title: Krasnopol (weapon system)

text: The performance issue of the shell appears to be linked to the unique high altitude environments the Indian army has to conduct operations in. An environment not envisioned when designing the shell. "The problem is that the ammunition works when fired in the plains but goes totally inaccurate when it's being fired from, say, 11,000 feet to a target at 17,000 feet," sources said. The Army is hoping that the Russian team will find a way to correct the defect in the munitions." . The age of some of the stockpile has also been cited as a source of the problem "The Indian army attributed these problems to age related decline in the ammunition and a newer batch was ordered in 2002, "The performance of the first lot of quantity 1000 rounds of projectiles procured in 1999 has deteriorated over the years the recently during test firing by the Army, it was observed that the performance was not up to the mark".


title: Krasnopol (weapon system)

text: The Russian Academy of Sciences established the following findings. "Krasnopol projectile was developed for use at heights of up to 3000m...the highest range in the Nothern Caucauses at a height of 2500m." The Indian army tested the round at 4500m. "Two Krasnopol projectiles fired at the range appeared to be short of the homing head lock on zone due to incorrect firing tables." and the use of NATO charges instead of Russian contributed to the fault, "standard NATO propellant charges used in the FH-77B artillery system at zero and sub zero temperatures have unstable characteristics, particularly the muzzle velocity". "To exclude abnormal operation of the Krasnopol projectile in highland conditions the Instrument Design Bureau has developed and introduced improvements... which provide equal accuracy in the highlands and plains." Listed improvements were: Replace NATO propellent charges with Russian ones that have a temperature range of -50c to +60c. Adjustment of sustainer ignition timing from 7.0s to 0.3s after firing. The projectile was tested in the Jammu and Kashmir ranges at heights up to 4500m and over 1000m height differences between target and fire position. "Targets were directly hit and completely destroyed." "Each target was killed with a single Krasnopol projectile.".


title: Krasnopol (weapon system)

text: Since 2019 India uses the M982 Excalibur 155 mm extended range guided artillery shell developed by the US Army, in addition to the Krasnopol. A 2018 competitive assessment by the Indian Army of various available 155mm precision-guided rounds selected the M982 Excalibur for purchase. It did not include Krasnopol in the comparison. It's believed that the more expensive M982 will eventually replace Krasnopol in the Indian inventory.


title: Krasnopol (weapon system)

text: The original model of the "Krasnopol" was designed to be used with former Soviet-Bloc artillery systems of , such as D-20, 2S3 Akatsiya, 2A65 (Msta-B). "Krasnopol" carries a high explosive fragmentation warhead. The entire missile weighs . However, its length made it incompatible with the autoloader of the 2S19 152mm Self-Propelled Gun.


title: Krasnopol (weapon system)

text: The "Krasnopol-M" was a miniaturized version of the projectile, developed in the mid-1990s by Shipunov's team at the KBP Design Bureau taking advantage of new electronics technology acquired in the design of the 120 mm Kitolov-2 guided projectile (similar in construction and purpose; this is in essence a smaller model of the Krasnopol to be used with the 2S9 NONA 120 mm mortar and designated 3OF69 and a related projectile for 122 mm howitzers designated Kitolov-2M 3OF69M) was made with a shorter length to enable it to be used with autoloader-equipped self-propelled guns without having to be disassembled into two parts. It also comes in an alternate caliber to allow it to be used with NATO-standard 155 mm howitzers. Besides the reduced total length, the Krasnopol-M also has a different protective cap for the optical seeker.


title: Krasnopol (weapon system)

text: KM-1M Krasnopol-M2, a further development based on Krasnopol-M, is a 155mm artillery projectile designed to engage armored targets. It uses a semi-active laser (SAL) guidance system in the terminal phase of its trajectory.


title: Richard Gant

text: Richard Edward Gant (born March 10, 1944) is an American actor. His credits include the film "Rocky V (1990)", where he played the Don King-esque George Washington Duke; Hostetler in "Deadwood" (2004–2006); and Owen in "Men of a Certain Age" (2009–2012).


title: Richard Gant

text: He has also appeared in a 1989 episode of "Miami Vice", as Battlin’ Barry Gay; as a possessed coroner in "" (1993); and in the films and TV shows "Deadwood", "The Big Lebowski", "Babylon 5", "Special Unit 2", "L.A. Law", "NYPD Blue", "Living Single", "Posse", "Seinfeld", "Friends", "How I Met Your Mother", "Men Don't Tell", and "Charmed". He appeared in one episode each of "" and "Smallville".


title: Richard Gant

text: He has also appeared in "" and "Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie", as well as reporter Charles Parker in the cult classic adaptation of Colin Bateman’s "Divorcing Jack".


title: Richard Gant

text: He had a minor role as a senior naval officer in Roland Emmerich's "Godzilla". Gant was also in "Daddy Day Camp" as Col. Buck Hinton. Gant joined "General Hospital" on February 6, 2007 in the role of Dr. Russell Ford. He starred in "Men of a Certain Age" for its entire two-season run on TNT from 2009 to 2011.


title: Richard Gant

text: Gant was the campaign manager for federal elections in the country of Nigeria. He was presented with the Key to the City of Oakland, California by then Mayor Jerry Brown. He is a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.


title: The Moonstone

text: The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel. It is an early example of the modern detective novel, and established many of the ground rules of the modern genre. The story was serialised in Charles Dickens’s magazine "All the Year Round." Collins adapted "The Moonstone" for the stage in 1877.


title: The Moonstone

text: The Moonstone of the title is a diamond (not to be confused with the semi-precious moonstone gem). It has gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of the Moon, Chandra. It is protected by three hereditary guardians on the orders of Vishnu, and waxes and wanes in brilliance along with the light of the Moon.


title: The Moonstone

text: Rachel Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance and extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond or the Koh-i-Noor diamond). Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party at which the guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it.


title: The Moonstone

text: Colonel Herncastle, an unpleasant former soldier, brings the Moonstone back with him from India where he acquired it by theft and murder during the Siege of Seringapatam. Angry at his family, who shun him, he leaves it in his will as a birthday gift to his niece Rachel, thus exposing her to attack by the stone's hereditary guardians, who will stop at nothing to retrieve it.


title: The Moonstone

text: Rachel wears the stone to her birthday party, but that night it disappears from her room. Suspicion falls on three Indian jugglers who have been near the house; on Rosanna Spearman, a maidservant who begins to act oddly and who then drowns herself in a local quicksand; and on Rachel herself, who also behaves suspiciously and is suddenly furious with Franklin Blake, with whom she has previously appeared to be enamoured, when he directs attempts to find it. Despite the efforts of Sergeant Cuff, a renowned detective, the house party ends with the mystery unsolved, and the protagonists disperse.


title: The Moonstone

text: During the ensuing year there are hints that the diamond was removed from the house and may be in a London bank vault, having been pledged as surety to a moneylender. The Indian jugglers are still nearby, watching and waiting. Rachel's grief and isolation increase, especially after her mother dies, and she first accepts and then rejects a marriage proposal from her cousin Godfrey Ablewhite, a philanthropist who was also present at the birthday dinner and whose father owns the bank near Rachel's old family home. Finally Franklin Blake returns from travelling abroad and determines to solve the mystery. He first discovers that Rosanna Spearman's behaviour was due to her having fallen in love with him.


title: The Moonstone

text: She found evidence (a paint smear on his nightclothes) that convinced her that he was the thief and concealed it to save him, confusing the trail of evidence and throwing suspicion on herself. In despair at her inability to make him acknowledge her despite all she had done for him, she killed herself, leaving behind the smeared gown and a letter he did not receive at the time because of his hasty departure abroad.


title: The Moonstone

text: Now believing that Rachel suspects him of the theft on Rosanna's evidence, Franklin engineers a meeting and asks her. To his astonishment she tells him she actually saw him steal the diamond and has been protecting his reputation at the cost of her own even though she believes him to be a thief and a hypocrite. With hope of redeeming himself he returns to Yorkshire to the scene of the crime and is befriended by Mr. Candy's assistant, Mr. Ezra Jennings. They join together to continue the investigations and learn that Franklin was secretly given laudanum during the night of the party (by the doctor, Mr. Candy, who wanted to exact vengeance on Franklin for criticising medicine); it appears that this, in addition to his anxiety about Rachel and the diamond and other nervous irritations, caused him to take the diamond in a narcotic trance, to move it to a safe place. A re-enactment of the evening's events confirms this, but how the stone ended up in a London bank remains a mystery solved only a year after the birthday party when the stone is redeemed. Franklin and his allies trace the claimant to a seedy waterside inn, only to discover that the Indians have got there first: the claimant is dead and the stone is gone. Under the dead man's disguise is none other than Godfrey Ablewhite, who is found to have embezzled the contents of a trust fund in his care and to have been facing exposure soon after the birthday party. The mystery of what Blake did while in his drugged state is solved: he encountered Ablewhite in the passageway outside Rachel's room and gave the Moonstone to him to be put back in his father's bank, from which it had been withdrawn on the morning of the party to be given to Rachel. Seeing his salvation, Ablewhite pocketed the stone instead, and pledged it as surety for a loan to save himself temporarily from insolvency. When he was murdered, he was on his way to Amsterdam to have the stone cut; it would then have been sold to replenish the plundered trust fund before the beneficiary inherited.


title: The Moonstone

text: The mystery is solved, Rachel and Franklin marry, and in an epilogue from Mr. Murthwaite, a noted adventurer, the reader learns of the restoration of the Moonstone to the place where it should be, in the forehead of the statue of the god in India.


title: The Moonstone

text: The book is regarded by some as the precursor of the modern mystery novel and the suspense novel. T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe," and Dorothy L. Sayers praised it as "probably the very finest detective story ever written". In "The Victorian Age in Literature" G. K. Chesterton calls it "probably the best detective tale in the world". It was published in 1868, later than Poe's short story mysteries "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) (which introduced the famous locked-room paradigm), "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" (1842) and "The Purloined Letter" (1845). The plot also shows some parallels with "The Hermitage" (1839), an earlier murder mystery story by the English novelist Sarah Burney: for example, the return of a childhood companion, the sexual symbolism of defloration implied in the crime, and the almost catatonic reactions of the heroine to it. However, "The Moonstone" introduced a number of the elements that became classic attributes of the twentieth-century detective story in novel form, as opposed to Poe's short story form. These include:


title: The Moonstone

text: Franklin Blake, the gifted amateur, is an early example of the gentleman detective. The highly competent Sergeant Cuff, the policeman called in from Scotland Yard (whom Collins based on the real-life Inspector Jonathan Whicher who solved the murder committed by Constance Kent), is not a member of the gentry and is unable to break Rachel Verinder's reticence about what Cuff knows is an inside job. "The Moonstone" has also been described as perhaps the earliest police procedural, due to the portrayal of Cuff. The social difference between Collins's two detectives is shown by their relationships with the Verinder family: Sergeant Cuff befriends Gabriel Betteredge, Lady Verinder's steward (chief servant), whereas Franklin Blake eventually marries her daughter Rachel.


title: The Moonstone

text: A number of critics have suggested that Charles Felix (pseudonym for Charles Warren Adams), in his "Notting Hill Mystery" (1862–1863), first used techniques that came to define the genre.


title: The Moonstone

text: "The Moonstone" represents Collins's only complete reprisal of the popular "multi-narration" method that he had previously used to great effect in "The Woman in White". The sections by Gabriel Betteredge (steward to the Verinder household) and Miss Clack (a poor relative and religious crank) offer both humour and pathos through their contrast with the testimony of other narrators, at the same time constructing and advancing the novel's plot.


title: The Moonstone

text: One of the features that made "The Moonstone" a success was the sensationalist depiction of opium addiction. Unbeknownst to his readers, Collins was writing from personal experience. In his later years Collins grew severely addicted to laudanum and as a result suffered from paranoid delusions, the most notable being his conviction that he was constantly accompanied by a doppelgänger whom he dubbed "Ghost Wilkie".


title: The Moonstone

text: The novel was Collins's last great success, coming at the end of an extraordinarily productive period in which four successive novels became bestsellers. After "The Moonstone" Collins wrote novels containing more overt social commentary that did not achieve the same audience.


title: The Moonstone

text: A heavily fictionalised account of Collins's life while writing "The Moonstone" forms much of the plot of Dan Simmons's novel "Drood" (2009).


title: The Moonstone

text: In 1934, the book was first made into a film, "The Moonstone" by Monogram Pictures Corporation. Adapted to the screen by Adele S. Buffington, it was directed by Reginald Barker, and starred David Manners, Charles Irwin and Phyllis Barry.


title: The Moonstone

text: In 1946, "Classic Comics", the predecessor of "Classics Illustrated", published in comic book format the novel in issue #30, with cover and artwork by Don Rico. The adaptation was re-published in 1960 with cover and artwork by L.B. Cole.


title: The Moonstone

text: On 15 April 1947, an adaptation of "The Moonstone" was episode #47 of the NBC radio series "Favorite Story" hosted by Ronald Colman. On 16 November and 23 November 1953, "The Moonstone", starring Peter Lawford, was broadcast as a two-part episode of the U.S. radio drama "Suspense".


title: The Moonstone

text: In 1959, the BBC adapted the novel as a television serial starring James Hayter. In 1972 the serial was remade, featuring Robin Ellis. This second version was aired in the United States on PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre".


title: The Moonstone

text: In November 1977, Marvel Comics released a comic-book adapation of the book in issue #23 of the "Marvel Classics Comics" series.


title: The Moonstone

text: In 1996 "The Moonstone" was made for television by the BBC and Carlton Television in partnership with WGBH of Boston, Massachusetts, airing again on "Masterpiece Theatre". It starred Greg Wise as Franklin Blake and Keeley Hawes as Rachel Verinder.


title: The Moonstone

text: In 2011, BBC Radio 4 serialised the story in four hour-long episodes in the "Classic Serial" slot with Eleanor Bron as Lady Verinder, Paul Rhys as Franklin Blake, Jasmine Hyde as Rachel Verinder and Kenneth Cranham as Sergeant Cuff.


title: The Moonstone

text: In 2016, the BBC adapted the novel for a five-part afternoon TV series "The Moonstone" starting 31 October 2016.


title: The Moonstone

text: In December 2018, Screen14 Pictures, a team that produces fictional stories' adaption for the web, created a serialised web series of the novel on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.


title: The Moonstone

text: In April 2020, the novel was read in serialized fashion by Phoebe Judge of "Criminal" on her "Phoebe Reads a Mystery" podcast.


title: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

text: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was the sixteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It took place at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena, a part of the Hellinikon Olympic Complex, in Athens, for the preliminary rounds, with the later stages being held in the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex.


title: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

text: In Olympic basketball tournaments, 12 teams take part. The host nation (Greece in 2004) automatically receives a berth in the tournament. By winning the two World Championship tournaments in 2002, FR Yugoslavia, now named Serbia and Montenegro, also put a team into the men's tournament and the United States a team in the women's tournament.


title: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

text: The remaining 10 spots in each tournament were allocated by the five Olympic zones. Each of these zones held its own tournaments to select its entries in the Olympic tournament. Africa was allocated one spot in each of these, Oceania was allocated two apiece, and Europe was allocated three. Furthermore, the Americas were allocated three teams for the men's tournament and just one in the women's tournament, whereas Asia was allocated just one in the men's tournament and three in the women's tournament.


title: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

text: A National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter just one men's team with 12 players, and just one women's team with 12 players in the regional tournaments. The reigning world champions and the host country qualify automatically, as do the winners of the five continental championships, plus the runner-up and third place teams from the Americas and Europe competitions, and the runner-up Oceania in the men's tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up and third place teams from Asia and Europe, and the runner-up from Oceania.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In esoteric cosmology, a plane is conceived as a subtle state, level, or region of reality, each plane corresponding to some type, kind, or category of being.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The concept may be found in religious and esoteric teachings—"e.g." Vedanta (Advaita Vedanta), Ayyavazhi, shamanism, Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, Kashmir Shaivism, Sant Mat/Surat Shabd Yoga, Sufism, Druze, Kabbalah, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Rosicrucianism (Esoteric Christian), Eckankar, Ascended Master Teachings, etc.—which propound the idea of a whole series of subtle planes or worlds or dimensions which, from a center, interpenetrate themselves and the physical planet in which we live, the solar systems, and all the physical structures of the universe. This interpenetration of planes culminates in the universe itself as a physical structured, dynamic and evolutive expression emanated through a series of steadily denser stages, becoming progressively more material and embodied.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The emanation is conceived, according to esoteric teachings, to have originated, at the dawn of the universe's manifestation, in "The Supreme Being" who sent out—from the unmanifested "Absolute" beyond comprehension—the dynamic force of creative energy, as "sound-vibration" ("the Word"), into the abyss of space. Alternatively, it states that this dynamic force is being sent forth, through the ages, framing all things that constitute and inhabit the universe.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The concept of planes of existence might be seen as deriving from shamanic and traditional mythological ideas of a vertical world-axis—for example a cosmic mountain, tree, or pole (such as Yggdrasil or Mount Meru)—or a philosophical conception of a Great Chain of Being, arranged metaphorically from God down to inanimate matter.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: However the original source of the word "plane" in this context is the late Neoplatonist Proclus, who refers to "to platos", "breadth", which was the equivalent of the 19th-century theosophical use. An example is the phrase "en to psychiko platei".


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Directly equivalent concepts in Indian thought are lokas and bhuvanas. In Hindu cosmology, there are many lokas or worlds, that are identified with both traditional cosmology and states of meditation.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Planes of existence may have been referred to by the use of the term corresponding to the word "egg" in English. For example, the Sanskrit term Brahmanda translates to "The entire creation" as opposed to the lazy inference "The Egg of Creation". Certain Puranic accounts posit that the Brahmanda is the superset of a set of fractal smaller Eggs, as is seen in the assertion of the equivalence of the Brahmanda and the Pinda.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The ancient Norse mythology gave the name "Ginnungagap" to the primordial "Chaos", which was bounded upon the northern side by the cold and foggy "Niflheim"—the land of mist and fog—and upon the south side by the fire "Muspelheim". When heat and cold entered into space which was occupied by Chaos or Ginnungagap, they caused the crystallization of the visible universe.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In the medieval West and Middle East, one finds reference to four worlds ("olam") in Kabbalah, or five in Sufism (where they are also called "tanazzulat"; "descents"), and also in Lurianic Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, each of the four or five worlds are themselves divided into ten sefirot, or else divided in other ways.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The alchemists of the Middle Ages proposed ideas about the constitution of the universe through a hermetic language full of esoteric words, phrases, and signs designed to cloak their meaning from those not initiated into the ways of alchemy. In his "Physica" (1633), the Rosicrucian alchemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, wrote: ""Ad huc spiritum incognitum Gas voco"" q.e., "This hitherto unknown Spirit I call Gas." Further on in the same work he says, "This vapor which I have called Gas is not far removed from the Chaos the ancients spoke of." Later on, similar ideas would evolve around the idea of 'aether'.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In the late 19th century, the metaphysical term "planes" was popularised by the theosophy of H. P. Blavatsky, who in "The Secret Doctrine" and other writings propounded a complex cosmology consisting of seven planes and subplanes, based on a synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas. From theosophy the term made its way to later esoteric systems such as that of Alice Bailey, who was very influential in shaping the worldview of the New Age movement. The term is also found in some Eastern teachings that have some Western influence, such as the cosmology of Sri Aurobindo and some of the later Sant Mat, and also in some descriptions of Buddhist cosmology. The teachings of Surat Shabd Yoga also include several planes of the creation within both the macrocosm and microcosm, including the Bramanda egg contained within the Sach Khand egg. Max Theon used the word "States" (French "Etat") rather than "Planes", in his cosmic philosophy, but the meaning is the same.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The planes in Theosophy were further systematized in the writings of C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In the early 20th century, Max Heindel presented in "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" a cosmology related to the scheme of evolution in general and the evolution of the Solar System and the Earth in particular, according to the Rosicrucians. He establishes, through the conceptions presented, a bridge between modern science (currently starting research into the subtler "etheric" plane of existence behind the physical) and religion, in order that this last one may be able to address man's "inner" questions raised by scientific advancement.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Most cosmologists today believe that the universe expanded from a singularity approximately 13.8 billion years ago in a 'smeared-out singularity' called the Big Bang, meaning that space itself came into being at the moment of the big bang and has expanded ever since, creating and carrying the galaxies with it.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: However, in esoteric cosmology expansion refers to the emanation or unfolding of steadily denser planes or spheres from the spiritual summit, what Greek philosophy called "The One", until the lowest and most material world is reached.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: "The space is Spirit in its attenuated form; while matter is crystallized space or Spirit. Spirit in manifestation is dual, that which we see as Form is the negative manifestation of Spirit--crystallized and inert. The positive pole of Spirit manifests as Life, galvanizing the negative Form into action, but both Life and Form originated in Spirit, Space, Chaos! On the other hand, Chaos is not a state which has existed in the past and has now entirely disappeared. It is all around us at the present moment. Were it not that old forms--having outlived their usefulness--are constantly being resolved back into that Chaos, which is also as constantly giving birth to new forms, there could be no progress; the work of evolution would cease and stagnation would prevent the possibility of advancement."


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In occult teachings and as held by psychics and other esoteric authors there are seven planes of existence.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Most occult and esoteric teachings are in agreement that seven planes of existence exist; however, many different occult and metaphysical schools label the planes of existence with different terminology.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The physical plane, physical Word, or physical universe, in emanationist metaphysics taught in Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Hinduism and Theosophy, refers to the visible reality of space and time, energy and matter: the physical universe in Occultism and esoteric cosmology is the lowest or densest of a series of planes of existence.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: According to Theosophists, after the material plane is the etheric plane and both of these planes are connected to make up the first (physical) plane. Theosophy also teaches that when the physical body dies the etheric body is left behind and the soul forms into an astral body on the astral plane.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The psychical researcher F. W. H. Myers proposed the existence of a “metetherial world”, which he wrote to be a world of images lying beyond the physical world. He wrote that apparitions have a real existence in the metetherial world which he described as a dream-like world.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The astral plane, also called the astral world, is where consciousness goes after physical death. According to occult philosophy, all people possess an astral body. The astral plane (also known as the astral world) was postulated by classical (particularly neoplatonic), medieval, oriental, and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions. It is the world of the planetary spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and generally said to be populated by angels, spirits, or other non-physical beings. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy and neo-Rosicrucianism.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Throughout the Renaissance, philosophers, Paracelsians, Rosicrucians and alchemists continued to discuss the nature of the astral world intermediate between Earth and the divine. The "Barzakh", "olam mithal" or intermediate world in Islam and the "World of "Yetzirah"" in Lurianic Kabbalah are related concepts.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: According to occult teachings the astral plane can be visited consciously through astral projection, meditation, and mantra, near-death experience, lucid dreaming, or other means. Individuals that are trained in the use of the astral vehicle can separate their consciousness in the astral vehicle from the physical body at will.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The Theosophist author Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa wrote: "When a person dies, they become fully conscious in the astral body. After a certain time, the astral body disintegrates, and the person then becomes conscious on the mental plane."


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In the astral world exist temporarily all those physical entities, men and animals, for whom sleep involves a separation of the physical body for a time from the higher bodies. While we "sleep", we live in our astral bodies, either fully conscious and active, or partly conscious and semi-dormant, as the case may be, according to our evolutionary growth; when we "wake", the physical and the higher bodies are interlocked again, and we cease to be inhabitants of the astral world.”


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Some writers have asserted the astral plane can be reached by dreaming. Sylvan Muldoon and psychical researcher Hereward Carrington in their book "The Projection of the Astral Body" (1929) wrote:"When you are dreaming you are not really in the same world as when you are conscious – in the physical – although the two worlds merge into one another. While dreaming, you really are in the astral plane, and usually your astral body is in the zone of quietude."Astral projection author Robert Bruce describes the astral as seven planes that take the form of planar surfaces when approached from a distance, separated by immense coloured "buffer zones". These planes are endlessly repeating ruled Cartesian coordinate system grids, tiled with a single signature pattern that is different for each plane. Higher planes have bright, colourful patterns, whereas lower planes appear far duller. Every detail of these patterns acts as a consistent portal to a different kingdom inside the plane, which itself comprises many separate realms. Bruce notes that the astral may also be entered by means of long tubes that bear visual similarity to these planes, and conjectures that the grids and tubes are in fact the same structures approached from a different perceptual angle.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In his book "", Paramhansa Yogananda provides details about the astral planes learned from his resurrected guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. Yogananda reveals that nearly all individuals enter the astral planes after death. There they work out the seeds of past karma through astral incarnations, or (if their karma requires) they return to earthly incarnations for further refinement. Once an individual has attained the meditative state of nirvikalpa samadhi in an earthy or astral incarnation, the soul may progress upward to the "illumined astral planet" of Hiranyaloka. After this transitional stage, the soul may then move upward to the more subtle causal spheres where many incarnations allow them to further refine until final unification.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The mental plane is the third lowest plane according to Theosophy. The mental plane is divided into seven sub-planes.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In the mental world one formulates a thought and it is instantly transmitted to the mind of another without any expression in the form of words. Therefore on that plane language does not matter in the least; but helpers working in the astral world, who have not yet the power to use the mental vehicle.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Annie Besant wrote that "The mental plane, as its name implies, is that which belongs to consciousness working as thought; not of the mind as it works through the brain, but as it works through its own world, unencumbered with physical spirit-matter."


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: A detailed description of the mental plane, along with the mental body, is provided by Arthur E. Powell, who has compiled information in the works of Besant and Leadbeater in a series of books on each of the subtle bodies.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: According to Hindu occultism the mental plane consists of two divisions, the lower division is known as heaven ("swarglok") and the upper division is known as the causal plane ("maharlok").


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The causal plane is the world of light and blessedness, the highest of heavenly regions, extolled in the scriptures of all faiths. It is the foundation of existence, the source of visions, the point of conception, the apex of creation. The causal plane is the abode of Lord Siva and his entourage of Mahadevas and other highly evolved souls who exist in their own self-effulgent form—radiant bodies of centillions of quantum light particles.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Sri Aurobindo developed a very different concept of the mental plane, through his own synthesis of Vedanta (including the Taittiriya Upanishad), Tantra, Theosophy, and Max Théon ideas (which he received via The Mother, who was Theon's student in occultism for two years). In this cosmology, there are seven cosmic planes, three lower, corresponding to relative existence (the Physical, Vital, and Mental), and four higher, representing infinite divine reality ("Life Divine" bk. 1 ch. 27) The Aurobindonian Mind or Mental Plane constitutes a large zone of being from the mental vital to the overmental divine region ("Letters on Yoga", Jyoti and Prem Sobel 1984), but as with the later Theosophical concept it constitutes an objective reality of sheer mind or thought.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The buddhic plane is described as a realm of pure consciousness. According to Theosophy the buddhic plane exists to develop buddhic consciousness which means to become unselfish and solve any problems with the ego. Charles Leadbeater wrote that in the buddhic plane man casts off the delusion of the self and enters a realization of unity.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Annie Besant defined the buddhic plane as Persistent, conscious, spiritual awareness. This is the full consciousness of the buddhic or intuitional level. This is the perceptive consciousness which is the outstanding characteristic of the Hierarchy. The life focus of the man shifts to the buddhic plane. This is the fourth or middle state of consciousness.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Spiritual is the name for a plane (in theories of four planes) or more than one (such as four in theory of seven planes). George Winslow Plummer wrote that the spiritual plane is split into many sub-planes and that on these planes live spiritual being who are more advanced in development and status than ordinary man. According to metaphysical teachings the goal of the spiritual plane is to gain spiritual knowledge and experience. 1800s Theosophy translated four higher Hindu lokas as "spiritual planes" and various later Theosophy gave them several sets of specific names (multiple English, Greek, Sanskrit) including Buddhic/Soul (individual spirit) plane and each in the rest of this section.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The Anupapaduka or Monadic plane is where Monad or Holy Spirit or Oversoul is said to exist. In Theosophy, the Monadic Plane is the plane in which the monad (also called the oversoul) is said to exist. The term 'monad' is from a Greek word (μονᾰ́ς), which means 'one', 'unit', and was used by ancient Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus. According to Alan Schneider, the Monadic Plane is the sixth plane of ascension, and is analogous to the sixth chakra, ajna, and the hidden sephirah of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life: daath. (Da'ath/da'at represents the 'reflection of' (the 'inner dimension' of) the infinity of kether). It would appear, though it is not certain by any means, that it is possible for a human to attain this spiritual realm after ascending through lower, possibly inferior, planes of existence (the higher consciousness has also to descend into mind, into life, into matter), the physical plane being the lowest of all. It is rare occurrence indeed to meet someone on the monadic plane, and thus of great spiritual significance.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The Adi or Divine or logoic plane is highest (in theory of seven planes) and has been described as a plane of total oneness, the "I AM Presence", The Divine (Logos).


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: According to some occult teachings, all souls are born on the divine plane and then descend down through the lower planes; however souls will work their way back to the divine plane. On the divine plane souls can be opened to conscious communication with the sphere of the divine known as the Absolute and receive knowledge about the nature of reality.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In Buddhism, the world is made up of 31 planes of existence that one can be reborn into, separated into 3 realms.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The Summerland is the name given by Theosophists, Spiritualists, Wiccans, and some earth-based contemporary pagan religions to their conceptualization of existence on a plane in an afterlife.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) inspired Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910), in his major work "The Great Harmonia" to say that Summerland is the pinnacle of spiritual achievement in the afterlife; that is, it is the highest level, or "sphere", of the afterlife we can hope to enter. The common portrayal of the Summerland is as a place of rest for souls after or between their earthly incarnations. Some believe spirits will stay in the Summerland for an eternal afterlife, though others believe after an amount of time some spirits will reincarnate. The Summerland is also envisioned as a place for recollection and reunion with deceased loved ones.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: As the name suggests, it is often imagined as a place of beauty and peace, where everything people hold close to their hearts is preserved in its fullest beauty for eternity. It is envisioned as containing wide (possibly eternal) fields of rolling green hills and lush grass. In many ways, this ideology is similar to the Welsh view of Annwn as an afterlife realm. The Summerland is also viewed as the place where one goes in the afterlife in traditions of Spiritualism and Theosophy, which is where Wicca got the term.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: In Theosophy, the term "Summerland" is used without the definite article "the". Summerland, also called the Astral plane Heaven, is depicted as where souls who have been good in their previous lives go between incarnations. Those who have been bad go to Hell, which is believed to be located below the surface of the Earth and is on the astral plane and is composed of the densest astral matter; the Spiritual Hierarchy functioning within Earth functions on the etheric plane below the surface of the Earth.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: It is believed by Theosophists that most people (those at high levels of initiation) go to a specific Summerland that is set up for people of each religion. For example, Christians go to a Christian heaven, Jews go to a Jewish heaven, Muslims go to a Muslim heaven, Hindus goes to a Hindu heaven, Theosophists go to a Theosophical heaven, and so forth, each heaven being like that described in the scriptures of that religion. There is also a generic Summerland for those who were atheists or agnostics in their previous lives. People who belong to religions that don't believe in reincarnation are surprised to find out when they get to heaven that they will have to reincarnate again within a few dozen to a few hundred years. Each heaven is believed to be an extensive structure composed of astral matter located on the astral plane about three or four miles (5–6 km) above the surface of Earth, above that part of the world where the particular religion that the heaven is meant for is most predominant.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Theosophists also believe there is another higher level of heaven called Devachan, also called the Mental plane Heaven, which some but not all souls reach between incarnations—only those souls that are more highly developed spiritually reach this level, those souls that are at the first, second, and third levels of initiation. Devachan is several miles (around 10 km) higher above the surface of Earth than Summerland.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The final permanent eternal afterlife heaven to which Theosophists believe most people will go millions or billions of years in the future, after our cycle of reincarnations in this Round is over. In order to go to Nirvana, it is necessary to have attained the fourth level of initiation or higher, meaning one is an "arhat" and thus no longer needs to reincarnate.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Occult writers such as Geoffrey Hodson, Mellie Uyldert, and Dora van Gelder had attempted to classify different spiritual beings into a hierarchy based on their assumed place and function on the planes of existence.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: Charles Webster Leadbeater fundamentally described and incorporated his comprehension of intangible beings for Theosophy. Along with him there are various planes intertwined with the quotidian human world and are all inhabited by multitudes of entities. Each plane is purported as composed of discrete density of "astral or ethereal matter" and frequently the denizens of a plane have no discernment of other ones. Other Theosophical writers such as Alice Bailey, a contemporary of Leadbeater, also gave continuousness to Theosophical concepts of ethereal beings and her works had a great impact over New Age movement. She puts the nature spirits and devas as ethereal beings immersed in macro divisions of an interwoven threefold universe, usually they belong to the etheric, astral, or mental planes. The ethereal entities of the four kingdoms, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, are forces of nature.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: The Dutch writer and clairvoyant Mellie Uyldert characterized the semblance and behavior of ethereal entities on the etheric plane, which, she said, hover above plants and transfer energy for vitalizing the plant, then nourishing themselves on rays of sunlight. She depicted them as asexual gender, and composed of "etheric" matter.


title: Plane (esotericism)

text: They fly three meters over the ground, some have wings like butterflies while others only have a small face and an aura waving graciously. Some are huge while others may have the size of one inch.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: The Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 / 300i, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a piano sonata in three movements.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: The third movement of this sonata, famously known as the "Turkish March" or "Turkish Rondo," is often heard on its own and regarded as one of Mozart's best-known piano pieces.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: All of the movements are in the key of A major or A minor; therefore, the work is homotonal. A typical performance of this entire sonata takes about 20 minutes.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: Since the opening movement of this sonata is a theme and variation, Mozart defied the convention of beginning a sonata with an allegro movement in sonata form. The theme is a siciliana, consisting of two 8-measure sections, each repeated, a structure shared by each variation.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: The last movement, marked "Alla turca", popularly known as the "Turkish Rondo" or "Turkish March", is often heard on its own and is one of Mozart's best-known piano pieces.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: \time 2/4 \partial 4 \tempo "Allegretto" 4=126 b16-4\p^"P.T. H.S."( a gis a-1 c8-.-3) r d16-3( c b c e8-.-4) r f16-4( e dis e-1 b'-4 a gis a b a gis a c4->) a8-.-2 c-.-4 \appoggiatura {g!32[_"(a)" a]} b8-.->[ «fis-2 a-.-4» «e g-.» «fis a-.]» \appoggiatura {g32-2[ a]} b8-.->[ «fis-2 a-.-4» «e g-.» «fis a-.]» \appoggiatura {g32-2[ a]} b8-.->[ «fis a-.-4» «e g-.» «dis-2 fis-.-4]» e4-- \bar ":..:" «c8-1\mp e-.-3» «d! f!-.» «e-1 g-.-3» «e g-.» a16-4( g f e) «{d4->-2-4}\\{b8( g)}» «c e-.» «d f-.»


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: \clef "bass" r4 a,8-5([ «c e-.)» «c e-.» «c e-.]» a,([ «c e-.)» «c e-.» «c e-.]» a,-.[ «c e-.» a,-. «c e-.]» a,([ «c e-.)» «c e-.» «c e-.]» e,-.->[ <> <> <> e,-.->[ <> <> <> e,-.->[ <> b,-. b'-.] e,4-- r c8-.[ c'-. e,-. e'-.] g,4 r


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: Mozart himself titled the rondo "Alla turca". It imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, the music of which was much in vogue at that time.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: The theme of the first movement was used by Max Reger in his "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart" (1914) for orchestra. Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (1959) is "not" based on or related to the last movement.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: Pianist Arcadi Volodos arranged a virtuoso piano solo paraphrase, loosely-built from keyparts of the Sonata.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: There are also plentiful adaptations for chamber size ensembles; as the arrangement of the "Andante Grazioso" for string quartet and guitar from the German composer Frederic Bernard.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: In 2014, Hungarian librarian Balázs Mikusi discovered four pages of Mozart's original score (autograph) of the sonata in Budapest's National Széchényi Library. Until then, only the last page of the autograph had been known to have survived. The paper and handwriting of the four pages matched that of the final page of the score, held in Salzburg. The original score is close to the first edition, published in 1784.


title: Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)

text: In the first movement, however, in bars 5 and 6 of the fifth variation, the rhythm of the last three notes was altered. In the menuetto, the last quarter beat of bar 3 is a C in most editions, but in the original autograph an A is printed. In the first edition, an A is also printed in bar 3, as in the original, but on the other hand a C is printed in the parallel passage at bar 33, mirroring subsequent editions.


title: Chokher Bali (film)

text: Chokher Bali ( sand in the eye, constant irritant) is a 2003 Indian Bengali language drama film based on the 1903 novel "Chokher Bali" by Rabindranath Tagore. It was directed by Rituparno Ghosh in 2003 and stars Aishwarya Rai as "Binodini" and Raima Sen as "Ashalata". "Ashalata" and "Binodini" refer to each other as "Chokher Bali". The other major characters are played by Prosenjit Chatterjee as Mahendra, Lily Chakravarty as Rajlakshmi, the mother of Mahendra, Tota Roy Chowdhury as Behari, Rajlakshmi's adopted son and Swastika Mukherjee in a cameo role. The film was later dubbed into Hindi and was released internationally in that language.


title: Chokher Bali (film)

text: "Chokher Bali" won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali, National film award for best costume design and National film award for best art direction.It was nominated for the Golden Leopard (Best Film) award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2003. The film screened at the 34th International Film Festival of India on 19 October. It was the Official Selection at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2003 and was showcased in over 25 international festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival, London Film Festival, Palm Springs, Karlovy Vary and Washington DC International Film Festival besides winning the Apsara Film Producers' Award for the Best Regional Film 2004. Aishwarya Rai had won the Best Actress award at the Anandalok Awards 2003.


title: Chokher Bali (film)

text: Binodini is a young girl who is left to her own devices when her sickly husband dies soon after their marriage. She returns to her village and lives there for a couple of months until she sees one of her aunts passing by. Binodini hails the woman and her two sons agree that it would be best if Binodini came to live with the woman and her son, Mahendra. But that son, Mahendra, was one of the first to see Binodini's photo when she was proposed as a prospective wife for him, yet refused her on account of his being "unready for marriage." When Binodini arrives with her aunt, Mahendra and his new bride are constantly sneaking off to be alone together. This infatuation does not last long, however, and Mahendra soon begins to see that Binodini is more his type. Mahendra and Binodini, start an affair, and this is soon revealed to Ashalata, who, unaware of her pregnancy, leaves for Kashi. Binodini, after realising that Mahendra is self-obsessed, leaves Mahendra's house. She pleads with Behari to marry her, but Behari, true to his values, rejects her offer. Binodini leaves the town for her village. She writes a letter to Behari that she'll be waiting for him in Kashi. As she is leaving for Kashi, Mahendra comes to mend their relations, which she refuses. Instead she makes him promise to take her to Behari. At Kashi, Binodini meets Behari who, after some incidents, agrees to marry her. On the day of marriage Binodini vanishes, leaving a letter for Asha. The story details the lives of these three and Mahendra's best friend as they deal with issues such as distrust, adultery, lies, and falling-out.


title: Chokher Bali (film)

text: The film's background score is by Debojyoti Mishra and, notably, it contains no playback singing. Sreela Majumdar dubbed for Aishwarya Rai and "Sudipta Chakraborty" dubbed for Raima Sen.


title: Chokher Bali (film)

text: In olden days in Bengal, women and girls who were best friends would often set a common nickname for themselves and address each other by that name. In this story, two friends Binodini and Ashalata call each other 'Chokher Bali.'


title: Chokher Bali (film)

text: In "Anandabazar Patrika", Chandril Bhattacharya praised the film for its direction, screenplay, background score, sound design, cinematography, production design as well as the dubbing by Sudipta Chakraborty. Ekanshu Khera of Planet Bollywood gave the film an 8/10. He found the cinematography to be beautiful and was pleased that the singing was not lip synched. However, he said that the "dubbing leaves much to be desired" and would have preferred a different director dub it in Hindi. He also noted that the film appeals "to a niche audience due to its periodic settings and ideologies." Margaret Pomeranz of ABC Australia gave it 3 out of 5 stars, saying that "the insight it gives into Indian culture and customs, is interesting and that tends to overcome the slight impatience with the overload of emotions." David Stratton, also of ABC, gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, commenting on how the film version was edited 40 minutes shorter but that it was beautifully acted and fascinating.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular beliefs which they hold about a religion. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treated unequally due to their particular beliefs, either by the law or in institutional settings, such as employment or housing.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Religious discrimination is related to religious persecution, the most extreme forms of which would include instances in which people have been executed for beliefs which have been perceived to be heretical. Laws that only carry light punishments are described as "mild forms of religious persecution" or "religious discrimination". In recent years, the term religionism has also been used, but "religious discrimination" remains the more widely used term.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Even in societies where freedom of religion is a constitutional right, adherents of minority religions sometimes voice their concerns about religious discrimination against them. Insofar as legal policies are concerned, cases that are perceived to be cases of religious discrimination might be the result of interference in the religious sphere by other spheres of the public that are regulated by law.


title: Religious discrimination

text: One of the earliest instances of religious discrimination was the forceful Hellenization of Judea by the Greek Seleucid Empire. In 167 BC, Jewish practices such as the Sabbath, Torah reading, and circumcision were banned, while pagan worship was enforced.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Jews also faced religious discrimination in the Roman Empire. The low point was the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem and subsequent paganization of the city during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), which led to the Jewish diaspora.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was widespread. Christianity threatened the polytheistic order of the Roman Empire because of the importance of evangelism in Christianity. Under the Neronian persecution, Rome began to discriminate against monotheists who refused to worship the Roman gods. Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome (64 AD). During the Decian persecution, Valerianic persecution, and Diocletianic Persecution, Christians were slaughtered by being thrown to wild beasts, churches were destroyed, priests were imprisoned, and scriptures were confiscated.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Religious discrimination against Christians ended with the Edict of Milan (313 AD), and the Edict of Thessalonica (380 AD) made Christianity the official religion of the empire. By the 5th century Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe and took a reversed role, discriminating against pagans, heretics, and Jews.


title: Religious discrimination

text: In the Middle Ages, antisemitism in Europe was widespread. Christians falsely accused Jews of Jewish deicide, blood libel, and well poisoning, and subjected them to expulsions, forced conversions, and mandatory sermons. In the Papal States, Jews were required to live in poor segregated neighbourhoods called ghettos. Historians note that religious discrimination against Jews tended to increase during negative economic and climatic shocks in Europe, such as when they were scapegoated for causing the Black Death.


title: Religious discrimination

text: During the Islamic Golden Age, many Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Pagan lands came under Muslim rule. As People of the Book, Jews, Christians, and Mandaeans living under Muslim rule became dhimmis with social status inferior to that of Muslims. Although Sharia law granted dhimmis freedom of religion, they were subjected to religious discrimination as second-class citizens and had to pay a jizya tax. They could not proselytize Muslims, marry Muslims (in the case of dhimmi men), build or repair churches and synagogues without permission, perform loud religious rituals such as the ringing of church bells, carry weapons, or ride horses and camels. These discriminatory laws forced many Christians into poverty and slavery.


title: Religious discrimination

text: During the First Crusade (1096), Christian knights recaptured the Holy Land from Muslim rule, massacring most of the Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem. This led to the creation of Catholic-ruled Crusader states, most notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In these kingdoms Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians had no rights, being considered property of the crusader lords.


title: Religious discrimination

text: In early modern Europe, the Christian Church continued to be a dominant institution in Europe and enforced a strict policy of religious uniformity. In early modern Britain, there had been several Acts of Uniformity (1549-1663). Under the French king Louis XIV and his successors, Catholicism became the sole compulsory religion in early modern France, and the Huguenots had to leave the country en masse.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Towards the end of the Reconquista (711-1492), Christian kingdoms gradually reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from its Muslim rulers. During this time period, discrimination against Muslims and Jews was widespread. Examples include the Spanish Inquisition, forced conversions of Muslims in Spain, and expulsion of the Moriscos. Spanish Muslims were forced to convert to Catholicism, banned from speaking Arabic, and had their public baths destroyed.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Ever since the Fall of Constantinople (1453), many Christian lands in southeastern Europe had come under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. During the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the late modern period, particularly ever since the Great Turkish War (1683), discrimination against religious minorities worsened. The destruction of churches and expulsion of local Christian communities became increasingly common. In Ottoman Albania, the authorities abandoned tolerance policies in favor of reducing the size of Albania's Christian population through Islamization.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Antisemitism in the Russian Empire was widespread, as Imperial Russia contained the world's largest Jewish population at the time. Jews were subject to discriminatory laws such as the May Laws (1882), which restricted them from certain locations, jobs, transactions, schools, and political positions. They were also targeted in frequent anti-Jewish riots, called pogroms.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Religious discrimination in Pakistan is a serious issue. Several incidents of discrimination have been recorded with some finding support by the state itself. In a case of constitutionally sanctioned religious discrimination, non-Muslims in Pakistan cannot become Prime Minister or President, even if they are Pakistani citizens. Pakistan's Blasphemy Law, according to critics, "is overwhelmingly being used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal vendettas". Ahmadiyya Muslims have been subject to significant persecution and are sometimes declared 'non-Muslims'.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Uyghurs or Uighurs are an ethnic and religious minority group in China. Their identity is based on the Islamic religion and has roots in the former East Turkistan culture. They reside in Xinjiang, an autonomous region situated in the west of the country. This group is persecuted by the Chinese government due to its perceived threat to the nation's security and identity. The Chinese government believes that the Uyghurs have separatist, extremist, and terrorist thoughts. It has detained around one million Uyghurs in camps. According to the Chinese government, these camps are created to re-educate the minority Muslims by learning about the negative consequences of extremism. Detainees are punished in these camps. The treatment of the Uyghurs violates their human rights because they are forcibly sent to the camps for an indefinite period of time. The discrimination against the Uyghurs comes in many forms. Some apparent restrictions include the ban from wearing religious veils or robes in public. The training camps serve to inculcate beliefs which are congruent with the beliefs of the Chinese Communist Party.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Subjected to abuse and suppression in China, some Uyghurs who were seeking refuge resettled in different parts of the world. In June 2021, it was reported that the Uyghurs were being detained even outside China. Following the diplomatic relations of China with the UAE, Uyghurs living in Dubai were subjected to arrest, prolonged detention and deportation to China. China allegedly requested for the deportation of Uyghurs from three Arab countries, including the UAE. The global influence of Beijing has even resulted in the expansion of religious discrimination against the Uyghur Muslims who are residing abroad.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Although the Constitution of India prohibits discrimination based on religion discrimination and religious violence in India are frequent, sometimes even involving the function of government. For example dalit people who are not Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist are not covered by the "Scheduled Castes" laws and hence dalit Christians and Muslims do not receive the affirmative action political representation and educational placement, welfare benefits, and hate crimes protections accorded to their fellows. Dalits worshipping the same gods as Hindus were previously considered to be of a different religion and in the early twentieth century the question "Is he a Hindu or Pariah?" had currency.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Leaving Islam and inciting Muslims to leave Islam is punishable by Algerian law. Prison sentences for those that practice Christianity do occur.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Assyrian Christians have suffered from discrimination since Saddam Hussein's Arabization policies in the 1980s, with the latest instance of discrimination being the ISIS invasion of the Nineveh plains and Mosul, where tens of thousands have been forced to flee, and multiple Christian sites have been destroyed. The number of Christians in Iraq overall since the 2003 invasion has dropped by around 60%, from 800,000 to 300,000, and in 1987, that number was around 1.4 million. The 2014 invasion by ISIS has likely degraded that number further.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Leaving Islam and inciting Muslims to leave Islam is punishable by Moroccan law. Prison sentences for those that leave Islam do occur.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Historically, religious discrimination in Turkey has been a serious issue, with the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides all occurring there. Discrimination has continued during the Syrian Civil War. In one instance, Turkey allowed members of Al Nusra, a radical Islamic terror group that controls land in Syria, to enter through its border, and then into the majority Armenian Christian town of Kessab, which is right on the Turkish–Syrian border. Al Nusra raided the town, capturing those who didn't flee. They proceeded to take their captives to the Turkish city of Iskenderun.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Religious discrimination in the history of the United States dates back to the first Protestant Christian European settlers, composed mostly of English Puritans, during the British colonization of North America (16th century), directed both towards Native Americans and non-Protestant Roman Catholic European settlers. ("See also" Colonial history of the United States).


title: Religious discrimination

text: In a 1979 consultation on the issue, the United States Commission on Civil Rights defined religious discrimination in relation to the civil rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Whereas religious civil liberties, such as the right to hold or not to hold a religious belief, are essential for Freedom of Religion (in the United States secured by the First Amendment), religious discrimination occurs when someone is denied "the equal protection of the laws, equality of status under the law, equal treatment in the administration of justice, and equality of opportunity and access to employment, education, housing, public services and facilities, and public accommodation because of their exercise of their right to religious freedom".


title: Religious discrimination

text: However, cases of religious discrimination might also be the result of an interference of the religious sphere with other spheres of the public that are regulated by law. Although e.g. in the United States the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", in "Reynolds v. United States" the U.S. Supreme Court decided that religious duty was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment. In this specific case a law against bigamy was not considered to be discriminating against Mormons, who stopped practicing polygamy in 1890.


title: Religious discrimination

text: In Canada, during 1995-1998, Newfoundland had only Christian schools (four of them, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, and inter-denominational (Anglican, Salvation Army and United Church)). The right to organize publicly supported religious schools was only given to certain Christian denominations, thus tax money used to support a selected group of Christian denominations. The denominational schools could also refuse admission of a student or the hiring of a qualified teacher on purely religious grounds. Quebec has used two school systems, one Protestant and the other Roman Catholic, but it seems this system will be replaced with two secular school systems: one French and the other English.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Ontario had two school systems going back before Confederation. The British North America Act (1867) gave the Provinces jurisdiction over education. Section 93 of the BNA Act offered constitutional protection for denominational schools as they existed in law at the time of Confederation. Like "Public schools", Catholic schools are fully funded from kindergarten to grade 12. However, profound demographic changes of the past few decades have made the province of Ontario a multicultural, multi-racial, and multi-religious society. The thought that one religious group is privileged to have schools funded from the public purse is often considered unacceptable in a pluralistic, multicultural, secular society. Although it's also true that the people who send their children to those schools have a form that directs their tax dollars to that school system.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Canadian faith-based university Trinity Western University (TWU) is currently facing a challenge from members of the legal and LGBT community to its freedom to educate students in a private university context while holding certain "religious values", such as the freedom to discriminate against other people, including requiring students to sign a chastity oath, and denying LGBT students the same rights as straight students. TWU faced a similar battle in 2001 ("Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College of Teachers") where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that TWU was capable to teach professional disciplines.


title: Religious discrimination

text: On June 16, 2019, Quebec banned public servants in positions of authority from wearing visible religious symbols. The legislation was erected with the goal of promoting neutrality. Prime Minister Trudeau argues that the ban goes against fundamental rights of Canadian people.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Scientologists in Germany face specific political and economic restrictions. They are barred from membership in some major political parties, and businesses and other employers use so-called "sect filters" to expose a prospective business partner's or employee's association with the organization. German federal and state interior ministers started a process aimed at banning Scientology in late 2007, but abandoned the initiative a year later, finding insufficient legal grounds. Despite this, polls suggest that most Germans favor banning Scientology altogether. The U.S. government has repeatedly raised concerns over discriminatory practices directed at individual Scientologists.


title: Religious discrimination

text: In Greece since the independence from the Muslim Ottomans rule in the 19th century, the Greek Orthodox Church has been given privileged status and only the Greek Orthodox church, Roman Catholic, some Protestant churches, Judaism and Islam are recognized religions. The Muslim minority alleges that Greece persistently and systematically discriminates against Muslims.


title: Religious discrimination

text: Recently, professor Nick Drydakis (Anglia Ruskin University) examined religious affiliation and employment bias in Athens, by implementing an experimental field study. Labor market outcomes (occupation access, entry wage, and wait time for call back) were assessed for three religious minorities (Pentecostal, evangelical, and Jehovah's Witnesses). Results indicate that religious minorities experience employment bias. Moreover, religious minorities face greater constraints on occupational access in more prestigious jobs compared to less prestigious jobs. Occupational access and entry wage bias is highest for religious minority women. In all cases, Jehovah's Witnesses face the greatest bias; female employers offered significantly lower entry wages to Jehovah's Witnesses than male employers.


title: Religious discrimination

text: According to a "Human Rights Practices" report by the "U.S. State department" on Mexico note that "some local officials infringe on religious freedom, especially in the south". There is conflict between Catholic/Mayan syncretists and Protestant evangelicals in the Chiapas region.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Marcin Tybura (born November 9, 1985) is a Polish professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2011, Tybura previously fought for M-1 and was an M-1 Global Heavyweight Champion and M-1 Grand Prix 2013 Heavyweight Champion. As of August 23, 2022, he is #10 in the UFC heavyweight rankings.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura began training in 2006 after a friend introduced him to the sport. Within weeks, he began feeling the urge to compete. However, he would not make his professional debut until several years later.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura made his professional debut on November 5, 2011, against Robert Marcok, whom he beat by a rear-naked choke. He won his next five fights on the Polish MMA circuit, most notably defeating the future UFC heavyweight Adam Wieczorek by a unanimous decision. His last fight at the regional level was a third-round TKO of Krystian Kopytowski at Gladiator Arena 4.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: In 2013, Tybura signed with the Russian based M-1 Global promotion. For his promotional debut, Tybura was scheduled to fight Denis Komkin as a Heavyweight Grand Prix alternate bout. He won the fight by TKO, after Komkin retired from the bout at the end of the first round.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura was then scheduled to fight Chaban Ka at M-1 Challenge 41, in a Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinal. He beat Ka by a first-round TKO.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: In his next two fights, Tybura beat Konstantin Gluhov at M-1 Challenge 42 by rear-naked choke and Maro Perak at M-1 Challenge 47 by a third-round TKO.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: At M-1 Challenge 50, Tybura fought Damian Grabowski in the M-1 Heavyweight Grand Prix finals. Tybura submitted Grabowski with a north-south choke 88 seconds into the first round, to become the M-1 Heavyweight champion. He was scheduled to make his first title defense against Denis Smoldarev at M-1 Challenge 53. Tybura successfully defended the title with a first-round submission.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: After successfully defending his title, Tybura was scheduled to fight the M-1 Light-heavyweight titleholder Stephan Puetz in a super-fight. The super-fight was contested at heavyweight, with neither of the belts being on the line. Tybura came into the fight with a 10 kilogram weight advantage. Despite winning the first two rounds on the judges' scorecards, Tybura suffered a cut in the third round, which forced the ringside doctor to stop the bout. Tybura suffered the first loss of his professional career, as Puetz was awarded the TKO win.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: In his last fight with M-1, Tybura was scheduled to defend his title for the second time against the Croatian heavyweight Ante Delija. The fight ended two minutes into the first round, as Delija suffered a leg break, due to a checked leg kick.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura made his promotional debut April 10, 2016 against Timothy Johnson at UFC Fight Night 86. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura next faced Viktor Pešta on August 6, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 92. He won the fight via KO (head kick), earning a Performance of the Night bonus in the process.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura next fought at UFC 209 on March 4, 2017. He faced Luis Henrique and won the fight via TKO in the third round.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Andrei Arlovski on June 17, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 111. He won the fight by unanimous decision (29–28, 28–27, and 29–27).


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura was supposed to face Mark Hunt on November 19, 2017 at . On October 11, 2017, Hunt was pulled from the fight by UFC officials citing "medical concerns" on recent Hunt's first person interview statement, and Hunt was replaced by Fabrício Werdum. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Derrick Lewis on February 18, 2018 at UFC Fight Night 126. He lost the fight via technical knockout.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Stefan Struve on July 22, 2018 at UFC Fight Night 134. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Shamil Abdurakhimov on April 20, 2019 at UFC Fight Night 149. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Augusto Sakai on September 14, 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 16. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Sergey Spivak on February 29, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 169. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura was expected to face Alexander Romanov on July 11, 2020 at UFC 251. However, Romanov was pulled from the event due to contracting the COVID-19 virus and was replaced by promotional newcomer Maxim Grishin. Tybura won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Ben Rothwell on October 11, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 179. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Greg Hardy on December 19, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 183. He won the fight in the second round via a technical knockout. This win earned him the "Performance of the Night "award.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura was scheduled to face Blagoy Ivanov on March 27, 2021 at UFC 260. However, Ivanov was pulled from the bout due to injury. Tybura was then scheduled to face Walt Harris on June 5, 2021 at . After surviving an early onslaught from Harris, Tybura took Harris down and finished him with ground and pound. This win earned him the "Performance of the Night "award.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Alexander Volkov on October 30, 2021 at UFC 267. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura was scheduled to face Jairzinho Rozenstruik on February 26, 2022 at UFC Fight Night 202. However, in mid January it was announced the bout was moved to UFC 273 on April 9, 2022. However, the bout was pulled from the card after Tybura withdrew due to an undisclosed illness.


title: Marcin Tybura

text: Tybura faced Alexander Romanov on August 20, 2022 at UFC 278. Tybura won the fight via a controversial majority decision. 17 out of 18 media outlets scored the bout a draw.


title: Barry Mann

text: Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.


title: Barry Mann

text: Mann was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. He was born two days before fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin.


title: Barry Mann

text: His first successful song as a writer was "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)", a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the band The Diamonds in 1959. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that point with "I Love How You Love Me", written with Larry Kolber and a no. 5 scoring single for the band The Paris Sisters (seven years later, Bobby Vinton's version would reach the Top 10). The same year, Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with a novelty song co-written with Gerry Goffin, "Who Put the Bomp", which parodied the nonsense words of the then-popular doo-wop genre.


title: Barry Mann

text: Despite his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into songwriting, forming a prolific partnership with Weil, a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Don Kirshner and Al Nevin's company Aldon Music, whose offices were located in Manhattan, near the composing-and-publishing factory the Brill Building. Mann and Weil, who married in 1961, developed some songs intended to be socially conscious, with successes such as "Uptown" by The Crystals, "We Gotta Get out of This Place" by the Animals, "Magic Town" by The Vogues, and "Kicks" by Paul Revere & the Raiders. Mann and Weil were disturbed when "Only In America", a song they had written with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and conceived originally for and recorded by the Drifters as a protest against racial prejudice, was re-worked by Leiber and Stoller into an uncontroversial success for Jay & The Americans.


title: Barry Mann

text: , Mann's song catalog lists 635 songs. He has received 56 popular music, country, and Rhythm & Blues awards from Broadcast Music Inc., and 46 Millionaire Awards for radio performances numbering more than one million plays. The song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", co-written with Weil and Phil Spector, was the most played song of the 20th century, with more than 14 million plays.


title: Barry Mann

text: Mann has composed songs for movies, most notably "Somewhere Out There", co-written with Weil and James Horner, for the 1986 animated movie "An American Tail". Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram performed the song as a duet during the movie's closing credits; their version was released as a single, which scored No. 2 on the Billboard chart and became a "gold"-scoring record. "Somewhere Out There" would win two 1987 Grammy Awards, as Song of the Year and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. "Somewhere Out There" was also nominated for a 1986 Oscar as best song, but lost to "Take My Breath Away" from "Top Gun" (a film that featured the Weil-penned "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in a key scene). Mann's other movie work includes the scores for "I Never Sang for My Father" and "Muppet Treasure Island", and songs for "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and "Oliver & Company".


title: Barry Mann

text: Mann co-wrote, with Dan Hill, the song "Sometimes When We Touch," which scored No. 3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Barry Mann

text: In 1987, Mann and Weil were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2011, they received the Johnny Mercer Award, the greatest honor from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.


title: Barry Mann

text: Mann and Weil were named among the 2010 recipients of Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mann and Weil now operate a publishing company named Dyad Music.


title: Barry Mann

text: Mann married Cynthia Weil in August 1961. They have one daughter, Jenn. They reside in Beverly Hills, California.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Brandon Matthew Royval (born August 6, 1992) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2012, Royval has also formerly competed for Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he is a former Legacy Fighting Alliance Flyweight Champion. As of May 9, 2022, he is #5 in the UFC flyweight rankings.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Born and raised in Denver, Brandon was already training Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai at the age of 15. Royval has an older brother, Darian.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval took his first amateur bout at the age of 18, racking up a 5–0 record. Starting his professional career in 2012, Royval compiled a 8–3 record fighting mostly for Legacy Fighting Alliance, eventually culminating in a shot for the interim LFA Flyweight Championship against Casey Kenney, which he lost by unanimous decision.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Brandon Royval next faced UFC vet, Joby Sanchez at LFA 65 on May 3, 2019, losing the bout via submission due to an armbar in the first round.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval was going to face Jared Scoggins for the vacant LFA flyweight title on November 22, 2019 until Scoggins pulled out of the fight. Nate Williams stepped up as a replacement and Royval won the LFA Flyweight title via first round armbar.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Brandon made his UFC debut on May 30, 2020 at against Tim Elliott. He won the fight via submission in the second round. This fight earned Royval a "Fight of the Night" award.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval faced Kai Kara-France on September 27, 2020 at UFC 253. After both fighters being knocked down in the first round, Royval won the fight via submission in the second round. This fight earned him the "Fight of the Night" award.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval was a replacement for Alex Perez against Brandon Moreno on November 21, 2020 at UFC 255. He lost the fight via technical knockout on round one.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval faced Alexandre Pantoja on August 21, 2021 UFC on ESPN 29. He lost the fight via rear-naked choke in round two.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval faced Rogério Bontorin on January 15, 2022 at UFC on ESPN 32. He won the fight via split decision.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval faced Matt Schnell on May 7, 2022 at UFC 274. He won the back-and-forth fight via a guillotine choke submission in the first round. The fight also won both men the "Fight of the Night" bonus award.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval was scheduled to face Askar Askarov on October 15, 2022 at UFC Fight Night 212. However the bout was cancelled the day before the event due to weight management issues.


title: Brandon Royval

text: Royval was set to face Amir Albazi at on December 17, 2022. However, Royval pulled out of the bout in late November due to a broken wrist.


title: Brandon Royval

text: After the win against Kai Kara-France, Royval quit his full-time job in the juvenile justice system. He also works as the jiu-jitsu instructor at Factory X.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The "Celtic Tiger" () is a term referring to the economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by a subsequent property bubble which resulted in a severe economic downturn.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: At the start of the 1990s, Ireland was a relatively poor country by Western European standards, with high poverty, high unemployment, inflation, and low economic growth. The Irish economy expanded at an average rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000, and continued to grow at an average rate of 5.9% during the following decade until 2008, when it fell into recession. Ireland's rapid economic growth has been described as a rare example of a Western country matching the growth of East Asian nations, i.e. the 'Four Asian Tigers'.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The economy underwent a dramatic reversal from 2008, hit hard by the global financial crisis and ensuing European debt crisis, with GDP contracting by 14% and unemployment levels rising to 14% by 2011. The economic and financial crisis lasted until 2014; the year 2015 with a growth rate of 6.7% marked the beginning of a new period of strong economic growth.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The colloquial term "Celtic Tiger" has been used to refer to the country itself, and to the years associated with the boom. The first recorded use of the phrase is in a 1994 Morgan Stanley report by Kevin Gardiner. The term refers to Ireland's similarity to the East Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan during their periods of rapid growth between the early 1960s and late 1990s. "An Tíogar Ceilteach", the Irish language version of the term, appears in the Foras na Gaeilge terminology database and has been used in government and administrative contexts since at least 2005.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The Celtic Tiger period has also been called "The Boom" or "Ireland's Economic Miracle". During that time, the country experienced a period of economic growth that transformed it from one of Western Europe's poorer countries into one of its wealthiest. The causes of Ireland's growth are the subject of some debate, but credit has been primarily given to state-driven economic development; social partnership among employers, government and trade unions; increased participation by women in the labour force; decades of investment in domestic higher education; targeting of foreign direct investment; a low corporation tax rate; an English-speaking workforce; and membership of the European Union, which provided transfer payments and export access to the Single Market.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: By mid-2007, in the wake of the growing global financial crisis, the Celtic Tiger had all but died. Some critics, such as David McWilliams, who had been warning about impending collapse for some time, concluded: "The case is clear: an economically challenged government, perniciously influenced by the interests of the housing lobby, blew it. The entire Irish episode will be studied internationally in years to come as an example of how not to do things."


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Historian Richard Aldous stated the Celtic Tiger has now gone the "way of the dodo". In early 2008, many commentators thought a soft landing was likely, but by January 2009, it seemed possible the country could experience a depression. In early January 2009, "The Irish Times", in an editorial, declared:


title: Celtic Tiger

text: "We have gone from the Celtic Tiger to an era of financial fear with the suddenness of a "Titanic"-style shipwreck, thrown from comfort, even luxury, into a cold sea of uncertainty." In February 2010, a report by Davy Research concluded that Ireland had "largely wasted” its years of high income during the boom, with private enterprise investing its wealth "in the wrong places". It compared Ireland's growth to other small eurozone countries such as Finland and Belgium – noting that the physical wealth of those countries exceeds that of Ireland because of their "vastly superior" transport infrastructure, telecommunications network, and public services.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: From 1995 to 2000, GDP growth rate ranged between 7.8 and 11.5%; it then slowed to between 4.4 and 6.5% from 2001 to 2007. During that period, the Irish GDP per capita rose dramatically to equal, then eventually surpass, that of all but one state in Western Europe. Although GDP does not represent the standard of living, and the GNP remained lower than the GDP, in 2007, the GNP achieved the same level as of some other Western European countries'.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Historian R. F. Foster argues the cause was a combination of a new sense of initiative and the entry of American corporations such as Intel. He concludes the chief factors were low taxation, pro-business regulatory policies, and a young, tech-savvy workforce. For many multinationals the decision to do business in Ireland was made easier still by generous incentives from the Industrial Development Authority. In addition European Union membership was helpful, giving the country lucrative access to markets that it had previously reached only through the United Kingdom, and pumping huge subsidies and investment capital into the Irish economy.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Many economists credit Ireland's growth to a low corporate taxation rate (10 to 12.5% throughout the late 1990s). Since 1956, successive Irish governments have pursued low-taxation policies.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Since joining the EU in 1973, Ireland has received over €17 billion in EU Structural and Cohesion Funds. These are made up of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) and were used to increase investment in the education system and to build physical infrastructure. These transfer payments from members of the European Union, such as Germany and France, were as high as 4% of Ireland's gross national product (GNP). Ireland is unique among cohesion countries, having allocated up to 35% of its Structural Funds to human resource investments, compared with an average of around 25% for other cohesion fund recipients. The Irish economy's increased productive capacity is sometimes attributed to these investments, which made Ireland more attractive to high-tech businesses, though the libertarian Cato Institute has suggested that the EU transfer payments were economically inefficient and may have actually slowed growth. The conservative Heritage Foundation also attributed to transfer payments no significant role in causing growth.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Ireland's membership in the EU since 1973 helped the country gain access to Europe's large markets. Ireland's trade had previously been predominantly with the United Kingdom.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: In the 1990s, the provision of subsidies and investment capital by Irish state organisations (such as IDA Ireland) encouraged high-profile companies, such as Dell, Intel, and Microsoft, to locate in Ireland; these companies were attracted to Ireland because of its EU membership, relatively low wages, government grants, and low tax rates. Enterprise Ireland, a state agency, provides financial, technical, and social support to start-up businesses. Additionally, the building of the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin led to the creation of 14,000 high-value jobs in the accounting, legal, and financial management sectors.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: In July 2003, the government established the Science Foundation Ireland on a statutory basis to promote education for highly skilled careers, particularly in biotechnology and information and communications technology, with the additional purpose to invest in science initiatives that aim to further Ireland's knowledge economy.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The time zone difference allows Irish and British employees to work the first part of each day while US workers sleep. US firms were drawn to Ireland by cheap wage costs compared to the UK, and by the limited government intervention in business compared to other EU members, and particularly to countries in Eastern Europe. Growing stability in Northern Ireland brought about by the Good Friday Agreement further established Ireland's ability to provide a stable business environment.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Irish workers can communicate effectively with Americans – especially compared to those in other low-wage, non-English-speaking EU nations, such as Portugal and Spain; this factor was vital to U.S. companies' choosing Ireland for their European headquarters. It has also been argued that the demographic dividend from the rising ratio of workers to dependents due to falling fertility, and increased female labour market participation, increased income per capita.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Ireland was transformed from one of the poorest countries in Western Europe to one of the wealthiest. Disposable income soared to record levels, enabling a huge rise in consumer spending with foreign holidays accounting for over 91% of total holiday expenditure in 2004. However, the gap between the highest and lowest income households widened in the five-year period to 2004–2005; in response, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) stated in 2002: "On balance, budgets over the past 10 to 20 years have been more favourable to high income groups than low income groups, but particularly so during periods of high growth". Unemployment fell from 18% in the late 1980s to 4.5% by the end of 2007, and average industrial wages grew at one of the highest rates in Europe. Inflation brushed 5% per annum towards the end of the "Tiger" period, pushing Irish prices up to those of Nordic Europe, even though wage rates are roughly the same as in the UK. The national debt had remained constant during the boom, but the GDP to debt ratio rose, due to the dramatic rise in GDP.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The new wealth resulted in large investments in modernising Irish infrastructure and cities. The National Development Plan led to improvements in roads, and new transport services were developed, such as the Luas light rail lines, the Dublin Port Tunnel, and the extension of the Cork Suburban Rail. Local authorities enhanced city streets and built monuments such as the Spire of Dublin. An academic said in 2008 that the jumbo breakfast roll became "perhaps the ultimate symbol of our contemporary Celtic Tigerland", product of Irish conglomerate IAWS and eaten by busy workers buying food in filling station convenience stores.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Ireland's trend of net emigration was reversed as the republic became a destination for immigrants. This significantly changed Irish demographics and resulted in expanding multiculturalism, particularly in the Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Galway areas. It was estimated in 2007 that 10% of Irish residents were foreign-born; most of the new arrivals were citizens of Poland and the Baltic states, many of whom found work in the retail and service sectors. A study conducted in 2006 found that many Irish people regarded immigration as an important factor for economic progress. Within Ireland, many young people left the rural countryside to live and work in urban centres.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Many people in Ireland believe that the growing consumerism during the boom years eroded the country's culture, with the adoption of American capitalist ideals. While Ireland's historical economic ties to the UK had often been the subject of criticism, Peader Kirby argued that the new ties to the US economy were met with a "satisfied silence". Nevertheless, voices on the political left have decried the "closer to Boston than Berlin" philosophy of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat government. Writers such as William Wall, Mike McCormick, and Gerry Murphy have satirised these developments. Growing wealth was blamed for rising crime levels among youths, particularly alcohol-related violence resulting from increased spending power. However, it was also accompanied by rapidly increased life expectancy and very high quality of life ratings; the country ranked first in "The Economist"'s 2005 quality of life index, dropping to 12th by 2013.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The growing success of Ireland's economy encouraged entrepreneurship and risk-taking, qualities that had been dormant during poor economic periods. However, whilst some semblance of a culture of entrepreneurship exists, foreign-owned companies account for 93% of Ireland's exports.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The Celtic Tiger's growth slowed along with the slowing in the world economy in 2002 after seven years of high growth.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The economy was adversely affected by a large reduction in investment in the worldwide information technology (IT) industry. The industry had over-expanded in the late 1990s, and its stock market equity declined sharply. Ireland was a major player in the IT industry: in 2002, it had exported US$10.4 billion worth of computer services, compared to $6.9 billion from the US. Ireland accounted for approximately 50% of all mass-market packaged software sold in Europe in 2002 (OECD, 2002; OECD, 2004).


title: Celtic Tiger

text: Foot and mouth disease and the 11 September 2001 attacks damaged Ireland's tourism and agricultural sectors , deterring U.S. and British tourists. Several companies moved operations to Eastern Europe and the People's Republic of China because of a rise in Irish wage costs, insurance premiums, and a general reduction in Ireland's economic competitiveness. The rising value of the Euro hit non-EMU exports, particularly those to the U.S. and the United Kingdom.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: At the same time, economies globally experienced a slowdown. The US economy grew only 0.3% in April, May, and June 2002 from a year earlier, and the Federal Reserve made 11 rate cuts that year in an attempt to stimulate the US economy. The EU scarcely grew throughout the whole of 2002, and many members' governments (notably in Germany and France) lost control of public finances, causing large deficits that broke the terms of the EMU Stability and Growth Pact.


title: Celtic Tiger

text: The economic downturn in Ireland was not a recession but a slowdown in the rate of economic expansion. Signs of a recovery became evident in late 2003, as US investment levels increased once again. Many senior economists have heavily criticised the government for the economic imbalance in favour of the construction industry, and the prospect of sustaining economic growth in the future.