title: Kuchipudi

text: After the ban, many Indians protested against the caricature and cultural discrimination, launching their efforts to preserve and reinvigorate their culture. Due to these efforts from 1920s onwards, the classical Indian dances witnessed a period of renaissance. Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastri (1886–1956) was the influential figure who led the effort to save, reconstruct and revive Kuchipudi performance art. Sastri worked closely with other revivalists, between 1920 and 1950, particularly Balasaraswati and others determined to save and revive Bharatanatyam.


title: Kuchipudi

text: The three influential figures in Kuchipudi, during the first half of twentieth century, were Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastri, Vempati Venkatanarayana Sastri and Chinta Venkataramayya. Sastri focused on reviving and relaunching Kuchipudi after classical Hindu dances came under sustained ridicule and political degradation in the British Raj, while Venkataramayya was influential in productions for public performances and developing specialized forms of Yakshagana – another classical Indian dance, and Kuchipudi. Sastri is also remembered for encouraging and teaching Indian women to dance Kuchipudi as solo performers and in teams, as well as working with artists of other classical dances such as the Bharatanatyam that enabled the sharing and cross flow of ideas. Vempati Venkatanarayana Sastri was the guru of Sastri, taught him Kuchipudi, and was a key figure in helping preserve Kuchipudi. The historic All India Dance Seminar, organized by the national arts organization Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1958, thrust Kuchipudi to the national stage.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Some Western dancers joined the Indians in preserving dance. The American dancer Esther Sherman, for example, moved to India in 1930, learnt Indian classical dances, changed her name to Ragini Devi, and joined the movement to save and revive classical Indian dances. Her daughter Indrani Bajpai (Indrani Rahman) learnt and became a celebrated Kuchipudi dancer. The public performances of Kuchipudi by Indrani Rahman and Yamini Krishnamurti outside of Andhra region, created wider enthusiasm and more interest through new students and the expansion of Kuchipudi as a creative performance art both within India and internationally. The latter half of the twentieth century was dominated by the Kuchipudi school of Vempati Chinna Satyam, whose efforts to further codify the modern repertoire earned him multiple accolades, including the Padma Bhushan.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Some of the Indian movie actresses such as Hema Malini started their career as a Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer. Kuchipudi performances have now spread world-wide.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Kuchipudi is a team performance, with roots in Hindu religious festivals. The drama-dance involves extensive stage movements and exacting footwork, wherein the underlying drama is mimed by expressive gestures of hand (mudras), eye and face movements. The expressive style is through a sign language that follows the classical pan-Indian Sanskrit texts such as "Natya Shastra", "Abhinaya Darpana" and "Nrityararnavali". The dance is accompanied with Carnatic music, while the recital is in Telugu language. Just like the Carnatic music style, Kuchipudi shares many postures and expressive gestures with Bharatanatyam, such as the "Ardhamandali" (half seating position or a partial squat, legs bent or knees flexed out). However, there are important differences, such as Bharatanatyam as a Hindu temple tradition trending towards geometric perfection and the spiritual, while Kuchipudi as a Hindu festival tradition trending towards more sensual supple and the folksy.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Traditionally the traveling dance troupe consisted entirely of men (often Brahmins), who moved from village to village, and performed on a stage set next to a Hindu temple. The male artists would dress up and act out the female role in a drama performed by these traveling troupes. In modern times, Kuchipudi has diversified, women have joined Kuchipudi dance, outnumber male artists, and are among its most celebrated artists. In some cases now, it is the Kuchipudi girl artists who dress up and act out the role of boys.


title: Kuchipudi

text: The repertoire of Kuchipudi, like all major classical Indian dance forms, follows the three categories of performance in the ancient Hindu text "Natya Shastra". These are "Nritta", "Nritya" and "Natya".


title: Kuchipudi

text: A complete Kuchipudi show sequence always consists of "nritta" and "nritya" in solo or group performance, but when the underlying text is a play, it may include a "natya". The nritta or pure abstract dance parts of Kuchipudi, states Reginald Massey, may include parts such as "darus", "jatis", "jatiswarams", "tirmanas" and "tillanas". The nritya or expressive performance in Kuchipudi includes "padams", "varnams", "shabdams" and "shlokas".


title: Kuchipudi

text: A Kuchipudi performance traditionally is a night performance, when rural families return from their farms and are free of their daily work. It has been performed in or next to a Hindu temple, and the stage lit by the yellow lights of castor oil burning torches. The dance-drama begins with an invocation ("melavimpu", "puvaranga"). This may be an on stage prayer to Ganesha, the Hindu god of good beginnings, or may be an invocation expressing reverence to various Hindu gods, goddesses, earth, or one's guru (teacher).


title: Kuchipudi

text: The conductor of the performance enters and plants an "Indra's banner" staff, then introduces all the actors and the characters they play, who are revealed behind a curtain, and when each actor arrives, colored resin is thrown into the flame of one or more torches for dramatic color effects and audience's attention. Each actor performs a short dance called the "Pravesa Daru" accompanied by a short musical piece, as the vocalist describes his or her role. The conductor is typically present throughout the performance, on the stage, explains the play, talks and humors the audience.


title: Kuchipudi

text: After the actors have been introduced, the nritta part of the Kuchipudi performance starts. The actors present a pure dance (jatis or jatiswarams), performed rhythmically to a musical raga, and these are called "Sollakath" or "Patakshara". A basic unit of dance in Kuchipudi is called a "adugu" (or "adugulu"), and these correspond to the "karana" in Natya Shastra. Each basic unit combines hand and foot movement into a harmonious "sthana" (posture) and "chari" (gait), that visually appeals to the audience wherever he or may be sitting. Each dance unit, according to the ancient text, is best performed to certain recitation of mnemonic syllables and musical beat. A series of "karana" form a "jati", formalized originally as an oral tradition through Sanskrit mnemonics, later written, and these form the foundation of what is performed in "nritta" sequence of Kuchipudi.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Thereafter comes the nritya, the expressive part called "abhinaya", and this is the heart of the play. The actor-dancer uses hand mudras and facial expressions inspired by the sign language in ancient Sanskrit texts, with an exacting footwork, to communicate the underlying story to the audience. A solo play or solo part of the performance is called a "Shabdam", and this may be set to a poem, a verse or a prose. A "varnam" combines dance with mime in order to draw out and express the "rasa" (emotional taste), and this can be solo or group. Parts set to poetry that are love lyrics or express deeper sentiments are called a "padam", and this part constitutes expressing the emotional, the allegorical and the spiritual aspects of the play.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Kavutvams are a feature of the performance that is distinctive to Kuchipudi. These are performed either as nritta or nritya, to different "talas", wherein the dancer adds acrobatics to the complexity of presentation. For example, the dancer may perform the footwork, rhythmically to music, while balancing a series of pots on his or her head, and then add burning Diya (lamp) in both hands, as the show goes on. Some artists dip their foot on a wet ink pad, then dance rhythmically on a blank white piece of paper, thus painting it; alternatively, the troupe places coloured rice powder on floor and on top the white piece of paper, then dances the musical composition on it, their weight and steps causing the pigment to stick. At the end of the performance, the artist shows the audience the nature scenery or bird or flower or Ganesha or something that results. A "Mayura Kavutvam" dance produces a painting of a peacock, a "Vinayaka Kavutvam" of Ganesha, a "Simhanandi Kavutvam" yields the painting of a lion, each set to a certain classical composition and beat, for instance.


title: Kuchipudi

text: The traditional Kuchipudi was performed by all males troupe. A dancer in a male role would be in "Angavastra", also known as "Bagalbandi", wear a "dhoti" (a single pleated piece of cloth hanging down from the waist). A dancer in a female role would wear a "Sari" with light makeup.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Modern productions retain the male dress, but are more elaborate and Bharatanatyam-like for the female roles. Women artists wear a brilliantly colourful "Sari" (or a body fitting dress) with a pleated fan stitched in front to help highlight the exacting footwork. The end of the wrapped "Sari" is held fast under a light metallic (golden or brass) belt at waist. A Kuchipudi artist braids her hair somewhat differently than a Bharatanatyam artist, to reflect the regional traditions, yet wearing flowers are common. Both have symbolic elements embedded in their hair and face jewelry, such as the Vedic symbolisms for the sun and the moon, the soul and the nature, and she sometimes sets her hairdo in the "tribhuvana" style which represents the three worlds. Her jewelry may include hair jewelry, ear, nose, armlets, necklaces and often a leather anklet piece with little bells ("gajjelu" or "ghungroo"). The forehead has a round red bindi or a symmetric tillaka, while the eyes are typically ringed with black collyrium to ease the viewing of expressions by the audience.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Some special Kuchipudi plays may include unusual costumes and theatrics, such as round bottom water pot balanced on the head, dancing with gymnastics or stilt athletics. Other plays may include wing props, a transparent head sheet, or peacock feathered crown to identify the actor playing Krishna.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Musical instruments used in Kuchipudi are cymbals, mridangam, violin, thambura, flute. The Kuchipudi performance is led by a conductor (chief musician) called the "Sutradhara" or "Nattuvanar", who typically keeps the beat using cymbals and also recites the musical syllables; the conductor may also sing out the story or spiritual message being enacted, or this may be a role of a separate vocalist or occasionally the dancer-actors themselves. The Kuchipudi orchestra ensemble includes a drummer ("mridangam"), a clarinetist and a violinist. Depending on the legend being danced out, other musicians such as a flutist may be present.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Kuchipudi has several regional "banis" (styles), which developed because of the uniqueness and creativity of gurus (teachers). This openness and flexibility has been a historic tradition in Indian dance culture, and is traceable to early times in Kuchipudi as the "Margi" and "Desi" styles in the text "Nrittaratnavali" of Jaya Senapati. According to Senapati, the "Desi" styles referred to one that incorporated innovations to the conservative "Margi" styles. Senapati lists examples of each. For "Margi" styles, he describes Vedayata, Veddangam, Bommalata, Perani, Chindu, Bahurupam, Pagativeshalu and others; while for "Desi" styles, Senapati describes Rasaka, Charchari, Bhandika, Kollata and others. Some of these styles are discernible in Warangal sculptures of the 13th century.


title: Kuchipudi

text: The dance styles are based on the standard treatises, Abhinaya Darpana and Bharatarnava of Nandikeswara, which is sub-divided into Nattuva Mala and Natya Mala. Nattuva Mala is of two types — the Puja dance performed on the Balipitha in the temple and the Kalika dance performed in a Kalyana Mandapam. Natya Mala is of three kinds — ritual dance for gods, Kalika dance for intellectuals and Bhagavatam for common place.


title: Kuchipudi

text: The most popular dance-drama is "Bhama Kalapam" of Sidhyendra Yogi. Narayana Teertha composed the "Krishna Lila Tarangini", a story of Krishna's life beginning from his birth to his marriage to Rukmini. Ramaiah Sastri, inspired by the "Bhama Kalapam", wrote the "Golla Kalapam", which portrays the theme of an ethical satirical conversation between a Gopi and a Brahmin. Other commonly performed plays are the dance-songs ("kritis") of Thyagaraja, and the 700 surviving "padams" out of 4500 composed by Kshetrayya of Movva.


title: Kuchipudi

text: Traditional compositions that have been internationally performed by Kuchipudi artists, particularly among Telugu diaspora communities, include "Srinivasa Kalyanam", "Rukmini Kalyanam" (marriage of Krishna and Rukmini), "Sakuntalam Bhamakalpam", "Hara Vilasam", "Prahlada Charitram" (Holi festival-related story), "Usha Parinayam", "Sasirekha Parinayam", "Rama Natakam" (probably the oldest play), "Mohini Rukmangada", "Chamundeswari Sabda", "Ardhanareeswaram Sabda" and "Perini Thandavam".


title: Kuchipudi

text: Kuchipudi training, as with all major classical Indian arts, have traditionally begun at a young age. The training includes physical exercises, theory, demonstration lessons and a lot of practice. The physical exercises range from yoga to special exercises to develop a supple body and flexibility in leg muscles, lower body, core, arms, shoulders and neck. Some examples of special exercises, state Kothari and Pasricha, are "Dandemu", "Chakradandemu", "Ekapada", "Gunjeelu", "Kailsamu", "Kappilu" and "Moggalu". They are educated in Sanskrit and Telegu. They must also learn music, literature and become vocalists. Training has expanded from within traditional families to anyone across the world due to its popularization.


title: Society (film)

text: Society is a 1989 American body horror film directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards, and Ben Meyerson. Its plot follows a Beverly Hills teenager who begins to suspect that his wealthy parents are part of a gruesome cult for the social elite.


title: Society (film)

text: Though the film was completed in 1989, it was not released until 1992. It was Yuzna's directorial debut and was written by Rick Fry, conceived and written by Woody Keith. Screaming Mad George was responsible for the special effects. A sequel, "Society 2: Body Modification", was in development as of 2013, with a script written by Stephan Biro.


title: Society (film)

text: Bill Whitney lives with his parents and sister in a mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Bill tells his therapist Dr. Cleveland that he does not trust his rich family. When his sister's ex-boyfriend David Blanchard gives him a surreptitiously recorded audio tape of what sounds like his family engaged in a murderous orgy, Bill begins to suspect that his feelings are justified. Bill gives the tape to Dr. Cleveland, but when he later plays it back, the audio has changed to his sister's coming out party. When Bill attempts to meet Blanchard to obtain another copy, he finds an ambulance and police officers gathered around Blanchard's crashed van. A body is placed into the back of the ambulance, but Bill is prevented from seeing its face.


title: Society (film)

text: Bill attends a party hosted by his rich classmate Ted Ferguson, who confirms the first tape was real. Angry and confused, Bill leaves the party with Clarissa, a beautiful girl he had been admiring. The next day, Bill confronts his parents and sister. At Blanchard's funeral, Bill and his friend Milo discover Blanchard's corpse may be fake. Bill is contacted by Martin Petrie, his rival for the high school presidency. At their arranged meeting, Bill discovers Petrie with his throat cut. When he returns with the police, the body is gone. The next day at school, Petrie shows up, alive and well. When Bill arrives at home, he confronts his family again, but with Dr. Cleveland's help, Bill is drugged. As Milo trails him, Bill is taken to a hospital, where he awakens thinking he hears Blanchard crying out, but discovers nothing is there. Milo and Clarissa try to warn him, but he drives back to his house.


title: Society (film)

text: At home, Bill finds a large, formal party. Dr. Cleveland reveals that Bill's family and their rich friends are actually an entirely different species from Bill. To demonstrate, they bring in a still-living Blanchard. The wealthy party guests strip to their underwear and begin "shunting"—physically deforming and melding with each other—as they suck the nutrients from Blanchard's body, absorbing him. Their intention is to do the same to Bill, but he escapes and runs around the house, finding his family engaged in similarly disgusting activities. He confronts Ferguson, killing him by reaching inside him mid-shunt and pulling him inside-out. Bill escapes with the help of Milo and Clarissa, who is also of the alternate species, but has fallen in love with Bill.


title: Society (film)

text: After having several of his productions fail for lack of finding a director, Yuzna decided to move into directing. As producer of "Re-Animator", he held the rights to a sequel and knew he could find financing. He used this as leverage for a two-picture deal, the first of which turned into "Society". Yuzna said that he wanted the safety of having two pictures to establish himself as a successful director. "Society"s script appealed to Yuzna partly because it was thematically similar to a failed project he had begun with Dan O'Bannon. Yuzna altered the script from a traditional slasher film climax about a religious cult to the surrealistic aliens. The production company introduced him to Screaming Mad George, who they knew to also be interested in surreal gore. For the film's most surreal and gory sequence, the "shunting," Yuzna based it on his nightmares. The sequence was further inspired by "The Great Masturbator", a Dali painting. Author Jon Towlson identifies political themes imported from paranoid science fiction thrillers, such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Invaders from Mars". Yuzna later cited the film's mix of paranoia, black humor, satire, and gore as alienating mainstream audiences.


title: Society (film)

text: "Society" premiered at the Shock Around the Clock Film Festival in London in 1989. For its British release, "Society" was marketed in "Video Trade Weekly" with a picture of the film's theatrical premiere. Mark Kermode called this "stupid yet brilliant", as it demonstrated that the distributor did not know how to market the film properly but also showed recognition that traditional marketing for a genre film was irrelevant. "Society" was a success in Europe, but was shelved for three years before getting a release in the U.S. Said director Yuzna in an interview: "I think Europeans are more willing to accept the ideas that are in a movie. That's why for example "Society" did really well in Europe and in the US did nothing, where it was a big joke. And I think it's because they responded to the ideas in there. I was totally having fun with them, but they are there nonetheless."


title: Society (film)

text: Arrow Video released a limited edition Blu-ray in the UK on June 8 and in the US on June 9, 2015. It includes new interviews and artwork, a comic book sequel, and a music video by Screaming Mad George.


title: Society (film)

text: In 1990, "Society" won the Silver Raven award for "Best Make-Up" at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film. Tom Tunney of "Empire" rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Way ahead of its time, this is a balls-out satire on the disgraceful layers that can lurk just beneath the Avon surface. This is anti-"Ferris Bueller" and fiendishly funny." "Variety" described it as "an extremely pretentious, obnoxious horror film that unsuccessfully attempts to introduce kinky sexual elements into extravagant makeup effects". Michael Wilmington of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "No one who sees the last half-hour of this movie will ever forget it—though quite a few may want to." Marc Savlov of "The Austin Chronicle" wrote that the British press, who gave the film positive reviews, overrated it and stated that it would not play well to American audiences.


title: Society (film)

text: In the early 2010s, "Time Out London" conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors, and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. "Society" placed at number 95 on their top 100 list. Bartlomiej Paszylk wrote in "The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films" that the film has "one of the craziest and most disgusting endings in movie history".


title: Society (film)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Society" holds a 62% approval rating based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 5.50/10.


title: Society (film)

text: Scottish comic book company Rough Cut Comics acquired the comic book rights to "Society" in 2002, producing an official sequel.


title: Society (film)

text: The comic book series returned in 2003 with "Society: Party Animal" by writer Colin Barr and artists Shelby Robertson (issue 1) and Neill Cameron (issue 2).


title: Gang Dong-won

text: Gang Dong-won was born January 18, 1981, in Busan, and grew up in Changwon of Gyeongsangnam-do. His father, Gang Cheol-woo, was an engineer and later vice president of SPP Heavy Industries. Gang's family suffered economic hardship at times and Gang had to work part-time in college to pay for his tuition. Academically gifted with an IQ of 137, Gang graduated from Hanyang University at Ansan with a degree in mechanical engineering.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In 2000, when Gang was a first year university student, he was spotted on the street by a modeling agent. Thus began his modeling career, and he appeared on the catwalk for prêt-à-porter collections in Paris such as DKNY, Gucci and Hugo Boss, as well as for the local Seoul Fashion Artists Association (SFAA).


title: Gang Dong-won

text: After being cast in the music video for Jo Sung-mo's "I Swear," Gang began taking acting classes, leading to a change in career. He made his acting debut on television in 2003, playing a doctor with a regional dialect in "Country Princess" (also known as "Funny Wild Girl"), and a chaebol's son in "Something About 1%". In 2004 he shot his first movie, the romantic comedy "Too Beautiful to Lie", which was moderately successful.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: Gang's first real breakthrough was in "Temptation of Wolves", the film adaptation of Guiyeoni's teen internet novel. Gang's popularity subsequently rose, extending to other Asian countries, especially Japan. He then briefly returned to television as an antihero in "Magic", though it received low ratings.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: Gang's next roles were an inmate on death row in "Maundy Thursday", and the antagonist in "Voice of a Murderer". His two collaborations with auteur Lee Myung-se in "Duelist" and "M" further cemented Gang's status as one of the top young actors in Korean cinema, earning him critical recognition for his stylish flair and diverse choice of roles.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: Gang said that he decided to play the mischievous titular character in the action fantasy "" because "he wanted to work on a fun movie, as he was emotionally drained while formerly having worked on several serious films. The Choi Dong-hoon film turned into a holiday blockbuster, selling over 6 million tickets over the winter season despite opening in theaters only a week after the release of "Avatar" in Korea. In 2010, he was cast opposite veteran actor Song Kang-ho in Jang Hoon's spy film "Secret Reunion". It became one of the biggest Korean box office hits of 2010, with over 5 million tickets sold. He then joined the Busan-centered omnibus "Camellia", starring in Jang Joon-hwan's short film "Love For Sale". Gang's last project before enlistment was the psychic thriller "Haunters".


title: Gang Dong-won

text: Gang enlisted for his mandatory military service on November 18, 2010, for four weeks of basic training at the Nonsan military camp in South Chungcheong Province. This was followed by non-active duty as a public service worker at Seoul City Research Institute of Public Health and Environment. He was discharged on November 12, 2012. On the day of his release, his agency uploaded a three minutes YouTube clip of him in various locations throughout the city, titled "Gang Dong-won in a Day."


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In 2014, Gang returned to the big screen in Yoon Jong-bin's period action film "", playing an illegitimate nobleman's son who attempts to destroy a group of "Robin Hood"-like outlaws in 19th century Joseon Dynasty. He next starred in "My Brilliant Life", E J-yong's film adaptation of Kim Aeran's bestselling novel "My Palpitating Life" about a couple who must watch their son suffering from progeria grow prematurely old.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In 2015, Gang reunited with "Jeon Woo-chi" co-star Kim Yoon-seok in Jang Jae-hyun's mystery thriller "The Priests".


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In 2016, Gang played a young con artist in the crime film "A Violent Prosecutor" directed by Lee Il-hyung, which became the second highest grossing Korean film of 2016. He also starred in Um Tae-hwa's fantasy film "" and Cho Ui-seok's financial thriller film "Master" together with Lee Byung-hun and Kim Woo-bin. After ending the contract with United Artist Agency, Gang signed with a new agency, YG Entertainment in January 2016.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In 2018, Gang played a delivery man framed for the assassination of a politician in Noh Dong-seok's thriller "Golden Slumber", based on Isaka Kotaro's novel of the same name. His next project was Kim Jee-woon's science fiction action thriller "", which is a film adaption based on "", a Japanese animated thriller.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In 2020, Gang starred in the Yeon Sang-ho's horror-action-thriller "Peninsula", a standalone sequel to 2016 hit "Train to Busan". He then starred in the Hirokazu Kore-eda's film "Broker" where he played the role of Dong-soo–a man who was abandoned by parents, and now sells abandoned babies with his friend played by Song Kang-ho. The film competed for Palme d'Or at 2022 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Gang Dong-won

text: In March 2017, a user of movie website Max Movie uploaded a list of currently active movie actors who are descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators, and listed Gang. His maternal great-grandfather (1885–1977) is listed in the pro-Japanese biographical dictionary, having been involved in mining business during the Japanese colonial rule and donating to the Japanese army. Because of the revelation, Gang issued a public apology, and cancelled his scheduled recording for "" commentary.


title: Ink

text: Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thicker inks, in paste form, are used extensively in letterpress and lithographic printing.


title: Ink

text: Ink can be a complex medium, composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, surfactants, particulate matter, fluorescents, and other materials. The components of inks serve many purposes; the ink's carrier, colorants, and other additives affect the flow and thickness of the ink and its dry appearance.


title: Ink

text: In 2011, worldwide consumption of printing inks generated revenues of more than 20 billion US dollars. While demand by traditional print media (including newspapers) is shrinking; more and more printing inks are consumed for packaging.


title: Ink

text: Many ancient cultures around the world have independently discovered and formulated inks for the purposes of writing and drawing. The knowledge of the inks, their recipes and the techniques for their production comes from archaeological analysis or from written text itself. The earliest inks from all civilizations are believed to have been made with "lampblack", a kind of soot, as this would have been easily collected as a by-product of fire.


title: Ink

text: Ink was used in Ancient Egypt for writing and drawing on papyrus from at least the 26th century BC. Egyptian red and black inks included iron and ocher as a pigment, in addition to phosphate, sulfate, chloride, and carboxylate ions; meanwhile, lead was used as a drier.


title: Ink

text: Chinese inks may go back as far as four millennia, to the Chinese Neolithic Period. These used plants, animal, and mineral inks based on such materials as graphite that were ground with water and applied with ink brushes. Direct evidence for the earliest Chinese inks, similar to modern inksticks, is around 256 BC in the end of the Warring States period and produced from soot and animal glue. The best inks for drawing or painting on paper or silk are produced from the resin of the pine tree. They must be between 50 and 100 years old. The Chinese inkstick is produced with a fish glue, whereas Japanese glue (膠 "nikawa") is from cow or stag.


title: Ink

text: India ink was invented in China, though materials were often traded from India, hence the name. The traditional Chinese method of making the ink was to grind a mixture of hide glue, carbon black, lampblack, and bone black pigment with a pestle and mortar, then pour it into a ceramic dish to dry. To use the dry mixture, a wet brush would be applied until it reliquified. The manufacture of India ink was well-established by the Cao Wei dynasty (220–265 AD). Indian documents written in Kharosthi with ink have been unearthed in Chinese Turkestan. The practice of writing with ink and a sharp pointed needle was common in early South India. Several Buddhist and Jain sutras in India were compiled in ink.


title: Ink

text: In ancient Rome, atramentum was used; in an article for the "Christian Science Monitor", Sharon J. Huntington describes these other historical inks:


title: Ink

text: About 1,600 years ago, a popular ink recipe was created. The recipe was used for centuries. Iron salts, such as ferrous sulfate (made by treating iron with sulfuric acid), were mixed with tannin from gallnuts (they grow on trees) and a thickener. When first put to paper, this ink is bluish-black. Over time it fades to a dull brown.


title: Ink

text: Scribes in medieval Europe (about AD 800 to 1500) wrote principally on parchment or vellum. One 12th century ink recipe called for hawthorn branches to be cut in the spring and left to dry. Then the bark was pounded from the branches and soaked in water for eight days. The water was boiled until it thickened and turned black. Wine was added during boiling. The ink was poured into special bags and hung in the sun. Once dried, the mixture was mixed with wine and iron salt over a fire to make the final ink.


title: Ink

text: The reservoir pen, which may have been the first fountain pen, dates back to 953, when Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen that would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen that held ink in a reservoir.


title: Ink

text: In the 15th century, a new type of ink had to be developed in Europe for the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. According to Martyn Lyons in his book "Books: A Living History", Gutenberg's dye was indelible, oil-based, and made from the soot of lamps (lamp-black) mixed with varnish and egg white. Two types of ink were prevalent at the time: the Greek and Roman writing ink (soot, glue, and water) and the 12th century variety composed of ferrous sulfate, gall, gum, and water. Neither of these handwriting inks could adhere to printing surfaces without creating blurs. Eventually an oily, varnish-like ink made of soot, turpentine, and walnut oil was created specifically for the printing press.


title: Ink

text: Pigment inks are used more frequently than dyes because they are more color-fast, but they are also more expensive, less consistent in color, and have less of a color range than dyes.


title: Ink

text: Pigments are solid, opaque particles suspended in ink to provide color. Pigment molecules typically link together in crystalline structures that are 0.1–2 µm in size and comprise 5–30 percent of the ink volume. Qualities such as hue, saturation, and lightness vary depending on the source and type of pigment.


title: Ink

text: Dye-based inks are generally much stronger than pigment-based inks and can produce much more color of a given density per unit of mass. However, because dyes are dissolved in the liquid phase, they have a tendency to soak into paper, potentially allowing the ink to bleed at the edges of an image.


title: Ink

text: To circumvent this problem, dye-based inks are made with solvents that dry rapidly or are used with quick-drying methods of printing, such as blowing hot air on the fresh print. Other methods include harder paper sizing and more specialized paper coatings. The latter is particularly suited to inks used in non-industrial settings (which must conform to tighter toxicity and emission controls), such as inkjet printer inks. Another technique involves coating the paper with a charged coating. If the dye has the opposite charge, it is attracted to and retained by this coating, while the solvent soaks into the paper. Cellulose, the wood-derived material most paper is made of, is naturally charged, and so a compound that complexes with both the dye and the paper's surface aids retention at the surface. Such a compound is commonly used in ink-jet printing inks.


title: Ink

text: An additional advantage of dye-based ink systems is that the dye molecules can interact with other ink ingredients, potentially allowing greater benefit as compared to pigmented inks from optical brighteners and color-enhancing agents designed to increase the intensity and appearance of dyes.


title: Ink

text: Dye-based inks can be used for anti-counterfeit purposes and can be found in some gel inks, fountain pen inks, and inks used for paper currency. These inks react with cellulose to bring about a permanent color change.


title: Ink

text: There is a misconception that ink is non-toxic even if swallowed. Once ingested, ink can be hazardous to one's health. Certain inks, such as those used in digital printers, and even those found in a common pen can be harmful. Though ink does not easily cause death, repeated skin contact or ingestion can cause effects such as severe headaches, skin irritation, or nervous system damage. These effects can be caused by solvents, or by pigment ingredients such as "p"-Anisidine, which helps create some inks' color and shine.


title: Ink

text: Some regulatory bodies have set standards for the amount of heavy metals in ink. There is a trend toward vegetable oils rather than petroleum oils in recent years in response to a demand for better environmental sustainability performance.


title: Ink

text: Carbon inks were commonly made from lampblack or soot and a binding agent such as gum arabic or animal glue. The binding agent keeps carbon particles in suspension and adhered to paper. Carbon particles do not fade over time even when bleached or when in sunlight. One benefit is that carbon ink does not harm paper. Over time, the ink is chemically stable and therefore does not threaten the paper's strength. Despite these benefits, carbon ink is not ideal for permanence and ease of preservation. Carbon ink tends to smudge in humid environments and can be washed off surfaces. The best method of preserving a document written in carbon ink is to store it in a dry environment (Barrow 1972).


title: Ink

text: Recently, carbon inks made from carbon nanotubes have been successfully created. They are similar in composition to traditional inks in that they use a polymer to suspend the carbon nanotubes. These inks can be used in inkjet printers and produce electrically conductive patterns.


title: Ink

text: Iron gall inks became prominent in the early 12th century; they were used for centuries and were widely thought to be the best type of ink. However, iron gall ink is corrosive and damages paper over time (Waters 1940). Items containing this ink can become brittle and the writing fades to brown. The original scores of Johann Sebastian Bach are threatened by the destructive properties of iron gall ink. The majority of his works are held by the German State Library, and about 25% of those are in advanced stages of decay (American Libraries 2000). The rate at which the writing fades is based on several factors, such as proportions of ink ingredients, amount deposited on the paper, and paper composition (Barrow 1972:16). Corrosion is caused by acid catalysed hydrolysis and iron(II)-catalysed oxidation of cellulose (Rouchon-Quillet 2004:389).


title: Ink

text: Treatment is a controversial subject. No treatment undoes damage already caused by acidic ink. Deterioration can only be stopped or slowed. Some think it best not to treat the item at all for fear of the consequences. Others believe that non-aqueous procedures are the best solution. Yet others think an aqueous procedure may preserve items written with iron gall ink. Aqueous treatments include distilled water at different temperatures, calcium hydroxide, calcium bicarbonate, magnesium carbonate, magnesium bicarbonate, and calcium phytate. There are many possible side effects from these treatments. There can be mechanical damage, which further weakens the paper. Paper color or ink color may change, and ink may bleed. Other consequences of aqueous treatment are a change of ink texture or formation of plaque on the surface of the ink (Reibland & de Groot 1999).


title: Ink

text: Iron gall inks require storage in a stable environment, because fluctuating relative humidity increases the rate that formic acid, acetic acid, and furan derivatives form in the material the ink was used on. Sulfuric acid acts as a catalyst to cellulose hydrolysis, and iron (II) sulfate acts as a catalyst to cellulose oxidation. These chemical reactions physically weaken the paper, causing brittleness.


title: Ink

text: "Indelible" means "unremovable". Some types of indelible ink have a very short shelf life because of the quickly evaporating solvents used. India, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia and other developing countries have used indelible ink in the form of electoral stain to prevent electoral fraud. Election ink based on silver nitrate was first applied in the 1962 Indian general election, after being developed at the National Physical Laboratory of India.


title: Ink

text: The election commission in India has used indelible ink for many elections. Indonesia used it in its last election in Aceh. In Mali, the ink is applied to the fingernail. Indelible ink itself is not infallible as it can be used to commit electoral fraud by marking opponent party members before they have chances to cast their votes. There are also reports of "indelible" ink washing off voters' fingers in Afghanistan.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) was a Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularized the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born to a minor noble family less than three years before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He lived to see the territory's admission as a state, and became a United States citizen. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, winning medals in 1912, 1920 and 1924.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Kahanamoku joined fraternal organizations: he was a Scottish Rite Freemason in the Honolulu lodge, and a Shriner. He worked as a law enforcement officer, an actor, a beach volleyball player, and a businessman.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: According to Kahanamoku, he was born in Honolulu at Haleʻākala, the home of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, which was later converted into the Arlington Hotel.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: He was born into a family of Native Hawaiians headed by Duke Halapu Kahanamoku and Julia Paʻakonia Lonokahikina Paoa. Both parents were direct descendants of Kamehameha I. He had five brothers, and three sisters. His brothers were Sargent, Samuel, David, William and Louis, all of whom participated in competitive aquatic sports. His sisters were Bernice, Kapiolani and Maria.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: "Duke" was not a title or a nickname, but a given name. He was named after his father, Duke Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened by Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time. His father was a policeman. His mother Julia Paakonia Lonokahikina Paoa was a deeply religious woman with a strong sense of family ancestry.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Although his parents were not part of the formal Hawaiian Royal Family, they were from prominent Hawaiian "ohana" (families). The Kahanamoku and the Paoa ohana were considered to be lower-ranking nobles, who were in service to the "aliʻi nui", or royalty. His paternal grandfather was Kahanamoku and his grandmother, Kapiolani Kaoeha (sometimes spelled "Kahoea"), a descendant of Alapainui. They were "kahu", retainers and trusted advisors of the Kamehamehas, to whom they were related. His maternal grandparents Paoa, son of Paoa Hoolae and Hiikaalani, and Mele Uliama, were also of aliʻi descent.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: In 1893, his family moved to Kālia, Waikiki (near the present site of Hilton Hawaiian Village), to be closer to his mother's parents and family. Kahanamoku grew up with his siblings and 31 Paoa cousins. He attended the Waikiki Grammar School, Kaahumanu School, and the Kamehameha Schools, although he never graduated because he had to quit to help support the family.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Growing up on the outskirts of Waikiki, Kahanamoku spent much of his youth at the beach, where he developed his surfing and swimming skills. In his youth, Kahanamoku preferred a traditional surf board, which he called his ""papa nui"", constructed after the fashion of ancient Hawaiian "olo" boards. Made from the wood of a koa tree, it was long and weighed . The board was without a skeg, which had yet to be invented. In his later surfing career, he would often use smaller boards but always preferred those made of wood.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Kahanamoku was also a powerful swimmer. On August 11, 1911, Kahanamoku was timed at 55.4 seconds in the freestyle, beating the existing world record by 4.6 seconds, in the salt water of Honolulu Harbor. He also broke the record in the and equaled it in the . But the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), in disbelief, would not recognize these feats until many years later. The AAU initially claimed that the judges must have been using alarm clocks rather than stopwatches and later claimed that ocean currents aided Kahanamoku.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Kahanamoku easily qualified for the U.S. Olympic swimming team in 1912. At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, he won a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle, and a silver medal with the second-place U.S. team in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: During the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Kahanamoku won gold medals in both the 100 meters (bettering fellow Hawaiian Pua Kealoha) and in the relay. He finished the 100 meters with a silver medal during the 1924 Olympics in Paris, with the gold going to Johnny Weissmuller and the bronze to Kahanamoku's brother, Samuel. By then age 34, Kahanamoku won no more Olympic medals. But he served as an alternate for the U.S. water polo team at the 1932 Summer Olympics.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Between Olympic competitions, and after retiring from the Olympics, Kahanamoku traveled internationally to give swimming exhibitions. It was during this period that he popularized the sport of surfing, previously known only in Hawaii, by incorporating surfing exhibitions into his touring exhibitions as well. He attracted people to surfing in mainland America first in 1912 while in Southern California.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: His surfing exhibition at Sydney, Australia's Freshwater Beach on December 24, 1914, is widely regarded as a seminal event in the development of surfing in Australia. The board that Kahanamoku built from a piece of pine from a local hardware store is retained by the Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club. A statue of Kahanamoku was erected in his honor on the Northern headland of Freshwater Lake, New South Wales.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: During his time living in Southern California, Kahanamoku performed in Hollywood as a background actor and a character actor in several films. He made connections in this way with people who could further publicize the sport of surfing. Kahanamoku was involved with the Los Angeles Athletic Club, acting as a lifeguard and competing in both swimming and water polo teams.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: While living in Newport Beach, California, on June 14, 1925, Kahanamoku rescued eight men from a fishing vessel that capsized in heavy surf while it was attempting to enter the city's harbor. Using his surfboard, Kahanamoku made repeated trips from shore to the capsized ship, and helped rescue several people. Two other surfers saved four more fishermen, while five succumbed to the seas before they could be rescued. At the time the Newport Beach police chief called Kahanamoku's efforts "The most superhuman surfboard rescue act the world has ever seen." It also led to lifeguards across the US to begin using surfboards as standard equipment for water rescues.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: He was the first person to be inducted into both the Swimming Hall of Fame and the Surfing Hall of Fame. The Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships in Hawaii, the first major professional surfing contest event ever held in the huge surf on the North Shore of Oahu, was named in his honor. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Later Kahanamoku was elected to serve as the Sheriff of Honolulu, Hawaii from 1932 to 1961, completing 13 consecutive terms. During World War II, he also served as a military police officer for the United States; Hawai'i was not yet a state and was administered.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: In the postwar period, he also appeared in a number of television programs and films, such as "Mister Roberts" (1955). He was well-liked throughout the Hollywood community.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Kahanamoku became a friend and surfing companion of heiress Doris Duke. She built a home (now a museum) on Oahu named Shangri-la. Kahanamoku gave private surfing lessons to Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and John Aspinwall Roosevelt, the children of Franklin D. Roosevelt.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: In 1946, Kahanamoku was the "pro forma" defendant in the landmark Supreme Court case "Duncan v. Kahanamoku". While Kahanamoku was a military police officer during World War II, he arrested Duncan, a civilian shipfitter, for public intoxication.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: At the time, Hawaii, not yet a state, was being administered by the United States under the Hawaiian Organic Act. This effectively instituted martial law on the island. After Duncan was tried by a military tribunal, he appealed to the Supreme Court. In a "post hoc" ruling, the court ruled that trial by military tribunal for the civilian was, in this case, unconstitutional.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: On August 2, 1940, Kahanamoku married dance instructor Nadine Alexander, who had relocated to Hawaii from Cleveland, Ohio, after she had been hired to teach at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Duke was 50 years old, Nadine was 35.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: He was initiated, passed and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Hawaiian Lodge Masonic Lodge No 21


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Kahanamoku died of a heart attack on January 22, 1968, at age 77. For his burial at sea, a long motorcade of mourners, accompanied by a 30-man police escort, traveled in procession across town to Waikiki Beach. Reverend Abraham Akaka, the pastor of Kawaiahao Church, performed the service. A group of beach boys sang Hawaiian songs, including "Aloha Oe", and Kahanamoku's ashes were scattered into the ocean.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: In 1994 a statue of Kahanamoku by Barry Donohoo was inaugurated in Freshwater, NSW, Australia. It is the showpiece of the Australian Surfers Walk of Fame.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: On February 28, 2015, a monument featuring a replica of Kahanamoku's surfboard was unveiled at New Brighton beach, Christchurch, New Zealand in honor of the 100th anniversary of Kahanamoku's visit to New Brighton.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: A statue of Kahanamoku was installed in Huntington Beach, California. A nearby restaurant is named for him and is close to Huntington Beach pier. The City of Huntington Beach identifies with the legacy of surfing, and a museum dedicated to that sport is located here.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: In April 2022 NSW Heritage announced that Kahanamoku would be included in the first batch of Blue Plaques to be issued, to recognize his contribution to recreation and surfing.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Hawaii music promoter Kimo Wilder McVay capitalized on Kahanamoku's popularity by naming his Waikiki showroom "Duke Kahanamoku's" at the International Market Place and giving Kahanamoku a financial interest in the showroom in exchange for the use of his name. It was a major Waikiki showroom in the 1960s and is remembered as the home of Don Ho & The Aliis from 1964 through 1969. The showroom continued to be known as Duke Kahanamoku's until Hawaii showman Jack Cione bought it in the mid-1970s and renamed it Le Boom Boom.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: The Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex (DKAC) serves as the home for the University of Hawai‘i’s swimming and diving and women’s water polo teams. The facility, located on the University’s lower campus, includes a 50-meter training pool and a separate 25-yard competition and diving pool. The long course pool is four feet at both ends, seven feet in the middle, and an average depth of six feet.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: Kahanamoku's name is also used by Duke's Canoe Club & Barefoot Bar, known as Duke's Waikiki, a beachfront bar and restaurant in the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach Hotel. There is a chain of restaurants named after him in California, Florida and Hawaii called Duke's.


title: Duke Kahanamoku

text: On August 24, 2002, the 112th anniversary of Kahanamoku's birth, the U.S. Postal Service issued a first-class commemorative stamp with Duke's picture on it. The First Day Ceremony was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki and was attended by thousands. At this ceremony, attendees could attach the Duke stamp to an envelope and get it canceled with a First Day of Issue postmark. These first day covers are very collectible.


title: Moral relativism

text: Moral relativism or ethical relativism (often reformulated as relativist ethics or relativist morality) is used to describe several philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different peoples and cultures. An advocate of such ideas is often referred to as a relativist for short.


title: Moral relativism

text: "Descriptive" moral relativism holds only that people do, in fact, disagree fundamentally about what is moral, with no judgment being expressed on the desirability of this. "Meta-ethical" moral relativism holds that in such disagreements, nobody is objectively right or wrong. "Normative" moral relativism holds that because nobody is right or wrong, everyone ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when large disagreements about morality exist. Said concepts of the different intellectual movements involve considerable nuance and aren't absolute descriptions. Descriptive relativists do not necessarily adopt meta-ethical relativism. Moreover, not all meta-ethical relativists adopt normative relativism.


title: Moral relativism

text: American philosopher Richard Rorty in particular has argued that the label of being a "relativist" has become warped and turned into a sort of pejorative. He has written specifically that thinkers labeled as such usually simply believe "that the grounds for choosing between such [philosophical] opinions is less algorithmic than had been thought", not that every single conceptual idea is as valid as any other. In this spirit, Rorty has lamented that "philosophers have... become increasingly isolated from the rest of culture."


title: Moral relativism

text: Moral relativism has been debated for thousands of years across a variety of contexts during the history of civilization. Arguments of particular notability have been made in areas such as ancient Greece and historical India while discussions have continued to the present day. Besides the material created by philosophers, the concept has additionally attracted attention in diverse fields including art, religion, and science.


title: Moral relativism

text: Descriptive moral relativism is merely the positive or descriptive position that there exist, in fact, fundamental disagreements about the right course of action even when the same facts hold true and the same consequences seem likely to arise. It is the observation that different cultures have different moral standards.


title: Moral relativism

text: Descriptive relativists do not necessarily advocate the tolerance of all behavior in light of such disagreement; that is to say, they are not necessarily normative relativists. Likewise, they do not necessarily make any commitments to the semantics, ontology, or epistemology of moral judgement; that is, not all descriptive relativists are meta-ethical relativists.


title: Moral relativism

text: Descriptive relativism is a widespread position in academic fields such as anthropology and sociology, which simply admit that it is incorrect to assume that the same moral or ethical frameworks are always in play in all historical and cultural circumstances.


title: Moral relativism

text: Meta-ethical moral relativists believe not only that people disagree about moral issues, but that terms such as "good", "bad", "right" and "wrong" do not stand subject to universal truth conditions at all; rather, they are relative to the traditions, convictions, or practices of an individual or a group of people. The American anthropologist William Graham Sumner was an influential advocate of this view. He argues in his 1906 work "Folkways" that what people consider right and wrong is shaped entirely—not primarily—by the traditions, customs, and practices of their culture. Moreover, since in his analysis of human understanding there cannot be any higher moral standard than that provided by the local morals of a culture, no trans-cultural judgement about the rightness or wrongness of a culture's morals could possibly be justified.


title: Moral relativism

text: Meta-ethical relativists are, first, descriptive relativists: they believe that, given the same set of facts, some societies or individuals will have a fundamental disagreement about what a person "ought" to do or prefer (based on societal or individual norms). What's more, they argue that one cannot adjudicate these disagreements using any available independent standard of evaluation—any appeal to a relevant standard would always be merely personal or at best societal.


title: Moral relativism

text: This view contrasts with moral universalism, which argues that, even though well-intentioned persons disagree, and some may even remain unpersuadable (e.g. someone who is closed-minded), there is still a meaningful sense in which an action could be more "moral" (morally preferable) than another; that is, they believe there "are" objective standards of evaluation that seem worth calling "moral facts"—regardless of whether they are universally accepted.


title: Moral relativism

text: Normative moral relativists believe not only the meta-ethical thesis, but that it has normative implications on what we ought to do. Normative moral relativists argue that meta-ethical relativism implies that we "ought" to tolerate the behavior of others even when it runs counter to our personal or cultural moral standards. Most philosophers do not agree, partially because of the challenges of arriving at an "ought" from relativistic premises. Meta-ethical relativism seems to eliminate the normative relativist's ability to make prescriptive claims. In other words, normative relativism may find it difficult to make a statement like "we think it is moral to tolerate behaviour" without always adding "other people think "intolerance" of certain behaviours is moral". Philosophers like Russell Blackford even argue that intolerance is, to some degree, important. As he puts it, "we need not adopt a quietism about moral traditions that cause hardship and suffering. Nor need we passively accept the moral norms of our own respective societies, to the extent that they are ineffective or counterproductive or simply unnecessary". That is, it is perfectly reasonable (and practical) for a person or group to defend their subjective values against others, even if there is no universal prescription or morality. We can also criticize other cultures for failing to pursue even "their own goals" effectively.


title: Moral relativism

text: The moral relativists may also still try to make sense of non-universal statements like "in this country, it is wrong to do X" or even "to me, it is right to do Y".


title: Moral relativism

text: Moral universalists argue further that their system often "does" justify tolerance, and that disagreement with moral systems does not always demand interference, and certainly not aggressive interference. For example, the utilitarian might call another society's practice 'ignorant' or 'less moral', but there would still be much debate about courses of action (e.g. whether to focus on providing better education, or technology, etc.).


title: Moral relativism

text: Moral relativism encompasses views and arguments that people in various cultures have held over several thousand years. For example, the ancient Jaina Anekantavada principle of Mahavira (c. 599–527 BC) states that truth and reality are perceived differently from diverse points of view, and that no single point of view is the complete truth; and the Greek philosopher Protagoras (c. 481–420 BC) famously asserted that "man is the measure of all things". The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–420 BC) observed that each society regards its own belief system and way of doing things as better than all others. Sextus Empiricus and other ancient Pyrrhonist philosophers denied the existence of objective morality.


title: Moral relativism

text: In the early modern era Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) notably held that nothing is inherently good or evil. The 18th-century Enlightenment philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) serves in several important respects as the father both of modern emotivism and of moral relativism, though Hume himself did not espouse relativism. He distinguished between matters of fact and matters of value, and suggested that moral judgments consist of the latter, for they do not deal with verifiable facts obtained in the world, but only with our sentiments and passions. But Hume regarded some of our sentiments as universal. He famously denied that morality has any objective standard, and suggested that the universe remains indifferent to our preferences and our troubles.


title: Moral relativism

text: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) believed that we have to assess the value of our values since values are relative to one's goals and one's self. He emphasized the need to analyze our moral values and how much impact they may have on us. The problem with morality, according to Nietzsche, is that those who were considered "good" were the powerful nobles who had more education, and considered themselves better than anyone below their rank. Thus, what is considered good is relative. A "good man" is not questioned on whether or not there is a "bad", such as temptations, lingering inside him and he is considered to be more important than a man who is considered "bad" who is considered useless to making the human race better because of the morals we have subjected ourselves to. But since what is considered good and bad is relative, the importance and value we place on them should also be relative. He proposed that morality itself could be a danger. Nietzsche believed that morals should be constructed actively, making them relative to who we are and what we, as individuals, consider to be true, equal, good and bad, etc. instead of reacting to moral laws made by a certain group of individuals in power.


title: Moral relativism

text: One scholar, supporting an anti-realist interpretation, concludes that "Nietzsche's central argument for anti-realism about value is explanatory: moral facts don't figure in the 'best explanation' of experience, and so are not real constituents of the objective world. Moral values, in short, can be 'explained away.


title: Moral relativism

text: It is certain that Nietzsche criticizes Plato's prioritization of transcendence as the Forms. The Platonist view holds that what is 'true', or most real, is something which is other-worldly while the (real) world of experience is like a mere 'shadow' of the Forms, most famously expressed in Plato's allegory of the cave. Nietzsche believes that this transcendence also had a parallel growth in Christianity, which prioritized life-denying moral qualities such as humility and obedience through the church. (See "Beyond Good and Evil", "On the Genealogy of Morals", "The Twilight of the Idols", "The Antichrist", etc.)


title: Moral relativism

text: Anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict (1887–1948) have cautioned observers against ethnocentricism—using the standards of their own culture to evaluate their subjects of study. Benedict said that transcendent morals do not exist—only socially constructed customs do ("see" cultural relativism); and that in comparing customs, the anthropologist "insofar as he remains an anthropologist ... is bound to avoid any weighting of one in favor of the other". To some extent, the increasing body of knowledge of great differences in belief among societies caused both social scientists and philosophers to question whether any objective, absolute standards pertaining to values could exist. This led some to posit that differing systems have equal validity, with no standard for adjudicating among conflicting beliefs. The Finnish philosopher-anthropologist Edward Westermarck (1862–1939) ranks as one of the first to formulate a detailed theory of moral relativism. He portrayed all moral ideas as subjective judgments that reflect one's upbringing. He rejected G.E. Moore's (1873–1958) ethical intuitionism—in vogue during the early part of the 20th century, and which identified moral propositions as true or false, and known to us through a special faculty of intuition—because of the obvious differences in beliefs among societies, which he said provided evidence of the lack of any innate, intuitive power.


title: Moral relativism

text: Research within evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, ethology, and evolutionary anthropology has claimed that morality is a natural phenomenon that was shaped by evolutionary mechanisms. In this case, morality is defined as the set of relative social practices that promote the survival and successful reproduction of the species, or even multiple cooperating species.


title: Moral relativism

text: The literary perspectivism begins at the different versions of the Greek myths. Symbolism created multiple suggestions for a vers. Structuralism teaches us the polysemy of the poems.


title: Moral relativism

text: Examples of relativistic literary works: Gogol's "Dead Souls"; "The Alexandria Quartet" by Lawrence Durrell; Raymond Queneau's "Zazie dans le métro". Or Nuria Perpinya's twenty literary interpretations of the Odyssey.


title: Moral relativism

text: Some philosophers, for example R. M. Hare (1919–2002), argue that moral propositions remain subject to human logical rules, notwithstanding the absence of any factual content, including those subject to cultural or religious standards or norms. Thus, for example, they contend that one cannot hold contradictory ethical judgments. This allows for moral discourse with shared standards, notwithstanding the descriptive properties or truth conditions of moral terms. They do not affirm or deny that moral facts exist, only that human logic applies to our moral assertions; consequently, they postulate an objective and preferred standard of moral justification, albeit in a very limited sense. Nevertheless, according to Hare, human logic shows the error of relativism in one very important sense (see Hare's "Sorting out Ethics"). Hare and other philosophers also point out that, aside from logical constraints, all systems treat certain moral terms alike in an evaluative sense. This parallels our treatment of other terms such as "less" or "more", which meet with universal understanding and do not depend upon independent standards (for example, one can convert measurements). It applies to good and bad when used in their non-moral sense, too; for example, when we say, "this is a "good" wrench" or "this is a "bad" wheel". This evaluative property of certain terms also allows people of different beliefs to have meaningful discussions on moral questions, even though they may disagree about certain "facts".


title: Moral relativism

text: "Ethical Relativity" is the topic of the first two chapters in "The Concept of Morals", in which Walter Terence Stace argues against moral absolutism, but for moral universalism.


title: Moral relativism

text: Critics propose that moral relativism fails because it rejects basic premises of discussions on morality, or because it cannot arbitrate disagreement. Many critics, including Ibn Warraq and Eddie Tabash, have suggested that meta-ethical relativists essentially take themselves out of any discussion of normative morality, since they seem to be rejecting an assumption of such discussions: the premise that there are right and wrong answers that can be discovered through reason. Practically speaking, such critics will argue that meta-ethical relativism may amount to moral nihilism, or else incoherence.


title: Moral relativism

text: These critics argue specifically that the moral relativists reduce the extent of their input in normative moral discussions to either rejecting the very having of the discussion, or else deeming both disagreeing parties to be correct. For instance, the moral relativist can only appeal to preference to object to the practice of murder or torture by individuals for hedonistic pleasure. This accusation that relativists reject widely held terms of discourse is similar to arguments used against other "discussion-stoppers" like some forms of solipsism or the rejection of induction.


title: Moral relativism

text: Philosopher Simon Blackburn made a similar criticism, and explains that moral relativism fails as a "moral system" simply because it cannot arbitrate disagreements.


title: Moral relativism

text: Some arguments come when people question which moral justifications or truths are said to be relative. Because people belong to many groups based on culture, race, religion, etc., it is difficult to claim that the values of the group have authority for the members. A part of meta-ethical relativism is identifying which group of people those truths are relative to. Another component is that many people belong to more than one group. The beliefs of the groups that a person belongs to may be fundamentally different, and so it is hard to decide which are relative and which win out. A person practicing meta-ethical relativism would not necessarily object to either view, but develop an opinion and argument.


title: Moral relativism

text: Catholic and some secular intellectuals attribute the perceived post-war decadence of Europe to the displacement of absolute values by moral relativism. Pope Benedict XVI, Marcello Pera and others have argued that after about 1960, Europeans massively abandoned many traditional norms rooted in Christianity and replaced them with continuously evolving relative moral rules. In this view, sexual activity has become separated from procreation, which led to a decline in the importance of families and to depopulation. The most authoritative response to moral relativism from the Catholic perspective can be found in "Veritatis Splendor", an encyclical by Pope John Paul II. Many of the main criticisms of moral relativism by the Catholic Church relate largely to modern controversies, such as elective abortion.


title: Moral relativism

text: Bhikkhu Bodhi, an American Buddhist monk, has written: "By assigning value and spiritual ideals to private subjectivity, the materialistic world view ... threatens to undermine any secure objective foundation for morality. The result is the widespread moral degeneration that we witness today. To counter this tendency, mere moral exhortation is insufficient. If morality is to function as an efficient guide to conduct, it cannot be propounded as a self-justifying scheme but must be embedded in a more comprehensive spiritual system which grounds morality in a transpersonal order. Religion must affirm, in the clearest terms, that morality and ethical values are not mere decorative frills of personal opinion, not subjective superstructure, but intrinsic laws of the cosmos built into the heart of reality."


title: Moral relativism

text: Moral relativism is a distinct position from ethical subjectivism (the view that the truth of ethical claims are not mind independent). While these views are often held together, they do not entail each other. For example, someone who claims "something is morally right for me to do because the people in my culture think it is right" is both a moral relativist (because what is right and wrong depends on who is doing it), and an ethical subjectivist (because what is right and wrong is determined by mental states, i.e. what people think is right and wrong).


title: Moral relativism

text: However, someone who thinks that what is right and wrong is whatever a deity thinks is right or wrong would be a subjectivist (morality is based on mental states), but not a relativist (morality is the same for everyone). In contrast, someone who claims that to act ethically you must follow the laws of your country would be a relativist (morality is dependent on who you are), but not a subjectivist (morality is based on facts about the world, not mental states).


title: Moral relativism

text: Depending on how a moral relativist position is constructed, it may or may not be independent of moral realism. Moral realists are committed to some version of the following three claims:


title: Moral relativism

text: While many moral relativists deny one or more of these claims, and therefore could be moral anti-realists, a denial is not required. A moral relativist who claims that you should act according to the laws in whatever country you are a citizen of, accepts all three claims: moral facts express propositions that can be true or false (you can see if a given action is against the law or not), some moral propositions are true (some actions abide by the laws in someone's country), and moral facts are ordinary (laws are not mental states, they are physical objects in the world). However, this view is a relativist one as it is dependent on the country you are a citizen of.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: Shenae Grimes-Beech (; born October 24, 1989), previously credited as Shenae Grimes, is a Canadian actress. She portrayed Annie Wilson on The CW series "90210", a spin-off of Fox's "Beverly Hills, 90210". Prior to that, she had a recurring role on the television series "Naturally, Sadie", and played Darcy Edwards on the CTV series "" for four seasons.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: Grimes was born in Toronto, Ontario. She attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. She interned at Toronto's Fashion Television as part of her high school education. Grimes attended City Academy, a private school for her last two years of high school.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: Beginning with a recurring role in 2004, Grimes became a lead character on "" in 2006, playing the role of Darcy Edwards. In 2008, Grimes left the series and Canada after being cast as Annie Wilson in ""90210"", the CW's spin-off of "Beverly Hills, 90210".


title: Shenae Grimes

text: She also appeared in "Picture This" with Ashley Tisdale and with her former "Degrassi: The Next Generation" co-star Lauren Collins, and then in "True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet" alongside singer JoJo.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: In 2009, Grimes was named one of the world's most beautiful people without makeup, by "People" magazine. She also appeared in a music video for rock band Our Lady Peace's single "All You Did Was Save My Life".


title: Shenae Grimes

text: Grimes appears in the 2010 silent fashion short film "Unzipped". She wrote and directed a 2010 music video for her song "Myself and I". She also participated in YouTuber Freddie Wong's video "Gun Size Matters". She made a cameo in the horror film "Scream 4", released in April 2011.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: In 2011, she traveled to Japan with her "90210" costars AnnaLynne McCord and Jessica Stroup to attend the Asia Girls Explosion (AGE) in Tokyo, after filming "90210" third-season finale. Grimes was caught up in Japan due to the events of the tsunami and earthquake. According to the actress, she was at Buddha's temple at the time when the earthquakes first occurred. Consequently, she started a campaign called "Spread The Heart" with the aim of supporting Japan by victim relief after the events of the tsunami and earthquakes. Many celebrities joined the campaign which later became a big movement.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: In May 2011, during her "90210" hiatus, she took a six-week internship at "Teen Vogue" in New York City. She stated that working as an editor for a fashion magazine has always been her dream. In the fall of 2011, she directed a music video for Megan and Liz's original song "Are You Happy Now?" to raise awareness about anti-bullying, in partnership with DoSomething.org. In 2013, Grimes starred in the film "Sugar" about a runaway girl living on the streets of Venice, Los Angeles.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: In 2018, Grimes began playing homicide detective Jacqueline Cooper on CTV's police drama "The Detail"; the role marks her first time playing an adult character.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: Grimes has graced the covers of numerous fashion magazines, including US's "Nylon, Vervegirl," "Saturday Night Magazine, Teen Prom" and "Dirrty Glam". She also modeled for "Teen Vogue" and "Complex." She has appeared in television commercials for Coffee Crisp.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: In 2014, she became the brand ambassador for the Montreal-based Annabelle Cosmetics. As the face of the cosmetics line, she appeared in print and television advertisements to promote the products. Grimes and husband Josh Beech started their own clothing line in 2014 called "Two Halves." The line featured jewelry and clothes that were sold online and at the Toronto-based boutique Jonathon + Olivia.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: Grimes began dating British model and musician Josh Beech in May 2012. In December 2012, after nine months of dating, Grimes announced that she and Beech were engaged. They were married on May 10, 2013 in Ashford, Kent, England. In May 2018, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child; their daughter was born in September 2018. Their second child, a son, was born in August 2021.


title: Shenae Grimes

text: On December 20, 2019, Grimes announced on her Instagram page that she had become an American citizen, and now holds dual Canadian-American citizenship. Grimes is an atheist.


title: Plank (exercise)

text: The plank (also called a front hold, hover, or abdominal bridge) is an isometric core strength exercise that involves maintaining a position similar to a push-up for the maximum possible time .


title: Plank (exercise)

text: The most common plank is the forearm plank which is held in a push-up-like position, with the body's weight borne on forearms, elbows, and toes. Many variations exist such as the side plank and the reverse plank. The plank is commonly practiced in Pilates and yoga, and by those training for boxing and other sports.


title: Plank (exercise)

text: The "extended plank" adds substantial difficulty to the standard plank exercise. To perform the extended plank, a person begins in the push-up position and then extends the arms or hands as far forward as possible.


title: Plank (exercise)

text: The plank strengthens the abdominals, back and shoulders. Muscles involved in the front plank include:


title: Plank (exercise)

text: "Guinness World Records" lists the record for longest duration of a front plank, resting on elbows, as 9 hours, 30 minutes 1 second set by Daniel Scali. The former record of 8 hours 15 minutes and 15 seconds, was set by veteran Marine officer George Hood on February 20, 2020. Hood also completed a record attempt in June 2018, holding a plank for 10 hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds as well as the most cumulative plank time in a 24-hour period of 18 hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds.


title: Plank (exercise)

text: The longest single-arm plank while balancing on medicine balls is 1 min 20 seconds, by Brandon Westover (USA) in August 2021.


title: Futureworld

text: Futureworld is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film "Westworld", and is the second installment in the "Westworld" franchise. The film stars Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Arthur Hill, Stuart Margolin, John Ryan, and Yul Brynner, who makes an appearance in a dream sequence; no other cast member from the original film appears. "Westworld's" writer-director, Michael Crichton, and the original studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were not involved in this production. Composer Fred Karlin was retained.


title: Futureworld

text: The film attempted to take the plot in a different direction from "Westworld", but it was not well received by U.S. critics. French critics appreciated the film more, appearing on the list of best science fiction films ever made in "Demain le Science Fiction." It was made by American International Pictures (its predecessor was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which later bought AIP's successor Orion Pictures). A short-lived television series titled "Beyond Westworld" followed.


title: Futureworld

text: In 1985, two years after the Westworld tragedy, the Delos Corporation owners have reopened the park after spending $1.5 billion in safety improvements, and also shutting down Westworld. For publicity purposes, newspaper reporter Chuck Browning and TV reporter Tracy Ballard are invited to review the park.


title: Futureworld

text: Just before the junket is announced, Browning arranges to meet with a Delos employee who promises he has dirt on the corporation. During the meeting, the tipster is shot in the back and dies after giving Browning an envelope.


title: Futureworld

text: At the resort, guests choose from four theme parks: Spaworld ("where old age and pain have been eliminated"), Medievalworld, Romanworld and Futureworld. Browning and Ballard choose Futureworld, which simulates an orbiting space station. Robots are available for sex as well as amusements like boxing. They are guided through the resort by Dr. Duffy, who shows them the marvels of Delos, demonstrating that all the problems have been fixed.


title: Futureworld

text: The reporters are stunned to find that the Control Center is staffed entirely by robots. That night, their dinners are drugged, and while they sleep, medical tests are conducted so Delos can make clones of them. A visiting Russian general and a Japanese politician are also tested for cloning. Back in her room a few hours later, Ballard wakes in a fright, remembering the experience as a nightmare.


title: Futureworld

text: Ballard and Browning sneak out to explore the resort's underground areas. They end up triggering a cloning machine, which generates three samurai from the development of an Eastworld park. Just as they are about to be captured by the samurai, a mechanic named Harry saves them. He takes them back to his quarters, where he cohabits with a mechanic robot he has named Clark after Superman's alter-ego. The reporters interview Harry, but they are interrupted and returned to their rooms.


title: Futureworld

text: The following day, while Ballard is testing out a Delos dream-recording device (which includes a dream sequence of being saved by, dancing with and making love to Yul Brynner's Gunslinger), Browning slips out to see Harry. Harry takes him to a locked door that he has never been able to enter, although robots routinely enter. Realizing the key is in the robot's eyes, Harry destroys a robot and steals its face. They return with Ballard and open the door. Inside, they find clones of themselves, as well as clones of the Russian and Japanese leaders. The clones are instructed always to work for the good of Delos and to destroy their originals. Browning explains that his tipster's envelope was filled with clippings about leaders from around the world, realizing that Delos must be cloning the rich and powerful.


title: Futureworld

text: The trio decides to flee the resort on the next plane. The reporters return to their apartment where Duffy is waiting for them; he explains that, by cloning world leaders, they can ensure that nothing harms Delos' interests, and that without "proper" guidance, humans will eventually destroy the planet.


title: Futureworld

text: Cloning the reporters would ensure favorable coverage, letting people forget about the Westworld tragedy. Browning attacks Duffy but is easily overpowered with unnatural strength. Ballard shoots the doctor twice, and Browning peels back Duffy's face to reveal that he is a robot. As Harry races to meet up with the reporters, he runs into Browning's clone, who kills him. Ballard and Browning are then chased by their own duplicates, all the while taunting them with details about their lives. Eventually, one of each pair is killed, though which one is left unclear. When they find each other, Browning seizes and kisses Ballard.


title: Futureworld

text: In the end, as they leave the resort with the other guests, Dr. Schneider meets them to make sure they are the clones. The reporters confirm that they will be writing positive reviews for Delos, but, just as they reach the exit, Ballard's badly injured clone stumbles towards him and Schneider realizes too late that he has been fooled. On the jetway, Browning tells Ballard that his editor is running the exposé on Delos, that the whole world will know what they are up to, and that kissing her was his idea to figure out whether or not she was a duplicate.


title: Futureworld

text: The film was developed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which had produced "Westworld". Michael Crichton did not wish to be involved in a sequel, so they approached the original producer Paul Lazarus III. He developed an idea set in a successor world to Westworld where robots are cloning world leaders. He found a writer and developed a script; MGM decided to only make one science fiction film that year, "Logan's Run". "Futureworld" was put into turnaround. Lazarus had trouble finding production and distribution for the film elsewhere, because other studios were confused and wary after MGM passed on it, especially since the original film had been a financial success for MGM. Lazarus was approached by former MGM president James T. Aubrey who said he could get the film made. He arranged financing from Samuel Z. Arkoff's American International Pictures.


title: Futureworld

text: "Futureworld" was the first major feature film to use 3D computer-generated imagery (CGI). CGI was used for an animated hand and face. The animated hand was a digitized version of Edwin Catmull's left hand, taken from his 1972 experimental short subject "A Computer Animated Hand". The animated face was taken from Fred Parke's 1974 experimental short subject "Faces & Body Parts".


title: Futureworld

text: The film also used the 2D technique of digital compositing to materialize characters over the background. "Futureworld" utilized the "Logan apartment set" from "Logan's Run" and redressed it to be the Futureworld bar.


title: Futureworld

text: Much of the film was shot in the greater Houston area, including Intercontinental Airport, Jones Hall, and the Johnson Space Center. The film includes a chase scene through the underground pedestrian Houston tunnel system running under the city.


title: Futureworld

text: Lazarus admits the film "wasn't a very good picture" but put its poor commercial performance down to the fact that AIP was focusing on its prestige film "A Matter of Time" (1976).


title: Futureworld

text: In 1979, "Futureworld" became the first modern American film to achieve general theatrical release in China.


title: Futureworld

text: Richard Eder panned the film in "The New York Times", quoting Ballard's line from the movie, "This is about as exciting as a visit to the water works." Coining his own variation on the phrase, Eder also claimed the film is "as much fun as running barefoot on Astroturf." He added, "It is all the most ordinary kind of hardware science fiction, full of computers and empty of thought." Writing that Danner and Fonda have "absolutely nothing to do" in the film, he concluded that "starring in "Futureworld" must be the actor's equivalent of going on welfare." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film two stars out of four and criticized the "dumb story," although he did think it had "some of the best gadgets since the early James Bond pictures ... Too bad 'Futureworld' didn't dream up more of these gizmos."


title: Futureworld

text: Arthur D. Murphy of "Variety" wrote, "'Futureworld' shapes up a strong sequel to MGM's 'Westworld' of three years ago ... Richard T. Heffron, on his second feature directing work, keeps the personal drama moving smartly through the gadgetry montages." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" called the film "an extreme rarity, a sequel that's a decided improvement over the original." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" wrote, "Unlike 'Westworld' there's nothing shrewd or compelling behind the events in 'Futureworld,' where the big mystery is just an old wheeze—the managers of the park are power-hungry scientists who clone influential guests and order the clones to dispose of the originals." John Pym of "The Monthly Film Bulletin" expressed disappointment that the scriptwriters neglected to explore the interesting implications of self-programming robots and instead "seem content to do little more than lead the players through the standard diversions of a caper movie."


title: Futureworld

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36% based on eleven reviews, with an average grade of 4.7 out of 10.


title: Futureworld

text: For its initial television broadcast, an alternative version of the scene where Browning gives the finger to Dr. Schneider was shot. Instead, he performs a bras d'honneur.


title: Futureworld

text: , "Futureworld" was released on VHS, CED, LaserDisc and DVD in the United States from MGM in December 2010, as well as being released in a number of foreign territories in the DVD format. On December 2, 2011, "Futureworld" was released in Germany on Blu-ray (German and English audio tracks). The digital release is in the widescreen format.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany) from the country's foundation in October 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Marxist–Leninist communist party, established in April 1946 as a merger between the East German branches of the Communist Party of Germany and Social Democratic Party of Germany.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Although the GDR was a one-party state, some other institutional popular front parties were permitted to exist in alliance with the SED; these parties included the Christian Democratic Union, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Farmers' Party, and the National Democratic Party. In the 1980s, the SED rejected the liberalisation policies of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, such as "perestroika" and "glasnost", which would lead to the GDR's isolation from the restructuring USSR and the party's downfall in the autumn of 1989. The SED was officially organized on the basis of democratic centralism. Theoretically, the highest body of the SED was the Party Congress, convened every fifth year. When the Party Congress was not in session, the Central Committee was the highest body, but since the body normally met only once a year most duties and responsibilities were vested in the Politburo and its Standing Committee, members of the latter being seen as the top leadership of the Party and the State within the State Council of East Germany from 1960 replacing the President of the German Democratic Republic.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Ideologically, the party, from its foundation, adhered to Marxism–Leninism, and pursued state socialism, under which all industries in East Germany were nationalized, and a command economy was implemented. The SED made the teaching of Marxism–Leninism and the Russian language compulsory in schools. Walter Ulbricht was the party's dominant figure and effective leader of East Germany from 1950 to 1971. In 1953, an uprising against the Party was met with violent suppression by the Ministry of State Security and the Soviet Army. In 1971, Ulbricht was succeeded by Erich Honecker who presided over a stable period in the development of the GDR until he was forced to step down during the 1989 revolution. The party's last leader, Egon Krenz, was unsuccessful in his attempt to retain the SED's hold on political governance of the GDR and was imprisoned after German reunification.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: The SED's long-suppressed reform wing took over the party in the autumn of 1989. In hopes of changing its image, on 16 December it renamed itself the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), abandoning Marxism–Leninism and declaring itself a democratic socialist party. It received 16.4% of the vote in the 1990 parliamentary elections. In 2007, the PDS merged with Labour and Social Justice (WASG) into The Left ("Die Linke"), the sixth largest party in the German Parliament following the 2021 federal election.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: The SED was founded on 21 April 1946 by a merger of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) which was based in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and the Soviet-occupied sector of Berlin. Official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties. However, there is much evidence that the merger was more troubled than commonly portrayed. By all accounts, the Soviet occupation authorities applied great pressure on the SPD's eastern branch to merge with the KPD. The newly merged party, with the help of the Soviet authorities, swept to victory in the 1946 elections for local and regional assemblies held in the Soviet zone. However, these elections were held under less-than-secret conditions, thus setting the tone for the next four decades. In that contest, the SED received less than half the votes of the SPD. The bulk of the Berlin SPD remained aloof from the merger, even though Berlin was deep inside the Soviet zone.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (Russian initials: SVAG) directly governed the eastern areas of Germany following World War II, and their intelligence operations carefully monitored all political activities. An early intelligence report from SVAG Propaganda Administration director Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Ivanovich Tiulpanov indicates that the former KPD and SPD members created different factions within the SED and remained mutually quite antagonistic for some time after the formation of the new party. The report also noted considerable difficulty in convincing the masses that the SED was an authentic German political party and not merely a tool of the Soviet occupation force.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: According to Tiulpanov, many former members of the KPD expressed the sentiment that they had "forfeited [their] revolutionary positions, that [the KPD] alone would have succeeded much better had there been no SED, and that the Social Democrats are not to be trusted" (Tiulpanov, 1946). Tiulpanov also indicated that there was a marked "political passivity" among former SPD members, who felt they were being treated unfairly and as second-class party members by the new SED administration. As a result, the early SED party apparatus frequently became effectively immobilised as former KPD members began discussing any proposal, however small, at great length with former SPD members, so as to achieve consensus and avoid offending them. Soviet intelligence claimed to have a list of names of an SPD group within the SED that was covertly forging links with the SPD in the West and even with the Western Allied occupation authorities.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: A problem for the Soviets that they identified with the early SED was its potential to develop into a nationalist party. At large party meetings, members applauded speakers who talked of nationalism much more than when they spoke of solving social problems and gender equality. Some even proposed the idea of establishing an independent German socialist state free of both Soviet and Western influence, and of soon regaining the formerly German land that the Yalta Conference, and ultimately the Potsdam Conference, had (re)allocated to Poland, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia. The SED began to integrate former members of the Nazi Party at its founding. However, the strategy was controversial within the party. The SED therefore set up the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPD) in 1948 as satellite party that could serve as a pool for former Nazis and Wehrmacht officers. Nonetheless, the SED continued to absorb former Nazi Party members. By 1954, 27 percent of all members of the SED and 32.2 percent of all public service employees were former members of the Nazi Party.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Soviet negotiators reported that SED politicians frequently went beyond the boundaries of the political statements which had been approved by the Soviet monitors, and there was some initial difficulty making regional SED officials realize that they should think carefully before opposing the political positions decided upon by the Central Committee in Berlin.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Although it was nominally a merger of equals, from the beginning the SED was dominated by Communists. By the late 1940s, the SED began to purge most recalcitrant Social Democrats from its ranks. By the time of East Germany's formal establishment in 1949, the SED was a full-fledged Communist party—essentially the KPD under a new name. It began to develop along lines similar to other Communist parties in the Soviet bloc.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Although other parties nominally continued to exist, the Soviet occupation authorities forced them to join in the National Front of Democratic Germany, a nominal coalition of parties that was for all intents and purposes controlled by the SED. By ensuring that Communists predominated on the list of candidates put forward by the National Front, the SED effectively predetermined the composition of legislative bodies in the Soviet zone, and from 1949 in East Germany.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Over the years, the SED gained a reputation as one of the most hardline parties in the Soviet bloc. When Mikhail Gorbachev initiated reforms in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the SED held to an orthodox line.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: The party organisation was based on and co-located with, the institutions of the German Democratic Republic. Its influence stood behind and shaped every facet of public life. The party required every member to live by the mantra "Where there is a comrade, the party is there too" ("Wo ein Genosse ist, da ist die Partei"). This meant that the party organisation was at work in publicly owned industrial and quasi-commercial enterprises, machine and tractor stations, publicly owned farms and in the larger agricultural cooperatives, expressly mandated to monitor and regulate the operational management of each institution.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: The smallest organisational unit in the party was the Party Group. Group members elected one of their number Party Group Organiser (PGO), to take responsibility for Party Work. There were also a Treasurer, an Agitator, and according to the size of the group other associated members included in the Party Group leadership. Where there were several Party Groups operating in a single place they would be combined in a Departmental Party Organisation (APO / "Abteilungsparteiorganisation") which in turn would have its own leadership and an APO Party Secretariat.


title: Socialist Unity Party of Germany

text: Increasingly, party conferences were planned with military-level precision. Their choreography was carefully undertaken to ensure that they were understood as high-profile society events. They were very much more than mere political functions. Delegates were selected from the regional and sectional party organisations according to criteria determined by the Party Central Committee. Care was taken over the proportions of women, of youth representatives, of members from approved Mass organisations and of "exemplary" workers.