title: Kokoda Track campaign

text: Nevertheless, the Allied campaign was hampered by the poor intelligence available, which included antiquated maps, unfamiliarity with the terrain, and limited aerial photography. Senior military commanders including MacArthur and Blamey were unaware of the extraordinarily difficult terrain and the extreme conditions in which the battles would be fought, and orders given to the commanders were sometimes unrealistic given the conditions on the ground. In the end though, the strategy used against the Japanese in Papua—widely criticised at the time—led to an eventual, though costly, victory. The American official historian Samuel Milner judged that "the only result, strategically speaking" of the Kokoda track campaign and subsequent fighting in Papua "was that after six months of bitter fighting and some 8,500 casualties, including 3,000 dead, the South West Pacific Area was exactly where it would have been the previous July had it been able to secure the beachhead before the Japanese got there". More recently, Australian historian Nicholas Anderson has concluded that while the Kokoda Track was a significant Allied victory, it was less important to the outcome of the Pacific War than the defeat of the main Japanese effort at this time during the Guadalcanal Campaign.


title: Kokoda Track campaign

text: The campaign also served to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the individual soldiers and the lower level commanders. Following this and the fighting that followed at Buna–Gona, the American and Australian armies would take steps to improve individual and unit training and medical and logistic infrastructure would also be greatly improved, with an increased focus upon air transport to solve the supply problem. Within the Australian Army, there was a major restructure with the formation of Jungle divisions which addressed manpower issues and were more suited to operations in jungle environments. There was a significant reduction in the scale of motor transport, and Jeeps, with greater cross-country mobility, were employed rather than trucks. At battalion level, changes included increasing the number of mortars to eight, the addition of a machine gun platoon with four Vickers guns to enhance organic fire support, and a removal of the carrier platoon. The Land Warfare Centre, as it is now known, was established at Canungra, Queensland, with an emphasis on training for jungle warfare. Adrian Threlfall, in his thesis and subsequent book explores the challenges faced and how these shaped the Australian Army as a jungle warfare force.


title: George Stephenson

text: George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. Self-help advocate Samuel Smiles particularly praised his achievements. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", was the basis for the standard gauge used by most of the world's railways.


title: George Stephenson

text: Pioneered by Stephenson, rail transport was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century and a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Built by George and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the "Locomotion" No. 1 was the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. George also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830.


title: George Stephenson

text: George Stephenson was born on 9 June 1781 in Wylam, Northumberland, which is 9 miles (15 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was the second child of Robert and Mabel Stephenson, neither of whom could read or write. Robert was the fireman for Wylam Colliery pumping engine, earning a very low wage, so there was no money for schooling. At 17, Stephenson became an engineman at Water Row Pit in Newburn nearby. George realised the value of education and paid to study at night school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic – he was illiterate until the age of 18.


title: George Stephenson

text: In 1801 he began work at Black Callerton Colliery south of Ponteland as a 'brakesman', controlling the winding gear at the pit. In 1802 he married Frances Henderson and moved to Willington Quay, east of Newcastle. There he worked as a brakesman while they lived in one room of a cottage. George made shoes and mended clocks to supplement his income.


title: George Stephenson

text: Their first child Robert was born in 1803, and in 1804 they moved to Dial Cottage at West Moor, near Killingworth where George worked as a brakesman at Killingworth Pit. Their second child, a daughter, was born in July 1805. She was named Frances after her mother. The child died after just three weeks and was buried in St Bartholomew's Church, Long Benton north of Newcastle.


title: George Stephenson

text: In 1806 George's wife Frances died of consumption (tuberculosis). She was buried in the same churchyard as their daughter on 16 May 1806, though the location of the grave is lost.


title: George Stephenson

text: George decided to find work in Scotland and left Robert with a local woman while he went to work in Montrose. After a few months he returned, probably because his father was blinded in a mining accident. He moved back into a cottage at West Moor and his unmarried sister Eleanor moved in to look after Robert. In 1811 the pumping engine at High Pit, Killingworth was not working properly and Stephenson offered to improve it. He did so with such success that he was promoted to enginewright for the collieries at Killingworth, responsible for maintaining and repairing all the colliery engines. He became an expert in steam-driven machinery.


title: George Stephenson

text: In 1815, aware of the explosions often caused in mines by naked flames, Stephenson began to experiment with a safety lamp that would burn in a gaseous atmosphere without causing an explosion. At the same time, the eminent scientist and Cornishman Humphry Davy was also looking at the problem. Despite his lack of scientific knowledge, Stephenson, by trial and error, devised a lamp in which the air entered via tiny holes, through which the flames of the lamp could not pass.


title: George Stephenson

text: A month before Davy presented his design to the Royal Society, Stephenson demonstrated his own lamp to two witnesses by taking it down Killingworth Colliery and holding it in front of a fissure from which firedamp was issuing. The two designs differed; Davy's lamp was surrounded by a screen of gauze, whereas Stephenson's prototype lamp had a perforated plate contained in a glass cylinder. For his invention Davy was awarded £2,000, whilst Stephenson was accused of stealing the idea from Davy, because he was not seen as an adequate scientist who could have produced the lamp by any approved scientific method.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson, having come from the North-East, spoke with a broad Northumberland accent and not the 'Language of Parliament,' which made him seem lowly. Realizing this, he made a point of educating his son Robert in a private school, where he was taught to speak in Standard English with a Received Pronunciation accent. It was due to this, in their future dealings with Parliament, that it became clear that the authorities preferred Robert to his father.


title: George Stephenson

text: A local committee of enquiry gathered in support of Stephenson, exonerated him, proved he had been working separately to create the 'Geordie Lamp', and awarded him £1,000, but Davy and his supporters refused to accept their findings, and would not see how an uneducated man such as Stephenson could come up with the solution he had. In 1833 a House of Commons committee found that Stephenson had equal claim to having invented the safety lamp. Davy went to his grave believing that Stephenson had stolen his idea. The Stephenson lamp was used almost exclusively in North East England, whereas the Davy lamp was used everywhere else. The experience gave Stephenson a lifelong distrust of London-based, theoretical, scientific experts.


title: George Stephenson

text: In his book "George and Robert Stephenson", the author L.T.C. Rolt relates that opinion varied about the two lamps' efficiency: that the Davy Lamp gave more light, but the Geordie Lamp was thought to be safer in a more gaseous atmosphere. He made reference to an incident at Oaks Colliery in Barnsley where both lamps were in use. Following a sudden strong influx of gas the tops of all the Davy Lamps became red hot (which had in the past caused an explosion, and in so doing risked another), whilst all the Geordie Lamps simply went out.


title: George Stephenson

text: There is a theory that it was Stephenson who indirectly gave the name of Geordies to the people of the North East of England. By this theory, the name of the Geordie Lamp attached to the North East pit men themselves. By 1866 any native of Newcastle upon Tyne could be called a Geordie.


title: George Stephenson

text: Cornishman Richard Trevithick is credited with the first realistic design for a steam locomotive in 1802. Later, he visited Tyneside and built an engine there for a mine-owner. Several local men were inspired by this, and designed their own engines.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson designed his first locomotive in 1814, a travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth wagonway named "Blücher" after the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (It was suggested the name sprang from Blücher's rapid march of his army in support of Wellington at Waterloo). "Blücher" was modelled on Matthew Murray's locomotive "Willington", which George studied at Kenton and Coxlodge colliery on Tyneside, and was constructed in the colliery workshop behind Stephenson's home, Dial Cottage, on Great Lime Road. The locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at , and was the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive: its traction depended on contact between its flanged wheels and the rail.


title: George Stephenson

text: Altogether, Stephenson is said to have produced 16 locomotives at Killingworth, although it has not proved possible to produce a convincing list of all 16. Of those identified, most were built for use at Killingworth or for the Hetton colliery railway. A six-wheeled locomotive was built for the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway in 1817 but was withdrawn from service because of damage to the cast-iron rails. Another locomotive was supplied to Scott's Pit railroad at Llansamlet, near Swansea, in 1819 but it too was withdrawn, apparently because it was under-boilered and again caused damage to the track.


title: George Stephenson

text: The new engines were too heavy to run on wooden rails or plate-way, and iron edge rails were in their infancy, with cast iron exhibiting excessive brittleness. Together with William Losh, Stephenson improved the design of cast-iron edge rails to reduce breakage; rails were briefly made by Losh, Wilson and Bell at their Walker ironworks.


title: George Stephenson

text: According to Rolt, Stephenson managed to solve the problem caused by the weight of the engine on the primitive rails. He experimented with a steam spring (to 'cushion' the weight using steam pressure acting on pistons to support the locomotive frame), but soon followed the practice of 'distributing' weight by using a number of wheels or bogies. For the Stockton and Darlington Railway Stephenson used wrought-iron malleable rails that he had found satisfactory, notwithstanding the financial loss he suffered by not using his own patented design.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson was hired to build the 8-mile (13-km) Hetton colliery railway in 1820. He used a combination of gravity on downward inclines and locomotives for level and upward stretches. This, the first railway using no animal power, opened in 1822. This line used a gauge of which Stephenson had used before at the Killingworth wagonway.


title: George Stephenson

text: In 1821, a parliamentary bill was passed to allow the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). The railway connected collieries near Bishop Auckland to the River Tees at Stockton, passing through Darlington on the way. The original plan was to use horses to draw coal carts on metal rails, but after company director Edward Pease met Stephenson, he agreed to change the plans.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson surveyed the line in 1821, and assisted by his eighteen-year-old son Robert, construction began the same year.


title: George Stephenson

text: A manufacturer was needed to provide the locomotives for the line. Pease and Stephenson had jointly established a company in Newcastle to manufacture locomotives. It was set up as Robert Stephenson and Company, and George's son Robert was the managing director. A fourth partner was Michael Longridge of Bedlington Ironworks. On an early trade card, Robert Stephenson & Co was described as "Engineers, Millwrights & Machinists, Brass & Iron Founders". In September 1825 the works at Forth Street, Newcastle completed the first locomotive for the railway: originally named "Active", it was renamed "Locomotion" and was followed by "Hope", "Diligence" and "Black Diamond". The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 27 September 1825. Driven by Stephenson, "Locomotion" hauled an 80-ton load of coal and flour in two hours, reaching a speed of on one stretch. The first purpose-built passenger car, "Experiment", was attached and carried dignitaries on the opening journey. It was the first time passenger traffic had been run on a steam locomotive railway.


title: George Stephenson

text: The rails used for the line were wrought-iron, produced by John Birkinshaw at the Bedlington Ironworks. Wrought-iron rails could be produced in longer lengths than cast-iron and were less liable to crack under the weight of heavy locomotives. William Losh of Walker Ironworks thought he had an agreement with Stephenson to supply cast-iron rails, and Stephenson's decision caused a permanent rift between them. The gauge Stephenson chose for the line was which subsequently was adopted as the standard gauge for railways, not only in Britain, but throughout the world.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson had ascertained by experiments at Killingworth that half the power of the locomotive was consumed by a gradient as little as 1 in 260. He concluded that railways should be kept as level as possible. He used this knowledge while working on the Bolton and Leigh Railway, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), executing a series of difficult cuttings, embankments and stone viaducts to level their routes. Defective surveying of the original route of the L&MR caused by hostility from some affected landowners meant Stephenson encountered difficulty during Parliamentary scrutiny of the original bill, especially under cross-examination by Edward Hall Alderson. The bill was rejected and a revised bill for a new alignment was submitted and passed in a subsequent session. The revised alignment presented the problem of crossing Chat Moss, an apparently bottomless peat bog, which Stephenson overcame by unusual means, effectively floating the line across it. The method he used was similar to that used by John Metcalf who constructed many miles of road across marshes in the Pennines, laying a foundation of heather and branches, which became bound together by the weight of the passing coaches, with a layer of stones on top.


title: George Stephenson

text: As the L&MR approached completion in 1829, its directors arranged a competition to decide who would build its locomotives, and the Rainhill Trials were run in October 1829. Entries could weigh no more than six tons and had to travel along the track for a total distance of . Stephenson's entry was "Rocket", and its performance in winning the contest made it famous. George's son Robert had been working in South America from 1824 to 1827 and returned to run the Forth Street Works while George was in Liverpool overseeing the construction of the line. Robert was responsible for the detailed design of "Rocket", although he was in constant postal communication with his father, who made many suggestions. One significant innovation, suggested by Henry Booth, treasurer of the L&MR, was the use of a fire-tube boiler, invented by French engineer Marc Seguin that gave improved heat exchange.


title: George Stephenson

text: The opening ceremony of the L&MR, on 15 September 1830, drew luminaries from the government and industry, including the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington. The day started with a procession of eight trains setting out from Liverpool. The parade was led by "Northumbrian" driven by George Stephenson, and included "Phoenix" driven by his son Robert, "North Star" driven by his brother Robert and "Rocket" driven by assistant engineer Joseph Locke. The day was marred by the death of William Huskisson, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool, who was struck by "Rocket". Stephenson evacuated the injured Huskisson to Eccles with a train, but he died from his injuries. Despite the tragedy, the railway was a resounding success. Stephenson became famous, and was offered the position of chief engineer for a wide variety of other railways.


title: George Stephenson

text: 1830 also saw the grand opening of the skew bridge in Rainhill over the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The bridge was the first to cross any railway at an angle. It required the structure to be constructed as two flat planes (overlapping in this case by ) between which the stonework forms a parallelogram shape when viewed from above. It has the effect of flattening the arch and the solution is to lay the bricks forming the arch at an angle to the abutments (the piers on which the arches rest). The technique, which results in a spiral effect in the arch masonry, provides extra strength in the arch to compensate for the angled abutments.


title: George Stephenson

text: The bridge is still in use at Rainhill station, and carries traffic on the A57 (Warrington Road). The bridge is a listed structure.


title: George Stephenson

text: George Stephenson moved to the parish of Alton Grange (now part of Ravenstone) in Leicestershire in 1830, originally to consult on the Leicester and Swannington Railway, a line primarily proposed to take coal from the western coal fields of the county to Leicester. The promoters of the line Mr William Stenson and Mr John Ellis, had difficulties in raising the necessary capital as the majority of local wealth had been invested in canals. Realising the potential and need for the rail link Stephenson himself invested £2,500 and raised the remaining capital through his network of connections in Liverpool. His son Robert was made chief engineer with the first part of the line opening in 1832.


title: George Stephenson

text: During this same period the Snibston estate in Leicestershire came up for auction, it lay adjoining the proposed Swannington to Leicester route and was believed to contain valuable coal reserves. Stephenson realising the financial potential of the site, given its proximity to the proposed rail link and the fact that the manufacturing town of Leicester was then being supplied coal by canal from Derbyshire, bought the estate.


title: George Stephenson

text: Employing a previously used method of mining in the midlands called tubbing to access the deep coal seams, his success could not have been greater. Stephenson's coal mine delivered the first rail cars of coal into Leicester dramatically reducing the price of coal and saving the city some £40,000 per annum.


title: George Stephenson

text: The next ten years were the busiest of Stephenson's life as he was besieged with requests from railway promoters. Many of the first American railroad builders came to Newcastle to learn from Stephenson and the first dozen or so locomotives utilised there were purchased from the Stephenson shops. Stephenson's conservative views on the capabilities of locomotives meant he favoured circuitous routes and civil engineering that were more costly than his successors thought necessary. For example, rather than the West Coast Main Line taking the direct route favoured by Joseph Locke over Shap between Lancaster and Carlisle, Stephenson was in favour of a longer sea-level route via Ulverston and Whitehaven. Locke's route was built.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson tended to be more casual in estimating costs and paperwork in general. He worked with Joseph Locke on the Grand Junction Railway with half of the line allocated to each man. Stephenson's estimates and organising ability proved inferior to those of Locke and the board's dissatisfaction led to Stephenson's resignation causing a rift between them which was never healed.


title: George Stephenson

text: Despite Stephenson's loss of some routes to competitors due to his caution, he was offered more work than he could cope with, and was unable to accept all that was offered. He worked on the North Midland line from Derby to Leeds, the York and North Midland line from Normanton to York, the Manchester and Leeds, the Birmingham and Derby, the Sheffield and Rotherham among many others.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson became a reassuring name rather than a cutting-edge technical adviser. He was the first president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on its formation in 1847. By this time he had settled into semi-retirement, supervising his mining interests in Derbyshire – tunnelling for the North Midland Railway revealed coal seams, and Stephenson put money into their exploitation.


title: George Stephenson

text: George first courted Elizabeth (Betty) Hindmarsh, a farmer's daughter from Black Callerton, whom he met secretly in her orchard. Her father refused marriage because of Stephenson's lowly status as a miner. George next paid attention to Anne Henderson where he lodged with her family, but she rejected him and he transferred his attentions to her sister Frances (Fanny), who was nine years his senior. George and Fanny married at Newburn Church on 28 November 1802. They had two children Robert (1803) and Fanny (1805) but the latter died within months. George's wife died, probably of tuberculosis, the year after. While George was working in Scotland, Robert was brought up by a succession of neighbours and then by George's unmarried sister Eleanor (Nelly), who lived with them in Killingworth on George's return.


title: George Stephenson

text: On 29 March 1820, George (now considerably wealthier) married Betty Hindmarsh at Newburn. The marriage seems to have been happy, but there were no children and Betty died on 3 August 1845.


title: George Stephenson

text: On 11 January 1848, at St John's Church in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, George married for the third time, to Ellen Gregory, another farmer's daughter originally from Bakewell in Derbyshire, who had been his housekeeper. Seven months after his wedding, George contracted pleurisy and died, aged 67, at noon on 12 August 1848 at Tapton House in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield, alongside his second wife.


title: George Stephenson

text: Described by Rolt as a generous man, Stephenson financially supported the wives and families of several who had died in his employment, due to accident or misadventure, some within his family, and some not. He was also a keen gardener throughout his life; during his last years at Tapton House, he built hothouses in the estate gardens, growing exotic fruits and vegetables in a 'not too friendly' rivalry with Joseph Paxton, head gardener at nearby Chatsworth House, twice beating the master of the craft.


title: George Stephenson

text: George Stephenson had two children. His son Robert was born on 16 October 1803. Robert married Frances Sanderson, daughter of a City of London professional John Sanderson, on 17 June 1829. Robert died in 1859 having no children. Robert Stephenson expanded on the work of his father and became a major railway engineer himself. Abroad, Robert was involved in the Alexandria–Cairo railway that later connected with the Suez Canal. George Stephenson's daughter was born in 1805 but died within weeks of her birth. Descendants of the wider Stephenson family continue to live in Wylam (Stephenson's birthplace) today. Also relatives connected by his marriage live in Derbyshire. Some descendants later emigrated to Perth, Australia, with later generations remaining to this day.


title: George Stephenson

text: This Stephenson engineering family is not to be confused with the lighthouse-building engineering family of Robert Stevenson, which was active in the same era. Note the spelling difference.


title: George Stephenson

text: Britain led the world in the development of railways which acted as a stimulus for the Industrial Revolution by facilitating the transport of raw materials and manufactured goods. George Stephenson, with his work on the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, paved the way for the railway engineers who followed, such as his son Robert, his assistant Joseph Locke who carried out much work on his own account and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Stephenson was farsighted in realising that the individual lines being built would eventually be joined, and would need to have the same gauge. The standard gauge used throughout much of the world is due to him. In 2002, Stephenson was named in the BBC's television show and list of the "100 Greatest Britons" following a UK-wide vote, placing at no. 65.


title: George Stephenson

text: The Victorian self-help advocate Samuel Smiles had published his first biography of George Stephenson in 1857, and although attacked as biased in the favour of George at the expense his rivals as well as his son, it was popular and 250,000 copies were sold by 1904. The Band of Hope were selling biographies of George in 1859 at a penny a sheet, and at one point there was a suggestion to move George's body to Westminster Abbey. The centenary of George's birth was celebrated in 1881 at Crystal Palace by 15,000 people, and it was George who was featured on the reverse of the Series E five pound note issued by the Bank of England between 1990 and 2003. The Stephenson Railway Museum in North Shields is named after George and Robert Stephenson.


title: George Stephenson

text: George Stephenson's Birthplace is an 18th-century historic house museum in the village of Wylam, and is operated by the National Trust. Dial Cottage at West Moor, his home from 1804, remains but the museum that once operated here is shut.


title: George Stephenson

text: Chesterfield Museum in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, has a gallery of Stephenson memorabilia, including straight thick glass tubes he invented for growing straight cucumbers. The museum is in the Stephenson Memorial Hall not far from both Stephenson's final home at Tapton House and Holy Trinity Church within which is his vault. In Liverpool, where he lived at 34 Upper Parliament Street, a City of Liverpool Heritage Plaque is situated next to the front door.


title: George Stephenson

text: George Stephenson College, founded in 2001 on the University of Durham's Queen's Campus in Stockton-on-Tees, is named after him. Also named after him and his son is George Stephenson High School in Killingworth, Stephenson Memorial Primary School in Howdon, the Stephenson Railway Museum in North Shields and the Stephenson Locomotive Society. The Stephenson Centre, an SEBD Unit of Beaumont Hill School in Darlington, is named after him. His last home in Tapton, Chesterfield is now part of Chesterfield College and is called Tapton House Campus.


title: George Stephenson

text: As a tribute to his life and works, a bronze statue of Stephenson was unveiled at Chesterfield railway station (in the town where Stephenson spent the last ten years of his life) on 28 October 2005, marking the completion of improvements to the station. At the event a full-size working replica of the "Rocket" was on show, which then spent two days on public display at the Chesterfield Market Festival. A statue of him dressed in classical robes stands in Neville Street, Newcastle, facing the buildings that house the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne and the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, near Newcastle railway station. The statue was sculpted in 1862 by John Graham Lough and is listed Grade II.


title: George Stephenson

text: From 1990 until 2003, Stephenson's portrait appeared on the reverse of Series E £5 notes issued by the Bank of England. Stephenson's face is shown alongside an engraving of the "Rocket" steam engine and the Skerne Bridge on the Stockton to Darlington Railway.


title: George Stephenson

text: Stephenson was portrayed by actor Gawn Grainger on television in the 1985 "Doctor Who" serial "The Mark of the Rani".


title: George Stephenson

text: Harry Turtledove's alternate history short story "The Iron Elephant" depicts a race between a newly invented steam engine and a mammoth-drawn train in 1782. A station master called George Stephenson features as a minor character alongside an American steam engineer called Richard Trevithick, likely indicating that they were analogous rather than historical characters.


title: George Stephenson

text: Ruth Maxwell M.A. George Stephenson George Harrap & Company LTD., London, 1920. Heroes of All Time series.


title: Flash mob

text: A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.


title: Flash mob

text: The term, coined in 2003, is generally not applied to events and performances organized for the purposes of politics (such as protests), commercial advertisement, publicity stunts that involve public relation firms, or paid professionals. In these cases of a planned purpose for the social activity in question, the term smart mobs is often applied instead.


title: Flash mob

text: The term "flash rob" or "flash mob robberies", a reference to the way flash mobs assemble, has been used to describe a number of robberies and assaults perpetrated suddenly by groups of teenage youth. Bill Wasik, originator of the first flash mobs, and a number of other commentators have questioned or objected to the usage of "flash mob" to describe criminal acts. Flash mob has also been featured in some Hollywood movie series, such as "Step Up".


title: Flash mob

text: The first flash mobs were created in Manhattan in 2003, by Bill Wasik, senior editor of "Harper's Magazine". The first attempt was unsuccessful after the targeted retail store was tipped off about the plan for people to gather. Wasik avoided such problems during the first successful flash mob, which occurred on June 17, 2003, at Macy's department store, by sending participants to preliminary staging areas—in four Manhattan bars—where they received further instructions about the ultimate event and location just before the event began.


title: Flash mob

text: More than 130 people converged upon the ninth floor rug department of the store, gathering around an expensive rug. Anyone approached by a sales assistant was advised to say that the gatherers lived together in a warehouse on the outskirts of New York, that they were shopping for a "love rug", and that they made all their purchase decisions as a group. Subsequently, 200 people flooded the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel in synchronized applause for about 15 seconds, and a shoe boutique in SoHo was invaded by participants pretending to be tourists on a bus trip.


title: Flash mob

text: Wasik claimed that he created flash mobs as a social experiment designed to poke fun at hipsters and to highlight the cultural atmosphere of conformity and of wanting to be an insider or part of "the next big thing". "The Vancouver Sun" wrote, "It may have backfired on him ... [Wasik] may instead have ended up giving conformity a vehicle that allowed it to appear nonconforming." In another interview he said "the mobs started as a kind of playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings to temporarily take over commercial and public areas simply to show that they could".


title: Flash mob

text: In 19th-century Tasmania, the term "flash mob" was used to describe a subculture consisting of female prisoners, based on the term "flash language" for the jargon that these women used. The 19th-century Australian term "flash mob" referred to a segment of society, not an event, and showed no other similarities to the modern term "flash mob" or the events it describes.


title: Flash mob

text: In 1973, the story "Flash Crowd" by Larry Niven described a concept similar to flash mobs. With the invention of popular and very inexpensive teleportation, an argument at a shopping mall—which happens to be covered by a news crew—quickly swells into a riot. In the story, broadcast coverage attracts the attention of other people, who use the widely available technology of the teleportation booth to swarm first that event—thus intensifying the riot—and then other events as they happen. Commenting on the social impact of such mobs, one character (articulating the police view) says, "We call them flash crowds, and we watch for them." In related short stories, they are named as a prime location for illegal activities (such as pickpocketing and looting) to take place. Lev Grossman suggests that the story title is a source of the term "flash mob".


title: Flash mob

text: Flash mobs began as a form of performance art. While they started as an apolitical act, flash mobs may share superficial similarities to political demonstrations. In the 1960s, groups such as the Yippies used street theatre to expose the public to political issues. Flash mobs can be seen as a specialized form of smart mob, a term and concept proposed by author Howard Rheingold in his 2002 book "".


title: Flash mob

text: The first documented use of the term "flash mob" as it is understood today was in 2003 in a blog entry posted in the aftermath of Wasik's event. The term was inspired by the earlier term "smart mob".


title: Flash mob

text: Flash mob was added to the 11th edition of the "Concise Oxford English Dictionary" on July 8, 2004, where it noted it as an "unusual and pointless act" separating it from other forms of smart mobs such as types of performance, protests, and other gatherings. Also recognized noun derivatives are flash mobber and flash mobbing. "Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English" defines "flash mob" as "a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse." This definition is consistent with the original use of the term; however, both news media and promoters have subsequently used the term to refer to any form of smart mob, including political protests; a collaborative Internet denial of service attack; a collaborative supercomputing demonstration; and promotional appearances by pop musicians. The press has also used the term "flash mob" to refer to a practice in China where groups of shoppers arrange online to meet at a store in order to drive a collective bargain.


title: Flash mob

text: The city of Brunswick, Germany has stopped flash mobs by strictly enforcing the already existing law of requiring a permit to use any public space for an event. In the United Kingdom, a number of flash mobs have been stopped over concerns for public health and safety. The British Transport Police have urged flash mob organizers to "refrain from holding such events at railway stations".


title: Flash mob

text: Referred to as "flash robs", "flash mob robberies", or "flash robberies" by the media, crimes organized by teenage youth using social media rose to international notoriety beginning in 2011. The National Retail Federation does not classify these crimes as "flash mobs" but rather "multiple offender crimes" that utilize "flash mob tactics". In a report, the NRF noted, "multiple offender crimes tend to involve groups or gangs of juveniles who already know each other, which does not earn them the term 'flash mob'." Mark Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, said that most "flash mob thuggery" involves crimes of violence that are otherwise ordinary, but are perpetrated suddenly by large, organized groups of people: "What social media adds is the ability to recruit such a large group of people, that individuals who would not rob a store or riot on their own feel freer to misbehave without being identified."


title: Flash mob

text: "HuffPost" raised the question asking if "the media was responsible for stirring things up", and added that in some cases the local authorities did not confirm the use of social media making the "use of the term flash mob questionable". Amanda Walgrove wrote that criminals involved in such activities don't refer to themselves as "flash mobs", but that this use of the term is nonetheless appropriate. Dr. Linda Kiltz drew similar parallels between flash robs and the Occupy Movement stating, "As the use of social media increases, the potential for more flash mobs that are used for political protest and for criminal purposes is likely to increase.".


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Jungle 2 Jungle is a 1997 comedy film directed by John Pasquin, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and TF1 Films Productions, and starring Tim Allen, Martin Short, Lolita Davidovich, David Ogden Stiers, JoBeth Williams, and introducing Sam Huntington in his film debut as Mimi-Siku. It is an American remake of the 1994 French film "Un indien dans la ville" (also known as "Little Indian, Big City"). Its plot follows that of the original film fairly closely, with the biggest difference being the change in location from Paris to New York City.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Michael Cromwell is a self-absorbed commodities broker living in New York City. Wanting to marry his new fiancée, Charlotte, he needs to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Patricia, who left him some years earlier. She now lives with a semi-Westernized tribe in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. He travels there to get her signature on the divorce papers. Upon arriving, she reveals that they had a son together, who is now 13 years old and named Mimi-Siku.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Michael attempts to bond with Mimi in his brief stay with the tribe and promises to take him to New York City "when he is a man". He is also given a new name of "Baboon" as is a custom in the tribe. That night, Mimi undergoes the traditional rite of passage of the tribe, who then considers him to be a man. The tribal elder gives him a special task to bring fire from the Statue of Liberty in order to become the next chief. A reluctant Michael, realizing his promise would have to be honored sooner than he realized, brings Mimi to New York City with him.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Charlotte is less than pleased about Mimi and his primitive ways. As Michael attempts to adapt him to city life, cross-cultural misunderstandings occur when he reverts to customs considered acceptable by his tribe. On climbing the Statue of Liberty to reach the torch, he is disappointed when he sees that the flame is not real. After a brief argument with Michael, Mimi's antics have caused Charlotte to reach her breaking point.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: While staying at the home of Michael's business partner Richard Kempster, Mimi falls in love with his daughter, Karen. He paints her face and gives her a new name, Ukume, as is the custom in his tribe. Richard resents Mimi's presence in his home due to his influence over Karen and because he cooked and ate his valuable prize-winning Poecilia latipinna fish. Richard freaks out when he sees Karen and Mimi together in a hammock and threatens to send her to an all-girls summer camp.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: The Kempsters and Michael are targeted by Alexei Jovanovic, a Russian mobster and caviar dealer who believes that they have cheated him in a business deal. He arrives at the Kempsters' home and tortures Richard for information and is prepared to cut off his fingers. By fighting together, utilizing Mimi's hunting skills, and Mimi's pet tarantula Maitika, Michael and Mimi fight off Jovanovic and his minions.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Before returning to the Amazon jungle, Mimi is given a satellite phone by Michael so they can stay in touch. He also presents him with a Statue of Liberty cigarette lighter, which produces fire from the torch and will fulfill his quest. In return, he gives Michael a blowpipe and poisoned darts, telling him to practice and come to see him when he can hit flies.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Shortly afterward, Michael finds himself disheartened by the rat-race and realizes that his relationship with Charlotte is not working for him anymore. He attempts to kill a fly with his blowpipe on the trading floor of the New York Board of Trade. He hits it, but also his hot-tempered boss Langston who collapses asleep on the trading floor.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Michael returns to Lipo-Lipo to see Mimi and Patricia, bringing the Kempsters with him for a vacation. Karen and Mimi are reunited and it is suggested that Michael and Patricia also resume their relationship.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 19%, based on reviews from 42 critics. The site's consensus states: "Tim Allen spends "Jungle 2 Jungle" annoyed and put upon, mirroring audiences' reaction as they struggle through this witless family comedy."


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: Roger Ebert was disappointed by the film, giving it one star out of four, a small step from his original zero star rating for "Little Indian, Big City". On his television program "Siskel and Ebert", Ebert said "Jungle 2 Jungle" was not as bad as "Little Indian, Big City" because it was "far too mediocre to be terrible." He also described it as "lamebrained, boring, predictable, long, and slow", and added that while the French version was memorably bad, "Jungle 2 Jungle" was "just forgettable". Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel mildly disagreed, specifying that he felt "Jungle 2 Jungle" was just as bad as "Little Indian, Big City". He also said he felt embarrassed for Allen and Short, as he felt they were used far better in other television programs and films. Siskel later went on to declare "Jungle 2 Jungle" the worst film of 1997.


title: Jungle 2 Jungle

text: At the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was listed as one of 30 dishonorable mentions for Worst Picture and was noted under the Founders Award, which lamented the year's biggest studio disgraces. Referencing Siskel's pick for worst film of the year (they called it "a horrendous embarrassment for Disney"), the Stinkers stated that it had "just as many laughs as "Little Indian, Big City" (zero) and we're being generous" and added that Disney needed to stop remaking so many films.


title: Genital herpes

text: Genital herpes is an infection by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) of the genitals. Most people either have no or mild symptoms and thus do not know they are infected. When symptoms do occur, they typically include small blisters that break open to form painful ulcers. Flu-like symptoms, such as fever, aching, or swollen lymph nodes, may also occur. Onset is typically around 4 days after exposure with symptoms lasting up to 4 weeks. Once infected further outbreaks may occur but are generally milder.


title: Genital herpes

text: The disease is typically spread by direct genital contact with the skin surface or secretions of someone who is infected. This may occur during sex, including anal and oral sex. Sores are not required for transmission to occur. The risk of spread between a couple is about 7.5% over a year. HSV is classified into two types, HSV-1 and HSV-2. While historically HSV-2 was more common, genital HSV-1 has become more common in the developed world. Diagnosis may occur by testing lesions using either PCR or viral culture or blood tests for specific antibodies.


title: Genital herpes

text: Efforts to prevent infection include not having sex, using condoms, and only having sex with someone who is not infected. Once infected, there is no cure. Antiviral medications may, however, prevent outbreaks or shorten outbreaks if they occur. The long-term use of antivirals may also decrease the risk of further spread.


title: Genital herpes

text: In 2015 about 846 million people (12% of the world population) had genital herpes. In the United States, more than one in six people between the ages of 14 and 49 have the disease. Women are more commonly infected than men. Rates of disease caused by HSV-2 have decreased in the United States between 1990 and 2010. Complications may rarely include aseptic meningitis, an increased risk of HIV/AIDS if exposed to HIV-positive individuals, and spread to the baby during childbirth resulting in neonatal herpes.


title: Genital herpes

text: In males, the lesions occur on the glans penis, shaft of the penis or other parts of the genital region, on the inner thigh, buttocks, or anus. In females, lesions appear on or near the pubis, clitoris or other parts of the vulva, buttocks or anus.


title: Genital herpes

text: Other common symptoms include pain, itching, and burning. Less frequent, yet still common, symptoms include discharge from the penis or vagina, fever, headache, muscle pain (myalgia), swollen and enlarged lymph nodes and malaise. Women often experience additional symptoms that include painful urination (dysuria) and cervicitis. Herpetic proctitis (inflammation of the anus and rectum) is common for individuals participating in anal intercourse.


title: Genital herpes

text: After 2–3 weeks, existing lesions progress into ulcers and then crust and heal, although lesions on mucosal surfaces may never form crusts. In rare cases, involvement of the sacral region of the spinal cord can cause acute urinary retention and one-sided symptoms and signs of myeloradiculitis (a combination of myelitis and radiculitis): pain, sensory loss, abnormal sensations (paresthesia) and rash. Historically, this has been termed Elsberg syndrome, although this entity is not clearly defined.


title: Genital herpes

text: After a first episode of herpes genitalis caused by HSV-2, there will be at least one recurrence in approximately 80% of people, while the recurrence rate for herpes genitalis caused by HSV-1 is approximately 50%. Herpes genitalis caused by HSV-2 recurs on average four to six times per year, while that of HSV-1 infection occurs only about once per year.


title: Genital herpes

text: People with recurrent genital herpes may be treated with "suppressive therapy", which consists of daily antiviral treatment using acyclovir, valacyclovir or famciclovir. Suppressive therapy may be useful in those who have at least four recurrences per year but the quality of the evidence is poor. People with lower rates of recurrence will probably also have fewer recurrences with suppressive therapy. Suppressive therapy should be discontinued after a maximum of one year to reassess recurrence frequency.


title: Genital herpes

text: Genital herpes can be spread by viral shedding prior to and following the formation of ulcers. The risk of spread between a couple is about 7.5% over a year (for unprotected sex). The likelihood of transferring genital herpes from one person to another is decreased by external condom use by 50%, by internal condom by 50%, and refraining from sex during an active outbreak. The longer a partner has had the infection, the lower the transmission rate. An infected person may further decrease transmission risks by maintaining a daily dose of antiviral medications. Infection by genital herpes occurs in about 1 in every 1,000 sexual acts.


title: Genital herpes

text: Because herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is common and not routinely screened for in the general population, complete prevention of the transmission of genital herpes is difficult. To reduce the chance of contracting herpes simplex virus, external condoms for the penis may be used during oral sex, vaginal sex, and anal sex. Internal condoms for the vagina may be used during oral sex or vaginal sex. Internal condoms and external condoms should not be used simultaneously. Dental dams may be used during oral sex involving the vagina or anus. Decreasing the number of sexual partners a person has may also decrease the chance of contracting HSV. People who have sexual relations with others may get tested for HSV. In people who have been diagnosed with genital herpes, transmission to others may be prevented through suppressive antiviral drugs. This option is 90% effective in preventing the transmission of HSV and is a commonly used option for sexual and/or romantic partners or those who plan on becoming pregnant. Those who are aware that they have genital herpes should notify their partner(s).


title: Genital herpes

text: Genital herpes may be diagnosed through a physical examination by a doctor or through a herpes simplex virus (HSV) test by sampling fluid within a genital blister or blood for HSV antibodies. Herpes simplex virus testing is recommended for those who have symptoms of herpes or who have a sexual partner who has a herpes infection. There is currently no recommendation for asymptomatic screening for genital herpes.


title: Genital herpes

text: False negative test results may occur if the test is performed late in the course of the illness or if the test sample is not appropriately acquired. Testing people for HSV when they are asymptomatic is not recommended due to the high false-positivity rate. A false positive test may cause relationship difficulties.


title: Genital herpes

text: Women who have genital herpes before pregnancy have a very low risk of transmitting herpes simplex virus to the baby during delivery. In the United States, 20-25% of pregnant women have genital herpes; however, fewer than 0.1% of babies born get neonatal herpes during delivery.


title: Genital herpes

text: Per the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, routine screening for pregnant women without a history of genital herpes is not recommended. Serologic (blood) antibody testing in asymptomatic patients without history has been shown to frequently have false positive and false negative test results which may lead to anxiety, labeling, or false reassurance with minimal improvements in health outcomes of reducing neonatal herpes transmission.


title: Genital herpes

text: Pregnant women should notify their doctor if they show symptoms of genital herpes. At the time of delivery, women should be physically examined for signs of genital herpes. If a pregnant woman is symptomatic during delivery, a Cesarean section is the safest method of preventing contact and transmission of herpes simplex virus between the mother and the baby. Alternatively, some physicians use the drug acyclovir to treat pregnant women with genital herpes at 36 weeks until delivery to prevent the recurrence of symptoms and reduce the risk of transmission during delivery. Acyclovir is not approved for this purpose by the FDA; however, acyclovir’s manufacturer has tracked pregnant women who have taken the drug during pregnancy, and there is no evidence that shows any risks for the infant.


title: Genital herpes

text: Acyclovir may help reduce the frequency of symptomatic recurrence near term but may not definitively protect against transmission in all cases. This may be favorable particularly for women who prefer to have a vaginal delivery instead of cesarean section.


title: Genital herpes

text: Antiviral medications provide clinical benefits to those who are symptomatic and is the primary means of management once infected. The main goal for the use of antiviral medications is to treat the first outbreak or to prevent genital herpes recurrences, improve quality of life, and help suppress the virus to sexual transmission to partners. Three FDA-approved antiviral medications have clinical benefits in controlling the signs and symptoms of genital herpes when used for first clinical symptoms and recurrent episodes or when used as daily suppressive therapy. These medications are acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir and have been shown to be safe with long-term use.


title: Genital herpes

text: Acyclovir is an antiviral medication and reduces the pain and the number of lesions in the initial case of genital herpes. Furthermore, it decreases the frequency and severity of recurrent infections. It comes in capsules, tablets, and ointment. However, topical ointment with acyclovir is discouraged since it offers minimal clinical benefits.


title: Genital herpes

text: Valacyclovir is a prodrug that is converted to acyclovir once in the body. It helps relieve the pain and discomfort and speeds healing of sores. It only comes in caplets and its advantage is that it has a longer duration of action than acyclovir.


title: Genital herpes

text: Famciclovir is another antiviral drug that belongs to the same class. Famciclovir is a prodrug that is converted to penciclovir in the body. The latter is the one active against the viruses. It has a longer duration of action than acyclovir and it only comes in tablets.


title: Genital herpes

text: The first time an individual experiences genital herpes, they may have prolonged clinical illness with severe genital ulceration. Furthermore, for those who have mild clinical symptoms initially may experience severe recurrent infections later. Typical recommended regimens for first clinical episodes of genital herpes may be something like:


title: Genital herpes

text: Most individuals who experience a symptomatic first episode of genital herpes will experience recurrence of genital lesions at some point in the future. Asymptomatic shedding can also occur where an individual may not have genital ulcerations present but still possibly transmit the virus to other partners. It is important for patients to have a discussion with their primary care doctor for options of receiving either episodic treatment or long-term suppressive therapies.


title: Genital herpes

text: Suppressive therapy has been shown effective in reducing recurrent genital herpes in as high as 80% which can tremendously help in improving quality of life since patients claim having minimal symptomatic episodes. Long-term use of anti-virals like acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir have been shown to be safe and effective. Furthermore, long-term treatment of genital herpes with valacyclovir daily has shown to decrease the rates of transmission. It is important for patients to continue suppressive therapy in conjunction to consistent condom use and sexual abstinence during recurrent episodes to decrease transmission as well.


title: Genital herpes

text: To decrease symptoms during an outbreak of genital herpes, people can use an ice pack on the affected areas, take a warm bath, keep the genitals dry when not bathing, and take over-the-counter pain relief medication such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.


title: Genital herpes

text: About 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. More than 85% of those with HSV-2 are unaware of their infection. Approximately 776,000 people in the United States get new herpes infections every year.


title: Genital herpes

text: Tests for herpes are not routinely included among STI screenings. Performers in the pornography industry are screened for HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea with an optional panel of tests for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis, but not herpes. Testing for herpes is controversial since the results are not always accurate or helpful. Most sex workers and performers will contract herpes at some point in their careers whether they use protection or not.


title: Genital herpes

text: Early 20th century public health legislation in the United Kingdom required compulsory treatment for sexually transmitted diseases but did not include herpes because it was not serious enough. As late as 1975, nursing textbooks did not include herpes as it was considered no worse than a common cold. After the development of acyclovir in the 1970s, the drug company Burroughs Wellcome launched an extensive marketing campaign that publicized the illness, including creating victim's support groups.


title: Genital herpes

text: There are efforts to develop a vaccine for active outbreaks of the virus—despite most cases being asymptomatic—but the results thus far have not been able to do so or eliminate transmission.


title: Education in Canada

text: Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, and is funded and overseen by provincial, territorial and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by secondary education and post-secondary. Within the provinces under the ministry of education, there are district school boards administering the educational programs.


title: Education in Canada

text: Education is compulsory in every province and territory in Canada, up to the age of 18 for Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nunavut, and Ontario, and up to the age of 16 for other jurisdictions, or as soon as a high school diploma has been achieved. In some provinces early leaving exemptions can be granted under certain circumstances at 14. Canada generally has 190 (180 in Quebec) school days in the year, officially starting from September (after Labour Day) to the end of June (usually the last Friday of the month, except in Quebec when it is just before June 24 – Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day/Fête nationale du Québec). In British Columbia schools, the Ministry of Education sets the minimum number of instructional hours in a school year, while local school boards have the authority to determine the start and end of the school year, length of the school day, number of non-instructional days, etc. in order to meet the minimum number of instructional hours for that year. While the school year typically runs from the start of September to mid/end of June, there exists local variation throughout the country.


title: Education in Canada

text: The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of Canadian 15-year-olds as the sixth best in the world. Canada is a well performing OECD country in reading literacy, mathematics, and science with the average student scoring 523.7, compared with the OECD average of 493 in 2015. In 2016, the country spent 6.0 percent of its GDP on all levels of education – roughly 1.0 percentage points above the OECD average of 5.0 percent. In 2017, 68 percent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 attained some form of post-secondary education, which is 56.8 percent, or 12.4 percentage points, above the OECD average of 44 percent. 57 percent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had attained a college diploma or university degree along with 11 percent of Canadians attaining certificates, diplomas, and apprenticeships from vocational institutions. 61 percent of Canadians aged 25 to 34 attained some form of tertiary education which is also one of the highest among OECD countries, ranking second behind South Korea. 31 percent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 have earned a bachelor's degree or higher, which is the same as the OECD average of 31 percent.


title: Education in Canada

text: The Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC) works in collaboration with provincial and territorial departments that are responsible for education and training, on the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP). The CESC includes both the CMEC and Statistics Canada. The CESC submits an annual report, "Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective", "supports the comparison of educational systems in Canada's provinces and territories with member [OECD] countries".


title: Education in Canada

text: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) coordinates the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that is intended to evaluate educational systems—OECD members and non-OECD members—by measuring 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading.


title: Education in Canada

text: The federal government's responsibilities in education are limited to the Royal Military College of Canada, and funding the education of indigenous peoples; all other matters of education in Canada falls under provincial responsibility. As such, there is a lot of variation in the management of education from province to province.


title: Education in Canada

text: In 2016, 8.5% of men and 5.4% of women aged 25 to 34 had less than a secondary school diploma (340,000 young Canadians). In many places, publicly funded secondary school courses are offered to the adult population. The ratio of secondary school graduates versus non diploma-holders is changing rapidly, partly due to changes in the labour market that require people to have a secondary school diploma and, in many cases, a university degree. Nonetheless, in 2010, 51% of Canadians had completed a tertiary education, the highest rate in the world. The majority of schools, 67%, are co-educational.


title: Education in Canada

text: Canada spends about 5.4% of its GDP on education. The country invests heavily in tertiary education (more than US$20,000 per student). Recent reports suggest that from 2006 the tuition fees of Canadian universities have increased by 40 percent. Since the adoption of section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1982, education in both English and French has been available in most places across Canada (if the population of children speaking the minority language justifies it), although French Second Language education/French Immersion is available to anglophone students across Canada. English Second Language education/English Immersion is also available in Quebec's french language schools.


title: Education in Canada

text: According to an announcement of Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Canada is introducing a new, fast-track system to let foreign students and graduates with Canadian work experience become permanent eligible residents in Canada.


title: Education in Canada

text: Most schools have introduced one or more initiatives such as programs in Native studies, antiracism, Aboriginal cultures and crafts; visits by elders and other community members; and content in areas like indigenous languages, Aboriginal spirituality, indigenous knowledge of nature, and tours to indigenous heritage sites. Although these classes are offered, most appear to be limited by the area or region in which students reside. "The curriculum is designed to elicit development and quality of people's cognition through the guiding of accommodations of individuals to their natural environment and their changing social order"


title: Education in Canada

text: Subjects that typically get assessed (i.e., language arts, mathematics, and science) assume greater importance than non-assessed subjects (i.e., music, visual arts, and physical education) or facets of the curriculum (i.e., reading and writing versus speaking and listening).


title: Education in Canada

text: Some scholars view academics as a form of "soft power" helping to educate and to create positive attitudes, although there is criticism that educators are merely telling students what to think, instead of how to think for themselves, and using up a large proportion of classroom time in the process. Social promotion policies, grade inflation, lack of corrective feedback for students, teaching methods that slow the development of soft skills compared to past decades, reform mathematics, and the failure to objectively track student progress have also forced secondary schools and colleges to lower their academic standards.


title: Education in Canada

text: According to a November 2011 "Maclean's" opinion piece, Alberta's education system provides better results compared to other provinces, partially because of Alberta's rigorous "provincial standardized exams". According to a 2011 study by the University of Saskatchewan, Albertans have higher grades in university due to the comprehensive education compared to other provinces. Grades are also notably boosted when applying for many universities in Canada to entice Albertan students to go to those universities, such as the University of British Columbia. This also explains why the University of Alberta is quite competitive when applying with an out-of-province education.


title: Education in Canada

text: The Constitution of Canada provides constitutional protections for some types of publicly funded religious-based and language-based school systems.


title: Education in Canada

text: Section 93 of the "Constitution Act, 1867" contains a guarantee for publicly funded religious-based separate schools, provided the separate schools were established by law prior to the province joining Confederation. Court cases have established that this provision did not apply to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island, since those provinces did not provide a legal guarantee for separate schools prior to Confederation. The provision did originally apply to Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador, since these provinces did have preexisting separate schools. This constitutional provision was repealed in Quebec by a constitutional amendment in 1997, and for Newfoundland and Labrador in 1998. The constitutional provision continues to apply to Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. There is a similar federal statutory provision which applies to the Northwest Territories. The issue of separate schools is also addressed in Section 29 of the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms", which reaffirms the rights of separate schools found in the "Constitution Act, 1867".


title: Education in Canada

text: Section 23(1)(b) of the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms" guarantees the right of citizens who were educated in the minority language in a particular province to have their children educated in the minority language in publicly funded schools. In practice, this guarantee means that there are publicly funded English schools in Quebec, and publicly funded French schools in the other provinces and the territories.


title: Education in Canada

text: Quebec students must attend a French school up until the end of secondary school unless one of their parents qualifies as a rights-holder under s. 23(1)(b) of the Charter. In Ontario, French-language schools automatically admit students recognized under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and may admit non-francophone students through the board's admissions committee consisting of the school principal, a school superintendent, and a teacher.


title: Education in Canada

text: An example of how schools can be divided by language and religion is visible in Toronto, which has four public school boards operating in the city. They include two English first language school boards, the separate Toronto Catholic District School Board and secular Toronto District School Board; and two French boards, the separate Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir and secular Conseil scolaire Viamonde.


title: Education in Canada

text: As education is a provincial matter, the length of study varies depending on the province, although the majority of public early childhood, elementary, and secondary education programs in Canada begin in kindergarten (age five typically by 31 December of that school year) and end after Grade 12 (age 17 by 31 December). After completion of a secondary school diploma, students may go on to post-secondary studies.


title: Education in Canada

text: Exceptions to the aforementioned length of study include the provinces of Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as the Northwest Territories. As opposed to the other provinces, the Kindergarten programs in the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec consist of two years, with the first year open to students age four by 31 December. Ontario established its Junior Kindergarten program in the early 1940s. In 2016, the Government of Nova Scotia announced an expansion of its Pre-Primary program to be made available throughout the province by 2020. Implementation of Junior Kindergarten began in the Northwest Territories during the 2017–18 school year, an expansion of an earlier pilot project in several smaller communities in the territory. In 2019, the Government of Quebec announced the creation of kindergarten classes for four-year-olds in the province's elementary schools. The length of study at the secondary level also differs in Quebec, with the final grade of secondary schools in the province being Grade 11/"Secondaire V".


title: Education in Canada

text: Conversely, in Ontario, a student may choose to lengthen their period of study in a secondary school for an additional number of years, colloquially referred to as a victory lap. From 1989 to 2003, secondary education in Ontario formally included a fifth year (intended for students preparing for post-secondary education), known as the Ontario Academic Credit (age 18 by 31 December). Prior to 1989 Ontario secondary schools included Grade 13 (leading to the Secondary School Honours Graduation Diploma). Although OAC was phased out in 2003, a study in 2010 published by academics with Lakehead University noted that the province was only partially successful in its efforts a significant minority of students opting to take a fifth year. Approximately 14 percent of students in Ontario opting to take a fifth year as late as 2012. In September 2013, the Government of Ontario introduced a 34-credit threshold (30 credits is required for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma) in an effort to limit the length of study for its secondary school students and reduce the financial burden from students returning for a fifth year. A "resident pupil" of Ontario has the right to attend a public secondary school until they've received their 34th-course credit, attended the school for seven years, or are age 20 and have not been in a school in the last four years, after which the secondary school reserves the right to refuse further admission to the student.


title: Education in Canada

text: While the period of study in Canada begins as early as four years old, the age where a child's attendance becomes mandatory varies between the provinces and Canadian territories, ranging from ages five to seven. Children who turn five by 31 December are required to begin schooling in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Yukon; although parents are able to apply for a deferment. In Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, a child is required to attend school at the age of six. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the only provinces where the minimum compulsory attendance age is seven. Attendance in school is compulsory up to the age of 16 in all provinces except Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Ontario, where attendance is compulsory until the student turns 18, or as soon as a secondary school diploma has been achieved.


title: Education in Canada

text: Normally, for each type of publicly funded school (such as Public English or Public French), the province is divided into districts (or divisions). For each district, board members (trustees) are elected only by its supporters within the district (voters receive a ballot for just one of the boards in their area). Normally, all publicly funded schools are under the authority of their local district school board. These school boards would follow a common curriculum set up by the province the board resides in. Only Alberta allows public charter schools, which are independent of any district board. Instead, they each have their own board, which reports directly to the province.


title: Education in Canada

text: Primary education, Intermediate education, and secondary education combined are sometimes referred to as K-12 (Kindergarten through Grade 12). Secondary schooling, known as high school, collegiate institute, "école secondaire" or secondary school, consists of different grades depending on the province in which one resides. Furthermore, grade structure may vary within a province or even within a school division; as to whether or not they operate middle or junior high schools.


title: Education in Canada

text: Kindergarten programs are available for children in all provinces in Canada and are typically offered as one-year programs for students who turn five in that year. However, the provinces of Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, and Quebec operate two-year kindergarten programs, with the first year beginning at the age of four. The names of these programs, provincial funding, and the number of hours provided varies widely. For example, the Department of Education in Nova Scotia refers to Kindergarten as Grade Primary. Full-day kindergarten programs are offered in all provinces except Alberta, Manitoba, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and Yukon. Students in the Prairie provinces are not required by statute to attend kindergarten. As a result, kindergarten often is not available in smaller towns.


title: Education in Canada

text: Since the 1940s, Ontario's kindergarten program has consisted of two years: junior kindergarten for four-year-olds- five-year-olds and senior kindergarten for five-year-olds – six- year olds. At Francophone schools in Ontario, these programs are called "Maternelle" and "Jardin". In 2017, Nova Scotia began to implement a kindergarten program (pre-primary, starting at age four), with provincial-wide service available since 2020. In 2017, the Northwest Territories introduced its junior kindergarten program throughout the territory. Quebec offers subsidized preschool programs and introduced an early kindergarten program for children from low-income families in 2013.


title: Education in Canada

text: Grade 12 presently serves as the final grade in all provincial secondary curriculums, except Quebec, whose secondary schools ends after Secondary V/Grade 11 (age 16 by September 30, Quebec cut off date is earlier); after which, students who wish to pursue further studies may attend a post-secondary institution. Quebec is currently the only province where it treats Grade 12 as a part of the tertiary level of education. Grade 11 also served as the end of secondary education in Newfoundland and Labrador, until the province implemented Grade 12 in 1983. Conversely, from 1921 to 2003, Ontario's secondary curriculum lasted a year longer, with secondary schooling ending after Grade 13/Ontario Academic Credit (OAC). Grade 13 was reformed into OAC in 1988, and was offered in secondary schools until 2003, after which the grade was discontinued. A number of Canadian secondary schools offer the International Baccalaureate Program (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP) program. These courses prepare students for first-year university learning and can be used to replace or supplement existing courses in the curriculum. Many universities and colleges across North America offer advanced credits to students who excel in International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses.


title: Education in Canada

text: Students may continue to receive publicly funded secondary schooling until the ages of 19 to 21 (the cut-off age for secondary school varies between provinces). Dependent on the province, those who are the age of majority may continue to attend a standard secondary school, or may be required to attend an adult high school.


title: Education in Canada

text: Students of secondary school age who have received long-term suspensions or have been expelled, or are otherwise unable or unwilling to attend conventional schools may be offered alternative learning options to complete their secondary education, such as drop-in programs, night school, or distance/online classes. An increasing number of international students are attending pre-tertiary courses at Canadian secondary schools.


title: Education in Canada

text: Post-secondary education in Canada is provided by universities (research universities, undergraduate universities, and university colleges) and vocational institutions (vocational colleges, career colleges, community colleges, institutes of technology or science, colleges of applied arts or applied technology, and in Quebec, collèges d’enseignement général et professionnel). Universities offer bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees as well as post-graduate certificates and diplomas while vocational institutions issue diplomas, associate degrees, certificates, and apprenticeships. Vocational institutions offer career-focused training that is often practical where these institutions train their graduates to work as semi-professionals in various fields such as the skilled trades and technical careers and for workers in support roles in professions such as engineering, information technology, accountancy, business administration, health care, architecture, and law. University colleges and vocational institutions also offer degree programs where a student can take courses and receive credit that can be transferred to a university.


title: Education in Canada

text: Nearly all post-secondary institutions in Canada have the authority to grant academic credentials (i.e., diplomas or degrees). Generally speaking, universities grant degrees (e.g., bachelor's, master's, professional or doctorate degrees) while colleges, which typically offer vocationally oriented programs, grant diplomas, associate degrees, and certificates. However, some colleges offer applied arts degrees that lead to or are equivalent to degrees from a university. Private career colleges are overseen by legislative acts for each province. For example, in British Columbia training providers will be registered and accredited with the (PCTIA) Private Career Training Institutions Agency regulated under the Private Career Training Institutions Act (SBC 2003) Each province with their own correlating agency. Unlike the United States, there is no "accreditation body" that oversees the universities in Canada. Universities in Canada have degree-granting authority via an Act or Ministerial Consent from the Ministry of Education of the particular province. Tertiary and post-secondary education in Canada is also the responsibility of the individual provinces and territories. Those governments provide the majority of funding to their public post-secondary institutions, with the remainder of funding coming from tuition fees, the federal government, and research grants. Compared to other countries in the past, Canada has had the highest tertiary school enrollment as a percentage of their graduating population.


title: Education in Canada

text: The traditional path to Canadian higher education is typically through university, as it is by far the most prestigious form of higher education in the country. There is no universally prescribed set definition to what constitutes a "university" in Canada as they come in various forms that serve the different educational needs of various Canadians. Each province has its own legislative meaning of the term but universities do intersect in terms of the types of degrees that they offer, research, competitiveness, location, and global institutional reputation. Canadian universities require students' senior secondary school transcript along with an application for admission. Admissions criteria to a university in Canada involve the grades earned in core senior secondary school courses taken, and an admission GPA based on their senior secondary school courses calculated in the form of a percentage. Applications for admission outline additional academic and extra-curricular achievements that cannot be expressed through a student's secondary school transcript. In the case of more prestigious and selective university programs, an essay, statement of intent, or personal statement of experience must be submitted directly to the university. In addition, letters of reference, examples of extracurricular activities, volunteering and community service endeavors, athletic participation, student awards, and scholarships are also required for acceptance to some of Canada's most prestigious university programs. Generally, Canadian universities base admission with great weight emphasized around a student's academic performance in core senior secondary school courses taken during their grade 11 and 12 years as a measure of academic rigor in addition to assessing a prospective students capability to challenge themselves as predictors of future academic performance at the university level. In addition, most universities in Canada also denote a standardized GPA or an admission average cutoff. This admissions cut off is established based on the competitiveness of applicants applying to individual programs offered at specific universities. A typical competitive program at an esteemed Canadian university could have an admissions cutoff of 90 percent or higher, while mid-tier universities have programs that maintain cut-offs around 80 percent. Lower tier and lesser-known Canadian universities with more liberal application processes could have admission cut offs as low as 65 to 70 percent.


title: Education in Canada

text: Among the country's most prominent institutions are 15 large research universities that operate large research programs and form a part of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities. Other types of universities across Canada include denominational schools, undergraduate universities, liberal arts colleges, art schools, online universities with distance education, and institutions that serve people in more rural and remote parts of the country. There are also post-secondary military colleges like Royal Military College of Canada and Royal Military College Saint-Jean, which is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and a full degree-granting university.


title: Education in Canada

text: The quality of universities in Canada is internationally recognized and is home to Canadian universities placing in global rankings as global leader in scientific and technological research and adducing the delivery of higher education to promising Canadian students and prospective students around the world.


title: Education in Canada

text: Vocational education in Canada is delivered through vocational colleges, career colleges, community colleges, institutes of technology or science, technical schools, colleges of applied arts or applied technology, and in Quebec through collèges d’enseignement général et professionnel. Though it is cheaper in terms of tuition, less competitive to get into, and not as prestigious as going to a four-year university, vocational schools adduce another post-secondary option for students seeking to enter the realm of Canadian higher education. Admissions to vocational schools in Canada have requirements that are less stringent than a university and vary more significantly, but unlike universities, qualifications and entrance standards into vocational institutions are more lax as they do not delineate admission cut-offs so as long as students meet the minimum average requirements and possess the prerequisite courses, they can gain admission to most vocational institutions across the country. Many vocational institutes such as George Brown College and Mohawk College accept a very high proportion of students with averages above 70 percent, although they may place no limiting minimum for acceptance, and consequently take students with averages below 60 percent.


title: Education in Canada

text: The typical Canadian vocational institute is analogous to that of an American junior college or community college where they offer specialized vocational oriented certifications in an area of training. However, there are some institutions in Canada that offer both vocational training as well as a limited number of 4-year undergraduate university degrees such as Seneca College, Sheridan College, Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Vancouver Island University, and Thompson Rivers University. There are over 200 community colleges in Canada. They are less competitive to get into compared with universities and are often found in remote and rural parts of the country.


title: Education in Canada

text: Post-secondary vocational institutions in Canada offer apprenticeships, certificates, diplomas, and associate degrees. These are programs that offer specialized vocational education in specific employment fields related to the skilled trades and technical careers which generally last two years. In studying at a vocational school, a student can take the necessary courses needed to earn a certification that will allow for entry into jobs (such as becoming a beautician, licensed practical nurse, drafter, web developer, computer network support specialist, paralegal, medical laboratory technician, cardiovascular technologist, optician, or diagnostic medical sonographer, healthcare assistant etc.) requiring some level of tertiary education but not a full four-year university degree. After graduating from a vocational institution, some students continue their education by transferring to a university to complete a bachelor's degree, while others choose to enter the workforce. Apprenticeships are another form of post-secondary vocational education training in Canada, as students combine in class instruction with practical workforce training for careers related to the skilled trades. In addition, a series of exams have to be passed before the student is certified as a journeyperson. Skilled trades programs in Canada typically take four years to complete and by finishing the last level, the person is granted a trades certificate and can work anywhere in Canada if a set known as the Red Seal exams are passed.


title: Education in Canada

text: About 6% of Canadian grade ten students are in private schools, most of which are in Quebec. A Statistics Canada study from 2015 found that these students tend to have higher test scores and future educational attainment than their public school counterparts. Rather than enjoying superior resources and educational practices, the most likely explanation for this discrepancy is the higher expectation of success that students experience from their parents, teachers, and fellow students.


title: Education in Canada

text: In the past, private universities in Canada maintained a religious history or foundation. However, since 1999, the Province of New Brunswick passed the Degree Granting Act allowing private universities to operate in the Province. The University of Fredericton is the newest university to receive designation in New Brunswick.


title: Education in Canada

text: Trinity Western University, in Langley British Columbia, was founded in 1962 as a junior college and received full accreditation in 1985. In 2002, British Columbia's Quest University became the first privately funded liberal arts university without a denominational affiliation (although it is not the first private liberal arts university). Many provinces, including Ontario and Alberta, have passed legislation allowing private degree-granting institutions (not necessarily universities) to operate there.


title: Education in Canada

text: Many Canadians remain polarized on the issue of permitting private universities into the Canadian market. On the one hand, Canada's top universities find it difficult to compete with the private American powerhouses because of funding, but on the other hand, the fact that the price of private universities tends to exclude those who cannot pay that much for their education could prevent a significant portion of Canada's population from being able to attend these schools.


title: Education in Canada

text: In addition to the issue of access, some Canadians take issue with protections instituted within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as ruled by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2001 and consistent with federal and provincial law that (private) faith-based universities in Canada based on the long-established principles of freedom of conscience and religion can exempt itself from more recent human rights legislation when they insist in their "community covenant" code signed by staff, faculty and students that they act in accordance with the faith of the school. The covenant may require restraint from those acts considered in contradiction with the tenets of their faith such as homosexual relationships, sex outside marriage or more broadly abstain from consuming alcohol on campus or viewing pornography. However, private-Christian based schools do not preclude homosexual or lesbian students from attending. Some faith-based universities have been known to fire staff and faculty which refused to adhere or whose actions were in opposition with the tenets of the faith, although in some provinces, their dismissals have been successfully challenged in court based on the circumstances.


title: Education in Canada

text: Each province deals differently with private religious schools. In Ontario, the Catholic system continues to be fully publicly funded while other faiths are not. Ontario has several private Islamic, Christian and Jewish schools all funded through tuition fees. Since the Catholic schools system is entrenched in the constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled that this system is constitutional. However, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled that Ontario's system is discriminatory, suggesting that Ontario either fund no faith-based schools, or all of them. In 2002 the government of Mike Harris introduced a controversial program to partially fund all private schools, but this was criticized for undermining the public education system and the program was eliminated after the Liberals won the 2003 provincial election.


title: Education in Canada

text: In other provinces, privately operated religious schools are funded. In British Columbia the government pays independent schools that meet rigorous provincial standards up to 50% of the per-student operating cost of public schools. The province has a number of Sikh, Hindu, Christian, and Islamic schools. Alberta also has a network of charter schools, which are fully funded schools offering distinct approaches to education within the public school system. Alberta charter schools are not private and the province does not grant charters to religious schools. These schools have to follow the provincial curriculum and meet all standards but are given considerable freedom in other areas. In all other provinces, private religious schools receive some funding, but not as much as the public system.


title: Education in Canada

text: As the education system in Canada is managed by the varying provincial governments in Canada, the way the educational stages are grouped and named may differ from each region, or even between districts and individual schools. The ages are the age of the students when they end the school year in June.


title: Education in Canada

text: The following table shows how grades are organized in various provinces. Often, there will be exceptions within each province, both with terminology for groups, and which grades apply to each group.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Opuntia ficus-indica, the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. "O. ficus-indica" is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus. It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. "O. ficus-indica", as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico. "Opuntia" species hybridize easily, but the wild origin of "O. ficus-indica" is likely to have been in central Mexico, where its closest genetic relatives are found.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Most culinary references to the "prickly pear" refer to this species. The Spanish name "tuna" is also used for the fruit of this cactus and for "Opuntia" in general; according to Alexander von Humboldt, it was a word of Taino origin taken into the Spanish language around 1500.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Common English names for the plant and its fruit are "Indian fig opuntia", "Barbary fig", "cactus pear", "prickly pear", and "spineless cactus", among many others. In Mexican Spanish, the plant is called nopal, a name that may be used in American English as culinary terms. Peninsular Spanish mostly uses "higo chumbo" for the fruit and "chumbera" for the plant.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: "O. ficus-indica" is polyploid, hermaphroditic, and autogamous. As "Opuntia" species grow in semiarid environments, the main limiting factor in their environment is water. They have developed several adaptations to dry conditions, notably succulence.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: A perennial shrub, "O. ficus-indica" can grow up to 5 m in height, with thick, succulent, and oblong to spatulate stems called cladodes. It has a water-repellent and sun-reflecting waxy epidermis. Cladodes 1–2 years old produce flowers, with the fruit's colours ranging from pale green to deep red.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: The plants flower in three distinct colours: white, yellow, and red. The flowers first appear in early May through the early summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and the fruits ripen from August through October. The fruits are typically eaten, minus the thick outer skin, after chilling in a refrigerator for a few hours. They have a taste similar to sweet watermelon. The bright red/purple or white/yellowish flesh contains many tiny hard seeds that are usually swallowed but should be avoided by those who have problems digesting seeds.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: "O. ficus-indica" is consumed widely as food. The fruits are commercialized in many parts of the world, eaten raw, and have one of the highest concentrations of vitamin C of any fruit. The young "leaves" (actually cladodes, which technically are stems) are cooked and eaten as a vegetable known as "nopalitos". They are sliced into strips, skinned or unskinned, and fried with eggs and jalapeños, served as a breakfast treat. They have a texture and flavor like green beans. The fruits or leaves can be boiled, used raw, or blended with fruit juice, cooked on a frying pan, used as a side dish with chicken, or added to tacos. Jams and jellies are produced from the fruit, which resemble strawberries and figs in color and flavor. Mexicans may use "Opuntia" fruit to make an alcoholic drink called "colonche".


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: In Sicily, a prickly pear-flavored liqueur called "ficodi" is produced, flavored somewhat like a medicinal aperitif. In Malta, a liqueur called "bajtra" (the Maltese name for prickly pear) is made from this fruit, which grows wild in almost every field. On the island of Saint Helena, the prickly pear also gives its name to locally distilled liqueur, "Tungi Spirit".


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: The cattle industry of the Southwest United States has begun to cultivate "O. ficus-indica", both as a feed source for cattle and a boundary fence. Cattle are normally fed a spineless variety of the cactus. The cactus pads are low in dry matter and crude protein but useful as a supplement in drought conditions. In addition to the food value, the moisture content adequately eliminates watering the cattle during drought. Numerous wildlife species use the prickly pear for food. In severe drought years, the spines of wild prickly pear are sometimes burned off for emergency feed.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: "O. ficus-indica" is planted in hedges to provide a cheap but effective erosion control in the Mediterranean basin. Under those hedges and adjacent areas, soil physical properties, nitrogen, and organic matter are considerably improved. The structural stability of the soil is enhanced, runoff and erosion are reduced, and water storage capacity and permeability are enhanced.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Prickly pear plantations also positively impact the plant growth of other species by improving severe environmental conditions, which facilitate the colonization and development of herbaceous species.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: "O. ficus-indica" is being advantageously used in Tunisia and Algeria to slow and direct sand movement and enhance the restoration of vegetative cover, thus minimizing deterioration of built terraces with its deep and strong rooting system.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: The plant may be used as an ingredient in adobe to bind and waterproof roofs. "O. ficus-indica" (as well as other species in "Opuntia" and "Nopalea") is cultivated in nopalries to serve as a host plant for cochineal insects, which produce desirable red and purple dyes, a practice dating to the pre-Columbian era.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Mexico has a semicommercial pilot plant for biofuel production from "Opuntia" biomass, in operation since 2016.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Commercial use for "O. ficus-indica" is for the large, sweet fruits called tunas. An area with a significant tuna-growing cultivation is Mexico. The cactus grows wild and cultivated to heights of . In Namibia, "O. ficus-indica" is a common drought-resistant fodder plant. "O. ficus-indica" grows in many frost-free areas of the world, including the Southern United States.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: Prickly pears are a massive weed problem for some parts of Australia, especially southeast Queensland, some inland parts of New South Wales, Victoria, and south-eastern and eastern South Australia.


title: Opuntia ficus-indica

text: The plant is considered an invasive species in northern Africa. Factors that limit the growth of prickly pear are rainfall, soil, atmospheric humidity, and temperature. Its minimum rainfall requirement is 200 mm per year as long as the soils are sandy and deep. The ideal growth conditions regarding rainfall are per year.