title: Old age

text: Old age cannot be universally defined because it is context-sensitive. The United Nations, for example, considers old age to be 60 years or older. In contrast, a 2001 joint report by the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the World Health Organization [WHO] Regional Office for Africa set the beginning of old age in Sub-Saharan Africa at 50. This lower threshold stems primarily from a different way of thinking about old age in developing nations. Unlike in the developed world, where chronological age determines retirement, societies in developing countries determine old age according to a person's ability to make active contributions to society. This number is also significantly affected by lower life expectancy rates throughout the developing world.


title: Old age

text: Gerontologists have recognized that people experience very different conditions as they approach old age. In developed countries, many people in their 60s and 70s are still fit, active, and able to care for themselves. However, after 80, they generally become increasingly frail, a condition marked by serious mental and physical debilitation.


title: Old age

text: Therefore, rather than lumping together all people who have been defined as old, some gerontologists have recognized the diversity of old age by defining sub-groups. One study distinguishes the young-old (60 to 69), the middle-old (70 to 79), and the very old (80+). Another study's sub-grouping is young-old (65 to 74), middle-old (75 to 84), and oldest-old (85+). A third sub-grouping is young-old (65 to 74), old (74 to 84), and old-old (85+). Describing sub-groups in the 65+ population enables a more accurate portrayal of significant life changes.


title: Old age

text: Two British scholars, Paul Higgs and Chris Gilleard, have added a "fourth age" sub-group. In British English, the "third age" is "the period in life of active retirement, following middle age". Higgs and Gilleard describe the fourth age as "an arena of inactive, unhealthy, unproductive, and ultimately unsuccessful ageing".


title: Old age

text: "Key Concepts in Social Gerontology" lists four dimensions: chronological, biological, psychological, and social. Wattis and Curran add a fifth dimension: developmental. Chronological age may differ considerably from a person's functional age. The distinguishing marks of old age normally occur in all five senses at different times and at different rates for different people. In addition to chronological age, people can be considered old because of the other dimensions of old age. For example, people may be considered old when they become grandparents or when they begin to do less or different work in retirement.


title: Old age

text: Senior citizen is a common euphemism for an old person used in American English, and sometimes in British English. It implies that the person being referred to is retired. This in turn usually implies that the person is over the retirement age, which varies according to country. Synonyms include old age pensioner or pensioner in British English, and retiree and senior in American English. Some dictionaries describe widespread use of "senior citizen" for people over the age of 65.


title: Old age

text: When defined in a legal context, "senior citizen" is often used for legal or policy-related reasons in determining who is eligible for certain benefits available to the age group.


title: Old age

text: It is used in general usage instead of traditional terms such as "old person", "old-age pensioner", or "elderly" as a courtesy and to signify continuing relevance of and respect for this population group as "citizens" of society, of senior "rank".


title: Old age

text: The term was apparently coined in 1938 during a political campaign. Famed caricaturist Al Hirschfeld claimed on several occasions that his father Isaac Hirschfeld invented the term "senior citizen". It has come into widespread use in recent decades in legislation, commerce, and common speech. Especially in less formal contexts, it is often abbreviated as "senior(s)", which is also used as an adjective.


title: Old age

text: The age which qualifies for senior citizen status varies widely. In governmental contexts, it is usually associated with an age at which pensions or medical benefits for the elderly become available. In commercial contexts, where it may serve as a marketing device to attract customers, the age is often significantly lower.


title: Old age

text: In commerce, some businesses offer customers of a certain age a "senior discount". The age at which these discounts are available varies from 55, 60, 62 or 65 upwards, and other criteria may also apply. Sometimes a special "senior discount card" or other proof of age needs to be produced to show entitlement.


title: Old age

text: In Canada, the OAS (Old Age Security) pension is available at 65 (the Conservative government of Stephen Harper had planned to gradually increase the age of eligibility to 67, starting in the years 2023–2029, although the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is considering leaving it at 65), and the CPP (Canada Pension Plan) as early as age 60.


title: Old age

text: The AARP allows couples in which one spouse has reached the age of 50 to join, regardless of the age of the other spouse.


title: Old age

text: The distinguishing characteristics of old age are both physical and mental. The marks of old age are so unlike the marks of middle age that legal scholar Richard Posner suggests that, as an individual transitions into old age, he can be thought of as different people "time-sharing" the same identity.


title: Old age

text: These marks do not occur at the same chronological age for everyone. Also, they occur at different rates and order for different people. Marks of old age can easily vary between people of the same chronological age.


title: Old age

text: A basic mark of old age that affects both body and mind is "slowness of behavior". The term describes a correlation between advancing age and slowness of reaction and physical and mental task performance. However, studies from Buffalo University and Northwestern University have shown that the elderly are a happier age group than their younger counterparts.


title: Old age

text: Many books written by authors in middle adulthood depict a few common perceptions on old age. One writer notices the change in his parents: They move slowly, they have less strength, they repeat stories, their minds wander, and they fret. Another writer sees her aged parents and is bewildered: They refuse to follow her advice, they are obsessed with the past, they avoid risk, and they live at a "glacial pace".


title: Old age

text: In her "The Denial of Aging", Dr. Muriel R. Gillick, a baby boomer, accuses her contemporaries of believing that by proper exercise and diet they can avoid the scourges of old age and proceed from middle age to death. Studies find that many people in the 55–75 range can postpone morbidity by practicing healthy lifestyles. However, at about age 80, most people experience similar morbidity. Even with healthy lifestyles, most 85+ people will undergo extended "frailty and disability".


title: Old age

text: Early old age can be a pleasant time; children are grown, work is over, and there is time to pursue other interests. Many old people are also willing to get involved in community and activist organizations to promote their well-being. In contrast, perceptions of old age by writers 80+ years old tend to be negative.


title: Old age

text: Minois comments that the scribe's "cry shows that nothing has changed in the drama of decrepitude between the age of the Pharaoh and the atomic age" and "expresses all the anguish of old people in the past and the present".


title: Old age

text: Lillian Rubin, active in her 80s as an author, sociologist, and psychotherapist, opens her book "60 on Up: The Truth about Aging in America" with "getting old sucks. It always has, it always will." Dr. Rubin contrasts the "real old age" with the "rosy pictures" painted by middle-age writers.


title: Old age

text: Writing at the age of 87, Mary C. Morrison describes the "heroism" required by old age: to live through the disintegration of one's own body or that of someone you love. Morrison concludes, "old age is not for the fainthearted". In the book "Life Beyond 85 Years", the 150 interviewees had to cope with physical and mental debilitation and with losses of loved ones. One interviewee described living in old age as "pure hell".


title: Old age

text: Research has shown that in high-income countries, on average, one in four people over 60 and one in three over 75 feels lonely.


title: Old age

text: Johnson and Barer did a pioneering study of "Life Beyond 85 Years" by interviews over a six-year period. In talking with 85-year-olds and older, they found some popular conceptions about old age to be erroneous. Such erroneous conceptions include (1) people in old age have at least one family member for support, (2) old age well-being requires social activity, and (3) "successful adaptation" to age-related changes demands a continuity of self-concept. In their interviews, Johnson and Barer found that 24% of the 85+ had no face-to-face family relationships; many have outlived their families. Second, that contrary to popular notions, the interviews revealed that the reduced activity and socializing of the over-85s does not harm their well-being; they "welcome increased detachment". Third, rather than a continuity of self-concept, as the interviewees faced new situations they changed their "cognitive and emotional processes" and reconstituted their "self–representation".


title: Old age

text: Based on his survey of old age in history, concludes that "it is clear that always and everywhere youth has been preferred to old age". In Western thought, "old age is an evil, an infirmity and a dreary time of preparation for death". Furthermore, death is often preferred over "decrepitude, because death means deliverance".


title: Old age

text: "The problem of the ambiguity of old age has . . . been with us since the stage of primitive society; it was both the source of wisdom and of infirmity, experience and decrepitude, of prestige and suffering."


title: Old age

text: In the Classical period of Greek and Roman cultures, old age was denigrated as a time of "decline and decrepitude". "Beauty and strength" were esteemed and old age was viewed as defiling and ugly. Old age was reckoned as one of the unanswerable "great mysteries" along with evil, pain, and suffering. "Decrepitude, which shrivels heroes, seemed worse than death."


title: Old age

text: Historical periods reveal a mixed picture of the "position and status" of old people, but there has never been a "golden age of aging". Studies have challenged the popular belief that in the past old people were venerated by society and cared for by their families. Veneration for and antagonism toward the aged have coexisted in complex relationships throughout history. "Old people were respected or despised, honoured or put to death according to circumstance."


title: Old age

text: In ancient times, although some strong and healthy people lived until they were over 70, most died before they were 50. The general understanding is that those who lived into their 40s were treated with respect and awe. In contrast, those who were frail were seen as a burden and ignored or, in extreme cases, killed. People were defined as "old" because of their inability to perform useful tasks rather than their years.


title: Old age

text: Although he was skeptical of the gods, Aristotle concurred in the dislike of old people. In his "Ethics", he wrote that "old people are miserly; they do not acknowledge disinterested friendship; only seeking for what can satisfy their selfish needs".


title: Old age

text: The 16th-century Utopians Thomas More and Antonio de Guevara allowed no decrepit old people in their fictional lands.


title: Old age

text: For Thomas More, on the island of Utopia, when people are so old as to have "out-lived themselves" and are terminally ill, in pain, and a burden to everyone, the priests exhort them about choosing to die. The priests assure them that "they shall be happy after death". If they choose to die, they end their lives by starvation or by taking opium.


title: Old age

text: Antonio de Guevara's utopian nation "had a custom, not to live longer than sixty five years". At that age, they practiced self-immolation. Rather than condemn the practice, Bishop Guevara called it a "golden world" in which people "have overcome the natural appetite to desire to live".


title: Old age

text: In the Modern period, the "cultural status" of old people has declined in many cultures. Joan Erikson observed that "aged individuals are often ostracized, neglected, and overlooked; elders are seen no longer as bearers of wisdom but as embodiments of shame".


title: Old age

text: Attitudes toward old age well being vary somewhat between cultures. For example, in the United States being healthy, physically, and socially active are signs of a good old age. On the other hand, Africans focus more on food and material security and a helpful family when describing old age well being. Additionally, Koreans are more anxious about aging, and more scared of old people than Americans are.


title: Old age

text: Research on age-related attitudes consistently finds that negative attitudes exceed positive attitudes toward old people because of their looks and behavior. In his study "Aging and Old Age", Posner discovers "resentment and disdain of older people" in American society. Harvard University's implicit-association test measures implicit "attitudes and beliefs" about "Young vis a vis Old". "Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People", a book about the test, reports that 80% of Americans have an "automatic preference for the young over old" and that attitude is true worldwide. The young are "consistent in their negative attitude" toward the old. "Ageism" documents that Americans generally have "little tolerance for older persons and very few reservations about harboring negative attitudes" about them.


title: Old age

text: Simone de Beauvoir wrote that "there is one form of experience that belongs only to those that are old – that of old age itself". Nevertheless, simulations of old age attempt to help younger people gain some understanding.


title: Old age

text: Texas A&M University offers a plan for an "Aging Simulation" workshop. The workshop is adapted from "Sensitizing People to the Processes of Aging". Some of the simulations include:


title: Old age

text: The Macklin Intergenerational Institute conducts Xtreme Aging workshops, as depicted in "The New York Times". A condensed version was presented on NBC's Today Show and is available online. One exercise was to lay out 3 sets of 5 slips of paper. On set #1, write your 5 most enjoyed activities; on set #2, write your 5 most valued possessions; on set #3, write your 5 most loved people. Then "lose" them one by one, trying to feel each loss, until you have lost them all, as happens in old age.


title: Old age

text: Most people in the age range of 60–80 (the years of retirement and early old age), enjoy rich possibilities for a full life, but the condition of frailty distinguished by "bodily failure" and greater dependence becomes increasingly common after that. In the United States, hospital discharge data from 2003 to 2011 shows that injury was the most common reason for hospitalization among patients aged 65+.


title: Old age

text: Gerontologists note the lack of research regarding and the difficulty in defining frailty. However, they add that physicians recognize frailty when they see it.


title: Old age

text: A group of geriatricians proposed a general definition of frailty as "a physical state of increased vulnerability to stressors that results from decreased reserves and disregulation in multiple physiological systems".


title: Old age

text: but different definitions of frailty produce diverse assessments of prevalence. One study placed the incidence of frailty for ages 65+ at 10.7%. Another study placed the incidence of frailty in age 65+ population at 22% for women and 15% for men. A Canadian study illustrated how frailty increases with age and calculated the prevalence for 65+ as 22.4% and for 85+ as 43.7%.


title: Old age

text: A worldwide study of "patterns of frailty" based on data from 20 nations found (a) a consistent correlation between frailty and age, (b) a higher frequency among women, and (c) more frailty in wealthier nations where greater support and medical care increases longevity.


title: Old age

text: In Norway, a 20-year longitudinal study of 400 people found that bodily failure and greater dependence became prevalent in the 80+ years. The study calls these years the "fourth age" or "old age in the real meaning of the term". Similarly, the "Berlin Aging Study" rated over-all functionality on four levels: good, medium, poor, and very poor. People in their 70s were mostly rated good. In the 80–90 year range, the four levels of functionality were divided equally. By the 90–100 year range, 60% would be considered frail because of very poor functionality and only 5% still possessed good functionality.


title: Old age

text: Three unique markers of frailty have been proposed: (a) loss of any notion of invincibility, (b) loss of ability to do things essential to one's care, and (c) loss of possibility for a subsequent life stage.


title: Old age

text: Old age survivors on-average deteriorate from agility in their 65–80s to a period of frailty preceding death. This deterioration is gradual for some and precipitous for others. Frailty is marked by an array of chronic physical and mental problems which means that frailty is not treatable as a specific disease. These problems coupled with increased dependency in the basic activities of daily living (ADLs) required for personal care add emotional problems: depression and anxiety. In sum, frailty has been depicted as a group of "complex issues", distinct but "causally interconnected", that often include "comorbid diseases", progressive weakness, stress, exhaustion, and depression.


title: Old age

text: Frail people require a high level of care. Medical advances have made it possible to "postpone death" for years. This added time costs many frail people "prolonged sickness, dependence, pain, and suffering".


title: Old age

text: According to a study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the rate of emergency department visits was consistently highest among patients ages 85 years and older in 2006–2011 in the United States. Additionally, patients aged 65+ had the highest percentage of hospital stays for adults with multiple chronic conditions but the second highest percentage of hospital costs in 2003–2014.


title: Old age

text: These final years are also costly in economic terms. One out of every four Medicare dollars is spent on the frail in their last year of life . . . in attempts to postpone death.


title: Old age

text: Medical treatments in the final days are not only economically costly, they are often unnecessary, even harmful. Nortin Hadler, M.D. warns against the tendency to medicalize and overtreat the frail. In her "Choosing Medical Care in Old Age", Michael R. Gillick M.D. argues that appropriate medical treatment for the frail is not the same as for the robust. The frail are vulnerable to "being tipped over" by any physical stress put on the system such as medical interventions.


title: Old age

text: In addition to everyday care, frail elderly people and others with disabilities are particularly vulnerable during natural disasters. They may be unable or unwilling to evacuate to avoid a hurricane or wildfire.


title: Old age

text: Old age, death, and frailty are linked because approximately half the deaths in old age are preceded by months or years of frailty.


title: Old age

text: "Older Adults' Views on Death" is based on interviews with 109 people in the 70–90 age range, with a mean age of 80.7. Almost 20% of the people wanted to use whatever treatment that might postpone death. About the same number said that, given a terminal illness, they would choose assisted suicide. Roughly half chose doing nothing except live day by day until death comes naturally without medical or other intervention designed to prolong life. This choice was coupled with a desire to receive palliative care if needed.


title: Old age

text: About half of older adults have multimorbidity, that is, they have three or more chronic conditions. Medical advances have made it possible to "postpone death", but in many cases this postponement adds "prolonged sickness, dependence, pain, and suffering", a time that is costly in social, psychological, and economic terms.


title: Old age

text: The longitudinal interviews of 150 age 85+ people summarized in "Life Beyond 85 Years" found "progressive terminal decline" in the year prior to death: constant fatigue, much sleep, detachment from people, things, and activities, simplified lives. Most of the interviewees did not fear death; some would welcome it. One person said, "Living this long is pure hell."


title: Old age

text: However, nearly everyone feared a long process of dying. Some wanted to die in their sleep; others wanted to die "on their feet".


title: Old age

text: The study of "Older Adults' Views on Death" found that the more frail people were, the more "pain, suffering, and struggles" they were enduring, the more likely they were to "accept and welcome" death as a release from their misery. Their fear about the process of dying was that it would prolong their distress. Besides being a release from misery, some saw death as a way to reunion with departed loved ones. Others saw death as a way to free their caretakers from the burden of their care.


title: Old age

text: Generally speaking, old people have always been more religious than young people. At the same time, wide cultural variations exist.


title: Old age

text: In the United States, 90% of old age Hispanics view themselves as very, quite, or somewhat religious. The Pew Research Center's study of black and white old people found that 62% of those in ages 65–74 and 70% in ages 75+ asserted that religion was "very important" to them. For all 65+ people, more women (76%) than men (53%) and more blacks (87%) than whites (63%) consider religion "very important" to them. This compares to 54% in the 30–49 age range.


title: Old age

text: In a British 20-year longitudinal study, less than half of the old people surveyed said that religion was "very important" to them, and a quarter said they had become less religious in old age. The late-life rise in religiosity is stronger in Japan than in the United States, but in the Netherlands it is minimal.


title: Old age

text: In the practice of religion, a study of 60+ people found that 25% read the Bible every day and over 40% look at religious TV. Pew Research found that in the age 65+ range, 75% of whites and 87% of blacks pray daily. When comparing religiosity, the individual practice may be a more accurate measure than participation in organized religion. With organized religion, participation may often be hindered due to transportation or health problems.


title: Old age

text: In the industrialized countries, life expectancy and, thus, the old age population have increased consistently over the last decades. In the United States the proportion of people aged 65 or older increased from 4% in 1900 to about 12% in 2000. In 1900, only about of the nation's citizens were 65 or older (out of 76 million total American citizens). By 2000, the number of senior citizens had increased to about 35 million (of 280 million US citizens). Population experts estimate that more than Americans—about 17 percent of the population—will be 65 or older in 2020. By 2050, it is projected that at least 400,000 Americans will be 100 or older.


title: Old age

text: The number of old people is growing around the world chiefly because of the post–World War II baby boom and increases in the provision and standards of health care. By 2050, 33% of the developed world's population and almost 20% of the less developed world's population will be over 60 years old.


title: Old age

text: The growing number of people living to their 80s and 90s in the developed world has strained public welfare systems and has also resulted in increased incidence of diseases like cancer and dementia that were rarely seen in premodern times. When the United States Social Security program was created, people older than 65 numbered only around 5% of the population and the average life expectancy of a 65-year-old in 1936 was approximately 5 years, while in 2011 it could often range from 10 to 20 years. Other issues that can arise from an increasing population are growing demands for health care and an increase in demand for different types of services.


title: Old age

text: Of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds—100,000 per day—die of age-related causes.<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011"></ref> In industrialized nations, the proportion is much higher, reaching 90%.


title: Old age

text: According to Erik Erikson's "Stages of Psychosocial Development", the human personality is developed in a series of eight stages that take place from the time of birth and continue on throughout an individual's complete life. He characterises old age as a period of "Integrity vs. Despair", during which a person focuses on reflecting back on his life. Those who are unsuccessful during this phase will feel that their life has been wasted and will experience many regrets. The individual will be left with feelings of bitterness and despair. Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity. Successfully completing this phase means looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of satisfaction. These individuals will attain wisdom, even when confronting death. Coping is a very important skill needed in the aging process to move forward with life and not be 'stuck' in the past. The way a person adapts and copes, reflects his aging process on a psycho-social level.


title: Old age

text: For people in their 80s and 90s, Joan Erikson added a ninth stage in "The Life Cycle Completed: Extended Version". As she wrote, she added the ninth stage because the Integrity of the eighth stage imposes "a serious demand on the senses of elders" and the Wisdom of the eighth stage requires capacities that ninth stage elders "do not usually have".


title: Old age

text: Newman & Newman also proposed a ninth stage of life, Elderhood. Elderhood refers to those individuals who live past the life expectancy of their birth cohorts. They described two different types of people in this stage of life. The "young old" are the healthy individuals who can function on their own without assistance and can complete their daily tasks independently, while the "old old" are those who depend on specific services due to declining health or diseases.


title: Old age

text: Social theories, or concepts, propose explanations for the distinctive relationships between old people and their societies.


title: Old age

text: One theory, proposed in 1961, is the disengagement theory, which proposes that, in old age, a mutual disengagement between people and their society occurs in anticipation of death. By becoming disengaged from work and family responsibilities, according to this concept, people are enabled to enjoy their old age without stress. This theory has been subjected to the criticism that old age disengagement is neither natural, inevitable, nor beneficial. Furthermore, disengaging from social ties in old age is not across the board: unsatisfactory ties are dropped and satisfying ones kept.


title: Old age

text: In opposition to the disengagement theory, the activity theory of old age argues that disengagement in old age occurs not by desire, but by the barriers to social engagement imposed by society. This theory has been faulted for not factoring in psychological changes that occur in old age as shown by reduced activity, even when available. It has also been found that happiness in old age is not proportional to activity.


title: Old age

text: According to the continuity theory, in spite of the inevitable differences imposed by their old age, most people try to maintain continuity in personhood, activities, and relationships with their younger days.


title: Old age

text: Socioemotional selectivity theory also depicts how people maintain continuity in old age. The focus of this theory is continuity sustained by social networks, albeit networks narrowed by choice and by circumstances. The choice is for more harmonious relationships. The circumstances are loss of relationships by death and distance.


title: Old age

text: Life expectancy by nation at birth in the year 2011 ranged from 48 years to 82. Low values indicate high death rates for infants and children.


title: Old age

text: In most parts of the world women live, on average, longer than men; even so, the disparities vary between 12 years in Russia to no difference or higher life expectancy for men in countries such as Zimbabwe and Uganda.


title: Old age

text: The number of elderly people worldwide began to surge in the second half of the 20th century. In developed countries before then, five or less percent of the population was over 65. Few lived longer than their 70s and people who attained advanced age (i.e. their 80s) were rare enough to be a novelty and were revered as wise sages. The worldwide over-65 population in 1960 was one-third of the under-5 population. By 2013, the over-65 population had grown to equal the under-5 population and is projected to double the under-5 population by 2050.


title: Old age

text: Before the surge in the over-65 population, accidents and disease claimed many people before they could attain old age, and health problems in those over 65 meant a quick death in most cases. If a person lived to an advanced age, it was due to genetic factors and/or a relatively easy lifestyle, since diseases of old age could not be treated before the 20th century.


title: Old age

text: In October 2016, a group of scientists identified the maximum human lifespan at an average age of 115, with an absolute upper limit of 125 years. However, the concept of a maximum lifespan of humans is still widely debated among the scientific community.


title: Old age

text: German chancellor Otto von Bismarck created the world's first comprehensive government social safety net in the 1880s, providing for old age pensions.


title: Old age

text: In the United States of America, and the United Kingdom, 65 (UK 60 for women) was traditionally the age of retirement with full old age benefits.


title: Old age

text: In 2003, the age at which a United States citizen became eligible for full Social Security benefits began to increase gradually, and will continue to do so until it reaches 67 in 2027. Full retirement age for Social Security benefits for people retiring in 2012 is age 66. In the United Kingdom, the state pension age for men and women will rise to 66 in 2020 with further increases scheduled after that.


title: Old age

text: Originally, the purpose of old age pensions was to prevent elderly people from being reduced to beggary, which is still common in some underdeveloped countries, but growing life expectancies and older populations have brought into question the model under which pension systems were designed. By 1990, the United States was spending 30 per cent of its budget on the elderly, compared with 2 per cent on education. The dominant perception of the American old age population changed from "needy" and "worthy" to "powerful" and "greedy", old people getting more than their share of the nation's resources. However, in 2011, using a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), the old age American poverty rate was measured as 15.9%.


title: Old age

text: In the United States in 2008, 11 million people aged 65+ lived alone: 5 million or 22% of ages 65–74, 4 million or 34% of ages 75–84, and 2 million or 41% of ages 85+. The 2007 gender breakdown for all people 65+ was men 19% and women 39%.


title: Old age

text: Many new assistive devices made especially for the home have enabled more old people to care for their own activities of daily living (ADL). Some examples of devices are a medical alert and safety system, shower seat (making it so the person does not get tired in the shower and fall), a bed cane (offering support to those with unsteadiness getting in and out of bed) and an ADL cuff (used with eating utensils for people with paralysis or hand weakness).


title: Old age

text: A Swedish study found that at age 76, 46% of the subjects used assistive devices. When they reached age 86, 69% used them. The subjects were ambivalent regarding the use of the assistive devices: as "enablers" or as "disablers". People who view assistive devices as enabling greater independence accept and use them, whereas those who see them as symbols of disability reject them. However, organizations like Love for the Elderly aim to combat such age-related prejudice by educating the public about the importance of appreciating growing older, while also providing services of kindness to elders in senior homes.


title: Old age

text: Even with assistive devices as of 2006, 8.5 million Americans needed personal assistance because of impaired basic activities of daily living required for personal care or impaired instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) required for independent living. Projections place this number at 21 million by 2030 when 40% of Americans over 70 will need assistance. There are many options for such long-term care to those who require it. There is home care in which a family member, volunteer, or trained professional will aid the person in need and help with daily activities. Another option is community services which can provide the person with transportation, meal plans, or activities in senior centers. A third option is assisted living where 24-hour round-the-clock supervision is given with aid in eating, bathing, dressing, etc. A final option is a nursing home which provides professional nursing care.


title: Old age

text: In 2014, a documentary film called "The Age of Love" used humor and the poignant adventures of 30 seniors who attend a speed dating event for 70 to 90-year-olds and discover how the search for romance changes—or does not change—from childhood to old age.


title: Old age

text: Scholarly literature has emerged, especially in Britain, showing historical trends in the visual depiction of old age.


title: Doritos

text: Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The original Doritos were not flavored. The first flavor was Toasted Corn, released in 1966, followed by Taco in 1967 and Nacho Cheese in 1972. Other specialty flavors began to make their debut during the late 1980s. The concept for Doritos originated in a restaurant at Disneyland.


title: Doritos

text: Doritos has also gained notability for its marketing campaigns, including many ads aired during the Super Bowl.


title: Doritos

text: The term "dorito" is a contraction of Spanish "doradito" (little fried and golden thing), which is a diminutive of "dorado" (fried and golden thing).


title: Doritos

text: The original product was made at the Casa de Fritos (now Rancho Del Zocalo) at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, during the early 1960s. Using surplus tortillas and taking the original idea from the traditional Mexican snack known as totopo, the company-owned restaurant cut them up, fried them, and added basic seasoning, resembling the Mexican chilaquiles, but in this case being dry. Arch West was the vice president of marketing of Frito-Lay at the time, and noticed their popularity. He made a deal in 1964 with Alex Foods, the provider of many items for Casa de Fritos at Disneyland, and produced the chips for a short time regionally, before it was overwhelmed by the volume, and Frito-Lay moved the production in-house to its Tulsa plant.


title: Doritos

text: Doritos were released nationwide in 1966, the first tortilla chip to be launched nationally in the United States.


title: Doritos

text: According to Information Resources International, in 1993, Doritos earned $1.2 billion in retail sales, one-third of the total Frito-Lay sales for the year. Nevertheless, in the costliest redesign in Frito-Lay history, in 1994 the company spent $50 million to redesign Doritos to make the chips 20% larger, 15% thinner, and rounded the edges of the chip. Roger J. Berdusco, the vice president of tortilla chip marketing, said a primary reason for the change was "greater competition from restaurant-style tortilla chips, that are larger and more strongly seasoned". The design change was the result of a two-year market research study that involved 5,000 chip eaters. The new design gave each chip rounded corners, making it easier to eat and reducing the scrap resulting from broken corners. Each chip was also given more seasoning, resulting in a stronger flavor. The redesigned chips were released in four flavors beginning in January 1995.


title: Doritos

text: In the United States, Frito-Lay eliminated trans fat from all Doritos varieties in 2002. The same year, the Doritos brand began complying with U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling regulations, four years before the regulations became mandatory.


title: Doritos

text: The company was sued in 1993 by Charles Grady, who claimed that his throat had been damaged while eating Doritos. According to his lawsuit, the shape and rigidity of the chips made them inherently dangerous. Grady attempted to admit into evidence a study by a former chemistry professor that calculated how best to safely swallow the chips. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court later ruled that the study did not meet scientific standards and could not be presented as evidence.


title: Doritos

text: In 2005, sales of Doritos in the United States fell by 1.7% to $595 million. To increase sales in 2006, the company launched several new flavors, a new label, and more bilingual advertising. Frito-Lay vice president Joe Ennen described this as "the most significant rebranding and relaunch in Doritos' 38-year history."


title: Doritos

text: On February 21, 2013, the "Doritos" logo was changed again, and the advertising slogan "FOR THE BOLD" was adopted.


title: Doritos

text: In 2015, Doritos introduced a limited edition Rainbow Doritos product, which were only available to those making a minimum donation of $10 to the It Gets Better Project, a non-profit organization that supports LGBT youth. The promotion raised $100,000 for the organization, despite some controversy.


title: Doritos

text: The original plain chips (Toasted Corn, a discontinued US variety as of 2019, but available in the UK branded as 'Lightly Salted') are made of ground corn (maize), vegetable oil, and salt. Other ingredients vary across the flavored chip varieties. Doritos made for the US market generally do not use pork-derived animal rennet in the making of the cheese flavorings used on the chip.


title: Doritos

text: In 1996, "The Onion", a satirical newspaper and website, featured an article with the headline "Doritos Celebrates One Millionth Ingredient", lampooning Frito-Lay for the sheer number of ingredients found in Doritos.


title: Doritos

text: Concerns have been raised that the oils, flavorings and additives used in Doritos and other Frito-Lay products may be unhealthy.


title: Doritos

text: Doritos are sold in many countries worldwide in assorted flavors. They launched nationally in the United States in 1966, with only one flavor: Toasted Corn. The product proved successful, but additional market research revealed that many consumers outside the Southwest and West considered the chip to be too bland and not spicy enough for what was perceived as a Mexican snack. Frito-Lay therefore developed taco-flavored Doritos, which also became successful after they were introduced nationally in 1967. National distribution of nacho cheese-flavored Doritos began in 1972, and were also a hit. For a short period in the late 1970s, Sour Cream and Onion flavored Doritos were available, but were discontinued in the early 1980s. A Sesame seed flavored chip was also available for a short time in the late 1970s. In 1986, Cool Ranch Doritos made their debut and also became popular. Cool Ranch Doritos are sold under the name "Cool Original" in the UK and are called "Cool American" elsewhere in Europe, as ranch dressing is less common in those places.


title: Doritos

text: In the 1990s, in partnership with parent company PepsiCo's fast food brands, two new flavors of Doritos were introduced, Taco Bell's Taco Supreme (incorporating a "beef" flavoring that was quite different from the original 1960s "Taco" incarnation) and Pizza Hut's Pizza Cravers. After PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division in 1997, the flavors were simply renamed taco and pizza, respectively, with the pizza flavor discontinued in some markets. At around the same time, due to the popularity of Frito-Lay's Tostitos brand the unflavored Toasted Corn was briefly discontinued, then brought back. In 2008, the Taco Bell (complete with the brand name attached) flavor was temporarily re-released under the "Back by Popular Demand" label along with Four Cheese.


title: Doritos

text: In 1990, Jumpin' Jack Monterey Cheese flavored Doritos were introduced. This flavor was later discontinued. In 1995, Chester's Cheese Doritos were available for a limited time. This flavor introduced the familiar Cheetos flavor cheese on the typical Doritos tortilla chip. In 1997, Spicy Nacho was introduced.


title: Doritos

text: For a brief period in 2004, Doritos introduced new shape and form called "Rollitos", which were corn chips shaped into small tubes, like a regular triangular Dorito was "rolled" up. Rollitos flavors included Nacho Cheesier, Zesty Taco, Cooler Ranch and Queso Picante. In 2013, this idea was reintroduced and rebranded as "Dinamitas", or little sticks of dynamite. There are two varieties, a chili lime combo (similar to Takis Fuego), and the Mojo Criollo (Creole magic), a lemon-lime and garlic flavored rolled Doritos. Dinamitas differs slightly in style than Rollitos. Rollitos had the chips baked, the tube formed with an oil-submersible box press to fry. Currently it is rolled into a tube before the baking and frying, a much simpler process.


title: Doritos

text: Six versions of "Doritos Collisions", which include two different flavors in the same bag, have been produced. Those varieties of Doritos Collisions are Hot Wings/Blue Cheese, Zesty Taco/Chipotle Ranch, Habanero/Guacamole, Cheesy Enchilada/Sour Cream, Pizza Cravers/Ranch, and Blaze/Ultimate Cheddar.


title: Doritos

text: In 2007, Doritos ran a campaign called "Doritos X-13D Flavor Experiment" where black, unidentified bags of Doritos were on the market for consumers to identify and name the flavor. The only flavor identification on these chips was "All American Classic".


title: Doritos

text: Reincarnations and relaunches of taco-flavored Doritos, including the 2008 "Back By Popular Demand" campaign, were different from the original taco flavor (a sour cream flavor had been added to the recipe around 1985). The taco chips included in the Zesty Taco and Chipotle Ranch "Collisions" bags were thought by customers to be closer to the original, but were later discontinued in most of the United States. In late 2010, the taco flavor recipe that was used in the 1980s returned in a limited edition "retro" styled bag incorporating the original Doritos logo, and in early 2011 the company announced that this incarnation would remain in the permanent product line-up.


title: Doritos

text: In 2008, Doritos debuted a "mystery flavor" Quests with prizes being given as puzzles were solved. The mystery flavor was Mountain Dew. In 2009, Doritos released some new flavors under the banner "Doritos Late Night": "Tacos at Midnight" and "Last Call Jalapeño Popper". They also modified the X-13D Flavor as All Nighter Cheeseburger.


title: Doritos

text: 2010 saw the release of three successively spicy "Degree Burn" flavors (Blazin' Jalapeño/Jalapeño Fire, Fiery Buffalo and Scorchin' Habanero), cross promoted to "cool down" with Pepsi's lime "Cease Fire/Max Citrus Freeze", and the wasabi flavored Mr. Dragon's Fire Chips. 2010 saw the introduction of Doritos to New Zealand and with it flavors including Nacho Cheese, Cheese Supreme, Salted, and Salsa. This year also saw the original Taco flavor of Doritos revived in the original packaging design.


title: Doritos

text: In the spring of 2011, a Tapatio hot sauce flavor was released. In February 2011, Doritos Canada ran a competition to write the end of a commercial for two new flavors ("Onion Rings n' Ketchup" and "Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch"), and to vote for which of the two flavors would be taken off shelves when the contest ended. Onion Rings n' Ketchup received the most votes and remained on sale.


title: Doritos

text: In the spring of 2015, Doritos Roulette was released to US markets for a limited time. While all chips appeared to look the same on the outside, one out of every six chips would be extra spicy. Owing to the spicy nature of one variety contained in the pack, in July 2015 George Pindar School reported an incident where an asthmatic student "suffered some difficulty breathing after eating one". Doritos Roulette returned to store shelves on April 12, 2021. On 6 October, 2022, Doritos launched two new flavours in the UK inspired by the nations favourite pizzas, "Triple Cheese Pizza" and "Loaded Pepperoni Pizza" flavours were launched and added to the range.


title: Doritos

text: The brand's marketing campaigns have included many television commercials featuring Avery Schreiber, Jay Leno, and Ali Landry, as well as product placement in movies, such as "Wayne's World".


title: Doritos

text: For many years, Doritos advertised heavily during the Super Bowl. According to Thomas L. Harris's "Value-Added Public Relations", "the most-used single video news release of 1995" was a Doritos Super Bowl Commercial featuring recently defeated US state governors Mario Cuomo and Ann Richards. The pair were discussing change and the ad ended with viewers aware that the change they referred to was not political, but rather a new packaging for Doritos. The ad generated a great deal of publicity before it ever ran and much discussion afterward. The governors later parodied their ad; when they were interviewed on the CBS news program "60 Minutes", the two were often seen eating Doritos.


title: Doritos

text: In 1998, Doritos cast former Miss USA Ali Landry in a new Super Bowl Commercial. In the ad, filmed in a Laundromat, she plays a sexy customer who catches Doritos chips in her mouth as they come flying helter-skelter. The ad was such a success that Frito-Lay signed Landry, who became known as "The Doritos Girl," to a three-year contract.


title: Doritos

text: For Super Bowl XLI, Doritos launched a contest, Crash the Super Bowl, to allow consumers to create their own Doritos commercial. The general public was allowed to vote for their favorite of five finalists. According to Doritos, the vote was so close that just before the game the company decided to run two of the ads rather than just one. Both commercials finished highly in ratings of commercials during this Super Bowl. The following year, Doritos sponsored a contest to find a musician to feature in a Super Bowl ad. Although the ad, featuring winner Kina Grannis, generated a lot of publicity, it ranked last in popularity among the program's ads.


title: Doritos

text: For Super Bowl XLIII, Doritos relaunched the fan-created commercials, with the winning vote going to the "Free Doritos" ad, which featured an office worker (Comedian Steve Booth) with a snow globe (believing it to be a crystal ball) "predicting" that everyone in the office would get free Doritos, then subsequently throws the snow globe into a vending machine selling nothing but Nacho Cheese & Cool Ranch Doritos. The commercial was ranked by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter as the best ad for the year, earning the creators of the ad – Joe and Dave Herbert – a $1 million prize. They again aired two ads during the game ads and the second place ad also placed in the top five according to USA Today. This ad featured a man who discovers that each crunch from his bag of Doritos causes whatever is on his mind to become reality (until he runs out of chips). Another popular commercial from the group of finalist included an executive making a presentation to other executives on a new (fictional) Doritos flavor called "Doritos Beer", which, as the name implies, is beer-flavored Doritos, with each chip containing as much alcohol as an equivalent of a 16-oz. can of beer. The executive making the presentation, eating the beer-flavored chips, ends up drunk on the chips and is down to his underwear and a tie by the end of the commercial. For Super Bowl XLIV, four ads were entered, and if three of the commercials sweep the top three positions in that year's Ad Meter contest, all of the creators would be awarded a total of $5 million, broken down as $1 million for first place, $600,000 for second and $400,000 for third, plus each maker would get an additional $1 million.


title: Doritos

text: For the Super Bowl XLIII as aired in Canada, Doritos aired the "Chip Hat" commercial advertising their new "unidentified flavor" chip flavor that offers a prize of CDN $25,000 + 1% of all associated sales to someone that can both name, and create an ad for the new flavor. The new winning name, Scream Cheese (or, in French, Fromage Fracassant), was submitted by Ryan Coopersmith of Montreal.


title: Doritos

text: For the Super Bowl XLIV Doritos aired the "House Rules" commercial, as a "Crash the Super Bowl" finalist. It was ranked by ADBOWL as the second best ad of the year.


title: Doritos

text: For Super Bowl XLVI, an ad aired featuring a Grandma and a baby attempting to get a bag of Doritos by a slingshot activated by a wheelchair. The bag was stolen by a child, constantly teasing them in the process. The baby reaches the bag and steals it back with just enough force to reach it. Flattering the child, Grandma and the baby eat the Doritos with ease.


title: Doritos

text: For Super Bowl XLIX, the ad featured a father offering a large bag of Doritos to his son only if he made pigs fly. The son then proceeded to attach rockets to a pig and the father then gave the bag of Doritos to his son.


title: Doritos

text: In 2008, Doritos were promoted by an "out-of-this-world" advertising campaign, literally beaming a 30-second advertisement for Doritos brand tortilla chips into a planetary system 42 light years away. The project was in collaboration with EISCAT Space Center in Svalbard, Norway. The "You Make It, We'll Play It" contest chose the winning advertisement that was transmitted on June 12, 2008. The ad was beamed towards 47 Ursae Majoris, a distant star within the Ursa Major constellation that is orbited by planets which may harbor life.


title: Doritos

text: Doritos was the main sponsor of Wolverhampton Wanderers for the 2002/03 and 2003/04 seasons, the latter of which was spent in the Premier League. Doritos officially sponsored the "Hail to the Cheese Stephen Colbert's Nacho Cheese Doritos 2008 Presidential Campaign Coverage." The money given to Colbert could not be used to directly fund his campaign, so he used the money to fund "The Colbert Report". He claimed that he would not use his show to plug Doritos, but plugged the chips during these claims. After the campaign flopped, Colbert joked that his "body will stop producing bright orange waste." In March 2008, Colbert partnered with Doritos, specifically the Spicy Sweet Chili flavor, to promote his Philadelphia-based coverage of the Pennsylvania primaries.


title: Doritos

text: In 2010, Doritos Canada launched a "Viralocity" competition, asking the public to name a new flavor and to produce an online video advertising the fictional new flavor. Natalie Armstrong submitted her video, and before long she received the most points based on numerous factors, including most widely viewed, winning a cash prize.


title: Doritos

text: In 2010, Doritos launched for the first time in New Zealand with Nacho Cheese, Cheese Supreme, Salsa, and Salted flavors. It replaced the long-running CC's brand.


title: Doritos

text: On September 20, 2011, retired Frito-Lay marketing executive Arch West, who was credited for creating Doritos as the first national tortilla chip brand, died in Dallas at age 97. It is said that corporate response showed little enthusiasm to the tortilla chip idea, but more marketing research led to the Doritos release.


title: Doritos

text: To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Taco Bell, Doritos and Taco Bell partnered to form the Doritos Locos Tacos, introduced on March 8, 2012. The taco is a standard Crunchy Taco. The taco comes either as a Doritos Locos Taco Supreme (ground beef, lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and sour cream), or a Regular Doritos Locos Taco (ground beef, lettuce, and shredded cheese), but the taco shell is made out of Nacho Cheese Doritos. From 1978 to 1997, both Taco Bell and Doritos were under the same corporate umbrella within PepsiCo until PepsiCo spun off its restaurant business into what would eventually become what is now Yum! Brands.


title: Doritos

text: In March 2012, a new line of Doritos were introduced: Doritos Jacked. The chips are 40% larger than standard Doritos.


title: Doritos

text: In March 2013, Doritos redesigned its packaging and logo as part of its first global marketing campaign. The "For the Bold" campaign will use crowdsourcing initiatives from 37 countries, emphasizing Dorito's focus on its consumers "living for the moment" attitude. The campaign kicked off at the South by Southwest Music Conference.


title: Doritos

text: In April 2013, Doritos released Doritos Locos Chips with Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch to match Taco Bells campaign.


title: Doritos

text: In July 2014, 7-11 released a new snack called Doritos Loaded. The breaded cheese snack was released by PepsiCo's as its first frozen food product, also available in grocery stores.


title: Doritos

text: Current flavors of Doritos (as of November 2014) marketed in Canada are Nacho Cheese, Zesty Cheese, Cool Ranch, Spicy Nacho, Jalapeño Cheddar, Intense Pickle, Roulette (Nacho Cheese with 1 in 7 chips being hot) and Sweet Chili Heat. Brief stints of Jacked, Taco, Guacamole, Locos Nacho (taco and nacho), Locos Cool Ranch (taco and cool ranch) and Ketchup have been introduced with Guacamole lined to make a return in early 2015. Doritos Roasted Corn, Tapatio Hot Sauce, and Salsa Verde are also popular American flavors. Other Lines of Doritos are Doritos Jacked flavors such as Buffalo Wings and Spicy Street Taco and the Dynamitas flavor lines shaped in tubes. Dynamitas come in flavors such as Chile Limon, Nacho Picoso, and Spicy Habanero flavors.


title: Doritos

text: In January 2017, Doritos entered the Indonesian market. Flavors of Doritos marketed in Indonesia include Nacho Cheese, Barbecue and Roasted Corn, both of which are distributed by Indofood. It was initially imported from Saudi Arabia. As of late 2017, it is currently produced locally by Indofood Fritolay Makmur (currently Indofood Fortuna Makmur) at its factory in Tangerang, Indonesia. In September 2021, the brand of Doritos in Indonesia was renamed to Maxicorn because the license agreement between Indofood Fritolay Makmur and PepsiCo has ended.


title: Doritos

text: Doritos 3D is a line of puffed Doritos introduced in the 1990s and discontinued in the United States in the mid-2000s. These snacks have been described as "Doritos-meets-Bugles". Flavors included Jalapeño Cheddar, Nacho Cheese and Zesty Ranch. The Doritos 3D line of puffed Doritos is still sold in Mexico. On December 21, 2020, it was announced that Doritos 3D would be returning to shelves on December 28. The snack is now available in Chili Cheese Nacho and Spicy Ranch flavors.


title: Copshop

text: Copshop is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Joe Carnahan and written by Kurt McLeod and Carnahan, based on a story by McLeod and Mark Williams. The film stars Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, and Alexis Louder, and is set in a small-town police station that becomes the battleground between a hitman, a novice police officer, and a con artist.


title: Copshop

text: "Copshop" was released in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2021, by STXfilms, and was released in the United States on September 17, 2021, by Open Road Films. It received generally positive reviews from critics.


title: Copshop

text: Con artist and fixer Teddy Murretto is on the run in a stolen unmarked police car, which breaks down not far from a Nevada casino. In the midst of a brawl outside the casino, Murretto sucker-punches rookie police officer Valerie Young so that she will jail him and protect him from his pursuers. One of those pursuers, hitman Bob Viddick, gets himself incarcerated in the same small-town jail by pretending to be drunk and crashing a car into the police car Murretto had abandoned, which was being investigated by two state troopers.


title: Copshop

text: Murretto and Viddick are placed in separate cells, initially thwarting Viddick's plan to kill Murretto. However, Viddick has planted a small incendiary device at the station's entrance and when it ignites and the fire alarm goes off, he takes advantage of the confusion. Viddick beats a drunken man sharing his cell and incapacitates the police sergeant, stealing his gun. He is about to kill Murretto when Young interrupts him and returns him to his cell.


title: Copshop

text: Young, determined to find out the truth, finally gets Murretto to explain his story: he was working for a Nevada casino mob boss and tried to buy off the state's attorney general William Fenton. When Fenton didn't cooperate and was brutally killed, it turned out he had recorded his conversations with Murretto. To save his own skin Murretto agreed to work with the FBI, which led the mob boss to send hired killers after him.


title: Copshop

text: While Murretto and Viddick trade threats, a new killer enters the police station—Anthony Lamb, a second hitman hired to kill Murretto. Entering the station with a bouquet of balloons as cover, he quickly murders several police officers. Young discovers the carnage and retreats behind bulletproof glass to the holding cells containing Murretto and Viddick. In a hail of bullets, one of Young's own rounds ricochets and hits her in the abdomen. Corrupt police officer Huber, who has been stealing drugs from the evidence locker and has killed the sergeant during Lamb's shooting spree, reveals his betrayal to Young and joins forces with Lamb as they attempt to break through the wall of the holding cells.


title: Copshop

text: Murretto and Viddick appeal to Young for the keys to their cells. Murretto manages to convince Young to hand him the keys with the promise that he will return with a medical kit for her, to the dismay of Viddick. Young releases him to go after Huber and Lamb. Just as two of Young's fellow officers are shot by Lamb after they catch him and Huber trying to break through the wall, Murretto arrives on the scene and attacks Lamb and Huber. In a steam-filled shower room Lamb shoots Huber by mistake while himself being stalked by Murretto. Meanwhile Viddick shows up (having finally convinced Young to release him too), stabs Lamb and offers Murretto the chance to kill Lamb and avenge the death of his ex and son. Murretto instead shoots both Viddick and Lamb. Murretto returns to the battered doors of the holding cells seemingly to check on Young but instead pours gasoline all over the room, intending to light the entire station on fire and leave the scene, revealing his true nature.


title: Copshop

text: Just as Murretto is about to leave he is confronted by Young, who has meanwhile attended to her gunshot wound. She threatens to put him back in his cell, but Murretto kicks a gasoline bottle and shoots it, lighting the place on fire. Young engages in an intense gunfight with Murretto and is finally about to shoot him, when another corrupt cop (Detective Deena Schier, the investigating officer on the Fenton case) arrives and shoots her instead. Deena is promptly shot by Viddick, who had somehow survived being shot earlier, who then also shoots Murretto to complete his contract. Viddick then helps Young to safety outside while advising her to “let it go” and then escapes in a police car.


title: Copshop

text: While being taken away by ambulance, Young gets a radio dispatch about a stolen police vehicle from the station. She leaves the paramedics by the wayside, commandeers the ambulance and drives off in pursuit of Viddick, with both singing along with the same song on their vehicles' radios.


title: Copshop

text: In addition, the opening actor credits specifically include Ben Hoffman, who served as a Viddick stunt double, and Michael Morales, who served as the stunt coordinator.


title: Copshop

text: In September 2020, it was announced that Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo would star in the action thriller film "Copshop", which would be directed by Joe Carnahan. The screenplay was written by Kurt McLeod, based on a story by McLeod and Mark Williams. It is the first produced screenplay for McLeod, who works as a financial advisor in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The most recent draft was written by Carnahan. The film was produced by Williams and Tai Duncan through Zero Gravity Management, Warren Goz and Eric Gold through Sculptor Media, Butler and Alan Siegel through their company G-BASE Productions, and Carnahan and Grillo through their company WarParty Films.


title: Copshop

text: In October 2020, Alexis Louder was cast in the third starring role. Later that month, Ryan O'Nan, Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau and Toby Huss were cast in supporting roles.


title: Copshop

text: Principal photography began in October 2020 at Blackhall Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Filming also took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On October 2, filming was shut down after three crew members tested positive for COVID-19 in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. Filming had resumed by October 5, and had wrapped by November 20.


title: Copshop

text: According to Frank Grillo, director Joe Carnahan's cut of the film was rejected in favor of a different cut which did not include as much of his performance.


title: Copshop

text: "Copshop" was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on September 10, 2021, by STXfilms and was released in the United States on September 17, 2021, by Open Road Films.


title: Copshop

text: The film released digitally on November 23, 2021 and on Blu-ray and DVD in December 7, 2021. Netflix released the film on January 15, 2022 in multiple regions.


title: Copshop

text: "Copshop" grossed $5.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $6.7 million.


title: Copshop

text: In the United States and Canada, "Copshop" was released alongside "Cry Macho", and was projected to gross around $5 million from 3,005 theaters in opening weekend. The film made $950,000 on its first day and went on to debut to $2.3 million, finishing sixth at the box office. It was the second-worst opening of all-time by a film playing in over 3,000 theaters. The film dropped 45% to $1.3 million in its second weekend, finishing eighth.


title: Copshop

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 108 reviews, with an average rating of 6.50/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "It doesn't add many new ingredients to the genre, but action fans in the mood for an old-school thriller will be happy to buy what "Copshop" is selling." On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film a 62% positive score, with 39% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Copshop

text: Ian Freer of "Empire" magazine called it "A simple, effective thriller, "Copshop" doubles down on pulpy, '70s-styled fun. It proffers little that is novel but has enough vim and vigour to compensate."


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Rat Race is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Jerry Zucker. Inspired by Stanley Kramer's 1963 film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", the film features an ensemble cast consisting of Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Wayne Knight, Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Lanei Chapman, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Seth Green, Vince Vieluf, John Cleese and Dave Thomas.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: The film centers on six teams of people who are given the task of racing from a Las Vegas casino to a Silver City, New Mexico train station where a storage locker contains a duffel bag filled with $2 million. Each team is given a key to the locker and the first person to reach the locker gets the money.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Produced by Fireworks Pictures, Alphaville Films and Zucker's Zucker Productions, the film was released theatrically by Paramount Pictures on August 17, 2001, in the United States and Canada. Despite receiving mixed to negative reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, having grossed $85.5 million worldwide against a $48 million budget, and in recent years has developed a cult following.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Eccentric tycoon Donald Sinclair devises a game to entertain the high rollers who visit his Las Vegas casino. He arranges for six competitors to race the to Silver City, New Mexico, where $2 million is in a train station locker. Sinclair's guests place bets on who will win.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: The racers consist of dimwitted con-artist brothers Duane and Blaine Cody, uptight businesswoman Merrill Jennings and her overly optimistic mother Vera, disgraced football referee Owen Templeton, gambling addict Randy Pear and his family, narcoleptic Italian tourist Enrico Pollini, and no-nonsense attorney Nick Schaffer. Having initially agreed not to play, greed takes over and they start to race.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Duane and Blaine destroy the airport radar, grounding everybody else but wrecking their vehicle so they steal another. They split up to better their chances. They have a locksmith create a duplicate locker key but he overhears their plan and makes off with the key in a hot air balloon. The brothers catch him and leave him and a stray cow hanging from the balloon's anchor rope. Their car is crushed by a monster truck which they then steal.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Merrill and Vera are given malicious directions and crash. They steal a rocket car until it runs out of fuel, then stumble onto a busload of mental patients headed for Silver City.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Owen is kicked out of a taxi and pantsed for his bad call at a football game that caused the driver to lose his bet. He impersonates the driver of a busload of Lucille Ball cosplayers. He hits the cow dangling from the balloon and crashes. He reveals that he is not the real driver and the enraged women chase him. He escapes and steals a horse to ride to Silver City.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Randy and his family, at the insistence of their daughter, visit a museum to Nazi Klaus Barbie, believing it to be about Barbie the doll. They steal Adolf Hitler's staff car after Duane and Blaine sabotage their vehicle. When his family insist they end the trip, Randy drugs them with sleeping pills and bundles them into a semi-truck.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Nick chooses not to participate but changes his mind when he meets Tracy Faucet, who gives him a lift in her helicopter. She uses it to attack her cheating boyfriend, then having damaged the helicopter she and Nick steal the boyfriend's truck and form a romantic relationship while driving to Silver City.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Enrico is more excited by the race than the money but falls asleep at the start, only waking hours later. He gets a ride from Zack, an ambulance driver delivering a transplant heart. Enrico inadvertently drops the heart out of the window, whereupon it is stolen by a dog, which is then electrocuted on an electric fence. Zack decides to kill Enrico to replace the missing heart. Enrico escapes by boarding a passing train where he drops his key in a baby's diaper and, retrieving it, is mistaken for a pedophile. He is thrown out at Silver City station and is the first to reach the locker, only to fall asleep upon unlocking it.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: The racers reunite in Silver City and fight to open the locker only to find it empty. Outside, Sinclair's assistant Grisham and call girl Vicki are making off with the money. The locksmith maneuvers the balloon to drop the cow on Grisham and ties the money bag to the balloon. The racers chase the balloon to a Smash Mouth charity concert. The band and crowd mistake the money for a donation. Once the racers see the charitable good spirit engendered, they are persuaded to donate. Nick horrifies Sinclair and his patrons by announcing that Sinclair and the gamblers will match the money raised. Sinclair is distraught as the donations total shoots past $19 million while the racers dance to "All Star".


title: Rat Race (film)

text: "Rat Race" was initially written by Darryl Quarles as a spec script. By February 1999, the script had been sold to Hollywood Pictures and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. In August 1999, Jerry Zucker was in negotiations to direct the film for Paramount Pictures from a screenplay written by Andy Breckman that would be set in Las Vegas, Nevada and in New Mexico.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Paramount hoped to begin production of the film in the end of 1999 or the beginning of 2000. Jerry and Janet Zucker were to produce the film alongside Sean Daniel, while Daniel's partner in Alphaville Films, James Jacks, would serve as executive producer. The filmmakers initially considered having the film's characters race from Las Vegas, Nevada to Las Vegas, New Mexico, but the idea was rejected following concerns that it might confuse viewers.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: In January 2000, Las Vegas, Nevada was confirmed as a filming location for "Rat Race". Location scouting in southern Nevada was scheduled for May 2000, while filming in the area was delayed until the fall of 2000, to avoid shooting the film in one hundred degree summer heat. Breckin Meyer and Amy Smart were cast in the film in June 2000, while Dean Cain also joined the cast in October.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Actor John Cleese praised the script as one of only two scripts during his career that he enjoyed: "It's so unusual to get a top class script. Twice in my life I've had the experience of reading a script and simply saying, 'I'm going to do this.'"


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Filming began in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in August 2000. Filming took place primarily along Calgary's highways, which stood in as highways that the characters travel on in Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Desert scenes were shot in the Canadian town of Drumheller. Second unit filming began in Las Vegas on August 7, 2000, with scenes primarily involving Cuba Gooding Jr.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Scheduled filming locations included the Las Vegas Strip, Tropicana Avenue (east of the Las Vegas Strip), McCarran International Airport, and Nevada State Route 159. Other scheduled filming locations in Nevada included Goodsprings and Sandy Valley.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Scenes involving Gooding and the group of Lucy impersonators were shot in the Canadian Rockies. Jerry Zucker, who had a tradition of including his mother Charlotte in each of his films beginning with "Airplane!", had her portray one of the Lucy impersonators. Jerry Zucker said, "It's like the Alfred Hitchcock signature. Instead of me, it's mom." Filming also took place at Calgary's former Currie Barracks military base, which had been converted to accommodate film and television productions.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Sound stages were constructed inside two aircraft hangars at the base to be used for many of the film's interior scenes, including the Venetian's hotel rooms and conference room. Driving scenes, using green screens and rear projection effects, were also shot inside the hangars. The scene with the coin toss by Owen Templeton was filmed at Calgary's McMahon Stadium during a game on September 4.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Filming returned to Las Vegas for a nine-day period beginning on September 20, 2000, with the first three days spent at the McCarran International Airport, before moving to the Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip for a six-day shoot. Venetian officials negotiated with Paramount for six months to use the resort in the film. Scenes were shot throughout the Venetian, with the exception of its hotel rooms. Venetian scenes included the casino, lobby, and the entrance to its valet parking garage, as well as exterior shots of the resort. Approximately 1,000 background extras were needed during the second Las Vegas shoot. On September 25, 2000, second unit filming took place along Nevada State Route 161, leading to Goodsprings.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Filming in Las Vegas concluded on September 29, 2000, and production moved to Ely, Nevada, which stood in as Silver City, New Mexico. Ely's Nevada Northern Railway Museum stood in as the Silver City train station. According to the Nevada Film Office, the filmmakers "fell in love" with the museum after being shown pictures of it. As a result, the initial two day shoot in Ely was extended to six days. Ely's western entrance, accessed from U.S. Route 50, was used as the entrance to Silver City.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: After concluding in Ely, production crews relocated to southern California for the final six weeks of filming, mainly for exterior scenes. California filming primarily occurred in Antelope Valley, Palmdale, Acton, Santa Clarita, and Newhall. Rosamond, California was also a primary location, with filming occurring during a three-week period in October 2000. Smart's helicopter scenes were filmed at 3118 Carnation Street in Rosamond. Additional filming in California occurred at Big Sky Ranch and El Mirage Lake.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Sinclair and the gamblers' eccentric habits are further exaggerated in deleted scenes, where they partake in many more ridiculous bets, including playing "Monopoly" with real money. In another scene, a high roller pretends to find what they are doing immoral. Professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page and his wife, Kimberly, had a cameo that was cut when test audiences failed to give his appearance any reaction. The scene is available on the DVD release.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: "Rat Race" was released in both the United States and Canada on August 17, 2001, and grossed US$11,662,094 in its opening weekend at the North American box office, ranking third behind "American Pie 2" and "Rush Hour 2". The film ultimately grossed $56.6 million domestically and $28.8 million overseas for a worldwide total of approximately $85.5 million based on a budget of an estimated $48 million, making it commercially successful.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: The film was released in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2002, and opened also at number three behind the non-comedic "" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". For the next two weekends, the film regained the spot, before moving down one place and then four places down before finally ending up on No. 10 on February 10, 2002.


title: Rat Race (film)

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 44% "Rotten" rating based on 128 reviews with an average rating of 4.94/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Rat Race" moves from one sight gag to another, but only a handful of them are genuinely funny." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 52 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja's guru was Yādava Prakāśa, a scholar who according to tradition belonged to the Advaita Vedānta tradition, but probably was a Bhedabheda scholar. Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Ramanuja disagreed with his guru and the non-dualistic Advaita Vedānta, and instead followed in the footsteps of Tamil Alvārs tradition, the scholars Nāthamuni and Yamunāchārya. Ramanuja is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita subschool of Vedānta, and his disciples were likely authors of texts such as the Shatyayaniya Upanishad. Ramanuja himself wrote influential texts, such as bhāsya on the "Brahma Sutras" and the "Bhagavad Gita", all in Sanskrit.


title: Ramanuja

text: His Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism) philosophy has competed with the Dvaita (theistic dualism) philosophy of Madhvāchārya, and Advaita (non-dualism) philosophy of Ādi Shankara, together the three most influential Vedantic philosophies of the 2nd millennium. Ramanuja presented the epistemic and soteriological importance of bhakti, or the devotion to a personal God (Vishnu in Ramanuja's case) as a means to spiritual liberation. His theories assert that there exists a plurality and distinction between Ātman (soul) and Brahman (metaphysical, ultimate reality), while he also affirmed that there is unity of all souls and that the individual soul has the potential to realize identity with the Brahman.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja was born into a Tamil Brahmin community, in a village called Sriperumbudur (present-day Tamil Nadu) under the Chola Empire. His followers in the Vaishnava tradition wrote hagiographies, some of which were composed in centuries after his death, and which the tradition believes to be true.


title: Ramanuja

text: The traditional hagiographies of Ramanuja state he was born to mother Kānthimathi and father Asuri Keshava Somayāji, in Sriperumbudur, near modern Chennai, Tamil Nādu. He is believed to have been born in the month of Chithirai under the star Tiruvadhirai. They place his life in the period of 1017–1137 CE, yielding a lifespan of 120 years. These dates have been questioned by modern scholarship, based on temple records and regional literature of 11th- and 12th-century outside the Sri Vaishnava tradition, and modern era scholars suggest that Ramanuja may have lived in 1077–1157 CE.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja married, moved to Kānchipuram, and studied with Yādava Prakāśa as his guru. Ramanuja and his guru frequently disagreed in interpreting Vedic texts, particularly the Upanishads. Ramanuja and Yādava Prakāśa separated, and thereafter Ramanuja continued his studies on his own.


title: Ramanuja

text: He attempted to meet another famed Vedanta scholar of 11th-century Yamunāchārya, but Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that the latter died before the meeting and they never met. Ramanuja was the great-grandson of Yamunāchārya through a granddaughter. However, some hagiographies assert that the corpse of Yamunāchārya miraculously rose and named Ramanuja as the new leader of Sri Vaishnava sect previously led by Yamunāchārya. One hagiography states that after leaving Yādava Prakāśa, Ramanuja was initiated into Sri Vaishnavism by Periya Nambi, also called Mahapurna, another Vedānta scholar. Ramanuja renounced his married life, and became a Hindu monk. However, states Katherine Young, the historical evidence on whether Ramanuja led a married life or he did renounce and became a monk is uncertain.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja became a priest at the Varadharāja Perumal temple (Vishnu) at Kānchipuram, where he began to teach that moksha (liberation and release from "samsara") is to be achieved not with metaphysical, "nirguna" Brahman but with the help of personal god and "saguna" Vishnu. Ramanuja has long enjoyed foremost authority in the Sri Vaishnava tradition.


title: Ramanuja

text: A number of traditional biographies of Ramanuja are known, some written in 12th century, but some written centuries later such as the 17th or 18th century, particularly after the split of the community into the and , where each community created its own version of Ramanuja's hagiography. The ' by Brahmatantra Svatantra Jīyar represents the earliest biography, and reflects the view of the succession following Ramanuja. ', on the other hand, represents the Tenkalai biography. Other late biographies include the "Yatirajavaibhavam" by Andhrapurna.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja grew up in the Tamil culture, in a stable society during the rule of the Chola dynasty. This period was one of pluralistic beliefs, where Vaishnava, Shaiva, Smarta traditions, Buddhism and Jainism thrived together. In Hindu monastic tradition, Advaita Vedānta had been dominant, and Ramanuja's guru Yādava Prākāsha belonged to this tradition. Prior to Ramanuja, the Sri Vaishnava sampradaya was already an established organization under Yamunāchārya, and bhakti songs and devotional ideas already a part of Tamil culture because of the twelve Alvārs. Ramanuja's fame grew because he was considered the first thinker in centuries that disputed Shankara's theories, and offered an alternative interpretation of Upanishadic scriptures.


title: Ramanuja

text: When Ramanuja and his guru Yadava Prakaasa parted ways due to their differences in interpreting the Vedic literature, Ramanuja became a devotee of the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchi. During this period, Ramanuja's discourses and fame reached far and wide. Yamunacharya, the Vaishnavite acharya and the religious head of the Ranganathasamy temple at Srirangam had been closely following Ramanuja from a very young age. When it was time to pass on the legacy, the acharya decided that he would call upon Ramanuja. Accordingly, he summoned Sri Mahapurna, a disciple who was helping him out with the temple affairs and asked him to go to Kanchi and bring Ramanuja.


title: Ramanuja

text: When Mahapurna met Ramanuja and informed him of his guru's desire, Ramanuja was overjoyed and they both immediately left for Srirangam. But bad news awaited them at Srirangam and they both learned that Yamunacharya had died. Heart-broken, Ramanuja then left for Kanchi and refused to worship Sri Ranganatha for he held him responsible for taking away Yamunacharya from this world. As for Mahapurna, he began to assist Tiruvaranga Araiyar, the son of Yamunacharya in managing the temple affairs. But as time passed by, Tiruvaranga Araiyar and other senior members of the Vaishnavite order felt that there was a vacuum after Yamunacharya's demise and that they lacked a person who could interpret the Vedas and Sastras like Yamunacharya. So it was finally decided that Sri Mahapurna should once again go and invite Ramanuja to Srirangam.


title: Ramanuja

text: Meanwhile, in Kanchi, Ramanuja met with Kanchipurna, a fellow devotee, regularly and soon decided that he would become Kanchipurna's disciple. When he approached Kanchipurna about this, Kanchipurna politely refused as he did not belong to the same caste as Ramanuja and told him that he would get a more appropriate guru. After this Kanchipurna left for Tirupati to worship Lord Venkateswara and would return only after six months. When he finally came back, it was through him that Lord Varadaraja conveyed his wish to Ramanuja. Accordingly, Kanchipurna advised Ramanuja that it was the Lord's wish that he leave for Srirangam and find solace in Sri Mahapurna.


title: Ramanuja

text: After it was decided that Mahapurna would go and invite Ramanuja to Srirangam, the acharya left for Kanchi with his wife. While on his way to Kanchi, Mahapurna and his wife decided to take some rest at Maduranthakam, a place that is located 40 km from present day Chennai. As fate would have it Ramanuja, who was on his way to Srirangam, arrived at the same place and to his joy found Mahapurna. They soon embraced each other and Ramanuja requested that he waste no time in initiating him into the Vaishnavite order. Mahapurna immediately obliged and Ramanuja received the Panchasamskaras (the five sacraments).


title: Ramanuja

text: Some hagiographies, composed centuries after Ramanuja died, state that a Chola king, Kulothunga II, had immense hatred towards Sri Vaishnavism. He was called Kirimikanta Chola or worm-necked Chola, so called as the king is said to have suffered from the cancer of the neck or throat. Historian Nilakanta Sastri identifies Krimikanta Chola with Adhirajendra Chola or Virarajendra Chola with whom the main line (Vijayalaya line) ended. Knowing the evil intentions of the king, Sri Rāmānujā's disciple, Sri Koorathazhwan persuaded Ramanuja to leave the Chola kingdom. Sri Rāmānujā then moved to Hoysala kingdom for 14 years, wherein he converted a Jain king, Bitti Deva to Hinduism after miraculously healing his daughter. Bitti Deva changed his name to Vishnuvardhana. King Vishnuvardhana assisted Sri Rāmānujā to build a temple of Lord Thirunarayanaswamy at Melukote which is presently a temple town in Mandya district of Karnataka. Rāmānujā later returned on his own to Tamil Nādu after the demise of Krimikanta Chola. According to Sastri, Krimikanta or Adhirajendra Chola was killed in a local uprising of the Vaishnavas.


title: Ramanuja

text: According to "Koil Olugu" (temple records) of the Srirangam temple, Kulottunga III was the son of Krimikanta Chola or Karikala Chola. The former, unlike his father, is said to have been a repentant son who supported Vaishnavism. Ramanuja is said to have made Kulottunga III as a disciple of his nephew, Dasarathi. The king then granted the management of the Ranganathaswamy temple to Dasarathi and his descendants as per the wish of Ramanuja. Some historians hold that Krimikanta, the persecutor of Ramanuja had a personal animosity towards Ramanuja and did not persecute Vaishnavites.


title: Ramanuja

text: The Sri Vaishnavite order prior to Ramanuja was not averse to people from other castes as both Kanchipurna and Mahapurna were non-Brahmins. So when Ramanuja revolted against the discrimination that had crept within the caste system, he was simply following the same lines as the Alwars and helped the people who were considered to be untouchables (dasa, dasulu, dasu), to get absorbed into the Sri Vaishnava Bhakthi Movement, encouraging them to attain Spiritual enlightenment by teaching them Sri Alwar Divyaprabandham. He called these downtrodden classes as "Tirukulattar", meaning "of noble descent" in Tamil, and was instrumental in admitting them into the temple in Melukote. Ramanuja's liberal views also led to the reorganization of rituals in Srirangam and the involvement of non-Brahmin people in the Vaishnava worship. This policy change contributed to the enhancement of social status for artisanal and other non-Brahmin caste groups, especially the weavers (SenguntharKaikola Mudaliyar) who were one of the chief beneficiaries. After the period of Ramanuja, the Sri Vaishnava community split on this issue and formed the Vadakalai (northern and Sanskritic) and Thenkalai (southern and Tamil) sects. Both sects believe in initiation into Sri Vaishnavism through Pancha Samskara. This ceremony or rite of passage is necessary for one to become a Sri Vaishnava Brahmin. It is performed by Brahmins and non-Brahmins in order to become Vaishnavas.


title: Ramanuja

text: There were multiple attempts on Ramanuja's life. When he was a student under Yadava Prakasa, the latter grew jealous of Ramanuja's rise to fame. So Yadava Prakasa tried to get rid of Ramanuja during a tour to the Ganges in northern India. Govinda, Ramanuja's cousin (son of his mother's sister), learned of this plot and warned Ramanuja who then left the group and escaped to Kanchi with the help of an elderly hunter couple. Later Yadava Prakasa realised his folly and became a disciple under Ramanuja.


title: Ramanuja

text: Later another attempt was made on Ramanuja's life while he was about to take charge of the temple affairs in Srirangam. The head priest of the Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam did not like Ramanuja and decided to kill him. Accordingly, he invited Ramanuja to his house for having food and planned to kill him by poisoning his food. However, when Ramanuja arrived, the priest's wife saw the divine glow of Ramanuja and immediately confessed her husband's plan. This did not deter the priest who then made another attempt when Ramanuja visited the temple. He poisoned the temple "Theertham"(holy water) and served it to Ramanuja. However instead of dying Ramanuja began to dance with joy. The priest taken aback at once realised his mistake and fell at the feet of Ramanuja.


title: Ramanuja

text: The Sri Vaisnava tradition attributes nine Sanskrit texts to Ramanuja – "Vedārthasangraha" (literally, "Summary" of the "Vedas meaning"), "Sri Bhāshya" (a review and commentary on the "Brahma Sutras"), "Bhagavad Gita Bhāshya" (a review and commentary on the "Bhagavad Gita"), and the minor works titled "Vedāntadipa", "Vedāntasāra", "Gadya Trayam" (which is a compilation of three texts called the "Saranāgati Gadyam", "Sriranga Gadyam" and the "Srivaikunta Gadyam"), and "Nitya Grantham".


title: Ramanuja

text: Some scholars have questioned the authenticity of the majority of his work but the three of the largest works credited to Ramanuja – Shri Bhāshya, Vedārthasangraha and the Bhagavad Gita Bhāshya.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja's philosophical foundation was qualified monism, and is called "Vishishtadvaita" in the Hindu tradition. His ideas are one of three subschools in Vedānta, the other two are known as Ādi Shankara's Advaita (absolute monism) and Madhvāchārya's Dvaita (dualism).


title: Ramanuja

text: Rāmānuja's epistemology is hyperrealistic or similar to naïve empiricism. The first two sources of knowledge are perception and inference, and they are trustworthy notwithstanding general human subjection to "beginningless ignorance." Knowledge is always of the real, even in dreams, and error is a disordered perception or faulty inference concerning what is really there. The third source of knowledge is the testimony of scripture, or more strictly, "śabda" ("eternal sound"), which helps to establish much that is uncertain on the basis of sense perception and inference, notably the existence and nature of the ultimate reality ("brahman" ). Though unlike some proponents of naïve empiricism, Rāmānuja does not think that it suffices to intermittently have an acquaintance with objects of knowledge. Knowledge ("jñāna") only occurs when there is direct perception of an object. Unlike proper empiricists, Rāmānuja does not restrict knowledge to that which can be gathered from the senses. Rāmānuja was unique in his view that "bhakti" or devotion is itself an epistemic state. He says that when "bhakti" takes firm root in an individual, it turns into "parabhakti", which is the highest form of "bhakti" and that "bhakti" is the direct awareness of Brahman's nature and thus is a kind of knowledge ("jñāna").


title: Ramanuja

text: According to Rāmānuja, the greatest good consists of knowing our true nature and of knowing the true nature of Brahman. "Moksha", or spiritual liberation, is seen as the joy of contemplating Brahman (rather than release from the life-death-rebirth cycle), and that joy is the result of devotion, praise, worship and contemplating the divine perfection. Knowledge of "Brahman" consists in liberation, for Rāmānuja, mainly because of the character of "Brahman". He writes:"Entities other than "Brahman" can be objects of such cognitions of the nature of joy only to a finite extent and for limited duration. But "Brahman" is such that cognizing of him is an infinite and abiding joy. It is for this reason that the "śruti" [scripture] says, `"Brahman" is bliss’ ("Taittirīya Upaniṣad" II.6.) Since the form of cognition as joy is determined by its object, "Brahman" itself is joy."Rāmānuja is explicit in holding that theoretical knowledge of "Brahman"‘s nature will not suffice to procure liberation. The remedy to be employed, according Rāmānuja, is what he calls "bhakti" yoga, or the discipline of devotion or worship. For Ramanuja, liberation ("moksha") is not a negative separation from transmigration, or a series of rebirths, but rather the joy of the contemplating the divine perfection. This joy is attained by a life of exclusive devotion ("bhakti") to Brahman, singing his praise, performing adulatory acts in temple and private worship, and constantly dwelling on his perfections. In return, Brahman will offer his grace, which will assist the devotee in gaining release.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja argued that Shankara's interpretation of the Upanishads had serious errors. His major objections were fourfold: (1) He argued that Brahman was differentiated consciousness and not undifferentiated consciousness; (2) He argued that Shankara's concept of Nirguna Brahman was wrong and untenable; (3) He argued that beginningless "karma," and not superimposition, was the cause of "avidya"; and (4) He rejected Sankara's doctrine of Avidya (Ignorance) and Maya (Illusion) on the basis that it had seven major flaws and inconsistencies.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja accepted that the Vedas are a reliable source of knowledge, then critiqued other schools of Hindu philosophy, including Advaita Vedānta, as having failed in interpreting all of the Vedic texts. He asserted, in his "Sri Bhāshya", that "purvapaksin" (previous schools) selectively interpret those Upanishadic passages that support their monistic interpretation, and ignore those passages that support the pluralism interpretation. There is no reason, stated Ramanuja, to prefer one part of a scripture and not other, the whole of the scripture must be considered on par. One cannot, according to Ramanuja, attempt to give interpretations of isolated portions of any scripture. Rather, the scripture must be considered one integrated corpus, expressing a consistent doctrine. The Vedic literature, asserted Ramanuja, mention both plurality and oneness, therefore the truth must incorporate pluralism and monism, or qualified monism.


title: Ramanuja

text: This method of scripture interpretation distinguishes Ramanuja from Ādi Shankara. Shankara's exegetical approach "Samanvayat Tatparya Linga" with "Anvaya-Vyatireka", states that for proper understanding all texts must be examined in their entirety and then their intent established by six characteristics, which includes studying what is stated by the author to be his goal, what he repeats in his explanation, then what he states as his conclusion and whether it can be epistemically verified. Not everything in any text, states Shankara, has equal weight and some ideas are the essence of any expert's textual testimony. This philosophical difference in scriptural studies helped Shankara conclude that the Principal Upanishads primarily teach monism with teachings such as "Tat tvam asi", while helping Ramanuja conclude that qualified monism is at the foundation of Hindu spirituality.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita shares the theistic devotionalism ideas with Madhvāchārya's Dvaita. Both schools assert that Jīva (human souls) and Brahman (as Vishnu) are different, a difference that is never transcended. God Vishnu alone is independent, all other gods and beings are dependent on Him, according to both Madhvāchārya and Ramanuja. However, in contrast to Madhvāchārya's views, Ramanuja asserts "qualified non-dualism", that souls share the same essential nature of Brahman, and that there is a universal sameness in the quality and degree of bliss possible for human souls, and every soul can reach the bliss state of God Himself. While the 13th- to 14th-century Madhavāchārya asserted both "qualitative and quantitative pluralism of souls", Ramanuja asserted "qualitative monism and quantitative pluralism of souls", states Sharma.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualistic Vedānta schools, both are premised on the assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvāchārya believed that some souls are eternally doomed and damned. Shankara's theory posits that only Brahman and causes are metaphysical unchanging reality, while the empirical world (Maya) and observed effects are changing, illusive and of relative existence. Spiritual liberation to Shankara is the full comprehension and realization of oneness of one's unchanging Ātman (soul) as the same as Ātman in everyone else as well as being identical to the "nirguna" Brahman. In contrast, Ramanuja's theory posits both Brahman and the world of matter are two different absolutes, both metaphysically real, neither should be called false or illusive, and "saguna" Brahman with attributes is also real. God, like man, states Ramanuja, has both soul and body, and all of the world of matter is the glory of God's body. The path to Brahman (Vishnu), asserted Ramanuja, is devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of personal god ("saguna" Brahman, Vishnu).


title: Ramanuja

text: Harold Coward describes Ramanuja as "the founding interpreter of Sri Vaisnavite scripture." Wendy Doniger calls him "probably the single most influential thinker of devotional Hinduism". J. A. B. van Buitenen states that Ramanuja was highly influential, by giving "bhakti an intellectual basis", and his efforts made bhakti the major force within different traditions of Hinduism.


title: Ramanuja

text: Modern scholars have compared the importance of Ramanuja in Hinduism to that of scholar Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in Western Christianity.


title: Ramanuja

text: Ramanuja reformed the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple complex, undertook India-wide tours and expanded the reach of his organization. The temple organization became the stronghold of his ideas and his disciples. It is here that he wrote his influential Vishishtadvaita philosophy text, "Sri Bhashyam", over a period of time.