text:
User talk:Mak17f

Could you do me a favour
Please could you tell me if you know anything about the Luton flashover, a dire substation fault which occured many years ago in england and caused both a nation wide outage and a major change in substation design.Cadmium 12:29, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
 * No idea. I have done some research on insulator flashover in vacuums, which is slightly related to atmospheric insulator flashover. I'll add my (limited) knowledge to the existing flashover page. It looks like the information listed there is a different realm than electrical flashover. Mak17f 17:10, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply, the Luton flashover was interesting becuase what happened was that an arc from a HT conductor to earth occured. This short then caused circuit breakers to open becuase of the overcurrent. Too many protection devices were activated and then everything went to pot. The defense against such an overreaction in the event of such a fault which I was told about was that a substation has all 'earthed' metal work isolated from earth except for one cable which passes through a current transformer. If current is detected in the earth cable then the location of the fault is clear to the protection electronics. Hence with good design of the protection systems it is possible to open fewer circuit breakers then it would be otherwise. The problem is that I do not have the references to back up this design concept which I was told about some years ago by a substation expert.Cadmium 17:27, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
 * In my field, pulsed power, it is good practice to have a single earth ground. However, this is mainly for the minimizations of ground loops rather than protection from faults. Good luck finding your info. Mak17f 21:02, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

From Missouri Huh?
Hey, I Live in Florissant, Missouri. Nice to see a fellow Missourian Hey, I have posted a policy change proposal on the Wikipedia talk:Editing policy page. I would your opinion and all Wikipedia members with accounts. Please. (Steve 22:03, 24 February 2006 (UTC))

Uploading non image files
Well if it was in an image format (jpg), you could upload it as a file. Click on upload file in the special pages menu. Otherwise I ll try to find out. Mak17f I ve found some info:

''If you want to upload other file types than .jpg or .ogg (like for example .pdf) in newer versions of mediawiki, you have to modify the file, LocalSettings.php, by copying the variable, and it's contents, from DefaultSettings.php. Afterward, you can edit it accordingly: $wgFileExtensions = array( 'png', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'ogg','doc','xls','ppt','mp3','sxc','pdf' );''

You may also need to remove this extension from the filetype blacklist (in /includes/DefaultSettings.php). --Light current 15:59, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

 * Stares like a deer in headlights*. I'll see what I can do. Mak17f 16:15, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah I know!. I have only uploaded .jpg files myself--Light current 16:58, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Wikiproject Electronics collaboration
Hi, I am writing to you because you have listed yourself as a member of the Electronics WikiProject. Sadly, this project is pretty dead, but I propose to resuscitate it with a collaboration. The idea is to have a concerted effort on improving one article per month, hopefully to GA or FA status and nominate the very best of them for the front page. I have prepared a page to control this process at WikiProject Electronics/Collaboration (actually, I mostly shamelessly stole it from WikiProject Mammals where a collaboration of this sort was succesfully run). There you can make nominations for articles for collaboration or comment on the nominations of others.

If you want to take part you might like to place this template  on your userpage which will give you a link to the current collaboration. If you are no longer interested in Wikiproject Electronics, please remove yourself from the members list, which is now at WikiProject Electronics/Members

Thanks for listening,  Sp in ni ng  Spark  14:31, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Notification of automated file description generation
Your upload of File:Boost circuit.png or contribution to its description is noted, and thanks (even if belatedly) for your contribution. In order to help make better use of the media, an attempt has been made by an automated process to identify and add certain information to the media's description page.

This notification is placed on your talk page because a bot has identified you either as the uploader of the file, or as a contributor to its metadata. It would be appreciated if you could carefully review the information the bot added. To opt out of these notifications, please follow the instructions here. Thanks! Message delivered by Theo's Little Bot (opt-out) 14:03, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mak17f


text:
User talk:Steffen Kaufmann

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! DS 01:31, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Speedy deletion of Silicon Saxony
A tag has been placed on Silicon Saxony requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a company or corporation, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, as well as our subject-specific notability guideline for companies and corporations.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding  to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the article does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that they userfy the article or have a copy emailed to you. DFS454 (talk) 22:17, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Your article
"40.000 emplyees should be enough for Wikipedia-relevance, don't you think?" Well actually that is not the criteria for Notability. I'll let you expand the article for a while though. Best --DFS454 (talk) 22:23, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * "An organization is generally considered notable if it has been the subject of significant coverage in reliable, independent secondary sources" from WP:company --DFS454 (talk) 22:26, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Albertinum

A tag has been placed on Albertinum requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be a clear copyright infringement. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words.

If the external website belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text — which means allowing other people to modify it — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Donating copyrighted materials. If you are not the owner of the external website but have permission from that owner, see Requesting copyright permission. You might want to look at Wikipedia's policies and guidelines for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button that looks like this: which appears inside of the speedy deletion  tag (if no such tag exists, the page is no longer a speedy delete candidate). Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Stickee (talk)  09:25, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * SKD stands for Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and is another wikipedia user owning all related copyrights. Please un-block this user or let him keep writng if he has opened another account meanwhile. Thank you Steffen Kaufmann (talk) 16:11, 3 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry, speedy nom placed in error. On a side note, even if User:SKD did own the copyright, there is still steps that need to followed in order to donate copyrighted material. Thanks, Stickee (talk)  04:53, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

I have come across Heliatek
You will need to give it some references, if you want it to survive. I will try to find some because I am sympathetic to the company's aims. A reference to its founding in a reputable newspaper would be good. Better if it is in English, but a german reference is acceptable in en WP. Best wishes --Greenmaven (talk) 21:50, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Bild Standesamt
Hallo Steffen Kaufmann,

ich würde Ihr Bild vom Standesamt Dresden gern in einer Aktion für die die Altmarkt-Galerie Dresden nutzen. Leider ist die Qualität nicht ausreichend, um es auf 2m x 2m zu ziehen. Vielleicht können Sie mit mir in Kontakt treten? Ich würde mich unglaublich freuen.

Nadine Ullrich

TW.O GmbH Eventkultur + Livemarketing _______________________________

Wallgässchen 5 01097 Dresden Germany

T +49 351. 655 76 4-16 nadine.ullrich@tw-o.de www.tw-o.de — Preceding unsigned comment added by TW.O GmbH (talk • contribs) 17:53, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Steffen Kaufmann


text: User talk:Livemind

title: User talk:Livemind


text:
User:Madison

When I grow up, I want to be a writer and write books that influence everyone's hearts and minds.

I didn't edit Wikipedia for a while since I was depressed, but now I'm back!

title: User:Madison


text:
Boisdale, Victoria

Boisdale is a town in the Central Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, located on Briagolong Road, north of Maffra, in the Shire of Wellington. At the 2016 census, Boisdale and the surrounding area had a population of 275. It is a small town in the heart of Gippsland's dairying distinct. Boisdale includes not only the town itself, but the area surrounding the town, comprising mostly dairy and vegetable farms. It is situated approximately 9 km north of the larger town of Maffra. Boisdale is 176 km east of Australia's second largest city, Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.

History
Boisdale was the run of pioneer grazier Lachlan Macalister and was named after the village on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. In the 1840s and 1850s, Boisdale was the local headquarters of the Native Police in the Gippsland region. This force would set out from their barracks, patrol the area and conduct punitive raids on various clans of the Gunai people. Macalister's run, being the immediate area around the barracks, was one of the sites of mass aboriginal fatalities due to the Native Police.

Boisdale Post Office opened on 24 September 1889. From 1889, the Briagolong railway line ran through Boisdale, with a railway station in the town that existed primarily for freighting sugar beet and firewood. The line, and thus the railway station, closed in 1952. Boisdale has a primary school, Boisdale Consolidated School, a local post office, general store, mechanic, sporting facilities and the Boisdale Hall, which dates back over a century in age. The town in conjunction with neighbouring township Briagolong has an Australian Rules football team Boisdale-Briagolong competing in the East Gippsland Football League.

title: Boisdale, Victoria


text: User talk:Blackwidow3000

title: User talk:Blackwidow3000


text: File:Metroid Prime Pinball.jpg

title: File:Metroid Prime Pinball.jpg


text:
Talk:Dance Singles Sales

second paragraph
Is there a source for the claims made in the second paragraph of this article? "It should be noted that the Hot Dance Singles Sales once allowed non dance songs or songs that didn't have dance based remixes, that had maxi singles to chart. It was felt that this rule misled the chart's puprose of measuring the sales of dance music, and as a result non dance/non remix maxi singles were banned from this chart. As a result of this, although many urban acts release singles today in the 12' Maxi Single format, they are banned from this chart." The wording seems rather harsh. I don't recall that this chart tracks non-maxi-singles or that non-dance-oriented music is ineligible. Has Billboard released a statement outlining these rules? -- eo 01:32, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Dance Singles Sales


text: User talk:71.114.57.207

title: User talk:71.114.57.207


text:
Talk:Ashley

Untitled

 * Ashley (human name) now moved to Ashley (name) Kcordina 09:21, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ashley


text:
User:Kris12

Kris12 е момче от Стара Загора с акаунта в вибокс7. Неговото първо влизане е на 13.3.2015.До сега той има 11 клипа с над 750 гледания.Най-известен клип е Балгар Сървайвър с над 210 гледания. Основните му клипове са на Гравити Фолс, сериалът с автор Алекс Хърш и се излъчва по Disney XD.За сега той има една значка.

title: User:Kris12


text:
Bushy Park, Victoria

Bushy Park is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on Briagolong Road, north of Maffra, in the Shire of Wellington.

Bushy Park Post Office opened on 1 November 1889 and closed in 1938.

title: Bushy Park, Victoria


text:
Lord Mayor's Day

Lord Mayor's Day is the day marked by a pageant known as the Lord Mayor's Show for the Lord Mayor of the City of London, in England. It is formally styled as The Presentation of the Lord Mayor at The Royal Courts of Justice. When King John allowed the city to choose its Mayor it was with the caveat that the king should be informed as to who this was, with the new office holder being presented to the Lord Chief Justice and the other senior judges (originally the Barons of the Exchequer, now represented by the Queen's Remembrancer). From 1752 until 1959, it was held on 9 November. It is now held on the second Saturday in November.

History
The first of these pageants was held in 1215. The idea originated in the stipulation made in a charter then granted by John that the citizen chosen to be mayor should be presented to the king or his justice for approval. The crowd of citizens who accompanied the mayor on horseback to Westminster developed into a yearly pageant, which each season became more elaborate.

Until the 14th century the mayor either rode or walked to Westminster, but in 1453 Sir John Norman appears to have set a fashion of going by water. From 1639 to 1655 the show disappeared owing to Puritan opposition. With the Restoration the city pageant was revived, but interregnums occurred during the years of the plague and fire, and in 1683 when a quarrel broke out between Charles and the city, ending in the temporary abrogation of the charter.

In 1711 an untoward accident befell the show, the mayor Sir Gilbert Heathcote (the original of Addison's Sir Andrew Freeport) being thrown by his horse. Sir Gilbert Heathcote broke his leg. The next year a coach was, in consequence, provided for the chief magistrate. In 1757 this was superseded by a gilded and elaborately decorated equipage costing £1,065 which was used until 1896, when a replica of it was built to replace it.

title: Lord Mayor's Day


text:
Talk:Neil Macdonald

Disputed
Can anyone verify this? He is the brother of comedian Norm MacDonald. Also, needs more demographic info (born where, when). Daniel Lotspeich 01:34, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

Yes, Neil and Norm are brothers. Neil wrote an article for the CBC on Aug 30, 2016 confirming this fact.

The proper spelling of his name, according to cbc.ca is "Macdonald". The heading on this article, and throughout the entire entry on his brother Norm, Macdonald is mispelled as MacDonald. It will take an admin to fix the entry headline. Alaric the Goth 00:30, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Moving page to "Neil Macdonald". Please note that non-administrative accounts older than 4 days are also able to do this; see Help:Move for details. —Xhantar Talk 00:45, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

"Has been accused of"
Hiding the actual identity of the critics behind a passive-voice formulation gives them far more weight than they deserve. The idea that calling Aish HaTorah's Canada branch "right wing jews" is somehow offensive is silly. Nobody bats an eye at Sikh groups complaining about pro-India bias being identified as Sikhs, or left-wingers complaining about anti-Hugo-Chavez bias being identified as left-wingers, etc. I am simply trying to give some more information about where these accusations are coming from. <eleland/talkedits> 01:17, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Neil Macdonald. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120307204326/http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=Neil+Macdonald&winonly=1&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 to http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=Neil+Macdonald&winonly=1&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 15:33, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

- Need a link to Neil Macdonald's new private (non-CBC) comment pages at https://www.neilmacdonald.me/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by BillVLee (talk • contribs) 00:29, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Two Factual Errors
Neil Macdonald wrote an article for the CBC on May 07, 2019 where he says there are two factual errors in his wikipedia page ... "My Wikipedia entry, not written by me, contains two factual errors.". He did not identify the actual errors. It would be good to verify what he considers wrong about the information found in the wikipedia article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dbmackey (talk • contribs) 23:19, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

Neil MacDonald is not a journalist as outlined by his employer he is an Op-ed Opinion writer, please change this to state that fact. https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/neil-macdonald-1.1857885 — Preceding unsigned comment added by RobRude (talk • contribs) 19:18, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 14 May 2019
Neil MacDonald is not a journalist he is an opinion writer as outlined by his employer. https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/neil-macdonald-1.1857885 RobRude (talk) 19:21, 14 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Going by "He also had a previous career in newspapers" it seems better to describe him as a journalist. – Þjarkur (talk) 20:07, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 May 2019
Change Journalist to Op-ed Opinion Writer please as outlined by his employer the CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/neil-macdonald-1.1857885 RobRude (talk) 19:54, 23 May 2019 (UTC)
 * The source says: "Prior to that he was the CBC's Washington correspondent for 12 years, and before that he spent five years reporting from the Middle East." If he was a journalist for years, we can describe him as a journalist. – Þjarkur (talk) 22:17, 23 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Never mind that opinion columnists are still journalists anyway. Chantal Hébert, frex, is still a journalist, John Ibbitson is still a journalist, Andrew Coyne is still a journalist, and on and so forth. People who analyze the news, rather than just reporting it, are still journalists. Bearcat (talk) 16:24, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Current Photo
Photo added by user:Yeeno is of Greek politician George Papandreou. I was unable to find a license free photo, but a cursory search will show you this is not Neil Macdonald. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.18.1.36 (talk) 10:41, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Neil Macdonald


text:
Stateline Wind Farm

The Stateline Wind Farm is a wind farm located on Vansycle Ridge, which receives 16 to 18 mph (26 – 29 km/h) average wind speeds from the Columbia Gorge, on the border between Washington and Oregon in the United States. With 454 turbines, it is the largest wind project in the Northwestern United States. Costing $300 million to build, it began operation in 2001.

The project employs 660 kW capacity Vestas wind turbines, which collectively will produce a maximum electrical output of 306.9 MW. On average, the project is expected to produce 30 to 35 percent of that capacity year-round. Turbines are controlled individually by electronic systems which direct them into the wind and adjust the pitch of the blades to maximize electrical production at any wind speed from 7 to 56 mph (11.3 to 90 km/h). The turbines automatically shut down at wind speeds excess of 56 mph, a feature which allows them to withstand hurricane-force winds.

The wind turbines are grouped in strings of 5 to 37 turbines, each turbine spaced approximately 250 feet (76 m) from the next, generally slightly downwind of the crest of ridges. Each turbine tower is 166 feet (50 m) tall, with blades 76 feet (23 m) wide.

Environmental impact studies determined that the site was not used extensively by birds or other species vulnerable to injury from turbines, and the turbine towers' construction, along with the use of underground power lines, was designed to minimize perching places for birds. The area around the project is used primarily for private farming, including dryland wheat farming and cattle grazing.

The Stateline Wind Project is several miles northwest of the Vansycle Wind Project in Umatilla County, Oregon. Both are owned and operated by Florida Power & Light, a division of NextEra Energy.

A wind turbine collapsed over the weekend of November 2, 2013 on the Washington side of the Stateline Wind Project.

title: Stateline Wind Farm


text:
Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Xtreme Wrestling Entertainment

Please don't delete this site. It's a growing project that has just gotten started. It's quite a thing in Logan and we are hoping to expand over the rest of Ohio. Please, what harm could information about our fed hurt? We hope that those searching for indy feds may be able to stumble across us and perhaps get something usefull


text:
WKAQ

WKAQ may refer to:

 * WKAQ (AM), a radio station (580 AM) licensed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States
 * WKAQ-FM, a radio station (104.7 FM) licensed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States
 * WKAQ-TV, a television station (PSIP channel 2/RF channel 28) licensed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States

title: WKAQ


text: Category:Economy of Antigua and Barbuda

title: Category:Economy of Antigua and Barbuda


text:
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (abbreviated as PLRE) is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date of the beginning of Gallienus' sole rule, to 641, the date of the death of Heraclius. Sources cited include histories, literary texts, inscriptions, and miscellaneous written sources. Individuals who are known only from dubious sources (e.g., the Historia Augusta), as well as identifiable people whose names have been lost, are included with signs indicating the reliability.

A project of the British Academy, the work set out with the goal of doing "'...for the later Empire what the Prosopographia Imperii Romani has done for the Principate, to provide the materials for the study of the governing class of the Empire. The majority of the entries will be persons holding official posts or rank together with their families, and the work will not include clerics except in so far as they come into the above categories.'"

The volumes were published by Cambridge University Press, and involved many authors and contributors. Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, and John Morris were the principal editors.
 * Volume 1, published on March 2, 1971, comes to 1,176 pages and covers the years from 260 to 395.
 * Volume 2, published on October 9, 1980, comes to 1,355 pages and covers the years from 395 to 527.
 * Volume 3, published on October 15, 1992, is itself a two-volume boxed set, coming to a total of 1,626 pages and covering the years from 527 to 641.

The work is now available on Archive.org https://archive.org/details/prosopography-later-roman-empire/PLRE-I/

The Prosopography of the Byzantine World project aims to extend the coverage to the year 1265.

title: Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire


text:
Talk:Wheat cent

Not first US coin to depict a real person
That would be the 1893 Columbian Expo quarter, which depicted Queen Isabella and Columbus. I'm also fairly certain that Longacre's Indian Head cent design was his daughter wearing a headdress. (I think I read this somewhere, although I'm certainly willing to let that one slide as an "idealised" representation of a real person.)--chris.lawson 02:29, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

expensive v.s. inexpensive
While with a mintage of almost 28 million the 1909 Philadelphia mint VDB cent is quite _________, even poor quality examples of the 1909-S VDB coin bring hundreds of dollars and a high grade mint condition example can sell for $6000 to $12000 or more.

When I read this sentence, I interpret this as: Even though the quantity of the 1909 Philadelphia VDB cent is huge, as high as 28 million, it is quite expsnsive, so expensive that even poor quality examples can worth hundreds of $. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 09:42, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Note that the first part of the sentence -- the dependent clause -- is discussing the P-mint cent, and the independent clause (the main body of the sentence, which is admittedly pretty confusingly written) is discussing the S-mint cent, a considerably rarer and much more expensive coin.--chris.lawson 16:24, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

 * Ah, didn't see "Philadelphia" and "S". I will confirm the mintage number with my book and perhaps change "S" to "San Francisco" so that other are less likely to make my mistake. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 21:24, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

 * If you don't get to the rewrite before tomorrow, I might do it. That sentence is pretty bad.--chris.lawson 21:30, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Please do, by all means. Don't wait for me. One of the spirits of Wiki is being quick. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 22:18, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Why was the "VDB" controversial?
It's been commonplace for thousands of years for the designer of a coin to put his initials (or in some cases, his full name!) on it. And the Saint-Gaudens double eagle, introduced just 2 years earlier, had Saint-Gaudens' initials prominently displayed on the obverse. 75.76.213.106 (talk) 16:37, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Merge
Would anyone be opposed to redirecting this page to Lincoln cent? That article should soon be featured and this one is completely redundant. Reywas92 Talk 02:16, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wheat cent


text:
Dinner Plain

Dinner Plain is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Great Alpine Road, 13 kilometres from Mount Hotham Alpine Resort, and 375 kilometres from Melbourne. At the, Dinner Plain had a population of 230, yet has over 200 lodges and chalets for tourist accommodation.

Dinner Plain is a thriving all-year-round resort with a wide range of summer activities such as bush walking, horse riding, mountain biking and tennis.

Dinner Plain has one ski tow for use during winter.

History
The late Holocene (pre-Contact) Aboriginal traditional owners of the Dinner Plain region were likely the Omeo tribe of the Yaitmatang (various spellings) language group (Howitt 1904). Other groups of Aboriginal people, including neighbouring Dhuduroa, Brabalung (Gunai-Kurnai) likely passed through and visited the Alpine area of Victoria's High Country. Gunn (2002) has suggested a widespread "confederacy" of tribes existed across the Australian Alps during the late Holocene. He further argues that these connections may have ancient origins that are evident through a common rock art style that emphasises human figures (Gunn 2002: 8). This alpine art style has origins in the mid-Holocene around 3500 BP, when the rock shelters of the region were primarily used for ritual purposes (Gunn 2002: 7–8), and is likely to precede the tribal boundaries encountered historically by thousands of years.

The tradition of hospitality at Dinner Plain goes back well over a century, when mountain cattlemen first arrived to rest and graze their cattle. The site of Dinner Plain village was originally part of 640 acre. When the coaches were running between Omeo and Bright, they would stop here for midday dinner, hence the area became known as Dinner Plain.

In 1987, Peter McIntyre and Harry Seidler shared the Zelman Cowan Award for non-residential architecture; McIntyre won for his design for the Ski Lodge at Dinner Plain.

title: Dinner Plain


text: Category:Cuban rappers

title: Category:Cuban rappers


text:
Talk:Half dollar (United States coin)

Untitled
The only place I've encountered half-dollars is at Renaissance Faire, where almost everything is priced in increments of 50 cents to keep the change situation simple. However, I've only seen this in Southern California, so I'm not willing to add it without reports from other people in other areas. No point putting it up if it's confined to one location... 82.3.43.78 13:46, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

The place I most frequently encounter half dollars is at the poker table. In the casino cardrooms in Atlantic City (and presumably in cardrooms all over the United States), half dollars are used for the ante, rake, or bring-in bet (depending on the game structure) in the low-limit seven-card stud games ($1-$3 Limit or $1-$5 Spread Limit in my experience). I've added this to article in the trivia section, since people may be wondering what half dollars are good for. Feel free to critique it. --Hex 16 01:13, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Or black jack where smallest bet is $1, $3, or some odd number. In that case, half dollar may be required for blackjack. Using 2 quarters does not too much sense. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 05:32, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm suspicious of that explanation as a sole, or even main, reason for the half-dollar's rarity. Mintage figures for halves were much lower than for quarters for quite some time before the Kennedy assassination. While that sequence of events may have finished it off, it seems to have already been uncommon prior to it. Nik42 07:42, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

In the US, the Half-Dollar on the Purim holiday to represent the biblical Half-Shekel donation to the Temple. The custom anywhere is to use three halves of the coins which serve as the local currency. So three Half-Dollars per person are used, and donated to charity or handed to someone in need that day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.85.50.12 (talk) 18:17, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I can remember when the half-dollar used to be fairly commonly seen in general circulation (by "used to be" I am speaking of through the 1970's), although not as common as the smaller coins. Nowadays I generally see it only in places where I would have seen the silver dollar back then, i.e., mostly in casinos. Meanwhile, the silver dollar has all but disappeared from casinos, replaced by casino tokens. I believe that the primary causes for the rarity of the half-dollar are that people do not like carrying it because of its size and weight (it gets heavy in your pocket) and the fact that I have never seen a vending machine or public telephone that took half-dollars. Its place can easily be taken by two quarters. I believe that the use of coins in general will decline in the future as more and more people use debit/credit cards to make their purchases. Use of the penny will decline because people will see it as next to worthless or not worth carrying around. Mamarazzi (talk) 23:00, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
 * The half-dollar may be in a "coma", but it is far from dead. Some time soon, the penny will be gone. When it's time for the nickel to be retired, the US Mint will realize that if the dime is the lowest denomination, the "quarter" will not work, since it is a multiple of 5 cents. Either a smaller 50c piece will have to be minted, or the long-gone 20c piece (yes, in the 1800s) will have to make a comeback. 216.179.123.111 (talk) 20:04, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I doubt it. It's more likely that the nickel and the dime will be retired at the same time, leaving the quarter as the smallest coin, as with the Danish krone. Nik42 (talk) 03:11, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

 * Quarter is a multiple of 5 cents? Really? Actually all but 1 cent are multiples of 5 cent. Or is twice considered multiple (for 10c)? 82.141.66.232 (talk) 10:09, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

No mention of Half dollars being devalued?
I'm just wondering why there is no mention of the removal of silver from the half dollar?

Surely this is important enough to mention when you consider that our coinage actually used to have some intrinsic value until the federal government decided to make them worthless as bus tokens.

Bo Dollar
I recently heard the half-dollar referred to as a Bo Dollar. I would appreciate any information regarding this reference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.81.80.134 (talk) 16:24, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

The term bo dollar is a southern term for half dollar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.123.176.155 (talk) 17:02, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Curtis Jackson
How can there be an article on 50 Cent without including the legend himself? Shot 9 times, isn't that enough for you guys?! 92.20.68.186 (talk) 10:16, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Rareness
There reads: Few businesses stock their change drawers with half-dollars, and many banks do not stock these coins or hand them out as normal business practice, so the coins do not see much circulation. and '''In recent years half dollars have been minted only for collectors, due to large Federal Reserve and government inventories on hand of pre-2001 pieces, this mostly due to lack of demand and large quantity returns from casino slot machines that now operate "coinless". If and when the reserve supply runs low, the mint will again fill orders for circulation half dollars.'''

So the coins are in federal storage, therefore not in use? 82.141.66.232 (talk) 10:27, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

 * And, considering the part In recent years, half dollars have been minted only for collectors, what the "recent years" mean here? Does the mentioned "pre-2001" mean the line between recent and non-recent in this context? It is not so easy to figure out these from that text. 85.217.36.130 (talk) 01:31, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Isn't there any figures about the circulation? That would tell how rare it is. 85.217.44.157 (talk) 15:05, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Removed from main page
The following content was the removed from the main page as mentioned in my previous edit summary. Fei noh a  Talk, My master 22:56, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

REDESIGN OF THE HALF DOLLAR COIN:

Because of the size issue vendors have with the current half, and the weight issue most senior citizens have with change who would probably rather carry a half that weighs less than one quarter, let alone two quarters, I proposed that the half should be redesigned to be reduced to in between the size of the current nickel and the current quarter, made of a polygon-shape, much like Canada's $1 coin, thicker than all other U.S. coins, yet thin enough to work in all vending slots and to be distinguishible by the visually impaired and blind by touch and maybe copper in color to be distinguishible by looks, or vending companies could simply redesign their coin mechanism designs on every vending machine made after 2012 to accept the current size halves just as they redesigned their coin mechanisms to accept Susan B. Anthoy dollar coins after 1979 and now supposedly ALL vending machines made after 1979 accept both SBAs and Golden Dollar coins, seeing as, every self checkout machine I have seen, the coin slot comfortably fits halves, but they get rejected, which leads me to believe that, these machines were meant to be set up to take halves, but just need a half dollar tube added to the machines. So I think we should get both, the $2 note and the half dollar coin in circulation and simply scrap the unpopular dollar coin. This way, the Federal Reserve can order less quarters and $1 notes and more $2 notes and halves to fill the gap that the lacking $1 notes and quarters would create. Then the Federal Reserve Banks should get regular banks and credit unions to hand these two denominations out as needed. Some people will complain for a while, and others will hoard, but once they see that $2 notes and halves are "normal" currency again, they will use them without a second thought. These ideas would save the government in printing less $1 notes and minting less quarters, and maybe even more money if the size of the half were reduced and less metal was used to mint halves.

Confusing infobox
Mass and composition only apply to the copper nickel ones from 1971. Kennedy half dollar shows it better, but I don't know how to make the required edit to the infobox in this article. - Rod57 (talk) 13:27, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Faces Opposed
All US coins I've seen have the faces contra directed. That is, rotated by 180 degrees. Is this true for all US coins? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.244.239.129 (talk) 23:54, 26 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I know it's been almost a year, but I figured this deserved an answer. Yes, it is standard for US coins to have the obverse and reverse arranged in this manner. --Khajidha (talk) 02:15, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 6 external links on Half dollar (United States coin). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090321071232/http://www.coinsite.com/coinsite-pf/pparticles/50csmeag.asp to http://coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/pparticles/50csmeag.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090321072121/http://www.coinsite.com/coinsite-pf/pparticles/50cheral.asp to http://coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/pparticles/50cheral.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090321073555/http://www.coinsite.com/coinsite-pf/pparticles/50cbust.asp to http://coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/pparticles/50cbust.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090321072133/http://www.coinsite.com/coinsite-pf/pparticles/50creedg.asp to http://coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/pparticles/50creedg.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090321071226/http://www.coinsite.com/coinsite-pf/pparticles/50cnomot.asp to http://coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/pparticles/50cnomot.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090404105721/http://www.coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/PParticles/50cmotto.asp to http://coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/pparticles/50cmotto.asp

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:38, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Half dollar (United States coin)


text:
User talk:Alloy33

Welcome to Wikipedia
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 such as yourself:

 * Be Bold!
 * Don't let grumpy users scare you off.
 * Meet other new users
 * Learn from others
 * Play nice with others
 * Contribute, Contribute, Contribute!
 * Tell us about you

 * How to edit a page
 * Editing tutorial
 * Picture tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! -- Spinboy 01:44, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Alloy33


text:
Talk:Walking Liberty half dollar

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 5 external links on Walking Liberty half dollar. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120812190351/http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/mercury-dimes-ch-1-history-of-the-mercury-dime-series/ to http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/mercury-dimes-ch-1-history-of-the-mercury-dime-series/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140801005934/http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-1-history-of-the-series/ to http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-1-history-of-the-series/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140801001342/http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-1-major-design-changes/ to http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-1-major-design-changes/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140801001358/http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-4-estimating-scarcity/ to http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-4-estimating-scarcity/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140731234922/http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-4-proofs/ to http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index.php/walking-liberty-half-dollars-ch-4-proofs/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:55, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Walking Liberty half dollar. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150619001334/https://www.coinworld.com/news/mint-releases-mock-up-designs-for-gold-2016-centennial-issues.html%23 to http://www.coinworld.com/news/mint-releases-mock-up-designs-for-gold-2016-centennial-issues.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 20:45, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Walking Liberty half dollar. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061209063005/http://www.coincommunity.com/us_coin_links/us_halves_walking_liberty.asp to http://www.coincommunity.com/us_coin_links/us_halves_walking_liberty.asp

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 17:04, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Today's featured article/January 9, 2019
We've had some problems recently at WP:ERRORS, so it might be a good idea to ask: does anyone have a problem with the current wording of the blurb? Pinging the FAC nominator and supporters (apart from TFA coords): Coemgenus, Giants2008, Sturmvogel 66. - Dank (push to talk) 15:55, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * My only possible correction is shouldn't but required by law be set off by commas?--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 16:23, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * No objection. - Dank (push to talk) 16:30, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I've looked it over and am OK with it either way, as FAC nominator.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:46, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Great. Jim was one of the supporters ... I'll be happy to ping both of you if you like, in cases where you nommed or supported, but I figured you had both seen these already. - Dank (push to talk) 17:24, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I think I glanced at it and didn't see anything I disliked. I do have this page watchlisted.--Wehwalt (talk) 17:26, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I can see there is a possible argument for commas, but I won't lose sleep either way Jimfbleak - talk to me?  19:09, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * My feelings are the same as Jimfbleak's. I've seen similar phrasing handled both with and without commas, and it can be argued that this falls under the category of personal preference. Giants2008  ( Talk ) 01:32, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Difficultness of the design
I'm having a little trouble accepting that the design was difficult to perfect or to mint since the coin had continuous production for thirty-one years.

During the same time period, 1916-47, there were years in which nickels, dimes, and quarters were not produced (especially 1933 --- none of the three mentioned were minted).

The Mint could've done the same with the half dollar, but, apparently, chose not to.

I also don't 'buy' the excuse that the country needed so much coinage that a 'new' half dollar design could not have been made and put into production. The Mint does not stop production of a coin when a new design is being created --- the Mint has never done that. So, to me, the "heavy demands on the Mint for coins" excuse does not hold any water.

And neither does any excuse about time involved in swapping out dies. During a regular production year, numerous dies are normally swapped out due to wear and tear. So, how hard would it have been to swap out a worn die of the old design for a new die with the new design? It would not have been.

For the Mint to continuously produce and continue production past the 25-year minimum, there had to be other things and reasons in play. But what were they? There lies the real story. 2600:8800:784:8F00:C23F:D5FF:FEC4:D51D (talk) 10:37, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

 * When the 25 years ran out, or soon after, there was a war on. They did replace dime and half dollar pretty quickly afterwards.--Wehwalt (talk) 12:01, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

 * The difficulty with striking the Walkers was that the high points of the obverse and reverse were exactly opposite each other, meaning it was hard to get enough metal to flow into the dies on both sides. I've seen plenty of the coins that were absolutely beautiful, except that it looked like Liberty was wearing a boxing glove on her left hand.  There's only so much fiddling with relief that you can do when that happens.  So you either live with weak strikes (trying to make improvements if you can), increase the striking pressure (which shortens die life), or, if it's less than 25 years, ask Congress to authorize a design change-and "they don't strike up well", is not an argument that will sway many in Congress.

 * And don't forget, the Franklin half came out just 32 years after the Walkers debuted. 25 years was 1941, and there wasn't much call to replace a design emblematic of Liberty when we were on the brink of war.Almostfm (talk) 03:20, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

oak
“laurel and oak, symbolical of civil and military glory.”

The laurel is an ancient symbol of military glory, but what is the reasoning behind giving the oak as a symbol of civic glory? Any contemporary reference?

Also, the wording implies that laurel is for civil, oak for military. This should be changed. 2A00:23C7:E287:1900:A827:D4A9:D8C2:7B3F (talk) 17:16, 7 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Laurel is for civil, as to win one's laurels. For the significance of oak to the military, see for example here.--Wehwalt (talk) 21:11, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Walking Liberty half dollar


text: Category:Chiapas

title: Category:Chiapas


text:
Securities fraud

Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information. The setups are generally made to result in monetary gain for the deceivers, and generally result in unfair monetary losses for the investors. They are generally violating securities laws.

Securities fraud can also include outright theft from investors (embezzlement by stockbrokers), stock manipulation, misstatements on a public company's financial reports, and lying to corporate auditors. The term encompasses a wide range of other actions, including insider trading, front running and other illegal acts on the trading floor of a stock or commodity exchange.

Corporate misconduct
Fraud by high level corporate officials became a subject of wide national attention during the early 2000s, as exemplified by corporate officer misconduct at Enron. It became a problem of such scope that the Bush administration announced what it described as an "aggressive agenda" against corporate fraud. Less widely publicized manifestations continue, such as the securities fraud conviction of Charles E. Johnson Jr., founder of PurchasePro in May 2008. FBI Director Robert Mueller predicted in April 2008 that corporate fraud cases will increase because of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Dummy corporations
Dummy corporations may be created by fraudsters to create the illusion of being an existing corporation with a similar name. Fraudsters then sell securities in the dummy corporation by misleading the investor into thinking that they are buying shares in the real corporation.

Internet fraud
According to enforcement officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission, criminals engage in pump-and-dump schemes, in which false and/or fraudulent information is disseminated in chat rooms, forums, internet boards and via email (spamming), with the purpose of causing a dramatic price increase in thinly traded stocks or stocks of shell companies (the "pump"). In other instances, fraudsters disseminate materially false information about a company in hopes of urging investors to sell their shares so that the stock price plummets.

When the price reaches a certain level, criminals immediately sell off their holdings of those stocks (the "dump"), realizing substantial profits before the stock price falls back to its usual low level. Any buyers of the stock who are unaware of the fraud become victims once the price falls.

The SEC says that Internet fraud resides in several forms:

 * Online investment newsletters that offer seemingly unbiased information free of charge about featured companies or recommending "stock picks of the month". These newsletter writers then sell shares, previously acquired at lower prices, when hype-generated buying drives the stock price up. This practice is known as scalping. Conflict of interest disclosures incorporated into a newsletter article may not be sufficient. Accused of scalping, Thom Calandra, formerly of MarketWatch, was the subject of an SEC enforcement action in 2004.
 * Bulletin boards that often contain fraudulent messages by hucksters.
 * E-Mail spams from perpetrators of fraud.
 * Phishing

Insider trading
There are two types of "insider trading". The first is the trading of a corporation's stock or other security by corporate insiders such as officers, key employees, directors, or holders of more than ten percent of the firm's shares. This is generally legal, but there are certain reporting requirements.

The other type of insider trading is the purchase or sale of a security based on material non-public information. This type of trading is illegal in most instances. In illegal insider trading, an insider or a related party trades based on material non-public information obtained during the performance of the insider's duties at the corporation, or otherwise misappropriated.

Microcap fraud
In microcap fraud, stocks of small companies of under $250 million market capitalization are deceptively promoted, then sold to an unwary public. This type of fraud has been estimated to cost investors $1–3 billion annually. Microcap fraud includes pump and dump schemes involving boiler rooms and scams on the Internet. Many, but not all, microcap stocks involved in frauds are penny stocks, which trade for less than $5 a share.

Many penny stocks, particularly those that sell for fractions of a cent, are thinly traded. They can become the target of stock promoters and manipulators. These manipulators first purchase large quantities of stock, then artificially inflate the share price through false and misleading positive statements. This is referred to as a pump and dump scheme. The pump and dump is a form of microcap stock fraud. In more sophisticated versions of the fraud, individuals or organizations buy millions of shares, then use newsletter websites, chat rooms, stock message boards, press releases, or e-mail blasts to drive up interest in the stock. Very often, the perpetrator will claim to have "inside" information about impending news to persuade the unwitting investor to quickly buy the shares. When buying pressure pushes the share price up, the rise in price entices more people to believe the hype and to buy shares as well. Eventually the manipulators doing the "pumping" end up "dumping" when they sell their holdings. The expanding use of the Internet and personal communication devices has made penny stock scams easier to perpetrate. But it has also drawn high-profile public personalities into the sphere of regulatory oversight. Though not a scam per se, one notable example is rapper 50 Cent's use of Twitter to cause the price of a penny stock (HNHI) to increase dramatically. 50 Cent had previously invested in 30 million shares of the company, and as a result made $8.7 million in profit. Another example of an activity that skirts the borderline between legitimate promotion and hype is the case of LEXG. Described (but perhaps overstated) as "the biggest stock promotion of all time", Lithium Exploration Group's market capitalization soared to over $350 million, after an extensive direct mail campaign. The promotion drew upon the legitimate growth in production and use of lithium, while touting Lithium Exploration Groups position within that sector. According to the company's December 31, 2010, form 10-Q (filed within months of the direct mail promotion), LEXG was a lithium company without assets. Its revenues and assets at that time were zero. Subsequently, the company did acquire lithium production/exploration properties, and addressed concerns raised in the press.

Penny stock companies often have low liquidity. Investors may encounter difficulty selling their positions after the buying pressure has abated, and the manipulators have fled.

Accountant fraud
In 2002, a wave of separate but often related accounting scandals became known to the public in the U.S. All of the leading public accounting firms—Arthur Andersen, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers— and others have admitted to or have been charged with negligence to identify and prevent the publication of falsified financial reports by their corporate clients which had the effect of giving a misleading impression of their client companies' financial status. In several cases, the monetary amounts of the fraud involved are in the billions of USD.

Boiler rooms
Boiler rooms or boiler houses are stock brokerages that put undue pressure on clients to trade using telesales, usually in pursuit of microcap fraud schemes. Some boiler rooms offer clients transactions fraudulently, such as those with an undisclosed profitable relationship to the brokerage. Some 'boiler rooms' are not licensed but may be 'tied agents' of a brokerage house which itself is licensed or not. Securities sold in boiler rooms include commodities and private placements as well as microcap stocks, non-existent, or distressed stock and stock supplied by an intermediary at an undisclosed markup.

Short selling abuses
Abusive short selling, including certain types of naked short selling, are also considered securities fraud because they can drive down stock prices. In abusive naked short selling, stock is sold without being borrowed and without any intent to borrow. The practice of spreading false information about stocks, to drive down their prices, is called "short and distort". During the takeover of Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase in March 2008, reports swirled that shorts were spreading rumors to drive down Bear Stearns' share price. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said this was more than rumors and said, "This is about collusion."

Ponzi schemes
A Ponzi scheme is an investment fund where withdrawals are financed by subsequent investors, rather than profit obtained through investment activities. The largest instance of securities fraud committed by an individual ever is a Ponzi scheme operated by former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff, which caused up to an estimated $64.8 billion in losses depending on which method is used to calculate the losses prior to its collapse.

Pervasiveness of securities fraud
The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) reports that the Federal Trade Commission, FBI, and state securities regulators estimate that investment fraud in the United States ranges from $10–$40 billion annually. Of that number, SIPC estimates that $1–3 Billion is directly attributable to microcap stock fraud. Fraudulent schemes perpetrated in the securities and commodities markets can ultimately have a devastating impact on the viability and operation of these markets.

A 2023 study by economists Alexander Dyck, Adair Morse and Luigi Zingales estimated that on average 10% of large publicly traded firms commit securities fraud every year, and that the corporate fraud destroys 1.6% of equity value each year.

Class action securities fraud lawsuits rose 43 percent between 2006 and 2007, according to the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse. During 2006 and 2007, securities fraud class actions were driven by market wide events, such as the 2006 backdating scandal and the 2007 subprime crisis. Securities fraud lawsuits remained below historical averages.

Some manifestations of this white collar crime have become more frequent as the Internet gives criminals greater access to prey. The trading volume in the United States securities and commodities markets, having grown dramatically in the 1990s, has led to an increase in fraud and misconduct by investors, executives, shareholders, and other market participants.

Securities fraud is becoming more complex as the industry develops more complicated investment vehicles. In addition, white collar criminals are expanding the scope of their fraud and are looking outside the United States for new markets, new investors, and banking secrecy havens to hide unjust enrichment.

A study conducted by the New York Stock Exchange in the mid-1990s reveals approximately 51.4 million individuals owned some type of traded stock, while 200 million individuals owned securities indirectly. These same financial markets provide the opportunity for wealth to be obtained and the opportunity for white collar criminals to take advantage of unwary investors.

Recovery of assets from the proceeds of securities fraud is a resource intensive and expensive undertaking because of the cleverness of fraudsters in concealment of assets and money laundering, as well as the tendency of many criminals to be profligate spenders. A victim of securities fraud is usually fortunate to recover any money from the defrauder.

Sometimes the losses caused by securities fraud are difficult to quantify. For example, insider trading is believed to raise the cost of capital for securities issuers, thus decreasing overall economic growth.

Characteristics of victims and perpetrators
Any investor can become a victim, but persons aged fifty years or older are most often victimized, whether as direct purchasers in securities or indirect purchasers through pension funds. Not only do investors lose but so can creditors, taxing authorities, and employees.

Potential perpetrators of securities fraud within a publicly traded firm include any dishonest official within the company who has access to the payroll or financial reports that can be manipulated to:

 * 1) overstate assets
 * 2) overstate revenues
 * 3) understate costs
 * 4) understate liabilities
 * 5) understate penny stock

Enron Corporation exemplifies all five tendencies, and its failure demonstrates the extreme dangers of a culture of corruption within a publicly traded corporation. The rarity of such spectacular failures of a corporation from securities fraud attests to the general reliability of most executives and boards of large corporations. Most spectacular failures of publicly traded companies result from such innocent causes as marketing blunders (Schlitz), an obsolete model of business (Penn Central, Woolworth's), inadequate market share (Studebaker), non-criminal incompetence (Braniff).

Other effects of securities fraud
Even if the effect of securities fraud is not enough to cause bankruptcy, a lesser level can wipe out holders of common stock because of the leverage of value of shares upon the difference between assets and liabilities. Such fraud has been known as watered stock, analogous to the practice of force-feeding livestock great amounts of water to inflate their weight before sale to dealers.

Penny stock regulation
The regulation and prosecution of securities fraud violations is undertaken on a broad front, involving numerous government agencies and self-regulatory organizations. One method of regulating and restricting a specific type of fraud perpetrated by pump and dump manipulators, is to target the category of stocks most often associated with this scheme. To that end, penny stocks have been the target of heightened enforcement efforts. In the United States, regulators have defined a penny stock as a security that must meet a number of specific standards. The criteria include price, market capitalization, and minimum shareholder equity. Securities traded on a national stock exchange, regardless of price, are exempt from regulatory designation as a penny stock, since it is thought that exchange traded securities are less vulnerable to manipulation. Therefore, CitiGroup (NYSE:C) and other NYSE listed securities which traded below $1.00 during the market downturn of 2008–2009, while properly regarded as "low priced" securities, were not technically "penny stocks". Although penny stock trading in the United States is now primarily controlled through rules and regulations enforced by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the genesis of this control is found in State securities law. The State of Georgia was the first state to codify a comprehensive penny stock securities law. Secretary of State Max Cleland, whose office enforced State securities laws was a principal proponent of the legislation. Representative Chesley V. Morton, the only stockbroker in the Georgia General Assembly at the time, was principal sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives. Georgia's penny stock law was subsequently challenged in court. However, the law was eventually upheld in U.S. District Court, and the statute became the template for laws enacted in other states. Shortly thereafter, both FINRA and the SEC enacted comprehensive revisions of their penny stock regulations. These regulations proved effective in either closing or greatly restricting broker/dealers, such as Blinder, Robinson & Company, which specialized in the penny stocks sector. Meyer Blinder was jailed for securities fraud in 1992, after the collapse of his firm. However, sanctions under these specific regulations lack an effective means to address pump and dump schemes perpetrated by unregistered groups and individuals.

title: Securities fraud


text:
Talk:History of coins

First coins?
The article states that coins were minted in China in the 11th century BC, but I'm having difficulty finding references for this. ChinaCulture.org states coins were developed sometime between 1000 and 400 BC. --Brunnock 12:05, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Request for expansion
Considering the importance of coins throughout history, this article is far too short. I've tagged this article and put it up on Requests for expansion.

I do not know much about coins but I think the article would benefit from more information on:
 * How coins first came in to use
 * History of use in different parts of the world
 * Minting processes throughout history
 * Counterfeiting which I am sure goes hand in hand with coins throughout history
 * Particularly notable coins from different times

I'm sure there's more that could be added but as a start I think these would add some much needed "meat" to this article. -- Rpvdk (talk) 07:43, 23 March 2008 (UTC) coins are the best but the worst and ghati —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.182.88.45 (talk) 08:06, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Delete article
"History of Coins" is neither a popular or an academic term. The title of this article should be MONETARY HISTORY, which is the most widely accepted term. This article has several issues, specially wrong and unprecise data, and I feel it should be deleted altogether. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Turpilianus (talk • contribs) 08:41, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:History of coins


text: User talk:70.95.68.69

title: User talk:70.95.68.69


text:
Congress of Paris (1856)

The Congress of Paris is the name for a series of diplomatic meetings held in 1856 in Paris, France, to negotiate peace between the warring powers in the Crimean War that had started almost three years earlier.

The Congress was attended by diplomatic representatives from the nations of France, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, as well as from the Ottoman Empire and Piedmont-Sardinia and was presided by the French Prime-Minister Alexandre Colonna-Walewski. The agreement resulted in continued recognition of the Ottoman Empire and the return to pre-war territorial borders for Russia and the Empire.

Background
The Crimean War was fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula by Russia on one side and Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Piedmont-Sardinia on the other side for two main official reasons.

One reason often communicated was the Russians' demand for both better treatment of and their right to protect the Ottoman Empire's Orthodox subjects. That would be promised by the sultan at the Congress of Paris.

Another reason was a dispute between the Russians and the French about the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches in Palestine.

The reasons and interests playing a role in the background can be read from the following agreements negotiated in the peace treaty: the Black Sea became neutral, meaning its waters were closed to all warships and the building of fortresses was forbidden, the Danube was opened to the shipping of all nations.

Also important appeared to be a multilateral agreement on some basic legal principles of maritime warfare, resulting in the separate Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, that was acceded by altogether 55 nations.

Backed by Britain and France, the sultan declared war against Russia on 4 October 1853. On 28 March 1854, both of the other powers declared war against Russia. On 26 January 1855, Piedmont-Sardinia also entered the war by sending 10,000 troops to aid Britain and France against Russia.

Throughout the war, the Russian Army's main concern was to make sure that the Austrian Empire stayed out of the war. Its threats to enter the war did put an end to military actions on the side of Russia.

Congress
France, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire were at that time considered as the great powers in Europe, they were all represented at the congress as was Piedmont-Sardinia as warring party. They assembled soon after 1 February 1856, when Russia accepted the first set of peace terms after Austria threatened to enter the war. It is also notable that the meeting took place in Paris, after the 1855 Exposition Universelle

The Congress of Paris worked out the final terms from 25 February to 30 March 1856, the Treaty of Paris was signed on 30 March 1856 with Russia on one side and France, Great Britain, Turkey and Piedmont-Sardinia on the other. at the Quai d'Orsay.

One of the representatives who attended the Congress of Paris on behalf of the Ottoman Empire was Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, who was the Ottoman Empire's grand vizier. Russia was represented by Prince Orlov and Baron Brunnov. Britain sent Lord Cowley, its ambassador to France.

The Congress of Vienna (1814) with over 200 nations participating, spread questions and issues for different committees to resolve. The Congress of Paris could resolved everything in a relatively short period of time.

A significant diplomatic victory was scored by Piedmont-Sardinia although it was not considered a European great power by being granted a seat by French Emperor Napoleon III, mostly for having sent an expeditionary corps of 18,000 men to fight against Russia, but also possibly because of the influence of the attractive minded Countess of Castiglione, who had caught Napoleon's attention. Foreign minister Camillo Benso di Cavour seized the opportunity to denounce Austrian political and military interference in the Italian Peninsula, which he said was stifling the wish of Italians to choose their government.

Multilateral agreement restoring peace
The Congress resulted in a pledge by all powers to jointly maintain "the integrity of the Ottoman Empire", thus guaranteeing its independence.

Also, Russia gave up the left bank of the mouth of the Danube River, including part of Bessarabia, to Moldavia, as well as its claim to the special protection of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Moldavia and Wallachia, which together would become Romania in 1858, along with Serbia, were recognized as quasi-independent self-governing principalities under protection of the other European powers. The Ottoman sultan agreed, in return, to help to improve the status of the Christian subjects in his empire.

The territories of Russia and the Ottoman Empire were restored to their prewar boundaries. The Black Sea was neutralized and so that no warships were allowed to enter, but it was open to all other nations. It also opened the Danube River for shipping from all nations.

Multilateral agreement on naval warfare, open for accession
After signing the peace treaty, on a proposal of the French Prime-Minister, the plenipotentiaries assembled in the conference also agreed on a declaration respecting maritime law during wartime. This was mainly the outcome of a modus vivendi signed between France and Britain at the dawn of the Crimean War in 1854. Both large naval powers had different opinions on certain issues in maritime warfare and being allies for the first time, they had to find a common line. They agreed they would not seize enemy goods on neutral vessels nor neutral goods on enemy vessels and they would not issue letters of marque. The Declaration all warring parties agreed upon at the Congress of Paris regulated four issues: The Declaration has been signed by Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia and Turkey.
 * Privateering is and remains abolished;
 * The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war;
 * Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under the enemy's flag;
 * Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective-that is to say, maintained by a forge sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy.

As an important juridical novelty in international law the treaty for the first time in history created the possibility for nations that were not involved in the establishment of the agreement and did not sign, to become a party by acceding the declaration afterwards. Within a short period after signing, 55 states, royal houses and free cities ratified the Declaration, which meant a big step in the globalisation of international (maritime) law.

Aftermath
Turkish historians still express dissatisfaction: "Although [the] Ottoman Empire was on the side of victors, the Porte also lost the right to have a navy in the Black Sea together with Russia. Put differently, the Empire had become a part of the European Concert, but not an actor in the European balance of power. Thus it was not recognized as a great power that could claim compensation in case of territorial gain by another member of the system".

The conditions of the Paris Congress collapsed after the defeat of France in the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War. After the surrender of the fortress of Metz, when France lost hope of winning the war, Russia announced its refusal to comply with the terms of the treaty. Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov denounced the treaty's Black Sea clauses on 31 October 1870, which was documented by the Treaty of London (1871).

Some of the rules and agreements would be changed by the Congress of Berlin.

title: Congress of Paris (1856)


text:
Japanese fire-bellied newt

The Japanese fire-bellied newt or Japanese fire-bellied salamander (Cynops pyrrhogaster) is a species of newt endemic to Japan. The skin on its upper body is dark and its lower regions bright red, although coloration varies with age, genetics, and region. Adults are 8 to 15 cm long. To deter predators, Japanese fire-bellied newts contain high levels of tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin accumulated mainly from their diet.

The species is found on many Japanese islands, including Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Their habitats include both natural and artificial bodies of water, as well as forests and grasslands. They breed from spring to the beginning of summer, both sexes producing pheromones when ready to mate. Eggs are laid separately, hatching after about three weeks. They grow from larval to juvenile form in between five and six months. Juveniles eat soil-dwelling prey, and adults eat a wide variety of insects, tadpoles, and the eggs of their own species. They have several adaptations to avoid predators, although which they use depends on where they live. Several aspects of their biology have been studied, including their ability to regrow missing body parts.

The Japanese fire-bellied newt first diverged from its closest relative in the Middle Miocene, before splitting into four distinct varieties, each with a mostly separate range, although all four are formally recognized as composing a single species. Currently, their population is declining, and they face threats from disease and the pet trade. They can be successfully kept in captivity.

Etymology and taxonomy
The species was first scientifically described by German zoologist Heinrich Boie in 1826 as Molge pyrrhogaster, based on specimens brought from Japan to Europe. He compared it to the smooth newt, saying he would have mistaken the former for the latter, had he not known it was from Japan. None of the specimens he studied were fully mature. Pyrrhogaster is derived from Greek, (lit. 'fire') and  (lit. 'belly'). Salamandra subcristata was described by Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Hermann Schlegel in 1838 and transferred to Cynops later that year by Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi, and in 1850, Cynops subcristata and Molge pyrrhogaster were synomized as Cynops pyrrhogaster by the British zoologist John Edward Gray. A study of mitochondrial DNA in 2001 indicated that its supposed fellow members of Cynops, C. cyanurus and C. wolterstorffi, may belong to a different genus.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System lists sixteen synonyms for Cynops pyrrhogaster. Common names of the species include Japanese fire-bellied newt, red-bellied newt, and Japanese fire-bellied salamander. Studies examining morphological and geographic variation had formerly recognized six races: Tohoku, Kanto, Atsumi, intermediate, Sasayama, and Hiroshima, one of which, the Sasayama, was described as a subspecies in 1969 by Robert Mertens as Triturus pyrrhogaster sasayamae, which is now considered a synonym of C. pyrrhogaster. Modern molecular analysis supports the division of C. pyrrhogaster into four clades instead. In particular, the validity of the Sasayama and intermediate races has never been proven, with one study finding no behavioral differences between the two supposed forms.

Cynops pyrrhogaster diverged from its close relative C. ensicauda about 13.75 million years ago (Mya; during the Middle Miocene). The common ancestor of the two species would have lived in an area of the Eurasian mainland which is today the East China Sea and the central Ryukyu Islands. The land that would become the Japanese islands – connected to the mainland at that time – likely had a subtropical climate, which may have caused the Japanese fire-bellied newt's ancestors to migrate northward for desirable habitat. Over time, C. pyrrhogaster split into four clades: northern, southern, western, and central. The northern diverged first, at around 9.68 mya, then the central around 8.23 mya, and finally the southern and western around 4.05 mya. The ranges of all but the southern clade declined during the Last Glacial Period, but expanded again afterwards. The study that identified them concluded that the four clades represent separate taxonomic units, although their exact relationship is unclear. It also noted their extreme genetic differences, unusually large for any one species. The ranges of the central and western varieties meet in Chugoku in western Japan to form a hybrid zone (an area where the two clades interbreed to produce hybrids). The central type has begun to move west, which has caused the hybrid zone to shift. It is expected to eventually cause the genome of the western form to be diluted by increasing hybridization.

Description

On the newt's upper body, the skin is dark brown, approaching black, and covered in wartlike bumps. The underbelly and the underside of its tail are bright red, with black spots. Younger juveniles have creamy coloration instead of red, although most larger juveniles have some red present. Adults from smaller islands tend to have more red on their ventral (belly) regions than those from larger islands, sometimes with extremely small spots or none at all. In general males tend to have more red than females. Males can also be distinguished from females by their flat, wide tails and swelling around the ventral region. An entirely red variant exists: that coloration is believed to be inherited and recessive. This variant is not confined to any single population, but is more common in the western half of Japan overall.

The vomeropalatine teeth, a group of teeth in the upper back of the mouth, are arranged in two series. The tongue is relatively small, half the width of the mouth. The nostrils are positioned anteriorly (toward the head), closer to each other than to the eyes and hardly visible when viewed from above. The toes of males are longer than those of females, although the females themselves are longer. The tail is tightly compressed, with fins on both the top and bottom. A smooth ridge runs from their nape to their tail. The full body length of adults is 8 to 15 cm. Snout–vent length can be anywhere between 43.0 and 64.0 mm for males and 48.5 and 75.0 mm for females. Populations from more northern and elevated regions tend to be larger than those in southern and lower-altitude regions. Eggs are 2.1 to 2.3 mm long.

Distribution and habitat
Cynops pyrrhogaster is endemic to Japan, being found on several islands in the archipelago, including Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It mainly dwells on the larger islands, whereas its relative, C. ensicauda, is found in the Ryukyu Islands. It has the northernmost range of any Cynops species; all other species, besides the aforementioned C. ensicauda, are native to southern China. There is also an introduced population on Hachijō-jima, believed to be descended from individuals from Shikoku. Their introduction is thought to have occurred in the 1970s, although exactly how it happened is unknown. It has been recorded in the United States three times, in Florida and Massachusetts. Every instance was either an escape or deliberate release, and no populations have been established.

Of the four clades, the northern is found in the districts of Tohoku and Kanto. This does not overlap with the range of the central clade, which is found in Chubu, northern Kansai, and eastern Chugoku. The central's range has a small amount of overlap with the western, which is found in southern Kinki, western Chugoku, Shikoku, and central Kyushu. The western also has some overlap with the southern clade, which is found in western and southern Kyushu.

The newts occur at elevations of 30 to 2020 m. Ecosystems they are found in include forests, grasslands, shrublands, wetlands, lakes, marshes, and cultivated environments. They can also dwell in humanmade bodies of water, such as aquaculture ponds.

Reproduction and life cycle
Breeding occurs in paddy fields, ponds, brooks, pools, and streams. Females accept male courtship behavior from spring to early summer. Males and females both produce peptide pheromones to attract the opposite sex when ready to mate. Males produce a type known as sodefrin (from the Japanese term, lit. 'soliciting'); females have their own variety, named imorin by its discoverers (from the Japanese term , lit. 'beloved woman', and rin from sodefrin). These are released from the cloaca, and were the first peptide pheromone to be identified in a vertebrate and first to be identified in a female vertebrate, respectively.

Courtship begins when the male approaches the female, sniffing its sides or cloaca. The male then brings its tail to the female and rapidly vibrates it. The female responds by pushing the male's neck with its snout. At this point, the male slowly moves away, undulating its tail, and the female follows, touching the tail with its snout when close enough. The male then deposits two to four spermatophores, one at a time, moving several centimeters after each, which the female attempts to pick up with its cloaca, sometimes unsuccessfully. Females lay eggs separately on underwater objects, such as leaves and submerged grass roots, fertilized one by one from the spermatophores they carry. They can lay up to 40 eggs in one session, and 100 to 400 eggs in a breeding season.

The young hatch from their eggs after about three weeks, as swimming, gilled larvae, with dorsal tailfins. They grow around 3 cm in the first three months of their lives. At between five and six months, they stop eating and undergo metamorphosis, losing their gills and fins, and becoming juveniles. Juveniles cannot remain submerged in water like larvae or they drown. Newts at lower altitudes mature faster than those at higher ones. Male newts of higher-altitude populations tend to live longer after reaching maturity, but their fully grown size is not as large as that of lowland newts. Wild individuals as old as twenty-three have been found.

Spermatogenesis
Cynops pyrrhogaster is regarded as an ideal vertebrate model for investigating the mechanism(s) involved in the transition from mitosis to meiosis during spermatogenesis. In males, this transition involves expression of PCNA, a DNA polymerase delta auxiliary protein employed in DNA replication and DNA repair. Also involved in the transition is DMC1, a protein employed in genetic recombination.

Diet
In captive settings tadpoles are known to readily eat mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, and earthworms. Juveniles often consume soil-dwelling Collembola (springtails) and Acari (mite) species. Adults at one particular sub-alpine moor in the Azuma Mountains of Fukushima Prefecture were found to like both live prey and carrion. They consume many insect varieties, such as members of Odonata, which include dragonflies and damselflies, whose larvae have been found whole in newt stomachs, but only pieces of adults; Brachycera, a suborder of Diptera (flies); Hymenoptera, which include sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants; and Coleoptera (beetles). They also eat Rhacophorus arboreus tadpoles and the eggs of their own kind. The makeup of their diet varies seasonally and from year to year, suggesting changes in the small animals in and around the ponds that they dwell in. Similar results were found at a pond on the campus of Tokyo Metropolitan University in Hachiōji, Tokyo, the newt stomachs containing insects from many different orders, and again, the eggs of conspecifics. Like before, frog tadpoles were eaten, although these belonged to the species Rhacophorus schlegelii.

Predators

Newts in Mainland Japan have different antipredator behavior than newts on smaller islands. Individuals on smaller islands (for instance, Fukue Island) generally use a maneuver called the unken reflex, where they expose their bright red underbelly to attackers. As their main predators are birds, which are capable of distinguishing the color red, this technique is effective. In Mainland Japan the newts must also avoid mammalian predators, which cannot distinguish colors as well as avian hunters. This leads these populations to use the maneuver less, as it can result in death if attempted.

Against snakes, newts from Fukue Island tend to perform tail-wagging displays, designed to bring a predator's attention to their replaceable tail rather than their more vital head; those from Nagasaki Prefecture in Mainland Japan tend simply to flee. Snakes are present in both areas. This behavior difference is likely because newts from the mainland are adapted to escape from mammalian hunters, which are less likely to be repelled by such a display.

Toxin
Wild Japanese fire-bellied newts contain high levels of the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX). This toxin inhibits the activity of sodium channels in most vertebrates, discouraging predation by both birds and mammals. Experiments have shown the toxin is almost entirely derived from the newt's diet. When raised in captivity with no source of TTX, 36- to 70-week-old juveniles did not contain detectable levels, but wild specimens from the same original habitat had high toxicity. In younger captive-reared newts some TTX was still detected, which was inferred to have been transferred by adult females to their eggs. In a follow-up experiment by the same team, captive-reared newts were given food containing the neurotoxin. They readily consumed TTX-laced bloodworms when offered, not showing any symptoms after ingesting the poison. It was detectable in their bodies afterward, further indicating food to be the source of the toxin. No TTX-producing organisms are known from their habitat, but their existence is likely, and would explain the origin of TTX in wild newts.

Conservation

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has ranked it as near-threatened. This assessment was made in 2020, a shift from 2004 when it was rated least-concern. It successfully reproduces in Australian zoos. One major threat that C. pyrrhogaster faces is collection for the pet trade. The IUCN states that this trade needs to be ended immediately. Their population is decreasing, particularly near areas of human habitation.

Japanese fire-bellied newts with mysterious skin lesions at Lake Biwa in Japan's Shiga Prefecture were found to be suffering from infections caused by a single-celled eukaryote in the order Dermocystida. The lesions contained cysts, which were filled with spores. Nearly all the lesions were external, although one was found on the liver. Globally, diseases are one of the causes for declining amphibian populations. There is concern that this affliction could spread to other nearby species, including Zhangixalus arboreus and Hynobius vandenburghi.

A variety, believed to be found exclusively on the Atsumi Peninsula, was thought to have become extinct in the 1960s. Then, in 2016, a trio of researchers discovered that newts on the Chita Peninsula were very likely the same variant due to their similar morphological traits. Both groups share a preference for cooler temperature and have smooth and soft bodies, pale dorsal regions, and yellowish undersides. Even if still alive, this form is highly threatened and will soon be wiped out without immediate protection.

Research
Japanese fire-bellied newts serve as a highly useful model organism in laboratory settings, but they become more difficult to care for after metamorphosis. An experiment supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science found that thiourea (TU) can prevent this process from occurring, allowing the animals to stay in their pre-metamorphosis form for as long as two years, while still capable of metamorphosizing when removed from the TU solution. This did not have any impact on their regeneration capabilities.

Japanese fire-bellied newts produce motilin, a peptide that stimulates gastrointestinal contractions, identified in many vertebrates. It is created in the upper small intestine and pancreas. The discovery of the latter was the first time pancreatic motilin had been observed. The organ also produces insulin. These results represented the first discovery of motilin in amphibians, suggesting that it has a similar role for them as it does for birds and mammals. The existence of pancreatic motilin also indicated another, unknown function.

This species, as well as other Urodele amphibians, is capable of regrowing missing body parts, including limbs with functional joints and the lower jaw. When this process occurs, the regenerated tissue tends to mirror intact tissue in form. It is also able to regrow missing lenses, taking thirty days to do so as a larva and eighty days as an adult. The difference in time is purely due to the size of the eye, and regenerative ability does not change; the discovery of this fact contradicted a popular claim that juvenile animals are quicker to regenerate than adults.

In captivity
Cynops pyrrhogaster can be kept in captivity. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Lianne McLeod described them as "low-maintenance", noting that captive newts enjoy bloodworms, brine shrimp, glass shrimp, Daphnia, and, for larger individuals, guppies.

title: Japanese fire-bellied newt


text:
Mayanist

A Mayanist (mayista) is a scholar specialising in research and study of the Mesoamerican pre-Columbian Maya civilisation. This discipline should not be confused with Mayanism, a collection of New Age beliefs about the ancient Maya.

Mayanists draw upon many inter-related disciplines including archaeology, linguistics, epigraphy, ethnology, history, photography/art, architecture, astronomy and ceramics.

The term Mayanist was coined by parallel with specialised fields studying other historical civilisations; see for example, Egyptologist (Ancient Egypt) and Assyriologist (Ancient Mesopotamia). It has been in widespread use from the late 19th century onwards, particularly by those who have studied and contributed to the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics, the complex and elaborate writing system which was developed by the ancient Maya.

title: Mayanist


text: User talk:Lakhim

title: User talk:Lakhim