title: McKayla Maroney

text: After winning the silver medal in the vault finals, Maroney was photographed on the medal podium while giving a brief look of disappointment with her lips pursed to the side. The image became an Internet phenomenon sparked by a tumblr blog called "McKayla is not impressed". The image went viral after it was Photoshopped into various "impressive" places and situations, e.g. on top of the Great Wall of China and standing next to Usain Bolt. Maroney stated that she found the Internet meme "kinda funny". Maroney later poked fun at the meme on various occasions, including appearances on "Late Show with David Letterman", "The Colbert Report", "Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars", "Extra", and notably, after she and the rest of the U.S. Gymnastics team met United States President Barack Obama at the White House in November 2012. She and President Obama posed for a photo together, both making the same pursed-lips expression. The podium picture made the top spot on Yahoo's list of "Most Viral Photos" of 2012. Maroney starred in a 2021 Geico commercial playing-off her "not impressed" pose.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In September 2012, Maroney was injured during an uneven bars dismount while performing at the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions in Ontario, California. An MRI revealed that she had fractured the tibia in her left leg. The injury occurred shortly before teammate Aly Raisman injured herself performing on the same bars. On September 13, 2012, Maroney had two screws inserted to repair the fractured left tibia. She wore an immobilizer to keep the leg straight until doctors determined that she was ready to resume limited walking and rebuilding range of motion. Maroney returned to The Kellogg's Tour on October 4, 2012, in Oklahoma City on light duty. She was seen during the finale wearing her leg and foot splints and also at the VIP Meet and Greet session after the event.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In July 2013, Maroney made her return to gymnastics at the 2013 Secret U.S. Classic, where she placed first on vault with a score of 15.425 (15.600 + 15.250) and third on floor with a score of 14.350, posting the highest execution score on that apparatus. This was her first event since the 2012 London Olympics. In an interview after she finished, Maroney said she hoped to upgrade both her vaults by the 2016 Olympics, as well as her tumbling on floor.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: At the P&G Championships in August, Maroney competed on vault and floor exercise. She won gold medals in both events.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On September 15, Maroney was one of four gymnasts named to the United States team for the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. She was originally put on the team to compete on only two events—vault and floor, her strongest ones—but was later named to compete as an all-around gymnast alongside Simone Biles and Kyla Ross after performing extremely well during podium trainings. Teammate Brenna Dowell was named as an alternate instead, as there could only be three gymnasts competing on each event. She scored a total all-around score of 57.149, placing 6th overall, but due to the two-per-country rule, she could not compete in the all-around final or the floor final (14.333), or qualify as third reserve to the uneven bars final (14.3). On floor, Maroney would have qualified over teammate Kyla Ross but due to her music being over time by one second she incurred a 0.1 deduction, putting her in the 6th place with same score as Ross. Due to Maroney having lower execution, albeit having higher difficulty, Ross progressed to the final. In the vault final, she successfully defended her title, winning the gold medal with a score of 15.724. It was the last competitive routine of Maroney's career. She was the first American woman to ever defend a world title on vault.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In March 2014, Maroney underwent surgery on her knee. Maroney was featured on the cover of the April issue of "Inside Gymnastics". In "International Gymnast Magazine", she said that she wanted to upgrade both of her vaults.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On August 31, 2014, underage nude images of Maroney were published as part of the 2014 celebrity photo leaks.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In March 2015, Maroney claimed in a YouTube video that she struggled with adrenal fatigue following the 2013 World Championships.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On February 24, 2016, popular gymnastics podcast GymCastic released a candid 49-minute-long interview with Maroney regarding her health issues preceding and following the 2012 Olympic Games. In the interview, she announced her retirement from competitive gymnastics—this came two days after fellow Fierce Five teammate Kyla Ross' retirement.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In the summer of 2016, Maroney announced that she would be making a singing debut with a single named "Ghost".


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On October 18, 2017, Maroney alleged that the USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar had repeatedly molested her, starting when she was 13 years old, until her retirement from the sport in 2016. She made the allegation on Twitter under the #MeToo hashtag. Nassar had been arrested in November 2016 and accused of sexually assaulting female minors throughout his career.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In December 2017, Maroney filed a suit against Nassar, Michigan State University, the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics accusing the latter two of covering up the sexual abuse by asking Maroney to sign a $1.25 million confidentiality agreement. Maroney agreed and accepted the money. During Nassar's sentencing hearing, USA Gymnastics waived the agreement, at least temporarily, to allow Maroney to make a victim's statement in court against Nassar, who is now serving a 40-to-175-year prison sentence.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On May 16, 2018, it was announced that Maroney and the other victims would be awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On March 7, 2020, Maroney released her first official single "Wake Up Call", and released her second single "Covid Lockdown" a few weeks later.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: Maroney made her acting debut in the CW television series "Hart of Dixie" on November 20, 2012. She played Tonya, a friend of Rose in the episode "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me". That appearance turned into a recurring role, with Maroney appearing in six episodes of the series.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: In December 2013, Maroney appeared on an episode of the Fox TV show "Bones" called "The Spark in the Park" (season 9), as a gymnast named Ellie who is a suspect in the murder of a fellow gymnast.


title: McKayla Maroney

text: On August 19, 2016, Maroney appeared in season 2 episode 1 of the NBC TV show "Superstore" called "The Olympics" as herself in a number of candid appearances alongside fellow Olympians Tara Lipinski and Apolo Ohno.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 81,252, making it the twelfth largest city in Michigan. The Flint metropolitan area is located entirely within Genesee County. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 406,892 in 2020. The city was incorporated in 1855.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Flint was founded as a village by fur trader Jacob Smith in 1819 and became a major lumbering area on the historic Saginaw Trail during the 19th century. From the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, the city was a leading manufacturer of carriages and later automobiles, earning it the nickname "Vehicle City". General Motors (GM) was founded in Flint in 1908, and the city grew into an automobile manufacturing powerhouse for GM's Buick and Chevrolet divisions, especially World War II up until the early 1980s recession. Flint was also the home of a sit-down strike in 1936–37 that played a vital role in the formation of the United Auto Workers.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Since the late 1960s, Flint has faced several crises. The city experienced an economic downturn after GM significantly downsized its workforce in the area from a high of 80,000 in 1978 to under 8,000 by 2010. From 1960 to 2010, the population of the city nearly halved, from 196,940 to 102,434. In the mid-2000s, Flint became known for its comparatively high crime rates and has repeatedly been ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States according to crime statistics. The city was under a state of financial emergency from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2011 to 2015.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: From 2014 to 2019, Flint faced a public health emergency due to lead contamination in parts of the local water supply as well as an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. The acute lead crisis has been addressed as the city has secured a new source of clean water, installed modern copper pipes to nearly every home, and distributed filters to all residents who want them. However, a legacy of distrust in public authorities remains.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The region was home to several Ojibwe tribes at the start of the 19th century, with a particularly significant community established near present-day Montrose. The Flint River had several convenient fords which became points of contention among rival tribes, as attested by the presence of nearby arrowheads and burial mounds. Some of the city currently resides atop ancient Ojibwe burial grounds.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In 1819, Jacob Smith, a fur trader on cordial terms with both the local Ojibwe and the territorial government, founded a trading post at the Grand Traverse of the Flint River. On several occasions, Smith negotiated land exchanges with the Ojibwe on behalf of the U.S. government, and he was highly regarded on both sides. Smith apportioned many of his holdings to his children. As the ideal stopover on the overland route between Detroit and Saginaw, Flint grew into a small but prosperous village and incorporated in 1855. The 1860 U.S. census indicated that Genesee County had a population of 22,498 of Michigan's 750,000.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In the latter half of the 19th century, Flint became a center of the Michigan lumber industry. Revenue from lumber funded the establishment of a local carriage-making industry. As horse-drawn carriages gave way to the automobiles, Flint then naturally grew into a major player in the nascent auto industry. Buick Motor Company, after a rudimentary start in Detroit, soon moved to Flint. AC Spark Plug originated in Flint. These were followed by several now-defunct automobile marques such as the Dort, Little, Flint, and Mason brands. Chevrolet's first (and for many years, main) manufacturing facility was also in Flint, although the Chevrolet headquarters were in Detroit. For a brief period, all Chevrolets and Buicks were built in Flint.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The first Ladies' Library Association in Michigan was started in Flint in 1851 in the home of Maria Smith Stockton, daughter of the founder of the community. This library, initially private, is considered the precursor of the current Flint Public Library.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In 1904, local entrepreneur William C. Durant was brought in to manage Buick, which became the largest manufacturer of automobiles by 1908. In 1908, Durant founded General Motors (GM), filing incorporation papers in New Jersey, with headquarters in Flint. GM moved its headquarters to Detroit in the mid-1920s. Durant lost control of GM twice during his lifetime. On the first occasion, he befriended Louis Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet, which was a runaway success. He used the capital from this success to buy back share control. He later lost decisive control again, permanently. Durant experienced financial ruin in the stock market crash of 1929 and subsequently ran a bowling alley in Flint until the time of his death in 1947.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The city's mayors were targeted for recall twice, Mayor David Cuthbertson in 1924 and Mayor William H. McKeighan in 1927. Recall supporters in both cases were jailed by the police. Cuthbertson had angered the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) by the appointment of a Catholic police chief. The KKK led the recall effort and supported Judson Transue, Cutbertson's elected successor. Transue however did not remove the police chief. McKeighan survived his recall only to face conspiracy charges in 1928. McKeighan was under investigation for a multitude of crimes which angered city leaders enough to push for changes in the city charter.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In 1928, the city adopted a new city charter with a council-manager form of government. Subsequently, McKeighan ran the "Green Slate" of candidates who won in 1931 and 1932 and he was select as mayor in 1931. In 1935, the city residents approved a charter amendment establishing the Civil Service Commission.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: For the last century, Flint's history has been dominated by both the auto industry and car culture. During the Sit-Down Strike of 1936–1937, the fledgling United Automobile Workers triumphed over General Motors, inaugurating the era of labor unions. The successful mediation of the strike by Governor Frank Murphy, culminating in a one-page agreement recognizing the Union, began an era of successful organizing by the UAW. The city was a major contributor of tanks and other war machines during World War II due to its extensive manufacturing facilities. For decades, Flint remained politically significant as a major population center as well as for its importance to the automotive industry.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: A freighter named after the city, the SS "City of Flint", was the first US ship to be captured during the Second World War, in October 1939. The vessel was later sunk in 1943. On June 8, 1953, the Flint-Beecher tornado, a large F5 tornado, struck the city, killing 116 people.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The city's population peaked in 1960 at almost 200,000, at which time it was the second largest city in the state. The decades of the 1950s and 1960s are seen as the height of Flint's prosperity and influence. They culminated with the establishment of many local institutions, most notably the Flint Cultural Center. This landmark remains one of the city's chief commercial and artistic draws to this day. The city's Bishop International Airport was the busiest in Michigan for United Airlines apart from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, with flights to many destinations in the Mid-West and the Mid-Atlantic.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Since the late 1960s through the end of the 20th century, Flint has suffered from disinvestment, deindustrialization, depopulation and urban decay, as well as high rates of crime, unemployment and poverty. Initially, this took the form of "white flight" that afflicted many urban industrialized American towns and cities. Given Flint's role in the automotive industry, this decline was exacerbated by the 1973 oil crisis with spiking oil prices and the U.S. auto industry's subsequent loss of market share to imports, as Japanese manufacturers were producing cars with better fuel economy.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In the 1980s, the rate of deindustrialization accelerated again with local GM employment falling from a 1978 high of 80,000 to under 8,000 by 2010. Only 10% of the manufacturing work force from its height remains in Flint. Many factors have been blamed, including outsourcing, offshoring, increased automation, and moving jobs to non-union facilities in right to work states and foreign countries.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: This decline was highlighted in the film "Roger & Me" by Michael Moore (the title refers to Roger B. Smith, the CEO of General Motors during the 1980s). Also highlighted in Moore's documentary was the failure of city officials to reverse the trends with entertainment options (e.g. the now-demolished AutoWorld) during the 1980s. Moore, a native of Davison (a Flint suburb), revisited Flint in his later movies, including "Bowling for Columbine", "Fahrenheit 9/11"


title: Flint, Michigan

text: By 2002, Flint had accrued $30 million in debt. On March 5, 2002, the city's voters recalled Mayor Woodrow Stanley. On May 22, Governor John Engler declared a financial emergency in Flint, and on July 8 the state appointed an emergency financial manager, Ed Kurtz. The emergency financial manager displaced the temporary mayor, Darnell Earley, in the city administrator position.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In August 2002, city voters elected former Mayor James Rutherford to finish the remainder of Stanley's term of office. On September 24, Kurtz commissioned a salary and wage study for top city officials from an outside accounting and consulting firm. The financial manager then installed a new code enforcement program for annual rental inspections and emergency demolitions. On October 8, Kurtz ordered cuts in pay for the mayor (from $107,000 to $24,000) and the City Council members (from $23,000 to $18,000). He also eliminated insurance benefits for most officials. After spending $245,000 fighting the takeover, the City Council ended the lawsuits on October 14. Immediately thereafter on October 16, a new interim financial plan was put in place by the manager. This plan initiated controls on hiring, overnight travel and spending by city employees. On November 12, Kurtz directed the city's retirement board to stop unusual pension benefits, which had decreased some retiree pensions by 3.5%. Kurtz sought the return of overpayments to the pension fund. However, in December, the state attorney general stated that emergency financial managers do not have authority over the retirement system. With contract talks stalled, Kurtz stated that there either need to be cuts or layoffs to union employees. That same month, the city's recreation centers were temporarily closed.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Emergency measures continued in 2003. In May, Kurtz increased water and sewer bills by 11% and shut down operations of the ombudsman's office. In September, a 4% pay cut was agreed to by the city's largest union. In October, Kurtz moved in favor of infrastructure improvements, authorizing $1 million in sewer and road projects. Don Williamson was elected a full-term mayor and sworn in on November 10. In December, city audits reported nearly $14 million in reductions in the city deficit. For the 2003–2004 budget year, estimates decreased that amount to between $6 million and $8 million.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: With pressure from Kurtz for large layoffs and replacement of the board on February 17, 2004, the City Retirement Board agreed to four proposals reducing the amount of the city's contribution into the system. On March 24, Kurtz indicated that he would raise the City Council's and the mayor's pay, and in May, Kurtz laid off 10 workers as part of 35 job cuts for the 2004–05 budget. In June 2004, Kurtz reported that the financial emergency was over.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In November 2013, American Cast Iron Pipe Company, a Birmingham, Alabama based company, became the first to build a production facility in Flint's former Buick City site, purchasing the property from the RACER Trust. Commercially, local organizations have attempted to pool their resources in the central business district and to expand and bolster higher education at four local institutions. Examples of their efforts include the following:


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Similar to a plan in Detroit, Flint is in the process of tearing down thousands of abandoned homes to create available real estate. As of June 2009, approximately 1,100 homes have been demolished in Flint, with one official estimating another 3,000 more will have to be torn down.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: On September 30, 2011, Governor Rick Snyder appointed an eight-member team to review Flint's financial state with a request to report back in 30 days (half the legal time for a review). On November 8, Mayor Dayne Walling defeated challenger Darryl Buchanan 8,819 votes (56%) to 6,868 votes (44%). That same day, the Michigan State review panel declared Flint to be in a state of a "local government financial emergency" recommending the state again appoint an emergency manager. On November 14, the City Council voted 7 to 2 to not appeal the state review with Mayor Walling concurring the next day. Governor Snyder appointed Michael Brown as the city's emergency manager. On December 2, Brown dismissed a number of top administrators. Pay and benefits from Flint's elected officials were automatically removed. On December 8, the office of ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission were eliminated by Brown.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: On January 16, 2012, protestors against the emergency manager law including Flint residents marched near the governor's home. The next day, Brown filed a financial and operating plan with the state as mandated by law. The next month, each ward in the city had a community engagement meeting hosted by Brown. Governor Snyder on March 7 made a statewide public safety message from Flint City Hall that included help for Flint with plans for reopening the Flint lockup and increasing state police patrols in Flint.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: On March 20, 2012, days after a lawsuit was filed by labor union AFSCME, and a restraining order was issued against Brown, his appointment was found to be in violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act, and Mayor Walling and the City Council had their powers returned. The state immediately filed an emergency appeal, claiming the financial emergency still existed. On March 26, the appeal was granted, putting Brown back in power. Brown and several unions agreed to new contract terms in April. Brown unveiled his fiscal year 2013 budget on April 23. It included cuts in nearly every department including police and fire, as well as higher taxes. An Obsolete Property Rehabilitation District was created by Manager Brown in June 2012 for 11 downtown Flint properties. On July 19, the city pension system was transferred to the Municipal Employees Retirement System by the city's retirement board which led to a legal challenge.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: On August 3, 2012, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the state Board of Canvassers to certify a referendum on Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager Law, for the November ballot. Brown made several actions on August 7 including placing a $6 million public safety millage on the ballot and sold Genesee Towers to a development group for $1 to demolish the structure. The board certified the referendum petition on August 8, returning the previous Emergency Financial Manager Law into effect. With Brown previously temporary mayor for the last few years, he was ineligible to be the Emergency Financial Manager. Ed Kurtz was once again appointed Emergency Financial Manager by the Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Two lawsuits were filed in September 2012, one by the city council against Kurtz's appointment, while another was against the state in Ingham County Circuit Court claiming the old emergency financial manager law remains repealed. On November 30, State Treasurer Andy Dillon announced the financial emergency was still ongoing, and the emergency manager was still needed.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Michael Brown was re-appointed Emergency Manager on June 26, 2013, and returned to work on July 8. Flint had an $11.3 million projected deficit when Brown started as emergency manager in 2011. The city faced a $19.1 million combined deficit from 2012, with plans to borrow $12 million to cover part of it. Brown resigned from his position in early September 2013, and his last day was October 31. He was succeeded by Saginaw city manager (and former Flint temporary mayor) Darnell Earley.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Earley formed a blue ribbon committee on governance with 23 members on January 16, 2014, to review city operations and consider possible charter amendments. The blue ribbon committee recommend that the city move to a council-manager government. Six charter amendment proposals were placed on the , ballot with the charter review commission proposal passing along with reduction of mayoral staff appointments and budgetary amendments. Proposals which would eliminate certain executive departments, the Civil Service Commission and the ombudsman office were defeated. Flint elected a nine-member Charter Review Commission on May 5, 2015.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: With Earley appointed to be emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools on , city financial adviser Jerry Ambrose was selected to finish out the financial emergency with an expected exit in April. On , the state moved the city from under an emergency manager receivership to a Receivership Transition Advisory Board. On November 3, 2015, Flint residents elected Karen Weaver as their first female mayor. On January 22, 2016, the Receivership Transition Advisory Board unanimously voted to return some powers, including appointment authority, to the mayor. The Receivership Transit Authority Board was formally dissolved by State Treasurer Nick Khouri on April 10, 2018, returning the city to local control.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In April 2014, Flint switched its water supply from Lake Huron (via Detroit) to the Flint River. The problem was compounded with the fact that anticorrosive measures were not implemented. After two independent studies, lead poisoning caused by the water was found in the area's population. This has led to several lawsuits, the resignation of several officials, fifteen criminal indictments, and a federal public health state of emergency for all of Genesee County.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Flint lies in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan. Flint and Genesee County can be categorized as a subregion of Flint/Tri-Cities. It is located along the Flint River, which flows through Lapeer, Genesee, and Saginaw counties and is long.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. Flint lies just to the northeast of the Flint hills. The terrain is low and rolling along the south and east sides, and flatter to the northwest.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Flint has several neighborhoods grouped around the center of the city on the four cardinal sides. The downtown business district is centered on Saginaw Street south of the Flint River. Just west, on opposite sides of the river, are Carriage Town (north) and the Grand Traverse Street District (south). Both neighborhoods boast strong neighborhood associations. These neighborhoods were the center of manufacturing for and profits from the nation's carriage industry until the 1920s and are the site of many well-preserved Victorian homes and the setting of Atwood Stadium.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The University Avenue corridor of Carriage Town is home to the largest concentration of Greek housing in the area, with fraternity houses from both Kettering University, and the University of Michigan-Flint. Chapter houses include Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Delta Chi, Theta Chi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Theta Xi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Gamma Delta, and Delta Tau Delta Fraternities.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Just north of downtown is River Village, an example of gentrification via mixed-income public housing. To the east of I-475 is Central Park and Fairfield Village. These are the only two neighborhoods between UM-Flint and Mott Community College and enjoy strong neighborhood associations. Central Park piloted a project to convert street lights to LED and is defined by seven cul-de-sacs.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The North Side and 5th Ward are predominantly African American, with such historic districts as Buick City and Civic Park on the north, and Sugar Hill, Floral Park, and Kent and Elm Parks on the south. Many of these neighborhoods were the original centers of early Michigan blues. The South Side in particular was also a center for multi-racial migration from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Deep South since World War II. These neighborhoods are most often lower income but have maintained some level of economic stratification. The East Side is the site of the Applewood Mott Estate, and Mott Community College, the Cultural Center, and East Village, one of Flint's more prosperous areas. The surrounding neighborhood is called the College/Cultural Neighborhood, with a strong neighborhood association, lower crime rate and stable housing prices.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Just north is Eastside Proper, also known as the State Streets, and has much of Flint's Hispanic community.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The West Side includes the main site of the 1936–37 sit-down strike, the Mott Park neighborhood, Kettering University, and the historic Woodcroft Estates, owned in the past by legendary automotive executives and current home to prominent and historic Flint families such as the Motts, the Manleys, and the Smiths.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Facilities associated with General Motors in the past and present are scattered throughout the city, including GM Truck and Bus, Flint Metal Center and Powertrain South (clustered together on the city's southwestern corner); Powertrain North, Flint Tool and Die and Delphi East. The largest plant, Buick City, and adjacent facilities have been demolished.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Half of Flint's fourteen tallest buildings were built during the 1920s. The 19-story Genesee Towers, formerly the city's tallest building, was completed in 1968. The building became unused in later years and fell into severe disrepair: a cautionary sign warning of falling debris was put on the sidewalk in front of it. An investment company purchased the building for $1, and it was demolished (by implosion) on December 22, 2013.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Typical of southeastern Michigan, Flint has a humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfb"), and is part of USDA Hardiness zone 6a. Winters are cold, with moderate snowfall and temperatures not rising above freezing on an average 52 days annually, while dropping to or below on an average 9.3 days a year; summers are warm to hot with temperatures exceeding on 9.0 days. The monthly daily mean temperature ranges from in January to in July. Official temperature extremes range from on July 8 and 13, 1936 down to on January 18, 1976, and February 20, 2015; the record low maximum is on January 18, 1994, while, conversely the record high minimum is on July 18, 1942. Decades may pass between readings of or higher, which last occurred July 17, 2012. The average window for freezing temperatures is October 8 thru May 7, allowing a growing season of 153 days. On June 8, 1953, Flint was hit by an F5 tornado, which claimed 116 lives.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Precipitation is moderate and somewhat evenly-distributed throughout the year, although the warmer months average more, averaging annually, but historically ranging from in 1963 to in 1975. Snowfall, which typically falls in measurable amounts between November 12 through April 9 (occasionally in October and very rarely in May), averages per year, although historically ranging from in 1944–45 to in 2017–18. A snow depth of or more occurs on an average 64 days, with 53 days from December to February.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Flint, Michigan

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 102,434 people, 40,472 households, and 23,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 51,321 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 56.6% African American, 37.4% White, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.9% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 35.7% of the population in 2010, compared to 70.1% in 1970.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: There were 40,472 households, of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.1% were married couples living together, 29.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.8% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.13.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The median age in the city was 33.6 years. 27.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.5% were from 25 to 44; 25.1% were from 45 to 64; and 10.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.0% male and 52.0% female.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: In 2016, Niraj Warikoo of the "Detroit Free Press" stated that area community leaders stated that the Hispanic and Latino people made up close to 6% of the city population, while the city also had 142 Arab-American families. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, slightly over 1% of Flint's population was born outside the U.S., and over three-quarters of that foreign-born population have become naturalized citizens.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The city levies an income tax of 1 percent on residents and 0.5 percent on nonresidents. The 1974 Charter is the city's current charter that gives the city a strong mayor form of government. It also instituted the appointed independent office of Ombudsman, while the city clerk is solely appointed by the city council. The city council is composed of members elected from the city's nine wards. A Charter Review Commission is currently impaneled to review the charter for a complete overhaul. The city operated under state-led financial receivership from April 30, 2015, to April 10, 2018, which saw the city under an Emergency Manager as the State of Michigan had declared a state of local government financial emergency. The Receivership Transition Advisory Board had the authority to override council decisions related to financial matters. The city has operated under at least four charters (1855, 1888, 1929, 1974).


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Law enforcement in Flint is the responsibility of the Flint Police Department, the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, and the Michigan State Police. Flint has been consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States by multiple sources. From 2007 to 2009, violent crime in Flint was ranked in the top five among U.S. cities with a population of at least 50,000 people. From 2010 to 2012, Flint ranked as the city with the highest violent crime rate among cities with over 100,000 population. In 2015, "CQ Press" (using FBI statistics) ranked the crime index for Flint as seventh-highest in cities with population greater than 75,000. In 2018, the FBI reported Flint was ranked as America's sixth most violent city among those with population of 50,000 or more in 2017. Violent crimes were up 23% compared to 2016 according to the report.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Most politicians are affiliated with the Democratic party despite the city's elections being nonpartisan. In 2006, Flint was the tenth most liberal city in the United States, according to a nationwide study by the non-partisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research, which examined the voting patterns of 237 cities with a population over 100,000.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The city elected Karen Weaver as its first female mayor in 2015. She was succeeded in 2020 by Sheldon Neeley.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: There is semi-pro football at Atwood Stadium with the Flint Fury. Atwood is an 11,000+ seat stadium in downtown Flint which has hosted many events, including baseball. When artificial turf was installed, it was no longer able to host baseball games. The Flint Fury have been in action since 2003, and are currently a part of the Great Lakes Football League. The team was founded by two of its players; Charles Lawler and Prince Goodson, who both played for the defunct Flint Falcons semi-pro team. The team is now solely owned by Lawler.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram II, born and raised in Grand Blanc, attended his final year of high school at Flint Southwestern Academy. He won the Heisman with 1304 total votes. Ingram attended the University of Alabama and is their first Heisman winner. He was a member of the National Champion 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide football team.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Many Flint natives have played basketball in the National Basketball Association (NBA), NCAA Division 1 or European professional basketball. NBA champion Glen Rice, Eddie Robinson and three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee, and Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma all hail from Flint, as do Morris Peterson, Mateen Cleaves, and Charlie Bell (four of the five starters from Michigan State University's "Flintstones" 2000 National Championship team).


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Local teacher and independent film maker Marcus Davenport chronicles Flint's ties to basketball and the basketball culture in his documentary "Flint Star: The Motion Picture". Will Ferrell's 2008 movie "Semi-Pro" is based on the fictional basketball team the "Flint Tropics".


title: Flint, Michigan

text: On January 14, 2015, the Ontario Hockey League's Plymouth Whalers were relocated to Flint after a sale of the team to the owner of Perani Arena for the 2015–16 season. The team changed its name to the Flint Firebirds.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Flint is twinned with Hamilton, Ontario, and its amateur athletes compete in the CANUSA Games, held alternatively between the two cities since 1957.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The city of Flint is served by various bus lines. For travel within and around the city, the Flint Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) provides local bus services. Indian Trails provides inter-city bus service north to Saint Ignace, through Bay City and south to Pontiac, Southfield, and Detroit, and runs services west to Chicago. MTA's main hub is in Downtown Flint, while the Indian Trails station is co-located at the Flint Amtrak station on Dort Highway, just north of I-69.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail service on the "Blue Water" line from Chicago to Port Huron at the border to Canada. The Amtrak station is located on Dort Highway, just north of I-69. The station was built in 1989 and replaced an earlier Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GTW) station closer to downtown. Canadian National Railway (GTW's successor) and Lake State Railway provide freight service to Flint, with CN operating from Bristol Yard on the western side of the city and LSRC operating from the former CSX Transportation McGrew Yard to the north. While CSX ceded control of their former Saginaw Subdivision north of Plymouth to LSRC in 2019, they continue to operate trackage rights trains over CN from Flint to Port Huron several times per week as of 2020. Into the late 1940s, the Pere Marquette Railway operated daily passenger trains through a separate station miles away, with trains heading north to Saginaw and Bay City and south to Detroit's Fort Street Union Depot.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Flint is served by three passenger and two cargo airlines at Bishop International Airport. It is located on Bristol Road between I-75 and I-69. Dalton Airport, a public use airport near Flushing, also serves small, privately owned planes. Price's Airport in Linden serves the same purpose.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Public K-12 education is provided under the umbrella of the Flint Community Schools. Students attend ten elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school (Flint Southwestern Academy). The city's original high school, Flint Central High School, was closed in 2009 because of a budget deficit and a lack of maintenance on the building by the Flint School District. The building, however, still stands. Flint Northern High School was converted to an alternative education school at the start of the 2013–14 school year and was closed later in 2014. The state-run Michigan School for the Deaf is located in Flint, and Michigan School for the Blind was previously there, having moved from Lansing in 1995.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The Catholic high school is Fr. Luke M. Powers Catholic High School which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing and serves the entire county. The school moved from its location just north of Flint in Mt. Morris Township in 2013 into the former Michigan School for the Deaf building off of Miller Road in Flint, which received a $22 million renovation. The Valley School is a small private K–12 school. Flint also has several charter schools.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The Flint Public Library holds 454,645 books, 22,355 audio materials, 9,453 video materials, and 2,496 serial subscriptions.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The county's largest newspaper is "The Flint Journal", which dates back to 1876. Effective June 2009 the paper ceased to be a daily publication, opting to publish on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The move made Genesee County the largest county in the United States without a daily newspaper. The Flint Journal began publishing a Tuesday edition in March 2010.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: "The East Village Magazine" is a non-profit news magazine providing information about neighborhood issues since 1976. The monthly magazine centers on the East Village neighborhood, outside downtown Flint, but is distributed throughout the city. "The Uncommon Sense" was a recent publication featuring critical journalism, satirical cartoons, and articles on music and nightlife, but it ceased publishing in 2007. In January 2009, "Broadside" became the current independent newspaper, exclusively available in print. In early 2009 "Flint Comix & Entertainment" began circulating around college campuses, and local businesses. This monthly publication features local and nationally recognized comic artists, as well as editorials, and other news.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Two quarterly magazines have appeared in recent years: "Innovative Health Magazine" and "Downtown Flint Revival Magazine". Debuting in 2008, Innovative Health highlights the medical advancements, health services and lifestyles happening in and around Genesee County, while Downtown Flint Revival reports on new developments, building renovations and the many businesses in the Downtown area. A new monthly magazine which began publishing in June 2013 is known as "My City Magazine" which highlights events, arts and culture in Genesee County.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: Online news source, FlintBeat.com was launched in 2017 by Flint-area native, Jiquanda Johnson. The hyper local news website focuses on Flint City Hall, solutions journalism and public health in addition to their work covering neighborhoods and telling community stories.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: University publications include University of Michigan–Flint's student newspaper "The Michigan Times", Kettering University's "The Technician" and the "MCC Chronicle", formerly the MCC Post, which is a monthly magazine from Mott Community College.


title: Flint, Michigan

text: WJRT-TV (ABC), formerly one of ten ABC owned-and-operated stations, is currently the only area station to operate from Flint. WSMH (Fox) is licensed to Flint, but its programming originates from outside of Flint proper (the suburb Mt. Morris Township), WEYI (NBC), licensed to Saginaw, and WBSF (The CW), licensed to Bay City, share studios with WSMH. Other stations outside the Flint area that serve the area include Saginaw-based WNEM-TV (CBS) (which has a news bureau in Downtown Flint), Delta College's WDCQ-TV (PBS), and Saginaw's WAQP (TCT).


title: Flint, Michigan

text: The Flint radio market has a rich history. WAMM-AM 1420 (started in 1955, now gospel station WFLT) on the city's eastside was one of the first stations in the country to program to the black community and was also where legendary DJ Casey Kasem had his first radio job. WTAC-AM 600 (now religious station WSNL) was a highly rated and influential Top 40 station in the 1960s and 1970s, showcasing Michigan artists and being the first in the U.S. to play acts like The Who and AC/DC. WTAC changed its format to country music in 1980 and then became a pioneering contemporary Christian music station a few years later; the calls are now on 89.7 FM, a member of the "Smile FM" network. WTRX-AM 1330 also played Top 40 music for a time in the 1960s and '70s. The city's first radio station, AM 910 WFDF, first went on the air in 1922. It has since relocated south into the Detroit market, changing its city of license to Farmington Hills and increasing its power to 50,000 watts.


title: Heresy

text: Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religious teachings, but is also used of views strongly opposed to any generally accepted ideas. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.


title: Heresy

text: The term is used particularly in reference to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In certain historical Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures, among others, espousing ideas deemed heretical has been (and in some cases still is) met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty.


title: Heresy

text: Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause; and from blasphemy, which is an impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things. Heresiology is the study of heresy.


title: Heresy

text: Derived from Ancient Greek "haíresis" (), the English "heresy" originally meant "choice" or "thing chosen". However, it came to mean the "party, or school, of a man's choice", and also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live.


title: Heresy

text: The word "heresy" is usually used within a Christian, Jewish, or Islamic context, and implies slightly different meanings in each. The founder or leader of a heretical movement is called a "heresiarch", while individuals who espouse heresy or commit heresy are known as "heretics".


title: Heresy

text: According to Titus 3:10 a divisive person should be warned twice before separating from him. The Greek for the phrase "divisive person" became a technical term in the early Church for a type of "heretic" who promoted dissension. In contrast, correct teaching is called sound not only because it builds up the faith, but because it protects it against the corrupting influence of false teachers.


title: Heresy

text: Tertullian () implied that it was the Jews who most inspired heresy in Christianity: "From the Jew the heretic has accepted guidance in this discussion [that Jesus was not the Christ]."


title: Heresy

text: The use of the word "heresy" was given wide currency by Irenaeus in his 2nd-century tract "Contra Haereses" ("Against Heresies") to describe and discredit his opponents during the early centuries of the Christian community. He described the community's beliefs and doctrines as orthodox (from , "orthos", "straight" or "correct" + , "doxa", "belief") and the Gnostics' teachings as heretical. He also pointed out the concept of apostolic succession to support his arguments.


title: Heresy

text: Constantine the Great, who along with Licinius had decreed toleration of Christianity in the Roman Empire by what is commonly called the Edict of Milan, and was the first Roman Emperor baptized, set precedents for later policy. By Roman law the Emperor was Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs ("Collegium Pontificum)" of all recognized religions in ancient Rome. To put an end to the doctrinal debate initiated by Arius, Constantine called the first of what would afterwards be called the ecumenical councils and then enforced orthodoxy by Imperial authority.


title: Heresy

text: The first known usage of the term in a legal context was in AD 380 by the Edict of Thessalonica of Theodosius I, which made Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire. Prior to the issuance of this edict, the Church had no state-sponsored support for any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as "heresy". By this edict the state's authority and that of the Church became somewhat overlapping. One of the outcomes of this blurring of Church and state was the sharing of state powers of legal enforcement with church authorities. This reinforcement of the Church's authority gave church leaders the power to, in effect, pronounce the death sentence upon those whom the church considered heretical.


title: Heresy

text: Within six years of the official criminalization of heresy by the Emperor, the first Christian heretic to be executed, Priscillian, was condemned in 386 by Roman secular officials for sorcery, and put to death with four or five followers. However, his accusers were excommunicated both by Ambrose of Milan and by Pope Siricius, who opposed Priscillian's heresy, but "believed capital punishment to be inappropriate at best and usually unequivocally evil." The edict of Theodosius II (435) provided severe punishments for those who had or spread writings of Nestorius. Those who possessed writings of Arius were sentenced to death.


title: Heresy

text: In the 7th-century text "Concerning Heresy", Saint John of Damascus named Islam as Christological heresy, referring to it as the "heresy of the Ishmaelites" (see "medieval Christian views on Muhammad"). The position remained popular in Christian circles well into the 20th century, by theologians such as the Congregationalist cleric Frank Hugh Foster and the Roman Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc, the latter describing it as "the great and enduring heresy of Mohammed."


title: Heresy

text: For some years after the Reformation, Protestant churches were also known to execute those they considered heretics; for example, Michael Servetus was declared a heretic by both the Reformed Church and Catholic Church for rejecting the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The last known heretic executed by sentence of the Catholic Church was Spanish schoolmaster Cayetano Ripoll in 1826. The number of people executed as heretics under the authority of the various "ecclesiastical authorities" is not known.


title: Heresy

text: Although less common than in earlier periods, in modern times, formal charges of heresy within Christian churches still occur. Issues in the Protestant churches have included modern biblical criticism and the nature of God. In the Catholic Church, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith criticizes writings for "ambiguities and errors" without using the word "heresy."


title: Heresy

text: Perhaps due to the many modern negative connotations associated with the term "heretic", such as the Spanish inquisition, the term is used less often today. The subject of Christian heresy opens up broader questions as to who has a monopoly on spiritual truth, as explored by Jorge Luis Borges in the short story "The Theologians" within the compilation "Labyrinths".


title: Heresy

text: On 11 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI stated that some Protestant groups are "ecclesial communities" rather than Churches. Representatives of some of these Christian denominations accused the Vatican of effectively calling them heretics. However, Pope BenedictXVI clarified that the phrase "ecclesial community" did not necessitate explicit heresy, but only that the communities lacked certain "essential elements" of an apostolic church, as he had written in the document Dominus Iesus.


title: Heresy

text: In the Catholic Church, obstinate and willful manifest heresy is considered to spiritually cut one off from the Church, even before excommunication is incurred. The "Codex Justinianus" (1:5:12) defines "everyone who is not devoted to the Catholic Church and to our Orthodox holy Faith" a heretic. The Church had always dealt harshly with strands of Christianity that it considered heretical, but before the 11th century these tended to centre on individual preachers or small localised sects, like Arianism, Pelagianism, Donatism, Marcionism and Montanism. The diffusion of the almost Manichaean sect of Paulicians westwards gave birth to the famous 11th- and 12th-century heresies of Western Europe. The first one was that of Bogomils in modern-day Bulgaria, a sort of sanctuary between Eastern and Western Christianity. By the 11th century, more organised groups such as the Patarini, the Dulcinians, the Waldensians and the Cathars were beginning to appear in the towns and cities of northern Italy, southern France and Flanders.


title: Heresy

text: In France the Cathars grew to represent a popular mass movement and the belief was spreading to other areas. The Cathar Crusade was initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate the Cathar heresy in Languedoc. Heresy was a major justification for the Inquisition ("Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis", Inquiry on Heretical Perversity) and for the European wars of religion associated with the Protestant Reformation.


title: Heresy

text: Galileo Galilei was brought before the Inquisition for heresy, but abjured his views and was sentenced to house arrest, under which he spent the rest of his life. Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, and that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. He was required to "abjure, curse and detest" those opinions.


title: Heresy

text: Pope Gregory I stigmatized Judaism and the Jewish people in many of his writings. He described Jews as enemies of Christ: "The more the Holy Spirit fills the world, the more perverse hatred dominates the souls of the Jews." He labeled all heresy as "Jewish", claiming that Judaism would "pollute [Catholics and] deceive them with sacrilegious seduction." The identification of Jews and heretics in particular occurred several times in Roman-Christian law.


title: Heresy

text: In Eastern Orthodox Christianity heresy most commonly refers to those beliefs declared heretical by the first seven Ecumenical Councils. Since the Great Schism and the Protestant Reformation, various Christian churches have also used the concept in proceedings against individuals and groups those churches deemed heretical.


title: Heresy

text: The Eastern Orthodox Church also rejects the early Christian heresies such as Arianism, Gnosticism, Origenism, Montanism, Judaizers, Marcionism, Docetism, Adoptionism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism and Iconoclasm.


title: Heresy

text: Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon, who played an instrumental part in the formation of the Lutheran Churches, condemned Johannes Agricola and his doctrine of antinomianismthe belief that Christians were free from the moral law contained in the Ten Commandmentsas a heresy. Traditional Lutheranism, espoused by Luther himself, teaches that after justification, "the Law of God continued to guide people in how they were to live before God."


title: Heresy

text: The Augsburg Confession of 1539, which is among the foundational documents of Lutheranism, lists 10 heresies by name which are condemned: Manichaeans, Valentinians, Arians, Eunomians, Mohammedans, Samosatenes, Pelagians, Anabaptists, Donatists and "certain Jewish opinions".


title: Heresy

text: In Britain, the 16th-century English Reformation resulted in a number of executions on charges of heresy. During the thirty-eight years of Henry VIII's reign, about sixty heretics, mainly Protestants, were executed and a rather greater number of Catholics lost their lives on grounds of political offences such as treason, notably Sir Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher, for refusing to accept the king's supremacy over the Church in England. Under Edward VI, the heresy laws were repealed in 1547 only to be reintroduced in 1554 by Mary I; even so two radicals were executed in Edward's reign (one for denying the reality of the incarnation, the other for denying Christ's divinity). Under Mary, around two hundred and ninety people were burned at the stake between 1555 and 1558 after the restoration of papal jurisdiction. When Elizabeth I came to the throne, the concept of heresy was retained in theory but severely restricted by the 1559 "Act of Supremacy" and the one hundred and eighty or so Catholics who were executed in the forty-five years of her reign were put to death because they were considered members of "a subversive fifth column." The last execution of a "heretic" in England occurred under James VI and I in 1612. Although the charge was technically one of "blasphemy" there was one later execution in Scotland (still at that date an entirely independent kingdom) when in 1697 Thomas Aikenhead was accused, among other things, of denying the doctrine of the Trinity.


title: Heresy

text: Another example of the persecution of heretics under Protestant rule was the execution of the Boston martyrs in 1659, 1660, and 1661. These executions resulted from the actions of the Anglican Puritans, who at that time wielded political as well as ecclesiastic control in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. At the time, the colony leaders were apparently hoping to achieve their vision of a "purer absolute theocracy" within their colony. As such, they perceived the teachings and practices of the rival Quaker sect as heretical, even to the point where laws were passed and executions were performed with the aim of ridding their colony of such perceived "heresies."


title: Heresy

text: John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, harshly criticized antinomianism, considering it the "worst of all heresies". He taught that Christian believers are bound to follow the moral law for their sanctification. Methodist Christians thus teach the necessity of following the moral law as contained in the Ten Commandments, citing Jesus' teaching, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (cf. Saint John 14:15).


title: Heresy

text: Starting in medieval times, Muslims began to refer to heretics and those who antagonized Islam as "zindiqs", the charge being punishable by death.


title: Heresy

text: Ottoman Sultan Selim the Grim regarded the Shia Qizilbash as heretics. Shiites, in general, have often been considered heretics by Sunni Muslims, especially in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.


title: Heresy

text: In some modern day nations and regions, heresy remains an offense punishable by death. One example is the 1989 fatwa issued by the government of Iran, offering a substantial bounty for anyone who succeeds in the assassination of author Salman Rushdie, whose writings were declared as heretical. Moreover, the Baháʼí Faith is considered an Islamic heresy in Iran, with systematic persecution of Baháʼís.


title: Heresy

text: Orthodox Judaism considers views on the part of Jews who depart from traditional Jewish principles of faith heretical. In addition, the more right-wing groups within Orthodox Judaism hold that all Jews who reject the simple meaning of Maimonides's 13 principles of Jewish faith are heretics. As such, most of Orthodox Judaism considers Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism heretical movements, and regards most of Conservative Judaism as heretical. The liberal wing of Modern Orthodoxy is more tolerant of Conservative Judaism, particularly its right wing, as there is some theological and practical overlap between these groups.


title: Heresy

text: The act of using Church of Scientology techniques in a form different than originally described by L. Ron Hubbard is referred to within Scientology as "squirreling" and is said by Scientologists to be "high treason". The Religious Technology Center has prosecuted breakaway groups who have practiced Scientology outside the official Church without authorization.


title: Heresy

text: Although Zoroastrianism has had an historical tolerance for other religions, it also held sects like Zurvanism and Mazdakism heretical to its main dogma and has violently persecuted them, such as burying Mazdakians with their feet upright as "human gardens." In later periods Zoroastrians cooperated with Muslims to kill other Zoroastrians deemed heretical.


title: Heresy

text: Buddhist and Taoist monks in medieval China often called each other "heretics" and competed to be praised by the royal court. Although today most Chinese believe in a hybrid of the "Three Teachings" (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucian) the competition between the two religions may still be seen in some teachings and commentaries given by both religions today. A similar situation happened with Shintoism in Japan. Neo-Confucian heresy has also been described.


title: Heresy

text: In other contexts the term does not necessarily have pejorative overtones and may even be complimentary when used, in areas where innovation is welcome, of ideas that are in fundamental disagreement with the "status quo" in any practice and branch of knowledge.


title: Heresy

text: Scientist/author Isaac Asimov considered heresy as an abstraction, mentioning religious, political, socioeconomic and scientific heresies. He divided scientific heretics into: endoheretics, those from within the scientific community; and exoheretics, those from without. Characteristics were ascribed to both and examples of both kinds were offered. Asimov concluded that science orthodoxy defends itself well against endoheretics (by control of science education, grants and publication as examples), but is nearly powerless against exoheretics. He acknowledged by examples that heresy has repeatedly become orthodoxy.


title: Heresy

text: Publishing his findings as "The Dinosaur Heresies", revisionist paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, himself a scientific endoheretic, treated the mainstream view of dinosaurs as dogma:


title: Heresy

text: I have enormous respect for dinosaur paleontologists past and present. But on average, for the last fifty years, the field hasn't tested dinosaur orthodoxy severely enough.


title: Heresy

text: He adds that, "Most taxonomists, however, have viewed such new terminology as dangerously destabilizing to the traditional and well-known scheme." The illustrations by the author show dinosaurs in very active poses, in contrast to the traditional perception of lethargy.


title: Heresy

text: Immanuel Velikovsky is an example of a recent scientific exoheretic; he did not have appropriate scientific credentials and did not publish in scientific journals. While the details of his work are in scientific disrepute, the concept of catastrophic change (extinction event and punctuated equilibrium) has gained acceptance in recent decades.


title: Heresy

text: The term "heresy" is used not only with regard to religion but also in the context of political theory. The term heresy is also used as an ideological pigeonhole for contemporary writers because, by definition, heresy depends on contrasts with an established orthodoxy. For example, the tongue-in-cheek contemporary usage of heresy, such as to categorize a "Wall Street heresy" a "Democratic heresy" or a "Republican heresy", are metaphors that invariably retain a subtext that links orthodoxies in geology or biology or any other field to religion. These expanded metaphoric senses allude to both the difference between the person's views and the mainstream and the boldness of such a person in propounding these views.


title: Christopher Atkins

text: Christopher Atkins Bomann (born February 21, 1961) is an American actor and businessman, perhaps best known for his debut in the 1980 film "The Blue Lagoon" and Peter Richards in "Dallas" (1983–1984).


title: Christopher Atkins

text: Christopher Atkins Bomann was born and raised in Rye, New York. He is the son of Donald Bomann and Bitsy Nebauer, who divorced during his childhood. Atkins was an aspiring baseball player; when his baseball aspirations were derailed by knee problems, he started a modeling career. When he began acting, Atkins dropped the last name Bomann and used his middle name, Atkins, as his last name.


title: Christopher Atkins

text: A friend suggested that Atkins audition for "The Blue Lagoon". The film's director, Randal Kleiser, stated that Atkins was a sailing instructor with no acting experience when he was cast in the film. Atkins and co-star Brooke Shields played teenaged cousins who find love while living in an isolated tropical paradise after being marooned as children. Released in 1980, the film grossed over $58 million with a production cost of $4.5 million but received negative critical responses. Atkins appeared both nude and scantily clad in the film. While "Blue Lagoon" was controversial due to its nude scenes and sexual content, it nevertheless became a "pop culture phenomenon". Although Atkins was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Male for "The Blue Lagoon", critical responses to his performance were negative. A "TV Guide" reviewer wrote that "Atkins looks as if he would be more at home on a surfboard," and Gary Arnold wrote in "The Washington Post" that Atkins' performance "evoke[s] modeling sessions and beach-party movies."


title: Christopher Atkins

text: In 1982 Atkins posed nude for "Playgirl", and co-starred with Kristy McNichol in "The Pirate Movie" (1982), an update of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "The Pirates of Penzance". His song "How Can I Live Without Her", which peaked at #71 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, was used in that film. For his performance in the film "A Night in Heaven" (1983), Atkins won the 1983 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor. For one season (1983–1984), Atkins had a recurring role as camp counselor Peter Richards on "Dallas".


title: Christopher Atkins

text: In 1999, Atkins appeared in the television sitcom "Suddenly Susan", which starred Shields. In 2009, Atkins appeared on VH1's "Confessions of a Teen Idol", a reality show featuring former teen idols. Atkins was ranked no. 76 on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Teen Stars.


title: Christopher Atkins

text: Atkins became a luxury pool builder and co-developed the Christopher Atkins Strike Jacket E.F.L. (Extreme Fishing Lure), "a rubbery slipcovering for traditional baits."


title: Christopher Atkins

text: Atkins married Lyn Barron Weber of Sydney, Australia, on May 25, 1985. They have two children: son Grant Bomann (b. 1985) and daughter Brittney Bomann (b. 1987). They divorced in 2007.


title: Christopher Atkins

text: In a 2009 interview, Atkins acknowledged his past struggle with alcoholism and stated that he had been sober for 22 years.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Watkin Tudor Jones (born 26 September 1974), better known by his stage names Ninja and Max Normal, is a South African rapper, songwriter, record producer, performance artist, and director. Jones found international success as a member of Die Antwoord, with Yolandi Visser. He was formerly a member of Max Normal and The Constructus Corporation.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Jones also has had a number of acting roles, including a self-styled role as Ninja in the 2015 Neill Blomkamp film "Chappie".


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: He frequented nightclubs where he would develop his skills as a rapper. He attended Parktown Boys High where he would meet his Original Evergreen band members.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Jones was part of the South African rap band The Original Evergreen, which were signed to Sony Music. He released one single with the group, "Puff the Magik", which was banned from radio for its controversial lyrics about marijuana usage. In 1996, after the track would later win a SAMA music award for Best Rap Album award, he left to release a solo album under Chameleon Records and later form Max Normal. The band released Burn the Evidence in 1997, which caused more notoriety in the South African music scene. In 1998, the band resurfaced in Cape Town with a new line up featuring Brendon le Roux (Vox), Sebastian Voigt (bass, programming), Richard Bruyns (guitar), Stephen Trollip (saxophone), Phat Jack (turntables), Tasha Baxter (vocals) and Sven Mc Alpine (drums), and played extensively in Cape Town and Johannesburg while working on a new album titled "Addictive Personalities", produced by Warrick Sony (Kalahari Surfers) and featuring a guest appearance by Arno Carstens (Springbok Nude Girls). The album was to be released on the Sheer Sound label, but it caused such uproar in the South African press due to the contents of its lyrics that Sheer Sound was forced to withdraw it and was the final chapter in The Original Evergreen story as it resulted in the band splitting up. The album "Addictive Personalities" was released in a limited run by Melt 2000 in 1999.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: At the time, he was the lead vocalist of Max Normal, a hip hop act, which released their debut album entitled "Songs From The Mall" in 2001, which he disbanded in 2002. Their last gig was played with Faithless on the group's 2002 South Africa tour.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: When Jones disbanded Max Normal in early 2002, he and musician Sibot invited Markus Wormstorm and Felix Laband to collaborate on The Constructus Corporation project, which resulted in the concept album and graphic novel "The Ziggurat," released on 3 June 2002.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Jones asked Anri du Toit, better known as his Die Antwoord bandmate Yolandi Visser to lend vocals for the project. She was credited as Anica the Snuffling.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: In 2005, Jones released his second solo album "The Fantastic Kill." It was released in France in 2007 as "MC Totally Rad And DJ Fuck Are Fucknrad" under the name Fucknrad.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: The new lineup consisted of Watkin Tudor Jones revising as Max Normal, and Anri du Toit as Yolandi Visser. The band also featured Neon Don playing various recurring characters and Justin De Nobrega making instrumentals.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: The group released their debut and only album "Good Morning South Africa" in 2008. A DVD featuring 13 skits, music videos and short films was released in the same year, titled "Goeie More Zuid Afrika."


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Jones is currently a member of the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord. The group was formed by Jones as Ninja, Anri du Toit as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er and producer Justin De Nobrega as HITEK5000 (formerly referred to as DJ Hi-Tek and God). They have since added a second producer Lil2Hood. Die Antwoord is part of the South African counterculture movement known as Zef.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: The band released their debut album "$O$" in 2009. It was made freely available online and attracted international attention for their music video "Enter the Ninja". They briefly signed with Interscope Records, and left after pressure from the label to be more generic. du Toit explained that Interscope "kept pushing us to be more generic" in order to make more money: "If you try to make songs that other people like, your band will always be shit. You always gotta do what you like. If it connects, it's a miracle, but it happened with Die Antwoord.". They formed their own independent label, Zef Recordz and released their second album "Ten$ion" through it.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: They have since released 3 other albums; "Donker Mag" in 2014, "Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid" in 2016, and "The House of Zef" in 2020. As well as this, Jones played a self-styled role as Ninja in the 2015 Neill Blomkamp film "Chappie".


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: In March 2019, Australian musician Zheani Sparkes released a diss track titled "The Question" detailing an alleged sexual assault on her by Jones in South Africa in 2013. Sparkes claimed that Jones drugged her, as well as human traffick[ed] her to Africa, and sent sexually explicit photos of her to cast members of "Chappie". She claims that he also expressed having an active interest in her because of her resemblance to his now teenage daughter, Sixteen Jones, who in 2013 was only 8 years old. The music video for the track features Sparkes rapping on a rooftop accompanied by screenshots of texting threads, handwritten notes, and photographs from Jones, which she claims, supports the allegations and connections to Die Antwoord.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: A conflict between Die Antwoord and Sparkes ensued on social media afterwards, where Jones accused Sparkes of catfishing him. In September 2019, Sparkes filed a police report in Queensland, Australia formalizing her accusations of sexual assault and revenge porn.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Italian-American singer Dionna Dal Monte also accused Jones of sexual assault, which she claimed occurred at a Die Antwoord show in 2014.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: In 2019, a video from 2012 surfaced, showing Jones and Die Antwoord bandmate Yolandi Visser fighting Hercules and Love Affair founder Andy Butler while calling him insults, such as "faggot". Butler openly identifies as gay. After fighting him, Visser and Jones alert security staff, and, while crying, Visser claims she was sexually assaulted by Butler. Later on in the video, Jones tells her that her performance was "Oscar-winning".


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Jones responded on Facebook, claiming that the person who filmed the video edited it to make it seem like he and Visser were in the wrong. He mentions that Butler harassed them in the days leading up to the fight, and that it had nothing to do with him being gay. Jones also claimed that he told Visser to act as "dramatic as possible" about what Butler did to avoid getting detained by security after the fight.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: In April 2022, adopted son Tokkie (born Gabriel du Preez) accused Du Toit and Jones of physical and sexual abuse against himself and his younger sister Meisie for years.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: City Press / News24 reported that six of the cast and crew of Neill Blomkamp's 2015 Hollywood blockbuster, "Chappie", confirmed under condition of anonymity that first time actor Watkin Jones had "made life on set hell during filming".


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: In June 2022, American rapper Danny Brown accused Jones of attempted sexual assault against him during an afterparty.


title: Watkin Tudor Jones

text: Jones has a daughter, Sixteen Jones, born in 2005 from a previous relationship with Die Antwoord bandmate Yolandi Visser. He also has 3 adopted children. Tokkie and his sister Meisie were adopted in 2010, and Jemile was adopted in 2015.


title: Civet

text: A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversity is found in southeast Asia. The best-known species is the African civet, "Civettictis civetta", which historically has been the main species from which a musky scent used in perfumery, also referred to as "civet", was obtained.


title: Civet

text: The common name is used for a variety of carnivoran mammal species, mostly of the family Viverridae. The African palm civet ("Nandinia binotata") is genetically distinct and belongs in its own monotypic family, Nandiniidae.


title: Civet

text: Civets are also called "toddycats" in English, "Mara Patti" in Malayalam, "musang" in Malay and Indonesian, and "urulǣvā" () in Sinhalese. There can be confusion among speakers of Malay because the indigenous word "musang" has been mistakenly applied to foxes by printed media instead of "rubah", which is the correct but lesser-known term.


title: Civet

text: A minority of writers use "civet" to refer only to "Civettictis", "Viverra" and "Viverricula" civets. But in more common usage in English, the name also covers "Chrotogale, Cynogale, Diplogale, Hemigalus, Arctogalidia, Macrogalidia, Paguma" and "Paradoxurus" civets.


title: Civet

text: In Sri Lanka, the Asian palm civet species is known as "uguduwa" by the Sinhala-speaking community. The terms "uguduwa" and "kalawedda" are used interchangeably by the Sri Lankan community to refer to the same animal. However, the term kalawedda is mostly used to refer to another species in the civet family, the small Indian civet.


title: Civet

text: Sri Lanka also has an endemic civet species called golden palm civet. Recently this species was split into 3 separate endemic species as "Paradoxurus montanus", "P. aureus", and "P. stenocephalus". In Bangladesh and Bengali-speaking areas of India, civets are known as "khatash" () for the smaller species and "bagdash" () for the larger ones and is now extremely rare in Bangladesh (in the Khulna area of the country, the animal is also known as "shairel"). In Assamese this animal is known as "zohamola" (Assamese: জহামলা) which literally means "to have zoha aromatic feces". In Maharashtra Marathi-speaking areas of India, civets are known as "Udmanjar" ().


title: Civet

text: In Kerala, the Malayalam speaking areas of India, the small Indian civet (Viverricula indica) is called "veruk" (വെരുക്). Interestingly, 'veruku' (வெருகு) in Tamil meant 'cat', particularly during the Sangam period (~ 100 BCE to 400 CE).


title: Civet

text: Civets have a broadly cat-like general appearance, though the muzzle is extended and often pointed, rather like that of an otter, mongoose or even possibly a ferret. They range in length from about (excluding their long tails) and in weight from about .


title: Civet

text: The civet produces a musk (named civet after the animal) which is highly valued as a fragrance and stabilizing agent for perfume. Both male and female civets produce the strong-smelling secretion, which is produced by the civet's perineal glands. It is harvested by either killing the animal and removing the glands, or by scraping the secretions from the glands of a live animal. The latter is the preferred method today.


title: Civet

text: Animal rights groups, such as World Animal Protection, express concern that harvesting musk is cruel to animals. Between these ethical concerns and the availability of synthetic substitutes, the practice of raising civets for musk is dying out. Chanel, maker of the popular perfume Chanel No. 5, claims that natural civet has been replaced with a synthetic substitute since 1998.


title: Civet

text: Viverrids are native to sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, the Iberian Peninsula, southern China, South and Southeast Asia. Favoured habitats include woodland, savanna, and mountain biome. In consequence, many are faced with severe loss of habitat; several species are considered vulnerable and the otter civet is classified as endangered. Some species of civet are very rare and elusive and hardly anything is known about them, e.g., the Hose's civet, endemic to the montane forests of northern Borneo, is one of the world's least known carnivores.


title: Civet

text: Civets are unusual among feliforms, and carnivora in general, in that they are omnivores or even herbivores. Many species primarily eat fruit. Some also use flower nectar as a major source of energy. As human habitat has increased, civets tend to prey on livestock and smaller domesticated animals, such as fowls, ducks, rabbits, cats, etc.


title: Civet

text: Kopi luwak (also called "caphe cut chon" (fox-dung coffee), in Vietnam, and "kape alamid", in the Philippines) is coffee that is prepared using coffee cherries that have been eaten and partly digested by the Asian palm civet, then harvested from its fecal matter. The civets digest the flesh of the coffee cherries but pass the pits (beans) inside, where stomach enzymes affect the beans, which adds to the coffee's prized aroma and flavor. can cost up to $600 in some parts of the world and about $100 a cup in others. This demand has led to civet farms on which the civets are fed a diet composed almost exclusively of such cherries, causing them to become severely malnourished. Farm conditions are also routinely described as deplorable. Filipino and Vietnamese oversight of these farms is non-existent.


title: Civet

text: The Malay civet is found in many habitats, including forests, secondary habitats, cultivated land, and the outskirts of villages, and is highly adaptable to human disturbances, including "selective logging" (partial forest removal).


title: Civet

text: African civets ("Civettictis civetta)" are listed as Least Concern, but in certain regions of Africa the population is declining due to hunting, direct and indirect poisoning, and an increase in large-scale farm fences that limit population flow. They are also seen as comparatively abundant options in the bushmeat trade.


title: Civet

text: Palm civets sold for meat in local markets of China's Yunnan province carried the SARS virus from horseshoe bats to humans, resulting in the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.


title: Civet

text: Civets are also raised in captivity by humans for two reasons. In Asia, they are raised to process coffee beans. In Ethiopia, they are raised in captivity to collect their "civet" paste to be used in making perfume.


title: Civet

text: Palm civets often venture into cities and suburbs, with people often complaining about civet faeces and the noise of the animals' climbing on roofs. Some studies have been undertaken to examine and mitigate such human–animal conflict.


title: Civet

text: in "As You Like It", Act II scene 2, (William Shakespeare, 1599) the civet cat is mentioned as the "uncleanly" source of courtiers' perfumes.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami, the earthquake almost completely destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. Seismologists estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 or greater on the moment magnitude scale, with its epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent and about southwest of Lisbon.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Chronologically, it was the third known large scale earthquake to hit the city (following those of 1321 and 1531). Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon at between 12,000 and 50,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The earthquake accentuated political tensions in Portugal and profoundly disrupted the Portuguese Empire. The event was widely discussed and dwelt upon by European Enlightenment philosophers, and inspired major developments in theodicy. As the first earthquake studied scientifically for its effects over a large area, it led to the birth of modern seismology and earthquake engineering.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The earthquake struck on the morning of 1 November 1755, All Saints' Day. Contemporary reports state that the earthquake lasted from three and a half to six minutes, causing fissures wide in the city center. Survivors rushed to the open space of the docks for safety and watched as the sea receded, revealing a plain of mud littered with lost cargo and shipwrecks. Approximately 40 minutes after the earthquake, a tsunami engulfed the harbor and downtown area, rushing up the Tagus river "so fast that several people riding on horseback ... were forced to gallop as fast as possible to the upper grounds for fear of being carried away." It was followed by two more waves. Candles lit in homes and churches all around the city for All Saints' Day were knocked over, starting a fire that developed into a firestorm which burned for hours in the city, asphyxiating people up to from the blaze.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Lisbon was not the only Portuguese city affected by the catastrophe. Throughout the south of the country, in particular the Algarve, destruction was rampant. The tsunami destroyed some coastal fortresses in the Algarve and, at lower levels, it razed several houses. Almost all the coastal towns and villages of the Algarve were heavily damaged, except Faro, which was protected by the sandy banks of Ria Formosa. In Lagos, the waves reached the top of the city walls. Other towns in different Portuguese regions, such as Peniche, Cascais, and even Covilhã (which is located near the Serra da Estrela mountain range in central inland Portugal) were visibly affected by the earthquake, the tsunami or both of them. The shock waves of the earthquake destroyed part of Covilhã's castle walls and its large towers and damaged several other buildings in Cova da Beira, as well as in Salamanca, Spain.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: On the island of Madeira, Funchal and many smaller settlements suffered significant damage. Almost all of the ports in the Azores archipelago suffered most of their destruction from the tsunami, with the sea penetrating about inland. Portuguese towns in northern Africa were also affected by the earthquake, such as Ceuta and Mazagon, where the tsunami hit hard the coastal fortifications of both towns, in some cases going over it, and flooding the harbor area. In Spain, the tsunamis swept the Andalusian Atlantic Coast, nearly destroying the city of Cadiz.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Shocks from the earthquake were felt throughout Europe as far as Finland and in North Africa, and according to some sources even in Greenland and the Caribbean. Tsunamis as tall as swept along the coast of North Africa, and struck Martinique and Barbados across the Atlantic Ocean. A tsunami hit Cornwall on the southern British coast. Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, was also hit, resulting in partial destruction of the "Spanish Arch" section of the city wall. In County Clare, Aughinish Island was created when a low lying connection to the mainland was washed away. At Kinsale, several vessels were whirled round in the harbor, and water poured into the marketplace.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: In 2015, it was determined that the tsunami waves may have reached the coast of Brazil, then a colony of Portugal. Letters sent by Brazilian authorities at the time of the earthquake describe damage and destruction caused by gigantic waves.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Although seismologists and geologists have always agreed that the epicenter was in the Atlantic to the west of the Iberian Peninsula, its exact location has been a subject of considerable debate. Early hypotheses had proposed the Gorringe Ridge, about south-west of Lisbon, until simulations showed that a location closer to the shore of Portugal was required to comply with the observed effects of the tsunami. A 1992 seismic reflection survey of the ocean floor along the Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault detected a thrust fault southwest of Cape St. Vincent, with a dip-slip throw of more than . This structure may have created the primary tectonic event.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Economic historian Álvaro Pereira estimated that of Lisbon's population at the time of approximately 200,000 people, 30,000–40,000 were killed. Another 10,000 may have lost their lives in Morocco. A 2009 study of contemporary reports relating to the 1 November event found them vague and difficult to separate from reports of another local series of earthquakes on 18–19 November. Pereira estimated the total death toll in Portugal, Spain and Morocco from the earthquake and the resulting fires and tsunami at 40,000 to 50,000 people.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Eighty-five percent of Lisbon's buildings were destroyed, including famous palaces and libraries, as well as most examples of Portugal's distinctive 16th-century Manueline architecture. Several buildings that had suffered little earthquake damage were destroyed by the subsequent fire. The new Lisbon opera house (the "Ópera do Tejo"), opened seven months before, burned to the ground. The Royal Ribeira Palace, which stood just beside the Tagus river in the modern square of "Terreiro do Paço", was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami. Inside, the 70,000-volume royal library as well as hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Titian, Rubens, and Correggio, were lost. The royal archives disappeared together with detailed historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators. The palace of Henrique de Meneses, 3rd Marquis of Louriçal, which housed 18,000 books, was also destroyed. The earthquake damaged several major churches in Lisbon, namely the Lisbon Cathedral, the Basilicas of São Paulo, Santa Catarina, São Vicente de Fora, and the Misericórdia Church. The Royal Hospital of All Saints (the largest public hospital at the time) in the Rossio square was consumed by fire and hundreds of patients burned to death. The tomb of national hero Nuno Álvares Pereira was also lost. Visitors to Lisbon may still walk the ruins of the Carmo Convent, which were preserved to remind Lisboners of the destruction. Most of the documentation of the 1722 Algarve earthquake sent to Lisbon for archiving became lost after the fire that followed the 1755 earthquake.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The royal family escaped unharmed from the catastrophe: King Joseph I of Portugal and the court had left the city, after attending Mass at sunrise, fulfilling the wish of one of the king's daughters to spend the holiday away from Lisbon. After the catastrophe, Joseph I developed a fear of living within walls, and the court was accommodated in a huge complex of tents and pavilions in the hills of Ajuda, then on the outskirts of Lisbon. The king's claustrophobia never waned, and it was only after Joseph's death that his daughter Maria I of Portugal began building the royal Ajuda Palace, which still stands on the site of the old tented camp. Like the king, the prime minister Sebastião de Melo (1st Marquis of Pombal) survived the earthquake. When asked what was to be done, Pombal reportedly replied "bury the dead and heal the living", and set about organizing relief and rehabilitation efforts. Firefighters were sent to extinguish the raging flames, and teams of workers and ordinary citizens were ordered to remove the thousands of corpses before disease could spread. Contrary to custom and against the wishes of the Church, many corpses were loaded onto barges and buried at sea beyond the mouth of the Tagus. To prevent disorder in the ruined city, the Portuguese Army was deployed and gallows were constructed at high points around the city to deter looters; more than thirty people were publicly executed. The army prevented many able-bodied citizens from fleeing, pressing them into relief and reconstruction work.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: A project proposed that a new royal palace be built in Campo de Ourique as the new royal residence in 1760, but was later abandoned due to a lack of priority or interest in a palace being built in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood of Lisbon.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The king and the prime minister immediately launched efforts to rebuild the city. On December 4, 1755, a little more than a month after the earthquake, Manuel da Maia, chief engineer to the realm, presented his plans for the re-building of Lisbon. Maia presented four options from abandoning Lisbon to building a completely new city. The first, and cheapest, plan was to rebuild the old city using recycled materials. The second and third plans proposed widening certain streets. The fourth option boldly proposed razing the entire Baixa quarter and "laying out new streets without restraint". This last option was chosen by the king and his minister.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: In less than a year, the city was cleared of debris. Keen to have a new and perfectly ordered city, the king commissioned the construction of big squares, rectilinear, large avenues and widened streetsthe new "mottos" of Lisbon.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The Pombaline buildings are among the earliest seismically protected constructions in Europe. Small wooden models were built for testing, and earthquakes were simulated by marching troops around them. Lisbon's "new" Lower Town, known today as the Pombaline Lower Town ("Baixa Pombalina"), is one of the city's famed attractions. Sections of other Portuguese cities, such as the Vila Real de Santo António in Algarve, were also rebuilt along Pombaline principles.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The Casa Pia, a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I (known as "A Pia", "Maria the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendant Pina Manique in 1780, was founded following the social disarray of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The earthquake had wide-ranging effects on the lives of the populace and intelligentsia. The earthquake had struck on an important religious holiday and had destroyed almost every important church in the city, causing anxiety and confusion amongst the citizens of a staunch and devout Roman Catholic country. Theologians and philosophers focused and speculated on the religious cause and message, seeing the earthquake as a manifestation of divine judgment.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: A 2009 study estimated that the earthquake cost between 32 and 48 percent of Portugal's GDP. Also, "in spite of strict controls, prices and wages remained volatile in the years after the tragedy. The recovery from the earthquake also led to a rise in the wage premium of construction workers. More significantly, the earthquake became an opportunity to reform the economy and to reduce the economic semi-dependency vis-à-vis Britain."


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The earthquake and its aftermath strongly influenced the intelligentsia of the European Age of Enlightenment. The noted writer-philosopher Voltaire used the earthquake in "Candide" and in his "Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne" ("Poem on the Lisbon disaster"). Voltaire's "Candide" attacks the notion that all is for the best in this, "the best of all possible worlds", a world closely supervised by a benevolent deity. The Lisbon disaster provided a counterexample for Voltaire. Theodor Adorno wrote, "[t]he earthquake of Lisbon sufficed to cure Voltaire of the theodicy of Leibniz" ("Negative Dialectics" 361). Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also influenced by the devastation following the earthquake, whose severity he believed was due to too many people living within the close quarters of the city. Rousseau used the earthquake as an argument against cities as part of his desire for a more naturalistic way of life.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Immanuel Kant published three separate texts in 1756 on the Lisbon earthquake. As a younger man, fascinated with the earthquake, he collected all the information available in news pamphlets and formulated a theory of the causes of earthquakes. Kant's theory, which involved shifts in huge caverns filled with hot gases, though inaccurate, was one of the first systematic attempts to explain earthquakes in natural rather than supernatural terms. According to Walter Benjamin, Kant's slim early book on the earthquake "probably represents the beginnings of scientific geography in Germany. And certainly the beginnings of seismology".


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: Werner Hamacher has claimed that the earthquake's consequences extended into the vocabulary of philosophy, making the common metaphor of firm "grounding" for philosophers' arguments shaky and uncertain: "Under the impression exerted by the Lisbon earthquake, which touched the European mind in one [of] its more sensitive epochs, the metaphor of ground and tremor completely lost their apparent innocence; they were no longer merely figures of speech" (263). Hamacher claims that the foundational certainty of René Descartes' philosophy began to shake following the Lisbon earthquake.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The earthquake had a major impact on politics. The prime minister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, was the favorite of the king, but the aristocracy despised him as an upstart son of a country squire. The prime minister, in turn, disliked the old nobles, whom he considered corrupt and incapable of practical action. Before 1 November 1755 there was a constant struggle for power and royal favour, but the competent response of the Marquis of Pombal effectively severed the power of the old aristocratic factions. However, silent opposition and resentment of King Joseph I began to rise, which would culminate with the attempted assassination of the king in 1758 and the subsequent elimination of the powerful Duke of Aveiro and the Távora family.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The prime minister's response was not limited to the practicalities of reconstruction. He ordered a query sent to all parishes of the country regarding the earthquake and its effects. Questions included:


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The answers to these and other questions are still archived in the Torre do Tombo, the national historical archive. Studying and cross-referencing the priests' accounts, modern scientists were able to reconstruct the event from a scientific perspective. Without the questionnaire designed by the Marquis of Pombal, this would have been impossible. Because the marquis was the first to attempt an objective scientific description of the broad causes and consequences of an earthquake, he is regarded as a forerunner of modern seismological scientists.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: A fictionalized version of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake features as a main plot element of the 2014 video game "Assassin's Creed Rogue", developed and published by Ubisoft. Notably, a similar earthquake occurs earlier in the story in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and possibly coincides with a real-world earthquake recorded there in 1751.


title: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

text: The album "1755" by the Portuguese Gothic Metal band Moonspell is a concept album detailing the story of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The album is entirely sung in Portuguese and explores not only the history but also its effects on Portuguese society, culture and spirituality.