title: Gone in 60 Seconds (1974 film)

text: On August 20, 1989, while filming in Dunkirk and Buffalo, New York, Halicki was preparing for a dramatic stunt sequence in the film, during which a 160 ft. (49m) tall water tower was supposed to topple to the ground. When a cable attached to the tower snapped unexpectedly, it sheared off a telephone pole, which fell on Halicki, killing him instantly.


title: Gone in 60 Seconds (1974 film)

text: In light of the 1989 reboot of "Gone in 60 Seconds 2" project and their marriage, the Halicki estate faced a number of legal challenges. After seven trials, in 1994 the court released Halicki's films and the associated copyrights to Denice Shakarian Halicki, but she was forced to sell her husband's car and toy collection to pay the legal fees. Halicki planned to finish her late husband's dream and make a new "Gone in 60 Seconds" film based on the 1989 unfinished film.


title: Gone in 60 Seconds (1974 film)

text: In 1995, Denice Shakarian Halicki licensed and produced a loose 2000 remake of Halicki's original 1974 film, along with Disney (under their Touchstone Pictures banner) and Jerry Bruckheimer. "Eleanor" reprised her role as a grey customized 1967 Ford Mustang. The plot, however, differs greatly from the original, starring Nicolas Cage as Randall "Memphis" Raines, a veteran car thief who must steal 50 cars for a gangster to ensure his brother is not killed.


title: Gone in 60 Seconds (1974 film)

text: Thanks to the popularity of the remake, a number of car shops started to produce the copyrighted "Eleanor" image and trademark name. In 2008, Halicki won a case against Carroll Shelby, who had been selling "Eleanor" using Eleanor's trademark name and copyrighted image.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Known in Chinese as the Tangmi (; the Esoteric School in Tang Dynasty of China), these esoteric teachings would later flourish in Japan under the auspices of a Buddhist monk named Kūkai (), who traveled to Tang China to acquire and request transmission of the esoteric teachings. For that reason, it is often called Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, or Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The word "shingon" is the Japanese reading of the Chinese word (""), which is the translation of the Sanskrit word ("mantra").


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Shingon Buddhist doctrine and teachings arose during the Heian period (794-1185) after a Buddhist monk named Kūkai traveled to China in 804 to study Esoteric Buddhist practices in the city of Xi'an (), then called Chang-an, at Azure Dragon Temple () under Huiguo, a favourite student of the legendary Amoghavajra. Huiguo was the first person to gather the still scattered elements of Indian and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism into a cohesive system, and Esoteric Buddhism was not yet considered to be a different sect or school at that time. Kūkai returned to Japan as Huiguo's lineage- and Dharma-successor. Shingon followers usually refer to Kūkai as or , the posthumous name given to him years after his death by Emperor Daigo.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Before he went to China, Kūkai had been an independent monk in Japan for over a decade. He was extremely well versed in Chinese literature, calligraphy and Buddhist texts. A Japanese monk named had brought back to Japan from China an esoteric mantra of the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, the "Kokūzō-gumonjihō" ( "Ākāśagarbha Memory-Retention Practice") that had been translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by . When Kūkai was 22, he learned this mantra from Gonsō and regularly would go into the forests of Shikoku to practice it for long periods of time. He persevered in this mantra practice for seven years and mastered it. According to tradition, this practice brought him siddhis of superhuman memory retention and learning ability. Kūkai would later praise the power and efficacy of Kokuzō-Gumonjiho practice, crediting it with enabling him to remember all of Huiguo's teachings in only three months. Kūkai's respect for Ākāśagarbha was so great that he regarded him as his for the rest of his life.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: It was also during this period of intense mantra practice that Kūkai dreamt of a man telling him to seek out the "Mahavairocana Tantra" for the doctrine that he sought. The "Mahavairocana Tantra" had only recently been made available in Japan. He was able to obtain a copy in Chinese but large portions were in Sanskrit in the Siddhaṃ script, which he did not know, and even the Chinese portions were too arcane for him to understand. He believed that this teaching was a door to the truth he sought, but he was unable to fully comprehend it and no one in Japan could help him. Thus, Kūkai resolved to travel to China to spend the time necessary to fully understand the "Mahavairocana Tantra".


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: When Kūkai reached China and first met Huiguo on the fifth month of 805, Huiguo was age sixty and on the verge of death from a long spate of illness. Huiguo exclaimed to Kūkai in Chinese (in paraphrase), "At last, you have come! I have been waiting for you! Quickly, prepare yourself for initiation into the mandalas!" Huiguo had foreseen that Esoteric Buddhism would not survive in India and China in the near future and that it was Kukai's destiny to see it continue in Japan. In the short space of three months, Huiguo initiated and taught Kūkai everything he knew on the doctrines and practices of the Mandala of the Two Realms as well as mastery of Sanskrit and (presumably to be able to communicate with Master Huiguo) Chinese. Huiguo declared Kūkai to be his final disciple and proclaimed him a Dharma successor, giving the lineage name "Henjō-Kongō" () "All-Illuminating Vajra".


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: In the twelfth month of 805, Huiguo died and was buried next to his master, Amoghavajra. More than one thousand of his disciples gathered for his funeral. The honour of writing his funerary inscription on their behalf was given to Kūkai.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Kukai returned to Japan after Huiguo's death. If he had not, Shingon Esoteric Buddhism might not have survived; 35 years after Huiguo's death in the year 840, Emperor Wuzong of Tang assumed the throne. An avid Daoist, Wuzong despised Buddhism and considered the sangha useless tax-evaders. In 845, he ordered the destruction of 4600 vihara and 40,000 temples. Around 250,000 Buddhist monks and nuns had to give up their monastic lives. Wuzong stated that Buddhism was an alien religion and promoted Daoism zealously as the ethnic religion of the Han Chinese. Although Wuzong was soon assassinated by his own inner circle, the damage had been done. Chinese Buddhism, especially Esoteric practices, never fully recovered from the persecution, and esoteric elements were infused into other Buddhist sects and traditions.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: After returning to Japan, Kūkai collated and systematized all that he had learned from Huiguo into a cohesive doctrine of pure esoteric Buddhism that would become the basis for his school. Kūkai did not establish his teachings as a separate school; it was Emperor Junna, who favoured Kūkai and Esoteric Buddhism, who coined the term in an imperial decree which officially declared in Kyoto an Esoteric temple that would perform official rites for the state. Kūkai actively took on disciples and offered transmission until his death in 835 at the age of 61.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Kūkai's first established monastery was in , which has since become the base and a place of spiritual retreat for Shingon practitioners. Shingon enjoyed immense popularity during the Heian period (), particularly among the nobility, and contributed greatly to the art and literature of the time, influencing other communities such as the on Mount Hiei ().


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Shingon's emphasis on ritual found support in the Kyoto nobility, particularly the . This favour allotted Shingon several politically powerful temples in the capital, where rituals for the Imperial Family and nation were regularly performed. Many of these temples – Tō-ji and in the south of Kyōto and and in the northwest – became ritual centers establishing their own particular ritual lineages.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Like the Tendai School, which branched into the and during the Kamakura period, Shingon divided into two major schools – the old school, , and the new school, .


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: This division primarily arose out of a political dispute between , known posthumously as , and his faction of priests centered at the and the leadership at , the head of Mount Kōya and the authority in teaching esoteric practices in general. Kakuban, who was originally ordained at in Kyōto, studied at several temple-centers including the Tendai complex at before going to Mount Kōya. Through his connections he managed to gain the favour of high-ranking nobles in Kyoto, which helped him to be appointed abbot of Mount Kōya. The leadership at Kongōbuji, however, opposed the appointment on the premise that Kakuban had not originally been ordained on Mount Kōya.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: After several conflicts, Kakuban and his faction of priests left the mountain for to the northwest, where they constructed a new temple complex now known as . After the death of Kakuban in 1143, the Negoro faction returned to Mount Kōya. However, in 1288, the conflict between Kongōbuji and the Denbō-in came to a head once again. Led by Raiyu, the Denbō-in priests once again left Mount Kōya, this time establishing their headquarters on Mount Negoro. This exodus marked the beginning of the Shingi Shingon School at Mount Negoro, which was the center of Shingi Shingon until it was sacked by "daimyō" in 1585.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The Shingon lineage is an ancient transmission of esoteric Buddhist doctrine that began in India and then spread to China and Japan. Shingon is the name of this lineage in Japan, but there are also esoteric schools in China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong that consider themselves part of this lineage (as the originators of the Esoteric teachings) and universally recognize Kūkai as their eighth patriarch. This is why sometimes the term "Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism" is used instead.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Shingon or Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism maintains that the expounder of the doctrine was originally the Universal Buddha Vairocana, but the first human to receive the doctrine was Nagarjuna in India. The tradition recognizes two groups of eight great patriarchs – one group of lineage holders and one group of great expounders of the doctrine.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The teachings of Shingon are based on early Buddhist tantras, the , the , the , and the . These are the four principal texts of Esoteric Buddhism and are all tantras, not sutras, despite their names.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The mystical Vairocana and Vajraśekhara Tantras are expressed in the two main mandalas of Shingon, the Mandala of the Two Realms – The Womb Realm (; ) mandala and the Diamond Realm (; ) mandala. These two mandalas are considered to be a compact expression of the entirety of the Dharma, and form the root of Buddhism. In Shingon temples, these two mandalas are always mounted one on each side of the central altar.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The "Susiddhikara Sūtra" is largely a compendium of rituals. Tantric Buddhism is concerned with the rituals and meditative practices that lead to enlightenment. According to Shingon doctrine, enlightenment is not a distant, foreign reality that can take aeons to approach but a real possibility within this very life, based on the spiritual potential of every living being, known generally as Buddha-nature. If cultivated, this luminous nature manifests as innate wisdom. With the help of a genuine teacher and through proper training of the body, speech, and mind, i.e. , one can reclaim and liberate this enlightened capacity for the benefit of oneself and others.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Kūkai systematized and categorized the teachings he inherited from Huiguo into ten bhūmis or "stages of spiritual realization".


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: When the teachings of Shingon Buddhism were brought to Japan, Esoteric Buddhism was still in its early stages in India. At this time, the terms "Vajrayāna" ("Diamond Vehicle") and "Mantrayāna" ("Mantra Vehicle") were not used for Esoteric Buddhist teachings. Instead, esoteric teachings were more typically referred to as "Mantranaya", or the "Mantra System." According to Paul Williams, "Mantranaya" is the more appropriate term to describe the self-perception of early Esoteric Buddhism.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The primary difference between Shingon and Tibetan Buddhism is that there is no Inner Tantra or Anuttarayoga Tantra in Shingon. Shingon has what corresponds to the "Kriyā", "Caryā", and "Yoga" classes of tantras in Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan system of classifying tantras into four classes is not used in Shingon.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Anuttarayoga Tantras such as the "Yamantaka Tantra", "Hevajra Tantra", "Mahamaya Tantra", "Cakrasaṃvara Tantra", and the "Kalachakra Tantra" were developed at a later period of Esoteric Buddhism and are not used in Shingon.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: He wrote at length on the difference between exoteric, mainstream Mahayana Buddhism and esoteric Tantric Buddhism. The differences between exoteric and esoteric can be summarised:


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Kūkai held, along with the Chinese and the Tendai schools, that all phenomena could be expressed as 'letters' in a 'World-Text'. Mantra, mudra, and mandala are special because they constitute the 'language' through which the Dharmakāya (i.e. Reality itself) communicates. Although portrayed through the use of anthropomorphic metaphors, Shingon does not see the Dharmakaya Buddha as a separate entity standing apart from the universe. Instead, the deity "is" the universe properly understood: the union of emptiness, Buddha nature, and all phenomena. Kūkai wrote that "the great Self embraces in itself each and all existences".


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: In Shingon, Mahavairocana Tathagata () is the universal or Adi-Buddha that is the basis of all phenomena, present in each and all of them, and not existing independently or externally to them. The goal of Shingon is the realization that one's nature is identical with Mahavairocana, a goal that is achieved through initiation, meditation and esoteric ritual practices. This realization depends on receiving the secret doctrines of Shingon, transmitted orally to initiates by the school's masters. The "Three Mysteries" of body, speech, and mind participate simultaneously in the subsequent process of revealing one's nature: the body through devotional gestures (mudra) and the use of ritual instruments, speech through sacred formulas (mantra), and mind through meditation.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Shingon places an emphasis on the , a grouping of various buddhas and bodhisattvas; however this is purely for lay Buddhist practice (especially during funeral rites) and Shingon priests generally make devotions to more than just the Thirteen Buddhas.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Mahavairocana is the Universal Principle which underlies all Buddhist teachings, according to Shingon Buddhism, so other Buddhist figures can be thought of as manifestations with certain roles and attributes. Kūkai wrote that "the great Self is one, yet can be many". Each Buddhist figure is symbolized by its own Sanskrit "seed" letter.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: One feature that Shingon shares in common with other forms of Vajrayana Buddhism, is the use of bīja or "seed-syllables" in Sanskrit written in the Siddhaṃ alphabet along with anthropomorphic and symbolic representations to express Buddhist deities in their mandalas.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The Siddhaṃ alphabet (Shittan , Bonji ) is used to write mantras. A core meditative practice of Shingon is "Ajikan" () "meditating on the letter a" written using the Siddhaṃ alphabet. The letter A is an important symbol in Mahayana and esoteric Buddhism, which signifies the Dharmakaya, the Buddha Vairocana and non-arising.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The use of mandalas for contemplation is also another key feature of Shingon practice. The most important mandalas are the Womb or Matrix ("taizo") Mandala based on the "Mahavairocana Sutra" and the Vajra ("kongokai") Mandala based on the "Vajrasekhara Sutra".


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The essence of Shingon practice is to experience Reality by emulating the inner realization of the Dharmakaya through the meditative ritual use of mantra, mudra and visualization, i.e. "The Three Mysteries" (Sanmitsu ). All Shingon followers gradually develop a teacher-student relationship, formal or informal, whereby a teacher learns the disposition of the student and teaches practices accordingly. For lay practitioners, there is no initiation ceremony beyond the "Kechien Kanjō" (), which aims to help create the bond between the follower and Mahavairocana Buddha. It is normally offered only at Mount Kōya twice a year, but it can also be offered by larger temples under masters permitted to transmit the abhiseka. It is not required for all laypersons to take, and no assigned practices are given.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: In the case of disciples wishing to train to become a Shingon ācārya or "teacher" ("Ajari" , from ), it requires a period of academic study and religious discipline, or formal training in a temple for a longer period of time, after having already received novice ordination and monastic precepts, and full completion of the rigorous four-fold preliminary training and retreat known as "Shido Kegyō" (). Only then can the practitioner be able to undergo steps for training, examination, and finally "abhiṣeka" to be certified as a Shingon acarya and continue to study more advanced practices.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: In either case, the stress is on finding a qualified and willing mentor who will guide the practitioner through the practice at a gradual pace. An acharya in Shingon is a committed and experienced teacher who is authorized to guide and teach practitioners. One must be an acharya for a number of years at least before one can request to be tested at Mount Kōya for the possibility to qualify as a "mahācārya" or "great teacher" ("Dento Dai-Ajari" ), the highest rank of Shingon practice and a qualified grand master. However, it should be noticed that such a tradition is only in Koyasan sect. In other shingon sects, an "Ajari" who gives "Kanjo" is only called a "Dai-Ajari" or a "Dento Dai-Ajari" and has no special meaning like Koyasan sect. In the first place, Koyasan's Dharma Lineage became extinct immediately after Kūkai, and the current lineage of Koyasan sect is transplanted from "Mandala-ji" temple () in Kyoto by "Meizan" (, 1021-1106). It implies that the tradition to become a "Dento Dai-Ajari" was created after "Meizan", not an original tradition of Shingon. Furthermore, "Meizan" was not given the deepest teaching, so "Yukai" (, 1345-1416), a great scholar at Koyasan, considered "Anshoji-Ryu" Lineage, rather than the "Chuin-Ryu" Lineage, to be the orthodox Shingon lineage.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Apart from the supplication of prayers and reading of sutras, there are mantras and ritualistic meditative techniques that are available for any laypersons to practice on their own under the supervision of an Ajari. However, any esoteric practices require the devotee to undergo abhiṣeka (initiation) ("Kanjō" ) into each of these practices under the guidance of a qualified acharya before they may begin to learn and practice them. As with all schools of Esoteric Buddhism, great emphasis is placed on initiation and oral transmission of teachings from teacher to student.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: The "goma" () ritual of consecrated fire is unique to Esoteric Buddhism and is the most recognizable ritual defining Shingon among regular Japanese persons today. It stems from the Vedic "homa" ritual and is performed by qualified priests and acharyas for the benefit of individuals, the state or all sentient beings in general. The consecrated fire is believed to have a powerful cleansing effect spiritually and psychologically. The central deity invoked in this ritual is usually "Acala" ( ). The ritual is performed for the purpose of destroying detrimental thoughts and desires, and for the making of secular requests and blessings. In most Shingon temples, this ritual is performed daily in the morning or the afternoon. Larger scale ceremonies often include the constant beating of taiko drums and mass chanting of the mantra of Acala by priests and lay practitioners. Flames can sometimes reach a few meters high. The combination of the ritual's visuals and sounds can be trance-inducing.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Adopting the practice from Shingon Buddhism, adherents the syncretic Japanese religion of Shugendō () also practice the "goma" ritual, of which two types are prominent: the "saido dai goma" and "hashiramoto goma" rituals.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Today, there are very few books on Shingon in the West and until the 1940s, not a single book on Shingon had ever been published anywhere in the world, not even in Japan. Since this lineage was brought over to Japan from Tang China over 1100 years ago, its doctrines have always been closely guarded secrets, passed down orally through an initiatic chain and never written down. Throughout the centuries, except for the initiated, most of the Japanese common folk knew little of its secretive doctrines and of the monks of this "Mantra School" except that besides performing the usual priestly duties of prayers, blessings and funeral rites for the public, they practiced only Mikkyō "secret teachings", in stark contrast to all other Buddhist schools, and were called upon to perform mystical rituals that were supposedly able to summon rain, improve harvests, exorcise demons, avert natural disasters, heal the sick and protect the state. The most powerful ones were thought to be able to render entire armies useless.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: Even though Tendai also incorporates esoteric teachings in its doctrines, it is still essentially an exoteric Mahayana school. Some exoteric texts are venerated and studied in Shingon as they are the foundation of Mahayana philosophy but the core teachings and texts of Shingon are purely esoteric. From the lack of written material, inaccessibility of its teachings to non-initiates, language barriers and the difficulty of finding qualified teachers outside Japan, Shingon is in all likelihood the most secretive and least understood school of Buddhism in the world.


title: Shingon Buddhism

text: A large number of deities of Vedic, Hindu and Indo-Aryan origins have been incorporated into Mahayana Buddhism and this synthesis is especially prominent in Esoteric Buddhism. Many of these deities have vital roles as they are regularly invoked by the practitioner for various rituals and homas/pujas. In fact, it is ironic that the worship of Vedic-era deities, especially Indra ("Taishakuten" ), the "King of the Heavens," has declined so much in India but is yet so highly revered in Japan that there are probably more temples devoted to him there than there are in India. Chinese Taoist and Japanese Shinto deities were also assimilated into Mahayana Buddhism as deva-class beings. For example, to Chinese Mahayana Buddhists, Indra (synonymous with Śakra) is the Jade Emperor of Taoism. Agni (Katen ), another Vedic deity, is invoked at the start of every Shingon Goma Ritual. The average Japanese person may not know the names Saraswati or Indra but Benzaiten (; Saraswati) and Taishakuten (; Indra) are household names that every Japanese person knows.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Discrimination against atheists, both at present and historically, includes persecution of and discrimination against people who are identified as atheists. Discrimination against atheists may also comprise negative attitudes, prejudice, hostility, hatred, fear, or intolerance towards atheists and atheism. Because atheism can be defined in various ways, those discriminated against or persecuted on the grounds of being atheists might not have been considered atheists in a different time or place. Thirteen Muslim countries officially punish atheism or apostasy by death and Humanists International asserts that "the overwhelming majority" of the 193 member states of the United Nations "at best discriminate against citizens who have no belief in a god and at worst can jail them for offences dubbed blasphemy".


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In some Muslim-majority countries, atheists face persecution and severe penalties such as the withdrawal of legal status or, in the case of apostasy, capital punishment.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Sometimes such discrimination is called atheophobia, atheistophobia, anti-atheism, anti-atheist discrimination.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Tim Whitmarsh argues atheism existed in the ancient world, though it remains difficult to assess its extent given that atheists are referenced (usually disparagingly) rather than having surviving writings. Given monotheism at the time was a minority view, atheism generally attacked polytheistic beliefs and associated practices in references found. The word "atheos" (godless) also was used for religious dissent generally (including the monotheists) which complicates study further. Despite these difficulties, Whitmarsh believes that otherwise atheism then was much the same. While atheists (or people perceived as such) were occasionally persecuted, this was rare (perhaps due to being a small group, plus a relative tolerance toward different religious views). Other scholars believe it arose later in the modern era. Lucien Febvre has referred to the "unthinkability" of atheism in its strongest sense before the sixteenth century, because of the "deep religiosity" of that era. Karen Armstrong has concurred, writing "from birth and baptism to death and burial in the churchyard, religion dominated the life of every single man and woman. Every activity of the day, which was punctuated by church bells summoning the faithful to prayer, was saturated with religious beliefs and institutions: they dominated professional and public life—even the guilds and the universities were religious organizations. ... Even if an exceptional man could have achieved the objectivity necessary to question the nature of religion and the existence of God, he would have found no support in either the philosophy or the science of his time." As governmental authority rested on the notion of divine right, it was threatened by those who denied the existence of the local god. Those labeled as atheist, including early Christians and Muslims, were as a result targeted for legal persecution.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: During the early modern period, the term "atheist" was used as an insult and applied to a broad range of people, including those who held opposing theological beliefs, as well as those who had committed suicide, immoral or self-indulgent people, and even opponents of the belief in witchcraft. Atheistic beliefs were seen as threatening to order and society by philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas. Lawyer and scholar Thomas More said that religious tolerance should be extended to all except those who did not believe in a deity or the immortality of the soul. John Locke, a founder of modern notions of religious liberty, argued that atheists (as well as Catholics and Muslims) should not be granted full citizenship rights.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: During the Inquisition, several of those who were accused of atheism or blasphemy, or both, were tortured or executed. These included the priest Giulio Cesare Vanini who was strangled and burned in 1619 and the Polish nobleman Kazimierz Łyszczyński who was executed in Warsaw, as well as Etienne Dolet, a Frenchman executed in 1546. Though heralded as atheist martyrs during the nineteenth century, recent scholars hold that the beliefs espoused by Dolet and Vanini are not atheistic in modern terms.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Baruch Spinoza was effectively excommunicated from the Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam for atheism, though he did not claim to be an atheist.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: During the nineteenth century, British atheists, though few in number, were subject to discriminatory practices. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from the University of Oxford and denied custody of his two children after publishing a pamphlet titled "The Necessity of Atheism". Those not willing to swear Christian oaths during judicial proceedings were unable to give evidence in court to obtain justice until this requirement was repealed by Acts passed in 1869 and 1870.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Atheist Charles Bradlaugh was elected as a Member of the British Parliament in 1880. He was denied the right to affirm rather than swear his oath of office, and was then denied the ability to swear the oath as other Members objected that he had himself said it would be meaningless. Bradlaugh was re-elected three times before he was finally able to take his seat in 1886 when the Speaker of the House permitted him to take the oath.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In Germany during the Nazi era, a 1933 decree stated that "No National Socialist may suffer detriment... on the ground that he does not make any religious profession at all". However, the regime strongly opposed "godless communism", and all of Germany's atheist and largely left-wing freethought organizations such as the German Freethinkers League (500,000 members) were banned the same year; some right-wing groups were tolerated by the Nazis until the mid-1930s. In a speech made later in 1933, Hitler claimed to have "stamped out" the atheistic movement.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: During the negotiations which led up to the Nazi-Vatican "Reichskonkordat" of 26 April 1933 Hitler stated that "Secular schools can never be tolerated" because of their irreligious tendencies. Hitler routinely disregarded this undertaking, and the "Reichskonkordat" as a whole, and by 1939, all Catholic denominational schools had been disbanded or converted to public facilities.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: By 1939, 94.5% of Germans still called themselves Protestant or Catholic, while 3.5% were so-called ""Gottgläubige"" (lit. "believers in God") and 1.5% were without faith. According to historian Richard J. Evans, those members of the affiliation "gottgläubig" "were convinced Nazis who had left their Church at the behest of the Party, which had been trying since the mid-1930s to reduce the influence of Christianity in society". Heinrich Himmler was a strong promoter of the "gottgläubig" movement and did not allow atheists into the SS, arguing that their "refusal to acknowledge higher powers" would be a "potential source of indiscipline". Himmler announced to the SS: "We believe in a God Almighty who stands above us; he has created the earth, the Fatherland, and the Volk, and he has sent us the Führer. Any human being who does not believe in God should be considered arrogant, megalomaniacal, and stupid and thus not suited for the SS." The SS oath ("Eidformel der Schutzstaffel"), written by Himmler, also specifically denounced atheists, repeating the sentiments above.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is designed to protect the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. In 1993, the UN's human rights committee declared that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights "protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief". The committee further stated that "the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views". Signatories to the convention are barred from "the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers" to recant their beliefs or convert. Despite this, atheists still are persecuted in some parts of the world.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Modern theories of constitutional democracy assume that citizens are intellectually and spiritually autonomous and that governments should leave matters of religious belief to individuals and not coerce religious beliefs using sanctions or benefits. The constitutions, human rights conventions and the religious liberty jurisprudence of most constitutional democracies provide legal protection of atheists and agnostics. In addition, freedom of expression provisions and legislation separating church from state also serve to protect the rights of atheists. As a result, open legal discrimination against atheists is not common in most Western countries. However, prejudice against atheists does exist in Western countries. A 2011 study conducted in the United States by the University of British Columbia found that believers distrusted atheists as much they did rapists. The study also showed that atheists had lower employment prospects.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In most of Europe, atheists are elected to office at high levels in many governments without controversy. Some atheist organizations in Europe have expressed concerns regarding issues of separation of church and state, such as administrative fees for leaving the Church charged in Germany, and sermons being organized by the Swedish parliament. Ireland requires religious training from Christian colleges in order to work as a teacher in government-funded schools.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In the UK one-third of state-funded schools are faith-based. However, there are no restrictions on atheists holding public office – the former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nick Clegg, is an atheist. According to a 2012 poll, 25% of the Turks in Germany believe atheists are inferior human beings. Portugal has elected two presidents, Mário Soares, who was also elected Prime-Minister, and Jorge Sampaio, who have openly expressed their irreligion, as well as two agnostic Prime-Ministers, José Sócrates and António Costa. On the contrary, in Greece, the right-wing New Democracy government stated that "the Greek people have a right to know whether Mr. Tsipras is an atheist", citing their political opponent's irreligiosity as a reason he should not be elected, even though they granted that "it is his right." In the Elder Pastitsios case, a 27-year-old was sentenced to imprisonment for satirizing a popular apocalyptically-minded Greek Orthodox monk, while several metropolitans of the Greek Orthodox Church (which is not separated from the state) have also urged their flock "not to vote unbelievers into office", even going so far as to warn Greek Orthodox laymen that they would be "sinning if they voted atheists into public office."


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: A 2009 survey showed that atheists were the most hated demographic group in Brazil, among several other minorities polled, being almost on par with drug addicts. According to the research, 17% of the interviewees stated they felt either hatred or repulsion for atheists, while 25% felt antipathy and 29% were indifferent.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Canadian secular humanist groups have worked to end the recitation of prayers during government proceedings, viewing them as discriminatory. Scouts Canada states that while a belief in God or affiliation with organized religion is not a requirement to join, members must have "a basic spiritual belief" and one of the core values is "Duty to God: Defined as, The responsibility to adhere to spiritual principles, and thus to the religion that expresses them, and to accept the duties therefrom."


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Discrimination against atheists in the United States occurs in legal, personal, social, and professional contexts. Many American atheists compare their situation to the discrimination faced by ethnic minorities, and LGBT communities. "Americans still feel it's acceptable to discriminate against atheists in ways considered beyond the pale for other groups," asserted Fred Edwords of the American Humanist Association. The degree of discrimination, persecution, and social stigma atheists face in the United States, compared to other persecuted groups in the United States has been the subject of study and a matter of debate.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In the United States, seven state constitutions include religious tests that would effectively prevent atheists from holding public office, and in some cases being a juror/witness, though these have not generally been enforced since the early twentieth century. The U.S. Constitution permits an affirmation in place of an oath to allow atheists to give testimony in court or to hold public office. However, the Supreme Court case "Torcaso v. Watkins" (1961) reaffirmed that the U.S. Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office, in this specific case as a notary public. This decision is generally understood to also apply to witness oaths.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Several American atheists have used court challenges to address discrimination against atheists. Michael Newdow challenged inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the United States Pledge of Allegiance on behalf of his daughter, claiming that the phrase amounted to government endorsement of discrimination against atheists. He won the case at an initial stage, but the Supreme Court dismissed his claim, ruling that Newdow did not have standing to bring his case, thus disposing of the case without ruling on the constitutionality of the pledge. Respondents to a survey were less likely to support a kidney transplant for hypothetical atheists and agnostics needing it, than for Christian patients with similar medical needs. As the Boy Scouts of America does not allow atheists as members, atheist families and the ACLU from the 1990s onwards have launched a series of court cases arguing discrimination against atheists. In response to ACLU lawsuits, the Pentagon in 2004 ended sponsorship of Scouting units, and in 2005 the BSA agreed to transfer all Scouting units out of government entities such as public schools.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Despite polling showing that nonbelievers make up an increasingly large part of the population there is only one public atheist in all of the state legislatures across the nation. Few politicians have been willing to acknowledge their lack of belief in supreme beings, since such revelations have been considered "political suicide". On 20 September 2007, Pete Stark became the first nontheist United States congressman to openly acknowledge a lack of belief, joining the millions of Americans who have long kept their views secret for fear of discrimination in their communities. There is one state legislator, Ernie Chambers, currently holding a seat in the Nebraska State Legislature. Cecil Bothwell, who has publicly stated he does not believe in gods and that it is "certainly not relevant to public office", was elected on 3 November 2009, to the Asheville, North Carolina city council after he won the third highest number of votes in the city election. Following the election, political opponents of Bothwell threatened to challenge his election on the grounds that the North Carolina Constitution does not allow for atheists to hold public office in the state. However, that provision, dating back to 1868, is unenforceable and invalid because the United States Constitution prevents religious tests for public office. A 2015 Gallup survey found that 40% of Americans would not vote an atheist for president, and in polls prior to 2015, that number had reached about 50%. A 2014 study by the University of Minnesota found that 42% of respondents characterized atheists as a group that did "not at all agree with my vision of American society", and that 44% would not want their child to marry an atheist. The negative attitudes towards atheists were higher than negative attitudes towards African-Americans and homosexuals but lower than the negative attitudes towards Muslims. Many in the U.S. associate atheism with immorality, including criminal behaviour, extreme materialism, communism and elitism. The studies also showed that rejection of atheists was related to the respondent's lack of exposure to diversity, education and political orientations. Atheists and atheist organizations have alleged discrimination against atheists in the military, and recently, with the development of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, atheists have alleged institutionalized discrimination. In several child custody court rulings, atheist parents have been discriminated against, either directly or indirectly. As child custody laws in the United States are often based on the subjective opinion of family court judges, atheism has frequently been used to deny custody to non-religious parents on the basis that a parent's lack of faith displays a lack of morality required to raise a child.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Prominent atheists and atheist groups have said that discrimination against atheists is illustrated by a statement reportedly made by George H. W. Bush during a public press conference just after announcing his candidacy for the presidency in 1987. When asked by journalist Robert Sherman about the equal citizenship and patriotism of American atheists, Sherman reported that Bush answered, "No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." Sherman did not tape the exchange and no other newspaper ran a story on it at the time.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: George H. W. Bush's son, George W. Bush, responded to a question about the role of faith in his presidency during a 3 November 2004 press conference, "I will be your president regardless of your faith. And I don't expect you to agree with me, necessarily, on religion. As a matter of fact, no president should ever try to impose religion on our society. The great – the great tradition of America is one where people can worship the – the way they want to worship. And if they choose not to worship, they're just as patriotic as your neighbor."


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: On 16 December 2016, President Barack Obama signed H.R. 1150, an amendment to the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act. It includes protections for "non-theistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess or practice any religion at all."


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: "Torcaso v. Watkins", was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court reaffirmed that the United States Constitution prohibits States and the Federal Government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office; the specific case with Torcaso was regarding his being an atheist and his work as a notary public.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: The constitutions of seven U.S. states ban atheists from holding public office. However, these laws are unenforceable due to conflicting with the First Amendment and Article VI of the United States Constitution:


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Atheists, and those accused of defection from the official religion, may be subject to discrimination and persecution in many Muslim-majority countries. According to the International Humanist and Ethical Union, compared to other nations, "unbelievers... in Islamic countries face the most severe – sometimes brutal – treatment". Atheists and religious skeptics can be executed in at least thirteen nations: Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: According to the most common interpretations of Islam, Muslims are not free to change religion or become an atheist. Leaving Islam and thus becoming an apostate is traditionally punished by death for men and by life imprisonment for women. The death penalty for apostasy is apparent in a range of Islamic states, including Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Although there have been no recently reported executions in Saudi Arabia, a judge in Saudi Arabia has recently recommended that imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi go before a high court on a charge of apostasy, which would carry the death penalty upon conviction. While a death sentence is rare, it is common for atheists to be charged with blasphemy or inciting hatred. New "Arab Spring" regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have jailed several outspoken atheists.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Since an apostate can be considered a Muslim whose beliefs cast doubt on the Divine, and/or Qur'an, claims of atheism and apostasy have been made against Muslim scholars and political opponents throughout history. Both fundamentalists and moderates agree that "blasphemers will not be forgiven" although they disagree on the severity of an appropriate punishment. In northwestern Syria in 2013 during the Syrian Civil War, jihadists beheaded and defaced a sculpture of Al-Maʿarri (973–1058 CE), one of several outspoken Arab and Persian anti-religious intellectuals who lived and taught during the Islamic Golden Age.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Jordan requires atheists to associate themselves with a recognized religion for official identification purposes.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In Egypt, intellectuals suspected of holding atheistic beliefs have been prosecuted by judicial and religious authorities. Novelist Alaa Hamad was convicted of publishing a book that contained atheistic ideas and apostasy that were considered to threaten national unity and social peace.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: The study of Islam is a requirement in public and private schools for every Algerian child, irrespective of their religion.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Atheist or agnostic men are prohibited from marrying Muslim women (Algerian Family Code I.II.31). A marriage is legally nullified by the apostasy of the husband (presumably from Islam, although this is not specified; Family Code I.III.33).


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: The Constitution of Bangladesh ensures secularism and right to religious freedom. Yet, the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA), passed in 2018, provides provisions against blasphemous expressions:


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: The penalty under Section 2 and 3 of Article 28 of the Digital Security Act is a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine of BDT 1 million, or both. A person that commits the same offense several times is subject to imprisonment for up to 10 years or a “fine not exceeding Taka 20 lac (BDT 2 Million), or with both.”


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Religious Education is a mandatory subject in Bangladeshi public curricula from Grade-3 (Ages 8 to 9 usually), and even though Religious Education is required from Grade-3 onwards, most public and private schools have Religious Education since Grade-1 (Ages 6 to 7 usually), and most children are given Religious Education from a young age, and most children from Muslim households in Bangladesh can read the Qur'an by the time they are 8 or 9. Religion is also a mandatory elective needed in order for a student to sit for their SSCs. Although Atheism is frowned upon, no atheists have ever been given death sentence for apostasy since the birth of the country. Some Bangladeshi atheists have been assassinated by various local Islamic extremist organizations, but the Government has taken strict measures and has since banned the Islamist groups.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Atheists in Indonesia experience official discrimination in the context of registration of births and marriages, and the issuance of identity cards. In 2012, Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan was beaten by a mob, lost his job as a civil servant and was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for expressing his views online.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Jess Melvin argues that atheists were victims of genocide under the legal definition of the term during the 1965–66 Anti-PKI extermination campaign (PKI were the Communist Party of Indonesia) as the Indonesian Army called for the destruction of "atheist" and "unbelievers" collectively for their association with communism and, according to Matthew Lippmann and David Nersessian, atheists are covered as a protected group in the genocide convention under "religious group."


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Since atheism is not a belief nor a religion, non-believers are not given legal status in Iran. Declaration of faith in Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Zoroastrianism is required to avail of certain rights such as applying for entrance to university, or becoming a lawyer, with the position of judge reserved for Muslims only. The Penal Code is also based upon the religious affiliation of the victim and perpetrator, with the punishment oftentimes more severe on non-Muslims. Numerous writers, thinkers and philanthropists have been accused of apostasy and sentenced to death for questioning the prevailing interpretation of Islam in Iran. The Iranian Atheists Association was established in 2013 to form a platform for Iranian atheists to start debates and to question the current Islamic regime's attitude towards atheists, apostasy, and human rights.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In October 2018, bookstore owner Ihsan Mousa was arrested. He was released after promising not to sell books that promote rejection of Islam.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Atheism is prohibited in Saudi Arabia and can come with a death penalty, if one is charged as an atheist.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In March 2014, the Saudi interior ministry issued a royal decree branding all atheists as terrorists, which defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based".


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Although officially a secular state, the vast majority of Turks are Muslim, and the state grants some special privileges to Muslims and to Islam in the media and private religious institutions. Compulsory religious instruction in Turkish schools is also considered discriminatory towards atheists, who may not want their children to receive any religious education.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Sanal Edamaruku, atheist and founder-president of Rationalist International, had to flee India in 2012, when the Catholic Secular Forum pressed charges against him under Section 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code, which penalises outraging the religious sentiments of any citizen. He is currently in self-exile in Finland to avoid arrest and indefinite jail time.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: In Indian society, rationalists have been generally considered undeclared atheists because they tend to label all sorts of religious activities as superstition. So they have been stigmatized and avoided by most Hindus. Indian Muslims and Christians are traditionally opposed to atheism. However in ancient India, atheistic schools of thought, such as Charvaka and Ajivika existed alongside Buddhism during the latter's early days.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: Regular Freemasonry insists among other things that a volume of scripture is open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, and that the discussion of religion is banned. Continental Freemasonry is now the general term for the "liberal" jurisdictions which have removed some, or all, of these restrictions.


title: Discrimination against atheists

text: "Duty to God" is a principle of Scouting worldwide, though it is applied differently among countries. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) takes a strong position, excluding atheists and agnostics, while Girl Scouts of the USA takes a more neutral position. The United Kingdom Scout Association has recently published alternative promises for people of different or no religion, specifying "Atheists, Humanists and people of no specific religion", who make a promise to uphold Scouting values rather than a duty to God. Scouts Canada defines Duty to God broadly in terms of "adherence to spiritual principles" and does not require members to be part of an organized religion, but does require that they have some form of "personal spirituality". In other countries, especially in Europe, some Scouting organizations may be secularist or religiously neutral (such as Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs de France, Corpo Nazionale Giovani Esploratori ed Esploratrici Italiani and the "Baden-Powell Service Association" in the United States).


title: Aristaeus

text: A minor god in Greek mythology, attested mainly by Athenian writers, Aristaeus (; "Aristaios" (Aristaîos); lit. “Most Excellent, Most Useful”), was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of the huntress Cyrene and Apollo.


title: Aristaeus

text: "Aristeus" ("the best") was a cult title in many places: Boeotia, Arcadia, Ceos, Sicily, Sardinia, Thessaly, and Macedonia; consequently a set of "travels" was imposed, connecting his epiphanies in order to account for these widespread manifestations.


title: Aristaeus

text: If Aristaeus was a minor figure at Athens, he was more prominent in Boeotia, where he was "the pastoral Apollo", and was linked to the founding myth of Thebes by marriage with Autonoë, daughter of Cadmus, the founder. Aristaeus may appear as a winged youth in painted Boeotian pottery, similar to representations of the Boreads, spirits of the North Wind. Besides Actaeon and Macris, he also was said to have fathered Charmus and Callicarpus in Sardinia.


title: Aristaeus

text: According to Pindar's ninth Pythian Ode and Apollonius' "Argonautica" (II.522ff), Cyrene despised spinning and other womanly arts and instead spent her days hunting and shepherding, but, in a prophecy he put in the mouth of the wise centaur Chiron, Apollo would spirit her to Libya and make her the foundress of a great city, Cyrene, in a fertile coastal plain. When Aristaeus was born, according to what Pindar sang, Hermes took him to be raised on nectar and ambrosia and to be made immortal by Gaia.


title: Aristaeus

text: "Aristaios" ("the best") is an epithet rather than a name:For some men to call Zeus and holy Apollo.<br>Agreus and Nomios, and for others Aristaios (Pindar)


title: Aristaeus

text: Thanks to a vast family-tree, Aristaeus is a god and patron of a wide array of rustic and rural arts, crafts, skills, practices and traditions (some-of-which is overlapped with his many relatives):


title: Aristaeus

text: When he was grown, he sailed from Libya to Boeotia, where he was inducted into further mysteries in the cave of Chiron the centaur. In Boeotia, he was married to Autonoë and became the father of the ill-fated Actaeon, who inherited the family passion for hunting, to his ruin, and of Macris, who nursed the child Dionysus.


title: Aristaeus

text: According to Pherecydes, Aristaeus fathered Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, and the night. Hesiod's "Theogony" suggests her parents were Perses and Asteria.


title: Aristaeus

text: Aristaeus' presence in Ceos, attested in the fourth and third centuries BC, was attributed to a Delphic prophecy that counselled Aristaeus to sail to Ceos, where he would be greatly honored. He found the islanders suffering from sickness under the stifling and baneful effects of the Dog-Star Sirius at its first appearance before the sun's rising, in early July. In the foundation legend of a specifically Cean weather-magic ritual, Aristaeus was credited with the double sacrifice that countered the deadly effects of the Dog-Star, a sacrifice at dawn to Zeus Ikmaios, "Rain-making Zeus" at a mountaintop altar, following a pre-dawn chthonic sacrifice to Sirius, the Dog-Star, at its first annual appearance, which brought the annual relief of the cooling Etesian winds.


title: Aristaeus

text: In a development that offered more immediate causality for the myth, Aristaeus discerned that the Ceans' troubles arose from murderers hiding in their midst, the killers of Icarius in fact. When the miscreants were found out and executed, and a shrine erected to Zeus Ikmaios, the great god was propitiated and decreed that henceforth, the Etesian wind should blow and cool all the Aegean for forty days from the baleful rising of Sirius, but the Ceans continued to propitiate the Dog-Star, just before its rising, just to be sure. Aristaeus appears on Cean coins.


title: Aristaeus

text: Then Aristaeus, on his civilizing mission, visited Arcadia, where the winged male figure who appears on ivory tablets in the sanctuary of Ortheia as the consort of the goddess, has been identified as Aristaeus by L. Marangou.


title: Aristaeus

text: Aristaeus settled for a time in the Vale of Tempe. By the time of Virgil's "Georgics", the myth has Aristaeus chasing Eurydice when she was bitten by a serpent and died.


title: Aristaeus

text: Soon after Aristaeus' inadvertent hand in the death of Eurydice, his bees became sickened and began to die. Seeking council, first from his mother, Cyrene, and then from Proteus, Aristaeus learns that the bees' death was a punishment for causing the death of Eurydice, from her sisters, the Auloniad nymphes. To make amends, Aristaeus needed to sacrifice 12 animals (or four bulls and four cows) to the gods, and in memory of Eurydice, leave the carcasses in the place of sacrifice, and to return 3-days later. He followed these instructions, establishing sacrificial alters before a fountain, as advised, sacrificed the aforementioned cattle, and left their carcasses. Upon returning 3-days later, Aristaeus found within one of the carcasses new swarms of bees, which he took back to his apiary. The bees were never again troubled by disease.


title: Aristaeus

text: In later times, "Aristaios" was a familiar Greek name, borne by several archons of Athens and attested in inscriptions.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Gex is a platform game developed by Crystal Dynamics. It was originally released for the 3DO in 1995; ports of the game for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn were later developed by Beam Software, and a PC version was licensed by Microsoft and released for Microsoft Windows. It was a pack-in game for Panasonic models of the 3DO later in the console's life. It is the first in the "Gex" series of video games, and introduces players to the title character, a wisecracking, television-obsessed gecko voiced by comedian Dana Gould, who must venture through the "Media Dimension" and defeat Rez, the overlord of the dimension who wants to make Gex into his new network mascot.


title: Gex (video game)

text: "Gex" was created by Lyle Hall in 1993 shortly after he had joined Crystal Dynamics, and initially followed a movie stuntman named Gecko X before being retooled at the advisory of lead programmer Gregg Tavares. The game's lead character was intended as a mascot for the developer who could rival the likes of other immensely popular platformer characters – primarily Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. Initially intended for completion in June 1994, and later in September of that year, development of the game took 21 months, with time constraints and a limited development team leading to numerous production difficulties. Several features were cut because of a necessity to complete the game on time, but some of these features were later re-added by a team of developers who programmed several other secret features into the game.


title: Gex (video game)

text: It was released in April 1995 to largely positive reviews from critics; particular praise was aimed at Gex's unique platforming abilities and Gould's voice work as the character. The 3DO version of the game managed to sell over a million copies, making it one of the system's better-selling games. Two sequels were later released, titled "" and "", with Gex becoming Crystal Dynamics' mascot for a short time.


title: Gex (video game)

text: "Gex" is a side-scrolling platformer that follows the title character Gex, an anthropomorphic, television-obsessed gecko who must travel through the "media dimension" and defeat the game's antagonist, Rez. Gex must traverse through 24 levels contained in five different TV channels which act as game worlds (accessed through a world map), each filled with platforming stages and ending with a boss stage. The goal of each stage is to explore and locate hidden television remotes which are used to unlock more levels. The original 3DO version of the game allows players to save their progress and resume from where they left off; all other versions use a password system. The player unlocks passwords or is granted a save opportunity by beating a boss stage or finding video tapes hidden in certain levels. Every level contains a hidden portal which leads to a bonus level, the perfect completion of which earns the player a piece of the Planet X remote. Collecting every piece of this remote allows them to reach Planet X, an optional secret world.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Many of Gex's default abilities take advantage of his special characteristics as a gecko. In addition to being able to walk, run, and jump, he can attach himself to walls and ceilings and crawl along them using the suction pads on his feet, allowing him to reach higher areas. Gex primarily attacks with his tail; he can whip it in a full circle to defeat enemies, activate switches, and deflect projectiles. He can coil it into the shape of a spring to bounce off enemies and other objects. Levels contain assorted collectible power-ups which can provide Gex with several different abilities, such as enhanced speed, invulnerability, and one of many different types of projectiles that can be launched from his mouth. Gex can obtain and utilize these power-ups by lashing his gecko tongue out and consuming them; alternatively, these items can be tail whipped in order to replenish lost health at the expense of the item's primary effect. Gex's health is represented by three "hit paws", and he loses one whenever he is hit by an enemy or a hazard. If the player loses all of their hit paws, then they lose a life. The number of hit paws can be extended to six by finding a certain power-up. The player begins the game with three lives, though more can be earned by collecting a hundred Golden flies in a level. Losing all lives causes the game to be over, forcing players to restart from the beginning (or from they last saved in the 3DO release).


title: Gex (video game)

text: Gex, a young anthropomorphic gecko, lives by himself watching television and eating snacks in his mansion in Maui, Hawaii, which he acquired after inheriting a large sum of money following the death of his great uncle. While looking for a good show to watch after doing some "nude funkercising", he consumes a passing house fly. This house fly turns out to be a small undercover drone being controlled by Rez, the overlord of the Media Dimension. Rez uses the droid to "bug" Gex, and pulls him into the Media Dimension through the TV set, intending to use him as the network's new mascot character. In order to escape, Gex needs to traverse the Media Dimension and find remote controls which he could use to destroy the TV sets blockading his exit back to the outside world.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Gex fights his way through the Media Dimension, finding remotes, and defeating Rez' henchmen along the way, before eventually defeating Rez himself using some of the tyrant's own drones against him. Upon returning home, Gex resumes watching his TV, wondering what was on HBO.


title: Gex (video game)

text: The concept for "Gex" was created by Lyle Hall, who began work on the project shortly after joining the newly-formed Crystal Dynamics in 1993. Hall wanted the game to "take advantage of both the graphics prowess and the CD audio capabilities" of Panasonic's 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console, intending to create a 2D platform game starring "the coolest character I could come up with". It was created with the intention of a new mascot in mind, with Crystal Dynamics pushing for a character who could rival the likes of other gaming icons such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. Initially, the development team consisted of four people; Hall, who served as the game's producer, Mira Ross and Susanne Dougherty as artists, and Gregg Travers as the lead programmer (later on, Justin Knorr was hired as the game's lead designer). The game initially centered around a Hollywood film stunt performer named "Gecko X" who needed to help save his contracted film studio from going bankrupt at the volition of the antagonist, Karl Chameleon. Each stage was themed around a film genre (e.g. a level inspired by Western films) and would begin by showing stock footage from a vintage film of that genre. The player would then traverse the level and perform "stunts" along the way, with the player's performance dictating the amount of money the film would earn at the box office and how well the studio would do. The concept was eventually nixed at the suggestion of Travers, who argued that placing the levels in such realistic settings would lead to a lack of sensible design structure, and a new, more fantastical concept was brainstormed, in which a new villain, named Rezull, would capture Gex and bring him into a "TV Land" where he would have to escape by collecting magical TV remotes and fighting Rezull’s armada of "video warriors" made of TV static. Gex's voice was provided by comedian Dana Gould, who wrote all of the character's dialogue.


title: Gex (video game)

text: During its production, "Gex" went through various development challenges due to schedule issues. Work on the game began in late 1993, with a development deadline of June 1994. The development team initially came up with six different worlds themed around varying TV channels, including a horror world and a science fiction world. Each world was given three distinct sets of art design that could be used to create unique levels; for instance, the horror world had a haunted house set, a graveyard set, and a "Mode 2" set for a vertically scrolling level. While working on the game, they found that developing game art for "Gex" was far harder than it had been with 16-bit video games, as the expanded 32-bit memory in combination with the storage capabilities of a compact disc meant that far more art could be made. With two artists working on the game's assets, a single in-game level took around two months to complete. Because Crystal Dynamics' two other 3DO games being developed at the time, "Crash N Burn" and "Total Eclipse", only required a small number of artists, Panasonic was hesitant in hiring additional artists to the game's development team, presuming it to be unnecessary. Because of this limited development team, the game took longer to produce than anticipated. Eventually, the company began bringing other artists in to work on designing characters, including Steve Kongsle (who had been working on "Crash N Burn" and designed Gex).


title: Gex (video game)

text: In the middle of the game's strenuous development, a number of "Gex"s developers - among whom were programmer Danny Chan and Evan Wells, as well as various people from outside of development - joined together to secretly program several features into the game. The unused sci-fi art from the game was used to make a series of secret levels. A small 2D shooting game programmed by Wells as his Senior project at Stanford University was added into the game, as was a small minigame made by scriptor Susan Michelle. These additions were kept in unbeknownst to the company until they were discovered through playtesting. The additions were kept in the game. The "secret team" also programmed a hidden extended end credits sequence which featured photos of the staff, as well as a wide array of concept art, sketches and storyboards, which came to last a total of 18 minutes after being completed. This sequence could be accessed by completing all of the sci-fi levels as well as the shooter level. At one point in development, one of the stages designed by Knorr was edited without his permission. The level had several parts with bugs that Knorr requested to be fixed. Since the game was eight to nine months late of its initial completion deadline, rather than working around the bugs, the company removed these parts in order to ship the game sooner. Knorr was infuriated by this, and in response, left a hidden message in one of the levels teaching the player a cheat code to get to the game's stage select (which contained over 80 level slots despite only 28 levels being in the game) and telling them to pick a specific stage, which contained the original version of this level. There, he hid three more messages, including one which disclosed the personal phone number of head of product development Madeline Canepa and telling the players to call her and "give her a piece of your mind and my mind too". This addition was ultimately found by playtesters, leading to the immediate firing of Knorr.


title: Gex (video game)

text: By June 1994, very little progress had been made on "Gex", with less than half of the game complete. The multiple art sets were reduced to only one per level, and the Mode 2 section and the sci-fi world in its entirety were scrapped. The team hoped to have the game finished by September so that it could be released for the holiday season in December. However, by September, the game was still vastly incomplete, with unfinished level designs and no in-game audio, and by the end of 1994 it was clear that the game would still need extra time to be finished.


title: Gex (video game)

text: "Gex" was released for the 3DO in April 1995. after around 21 months of development. It was also included later on in the 3DO's lifespan as a pack-in title bundled with certain units of the console. The game was later ported to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, both of which were developed by Beam Software and released in North America on December 18, 1995 under Crystal Dynamics' brand and in Europe on April 5, 1996. A Microsoft Windows port of "Gex" was released on November 7, 1996 and a demo was bundled with the Microsoft Interactive CD Sampler. The game was later re-released on the PlayStation Store on November 6, 2009.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Tommy Glide of "GamePro" highly praised "Gex", stating that he "sets high standards for all future 3DO platform-hoppers" and predicting that the character would reach popularity levels similar to Sonic and Mario. "Next Generation" called it "one of the most solid and enjoyable side-scrolling action games in a while." "Electronic Gaming Monthly" gave the game their "Game of the Month" award. The game was awarded "Best 3DO Game" at the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show by "GamePro" and "Best 3DO Game of 1995" by "Electronic Gaming Monthly". In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the 3DO version 9th on their "The GamesMaster 3DO Top 10."


title: Gex (video game)

text: Gilde highly praised Gex's visuals, and wrote that it would "win a 3DO beauty pageant". Prior to release, "GameFan"s E. Storm called Gex's model "one of the best looking and animated characters that [they] have ever seen" and praised the game's environments and parallax scrolling; however, he also expressed disdain in the game's titular character dawning the only pre-rendered model out of all of the characters, although he admitted that they were still "drawn well for the most part." In a later set of reviews from the same publication following the game's release, reviewer K. Lee praised the mix of bitmapped graphics and SGI renders used for the sprites. The other 2 "Gamefan" reviewers, Nick Rox and "Skid", expressed awe at the game's ability to extensively use parallax scrolling in spite of the 3DO's limited hardware.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Gameplay was deemed unique by many critics, who praised its integration of Gex's abilities as a gecko. Lee called "Gex"s gameplay mechanics "the icing on the cake" as well as praising the inclusion of game secrets. Gilde aimed particular praise towards Gex's ability to climb surfaces, saying that players could "get into the groove" of using the skill despite stating that it was initially frustrating trying to guess which walls were and were not climbable. A reviewer for "Next Generation" contested that Gex's wall climbing ability was "not completely unique" but that it nonetheless added an interesting dimension to the gameplay. Storm advised that the game controlled the best when playing using the 3DO's Goldstar controller.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Gould's in-game voiceover for Gex was highly praised. Gilde stated that it never became obnoxious due to the wide range of different one-liners present in-game. Storm called Gex's voice "the first time a game character has ever been given voice and personality that has actually turned out to be cool" and stated that the many written phrases suited his character. Skid felt that the vocals added to the game's enjoyability, while Rox wrote that they were mostly "hilarious... when you can hear them over the music and sound effects." In reviewing the PC version for PC Powerplay, David Wildgoose wrote that Gex's "American slacker voice" would be viewed by players as either "cool or grating", although he admitted to personally not minding it. Lee praised the game's music, calling it "high quality."


title: Gex (video game)

text: The game's ports received varying levels of praise. The four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" reviewed the PlayStation and Saturn versions, commenting that the audio and cinemas in both versions were cleaned up compared to the 3DO original. They especially praised the game's humor and solid platforming action. Tommy Glide likewise stated in "GamePro" that the PlayStation version had "cleaner graphics and smoother gameplay" than the 3DO version. He also remarked the Saturn version has "the same graphics, sound, and control that earned acclaim in the PlayStation version", and held it favorably above "Bug!", another platform game for the Sega Saturn. "IGN" stated that the game was still as fun on the PlayStation than it was on the 3DO, despite noting that very few changes had been made. "Next Generation"s review of the Saturn port remarked that "Gex" was nowhere near as fresh as it was when it debuted on the 3DO, but still witty and fun. In a negative review of the game, Rob Allsetter commented in "Sega Saturn Magazine" that although the visuals and game flow were acceptable, they were both negated by the game's "utter predictability." "Maximum" gave the PlayStation version a mixed review, saying that the player character has a remarkable variety of abilities, but that the level design is often dull and frustrating. Wildgoose praised the PC port of the game, stating that it was still enjoyable despite calling it a "slightly aged console platformer".


title: Gex (video game)

text: "Gex" was one of the best-selling 3DO games, but the exact sales figures remain unclear. In July 1995, roughly a month before it became a pack-in game, its sales exceeded one million units according to "GamePro" and "Electronic Gaming Monthly". Contradictory to this, an article in "Next Generation" cover-dated November 1995 says that the 3DO version had sold only 750,000 units worldwide.


title: Gex (video game)

text: The success of "Gex" produced two sequels, with the eponymous character becoming the recurring mascot for Crystal Dynamics. In 1998, Crystal Dynamics released a sequel to "Gex" called "" for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, following Gex once again as he travels to defeat Rez. Unlike the first game, a 2D side-scrolling title, this game is a 3D platformer, playing in a vein similar to games such as "Super Mario 64". A year later, "" was released, featuring "Playboy" model and "Baywatch" actress Marliece Andrada as a new character named Agent XTra who is captured by Rez. Since the release of "Gex", the series has collectively sold 15 million units.


title: Gex (video game)

text: Although "Gex 3" was the last game in the "Gex" series to date, developer Square Enix, who holds the rights to the franchise, announced in 2013 that they would be holding a "Square Enix Collective" program in which they would give budding game developers opportunities to develop a new game in one of three different series – among which was "Gex", alongside "Fear Effect" and "Anachronox". The program began in 2015, with Square opening itself up to pitches from independent developers.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: Amityville II: The Possession is a 1982 supernatural horror independent film directed by Damiano Damiani. The screenplay by Tommy Lee Wallace is based on the novel "Murder in Amityville" by the parapsychologist Hans Holzer. It is a loose prequel to "The Amityville Horror" (1979), set at 112 Ocean Avenue and featuring the fictional Montelli family, loosely based on the DeFeo family. The cast includes Burt Young in one of his rare darker roles, as he plays an abusive and sadistic father/husband.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: The Montelli family, an Italian American family formed by Anthony Montelli and his wife, Dolores, move into the house of their dreams with their children, Sonny, Patricia, Mark, and Jan. Things go well at first, but everything changes after discovering a tunnel in the basement leading into the house from an unknown place.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: An evil presence is shown to be lurking within, unknown to the family. Unusual and paranormal activities occur, such as unknown forces banging on the door at night when nobody is outside and an ugly demonic message painted on the wall of Janice's room. For the latter, Anthony blames and beats his children, Jan and Mark, then beats Dolores for intervening, resulting in a fight between the entire family. Concerned by these developments, Dolores tries to have the local Catholic priest, Father Frank Adamsky, bless the house, but an argument breaks out within the family shortly after another demonic incident in the kitchen. Anthony yells at and blames the younger children again and hits Jan as Adamsky tries to intervene, but Anthony rudely orders him to leave. To Dolores' mortification, Adamsky leaves, disgusted at Anthony's behavior. He finds his car door open and the Bible on the passenger seat torn to pieces. The situation inside the home continues to deteriorate; Anthony is shown to be strict, abusive, sacrilegious towards the Catholic faith, violent towards his family, and forcing his wife to have sex with him against her will. Dolores tries to keep things together for the youngest children. Also, Sonny and Patricia are revealed to have started to have sexual feelings for each other due to mutual attraction that neither can act on.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: The family goes to church with Anthony, so he can apologize for being rude to Adamsky. Sonny stays at home, claiming to feel unwell. He soon hears an alarming noise and goes downstairs to get his father's gun. He hears demonic laughter and follows it to the tunnel in the basement. The unseen presence pursues a frightened Sonny to his room, and he then falls victim to demonic possession. Now possessed, Sonny approaches Patricia to play a game with him. They pretend he is a famous photographer and she is his nude model. Patricia agrees to pose naked, and the pair end up having incestuous sex. Patricia is then seen at confession, confessing the act and telling the priest that he does it to "hurt God" but not quite revealing who the culprit is.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: Sonny becomes more sinister and demonic, as his face starts contorting demonically. Startled, he tries to keep his family away but is unsuccessful due to the demon's influence. On Sonny's birthday, he isolates himself from his birthday party, calls Patricia, and she goes to check on him. She tells him she does not feel guilty about what they have been doing, but due to his demonic phases and his body's gradual demonic contortions, Sonny sends her away, using foul language. Patricia runs away crying, and she tries to tell Adamsky that she thinks Sonny is possessed, but he does not respond. Later that night, the evil spirit tells Sonny to "kill them all." Sonny goes and gets his father's rifle and shoots his parents, Jan, Mark, and Patricia, after hunting her down.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: The next day the police arrive, pick up the bodies, and Sonny is arrested. He lies and says he does not recall killing his family. Adamsky then realizes that Sonny is possessed and asks the bishops if he can perform an exorcism on him, but they refuse, not believing him. He takes it upon himself to perform an exorcism without the support of the Catholic Church. After freeing him from police custody, he takes Sonny to church. Sonny attacks him and escapes after seeing the crosses on the doors. Adamsky runs after Sonny, traces him to the house, and performs the exorcism, releasing Sonny's soul. As the police arrive, Adamsky asks Father Tom to take Sonny away from him. Tom takes Sonny outside, where the police arrest him and take him back into custody. It is revealed that the demon has transferred itself into Adamsky. Father Adamsky's fate and his whereabouts are left unknown, and eventually, the house is put up for sale.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: An international co-production film between The United States and Mexico. George Lutz wanted the sequel to the 1979 film to be based on the book "The Amityville Horror Part II" by John G. Jones, but the producer Dino De Laurentiis secured a deal with American International Pictures for a sequel based on "Murder in Amityville" by Hans Holzer. Lutz sued De Laurentiis and ultimately lost, but succeeded in having posters placed in theaters stating ""This film has no affiliation with George and Kathy Lutz"." The film was later acquired by Filmways, which in turn was acquired by Orion Pictures shortly before release.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: Production was originally set to begin in September 1981 with a screenplay by David Ambrose and under the direction of John Hough. However, production was pushed back and they were both replaced. Principal photography began March 8, 1982 at the same house in Toms River, New Jersey that the previous film used. After two weeks on location in New Jersey, unlike the first "Amityville" film, studio shooting was done in Mexico City for eight or nine weeks at Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: The explosion scene at the end of the film was real during filming. A highly explosive chemical which produces flames that burn out instantly was used. During filming of the explosion scene at the end of the movie the effect reportedly backfired and burned the side of the house.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: After director Damiano Damiani's original cut of the film was shown to test audiences, several scenes had to be cut out for various reasons, one of them being the negative reaction of the audience to a scene in which Anthony anally rapes Dolores and another scene in which Sonny and Patricia have incestuous sex. This scene was added into the script by Damiani who wanted to really upset the viewers. The original scene was much more graphic and sexual, while in the movie it cuts to the next scene almost immediately after Sonny starts kissing Patricia. Some other deleted scenes were shown on lobby cards and stills for the movie, such as a scene in which Anthony is sitting outside the house drinking and cleaning a gun and a scene where Jan is pushing Mark's head under the water while he is in the bathtub. The theatrical trailer also shows a shot of Jan and Mark looking at the window and holding hands. The only deleted scene which was ever released in some form is the so-called "Lost Souls" scene, originally from near the end of the movie, in which souls that are within the house appear in front of Adamsky and he blesses them. No actual footage was released but a UK special collector's edition DVD includes several stills from this deleted scene.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: "Amityville II: The Possession" was distributed theatrically in the United States by Orion Pictures on 24 September 1982. The film grossed a total of $12,534,817 on its initial theatrical run.


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 24%, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. Critics thought the film used excessive effects, and found the storyline not as interesting as what it could have been. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times", who gave the first film a negative review, claimed the film "is actually slightly better than "The Amityville Horror"" and mentioned some good technical credits and performances and gave the film 2 out of 4 stars. Both he and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of the worst of the year in a 1982 episode of "Sneak Previews". "Variety" complained that there are "actually two films meandering in this mess — one a second rate horror flick about a family in peril, and another that is a slight variation on the demon-possessed "Exorcist" theme." Likewise, "Boxoffice" called this attempt to cash-in on the success of "The Amityville Horror" an "embarrassment."


title: Amityville II: The Possession

text: A follow-up film titled "Amityville 3-D" (1983) was released the following year, loosely based on the accounts of paranormal investigator Stephen Kaplan, who was trying to prove the Lutz family’s story was a hoax. The film has little to no connection to this film, or even the first film, as it doesn’t reference the Montelli family at all, and instead makes reference to the actual DeFeo family.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On Group is Australia's largest global retailer, known for its fashion clothing and stationery brands. As of 2020, it has over 1,500 stores in 18 countries employing 22,000 people across seven brands: Cotton On, Cotton On Kids, Cotton On Body, Factorie, Typo, Rubi, Supré, and Cotton On Foundation.


title: Cotton On Group

text: The design team in the company's Australian office, control the steps of production from merchandise planning to establishing specifications, and production is outsourced to approximately 850 suppliers and factories globally. Cotton On Group sources its materials and products from a number of locations worldwide with the majority of its suppliers being located in China, Bangladesh, India and Australia. It also works with suppliers in Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, the United States and other parts of Asia. These facilities are used for horizontal division of labour, rather than being integrated.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On is a main sponsor of the AFL Women's, the Australian rules football league for female players.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On was founded by Nigel Austin in 1991, with the first store being opened in Geelong, Australia.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On Kids launched in 2004. It was followed by Cotton On Body, Factorie and Typo in 2007, and Rubi in 2008. In 2013, Cotton On acquired Australian female youth brand Supré.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On expanded internationally in 2006, with the opening of its first New Zealand store at Queensgate Shopping Centre, Lower Hutt. It now operates in 19 countries.


title: Cotton On Group

text: In December 2012 Cotton On was fined $1 million for selling highly flammable children's sleepwear misleadingly labeled as "low fire danger". The discount clothing retailer, which has more than 900 outlets across the country, was fined $400,000 for selling more than 1000 nightdresses that breached Australian fire safety standards, and a further $400,000 for selling more than 1000 unsafe pairs of girls' pajamas, between September and December 2010. It was fined a further $200,000 for false and misleading labels on both sets of clothing items which claimed they were "low fire danger".


title: Cotton On Group

text: In October 2016, Cotton On Group signed a 3-year contract with the AFL Women's League to be the exclusive uniform supplier for all its teams.


title: Cotton On Group

text: In July 2019, Four Corners reported Cotton On and several other Australian brands sourced cotton from Xinjiang, and that evidence linked the cotton to forced labour camps. Cotton On ran an internal investigation, and in October 2019, announced it had stopped buying cotton from Xinjiang over concerns of abuse of human rights.


title: Cotton On Group

text: In February 2019, Cotton On began selling sex toys on its Australian and New Zealand websites with a content warning.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On is the main brand of the Cotton On Group. It dates its origins back to Nigel Austin's first denim jacket sale in 1988. The first Cotton On branded store opened three years later.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On Kids was launched in 2004, selling children's clothing, baby clothing, activewear, dress-ups, fashion accessories, swimwear, gifts and stationery. In March 2013 it launched a Free by Cotton On range for 9 to 14-year-olds.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On Body was launched in 2007, selling underwear and sleepwear. It later expanded into swimwear and activewear.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Factorie is a youth fashion brand which was added to the Cotton On Group in 2007. It has since expanded internationally, and now has more than 160 stores across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Typo is a stationery brand with stores in Australia, Asia, New Zealand, the United States and the UK. In the UK, ASOS and WHSmith also stock select Typo products.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Supré was established in 1984, selling clothing for young women. It became part of the Cotton On Group in 2013, and had more than 1,000 workers across more than 100 retail stores in Australia and New Zealand at its peak. All Supré stores in NZ had been closed by 2020.


title: Cotton On Group

text: Cotton On Lost was launched in late 2018, but has since been phased out. The range included travel luggage and accessories.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: Raja Ampat, or the "Four Kings", is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Southwest Papua province. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The Raja Ampat archipelago straddles the Equator and forms part of Coral Triangle which contains the richest marine biodiversity on earth.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: Administratively, the archipelago is part of the province of Southwest Papua. Most of the islands constitute the Raja Ampat Regency, which was separated out from Sorong Regency in 2004. The regency encompasses around of land and sea, of which 8,034.44 km constitutes the land area and has a population of 64,141 at the 2020 Census. This excludes the southern half of Salawati Island, which is not part of this regency but instead constitutes the Salawati Selatan and Salawati Tengah Districts of Sorong Regency.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The name of Raja Ampat ("Raja" means king, and "empat" means four) comes from local mythology that tells of a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of the seven hatch and become kings who occupy four of Raja Ampat's biggest islands whilst the other three become a ghost, a woman, and a stone.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The first recorded sighting and landing by Europeans of the Ampat Islands was by the Portuguese navigator Jorge de Menezes and his crew in 1526, en route from Biak, the Bird's Head Peninsula, and Waigeo, to Halmahera (Ternate).


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: Islam first arrived in the Raja Ampat Islands in the 15th century due to political and economic contacts with the Bacan Sultanate. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maluku-based Sultante of Tidore had close economic and political ties with the islands especially with Gurabesi. During this period, Islam became firmly established and local chiefs had begun adopting Islam.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: As a consequence of these ties, Raja Ampat was considered a part of the Sultanate of Tidore. After the Dutch invaded Maluku, it was claimed by the Netherlands.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The English explorer William Dampier gave his name to Dampier Strait, which separates Batanta island from Waigeo island. To the east, there is a strait that separates Batanta from Salawati. In 1759 Captain William Wilson sailing in the East Indiaman "Pitt" navigated these waters and named a strait the 'Pitt strait', after his vessel; this was probably the channel between Batanta and Salawati.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: Water temperature in North Raja Ampat ranges from , while in the South in Misool, it ranges from (Water temperature chart in Misog ol).


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The islands are part of the Vogelkop-Aru lowland rain forests ecoregion. The rain forests that covers the islands is the natural habitat of many species of birds, mammals, reptiles and insects. Two species of bird-of-paradise, the red bird-of-paradise ("Paradisaea rubra") and Wilson's bird-of-paradise ("Diphyllodes respublica"), are endemic to the islands of Waigeo, Gam, and Batanta.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: Raja Ampat is considered the global center of tropical marine bio-diversity and is referred to as The Crown Jewel of the Bird's Head Seascape, which also includes Cenderawasih Bay and Triton Bay. The region contains more than 600 species of hard corals, equaling about 75 percent of known species globally, and more than 1,700 species of reef fish – including on both shallow and mesophotic reefs. Compared to similar-sized ecosystems elsewhere in the world, this makes Raja Ampat's biodiversity the richest in the world. Endangered and rare marine mammals such as Dugongs, whales (such as blue or/and pygmy blue, bryde's, less known omura's, sperm), dolphins, and orcas occur there.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: In the northeast region of Waigeo island, local villagers have been involved in turtle conservation initiatives by protecting nests or relocating eggs of leatherback, olive ridley and hawksbill turtles. Their works are supported by local government, and NGOs.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: Raja Ampat Marine Recreation Park was designated in 2009. It is composed of four marine areas – the waters around northern Salawati, Batanta, and southwestern Waigeo, Mayalibit Bay in central Waigeo, the waters southeast of Misool, and waters around the Sembilan Islands north of Misool and west of Salawati.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The oceanic natural resources around Raja Ampat give it significant potential as a tourist area. Many sources place Raja Ampat as one of their top ten most popular places for diving whilst it retains the number one ranking for underwater biodiversity.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on Earth. Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, making Raja Ampat quite possibly the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The area's massive coral colonies along with relatively high sea surface temperatures, also suggest that its reefs may be relatively resistant to threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the survival of other coral ecosystems around the world. The Raja Ampat islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The crown-of-thorns starfish eats Raja Ampat's corals, and the destruction this causes among reefs has posed a threat to tourism. The crown-of-thorns starfish, which "can grow as big around as a trash-can lid", has proliferated due to increasing nitrogen in the water from human waste, which in turn causes a spike in phytoplankton on which the starfish feed. In 2019, local divers had begun the task of reducing starfish populations by injecting the starfish with a 10% vinegar solution; the dead starfish can then be eaten by local fish.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The high marine diversity in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as coral and fish larvae are more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral diversity, resilience, and role as a source for larval dispersal make it a global priority for marine protection.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: 1,508 fish species, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinia recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur in these islands and 75% of all species that exist in the world), and 699 mollusk species, the variety of marine life is staggering. Some areas boast enormous schools of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as wobbegongs.


title: Raja Ampat Islands

text: The submarine world around the islands was the subject of the documentary film "Edies Paradies 3" (by Otto C. Honegger), which has been broadcast by the Swiss television network Schweizer Fernsehen.