 – September 23, 2013) was a Cuban economist and dissident. He was one of approximately 75 dissidents arrested, tried and convicted in 2003 as part of a crackdown by the Cuban government nicknamed the "Black Spring". He was given a twenty-year sentence on a charge of "activities against the integrity and sovereignty of the State", causing Amnesty International to declare him as a prisoner of conscience.

Background
Espinosa was a graduate of the University of Havana, where he received a degree in economics. He served on Prime Minister Fidel Castro's Economic Advisory Group from 1965 to 1968 before spending fourteen years as the economic adviser at the Cuban embassy in Belgrade, overseeing Cuba's economic and technological cooperation with Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. In 1984, he returned to Cuba to work at the National Bank, where he was responsible for trade and tourism.

However, throughout the 1980s, Espinosa increasingly disagreed with national economic policy. When he discussed his views with a colleague in 1992, he was demoted, and four years later was fired. Espinosa began to write critiques of Cuban economic policy which he published overseas. He also hosted a radio program titled Charlando con Chepe ("Chatting with Chepe") in which he discussed the Cuban economy; the program was carried on the U.S.-funded station Radio Martí.

Espinosa was married to independent Cuban journalist Miriam Leiva.

Arrest and trial
On March 19, 2003, Espinosa was arrested during the Black Spring after security agents reportedly spent 10 hours searching his apartment. At a trial on April 3, 2003, Espinosa was accused of "activities against the integrity and sovereignty of the State". Authorities stated that Espinosa had received money from the U.S. government, and that US$13,600 had been discovered sewn into one of his jackets. Espinosa was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was one of approximately 75 dissidents arrested and tried.

Following a rejected appeal by Espinosa, the Representative of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Christine Chanet, appealed to President Castro to pardon him. The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush appealed to Castro on Espinosa's behalf, calling on the government to provide treatment for his liver disease. A spokesman described the Cuban government as "going out of its way" to be inhumane to its prisoners. Espinosa's wife Leiva reported that he had lost forty pounds since his arrest and was kept in a cell with no windows or running water.

Leiva became active in the Ladies in White, a group of wives of political prisoners which marched through Havana each Sunday protesting their husbands' detention. She continued to march even after Espinosa's early release.

Release
Espinosa was released from prison along with fellow writer Raúl Rivero on November 29, 2004, after serving just over 19 months of his prison sentence; It was his sixty-fourth birthday. The authorities granted him medical parole because his already poor health had declined seriously during his incarceration.

After his release, he called on the government to release the remaining Black Spring prisoners, stating, "The government really committed a very big error with us. We are completely peaceful and we want only the reconciliation of Cuban society."

In 2006, Espinosa stated his opposition to U.S. funding for the Cuban dissident movement, calling it "counterproductive" and stating that the Cuban people must solve its own problems. Following Raúl Castro's assumption of the presidency, Espinosa expressed his hope that Castro could be the Deng Xiaoping of Cuba, improving the economy and the standard of living.

Death
He died of liver disease on September 23, 2013, in Spain.

title: Oscar Espinosa Chepe


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Talk:List of strikes

Inclusion criteria
At the moment, this list is an indiscriminate collection of information. Every list on Wikipedia needs inclusion criteria.

While some lists can and should include every verifiable member (lists of mayors of cities and such), for many that is completely unworkable (e.g. List of people from New York City).

There are certainly thousands of strikes worldwide every year. A complete list is obviously impossible and would be worthless (who would read it?).

Most strikes are at least mentioned in local newspapers. Certainly my school districts four strikes (that I remember) over the past several decades would have been covered in the local papers, the nearest city's papers and would have been mentioned as part of a trend, movement, social issue, etc. in other sources throughout the country. As a result, a list of those discussed in reliable sources (often suggested, seldom workable) would still generate an unworkably long list.

One suggested set common selection selection criteria would limit limit the list to those with blue-link, non-redirect articles. In essence, those notable enough to have their own article. If there is a Wikipedia article on Jane's Homemade Widgets, Inc. strike of 2020, it would be included. If the link for the strike merely links to a small section in the article on Jane's Homemade Widgets, Inc., it would not.

Thoughts? - Sum mer PhD v2.0 22:35, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

 * As I rather expected, there have been no comments in the two months this has been here.

 * I declare that I am a consensus of one. Actually, I'm going to go through a bit at a time, kicking the article onto a few watchlists to both move ahead with the improvements and generate some feedback -- for or against the changes. - Sum mer PhD v2.0 22:18, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

 * I agree that there should be criteria for which strikes should be in this list, but I disagree that there needs to be a unique article on Wikipedia for it to be relevant. You removed the 2019 Indian General Strike, which had 150 million people on strike . Is that not relevant to this list? I think you removing 20k lines from this article is extreme. Realityfabric (talk) 22:01, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

 * I reverted all these changes which included strikes that had citations, but left the changesets where nothing about strikes was cited. I don't think those should be removed in the future without attempting to find a source to cite first. Realityfabric (talk) 22:29, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

 * I did not remove "20k lines". I removed ~20,000 characters. However, before I did that, I did something else.

 * On 20 August, I pointed out that every "list of" article on Wikipedia must have selection criteria which are "unambiguous, objective, and supported by reliable sources", per Stand-alone lists. Of the selection criteria commonly used, blue link notability is the only one which can be applied here. Additionally, I cannot find any other unambiguous, objective criteria to apply.

 * Then, I waited for two months for comments and suggestions. As there were none, I immediately pounced and deleted most of the article started small to draw attention to the issue, taking several weeks to implement.

 * Now, one month after that, you have decided to restore most of it, favoring your own criteria. At the moment, those criteria are rather mysterious. What "selection criteria which are unambiguous, objective, and supported by reliable sources" have you decided now apply here? The only thing I can really find in your comments is that it's strikes that "have citations".

 * Searching the Philadelphia Inquirer, I find roughly 20 unique strikes mentioned in the past 2 weeks (none of them listed in this article). Being very generous, let's assume there are no other strikes in other sources anywhere in the world and that 20 is the number per month. That gives us 240 strikes per year that we can cite. Actually, 20,000 lines would get us back to about 1939. Frankly, I can't imagine "has a cite" generating anything other than a very long, woefully incomplete list that absolutely no one would ever read. Heck, try reading the whole thing now and see how far you get. - Sum mer PhD v2.0 01:00, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

 * You removed strikes which involved millions of people, so I figured that you weren't being particularly careful with what you removed. I know you were removing everything that didn't have a link to a Wikipedia article, and I know that you did it block by block and not all at once. I think a 4 month period from proposing criteria to removing everything that doesn't meet your criteria (with no response from anyone) is too short. And also I apologize, I didn't realize that the diff is in filesize, I'm used to diffs being in lines. My mistake on that part.

 * And you make a good point. Every cite-able strike would be obnoxiously long. But I still think "Has a Wikipedia article" is too strict of criteria. There are other articles which are more specific, though, so maybe making it clear what the criteria for being in the list and also linking to those lists in this article would be a compromise. For instance, some of the nursing strikes I added are listed in the List of health and medical strikes. At least one of them is notable enough that even without a Wikipedia article I think it should be included (one spanned 4 states in the US, definitely not an insignificant strike).

 * I didn't revert the changes to match my own criteria, I reverted them because if you removed one massive strike then it is possible that you removed more, and I think that we need a better idea of how to proceed.

 * So, possible solutions here are: clearly linking specific list pages for strikes; moving strikes which aren't significant enough for this list to those pages; clearly stating the criteria for making this page's lists; and then removing anything that doesn't meet the criteria.

 * I'm not sure how large a strike should be before it makes the list. 1000+ people? What do you think? Realityfabric (talk) 16:59, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

 * An arbitrary number of people involved is exactly that: arbitrary. Wikipedia is composed of articles about notable topics. We would need some kind of sourced reason showing that strikes with over 1,000 people are somehow notable while strikes with 998 people are not. (Additionally, the number of people involved in a strike is not always known with any degree of precision.)

 * If there is a notable strike which does not have an article, the solution is not to contort the inclusion criteria here to allow that particular strike. Rather, we should write the article first. If there is a massive strike which does not have an article, find two sources, write two sentences and establish a stub. If it's notable, the article will grow. If it isn't, the stub will be deleted. Inclusion/exclusion here will follow.

 * To be encyclopedic, lists must have selection criteria which are "unambiguous, objective, and supported by reliable sources". The only common option which applies here is blue link notable and I can find no other source for unambiguous, objective criteria.

 * Meanwhile, this list is an unencyclopedic jumble of strikes, would be strikes, labor actions and -- likely -- completely fictional strikes of no particular distinction. It's the equivalent of "List of fires" including the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the 9/11 attacks, my aunt's kitchen fire and the local sports team's recent bonfire (which certainly had more witnesses than the Triangle fire). For both this list and the fire list, blue link notability would make short work of it. - Sum mer PhD v2.0 17:41, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

 * Your claim that this list "likely" has completely fictional strikes is completely irrelevant. I 100% support removing strikes with no source provided, and I'm pretty sure I already said that. What makes a strike worthy of its own Wikipedia article? (That's a rhetorical question, you already linked to that information.) If you only want to include strikes that have a Wikipedia article then it seems fair that that criteria itself would suffice (regardless of whether the article itself already exists). Needing to create an article before adding something to this list seems like an unreasonable barrier.

 * Also, excuse me for not responding for 3 weeks. Despite subscribing to changes in the talk page I haven't been getting notifications, and have to manually check. I don't live on Wikipedia. 10 days with no response seems to me to be an extremely short wait time to decide that your consensus of one still stands.

 * Whether you take my recommendation (that Wikipedia standards for whether an article is allowed to exist should be used to determine whether an item should be allowed on this list regardless of whether the article exists) or not I don't plan to continue following this discussion.

 * Note that I disagree with deleting all of the items without an article, I support deleting items that don't have sources, I support moving less relevant items to pages specific to the kind of strike, and that I don't want to start an edit war. Realityfabric (talk) 19:50, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of strikes


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User:Panentheon

Panentheon - a Wikipedia user from the UK

I am a 17 year old college student from England.

I have registered for an account at Wikipedia largely because of the amount of time I spend reading articles on this site, conducting various personal research. Despite my young age I have some considerable knowledge in certain areas, and I can make at least a small contribution to the advancement of Wikipedia.

My interests - academic and personal - include Cognitive neuroscience, Pharmacology, Near-Death Studies, Neurotheology, Parapsychology, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Quantum mechanics, Cosmology, Philosophy of Religion, Theology, Mysticism, Eastern philosophy, Magic, Kabbalah, Esotericism, Aesthetics, Existentialism, and Eschatology.

title: User:Panentheon


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User talk:Mysterd429

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! -- Infrogmation 14:52, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
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Talk:Farragut class destroyer (1958)
Just wanted to let you know that I have responded to your question on Talk:Farragut class destroyer (1958). Thanks. -- malo (tlk) (cntrbtns) 05:46, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Globe multi user box.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Globe multi user box.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikipedia because of copyright law (see Wikipedia's Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikipedia are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Rory 0 96 (block) 03:27, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, that site says that the image is copyrighted, so we can't use it. Other people upload images that they made themselves, or are so old that they're in the public domain (or in PD for another reason), or found on a site that has databases of free images.  --Rory096 21:39, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject LGBT studies
Hello! I noticed that your userpage mentions that you are interested in LGBT issues. Would you be interested in joining WikiProject LGBT studies? The WikiProject's been a bit inactive recently and some of us are trying to get it going again. We'd love to have you on board! Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 21:09, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mysterd429


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Functional block diagram

A functional block diagram, in systems engineering and software engineering, is a block diagram that describes the functions and interrelationships of a system.

The functional block diagram can picture: The block diagram can use additional schematic symbols to show particular properties.
 * functions of a system pictured by blocks
 * input and output elements of a block pictured with lines
 * the relationships between the functions, and
 * the functional sequences and paths for matter and or signals

Since the late 1950s, functional block diagrams have been used in a wide range applications, from systems engineering to software engineering. They became a necessity in complex systems design to "understand thoroughly from exterior design the operation of the present system and the relationship of each of the parts to the whole."

Many specific types of functional block diagrams have emerged. For example, the functional flow block diagram is a combination of the functional block diagram and the flowchart. Many software development methodologies are built with specific functional block diagram techniques. An example from the field of industrial computing is the Function Block Diagram (FBD), a graphical language for the development of software applications for programmable logic controllers.

title: Functional block diagram


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User talk:Pinkchampagne4

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, please be sure to sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes (~~~~) to produce your name and the current date, or three tildes (~~~) for just your name. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! Sonic Mew | talk to me 14:53, July 13, 2005 (UTC)
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 * If you're ready for the complete list of Wikipedia documentation, there's also Topical index.

Annabelle Caufman Soudavar
You should be aware that the article you created is up for deletion per Wikipedia's deletion policy. You are free to put the information fom the article in your User Page, however. Sonic Mew | talk to me 14:53, July 13, 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Pinkchampagne4


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kubus media

 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. Postdlf 07:09, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

Kubus media
This page seems spam, it should be deleted Cate 14:53, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete : Spam Manik Raina 15:13, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per above. Dcarrano 17:57, July 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - advert - Tεx  τ  urε  19:56, 19 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: User talk:85.99.131.86

title: User talk:85.99.131.86


text:
Candleshoe

Candleshoe is a 1977 American children's adventure comedy film, directed by Norman Tokar in a screenplay by David Swift and Rosemary Anne Sisson, produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista. Based on the Michael Innes novel Christmas at Candleshoe (1953), the film stars Jodie Foster, David Niven, Helen Hayes (in her final film role), and Leo McKern.

Plot
Con-artist Harry Bundage (McKern) believes that the lost treasure of pirate Captain Joshua St. Edmund is hidden at Candleshoe, the large country estate of Lady St. Edmund (Hayes). Thanks to Harry's cousin Clara (Vivian Pickles), a corrupt former cleaning woman at Candleshoe, Harry has the captain's first clue. Harry recruits street-smart American foster child Casey Brown (Foster), employing her to pose as Lady St. Edmund's granddaughter, the Honourable Margaret, 4th Marchioness of Candleshoe, who disappeared ten years ago at age four. Casey is the right age to pass for the long-lost Margaret and possesses several identifying scars that young Margaret was known to have. Casey agrees to go along with the con and discover further clues in exchange for a cut of the profits.

Arriving at Candleshoe, Casey finds that Lady St. Edmund is living in genteel poverty, and that Candleshoe itself is constantly on the verge of being unable to pay its taxes. Priory (Niven), the estate's butler (who is forced to pose as various members of the household to conceal that all the other servants have been let go) manages to keep one step ahead of foreclosure by pawning the house's antiques, conducting tours of the estate, and selling produce at market. Four local orphans adopted by Lady St. Edmund assist Priory.

Casey eventually becomes part of the family and decides to find the treasure for the benefit of Candleshoe, rather than for Harry. This nearly costs the girl her life when she is seriously injured trying to prevent Harry from stealing money from Lady St. Edmund. Casey, now unconscious with a severe concussion, is taken to a hospital, and remains there for several days. Meanwhile, without the money Harry has stolen, Candleshoe is unable to pay its taxes and is within days of foreclosure. When Casey learns that Lady St. Edmund is preparing to go to a retirement home and send the children back to the orphanage, she breaks down and tells them about the treasure. After unraveling the final clue together, the household returns to Candleshoe to find Harry and his crew tearing the place apart to find the hidden treasure. Casey, Priory, and the children manage to fight off the thieves until the police arrive, inadvertently discovering the treasure in the process.

With Candleshoe safe and her scheme discovered, Casey, feeling she has no right to stay, prepares to return to Los Angeles, but is stopped by Lady St. Edmund, who offers her a real home at Candleshoe. Casey expresses doubt, wondering what will happen if Lady St. Edmund's real granddaughter ever returns, but she is eventually persuaded to return to Candleshoe with Lady St. Edmund. The ending is ambiguous as to whether Casey truly is the real Margaret.

The four clues were revealed in the hunt for the treasure:
 * "For the sunrise student there is treasure among books". This refers to a message in a stained-glass window that can only be seen in the Candleshoe library at sunrise.
 * "The paths of glory lead but to the grave". This refers to the poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray.
 * "He followed the eclipse for riches and fame; and, if ye would prosper, do ye the same". The clue refers to a painting of Captain St. Edmund's ship, the Eclipse.
 * "Underfoot, in the great hall. Look high, look low, discover all". This clue refers to a statue of Captain St. Edmund in Candleshoe's great hall. The statue's foot is propped on a chest in which the treasure is hidden.

Cast

 * Jodie Foster as Casey Brown
 * David Niven as Priory
 * Helen Hayes as Lady Gwendolyn St. Edmund
 * Leo McKern as Harry Bundage
 * Vivian Pickles as Clara Grimsworthy
 * Veronica Quilligan as Cluny
 * Ian Sharrock as Peter
 * Sarah Tamakuni as Anna
 * David Samuels as Bobby
 * John Alderson as Jenkins
 * Mildred Shay as Mrs. McCress, Casey’s Foster Mother
 * Michael Balfour as Mr. McCress, Casey’s Foster Father
 * Sydney Bromley as Mr. Thresher
 * Michael Segal as Train Guard

Location
Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire, then home to William Compton, 6th Marquess of Northampton, posed as the fictional estate of Candleshoe.

The Severn Valley Railway that runs between the midland towns of Bridgnorth and Kidderminister in the United Kingdom was used as a location in the film.

Music
In September 2015, Intrada Records released a special edition of the soundtrack containing the entire score from the film plus bonus material, including alternate takes of some tracks.

Reception
Metacritic gave the film a 68% score.

Home media
Walt Disney Home Video first released Candleshoe on VHS in April 1985. The film was re-released as part of the first wave of the Walt Disney's Studio Film Collection VHS series on September 11, 1991.

Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film on DVD on September 14, 1999. Walt Disney Home Video re-released the film on DVD on June 1, 2004.

Candleshoe has not been released on Blu-ray.

The film is available for streaming on Disney+, as of April 2023.

title: Candleshoe


text:
Omar Said Al-Hassan

Omar Said Al-Hassan is the Chairman of the Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank which gathers, and publishes information about the Persian Gulf states, and Arab issues in general.

title: Omar Said Al-Hassan


text:
Ryan Wilson (wrestler)

Ryan Wilson is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with NWA Total Nonstop Action under his real name and under the ring names Titus and Trytan, and for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment in its Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental promotion under the ring names Tytus and Jacob Duncan.

Early career (2001–2003)
Wilson debuted in 2001, wrestling on the independent circuit.

NWA Total Nonstop Action (2003–2004, 2005)
Wilson joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in September 2003 as one-half of a heel tag team, Redshirt Security, with Kevin Northcutt. Northcutt and Wilson were corrupt, physically imposing security guards (who wore red t-shirts) loyal to Don Callis and Jeff Jarrett, and regularly butt heads with the diminutive face "Blackshirt Security" (Chris Vaughn and Rick Santel). After Redshirt Security was expanded to three members with the addition of Legend in November 2003, the trio began feuding with the rebels who opposed the administration of Jarrett and Callis, namely Erik Watts, The Sandman, and Raven. This led to a six-man Clockwork Orange House of Fun match on November 19, in which Wilson suffered a broken arm. In 2004, he was fired for steroid abuse and was replaced by Legend.

Wilson returned to TNA one year later as Titus, the bodyguard of Jonny Fairplay. The gimmick was never televised, although Wilson made several dark match appearances, including a victory over Dallas on November 19. Fairplay was not employed by TNA on a regular basis, and the Titus character was eventually discarded.

In early 2005, video packages were aired hyping the debut of Wilson's latest gimmick, Trytan. The Trytan gimmick had aspects similar to The Terminator, including wearing black leather attire, sunglasses and even utilizing the character's classic mannerisms. Even his finisher, a fireman's carry facebuster was dubbed the T-3, the shortened name of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and a take-off of Brock Lesnar's F-5. Wilson began stalking Monty Brown, and would disrupt his matches, extending a hand towards Brown from the entranceway. On March 13, Brown and Trytan faced off at Destination X. Brown eventually gained the upper hand over Trytan, but as he prepared to hit his signature Pounce finisher, the arena lights went out. When the lighting was restored, a masked man was in the ring in place of Wilson. Brown Pounced and pinned the masked man and was awarded the victory, although he had been unable to gain a victory over Wilson. The masked man was later identified as Mideon, but was never properly included in the storyline. Wilson's push was virtually halted following his match at Destination X. He wrestled sporadically for TNA until May 2005, when he was placed in a tag team with Simon Diamond. Diamond and Trytan appeared at Slammiversary on June 19, defeating Apolo and Sonny Siaki in a tag team match. Wilson left TNA the following month when his contract expired and was not renewed.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2007, 2008)
On November 14, 2005, Wilson signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. He was assigned to the WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling. He originally went by the name "Tytus", making his debut at the January 18, 2006 OVW TV show by coming out alongside Da Beast. At the July 25 SmackDown!/ECW tapings, he defeated Funaki in a dark match.

Wilson then began wrestling in OVW under the ring name Jacob Duncan, a gimmick which saw him dress as a woodsman wearing a mask similar in design to the one Mick Foley wore as Mankind. He also spoke to his "momma" about getting his revenge on those who made fun of him growing up, indicating a sign of storyline psychosis. After a match, Jacob was confronted in the ring by The Boogeyman and began a short feud with him. On August 23, Boogeyman unmasked Duncan to reveal his identity. At OVW's 400th anniversary show, Duncan defeated The Boogeyman in a tables match to end their feud. On October 25, 2006, Duncan won the OVW Heavyweight Championship from Chet the Jett in an impromptu title match. On December 15, Duncan dropped the title to Chet. In early 2007, Duncan began feuding with Dan Rodman over the interest of Beth Phoenix, resulting in a "love triangle". After the feud ended, Phoenix continued to manage Duncan in OVW before she made her last appearance in OVW on August 15, where she lost to Katie Lea in a number one contenders match for the OVW Women's Championship and then joined the main World Wrestling Entertainment roster full-time. On November 8, 2007, Wilson was released from his WWE developmental contract. On November 1, 2008, Wilson, reusing his Jacob Duncan gimmick, returned to OVW for one night only to cause a surprise attack on Anthony Bravado.

Championships and accomplishments

 * International Wrestling Association
 * IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * Ohio Valley Wrestling
 * OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * New Wrestling Association
 * NWA World Championship (1 time)

title: Ryan Wilson (wrestler)


text: User talk:82.43.66.208

title: User talk:82.43.66.208


text:
Niamh Kavanagh

Niamh Kavanagh (born 13 February 1968) is an Irish singer who sang the winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993.

The 1993 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Millstreet, County Cork, Republic of Ireland. She sang "In Your Eyes" to clinch a second consecutive win for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The singer represented Ireland again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, with the song "It's for You". She performed at the semi-final on 27 May 2010, finishing 9th in a field of 17 contestants, thus qualifying for the Grand Final on 29 May 2010. In the final, she finished 23rd in a field of 25 contestants, having received 25 points.

Kavanagh is highly regarded among fans of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the OGAE Ireland (official Eurovision fan club) president, Diarmuid Furlong, said: "A lot of us would regard Niamh as one of the best vocalists who's ever won the Eurovision Song Contest". While she has enjoyed success in Europe, Kavanagh remains relatively unknown in the United States. However, the singer recorded an album in that country following her initial Eurovision success.

Early life
Kavanagh was born in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland. Her father was a singer and a saxophonist. She often sang songs at family parties as a child. Her influences include Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Blood, Sweat and Tears, all of whom she listened to from a young age, as well as Bonnie Raitt.

The Commitments
Kavanagh performed as a lead and backing vocalist on the film soundtrack for The Commitments in songs such as "Destination Anywhere" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man".

In spite of this, Kavanagh was not prepared for the boost in recognition she received for her later entries in the Eurovision Song Contest.

1993
On 14 March 1993, twenty-five-year-old Kavanagh performed in RTÉ's National Song Contest, which selected the Irish entry for the larger Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Millstreet, County Cork, later that spring. Opening the show at Dublin's Point Theatre, Kavanagh performed "In Your Eyes" (lyrics and music by Jimmy Walsh). At the close of voting, Kavanagh had won the National Song Contest with 118 points from the ten regional juries, a 39-point margin over the runner-up. This win meant Kavanagh and "In Your Eyes" would go on to represent Ireland on the Eurovision stage in Millstreet.

At the Eurovision on 15 May, Kananagh performed "In Your Eyes" near the middle of the show, as the fourteenth act out of twenty-five. This time, the voting was much closer, and Ireland exchanged the leading position with the United Kingdom several times throughout the announcement of the results. With 187 points (a record at the time), Kavanagh went on to win the competition in a nail-biting finish, as the result was decided by the final maximum score awarded by the last country to vote. "In Your Eyes" went on to be the best-selling single in Republic of Ireland for 1993, and reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart. It went on to become a double-platinum success and Kavanagh was recognised by people on the street. She recorded an album in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, and this album was produced by John Jennings. She later left music to spend more time with her children.

2010
Kavanagh was again representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, with the song "It's for You". The contest was held in Oslo, Norway in May 2010 (semi-final: 27 May 2010; final: 29 May 2010). "It's for You" was written by Niall Mooney, Marten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson and Jonas Gladnikoff. Kavanagh performed "It's for You" in Oslo alongside her cousin, Niamh Kavanagh, a whistle player, and Nikki Kavanagh, a singer.

Kavanagh's possible participation in Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was confirmed on 10 February 2010 when Ireland's public service broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), announced the five finalists for Eurosong 2010, the national final to determine entry. The national final occurred during season 48 of The Late Late Show on 5 March. Kavanagh scored maximum points to beat four other participants.

According to The Irish Times, Kavanagh received "enormous support" from journalists and spectators in Oslo, and was much sought after ahead of the event. At the semi-final stage on 27 May 2010 she – along with the other members of the Irish act – qualified for the final, held on Saturday 29 May 2010. Performing 12th on the night, it was the first time in four years that Ireland qualified for the final. The song was the 10th to be performed during the final. At the end of the Eurovision Niamh Kavanagh scored a total of 25 points for Ireland bringing them to 23rd (3rd last) on the leaderboard in front of Belarus and the United Kingdom.

Other appearances
On Sunday 3 September 2000, Kavanagh performed at the homecoming ceremony for "the quiet man of the Big Brother household", Thomas "Tom" McDermott, from Greencastle, County Tyrone, who had just been evicted from the first ever series of the British version of Big Brother the previous week.

Kavanagh appeared on The Late Late Show's Eurovision edition in 2006, to perform "In Your Eyes" along with Linda Martin, and other past Irish Eurovision contestants.

Kavanagh was the Irish spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. She was also the Irish spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, 30 years after she won Eurovision.

On the New Year's Eve she took part in the Romanian National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 where she performed her 2010 entry in the Contest and the ABBA hit "Happy New Year", alongside Chiara Siracusa and Paula Seling.

In 2015, Kavanagh was a judge in Irish national final to Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015

In 2018, Kavanagh took part in the music video for the Irish entrant for Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018, "IOU" performed by Taylor Hynes. She portrayed the mother character, while 2018 Eurovision entrant Ryan O'Shaughnessy portrayed the father character.

Personal life
Kavanagh is married to her musician husband, Paul Megahey, from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, whom she first encountered in a recording studio. The couple have two sons, Jack and Tom, and have lived in Carrickfergus for 11 years. Kavanagh once planned to move to the United States to live there, but changed her mind following her success in the Eurovision Song Contest. As well as spending time with her children and walking the dog, Kavanagh spends time listening to any music that is sent to her and issues personal replies to everyone who sends this to her.

Albums

 * Flying Blind (1995) – Arista
 * Together Alone (with Gerry Carney) (1998) – Random Records

Guest appearances

 * The Commitments OST – Kavanagh Performs "Destination Anywhere" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"
 * The Commitments, Vol. 2 – Kavanagh Performs "Nowhere to Run" and Backing Vocals on 7 other tracks
 * Mick Hanly – Live at the Meeting Place – Kavanagh Performs the track "Heart of Hearts"
 * Secret Garden – Inside I'm Singing – Kavanagh Performs the track "Simply You"

title: Niamh Kavanagh


text:
Ashington A.F.C.

Ashington Association Football Club is a football club based in Ashington, Northumberland, England. They are currently members of the and play at Woodhorn Lane.

Formed in 1883, the club have played in a number of local and regional leagues, including the Northern Alliance, the East Northumberland League, the North Eastern League, the Midland League, Wearside League and the North Regional League. They were a founding member of the Football League Third Division North in 1921 and are the northernmost team to have played in the Football League. The club were later founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968 and have been in the Northern League since 1970.

History
The club was established in 1883 and began entering the FA Cup in 1887. They joined the Northern Alliance at the start of the 1892–93 season when the league was expanded to twelve clubs. However, the league was reduced to ten club the following season, and as they had finished in the bottom two, Ashington were asked to leave. The club then ceased activities, but were brought back following a large meeting, joining the East Northumberland League in 1895. They went on to win the league title in 1897–98.

Ashington applied to rejoin the Northern Alliance in 1901, but were rejected. However, the following season they were elected back into the league, finishing second in the vote to admit three clubs. They won the league in 1913–14 and moved up to the North Eastern League. When football resumed after World War I the club rejoined the North Eastern League, where they remained until being elected into the new Third Division North of the Football League in 1921. After all the applications had been considered by the League, Ashington were one of fourteen clubs marked out for admission in a single bloc, which they duly were. In 1926–27 the club recorded its best performance in the FA Cup, reaching the third round, where they lost 2–0 at home to Nottingham Forest. After finishing bottom of the division in 1928–29 the club lost their bid for re-election, receiving only 14 votes to the 24 received by non-League York City.

Ashington subsequently dropped into Division Two of the North Eastern League as Division One had no spaces. With only two clubs eligible for promotion, Ashington appeared to have missed out after finishing third. However, runners-up White-le-Head declined the opportunity of promotion, allowing Ashington to move up to Division One. Five years later the league was reduced to a single division, where they remained until the league folded in 1958 due to the resignation of the Football League clubs' reserve teams, unsuccessfully applying for election to the Football League in 1947 (when no vote took place) and 1950 (when they received no votes).

Alongside several other former North Eastern League clubs, Ashington switched to the Midland League. In 1960 they were founder members of the Northern Counties League, finishing as runners-up in its first season. The North Eastern League was re-established in 1962, but lasted only two seasons. Ashington spent the 1964–65 season in the Wearside League before joining the North Regional League, which was largely composed of Football League reserve teams. They remained in the league for three seasons, before becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968. In the first season of the league, the club finished third-from-bottom and resigned due to the costs of being in the league. They spent a single season back in the Northern Alliance, before joining the Northern League in 1970. In 1973–74 they reached the semi-finals of the last-ever FA Amateur Cup, losing 3–0 to eventual winners Bishop's Stortford in a replay.

In 1981 a second division was added to the league, with Ashington remaining in Division One. However, after finishing second-from-bottom in 1983–84 they were relegated to Division Two. In 2000–01 they won Division Two, earning promotion to Division One. However, they spent only a single season in Division One before being relegated back to Division Two. After finishing fifth in 2002–03, they won Division Two again in 2003–04 and were promoted back to Division One. In 2012–13 they won the Northumberland Senior Cup for the tenth time with a 3–0 win over Whitley Bay. The 2022–23 season saw the club finish second in Division One, qualifying for an inter-step play-off. They went on to defeat Glossop North End 3–0 in the match to earn promotion to Division One East of the Northern Premier League.

Colours and crest
Ashington's colours are black and white vertical stripes, used on the shirt and paired with black shorts and black socks for home matches. While away, they use an all light blue shirt and socks with white shorts.

The Ashington AFC badge has two lions flanking a badge with a stylised AFC logo, with a football between the legs of the A.

Ground
Ashington moved a new ground named Station Road in 1909, which was renamed Portland Park in 1914. They played at Portland Park during their Football League years, with the club's first Football League match attracting a crowd of 9,000. They remained at Portland Park after dropping out of the league, with the club's record attendance of 13,199 coming for an FA Cup second round tie with Rochdale on 9 December 1950.

In 2008 the club left Portland Park to move to Woodhorn Lane. The final match was played at the old ground in February 2008 against Seaham Red Star, attracting a crowd of 1,954. The first game at Woodhorn Lane took place on 30 August 2008 against Ossett Albion, with 341 spectators watching a 2–1 win for Ashington in an FA Cup preliminary round game.

Honours

 * Northern League
 * Division Two champions 2000–01, 2003–04
 * Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup winners 1998–99, 2002–03
 * Division One Cup 2021–22
 * Northern Alliance
 * Champions 1913–14
 * East Northumberland League
 * Champions 1897–98
 * Northumberland Senior Cup
 * Winners 1920–21, 1932–33, 1938–39, 1949–50, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1961–62, 1966–67, 1979–80, 2012–13

Records

 * Best FA Amateur Cup performance: Semi-finals, 1973–74
 * Best FA Cup performance: Third round, 1926–27
 * Best FA Trophy performance: second round 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83
 * Best FA Vase performance: Fifth round, 2011–12
 * Record attendance:
 * At Portland Park: 13,199 vs Rochdale, FA Cup second round, 9 December 1950
 * At Woodhorn Lane: 1,424 vs Stocksbridge Park Steels, FA Cup third qualifying round replay, 4 October 2022

title: Ashington A.F.C.


text:
Eroica Trio

The Eroica Trio is an American piano trio consisting of Erika Nickrenz, piano; Sara Parkins, violin; and Sara Sant'Ambrogio, cello.

The trio take their name from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. They have toured and recorded widely, and released six recordings for Angel/EMI Classics Records, garnering multiple Grammy Award nominations.

The founding members of the trio were Nickrenz, Sant'Ambrogio, and Adela Peña. They were all trained at the Juilliard School. In addition to being accomplished musicians, the Eroica Trio have attracted attention in the chamber music world from some as physically attractive, stylishly dressed women.

The trio took first prize in the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Competition in 1991. Their first compact disc recording Eroica Trio won National Public Radio's 1997 Performance Today Award for "Debut Recording of the Year."

In addition to touring with a varied piano trio repertoire, the Eroica Trio often appear in concert with major orchestras performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto.

The Eroica Trio commissioned a triple concerto by American composer Kevin Kaska. It was premiered by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in November 2001. They have also commissioned several works from American composer Bruce Wolosoff, including "The Loom," inspired by the watercolors of Eric Fischl; that work was released on the Montage Music Society's album Creating Music Inspired by Visual Art.

title: Eroica Trio


text:
Ridley

Ridley may refer to:

Education

 * Ridley College (Ontario), a university preparatory boarding and day school located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
 * Ridley College (Melbourne), an evangelical theological college in Melbourne, Australia
 * Ridley Hall, Cambridge, a theological college in the evangelical tradition of the Church of England (named for the martyr bishop Nicholas)
 * Ridley School District, in Pennsylvania, United States
 * Ridley High School, in Folsom, Pennsylvania, United States

Entertainment

 * Ridley (Metroid), a recurring antagonist from the Metroid video game series
 * Ridley Jones, an American animated television series
 * Ridley Silverlake, the female protagonist in the PS2 game Radiata Stories
 * Ridley (TV series), a 2022 British television crime drama series

Places

 * Ridley, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom, a former civil parish
 * Ridley, Kent, England, United Kingdom, a place and former civil parish
 * Ridley, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom, a hamlet; see List of United Kingdom locations: Ri-Ror § Ri
 * Ridley Township, Pennsylvania, United States

Other

 * Ridley (name), a surname and given name, with a list of people of this name
 * Ridley Bikes, a Belgian bicycle brand
 * Ridley Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of livestock products
 * Viscount Ridley, a title in the UK Peerage created in 1900 for Matthew Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley

title: Ridley


text:
Tina Theune

Christina Theune (formerly Theune-Meyer; born 4 November 1953) is a German former football manager, and the former national coach of the German women's national team.

Biography
Theune was born into a sporting family. Her father was a track and field athlete, and her mother played handball.

Career
She played from 1974 until 1986 for Grün-Weiß Brauweiler, where she was also later player-manager.

After she completed her teacher training, she became the first woman in Germany to acquire the DFB Fußball-Lehrer (coach) licence in 1985, which is equivalent to the UEFA Pro license.

In 1986 she became assistant coach to the women's national team, and succeeded Gero Bisanz as national coach on 1 August 1996 after the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In total she won six European championships, three as an assistant to Gero Bisanz, three as national coach, and led the German women's team to victory in the 2003 Women's World Cup. After winning the UEFA Women's Championship in 2005, she retired from the position of national coach, as had already been announced, handing over to her assistant Silvia Neid.

Personal life
Theune married Thomas Meyer, who coached her as a player. After marriage, she adopted the surname "Theune-Meyer" until her divorce in 2008.

Manager
Germany
 * Summer Olympic Games: bronze medal 2000, bronze medal 2004
 * FIFA Women's World Cup: 2003
 * UEFA Women's Championship: 1997, 2001, 2005

title: Tina Theune


text:
C Traps and Pitfalls

C Traps and Pitfalls is a slim computer programming book by former AT&T Corporation researcher and programmer Andrew Koenig, its first edition still in print in 2017, which outlines the many ways in which beginners and even sometimes quite experienced C programmers can write poor, malfunctioning and dangerous source code.

It evolved from an earlier technical report, by the same name, published internally at Bell Labs. This, in turn was inspired by a prior paper given by Koenig on "PL/I Traps and Pitfalls" at a SHARE conference in 1977. Koenig wrote that this title was inspired by a 1968 science fiction anthology by Robert Sheckley, "The People Trap and other Pitfalls, Snares, Devices and Delusions, as Well as Two Sniggles and a Contrivance".

title: C Traps and Pitfalls


text: User talk:131.107.0.89

title: User talk:131.107.0.89


text:
Talk:Drosophilidae

Clean up
I think the entry on how to fill fruit flies should move to another place (although I have no idea, maybe a topic Fruit flies & humans, there are also pieces of the Drosophila entry that might go there), and that this entry should focus on the taxonomy and general information of the family.--KimvdLinde 18:34, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

How do I kill fruit flies?
Discussion on this has been moved with content to Fruit flies and humans. Page itself has been deleted, how-to content, google it. --KimvdLinde 16:39, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Third Entry

 * Do we really need the third entry here? To me it seems like informal slang that doesn't even redirect to a page, we should all remember this is Wikipedia and not Urban Dictionary. Deathawk 17:57, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Lifespan
Is it true that this species has a lifespan of 24 hours?
 * First of all, this is not a single species, but a group of several 1000 species. And not, they live much longer that hat, although there is considerable variation within and between species. Kim van der Linde at venus 13:20, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

 * D. melanogaster lives for about 30 days. --Sarefo 01:29, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

How Big
there is nothing in the article that tells me how big these creatures are (are they larger or smaller than a standard house fly). 193.133.92.229 13:09, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

This is because this is not a single creature, but rather a family consisting of multiple genera (which each contain multiple species of fly), and these obviously vary in size. ---The 1337 Finkelsteinian 01:55, 19 February 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elyma (talk • contribs)

They love what?
What's 'droso-' ? Fruit? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.122.63.142 (talk) 19:23, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * droso (Greek) = dew.--Miguelferig (talk) 18:50, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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how long do they typically live ?
--Präziser (talk) 04:04, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Anti-parasitic behaviour
Why was this included in the article? I don't understand. If someone wants to restore it, please tell me why it was relevant 94.255.200.194 (talk) 12:15, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Drosophilidae


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User:Lorenzo~enwiki

I'm from Genoa, Italy

title: User:Lorenzo~enwiki


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Shambhala Publications

Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Many of its titles deal with Buddhism and related topics in Eastern studies, religion, philosophy, and martial arts. The company's name was inspired by the Sanskrit word Shambhala, referring to a mystical kingdom hidden beyond the snowpeaks of the Himalayas, according to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Its authors include Chögyam Trungpa, Pema Chödrön, Thomas Cleary, Ken Wilber, Fritjof Capra, A. H. Almaas, John Daido Loori, John Stevens, Edward Espe Brown and Natalie Goldberg.

The company is unaffiliated with Shambhala Buddhism, Shambhala International, or Lion's Roar (previously entitled Shambhala Sun) magazine.

History
Shambhala was founded in 1969 by Samuel Bercholz and Michael Fagan, in Berkeley, California. Its books are distributed by Penguin Random House. In 1976 Shambhala moved to Boulder, Colorado to be near the Naropa Institute. In 1986 Shambhala moved to Boston, housed in Horticultural Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, which adjoins the Christian Science Center. In 2010, Nikko Odiseos was appointed President and continues to lead the company along with owners Sara and Ivan Bercholz, children of the founder. In September 2015, after a thirty-year history in Boston, Shambhala Publications moved its headquarters to Boulder again, at 4720 Walnut St, with 35 inhouse staff, now grown to 41. In May 2016 Shambala acquired Rodmell Press. As of August 2016 Rodmells 40 own titles will appear under the Shambala logo.

title: Shambhala Publications


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Charlie McGettigan

Charles Joseph McGettigan (born 7 December 1950, Ballyshannon, County Donegal) is an Irish singer. He lives in Drumshanbo, County Leitrim.

Career
Performing with Paul Harrington, he won the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" (words and music by Brendan Graham). Harrington played piano and McGettigan played guitar. He made an appearance as a guest singer at Congratulations, the 50th anniversary concert of Eurovision.

In August 1998, McGettigan's only son, Shane McGettigan, was killed in a construction accident while working in Quincy, Massachusetts.

In 2015, McGettigan wrote "Anybody Got a Shoulder?" for Kat Mahon, which was one of the five songs in Eurosong 2015, the national selection to select the Irish entry for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The song finished 2nd.

Albums

 * Songs of the Night (And Other Stories) (1986)
 * Charlie McGettigan (1990)
 * Rock 'N' Roll Kids - The Album (together with Paul Harrington) (1994)
 * In Your Old Room (1998)
 * Another Side of Charlie McGettigan (c. 2002)
 * Stolen Moments (2006)
 * The Man from 20 (2010)
 * Some Old Someone (Stockfisch, 2019)

title: Charlie McGettigan


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Society finch

The Society finch (Lonchura striata domestica), also known as the Bengali finch or Bengalese finch, is a domesticated subspecies of finch. It became a popular cage and trade bird after appearing in European zoos in the 1860s through being imported from Japan, though it was domesticated in China. Coloration and behavior were modified through centuries of selection in Asia, then later in Europe and North America.

Another aspect of the Bengali finch that evolved throughout the centuries is song production. Extensive research has been done and continues to be done on the different ways Bengali finch songs are produced, how they are processed in the brain, what characteristics of the songs are preferred by females, and how their songs compare to the also commonly studied zebra finch.

Evolution and origin
Although the English language literature on aviculture called these birds as Bengali finch, the German aviculturist Karl Russ called them in 1871 as Japanese mövchen (or mew, an old word for gull, possibly related to Chinese mövchen, a pigeon breed named in France and introduced to Germany around the same time for their resemblance to gulls). The birds are members of the estrildid finch family and most authorities consider them a domestic form of the white-rumped munia (known in aviculture as the striated finch) most likely derived from the subspecies Lonchura striata swinhoei although some have suggested a hybrid origin.

Behavior

Bengali finches are well adapted to captivity and the company of humans. They breed well and are good foster parents for other finch-like birds.

While two males may not get along without other company, it has been found the best "pairing" for fostering is to use two males, this works better than either two females or a male and female pairing. Two males will usually accept eggs or even partly grown young without any hesitation.

These birds like to be close together and tend to all roost in one nest if kept in a group. In an aviary they lay eggs and crowd into a single nest, interfering with incubation (which is performed by the female and lasts 16 days) or damaging the eggs. Thus they breed better if kept as single pairs in individual breeding boxes. This sociability is also responsible for their American name of "society finch."

Bengali finches are quite easy to look after. They are also quite easy to breed provided they are properly sexed. Obtaining a female-male pair can present a difficulty because both sexes look similar. However, it is possible to determine gender by behavior since males tend to display to females. One method to sex Bengali is to place a single bird in a small cage completely isolated it from its own kind (both sight and hearing) and after several hours then introduce another Bengali to the cage. If the first bird is a male, it will immediately display to the newcomer. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean the introduced bird is a female. But if the first bird does not display it is almost certainly a hen. Also, Society Finches can be housed with other finches including other societies, Zebra Finches, Gouldian Finches, and Spice Finches.

Diet
They are generally given a diet of seeds, such as millets and canary seed, and greens. They will not usually take live-foods, but it has been found they will often accept housefly pupae, which they crack like seeds. This is particularly useful if they are being used to foster species that require a high protein component to be successfully reared.

Syrinx
Bird species produce some of the most complex sounds compared to any other animal. Singing is a learned behavior that has similarities with human speech. Birds breathe in oxygen past the throat and into the trachea where air splits off into either bronchial tube to reach the lungs. At the point where the trachea divides is where the sound producing organ called the syrinx lies. This avian song-producing organ is double-barrelled having two potential sound sources that are each under unilateral, ipsilateral neural control.

Different songbird species vary with their lateralized song production and rapid switching between left and right song production motor control. Even when birds are rapidly switching between the left and right sides of the syrinx, or producing songs unilaterally, the respiratory muscles on both sides are acting equally, making song production require symmetrical respiratory motor control and asymmetrical syrinx motor control. Respiratory air pressure can be used to identify the syllables of songs and control acoustic phonology when syringeal gating of airflow and motor control is compromised. Since the Bengalese finch has the ability to rapidly change the acoustic structure of their songs in response to deafening and experimental modulations of auditory feedback, they have gained considerable attention regarding the workings of their syrinx.

The study worked to characterize how the two sides of the Bengalese finch syrinx work to produce songs. With the use of syringeal denervation in a large sample group and air pressure recordings before and after unilateral nerve resection in a smaller sample group, data from this study provided evidence of syringeal specialization of acoustic control and rapid switching of motor control during Bengalese song production. It was discovered that the left side of the species' syrinx produces louder, higher frequency sounds above 2.2 kHz while the right side produces quieter, lower frequency sounds below 2.2 kHz. It was also found that higher peak frequency syllables are created by active motor control of the left side and they do not require active motor control from the right side of the syrinx. Thus, separate roles were discovered for the song production between the left and right sources of the Bengalese finch's syrinx.

Corticosterone
The Bengali finch is a domesticated form of the wild white-backed munia that has not had to undergo pressures of natural selection and adaptation to harsh environments. This caged bird has experienced safe, human controlled environmental conditions without shortages of food and water, without predation, and a low risk of parasitism. White-backed munias live under high stress conditions and they are subject to high fitness costs for survival, leaving them with simple songs in contrast to the relaxed conditions of the Bengali finch and their highly complex songs. Corticosterone is the main glucocorticoid hormone in birds that is released when the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responds to stress stimuli. In juvenile birds, it improves food intake, foraging, begging calls, and aggression, therefore enhancing survival potential in the wild. It has also been found to decrease song complexity, encouraging the idea that low levels of corticosterone are required for the production of complex songs.

A compared the stress hormone levels of corticosterone in the domesticated Bengali finch in the wild ancestor, the white-backed munia. The faecal corticosterone levels were found to be much lower in the Bengali finch than the white-backed munia suggesting that stress hormone levels decrease with domestication. There is a relationship between the volume of song nuclei and developmental stress conditions showing males with larger song nuclei volumes having more complex songs. The results from this study provide significant evidence of the domestication of Bengalese finches causing a decrease in corticosterone levels which enhances song nuclei development and allows for the production of complex songs. Thus, stress hormone levels are one strong mechanism of song development important for understanding the evolutionary adaptations of the Bengali finch and other birds.

Age
Avian song production undergoes changes as the birds age, similar to the aging effects on motor behavior of human speech. Bengali finches sing less stereotyped songs and one week after experiencing deafening they exhibit a rapid deterioration of song syntax and acoustic structure.

The study compared acoustic recordings of aging birds in sampling groups labelled 'middle aged' and 'aged' over the course of three years to measure syllable duration, pitch, and frequency. Results showed a decrease in pitch and frequency of the song syllables as the Bengali finches aged. The aged songbirds exhibited a slowed tempo caused by an increase in the silent intersyllable intervals which may be an effect of changes in the peripheral motor control. However, the data could not conclude a change in muscle fibers being the main cause of age related song changes. Therefore, this study helps to begin the exploration of age related Bengali song changes in connection with central nervous system control for future studies.

Hearing in birds
In order to process a song from another member of its species, a bird must first be able to perceive the song through hearing. Ear anatomy in birds varies from those in other terrestrial animals. Hearing takes place in the cochlea, a straight or slightly curved tube that varies in length depending on the bird species. The length of the cochlea is likely responsible for the differences in frequencies different species of birds are able to hear. Sensory receptor cells are located in hair cells that are tuned to specific frequencies which are stimulated by vibrations in the cochlea. Once a bird sings a song that signal is transmitted to surrounding birds through the air where the auditory signal is captured in the cochlea causing frequency encoded information to be sent to the brain to facilitate a response in the bird receiving the signal. Previous research has shown that most bird species hear best between 1 and 5 kHz.

Song signal pathways
Once a bird has heard the song of conspecific and the song signal has successfully traveled through the cochlea and to the brain, the brain must then process the signal in order to cause a response. Since birds are sensitive to both the temporal and frequency structures of songs, they are able to discriminate between songs while the brain categorizes them according to their type. When a bird is young it must learn its species' song template from either its parents or a tutor. In the sensorimotor phase when young birds are learning to sing they use this template stored in the neural circuitry of the brain to compare the songs they make to the memorized template in order to correct and refine their songs. The areas of the brain in which birdsong and learning take place are the motor pathway and the anterior forebrain pathway. The motor pathway begins in the high vocal center (HVC) and passes through the robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) which then reaches the tracheosyringeal portion of the hypoglossal nucleus. The anterior forebrain pathway also begins in the HVC where it then travels through what is known as Area X, the medial nucleus of the dorsolateral thalamus (DLM) and the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium before it reaches the RA. Temporal coding of song elements, motif, syllable and note are located in the HVC and the RA encodes the HVC firing commands to muscles that control the vocal output. In order to produce normal songs at any life stage the motor pathway must be intact, however, the anterior forebrain pathway only has to be intact for the song learning phase of a bird's life.

Birdsong learning has been largely studied but the neural basis of this behavior is not well understood. To understand this phenomenon a study was done on Bengalese finches by deafening some individuals and preventing tutoring in others and comparing the resulting songs with the songs of normal hearing individuals. Researchers compared the sizes of their song control nuclei and found no significant difference between those that were untutored and deafened and those with normal hearing although their songs were audibly affected. It was also found that the structures such as synaptic density and spontaneous firing rate of signals varied between normal hearing and altered hearing individuals.

Another point of contention in song processing has been how song element sequences are represented in the songbird brain. Bengalese finches were used as the focal study species in research done by which aimed to determine which of the alternate views of neural representation occur in the songbird brain. Single-unit activities of HVC neurons driven by all possible element pair stimuli in sedated Bengalese finches were recorded using five different types of sound stimulus. Researchers showed that the HVC neurons have broad and differential responses to song element sequences which they found through the sequential response distributions for each neuron. This study shows that the song element sequence is encoded in the HVC neural population which can describe the neurobiology of this species helping to explain how songs are perceived in the brain.

How song production occurs in the brain
When it comes to how the brain produces songs, Benglaese finches have been shown to display syringeal specialization. One possible explanation for why each side of the vocal muscle produces different frequencies is that there are neural constraints. It has been suggested that there may be lateralization between the brain hemispheres leading to biased auditory sensory or motor control. The left hemisphere of the brain may be better tuned to process higher frequency sounds than the right hemisphere which may specialize in low frequency sounds. Regardless of whether one side is responsible for a specific set of frequencies over another, both hemispheres of the brain must work simultaneously to produce a song. Because Bengalese finches have been shown to use the two sides of their syrinx in different ways during vocal production, it has been established that bilateral hemispheric control is required to coordinate and regulate these contrasting syringeal activities. In this kind of highly lateralized song production the neural brain activity must be asymmetric so that the different behavioral aspects are executed correctly. While one hemisphere directs the use of one side of the syrinx, the other must prevent sound production. Interhemispheric switching has been observed in zebra finches, but Bengalese finches have been suggested as a better model organism of study due to their ability of distinct and rapid switching of higher and lower frequency ranges to control note structure within a syllable. Further research in this field will allow for a better understanding of how the songbird brain controls songs because of the patterns of syringeal control and rapid hemispheric switching in Bengalese finches.

Neural mechanisms of song production have been found to vary by species. Bengalese finches have been found to require real-time auditory feedback in order to produce normal songs even in adulthood. The results of a study by Okanoya and Yamaguchi in 1997 illustrated this point and suggest that in order for the brain to produce normal songs, ongoing interaction between the auditory feedback and the motor pathway of the brain for song recognition may be required. The location in the brain where the interaction of auditory feedback with the motor pathway occurs is unknown in the Bengalese finch brain and its recognition may provide insight into how auditory feedback interacts with motor pathways in individuals and between species. Bengalese finches have been widely used in song learning and processing studies because they are a closed ended learner that generate variable songs which has allowed researchers to comprehensively understand songbird song production with implications for understanding human vocal learning and comprehension.

Female choice
Since male songbirds create their own songs through learning, each has its own unique variation indicating differences in male quality to the females during courtship. Male courtship songs have multiple components defined by intervals of silence in between them. Components are produced in the same sequence called a chunk and songs are composed of several chunks. The complexity of a song is determined by the number of sequence patterns or components, making a song that occurs in the same order 'simple', and a song with a random order of components 'complex'. The phonological components and complexity of chunks vary from male to male because they learn their own father's song during early developmental years. Therefore, songs are helpful in allowing females to choose a better mate for reproductive success.

A study done by tested female preference using the female's father's songs and unfamiliar songs. There was a clear indication of female preference for their own father's familiar song over the unfamiliar songs showing an ability to differentiate between song components. This result demonstrates limited learning of their own species' song during critical periods, however, the domesticated Bengali finch has never had to undergo a natural critical period. In addition, the results from the study did not support the idea of females preferring complexity over simplicity in song sequences. These findings differ from past examinations, like the study that suggested evidence of female Bengali finches preferring complex songs over simple ones. Evolutionary adaptations of specifically complex song production in relation to female preference in Bengali finches continues to be a topic worth examining.

Comparison with zebra finches
Bengali finches and zebra finches are members of the estrildiae family and are age-limited learners when it comes to song learning and the acoustic characteristics of their songs. Both of these species have been widely used in song learning based animal behavior research and although they share many characteristics researchers have been able to determine stark differences between the two.

Previous to research done in 1987, it was thought that song learning in Bengali finches was similar to zebra finches but there was no research to support this idea. Both species require learning from an adult during a sensitive juvenile phase in order to learn the species specific and sexually dimorphic songs. This tutor can be the father of the young or other adult males that are present around the juvenile. aimed to directly compare the song learning ability of both of these species to determine if they have separate learning behaviors. Twenty clutches of Bengali finches were raised in four conditions varying the male that was available to learn from to determine how learning occurs and if Bengali finch juveniles are able to produce species specific songs when raised with tutors rather than their male parent. Young males in both species based their songs on the tutor male they interacted with within 35-70 days of age where normally raised males failed to reproduce song elements heard before or after this time. The outcome of the research showed that song learning in Bengali finches is very similar to learning in zebra finches. The contrast between the species found in this study was that unlike zebra finches, Bengali finches did not incorporate notes of the mother's call when they were raised without a present male.

Many of the research study methods have included deafening Bengali finches and zebra finches to determine the rate of decline in calls as well as to understand how individuals deafened in the sensitive learning phase acquire the knowledge for producing species specific songs. For Bengali finches the degradation of songs following deafening is within one week where in zebra finches the degradation begins in four to six weeks post deafening. Long term direct comparisons of zebra finches and Bengali finches has not been broadly studied, however, a study done by revealed important information concerning auditory feedback and song maintenance. The results of the research showed deafening zebra finches resulted in a gradual and significant decrease in high frequency syllables compensated for with an increase in low frequency syllables which is consistent with results from deafening Bengali finches. The change took longer in zebra finches, but the adult songs in both species were shown to be similar following auditory deprivation indicating that the neural mechanisms involved may be present in both species.

Deepening the contrast between these two species is the critical factor that Bengali finches require real-time auditory feedback for normal song syntax. Zebra finches do not require immediate feedback to maintain learned songs and their songs are highly stereotyped, short, and discrete while Bengali finch songs are highly variable.

The information gained by concerning syringeal specialization turned out to be in high contrast to what was known about zebra finch song production. In this study on Bengali finches it was found that louder and higher frequency sounds are produced with the left side of the syrinx while the right side produces softer and lower frequency syllables. This pattern is directly opposite of what is known about the closely related zebra finch. In zebra finches the right side of the syrinx produces song syllables with frequencies above 3kHz. In addition zebra finches produce most of their song syllables bilaterally with only a few high frequency notes produced unilaterally. The results of of interhemispheric switching as an explanation for this phenomenon in Bengali finches is seen to a degree in zebra finches, however, they suggest it may be far more pronounced in Bengali finches.

The Bengali and zebra finch are closely related oscine songbirds that have been pivotal to the study of song learning, maintenance, and retention. Research conducted on these species has led to a more rounded understanding of the acquisition of speech in human children and the age related changes in motor performance. Without the information gained from research of song learning in these bird species developmental learning in humans would be much less understood. The similarities and differences compared between the Bengali and zebra finch further comparative studies on the neural basis of learning in many different species.

title: Society finch