title: 2014 United States elections

text: Although it generated much debate in early 2014, the Keystone Pipeline ultimately received little attention in the election, with environmentalists instead focused on fighting global warming and supporting the EPA's proposed regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. Another potentially important issue, net neutrality, received little attention during the campaign.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: National exit polling showed that 45% of voters said the economy was their most important issue. This was a decline from 2010 and 2008 (when 59% of voters and 63% of voters, respectively, named it as their top issue), but was still the most common issue cited by voters as most important to them. Smaller numbers of voters named health care, foreign policy, or illegal immigration as their top issues, or same-sex marriage, Ebola, or the legalization of marijuana as their top issues.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: With a final total of 247 seats (56.78%) in the House and 54 seats in the Senate, the Republicans ultimately achieved their largest majority in the U.S. Congress since the 71st Congress in 1929.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: All 33 seats in Senate Class II were up for election. Additionally, three special elections were held to fill vacancies in Class III.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Of the 36 Senate races, the Republican Party won 24 (a net gain of nine seats, which represents the largest gain for a party in the Senate since 1980, and the largest Senate gain in a midterm since 1958) and the Democratic Party won 12, thus resulting in the Republicans regaining control of the Senate for the first time since 2006, with a total of 54 seats. The race in Louisiana headed to a run-off on December 6, 2014, in which Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) defeated 3-term incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu 55.9% to 44.1%.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: All 435 voting seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Elections were held to select the delegates for the District of Columbia and four of the five U.S. territories. The only seat in the House not up for election was the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, who serves a four-year term. The Republican party won 247 seats (a net gain of 13 seats) and the Democratic Party, 188 seats. Thus, the Republicans gained their largest majority in the House since 1928. Nationwide, Republicans won the popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 5.7 percent.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: On March 11, there was a special election for Florida's 13th congressional district, won by the Republican Party.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Elections were held for the governorships of 36 U.S. states and three U.S. territories. The Republican Party won 24 of the 36 state governorships for a net gain of two seats, as they picked up open Democratic-held seats in Arkansas, Maryland and Massachusetts and defeated incumbent Governor Pat Quinn in Illinois, while Republican incumbents Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania and Sean Parnell of Alaska respectively lost to Democrat Tom Wolf and independent Bill Walker. This cycle marked the first time an incumbent Governor running for re-election in Pennsylvania lost in the modern era. The final total, as a result, was 31 Republican governors, 18 Democratic governors, and one Independent governor. In the table below, the US state governorships held by Democrats included: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia in addition to Washington, DC and Virgin Islands.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Elections to state legislatures were held in 46 states, with a total of 6049 seats up for election (82 percent of the total number of state legislative seats in the United States). Republicans gained control of 10 legislative chambers: both chambers of the Nevada Legislature, the Minnesota House of Representatives, New Hampshire House of Representatives, the New Mexico House of Representatives, the West Virginia House of Delegates, the Colorado Senate, the Maine Senate, the New York Senate, and the Washington Senate. This increased the total number of Republican-controlled state houses from 57 to 67. The day after the election, Republicans, who achieved a 17–17 tie in the West Virginia Senate, gained control of that chamber as well thanks to the defection of State Senator Daniel Hall, thus increasing their total gains to 11, for a final total of 68 state houses won. The election left the Republicans in control of the highest amount of state legislatures in the party's history since 1928, and also left the Democrats in control of the smallest amount of state legislatures since 1860.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Numerous elections were held for officeholders in numerous cities, counties, school boards, special districts, and others around the country.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Nationwide voter turnout was 36.4%, down from 40.9% in the 2010 midterms and the lowest since the 1942 elections, when just 33.9% of voters turned out, though that election came during the middle of World War II.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: The states with the highest turnout were Maine (59.3%), Wisconsin (56.9%), Alaska (55.3%), Colorado (53%), Oregon (52.7%) Minnesota (51.3%), Iowa (50.6%), New Hampshire (48.8%), Montana (46.1%) and South Dakota (44.6%), all of which except for Iowa and Montana featured a competitive gubernatorial race and all of which except for Maine and Wisconsin also featured competitive Senate races. The states with the highest turnout that had no Senate or gubernatorial race that year were North Dakota (44.1%) and Washington state (38.6%).


title: 2014 United States elections

text: The states with the lowest turnout were Indiana (28%), Texas (28.5%), Utah (28.8%), Tennessee (29.1%), New York (29.5%), Mississippi (29.7%), Oklahoma (29.8%), New Jersey (30.4%) and West Virginia and Nevada (31.8%). Indiana and Utah had no Senate or gubernatorial elections and the others all had races for at least one of the posts, but they were not considered competitive. Turnout in Washington, D.C. was (30.3%).


title: 2014 United States elections

text: According to CNN, Americans aged between 18 and 29 accounted for 13% of voters, down from 19% in the presidential election two years before.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Analysis by the Pew Research Center found that 35% of non-voters cited work or school commitments, which prevented them from voting, 34% said they were too busy, unwell, away from home or forgot to vote, 20% either didn't like the choices, didn't know enough or didn't care and 10% had recently moved, missed a registration deadline or didn't have transportation.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: "The New York Times" counts apathy, anger and frustration at the relentlessly negative tone of the campaigns as the reasons of low turnout and stated, "Neither party gave voters an affirmative reason to show up at the polls."


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Connecticut State Representative Christina Ayala (Democrat) was arrested in September 2014 on 19 voting fraud charges, specifically "eight counts of fraudulent voting, 10 counts of primary or enrollment violations and one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence." In September 2015 she pleaded guilty to state election law violations, received a one-year sentence (suspended) along with two years 'conditional discharge', and agreed not to seek elective office for two years. Her mother, Democratic Registrar of Voters Santa Ayala, was also the subject of an investigation in the case, but was not charged.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: California State Senator Roderick Wright (Democrat) resigned from office in September 2014 and was sentenced to 90 days in Los Angeles county jail for perjury and voter fraud. Despite being convicted months earlier for 8 felonies, Wright was allowed to take a paid leave of absence as State Senator.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: In Chicago, election judges said they had received automated phone calls between October–November 3 with apparently false instructions about voting or required training, according to the "Chicago Sun-Times". In Pontiac, Michigan, local Democrats cited reports of voter harassment and intimidation by Republicans over questioning legally-cast ballots with election workers repeatedly having had to ask them to step aside. A clerk called police for help.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: In June 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, permitting nine (mostly Southern) states to change their election laws without advance federal approval. Since 2010, 22 states enacted new voting restrictions. The 2014 federal election was the first federal election where 15 states enacted new voting restrictions, many of which faced challenges in court.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Scattered issues with voting machines occurred, with miscalibrated machines recorded a vote cast for one candidate as a vote for another candidate. They occurred in Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, and North Carolina.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: In Bexar County, Texas, the Republican candidate for governor, Greg Abbott, was accidentally replaced on the ballot by David Dewhurst on one machine, on which 12 votes were cast before the problem was caught.


title: 2014 United States elections

text: A series of milestones were set for women, African-Americans, and Hispanics, among others, in the U.S. Congress and American politics in general. These include:


title: 2014 United States elections

text: Bold indicates a change in partisan control. Note that not all states held gubernatorial, state legislative, and United States Senate elections in 2014.


title: Solar cooker

text: A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive, low-tech devices, although some are as powerful or as expensive as traditional stoves, and advanced, large scale solar cookers can cook for hundreds of people. Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate, many nonprofit organizations are promoting their use worldwide in order to help reduce fuel costs and air pollution, and to help slow down deforestation and desertification.


title: Solar cooker

text: In ancient times, the use of solar energy was believed to have existed in civilizations amidst the Greeks, Romans and the Chinese, though not for cooking.


title: Solar cooker

text: The first academic description of the principles of a solar cooker is by the Swiss geologist, meteorologist, physicist, mountaineer, and Alpine explorer Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, in 1767. The principle of cooking meals by sunlight was largely developed in the French Foreign Legion, in the 1870s.


title: Solar cooker

text: Below is the basic science for solar panel cookers and solar box cookers. Another style of solar cooker is a parabolic solar cooker. They typically require more frequent reorientation to the Sun, but will cook more quickly at higher temperatures, and can fry foods. Evacuated tube solar cookers use a highly insulated double-wall glass tube for the cooking chamber, and do not require large reflectors


title: Solar cooker

text: Different kinds of solar cookers use somewhat different methods of cooking, but most follow the same basic principles.


title: Solar cooker

text: Food is prepared as if for an oven or stove top. However, because food cooks faster when it is in smaller pieces, food placed inside a solar cooker is usually cut into smaller pieces than it might otherwise be. For example, potatoes are usually cut into bite-sized pieces rather than roasted whole. For very simple cooking, such as melting butter or cheese, a lid may not be needed and the food may be placed on an uncovered tray or in a bowl. If several foods are to be cooked separately, then they are placed in different containers.


title: Solar cooker

text: The container of food is placed inside the solar cooker, which may be elevated on a brick, rock, metal trivet, or other heat sink, and the solar cooker is placed in direct sunlight. Foods that cook quickly may be added to the solar cooker later. Rice for a mid-day meal might be started early in the morning, with vegetables, cheese, or soup added to the solar cooker in the middle of the morning. Depending on the size of the solar cooker and the number and quantity of cooked foods, a family may use one or more solar cookers.


title: Solar cooker

text: A solar oven is turned towards the Sun and left until the food is cooked. Unlike cooking on a stove or over a fire, which may require more than an hour of constant supervision, food in a solar oven is generally not stirred or turned over, both because it is unnecessary and because opening the solar oven allows the trapped heat to escape and thereby slows the cooking process. If wanted, the solar oven may be checked every one to two hours, to turn the oven to face the Sun more precisely and to ensure that shadows from nearby buildings or plants have not blocked the sunlight. If the food is to be left unattended for many hours during the day, then the solar oven is often turned to face the point where the Sun will be when it appears highest in the sky, instead of towards its current position.


title: Solar cooker

text: The cooking time depends primarily on the equipment being used, the amount of sunlight at the time, and the quantity of food that needs to be cooked. Air temperature, wind, and latitude also affect performance. Food cooks faster in the two hours before and after the local solar noon than it does in either the early morning or the late afternoon. Large quantities of food, and food in large pieces, take longer to cook. As a result, only general figures can be given for cooking time. With a small solar panel cooker, it might be possible to melt butter in 15 minutes, to bake cookies in 2 hours, and to cook rice for four people in 4 hours. With a high performing parabolic solar cooker, you may be able to grill a steak in minutes. However, depending on local conditions and the solar cooker type, these projects could take half as long, or twice as long.


title: Solar cooker

text: It is difficult to burn food in a solar cooker. Food that has been cooked even an hour longer than necessary is usually indistinguishable from minimally cooked food. The exception to this rule is some green vegetables, which quickly change from a perfectly cooked bright green to olive drab, while still retaining the desirable texture.


title: Solar cooker

text: For most foods, such as rice, the typical person would be unable to tell how it was cooked from looking at the final product. There are some differences, however: Bread and cakes brown on their tops instead of on the bottom. Compared to cooking over a fire, the food does not have a smoky flavor.


title: Solar cooker

text: A box cooker has a transparent glass or plastic top, and it may have additional reflectors to concentrate sunlight into the box. The top can usually be removed to allow dark pots containing food to be placed inside. One or more reflectors of shiny metal or foil-lined material may be positioned to bounce extra light into the interior of the oven chamber. Cooking containers and the inside bottom of the cooker should be dark-colored or black. Inside walls should be reflective to reduce radiative heat loss and bounce the light towards the pots and the dark bottom, which is in contact with the pots. The box should have insulated sides. Thermal insulation for the solar box cooker must be able to withstand temperatures up to 150 °C (300 °F) without melting or out-gassing. Crumpled newspaper, wool, rags, dry grass, sheets of cardboard, etc. can be used to insulate the walls of the cooker. Metal pots and/or bottom trays can be darkened either with flat-black spray paint (one that is non-toxic when warmed), black tempera paint, or soot from a fire. The solar box cooker typically reaches a temperature of 150 °C (300 °F). This is not as hot as a standard oven, but still hot enough to cook food over a somewhat longer period of time.


title: Solar cooker

text: Panel solar cookers are inexpensive solar cookers that use reflective panels to direct sunlight to a cooking pot enclosed in a clear plastic bag.


title: Solar cooker

text: Solar Oven science experiments are regularly done as projects in high schools and colleges, such as the "Solar Oven Throwdown" at the University of Arizona. These projects prove that it is possible to both achieve high temperatures, as well as predict the high temperatures using mathematical models.


title: Solar cooker

text: Parabolic solar cookers concentrate sunlight to a single point. When this point is focused on the bottom of a pot, it can heat the pot quickly to very high temperatures which can often be comparable with the temperatures achieved in gas and charcoal grills. These types of solar cookers are widely used in several regions of the world, most notably in China and India where hundreds of thousands of families currently use parabolic solar cookers for preparing food and heating water. Some parabolic solar cooker projects in China abate between 1–4 tons of carbon dioxide per year and receive carbon credits through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Gold Standard.


title: Solar cooker

text: Some parabolic solar cookers incorporate cutting-edge materials and designs which lead to solar energy efficiencies >90%. Others are large enough to feed thousands of people each day, such as the solar bowl at Auroville in India, which makes 2 meals per day for 1,000 people.


title: Solar cooker

text: If a reflector is axially symmetrical and shaped so its cross-section is a parabola, it has the property of bringing parallel rays of light (such as sunlight) to a point "focus". If the axis of symmetry is aimed at the Sun, any object that is located at the focus receives highly concentrated sunlight, and therefore becomes very hot. This is the basis for the use of this kind of reflector for solar cooking.


title: Solar cooker

text: Paraboloids are compound curves, which are more difficult to make with simple equipment than single curves. Although paraboloidal solar cookers can cook as well as or better than a conventional stove, they are difficult to construct by hand. Frequently, these reflectors are made using many small segments that are all single curves which together approximate compound curves.


title: Solar cooker

text: Although paraboloids are difficult to make from flat sheets of solid material, they can be made quite simply by rotating open-topped containers which hold liquids. The top surface of a liquid which is being rotated at constant speed around a vertical axis naturally takes the form of a paraboloid. Centrifugal force causes material to move outward from the axis of rotation until a deep enough depression is formed in the surface for the force to be balanced by the levelling effect of gravity. It turns out that the depression is an exact paraboloid. (See Liquid-mirror telescope.) If the material solidifies while it is rotating, the paraboloidal shape is maintained after the rotation stops, and can be used to make a reflector. This rotation technique is sometimes used to make paraboloidal mirrors for astronomical telescopes, and has also been used for solar cookers. Devices for constructing such paraboloids are known as rotating furnaces.


title: Solar cooker

text: Paraboloidal reflectors generate high temperatures and cook quickly, but require frequent adjustment and supervision for safe operation. Several hundred thousand exist, mainly in China. They are especially useful for individual household and large-scale institutional cooking.


title: Solar cooker

text: A Scheffler cooker (named after its inventor, Wolfgang Scheffler) uses a large ideally paraboloidal reflector which is rotated around an axis that is parallel with the Earth's using a mechanical mechanism, turning at 15 degrees per hour to compensate for the Earth's rotation. The axis passes through the reflector's centre of mass, allowing the reflector to be turned easily. The cooking vessel is located at the focus which is on the axis of rotation, so the mirror concentrates sunlight onto it all day. The mirror has to be occasionally tilted about a perpendicular axis to compensate for the seasonal variation in the Sun's declination. This perpendicular axis does not pass through the cooking vessel. Therefore, if the reflector were a rigid paraboloid, its focus would not remain stationary at the cooking vessel as the reflector tilts. To keep the focus stationary, the reflector's shape has to vary. It remains paraboloidal, but its focal length and other parameters change as it tilts. The Scheffler reflector is therefore flexible, and can be bent to adjust its shape. It is often made up of a large number of small plane sections, such as glass mirrors, joined together by flexible plastic. A framework that supports the reflector includes a mechanism that can be used to tilt it and also bend it appropriately. The mirror is never exactly paraboloidal, but it is always close enough for cooking purposes.


title: Solar cooker

text: Sometimes the rotating reflector is located outdoors and the reflected sunlight passes through an opening in a wall into an indoor kitchen, often a large communal one, where the cooking is done.


title: Solar cooker

text: Paraboloidal reflectors with their centers of mass coincident with their focal points are useful. They can be easily turned to follow the Sun's motions in the sky, rotating about any axis that passes through the focus. Two perpendicular axes can be used, intersecting at the focus, to allow the paraboloid to follow both the Sun's daily motion and its seasonal one. The cooking pot stays stationary at the focus. If the paraboloidal reflector is axially symmetrical and is made of material of uniform thickness, its centre of mass coincides with its focus if the depth of the reflector, measured along its axis of symmetry from the vertex to the plane of the rim, is 1.8478 times its focal length. The radius of the rim of the reflector is 2.7187 times the focal length. The angular radius of the rim, as seen from the focal point, is 72.68 degrees.


title: Solar cooker

text: Parabolic troughs are used to concentrate sunlight for solar-energy purposes. Some solar cookers have been built that use them in the same way. Generally, the trough is aligned with its focal line horizontal and east–west. The food to be cooked is arranged along this line. The trough is pointed so its axis of symmetry aims at the Sun at noon. This requires the trough to be tilted up and down as the seasons progress. At the equinoxes, no movement of the trough is needed during the day to track the Sun. At other times of year, there is a period of several hours around noon each day when no tracking is needed. Usually, the cooker is used only during this period, so no automatic Sun tracking is incorporated into it. This simplicity makes the design attractive, compared with using a paraboloid. Also, being a single curve, the trough reflector is simpler to construct. However, it suffers from lower efficiency.


title: Solar cooker

text: It is possible to use two parabolic troughs, curved in perpendicular directions, to bring sunlight to a point focus as does a paraboloidal reflector.The incoming light strikes one of the troughs, which sends it toward a line focus. The second trough intercepts the converging light and focuses it to a point.


title: Solar cooker

text: Compared with a single paraboloid, using two partial troughs has important advantages. Each trough is a single curve, which can be made simply by bending a flat sheet of metal. Also, the light that reaches the targeted cooking pot is directed approximately downward, which reduces the danger of damage to the eyes of anyone nearby. On the other hand, there are disadvantages. More mirror material is needed, increasing the cost, and the light is reflected by two surfaces instead of one, which inevitably increases the amount that is lost.


title: Solar cooker

text: The two troughs are held in a fixed orientation relative to each other by being both fixed to a frame. The whole assembly of frame and troughs has to be moved to track the sun as it moves in the sky. Commercially made cookers that use this method are available. In practical applications (like in car-headlights), concave mirrors are of parabolic shape.


title: Solar cooker

text: Spherical reflectors operate much like paraboloidal reflectors, such that the axis of symmetry is pointed towards the Sun so that sunlight is concentrated to a focus. However, the focus of a spherical reflector will not be a point focus because it suffers from a phenomenon known as spherical aberration. Some concentrating dishes (such as satellite dishes) that do not require a precise focus opt for a spherical curvature over a paraboloid. If the radius of the rim of spherical reflector is small compared with the radius of curvature of its surface (the radius of the sphere of which the reflector is a part), the reflector approximates a paraboloidal one with focal length equal to half of the radius of curvature.


title: Solar cooker

text: Evacuated tube solar cookers are essentially vacuum sealed between two layers of glass. The vacuum allows the tube to act both as a "super" greenhouse and an insulator. The central cooking tube is made from borosilicate glass, which is resistant to thermal shock, and has a vacuum beneath the surface to insulate the interior. The inside of the tube is lined with copper, stainless steel, and aluminum nitrile to better absorb and conduct heat from the Sun's rays. Solar cooking tube systems use a reflector to enhance the thermal energy capturing. There are models of tube cooking system in India which has energy storage devices installed at the bottom of the tube to store heat for cooking or heating food during night.


title: Solar cooker

text: Cardboard, aluminium foil, and plastic bags for well over 10,000 solar cookers have been donated to the Iridimi refugee camp and Touloum refugee camps in Chad by the combined efforts of the Jewish World Watch, the Dutch foundation KoZon, and Solar Cookers International. The refugees construct the cookers themselves, using the donated supplies and locally purchased Arabic gum. It has also significantly reduced the amount of time women spend tending open fires each day, with the results that they are healthier and they have more time to grow vegetables for their families and make handicrafts for export. By 2007, the Jewish World Watch had trained 4,500 women and had provided 10,000 solar cookers to refugees. The project has also reduced the number of foraging trips by as much as 70 percent, thus reducing the number of attacks.


title: Astronomer

text: An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either observational (by analyzing the data) or theoretical astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers study include planetary science, solar astronomy, the origin or evolution of stars, or the formation of galaxies. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which studies the Universe as a whole.


title: Astronomer

text: Astronomers usually fall under either of two main types: observational and theoretical. Observational astronomers make direct observations of celestial objects and analyze the data. In contrast, theoretical astronomers create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. Because it takes millions to billions of years for a system of stars or a galaxy to complete a life cycle, astronomers must observe snapshots of different systems at unique points in their evolution to determine how they form, evolve, and die. They use this data to create models or simulations to theorize how different celestial objects work.


title: Astronomer

text: Further subcategories under these two main branches of astronomy include planetary astronomy, galactic astronomy, or physical cosmology.


title: Astronomer

text: Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws. Today, that distinction has mostly disappeared and the terms "astronomer" and "astrophysicist" are interchangeable. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a PhD in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend the majority of their time working on research, although they quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments, or aiding in the operation of an observatory.


title: Astronomer

text: The American Astronomical Society, which is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 7,000 members. This number includes scientists from other fields such as physics, geology, and engineering, whose research interests are closely related to astronomy. The International Astronomical Union comprises almost 10,145 members from 70 countries who are involved in astronomical research at the PhD level and beyond.


title: Astronomer

text: Contrary to the classical image of an old astronomer peering through a telescope through the dark hours of the night, it is far more common to use a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera to record a long, deep exposure, allowing a more sensitive image to be created because the light is added over time. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a common method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes usually just a few weeks per year. Analysis of observed phenomena, along with making predictions as to the causes of what they observe, takes the majority of observational astronomers' time.


title: Astronomer

text: Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes. Most universities also have outreach programs including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums as a public service to encourage interest in the field.


title: Astronomer

text: Those who become astronomers usually have a broad background in maths, sciences and computing in high school. Taking courses that teach how to research, write, and present papers are also invaluable. In college/university most astronomers get a PhD in astronomy or physics.


title: Astronomer

text: While there is a relatively low number of professional astronomers, the field is popular among amateurs. Most cities have amateur astronomy clubs that meet on a regular basis and often host star parties. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is the largest general astronomical society in the world, comprising both professional and amateur astronomers as well as educators from 70 different nations. Like any hobby, most people who think of themselves as amateur astronomers may devote a few hours a month to stargazing and reading the latest developments in research. However, amateurs span the range from so-called "armchair astronomers" to the very ambitious, who own science-grade telescopes and instruments with which they are able to make their own discoveries and assist professional astronomers in research.


title: Black Sherif

text: Mohammed Ismail Sherif Kwaku Frimpong (born 9 January 2002) professionally known as Black Sherif, is a Ghanaian singer and rapper. He gained popularity in 2021 with his song "First Sermon" in May 2021. This was followed up with "Second Sermon" in July.


title: Black Sherif

text: His breakthrough came in with his March 2022 single "Kwaku the Traveller", which reached number 1 on the Ghanaian and Nigerian Apple Music charts. He released his debut album, "The Villain I Never Was", on October 5, 2022.


title: Black Sherif

text: Black Sherif was born and raised in Konongo-Zongo in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. As both his parents stayed overseas, Black Sherif lived with his aunt and other extended family members at the age of 10. His nomadic lifestyle exposed him to multiple influences and different cultures at a very early age.


title: Black Sherif

text: He attended his basic education at Konongo Zongo Islamic Basic School, and completed his secondary education at Kumasi Academy, where he picked up an interest in music and dancing.


title: Black Sherif

text: He is a former student of University of Professional Studies (UPSA) and is currently studying at the University of Ghana.


title: Black Sherif

text: Black Sherif began his career in 2019 with the release of his song "Cry For Me" on YouTube. His debut single "Money" released on May 25, 2020, with a music video. In May 2021, his single "First Sermon" released, further increasing his audience. The song's sequel, "Second Sermon" was released in July, and received a remix with fellow African artist Burna Boy.


title: Black Sherif

text: His breakthrough came in March 2022 with his single "Kwaku The Traveller" which reached number 1 on the Ghanaian and Nigerian Apple Music charts and became his largest song. He released his debut album "The Villain I Never Was" in October, supported by the singles "45" and "Soja".


title: Black Sherif

text: Black Sherif's music is a blend of highlife, reggae, and hip-hop, specifically UK drill. He has stated his musical influences are rappers Kanye West, Travis Scott, Saint Jhn, Dave, Stormzy, J Hus, and Ghanaian artists Mugeez and Sarkodie.


title: Black Sherif

text: On 11 April 2022, a lawsuit was filed against Black Sherif for alleged breach of contract after Sherif signed a deal with Empire Shadrach Agyei Owusu, the CEO of Waynes Chavis Consult, was seeking the court to restrict Black Sherif from performing at events without his authorization. Fortunately for Black Sherif, the Accra High Court (Commercial Division) dismissed the injunction filed against him which sought to prevent the singer from performing music he released under his old management.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Hinduism in Indonesia, as of the 2018 census, is practised by about 1.74% of the total population, and almost 87% of the population in Bali. Hinduism is one of the six official religions of Indonesia. Hinduism came to Indonesia in the 1st-century through traders, sailors, scholars and priests. A syncretic fusion of pre-existing Javanese folk religion, culture and Hindu ideas, that from the 6th-century also synthesized Buddhist ideas as well, evolved as the Indonesian version of Hinduism. These ideas continued to develop during the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires. About 1400 CE, these kingdoms were introduced to Islam from coast-based Muslim traders, and thereafter Hinduism mostly vanished from many of the islands of Indonesia.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Indonesia has the fourth-largest population of Hindus in the world, after India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Though being a minority religion, the Hindu culture has influenced the way of life and day-to-day activities in Indonesia. Outside of Bali, many adherents of traditional indigenous religions identify as Hindus in order to gain official recognition.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The indigenous peoples of the Indonesian Archipelago believed in animism and dynamism, practices commonly shared among many tribal peoples around the world. In the case of the first Indonesians, they especially venerated and revered ancestral spirits; they developed a belief that certain individuals’ spiritual energy may inhabit (or be reincarnated in) various natural objects, beings and places, such as animals, insects, trees, plants, stones, forests, mountains, or any place deemed sacred. This unseen spiritual entity and supernatural knowledge is identified by the ancient Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese as "hyang", which can mean either “divine” or “ancestral”. In modern Indonesian, "hyang" tends to be associated with the notion of God.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Hindu influences reached the Indonesian Archipelago as early as the first century. In tales like the "Kidung Harṣa Wijaya" one reads that "rata bhaṭṭāra Narasingha" supposedly was a scion in the lineage of Hari, and that Hari is another word for "Vishnu". Early translators of Kavi manuscripts misunderstood the "being a son of" and assumed that Vishnu actually had human offspring and so on. Here however we must conclude a belonging to a religious school of thought, Vaisnavism. Therefore, early Hinduism on Java, Bali, and Sumatra consisted of both main schools of Hinduism. Thus, historical evidence is not entirely unclear about the diffusion process of cultural and spiritual ideas from India. Java legends refer to Saka-era, traced to 78 CE. Stories from the Mahabharata Epic have been traced in Indonesian islands to the 1st century; whose versions mirror those found in southeast Indian peninsular region (now Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh). The Javanese prose work "Tantu Pagelaran" of the 14th century, which is a collection of ancient tales, arts and crafts of Indonesia, extensively uses Sanskrit words, Indian deity names and religious concepts. Similarly ancient "Chandis" (temples) excavated in Java and western Indonesian islands, as well as ancient inscriptions such as the 8th century Canggal inscription discovered in Indonesia, confirm widespread adoption of Shiva lingam iconography, his companion goddess Parvati, Ganesha, Vishnu, Brahma, Arjuna, and other Hindu deities by about the middle to late 1st millennium AD. Ancient Chinese records of Fa Hien on his return voyage from Ceylon to China in 414 AD mention two schools of Hinduism in Java, while Chinese documents from 8th century refer to the Hindu kingdom of King Sanjaya as "Holing", calling it "exceedingly wealthy," and that it coexisted peacefully with Buddhist people and Sailendra ruler in Kedu Plain of the Java island.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The two major theories for the arrival of Hinduism in Indonesia include that South Indian sea traders brought Hinduism with them, and second being that Indonesian royalty welcomed Indian religions and culture, and it is they who first adopted these spiritual ideas followed by the masses. Indonesian islands adopted both Hindu and Buddhist ideas, fusing them with pre-existing native folk religion and Animist beliefs. In the 4th century, the kingdom of Kutai in East Kalimantan, Tarumanagara in West Java, and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java, were among the early Hindu states established in the region. Excavations between 1950 and 2005, particularly at the "Cibuaya" and "Batujaya" sites, suggests that Tarumanagara revered deity Wisnu (Vishnu) of Hinduism. Ancient Hindu kingdoms of Java built many square temples, named rivers on the island as Gomati and Ganges, and completed major irrigation and infrastructure projects.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Several notable ancient Indonesian Hindu kingdoms were Mataram, famous for the construction of one of the world's largest Hindu temple complexes - the Prambanan temple, followed by Kediri and Singhasari. Hinduism along with Buddhism spread across the archipelago. Numerous sastras and sutras of Hinduism were translated into the Javanese language, and expressed in art form. Rishi Agastya, for example, is described as the principal figure in the 11th century Javanese text "Agastya parva"; the text includes puranas, and a mixture of ideas from the Samkhya and Vedanta schools of Hinduism. The Hindu-Buddhist ideas reached the peak of their influence in the 14th century. The last and largest among the Hindu-Buddhist Javanese empires, Majapahit, influenced the Indonesian archipelago.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Sunni Muslim traders of the Shafi'i fiqh, as well as Sufi Muslim traders from India, Oman and Yemen brought Islam to Indonesia. The earliest known mention of a small Islamic community midst the Hindus of Indonesia is credited to Marco Polo, about 1297 AD, whom he referred to as a new community of Moorish traders in Perlak. Four diverse and contentious Islamic Sultanates emerged in north Sumatra (Aceh), south Sumatra, west and central Java, and in southern Borneo (Kalimantan).


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: These Sultanates declared Islam as their state religion and fought against each other as well as the Hindus and other non-Muslims. In some regions, Indonesian people continued their old beliefs and adopted a syncretic version of Islam. In other cases, Hindus and Buddhists left and concentrated as communities in islands that they could defend. Hindus of eastern Java, for example, moved to Bali and neighboring small islands. While this era of religious conflict and inter-Sultanate warfare was unfolding, and new power centers were attempting to consolidate regions under their control, European colonialism arrived. The Indonesian archipelago was soon dominated by the Dutch colonial empire. The Dutch colonial empire helped prevent inter-religious conflict, and it slowly began the process of excavating, understanding and preserving Indonesia's ancient Hindu-Buddhist cultural foundations, particularly in Java and western islands of Indonesia.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: After Indonesia gained its independence from Dutch colonial rule, it officially recognized only monotheistic religions under pressure from political Islam. Further, Indonesia required an individual to have a religion to gain full Indonesian citizenship rights, and officially Indonesia did not recognize Hindus. It considered Hindus as "orang yang belum beragama" (people without religion), and as those who must be converted. In 1952, the Indonesian Ministry of Religion declared Bali and other islands with Hindus as needing a systematic campaign of proselytization to accept Islam. The local government of Bali, shocked by this official national policy, declared itself an autonomous religious area in 1953. The Balinese government also reached out to India and former Dutch colonial officials for diplomatic and human rights support. A series of student and cultural exchange initiatives between Bali and India helped formulate the core principles behind Balinese Hinduism (Catur Veda, Upanishad, Puranas, Itihasa). In particular, the political self-determination movement in Bali in mid 1950s led to a non-violent passive resistance movement and the joint petition of 1958 which demanded Indonesian government recognize Hindu Dharma. This joint petition quoted the following Sanskrit mantra from Hindu scriptures,


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The petition's focus on the "undivided one" was to satisfy the constitutional requirement that Indonesian citizens have a monotheistic belief in one God. The petitioners identified "Ida Sanghyang Widhi Wasa" as the undivided one. In the Balinese language this term has two meanings: the Divine ruler of the Universe and the Divine Absolute Cosmic Law. This creative phrase met the monotheistic requirement of the Indonesian Ministry of Religion in the former sense, while the latter sense of its meaning preserved the central ideas of dharma in ancient scripts of Hinduism. In 1959, Indonesian President Sukarno supported the petition and a Hindu-Balinese Affairs section was officially launched within the Ministry of Religion.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Indonesian politics and religious affairs went through turmoil from 1959 to 1962, with Sukarno dissolving the Konstituante and weakening the impact of communist movement in Indonesia along with political Islam. Nevertheless, officially identifying their religion as Hinduism was not a legal possibility for Indonesians until 1962, when it became the fifth state-recognized religion. This recognition was initially sought by Balinese religious organizations and granted for the sake of Bali, where the majority were Hindu. Between 1966 and 1980, along with Balinese Hindus, large numbers of Indonesians in western Java, as well as parts of South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Central and South Kalimantan officially declared themselves to be Hindus. They politically organized themselves to press and preserve their rights. The largest of these organizations, Parisada Hindu Dharma Bali, changed its name to Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia (PHDI) in 1986, reflecting subsequent efforts to define Hinduism as a national rather than just a Balinese concern.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: While Hindus in Bali, with their large majority, developed and freely practiced their religion, in other islands of Indonesia they suffered discrimination and persecution by local officials as these Hindus were considered as those who had left Islam, the majority religion. However, the central government of Indonesia supported the Hindus. In the 1960s, Hinduism was an umbrella also used by Indonesians whose faith was Buddhism and Confucianism, but when neither of these two were officially recognized. Furthermore, Hindu political activists of Indonesia worked to protect people of those faiths under rights they had gained at the Indonesian Ministry of Religion.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: To gain official acceptance and their rights in a Muslim-dominated country, Hinduism in Indonesia was politically forced to adapt. Currently Hindu Dharma is one of the five officially recognized monotheistic religions in Indonesia.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Folk religions and animists with a deep concern for the preservation of their traditional ancestor religions declared their religion to be Hinduism, considering it a more flexible option than Islam or Christianity, in the outer islands. In the early seventies, the Toraja people of Sulawesi were the first to realize this opportunity by seeking shelter for their indigenous ancestor religion under the broad umbrella of 'Hinduism', followed by the Karo Batak of Sumatra in 1977. In central and southern Kalimantan, a large Hindu movement has grown among the local indigenous Dayak population which lead to a mass declaration of 'Hinduism' on this island in 1980. However, this was different from the Javanese case, in that conversions followed a clear ethnic division. Indigenous Dayak were confronted with a mostly population of government-sponsored (and predominantly Madurese) migrants and officials, and deeply resentful at the dispossession of their land and its natural resources.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Compared to their counterparts among Javanese Hindus, many Dayak leaders were also more deeply concerned about Balinese efforts to standardize Hindu ritual practice nationally; fearing a decline of their own unique 'Hindu Kaharingan' traditions and renewed external domination. By contrast, most Javanese were slow to consider Hinduism at the time, lacking a distinct organization along ethnic lines and fearing retribution from locally powerful Islamic organizations like the Nahdatul Ulama (NU).


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Several native tribal peoples with beliefs such as Sundanese Sunda Wiwitan, Torajan Aluk To Dolo, and Batak Malim, with their own unique syncretic faith, have declared themselves as Hindus in order to comply with Indonesian law, while preserving their distinct traditions with differences from mainstream Indonesian Hinduism dominated by the Balinese. These factors and political activity has led to a certain resurgence of Hinduism outside of its Balinese stronghold.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: In February 2020, President Joko Widodo issued a presidential regulation elevating the status of Hindu Dharma State Institute in Denpasar, Bali into the country's first Hindu state university, named I Gusti Bagus Sugriwa State Hindu University. This institution of Hindu higher study started out as a state academy for teachers of Hindu religion in 1993, before being converted into the Hindu Religion State College in 1999, and then into the Hindu Dharma State Institute in 2004.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The general beliefs and practices of "Agama Hindu Dharma" are a mixture of ancient traditions and contemporary pressures placed by Indonesian laws that permit only monotheist belief under the national ideology of "panca sila". Traditionally, Hinduism in Indonesia had a pantheon of deities and that tradition of belief continues in practice; further, Hinduism in Indonesia granted freedom and flexibility to Hindus as to when, how and where to pray. However, officially, Indonesian government considers and advertises Indonesian Hinduism as a monotheistic religion with certain officially recognized beliefs that comply with its national ideology. Indonesian school text books describe Hinduism as having one supreme being, Hindus offering three daily mandatory prayers, and Hinduism as having certain common beliefs that in part parallel those of Islam. Scholars contest whether these Indonesian government recognized and assigned beliefs reflect the traditional beliefs and practices of Hindus in Indonesia before Indonesia gained independence from Dutch colonial rule.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The sacred texts found in "Agama Hindu Dharma" are the Vedas and Upanishads. They are the basis of Indian and Balinese Hinduism. Other sources of religious information include the Universal Hindu Puranas and the Itihasa (mainly "Ramayana" and the "Mahabharata"). The epics "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" became enduring traditions among Indonesian believers, expressed in shadow puppet ("wayang") and dance performances. As in India, Indonesian Hinduism recognizes four paths of spirituality, calling it "Catur Marga". These are bhakti mārga (path of devotion to deities), jnana mārga (path of knowledge), karma mārga (path of works) and raja mārga (path of meditation). Bhakti marga has the largest following in Bali. Similarly, like Hindus in India, Balinese Hindus believe that there are four proper goals of human life, calling it "Catur Purusartha" - dharma (pursuit of moral and ethical living), artha (pursuit of wealth and creative activity), kama (pursuit of joy and love) and moksha (pursuit of self-knowledge and liberation).


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Balinese Hinduism is an amalgamation of Indian religions and indigenous animist customs that existed in Indonesian archipelago before the arrival of Islam and later Dutch colonialism. It integrates many of the core beliefs of Hinduism with arts and rituals of Balinese people. In contemporary times, Hinduism in Bali is officially referred by Indonesian Ministry of Religion as "Agama Hindu Dharma", but traditionally the religion was called by many names such as Tirta, Trimurti, Hindu, Agama Tirta, Siwa, Buda, and Siwa-Buda. The terms Tirta and Trimurti emanate from Indian Hinduism, corresponding to Tirtha (pilgrimage to spirituality near holy waters) and Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) respectively. As in India, Hinduism in Bali grew with flexibility, featuring a diverse way of life. It includes many of the Indian spiritual ideas, cherishes legends and myths of Indian Puranas and Hindu Epics, as well as expresses its traditions through unique set of festivals and customs associated with a myriad of hyangs - the local and ancestral spirits, as well as forms of animal sacrifice that are not common in India.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The Balinese temple is called "Pura". These temples are designed on square Hindu temple plan, as an open air worship place within enclosed walls, connected with series of intricately decorated gates to reach its compounds. Each of these temples has a more or less fixed membership; every Balinese belongs to a temple by virtue of descent, residence, or affiliation. Some house temples are associated with the family house compound (also called "banjar" in Bali), others are associated with rice fields, and still others with key geographic sites. In rural highlands of Bali, "banua" (or "wanwa", forest domain) temples in each "desa" (village) are common. The island of Bali has over 20,000 temples, or about one temple for every 100 to 200 people. Temples are dedicated to local spirits as well as to deities found in India; for example, Saraswati, Ganesha, Wisnu, Siwa, Parvati, Arjuna, and others. The temple design similarly amalgamate architectural principles in Hindu temples of India and regional ideas.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Each individual has a family deity, called Kula dewa, who resides in the temple called the family temple that the individual and his family patronize. Balinese Hindu follow a 210-day calendar (based on rice crop and lunar cycles), and each temple celebrates its anniversary once every 210 days (the calendar is known as Pawukon calendar). Unique rituals and festivals of Balinese Hindus, that are not found in India, include those related to death of a loved one followed by cremations, cockfights, tooth filings, Nyepi and Galungan. Each temple anniversary, as well as festivals and family events such as wedding include flowers, offerings, towering bamboos with decoration at the end and a procession. These are celebrated by the community with prayers and feast. Most festivals have a temple as venue, and they are often occasions for prayers, celebration of arts and community. Some traditions, in contrast, involve animist rituals such as "caru" (animal blood sacrifice) such as "Tabuh Rah" (lethal cockfighting) or killing of an animal to appease "buta kala" (spirits of the earth) - however, the animal sacrifices are conducted outside the premises of a temple.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Dance, music, colorful ceremonial dresses and other arts are a notable feature of religious expression among Balinese Hindus. As in India, these expressions celebrate various mudra to express ideas, grace, decorum and culture. Dance-drama is common. Various stories are expressed. For example, one involves a battle between the mythical characters Rangda the witch (representing adharma, something like disorder) and Barong the protective spirit represented with a lion mask (representing dharma), in which performers fall into a trance, the good attempts to conquer evil, the dancers express the idea that good and evil exists within each individual, and that conquering evil implies ejecting evil from oneself. Balinese paintings are notable for their highly vigorous yet refined, intricate art that resembles baroque folk art with tropical themes. The dance-drama regularly ends undecided, neither side winning, because the primary purpose is to restore balance and recognize that the battle between dharma and adharma (good and evil) is within each person and a never ending one. Barong, or dharma, is a major symbolic and ritual paradigm found in various festivities, dances, arts and temples.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Rituals of the life cycle are also important occasions for religious expression and artistic display. Ceremonies at puberty, marriage, and, most notably, cremation at death provide opportunities for Balinese to communicate their ideas about community, status, and the afterlife.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Scholars dispute the degree and nature of social stratification in medieval and contemporary Balinese Hindu society. The social structure consisted of "catur wangsa" (four varnas) - "brahmana" (priests), "satriya" or "Deva" (warriors), "waisya" (merchants), and "sudra" (farmers, artisans, commoners). There is no historical or contemporary cultural record of untouchables in Balinese Hindu society. The wangsa - termed castes by some accounts, classes by other accounts - were functional, not hierarchical nor segregated in Hindu society of Bali or Java. Further, there was social mobility - people could change their occupation and caste if they wished to. Among the interior highlands of Bali, the desa (villages) have had no wangsa, the social status and profession of a person has been mutable, and marriages not endogamous. Historical inscriptions suggest Balinese Hindu kings and village chiefs have come from all sections of its society - priests, warriors, merchants and artisans.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Both Java and Sumatra were subject to considerable cultural influence from the Indian subcontinent. The earliest evidences of Hindu influences in Java can be found in 4th century Tarumanagara inscriptions scattered around modern Jakarta and Bogor. In the sixth and seventh centuries many maritime kingdoms arose in Sumatra and Java which controlled the waters in the Straits of Malacca and flourished with the increasing sea trade between China and India and beyond. During this time, scholars from India and China visited these kingdoms to translate literary and religious texts.From the 4th to the 15th century, Java had many Hindu kingdoms, such as Tarumanagara, Kalingga, Mataram, Kediri, Sunda, Singhasari and Majapahit. This era is popularly known as the Javanese Classical Era, during which Hindu-Buddhist literature, art and architecture flourished and were incorporated into local culture under royal patronage. During this time, many Hindu temples were built, including 9th century Prambanan near Yogyakarta, which has been designated a World Heritage Site. Among these Hindu kingdoms, Majapahit kingdom was the largest and the last significant Hindu kingdom in Indonesian history. Majapahit was based in East Java, from where it ruled a large part of what is now Indonesia. The remnants of the Majapahit kingdom shifted to Bali during the sixteenth century after a prolonged war by and territorial losses to Islamic sultanates.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The heritage of Hinduism left a significant impact and imprint in Javanese and Sundanese art and culture. The wayang puppet performance as well as wayang wong dance and other Javanese and Sundanese classical dances are derived from episodes of Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Although the vast majority of Javanese and Sundanese now identify as Muslim, these art forms still survive. Hinduism has survived in varying degrees and forms on Java. Certain ethnic groups in Java, such as the Tenggerese and Osing, are also associated with Hindu religious traditions.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The Tengger community follows a Hindu tradition stretching back to the Majapahit Empire. There are strong similarities between the Hinduism in Bali and the Tengger variety; both are called Hindu Dharma. However, the Tengger variety does not have a caste system and the Tengger people's traditions are based on those originating from the Majapahit era. For the Tengger, Mount Bromo (Brahma) is believed to be a holy mountain. Every year the Tengger hold a ritual known as Yadnya Kasada.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: In spite of the Dutch attempts to propagate Islam and Christianity among the Osings, some of them still stuck to their old beliefs. Today Hinduism still exists among the Osing population. The Osings share a similar culture and spirit with the Balinese, and the Hindus celebrate ceremonies like Nyepi. Just like the Balinese people, the Osing people also share the puputan tradition. The Osing people differs from the Balinese people in terms of social stratification. The Osing people does not practice caste system like the Balinese people, even though they are Hindus.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Among the non-Balinese communities considered to be Hindu by the government are, for example, the Dayak adherents of the Kaharingan religion in Kalimantan Tengah, where government statistics counted Hindus as 15.8% of the population . Many Manusela and Nuaulu people of Seram follow "Naurus", a syncretism of Hinduism with animist and Protestant elements. Similarly, the Torajans of Sulawesi have identified their animistic religion "Aluk To Dolo " as Hindu. The Batak of Sumatra have identified their animist traditions with Hinduism. Among the minority Indian ethnic group, Tamils, Malayalis, Telugus and Punjabis of Medan, Sumatra and the Sindhis in Jakarta practice their own form of Hinduism which is similar to the Indian Hinduism, the Indians celebrating Hindu holidays more commonly found in India, such as Deepavali and Thaipusam. The Bodha sect of Sasak people on the island of Lombok are non-Muslim; their religion is a fusion of Hinduism and Buddhism with animism; it is considered Buddhist by the government. In parts of Samarinda and Lombok especially Cakranegara, Nyepi is celebrated.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: A majority of the population on the small island of Tanimbar Kei practices a variant of the Hindu religion, which involves a form of ancestral worship. The island of Tanimbar Kei is not part of Tanimbar, as the name might suggest, but is one of the Kai Islands. As of 2014, it is inhabited by ca. 600 people.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The Hindu organisation Ditjen Bimas Hindu (DBH) carries out periodic surveys through its close connections with Hindu communities throughout Indonesia. In 2012 its studies stated that there are 10,267,724 Hindus in Indonesia. The PHDI (Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia) along with other some other religious minority groups claim that the government undercounts non-Muslims in census recording. The 2018 census recorded the number of Hindus at 4,646,357 with some 80% of them residing in the Hindu heartland of Bali.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Outside Bali, Hindus form a majority in Tosari district (66.3%) in Pasuruan Regency in Java, Balinggi district (77.3%) of Parigi Moutong Regency in Central Sulawesi, Mappak (50%) in Tana Toraja Regency in South Sulawesi. Significant Hindu population is also found in Torue (41%) and Sausu (30%) districts in Java; Tomoni Timur (35%), Angkona (27%), Simbuang (36%) and Tellulimpo E (40%) districts in South Sulawesi; and Cakranegara district (39%) in Mataram in Lombok.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: According to the 2018 census, there were a total of 4,646,357 Hindus in Indonesia, compared to the 4,012,116 Hindus in 2010 census. The percentages of Hinduism in Indonesia increased from 1.69% in 2010 to 1.74% in 2018 in 8 years respectively.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: According to the 2010 Census, there were a total of 4,012,116 Hindus in Indonesia, compared to 3,527,758 Hindus in 2000 Census. While the absolute number of Hindus increased, the relative percentage of Hindus in Indonesia decreased from 2000 to 2010 because of lower birth rates among the Hindu population compared to the Muslim population. The average number of births per Hindu woman varied between 1.8 and 2.0 among various islands, while for the Muslim population it varied between 2.1 and 3.2 per woman.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: According to the 2000 census, Hindus made up 1.79% of the total Indonesian population. Bali had the highest concentration of Hindus with 88.05% of its population professing Hinduism agama. The percentage of Hindus in the total population declined from the 1990 census, and this is largely attributed to lower birth rates and immigration of Muslims from Java into provinces with high Hindu populations. In Central Kalimantan there has been progressive settlement of Madurese from Madura. The details are given below:


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: A common feature among new Hindu communities in Java is that they tend to rally around recently built temples (pura) or around archaeological temple sites (candi) which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The "Parisada Hindu Dharma" changed its name to "Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia" in 1984, in recognition of its national influence spearheaded by Gedong Bagus. One of several new Hindu temples in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt. Semeru, Java's highest mountain. When the temple was completed in July 1992, with the generous aid of wealthy donors from Bali, only a few local families formally confessed to Hinduism. A pilot study in December 1999 revealed that the local Hindu community now has grown to more than 5000 households.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Similar mass conversions have occurred in the region around Pura Agung Blambangan, another new temple, built on a site with minor archaeological remnants attributed to the kingdom of Blambangan, the last Hindu polity on Java. A further important site is Pura Loka Moksa Jayabaya (in the village of Menang near Kediri), where the Hindu king and prophet Jayabaya is said to have achieved spiritual liberation (moksa).A further Hindu movement in the earliest stages of development was observed in the vicinity of the newly completed Pura Pucak Raung (in the Eastern Javanese district of Glenmore), which is mentioned in Balinese literature as the place where the Hindu saint Maharishi Markandeya gathered followers for an expedition to Bali, whereby he is said to have brought Hinduism to the island in the fifth century AD.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: An example of resurgence around major archaeological remains of ancient Hindu temple sites was observed in Trowulan near Mojokerto. The site may be the location of the capital of the Hindu empire Majapahit. A local Hindu movement is struggling to gain control of a newly excavated temple building which they wish to see restored as a site of active Hindu worship. The temple is to be dedicated to Gajah Mada, the man attributed with transforming the small Hindu kingdom of Majapahit into an empire.In Karanganyar region in Central Java, the renovated 14th century Cetho temple on the slope of Mount Lawu has become the center of Javanese Hinduism and gain patronage of Balinese temples and royal houses. A new temple is being built East of Solo (Surakarta). It is a Hindu temple that has miniatures of 50 sacred sites around the world. It is also an active kundalini yoga meditation center teaching the sacred Javanese tradition of sun and water meditation. There are many westerners as well as Javanese joining in.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Although there has been a more pronounced history of resistance to Islamization in East Java, Hindu communities are also expanding in Central Java (Lyon 1980), for example in Klaten, near the ancient Hindu monuments of Prambanan. Today the Prambanan temple stages various annual Hindu ceremonies and festivals such as Galungan and Nyepi.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: In West Java, a Hindu temple Pura Parahyangan Agung Jagatkarta was built on the slope of Mount Salak near the historic site of ancient Sunda Kingdom capital, Pakuan Pajajaran in modern Bogor. The temple, dubbed as the largest Balinese Hindu temple ever built outside Bali, was meant as the main temple for the Balinese Hindu population in the Greater Jakarta region. However, because the temple stands in a Sundanese sacred place, and also hosts a shrine dedicated to the famous Sundanese king, Prabu Siliwangi, the site has gained popularity among locals who wish to reconnect their ties with their ancestors.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The predominantly Hindu island of Bali is the largest tourist draw in Indonesia. Next to natural beauty, the temple architecture, the elaborate Hindu festivals, rich culture, colorful art and vivid dances are the main attractions of Balinese tourism. As a result, tourism and hospitality services are flourishing as one of the most important sources of income and generation of Balinese economy. The high tourist activity in Bali is in contrast with other provinces in Indonesia where the Hindu population is not significant or is absent.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The Government of Indonesia also invests and focuses on the Ancient sites and buildings of Hindu religion, along with Buddhist ones.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: Before Islamization of Indonesia, the art and culture of Indonesia was deepely affected by the Hindu culture. Even in the modern Indonesia, many Indonesian Muslims and Christians, especially in Bali, Java and other islands follows the culture and traditions like that of Hindus. There are many well known and often visited Hindu temples in Indonesia, many of them are present in the islands are a good places for worship and tourism.


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The Hindu temple structure and architecture in Indonesia differs from the rest part of the world and has also quite diversity among them also. The temples structures in Indonesia can be classified in 3 ways:


title: Hinduism in Indonesia

text: The Hindu culture and practices insipires many modern symbols and has crucial role in Indonesian history and also in present scenario.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Danny Óscar Garcia (born March 20, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super), WBC, "Ring" magazine and lineal light welterweight titles between 2012 and 2015, and the WBC welterweight title from 2016 to 2017. As of August 2020, he is ranked as the world's sixth best active welterweight by "The Ring", seventh by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and eighth by BoxRec.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia was born in North Philadelphia to Puerto Rican parents. His mother was from Bayamón and his father was from Naguabo. His father, Ángel, was also a boxer who introduced him to boxing, taking him to Philadelphia's Harrowgate Boxing Club when he was ten years old, which was the minimum age allowed by local law for a minor to train. Ángel has since been Danny's primary boxing coach. Having been raised in the city with the second-largest Puerto Rican community in the United States, Danny identified with his heritage, stating early in his career the desire to become the "next great Puerto Rican fighter".


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Danny Garcia admired Boxing Hall of Famer Carlos Ortiz as his favorite boxer and considered Ortiz's fight against Lenny Matthews in Philadelphia among the most memorable he had ever witnessed. Garcia finished his amateur career with 107 wins 13 losses. Garcia was born with a sixth toe on his right foot which he was embarrassed of as a child, but jokingly says that it gives him a competitive advantage to stay on balance during fights.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia made his professional debut on November 17, 2007, at the Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey against Mike Denby. He opened up by throwing power shots, but it was a short right that sent Denby to the canvas. Another right put Denby down again in a neutral corner. Garcia moved in for the knockout, and sent Denby down for the third and final time with a right-left combination. After the third knockdown, the referee waved the bout over. His next fight took place on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.–Ricky Hatton superfight on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Garcia defeated Jesús Villareal by second-round technical knockout. On January 11, 2008, at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California, Garcia defeated Marlo Córtez by second-round knockout. With precise accurate punches, he disabled Cortéz, dropping him with a left hook early in the second round, forcing the referee to stop the contest.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On March 15, 2008, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Garcia fought Charles Wade. He utilized his speed and quickness to get close to Wade before blasting him with a left hook to knock him out.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: In his fifth professional fight, Garcia fought Guadalupe Díaz, on April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He hurt Díaz early in the fight with a barrage of punches. The referee was forced to stop the fight after Díaz was on wobbly legs. His next fight took place on May 3, 2008, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California against Julio Gamboa. Garcia was in command of the fight, using his fast hands and good power to win by unanimous decision. On the undercard of the Bernard Hopkins–Kelly Pavlik fight for the world middleweight championship at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Garcia stopped Dean Nash by technical knockout after three knockdowns in the third round.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: He survived a tough fight with Ashley Theophane in February 2010, coming away with a split-decision victory. Garcia knocked out faded contender Mike Arnaoutis in four rounds later in the year. In his next contest held in April 2011, he defeated former lightweight titlist Nate Campbell. On August 15, 2011, Garcia won the vacant NABO Jr. welterweight belt in Los Angeles fighting on the HBO PPV undercard of Hopkins vs. Dawson II, on a split decision over former champion Kendall Holt.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: It was announced that Garcia would get his first world title opportunity, challenging Mexican legend and "Ring" Top 10 light welterweight, Érik Morales (52-7, 36 KOs) for the WBC super lightweight championship in another chapter of the infamous "Puerto Rico vs. Mexico" boxing rivalry. The fight took place on March 24, 2012, at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. The fight was originally scheduled to take place on January 28, but was postponed because Morales had emergency gallbladder surgery.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Morales came in two pounds over the contracted limit and was subsequently stripped by the WBC of his title. Thus, the title was only at stake for Garcia. Morales was fined $50,000 ($25,000 per pound) which was given to Garcia. Morales earned a $1 million purse, while Garcia was due to make $175,000. This increased to $225,000 following the fines levied against Morales. 5,590 was announced as the attendance for the night. Garcia began the fight slowly, which Morales used to his advantage and injured his nose. As the fight progressed, Garcia gained control, scoring a knockdown in the eleventh round before receiving a unanimous decision in his favor. The scores granted by the judges were 118–111, 117–110 and 116–112 in favour of Garcia. CompuBox statistics showed Garcia landing 238 of 779 punches (31%), and Morales landing 164 of 547 shots (30%).


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On 23 May 2012, ESPN announced that Garcia would next fight against the British boxer Amir Khan for the WBA (Super) title. At the pre-fight press conference on 4 June, Khan and Garcia's fathers got into a heated exchange resulting in both fighters promising to knock the other out on 14 July. At the time the fight was announced, WBC were unsure whether to sanction the fight, as Garcia had a mandatory defence due against Ajose Olusegun. The fight was scheduled to take place on 14 July 2012, in Las Vegas. The fight was a title unification bout, as Garcia's WBC title and Khan's WBA (Super) title were both on the line. Khan entered the fight as a heavy favorite, with betting odds at 1–7 in his favor.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Khan seemed the faster of the two early, but Garcia pretty quickly found a way to catch many of Khan's punches and was clearly finding the range with his own. Khan won the first two rounds and could have been on his way to winning the third, but with twenty-nine seconds left in the round Garcia countered a Khan combination with a left hook that caught Khan on the neck and dropped him to the canvas. Khan rose to his feet quickly but had been hurt by the punch, and referee Kenny Bayless took an extra few seconds after administering the standing eight count to make sure that Khan could continue. Garcia resumed his attack and nearly finished off Khan, who was saved when the bell rang to end the round. Eight seconds into the fourth Khan, now on unsteady legs, could not withstand a barrage of punches from Garcia, who was now taking control of the fight. Garcia kept pounding away at Khan, who lost his balance and touched the canvas with his gloves, thus forcing Bayless to administer another standing eight count as a fighter is considered down once any body part of his other than his feet touch the ring after a punch. Khan tried to rally and stay in the fight, but with forty-eight seconds left in the fourth round Garcia knocked him down for a third time. This time, Khan got up quickly, appeared to have recovered from the barrage and told Bayless he was okay to continue. Bayless, after considering Khan's position, decided that the champion had taken enough punishment and stopped the fight, awarding a technical knockout victory.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: After the fight, Khan said, "It wasn't my night. I was coming in with my hands down and Danny took advantage of that. He countered very well against me." According to CompuBox stats, Khan landed 92 of 206 punches thrown (45%), with 46 jabs and 46 power shots landed. Garcia landed 65 of his 216 thrown (30%), 60 of which were power shots. Khan earned $950,000, while Garcia had a $520,000 purse. Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the fight generated a total gate of $426,152 from 3,147 tickets sold. The fight averaged 1.3 million viewers on HBO World Championship Boxing.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On August 23, 2012, Garcia agreed to fight "Ring" top 10 light welterweight, Érik Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) in a rematch. The fight was scheduled to take place on October 20, in Brooklyn. On October 19, it was revealed that Morales had tested positive for banned substance clenbuterol. This was part of a random drug test from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. It was said that the card would still take place. Garcia decided to go ahead with the fight, where he would see a career-high $1 million purse. In front of 11,112 at the newly opened Barclays Center, Garcia retained his WBC, WBA (Super) & The Ring title's by knocking out Morales with a thunderous left hook in the fourth round. Garcia landed only 57 of 220 punches thrown (26%), but it was clear he was looking for an early win. After the fight, Garcia said, "I showed him too much respect in the first fight. You see the first fight, I thought this fight would be more of a war. I never duck anybody. I fought Khan and no one gave me a chance. Keep lining them up and I'll knock them down."


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On November 6, Golden Boy Promotions announced a deal had been reached for Garcia to defend his world titles against former two-weight champion Zab Judah (42-7, 29 KOs), which the Barclays Center being the front runners to host the event on January 19, 2013. The fight took place on Showtime. On December 1, the official press conference got heated up between Judah and Angel Garcia, after Angel began insulted Judah over his previous losses and performances. Judah eventually stood up and shouted, "I have a lot of respect for his father but I won't be disrespected." On January 29, it was reported that Garcia had suffered a rib injury, pushing the fight back to take place on April 27 instead. Judah was aiming to become the first ever four-time light welterweight world champion.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: In front of an announced crowd of 13,048, Garcia defeated Judah by unanimous decision (115-112, 114–112, 116–111). He earned $1.25 million, a career-high purse at the time, whilst Judah earned $300,000, Garcia started the fight off strong landing body shots. Garcia badly shook Judah in round 5 and it was believed the fight would come to an end in the next round. Although Garcia was unable to finish the fight in the sixth round, he landed many clean shots and dominated the round. One judge scored the round 10-8 for Garcia, although there was no official knockdowns. García eventually dropped Judah in round 8 following a straight right. After the fight, Garcia said, "Regarding the bad blood: It's gone. It's a respect. As you can see, it's a lot of bad blood. I've got cuts, he has cuts. We came here and gave the people of Brooklyn a nice show." Both fighters were cut due to accidental clash of heads in the final round. Richard Schaefer stated Garcia would likely meet the winner of the Peterson vs. Matthysse fight, which was scheduled to take place on May 18. Matthysse won the fight via knockout.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On July 18, 2013, it was confirmed that Garcia would meet Argentine slugger Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KOs) on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez superfight September 14, 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Garcia was a 2-1 underdog going into the fight. With both fighters earning an undisclosed seven-figure purse, the fight would be one of the most expensive undercard fights in history.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia stood firm and fought a mature fight. Matthysse won several of the early rounds, putting heavy pressure on the champion by utilizing speed and punching power. In the middle rounds, Matthysse sustained an injury to his right eye from a Garcia flinch, to which Garcia targeted the eye throughout the remainder of the fight, subsequently taking the lead on the scorecards and closing the challengers eye. In the eleventh round Matthysse landed a punch that knocked out Garcia's mouthpiece, but Garcia turned the tables and knocked Matthysse down in the 11th round with a four-punch combination. Garcia was docked a point in the final round for low blows, but the last round was very competitive with both champion and challenger trading big shots. Garcia took the unanimous decision (115-111, 114-112 and 114–112), giving Matthysse his first decisive loss. This fight also clarified that Garcia's chin is capable of taking big shots, as it was widely touted before the fight that Garcia would not be able to absorb the huge punching power that Matthysse is famous for. With the victory, Garcia won the vacant "Lineal" light welterweight title.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: An official press conference took place in February 2014 to announce Garcia's next title defence, against veteran boxer Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7 KOs). The fight was to be aired on Showtime and was the first fight for Garcia in his parents homeland of Puerto Rico. The fight took place at Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez in Bayamón. Garcia retained his titles in a disputed majority decision win over Herrera. The official scorecards read (114-114, 116–112, 116–112). Showtime commentators Al Bernstein, Paulie Malignaggi, and Steve Farhood scored the fight in favor of Herrera, but two judges scored it for Garcia, with one card at draw. Herrera's jab consistently scored and he was viewed by onlookers as the slightly busier fighter. After the fight, Garcia said about Herrera, "He's a crafty veteran. I know every time I step in the ring every contender I fight wants what I got. So they gonna train their heart out and give everything they got, so I expected that. He's a good fighter and it was a good challenge. I had to make adjustment and I'm a true champion." CompuBox Stats showed that Garcia landed on 204 of 675 punches thrown (30%), while Herrera landed 221 of his 695 punches (32%). Herrera believed he won the fight. After four rounds, it was announced the scorecards were 40–36, 39-37 and 38–38 in favour of Garcia. After eight rounds, two judges had Garcia ahead at 78-74 and 77–75, whilst the third judge had it 77-75 for Herrera. According to Bobby Hunter, known for collecting scorecards, 70% of the media scored the fight in favour of Herrera.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On June 24, 2014, it was announced that García would fight lightweight contender Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KOs) at the Barclays Center on August 9 on a Showtime triple-header, which would also included Lamont Peterson vs. Edgar "El Chamaco" Santana. The plan was for Garcia vs. Peterson, if both fighters were able to win their respected fights. Garcia was criticized for choosing to fight Salka, as many believed it was mis-match. At the time, Salka was not ranked at light welterweight. The card also received negative press. ESPN's Teddy Atlas slammed the sanctioning bodies. The bout, which was originally announced as a 12-round fight, was dropped to a 10 rounder and included a catchweight of 142 pounds. No world titles were sanctioned for the fight. WBC president explained, as it was a voluntary and Salka was not ranked, they would not sanction the fight, however if Garcia was to lose, the title would be declared vacant.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: The fight proved to be a mis-match after Garcia brutally knocked out Salka in round 2 with a left hook, ending the fight.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia said in relation to taking fight, “Fans last forever; boxing is a short-term career. I got to do what’s best for my life and my career. You can be 70-years-old and a fan. I can only box for another 10 years. I got to do what’s best for me.”


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On January 14, 2015, NBC announced a partnership with Premier Boxing Champions to air premium fights on network television. It was announced that Garcia and Lamont Peterson would fight April 11, 2015 on NBC primetime. The fight was at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The highly anticipated bout between Garcia and Peterson took place at a 143-pound catch weight and was a non-title bout. Both fighters had something to prove as Garcia was coming off an extremely tough fight with Mauricio Herrera and Peterson was still reeling from a knockout loss to Lucas Matthysse in 2013.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: In the early rounds Peterson was very defensive and attempted to frustrate Garcia with his awkward style. Garcia was the busier fighter the first four or five rounds throwing and landing more punches although having trouble landing clean punches on Peterson. Both boxers took turns setting the pace, Garcia landing combinations and heavily to the body, Peterson jabbing and landing clean single power punches. Peterson's size and athleticism allowed him to stay in the fight even in the face of waves of serious Garcia body blows. Peterson looked strong going into rounds 10, 11, 12, but gave away round ten completely. Garcia maintained a steady attack in the last three rounds of the fight while Peterson began coming forward and throwing everything he had (possibly suspecting he was trailing). Despite a very strong showing by Peterson, Garcia was awarded a majority decision by scores of 114-114, 115–113, 115–113. For the fight, Garcia earned $1.5 million compared to Peterson, who earned a $1.2 million purse. CompuBox stats showed that both fighters stayed busy, with Garcia landing 173 of 589 punches (29%), with Peterson more accurate, landing 170 of his 494 thrown (34%).


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On June 4, 2015, it was announced that Garcia would make his welterweight debut against 34 year old former world champion Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) at Barclays Center, Brooklyn in a Premier Boxing Champions fight shown on ESPN on August 1. Before a crowd of 7,237, García won the fight with a ninth-round technical knockout at 2:22 of the round. Garcia pushed the pace early, walking through Malignaggi's jab and firing to the head and body with both hands, particularly the right. Malignaggi was cut above his right eye by the third round and had a large welt beneath the right eye in the sixth, having been bludgeoned by several huge shots from García. Malignaggi was still taking a beating at the 2:22 mark of the ninth, when referee Arthur Mercante Jr. wrapped him in his arms to signal the end, beating Malignaggi's corner, which was about to throw in the towel. For the fight, Garcia's purse was $1.25 million compared to Malignaggi's $550,000. At the time of stoppage, the three judges' scorecards read 79–73, 79-73 and 78–74 in favour of Garcia. Following the fight, Malignaggi reflected on whether or not he would continue to fight after the defeat.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On November 24, 2015, it was announced that Garcia would be facing Robert Guerrero on January 23, 2016, at Staples Center in Los Angeles in a PBC fight broadcast on FOX which was the first ever major PBC event to be broadcast on the network. Garcia won by unanimous decision 116-112 scored by all judges becoming the new WBC welterweight champion. The attendance was announced 12,052 at the Staples Center. Garcia celebrated in the ring after the fight with his daughter Philly and praised Guerrero, "I'm excited. Guerrero is tough. No one has ever stopped him. He came to fight. He was in shape. I'm taking nothing away from him." Garcia earned a base purse of $1.5 million, $300,000 more than Guerrero.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: After holding out for a possible super fight with Floyd Mayweather, Garcia announced his next fight would be against Colombian fringe contender Samuel Vargas (25-2-1, 13 KOs) at the Liacouras Center in Temple University's in Philadelphia on November 12. It was said that the fight would be a non-title, 10 round fight and would pave the way for a unification fight with Keith Thurman in 2017. This was the first time Garcia fought in his hometown of Philadelphia since 2010. After dropping Vargas in round 2, the fight became one sided. Garcia eventually forced the referee to stop the fight in round 7 following a barrage of punches which pinned Vargas against the ropes. Thurman was on commentator duty for the fight and entered the ring after the fight was over to engage a staredown and exchange of words with Garcia.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On October 25, Showtime announced several fights to take place towards the end of 2016 and early 2017. One of them was the much anticipated welterweight unification fight between Garcia and fellow undefeated welterweight champion Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs), who holds the WBA title. Garcia defeated journeyman Samuel Vargas in a tune-up fight on November 12, which officially set up the fight for March 4, 2017 at the Barclays Center in New York City. Thurman chose not to have any tune-up and would fight Garcia after a long 9 month rest. At a press conference on January 18, 2017, the fight was officially announced and it was said that it would be shown live on CBS. The conference got extremely heated, leading to Angel Garcia standing up and shouting racial slurs towards Thurman.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia lost the fight on a split decision with the scorecards 116–112, 113-115 & 115–113 in favor of Thurman, making Thurman the unified welterweight world champion. Thurman started off as the aggressor hitting and moving back to avoid García's counter hooks. This was the case for the majority of the fight. Garcia began coming forward through the middle rounds and push Thurman on the back foot. Thurman backed off the championship rounds believing he had a comfortable enough lead to win the fight. MC Jimmy Lennon Jr. gave Garcia false hope that he had won the fight when he announced WBA before WBC, making Garcia believe he had won. Garcia spoke in the post fight interview believing he had a good case of winning the fight, "I thought I won, and I was pushing the fight, but it is what it is. He was trying to counter. I had to wait to find my spots." Compubox stats showed Thurman landed 147 of 570 punches thrown, a percentage of 26% and Garcia landed 130 punches of his 434 thrown (30%). It was also reported that both fighters received a purse of $2 million a piece. The fight was attended by a boxing record of 16,533 at the Barclays Center. According to "The Ring", the fight peaked at 5.1 million viewers, which was at the last three rounds. The fight averaged 3.74 million viewers. This was the first time since 1998 that a Saturday primetime boxing telecast drew that kind of audience. The entire card drew an average 3.1 million viewers.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Due to Keith Thurman being sidelined for the remainder of 2017, on July 17 the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told ESPN Deportes, that he would likely order a fight between the #1 ranked Shawn Porter (27-2-1, 17 KOs) and #2 García for the Interim WBC title. He also went on to state, if Porter or Garcia declined to take part in the interim title fight, he would move on to the next highest available ranked fighter. At that time, Manny Pacquiao was #3, Jessie Vargas was #4 and Konstantin Ponomarev was ranked #5 by the WBC. A day later, Porter added fuel to the speculation when he called out Garcia in a WWE-esque promo on social media, "I just heard that the WBC will ask Showtime Shawn Porter to fight another title eliminator. And they want me to fight none other than the cherry picker himself - Danny Garcia. What I say to you Danny Garcia - let's get it on," Porter claimed the ball was now in Garcia's court.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: According to reports on October 3, a deal was close to being made between Garcia and former champion and WBC #15 Brandon Ríos (34-3-1, 25 KOs) to take place in December 2017. On December 15, it was reported a fight was close to being made to take place on February 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. The fight was confirmed a week later to take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada on Showtime. The last time Garcia fought at Mandalay Bay, he knocked out Amir Khan to unify the light welterweight division in 2012. In January 2018, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman sanctioned the fight as a final eliminator for the WBC title. Sulaiman explained, "Champion Keith Thurman will return in a voluntary title defense, as he has recovered from his injury. Shawn Porter is the mandatory challenger, and Danny Garcia will fight Brandon Ríos in a final elimination bout for the second mandatory due to the inactivity of Thurman." Garcia boxed expertly in jabbing and countering Ríos on the move. The fight came to an end in round 9 with a 1-punch knockout in front of 6,240 fans in attendance. Ríos beat the 10 count, however referee Kenny Baylis stopped the fight. Garcia set Ríos up with a perfect right hand counter that knocked him down on his back. Ríos landed some good shots in the 6th round, but was mostly being hit clean. At the time of stoppage, Garcia was ahead by the scores 78–74, 79-73 and 79–73. After the fight, Shawn Porter jumped into the ring and tried calling out Garcia. Showtime interviewer Jim Gray did not like this as he believed Garcia deserved his moment and told Porter and his team to exit the ring. For the fight, Garcia made $1.25 million and Ríos had a $500,000 purse. According to CompuBox, Garcia landed 188 of 614 punches thrown (31%) and Ríos landed 109 of his 605 (18%). According to Nielsen Media Research, the fight averaged 516,000 viewers and peaked at 558,000 viewers on Showtime.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On April 24, Thurman vacated his WBC title, forcing the organisation to mandate Porter vs. Garcia for the vacant title. On May 9, the WBC ordered purse bids to take place on May 25 if no agreement had been made, although the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed talks were going well and a deal could be finalized before the bids. On the morning of May 25, Tom Brown informed the WBC a deal was in place for the bout to take place, thus the purse bids were cancelled. Brown stated the fight would take place at the Barclays Center in either August or September 2018. On July 24, the long-awaited announcement was finally made confirming the bout to take place at the Barclays Center on September 8, 2018. Before a crowd of 13,058 in attendance, Porter became a two-time world champion after defeating Garcia via unanimous decision. The official scores were 116–112, 115–113, 115–113 in Porter's favour. Porter started off slowly in the first four rounds but then came on in the second half and took over, dominating the remainder of the bout. Both boxers boxed in the first quarter of the fight. Porter had little success in doing this. He then made adjustments and began fighting more on the inside and connecting with body shots. One of Porter's main attributes was the way he doubled his jab. It appeared Garcia slowed down in the second half of the fight. This was likely due to the body attack from Porter. Garcia believed he won the fight, but did not complain about the result. IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. entered the ring during Porter's post-fight interview with Porter stating a fight between the pair would be the 'easiest to make' in boxing. CompuBox stats showed that Porter landed 180 of 742 punches thrown (24%) and Garcia landed with 168 of his 472 thrown (36%). For the fight, Porter earned $1 million and Garcia made $1.2 million. The fight averaged 619,000 viewers and peaked at 690,000 viewers.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: On November 13, 2018, PBC, along with their new partnership with FOX announced the 2019 first half schedule. It was announced that Garcia would return to the ring in April 2019 against Adrián Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC). Granados had previously called out Garcia, before his loss to Porter. The fight was set to take place on April 20. On November 27, it was reported that Top Rank had offered García a guaranteed $3m purse to challenge WBO champion Terence Crawford on March 23, 2019, on ESPN PPV, which included an upside of the pay-per-view revenue. The offer was made to Garcia's father Angel from Top Rank's Todd duBoef and Carl Moretti. According to Moretti, Angel stated he would discuss the deal with Danny but then never got back to them. At the time Moretti said they offered the deal, there was a chance the Garcia Granados fight was already agreed upon.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia stopped Granados in the seventh round, after dropping him to the canvas several times during their bout.


title: Danny Garcia (boxer)

text: Garcia was named the 2013 Philadelphia Pro Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.


title: Durango, Colorado

text: Durango is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States Census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis College.