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Grace Quigley

Grace Quigley (also titled The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley) is a 1985 American black comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Nick Nolte, produced by Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan and directed by Anthony Harvey. The film is noted for being Hepburn's last leading role in a film for the big screen, as well as the last appearance, stage or otherwise, of Walter Abel.

The film is primarily set in New York City. An elderly widow is suicidal, but her suicide attempts have repeatedly failed. So she hires a contract killer to end her life, and also asks him to kill other lonely old people. She views these acts as mercy killings, not murders.

Plot
The plot centers on Grace, an elderly widow who lives alone in a dreary New York City apartment. She has twice tried and failed to commit suicide, so she decides to hire Seymour, a hit man, to kill her and then do in others like her who are old, alone and tired of living. To her way of thinking, this professional killer will be committing acts of mercy, not murder.

Cast

 * Katharine Hepburn as Grace Quigley
 * Nick Nolte as Seymour Flint
 * Kit Le Fever as Muriel
 * Chip Zien as Dr. Herman
 * William Duell as Mr. Jenkins
 * Elizabeth Wilson as Emily Watkins
 * Walter Abel as Homer Morrison

Versions
In addition to the version of the film originally released in 1985, two other versions are known to exist: the original cut, which premiered at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival running 102 minutes; and the alternate and re-edited version titled The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley, assembled by screenwriter A. Martin Zweiback, running 94 minutes. The latter version is considered superior by some critics.

title: Grace Quigley


text:
Talk:History of South Tyrol

Section 1
Do we need this entry? Exactly the same text is in the page on South Tyrol, where it belongs.

 * I would say this page should be deleted. It just recycles the same stuff from the provincial page... Taalo 05:44, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Merge
This article is a content fork of South Tyrol. Either merge this article, or reduce the History section of South Tyrol to a few sentences. Andreas (T) 13:53, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

 * I thought the merge was a no-brainer, but evidently others disagreed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by M. Frederick (talk • contribs) 10:02, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Neutrality
This article should be re-written, or just plain condensed, to a more neutral discussion of the history. At this point it is heavily biased towards the POV that there has been a great wrong done to German speakers by "fascists". Really way too political. Icsunonove 05:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC) You're right about my user page, it is quite blank at the moment, I'll see to add some info. Pcassitti 13:57, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That's not a POV, it's historical fact. But I admit the quality of the writing could be improved. Pcassitti 16:33, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi Pcassetti, you misunderstand my point. There was a wrong done to German speakers by Fascists, but it is not 90% of the history of Alto Adige/South Tyrol.  This page reads like political propaganda for the Union for Sudtirol.   Weren't the Ladin speakers originally wronged by the German speakers?  Etc., etc. It is all quite boring in the end.  The province is what it is, and should be cherished, not turned into some crude ethnic battle.  Also, language does not define ethnicity.. Icsunonove 18:26, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That's actually a major flaw of this article: confusing ethnic with language groups. It makes it look as if in South Tyrol there was a sort of ethnic apartheid. So the article is biased in both directions. And you cannot compare the cultural displacement of ladin, which was a slow historical process, with the fascist rule which tried to violently and sistematically eradicate a native culture, causing a lot of pain and grief. And the memory of fascist rule is in fact still very present in the minds of both german and italian speaking south tyroleans, and it conditions society and politics to this day. So I think it is only natural that it plays a prominent role in the history of south tyrol article. Pcassitti 11:26, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Sure, prominent, but not dominant. Also there are plenty of original Ladin-speakers in T-AA/ST that happen to speak German as a first language, so yes, there is a lot of confusion between ethnic and language groups.  Also, I don't think any of us are really experts on how the cultural displacement of the original Ladin-speakers in T-AA/ST happened and how they felt a few-hundred years ago about it.  The quick and violent means of the Fascists came and went.  The displacement of the Ladins was much more grinding and permanent.  Which is worse?  I don't know.  Anyway, I'll say again the article as it reads now is just biased political propaganda. my regards, Icsunonove 04:11, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * The article IS political propaganda, but it goes both directions. You just need to look at the last edit by 84.221.252.2: the addition "making the later accusation of 'treachery' and 'changing side' deprived of fundaments", is clearly not a NPOV statement. As for the displacement of Ladins, it was a peaceful cultural process, just like the decline of the raetoromanic languages in Switzerland, which is still progressing and can by no means be called violent. The language of the main language group and of the administration simply tend to displace languages spoken by smaller and rural groups of persons. Equating fascist rule with the displacement of ladin is a bit of a stretch, you could call it propaganda, even. Pcassitti 06:26, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Ok, and the last sentence you say is something I would not like to be a part of. Like I said, I was obviously not there, so I do not know the feelings of the Ladins during that time or the methods in which Germanization was processed.  I simply don't know if it was a completely peaceful process; somehow from instinct and what we've seen throughout history, I kind of doubt it was such a natural process.  But whatever. :)  I just know that Ladin was/is the original language throughout this area south of the Alps, and it deserves some respect in that.  That German and Tuscan are in T-AA/ST now, I have no problem with (I completely enjoy all three languages!).  German was brought in by some of my own ancestors afterall.  Anyway, it is also up to the speakers of these languages in Trentino to try and preserve these tongues; and part of the problem is ignorance of the history of the languages they speak.  Anyway, in general it seems a lot of these Wikipedia articles on "history" would be better just moderated by neutral academic professionals.  The WP project definitely has particular issue with this sort of article. :(  Thanks for the discussion Pcassitti, and where are you from anyway?? :-) Icsunonove 07:00, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I think we both agree that the article is badly biased, whichever way :) I also think that History of South Tyrol before WWI is a content fork. How about moving the earlier history to history of Tyrol, and adding something like "This article is about the history of South Tyrol after its annexation to Italy. For the period before 1918, see Tyrol." And to the Tyrol article something like: "This article is about the history of Tyrol before its division into various political entities as a consequence of WWI. For after 1918, see Tyrol (Austria), South Tyrol, Trentino, etc."

I think the POV-tag should be removed unless specific POV-passages are pointed out. We have had this tag up for a while now without any suggestions for improvement coming in. I personally find the article relatively balanced, even though of course it could be better. Pcassitti 13:04, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
 * So far no suggestions for improvement have been made, and since the article is about the post-WWI history of South Tyrol I do not find that the stress on post-WWI history and the fascist era is biased. I'd like to get rid of the neutrality tag, unless some arguments for keeping it are given, or at least some suggestions for improvement of the article. Pcassitti 13:44, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * One month has gone by and no arguments for the POV-tag hav been given, I will removeve it. Pcassitti 14:23, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Changes
I added to the antiquity section, and into the napoleonic section I copied the text from historical Tyrol, since it is much more complete and better written.Pcassitti 07:26, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

page move
Shouldn't we move this page to either a) History of Alto Adige/Südtirol or b) History of Alto Adige/South Tyrol? This would have the page fit together with History of Trentino to match Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. Any preferences out there for either? Icsunonove 05:16, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd go for Alto Adige/South Tyrol, since this is the english wikipedia. But first there should be a few changes made to avoid a content fork with Tyrol. Move the history before WWI to Tyrol and modify the line This article is about the historical region. For the present-day political unit, see Province of Bolzano-Bozen. For other uses of Tyrol, see Tyrol (disambiguation). to something like This article is about the history of South Tyrol after its annexation to Italy as a consequence of WWI. For before WWI see Tyrol. For other uses of Tyrol see Tyrol (disambiguation). Pcassitti 07:26, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * For now I think it is reasonable to move to History of Alto Adige/South Tyrol, if there is a case for discussions about using Icsunonove 20:42, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Reason for the annection
I don't see a line about this fundamental subject. Why Italy annexed all the Tyrol to the Brenner Pass?--84.221.252.17 15:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

- Because nationalists in Italy had an "idée fixe" (obsession), that the northern boundary must be the main water division line resp. main mountain range of the Alps (also towards Switzerland), as a "natural border", even against the wishes of the inhabitants.

(Nevertheless in eastern direction this own "principle" was ignored with the call for annexation of wide territories in the east of Adriatic Sea...) For more information see for example the article about Ettore Tolomei. --maurus84.160.226.59 16:45, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

There were actually many reasons: geographical (the same reason why Aland island were given to Finland even if 95% of population speaks Swedish), strategic (in case of war, the Alps top would be a better starting point), historical (in the ancient time, the region was linked to Italy; again, during the Napoleon age, the region was split and Bolzano given to Italy), ethical (the region has undergone a long process of, sometimes forced, germanization; originally, a neolatin language, called ladin, was spoken, considered by Austria-Hungary itself as an Italian dialect), 'revenge' (Italy could gain its indipendence in the XIX century fighting Austria, which controlled a big chunk of the country). By the way, the region is not monocultural; a neolatin presence has always been there. Massimo, 14 November 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.140.0.27 (talk) 12:18, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks convincing, but if there are no sources, this is Original research, and as such will not help in improving the article. Maybe the book Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan has part of the answer. Andreas (T) 13:47, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Indipendence controversy
The sentence "However Austria does see itself somewhat of a "protector" for the German-speaking population of this region", apart from being bad english, is not correct, and it should be explained what "somewhat of a protector" means. I do not understand why my edit was reverted unless for POV reasons. Furhermore, South Tyroleans ARE freely admitted to austrian universities, so the past tense in the sentence is wrong. But they are not treated as if having austrian citizenship, that statement is false. And there are many, not some South Tyrolean students in Austria. In Innsbruck alone there are 5000. Because of these reasons I will restore my edits. Pcassitti 18:36, 7 September 2007 (UTC) Correction: it's around 3500 students in Innsbruck, 5000 in the whole of Austria. Pcassitti 18:53, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * That paragraph was written by our friend Gryffindor, so the best thing to do in my opinion could be simply to remove it. What does it mean that students from the province of Bolzano are freely admitted to Austrian universities? They are freely admitted also to French, Spanish and Russian universities, aren't they? The statistic about people studying in Austria could be good, but it should be followed by people studying in other places like Trento (and the word many should be replaced by a percentage).-- Suppar luca  07:54, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, the whole paragraph is a bit dodgy. "Freely admitted" is also a bad way of describing certain privileges granted to South Tyrolean students. Maybe I will find the time to formulate them and add them to the article. As for the percentages, it would indeed by interesting to know them in detail. Pcassitti 15:45, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Changes
The changes made from IP 138.232.1.229 are mine. I moved the history before WWI to Tyrol to remedy a content fork. Pcassitti 13:01, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Aftermath of World War I
84.220.69.24, I do not see how your deletions and additions regarding the battle of vittorio veneto add to the quality of this article. This sentence: ''with the Austrian command having ordered its troops to cease hostilities one day too early. The Italian troops, which in the meantime had advanced into Veneto, Friuli and Cadore, overran the now undefended Austrian positions, penetrated deep into Tyrol and occupied its capital Innsbruck. In the process some 356,000 soldiers of the Austrian army where taken prisoner. '', which you deleted, is perfectly accurate. If you would care to explain why in your opinion it isn't, I might restrain from putting it back. If this develops into an edit war, we can always leave away the section about WWI alltogether. But whatever we decide, the map of the battle of Vittorio Veneto is definitely misplaced in this article, it might in fact give the impression one is trying to stress the Italian victory over Austria, which would a) be POV, and b) have nothing to do with the article which is about the history of South Tyrol AFTER WWI. Pcassitti 06:23, 12 September 2007 (UTC) ''In the final days of World War I, the troops of the already disintegrating Austrian-Hungarian Empire were defeated on 29 October 1918 in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in Italy. The Italian victory determined the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Army, which led to the end of the First World War on the Italian Front. The subsequent armistice of Villa Giusti was signed on November 3 but was set into force only a day later on November 4, with the Austrian command having ordered its troops to cease hostilities one day too early. The Italian troops, which had already advanced into Veneto, Friuli and Cadore, overran the now undefended Austrian positions, penetrated deep into Tyrol and occupied its capital Innsbruck. In the process some 356,000 soldiers of the Austrian army where taken prisoner.'' Pcassitti 08:07, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Are you (you two) able to provide a reliable external source for your version?-- Suppar luca  08:16, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The version above is found in any history book. As a web-reference you could look up the "Encyclopaedia of Austria" published on the web by the University of Graz: http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.encyclop.w/w438953.htm . But any web-page with a detailed chronology of WWI would do. As a web-reference for the now deleted passage saying that the austrian empire was already disintegrating when the Battle of Vittorio Veneto took place there is the article of MSN Encarta: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569981_12/World_War_I.html, page 12. Deleting the above facts does not improve the quality and neutrality of this article. But if no consensus can be reached, we can always remove any reference to the final days of WWI, which are mentioned in the Tyrol article anyway. Pcassitti 10:40, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I've introduced a source, that I've found very fast. I don't care to enforce Italian nationalism and supposed glories, by I'm quite tired of those childy legends about a supposed "treachery", and the cowdard Italians fighting an undefended army, defeated by sombody else... --84.220.69.24 18:02, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Where did it say anything about treachery and fighting an undefended army? That the empire (not the army) was disintegrating is a fact which can be referenced. Also that the austrians made the mistake of ordering their troops to stand down one day to early. This fact allowed the italian army to advance deep into austrian territory and occupy Innsbruck, which can be assumed to have influenced later negotiations and is therefore relevant. Instead of just deleting the old version and replacing it with yours, you could have entered a discussion about it and integrated it or specified some details. You could for example explain what is specifically incorrect or POV in the following text, in which I have integrated some of your contributions, and which I am going to put back in the next days unless good reasons are given:
 * Since no objections have been made, I added the above version to the article. Pcassitti 07:33, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Merger Proposal
I propose that Night of Fire be merged into the "Terrorism" section of this article, for the following reasons:
 * Notability - The "Night of Fire" is only notable in the context of the long-running insurgency detailed here. It is not notable as a standalone event and currently has no context to explain why it is important and what its results were;
 * Context - the Night of Fire article has no context other than in relation to the history of the region. Anyone reading "Night of Fire" will need to also read this page to understand why the evernt happened and why it is important. Merging the articles would assist readers by locating the relevant material on a single page rather than across two (especially noting that the two are not currently wikilinked)
 * Length - the bulk of "Night of Fire" is a duplication of background material on this page followed by a very short section outlining the actual explosions. Merging the pages would result in comparatively small additional information here and would not overwhelm either the section or this article;
 * References - the Night of Fire article is unreferenced and is not the subject of any significant coverage outside mentions in articles and books on the wider history. Any references relevant to the Night of Fire are also more directly relevant to this page.

As always, any opposing views are welcome. If there is support for the merge I will add the relevant information to this page and redirect "Night of Fire" here. Euryalus (talk) 01:44, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The night of fire is the event which began the insurgency, and I think that as such it does have a certain importance. I agree with your remarks on context, as well as length, although the solution for these problems does not necessarily have to be a merge. I think the preferable solution would be to expand the article, adding more details and some background information, like in italian and german, as well as other languages wikipedia, where the article about the 'night of fire' is a stand-alone entry of acceptable length and depth. Pcassitti (talk) 09:50, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Edits by 78.13.164.180
I feel that substantial changes like the ones made by user:78.13.164.180 should be discussed, or at least explained in the talk page. I'm going to explain my objection to some of the edits. First of all, the "weasel words" deleted in the revision as of 22:54, 2 June 2008 where referenced, using articles by two encyclopediae. Other properly referenced passages have been deleted in subsequent edits without proper motivation. The added "background" section appears too long compared to the rest of the article, and contains little pertinent information. Some of the changes made are valid, but there are too many edits to undo them singularly, so I would tend towards reverting the article to to the last revision as edited by Neelix at 22:54, 2 June 2008, and invite user:78.13.164.180 to discuss his changes here. Pcassitti (talk) 16:29, 23 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Since the edits have been going on indiscriminately, and some of them seem arbitrary and POV, like substituting "South Tyroleans" with "german speakers", I reverted to the last revision as edited by Neelix at 22:54, 2 June 2008, and hope that the anonymous editor will take notice and discuss the changes, some of which certainly could improve the article. Pcassitti (talk) 13:06, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Discuss what you don't like without to revert. Your referenced claims are a just a famous falsification: Imperial army cease to combat after V.V. and not before. Just read Austrian books, such us Fritz Weber memories. "German speakers" is a total neutral descriptor, it avoid surrealistic adjective to describe properly the nature of the people of AA/ST. Do not edit war. Do not be destructive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.220.115.234 (talk) 13:16, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I've not seen your complians, now I've stop all edits. Your referenced claims were just a poor falsification. Imperial army ceased to combat after VV battle, and not before. If you do not agree, post your concern in the Vittorio Veneto battle article. Here it's not the place for such kind of discussion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.220.115.234 (talk) 13:32, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm glad you finally noticed the talk page. The issues you are addressing have already been discussed, you could have at least taken the time to take notice of them before starting to rewrite the article. I will not start an edit war, but I also won't see POV and plainly wrong changes be made to a history article. And I am not talking about the Battle of Vittorio Veneto here. It's about all sorts of things, here are but a few:

It was agreed in previous discussions that the History of South Tyrol begins and is hence limited to the period after WWI, and that the earlier periods be treated in the Tyrol article, since anything else would be a content fork. Furthermore in the antiquity section you added, for some misterious reason you have changed the passage which correctly stated that the area south and west of the Bolzano basin where part of Italy's Legio X, while the areas north and east belonged to the provinces of Raetia and Noricum respectively. You have removed passages with interesting encyclopedic knowledge without reason (like the mention of the name Welschtirol, which linked to an interesting article about the ancient germanic word "valch", which now is included again since I restored it). In the Background section you have added so much information on italian irredentism that that section now makes up half of the article. Your figures on the percentages of the 1910 census are wrong, and you changed titles without logic, like the one about "reasons of the annexation" which talks mainly about ethnicity. Many of your statements are open to debate and not referenced. You have substituted South Tyroleans with german speakers, implying that all italian speakers would have been in favor of certain policies, and I could go on and on. I would like to suggest the following: lets revert the article to the last version before you started editing, and you then can apply your changes one step at a time, with proper discussion, so that we can find a consensus. Pcassitti (talk) 14:58, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I've done nothing of misterious. Beacause you seem to be found on the subject, do your own correction. History of AA/TT begin from prehistory, in Italian, French, German and other wikipedias... I've added something about Fascist italianization. Do your own correction now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.220.115.234 (talk) 17:14, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Fine, then. I'll begin with removing the passages prior to WWI, as they have been copied over from the Tyrol article and constitute a content fork, please see WP:content forking. The splitting of the historical information into separate articles has been agreed upon in a lengthy debate which included a fair number of users, I ask you to respect that. If you think this decision was not a good one, feel free to open a debate and if a consensus is reached we can rearrange the articles. Pcassitti (talk) 07:39, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

NPOV tag
I' ve added the POV since the article is fairly unbalanced and controversial. A complete rewriting or at least subastantial additions would probably make it better. Here are some of my issues:
 * The "Italy under Austrian Rule" section does not belong in this article, there are already several articles treating the subject, hence, besides missing the subject of this article, it also constitutes a WP:CFORK. It would be enough to mention the irredentist and nationalist movement in Italy as a driving force behind Italy's role in WWI and the annexation, and from there link to the relevant articles. It is clear that by including such a large section on "Italy under austrian rule" the impression is to be given that South Tyrol was also a part of Italy under austrian rule, when in fact it ethnically it was a part of austria under austrian rule.
 * Honestly, I'had not this impression. Anyway I've shortened this, too large, section.

 * Any mention has been removed of the misunderstanding about the date of the armistice at the end of WWI, which was crucial in enabling italian troops to occupy South Tyrol, thus strengthening its position in subsequent negotiations. I assume this was in an attempt to make Italy's victory seem even more glorious.
 * The mention was moved in the proper article (Battle of Vittorio Veneto), where is properly presented as a forgery. If you still enforce as a "crucial" this blatant forgery, it's not surprising if you claim as a try "to make more glorious" any attempt to properly describe the VV battle. Anyway I've removed the disputed claims: they actually belong to VV battle article. Forget any attempts to present your unrelevant "misunderstanding" as "crucial". Several sources already state that your claim was a forgery, I don't like to repeat my self.

 * Sentences like "Attempts of Austria to regain Alto Adige/South Tyrol, claiming to be the "first victim of Hitler" (by the way an Austrian), came to nothing." are partisan and should not be part of an encyclopedic article, especially since, in this particular case, it was the allied powers who used this term, it wasn't an austrian claim.
 * I've rewritten the sentences.

 * The Section "reasons for the annexation" also includes unreferenced statements which I find highly dubious, such as the claim that in the census of 1910 ladins where counted as italians, followed in the same paragraph by the claim that the amount of german speakers was artificially inflated. Not to mention the claim, made in note 7, that the Ladin language, which has an own official grammar and orthography, is an "unstandardised" language, comparable to german and italian dialects. Pcassitti (talk) 06:30, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I've introduced some sources. I will look for further sources ASA. BTW, I've a good direct knowledge of the lands, so I know what I say. Regards.78.13.167.236 (talk) 13:52, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Reasons of the annexation
This section, expecially the last paragraph, look like Original research. There is a source given (in Italian). However, the connection with the Sudetendeutsche issue and the German colonies are a matter of opinion, and should be state as such. I would recommend, rather than citing a rather obscure Italian-language book, to refer to the excellent book: Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World [ROUGHCUT] (Hardcover) by Margaret MacMillan. Andreas (T) 15:14, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I've modified the lines. Tell me if, in your opinion, now is ok.--78.13.167.236 (talk) 19:53, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Look, it would be nice if you didn't delete passages which are written in acceptable english and replace them with badly written ones. The whole article is starting to read like a justification for Italy's claims on South Tyrol. I will not interfere since, as has been stated elsewhere, the best way to make this article work is some history, and I might just find time to add relevant passages. And I am not going to tolerate any distorting editing on those without an in-depth discussion on this page. Adding other points of view, with citations, preferably not from some nationalist books from the late 50ies, is perfectly fine. Pcassitti (talk) 22:02, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

The history of south tyrol...
starts in the 19th century? or more simply less recent history it's not controversial enough to be interesting?--Piccolo Modificatore Laborioso (talk) 14:36, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Of course the history of the area started with its first human inhabitants, see Ötzi the Iceman. However, South Tyrol as a defined political entity has existed only since the partition of Tyrol in 1919. The previous history is presented in the Tyrol article. I have discussed this before at Talk:Province of Bolzano-Bozen/Archive 3.  Andreas  (T) 15:06, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * No, I don't think I get it. After all, the same goes for, say, the United Kingdom, but the history section surely doesn't start from 1707!--Piccolo Modificatore Laborioso (talk) 21:59, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Gryffindor
Nice to see Gryffindor is back and trying to erase Bolzano and Alto Adige again. :) He moved it to History of South Tyrol saying I moved unilaterally.  LOL.  It was someone else who put it to History of Alto Adige-South Tyrol, and these dual names were part of the agreement.  Of course, if you are Gryffindor/Noclador/PhJ/etc. you want to erase anything non-German.  Surreal.  Karma guys, it is gonna get ya :) Icsunonove (talk) 10:26, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Please spare us your usual accusations that we want to erase all non-German. There are good reasons for the lemma History of South Tyrol, because this article doesn't deal only with post-1918 history. --Mai-Sachme (talk) 14:47, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I think that all articles about the Province and the Region should have double names, following the "Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol" scheme. --Checco (talk) 09:06, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Not this time, Checco. The name is South Tyrol, not Südtirol. If that was the case it would have been different.--Le Petit Modificateur Laborieux (talk) 23:27, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It is the case in fact. The article begins with "modern-day South Tyrol...": modern-day South Tyrol is what we call "Alto Adige/Südtirol". We should always stick to that double name. --Checco (talk) 23:59, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
 * According to WP:UE we should prefer an existing English name. --Mai-Sachme (talk) 20:13, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

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Recent Developments
What about the proposed referendum by the Italian President? What about the active secessionist parties? What about the Northern Liga, and the fact that the "Freistaat Movement" calls for a similar secession like was done in Kosovo minus the bloodshed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.85.101.45 (talk) 07:54, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

 * as you say- this are recent developments - most of it is current politics... the article is History of South Tyrol. I.e. if one day there will be a referendum, then the results will enter this article as it will be a fact, but all the things you pointed out above are just talk and thus not relevant for an article about the history of the province. noclador (talk) 18:18, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Mein Kampf Reference
In the section German-Italian option agreement Hitler is referenced as saying, in Mein Kampf, "Germans were just a small and irrelevant minority in Southern Tyrol". I am unable to find anywhere in Mein Kampf where Hitler refers to the German population of Southern Tyrol as a small or irrelevant minority. The closest I could find is in Volume 2, Chapter 13 where he states that the Weimar government cannot "liberate 200,000 Germans, when more than seven million neighbouring Germans are suffering under foreign domination". ChrisShaw2012 (talk) 02:18, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Annexation to Italy was not a mistake due to lack of knowledge
La ethnic situation of South Tyrol was well known also to the US delegation. In fact the points of President Wilson were to be mitigated by realpolitik reasons dealing with natural borders and security to be given to new state-borders. So German majorities in Alsace and South Tyrol, Slovene majority east of Trieste and Gorizia, Croatian majority east of Pola, Romanian majority east of Belgrade had to be neglected in the peace agreements.--Deguef (talk) 09:20, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Names
Various IPs try to change Meran into Merano and Bozen to Bolzano. I find that inapposite for the following reasons:
 * Both Meran and Merano are used in English language. Per WP:NOTBROKEN there is no need for exchanging one name with another.
 * The article deals with events that happened before 1923. At those times, both Bozen and Meran had only one single official name, namely Bozen and Meran. Bolzan and Merano were only introduced with the Regio decreto nr. 800 in 1923. Therefore, writing Bolzano and Merano in a pre-1923-context can be viewed as an anachronism. Immanuel Kant's birthplace was Königsberg, Umberto D'Ancona's was Fiume, and so on: It seems to be good Wikipedia practice to avoid anachronisms. --Mai-Sachme (talk) 18:08, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

I quote from Talk:Bolzano: I quote from Talk:Merano: There isn't a single line where it was established that Bolzano/Merano must be called Bozen/Meran before 1923. It's just your personal, subjective opinion. If you think your opinion is correct, then create a new topic in Talk:Bolzano and Talk:Merano asking to change the consensus. If you succeed in persuading admins that the consensus needs to be changed, then you're free to edit these articles in that way, but now you're just going against consensus. In order to reply what you wrote here: And you also refused to write that Merano in that period was named Meran. Read what's written in it.wikipedia (it's in Italian, I know you'd rather reading Swahili, but don't pretend not to understand): Merano was an already existing and used name, even if it wasn't yet the official one as today is. But you would also refuse to write that Meran nowadays is named Merano... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.20.2.95 (talk) 2015-11-28T19:33:28 (UTC)
 * "Bolzano is the Italian name, Bozen is the German name, Bolzano is the English name; English wikipedia => English name"
 * "While I am more than happy to call the city Bozen myself, for the English Wikipedia Bolzano is the proper name based on common usage and naming conventions"
 * "All English language encyclopedia's will refer to Bolzano and all other cities that were formerly German by the name the country they are now part of calls them"
 * "Wikipedia naming convention states to use the most common name in English which is in fact Merano"
 * "Bozen and Meran are most commonly called Bolzano and Merano in modern English, so we use those"
 * "What the English speakers do is of course more relevant for the English language Wikipedia, so Merano is the correct solution"
 * Both Meran and Merano are used in English language > "Wikipedia naming convention states to use the most common name in English which is in fact Merano" + "Bozen and Meran are most commonly called Bolzano and Merano in modern English, so we use those" = "What the English speakers do is of course more relevant for the English language Wikipedia, so Merano is the correct solution"
 * there is no need for exchanging one name with another so why do you keep exchanging ona name with another?
 * The article deals with events that happened before 1923 are you serious? You instst with this argument, and I keep answering: Italy was officially created in 1981, before it's always been just a clusted of statelets, some of them dominated by Austrians, French, Spanish, etc.... Are you saying that, wherever there's an Italian town name in an article about a previous period than 1981, we should use the name used in that period (Latin, ancient Italian, local dialect, foreign conqueror's language...)? Again: are you serious? Or just incoherent because this is all right just for Bolzano and Merano, or even just for those 2 articles? Please...

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LINGUISTIC MAP BEFORE THE ANNEXATION TO ITALY
The linguistic map wich shows the ethnic composition of the region before the italian rule has some mistakes. Not only Vadena had an italian majority, but also Bronzolo. According to the census of 1890 also Laives had an italian majority, which became a minority according to the 1900 census. Pochi di Salorno and Laghetti had an italian majority but they were a frazione of Salorno and Egna, so they don't count

sources: https://books.google.it/books?id=PHzM88AB1x0C&pg=PA59&dq=dialetto+trentino+bassa+atesina&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj18cuk0frtAhUkuaQKHeQ5AI8Q6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=dialetto%20trentino%20bassa%20atesina&f=false https://digital.tessmann.it/tessmannDigital/Medium/Seite/22905/34

--79.54.141.242 (talk) 11:24, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

 * I checked the data, there is no mistake. It correctly shows the linguistic distribution as of 1880...
 * The census of that time show a lot of fluctuation regarding the linguistic composition in the few municipalities south of Bolzano. In 1880, Laives hat a total population of 1668, of which 1272 declared themselves to be German-speakers and 380 Italian-speakers. 10 years later, as you correctly point out, there was a slight Italian majority (837 German-speakers and 937 Italian-speakers), in 1900 and 1910 however, a large majority declared again as German-speakers. A somwhow similar pattern ca be seen in other neighbouring municipalities (an increase of Italian-speakers particularly in the 1890 census, and subsequently a decrease in the follow-up census), but, as I said, the map shows the data of the 1880 census and is, as far as I can see, factually correct. --Mai-Sachme (talk) 07:34, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:History of South Tyrol


text:
Electrochemical gradient

An electrochemical gradient is a gradient of electrochemical potential, usually for an ion that can move across a membrane. The gradient consists of two parts:

 * The chemical gradient, or difference in solute concentration across a membrane.
 * The electrical gradient, or difference in charge across a membrane.

When there are unequal concentrations of an ion across a permeable membrane, the ion will move across the membrane from the area of higher concentration to the area of lower concentration through simple diffusion. Ions also carry an electric charge that forms an electric potential across a membrane. If there is an unequal distribution of charges across the membrane, then the difference in electric potential generates a force that drives ion diffusion until the charges are balanced on both sides of the membrane.

Electrochemical gradients are essential to the operation of batteries and other electrochemical cells, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, and certain other biological processes.

Overview
Electrochemical energy is one of the many interchangeable forms of potential energy through which energy may be conserved. It appears in electroanalytical chemistry and has industrial applications such as batteries and fuel cells. In biology, electrochemical gradients allow cells to control the direction ions move across membranes. In mitochondria and chloroplasts, proton gradients generate a chemiosmotic potential used to synthesize ATP, and the sodium-potassium gradient helps neural synapses quickly transmit information.

An electrochemical gradient has two components: a differential concentration of electric charge across a membrane and a differential concentration of chemical species across that same membrane. In the former effect, the concentrated charge attracts charges of the opposite sign; in the latter, the concentrated species tends to diffuse across the membrane to an equalize concentrations. The combination of these two phenomena determines the thermodynamically-preferred direction for an ion's movement across the membrane.

The combined effect can be quantified as a gradient in the thermodynamic electrochemical potential: with  $μ_{i}$ the chemical potential of the ion species $i$ $z_{i}$ the charge per ion of the species $i$ $F$, Faraday constant (the electrochemical potential is implicitly measured on a per-mole basis) $φ$, the local electric potential.  Sometimes, the term "electrochemical potential" is abused to describe the electric potential generated by an ionic concentration gradient; that is, $φ$.

An electrochemical gradient is analogous to the water pressure across a hydroelectric dam. Routes unblocked by the membrane (e.g. membrane transport protein or electrodes) correspond to turbines that convert the water's potential energy to other forms of physical or chemical energy, and the ions that pass through the membrane correspond to water traveling into the lower river. Conversely, energy can be used to pump water up into the lake above the dam, and chemical energy can be used to create electrochemical gradients.

Chemistry
The term typically applies in electrochemistry, when electrical energy in the form of an applied voltage is used to modulate the thermodynamic favorability of a chemical reaction. In a battery, an electrochemical potential arising from the movement of ions balances the reaction energy of the electrodes. The maximum voltage that a battery reaction can produce is sometimes called the standard electrochemical potential of that reaction.

Biological context
The generation of a transmembrane electrical potential through ion movement across a cell membrane drives biological processes like nerve conduction, muscle contraction, hormone secretion, and sensation. By convention, physiological voltages are measured relative to the extracellular region; a typical animal cell has an internal electrical potential of (−70)–(−50) mV.

An electrochemical gradient is essential to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. The final step of cellular respiration is the electron transport chain, composed of four complexes embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Complexes I, III, and IV pump protons from the matrix to the intermembrane space (IMS); for every electron pair entering the chain, ten protons translocate into the IMS. The result is an electric potential of more than $(-70) mV$. The resulting flux of protons back into the matrix powers the efforts of ATP synthase to combine inorganic phosphate and ADP.

Similar to the electron transport chain, the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis pump protons into the thylakoid lumen of chloroplasts to drive the synthesis of ATP. The proton gradient can be generated through either noncyclic or cyclic photophosphorylation. Of the proteins that participate in noncyclic photophosphorylation, photosystem II (PSII), plastiquinone, and cytochrome b6f complex directly contribute to generating the proton gradient. For each four photons absorbed by PSII, eight protons are pumped into the lumen.

Several other transporters and ion channels play a role in generating a proton electrochemical gradient. One is TPK3, a potassium channel that is activated by Ca2+ and conducts K+ from the thylakoid lumen to the stroma, which helps establish the electric field. On the other hand, the electro-neutral K+ efflux antiporter (KEA3) transports K+ into the thylakoid lumen and H+ into the stroma, which helps establish the pH gradient.

Ion gradients
Since the ions are charged, they cannot pass through cellular membranes via simple diffusion. Two different mechanisms can transport the ions across the membrane: active or passive transport.

An example of active transport of ions is the Na+-K+-ATPase (NKA). NKA is powered by the hydrolysis of ATP into ADP and an inorganic phosphate; for every molecule of ATP hydrolized, three Na+ are transported outside and two K+ are transported inside the cell. This makes the inside of the cell more negative than the outside and more specifically generates a membrane potential Vmembrane of about $200 mV$.

An example of passive transport is ion fluxes through Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Cl− channels. Unlike active transport, passive transport is powered by the arithmetic sum of osmosis (a concentration gradient) and an electric field (the transmembrane potential). Formally, the molar Gibbs free energy change associated with successful transport is $$ \Delta G = RT\ln{\!\left(\frac{c_{\rm in}}{c_{\rm out}}\right)} + (Fz)V_{\rm membrane}$$ where $-60 mV$ represents the gas constant, $R$ represents absolute temperature, $T$ is the charge per ion, and $z$ represents the Faraday constant.

In the example of Na+, both terms tend to support transport: the negative electric potential inside the cell attracts the positive ion and since Na+ is concentrated outside the cell, osmosis supports diffusion through the Na+ channel into the cell. In the case of K+, the effect of osmosis is reversed: although external ions are attracted by the negative intracellular potential, entropy seeks to diffuse the ions already concentrated inside the cell. The converse phenomenon (osmosis supports transport, electric potential opposes it) can be achieved for Na+ in cells with abnormal transmembrane potentials: at $F$, the Na+ influx halts; at higher potentials, it becomes an efflux.

Proton gradients
Proton gradients in particular are important in many types of cells as a form of energy storage. The gradient is usually used to drive ATP synthase, flagellar rotation, or metabolite transport. This section will focus on three processes that help establish proton gradients in their respective cells: bacteriorhodopsin and noncyclic photophosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation.

Bacteriorhodopsin
The way bacteriorhodopsin generates a proton gradient in Archaea is through a proton pump. The proton pump relies on proton carriers to drive protons from the side of the membrane with a low H+ concentration to the side of the membrane with a high H+ concentration. In bacteriorhodopsin, the proton pump is activated by absorption of photons of 568nm wavelength, which leads to isomerization of the Schiff base (SB) in retinal forming the K state. This moves SB away from Asp85 and Asp212, causing H+ transfer from the SB to Asp85 forming the M1 state. The protein then shifts to the M2 state by separating Glu204 from Glu194 which releases a proton from Glu204 into the external medium. The SB is reprotonated by Asp96 which forms the N state. It is important that the second proton comes from Asp96 since its deprotonated state is unstable and rapidly reprotonated with a proton from the cytosol. The protonation of Asp85 and Asp96 causes re-isomerization of the SB, forming the O state. Finally, bacteriorhodopsin returns to its resting state when Asp85 releases its proton to Glu204.

Photophosphorylation
PSII also relies on light to drive the formation of proton gradients in chloroplasts, however, PSII utilizes vectorial redox chemistry to achieve this goal. Rather than physically transporting protons through the protein, reactions requiring the binding of protons will occur on the extracellular side while reactions requiring the release of protons will occur on the intracellular side. Absorption of photons of 680nm wavelength is used to excite two electrons in P680 to a higher energy level. These higher energy electrons are transferred to protein-bound plastoquinone (PQA) and then to unbound plastoquinone (PQB). This reduces plastoquinone (PQ) to plastoquinol (PQH2) which is released from PSII after gaining two protons from the stroma. The electrons in P680 are replenished by oxidizing water through the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC). This results in release of O2 and H+ into the lumen, for a total reaction of

After being released from PSII, PQH2 travels to the cytochrome b6f complex, which then transfers two electrons from PQH2 to plastocyanin in two separate reactions. The process that occurs is similar to the Q-cycle in Complex III of the electron transport chain. In the first reaction, PQH2 binds to the complex on the lumen side and one electron is transferred to the iron-sulfur center which then transfers it to cytochrome f which then transfers it to plastocyanin. The second electron is transferred to heme bL which then transfers it to heme bH which then transfers it to PQ. In the second reaction, a second PQH2 gets oxidized, adding an electron to another plastocyanin and PQ. Both reactions together transfer four protons into the lumen.

Oxidative phosphorylation
In the electron transport chain, complex I (CI) catalyzes the reduction of ubiquinone (UQ) to ubiquinol (UQH2) by the transfer of two electrons from reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) which translocates four protons from the mitochondrial matrix to the IMS:

Complex III (CIII) catalyzes the Q-cycle. The first step involving the transfer of two electrons from the UQH2 reduced by CI to two molecules of oxidized cytochrome c at the Qo site. In the second step, two more electrons reduce UQ to UQH2 at the Qi site. The total reaction is:

Complex IV (CIV) catalyzes the transfer of two electrons from the cytochrome c reduced by CIII to one half of a full oxygen. Utilizing one full oxygen in oxidative phosphorylation requires the transfer of four electrons. The oxygen will then consume four protons from the matrix to form water while another four protons are pumped into the IMS, to give a total reaction

== See also ==

 * Concentration cell
 * Transmembrane potential difference
 * Action potential
 * Cell potential
 * Electrodiffusion
 * Galvanic cell
 * Electrochemical cell
 * Proton exchange membrane
 * Reversal potential

title: Electrochemical gradient


text: User talk:69.192.8.161

title: User talk:69.192.8.161


text:
Saulius Mikoliūnas

Saulius Mikoliūnas (born 2 May 1984) is a Lithuanian former professional footballer who played as a right winger for the Lithuania national team. He has previously played for Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian and Ukrainian Premier League club Arsenal Kyiv. With 101 caps, Mikoliūnas is also the Lithuania national team's most-capped player.

Mikoliūnas was a right-sided winger who sometimes played in the right-back position.

Club career
In January 2005, Mikoliūnas moved to Scottish club Heart of Midlothian on loan from FBK Kaunas. He was a regular in the first team for the hearts, however inconsistency always dogged his Hearts career. He silenced many critics with the winner at Tynecastle versus city rivals Hibernian on 26 December 2006. Mikoliūnas announced on 2 December 2008 that he wanted to leave the Edinburgh club after the 2008–09 season, to take up a new football challenge after spending four years at the club. On 27 April 2009, it was confirmed with immediate effect that the midfielder and his Lithuanian colleague Deividas Česnauskis had left Hearts.

The following month, Mikoliūnas stated he was to sign for Swansea City on a free transfer during the summer transfer window, but the move broke down after Swansea manager Roberto Martínez moved to Wigan Athletic. Eventually, Mikoliūnas signed a three-year contract with Ukrainian side Arsenal Kyiv.

In January 2013, Mikoliūnas moved to Ukrainian First League side FC Sevastopol. At the end of the season, his team achieved promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League. In August 2014, he signed for Belarusian club Shakhtyor Soligorsk. In December 2015, Lithuanian club Žalgiris Vilnius announced that Mikoliūnas will join the club for the 2016 season.

At the age of 39, Mikoliūnas announced his retirement from professional football in October 2023. He played his last match on 12 November 2023, on the last matchday of the 2023 A Lyga (12 November). Across all competitions, he has appeared in 221 games for Žalgiris, won the A Lyga title four times, and lifted the Lithuanian cup five times with his team.

International career
Mikoliūnas made his debut for the Lithuania national team on 5 June 2004 in a friendly match against Portugal, and scored his first international goal in 2007 against Georgia. He followed that up a year later with a second goal against Romania. On 9 October 2014, in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match, he scored the most recent goal of his five international goals, against Estonia in a 1–0 home victory.

After appearing in a Nations League match against Kazakhstan on 4 September 2020, Mikoliūnas attained his 85th cap for his country and thus became the most capped player for Lithuania, surpassing previous record holder Andrius Skerla. On 25 September 2022, he became the first Lithuanian player to reach 100 caps for the national team after playing in the Nations League match against Luxembourg.

Off the Pitch
On 9 May 2019, Mikoliūnas received a UEFA B coaching license.

Career statistics

 * Scores and results list Lithuania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mikoliūnas goal.

Honours
FBK Kaunas
 * Lithuanian A Lyga: 2004
 * Lithuanian Cup: 2004
 * Lithuanian Super Cup: 2004

Heart of Midlothian
 * Scottish Cup: 2005–06

FK Žalgiris
 * Lithuanian A Lyga: 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022
 * Lithuanian Cup: 2016 (2x), 2018, 2021, 2022
 * Lithuanian Super Cup: 2016, 2017, 2020, 2023

title: Saulius Mikoliūnas


text:
Lycoperdon perlatum

Lycoperdon perlatum, popularly known as the common puffball, warted puffball, gem-studded puffball or devil's snuff-box, is a species of puffball fungus in the family Agaricaceae. A widespread species with a cosmopolitan distribution, it is a medium-sized puffball with a round fruit body tapering to a wide stalk, and dimensions of 1.5 to 6 cm wide by 3 to 10 cm tall. It is off-white with a top covered in short spiny bumps or "jewels", which are easily rubbed off to leave a netlike pattern on the surface. When mature it becomes brown, and a hole in the top opens to release spores in a burst when the body is compressed by touch or falling raindrops.

The puffball grows in fields, gardens, and along roadsides, as well as in grassy clearings in woods. It is edible when young and the internal flesh is completely white, although care must be taken to avoid confusion with immature fruit bodies of poisonous Amanita species. L. perlatum can usually be distinguished from other similar puffballs by differences in surface texture. Several chemical compounds have been isolated and identified from the fruit bodies of L. perlatum, including sterol derivatives, volatile compounds that give the puffball its flavor and odor, and the unusual amino acid lycoperdic acid. Extracts of the puffball have antimicrobial and antifungal activities.

Taxonomy
The species was first described in the scientific literature in 1796 by mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. Synonyms include Lycoperdon gemmatum (as described by August Batsch in 1783 ); the variety Lycoperdon gemmatum var. perlatum (published by Elias Magnus Fries in 1829 ); Lycoperdon bonordenii (George Edward Massee, 1887 ); and Lycoperdon perlatum var. bonordenii (A.C. Perdeck, 1950 ).

L. perlatum is the type species of the genus Lycoperdon. Molecular analyses suggest a close phylogenetic relationship with L. marginatum.

The specific epithet perlatum is Latin for "widespread". It is commonly known as the common puffball, the gem-studded puffball (or gemmed puffball ), the warted puffball, or the devil's snuff-box; Samuel Frederick Gray called it the pearly puff-ball in his 1821 work A Natural Arrangement of British Plants. Because some indigenous peoples believed that the spores caused blindness, the puffball has some local names such as "blindman's bellows" and "no-eyes".

Description
The fruit body ranges in shape from pear-like with a flattened top, to nearly spherical, and reaches dimensions of 1.5 to 6 cm wide by 3 to 7 cm tall. It has a stem-like base, and is whitish before browning in age. The outer surface of the fruit body (the exoperidium) is covered in short cone-shaped spines that are interspersed with granular warts. The spines, which are whitish, gray, or brown, can be easily rubbed off, and leave reticulate pock marks or scars after they are removed. The base of the puffball is thick. It is initially white, but turns yellow, olive, or brownish in age. The reticulate pattern resulting from the rubbed-off spines is less evident on the base.

In maturity, the exoperidium at the top of the puffball sloughs away, revealing a pre-formed hole (ostiole) in the endoperidium, through which the spores can escape. In young puffballs, the internal contents, the gleba, is white and firm, but turns brown and powdery as the spores mature. The gleba contains minute chambers that are lined with hymenium (the fertile, spore-bearing tissue); the chambers collapse when the spores mature. Mature puffballs release their powdery spores through the ostiole when they are compressed by touch or falling raindrops. A study of the spore release mechanism in L. pyriforme using high-speed schlieren photography determined that raindrops of 1 mm diameter or greater, including rain drips from nearby trees, were sufficient to cause spore discharge. The puffed spores are ejected from the ostiole at a velocity of about 100 cm/second to form a centimeter-tall cloud one-hundredth of a second after impact. A single puff like this can release over a million spores.

The spores are spherical, thick-walled, covered with minute spines, and measure 3.5–4.5 μm in diameter. The capillitia (threadlike filaments in the gleba in which spores are embedded) are yellow-brown to brownish in color, lack septae, and measure 3–7.5 μm in diameter. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 7–9 by 4–5 μm. The basidia bear four slender sterigmata of unequal length ranging from 5–10 μm long. The surface spines are made of chains of pseudoparenchymatous hyphae (resembling the parenchyma of higher plants), in which the individual hyphal cells are spherical to elliptical in shape, thick-walled (up to 1 μm), and measure 13–40 by 9–35 μm. These hyphae do not have clamp connections.

Edibility
Lycoperdon perlatum is considered to be a good edible mushroom when young, when the gleba is still homogeneous and white. They have been referred to as "poor man's sweetbread" due to their texture and flavor. The fruit bodies can be eaten after slicing and frying in batter or egg and breadcrumbs, or used in soups as a substitute for dumplings. As early as 1861, Elias Fries recommended them dried and served with salt, pepper, and oil. The puffballs become inedible as they mature: the gleba becomes yellow-tinged then finally develops into a mass of powdery olive-green spores. L. perlatum is one of several edible species sold in markets in the Mexican states of Puebla and Tlaxcala. The fruit bodies are appealing to animals as well: the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) includes the puffball in their diet of non-truffle fungi, while the "puffball beetle" Caenocara subglobosum uses the fruit body for shelter and breeding. Nutritional analysis indicates that the puffballs are a good source of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and several micronutrients. The predominant fatty acids in the puffball are linoleic acid (37% of the total fatty acids), oleic acid (24%), palmitic acid (14.5%), and stearic acid (6.4%).

The immature 'buttons' or 'eggs' of deadly Amanita species can be confused with puffballs. This can be avoided by slicing fruit bodies vertically and inspecting them for the internal developing structures of a mushroom, which would indicate the poisonous Amanita. Additionally, amanitas will generally not have "jewels" or a bumpy external surface.

The spores' surfaces have many microscopic spines and can cause severe irritation of the lung (lycoperdonosis) when inhaled. This condition has been reported to afflict dogs that play or run where the puffballs are present.

Similar species
There are several other puffball species with which L. perlatum might be confused. L. nettyanum, found in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, is covered in granular patches, but these granules adhere more strongly to the surface than those of L. perlatum. L. pyriforme lacks prominent spines on the surface, and grows on rotting wood—although if growing on buried wood, it may appear to be terrestrial. The widely distributed and common L. umbrinum has spines that do not leave scars when rubbed off, a gleba that varies in color from dark brown to purple-brown at maturity, and a purple-tinged base. The small and rare species L. muscorum grows in deep moss. L. peckii can be distinguished from L. pyriforme by the lavender-tinged spines it has when young. L. rimulatum has purplish spores, and an almost completely smooth exoperidium. L. excipuliforme is larger and grayer, and, in mature individuals, the upper portion of its fruit body breaks down completely to release its spores. In the field, L. marginatum is distinguished from L. perlatum by the way in which the spines are shed from the exoperidium in irregular sheets.

Ecology and distribution
A saprobic species, Lycoperdon perlatum grows solitarily, scattered, or in groups or clusters on the ground. It can also grow in fairy rings. Typical habitats include woods, grassy areas, and along roads. It has been reported from Pinus patula plantations in Tamil Nadu, India. The puffball sometimes confuses golfers because of its resemblance to a golf ball when viewed from a distance.

A widespread species with an almost cosmopolitan distribution, it has been reported from Africa (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania ), Asia (China, Himalayas, Japan, southern India Iran ), Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and South America (Brazil). It has been collected from subarctic areas of Greenland, and subalpine regions in Iceland. In North America, where it is considered the most common puffball species, it ranges from Alaska to Mexico, although it is less common in Central America. The species is popular on postage stamps, and has been depicted on stamps from Guinea, Paraguay, Romania, Sierra Leone, and Sweden.

The puffball bioaccumulates heavy metals present in the soil, and can be used as a bioindicator of soil pollution by heavy metals and selenium. In one 1977 study, samples collected from grassy areas near the side of an interstate highway in Connecticut were shown to have high concentrations of cadmium and lead. L. perlatum biomass has been shown experimentally to remove mercury ions from aqueous solutions, and is being investigated for potential use as a low-cost, renewable, biosorptive material in the treatment of water and wastewater containing mercury.

Chemistry
Several steroid derivatives have been isolated and identified from fruit bodies of L. perlatum, including (S)-23-hydroxylanostrol, ergosterol α-endoperoxide, ergosterol 9,11-dehydroendoperoxide and (23E)-lanosta-8,23-dien-3β,25-diol. The compounds 3-octanone, 1-octen-3-ol, and (Z)-3-octen-1-ol are the predominant components of the volatile chemicals that give the puffball its odor and flavor. Extracts of the puffball contain relatively high levels of antimicrobial activity against laboratory cultures of the human pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with activity comparable to that of the antibiotic ampicillin. These results corroborate an earlier study that additionally reported antibacterial activity against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Mycobacterium smegmatis. Extracts of the puffball have also been reported to have antifungal activity against Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, Aspergillus fumigatus, Alternaria solani, Botrytis cinerea, and Verticillium dahliae. A 2009 study found L. perlatum puffballs to contain cinnamic acid at a concentration of about 14 milligrams per kilogram of mushroom. The fruit bodies contain the pigment melanin.

The amino acid lycoperdic acid (chemical name 3-(5(S)-carboxy-2-oxotetrahydrofuran-5(S)-yl)-2(S)-alanine) was isolated from the puffball, and reported in a 1978 publication. Based on the structural similarity of the new amino acid with (S)-glutamic acid, (S)-(+)-lycoperdic acid is expected to have antagonistic or agonistic activity for the glutamate receptor in the mammalian central nervous system. Methods to synthesize the compounds were reported in 1992, 1995, and 2002.

title: Lycoperdon perlatum


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User:Stephen Saikkonen

I am living in Ontario, Canada, and I have a diploma in library science.

Current Wikipedia projects

 * 1) Working on updating the Elisha Cuthbert page to include information about her role in the 2001 TV movie "Lucky Girl".

 * 1) Creating a stub article for the 2001 TV movie "Lucky Girl"

Links to my user subpages
/Sandbox

/Cuthbert_Draft1 Draft article for Lucky Girl

title: User:Stephen Saikkonen


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Greater cane rat

The greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus), also known as the grasscutter (in Ghana, Nigeria and other regions of West Africa), is one of two species of cane rats, a small family of African hystricognath rodents. It lives by reed-beds and riverbanks in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Description
Greater cane rats can measure in head-and-body length from 43 to 60 cm with the tail measuring 16 to 19.5 cm. Typical weight is 3.2 to 5.2 kg, in males averaging some 4.5 kg, and females at 3.4 to 3.8 kg. In some cases, greater cane rats can weigh to approximately 7 to 9 kg. They are considered one of the largest rodents in Africa, behind only the Hystrix porcupines. It has rounded ears, a short nose, and coarse bristly hair. Its forefeet are smaller than its hind feet, each with three toes.

Behaviour
Cane rats live in small groups led by a single male. They are nocturnal and make nests from grasses or burrow underground. Individuals of the species may live in excess of four years. If frightened, they grunt and run towards water.

Interactions with humans
As humans expanded into the cane rat's native habitats, the cane rats likewise expanded from their native reeds into the plantations, particularly the sugar cane plantations from which they derive their name. Their tendency to adopt plantations as habitat, where they feed on agricultural crops such as maize, wheat, sugar-cane and cassava, often earns them the label of agricultural pest. However, the peoples of the region also utilize the cane rat as a food source (as bushmeat), considering the meat a delicacy. Consequently, these rats are beginning to be raised in cages for sale.

title: Greater cane rat


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Hikkake pattern

The hikkake pattern, or hikkake, is a technical analysis pattern used for determining market turning-points and continuations. It is a simple pattern that can be observed in market price data, using traditional bar charts, point and figure charts, or Japanese candlestick charts. The pattern does not belong to the collection of traditional candlestick chart patterns.

Though some have referred to the hikkake pattern as an "inside day false breakout" or a "fakey pattern", these are deviations from the original name given to the pattern by Daniel L. Chesler, CMT and are not popularly used to describe the pattern. For example, the name "hikkake pattern" has been chosen over "inside day false breakout" or "fakey pattern" by the majority of book authors who have covered the subject, including: "Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians" by Charles D. Kirkpatrick and Julie R. Dahlquist, and "Long/Short Market Dynamics: Trading Strategies for Today's Markets" by Clive M. Corcoran, and "Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader" by Peter L. Brandt.

Conceptual basis
The pattern consists of a measurable period of rest and volatility contraction in the market, followed by a relatively brief price move that encourages unsuspecting traders and investors to adopt a false assumption regarding the likely future direction of price. The pattern, once formed, yields its own set of trading parameters for the time and price of market entry, the dollar risk amount (i.e., where to place protective stops), and the expected profit target. The pattern is not meant as a stand alone "system" for market speculation, but rather as an ancillary technique to traditional technical and fundamental market analysis methods.

Description
The pattern is recognized in two variants, one bearish and one bullish. In both variants, the first bar of the pattern is an inside bar (i.e., one which has both a higher low and a lower high, compared with the previous bar). This is then followed by either a bar with both higher low and higher high for the bearish variant, or with lower low and lower high for the bullish variant. Before the pattern produces a trading signal it must be confirmed; this happens when the price passes below the low of the first bar of the pattern (in the bearish variant) or above the high of the first bar (in the bullish variant). Confirmation must occur within three periods of the last bar of the signal for the signal to be considered valid.

Origin
The hikkake pattern was first conceived and introduced to the financial community through a series of published articles written by technical analyst Daniel L. Chesler, CMT. The phrase "Hikkake" is a Japanese verb which means to "trick" or "ensnare." Chesler chose the name "hikkake" after consulting with Yohey Arakawa, Associate Professor of Japanese, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Institutional uses and peer recognition
The hikkake pattern has been adopted for use by IntStream Oy, a global data distributor of the Nordic electricity energy market Nord Pool, in their E2 energy market analysis platform designed for use by institutional traders. The hikkake pattern has also been chosen for inclusion among other foundational, technical analysis chart patterns comprising the Market Technicians Association Educational Foundation (MTAEF), College Level Introduction to Technical Analysis. The hikkake pattern has attracted international attention among the financial community.

title: Hikkake pattern


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Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-10-03/2006 Wikimania bids

Wikimania will take place in North America in 2006, after the bids to host the event were narrowed down to two finalists on Sunday. The final determination, between Boston and Toronto, is expected by 15 October.

As of the deadline for submitting bids on Friday, four cities officially submitted bids to host Wikimania next year. Besides Toronto and Boston, the other cities competing for the opportunity were London and Milan. In addition to the two finalists, the US and Canada each had one other city preparing a possible bid (Cleveland and Vancouver, respectively), but these were not officially submitted due to a shortage of people committed to the work of organizing the event. Other locations in the UK were also considered before settling on the London bid, and a Romanian bid was started but never got off the ground.

Originally, it had been planned to choose three finalists to consider for two weeks before making the official selection. However, the panel in charge of selecting the host city indicated that having only four bids left them with fewer good options. The panel decided that the proposed venue in London was too expensive; in the case of Milan, the suggested accommodations were too far away from the proposed conference location. Since Wikimania was held in Frankfurt this past August, having the next gathering outside of Europe was also a consideration.

Both of the finalist cities take advantage of opportunities made possible by working with local universities, the University of Toronto and Harvard University. In the Toronto bid, most events would be at the university's Bahen Centre for Information Technology. The Boston proposal would actually make Wikimania a joint event with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, of which Jimmy Wales is a fellow.

While a precise date has not yet been set (and will depend on the availability of the venue), it likely will happen around the same time of year as Wikimania 2005. July or August are considered preferable as many students will be out of school and have more flexibility to attend, and with respect to the finalist bids, it may also reduce competition for space at the facilities.