title: Indra

text: Parentage of Indra is inconsistent in Vedic texts, and in fact Rigveda 4.17.12 states that Indra himself may not even know that much about his mother and father. Some verses of Vedas suggest that his mother was a "grishti" (a cow), while other verses name her Nishtigri. The medieval commentator Sayana identified her with Aditi, the goddess who is his mother in later Hinduism. The Atharvaveda states Indra's mother is Ekashtaka, daughter of Prajapati. Some verses of Vedic texts state that Indra's father is Tvashtr or sometimes the couple Dyaush and Prithvi are mentioned as his parents. According to a legend found in it, before Indra is born, his mother attempts to persuade him to not take an unnatural exit from her womb. Immediately after birth, Indra steals soma from his father, and Indra's mother offers the drink to him. After Indra's birth, Indra's mother reassures Indra that he will prevail in his rivalry with his father, Tvaṣṭar. Both the unnatural exit from the womb and rivalry with the father are universal attributes of heroes. In the Rigveda, Indra's wife is Indrani, alias Shachi, and she is described to be extremely proud about her status. Rigveda 4.18.8 says after his birth Indra got swallowed by a demon Kushava.


title: Indra

text: Indra is also found in many other myths that are poorly understood. In one, Indra crushes the cart of Ushas (Dawn), and she runs away. In another Indra beats Surya in a chariot race by tearing off the wheel of his chariot. This is connected to a myth where Indra and his sidekick Kutsa ride the same chariot drawn by the horses of the wind to the house of Uśanā Kāvya to receive aid before killing Śuṣṇa, the enemy of Kutsa. In one myth Indra (in some versions helped by Viṣṇu) shoots a boar named Emuṣa in order to obtain special rice porridge hidden inside or behind a mountain. Another myth has Indra kill Namuci by beheading him. In later versions of that myth Indra does this through trickery involving the foam of water. Other beings slain by Indra include Śambara, Pipru, Varcin, Dhuni and Cumuri, and others. Indra's chariot is pulled by fallow bay horses described as "hárī". They bring Indra to and from the sacrifice, and are even offered their own roasted grains.


title: Indra

text: The ancient "Aitareya Upanishad" equates Indra, along with other deities, with Atman (soul, self) in the Vedanta's spirit of internalization of rituals and gods. It begins with its cosmological theory in verse 1.1.1 by stating that, "in the beginning, Atman, verily one only, was here - no other blinking thing whatever; he bethought himself: let me now create worlds". This soul, which the text refers to as Brahman as well, then proceeds to create the worlds and beings in those worlds wherein all Vedic gods and goddesses such as sun-god, moon-god, Agni, and other divinities become active cooperative organs of the body. The Atman thereafter creates food, and thus emerges a sustainable non-sentient universe, according to the Upanishad. The eternal Atman then enters each living being making the universe full of sentient beings, but these living beings fail to perceive their Atman. The first one to see the Atman as Brahman, asserts the Upanishad, said, ""idam adarsha" or "I have seen It". Others then called this first seer as "Idam-dra" or "It-seeing", which over time came to be cryptically known as "Indra", because, claims "Aitareya Upanishad", everyone including the gods like short nicknames. The passing mention of Indra in this Upanishad, states Alain Daniélou, is a symbolic folk etymology.


title: Indra

text: The section 3.9 of the "Brihadaranyaka Upanishad" connects Indra to thunder, thunderbolt and release of waters. In section 5.1 of the "Avyakta Upanishad", Indra is praised as he who embodies the qualities of all gods.


title: Indra

text: In post-Vedic texts, Indra is depicted as an intoxicated hedonistic god, his importance declines, and he evolves into a minor deity in comparison to others in the Hindu pantheon, such as Shiva, Vishnu, or Devi. In Hindu texts, Indra is some times known as an aspect (avatar) of Shiva.


title: Indra

text: In the Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the divine sage Kashyapa is described as the father of Indra, and Aditi as his mother. In this tradition, he is presented as one of their thirty-three sons. Indra married Shachi, the daughter of Danava Puloman. Most texts state that Indra had only one wife, though sometimes other names are mentioned. The text "Bhagavata Purana" mention that Indra and Shachi had three sons Jayanta, Rishabha, Midhusha. Some listings add Nilambara and Rbhus. Indra and Shachi also had two daughters, Jayanti and Devasena. Goddess Jayanti is the spouse of Shukra, while Devasena marries the war god Kartikeya. Indra is depicted as the spiritual father of Vali in the "Ramayana" and Arjuna in the "Mahabharata". Since he is known for mastering over all weapons in warfare, his spiritual sons Vali and Arjuna are also very good in warfare. He has a charioteer named Matali.


title: Indra

text: Indra had multiple affairs with other women. One such was Ahalya, wife of sage Gautama. Indra was cursed by the sage. Although the Brahmanas (9th to 6th centuries BCE) are the earliest scriptures to hint at their relationship, the 7th- to 4th-century BCE Hindu epic Ramayana – whose hero is Rama – is the first to explicitly mention the affair in detail.


title: Indra

text: Indra becomes a source of nuisance rains in the Puranas, out of anger and with an intent to hurt mankind. But, Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu, comes to the rescue by lifting Mount Govardhana on his fingertip, and letting mankind shelter under the mountain till Indra exhausts his anger and relents. Also, according to Mahabharata, Indra disguised himself as a Brahmin approached Karna and asked for his kavacha (body armor) and kundala (earrings) as charity. Although being aware of his true identity, Karna peeled off his kavacha and kundala and fulfilled the wish of Indra. Pleased by this act Indra, gifted Karna a dart called Vasavi Shakthi.


title: Indra

text: According to the "Vishnu Purana", Indra is the position of being the king of the gods which changes in every Manvantara—a cyclic period of time in Hindu cosmology. Each Manvantara has its own Indra and the Indra of the current Manvantara is called "Purandhara".


title: Indra

text: Sangam literature of the Tamil language contains more stories about Indra by various authors. In Silapathikaram Indra is described as "Maalai venkudai mannavan" (மாலைவெண் குடை மன்னவன்), literally meaning Indra with the pearl-garland and white umbrella.


title: Indra

text: The Sangam literature also describes Indira Vizha (festival for Indra), the festival for want of rain, celebrated for one full month starting from the full moon in Ootrai (later name – Cittirai) and completed on the full moon in Puyaazhi (Vaikaasi) (which coincides with Buddhapurnima). It is described in the epic Silappatikaram in detail.


title: Indra

text: In his work of the Tirukkural (before c. 5th century CE), Valluvar cites Indra to exemplify the virtue of conquest over one's senses.


title: Indra

text: The Buddhist cosmology places Indra above Mount Sumeru, in Trayastrimsha heaven. He resides and rules over one of the six realms of rebirth, the "Devas" realm of Saṃsāra, that is widely sought in the Buddhist tradition. Rebirth in the realm of Indra is a consequence of very good Karma (Pali: "kamma") and accumulated merit during a human life.


title: Indra

text: In Buddhism, Indra is commonly called by his other name, Śakra or Sakka, ruler of the heaven. Śakra is sometimes referred to as "Devānām Indra" or "Lord of the Devas". Buddhist texts also refer to Indra by numerous names and epithets, as is the case with Hindu and Jain texts. For example, Asvaghosha's "Buddhacarita" in different sections refers to Indra with terms such as "the thousand eyed", "Puramdara", "Lekharshabha", "Mahendra", "Marutvat", "Valabhid" and "Maghavat". Elsewhere, he is known as "Devarajan" (literally, "the king of gods"). These names reflect a large overlap between Hinduism and Buddhism, and the adoption of many Vedic terminology and concepts into Buddhist thought. Even the term "Śakra", which means "mighty", appears in the Vedic texts such as in hymn 5.34 of the "Rigveda".


title: Indra

text: In Theravada Buddhism Indra is referred to as Indā in evening chanting such as the Udissanādiṭṭhānagāthā (Iminā).


title: Indra

text: The Bimaran Casket made of gold inset with garnet, dated to be around 60 CE, but some proposals dating it to the 1st century BCE, is among the earliest archaeological evidences available that establish the importance of Indra in Buddhist mythology. The artwork shows the Buddha flanked by gods Brahma and Indra.


title: Indra

text: In China, Korea, and Japan, he is known by the characters 帝釋天 (Chinese: 釋提桓因, pinyin: shì dī huán yīn, Korean: "Je-seok-cheon" or 桓因 "Hwan-in", Japanese: "Tai-shaku-ten", kanji: 帝釈天) and usually appears opposite Brahma in Buddhist art. Brahma and Indra are revered together as protectors of the historical Buddha (Chinese: 釋迦, kanji: 釈迦, also known as Shakyamuni), and are frequently shown giving the infant Buddha his first bath. Although Indra is often depicted like a bodhisattva in the Far East, typically in Tang dynasty costume, his iconography also includes a martial aspect, wielding a thunderbolt from atop his elephant mount.


title: Indra

text: In some schools of Buddhism and in Hinduism, the image of Indra's net is a metaphor for the emptiness of all things, and at the same time a metaphor for the understanding of the universe as a web of connections and interdependences.


title: Indra

text: In China, Indra (帝釋天 Dìshìtiān) is regarded as one of the twenty-four protective devas ( Èrshísì zhūtiān) of Buddhism. In Chinese Buddhist temples, his statue is usually enshrined in the Mahavira Hall along with the other devas.


title: Indra

text: In Japan, Indra (帝釈天 Taishakuten) is one of the twelve Devas, as guardian deities, who are found in or around Buddhist temples (十二天).


title: Indra

text: Indra in Jain mythology always serves the Tirthankara teachers. Indra most commonly appears in stories related to Tirthankaras, in which Indra himself manages and celebrates the five auspicious events in that Tirthankara's life, such as Chavan kalyanak, Janma kalyanak, Diksha kalyanak, Kevala Jnana kalyanak, and moksha kalyanak.


title: Indra

text: There are sixty-four Indras in Jaina literature, each ruling over different heavenly realms where heavenly souls who have not yet gained Kaivalya (moksha) are reborn according to Jainism. Among these many Indras, the ruler of the first Kalpa heaven is the Indra who is known as "Saudharma" in Digambara, and "Sakra" in Śvētāmbara tradition. He is most preferred, discussed and often depicted in Jaina caves and marble temples, often with his wife Indrani. They greet the devotee as he or she walks in, flank the entrance to an idol of Jina (conqueror), and lead the gods as they are shown celebrating the five auspicious moments in a Jina's life, including his birth. These Indra-related stories are enacted by laypeople in Jainism tradition during special Puja (worship) or festive remembrances.


title: Indra

text: In outh Indian Digambara Jaina community, Indra is also the title of hereditary priests who preside over Jain temple functions.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Stardust is a 2007 romantic fantasy adventure film directed by Matthew Vaughn and co-written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Based on Neil Gaiman's 1999 novel of the same name, it features an ensemble cast led by Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais, Jason Flemyng, Rupert Everett, Peter O'Toole, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert De Niro, with narration by Ian McKellen.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The film follows Tristan, a young man from the fictional town of Wall in Great Britain. Wall is a town on the border of the magical fantasy kingdom of Stormhold. Tristan enters the magical world to collect a fallen star to give to his beloved Victoria, in return for her hand in marriage. He collects the star who, to his surprise, is a woman named Yvaine. Witches and the Princes of Stormhold are also hunting for Yvaine. Meanwhile, Tristan tries to get her back to Wall with him before Victoria's birthday, the deadline of her offer.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The film was released to positive reviews and grossed $137 million on a $70–88.5 million budget. In 2008 it won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. It was released on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD on 18 December 2007.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The English village of Wall lies near a stone wall that borders the magical kingdom of Stormhold. A guard prevents anyone from crossing. Dunstan Thorne tricks the guard and crosses over the wall to a marketplace. He meets an enslaved princess named Una, who offers him a glass snowdrop in exchange for a kiss. They spend the night together. Nine months later, the Wall guard delivers a baby to Dunstan, saying the baby's name is Tristan.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Eighteen years later, the dying King of Stormhold throws a ruby into the sky, decreeing that his successor will be the first of his fratricidal sons to recover it. The gem hits a star, and both fall out of the sky, landing in Stormhold. The remaining princes, Primus and Septimus independently search for the stone.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: In Wall, Tristan and Victoria see the falling star. He vows to retrieve it, in return for her hand in marriage. Tristan learns that his mother is from beyond the wall, but he is not able to get past the guard. He receives a Babylon candle that she left for him, which can take the user to any desired location. Tristan lights it and is transported to the fallen star, personified as a beautiful woman named Yvaine. He uses a magic chain to claim her and to take her to Victoria.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Three ancient witch sisters resolve to eat the fallen star's heart to recover their youth and replenish their powers. Their leader, Lamia, eats the remnants of an earlier star's heart, and sets off to find Yvaine. She conjures up a wayside inn as a trap.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Yvaine becomes tired, so Tristan chains her to a tree and promises to bring food. In his absence, a unicorn releases her, but unwittingly takes her to Lamia's inn. Tristan discovers Yvaine gone, but the stars whisper that she is in danger, telling him to get on a passing coach, which happens to be Primus'. They stop at the inn, interrupting Lamia's attempt to kill Yvaine. Lamia kills Primus, but Tristan and Yvaine use the Babylon candle to escape into the clouds, where they are captured by pirates in a flying ship. The leader, Captain Shakespeare, tells his crew that Tristan is his nephew and Yvaine, a friend. He provides them with new clothes, teaches Tristan how to fence and Yvaine how to dance.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Septimus discovers he is the last surviving son, and only needs to find the stone to claim the throne. He learns it is in the possession of the fallen star and realizes that the heart of a star grants immortality.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: After leaving Captain Shakespeare, Tristan and Yvaine confess their love for one another and spend the night together at an inn. Next morning, Tristan leaves Yvaine sleeping and goes with a lock of her hair, to tell Victoria he has fallen in love with Yvaine. When the lock has turned to stardust, he realizes Yvaine will die if she crosses the wall, and rushes back to save her.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Yvaine finds Tristan gone, and–thinking he has abandoned her for Victoria–despondently walks toward the wall. Una notices Yvaine walking to her doom and takes the reins of Ditchwater Sal's caravan to stop her. Lamia kills Sal, and captures Una and Yvaine, taking them to the witches' manor. Septimus and Tristan both pursue Lamia, agreeing to work together for the time being. Barging into the castle, Septimus recognizes Una as his long-lost sister, and Una tells Tristan that she is his mother.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Septimus and Tristan kill two of the witches, but Lamia uses a voodoo doll to kill Septimus. Lamia is about to finish Tristan off, when she appears to break down over the loss of her sisters. Lamia frees Yvaine, but her feigned defeat was a ruse, and she tries to kill them both. As Tristan and Yvaine embrace, their love allows her to shine once again, killing Lamia.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Tristan retrieves the gem that Yvaine was wearing from the floor, and as it turns red, Una reveals that, as her son, Tristan is the last male heir of Stormhold. He becomes king with Yvaine as his queen, and Dunstan and Una are reunited. After eighty years of benevolent rule, they use a Babylon candle to ascend to the sky, where they live together as stars.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The illustrated fantasy story "Stardust" was created by Neil Gaiman, with art by Charles Vess. It was first published by DC Comics in 1997 as a prestige format four-issue comic mini-series. Encouraged by publisher Avon, Gaiman decided to adapt "Stardust", and in 1999, it was republished as a conventional novel in hardback without illustrations. Gaiman has compared the story to a fantasy version of the 1934 romantic comedy film "It Happened One Night".


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: In 1998, "Stardust" was optioned for a film adaptation by Bob Weinstein at Miramax. Gaiman wrote a treatment, and then Ehren Kruger wrote a treatment. Gaiman described the process as "an unsatisfactory development period", and he recovered the rights after they expired. For years, Gaiman refused offers to develop the film. Having seen the disappointing results of the hands-off approach taken by Alan Moore, Gaiman preferred to retain control and influence the development of the film.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Eventually, discussions about a film version of "Stardust" took place between Gaiman, director Terry Gilliam, and producer Matthew Vaughn. Gilliam dropped out following his involvement with "The Brothers Grimm" and not wanting to do another fairy tale. Vaughn left to produce "Layer Cake" but then became the director for the first time for that project. After Vaughn withdrew from helming the film "", talks resumed and in January 2005, Vaughn acquired the option to develop "Stardust". In October 2005, the director entered final negotiations with Paramount Pictures to write, direct, and produce "Stardust" with a budget estimated at $70–88.5 million. Vaughn said half the financing for the film was British.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The adapted screenplay was written by Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman, who had been recommended by Gaiman. When asked how the book inspired his vision for the film, Vaughn said that he wanted "to do "Princess Bride" with a "Midnight Run" overtone." One of the difficulties with adapting the novel was its earnest and dark nature: an adult fairy tale in which sex and violence are presented unflinchingly. With Gaiman's blessing given to the screenwriters, the movie version has a greater element of whimsy and humour. Gaiman did not want people to go to the theatre to see a film that attempted, but failed, to be completely loyal to the book. After creating the audiobook version of the novel, Gaiman realised that there were 10½ hours of material in the book. This led him to acknowledge that the film would have to compress the novel, leaving out portions of the work. Budgetary concerns also factored into the adaptation, even with the level of 2006 technology.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Gaiman understood the need to move the plot along faster: "In the book, Tristan crosses the wall, meets a strange creature, goes through the wood of vampire trees and, as his reward, gets the Babylon candle. Now we skip that. He gets the candle and just lights it and gets to Yvaine earlier. Otherwise, that would take an hour." Also the newly created character of Ferdy the Fence was used to push people together faster.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Vaughn acknowledges the changes from the book were substantial, the character Captain Shakespeare was expanded extensively from the novel, where Captain Alberic was only briefly mentioned and the last half hour of the film was almost entirely different from the book.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Vaughn and Goldman decided that the witches needed names, as in the book they were collectively the Lilim. They chose names from classical sources that coincidentally included names found in Gaiman's "The Books of Magic" (Empusa) and "Neverwhere" (Lamia).


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: On the film's differences from the novel, Gaiman commented, "I sort of feel like my grounding in comics was actually very useful because in my head, that's just the Earth-Two version of "Stardust". It's a parallel Earth version of "Stardust", which has Robert De Niro and stuff. And I get people who come to the book from having loved the movie who are really disappointed at some of the stuff that isn't there that Matthew brought." Responding to a fan's statement about preferring the film's climax compared to the book, Gaiman clarified that he in fact had suggested the different ending that the film ended up using and liked it better for the film but liked the book ending better for the book.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: In March 2006, the studio cast Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, and Sienna Miller. Production began in the United Kingdom and Iceland in April 2006, with the majority of filming taking place in the UK. Vaughn picked Danes, Cox, and Pfeiffer for their roles. He intended Captain Shakespeare to be played by either De Niro or Jack Nicholson. Stephen Fry was pitched as a possible Shakespeare, but Vaughn eventually picked De Niro.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Vaughn insisted on an unknown actor for the part of Tristan. Cox was tentatively cast as Tristan, but to ensure the leads had chemistry on screen Vaughn would not confirm the casting until both leads were cast. Vaughn had Cox audition alongside the prospective leading actresses until the female lead was cast. Cox had worked alongside Miller before, and played a small supporting as her brother in the 2005 film "Casanova".


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Yvaine but turned it down, not wanting to be apart from husband Freddie Prinze Jr. while he was filming in the U.S.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The role of Quintus was originally given to comedian Noel Fielding, but due to health issues he had to drop out and was replaced by another comedian Adam Buxton.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The production started filming in mid-April 2006, with principal photography taking place at Pinewood Studios in London. Location filming started in Wester Ross, in the Scottish Highlands followed immediately by filming on the Isle of Skye. The scene where Prince Septimus consults the soothsayer was shot in Iceland. The film makers had wanted to use more locations in Iceland but were unable to get the horses they needed.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Several weeks of location filming also took place in the woods and the Golden Valley near Ashridge Business school, Hertfordshire in the village of Little Gaddesden in June and July. In mid-2006, there was some filming at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire and in the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Some of the scenes requiring wide open spaces for riding and coach scenes were filmed at Bicester Airfield in Oxfordshire.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Another film location was on Elm Hill in Norwich. The area, with a mixture of Tudor and medieval buildings dating as far back as the 11th century, was transformed into the streets of Stormhold. The Briton's Arms tea house became the Slaughtered Prince public house. The owners were so enthralled with the new look, including a spectacular mural and new thatching, that they appealed to the local council and English Heritage to keep it, but their request was refused.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The design of the witches' lair was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles in France, but with black instead of white and silver instead of gold.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The film required 830 visual effects (VFX) shots which were supervised by Peter Chiang and produced by Tim Field. Double Negative supervised 350 shots, and other work was shared out among six other companies including LipSync Post, Cinesite, The Senate, Baseblack, Machine and Rushes. Mattes & Miniatures provided miniatures. The pirate skyship set was shot against a 360 degree greenscreen and required fully CG backgrounds and digital extending the size and the bow of the ship. Some distance shots of ship were entirely CG. Yvaine required a star glow effect for more than eighty shots. Two of the witches required a signature magical effect, Lamia had a green fire effect created using a combination of particle animation and joint-driven soft body ribbons, and Sal had a black smoke effect, created by turning animated geometry into a target-driven fluid simulation. The age transformation of Lamia was achieved using composite of multiple motion control plates, including a pass in the full prosthetic makeup, the transformed youthful Lamia, and a pass where the hair was pulled through a dummy head, played in reverse to give the appearance of hair growing, composited and blended with a procedural glow effect. Twenty feet of The Wall was built on location as a practical effect and extended into the distance using digital painting. VFX were completed by February 2007.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The film score was composed by Ilan Eshkeri, who previously worked with Vaughn on "Layer Cake". Eshkeri was given the script before production began and wrote the first pieces of music inspired by the illustrations of Charles Vess from the graphic novel. Eshkeri was also on set during some of the filming. The score was released by Decca Records on 11 September 2007. Eshkeri won the award for Best New Composer of 2007 from the International Film Music Critics Association, and the score was also nominated in the category Best Original Fantasy Score.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: "Stardust" was well received by test audiences. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was surprised when the film was well received across all demographics, despite the film not having been designed for everyone, expecting instead for parts of the audience to feel the film was not for them. In their feedback audiences agreed it was not a fairy tale, giving various descriptions of it, such as an adventure with magical elements. A March release had been planned but when Paramount saw its commercial potential it was pushed back to a later date.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: "Stardust" premiered at the Paramount Studio Theatre in Los Angeles on 29 July 2007. The film was later released on 10 August 2007 in the United States. It opened in 2,540 theatres, earning US$9,169,779, an average of $3,610 per theatre, putting it in 4th place, with "Rush Hour 3" taking 1st. The film also opened the same day in Russia and the rest of the Commonwealth of Independent States, earning $8,118,263 as of 14 October 2007. In the UK and Ireland, the film was released on 19 October 2007, it came in second at the box office in its opening weekend and spent 8 weeks in the box office top ten. "Stardust" was blocked from release in China due to additional restrictions on foreign films on top of the existing quota system limiting non-Chinese films.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: "Stardust" earned a total of $137,022,245 worldwide. Its biggest markets were the United States, where it made $38 million, and the UK, where it made $31 million (approximately ).


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 77% rating based on reviews from 197 critics, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The critics' consensus reads: "A faithful interpretation that captures the spirit of whimsy, action, and off-kilter humor of Neil Gaiman, "Stardust" juggles multiple genres and tones to create a fantastical experience." On Metacritic the film has a score of 66 out of 100 based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Roger Ebert called it a "fun" movie and gave it a rating of 2.5 out of 4. He criticised the pacing as cluttered and unfocused, and concluded "It's a film you enjoy in pieces, but the jigsaw never gets solved." "The New Yorker"s Bruce Diones called it "more surprising and effective than the usual kiddie-matinée madness." John Anderson of "Variety" wrote: "Sprinkled with tongue-in-cheek humor, fairly adult jokes and some well-known faces acting very silly, this adventure story should have particular appeal to fans of "The Princess Bride", but in any event will never be mistaken for a strictly-for-kids movie." Anderson praised Pfeiffer for her comedic timing and called De Niro's performance "as engrossing as a car crash". He says the romance is the least interesting part of the film, but the sweep of the story and the humor keep the film together. Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" wrote: "Michelle Pfeiffer is Lamia, as deliciously evil a witch as the movies have ever invented" and suggested she should be the center of the film. Holden said that Danes was miscast, and described De Niro's performance as "either a piece of inspired madcap fun or an excruciating embarrassment." Kurt Loder of MTV News was critical of De Niro's performance saying "This could be the most pointlessly grotesque performance of De Niro's career; it's flabbergastingly unfunny." Michael Dwyer of "The Irish Times" described the film as "diverting in its whimsical way, but burdened with nonsequiturs, and it ought to have been subjected to more rigorous pruning in the editing suite". Dwyer criticised the cameos of Gervais and De Niro as unsubtle, jarring, and self-indulgent, and said Danes was miscast. He praised Pfeiffer, saying she gave the film "the kiss of life". Dan Jolin of "Empire magazine" called it "Patchy but great fun, peppering plenty of black humour into a sweet if silly fairy-tale romance." Glenn Kenny of "Premiere" called it "an eye-poppingly elaborate fantasy that's shot through with action-movie adrenaline and attitude." "Time Out London" compared the film to "Time Bandits" or "The Princess Bride" "but it lacks the former's originality and the latter's heart". Tim Robey of "The Telegraph" wrote: "There's a shameless romantic streak here, quite welcome in a boy-targeted genre that usually insists battles are cool and love is for wimps."


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Philip French of "The Observer" said the film "fails on every level" and referring to a scene with Robert De Niro said it "plumbs new depths of camp embarrassment".


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Deborah Ross of "The Spectator" called the film "a grindingly familiar huge pile of nothing which may please six-year-olds and fantasy nerds, but that's about it".


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Associated Press film critic David Germain put the film in 7th place on his list of the 10 best films of 2007. Rule the World was also submitted for consideration at the 80th Academy Awards for Best Original Song but was not nominated.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The film was released on both Region 1 DVD and HD DVD on 18 December 2007. The DVD was released in both and Widescreen aspect ratios. The HD DVD and DVD special features include a documentary entitled "Good Omens: The Making of Stardust"; deleted scenes from the film; the film's blooper reel; and the film's theatrical trailer.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: The film and special features on the HD DVD version are presented in widescreen high definition 1080p and feature a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio soundtrack.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Vaughn had ideas for "Stardust 2" that would involve London in the 1960s, but the first film was not financially successful enough to justify a sequel.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: On the 10th Anniversary of the film's release "Vanity Fair" interviewed Charlie Cox, who is frequently recognized by fans for the role early in his career. Cox is unsure why the film is so popular, but notes that Vaughn wanted to make a film with broad appeal, and Goldman did a great job cutting out extraneous detail, and focusing on the heart of the story.


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: "Vanity Fair" notes that the film gets replayed frequently in syndication and describes it as "endlessly likable", with a great cast, special effects that aren't too dated, and "the best adaptation of Gaiman's work, capturing his unique blend of darkness and whimsy perfectly."


title: Stardust (2007 film)

text: Vaughn was critical of the marketing of the film, saying it had been promoted as if it were "Lord of the Rings" when it had been much more influenced by "The Princess Bride". He noted that although the film didn't do well in cinemas it became an "evergreen title" on DVD.


title: Couscous

text: Couscous ( '; ) – sometimes called kusksi or kseksu – is a Maghrebi dish of small steamed granules of rolled durum wheat semolina that is often served with a stew spooned on top. Pearl millet, sorghum, bulgur, and other cereals are sometimes cooked in a similar way in other regions, and the resulting dishes are also sometimes called couscous.


title: Couscous

text: Couscous is a staple food throughout the Maghrebi cuisines of Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco, and Libya. It was integrated into French and European cuisine at the beginning of the twentieth century, through the French colonial empire and the Pieds-Noirs of Algeria. In 2020, couscous was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.


title: Couscous

text: The word "couscous" (alternately "cuscus" or "kuskus") was first noted in early 17th century French, from Arabic kuskus, from kaskasa ‘to pound’, and is probably of Berber origin. The exact formation of the word presents some obscurities. The Berber root *KS means "well formed, well rolled, rounded". Numerous names and pronunciations for couscous exist around the world.


title: Couscous

text: It is unclear when couscous originated. Food historian Lucie Bolens believes couscous originated millennia ago, during the reign of Masinissa in the ancient kingdom of Numidia in present-day Algeria. Traces of cooking vessels akin to couscoussiers have been found in graves from the 3rd century BC, from the time of the berber kings of Numidia, in the city of Tiaret, Algeria. Couscoussiers dating back to the 12th century were found in the ruins of Igiliz, located in the Sous valley of Morocco.


title: Couscous

text: According to food writer Charles Perry, couscous originated among the Berbers of Algeria and Morocco between the end of the 11th-century Zirid dynasty, modern-day Algeria, and the rise of the 13th-century Almohad Caliphate. The historian Hady Idris noted that couscous is attested to during the Hafsid dynasty, but not the Zirid dynasty.


title: Couscous

text: In the twelfth century, Maghrebi cooks were preparing dishes of non-mushy grains by stirring flour with water to create light, round balls of couscous dough that could be steamed.


title: Couscous

text: The historian Maxime Rodinson found three recipes for couscous from the 13th-century Arabic cookbook "Kitab al-Wusla ila al-Habib", written by an Ayyubid author, and the anonymous Arabic cooking book "Kitab al tabikh" and Ibn Razin al-Tujibi's "Fadalat al-khiwan" also contain recipes.


title: Couscous

text: Couscous is believed to have been spread among the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula by the Berber dynasties of the thirteenth century, though it is not found in traditional Spanish or Portuguese cuisine anymore. In modern-day Trapani, Sicily the dish is still made to the medieval recipe of Andalusian author Ibn Razin al-Tujibi. Ligurian families that moved from Tabarka to Sardinia brought the dish with them to Carloforte in the 18th century.


title: Couscous

text: Known in France since the 16th century, it was brought into French cuisine at the beginning of the 20th century, via the French colonial empire and the Pieds-Noirs.


title: Couscous

text: Couscous is traditionally made from semolina, the hardest part of the grain of durum wheat (the hardest of all forms of wheat), which resists the grinding of the millstone. The semolina is sprinkled with water and rolled with the hands to form small pellets, sprinkled with dry flour to keep them separate, and then sieved. Any pellets that are too small to be finished granules of couscous fall through the sieve and are again rolled and sprinkled with dry semolina and rolled into pellets. This labor-intensive process continues until all the semolina has been formed into tiny granules of couscous. In the traditional method of preparing couscous, groups of people come together to make large batches over several days, which are then dried in the sun and used for several months. Handmade couscous may need to be re-hydrated as it is prepared; this is achieved by a process of moistening and steaming over stew until the couscous reaches the desired light and fluffy consistency.


title: Couscous

text: In modern times, couscous production is largely mechanized, and the product is sold in markets around the world. This couscous can be sauteed before it is cooked in water or another liquid. Properly cooked couscous is light and fluffy, not gummy or gritty.


title: Couscous

text: Traditionally, North Africans use a food steamer (called a"taseksut" in the Berber language, a "kiskas" in the Arabic language or a "couscoussier" in the French language). The base is a tall metal pot shaped something like an oil jar, in which the meat and vegetables are cooked as a stew. On top of the base, a steamer sits where the couscous is cooked, absorbing the flavours from the stew. The lid to the steamer has holes around its edge so steam can escape. It is also possible to use a pot with a steamer insert. If the holes are too big, the steamer can be lined with damp cheesecloth. There is little archaeological evidence of early diets (including couscous), possibly because the original "couscoussier" may have been made from organic materials that could not survive extended exposure to the elements.


title: Couscous

text: The couscous that is sold in most Western grocery stores is usually pre-steamed and dried. It is typically prepared by adding 1.5 measures of boiling water or stock to each measure of couscous then leaving covered tightly for about five minutes. Pre-steamed couscous takes less time to prepare than regular couscous, most dried pasta, or dried grains (such as rice). Packaged sets of quick-preparation couscous and canned vegetables, and generally meat, are routinely sold in European grocery stores and supermarkets. Couscous is widely consumed in France, where it was introduced by Maghreb immigrants and voted the third most popular dish in a 2011 survey.


title: Couscous

text: In December 2020, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia obtained official recognition for the knowledge, know-how and practices pertaining to the production and consumption of couscous on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The joint submission by the four countries was hailed as an "example of international cooperation".


title: Couscous

text: Couscous proper is about 2 mm in diameter, but there also exist a larger variety (3 mm more) that is known as "berkoukes", as well as an ultra-fine version (around 1 mm). In Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, it is generally served with vegetables (carrots, potatoes, and turnips) cooked in a spicy or mild broth or stew, usually with some meat (generally, chicken, lamb, or mutton).


title: Couscous

text: Algerian couscous can also include tomatoes and legumes. Moroccan couscous uses saffron. In both Algeria and Morocco, couscous may be served at the end of a meal or by itself in a dish called ""sfouff"". Along the Mediterranean coast of Algeria and Morocco, an ultra-fine ( in diameter) grade of couscous, known as "seffa" or "mesfuf", is also produced.


title: Couscous

text: Couscous might also be served as a dessert, for which the couscous is usually steamed several times until it is fluffy and pale in color. It is then sprinkled with almonds, cinnamon and sugar. Traditionally, this dessert is either served with milk perfumed with orange flower water, or served plain with buttermilk in a bowl as a cold light soup for supper.


title: Couscous

text: In Tunisia, couscous is usually spicy, made with harissa sauce and served commonly with vegetables and meat, including lamb, fish, seafood, beef and sometimes (in southern regions) camel. Fish couscous is a Tunisian specialty and can also be made with octopus, squid or other seafood in a hot, red, spicy sauce.


title: Couscous

text: Couscous can also be served as a dessert. It is then called Masfuf. Masfuf can also contains raisins, grabes or pomegranate seeds.


title: Couscous

text: In Libya, couscous is mostly served with lamb (but sometimes camel meat or, rarely, beef) in Tripoli and the western parts of Libya, but not during official ceremonies or weddings. Another way to eat couscous is as a dessert; it is prepared with dates, sesame, and pure honey, and locally referred to as "maghrood".


title: Couscous

text: In Mauritania, the couscous uses large wheat grains ("mabroum") and is darker than the yellow couscous of Morocco. It is cooked with lamb, beef, or camel meat together with vegetables, primarily onion, tomato and carrots, then mixed with a sauce and served with ghee, locally known as "dhen".


title: Couscous

text: Couscous is made from crushed wheat flour rolled into its constituent granules or pearls, making it distinct from pasta, even pasta such as orzo and risoni of similar size, which is made from ground wheat and either molded or extruded. Couscous and pasta have similar nutritional value, although pasta is usually more refined.


title: Couscous

text: Several dishes from all over the world are also made from granules, like those of couscous rolled from flour from grains or other milled or grated starchy crops.


title: Disease

text: A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that are associated with specific signs and symptoms. A disease may be caused by external factors such as pathogens or by internal dysfunctions. For example, internal dysfunctions of the immune system can produce a variety of different diseases, including various forms of immunodeficiency, hypersensitivity, allergies and autoimmune disorders.


title: Disease

text: In humans, "disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, or death to the person affected, or similar problems for those in contact with the person. In this broader sense, it sometimes includes injuries, disabilities, disorders, syndromes, infections, isolated symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts and for other purposes these may be considered distinguishable categories. Diseases can affect people not only physically, but also mentally, as contracting and living with a disease can alter the affected person's perspective on life.


title: Disease

text: Death due to disease is called death by natural causes. There are four main types of disease: infectious diseases, deficiency diseases, hereditary diseases (including both genetic diseases and non-genetic hereditary diseases), and physiological diseases. Diseases can also be classified in other ways, such as communicable versus non-communicable diseases. The deadliest diseases in humans are coronary artery disease (blood flow obstruction), followed by cerebrovascular disease and lower respiratory infections. In developed countries, the diseases that cause the most sickness overall are neuropsychiatric conditions, such as depression and anxiety.


title: Disease

text: In many cases, terms such as "disease", "disorder", "morbidity", "sickness" and "illness" are used interchangeably; however, there are situations when specific terms are considered preferable.


title: Disease

text: In an infectious disease, the incubation period is the time between infection and the appearance of symptoms. The latency period is the time between infection and the ability of the disease to spread to another person, which may precede, follow, or be simultaneous with the appearance of symptoms. Some viruses also exhibit a dormant phase, called viral latency, in which the virus hides in the body in an inactive state. For example, varicella zoster virus causes chickenpox in the acute phase; after recovery from chickenpox, the virus may remain dormant in nerve cells for many years, and later cause herpes zoster (shingles).


title: Disease

text: Diseases may be classified by cause, pathogenesis (mechanism by which the disease is caused), or by symptom(s). Alternatively, diseases may be classified according to the organ system involved, though this is often complicated since many diseases affect more than one organ.


title: Disease

text: A chief difficulty in nosology is that diseases often cannot be defined and classified clearly, especially when cause or pathogenesis are unknown. Thus diagnostic terms often only reflect a symptom or set of symptoms (syndrome).


title: Disease

text: Classical classification of human disease derives from the observational correlation between pathological analysis and clinical syndromes. Today it is preferred to classify them by their cause if it is known.


title: Disease

text: The most known and used classification of diseases is the World Health Organization's ICD. This is periodically updated. Currently, the last publication is the ICD-11.


title: Disease

text: Only some diseases such as influenza are contagious and commonly believed infectious. The microorganisms that cause these diseases are known as pathogens and include varieties of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi. Infectious diseases can be transmitted, e.g. by hand-to-mouth contact with infectious material on surfaces, by bites of insects or other carriers of the disease, and from contaminated water or food (often via fecal contamination), etc. Also, there are sexually transmitted diseases. In some cases, microorganisms that are not readily spread from person to person play a role, while other diseases can be prevented or ameliorated with appropriate nutrition or other lifestyle changes.


title: Disease

text: Some diseases, such as most (but not all) forms of cancer, heart disease, and mental disorders, are non-infectious diseases. Many non-infectious diseases have a partly or completely genetic basis (see genetic disorder) and may thus be transmitted from one generation to another.


title: Disease

text: Social determinants of health are the social conditions in which people live that determine their health. Illnesses are generally related to social, economic, political, and environmental circumstances. Social determinants of health have been recognized by several health organizations such as the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization to greatly influence collective and personal well-being. The World Health Organization's Social Determinants Council also recognizes Social determinants of health in poverty.


title: Disease

text: When the cause of a disease is poorly understood, societies tend to mythologize the disease or use it as a metaphor or symbol of whatever that culture considers evil. For example, until the bacterial cause of tuberculosis was discovered in 1882, experts variously ascribed the disease to heredity, a sedentary lifestyle, depressed mood, and overindulgence in sex, rich food, or alcohol, all of which were social ills at the time.


title: Disease

text: When a disease is caused by a pathogenic organism (e.g., when malaria is caused by "Plasmodium"), one should not confuse the pathogen (the cause of the disease) with disease itself. For example, West Nile virus (the pathogen) causes West Nile fever (the disease). The misuse of basic definitions in epidemiology is frequent in scientific publications.


title: Disease

text: Many diseases and disorders can be prevented through a variety of means. These include sanitation, proper nutrition, adequate exercise, vaccinations and other self-care and public health measures, .


title: Disease

text: Medical therapies or treatments are efforts to cure or improve a disease or other health problems. In the medical field, therapy is synonymous with the word "treatment". Among psychologists, the term may refer specifically to psychotherapy or "talk therapy". Common treatments include medications, surgery, medical devices, and self-care. Treatments may be provided by an organized health care system, or informally, by the patient or family members.


title: Disease

text: Preventive healthcare is a way to avoid an injury, sickness, or disease in the first place. A treatment or cure is applied after a medical problem has already started. A treatment attempts to improve or remove a problem, but treatments may not produce permanent cures, especially in chronic diseases. Cures are a subset of treatments that reverse diseases completely or end medical problems permanently. Many diseases that cannot be completely cured are still treatable. Pain management (also called pain medicine) is that branch of medicine employing an interdisciplinary approach to the relief of pain and improvement in the quality of life of those living with pain.


title: Disease

text: Treatment for medical emergencies must be provided promptly, often through an emergency department or, in less critical situations, through an urgent care facility.


title: Disease

text: Epidemiology is the study of the factors that cause or encourage diseases. Some diseases are more common in certain geographic areas, among people with certain genetic or socioeconomic characteristics, or at different times of the year.


title: Disease

text: Epidemiology is considered a cornerstone methodology of public health research and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for diseases. In the study of communicable and non-communicable diseases, the work of epidemiologists ranges from outbreak investigation to study design, data collection, and analysis including the development of statistical models to test hypotheses and the documentation of results for submission to peer-reviewed journals. Epidemiologists also study the interaction of diseases in a population, a condition known as a syndemic. Epidemiologists rely on a number of other scientific disciplines such as biology (to better understand disease processes), biostatistics (the current raw information available), Geographic Information Science (to store data and map disease patterns) and social science disciplines (to better understand proximate and distal risk factors). Epidemiology can help identify causes as well as guide prevention efforts.


title: Disease

text: In studying diseases, epidemiology faces the challenge of defining them. Especially for poorly understood diseases, different groups might use significantly different definitions. Without an agreed-on definition, different researchers may report different numbers of cases and characteristics of the disease.


title: Disease

text: Some morbidity databases are compiled with data supplied by states and territories health authorities, at national levels or larger scale (such as European Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB)) which may contain hospital discharge data by detailed diagnosis, age and sex. The European HMDB data was submitted by European countries to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.


title: Disease

text: Disease burden is the impact of a health problem in an area measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators.


title: Disease

text: There are several measures used to quantify the burden imposed by diseases on people. The years of potential life lost (YPLL) is a simple estimate of the number of years that a person's life was shortened due to a disease. For example, if a person dies at the age of 65 from a disease, and would probably have lived until age 80 without that disease, then that disease has caused a loss of 15 years of potential life. YPLL measurements do not account for how disabled a person is before dying, so the measurement treats a person who dies suddenly and a person who died at the same age after decades of illness as equivalent. In 2004, the World Health Organization calculated that 932 million years of potential life were lost to premature death.


title: Disease

text: The quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) metrics are similar but take into account whether the person was healthy after diagnosis. In addition to the number of years lost due to premature death, these measurements add part of the years lost to being sick. Unlike YPLL, these measurements show the burden imposed on people who are very sick, but who live a normal lifespan. A disease that has high morbidity, but low mortality, has a high DALY and a low YPLL. In 2004, the World Health Organization calculated that 1.5 billion disability-adjusted life years were lost to disease and injury. In the developed world, heart disease and stroke cause the most loss of life, but neuropsychiatric conditions like major depressive disorder cause the most years lost to being sick.


title: Disease

text: A condition may be considered a disease in some cultures or eras but not in others. For example, obesity can represent wealth and abundance, and is a status symbol in famine-prone areas and some places hard-hit by HIV/AIDS. Epilepsy is considered a sign of spiritual gifts among the Hmong people.


title: Disease

text: Sickness confers the social legitimization of certain benefits, such as illness benefits, work avoidance, and being looked after by others. The person who is sick takes on a social role called the sick role. A person who responds to a dreaded disease, such as cancer, in a culturally acceptable fashion may be publicly and privately honored with higher social status. In return for these benefits, the sick person is obligated to seek treatment and work to become well once more. As a comparison, consider pregnancy, which is not interpreted as a disease or sickness, even if the mother and baby may both benefit from medical care.


title: Disease

text: Most religions grant exceptions from religious duties to people who are sick. For example, one whose life would be endangered by fasting on Yom Kippur or during Ramadan is exempted from the requirement, or even forbidden from participating. People who are sick are also exempted from social duties. For example, ill health is the only socially acceptable reason for an American to refuse an invitation to the White House.


title: Disease

text: The identification of a condition as a disease, rather than as simply a variation of human structure or function, can have significant social or economic implications. The controversial recognition of diseases such as repetitive stress injury (RSI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has had a number of positive and negative effects on the financial and other responsibilities of governments, corporations, and institutions towards individuals, as well as on the individuals themselves. The social implication of viewing aging as a disease could be profound, though this classification is not yet widespread.


title: Disease

text: Lepers were people who were historically shunned because they had an infectious disease, and the term "leper" still evokes social stigma. Fear of disease can still be a widespread social phenomenon, though not all diseases evoke extreme social stigma.


title: Disease

text: Social standing and economic status affect health. Diseases of poverty are diseases that are associated with poverty and low social status; diseases of affluence are diseases that are associated with high social and economic status. Which diseases are associated with which states vary according to time, place, and technology. Some diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, may be associated with both poverty (poor food choices) and affluence (long lifespans and sedentary lifestyles), through different mechanisms. The term "lifestyle diseases" describes diseases associated with longevity and that are more common among older people. For example, cancer is far more common in societies in which most members live until they reach the age of 80 than in societies in which most members die before they reach the age of 50.


title: Disease

text: An illness narrative is a way of organizing a medical experience into a coherent story that illustrates the sick individual's personal experience.


title: Disease

text: People use metaphors to make sense of their experiences with disease. The metaphors move disease from an objective thing that exists to an affective experience. The most popular metaphors draw on military concepts: Disease is an enemy that must be feared, fought, battled, and routed. The patient or the healthcare provider is a warrior, rather than a passive victim or bystander. The agents of communicable diseases are invaders; non-communicable diseases constitute internal insurrection or civil war. Because the threat is urgent, perhaps a matter of life and death, unthinkably radical, even oppressive, measures are society's and the patient's moral duty as they courageously mobilize to struggle against destruction. The War on Cancer is an example of this metaphorical use of language. This language is empowering to some patients, but leaves others feeling like they are failures.


title: Disease

text: Another class of metaphors describes the experience of illness as a journey: The person travels to or from a place of disease, and changes himself, discovers new information, or increases his experience along the way. He may travel "on the road to recovery" or make changes to "get on the right track" or choose "pathways". Some are explicitly immigration-themed: the patient has been exiled from the home territory of health to the land of the ill, changing identity and relationships in the process. This language is more common among British healthcare professionals than the language of physical aggression.


title: Disease

text: Some metaphors are disease-specific. Slavery is a common metaphor for addictions: The alcoholic is enslaved by drink, and the smoker is captive to nicotine. Some cancer patients treat the loss of their hair from chemotherapy as a metonymy or metaphor for all the losses caused by the disease.


title: Disease

text: Some diseases are used as metaphors for social ills: "Cancer" is a common description for anything that is endemic and destructive in society, such as poverty, injustice, or racism. AIDS was seen as a divine judgment for moral decadence, and only by purging itself from the "pollution" of the "invader" could society become healthy again. More recently, when AIDS seemed less threatening, this type of emotive language was applied to avian flu and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Authors in the 19th century commonly used tuberculosis as a symbol and a metaphor for transcendence. People with the disease were portrayed in literature as having risen above daily life to become ephemeral objects of spiritual or artistic achievement. In the 20th century, after its cause was better understood, the same disease became the emblem of poverty, squalor, and other social problems.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: The 2022 Indian presidential election was the 16th presidential election in India which was held in 2022 to elect the president of India as the term of incumbent president Ram Nath Kovind was about to expire. The election took place on 18 July 2022 with a turnout of 99.12%.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: BJP candidate Droupadi Murmu won the election, defeating Yashwant Sinha, the candidate of the opposition, by a margin of 296,626 votes. That led Murmu to be the 15th President of India, the first tribal and second woman to do so. She is also the first President to be born after independence and is the youngest to occupy the top post.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: The President of India is indirectly elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both houses of parliament, the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the 28 states and the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. As of 2022, the electoral college comprises 776 MPs and 4,033 MLAs (excluding the 90 MLAs of currently dissolved and recently delimited Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly).


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: The election commission assigns varying numbers of votes to these electoral college members, such that the total weight of MPs and those of MLAs is roughly equal and that the voting power of states and territories is proportional to their population. Overall the members of the electoral college are eligible to cast 1,086,431 votes, yielding a threshold for a majority of 543,216 votes.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of the President must be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 electors as seconders. The election is held by means of a secret ballot under the Instant-runoff voting system. The manner of election of the President is provided by Article 55 of the Constitution.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: Article 58 of the Indian Constitution provides that the President and Vice President of India must be citizens of India, and at least 35 years old. The Presidential candidate must be qualified for elections in the same way as a member of the Lok Sabha, and must not hold any office of profit under the Indian government. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in July is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the president and vice president.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: By convention, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha and the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha are appointed as the Returning Officers by rotation. For the 2017 Presidential election, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha was appointed as Returning Officer. Therefore, for the 2022 Presidential election, the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha Shri P.C. Mody was appointed as the Returning Officer in Notification by ECI on 13 June 2022.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: Under sub-section (1) of Section (4) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act 1952, the schedule for the election of the President of India was announced by the Election Commission of India on 9 June 2022.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: On 21 June 2022, Yashwant Sinha, a former AITC leader, was unanimously chosen as the common candidate of UPA and other opposition parties for the 2022 Presidential election. On the same day NDA chose Droupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: During her election campaign, Murmu visited various states seeking support for her candidature. Several opposition parties like BJD, JMM, BSP, SS, YSRCP, SAD, JDS among others had announced support for her candidature prior to polling.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: Congress filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Droupadi Murmu and BJP leaders, alleging poll code violation in Karnataka. The Congress party alleged that the ruling BJP had influenced the MLAs by offering bribes and other inducements in violation of the election code. The MLAs were called for training on voting in the presidential election and allegedly provided luxurious rooms, meals, liquor, drinks and entertainment.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: Right after Murmu was announced as the winner, numerous congratulations and wishes were posted globally. Russian President Vladimir Putin extended his greetings to Droupadi Murmu for being elected as the President of India and hoped for further development of the Russian-Indian political dialogue and productive cooperation in different areas under her leadership. President of the United States, Joe Biden, congratulated her and called her victory the 'strength of Indian democracy'. Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated her and said that he would be willing to work with her to enhance political mutual trust between China and India. The Presidents of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and other countries also congratulated her.


title: 2022 Indian presidential election

text: After the election results came out, tribal communities in several states celebrated her victory. Many minority tribal communities in Bangladesh specially the Santal community also celebrated her win.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S series is a line of high-end Android smartphones produced by Samsung Electronics. Together with the foldable Galaxy Fold and the now discontinued Galaxy Note series, the lineup serves as Samsung's flagship smartphone lineup.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The series consisted initially of smartphones and the first device, the Samsung Galaxy S, was announced in March 2010 and released for sale in June of that year. Samsung later expanded the Galaxy S line to tablet computers with the announcement of the Galaxy Tab S in June 2014 and released the next month. The Samsung Galaxy Tab series is the related tablet line.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: In 2013, a "Plus" variant was released with only 8 GB of internal storage and slightly different chipset. It also features the TouchWiz "Nature UX" user interface, and the brushed dark blue colour variant ("Pebble Blue"), both known from the Galaxy S3.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S3 was announced on 3 May 2012. More than 70 million units of the Galaxy S3 were sold, making it the one of the most sold S series phone. It features a split-screen feature whereby users can use two apps simultaneously (available from Android 4.1 up to 4.4.2 "Premium Suite Upgrade"), an upgraded video player software which is first able to play in a movable and resizeable pop-up window for simultaneous watching during other tasks, and with motion thumbnails that can preview playing videos rather than only a static image, an "Ambient Light" feature whereby the screen brightness can automatically adjust to the light level, a "Smart Stay" feature that can prevent the phone's screen from turning off by looking at the phone, a personal assistant called S Voice, the ability to tag faces in the phone's gallery, an "S Beam" feature to transfer files via NFC, an LED light on the front of the phone that can be used for notifications, a "Motion Gestures" feature whereby users can accomplish tasks by moving the phone, color point effects for the camera, and "smart alert" – an optional haptic feedback notification which vibrates the unit when picked up to notify the user.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S3 is the first Samsung mobile phone with wireless charging support that can be enabled using a special back cover that connects to dedicated pins under the rear cover.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Like its predecessor, its rear camera has eight megapixels (3264×2448) and 1080p video recording, though the S3 adds stereo audio recording, as well as the ability to simultaneously capture 6 megapixel (3264×1836) photos while filming, which is the image sensor's highest 16:9 aspect ratio crop. The front camera's video resolution has increased from 480p to 720p. No megapixel label is present like on the predecessor.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The "premium suite upgrade" delivered by Samsung through the update to Android 4.1 later the year retrofitted the split-screen feature from the Galaxy Note 2, allowing two apps on screen simultaneously.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S4 was announced by Samsung on 14 March 2013. More than 80 million units of the Galaxy S4 were sold, making it the one of the most sold S series phone.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S4 is one of only two Samsung mobile phones to be equipped with thermometer and hygrometer sensors (the other being the Galaxy Note 3).


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Some praised the innovation inherent in all of the Galaxy S4's new features, while others criticized it as feature creep.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The resolution of the main (rear) camera was increased to 13 megapixels, and it is able to capture 9.6 megapixel photographs during video recording at 1080p. The front camera has 2.1 megapixels and its video resolution was increased to 1080p. Optional location-based contextual file names can facilitate later browsing.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Its variants are the rugged and water-resistant S4 Active, the lower-priced mid-class S4 Mini, as well as the hybrid Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, which is equipped with an optical zoom lens with 10× magnification, more powerful Xenon flash, tripod mount, and rotary knob lens ring, combining a mobile phone with a dedicated digital camera.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S5 was announced on 24 February 2014. It improves upon the Galaxy S4 by adding a heart rate monitor, IP67 water resistance, a fingerprint scanner, the ability to record 4K videos (2160p at 30fps) and 1080p at twice the frame rate (60 fps), phase-detection autofocus which is faster than previously used contrast detection, the ability to take better photos in low light levels, a "Download Booster" feature to increase download levels to the maximum bandwidth allowed, the ability to restrict the usage of battery by limiting the phone's usage, and USB 3.0. It lacks the thermometer (temperature) sensor, hygrometer (humidity) sensor, and "Story Album" features from the preceding Galaxy S4, but largely inherited "Air View" and gesture-related functionality. "Quick glance" was replaced with "Air wake-up", which allows waking up the smartphone from stand-by mode by hovering over the proximity sensor.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S5 is the first Samsung mobile phone where the touch key on the left side of the home button is a task key instead of an option key, and the last mobile phone in the Galaxy S series to be equipped with a user-replaceable battery.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S5 is the last mobile phone in the Galaxy S series with a micro-SIM card; later phones use a nano-SIM card.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S6 series marks a counter-utilitarian and fashion-oriented course in the Galaxy S series. It consists of four phones: the Samsung Galaxy S6, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active. Samsung first announced the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge on 1 March 2015. On 13 August 2015, Samsung announced the Galaxy S6 edge+, along with the Galaxy Note5. The Galaxy S6 series improves upon its predecessors by adding the ability to quickly charge the phone with up to 15 watts using Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, virtual reality (compatible with the Galaxy Gear VR), a "Smart Manager" feature, and the ability to customize the interface with themes. It also features a new metal and glass build.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S6 series removes several features, including some long-term key features, from its predecessors, such as the microSD card slot, Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) support, , Air Gesture control, Air View, Smart Pause, Smart Rotation, Smart Scroll, the one-handed operation mode, increased sensitivity of the capacitive touch screen for use with gloves, and USB 3.0 support. In addition, the batteries in the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are smaller than the battery in the Galaxy S5, and are not replaceable by end users.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Justin Denison, then vice president of product strategy at Samsung, stated on stage at the "Unpacked 2015 Episode 1" keynote event that they had opted for a built-in battery now that "consumers could feel confident in charging their phones". The previous year, a Samsung commercial for the Galaxy S5 had mocked the iPhones' non-replaceable batteries, referring to iPhone users as "wall huggers", citing their incessant dependence on wall charging.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: It is the first main model phone to feature optical image stabilization on the rear camera and also improves upon it with the brighter 1.9 aperture that enables improved low-light performance for both photography and video recording, the first Samsung phone with a dedicated camera quick launcher (home button double-press) and also the first Samsung flagship device to capture slow motion video with audio and original framerate (120 frames per second) which can be edited in a precluded editor software accessible through the "gallery" software.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S6 is the first mobile phone in the Galaxy S series with a nano-SIM card; earlier Galaxy phones use a micro-SIM card or "standard" (mini-SIM) card.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The S6 Edge Plus, being released simultaneously with the Galaxy Note 5, is not equipped with an infrared transmitter for use as a remote control.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S7 series, which consists of the Samsung Galaxy S7, the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, was announced on 21 February 2016. They improve upon the Galaxy S6 by adding an always-on display to optionally show information while the screen is off, a "Dual Pixel" camera feature for faster autofocus, and improved low-light photography.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Water resistance and a microSD card reader were added back, both of which had been present on the Galaxy S5, and the latter also on all earlier iterations of the Galaxy S line, but neither present on the Galaxy S6. However, the IR blaster was removed from the Galaxy S7. A single-handed operation mode was added back after removal on the S6, but without on-screen buttons and shortcuts present on the S5.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The camera in the Galaxy S7 has 12 megapixels, down from the Galaxy S6's 16 megapixels to achieve a larger pixel size on the image sensor, enabling it to capture more light under the same conditions.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Its front camera, although having the same resolution as the Galaxy S6's one (2592×1944 photo; 2560×1440p video), has a brighter 1.7 aperture as well, compared to the 1.9 on the Galaxy S6.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ smartphones on 27 March 2017. They feature an iris scanner, which was not present on the Galaxy S7 phones. S Voice has also been replaced by Bixby. In addition, the microUSB port has been replaced by a USB-C 3.0 port, and the physical home button and capacitive buttons have been replaced by on-screen keys. All previous galaxy S series smartphones featured a 16:9 aspect ratio which was changed on the Galaxy S8 for the first time. A new feature called Samsung DeX was added, allowing the phone to get a desktop user interface when plugged in a monitor.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9+ were unveiled on 25 February 2018 at the Mobile World Congress, with an improved camera, redesigned back panel and improved internals. The fingerprint scanner on the back is relocated to below the rear-facing camera, and the earpiece becomes an additional speaker for stereo sound.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy S9 is the first flagship phone by Samsung to support recording 2160p (4K) at 60 frames per second (twice as much as the preceding Galaxy S5 to S8), 1080p at 240 frames per second (four times as much as the S5 to S8) and "super slow motion" at 960 frames per second for a limited duration. The first two frame rates are the first increase in the series since the 2014 Samsung Galaxy S5.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Its camera has a variable aperture which can switch between 1.5 and 2.4, making it the first mobile phone since the 2009 Nokia N86 with a variable aperture camera. A subsequent software update retrofitted the feature of warning the user about flaws in photographs such as blinking eyes and blur, which was first implemented on the Galaxy Note 9.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy S10 series, consisting of the Samsung Galaxy S10e, Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Samsung Galaxy S10 5G On 20 February 2019 to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the S Series lineup . The Galaxy S10 series introduced many new features such as an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, ultra wide lens, reverse wireless charging, 5G and Samsung's first hole-punch selfie camera design. The Galaxy S10 series debuted the One UI software for the first time with Android 9 Pie. In January 2020, the Galaxy S10 Lite was released, a mid-range variant of the S10 containing the same cameras and performance but with lower features. The aspect ratio was changed again on the Galaxy S10 series from the Galaxy S8 series. The galaxy S10 Lite featured a 20:9 aspect ratio differing from the rest of the Galaxy S10 series.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The charging rates above 15 watts supported by the S10 5G and S10 Lite are the first increase on Samsung flagship smartphones since the 2014 Samsung Galaxy Note 4.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, consisting of the Samsung Galaxy S20, Samsung Galaxy S20+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, on 11 February 2020. In October 2020, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE was released, a mid-range variant of the S20 containing similar cameras and performance but with less functionality. Another variant is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition, intended for military use. The Galaxy S20 series featured 120 Hz refresh rate displays with 20:9 aspect ratio.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The S20 series are the first Samsung mobile phones with 8K video recording (7680×4320p), excluding the S20 FE.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Up to 2.0Gbps Download / Up to 150Mbps Upload, Wi-Fi-Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5 GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 1.2Gbps Upload, Bluetooth- Bluetooth® v 5.0, ANT+, USB type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, consisting of the Samsung Galaxy S21 , Samsung Galaxy S21+ and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, on 14 January 2021. On 4 January 2022, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE was released, a mid-range variant of the S21 containing similar cameras and performance but with lower features. These smartphones lack the microSD expandable storage previously featured on the entire Galaxy S series except the 2015 S6, but are the first S Series Lineup to feature 5G models only during launch. This was the first S-series phone to get support for the "S-Pen" stylus on the S21 Ultra, which was an exclusive feature for the Note series, though the S21 Ultra lacks the Note's compartment to house the stylus inside the unit. The series also feature an adaptive refresh rate that could go from 10-120Hz. The S21 series also drops MST technology previously used for Samsung Pay which gave Galaxy phones the ability to pay without needing NFC.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, consisting of the Samsung Galaxy S22, Samsung Galaxy S22+ and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, on 9 February 2022. The Galaxy S22 series changed the aspect ratio once again to 19.5:9. The Galaxy S22 and S22+ added glass backs which was lacking on the S21 and S21+, the frames were also flattened similar to the iPhone 11 series. The Galaxy S22 Ultra had a huge design change which gave it a more similar look to the Galaxy Note20 Ultra rather than the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The S22 Ultra saw the introduction of the built in S Pen which was not present on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The S22 Ultra also changed the adaptiveness of the refresh rate from 10-120Hz to 1-120Hz. Both the S22+ and S22 Ultra got upgrades in the charging speed from 25 watts to 45 watts. The S22+ and S22 Ultra also got improvements on the display brightness to 1750 nits. Armor Aluminum and Gorilla Glass Victus+ also saw a new introduction to the S22 series.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: the first generation Galaxy Tab, The Samsung Galaxy Tab S was announced on 12 June 2014. The tablet comes in two sizes, a 8.4-inch version and a 10.5-inch version.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab S2 series on 20 July 2015. It comes in two sizes, an 8.0-inch version and a 9.7-inch version.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab S3 on 26 February 2017. Unlike the Galaxy Tab S and Galaxy Tab S2, the Galaxy Tab S3 only comes in one size, a 9.7-inch model.


title: Samsung Galaxy S series

text: The Galaxy Tab S4 was announced on 1 August 2018. It features a larger 10.5-inch display with slimmer bezels, and facial and iris scanning.


title: Unification Church

text: The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC) in Seoul, South Korea, by Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012). Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han were the leaders of the church and are honored by its members as their "True Parents."


title: Unification Church

text: The beliefs of the Unification Church are based on Moon's book the "Divine Principle." The movement is well known for its "Blessing" or mass wedding ceremonies. The Unification Church has been criticized for its teachings and for its social influence, with some critics calling it a "dangerous cult". Its involvement in politics include anti-communism and support for Korean reunification. Its members have founded, owned, and supported other related organizations, including business, educational, political, and other types of organizations.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon did not originally intend on founding a separate organization or denomination, and did not give his group of followers its official name, Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (Korean: 세계 기독교 통일 성령 협회 "Segye Gidoggyo Tong-il Seonglyeong Hyeobhoe"), until 1954. The informal name "Unification Church" () has been commonly used by members, the public, and the news media.


title: Unification Church

text: "Moonie" is a colloquial term first used in 1974 by some American media outlets. Unification Church members have used the word, including Moon himself, the president of the Unification Theological Seminary David Kim, and Bo Hi Pak, Moon's aide and president of Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea. In the 1980s and 1990s the Unification Church of the United States undertook an extensive public relations campaign against the use of the word by the news media. In other contexts it is still sometimes used and not always considered pejorative. By 2018, the term "Unification Movement" was widely used.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, are regarded by Unificationists as "True Father" and "True Mother", respectively, and as "True Parents" collectively.


title: Unification Church

text: On 25 February 1920, Moon was born Mun Yong-myeong in modern-day Sangsa-ri (), Deogun-myon, Jeongju-gun, North P'yŏng'an Province, at a time when Korea was under Japanese rule. His birthday was recorded as January 6 by the traditional lunar calendar (25 February 1920, according to the Gregorian Calendar). Around 1930, his family, who followed traditional Confucianist beliefs, converted to Christianity and joined a Presbyterian Church, where he later taught Sunday school.


title: Unification Church

text: In 1945, Moon attended the Israeli monastery with his wife, Sun-Kil Choi, to learn the teachings of Ben-mun Kim (), including his book "The Fundamental Principles of Christianity" (基督教根本原理 drafted March 2, 1946, published March 2, 1958). After World War II and the Japanese rule ended in 1945, Moon began preaching. In 1946, Moon traveled alone to Pyongyang in Communist-ruled North Korea. He was arrested on allegations of spying for South Korea and given a five-year sentence to the Hŭngnam labor camp.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC) in Seoul on 1 May 1954. It expanded rapidly in South Korea and by the end of 1955, had 30 centers throughout the nation. The HSA-UWC expanded throughout the world with most members living in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and other nations in East Asia. In the 1970s, American HSA-UWC members were noted for raising money for UC projects.


title: Unification Church

text: The HSA-UWC also sent missionaries to Europe. They entered Czechoslovakia in 1968 and remained underground until the 1990s. Unification movement activity in South America began in the 1970s with missionary work. Later, the HSA-UWC made large investments in civic organizations and business projects, including an international newspaper. Starting in the 1990s, the HSA-UWC expanded in Russia and other former communist nations. Hak Ja Han, Moon's wife, made a radio broadcast to the nation from the State Kremlin Palace. As of 1994, the HSA-UWC had about 5,000 members in Russia. About 500 Russian students had been sent to the US to participate in 40-day workshops.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon moved to the United States in 1971, although he remained a citizen of the Republic of Korea. In the 1970s, he gave a series of public speeches in the United States, including one in Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1974; two in 1976 in Yankee Stadium in New York City; and one on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, where he spoke on "God's Hope for America" to 300,000 people. In 1975, the HSA-UWC held one of the largest peaceful gatherings in history, with 1.2 million people in Yeouido, South Korea.


title: Unification Church

text: In the 1970s, the Unification Church, along with some other new religious movements, became a target of the anti-cult movement. Activists have accused the movement of having "brainwashed" its members. In 1976, American UC president Neil Albert Salonen met with Senator Bob Dole to defend the HSA–UWC against charges which were made by its critics, including the parents of some members.


title: Unification Church

text: Starting in the 1980s, Moon instructed HSA-UWC members to take part in a program called "Home Church" in which they reached out to neighbors and community members through public service.


title: Unification Church

text: In April 1990, Moon visited the Soviet Union and met with President Mikhail Gorbachev. Moon expressed support for the political and economic transformations underway in the Soviet Union. At the same time, the movement was expanding into formerly communist nations.


title: Unification Church

text: On 1 May 1994 (the 40th anniversary of the founding of the HSA-UWC), Moon declared that the era of the HSA-UWC had ended and inaugurated a new organization: the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) would include HSA-UWC members and members of other religious organizations working toward common goals, especially on issues of sexual morality and reconciliation between people of different religions, nations, and races. The FFWPU co-sponsored Blessing ceremonies in which thousands of couples from other churches and religions were given the marriage blessing previously given only to HSA-UWC members.


title: Unification Church

text: In the 1980s and 1990s the Church's membership shrank but its businesses expanded wildly and encountered significant success leading to the Church growing wealthy despite declining numbers.


title: Unification Church

text: In 1994, "The New York Times" recognized the movement's political influence, saying it was "a theocratic powerhouse that is pouring foreign fortunes into conservative causes in the United States." In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram" criticized Moon's "ultra-right leanings" and suggested a personal relationship with conservative Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


title: Unification Church

text: In 1995, the former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, spoke at a FFWPU event in the Tokyo Dome. Bush told the gathering: "If as president I could have done one thing to have helped the country more, it would have been to do a better job in finding a way, either through speaking out or through raising a moral standard, to strengthen the American family." Hak Ja Han, the main speaker, credited her husband with bringing about the Fall of Communism and declared that he must save America from "the destruction of the family and moral decay".


title: Unification Church

text: In 2000, Moon founded the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO), which describes itself as "a global organization whose mission is to serve its member organizations, strengthen and encourage the non-governmental sector as a whole, increase public understanding of the non-governmental community, and provide the mechanism and support needed for NGOs to connect, partner, and multiply their contributions to solve humanity's basic problems." It has been criticized for promoting conservatism in contrast to some of the ideals of the United Nations.


title: Unification Church

text: In 2000, the FFWPU co-sponsored the Million Family March, a rally in Washington, D.C., to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony, along with the Nation of Islam. Louis Farrakhan was the main speaker at the event which was held on 16 October 2000; the fifth anniversary of the Million Man March, which was also organized by Farrakhan. FFWPU leader Dan Fefferman wrote to his colleagues acknowledging that Farrakhan's and Moon's views differed on multiple issues but shared a view of a "God-centered family".


title: Unification Church

text: In 2003, Korean FFWPU members started a political party in South Korea, "The Party for God, Peace, Unification, and Home". An inauguration declaration stated the new party would focus on preparing for Korean reunification by educating the public about God and peace. A FFWPU official said that similar political parties would be started in Japan and the United States. Since 2003, the FFWPU-related Universal Peace Federation's Middle East Peace Initiative has been organizing group tours of Israel and Palestine to promote understanding, respect, and reconciliation among Jews, Muslims, and Christians.


title: Unification Church

text: On 15 August 2012, Moon was reported to be gravely ill and was put on a respirator at the intensive care unit of St. Mary's Hospital at The Catholic University of Korea in Seoul. He was admitted on 14 August 2012, after suffering from pneumonia earlier in the month. He died there on September 2.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon was a member of the Honorary Committee of the Unification Ministry of the Republic of Korea. The church member Jae-jung Lee had been once a unification minister of the Republic of Korea. Another, Ek Nath Dhakal, is a member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly, and a first Minister for Co-operatives and Poverty Alleviation Ministry of the Government of Nepal. In 2016, a study sponsored by the Unification Theological Seminary found that American members were divided in their choices in the 2016 United States presidential election, with the largest bloc supporting Senator Bernie Sanders.


title: Unification Church

text: Hak Ja Han has been acting as a leader and public spokesperson for the movement. In 2019, she spoke at a rally in Japan and called for greater understanding and cooperation between the Pacific Rim nations. In 2020, she spoke at a UPF sponsored in-person and virtual rally for Korean unification, which drew about one million attendees. In 2020 former Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon received the Sunhak Peace Prize, which is sponsored by the Unification Church, and an award of .


title: Unification Church

text: In 2021, Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe gave speeches at the Rally of Hope event hosted by an affiliate of the Unification Church. The Unification Church has ties with Kishi Nobusuke, Abe's grandfather and former prime minister, and Abe Shintaro, Abe's father and former foreign minister. Five ministers of the Cabinet of Japan are linked to the Unification Church, including the Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon's teachings, called the Divine Principle, were first published as "Wonli Wonbon" (원리 원본, "Original Text of the Divine Principle") in 1945. The earliest manuscript was lost in North Korea during the Korean War. A second, expanded version, "Wonli Hesol (원리 해설)", or "Explanation of the Divine Principle", was published in 1957. The "Divine Principle" or "Exposition of the Divine Principle" () is the main theological textbook of the movement. It was co-written by Sun Myung Moon and early disciple Hyo Won'eu and first published in 1966. A translation entitled "Divine Principle" was published in English in 1973. The "Divine Principle" lays out the core of UC theology and is held by its believers to have the status of holy scripture. Following the format of systematic theology, it includes God's purpose in creating human beings, the fall of man, and restorationthe process through history by which God is working to remove the ill effects of the fall and restore humanity back to the relationship and position that God originally intended. David Václavík and Dušan Lužný described the details of those 3 points as follows:


title: Unification Church

text: Followers take as a starting point the truth of the Christian Old and New Testaments, with the "Divine Principle" an additional text that intends to interpret and "fulfill" the purpose of those older texts. Moon was intent on replacing worldwide forms of Christianity with his new unified vision of it, Moon being a self-declared messiah. Moon's followers regard him as a separate person from Jesus but with a mission to basically continue and complete Jesus's work in a new way, according to the "Principle". The UC regards a person's destination after death as being dependent on how much one's work during this life corresponds to its teachings. Moon's followers believe in Apocatastasis, that everyone will eventually receive salvation.


title: Unification Church

text: In 1977, Frederick Sontag analyzed the teachings of the Divine Principle and summarized it in 12 concise points:


title: Unification Church

text: The Unification Church is well known for its mass wedding or wedding vow renewal ceremony. It is given to engaged or married couples. Through it, members believe, the couple is removed from the lineage of sinful humanity and grafted into God's sinless lineage, according to their belief in a serpent seed interpretation of original sin and the Fall of Man: that Eve was sexually seduced by Satan, which has since contaminated the human bloodline. The first Blessing ceremony was held in 1961 for 36 couples in Seoul, South Korea by the Moons shortly after their own marriage in 1960. All the couples were members of the church. Moon matched all of the couples except 12 who were already married to each other before joining the church. This was Moon's second marriage. In 1945 he married Sun Kil Choi. They had a son in 1946 and divorced in 1954.


title: Unification Church

text: Later Blessing ceremonies were larger in scale but followed the same pattern. All participants were HSA-UWC members and Moon matched most of the couples. In 1982 the first large scale Blessing (of 2,000 couples) outside of Korea took place in Madison Square Garden, New York City. In 1988, Moon matched 2,500 Korean members with Japanese members for a Blessing ceremony held in Korea, partly in order to promote unity between the two nations.


title: Unification Church

text: Moon's practice of matching couples was very unusual in both Christian tradition and in modern Western culture and attracted much attention and controversy. The Blessing ceremonies have attracted a lot of attention in the press and in the public imagination, often being labeled "mass weddings". However, in most cases the Blessing ceremony is not a legal wedding ceremony. Some couples are already married and those that are engaged are later legally married according to the laws of their own countries. "The New York Times" referred to a 1997 ceremony for 28,000 couples as a "marriage affirmation ceremony", adding: "The real weddings were held later in separate legal ceremonies."


title: Unification Church

text: Mary Farrell Bednarowski says that marriage is "really the only sacrament" in the Unification movement. Unificationists therefore view singleness as "not a state to be sought or cultivated" but as preparation for marriage. Pre-marital celibacy and marital faithfulness are emphasized. Adherents may be taught to "abstain from intimate relations for a specified time after marriage". The church does not give its marriage blessing to same-sex couples.