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Talk:Rajput/Archive 4

Rajput: Re-stating the Problem Statement
At the risk of being labelled politically incorrect, and insensitive may I humbly suggest that Rajputs are not a Homogenous group in terms of a "race". In years to come, this disambiguation would no more be there because of Mitochondrial_DNA testing. (Already the research conducted by Indian scientists and Westerners is pointing the inconlusivness of one single ancestor theory.) The Rajputs are indeed a social group based on a somewhat common worldview about their past. However, there is plenty of literature on the formation of tribes, races, castes, etc. Some of it is in the Indian context. This could be helpful in understanding the identity question.

Secondly, the idea that non-Hindus can't be Rajputs is inherently flawed. Hinduism is a way of life, a combination of various religious beliefs, traditions and practices. It is not a monolith. Nor is it a formal religion. Thanks to the British, we know now of Hinduism as religon. Most of "Orientalism" was actually to gain control over the eastern wealth and resources.

May I request Shonan Talpade to be a little gentle while presenting his arguments, if he has any. His rejoinder to Omer Khan was quite inappropriate. The response entitled "Northern India" (above) is equally irresponsible.

M Gazdar --203.101.162.47 13:44, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Response to posters who claim turks/arabs/mughals/muslims were better warriors then rajputs and some comments on musalman rajputs-Shivraj Singh
Battles between rajputs and muslims.

Muslims started attacking India within a few decades of the birth of islam. For a few hundred years they had no success. Bin Qasim was able to defeat Dahir in Sindh but was routed by Bappa Rawal. Qasim attacked chittore, which was ruled by Mori Rajputs, via Mathura. Bappa, of guhilote dynasty, was a commander in Mori army and so was Dahir's son. Bappa defeated and pursued Bin Qasim through Saurashtra and back to Sindh. After this resounding defeat of the caliphate at the hands of Bappa, for next few hundered years there were no more incursions into India. (note muslim historians rarely recorded the defeats of there kings)

Then Mahmud started his raids and was succesful in looting Somnath.

Ghori attacked many times.First time he was routed in present day Gujarat by Rajputs. After this defeat he never entered India thru Gujarat. In first battle of Taraori (tarain is misspelledword) Prithviraj chauhan captured Ghori and Ghori begged for his life. Prithviraj allowed him to go despite his generals asking him not to do so.Following year Ghori came again. Prithviraj advanced with his army and sent a letter to Ghori. In this letter ghori was asked to return as he had been beaten last year and was spared his life. Ghori replied that he was in India on the orders of his brother and he can only retreat after he gets a word from his brother. This letter was sent in the evening and Ghori moved his camp back a few kilometers. On receiving this letter and seing Ghori move his camp back Prithviraj assumed that Ghori is not interested in fighting. Ghori also knew that Rajputs did not fight in the night and only started fighting after sun had come up. He attacked in the early morning hours when Prithviraj and his army were sleeping and was able to win this war. So much for the bravery of Turks/Arabs etc.

Later Alla-ud-din Khilji usurped delhi from his relative. Khilji wanted to win Chittor because sisodiyas of chittor never accepted the rule of Islam. Another reason was Rani Padmini. He laid a siege but Chittor would not fall. Then he requested Rana Ratan Singh, husband of Rani Padmini, that if he is allowed a glimpse of Rani he would leave. By this time the situation inside the fort was getting bad. Rana discussed this with his advisers and they agreed that they can show Padmini's face in a mirror to the sultan. The meeting took place and afterwards out of courtesy when Rana was walking Khliji out of the palace, khilji's men captured Rana Ratan Singh. Khilji sent a mesg to the fort that Rana can be spared by exchanging Rani Padmini. Padmini discussed this with Gorah, her maternal uncle, who was a chauhan rajput. Gora told her not to worry and that he would go and bring back Rana Ratan Singh and Sultan is not brave enough to stop him. Padmini's nephew Badal who was just sixteen also assured her. A mesg was sent from the fort to Khlji that Padmini would come with 700 of her servants in "palanquins" (palki in hindi) and that no muslim soldier should peek inside the palki to outrage the modesty of the women. Letter also said that before Padmini meets khilji she would like to talk to Rana. khilji agreed. All the palki's had the best rajput warriors with two swords each. When Padmini's palki, which was occupied by Gora, reached Rana's tent he asked Rana to mount the horse and go back to the fort. Then Gora gave a signal and every rajput came out of the palki and attacked the muslims who were cut to pieces. Gora reached Khilji's tent and was about to kill the sultan when khilji moved his concubine infront of him. Gora, being a rajput could not kill an innocent women and these few seconds were enough for khliji's guards to kill Gora from behind.

Prithviraj's descendant Hammir deo chauhan ruled ranthambore. Jalore was ruled by another branch of Chauhans, the Songaras. During Khilji's time Somnath temple was attacked again and ulugh khan, the mongol general, had broken the shiv linga and was carrying it back to delhi. Kanhad Dev, ruler of Jalore, attacked Ulugh Khan, defeated him and took the shiv ling from Ulugh's army and reinstated the broken pieces in a few temples around jalore. One of ulugh's general was a neo-muslim and and he had helped Kanhad deo. This general later went and stayed with Hammir deo in ranthambore. Khilji wanted him dead and asked Hammir to hand him over. Hammir replied that he knows how to draw his sword and anyone who has taken shelter in his fort would not be turned over. Khliji attacked ranthambore but his armies were defeated. He finally came himself and and somehow managed to bribe two generals in Hammir's army and consequently Ranthambore fell.

Later Rana Kumbha repeatedly defeated sultans of Malwa and Gujarat and built 32 forts in rajasthan. Even the combined armies of sultans of Malwa and Gujarat could not beat Kumbha.

In his line was Rana Sangram Singh or Sanga. Sanga defeated Ibrahim Lodi in 1519. Lodi was defeated by Babur later. Now Babur was having sleepless nights because of Sanga. Babur sent about 1500 choice cavalry to attack Sanga. These were butchered by Sanga's rajputs. Babur wanted to discuss peace terms. For discussions Sanga sent his general Silhadi (Shiladitya). Babur won this general by promising him independent kingdom. Silhadi came back and reported that babur does not want peace and he wants to fight. Fight started and Babur's army was being knocked out of the field and victory was certain for Sanga. At this juncture Silhadi and his army just left the field and this tilted the war in favor of Babur and he won.

Humayun, Babur's son was beaten by Sher Shah Suri, a pathan. Humayun was forced to leave India and Sher Shah became ruler of delhi. Sisodiya's and Mewar were not able to recover from Sanga's treacherous defeat fully yet. In rajasthan Rathores were becoming very powerful. Rao Maldeo, rathore king, had extended his territory to within a couple of hundred kilometers of delhi. Sher Shah attacked Maldeo. Maldeo came with a force of 40 thousand and sher shah had 60 thousand. In the evening Shershah sent forged letters to Maldeo's camp. In these letters it was stated that few generals from Maldeo's army were buying arms from SherShah's army. This caused great consternation in Maldeo who thought there is treachery and that some of his generals had crossed over to Sher Shah. Maldeo left with 20 thousand men. In reality there was no treachery. Later when Maldev's generals, Kumpa and Jaita found out what happened they did not loose cool and decided they would not leave the field even though they just had 20 thousand men and had to face 60 thousand pathans of sher shah. Finally battle of sammel was fought and sher shah was shocked by what he saw. SherShah's top generals lost there lives and his army suffered heavy losses. After this Sher Shah commented that "for a few grains of Bajra he had almost lost the entire kingdom of India". (Bajra is a crop that grows in marwar region of rajasthan). It is a moot point now but had Maldeo not retreated because of the fake letter Rathores/Rajputs would have defeated SherShah.

Humayun's son Akbar was born in the palace of a Hindu king who had given Humayun shelter when he was being pursued by SherShah. Akbar realized that he can never subdue Rajputs and become sole ruler of India. He decided to pursue diplomacy and was able to convince the rajput rulers of Amber (present day Jaipur) about a matrimonial alliance. King of Amber agreed and Jodha Bai became Akbar's queen and mother of Salim/Jahangir. Soon other Rajput kingdoms in rajasthan also gave there daughters to Akbar. This was the darkest period in the history of Rajputs.

Only two kings remained against this. The sisodiyas of Mewar and Hadas of Ranthambore. Hadas are chauhans. Finally Man Singh of Amber and Akbar went and met Surjan Hada that he should become friends with Akbar and Surjan some how agreed but one of his conditions of friendship was that no daughter of Hadas would ever be asked to marry mughals and Akbar agreed. So there remained just the house of Mewar the sole bearer of Rajput pride in the face of immense opposition from Mughals as well as other rajputs who had sold there souls essentially to mughals by giving there daughters.

Maharana Pratap the sisodiya ruler of Mewar passed a law in his state that none of his followers will intermarry with other rajputs of rajasthan who have given there daughters to Muslims. This lwas was followed completely by his loyal band of rajputs which included Rathores/Chauhans/Sisodiyas/Parihars/Tomars/Jhala. Maharana Pratap never accepted Akbar as king of India and all his life kept fighting Akbar. Pratap's son, Amar Singh, fought 17 wars with mughals but he finally accepted themas rulers. At this time a large chunk of Maharana Pratap's band of loyal Rajputs became disillusioned by the surrender and left Rajasthan. This group includes Rathores/Deora Chauhans/Parihaars/Tomars/Jhala. They are called "Rors" and are settled mostly in Haryana and some in UP. Till today they do not intermarry with other rajputs but "gotra permitting" with other rors only.

Akbar was very unhappy with Maharana Pratap and he first tried diplomacy to win over Maharana but nothing worked. Pratap just said he has no intention to fight with Akbar but he cannot bow down to Akbar and accept him as the ruler.

Finally Akbar attacked Maharana at haldighati. Akbar's general was Man Singh Kacchwaha of Amber and had 40 thousand men. Maharana had about 8 thousand men and some bhil warriors. During the first attack Maharana's army routed the mughals and mughals ran for there life. Maharana decided to kill Man Singh. Maharana's horse chetak put his front feet on the trunk of the elephant that Man Singh was riding and Maharana threw his lance. Man Singh ducked and the elephant driver was killed. Man Singh was lucky to escape. Finally the numerical superiority was too much and the battle ended in a stalemate. When mughal army entered the nearyby town they were so mortified that Maharana would attack them again that no one would venture out of the camp for months. They ran out of food and conditions were just miserable in the mughal camp. Finally help arrived many months later. Akbar was very unhappy with his generals and his army and he refused to see his generals for months.

Akbar kept sending expedition after expedition against Maharana Pratap but never succeded. He lost lot of money and men in trying to defeat Maharana Pratap. For 30 years Pratap remained ahead of Akbar and in last ten years of his life was able to free most of his kingdom. The only fort Pratap could not recover was Chittor and that saddened him a lot. His son, Amar Singh, won that fort after Pratap's death.

It is said that somebody told Akbar that Pratap wants to accept Akbar as the king. Akbar was very happy to hear this. One of Akbar's general was Prthviraj Rathore who was a very good poet. He told Akbar this is a lie (incidentally Prithviraj's mother and Pratap's mother were real sisters). Prithviraj wrote this letter to Pratap:

''"The hopes of the Hindu rest on the Hindu yet the Rana forsakes them. But for Pratap, all would be placed on the same level by Akbar; for our chiefs have lost their valour and our females their honour. Akbar is the broker in the market of our race; he has purchased all but the son of Udai (Singh II of Mewar); he is beyond his price. What true Rajput would part with honour for nine days (nauroza); yet how many have bartered it away? Will Chittor come to this market ...? Though Patta (an affectionate name for Pratap Singh) has squandered away wealth (on warfare), yet he has preserved this treasure. Despair has driven man to this market, to witness their dishonour: from such infamy the descendant of Hamir (Hamir Singh) alone has been preserved. The world asks, from where does the concealed aid of Pratap emanate? None but the soul of manliness and his sword .. The broker in the market of men (Akbar) will one day be surpassed; he cannot live forever. Then will our race come to Pratap, for the seed of the Rajput to sow in our desolate lands. To him all look for its preservation, that its purity may again become resplendent. It is as much impossible for me to believe that Pratap has called Akbar his emperor as to see the sun rising in the west. Tell me where do I stand? Shall I use my sword on my neck or shall I continue my proud bearing? "''

Pratap replied to him:

"By my god Eklinga, Pratap would call the emperor Turk alone and the sun would rise in the east. You may continue your proud bearing as long as Pratap's sword dangles on the mughal head. Pratap would be guilty of Sanga's blood, if he was to tolerate Akbar.  you would have the better of it, no doubt Prithviraj, in this wordy quarrel."

Prithviraj was overjoyed on getting this letter.

After Akbar in his line, few generations later, came Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb did not like Jaswant Singh, ruler of Marwar. When Jaswant Singh Rathore died he had no son and this gave Aurang a chance to appoint a muslim as the ruler of marwar. This upset rathore rajputs a lot. Two of Jaswant Singh's queens were in the family way when Jaswant Singh died. One queen gave birth to Ajit Singh. After his birth, Rathore generals, chief among them was DurgaDas Rathore, went to Delhi along with the queens and Ajit Singh, who was an infant, and asked Aurnagzeb that the crown of marwar should be given to Ajit Singh. Aurangzeb was a very cunning and immoral fellow and he had no intention of handing over the throne of marwar. He wanted to kill them all. Durgadas sensed this and they smuggled Ajit Singh out of Delhi to the outskirts of the city. When Mughal army came to capture them in delhi DurgaDas and his men attacked the mughals and started riding out of delhi. Raghunandan Bhati and others soaked the streets of Delhi in crimson by flowing the blood of mughal pursuers. There were about three hundred rajputs with Durgadas and there were thousands of pursuing mughals. Every so often 15 - 20 rajputs would fall behind attack the mughal pursuers and in the process get themselves killed but it allowed the forward party to create some distance between Ajit and the mughals. This continued till the evening by which time mughals had given up and Durgadas was left with just seven men out of three hundred he started with and reached Jaipur along with Ajit Singh.

Thereby started the 30 year rajput rebellion against Aurangzeb. Mewar and Marwar forces combined together and almost killed Aurangzeb when he was trapped in the mountains of rajasthan but the Mewar king out of magnanimity allowed aurangzeb to escape.

All the trade routes were plundered by rajputs and they started looting various treasuries of rajasthan and gujarat. To crush them Aurang sent many expeditions but no success. These expeditions and drying up of revenue from trade routes running thru rajasthan had severe effect on his resources.

Finally on his deathbed Aurang complained that his life had been a complete failure. He was the sole reason for Mughal empire's crumbling. His war campaigns had practically left the treasury dry for his progeny.

A point to note here is that lot of Muslims and some hindu historians like Romila Thapar think that Islam/Muslims did not do conversion of Hindus by sword. The argument they give is that there are so many hindus still today in India. This is completely wrong because most muslim rulers in India tried to convert as many as they could but it was the strength of rajput sword that kept hinduism alive in India. If there were no rajputs in India then India would be just like Iraq/Iran/Turkey/ Pakistan in terms of religion of the population.

Muslim Rajputs in India There are rajput muslims in India. They are called "ranghars". These people are proud of there lineage and do not intermarry with other muslims but only marry with other "ranghars". They come to rajput villages to celebrate diwali/dusshera and the village elders give them "hukka" a sign of respect.

All castes in India have muslims in them. Wether it is rajputs/jats/gurjars/ baniyas/brahmins. This is due to conversions which were mostly forcible after a battle was lost and sometimes tactical i.e some army commanders changed religous alegiance for a life of comfort in the imperial court. e.g Nahur Khan who was a rathore (see James Tod's book). In Tod's book there is mention of bhattis converting to Islam and there are more examples besides these.

The question is that if a rajput who converted to islam for whatever reason, but still maintains his unique identity, does not intermarry with other muslims, then it is OK for him to proclaim that he is musalman rajput.

My Reply
I fully agree with Kunwar Ji about his views, which is true, about rajputs. The respect and prominence Rajputs got was due to their ethics and code of conducts. Their bravery against imposing opposition and their determination against all odds. It was their conviction and a courage to live up to that conviction no matter what the cost is rajputi. Those who could not perform to that highest level of idealism have lost their status as a Rajput. If some ones ancestors have abondoned their faith and conviction for comforts and safety,they had lost their status as a rajput hence they are not Rajputs. Period. No disacussion. Akbar married a hindu princesse but their son was never considered a Rajput even when they were ruling most part of india. So if some muslims became raja or ruler that does not mean they will became rajput. So ruling status was nothing to do with being rajput even though most of the rajputs were rulers. So guys get over it.

Dinesh Singh Naruka

My reply,

You have expressed your naievette in saying what a professor will know on this subject when a pundit has expressed.....

I will not argue on pundit's knowledge of varna system. He may be knowing something about it but he is talking of Kshatriya varn which encompasses many other casts including rajputs. That doesnot mean all other khstriyas including jatt, ahir and gujjars will become a rajput. These so called pundits even objected Akbars conversion in to rajput and now has become generous to your visits to temple. That is good sign. I am not against any religion and any cast. It does not matter if some one is muslim or hindu and if some one is baniya or rajput. It is Ok but to claim that some one is rajput because their ancestors were will have to be seen in the light of rajputi.

Rajput as I have written in previous section is the one who can not be forced to deter from his convictions. Rajputs were put to severe pressure during islamic conquest. Those who could withstand that pressures continued as a rajput those who succumbed did lose their status. Because those rajputs could not show rajputi courage against ovewhelming odds and could not sacrifice for their conviction and hence have lost their claim to be a rajput. One can try reclaiming that glory by arguing in favor of their lineage but that is just an argument. To become a rajput they will have show now greater courage and commitment to thier convictions during serious distress and overwhelming odds. If they could remain undaunted and could endure then they can think off claiming their heritage. Till then it will remain just a discussion and time pass.

Sincerely,

Dinesh K. Singh Naruka

To Shivraj Singh ji
I must stress that I don't agree with the notion that Turks etc. are better fighters than Rajputs. I stated in the above post that this was a 'simple' view by simple folk who have a basic view of the huge developments that took place in India historically during their battles and wars. The details you have stated above are interesting and I am grateful for that, but I didnt state that this was my view. I apologise if it appears so. I profoundly believe that all wars and battles are a cycle which must turn and the outcome has a bigger picture beyond our understanding, predetermined by the Almighty. Many warriors of honour have won and many have lost from all sides throughout history as we are all aware. I can confirm I know many Muslim Rajputs who do not hand their daughters out to non Muslim Rajputs. Although some do this because of class clash, the majority mainly do this due to the particular upbringing that they have and the domestic atmosphere that exists there. To being in someone who is not from such an environment would certainly breed problems, especially in our general Indian culture (which can be unforgiving should the marriage go wrong..) I would like to state that it is a common view of a lot of our counterparts in India that the masses were force converted. This may have been the case under some very tyrannical rulers, but it doesn't obliviate the fact that Islam won over many converts from all walks of life from Shudras to Rajputs and Brahmins. To state the force conversion in only a 'forced' light is not very neutral and fair. Many of such mentioned forced converts had the opportunity to revert, why didnt they? If Islam was so unfair and militant then why did they accept it and later generations become staunch supporters of it? Regardless of faith, it is not the Religion which is often the bad element, it is some poor followers of it. It is a well known fact that a Janjua Sardaar, Raja Ajmal Dev Shahi of Rajghar had accepted Islam without duress or force and was infact a rebel against the foreign Ghorid armies. However, none of his sons were Muslims? His grandsons later accepted Islam. Now if one follows the logic of forced conversions equalled all families were from then on converts, this proves it wrong. He never forced his family to adopt Islam (as I have mentioned Islam clearly states "There is no compulsion in Faith"- true rulers ashered to this, some poor ones obviously didnt) but not all Rajputs were forced and you must understand this. They had members of the clan who remained Hindu and dint accept Islam but they would continue to fight with their Muslim cousins whenever required and vice versa. They still lived side by side. Had their been a forced conversion of this clan for instance, then surely thwy would have all been converted at best. And at least, the Hindu clan members would have broken ties with their Muslim cousins. This was not the case at all. To state that the rest of the Hindu population would have become Muslim had not the Rajputs stood in their way cannot account for the millions who did convert from choice. This is a talk page on Rajputs and it would be better if it stays on this topic as opposed to becoming a 'Islam in India' talk. M Gazdar- it is an interesting point regarding the DNA references you have made. It is interesting especially when it is mentioned by some that Rajputs are a different trace altogether which it is obvious not the case.

This is Shivraj again
In Indian history there were more forced conversions and very few voluntary ones. The common man was converted forcibly while hindu kings/army commanders did so to not loose there kingdom or there job and continue a life of comfort. Such kings/commanders were a very small minority.

Regarding why people who were force converted not revert back: In hinduism there is no way to "become a hindu or convert to hinduism". This is the only religion on earth which did not beleive in conversion and the scriptures provide no formal procedure to make somebody a hindu. Either you are a born hindu or not.(That said in last 30 years or so the hindu organizations in India like RSS VHP have "invented" a procedure to convert "the converted christians" back to hinduism. This is mostly a backlash  against christian missionaries who were converting tribals).

The example you have given about janjua sardar Shahi is valid and there are more such examples. But as I stated earlier the conversion of kings/nobles/commanders dwarfed the conversion rate of common man.

The truth is that rajput bravery and there might created fear in the hearts of mughals and they dare not do anything outrageous. This is just a simple case of one power keeping the oher in check.

If most conversions were voluntary, because of virtues of Islam,then we should see the same rate of conversion even today in India. Clearly that is not the case. Even shudras today would not convert to Islam no matter how badly they are treated in India. The point here is that once people like there own religion/gods/ceremonies they do not want to change.

I do not want this discussion to become a debate on conversion but tranport yourself 350 years back. Imagine you are a hindu living in a muslim ruled town. Also assume you are a farmer (which 99% of the population was). Now back then jaziya was imposed which is an income tax just on non muslims. Droughts/failing crops was common and on top of that you had to pay jaziya. If you could not pay it your crops will be taken and your family will die. What would you do in such a case?

I again state that Iraq/Iran/Turkey/Pakistan etc became >80% islamic states because there was no opposing power to act as a balance against the muslim kings.

title: Talk:Rajput/Archive 4


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Buttonwillow Raceway Park

Buttonwillow Raceway Park is a motorsports park in Kern County, California, 10 mi north of the town of Buttonwillow and 28 mi northwest of Bakersfield. Opened in 1995, it is owned and operated by the California Sports Car Club, a region of SCCA, Buttonwillow is the "flagship" track of Cal Club, and is also the location of the Club's administrative offices.

The track offers multiple configurations, with the configuration "Race #13 CW" being the most popular. Many time attack series, most notably Super Lap Battle, hold their events with the 13CW configuration.

The Super Lap Battle is a time attack event held at Buttonwillow since 2004.

The track was repaved in July 2014.

A new, technical circuit is scheduled to finish construction in 2023. The addition will include a new tower building, Tesla Supercharger stations, and new garages. The new track will be named as "The Circuit", with the original track being renamed as "The Classic".

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

title: Buttonwillow Raceway Park


text: User talk:69.153.103.184

title: User talk:69.153.103.184


text: User talk:24.239.212.102

title: User talk:24.239.212.102


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Jon Cougar Concentration Camp

Jon Cougar Concentration Camp is an American punk rock band from San Diego, California, United States.

History
Jon Cougar Concentration Camp was formed in January 1994 in San Diego by Chris Fields, Clint Graham, Travis Spatter, and Travis Milligan. The band named themselves after a pun on musician John Cougar Mellencamp. They played their first show at The Casbah on January 31, 1994, and less than two months later self-released their first 7” EP. This would be the only recording with Clint and Travis, who both left the band. Bass guitarist Dave Swain was eventually added and the band continued as a trio.

Their eponymous debut album came in 1995 on Second Guess Records. Til Niagara Falls was released on punk label BYO Records in 1997. This would be followed up by two more albums in 1998, Melon an album of new JCCC material, and Too Tough to Die a track for track cover of the Ramones album of the same name.

During a break between tours and recording Dave and Chris joined The Queers and played on their album Punk Rock Confidential. Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia (who had produced Melon) also invited Chris to join his band. Chris would join The Dwarves, and after being overwhelmed by being in three bands, left the Queers and ended Jon Cougar Concentration Camp. A final JCCC album Hot Shit was released in 1999.

After a ten-year hiatus the band reunited in 2009. They recorded another song for song cover album, this time a version of Screeching Weasel's My Brain Hurts titled My Hair Hurts. It was released on Livid Records as a vinyl only release in November 2009.

Jon Cougar Concentration Camp was included in the list of "100 Best Band Names of All Time" by Paste Magazine in December, 2009.

In 2015, the band released the four-track EP Armageddon Party on Rad Girlfriend Records, their first release of original music in 15 years.

Studio albums

 * Jon Cougar Concentration Camp (That's Il-Legal -- Go Get Them) (1995)
 * 'Til Niagara Falls... (1997)
 * Melon (1998)
 * Too Tough to Die (1998)
 * Hot Shit (1999)
 * My Hair Hurts (2009)
 * Armageddon Party (EP) (2015)

Compilation albums

 * No More Room in Hell (2000)

title: Jon Cougar Concentration Camp


text:
Poway–Midland Railroad

The Poway–Midland Railroad is a heritage railroad located in Old Poway Park in Poway, California.

The group "Poway–Midland Railroad Volunteers, Inc." operates the railroad and was founded in 1991 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration, operation and maintenance of antique railroad equipment.

Excursions are run each weekend (the 1st and 3rd weekends of each month using a 1907 Baldwin 0-4-0 steam locomotive, except in January or February ). The line has 11 total pieces of railroad equipment. This operation is unusual in that it has a track gauge of narrow gauge.

The Poway–Midland Railroad is owned by the City of Poway and operated and maintained by the Poway–Midland Railroad Volunteers, Inc.

Preserved equipment

 * 1907 Baldwin Steam Locomotive
 * 1956 Fairmont Speeder
 * 1906 San Francisco Cable Car

Historic timeline

 * May 1991 – Initial meeting
 * Nov 1991 – Incorporation of the PMRR Volunteers
 * Sep 1991 – Boxcar arrives on site
 * Apr 1993 – Trolley arrives on site
 * Jun 1993 – Track work completed
 * Jul 4 1993 – Old Poway Park dedication
 * Jul 4 1993 – First passenger carried behind speeder
 * Sep 1994 – First locomotive passenger run
 * Jul 1996 – Record passenger haul (2,500)
 * Jan 1997 – First woman fireman qualified
 * Oct 1997 – San Francisco Cable Car arrives
 * Jul 4 2002 – Turntable dedicated
 * Oct 2004 – Barn expansion dedicated
 * Oct 2009 – Depot dedicated (new ticket office, train shop, and museum)

Statistics

 * Total passengers: 425,336 (As of 1 November 2006)
 * Total volunteer hours: 74,492 (As of August 2006)
 * 1,866 passengers July 4, 2005
 * 1,829 passengers Train Song Fest 2006
 * 1,732 passengers Christmas in the Park 2004
 * 1,422 Rendezvous 2005
 * Operation Lifesaver program presented to 20,000+ viewers
 * 40–50 Operations Lifesaver presentations annually
 * 397 active members

title: Poway–Midland Railroad


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Kara Thrace

Kara Thrace (callsign "Starbuck") is a fictional character in the reimagined 2004 Battlestar Galactica series. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series. She is one of the main characters on the show.

Overview
Described by a critic as "one of television's most complex, ever-evolving characters", the role of Starbuck changed over the run of the series. According to Sackhoff, Starbuck originally "didn't value her own life," and this attitude inspired her readiness to die for her shipmates. By the end of the series, however, she is prepared to sacrifice herself for others because she respects all life. The character's physical appearance is based on Sackhoff's perception of Starbuck as an extremely fit, hard-drinking individual. "I didn't want Starbuck to be completely ripped," said Sackhoff. "This is a girl who drinks most of her calories.". A psychologist who specialises in treating Borderline Personality Disorder has described Starbuck's character as showing "many borderline traits, including unstable emotions, behaviours and relationships, self-destructive behaviors, boundary diffusion, identity confusion, impulsivity, and intense attachments."

Kara Thrace bears some parallels to the original 1978 Starbuck character: both are portrayed as hot-headed and arrogant fighter pilots, considered the best in the fleet, but with a tendency to challenge authorities and get into trouble. Both are avid gamblers and enjoy drinking, smoking cigars, and having sex. Both have crashed and been marooned on a deserted planet, using a downed Cylon ship to make an escape. Both are best friends with Apollo. Kara had a relationship with Apollo's late brother Zak (mirroring the original Starbuck's on-and-off relationship with Apollo's sister Athena), affecting her relationship with Apollo and Zak's father, William Adama.

Whereas the original Starbuck, played by Dirk Benedict, was a slick, well-groomed ladies' man, Kara appears more rugged and grimy. The characters differ, not only in respect of their gender – complicating Kara's relationships with other characters – but also in outward appearance. USA Today described her as "the broken warrior, a young, idealistic soldier who has been fighting for all the right reasons, but has lost something along the way."

Background
The series bible developed for the TV series by Ron D. Moore states that Kara Thrace was born on Picon, but because her mother was in the Colonial Marines, she grew up as a military brat bouncing between different military bases on different planets during her entire childhood. The result is that she has no particular attachment to Picon and lived on Caprica for some years before the TV series begins. As this information is from the series bible but never stated on-screen, it is unknown if Kara is canonically considered a Caprican or a Picon. However, her situation appears somewhat similar to Gaius Baltar, who grew up on Aerilon but moved to Caprica when he left home for university, then stayed the rest of his life there and abandoned all connections to his past. As Ron Moore has said, the Twelve Colonies of Kobol united under one government only fairly recently, during the first Cylon war fifty years ago, thus many people still think in terms of affiliation to each of the "Twelve Tribes" - but technically under the new federal government, they switched to a residency system. Thus, as Moore explained, Baltar was able to become the Caprican delegate to the Quorum of Twelve as a naturalized citizen of Caprica and considered himself to be a Caprican in nationality, but he was not ethnically a "Caprican". Similarly, Kara may be ethnically a Picon, but she loosely considers herself to be a naturalized Caprican.

Kara Thrace had intended to be a professional pyramid ballplayer until her knee gave out. She eventually joined the military, where she found more acceptance than she had felt at home as an abused child. Although Kara's mother, Socrata Thrace, had served as a corporal in the first Cylon war, Kara was the first person in the family to become a commissioned officer. Socrata was not content with her daughter's military record, however, claiming she was not disciplined enough and was wasting her natural talent for flying. Kara's father, Dreilide Thrace, was a pianist. He left the family when Kara was a child, as Socrata had forced him to make a choice between his beloved piano playing and a steadier job to support the family.

As a flight instructor at the Colonial flight school, Kara met and became romantically involved with one of her students, Zak Adama. Although Zak told her he did not want any special treatment from her, Kara passed him even though he failed basic flight, as she could not bring herself to crush his dreams.

Her leniency cost Zak his life when he died on his first Viper mission. After his death, Starbuck met his father, William Adama. He realized Starbuck and Zak had been engaged and brought her under his command as a lieutenant. Zak's death, however, created a wedge between Adama and his other son, Lee "Apollo" Adama, who blamed his father for Zak's death, for creating an expectation that made Zak feel he needed to pursue becoming a Viper pilot in order to earn his father's affection. After the funeral, Lee broke off all contact with his father and Starbuck.

Starbuck has a natural talent for flying and is considered Galactica's best pilot, although she also is known for being an avid card player and drinker as well as for an eruptive temper. Bill Adama loves Kara despite her flaws and considers her something of a surrogate daughter. However, Starbuck and Colonel Tigh share a mutual sense of loathing, despite - or perhaps because of - their similarities. At the time of the attack on the Colonies, she was second in command of Galactica's fighter wing.

After the attack
In a card game prior to Galactica ' s decommissioning ceremony, Starbuck responds to Colonel Tigh's mocking of her call sign and her stint in the brig as a cadet by alluding to Tigh's troubled relationship with his wife. Infuriated, he flips the table over, and she punches him in the face. He sends her to the brig, promising her that her career is over. However, Adama tells Tigh he is probably overreacting: while he agrees to leave Kara in the brig until after the ceremony, Adama says there is no need to ruin her career over the incident. Following the Cylons' attack on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, Starbuck is released to join the battle.

Starbuck keeps her secret about Zak buried inside until after the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Soon after, when Starbuck fears she and the rest of humanity might be wiped out by the Cylons, she confesses her mistake to Lee. He is devastated. Later, he confronts her about it when she is chosen to train new Viper pilots aboard Galactica after several pilots are killed in a freak accident. The quality of recruits she is sent is subpar but still, she begins their training, ordering them to call her "God". Starbuck, blinded by guilt, washes all the pilots out for relatively minor flaws. She then admits her secret to Adama who is furious and heartbroken; he orders her to reinstate the trainees.

On the next training mission, Starbuck and the trainees are ambushed by a small group of Cylon Raiders. Starbuck engages the Raiders on her own to cover the trainees' escape. With her Viper heavily damaged, she plummets toward the surface of a nearby desert moon and is forced to eject and take her chances on the surface.

Starbuck is declared "missing in action", and Adama orders a search and rescue operation which strains the Galactica ' s crew and combat resources. On the surface, Starbuck struggles with a broken knee and near asphyxiation as her oxygen runs out. Luckily, she discovers the Cylon Raider she downed. Using her exceptional skill in flying, she figures out the Cylon technology and is able to pilot it back to the fleet.

Depressed by her injuries, she initially needs the incentive to work on rehabilitation and is soon rubbing people the wrong way again. Even after she is able to move around without a cane, the injury sidelines her from flight for many episodes; when given tactical charge of a mission in one episode, she cannot fly the critical role because her knee still can't handle the G-force.

During her recovery, a Number Two named Leoben is discovered aboard the Gemenon Traveller and is arrested. Adama assigns Starbuck to interrogate Leoben, believing she will be resistant to his mind games. Starbuck brutally interrogates Leoben, and he claims to have hidden a nuclear bomb on a timer somewhere in the fleet, threatening its detonation. Despite her often-crude exterior, Starbuck is revealed to have a deep-seated faith in the gods, and engages in a debate about the existence of the Colonial gods vs. the Cylon god with Leoben, and whether the humanoid Cylons are actually "human". Leoben demonstrates that he is capable of breaking free and killing Starbuck at any time, but chooses not to, believing it is not God's will. During this period, Starbuck develops respect for Leoben, and he falls in love with her. She is genuinely saddened when President Laura Roslin orders him executed by airlock after he admits there is no bomb. She experiences a brief moment of emotional connection with Leoben when they touch palms through the glass of the airlock before he is executed. Afterwards, she privately prays to the Lords of Kobol, acknowledging that Leoben might not have had a soul, but if he did, asking that they take care of it.

Starbuck's religious beliefs later come into play when President Roslin asks her to carry out a dangerous mission: return to Caprica and retrieve the Arrow of Apollo, a religious artifact supposedly pointing the way to Earth. Starbuck is at first reluctant, believing that Adama already knows the way to Earth, and is leading them there. Roslin is forced to reveal that Adama lied about knowing Earth's whereabouts to give the fleet hope. This deeply shakes Starbuck's trust in Adama, and she eventually is convinced to help Roslin. She takes the Cylon Raider she had captured, leading Adama to declare Roslin had suborned mutiny; he sends a detachment of Marines to terminate her presidency.

During her time on Caprica, Starbuck encounters a Number Six (who beats her soundly) but manages to kill the Cylon out of sheer luck. She then meets up with Karl "Helo" Agathon (a close friend she believed dead after he stayed on Caprica) and the Sharon Valerii copy pregnant with his child. Immediately realizing that Sharon is a Cylon, she attempts to kill her, while Helo stops her. This causes Sharon to flee in the stolen Raider, abandoning Starbuck and Helo. While attempting to find an alternative route off Caprica, they meet a resistance group that had been waging a guerrilla war against the Cylons, led by fellow pyramid player Sam Anders. Kara and Anders develop a bond over their shared past as pyramid players and develop a romantic relationship. At one point Starbuck is injured in battle, captured, and wakes up in a Cylon "farm" as part of their experiments to create human/Cylon hybrids, but is originally led to believe she is in a hospital run by the resistance. A Cylon named Simon, posing as a doctor, experiments on her, claiming to be treating her for internal injuries, and keeps her in a drugged state. Without her knowledge, apparently one of her ovaries is surgically removed before she escapes; a fact discovered only much later. Starbuck escapes with the help of the resistance, killing Simon. Sharon returns with a Cylon Heavy Raider, and Starbuck plans to return to the fleet with her and Helo. However, she personally promises Anders that she will return with reinforcements to rescue the Resistance, giving Anders her dog tags as part of her promise.

She, Helo, and Sharon arrive on the planet Kobol, joining Roslin in her search for the Tomb of Athena. Sharon is able to guide them to the tomb, and Adama joins them. They are able to place the Arrow of Apollo in the tomb and gain a rudimentary map to Earth.

Soon after returning to Galactica, the Battlestar Pegasus, commanded by Rear Admiral Helena Cain, is discovered. Cain promotes Starbuck to captain and assigns her as the CAG of the Pegasus.

After the fleet leadership denies her request to return to rescue the Caprican resistance fighters, Starbuck is depressed and guilt-stricken: she has broken her word, failed her duty, and assumes the man she is "hung up on" is either dead or will be soon.

After Lee Adama's promotion to Commander and appointment as commander of the Battlestar Pegasus, Starbuck transfers back to the Galactica and assumes the role of its CAG.

New Caprica
The complication of Starbuck and Lee's relationship was furthered when a drunken night on the newly found planet, New Caprica, ended with Starbuck and Lee having a one-night stand where they both expressed their love for one another. When Lee woke up alone the next morning, he soon discovered Kara had proposed to and married Anders. Lee soon marries newly commissioned Lieutenant Anastasia Dualla while Starbuck moves planetside with Anders.

After an all-night celebration of the first founder's day for New Caprica, tired and hungover, Starbuck and Tigh put their differences behind them. They even greet each other fondly following Tigh's demobilization and arrival at the colony. Her relationship with Lee, however, worsened to the point that they were not on speaking terms, and he had little interest in helping her, even when Anders contracted a serious bout of pneumonia.

After the Cylon invasion of New Caprica, she is imprisoned inside a mental facility, designed to look like her own former Caprican apartment. While there, a Leoben model tries to convince her they are destined to be lovers. For four months Starbuck denies his advances, killing him several times despite knowing he would be back. Then she is presented with a young girl named Kacey that Leoben claims is their daughter, created with the ovary removed when she was in the egg farm. Initially, she refuses to believe it and wants nothing to do with the girl, but when Kacey is badly injured in a fall down a staircase, she calls on Leoben for help and seems to grow more attached to both of them. During the uprising on New Caprica, however, Starbuck once again kills Leoben and escapes with Kacey.

In the episode "Exodus" Part II, it is revealed Kacey is not Starbuck's child; the Cylons had abducted her. Kacey and her real mother are reunited on the Galactica's flight deck after the flight from New Caprica. Starbuck is left there alone on the flight deck, stunned and in disbelief.

Back with the fleet
After her situation on New Caprica and the truth about Kacey, she is left simmering with rage, which causes her to be reckless and destructive, almost killing herself in a Viper training exercise. After being removed from flight status by then-Major Lee Adama, she takes up residence in the pilot's mess along with Colonel Tigh, drinking and lowering the morale of Galactica's pilots by attempting to draw divisions between New Capricans and those who stayed with the fleet. Admiral Adama gives her an ultimatum; either straighten up and act like an officer or 'get the hell off his ship' and find another ship to live on. Starbuck changes her attitude after Adama literally knocks her to the ground after she thumbs her nose at him.

Starbuck's relationship with Lee Adama takes another dramatic turn after she angrily challenges him to a brutal and emotional boxing match aboard Galactica. Their intense feelings for each other soon lead to an affair drawing resentment from their respective spouses. However, when Lee asks Starbuck to divorce Sam, she refuses due to her strong religious beliefs on the sacrament of marriage. Lee argues she is breaking her vows just by being with him, but Starbuck states she's merely bending the rules. Lee then decides he can no longer cheat while still married to Dualla. Later, Lee and Anders begin to voice their dislike for each other just as Starbuck's Raptor is shot down by the Cylons and she is reported missing. Anders vows to find her, but their position is outnumbered; Lee orders Anders at gunpoint to stay put and help defend their outnumbered position. Anders remains defiant.

Starbuck suffers severe hand burns in the crash and is rescued by Dualla. After they escape the doomed algae planet, Starbuck makes one final effort to have a relationship with Lee, this time offering to leave Anders if he will leave Dualla. Lee chooses to try to make his own marriage work instead.

Kara's experiences with Leoben, as well as her troubled childhood, eventually come back to haunt her. She has nightmares involving both Leoben and the mandala supposedly connected to her "destiny". She asks an oracle about her dreams and is told Leoben understands her better than she understands herself, and he will show her "destiny."

During a patrol over a gas giant where the fleet is refueling, she sees a Cylon Raider and pursues it into a storm system which resembles her mandala. She is forced to abandon the pursuit when her Viper is at risk of implosion from the pressure. Although she felt several impacts during her pursuit, then-Chief Galen Tyrol finds no damage to her Viper and gun camera footage showed no evidence of any Raider, leading many to believe Kara had been hallucinating.

Adama is concerned Kara might have burned out, but he leaves the decision to ground her up to Apollo as CAG. Apollo decides to give her another chance and offers to fly as her wingman on her next patrol. During the patrol, Starbuck sees another Raider and again pursues. Her Viper is hit by debris and she is knocked out. She experiences a conversation with an Avatar with the appearance of Leoben set in her apartment on Caprica. The avatar forces Kara to confront her past, the abuse she received from her mother and the guilt she feels for leaving her mother to die alone. The avatar comments Kara has been running from her past just as she has been running away from death for her entire life and implies eventually, she will have to confront her fears and her "destiny". Moments before regaining consciousness in her Viper, Kara realizes the person she is speaking to is not the Cylon Leoben Conoy, and states, "You're not Leoben." The avatar grins and replies, "Never said I was." She awakens in her Viper cockpit as Apollo is calling for her to break off and ascend, or the atmospheric pressure will kill her. Starbuck keeps flying into the storm and tells Lee to leave her. She is encompassed by white light and certain calmness. Apollo witnesses her Viper imploding, with no sign that she survived.

In the cliffhanger Season 3 finale, "Crossroads, Part II", Starbuck reappears in the same Viper that she was flying at the time she disappeared and is discovered by Apollo, appearing to be alive and well, but the reason for her sudden resurrection has yet to be revealed. She tells Apollo not to "freak out" it is really her and she has been to Earth and will show them the way.

Kara returns in Season 4 believing she had only been absent for six hours, but Anders informs her she was really gone for two months. The crew is wary of her return except for Lee, who greets her with an enthusiastic and long hug, and is so grateful for her return he is willing to overlook the possibility she is a Cylon, and he may be willing to accept her even as a Cylon. This becomes evident in Lee's questioning of his father whether if it had been his son, Lee's brother, who returned, would it have made a difference whether he was Cylon or human. She experiences frustration upon her return to Galactica, as no one believes it is really her, and because of President Roslin's refusal to be guided by what she believes is a Cylon trick. The crew continues on the course Roslin had previously decided upon and move further away from the area Kara believes is Earth's true location. She attempts to encourage Adama to follow her suggestions, but when he refuses, she fears his being romantically linked to Roslin has unjustly influenced him. Feeling hopeless and fearing as they make more jumps farther away, she will lose the "feeling" of Earth's location, she becomes desperate and holds President Roslin at gunpoint.

During her standoff with the President, she tries to reason and appeal to the President's emotions. She hands the gun to Roslin and insists she shoots her if she really believes she is a Cylon, to which Roslin responds to by saying "They made you perfect, didn't they?" Roslin fires the gun, but misses Starbuck and hits a framed portrait of herself and Adama.

Starbuck is thrown into the brig and has a hostile confrontation with Adama, who angrily says, "You are so stupid you couldn't wait. You just lost your best ally. Now who is going to save you?" She responds, "Well, it certainly isn't you," and says she will fight to show them Earth's location until her death. She also accuses him of playing "wet nurse" to the president, to which he responds by throwing her to the floor and leaving her crying.

Later, after Adama attempts to have a conversation with Roslin, which turns into a psychological sparring argument, he rethinks his decision and allows Kara to secretly look for Earth on a barge called Demetrius.

Aboard Demetrius - Looking for Earth
After taking command of Demetrius to find a way to Earth, Starbuck finds herself at odds with the crew when her orders cause them to doubt her command ability. With only two days remaining until the ship must return to the Fleet, her command is further compromised by her refusal to explain her actions and her decision to bring the Cylon Leoben aboard after having found him in a damaged Cylon Heavy Raider. Eventually, she finds herself torn between following Leoben's advice to forge an alliance with the fragmented Cylons, or distrusting him because of what that risk entails. The tension with the crew leads to a mutiny, after which Kara acknowledges her errors and instead takes a small crew with her in a Raptor to visit the base ship. There, she meets with the base star's hybrid and is told, "You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end." This echoes the warning given by the first hybrid to Kendra Shaw at the conclusion of Razor.

Earth
In "Sometimes a Great Notion", Starbuck and Leoben look for the Colonial beacon which led them to Earth. They find the wreckage of a Viper with Starbuck's tail number and what appears to be her charred corpse. Both Kara and Leoben are shocked by this discovery and do not understand what it means. After removing the dog tags and wedding ring, Kara asks "If that's me lying there, then what am I?". He responds by backing away as if recoiling from the realization that she is indeed the "Harbinger of Death." She returns to the wrecked Viper and, after carefully wrapping the remains in a parachute shawl, she incinerates the body on a funeral pyre.

Starbuck's description as "the harbinger of death" and Leoben's caution to her not to venture into the woods, "you might not like what you find," were elements of the episode's homage to the original Planet of the Apes. Dr. Zaius gave Colonel Taylor the same warning, and instructed Dr. Cornelius to read from the sacred scrolls that man was the harbinger of death. Like Taylor, Starbuck was a human astronaut and military officer exploring a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Mutiny
In "The Oath", Captain Thrace discovers civilians and a few mutinous Marines and crewmen arming themselves for battle. She rushes back to her quarters to prepare for battle, grabbing her sidearms and ammunition. Kara then finds Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson, Charlie Conner, and a few others preparing to execute Lee Adama. She kills a Marine holding Adama and wounds Lieutenant Hamish "Skulls" McCall. Along with Lee Adama, Kara runs into several other loyal Colonials including President Roslin, Admiral Adama, and Colonel Tigh. While searching for Adama, Kara and Lee free loyalists found in the brig which includes Anders, who is then shot by a mutinous Marine upon leaving. Kara, refusing to leave his side, pressures Lee and those who escaped to leave her in order for them to search for Adama.

The song
In the episode "Someone to Watch Over Me", Starbuck encounters a pianist in Joe's Bar who is trying to compose a new song. At first, she becomes annoyed by his repetitious playing, stating he reminds her of her father when he did nothing but play the piano and she mentions how her father left her and her mother to pursue it as a career. Over the course of the episode, Starbuck befriends the pianist and ends up working with him to try to finish his song.

Toward the end, the piano player writes down the notes Starbuck hums out on a sheet of paper. The pattern reminds Starbuck of a drawing of coloured dots the Cylon-Human child, Hera Agathon, had given to her earlier. She lines the child's drawing up with the notes the composer had drawn, and they match exactly.

When Starbuck and the pianist play the notes, the song is instantly recognized by Saul Tigh and Tory Foster – who are sitting at a nearby table with Ellen Tigh – as the song ("All Along the Watchtower") they heard in their heads when they learned they were the final Cylons. Ellen, of course, remembers it from Earth. A bewildered Saul asks Starbuck where she heard the song. Starbuck responds she played it as a kid and begins to mention her father, but stops short when she realizes the piano player, her father, was either a figment of her imagination or a vision.

In the episode "Daybreak, Part I" Starbuck tries to get answers from Anders about the song, even turning notes into numbers to see if there is a mathematical solution.

In "Daybreak, Part II and III", after getting the coordinates from Anders for the Cylon Colony, Starbuck joins in on the rescue mission for Hera. After saving Hera, and as the Colony is being destroyed, Starbuck is ordered by Admiral Adama to jump the Galactica away to safety. Although she has no coordinates, Adama tells her to make a blind jump to anywhere. Recalling the musical notes and the numbers she extrapolated from it, she inputs them into the computer; the resulting jump puts Galactica near a habitable planet the fleet decides to settle on. It is revealed this new planet is our world, some 150,000 years ago; Admiral Adama names it "Earth", believing it better matched the dream the fleet had been seeking than did the original Earth (which had been found destroyed by nuclear war).

Once settled on the world, Kara says a final goodbye to Admiral Adama and tells Lee she's leaving - her 'job is done', having indeed led the human race to their end (the end of their journey) - and will not be coming back. Kara then disappears into thin air and is not seen again. Seeing her gone, Lee tells her ghost she "won't be forgotten", echoing a moment from the "Daybreak" episodes. What really happened to Kara is left ambiguous. According to Katee Sackhoff, "So when she at the end was saying goodbye to [Anders], I think that she was saying goodbye to their bodily forms," she said. "I think she knew, especially if he says, 'I'll see you on the other side,' I think she's with him. I think they're both dead, but I think she's with him. That was a decision that we made, because I selfishly wanted her at peace, and the only way to do that was to have her with someone at the end, or to be with the person she wanted to be with. I don't know. That's kind of where I think she is. She's with Anders playing pyramid in the sky somewhere."

Casting
There was considerable outrage from fans of the original series when producers announced their intention to re-cast Starbuck and Boomer as women, with the decision to change Starbuck's gender especially controversial due to the character's popularity. Ronald D. Moore recounts: "When [the fans] heard Starbuck was going to be a woman, it was just like, There can never be peace between us! Blood has been spilled! We just decided that we didn't care." Moore explains the gender switch: "Making Starbuck a woman was a way of avoiding what I felt would be 'rogue pilot with a heart of gold' cliché."

Producers were looking for a mid-30s actress with a tough military demeanor for the role. Katee Sackhoff was not quite who they had envisaged, being a very feminine 23-year-old in real life. However, they were impressed by her acting ability. Director Michael Rymer explains: "Katee came in and my first reaction was, Well, she's the best actress, but she's too feminine." Katee Sackhoff admits: "Up to that point, I had always played pretty stereotypical blond roles. This was definitely a stretch for me. I wear high heels and dresses. I am a total girly girl. Now people avoid me at the gym."

Executive producer David Eick recounts: I was at home, looking at old tapes of auditions, just bemoaning the fact that we didn't have a Starbuck. It was the most talked-about role; this was not the role to fall on our faces with. Jenny, my wife, happened to be in the room when Katee was reading, and in an off-hand kind of way said, What's the matter with you, she's right there! I was like, Really? We brought [Katee] back, and it was like, ''Oh! She's right!'' Executive producer Ronald D. Moore wrote, "Katee auditioned for the role along with many other actresses, and simply blew them all away. Sometimes we get lucky."

For Sackhoff, the reaction to the reimagined role was difficult at first. "At the start, I was young; I was stupid," said Sackhoff. "I let the fact that people questioned whether or not a woman could play a man's role dictate how I was going to play her." Fans opposed to the casting of a female in the popular role expressed their discontent during production on the miniseries, and Sackhoff even received a death threat before the start of filming. During the 2004 San Diego Comic Con, the actress was booed: I was booed. It was lovely. At that point, I'd seen the miniseries and I knew I'd done a good job. I had my confidence back. I didn't care anymore.

Critical response
Despite the initial backlash, even by original male portrayer Dirk Benedict, Katee Sackhoff's Starbuck has become one of the show's most popular characters.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Melanie McFarland notes: "[Starbuck], played with a tomboyish swagger by Katee Sackhoff, is fast becoming the latest in a long line of feminist television icons." Wired's Hugh Hart praises Sackhoff's portrayal: "The actress's rough-and-tumble take on the fleet's most mesmerizing fighter jock will doubtless continue to render gender utterly irrelevant." Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen states: "Sackhoff has set TV's new standard for action-heroine cool and complexity." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times praised Sackhoff for creating one of the most fabulous female characters on television.

Salon.com's Laura Miller states: Starbuck is blond, cocky, insubordinate, a cigar-chomping, card-playing showoff; another stock figure, really, with roots as far back as Shakespeare's Hotspur – if not for a clever twist. In the original series, Starbuck was played by Dirk Benedict; in the new version, it's Katee Sackhoff, a gender switch that knocks the character well out of type.

In 2005, Sackhoff won the Saturn Award for Best Television Supporting Actress. Slate magazine named the character as one of the reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in fall 2007.

In a TV special to familiarize viewers with the series, Benedict and Sackhoff appeared together to discuss her character. Benedict offered an olive branch, saying, "Can a Starbuck buy a Starbuck a Starbuck?"

title: Kara Thrace


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Office on Violence Against Women

The United States Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created following the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. The Act was renewed in 2005, 2013 and again in 2022. The Violence Against Women Act legislation requires the Office on Violence Against Women to work to respond to and reduce violence against women in many different areas, including on college campuses and in people's homes. VAWA requires Office on Violence Against Women to administer justice and strengthen services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The Office on Violence Against Women is headed by a director, who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The principal deputy director serves directly under the director, as do the deputy directors. Until January 2017, Bea Hanson, Ph.D., was the acting director and principal deputy director. When Hanson resigned in January 2017, Deputy Director Nadine M. Neufville became acting director.

As an office in the United States Department of Justice, the Office on Violence Against Women receives federal funding for federal grants that are awarded to communities across America. These grants are used to create successful partnerships between federal, state, tribal, and local authorities as well as provide helpful services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. During fiscal year 2017, Office on Violence Against Women awarded $450,000,000 of grants. For example, Sexual Assault Services Program assists victims of sexual assault and family members affected by it. Since its inception, Office on Violence Against Women has awarded over $6 billion in grants directed towards such projects.

Organization
The Office on Violence Against Women is headed by a director. The principal deputy director serves under the director, and the deputy director for tribal affairs under the principal deputy director. On the third and lowest tier of the office rests Training and Technical Assistance, Program Development and Evaluation and Demonstration/Special Projects.

Director
Former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell was appointed the first director of the Office on Violence Against Women in March 1995.

Diane Stuart became director of the Office on Violence Against Women in October 2001. Stuart had been helping victims of domestic violence since 1989, and she worked as Utah Governor Mike Leavitt's Coordinator for Domestic Violence since 1996. Stuart created Utah's first mobile crisis team; trained police officers would arrive at crime scenes to counsel victims and offer resources.

The 2002 authorization bill for the United States Department of Justice elevated the position to a presidential appointment requiring confirmation by the Senate. The Director serves as the liaison between the Federal, state, tribal, and international governments in regards to matters concerning Violence Against Women (i.e., crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking). The Director also serves in that role internationally, with Native American tribes in the country, and within other offices of the United States Federal Government. The Director reports to the Attorney General and is responsible for the legal and policy provisions that are implemented under the Violence Against Women Act. The Director of the Office on Violence Against Women also has ultimate control over all grants, cooperative agreements and contracts that the Office on Violence Against Women issues, and oversees a budget of almost $400 million.

Grant programs
The Office on Violence Against Women administers approximately 24 grant programs. Twenty programs use discretionary grant funds and four use formula grant funds. The Office can determine both how discretionary funds will be used and in what context. formula grants are must be distributed according to how the legislation describes. In order to receive funding under the formula grant program, the grant applicant must meet certain standards and qualifications.

Formerly authorized grant programs
Activities previously funded by these grant programs are supported by the Consolidated Youth Program.

Besides these specifically mentioned grant programs, the Senate bill that enacted the Violence Against Women Act also created National Domestic Violence Hotline and provided grants for police training and other additional training in the judicial system. The bill also reassessed current laws on prosecuting domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and provided for the creation of new laws to address gaps in jurisdiction. According to the non-profit organization Break the Cycle, the community focus of many of these grants has made the legislation influential in improving services, advocacy, and responses by criminal justice across the country.

Funding criticisms
There have been critiques of the Office on Violence Against Women. Generally, the criticisms regard the implementation of the Office on Violence Against Women's programs and how effective the programs have been in actually decreasing domestic violence. While many scholars do not object to the idea of the Violence Against Women Act, some specialists have opinions about to whom, where and how the Office on Violence Against Women should allocate its funding.

A study from the Journal of Marriage and Family stated that the "VAWA does not specifically target funds to areas that are in the greatest need-communities with the most intimate partner violence. Instead of being targeted, such organizations must apply for VAWA funding. Although some effort has been made to distribute funds to reach the high-need areas and to address specific inadequacies, the funding process currently favors existing organizations.  However, this may not be the most effective way of reaching communities with the greatest need". The Office on Violence Against Women has taken this criticism under consideration, and is currently in the process of finding new strategies to improve in these areas.

Other critics postulate that the VAWA does not allocate enough resources to men who suffer from domestic violence. There are claims that the Office on Violence Against Women portrays women as the only victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, while men are solely perpetrators of these crimes. The CDC offers that 13.8% of males have reported abuse, but supporting organizations of the Violence Against Women Act, such as the NNEDV, posit that that number has actually increased up to 37%. Others, including Connie Morella for the National Council of Jewish Women, have said that the Violence Against Women Act does not allocate enough funds or provide assistance to immigrant women, who they say often cannot receive state or federal assistance because of their status. Concerned Women for America believe that the Office on Violence Against Women should do more to promote a better image of marriage and healthy relationships and focus on real abuse crimes, instead of using the VAWA to expand the meaning of domestic violence to more trivial cases and leaving less monetary funding and judiciary assistance for the 'real' victims. At present, the Office on Violence Against Women's definition of domestic violence encompasses all forms of abuse, including those of an emotional, economic, psychological, physical and sexual nature.

The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on February 28, 2013 was achieved despite some significant controversy in regards to the new provisions of the Act that include the LGBT community, Native Tribes, and undocumented immigrants. Twenty-two members of the U.S. House of representatives opposed the reauthorization because of the additional provision that protects those minority communities. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, partners in homosexual relationships say that they have encountered similar or greater levels of domestic violence in their lifetime than their straight counterparts. The 2013 re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act proved to be more challenging than its last re-authorization in 2005, but the achieved changes focus mostly in who the Violence Against Women Act will now protect and how much money the Act allocates for helping those additional groups.

Mandatory arrest laws
While Congress was preparing to reauthorize Violence Against Women Act in 2013, Time published an article arguing that "[d]omestic violence is still a severely under-reported crime and some critics say mandatory arrest policies have exacerbated this problem." Furthermore, in Time Magazine the author concluded that "mandatory arrest laws remove the preferences of abused women from a process that can leave them financially strapped and worried that the state will take custody of their children."

The mandatory arrest policies were established in the original 1994 version of the Violence Against Women Act. These policies encouraged law enforcement to make arrests and move forward with domestic violence cases without the cooperation of victims. Contrary to what Time Magazine states about mandatory arrest provisions, the provisions were removed from Violence Against Women Act in 2000. While reviewing and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act in 2000, Congress changed from "encourage mandatory arrest" policies to "encourage arrest" policies instead, which focus on arresting based on probable cause.

Definition of violence
In April 2018, OVW changed its definitions of “domestic violence” and “sexual assault." Previously, under the Obama administration, OVW had recognized "forms of emotional, economic, or psychological abuse" within the definition of domestic violence, according to Natalie Nanasi of the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Now, under the Trump administration, only physical harm that could be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or felony can be considered by OVW as domestic violence. Similarly, whereas sexual assault had previously been defined by OVW as any sexual contact occurring "without the explicit consent of the recipient," now it is limited to only those acts that are already specifically prohibited by "Federal, tribal, or State law." According to Nanasi, the restrictive definitions inhibit OVW from pursuing broader policies to solve the problems of domestic violence and sexual assault.

title: Office on Violence Against Women


text:
User:Grika/case

If I am ever nominated to become an admin, these are are some reasons why I should be so promoted:

 * Tasks I've done:
 * Punctuation patrol
 * Dab patrol ("Japanese" and "Egyptian")
 * Vandalism patrol
 * New article VfD patrol
 * Double redirect patrol

 * Major Discussions I've contributed to:
 * Biblical mythology category name

 * Articles I've helped to become Featured:
 * Cat

 * Accolades:
 * Anti-vandalism barnstar

title: User:Grika/case


text:
Sekidera Komachi

Sekidera Komachi (関寺小町) is a famous Noh play of the third category (plays about women) by Zeami Motokiyo. Its central character is a real life figure, the great 9th-century poet Ono no Komachi, who was also famed for her beauty.

The play depicts Komachi at the end of her life, when her beauty has faded and she is living in great poverty. On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month, during the Festival of Stars, the Abbot of Sekidera visits her in her hut, taking two priests and a child, so that they can hear her talk about poetry. During the course of their conversation, the abbot realizes her identity and is astonished and delighted. He invites her to come with them to the festival, but she declines.

The child dances part of a gagaku dance for her, the Manzairaku. Inspired, she starts to dance herself, and continues to do so until dawn. In the dawn light she ponders the transience of life, and her irrational shame at what she has become, which Zeami tragically underscores by setting the action during the Tanabata festival, which celebrates two young lovers.

The temple of Sekidera still exists; it is now called Chōanji, and can be found in the city of Ōtsu, Shiga.

title: Sekidera Komachi


text:
Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Fastfission

 * ''The following discussion is preserved as an archive of a successful request for adminship. Please do not modify it.

Fastfission
Final (84/0/1) ended 10 October 2005 02:20 (UTC)

– I would like to nominate Fastfission for adminship. He has been a registered user here since February 2004, and has racked up almost 8500 edits since then. He is a dedicated editor who has contributed to a wide range of articles. FF has been active throughout the project. He is also a major voice in the effort to bring Wikipedia into compliance with regards to copyright issues. I have no doubt that Fastfission would make a superb admin. Guettarda 01:42, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept the nomination, thank you. --Fastfission 02:15, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

Support Oppose
 * 1) EXTREME PRE-NOMINATION SUPPORT!!! Ryan Norton T 01:50, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 2) No fair, you're not allowed to vote before the nominator! Guettarda 02:20, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Ironically enough the candidate accepted before you voted. Guess you were just slow. :) Dmcdevit·t 04:41, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) Support, excellent user whom I think could make good use of the admin tools. JYolkowski // talk 02:21, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 2) Support --Duk 02:33, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 3) Support. Why can't I remember where I know this candidate from.... I'm sure it will come to me. R  e  dwolf24  (talk) 02:36, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 4) Tentacle'd Hentai Support. Meets my standards. --Maru (talk) 02:39, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 5) *Read that comment out loud as one continuous sentence. I dare you to.   :D  Unfocused 17:05, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 6) **"Tentacle hentai support meets my standards." Sounds uncomfortable, but I'm not the one being supported. :) --Maru (talk) 19:16, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 7) Support! Kirill Lokshin 02:42, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 8) Support. Would definitely meet my standards, if I had any. -- BD2412 talk 02:46, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 9) Support. Dragons flight 02:51, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 10) Support--Cyberjunkie | Talk 03:12, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 11) Support CambridgeBayWeather 03:21, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 12) RFA cliché no. 1! Dmcdevit·t 04:41, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 13) Extreme Mexican Support! Excellent user. Tito xd 05:02, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 14) —Charles P. (Mirv) 05:10, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 15) EXTREME "LOOK MOM, I'M ON THE BANDWAGON!" SUPPORT --Merovingian (t) (c) 06:46, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 16) Witty Support Comment #41124591247192471274912749182741659812649124012372x10^E  ALKIVAR ™[[Image:Radioactive.svg|18px|]] 07:29, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 17) what dmcdevit said. Thryduulf 08:21, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 18) Support good editor. Martin  08:59, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 19) absolutely ;) Dunc|☺ 09:01, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 20) Of course! Shimgray | talk | 09:30, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 21) Support – Brilliant graphics designer! =Nichalp  «Talk»=  10:24, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 22) Support. Fastfission clearly has a head for the way of the Wiki. -- Solipsist 12:37, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 23) Support.  Awesome. Proto t c 15:15, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 24)  Fir  e  Fo  x  16:16, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 25) Support; I'll avoid the usual cliché and just mention that he not only meets my standards, he's made them into Pb and stable isotopes long ago. Antandrus  (talk) 16:23, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 26) Support. Committed to clear copyvio backlogs? Here is my vote! ≈ jossi fresco ≈ 19:16, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 27) Furry Alien Support orange fur, mind you. Alf melmac 19:22, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 28) Extreme Death phoenix Support. . User has shown a willingness to take on maintenance tasks. --Deathphoenix 20:07, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 29)  →Jo urna list  >>talk<<  20:18, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 30) Support --JAranda'' | yeah 20:27, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 31) '''Support' -Greg Asche (talk) 20:39, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 32) Support Private Butcher 20:42, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 33) Support, great contributor. --fvw *  21:08, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 34) Extreme Maddox anti-extreme support. Hall Monitor 21:14, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 35) Support - CheekyMonkey 21:36, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 36) Support. My interations with Fastfission on various newkulur type articles lead me to believe Ff has a friendly, collegial style and a commitment to collective authoring. -- Finlay McWalter |  Talk 21:50, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 37) Support. His work on copyright issues alone justifies giving him the extra tools. Owen× ☎  21:54, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 38) Support Astrotrain 22:23, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 39) Support Marskell 22:56, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 40) Support. His well-reasoned and intelligent contributions to the mailing list and his work on copyright issues are enough for me to consider him trustworthy; if I had any further doubts I suppose I could look inside his head. :-) Definitely. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 23:08, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 41) Support. Absolutely; agree with Kat. SlimVirgin (talk) 23:22, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 42) Support. Friday (talk) 23:40, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 43) Support. El_C 23:45, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 44) Support more admins willing to deal with copyright issues are severly needed.--nixie 23:52, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 45) Support. Knows his stuff. nobs 01:39, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 46) Support, of course. -- Essjay ·  Talk 03:37, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 47) It's clear this guy will become an admin anyway, but I'll add my support vote anyway. Denelson83 04:07, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 48) Support Why not? Bratsche talk 04:12, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 49) Support Had good, if minor dealings, with this ed., and I've come across many high-quality contributions that he's made.  (Not to say, what the previous 48 people've said.)  Alai 05:53, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 50) I thought he was one already. David Gerard 14:14, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 51) Support: --Bhadani 14:36, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 52) Support, thought he was one.  Ral  315   WS  17:07, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 53) Strong Support. Normally don't chime in unless it's on the fence, but sometimes I'm impressed enough by a users work that I feel the need to come out and comment. --Gmaxwell 18:33, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 54) Support. FeloniousMonk 19:19, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 55) Support. Best candidate in a while. —Lowellian (reply) 19:50, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 56) Bandwagon. Andre ( talk ) 21:21, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 57) Support A voice of reason and a joy forever. Septentrionalis 22:52, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 58) Of course.— enceph alon  04:08, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 59) 'Support Monkey see, monkey do.Molotov (talk) [[Image:Flag of California.svg|25px]] 05:20, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 60) EXTREME umm... SOMETHING SUPPORT. Don't let him get away. --May the Force be with you! Shreshth91  ($ |-| r 3 $ |-| t |-|)  10:29, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 61) Cool. --JuntungWu 11:17, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 62) Support not because he needs the votes at this point in time... Unfocused 17:05, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 63) Support Waiting for Maru to give better odds ;-) Karmafist 02:01, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Hah. You won't find anyone giving better odds than me! This week only, 1-4 against! Come and place your wagers! --Maru (talk) 03:29, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) Support. --bainer (talk) 05:54, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 2) --Boothy443 | comhrá 06:55, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 3) --RobertG ♬ talk 09:36, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 4) Support. Jayjg (talk) 21:36, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 5) Support - Had good interaction with the user on Japanese atomic program, initial content disagreement was solved quickly and to the satisfaction of both sides. I think he (she?) will make a good admin! -- Chris 73 Talk 21:58, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 6) Support wow, that's alot of edits, congratulations. Gets my support... Gryffindor [[Image:Flag of Austria (state).svg|20px]] 23:01, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 7) Support, of course. - Mailer Diablo 23:48, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 8) Support - Strong contributor, FF would be a serious admin. Sunray 06:40, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 9) CORRUPT JACOB ZUMA SUPPORT There you go, I voted using an adjective for support. Ban  e  s  09:37, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 10) Strong support. Will make an excellent admin. Carbonite | Talk 13:00, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 11) support. You're hired :)--R.D.H. (Ghost In The Machine) 17:57, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 12) Support - go fastfission, go! --Cel e stianpower hablamé 20:54, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 13) Support Since you have spearheaded WikiProject Fair use, you might as well have the ability to delete those "orphaned fair use images", right? Zzyzx11 (Talk) 02:01, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 14) Support. An excellent editor who will make a fine admin. -Willmcw 04:49, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 15) Support. I thought I voted already? --HappyCamper 15:05, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 16) Support Another on the band-wagon.  Dl yo ns 493   Ta lk   17:05, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 17) Support for above reasons, and especially being helpful to others not versed in copyright. I'm sure admin powers will allow him to clean-up a lot.  --rob 20:15, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 18) Extreme [INSERT WITTY COMMENT HERE] support!. Long, long overdue.   [ +t, +c, +m ] 12:10, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 19) Support. --Briangotts (talk) 16:14, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 20) Support, count me in! Shauri  [[Image:Heart.gif|11px]]  smile!  19:55, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
 * 21) Support. --Ancheta Wis 20:28, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Neutral
 * 1) Neutral.  Have never seen this user despite his edit count.  PedanticallySpeaking 17:05, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Are you sure? I happen to have evidence implying otherwise. ;-) --Fastfission 19:33, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * My memory is faulty. Still neutral, however.  PedanticallySpeaking 19:12, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * There must be another reason then, what is it may I ask? --Cel e stianpower hablamé 20:54, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Comments
 * Func got 112 support votes; can FF beat it? Where're the bookies?  What's the spread?  :) - Guettarda 16:43, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I'm offering 1-8 against, today only! Hurry up, pull out yer wiki-money, wiki-wiki! --Maru (talk) 17:14, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

A few generic questions to provide guidance for voters:
 * 1. What sysop chores, if any, would you anticipate helping with? (Please read the page about administrators and the administrators' reading list.)
 * A. Along with the standard speeding up of normal maintenance tasks (reverting vandalism, RC patrol, etc.), the prime thing I plan on doing which specifically requires administrator status is clearing up the various backlogs on the project, especially those relating to the deleting of copyright violations (the backlog at WP:PUI and WP:CP stand out to me at the moment). This is the sort of thing that I would enjoy doing and think I would likely be good at, being reasonably confident with making sense of copyright issues (at least being aware of what the salient points are, if not the fine points of every circumstance, about which I am learning more every day).
 * 2. Of your articles or contributions to Wikipedia, are there any about which you are particularly pleased, and why?
 * A. Oh, I don't know, there are many I've been happy with. I did a lot of work on the Robert Oppenheimer article when I first came here, and I suppose first love always sticks in the memory strongest. There's a list of things which I've felt I've made "significant" contributions to at User:Fastfission/Significant contributions and another list of some of the articles I've created at User:Fastfission/Created (and for the more visually inclined a list of images I've made or scanned at User:Fastfission/Images), and I'm reasonably happy with most of those (some are still incomplete, mind you). In general it must be said that I'm most happy with writing out long passages of texts and facts and having other editors more gifted in the art of language pare them down. I derive a good deal of pleasure from working on Wikipedia, primarily of course because it is a great idea (and a great way to combat much of the disinformation present on the internet), but also because it gives me practice in composition and writing on topics which I know fairly well. Recently I started WikiProject Fair use which, love it or hate it, has at least gotten some movement on some real systemic problems with the way "fair use" copyright issues are handled on Wikipedia — I'm very pleased with being a part of this. (Also, my brain is coincidentally the picture of the day at the moment I am writing this, which is sort of neat.)
 * 3. Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?
 * A. I edit a lot of topics which attract POV-pushers and cranks (I have often been stuck between two strongly POVed groups, trying to nudge out a NPOV centrist position, receiving the ire of both), so I've of course gotten a bit stressed out and irritated over time. When I get too irritated I usually just don't edit the article for a week or so, and then come back and see what needs to still be done. That usually does the trick. I'm not really that worried about the state of an article at any given time, and feel that if something doesn't really get "fixed" for a few weeks or even a month it is probably not that big a deal (and as an aside, if another editor besides me doesn't notice it and fix it, it's probably even less of a deal than I think it is). So anyway, that's how I usually do things — I think life's too short to argue at length with wackos over the internet, and I especially dislike it if it hinders more important work I can do here. For more complicated issues I've appealed to other thoughtful editors and admins, who have been incredibly helpful in this regard.
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the discussion. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page. No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User talk:Gobblox

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! , SqueakBox 01:08, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
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Image copyright problem with Image:Horaceandy.JPG
Thanks for uploading Image:Horaceandy.JPG. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikipedia because of copyright law (see Wikipedia's Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images on Wikipedia is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikipedia are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. You can get help on image copyright tagging from Wikipedia talk:Image copyright tags. -- Carnildo 19:20, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Gobblox


text:
Walter Channing Jr.

Walter Channing Jr. (September 23, 1940 – March 12, 2015 ) was a wood sculptor, winemaker, and venture capitalist. He owned the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton, New York, where he planted his first Chardonnay vines in 1982.

Early life and education
Channing was born in Dover, Massachusetts, to Walter Channing, a physician, and Eleine Taylor Channing, a painter and clothing designer. His older sister, Cornelia "Nina" Channing, went on to become a prominent researcher in the field of endocrinology and fertility.

Growing up in a wooded area, Channing developed a lifelong interest in trees. As a child, he ran a tree-surgery business. When he interviewed for a place at Harvard, he and the Dean of Freshman, Francis Skiddy von Stade Sr., who was about to buy a chainsaw, talked at length about the machines. “I knew I had a good interview because he was really interested,” Channing said. “So I got into Harvard because I knew a lot about chainsaws.”

Channing attended Milton Academy and Harvard University, where he earned a B.A. and an M.B.A. In his sophomore year, Channing was sent down for an early business venture: He had begun a rather profitable operation selling condoms to his classmates. (Harvard, at the time, had not yet coeducated.) He returned a year later to complete his studies, having spent some months traveling through Europe on a BMW motorcycle.

Art
Channing's childhood interest in trees and woodworking was rekindled when, working on Rector Street in Lower Manhattan, he found that the city had dismantled a pier and was discarding its long-leaf yellow pine timbers. He set about collecting the wood, eventually sculpting the timbers into large-scale replicas of pencils, books, benches, and other objets d'art, the final forms of which often resonated playfully with their wooden materiality.

Later, he began salvaging fallen trees and discarded stumps from a dump in East Hampton. "No one ever does anything with a stump," he once told George Plimpton during an interview for The Paris Review, "yet a stump is a fascinating thing."

The first piece he carved was from a trunk the size of a telephone pole that had washed up on the shore near Fowler Beach Lane. He shaped it into a giant golf pencil and carved "THE MAIDSTONE CLUB" into the side – "as if the pencil had just washed up on the shore," he said. The piece, which was carved in place on the beach since it was too large to move, was stolen before he could carry it away.

In 1977, Channing bought a potato farm in Bridgehampton, off Scuttlehole Road. While clearing the property, he saved a number of uprooted trees – mostly oak – and decided to plant them back into the earth upside-down. "I don't look at a tree as an object that necessarily has to be rightside up," he said.

Channing estimated that only one in one hundred trees was suitable to be turned upside down to any effect. The others he turned into pillars, pilasters, and a range of other sculptures, including trompe l'oeil wood-carved tapestries, hundreds of pencils, and "an octopus and a sphinx in consort," among many other forms.

In a 1994 interview with The Paris Review, Channing explained his fascination with the medium:"Historically, wood doesn't survive as well. It's surprising that even something preserved can actually – depending on what's in the wood – decay. It's also unpredictable, whereas stone and alabaster and marble are predictable and very linear. You don't discover odd things in them as you work. But a wood person has to be very non-linear. Ready for anything. A sculpture can change from one thing to another. I never scavenge a large piece of wood knowing what I'm going to do with it. After being with the big piece of wood for a while, the idea occurs."Channing's work has been shown at the OK Harris Gallery, the Webb and Parsons Gallery, the Handschin Gallery in Basel, the Indianapolis Museum of Fine Arts, the Root Art Center at Hamilton College, the Squibb Gallery in Princeton, the Elaine Benson and Louise Himmelfarb Galleries, the Louis K. Meisel Gallery at Outward Bound, and at the Century Association's Sculpture Show in New York City.

In a 1983 profile in New York Magazine, Channing said: "At times, I like making money, I like medicine, I like being successful. But the only thing I really think is important is art. It's not even a close call. I thirst for the challenge of becoming an important sculptor. There's no chance for immortality as a businessman."

Business
Channing began his career in computer programming, working for Honeywell and Raytheon.

In 1968, with a partner, Barry Weinberg, Channing founded Channing, Weinberg & Co., Inc., a management consulting firm for pharmaceutical, diagnostic, medical device and biotechnology companies. The company was the leading strategy consultant to the health-equipment industry. It also sponsored In Vivo, a bi-monthly publication on business and medicine.

In 1983, Channing and Weinberg formed a separate venture-capital partnership, C.W. Group, that specialized in new medical technology. At the time it was the largest venture-capital fund devoted exclusively to investments in health-care companies.

Channing was a director of many of the companies launched by his firm, including GMIS Inc., VelQuest Corporation, Plexxikon, and Care Advantage. He also served on the board of Outward Bound.

Channing was a member of the Venture Advisory Committee of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the Harvard Chan Research Center on Causes and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Personal life
In 1963, while an undergraduate at Harvard, Channing married a young aspiring actress named Susan Stockard, then a student at Radcliffe College. The two divorced in 1967, but Stockard kept the surname, eventually dropping her first name and going simply by Stockard Channing. His second wife, Rosina Secco, was a Uruguayan graphic designer. The couple had two daughters, Francesca and Isabella, before Secco died in 1987 from complications of cancer.

Channing was married to Molly Seagrave Channing from 1990 until his death in 2015. The couple raised four daughters: Francesca Channing-Secco, Isabella Channing-Secco, Sylvia Channing, and Cornelia "Nina" Channing.

Channing's ancestors include William Ellery Channing, the preacher and father of the Unitarian denomination in America; transcendentalist poet William Ellery Channing (the former's nephew); and William Ellery, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. His great, great, great-grandfather, Walter Channing, was among the first doctors to use anesthesia during childbirth and co-founded the Boston Lying-In Hospital (now Brigham and Women's), which provided obstetric care to poor women.

title: Walter Channing Jr.