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Joan Diener

Joan Diener (February 24, 1930 – May 13, 2006) was an American theatre actress and singer with a three-and-a-half-octave range. As her obituary in The New York Times summed it up, Diener's "lush beauty, showstopping stage presence and operatic voice made her a favorite in musicals, especially in the original 1965 Man of La Mancha."

Early life
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Diener majored in psychology at Sarah Lawrence College and moonlighted as an actress while still a student.

Career
She made her Broadway debut in the 1948 revue Small Wonder, directed by Burt Shevelove and choreographed by Gower Champion and co-starring Tom Ewell, Alice Pearce and Jack Cassidy. She appeared in the 1950 comedy Season in the Sun, written by The New Yorker magazine's theatre critic, Wolcott Gibbs.

Diener met her future husband, theatre director Albert Marre, in 1953, when she won the role of Lalume, the seductive wife of the Wazir, in Kismet, winning a Theatre World Award for her performance. Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson wrote, "As an abandoned hussy, brazenly made up and loosely clad, Joan Diener looks like a fine case of grand arson and warms up the whole show." Diener and Marre were married three years later, and subsequently had a son, Adam, and a daughter, Jennifer. She reprised the role of Lalume in Kismet in London's West End alongside Alfred Drake and Doretta Morrow, who had all starred in the original Broadway production.

In 1958, Marre directed a production of At the Grand, a musical adaptation of Vicki Baum's 1930 novel Grand Hotel, in Los Angeles with Diener as an opera diva (a ballerina in the book) who falls in love with a charming, but larcenous, faux baron. (Although the show never reached Broadway, it was revamped drastically more than thirty years later and, directed by Tommy Tune, became the hit Grand Hotel.)

Mitch Leigh's Man of La Mancha also was directed by Marre, who cast his wife as Aldonza, the lusty serving wench envisioned by the deranged Don Quixote as virtuous Dulcinea. She appeared in the production Off-Broadway at the ANTA Theatre, opening on November 22, 1965, and then when the musical opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on March 20, 1968. The critics were unanimous in praising her portrayal, but she was overlooked by the Tony nominations committee. She went on to play the role in London and Amsterdam, in Paris (starring Jacques Brel) and Brussels in French. She appears on the cast recording with Brel, L'Homme de la Mancha (1968). In 1966, Diener performed on the Ed Sullivan show along with Richard Kiley as Cervantes/Quixote and Irving Jacobson as Sancho Panza. At age 62, she took over the same role she had created decades earlier in the 1992 Broadway revival starring Raúl Juliá when Sheena Easton collapsed during one performance and Diener filled in for the second half of the show.

Diener reunited with Leigh as composer and Marre as director for both Cry for Us All (1970), which closed after nine performances,. Despite the failure of the show, Diener received praise for her work; in the New York Times, critic Clive Barnes wrote "Of the cast, Joan Diener was outstanding. She has a naturally expressive voice and acts with a natural subtlety, and as the hero's illegitimate wife she proved passionate and beautiful." Marre also directed Diener in Home Sweet Homer (1975), which closed on opening night, despite the presence of Yul Brynner as Odysseus.

Diener's most famous stage roles went to others when they reached the screen - Dolores Gray in Kismet and, inexplicably, Sophia Loren in La Mancha - and she never had a film career of her own. In addition to appearing on Broadway and in London's West End, she performed in nightclubs, such as the Blue Angel in Manhattan, early television (Androcles and the Lion on Omnibus), and in regional theatre.

Death
Joan Diener died of complications from cancer in New York City, aged 76. Diener and Marre had a son, Adam; and a daughter, Jennifer.

title: Joan Diener


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Amalafrida

Amalafrida (𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌳𐌰; before 475 – fl. 523) was queen of the Vandals by marriage to Thrasamund. She was the daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths, and his wife Erelieva. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, and mother of Theodahad, both of whom also were kings of the Ostrogoths.

In 500, Theodoric, ruler over the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, arranged a marriage alliance with Thrasamund, king of the Vandals in North Africa, to further cement his authority over the Vandals. Thrasamund became Amalfrida's second husband. She brought a very large dowry, but also 1 000 Gothic elite warriors plus 5 000 armed retainers.

After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital Carthage, on the edge of the Libyan desert.

In 523, Amalafrida's party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony; he also had her Gothic soldiers killed. She died in prison, exact date unknown.

Amalafrida had two children, the aforementioned Theodahad and Amalaberga, who married Hermanfrid, king of the Thuringii. It is not known who the father of these children was.

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

title: Amalafrida


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Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle

The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (Niederrheinisch-Westfälischer Reichskreis, Nederrijns-Westfaalse Kreits) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised territories of the former Duchy of Lower Lotharingia, Frisia and the Westphalian part of the former Duchy of Saxony.

The circle was made up of numerous small states, however the Counts De la Marck were able to collect a significant amount of territories, the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg from 1521 on. The Empire's largest ecclesiastical territory was held by the Prince-Bishops of Münster.

Composition
The circle was made up of the following states:
 * Transfers
 * The Duchy of Guelders passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1548
 * The Duchy of Luxembourg passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1512
 * The County of Drenthe passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1548
 * The Lordship of Groningen passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1548
 * The Lordship of Overijssel passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1548
 * The Bishopric of Utrecht passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1548
 * The County of Zutphen passed to the Burgundian Circle in 1548

title: Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle


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Talk:Comparison of analog and digital recording

Suggest inclusion and (minimal) discussion of 2007 Moran/Meyer AESJ paper
Copy available at http://drewdaniels.com/audible.pdf. It debunks Stuart (cited in this page) and similar claims via blind testing of hi-rez passed through RBCD bottleneck; no one was able to detect this alleged degradation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.93.248.186 (talk) 00:11, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

 * This is arguably off-topic for a comparison of analog and digital. The literature you cite is covered at High-resolution audio. ~Kvng (talk) 01:51, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

Original research
Many of the unreferneced claims appear to be original research. Starting with the unreferenced information in the overview and the unreferenced notes, and most of every section after that. This should be obvious and shouldn't have to be explained. Bright☀ 08:23, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

 * I've been slowly working thorough this article over the past year trying to address WP:OR and other issues. Let's start discussion with the most recent section I've reviewed and which you've tagged WP:OR - Comparison_of_analog_and_digital_recording. The final paragraph here is is a bit handwavy but the rest of it is a summary of digital audio theory that is explained and cited in the linked articles. I don't see anything made up or controversial here. What are you seeing? ~Kvng (talk) 20:42, 21 September 2018 (UTC)
 * cited in the linked articles then it should be cited in this article too. Citations don't carry over from article to article. Information like "Analog's frequency response may be variable due to limitations in the electronics." may be obvious to any electrical engineer but it's uncited and may be original research. Bright☀ 16:14, 23 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes, I suppose they should but the fact that this work has not been done does not, in my opinion, merit an WP:OR tag. We require citations on material that has been contested or is likely to be contested. I consider it disruptive to demand citations in cases where they can be found one click away in a linked article. If you think they need to be there, click over and copy them and paste them in.
 * I am already in agreement with you that the ""Analog's frequency response..." statement requires improvement. I don't think it is productive to argue about whether the flaw here is WP:OR or something else; Let's just make it better. If no one else gets to it first, I will take another crack on my next editing pass.
 * Back to the topic at hand, you've not convinced me that there's an WP:OR problem in the section we're discussing. In my brief review, I detected a similar pattern with the other WP:OR tags you've added. We can discuss them individually if you like or we can try to come to a more general understanding. ~Kvng (talk) 21:38, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * The way forward is simple - if it's not original research, cite it; if it's original research, remove it. Bright☀ 08:09, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
 * And plaster original research tags on everything else until it meets these unimpeachable standards? ~Kvng (talk) 14:14, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I've had this discussion before - place article tags, receive demand for section tags. Place section tags, receive demand for inline tags. Place inline tags, get accused of tag bombing. There is no consensus on Wikipedia for the right amount of tags, nor whether or not it is even helpful to use tags! The only relevant policy is WP:IMPERFECT. I believe that without tags articles languish, and have personally tagged and subsequently cleaned up articles that languished for years with no references. So tagging is the first step. Bright☀ 05:26, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I appreciate there is a range of acceptable tagging behaviors and I hope to stay above all that.
 * First off, please look at the edit history; This article is not languishing. I and others are actively working on it. My goal is to review and improve one section per month.
 * I have tried to understand what your specific WP:OR concerns are because the tags don't tell me. I have not yet succeeded at this. We've identified one paragraph that we agree needs improvement. Why don't you make a construction suggestion or edit on that. You've stated that everything needs to be cited. I disagree but you're welcome to add them - I've told you where to find them. ~Kvng (talk) 15:31, 6 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Plenty of the information presented here is obvious to an expert in the field, and as such does not need explicit sourcing. An essay about this is at WP:BLUE. I think it's disruptive to tag-bomb the article as if its information is not verifiably true. Binksternet (talk) 17:01, 6 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I've removed the recently-added tags for now. ~Kvng (talk) 15:29, 9 October 2018 (UTC)
 * obvious to an expert in the field, and as such does not need explicit sourcing This is contrary to WP:V. "Obvious to an expert in the field" does not remove the requirement to provide a citation. Bright☀ 10:39, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I was referring to the idea that you don't need a citation to establish that the sky is blue. In the field of sound recording, it's patently obvious that the following statements are true: "Sound can be recorded and stored and played using either digital or analog techniques. Both techniques introduce errors and distortions in the sound, and these methods can be systematically compared."
 * However, you tagged these statements as a violation of WP:No original research. Please don't do that again. Binksternet (talk) 13:05, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
 * If the article is to improve you're going to have to source your statements. Do not restore unsourced statements without a providing a reference. Bright☀ 17:30, 23 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Also you're lying, I never tagged that particular statement that you quote. Bright☀ 17:31, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Two against one isn't exactly a strong consensus but that's what we have for now. , if you're not satisfied with an my take on this, you're welcome to solicit input from other editors. I would suggest posting at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Professional sound production or doing an WP:RFC. ~Kvng (talk) 14:04, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't need talk-page consensus to follow WP:V. Do not restore unreferenced information without providing a reference to a reliable source. Bright☀ 17:32, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

 Physical degradation
I removed the "citation needed" on "...digital copies are exact replicas that can be duplicated indefinitely and without generation loss." Stating "No citation needed because it is logically demonstrable that we can copy numbers any number of times... etc." Then my edit was reverted ie: "citation needed" was brought back, along with an explanation on the talk page about how digital media is not immune to data loss. Of course I am well aware of this, something we may call "bit rot", but felt that is not relevant. I do believe when we make a statement like "digital copies are exact replicas that can be duplicated indefinitely and without generation loss" we mean in principle. Like I said - it is just numbers, and numbers can be copied an infinite number of times - in principle. The key is the comparison with analog media, which degrades each time it is played/reproduced. Of course if you want to really, really complicate things, you could say, for example, a vinyl record could be copied an infinite number of times if you use some kind of optical reader instead of a needle to extract the information recorded in its grooves. Final note: I am to some degree an expert on the subject matter. I was impressed with the overall quality of the article. I found the excessive number of "citation needed" detracted from the experience. I speculate that the person who insisted on retaining the "citation needed" that I removed was not an expert. I will attempt to add "in principle" and once again remove the "citation needed" and see what happens. If it is reverted once more I give up with no further argument or interest. TropicalCoder (talk) 06:39, 8 December 2018 (UTC)
 * That's quite long-winded but it still doesn't override Wikipedia policy. Bright☀ 05:07, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Citations are needed where material is challenged or likely to be challenged. is sort of challenging things in this article so the tags stay for now. I would go ahead and make any improvements you are able to the article and don't worry about the presence or absence of tags for now. ~Kvng (talk) 15:37, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

Science
Give any 2 modern methods of storing sound 41.186.78.238 (talk) 08:34, 5 February 2023 (UTC)


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Chalicotheriidae

Chalicotheriidae (from Greek chalix, "gravel" and therion, "beast") is an extinct family of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate (perissodactyl) mammals that lived in North America, Eurasia, and Africa from the Middle Eocene until the Early Pleistocene, existing from 48.6 to 1.806 mya. They are often called chalicotheres, a term which is also applied to the broader grouping of Chalicotherioidea. They are noted for their unusual morphology compared to other ungulates, such as their elongated clawed forelimbs. They are thought to have been browsers.

Description
Unlike modern perissodactyls, chalicotheres had clawed feet. They had longer forelimbs and shorter hind limbs, lower incisors that cropped food against a toothless pad in the upper jaw, low-crowned molar teeth, and were browsers on trees and shrubs throughout their history. They evolved in two different directions, which became separate subfamilies, the Schizotheriinae and the Chalicotheriinae.

Schizotherine chalicotheres such as Moropus lived in a variety of forest, woodland, and savannah habitats in Asia, Africa, and North America. They developed long necks and skull adaptations that suggest they had long, extensible tongues to reach browse, like those of giraffes. Strong hindlimbs and an elongated pelvis suggest they could have reared upright as modern goats do, and used their front claws to pull branches within reach of the tongue. The claws were retractable, and they walked normally on the bottom of the foot. Studies of tooth wear suggest they ate leaves, twigs, fruit, and bark.

Chalicotheriines, such as Anisodon, lived only in moist, closed-canopy forests, never reached the Americas, and developed very unusual anatomy for an ungulate. Their shorter necks and horse-like heads did not show adaptations to reach high. Instead, they developed very long forelimbs with mobile shoulder joints and hooklike claws. The pelvis and hindlimbs were specialized to stand upright, and to sit for hours while feeding, like the living gelada monkey. Some early paleontologists thought the claws were used to dig up roots and tubers, but their teeth were designed for soft foods, and studies of tooth wear show they ate fruit and seeds. Their forelimbs were specialized to reach, grasp, and strip or sweep plants to the mouth. They could not retract the huge front claws, and knuckle-walked on their forelimbs. The chalicotheriines' anatomical design, posture, and locomotion show convergence with other large browsers that feed selectively in a bipedal position, such as the ground sloths, gorillas, and giant pandas.

Chalicothere fossils are uncommon even in areas where other taxa of similar size are well-preserved, which suggests they were mostly solitary animals, and unlike horses, rhinos, and brontotheres, never evolved species that lived in herds. Only two species of chalicothere are known from complete skeletons, the schizotheriine Moropus from the early Miocene of North America, and the chalicotheriine Anisodon from the middle Miocene of Europe. Fossils of other species range from very fragmentary to moderately complete. Chalicotheres ranged in size from an antelope to a large draft horse.

Evolution
Chalicotheres can be first identified with certainty around 46 million years ago, in the Eocene of Asia. The family is thought to have evolved there, but appeared in North America by the Eocene. By the late Oligocene, they had divided into schizotheriines and chalicotheriines. (Earlier chalicotheres are often referred to the family Eomoropidae; it is not yet clear whether they had claws or how the two subfamilies diverged.) Both subfamilies were successful over many millions of years, and reached their greatest diversity in the Miocene. Advanced schizotheriines (Moropus) entered North America via the Bering land bridge at the Oligicene-Miocene boundary, and expanded southward into Central America. There were multiple radiations into Africa, where chalcotheriines were later replaced by schizotheriines. Both groups spread early into Europe. In the Pliocene, they would have faced new competition in North America from megalonychid ground sloths which emigrated from South America in the Great American Interchange, and from evolving great apes in African and European forests. The family became less successful after the Miocene but persisted in Africa until the end of the Pleistocene; the latest surviving species was the schizotheriine Ancylotherium hennigi.

Chalicotheres are related to the extinct brontotheres, as well as to modern day horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. As the early evolution of perissodactyls is still unresolved, their closest relatives among other perissodactyl groups is obscure. They have been traditionally ranked as closer to Ceratomorpha (which includes tapirs and rhinoceroses) than Equoidea. However, a 2004 cladistic study recovers chalicotheres as the sister group to Lophiodontidae, and the combined group (Ancylopoda) as sister to all modern perissodactyls (which includes Equoidea and Ceratomorpha), with the brontotheres as the most distantly related within the order Perissodactyla.

title: Chalicotheriidae


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Liquiçá Municipality

Liquiçá (Município Liquiçá, Munisípiu Likisá) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor. Its capital is also called Liquiçá.

Etymology
The English language name of the municipality has been said to be a Portuguese approximation of the old name Liku Saen, which means 'python' in the local Tokodede language, or the corresponding portmanteau Likusaen.

Another theory points to the Tokodede expression Likis Aá, meaning 'motion' or 'change', referring to an incident during the founding of the city of Vila de Liquiçá. After the Portuguese had chosen the settlement site, people started clearing the forest there and turning it into an open space. The Portuguese then asked the local people to tell them the name of the area. The local people did not understand the question, and so the Portuguese tried to communicate with gestures by moving their hands back and forth. The local people then responded with the expression Likis Aá, that is, 'moving' or 'changing'.

It has also been asserted that the Portuguese version of the name may also be a "... form of cultural and mind de-colonization ..." [ sic - colonization ] of the local name that changes the indigenous cultural meanings and history.

Geography
Liquiçá municipality is situated on the northern coast of East Timor, and borders the municipalities of Dili (containing the national capital) to the east, Aileu to the Southeast, Ermera to the south, and Bobonaro to the southwest. To the northwest lies the Savu Sea. The municipality has a population of 73,027 (Census 2010) and an area of 549 km2. The borders of the municipality are identical to those of the district of the same name in Portuguese Timor. Its administrative posts are Bazartete, Liquiçá and Maubara.

Widely known as a beautiful location, it has a breath-taking view of the Ombai Strait, which is most visible as you drive into Liquiçá from Dili, rounding the last mountain curve before descending into the valley. The beaches are rocky, as are most beaches on East Timor, but nonetheless beautiful. The river that flows down to the sea from the mountains is dry, except during the monsoon season. During this time, the main road washes out several times, and is repaired each time by the local population. The only downside to its beauty is the large population of mosquitoes which carry both the deadly diseases malaria and dengue fever.

History

During the Portuguese colonisation of eastern Timor, the Maubara kingdom, in the west of today's Liquiçá municipality, was taken by the Netherlands in 1667, while surrounding territories felt under Portuguese domination. The Maubara Dutch fortification near the beach is well preserved and still has the original cannon that once overlooked the bay. Later, Portugal negotiated with the Netherlands in 1859 and exchanged Maubara for Flores Island in 1861, which was occupied by the Portuguese at that time.

During the Indonesian occupation, the Indonesian government did construct many buildings in Liquiçá, but after the referendum of 1999 and during the militia's campaign almost everything was destroyed. Most notably, many East Timorese were murdered during the Liquiçá Church Massacre of April 1999. Maubara is the location where the dreaded militia group Besi Merah Putih was first formed. In September 1999 an American police officer serving with the International Police was shot (though not fatally) by pro-Indonesian forces while the UN was evacuating Liquiçá.

From September through November 1999, life came back to Liquiçá, as UN Peace Keeping Forces from Portugal set up a base in Maubara, and the International Police set up its headquarters in downtown Liquiçá. Originally, there were 14 International Police assigned to Liquiçá, representing Sweden, Canada, Great Britain, Ghana, Malaysia, and the United States. It was in Liquiçá that the first International Police officer for the East Timor mission died, as a result of contracting dengue fever; he was from Ghana. During this period, the International Police occupied the very same church compound location where the Liquiçá Church Massacre had played out. The peacekeeper military element for Liquiçá were Portuguese Marines. Liquica was also the main base of operations for the UNTAET Crime Scene Detachment.

Administrative posts
The municipality's administrative posts (formerly sub-districts) are:
 * Bazartete
 * Maubara
 * Liquiçá

The administrative posts are divided into 23 sucos ("villages") in total.

Demographics
In addition to the national official languages of Tetum and Portuguese, nearly all of the inhabitants of Liquiçá speak the Malayo-Polynesian language Tocodede.

Places of interest
Liquiçá has beautiful beaches (although no white sands) that are very attractive for tourism. Liquiçá also has coffee plantations and some minerals such as gold. Several diving spots scatter along the coast.

Infrastructure
During the Portuguese occupation, there were very few buildings other than the traditional huts used by local East Timorese. Most of the buildings were constructed during the Indonesian occupation, but most of them were destroyed during the militia riots and violent onslaughts following and leading up to the referendum in 1999. Some of the buildings that still remain intact are the Portuguese buildings. Many of the Indonesian buildings were repairable. The construction and design is a traditional Indonesian style, which is both out dated, yet artistic and creative.

title: Liquiçá Municipality


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Justin Vaughan

Justin Thomas Caldwell Vaughan (born 30 August 1967) is a New Zealand cricket administrator and former cricketer who played six Test matches and 18 One Day Internationals between 1992 and 1997. He is a doctor of medicine by profession.

Life and career
Vaughan was an all-rounder: a left-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler. He played first-class cricket for Auckland in New Zealand domestic cricket from 1990 to 1997. He also had a season in England with Gloucestershire in 1992.

Vaughan's highest first-class score was 127 when Auckland defeated Canterbury in January 1996. His best bowling figures were 8 for 27 when Auckland beat Otago by three wickets in March 1997. He captained Auckland in both these matches, and led the team for the four seasons from 1993–94 to 1996–97. He was a very effective and economical bowler in limited-overs cricket, with best figures of 6 for 26 against Otago in December 1995.

In April 2007 he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and commenced in that position on 5 June 2007, taking over from Martin Snedden. He announced that he would step down from the position as of November 2011, citing family reasons for the decision. He has three children, Natalie, Jemima, and Bruno.

Vaughan was Chief Executive of BrainZ Instruments, an Auckland-based medical technology company listed on the ASX specialising in the development of innovative brain monitoring technology. In 2013, he moved to Sydney to take an executive role with leading Australian health insurer, NIB. He finished this role in 2020, and commenced as CEO of emerging health technology company BioEye in 2021.

title: Justin Vaughan


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The Reality Bug

The Reality Bug is the fourth book in the Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale.

Plot
Bobby begins on the territory of Veelox, with Gunny, where they land in the dark room outside the Veelox flume. Bobby and Gunny encounter Saint Dane and believe they have him cornered, however, twenty realistic holograms of the villain suddenly appear around him, but Bobby found the right one and fought him, but Saint Dane called out Eelong and Bobby was scared that he was going with Saint Dane so he let go, allowing Saint Dane to escape. Bobby and Gunny decide to split. Gunny will immediately go to Eelong and report back later with news while Bobby stays on Veelox because Saint Dane had mentioned that it is on the verge of destruction.

Bobby hates the darkness and is worried if the inhabitants of Veelox are floating giants after meeting Aja Killian, the local Traveler, in the form of a massive holographic face. Bobby doesn't know if the huge hologram is life-sized. He meets up with a very ordinary, humanoid Aja in a city much like those on Second Earth, called Rubic City. The only differences are that it is deserted, and there is a huge structure called the Lifelight pyramid looming over the town.

Aja explains that Lifelight is a virtual reality world—a computer that gives people's desires the appearance of being real. Almost everyone on Veelox is in it, living out their own perfect virtual lives.

She takes Bobby through it, and he is amazed at the vedders, who are the "physical" caretakers of the bodies, and the phaders, computer geniuses running the place. She is one of the latter.

Bobby experiences his own fantasy "jump"; he meets his family, plays with his dog, Marley, and plays a basketball game where he and his team simply cannot lose. It's a tight game, though. He has to be dragged out by Aja after going into OT.

Aja then explains that, because Lifelight is so perfect, hardly anyone leaves. No food is being made. The territory is dying. However, she has a way to stop Lifelight....a Reality Bug that preys on fears to make it all less-than-perfect. She then takes Bobby to where he left off in his fantasy, but uses her virus to make it different. His opponents are taller, his coach has a heart attack, and he is injured.

While in the locker room Aja tells him is this is how to save the territory. However, a Saint Dane hologram appears and tells them that the bug is working "far better than you could imagine".

Saint Dane is right. The Reality Bug has become far too realistic; its use of fears to dilute the jumps has a placebo effect on people, in that if they die in their fantasy, the death is real. Aja put Lifelight into suspense to keep the jumpers safe and to try to find a solution. Only one man can stop the rapidly evolving virus; Dr. Zetlin, who invented Lifelight and the only one to know of the origin code, the key to purging the bug from the processing code.

Zetlin is in Lifelight. He is in the alpha grid, which can be brought online independently of the rest of Lifelight. However, he can't simply be pulled out. Bobby would need help in the danger to come.

Bobby goes to Zadaa and convinces its Traveler, Loor, to come along to help him defeat the nightmares. She agrees, and they start the alpha grid up again, with Aja acting as phader-vedder. They plan to get the origin code from Dr. Zetlin and purge Lifelight of the Reality Bug.

However, the software is malfunctioning. Rather than send them into Zetlin's fantasy, it sends them into the "Wild West" and thence into Aja's own residence. They meet Saint Dane twice therein before they are pulled out.

Aja takes them to Zetlin's fantasy, where Zetlin resides in a massive building called the 'Barbican', which can either stand upright or on its side. The first level of its structure is a tropical jungle filled with plant-animal life forms. The second level is a sort of large pool, with racing motorboats following lights. The level after that is a snow-covered landscape, where Bobby has to finish a race called slickshot in which six skaters need to pick up red balls and put them into buckets. Unfortunately, only four people can finish the race. Bobby finishes the race (with a bit of intervention from Loor) and sees that Zetlin is actually one of the racers, a popular sixteen-year-old called the "Z" in his fantasy. Bobby, Loor and Aja convince him to spill the code, which turns out to be "zero." When Aja enters the code, it turns out that Saint Dane sabotaged it. The Reality Bug takes physical form (a black ameoba-like shapeshifter), and chases Bobby, Zetlin, and Loor around Zetlin's fantasy home, and even into the real world when it grows too powerful to be contained by Lifelight. They leave Zetlin's jump and shut down all of Lifelight, and the Reality Bug is destroyed. The Travelers feel they have beaten Saint Dane—again.

But at a ceremony congratulating Aja and explaining the loss of Lifelight, Dr. Sever, prime director of the program, steps up. She turns out to be Saint Dane in disguise, and she stirs up the crowd, promising to bring Lifelight back online. He/She succeeds, everyone reenters Lifelight, and Saint Dane receives his first victory.

Characters

 * Robert "Bobby" Pendragon - The main character of the story, a teenager. The Lead Traveler, according to Alder, trying to stop Saint Dane won Veelox.

title: The Reality Bug


text:
Talk:Karel Čapek

Origin of word Robot
Could anyone give here sources about origin of the word Robot? I think that this word comes from Slovak language. If you understand Slovak, please read this article for further info: --Ondrejk 10:46, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Robota was also a comon czech word. Now comon in some czech dialects. - Multimotyl
 * The linked reference is inaccurate. According to the article at Karel Čapek website (Czech, English), quoting Karel Čapek's article in Lidové noviny, the original word is NOT "dělňas" (I have never heard of it in relation with the origin of the word "robot"). He intended to call the artificial creatures "laboři" (sing. "labor"), however, he considered the word too artificial, so his brother Josef suggested "roboti" (sing. "robot"). Indeed, in Slovak "robota" is a generic word for "work". In Czech, it usually refers to feudal labour, which is quite fitting - as far as I remember, in RUR the robots were used for forced labour and eventually they rebelled, killing most of the humanity. - Mike Rosoft 19:57, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
 * The article also disproves the claim (made for example here) that Josef Čapek had previously used the word "robot" in his short story Opilec (Drunkard). The story uses "automat", and the authors of the website have gone as far as to scan the the entire story and put it online as evidence. - Mike Rosoft 08:40, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

What "Karel Capek rocks Apps Advanced at Brebeuf Jesuit." means?? I guess the text should be moved to some lower section of the page or deleted JanSuchy Oct 2005

Another book can be added to the list of works. I found in a secondhand bookshop a copy of Letters from England by Karel Capek, translated by Paul Selver, and published in 1925 by Geoffrey Bles of Suffolk St., Pall Mall, London. It is a charming, amusing account of a trip through the British Isles, with little pen and ink cartoons and sketches, including his visit to the British Empire Exhibition (no date given) held at Wembley, and to Liverpool. Filfla 10:49, 15 March 2007 (UTC) 86.167.186.207 (talk) 21:25, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

People from the Czech Republic
Should Čapek be included in this category? I mean he was Czech, but when he was born, it was all under the Austro-Hungarian control and when he died, it was Czechoslovakia. Shouldn't the group be "People from Czechoslovakia"? Norum 05:00, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

The Insect Play- Modern Adaption
I fear that a high school performance does not qualify for inclusion, under our notability guidelines. There are thousands of performances taking place in thousands of high schools, why do you think this is particularly significant? Salvio ( Let's talk 'bout it!) 14:17, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I requested page protection at about 15:50. The editor was actually blocked 3 hours for wp:3RR violation, which expires around 21:10 30 May 2010. --220.101.28.25 (talk) 19:46, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

A quick edit
We edit the article to talk about the tradition of leaving robots toys in Capek's grave Soon pics and references. This has big importance in Prague's popular culture, please don't erase. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.18.136.173 (talk) 17:10, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Presumed Klima’s Analysis
The third paragraph of Biography contains, as of now, what I believe to be serious general inaccuracies, presumably attributed to Klíma, whose book I do not have available. (And there is no “look inside” on this one on Amazon.)

I have discovered in the article history that it’s been The Interior who believes the following claims can be sourced from Klíma… [And I have now pruned from my original introduction the more heated bits… though leaving intact the points below. 21:33, 18 November 2011 (UTC)]

Nonsense: “In late 1800s, Czech was not a literary language.” Correction: By the time Karel Čapek was born, Czech had been fully re-established as both literary and official language. A possible source of correction: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/149059/Czech-literature/284423/The-18th-and-19th-centuries
 * Correct, not accurate, removed. The Interior  (Talk) 00:08, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Nonsense: “As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, all official dealings and newspapers in Czechoslovakia were in German.” Correction: Czechoslovakia is a name of a state established in 1918, and dissolved at last in 1992. Czechoslovakia is obviously mutually exclusive with Austro-Hungarian Empire.

By the time Karel Čapek was born, Czech language enjoyed official status in the kingdom of Bohemia, alongside with the German language. It was promoted to equality with German in 1880 for “inner service”. That implies it had been official for dealings with the population even prior to that. (I believe Prague City Hall switched to Czech in 1861 when Czech parties gained majority in it.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Lands_of_the_Bohemian_Crown_%281867%E2%80%931918%29
 * Will remove this. The Interior  (Talk) 00:26, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

There were numerous newspapers published in Czech when Karel Čapek was born, such as Národní politika: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A1rodn%C3%AD_politika or Národní listy http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A1rodn%C3%AD_listy

Nonsense: “Many Czech writers at the time, like Franz Kafka, chose to use German.” Any attempt to search for “Czech literature 19th century” would reveal otherwise. It is weird to refer to Franz Kafka as a “Czech writer” altogether. He was of German-speaking Jewish family. He could also speak Czech, but he was educated in German. Writing in German was hardly an unobvious choice for him then… The above reference to Kafka is largely nonsensical in the context.
 * Klima does make a point of comparing Kafka and Capek, who were writing contemporaneously. In his first chapter, "Three Geniuses" Klima focuses on Capek, Kafka, and Hasek, and their place in evolution of written Czech. I think, as you point out, that the German influence is important here - Czech writers had to combat its influence.  Whether Kafka was truly a "Czech" writer, I'm not sure.  But Klima seems to be.  The Interior  (Talk) 00:25, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Nonsense: “Čapek’s decision to use the vernacular was part of revival in written Czech…” Correction: Czech had been fully revived by the time of Čapek’s birth. That can be verified by any research into “19th century Czech literature”. He didn’t have to use a “vernacular”. He used a fully re-established standard language (actually differing substantially from the vernacular of his day).
 * This needs to be re-written. Klima holds that this revival was flagging by the time of Capeks birth. He does credit Capek, along with Hasek, for a revival. "It is thanks to Capek that the written Czech language grew closer to the language people actually spoke". (p.18, para 3)  The Interior  (Talk) 00:25, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Please do not block removal of the above-mentioned errors. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Marcvs (talk • contribs) 13:01, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
 * I've removed some of the contested info. I added a paragraph in the writing section that hopefully accurately describes Klima's assertions on Capek (without my erroneous generalizations about Czech history ;)).  Thanks for pointing out these problems,  The Interior  (Talk) 00:46, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Now, maybe some help on drafting a lead paragraph for the article? That template's gotta go. The Interior  (Talk) 00:48, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Can we have the last name in English please?
Čapek is not English. There is no such letter as Č in English alphabet. If there is an established policy to handle this kind of situations, kindly refer me to it please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.127.162.179 (talk) 16:32, 24 May 2015 (UTC)
 * it is said like chap in English. Wikipedia gives the phonetic version and you can listen to it.Chemical Engineer (talk) 12:15, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Well that's the name that appears on the front of my English translations of his books. A free English translation would be "Carl Stork", but no one would have a clue what you're on about. – filelakeshoe (t / c)   12:30, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
 * The redirect exists. Si Trew (talk) 03:49, 11 December 2016 (UTC)

OK, well known name in English is [Karel Capek]. That you can find in the congress library. Some people know it. I met a guy in San Diego; he told me all the books he found from Capek in local library. Reading between the lines, somebody from Czech translated the text to English using internet robots. Second, the wording in the text is WRONG. The word "robot" or "orbot" means hard work. The word slave sounds different, sounds "otrok". Now you understand the bias and nonsense of particular author. But be careful. The word otrok in different Slavic languages has different meaning. In Slovenian language, otrok means children. If you write here something without a clue, close to the meaning of "Arbeit macht frei", you will be erased. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tarsan2 (talk • contribs) 16:46, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

External links modified
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Please take your head with you
Who can understand the special symbols and special characters? Maybe 10-15 million of people and that's it. Take your head with you to your work place.

Why do you use Czech-English? Nejen vypadate jako blbci a nikdo vam nerozumi. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tarsan2 (talk • contribs) 17:00, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Missing book
Capek also wrote the book How a Play is Produced, published in 1928 with UK edition by Geoffrey Bles. Translated at P. Beaumont Wadsworth. I'm not adding it myself because I do not know if this work was first published in the UK in English or if this was a translation of an earlier publication. 23skidoo (talk) 19:08, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Karel Čapek


text:
2007 Formula One World Championship

The 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 61st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, which began on 18 March and ended on 21 October after seventeen events. The Drivers' Championship was won by Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen by one point at the final race of the season, making Räikkönen the third Finnish driver to take the title. An appeal by McLaren regarding the legality of some cars in the final race could have altered the championship standings, but on 16 November, the appeal was rejected by the International Court of Appeal, confirming the championship results. Räikkönen entered the final race in third position in the drivers' standings, but emerged as champion after the chequered flag, a feat first accomplished by Giuseppe Farina in. A major talking point of the season had been an espionage controversy involving Ferrari and McLaren, which led to McLaren being excluded from the Constructors' Championship. As a result, Ferrari clinched the championship at the Belgian Grand Prix. Defending double Constructors' Champions Renault proved to be uncompetitive with their R27 car taking them to third in the constructors' standings (after McLaren's disqualification from the standings) and ended up win-less for the first time since the 2002 season. Renault achieved one podium during the season, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing second at the rain affected 2007 Japanese Grand Prix.

The 2007 season heralded the end of the existing Concorde Agreement between the existing Formula One constructors and Bernie Ecclestone. In particular, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Honda (collectively the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association) had a number of outstanding disagreements with the FIA and Ecclestone on financial and technical grounds. They had threatened to boycott Formula One from the 2008 season onwards and instead stage their own rival series, before signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix.

2007 also marked the seventh and final season, since its reintroduction in 2001, in which the use of traction control was permitted in Formula One. Standardised electronic control units (ECUs) were mandated by the FIA from the season onwards, which prohibited teams from using this kind of technology. The season also saw the debuts of future world champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

Honda ran with an "Earth livery" on their RA107 car. It was the first time since, the year in which sponsorship in the sport became widespread, that a team ran sponsor-free for an entire season. Michelin's withdrawal from F1 at the end of 2006 meant that Bridgestone was the sole tyre supplier for 2007. , this is the last Drivers' Championship won by a Ferrari driver and the last drivers' title won by a Finnish driver to date in Formula One.

Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers participated in the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Drivers' cars are numbered as per the official FIA 2007 entry list. All team details are as per the Formula 1 official website, except where noted. Note that there is no car number 13, as is the historical tradition. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgestone.

 * † All engines were 2.4-litre V8 configuration.

Free practice drivers
Three constructors entered free practice only drivers over the course of the season: Sebastian Vettel for BMW Sauber at the opening two rounds, Christian Klien for Honda at the British Grand Prix and Kazuki Nakajima for Williams at five Grands Prix.

Driver changes

The 2005 and 2006 World Champion Fernando Alonso switched to McLaren after five years at Renault. Following the retirement of Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, Alonso was the only driver on the grid in this season who had previously won a drivers' championship.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who was a McLaren driver until the aftermath of the 2006 United States Grand Prix moved to the NASCAR Cup Series for 2007, effectively ending his Formula One career, as announced on 9 July 2006.

On 2 August 2006, Williams announced that test and reserve driver Alexander Wurz would step up to a race seat for 2007, replacing Australian Mark Webber. On 7 August 2006, Red Bull Racing announced their 2007 driver line-up of David Coulthard and Mark Webber, displacing Christian Klien. On 7 August 2006, BMW Sauber announced that Jacques Villeneuve's contract had been terminated immediately and for the rest of the season would be replaced by test driver Robert Kubica. Kubica was later announced on 19 October 2006 to retain the race seat for the 2007 season, with Sebastian Vettel remaining as the team's test driver. On 21 December 2006 BMW Sauber announced former Jordan F1 and GP2 driver Timo Glock as their second test driver.

On 6 September 2006, Renault confirmed Heikki Kovalainen as the team's replacement for Fernando Alonso. On 10 September 2006, Scuderia Ferrari announced Kimi Räikkönen to replace for the retiring Michael Schumacher.

On 15 November 2006, Super Aguri confirmed Anthony Davidson as Sakon Yamamoto's replacement. On 24 November 2006, McLaren confirmed Lewis Hamilton, their junior program driver who won the GP2 Series title that year as their second driver.

On 21 December 2006, Spyker confirmed Adrian Sutil as their first driver, replacing WTCC-bound Tiago Monteiro.

On 10 July 2007, Spyker announced that Christijan Albers would no longer be driving for the team. The given reason was a failure to pay sponsorship monies due. Markus Winkelhock raced Spyker's second car at the European Grand Prix. On 25 July 2007 Spyker confirmed that the Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto would compete in the remaining seven Grands Prix for them. On 31 July 2007, Scuderia Toro Rosso replaced Scott Speed with BMW test driver Sebastian Vettel following an alleged physical altercation between Speed and STR Team Principal Franz Tost.

On 8 October 2007, Williams driver Alexander Wurz announced his immediate retirement from Formula One racing. Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima replaced Wurz for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Team changes
Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn, was to take a sabbatical year for 2007, after ten seasons at the Italian team since 1997. However, it was later announced that he would leave the team. In, Ross Brawn became Team Principal of the Honda team.

McLaren signed a title sponsorship deal with the telecommunications company Vodafone late in 2005. With the loss of Vodafone, Scuderia Ferrari began a sponsorship deal with Alice, a brand of Telecom Italia.

Mild Seven confirmed that they would not renew their contract with Renault following its conclusion at the end of 2006 due to current European tobacco laws.

British American Tobacco's Lucky Strike and 555 brands ceased to sponsor the Honda team, following which the team ran a sponsorless livery in 2007.

Williams changed their engines from Cosworth to Toyota in a three-year deal until 2009. Contrary to speculation at the time, the engines were not rebadged as Lexus.

Red Bull officially became an Austrian constructor by receiving an Austrian licence, though continued to operate from the same base in Britain.

On 9 September 2006, MF1 Racing was officially sold to a Dutch-Arab consortium owned by Michiel Mol, along with the aid of Spyker Cars. The team was officially renamed Spyker MF1 Team, keeping the MF1 for the rest of the season due to Concorde Agreement rules. On 30 September 2006, Spyker announced that their engine supplier would be Ferrari.

On 16 October 2006, Renault confirmed that the Dutch banking company, ING, would become their main sponsor to replace Mild Seven, which has sponsored the Enstone-based team during the 13 years since 1994. On 20 October 2006, Williams announced AT&T as their new main sponsor. On 24 October 2006, Spyker announced they would change their name from Spyker MF1 Team to Spyker F1 from 2007 onwards, subject to all other teams giving their agreement. On 31 October 2006, Red Bull confirmed their engine situation for 2007. Renault engines were used by Red Bull Racing, while Scuderia Toro Rosso used 2006-spec Ferrari engines. As a result of Red Bull Racing switching to Renault engines, this marked the first time Renault had supplied more than one team in the sport since the season (when it supplied Williams and Benetton) as a fully-fledged engine manufacturer (although from - Renault had supplied more than one team but under Mecachrome, Playlife and Supertec brandings respectively).

On 15 March 2007, Spyker announced their new title sponsor for the 2007 season: United Arab Emirates airline company Etihad Airways.

Other changes
On 30 September 2006, Cosworth announced that they would temporarily withdraw from Formula One as an engine supplier, citing lack of room for supplying engines for private teams after Williams switched to Toyota engines and Spyker opted for Ferrari engines from 2007 season onwards and thus for the first time since 1962 a Formula One season did not feature Cosworth-powered cars. However the company would return to the sport from 2010 season onwards.

Season calendar
On 29 August 2006, The FIA published a provisional calendar for the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. The San Marino and European Grands Prix were excluded, although the European round would later make a comeback (see below). The final calendar (above), which confirmed that the San Marino Grand Prix would not return, was released on 18 October 2006.

For the first time in nearly half a century, no German Grand Prix was held as a result of the circuits previously hosting a Grand Prix in Germany beginning to alternate in organizing the German Grand Prix. However, the promoter for the Hockenheim race controlled the rights to the descriptor "German Grand Prix" and an agreement could not be reached between them and the Nürburgring circuits for the naming rights. The Nürburgring event therefore retained its usual European Grand Prix title.

After twenty years of being hosted at the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit since 1987, the Japanese Grand Prix moved to Toyota's rebuilt Fuji Speedway, a circuit that F1 had not raced at since.

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps returned after a one-year absence in 2006 due to track maintenance.

For the first time since, no country hosted more than one Grand Prix.

Regulation changes

 * Although the FIA had planned to mandate a single regulation tyre manufacturer from 2008, Bridgestone was the sole supplier in 2007, after Michelin ended their participation in Formula One at the end of the season. Revised Sporting Regulations meant a total of 14 sets of dry weather tyres per driver would be available over each race weekend: four sets for Friday only, and 10 for the rest of the weekend. During the race both compounds of tyre (hard and soft) had to be used at least once. At the first round in Australia soft tyres were marked with a white spot. However, this was difficult to see when the car was in motion and from the second round in Malaysia onwards one of the four grooves in the soft compound tyre was painted white.
 * The teams finishing 5th–11th in the previous season's Constructors' Championship were no longer allowed to run a third car on Friday following a rule change. The teams that finish 1st–4th were already banned from doing so.
 * Engine development was frozen from the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, with these engines being used for the whole of 2007 and 2008. This was described as engine "homologation" by the FIA. It was previously set to be introduced in 2008.
 * All cars were fitted with red, blue and yellow cockpit lights. The purpose was to give drivers information concerning track signals or conditions. The lights had to be LEDs each with a minimum diameter of 5 mm and which were fitted so as to be directly in the driver's normal line of sight.
 * In order to give rescue crews an immediate indication of accident severity each car had to be fitted with a warning light which was connected to the FIA data logger. The light had to face upwards and be recessed into the top of the survival cell no more than 150 mm from the car centre line and the front of the cockpit opening and as near to the marshal neutral switch as is practical.
 * The two Friday practice sessions were expanded from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. All teams were allowed to use two cars, which could be driven by either the two race drivers or a nominated third driver.
 * The engine penalty was only applied in the second day of the Grand Prix weekend. Any engine change in the first day was not penalised.
 * No car was allowed to enter the pits to refuel during a safety car period until all cars were in the group following the safety car and they were advised that the pit lane was open. This prevented drivers from racing to the pits immediately after a safety car was deployed. In addition, any lapped cars in front of a car on the lead lap were required to pass the safety car and restart at the end of the line-up instead of maintaining their physical position.
 * The Formula One teams unanimously agreed to the voluntary early introduction of the testing agreement scheduled for 2008. This limited each team to an annual limit of 30,000 km.
 * The team's second car had to run with a yellow coloured roll bar instead of a black one. The first cars continued running with a red/orange roll bar. This was intended to help spectators distinguish between first and second cars at further distances.
 * As Scuderia Toro Rosso switched to Ferrari 056 engines, all Formula One entrants began using the mandated 2.4-litre V8 naturally-aspirated engines for the first time after one year the V10 engine was an option in 2006.

Television coverage

 * Formula One Management became the sole host broadcaster for all but three of the 17 Grands Prix in 2007. All coverage was produced in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen for the first time.
 * ITV Sport, Premiere, ORF1, RTL7, TF1, TV3 and Polsat were among the first broadcasters to provide a standard 16:9 widescreen programme at the opening race in Australia.
 * For the United States TV coverage, except Speed Channel, FOX also broadcast four Formula One races. Those were the Canadian Grand Prix, United States Grand Prix, French Grand Prix and British Grand Prix. The Canadian Grand Prix and United States Grand Prix were televised live.
 * In Poland, F1 broadcast was moved into Polsat from TV4.
 * In Portugal, SportTV became the broadcaster, replacing RTP1.

Circuits

 * A new chicane was inserted into the straight between Europcar and New Holland (final corner) at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. It was installed in order to slow the cars down before the long main straight, and with the intent that it would provide more overtaking opportunities into turn 1.
 * Spa underwent track changes as well, with a new paddock area, a reprofiled Bus Stop Chicane, an extension of the start-finish straight and a change to La Source hairpin.
 * The largest-scale repair in the last 35 years was done to Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, to fundamentally solve the problem of the asphalt. All present asphalt was removed and replaced with new asphalt. At the same time, the pit lane entrance was enhanced to improve safety. The circuit was closed and no event was held for five months to allow work, from June to October, until immediately before the event.

Pre-season
Pre-season testing began in November 2006 at the Circuit de Catalunya, with ten of the eleven teams participating in the test sessions. The most notable absentees were Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen, who were still under contract at Renault and McLaren respectively. Jenson Button was also absent as he had suffered a hairline fracture on his ribs after a go-karting accident in preparations for the November tests. Lewis Hamilton made his first appearance in a McLaren since being confirmed as Alonso's teammate for 2007.

Felipe Massa topped the times on the first two days of testing. Massa's testing partner, Luca Badoer, took the fastest time on the third day, although interest was on the fact that double World Champion Mika Häkkinen joined Hamilton and de la Rosa at McLaren for a one-off test, although the Finnish driver was over three seconds slower than Badoer's time, completing 79 laps of the Spanish circuit.

The other big story of 2007 was the return to a single tyre supplier (Bridgestone). It was perceived that this accounted for some of the reason why Ferrari led the early tests, although it was claimed by Bridgestone that the 2007 tyre is of a completely new build, thus minimising any real benefit for the 2006 Bridgestone teams (Ferrari, Toyota, Williams, Midland/Spyker and Super Aguri).

Toyota was the only team out for the fourth day of testing at Barcelona, as the Japanese works team chose to miss the first day of testing. Both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli's fastest laps were quicker than Massa and Badoer's times during the previous three sessions. Testing resumed on 6 December at Jerez, with the majority of teams attending the session. Both Ferraris of Massa and Badoer were first and second fastest, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton making up the top three in third. Hamilton improved on his position the following day by taking the fastest time, a second faster than Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella.

Japanese works teams Honda and Toyota topped the times for the next two days of testing: Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Toyota's Franck Montagny were fastest, although Toyota had the Jerez track to themselves when Montagny took the fastest time. Heikki Kovalainen and Pedro de la Rosa took the fastest times on the fourth and fifth day of testing at Jerez. Also of note, on the last day of testing Fernando Alonso made his McLaren testing debut after an agreement with manager Flavio Briatore. This did not call for an end to his agreement (which ended on 31 December).

Season report
The season started at Albert Park in Australia on 18 March. Kimi Räikkönen led the whole race, and became the fourth driver to win on their debut for Ferrari. Fernando Alonso came second and debutant Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd. Felipe Massa took his first pole of the season in Malaysia but Alonso won his first race with McLaren while Hamilton finished second. Massa led the entire race to win in both Bahrain and Spain, and in both races Hamilton finished second, becoming the first rookie to finish on the podium in more than his first two outings. McLaren dominated Monaco with Alonso winning from Hamilton after the pair had lapped everybody apart from themselves and Felipe Massa, who was not too far from being lapped.

The Canadian GP included four safety car periods and one of the biggest crashes of Formula One in that era. The race started off with the second all-McLaren front row with Hamilton taking his first pole position followed by Alonso. Alonso made a mistake in turn 1, losing several places while Hamilton was opening a gap between himself and Nick Heidfeld. On lap 22 the first safety car period began after Adrian Sutil hit the concrete wall. The safety car went into the pits on lap 28 but before the lap could be completed Robert Kubica had a massive accident. He had lost his front wing after hitting Jarno Trulli. He then went wide and hit a bump on the grass that launched him into the air and into a violent impact with the retaining barrier at a peak deceleration of 75G. The safety car was once again deployed and went in on lap 35. Hamilton once again opened up a gap to second-placed Heidfeld until lap 50 when Christijan Albers left a lot of debris on the track after a crash forcing the deployment of the safety car. The race restarted on lap 55 and the safety car was deployed again on lap 56 after Vitantonio Liuzzi hit the so-called 'Wall of Champions'. The safety car period was extended after Jarno Trulli hit the tyre barrier at the exit of the pitlane after trying to catch up with the field. On the restart Hamilton led to the finish to claim his maiden win in his sixth race. The next race at Indianapolis saw Hamilton lead from the start until victory after a 300 km/h side by side battle with Alonso for the lead. Ferrari took their first 1–2 finish of the season in France with Kimi Räikkönen winning from polesitter, Felipe Massa.

In Britain Hamilton took his third pole position, going on to finish a distant third behind winner Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso. Europe (Germany) would see Hamilton's run of nine consecutive podiums come to an end. After a large crash in qualifying he started in 10th in the race. On lap 4 he aquaplaned off the circuit in a torrential rainstorm but the race was stopped. He restarted after his car was pulled out of the gravel but after taking a gamble to change early to dry tyres on a drying track, he spun off several times but recovered to finish 9th, just missing out on the final point. After a qualifying incident between Alonso and Hamilton in which Alonso prevented Hamilton from completing his final flying lap, Alonso was demoted to 6th on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix while McLaren was made ineligible for points for the constructors' championship for that race. Hamilton then took victory with Räikkönen coming second. In Turkey Felipe Massa took a dominant victory followed by Räikkönen and Alonso. Hamilton finished fifth after he suffered a tyre failure while running in 3rd. In Italy Alonso won from Hamilton followed by Räikkönen. Following that Grand Prix McLaren was excluded from the constructors' championship after having been found guilty of theft and illegal usage of confidentional technical information of Ferrari. The team did not receive any constructors' points from subsequent races. In Belgium Räikkönen won from Massa and Alonso, thus allowing Ferrari to clinch the world constructors' championship from BMW Sauber following McLaren's exclusion.

The Japanese Grand Prix moved to Fuji Speedway. The event was marked by treacherous weather and was started behind the safety car. Lewis Hamilton survived a brush with Robert Kubica to win from Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Räikkönen. At the last three corners Kubica and Felipe Massa ran side by side in a battle for 6th, while Fernando Alonso aquaplaned and crashed on lap 41 of 67. In China, Hamilton won his 6th pole of the season and led up to lap 28 when he was overtaken by Räikkönen and he then spun off entering the pitlane. The season finale marked the first time since that three drivers had a chance of becoming World Champion at the season finale, and the first time since the inaugural season in  that the man who stood in third before the final race went on to win the championship (the driver in 1950 being Giuseppe Farina). Hamilton was the favourite with 107 points followed by Alonso with 103 points and Räikkönen with 100 points. Hamilton started 2nd but dropped to the back of the pack after a gearbox problem. He recovered to 7th but Räikkönen won the race and the championship. The final standings were Räikkönen with 110 points followed by Hamilton and Alonso each with 109 points. Räikkönen's late charge, following worse luck at the start of the season, would narrowly give him the World Drivers' Championship. With Hamilton and Alonso level on points their positions were determined by countback. Each driver had won four races, but Hamilton had five second-place finishes to Alonso's four, so he was awarded second place in the Championship, with Alonso third.

Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers using the following structure:

World Drivers' Championship standings
Notes:
 * † – Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

World Constructors' Championship standings
Notes:
 * † – Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

title: 2007 Formula One World Championship


text:
Amalaberga

Amalaberga was the daughter of Amalafrida, daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths.

Her father is unknown, her uncle was Theodoric the Great. Around 510, she was married to Hermanfrid, son of the Thuringian ruler Bisinus and his Lombard wife Menia. Hermanfrid and his brothers Baderic and Bertachar succeeded their father as co-rulers, while their mother returned to her people, where their sister, Raicunda, married Wacho, king of the Lombards. Hermanfrid and Amalaberga had two children: a son named Amalafrid and a daughter Rodelinda.

Amalaberga is said to have encouraged Hermanfrid to make war on his brothers and become sole ruler. Bertachar was killed in battle, possibly as early as 525. Hermanfrid then sought the help of Theuderic I, the Merovingian king of Austrasia, to attack Baderic and seize control of all of Thuringia. After Baderic was defeated and beheaded by the Franks, Hermanfrid reneged on certain promised land concessions. Theuderic then persuaded his brother, Chlothar I, Merovingian king at Soissons, to join him in attacking Hermanfrid. Clothar had married Baderic's daughter, Ingund, and later, his daughter, Aregund.

According to the Decem Libri of Gregory of Tours, in 531, Hermanfrid was defeated at the battle of Unstrut and Thuringia was annexed to the Frankish empire. Hermanfrid traveled under safe conduct to meet with Theuderic at Zülpich. While walking along the city walls with Theuderic, Hermanfrid was thrown from the ramparts to his death.

According to Procopius (History of the Wars V, 13), after Hermanfrid's death, Amalaberga fled with her children to her brother Theodahad who was at that time (534-36) King of the Ostrogoths. During the Gothic War (535–554), they were captured by the Byzantine general Belisarius and sent to Constantinople. Justinian made Amalafrid a general and married off his sister Rodelinda to the Lombard king Audoin.

title: Amalaberga


text:
Lyepyel

Lyepyel or Lepel (Лепель; Лепель, ; Lepel; ליעפּליע) is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, located near Lyepyel Lake on the Vula River. It serves as the administrative center of Lyepyel District. Its population in the 1998 census was 19,400. As of 2024, it has a population of 17,106.

Name
There are three theories about the origin of the name Lepel. The first is that the name 'Lepel' come from the word "lepene" which means "lake between the lime-groves". The second is that the name comes from the Belarusian word "лепей" meaning "the best place to live in". The third theory for the name Lepel is that it derives from the Belarusian word "ляпiць" meaning "well-developed pottery".

History
The first known mention of Lepel dates back to 1439. In the 15th century, the town belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1439, thanks to efforts of a Roman Catholic priest, Kucharski, Grand Lithuanian Duke Sigismund Kestutaitis' son Michael gave Lepel to the Vitebsk Roman Catholic church. In 1503, it the donation was confirmed by King Alexander Jagiellon. In 1541 King Sigismund I the Old included the possessions of the Vitebsk Catholic parish, including Lepel, into the Diocese of Wilno with the approval of the Pope.

After Polatsk was captured by the Muscovite army in 1563, the Diocese of Wilno was no longer able to protect its property from Muscovite attacks. The decision was made to donate Lepel to King Sigismund II Augustus on the erroneous assumption that the king would return the gift by awarding the diocese with other property of the same value. Instead, the king gave the property by way of life tenure to Yury Zenovich, the castellan of Smolensk. After Yury Zenovich died, Sigismund gave the town to voivode of Połock Mikołaj Dorohostajski. After the liberation of Polatsk from Russian occupation, Lepel returned to Polish King Stephen Báthory, who restored it to the Diocese of Wilno. Within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth it was administratively located in the Połock Voivodeship.

It remained difficult for the diocese to protect Lepel from foreign invasions and thus the decision was made in 1586 to sell it to Lew Sapieha, a leading politician. Sapieha eventually donated Lepel in 1609 to Bernardine nuns in Vilnius (Wilno) who lived next to St. Michael's Church, a donation confirmed in 1617.

The town was annexed by Russia in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. In 1802 Lepel became a county seat of the Vitebsk Governorate. The town suffered greatly in the 1812 French invasion of Russia due to the passing troops razing many buildings to the ground. On 9 September 1852 Lepel was awarded its own coat of arms. Poet Jan Czeczot, friend of Adam Mickiewicz, worked as an engineer on the Berezina Canal in Lepel between 1833 and 1839. In 1880, the population of Lepel consisted of 5,284 people, including 2,458 Jews, 2,281 Orthodox, and 536 Roman Catholics.

By 1913 Lepel had lost its strategic and economic importance and was a quiet regional town center.

On November 10, 1919 in the neighbourhood of Lepel there was a clash between the company of the 13th Infantry Regiment of the Polish Army sitting in an ambush and the Soviet troops advancing into the region. The fighting was successful for the Poles though their commanding officer, lieutenant Stanisław Jacheć, was the only Polish victim of the clash. Heavy fighting between the Bolshevik troops and the Polish Army's 30th regiment of the Rifles of Kaniów of the XX brigade continued through November 1919 and the Polish-Soviet frontline was established there until spring 1920.

On 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began. Lepiel was captured by the rapidly advancing German troops on 3 July. While the Lepel's Jewish population had once been as high as 3,379 (53.7%) in 1897, by 1941 this had dwindled to only 1,919, or 13.6 percent of the townspeople. The German occupation authorities created a ghetto and appointed a Jewish elder. On February 28, 1942, almost all of the 1,000 residents remaining in the ghetto were shot by an Einsatzgruppe. The Germans also operated a Nazi prison and briefly the AGSSt 8 assembly center for Soviet prisoners of war in the town. During Operation Bagration, the summer 1944 Soviet strategic offensive in Belarus, Lepiel was liberated on 3 July.

Education
Lepel has:
 * 4 secondary schools
 * An agrotechnical college
 * A professional college

Transportation
Lepel is situated on a highway connecting Minsk and Vitebsk, and is 115 km from Vitebsk and 155 km from Minsk. The town is connected by road to Polatsk and by rail to Orsha.

Notable people

 * Yawhen Kalinin (born 1993), footballer
 * Ivan Matskevich (born 1991), handballer
 * Anastasiya Mazgo (born 1995), handballer
 * Vladimir Motyl (1927-2010), director
 * Yauheni Zharnasek (born 1987), weightlifter

title: Lyepyel


text:
Chester Midsummer Watch Parade

Chester's Midsummer Watch Parade is a festival celebrated in Chester, England.

History
A monk, Lucian, wrote of a Chester procession of clerics in the year 1195 in De laude Cestrie, and city annals mention a parade in 1397/8, but it was not until the mayoralty of Richard Goodman who served from November 1498 until November 1499 that the "Wach on Midsummer Eve was first sett out and begonne". At every summer solstice, Cestrians would march through the streets carrying torches and wearing costumes during years when the famous Chester Mystery Plays were not performed.

(A similar practise was performed every midwinter - the Christmas Eve Watch was a candlelit procession which would go from the mayor's house to the Common Hall where the keys to the city gates would be given to the mayor who, in turn, entrusted them to the watchmen who would keep the city safe over the festive season.)

In 1564 the midsummer watch parade included: 4 gyants, 1 unikorne, 1 dromodarye, 1 luce, 1 camell, 1 dragon, 6 hobbyhorses and 16 naked boys.

Putting the procession together was profitable for some and fun for others. An annual account includes: Buckram for the giants Hood 4s; Fine buckram for the giant's whiskers 10s 10d; Michael Linch for cutting the garnish whiskers and all the roses used in the work 10s; John Banion 15 days work at 1s, 15s; John Wright, 35 days chiding and brawling and hindering the workmen from their work, and allsoe for fuddleing and drinkeing with several ather leters and molestationers, just notrhing and wortily he declare it, 0s 0d.

Despite the cancellation of the mystery plays in 1575, (although they were performed again in 1578) and the banning of the midsummer parade in 1600 by the Protestant mayor, Henry Hardware, the tradition was revived by the next mayor Robert Brerewood, but without the devil in feathers and the naked boys. The parade continued for every year until the last quarter of the 17th century. The last Midsummer show was recorded in 1670, it was then moved to Whit Tuesday until 1678 and not revived until 1995.

The most famous part of the performance was the family of giants; massive pasteboard models of people carried by several performers. Other attractions included the dragon of Hell, the fools and the massive mounts, a precursor to modern floats - one was the 'Merchant's Mount', a pirate ship.

Modern day
The parade takes place on the Saturday and Sunday closest to Midsummer and travels from the Cathedral, down Watergate Street, along the ring road, and then up a steep, narrow backstreet called 'Whitefriars' which leads to Bridge Street, and on to the Town Hall, where the parade ends with juggling, fire breathing and dancing.

The most famous attractions are a recreated family of giants and replica of the Merchant's Mount, as well as the Devil and Angel puppets and the flocks of geese, from 'Saint Werburgh's and Columba's Primary School'. Saint Werburgh is the patron saint of Chester, and is often portrayed as a goose.

title: Chester Midsummer Watch Parade


text:
Wikipedia:Peer review/Communes of France/archive1

Communes of France
Any comments? David.Monniaux 10:50, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I think I have identified several issues to be getting on with:
 * To achieve FA status it needs a picture or two. I suggest a map demonstrating the size of a few communes in a well known area, a road sign effectively saying "Welcome to the commune of..." (if such things exist), an image of a legal document containing the law which introduced the commune, a picture of a significant politician in the creation of the idea of the commune during the French revolution...
 * The references could be bulked out if any more sources were used with maybe one or two in English for verification of facts.
 * The latter part of "Intercommunality" needs to be Wikified.
 * The links at the bottom of "Status of the communes" should be moved to the bottom of the article in footnote/reference form.
 * I hope this helps. --Oldak Quill 13:43, 18 October 2005 (UTC)


text: User talk:88.104.37.92

title: User talk:88.104.37.92


text:
Ladies' Gaelic football

Ladies' Gaelic football (Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball towards goals at each end of a grass pitch. The sport is an all island sport played in all 4 provinces of Ireland ( Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht), where the two main competitions are the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship and the Ladies' National Football League. Both competitions feature teams representing the traditional Gaelic games counties. The 2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final was the best attended women's sports final of 2017. The 2019 final, after the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, was the second largest attendance at any women's sporting final during 2019. Historically Cork and Kerry have been the sport's most successful counties. Waterford, Monaghan and Mayo have also experienced spells of success. In more recent years, 2017 to 2020, Dublin have been the dominant team.

Ladies' Gaelic football is also played in Africa, Asia, Great Britain, Canada, Europe, South America, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. Outside of Ireland it is mainly, although not exclusively, played by members of the Irish diaspora. There is also a seven-a-side version of the sport.

Timeline
Source:

Differences from men's football
Most of the rules of ladies' Gaelic football are the same as those for the men's game. The main differences are:
 * A player may pick the ball up directly from the ground, so long as she is standing.
 * Most matches last 60 minutes; in men's senior inter-county football, games last 70 minutes.
 * Kickouts may be taken from the hand.
 * Changing hands: throwing the ball from your right hand to left or vice versa.
 * A countdown clock with siren is used if available; in the men's game, the referee decides the end of the game.
 * All deliberate bodily contact is forbidden except when "shadowing" an opponent, competing to catch the ball, or blocking the delivery of the ball.
 * A smaller size 4 Gaelic ball is used compared to the size 5 ball used in the men's game.
 * Since 2020 a '45 has been worth 2 points if it goes straight over without a deflection, otherwise it is worth 1 point.

title: Ladies' Gaelic football


text: User talk:68.15.127.211

title: User talk:68.15.127.211


text:
Joseph Harris (cricketer)

Joseph Vikram Harris (born 16 August 1965) is an Indian-born Canadian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-hand offbreak bowler.

Having played cricket since the mid-eighties, including a handful of matches for Barbados he became the leader of the Canadian cricket team in 2003, captaining them into the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He made himself a renowned name for the Canadian team in the Toronto Leagues, leading them to victory in the first Americas Cup. He originally planned to retire after the World Cup, but was lured back for the 2004 ICC 6 Nations Challenge owing to the absence of John Davison. Canada lost all their games in that tournament, and Harris has not played since. Harris has a daughter, Erika.

title: Joseph Harris (cricketer)


text:
Talk:Moropus

The article had the following sentence:
 * They probably fed on roots dug up using their claws.

Chalicotheres had no front teeth, and had only slightly worn molars. How could an animal with such teeth eat roots? More likely chalicotheres were like the extinct ground sloths or the dinosaur Therizinosaurus and used their huge claws to grab leaves from trees.--Jyril 10:53, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

Moropus (meaning "slow foot")

Doesn't it mean 'foolish' or 'stupid' foot? (Because scientists were confused by finding claws on what was very obviously a herbivore). 172.164.82.176RKH

Do we really need someone's cartoony fan-art-style illustration of a Moropus on this article? It looks like something you'd see in some mediocre anime fanfiction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.131.37.102 (talk) 07:26, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, is it anatomically wrong? If not, I personally think the style is irrelevant. FunkMonk (talk) 13:15, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Someone removed the illistration, so I cannot comment on it's merits or demerits. But I really like the map someone added. It provides something lacking in most paleontology entries, WHERE. How can and why would you provide information about a fossil speciman, and leave out where the fossil was discovered? Even simply stating "North America" is insufficient, North America is a big place. Thank You to whoever added said map. [User retrograde62 23:32 31 May 2011] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.227.57.112 (talk) 06:34, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

The number of toes and the shape of the front teeth is incorrect. I think the illustration should be taken down. The feet in the drawing are tridactyl, like a dinosaur, wheras the Moropus had a mammalian digit formula, not one like a dinosaur. Read: whoever drew this had no idea about the animal's actual anatomy. Basically they've fuzed a camel and a dinosaur. Take it down I say. --Piatnitskysaurus 7:16, 14 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Agreed, and removed Vaihead (talk) 19:00, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:36, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Moropus and Daphoenus.jpg

title: Talk:Moropus


text:
Geoff Stults

Geoff Stults is an American actor. His first regular roles on television included 7th Heaven, October Road, and Happy Town. He went on to star as Major Walter Sherman on The Finder, Sgt. Pete Hill on Enlisted, and Marco Strzalkowski on Guilty Party. He also played the recurring role of Mitch on seasons 1-3 of the hit Netflix series Grace and Frankie. His film roles include Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up, She's Out of My League, Only the Brave, and 12 Strong. As of April 2023, he has most recently been seen as Jake opposite Jennifer Garner in The Last Thing He Told Me.

Early life
Stults grew up in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. His brother is actor George Stults. He graduated from Manitou Springs High School. He moved to Los Angeles, and began to perform in the college theater productions while attending Whittier College, in Whittier, California, where he also played football.

Football career
He played professional American football in the Austrian Football League as a wide receiver for the Klosterneuburg Mercenaries (now known as the Danube Dragons).

Acting career
Stults started his acting career at the age of seven by doing commercials alongside his brother George. He appeared on Everybody Loves Raymond as a mailman in the episode "What's with Robert?" He landed his first major role in 2002 as Ben Kinkirk, a fireman at the department in which Mary Camden was training and Mary's soon-to-be new love interest, on the show 7th Heaven. The role of Ben's brother, Kevin Kinkirk, was portrayed by George Stults, his real life brother. Stults portrayed Eddie Latekka for two seasons on the popular ABC drama series October Road.

His first major film role came in 2004, when he played the male lead in the female action-comedy D.E.B.S., where he met his future co-star on The Finder, Michael Clarke Duncan. Since then, Stults has had small but memorable roles in Wedding Crashers and The Break-Up, as well as larger roles in The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, She's Out Of My League and L!fe Happens.

In 2010, Stults played Dan (an amalgamation of the book's popular characters El Bingeroso/PWJ/GoldenBoy) in the film adaptation of I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. He starred in the short-lived ABC television series Happy Town and appeared on How I Met Your Mother.

At the 2011 network upfronts, Fox announced that it picked up the Bones spin-off, The Finder, starring Stults in the lead role of Walter Sherman (a.k.a. The Finder), an Iraq war veteran who, after a brain injury from an exploding IED, was left with the extraordinary skill of finding anybody or anything. The show co-starred Duncan, Mercedes Masohn, and Maddie Hasson. It premiered January 12, 2012, as a mid-season replacement for Bones. The show was canceled and the final episode aired on May 11, 2012.

Stults later guest starred in Stargirl as Courtney Whitmore's father Sam Kurtis.

Personal life
In June 2005, Stults was reported to be in a relationship with actress and former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler. The pair appeared together on MTV's Punk'd, with Keibler as the recipient of the prank. Keibler and Stults were part-owners of the Hollywood Fame, a 2006 expansion franchise of the American Basketball Association. The team went defunct after only one season. Stults and Keibler split in 2010.

title: Geoff Stults


text:
Palazzo Zacco

Palazzo Zacco is a mansion in Ragusa, Sicily. It is most notable for the carvings in the Sicilian Baroque style which decorate its facades, especially the putti and masks which appear to support the palazzo's balconies on two of its symmetrical elevations. The palazzo was constructed circa 1750 as the townhouse for Baron Melfi di San Antonio. It was later bought by the Zacco family who renamed it after themselves as was the tradition of the time.

The building has two street façades, each with six wide balconies bearing the coat of arms of the Melfi family, a frame of acanthus leaves from which a puttino leans. The balconies, a feature of the palazzo, are notable for the differing corbels which support them, ranging from putti to musicians and grotesques. The focal points of the principal façade are the three central balconies, divided by columns with Corinthian capitals. Here the balconies are supported by images of musicians with grotesque faces.

The palazzo is today an Italian national monument.

title: Palazzo Zacco


text:
Château de Bonaguil

Château de Bonaguil is a castle in the French commune of Saint-Front-sur-Lémance, but actually owned by the neighbouring commune of Fumel in the Lot-et-Garonne département. It has been classified as a Monument historique (historic monument) since 1862.

The Château de Bonaguil was the last of the fortified castles. It was built in the 13th century, but was entirely restructured at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries by Bérenger de Roquefeuil, who added all of the defensive improvements of the end of the Middle Ages. A marvel of military architecture covering 7500 m2, incorporating the latest developments in artillery (both for defence and in adapting the defences for protection against it) it was, however, obsolete when completed. It was never attacked.

The name derives from bonne aiguille (good needle) and refers to the defensive site: a steep, rocky promontory perfectly suited to the siting of a castle.

First stage
The first castle at Bonaguil was constructed after the middle of the 13th century (between 1259 and 1271 according to Jacques Gardelle), on a rocky spur, probably by Arnaud La Tour de Fumel. The single entrance to the keep, built above a natural cave, was a door six metres up, accessible by ladder.

The first written mention is in 1271, in a charter listing the possessions of the King of France Philippe III le Hardi. At that date, it was a vassal of the fiefdom of Tournon, and was probably just a simple polygonal keep, with a small courtyard surrounded by a wall, with a lower courtyard surrounded by a palisade. The dwelling was not built until the end of the 13th century or even the beginning of the 14th.

The widening of a fracture in the rock allowed a well to be dug to a depth of 47 m (154 ft).

The lords of Bonaguil fought on the side of the King of England in the Hundred Years War. The castle was taken several times, burnt and abandoned, although always the property of the Fumel family.

On 11 November 1380, Jean de Fumel-Pujols, baron of Blanquefort and owner of the castle, married the heiress of Roquefeuil, Jeanne Catherine de Roquefeuil, and dropped his name for the more prestigious name of his wife. Their son Antoine joined the properties of the two families, and their grandson, Jean de Roquefeuil, moved with his wife Isabeau de Peyre to Bonaguil in 1444.

Developments by Jean de Roquefeuil
Jean de Roquefeuil, who sent his son Antoine to take part in the War of the League of the Public Weal, against the King, made several modifications, as much for defence as comfort:

 * the walls of the dwelling were raised (E on the plan) and reached the height of the keep (which thus acquired a more massive silhouette)
 * from 1470 to 1482, the keep was rebuilt, with an overall streamlined shape, in order to better resist artillery
 * a spiral staircase was installed in a new turret, in the west, increasing the available space
 * a new dwelling was built to the east of the keep: its length currently stands on the east-south-east against the curtain wall and its openings are orientated to the north-north-east and west-north-west
 * a ramp was built to provide easier access to the keep.

Of Jean's four sons, out of nine children, it was the third, Bérenger, who survived and inherited the property of his father.

Defensive reinforcement by Bérenger de Roquefeuil
The considerable defence works of the castle have their origin in the lord of Bonaguil's problems with King Charles VII, who condemned him for his violence against serfs and vassals. They were financed thanks to the good fortune of the Roquefeuils, who owned lands in the Gironde and the Golfe du Lion. The works extended over thirty years.

First wall
The main danger at the end of the 15th century came from artillery. For protection, it was necessary to keep the enemy's cannons at a distance. An external wall, 350 m in length, was added to the castle, with lower curtains retaining a mass of earth which cushioned the artillery shots. This curtain wall was reinforced with small towers and equipped with guns. This was the second innovation of this rebuilding: provision for the use of masses of artillery for the defence of the castle, with a total of 104 embrasures for firing.

So the castle used the latest developments in armaments: push back the firing of the assailants by obliging them to set up their cannons further away; make the approach difficult with openings for ground shot; large calibre guns were put on top of the towers (such as the platform on top of the keep) so as to fight at a distance.

The spur on which the castle stands is cut by a large ditch sunk in the rock. A barbican was built beyond the ditch. It was linked by two drawbridges to the body of the castle. It was also defended by several guard towers, allowing a flanking fire from which the arquebuses could cover every angle.

Still with the aim of leaving no point uncovered by fire, caponiers were built in the ditches; these small earthworks were in front of the curtain, allowing the ditch to be swept with fire from the defenders, from one or both sides of the structure.

Finally, boulevards were laid out, partly in the north ditch, to permit rapid movement from one point to another of the fortress, in case of attacks on different parts of the castle; this anticipated the fortresses of the 17th century.

Second system of defence
The earthworks and barbican were only designed to postpone the danger to the heart of the castle, the residential part. This was equally strengthened. Six towers were built – four round towers in the corners, and two towers in the middles of the curtain, a square on in the west and a round tower in the south. The towers allowed greater cover of the curtains: defenders could fire on the sides of assailants who were attacking at the foot of the wall between two towers.

These high towers served, as in the mediaeval castles, to protect the walls thanks to their design. Their height was a guarantee against scaling. The innovation was the treatment of the top, reinforced to provide an artillery platform. The corbels supporting the walkway were replaced with inverted pyramids, much more solid and able to support a much heavier weight – an artillery piece, its carriage and supplies.

Changing fortunes of the castle from the 16th to the 18th century
When Bérenger died in 1530, the castle was not yet adapted for siege warfare, but it remained an imposing fortress.

His son Charles squandered his fortune (on his beautiful wife Blanche de Lettes de Montpezat, it seems) and his sons Honrat and Antoine inherited a reduced fortune. During the Wars of Religion, the two brothers fought in opposite camps, and the castle was taken in 1563. A first restoration took place in 1572. In debt, Antoine had to give the fortress to the lord of Pardhaillan in 1618, before being able to buy it back several years later.

His son Antoine-Alexandre was a marquis, but passed on to his only daughter Marie-Gilberte a castle in a poor state and empty coffers. Married from the death of her father (8 July 1639) to the Marquis of Coligny-Saligny, she devoted herself to the repair and maintenance of the castle. She remarried in 1655 to Claude-Yves de Tourzel, Marquis of Allègre, with whom she had a daughter who married Seignelay, minister of the Colbert family.

François de Roquefeuil, a distant relative with some claim to the castle, took possession of it in 1656, kept and pillaged it for almost a year before abandoning it. Marie-Gilberte lived in Paris for the last years of her life, and abandoned the château de Bonaguil, until her death in 1699. It passed next to François-Gaspard de Montpeyroux, a soldier who almost never lived there, then to his sister, who sold it in 1719 to Jean-Antoine de Pechpeyrou-Beaucaire. His son sold the castle to Marguerite de Fumel, widow of Emmanuel de Giversac, in 1761, who carried out some works to make it more comfortable.

Embellishments of the 18th century
Marguerite de Fumel stayed regularly at the Château de Bonaguil. She converted the castle, notably in the dwelling P in the plan. In this period, the earthworks to the west of the castle were enlarged and laid out as a large terrace and became a pleasant promenade. New apartments were built in the south, outside the inner wall, thus benefitting from a better outlook. The lady of the manor gave feasts. The seven drawbridges became fixed bridges. A part of the ramparts was demolished to give a view over the valley.

The French Revolution and restorations
It was the nephew of Marguerite de Fumel, Joseph-Louis de Fumel, who inherited in 1788. He fled in October 1789, and the castle was declared bien national (national property). The furniture was dispersed, the roofs, floors and wood panelling taken down. Following the Thermidor, the Fumels recovered the castle, but did not live there, and sold it.

It passed from owner to owner until it was purchased in 1860 by the commune of Fumel, who obtained the classification Monument historique (1862) and began some restoration work by B Cavailler in 1868 and by the arrondissement's architect A Gilles in 1876. The architect from the Monument historique restored the keep between 1882 and 1886. Other repairs were made between 1898 and 1900, including covering the watch tower roof with stone tiles in 1900. Further restoration works were carried out in 1948–1950, 1977 and 1985.

title: Château de Bonaguil