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Miðvágur

Miðvágur (Midvåg), is a village in the Faroe Islands on Vágar. It has been a municipality until 1 January 2009 when it fused with Sandavágur into Vága kommuna.

Located on the south coast of the island of Vágar, Miðvágur is the largest town on this Faroese island. For years, Miðvágur has been known as a good location for whaling and traditionally, bells would ring with the cry "Grindaboð!" - "Pilot whale ahoy!"

History
Miðvágur has been inhabited since at least the Viking period—as excavations have demonstrated. Since these early times, there has been a local "Thingstätte" (local community council), or "Várting". The most interesting building of the village is Kálvalíð, a house which was probably built at the end of the Middle Ages. It is the oldest building of the village and possibly of the whole Faroe Islands. Kálvalíð consists of two rooms with a turf roof, built in the traditional faroese style. Today it houses a museum.

Sports
The local football team is MB (Miðvágs Bóltfelag), founded in January 1905. The rowing club from Miðvágur is Miðvágs Róðrarfelag.

People of note from Miðvágur

 * Greta Svabo Bech, Faroese singer
 * Beinta Broberg (1667–1752), a pastor's wife, and believed to be the model for the main character of Barbara, the best-known Faroese novel (written in Danish).
 * Pauli Ellefsen (1936-2012), Former Prime Minister (1981-1985)
 * Sverri Sandberg Nielsen, (born 1993) a Faroese rower
 * Rasmus Rasmussen (1871–1962), writer
 * Jens Christian Svabo (1746–1824), a pastor's son, who contributed greatly to the modern concept of a Faroese written language, working to standardize grammar and spelling and created a Faroese dictionary. Svabo also collected a variety of folk-tales and historical examples of the spoken dialect of Faroese on Miðvágur.

title: Miðvágur


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Category:IARC Group 2B carcinogens

Articles in this category are about agents that are listed in the International Agency for Research on Cancer's corresponding group (List of IARC Group 2B Agents - Possibly carcinogenic to humans), and should contain agents according to the IARC's current published list.

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

title: Category:IARC Group 2B carcinogens


text:
Category:IARC Group 2A carcinogens

Articles in this category are about agents that are listed in Group 2A (probable carcinogens) as designated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (see List of IARC Group 2A Agents - Probably carcinogenic to humans).

title: Category:IARC Group 2A carcinogens


text:
Category:IARC Group 1 carcinogens

Articles in this category are about agents that are listed in the International Agency for Research on Cancer's corresponding group (List of IARC Group 1 Agents - Carcinogenic to humans), and should contain agents according to the IARC's current published list.

title: Category:IARC Group 1 carcinogens


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California Pacific Conference

The California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference commissioner is Don Ott. Conference leadership is shared among the member institutions. The secretary is Marv Christopher of California Maritime Academy. The conference was formed in 1996.

Conference members range from members of the University of California and California State University systems to religious and liberal arts colleges.

History
California State University at East Bay, California State University at Monterey Bay, Dominican University, Mills College, and Notre Dame de Namur University are former members of the conference that have left the Cal Pac and the NAIA for the Division II and Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

 * Cal State–Monterey Bay and Cal State–East Bay left the Cal Pac to join the NCAA Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) in the 2004–05 and 2008–09 seasons, respectively.
 * Patten University left the Cal Pac when the school chose to discontinue its athletic program after the 2004–05 season.
 * Notre Dame de Namur left the Cal Pac to join the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference in the 2006–07 season, followed by Dominican in the 2008–09 season.
 * Mills moved to NCAA Division III as an Independent in the 2011–12 season.

In June 2011, Bethany University announced it was ceasing operations effective immediately, decreasing the Cal Pac to seven active members.

In 2012, Holy Names University left the Cal Pac to join the Pacific West Conference; while Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University at Prescott, Marymount California University, and Soka University of America joined to increase the conference membership to nine schools.

La Sierra University joined in 2013 to bring the conference up to 10 members. William Jessup University left in 2014, leaving the conference with nine members. Membership rose to twelve schools in 2015 when the University of Antelope Valley, Benedictine University at Mesa, Providence Christian College, and Sierra Nevada University joined; while Menlo College left for the Golden State Athletic Conference.

The University of Saint Katherine joined in 2019. In March 2020, the conference announced two additions for the 2020–21 academic year when Park University at Gilbert and Westcliff University were admitted to the NAIA.

Sierra Nevada approved in July 2021 an agreement to merge with NCAA Division I's University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada). The merger was given accreditation approval in late December and scheduled for completion before 2022–23, leading to Sierra Nevada's departure from Cal Pac.

Chronological timeline

 * 1995 - The California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) was founded. Charter members included Bethany College (later Bethany University), California Maritime Academy (now California State University Maritime Academy), California State University at Monterey Bay, Dominican College (now the Dominican University of California), Holy Names College (now Holy Names University), Menlo College, Pacific Union College, Patten College (now Patten University), and Simpson College (now Simpson University) beginning the 1996–97 academic year.
 * 1998 - California State University at Hayward (now California State University at East Bay) and the College of Notre Dame (later Notre Dame de Namur University) joined the Cal Pac in the 1998–99 academic year.
 * 1999 - Mills College joined the Cal Pac in the 1999-2000 academic year.
 * 2004
 * Cal State–Monterey Bay left the Cal Pac to join the Division II ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) after the 2003–04 academic year.
 * Jessup University, then known as William Jessup University, joined the Cal Pac in the 2004–05 academic year.
 * 2005 - Patten left the Cal Pac to become an NAIA Independent after the 2004–05 academic year.
 * 2006 - Notre Dame de Namur left the Cal Pac to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the Pacific West Conference (PacWest) after the 2005–06 academic year.
 * 2009 - Two institutions left the Cal Pac and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and to their respective new home primary conferences: Cal State–East Bay to the CCAA, and Dominican (Cal.) to the PacWest after the 2008–09 academic year.
 * 2011 - The University of California at Merced joined the Cal Pac in the 2011–12 academic year.
 * 2012
 * Holy Names left the Cal Pac and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the PacWest after the 2011–12 academic year.
 * Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University–Prescott, Marymount California University, and Soka University of America joined the Cal Pac in the 2012–13 academic year.
 * 2013 - La Sierra University joined the Cal Pac in the 2013–14 academic year.
 * 2014 - William Jessup left the Cal Pac to join the Golden State Athletic Conference after the 2013–14 academic year.
 * 2015
 * Menlo left the Cal Pac to join the GSAC after the 2014–15 academic year.
 * The University of Antelope Valley, Benedictine University at Mesa, Providence Christian College, and Sierra Nevada College (now Sierra Nevada University) joined the Cal Pac in the 2015–16 academic year.
 * 2019 - The University of Saint Katherine joined the Cal Pac in the 2019-20 academic year.
 * 2020 - Park University Gilbert and Westcliff University joined the Cal Pac in the 2020-21 academic year.
 * 2021 - Sierra Nevada left the Cal Pac after the 2021-22 academic year as the school announced plans to merge with the University of Nevada, Reno, dropping all athletic programs in the process.
 * 2022 - Marymount California left the Cal Pac after the 2021-22 academic year as the school announced its closure in August of that year.
 * 2023
 * Benedictine at Mesa, Embry-Riddle Prescott, Park–Gilbert, and St. Katherine all announced their departure for the Golden State Athletic Conference for the 2024–25 athletic season.
 * UC Merced announced it would be leaving the Cal Pac and the NAIA to join the NCAA Division II ranks and the CCAA starting the 2025–26 athletic season.
 * 2024
 * Antelope Valley left the Cal Pac during the 2023–24 academic year as the school suddenly closed after an order from the state of California to cease operations.
 * St. Katherine left the Cal Pac during the 2023–24 academic year ahead of its planned departure to the GSAC, as the university announced it would cease all operations at the end of the academic year.

Current members
The Cal Pac currently has 8 full members, all but two are private schools:

 * Notes:

Former members
The Cal Pac had 13 former full members, all but two were private schools:

 * Notes:

Membership timeline
undefined

title: California Pacific Conference


text: User talk:66.17.140.42

title: User talk:66.17.140.42


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File:Theory of a Deadman album.jpg

Summary
Album cover of Theory of a Deadman's self-titled debut Theory Of A Deadman.

title: File:Theory of a Deadman album.jpg


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Ljubomir Mihajlovski

Ljubomir Mihajlovski (Љубомир Михајловски; born 1954 in Skopje), is the minister of internal affairs of the Republic of Macedonia since December 2004. He graduated in law in 1980. He has had several posts in the ministry, including Deputy Assistant Minister of Criminal Police. He was Director general of the customs.

title: Ljubomir Mihajlovski


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Reasons why Doing Cocaine in Brasil is fun

 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 Speedily deleted and BJAODN. HappyCamper 05:09, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

List of Reasons why Doing Cocaine in Brasil is fun
Get real. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 18:19, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Another unreal page by the author. Groeck 18:23, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Cocaine is fun! Especially in Brazil! Delete this and any article made by Wiki brah that deals with drugs or sex in Brazil. --Apostrophe 18:43, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * KEEP unsigned vote by
 * DELETE, but I'll sign. Sliggy 18:55, August 27, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and block Wiki brah.   Paul Klenk 18:59, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and block Wiki brah as per Paul. RasputinAXP   talk  *  contribs  19:05, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete with unhesitating prejudice. Fire Star 20:28, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Delete for wasting my time reading it. --Agamemnon2 20:21, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, unsalvagable. Wiki brah, you should know better by now.-gadfium 22:42, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and Wiki brah is now on vacation effective immediately. - Lucky 6.9 22:57, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 *  Delete  Why hasn't this been speedied yet!!?? -- Alex Nisnevich (talk) 23:27, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * No, change my vote to BJAODN. -- Alex Nisnevich (talk) 04:31, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Are you all mad? BJAODN that sucker! Penelope D 23:43, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * BJAODN as suggested by Penelope.
 * 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:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/more

Other Wikpedians that have expressed their interest

 * User:Gene Nygaard
 * User:Kenwarren
 * User:Icairns
 * User:Crissov
 * User:Allen3
 * User:Jimp
 * User:Drini
 * User:Zoe
 * User:Kevin Saff
 * User:Nandesuka
 * User:Pburka
 * User:Paul August
 * User:RHaworth

Distorting discussions
Examples:

Articles tagged as disputed

 * Livio Catullo Stecchini
 * Gabriel Mouton
 * Pseudoscience
 * Metrication

Other articles

 * Battle of Kadesh

Copies of deleted articles

 * User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/Pes
 * User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/Sos
 * User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/Mille passus
 * User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/Milion

Surprise

 *

Images

 * Image:3ht.jpg
 * Image:Sailors.jpg
 * Image:Ekgdz.jpg
 * Image:Egyptian circles.jpg

Misc. links

 * The Great Pyramid from "Decoding Ezekiel's Temple"

title: User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/more


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Castropol

Castropol is a municipality in Asturias, Spain. It is also the name of a parish within the municipality and a town within the parish.

The municipality of Castropol has a population of 3696 (INE, 2014). It is bounded on the north by the Cantabrian Sea and on the west by a coastal inlet, or ria, which separates it from the municipality of Ribadeo in Galicia, called the river Eo. To the west it is bordered by Tapia de Casariego, by El Franco, Boal and other Asturian municipalities, and to the south by Vegadeo and Villanueva de Oscos.

Castropol is one of the municipalities in which Eonaviego, a Galician-Asturian dialect, is spoken.

Some examples of notable architecture include the 'Capilla del Campo' (15th century), the 'Palacio de Valledor' and 'Palacio de Marqueses de Santa Cruz de Marcenado' (16th-18th centuries, the 'Casa de las Cuatro Torres' (18th century), and the 'Parque de Vicente Loriente' and 'Casino/Casa de Cultura' (early 20th century).

Parishes
It has nine parishes (administrative divisions):
 * As Figueiras
 * Balmonte
 * Barres
 * Castropol
 * Moldes
 * Piñera
 * Presno
 * Seares
 * Tol

title: Castropol


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blake Brysha and The Skeleton Keys

 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 to delete the article. --Canderson7 17:57, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

Blake Brysha and The Skeleton Keys
nn vanity; close to speedy Groeck 18:20, 27 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy delete.  Four fans short of a cult.    Paul Klenk 19:21, 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.


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Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica

Saint Andrew (Sint Anju) is a parish, situated in the southeast of Jamaica in the county of Surrey. It lies north, west and east of Kingston, and stretches into the Blue Mountains. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 573,369, the highest of any of the parishes in Jamaica.

George William Gordon (d. 1865), one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes, was born in this parish.

It contains many attractions, historical sites, famous residents, and the country's financial capital.

The parish has a rich musical tradition, with numerous well-known musicians and developing popular types of Jamaican music. The Studio One studio founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd is in Saint Andrew. Mavado, Sean Paul, Buju Banton, Elephant Man, The Mighty Diamonds, Monty Alexander, Beres Hammond, Lady Saw, Sugar Minott, Bounty Killer, Mr. Vegas, Richie Spice are some of the parish's current musician residents.

The area of Trenchtown became famous for such residents as The Wailers (Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley), and Toots Hibbert, who created reggae music. Waterhouse is another hometown to many musicians, including Keith Hudson, King Tubby's, U Roy, Sir Jammy's, Black Uhuru, Dennis "Senitor" Allen, Early B. Super Cat, Shabba, and Beenie Man. It is also the home of Olympic gold medalist, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

The residence built in 1881 by George Stiebel, Jamaica's first black millionaire, is known as Devon House. Steibel gained his wealth in Venezuela and returned to Jamaica. He was appointed as the Custos, a high civic post, of Saint Andrew. His residence has been restored and is operated as a house museum; it is open to the public for tours and special events. Concessions include a Devon House ice cream shop.

The grounds of the Hope Estate, built in the 17th century, now support Hope Gardens (Royal Botanical Gardens), one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. The University of the West Indies is located on the estate and uses some of the historic buildings. Part of the navigable aqueduct is still intact.

Vale Royal, the residence of the Prime Minister, and King's House, the Governor General's residence, are significant historic buildings.

The area of Norbrook was once the plantation of George William Gordon. The Bob Marley Museum is located in a mansion on Hope Road that was once owned by businessman Chris Blackwell. It is now open for guided tours.

Geography
St. Andrew was one of the first parishes to be established by law in 1867. Before being established, it was known as  Liguanea.

St Andrew is located at 18.01667°N, -76.9°W and covers an area of 455 km2. The parish lies just north of Kingston, bounded in the west by St. Catherine, north by St. Mary, northeast by Portland along the Blue Mountain range, and east by St. Thomas. In 1923, the parishes of St Andrew and Kingston were administratively merged to form the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), with a single elected council and a mayor. Parts of the geographic area of Saint Andrew is often referred to as the "Corporate Area, town, Kingston Metropolitan area, uptown Kingston, Kingston 2-20". The current mayor of KSAC is Delroy Williams. St Andrew has one major river, that being the Hope River at 19.6 Kilometres

Cross Roads, New Kingston, Half-Way-Tree, Matilda's Corner, and Constant Spring are important commercial centres in St. Andrew, but may be regarded as suburbs of Kingston. Coronation Market bordering both Saint Andrew and Kingston, is one of the largest, if not the largest outdoor market in this part of the island provides a venue for farmers throughout Jamaica. West St. Andrew, however, is a populous residential area. Total population of the parish was 573,369 in 2011.

Notable people

 * Alexander Aikman (1755-1838) King's Printer, member House of Assembly
 * Monty Alexander
 * Maurice Ashley, Chess grandmaster hall-of-famer
 * Assassin(dj)/ Agent Sasco(dj)
 * Buju Banton, Jamaican musician
 * Alexander Bedward (1859-1930)
 * Beenie Man
 * Elephant Man
 * Lady Colin Campbell, author and socialite
 * Linford Christie, British athlete
 * Desmond Dekker (aka Desmond Dacres), reggae ska singer
 * Clement Dodd, Studio One music studio
 * Brian Fowler, racing driver
 * Ricardo Gardner
 * Di Genius
 * Andre Gordon, actor and producer
 * Fitzroy Gordon, Jamaican-Canadian radio executive and broadcaster
 * George William Gordon, Jamaican national hero, businessman, and politician
 * Gyptian, musician
 * Beverly Hall, educational administrator
 * Dorothy Henriques-Wells (1926–2018), painter and art teacher
 * Euan Lucie-Smith, WWI army officer of mixed heritage
 * Bob Marley, Trenchtown, Hope Road, Bull Bay
 * Mavado, Jamaican DJ
 * Judy Mowatt
 * Nyla, singer
 * Augustus Pablo, Jamaican musician
 * Sean Paul, Jamaican musician
 * Lee "Scratch" Perry
 * Hermine E. Ricketts (1956–2019), Jamaican-born American architect
 * Sanchez
 * Shaggy, Jamaican musician
 * Sizzla
 * Richie Spice
 * The Wailers
 * U Roy
 * Leslyn Lewis

Economy
Much of the parish is devoted to agriculture. Its principal products include coffee, mangoes, cocoa, peas, beans, sugarcane, cattle, dairy goods, cigar and cigarette, vegetables and ground provisions. To encourage the movement of industrial plants from the business areas of Kingston, and to facilitate the establishment of new industries with local and overseas capital, the government has established an industrial estate in St. Andrew, bordering on Western Kingston. This industrial estate is over 1.2 km2 (300 acres) in size.

Tourism plays a major part in the economy of the parish. The major hotels in this southeastern part of the country can be found on Knutsford Boulevard, also known as The Strip. The area of New Kingston is seen as the financial capital of the island, with its large headquarters for banks and investment companies. The commercial areas, with their many malls, plazas and stores, provide employment for many in the urban area of the parish. Gypsum is found in large quantities, in eastern St. Andrew, the largest deposits being in the area of Bull Bay, a mile and a half of the coast.

At the south of Papine, several miles northeast of Kingston is the University of the West Indies, occupying 2.6 km2 of the Liguanea Plain at the foot of Long Mountain. The University of Technology, Jamaica, formerly the College of Arts, Science and Technology, is located nearby. So too is the United Theological College of the West Indies. The Edna Manley School for the Visual Arts is also located in Saint Andrew, not far from the National Stadium.

The parish of Saint Andrew also has some of the top high schools on the island. Campion College, Jamaica College, Calabar High School, Ardenne High School, Immaculate Conception High School, St Andrew High School for Girls, Holy Childhood High School, Meadowbrook High School, St. George's College, St Hugh's High School, Excelsior High School, and a campus of Kingston College, in Rollington Town, are some of those schools.

Saint Andrew provides the vibrancy that creates a city environment, nightlife, many restaurants, outdoor facilities, and tourist attractions, making the city of Kingston what it is today.

Government and infrastructure
The St. Andrew Juvenile Remand Centre of the Department of Correctional Services, Jamaica is located in Stony Hill, St. Andrew Parish.

Road
The primary roads through Kingston to the rest of the island all pass through St Andrew including the A1 to Lucea, A3 to Saint Ann's Bay, A4 to Annotto Bay and B1 to Buff Bay via Newcastle. The Transport Center, located in Half-Way-Tree, Saint Andrew is a depot for public buses servicing many parts of the tri-parish area (Saint Andrew, Kingston and Saint Catherine)and the outlying areas.

Rail
The main railway line from Kingston to the rest of the island ran through western St Andrew en route to Spanish Town. It is now closed.

Air
Jamaica's 2 primary airports are Sangster International Airport located in Montego Bay, St James and Norman Manley International Airport located on the Palisadoes Peninsula in Kingston, St. Andrew.

Sea
Plumb Point Lighthouse is located at Great Plumb Point on the Palisadoes Peninsula.

Important places

 * The Governor General's Residence at King House
 * Vale Royal, The Prime Minister's Residence,
 * Modern commercial New Kingston Complex
 * Bob Marley Museum
 * Sabina Park
 * The National Stadium
 * Mico College
 * Hope Garden
 * Half Way Tree
 * Cross Road
 * Carib Theatre
 * Saint Andrew Parish Church
 * Emancipation Park
 * Mandela Park
 * May Pen Cemetery
 * Strawberry Hill
 * Studio One
 * Trenchtown
 * New Kingston
 * The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus
 * Jamaica House
 * Edna Manley School of the Visual Arts
 * Temple Hall
 * New Castle

Towns, communities and villages

 * Arnett Gardens
 * Allman Town
 * August Town (named for Emancipation Day, 1 August)
 * Barbican
 * Beverly Hills
 * Bumper Hall
 * Bull Bay
 * Callaloo Bed
 * Cassia Park
 * Constant Spring
 * Cassava Piece
 * Chancery Heights
 * Cherry Gardens
 * Cypress Hall
 * Cockburn Penn
 * Cooper's Hill
 * Denham Town
 * Duhaney Park
 * Drew's Land
 * Elliston Flat
 * Fletcher's Land
 * Franklin Town
 * Golden Spring
 * Gordon Town
 * Grant's Pen
 * Greenwich Town
 * Guava Gap
 * Hannah Town
 * Harbor View
 * Havendale
 * Independence Park
 * Irish Town
 * Jacks Hill
 * Jungle
 * Jones Town
 * Kingweston
 * King Wood
 * Lawrence Tavern
 * Manning's Hill
 * Marverly
 * Meadowbrook
 * Mount James, Saint Andrew
 * Mount Salus
 * Nannyville
 * New Kingston
 * New Castle
 * Norbrook
 * Olympic Gardens
 * Paine Land
 * Patrick City
 * Pear Hill
 * Pembroke Hall
 * Papine
 * Queensbury
 * Red Gal Ring
 * Rollington Town
 * Riverton City
 * Rockfort
 * Seaview Gardens
 * Shooters Hill, Jamaica
 * Six Miles
 * Smoky Vale
 * Stony Hill
 * Strawberry Hill
 * Tinson Pen
 * Tivoli Gardens
 * Trenchtown
 * Tower Hill
 * Temple Hall
 * Unity
 * Vineyard Town
 * Washington Garden
 * Waterhouse
 * Warekia Hill
 * Whitehall
 * Wilton Garden
 * Ziadie Gardens

title: Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica


text:
Ngoyo

Ngoyo was a kingdom of the Woyo ethnic group, located in the south of Cabinda and on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, just north of the Congo River, it was founded by Bantu-speaking people around the 15th century. Ngoyo tradition held that the kingdom's ancestors were among the earliest settlers in the area, leading their chiefs to title themselves the nfumu nsi ("lords of the earth"). The capital was Mbanza Ngoyo.

In the 1630s Ngoyo was invaded by the forces of Soyo, and the son of the ruler of Soyo was installed as ruler of Ngoyo. It is not clear who the following rulers were for the next few decades.

In the 1680s Ngoyo had various relations with Soyo. It also had several English merchants present. When Antonio II Baretto da Silva invaded, the English forces tried to stop him and protect the interests of Ngoyo, but they were unsuccessful and Baretto da Silva imposed for peace terms.

By 1700, Cabinda had become the leading slave port north of Luanda, and Ngoyo's economy rested heavily on the sale of slaves.

In 1783, Ngoyo joined forces with the neighboring state of Kakongo to destroy a Portuguese fort. However, the kingdom was soon undone by the growing financial burden that the kingship entailed. With fewer and fewer possible claimants seeking the office, the kingdom effectively disintegrated in the 1830s after the nobles failed to elect a new king. In 1885, the Ngoyo signed the Treaty of Simulambuco with Portugal, and became a protectorate of that nation.

title: Ngoyo


text:
Church tax

A church tax is a tax collected by the state from members of some religious denominations to provide financial support of churches, such as the salaries of its clergy and to pay the operating cost of the church. Not all countries have such a tax. In some countries that do, people who are not members of a religious community are exempt from the tax; in others it is always levied, with the payer often entitled to choose who receives it, typically the state or an activity of social interest.

The constitution of a number of countries could be and have been interpreted as both supporting and prohibiting the levying of taxes unto churches; prohibiting church tax could separate church and state fiscally, but it could also be favorable treatment by the government. The term "church tax" could mean a tax levied on a religious organisation by a state, or relate to tax exemptions and so on for churches, but this article is about a tax levied on individuals.

Tithing
In the past it was usual for people to be expected to pay a part of their production (e.g., agricultural produce) or income to a church, a practice known as tithing. This was often obligatory. It is no longer enforced by civil rulers, but some religious organisations still expect or require their members to pay a tithe.

Austria
Every recognized religious group in Austria can collect church tax at a rate of 1.1%, though currently only the Catholic and Protestant churches make use of that opportunity. Church tax is compulsory for Catholics in Austria.

This tax was introduced into Austria by the German government in 1939 after the 1938 Anschluss (annexation of Austria into Germany). After Austria received national independence again after World War II the tax was retained in order to keep the churches independent of political powers.

Denmark
The members of the national Church of Denmark pay a church tax, called "kirkeskat". The rate varies among municipalities with a minimum of 0.4% and a maximum of 1.3% of taxable income in 2019. The tax is generally around 0.7% of taxable income. The collection of the church tax is administered by the Danish tax authorities, but the church tax is not considered as a genuine tax by, for example, Statistics Denmark, but as a "voluntary transfer from households to the state".

The church tax does not cover the entire budget of the Church of Denmark. An additional 9% is paid by the government through block grants ("bloktilskud"), which means that even people who are not members of the Church of Denmark finance its activities through taxes.

Finland
All members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Finnish Orthodox Church, the two state churches of Finland, pay an income-based church tax of between 1% and 2% (average about 1.4%), depending on the municipality. Members can formally leave the church, becoming exempt from the tax from the following year. Studies have found that people leave the church in Finland mainly due to the general secularization of society, not to become exempt from the tax.

Germany

About 70% of church revenues come from church tax (Kirchensteuer), also called worship tax (Kultussteuer) when referring to non-Christian religious bodies such as Jewish synagogues. This was about €13.1 billion in 2022.

Article 137 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919 and article 140 of the German Basic Law of 1949 form the legal bases for this practice.

In Germany, on the basis of tax regulations passed by the religious communities and within the limits set by state laws, communities may either:
 * require the taxation authorities of the state to collect the fees from the members on the basis of income tax assessment (then, the authorities withhold a collection fee), or
 * choose to collect the church tax themselves.

In the first case, membership in the religious community is stored in a database at the Federal Tax Office which employers receive excerpts of for the purpose of withholding tax on paid income. If an employee's data indicate membership in a tax-collecting religious community, the employer must withhold church tax prepayments from their income in addition to other taxes. The state revenue authorities assess the church tax due at the annual tax assessment. State revenue authorities collect prepayment of church tax (and income tax) from self-employed persons and unemployed taxpayers.

If, however, religious communities choose to collect church tax themselves, they may demand that the tax authorities reveal taxation data of their members to calculate the contributions and prepayments owed. In particular, some smaller communities (e.g., the Jewish Community of Berlin) choose to collect taxes themselves to save collection fees the government would charge otherwise.

Church tax collected may be used to cover any church-related expenses such as funding institutions and foundations and paying ministers.

The church tax is only paid by members of the respective church, although the concept of "membership" is far from clear, and it may be asked what right the secular state has to tell the faithful what contribution they should make to their own denomination. People who are not members of a church tax-collecting denomination do not have to pay it. Members of a religious community may formally cease to be considered members by making a declaration to state (not religious) authorities, ending liability to pay church taxes. Some religious communities refuse religious marriages and funerals to members who leave.

The money flow of state and churches is distinct at all levels of the procedures. Income on which church tax is paid is not subject to state income tax (as are voluntary contributions to the Church, for charity or other privileged purposes), so that in effect the state subsidises the church to some extent. The cost to the state of collecting church tax is reimbursed by the church.

The church tax is historically rooted in the pre-Christian Germanic custom whereby the chief of the tribe was directly responsible for the maintenance of priests and religious groups. During the Christianization of Western Europe, this custom was adopted by the Catholic and Arian churches in the concept of "Eigenkirchen" (churches owned by the landlord), which stood in strong contrast to the central church organization of the Catholic Church. Despite the resulting medieval conflict between emperor and pope, the concept of church maintenance by the ruler remained the accepted custom in most Western European countries. In Reformation times the local princes in Germany became officially heads of the church in Protestant areas, and were legally responsible for the maintenance of churches. Not until the 19th century were the finances of churches and state regulated to a point where the churches became financially independent. At this point, the church tax was introduced to replace the state benefits the churches had obtained previously.

The church tax was reaffirmed in Article 13 of the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican, which guaranteed the right of the Church to levy taxes. Taxpayers, whether Catholic, Protestant or members of other tax-collecting communities, pay an amount equal to 8% in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and 9% in the rest of the country, of their income tax to the church or religious community to which they belong. For example, a person earning €50,000 may pay income tax at 20% (€10,000); the church tax is an additional 8% (or 9%) of that sum (€800 or €900). The paid church tax is deductable in year of paying and reduces the taxable income.

Since 2015, private companies have to take part at the "church tax deduction procedure" ("Kirchensteuerabzugsverfahren"). This should ensure, that also shareholder of private companies pay church taxes on dividends. This regulation was introduced because capital gains in Germany can be taxed at a flat rate since 2009 and therefore do not have to be declared in the income tax return. There was therefore an enforcement deficit.

In 2017, Germany's Catholic church recorded approximately €6 billion tax take, split across its 27 different dioceses or church districts, despite a massive dip in attendance (according to the newspaper Handelsblatt, church attendance had dropped by more than 2.2 million since the start of the millennium). Fifty years before Catholic church attendance exceeded 11 million, but had dropped to 2.5 million. The German Church also has a total fortune of at least €20 billion. The three highest-income dioceses are Paderborn, at €3.5 billion, Munich at €2.8 billion, and Cologne at €2.6 billion.

People moving to Germany must declare their religious affiliation. The state-administered church tax is very successful at compelling tax payment, but many residents can avoid paying it, for example by not being a practising member of a faith. This has led to many people declaring they have abandoned the religion of their birth; it is not known what proportion do this only to avoid the tax.

Iceland
Taxpayers in Iceland who belong to an officially registered religious group or secular humanist organization must pay a congregation tax (Icelandic: sóknargjald, plural sóknargjöld) which is deducted from income taxes and goes to their organization. The sóknargjald of those who did not belong to any recognized religious organization formerly went to the University of Iceland. This was changed in 2009; people not belonging to a registered religious group or secular humanist organization must pay the same amount in tax, which is treated as income tax rather than paid to a church. In 2015, the monthly sóknargjald amounted to 824 krónur, about $US6. In March 2021, Judaism was added to Iceland’s list of state-recognised religious groups.

The Church of Iceland receives governmental support beyond the congregation taxes paid by its members.

Italy
Taxpayers in Italy pay a mandatory eight per thousand tax, and have the option to choose to whom they will assign the funds. This tax amounts to 0.8% of the total income tax (IRPEF) and every taxpayer can choose the recipient of the contribution on their tax form. Regardless of whether the taxpayer expresses a preference or not, the 0.8% is already included in their tax levy.

Currently the choices are:
 * Italian State
 * Catholic Church
 * Waldensian Evangelical Church
 * Seventh-day Adventist Church
 * Assemblies of God in Italy
 * Union of the Jewish Communities in Italy
 * Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy
 * Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy
 * Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy
 * Apostolic Church in Italy (Pentecostalism)
 * Italian Buddhist Union
 * Italian Hindu Union

If the choice is not expressly declared on the tax form, the tax is distributed according to the percentages of the taxpayers who have declared their choice of beneficiary. While it was intended that the state should use its own share of the 0.8% tax for social or cultural purposes, in practice it has employed it for general purposes including its military mission in Iraq in 2004 and the upgrading of prison infrastructure in 2011.

Spain
The Spanish tax declaration form has a checkbox that allows the taxpayer to allocate 0.7% of their taxes to support the Catholic Church. This checkbox does not influence the total taxes paid; leaving the checkbox blank allocates the same money for general purposes.

Sweden
The members of Church of Sweden pay church fee, which varies between municipalities, but can be as much as 2%. Church and state are separated as of 2000; however, the burial tax (begravningsavgift) is paid by everyone regardless of membership.

In a recent development, the Swedish government has agreed to continue collecting from individual taxpayers the annual payment that has always gone to the church. But now the fee will be an optional checkoff box on the tax return. The government will allocate the money collected to Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and other faiths as well as the Lutherans, with each taxpayer directing where his or her taxes should go.

Switzerland
There is no official state church in Switzerland. However, except Geneva and Neuchâtel, each canton (state) financially supports at least one of the three traditional denominations – Catholic, Old Catholic (in Switzerland Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland), or Evangelical Reformed – with funds collected through taxation. Each canton church tax may formally have to leave the church. In some cantons private companies are unable to avoid payment of the church tax.

In Geneva and Neuchâtel there is no church tax; each taxpayer is free to make a voluntary tax deductible contribution or gift to his church, either directly to the beneficiary or using the canton (state) tax system.

England
There has long been no church tax in United Kingdom. Tithing was obligatory in England centuries ago.

France
France abolished the church tax in 1789.

Mexico
Mexico abolished the church tax in 1833.

United States
The English colonies which later became the United States had tax provisions to support religion, but the Constitution of the United States explicitly separates church and state, and no church tax is levied from citizens. Churches are generally exempt from paying taxes. The United States Supreme Court has held that tax exemption for churches is constitutional under the Establishment Clause and that churches and religious organizations may be subject to a general sales and use tax; however, the Court has not addressed whether government may enact a specific "church tax". The Establishment Clause of the US Constitution prohibits the US federal government and (through incorporation doctrine) the 50 state governments from establishing a state religion or favoring one religion over another.

Prior to American independence, most of the original colonies supported religious activities with taxes, with each colony often choosing a single church as their official religion. These official churches enjoyed privileges not granted to other religious groups. Massachusetts and Connecticut supported the Congregational church through tax. In colonial South Carolina, the Anglican Church benefited from church taxes. Other colonies would more generally support religion by requiring taxes that would partially fund religious institutions - taxpayers could direct payments to the Protestant denomination of their choosing. Only the colonies of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island did not require a tax to support religion. During and after the American Revolution, religious minorities, such as the Methodists and the Baptists, argued that taxes to support religion violated freedoms won from the British. Defenders of the practice argued that government needed to fund religious institutions because public virtue depended on these institutions which could not survive purely on private support.

title: Church tax


text:
Talk:Water Hole

Merger proposal
This article and Waterhole (radio) seems to be talking about the same thing. However I suggest that the content be moved to Waterhole (radio) and this article redirected to waterhole.-- Lenticel ( talk ) 01:01, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

 * I agree. --Bensin (talk) 23:30, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Water Hole


text:
Micrantheum

Micrantheum is a genus of four species of flowering plant in the family Picrodendraceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Micrantheum are heath-like, monoecious shrubs with simple leaves usually in groups of three, and flowers arranged singly or in small clusters in leaf axils, male flowers with three, six or nine stamens.

Description
Plants in the genus Micrantheum are heath-like, monoecious shrubs with many branches, the leaves usually arranged in groups of three, sometimes in groups of two, four or five. The leaves are simple and leathery, the groups of leaves arranged alternately along the branches on a short petiole with tiny stipules at the base. The flowers are arranged singly or in small groups in leaf axils with bracts at the base and four or six sepal lobes, the petals often absent. Male flowers are on a short peduncle and have three, six or nine stamens. Female flowers have an ovary with two or three cells with two ovules per cell, and two or three styles. The fruit is a capsule containing seeds with a caruncle.

Taxonomy
The genus Micrantheum was first formally described in 1818 by René Louiche Desfontaines in Mémoires du Muséum d'histoire naturelle, and the first species he described (the type species) was Micrantheum ericoides.

Species list
The following is a list of species of Micrantheum, accepted by the Australian Plant Census as of September 2023:
 * Micrantheum demissum F.Muell. - South Australia
 * Micrantheum ericoides Desf. - New South Wales, Queensland
 * Micrantheum hexandrum Hook.f. - box micrantheum  - New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania
 * Micrantheum serpentinum Orchard - western tridentbush - Tasmania

title: Micrantheum


text:
Talk:Orbital period

Orbital Revolution
"one 360° revolution of the most massive body around the lesser massed body"? Or the lesser around the most massive??

It is actually orbiting around the point of the balance of the masses, however the point is valid. I therefore simplified this text even though it is not as specific. Note: I'd suggest you become a registered User. Also please sign post with four consecutive '~' so you can be identified. Thanks. Arianewiki1 (talk) 23:46, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Spelling
Changed 'a' back to kilometers (see below). Checked this against: Wertz and Larson, Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD) 3rd ed. Table 6-2, pp 137.

R.A Barnes Undergraduate Satellite Engineer

None of this is valid, as the difference is American spelling versus the more universal spelling. Making changes to enforce a way of spelling is not acceptable even with an irrelevant reference. Arianewiki1 (talk) 23:53, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

- i made a change below to meters instead of km in semi major axis because the formula does not give the correct answer if you input "a" in kms.

 * Small body orbiting a central body
 * In astrodynamics the orbital period (in seconds) of a small body orbiting a central body in a circular or elliptical orbit is:
 * and
 * (standard gravitational parameter)
 * where:
 * is length of orbit's semi-major axis (km),
 * is length of orbit's semi-major axis (km),

David C.S Ong —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.115.68.21 (talk) 09:58, 28 September 2007 (UTC) -

Whispers from the land of ignorants ...

This is a great article (Orbital Period page). I don't quite understand one section, however. The point under the 2-bodies-orbiting section: "... the sum of the semi-major axes of the ellipses in which the centers of the bodies move, or equivalently, the semi-major axis of the ellipse in which one body moves, in the frame of reference with the other body at the origin (which is equal to their constant separation for circular orbits) ..."

To use this in the calculation for determining the orbital period -- would I just sum the semi-major axes for both ellipses? E.g. two stars orbiting each other: "Star A" has a semi-major axis of 100 AU, and a mass of 1.5 Solar Masses. "Star B" has a semi-major axis of 300 AU, and a mass of 0.25 Solar Masses. Would I use 400 AU in the formula?

Thanks, Tesseract501(August 27, 2005)

 * Mass and semi-major axis are inversely proportional, so the example does not seem possible, but yes, we just add the semi-major axes.--Patrick 00:03, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

 * You'd use the total distance, 100+300 AU, and the total mass, 1.50+0.25 MSun.
 * Urhixidur 15:35, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Letter P and letter T are both used in this article to signify orbital period. Which one should be preferred ? Bo Jacoby 10:32, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

I would say T, like Frequency uses.--Patrick 14:05, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Diagram
It would be nice to see some diagrams showing the difference between the orbital periods. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reddwarf2956 (talk • contribs) 09:53, 23 September 2009

Going backwards
This whole effort seems to be going in the wrong direction. To take only one example, the reference to the tropical year (as of 01:49, 12 September 2008) was well written and coherent. The current version (as of 10:19 UTC 14 November 2009) of the same topic is illiterate goobledegook. I hesitate to make an edit since it appears to be a waste of time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.180.221.68 (talk)

Small body orbiting a central body Error
The formula provided states that T is in seconds, but the units in the formula work out that the result is seconds squared, not seconds. It's fundamentally wrong.

Unfortunately, I haven't found another reference to replace it from yet... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.164.83.84 (talk) 01:37, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

 * The formula is correct. The units of the gravitational constant G are m$3$/(kg•s$2$). The units of a$3$ are canceled by m$3$, while the units of M$1$ + M$2$ are canceled by kg. This leaves s$2$, which the square root sign reduces to seconds. — Joe Kress (talk) 09:54, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

 * Ah, yes. I was checking with wolfram, and had parens wrong.  Thanks for the correction.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.170.62.95 (talk) 17:33, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Units of measure
This article contains several mathematical equations relating various physical quantities. Only one of these equations specifies any units of measure. It is good style and certainly a favor to the reader if all the units of physical quantities are specified explicitly. When such a specification is absent the results are meaningless. For example, the equation:  T = 3.3 \sqrt{(a/R)^3} clearly results from some choice of units for T, a and R (and also implicitly for the constant value 3.3). We are told that T is in hours, but what are the units of a and R? Meters, miles, inches, astronomical units? I could do the calculations to answer that question myself but I feel that people should do their own homework, otherwise they won't learn. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.5.32.113 (talk) 09:45, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

This sentence is gibberish.
" It differs from the sidereal period because the node is a coinciding of planes rather than a linear coinciding, and the object's line of nodes typically precesses or recesses slowly in relation to orbital cycle. "

Two coincident planes really constitute a single plane. I think the author of this sentence means to say that the line of nodes is the line of intersection of the plane of the orbit and the plane of the ecliptic. (I don't know what he means by a "linear coinciding.") And it is true that as the plane of the ecliptic precesses this line of nodes rotates about the normal to the orbit. Therefore any period measured with respect to this direction will also change over time.154.5.45.119 (talk) 23:25, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

"Citation needed" for orbiting body of water
Under section 2.2 (Orbital period as a function of central body's density), the editor provided the equation for calculating the orbital period of a body around another given the density of the second body. He then proceeded to illustrate a possible use of the equation by showing the result of the calculation if the body orbiting the earth were made of water. For some reason, that example has been flagged, [ citation needed ]. Could someone elaborate on that? Julesmazur (talk) 19:28, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I removed the citation needed tags on that and two other simple calculations, but I did leave the one on the "universal unit of time" bit, which, to my eye, seems like balderdash. I tried to find an outside reference page on http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/shortr.html but it never gets to orbital periods (*tsk *tsk) - Featherwinglove (talk) 21:55, 9 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree with the removal of the "citation neeeded" for the simple calculations in "Orbital period as a function of central body's density" but someone put them back in. Does anyone support the "citation needed" for combining $$T = 2\pi\sqrt{a^3/\mu}$$, $$\mu = GM$$, $$M = \rho V$$, and $$V = \frac{4 \pi}{3} a^3$$ in a single equation $$T = 2\pi\sqrt{ \frac{a^3}{G \rho 4 \frac{1}{3} \pi a^3}} = \sqrt{ \frac{3 \pi}{G \rho}}$$ ? 209.131.62.116 (talk) 21:10, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

synodic period and gravity
It seems like there should be some comment about gravitation peaks and valleys in respect to the synodic period that elapses between two successive conjunctions with the Star–planet_1 line in the same linear order. Maybe even something with how this relates to orbital stability and orbital resonance. John W. Nicholson (talk) 11:36, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

Orbital period as a function of central body's density
Is this whole section rubbish? What I mean by this question is: did Galileo proved that gravity accelerates objects at the same rate no matter how much they weigh? Gravity is central reason for the orbital period of any body. So, why is this section here? Yes, the earth has a moon. No, it does not orbit in "T = 1.4 hours". So, something is wrong. John W. Nicholson (talk) 21:00, 19 September 2013 (UTC)
 * It is not completely rubbish, but it might be (fairly trivial) own research. The formula follows from the real formula above when M=4pia^3 rho/3 is substituted. The absurdly short orbit is just above the ground (compare to the 92.8 minute orbit of ISS); the moon has a far bigger a. The talk about universal units is unsourced. Overall it mostly confuses the issue, and I have not seen anybody actually use this approach to periods. Anders Sandberg (talk) 22:43, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

 * Even with that substitution of $$ M=(4/3)\pi a^3 \rho$$, there is a problem. Namely, because of the difference in meaning of a^3, a^3/a^3 do not cancel (one is the radius measured from center and above central body surface (R), second is radius of the central body (r) so R^3/r^3). Also, the units for $$\rho$$ has to include units for r^3 as to maintain the total mass. So, it is looking more like what you said "own research" and needs to be removed. It would seem to be useful if used in some way that varies in density (like with or without a ring system), but still needs a source. 1.4 hours is 84 minutes, that is close to the ISS orbit. I would expect the difference to be the ratio of altitude above the earth to earth's radius. John W. Nicholson (talk) 01:27, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

 * The calculation is of a minimum period orbit, how long does it take to orbit a body at minimum altitude? Turns out it's dependent only on the density of the body. At minimum altitude the orbital radius is equal to the radius of the body, and so the 'a' is the same, and it cancels fine. And at that altitude for bodies with the same density as the Earth, it takes 1.4 hours. The ISS is pretty much at minimum altitude, because it's only just above the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is relatively thin compared to the Earth's radius, so the ISS's orbit indeed takes about 1.4 hours.Teapeat (talk) 02:14, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

 * It's quite a cute result really, it means that if you were just above a spherical rocky asteroid a hundred metres across, it would take the same amount of time to do one orbit as the ISS does. I've heard of this before; I first heard about this when there was the NEAR probe in orbit around Eros. In that case the period differed from orbit to orbit, because Eros is very lumpy and so the orbit was chaotic. But it should work fine for dwarf planets upwards.Teapeat (talk) 02:14, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

 * I did a search to see who added it: but it existed in the article before this. It's probably a standard result.Teapeat (talk) 02:14, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

 * Looking around, I see that it is a not uncommon physics exercise and indeed a cute result. I think the section could remain, but it is far too prominent right now: the two body orbits are important and ought to come above it. I suggest that the section is rewritten slightly so it does not take too much space, explains why it is a very special case, and is moved down a bit.Anders Sandberg (talk) 08:08, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

 * I vote to remove it completely. It's a fine physics exercise, but does nothing to explain orbital periods.  The period of an orbit is a function of the mass of the central object.  This whole density calculation only works with mean density anyway, which is essentially a stand-in for mass.  No planet has a uniform density.  Since it's completely theoretical (and so not a great example) and it does nothing to explain orbital period, I say take it out.  If no one objects, I will do so in a few days. Sanchazo (talk) 19:51, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

"citation needed" too much here?
Well I have to beg the question: aren't there too many requests for citation here. For example the line (under two bodies orbitting each other, slightly out of place there):

"In a parabolic or hyperbolic trajectory, the motion is not periodic, and the duration of the full trajectory is infinite.". Isn't this kind of "logical" in the sense that it is *obvious* that any hyperbole or parabole is non-periodic. If one knows what those shapes are it is, so maybe add a link to parabole/hyperbole descriptions (though even that is consdered common sense and doesn't have to be specified). Adding a citation here would literary be looking for a citation out-of-place, no paper will discuss this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.139.125.134 (talk) 19:40, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

 * No, not too much. Vast sets of statements in this article are unsourced.  Material not sourced, is difficult to verify and may be challenged and removed.  In the case of this article, some of the claims have been challenged for a long period of time, and are therefore subject to removal from Wikipedia pretty much anytime an editor chooses to start the cleanup process.
 * Ditto with mathematical derivations. Unless supported by sources, they are original research, which tends not to stay in Wikipedia long term.  Cheers.  N2e (talk) 15:51, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

 * I agree with 82.139.125.134: Requesting a citation for the fact that a parabola is infinite is ridiculous. That's part of the definition, everybody who knows what a parabola is knows that is infinite. A link to Parabola or Parabolic_trajectory might be in order, though. Similar for some of the derivations. The claim that "the orbital period is independent of size" in the preceding paragraph might be surprising at first, but it isn't hard to verify: If you know that volume (and hence mass) scales at the third power of the radius (which you probably learned in primary school) and know basic algebra (probably 5th or 6th grade) you can verify that in your head in about 30 seconds. --Ligneus (talk) 20:55, 4 October 2016 (UTC)

Too technical
This whole article is pretty difficult to understand, even as someone with a non-physics scientific background. Could someone at least add what the Earth equivalents are of the different kinds of orbital period? If I understand rightly, I think the sidereal period of Earth is 1 year, yes? — OwenBlacker (Talk) 11:05, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

 * Yes, approximately. I believe it is defined in some other articles, for example, Geosynchronous orbit, and you might be able to pick up a source and maybe citation from there or some other article with it defined, in order to improve this article.  Go for it.  N2e (talk) 15:37, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

 * Agreed, so I vastly improved the introduction and made it more readable. I've also added some examples there too. Still needs some cites, which I'll do next. Arianewiki1 (talk) 13:51, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

Someone tell him this revert is wrong, please
I tried to combine two nearly redundant and widely separated sections that obfuscate the idea that M1+M2 is approximately equal to the larger mass when there is a big difference. Only to get reverted by User:GliderMaven, claiming the confused version is more ... educational. What do you think? Wnt (talk) 23:55, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

 * The point is that the more general result is usually taught after the more specific one; IRC, and I may not, Newton's Principia did it that way for example; and most derivations of the general result use the specific result for the proof.GliderMaven (talk) 00:39, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Kepler's 3'rd law
Why isn't this mentioned at all in this article? It is linked from [low earth orbit] as such. Chris2crawford (talk) 11:52, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

 * Who is/was Keller? AstroLynx (talk) 12:23, 5 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Do you mean Kepler? JustinTime55 (talk) 20:38, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Correct, but confusing
I deleted the following sentence:

"Note that the orbital period is independent of size: for a scale model it would be the same, when densities are the same, as M scales linearly with a3 (see also Orbit § Scaling in gravity)."

This is technically correct (if you understand what "independent of size" means), but likely to be confusing to anybody who isn't already very familiar with the subject. This could be corrected by adding explanation of exactly what is meant by "independent of size", but since this is a fact that isn't particularly useful, better to leave it out: Geoffrey.landis (talk) 15:58, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

Related Periods section is encrusted garbage
The sidereal and synodic period links from the info boxes for the planets lead to this article. The section Related Periods with the definitions for the period types has evidently become cancerously encrusted with dross and nonsense from repeated editing. For example, there are three paragraphs in which synodic period appears in bold print. The first two are confusing, inaccurate, and inelegant. The third, in its own section, is better. I have a degree in physics and astronomy and even I find this section confusing, how much more so the average interested reader. It needs a complete rewrite. — ★ Parsa ☞ talk 16:30, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Orbital period


text:
Gare Centrale

Gare Centrale (French for Central Station) may refer to:

 * Gare Centrale (Brussels)
 * Gare Centrale (Montreal)
 * Gare Centrale (Mulhouse)

title: Gare Centrale


text:
SPARCstation 10

The SPARCstation 10 (codenamed Campus-2) is a workstation computer made by Sun Microsystems. Announced in May 1992, it was Sun's first desktop multiprocessor (being housed in a pizza box form factor case). It was later replaced with the SPARCstation 20.

The 40 MHz SPARCstation 10 without external cache was the reference for the SPEC CPU95 benchmark.

CPU support
The SPARCstation 10 (SS10) contains two MBus slots running at either 36 MHz (33 MHz for the earliest models) or 40 MHz (set via motherboard jumper). Each MBus slot can contain single or dual SPARC CPU modules, permitting expansion to up to four CPUs. Both SuperSPARC and hyperSPARC CPU modules were available. Single SuperSPARC modules without external cache were sold by Sun; they ran at the clock speed of the MBus (uniprocessor Models 20, 30 and 40; dual processor Model 402). Single and a few dual SuperSPARC modules with 1 MB external cache were also sold; they were independently clocked, and ran at a higher rate than the MBus, most commonly 40.3 MHz or 50 MHz (uniprocessor Models 41 and 51; multiprocessor Models 412, 512 and 514). Sun's dual 50 MHz SuperSPARC modules (the only dual MBus modules supported by Sun for this system) were double-width, physically occupying one SBus slot per module in addition to an MBus slot. SuperSPARC modules with and without external cache could not be mixed. SuperSPARC modules with external cache could be mixed, even with different clock speeds, but this was not a Sun-supported configuration.

Ross hyperSPARC modules were also available from third party vendors. The SS10 had reasonable cooling capacity given the cramped "pizzabox" case, but it was not designed for some of the higher-speed hyperSPARC modules, and so heat issues were common when these modules were used, particularly in four CPU configurations.

Memory
The SS10 can hold a maximum of 512 MB RAM in eight 200-pin DSIMM slots. 32 MB modules are not supported, though 16 MB and 64 MB are supported.

Disk drives
The SS10's enclosure can hold two 50-pin SCSI hard drives and a floppy disk drive. Other SCSI devices can be attached via the external SCSI port. There is no ATA disk support.

Network support
There is one onboard Ethernet interface, which can be accessed from a built-in 10BASE-T jack or via a special 26-pin port that provides both AUI and audio connections; only one of these network ports can be active at a time. A special cable or adapter is needed to convert the latter port to a standard DA-15 connector.

There are also two Basic Rate Interface (BRI) ISDN connectors; the system shipped with plastic blocking plugs inserted in these connectors.

Additional SBus network cards can also be added.

Graphics support
Most SPARCstation 10 systems lack integrated graphics. A very few, referred to as the SPARCstation 10SX, include the SX, or CG14, framebuffer used on the SPARCstation 20, requiring a 4 MB or 8 MB VSIMM to operate. All SPARCstation 10s seem to have the VSIMM slots, a cutout in the case and solder pads for the SX's 13W3 connector. Other options include the CG6 (GX, GX+, Turbo GX and TGX+) 8-bit SBus framebuffers, capable of up to 1280×1024 resolution in 8-bit color, and the ZX (Leo). The ZX is a 24-bit card with hardware-accelerated 3D operations, offering high speeds and resolutions, however, it's poorly supported, takes up two SBus slots, and runs extremely hot. Its faster cousin, the Turbo ZX, requires a fan card, taking up all four SBus slots. Full support is only available in Solaris 2.4 through 2.6, though the 2.6 drivers can be made to work in Solaris 7, 8 and 9. Linux includes an accelerated driver for it which supports 2D acceleration features, but no 3D. NetBSD and OpenBSD support it, but without acceleration, while NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP have no support whatsoever.

NVRAM
The SPARCstation 10 uses a battery-backed NVRAM module to hold data about the system, such as the host ID (serial number) and MAC address. If the battery on the chip dies, then the NVRAM module must be replaced (or modified to use an external battery), and the NVRAM must be reprogrammed with a MAC address and host ID. Optionally a M48T08-100PC1 can be used.

Operating systems

 * SunOS 4.1.3 onwards
 * Solaris (Solaris 2.1 to 9; Solaris 10 dropped support for 32-bit SPARC systems.)
 * Linux
 * NetBSD/SPARC
 * OpenBSD/sparc32 - All versions up to 5.9 (OpenBSD 5.9 was the last release to support SPARC32 )
 * NeXTSTEP (SuperSPARC CPU modules only)
 * OPENSTEP/Mach (SuperSPARC CPU modules only)

Related computers

 * SPARCstation 20

title: SPARCstation 10


text:
Talk:Latin epsilon

Title
Can this be moved to an article title that actually works with default character sets? -Aranel (" Sarah ") 18:25, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Why not start at Requested moves? It could move this page to open e.  The reason I started it here was because most of the others' titles are characters.  --Merovingian (t) (c) 21:10, August 27, 2005 (UTC)

Is this letter not based on the Greek letter epsilon? If it is, that could be mentioned. --70.29.60.170 23:51, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

 * It should be called Latin epsilon, not an Open E as it is named. See http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn27/ -- ✉ Hello World! 10:22, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

References to African language orthographies
I modified the first para and added a See also link. I'm not sure that it is accurate to say that any language uses the African Reference Alphabet, which was adopted as a kind of guideline based on earlier conferences and existing practice. A12n 21:03, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Latin epsilon or open-e
The form of the letter is obviously like, and apparently based on, the Greek epsilon. However the term "open-e" is still current, and certainly 1) helps describe the sound usually associated with the character and 2) offers a symmetry with "open-o" in discussions of orthographies and vowel systems they represent. I don't see "open-e" as a "misnaming" but rather as a naming from a different perspective. Can there be two equivalent names in Unicode for the same character?--A12n (talk) 01:46, 4 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Because of Unicode stability policy, the character name is the character name, good, bad, right, wrong, misspelled, typos and all. There do exist a standard set of aliases for badly named characters, however. Latin letter epsilon is already the alias for latin letter open e, but the character name will never change, and no character will ever be named latin small/capital letter epsilon. VIWS talk 01:53, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:Latin epsilon


text:
Talk:Toxic Reasons

Untitled
http://www.angelfire.com/oh/liveperformances/ToxicReasons.html This is a good site full of information about the band, I don't feel like writing this article right now. : ) balletgirl313 18:25, August 27, 2005 (UTC)

Hmm, good job someone did ;) Proto t c 11:05, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Hi, I just added some info about Toxic Reasons contributing some songs to the 1995 feature film "The Waiter". I also added a link to that film on IMDB but it seems i can't get the coding right for the link. If anyone else can fix it, I would be pleased. I tried several times but I am missing something. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vansloot (talk • contribs) 23:17, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Toxic Reasons


text:
Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa

Francisco Esaú Cossa (pseudonym Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa, also spelled as Ungulani ba ka Khosa) is a Mozambican writer born on August 1, 1957, in Inhaminga, Sofala Province.

Education and career
Khosa completed elementary school in Sofala, and high school in Zambezia. In Maputo he attended Eduardo Mondlane University, receiving a bachelor's degree in History and Geography. He then worked as a high school teacher.

In 1982, Khosa worked for the Ministry of Education for over a year. Six months after leaving the Ministry of Education, he was invited to work for the Writer’s Association. He initiated his career as a writer with the publication of several short stories and was one of the founders of the magazine Charrua of the Associação dos Escritores Moçambicanos (AEMO). It was his experiences in Niassa and Cabo Delgado, where poorly organized reeducation camps were located, that gave him the urge to write and expose this reality.

Literary influences
Khosa has described being influenced by Latin American writers, such as Alejo Carpentier, Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Jorge Luis Borges and Mario Vargas Llosa, in addition to African writers, such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Ousmane Sembène and Chinua Achebe, and American writers, such as Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.

Awards and honors

 * Won the Grand Prize of Mozambican Fiction in 1990 with Ualalapi
 * In 2002 Ualalapi was considered one of the 100 best African books of the twentieth century.
 * In 2007 Khosa won the José Craveirinha Award for his book Os Sobreviventes da Noite.

Published works

 * Ualalapi (1987). Trans. Richard Bartlett and Isaura de Oliveira (Tagus Press, 2017)

 * Orgia dos loucos (1990). Orgy of the Fools
 * Histórias de amor e espanto (1999). Stories of Love and Wonder
 * No reino dos abutres (2002). In the Kingdom of Vultures
 * Os sobreviventes da noite (2005). Survivors of the Night
 * Choriro (2009)
 * Entre as Memórias Silenciadas (2013). Among the Silenced Memories

 * O Rei Mocho (2016)
 * Orgia dos Loucos (2016)
 * Cartas de Inhaminga (2017). Letters from Inhaminga
 * Gungunhana (2018)

title: Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa


text:
USMLE Step 1

The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1  is a standardized test that assesses a medical student's knowledge of basic science concepts and their application to clinical medicine. The exam is one of three components required for medical licensure in the United States and is typically taken by students after their second year of medical school.

The USMLE Step 1 consists of 280 multiple-choice questions administered over an eight-hour period. The exam covers topics such as anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology, and physiology, among others. Scores used to be reported on a three-digit scale, but as of February 2022 is reported as pass/fail.

History
Before 1992, the NBME Part I examination was the primary basic science examination for medical students at the end of their second year. When the three-part United States Medical Licensing Examination was launched, the NBME Part I exam was incorporated into its new format, the USMLE Step 1 examination. Over time, the exam has evolved into a more clinically applied examination of the foundational sciences. The exam became computer-based several years later. In May 2015, the USMLE began emphasizing concepts related to patient safety and quality improvement across all parts of the USMLE exam series, including Step 1.

While traditionally, students took the USMLE Step 1 exam after completing foundational sciences and before core clinical clerkships, in the past decade, a growing number of medical schools have reformed their curricula to have students take the USMLE Step 1 after core clinical clerkships or preliminary clinical training.

In response to concerns about the role of USMLE Step 1 scores in residency selection and the negative impact on medical student mental health, the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) announced significant changes to the exam in 2020. One of the major changes was the transition to a pass/fail scoring system from the previous three-digit score reporting system. The change was made to encourage a shift in focus from "high-stakes testing" to "learning and individual improvement," as well as to alleviate some of the stress associated with the exam. These changes were implemented starting in January 2022, with the first USMLE Step 1 scores reported in the pass/fail format in February 2022.

The changes to the USMLE Step 1 exam have elicited mixed reactions from the medical education community. While some see the shift to pass/fail and the shorter exam format as positive steps toward reducing the pressure on medical students and promoting a more holistic approach to residency selection, others are concerned.

Format
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 is a computer-based test that assesses whether medical students or graduates can apply important concepts of the foundational sciences fundamental to the practice of medicine. The exam consists of 280 multiple-choice questions, divided into seven 40-question blocks, and takes eight hours to complete.

Subjects
Step 1 is designed to test the knowledge learned during the basic science years of medical school as applied in the form of clinical vignettes. This includes anatomy, behavioral sciences, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology, as well as to interdisciplinary areas including genetics, aging, immunology, nutrition, and molecular and cell biology. Epidemiology, medical ethics and questions on empathy are also emphasized. Each exam is dynamically generated for each test taker; while the general proportion of questions derived from a particular subject is the same, some test takers report that certain subjects are either emphasized or deemphasized.

Scoring
The USMLE Step 1 exam underwent a significant change in its scoring system in 2022, transitioning from a three-digit numeric score to a pass/fail system.

Prior to this change, students received a score ranging from 1 to 300, with most scores ranging from 140 to 260. The passing score was 196, and the national mean and standard deviation were approximately 232 and 19, respectively. The scoring system used to be percentile-based, but in 1999 it was phased out in favor of the three-digit and two-digit scaled scoring system. Two-digit scores were eliminated from the score report in 2013.

Changes to Step 1 scoring
It was announced on February 12, 2020, that beginning no earlier than January 2022, USMLE Step 1 would transition to a Pass/Fail scoring system. In July 2020, the USMLE announced that prior transcripts would not be retroactively altered."

While the NBME, USMLE, and FSMB were originally against these changes (which critics argued may have been from potential monetary loss), as of 2020 (and after the formation of InCUS), they have changed their stance in support of the public opinion. Humayun Chaudhry, the President of the FSMB, (who was originally in opposition to the Step changes), later said that “although the primary purpose of the exam is to assess the knowledge and skills essential to safe patient care, the new policies will “address concerns about Step 1 scores impacting student well-being and medical education.” Because students put so much emphasis on getting a high USMLE Step 1 score, they often skimmed the medical school curriculum that they deemed to be not as relevant in order to get the maximum score on the USMLE Step 1.

Use of Step 1 scores by residency programs
The medical community has criticized the USMLE and residency programs for using Step 1 scores as the main screening tool in selecting applicants for a residency interview. Residency program directors had historically utilized the scores as a means of filtering  applications down to a more manageable number that allowed for a more thorough review of the remaining ones. A significant amount of residency program directors believe that the conversion to Pass/Fail will make applicant screening more arduous. In fact, an applicant's Step 1 score has been cited by residency program directors as their most important criterion in selecting graduating medical students for their residency program.

Studies on Step 1 performance found that "Step 1 is neither precise nor does it predict student performance beyond a certain threshold. With a standard error of eight points, two applicants with scores as far as 15 points apart may not be meaningfully different and yet several programs use singular cutoff points as screening tools."

Unintended consequences
A 2017 study showed that students started studying for Step 1 during their preclinical curriculum and increased the intensity of their study time until it reached 16 hours a day over a period of 4–6 weeks before the exam in a period referred to by medical students as "dedicated". Instead of relying on their medical school curriculum, the students focused heavily on third-party study materials that according to some critics did not help them learn the medical school curriculum.

Racial disparity in score outcomes
Since 2001, there has been a strong plea to remove the Step 1 score barrier that disproportionately affects select racial and ethnic groups. "Using Step 1 scores to screen residency applications puts students who are underrepresented in medicine at a disadvantage." Black and Latino students receive markedly lower scores on Step 1 than white students. The mean USMLE step 1 score was significantly greater among white applicants (223) as compared to black and Hispanic applicants (216). Depending on the threshold score, an African American was 3-6x less likely to be offered an interview.

A 2001 study in internal medicine residency showed that "when Step 1 scores were used to screen applicants for interviews, a significantly greater proportion of Black students were refused interviews." A 2019 study on Orthopedic Surgery residency programs (the specialty with the lowest percentage of underrepresented students) showed that between 2005 and 2014, Black and Latino applicants were accepted into residency programs at a significantly lower rate (61%) than white applicants (71%).

Further studies showed a lack of diversity within specialties and that those underrepresented students were more likely to go into specialties that have lower Step 1 cut-offs like Primary Care.

The American Academy of Family Physicians and Association of American Medical Colleges supported changing Step 1 to pass or fail to reduce racial bias. The AAFP wrote that changing Step 1 to Pass/Fail creates a "more equitable student evaluation and residency selection process, as it will reduce the impact of racial and other biases on residency selection. Factors that impact student experience with standardized testing (such as access to test preparation) perpetuate inequities and disparities that impact test performance, but do not predict or capture competency or skills for future physicians." The American Medical Student Association recommended changing scoring to Pass/Fail to reduce the adverse impact of the current overemphasis on USMLE performance in residency screening as well as the associated racial bias. The ECFMG and AMA supported this transition as well.

Support for USMLE changes
According to the NMBE's InCUS survey results, there were mixed responses regarding support for "consideration of changes such as pass/fail scoring categorical/tiered scoring, and composite scoring." Per the survey, those in agreement with changes include 26% of residency program directors, 32% of current or former state board members, 39% of interns, residents, and fellows, 39% of medical school faculty, 44% of medical students, 67% of course directors, and 75% of Associate/Assistant Deans (of medical schools). Notably, medical students and program directors were among parties with only a minority in favor of this change, despite being the most directly affected. Parties associated with medical schools, namely course directors and Deans were noted to have the most support for changes.

The USMLE parent organizations, including the AAFP, AMSA, and AAMC wrote letters to the USMLE recommended broad, systemic changes to the medical program including changing Step 1 to Pass/Fail. "The current overemphasis on USMLE Step 1 is having an overwhelmingly negative impact on students. This should be addressed immediately. A Pass/Fail score will help provide a more meaningful learning environment, improved emotional climate, and better student-student interactions, which can lead to better academic performance that includes USMLE tests (see Cause or effect?). Additionally, it will decrease racial bias for programs that use USMLE Step 1 scores to grant interviews." Further, they supported the move to Step 1 Pass/Fail citing unintentional negative impact of a single standardized exam on career exploration and selection.

Objection to USMLE changes
According to the NMBE's InCUS survey results, there were mixed responses regarding support for "consideration of changes such as pass/fail scoring, categorical/tiered scoring, and composite scoring." Per the survey, those in agreement with changes include 26% of residency program directors, 32% of current or former state board members, 39% of interns, residents, and fellows, 39% of medical school faculty, 44% of medical students, 67% of course directors, and 75% of Associate/Assistant Deans (of medical schools). Notably, medical students and program directors were among parties with only a minority in favor of this change, despite being the most directly affected. Parties associated with medical schools, namely course directors and Deans were noted to have the most support for changes.

Immediately following the announcement by USMLE that Step 1 would become Pass/Fail in 2022, concern has been expressed from several parties in the medical community, namely residency program directors and medical students, both among US graduates and international graduates.

In a survey of nearly 300 residency program directors in surgical fields, program directors were found to significantly disagree with the statements that changing to Pass/Fail "is a good idea" (78.1% [69.9–86.4%] disagree) and the statement that "Step 2 CK should also be changed to Pass/Fail" (84.0% [76.7–91.3%]). They were also found to significantly agree with the statements that changing to Pass/Fail: "Will make it more difficult to objectively compare applicants" (88.3% [81.9–94.7%]), "Will increase emphasis on Step 2 CK scores in selecting applicants for my program" (88.7% [82.5–95.0%]), "Will make applicant screening more arduous" (85.4% [78.4–92.4%]), "I will now require applicants to submit Step 2 CK scores with ERAS" (88.4% [81.7–95.0%]), and "Where an applicant goes to medical school will be more important in screening and selection for my program" (63.5% [53.8–73.2%]).

US medical students have also expressed concern that priority that would have gone to Step 1 score will instead be shifted to school prestige, student connections, clinical grading, Step 2 CK scores, and extracurricular experiences. In particular, students from DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) and "low tier" MD schools may be at considerable disadvantage compared to students from prestigious schools. This concern is validated by the aforementioned program director survey. These same schools are less likely to provide the same robust extracurricular opportunities, particularly in terms of highly valued research opportunities for these schools.

Step 2 CK is a three-digit-scored exam typically taken after the third year of medical school, which consists of clinical rotations in primary care fields. In February 2020, the Harvard Crimson wrote, "the fact that Step 2 is a more clinically relevant exam than Step 1, makes it a better proxy for clinical acumen." However, the timing of Step 2 CK is often only months before residency applications are submitted, meaning a poor score could jeopardize a student's application without allowing time to change tracks or bolster other application components.

International medical students and graduates expressed growing concerns that the change will further decrease IMG (International Medical Graduates) chances of matching into US residency programs. Historically, IMGs have been at a significant disadvantage when applying to US residency programs. Outside of scores, residency program directors consider letters of recommendation, clinical grades, and research. Since international medical students come from medical schools with different grading systems and do not usually have access to well-known faculty and American research opportunities, USMLE Step 1 is often seen as a major opportunity to boost IMG residency applications with a high score. Without a numerical score on the USMLE Step 1, there is speculation that IMG's will be further be pushed out of the race for residency program spots. This was supported to some extent by General Surgery program director respondents, which significantly agreed that the changes to Pass/Fail "Will put IMGs at a disadvantage" 56.0% [48.6–63.4%].

Formation of InCUS and Outcomes
The current use of Step 1 scoring as a major determinant for granting residency interviews has been met with tremendous criticism by the medical community. The public outcry led to the formation of a committee and investigation in early 2019 called the Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS). The USMLE published a list of InCUS participants. In February 2020, InCUS concluded that residencies were overemphasizing Step 1 and not using it for its original purpose for which it was designed as a means of licensing.

Upon reaching these conclusions, the USMLE program announced a plan to change Step 1 score reporting to a Pass/Fail system in an effort "to reduce overemphasis on Step 1 performance while allowing licensing authorities to use the exam for its primary purpose of medical licensure eligibility." The USMLE stated that transition will occur no earlier than January 1, 2022.

In July 2020, the USMLE stated that "All scores for Step 1 exams taken prior to the date of the policy change will continue to be reported using the three-digit numeric score on all USMLE transcripts. The USMLE program does not retroactively alter transcripts."

Effect on residency matching
The USMLE score is one of many factors considered by residency programs in selecting applicants.

Many residency programs used a "cutoff" score for Step 1, below which applicants were unlikely to be considered. The NRMP Residency Program Director survey contains more information, both overall and by specialty, regarding "cutoff" scores (i.e., scores below which programs generally do not grant interviews).

Studies on Step 1 performance found that "Step 1 is neither precise nor does it predict student performance as residents beyond a certain threshold. With a standard error of eight points, two applicants with scores as far as 15 points apart may not be meaningfully different and yet several programs use singular cutoff points as screening tools." This, as well as the impact on student learning, cost of preparation, diversion of student time toward exam preparation, and desire to decrease racial bias, are amongst the reasons that the USMLE switched to Pass/Fail reporting of Step 1 at the beginning of 2022.

Converting to Pass/Fail Scoring
See Support for USMLE changes and Objection to USMLE changes in Changes to Step 1 scoring.

USMLE response to COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the USMLE and NBME were met with criticism from some members of the medical community, including the American Medical Association (AMA), for miscommunication, delays and lack of flexibility during the COVID-19 global pandemic. They were also criticized for reducing the length of the exam at newly established testing centers in some U.S. medical schools to be able to accommodate more students for testing as those changes would diminish the standardization of the tests. There were concerns that these issues would lead to many applicants having incomplete applications during the 2021 match season which would then negatively affect the ability of program directors to effectively evaluate candidates. Prometric eventually added testing sites at some medical schools and re-opened testing centers with new safety protocols. USMLE also reverted the announced changes to the exams length. To accommodate these changes, the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) adjusted the application timeline to allow students an additional month to submit their applications.

Experimental Questions
On June 4, 2020, the USMLE announced a plan to administer tests at medical schools throughout the nation, but that these exams would notably lack experimental questions, while exams administered at testing centers during the same time period would still have these experimental questions. These experimental questions accounted for 80 of the 280 on the exam, which would have led to the decreasing the total test taking time from 7–8 hours to 5–6 hours. Some commenters expressed concerns since this practice would have "destandardized" the text and test-takers would have been "experimented" on without consent. The USMLE ultimately reverted the announced changes to the exams length,.

Katsufrakis & Chaudhry comments on Step 1 changes
In December 2018, NBME President Peter Katsufrakis and FSMB President Humayun Chaudhry wrote in opposition of USMLE Step 1 changes in from Improving Residency Selection Requires Close Study and Better Understanding of Stakeholder Needs: "If students reduce time and effort devoted to preparing for Step 1, they may indeed devote attention to other activities that will prepare them to be good physicians. This would arguably be an ideal outcome of such a change. However, if students were to devote more time to activities that make them less prepared to provide quality care, such as binge-watching the most recent Netflix series or compulsively updating their Instagram account, this could negatively impact residency performance and ultimately patient safety. We know that assessment drives learning, so another concern resulting from a shift to pass/fail scoring may be a less knowledgeable physician population." This was met with significant backlash from students and the medical education community as this was felt to be a "tone-deaf assumption that medical trainees with more time may instead redirect their effort toward Netflix and Instagram."

Within a few days, Katsufrakis and Chaudhry issued an apology and removed the phrase.

Exam Pricing and NBME Executive Salaries
NBME and USMLE were met with criticism when they announced their raising cost for Step standardized tests. Kevin MD wrote, "Safeguards are needed to ensure fees for mandatory testing such as the USMLE do not exceed reasonable operating costs, particularly for financially vulnerable medical students." Registering for Step exams test cost between $645 and $985.

The NBME executives received public criticism related to their increasing salaries. "Former NBME President Dr. Melnick's compensation increased from $399,160 in 2001 to over $1.2 million in 2016, almost in parallel with the tripling of USMLE costs." "According to the 2017 Form 990, Schedule J, two lower executives received total compensation over $700,000; another two over $600,000; another three receiving over $500,000, and another 6 receiving over $400,000."

title: USMLE Step 1


text:
Lower Monumental Dam

Lower Monumental Lock and Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete, run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. Located on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, it bridges Franklin and Walla Walla counties; it is 6 mi south of Kahlotus and 43 mi north of Walla Walla.

Construction began in June 1961, and the main structure and three generators were completed 55.613973686738966 years ago in 1969, with an additional three generators finished in 1981. Generating capacity is 810 megawatts, with an overload capacity of 932 MW. The spillway has eight gates and is 572 ft in length.

Built and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lower Monumental Dam is part of the Columbia River Basin system of dams.

Behind the dam, Lake Herbert G. West is the reservoir; it extends 28 mi east to the base of Little Goose Dam. Lake Sacajawea, formed from Ice Harbor Dam, runs 22 mi southwest, downstream from the base of the dam.

 * Navigation lock
 * Single-lift
 * Width: 86 ft
 * Length: 666 ft

title: Lower Monumental Dam


text:
Carla Gallo

Carla Paolina Gallo (born 1975) is an American actress. Gallo has had recurring roles in the television series Undeclared, Carnivàle, Bones, Californication, and a number of film roles. Since her role on Undeclared, she has made frequent appearances in other Judd Apatow productions.

She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Theater. Her best friend since childhood is fellow actress Sarah Paulson.

Personal life
Gallo is of primarily German-American descent as well as Italian-American descent. Gallo announced she was six months pregnant with her first child, in April 2014, at the L.A. premiere of Neighbors. She gave birth to a daughter in the summer of 2014. She gave birth to her second daughter in May 2017. Her husband is screenwriter Mark Satterthwaite.

title: Carla Gallo