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Pinchbeck (alloy)

Pinchbeck is a form of brass, an alloy of copper and zinc mixed in proportions so that it closely resembles gold in appearance. It was invented in the early 18th century by Christopher Pinchbeck (died 1732), a London clock- and watch-maker. Since gold was only sold in 18-carat quality at that time, the development of pinchbeck allowed ordinary people to buy gold 'effect' jewellery on a budget. The inventor allegedly made pinchbeck jewellery clearly labelled as such. Pinchbeck jewellery was used in places like stagecoaches where there was a risk of theft. The original Pinchbeck was made by Christopher Pinchbeck and his descendants until the 1830s. Later dishonest jewellers passed pinchbeck off as gold; over the years the name came to mean a cheap and tawdry imitation of gold. Today, depending on the dealer, "Pinchbeck" can mean original Pinchbeck or any gilt metal.

Pinchbeck fell out of use in the second half of the 19th century, being replaced by low-carat gold which had been legalised in 1854.

Pinchbeck is typically composed of copper and zinc in ratios of 89% copper to 11% zinc; or 93% copper to 7% zinc.

title: Pinchbeck (alloy)


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Ricky López

José Ricardo "Ricky" López Jiménez is a singer and former member of the well known boy band, Menudo.

Singing career
Ricky López was discovered musically at age 13, when he was chosen to become a member of Menudo. Edgardo Diaz chose to nickname him "Ricky III", because of Ricky Meléndez and Ricky Martin's earlier stints in the group. López soon became known as "Ricky III" by Menudo fans in Puerto Rico and the rest of Latin America.

At Menudo, López recorded two CDs: "Imagínate" -translation "Imagine That!"-, which was done in Spanish, and "Vem Pra Mim", which was released in Portuguese specifically for the band's Brazilian fan base.

He left the band in 1995.

"Ricky 3" had an accident in 2004 and was in a coma for about a month, but survived, although with multiple injuries that left him in a wheelchair.

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

title: Ricky López


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Kvernes Stave Church

Kvernes Stave Church (Kvernes stavkyrkje) is a former parish church of the Church of Norway in Averøy Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The old church sits along the Kvernesfjorden in the village of Kvernes, just to the north of the Kvernes Church, the present church for the parish. The white, wooden church was built in a rectangular stave church style sometime during the first half of the 14th century. The church seats about 200 people.

History
The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1400, but the stave church was probably built during the early-14th century. The church is a single-nave church of the "Møre"-type, characterized by central posts in the external wall and crossbeams. The small nave measures only 16 by and the choir is only 7 by, making it one of the smallest stave churches in existence. The church was rebuilt in 1633 and during this renovation the front door was moved from the nave's west side to the south side. Also during this renovation, the old choir was torn down and rebuilt in a timber-framed construction rather than the historic stave construction. In 1648, the tower on the roof was repaired. From 1661 to 1663, a church porch was constructed. A sacristy was built around 1689 as well. In 1776, the church was renovated again. In 1810, the tower on the roof was again repaired.

In 1814, this church served as an election church (valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.

In 1893, the parish built a new Kvernes Church about 50 m south of the old stave church. The stave church was closed after the new church was consecrated in 1893. In 1894, the old building was purchased by a group of individuals who donated it as a gift to Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments. The society has refurbished the building and it is now a museum.

title: Kvernes Stave Church


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User:JongGuk~enwiki

Yeouido Station lives in Seoul, South Korea.

ko:사용자:김종국 ja:利用者:JongGuk

title: User:JongGuk~enwiki


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Talk:Greg Proops

The Real World
Didn't he used to parody the Real World on different times during Who's Line?

Michael Buckley Resemblence
Is it just me or does Greg look and sound a lot like Michael Buckley?

"Flocking"
He doesn't say "flocking." He says "fucking."

title: Talk:Greg Proops


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Josef Horák

Josef Horák (24 March 1931 – 23 November 2005) was a Czech bass clarinetist.

It was not until the 1950s that classical performers began to adopt the bass clarinet as their primary instrument. Horák is credited as having performed the first ever solo bass clarinet recital on 23 March 1955.

In October 2005, the First World Bass Clarinet Convention was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at which Horák was the guest of honour. He played his last concert there, together with the pianist Emma Kovárnová (his wife and duo partner for more than 40 years) as "Due Boemi di Praga."

title: Josef Horák


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Hooghly district

Hooghly district is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt Hoogli or Hugli. The district is named after the Hooghly River.

The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsurah (Chunchura). There are four subdivisions: Chinsurah Sadar, Srirampore, Chandannagore, and Arambagh.

History
The district of Hooghly derived its name from the town of Hooghly on the west bank of the Hugli River about 40 km north of Kolkata. This town was a major river port for trade in India before colonization.

The district has thousands of years of rich heritage as part of the Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut. The first European to reach this area was the Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama. In 1536 Portuguese traders obtained a permit from Sultan Mahmud Shah to trade in this area. In those days the Hooghly River was the main route for transportation and Hooghly served as an excellent trading port.

Within a few decades, the town of Hooghly turned into a major commercial centre and the largest port in Bengal. In 1579–80, Mughal Emperor Akbar gave permission to a Portuguese captain Pedro Tavares to establish a city anywhere in the Bengal province. They chose Hooghly, and it became the first European settlement in Bengal. In 1599, the Portuguese traders built a convent and a church in Bandel. This was the first Christian church in Bengal and is known as ‘Bandel Church’ today.

The Portuguese traders started slave trading, robbery and converting natives into Christians by pressure. At one point they stopped paying taxes to the Mughal Empire. As a result, Emperor Shah Jahan ordered the then-ruler of Bengal province, Qasim Khan Juvayni, to block the city of Hooghly. This led to a war in which the Portuguese were defeated.

Among other European powers that came to Hooghly were the Dutch, the Danish, the British, the French, the Belgians and the Germans. Dutch traders centred their activities in the town Chuchura which is south of Hooghly. Chandannagar became the base of the French and the city remained under their control from 1816 to 1950. Similarly, the Danish establishment in settlement in Serampore (1755). All these towns are on the west bank of the Hooghly River and served as ports. Among these European countries, the British ultimately became most powerful.

Initially the British were based in and around the city of Hooghly like traders from other countries. In 1690 Job Charnock decided to shift the British trading centre from Hooghly-Chinsura to Calcutta. The reason behind this decision was the strategically safe location of Calcutta and its proximity to the Bay of Bengal. As a result, trade and commerce in the Bengal province shifted from the town of Hooghly to Calcutta. Hooghly lost its importance as Calcutta prospered.

After the Battle of Buxar this region was brought under direct British rule until India's independence in 1947. After independence, this district merged into the state of West Bengal.

Though the city of Hooghly is more than 500 years old, the district of Hooghly was formed in 1795 with the city of Hooghly as its headquarters. Later the headquarters shifted to the town of Chuchura. In 1843 the Howrah district was created from the southern portion of this district. And in 1872, the south-west portion of this district was merged into the Medinipur district. The last change in area occurred in 1966.

Tarakeswar Temple
The Taraknath Temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva worshiped as Taraknath, is a major pilgrimage spot in the town of Tarakeswar. Built in 1729, the temple is an ‘atchala’ structure of Bengal temple architecture with a ‘natmandir’ in front. Close by are the shrines of Kali and Lakshmi Narayan. Dudhpukur, a tank to the north of the Shiva temple is believed to fulfil the prayers of those taking a dip in it.

Pilgrims visit the temple throughout the year, especially on Mondays. Thousands of pilgrims visit Tarakeswar on the occasions of Shivaratri and ‘Gajan’, the former taking place in Phalgun (Feb-March) while the latter lasts for five days ending on the last day of Chaitra (mid-April). The month of Sravana (mid-July to mid-August) is seen to be auspicious for Shiva when celebrations are held on each Monday.

Geography

The district is flat, with no place having an elevation of more than 200 meters. The River Hooghly borders it to the east. Another major river is the Damodar. The district is bordered by Howrah district to the south, Bardhaman District to the north, and to the east by the River Hooghly. Bankura District lies to the north-west, with Medinipur District to the south-west.

Economy
Hooghly is one of the most economically developed districts in West Bengal. It is the main jute cultivation, jute industry, and jute trade hub in the state. The jute mills are along the banks of the river Hooghly in Tribeni, Bhadreswar, Champdani and Sreerampur.

There are a number of industrial complexes including one of the largest car manufacturing plants in India, the Hindustan Motors plant in Uttarpara.

It was also home to the Singur Tata Nano controversy. Hindustan Motors plant was closed in 2014. Bandel Thermal power plant and Tribeni tissue plant (ITC) are running smoothly.

Administrative subdivisions
The district comprises four subdivisions: Chinsurah, Chandannagore, Srirampore and Arambagh.
 * Chinsurah subdivision consists of two municipalities (Hugli-Chuchura and Bansberia) and five community development blocs: Balagarh, Chinsurah–Mogra, Dhaniakhali, Pandua and Polba–Dadpur.
 * Chandannagore subdivision consists of Chandannagar municipal corporation and three municipalities (Bhadreswar, Champdani and Tarakeswar) and three community development blocs: Haripal, Singur and Tarakeswar.
 * Srirampore subdivision consists of six municipalities (Serampore, Uttarpara Kotrung, Dankuni, Konnagar, Rishra and Baidyabati) and four community development blocks: Chanditala–I, Chanditala–II, Jangipara and Sreerampur Uttarpara.
 * Arambagh subdivision consists of Arambag municipality and six community development blocks: Arambag, Khanakul–I, Khanakul–II, Goghat–I, Goghat–II and Pursurah.

Hugli-Chuchura is the district headquarters. There are 23 police stations, 18 development blocks, 12 municipalities and 207 gram panchayats in this district.

Other than municipality area, each subdivision contains community development blocks that are divided into rural areas and census towns. There are 41 urban units: 12 municipalities and 64 census towns.

Chinsurah subdivision

 * Two municipalities: Hugli-Chinsurah and Bansberia
 * Balagarh community development block consists of rural areas with 13 gram panchayats and four census towns: Jirat, Sripur, Badhagachhi, Mirdhanga.
 * Chinsurah–Mogra community development block consists of rural areas with 10 gram panchayats and eight census towns: Kodalia, Raghunathpur, Madhusudanpur, Amodghata, Shankhanagar, Chak Bansberia, Kulihanda, Simla.
 * Dhaniakhali community development block consists of rural areas only with 18 gram panchayats.
 * Pandua community development block consists of rural areas with 15 gram panchayats and three census towns: Boinchi, Pandua and Batika.
 * Polba–Dadpur community development block consists of rural areas only with 12 gram panchayats.

Chandannagore subdivision

 * Chandannagar municipal corporation
 * Three municipalities: Bhadreswar, Champdani, and Tarakeswar
 * Haripal community development block consists of rural areas only with 15 gram panchayats one census town: Bargachhia.
 * Singur community development block consists of rural areas with 16 gram panchayats and one census town: Singur.
 * Tarakeswar community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats.

Srirampore subdivision

 * Six municipalities: Serampore, Uttarpara Kotrung, Konnagar, Rishra, Dankuni and Champdani
 * Chanditala–I community development block consists of rural areas only with 9 gram panchayats and 2 census towns: Masat, Gangadharpur, Aniya, Bhagabatipur, Haripur, Krishnarampur, Kumirmorah, Nawabpur, Sheakhala.
 * Chanditala–II community development block consists of rural areas with 11 gram panchayats and 10 census towns: Purba Tajpur, Kharsarai, Begampur, Chikrand, Pairagachha, Monoharpur, Barijhati, Garalgachha, Krishnapur and Mrigala.
 * Jangipara community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats.
 * Sreerampur Uttarpara community development block consists of rural areas with six gram panchayats and six census towns: Raghunathpur, Dakshin Rajyadharpur, Bamunari, Rishra, Nabagram and Kanaipur.

Arambagh subdivision

 * One municipality: Arambag.
 * Arambag community development block consists of rural areas only with 15 gram panchayats.
 * Khanakul–I community development block consists of rural areas only with 13 gram panchayats.
 * Khanakul–II community development block consists of rural areas only with 11 gram panchayats.
 * Goghat–I community development block consists of rural areas only with 8 gram panchayats.
 * Goghat–II community development block consists of rural areas only with 9 gram panchayats.
 * Pursurah community development block consists of rural areas only with 8 gram panchayats.

Assembly constituencies
The district is divided into 18 assembly constituencies: 12 Balagarh, Dhaniakhali, Khanakul and Goghat constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. Along with two assembly constituencies from Howrah district, Jangipara, Chanditala, Uttarpara, Serampore and Champdani constituencies form the Serampore (Lok Sabha constituency). Chandernagore, Singur, Haripal, Chinsurah, Bansberia, Polba and Dhaniakhali constituencies form the Hooghly (Lok Sabha constituency).
 * 1) Jangipara (assembly constituency no. 177),
 * 2) Chanditala (assembly constituency no. 178),
 * 3) Uttarpara (assembly constituency no. 179),
 * 4) Serampore (assembly constituency no. 180),
 * 5) Champdani (assembly constituency no. 181),
 * 6) Chandernagore (assembly constituency no. 189),
 * 7) Singur (assembly constituency no. 183),
 * 8) Haripal (assembly constituency no. 184),
 * 9) Tarakeswar (assembly constituency no. 185),
 * 10) Chinsurah (assembly constituency no. 186),
 * 11) Saptagram (assembly constituency no. 187),
 * 12) Balagarh (SC) (assembly constituency no. 188),
 * 13) Pandua (assembly constituency no. 189),
 * 14) Dhaniakhali (SC) (assembly constituency no. 191),
 * 15) Pursurah (assembly constituency no. 192),
 * 16) Khanakul  (assembly constituency no. 202),
 * 17) Arambagh (assembly constituency no. 194) and
 * 18) Goghat (SC) (assembly constituency no. 195).

Tarakeswar, Pursurah, Khankul, Arambag and Goghat constituencies are part of the Arambagh (Lok Sabha constituency), which contains two assembly segments in Paschim Medinipur district. Balagarh and Pandua constituencies are part of the Katwa (Lok Sabha constituency), which contains five assembly constituency from Bardhaman district.

As per order of the Delimitation Commission in respect of the delimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, the district will be divided into 18 assembly constituencies: Balagarh, Dhanekhali, Arambag and Goghat constituencies will be reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. Along with two assembly constituencies from Howrah district, Uttarpara, Sreerampur, Champdani, Chanditala and Jangipara constituencies will form the Sreerampur (Lok Sabha constituency). Singur, Chandannagar, Chunchura, Balagarh, Pandua, Saptagram and Dhanekhali constituencies will form the Hooghly (Lok Sabha constituency). Haripal, Tarakeswar, Pursurah, Arambag, Goghat and Khankul constituencies will be part of the Arambag (Lok Sabha constituency), which will contain one assembly segment in Paschim Medinipur district.

Police administration
Hooghly District comes under Burdwan Police Range. Hooghly Rural Police District was created on 30 June 2017, curbing out of erstwhile Hooghly district. Presently it consists of sixteen police station with jurisdiction, one women police station and one Cyber Police Station. The head quarter of Hooghly Rural Police District was shifted to Kamarkundu under Singur PS from Chinsura. Chandannagar Police Commissionerate was formed after bifurcation of the Hooghly Police District, and has nine police stations under its jurisdiction established on 30 June 2017, is a police force with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within certain urban parts of Hooghly district. The Commissionerate is part of the West Bengal Police, and comes under the Department of Home & Hill Affairs, Government of West Bengal.

For the functioning of 23 police stations of the district, District Intelligence Branch, District Enforcement Branch and District Reserve Police Force SP, Hooghly is assisted by three additional superintendents:
 * HQ: Having his office at Chinsurah, he looks after the Sadar Sub-Division and District Police Force, being assisted by Dy.S.P. (HQ) and Dy.S.P. (D&T).
 * Industrial: He is in Serampore. He is the supervising officer for Serampore and Chandernagore Sub Divisions, assisted by SDPO: Serampore and SDPO: Chandernagore.
 * Rural: He is in Arambagh and is the supervising officer for Arambagh Sub Division; being assisted by SDPO: Arambagh.

Rail
The railway communication of the district, especially at the suburban area, are available throughout the district.

There are four junction stations in Hooghly: The railway is under Howrah Division. The Howrah – New Delhi Rajdhani Route passes through the district
 * Bandel Junction railway station
 * Dankuni Junction railway station
 * Sheoraphuli railway station
 * Kamarkundu

Bus
There are several bus stands in Hooghly district. Grand Trunk Road passes through the district and Private and Govt. buses are available.

Demographics
According to the 2011 census Hooghly district has a population of 5,519,145, roughly equal to the nation of Denmark or the US state of Wisconsin. This gives it a ranking of 16th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 1753 PD/sqkm. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 9.49%. Hugli has a sex ratio of 958 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 82.55%. 38.57% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 24.35% and 4.15% of the population respectively.

Religion
Hindus are the majority community in the district. Muslims are the largest minority, concentrated more in rural areas.

Language
At the time of the 2011 census, 87.49% of the population spoke Bengali, 7.59% Hindi, 2.37% Santali and 1.72% Urdu as their first language. Hindi and Urdu speakers are predominantly found in urban areas.

Education
There are 2992 primary schools, 408 high schools, 127 higher secondary schools, 22 colleges, and 6 technical institutes in Hooghly district. The most notable institutions among them are:
 * Hooghly Collegiate School established in 1812
 * Hooghly Madrasah established in 1817
 * Furfura Fatehia Senior Madrasah established in 1902
 * Hooghly Mohsin College established in 1836
 * Government College of Engineering & Textile Technology Serampore
 * Sarat Centenary College
 * Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, Haripal
 * Mahesh Sri Ramkrishna Ashram Vidyalaya (Higher Secondary)
 * Saroj Mohan Institute of Technology
 * Serampore College
 * Serampore Girls' College
 * Serampore Union Institution
 * Akna Girl's High School
 * Chatra Nandalal Institution
 * Mahesh High School
 * Hooghly Branch (Govt) School
 * St Joseph's Convent, Chandannagar
 * Balagarh Bijoy Krishna Mahavidyalaya
 * Rani Rashmoni Green University established in 2020
 * Sitapur Endowment Senior Madrasah
 * Badanganj High School
 * Pearl Rosary School, established in 2005

Historical places

 * Tarakeswar, home of Taraknath Temple.

 * Serampore, where the Senate of Serampore College (University) was established

 * Bandel, home of Bandel Church, West Bengal's oldest church.

Notable people
This is a list of notable people from Hooghly District:
 * Sridhara was an Indian mathematician, Sanskrit pandit and philosopher. Sridharacharya's formula is also known as the Quadratic formula or Sridharacharya's method.
 * Panchanan Karmakar, inventor of wooden Bengali alphabet typeface
 * Anil Chatterjee is an actor.
 * Brajendra Nath Seal was a humanist philosopher.
 * Raja Ram Mohan Roy, born in Radhanagore. He is considered as the "Father of the Indian Renaissance". He was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious (Hindu) reform movement in Undivided India.
 * Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee was a Brahmo reformer.
 * Haji Muhammad Mohsin was a famous philanthropist.
 * Satish Chandra Mukherjee, born in Banipur, was a pioneer in establishing a system of national education in India.
 * Subroto Mukherjee was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force.
 * Ganga Prasad Mukherjee was a physician.
 * Jagannath Tarka Panchanan was a legendary Sanskrit scholar and pundit of ancient Hindu Laws.
 * Ramakrishna was a Hindu mystic, saint, and religious leader in 19th century Bengal.
 * Nagendranath Basu was an archaeologist, encyclopaedist and a nationalist social historian of Bengal.
 * Amiya Chakravarty was a literary critic, academic, and Bengali poet. He was a close associate of Rabindranath Tagore, and edited several books of his poetry.
 * Ganapati Chakraborty was a magician known for his mesmerizing tricks and is considered to be the pioneer of modern magic in Bengal.
 * Rangalal Bandyopadhyay was a Bengali poet, journalist and author.
 * Kali Mirza was an 18th-century composer of tappā music in Bengal. A contemporary of Nidhu Babu, he composed over 400 tappās.
 * Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri was an Indian monk and yogi, and the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Satyananda Giri.
 * Nagendranath Chattopadhyay was a noted Sanskrit scholar and grammarian.
 * Murari Mohan Mukherjee was a plastic surgeon.
 * Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya was a philosopher at the University of Calcutta known for his method of "constructive interpretation" through which relations and problematics of ancient Indian philosophical systems are drawn out and developed so that they can be studied like problems of modern philosophy.
 * Sisir Kumar Mitra was a physicist.
 * Madhusudan Gupta was a translator and Ayurvedic practitioner who was also trained in Western medicine and is credited with having performed India's first human dissection at Calcutta Medical College (CMC) in 1836, almost 3,000 years after Susruta.
 * Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay was a Bengali author.
 * Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was a Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century.
 * Akshay Chandra Sarkar was a poet, an editor and a literary critic of Bengali literature.
 * Raja Digambar Mitra was one of the leading Derozians and first Bengali Sheriff of Kolkata.
 * Kanailal Dutta was a revolutionary in India's freedom struggle belonging to the Jugantar group.
 * Ashapurna Devi was a prominent Indian novelist and poet in Bengali language.
 * Brahmabandhav Upadhyay was a theologian, journalist and Indian freedom fighter. He was closely attached with Keshub Chandra Sen, classmate of Swami Vivekananda and close acquaintance of Rabindranath Tagore.
 * Ramnidhi Gupta was commonly known as Nidhu Babu . He was one of the great reformers of Bengali tappā music.
 * Kirity Roy, a civil rights activist working in West Bengal
 * Motilal Roy was a Bengali revolutionary, journalist, social reformer. He founded the "Prabartak Sangha", a nationalist organisation for social works.
 * Dwarka Nath Mitra was a famous lawyer and judge of the Calcutta High Court.
 * Nabagopal Mitra was an Indian playwright, poet, essayist, patriot and one of the founding fathers of Hindu nationalism. He founded the Hindu Mela, the pioneer institution behind the genesis of Hindu nationalism. Mitra also founded National Press, National Paper, National Society, National School, National Theatre, National Store, National Gymnasium and National Circus, earning him the sobriquet 'National Mitra'.
 * Barindra Kumar Ghosh was an Indian revolutionary and journalist. He was one of the founding members of "Jugantar", a Bengali weekly, a revolutionary outfit in Bengal. Barindra Kumar Ghosh was the younger brother of Shri Aurobindo.
 * Manmohan Ghose was an Indian poet and one of the first from India to write poetry in English. He was a brother of Sri Aurobindo.
 * Ashim Kumar Majhi is a politician.
 * Nirmal Jibon Ghosh, an Indian revolutionary and member of the Bengal volunteers.
 * Premendra Mitra belonged to the renowned Mitra family of Konnagar.
 * Surajit Dhara, recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for his contributions to physical sciences in 2020
 * Elora Tribedy, field archaeologist, Nalanda University
 * Chandranath Basu was an Indian litterateur who coined the term "Hindutva" and has been regarded as a doyen of economic and Indian nationalism in Bengal.

title: Hooghly district


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Ringebu Stave Church

Ringebu Stave Church (Ringebu stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ringebu Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Ringebu in the Gudbrandsdalen valley. It is the church for the Ringebu parish which is part of the Sør-Gudbrandsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar. The brown, wooden church was built in a stave church design around the year 1220 using plans drawn up by an unknown architect. The church seats about 300 people.

History
The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1270, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Ringebu was a wooden post church that was built in the 11th century. This church was in use for about 200 years before it was torn down in the early 13th century. A new wooden stave church was then built on the same site. Dendrochronological dating of the logs used to build this church show that the logs were cut in the 1190s, so the church must have been constructed in the early 1200s. This church had a long church design.

Around the year 1630, the master-builder Werner Olsen (ca. 1600–1682) began a large expansion and renovation project on the church. The nave was enlarged by adding a transept wing to the north and south, creating a cruciform floor plan. A new central tower was constructed on the roof over the central part of the nave. This significant renovation changed the character of the church and it left several free standing posts in the interior of the nave that remained from the original stave church, but most of the rest of the building looked quite new at the time. The church was painted in 1717, but only the lower half of the walls were done, since the ceiling at that time was lower.

In 1814, this church served as an election church (valgkirke). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.

Later restoration in 1921 brought it back a bit closer to its original shape. At one point the church was painted white within, but during the restoration work by Ragnvald Einbu in 1921 the church interior was restored to its original colouring.

There have been some archaeological surveys of the ground under the church. The last one took place in 1980–1981. These surveys resulted in the finding of about 900 old coins, mostly from medieval times, especially from the period 1217–1263. Post holes from an older church were also found, supporting the tradition that a church had stood on the site before the present building. The post church is assumed to be a forerunner of the stave church. The earth-bound posts of these churches were planted directly into the ground, and therefore they were exposed to humidity which caused them to rot over the years.

title: Ringebu Stave Church


text:
Bully for Brontosaurus

Bully for Brontosaurus (1991) is the fifth volume of collected essays by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The essays were culled from his monthly column "This View of Life" in Natural History magazine, to which Gould contributed for 27 years. The book deals, in typically discursive fashion, with themes familiar to Gould's writing: evolution and its teaching, science biography, and probabilities. The title essay, "Bully for Brontosaurus", discusses the theory and history of taxonomy by examining the debate over whether Brontosaurus should be labelled Apatosaurus. In "Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding", Gould dissects and decisively rejects Antonin Scalia's dissent in the United States Supreme Court case Edwards v. Aguillard that overturned the last creationist statute in the country. Gould claimed his favourite essay to be "In a Jumbled Drawer" which discusses the debate between Nathaniel Shaler and William James over whether the improbability of our having evolved necessitates divine intervention (Gould, like James, argues no); the essay includes a letter from former President Jimmy Carter as a postscript, which discusses the issue.

The essay "Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples" dealt with the issue of adaptive arguments. It derives from some work by Elisabeth Lloyd, whose subsequent 2005 book was dedicated to Gould (and her parents), and uses the case of the female orgasm to expand on the subject of adaptiveness in both depth and breadth.

Reviews

 * Taking a Chance on Evolution — by John Maynard Smith, NYRB
 * The Stan Musial of Essay Writing — by John Noble Wilford, The New York Times
 * Book review — Danny Yee

title: Bully for Brontosaurus


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Ricinodendron

Ricinodendron is a plant genus in the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1864. It includes only one known species, Ricinodendron heudelotii, native to tropical Africa from Senegal + Liberia east to Sudan and Tanzania and south to Mozambique and Angola. It produces an economically important oilseed. The tree is known as munguella (Angola), njangsa (Cameroon), bofeko (Democratic Republic of Congo), wama (Ghana), okhuen (Nigeria), kishongo (Uganda), akpi (Ivory Coast), djansang, essang, ezezang and njasang. Two varieties of the tree species are recognized R. heudelotii var. heudelotii in Ghana and R. heudelotii var. africanum in Nigeria and westwards.

Taxonomy
The mongongo fruit (Schinziophyton rautanenii) was previously considered a member of this genus but has since been placed into a genus of its own.

 * Subspecies and varieties
 * 1) Ricinodendron heudelotii subsp. africanum (Müll.Arg.) J.Léonard - tropical Africa from Nigeria east to Sudan and Tanzania and south to Mozambique and Angola
 * 2) Ricinodendron heudelotii var. tomentellum (Hutch. & E.A.Bruce) Radcl.-Sm. - Kenya, Tanzania

moved to Schinziophyton
 * Formerly included
 * 1) R. rautanenii - Schinziophyton rautanenii
 * 2) R. viticoides - Schinziophyton rautanenii

Description
The tree is fast growing and reaches a height between 20 and 50 m with a straight trunk which can have a diameter up to 2.7 m. Its crown is broad and the roots are big running. The bark is smooth with a grey colour. Inside, the bark is red when cut.

Njangsa is a dioecious plant. The flowers are yellowish white, 5 mm long and form a long terminal panicle which measures between 15 and 40 cm. Flowering time is between April and May. Male panicles are larger and slender than female flowers.

Njangsa trees produce a fruit that are typically two or three lobed and contain two cells in which the seeds lie. These seeds are red brown to black, rounded and some 1 cm in diameter. The seeds are oily in texture and can be bought either raw or dried. They have an odour reminiscent of oily chocolate, but their flavour is truly unique: subtly aromatic with a mild bitter aftertaste. At maturity (August - September) the fruit smells like over-ripe apples.

Distribution
Njangsa is endemic to tropical Africa. The native geographic location of njangsa reaches from Senegal in West Africa to Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, and from Sudan down to the western coast of Sub-Saharan Africa to Angola. The tree is also found on Madagascar.

Njangsa grows generally in rain forests and is also typical for secondary forests. This tree is a light-demanding species. Therefore, it can also be found in deciduous forests, forest edges, secondary scrubs and thickets in semi-dry savannahs. The tree is observed in food crop fields, cocoa farms and other agroforestry systems, where the trees can also intentionally be planted.

Food-value
The edible parts of the plant are the high nutritive contents of the kernels. The dried and ground kernels are used as a flavouring agent in some dishes in West and Central Africa. The paste of the ground kernels is used to thicken soups and stews. Oil can be obtained from the kernels. Only a small amount of extracted seed oil is carried out. The oil has a yellowish colour and tastes similar to groundnut oil. Because of its high content of γ-tocopherol, the oil is very stable and becomes rancid only slowly. This oil is interesting as cooking oil and margarine.

Constituens of seeds

Culinary use
The seeds are usually dried for use as a flavouring agent in West and Central African food dishes. The whole seeds are pounded in a pestle and mortar and the paste of ground seed is added as a thickener for soups and stews, or crumbled over rice as a flavouring. The spice from the seed is also sold in African markets, rolled into sausage shapes.

Medicinal value
The extract from the bark of the tree is used by traditional doctors as an antidote against poison because the extracts are said to contain lupeol. It is also used to cure various diseases as cough, malaria, yellow fever, stomach pain, rheumatism etc. Other characteristics are aphrodisiac and anti-inflammatory properties. Seed husk and latex, leaf decoction and sap are also used to treat divers illnesses.

Ecological value
Presence of njangsa helps to improve soil quality because the roots are colonized by mycorrhizae and because of its natural leaf litter. Burned kernel shells deliver potassium rich ash and the cake remaining after oil extraction from seeds has high nitrogen content. Both products can be used as fertilizer. Njangsa provides shade for humans, livestock and crops. Leaves can be used as fodder for livestock during dry seasons.

Industrial uses
Oil obtained from dried kernel and ash can be used for soap and varnish production.

Social and historical implications
In southern Cameroon, dried seeds are used for oware, a traditional mancala game called songho in Cameron; in the Igbo language of Nigeria, both the game and the tree go by the name of okwe. In Sierra Leone the seeds are used for rattles for bundu dances.

Cultivation area
The main production area of njangsa is the humid forest zone of Cameroon. The tree is one of the most common seedlings seen in the more open parts of the forest. Consequently, the species is abundant in new farming clearings. During these clearings, farmers kept trees from this species.

Yields
The kernel is economically the most important part of the tree. They are collected from the ground between September and October. Njangsa trees typically produce fruit every two to three years, however some trees produce them in less than a year. Each harvest yields up to 900 fruits and an average of 72 kg of kernels.

Cultivars
Njangsa is a new crop and only actively domesticated since 1995. The knowledge about the genetic diversity is therefore limited. Today, available information about genetic resources is so little that most improvements occur by plant breeding.

Climate and soil requirement
Climatic requirement

Soil requirements

Best germination success can be observed on a mixture of river sand and forest soil with a ratio of 1:3.

Propagation
Propagation of njangsa is possible by seeds, by vegetative propagation, or by grafting. The advantage of propagation by seeds is that the tree develops a strong taproot. This is important for the stability of the tree as well as for big exploration zone for water and nutrient uptake. Because njangsa is dioecious, it is difficult to identify male and female trees before the reproductive phase. Because of high genetic variability, seeds may have different characteristics compared to the parent plant. Vegetative propagation allows reproducing trees with exactly the same characteristics as the selected female tree. Njangsa can also be propagated by grafting. A shoot or bud (the scion) is united with an already established rootstock.

Field establishment
The site should be cleared, especially if the trees are associated with other food crops. Then the young plants can be planted in planting holes separated by 10 m from each other. Before transplanting the plants, they need to spend at least six months under shade and need a minimal size of 20–30 cm. After planting, a 1 m high fence of palm fronds for shade should be established for the first two weeks.

Plant management
Water: The plants need to be watered abundantly after transplanting so that the plant can adapt to the new environment. To avoid high water losses by evaporation, a mulch layer can keep soil moisture.

Fertilizer: The establishment and development of this fast growing tree can be improved by supplying it with enough nutrients through mineral fertilizer.

Husbandry: As long as the plant is young, weeding is very important to reduce competition for water and nutrients, so that a fast growth and development is possible.

Pest and disease control: No major disease are observed yet. But njangsa can be attacked by herbivores as caterpillars (Lobobunaea phaedusa, Imbrasia petiveri, Imbrasia obscura, Imbrasia melanops). These caterpillars are edible and are therefore not treated with chemicals but collected as source of food protein. Aphids can infest plants in nurseries. They are easy to detect because the leaves curl as result of an attack. These aphids can be controlled with a systemic insecticide. Once the trees are in the field for more than two years, treatments are no more necessary because of plant vigor.

Harvest and postharvest treatment
First fruit harvest occurs after 6 to 7 years in forests or after 3 to 4 years in managed plantations. The fruits are picked up by hand from the ground once they are ripe enough to drop from the tree (September and October). To facilitate harvest, the ground under the tree should be cleared. Once harvested, the fruits are placed on a pile for two to three weeks so that the pulp is rotting faster and the seeds can be extracted easily.

Extracting the kernel from the pulp is a time-consuming process because of their hard shape. After boiling them in water, and cooling them down, the kernels are extracted one by one with a knife or nails. Then the kernels are sun or fire dried. Njangsa is stored as seed or as kernel. If they are well dried, they can be stored up to two years on a dry place.

title: Ricinodendron


text: Category:Dordogne

title: Category:Dordogne


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Patent pool

In patent law, a patent pool is a consortium of two or more companies agreeing to cross-license patents relating to a particular technology. The creation of a patent pool can save patentees and licensees time and money, and, in case of blocking patents, it may also be the only reasonable method for making the invention available to the public. Competition law issues are usually important when a large consortium is formed.

History
In 1856, sewing machine manufacturers Grover & Baker, Singer, and Wheeler & Wilson, all accusing each other of patent infringement, met in Albany, New York to pursue their suits. Orlando B. Potter, a lawyer and president of Grover & Baker, proposed that, rather than squander their profits on litigation, they pool their patents. This was the first patent pool, a process which enables the production of complicated machines without legal battles over patent rights.

In 1917, the two major patent holders for airplanes, the Wright Company and the Curtiss Company, had effectively blocked the building of new airplanes, which were desperately needed as the United States was entering World War I. The U.S. government, as a result of a recommendation of a committee formed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, pressured the industry to form a patent pool, the Manufacturer's Aircraft Association.

In August 2005, a patent pool was formed by about 20 companies active in the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) domain. The RFID Consortium picked Via Licensing to administer its patent pool in September 2006.

Risk mitigation
As in these examples many industries could not function without patent pools since the coordination costs (risk, negotiation, etc.) would otherwise be too high. Patent pools are only one example of cases where members of an otherwise competitive industry join in common cause to create some resource that is to their collective benefit. For example, the insurance industry pools claims data to collectively reduce risk; the catalog sales industry pools sales data to better model their customers; the auto industry collaborates to standardize components; and in the software industry some companies actively contribute to open-source projects.

Patent pools do not eliminate risk, they only temper it. Patent holders (including other patent pools) outside the pool can still create cost and risk for the industry. While it is rare for a patent pool to indemnify licensees, a pool does help to assure a common interest will emerge should one member be accused of infringement by a third party. Flaws in the design of the pool's governance can create the risk that one member can break the common cause of the group. Examples of well-known such cases include the MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 video coding standards, and the DVD6C pool. The MPEG-2 patent pool has also been criticized because by 2015 more than 90% of the MPEG-2 patents will have expired but as long as there are one or more active patents in the MPEG-2 patent pool in either the country of manufacture or the country of sale the MPEG-2 license agreement requires that licensees pay a license fee that does not change based on the number of patents that have expired.

United States
Since the 1990s, patent pools have been viewed by U.S. regulatory authorities in a positive light. In 1995, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the “Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property” which stated that the pooling of patents may have “…pro-competitive benefits”. The Antitrust Division of the DOJ later issued a letter in support of the MPEG-2 pool. However, stipulations exist to ensure pools do not function anti-competitively. As required by the DOJ, patents in the pool must be essential, non-substitutable and the owners must maintain the right to individually license their patents. In addition, the DOJ may monitor the royalty rates collected by the firm.

title: Patent pool


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Rødven Stave Church

Rødven Stave Church (Rødven stavkyrkje) is a former parish church (now a museum) of the Church of Norway in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The stave church is located in the village of Rødven. It was a church in the Eid og Holm parish which is part of the Indre Romsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre. The brown, wooden church was built in a long church design during the 12th century by an unknown architect. The church seats about 100 people.

The church is considered a Møre-type stave church due to its structure and the exterior support posts that brace the walls. In 1907, a new Rødven Church was built across the street from the old church. Since 1907, Rødven Stave Church has not been regularly used and it has been owned by the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments. Although it is now a museum, it does have one worship service each year on Olsok, the eve of St. Olav's Day.

History
The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1547, but the church was not new that year. The first church on the site was a wooden stave church that was likely built during the 1100s and it was an annex church that was subordinate to the Old Veøy Church parish. This church stood for nearly 200 years before being torn down and replaced with a new building. The new church was also a wooden stave church. It has a rectangular nave measuring 9x6.4 m with a rectangular choir that measured 3.4x4.5 m on the east end. There is a small tower on the roof of the nave. This new church was possibly built using some of the materials from the old church that stood on the site beforehand. The north portal with an ornately carved crucifix was likely reused in the new building from the old 12th century building.

Around the year 1600, the old choir was torn down and a new choir was built to replace it. The new choir is about 3 m wider than its predecessor, bringing the choir to the same width as the nave. Also during this renovation, the exterior corridors that encircled the building were removed. In 1651, a sacristy was added to the north side of the choir. In 1689, a strong storm blew the tower off the roof and damaged the roof. The roof was quickly fixed afterwards, but this was only meant to be a temporary fix. The church needed significant repairs which did not happen for over 20 years. In 1712, the church was significantly renovated and repaired by the lead builder Hans Knutsen from Molde. Structural repairs to the walls and roof were carried out. Exterior support beams were also added to help support the centuries-old structure. Beams were installed on all four corners plus two extra beams along each of the long walls. A new church porch was built on the west end of the building. The church also had a whole new roof and tower put on. Inside the church, a new altar and pulpit were built as well.

The parish structure in the Old Veøy Church parish was changed around 1900, as Holm parish was established in 1901. In this process, the two very old churches Old Veøy Church and Rødven Stave Church were replaced by three fairly similar dragestil churches in 1907. Holm Church became the main church on the south side of the Langfjorden and the new Veøy Church was the main church to the north of the fjord. Both of those churches were designed by Karl Norum. At the same time, a new Rødven Chapel (as it originally was called) was designed by Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland was built about 40 m to the north, just across the road from the old Rødven Stave Church. The new Rødven Chapel was built to serve as an annex chapel for the new Holm Church. After the new Rødven Chapel was completed, the old stave church was closed and removed from regular use. In 1908, the old stave church was purchased by the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments which runs it as a museum, although the parish still uses the church building on special occasions. Later, the new Rødven Chapel was upgraded in status to a parish church and renamed Rødven Church.

An archeological survey was carried out in 1962–1963 which was led by Håkon Christie. During this excavation, evidence was found of posts for an older building on the same location, supporting the conclusion that this present church was not the first church on the site. There was also an abundance of artifacts found under the floor of the building.

title: Rødven Stave Church


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SPC Vojvodina

SPC Vojvodina (СПЦ Војводина), short for Sports and Business Center Vojvodina (Спортски и пословни центар Војводина), commonly referred to as SPENS (СПЕНС), is a multi-purpose venue located in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia.

History
Its construction started in 1979, based on the design documentation produced by the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Spatial Planning, at the University of Sarajevo. The authors of the original, competition-winning design were Prof. Zivorad Jankovic, Prof. Branko Bulic and Eng. Dusko Bogunovic. The construction of the main and the small hall was completed in less than two years. On 14 April 1981, the complex opened its door for the first time, its inaugural event being the 1981 World Table Tennis Championships, event named "SPENS '81" at the time (later the venue was unofficially named after the event name). In the following years, additional objects were opened. However, several objects were not constructed even though they were in the project, like open swimming pool, open skating rink and open courts for team sports.

As of 2019, SPENS is operated by the state-owned company JP "Sportski i poslovni centar Vojvodina", which in addition to SPENS also has Sports Center Sajmište (Спортски центар Сајмиште) under its umbrella.

Features
Sprawling over 85,000 m2, SPENS consists of Main Hall (capacity: 6,987 seats), Small Hall (capacity: 1,030), ice-hockey rink (capacity: 1,623), bowling alley, shooting range, 3 training halls, swimming pool, 11 tennis courts, media center, 2 press centers, amphitheater, reception salon, conference hall, double-level garage, and 215 retail and business spaces that house banks, furniture stores, tourist agencies, jewelers, bookstores, pool halls, fitness clubs, boutiques, etc.

Sports
SPENS' most famous residents are basketball's KK Vojvodina Srbijagas (participating in Basketball League of Serbia) and volleyball's OK Vojvodina.

In 1987, Spens hosted basketball's European Cup Winners' Cup Final in which Cibona Zagreb defeated Scavolini Pesaro 89–74.

The venue received its biggest media exposure when it hosted round-robin action of EuroBasket 2005 in group D which consisted of Spain, Latvia, Israel and host country Serbia and Montenegro. For this occasion, SPENS underwent major renovation that included improvements to building's technological capabilities, overhaul of its media center and addition of two video boards – one on each end of the main hall.

The arena hosted the Group C (group stage) of and the Group II of the main round of the 2012 European Men's Handball Championship, which featured national teams of Spain, Croatia, France, Hungary, Slovenia and Iceland.

Since volleyball is very popular in Novi Sad, Serbia men's national volleyball team often plays its FIVB World League home matches in SPENS, as well as its friendly warm-up games.

Concerts and events
In addition to sporting events, SPENS is often used as a venue for concerts, film premieres, conventions, etc. The first ever concert held at SPENS was of pop-rock band Sedmorica mladih, drawing a crowd of 5,000 people. Some of the other concerts have been:

title: SPC Vojvodina


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Edie Ochiltree

Edie Ochiltree is a character in Sir Walter Scott's 1816 novel The Antiquary, a licensed beggar of the legally protected class known as Blue-gowns or bedesmen, who follows a regular beat around the fictional Scottish town of Fairport. Scott based his character on Andrew Gemmels, a real beggar he had known in his childhood. Along with Jonathan Oldbuck, the novel's title-character, Ochiltree is widely seen as one of Scott's finest creations.

His character
Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary of the novel's title, says that Ochiltree "has been soldier, ballad-singer, travelling tinker, and is now a beggar…a sort of privileged nuisance – one of the last specimens of the old-fashioned Scottish mendicant, who kept his rounds within a particular space, and was the news-carrier, the minstrel, and sometimes the historian of the district". Ochiltree's great love and knowledge of the old ballads and traditions echoes Oldbuck's more scholarly antiquarian lore. They have a mutual respect and liking for each other, and between them they solve the other characters' problems and bring the novel to a happy resolution, but on the way they sometimes clash comically, Oldbuck's antiquarian fantasy and self-delusion being punctured by Ochiltree's realism and good sense. Both characters are presented as being sticklers for exactness, Ochiltree being remarkable for the accuracy of the local news he brings and for his insistence on old traditions being remembered correctly. In the first half of the novel the two are differentiated by Ochiltree's greater practical effectiveness in the help he brings to others. He could be described as a Cynic in the tradition of Diogenes, and he is at odds with modern commercial society in his traditional reliance on the support of the community at large rather than on any single patron. His overall function in the Fairport community is to bind it together.

The originals of Ochiltree
The writer W. S. Crockett considered Edie Ochiltree to be more firmly based on a real-life model than any other of Scott's characters, Jonathan Oldbuck alone excepted. His original was one Andrew Gemmels, a beggar whom Scott, then a boy in Kelso, had often met. Gemmels came from the parish of Old Cumnock in Ayrshire, and he was, like Ochiltree, an army veteran who had fought at the battle of Fontenoy. Scott described him in his introduction to the 1829 edition of The Antiquary as "a remarkably fine old figure, very tall, and maintaining a soldierlike or military manner and address. His features were intelligent, with a powerful expression of sarcasm…It was some fear of Andrew's satire, as much as a feeling of kindness or charity, which secured him the general good reception which he enjoyed everywhere." He prospered better than most beggars, and died, by his own reckoning, at the age of 105, leaving a small fortune to a nephew.

Scott's son-in-law and biographer J. G. Lockhart pointed out another model for Ochiltree in an anecdote concerning Sir John Clerk, 1st Bt., which was certainly the inspiration for an episode in chapter 4 of The Antiquary:

"[T]he old Baronet carried some English Virtuosos to see a supposed Roman camp; and on his exclaiming at a particular spot, 'This I take to have been the Praetorium', a herdsman, who stood by, answered, 'Praetorium here, Praetorium there, I made it wi' a flaughter-spade.'"

Some critics have claimed that Scott's own character can be discerned in Ochiltree, particularly in the capacity to stoically accept personal misfortunes which supported Scott in his later years.

Critical assessment
At least five reviews of The Antiquary, in the Quarterly Review, the Edinburgh Review, the Monthly Review, the Critical Review, and the British Lady's Magazine, agreed in considering Ochiltree a male version of Scott's eldritch gypsy Meg Merrilies in his previous novel Guy Mannering. The Quarterly 's reviewer, John Wilson Croker, thought the imitation improved on the original, while the Monthly thought him unforgettable and sometimes sublime, but Francis Jeffrey in the Edinburgh could give him only qualified approval. The Augustan Review could not accept the idea of a mere beggar expressing moral eloquence and poetic feeling, and it detected in this the influence of Wordsworth. William H. Prescott in the North American Review believed that such characters as Edie Ochiltree showed Scott to have a "worldly, good-natured shrewdness" surpassing that of Shakespeare himself. Later in the century a critic in the London Quarterly thought he ranked among "the most complete and remarkable characters created by Scott or any other man", and this opinion was echoed by many 20th-century commentators. Andrew Lang considered the treatment of the character of Ochiltree was an example of Scott's art at its very best. For Charles Harold Herford he was a great creation drawn from the heart of Scottish life. The scholar Aubrey Bell cited Ochiltree in support of his and Georg Brandes' view that Scott was one of the finest drawers of character ever to have lived. John Sutherland was unconvinced by Ochiltree's readiness to put the welfare of his betters before his own, and interpreted this as a symptom of Scott's nostalgia for the national solidarity of Britain in the 1790s, when men of all classes felt threatened by Revolutionary France. Scott's biographer Edgar Johnson acknowledged that some readers find the scenes between Ochiltree and the fraudster Herman Dousterswivel too redolent of low comedy. He himself doubted if Ochiltree's eloquence was entirely realistic in a beggar, and he also noted his tendency to be conveniently present whenever the plot needs to be moved forward. The academic Robin Mayhead however disagreed, arguing that The Antiquary does not have the conventions of the realist school; for him Ochiltree functions as an embodiment of dependability, necessary to offset the faults and fallibilities of other characters in the novel. This, rather than the attraction of Ochiltree's "racy vernacular", led Mayhead to declare himself as great an admirer as any of this character. A. N. Wilson wrote about Ochiltree's "strangely moving (though so stagey) wisdom". John Buchan noted that he was depicted with "minute realism" as a typical Scottish beggar, and yet was sometimes able "to speak words which, though wholly in character, are yet part of the world's poetry". He approvingly quoted another critic as saying that Ochiltree is the most Shakespearean figure outside Shakespeare. Hesketh Pearson also compared Ochiltree with Shakespeare's creations, and found him more realistic than any of them, and more humorous than all but Falstaff. He was, for Pearson, Scott's first great character. Henry A. Beers likewise numbered him among Scott's greatest creations, one of those who "brought into play his knowledge of men, his humour, observation of life, and insight into Scotch human nature".

Legacy
When the Scott Monument was erected in Edinburgh in the 1840s, its many figurative statues included one of Edie Ochiltree, executed by George Anderson Lawson. It shows Ochiltree with a straggly beard, a broad-brimmed hat, and a badge on his shoulder identifying him as a licensed beggar.

The GCR Class 11F steam locomotive Edie Ochiltree was built for the London and North Eastern Railway in September 1924, and remained in service on the LNER and on its successor British Railways until August 1959.

title: Edie Ochiltree


text:
Ladysmith (novel)

Ladysmith is Giles Foden’s second novel. It was published in 1999 by Faber and Faber.

Plot summary
The time is November 1899 through February 1900; the place is Ladysmith, a small railway town in the British Colony of Natal near the border with the Boer Republics. The Boers have surprised the world with initial victories over the British Army and have now laid siege to Ladysmith. As they shell the town from the surrounding hills, people die, disease is rampant, structures collapse, starvation looms, there is panic about enemy agents, and yet the British muddle through.

The setting of Giles Foden’s novel is historically accurate, and a number of historical figures appear as characters; for example, the Boers arrest a young reporter named Winston Churchill as he struggles to reach the besieged town, and an Indian lawyer-turned-medical volunteer named Mohandas K. Gandhi becomes more committed to his philosophy of active non-violence.

The core of Ladysmith is a fictionalised version of a love story that Giles Foden found in the letters of his great-grandfather, who was a British soldier at Ladysmith. Bella, the Irish hotelkeeper's daughter, falls in love, first, with a British soldier and later with a Portuguese barber, thus defying convention and rebelling against her father.

Release details

 * 1999, UK, Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-19733-7, Pub date 2 December 1999, paperback
 * 2000, UK, Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-20366-3, Pub date 3 November 2000, paperback
 * 2000, UK, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 0-375-40920-3, Pub date ? April 2000, hardback
 * 2001, USA, Vintage, ISBN 0-375-70837-5, Pub date ? August 2001, paperback

title: Ladysmith (novel)


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Torpo Stave Church

Torpo Stave Church (Torpo stavkyrkje) is a stave church located in Torpo, a small village in Ål municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. Torpo is located along Norwegian National Road 7, the Norwegian national road which runs between Oslo and Bergen.

History
Built in 1192, the Torpo Stave Church is the oldest building within the valley and traditional district of Hallingdal. The church was dedicated to Saint Margareta. The stave church was purchased by the municipality in 1875. It was initially planned to expand it with an annex to the east, but in 1879 it was decided instead to modernize the interior with new ceiling and gallery. Following protest from the Ancient Monuments Society (Fortidsminneforeningen), the municipality decided to build a new church (Torpo Kyrkje) on the adjacent property. The new church was built north of the old one with the two churches standing side by side.

Runic inscription N 110
The Torpo Stave Church is one of two stave churches that are signed by their craftsmen, the other being the church at Ål. In both churches a runic inscription reads: Thorolf built this church. The full runic inscription in the Torpo Stave Church, which is listed as N 110 in the Rundata catalog, reads:
 * §A þorolfr : gærþi : kirku þesa ÷: askrimr ÷ hakon ÷ ælikr ÷ pal ¶ æinriþi ÷ siønti ÷ þorolfr
 * §B þorer ÷ ræist
 * §C olafr

This translates as "Þórolfr made this church. Ásgrímr, Hákon, Erlingr, Páll, Eindriði, Sjaundi, Þórulfr. Þórir carved. Ólafr."

title: Torpo Stave Church


text:
La Charité-sur-Loire

La Charité-sur-Loire, known simply as La Charité until 1961, is a riverside commune in the western part of the French department of Nièvre. It is located on the departmental border with Cher, which is also the regional border with Centre-Val de Loire.

Geography
La Charité-sur-Loire lies on the right, eastern bank of the river Loire, about 25 km northwest of Nevers. La Charité station has rail connections to Nevers, Cosne-sur-Loire and Paris. The A77 autoroute (Montargis–Nevers) passes east of the town.

History
The settlement of La Charité grew up around the Cluniac priory of that name, founded on an island site in the river Loire in 1089.

During the Hundred Years War, the town was liberated from the English by French forces only in 1435. Joan of Arc tried to liberate the city in 1429 but failed.

A great fire ravaged the town in 1559, leaving the nave of Sainte-Croix-Notre-Dame in a ruinous state for many years. The nave was finally restored by the late 17th century, albeit with its length diminished and the stone of the original facade repurposed in the reconstruction works.

In the second of the French Wars of Religion (1567–8), La Charité withstood eight months of siege by Catholic forces. It would later be one of the fortified towns given the status of Huguenot safe havens by the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (August 1570).

By the time of the French Revolution only a dozen monks remained in the priory, which was sold to private individuals and preserved. An improved highway that was to have been driven through the church was deflected by the report of Prosper Mérimée, the first inspector of monuments (and author of Carmen), who classed it as worth saving in 1840.

Sights

 * The priory church, burial place of Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton.
 * The church of Sainte-Croix-Notre-Dame, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.

title: La Charité-sur-Loire


text:
Polemoniaceae

The Polemoniaceae (Jacob's-ladder or phlox family) are a family of flowering plants consisting of about 27 genera with 270–400 species of annuals and perennials native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity in western North America.

Only one genus (Polemonium) is found in Europe, and two (Phlox and Polemonium) in Asia, where they are confined to cool temperate to arctic regions; both genera also occur more widely in North America, suggesting relatively recent colonization of the Old World from North America.

The family can be distinguished from most other eudicot families by the ovary made up of three fused carpels (usually with three chambers, but with one chamber in some species). The members of the family have five sepals, five petals fused, and five stamens that alternate with the lobes of the corolla.

For decades, most sources used a classification of the family published by Grant in 1959, but new evidence, including molecular phylogeny, veins of the corolla, pollen, and the flavonoids present, have led to reclassifications, such as the 1998 classification by Grant. It recognizes two subfamilies. The subfamily Cobaeoideae is tropical/subtropical and composed of six genera organized into five tribes. The subfamily Polemonioideae consists of 13 temperate genera. Grant divides it into three tribes, but with the disclaimer that it is not clear what the correct division is and that the genus classifications may be more useful in this subfamily.

Human uses
A number are widely grown as ornamental plants, such as Ipomopsis aggregata (skyrocket or scarlet gilia), and many species of Phlox, Gilia and Polemonium. The kantuta (Cantua buxifolia) is the national flower of Bolivia and Peru.

Genera
27 genera are accepted.

 * Acanthogilia A.Day & R.C.Moran
 * Aliciella Brand
 * Allophyllum (Nutt.) A.D.Grant & V.E.Grant
 * Bonplandia Cav.
 * Bryantiella J.M.Porter
 * Cantua Juss. ex Lam.
 * Cobaea Cav.
 * Collomia Nutt.
 * Dayia J.M.Porter
 * Eriastrum Wooton & Standl.
 * Gilia Ruiz & Pav.
 * Giliastrum (Brand) Rydb.
 * Gymnosteris Greene
 * Ipomopsis Michx.
 * Langloisia Greene
 * Lathrocasis L.A.Johnson
 * Leptosiphon Benth.
 * Linanthus Benth.
 * Loeselia L.
 * Loeseliastrum (Brand) Timbrook
 * Maculigilia V.E.Grant
 * Microgilia J.M.Porter & L.A.Johnson
 * Microsteris Greene
 * Navarretia Ruiz & Pav.
 * Phlox L.
 * Polemonium L.
 * Saltugilia (V.E.Grant) L.A.Johnson

title: Polemoniaceae


text:
Faro Airport

Faro International Airport (Aeroporto de Faro, ), officially Faro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (Aeroporto Internacional de Faro - Gago Coutinho ), is located 4 km west of the city of Faro in Portugal. The airport opened in July 1965 being the main gateway to Faro District (the year-round resort region of the Algarve) and southwestern Spain, with nine million passengers using the facility in 2019. Since 2022, it is named after Gago Coutinho, Portuguese geographer, cartographer, naval officer, historian and aviation pioneer.

History
Faro International Airport is located 4 km from Faro, the capital city of Algarve in Portugal. Situated in the southern coast of Portugal, the airport was constructed during the 1960s and inaugurated in 1965. The Portuguese Government is the owner of Faro airport although, in the  2010s, the administration was granted to Vinci Group, company winning the privatization of the portuguese airports operator - ANA Aeroportos de Portugal -which has been its operator. Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada, Santa Maria, Horta, Flores, Madeira, and Porto Santo, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation were conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98. With this concession, ANA became responsible for the planning, development and construction of future infrastructure.

Since its opening in 1966 to the 2000s, Faro airport has had two major developments: the new passenger terminal building in 1989, and its enlargement in 2001. Faced with growing traffic demand and passenger safety and satisfaction needs, the development plan for 2009–2013 saw Faro airport undergo extensive improvements to runway and infrastructure, as well as a widespread renovation of the airport terminal and commercial areas. The airport authority announced an expansion programme for Faro airport in February 2010. Phase I of the expansion started in 2010 and was completed by 2011. Phase II began in 2011 and was completed by 2013. Faro International Airport handled 5,447,200 passengers and recorded 39,789 aircraft movements in 2008. When the Phase II expansion was completed, the annual capacity of the airport increased from six million to eight million passengers. Passengers handled per hour increased to 3,000, the number of aircraft handled per hour increased to 30, and aircraft parking bays increased from 22 to 33. Additional shops and waiting areas were constructed as part of the expansion. In Phase I, new aircraft stands and taxiways were planned to be constructed. A new instrument landing system (ILS) was installed at the runway along with the installation of a glide reflection mirror. The security area at the runway was also expanded. Phase II involved the renovation of the passenger terminal and the improvement of the landside access.

As of 2019, Faro Airport is capable of handling nine million passengers a year. There are 22 stands of which 16 are remote, with 60 check-in desks and 36 boarding gates.

In June 2022 it was announced that the airport would carry Gago Coutinho's name in honour of the navigator and admiral who, in 1922, together with the aviator Sacadura Cabral, accomplished the First aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in the seaplane Lusitânia, named after the Roman Empire name for what would become Portugal. The airport name became official in September 2022. At the same time it was announced the commissioning of a solar power plant with a capacity of 3MWp, enabling to produce 30% of the airport's electricity needs, reducing emissions by more than 1,500 tonnes per year.

Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled direct passenger flights at Faro Airport:

Car
The airport is close to the A22 highway, with connections throughout the Algarve and direct to Lisbon and Spain. Faro airport has 3 different car parking areas. The closest parking area is called "Parking P0 / P1 – Classic", used for short-term visitors, while parking areas P2 and P3 are used for longer term car storage.

Kiss and Fly is the name for a form of fast parking at the airport.

Bus
Airport bus routes 14 and 16 run each day between Faro Airport and Faro city centre bus station. From the bus station there are connections to most other Portuguese cities as well as to many Spanish destinations. The airport bus route is currently run by a company called "Proximo".

Railway
The nearest railway station is Faro which is about 5.7 km away and is located close to Faro city centre bus station. A study into a rail link to the airport was undertaken in 2018.

Accolades
In 2012, Airports Council International gave Faro Airport the title of Best Improvement in Europe.

Accidents and incidents

 * On 21 December 1992, Martinair Flight 495 sustained a hard landing in bad weather at Faro Airport, killing 54 passengers and two crew out of a total of 340 people on board.
 * On 24 October 2011, an overnight storm collapsed portions of terminal roofs and blew out most windows in the control tower. Four people were slightly injured, one severely.

title: Faro Airport


text: Category:Aube

title: Category:Aube


text:
Talk:SAF Military Police Command

Untitled
Article currently says "Singapore Armed Forces Provost Unit (SAFPU) .... guarding of sensitive institutions of the Singapore government such as the Istana, ... SAFPU took charge of security measures at the Istana," . I don't know who's incharge of security of Istana, but somehow this doesn't sound right to me. --Vsion 09:55, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

The Singapore Police Force takes care of the Istana's security. SAFPU only does ceremonial duties.
 * I think I wrote that coz SAFPU folks are still posted to stand at the gate during office hours. Ceremonial, perhaps, but I doubt they are expected to stand there unmoving should any crisis happens?--Huaiwei 12:44, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

With the name and structure change to MPC, perhaps it is time for a major update? --Telly 10:34, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
 * MPC?--Huaiwei 12:44, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

I've made dome amends to the wiki. 1) I renamed "Precision Drill Unit" (PDU) to 'Silent Precision Drill Squad' (SPDS). As of 1993 I believe this to be the correct name for the squad that did precision drills for display. PDU in Mowbray camp at Ulu Pandan was instead the Police Dog Unit that shared the camp. 2) I also corrected 'Security Command' to 'Security Company'. Again accurate as of 1993. 3) in the organisation list below, i amended 'Security Branch' to 'Security Company'. Security Branch was the branch that handled security of ministers and all. Known for their white Volvo 850's with LED signs on the back window. I believe they are instead part of the Singapore Police Force.... Actually i think Security company is not supposed to "exist"--Paullincoln 19:11, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
 * The SPF entity is called Security Command.--Huaiwei 07:33, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

I remember an SPF entity called Security Branch. They used to be located near the Dempsey Road / Loewen road area. It was a simple looking setup with a garage of all their Volvo's at the time (circa 1991). This was some years ago.. i wonder whether it was part of Security Command or renamed Security Command--Paullincoln 16:37, 18 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I just checked and your comments are confirmed correct. Security Branch of the SPF was formed in 1953, and renamed Security Command in 2000 . Btw, are you from Provost? Really appreciate the corrections made, for I had to rely on third-party courses which are relatively scarce. I wasent the one adding the list of branches and companies thou!--Huaiwei 14:13, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes i was from Provost for my national service. But i am a little hazy about all the branches. I know theres Active Provost company (APC), Zone Police (part of APC?), School of Provost (SOP), Detention Barracks (DB), Special Investigation Branch (SIB) and Security Company (SC). Now what i am not too sure about is where the Motorcycle guys fit in and the Military Dog unit. The precision drill squad (SPDS) i believe was a sub catergory of the Active Provost Company.(APC). Some additional information is that before my arrival at Mowbray i heard that Zone Police had two other branches. I think one was in Bedok Camp. (could be wrong). I also have had to thread carefully talking about SIB / SC because i don't actually know if i will be infringing on an OSA that i signed. On a slightly lighter note. There is apparently folklore that the old Mowbray camp at Ulu Pandan has got underground tunnels. Ulu Pandan is also the site of a rather famous shooting outside the CO's office. Cheers --Paullincoln 17:23, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

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title: Talk:SAF Military Police Command


text:
Cross City Tunnel

The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.2 km twin-road tunnel tollway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The tunnel links Darling Harbour on the western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. Each of the twin tunnels has a different alignment, with the westbound tunnel running underneath William and Park Streets and the eastbound tunnel running underneath Bathurst Street.

The tunnel is owned by the Government of New South Wales and is operated by Transurban under a toll concession until 2035.

In early 2002, a year before construction began, transport planner Michelle Zeibots was quoted in local newspapers saying the tunnel would not reach its traffic targets.

Design
The tunnel comprises two road tunnels – one eastbound and one westbound – each with two traffic lanes, in addition to a third small ventilation tunnel. The Cross City Tunnel also links with the Eastern Distributor, enabling vehicles travelling from the West to travel to the Airport and Southern Suburbs. From the Eastern Distributor, northbound motorists have the ability to connect to the Cross City Tunnel Westbound, avoiding the CBD once again.

The tunnel was Sydney's first completely electronic tollway requiring the driver to have an electronic tolling tag installed in their car or register for an electronic pass (for casual or less frequent users).

History
Sydney's Cross City Tunnel was predicted to fail before construction even began. In February 2002, a year before tunnelling commenced and four years before it ultimately fell into receivership due to low traffic volumes, Sydney traffic planner Michelle Zeibots told local media that the tunnel was incapable of carrying the volume of cars that the Transport Minister, Carl Scully had predicted. She said it was "physically impossible" for the tunnel to carry the predicted 95,000 cars each day. While the NRMA was enthusiastic about building the new motorway, Dr Zeibots was scathing. "It's not a serious transport project," she said at the time. "The inputs and outputs just don't add up."

Despite the warnings of a traffic shortfall, in 2002, the government of Bob Carr awarded Cross City Motorways the contract to build, own and operate an east–west tunnel underneath the Sydney CBD.

The passing of the Roads Act of 1993 updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, the Roads & Traffic Authority (later Transport for NSW) declared the Cross City Tunnel as Tollway 6010, from its interchange with Western Distributor (Sydney) in Darling Harbour to Rushcutters Bay, on 16 December 2002, nearly three years before it had officially opened; the tollway still retains this declaration today.

Construction work for the Cross City Tunnel commenced in January 2003, and the tunnel was originally scheduled to open in October 2005. In April 2005 the NSW government announced that the tunnel would open four months early on 12 June 2005. The opening day was subsequently postponed due to detailed commissioning works, with the official opening going ahead on Sunday 28 August 2005. The tunnel was opened by the Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma, using the same pair of scissors used to open the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel in 1992 and the Anzac Bridge in 1995. Prior to the vehicular opening there was a charity walk-through, as is customary for new roadways in Sydney, which attracted a large number of public visitors. The first traffic passed through the tunnel late on 28 August.

Later a three-week toll-free period was announced by the operators. At the same time, the operators announced a freeze on toll increases for twelve months and the fee for casual (non-electronic tag) users was waived.

In February 2006, media speculation of a "buy-out" by the New South Wales government began. The rumoured price would exceed A$1 billion while the tunnel only cost A$680 million to build. The government stated no discussions had taken place, and the Cross City Tunnel Consortium stated that they were not considering selling the tunnel and were "in for the long haul". At the time the average trips per day was approximately 30,000.

This was shortly followed by a report from the NSW Upper House committee headed by MP Fred Nile recommending that the toll be reduced, and surface road closures reversed. While the recommendations could not be enforced, the Cross City Tunnel Consortium did consult with the government before announcing a discount to the toll, as well as other changes on 3 March 2006. Specifically, the Consortium announced that the toll would be halved to $1.78 for three months, that some planned road closures would not be pursued, and that some existing road closures would be reversed. Two days prior to the end of the half-price toll period, the Premier of NSW, Morris Iemma, ended negotiations with the Cross City Tunnel Consortium without an agreement, announcing the immediate reversal of some road closures, contrary to the contract.

In November 2006, it was reported that the motorway was in financial difficulties, and that additional equity would be required from the tunnel's investors in order to avoid placing the tunnel in administration. At the same time, it was suggested that traffic volumes of between 60,000 and 90,000 per day were needed in order for the consortium to meet the tunnel interest payments. The NSW government responded to the reports by indicating that it would not buy out the tunnel, nor assist in its financing.

Financing and ownership
The A$680 million tunnel was originally financed by a combination of international equity and both locally and internationally sourced debt.

Equity of $220 million was provided by three international companies, Cheung Kong Infrastructure (50%), DB Capital Partners (30%) and Bilfinger Berger (20%). The remaining $580 million was financed through a syndicate of Australian and international banks led by Westpac and Deutsche Bank.

In December 2006, the tollway became insolvent due to low traffic volumes, accumulating debts of over A$500 million. On 27 December 2006, a syndicate of 16 Australian and International banks appointed the insolvency firm KordaMentha as receivers and managers for Cross City Motorway Limited after the project accrued debts exceeding A$560 million.

On 20 June 2007, ABN AMRO (94%) and Leighton Contractors (6%) were chosen as preferred purchasers of the Cross City Tunnel Group for $700 million.

On 13 September 2013, the new owners placed itself in voluntary administration, saying that it was unable to refinance its debt due to action by the New South Wales government to claim $64 million in stamp duty on the original sale. In June 2014, the tunnel was sold to Transurban.

Usage
There has been some controversy over the expected and actual usage of the tunnel during its initial operation. The number of vehicles travelling through the tunnel has been debated in the media, along with alleged discrepancies between the actual number of trips and the anticipated number of trips in the tunnel's financial projections.

Tunnel operators indicated that they expected initial uptake of the tunnel to reach approximately 35,000 vehicles per day, increasing over its first year of operation to a projected 90,000 vehicles per day. Once documentation of the official projections was released, it was found that the operators projected daily traffic after six months at 85,352.

Approximately one month after opening it was reported in the media that only 20,000 vehicles a day were using the tunnel, although the government and toll operators maintained that the average number of daily trips since opening was approximately 25,000.

At the completion of the initial three-week toll free period, the tunnel operators announced that the daily tunnel usage had increased to 53,000 during that time.

A few weeks after the toll had been reinstated, it was reported in the media that usage had dropped back to approximately 27,000, an improvement of 7,000 cars per day compared with usage prior to the toll free period.

Following the toll-free period, the tunnel operator indicated that it would likely be two to three years before the tunnel reached its full potential.

In March 2006, in the first few weeks after the tunnel operators announced a temporary halving of the toll, media reports indicated that usage had increased to approximately 33,000 per day.

Tolls
The tunnel is tolled for its entire length, with a lower charge when exiting westbound to Sir John Young Crescent northbound. Truck and heavy vehicle prices are double the price for cars.

Exits and Interchanges
The Cross City Tunnel is entirely contained within the City of Sydney local government area.

Criticisms
There are a number of criticisms that have been made about the Cross City Tunnel (CCT), more so than for similar large capital works programs in Sydney, including the following:
 * Disruption to traffic in the CBD not using the tunnel: The CCT attracted significant media attention, as many of the diversions put in place on the streets above caused increased traffic congestion and motorist confusion. Some resentment regarding surface road changes was expressed in the media. The disruption that generated the most complaints was the reduction of William Street to one general lane, and one bus lane in each direction, that exacerbated traffic flow. The bus lanes were converted to T2 transit lanes. On 6 December 2005 the head of the CCT said under oath that the company would not seek compensation if some of the controversial road changes were undone; but on 7 December that decision was reversed.
 * Undisclosed contract conditions: It is generally thought that the NSW Government agreed to the lane reductions in William Street as part of the negotiations for the CCT contract. However, the government repeatedly refused to publicly table the contract, much to the dismay of the media and the NSW Auditor-General. A summary of the CCT contract was released, that contained details of additional possible road disruptions, with resultant increased traffic congestion for motorists not using the CCT. It was also revealed that 50 cents of the toll price is due to a $105 million payment that the operators had to make to the NSW Government for permission to build the tunnel. In late October 2005 after ongoing criticism, some contract terms were released to the public, but the government refused to release 3,000 pages of material. A few days after this, the head of the Roads & Traffic Authority was dismissed for failing to disclose an amendment to the contract, which allowed the toll to be increased by 15 cents. In November 2005, the ICAC was asked to investigate allegations that sensitive Cabinet documents were leaked to the CCT operator during negotiations. The ICAC found that the allegation was unsubstantiated.
 * Misleading signage: There were complaints in the media after the opening of the CCT about deceptive signage indicating the tunnel was the only route from Sydney eastern suburbs to cross Sydney Harbour (in particular, via the Sydney Harbour Tunnel). In response, the NRMA motoring group published a route outlining how to reach the harbour crossings while avoiding the CCT.
 * Toll applies in both directions: the toll for the CCT is charged in both directions, unlike other toll roads near the city centre, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, and the Eastern Distributor, all of which only charge for travel in one direction.
 * Price of the toll: The initial price of the toll for a one-way trip was $6.62 and $3.12 with a tag when exiting on Sir John Young Crescent/Eastern Distributor, and $5.35 without. Some would say this is a high price for a short 2.1 km journey when a slightly slower but free alternative is available. Joe Tripodi, at the time Minister for Roads, pressured the CCT operators to reduce the toll, but admitted he cannot force them to do this. The CCT operators had previously ruled out a toll reduction. Additionally, the price of the toll is automatically increased by the CPI each quarter, whereas other tolls are usually increased less frequently, but in neat increments of 50 cents.
 * No cash payment, and higher price for drivers without an E-Tag: The CCT was the first cashless motorway in Sydney. Drivers who did not have an E-Tag and who used the tunnel had to phone the CCT operators or go the CCT website after their journey, and pay the toll, plus an additional $2.50 administration fee. Those who didn't do this received two warning letters, then a $130 fine. All other tolled roads/bridges in Sydney have subsequently adopted this model of operation.

 * Concerns about exhaust fumes from the tunnel: After opening, the CCT proved to be quite poorly ventilated for the expected number of vehicles, and even for the much lower number of vehicles actually using it. Currently air is released from the CCT via the single 65 m ventilation stack located between the existing Western Distributor viaducts above the eastern side of Darling Harbour. There is general unease in Sydney about exhaust stacks from any motorway, after reports in the media about people living near motorway exhaust stacks experiencing health problems. However, since the opening of the CCT there was almost no discussion of this topic, with most of the focus directed towards the issues listed above, together with general concerns regarding Public Private Partnerships (or PPPs).

One of the tunnel's major shortcomings is the fact that traffic is forced straight onto suburban roads at both ends, creating additional traffic congestion at these locations. This is likely to be rectified at the Western end when construction of the M4 East Tunnels and the Rozelle Interchange are completed in 2023.

In September 2005, as part of the media attention surrounding these criticisms, a local newspaper commissioned an audit of the usage of the tollway by independent surveyors who found that on a single day, around 20,000 vehicles had used the tunnel. This was countered by a spokesman for the tunnel operator, who said about 550,000 vehicles had used the tunnel in its initial operation, at an average of approximately 25,000 cars per day.

In October 2005, a call centre handling calls related to the Cross City Tunnel halved its staff due to the low number of calls.

In September 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the operator had not pursued for 12 months motorists who had not paid the toll (along with the M2 Hills Motorway) due to a lack of agreement on a system for passing of the details to the RTA. The Cross City Motorway subsequently promised that toll evaders will be pursued.

title: Cross City Tunnel


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/TINDOMH

 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. Woohookitty 10:19, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

TINDOMH
Admitted inside joke, and thus inherently non-notable. Zero Google hits. Not a speedy candidate, unfortunately. Fernando Rizo T/C 09:55, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, neologism and nn. meme. Alphax τεχ 10:02, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per submitter. --GraemeL (talk) 11:43, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. --DrTorstenHenning 12:59, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep (with alteration), as it is a valid subset of a recognised University society; lack of Google reference does not mean it doesn't exist; inside joke reference surely modifiable. Predglyn, 14:06 GMT, 24 August 2005.
 * Delete as of yet, existence is not the only criteria for a Wikipedia article. If it is a subset of another society then this information can be placed there. --TheMidnighters 16:46, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep With creation of CUAS page and reference accordingly this page should be retained.seanbert, 20:44 GMT, 24 August 2005.
 * The above statement is User:seanbert's 5th edit out of 6 total, all relating to this VfD and related articles. Fernando Rizo T/C 20:31, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep I looked TINDOMH up on Lycos and got 4 hits. Incidentally, if you're using Windows 98 you'll get 3 hits with Google as well. For some odd reason XP produces different results: (try it, if you don't believe me!) Also, if it's a university society I don't see why it shouldn't be listed, (especially if Sir Patrick Moore is a member as it might be of interest to fans of his.) Alidixon, 20:55 GMT, 24 August 2005.
 * The above statement is User:Alidixon's 1st edit out of 3 total, all relating to this VfD and related articles. Fernando Rizo T/C 20:31, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete: regarding the above Lycos hits, even assuming 4 hits were of significance, two results (at least on XP) are blank pages and the other two do not actually contain the text. Any way you slice it, this is a deleteable neologism.  — Lomn | Talk / RfC 20:09:10, 2005-08-24 (UTC)
 * Delete. Totally nn. David | Talk 20:38, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Utter dross. --Agamemnon2 21:35, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Source Article now makes external link reference. Feel free to delete null article. User:seanbert
 * Delete nn. -- Etacar11   02:25, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not encyclopedic. jni 06:18, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Blatantly nn; it'd be nn even were it stemming from the House of Lords not a uni society. Delete. Shimgray 14:27, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable. utcursch | talk 07:30, August 30, 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.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/TINDOMH


text:
Newbuildings

Newbuildings or New Buildings is a large village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies close to the banks of the River Foyle and 3 mi south of the city of Derry. It had a population of 3,381 in the 2011 Census. It is within Derry and Strabane district.

History
The village was founded in the early 17th century as part of the Plantation of Ulster, on land allocated to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of London. It remained a small settlement until the 1960s, until large amounts of social housing was built on adjoining townlands. Today, the village has four churches (Methodist, Independent Methodist, Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic). It also has two primary schools – one administered by the Western Education and Library Board, one by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools. Newbuildings also has a post office, community association, retail units and a wide range of housing.

Newbuildings is represented in the Loyalist flute band scene by Pride of the Orange and Blue Flute Band, formed in 1979.

Geography
Newbuildings sits on an area of flat land between Clondermot Hill to the east and the River Foyle to the west.

It is within the parish of Clondermott & Glendermott. This parish is split into a number of townlands, whose names mostly come from the Irish language. Over time, the urban area of Newbuildings has spread into the following townlands:
 * Ballyore
 * Dunhugh (from Dún Aodha meaning "Hugh's fort")
 * Gortin (from An Goirtín meaning "the small enclosed field")
 * Kittybane (from Céide Bán meaning "white flat-topped hill")
 * Magheracanon (from Machaire Canánach meaning "plain of the canon")
 * Primity
 * Prehen
 * Rossnagalliagh (from Ros na gCailleach meaning "wood of the Cailleach")

Transport
Between 1900 and 1955 the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee had a station in Newbuildings, the line running from Stranorlar and other destinations and along the east bank of the River Foyle from Strabane (CDR) railway station to Londonderry Victoria Road. New Buildings railway station opened on 6 August 1900 and finally closed on 1 January 1955.

Sport
Newbuildings United F.C. plays association football in the Northern Ireland Intermediate League.

Newbuildings Cricket Club plays in the North West Championship

2011 Census
Newbuildings is classified by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) as being within Derry Urban Area (DUA). On Census day (27 March 2011) there were 3,381 people living in Newbuildings ward. Of these: For more details see: NI Neighbourhood Information Service
 * 20.38% were aged under 16 years and 13.36% were aged 65 and over
 * 48.27% of the population were male and 51.73% were female
 * 58.72% were from a Protestant background and 37.90% were from a Catholic background
 * 5.20% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed.

Deprivation
According to the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM) of 2005, of 582 wards in Northern Ireland, 'New Buildings' was ranked as the 259th most deprived.

title: Newbuildings


text:
Talk:Russian Sign Language

Origin date
Where is the date of origin in this article from? Most sign languges, and most languages in general have no specific date of origin as no one person ever invented them. Is there any history to buttress this claim? Qaz 09:57, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * There is no date of origin of this language in this article, as I can see. Why are you asking? BTW, how can I claim to be the part of some wikiprojects? Thx Soshial (talk) 18:24, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

I think this is referring to the date it was standardized through the foundation of the aforementioned school rather than the date of conception so to say. If I am not mistaken, this date correlates with its official recognition. Qaz Soshial — Preceding unsigned comment added by LizaW0412 (talk • contribs) 03:45, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Added the Cyrillic of "Russkii Zhestovyi Yazyk"
I added the Russian (Cyrillic) form of the transliterated phrase "Russkii Zhestovyi Yazyk" to the article.Sdsures (talk) 21:13, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Russian Sign Language