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Talk:List of languages of Russia

Untitled
I made this page with data from Ethnologue. Feel free to add number of speakers to each language, or to improve the article in any other way.

Punkmorten 12:39, 23 August 2005 (UTC) we need to know the world language so we can travel to other places ya heard me ok well PEACE OUT NATIVES

Why on earth include English and other FOREIGN languages into the same table with native languages of indigenous peoples? There are Koreans in Russia and I can agree that they have lived in the country for several generations - so Korean language can be included into native languages of Russia. But do we have millions of native English speaker citizens of the country? I know two English persons residing for over a decade in Saint Petersburg, but they were not born in a family with roots in Russia, so English does not fit in. As for German, there should be a distinction between modern modern standard German learnt as a foreign language by ethnic non-Germans at school and whatever German dialects of formerly Volga Germans etc that may still hardly be spoken in Russia after their exile to Central Asia. I believe existing Russian Germans and (Ashkenazi) Jews are fully integrated into Russian life and as a first language German or Yiddish could be spoken be very few very elderly. My late grandparents were born in early 20 century in the Pale of Settlement in Ukraine and Belorussia, and after school and revolution moved to continue education and work in Russia. According to my late parents, their parents might speak Yiddish in my parents' childhood only to hide information from the kids, so my parents didn't learn to speak any Yiddish - only Russian everywhere and a bit of English or French at school and college. They knew a word or two of Yiddish, but not precisely. I don't. My parents died being about 80 years of age. Pale of Settlement was outside Russia. Where do you get any native speakers of Yiddish? That's simply improbable. My mother's first cousin from Ukraine could speak Yiddish together with Russian and Ukrainian, but he died two years ago. GregZak (talk) 08:08, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

How many speakers of Tajik and Uzbek languages have permanent residence in Russia, not to mention citizenship? Very few, if any. Again, there should be a list of mother tongues, first languages of CITIZENS of Russia born in Russia. Gerard Depardieu and Stephen Segal are citizens of Russia, but not by birth to natives of Russia, and Gerard's French is not a native language of Russia at all, unlike the years after French Revolution refugees influx deciding to stay, and even then doubtful as a language of Russia proper. GregZak (talk) 08:18, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

English as a foreign language is studied by MAJORITY of schoolchildren since about 1960ies, so beginner's passive knowledge of elementary English is above that figure, but real proficiency can be lower. And again it is a foreign language. GregZak (talk) 08:21, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

But you did a big job - so thank you. GregZak (talk) 08:47, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Is Czech in Russia someone's mother tongue? GregZak (talk) 08:49, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Mandarin Chinese in Russia - any figures?
Ethnologue mentions Mandarin Chinese in Russian but doesn't provide figures. The number of Mandarin speakers in Russia must be substantial - 0.5% or 680,000 people (taking account either legal or illegal Chinese immigrants in Russia), including 30-40 thousand Dungans. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=RUA --Atitarev (talk) 23:33, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

== Chechen?

Why the heck isn't Chechen in that list? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mopcwiki (talk • contribs) 16:38, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Division between European Russia and Asian Russia
Division of languages as "related to European Russia" and "related to Asian Russia" is artificial. Better use division based on linguistic families, like in article in Russian wikipedia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.25.228.110 (talk) 21:21, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Chukchi and Koryak languages
The Chukchi and Koryak languages are not included in this list. Is any information available about the number of speakers of these languages in Russia? Jarble (talk) 07:28, 1 March 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of languages of Russia


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Exton station (Pennsylvania)

Exton station is a train station in Exton, West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. It is served by most Amtrak Keystone Service trains and one daily eastbound Pennsylvanian trip, as well as SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line.

This station is wheelchair-accessible with high-level platforms on both sides of the tracks. This is 27.7 track miles from Philadelphia's Suburban Station. In 2017, the average total SEPTA weekday boardings at this station was 627, and the average total weekday SEPTA alightings was 522.

History
In late 2013, SEPTA developed renderings of a proposed station improvement plan. The plan calls for near-full-length high-level boarding platforms on the inbound and outbound side of the tracks, a station building to be used as a waiting area, an extended exterior waiting canopy, as well as open-air shelters with glass windscreens.

Station layout
There is no ticket office at the station. Unlike other stations served by SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line trains west of Philadelphia along the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line, the station is not located within the built-up portion of the community; it is merely a park-and-ride station along PA 100, near the highway's interchange with U.S. Route 30. There are 643 parking spaces at the station. Parking was last expanded in late 2009.

Exton has two high-level side platforms. A center track is occasionally used for Norfolk Southern freight trains passing through the station.

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

title: Exton station (Pennsylvania)


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Bob Gale (cricketer)

 * For the American screenwriter, see Bob Gale

Robert Alec Gale (10 December 1933 – 20 April 2018) was an English first-class cricketer and businessman.

Life
Gale was born in Old Warden in Bedfordshire and was educated at Bedford Modern School, where he captained the school cricket team from 1951 to 1953. After national service in the Army, he represented Middlesex as a swashbuckling left-handed opening batsman between 1956 and 1965. He forged a successful opening partnership with Eric Russell. His highest score was 200, scored in only five hours, against Glamorgan at Newport in July 1962.

With Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) teams he toured South America in 1964–65, Canada and the United States in 1967, and the Netherlands in 1968.

He established a successful career in the City of London following his retirement from first-class cricket. He became a longtime member of the Middlesex general committee, before serving nine years as the chairman of the cricket committee (1989–1998) and President (2001–2003).

He retired to Pevensey Bay in Sussex and died on 20 April 2018, aged 84 years and 131 days. He was the club's ninth oldest living first-class cricketer at his death.

title: Bob Gale (cricketer)


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Guyon

Guyon is a French surname.

Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 85.7% of all known bearers of the surname Guyon were residents of France (frequency 1:4,367), 4.8% of the United States (1:427,011), 2.4% of Canada (1:87,614), 1.7% of the Philippines (1:327,626) and 1.1% of Gabon (1:9,351).

In France, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:4,367) in the following regions:
 * 1. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (1:1,012)
 * 2. Pays de la Loire (1:1,802)
 * 3. Centre-Val de Loire (1:2,925)
 * 4. Brittany (1:3,370)
 * 5. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (1:3,951)
 * 6. Corsica (1:4,330)

People

 * Adrien Guyon (1866–?), French Olympic fencer
 * Alexandre Guyon (1829–1905), French actor
 * Isabelle Guyon (born 1961), French-born researcher in machine learning
 * James Guyon Jr. (1778–1846), politician and cavalry officer from Staten Island, New York
 * Jean Guyon du Buisson (1592–1663), master mason and early settler of Quebec, Canada
 * Jean Casimir Félix Guyon (1831–1920), French urologist at the University of Paris
 * Jean-Jacques Guyon (1932–2017), French Olympic equestrian
 * Jeanne Guyon (1648–1717), French Christian mystic
 * Joe Guyon (1892–1971), American professional football player and coach
 * Lionel Guyon, French Olympic equestrian
 * Marie-Therese Guyon Cadillac (1671–1746), early settler of Detroit, Michigan
 * Maxime Guyon (born 1989), French jockey
 * Maximilienne Guyon (1868–1903), French painter and illustrator
 * Olivier Guyon (born 1975), French-American astronomer
 * Pascal Guyon, French musician
 * René Guyon (1876–1963), French jurist and sexual ethicist
 * Richard Guyon (1813–1856), general in the Hungarian revolutionary army
 * Sir Guyon, fictional hero in Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene (1590)

title: Guyon


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Idalium

Idalion or Idalium (Ιδάλιον, Idalion, Phoenician: 𐤀𐤃𐤉𐤋,, Akkadian: e-di-ʾi-il, Edīl) was an ancient city in Cyprus, in modern Dali, Nicosia District. The city was founded on the copper trade in the 3rd millennium BC. Its name does not appear, however, on the renowned "Kition Stele", i.e., the Sargon Stele of 707 BC, but a little later on the Prism of Esarhaddon (copies of the text dated to 673-672 BC) known as Niniveh A (Nin. A) wherein the name is prefixed by the modifier URU (city) as URU.e-di-ʾi-il (v. 64) and in similar spellings in Ashurbanipal's annal (648/647 BC) while modified by KUR (land/kingdom) (KUR.e-di-iʾ-li, ii. 38').

Recent excavations have uncovered major buildings on the site which are open to visitors. A new museum is at the entrance of the site.

The ancient city

The original inhabitants were natives of the island, known to scholars as the "Eteocypriotes". The original city lay on the northern side of the Gialias River in modern "Ayios Sozomenos". During the 13th century BC the people of Ed-di-al began manufacturing operations on the south side of the river in what is now modern Dhali. From there the city grew to the major urban and copper-trading centre founded by the Neo-Assyrians at the end of the 8th century BC.

The city was the centre of the worship of the Great Goddess of Cyprus, the "Wanassa" or Queen of Heaven, known as Aphrodite and her consort the "Master of Animals". This worship appears to have begun in the 11th century BC and continued down through the Roman Period.

The ancient city was located in the fertile Gialias valley and flourished there as an economic centre due to its location close to the mines in the eastern foothills of the Troodos Mountains and its proximity to the cities and ports on the south and east coast. Idalion prospered and became so wealthy that it was listed as the first among the ten Cypriot kingdoms on the prism (many-sided tablet) of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680–669 BC).

The city included two acropolises while houses were in the lower city. The fortified palace was built in 750-600 BC on Ampileri Hill, the west acropolis of the city, and rebuilt in 600-475 BC against attacks by Kition. The Temple of Athena was also located there. The east acropolis on Moutti tou Arvili Hill functioned as a sacred centre and included the Temples of Apollo, Aphrodite and of other gods. The lower city was also fortified, at least during the 5th c. BC.

The first evidence of non-Cypriot presence (Greek, Phoenician, and others) appears in the Archaic Period (c. 550 BC) in Phoenician inscriptions found in the Adonis Temenos on the East Acropolis.

Production by the mint dating from 535 BC shows the city's authority and prosperity. The fortified palace was also a sign of this prosperity as it is one of the few, and the largest known, in Cyprus. The first Kings of Idalion were Greek as shown from coin inscriptions and the important Idalion Tablet. The tablet also shows that the last king, Stakyspros, was democratic in governing by decisions taken with a council of citizens and the resulting documented laws discovered in the temple of Athena. It also shows that there was a social welfare system during the sieges of the city by the Persians and Kitions of 478-470 BC. The king was the biggest landowner and borders of plots were registered.

The city was conquered by Kition, a Phoenician city at that time, in about 450 BC. The palace became their administrative centre; the archive of tax payments was discovered here. Under Kition the city became the centre of a cult of Aphrodite and of the Helleno-Phoenician deity Resheph-Apollo.

From 300 BC the palace and west acropolis were abandoned and the city became centered on the east acropolis, around the special sanctuaries for Aphrodite and Adonis which continued their importance.

The city existed in Hellenistic and Roman times but its extent is not yet known.

"Rosemary scented Idalium" appears in the poetry of Propertius and others as the place where Venus (or Aphrodite, the original pre-Greek Queen of Heaven) met Adonis (the original pre-Greek consort of the Queen of Heaven, or 'Lord').

Cypro-Syllabic script
Cypro-Syllabic script (11th to 2nd century BC) was deciphered based on the Cypriot-Phoenician bilingual text of Idalion which is now in the British Museum's collection. Starting with the Cypriot-Phoenician bilingual text of Idalion (a dedication to the god Reshef Mikal – identified as Apollo Amyklos – 4th century BC), George Smith carried out a first attempt at interpretation in 1871, later developed and improved, thanks also to the Idalion Tablet, by the Egyptologist Samuel Birch (1872), the numismatist Johannes Brandis (1873), the philologists Moritz Schmidt, Wilhelm Deeke, Justus Siegismund (1874) and the dialectologist H.L. Ahrens (1876).

Archaeology
The first recorded visitor, in 1862, was Melchior de Vogüé. Off and on between 1867 and 1875, Luigi Palma di Cesnola, antiquarian, treasure hunter and American and Russian consul to the Ottoman government of Cyprus dug at Idalion. He claimed to have opened 15,000 tombs. Noting that a structure on the East Acropolis had been uncovered he was informed by locals that they had looted a large number of bronze objects including "Helmets, swords, spear-heads, etc" from there. Three ships were loaded with antiquities, one, the Napried, of which sank in the Mediterranean in 1872, while the others reached New York to help found the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1868 and 1869 R. Hamilton Lang, the British Consul, commissioned local workers to look for antiquities on the East Acropolis (Mouti tou Arvili) later supervising himself. He found an open-air sanctuary of a deity which one Phoenician inscription called "Reshef-Mikal" and a Greek inscription called "Apollo Amyklos". It contained 142 limestone sculptures, now in the British Museum.

German archaeologist, Max Ohnefalsch-Richter, dug at the site in 1883 and 1885, occasionally returning to the Idalion in subsequent years. While not a professional archaeologist, being self trained, he used surveys and systematic excavation techniques, unlike his treasure hunting predecessors, locating a number of shrines.

For a few months in 1928, an Swedish Cyprus Expedition effort, led by Erik Sjöqvist, worked at Idalium. Their primary work was a complete excavation of the upper portion of the West Acropolis (Ambelleri) finding a fortified sanctuary of Anat-Athena. Votive gifts consisting mainly of weapons and tools were found. Personal accessories such as pins, fibulae, earrings, bracelets, and different kinds of pottery. They also made soundings in the surrounding terrace, finding the royal palace of Idalion, and excavated a number of tombs, which ranged from the Cypro-Archaic to the Hellenistic periods in date. They proposed six different building periods for the West Acropolis area. Periods 1–3 were dated to the Late Cypriote III (1200-1050 BC), when the city kingdom of Idalion seems to have been formed. Periods 4–6 were considered to belong from Cypro-Geometric III to Cypro-Archaic II (1050-850 BC).

In 1971 and 1972 Lawrence E. Stager and Anita Walker excavated at Idalion on behalf of the Harvard University. Between 1973 and 1978 and again in 1980 the American Expedition to Idalion worked at the site.

In 1987 a University of New Hampshire under the direction of Pamela Gaber excavated at Idalion. Work, with the same director, continued in 1992 until 2005 under the auspices of the University of Arizona and Lycoming College.

The Idalion Tablet is a 5th-century BC bronze tablet found here and inscribed on both sides. The script of the tablet is in the Cypriot syllabary and the inscription itself is in Greek. The tablet records a contract between "the king and the city" and mentions a reward given to a family of physicians for providing free health services to casualties during the siege of Idalion by the Persians.

North of Idalium is the Nymphaeum of Kafizin, with Cypro-syllabic inscriptions dated to 225–218 BC.

authors: Κυπρομέδουσα

title: Idalium


text: Category:Reconstructed languages

title: Category:Reconstructed languages


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Atomic (band)

Atomic is a Norwegian/Swedish jazz band formed in 1999, composed of musicians from the top stratum of the European jazz circuit. Atomic has been billed as one of the most respected "new" constellations in jazz. In 2014, original drummer Paal Nilssen-Love was replaced by Hans Hulbækmo.

Members

 * Magnus Broo – trumpet (Stockholm, Sweden)
 * Fredrik Ljungkvist – saxophones, clarinet (Stockholm, Sweden)
 * Håvard Wiik – piano (Oslo, Norway)
 * Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – double bass (Oslo, Norway)
 * Hans Hulbækmo – drums

Former members

 * Paal Nilssen-Love – drums (Oslo, Norway)
 * Håkon Kornstad – saxophone (Oslo, Norway)

Discography

 * 2001: Feet Music (Jazzland)
 * 2003: Boom Boom (Jazzland)
 * 2004: Nuclear Assembly Hall (w/School Days) (Okka Disk)
 * 2005: The Bikini Tapes (Jazzland) [Live]
 * 2006: Happy New Ears! (Jazzland)
 * 2008: Retrograde (Jazzland)
 * 2008: Distil (w/School Days) (Okka Disk)
 * 2010: Theater Tilters Vol 1 (Jazzland)
 * 2010: Theater Tilters Vol 2 (Jazzland)
 * 2011: Here Comes Everybody (Jazzland)
 * 2013: There's a Hole in the Mountain (Jazzland)
 * 2015: Lucidity (Jazzland)
 * 2017: Six Easy Pieces (ODIN Records)
 * 2018: Pet Variations (ODIN Records)

title: Atomic (band)


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Christiana Hundred

Christiana Hundred is an unincorporated subdivision of New Castle County, Delaware. Hundreds were once used as a basis for representation in the Delaware General Assembly, and while their names still appear on all real estate transactions, they presently have no meaningful use or purpose except as a geographical point of reference.

Boundaries and formation
Christiana Hundred is that portion of New Castle County that lies north of the Christina River and White Clay Creek, west of the Brandywine Creek and east of the Red Clay Creek, excepting that portion in the southeast included in Wilmington Hundred. Its northern boundary follows a portion of the 12 mile arc drawn around the town of New Castle. It was one of the original hundreds in Delaware created in 1682 and was named for the Christina River that flows along its southern boundary. When created it included some of the area now in Mill Creek Hundred, White Clay Hundred, and Pencader Hundred, all of which were split off in 1710. It also included much of the area now in Wilmington Hundred, which was split off 1833.

Development
While the northern half of the hundred remains the wooded and semi-rural "Chateaux country" of country estates and expensive developments, the southern half is completely urban and suburban with almost continuous industrial, commercial and residential development. The southeastern portion was built out early in the twentieth century with the remainder in the decades following World War II. The towns of Elsmere and Newport, and Greenville Census Designated Places (CDP), and the community of Centreville are in Christiana Hundred.

Geography
Important geographical features, in addition to the Christiana River, White Clay Creek, Red Clay Creek, and Brandywine Creek, include the Hoopes Reservoir. It is mostly in the Piedmont region, but the southern portion is below the eastern Fall Line and on the coastal plain. It is split by the January freezing isotherm into a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the south and a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) in the north. Average monthly temperatures in Elsmere range from 32.5°F in January to 76.7°F in July. The hardiness zone is 7a.

Transportation
Important roads include portions of Interstate 95, Centre Road (Delaware Route 141), Kennett Pike (Delaware Route 52), Montchanin Road (Delaware Route 100), Lancaster Pike (Delaware Route 48), the Kirkwood Highway (Delaware Route 2), and the old main highway between Wilmington and Baltimore, now Maryland Avenue and its extension, Newport-Stanton Pike (Delaware Route 4). A portion of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, subsequently the main north–south line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, crosses through Newport, and a portion of the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, now CSX Transportation's Philadelphia Subdivision crosses through Elsmere. The East Penn Railroad runs from Elsmere generally along Montchanin Road and the Wilmington and Western Railroad runs along Red Clay Creek.

title: Christiana Hundred


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Whitford station

Whitford station is a commuter rail and former intercity passenger rail station located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia at South Whitford Road and Spackman Lane, Exton, Pennsylvania. It is served by most SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line trains and until 1998 some of Amtrak's Keystone Service trains.

Whitford Flyover
Whitford station is best known for the abandoned railway bridge that sits directly above the station site. The current station sits along the once-busy former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) four-track Main Line, which, in its prime, hosted a constant flow of commuter and long distance trains. To circumvent constant bottlenecks near Philadelphia, the PRR constructed a low-grade double-track electrified line in 1906 to host its freight traffic. This was done to bypass the steep grades and busy Philadelphia suburbs. Known as the Philadelphia and Thorndale Branch, the line ran alongside the current Paoli/Thorndale Line, crossing (or "flying") over it via a massive truss directly above the Whitford station. After the sharp decline in rail traffic in the 1970s, the freight line was abandoned outright by Conrail in 1989. In addition, the current passenger line was reduced from four tracks to three in the 1960s.

In its heyday, the PRR produced a series of calendars that included paintings of scenes throughout the extensive rail system. Artist Grif Teller captured a busy moment at Whitford in his "Main Lines—Freight and Passenger" painting from 1949, when the overhead trestle was still in use.

Current station
On August 2, 1984, the station house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is no ticket office at the station. There are 229 parking spaces at the station for daily parking, some of which sit on the abandoned freight line that crosses over the station site.

This station is 28.7 track miles from Philadelphia's Suburban Station. In 2017, the average total weekday boardings at this station was 408, and the average total weekday alightings was 420.

Station layout
Whitford has two low-level side platforms. A center track is not used for passenger service.

title: Whitford station


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File:CardigansGranTurismo.jpg

Fair use rationale for Gran Turismo (album)

 * No free equivalent is available or could be created that would adequately give the same information.
 * The image does not replace the original market role of the single.
 * The image is low resolution.
 * The image has previously been published.
 * The image contributes significantly to the article by identifying the subject of the article.

title: File:CardigansGranTurismo.jpg


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User:Zig

Zig is a relatively new wikipedian born in 1987. Primarily "active" at the Norwegian Wikipedia.

Travelling

title: User:Zig


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Train ride

A train ride or miniature train consists of miniature trains capable of carrying people. Some are considered amusement rides and some are located in amusement parks and municipal parks. Backyard railroads and ridable miniature railways run on tracks, and especially if the service is provided by a non-commercial hobbyist club, their trains may be exact scale models, often with a live steam locomotive. Some train rides are kiddie rides, which are commercial children's rides that often use simple, colorful equipment with the driving mechanism hidden under vacuum-formed plastic covers. Trackless trains do not use tracks and usually consist of railroad-like cars towed behind an ordinary, or modified motor vehicle. This type of ride is often used for sightseeing tours. Some roller coasters like the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attractions in several Disney parks resemble train rides, but may not be available to children under a certain age or minimum height.

History
One early maker of miniature train rides was Paul Allen Sturtevant, who began building model trains as rides for children in the 1930s. Sturtevant began this craft as a hobby, later making them for rental to department stores and eventually producing them in a plant in Addison, Illinois until the demands of World War II shifted production away from consumer goods.

title: Train ride


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Marinus Vertregt

Marinus Vertregt (April 19, 1897 – May 1, 1973) was a Dutch astronomer.

Early life
Vertregt was born in Dordrecht, Netherlands. After elementary school he attended the Higher Technical school there and took a course in sugar technology.

In 1917 he departed for the Dutch East Indies (now called Indonesia) and was employed at several sugar factories of the Handels Vereeniging Amsterdam (H.V.A.) as a chemist, becoming a head chemist after three years.

Afterwards he was employed in the plantations of the same company's factories and became a director of the sugar estate of Minggiran in Java in 1935. In 1923 he married Hillegonda Hendrika van Donkelaar and in 1928 their daughter Angenita was born.

In 1943, during the Second World War, Vertregt, his wife and his daughter were put in a Japanese internment camp, until their liberation in 1945. During this time he was separated from his family as Japanese camps were segregated between men and women. In 1947 he returned to Indonesia to take on the job of director of the biggest sugar factory in Java, Djatiroto. In 1950 he retired on a pension and repatriated.

In 1951 he was asked by the H.V.A. to direct the founding of a sugar estate in Wonji, Ethiopia. After a year he was forced, to his regret, to retire owing to ill-health.

Career in astronomy
Returning to Holland, Vertregt sought other employment and in 1952 became director of the newly founded Institute for Technical Courses, a sister organisation of the Bond voor Materialenkennis (Society for the Knowledge of Materials). Beginning with 25 pupils, the Institute flourished and after a few years it had 2,600 pupils.

From early youth Vertregt had been interested in astronomy and other sciences and soon after his repatriation he became interested in astronautics. In 1953 he became a member of the British Interplanetary Society (B.I.S.) and the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Ruimtevaart (Dutch Astronautical Society). In 1953 the American prof. dr. S.F. Singer released the idea of the Mouse (Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite Earth). Vertregt studied the design on request of the NVR. This lead in 1954 to a much improved design that was capable to circle the earth in a stable orbit for a year! The new design, called Muis (Dutch for Mouse) would be using a four-step rocket and would stay in an orbit at a height of 500 km. In 1958 he was appointed Fellow of the BIS on account of several original scientific articles in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. In 1959 his book Grondbeginselen van de Ruimtevaart appeared, followed in 1960 by an English translation: Principles of Astronautics and in 1965 in a much enlarged second edition. At the date of the first edition, this book was the first to treat the whole field of astronautics in a succinct though scientific manner. A Russian(!) edition was also issued. In 1961 he was invited to attend the First International Symposium on Analytical Astrodynamics, which was held at the University of California. After the symposium he held a lecture on Interplanetary Orbits for personnel of Douglas Aircraft. In 1964, after 12 years as director of the institute, he retired permanently.

In 1970 he was elected an Honorary Member of the Dutch Astronautical Society and in the same year an Honorary Member of the Bond voor Materialenkennis. He published many articles in the Journal of the B.I.S. and in the British periodical Spaceflight, as well as in Astronautica Acta and several Dutch periodicals. Furthermore, he read papers for several international Astronautical Congresses.

Through his education and career, Vertregt gained an incentive to take an interest in many sciences and arts. During his study at the Technical School at Dordrecht, where he learned mathematics, chemistry, physics and mechanical and chemical engineering, he studied Greek and Latin for himself in order to get a better understanding of the special features of these civilisations. From early youth he had learned English, French and German, and later in life he added Italian and Spanish. Moreover, from youth he had an absorbing interest in history and read widely in it and the history of art. In this manner he got a broad viewpoint on a vast terrain of human endeavour. Wanting to make this accumulated knowledge useful, he described the history of the civilisation of the countries of the Mediterranean and Western Europe in his book The Threefold Way. He also designed a Martian Calendar.

Marinus Vertregt died in 1973 at Sliedrecht, Netherlands. In 1979 a lunar crater was named after him on request of the Dutch Astronautical Society.

title: Marinus Vertregt


text:
Beaugency

Beaugency is a commune in the Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire, north-central France. It is located on the Loire river, upriver (northeast) from Blois and downriver from Orléans.

History
Aaron ben Joseph of Beaugency and Eliezer of Beaugency were Bible commentators and rabbinical scholars, who flourished in the twelfth century in the city.

The lords of Beaugency attained considerable importance in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries; at the end of the 13th century they sold the fiefdom to the Crown. They were responsible for building Château de Beaugency, which as originally a wooden structure, later replaced with a stone one by Lancelin I de Beaugency, the first lord of Beaugency. The massive original keep is today a ruined shell, surrounded by a mansion built later on in the 14th century.

Jean de la Flèche, a younger son of Lancelin I de Beaugency, was born at the castle and was later lord of La Flèche. He was also given lands in Yorkshire, England by William the Conqueror. He Married Paula of Maine and they were father to Elias I, Count of Maine, grandfather to King Henry II of England.

Between 1067-1069 Lancelin II succeeds his father as the second lord of Beaugency. In 1080 he goes on a pilgrimage to Rome and his son, Ralph ruled the lordship of Beaugency in his absence.

In 1091 the third lord of Beaugency is Ralph I (1065-1130) who took part in the First Crusade as a retainer in the forces of Stephen, Count of Blois, (father of Stephen, King of England) who he was listed as 'one of his best men'. Ralph became known for his bravery in defending an important gate during the siege of Antioch in the Spring of 1098. He returned from Crusade in 1101 and marries Mathilda of Vermandois, daughter of Hugh the Great and niece to the king of France.

Following this union, the Beaugency lords adopted Coat of arms similar to that of Vermandois - Chequy or and azure, a fesse gules (very similar to the de Clifford family) and 3 white Plate Roundels. This practice was also carried out by other prominent noble families including de Beaumont and de Warenne.

11 March 1152 the council of Beaugency annulled the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII at Notre-Dame de Beaugency.

Afterward it passed to the house of Orléans, then to those of Dunois and Longueville, and ultimately again to that of Orléans.

The city of Beaugency has been the site of numerous military conflicts. It was occupied on four separate occasions by the English. On 16–17 June 1429, it was the site of the famous Battle of Beaugency, when it was freed by Joan of Arc. Beaugency also played an important strategic role in the Hundred Years' War. It was burned by the Protestants in 1567 and suffered extensive damage to the walls, the castle, and the church.

On 8, 9 and 10 December 1870 the Prussian army, commanded by the grand-duke of Mecklenburg, defeated the French army of the Loire, under General Chanzy, in the second battle of Beaugency (or Villorceau-Josnes). It was fought on the right bank of the Loire to the northwest of Beaugency.

In 1940 and again in 1944, the city was bombed by Nazi Germany. On 16 September 1944, German Major General Botho Henning Elster and his 18 850 men and 754 officers surrendered at the Loire bridge of Beaugency to the U.S. Army after being harassed and surrounded by the French Résistance.

Economy
Until 1846 Beaugency was an important commercial center due to trade along the Loire. After trade moved from the river to rail traffic, the city's role changed. Beaugency became a market center for the surrounding agricultural district. Today Beaugency's economy depends largely on tourism.

Sights

 * Medieval keep (11th century) 47.7775°N, 1.63306°W
 * Lock of Dunois (14-15th century)
 * Church Saint Etienne (11th century)
 * Abbey church (12th century)
 * City hall (16th century)
 * Bridge (14th century)

title: Beaugency


text:
Australia A cricket team

The Australia A cricket team is a cricket team representing Australia and is the second team of the Australian cricket team.

In the Australian summer of 1994–95, the (then) Benson and Hedges World Series Cup was expanded to involve four teams instead of the usual three – Australia, England, Zimbabwe and Australia A (though games involving Australia A are not considered official One-Day Internationals). In a shock result, the Australia A team (captained by Damien Martyn and featuring up-and-comers such as Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden and Greg Blewett, as well as veterans – wicket-keeper Phil Emery and pacemen Paul Reiffel and Merv Hughes) ousted England from the series and went into the best-of-3 final against Australia. They were swept 2–0, but it was unquestionably a display of the next generation of Australia's prowess. Many of the 1994–95 A players later played for Australia.

In earlier times, Australia often sent Second XI teams on overseas tour, consisting of players on the fringes of national selection. Instances of this occurred in 1949–50 and 1959–60, to New Zealand.

In one-day cricket, Australia A's team colours were the same as Australia's, except reversed with dark green instead of bottle green and canary yellow instead of wattle gold.

Current squad
Australia A squad for Australian tour of Sri Lanka 2022

Coaching staff
The following coaching panel was named ahead of Australia A's tour to New Zealand in April 2023.

title: Australia A cricket team


text:
Downingtown station

Downingtown station is a commuter and intercity passenger rail station located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia at West Lancaster Avenue & Stuart Avenue in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. It is served by most Amtrak Keystone Service and SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line trains. Amtrak's Pennsylvanian does not stop here. In 2017, the average total SEPTA weekday boardings at this station was 291, and the average total SEPTA weekday alightings was 312.

History
The original Downingtown station was built in the 19th century by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and was destroyed by fire in the early morning of February 24, 1992. The foundation from the old station can still be seen today.

Planned replacement station
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has proposed building a new train station for Downingtown "at about a quarter mile south of Lancaster Avenue on Brandywine Avenue/US 322" starting in 2025.

Station layout
There is no ticket office at this station. There are 360 parking spaces for daily parking at the station–223 spaces are owned by SEPTA, and the remaining are part of an adjacent municipal lot. This is 32.8 track miles from Philadelphia's Suburban Station. Downingtown is the westernmost Amtrak station on the Keystone Corridor that is also served by SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale service. Additionally, the SEPTA Route 135 bus serves the station.

Downingtown has two low-level side platforms. A center track is not used for passenger service.

title: Downingtown station


text:
Malaysian Chinese cuisine

Malaysian Chinese cuisine is derived from the culinary traditions of Chinese Malaysian immigrants and their descendants, who have adapted or modified their culinary traditions under the influence of Malaysian culture as well as immigration patterns of Chinese to Malaysia. Because the vast majority of Chinese Malaysians are descendants of immigrants from southern China, Malaysian Chinese cuisine is predominantly based on an eclectic repertoire of dishes with roots from Fujian, Cantonese, Hakka and Teochew cuisines.

As these early immigrants settled in different regions throughout what was then British Malaya and Borneo, they carried with them traditions of foods and recipes that were particularly identified with their origins in China, which gradually became infused with the characteristics of their new home locale in Malaysia while remaining distinctively Chinese. For example, Hainanese chicken rice is usually flavoured with tropical pandan leaves and served with chilli sauce for dipping, and tastes unlike the typical chicken dishes found in Hainan Island itself. Some of these foods and recipes became closely associated with a specific city, town or village, eventually developing iconic status and culminating in a proliferation of nationwide popularity in the present day.

Chinese food is especially prominent in areas with concentrated Chinese communities, at roadside stalls, hawker centres and kopitiam, as well as smart cafes and upmarket restaurants throughout the nation. Many Chinese dishes have pork as a component ingredient, but chicken is available as a substitution for Muslim customers from the wider community, and some Chinese restaurants are even halal-certified.

List of dishes found in Malaysian Chinese cuisine

 * Bakkwa - literally "dried meat", bakkwa is better understood as barbequed meat jerky. While this delicacy is especially popular during the Chinese New Year celebration period, it is available everywhere and eaten year round as a popular snack.
 * Bean Sprouts Chicken - Ipoh's most well known dish, Bean Sprouts Chicken consists of poached or steamed chicken accompanied with a plate of blanched locally grown bean sprouts in a simple dressing of soy sauce and sesame oil. The crunchy and stout texture of Ipoh-grown bean sprouts is attributed to the mineral-rich properties of local water supplies. The dish is usually served with hor fun noodles in a chicken broth, or plain rice.
 * Beaufort Mee is a speciality of Beaufort town. Handmade noodles are smoked, then wok-tossed with meat (usually slices of char siu and marinated pork) or seafood and plenty of choy sum, and finished off with a thick viscous gravy.
 * Cantonese fried noodles refers to a preparation of noodles which are shallow or deep fried to a crisp, then served as the base for a thick egg and cornstarch white sauce cooked with sliced lean pork, seafood, and green vegetables like choy sum. A related dish called wa tan hor  uses hor fun noodles, but the noodles are not deep fried, merely charred. Another variation called yuen yong  involves mixing both crisp-fried rice vermicelli as well as hor fun to form a base for the sauce.
 * Chai tow kway  - a common dish in Malaysia made of rice flour. It also known as fried radish cake, although no radish is included within the rice cakes, save perhaps the occasional addition of preserved radish  during the cooking process. Seasonings and additives vary from region, and may include bean sprouts and eggs.
 * Chee cheong fun is square rice sheets made from a viscous mixture of rice flour and water. This liquid is poured onto a specially made flat pan in which it is steamed to produce the square rice sheets. The steamed rice sheets is rolled or folded for ease in serving. It is usually served with tofu stuffed with fish paste. The dish is eaten with accompaniment of semi sweet fermented bean paste sauce, chilli paste or light vegetable curry gravy. Ipoh and Penang have different versions of the dish as well; certain stalls in Ipoh serve the dish with a red sweet sauce, thinly sliced pickled green chillies and fried shallots, while in Penang, a type of sweet, black shrimp sauce called hae ko is the main condiment.
 * Chun gen (Chinese : 春卷) is an oblong roll of seasoned ground pork or beef wrapped with a thin omelette and steamed. The name is derived from the Hakka word for the spring season, which is pronounced as "chun". (Another explanation is that "chun" is for "egg" instead.) It is said to have been around since Chunqiu period with a rumor of Duke Huan of Qi and since then it's been a custom in Fujian. Today it is available beyond Tenom, and found throughout Sabah's Chinese communities. It may be eaten on its own, cooked in broth or soup, and stir-fried with noodles or vegetables.
 * Curry Mee (Chinese : 咖喱麵). A bowl of thin yellow noodles mixed with bihun in a spicy curry soup enriched with coconut milk, and topped with tofu puffs, prawns, cuttlefish, chicken, long beans, cockles and mint leaves, with sambal served on the side. It is often referred to as curry laksa.
 * Fish ball are fish paste shaped into a spherical shape. Usually fish ball is served as a condiment together with rice vermicelli or yellow noodles in a clear soup base. Bean sprouts and spring onions are also commonly added, complemented by a small plate of chilli padi soaked in soy sauce. Fishcake is also a common addition.
 * Fuzhou cuisine can be found in the Sitiawan, Perak area, as well as several cities and towns in Sarawak where the Hookchiu diaspora have formed settlements. Well known specialities include ang zhao mee sua (Chinese : 红槽面线), and kompyang or kompia (Chinese : 光餅).
 * Hakka mee (Chinese : 客家麵) - Hakka Mee is a simple dish of noodles topped with a ground meat gravy. A popular hawker dish with Hakka cultural roots, it is based on an older recipe called Dabumian (Chinese : 大埔麵); the name indicates its place of origin as Dabu County, the center of Hakka culture in mainland China.
 * Heong Peng (Chinese : 香餅) - these fragrant pastries, which resemble slightly flattened balls, are a famed speciality of Ipoh. It contains a sweet sticky filling made from malt and shallots, covered by a flaky baked crust and garnished with sesame seeds on the surface.
 * Hokkien Mee actually has two variants, with each being ubiquitous to a particular region of Peninsular Malaysia.
 * Penang Hokkien mee, colloquially referred to in Penang as Hokkien mee, is also known as hae mee (Chinese : 蝦麵) in other parts of Malaysia. One of Penang's most famous specialties, it is a noodle soup with yellow and rice noodles immersed in a spicy stock made from prawns and pork (chicken for halal versions), and garnished with a boiled egg, poached prawns, chopped kangkung and a dollop of sambal.
 * Hokkien char mee, a dish of thick yellow noodles braised, fried with thick black soy sauce and added with crispy lardons, is more commonly served in the Klang Valley. It was originally developed in Kuala Lumpur. Thus, within central Peninsular Malaysia, the term Hokkien mee refers to this particular version.
 * Ipoh white coffee (Chinese : 怡保白咖啡). A popular coffee drink which originated in Ipoh. Unlike the robust dark roast used for typical Malaysian-style black coffee ("Kopi-O"), "white" coffee is produced with only palm oil margarine and without any sugar and wheat, resulting in a significantly lighter roast. It is typically enriched with condensed milk prior to serving.
 * Kam Heong (Chinese : 金香) - literally "golden fragrance" in English, Kam Heong is a method of cooking developed in Malaysia, and is a good example of the country's culinary style of mixing cultures. The tempering of aromatics with bird's eye chilies, curry leaves, crushed dried shrimp, curry powder, oyster sauce and various other seasonings yields a versatile stir-fry sauce that goes well with chicken, clams, crabs, prawns, and squid.
 * Kolo mee or mee kolok (Chinese : 乾撈麵) is a dish of springy egg noodles tossed in a sweet and savoury shallot, lard and vinegar dressing, and topped with seasoned minced pork and char siu. It is similar to Peninsular-style Hakka mee or wonton mee in concept, but differs significantly in taste profile. A popular variant uses rendered oil from cooking char siu to flavour kolo mee instead of plain lard, which gives the noodles a reddish hue. Halal versions of kolo mee replace the pork components with beef (earning the moniker of mee sapi) or chicken, and lard with peanut or vegetable oil. Additional toppings may include mushrooms, chicken and crab meat. Kampua mee is a similar dish from Sibu and Sitiawan of Fuzhou origin.
 * Kuching Laksa or Laksa Sarawak (Chinese : 古晉叻沙) is noodles (usually rice vermicelli) served in an aromatic spiced coconut milk soup, topped with shredded chicken, shredded omelette, bean sprouts, prawns, and garnished with coriander.This famous Sarawak dish looks like curry laksa however the Sarawak's version is subtler and more flavorful. It is made using a laksa paste consisting of sambal belacan, tamarind, lemongrass, herbs and spices with a little coconut milk thus giving it a fine balance of aromatic herbs and spices with a kind hint of sour and spicy note while presenting a soft but not overly rich creamy broth.
 * Kway chap (Chinese : 粿汁). Teochew dish of rice noodle sheets in a dark soy sauce gravy, served with pork pieces, pig offal, tofu products and boiled eggs.
 * Lor Bak(Chinese : 滷肉) - a fried meat roll made from spiced minced pork and chopped water chestnuts rolled up in soya bean curd sheets, and deep fried. It is usually served with small bowl of Lor (a thick broth thickened with corn starch and beaten eggs) and chili sauce. The term also extends to other items sold alongside the meat rolls, like tao kwa (hard tofu), pork sausages, tofu skin sheets etc.
 * Lor Mee (Chinese : 滷麵). A bowl of thick yellow noodles served in a thickened gravy made from eggs, starch and pork stock.
 * Marmite chicken (Chinese : 媽蜜雞) - a unique dish of marinated fried chicken pieces glazed in a syrupy sauce made from marmite, soy sauce, maltose and honey. This dish may also be prepared with other ingredients like pork ribs and prawns.
 * Mee Hailam (Chinese : 海南麵) - stir-fried egg noodles with meat or seafood and copious amounts of vegetables, bathed in a gravy seasoned with dark soy sauce and calamansi lime. It is an ubiquitous menu item in Hainanese-run eateries and restaurants.
 * Ngah Po Fan or Sha Po Fan (Chinese : 瓦煲飯 or 沙煲飯) - seasoned rice cooked in a claypot with secondary ingredients, and finished with soy sauce. A typical example is rice cooked with chicken, salted fish, Chinese sausage, and vegetables. Claypots are also used for braising noodles, meat dishes and reducing soups.
 * Ngiu chap (牛什) is a Chinese-influenced dish of beef broth served with noodles, usually dunked in the soup with poached beef slices, meatballs, stewed brisket, tendon, liver and various offal parts. An iconic Sabahan dish, ngiu chap has many different variations, from the lighter Hainanese style to heartier Hakka-influenced flavours, and even village-style ngiu chap adapted for indigenous Sabahan tastes.
 * Oyster omelette or O-chian - a medley of small oysters is sauteed on a hot plate before being folded into an egg batter, which then has moistened starch mixed in for thickening, and finally fried to a crisp finish. Unlike other versions of oyster omelettes found throughout the Hokkien and Teochew diaspora, a thick savoury gravy is never poured onto Malaysian-style oyster omelettes; a chilli sauce is provided on the side for dipping instead.
 * Pan mee - noodle soup with hand-kneaded and torn pieces of noodles or regular strips of machine-pressed noodles, with a toothsome texture not unlike Italian pasta. A variant popular in the Klang Valley is known as "Chilli Pan Mee", and which of cooked noodles served with minced pork, a poached egg, fried anchovies and fried chilli flakes which are added to taste. Chilli Pan Mee is accompanied with a bowl of clear soup with leafy vegetables.
 * Popiah - Hokkien/Teochew-style crepe stuffed and rolled up with cooked shredded tofu and vegetables like turnip and carrots. The Peranakan version contains julienned bangkuang (jicama) and bamboo shoots, and the filling is seasoned with tauchu (fermented soybean paste) and meat stock. Another variation consists of popiah doused in a spicy sauce. Popiah can also be deep fried and served in a manner similar to the mainstream Chinese spring roll.
 * Sang nyuk mian is a dish of noodles served with pork broth, originating from Tawau. Very popular with the non-Muslim communities of Sabah, it is named after the poached-to-order slices of tender marinated pork served in pork broth which is flavoured with fried lard bits. The noodles (usually thick yellow noodles) are either dressed in dark soy and lard, or dunked into the soup along with the aforementioned pork slices, vegetables, meatballs and offal.
 * Seremban Siew Pau . The town of Seremban, the state capital of Negeri Sembilan, is famous for its siew pau, a flaky oven-baked pastry bun with a treacly BBQ pork and green pea filling. Chicken fillings are available as a halal option.
 * Teochew porridge - Teochew porridge or muay is a type of rice porridge or soup. Unlike congee, Teochew porridge is thin and watery in texture, with visible rice grains sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl. Eaten as a substitute for plain cooked rice instead of a complete meal by itself, it is served with an assortment of side dishes like vegetables, meat and salted egg. At eateries specialising in Teochew porridge, one can find a buffet spread of at least a dozen different dishes to choose from. Some variant recipes add sweet potatoes or even shark meat to the porridge during the cooking process.
 * Tau sar pneah - A famous Penang delicacy, this round-shaped Chinese pastry is made of wheat flour, sugar, green bean paste, fried onions, lard and salt. It is also known as Tambun biscuits as the pastry was believed to be invented in Bukit Tambun, Penang. Its popularity as a delicacy has made this biscuit one of the must-buy souvenirs from Penang.
 * Tomato kway teow - kway teow noodles stir-fried with sweet tomato gravy, meat (usually chicken pieces), eggs and vegetables. A popular dish in Chinese restaurants throughout Sarawak, another variant  utilises egg noodles which have been fried to a crisp, and then immersed with the gravy and ingredients.
 * Tuaran mee is a speciality of Tuaran town. This dish of wok fried fresh handmade noodles is well known in the nearby city of Kota Kinabalu as well as in neighbouring Tamparuli town, where the localised adaptation is called Tamparuli mee . The noodles must first be toasted with oil in the wok to prevent it from clumping together, then blanched to reduce the stiff crunchy texture from toasting. The final step involves stir frying the noodles to a dry finish with eggs, vegetables, and meat or seafood.
 * Wonton Mee - thin egg noodles with wonton dumplings, choy sum and char siu. The dumplings are usually made of pork or prawns and typically boiled or deep fried. The noodles may be served in a bowl of broth with dumplings as in the traditional Cantonese manner, but in Malaysia it is more commonly dressed with a dark soy sauce dressing, with boiled or deep-fried wonton dumplings as a topping or served on the side in a bowl of broth. Variations of this dish are usually in the meat accompaniments with the noodles. These may include roast pork (烧肉), braised chicken feet, and roast duck (燒鴨).
 * Yam rice - savoury rice dish cooked with taro, Chinese sausage, chicken, dried prawns and mushrooms. It is often served as an accompaniment for dishes like bak kut teh or yong tau foo.
 * Yusheng - a festive raw fish salad, also pronounced yee sang in the Cantonese manner. While raw fish preparations are thought to have existed in China during antiquity and can be found in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong province in modern times, yusheng was created and developed in Singapore in 1964 when the republic was still a member state of the Federation of Malaysia. It consists of strips of raw fish tossed at the dining table with shredded vegetables, crispy tidbits and a combination of sauces and condiments. Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish (魚)" is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance (餘)", Yúshēng (魚生) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor. As a result, the mixing and tossing of yusheng with chopsticks and the subsequent consumption of the salad has become ritualised as part of the commemoration of Chinese New Year festivities in Malaysia and Singapore.
 * Zongzi - a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice stuffed with savoury or sweet fillings and wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves. They are cooked by steaming or boiling, and are a feature of the Duanwu festival, which is still celebrated by the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.

Chinese guo
Chinese kuih, written as "guo" (粿) or sometimes as "gao" (糕), are usually made from ground rice flours. Many of the kue are made especially for important festivities such as the Qingming Festival or Chinese New Year, however many others are consumed as main meals or snack on a daily basis. Example of these kue include:
 * Nian gao (年糕): Known in the Hokkien language as "Ti Kueh" (甜粿)
 * Caozai Guo (草仔粿): Pronounced in Hokkien as "Tsao wa kueh" (chháu-á-ké). Also known as "Tsukak kueh" (鼠麴粿, chhú-khak-ké) from the herb it is made from.
 * Turnip cake (菜頭粿, 菜頭糕): Eaten straight, panfried, or stir-fried with egg as Chai tow kway.
 * Taro cake (芋粿, 芋糕)
 * Fun guo (粉粿)
 * Red Tortoise Cake (紅龜粿) (Pronounced as Ang Ku Kueh)

Many Chinese kue require the use of a Kue mould similar to that use in mooncakes, which is either carved out of wood or made of plastics. Kue moulds with turtles are ubiquitous, though moulds of peaches are usually quite common. Red coloured turtle kue are known especially as "Ang ku kueh"/"Red Tortoise Cake" (紅龜粿). Since many Chinese no longer make kue at home, these moulds have become less common in many kitchens.

Desserts and sweets

 * Leng chee kang (Chinese: 莲子羹) - a mixture of cooked ingredients immersed in a sweet soup. Ingredients vary greatly depending on the cook, but lotus seed is always the primary ingredient, and the soup may include dried longan, white fungus, barley, malva nut and rock sugar as secondary ingredients. Leng chee kang may be served warm or cold. It has also been introduced into Malay cuisine albeit misinterpreted as "laici kang" hence incorporating tinned lychees (laici).
 * Mooncake (Chinese : 月饼) - round or rectangular pastries with a rich thick filling, traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival and accompanied with Chinese tea. Both the traditional baked mooncake and the snow skin version are popular and widely available in Malaysia during the festival season.
 * Muar chee (Chinese : 麻糍) - glutinous rice ball lumps coated in a sweetened mixture of pulverised peanuts and sesame seeds, and served with toothpicks.
 * Tangyuan (Chinese : 汤圆 or 湯圓) - plain white or coloured sweet dumplings made from glutinous rice flour. Traditionally homemade and eaten during Yuanxiao (Chinese : 元宵) as well as the Dongzhi Festival (Chinese : 冬至), tangyuan is now available year around sold as dessert. Tangyuan dumplings with filling are usually served in a lightly sweetened clear syrup, while unfilled ones are served as part of a sweet dessert soup.
 * Tau foo fah or Dau Huay (Chinese : 豆腐花 or 豆花) - a velvety pudding of very soft silken tofu, traditionally flavoured with a brown sugar syrup.
 * UFO tart (Chinese : 牛屎堆) - this consists of a flat, thin base of baked mini butter sponge cake topped with a creamy egg custard, which is in turn crowned with a meringue slurry. Its name in Chinese has a literal means "cow pile dung", which alludes to the piped shape of the cake base's toppings and the meringue's darker shade as a result of caramelisation. Popularized by a Hainanese bakery in Sandakan in the 1950s, the popularity of these treats has spread to Kota Kinabalu and several other towns in Sabah.

Vegetarian cuisine
Over 80% of Malaysian Chinese identify themselves as Buddhists, and some follow a vegetarian diet at least some of the time. Some Chinese restaurants offer an exclusively vegetarian menu (Chinese : 素食, 斎) featuring Chinese dishes which resemble meat dishes in look and even taste, like "roast pork", fried "fish" with "skin" and "bones", and "chicken drumsticks" complete with a "bone". These vegetarian restaurants are run by proprietors who abstain from consumption of animal products as well as strong tasting vegetables and spices as way of life for religious reasons, and are essentially vegan. The meat analogues used are often locally produced as opposed to imported, and are made solely from ingredients like soy, gluten, mushrooms and tuber vegetables. Buddhist vegetarian restaurants are likely to be found in areas with a high concentration of Chinese, and tend to be especially busy on certain festive days where many Buddhists temporarily adopt a strict vegetarian diet for at least a day.

title: Malaysian Chinese cuisine


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Beyond Alice

 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. R e  dwolf24  (talk) 01:27, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Beyond Alice
Someone's band, Non-notable. Only mention of them on google is WP's Alice disambig. Also absent from allmusic.com. akaDruid 13:01, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. The article itself says the band is dead; there's no way that theyr'e ever goign to meet WP:MUSIC. RasputinAXP   talk  *  contribs  14:00, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete nn band. -- Etacar11   04:15, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete vanity page. --Firsfron 23:55, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete nn Groeck 15:32, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep even an article about a now defunct band is valuable for an encyclopedia. we don't want to cover only existing subjects here. --80.108.115.184 23:31, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete bad is of no significance --Grcampbell 00:54, 27 August 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: Category:Touring car racing

title: Category:Touring car racing


text:
Škoda Felicia

The Škoda Felicia (Typ 781 and 791) is a B-segment car produced by the Czech carmaker Škoda Auto from 1994 to 2001. It was the last model on Škoda's own platform, but was one of the first models to benefit from Škoda Auto's takeover by the German company Volkswagen Group. The Felicia was a heavily reworked version of the Favorit, retaining its core structure but with new outer panelwork to give it a fresh, more modern appearance, with a redesigned front end and a wider range of VW-sourced engines.

It was premiered in October 1994, on the Charles Bridge in Prague. Serial production of the hatchback began in October 1994, the Combi in June 1995, and the pick up in August 1995. Production ended in June 2001. The name Felicia was not used for the first time, resurrecting a nameplate originally used by Škoda in the 1960s for a range of two seater sports cars.

History
As the Felicia benefited from Volkswagen input, it helped to elevate Škoda's image in Western Europe. It heralded the first ever diesel powered Škoda, and became their first car to feature major safety and convenience features. Some SLXi models featured air conditioning and velour upholstery. Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), drivers airbag, and seat belt tensioners were also available.

The Felicia made headlines in April 1998, after its high satisfaction score gave Škoda the "Best Manufacturer" accolade in that year's J.D. Power Car Survey. Production of the Felicia ceased at the end of June 2001, one year after the launch of the Fabia. A total of 1,420,489 cars had been made (the pick up and estate models were available for sale throughout 2001), including 19,000 rebranded pick up sold as Volkswagen.

Body styles
The Felicia came in a variety of body styles, both for personal and professional use. The base model was a five door hatchback, and from June 1995, was accompanied by an estate, replacing the Favorit-based Forman, now redubbed as the Felicia Combi (Typ 795).

There was also a coupe utility version, the Felicia Pickup, (Typ 797) and a panel van called a Felicia Vanplus. Pickup featured redesigned rear axle to increase space in cargo area. The pickup version was also imported to some countries re branded as the Volkswagen Caddy Pickup. The pick up model also had a lifestyle edition named the Felicia Fun, (Typ 796) conceived mostly for the market in Western Europe.

The rear screen section hinges out into the loadbay, allowing two extra seats to be folded out, giving comfortable seating for four adults. A tonneau cover is available to cover the rear seats, which are otherwise open to the elements. A Truckman top is also available which encloses the rear seats and loadbay, making for a more practical bad weather conversion.

Luggage capacity in the hatchback was 272 litres with the rear seats in the upright position, and this increased to 976 litres with the rear seats folded. For the Combi (estate version), this was 447 and 1,366 litres respectively. The Felicia and Felicia Combi received a minor facelift in In January 1998.

The most obvious visual change was a redesigned radiator grille and larger bumpers, but changes also included minor upgrades to the chassis and bodyshell to improve crash safety.

MTX produced a four door cabriolet version, the MTX Cabrio.

United Kingdom
Three years after its launch in the United Kingdom, in April 1998, the Felicia made the headlines with an excellent rating in a Top Gear customer satisfaction survey for N registered cars (sold from August 1995 to July 1996), resulting in the Škoda brand making headlines as the most satisfying brand of car to own, which helped end Skoda's previous reputation in Britain for producing crude, and supposedly unreliable and unfashionable cars. The Felicia received high ratings for reliability, build quality and dealer service.

These strong showings in motoring surveys have continued with the newer generations of Skoda models. The Felicia's successor, the Fabia, went on sale in the United Kingdom in the beginning of 2000, but the Felicia continued to be imported there until the end of the year, by which time more than 76,000 had been sold, and by August 2011, almost 30,000 examples were still registered on the road.

Powertrain

All internal combustion engines used in Felicia are inline four-cylinder designs, operate on the four-stroke cycle, are fuel injected, and water cooled. Also a four-cylinder carburetor engine (43 kW) was available in some countries. The fundamental layout of the Felicia's powertrain included engines mounted at the front of the vehicle, and orientated transversely.

The line up included the old 1.3 litre overhead valve (OHV) Škoda petrol engines, now with Bosch Mono Motronic single point fuel injection (up until 1997), and Siemens multi-point fuel injection, with two rated power outputs of 40 kW and 50 kW.

There were also two engines sourced from Volkswagen Group: a 55 kW 1.6 litre petrol engine with Magneti Marelli multi point fuel injection, and a 47 kW 1.9 D diesel engine. The 1.6 litre model served as a homologation basis for the Škoda Felicia Kit Car used in the World Rally Championship's F2 class.

For the Felicia, Škoda had developed its own 75 kW aluminium 1.6 OHC engine, which appeared in some Favorit prototypes and Rally cars, but Volkswagen decided to use its old 1.6MPI 55 kW The only transmission was a five speed manual gearbox, which was of a transaxle design, and contained the differential and final drive units. Drive was through the front wheels.

title: Škoda Felicia


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Thorndale station (SEPTA)

Thorndale station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Thorndale, Pennsylvania. Located on South Bailey Road and East Lincoln Highway (U.S. 30 Business), it serves the Paoli/Thorndale Line. While Thorndale station is the terminus of SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line service, the tracks continue (with service by Amtrak), to points west, including Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. Amtrak does not stop at Thorndale.

This station is 35.2 track miles from Philadelphia's Suburban Station. In 2017, the average total weekday boardings at this station was 427, and the average total weekday alightings was 374.

History
The R5 line (now Paoli/Thorndale Line) originally ended further west in Parkesburg, but service was cut back to Downingtown in 1996. Thorndale station opened on November 22, 1999 as an extension of the R5 service from Downingtown. The station was built to serve the rapidly growing population of Chester County and reduce congestion on area roads.

Station layout
There is no ticket office at this station. There are 447 parking spaces at the station for daily parking as well as SEPTA permit parking. The station is equipped with bathroom facilities, however, they are locked and only for the use of train crews.

This station is wheelchair-accessible. There is a low level platform with a short high level section for accessibility on one side and a fully high level platform on the other. The platforms have bridge plates which allow a wheelchair to cross the gap between the platform and the train when it is stopped at the platform.

As a result of Thorndale being the line's terminus, trains terminate and depart from both platforms.

Services
In SEPTA's current weekday schedule, 13 trains depart from Thorndale and 11 trains arrive. On Saturdays, 5 trains depart from Thorndale and 4 trains arrive. All of SEPTA's trains terminate at Malvern on Sundays and therefore don't serve Thorndale among other stations not served on Sundays. Due to Thorndale being the final stop of the line, trains are often forced to crossover to the platform on the other side of the tracks. Trains at and near Thorndale also spend a significant amount of time waiting for other trains to pass.

title: Thorndale station (SEPTA)


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Metropolitan Community Church London

Metropolitan Community Church London (MCC London) was the first Metropolitan Community Church congregation in Europe and the first one chartered out of the United States. The congregation was founded in 1972 as the Fellowship of Christ Liberator and at least a year later a majority indicated that they wished to affiliate with the MCC. The then minister, the Revd Tony Cross, resigned and Peter Embrey did not wish to continue to host the congregation. The name was changed and they went on to occupy a location on Sistova Road, in the Balham neighbourhood of South London. MCC London no longer exists as a congregation, but was the source (directly or indirectly) of three other congregations: MCC North London, MCC East London, and MCC South London. MCC churches have a "primary ministry in gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer communities, providing a safe-space environment of an accepting congregation where people can find God's salvation, personal support, spiritual growth and guidance toward health and wholeness." The churches have been active in efforts to support marriage for LGBTQ people and specifically reach out to LGBTQ families. They have also supported efforts to educate and combat violence against LGBTQ people.

MCC North London
Mcc North London is located in Camden. MCC North London began as a Bible study in the early 1980s sponsored by the then existing MCC London church. They gained chartered church status within the Universal Fellowship of MCC and the founding pastor was the Reverend Elder Hong Tan. In response to the early AIDS pandemic they launched a programme called 'God's Love We Deliver' (independent of the one in New York City), which became the independent charity The Food Chain. Reverend Elder Gill Storey, Rev. Tan's successor, continuing the social justice ministries throughout the 1990s, Tan became pastor again following Storey until the Reverend Pressley Sutherland became pastor beginning Easter 2001. Before legalised civil partnerships for same-sex and transgender couples, MCC North London hosted The Blessing Tent at London Pride for several years, during which time more than 500 couples were "Blessed and affirmed into Holy Union as a public witness and demonstration of the validity of such partnerships". In December 2005 a vicar for the church and her partner became the first "same-sex couple to be legally married in Britain" after the passage of the Civil Partnership Bill. In 2008, under the interim pastorship of Rev Sharon Ferguson The group has continued to advocate for LGBTQ issues including a call for sensitivity training in Jamaica following many attacks and several murders of lesbians and gays.

MCC East London
MCC East London is located in Stepney. MCC East London started as a project of MCC North London, "a parish extension group was established with the objective to form a church". MCC East London held its first service on Pentecost Sunday in 1991. In August 2010 Reverend Caroline Redfearn, a regular preacher for and active member of MCC East London, died from a cancer-related illness. In November 2004 she was the first African-Caribbean descent woman to be ordained at MCC in the United Kingdom.

MCC South London
MCC South London was in Balham until its closure in 2015. Reverend Elder Jean White (1941-2010) was the longest serving non-American Pastor within MCC and the first non-American elected to the denomination's Board of Elders and began MCC in the UK. Having pastored the original MCC London for many years and having worked as the Director of World Church Extension of the denomination, she pastored MCC South London. The group is a member of The Surrey and London Association of Gay Organisations. In 2009 all three churches marched together as part of London's pride parade.

title: Metropolitan Community Church London