text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Compdudes LLC

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

The result of the debate was delete. Nufy8 20:35, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Compdudes LLC
Real company, but nn, garners a smashing 6 google hits (4 unique) of which 1 is the own company and 2 are webhosting companies listing clients. Delete Usrnme h8er 09:30, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Prob. ad. DV8 2XL 12:16, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete; would that there were . - choster 21:13, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Watch/hottopics

 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 keep. Rossami (talk) 02:34, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Watch/hottopics, Watch/Deletion debates needing votes, Watch/policy, Watch/technology
Wikipedia:Watch is a barely used process that is mostly redundant with other processes, most notably WP:RFC and WP:CS. These subsections have been deprecated over time as being redundant and thus potentially confusing. There's really nothing in here to archive, they are just lists of internal links, no debate or anything. Radiant_ >|< 09:31, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Should be used much more, taking over the role of Current surveys and the like.  violet/riga (t) 09:36, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, if you can give these pages a meaningful definition that is not redundant with WP:RFC, please let me know. The "policy" and "technology" watches are precise duplicates of certain RFC sections. The "hottopics" watch was basically arbitrary, since there's no real criterion about what's hot, so ultimately people either threw everything there or ignored it. "Deletion debates" is misguided since it smells like vote stacking (and nobody was bothering to update it, and there really aren't that many deletion debates lacking input). Radiant_ >|< 10:09, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep We should not be deleting our history. Blank Verse   ∅  11:12, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Even if it is used by only a few, there is no reason to delete a tool that a few may find useful. NoSeptember  11:27, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually there is. A tool that is used for bringing a matter to people's attention is by definition useless if few people use it. I have no objection to keeping them in history as BV says, but they're at present too redundant with other heavily-frequented processes to actually use them. Radiant_ >|< 11:30, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
 * These projects are not in mainspace. Duplication here does no harm.  Different people may want to use different lists, whether up-to-date or not.  Of course, you have already edited all these project pages so that people have to dig into the history to find out what was there.  These pages got a fair amount of use (based on the edit history), let those who want to use them, use them.  NoSeptember  12:26, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete all except Watch/Deletion debates needing votes. The other three have been deprecated (it says so in the pages), however, Deletion debates could be advertised at the Community portal to announce contested/controversial VfDs that require the input from as many Wikipedians as possible. I had considered creating such a page as time permitted, but if this one exists, it can be edited to reflect that purpose. --Tito xd 02:19, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Excellent pages, and despite the extensive, um, editing performed on them recently they're still on my watchlist.  Why are they up for deletion again?  I broadly agree with the merger with RfC, but this could have been done by page moves, without disturbing people's watchlists. These should be kept for the sake of the histories. --Tony Sidaway Talk  02:39, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, no reason to delete, nominator's goals could be accomplished more easily and less disruptively. Christopher Parham (talk) 04:58, 2005 September 1 (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.

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


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List of Mennonites

This page includes a list of notable Mennonites.

General list

 * Harold S. Bender, professor of theology at Goshen College
 * David Bergen, Giller Prize winning author
 * Travis Bergen, baseball player
 * JC Chasez, solo artist and singer for NSYNC
 * Christopher Dock, educator
 * Abraham Esau, German physicist
 * Howard Dyck, Canadian conductor and broadcaster
 * Dietrich Enns, baseball player
 * Brendan Fehr, actor linked to TV show Roswell
 * Eric Fehr, hockey player
 * Henry Friesen, endocrinologist who discovered Prolactin
 * Jeff Friesen, former hockey player
 * Byron Froese, hockey player
 * Johann Funk, early Canadian Mennonite bishop
 * Joseph Funk, U.S. music teacher and publisher
 * Michael Funk, former hockey player
 * Owen Gingerich, Smithsonian astronomer
 * Girl Named Tom, winners of season 21 of The Voice
 * Steven Goertzen, former hockey player
 * Herman op den Graeff, Mennonite community leader of Krefeld, delegate and signer of the Dordrecht Confession of Faith in 1632
 * Joseph B. Hagey, bishop
 * Vincent Harding, African-American historian, theologian and civil-rights activist
 * Hans Herr, bishop
 * Jeff Hostetler, NFL quarterback
 * Julia Kasdorf, poet
 * Graham Kerr, "The Galloping Gourmet"
 * Cindy Klassen, five time Olympic medalist
 * Eduard Klassen, harpist
 * Clayton Kratz, relief worker
 * Erik Kratz, American professional baseball catcher currently in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
 * Alan Kreider, author and employee of the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
 * Floyd Landis, professional road bicycle racer
 * John Paul Lederach, professor of International Peacebuilding
 * Lê Thị Hồng Liên, teacher and former political prisoner
 * María Gloria Penayo De Duarte, Paraguayan first lady, her husband Nicanor Duarte, is a nominal Catholic who attends her church
 * Dustin Penner, former hockey player
 * Casey Plett, writer
 * Nguyen Hong Quang, Vice President of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam
 * Richie Regehr, former hockey player
 * Robyn Regehr, former hockey player
 * A. James Reimer, Canadian Mennonite theologian
 * James Reimer, hockey player
 * John D. Roth, Mennonite scholar
 * Menno Simons, theologian; Mennonitism named for him
 * Jerome Monroe Smucker, founder of The J.M. Smucker Company
 * Dan Snyder, hockey player
 * Gene Stoltzfus, American peace activist, founding director of Christian Peacemaker Teams
 * Brad Thiessen, hockey player
 * David Toews, hockey player
 * Jonathan Toews, hockey player
 * Miriam Toews, best-selling author, winner of the 2004 Governor General's Literary Award
 * Andrew Unger, novelist and author of The Daily Bonnet
 * Garry Unger, former hockey player
 * Pierre Widmer, French Mennonite pastor and editor
 * Armin Wiebe, author
 * Rudy Wiebe, Canadian author and professor who was raised Mennonite so knew no English until age 6
 * Harvey L. Wollman, former Governor of South Dakota
 * John Howard Yoder, theologian and pacifist

Canadian politicians connected to the Mennonites

 * Albert Driedger, cabinet minister under Gary Filmon and also a director of the Elim Mennonite Church.
 * Jacob Froese, only Manitoba Social Credit Party MLA between 1959 and 1973, and was the party's leader for most if not all of the period from 1959 to 1977
 * Kelvin Goertzen, 23rd Premier of Manitoba
 * Harold Neufeld, cabinet minister under Gary Filmon and currently Chair of the Menno Simons College Foundation
 * Vic Toews, Conservative Party of Canada member and a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba
 * Brad Wall, former Premier of Saskatchewan
 * Cornelius Wiebe, first Mennonite to serve in the Manitoba legislature

Note: Several Canadian political figures have a Mennonite background. This might be more common in Canada than in most nations. This is perhaps most true in the case of Manitoba, though Saskatchewan and British Columbia also have significant Mennonites in politics. As this more concerns "connected to" this may include people who are ethnic Mennonites and not necessarily members of Mennonite churches.

People of Mennonite ancestry or background
This is mostly people whose Mennonite ancestry or upbringing is important to them, but who are not currently Mennonite. In some cases names listed here include people whose current status as Mennonites is undetermined.

 * Sandra Birdsell, Canadian poet
 * Di Brandt, Canadian poet
 * Greg Brenneman, former CEO of Burger King
 * John Denver, folk singer-songwriter
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). Eisenhower's direct ancestor, Hans Nicol Eisenhauer, was a Mennonite who settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1741.
 * Ashley Graham, plus-size American supermodel.
 * Jonathan Groff, American actor and singer who originated the role of King George in the Broadway musical Hamilton.
 * Katherine Esau, American botanist
 * Patrick Friesen, Canadian poet
 * Anna German, Polish singer
 * Philip D. Gingerich, paleontologist
 * Malcolm Gladwell, English-Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker who has made a return to religion though not of a specific church at the moment.
 * Jon Gnagy, American art instructor on television
 * Matt Groening, American cartoonist, creator of The Simpsons. His father, Homer Groening, was born and raised in a Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite family from Saskatchewan.
 * Joey Kelly, former member of The Kelly Family
 * James L. Kraft, founder of Kraft Foods
 * Milton Hershey, founder of The Hershey Company
 * Robyn Regehr, hockey player
 * Adolph Rupp, college basketball coach
 * Marlin Stutzman, politician who was raised Mennonitem but is now Baptist.
 * Hermann Sudermann, German dramatist and novelist
 * Dick Winters, U.S. Army Major and World War II commander of Band of Brothers' Easy Company

People incorrectly identified as Mennonite

 * George Armstrong Custer, erroneously identified as coming from Mennonite background by biographer Milo Milton Quaife.

title: List of Mennonites


text:
Palombarone

Il Palombarone is a 16th-century construction in Castelfidardo, the Marches in Central Italy.

Structure
The building has three principal sections - a four-storey central portion which is undoubtedly the oldest part of the structure, with two-storey wings on either side. Thus in essence the building is a central tower with lower wings on either side.

History
To the best of common knowledge the building now dubbed the 'Palombarone' was originally erected in 1580 as the summer residence for the local Archbishop, also the Governor of the Basilica of the Holy House of nearby Loreto. It was a property of the Roman Catholic Church. It dominated the landscape for miles around due to its elevated position. Its presumed nature as an ecclesiastical residence may be not entirely accurate due to the presence of small square slanted breaches which are scattered across the tower section of the building. The purpose of these holes is not known but two principal theories exist - they are either the holes through which small cannons could be discharged, thus making the Palombarone a small fort used to guard an ancient border between lands now forgotten, or more probably to protect against Turkish invasions of the 16th century – the Ottomans were at the gates of Vienna at this time; or the holes served as perches for carrier pigeons - who were used extensively at this time and a thriving local market in the bird existed in this period.

The building is believed to have fallen into disrepair with the end of the Papal States in the 1860s – it was probably around that time that local families moved in and rented the properties surrounding this property (which to this day is used as vineyards). The farmer-occupiers of the property eventually left the property in the mid-1970s and the building was abandoned. Extensive renovations to the property occurred in 1896 (as a simple marble plaque states on the front of the building) and again most probably in the 1950s. In 2000, the property was bought by the great-granddaughter of a woman who was born in the building a century and half before, Renata Simonetti Giorgi. She and her family have been renovating the dilapidated building since mid-2002 in an attempt to restore it to its former glory years of the late 16th century and as can be seen from the photo, huge progress has been made.

Architecture
The building is in the 16th-century style of the local area, with masterful arches and a domed interior. The walls are extraordinarily thick, which tends to hold the interior temperature cool in the summer and warm in winter.

title: Palombarone


text:
Evelyn Colyer

Evelyn Lucy Colyer (later Munro, 16 August 1902 – 4 November 1930) was a female tennis player from Great Britain. With Joan Austin, sister of Bunny Austin, Colyer played doubles in the 1923 Wimbledon final against Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan. Colyer and Austin were known in the British press as "The Babes." At the 1924 Paris Olympics, she teamed with Dorothy Shepherd-Barron to win a bronze medal in the women's doubles event.

From 1920 until 1929, she competed in all editions of the Wimbledon Championships. Her best singles result was reaching the fourth round in 1927 in which she was defeated by Kitty Godfree.

In 1925, she teamed with P.B.D Spence and won the mixed doubles title at the Queen's Club Covered Courts Championships.

She was part of the winning British Wightman Cup team in 1924 and 1925 as well as the team that lost in 1926.

On 13 February 1930 she married Hamish Munro, a tea planter from Assam, British India and soon afterward, the couple migrated to Assam. She died on 6 November 1930 of complications after giving birth to twins on 20 October.

title: Evelyn Colyer


text:
Abercastle

Abercastle (Abercastell) is a village in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Abercastle has a working harbour which is managed by Abercastle Boat Owners Association.

In 1876, The harbour was the landing-site of the first Atlantic Ocean single-handed sailing, west-to-east, starting from Gloucester, Massachusetts, by Alfred "Centennial" Johnson.

History
Abercastle is an old trading harbour which exported local slate and grain, limestone, butter, honey, corn, and some coal. There are also the remains of nineteenth century limekilns.

Alfred Johnson memorial
Alfred Johnson landed at Abercastle on Saturday, August 12, 1876, after 66 days sailing from Gloucester, Massachusetts, becoming the first person to make the single-handed Atlantic crossing. Johnson, a Danish born fisherman used a small dory named 'Centennial'. He managed an average pace of about 70 miles (110 km) a day, quite respectable for such a small boat in the open sea, and survived a gale which capsized the boat.

A plaque made of Welsh Slate is on the quay wall near the slipway and was unveiled by Alfred Johnson's grandson, Charlie Dickman on October 17, 2003. Local author Rob Morris has also written a book about the crossing called Alfred "Centennial" Johnson. St Davids poet Tony Davies also dedicated the following to Alfred Johnson: Sixty six days, three thousand miles,

Record breaking, Abercastle smiles,

Liverpool, trip complete,

The courage of Captain Johnson and Centennial’s feat.

Carreg Samson
Carreg Samson, also known as 'Carreg Sampson', Samson's Stone and the 'Longhouse' is a 5,000-year-old Neolithic Burial Chamber and the site of over 1,000 burials. Half a mile west of the Abercastle near the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, it has a cap stone 15 feet long and 9 feet wide supported on three of the seven upright stones. It is thought to have been a portal dolmen and was built over a pit. It is called 'Samson' because of a local legend that Samson placed it in position with his little finger. The whole burial chamber was once covered by a mound of earth or stones and once these were removed stones were used to block the holes in the sides of the tomb so that it could be used as a shelter for sheep. Excavations in 1968 found an early Neolithic bowl.

Facilities
The harbour faces northwest and is therefore sheltered from south-westerly gales, providing a safe haven for the local fishing fleet. There is a public telephone and free parking for a small number of cars. The slipway goes to soft sand and is not suitable for non off-road vehicles. The coastal bus “The Strumble Shuttle” calls at Abercastle.

Activities
Popular for fishing and diving, there are also several recorded climbing sites in the area although they are suitable for group use. The harbour is a good launching site for sea kayaking. The coastal path that follows the coast of Pembrokeshire passes through Abercastle, and is popular with tourists and local walking groups.

Shipwreck
The 3,800 ton wreck of SS Leysian lies on the west side of the harbour, about 50m from the cliffs. She ran aground and sank a few months later in 1917 with no loss of life. As it is at a depth of around 15m the wreck is popular with divers who report much wreckage, and a large range of fish, including a large pollock which lives in the wreck. A detailed survey of the wreck began in June 2019.

title: Abercastle


text:
Intercession of the Theotokos

The Intercession of the Theotokos, or the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, is a Christian feast of the Mother of God celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches on October 1 (Julian calendar: October 14). The feast celebrates the protection afforded the faithful through the intercessions of the Theotokos (lit. Mother of God, one Eastern title of the Virgin Mary).

The feast is commemorated in Eastern Orthodoxy as a whole, but by no means as fervently as it is in Russia, Belarus, and, especially, Ukraine. In the Slavic Orthodox Churches it is celebrated as the most important solemnity besides the Twelve Great Feasts and Pascha. In Ukraine, it has a special meaning through its connection to the spirituality of the Ukrainian Cossacks and, accordingly and more recently, to Defenders of Ukraine Day.

Etymology
The Protection of the Theotokos or the Intercession of the Theotokos (Покровъ, Pokrov, Покрова, Pokrova), like the (, Sképē) has a complex meaning. First of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is variously translated as the Veil of Our Lady, the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos. It is often translated as Feast of the Intercession or Feast of the Holy Protection.

With some reservations, the Pokrov icon may be related to the Western Virgin of Mercy image, in which the Virgin spreads wide her cloak to cover and protect a group of kneeling supplicants (first known from Italy from about 1280).

Tradition

According to Eastern Orthodox Sacred Tradition, the apparition of Mary the Theotokos occurred during the 10th century at the Blachernae church in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) where several of her relics (her robe, her veil, and part of her belt) were kept. On Sunday, October 1 at four in the morning, St. Andrew the Blessed Fool-for-Christ, who was a Slav by birth, saw the dome of the church open and the Virgin Mary enter, moving in the air above him, glowing and surrounded by angels and saints. She knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the world. The Virgin Mary asked Her Son, Jesus Christ, to accept the prayers of all the people entreating Him and looking for Her protection. Once Her prayer was completed, She walked to the altar and continued to pray. Afterwards, She spread Her veil over all the people in the church as a protection.

St. Andrew turned to his disciple, St. Epiphanius, who was standing near him, and asked, "Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos, praying for all the world?" Epiphanius answered, "Yes, Holy Father, I see it and am amazed!"

According to the Primary Chronicle of St. Nestor the Chronicler, the inhabitants of Constantinople called upon the intercession of the Mother of God to protect them from an attack by a large Rus' army (Rus' was still pagan at the time). According to Nestor, the feast celebrates the destruction of this fleet sometime in the ninth century; according to some other legend, however, the outcome was the adoption of Christianity by the whole host (led by Askold).

Icon
The icon of the feast, which is not found in Byzantine art, depicts in its upper part the Virgin Mary surrounded by a luminous aureole. She holds in her outstreched arms an orarion or veil, which symbolizes the protection of her intercession. To either side of her stand numerous saints and angels, many of whom are recognizable to the experienced church-goer: the apostles, John the Baptist, St. Nicholas of Myra, etc. Below, St. Andrew the Fool for Christ is depicted, pointing up at the Virgin Mary and turning to his disciple Epiphanius. Usually, the veil with which the Virgin protects mankind is small and held either in her outstretched hands or by two angels, though a version similar to the Western European Virgin of Mercy image, with a larger cloak covering people is found in some Eastern Orthodox icons.

Feast

The Feast of the Intercession commemorates the miracle as a joyous revelation of the Theotokos' protection, which is spread over the world, and the Mother of God's great love for mankind. It is a religious holy day or feast day of the Byzantine Rite Eastern Orthodox Churches. It is served as an All-Night Vigil, with many of the same elements as occur on Great Feasts of the Theotokos. However, Pokrov has no Afterfeast.

In Ukraine, it is celebrated on October 14 (since 2023: October 1) as a religious, national, and family holiday. The concept of Mother of God as the Intercessor and Protectress (i.e. the Intercession, or 'Pokrova' in Ukrainian, as an aspect of Virgin Mary) became firmly established among Ukrainians through their history. The Holy Lady of Protection was always considered the heavenly patroness of Zaporozhian Host, and therefore Ukrainian Cossacks. As a legend has it, each of their campaign the Cossacks began with Sub tuum praesidium prayer to the Holy Lady (in Ukrainian: «Під Твою милість прибігаємо, Богородице Діво, молитвами нашими в скорботах не погордуй, але від бід ізбав нас, єдина чиста і благословенна!»), by which making reference to the Intercession. Notably, an icon in the National Art Museum of Ukraine shows the Virgin Mary protecting the Ukrainian cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky. The singular (as compared to the rest of the Christian world) devotion of Ukrainians to the Intercession feast (for them being the third important, after Easter and Christmas, holiday) was acknowledged in Pylyp Orlyk Constitution, where Christmas, Easter and 'Pokrova' were set to be the three designated annual days of convention by the supreme cossack council that was supposed to rule the country. The tradition was referred to again in XX century, when the founding of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was attributed (although retrospectively and probably inaccurately) to 14 October 1942. In 1990s, along with its religious meaning, the Pokrova Feast Day was also commemorated popularly as Ukrainian Cossack Day (День Українського козацтва); then officially promulgated as such by decree of the Ukrainian President in 1999. Finally, on 14 October 2014, another President decree (approved by the Ukrainian parliament on 5 March 2015) promoted the day to the new public holiday "Defenders of Ukraine Day" (Ukrainian: День захи́сника́ Украї́ни, romanized: Den zakhysnyka Ukrainy), to replace the former "Defender of the Fatherland Day" inherited from the Soviet Union. The Lady of Intercession is regarded as a holy defender of both the Ukrainian nation at large and of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Some, but not all, regions of the Russian Federation celebrate the Feast of Intercession as a work holiday.

It is not a part of the ritual traditions of, and therefore is not celebrated by, the Oriental Orthodox Churches or some jurisdictions that allow Western Rite Orthodoxy. Yet the feast is perfectly consistent with the theology of these sister churches. The Western Rite Communities of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) do celebrate this feast on their calendar.

October 1 (in the Julian calendar) is also the feast of St. Romanus the Melodist, so he is often depicted on the same icon, even though he and St. Andrew lived at different times. He is often shown directly below the Virgin Mary, standing on a bema, or on a kathedra, chanting from a scroll. The scroll represents the various kontakia which have been attributed to him.

The feast day of St. Andrew, the Fool-for-Christ, falls on the following day, October 2 (in accordance with the Orthodox liturgical tradition of the Synaxis).

Churches dedicated to Pokrov

The first churches dedicated to feast of Pokrov appeared in Russia in the 12th century. Probably the most famous Russian church named for the feast day is Saint Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow, which is officially entitled "the Church of Intercession of Our Lady that Is on the Moat" (Собор Покрова пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву) or shortly "Intercession Cathedral upon moat" (Храм Покрова "на рву"). The other one is the Church of Intercession in Bogolyubovo near Vladimir on the Nerl River (Церковь Покрова на Нерли, Tserkov Pokrova na Nerli). Both churches are on the United Nations' World Heritage List, the latter as part of the site White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal. There is also a Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin in St. Petersburg.

Other notable churches commemorating this feast are Intercession of the Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church in Manchester, England, and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin & St. Sergius in Glen Cove, New York.

In north Wales there is the Church of the Holy Protection (Eglwys yr Amddiffyniad Sanctaidd) at 10 Manod Road, Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the liturgy is celebrated partly in Welsh, also English, Greek, and Church Slavonic. The church, under Igoumen Deiniol, is under the omophor of the diocese of Sourozh of the Moscow Patriarchate.

title: Intercession of the Theotokos


text:
Abercegir

Abercegir is a small rural village in Powys, Wales.

It lies approximately 4 miles east of the town of Machynlleth and is 81 miles (131 km) from Cardiff and 172 miles (277 km) from London.

title: Abercegir


text: Category:Lasiocampidae

title: Category:Lasiocampidae


text:
User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/Milion

The word Milion is the Roman term for the Greek Milos and is mentioned in Mathew 5. The Greeks derived their systemized standards of measure from a variety of sources including Ancient Europe, Mesopotamia, Persia, Phoenicia and Egypt.

The credit for the first systemized collection and standardization probably goes to the empire builders of Mesopotamia and Egypt but the international commerce of the people who benefited by those great empires, the Greeks and Persians and the Romans who followed them is what really required the system be standardized over such vast areas.

The Mesopotamians measured their arable land in garden plots or sar and combined them into fields or iku of 100 cubits to a side. The Egyptians measured out the irrigation ditches that bounded their 3ht or fields as strips a cubit wide and 100 cubits long known as kht. Their st3t which was a field 100 cubits to a side became the Greek Aroura.

It is probable that farmers measured out the land their community allowed them to plow in return for digging the ditch by pacing it off and built up an enclosure for it with the stones they found in their furrows.

The community would give the fields out in pairs, one to be plowed and one to remain fallow which were planted in rotation. As beasts of burden were domesticated and yoked to the plow the amount of land under cultivation increased, and a third field was added to be planted in hay or fodder for the plow animal. The side of this cluster of fields became standardized at 350 cubits or one minute of march.

The Milos was based on a stadion equivalent to the Egyptian minute of march.

In Egypt the minute of march was 350 royal cubits long and an hour of march or itrw was 21,000 royal cubits long. The Greeks tell us they noted their measures of 6 plethrons and 8 stadions, were both the equivalent of the Apothem or slant side of the Great Pyramid.

Using unit measures like the Stadion, Stadium and Furlong which were originally used to lay out fields and only gradually became defined as areas like the Aroura or thousand square royal cubits, the empire builders measured out their roads.

The Greek Milos was originally 8 stadions or 600 Greek pous = 4800 pous. The Pous came in long, short, and median variations so depending on which one you used the number of pous would vary even as the length of the stadion and Milos remained the same. 600 Attic pous were equal to 625 Ionian pous but both stadions were 185 meters long.

The Romans standard pes was the Ionian pous of 296 mm so they made their stadium of 185 meters equal to 625 pes or 1000 passus and that made their Milliare 5000 pes.

What makes that a great system for empire builders is that the passus is now a measure of the pace at which the army moves. If such standards of measure are well suited to controlling the movements of armies with milestones related to how much distance can be covered in a set period of time they are equally servicable to the needs of commerce.

Just as the farmer can use the stone walls that border his field to help him restablish its boundaries after a flood, the community can establish its bounds in terms of how much land it needs to irrigate to sustain its population and the lugal or narmr (chief farmer) can determine how many men he needs to dig the irrigation system and how much land to alot to each oinkos, gene] and [[phratre in return for their service. It's all very feudal. The city state is based on a market, souk, emporia or agora that serves a number of communities which are spaced about as far apart as a man can walk in a day driving a team of oxen pulling a cart.

The Million or Mile originated as a division of a degree into a number of stadia, usually eight and tended to standardize earlier definitions of a degree of 111 km in terms of from 400 to 800 stadia all of which were not divided into feet of the same size but could be pous, pes, remen, cubits, royal cubits nibw and even yards paces and orquiya or fathoms.

For purposes of this discussion a foot (plural: feet, anciently fot or fod, (AKA nisu, pes, pied, pous, bd) is a part of a collection of a non-SI units of distance or length different from a remen, nibw, cubit, yard or pace.

In a modern English foot there are twelve inches in one foot and three feet in one yard. Closely related to and sometimes mistaken for the foot are the remen of 15 inches which is the diagonal of a triangle formed with one side a quarter of 9", and another side a foot of 12" and the aln, elle or ni bw of 2 feet.

The standardization of weights and measures has left several different standard foot measures. The most commonly used feet today are based on historical feet that go back to the chalcolithic.

Typically a foot will differ from other measures of length in being divided into a number of fingers, palms, hands and or thumbs or inches in the foot range as opposed to being a span, cubit or remen.

There are three different types of foot.
 * 1. The first type measures 4 palms and 16 fingers
 * 2. The second type measures 3 hands and 15 fingers.
 * 3. A third type 12 thumbs or inches and 4 palms and 3 hands.

Feet vary in length.

 * 1 Roman pes = 296 mm
 * 1 Egyptian palm based bd = 300 mm
 * 1 Mesopotamian hand based nisu = 300 mm
 * 1 short Attic Greek foot = 308.4 mm,
 * 1 median Athenian Greek foot = 316 mm
 * 1 long Greek foot of 18 fingers or 16 thumbs measures 346.96 mm

When used as the length that defines an area feet are squared When used as the length that defines a volume feet are cubed When converting feet to an equivalent in another unit such as a meter round off error often resulted in discrepancies.

As recently as 1959 there were three different statute feet derived from a decree of Queen Elizabeth in 1593 to include a UK foot a US foot and a survey foot.

title: User:Egil/Sandbox/rktect/Milion


text:
Pymble Ladies' College

Pymble Ladies' College is an independent, non-selective, day and boarding school for girls, located in Pymble, a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

History and description
Pymble Ladies' College was founded in 1916 by John Marden, due to the increasing enrolments at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney, another school established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of NSW.

In 1921 Nancy Jobson became principal of the college. after the resignation of Gladys Gordon Everett.

During Jobson's tenure, enrolments increased from 256 in 1921 to 414 in 1929 and the number of boarders from 95 to 161, however the Great Depression later caused a slump in enrolments to only 208 by 1932. Jobson left the school following a disagreement with the school council over proposed downsizing measures prompted by the economic downturn. She was succeeded by the Scottish born Grace Mackintosh who had been a head in New Zealand.

Mackintosh had not been successful in New Zealand where she had suffered with the climate, her arthritis and routine decisions, Now at Pymble College she failed to impress. Younger students found her accent difficult and as the depression hit then the number of students began to fall. Mackintosh decided to introduce new ideas including her ideas about Presbyterianism. She lost her faith in 1936 and decided to resign. In July 1936 Dorothy Isabel Knox OBE AM became the school's replacement Principal. She had been the head of the Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Orange. Knox was at the college until she retired in 1967 having overseen the expansion of the school during her leadership. During Knox's final year the Wyndham scheme was introduced that restructured secondary education encouraging comprehensive education in New South Wales. Knox approved of the changes.

Description
The college, formerly a school of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, is now administered by the Uniting Church in Australia. Girls of any faith may attend the school, although they are expected to also attend a weekly chapel service. The school caters for all classes from Kindergarten to Year 12.

Twenty hectares in size, the grounds of the college feature a 50m swimming pool, gymnasium, several fields, tennis courts, an agriculture plot, library, buildings dedicated to specific subjects: an art building, a technology and applied studies building, a languages building, and a science block. There is also a music building, a chapel, healthcare centre, three boarding houses (Lang, Goodlet and Marden) and the most recent additions – the Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts in 2005, the Senior School Centre – Kate Mason Building in 2011, and the Centenary Sports Precinct in 2016.

There are eight houses in the secondary school, including the original three, Lang, Goodlet and Marden, and five more added in 2009, Wylie, Bennett, Ingleholme, Hammond and Thomas. There are three houses in the Preparatory and Junior Schools named after famous Australian authors, Gibbs (after May Gibbs), Mackellar (after Dorothea Mackellar) and Turner (after Ethel Turner). Recently, the preparatory and junior schools have transitioned into the eight houses of Marden, Lang, Goodlet, Wylie, Bennett, Ingleholme, Hammond and Thomas – Gibbs, Mackellar and Turner houses no longer exist after only 8 years in existence.

Activities
Pymble Ladies' College is a founding member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS).

School Performance
The Sydney Morning Herald ranked Pymble Ladies' College the 20th highest performing school in NSW in 2022 based on their HSC Success Rate, up from 25th in 2021.

Academics, educators, teachers

 * Margaret Gillett (1930–2019), founder of the women's studies courses at McGill University in Canada

Business

 * Vanessa Hudson – Qantas CEO

Entertainment, media and the arts

 * Jenny Coupland – Miss Australia 1982
 * Jacqueline McKenzie – actress, singer, artist
 * Melissa Doyle – journalist
 * Dame Joan Hammond – soprano, singing coach and golfer
 * Amber Higlett – finance presenter/reporter and newsreader
 * Kerrie Lester – artist
 * Amy Lyons – internet personality active in China
 * Caroline Pemberton – Miss Australia 2007
 * Sarah Song – winner of Miss Sydney Chinese 2006 and Miss Chinese International 2007. She is currently working as an actress in TVB in Hong Kong.
 * Anita Jacoby – TV and film producer (expelled)
 * Alex the Astronaut – artist

Politics, public service and the law

 * Marie Byles – first female solicitor in New South Wales, mountaineer, explorer, author and feminist (also attended the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney)
 * Elizabeth Evatt – judge of an Australian federal court

Sport

 * Sophie Ferguson – professional tennis player
 * Ellyse Perry – member of Australian women's national football team and cricket team
 * Edwina Tops-Alexander – equestrian athlete representative to 2012 London Olympics
 * Brittany O'Brien – Australian Olympic Diving Team 2016
 * Chloe Dalton – Australian Women's Rugby Sevens Team (2014–present), Olympic gold medallists
 * Mackenzie Little – Olympic javelin thrower
 * Sarah Hunter – Professional soccer player (2022–present)

title: Pymble Ladies' College


text:
Talk:Doug E. Fresh

Edits
it should be mentioned that he is a scientologist and maybe some more information: how he became one, were he participates, what he thinks about it, etc.

mai b not
foll y esc hil' by

change "la di dakh di/the show" to indicate seperate songs (ie. "the show" Italic textandItalic text "la di da di". its written like they are the same song. also, only "the show" samples inspector gadget. both have slick rick, but thats about all they have in common

 * done Closenplay 16:33, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Nuwaubianism
Not sure why this is listed under See also; googling it, most references to D.E.F./Nuwaubianism trace back to the Wikipedia entry. If it is credible, perhaps it should be written up in a couple of sentences under Personal life, like his being a Scientologist is. Closenplay 18:22, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

What?
His single "The Show" (which cribs the melody from the Inspector Gadget theme)

What does "cribs the melody" mean? Does it mean sample? Seizurebot1011 22:53, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * From m-w.comː to crib = "PILFER, STEAL; especially : PLAGIARIZE." It's a nicer way of saying they stole the melody. I guess an even nicer way of putting it would be to say that it "quotes" the melody. Closenplay 01:10, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

same producer as the original song - youtube —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.167.63.83 (talk) 07:22, 26 February 2011 (UTC) paul fersch worked on the original human beatbox just having funs' synths, the guy who did inspecter gadget with the kartoon crew with craig bevan. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.167.63.83 (talk) 07:26, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
 * So what? The "Kartoon Krew" version is just another rip-off of the original cartoon theme.  Same thief stole it... doesn't make it legit. MaxVolume (talk) 03:29, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Doug E. Fresh


text:
Talk:Comprehensive school

Compulsory subjects?
There is a list of compulsory subjects here for 5-16 for each key stage, which implies everyone must do them. There's no compulsion to do Music GCSE, though? Nor a foreign language? The whole section could do with a rewrite to make it more readable. Beyondheat (talk) 21:27, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Comprehensive school


text:
Talk:Phagocytosis

In immune system
This section could do with some work. There is an attempt to describe some of the molecular and signalling details, but it is not accurate. It reads as if nuclear transcription (activation of NFkappa by pattern recognition receptors) is required before phagocytosis, but it is not. Indeed, neutrophils can be manipulated such that they loose their nucleus entirely, and these cells can still phagocytose. JustAnotherKinase (talk) 16:05, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Etymology of phagocytosis
A minor point I am sur --~Insert non-formatted text here e, but wondering if any Greek linguists could clarify if phagocytosis actually means cell eating or whether it is derived from phagocyte which would suggest the action of an eating-cell, the difference being whether cell is the object of subject of the verb to eat. Actually now I think of it, it must be the latter, as phagocytosis doesn't refer to only cells being consumed. Can anyone think of a better way to phrase the ambiguous cell eating in the article? -- postglock 09:37, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Cellular eating is probably a better term. Richard001 01:20, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm not a Greek linguist but the roots do make a distinction between "the eating of cells" and "the cellular process of eating", the latter of which scentific use of the word phagocytosis refers to --  Serephine   ♠   talk   - 04:20, 4 May 2007 (UTC)Aaron Horton

A note about the videos
There appears to be a bug (reported) in the Wikimedia Player that returns an error when "Watch in browser" is attempted from the link in the article. However, the Watch-in-browser (Play-in-browser) feature does appear to work from the link provided on the image description page (i.e. the "(file info)" link).--DO11.10 18:36, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Request for expansion
This article would not be complete without a mention of the role of phagocytosis in eukaryote evolution. Verisimilus  T  14:02, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Vague sentence
middle of first paragraph, this sentence is pretty unnecessarily vague and complicated. If I knew more about the subject, I'd fix it myself. "Phagocytosis is a specific form of endocytosis involving the vesicular internalization of solid such as bacteria, and is, therefore, distinct from other forms of endocytosis such as the vesicular internalization of various liquids." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.43.182.131 (talk) 11:41, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

 * I don't agree that it is especially vague, but I do see how it might be difficult to understand. This entire article contains many explanations that would require a layperson to click on the many internal links within just to discern the meaning of one sentence, which I suppose hearkens back to the "too technical" tag.

 * While I would hate to go destroying another editor's hard work, and I agree we should keep all the technical elements, perhaps we could add simpler summaries alongside the more technical details? As well as offer short summaries of terms defined through internal links?

 * Luckily, while this thought is somewhat complex, it is easily broken up into shorter sentences (per Wiki's suggestions).

 * e.g. (Here is my attempt at breaking up and clarifying that sentence): "Phagocytosis is a type of endocytosis (a process by which cells take in particles). Phagocytosis, specifically, can be distinguished from other forms of endocytosis (like pinocytosis and receptor-mediated endocytosis) by the type of substance it takes in and the way it does so. All forms of phagocytosis involve the formation of vesicles (tiny sacs within the cell that function like transport vehicles by engulfing particles and moving them). In phagocytosis, vesicles engulf solid particles like bacteria and viruses, rather than liquids. In pinocytosis, vesicles are non-specific and absorb nearby droplets of liquid outside the cell. In phagocytosis, the formation of vesicles is triggered by signals from receptors indicating the presence of nearby particles to ingest. In contrast, pinocytosis processeses happen continuously and require no trigger. Phagosomes are somewhat selective (they will not take in live animal cells), but they have been known to take in inanimate particles such as asbestos fibers (cite:1). By comparison, receptor-mediated endocytosis is triggered by more complex processes that are very selective and extremely efficient at taking in only certain targeted particles, such as cholesterol (cite: 2)."

 * Some additional explanations and examples I added are referenced from:
 * Molecular Cell Biology, 4th Edition. Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al. New York: W. H. Freeman; 2000.

 * Does that make more sense/ seem less "vague"? Fetters of ennui (talk) 13:40, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Phagocytosis


text:
User talk:Roland Scheicher

Welcome to Wikipedia!
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia!

I noticed your edits on Duplicate bridge and thought I'd say hi and share some wiki-links;
 * Take a look at the Simplified Ruleset.
 * Read the Tutorial, How to edit a page and the Manual of Style.
 * Find out how to revert, move and merge pages.
 * Sign your posts on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~).
 * Add yourself to the New user log and a regional notice board
 * Ask questions at the Village pump or Help desk.
 * Use the Show preview button
 * Provide an Edit summary
 * Add the correct image copyright tag to any images you upload
 * Take a look at Consensus of standards
 * Create a User page
 * Be bold
 * Ignore all rules

If you feel a change is needed, feel free to make it yourself! Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone (yourself included) can edit any article by following the  link. Wikipedia convention is to be bold and not be afraid of making mistakes. If you're not sure how editing works, have a look at How to edit a page, or try out the Sandbox to test your editing skills.

If, for some reason, you are unable to fix a problem yourself, feel free to ask someone else to do it. Wikipedia has a vibrant community of contributors who have a wide range of skills and specialties, and many of them would be glad to help. As well as the wiki community pages there are IRC Channels, where you are more than welcome to ask for assistance.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me on my talk page. Thanks and happy editing, Alf 09:37, 31 August 2005 (UTC).

Proposed deletion of File:Importance Skill Chance.JPG
Hello, I have removed the proposed deletion tag you placed on File:Importance Skill Chance.JPG for purely technical reasons: If you have any questions feel free to ask. Cheers, — KuyaBriBri Talk 20:17, 30 April 2013 (UTC)
 * 1) The file is on Wikimedia Commons and so must be deleted under the Wikimedia Commons deletion policy. I am not a very active user on Commons, so if you need help with this you would need to solicit help over there.
 * 2) Proposed deletion is only for articles, so even if this file was on English Wikipedia it could not be deleted under the proposed deletion process.

Critical repetition frequency
The PRoD template should not have been readded once it was removed, the correct procedure was to nominate the page at Deletion review .--KTo288 (talk) 11:41, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry wrong link. The right one is this one Articles for deletion.--KTo288 (talk) 11:50, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you, I hope I've accomplished all steps correctly Roland Scheicher (talk) 13:27, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
 * You're welcome--KTo288 (talk) 13:59, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

title: User talk:Roland Scheicher


text:
Special Branch (TV series)

Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969-1970 and 1973-1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch counterintelligence and counterterrorism department of the London Metropolitan Police. The first two series starred Derren Nesbitt, before the programme went through an overhaul, with George Sewell taking over as the new lead.

Production
The first two series were shot mainly in a studio on videotape with filmed location inserts; a standard method of the time but one which suffered from jarring differences in picture quality between interior and exterior scenes. The location scenes of some episodes were shot on outside broadcast cameras, leading to smoother transitions between location and studio work for those episodes. Series 1 and 2 starred Derren Nesbitt as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jordan, working for Detective Superintendent Eden (Wensley Pithey) and subsequently Det. Supt. Inman (Fulton Mackay). The episodes featuring Eden (the first nine of Series 1) were recorded in black-and-white, while all subsequent episodes were recorded on colour videotape.

The show was revamped in 1973 after Thames Television's Euston Films subsidiary took over production using film, which allowed for a less studio-based series. Euston Films had pioneered the technique of shooting action and adventure series entirely on location using 16mm film, for a more gritty and realistic look. These episodes starred George Sewell as DCI Alan Craven and Roger Rowland as DS Bill North. In series 3 episode 2, Patrick Mower debuted as Craven's colleague and often antagonist, DCI Tom Haggerty. By the 1974 series Bill North had been axed, having had a nervous breakdown, though he returned for one episode later in the run as a Detective Inspector in CID.

Representing the Ministry in the first two series was Moxon, and later Strand, who appeared in the fourth series. Played by Morris Perry and Paul Eddington respectively, Moxon and Strand were similar: supercilious civil servants who kept an unwanted eye on the detectives and their budgets. They sometimes manipulated them in order to pursue obscure matters of state, such as in the first series episode "Reliable Sources", where Moxon connives to have Eden sidelined into a Home Office working party role.

The theme music for series 1 was by Norman Kay. For series 2, 3 and 4 it was by Robert Sharples under the pseudonym Robert Earley.

The 1973/74 series of this police drama is notable for being the first production by Euston Films, later responsible for such series as The Sweeney and Minder. The influence on The Sweeney is clear, although the rough-and-tumble nature of that show is fairly lacking in Special Branch.

Both Sewell and Mower later starred as villains in The Sweeney, while Sweeney star Dennis Waterman appeared in the 1974 Special Branch episode "Stand and Deliver" as a criminal. Perry appeared occasionally in a role similar to Moxon as the political and manipulative Detective Superintendent Maynon. Mower later went on to star in the 1977–78 BBC police series Target.

The 1973 and 1974 series have been released on Region Two DVD by Network, and both sets include an episode from the original Thames TV series. The 1969 series was released as a four-disc DVD set by Network in January 2007, and the 1970 series was released as a Website Exclusive in November 2007. All four series were released on DVD by Network in 2008, in a 16-disc box-set featuring all 53 episodes. The 1973 series was released on Region One DVD by Acorn, which labelled it "set one".

As with the later The Sweeney, the on-screen offices of Special Branch were located in Hammersmith.

Filming locations
Multiple episodes of Special Branch used Ennismore Garden Mews, SW7, as a filming location.

Derren Nesbitt era

 * Derren Nesbitt as Detective Chief Inspector Elliot Jordan (27 episodes, 1969–1970)
 * Wensley Pithey as Detective Superintendent Eden (9 episodes, 1969)
 * Fulton Mackay as Detective Chief Superintendent Alec Inman (18 episodes, 1969–1970)
 * Morris Perry as Charles Moxon (22 episodes, 1969–1970)
 * David Garth as Deputy Commander (7 episodes, 1969–1970)
 * Keith Washington as Detective Constable John Morrissey (15 episodes, 1969–1970)
 * Sandra Bryant as Christine Morris (6 episodes, 1969–1970)
 * Jennifer Wilson as Detective Sergeant Helen Webb (6 episodes, 1969)
 * Anne Rutter as Detective Constable Jane Simpson (4 episodes, 1970)

George Sewell era

 * George Sewell as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Craven (26 episodes, 1973–1974)
 * Roger Rowland as Detective Sergeant Bill North (14 episodes, 1973–1974)
 * Patrick Mower as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Haggerty (16 episodes, 1973–1974)
 * Paul Eddington as Strand (11 episodes, 1974)
 * Frederick Jaeger as Commander Fletcher (8 episodes, 1974)
 * Sheila Scott Wilkinson as Pam Sloane (7 episodes, 1973)
 * Paul Antrim as Detective Sergeant Maguire (7 episodes, 1974)
 * Richard Leech as Chief Superintendent Knight (5 episodes, 1973–1974)
 * Susan Jameson as Detective Sergeant Mary Holmes (4 episodes, 1974)
 * Peter Jeffrey as Chief Inspector Pettiford (1 episode, 1973)

Guest appearances
Notable actors appearing included: Paul Darrow ("Smokescreen"), Dino Shafeek and Windsor Davies ("The Promised Land"), Garfield Morgan and Rula Lenska ("Something About a Soldier"), Jacqueline Pearce ("Catherine the Great"), Cyd Hayman ("Rendezvous"), Susan Jameson as Detective Sergeant Mary Holmes ("Date of Birth", "Intercept", and "Downwind of Angels"), John Bindon ("Intercept"), Peter Bowles and Janet Key ("Downwind of Angels"), Nicolette McKenzie ("Diversion"), Denis Lill ("Diversion"), Kenneth Colley ("Date of Birth"), Valerie Leon ("Sounds Sinister") June Brown ("Entente Cordiale"), Annette Crosbie ("The Other Man"), Michael Gambon and Nadim Sawalha, ("Hostage"), Dennis Waterman and Stephanie Turner (as brother and sister in "Stand and Deliver"), Stephanie Beacham ("Threat"), Richard Marner ("Polonaise"), Roger Lloyd Pack ("Red Herring"), Gareth Thomas ("Alien"), Tony Haygarth ("You Won't Remember Me") and Walter Gotell ("Intercept").

Series 1 (1969)
Note: Episodes 1-9 were made in black & white, colour from episode 10 onwards

title: Special Branch (TV series)


text:
Homeworld

Homeworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios on September 28, 1999, for Windows. Set in space, the science fiction game follows the Kushan exiles of the planet Kharak after their home planet is destroyed by the Taiidan Empire in retaliation for developing hyperspace jump technology. The survivors journey with their spacecraft-constructing mothership to reclaim their ancient homeworld of Hiigara from the Taiidan, encountering a variety of pirates, mercenaries, traders, and rebels along the way. In each of the game's levels, the player gathers resources, builds a fleet, and uses it to destroy enemy ships and accomplish mission objectives. The player's fleet carries over between levels and can travel in a fully three-dimensional space within each level rather than being limited to a two-dimensional plane.

Homeworld was created over two years, and was the first game developed by Relic. Studio co-founders Alex Garden and Luke Moloney served as the director and lead programmer. The initial concept for the story is credited to writer David J. Williams, while the script itself was written by Martin Cirulis and the background lore was written by author Arinn Dembo. The music was written by composer Paul Ruskay as the first game from his Studio X Labs, with the exceptions of Samuel Barber's 1936 Adagio for Strings, considered the defining theme of the game, and a licensed track from English rock band Yes, "Homeworld (The Ladder)".

Homeworld is listed by review aggregator Metacritic as the highest-rated computer game of 1999, and the third-highest on any platform for the year. Critics praised the graphics, unique gameplay elements, and multiplayer system, though opinions were divided on the plot and high difficulty. The game sold over 500,000 copies in its first six months, and received several awards and nominations for best strategy game of the year and best game of the year. A release of the source code in 2003 sparked unofficial ports to Mac OS X and Linux, and three more games in the Homeworld series have been produced: Homeworld: Cataclysm (2000), Homeworld 2 (2003), and Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak (2016). Gearbox Software purchased the rights to the series from then-owners THQ in 2013, and released a remastered collection of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 in 2015 for Windows and OS X which was also highly regarded. In August 2019, Gearbox announced the fifth game in the series, Homeworld 3; the game was developed by Blackbird Interactive, partially crowdfunded through Fig, and released in 2024.

Gameplay
Homeworld is a real-time strategy game set in space. Gameplay, as in most real-time strategy games, is focused on gathering resources, building military forces, and using them to destroy enemy forces and accomplish an objective. The game includes both single-player and multiplayer modes; the single-player mode consists of one story-driven campaign, broken up into levels. In each level, the player has an objective to accomplish before they can end the level, though the ultimate objective of the mission can change as the level's story unfolds. Between each of the 16 levels is a hand-drawn, black-and-white cutscene with narrative voiceovers.

The central ship of the player's fleet is the mothership, a large base which can construct other ships; unlike other spacecraft, in the single-player campaign the mothership is unable to move. Present in each level are stationary rocks, gas clouds, or dust clouds, which can be mined by specialized harvesting ships (resource collectors) which then empty their loads at the mothership in the form of "resources", the game's only currency. Resources can be spent by the player on building new ships, which are constructed by the mothership. Buildable ships come in a variety of types, which are discovered over the course of the game. They include resource collectors, fighters and corvettes, frigates, destroyers, and heavy cruisers, as well as specialized non-combat ships such as research vessels and repair corvettes. Fighter ships need to dock with support ships or return to the mothership periodically to refuel, while salvage corvettes can capture enemy ships and tow them to the mothership to become part of the player's fleet. In some levels, new ship types can be unlocked by capturing an enemy ship of that type, through research performed at the research vessel, or through plot elements. At the beginning of the campaign, the player may select between controlling the "Kushan" or "Taiidan" fleet; this affects the designs of the ships and changes some of the specialized ship options, but has no effect on the plot or gameplay.

Each level's playable area is a sphere, bisected by a circular plane. Ships can be directed to move anywhere in that sphere, either singularly or in groups. The game's camera can be set to follow any ship and view them from any angle, as well as display the ship's point of view. The player may also view the "Sensors Manager", wherein they can view the entire game map along with all visible ships. Ships can be grouped into formations, such as wedges or spheres, in order to provide tactical advantages during combat with enemy ships. Non-specialized ships are equipped with weapons to fire upon enemy ships, which include ballistic guns, beam weapons, and missiles. As a ship is damaged by weapons its health bar depletes, visual effects such as fire and smoke are added, and it can eventually explode.

When all mission objectives are completed, the player is given the option to make a hyperspace jump to end the level. This may be postponed in order to gather more resources or build more ships. When the hyperspace jump is initiated, all fighters and corvettes return to the mothership while larger ships line up next to it, and blue rectangles, or hyperspace gates, pass over the ships, and all ships are brought to the next level. The player retains their fleet between levels, and the difficulty of each mission is adjusted to a small extent based on how many ships are in the player's fleet at the beginning of each level. In multiplayer games, the objective is typically to destroy the enemy mothership(s) and any carriers, though other battle-oriented victory conditions are available. In multiplayer mode, the mothership is capable of slow movement, and all research options permitted by the map are available via a technology tree, rather than dependent on a plot point. Multiple maps are available, as are options to turn off the need to research technologies or fuel consumption for smaller ships.

Plot
A century prior to the start of the game, the Kushan, humanoid inhabitants of the desert planet Kharak, discovered a spaceship buried in the sands, which holds a stone map marking Kharak and another planet across the galaxy labelled "Hiigara", meaning "home". The discovery united the clans of Kharak, who had previously determined that they were not indigenous to the planet. Together, they spent the next century developing and building a giant mothership that would carry 600,000 people to Hiigara, with neuroscientist Karan S'jet neurally wired into the ship as Fleet Command to replace an unsustainably large crew. The game opens with the maiden voyage of the mothership, testing the hyperspace drive which brings the fleet to a new destination by faster than light travel. Instead of the support ship that was expected to be there, the mothership finds a hostile alien carrier. After driving them off, the mothership returns to Kharak, to discover that the planet has been razed by another alien fleet, and that only the 600,000 migrants in suspended animation have survived. A captured enemy captain claims that the Kharak genocide was the consequence of their violation of a 4,000-year-old treaty between the interstellar Taiidan Empire and the Kushan, which forbade the latter from developing hyperspace technology.

After destroying the remnants of both alien fleets, the nascent Kushan fleet sets out for Hiigara, intent on reclaiming their ancient homeworld. Their multi-stage journey across the galaxy takes them through asteroid fields, a giant nebula, a ship graveyard and several imperial outposts. Along the way, they fight other descendants of their Hiigaran ancestors who have started worshipping a nebula which conceals them as a holy place, and who do not allow outsiders to leave due to fear of discovery. They also meet the Bentusi, a race of traders, who sell them advanced technology. After discovering that the Bentusi have given aid to the exiles, the empire attempts to destroy them, but are stopped by the Kushan fleet. The Bentusi then reveal that the Kushan had once ruled their own empire, before being destroyed by the Taiidan, and were exiled from Hiigara. In gratitude for the Kushan's intervention, they promise to summon the Galactic Council to recognize their claim to Hiigara.

As their journey continues, the Kushan fleet gives sanctuary to the rebel imperial captain Elson, who informs them that the destruction of Kharak has sparked a civil war in the Taiidan Empire. After helping him access a rebel communication network, he provides information on the defenses around Hiigara. In a final battle above Hiigara, he arrives with a rebel fleet to help fight the Imperial fleet led by the emperor himself. The emperor manages to knock Karan into a coma via her neural connection with the mothership, but the combined Kushan and rebel fleets defeat the emperor regardless. The Galactic Council arrives shortly thereafter and confirms the Kushan's claim to Hiigara, a lush world in contrast to the desert planet of Kharak. When the Kushan make landfall, Karan insists that she be the last one to set foot on the planet.

Development
Relic Entertainment was founded in Vancouver, Canada, on June 1, 1997, and began work on Homeworld as its first game. Relic co-founders Alex Garden and Luke Moloney served as the director and lead programmer, respectively, while Erin Daly was the designer and Aaron Kambeitz the lead artist. Garden was 22 years old when he founded the company. Writer David J. Williams is credited with the original story concept, while the script itself was written by Martin Cirulis and the background lore was written by author Arinn Dembo. Cirulis and Dembo, credited jointly as "Marcus Skyler", were selected by the publisher, Sierra Studios, partway through development to expand the story concept of Relic and Williams. Sierra agreed to publish the game early in development based on, according to Garden, "two whiteboard presentations and no demo". Development of the game took over two years; the gameplay systems were largely complete by the final eight months, which Relic spent polishing and improving the game, including adding the whole-map Sensors Manager view. In a February 1999 interview, Garden said the testers had found it much harder to play than it was for the developers, leading to the addition of features like short briefings at the beginning of levels to explain new concepts. The game was initially expected to be released at the end of 1998; Garden stated in a 1999 interview that the team found creating the core game itself much easier than getting it to the quality level they wanted, and that if they had known how difficult it was going to be they may have chosen not to do the project. He said that Sierra did not put much pressure on the studio to release the game before it was ready, and that Relic felt much more pressure from impatient fans. Several ideas, including ship customization, convoy routes, and different unit types for the Kushan and Taiidan fleets were cut as they could not be done well enough for the project.

Relic did not specifically set out to create a real-time strategy game; Garden and Relic were primarily focused on making a game with exciting large-scale space battles, and chose the genre in order to support that. As a result, they did not try to make innovative gameplay changes in the real-time strategy genre, but instead worked on making implementing the genre in a fully 3D space to make the space battles they envisioned. Garden told Computer Games Magazine in 1998 that "there's no sort of design philosophy behind it. The fact that it's real-time strategy was almost a fluke." The original Star Wars film trilogy was one of the primary inspirations, along with the 1970s television series Battlestar Galactica: in a 1998 interview with PC Zone, Garden stated that his original concept was "a 3D game that looked like you were watching Star Wars but had a storyline like Battlestar Galactica". He drew further inspiration from correcting what he felt were the limitations of the first-person space flight game Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. He felt that having the player control a ship from a cockpit view detracted from the feeling of the overall battles, and so chose to have the player control a whole fleet from an external view. According to art director Rob Cunningham, the visual design was inspired by the sci-fi art of Peter Elson, Chris Foss, and John Harris, as well by Star Wars movies and Masamune Shirow. The vertical design of the mothership and the horizontal galaxy in the background were intended to give the player a visual alignment to orient themselves in 3D space.

The focus on the combat drove several other areas of focus for the development team: according to Garden, Relic spent considerable effort on making high-quality ship models, computer-controlled flight tactics, and maneuvers like Immelmann turns because "everyone is going to zoom right in on the first battle, just to watch". They felt that the advanced unit-level maneuvers in the context of large fleet-wide battles would increase immersion for players, and create a "Star Wars feeling" to the battles. To accentuate this, instead of recording stock sound files for units to use when maneuvering, the team instead recorded several thousand smaller clips which are combined to describe exactly which ships were taking which action, and are then modified by the audio engine to reflect the position and motion of the ships relative to the player's camera. The working title for the game was Spaghetti Ball, chosen for Garden's early vision of the battles as a mass of tangled flight paths as ships maneuvered around each other, contained within a larger sphere of available space. Although early previews expressed concern about the difficulties of controlling so many ships in 3D space, according to Garden the team felt that moving the camera and controlling the fleet were two wholly separate actions, and by treating them as such it made designing them and using them much simpler.

The sound design, audio production, and music were contracted to composer Paul Ruskay and Studio X Labs, which he founded in February 1999 after starting on Homeworld in October 1998. In addition to his original music compositions, Ruskay used a recording of the 1936 piece for string orchestra by Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings, in an early scene in which the player finds the destruction of Kharak. The piece, in turn, became a central theme on the soundtrack. Adagio for Strings was proposed by Garden, who heard it on the radio and felt it fit the mood of the game "perfectly"; Ruskay had a new recording of the piece made by a University of California choir, as the license fees for the recording Garden heard were too high for the studio. The closing song, "Homeworld (The Ladder)", was composed for the game by the English rock band Yes. Yes were in Vancouver at the time recording The Ladder, and learned of the in-development Homeworld. Lead singer Jon Anderson was interested in writing something based on a video game, and wrote the lyrics to fit. The soundtrack was released in a 13-track album that was bundled with the Game of the Year Edition of Homeworld in May 2000, and again in a 37-track Homeworld Remastered Original Soundtrack digital album alongside the Homeworld Remastered Collection in March 2015.

Reception
Homeworld was highly regarded by critics upon release and is listed by review aggregator Metacritic as the highest-rated computer game of 1999 and the third-highest on any platform for the year. The graphics were highly praised; Michael Ryan of GameSpot wrote it had "some of the most impressive graphics ever", while Jason Levine of Computer Games Magazine said that "no game—ever—has made space itself look like this". Eurogamer's review praised the "big, brash and colourful" backgrounds, which was echoed by Levine and John Keefer of GameSpy. Multiple reviewers, such as Vincent Lopez of IGN, also praised the detail and variety of the spaceships, and Jason Samuel of GamePro noted that Relic was able to use their graphics engine to create the intricate cutscenes rather than relying on prerecorded videos. Greg Fortune of Computer Gaming World added that the rotatable camera was one of the "real joys of the game", allowing the player to view the action from any angle or ship's viewpoint and "creating an impressively sweeping cinematic feel". The sound and music were also lauded; Levine wrote that the sound was "on par with the graphics", praising how it changed when the player zoomed into or away from a battle, while Eurogamer and Lopez applauded the "atmospheric" soundtrack for creating the mood.

The gameplay advances were also highly praised by critics: Lopez wrote that "Relic not only tackled space, but may have just changed strategy games forever." Reviewers praised the full 3D nature of the game as elevating it from its otherwise standard real-time strategy gameplay systems; Levine said that the 3D was what made the game unique, and Ryan explicitly termed the base gameplay as "fairly similar to any tried-and-true real-time strategy game" but said that the 3D elements and connected mission structure turned it into a "different breed" of game. Fortune, however, focused instead on the difficulty of the missions themselves, praising the challenge and variety of tactics needed to complete the game and lauding it for having "some of the best fleet battles ever seen in a computer game". Levine, Ryan, Keefer, and Lopez all noted the connected mission structure as an innovation in the genre: by limiting the resources to build ships and pulling the same fleet through the missions, Homeworld converted what would usually be a set of disconnected missions into "chapters" of a continuous game. They felt this connected the player to their fleet as more than disposable units, and added a level of strategy. Keefer and Levine did note, however, that this added a great deal of difficulty, especially for more casual players, as the player could make decisions in earlier levels that rendered later ones very difficult to complete without an explicit difficulty level to counteract it. Ryan and Keefer also considered the 3D movement disorienting at first, though Levine and Samuel said the controls were "as easy as possible".

Homeworld's single-player plot received more mixed reviews; Lopez wrote it would keep players "rapt with attention", Samuel summarized it as a "superb story", and Levine said that it was "the first computer game to capture the grandeur and epic feel of the Star Wars movies". The Eurogamer review, however, considered it only "(mostly) engaging", and Keefer said that "although the story line is fluid and intriguing", for each mission "the overall theme is the same: Kill the enemy", while Ryan described a "meager single-player game". The multiplayer gameplay was praised, especially against human opponents: Levine stated that "multiplayer in Homeworld is a joy", while the Eurogamer review called it the strongest part. The Eurogamer review, along with Samuel, also called the multiplayer mode more difficult and engaging than the single-player game.

Legacy
Homeworld was released to strong sales and won multiple awards; it sold more than 250,000 copies in its initial weeks, and over 500,000 in its first six months. In the United States alone, sales surpassed 95,000 copies by the end of 1999, while sales in Germany reached 60,000 units by April 2000. It debuted in third place on Germany's computer game sales rankings for October 1999, before dropping to 25th, 31st and 32nd in the following three months, respectively. Homeworld also received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Homeworld won Best Strategy Game at the 1999 Game Critics Awards prior to release, and was nominated for "Computer Game of the Year" and "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. It was awarded Game of the Year by IGN and PC Gamer, won Strategy Game of the Year by Computer Gaming World and was nominated for the same by Computer Games Magazine, and won Best Original Storyline and Best Original Score at the 2000 Eurogamer Gaming Globes awards. It also won PC Gamer's "Special Achievement in Music" and "Special Achievement in Art Direction" prizes. Maximum PC wrote in 2003 that Homeworld "did what no game had successfully done before: create a truly three-dimensional space-combat strategy game". HardwareMAG called it "revolutionary" and "ground-breaking" in the real-time strategy genre in 2004, as did Computer Gaming World in 2003.

Homeworld inspired a series of real-time strategy games in the same universe, beginning in September 2000 when Sierra Studios released a stand-alone expansion by Barking Dog Studios, Homeworld: Cataclysm. Taking place 15 years after the events of Homeworld, the story centers on Kiith Somtaaw—a Hiigaran clan—and its struggles to protect Hiigara from a parasitic entity known as the Beast. A full sequel, Homeworld 2, was developed by Relic Entertainment and released by Sierra in late 2003. The game, set a century after the original Homeworld, pits the Hiigarans against a powerful, nomadic raider race called the Vaygr. A fourth game in the series, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, was developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Gearbox Software in 2016. A prequel to the series, it is set on the planet of Kharak instead of in space, and features a war between Kushan clans during the discovery of the buried spaceship from Homeworld. Gearbox announced the fifth game in the series, Homeworld 3, on August 30, 2019. Developed by Blackbird, it was partially crowdfunded through Fig, and was released on May 13, 2024. Additionally, in 2003 Relic released the source code for Homeworld under license to members of the Relic Developer Network. The source code became the base of several source ports to alternative platforms, such as Linux. Several spinoff games have additionally been created in the Homeworld series, including a pinball table DLC for Pinball FX by Zen Studios in August 2022, a tabletop role-playing game named Homeworld Revelations by Modiphus Games in September 2022, and Homeworld Mobile, a free-to-play massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game for iOS and Android by Stratosphere Games in October 2022.

Remaster
In 2004, Relic Entertainment was bought by THQ, which confirmed in 2007 that it had acquired the rights to the series from Relic and Sierra. No further game in the series was made before THQ declared bankruptcy in 2013; on April 22, 2013, Gearbox Software announced that they had bought the rights to the series at auction for US$1.35 million. On July 19, 2013, Gearbox announced the production of remakes of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 as Homeworld HD, later renamed Homeworld Remastered Collection. The following month, collection producer Brian Burleson stated that Gearbox had purchased the property with the express purpose of making a collection including the original and remastered versions. He also noted that neither game had code in a releasable or playable state when purchased, and they ended up recreating many of the original development tools with the assistance of the Homeworld mod community. A later posting by a developer at Gearbox further praised the mod community for their assistance in getting the original code to be playable on modern computers. The stand-alone expansion Homeworld: Cataclysm was not announced for a remake, despite the outspoken interest of Gearbox, as they were unable to find the original source code.

Released digitally on February 25, 2015, for Windows computers by Gearbox and on August 6, 2015, for OS X by Aspyr Media, the collection includes the original and remastered versions of the two games. A retail edition of the PC version was released by Ubisoft on May 7, 2015. In addition to compatibility fixes for modern computers, the "classic" version of Homeworld removes local multiplayer and the licensed Yes song; the "remastered" version adds a new game engine for the two games, and upgraded visuals, graphical effects, models, and sound. It also initially removed some functionality not present in Homeworld 2, such as the fuel system, ballistic projectile modeling, and tactical ship formations; some of these were restored in a 2016 patch.

As of February 2017, Steam Spy estimates that over 700,000 copies of the Homeworld Remastered Collection have been sold on the Steam distribution platform. The remastered version was warmly received by critics; reviewers such as IGNs Dan Stapleton and Game Informers Daniel Tack praised the story as still "fantastic" and "emotional", while Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot wrote that the gameplay was still entertaining 16 years later, and Tom Senior of PC Gamer applauded Gearbox's visual updates. Reviewers were more mixed on the gameplay changes included as part of the upgrade to a new game engine; VanOrd noted that some of the changes did not fit with the original game, while Tack made note of several bugs due to the gameplay modifications. Overall, the updated game was highly praised, with Senior concluding that "Homeworld is simply incredible and everyone should play it."

title: Homeworld


text:
Abercraf

Abercraf (also Abercrâf; or Abercrave) is a village in Powys, Wales, in the community of Ystradgynlais and within the historic boundaries of the county of Brecknockshire.

Between 1965 and 1991, the village was the location of a Royal Observer Corps monitoring bunker, to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. It remains mostly intact.

Etymology
The name Abercraf denotes the area as the place where the Crâf stream flows into the Tawe. While most etymologies state that the river is simply named for the Welsh word craf (wild garlic), Thomas Morgan defines "cra-af" as "the issuing forth, the channel torn by the impulsive force of the stream, as well as the act of tearing or breaking up any substance" linking its meaning to the words crafu (to scratch) and crafangu (to claw or grip).

Location
Abercraf lies in the extreme south of the county, in the Upper Swansea Valley 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of the small town of Ystradgynlais. It is situated just outside the boundaries of the Brecon Beacons National Park and the Fforest Fawr Geopark, which lie to the immediate north, east, and west of the village.

Coal and iron
A small ironworks was established in 1824 by the local coalowner, Thomas Harper. Its purpose was to exploit two patents granted to Harper and his fellow coalowner, John Christie (also owner of the Brecon Forest Tramroad) in 1823 (no 4848) and 1824 (no 4909) for the use of the local anthracite coal in smelting. The British Iron Company bought the works in 1825 for £19,541 and at the same time leased minerals on the nearby mountain, Cribarth. The venture soon proved unsuccessful and the furnaces were blown out in 1826 after it was discovered that production costs greatly exceeded the selling price. Coal continued to be worked from the taking; it was still in production in 1841 when the local agent gave a statement to the Children's Employment Commission.

The coal pits in nearby Caehopkin ceased production in the 1960s, although the Nant Helen open cast coal mine continues to operate in the region.

Amenities
Abercraf has a number of public houses, a rugby union club (Abercrave RFC), junior/primary school, fire station and a Miners' Welfare Hall, a testament to the village's coal mining past. The Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary lies just outside the village.

Abercraf lies beneath the slopes of the miniature mountain of Cribarth, famous for its 'Sleeping Giant' outline, clearly visible from the nearby A4067 Swansea to Brecon road. The Giant is formed from a combination of the natural topography of the mountain and, in the case of the Giant's face, alterations to this topography from disused limestone quarries. The Giant's nose is surmounted by a trig point.

title: Abercraf