title: Baritone saxophone

text: Baritone saxophones are typically found in two versions with one ranging to low A and the other to low B. Despite the ubiquity of the low A horn, some players still prefer to use B horns because of the added weight of a low A bell or because of personal preference for a particular vintage instrument. Some also believe low A horns sound inferior in the low range, however this is the subject of debate among players.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: The baritone saxophone's relatively large mass (, depending on the manufacturer's choice of material and structural designs, and whether it has a low A key) has led to the development of harness-style alternatives to neckstraps which distribute the instrument's weight across the user's shoulders. Several different kinds exist which each distribute weight differently across the saxophonist's neck, clavicle, and shoulder blades. Many marching saxophonists prefer this style for its ability to decrease fatigue. Those who mainly perform seated, on the other hand, may dislike the decreased ability to move one's upper body with a harness. Some modern instruments are also produced with mounts for floor pegs to reduce weight on the player's neck when seated, similar to those found on bass clarinets.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: It is a transposing instrument in the key of E, pitched an octave plus a major sixth lower than written. It is one octave lower than the alto saxophone. Modern baritones with a low A key and high F key have a range from C to A.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: As with all saxophones, its music is written in treble clef. By coincidence, it is possible to use a trick known as clef substitution to read music written in bass clef at concert pitch (for example most tuba or bassoon parts), by reading as if it were a transposing part in treble clef and pretending there were three more sharps (or three fewer flats) in the key signature. A similar trick allows instruments in B like the tenor saxophone to read concert pitch tenor clef.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: It has also been occasionally called for in music for orchestra. Examples include Richard Strauss' "Sinfonia Domestica", which calls for a baritone saxophone in F; Béla Bartók's "The Wooden Prince" ballet music; Charles Ives' "Symphony No. 4", composed in 1910–1916; and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" (Grofé's orchestration) and "An American in Paris". In his opera "The Devils of Loudun" (Die Teufel von Loudun), Krzysztof Penderecki calls for two baritone saxes. Karlheinz Stockhausen includes a baritone saxophone in "Gruppen".


title: Baritone saxophone

text: It has a comparatively small solo repertoire although an increasing number of concertos have appeared, one of these being "Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra" by American composer Philip Glass. This is a piece that can be played with or without an orchestra that features the baritone sax in the second movement.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: A number of jazz performers have used the baritone saxophone as their primary instrument. It is part of standard big band instrumentation (the larger bass saxophone was also occasionally used up until the 1940s). As phrased by Alain Cupper from JazzBariSax.com, "Used a few times in contemporary classical music...it is especially in jazz that this wonderful instrument feels most comfortable." One of the instrument's pioneers was Harry Carney, longtime baritone saxophone player in the Duke Ellington band.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: Since the mid-1950s, baritone saxophone soloists such as Gerry Mulligan, Cecil Payne, and Pepper Adams achieved fame, while Serge Chaloff was the first baritone saxophone player to achieve fame as a bebop soloist. In free jazz, Peter Brötzmann is notable.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: A noted Scottish performer is Joe Temperley, who has appeared with Humphrey Lyttelton as well as with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: More recent notable performers include Hamiet Bluiett (who has also led a group of baritone saxophone players), John Surman, Scott Robinson, James Carter, Stephen "Doc" Kupka of the band Tower of Power, Nick Brignola, Gary Smulyan, Brian Landrus, and Ronnie Cuber. In the avant-garde scene, Tim Berne has doubled on bari. Jazz/funk player Leo Pellegrino of Lucky Chops and Too Many Zooz has become popular with younger listeners for his aggressive playing style and energetic performances.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: The baritone sax is an important part of military bands and is common in musical theater. The baritone sax appeared in many early rock-and-roll hits of the 1950s, played a prominent role in many Motown hits of the 1960s, notably by King Curtis, and appeared in the 1970s and beyond in acts such as Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, played by Clarence Clemons. It is often in the horn sections of funk, blues, Latin, soul bands.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: Prominent baritone saxophonists in contemporary American popular music include Stephen Kupka of Tower of Power, Dana Colley of Morphine, Leroi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band, and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: Nigerian Afrobeat singer, musician, and bandleader Fela Kuti typically featured two baritone saxophone players in his band.


title: Baritone saxophone

text: A few modern non-jazz artists have recently begun to incorporate saxophones into their instrumentation. The LA Indie rock band Fitz and the Tantrums featured both an alto and a baritone saxophone in their music—most recently their 2016 song "Handclap" from an album of the same name. Both were played by band member James King. The "Brass house" (experimental jazz/funk) group Too Many Zooz is another group that has popularized the baritone saxophone. Originally a New York City subway band, the trio has released three albums and been featured on a TEDxYouth@Budapest segment.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show."


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: The segment parodies early 20th-century melodrama and silent film (the "Northern"), using only a piano as a musical background.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: Dudley Do-Right's first appearance specifically incorporates silent film tropes such as intertitles and iris shots, as well as incorporating a similar plot to 1921 silent film "O'Malley of the Mounted", starring William S. Hart.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: Dudley Do-Right is a dim-witted, but conscientious and cheerful Canadian Mountie who works for Inspector Fenwick. Do-Right is always trying to catch his nemesis, Snidely Whiplash, and rescue Inspector Fenwick's daughter, damsel-in-distress Nell Fenwick, with whom Do-Right is deeply infatuated. He usually succeeds only by pure luck or through the actions of his horse, named "Horse."


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: A running gag throughout the series is Nell Fenwick's disinterest in Do-Right; instead, she appears to be infatuated with his horse. She is shown to kiss the horse rather than Do-Right, and when Do-Right leaves the Mounties she is only upset about the horse leaving. In Do-Right's first appearance, the narrator states,Dudley loved Nell. Unfortunately, she loved his horse.In the standard intro, Do-Right jumps on Horse and furiously rides him backwards as titles appear. While riding, he comes across Whiplash tying Nell Fenwick to a railroad track. He tips his hat to the two, before realizing what is going on and rights himself in time to save the day.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: Dudley Do-Right made a cameo in a "Rocky and Bullwinkle Fan Club" segment as the hero in "She Can't Pay the Rent", a play staged by Boris Badenov. Rocky and Bullwinkle also appeared as cameos in "Mountie Bear".


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: "The Dudley Do-Right Show" is an animated television series assembled by P.A.T. Film Services, consisting of cartoons produced by Jay Ward Productions and Total Television that aired Sunday mornings on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from April 27, 1969, to September 6, 1970. Each half-hour show included two segments each of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties" and "The World of Commander McBragg", along with one segment each of "Tooter Turtle" and "The Hunter". "Dudley Do-Right" was a Jay Ward production, while the other segments were products of Total Television. Both companies used Gamma Productions, a Mexico-based animation studio.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: The U.S. syndicated version of "The Dudley Do-Right Show", called "Dudley Do Right and Friends", follows the same format but features different episodes. The syndicated package features "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", "The World of Commander McBragg", "The King and Odie", and "The Hunter". The latter two originally appeared as part of "King Leonardo and His Short Subjects", a series that aired between October 15, 1960, and September 28, 1963, on NBC-TV. Twenty-six new segments of both series were produced for CBS-TV's "Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales" in 1963, and these later segments are included in the syndicated "Dudley Do Right and Friends".


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: One segment originally seen on "The Bullwinkle Show", "Stokey the Bear", was withheld from all reissues of the series for several decades because the U.S. Forest Service objected to the image of a bear that "started" forest fires, even though he had been hypnotized by Snidely to do so. The segment was released on home video by Sony Wonder and Classic Media in 2005.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: On May 28, 1999, Universal's Islands of Adventure opened Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, a log flume ride based on the cartoon segments. Guests enter a queue themed to resemble a theater, with Dudley, Nell, Snidely, and Horse presented as actors. Riders board cartoon logs and journey "into" the story, where Snidely has cruelly captured Nell Fenwick. Horse and Dudley make their first appearance in front of a cyclorama backdrop, theatrically "charging" to the rescue. The ride system contains three drops, the last and steepest of which is seventy-five feet. It is a hybrid flume/coaster that utilizes steel track to not only shoot guest-filled logs down the final drop, but under the water's surface and over a bunny hill. The ride system was designed and built by Mack GmbH.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: On August 27, 1999, Universal Studios released a comedy live-action film based on the character, titled "Dudley Do-Right". It starred Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Alfred Molina. It received negative reviews and was a box-office failure, grossing less than $10 million domestically against a 22 million budget.


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: In 2000, music historian Irwin Chusid claimed that scat singer Shooby Taylor's voice reminded him of Dudley Do-Right's "virile baritone."


title: Dudley Do-Right

text: Premiering in 2013, the Canadian adult animated series "Fugget About It" features a dimwitted yet well-meaning Mountie character, Strait McCool. McCool exhibits similar appearance, voice acting, behavior, and personality to Do-Right (except for the addition of sexual and drug references). It may be inferred that the character of McCool is a parody of Do-Right.


title: Ubud

text: Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. It forms a northern part of the Greater Denpasar metropolitan area (known as "Sarbagita").


title: Ubud

text: Ubud, often mistaken for a small city, is an administrative district ("kecamatan") with a population of 74,800 (as of the 2020 Census) in an area of 42.38 km. The central area of Ubud "desa" (village) has a population of 11,971 and an area of 6.76 km, and receives more than three million foreign tourists each year. The area surrounding the town is made up of small farms, rice paddies, agroforestry plantations, and tourist accommodations. As of 2018, more tourists visited Ubud than Denpasar in south.


title: Ubud

text: Eighth-century legend tells of a Javanese priest, Rsi Markendya, who meditated at the confluence of two rivers (an auspicious site for Hindus) at the Ubud locality of Campuhan. Here he founded the Gunung Lebah Temple on the valley floor, the site of which remains a pilgrim destination.


title: Ubud

text: The town was originally important as a source of medicinal herbs and plants; Ubud gets its name from the Balinese word "ubad" (medicine).


title: Ubud

text: In the late 19th century, Ubud became the seat of feudal lords who owed their allegiance to the king of Gianyar, at one time the most powerful of Bali's southern states. The lords were members of the Balinese Kshatriya caste of Suk, and were significant supporters of the village's increasingly renowned arts scene.


title: Ubud

text: death in 1999. A new burst of creative energy came in the 1960s after the arrival of Dutch painter Arie Smit and the development of the Young Artists Movement. The Bali tourist boom since the late 1960s has seen much development in the town.


title: Ubud

text: In 2002, terrorist bombings caused a decline in tourism throughout Bali including Ubud. In response to this a writer's festival was created, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival to help revive tourism, the island's main economic lifeline.


title: Ubud

text: The main street is Jalan Raya Ubud (Jalan Raya means "main road"), which runs east–west through the center of town. Two long roads, Jalan Monkey Forest and Jalan Hanoman, extend south from Jalan Raya Ubud.


title: Ubud

text: Puri Saren Agung is a large palace located at the intersection of Monkey Forest and Raya Ubud roads. The residence of Tjokorda Gede Agung Sukawati (1910–1978), the last ruling monarch of Ubud, it is still owned by the royal family. Dance performances and ceremonies are held in its courtyard. The palace was also one of Ubud's first hotels, opening its doors back in the 1930s.


title: Ubud

text: A number of Hindu temples exist, such as Pura Desa Ubud, which is the main temple, Pura Taman Saraswati, and Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal, the temple of death. The Gunung Kawi temple is the site of the royal tombs. Goa Gajah, also known as the Elephant Cave, is located in a steep valley just outside Ubud near the town of Bedulu.


title: Ubud

text: The Moon of Pejeng, in nearby Pejeng, is the largest single-cast bronze kettle drum in the world, dating from circa 300BC. It is a popular destination for tourists interested in local culture.


title: Ubud

text: Like other towns popular with tourists in Bali, it is not permitted to order a metered taxi or ride-sharing service for pickup within Ubud. Instead, a taxi and price must be negotiated with a member of the local taxi cooperative. This protectionist system ensures the driver is from the local area, and also keeps the fares inflated to up to 10 times the rates available elsewhere.


title: Ubud

text: The economy of Ubud is highly reliant on tourism which focuses on shopping, resorts, museums, yoga, and zoos. There is a strong focus on sustainable economy in regard to the retail industry in Ubud, with many Bali-grown brands favoring materials and ingredients that would not cause much waste to the environment. From home and living amenities to tropical clothing brands, Ubud has quite a unique array of retail selections that have proven attractive to tourists from around the world.


title: Ubud

text: One of the initiatives that have boosted Ubud as another popular tourist destination in recent years is Ubud Food Festival (UFF). Happening in less than a week in every April, this festival brings fellow restaurateurs and restaurants in Ubud together to create either special menus or particular promotions that may not be available in other months.


title: Ubud

text: In contrast to the tourist area in southern Bali, the Ubud area is less densely populated by locals. However, tourists far outnumber locals, with the Gianyar regency seeing 3,842,663 tourist arrivals in 2017 - 1.3 million alone visiting Ubud Monkey Forest.


title: Ubud

text: The town and area has a number of art museums, such as the Blanco Renaissance Museum, the Puri Lukisan Museum, Neka Art Museum, and the Agung Rai Museum of Art. The Museum Rudana in Peliatan is nearby. Galleries promoting local and overseas crafts are abound, too, in Ubud. Some often hold exhibitions focused on stimulating a dialogue between both local and international artists, and less about selling artworks. One of the primary examples is BIASA ArtSpace, founded by art enthusiast and fashion designer Susanna Perini.


title: Ubud

text: The "Tek Tok" is a traditional Balinese dance that is accompanied by musical sound of mouth 'Tek Tok' altogether with various combinations of body movement and other sounds.


title: Ubud

text: The story Draupadi Parwa told in the Tek Tok Dance tells a moral message, when a woman who embodies the values of patience, sacrifice, compassion, devotion, and holy sincerity is disrespected, then disasters and calamities will befall a kingdom or state. This story also conveys the message that truth, virtue, devotion and genuine compassion will always be protected by God. The Tek Tok dance performance is held regularly at the Bali Culture Center (BCC) in Ubud four times a week. Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) is held every year, which is participated by writers and readers from all over the world.


title: Ubud

text: Many Balinese dances are performed around Ubud including the Legong by the Peliatan Dance Group, the first troupe to travel abroad.


title: Ubud

text: Ubud kecamatan/district is made of up the following desa (villages): Kedewatan, Sayan, Singakerta, Peliatan, Mas, Lodtunduh, Petulu, and Ubud itself.


title: Ubud

text: The Mandala Suci Wenara Wana is known to westerners as the Ubud Monkey Forest. The grounds contain an active temple and are located near the southern end of Monkey Forest Street. This protected area houses the Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal, and as of June 2017, approximately 750 crab-eating macaque ("Macaca fascicularis") monkeys live there.


title: Ubud

text: The Campuhan ridge walk is a hill in nearby Campuhan, from where one can see two rivers, Tukad Yeh Wos Kiwa and Tukad Yeh Wos Tengen, merge. A one meter wide paved-block track runs about two kilometers to the top of the hill which is a popular spot to watch the sunset.


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: Kousalya Krishnamurthy is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language sports drama film, produced by K. A. Vallabha under the Creative Commercials banner and directed by Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao. The film stars Aishwarya Rajesh, Rajendra Prasad, Karthik Raju and Sivakarthikeyan in a supporting role, with music composed by Dhibu Ninan Thomas. This film is a remake of the 2018 Tamil film "Kanaa" and marks the Telugu debut of Aishwarya Rajesh. The film reused scenes involving Sivakarthikeyan from the original film. The film was released theatrically on 23 August 2019.


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: Kousalya Krishnamurthy, the daughter of Krishnamurthy, a farmer, is highly fascinated by cricket. In her childhood, Kousalya saw tears in her father's eyes when India in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Hence, she determines to become an international cricketer to get back the smile on her cricket-loving father's face. At the age of 11, she joins the local cricket team in the village who are mostly her school seniors when everyone appreciates her talent for off-spin technique getting wickets. She also earns the wrath of many villagers for playing cricket with boys, which Krishnamurthy does not care about and supports his daughter. At present, Kousalya appears for team selections. She gets rejected but does not give up. She works hard and gets selected for the [India women's national cricket team|Indian women’s cricket team]. Kousalya moves for training at National Cricket Academy Bangalore, where she is humiliated by seniors due to internal politics, and even the coach demotes her to a large extent. However, the entry of a new coach named Nelson Dilipkumar, an ex-Indian cricketer, develops the team’s spirit and gets the players ready for the upcoming T20 world cup. Nelson discovers the spin bowling capabilities of Kousalya and trains her on the right path. He also locks horns with the committee and ensures Kousalya’s presence in the world cup. Meanwhile, Krishnamurthy faces a tough time with agriculture and is unable to repay the debt of the bank and ends up being in a rift with the bank manager. At one point, Nelson decides to rest Kousalya for the league matches as a strategy to hide her talent and give a surprise to opponents, which brings her down. Ultimately, Kousalya is selected for the semifinal against the strongest team, Australia. At the same time, Krishnamurthy’s house is auctioned by the bank; hearing it, Kousalya becomes anguished when Nelson motivates her to make her father proud by winning the match. During the match, Kousalya bowls a hat-trick and again bowls well leading to India’s win. At last, she is declared as "Woman of the Match", awarded Rs. 5 lakhs from the same bank which was auctioning her house. At last, Kausalya gives an emotional speech describing the situation of farmers in the country. Finally, Krishnamurthy feels proud of his daughter.


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: K. S. Rama Rao, the presenter of the film, saw the trailer of "Kanaa" on the sets of "World Famous Lover" and decided to remake it in Telugu. The remake, titled "Kousalya Krishnamurthy", was shot in the surrounding areas of Rajahmundry.


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: The film's soundtrack was composed by Dhibu Ninan Thomas, who composed the original film. All of the film's tunes were reused from "Kanaa".


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: "123telugu" gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "An emotional sports drama which has some good moments. Decent family emotions and some interesting cricketing scenes are basic assets. On the flip side, the lengthy runtime, predictable sports-based storyline play spoilsport. If you are okay with these small issues, you can easily give this inspiring film a shot".


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: "The Times of India" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "An emotional drama centred around cricket. We've seen a lot of Tollywood films based on cricket in recent times, but Kousalya Krishnamurthy has more cricket in it than an actual story".


title: Kousalya Krishnamurthy

text: The "Deccan Chronicle" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kousalya Krishnamurthy has a thought-provoking subject but its clichéd presentation detracts from the film".


title: History of atheism

text: Atheism is in the broadest sense a rejection of any belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no deities and any statements to the contrary are false ones. The English term 'atheist' was used at least as early as the sixteenth century and atheistic ideas and their influence have a longer history.


title: History of atheism

text: In the East, a contemplative life not centered on the idea of deities began in the sixth century BCE with the rise of Indian religions such as Jainism, Buddhism, and various sects of Hinduism in ancient India, and of Taoism in ancient China. Within the astika ("orthodox") schools of Hindu philosophy, the Samkhya and the early Mimamsa school did not accept a creator deity in their respective systems.


title: History of atheism

text: Philosophical atheist thought began to appear in Europe and Asia in the sixth or fifth century BCE. Will Durant, in his "The Story of Civilization", explained that certain pygmy tribes found in Africa were observed to have no identifiable cults or rites. There were no totems, no deities, and no spirits. Their dead were buried without special ceremonies or accompanying items and received no further attention. They even appeared to lack simple superstitions, according to travelers' reports.


title: History of atheism

text: "Atheism " is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄθεος "atheos" meaning "without gods; godless; secular; refuting or repudiating the existence of gods, especially officially sanctioned gods".


title: History of atheism

text: In the East, a contemplative life not centered on the idea of deities began in the sixth century BCE with the rise of Jainism, Buddhism, and various sects of Hinduism in India, and of Taoism in China. These religions offered a philosophic and salvific path not involving deity worship. Deities are not seen as necessary to the salvific goal of the early Buddhist tradition; their reality is explicitly questioned and often rejected. There is a fundamental incompatibility between the notion of gods and basic Buddhist principles, at least in some interpretations. Some Buddhist philosophers assert that belief in an eternal creator god is a distraction from the central task of the religious life.


title: History of atheism

text: Within the astika ("orthodox") schools of Hindu philosophy, the Samkhya and the early Mimamsa school did not accept a creator-deity in their respective systems.


title: History of atheism

text: The principal text of the Samkhya school, the "Samkhya Karika", was written by Ishvara Krishna in the fourth century CE, by which time it was already a dominant Hindu school. The origins of the school are much older and are lost in legend. The school was both dualistic and atheistic. They believed in a dual existence of Prakriti ("nature") and Purusha ("consciousness") and had no place for an Ishvara ("God") in its system, arguing that the existence of Ishvara cannot be proved and hence cannot be admitted to exist. The school dominated Hindu philosophy in its day, but declined after the tenth century, although commentaries were still being written as late as the sixteenth century.


title: History of atheism

text: The foundational text for the Mimamsa school is the "Purva Mimamsa Sutras" of Jaimini (c. third to first century BCE). The school reached its height c. 700 CE, and for some time in the Early Middle Ages exerted near-dominant influence on learned Hindu thought. The Mimamsa school saw their primary enquiry was into the nature of dharma based on close interpretation of the Vedas. Its core tenets were ritualism (orthopraxy), antiasceticism and antimysticism. The early Mimamsakas believed in an "adrishta" ("unseen") that is the result of performing karmas ("works") and saw no need for an Ishvara ("God") in their system. Mimamsa persists in some subschools of Hinduism today.


title: History of atheism

text: The thoroughly materialistic and antireligious philosophical Cārvāka (also known as Lokayata) school that originated in India with the Bārhaspatya-sūtras (final centuries BCE) is probably the most explicitly atheist school of philosophy in the region, if not the world. These ancient schools of generic skepticism had started to develop far earlier than the Mauryan period. Already in the sixth century BCE Ajita Kesakambalin was quoted in Pali scriptures by the Buddhists with whom he was debating, teaching that "with the break-up of the body, the wise and the foolish alike are annihilated, destroyed. They do not exist after death."


title: History of atheism

text: Cārvākan philosophy is now known principally from its Astika and Buddhist opponents. The proper aim of a Cārvākan, according to these sources, was to live a prosperous, happy, productive life in this world. In the book "More Studies on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata" (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020) Ramkrishna Bhattacharya argues that there have been many varieties of materialist thought in India; and that there is no foundation to the accusations of hedonism nor to the claim that these schools reject inference ("anumāna") per se as a way of knowledge ("pramāṇas").


title: History of atheism

text: The "Tattvopaplavasimha" of Jayarashi Bhatta (c. 8th century) is sometimes cited as a surviving Carvaka text, as Ethan Mills does in "Three Pillars of Skepticism in Classical India: Nagarjuna, Jayarasi, and Sri Harsa" (2018). It has been claimed that the school died out sometime around the fifteenth century.


title: History of atheism

text: In the oldest of the Upanishads, in chapter 2 of the "Brhadāranyaka" (ca. 700 BCE), the leading theorist Yājnavalkya states in a passage often referred to by the irreligious: "so I say, after death there is no awareness." In the main work by the "father of linguistics", Panini (ca. 4th c. BCE), the main (Kasika) commentary on his affix regarding "nastika" explains: "an atheist" is one "whose belief is that there is no Hereafter" (4.4.60). Cārvāka arguments are also present in the oldest Sanskrit epic, "Ramayana" (early parts from 3rd c. BCE), in which the hero Rama is lectured by the sage Javali – who states that the worship of gods is "laid down in the Shastras by clever people, just to rule over other people and make them submissive and disposed to charity."


title: History of atheism

text: The Veda philosopher Adi Shankara (ca 790–820), who consolidated the non-dualist "Advaita Vedanta" tradition, spends several pages trying to refute the non-religious schools, as he argues against "Unlearned people, and the Lokayatikas (…)"


title: History of atheism

text: According to the global historian of ideas Dag Herbjørnsrud, the atheist Carvaka schools were present at the court of the Muslim-born Mughal ruler, Akbar (1542–1605), an inquiring skeptic who believed in "the pursuit of reason" over "reliance on tradition". When he invited philosophers and representatives of the different religions to his new "House of Worship" ("Ibadat Khana") in Fatehpur Sikri, Carvakas were present as well. According to the chronicler Abul Fazl (1551–1602), those discussing religious and existential matters at Akbar's court included the atheists:


title: History of atheism

text: Herbjørnsrud argues that the Carvaka schools never disappeared in India, and that the atheist traditions of India influenced Europe from the late 16th century: "The Europeans were surprised by the openness and rational doubts of Akbar and the Indians. In Pierre De Jarric's "Histoire" (1610), based on the Jesuit reports, the Mughal emperor is actually compared to an atheist himself: “Thus we see in this Prince the common fault of the atheist, who refuses to make reason subservient to faith (…)”


title: History of atheism

text: Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski concludes as follows concerning the Jesuit descriptions in her paper “East-West Swerves: Cārvāka Materialism and Akbar's Religious Debates at Fatehpur Sikri” (2015):


title: History of atheism

text: The Jesuit Roberto De Nobili wrote in 1613 that the “Logaidas” (Lokayatas) "hold the view that the elements themselves are god". Some decades later, Heinrich Roth, who studied Sanskrit in Agra ca. 1654–60, translated the "Vedantasara" by the influential Vedantic commentator Sadananda (14th), a text that depicts four different schools of the Carvaka philosophies. Wojciehowski notes: "Rather than proclaiming a Cārvāka renaissance in Akbar's court, it would be safer to suggest that the ancient school of materialism never really went away."


title: History of atheism

text: The nonadherence to the notion of a supreme deity or a prime mover is seen by many as a key distinction between Buddhism and other religions. While Buddhist traditions do not deny the existence of supernatural beings (many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe powers, in the typical Western sense, for creation, salvation or judgement, to the "gods"; however, praying to enlightened deities is sometimes seen as leading to some degree of spiritual merit.


title: History of atheism

text: Buddhists accept the existence of beings in higher realms, known as "devas", but they, like humans, are said to be suffering in "samsara", and not particularly wiser than we are. In fact the Buddha is often portrayed as a teacher of the deities, and superior to them. Despite this they do have some enlightened Devas in the path of buddhahood.


title: History of atheism

text: Jains see their tradition as eternal. Organized Jainism can be dated back to Parshva who lived in the ninth century BCE, and, more reliably, to Mahavira, a teacher of the sixth century BCE, and a contemporary of the Buddha. Jainism is a dualistic religion with the universe made up of matter and souls. The universe, and the matter and souls within it, is eternal and uncreated, and there is no omnipotent creator deity in Jainism. There are, however, "gods" and other spirits who exist within the universe and Jains believe that the soul can attain "godhood"; however, none of these supernatural beings exercise any sort of creative activity or have the capacity or ability to intervene in answers to prayers.


title: History of atheism

text: In Western Classical Antiquity, theism was the fundamental belief that supported the legitimacy of the state (the "polis", later the Roman Empire). Historically, any person who did not believe in any deity supported by the state was fair game to accusations of atheism, a capital crime. Charges of atheism (meaning any subversion of religion) were often used similarly to charges of heresy and impiety as a political tool to eliminate enemies. Early Christians were widely reviled as atheists because they did not participate in the cults of the Greco-Roman gods. During the Roman Empire, Christians were executed for their rejection of the pagan deities in general and the Imperial cult of ancient Rome in particular. When Christianity became the Roman state religion under Theodosius I in 381, heresy became a punishable offense.


title: History of atheism

text: Euhemerus (c. 330–260 BCE) published his view that the gods were only the deified rulers, conquerors, and founders of the past, and that their cults and religions were in essence the continuation of vanished kingdoms and earlier political structures. Although Euhemerus was later criticized for having "spread atheism over the whole inhabited earth by obliterating the gods", his worldview was not atheist in a strict and theoretical sense, because he differentiated them from the primordial deities, holding that they were "eternal and imperishable". Some historians have argued that he merely aimed at reinventing the old religions in the light of the beginning of deification of political rulers such as Alexander the Great. Euhemerus' work was translated into Latin by Ennius, possibly to mythographically pave the way for the planned divinization of Scipio Africanus in Rome.


title: History of atheism

text: The roots of Western philosophy began in the Greek world in the sixth century BCE. The first Hellenic philosophers were not atheists, but they attempted to explain the world in terms of the processes of nature instead of by mythological accounts. Thus lightning was the result of "wind breaking out and parting the clouds", and earthquakes occurred when "the earth is considerably altered by heating and cooling". The early philosophers often criticized traditional religious notions. Xenophanes (6th century BCE) famously said that if cows and horses had hands, "then horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, and cows like cows". Another philosopher, Anaxagoras (5th century BCE), claimed that the Sun was "a fiery mass, larger than the Peloponnese"; a charge of impiety was brought against him, and he was forced to flee Athens.


title: History of atheism

text: The first fully materialistic philosophy was produced by the atomists Leucippus and Democritus (5th century BCE), who attempted to explain the formation and development of the world in terms of the chance movements of atoms moving in infinite space.


title: History of atheism

text: For political reasons, Socrates was accused of being "atheos" ("refusing to acknowledge the gods recognized by the state"). The Athenian public associated Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE) with the trends in pre-Socratic philosophy towards naturalistic inquiry and the rejection of divine explanations for phenomena. Aristophanes' comic play "The Clouds" (performed 423 BCE) portrayed Socrates as teaching his students that the traditional Greek deities did not exist. Socrates was later tried and executed under the charge of not believing in the gods of the state and instead worshipping foreign gods. Socrates himself vehemently denied the charges of atheism at his trial. All the surviving sources about him indicate that he was a very devout man, who prayed to the rising sun and believed that the oracle at Delphi spoke the word of Apollo.


title: History of atheism

text: While only a few of the ancient Greco-Roman schools of philosophy were subject to accusations of atheism, there were some individual philosophers who espoused atheist views. The Peripatetic philosopher Strato of Lampsacus did not believe in the existence of gods. The Cyrenaic philosopher Theodorus the Atheist (c. 300 BCE) is supposed to have denied that gods exist and wrote a book "On the Gods" expounding his views.


title: History of atheism

text: In the fifth century BCE the Sophists began to question many of the traditional assumptions of Greek culture. Prodicus of Ceos was said to have believed that "it was the things which were serviceable to human life that had been regarded as gods", and Protagoras stated at the beginning of a book that "With regard to the gods I am unable to say either that they exist or do not exist". Diagoras of Melos allegedly chopped up a wooden statue of Heracles and used it to roast his lentils and revealed the secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The Athenians accused him of impiety and banished him from their city. Critias was said as well to deny that the gods existed.


title: History of atheism

text: The most important Greek thinker in the development of atheism was Epicurus ( 300 BCE). Drawing on the ideas of Democritus and the Atomists, he espoused a materialistic philosophy according to which the universe was governed by the laws of chance without the need for divine intervention (see scientific determinism). Although Epicurus still maintained that the gods existed, he believed that they were uninterested in human affairs. The aim of the Epicureans was to attain "ataraxia" (a mental state of being untroubled). One important way of doing this was by exposing fear of divine wrath as irrational. The Epicureans also denied the existence of an afterlife and the need to fear divine punishment after death.


title: History of atheism

text: One of the most eloquent expressions of Epicurean thought is Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things" (1st century BCE) in which he held that gods exist but argued that religious fear was one of the chief causes of human unhappiness and that the gods did not involve themselves in the world. The Epicureans also denied the existence of an afterlife and hence dismissed the fear of death.


title: History of atheism

text: Epicureans denied being atheists but their critics insisted they were. One explanation for this alleged crypto-atheism is that they feared persecution, and while they avoided this their teachings were controversial and harshly attacked by some of the other schools, particularly Stoicism and Neoplatonism.


title: History of atheism

text: Similar to the Epicureans, the Pyrrhonists employed a tactic to avoid persecution for atheism in which they, in conformity with ancestral customs and laws, declared that the gods exist, and performed everything which contributes to their worship and veneration, but, with regard to philosophy, declined to commit themselves to the gods' existence. The Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus compiled a large number of ancient arguments against the existence of gods, recommending that one should suspend judgment regarding the matter. His large volume of surviving works had a lasting influence on later philosophers.


title: History of atheism

text: In pre-Hippocratic times, Greeks believed that gods controlled all aspects of human existence, including health and disease. One of the earliest works that challenged the religious view was "On the Sacred Disease", written about 400 B.C. The anonymous author argued that the "sacred disease" of epilepsy has a natural cause, and that the idea of its supposed divine origin is based on human inexperience.


title: History of atheism

text: In the early history of Islam, Muslim scholars recognized the idea of atheism and frequently attacked unbelievers, although they were unable to name any atheists. When individuals were accused of atheism, they were usually viewed as heretics rather than proponents of atheism. However, there were freethinkers and outspoken critics of the Islamic religion such as deists, philosophers, rationalists, and atheists in the medieval Islamic world, one notable figure being the 9th-century scholar Ibn al-Rawandi, who criticized the notion of religious prophecy, including that of Muhammad, and maintained that religious dogmas were not acceptable to reason and must be rejected. Other critics of religion in the Islamic world include the poet Al-Maʿarri (973–1057), the scholar Abu Isa al-Warraq (fl. 9th century), and the physician and philosopher Abu Bakr al-Razi (865–925). However, al-Razi's atheism may have been "deliberately misdescribed" by an Ismaili missionary named Abu Hatim. Al-Maʿarri wrote and taught that religion itself was a "fable invented by the ancients" and that humans were "of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains."


title: History of atheism

text: The titular character of the Icelandic saga Hrafnkell, written in the late thirteenth century, says, "I think it is folly to have faith in gods". After his temple to Freyr is burnt and he is enslaved, he vows never to perform another sacrifice, a position described in the sagas as "goðlauss", "godless". Jacob Grimm in his "Teutonic Mythology" observes,


title: History of atheism

text: It is remarkable that Old Norse legend occasionally mentions certain men who, turning away in utter disgust and doubt from the heathen faith, placed their reliance on their own strength and virtue. Thus in the Sôlar lioð 17 we read of Vêbogi and Râdey "â sik þau trûðu," "in themselves they trusted",


title: History of atheism

text: citing several other examples, including two kings. Subsequent to Grimm's investigation, scholars including J. R. R. Tolkien and E.O.G. Turville-Petre have identified the goðlauss ethic as a stream of atheistic and/or humanistic philosophy in the Icelandic sagas. People described as goðlauss expressed not only a lack of faith in deities, but also a pragmatic belief in their own faculties of strength, reason and virtue and in social codes of honor independent of any supernatural agency.


title: History of atheism

text: Another phenomenon in the Middle Ages was proofs of the existence of God. Both Anselm of Canterbury, and later, William of Ockham acknowledge adversaries who doubt the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas' five proofs of God's existence and Anselm's ontological argument implicitly acknowledged the validity of the question about God's existence. Frederick Copleston, however, explains that Thomas laid out his proofs not to counter atheism, but to address certain early Christian writers such as John of Damascus, who asserted that knowledge of God's existence was naturally innate in man, based on his natural desire for happiness. Thomas stated that although there is desire for happiness which forms the basis for a proof of God's existence in man, further reflection is required to understand that this desire is only fulfilled in God, not for example in wealth or sensual pleasure. However, Aquinas's Five Ways also address (hypothetical) atheist arguments citing evil in the universe and claiming that God's existence is unnecessary to explain things.


title: History of atheism

text: The charge of atheism was used to attack political or religious opponents. Pope Boniface VIII, because he insisted on the political supremacy of the church, was accused by his enemies after his death of holding (unlikely) positions such as "neither believing in the immortality nor incorruptibility of the soul, nor in a life to come".


title: History of atheism

text: John Arnold's 2005 "Belief and Unbelief in Medieval Europe" discusses individuals who were indifferent to the Church and did not participate in faith practices. Arnold notes that while these examples could be perceived as simply people being lazy, it demonstrates that "belief was not universally fervent". Arnold enumerates examples of people not attending church, and even those who excluded the Church from their marriage. Disbelief, Arnold argues, stemmed from boredom. Arnold argues that while some blasphemy implies the existence of God, laws demonstrate that there were also cases of blasphemy that directly attacked articles of faith. Italian preachers in the fourteenth century also warned of unbelievers and people who lacked belief.


title: History of atheism

text: During the time of the Renaissance and the Reformation, criticism of the religious establishment became more frequent in predominantly Christian countries, but did not amount to atheism, "per se".


title: History of atheism

text: The term "athéisme" was coined in France in the sixteenth century. The word "atheist" appears in English books at least as early as 1566.


title: History of atheism

text: The concept of atheism re-emerged initially as a reaction to the intellectual and religious turmoil of the Age of Enlightenment and the Reformation, as a charge used by those who saw the denial of god and godlessness in the controversial positions being put forward by others. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the word 'atheist' was used exclusively as an insult; nobody wanted to be regarded as an atheist. Although one overtly atheistic compendium known as the "Theophrastus redivivus" was published by an anonymous author in the seventeenth century, atheism was an epithet implying a lack of moral restraint.


title: History of atheism

text: According to Geoffrey Blainey, the Reformation in Europe had paved the way for atheists by attacking the authority of the Catholic Church, which in turn "quietly inspired other thinkers to attack the authority of the new Protestant churches". Deism gained influence in France, Prussia and England, and proffered belief in a noninterventionist deity, but "while some deists were atheists in disguise, most were religious, and by today's standards would be called true believers". The scientific and mathematical discoveries of such as Copernicus, Newton and Descartes sketched a pattern of natural laws that lent weight to this new outlook.


title: History of atheism

text: How dangerous it was to be accused of being an atheist at this time is illustrated by the examples of Étienne Dolet, who was strangled and burned in 1546. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was also accused of atheism, but he denied it. His theism was unusual, in that he held god to be material. Even earlier, the British playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe (1563–1593) was accused of atheism when a tract denying the divinity of Christ was found in his home. Before he could finish defending himself against the charge, Marlowe was murdered. Giulio Cesare Vanini, also accused of being an atheist, was burned at the stake in 1619.


title: History of atheism

text: Blainey wrote that the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza was "probably the first well known 'semi-atheist' to announce himself in a Christian land in the modern era", although nowhere in his work does Spinoza argue against the existence of God. It is a widespread belief that Spinoza equated God with the material universe and so his beliefs have been categorized as Pantheist. Spinoza had been expelled from his synagogue for his protests against the teachings of its rabbis and for failing to attend Saturday services. He believed that God did not interfere in the running of the world, but rather that natural laws explained the workings of the universe. In 1661 he published his "Short Treatise on God", but he was not a popular figure for the first century following his death: "An unbeliever was expected to be a rebel in almost everything and wicked in all his ways", wrote Blainey, "but here was a virtuous one. He lived the good life and made his living in a useful way. . . . It took courage to be a Spinoza or even one of his supporters. If a handful of scholars agreed with his writings, they did not so say in public".


title: History of atheism

text: In early modern times, the first explicit atheist known by name was the German-languaged Danish critic of religion Matthias Knutzen (1646–after 1674), who published three atheist writings in 1674. Knutzen was called "The only person on record who openly professed and taught atheism" in the 1789 Students Pocket Dictionary of Universal History by Thomas Mortimer.


title: History of atheism

text: In 1689 the Polish nobleman Kazimierz Łyszczyński, who had denied the existence of God in his philosophical treatise "De non-existentia Dei", was imprisoned unlawfully; despite Warsaw Confederation tradition and King Sobieski's intercession, Łyszczyński was condemned to death for atheism and beheaded in Warsaw after his tongue was pulled out with a burning iron and his hands slowly burned. In "De non-existentia Dei" he had demonstrated strong atheism:


title: History of atheism

text: While not gaining converts from large portions of the population, versions of deism became influential in certain intellectual circles. Jean Jacques Rousseau challenged the Christian notion that human beings had been tainted by sin since the Garden of Eden, and instead proposed that humans were originally good, only later to be corrupted by civilization. The influential figure of Voltaire spread deistic notions to a wide audience. "After the French Revolution and its outbursts of atheism, Voltaire was widely condemned as one of the causes", wrote Blainey, "Nonetheless, his writings did concede that fear of God was an essential policeman in a disorderly world: 'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him', wrote Voltaire". Voltaire's assertion occurs in his Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs, written in response to the Treatise of the Three Impostors, a document (most likely) authored by John Toland that denied all three Abrahamic religions. In 1766, Voltaire tried unsuccessfully to have the judgment reversed in the case of the French nobleman François-Jean de la Barre who was tortured, beheaded, and his body burned for alleged vandalism of a crucifix.


title: History of atheism

text: Arguably the first book in modern times solely dedicated to promoting atheism was written by French Catholic priest Jean Meslier (1664–1729), whose posthumously published lengthy philosophical essay (part of the original title: "Thoughts and Feelings of Jean Meslier ... Clear and Evident Demonstrations of the Vanity and Falsity of All the Religions of the World") rejects the concept of God (both in the Christian and also in the Deistic sense), the soul, miracles and the discipline of theology. Philosopher Michel Onfray states that Meslier's work marks the beginning of "the history of true atheism".


title: History of atheism

text: By the 1770s, atheism in some predominantly Christian countries was ceasing to be a dangerous accusation that required denial, and was evolving into a position openly avowed by some. The first open denial of the existence of God and avowal of atheism since classical times may be that of Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789) in his 1770 work, "The System of Nature". D'Holbach was a Parisian social figure who conducted a famous salon widely attended by many intellectual notables of the day, including Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Benjamin Franklin. Nevertheless, his book was published under a pseudonym, and was banned and publicly burned by the Executioner. Diderot, one of the Enlightenment's most prominent "philosophes" and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopédie, which sought to challenge religious, particularly Catholic, dogma said, "Reason is to the estimation of the "philosophe" what grace is to the Christian", he wrote. "Grace determines the Christian's action; reason the "philosophe".'s". Diderot was briefly imprisoned for his writing, some of which was banned and burned.


title: History of atheism

text: In Scotland, David Hume produced a six volume history of England in 1754, which gave little attention to God. He implied that if God existed he was impotent in the face of European upheaval. Hume ridiculed miracles, but walked a careful line so as to avoid being too dismissive of Christianity. With Hume's presence, Edinburgh gained a reputation as a "haven of atheism", alarming many ordinary Britons.


title: History of atheism

text: The "culte de la Raison" developed during the uncertain period 1792–94 (Years I and III of the Revolution), following the September massacres, when Revolutionary France was rife with fears of internal and foreign enemies. Several Parisian churches were transformed into Temples of Reason, notably the Church of Saint-Paul Saint-Louis in the Marais. The churches were closed in May 1793 and more securely 24 November 1793, when the Catholic Mass was forbidden.


title: History of atheism

text: Blainey wrote that "atheism seized the pedestal in revolutionary France in the 1790s. The secular symbols replaced the cross. In the cathedral of Notre Dame the altar, the holy place, was converted into a monument to Reason..." During the Terror of 1792–93, France's Christian calendar was abolished, monasteries, convents and church properties were seized and monks and nuns expelled. Historic churches were dismantled. The Cult of Reason was a creed based on atheism devised during the French Revolution by Jacques Hébert, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, and their supporters. It was stopped by Maximilien Robespierre, a Deist, who instituted the Cult of the Supreme Being. Both cults were the outcome of the "de-Christianization" of French society during the Revolution and part of the Reign of Terror.


title: History of atheism

text: The Cult of Reason was celebrated in a carnival atmosphere of parades, ransacking of churches, ceremonious iconoclasm, in which religious and royal images were defaced, and ceremonies which substituted the "martyrs of the Revolution" for Christian martyrs. The earliest public demonstrations took place "en province", outside Paris, notably by Hébertists in Lyon, but took a further radical turn with the "Fête de la Liberté" ("Festival of Liberty") at Notre Dame de Paris, 10 November (20 Brumaire) 1793, in ceremonies devised and organised by Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette.


title: History of atheism

text: The pamphlet "Answer to Dr. Priestley's Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever" (1782) is considered to be the first published declaration of atheism in Britain—plausibly the first in English (as distinct from covert or cryptically atheist works). The otherwise unknown William Hammon (possibly a pseudonym) signed the preface and postscript as editor of the work, and the anonymous main text is attributed to Matthew Turner (d. 1788?), a Liverpool physician who may have known Priestley. Historian of atheism David Berman has argued strongly for Turner's authorship, but also suggested that there may have been two authors.


title: History of atheism

text: The French Revolution of 1789 catapulted atheistic thought into political notability in some Western countries, and opened the way for the nineteenth century movements of Rationalism, Freethought, and Liberalism. Born in 1792, Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a child of the Age of Enlightenment, was expelled from England's Oxford University in 1811 for submitting to the Dean an anonymous pamphlet that he wrote entitled, "The Necessity of Atheism." This pamphlet is considered by scholars as the first atheistic tract published in the English language. An early atheistic influence in Germany was "The Essence of Christianity" by Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872). He influenced other German nineteenth century atheistic thinkers like Karl Marx, Max Stirner, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900).


title: History of atheism

text: The freethinker Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891) was repeatedly elected to the British Parliament, but was not allowed to take his seat after his request to affirm rather than take the religious oath was turned down (he then offered to take the oath, but this too was denied him). After Bradlaugh was re-elected for the fourth time, a new Speaker allowed Bradlaugh to take the oath and permitted no objections. He became the first outspoken atheist to sit in Parliament, where he participated in amending the Oaths Act.


title: History of atheism

text: In 1844, Karl Marx (1818–1883), an atheistic political economist, wrote in his "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right": "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Marx believed that people turn to religion in order to dull the pain caused by the reality of social situations; that is, Marx suggests religion is an attempt at transcending the material state of affairs in a society—the pain of class oppression—by effectively creating a dream world, rendering the religious believer amenable to social control and exploitation in this world while they hope for relief and justice in life after death. In the same essay, Marx states, "[m]an creates religion, religion does not create man".


title: History of atheism

text: Friedrich Nietzsche, a prominent nineteenth century philosopher, is well known for coining the aphorism ""God is dead" "(German: ""Gott ist tot""); incidentally the phrase was not spoken by Nietzsche directly, but was used as a dialogue for the characters in his works. Nietzsche argued that Christian theism as a belief system had been a moral foundation of the Western world, and that the rejection and collapse of this foundation as a result of modern thinking (the "death of God") would naturally cause a rise in nihilism or the lack of values. While Nietzsche was staunchly atheistic, he was also concerned about the negative effects of nihilism on humanity. As such, he called for a re-evaluation of old values and a creation of new ones, hoping that in doing so humans would achieve a higher state he labeled the Overman ("Übermensch").


title: History of atheism

text: Atheist feminism also began in the nineteenth century. Atheist feminists oppose religion as a main source of female oppression and gender inequality, believing that the majority of religions are sexist and oppressive to women.


title: History of atheism

text: Atheism in the twentieth century found recognition in a wide variety of other, broader philosophies in the Western tradition, such as existentialism, objectivism, secular humanism, nihilism, logical positivism, Marxism, anarchism, feminism, and the general scientific and rationalist movement. Neopositivism and analytical philosophy discarded classical rationalism and metaphysics in favor of strict empiricism and epistemological nominalism. Proponents such as Bertrand Russell emphatically rejected belief in God. In his early work, Ludwig Wittgenstein attempted to separate metaphysical and supernatural language from rational discourse. H. L. Mencken sought to debunk both the idea that science and religion are compatible, and the idea that science is a dogmatic belief system just like any religion.


title: History of atheism

text: A. J. Ayer asserted the unverifiability and meaninglessness of religious statements, citing his adherence to the empirical sciences. The structuralism of Lévi-Strauss sourced religious language to the human subconscious, denying its transcendental meaning. J. N. Findlay and J. J. C. Smart argued that the existence of God is not logically necessary. Naturalists and materialists such as John Dewey considered the natural world to be the basis of everything, denying the existence of God or immortality.


title: History of atheism

text: The historian Geoffrey Blainey wrote that during the twentieth century, atheists in Western societies became more active and even militant, though they often "relied essentially on arguments used by numerous radical Christians since at least the eighteenth century". They rejected the idea of an interventionist God, and said that Christianity promoted war and violence, though "the most ruthless leaders in the Second World War were atheists and secularists who were intensely hostile to both Judaism and Christianity" and "Later massive atrocities were committed in the East by those ardent atheists, Pol Pot and Mao Zedong". Some scientists were meanwhile articulating a view that as the world becomes more educated, religion will be superseded.


title: History of atheism

text: Although revolutionary France had taken steps in the direction of state atheism, it was left to Communist and Fascist regimes in the twentieth century to embed atheism as an integral element of national policy.


title: History of atheism

text: The Russian Orthodox Church, for centuries the strongest of all Orthodox Churches, was suppressed by the Soviet government. In 1922, the Soviet regime arrested the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, with his rejection of religious authority as a tool of oppression and his strategy of "patently explain," Soviet leader Joseph Stalin energetically pursued the persecution of the Church through the 1920s and 1930s. Lenin wrote that every religious idea and every idea of God "is unutterable vileness... of the most dangerous kind, 'contagion of the most abominable kind". Many priests were killed and imprisoned. Thousands of churches were closed, some turned into hospitals. In 1925 the government founded the League of Militant Atheists to intensify the persecution. The regime only relented in its persecution following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Bullock wrote that "A Marxist regime was 'godless' by definition, and Stalin had mocked religious belief since his days in the Tiflis seminary". His assault on the Russian peasantry, wrote Bullock, "had been as much an attack on their traditional religion as on their individual holdings, and the defense of it had played a major part in arousing peasant resistance . . . ". In "Divini Redemptoris", Pius XI said that atheistic Communism being led by Moscow was aimed at "upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization":


title: History of atheism

text: The central figure in Italian Fascism was the atheist Benito Mussolini. In his early career, Mussolini was a strident opponent of the Church, and the first Fascist program, written in 1919, had called for the secularization of Church property in Italy. More pragmatic than his German ally Adolf Hitler, Mussolini later moderated his stance, and in office, permitted the teaching of religion in schools and came to terms with the Papacy in the Lateran Treaty.


title: History of atheism

text: The Western Allies saw the war against Hitler as a war for "Christian Civilisation", while the atheist Stalin re-opened Russia's churches to steel the Soviet population in the battle against Germany. The Nazi leadership itself held a range of views on religion. Hitler's movement said it endorsed a form of Christianity stripped of its Jewish origins and certain key doctrines such as belief in the divinity of Christ. In practice, however, the Nazi regime worked to reduce the influence of Christianity in Germany, seeing it as a barrier to their taking over associations and schools belonging to the churches as part of their path of total control over society. Richard J. Evans wrote that "Hitler emphasised again and again his belief that Nazism was a secular ideology founded on modern science. Science, he declared, would easily destroy the last remaining vestiges of superstition ... 'In the long run', [Hitler] concluded in July 1941, 'National Socialism and religion will no longer be able to exist together' [... The ideal solution would be to leave the religions to devour themselves, without persecutions'".


title: History of atheism

text: Party membership was required for civil service jobs. The majority of Nazi Party members did not leave their churches. Evans wrote that, by 1939, 95 percent of Germans still called themselves Protestant or Catholic, while 3.5 percent were "gottgläubig" (lit. "believing in god") and 1.5 percent atheist. Most in these latter categories were "convinced Nazis who had left their Church at the behest of the Party, which had been trying since the mid 1930s to reduce the influence of Christianity in society". The majority of the three million Nazi Party members continued to pay their church taxes and register as either Roman Catholic or Evangelical Protestant Christians. "Gottgläubig" was a nondenominational Nazified outlook on god beliefs, often described as predominantly based on creationist and deistic views. Heinrich Himmler, who himself was fascinated with Germanic paganism, was a strong promoter of the "gottgläubig" movement and did not allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline".


title: History of atheism

text: Across Eastern Europe following World War II, the parts of the Nazi Empire conquered by the Soviet Red Army, and Yugoslavia became one-party Communist states, which, like the Soviet Union, were antipathetic to religion. Persecutions of religious leaders followed. The Soviet Union ended its truce against the Russian Orthodox Church, and extended its persecutions to the newly Communist Eastern bloc: "In Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and other Eastern European countries, Catholic leaders who were unwilling to be silent were denounced, publicly humiliated or imprisoned by the Communists. Leaders of the national Orthodox Churches in Romania and Bulgaria had to be cautious and submissive", wrote Blainey. While the churches were generally not treated as severely as they had been in the USSR, nearly all their schools and many of their church buildings were closed, and they lost their formerly prominent roles in public life. Children were taught atheism, and clergy were imprisoned by the thousands.


title: History of atheism

text: Albania under Enver Hoxha became in 1967 a formally declared atheist state, the only such , going far beyond what most other countries had attempted—completely prohibiting religious observance and systematically repressing and persecuting adherents. Article 37 of the Albanian Constitution of 1976 stipulated, "The state recognizes no religion, and supports atheistic propaganda in order to implant a scientific materialistic world outlook in people." The right to religious practice was restored with the fall of communism in 1991.


title: History of atheism

text: Further post-war communist victories in the East saw religion purged by atheist regimes across China, North Korea and much of Indo-China. In 1949, mainland China became a Communist state under the leadership of Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party. China itself had been a cradle of religious thought since ancient times, being the birthplace of Confucianism and Daoism, and Buddhists having arrived in the first century AD. Under Mao, China became officially atheist, and though some religious practices were permitted to continue under State supervision, religious groups deemed a threat to order have been suppressed—as with Tibetan Buddhism from 1959 and Falun Gong in the 21st century. According to Encyclopedia Britannica in 2022, around half of the population claimed to be nonreligious or atheist. Religious schools and social institutions were closed, foreign missionaries expelled, and local religious practices discouraged. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao instigated "struggles" against the Four Olds: "old ideas, customs, culture, and habits of mind". In 1999, the Communist Party launched a three-year drive to promote atheism in Tibet, saying intensifying propaganda on atheism is "especially important for Tibet because atheism plays an extremely important role in promoting economic construction, social advancement and socialist spiritual civilization in the region".


title: History of atheism

text: In reaction to the upsurge in state atheism, religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church, were among the most forceful opponents of Communist regimes. Pope Pius XI followed his encyclicals challenging the new right-wing creeds of Italian Fascism ("Non abbiamo bisogno", 1931) and Nazism ("Mit brennender Sorge", 1937) with a denunciation of atheistic Communism in "Divini redemptoris" (1937). "Non abbiamo bisogno" specifically condemned Mussolini's Fascist movement's "pagan worship of the State" and "revolution which snatches the young from the Church and from Jesus Christ, and which inculcates in its own young people hatred, violence and irreverence."


title: History of atheism

text: In India, E. V. Ramasami (Periyar), a prominent atheist leader, fought against Hinduism and the Brahmins for discriminating and dividing people in the name of caste and religion. This was highlighted in 1956 when he made the Hindu god Rama wear a garland made of slippers and made antitheistic statements.


title: History of atheism

text: During this period, Christianity in the United States retained its popular appeal, and, wrote Blainey, the country "was the guardian, militarily of the "free world" and the defender of its religion in the face of militant communism". During the Cold War, wrote Thomas Aiello the United States often characterized its opponents as "godless communists", which tended to reinforce the view that atheists were unreliable and unpatriotic. Against this background, the words "under God" were inserted into the pledge of allegiance in 1954, and the national motto was changed from E Pluribus Unum to In God We Trust in 1956. However, there were some prominent atheist activists active at this time. Atheist Vashti McCollum was the plaintiff in a landmark 1948 Supreme Court case ("McCollum v. Board of Education") that struck down religious education in U.S. public schools. Madalyn Murray O'Hair was perhaps one of the most influential American atheists; she brought forth the 1963 Supreme Court case "Murray v. Curlett" which banned compulsory prayer in public schools. Also in 1963 she founded American Atheists, an organization dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating for the complete separation of church and state.


title: History of atheism

text: The early twenty-first century has continued to see secularism, humanism and atheism promoted in the Western world, with the general consensus being that the number of people not affiliated with any particular religion has increased. This has been assisted by non-profit organizations such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation in the United States (co-founded by Anne Nicol Gaylor and her daughter, Annie Laurie Gaylor, in 1976 and incorporated nationally in 1978, it promotes the separation of church and state), and the Brights movement, which aims to promote public understanding and acknowledgment of science through a naturalistic, scientific and irreligious worldview, defense of irreligious people's human, civil and political rights who share it, and their societal recognition. In addition, a large number of accessible antireligious, antitheist and secularist books, many of which have become bestsellers, have been published by scholars and scientists such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Lawrence M. Krauss, Jerry Coyne, and Victor J. Stenger.


title: History of atheism

text: This period saw the rise of "New Atheism", a label that has been applied to outspoken critics of theism and religion, prompted by a series of essays published in late 2006, including "The God Delusion", "", "God Is Not Great", "The End of Faith", and "Letter to a Christian Nation". Richard Dawkins also propounds a more visible form of atheist activism which he light-heartedly describes as "militant atheism".


title: History of atheism

text: Atheist feminism has also become more prominent in the 2010s. In 2012 the first "Women in Secularism" conference was held. Also, Secular Woman was founded on 28 June 2012 as the first national American organization focused on non-religious women. The mission of Secular Woman is to amplify the voice, presence, and influence of non-religious women. The atheist feminist movement has also become increasingly focused on fighting misogyny, sexism and sexual harassment within the atheist movement itself, especially since the upheaval following Michael Shermer's allegations of sexual assault and coverage of his violent behavior applied by James Randi.


title: History of atheism

text: In 2013 the first atheist monument on American government property was unveiled at the Bradford County Courthouse in Florida; it is a 1,500-pound granite bench and plinth inscribed with quotes by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Madalyn Murray O'Hair.


title: History of atheism

text: In 2015, Madison, Wisconsin's common council amended their city's equal opportunity ordinance, adding atheism as a protected class in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. This makes Madison the first city in America to pass an ordinance protecting atheists.


title: History of atheism

text: On 16 December 2016, Barack Obama signed into law the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, which amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 by specifically extending protection to non-theists as well as those who do not claim any particular religion.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Thomas Gravesen (; born 11 March 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Gravesen played as a professional in Denmark, Germany, England, Spain and Scotland for Vejle Boldklub, Hamburger SV, Everton, Real Madrid and Celtic.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: For the Denmark national team, Gravesen was capped 66 times and scored five goals, from his debut in August 1998 until he ended his national team career in September 2006. He represented Denmark at the international Euro 2000, 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 tournaments.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Born in Vejle, Gravesen began his career in 1995 with hometown club Vejle Boldklub (VB) in the Danish Superliga, alongside a handful of youths making it through the VB youth scheme, including good friend Kaspar Dalgas. At VB he played as sweeper and defensive midfielder, and after he won silver medals in the 1996–97 Superliga season he moved to German team Hamburger SV in 1997.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Following the Euro 2000 tournament, Gravesen went to English club Everton and quickly became a favourite amongst the fans.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Gravesen played a key role in Everton's rise toward the top of the 2004–05 Premier League table. With his contract due to expire in the summer of 2005, which would enable him to leave on a free transfer, Everton sold Gravesen to Real Madrid in January 2005 for a surprisingly low fee of £2.5 million.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Gravesen was signed to fill a hole in Madrid's defensive midfield, a position somewhat different from his role at Everton. He found immediate playing success at Real Madrid, scoring in one of his first games, a 4–0 win against Espanyol. However, Gravesen would eventually find himself benched. Following public outcry over his tough style of play and the sacking of Real coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo and sporting director Arrigo Sacchi, who were in charge of acquiring Gravesen, he looked ready to leave Real Madrid in the winter transfer window of 2006. However, new coach López Caro would revive Gravesen's career at Real, picking him regularly, using him in the holding role in the new 4–1–4–1 formation Real adopted. Towards the end of the season, Gravesen once again found himself out of the team, and in May 2006 a number of clubs were reported to be interested in him.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: In August 2006, a scuffle erupted at a Real Madrid training session following a hard tackle by Gravesen on teammate Robinho. Fabio Capello, the former Real Madrid manager, said about Gravesen: "The way he is, we won't have problems with him. He's just a little bit peculiar. I don't mess with him, he works well tactically. His behaviour is like this, and I don't like it, everything has to be done like he wants it to be done". Gravesen looked likely to leave Real Madrid before the start of the 2006–07 season, with his agent John Sivebæk confirming that a number of clubs – including Newcastle United in England and Scottish club Celtic – were interested in signing the midfielder.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: On 28 August 2006, Gravesen attended Celtic Park in Glasgow for a medical examination and, on 30 August, signed a three-year deal (with the option of a fourth) with the club, for a speculated fee of around £2 million. There was a period of uncertainty as to whether Gravesen would sign for Celtic after false rumours arose of a failed medical and of an eleventh-hour bid by Newcastle.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: He scored his first goal for Celtic against arch rivals Rangers on 23 September 2006. He then went on to score the first hat-trick of his professional career when Celtic won 3–1 against St Mirren on 12 November. After a promising start to his Celtic career, Gravesen was replaced in the starting line-up by Dutch midfielder Evander Sno. In April 2007, Celtic manager Gordon Strachan denied rumours that Gravesen would leave the club to play for English club Sunderland, but in May 2007 he declared his disappointment that Gravesen did not work harder to recapture his place in the starting line-up.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Gravesen re-signed for Everton on a season-long loan from Celtic on 29 August 2007. On his first game back for Everton, as a second-half substitute in the 2–1 win at Bolton Wanderers, he took the corner that Joleon Lescott headed the winner from. In his first European appearance of the season, in Everton's 3–1 victory over Larissa at Goodison Park in the UEFA Cup group stage, Gravesen set up Everton's third goal, scored by Victor Anichebe. However, Gravesen failed to make as big an impact as many Everton fans had hoped. A rare highlight was scoring a penalty in the shootout following the UEFA Cup match against Fiorentina, although Everton would go on to lose the shootout when Phil Jagielka missed the crucial spot-kick. After the last game of the 2007–08 season, manager David Moyes confirmed that Gravesen's contract would not be renewed and he would be returning to Celtic.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: On 27 January 2009, Gravesen announced his retirement from professional football after he failed to find a new club after being released by Celtic. On 12 September 2009, he stated in an interview with FourFourTwo that he had been approached by a number of clubs about a possible return to football, but nothing came of these approaches.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: It was reported in December 2013 that Gravesen had been successful with investments and was living in Las Vegas.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: Gravesen debuted for the Danish national team in a 0–1 friendly match loss to the Czech Republic on 19 August 1998. Gravesen was selected to play for Denmark at the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) by coach Bo Johansson, despite concern from Johansson that he was not "psychologically stable" enough.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: While at Everton, new Danish national team coach Morten Olsen fully supported Gravesen and made him one of his pivotal players in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 campaigns. His display in the 2002 World Cup qualifying game with Iceland, where Gravesen scored two goals in a 6–0 win, was so impressive that American boxer Mike Tyson asked for his shirt and wore it throughout his stay in Denmark. He played all four of Denmark's matches at the 2002 World Cup, though Gravesen and his partner in the Danish midfield duo, Stig Tøfting, justified their pit bull reputations when they ganged up to play a prank on teammate Jesper Grønkjær at a World Cup training session.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: He missed the first group match at Euro 2004 as he was suspended due to a sending off in the last qualifying match before the tournament but he played the remaining three games before Denmark were eliminated.


title: Thomas Gravesen

text: On 15 September 2006, Gravesen announced his decision to end his international career, deciding now to focus his efforts solely on Celtic.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The music video for "Gangnam Style" by South Korean rapper and singer Psy premiered on July 15, 2012 on the video-sharing website YouTube and was later made available to download digitally on October 19. It was directed by Cho Soo-hyun and was filmed in Seoul in July 2012 over the course of 48 hours. In the video, Psy "pokes fun at the style of Seoul's Gangnam District, a flashy district known for its affluence, high rents, high expectations and a focus on the high-status lifestyle". The video is currently the eleventh most-viewed video and the fifth most-liked video on YouTube, as well as the 19th most-disliked. On December 21, 2012, the music video set a record for the first video to surpass 1 billion views on the platform. It subsequently surpassed 2 billion and 3 billion views in June 2014 and November 2017, respectively. On March 7, 2021, the video surpassed 4 billion views.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The music video won several accolades from various award-giving bodies, including Best Music Video at the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong, the Music Video Award at the 2012 Melon Music Awards in Seoul, and Best Video at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt, Germany.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The music video is directed by Cho Soo-hyun, who also directed the music video for Psy's follow-up single "Gentleman" and the music video for "This Love" by Shinhwa. It shows Psy performing a comical horse-riding dance and appearing in unexpected locations around the Gangnam District, such as an outdoor yoga session and a hot tub. He wears several distinctive suits and black sunglasses with a mindset of "dress classy and dance cheesy". It features a "skewering [of] the Gangnam image" by the "non-Gangnam Psy"; this parody would be recognizable to viewers familiar with Korean culture. Although there are more than ten different locations featured, only two of the scenes are actually filmed in the Gangnam district. The sauna scene, elevator scene and bathroom scene were filmed elsewhere in the greater Seoul region, and some shots were filmed in World Trade Center Seoul and the Songdo International Business District, which includes Songdo Central Park and International Business District Station. The video was shot over 48 hours in July 2012.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: In K-pop, it is routine to have cameos by celebrities in a music video, such as in the dance scenes in the elevator and the parking garage. The guests in the music video include:


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The music was composed by Psy and Yoo Gun-hyung, a producer in South Korea who has also collaborated with Psy in the past. Yoo also arranged the song while Psy was responsible for the lyrics.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The video starts out with Psy, who is lounging at what looks like a sandy beach, under a sun umbrella and holding a cold drink, but the camera zooms out to reveal he is actually at a playground. The video then alternates between the playground, where a boy (Hwang Min-woo) dances next to him; and a row of horses in stalls, where Psy performs his signature "invisible horse dance". As Psy (and two girls) walk through a parking garage, they are pelted by pieces of newspaper, trash, and snow. At a sauna, dressed in a blue towel, he rests his head on a fat man's shoulder while another man covered in tattoos is stretching. He then sings in front of two men playing Janggi (Korean chess), dances with a woman at a tennis court and bounces around on a tour bus of seniors. The scenes alternate quickly until there is an explosion near the chess players (portrayed by Big Bang members Seungri and Daesung), causing them to jump off the bench. Psy immediately walks towards the camera, pointing and shouting "Oppan Gangnam Style". The chorus starts as he and some dancers perform at a horse stable. He dances as two women walk backwards. He dances at the tennis court, a carousel, and the tour bus. He shuffles into an outdoor yoga session and on a boat. The camera zooms in on a woman's buttocks, then shows Psy "yelling" at it.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The chorus ends and he is seen at a parking lot, where Psy is approached by a man (Yoo Jae-suk) in a yellow suit who steps out of a red Mercedes-Benz SLK 200; they have a dance duel. He then appears in an elevator underneath a man (Noh Hong-chul) who is straddling him and thrusting his pelvis. The man in the yellow suit then gets in his car and leaves. The camera pans and it shows Psy in the subway station, where he boards the train and notices an attractive young woman (Hyuna) dancing. At one of the train stops, he approaches the girl in slow motion, and she does the same. They start to embrace. He then tells the girl "Oppan Gangnam Style", and they horse dance along with some others at the train station, commencing the second chorus. He also surfaces from a spa.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: Psy sings to the girl at a night club as people in various costumes walk behind them. He raps in a serious tone in an enclosed space, but when he says "You know what I'm saying" the camera zooms out, and it is revealed that he is actually sitting on a toilet with his pants down. Psy, the girl and the group of people in costumes do the horse dance and strike a final pose. After a brief reprise of the dance duel, Psy says, "Oppan Gangnam style", and the video finishes with a cartoon graphic.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: Following its July 15 release, "Gangnam Style" overtook Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" to reach the number one position on the YouTube Top 100 Music Videos during the week of August 28, 2012. On September 1, it overtook Girls' Generation's "Gee" to become the most viewed K-pop video on YouTube. Although "Call Me Maybe" has had unusually strong staying power, averaging over 1.5 million views each day, "Gangnam Style" increased to an average of over nine million views per day within just two months. Sixty-two percent of viewers were male, and those aged between 13 and 17 represented the biggest group.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: According to "The Wall Street Journal", T-Pain was among the first to have "sent [the video] to the stratosphere" when he tweeted about it on July 29. It was then picked up by Neetzan Zimmerman from the social blog Gawker, who asked "Did this underground Hip Hop artist from South Korea just release the Best Music Video of the Year?" on July 30. This was soon followed by Robbie Williams, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Tom Cruise, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and William Gibson, who have either commented about or shared the video with their fans via Twitter.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The earliest video to catch the attention of media networks outside South Korea was "Psy Gangnam Style MV Reaction", which was uploaded by Katie and Mindy Anderson on July 18, 2012. The Andersons were subsequently interviewed by Evan Ramstad from "The Wall Street Journal" a few weeks later. In his article published on August 6, 2012, Ramstad also included "Kpop Music Mondays : PSY Gangnam Style", a review and parody of "Gangnam Style" uploaded on July 23 by K-pop video bloggers Simon and Martina Stawski, a Canadian couple living in Seoul. This makes the Stawski's video the earliest parody featured in an American newspaper. On August 8, 2012, Ramstad appeared on "WSJ Live", and he mentioned the Andersons and the Stawskis again, before claiming that "a lot of Koreans are also making their own parodies of 'Gangnam Style'".


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: On September 3, 2012, the number of daily views generated by "Gangnam Style" went past the five-million mark. By the end of September, it had topped the iTunes charts in 31 countries.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: "Gangnam Style" reached the unprecedented milestone of one billion YouTube views on December 21, 2012. A spoof documentary by videographer Simon Gosselin was posted on YouTube and had promoted 2012 doomsday rumors across social media services such as Facebook and Twitter that linked "Gangnam Style" to a fake Nostradamus prophecy. On December 21, at around 15:50 UTC, the video's YouTube page updated with 1,000,382,639 views. YouTube specially marked the video's accomplishments with a cartoon dancing Psy animated icon, added first by the site logo, and later next to the video's view counter when it exceeded a billion views. On April 6, 2013 the video on YouTube reached 1.5 billion views. On June 1, 2014, the music video reached two billion views.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: On December 3, 2014, the video reached 2.1 billion views (close to the largest representable number in a 32-bit binary number), and YouTube jokingly wrote on Google+ that it had to change the view counting system to prevent an integer overflow. In fact, YouTube had already updated to a 64-bit integer months before. On January 19, 2016, the video reached 2.5 billion views. On November 25, 2017, the video surpassed 3 billion views.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: According to a research by Eötvös University and Ericsson Research in Hungary; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, the geographical source of the viral spread of the video is the Philippines and not in South Korea where the video was produced. The researchers concluded the origin of the viral spread after analyzing data in Twitter and verifying the spreading pattern through Google Trends.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The video has held five records in YouTube history - most viewed video (held for 1,689 days; surpassed on July 10, 2017 by Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again"), most rated video (surpassed on February 19, 2017 by "See You Again"), most discussed video (current), most liked video (held for 1,444 days; surpassed on August 27, 2016 by "See You Again"), and fastest video to reach 1 billion views (surpassed on January 18, 2016 by Adele's "Hello")


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The music video of "Gangnam Style" has been met with positive responses from the music industry and commentators, who drew attention to its tone and dance moves, though some found them vulgar. Another notable aspect that helped popularise the video was its comical dance moves that can be easily copied, such as the pelvic thrust during the elevator scene. The United Nations hailed Psy as an "international sensation" because of the popularity of his "satirical" video clip and its "horse-riding-like dance moves". As such, the music video spawned a dance craze unseen since the Macarena of the mid-1990s.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The World Bank's lead economist David McKenzie remarked that some of Psy’s dance moves "kind of look like a regression discontinuity", while the space agency NASA called "Gangnam Style" a dance-filled music video that has forever entered the hearts and minds of millions of people. Melissa Locker of "Time" noted that "it's hard not to watch again ...and again ...and again", while CNN reporter Shanon Cook told the audience that she had watched "Gangnam Style" about 15 times.


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: The German news magazine "Der Spiegel" attributed the popularity of "Gangnam Style" to its daring dance moves, a sentiment similarly voiced by Maura Judkis of "The Washington Post", who wrote, "'Gangnam Style' has made an extraordinarily stupid-looking dance move suddenly cool". The video was also positively reviewed by Steve Knopper from "Rolling Stone", who called "Gangnam Style" an astoundingly great K-pop video that has all the best elements of hypnotically weird one-hit wonders and hopes that "PSY gets filthy rich from this".


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press wrote that Psy's dance moves are "somewhat bizarre" but the music video is full of colorful, lively outfits. Matt Buchanan and Scott Ellis of "The Sydney Morning Herald" wrote that the video "makes no sense at all to most Western eyes" and it "makes you wonder if you have accidentally taken someone else's medication" whereas Deborah Netburn of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "one of the greatest videos ever to be uploaded to YouTube."


title: Gangnam Style (music video)

text: As of January 2015, "Billboard" named the video as one of the 20 best music videos of the 2010s (so far).


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: Wittenoom is a declared contaminated site and former townsite north-north-east of Perth, in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The declared contaminated site comprises , making it the "largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere".


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: The area around Wittenoom was mainly pastoral until the 1930s when mining for blue asbestos began in the area. By 1939, major mining began in Yampire Gorge, which was subsequently closed in 1943 when mining began in Wittenoom Gorge. In 1947 a company town was built, and during the 1950s it was the Pilbara's largest town. The peak population, as recorded by the Australian census conducted on 30 June 1961, was 881 (601 males and 280 females). During the 1950s and early 1960s Wittenoom was Australia's only supplier of blue asbestos. The mine was shut down in 1966 due to unprofitability and growing health concerns from asbestos mining in the area.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: The former townsite no longer receives government services. In December 2006, the Government of Western Australia announced that the town's official status would be removed, and in June 2007, Jon Ford, the Minister for Regional Development, announced that the townsite had officially been degazetted. The town's name was removed from official maps and road signs and the Shire of Ashburton is able to close roads that lead to contaminated areas.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: The Wittenoom steering committee met in April 2013 to finalise closure of the town, limit access to the area and raise awareness of the risks. Details of how that would be achieved were to be determined but it would likely necessitate removing the town's remaining residents, converting freehold land to crown land, demolishing houses and closing or rerouting roads. By 2015 six residents remained; in 2017 the number dropped to four, to three in 2018, dropping to two in 2021.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: Wittenoom was named by Lang Hancock after Frank Wittenoom, his partner in the nearby Mulga Downs Station. The land around Wittenoom was originally settled by Wittenoom's brother, politician Sir Edward Horne Wittenoom.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: By the late 1940s there were calls for a government townsite near the mine, and the Mines Department recommended it be named Wittenoom, advising that adoption of this name was strongly urged by the local people.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: The name was approved in 1948, but it was not until 2 May 1950 that the townsite was officially gazetted. In 1951 the name was changed to Wittenoom Gorge at the request of the mining company, and in 1974 it was changed back to Wittenoom.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: In 1917 the Mines Department first recorded the presence of blue asbestos in the Hamersley Ranges. Langley Hancock discovered Wittenoom Gorge on the Mulga Downs property in the early 1930s.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: In 1937, Hancock showed samples of blue asbestos crocidolite that he had picked up in the Gorge to Islwyn Walters and Walter Leonard, who were at that time mining and treating white asbestos at Nunyerrie and at Lionel near Nullagine. When Hancock learned the fibre would fetch £70 per ton, he immediately pegged the best claims in Wittenoom Gorge.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: Leo Snell, a Kangaroo shooter on Mulga Downs, pegged a claim on Yampire Gorge, where there was a lot more blue asbestos. Walters and Leonard purchased Yampire Gorge from Snell and moved their treatment plant there and began mining and treating the fibre. When Leonard cabled London that there were two miles of asbestos in sight at Yampire Gorge, they cabled him back saying he should take a holiday. Leonard had to send a photograph before it was believed Yampire Gorge contained this much asbestos.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: Walters and Leonard cleared the way into Yampire Gorge by blasting the biggest rocks and pulling them out of the way with a camel team. Even after that it took them seven hours to drive their lorry the from the workings to their treatment plant.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: By 1940, twenty-two men were employed at the Yampire Gorge workings and about 375 tons were mined and transported to the coast (Point Samson) by mule team wagons. During the war, communications with England became difficult, and de Berrales acquired an interest in the mines.


title: Wittenoom, Western Australia

text: In 1943 the Colonial Sugar Company, through its subsidiary Australian Blue Asbestos Ltd., took over both the Wittenoom and Yampire Mines. Lang Hancock who watched his station property transform to a town stated in 1958: "Izzy Walters was the man who stuck it and produced the market that made Wittenoom of today possible." Walter's partner Len Leonard, put it this way in 1958: "but for his (Islwyn Walters) sheer grit and hard work there would be no such thing as Wittenoom. We have him to thank for that."