title: Men in Black (film series)

text: Both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have said that they would "consider" appearing in a "Men in Black 4", with Jones saying that it will be fun to do it again. In July 2012, Columbia chief executive Doug Belgrad said that they are interested to continue the franchise after succcessful "MIB 3" financial performance. Both Barry Sonnenfeld and Will Smith expressed interest on another project, also saying that they would like to see Will's son Jaden Smith in it. In early 2013, Oren Uziel was writing a "Men in Black 4" screenplay for Sony Pictures. As of 2022, no further developments regarding the sequel have been announced.


title: Men in Black (film series)

text: In December 2014, it was revealed that Sony was planning a crossover between "Men in Black" and "Jump Street". The news was leaked after Sony's system was hacked and then confirmed by the directors of the "Jump Street" films, Chris Miller and Phil Lord during an interview about it. James Bobin was announced as director in 2016. As of January 2019, the project was no longer in development.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: Fredderick Edmund VanVleet Sr. (born February 25, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).


title: Fred VanVleet

text: A point guard, VanVleet played college basketball for Wichita State University before beginning his NBA career. He contributed to a resurgence of Wichita State Shockers basketball that included a Final Four run by the 2012–13 Shockers team and an undefeated regular season by the 2013–14 team. VanVleet was named as a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American by a variety of media outlets. As a junior for the 2014–15 Shockers, he was an All-Missouri Valley Conference first team selection and received All-American honorable mention recognition from the Associated Press. VanVleet is the Wichita State career assists leader and was named Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year as both a sophomore and a senior.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, VanVleet signed with the Toronto Raptors. He spent time with the Raptors and with their G League affiliate, Raptors 905, during the 2016–17 season; he was a member of Raptors 905's 2017 championship team. VanVleet went on to become a key player for the Raptors and won an NBA championship with the team in 2019. He owns the single game points record not only for the Raptors, but also for any undrafted NBA player, when he scored 54 against Orlando in 2021. VanVleet was named to his first NBA All-Star Game in 2022.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet played for Auburn High School in Rockford, Illinois, where he was an All-State first team selection by the "Chicago Sun-Times" (Class 4A), Associated Press (Class 4A), and "Chicago Tribune" as a senior in 2012. In 2012, VanVleet helped lead Auburn to a 22-game winning streak which resulted in the school's first Illinois High School Association (IHSA) final four since 1975. He led the Knights to a 3rd-place finish in the IHSA state tournament.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet remained loyal to his local Rockford Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club team rather than accept offers to more high-profile teams in Chicago. VanVleet did not feel it would make a difference in his recruiting: "As long as you're leading whoever you're playing with, the coaches are going to see that. If they see you competing and winning with guys maybe I shouldn't be winning with, that's maybe even an advantage for me." He received basketball scholarship offers from Colorado State, Northern Illinois, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Drake, Detroit, and Kent State. His stepfather felt that he was being overlooked by many Chicago metropolitan area schools because of his decision not to join a Chicago AAU team. He cut his list down to Kent State, Northern Illinois, and Wichita State. When he accepted an offer to play for Wichita State, he became the only member of the national class of 2012 Rivals.com top 150 to attend a Missouri Valley Conference school.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: As a freshman, VanVleet contributed double digit scoring twice (versus Gonzaga and Ohio State) in the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament from off the bench as the 2012–13 Shockers team reached the final four. Against Gonzaga, his 13 points included a basket with 1:28 remaining that helped the Shockers secure only the fifth sweet sixteen appearance by a number 9 seed since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1985. His 12 points against Ohio State included a late basket that helped the Shockers become the fifth team with a seeding higher than eight to make it to the final four since 1979 when seeding began.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet broke out as a sophomore, as expected. On January 23, 2014, he was selected to the 23-man Oscar Robertson Award midseason watchlist by the United States Basketball Writers Association. On February 17, Vanvleet was selected as one of 23 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. When the Rockford native returned to the Chicago metropolitan area on February 19 to lead Wichita State against Loyola, he went 6-for-6 from the field and 10-for-10 on his free throw attempts for a game-high 22 points and added 8 rebounds and 6 assists to help Wichita State raise its record to 28–0. The 28–0 Shockers (Cleanthony Early, Tekele Cotton, VanVleet, Ron Baker and Chadrack Lufile) appeared on the cover of the February 24, 2014 "Sports Illustrated". On February 28, he was named one of the 10 semi-finalists for the Naismith Award.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet helped lead the 2013–14 team to the first 31–0 regular season in NCAA Division I men's basketball history. As a result, he was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Conference first team and selected as the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. He was also selected to the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Most-Improved Team. Following the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament, VanVleet was a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American second team selection by "Sports Illustrated" and Bleacher Report, third-team selection by the "Sporting News" and the NABC. He earned honorable mention recognition from the Associated Press. On March 11 VanVleet was named to the all-District VI (IA, MO, KS, OK, NE, ND, SD) team by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). VanVleet was listed on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I All‐District 16 first team on March 12. VanVleet was named as one of six finalists for the Cousy Award (along with Kyle Anderson, Aaron Craft, Tyler Ennis, Shabazz Napier, and Marcus Paige). For the season, he led the Missouri Valley Conference in assists per game (5.36). Following his sophomore season, he delivered the commencement address at his high school alma mater and became a highly demanded public speaker.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet was Preseason All-American first team selection by "USA Today", "Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook", Bleacher Report, CBSSports.com, "Sports Illustrated", and Associated Press. He was a second team selection by Athlon Sports, SB Nation, and NBCSports.com. In its preseason top 100 player ranking, VanVleet was listed at number 5 by ESPN. VanVleet was named to the 36-man Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List. He was also listed as a John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 candidate and an Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List selection. VanVleet was also included in the early December Naismith Award top 50 watch list.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: On November 14, VanVleet tallied 7 steals in the opener against New Mexico State, which tied a school record. On December 3, against #25 Utah VanVleet, helped Wichita State recover from a 9-point deficit in the final 2:45 of regulation with 8 points (including two three-point shots in the final 1:15) and an assist on a three-point shot, but with 7 seconds remaining in overtime and Wichita trailing by one, he missed the front end of a one and one. In his return visit to Chicago and the Gentile Center to play Loyola on January 11, he again was perfect from the field with a 5-for-5 performance and added a career-high tying 10 assists (as well as 6 rebounds and 3 steals) for his first career double-double. VanVleet, however, snapped his perfect streak of 20 free throws made in his home state with a 3-for-4 performance. In the rematch against Loyola on January 28, VanVleet posted a career-high 27 points. On February 7, VanVleet posted the first triple double for Wichita State Shockers men's basketball in 43 years with a 10-point 10-rebound 11-assist 4-steal performance against Missouri State. On February 16, VanVleet was Missouri Valley Conference Co-Player of the Week (with Seth Tuttle). On February 26, VanVleet broke the all-time Wichita State career assist record against Evansville with 431 assists, surpassing Warren Jabali who had 429 and Toure Murry who had 430. VanVleet was one of 17 finalists for the Cousy Award. The Shockers defeated Northern Iowa on February 28 to win the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title. In the opening game of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament for the Shockers, VanVleet matched a career high with 27 points against Indiana. He finished the tournament with 17-point and 25-point performances against #2-seeded Kansas and #3-seeded Notre Dame, respectively. For the season, he repeated as the Missouri Valley Conference in assists per game (5.23) leader.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet was named an All-MVC first team selection following the regular season. He was also recognized by the Associated Press as an honorable mention selection for its All-America team.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet was a selection to the 20-man Bob Cousy Award preseason watchlist, and the 30-man Lute Olson Award preseason watchlist. He was a second team selection to the "Sporting News", "Sports Illustrated" and Athlon Sports preseason All-American teams. He was a third team selection to the CBS Sports, "USA Today" and NBC Sports preseason All-American teams. "Lindy's Sports" did not name an All-America team, but did rank all college basketball players by position and presented a top 25 list at each position. It included VanVleet as its second best point guard. In preseason top 100 player rankings, VanVleet was ranked 14 by ESPN and 17 by NBC Sports. He made the initial 50-man John R. Wooden Award watch list on November 17. On December 2, VanVleet earned recognition on the 50-man Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist and 33-man Robertson Trophy watchlists.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet had been dealing with hamstring issues when he rolled his right ankle, because of this he saw no more than three minutes of playing time in the season opener against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers on November 13. Though he played in the next game against Tulsa, it aggravated his hamstring enough that he was expected to miss the following few games. Without a healthy VanVleet, Wichita State fell to two games under .500 for the first time since its 2008–09 team as well as endured, not only its first three-game losing streak since having VanVleet come off the bench for the 2012–13 team, but also its worst start to a season (2–4) since the 2007–08 team. VanVleet returned to the lineup on December 5 against St. Louis to bring the consecutive losses to an end. For having averages of 13.5 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in two significant wins in December, one on the 9th over UNLV and another on the 12th over #25 Utah, VanVleet claimed Missouri Valley Player of the Week honors on the 14th of that month. He earned Player of the Week honors again on January 11 after he led the Shockers to victories over conference co-leaders Evansville and Southern Illinois on January 6 and 9 respectively, with his 11.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 2.5 steals averages. His 12 rebounds against Southern Illinois was a career high. VanVleet was named to the January 25, 20-man Oscar Robertson Trophy midseason watch list. On January 31, VanVleet made all 15 of his free throw attempts on his way to a career high 32 points against Evansville. The following day, he earned his third MVC Player of the Week honor. On February 3 in the 1500th victory in Wichita State Shockers men's basketball history and in head coach Gregg Marshall's school record-setting 221st victory, VanVleet notched a double-double with 12 points and a career high-tying 11 assists against Southern Illinois. He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11. VanVleet was included in the Wooden Award Late season Top 20 Watch List on February 12. In the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, VanVleet led the team to victories over Vanderbilt and Arizona. Against Vanderbilt in the First Four round, he and fellow senior Ron Baker led an 11–0 run to break a 30–30 tie on March 15. The pair scored all 11 points in the run and tied with a game-high 14 points. On March 17, VanVleet and Baker led 11-seed Wichita State to a victory over 6-seed and AP Poll 17th-ranked Arizona. VanVleet posted a game-high 16 points, 5 steals, and 4 rebounds. With four steals in his final career game on March 19 against Miami, VanVleet brought his career total to 225, setting a school career record. For the season, he repeated as the Missouri Valley Conference in assists per game (5.55) leader for a third time and led the conference in free throw percentage (81.7%).


title: Fred VanVleet

text: Following the regular season, VanVleet was named to the Missouri Valley Conference all-league first team (for the third consecutive season) and the MVC Larry Bird Trophy Player of the Year for the second time in three years. VanVleet was also an AP All-America honorable mention.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet was not selected in the 2016 NBA draft after declining two offers to agree to play in the NBA Development League at annual salaries of $20,000 for two years by teams interested in drafting him in the second round. VanVleet signed to play in the 2016 NBA Summer League with the Toronto Raptors with the expectation that he would be in the Raptors' training camp. His summer league contract had a guarantee of three game appearances. On July 18, he signed a multi-year deal with the Raptors. At the time of his signing, the Raptors had 14 players entering training camp on guaranteed contracts, including point guards Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, and Delon Wright. VanVleet was competing with Brady Heslip, Drew Crawford, Yanick Moreira, E. J. Singler and Jarrod Uthoff for the final spot. On October 22, VanVleet remained on the roster when the team cut down to 15 players.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet made his official league debut on November 9, 2016, playing in only 26 seconds in a 112–102 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. VanVleet posted his first two points in the Raptors' 19th game and his fourth appearance, which came against the Los Angeles Lakers on December 2. With Lowry sidelined for a night, VanVleet played with the second unit and posted career-highs with 25 minutes and 10 points on January 17 against the Brooklyn Nets. On February 3, VanVleet established a new career high with 15 points in a 102–94 loss to the Orlando Magic. During his rookie season, VanVleet had multiple assignments with Raptors 905 of the NBA Development League. He was a member of Raptors 905's championship-winning team in April 2017.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: On November 25, 2017, VanVleet posted a career-high 16 points against the Indiana Pacers. Four days later, he had a career-high nine assists in a 126–113 win over the Charlotte Hornets. VanVleet posted new career-highs in points two times during January 2018: first on the 11th against the Cleveland Cavaliers with 22, then on the 28th against the Los Angeles Lakers with 25. On March 7, VanVleet made a long jump shot from the left corner with 1.1 seconds left to break a tie and clinch a 121–119 overtime win for the Raptors over the Pistons, as well as help Toronto to become the first team to clinch a berth in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. VanVleet finished the 2017–2018 season averaging 8.6 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 76 games; he ranked 4th in the NBA in net efficiency per possession behind Stephen Curry, Eric Gordon, and Chris Paul and was the only full-time bench player in the top 20 (19th) in the league for plus-minus. He was subsequently nominated for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet re-signed with the Raptors on July 6, 2018. He scored a season-high 19 points on December 9, 2018, in a 104–99 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Two days later, he had a career-high 14 assists in a 123–99 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. On December 19, he made a go-ahead three-point shot, with 25 seconds remaining, to cap a 17-point comeback against the Indiana Pacers. On January 5, he had a season high-tying 21 points in a 123–116 win over the Bucks. On February 7, he set a new career high with 30 points in a 119–101 win over the Atlanta Hawks. He was ruled out for approximately three weeks in early February with a partial ligament injury to his left thumb, an injury that occurred two nights earlier against the New York Knicks.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: The Raptors entered the 2019 NBA playoffs as the number two seed, where VanVleet was an important bench player for the team. After an early post-season shooting slump,


title: Fred VanVleet

text: in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bucks, VanVleet scored 21 points on seven 3-pointers in a 105–99 win, helping the Raptors take a 3–2 series lead. In Game 6, VanVleet scored 14 points in a 100–94 series-clinching win over the Bucks, helping the Raptors advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. VanVleet played an important defensive role against Stephen Curry during the NBA Finals that saw him utilized in a box-and-one defense. In Game 6 of the NBA Finals, VanVleet scored a playoff career-high 22 points with five 3-pointers off the bench in a 114–110 series-clinching win, thus helping the Raptors win their first NBA championship in franchise history. VanVleet came second place in NBA Finals MVP voting to Kawhi Leonard.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: In the season-opener on October 22 against the New Orleans Pelicans, VanVleet scored a career high 34 points after receiving his first NBA championship ring. On January 4, 2020, he posted 29 points, including 22 in the second half, and a season-high 11 assists, keying a 16-point comeback win over the Brooklyn Nets. In the Raptors’ second game returning from the suspension of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic on August 3, VanVleet scored a career-high 36 points, hitting 7 three-pointers, in a 107–103 win over the Miami Heat in the Orlando bubble. On August 17, VanVleet set a trio of playoff career-highs in points (30), three-pointers made (8), and assists (11) in a 134–110 win over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter finals in the 2020 NBA Playoff Bubble. VanVleet became the first Raptors player to record 30 points & 10+ assists in a playoff game, while also joining Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, and Chris Paul as the only NBA players to record 30+ points, 10+ assists, and 8+ three pointers in a playoff game.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: In November 2020, it was announced that VanVleet would remain with the Raptors with a four-year, US$85-million deal. The $85 million contract was the largest ever for an undrafted free agent until Duncan Robinson signed a 5-year $90 million deal the following year. On January 4, 2021, VanVleet scored a season-high 35 points, hitting six three-pointers in a 126–114 loss to the Boston Celtics. On January 6, 2021, VanVleet set a new franchise record with a made three-pointer in 39 straight regular season games, beating the previous record that was set by C. J. Miles with 38. On February 2, VanVleet scored a career-high 54 points, hitting a career-high 11 three-pointers in a 123–108 win against the Orlando Magic. VanVleet set a franchise record for the most points scored in a game, surpassing DeMar DeRozan's previous record, while also making history for the most points scored by an undrafted NBA player, previously held by Moses Malone with 53. VanVleet also set a franchise record for most three-pointers in the first half, with eight. On April 2, VanVleet extended his consecutive regular season games streak with a made 3-point shot to 76 and left the game against the Golden State Warriors due to a hip flexor injury. On April 8, VanVleet was suspended for one game for leaving the bench during an altercation between the Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers. When VanVleet returned from his 6-game injury and 1-game suspension, he was held to six points (0 for 6 on three point shots) by the Orlando Magic ending the streak. The streak included VanVleet appearances 23–54 (32 games) of the 2019-20 regular season for the 2019-20 Toronto Raptors and appearances 1–44 (44 games) of the 2020-21 regular season for the 2020-21 Toronto Raptors. This excludes the 11 games of the 2020 NBA playoffs in which VanVleet also converted 3-point shots.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: On November 18 against the Utah Jazz, VanVleet extended his streak of consecutive games with at least three 3-point shots made to 8 by making 3-point shots on three consecutive possessions. The streak ended the following night against Sacramento when he only made two. On December 31, 2021, January 2, and January 4, 2022, VanVleet scored 31, 35 and 33 points against the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. This made VanVleet the fourth undrafted player (along with Moses Malone, Mike James and Connie Hawkins) to score 30 or more points in 3 consecutive games. On January 7, 2022, VanVleet recorded his first career triple-double with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, including 24 points in the third quarter alone, leading Toronto to a 122–108 comeback victory over the Utah Jazz. During the third quarter performance, VanVleet singlehandedly erased a 14-point deficit by scoring 15 unanswered points in a 2 minute and 27 second span. For week 12 (January 3–9) of the 2021-22 NBA season VanVleet was named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the first time on January 10 for leading the Raptors to a 4–0 record with a 30.3 points, 6.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 36.5 minutes per game averages. On February 3, VanVleet was named an NBA All-Star for the first time in his career, becoming just the fourth undrafted (modern era) player to make an all-star team, joining John Starks (1994), Ben Wallace (2003–06) and Brad Miller (2003–04), (fifth or sixth if you count Connie Hawkins and/or Moses Malone who were draft eligible when competing leagues existed but were never drafted in the NBA draft). On April 3, 2022, VanVleet broke Kyle Lowry's Raptors record for most 3-pointers in a season (238) vs. the Miami Heat while playing against Lowry as he was on the court. VanVleet finished the season with 242 in 65 games played. VanVleet (37.88) finished just behind teammate Pascal Siakam (37.91) for the leadership in minutes played per game over the course of the season. VanVleet suffered a hip flexor injury during game 4 of the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers and the Raptors were eliminated in 6 games.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: VanVleet was among the 22 players selected to try out for the 12-man Team USA at the 2015 Pan American Games. He was among the 16 finalists for the team, but he did not make the final 12-man team.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: Fred VanVleet is the son of Fred Manning, who was killed in 1999. Manning had played basketball at Guilford High School in Rockford. VanVleet's mother is named Susan, and his stepfather is Joe Danforth. VanVleet is biracial; his father was black and his mother is white. He has a daughter who was born on January 29, 2018. On May 20, 2019, his son was born during the Raptors Eastern Conference Finals series against the Milwaukee Bucks. He also has a brother named Darnell.


title: Fred VanVleet

text: In conjunction with Acast, VanVleet launched the "Bet On Yourself" podcast, premiering on Wednesday, Nov. 3. Season 1 of the podcast was advertised to "feature conversations about perseverance, struggles, and success with up-and-coming Black Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs in Canada,"


title: Tarragon

text: Tarragon ("Artemisia dracunculus"), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes.


title: Tarragon

text: One subspecies, "Artemisia dracunculus" var. "sativa", is cultivated to use the leaves as an aromatic culinary herb. In some other subspecies, the characteristic aroma is largely absent. The species is polymorphic. Informal names for distinguishing the variations include "French tarragon" (best for culinary use), "Russian tarragon," and "wild tarragon" (covers various states).


title: Tarragon

text: Tarragon grows to tall, with slender branches. The leaves are lanceolate, long and broad, glossy green, with an entire margin. The flowers are produced in small capitula diameter, each capitulum containing up to 40 yellow or greenish-yellow florets. French tarragon, however, seldom produces any flowers (or seeds). Some tarragon plants produce seeds that are generally sterile. Others produce viable seeds. Tarragon has rhizomatous roots that it uses to spread and readily reproduce.


title: Tarragon

text: French tarragon is the variety used for cooking in the kitchen and is not grown from seed, as the flowers are sterile; instead, it is propagated by root division.


title: Tarragon

text: Russian tarragon ("A. dracunculoides" L.) can be grown from seed but is much weaker in flavor when compared to the French variety. However, Russian tarragon is a far more hardy and vigorous plant, spreading at the roots and growing over a meter tall. This tarragon actually prefers poor soils and happily tolerates drought and neglect. It is not as intensely aromatic and flavorsome as its French cousin, but it produces many more leaves from early spring onwards that are mild and good in salads and cooked food. Russian tarragon loses what flavor it has as it ages and is widely considered useless as a culinary herb, though it is sometimes used in crafts. The young stems in early spring can be cooked as an asparagus substitute. Horticulturists recommend that Russian tarragon be grown indoors from seed and planted in summer. The spreading plants can be divided easily.


title: Tarragon

text: A better substitute for Russian tarragon is Mexican tarragon ("Tagetes lucida"), also known as Mexican mint marigold, Texas tarragon, or winter tarragon. It is much more reminiscent of French tarragon, with a hint of anise. Although not in the same genus as the other tarragons, Mexican tarragon has a more robust flavor than Russian tarragon that does not diminish significantly with age.


title: Tarragon

text: Tarragon has a flavor and odor profile reminiscent of anise due largely to the presence of estragole, a known carcinogen and teratogen in mice. However, a European Union investigation concluded that the danger of estragole is minimal, even at 100–1,000 times the typical consumption seen in humans. Estragole concentration in fresh tarragon leaves is about 2900 mg/kg.


title: Tarragon

text: Tarragon is one of the four "fines herbes" of French cooking and is particularly suitable for chicken, fish, and egg dishes. Tarragon is the main flavoring component of Béarnaise sauce. Fresh, lightly bruised tarragon sprigs are steeped in vinegar to produce tarragon vinegar. Pounded with butter, it produces an excellent topping for grilled salmon or beef.


title: Tarragon

text: Tarragon is used to flavor a popular carbonated soft drink in the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (where it originally comes from), and, by extension, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The drink, named Tarkhun, is made out of sugar, carbonated water, and, most importantly, tarragon leaves which give it its signature green color.


title: Tarragon

text: In Iran, tarragon is used as a side dish in sabzi khordan (fresh herbs), or in stews and Persian-style pickles, particularly khiar shoor (pickled cucumbers).


title: Tarragon

text: In Slovenia, tarragon is used in a variation of the traditional nut roll sweet cake, called "potica". In Hungary, a popular chicken soup is flavored with tarragon.


title: Tarragon

text: Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis has revealed that "A. dracunculus" oil contains predominantly phenylpropanoids such as estragole (16.2%), methyl eugenol (35.8%), and "trans"-anethole (21.1%). The other major constituents were terpenes and terpenoids, including α-"trans"-ocimene (20.6%), limonene (12.4%), α-pinene (5.1%), "allo"-ocimene (4.8%), methyl eugenol (2.2%), β-pinene (0.8%), α-terpinolene (0.5%), bornyl acetate (0.5%) and bicyclogermacrene (0.5%). The organic compound capillin was initially isolated from "Artemisia capillaris" in 1956.


title: Tarragon

text: "cis"-Pellitorin, an isobutyramide eliciting a pungent taste, has been isolated from the tarragon plant.


title: Tarragon

text: James Andrew Beard, American cookbook author, teacher, syndicated columnist, and television personality, was quoted as saying, "I believe that if ever I had to practice cannibalism, I might manage if there were enough tarragon around."


title: Tarragon

text: Fernand Point, a French chef and restaurateur, was quoted as saying, "A Bearnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar, and butter, but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect."


title: Tarragon

text: The plant is commonly known as in Swedish and Dutch. The use of for the herb or plant in German is outdated. The species name, , means "little dragon," and the plant seems to be so named due to its coiled roots. See "Artemisia" for the genus name derivative.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: Bilzerian was born in Miami, Florida but grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts in an Armenian American family. His father, a civil servant, and his mother later divorced, leading to troubled teenage years for Bilzerian; he would later describe himself as a "juvenile delinquent". Called into the principal's office of his high school one day in 1968 for violating the dress code by wearing blue jeans, Bilzerian responded by dropping out of school.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: However, after serving in the Vietnam War and earning a Vietnamese Gallantry Cross, Bronze Star Medal, and Army Commendation Medal, he went to college and earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Science and graduated With Distinction from Stanford University in 1975. Bilzerian entered Harvard Business School that same year. He was unsure about his choice to attend, having passed on offers of admissions to several law schools to enroll at HBS. After his graduation, Bilzerian married Stanford classmate Terri L. Steffen in 1978, and moved with her to St. Petersburg, Florida.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: Bilzerian has two sons, Adam and Dan Bilzerian. Both Adam and Dan went on to careers as professional poker players.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: In June 2014, Bloomberg News reported that Paul Bilzerian had become one of the licensed service providers who processed applications for the same Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship-by-investment program which his son had used. The report added that Bilzerian had gone on to process a citizenship-by-investment application for Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, and that the two men had co-launched a website through which customers could use Bitcoins to pay for the fees and the real estate purchase in the citizenship-by-investment program. The government of Saint Kitts and Nevis responded in a statement the following week that Bitcoin was not an acceptable payment method for participation in the program.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: One of Bilzerian's first business deals was an investment in the 1970s in a Tampa Bay-area radio station, WPLP, which he made with two Army colleagues from the Vietnam War who had experience in the broadcasting industry. However, in a dispute over control, Bilzerian left in the late 1970s to join his father-in-law in the real estate business. After Bilzerian left the station its performance deteriorated which led to its bankruptcy and a lawsuit by Bilzerian against his former partners. Bilzerian's real estate investments were highly successful and led to the beginning of his fortune. In 1984, he moved to Sacramento, California where his father-in-law and another business associate lived.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: While living in Sacramento, in 1985 Bilzerian embarked on his first two high-profile takeover attempts, one of New York clothing manufacturer Cluett Peabody & Company, and the other of Pittsburgh construction company H. H. Robertson. After Bilzerian purchased a large stake and raised his bid for the remaining 76% of Cluett Peabody in October, Cluett Peabody's board of directors adopted poison pill provisions, earning them public criticism from Bilzerian. Cluett Peabody eventually accepted a competing merger offer by WestPoint Pepperell (now WestPoint Home) for $41 per share (in cash or equivalent value of WestPoint Pepperell common stock); Bilzerian and his fellow investors agreed separately to sell their stake to WestPoint Pepperell for $40 per share plus reimbursement of $7.5 million in expenses.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: Bilzerian moved back to Florida in 1986. That July he and fellow investors William and Earle I. Mack (sons of New Jersey real estate developer H. Bert Mack) launched a takeover bid against the Hammermill Paper Company, purchasing about 3.3 million Hammermill shares at an average price of roughly $47 per share, and then offering $900 million ($52 per share) to purchase the remainder of the company. Bilzerian's offer was ultimately rejected when Hammermill sold out to International Paper instead at $64.50 per share, but Bilzerian and his fellow investors still made a profit of more than $60 million from the deal.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: In 1987, Bilzerian began a takeover of defense electronics manufacturer Singer Corporation. In October 1987, it came to light that a group of investors led by Bilzerian had purchased 2.1 million Singer shares in the preceding two months. Singer seemed an unlikely target for a takeover; early reports cast doubt on the idea that the government would permit a hostile takeover of a defense contractor, and the company had already moved its headquarters from Connecticut to takeover-hostile New Jersey in an attempt to fend off a previous takeover by T. Boone Pickens. In January 1988, Pickens provided $150 million in financing which helped Bilzerian acquire Singer.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: Singer chairman Joseph B. Flavin had died in early October, leaving the company unprepared for Bilzerian's cynical move. The Black Monday crash less than two weeks later spooked competing investors. But the United States government chose to grandfather Bilzerian's hostile bid, preventing the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 from disallowing sales of assets in certain acquired businesses to be treated as capital gains for tax purposes.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: In 1986, the government stumbled onto an insider trading scheme whereby a Drexel Burnham investment banker named Dennis Levine was exchanging inside information for suitcases of cash from Ivan Boesky. This led to an indictment of Boyd Jefferies, the Owner & Chairman of Jefferies & Company. Jefferies cut a deal to testify against three individuals in the corporate and investment banking community, including Bilzerian. The SEC then went after Bilzerian – focusing its investigation on whether he had failed to timely make two Schedule 13(d) filings and whether he was required to disclose investors in his partnerships.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: In May 1988, the SEC began a probe against Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr. to determine whether DeBartolo had illegally aided Bilzerian's hostile takeover attempts through "stock parking", in which one party purchases shares in coordination with another to keep legal ownership separated and avoid either party's holdings exceeding disclosure thresholds. Then, in December 1988 Rudy Giuliani announced that Bilzerian had been indicted in Manhattan by a federal grand jury for Schedule 13(d) disclosure violations with respect to Cluett Peabody and Hammermill Paper Company and general claims regarding failed takeovers of H. H. Robinson and Armco. Bilzerian claims he was "the first person ever to be indicted for 13d disclosure violations as the hundreds of previous cases were civil and resolved with consent decrees and without fines or penalties."


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: In January 1989, Bilzerian pleaded not guilty to the charges amid growing public controversy and demanded a speedy trial to clear his name. There were, broadly speaking, two different camps of opinion on Bilzerian's actions. Much of the public had a negative view of corporate takeovers in general and saw Bilzerian's activities as "greenmail", profiting by deceiving companies into believing they faced a hostile takeover attempt and scaring them into buying their stock from him at a high price. In Bilzerian's case he never sought greenmail and always offered all other shareholders all cash for their shares at prices substantially above the market.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: Many saw Bilzerian as guilty of nothing but making a profit in genuine-but-failed takeover attempts which benefited all investors. In an article in "New York" magazine, Christopher Byron questioned the entire basis of the case against Bilzerian, describing it as fueled by "Puritan envy". He further stated that the Department of Justice's primary motivation for the case was not the prosecution of wrongdoing but rather the need to justify its earlier unpopular plea bargain with Boyd Jeffries of Jefferies & Company, which would see Jefferies avoid any jail time at all in exchange for the opportunity to "drag some headline-sized names through the mud". Daniel Fischel, Dean of the University of Chicago Law School, argued Bilzerian was an innocent victim of an overzealous prosecutor, Rudy Guliani, and never should have been indicted as he was viewed as a hero to the shareholders of Cluett Peabody and Hammermill Paper Company.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: After two days of deliberations in June, the jury found Bilzerian guilty on nine counts including conspiracy, making false statements, and securities law violations. In September, Judge Robert Joseph Ward sentenced Bilzerian to four years in prison and a fine of $1.5 million because he "now must pay the price" for testifying in his own defense. Bilzerian claims "Judge Ward had told me before trial that if I lost and did not testify I would receive no jail time, but if I lost and testified I would pay the price." Bilzerian was permitted to remain free pending appeal. Bilzerian's appeal came before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which in January 1991 ruled against him in a split decision, finding no merit in his argument that his trial had been unfair. He started to serve his sentence in December 1991 at the now-closed Federal Prison Camp, Eglin at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Bilzerian was released from prison in December 1992 to serve out his sentence under house arrest. Bilzerian has maintained that the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit should have reversed and vacated his conviction based on two subsequent unanimous United States Supreme Court decisions that mandated his conviction be reversed. Instead, Bilzerian claims the Court of Appeals did not address the Supreme Court decisions and let his conviction stand. After Bilzerian's release from prison, he became president of Utah-based software company Cimetrix. In 2002, the government confiscated Bilzerian's ownership in Cimetrix and Bilzerian claims the government drove the company from several years of high sales growth and profitability to the verge of bankruptcy.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: After Bilzerian was convicted, the SEC filed a civil suit against Bilzerian based on identical charges to force him to disgorge the profits from the takeover attempts. Bilzerian claimed that this was double jeopardy as he had already been punished once for exactly the same conduct. In 1993, a federal judge ruled in favor of the SEC and ordered Bilzerian to disgorge $33.1 million of profits, plus interest. The total amount to be disgorged was thus $62 million. In January 1994, Bilzerian also filed an appeal against the civil judgment in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. However, the court rejected his civil appeal as well. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "Kokesh v. SEC", 137 S. Ct. 1635, 1640 (2017), that disgorgement is a penalty which presumably would mean the Court of Appeals should have granted Bilzerian's appeal on Double Jeopardy grounds for being punished twice for the same crime. In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in "Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission" (18–1501) that the Securities and Exchange Commission may seek and obtain disgorgement from a court as "equitable relief" for a securities law violation.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: Due to the size of the disgorgement judgment against him, Bilzerian first filed for bankruptcy in 1991. Bilzerian emerged from that bankruptcy having disgorged all his non-exempt assets in settlement of debts that mostly consisted of claims by the government. In 1999, he tried to put his house up for sale in the prestigious Avila neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. After the SEC continued its pursuit of Bilzerian, the judge issued an order appointing a receiver over his assets and ordered him arrested for civil contempt. Bilzerian then filed for bankruptcy again in January 2001, declaring his non-exempt assets of $15,805 against $140 million in debts, most of which was for the government's disgorgement judgment. Under Florida Bankruptcy Law, the value of his primary residence was protected from creditors. The SEC alleged that Bilzerian was using bankruptcy as a tactic to block creditors from finding out the true value of his assets, and Bilzerian argued that was a total fabrication as the bankruptcy laws require full disclosure and a trustee to take possession of his assets. Bilzerian argued the real reason the SEC opposed his bankruptcy was so that the SEC Receiver could control all his assets through an extremely cooperative federal judge in Washington who allowed the SEC to go after Bilzerian's wife and children in conflict with an earlier bankruptcy court judgment.


title: Paul Bilzerian

text: On June 11, 2001, while Bilzerian was in prison, FBI agents raided his family's residence on the strength of a sealed warrant and seized computers, files, and a Beretta firearm. The raid appeared to be related to SEC contentions that Bilzerian had concealed his ownership of assets during bankruptcy proceedings by transferring them to trusts and shell corporations, which Bilzerian claimed was a total fabrication. Bilzerian unsuccessfully sued the FBI agent for filing a sworn affidavit that contained mostly false statements, but a federal judge dismissed the case. Bilzerian was released from prison in January 2002 pursuant to an agreement under which his wife, Terri Steffen would sell the residence and split the proceeds with the SEC, and transfer most of her wealth to the SEC. Bilzerian was critical of the deal, describing it as the SEC using him "as a hostage to extort money" from his wife. In May 2004, Steffen sold her residence for $2.55 million to a partnership controlled by a Belgian businessman; SEC attorneys approved the unusually low price. According to court documents filed in 2006, Steffen's parents purchased a 99% interest in that partnership three weeks later.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are central government-owned-public business schools for management offering undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and executive programmes along with some additional courses in the field of business administration. The establishment of IIMs was initiated by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, based on the recommendation of the Planning Commission of India.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: IIMs were declared institutions of national importance by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) after the passage of Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017. By this act, IIMs were given more autonomy in handling their day-to-day operations. The act changed the IIM governing body from the IIM council to an IIM coordination forum. IIMs were granted much leeway to decide their courses, fees and other related matters. Top IIMs—such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta —have achieved top 10 rankings among management schools, according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) used by the HRD minister of India.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The full time Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, are the flagship programmes across all IIMs. The full time MBA degree is offered as a two-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) or the one-year global MBA (EPGP, PGPX,PGPEX,PGPEX-VLM, PGP-BL & IPMX). Seven leading IIMs IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Shillong, Lucknow and Kozhikode offer the one year MBA as a full-time programme that follows the global MBA norms. Some IIMs also offer a two-year part time (executive) MBA for graduates with more work experience.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: IIMs only offered diplomas at the end of the full time programmes However, since the passage of IIM Act 2017, all IIMs have started offering Master of Business Administration (MBA). Some IIMs offer the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM), a doctoral programme. The fellowship is considered to be equivalent to a DBA globally. Most IIMs also offer short-term Executive MBA courses and part-time programmes. Some IIMs also offer unique programs, like IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Rohtak, IIM Ranchi and IIM Indore's Five Year Integrated Programme in Management and IIM Lucknow's Working Managers' Programme of two years.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: After India became independent in 1947, the Planning Commission was entrusted to oversee and direct the development of the nation. India grew rapidly in the 1950s, and in the late 1950s the Commission started facing difficulties in finding suitable managers for the large number of public sector enterprises that were being established in India as a part of its industrial policy. To solve this problem, the Planning Commission in 1959 invited Professor George Robbins of UCLA to help in setting up an All India Institute of Management Studies. Based on his recommendations, the Indian government decided to set up two elite management institutes, named "Indian Institutes of Management". Calcutta and Ahmedabad were chosen as the locations for the two new institutes.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The institute at Calcutta was established first, on 13 November 1961, and was named "Indian Institute of Management Calcutta" or "IIM Calcutta". It was set up in collaboration with the MIT Sloan School of Management, the government of West Bengal, the Ford Foundation, and Indian industry. The institute at Ahmedabad was established in the following month and was named the "Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad". Like MIT Sloan in the case of IIM Calcutta, Harvard Business School played an important role in the initial stages of IIM Ahmedabad.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: In 1972, a committee headed by Ravi J. Matthai took note of the success of the two established IIMs and recommended the setting up of two more IIMs. Based on the committee's recommendation, a new IIM, originally intended to cater exclusively to the needs of public sector enterprises, was established in Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) the next year. In 1981, the first IIM Review Committee was convened to examine the progress of the three existing IIMs and to make recommendations. The committee noted that the three IIMs were producing around 400 PGP graduates every year and that they had reached their optimum capacity. It proposed the opening of two more IIMs to meet the rising demand for management professionals. It also recommended expanding the Fellowship programmes, similar to PhD programmes, to meet the growing demand for faculty in management schools in India. The fourth IIM, IIM Lucknow, was established in 1984 based on the committee's recommendation.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Two more IIMs, the fifth and sixth, were established at Kozhikode and Indore in 1996. IIM Shillong was the seventh IIM to be established, following a 2005 decision by the Government of India; its foundation stone was laid on 1 December 2007; and its first academic session was 2008–09. Since 2007, fourteen new IIMs have been set up, bringing the total number of IIMs to 20, IIM-Jammu being the latest one, starting in 2016.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The Union Cabinet, on 24 January 2017, approved the bill that became the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017, which declares IIMs as Institutes of National Importance and enables them to grant degrees and to further make other important changes to the institute. The IIM bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 28 July 2017 and by the Rajya Sabha on 19 December 2017. After receiving presidential assent, the IIM bill became an Act on 31 December 2017.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The IIMs mainly offer undergraduate/postgraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, and executive education programmes. Some programmes offered by all IIMs are similar; however, some IIMs offer unique programmes for specialised purposes.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: All IIMs offer a two-year full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP), equivalent to a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. The programme is considered the flagship programme of IIMs, and awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA) to successful candidates. Since 2018, all the IIMs have started granting MBA degrees for this flagship program.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: This programme is usually structured into six trimesters spread across two years, starting in June and running until April of the second year. The first-year coursework generally consists of core courses in various management disciplines, while in the second year students are allowed to select courses from an exhaustive list of electives. The PGP is a general, fully integrated management programme with no specialisation, and typically includes courses in accounting, behavioural science, finance, economics, human resource management (HRM), management sciences and information technology, marketing, business operations, business mathematics, public policy, statistics and decision analysis, strategy, and general management. The 2-year MBA programmes offered by IIMs at Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Udaipur, Lucknow and Indore and are often termed as Masters in Management (MiM) internationally and are often placed around top 100 Master in Management programmes across the world since inception.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: To compete on the global stage, the premier IIMs found the necessity to start MBA programmes that would be ranked globally at par with MBA programme like Harvard and Wharton. Within a decade of their inception, the one year MBA programmes have catapulted the position of the top IIMs within top 50 global MBA list. as Since 2006, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Shillong and IIM Udaipur have started offering the one-year, full-time postgraduate programmes for professionals having approximately 5 years or more of work experience, which are a unique addition to the bucket of flagship programmes which adds experienced professionals who add valued experience to the system of full-time MBA.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: One-year programme was necessitated because the normal 2-year program is primarily aimed at new graduates or graduates with less than 4–5 years of work experience. The1-year programmes are general, fully integrated management programmes with no specialization, and typically include the same courses as offered in a typical 2-year MBA program. These intensive programmes typically require 75 credits or around 750 hours of classroom teaching along with projects and other coursework as in a normal 2-year MBA program. The flagship 1-year MBA programmes offered by IIMs at Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Calcutta are often termed as Global MBAs internationally and have been ranked within top 50 Global MBA programmes across the world since their inception.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Designed as a regular MBA programme, which focuses on using the prior work experience of the students, the one-year Executive MBA is named differently by different IIMs. It is called Post Graduate Program for Executives at IIM Calcutta and IIM Shillong (PGPEX for short), and at IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Udaipur (PGPX for short). It is called Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP) at IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore, and International Programme in Management for Executives (IPMX) at IIM Lucknow. All these programmes admit only candidates with approximately 5 or more years of professional experience and usually use a combination of GMAT score, essays, and personal interviews as entry criteria, similar to other globally reputed MBA programmes. The median GMAT score of the batches at IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore and IIM Udaipur is usually above 700 and compares with the best in the world.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Other than these general variants, many IIMs offer specialty programmes built which focus on different areas, e.g. Post Graduate Programme in Sustainable Management (PGP-SM) at IIM Lucknow, Post Graduate Programme in Human Resource Management (PGPHRM) at IIM Ranchi and many more.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Five IIMs, IIM Indore and IIM Rohtak, IIM Jammu, IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Ranchi also offer five-year integrated programs. Students join this program after high school (class XII). The program is called IPM (Integrated Programme in Management) at both the institutes. The course structures are similar though not same at both the institutes. For three years, students focus on "statistics, economics and humanities", joining the post-graduate cohort in years 4 and 5. IIM Indore established its program in 2011 and IIM Rohtak in 2019. They were followed by IIM Ranchi, IIM Jammu and IIM Bodhgaya in 2021. IIM Indore awards program graduates both BA (Foundations of Management) and MBA. IIM Rohtak awards the BBA/MBA to five-year graduates and BBA to students who opt-out after three years.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: IIMs offer a Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) as a full-time DBA Programme . This programme is aimed at preparing students for careers in teaching or research in different disciplines of management, as well as for careers outside academics that demand a high degree of investigative and analytical ability. A student who completes this programme at any IIM, where (s)he is registered as a doctoral scholar, is awarded the title of "Fellow Member" (e.g. "Fellow Member of the Indian Institutes of Management"). This Fellow Programme is equivalent to the DBA degree. Students receiving such a fellowship every year, across all IIMs, work in close association with one another in specific research areas of their choice.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Many IIMs offer Executive MBA programme targeted at working professionals. These are often short-term or part-time programmes and are known by various names such as "Management Development Programme" (MDP), "Advanced Masters Program in Management of Global Enterprises" (AMPM), and "Executive General Management Programme" (EGMP). The certificate programmes at IIMs are not considered equivalent to an Executive MBA offered by the IIMs . Only the diploma-level programmes are considered equivalent, depending on whether it is full-time or part-time. Many IIMs—such as IIMC, IIMB, IIMK, IIM Kashipur, and IIM Rohtak—have partnered with third-party companies to enable these courses to be provided under a distributed model.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Some IIMs offer specialised programmes targeted at various management segments. IIM Ahmedabad offers a six-month, full-time programme called the "Armed Forces Programme" (AFP) aimed at military personnel. IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore offer full-time programmes in public administration and public policy are called the "Post Graduate Programme in Public Management and Policy" (PGP-PMP) and "Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy Management" (PGPPM), respectively for civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service cadre. IIM Bangalore offers a two-year, part-time programme called the "Post-Graduate Programme in Software Enterprise Management" (PGPSEM), an executive general-management education programme designed for the specific needs of professionals working in the software and information technology industry. IIM Indore offers a 5-year "Integrated Programme in Management" (IPM) that leads to a combined undergraduate-cum-graduate diploma. IIM Ranchi is the first and only IIM to offer a full-time "Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management" (PGDHRM) programme. IIM Bangalore offers a two-year Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship to "promote skill development in district economies".


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Different programmes of IIMs follow different admission processes. Admission for residents of India to the two-year PGP programmes at all IIMs is based on the Common Admission Test (CAT). CAT scores are often used as the primary short-listing criteria for admissions. International/overseas applicants have the option to apply using GMAT scores in lieu of CAT scores. GMAT scores are a prerequisite short-listing criteria used for admission to the one-year full-time programme for experienced executives. Test requirements for doctoral programmes vary. Some IIMs require candidates to make a presentation of a broad research idea or take a Research Aptitude Test (RAT) followed by a round of interviews while all are compelled to accept scores on standardised tests such as the CAT, GATE, GMAT, and GRE. The overall profiles of candidates, including past academic and professional accomplishments, are considered for all programmes, along with valid standard test scores. Some programmes require essays and academic or professional recommendations. The final round of admission evaluations involves an interview, before which some IIMs conduct other evaluation processes like written assessment tests and group discussions.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a management aptitude test conducted by the IIMs primarily as an evaluation tool for admission to their two-year PGP programmes. It is widely considered one of the most competitive exams in the world, with a success rate of around one in two hundred. Even with the recent addition of new colleges, in 2013 the acceptance rate at IIMs was 1.714%, one of the lowest in the world.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: Originally conducted as a paper-and-pencil test given on a particular date all over India, in 2009 CAT began being given as a computer-based assessment operated by Prometric. In 2014, TCS received a 5-year contract to conduct the test. The online test is now given over a period of a few weeks.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: In August 2011, the six newer IIMs (Raipur, Rohtak, Ranchi, Udaipur, Trichy and Kashipur) announced that in the coming year they will replace the group-discussion round with a common written analysis test to evaluate communication and comprehension skill. The seven older IIMs did not announce plans to change the admission process.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The admissions for the two-year full-time programme is done by shortlisting based on GMAT scores in conjunction with candidate profile suitability. This is followed by evaluation of essays and a panel-interview round. The quality of prior work experience and future leadership potential is a critical factor in the selections.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: IIMs also follow a quota system, as per the provisions of the Indian constitution. As per the provisions, 15% of the seats are reserved for students of Scheduled Castes, and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes. Since 2008, the Other Backward Classes have also been given 27% reservation, after the Supreme Court of India upheld the validity of relevant government regulation. The provisions are being implemented in a phased manner due to resource constraints. All aspirants have to take the Common Admission Test which consists of an objective-type exam, a group-discussion round, and personal interviews, with the cut-off for reserved-category candidates being possibly lower than for general-category candidates. Once admitted to a programme, a reserved category student has to meet all the criteria for completing the programme as a general-category student. Regular counselling sessions, extra classes, and tutorials, by senior students, for needy students are a regular feature of the IIMs. IIMs provide financial support to needy and deserving students in the form of scholarships.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: In 2004, IIMs charged a fee of approximately per year ( for two years) for their 2-year programmes. By 2016, the fee was almost . Inflation in India has been cited as one of the reasons for the fee hikes at IIMs.


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: The IIM post graduation program fees structure varies from —at IIM Amritsar, a more recent institute—to —at IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore. The second highest fees, totaling , are for IIM Kolkata and IIM Bangalore. Most of the IIM's fees are in the range: IIMs Vizag, Trichy, Ranchi, Sambalpur, Sirmaur, Jammu, Udaipur, Kashipur, and Nagpur. IIM Lucknow fees total around , IIM Indore , IIM Kozhikode .


title: Indian Institutes of Management

text: IIM run several executive programs for working executives and professionals. The full-time executive program at IIM Udaipur launched recently had fees of while the data analytics program was . IIM Lucknow's new 6-month data analytics program costs while its analytics program for finance professionals costs .


title: Lizzy Pattinson

text: Pattinson was born on 14 November 1983 in London. She is the second of three children to her parents. Pattinson has an older sister, Victoria, and younger brother, actor Robert Pattinson. She attended Wimbledon High School, London. In January 2016 she married her long-time partner, professional climber John Oliver Dunthorne II.


title: Lizzy Pattinson

text: Pattinson has performed with the UK dance act Aurora and German duo Milk & Sugar, for which she was lead vocalist on the latter's No. 1 "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play track "Let The Sun Shine".


title: Lizzy Pattinson

text: In 2008, Pattinson recorded background vocals for the movie "Twilight", in which her brother Robert had starred as vampire, Edward Cullen. Her vocals can be heard on the track "Who Are They?" by Carter Burwell. In 2011, Pattinson recorded vocals once again with Burwell for "" at Abbey Road Studios.


title: Lizzy Pattinson

text: In 2014, she participated in the eleventh series of "The X Factor". She reached the top 6 in her category (the contestants older than 25 years old, the "Over 25s" group, mentored by Simon Cowell) but was eliminated from the show at the judges' houses.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Among the world's religions, views on masturbation vary widely. Some religions view it as a spiritually detrimental practice, some see it as not spiritually detrimental and others take a situational view. Among these latter religions, some view masturbation as allowable if used as a means towards sexual self-control, or as part of healthy self-exploration, but disallow it if it is done with motives they consider to be wrong, or as an addiction. For example, Christian denominations have different views on masturbation. Today, Roman Catholic (including Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and some Protestant Christians consider masturbation to be a sin. Many Protestant churches in Northern and Western Europe and some Protestant churches in Northern America and in Australia/New Zealand see masturbation as not a sin.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: According to Björn Krondorfer, "Auto-erotic sex became conceivable as a distinct entity among sexual sins only when the autonomous self emerged." He goes on to cite Laqueur, "Only after the Freudian revolution...did a cultural shift occur. Masturbation was now valued as an adult, non-pathological, pleasurable activity. 'Beginning in the 1950s, picking up energy with the feminism of the 1960s and early 1970s, with the subsequent sex wars, and with the worldwide gay movement of the last quarter of the century, it would become an arena of sexual politics and for art across a wide spectrum of society...Due to this cultural change across the spectrum, even theological reassessments of masturbation as a positive sexual practice were possible – though, admittedly, rare."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: A 2016 "Psychology Today" article stated that the more religious people are, the more likely they are to restrict their sexual fantasies, have fewer sex partners, use less pornography and express stronger disapproval of the use of sex toys.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The biblical story of Onan (Genesis 38) is traditionally linked to referring to masturbation and condemnation thereof, but the sexual act described by this story is coitus interruptus, not masturbation. There is no explicit claim in the Bible that masturbation is sinful.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: According to James Nelson, there are three interpretive examinations why Onan's act is condemned: the Onan story reflects firm "procreative" accent of the Hebrew interpretation regarding sexuality, a constant of the "prescientific mind" to consider that the child is contained in the sperm the same way a plant is contained in its seed, and masturbation as well as homosexual acts by men have been condemned more strongly than same acts by women in the Judeo-Christian tradition.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Ilona N. Rashkow states: "it is questionable whether masturbation is considered a category of 'negative' sexual activity in the Hebrew Bible" and that Leviticus 15:16 "refer to the emission rather than its circumstances." Jones and Jones state James R. Johnson's biblical view on masturbation: "treating a solitary sexual experience, whether wet dream or masturbation, as a purely ceremonial cleanliness issue and not as a matter of morality." They state: "Johnson suggests that Leviticus 15:16-18 should set the tone for our dealing with masturbation. Verses 16 and 17 say that a man who has an emission of semen should wash and be ceremonially unclean until evening. Verse 18 goes on to say that if a man and woman have intercourse, the same cleanliness rules apply. By bringing up intercourse separately, the passage surely does imply that the emission of semen in verses 16 and 17 occurred for the man individually. The passage may be referring to a nocturnal emission, or wet dream, rather than masturbation, but the passage is not specific. Johnson suggests that this Leviticus passage is significant for treating a solitary sexual experience, whether wet dream or masturbation, as a purely ceremonial cleanliness issue and not as a matter of morality. The passage also puts no more disapproval on the solitary experience than it does on intercourse. Since Christians today commonly view the Old Testament ceremonial law as no longer valid, this author suggests that masturbation is not in itself a moral concern from a biblical perspective and is no longer a ceremonial concern either."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: T.J. Wray explains what the Bible actually states (and does not state) about masturbation: "Returning to the Levitical list of sexual taboos, curiously missing from the list is any mention of masturbation." She then goes on to discuss Genesis 38 and Leviticus 15, concluding that "None of this, however, represent a clear condemnation of masturbation."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Carl L. Jech states that "Masturbation is never mentioned in the Bible". M.K. Malan and Vern Bullough have stated that "nowhere in the Bible is there a clear unchallenged reference to masturbation", and that "masturbation is not mentioned in the Bible or Book of Mormon".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: According to "The Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality, and Gender", some scholars suggest that the word 'hand' in Matthew 5:29-30, Mark 9:42-48, and Matthew 18:6-9 may imply masturbation as in the Mishnah ("m. Nid. 2.1"). Regarding those biblical passages, "The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies" states Will Deming's view: "The sinning by eye, hand, and foot may come from a tradition of formulaic warnings against lustful gazing (by the eye), masturbation (by hand), and adultery (by 'foot', the Hebrew euphemism for genitalia)." In addition to the eye, Deming argues that "the hand plays a major role in lust as well through masturbation".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Greek-Egyptian Church Father Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215) writes in his "Paedagogus", or "The Instructor of Children":


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Scholars such as Raj Bhala and Kathryn M. Kueny say that Clement's statement includes both coitus interruptus and masturbation, the acts which make "injury to nature". "The use of spermicidal potions" is also included within it, according to Kueny. John G. Younger considers that Clement speaks about masturbation as well "masculine women and effeminate men" in his "Paedagogus", make mention of violating the nature "to have sex for any other purpose than to produce children".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Apart from Clement, the fathers of the Church were practically silent on the question of masturbation, both they and pagan writers apparently regarding both masturbation and homosexuality as unimportant prior to the rise of monasticism in the 4th and 5th centuries and "paid only scant attention to masturbation and homosexual practices", Catholic academic Giovanni Cappelli undertook a study "concerning the problem of masturbation during the first millennium. Among his conclusions are: (1) Nowhere in the Old Testament or in the New is there an explicit confrontation with the issue of masturbation. (2) Cappelli does not find in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers any mention of masturbation. (3) The first explicit references to masturbation are found in the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic "penitential" of the sixth century where the subject is treated in a practical and juridical way. (4) It would be wrong, however, to interpret the silence of the Fathers about masturbation as a tacit approval of it, or as a virtual indifference." James A. Brundage offers a differing view on the fourth point. He believes that neither pagan nor early Christian writers had paid much attention to these matters because they "apparently considered them trivial."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Thomas Laqueur agrees. He notes that, "The ancient world cared little about the subject; it was a backwater of Jewish and Christian teaching about sexuality. In fact, solitary sex as a serious moral issue can be dated with a precision rare in cultural history; Laqueur identifies it with the publication of the anonymous tract Onania in about 1722. Masturbation is a creation of the Enlightenment, of some of its most important figures, and of the most profound changes it unleashed. It is modern. It worried at first not conservatives, but progressives. It was the first truly democratic sexuality that could be of ethical interest for women as much as for men, for boys and girls as much as for their elders." This is because Laqueur claims that masturbation "could only be named as such when the 'self' emerged as an autonomous being."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Giovanni Cappelli, as quoted by James F. Keenan, argues that as monastic communities developed, the sexual lives of monks came under scrutiny from two theologians, John Cassian (365–433) and Caesarius of Arles (470–543), who commented on the "vices" of the 'solitary' life. Cappelli claims that "their concerns were not with the act of masturbation, but with the monks who vowed chastity. The monks' promise made masturbation an illicit act; the act itself was not considered sinful." Keenan adds: "In fact, as Cappelli, Louis Crompton, and James Brundage each observe, prior to Cassian, masturbation was not considered a sexual offence for anyone."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Brundage states in his book that Cassian regards "masturbation and nocturnal pollution central issues in sexual morality and devoted a great deal of attention to both matters". Cassian considers "nocturnal emission" a very important problem as it is an indication of "carnal lust" and, if a monk still has not overcome it, "his religious life and his salvation might well be in peril". In the "Conlationes", Cassian uses the word "uncleanness" ("immunditia", as written in Colossians 3:5) as an equal substitute for both masturbation and nocturnal emissions, obviously regards masturbation as an unacceptable form of "sexual release". In the "De institutis coenobiorum", he gives particular emphasis on "the sin of fornication, which includes masturbation and sexual fantasising". Brundage sees Caesarius holds similar view as Cassian. In his "Sermons", Caesarius considers "any sexual longing, to say nothing of deliberate self-stimulation, a serious sin and placed it on an even footing with adultery or excessive indulgence in sex by married persons".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Catholic researchers such as Bernard Hoose and Mark Jordan suggest that claims to a continuous teaching by the Church on matters of sexuality, life and death and crime and punishment are "simply not true". Not only was there "inconsistency, contradiction and even incoherence" in the Church's doctrines but the researchers' work has led to the insight that the tradition itself is "not the truth guarantor of any particular teaching". Orthodox Catholic theologians entirely reject that claim, however, pointing to the consistency of moral teaching found in the early and later Church Fathers of the Catholic Church.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The Eastern Orthodox Church or Orthodox Christian Church views sexuality as a gift from God that finds its fulfillment in the marital relationship, and therefore the misuse of the gift of human sexuality is sinful. Because the act of masturbation is self-directed, and by its nature is incapable of expressing love and concern for another person, it is viewed as a distortion of the use of the gift of sexuality. This is especially apparent when masturbation becomes an addiction. In the least, the practice of self-pleasure is viewed as not honoring the purpose of God's gift of sexuality.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The sexual sins of fornication, adultery and masturbation, as well as hatred, jealousy, drunkenness and other sins are considered to be sins of the heart as much as the body. It is thought that turning away from sexual sin is turning away from self-indulgence for the purpose of self gratification. Instead of turning to the desires of the flesh, the Orthodox Christian turns to the Holy Spirit, whose fruit is believed to be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Talking about the Egyptian Gnostics related to his previous experience with them, Epiphanius of Salamis (310/320 – 403), a Byzantine Church Father and Doctor of the Church, states in his "Panarion", or "Medicine Chest":


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: They exercise genital acts, yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: John T. Noonan Jr. said that the Gnostics described by Epiphanius practiced "nonprocreative sexual acts" as a centre in their religious rituals. Epiphanius calls these practices, which include coitus interruptus, masturbation, and homosexual acts, as "the rites and ceremonies of the devil".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The Coptic Orthodox Church views masturbation as a sin because it is regarded as a "form of sexual pleasure outside of God's design". Shenoute (348-466), another Byzantine who is considered a saint in Oriental Orthodoxy, views masturbation as a sexual "misconduct" and an "outright illicit sexual activity".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: By "masturbation" is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Although "it is said that psychology and sociology show that [masturbation] is a normal phenomenon of sexual development, especially among the young," this does not change the fact that it "is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act" and "that, whatever the motive for acting this way, the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes 'the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love.'"


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: This is because the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside of marriage is, according to the teaching of the Church, contrary to its primary purpose of procreation and unification of the husband and wife within the sacrament of marriage. In addition, the Church teaches that all other sexual activity—including masturbation, homosexual acts, acts of sodomy, all sex outside of or before marriage (fornication), and the use of any form of contraception or birth control—is gravely disordered, as it frustrates the natural order, purpose, and ends of sexuality.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The Roman Catholic Church's official condemnation on masturbation for example: Pope Leo IX's "Ad splendidum nitentis" (1054), the decree of the Holy Office dated 2 March 1679, Pope Pius XII's "Allocutio" (Oct 8th, 1953), and "Acta Apostolicae Sedis" 48 dated 19 May 1956.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Scholars such as Robert Baker and Simon Lienyueh Wei believe that Augustine of Hippo (354–430), regards masturbation as a sin. Other scholars, Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and Carly Daniel-Hughes, say that Augustine condemns all sexual activities that contrary to procreation including homosexual acts and masturbation—or "solitary pleasure". Carly says that Augustine also regards "mutual masturbation" as "unnatural intercourse" based on Romans 1. Isidore of Seville, another Latin Church Father and Doctor of the Church, regards masturbation as an "effeminate" habit, though the early penitential writers seem not particularly concur with him. In his "Etymologiae" (c. 600–625), Isidore says that by masturbation a man dishonor "the vigor of his sex by his languid body".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: According to Simon Lienyueh Wei, as cited by some scholars, John Cassian and Augustine of Hippo hold that it is a sin if the nocturnal emission is the outcome of "a lustful encounter or pleasurable recollection"; otherwise, it is seen as "a physical function".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Aurélie Godefroy explains that masturbation has not always been perceived as a "mortal sin" classified as sexual deviance.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Mark W. Elliott says that Pope Gregory I (c. 540 – 604)—commonly known as Gregory the Great, a Latin Church Father and Doctor of the Church—treats Leviticus 15, which discusses ritual defilement, as "providing rules for "all" in the church community by relating emission to that of sexual intercourse rather than the previous monastic 'nocturnal emission' interpretation...He does, however, specify that "nocturnal" emissions—if caused by natural superfluity or sickness—are unproblematic for holiness, but where there is consent (i.e., masturbation) they are problematic." Making a parallel between women's menstruation and "the involuntary loss of semen", Gregory declares that "natural superfluities" do not prevent both laity and clergy to participate in the Eucharist.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Canon 8 of the Synod of the Grove of Victory from the 6th century imposes penances for "he who [has relations] between the thighs, [three] years. However, if by one's own hand or the hand of another, two years." Those acts refer to "mutual masturbation" and "femoral fornication". Another earliest set of rules which also prescribes penances for masturbation are "Excerpts from the Book of St. David" and Canons of John the Faster. Later, many early penitentials, such as Penitential of Finnian, Penitential of Columban, Penitential of Cummean, "Paenitentiale Theodori", "Paenitentiale Bedae", and the two "synods of Saint Patrick", impose penances with different levels of severity for masturbation (alone or in company) to monastics and laity.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: From the sixth to the eleventh century, there are more references in the penitentials to masturbation, but it is considered with much more indulgence than the other sins of flesh. In the penitential written by Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus (seventh century), for example, "the penance is from seven days for the cleric who poured out his seed without touching himself, up to fifty days for the one who voluntarily masturbates spread in a church. Fifty days may seem a lot, but it's tiny when you know that at the same time, a young man touching a virgin woman gets a full year."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: After the turn of the first millennium, more theologians began to condemn masturbation in an increasingly strident manner. Peter Damian, a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, in his "Book of Gomorrah" addressed to Pope Leo IX, wrote that masturbation is the lowest grade of homosexual sin. If left unchecked, it can "ascend by grades" to "fondling each other's male parts" (mutual masturbation), which can lead one to "fornicate between the thighs" (femoral intercourse) "or even in the rear" (anal intercourse). Thomas Aquinas, a popular Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, writes that masturbation is an "unnatural vice," which is a species of lust like bestiality, sodomy, and pederasty, and that "by procuring pollution [i.e., ejaculation apart from intercourse], without any copulation, for the sake of venereal pleasure ... pertains to the sin of 'uncleanness' which some call 'effeminacy' [Latin: "mollitiem", lit. 'softness, unmanliness']."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Pope Leo IX himself condemned masturbation more clearly, from which time it was traditionally perceived as a mortal sin, classified as a sexual deviance. But tolerance continued to be great, as the historian François Lebrun notes: "It is significant to note that [masturbation]...is of all sins against nature the only one that does not appear never in the list of reserved cases, that is to say, whose absolution is, in view of their gravity, reserved for the bishop alone. Is it not proof that it is far too common for every priest to have the possibility of absolving it immediately without referring to his superior?"


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: In the late medieval period, Jean Gerson wrote a confessional manual called "On the Confession of Masturbation". According to researcher Chloe Taylor, this manual tells clerics to "insist that (male) penitents admit to the sin of masturbation, which...was deemed...[by this time to be an] even more serious sin than raping a nun, incest, or abducting and raping virgins and wives however more common and indeed universal (among males) a sin it was assumed to be, judging from the incredulity with which deniers of masturbation were instructed to be met..."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Taylor goes on to note that "Medieval theologians recognized that by inquiring in...suggestive detail, and with...leading questions, they ran the risk of teaching sinful behaviors to penitents who had not previously been aware of the full range of sexual possibilities available to them. They deduced, however that it was worth teaching a few young penitents how to masturbate in order to save the greater number who were already masturbating without confessing to it." She notes that, according to Gerson's book, "Even once the penitent has admitted his sin the priest is not to be satisfied, and is to ask for further details...Particularly remarkable are the instructions that the priest feign a certain casualness, and that he address the confessant with a disarming affection, calling him "friend" and pretending that masturbation is neither sinful nor shameful in order to make the penitent admit to it, insinuating that he can relate to the penitent's acts—"Friend, I well believe it"—only to then backtrack and condemn the act as sinful and shameful after all."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The laity did not undertake regular confession at this time but, "For those such as the ordained and the scrupulous who did undergo frequent and rigorous confessional examination, the obligation to confess in circumstances such as Gerson describes for even the most routine and private of sins such as masturbation came to cause anxiety...Early medieval penance was only for grave sins, but now the most mundane of sins could be given excruciating attention."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: The Roman Catholic Church accused Albigensians of masturbation as part of their propaganda campaign against them.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Brundage notes that medieval "penitentials occasionally mentioned female autoeroticism and lesbianism. They treated female masturbation in much the same way as the male act, although they were more censorious of female sexual play that involved dildos and other mechanical aids than they were of male use of mechanical devices in masturbation."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Pierre Humbert states, "During the Middle Ages, masturbation - so-called "softness" - was considered an unnatural sin, but for the vast majority of theologians, priests and confessors, the offense was much less serious than fornication, adultery or sodomy; and they generally preferred not to talk too much about it so as not to suggest its existence to those who did not know about it."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: According to Aurélie Godefroy, "In fact, until the eighteenth century, masturbation did not hold much of a place in the Catholic imagination, where it was most often referred to as simple interruptus coitus", while Protestants treated it much more seriously as a major deviation.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Talking about the dissident Catholic theologian Charles Curran, James J. Walter and Timothy E. O'Connell said that "as long ago as 1968, Curran used the idea [of fundamental option] as a way to make sense of the fact that the Catholic tradition has long held that masturbation is an objectively serious misuse of human sexuality even though statistical evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of human persons — including many whose behavior otherwise suggests a generous and loving approach to life — engage in this behavior. What shall we make of this paradox?...Curran suggests that for various reasons the assertion that masturbation involves "objectively grave matter" is not convincing. In this regard, his argument is about the objective character of the action and not the nature of the moral person." Later, Curran stated in his works: "Generally speaking I believe masturbation is wrong since it fails to integrate sexuality into the service of love. Masturbation indicates a failure at a total integration of sexuality in the person. This wrongness is not always grave; in fact, more times it is not...Catholic educators should openly teach that masturbation is not always a grave matter and most times, especially for adolescents, is not that important...However, the teacher should not leave the adolescent with the impression that there is absolutely nothing wrong with masturbation." In 1986, Curran was banned to teach Catholic theology by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, because of his teachings on "contraception, sterilization, masturbation, divorce, and homosexuality".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: A study commissioned by the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) in 1972 but not approved by its board of directors when published in 1977, titled "Human Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought", showed that a number of dissident Catholic theologians have come to hold that an act of masturbation should not be judged as an objective moral evil, but assessed within the life context of the person involved. Authors of the book hold similar position as Curran's, not saying that masturbation is not a sin, only that "not every deliberately willed act of masturbation necessarily constitutes the grave matter required for mortal sin." Reaction to the 1977 study showed that the dissent was not unanimous, brought about controversies inside the CTSA itself. In 1979, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith publicised an advisory that deplored the books's "erroneous conclusions", identified "numerous misreadings of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council" in it, and said that the book diminished "the morality of sexual love to a matter of 'personal sentiments, feelings, [and] customs'" George Weigel restates that "these theological errors led to practical guidelines that 'either dissociate themselves from or directly contradict Catholic teaching' as taught by the Church's highest teaching authority."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: While Curran might say that masturbation could be morally acceptable on certain conditions, according to Richard A. Spinello, Pope John Paul II does not say that masturbation is always immoral because "the physical act itself is wrong and disordered". He does not examine the physical act as the sole basis for moral judgment. In "Veritatis splendor", John Paul II holds that "the morality of the human act" is judged by considering what one chooses rationally by "the deliberate will", and by "the proximate end". In his encyclical, he writes: "In order to be able to grasp the object of an act which specifies that act morally, it is therefore necessary to place oneself in the perspective of the acting person." Masturbation not always incurs grave sin, or mortal sin, but it can not be said that masturbation is not "gravely wrong" nor constitutes "grave matter". Joseph Farraher concludes that masturbation incurs venial sin in case "the act is performed with only partial realization or only partial choice of the will", or, in Harvey's words, "no grievous sin...while lacking in awareness, as when he is half awake, or half asleep, or when a person is carried away by sudden passion and finds himself committing the act despite the resistance of the will".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: In his attempt to explain John Paul II's "Theology of the Body", Anthony Percy writes in his book that "pornography and masturbation represent the destruction of the symbolic and nuptial meaning of the human body...God gives all men and women erotic energy. We call it the sex drive. This is good and it forms part of that attraction between men and women, which itself forms part of the nuptial meaning of the body. Sexual energy, therefore, needs to find its outlet in love, not lust...In masturbation that erotic energy is turned in on oneself...Masturbation, therefore, is a symbol, not of love, but of loneliness." Jeffrey Tranzillo adds to explain: "Whenever man and woman employ the body to simulate love or authenticity for reasons that are ultimately self-serving and hence destructive of self and others, they falsify the language it was created to speak. That is what underlies the sin of adultery." He says that "such misuse of the body also underlies other sexual sins like contraception, masturbation, fornication, and homosexual acts".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: According to Brian F. Linnane, "until the twentieth century, the actual moral norms for sexual behavior were similar for both Protestants and Roman Catholics, although the justifications for these norms might...be quite dissimilar...For both groups, sexual expression was confined to lifetime, monogamous, heterosexual marriage. Premarital sex, adultery, homosexual relations, masturbation, and the use of birth control were all proscribed by the Christian churches". Rainer Brandes notes, "For a long time Protestant theology has placed sexuality exclusively at the service of reproduction." Adrian Thatcher says that Protestants historically regarded masturbation as a sin, though they "appeal directly to the Bible whenever possible".


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Churches, as well as John Calvin, the founder of the Reformed Churches, condemned masturbation in their works. Likewise, a forerunner of the reformers, Girolamo Savonarola, believed that masturbation was a mortal sin.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, regarded masturbation to be immoral. He wrote that he "pitied those poor girls and young men who are tormented in the flesh at night."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Luther saw masturbation as a sin more terrible than heterosexual rape since such rape was considered to be "in accordance with nature", while masturbation was "unnatural". He also viewed masturbation and coitus interruptus the same act as killing children before they have a chance to be born, therefore, for him, masturbation was basically the same as abortion.


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Luther argued that the marital act is a way to avoid the sin of masturbation: "Nature never lets up...we are all driven to the secret sin. To say it crudely but honestly, if it doesn't go into a woman, it goes into your shirt."


title: Religious views on masturbation

text: Luther, citing the apostle Paul, makes his case: ""For is it better to marry than to be aflame with passion." I have no doubt that everyone who wants to live chastely, though unmarried and without special grace for it, will understand these words and what they convey. For St. Paul is not speaking of secret matters, but of the common, known feeling of all those who live chastely outside of marriage but do not have the grace to accomplish it. For he ascribes this flaming with passion to all who live chastely but without the necessary grace, and prescribes no other medicine than marriage. If it were no so common or if there were none other advice to be given, he would not have recommended marriage. This thing is known in German as "the secret disease," but this expression would not be so common either if the ailment were truly rare...There can also be no doubt that those who have the grace of chastity still at times feel evil desires and are tempted. But it is transitory, therefore their problem is not this burning. In short, "aflame with passion" is the heat of the flesh, which rages without ceasing, and daily attraction to woman or to man; we find this wherever there is not desire and love for chastity. People without this heat are just as few and far between as are those who have God's grace for chastity. Now such heat is stronger in some, and weaker in others. Some among them suffer so severely that they masturbate. All these ought to be in the married estate...If they relieve themselves outside of marriage, then the pangs of conscience are soon there, and this is the most unbearable torment and the most miserable of earthly estates. This is the unavoidable result, that most of those who live without marriage and without grace in celibacy are forced to sin bodily in unchastity, and the others are forced to outward chastity and inward unchastity. The former must needs lead a damnable life, the latter an unholy useless one. And where are the spiritual and secular rulers who consider the plight of these poor souls? Every day they are helping the devil to increase this misery with their pressures and compulsion."