Gazas history: February 2009

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

88.Alphabetization and collation

As for Icelandic names, my impresson by taking a look on Iceland, Icelandic name, Icelandic language etc. is that most articles about people with Þ or Ð in their name are titled that way.

And the redirect Thortharson is quite pointless: Icelanders aren't usually referred to by their patronymic alone (e.g. Björk, not "Guðmundsdóttir"); so a redirect from Thorbergur might be more useful.

I won't insist on this as I'm not an Icelander, but if you want to do a large-scale renaming of articles with þorns and eðs in their names I suggest you ask the opinion of people at WP:ICELAND first.

(More generally, articles should be at the name the person is most commonly referred to as by in English, even if this leads to inconsistences as Strauss rather than Strauß but Schrödinger rather than Schroedinger; as a rule of thumb, modern names tend to be translitterated less often than old ones.)

89. Farmers Manual

Farmers Manual is an electronic music and visual art group, founded in Vienna in the beginning of the nineties. The core members of the collective are Mathias Gmachl, Stefan Possert, Oswald Berthold, Gert Brantner and Nik Gaffney.

Part of the very lively viennese electronic music scene of the 90s, Farmers Manual were succefully crossing the boundaries between electronic music, live visuals, experimental graphic and web design.

Their CDs, published through avant-garde labels such as Mego, Tray or OR, often contained multimedia content. Their most significant release might be RLA (which stands for "Recent Live Archive"), a DVD released on Mego in 2003, which contains the bands extensive backcatalogue of live concert recordings from 1995-2003, compressed in mp3 format - totalling 3 days and 20 hours of audio content and released under a Copyleft licence..

As visual artists, Farmers Manual have been included in numerous international festivals, such as FCMM (Montreal, 1999), Avanto (Helsinki, 2001), Art+Communication (Riga, 2006)

90. Culture of Norway

Norwegian culture is closely linked to the country's history and geography. The unique Norwegian farm culture, sustained to this day, has resulted not only from scarce resources and a harsh climate but also from ancient property laws. In the 18th century, it brought about a strong romantic nationalistic movement, which is still visible in the Norwegian language and media.

In the 19th century, Norwegian culture blossomed as efforts continued to achieve an independent identity in the areas of literature, art and music. This continues today in the performing arts and as a result of government support for exhibitions, cultural projects and artwork The greatest sources of influence on Norwegian culture have been the Protestant church and Germany during the Middle Ages, France during the 18th century, Germany again during the 19th century and the English-speaking world after World War II. Norway today enjoys a strongly adapted western culture. Over the past 30 years,

Norway has evolved from an ethnically homogenous society to a culturally diverse nation with large immigrant communities, especially in Oslo where a quarter of the citizens are immigrants. Norwegians have an egalitarian outlook. The concept of Jante Law is in many areas and fields still today strong in Norway. Any form of elitism is likely to meet strong criticism. Norwegians generally express themselves in very modest terms, especially when it comes to compliments and praises - when they say something is “totally okay” that means it is very good indeed.

There is a strong drive for more individualist values. During the 20th century, these have taken over from the more collectivist tradition. Notably there is very strong support for tolerance toward same-sex relationships compared to most European countries, and Norwegians are often thought of (and most Norwegians think of their country) as a country with little xenophobia, which does not necessarily make it true.

96. Openness and transparency

As a process, governance may operate in an organization of any size: from a single human being to all of humanity; and it may function for any purpose, good or evil, for profit or not. A reasonable or rational purpose of governance might aim to assure, (sometimes on behalf of others) that an organization produces a worthwhile pattern of good results while avoiding an undesirable pattern of bad circumstances.

Perhaps the moral and natural purpose of governance consists of assuring, on behalf of those governed, a worthy pattern of good while avoiding an undesirable pattern of bad. The ideal purpose, obviously, would assure a perfect pattern of good with no bad. A government, comprises a set of inter-related positions that govern and that use or exercise power, particularly coercive power.

A good government, following this line of thought, could consist of a set of inter-related positions exercising coercive power that assures, on behalf of those governed, a worthwhile pattern of good results while avoiding an undesirable pattern of bad circumstances, by making decisions that define expectations, grant power, and verify performance.

Politics provides a means by which the governance process operates. For example, people may choose expectations by way of political activity; they may grant power through political action, and they may judge performance through political behavior.

Conceiving of governance in this way, one can apply the concept to states, to corporations, to non-profits, to NGOs, to partnerships and other associations, to project-teams, and to any number of humans engaged in some purposeful activity.

100. Discussion about Business Aspects

Mark Choate:

"Wikipedia is a living example of how network effects can confer sustainable competitive advantage in a market mediated by an open platform even though Wikipedia (on the surface) does not seem to act in accordance with the resource-based view of sustained competitive advantage.

The editing process taking place at Wikipedia is transparent. Not only can just about anyone participate, but the history of all the edits and who made them is available. At the same time, Wikipedia makes available all of its content. You can download every article and photograph and import it into your very own Wikipedia clone if you would like to.

Given the transparency of the process and the easy transferrability of resources, once might conclude that Wikipedia does not have a sustainable competitive advantage in the online encyclopedia market. One would be wrong, however.

While I can replicate the content on Wikipedia, I can never replicate the overall value of Wikipedia, for two reasons. The first is that there is a network of users who regularly monitor and update Wikipedia articles and they will continue to do so on Wikipedia's site, and not mine. Of course, I can continue to copy Wikipedia's content and maintain a site very close to the original, but with a slight delay and a modest degradation in quality. Even if I were able to make the transfer all but instantaneous, I still will not have replicated the value of Wikipedia because I also need to consider all the other sites on the Internet that link to Wikipedia as well.

It is the degree to which Wikipedia is entrenched in the network itself, the degree to which it is woven into the web that provides its greatest competitive advantage and one that, I suspect at least, will prove to be sustainable because that network is difficult to replicate. Clearly, network effects are still relevant, even with an open platform. The technology is readily replicable and the process by which the content was produce is entirely transparent. As it turns out, it is the weave of the data as woven into the network itself that is nearly impossible to replicate. Much in accordance with the old resource-based view of sustained competitive advantage, Wikipedia has secured it by making the value of its offering very hard to imitate."

99.Conflict Arbitration

Wikipedia is not owned by any individual or group. The content of Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Document License (GFDL), the open content counterpart to the GNU General Public License (Stallman, 1991). On a fundamental level, participants edit on equal footing; however administrative roles are granted by peers to participants who exhibit competence, trustworthiness and dedication to the project ( Meta–Wiki, “Power structure?). This system creates a bottom–up hierarchical structure based upon merit.

One of the things I did was to try and clear people out who were being disruptive. We actually had to go to arbitration over that article. It is like the supreme court of Wikipedia. There is a panel of 15 arbitrators. They hear the case. There is evidence, arguments and decisions. It is really like a simulated law suit. You get all the experience of a simulated law suit with the real threat that you could be banned. If they don’t like what you are doing they can actually ban you or restrict you from topics.

So it is really fascinating how this social space Wikipedia becomes a very real platform though it is in a virtual world for real world disputes. Most disputes are over the definition of things. If you have a you suit most disputes are about how things are defined. And Wikipedia has become the defacto definition of things in the real world. People want to know what are “The Troubles.” If you go to Wikipedia you find out The Troubles are a dispute over Northern Ireland. What the article says has a profound impact on public opinion.

98. Openness and transparency of histories

Openness and transparency are central to the functioning of the Wikipedia project. As a matter of Wikipedia policy, anyone, including an anonymous user, is permitted to directly edit any module on any subject. Wikipedia participants, like free and open source software hackers, are personally motivated to contribute. Participation is voluntary and is the sole condition for membership in the community. Instead of going through a moderation process, contributions become immediately visible on the site, providing immediate satisfaction for participants. Ownership of the work is distributed throughout the community. Contributor names do not appear on entries, although discussion and history layer entries are typically signed with user names.

Contributions are recorded in the history section of a module. They are peer-reviewed and either contribute directly to an iteration of an entry, are modified or are deleted. Reviewers debug edits according to consensus recorded on the discussion layer of each module. Because the discussion layers are the only forum for dialog (a benefit of geographically distributed, asynchronous, networked collaboration on a dedicated platform), discussion is open to all participants and decision–making is transparent.

Transparency is important to the success of Wikipedia because it allows participants to understand the reasoning behind decisions, contributing to trust in the Wikipedia process. It also allows newbies a means to understand informal community protocol and culture, as well as reduce abusive practice. While formal procedures exist to limit members who violate project mores, these measures are rarely necessary. Peer pressure typically regulates behaviour before administrative actions are needed. Participants self–manage and are usually not subjected to organizational authority.

Openness and transparency contribute to the success of the project in additional ways. Schlock and chaos are avoided due to the watchful eyes of the many, exemplifying Linus’ Law, coined and articulated by hacker Eric Raymond as “Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow? (Raymond, 2000). As anyone can edit Wikipedia, vandalism does occur. On the other hand, because anyone can edit Wikipedia, Wikipedia is robust. IBM’s Collaborative User Experience Research Group found that most Wikpedia pages have been vandalized. These researchers also found that most pages were repaired through version rollback using the module histories so quickly that most users would never see the effects (IBM). This phenomenon is called soft security in the free software, open source and wiki communities.

97. Measuring governance

Over the last decade, several efforts have been conducted in the research and international development community in order to assess and measure the quality of governance of countries all around the world.

One of these efforts to create an internationally comparable measure of governance is the Worldwide Governance Indicators project, developed by members of the World Bank and the World Bank Institute. The project reports aggregate and individual indicators for more than 200 countries for six dimensions of governance: voice and accountability, political stability and lack of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption.

To complement the macro-level cross-country Worldwide Governance Indicators, the World Bank Institute developed the World Bank Governance Surveys, which are a country level governance assessment tools that operate at the micro or sub-national level and use information gathered from a country’s own citizens, business people and public sector workers to diagnose governance vulnerabilities and suggest concrete approaches for fighting corruption.

95. Different definitions

The World Bank defines governance as

the exercise of political authority and the use of institutional resources to manage society's problems and affairs^{..citation needed]}

The Worldwide Governance Indicators project of the World Bank defines governance as

The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This considers the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and the respect of citizens and the state of the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them.

An alternate definition sees governance as

the use of institutions, structures of authority and even collaboration to allocate resources and coordinate or control activity in society or the economy.^{[citation needed]}

English-speakers sometimes erroneously confuse the term governance with the term government.

According to the UNDP's Regional Project on Local Governance for Latin America:

Governance has been defined as the rules of the political system to solve conflicts between actors and adopt decision (legality). It has also been used to describe the "proper functioning of institutions and their acceptance by the public" (legitimacy). And it has been used to invoke the efficacy of government and the achievement of consensus by democratic means (participation).

94. Openness and transparency

93. Governance of Wikipedia of history

"Wikipedia is a popular online, collaboratively written, free content encyclopedia initiated in 2000. Like code, Wikipedia has a modular structure, in this case composed of encyclopedia articles. This structure enables parallel development along a multitude of specializations. The modules are iteratively written, peer–reviewed, and together reflect the consensus of collective intelligence through individual transactions.

The Wikipedia project leverages open source wiki software to both organize content and participation. This platform enables an accessible, networked connection between the project and geographically distributed participants. The wiki platform provides participants with tools and a place to work. It also structures the nature of the work.

Ward Cunningham built the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, in 1995 to host the Portland Pattern Repository, a collection of problem and solution archetypes for computer programming (Cunningham). Cunningham’s design supports social, political and conceptual phenomena conducive to successive, distributed collaborative projects. Wiki-wiki is a Hawaiian term meaning quick and easy. Wikis impose a minimal barrier to participation through a simple text markup system and uploads which do not require server login.

Wikis support a mesh network of hyperlinked modules of content. Each module contains two additional layers for module history and discussion specific to the module’s content. This structure is important. The history layer of the module serves as a versioning system that records iterations and can be used to revert the module to an earlier, perhaps more stable, state. The discussion layer facilitates open and transparent negotiation of consensus about content, allowing contributors to voice their opinions and sometimes assert their identities without affecting the content layer. Because the discussion layer is part of a content module, discussion stays on topic. Both the history and discussion layers form the institutional history of a project, making decisions and protocol transparent.

92. Blood money (term)

Blood money is money paid as a fine to the next of kin of somebody who was killed intentionally.

Blood money is, colloquially, the reward for bringing a criminal to justice.

A common meaning in other contexts is the money-penalty paid by a murderer to the kinsfolk of the victim. These fines completely protect the offender (or the kinsfolk thereof) from the vengeance of the injured family. The system was common among the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples previous to the introduction of Christianity, and a scale of payments, graduated according to the heinousness of the crime, was fixed by laws, which further settled who could exact the blood-money, and who were entitled to share it. Homicide was not the only crime thus expiable: blood-money could be exacted for all crimes of violence. Some acts, such as killing someone in a church or while asleep, or within the precincts of the royal palace, were "bot-less"; and the death penalty was inflicted. Such a criminal was outlawed, and could be killed on sight.

In Islam

Main articles: Qisas and Diyya

In Islamic terms, Qisas can in some cases result in blood money being paid out to the family of victims. The amount varies from country to country and from case to case.

91. Performing arts

Not until fairly recently has the Norwegian cinema received international recognition but as early as 1959, Arne Skouen's Nine Lives was in fact nominated for an Oscar. Flåklypa Grand Prix (English: Pinchcliffe Grand Prix), an animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino and released in 1975, is based on characters from Norwegian cartoonist Kjell Aukrust. It is the most widely-seen Norwegian film of all time.

There was however a real breakthrough in 1987 with Nils Gaup's Pathfinder which told the story of the Sami. It was nominated for an Oscar and was a huge international success. Berit Nesheim's The Other Side of Sunday was also nominated for an Oscar in 1997.

Since the 1990s, the film industry has thrived with up to 20 feature films each year. Particular successes were Kristin Lavransdatter, The Telegraphist and Gurin with the Foxtail. Knut Erik Jensen was among the more successful new directors together with Erik Skjoldbjaerg remembered for Insomnia.

Since the turn of the century, there have been a number of successful Norwegian films These include:

Erik Poppe's Hawaii, Oslo (2004), depicting an imaginative multiracial Oslo without stereotypes;
Erik Skjoldbjærg's An Enemy of the People (2005) about a TV celebrity who tries to produce the world's purest bottled water:
Roar Uthaug's Cold Prey (2006), hailed as one of the best modern Norwegian horror movies;
full length feature film Reprise (2006), the Norwegian candidate for the best foreign language film Oscar in 2006

89. Farmers Manual

Part of the very lively viennese electronic music scene of the 90s, Farmers Manual were succefully crossing the boundaries between electronic music, live visuals, experimental graphic and web design.

As visual artists, Farmers Manual have been included in numerous international festivals, such as FCMM (Montreal, 1999), Avanto (Helsinki, 2001), Art+Communication (Riga, 2006)

90. Culture of Norway

87.Alphabetization and collation

As for Icelandic names, my impresson by taking a look on Iceland, Icelandic name, Icelandic language etc. is that most articles about people with Þ or Ð in their name are titled that way.

86. National spelling variation: Retaining the existing variety

I completely disagree with the Retaining the existing variety policy of the manual. In short, it says that the spelling of the "first major contributor" will stand as the Wikipedia spelling unless a specific reason to change it comes up. This is ridiculous. If a fringe spelling used by the "first major contributor" does not cross dialects, the more common one will naturally replace it. Why then would a spelling that does cross this boundary be exempt from this common sense rule?

For the purposes of this argument, we can ignore smaller English variations to focus on the two largest ones, American English and British English. According to Alex.., Wikipedia has more than five times as many American users (23.1%) than British users (4.1%). If India (5.4%) is added to British users, Americans still more than double the number. More over, approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States, and therefore speak American English.

American English is by far the most common English variant both on Wikipedia and in the world, therefore unless contradicted by the other three guidelines, American English should be standard on Wikipedia.--Marcus Brute (talk) 06:35, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

British English is not just used in the United Kingdom and India, but throughout the Commonwealth as well. The present guideline is a good compromise that avoids fruitless warring over the variety of English to be used in articles, and I, for one, see no reason for it to be changed. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 06:49, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the existing procedures work reasonably well, which is about the best that can be hoped for. There is no way that either American or Commonwealth speakers are going to accept the other dialect being privileged. The remaining imaginable possibility is to have separate wikis for the two dialects, which would be a massive waste of talent on both sides and a win for no one. The coexistence will lead to occasional annoyances (for me in particular it's aluminium that sets my teeth on edge) but it's a good opportunity to practice serenity of mind, and as a practical matter is very much preferable to any available alternative. --Trovatore (talk) 08:20, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

85. When should an article say "then-Senator Obama"?

The 2008 Barack Obama assassination scare in Denver refers to news reports of an alleged plot by Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Dwaine Johnson to assassinate then-Senator Barack Obama, then the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee...

When should an article contain "then-title" for a past title. It seems obvious to me that without "then", it refers to when the person had those titles, but I couldn't find a Wiki MOS guideline and am unfamiliar with other MOS guidelines. Galatee (talk) 17:52, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

The man's name is, was, and (probably) always will be Barack Obama, which is also the location of the article. I cannot envisage any circumstance in which it is less clumsy to say an alleged plot by Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Dwaine Johnson to assassinate Barack Obama, then a senator and the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee, ... Kevin McE (talk) 20:55, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Right. As a general rule we don't use pre-nominal titles at all. No Mr., no Dr., no Senator, no Her Majesty. Common-sense exceptions when justified by circumstance, but I can't think just what those circumstances might be. --Trovatore (talk) 21:24, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

It's helpful to understanding the article to note in the lead that Obama was a senator and the Democratic presidential nominee then. I'm just arguing against the "then"s. For another example, John McCain has "Starting in 1994, he worked with Democratic Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform". I think that's fine, but that it's unnecessary to say "then-Senator Russ Feingold" after he leaves office. Galatee (talk) 21:56, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, I don't object to that particularly strongly, but it seems like a description rather than a title, so I'd prefer to use the lowercase senator. When Feingold leaves office, it would be somewhat preferable to rephrase it ... he worked with Russ Feingold, at the time a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, on.... --Trovatore (talk) 00:32, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

This would imply that references to Henry Clay (1777-1852) should mostly say "at the time a Senator from Kentucky"; surely "Senator Henry Clay" is preferable? Septentrionalis PMAnderson 04:36, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Well his article managed to give plenty of detail about him without using the title more than twice (in a photo caption and a trivial factoid, both of which I have corrected. In another article, his name linked will allow a reader to know what his role was, if it is relevant, and if it is essential, then the word senator, with a lower-case s to make it clear that it is not a title, should suffice. If the context is clear that we are talking about a timescale in which the politicians are no longer alive/active, then former would be superfluous. Kevin McE (talk) 07:23, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

84. Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style

Gender neutrality: actress vs actor

Over recent months an edit war of sorts is developing in the articles relating to female members of the acting profession, both living and deceased. An increasing number of editors feel that the term actress is demeaning and alter it to actor, when it will immediately be reversed. I have no particular preference but feel that it is approaching a time where a consensus would clarify the matter. The wiki article for 'actor' currently says:

The word actor refers to a person who acts regardless of gender, while actress refers specifically to a female who acts, therefore a female can be both. The Oxford English Dictionary states that originally "'actor' was used for both sexes". The English word actress does not derive from the Latin actrix, probably not even by way of French actrice; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, actress was "probably formed independently" in English. As actress is a specifically feminine word, some feminists assert that the word is sexist. Gender-neutral usage of actor has re-emerged in modern English, especially when referring to male and female performers collectively, but actress remains a commonly used word.

Is a MOS consensus possible or desirable to reduce the level of edit reversals? 21stCenturyGreenstuff (talk) 20:02, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Does Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Archive_101#"actor" vs. "actress" help? - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 02:53, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Erm well, many thanks for the steer...but quite frankly no it did not help one little bit. As I said before I have no personal preference either way, but I have a few dozen female thespians in my watch list and there is a daily parade of warring changes between actor and actress. It is a nuisance and a nonsense and will only get worse until some kind of firmer guideline is established that editors can work to. As many others will do I came to the manual of style for that guidance and have come away empty handed. Frankly the discussion you referred me to was nothing much more than a head in the sand "if we ignore it, it does not exist" attitude. Disappointing to say the least, but Oh well...which patch of sand is free for me to insert my head into? 21stCenturyGreenstuff (talk) 03:21, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

As a retired theatrical worker I know that many female performers have a strong personal preference for one word or the other (and have been on the receiving end of an earwigging or two if I used the wrong word in a publicity proof.)

I would suggest therefore that it is wrong to make an absolute policy one way or the other, so I'd propose the following guideline:

If there is a source which demonstrates that an individual uses one or other word to descibe themself, we should use that in the article on them. It is the standard level of respect due in biographical articles.
If an individual was active in an era when usage of one term was near-universal, then we should use that term. e.g. to refer to a 19th century actrss as an actor is anachronistic. (I'm aware that this argument doesn't hold for all period words - some have become completely unacceptable, and you couldn't justify the use of, say, nigger by such means). No one has offered sources that indicate that actress is considered offensive by a majority.
Otherwise we should stick to first major usage in the article, as we do with spelling differences.

dramatic (talk) 03:53, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Suggestions 1 and 2 are excellent, eg Helen Mirren who has never referred to herself as anything but an actor. But 3 would not stop the endless changes back and fore....but I am off to reinsert my head in this handy bucket of sand. 21stCenturyGreenstuff (talk) 03:59, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Dramatic's suggestion actually sounds sort of reasonable. I would suggest notifying Wikipedia:WikiProject Films and Wikipedia:WikiProject Theatre to get a range of informed opinion. As for the fact that it won't stop all edit wars, too bad. It won't cure cancer either. The capabilities of the MoS are what they are. In any case the first-major-version solution works reasonably well for the Yank–Brit thing so I don't know why it can't work here. --Trovatore (talk) 04:07, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

I have a personal distaste for marked female terms, especially when they are morphologically converted from male form—which is thus cast as the default, the natural form. However, I suppose WP needs to respect the wishes of the subjects, if some women insist/insisted on referring to themselves as "an actress". If I had a magic wand, MoS would encourage the use of "actor" regardless of gender, thereby avoiding the implication that the male form is the natural form. However, I don't at this stage want to bother doing battle with people who feel more comfortable in a gender-unequal world, and who are happy for lexical forms to do their bidding. Tony (talk) 12:40, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Good; of course Ellen Terry was an actress. (For what it's worth, very early Restoration English used actor for both sexes, as in Latin.) The assumption that differentiation requires inequality is imaginary; we don't need any magic wands here, just plain English. The correct guide, therefore, is to call the thespian what our sources call her; when she has a marked preference, they will usually follow. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 22:05, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

And of course there is the Academy Award "Best Actress", isn't there?--Jchthys (talk) 18:15, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I think dramatic's idea-or at least the first two points-is fantastic. And i'm a woman and a feminist who would rather be called actress 'cause it sounds nicer! I don't think just because it separates us it automatically implies inferiority! It's the people who have the problem with the word that demonise it. But that's just my opinion. That was my first serious discussion post-scary! I'm not used to this yet! Deadlego (talk) 17:50, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

83.Timeline of mini

August 1959: Introduction of the Austin Seven, Morris Mini-Minor and Morris Mini-Minor DL 2-door saloons, all with transversely mounted 848cc engine and 4-speed manual gearbox.

1960: Introduction of the Austin Seven Countryman and Morris Mini-Minor Traveller 3-door estates, both with 848 cc engine from the saloon models.

1961: Introduction of the Austin Seven Super and Morris Mini-Minor Super 2-door saloons.

1961: Introduction of the Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper 2-door saloon, both with larger 997cc 55 bhp (41 kW) engine.

January 1962: All former Austin Seven models now officially called Austin Mini.

1962: Introduction of the Morris Mini-Minor SDL 2-door saloon.

March 1963: Introduction of the Austin Mini Cooper 1071 S and Morris Mini Cooper 1071 S 2-door saloons, both with larger 1071cc 70 bhp (52 kW) engine.

1964: Introduction of the Mini Moke.

April 1964: Introduction of the Austin and Morris Mini-Cooper 998, Mini-Cooper 970 S and Mini-Cooper 1275 S. 1275 S models have 1275 cc 76 bhp (57 kW) engine. Automatic transmission available as an option for the 998 cc Austin Mini-Cooper 998 and 1275 S. Previous Mini-Cooper 997 and 1071 S models dropped.

1965: Mini Cooper 970 S discontinued.

October 1965: Automatic transmission now available as an option on standard Austin/Morris Mini and Morris Mini SDL.

October 1967: Mark 2 range launched with facelift and upgraded equipment. Austin Mini range as follows: 850, 1000, Cooper 998 and Cooper 1275 S 2-door saloons and 1000 Countryman 3-door estate. Morris Mini range as follows: 850, 850 SDL, 1000 SDL, Cooper 998 and Cooper 1275 S 2-door saloons and 1000 Traveller 3-door estate. Optional automatic transmission available on all Austin models (except 850) and Morris Mini 1000 SDL saloon.

March 1969: Launch of the Morris Mini K an Australian-only model manufactured in the Australian British Motor Corporation factory at Zetland NSW using 80% local content

October 1969: Separate Austin and Morris badging now merged into Mini 850/Mini 1000 badging. Range reduced to: 850, 1000, Clubman, Cooper S and 1275 GT 2-door coupes and Clubman 3-door estate. Optional automatic transmission available on all except 1275 GT.

82.End of the production

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the British market enjoyed numerous "special editions" of the Mini, which shifted the car from a mass-market item into a fashionable icon. It was this image that perhaps helped the Mini become such an asset for BMW, which later bought the remnants of BMC as the Rover Group. It was even more popular in Japan, where it was seen as a retro-cool icon, and inspired many imitators. The ERA Mini Turbo was particularly popular with Japanese buyers.

In 1994, under Bernd Pischetsrieder, a first cousin once removed of Issigonis, BMW took control of the Rover Group, which included the Mini, fitting an airbag to comply with European legislation.

By March 2000, Rover was still suffering massive losses, and BMW decided to dispose of most of the companies. The sell-off was completed in May that year. MG and Rover went to Phoenix, a new British consortium; and Land Rover was sold to Ford Motor Company. BMW retained the Mini name and the planned new model, granting Rover temporary rights to the brand and allowing it to manufacture and sell the run-out model of the old Mini. By April 2000, the range consisted of four versions: the Mini Classic Seven, the Mini Classic Cooper, the Mini Classic Cooper Sport and — for overseas European markets — the Mini Knightsbridge. The last Mini (a red Cooper Sport) was built on October 4, 2000 and presented to the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust in December of that year . A total of 5,387,862 cars had been manufactured.

After the last of the Mini production had been sold, the 'Mini' name reverted to BMW ownership. The new 'BMW' MINI is technically unrelated to the old car but retains the classic transverse 4 cylinder, front-wheel-drive configuration and iconic "bulldog" stance of the original.

The Mini was a cultural icon and shows up in movies such as The Italian Job (1969), in which 3 Mark I Austin Mini Cooper S's are used in a gold bullion robbery; in The Bourne Identity (2002) as a beat-up but surprisingly capable vehicle for a car chase; Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) where a yellow Mini 1000 is used to travel the length of New Zealand, or in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) as a collectible fashion icon garaged alongside other classic sports cars. It has also featured in television shows such as Mr. Bean and (as the Mini Moke) in The Prisoner.

Mark V (from 1984): all cars had 8.4-inch (210 mm) brake discs and plastic wheel arches (mini special arches) but retained the same Mark IV body shell shape.

Mark VI (from 1990): the engine mounting points were moved forward to take 1275 cc power units, and includes the HIF carb version, plus the single point fuel injected car which came out in 1991. The 998 cc power units were discontinued. Internal bonnet release were fitted from 1992.

Mark VII was the final twin point injection with front mounted radiator.

81.report’s of mini cars

Reports of the Mini's imminent demise surfaced again in 1980 with the launch of the Austin Mini-Metro (badging with the word mini in all lowercase). In New Zealand in 1981, the Mini starred in a road trip movie directed by Geoff Murphy called Goodbye Pork Pie. The Mini was beginning to fall out of favour in many export markets, with the South African, Australian, and New Zealand markets all stopping production around this time.

Although the Mini continued after the Metro's launch, production volumes were reduced as British Leyland and successor combine Austin Rover concentrated on the Metro as its key supermini. Indeed, 1981 was the Mini's last year in the top ten of Britain's top selling cars, as it came ninth and the Metro was fifth.

The Mark III Mini had a modified bodyshell with enough alterations to see the factory code change from ADO15 to ADO20 (which it shared with the Clubman). The most obvious changes were larger doors with concealed hinges. Customer demand led to the sliding windows being replaced with winding windows — although some Australian-manufactured Mark I Minis had adopted this feature in 1965 (with opening quarterlight windows). The suspension reverted from Hydrolastic to rubber as a cost-saving measure.

Production at the Cowley plant was ended, and the simple name Mini completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands.

Mark III (introduced in November 1969) had wind up windows with internal door hinges except for the van and pickup models. The bootlid lost the original hinged number plate and its recess shape and a large rear colour coded lamp was fitted in its place, along with larger rear side windows.

Mark IV (introduced in 1976) had a front rubber mounted subframe with single tower bolts and the rear frame had some larger bushes introduced. Twin stalk indicators were introduced with larger foot pedals. From 1977 onwards, the rear indicator lamps had the reverse lights incorporated in them.

In the late 1970s, Innocenti introduced the Innocenti 90 and 120, Bertone-designed hatchbacks based on the Mini platform. Bertone also created a Mini Cooper equivalent, christened the Innocenti De Tomaso, that sported a 1275 cc engine similar to the MG Metro engine but with a 11 stud head, a special inlet manifold and uset the A clutch instead of the verto type. The most important feature was the utilization of homocinetic shafts, avoiding the rubber couplings.

By this stage, the Mini was still hugely popular in Britain, but it was looking increasingly outdated in the face of newer and more practical rivals including the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Chevette, Chrysler Sunbeam, Volkswagen Polo and Renault 5. Since the late 1960s, plans had been in place for a newer and more practical supermini to replace it, though the Mini was still the only car of this size built by British Leyland for the home market.

75.. The Mark II Mini: 1967-70

From 1967 to 1970, Issigonis had been designing a replacement for the Mini in the form of an experimental model called the 9X. It was shorter and more powerful than the Mini, but due to politicking inside British Leyland (which had now been formed by the merger of BMC's parent company British Motor Holdings and the Leyland Motor Corporation), the car did not reach production.It was an intriguing "might-have-been"; the car was technologically advanced, and many believe it would have been competitive up until the 1980s.

The Mark II Mini featured a redesigned front grille which remained with the car from that point on. Also, a larger rear window and numerous cosmetic changes were introduced. 429,000 Mark II Minis were made. A bewildering variety of Mini types were made in Pamplona, Spain, by the Authi company from 1968 onwards, mostly under the Morris name.

The Mini was arguably the star of the 1969 film The Italian Job, which features a car chase in which a gang of thieves drive three Minis down staircases, through storm drains, over buildings and finally into the back of a moving bus. This film was remade in 2003 using the new MINI.From 1967 to 1970, Issigonis had been designing a replacement for the Mini in the form of an experimental model called the 9X. It was shorter and more powerful than the Mini, but due to politicking inside British Leyland (which had now been formed by the merger of BMC's parent company British Motor Holdings and the Leyland Motor Corporation), the car did not reach production.

It was an intriguing "might-have-been"; the car was technologically advanced, and many believe it would have been competitive up until the 1980s.The Mark II Mini featured a redesigned front grille which remained with the car from that point on. Also, a larger rear window and numerous cosmetic changes were introduced. 429,000 Mark II Minis were made. A bewildering variety of Mini types were made in Pamplona, Spain, by the Authi company from 1968 onwards, mostly under the Morris name.The Mini was arguably the star of the 1969 film The Italian Job, which features a car chase in which a gang of thieves drive three Minis down staircases, through storm drains, over buildings and finally into the back of a moving bus. This film was remade in 2003 using the new MINI.

80. The Mark III and onwards: 1970–2000

Production at the Cowley plant was ended, and the simple name Mini completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands.

Mark III (introduced in November 1969) had wind up windows with internal door hinges except for the van and pickup models. The bootlid lost the original hinged number plate and its recess shape and a large rear colour coded lamp was fitted in its place, along with larger rear side windows.

Mark IV (introduced in 1976) had a front rubber mounted subframe with single tower bolts and the rear frame had some larger bushes introduced. Twin stalk indicators were introduced with larger foot pedals. From 1977 onwards, the rear indicator lamps had the reverse lights incorporated in them.

79. The Mini Clubman and 1275GT: 1969-80

In 1969, under the ownership of British Leyland, the Mini was given a facelift by stylist Roy Haynes, who had previously worked for Ford. The restyled version was called the Mini Clubman, and has a squarer frontal look, using the same indicator/sidelight assembly as the Austin Maxi. The Mini Clubman was intended to replace the upmarket Riley and Wolseley versions. A new model, dubbed the 1275GT, was slated as the replacement for the 998 cc Mini Cooper (the 1275 cc Mini Cooper S continued alongside the 1275GT for two years until 1971).

The Clubman Estate took over where the Countryman and Traveller left off.The 1275GT is often incorrectly described as the "Mini Clubman 1275GT". The official name was always just the "Mini 1275GT", and it was a separate, distinct model from the Clubman (albeit, it shared the same frontal treatment as the Mini Clubman, and was launched at the same time).In 1971, the 1275 cc Mini Cooper S was discontinued in the UK, leaving the Mini 1275GT as the only sporting Mini on sale for the rest of the decade.

Innocenti in Italy, however, continued making their own version of the Mini Cooper for some time, and In Australia from mid 1971 to the end of 1972, the Clubman GT was locally produced. This was essentially a Cooper S in Clubman body, equipped with the same 7 1/2" disc brakes, twin fuel tanks, and twin-carb Cooper S 1275 cc engine. While the UK built 1275GT was not nearly as quick as a 1275 Mini Cooper S, it was cheaper to buy, run, and insure. It was the first Mini to be equipped with a tachometer. It also featured a standard-fit close-ratio gearbox. Performance of the 1275GT was lively for the time, achieving 0–60 mph in 12.9 seconds, and the excellent midrange torque offered a 30–50 mph time in top gear of only nine seconds. The bluff front, however, meant that the model struggled to reach 90 mph (140 km/h). The 1275 cc A-series engine could be cheaply and easily tuned, though the cheap purchase price and prominent "sidewinder" door stripes meant that this model developed a reputation as something of a "boy-racer special" during the '70s and into the '80s.The Mini Clubman and 1275GT were responsible for two motoring "firsts": they were the first vehicles to use a flexi printed-circuit board behind the dash instruments (universal nowadays, but technically advanced for 1969). Secondly, the 1275GT was the first vehicle to be offered with run-flat tyres; from 1974 this model could be ordered with optional Dunlop Denovo tyres on 12-inch (300 mm) diameter rims. In the event of a puncture, the Dunlop Denovo tyre would not burst and quickly deflate, but could continue to be used safely at speeds of up to 50 mph (80 km/h). This was a useful safety feature, although the increased road noise and relatively poor grip of this tyre meant that many 1275GT buyers ignored this option.Throughout the 1970s, British Leyland continued to produce the classic 1959 "round-front" design, alongside the newer Clubman and 1275GT models.

On the Australian market however, all Minis (including the commercial derivatives) gained the Clubman front. Clubman sedans were marketed in Australia under the Morris Mini Clubman name when introduced in August 1971 and as the Leyland Mini from February 1973. The long-nose Clubman and 1275GT offered better crash safety, were better equipped, and had vastly better under-bonnet access, but they were more expensive and aerodynamically inferior to the original 1959 design. The Mini Clubman and 1275GT were replaced in 1980 by the new hatchback Austin Metro, while production of the original "round-front" mini design continued for another 20 years. At the end of Clubman and 1275GT production, 275,583 Clubman saloons, 197,606 Clubman Estates and 110,673 1275GTs had been made..

78. The Mini Cooper and Cooper S: 1961-2000

Issigonis' friend John Cooper, owner of the Cooper Car Company and designer and builder of Formula 1 and rally cars, saw the potential of the Mini for competition. Issigonis was initially reluctant to see the Mini in the role of a performance car, but after John Cooper appealed to BMC management, the two men collaborated to create the Mini Cooper, a nimble, economical and inexpensive car. The Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper debuted in 1961.

The original 848 cc engine from the Morris Mini-Minor was increased to 997 cc, boosting power from 34 bhp to 55 bhp (25 to 41 kw). The car featured a racing-tuned engine, twin SU carburettors, a closer-ratio gearbox and front disc brakes, uncommon at the time in a small car. One thousand units of this version were commissioned by management, intended for and designed to meet the homologation rules of Group 2 rally racing. The 997 cc engine was replaced by a shorter stroke 998 cc unit in 1964.

Sales of the Mini Cooper were as follows: 64,000 Mark I Coopers with 997 or 998 cc engines; 19,000 Mark I Cooper S with 970, 1071 or 1275 cc engines; 16,000 Mark II Coopers with 998 cc engines; 6,300 Mark II Cooper S with 1275 cc engines. There were no Mark III Coopers and just 1,570 Mark III Cooper S's.

The Mini Cooper S earned acclaim with Monte Carlo Rally victories in 1964, 1965 and 1967. Minis were initially placed first, second and third in the 1966 rally as well, but were disqualified after a controversial decision by the French judges. The disqualification related to the use of a variable resistance headlamp dimming circuit in place of a dual-filament lamp. It should be noted that the Citroën DS that was eventually awarded first place had illegal white headlamps but escaped disqualification. The driver of the Citroën, Pauli Toivonen, was reluctant to accept the trophy and vowed that he would never race for Citroën again. BMC probably received more publicity from the disqualification than they would have gained from a victory - but had the Mini not been disqualified, it would have been the only car in history to be placed in the top three on the Monte Carlo for six consecutive years.

77.mini cars

Morris Mini Traveller and Austin Mini Countryman (1961–69, UKonly): Two-door estate cars with double "barn"-style rear doors. Both were built on a slightly longer chassis of 84 inches (2.14 m) compared to 80.25 inches (2.04 m) for the saloon.

The luxury models had decorative, non-structural wood inserts in the rear body which gave the car a similar appearance to the larger Morris Minor estate which had some of the look of an American-style 1950s Woodie. Approximately 108,000 Austin Mini Countrymen and 99,000 Morris Mini Travellers were built.

Mini Van (1960-82): A commercial panel van rated at ¼-ton load capacity. Built on the longer Traveller chassis but without side windows, it proved popular in 1960s Britain as a cheaper alternative to the car as it was classed as a commercial vehicle and carried no sales tax. A set of simple stamped steel slots served in place of a more costly chrome grille. The Mini Van was renamed as the Mini 95 in 1978, the number representing the gross vehicle weight of 0.95 tons. 521,494 were built.

Mini Moke (1964 and 1968 in the UK, 1966-82 in Australia and 1983-89 in Portugal): A utility vehicle designed for the British Army, for whom 600 twin-engined 4-wheel-drive versions were purpose-built. Although the 4WD Moke could climb a 2-in-1 gradient, it proved to have insufficient ground clearance for military use. The single-engined front-wheel-drive Moke enjoyed some popularity in civilian production. About 50,000 were made. The car featured in the cult 1967 TV series The Prisoner, and is popular in holiday locations such as Barbados and Macau, where Mokes were used as police cars. Mokes were also available to rent there as recently as March 2006. "Moke" is archaic British slang for a donkey.

76. Mini Moke

Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf (1961–69): built as more luxurious versions of the Mini, both the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf had longer, slightly finned rear wings and larger boots that gave the cars a more traditional “notchback” look. Front-end treatment, which incorporated each marque’s traditional upright grille design, also contributed to a less utilitarian appearance.

The cars had larger-diameter chrome hubcaps than the Austin and Morris Minis, also additional chrome accents, bumper overriders and wood-veneer dashboards. The Riley was the more expensive version of the two cars.

The name "Wolseley Hornet" was first used on a 1930s sports car, while the name "Elf" recalled the Riley Sprite and Imp sports cars, also of the 1930s. The full width dashboard was a differentiator between the Elf and Hornet. This better dashboard was the idea of Christopher Milner the Sales Manager for Riley.Both cars went through three versions.

Initially, they used the 848-cc engine, changing to a single carburettor version of the Cooper's 998-cc power unit in the Mark II in 1963. The MKIII facelift of 1966 brought wind-up windows and fresh-air fascia vents; also concealed door hinges two years before these were seen on the mainstream Mini. 30,912 Riley Elfs and 28,455 Wolseley Hornets were built.

74..The Mark I Mini: 1959-67

The production version of the Mini was demonstrated to the press in April 1959, and by August several thousand cars had been produced ready for the first sales.

The name Mini did not appear by itself immediately — the first models being marketed under two of BMC's brand names, Austin and Morris. The name Austin Seven (sometimes written as SE7EN in early publicity material) recalled the popular small Austin 7 of the 1920s and 1930s. The other name used till 1967 in the United Kingdom (and in Commonwealth countries such as Australia), Morris Mini-Minor, seems to have been a play on words. The Morris Minor was a well known and successful car, with the word minor being Latin for "smaller"; so an abbreviation of the Latin word for "smallest" — minimus — was used for the new even smaller car. It was originally going to be called the Austin Newmarket.

Until 1962, the cars appeared as the Austin 850 and Morris 850 in North America and France, and in Denmark as the Austin Partner (until 1964) and Morris Mascot (until 1981). The name Mini was first used domestically by BMC for Austin's version in 1961, when the Austin Seven was rebranded as the Austin Mini, somewhat to the surprise of the Sharps Commercials car company (later known as Bond Cars Ltd) who had been using the name Minicar for their three-wheeled vehicles since 1949. However, legal action was somehow averted, and BMC used the name Mini for the remainder of the car's life.

In 1964, the suspension of the cars was replaced by another Moulton design, the hydrolastic system. The new suspension gave a softer ride but it also increased weight and production cost and, in the minds of many enthusiasts, spoiled the handling characteristics, for which the Mini was so famous. In 1971, the original rubber suspension reappeared and was retained for the remaining life….

75.. The Mark II Mini: 1967-70

Gazas history