title: Alternative for Germany

text: According to its interim electoral manifesto, AfD is against same-sex marriage and favours civil unions. The left-leaning newspaper "Die Tageszeitung" described the group as advocating "old gender roles". Wolfgang Gedeon, an elected AfD representative, has included feminism, along with "sexualism" and "migrationism", in an ideology he calls "green communism" that he opposes, and argues for family values as part of German identity. As AfD has campaigned for traditional roles for women, it has aligned itself with groups opposed to modern feminism. The youth wing of the party has used social media to campaign against aspects of modern feminism, with the support of party leadership. Alice Weidel, a prominent leader in the party, is a lesbian and is in a civil union with a female Sri Lankan-born Swiss film producer. Weidel has two adopted children with her partner.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: AfD has a platform that is skeptical of what it considers climate propaganda. The AfD accepts that the climate is changing, however, it denies that this change is attributable to human influences. Instead, the party argues that climate change is entirely caused by natural factors. The AfD argues that the rising carbon dioxide concentrations have been beneficial (contributed to a "greening" of our planet). Next to its climate change denial, the AfD opposes far-reaching climate policies: The party opposes energy transformation policies ("Energiewende"), wants to scrap the German Renewable Energy Act, the German Energy Saving Regulations, and the German Renewable Energy Heat Act. They also want to end bioenergy subsidies and restrict "uncontrolled expansion of wind energy". The party argues that the energy transition threatenes energy security, possibly leading to energy blackouts. It, therefore, views lignite as the only native energy source that can guarantee German energy security and energy self-sufficiency. Furthermore, the AfD wants to reinstate Germany's nuclear plants, arguing that closures between 2002 and 2011 were "economically damaging and not objectively justified". The party argues that the government should "allow a lifetime extension of still operating nuclear power plants on a transitional basis".


title: Alternative for Germany

text: AfD is pro-NATO, pro-United States, and pro-Israel but is significantly divided on whether to support Russia, and has opposed sanctions on Russia supported by NATO and the United States. It is also divided on free-trade agreements. In March 2019, party leader Alexander Gauland said in an interview with the Russian newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" that they consider the War in Donbas to be a Ukrainian internal matter, and that Germany should not get involved in the internal affairs of Ukraine or Russia. He also said the AfD is against Western sanctions imposed on Russia.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: AfD initially held a position of soft Euroscepticism by opposing the euro currency and Eurozone bailouts, which the party saw as undermining European integration, but it was otherwise supportive of German membership of the European Union (EU). Since 2015, the party has shifted to a more purely Eurosceptic and nationalist position against the EU, calling for the withdrawal from the common European asylum and security policy, significant reform of the EU and a repatriation of powers back from Brussels with some party members endorsing a complete exit from the European Union if it these aims are not achievable. During the 2021 party conference in Dresden, a majority of AfD members voted to include more hardline policies against the European Union including German withdrawal from the bloc in the party's manifesto ahead of the 2021 German federal election.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: AfD supported the decision of US president Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as stated by AfD's Petr Bystron. Despite AfD's pro-Israel stance, the State of Israel has boycotted the party and refuses to hold ties with AfD.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: Because the 2013 federal election was the first attempt to join by the party, AfD had not received any federal funds in the run-up to it; by receiving 2 million votes, it crossed the threshold for party funding and was expected to receive an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 million euros per year of state subsidies. After joining the parliament with more than 90 representatives in the 2017 federal election, the party received more than 70 million euros per year; this probably rose to more than 100 million euros per year from 2019 onward. The party has also established and acknowledged a foundation for political education, and other purposes, close to the party but organized separately, which may be able to claim up to 80 million euro per year. This foundation would need to be acknowledged by the federal parliament in Germany first, but it has a legal claim to these subsidies.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In 2018, the Alternative for Germany donation scandal became public, as federal and European Parliament politicians Alice Weidel, Jörg Meuthen, Marcus Pretzell, and Guido Reil had profited from illegal and unnamed donations from non-EU countries. The acceptance of donations from non-EU countries is prohibited for German parties and politicians.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: Following the 2014 European Parliament election on 12 June, AfD was accepted into the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In February 2016, AfD announced a closer cooperation with the right-wing populist party Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which is a member of the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group. On 8 March 2016, the bureau of the ECR group began motions to exclude AfD MEPs from their group due to the party's links with the far-right FPÖ and controversial remarks by two party leader about shooting immigrants. MEP Beatrix von Storch pre-empted her imminent expulsion by leaving the ECR group to join the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group on 8 April, and Marcus Pretzell was expelled from the ECR group on 12 April 2016. During the party convention on 30 April 2016, Pretzell announced his intention to join the Europe of Nations and Freedom group, although he subsequently left AfD to join Petry's Blue Party.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In April 2019, Jörg Meuthen appeared alongside Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, and politicians from the Danish People's Party and FPÖ to announce the formation of a new European political alliance. AfD later joined this group in the European Parliament, which was ultimately named the Identity and Democracy group.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: At the outset, AfD presented itself as conservative and middle-class, catering to a well-educated demographic; around two-thirds of supporters listed on its website in the early days held doctorates, leading to AfD being nicknamed the "professors' party" in those early days. The party was described as professors and academics who dislike the compromises inflicted on their purist theories by German party politics. 86% of the party's initial supporters were male.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: Outside the Berlin hotel where the party held its inaugural meeting, it has been alleged that copies of "Junge Freiheit", a weekly that is also popular with the far right, were being handed out. The "Rheinische Post" pointed out that some AfD members and supporters write for the conservative paper. There was also a protest outside the venue of the party's inaugural meeting by Andreas Storr, a National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) representative in the Landtag of Saxony, as the NPD sees AfD as a rival for Eurosceptic votes.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In 2013, AfD party organisers sent out the message that they are not trying to attract right-wing radicals, and toned down rhetoric on their Facebook page following media allegations that it too closely evoked the language of the far right. At that time, AfD checked applicants for membership to exclude far-right and former NPD members who support the anti-euro policy. The former party chairman Bernd Lucke stated that "[t]he applause is coming from the wrong side", in regards to praise his party gained from the NPD.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: Members of Alliance 90/Green Party have accused AfD of pandering to xenophobic and nationalistic sentiments. There have been altercations between AfD members and Green Youth members. Following the 2013 federal election 2013, the anti-Islam German Freedom Party unilaterally pledged to support AfD in the 2014 elections and concentrate its efforts on local elections only. Bernd Lucke responded by saying that the German Freedom Party's support was unwanted and sent a letter to AfD party associations recommending a hiring freeze.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: "Stern" reported that among 396 AfD candidates for the 2017 Bundestag, 47 candidates did not distance themselves from right-wing extremism. Although a large proportion of the candidates are not openly racist, some relativize Germany's role in World War II or call for the recognition of a "Cult of Guilt". 30 candidates claimed to tolerate right-wing friends in their profile or were themselves members of groups associated with such people; others said that they mourned the German Reich or used their symbols.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: AfD deputy leader Beatrix von Storch has publicly opposed same-sex marriage. In an effort to overturn same-sex marriage laws, AfD filed a lawsuit over the issue in 2017.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In 2016, AfD MEP Marcus Pretzell was expelled from the party after he said that German borders should be defended from incursion by refugees "with armed force as a measure of last resort". Later that same year, former AfD party chair and MEP Frauke Petry told a reporter from the regional newspaper "Mannheimer Morgen" that the German Border police must do their jobs by "hindering illegal entry of refugees" and that they may "use firearms if necessary" to "prevent illegal border crossings". Petry later stated that no policeman "wants to fire on a refugee and I don't want that either" but that border police must follow the law to maintain the integrity of European borders. Afterwards, Petry made several attempts to justify these statements.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In response to the Pegida movement and demonstrations, members of AfD have expressed different opinions of it, with Lucke describing the movement as "a sign that these people do not feel their concerns are understood by politicians". In response to the CDU Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière alleging an "overlap" between Pegida rallies and AfD, Alexander Gauland stated that AfD are "natural allies of this movement". Hans-Olaf Henkel asked members of the party not to join the demonstrations, telling "Der Tagesspiegel" that he believed it could not be ruled out that they had "xenophobic or even racist connotations". A straw poll by "The Economist" found that nine out of ten Pegida protesters would back the AfD.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: AfD is anti-communist and engaged in red-baiting by comparing the centre-right Angela Merkel and her government to the secret police in East Germany. In May 2018, a statue of the founding father of communism Karl Marx, donated by the Chinese government, was unveiled in Marx's hometown of Trier. AfD leader Alexander Gauland said the city should not accept the statue, saying that it disrespects victims of communism. AfD staged a silent march to remember the victims of communist regimes.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In January 2017, Björn Höcke, one of the founders of AfD, gave a speech in Dresden in which, referring to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, he stated that "we Germans are the only people in the world who have planted a memorial of shame in the heart of their capital", and suggested that Germans "need to make a 180 degree change in their politics of commemoration". The speech was widely criticized as antisemitic, among others by Jewish leaders in Germany. Within AfD, he was described by his party chairwoman, Frauke Petry, as a "burden to the party", while other members of the party, such as Alexander Gauland, said that they found no antisemitism in the speech.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: In February 2017, AfD leaders asked for Höcke to be expelled from the party due to his speech. The arbitration committee of AfD in Thuringia was set to rule on the leaders' request. In May 2018 an AfD tribunal ruled that Höcke was allowed to stay in the party.


title: Alternative for Germany

text: Young Alternative for Germany (, JA) was founded in 2013 as the youth organisation of AfD, while remaining legally independent from its mother party. In view of JA's independence, it has been regarded by some in AfD's hierarchy as being somewhat wayward, with JA repeatedly accused of being "too far-right", politically regressive and antifeminist by the German mainstream media.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right "samadhi" ('meditative absorption or union'; alternatively, equanimous meditative awareness).


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In early Buddhism, these practices started with understanding that the body-mind works in a corrupted way (right view), followed by entering the Buddhist path of self-observance, self-restraint, and cultivating kindness and compassion; and culminating in "dhyana" or "samadhi", which reinforces these practices for the development of the body-mind. In later Buddhism, insight ("prajñā") became the central soteriological instrument, leading to a different concept and structure of the path, in which the "goal" of the Buddhist path came to be specified as ending ignorance and rebirth.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the principal summaries of the Buddhist teachings, taught to lead to "Arhatship". In the Theravada tradition, this path is also summarized as "sila" (morality), "samadhi" (meditation) and "prajna" (insight). In Mahayana Buddhism, this path is contrasted with the Bodhisattva path, which is believed to go beyond "Arhatship" to full Buddhahood.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In Buddhist symbolism, the Noble Eightfold Path is often represented by means of the dharma wheel (dharmachakra), in which its eight spokes represent the eight elements of the path.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Pali term "" () is typically translated in English as "Noble Eightfold Path". This translation is a convention started by the early translators of Buddhist texts into English, just like "ariya sacca" is translated as Four Noble Truths. However, the phrase does not mean the path is noble, rather that the path is ( meaning 'enlightened, noble, precious people'). The term "magga" (Sanskrit: "mārga") means "path", while "aṭṭhaṅgika" (Sanskrit: "aṣṭāṅga") means "eightfold". Thus, an alternate rendering of "ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga" is "eightfold path of the noble ones", or Eightfold Ariya Path".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: All eight elements of the Path begin with the word "samyañc" (in Sanskrit) or "sammā" (in Pāli) which means "right, proper, as it ought to be, best". The Buddhist texts contrast "samma" with its opposite "miccha".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Noble Eightfold Path, in the Buddhist traditions, is the direct means to nirvana and brings a release from the cycle of life and death in the realms of samsara.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: According to Indologist Tilmann Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the Middle Way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the Eightfold Path. Tilmann Vetter and historian Rod Bucknell both note that longer descriptions of "the path" can be found in the early texts, which can be condensed into the Eightfold Path.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In the "Mahācattārīsaka Sutta" which appears in the Chinese and Pali canons, the Buddha explains that cultivation of the noble eightfold path of a learner leads to the development of two further paths of the Arahants, which are right knowledge, or insight ("sammā-ñāṇa"), and right liberation, or release ("sammā-vimutti"). These two factors fall under the category of wisdom ("paññā").


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The purpose of "right view" (' / ') or "right understanding" is to clear one's path from confusion, misunderstanding, and deluded thinking. It is a means to gain right understanding of reality.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Pali canon and the Agamas contain various "definitions" or descriptions of "right view. The "Mahasatipatthana Sutta" (Digha Nikaya 22), compiled from elements from other suttas possibly as late as 20 BCE, defines right view summarily as the Four Noble Truths:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In this, right view explicitly includes "karma" and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths. This view of "right view" gained importance when "insight" became central to Buddhist soteriology, and still plays an essential role in Theravada Buddhism.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Other suttas give a more extensive overview, stating that our actions have consequences, that death is not the end, that our actions and beliefs also have consequences after death, and that the Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld or hell). The "Mahācattārīsaka Sutta" ("The Great Forty," Majjhima Nikaya 117) gives an extensive overview, describing the first seven practices as requisites of right "samadhi" c.q. "dhyana". It makes a distinction between mundane right view ("karma", "rebirth") and noble right view as a path-factor, relating noble right view to "dhamma vicaya" ("investigation of principles), one of the "bojjhanga", the "seven factors of awakening" which give an alternate account of right effort and "dhyana".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Alternatively, right view (together with right resolve) is expressed in the stock phrase of "dhammalsaddhalpabbajja": "A layman hears a Buddha teach the Dhamma, comes to have faith in him, and decides to take ordination as a monk."


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Likewise, the Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 9), and it's parallel in the "Samyukta-āgama", refer to faith in the Buddha and understanding ("dhamma vicaya") the path-factors of wholesome bodily actions, verbal actions and mental actions.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Right View can be further subdivided, states translator Bhikkhu Bodhi, into mundane right view and superior or supramundane right view:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: According to Theravada Buddhism, mundane right view is a teaching that is suitable for lay followers, while supramundane right view, which requires a deeper understanding, is suitable for monastics. Mundane and supramundane right view involve accepting the following doctrines of Buddhism:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Gombrich notes that there is a tension in the suttas between "right view" and 'no view', release by not clinging to any view at all. According to Chryssides and Wilkins, "right view is ultimately non-view: though the Enlightened One sees things as they really are, 'he has a "critical awareness" of the impossibility of giving full and final expression to his conviction in fixed conceptual terms'. One therefore cannot cling to any particular formulation in a rigid and dogmatic manner."


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Right Resolve ("samyak-saṃkalpa" / "sammā-saṅkappa") can also be known as "right thought", "right aspiration", or "right motivation". In this factor, the practitioner resolves to leave home, renounce the worldly life and dedicate himself to an ascetic pursuit. In section III.248, the Majjhima Nikaya states,


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Like right view, this factor has two levels. At the mundane level, the resolve includes being harmless (ahimsa) and refraining from ill will ("avyabadha") to any being, as this accrues karma and leads to rebirth. At the supramundane level, the factor includes a resolve to consider everything and everyone as impermanent, a source of suffering and without a Self.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Right speech ("samyag-vāc" / "sammā-vācā") in most Buddhist texts is presented as four abstentions, such as in the Pali Canon thus:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Instead of the usual "abstention and refraining from wrong" terminology, a few texts such as the Samaññaphala Sutta and Kevata Sutta in "Digha Nikaya" explain this virtue in an active sense, after stating it in the form of an abstention. For example, Samaññaphala Sutta states that a part of a monk's virtue is that "he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world." Similarly, the virtue of abstaining from divisive speech is explained as delighting in creating concord. The virtue of abstaining from abusive speech is explained in this Sutta to include affectionate and polite speech that is pleasing to people. The virtue of abstaining from idle chatter is explained as speaking what is connected with the Dhamma goal of his liberation.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In the "Abhaya-raja-kumara Sutta", the Buddha explains the virtue of right speech in different scenarios, based on its truth value, utility value and emotive content. The "Tathagata", states Abhaya Sutta, never speaks anything that is unfactual or factual, untrue or true, disagreeable or agreeable, if that is unbeneficial and unconnected to his goals. Further, adds Abhaya Sutta, the "Tathagata" speaks the factual, the true, if in case it is disagreeable and unendearing, only if it is beneficial to his goals, but with a sense of proper time. Additionally, adds Abhaya Sutta, the "Tathagata", only speaks with a sense of proper time even when what he speaks is the factual, the true, the agreeable, the endearing and what is beneficial to his goals.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Buddha thus explains right speech in the Pali Canon, according to Ganeri, as never speaking something that is not beneficial; and, only speaking what is true and beneficial, "when the circumstances are right, whether they are welcome or not".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Right action ("samyak-karmānta" / "sammā-kammanta") is like right speech, expressed as abstentions but in terms of bodily action. In the Pali Canon, this path factor is stated as:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The prohibition on killing precept in Buddhist scriptures applies to all living beings, states Christopher Gowans, not just human beings. Bhikkhu Bodhi agrees, clarifying that the more accurate rendering of the Pali canon is a prohibition on "taking life of any sentient being", which includes human beings, animals, birds, insects but excludes plants because they are not considered sentient beings. Further, adds Bodhi, this precept refers to "intentional" killing, as well as any form of intentional harming or torturing any sentient being. This moral virtue in early Buddhist texts, both in context of harm or killing of animals and human beings, is similar to "ahimsa" precepts found in the texts particularly of Jainism as well as of Hinduism, and has been a subject of significant debate in various Buddhist traditions.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The prohibition on stealing in the Pali Canon is an abstention from intentionally taking what is not voluntarily offered by the person to whom that property belongs. This includes taking by stealth, by force, by fraud or by deceit. Both the intention and the act matters, as this precept is grounded on the impact on one's karma.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The prohibition on sexual misconduct in the Noble Eightfold Path refers to "not performing sexual acts". This virtue is more generically explained in the "Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta", which teaches that one must abstain from all sensual misconduct, including getting sexually involved with someone unmarried (anyone protected by parents or by guardians or by siblings), and someone married (protected by husband), and someone betrothed to another person, and female convicts or by "dhamma".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: For monastics, the abstention from sensual misconduct means strict celibacy while for lay Buddhists this prohibits adultery as well as other forms of sensual misconduct. Later Buddhist texts state that the prohibition on sexual conduct for lay Buddhists includes any sexual involvement with someone married, a girl or woman protected by her parents or relatives, and someone prohibited by "dhamma" conventions (such as relatives, nuns and others).


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Right livelihood ("samyag-ājīva" / "sammā-ājīva") precept is mentioned in many early Buddhist texts, such as the "Mahācattārīsaka Sutta" in "Majjhima Nikaya" as follows:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The early canonical texts state right livelihood as avoiding and abstaining from wrong livelihood. This virtue is further explained in Buddhist texts, states Vetter, as "living from begging, but not accepting everything and not possessing more than is strictly necessary". For lay Buddhists, states Harvey, this precept requires that the livelihood avoid causing suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Anguttara Nikaya III.208, states Harvey, asserts that the right livelihood does not trade in weapons, living beings, meat, alcoholic drink or poison. The same text, in section V.177, asserts that this applies to lay Buddhists. This has meant, states Harvey, that raising and trading cattle livestock for slaughter is a breach of "right livelihood" precept in the Buddhist tradition, and Buddhist countries lack the mass slaughter houses found in Western countries.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Right effort ("samyag-vyāyāma" / "sammā-vāyāma") is preventing the arising of unwholesome states, and the generation of wholesome states. This includes "indriya-samvara", "guarding the sense-doors", restraint of the sense faculties. Right effort is presented in the Pali Canon, such as the "Sacca-vibhanga Sutta", as follows:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The unwholesome states ("akusala") are described in the Buddhist texts are related to thoughts, emotions, intentions. These include the "pancanivarana" (five hindrances), that is, sensual thoughts, doubts about the path, restlessness, drowsiness, and ill will of any kind. Of these, the Buddhist traditions consider sensual thoughts and ill will needing more right effort. Sensual desire that must be eliminated by effort includes anything related to sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch. This is to be done by restraint of the sense faculties ("indriya-samvara"). Ill will that must be eliminated by effort includes any form of aversion including hatred, anger, resentment towards anything or anyone.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: While originally, in Yogic practice, "sati" may have meant to remember the meditation object, to cultivate a deeply absorbed, secluded state of mind, in the oldest Buddhism it has the meaning of "retention", being mindful of the "dhammas" (both wholesome states of mind, and teachings and practices that remind of those wholesome states of mind) that are beneficial to the Buddhist path. According to Gethin, "sati" is a quality that guards or watches over the mind; the stronger it becomes, the weaker unwholesome states of mind become, weakening their power "to take over and dominate thought, word and deed." According to Frauwallner, mindfulness was a means to prevent the arising of craving, which resulted simply from contact between the senses and their objects. According to Frauwallner this may have been the Buddha's original idea. According to Trainor, mindfulness aids one not to crave and cling to any transitory state or thing, by complete and constant awareness of phenomena as impermanent, suffering and without self. Gethin refers to the "Milindapanha", which states that "sati" brings to mind the "dhammas" and their beneficial or unbeneficial qualities, aiding the removal of unbeneficial dhammas and the strengthening of beneficial dhammas. Gethin further notes that "sati" makes one aware of the "full range and extent of "dhammas"", that is, the relation between things, broadening one's view and understanding.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The "Satipatthana Sutta" describes the contemplation of four domains, namely body, feelings, mind and phenomena. The "Satipatthana Sutta" is regarded by the vipassana movement as the quintessential text on Buddhist meditation, taking cues from it on "bare attention" and the contemplation on the observed phenomena as "dukkha", "anatta" and "anicca". According to Grzegorz Polak, the four "upassanā" have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four "upassanā" do not refer to four different foundations of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the "jhanas", describing how the "samskharas" are tranquilized:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In the vipassana movement, mindfulness ("" / "sammā-sati") is interpreted as "bare attention": never be absent minded, being conscious of what one is doing. Rupert Gethin notes that the contemporary vipassana movement interprets the "Satipatthana Sutta" as "describing a pure form of insight ("vipassanā") meditation" for which "samatha" (calm) and "jhāna" are not necessary. Yet, in pre-sectarian Buddhism, the establishment of mindfulness was placed before the practice of the "jhanas", and associated with the abandonment of the five hindrances and the entry into the first "jhana".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The "dhyāna"-scheme describes mindfulness also as appearing in the third and fourth "dhyana", after initial concentration of the mind. Gombrich and Wynne note that, while the second "jhana" denotes a state of absorption, in the third and fourth "jhana" one comes out of this absorption, being mindfully awareness of objects while being indifferent to them. According to Gombrich, "the later tradition has falsified the jhana by classifying them as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming kind of meditation, ignoring the other – and indeed higher – element".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: "Samadhi" ("samyak-samādhi" / "sammā-samādhi") is a common practice or goal in Indian religions. The term "samadhi" derives from the root sam-a-dha, which means 'to collect' or 'bring together', and thus it is often translated as 'concentration' or 'unification of mind'. In the early Buddhist texts, samadhi is also associated with the term "samatha" (calm abiding).


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Bronkhorst notes that neither the Four Noble Truths nor the Noble Eightfold Path discourse provide details of right "samadhi". Several "Suttas", such as the following in "Saccavibhanga Sutta", equate it with "dhyana":


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Bronkhorst has questioned the historicity and chronology of the description of the four "jhanas". Bronkhorst states that this path may be similar to what the Buddha taught, but the details and the form of the description of the "jhanas" in particular, and possibly other factors, is likely the work of later scholasticism. Bronkhorst notes that description of the third "jhana" cannot have been formulated by the Buddha, since it includes the phrase "Noble Ones say", quoting earlier Buddhists, indicating it was formulated by later Buddhists. It is likely that later Buddhist scholars incorporated this, then attributed the details and the path, particularly the insights at the time of liberation, to have been discovered by the Buddha.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In the Theravada tradition, "samadhi" is interpreted as concentration on a meditation object. Buddhagosa defines samadhi as "the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object...the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered."


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: According to Henepola Gunaratana, in the suttas samadhi is defined as one-pointedness of mind ("Cittass'ekaggatā"). According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the right concentration factor is reaching a one-pointedness of mind and unifying all mental factors, but it is not the same as "a gourmet sitting down to a meal, or a soldier on the battlefield" who also experience one-pointed concentration. The difference is that the latter have a one-pointed object in focus with complete awareness directed to that object – the meal or the target, respectively. In contrast, right concentration meditative factor in Buddhism is a state of awareness without any object or subject, and ultimately unto no-thingness and emptiness, as articulated in apophatic discourse.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Although often translated as "concentration", as in the limiting of the attention of the mind on one object, in the fourth "dhyana" "equanimity and mindfulness remain", and the practice of concentration-meditation may well have been incorporated from non-Buddhist traditions. Vetter notes that "samadhi" consists of the four stages of awakening, but


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Gombrich and Wynne note that, while the second "jhana" denotes a state of absorption, in the third and fourth "jhana" one comes out of this absorption, being mindfully awareness of objects while being indifferent to it. According to Gombrich, "the later tradition has falsified the jhana by classifying them as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming kind of meditation, ignoring the other – and indeed higher – element."


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Vetter notes that originally the path culminated in the practice of "dhyana/samadhi" as the core soteriological practice. According to the Pali and Chinese canon, the "samadhi" state (right concentration) is dependent on the development of preceding path factors:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: According to the discourses, right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness are used as the support and requisite conditions for the practice of right concentration. Understanding of the right view is the preliminary role, and is also the forerunner of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: According to the modern Theravada monk and scholar Walpola Rahula, the divisions of the noble eightfold path "are to be developed more or less simultaneously, as far as possible according to the capacity of each individual. They are all linked together and each helps the cultivation of the others." Bhikkhu Bodhi explains that these factors are not sequential, but components, and "with a certain degree of progress all eight factors can be present simultaneously, each supporting the others. However, until that point is reached, some sequence in the unfolding of the path is inevitable."


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The stage in the Path where there is no more learning in Yogachara Abhidharma, state Buswell and Gimello, is identical to "Nirvana" or "Buddhahood", the ultimate goal in Buddhism.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Noble Eightfold Path is sometimes divided into three basic divisions, with right view and right intention concluding the sequence:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: This order is a later development, when discriminating insight ("prajna") became central to Buddhist soteriology, and came to be regarded as the culmination of the Buddhist path. Yet, Majjhima Nikaya 117, "Mahācattārīsaka Sutta", describes the first seven practices as requisites for right samadhi. According to Vetter, this may have been the original soteriological practice in early Buddhism.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The "moral virtues" (Sanskrit: "śīla", Pāli: "sīla") group consists of three paths: right speech, right action and right livelihood. The word "sīla", though translated by English writers as linked to "morals or ethics", states Bhikkhu Bodhi, is in ancient and medieval Buddhist commentary tradition closer to the concept of discipline and disposition that "leads to harmony at several levels – social, psychological, karmic and contemplative". Such harmony creates an environment to pursue the meditative steps in the Noble Eightfold Path by reducing social disorder, preventing inner conflict that result from transgressions, favoring future karma-triggered movement through better rebirths, and purifying the mind.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The meditation group ("samadhi") of the path progresses from moral restraints to training the mind. Right effort and mindfulness calm the mind-body complex, releasing unwholesome states and habitual patterns and encouraging the development of wholesome states and non-automatic responses, the "bojjhaṅga" (seven factors of awakening). The practice of "dhyāna" reinforces these developments, leading to "upekkhā" (equanimity) and mindfulness. According to the Theravada commentarial tradition and the contemporary vipassana movement, the goal in this group of the Noble Eightfold Path is to develop clarity and insight into the nature of reality – "dukkha", "anicca" and "anatta", discard negative states and dispel "avidya" (ignorance), ultimately attaining "nirvana".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In the threefold division, "prajna" (insight, wisdom) is presented as the culmination of the path, whereas in the eightfold division the path starts with correct knowledge or insight, which is needed to understand why this path should be followed.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Theravada Buddhism is a diverse tradition and thus includes different explanations of the path to awakening. However, the teachings of the Buddha are often encapsulated by Theravadins in the basic framework of the Four Noble Truths and the Eighthfold Path.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Some Theravada Buddhists also follow the presentation of the path laid out in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga. This presentation is known as the "Seven Purifications" ("satta-visuddhi"). This schema and its accompanying outline of "insight knowledges" ("vipassanā-ñāṇa") is used by modern influential Theravadin scholars, such Mahasi Sayadaw (in his "The Progress of Insight") and Nyanatiloka Thera (in "The Buddha's Path to Deliverance").


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a Bodhisattva. A "Bodhisattva" refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood. The term "Mahāyāna" was originally a synonym for "Bodhisattvayāna" or "Bodhisattva Vehicle".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In the earliest texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the path of a bodhisattva was to awaken the "bodhicitta". Between the 1st and 3rd century CE, this tradition introduced the "Ten Bhumi" doctrine, which means ten levels or stages of awakening. This development was followed by the acceptance that it is impossible to achieve Buddhahood in one (current) lifetime, and the best goal is not nirvana for oneself, but Buddhahood after climbing through the ten levels during multiple rebirths. Mahāyāna scholars then outlined an elaborate path, for monks and laypeople, and the path includes the vow to help teach Buddhist knowledge to other beings, so as to help them cross samsara and liberate themselves, once one reaches the Buddhahood in a future rebirth. One part of this path are the "pāramitā" (perfections, to cross over), derived from the "Jatakas" tales of Buddha's numerous rebirths.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The doctrine of the bodhisattva bhūmis was also eventually merged with the Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika schema of the "five paths" by the Yogacara school"." This Mahāyāna "five paths" presentation can be seen in Asanga's "Mahāyānasaṃgraha".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The Mahāyāna texts are inconsistent in their discussion of the "pāramitās", and some texts include lists of two, others four, six, ten and fifty-two. The six paramitas have been most studied, and these are:


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In Mahāyāna Sutras that include ten "pāramitā", the additional four perfections are "skillful means, vow, power and knowledge". The most discussed "pāramitā" and the highest rated perfection in Mahayana texts is the "Prajna-paramita", or the "perfection of insight". This insight in the Mahāyāna tradition, states Shōhei Ichimura, has been the "insight of non-duality or the absence of reality in all things".


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: East Asian Buddhism is influenced by both the classic Indian Buddhist presentations of the path such as the Eightfold Path as well as classic Indian Mahāyāna presentations such as that found in the Da zhidu lun.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: There are many different presentations of soteriology, including numerous paths and vehicles ("yanas") in the different traditions of East Asian Buddhism. There is no single dominant presentation. In Zen Buddhism for example, one can find outlines of the path such as the Two Entrances and Four Practices"," The Five ranks, The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures and The Three mysterious Gates of Linji.


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, the path to liberation is outlined in the genre known as Lamrim ("Stages of the Path"). All the various Tibetan schools have their own Lamrim presentations. This genre can be traced to Atiśa's 11th-century "A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment" ("Bodhipathapradīpa").


title: Noble Eightfold Path

text: The noble eightfold path has been compared to cognitive psychology; Gil Fronsdal says the right view factor can be interpreted to mean how one's mind views the world, and how that leads to patterns of thought, intention and actions. In contrast, Peter Randall states that it is the seventh factor or right mindfulness that may be thought in terms of cognitive psychology, wherein the change in thought and behavior are linked.


title: Drake discography

text: The discography of Canadian rapper and singer Drake consists of seven studio albums, three compilation albums, four extended plays, seven mixtapes, 139 singles (including 80 as a featured artist), five promotional singles and 84 music videos. His music has been released on record labels Universal Motown Records and Republic Records, along with subsidiaries Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and OVO Sound. With 170 million records sold worldwide, he is among the best-selling music artists in history. Drake has achieved eleven number-one albums on the "Billboard" 200 and twelve number-one hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Billboard" hailed him as the "Artist of the 2010s Decade" and the 16th Greatest Artist of all time. RIAA ranks him as the 2nd top-selling digital artist of all time with 164 million in the United States. He has the most number one singles on the US Hot Rap Songs chart with twenty-five, and the most number one singles on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with twenty-five.


title: Drake discography

text: Following him signing to Young Money Entertainment imprint, Drake's mixtape, "So Far Gone" was repackaged as a 2009 release of his seven-song extended play. The EP peaked at number 6 on the US "Billboard" 200, and later became certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "So Far Gone" contains three singles: "Best I Ever Had", "Successful", and "I'm Goin' In". These singles peaked at numbers 2, 17, and 40 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, respectively. In June 2010, Drake released his debut studio album, "Thank Me Later". It debuted atop both the "Billboard" 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart, and later became certified platinum by both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). "Thank Me Later" featured the single, "Find Your Love", peaking it at number 5 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Drake discography

text: In November 2011, Drake released his second studio album, "Take Care", which debuted at number one in both the United States and Canada, becoming his second album to achieve this feat. The album produced the singles such as "Marvins Room", "Headlines", "Make Me Proud", "The Motto", "Take Care", "HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)", "Crew Love", and "Lord Knows", four of which reached the top 15 of the "Billboard" Hot 100 and were certified platinum by the RIAA (RIAA). "Take Care" became the most commercially successful single from the album in many overseas territories such as Australia, where it was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), Ireland and the United Kingdom. In September 2013, Drake released his third studio album, "Nothing Was the Same", becoming his third consecutive number-one album in Canada and the US and produced two of his top 10 singles "Started from the Bottom" and "Hold On, We're Going Home".


title: Drake discography

text: In 2015, Drake released two mixtapes, "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" which became available for purchase in February and a surprise joint mixtape with Future, "What a Time to Be Alive", which was released in September. Drake's fourth studio album "Views" was released in April 2016, once again debuting at number one in both the United States and Canada, while also debuting at number one in the United Kingdom where it became his first number one album. The album achieved huge commercial success, becoming the most popular release of 2016 in the US. The album included the singles "Hotline Bling", "One Dance", "Pop Style", "Controlla", and "Too Good", all of which peaked within the top 20 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. "One Dance" became the most successful single of Drake's career, becoming an international hit and peaking at number one in fifteen countries, including Canada, the US, and the UK, where it became his first number-one single. "One Dance" has since also become the third most played song on streaming media service Spotify, with over two billion individual streams.


title: Drake discography

text: Drake's fifth studio album, "Scorpion", was released in June 2018 and again debuted at number one in Canada and in the US. The album was certified platinum on the day it was released and became the first album to be streamed over one billion times in its release week. It sold 732,000 album-equivalent units, which included 160,000 pure album sales, making it the biggest first week of the year at the time. All 25 tracks on the album entered the Billboard Hot 100. The album was supported by six singles, including the number-one singles "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". Drake's seventh mixtape "Dark Lane Demo Tapes", was released in May 2020 and spawned his seventh Hot 100 number one, "Toosie Slide". In March 2021, he released the extended play, "Scary Hours 2", which included his eighth Hot 100 chart-topper "What's Next". In September 2021, Drake released his sixth studio album, "Certified Lover Boy", in which he got his ninth number-one single on the Hot 100 with "Way 2 Sexy", which features Future and Young Thug. In May 2022, he was featured alongside Tems on Future's single, "Wait for U", which became his tenth number-one single. In June 2022, Drake released his seventh studio album, "Honestly, Nevermind", from which he achieved his eleventh number-one single on the Hot 100 with "Jimmy Cooks", which features 21 Savage.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Sagittarius A* ( ), abbreviated Sgr A* ( ), is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. It is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) and Lambda Scorpii.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The object is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source. The name Sagittarius A* follows from historical reasons. In 1954, John D. Kraus, Hsien-Ching Ko, and Sean Matt listed the radio sources they identified with the Ohio State University radio telescope at 250 MHz. The sources were arranged by constellation and the letter assigned to them was arbitrary, with A denoting the brightest radio source within the constellation. The asterisk is because its discovery was considered "exciting", in parallel with the nomenclature for excited state atoms which are denoted with an asterisk (e.g. the excited state of Helium would be He*). The asterisk was assigned in 1982 by Robert L. Brown, who understood that the strongest radio emission from the center of the galaxy appeared to be due to a compact nonthermal radio object.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The observations of several stars orbiting Sagittarius A*, particularly star S2, have been used to determine the mass and upper limits on the radius of the object. Based on mass and increasingly precise radius limits, astronomers have concluded that Sagittarius A* must be the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole. The current value of its mass is 4.154 million solar masses.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery that Sagittarius A* is a supermassive compact object, for which a black hole was the only plausible explanation at the time.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: On May 12, 2022, astronomers, using the Event Horizon Telescope, released the first image of the accretion disk around the horizon of Sagittarius A* produced using a world-wide network of radio observatories made in April 2017, confirming the object to be a black hole. This is the second confirmed image of a black hole, after Messier 87's supermassive black hole in 2019.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: On May 12, 2022, the first image of Sagittarius A* was released by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. The image, which is based on radio interferometer data taken in 2017, confirms that the object contains a black hole. This is the second image of a black hole. This image took five years of calculations to process. The data were collected by eight radio observatories at six geographical sites. Radio images are produced from data by aperture synthesis, usually from night long observations of stable sources. The radio emission from Sgr A* varies on the order of minutes, complicating the analysis.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Their result gives an overall angular size for the source of . At a distance of , this yields a diameter of . For comparison, Earth is from the Sun, and Mercury is from the Sun at perihelion. The proper motion of Sgr A* is approximately −2.70 mas per year for the right ascension and −5.6 mas per year for the declination.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The telescope's measurement of these black holes tested Einstein's theory of relativity more rigorously than has previously been done, and the results match perfectly.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: In 2019, measurements made with the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-Plus (HAWC+) mounted in the SOFIA aircraft revealed that magnetic fields cause the surrounding ring of gas and dust, temperatures of which range from , to flow into an orbit around Sagittarius A*, keeping black hole emissions low.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Astronomers have been unable to observe Sgr A* in the optical spectrum because of the effect of 25 magnitudes of extinction by dust and gas between the source and Earth.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Karl Jansky, considered a father of radio astronomy, discovered in April 1933 that a radio signal was coming from a location in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius, towards the center of the Milky Way. The radio source later became known as Sagittarius A. His observations did not extend quite as far south as we now know to be the Galactic Center. Observations by Jack Piddington and Harry Minnett using the CSIRO radio telescope at Potts Hill Reservoir, in Sydney discovered a discrete and bright "Sagittarius-Scorpius" radio source, which after further observation with the CSIRO radio telescope at Dover Heights was identified in a letter to "Nature" as the probable Galactic Center.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Later observations showed that Sagittarius A actually consists of several overlapping sub-components; a bright and very compact component, Sgr A*, was discovered on February 13 and 15, 1974, by astronomers and Robert Brown using the baseline interferometer of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The name Sgr A* was coined by Brown in a 1982 paper because the radio source was "exciting", and excited states of atoms are denoted with asterisks.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Since the 1980s, it has been evident that the central component of Sgr A* is likely a black hole. In 1994, infrared and submillimetre spectroscopy studies by a Berkeley team involving Nobel Laureate Charles H. Townes and future Nobel Prize Winner Reinhard Genzel showed that the mass of Sgr A* was tightly concentrated and of the order 3 million Suns.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: On October 16, 2002, an international team led by Reinhard Genzel at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics reported the observation of the motion of the star S2 near Sagittarius A* throughout a period of ten years. According to the team's analysis, the data ruled out the possibility that Sgr A* contains a cluster of dark stellar objects or a mass of degenerate fermions, strengthening the evidence for a massive black hole. The observations of S2 used near-infrared (NIR) interferometry (in the Ks-band, i.e. 2.1 μm) because of reduced interstellar extinction in this band. SiO masers were used to align NIR images with radio observations, as they can be observed in both NIR and radio bands. The rapid motion of S2 (and other nearby stars) easily stood out against slower-moving stars along the line-of-sight so these could be subtracted from the images.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The VLBI radio observations of Sagittarius A* could also be aligned centrally with the NIR images, so the focus of S2's elliptical orbit was found to coincide with the position of Sagittarius A*. From examining the Keplerian orbit of S2, they determined the mass of Sagittarius A* to be solar masses, confined in a volume with a radius no more than 17 light-hours (). Later observations of the star S14 showed the mass of the object to be about 4.1 million solar masses within a volume with radius no larger than 6.25 light-hours (). S175 passed within a similar distance. For comparison, the Schwarzschild radius is . They also determined the distance from Earth to the Galactic Center (the rotational center of the Milky Way), which is important in calibrating astronomical distance scales, as . In November 2004, a team of astronomers reported the discovery of a potential intermediate-mass black hole, referred to as GCIRS 13E, orbiting 3 light-years from Sagittarius A*. This black hole of 1,300 solar masses is within a cluster of seven stars. This observation may add support to the idea that supermassive black holes grow by absorbing nearby smaller black holes and stars.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: After monitoring stellar orbits around Sagittarius A* for 16 years, Gillessen "et al." estimated the object's mass at solar masses. The result was announced in 2008 and published in "The Astrophysical Journal" in 2009. Reinhard Genzel, team leader of the research, said the study has delivered "what is now considered to be the best empirical evidence that supermassive black holes do really exist. The stellar orbits in the Galactic Center show that the central mass concentration of four million solar masses must be a black hole, beyond any reasonable doubt."


title: Sagittarius A*

text: On January 5, 2015, NASA reported observing an X-ray flare 400 times brighter than usual, a record-breaker, from Sgr A*. The unusual event may have been caused by the breaking apart of an asteroid falling into the black hole or by the entanglement of magnetic field lines within gas flowing into Sgr A*, according to astronomers.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: On 13 May 2019, astronomers using the Keck Observatory witnessed a sudden brightening of Sgr A*, which became 75 times brighter than usual, suggesting that the supermassive black hole may have encountered another object.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: In a paper published on October 31, 2018, the discovery of conclusive evidence that Sagittarius A* is a black hole was announced. Using the GRAVITY interferometer and the four telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to create a virtual telescope in diameter, astronomers detected clumps of gas moving at about 30% of the speed of light. Emission from highly energetic electrons very close to the black hole was visible as three prominent bright flares. These exactly match theoretical predictions for hot spots orbiting close to a black hole of four million solar masses. The flares are thought to originate from magnetic interactions in the very hot gas orbiting very close to Sagittarius A*.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: In July 2018, it was reported that S2 orbiting Sgr A* had been recorded at , or 2.55% the speed of light, leading up to the pericenter approach, in May 2018, at about (approximately 1,400 Schwarzschild radii) from Sgr A*. At that close distance to the black hole, Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR) predicts that S2 would show a discernible gravitational redshift in addition to the usual velocity redshift; the gravitational redshift was detected, in agreement with the GR prediction within the 10 percent measurement precision.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Assuming that general relativity is still a valid description of gravity near the event horizon, the Sagittarius A* radio emissions are not centered on the black hole, but arise from a bright spot in the region around the black hole, close to the event horizon, possibly in the accretion disc, or a relativistic jet of material ejected from the disc. If the apparent position of Sagittarius A* were exactly centered on the black hole, it would be possible to see it magnified beyond its size, because of gravitational lensing of the black hole. According to general relativity, this would result in a ring-like structure, which has a diameter about 5.2 times the black hole's Schwarzschild radius (10 μas). For a black hole of around 4 million solar masses, this corresponds to a size of approximately 52 μas, which is consistent with the observed overall size of about 50 μas, the size (apparent diameter) of the black hole Sgr A* itself being 20 μas.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Recent lower resolution observations revealed that the radio source of Sagittarius A* is symmetrical. Simulations of alternative theories of gravity depict results that may be difficult to distinguish from GR. However, a 2018 paper predicts an image of Sagittarius A* that is in agreement with recent observations; in particular, it explains the small angular size and the symmetrical morphology of the source.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The comparatively small mass of this supermassive black hole, along with the low luminosity of the radio and infrared emission lines, imply that the Milky Way is not a Seyfert galaxy.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Ultimately, what is seen is not the black hole itself, but observations that are consistent only if there is a black hole present near Sgr A*. In the case of such a black hole, the observed radio and infrared energy emanates from gas and dust heated to millions of degrees while falling into the black hole. The black hole itself is thought to emit only Hawking radiation at a negligible temperature, on the order of 10 kelvin.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The European Space Agency's gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL observed gamma rays interacting with the nearby giant molecular cloud Sagittarius B2, causing X-ray emission from the cloud. The total luminosity from this outburst (≈1,5 erg/s) is estimated to be a million times stronger than the current output from Sgr A* and is comparable with a typical active galactic nucleus. In 2011 this conclusion was supported by Japanese astronomers observing the Milky Way's center with the "Suzaku" satellite.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: In July 2019, astronomers reported finding a star, S5-HVS1, traveling or 0.006 "c". The star is in the Grus (or Crane) constellation in the southern sky, and about 29,000 light-years from Earth, and may have been propelled out of the Milky Way galaxy after interacting with Sagittarius A*.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: There are a number of stars in close orbit around Sagittarius A*, which are collectively known as "S stars". These stars are observed primarily in K band infrared wavelengths, as interstellar dust drastically limits visibility in visible wavelengths. This is a rapidly changing field—in 2011, the orbits of the most prominent stars then known were plotted in the diagram at left, showing a comparison between their orbits and various orbits in the solar system. Since then, S62 has been found to approach even more closely than those stars.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The high velocities and close approaches to the supermassive black hole makes these stars useful to establish limits on the physical dimensions of Sagittarius A*, as well as to observe general-relativity associated effects like periapse shift of their orbits. An active watch is maintained for the possibility of stars approaching the event horizon close enough to be disrupted, but none of these stars are expected to suffer that fate. The observed distribution of the planes of the orbits of the S stars limits the spin of Sagittarius A* to less than 10% of its theoretical maximum value.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: , S4714 is the current record holder of closest approach to Sagittarius A*, at about , almost as close as Saturn gets to the Sun, traveling at about 8% of the speed of light. These figures given are approximate, the formal uncertainties being and . Its orbital period is 12 years, but an extreme eccentricity of 0.985 gives it the close approach and high velocity.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: An excerpt from a table of this cluster (see Sagittarius A* cluster), featuring the most prominent members. In the below table, id1 is the star's name in the Gillessen catalog and id2 in the catalog of the University of California, Los Angeles. a, e, i, Ω and ω are standard orbital elements, with a measured in arcseconds. Tp is the epoch of pericenter passage, P is the orbital period in years and Kmag is the infrared K-band apparent magnitude of the star. q and v are the pericenter distance in AU and pericenter speed in percent of the speed of light.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: First noticed as something unusual in images of the center of the Milky Way in 2002, the gas cloud G2, which has a mass about three times that of Earth, was confirmed to be likely on a course taking it into the accretion zone of Sgr A* in a paper published in "Nature" in 2012. Predictions of its orbit suggested it would make its closest approach to the black hole (a perinigricon) in early 2014, when the cloud was at a distance of just over 3,000 times the radius of the event horizon (or ≈260 AU, 36 light-hours) from the black hole. G2 has been observed to be disrupting since 2009, and was predicted by some to be completely destroyed by the encounter, which could have led to a significant brightening of X-ray and other emission from the black hole. Other astronomers suggested the gas cloud could be hiding a dim star, or a binary star merger product, which would hold it together against the tidal forces of Sgr A*, allowing the ensemble to pass by without any effect. In addition to the tidal effects on the cloud itself, it was proposed in May 2013 that, prior to its perinigricon, G2 might experience multiple close encounters with members of the black-hole and neutron-star populations thought to orbit near the Galactic Center, offering some insight to the region surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: The average rate of accretion onto Sgr A* is unusually small for a black hole of its mass and is only detectable because it is so close to Earth. It was thought that the passage of G2 in 2013 might offer astronomers the chance to learn much more about how material accretes onto supermassive black holes. Several astronomical facilities observed this closest approach, with observations confirmed with Chandra, XMM, VLA, INTEGRAL, Swift, Fermi and requested at VLT and Keck.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Simulations of the passage were made before it happened by groups at ESO and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).


title: Sagittarius A*

text: As the cloud approached the black hole, Dr. Daryl Haggard said, "It's exciting to have something that feels more like an experiment", and hoped that the interaction would produce effects that would provide new information and insights.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Nothing was observed during and after the closest approach of the cloud to the black hole, which was described as a lack of "fireworks" and a "flop". Astronomers from the UCLA Galactic Center Group published observations obtained on March 19 and 20, 2014, concluding that G2 was still intact (in contrast to predictions for a simple gas cloud hypothesis) and that the cloud was likely to have a central star.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: An analysis published on July 21, 2014, based on observations by the ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile, concluded alternatively that the cloud, rather than being isolated, might be a dense clump within a continuous but thinner stream of matter, and would act as a constant breeze on the disk of matter orbiting the black hole, rather than sudden gusts that would have caused high brightness as they hit, as originally expected. Supporting this hypothesis, G1, a cloud that passed near the black hole 13 years ago, had an orbit almost identical to G2, consistent with both clouds, and a gas tail thought to be trailing G2, all being denser clumps within a large single gas stream.


title: Sagittarius A*

text: Professor Andrea Ghez et al. suggested in 2014 that G2 is not a gas cloud but rather a pair of binary stars that had been orbiting the black hole in tandem and merged into an extremely large star.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such as arsenic or silicon. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability.


title: Bronze

text: The archaeological period in which bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. The beginning of the Bronze Age in western Eurasia and India is conventionally dated to the mid-4th millennium BCE (~3500 BCE), and to the early 2nd millennium BCE in China; elsewhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BCE and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BCE, although bronze continued to be much more widely used than it is in modern times.


title: Bronze

text: Because historical artworks were often made of brasses (copper and zinc) and bronzes with different compositions, modern museum and scholarly descriptions of older artworks increasingly use the generalized term "copper alloy" instead.


title: Bronze

text: The word "bronze" (1730–1740) is borrowed from Middle French (1511), itself borrowed from Italian 'bell metal, brass' (13th century, transcribed in Medieval Latin as ) from either:


title: Bronze

text: The discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects that were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building materials such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone and copper ("Chalcolithic") predecessors. Initially, bronze was made out of copper and arsenic, forming arsenic bronze, or from naturally or artificially mixed ores of copper and arsenic.


title: Bronze

text: The earliest artifacts so far known come from the Iranian plateau, in the 5th millennium BCE, and are smelted from native arsenical copper and copper-arsenides, such as algodonite and domeykite. The earliest tin-copper-alloy artifact has been dated to c. 4650 BCE, in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik (Serbia), and believed to have been smelted from a natural tin-copper ore, stannite. Other early examples date to the late 4th millennium BCE in Egypt, Susa (Iran) and some ancient sites in China, Luristan (Iran), Tepe Sialk (Iran), Mundigak (Afghanistan), and Mesopotamia (Iraq).


title: Bronze

text: Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the alloying process could be more easily controlled, and the resulting alloy was stronger and easier to cast. Also, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic.


title: Bronze

text: Ores of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together (exceptions include Cornwall in the United Kingdom, one ancient site in Thailand and one in Iran), so serious bronze work has always involved trade. Tin sources and trade in ancient times had a major influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a major source of tin was the British deposits of ore in Cornwall, which were traded as far as Phoenicia in the eastern Mediterranean.


title: Bronze

text: In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artifacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value and an indicator of social status. In Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes (illustrated above), are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With Chinese ritual bronzes, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources, the case is clear. These were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings.


title: Bronze

text: Though bronze is generally harder than wrought iron, with Vickers hardness of 60–258 vs. 30–80, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age after a serious disruption of the tin trade: the population migrations of around 1200–1100 BCE reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean and from Britain, limiting supplies and raising prices. As the art of working in iron improved, iron became cheaper and improved in quality. As cultures advanced from hand-wrought iron to machine-forged iron (typically made with trip hammers powered by water), blacksmiths learned how to make steel. Steel is stronger than bronze and holds a sharper edge longer.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day.


title: Bronze

text: There are many different bronze alloys, but typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin. "Alpha bronze" consists of the alpha solid solution of tin in copper. Alpha bronze alloys of 4–5% tin are used to make coins, springs, turbines and blades. Historical "bronzes" are highly variable in composition, as most metalworkers probably used whatever scrap was on hand; the metal of the 12th-century English Gloucester Candlestick is bronze containing a mixture of copper, zinc, tin, lead, nickel, iron, antimony, arsenic and an unusually large amount of silver – between 22.5% in the base and 5.76% in the pan below the candle. The proportions of this mixture suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The 13th-century Benin Bronzes are in fact brass, and the 12th-century Romanesque Baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège is described as both bronze and brass.


title: Bronze

text: In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were commonly used: "classic bronze", about 10% tin, was used in casting; and "mild bronze", about 6% tin, was hammered from ingots to make sheets. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from classic bronze, while helmets and armor were hammered from mild bronze.


title: Bronze

text: Commercial bronze (90% copper and 10% zinc) and architectural bronze (57% copper, 3% lead, 40% zinc) are more properly regarded as brass alloys because they contain zinc as the main alloying ingredient. They are commonly used in architectural applications.


title: Bronze

text: Plastic bronze contains a significant quantity of lead, which makes for improved plasticity possibly used by the ancient Greeks in their ship construction.


title: Bronze

text: Other bronze alloys include aluminium bronze, phosphor bronze, manganese bronze, bell metal, arsenical bronze, speculum metal and cymbal alloys.


title: Bronze

text: Bronzes are typically ductile alloys, considerably less brittle than cast iron. Typically bronze oxidizes only superficially; once a copper oxide (eventually becoming copper carbonate) layer is formed, the underlying metal is protected from further corrosion. This can be seen on statues from the Hellenistic period. However, if copper chlorides are formed, a corrosion-mode called "bronze disease" will eventually completely destroy it. Copper-based alloys have lower melting points than steel or iron and are more readily produced from their constituent metals. They are generally about 10 percent denser than steel, although alloys using aluminum or silicon may be slightly less dense. Bronze is a better conductor of heat and electricity than most steels. The cost of copper-base alloys is generally higher than that of steels but lower than that of nickel-base alloys.


title: Bronze

text: Copper and its alloys have a huge variety of uses that reflect their versatile physical, mechanical, and chemical properties. Some common examples are the high electrical conductivity of pure copper, low-friction properties of bearing bronze (bronze that has a high lead content— 6–8%), resonant qualities of bell bronze (20% tin, 80% copper), and resistance to corrosion by seawater of several bronze alloys.


title: Bronze

text: The melting point of bronze varies depending on the ratio of the alloy components and is about . Bronze is usually nonmagnetic, but certain alloys containing iron or nickel may have magnetic properties.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze, or bronze-like alloys and mixtures, were used for coins over a longer period. Bronze was especially suitable for use in boat and ship fittings prior to the wide employment of stainless steel owing to its combination of toughness and resistance to salt water corrosion. Bronze is still commonly used in ship propellers and submerged bearings.


title: Bronze

text: In the 20th century, silicon was introduced as the primary alloying element, creating an alloy with wide application in industry and the major form used in contemporary statuary. Sculptors may prefer silicon bronze because of the ready availability of silicon bronze brazing rod, which allows color-matched repair of defects in castings. Aluminum is also used for the structural metal aluminum bronze.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze also has low friction against dissimilar metals, making it important for cannons prior to modern tolerancing, where iron cannonballs would otherwise stick in the barrel. It is still widely used today for springs, bearings, bushings, automobile transmission pilot bearings, and similar fittings, and is particularly common in the bearings of small electric motors. Phosphor bronze is particularly suited to precision-grade bearings and springs. It is also used in guitar and piano strings.


title: Bronze

text: Unlike steel, bronze struck against a hard surface will not generate sparks, so it (along with beryllium copper) is used to make hammers, mallets, wrenches and other durable tools to be used in explosive atmospheres or in the presence of flammable vapors. Bronze is used to make bronze wool for woodworking applications where steel wool would discolor oak.


title: Bronze

text: Phosphor bronze is used for ships' propellers, musical instruments, and electrical contacts. Bearings are often made of bronze for its friction properties. It can be impregnated with oil to make the proprietary Oilite and similar material for bearings. Aluminum bronze is hard and wear-resistant, and is used for bearings and machine tool ways.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze is widely used for casting bronze sculptures. Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mould. Then, as the bronze cools, it shrinks a little, making it easier to separate from the mould.


title: Bronze

text: The Assyrian king Sennacherib (704–681 BCE) claims to have been the first to cast monumental bronze statues (of up to 30 tonnes) using two-part moulds instead of the lost-wax method.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze statues were regarded as the highest form of sculpture in Ancient Greek art, though survivals are few, as bronze was a valuable material in short supply in the Late Antique and medieval periods. Many of the most famous Greek bronze sculptures are known through Roman copies in marble, which were more likely to survive.


title: Bronze

text: In India, bronze sculptures from the Kushana (Chausa hoard) and Gupta periods (Brahma from Mirpur-Khas, Akota Hoard, Sultanganj Buddha) and later periods (Hansi Hoard) have been found. Indian Hindu artisans from the period of the Chola empire in Tamil Nadu used bronze to create intricate statues via the lost-wax casting method with ornate detailing depicting the deities of Hinduism. The art form survives to this day, with many silpis, craftsmen, working in the areas of Swamimalai and Chennai.


title: Bronze

text: In antiquity other cultures also produced works of high art using bronze. For example: in Africa, the bronze heads of the Kingdom of Benin; in Europe, Grecian bronzes typically of figures from Greek mythology; in east Asia, Chinese ritual bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasty—more often ceremonial vessels but including some figurine examples.


title: Bronze

text: Before it became possible to produce glass with acceptably flat surfaces, bronze was a standard material for mirrors. Bronze was used for this purpose in many parts of the world, probably based on independent discoveries.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze mirrors survive from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2040–1750 BCE), and China from at least c. 550 BCE. In Europe, the Etruscans were making bronze mirrors in the sixth century BCE, and Greek and Roman mirrors followed the same pattern. Although other materials such as speculum metal had come into use, and Western glass mirrors had largely taken over, bronze mirrors were still being made in Japan and elsewhere in the eighteenth century, and are still made on a small scale in Kerala, India.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze is the preferred metal for bells in the form of a high tin bronze alloy known as bell metal, which is typically about 23% tin.


title: Bronze

text: Nearly all professional cymbals are made from bronze, which gives a desirable balance of durability and timbre. Several types of bronze are used, commonly B20 bronze, which is roughly 20% tin, 80% copper, with traces of silver, or the tougher B8 bronze made from 8% tin and 92% copper. As the tin content in a bell or cymbal rises, the timbre drops.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze is also used for the windings of steel and nylon strings of various stringed instruments such as the double bass, piano, harpsichord, and guitar. Bronze strings are commonly reserved on pianoforte for the lower pitch tones, as they possess a superior sustain quality to that of high-tensile steel.


title: Bronze

text: Bronzes of various metallurgical properties are widely used in struck idiophones around the world, notably bells, singing bowls, gongs, cymbals, and other idiophones from Asia. Examples include Tibetan singing bowls, temple bells of many sizes and shapes, Javanese gamelan, and other bronze musical instruments. The earliest bronze archeological finds in Indonesia date from 1–2 BCE, including flat plates probably suspended and struck by a wooden or bone mallet. Ancient bronze drums from Thailand and Vietnam date back 2,000 years. Bronze bells from Thailand and Cambodia date back to 3,600 BCE.


title: Bronze

text: Some companies are now making saxophones from phosphor bronze (3.5 to 10% tin and up to 1% phosphorus content). Bell bronze/B20 is used to make the tone rings of many professional model banjos. The tone ring is a heavy (usually ) folded or arched metal ring attached to a thick wood rim, over which a skin, or most often, a plastic membrane (or head) is stretched – it is the bell bronze that gives the banjo a crisp powerful lower register and clear bell-like treble register.


title: Bronze

text: There are over 125 references to bronze (‘nehoshet’), which appears to be the Hebrew word used for copper and any of its alloys. However, the Old Testament era Hebrews are not thought to have had the capability to manufacture zinc (needed to make brass) and so it is likely that 'nehoshet’ refers to copper and its alloys with tin, now called bronze. In the King James Version, there is no use of the word 'bronze' and ‘nehoshet’ was translated as 'brass'. Modern translations use 'bronze'. Bronze (nehoshet) was used widely in the Tabernacle for items such as the bronze altar (Exodus Ch.27), bronze laver (Exodus Ch.30), utensils, and mirror (Exodus Ch.38). It was mentioned in the account of Moses holding up a bronze snake on a pole in Numbers Ch.21. In First Kings, it is mentioned that Hiram was very skilled in working with bronze, and he made many furnishings for Solomon's Temple including pillars, capitals, stands, wheels, bowls, and plates, some of which were highly decorative (see I King 7:13-47). Bronze was also widely used as battle armor and helmet, as in the battle of David and Goliath in I Samuel 17:5-6;38 (also see II Chron. 12:10).


title: Bronze

text: Bronze has also been used in coins; most "copper" coins are actually bronze, with about 4 percent tin and 1 percent zinc.


title: Bronze

text: As with coins, bronze has been used in the manufacture of various types of medals for centuries, and "bronze medals" are known in contemporary times for being awarded for third place in sporting competitions and other events. The term is now often used for third place even when no actual bronze medal is awarded. The usage in part arose from the trio of gold, silver and bronze to represent the first three Ages of Man in Greek mythology: the Golden Age, when men lived among the gods; the Silver age, where youth lasted a hundred years; and the Bronze Age, the era of heroes. It was first adopted for a sports event at the 1904 Summer Olympics. At the 1896 event, silver was awarded to winners and bronze to runners-up, while at 1900 other prizes were given rather than medals.


title: Bronze

text: Bronze is the normal material for the related form of the plaquette, normally a rectangular work of art with a scene in relief, for a collectors' market.


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: Rowan Blanchard (born October 14, 2001) is an American actress and political activist. She was included on a list of "Time"'s list of Most Influential Teens in 2015. She first became known for starring as Rebecca Wilson in "" (2011), and had her breakthrough portraying Riley Matthews on the Disney Channel series "Girl Meets World" (2014–2017), both of which earned her Young Artist Award nominations. She has since had roles as Jackie Geary on the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs" (2017–2018), and Alexandra Cavill in the TNT series "Snowpiercer" (2020–present).


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: Blanchard was born in Los Angeles, California, to Elizabeth and Mark Blanchard-Boulbol, who are yoga instructors. Her paternal grandfather has Armenian, Syrian, Lebanese, and Moroccan ancestry; whereas her paternal grandmother's ancestors are from England, Denmark, and Sweden. Her paternal great-grandparents had met in Aleppo, present-day Syria. She was named after a character in Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour". Rowan has two younger siblings, Carmen and Shane.


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: Blanchard began acting in 2006 at the age of five, first being cast as Mona's daughter in "The Back-up Plan" and was in the main cast of the Disney Junior Original Series "Dance-a-Lot Robot" as Caitlin. In 2011, she was cast as Rebecca Wilson in "", and as Raquel Pacheco in "Little in Common".


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: In late January 2013, Blanchard was cast as Riley Matthews in the Disney Channel series "Girl Meets World". She also sings the title song, along with co-star Sabrina Carpenter. The titular character is the daughter of Cory and Topanga from "Boy Meets World". She was an active member of Disney Channel Circle of Stars. In early January 2015, Blanchard was cast as Cleo in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Invisible Sister". From 2017 to 2018, Blanchard had a recurring role on the ABC series "The Goldbergs". In September 2017, Blanchard announced that she would be releasing a book, titled "Still Here", which was published in February 2018. Blanchard also co-starred in the feature film adaptation "A Wrinkle in Time", which was released in March 2018.


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: On March 27, 2019, it was reported by "Deadline Hollywood" that Blanchard was cast as Alexandra Cavill in TNT's "Snowpiercer", a futuristic thriller starring Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs based on the 2013 South Korean-Czech film of the same name by Bong Joon-ho, from Marty Adelstein’s Tomorrow Studios and Turner’s Studio T. Blanchard will be a guest star with an option to become a series regular in the series' second season.


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: In 2014, Blanchard had revealed on Instagram that she had been struggling with depression. She wrote: "As I found myself, this year in particular, going through ups and downs with depression, I realized that instead of rejecting and ostracizing these teenage feelings (human feelings), I can learn to love the intensity of them and know that everything is momentary."


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: In a series of tweets in January 2016, she stated that while she had "only ever liked boys" in the past, she was "open to liking any gender" and therefore she identifies as queer.


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: Blanchard is an activist on issues such as feminism, human rights, and gun violence. While most of her comments regarding these issues are posted via Twitter or Tumblr, she has spoken at the UN Women and US National Committee's annual conference as part of #TeamHeForShe, a feminist campaign.


title: Rowan Blanchard

text: In April 2018, Blanchard criticized Israel and its military on her social media and shared her own post with a photo of Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi holding the Palestinian flag. In the same post, Blanchard voiced support for the Palestinian side of the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests. In May 2018, Blanchard criticized Israel once again in her social media and shared another photo of Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi. Blanchard wrote that "Gaza qualifies under every definition of genocide yet massacred protestors must always be identified as 'peaceful'."


Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is an American sports drama television series created by Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht for HBO, based on the book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s" by Jeff Pearlman. The first season, comprising 10 episodes, chronicles the 1980s Showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team (beginning in late 1979), featuring notable NBA stars Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It features an ensemble cast led by John C. Reilly, Jason Clarke, Jason Segel, Gaby Hoffmann, Rob Morgan, and Adrien Brody. The series premiered on March 6, 2022, with the pilot episode directed by Adam McKay. In April 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

text: The series is a dramatization of the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers basketball teams.


text: On April 20, 2014, screenwriter Jim Hecht flew across the country to the home of sportswriter Jeff Pearlman. He pitched an adaptation of Pearlman's best-seller "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty" that would be similar to the TV show "Friday Night Lights". According to "The Hollywood Reporter", Hecht brought Pearlman a bottle of nonalcoholic wine, a block of chocolate, and a tomato as an offering to convince Pearlman to sell him the rights to the book. "I had no money, so if he'd been like, '$30,000,' I would've been screwed," Hecht recalled. Pearlman, who had optioned several of his books where "nothing ever happened", agreed to let Hecht shop his book around town for a year. In 2015, producer Kevin Messick convinced Adam McKay to direct the pilot and produce.


text: In April 2019, HBO ordered a pilot of the series, which was written by Max Borenstein with a story by Borenstein and Hecht. The series was initially referred to by the working title "Showtime", after Pearlman's book and the Lakers era that inspired it. By that summer, the series was described as being untitled, with HBO executive Casey Bloys later acknowledging that the title would have caused marketplace confusion given that one of HBO's direct premium TV and streaming competitors is also named Showtime. In December, HBO officially greenlit a series order. On December 8, 2021, HBO announced that the series would be titled "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty"; according to Bloys, "Winning Time" is a phrase that was already associated with Magic Johnson.


text: Francine Maisler is the show's casting director. In August 2019, Jason Clarke and Michael Shannon were cast to portray Jerry West and Jerry Buss respectively. However, the next month Shannon would exit due to creative differences, and Buss would be recast with John C. Reilly. Shannon reportedly did not like the fourth wall breaking format of the show and found it difficult to work with. Will Ferrell had actively pursued the role of Buss since McKay had first started developing the series; however, McKay did not feel he was right for the role and instead cast Reilly without telling Ferrell. Upon learning of the decision via a phone call from Reilly, Ferrell was so infuriated that he ended his friendship and professional relationship with McKay. Quincy Isaiah and Solomon Hughes were additionally cast to play Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar after an extensive casting search. DeVaughn Nixon was added to the cast to portray Norm Nixon.


text: By March 2021, additional castings including Adrien Brody, Sally Field, Michael Chiklis, Bo Burnham, Jason Segel, Sarah Ramos, Brett Cullen, and Lola Kirke were announced. In May 2021, Rory Cochrane, Danny Burstein, Austin Aaron, Ta'Nika Gibson, Edwin Hodge, Terence Davis, and Ja'Quan Cole joined the cast. In June 2021, Mike Epps, Max E. Williams, Carina Conti and Mariama Diallo joined the cast. In August 2021, Burnham exited the project due to scheduling conflicts while Sean Patrick Small, Rachel Hilson, Olli Haaskivi, Newton Mayenge, and Jon Young joined the cast, with Small replacing Burnham.


text: Alongside the title announcement in December 2021, HBO announced the series would debut in March 2022, with the premiere date subsequently set for Sunday, March 6 and will air an episode weekly, concluding the season on May 8, 2022.


text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an 84% approval rating based on 56 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Gleefully excessive in both form and function, "Winning Time" pairs a larger-than-life roster of characters with whiplash style to deliver an absolute slam dunk." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 29 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


text: The series received criticism from Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for historical inaccuracies. Johnson said he would not watch the series because it never depicted the Showtime era accurately, while Abdul-Jabbar referred to the series as deliberately dishonest. On April 19, 2022, Jerry West demanded a retraction from HBO within two weeks for the "cruel" and "deliberately false" depiction of him as a temperamental, foul-mouthed executive prone to angry outbursts and mood swings. A week later, HBO responded to West with the following statement: "HBO has a long history of producing compelling content drawn from actual facts and events that are fictionalized in part for dramatic purposes. "Winning Time" is not a documentary and has not been presented as such. However, the series and its depictions are based on extensive factual research and reliable sourcing, and HBO stands resolutely behind our talented creators and cast who have brought a dramatization of this epic chapter in basketball history to the screen." West, in turn, has said that he intends to pursue legal action against HBO for defamation, even if he has to "take this all the way to the Supreme Court." Spencer Haywood, on the other hand, called his portrayal on the series a blessing.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. It stars Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, and Adriana Barraza. The plot, written with his older brother Ivan, focuses on a loan officer, who, because she has to prove to her boss that she can make the "hard decisions", chooses not to extend an elderly woman's mortgage. In retaliation, the woman places a curse on the loan officer that, after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: Raimi wrote "Drag Me to Hell" with his brother before working on the "Spider-Man" trilogy. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was a box office success, grossing over $90 million worldwide. "Drag Me to Hell" won the award for Best Horror Film at the 2009 Scream Awards and the 2010 Saturn Awards.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: In 1969 Pasadena, a Hispanic couple seek help from young medium Shaun San Dena, saying their son is ill and hears evil voices after stealing a silver necklace from a Gypsy wagon, despite trying to return it. San Dena prepares a séance, but an unseen force attacks them and drags the boy to Hell. San Dena vows to fight the demon again one day.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: In present-day Los Angeles, bank loan officer Christine Brown vies for a promotion to assistant branch manager with her co-worker Stu Rubin. Her boss, Jim Jacks, advises her to demonstrate tough decision-making. Sylvia Ganush, an elderly and disheveled European Roma woman, asks for a third extension on her mortgage. After Christine denies her request, Ganush cries and begs not to have her house repossessed. Security guards arrive and she leaves, angrily accusing Christine of shaming her. In the parking lot, Ganush ambushes and violently attacks Christine. After a long struggle, Ganush rips a button from Christine's coat and curses it. Later, Christine and her boyfriend Clay Dalton visit fortune teller Rham Jas, who tells Christine a dark spirit is haunting her. At home, the entity begins to violently attack Christine. At work, she hallucinates about Ganush and bleeds profusely from her nose while spewing blood on Jacks. As Christine leaves, Stu steals a file from her desk.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: Christine goes to beg Ganush for forgiveness but discovers she has recently died. After causing a scene at the funeral, a family member of Ganush warns her that she deserves everything she's about to get. Christine returns to Jas, who explains that as long as she owns the cursed button, a powerful demon known as the Lamia will torment her for three days before dragging her to Hell. He suggests a sacrifice may appease it. Christine reluctantly sacrifices her pet kitten before meeting Clay's parents at their house for dinner, during which grotesque hallucinations torment her again.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: Christine returns to Jas, who requests a fee of $10,000. He introduces her to San Dena, who prepares a séance to trap Lamia in a goat and kill it. However, the Lamia possesses her and then her assistant, who vomits up the corpse of Christine's cat, saying it wants her soul. San Dena manages to successfully banish the Lamia from the séance, but dies afterwards. Jas seals the button in an envelope and tells Christine that she can only remove the curse by giving the button to someone else. She attempts to give the envelope at a diner: to a tearful Stu (whom she tries to blackmail into accepting it) and to an ailing, married elderly woman; out of pity, she does neither. Rather, she digs up Ganush's grave and shoves the envelope into her mouth at dawn. Christine returns home and prepares to meet Clay at Los Angeles Union Station for a weekend trip. Jacks notifies her of the promotion after Stu confessed to stealing her file and was fired.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: At the station, Clay, hoping to propose to Christine, hands her the envelope with her missing button he found in his car, unaware of its significance. She realizes that she accidentally gave the wrong envelope to Ganush, which means the curse was never lifted. Horrified, Christine backs away and falls onto the tracks, just as fiery, demonic hands emerge. Clay tries to rescue Christine, but a train speeds through and he can only watch as the hands drag her to Hell.


title: Drag Me to Hell

text: The film includes cameo appearances by Raimi himself as an uncredited ghost at the séance, his younger brother Ted as a doctor, and his eldest children Emma, Henry, and Lorne in minor roles. Frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel appears as a mourner at the death feast, while fellow frequent Raimi collaborator John Paxton and Irene Roseen appear as the old couple at the diner.