title: Wasteland (video game)

text: As the group's investigation deepens, the Rangers discover evidence of a larger menace threatening to exterminate what is left of humankind. A pre-war artificial intelligence operating from a surviving military facility, Base Cochise, is constructing armies of killer machines and cybernetically modified humans to attack human settlements with the help of Irwin Finster, the deranged former commander of the base. Finster has gone so far as to transform himself into a cyborg under the AI's control. The AI's ultimate goal is to complete Finster's "Project Darwin" and replace the world's "flawed" population with genetically pure specimens. With help from a pre-war android named Max, the player recovers the necessary technology and weapons in order to confront the AI at Base Cochise and destroy it by making the base's nuclear reactor melt down.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: In an interview with Hartley and Patricia Lesse for MicroTimes in 1987, game director Brian Fargo said that Interplay started work on the game in 1986. He also said the game was created on the Apple II, as it was equally important to him as the Commodore 64. Fargo described the game as a hybrid of the "Ultima series" and "The Bard's Tale", with a post-apocalyptic setting similar to the "Mad Max" film series. As to the combat, Fargo stated that it resembled that of "The Bard's Tale" and contained additional strategy elements, including the ability to split or disband the party and change the player's character point-of-view.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: In later interviews, Fargo said "Wasteland" came about after the success of "The Bard's Tale" and Interplay's desire to make another role-playing game for Electronic Arts separate from a sequel to the game. He added that the setting was inspired by his love for "Mad Max 2" and post-apocalyptic fiction. While searching for a gameplay system for their new game, they came across the system of "Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes". Its author Michael Stackpole was announced as the writer for "Wasteland" in 1987.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: Alan Pavlish was the lead developer of the game, writing it in Apple II machine language and programming the game to react to player choices. Ken St. Andre said Fargo's pitch to him was for a post-nuclear holocaust game that allowed for weapons capable of inflicting area effect damage to be used and the map be modified "on the fly". Fargo said the game was in development for five years.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: St. Andre stated that Interplay wanted to make a best-seller that would elevate the team's reputation. He added that the story-writing process took more than a year, mostly due to feeding various scenarios into the game to see how it would react. According to him, he and Stackpole wanted to create something new with the story.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: The original plot was supposed to be similar to "Red Dawn", with Russians occupying the United States and fighting against Americans engaged in liberating their nation. St. Andre eventually decided to change this and pitched a new story involving killer robots wanting to wipe out and replace humanity, calling it a sort of cross between "The Terminator" and Daffy Duck, with Fargo accepting this new storyline. The game's location was chosen due to St. Andre's familiarity with the area and ability to ensure the locations of real-world places were accurate in the game.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: The game was copyrighted in 1986. Close to release, Interplay insisted that it be labeled PG-13. "Wasteland" was originally released in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM compatibles. The IBM version added an additional skill called "Combat Shooting" which could be bought only when a character was first created. "Wasteland" was re-released as part of "Interplay's 10 Year Anthology: Classic Collection" in 1995, and also included in the 1998 "Ultimate RPG Archives" through Interplay's DragonPlay label. These later bundled releases were missing the original setup program, which allowed the game's maps to be reset while retaining the player's original team of Rangers.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: "Computer Gaming World" cited "Wasteland"s "ease of play, richness of plot, problem solving requirements, skill and task system, and graphic display" as elements of its excellence. Scorpia favorably reviewed the game in 1991 and 1993, calling it "really the only decently-designed post-nuke game on the market". In 1992, the magazine wrote the game's "classic mix of combat and problem-solving" was the favorite of its readers in 1988, and that "the way in which "Wasteland"s NPCs related to the player characters, the questions of dealing with moral dilemmas, and the treatment of skills set this game apart." In 1994, the magazine cited "Wasteland" as an example of how "older, less sophisticated engines can still play host to a great game".


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: Orson Scott Card gave "Wasteland" a mixed review in "Compute!", commending the science fiction elements and setting, but stating that "mutant bunnies can get boring, too ... This is still a kill-the-monster-and-get-the-treasure game, without the overarching story that makes each "Ultima" installment meaningful." However, James Trunzo praised the game in the November 1988 issue of "Compute!", citing its non-linear design and multiple puzzle solutions, the vague nature of the goal, and customizable player stats.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: Julia Martin's review for "Challenge" favorably recommended the game for those into RPGs and adventure games, comparing it to "", praising its combat system, choices and for differing from the usual sword-and-fantasy genre. She called the game well done and stated it offered hours of fun. She also criticized having to insert the primary "A" disk in order to play the game after copying it from four disks, the game's save system, and characters starting out with useless items.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: The game was a hit and sold around 250,000 units on release. "Computer Gaming World" named "Wasteland" the Adventure Game of the Year in 1988. The game received the fourth-highest number of votes in a 1990 survey of the magazine's readers' "All-Time Favorites". In 1993, "Computer Gaming World" added "Wasteland" to its Hall of Fame, rated it as the ninth-best PC video game of all time in 1996 for introducing the concept of the player's party "acting like the 'real' people." In 2000, "Wasteland" was ranked as the 24th-best PC game of all time by the staff of IGN, who called it "one of the best RPGs to ever grace the PC" and "a truly innovative RPG for its time."


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: According to a retrospective review by Richard Cobbett of Eurogamer in 2012, "even now, it offers a unique RPG world and experience ... a whole fallen civilisation full of puzzles and characters and things to twiddle with, all magically crammed into less than a megabyte of space." In another retrospective article that same year, IGN's Kristan Reed wrote that "time has not been kind to "Wasteland", but its core concepts stand firm."


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: "Wasteland" was followed in 1990 by a less-successful intended sequel, "Fountain of Dreams", set in post-war Florida. The game neither contained any of the code from "Wasteland" nor involved any of the staff that worked on it. Electronic Arts eventually decided to downplay its connection to "Wasteland", and said it was not a sequel in 2003. Interplay worked on "Meantime", which was advertised as a spiritual successor to "Wasteland" and did not take place in the same universe. Coding of "Meantime" was nearly finished and a beta version was produced, but the game was canceled as the Apple II market declined.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: Interplay has described the first "Fallout" game as the spiritual successor to "Wasteland". According to "IGN", "Interplay's inability to prise the "Wasteland" brand name from EA's gnarled fingers actually led to it creating "Fallout" in the first place." There are "Wasteland" homage elements in "Fallout" and "Fallout 2" as well.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: Fargo's inXile Entertainment acquired the rights to the franchise from Electronic Arts in 2003. The studio developed and published "Wasteland 2" in 2014. The game's production team included original "Wasteland" designers Alan Pavlish, Michael Stackpole, Ken St. Andre and Liz Danforth, and was crowdfunded through a Kickstarter campaign. In 2016, inXile announced a crowdfunding campaign Fig to develop "Wasteland 3". It was released in August 2020.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: In an August 2013 Kickstarter update for "Wasteland 2", project lead Chris Keenan announced that they had reached an agreement with Electronic Arts to release the original "Wasteland" for modern operating systems. He added that it will be given for free to backers of Wasteland 2 on Kickstarter, in addition to being made available for purchase on GOG and Steam. The re-release was designed to run on higher resolutions and added a song by Mark Morgan, higher resolution portraits, the ability to use the original game's manual in-game and the paragraph book's text, and expanded the save-game functionality.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: In November of that year, Keenan announced that the re-release titled "Wasteland 1: The Original Classic" had gone gold, and had been submitted to GOG and Steam for approval. In response to the player feedback, inXile included the ability to turn off smoothing, including the manual in tooltips, swapping and tweaking portraits while making it work on Mac OS X and Linux. Those who backed "" and received "Wasteland 2", also received the re-release for free.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: The Original Classic edition was released on November 8, 2013, and was downloaded more than 33,000 times before its general availability. On November 12, the game was released on GOG. The next day, the game was also released on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux. On March 11, 2014, it was released for Desura.


title: Wasteland (video game)

text: inXile Entertainment announced a remastered version in honor of the original's 30th anniversary, to be produced by Krome Studios. During E3 2019, Brian Fargo announced it was coming to both Windows and Xbox One. He also released screenshots of the game. On January 23, 2020, the release date was revealed as February 25. It was released on GOG, Steam and Microsoft Store. The graphics and sounds were completely overhauled and the game uses 3D models. In addition, it features voiced lines and new portraits for characters. The "remastered" edition also includes cross-save support


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt (; older spelling: "Auerstädt") were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia. The defeat suffered by the Prussian Army subjugated the Kingdom of Prussia to the French Empire until the Sixth Coalition was formed in 1813.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Several figures who were later integral to the reformation of the Prussian Army participated at Jena–Auerstedt, including Gebhard von Blücher, Carl von Clausewitz, August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Gerhard von Scharnhorst, and Hermann von Boyen.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Following the Prussian declaration of war, Napoleon initiated his campaign against the Fourth Coalition by thrusting a 180,000-strong force through the Frankenwald. The Prussian army, meanwhile, awaited Napoleon's advance with a force composed of about 130,000 Prussians and 20,000 Saxons.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The Prussians were not organized well enough and lacked the speed as well as the efficient information flow of the French army.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The battles began when elements of Napoleon's main force encountered Hohenlohe's troops near Jena. Initially 48,000 strong, the Emperor took advantage of his carefully planned and flexible dispositions to rapidly achieve local superiority, with a force reaching 96,000 men. However, less than half fought the Prussians as only 40,000 men were sent and actually took part in the battle. The Prussians, meanwhile, were slow to grasp the situation, and slower still to react. Before Ruchel's 15,000 men could arrive from Weimar, Hohenlohe's force was routed, with 10,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 captured. Ruchel did eventually bring his troops to the battlefield. Soon after it was committed to battle and Hohenlohe rode up to take personal command of the corps. They were ridden over and sent fleeing to the rear in irretrievable rout, with Ruchel being wounded. Nevertheless, Jena was a fierce battle, with 5,000 French killed, wounded or captured; and Napoleon mistakenly believed that he had faced the main body of the Prussian army.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Further north at Auerstedt, both Davout and Bernadotte received orders to come to Napoleon's aid. Davout attempted to comply via Eckartsberga, Bernadotte via Dornburg. Davout's route south, however, was blocked by the Prussian main force of 64,000 men, including the Prussian King, the Duke of Brunswick and Field Marshals von Möllendorf and von Kalckreuth. A savage battle ensued. Although outnumbered more than two to one, Davout's superbly trained and disciplined III Corps endured repeated attacks before it eventually took the offensive and put the Prussians to flight. Though within earshot of both battles, Marshal Bernadotte controversially took no steps to come to Davout's aid, refusing to take the initiative and instead adhering to the last written set of Napoleon's orders.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The Prussian army was divided into three armies drawn from across Prussia. Prussia's main weakness in 1806 was its senior command structure, which included command positions being held by multiple officers. One such example is the position of chief of staff, held by three different officers: General Phull, Colonel Gerhard von Scharnhorst and Colonel Rudolf Massenbach. The confusing system led to delays and complexities that resulted in over a month's delay before the final order of battle was prepared. Another obstacle facing the Prussians was the creation of a unified plan of battle. Five main plans emerged for discussion; however, protracted planning and deliberating shifted the initiative to the French. Thus, the Prussian plans became mere reactions to Napoleon's movements.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Although Prussia had begun its mobilization almost a month before France, Napoleon had kept a high state of readiness after the Russian refusal to accept defeat after the War of the Third Coalition. Napoleon conceived a plan to force Prussia into a decisive battle, like Austerlitz, and pre-empt the Prussian offensive. Napoleon had a major portion of his Grande Armée in position in present-day Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany and thus decided on a northeast advance into Saxony and on to Berlin.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The battle commenced on the morning of 14 October 1806, on the grassy fields near Jena. The first movements of the French Army were attacks on either flank of the Prussian lines. That gave the supporting armies (making up the central attack) time to get into position. The skirmishes had little decisive success, save for a breakthrough by the French General Saint-Hilaire, who attacked and isolated the Prussian left flank.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: At that time, Marshal Michel Ney had completed his maneuvers and had taken up position as ordered by Napoleon. However, once in position, Ney decided to attack the Prussian line despite having no orders to do so, a move that proved to be almost disastrous. Ney's initial assault was a success, but he found himself overextended and under heavy fire from Prussian artillery. Recognizing the distressed salient, the Prussian general ordered a counterattack and enveloped Ney's forces; Ney formed them into a square to protect all their flanks. Napoleon recognized Ney's situation and ordered Marshal Jean Lannes to shift from the centre of attack to help Ney.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: That action left the French centre weak. However, Napoleon deployed the Imperial Guard to hold the French center until Ney could be rescued. That adaptability was one of Napoleon's greatest strengths. He kept the Imperial Guard under his direct command and could order them to take positions depending on the situation that the battle presented him. The rescue worked, and Ney's units were able to retreat from the battle. Although the French were then in a troubling situation, the Prussian commanders did not take the initiative to push at the French weaknesses. That was later considered to have been their undoing. The inactivity of the Prussian infantry left them open to artillery and light infantry fire. One Prussian general later wrote that "the area around the entrance of the village was the scene of the most terrible blood-letting and slaughter".


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: It was at that time, around 1 p.m., that Napoleon decided to make the decisive move. He ordered his flanks to push hard and try to break through the Prussian flanks and encircle the main center army while the French center attempted to crush the Prussian centre. The attacks on the flanks proved to be a success. With its flanks broken, the Prussian army was forced to withdraw and Napoleon had won another battle. In total the Prussian army lost 10,000 men killed or wounded, had 15,000 prisoners of war taken as well as 150 guns.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: General Étienne Gudin's Division were on the move from Naumburg before 6:30 a.m. By 7 a.m. the 1st Chasseurs were stopped cold in their tracks outside of Poppel by Prussian cavalry and artillery. There was a heavy fog, which had lifted just as they approached the village. Once Davout became aware of the Prussian force, he ordered Gudin to deploy his force at Hassenhausen.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The Prussian commander on the field was Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau. His division was actually under orders to proceed down the very road that Davout was on, to block his advance in the Kösen Pass. While Schmettau's troops were deploying to attack Hassenhausen, Blücher arrived with his cavalry and deployed on his left. Together, they attacked Gudin's troops and pushed them back to the village.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Wartensleben arrived at 8:30 a.m. with the Duke of Brunswick, who ordered his infantry to the left flank and his cavalry to the right. The rest of the French cavalry arrived at 9 a.m. and was placed on Gudin's left. General Louis Friant's Division and the 12-pound artillery arrived at 9:30 a.m. and moved in squares on Gudin's right. The advance of the French squares forced Blücher's cavalry back. Seeing no other option available he ordered his cavalry to attack. At that very moment, two of Wartensleben's regiments attacked Hassenhausen.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Everything failed: three Prussian cavalry regiments were routed and the infantry fell back. At this critical point, the Duke needed to take drastic action. Shortly before 10 a.m., he ordered a full assault on Hassenhausen. By 10 a.m., the Duke of Brunswick was carried from the field mortally wounded along with Schmettau who was also badly wounded. With the loss of both commanders, the Prussian command broke down. The Prussian army was in danger of collapse.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Oswald's infantry and the Prince of Orange, the later William I of the Netherlands, arrived about 10:30 a.m., and the King made his only decision of the day: to split Orange's command in two, half to each flank. On the French side, Morand's Division arrived and was sent to secure Gudin's left. Davout could now see that the Prussians were wavering and so at 11 a.m. he ordered his infantry to counter-attack. By noon Schmettau's center was broken and forced back over the Lissbach Stream, Blücher's cavalry was blown, and Wartensleben was trying to reposition his troops. The Prussians realized all was now lost and the King ordered a withdrawal.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Davout's corps had lost 7,052 officers and men killed or wounded, while Prussian casualties were 13,000.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Napoleon initially did not believe that Davout's single Corps had defeated the Prussian main body unaided and responded to the first report by saying "Your Marshal must be seeing double!", a reference to Davout's poor eyesight. As matters became clearer, however, the Emperor was unstinting in his praise. Davout was made Duke of Auerstedt. Lannes, the hero of Jena, was not so honored.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Bernadotte's lack of action was controversial within a week of the twin battles. Bernadotte had last received positive written orders on the day before the battle in which his I Corps, along with Davout's III Corps, were to lie astride the Prussians' projected line of retreat. He was the only Marshal not to receive updated, written orders on the night of 13 October. In the early hours of 14 October, Davout received a courier from Berthier in which he wrote: "If the Prince of Ponte Corvo [Bernadotte] is with you, you "may" both march together, but the Emperor hopes that "he will be in the position which had been indicated at Dornburg"." Davout thence relayed this order to Bernadotte when the next met at 0400 the same morning. Bernadotte later cited the poorly written, equivocal nature of the verbal order, as discretionary and complied with Napoleon's wish to be at Dornburg instead of accompanying Davout. Moreover, when told of Davout's difficulties, Bernadotte did not believe that the Prussian main force was before III Corps as Napoleon had claimed the main body was at Jena. As a consequence, he failed to aid Davout and instead fulfilled the Emperor's orders to position I Corps in the Prussian rear on the Heights of Apolda, which, incidentally, did have the effect intended as the Prussians at Jena withdrew once they saw French troops occupy their line of retreat.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Davout and Bernadotte later became bitter enemies as the result of Bernadotte's perceived indifference at the fate of a fellow Marshal. For his part, Napoleon later stated on St. Helena that Bernadotte's behavior (though he was complying with Napoleon's orders) was disgraceful and that but for his attachment to Bernadotte's wife, Napoleon's own former fiancée, Désirée Clary, he would have had Bernadotte shot. However, contemporary evidence indicates that far from scenes of recriminations and insults alleged by Davout and his aides-de-Camp against Bernadotte the night of the battles, Napoleon was unaware anything was amiss, insofar as I Corps had played the part assigned to it by the Emperor, until days later.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: A later search of the orders and dispatches from the Imperial Headquarters never yielded any order for Bernadotte to march with Davout. They did, however, confirm Berthier's order of 14 October, sending Bernadotte to Dornberg. The lack of documentation supporting Napoleon's accusation against Bernadotte calls into question whether Napoleon had intended I Corps to march with Davout, and the order was incorrectly transmitted to Bernadotte on the morning of 14 October, or if Napoleon was using the opportunity to shift blame for Davout having to fight a battle on his own as suggested by Colonel Ernst Marsh Lloyd. Napoleon later sent a severely worded reprimand to Bernadotte but took no further action.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: On the Prussian side, Brunswick was mortally wounded at Auerstedt, and over the next few days, the remaining forces were unable to mount any serious resistance to Murat's ruthless cavalry pursuit. In the Capitulation of Erfurt on 16 October, a large body of Prussian troops became prisoners with hardly a shot being fired. Bernadotte crushed Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg's Prussian Reserve Army on the 17th in the Battle of Halle, partially redeeming himself in Napoleon's eyes. In recognition of his glorious victory at Auerstadt, Napoleon gave Davout the honor of entering Berlin first. Davout led his exhausted III Corps into Berlin in triumph on 25 October. Hohenlohe's force surrendered on 28 October after the Battle of Prenzlau, followed soon after by the Capitulation of Pasewalk. The French ran down and captured several small Prussian columns at Boldekow on 30 October, Anklam on 1 November, Wolgast on 3 November, and Wismar on 5 November.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: 21,000 Prussian field troops remained at large west of the Oder as November began under the command of Gebhard Blücher. French advances prevented his corps from crossing the Oder, or moving toward Stettin to seek waterborne transport to East Prussia. Bernadotte began a relentless pursuit of Blücher, with the two forces engaging in several holding actions, and was later joined by Murat and Soult in "The Pursuit of the Three Marshals." Blücher then moved west to cross into neutral Denmark but the Danes placed their army on the border with the intent of attacking any force that tried to cross it. The Prussians then violated the neutrality of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and fortified it with the intent of joining forces with an allied Swedish contingent there on its way home, and commandeering ships in the hopes of reaching a safe harbor. However, Blücher and Winning's corps was surrounded and destroyed in what became the Battle of Lübeck on 6 and 7 November after Bernadotte's I Corps, still smarting from the Emperor's censure, stormed the fortified city gates, poured into the streets and squares breaking hasty attempts at resistance and captured Blücher's command post (and his Chief of Staff Gerhard von Scharnhorst) as Soult's troops blocked all escape routes. The Prussians lost 3000 killed and wounded. On the morning of 7 November, with all hope of escape extinguished, Blücher surrendered personally to Bernadotte and went into captivity with 9,000 other Prussian prisoners of war. The Siege of Magdeburg ended on 11 November with Ney's capture of the fortress. Isolated Prussian resistance remained, but Napoleon's primary foe was now Russia, and the Battle of Eylau and the Battle of Friedland awaited.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The battle proved most influential in demonstrating the need for reforms in what was a very much feudal Prussian state and army. Important Prussian reformers like Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Clausewitz served at the battle. Their reforms, together with civilian reforms instituted over the following years, began Prussia's transformation into a modern state, which took the forefront in expelling France from Germany and eventually assumed a leading role on the continent. The reduction of Prussia to a French vassal, and the subsequent revolt that restored national honor, formed a key component of German nationalism.


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: The German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who was then a professor at the University of Jena, is said to have completed his "chef d'œuvre", the "Phenomenology of Spirit", while the battle raged. Hegel considered this battle to be "the end of the history", in terms of evolution of human societies towards what would be called the "universal homogeneous state


title: Battle of Jena–Auerstedt

text: Napoleon built a bridge in Paris which he named after the battle. When he was defeated, the Prussian contingent of the allied forces of occupation was so incensed by its name that they wished to destroy the bridge. Talleyrand temporarily renamed the bridge after the French Grand Army, which dissuaded them from doing so. The station of the Paris Metro at the bridge has the same name.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, music and fashion, and was symbolised by the city's "pop and fashion exports". Among its key elements were the Beatles, as leaders of the British Invasion of musical acts; Mary Quant's miniskirt; popular fashion models such as Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton; the mod subculture; the iconic status of popular shopping areas such as London's King's Road, Kensington and Carnaby Street; the political activism of the anti-nuclear movement; and sexual liberation.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: Music was a big part of the scene, with "the London sound" including the Who, the Kinks, the Small Faces and the Rolling Stones, bands that were the mainstay of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, Wonderful Radio London and Swinging Radio England. Swinging London also reached British cinema, which, according to the British Film Institute, "saw a surge in formal experimentation, freedom of expression, colour, and comedy". During this period, "creative types of all kinds gravitated to the capital, from artists and writers to magazine publishers, photographers, advertisers, film-makers and product designers".


title: Swinging Sixties

text: During the 1960s, London underwent a "metamorphosis from a gloomy, grimy post-war capital into a bright, shining epicentre of style". The phenomenon was caused by the large number of young people in the city (due to the baby boom of the 1950s) and the postwar economic boom. Following the abolition of the national service for men in 1960, these young people enjoyed greater freedom and fewer responsibilities than their parents' generation, and "[fanned] changes to social and sexual politics".


title: Swinging Sixties

text: Shaping the popular consciousness of aspirational Britain in the 1960s, it was a West End-centred phenomenon that happened among young, middle class people, and was considered "simply a diversion" by some of them. The swinging scene also served as a consumerist counterpart to the countercultural British underground of the same period. Simon Rycroft writes: "Whilst it is important to acknowledge the exclusivity and the dissenting voices, it does not lessen the importance of Swinging London as a powerful moment of image making with very real material effect."


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The Swinging Sixties was a youth movement emphasising the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the British economy after post-Second World War austerity, which lasted through much of the 1950s.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: "The Swinging City" was defined by "Time" magazine on the cover of its issue of 15 April 1966. In a Piri Halasz article 'Great Britain: You Can Walk Across It on the Grass', the magazine pronounced London the global hub of youthful creativity, hedonism and excitement: "In a decade dominated by youth, London has burst into bloom. It swings; it is the scene", and celebrated in the name of the pirate radio station, Swinging Radio England, that began shortly afterwards.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The term "swinging" in the sense of hip or fashionable had been used since the early 1960s, including by Norman Vaughan in his "swinging/dodgy" patter on "Sunday Night at the London Palladium". In 1965, Diana Vreeland, editor of "Vogue" magazine, said that "London is the most swinging city in the world at the moment." Later that year, the American singer Roger Miller had a hit record with "England Swings", which steps around the progressive youth culture (both musically and lyrically).


title: Swinging Sixties

text: Already heralded by Colin MacInnes' 1959 novel "Absolute Beginners" which captured London's emerging youth culture, Swinging London was underway by the mid-1960s and included music by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Who, Small Faces, the Animals, Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and other artists from what was known in the US as the "British Invasion". Psychedelic rock from artists such as Pink Floyd, Cream, Procol Harum, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Traffic grew significantly in popularity.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: Large venues, besides former music halls, included Hyde, Alexandra and Finsbury Parks, Clapham Common and the Empire Pool (which became Wembley Arena). This sort of music was heard in the United Kingdom on TV shows such as the BBC's "Top of the Pops" (where the Rolling Stones were the first band to perform with "I Wanna Be Your Man"), and ITV's "Ready Steady Go!" (which would feature Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1" as its theme tune), on commercial radio stations such as Radio Luxembourg, Radio Caroline and Radio London, and from 1967 on BBC Radio One.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The Rolling Stones' 1966 album "Aftermath" has been cited by music scholars as a reflection of Swinging London. Ian MacDonald said, with the album the Stones were chronicling the phenomenon, while Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon called it "the soundtrack of Swinging London, a gift to hip young people".


title: Swinging Sixties

text: During the Swinging Sixties, fashion and photography were featured in "Queen" magazine, which drew attention to fashion designer Mary Quant. Mod-related fashions such as the miniskirt stimulated fashionable London shopping areas such as Carnaby Street and King's Road, Chelsea. Vidal Sassoon created the bob cut hairstyle.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The model Jean Shrimpton was another icon and one of the world's first supermodels. She was the world's highest paid and most photographed model during this time. Shrimpton was called "The Face of the '60s", in which she has been considered by many as "the symbol of Swinging London" and the "embodiment of the 1960s".


title: Swinging Sixties

text: Like Pattie Boyd, the wife of Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Shrimpton gained international fame for her embodiment of the "British female 'look' – mini-skirt, long, straight hair and wide-eyed loveliness", characteristics that defined Western fashion following the arrival of the Beatles and other British Invasion acts in 1964.<ref name="Hibbert/HistoryOfRock"> Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).</ref> Other popular models of the era included Veruschka, Peggy Moffitt and Penelope Tree. The model Twiggy has been called "the face of 1966" and "the Queen of Mod", a label she shared with, among others, Cathy McGowan, the host of the television rock show "Ready Steady Go!" from 1964 to 1966.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The British flag, the Union Jack, became a symbol, assisted by events such as England's home victory in the 1966 World Cup. The Jaguar E-Type sports car was a British icon of the 1960s.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: In late 1965, photographer David Bailey sought to define Swinging London in a series of large photographic prints. Compiled into a set titled "Box of Pin-Ups", they were published on 21 November that year. His subjects included actors Michael Caine and Terence Stamp; musicians John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and five other pop stars; Brian Epstein, as one of four individuals representing music management; hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, Ad Lib club manager Brian Morris, and the Kray twins; as well as leading figures in interior decoration, Pop Art, photography, fashion modelling, photographic design and creative advertising.


title: Swinging Sixties

text: Bailey's photographs reflected the rise of working-class artists, entertainers and entrepreneurs that characterised London during this period. Writing in his 1967 book "The Young Meteors", journalist Jonathan Aitken described "Box of Pin-Ups" as "a Debrett of the new aristocracy".


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The phenomenon was featured in many films of the time, including "Darling" (1965) starring Julie Christie, "The Pleasure Girls" (1965), "The Knack ...and How to Get It" (1965), Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blowup" (1966), "Alfie" (1966) starring Michael Caine, "" (1966), "Georgy Girl" (1966), "Kaleidoscope" (1966), "The Jokers" (1967), "Casino Royale" (1967) starring Peter Sellers, "Smashing Time" (1967), "To Sir, with Love" (1967), "Bedazzled" (1967) starring Dudley Moore and comedy partner Peter Cook, "Poor Cow" (1967), "I'll Never Forget What's'isname" (1967), "Up the Junction" (1968), "Joanna" (1968), "Otley" (1968), "The Magic Christian" (1969), "The Brain" (1969), "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (1969), "Deep End" (1970) and "Performance" (1970).


title: Swinging Sixties

text: The comedy films "" (1997) and "" (1999), written by and starring Mike Myers, resurrected the imagery of the Swinging London scene (but were filmed in Hollywood), as did the 2009 film "The Boat That Rocked".


title: Islamic toilet etiquette

text: Islamic toilet etiquette is a set of personal hygiene rules in Islam that concerns going to the toilet. This code of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence is called "Qaḍāʾ al-Ḥāǧa" ().


title: Islamic toilet etiquette

text: Personal hygiene is mentioned in a single verse of al-Qurʾan in the context of ritual purification from a minor source of impurity, known as the Wuḍūʾ verse; its interpretation is contentious between different legal schools and sects of Islam. Further requirements with regards to personal hygiene are derived from ahadith, and these requirements also differ between sects.


title: Islamic toilet etiquette

text: A Muslim must first find an acceptable place away from standing water, people's pathways, or shade. It is advised that it is better to enter the area with the left foot, facing away from the Qibla (direction of prayer towards Mecca). It is reported in the collection of hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari, that just before entering the toilet, Muhammad said . Following his example, Muslims are advised to say this "Dua" before entering into the toilet.


title: Islamic toilet etiquette

text: While on the toilet, one must remain silent. Talking, and initiating or answering greetings are strongly discouraged. When defecating together, two men cannot converse, nor look at each other's genitals. Eating any food while on the toilet is forbidden.


title: Islamic toilet etiquette

text: After defecating, the anus must be washed with water using the left hand, or if water is unavailable, with an odd number of smooth stones or pebbles called "jamrah" or "hijaarah" (Sahih Al-Bukhari 161, Book 4, Hadith 27). It is now more common to wipe with tissues and water. Similarly, the penis or vulva must be washed with water using the left hand after urinating, a procedure called "istinja". It is commonly done using a vessel known as a Aftabeh, Lota, or bodna.


title: Islamic toilet etiquette

text: When leaving the toilet, one is advised to exit with the right foot, and say the "Dua" for leaving bathroom/toilet: "'الحمد لله الذي أذهب عني الأذى وعافاني'Alhamdu lillahil lazi azha-ba annill Aza Wa AA Fani.


title: Property tax

text: The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located. This can be a national government, a federated state, a county or geographical region or a municipality. Multiple jurisdictions may tax the same property.


title: Property tax

text: Often a property tax is levied on real estate. It may be imposed annually or at the time of a real estate transaction, such as in real estate transfer tax.


title: Property tax

text: This tax can be contrasted to a rent tax, which is based on rental income or imputed rent, and a land value tax, which is a levy on the value of land, excluding the value of buildings and other improvements.


title: Property tax

text: Under a property-tax system, the government requires or performs an appraisal of the monetary value of each property, and tax is assessed in proportion to that value.


title: Property tax

text: The four broad types of property taxes are land, improvements to land (immovable man-made objects, such as buildings), personal property (movable man-made objects) and intangible property. Real property (also called real estate or realty) is the combination of land and improvements.


title: Property tax

text: Forms of property tax vary across jurisdictions. Real property is often taxed based on its class. Classification is the grouping of properties based on similar use. Properties in different classes are taxed at different rates. Examples of property classes are residential, commercial, industrial and vacant real property. In Israel, for example, property tax rates are double for vacant apartments versus occupied apartments. France has a tax on vacant properties, which successfully reduced the vacancy rate.


title: Property tax

text: A special assessment tax is sometimes confused with property tax. These are two distinct forms of taxation: one ("ad valorem tax") relies upon the fair market value of the property. The other (special assessment) relies upon a special enhancement called a "benefit" for its justification.


title: Property tax

text: The "property tax rate" is typically given as a percentage. It may be expressed as a per mil (amount of tax per thousand currency units of property value), which is also known as a "millage rate" or "mill" (one-thousandth of a currency unit). To calculate the property tax, the authority multiplies the assessed value by the mill rate and then divides by 1,000. For example, a property with an assessed value of located in a municipality with a mill rate of 20 mills would have a property tax bill of per year.


title: Property tax

text: Comparatively, Armenia ranks low internationally in terms of property tax to GDP ratio. Currently, it is 0.2% compared to the 2% global average. Based on the new amendments in the tax code, from 2021 property taxes are calculated based on market value prices, separately for apartments and residential houses. The new amendment removed the previously existing non-taxable property threshold, putting a minimum of 0.05% property tax.


title: Property tax

text: Australian property is taxed at both the state and council (local municipal) level. Taxes are payable by property owners – there is no property tax charged to renters.


title: Property tax

text: A state tax commonly called "stamp duty" is assessed when property is purchased or transferred. It is typically around 5% of the purchase price, payable by the purchaser. Other transfer charges may also apply, including special fees for investors from overseas.


title: Property tax

text: "Land tax" – also a state tax – is assessed every year on a property's value. Most Australians do not pay land tax, as most states provide a land tax exemption for the primary home or residence. Depending on the state, surcharge tax rates can apply to foreign owners.


title: Property tax

text: "Council rates" is a municipal tax levied by local government. This is assessed each year on a property's value. Council rates are around $1300 per annum for an average Australian household.


title: Property tax

text: Brazil is a Federation Republic, and its federated entities (internal States and Municipalities), as well as the Federal government, levy property taxes. They are all declared in the Federal Constitution.


title: Property tax

text: Many provinces levy property tax on real estate based upon land use and value. This is the major source of revenue for most municipal governments. While property tax levels vary across municipalities, a common property assessment or valuation criterion is laid out in provincial legislation. The trend is to use a market value standard for valuation purposes with varying revaluation cycles. Multiple provinces established an annual reassessment cycle where market activity warrants, while others have longer periods between valuation periods. There are two types of property tax: annual property tax and land transfer tax.


title: Property tax

text: The annual property tax is usually a percentage of the taxable assessed value of the property. The taxable assessed value is commonly determined by the assessment service provider of the municipality. The annual property tax rate for any province contains at least two elements: the municipal rate and the education rate. The combination of municipal and education tax portions along with any base taxes or other special taxes determines the full amount of the tax.


title: Property tax

text: Land transfer tax is a provincial tax levied when purchasing a home or land in Canada. All provinces have a land transfer tax, except Alberta and Saskatchewan. In most provinces, the tax is calculated as a percentage of the purchase price. In Toronto there is an additional municipal tax.


title: Property tax

text: Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Montreal, and the City of Toronto offer land transfer tax rebates for first-time homebuyers.


title: Property tax

text: In British Columbia the property transfer tax is equal to one percent tax on the first of the purchase price, two percent on the remaining amount up to and three percent on the rest. An additional 15% tax that applies only to non-resident foreign home buyers in Greater Vancouver started on 2 August 2016. Later in 2018 this was raised to 20%. The definition of foreign buyer includes international students and temporary foreign workers. Anti-avoidance measures include fines of $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for corporations.


title: Property tax

text: The First Time Home Buyers Program is a program by the BC government that offers qualifying first-time homebuyers a reduction or elimination of the property transfer tax. It can be used in conjunction with the B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership.


title: Property tax

text: The First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit is also available in Ontario, which offers First Time Home Buyers a 750 dollar tax Rebate. In 2017 the Ontario Government also released the Land Transfer Tax Rebate, which allowed for up to 4,000 dollar rebate – ensuring that first time home buyers of homes valued under 368,000 dollars would not pay land transfer tax.


title: Property tax

text: The Newly Built Home Exemption is a program that reduces or eliminates the property transfer tax on new homes. The amount is limited to for qualifying individuals who must be either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. The property purchased must be located in British Columbia, have a fair market value of , be smaller than and be used as a principle residence. It can be used in conjunction with the B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership.


title: Property tax

text: The land property tax, called "territorial tax" or "contribution", is an annual amount paid quarterly by the property's owner. It is determined as a percentage of the property's "fiscal value", which is calculated by the Internal Revenue Service, based on the property's land and built area, construction materials, age, and use. The fiscal value, which is usually much lower than the market value, may be disputed by the owner. The annual levy varies between 1 and 2% of this value, depending on the property's use (residential, agricultural or commercial). Residential properties valued below (as of 2013) are not taxed; those above that threshold are taxed only on the amount exceeding . Revenues go to the municipality administering the property's commune. All municipalities contribute a share of the revenue to a "common municipal fund" that is then redistributed back to municipalities according to a their needs (commune's poverty rate, etc.). Additionally, municipalities charge a quarterly trash collection tax, which is often paid together with the territorial tax (if applicable).


title: Property tax

text: The law imposes a tax on each property. Public buildings are excluded (such as government buildings), as are religious buildings (mosques and churches). Families owning private properties worth up to £E2 million ($290,000) are exempt. Commercial stores with an annual rent value over £E1,200 are not exempt.


title: Property tax

text: In France, the property tax is a local tax payable by all owners of real estate located in France. This tax is used to finance the budget of local authorities.


title: Property tax

text: The property tax comprises three different taxes: the tax on built properties, the tax on unbuilt properties and a tax on household waste removal.


title: Property tax

text: This is the most common tax in France. It is detailed in Article 1380 of the General Tax Code. Since it is a local tax, the property tax of built properties has a census role. The tax authorities count the new owners every year.


title: Property tax

text: Two conditions must be met to be subject to this tax: The property must be irremovable and must fall into the category of real buildings.


title: Property tax

text: The owner, not tenant, of the property must pay the tax. The owner liable for property tax can be an individual, company or legal entity (commercial company or real estate company). The tax is due each year from taxpayers who own property on 1 January of the tax year. If the property is sold during the year, the seller can ask for the tax to be shared with the buyer.


title: Property tax

text: The tax base is equal to 50% of the cadastral rental value of the property (For non-built properties, this tax base is equal to 80%). To this base is then applied the revaluation coefficient. (It stood at 1.012 for 2020).<br>


title: Property tax

text: The payment of the property tax is usually made before mid-October. The tax notice is drawn up in the name of the owner who is the only person liable for the property tax. The precise deadline for paying it varies depending on the method of payment chosen.


title: Property tax

text: In certain situations the property tax allows exemptions. The conditions of this exemption may depend on the property or the situation of the owner.


title: Property tax

text: For example, land sown, planted or replanted with wood can be 100% exempt for a period ranging from 10 to 50 years depending on the plantations.


title: Property tax

text: Greece has a Municipal and a Government property tax. The municipal property tax (ΤΑΠ/ΔΤ/ΔΦ) is included in electricity bills and incorporates, among others, charges for street cleaning and lighting. The Government property tax (ENFIA) is a combination of the individual asset's tax based upon floor-area and a progressive real-estate wealth tax per individual which is based on the estimated net-worth of all properties and can reach 2%.


title: Property tax

text: According to HK Inland Revenue Ordinance IRO s5B, property owners must pay this tax only if they received a consideration such as rental income for the year of assessment. The property tax is computed on the net assessable value at the standard rate. The period of assessment is from 1 April to 31 March.


title: Property tax

text: Property taxes are levied by either state government or local civic bodies. Property tax or 'house tax' is a local tax on buildings, along with appurtenant land. It is imposed on the Possessor (not the custodian of property as per 1978, 44th amendment of the constitution). It resembles the US-type wealth tax and differs from the excise-type UK rate. The tax power is vested in the states and is delegated to local bodies, specifying the valuation method, rate band, and collection procedures. The tax base is the annual rental value (ARV) or area-based rating. Owner-occupied and other properties not producing rent are assessed on cost and then converted into ARV by applying a percentage of cost, usually four percent. Most big-city municipals have tax on vacant lands, and other smaller cities and rural areas don't have any property tax on vacant lands. In most cases, civic bodies have taxes exempted on all the buildings and lands used for: religious worship by the public; public burial & cremation; or charitable & educational purposes. Some agricultural or heritage lands are also exempt. Other than that, Central government properties are exempt. Instead, a "service charge" is permissible under executive order. Properties of foreign missions also enjoy tax exemption without requiring reciprocity. The tax is usually accompanied by service taxes, e.g., water tax, drainage tax, conservancy (sanitation) tax, lighting tax, all using the same tax base. The rate structure is flat on rural (panchayat) properties, but in the urban (municipal) areas it is mildly progressive with about 80% of assessments falling in the first two brackets.


title: Property tax

text: A Local Property Tax came into effect in the Republic of Ireland on 1 July 2013, and is collected by the Revenue Commissioners. The tax is on residential properties. The property owner is liable (though in the case of leases for longer than twenty years, the tenant is liable). The revenue funds the provision of services by local authorities. Such services include public parks, libraries, open spaces and leisure amenities, planning and development, fire and emergency services, maintenance, and street cleaning and lighting.


title: Property tax

text: The tax is based upon market value, taxed via a system of market bands. the initial national central rate of the tax is 0.18% of a property's value up to €1 million. Properties valued over €1 million are assessed 0.25% on the excess. From 1 January 2015 local authorities can vary LPT rates at up to 15% below or above the national central rate.


title: Property tax

text: In the case of properties valued over €1 million, no banding applies – 0.18% is charged on the first €1 million (€1,800) and 0.25% on the balance. The government estimates that 85% to 90% of all properties fall within the first five taxation bands.


title: Property tax

text: The tax period for a property tax is a calendar year. Property tax rate ranging from 0.3% to 1% the tax value of real estate is determined by the municipality.


title: Property tax

text: Since 1 January 2015 if the person's property value is higher than 220,000 euros, then a 0.5 per cent tax applies to the excess.


title: Property tax

text: Property tax in Luxembourg is calculated on the basis of the property's "unitary value" determined by tax authorities and levied by the communes. The tax is calculated as property unitary value * assessment rate * communal rate. The assessment rate is determined by the legislator and generally ranges from 0.7% to 1%. The communal rate is set by the communal authority and varies from 120% to 900% depending on the municipality.


title: Property tax

text: Luxembourg has minimal property taxes compared to its neighbours in Benelux or in the European Union. It amounts to more or less €150 for a €500,000 apartment in Luxembourg City.


title: Property tax

text: The subjects of the tax on estate are all estates in the legislation of the Czech Republic excepting particular exceptions: estates which are covered by taxed real estates (these estates are not taxed only on that part where the real estate is located), forests, body of water, estates with the goal of defence the country. The payer of the tax is the owner on this particular estate. There are different types of taxes on estate depending on purpose (fields have lower coefficient than estates denoted for industry). There is a difference in the tax on building sites. Building sides with no real estate on it have constant coefficient 2 Kč per square metre whereas buildings sites with real property (those part of the building sites which are not covered by that particular real property) are taxed according to number of citizens and location of particular village/town/city.


title: Property tax

text: The subjects of the tax on real estate are all buildings and accommodation units in the legislation of the Czech Republic apart from those buildings composed of accommodation units that are already taxed (block of flats...). The payer is again the owner of the real estate. The tax base from buildings and accommodations units is the area of the built-up surface.


title: Property tax

text: Important notion: There is a difference between the person who pays tax physically and the person holds the tax burden. In this type of tax in the Czech Republic it is always the same person, that is why it is omitted.


title: Property tax

text: Property tax (Dutch: "Onroerendezaakbelasting (OZB)") is levied on property on a municipal basis. Only the owners of residential property and people who rent/own commercial space are taxed. People who rent a home do not pay property tax. Municipalities combine their property taxes with a tax for garbage collection and for the sewer system. Owners and users of property and land also pay taxes based on the value of property to the water boards for flood protection and water and wastewater treatment ("waterschapsbelasting"). A percentage of the value of a house (""huurwaardeforfait"") is added to the income of the owner, so the owner of a house pays more income tax. All property-related taxes are based on the value of the house estimated by the municipality.


title: Property tax

text: Portugal has divided their property taxation into two brackets, pre-purchase taxes and post-purchase taxes (of property).


title: Property tax

text: If an individual is looking to buy real estate in Portugal, they can be expected to pay a multitude of taxes. First, the individual will have to pay the 'Portugal Property Transfer Tax' (as referred to as 'IMPOSTO MUNICIPAL SOBRE AS TRANSMISSÕES ONEROSAS DE IMÓVEIS). This tax is applied when there is a transfer of ownership of a certain property. The rates of this tax can range from as low as 1% and up to 8%-- these taxes are dependent on a few considerations, which include "the purchase price for the real estate, the location of the property, and whether it is the first or second home in Portugal." In addition, a 'Stamp Tax' (Imposto de Selo) will also be a prepurchase tax applied before the sale of real estate. This is one of the oldest taxes in Portugal, and it is applied to all the official paperwork, such as deeds, contracts, mortgage agreements, and bank statements that make the sale legal and 'official' according to the courts. This responsibility "is accounted for by the buyer, charged at a fixed rate of 0.8% of the property’s registered fiscal value."


title: Property tax

text: Property Tax (also known as: “IMI – Imposto Municipal Sobre Imóveis”) is "computed on the tax registration value of urban and rural properties located in Portuguese territory." IMI is based on the type of property one possesses: "Urban property- 0.3 to 0.45%, Rural property- 0.8% Property owned by residents in offshores (except individuals)- 7.5%." There are also quite a few tax reductions and exemptions individuals can qualify/ take advantage of properties that are considered a permanent residence (only viable for three years), residencies that have an occupant with multiple dependents registered to them, property that is deemed low in value and is owned by individuals of a low socio-economic standard according to the government, property that is considered apart of the tourism circuit, property that can help with renewable energy and even stores deemed historical or culturally impactful.


title: Property tax

text: The administration of real estate tax is handled by the municipality in whose territory the real estate lies. In cities with multiple city districts, the tax administration of real estate tax is handled by the department of local taxes and fees and not by the city districts. For example, Bratislava or Košice.


title: Property tax

text: The tax liability arises on 1 January of the tax period following the tax period in which the taxpayer became the owner, administrator, tenant, or user of the taxable property and expires on 31 December of the tax period in which the taxpayer lost ownership, administration, lease or use of the real estate. If the taxpayer becomes the owner, administrator, tenant, or user of the real estate on 1 January, the current tax period, the tax liability arises on this day.


title: Property tax

text: The decisive factor for the collection of the tax as of 1 January is one tax period. Changes in taxable facts that occur during the tax period are not taken into account.


title: Property tax

text: The tax return is filed by the taxpayer, whose law on local taxes defines separately for land, buildings, flats, and non-residential parameters. The taxpayer files a tax return for the tax period in which the tax liability was incurred. The taxpayer (i.e. the taxable person) is obliged to pay the real estate tax return to the relevant tax administrator (i.e. the Municipality) by 31 January of the liability period. In other tax periods, the tax return is not filed and the taxpayer receives a decision on the tax levied from the administrator. For example, if you acquire a property on 25 August 2019, you are required to pay the tax return by 31 January 2020. However, only if the property will be registered in the real estate cadastre on 1 January 2020. A taxpayer who acquired the property by auctioning during the tax period is obliged to state the return within 30 days from the date of the tax liability.


title: Property tax

text: If the land, building, flat and non-residential space in a residential building are co-owned by several persons, the declaration shall be submitted by each individual or legal person. Specifically, the co-owner should state real estate tax up to the amount of his co-ownership share. If the co-owners agree, the declaration will be submitted by a chosen representative. If this occurs all co-owners are obliged to mention this fact in the declaration. This does not apply to spouses who own land, a building, a flat, or a non-residential space in an apartment building in the non-share co-ownership of the spouses. In this case, the declaration is filed by one of the spouses.


title: Property tax

text: The tax return is filed in the prescribed documentation depending on whether it is an individual or a legal entity. To complete the documentation, it is necessary to send documents that prove changes in one's property (e.g. a copy of the decision to allow a deposit in the real estate cadastre, a decision on inheritance, etc.). Possible changes in the ownership of real estate are, for example, the sale or purchase of the real estate, inheritance, donation, building approval, removal of the building, and the like. The duly completed form must be submitted to the city or municipal office in person or appoint a representative.


title: Property tax

text: The law does not stipulate the obligation of the municipality to finance electronic services, and thus e.g. during the tax return by electronic means while providing for the possibility of providing them. Whether it is possible to communicate with the tax administrator electronically, the municipality shall publish on its website in the form of an adopted generally binding regulation in which the details of electronic communication and provision of electronic services are laid down.


title: Property tax

text: The tax administrator will send an assessment for the relevant tax period, stating the amount of tax, usually by 15 May. The levied real estate tax is payable within 15 days from the date of entry into force of the decision.


title: Property tax

text: The tax administrator may also determine the payment of real estate tax in installments, while the due date of individual installments shall be determined in the decision by which the tax is levied. If the tax levied is higher than EUR 33,000, the city/municipality shall determine the payment of the tax in at least two equal installments. You can also pay the tax at once but within the first installment.


title: Property tax

text: If you do not file a tax return for real estate tax within the deadline, the tax administrator will impose a fine up to the amount of tax levied, not less than 5 euros, but not more than 3,000 euros.


title: Property tax

text: In the UK the "ownership" of residential property or land is not taxed, a situation almost unique in the OECD. Instead, the Council Tax is usually paid by the "resident" of a property, and only in the case of unoccupied property does the owner become liable to pay it (although owners can often obtain a discount or an exemption for empty properties).


title: Property tax

text: The Council Tax depends on the value of the property, but is not calculated as a simple percentage. Instead, the property is allocated to a Council Tax band, (9 in England and 8 in Scotland and Wales). Valuation is carried out by the Valuation Office Agency under the auspices of HMRC.


title: Property tax

text: Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax on property and land that people may have to pay when you 'buy a residential property or a piece of land in England or Northern Ireland over a certain price'. Since July 2020 in the UK there is a freeze on stamp duty on the first £500,000 of all property sales. Currently the rates of tax paid when purchasing a property is 0 up to value of £500,000. 5% for the next £425,000 (the portion from £500,001 to £925,000). 10% for the next £575,000 (the portion from £925,001 to £1.5million). And 12% on the portion over £1.5million. When the SDLT holiday ends at the end of June 2021, this will change and the property value at which you have to pay 5% will be lowered from £500,000 to £250,000. Following this, from 1 October there will be an additional lower rate for the value of properties between £125,000 and £250,000 of 2%.


title: Property tax

text: In the United States, property tax on real estate is usually levied by the local government. The national government levies no real estate tax, nor property tax. State governments levy 3% of the total property tax collected. The other 97% is collected by counties, municipalities, schools, community colleges, and many other special-purpose governmental agencies, e.g. libraries, museums, parks, bridge authorities. Rates vary across the states, between about 0% and 4% of the home value. The assessment is made up of two components—the improvement or building value and the land or site value. The property tax is the main tax supporting local: education, police, fire protection, government, roads, and most infrastructure, e.g. sewers, bridges, street lights. Many state and local jurisdictions add personal property taxes. (See exceptions below.)


title: Property tax

text: Before the presence of a monetary system, taxes were mostly paid as a percentage of crops raised. Later, the property tax of ancient world, parts of medieval Europe and American colonies was rather based on the area of the property rather than on its value. Finally, the property's gross output (e.g. annual income) were used as the base of taxation.


title: Property tax

text: The first ever tax records, dating from about six thousand years BCE, were in the form of soil tablets which were found in city-state of Lagash (Now in the territory of current Iraq). The system was called bala (rotation). It was such that each month one particular area of city was taxed, which allowed to make such arduous task less difficult. In Ancient Egypt the taxes were levied against the value of grain, cattle, oil, beer and also land. By that time only one person out of 100 were literate. Some of these people were tax assessors. They kept records about owners of land along with its size. They collected annual data by calculating cattle and checking the crop yields. If the taxpayer was not able to pay the tax, he was brought before the court. Tax assessors were highly respected people due to their ability and skills.


title: Property tax

text: In England in the 11th century the taxes on land were paid by peasants who rented that land from its owner. The more productive the land was the higher the rent was. During the 1070s, William the Conqueror established an early form of land taxation. It was common that cities kept records of the owner of the property. Each parcel was measured and estimated. Later, after 1215, King John was limited in his power to raise revenue, so from this point taxes could be collected only with permission of his barons. After 1290 normal people started paying this type of tax based on the location of the property (higher for those in cities and lower for rural residents) In 16th century even the King's own land was also taxed. The King's power of taxation became even weaker right after 1689 when the new law was introduced meaning that he could not tax without Parliament's permission.


title: Property tax

text: Arriving in the New World, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth and started building their city in 1620. Pilgrims formed a pact to protect themselves and also set laws including taxation and assessments. All people were allocated equal proportion of land from which they had to pay tax.


title: Property tax

text: In Boston, a property tax was implemented by Puritans for paying the expenses of church and religious education. Every person paid this property tax regardless of one's religion. This particular system lasted for more than one hundred years. The assessor of the tax was the sheriff. The system of evidence was similar to England (the assessors kept records of personal estate). The situation of the citizen was taken into account as far as the property tax was concerned – meaning that a widow with children was not only forgiven property tax but also was guaranteed to receive a certain amount of money monthly. On the other hand, people who destroyed public property had to pay the cost of repairs with property tax.


title: Property tax

text: After the establishment of the United States in 1776, taxes were raised in most regions (mostly through property). Later, the central Government found out that this system did not work as far more was spent than received from this measure. At the end of the 18th century, there was a dispute between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The camp of Hamilton was for raising taxes (mainly property tax) centrally in order to increase the capacity of budget (also power) of the Government. The camp of Jefferson was for raising revenue locally as it "sounded“ more like a concept of democracy. Hamilton had a strong head for finance; he helped to establish the capitalist system that exists today. However, the financial strategy mentioned above (high property tax) was a disaster for him.


title: Property tax

text: Higher taxes (especially property) was finally established during the concerns whether the war with France would happen or not. National property tax was enacted by Congress apportioned by population. There were many protests until the tax was finally repealed. On the other hand, the trend of raising the local property tax continued as local governments were able to raise their revenue by this measure.


title: Property tax

text: At the beginning of the 20th century it was found out that the tax system in US could not equitably tax the complicated economy. Many reforms were implemented (trying to reduce reliance on property taxes). The most important one was concerned with new narrow personal property tax was established especially for homeowners and intangible assets. Many US presidents have tried to push for lower property tax and for the implementation of income tax.


title: Property tax

text: By the time of the Great Depression, the property tax collection rates dropped as people's income decreased steeply. The Governments mostly cut property tax and implemented sales taxes. After the Great Depression, many movements were formed for addressing claims on the Government with real tax reforms. Many of these reforms were approved and remain the current law.


title: Property tax

text: Critics of property taxes note that this type of tax demonstrates that so-called "property owners" are renters of their land and that the government is regarded as the final owner since the property owners can be evicted at any time for failure to pay this tax. For example, a resident of Southfield, Michigan, was evicted from her home for missing a $900 property tax payment. The town refused to accept her late payment and instead confiscated and sold her nearly $300,000 home. Critics note that instances like this are a fairly frequent occurrence and demonstrate a threat to property rights, due process, and the rule of law.


title: Property tax

text: In Alaska, "...only a small portion of the land mass is subject to a property tax. ...only 24 municipalities in Alaska (either cities or boroughs) levy a property tax." However, the vast majority of revenue for local governments comes from property taxes. There is no tax on the private land in American Samoa, the Territory of Palmyra Island or Kingman Reef in the Pacific Ocean insular areas.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank), the principal subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp is an American bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Fifth Third is one of the largest consumer banks in the Midwestern United States, Fifth Third Bank is incorporated in Ohio. It was state-chartered until late 2019, when it obtained a national charter.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: Fifth Third's client base spans retail, small business, corporate, and investment clients. Fifth Third operates 1,100 branches and 50,000 automated teller machines which are in 11 states: Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: The name "Fifth Third" is derived from the names of the bank's two predecessor companies, Third National Bank and Fifth National Bank, which merged in 1909.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: The company is ranked 415th on the Fortune 500. Fifth Third Bank is one of the largest banks in the United States.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: On June 17, 1858, the Bank of the Ohio Valley opened in Cincinnati, Ohio. On June 23, 1863, the Third National Bank was organized. On April 29, 1871, Third National Bank came into possession of Bank of the Ohio Valley and by 1882 the bank's capital was around $16 million, considered to be the largest bank capital in the state at the time. In 1888, Queen City National Bank changed its name to Fifth National Bank.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: On June 1, 1908, Third National Bank and Fifth National Bank merged to become the Fifth-Third National Bank of Cincinnati; the hyphen was later dropped. The merger took place when prohibitionist ideas were gaining popularity, and it is a legend that "Fifth Third" was better than "Third Fifth", which could have been construed as a reference to three fifths of alcohol. The name went through several changes until March 24, 1969, when it was changed to Fifth Third Bank.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: In November 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury invested $3.4 billion in the company as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and in February 2011, the company repurchased the investment from the Treasury.


title: Fifth Third Bank

text: In January 2022, Fifth Third announced it had acquired the San Francisco-based residential solar power lender, Dividend Finance.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: Phil Spencer is an American business executive and the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. He is currently the head of the Xbox brand and leads the global creative and engineering teams responsible for gaming at Microsoft.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: Spencer attended Ridgefield High School in Ridgefield, Washington, and then earned a bachelor's degree in technical and scientific communication from the University of Washington.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: He serves on the boards of the First Tee of Greater Seattle and the Entertainment Software Association.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: Spencer joined Microsoft in 1988 as an intern and has worked in a number of technical roles, leading the development of Microsoft's first CD-ROM-based titles (such as "Encarta"), development manager for Microsoft Money, and general manager of Microsoft's online and offline consumer productivity products including Microsoft Works and Microsoft Picture It! During his early time at Microsoft he was known by other employees to be an avid gamer, playing games such as Ultima Online in the office.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: With the launch of the Xbox in 2001, Spencer joined the Xbox team and served as general manager of Microsoft Game Studios EMEA, working with Microsoft's European developers and studios such as Lionhead Studios and Rare until 2008, when he became the general manager of Microsoft Studios, eventually becoming the studio's corporate vice president a year later. He has participated in Microsoft's E3 conferences since 2010.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: In late March 2014, Satya Nadella announced in a corporate e-mail that Spencer was to "lead the Xbox, Xbox Live, Groove Music and Movies & TV teams, and Microsoft Studios" as part of the Windows and Devices division.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: In September 2017, Spencer was promoted to the Senior Leadership Team, gaining the title of Executive Vice President of Gaming and reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: In 2018, Spencer delivered the keynote address at the 2018 DICE Summit and spoke at the 2018 Game Awards.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: In January 2022, along with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Spencer was promoted to the role of CEO of Microsoft Gaming.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: Since taking over both Xbox and the Gaming division, Spencer has advocated for cross-platform play, as well as launched key initiatives, such as reintroducing backward compatibility to the Xbox platform, the purchase of Mojang and Bethesda, the further development and support of "Minecraft", the introduction of Xbox Game Pass, launching the Xbox Adaptive Controller, an increased focus on PC gaming, porting some Microsoft published games to other platforms including the Nintendo Switch, the launch of xCloud, and increasing the number of first-party development studios.


title: Phil Spencer (business executive)

text: Spencer received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards on February 24, 2022.


title: John I of France

text: John I (15 – 20 November 1316), called the Posthumous (, ), was King of France and Navarre, as the posthumous son and successor of Louis X, for the five days he lived in 1316. He is the youngest person to be king of France, the only one to have borne that title from birth, and the only one to hold the title for his entire life. His reign is the shortest of any undisputed French king. Although considered a king today, his status was not recognized until chroniclers and historians in later centuries began numbering John II, thereby acknowledging John I's brief reign.


title: John I of France

text: John reigned for five days under the regency of his uncle, Philip V of France, until his death on 20 November 1316. His death ended the three centuries of father-to-son succession to the French throne. The infant king was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis. He was succeeded by his uncle, Philip, whose contested legitimacy led to the re-affirmation of the Salic law, which excluded women from the line of succession to the French throne.


title: John I of France

text: The child mortality rate was very high in medieval Europe and John may have died from any number of causes, but rumours of poisoning spread immediately after his death (including one which said that he had been murdered with a pin by his aunt), as many people benefited from it, and as John's father had also died in strange circumstances. The cause of his death is still not known today.


title: John I of France

text: The premature death of John brought the first issue of succession of the Capetian dynasty. When Louis X, his father, died without a son to succeed him, it was the first time since Hugh Capet that the succession from father to son of the kings of France was interrupted. It was then decided to wait until his pregnant widow, Clementia of Hungary, delivered the child. The king's brother, Philip the Tall, was in charge of the regency of the kingdom against his uncle Charles of Valois. The birth of a male child was expected to give France its king. The problem of succession returned when John died five days after birth. Philip ascended the throne at the expense of John's four-year-old half-sister, Joan, daughter of Louis X and Margaret of Burgundy.


title: John I of France

text: Various legends circulated about this royal child. First, it was claimed that his uncle, Philip the Tall, had him poisoned. Then, a strange story a few decades later started the rumor that the little King John was not dead. During the captivity of John the Good (13561360), a man named Giannino Baglioni claimed to be John I and thus the heir to the throne. He tried to assert his rights, but was captured in Provence and died in captivity in 1363.


title: John I of France

text: In "The Man Who Believed He Was King of France", Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri suggests that Cola di Rienzo manufactured false evidence that Baglioni was John the Posthumous in order to strengthen his own power in Rome by placing Baglioni on the French throne. Shortly after they met in 1354, di Rienzo was assassinated, and Baglioni waited two years to report his claims. He went to the Hungarian court where Louis I of Hungary, nephew of Clementia of Hungary, recognized him as the son of Louis and Clementia. In 1360, Baglioni went to Avignon, but Pope Innocent VI refused to receive him. After several attempts to gain recognition, he was arrested and imprisoned in Naples, where he died in 1363.


title: John I of France

text: Maurice Druon's historical novel series "Les Rois maudits" dramatises this theory and develops it as a major plotline throughout the series. In "La Loi des mâles" (1957), the infant John is temporarily switched with the child of Guccio Baglioni and Marie de Cressay as a decoy by Hugues de Bouville, former chamberlain to Philip IV and protector of the child, and his wife. He is subsequently poisoned by Mahaut, Countess of Artois, in order to place John's uncle (and Mahaut's son-in-law), Philippe, Count of Poitiers, on the throne. Marie is coerced into secretly raising John as her own son, named Giannino Baglioni. An adult Giannino was portrayed by Jean-Gérard Sandoz in the 1972 French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by Lorans Stoica in the 2005 adaptation.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Shyama Charan Lahiri (30 September 1828 – 26 September 1895), best known as Lahiri Mahasaya, was an Indian yogi guru who founded the Kriya Yoga school. In 1861, his non-physical master Mahavatar Babaji appeared to him, ordering him to revive the yogic science of Kriya Yoga to the public after centuries of its guarding by masters. He was unusual among Indian holy people in that he was a householder, marrying, raising a family, and working as a government accountant, an "Ideal yogi-householder." He became known in the West through Paramahansa Yogananda, a disciple of Sri Yukteswar Giri, and through Yogananda's 1946 book "Autobiography of a Yogi", considering him a "Yogavatar", or "Incarnation of Yoga," since Lahiri himself was chosen by the yogic masters to disseminate the principles of yoga to the world.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Lahiri was born into a Brahmin family in the Ghurni village (presently a neighborhood of Krishnanagar town) in Nadia district of Bengal Province. He was the youngest son of Muktakashi, wife of Gaur Mohan Lahiri. His mother died when he was a child — there is very little known about her, except that she was a devotee of Lord Shiva. At the age of three or four, he was often seen sitting in meditation, with his body buried in the sand up to his neck. When Lahiri was five, the family's ancestral home was lost in a flood, so the family moved to Varanasi, where he would spend most of his life.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: As a child, he studied Urdu and Hindi, gradually moving on to Bengali, Sanskrit, Persian, French and English at the Government Sanskrit College, along with study of the Vedas. Reciting the Vedas, bathing in the Ganges, and worship were part of his daily routine.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: In 1846, he was married to Srimati Kashi Moni. They had two sons, Tincouri and Ducouri, and three daughters, Harimoti, Harikamini and Harimohini. His two sons were considered saints. Lahiri's wife became his disciple and was affectionately called by Guru Ma. His work as an accountant in the Military Engineering Department of the Indian government took him all over India. After the death of his father, he took on the role of supporting the entire family in Varanasi.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: In 1861, Lahiri was transferred to Ranikhet, in the foothills of the Himalayas. One day, while walking in the hills of Dunagiri, he heard a voice calling to him. After climbing further, he met his Guru Mahavatar Babaji, who initiated him into the techniques of Kriya Yoga. Babaji told Lahiri that the rest of his life was to be given to spreading the Kriya message.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Soon after, Lahiri Mahasaya returned to Varanasi, where he began initiating sincere seekers into the path of Kriya Yoga. Over time, more and more people flocked to receive the teachings of Kriya from Lahiri. To note his high spiritual state, his followers called him "Mahasaya", which is a Sanskrit spiritual title translated as 'large-minded;' he was also popularly known as "Yogiraj" and "Kashi Baba" by his followers. He organized many study groups and gave regular discourses on the Bhagavad Gita at his "Gita Assemblies." He freely gave Kriya initiation to those of every faith, including Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, at a time when caste bigotry was very strong. He encouraged his students to adhere to the tenets of their own faith, adding the Kriya techniques to what they already were practicing.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: He continued his dual role of accountant and supporter to his family, and a teacher of Kriya Yoga, until 1886, when he was able to retire on a pension. More and more visitors came to see him at this time. He rarely left his sitting room, available to all who sought his "darshan". He often exhibited the breathless state of superconscious "samādhi".


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Over the years he gave initiation to gardeners, postmen, kings, maharajas, sannyasis, householders, people considered to be lower caste, Christians, and Muslims. At that time, it was unusual for a strict Brahmin to associate so closely with people from all castes.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Some of his notable disciples included Panchanan Bhattacharya, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Swami Pranabananda, Swami Keshavananda Brahmachari, Bhupendranath Sanyal and the parents of Paramahansa Yogananda. Others who received initiation into Kriya Yoga from Lahiri included Bhaskarananda Saraswati of Benares, Balananda Brahmachari of Deogarh, Maharaja Iswari Narayan Sinha Bahadur of Benares and his son.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Biographer and Yogacharya Dr. Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee, in his book "Purana Purusha" depicts that Lahiri initiated Sai Baba of Shirdi into Kriya Yoga, based on a passage in Lahiri's 26 secret diary. He gave permission to one disciple, Panchanan Bhattacharya, to start an institution in Kolkata to spread the teachings of Kriya Yoga. The Arya Mission Institution published commentaries by Lahiri on the Bhagavad Gita, along with other spiritual books, including a Bengali translation of the Gita. Lahiri himself had printed thousands of small books with excerpted passages from the Gita, in Bengali and Hindi, and distributed them for free, an unusual idea at that time.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: In 1895, he began gathering his disciples, letting some of them know that he would soon be leaving the body. Moments before his passing, he said simply, "I am going home. Be comforted; I shall rise again." He then turned his body around three times, faced north, and consciously left his body, entering "mahasamadhi". Lahiri Mahasaya died on 26 September 1895, four days before turning 67. He was cremated according to Hindu Brahmin rites at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: The central spiritual practice which he taught to his disciples was Kriya Yoga, a series of inner pranayama practices that quickly hasten the spiritual growth of the practitioner. He taught this technique to all sincere seekers, regardless of their religious background. In response to many types of problems that disciples would bring him, his advice would be the same — to practice more Kriya Yoga.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you. Reflect that some day you will suddenly have to leave everything in this world–so make the acquaintanceship of God now. Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception. Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles. Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. Cease being a prisoner of the body; using the secret key of Kriya, learn to escape into Spirit.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: He taught that Kriya practice would give the yogi direct experience of truth, unlike mere theoretical discussion of the scriptures, and to:


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Solve all your problems through meditation. Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. Clear your mind of dogmatic theological debris; let in the fresh, healing waters of direct perception. Attune yourself to the active inner Guidance; the Divine Voice has the answer to every dilemma of life. Though man’s ingenuity for getting himself into trouble appears to be endless, the Infinite Succor is no less resourceful.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Lahiri often spoke of the Guru-disciple relationship in the context of Kriya Yoga. He always gave the Kriya technique as an initiation, and taught that the technique was only properly learned as part of the Guru-disciple relationship. Frequently he referred to the realization that comes through practicing Kriya as taught by the Guru, and the grace that comes through the 'transmission' of the Guru. He also taught that the grace of the Guru comes automatically if his instructions are followed. He suggested contacting the Guru during meditation, counseling that it wasn't always necessary to see his physical form.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: It is absolutely necessary for all devotees to totally surrender to their Guru. The more one can surrender to the Guru, the more he can ascertain the subtlest of the subtle techniques of yoga from his Guru. Without surrender, nothing can be derived from the Guru.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: The relationship Lahiri Mahasaya had with his own disciples was very individual. He even varied the way he taught the Kriya Yoga practice to each disciple, depending on their individual spiritual needs.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Lahiri taught that if one is earning an honest living and practicing honesty, then there was no need to alter one's external life in any significant way in order to become aware of God's presence. If a student neglected his worldly duties, he would correct him. It was extremely rare for him to advise "sannyas", or complete worldly renunciation by becoming a swami. Instead, he advised marriage for most of his disciples along with Kriya Yoga practice.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: He generally eschewed organized religion, but he allowed at least one advanced disciple, Panchanan Bhattacharya, to open the "Arya Mission Institution" in Kolkata to spread Kriya teachings. Other disciples of Lahiri also started organizations to spread the Kriya Yoga message, including Yukteswar Giri with his "Satsanga Sabha." Generally, he preferred Kriya to spread naturally.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: Lahiri frequently taught the "Bhagavad Gita". His regular Gita assemblies, called "Gita Sabha", attracted many disciples. He asked several of his close disciples to write interpretations of the Gita by tuning in to his own realization. Lahiri taught that the Battle of Kurukshetra was really an inner psychological battle, and that the different characters in the battle were actually psychological traits within the struggling yogi. This understanding would later become the foundation of Paramahansa Yogananda's commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita """". He also taught that the epic story of the "Mahabharata" showed the soul's descent into matter, and its challenges in retracing its way back to spirit.


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: The lineage of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), founded by Paramahansa Yogananda includes Jesus Christ, Bhagavan Krishna, Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar Giri and Paramahansa Yogananda. According to SRF, Yogananda stated, before his passing, that it was "God's wish that he be the last in the SRF line of Gurus." When questioned about the succession of SRF/YSS leadership, Yogananda answered, “There will always be at the head of this organization men and women of realization. They are already known to God and the Gurus. They shall serve as my spiritual successor and representative in all spiritual and organizational matters.”


title: Lahiri Mahasaya

text: According to the Kriya Yoga Institute, their lineage includes Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar Giri, Shrimat Bhupendranath Sanyal Mahashaya, Paramahansa Yogananda, Satyananda Giri, Hariharananda Giri.


title: Otamatone

text: The is an electronic musical synthesizer. It was developed in Japan by the CUBE toy company and the Maywa Denki design firm, led by the brothers Masamichi and Nobumichi Tosa.


title: Otamatone

text: The Otamatone is a synthesizer whose body is shaped like an eighth note (quaver) (it also somewhat resembles a tadpole, or a ladle, being Japanese for "tadpole" and "ladle"), with sound emerging from a "mouth" on the notehead. It requires two hands to play: while one hand holds and squeezes the "head", the other hand controls the pitch of the tune by placing the finger on a ribbon controller on the stem; a higher position on the stem creates a lower sound.


title: Otamatone

text: The ribbon controller is logarithmic to resemble a string instrument, so there is a shorter distance between higher notes than between lower ones. Varying the pressure on the head (thereby opening and closing the "mouth" of the Otamatone) creates a wah-wah effect, and shaking the neck (and thereby slightly changing pressure on the head) creates a vibrato effect. Switches on the back of the head allow users to change octave, turn it off or on, or change the volume.


title: Otamatone

text: The instrument has gained significant popularity online, especially on YouTube and TikTok. It is often used to create cover songs, with channels such as TheRealSullyG and mklachu gaining popularity primarily from the use of the instrument. The Otamatone has also been used by musicians such as Ola Englund.


title: Otamatone

text: On February 3, 2021, Juanjo Monserrat performed Nessun Dorma on the original Otamatone on the auditions for the sixth season of "Got Talent España" and won the Golden Buzzer award after several judges tried playing the instrument themselves.


title: Sclerosis (medicine)

text: Sclerosis (from Greek σκληρός "sklērós", "hard") is the stiffening of a tissue or anatomical feature, usually caused by a replacement of the normal organ-specific tissue with connective tissue. The structure may be said to have undergone sclerotic changes or display sclerotic lesions, which refers to the process of sclerosis.


title: Empire State (2013 film)

text: Empire State is a 2013 American crime drama film centered on two childhood friends who rob an armored car repository and the NYPD officer who stands in their way. Directed by Dito Montiel and starring Liam Hemsworth, Emma Roberts and Dwayne Johnson, the film was released straight to DVD and Blu-ray on September 3, 2013. It is based on a true story.


title: Empire State (2013 film)

text: Chris Potamitis lives with his parents and younger sister in the Bronx in the early 1980s. His immigrant father is fired from his job after 10 years of cleaning a shady Greek social club. Chris fails to get into the police academy because of a previous marijuana conviction. He gets a low-paying job as a security guard with the Empire Armored Car Company, where security is extremely poor, morale is equally bad, and no reliable records are kept of money collected or stored. His partner is killed during a robbery, but the company gives the dead man's family only $5,000 in compensation rather than the $50,000 they are entitled to. After Chris is demoted to the position of night watchman, he steals one of the money bags he is guarding and gives some of the cash to his partner's widow.


title: Empire State (2013 film)

text: Chris makes the mistake of showing the money to his loud-mouthed best friend Eddie and telling him about the company's worse-than-lax security. Eddie shares this information with Spiro, a gangster he wants to impress, and Spiro stages a robbery that is foiled by James Ransome, a veteran detective in the New York Police Department who has been tipped off. A gun battle ensues in which two of the robbers are killed. Then, on December 12, 1982, Eddie breaks into the company through the roof in the middle of the night, and he hectors a weak-willed Chris into opening the vault. Eddie knocks out Chris and steals $11 million in cash, the single largest cash robbery in U.S. history, exceeding the $5.8 million Lufthansa heist in December 1978. Eddie gives $3 million of the loot to Chris.