text:
Datura metel

Datura metel is a shrub-like annual (zone 5–7) or short-lived, shrubby perennial (zone 8–10), commonly known in Europe as Indian thornapple, Hindu Datura, or metel and in the United States as devil's trumpet or angel's trumpet. Datura metel is naturalised in all the warmer countries of the world. It is found notably in India, where it is known by the ancient, Sanskrit-derived, Hindi name dhatūra (धतूरा), from which the genus name Datura is derived.

The plant is cultivated worldwide, both as an ornamental and for its medicinal properties, the latter being due to its tropane alkaloid content. Like its hardier and smaller-flowered relative Datura stramonium, it is now of widespread occurrence, although showing a preference for warmer, humid climates.

Description
The plant is an annual or short-lived shrubby perennial herb. The roots are a branched tap root, and are not fleshy like roots found in perennial species such as Datura innoxia and Datura wrightii. The species can grow up to 6 ft high. The stems are hollow, green or purple-black, somewhat woody, and have a strong odour. It is slightly pubescent, with green to dark violet shoots and oval to broad oval leaves that are often dark violet as well. The leaves are simple, alternate, petiolate, and exhibit entire or deeply lobed margins.

The pleasantly-scented 6-8 in flowers are immensely varied, and can be single or double. Corolla colour can range from white to cream, yellow, red, and violet. The seed capsule is covered with numerous conical warts or short, sparse spines. The fruits break up irregularly at maturity by not dehiscing in four equal valves like those of other Datura species. Seeds are endospermous.

D. metel was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, but few botanically correct illustrations were made until after the New World was settled. The original home of the plant, although long conjectured to have been India, is now known to have been somewhere in the Americas, probably the Greater Antilles. As late as 1992 it was still being claimed that the plant was "...native probably to the mountainous regions of Pakistan or Afghanistan westward..." While there now remains no doubt that the species originated in the New World, evidence is mounting that it was introduced to the Indian subcontinent - whether by human agency or some chance natural event is not known - at a date no later than the 4th century CE. This precedes the first arrival of European explorers in the Americas.

A wild form of D. metel as a distinct species is unknown. The species, as currently described, is essentially a collection of ancient cultivars likely attributable to pre-Columbian horticultural practices.

Similarities to D. innoxia
D. metel is similar, in its above-ground parts, to D. innoxia, but, while D. metel has almost glabrous leaves and fruits that can be nodding or erect and are warty, rather than spiny; D. innoxia is pilose (softly hairy) all over and has a markedly spiny, nodding fruit with a more prominently frilled and reflexed persistent calyx.

Symon and Haegi noted in 1991 the occurrence on Cuba of an apparently wild plant given the name Datura velutinosa V.R. Fuentes (no longer an accepted species and now listed as a form of D. innoxia), the capsules of which are tuberculate like those of D. metel.

Historically, single-flowered forms of D. metel have frequently been confused with the widely naturalised D. innoxia - from which it differs in its much less pubescent stems and foliage and shorter-spined and less densely-spined capsules. The reason for this confusion was finally discovered through genetic research carried out in 2000, where it was determined that D. metel is a domesticated form of D. inoxia that was originally derived from Central America and southeastern Mexico.

In support of this claim regarding domestication, Cavazos et al. list several pieces of evidence. While the flowers of wild Datura species are usually white or pale, thin in texture, single and short-lived, the flowers of D. metel have several distinctive strong colour forms, are thick in texture, often have double or triple flowers (trumpet-like corollas nested one within the other) and can last for up to a week before withering. Additionally, the seed capsules of wild Datura species are usually clad with sharp spines which protect them from premature predation, while those of D. metel bear short, sparse spines or tubercles. It is also found that regrowth of the perennial wild species sprouts from the top of the thick roots below ground level, while in D. metel such regrowth is sub-shrubby, sprouting from the woody stem base. It is those woody stems that are used in the vegetative propagation of this 'species' in the indigenous horticulture of southern Mexico. In the light of such evidence, it appears highly likely that humans have in the past undertaken selective breeding of the species ancestral to D. metel to produce mutant forms that flower for longer, have colourful corollas of curious shapes, fruits that lack hurtful spines and somewhat shrubby stems that lend themselves readily to the taking of cuttings.

Cultivars
"...it seems clear that D. metel is essentially a collection of cultivars and recent critical authors have found it impossible to recognise a wild type for the species. This view is supported by the tuberculate capsules found in D. metel (as compared with the spinose capsules of other species) and the retention of seeds on the placenta, at least in cultivars 'Fastuosa' and 'Chlorantha'. Both of these traits suggest cultivar selection...The variants of D. metel have been widely grown as ornamentals over a long period of time...There is no evidence that the variants arose from horticultural plant breeding in the Old World...These facts taken together strongly suggest that D. metel was a well-established cultivated species with a range of forms in its place of origin and that these forms arrived ready-made in Europe." A cultivar of D. metel with a glossy, purple-black stem (Hindi: काला धतूरा kāla dhatūra - "black datura") has long existed as a garden plant under the obsolete name Datura fastuosa (coined originally by Linnaeus and featuring the Latin epithet fastuosa, meaning "haughty" or "proud"). Its flowers normally have a double or triple corolla, each corolla having a deep purple exterior and white or off-white interior. The same double or triple corolla is also a feature of the yellow-flowered cultivar 'Chlorantha'. The purple-flowered 'Fastuosa' has been reported to have become naturalised in Israel, where it may yet become as common a roadside weed as the related D innoxia.

D. metel 'Fastuosa' has in recent times become known under a variety of superfluous cultivar names such as 'Black', 'Blackcurrant Swirl', 'Cornucopaea', 'Double Blackcurrant Swirl', 'Double Purple', and 'Purple Hindu'. It has also received many scientific names which should not be used for a cultivar:

 * Datura hummatu var. fastuosa (L.) Bernh.
 * Datura fastuosa L.
 * Datura metel f. fastuosa (L.) Danert
 * Datura metel var. fastuosa (L.) Saff.
 * Stramonium fastuosum (L.) Moench

Likewise the yellow-flowered D. metel 'Chlorantha' has acquired such superfluous cultivar names as 'Ballerina Yellow'.

Poison
All parts of Datura plants contain dangerous levels of highly poisonous tropane alkaloids meteloidine and its angelate ester and datumetine and may be fatal if ingested by humans or other animals, including livestock and pets. In some places, it is prohibited to buy, sell, or cultivate Datura plants.

Datura metel may be toxic if ingested in a tiny quantity, symptomatically expressed as flushed skin, headaches, hallucinations, and possibly convulsions or even a coma. The principal toxic elements are tropane alkaloids. Ingesting even a single leaf can lead to severe side effects.

Criminal poison in Thuggee
The Thugs, gangs of professional robbers and murderers who wandered the roads of central India, would sometimes use preparations of Datura metel to stupefy the rich merchants whom they favoured as victims, before strangling or stabbing them. The English word thug traces its roots to the Hindi ठग (ṭhag), which means 'swindler' or 'deceiver'. Accounts of the Thugs written by early 19th century colonial authors tend to evoke an orientalist fantasy of a bloodthirsty (quintessentially) Hindu cult offering human sacrifices to the goddess Kali, while modern scholars tend to perceive the reality of Thuggee to have been more a matter of criminal activity undertaken for gain by organised groups of disaffected and recently unemployed soldiers of both Hindu and Muslim faith."There were also occasional reports, from the earliest times, of gangs [i.e. criminal gangs active long before the advent of Thuggee] who poisoned their victims with Datura, which was commonly used by many Indian highway robbers to stupefy their victims. It seems to have been used [by the Thugs] only intermittently. One Thug described this technique of using the drug as the tool of 'mere novices', implying that an experienced strangler should have no need of such an aid to murder."

Medicinal use
Datura metel is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called yáng jīn huā (洋金花). However, the ingestion of D. metel in any form is dangerous and should be treated with extreme caution. According to Drug & Cosmetic Act 1940 & Rule 1995, Datura metel is banned in India except for use in Ayurvedic medicine.

Entheogen
"Datura Linnaeus...The important narcotic species of the Old World is Datura metel. Early Sanskrit and Chinese writings report a hallucinogen that has been identified with this species, and it was probably D. metel that the Arabian Avicenna mentioned as a drug called jouz-mathel in the eleventh century...The epithet Datura was taken by Linnaeus from the vernacular name dhatura or dutra in India, where knowledge of the intoxicating effects of the plant go back to prehistory...This species, of which there are several rather distinctive types, is indigenous to Asia but now ranges widely in tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa and America." Schultes and Hofmann in 1979 in the second edition of The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens were confident in their assertion of an Asiatic origin and history of use in India stretching back to Vedic period for Datura metel. Considering its allegedly recent introduction to the Old World from the New, beginning in the sixteenth century, Datura metel has indeed been integrated with remarkable thoroughness into the religious and magical practices of Asia and Africa as an intoxicant and entheogen.

Schultes and Hofmann later devote much of a chapter in their 1980 work Plants of the Gods on the use of Datura as a hallucinogen to Chinese, Indian and African practices involving the use of Datura metel as diverse as its employment in Taoist magic, in the worship of the Hindu deity Shiva and in the magical rites of the Eritrean Kunama people. They quote the oft-repeated idea that the plant is to be equated with the herb Jouz-mathal (= "metel-nut"), described in the eleventh-century writings of Persian polymath Avicenna (drawing in turn upon the work of Dioscorides), and thus has an Old World pedigree predating Columbus's arrival in the New. It is certainly the case that D. metel is not one of the species mentioned as being used in the ancient Datura cults of the southwestern U.S.A. and Mexico - a result possibly of its lacking the large, tuberous roots of the desert-adapted Datura species. A great deal of work undoubtedly still remains to be done on the unraveling of the early history and folklore of the plant and its wide dissemination in lands far from its place of origin.

Controversy over the country of origin
German expert on hallucinogenic plants Christian Rätsch asserts an Asiatic origin for Datura metel. Rätsch bases his contention on the research of Hungarian scholar Dr. Bulcsu Siklós, an authority on Vajrayana, the wrathful deity Bhairava and other aspects of Buddhism at London's SOAS. Siklós claims that references to the use of the plant may be found in the Vajra-mahabhairava-tantra (= "diamond-thunderbolt Tantra of the great and terrible one" (i.e. of the wrathful Shiva conceived of as a bodhisattva)), the Vamana Purana, the Garuda Purana, the Matsya Purana, the Amarakosha and the Kama Sutra of Vātsyāyana.

"The occurrence of a plant known as da dhu ra is investigated in the pre-11th century Vajra-mahabhairava-tantra, an Indian Buddhist tantric text existent in Tibetan translation. Internal evidence from the texts, and linguistic evidence, identifying da dhu ra as Datura metel is given despite current certainty of the New World origin of the genus Datura."

"The Vajra-mahabhairava-tantra deals with the rituals of the wrathful Buffalo-headed deity Vajrabhairava (a manifestation of the Buddhist Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī). Notable amongst these many and varied rituals are a set of five, three from the 2nd chapter and two from the 4th. These all contain references to a plant known in the Tibetan text as da dhu ra."

The argument for an Indian origin for D. metel advanced in Siklós's paper hinges on the identity of the plant da dhu ra and an unbroken continuity of nomenclature for the said plant. To establish his contention as fact, a researcher would have to prove that the plant first designated by the name da dhu ra was indeed D. metel (this necessarily involving, at the very least, a rudimentary description of the plant's anatomy) and that the name da dhu ra was not first applied to an unrelated plant and only later applied to D. metel at a time compatible with its introduction from the Americas by Europeans. None of the five extracts translated by Siklós provide a description of da dhu ra, although some mention its Datura-like effect of causing insanity. Of the extracts, the third ('C') is the most relevant in this context: "Then, if the mantrin wants to drive someone insane, he takes Datura fruit and, mixing it with human flesh and worm-eaten sawdust, offers it in food or drink. He recites the mantra and that person will instantly go insane and then die within seven days."

Siklós does offer a linguistically unbroken pedigree for the Indian word ancestral to Linnaeus's genus name Datura, beginning with the Prakrit form dhattūra, which can date from no later than the eighth century C.E., long before the time of Christopher Columbus. Siklós himself, however, acknowledges the weakness in his theory occasioned by the lack of the most rudimentary description of da dhu ra anywhere in the five extracts that he translates:"A member of the Solanaceae certainly suggests itself as a suitable candidate, but through lack of any physical description of the plant the quoted passages can at best only suggest the identification of da dhu ra as Datura metel on the basis of toxic effects common to other Indian Solanaceae. Nonetheless, the Vajra-mahabhairava-tantra occurrences at least provide a roughly datable (and definitely pre-Columbian) record of the word da dhu ra on the basis of which the linguistic evidence can be investigated."

However, the effect of causing insanity is not restricted to the Solanaceae. Furthermore, text extracts B and E refer to the lighting of fires the fuel of which is "Datura wood". Datura metel is a slightly woody species that would not yield enough wood for a substantial fire.

Siklós's paper approaches the question of origin from a cultural perspective, drawing on detailed knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism and the Sanskrit-derived languages of India, without addressing the botanical issues raised in such detail by Symon and Haegi.

Kew's Plants of the World Online continues to uphold Symon and Haegi's refutation of an Asiatic origin for Datura metel. "As commonly understood in current works, the drug plant genus Datura is very curious biogeographically. Seven to nine species are generally considered native to the southern part of the North American continent and adjacent islands, with five native to Mexico. The two remaining species are reputed to be native to other far-flung parts of the world: D. ferox in China and D. metel in Asia, while one of the American taxa D. leichhardtii is reputedly shared with Australia. A substantial body of circumstantial evidence is brought together to demonstrate that, like the other species, these last three are in fact native only to the Americas, from where they were introduced to the Old World by Europeans at an early date." William Emboden, an expert on entheogens, voiced concerns similar to those of Siklós over the apparent antiquity of Indian use of Datura metel: "...our lack of knowledge of some of the earliest practices in the Old World, where the plant dates to prehistory...It is equally curious that the customs surrounding the use of Datura in temperate Asia at a very early date parallel those of contemporary native people of the New World." However, Symon and Haegi point out two pieces of evidence showing that the supposed naturally disjunct distribution of the genus Datura is unnatural. First, the genus supposedly has a wide distribution and yet shows diversification only in the Americas, and second, the Old World species represent not a taxonomic unit in themselves, suggestive of independent evolution after isolation in Asia, but a cross-section of two sections of the genus Datura already present in the Americas: section stramonium (to which D. ferox belongs) and section dutra (to which belong D. metel and D. leichhardtii).

Introduction to India and Africa
The only way of reconciling the religious/ethno-linguistic evidence of Siklós with the botanical perspectives of Symon and Haegi was the positing of a pre-Columbian introduction of Datura metel to India, satisfying the requirement for both a native distribution in the Americas and a cultural presence in India (and probably also Africa) of considerable antiquity. Such a solution that was hypothesized in 2007 in a paper by scholars R. Geeta (Stony Brook University) and Waleed Gharaibeh (Jordan University of Science and Technology), accessing evidence not hitherto available to western botanists (a lack freely acknowledged by Symon and Haegi in their paper of 1991 and noted by Siklós in his critique of their work). Such a hypothesis has seen precedent, the most notable case being that of the sweet potato Ipomoea batatas, for which there is widely accepted evidence for trans-Pacific introductions (both Polynesia-to-South America and vice versa).

Of the possible means of transport by wind, water, bird or human agency, the authors dismiss immediately scenarios involving dispersal by wind or via bird droppings as wholly implausible: the seeds of D. metel are not only heavy but also lack any specialised adaptation to wind dispersal such as a wing or a pappus, and the fruits of Datura are not juicy berries which invite consumption by birds. The authors settle upon transport by water as by far the most likely mode and, of the two scenarios involving water, human-mediated transportation being the more probable, although not ruling out a scenario whereby the buoyant fruits (and seeds possibly remaining viable after prolonged immersion in salt water) of Datura might have been carried to India by ocean currents. Another possibility is that Datura capsules might have been rafted naturally across the ocean on floating clumps of vegetation dislodged from their original locations, in the manner noted by Renner et al. to have occurred in the case of certain other plant species. As to specific ocean currents which could have transported plant material of D. metel from the New to the Old World, Geeta and Gharaibeh suggest that transport by the Gulf Stream followed by capture by the Canary Current could have brought the plant first across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa.

By contrast, a possible human-mediated route would involve first eminently feasible land transport from Mexico to Ecuador and Peru, borne out by observations of the ritual use of Datura in these South American countries. This would be followed by water transport across the Pacific Ocean from South America to Oceania (as is recognised to have taken place in the case of the sweet potato) and finally from Oceania to Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Sacred status in Africa

Documentation of the traditional use of hallucinogens in Africa has lagged behind that of such use in the Americas, so the use of Datura metel 'Fastuosa' by the Tsonga people (Shangana-Tsonga) of Mozambique and the Northern Transvaal in their khomba puberty school initiation rite - as recorded by Dr. Thomas F. Johnston - is of particular interest.

According to Johnston, Datura fastuosa (i.e. Datura metel 'Fastuosa') has the common name mondzo (alternative spelling mondjo, the name being shared also with the (unrelated) Combretum imberbe) in the Tsonga language and is a subspontaneous plant in the homeland of the Tsonga. Interestingly, in an (otherwise conventional) brief description of the plant he describes the seeds as being "blackish brown", rather than the pale, somewhat tawny shade of brown normal to those of Datura metel cultivars. Khomba neophytes consuming a potion prepared from the plant forms the culmination of three months of rituals which are timed to follow the May harvest and involve ritual bathing (immersion) and the performing of secret mimes, dances and songs.

The climactic Datura rite goes by the evocative name of rendzo ra mianakanyo (trans. : "journey of fantasy") and involves 'hearing' the voice of the fertility god and experiencing a hallucinatory vision of bluish-green colour patterns having the Tsonga name mavala-vala. This 'journey in spirit' is reinforced with tactile stimuli and vocal cues from one of their "schoolmothers" (acting in the role of psychopomp), the girls being ritually beaten with a Datura switch through the blankets in which they are lying swaddled, while being told repeatedly that it is the mavala-vala which they are seeing. Johnston hypothesises that the mavala-vala visions may be symbolic representations of a local (blue-green) snake belonging to the genus Philothamnus (Tsonga: shihundje), individuals of which the Tsonga believe to be manifestations of the divine. According this theory, the mavala-vala would be a vision of the serpent form of the very fertility god whose voice is 'heard' by the initiates of the khomba in their Datura-induced trance.

The rituals of the khomba puberty school are designed to prepare girls for child-bearing, playing out in highly-structured dramatic form the various aspects of female sexuality, with particular emphasis on fertility. A major symbolic theme in this transition from girlhood to womanhood is the crossing of a river, thoroughly in keeping with the sense in which initiation is always a symbolic death.

Further death symbolism is present in the Datura potion itself, which always contains a small amount either of human fat or powdered human bone - ingredients which traditionally feature in Tsonga witchcraft, but in this instance are intended to counter malign witchcraft aimed at blighting fertility. Johnston points out that it is this endocannibalistic element in the ritual and not Datura that has witchcraft associations in Tsonga culture, but points out that Solanaceous hallucinogens had very definite associations with witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. To this, however, might be added a further comparison with Early Modern European witchcraft, in which practitioners were accused of employing the fat from the corpses of unbaptised babies in the preparation of flying ointments infused with tropane-containing, hallucinogenic Solanaceous plants (and other toxic herbs). Again, the Tsonga and European practices are curiously reminiscent of the Tantric ritual to cause insanity.

Within a strictly Tsonga frame of reference, Johnston points out a marked similarity between a form of trial by ordeal known as mondjo (observed at the beginning of the 20th century by ethnographer of the Tsonga, Henri Alexandre Junod) and the Datura rite of the khomba puberty school which he observed himself in the course of the research he carried out during the period 1968-70: "In both instances, the Datura fastuosa potion was explained as containing either human fat or powdered human bone; the ceremony occurred by a river and involved a nearby tree; the patients formed a line along the ground; the officiant waved a head dress by vigorous shaking of the head...So far as is known, Tsonga use of Datura fastuosa is restricted to trial by ordeal (a suspect must survive a given dose in order to prove his innocence), and the described final rite of the girls' puberty school."

Johnston fails to note that the ordeal name mondjo is simply a variant spelling of the Tsonga name for Datura metel 'Fastuosa' as is made plain from a reading of Junod's account of this ritual, the full name of which is ku nwa mondjo (trans. "drinking the Datura (potion)"). The Tsonga consider their ordeal-by-Datura the supreme method for unmasking the supernatural witches known as baloyi. Baloyi are believed to inherit their uncanny powers through the maternal line, and these consist of the ability to separate their souls from their "bodies" and send them out to nocturnal gatherings where the working of all manner of evil is plotted - notably theft, murder and the enslaving of others. The noyi, or separable soul, is believed to fly off to its evil assignation on great wings, like those of a bird or bat, while what remains behind on the sleeping mat appears to the uninitiated to be a sleeping human body, but is actually a second type of (material) soul - the ntjhuti, or shadow, which Junod describes as "a wild beast, the one with which the noyi has chosen to identify himself". He cites an example in which a husband wounds such a spirit beast - in this instance a hyaena - at night, only to find that when his wife's wandering spirit returns in the morning it has been wounded in the leg, like the hyaena.

Junod does not actually fully identify the plant involved in the Tsonga witch-finding ritual: "The mondjo is a plant of the Solaneae [sic.] family which possesses intoxicating properties...it seems that the mondjo dries up the saliva of all who drink it, but, in the case of the truly guilty, this effect is greatly accentuated; the jaws become locked. They try to speak but can only say be-be-be-be (they stammer)."

However, the intoxicating effect combined with a drying-up of the mouth referred to above points to a species containing tropane alkaloids, such as Datura, and the identity of the plant is established, many years later, by Johnston's linking of the name mondjo (under the variant spelling mondzo) specifically with Datura metel 'Fastuosa'.

In the early 1900s, the preparation of the mondjo drink was confined to a particular, small clan, the Shihahu, who lived on the left bank of the Nkomati river, not far from the sea and a little to the north of the Manyisa district of Maputo Province. The Shihahu cultivated the mondjo plant for use as the major active ingredient of their ordeal poison-cum-hallucinogen, although Junod notes that their recipe for the "magic philter" was "very complicated and intricate" and contained "several strange ingredients", of which the most macabre was purely symbolic, not psychotropic - namely a small amount of fat or bone from the body of a long-dead leper. If Johnston is correct in his conjecture that the Tsonga rite of female initiation is connected with the mondjo ordeal, the ingredients of the recipes for the respective potions involved may have been similar. In the context of active potion ingredients other than Datura metel 'Fastuosa', Johnston records the following of the fourth stage of the puberty school initiation which he witnessed: "Soon a screaming medium (a disguised 'schoolmother') appears suddenly out of the bush, garbed in bandoliers of dried hallucinogenic agents (Datura fastuosa, toads' skins etc.)..." The potion employed in the puberty school rite was not necessarily a simple Datura infusion - the addition of toad skins would modify considerably a basic intoxication caused by tropane alkaloids, by the addition of bufotenine and other hallucinogenic tryptamines. Junod mentions only unspecified "strange ingredients" in the potion concocted by the Shihahu, but, in the light of Johnston's research, one such seems likely to have been toad skins, (and additional psychotropic plant species cannot be ruled out). Johnston does not specify the toad species involved and further research is needed to establish whether or not any of the species of amphibian native to Mozambique secretes psychotropic compounds in its skin.

Sacred status in Hinduism
"Shiva remains in divine intoxication. Hence, his association with dhatūra or thorn-apple...which has hallucinogenic properties. Dhatūra is called shiva-shekhara, the crown of Shiva. It is believed to have emerged from Shiva's chest after he drank the deadly poison, halahal, produced during the churning of the cosmic ocean. Its leaves and fruit are offered to Shiva on special days."

The above is a quotation from a contemporary article devoted to Hindu liturgical practice and provides a rationale for the presentation of plant parts (often seed capsules) of Datura metel to the deity Shiva, integrated (no later, on evidence currently available, than the second century C.E.) into a much older mythological framework dating back to Vedic times. The Vedic myth referenced is that of The Churning of the Ocean of Milk (Sanskrit Samudra manthan), in which two groups of gods, the Devas and the Asuras, churn the Cosmic Ocean of Milk (Sanskrit Kshira Sagara) to bring forth treasures. In the course of the churning, the terrible, choking poison Halahala emerges from the ocean before the treasures and threatens to overwhelm the cosmos. Only the god Shiva is strong enough to swallow the poison, thus neutralising it, and, even in so doing, still requires the help of his consort, the goddess Parvati, who squeezes his throat to trap the poison there. Such is the potency of the poison that, even though Shiva is able to transmute it to make it harmless, it turns his throat permanently blue, so that, ever afterward one of his epithets has been Neelakanta - "the blue-throated one".

title: Datura metel


text:
User:Sealion123

The Village By The Sea Practice

(i) Mr Panwallah refers to Hari as a ‘real city boy’ now. Trace the main events which have helped to shape Hari’s character from the time he left Thul to this point of the story. Refer to the novel in detail in your answer.

There are many events which have helped to shape Hari’s character from the time he left Thul to this point in the story. The first event was knowing Jagu. Jagu took Hari in and let him work in his small kitchen with the other two helpers. Jagu also let Hari sleep in his restaurant like the workers. Hari experienced harsh labour and this made him stronger and not to give up easily, although the kitchen was very hot and stuffy. He had learnt to persevere and to never give up. The second event was to know Mr Panwallah, a watchmaker who gave much faith in Hari. He became friends with Hari as soon as they met each other and even offered Hari a job. He taught Hari how to mend watches and to acquire new skills. From this, Hari began to gain hope and start looking at the bright side of life. Hari and Mr. Panwallah began to chat and Mr. Panwallah taught him lots of philosophies of life. He even lent him a pen and money for Hari to write home. He supported Hari and helped to shape Hari’s character. Mr Panwallah “turned” Hari from a ‘village boy’ to a totally new ‘real city boy’. The third event was Hari being chased away by a policeman in the park. Hari felt that the kitchen he was working in was too hot and stuffy so he went to the park to sleep. However, a policeman came and told him to go home. Then, a man came and told the policeman not to bully small children. He told the policeman that he would rather the policeman to go and chase robbers, than to mind this nitty-gritty matter and disturb Hari. From this incident, Hari learnt from the man that he had to fight for his own rights and not just stay there and be controlled or bullied by other people. The events listed above resulted in Hari beginning to take greater responsibilities and start earning money for his family. Furthermore, he was beginning to be independent and learn how to look after himself. He finally understood how to live in the city and also realized that it was totally different from the village. He was working hard like an adult and becoming more mature. He was also beginning to face the harsh realities of life and learning how to overcome it.

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

title: User:Sealion123


text:
The Runners Four

The Runners Four is the seventh studio album by American indie rock band Deerhoof, released on October 11, 2005 by Kill Rock Stars, ATP Recordings and 5 Rue Christine. A vinyl edition with a different cover was released by the label Children of Hoof.

Personnel

 * Chris Cohen – bass, vocals
 * John Dieterich – guitar, vocals
 * Satomi Matsuzaki – guitar, vocals
 * Greg Saunier – drums, vocals

title: The Runners Four


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Temple Rooms and layouts

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was No consensus. Rx StrangeLove 04:07, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

List of Temple Rooms and layouts
Contextless, meaningless list of stuff. No purpose. R. fiend 14:58, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Cleanup: related to a kid's TV programme called Legends of the Hidden Temple, and linked to from that page. Filiocht | The kettle's on 15:16, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Cleanup and Keep! as above. Trollderella 15:50, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete cruft CLW 16:05, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge into Legends of the Hidden Temple. If the pricing games on The Price is Right can get their own article, then certainly these deserve at least something, if not their own article.  PacknCanes 22:12, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Fancruft; The Price is Right is much more popular than Legends of the Hidden Temple. Andrew pmk | Talk 01:09, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment: Yeah, it is, but WP:NOT paper. We do have precedent for this sort of thing.  Again, even if this can't be its own article, it should be at least merged, at least IMO. PacknCanes 03:03, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge with Legends of the Hidden Temple. (And I would just like to say that most of my childhood was consumed by that show, but I've only watched The Price Is Right in the doctor's office.) --Jacquelyn Marie 03:04, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

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


text:
Bear Island (Lake Temagami)

Bear Island is an island in Lake Temagami of Northeastern Ontario, Canada. With an area of 4.66 km2, it is the second largest island in Lake Temagami after Temagami Island. Much of Bear Island is in Joan Township, a geographic township that also includes the Joan Peninsula to the northwest.

Bear Island is home to the Temagami First Nation and is a portion of the Aboriginal community, the Teme-Augama Anishnabai (the deep water people). It is only a small portion of the Anishnabe's n'Daki Menan (homeland) which includes 10000 km2 of land in the area. Bear Island has had human habitation as early as 1000 BC.

Geology
Bear Island lies at the eastern end of the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, a buried geological structure that is egg shaped.

Notable people

 * Ignace Tonené, former chief.
 * White Bear (Wabimakwa)

title: Bear Island (Lake Temagami)


text:
Order of Ushakov

The Order of Ushakov (орден Ушакова) is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named in honour of admiral Fyodor Ushakov (1744–1817) who never lost a battle and was proclaimed patron saint of the Russian Navy. It is bestowed to command grade naval officers for outstanding leadership. The order was established in two classes during World War II by decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 3, 1944. The idea was given to Joseph Stalin by admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov in the summer of 1943. Following the 1991 dissolution of the USSR, the Order of Ushakov was retained unchanged by Decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation 2557-I of March 20, 1992 but it was not awarded in this form. The all encompassing Presidential Decree 1099 of September 7, 2010 that modernised and reorganised the entire Russian awards system away from its Soviet past amended the Order to its present form, a ribbon mounted single class Order.

Soviet statute
From its establishment in 1944 until September 2010, the Order of Ushakov was awarded to officers of the Navy for outstanding achievements in the development, implementation and prosecution of naval operations resulting in victory over a numerically superior enemy.

The Order of Ushakov 1st class was awarded to naval officers for:

 * excellent organization and conduct of operations against the enemy at sea or against its shore installations, the destruction of enemy naval forces or its coastal bases and fortifications in a sudden and decisive strike based on the full cooperation of all forces and resources of the fleet;
 * well organized and successfully completed naval operation against enemy communications, which led to the destruction of a significant number of its warships and transports;
 * initiative and determination in the management of combat operations resulting in the defeat of a numerically superior enemy, while retaining the combat capabilities of our forces;
 * skilful and covert organisation and management of large-scale amphibious operations, which resulted in heavy enemy losses while retaining the combat capabilities of our forces.

The Order of Ushakov 2nd class was awarded to naval officers for:

 * excellent leadership and successful combat actions at sea against a numerically superior enemy, which led to heavy enemy losses;
 * skilful, swift and bold actions in raiding enemy bases and coastal facilities, resulting in the destruction of large enemy forces and equipment;
 * successful and audacious actions against the enemy lines of communication that led to the destruction of heavily escorted ships and transports of a numerically superior enemy;
 * excellent organisation and management of naval units taking part in a major amphibious operation, or for a well-organised and successful operations during a tactical landing;
 * the successful execution of combat missions, skilful and efficient organization and coordination of all available forces and resources of the fleet in a battle that led to the destruction of a large enemy force;
 * excellent leadership during an operation that led to a major military victory.

The Order of Ushakov 1st class was worn on the right side of the chest and when in the presence of other Orders of the USSR, located immediately after the Order of Suvorov 1st class. The Order 2nd class was also worn on the right side and located immediately after the Order of Suvorov 2nd class.

Soviet and pre September 2010 award description
The Order of Ushakov 1st class was of multi part construction consisting of a five pointed star struck from platinum, an oxidised silver anchor and chain secured to the platinum star with four rivets, and a circular central medallion struck from gold superimposed on the anchor and bearing the relief image of admiral Ushakov, the background being covered in dark blue enamel, around the admiral's head, the inscription in gilt letters "ADMIRAL USHAKOV" («АДМИРАЛ УШАКОВ»), below the admiral, laurel and oak branches bisected by the hammer and sickle. The central medallion was secured to the platinum star by two rivets and surrounded by a gilt rope. On the reverse, a threaded screw and a 33 mm in diameter nut arrangement for attachment to clothing. The award serial number was hand etched in the lower part. The Order 2nd class differed from the 1st class in the materials used in its construction, its five pointed star was made of gold while the anchor and central medallion were of silver and the oak and laurel branches were omitted.

The only noticeable difference between the Soviet and early Russian Federation variants was the abrogation of the hammer and sickle from the latter.

Recipients of the Soviet award (partial list)
The Soviet Union's Order of Ushakov first class was awarded a total of 47 times, the second class 194 times.

The individuals listed below were awarded the Order of Ushakov 1st class:

 * Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov
 * Admiral Gordey Ivanovich Levchenko
 * Admiral Filipp Sergeyevich Oktyabrskiy (Twice)
 * Admiral Vladimir Filippovich Tributs (Twice)
 * Admiral Nikolay Mikhaylovich Kharlamov
 * Admiral Arseniy Grigoriyevich Golovko (Twice)
 * Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Hovhannes Stepani Isakov (Twice)
 * Admiral Stepan Grigorievich Kucherov
 * Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Sergey Georgiyevich Gorshkov (Both classes)
 * Admiral Lev Mikhailovich Galler (Twice)
 * Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB, KBE, MVO
 * Marshal of naval aviation Semen Fedorovich Zhavoronkov (Twice)
 * Admiral Nikolai Ignatievich Vinogradov
 * Admiral Vladimir Antonovich Alafuzov
 * Admiral Pavel Sergeevich Abankin

The individuals listed below were awarded the Order of Ushakov 2nd class:
 * Vice-Admiral Yuri Fedorovich Rall
 * Rear Admiral Vladimir Konstantinovich Konovalov
 * Captain 2nd grade Israel Ilyich Fisanovich
 * Captain 1st grade Ivan Vasilyevich Travkin
 * Admiral Lev Anatolevich Vladimirsky
 * Rear Admiral Nikolai Alexandrovich Lunin
 * Major General of naval aviation Nikolai Vasilievich Tchelnokov
 * Major General of naval aviation Nikolai Alekseevich Musatov
 * Captain of naval aviation Damian Vasil'evich Osyka
 * Captain 1st grade Anton Iosifovich Gurin
 * Captain 1st grade Samuel Nakhmanovich Bogorad
 * Major General of naval aviation Konstantin Dmitrievich Denisov
 * Lieutenant Colonel of naval aviation Andrei Ivanovich Barsky
 * Captain 3rd grade Vasily Markovich Zhil'tchov
 * Captain Lieutenant Ivan Sergeevich Ivanov
 * Admiral Ivan Ivanovich Borzov

The Order of Ushakov was also bestowed to the following units and institutions:
 * Submarine Brigade of the Northern Fleet
 * 2nd Anti-Submarine Brigade of the Northern Fleet
 * Torpedo Boat Brigade "Pechenga" of the Northern Fleet
 * Submarine Brigade of the Baltic Fleet
 * 9th Air Assault Division of the Baltic Fleet
 * Minelaying Flotilla of the Black Sea Fleet
 * Dnieper Flotilla
 * 4th Amur River Flotilla
 * Frunze Higher Naval School
 * N.G. Kuznetsov Naval Academy

Statute of the modern award
The Order of Ushakov is awarded to command grade officers of formations and divisions of the Navy for:
 * skilful organization and conduct of operations during naval combat during which, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, the objectives of the operation were carried out;
 * skilful naval manoeuvres leading to the defeat of superior enemy naval forces;
 * initiative and determination in choosing a place and time of application of the main attack which led to the defeat of the enemy enabling the preservation and combat readiness of forces (troops);
 * the destruction of the enemy fleet or shore facilities;
 * skilful organization causing a sudden and decisive blow to enemy forces based on interaction with other branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;
 * skilful organization in repelling enemy attacks from the sea while retaining the fighting ability of formations and of forces (troops), of operational facilities on home territory, of the main ports of the fleet;
 * success in combined naval (air / sea), amphibious operations, which resulted in achieving its goals.

The Order of Ushakov may also be awarded to military units and formations of the Navy for participation in successful naval operations. It may also be awarded to foreign citizens - soldiers of allied forces from among its senior officers involved alongside troops of the Russian Federation. for organizing and conducting successful joint operations of allied troops (forces).

The Russian Federation order of precedence dictates that the Order of Ushakov is to be worn on the left side of the chest, and in the presence of other orders of the Russian Federation, is to be located immediately after the Order of Suvorov.

Description of the modern award
The Order of Ushakov is a 40 mm wide blue enamelled silver cross pattée, seven silver rays of increasing size protrude from the center between each cross arm. On the obverse, a convex central blue enamelled medallion superimposed over a ship's anchor, the arms and flukes, stock and shackle visible. On the medallion, the gilded bust of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov half turned to the left. Below the medallion, on the crown and arms of the anchor, crossed gilded branches of oak and laurel. On either side of the bust, following the medallion's circumference, the gilded relief inscription "ADMIRAL USHAKOV" («АДМИРАЛ УШАКОВ»). The maximum distance between the tips of opposing silver rays is 45 mm. The plain reverse bears only a relief "N" and a line for the award serial number.

The badge of the Order is suspended by a ring through the award's suspension loop to a standard Russian pentagonal mount covered by an overlapping 24 mm wide white silk moiré ribbon with a 4 mm wide blue central stripe and two 2 mm blue edge stripes.

title: Order of Ushakov


text:
Christian Friedrich

Christian Friedrich may refer to:
 * Christian Friedrich (baseball) (born 1987), American baseball player
 * Christian Friedrich (bobsleigh) (born 1981), German bobsledder
 * Christian Friedrich, Baron Stockmar (1787–1863), Anglo-Belgian statesman

title: Christian Friedrich


text: Talk:SnowCastle of Kemi

title: Talk:SnowCastle of Kemi


text:
Some Thoughts Concerning Education

Some Thoughts Concerning Education is a 1693 treatise on the education of gentlemen written by the English philosopher John Locke. For over a century, it was the most important philosophical work on education in England. It was translated into almost all of the major written European languages during the eighteenth century, and nearly every European writer on education after Locke, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, acknowledged its influence.

In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), Locke outlined a new theory of mind, contending that the mind is originally a tabula rasa or "blank slate"; that is, it did not contain any innate ideas at birth. Some Thoughts Concerning Education explains how to educate that mind using three distinct methods: the development of a healthy body; the formation of a virtuous character; and the choice of an appropriate academic curriculum.

Locke wrote the letters that would eventually become Some Thoughts for an aristocratic friend, but his advice had a broader appeal since his educational principles suggested anyone could acquire the same kind of character as the aristocrats for whom Locke originally intended the work.

Historical context
Rather than writing a wholly original philosophy of education, Locke, it seems, deliberately attempted to popularise several strands of seventeenth-century educational reform at the same time as introducing his own ideas. English writers such as John Evelyn, John Aubrey, John Eachard, and John Milton had previously advocated "similar reforms in curriculum and teaching methods," but they had not succeeded in reaching a wide audience. Curiously, though, Locke proclaims throughout his text that his is a revolutionary work; as Nathan Tarcov, who has written an entire volume on Some Thoughts, has pointed out, "Locke frequently explicitly opposes his recommendations to the 'usual,' 'common,' 'ordinary,' or 'general' education."

As England became increasingly mercantilist and secularist, the humanist educational values of the Renaissance, which had enshrined scholasticism, came to be regarded by many as irrelevant. Following in the intellectual tradition of Francis Bacon, who had challenged the cultural authority of the classics, reformers such as Locke, and later Philip Doddridge, argued against Cambridge and Oxford's decree that "all Bachelor and Undergraduates in their Disputations should lay aside their various Authors, such that caused many dissensions and strives in the Schools, and only follow Aristotle and those that defend him, and take their Questions from him, and that they exclude from the Schools all steril and inane Questions, disagreeing from the ancient and true Philosophy [sic]." Instead of demanding that their sons spend all of their time studying Greek and Latin texts, an increasing number of families began to demand a practical education for their sons; by exposing them to the emerging sciences, mathematics, and the modern languages, these parents hoped to prepare their sons for the changing economy and, indeed, for the new world they saw forming around them.

Text
In 1684, Mary Clarke and her husband Edward asked their friend John Locke for advice on raising their son Edward Jr.; Locke responded with a series of letters that eventually became Some Thoughts Concerning Education. But it was not until 1693, encouraged by the Clarkes and another friend, William Molyneux, that Locke actually published the treatise; Locke, "timid" when it came to public exposure, decided to publish the text anonymously.

Although Locke revised and expanded the text five times before he died, he never substantially altered the "familiar and friendly style of the work." The "Preface" alerted the reader to its humble origins as a series of letters and, according to Nathan Tarcov, who has written an entire volume on Some Thoughts, advice that otherwise might have appeared "meddlesome" became welcome. Tarcov claims Locke treated his readers as his friends and they responded in kind.

Pedagogical theory
Of Locke's major claims in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Some Thoughts Concerning Education, two played a defining role in eighteenth-century educational theory. The first is that education makes the man; as Locke writes at the opening of his treatise, "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education." In making this claim, Locke was arguing against both the Augustinian view of man, which grounds its conception of humanity in original sin, and the Cartesian position, which holds that man innately knows basic logical propositions. In his Essay Locke posits an "empty" mind—a tabula rasa—that is "filled" by experience. In describing the mind in these terms, Locke was drawing on Plato's Theatetus, which suggests that the mind is like a "wax tablet". Although Locke argued strenuously for the tabula rasa theory of mind, he nevertheless did believe in innate talents and interests. For example, he advises parents to watch their children carefully to discover their "aptitudes," and to nurture their children's own interests rather than force them to participate in activities which they dislike —"he, therefore, that is about children should well study their natures and aptitudes and see, by often trials, what turn they easily take and what becomes them, observe what their native stock is, how it may be improved, and what it is fit for."

Locke also discusses a theory of the self. He writes: "the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences." That is, the "associations of ideas" made when young are more significant than those made when mature because they are the foundation of the self—they mark the tabula rasa. In the Essay, in which he first introduces the theory of the association of ideas, Locke warns against letting "a foolish maid" convince a child that "goblins and sprites" are associated with the darkness, for "darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall be so joined, that he can no more bear the one than the other."

Locke's emphasis on the role of experience in the formation of the mind and his concern with false associations of ideas has led many to characterise his theory of mind as passive rather than active, but as Nicholas Jolley, in his introduction to Locke's philosophical theory, points out, this is "one of the most curious misconceptions about Locke." As both he and Tarcov highlight, Locke's writings are full of directives to seek out knowledge actively and reflect on received opinion; in fact, this was the essence of Locke's challenge to innatism.

Body and mind
Locke advises parents to carefully nurture their children's physical "habits" before pursuing their academic education. As many scholars have remarked, it is unsurprising that a trained physician, as Locke was, would begin Some Thoughts with a discussion of children's physical needs, yet this seemingly simple generic innovation has proven to be one of Locke's most enduring legacies—Western child-rearing manuals are still dominated by the topics of food and sleep. To convince parents that they must attend to the health of their children above all, Locke quotes from Juvenal's Satires—"a sound mind in a sound body." Locke firmly believed that children should be exposed to harsh conditions while young to inure them to, for example, cold temperatures when they were older: "Children [should] be not too warmly clad or covered, winter or summer" (Locke's emphasis), he argues, because "bodies will endure anything that from the beginning they are accustomed to." Furthermore, to prevent a child from catching chills and colds, Locke suggests that "his feet to be washed every day in cold water, and to have his shoes so thin that they might leak and let in water whenever he comes near it" (Locke's emphasis). Locke posited that if children were accustomed to having sodden feet, a sudden shower that wet their feet would not cause them to catch a cold. Such advice (whether followed or not) was quite popular; it appears throughout John Newbery's children's books in the middle of the eighteenth century, for example, the first best-selling children's books in England. Locke also offers specific advice on topics ranging from bed linens to diet to sleeping regimens.

Virtue and reason
Locke dedicates the bulk of Some Thoughts Concerning Education to explaining how to instill virtue in children. He defines virtue as a combination of self-denial and rationality: "that a man is able to deny himself his own desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean the other way" (Locke's emphasis). Future virtuous adults must be able not only to practice self-denial but also to see the rational path. Locke was convinced that children could reason early in life and that parents should address them as reasoning beings. Moreover, he argues that parents should, above all, attempt to create a "habit" of thinking rationally in their children. Locke continually emphasises habit over rule—children should internalise the habit of reasoning rather than memorise a complex set of prohibitions. This focus on rationality and habit corresponds to two of Locke's concerns in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Throughout the Essay, Locke bemoans the irrationality of the majority and their inability, because of the authority of custom, to change or forfeit long-held beliefs. His attempt to solve this problem is not only to treat children as rational beings but also to create a disciplinary system founded on esteem and disgrace rather than on rewards and punishments. For Locke, rewards such as sweets and punishments such as beatings turn children into sensualists rather than rationalists; such sensations arouse passions rather than reason. He argues that "such a sort of slavish discipline makes a slavish temper" (Locke's emphasis).

What is important to understand is what exactly Locke means when he advises parents to treat their children as reasoning beings. Locke first highlights that children "love to be treated as Rational Creatures," thus parents should treat them as such. Tarcov argues that this suggests children can be considered rational only in that they respond to the desire to be treated as reasoning creatures and that they are "motivated only [by] rewards and punishments" to achieve that goal.

Ultimately, Locke wants children to become adults as quickly as possible. As he argues in Some Thoughts, "the only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it, into which a young gentleman should be entered by degrees as he can bear it, and the earlier the better." In the Second Treatise on Government (1689), he contends that it is the parents' duty to educate their children and to act for them because children, though they have the ability to reason when young, do not do so consistently and are therefore usually irrational; it is the parents' obligation to teach their children to become rational adults so that they will not always be fettered by parental ties.

Academic curriculum
Locke does not dedicate much space in Some Thoughts Concerning Education to outlining a specific curriculum; he is more concerned with convincing his readers that education is about instilling virtue and what Western educators would now call critical-thinking skills. Locke maintains that parents or teachers must first teach children how to learn and to enjoy learning. As he writes, the instructor "should remember that his business is not so much to teach [the child] all that is knowable, as to raise in him a love and esteem of knowledge; and to put him in the right way of knowing and improving himself." But Locke does offer a few hints as to what he thinks a valuable curriculum might be. He deplores the long hours wasted on learning Latin and argues that children should first be taught to speak and write well in their native language, particularly recommending Aesop's Fables. Most of Locke's recommendations are based on a similar principle of utility. So, for example, he claims that children should be taught to draw because it would be useful to them on their foreign travels (for recording the sites they visit), but poetry and music, he says, are a waste of time. Locke was also at the forefront of the scientific revolution and advocated the teaching of geography, astronomy, and anatomy. Locke's curricular recommendations reflect the break from scholastic humanism and the emergence of a new kind of education—one emphasising not only science but also practical professional training. Locke also recommended, for example, that every (male) child learn a trade. Locke's pedagogical suggestions marked the beginning of a new bourgeois ethos that would come to define Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Class
When Locke began writing the letters that would eventually become Some Thoughts on Education, he was addressing an aristocrat, but the final text appeals to a much wider audience. For example, Locke writes: "I place Vertue [sic] as the first and most necessary of those Endowments, that belong to a Man or a Gentleman." James Axtell, who edited the most comprehensive edition of Locke's educational writings, has explained that although "he was writing for this small class, this does not preclude the possibility that many of the things he said about education, especially its main principles, were equally applicable to all children" (Axtell's emphasis). This was a contemporary view as well; Pierre Coste, in his introduction in the first French edition in 1695, wrote, "it is certain that this Work was particularly designed for the education of Gentlemen: but this does not prevent its serving also for the education of all sorts of Children, of whatever class they are."

While it is possible to apply Locke's general principles of education to all children, and contemporaries such as Coste certainly did so, Locke himself, despite statements that may imply the contrary, believed that Some Thoughts applied only to the wealthy and the middle-class (or as they would have been referred to at the time, the "middling sorts"). One of Locke's conclusions in Some Thoughts Concerning Education is that he "think[s] a Prince, a Nobleman, and an ordinary Gentleman's Son, should have different Ways of Breeding." As Peter Gay writes, "[i]t never occurred to him that every child should be educated or that all those to be educated should be educated alike. Locke believed that until the school system was reformed, a gentleman ought to have his son trained at home by a tutor. As for the poor, they do not appear in Locke's little book at all."

In his "Essay on the Poor Law," Locke turns to the education of the poor; he laments that "the children of labouring people are an ordinary burden to the parish, and are usually maintained in idleness, so that their labour also is generally lost to the public till they are 12 or 14 years old." He suggests, therefore, that "working schools" be set up in each parish in England for poor children so that they will be "from infancy [three years old] inured to work." He goes on to outline the economics of these schools, arguing not only that they will be profitable for the parish, but also that they will instill a good work ethic in the children.

Gender
Locke wrote Some Thoughts Concerning Education in response to his friend Edward Clarke's query on how to educate his son, so the text's "principal aim", as Locke states at the beginning, "is how a young gentleman should be brought up from his infancy." This education "will not so perfectly suit the education of daughters; though where the difference of sex requires different treatment, it will be no hard matter to distinguish" (Locke's emphasis). This passage suggests that, for Locke, education was fundamentally the same for men and women—there were only small, obvious differences for women. This interpretation is supported by a letter he wrote to Mary Clarke in 1685 stating that "since therefore I acknowledge no difference of sex in your mind relating ... to truth, virtue and obedience, I think well to have no thing altered in it from what is [writ for the son]." Martin Simons states that Locke "suggested, both by implication and explicitly, that a boy's education should be along the lines already followed by some girls of the intelligent genteel classes." Rather than sending boys to schools which would ignore their individual needs and teach them little of value, Locke argues that they should be taught at home as girls already were and "should learn useful and necessary crafts of the house and estate." Like his contemporary Mary Astell, Locke believed that women could and should be taught to be rational and virtuous.

But Locke does recommend several minor "restrictions" relating to the treatment of the female body. The most significant is his reining in of female physical activity for the sake of physical appearance: "But since in your girls care is to be taken too of their beauty as much as health will permit, this in them must have some restriction ... 'tis fit their tender skins should be fenced against the busy sunbeams, especially when they are very hot and piercing." Although Locke's statement indicates that he places a greater value on female than male beauty, the fact that these opinions were never published allowed contemporary readers to draw their own conclusions regarding the "different treatments" required for girls and boys, if any. Moreover, compared to other pedagogical theories, such as those in the best-selling conduct book The Whole Duty of a Woman (1696), the female companion to The Whole Duty of Man (1657), and Rousseau's Emile (1762), which both proposed entirely separate educational programs for women, Locke's Some Thoughts appears either more egalitarian, or more unbodied.

Reception and legacy
Along with Rousseau's Emile (1762), Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education was one of the foundational eighteenth-century texts on educational theory. In Britain, it was considered the standard treatment of the topic for over a century. For this reason, some critics have maintained that Some Thoughts Concerning Education vies with the Essay Concerning Human Understanding for the title of Locke's most influential work. Some of Locke's contemporaries, such as seventeenth-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, believed this as well; Leibniz argued that Some Thoughts superseded even the Essay in its impact on European society.

Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education was a runaway best-seller. During the eighteenth century alone, Some Thoughts was published in at least 53 editions: 25 English, 16 French, six Italian, three German, two Dutch, and one Swedish. It was also excerpted in novels such as Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740–1), and it formed the theoretical basis of much children's literature, particularly that of the first successful children's publisher, John Newbery. According to James A. Secord, an eighteenth-century scholar, Newbery included Locke's educational advice to legitimise the new genre of children's literature. Locke's imprimatur would ensure the genre's success.

By the end of the eighteenth century, Locke's influence on educational thought was widely acknowledged. In 1772 James Whitchurch wrote in his Essay Upon Education that Locke was "an Author, to whom the Learned must ever acknowledge themselves highly indebted, and whose Name can never be mentioned without a secret Veneration, and Respect; his Assertions being the result of intense Thought, strict Enquiry, a clear and penetrating Judgment." Writers as politically dissimilar as Sarah Trimmer, in her periodical The Guardian of Education (1802–06), and Maria Edgeworth, in the educational treatise she penned with her father, Practical Education (1798), invoked Locke's ideas. Even Rousseau, while disputing Locke's central claim that parents should treat their children as rational beings, acknowledged his debt to Locke.

John Cleverley and D. C. Phillips place Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education at the beginning of a tradition of educational theory which they label "environmentalism". In the years following the publication of Locke's work, Etienne Bonnot de Condillac and Claude Adrien Helvétius eagerly adopted the idea that people's minds were shaped through their experiences and thus through their education. Systems of teaching children through their senses proliferated throughout Europe. In Switzerland, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, relying on Locke's theories, developed the concept of the "object lesson." These lessons focused pupils' attention on a particular thing and encouraged them to use all of their senses to explore it and urged them to use precise words to describe it. Used throughout Europe and America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, these object lessons, according to one of their practitioners "if well-managed, cultivate Sense-Perception, or Observation, accustom children to express their thoughts in words, increase their available stock of words and of ideas, and by thus storing material for thinking, also prepare the way for more difficult and advanced study."

Such techniques were also integral to Maria Montessori's methods in the twentieth century. According to Cleverley and Phillips, the television show Sesame Street is also "based on Lockean assumptions—its aim has been to give underprivileged children, especially in the inner cities, the simple ideas and basic experiences that their environment normally does not provide." In many ways, despite Locke's continuing influence, as these authors point out, the twentieth century has been dominated by the "nature vs. nurture" debate in a way that Locke's century was not. Locke's optimistic "environmentalism," though qualified in his text, is now no longer just a moral issue – it is also a scientific issue.

title: Some Thoughts Concerning Education


text:
Steve Rixon

Stephen John Rixon (born 25 February 1954) is an Australian cricket coach and former international cricketer. He played in 13 Test matches and six One Day Internationals between 1977 and 1985. He has coached the New Zealand cricket team, New South Wales cricket team, Surrey County Cricket Club, Hyderabad Heroes and the Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Cricket League and was the fielding coach of the Australian national cricket team, Pakistan national cricket team and Sri Lanka national cricket team.

Career
Rixon first came to public attention as a 16-year-old during the 1970/71 Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia, when England's wicket-keeper Alan Knott applauded Rixon's efforts for a Southern New South Wales team against the MCC. Rixon subsequently moved to Sydney to play initially for Waverley before transferring to Western Suburbs. Rixon made his first class debut in 1974–75. He made a first class century, 115, but only scored 232 runs at 17.8 for the season. He took 27 catches and made 4 stumpings.

In 1976-77 Rixon scored 128 in a Shield game.

In 1977, the leading Australian players were signed to World Series Cricket which led to them being banned from official cricket. These players included the then-Australian wicketkeeper Rod Marsh and the reserve keeper on the 1977 Ashes, Richie Robinson. There was a position open for test wicketkeeper. Leading contenders included the experienced John Maclean, the Queensland captain, and Rixon.

Rixon was picked in the first test against India in 1977–78. He scored 9 and 5 with the bat but took five catches in a narrow Australian victory.

In the second test, Rixon scored 50 runs in the first innings, taking part in a valuable 101 partnership with captain Bob Simpson. He took six catches and his second innings knock of 23 was crucial in helping Australia win by 2 wickets. In the third test he took four catches and scored 11 and 12. In the 4th he scored 17 and 11 and took 2 catches. In the final test, which Australia won, he scored 32 and 13 and took 5 catches.

Rixon kept his place on the subsequent tour of the West Indies. In the first test he scored 1 and 0, took two catches and a stumping. In the second he made 16 and 0. In the third he scored 54 (Australia's second top score of the innings) and 39 not out, the latter runs especially crucial in guiding Australia to a three wicket victory. In the fourth test he scored 21 and 13 not out. In the final test he scored 13 not out, took four catches and made a stumping.

Rixon was not selected for the 1978-79 Ashes, the selectors preferring John Maclean, and then Kevin Wright. Wright took the position of wicketkeeper for the 1979 tours of England and India. Rod Marsh returned to the test side in 1979-80 and remained Australia's first choice keeper until his retirement in 1984.

Rixon was back up wicketkeeper on the 1981 Ashes tour of England.

In 1981-82 Rixon captained NSW in the absence of Rick McCosker.

Rod Marsh elected not to tour Sri Lanka in 1982. However, the selectors picked Roger Woolley as keeper instead.

Rod Marsh announced his retirement in 1984 prior to the tour of the West Indies. Australia picked Roger Woolley as the keeper, with Wayne Phillips as reserve. During that tour, Woolley was injured before the first test and Phillips was picked as keeper. Phillips ended up playing four tests in that position, scoring a century in one of them. He played one test as a specialist with Woolley keeping.

Wayne Phillips' performances was seen to be one of the few successes of the 1984 West Indies tour, and Australia kept him on as wicketkeeper for the first two tests against the West Indies at home over the 1984-85 summer. Phillips was then injured and Rixon was recalled to replace him for the third test. This followed Rixon scoring a century in the Sheffield Shield.

Rixon scored 0 and 16 but took 7 catches. In the fourth test he scored 0 and 17. In the fifth test, which Australia won, he scored 20, took three catches and made a stumping.

Rixon was selected on the 1985 Ashes tour of England as reserve keeper, with Phillips as first choice. Then Rixon announced he had signed to play for two seasons in South Africa. He was dropped from the Ashes squad and banned from first class cricket in Australia for two seasons.

Rixon played for the Australian XI in the rebel tour of South Africa over two summers, 1985–86 and 1986–87, but on his return was unable to rejoin the national team.

He returned to NSW for the 1987–88 season but only played three first class games.

Coaching career
Since retiring from playing, he has been the coach of the New Zealand cricket team, New South Wales, Surrey, Hyderabad Heroes of the Indian Cricket League and currently, The Scots College, Sydney.

It was also reported that Rixon was interested in taking over the head coaching job of the Australian cricket team when John Buchanan left at the end of the 2006/07 Ashes series. He was not appointed and instead Tim Nielsen took over.

In the Indian Premier League, he coached the Hyderabad Heroes and later the Chennai Super Kings.

On 28 June 2011, he was appointed Fielding Coach of the Australian Cricket Team replacing Mike Young. In 2014 Rixon was dropped from the Australian coaching set up.

On 15 June 2016, he was appointed the Fielding Coach of the Pakistan Cricket Team under the recommendation of the new head coach, Mickey Arthur. He worked as the Pakistan cricket fielding coach until June 2018. In December 2018, he was appointed fielding coach of Sri Lanka cricket team, and on 14 March 2019 he was handed the coaching duties halfway through the Sri Lanka tour of South Africa.

title: Steve Rixon


text:
Template:NJ Legislative 06

For the 2024-2025 session, the 6th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by James Beach (D, Voorhees Township) and in the General Assembly by Louis Greenwald (D, Voorhees Township) and Pamela Rosen Lampitt (D, Cherry Hill).

title: Template:NJ Legislative 06


text:
User talk:Sealion123

POEM

There is nothing mightier than God Who does not create bots Man and God Who’s the lord?

God control thunder Man plunder What's the difference When both cause disorder?

If God is mage Then Man is Knowledge I see no distinction Who’s the mightiest of all?

Guo Lao Di Is so CUTE!!!
Guo lao di is a very unimportant man in modern history.

title: User talk:Sealion123


text:
User:DropDeadGorgias/monobook.js

importScript('User:AzaToth/twinkle.js');

title: User:DropDeadGorgias/monobook.js


text:
Ulster Independence Movement

The Ulster Independence Movement was an Ulster nationalist political party founded (as the Ulster Independence Committee) on 17 November 1988. The group emerged from the Ulster Clubs, after a series of 15 public meetings across Northern Ireland. Led by Hugh Ross, a Presbyterian minister from Dungannon, County Tyrone, the UIC sought to end what it saw as the tyranny of rule from London (and potentially Dublin) and instead set up an independent Northern Ireland.

Early development
The UIC initially had a network of 11 branches and first entered the political arena in 1990 when Ross stood in a by-election for the Upper Bann constituency following the death of sitting MP Harold McCusker. Finishing as fourth out of eleven candidates with 1534 votes (4.3%) (and ahead of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland candidate), the result indicated to the UIC that there was potential for an Ulster nationalist party.

The Committee reconstituted itself in 1994 as a full political party (largely as a reaction to the Downing Street Declaration), changing its name to the UIM and putting forward Ross as a candidate in the 1994 elections to the European Parliament (one of three pro-independence candidates to stand). Ross proved the most successful of the three, gaining 7,858 first preference votes (a 1.4% share) and retained his deposit. In the aftermath of this election a general meeting of pro-independence groups and individuals was organised by Ross after overtures were sent out to David Kerr, Robert Mooney (the other two Ulster nationalist candidates in the European election) and the Ballymena-based Ulster Party. Mooney did not turn up but Kerr and Agnes McLeister of the Ulster Party agreed to pool resources and join forces with Ross' movement.

1996 Forum election
Buoyed by the relative success of the previous election and the influx of new affiliates, the UIM put up 40 candidates in 18 seats in the Northern Ireland Forum elections of 1996, its most high-profile election campaign. With every seat contested as well as the regional list (which was headed by Ross) Kerr was placed as a candidate in North Belfast with McLeister in North Antrim, whilst other candidates who had or would go on to have a higher profile included Willie Frazer in Newry and Armagh (who subsequently organised Families Acting for Innocent Relatives and Love Ulster) and Kenny McClinton and Clifford Peeples in West Belfast (a pastor who was later jailed for possession of explosives ).

Despite this higher profile campaign the UIM's vote dropped as parties directly associated with loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the Ulster Democratic Party and Progressive Unionist Party, began to win votes. Alongside this, the party was still not the only Ulster nationalist option, and finished behind Ulster's Independent Voice in North Belfast and Strangford, whilst beating them in West Belfast and tying exactly with them in North Down. The UIM polled 2125 votes (0.3%) across Northern Ireland and no representation was secured.

Subsequent activity
Party activity continued after the signing of the Belfast Agreement, with the UIM playing a role in the unsuccessful 'No' campaign against it. The party fielded two candidates in the Northern Ireland Assembly of 1998 but failed to win a seat. Seeing their chances becoming increasingly diminished, the UIM formally abandoned their role as a political party in January 2000 and instead reconstituted as a 'ginger group'. This came in the wake of a Channel 4 programme, "The Committee", which alleged links between the UIM and loyalist killings, allegations that damaged their credibility and saw a number of members leave the group.

The UIM is all but dead now, even as a think tank, although some of its former members have continued as members of the Ulster Third Way.

title: Ulster Independence Movement