The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, abbreviated as ISKCON, known colloquially as the Movement of Hare Krishna,  is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 13 July 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Its main headquarters are located today in West Bengal, India.

Its unique form of monotheistic core beliefs are based on Hindu scriptures, particularly their own published translations of the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana. ISKCON is "the largest and, arguably, most important branch" of Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the early 16th century with its American and European devotees since the early 1900s.

The religious organization practices vegetarianism and was initially formed to spread the practice of Bhakti yoga, and its deeds called bhaktas which dedicate both their thoughts and actions towards pleasing Krishna, whom they consider the Supreme Lord Godhead, while regarding the rest of Hindu pantheon as secondary or lesser Demi-gods. Its most rapid expansion in registered membership has been within India and (after the collapse of the Soviet Union) in Russia and other formerly Soviet-aligned states of Eastern Europe.

History and belief

ISKCON devotees follow a disciplic line of Gaudiya Vaishnavas and are the largest branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism means 'worship of Vishnu', and Gauḍa refers to the area where this particular branch of Vaishnavism originated, in the Gauda region of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a following in India, especially West Bengal and Odisha, for the past five hundred years. Gaudiya Vaishnavism was founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who rapidly spread his form of ecstatic bhakti (devotion) throughout Bengal. He established Sankirtan, the practice of publicly expressing devotion to Krishna, the Supreme God, through dance and song. This form of communal worship responded to rigid caste structures by engaging all people in worship regardless of caste and creed. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu emphasized chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra (the 'great mantra'). He is considered by Gaudiya Vaishnavas to be an incarnation of Krishna himself.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, believed to have direct lineage with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, brought Chaitanya's Gaudiya Vaishnavism to the West in 1965. At 70 years old, he landed in New York without any money (40 rupees of Indian currency). Instead of preaching to New York's elite, he tapped into the 1960s countercultural spirit by preaching and chanting in public parks and attracting hippies and the youth. His movement, then known as the "Hare Krishna Movement", grew even larger when he relocated to San Francisco a year later. When it spread to England, it gained publicity and financial backing from the Beatles' George Harrison. He recorded several tracks with the Hare Krishnas and included the Mahamantra in his hit track "My Sweet Lord". The first Hare Krishna commune, New Vrindavan (West Virginia), was established by Prabhupada in 1968. Since then, ISKCON has established more than 800 centers all over the world and has millions of followers.

Key to the spread of Gaudiya Vaishnava theology in the Western world were Prabhupada's writings and translations, including the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), Chaitanya Charitamrita, and other scriptures. These works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as the scriptures of ISKCON.

Singular worship of Krishna
ISKCON describes Krishna as the original source of all the avatars of the Almighty God. Registered members worship Krishna as the highest form of God, svayam bhagavan, and often refer to him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in their published writing, which was a phrase coined by Prabhupada in his books on the subject.

For its devotees, Radha represents Krishna's divine female counterpart, the original spiritual potency, and the embodiment of devotional love. The individual soul has an eternal spiritual identity which does not ultimately merge into the non-dual consciousness (Brahman) as believed by the monistic (Advaita) schools of Hinduism. Prabhupada most frequently offers Sanatana-dharma and Varnashrama dharma as more accurate names for the religious system which accepts Vedic authority.

Pious believers both teach and claim that Krishna is greater and far magnanimous than the traditionalist Hindu Trimurti of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma and all its conceived emanations. It is a monotheistic tradition which has its roots in the theistic Vedanta traditions.

Religious practices

The most famous and publicly recognizable ISKCON practice is kirtan, a congregational chanting or singing of the Hare Krishna mantra. Kirtan is both a way to express devotion to God and a way to attract newcomers to the movement. Devotees gather in public, in streets and parks, to sing the mantra accompanied by instruments like the mridanga, hand cymbals, and the harmonium. During the 1970s, ISKCON entered the public eye because of this practice. Devotees would sing, distribute books, and proselytize in airports and other public areas, often obtrusively. Sankirtan continues throughout the world today, but in a less confrontational manner.

Japa is another important religious practice within ISKCON and Gaudiya Vaishnavism. It is the meditative practice of repeatedly chanting the names of Krishna on a set of prayer beads. Its believers chant a mantra:

on the chanting bead. This mantra is repeated 108 times on the bead. Devotees usually chant 16 rounds of this everyday. It is considered the only way of salvation for people in the current age of Kali. Prabhupada established a standard for initiated devotees to chant sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra on a Japamala containing 108 beads, daily. Each round consists of 1728 repetitions of the names of Krishna.

Arati is also an important tenet (also called puja) of ISKCON. During arati, devotees offer water, incense, a fire lamp, and flowers to a murti, a sacred statue or image of Krishna. This is accompanied by prayers and devotional songs called bhajans. Practitioners may perform arati at their own home or congregate at a temple to join in the ceremony. Along with this worship, devotees will bathe the murti, dress it, offer it food, and even put it to sleep. By doing arati and serving the murti, devotees aim to deepen their relationship with Krishna.

ISKCON devotees meet regularly (typically on Sunday at a program known as the Sunday Feast) to worship deities, listen to discourses by senior devotees, participate in kirtan and eat sanctified offered food prasadam. Devotees place great emphasis on listening to spiritual discourses, believing them to be a key role in spiritual advancement.

Four Regulative Principles
During initiation (diksha) ISKCON devotees vow to follow four basic rules and regulations.
 The consumption of only lacto-vegetarian diet (abstinence from meat, fish, eggs).
 Prohibition against consuming any intoxicants (i.e. coffee, caffeinated drinks, tea, tobacco cigarettes, drugs and alcohol)
 Prohibition against gambling
 Prohibition against draining sexual energy by engaging in 'illicit sexual activity and relationships' outside of marriage.

Celebrated festivals

Besides weekly gatherings, devotees within the ISKCON movement celebrate a diverse array of Hindu festivals, including Janmashtami, Radhastami, Diwali, Gaura Purnima, Ekadasi, Holi, Rama Navami, and Gita Jayanti.

The Ratha Yatra Festival of Chariots is an annual parade whereby devotees chant and dance on the street, pulling a chariot with the deities of Jagannatha, Balabhadra, and Subhadra behind them. This public procession is typically followed by performances and free vegetarian food.

Public preaching
ISKCON advocates preaching. Members try to spread Krishna consciousness primarily by singing the Hare Krishna mantra in public places and by selling Indian spiritual books transcribed from their original languages and published in English by the movement's founder, Prabhupada.

A study conducted by the American researcher E. Burke Rochford Jr. at the University of California found that there are four types of contact between those in ISKCON and prospective members: individually motivated contact, contact made with members in public areas, contact made through personal connections, and contact with sympathizers of the movement who strongly encourage people to join.

According to the doctrine of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one does not need to be reborn in a Hindu religious family to take up the practice.

Organizational management

Prabhupada spent much of the last decade of his life setting up the institution of ISKCON.

The Governing Body Commission (or GBC) is the managerial authority of ISKCON. Created by Bhaktivedanta in 1970, it meets annually. In a document Direction of Management written on 28 July 1970 Prabhupada appointed twelve members to the commission, all of them non-sannyasi, including Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, Hansadutta Swami, and Tamala Krishna Goswami. The letter outlined the purposes of the commission: improving the standard of temple management, the spread of Krishna consciousness, the distribution of books and literature, the opening of new centers and the education of the devotees. GBC has since grown in size to include 48 senior members from the movement who make decisions based on consensus of opinion.

Shortly after establishing the GBC, Prabhupada asked his newly appointed leaders to renounce the everyday world and become sannyasis (renunciate monks), indicating that those who set policy would not be involved with financial dealings. However, after Prabhupada's death some GBC members adopted lavish lifestyles. A number of schisms tested the notion of the supreme authority of the GBC. Some of these scandals involved GBC members Hans Kary (Hansadutta) and James Immel (Jayatirtha), as well as one of the leaders of the New Vrindaban community, Keith Ham (Kirtanananda), who surrounded himself with opulence and declared himself the only true successor to Prabhupada.

In 1982, the GBC began the slow process of adding new gurus to the original eleven. In 1983 the GBC was announced to be the highest ecclesiastical authority of ISKCON. In 1985 the decision was made to lower the standard of living for ISKCON leadership. After much heated discussion, the GBC decided to "relieve" a number of leaders and new leaders were selected. The young leaders of the GBC sought the advice of one of Prabhupada's Gaudiya Math godbrothers, and endeavored to become more integrated in the broader Hindu community.

After years of discussion and reforms, a general consensus emerged to accept women as leaders in ISKCON, overriding the former GBC supposition that "unprotected, 'women leaders become subject to various forms of mistreatment and abuse'". In 1998 Malati Devi Dasi became the first woman appointed to the GBC. The second woman leader, Dina Sharana, was selected in 2009.

Succession of teachings

Prabhupada claimed to belong to the traditional system of paramparā, or disciplic succession, in which teachings upheld by scriptures are handed down from master to disciple, generation after generation.

Women's roles
Women's roles are a controversial issue within ISKCON, and its members have strongly divergent opinions regarding the interpretation of Prabhupada's teachings on gender roles. While some of its leaders advocate that women should take public leadership roles, other leaders disagree, and maintain that "traditional" roles for women are more appropriate. They fear an undesirable influence of secular feminism within ISKCON.

Prabhupada in his original writings encouraged the complete equality of women in the eye of Krishna based on the teachings of Bhagavad Gita that soul does not have any gender and everybody is eligible for spiritual liberation.

Since mother is the most respected position in Vedic culture, women within the Hare Krishna community are all viewed as mothers, especially by celibate male members brahmacharis. "Mother is a term of respect for women in ISKCON, and is often prefixed to the Sanskrit name they receive in initiation. Even unmarried women are referred to as mothers".

After years of discussion and reforms, a general consensus emerged to accept women as leaders and initiators in ISKCON. In 1998 Malati Devi Dasi became the first woman appointed to the GBC. The second woman leader, Dina Sharana, was selected in 2009.

An updated document was released by the GBC in 2019 stating that it was permissible for women to become initiating gurus within the ISKCON movement.

The ministry was developed to account for the growing interest of female devotees to partake in temple practices and ensure representation in decision making.

Office for Child Protection
In 1998, ISKCON published an exposé of widespread physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children in the group's boarding schools in the United States and India in the 1970s and 1980s. The report stated that Hare Krishna monks and young devotees caring for the children had no training in the task and often resented having to perform it. At a meeting in 1996, former Krishna pupils testified that they had been regularly beaten at school, denied medical care, and sexually molested and raped.

In 2002 a suit for $900million was filed in Texas State Court by alleged victims of abuse in ISCKON boarding schools. ISKCON later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Known as the Turley Case, the eventual 2008 settlement was $15million.

The ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection department office was established by the GBC in 1997. It released its first official Child Protection Policy and Procedure Guidelines. The CPO has provided Child Protection Information Training to over 500 child care providers within the organization internationally and continues to file and review reports on local Child Protection Teams in 2005. The Child Protection Policy and Procedure Guidelines was revised and ratified by the GBC in June 2018.

Kirtan and musical influence

The practice of mantra meditation, also known as kirtan, is prominent in the ISKCON movement. Dedicated kirtan festivals are held annually around the world, such as the Sadhu Sanga Retreat in Boone, North Carolina, Kirtan 50 in Dallas, Texas, and Radhadesh Mellows, in Durbuy, Belgium. Notable kirtaneers include Jahnavi Harrison, Gaura Vani, and the Mayapuris, who have all released kirtan albums. Kirtan sessions are also held outside of temple settings, including at a local university "Bhakti Clubs", mantra lounges, and at a yoga and wellness festivals.

Full theatrical performances have been produced based on the Vedic theologies. Prominent performance companies include Viva Kultura and Vande Arts.

The Hare Krishna mantra appears in some famous songs, such as former Beatle George Harrison's 1970 hit "My Sweet Lord". John Lennon included the phrase "Hare Krishna" in his lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance" and the Beatles' 1967 track "I Am the Walrus". The backing vocalists also sing the phrase in Ringo Starr's 1971 hit "It Don't Come Easy", written with the help of Harrison, although the words were mixed low on the released version.

Of the four Beatles, only Harrison fully embraced Krishna Consciousness. He also provided financial support for ISKCON's UK branch and in 1973 purchased Bhaktivedanta Manor for their temple compound. Harrison enjoyed a warm friendship with Prabhupada, who provided the inspiration for Harrison songs such as "Living in the Material World".

In the 1980s underground New York City hardcore punk band the Cro-Mags included Hare Krishna members and made references to Krishna Consciousness. By the early 1990s, an entire underground Krishnacore subgenre was established with other New York hardcore bands like Shelter and 108.

In 2020, Willow Smith and Jahnavi Harrison collaborated on the song "Surrender (Krishna Keshava"), and the album "RISE", featuring ancient sacred songs from India with Sanskrit lyrics.

Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is one of the four tenets of ISKCON. Due to Prabhupada's focus on food distribution, many ISKCON devotees have opened vegan and vegetarian eateries. Not all restaurants opened by ISKCON members are officially affiliated with ISKCON, although many Govindas' restaurants or catering businesses operate out of the main temple center.

The Hare Krishna followers call their type or style of eating behaviour as 'Krishnatarian'. According to them "A Krishnatarian meal is one which is cooked using fresh, vegetarian ingredients (sans onion, garlic, red lentils or mushrooms) and milk products which is cooked by a Krishna conscious individual who cooks for devotion instead of for profit, and offered to Krishna before it is distributed or consumed by an individual."

Demographics
ISKCON claims to have around one million congregational members worldwide (majority in India), with 15,000 in Great Britain.

In the West it "has a relatively small number of followers", estimated at "a few thousand full-time practitioners", but those showing interest in its activities might number into the "tens of thousands."

After considerable success in the West due to the counterculture of the 1960s, ISKCON lost its momentum from the early 1980s onward, "facing a sharp decline in membership and in financial resources" in North America and in Western Europe, while in the late 1990s the situation began to deteriorate in Eastern Europe as well. In 2000, it was estimated that only 750–900 members were residing in ISKCON centers in the United States. Since then, ISKCON has depended on the Indian diaspora to "revitalize" the movement; in most North American congregations Indian members making up 80% of the numbers.

List of controversies
ISKCON has experienced a number of significant internal problems, the majority of which occurred from the late 1970s onwards, and especially within the decade following Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's death. ISKCON has also been scrutinised by some anti-cult movements.

Accordingly, the organization has also been widely criticized for alleged re-translation of various traditionalist Hindu scriptures by their own publishing company, which alleges that other Hindu gods are either ignored, censored or demoted to the lesser status or secondary tier as Demi-gods, while only promoting Krishna as singular and highest form of "Supreme Godhead".

 In a 1976 case, People v. Murphy, a criminal trial court in Queens County, New York held that "'[T]he Hare Krishna religion is a bona fide religion with roots in India that go back thousands of years." A grand jury indicted Iskcon, Inc. and the president of an ISKCON temple for the crime of unlawful imprisonment in the first degree. Although the parents of two Hare Krishna members claimed ISKCON had allegedly imprisoned their children through brainwashing, Justice John J. Leahy dismissed the criminal indictments on the basis that the two members had freely followed the tenets of their chosen faith.
 In a 1984 case, George v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California, a lawsuit led to lengthy appeals resulting in a mixed judgment. Marcia and Robin George, a mother and daughter, accused ISKCON of kidnapping Robin via brainwashing and later lying to her parents about her whereabouts. They sued ISKCON for false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, libel, and the wrongful death of Robin's father based on stress caused by the alleged circumstances. A California state appellate court dismissed Robin's claims for false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress on the basis that she was not brainwashed, but rather was "a bright and gifted high school student of above-average intelligence and maturity" who was "capable of consenting" to her travels with her purported kidnappers. On the other hand, the same appellate court affirmed the jury verdicts holding ISKCON liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress against Marcia and wrongful death because the defendants had deliberately lied to Robin's parents about her location while actively assisting Robin in her travels. The court also dismissed Robin's libel claim while affirming the jury verdict of libel in favor of Marcia.
 Kirtanananda Swami, or Swami Bhaktipada, a leader of ISKCON, was expelled from the organisation in 1987 for various deviations. He was the leader of New Vrindaban, the largest and most famous Hare Krishna community in the United States at that time. In 1996 Kirtanananda pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and after serving 8 years of a 20-year prison sentence was subsequently released in 2004. Previously in 1991 the jury had found him guilty of racketeering and mail fraud. These convictions were later overturned on appeal, only to result in the later retrial.
 In the 1990s ISKCON faced accusations of child abuse, and its leaders acknowledged physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children who were sent to live in the rural communities' boarding schools in the United States and India in the 1970s and 1980s. Sociologist of religion E. Burke Rochford argues that a culture of abuse in ISKCON schools arose in part because of renunciant leaders' subtle denigration of the value of householders and children. Several safety regulations and subcommittees, such as ISKCON Resolve and the ISKCON Child Protection Office, have been developed since these allegations to ensure that legal rights as well as the health and safety of devotees.

Persecution
In 2006, a bomb blast struck the ISKCON temple in Imphal in Manipur, India. Five devotees were killed and a further 50 were injured. The attack was not claimed by any individual or organization.
In 2007, the Kazakhstan government authorities demolished 25 homes belonging to the ISKCON members in Sri Vrindavan Dham commune in Almaty, on the grounds that they were illegal constructions.
In 2009, an orphanage run by the ISKCON Chittagong (Sri Sri Radha Madhava Mandir) in Bangladesh was attacked by unknown men. The gang vandalised furniture and a statue in the orphanage and beat the devotees. They also tried to take control of the temple and the orphanage.
In 2015, the ISKCON Temple, Dinajpur in Bangladesh was attacked by Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terrorists. The terrorists opened fire and at least two people were injured in the attack.
In 2016, the ISKCON Sylhet in Bangladesh was attacked by Muslims and at least ten people were injured in that attack.
In 2018, the gate of the ISKCON Temple in Curitiba, Brazil was targeted by unknown perpetrators. The painting of Krishna with his mother Yashoda was defaced.
In 2018, Rath Yatra organised by ISKCON Dhaka in Bangladesh was attacked by a group of people, leaving six devotees injured.
In 2020, an Ansar al-Islam group planned an attack on the ISKCON Temple Dhaka but police arrested them.
In 2021, during Navami (15 October), a Muslim Mob attacked the ISKCON temple in Noakhali, Bangladesh and killed two devotees.

Centers worldwide

India
India has the highest density of ISKCON centers in the world, with over 800 temples, 12 state-recognized educational institutions, 25 affiliated and non-affiliated restaurants, and a number of tourist and pilgrimage hotels. ISKCON India disciples are more conservative than the ISKCON disciples in the west.

Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir of the Vedic Planetarium, Mayapur

Set to be completed in 2024, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, Mayapur in West Bengal is built in the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the founder of the Gaudiya-Vaishnava lineage of Hinduism. The temple itself currently sits at  and is  tall, and is surrounded by accompanying lodges, shops, residences, educational centers, and gardens. The project cost an estimated $75million, with its major investor being Alfred B. Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford. The complex has a planetarium based on Vedic cosmology and exhibitions about the Vedic arts, sciences, and culture as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Sri Krishna-Balaram Mandir, Vrindavan

Located in the Raman Reti area of Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, the Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir temple was built in the original village where the spiritual figures Krishna and Balarama are said to have resided in the Vedic period of Indian history. It is built in close proximity to other holy sites such as the village of Gokul, Govardhana Hill, the Mathura palace, and various holy lakes. As a result, ISKCON Vrindavan is a common pilgrimage site for followers of the Krishna Conscious movement. The complex is home to a guesthouse, a museum, gift shops, a restaurant, a bakery, a broadcast studio as well as a marble temple hall. The temple is also affiliated with the Vrindavan Institute of Higher Education.

Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir
In March 2014, the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir temple project was inaugurated, and on 16 November 2014, the foundation stone of the temple was laid. Overseen by ISKCON Bangalore, the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir temple building is currently under construction.

Radha Parthasarathi Mandir, New Delhi

The Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Mandir temple complex houses the Glory of India Vedic Cultural center, which is a set of interactive educational exhibits, as well as the world's largest printed religious book, known as the "Astounding Bhagavad Gita". It is located in East of Kailash in South Delhi.

Radha Krishna Mandir, Chennai

The Chennai temple is located on the East Coast Road in southern part of the city. Built on  of land and consecrated in 2012, the temple is the largest Radha Krishna temple in Tamil Nadu.

Sri Gaura Radha Gukulananda Temple, Salem
The ISKCON Salem temple, also known as the Sri Gaura Radha Gukulananda Temple of Vedic Knowledge and Culture, is located on Hare Krishna Land, Karuppur, Salem. Built on  of land, the temple is one of the Radha Krishna temple in Tamil Nadu. It was formally inaugurated in October 2019.

Radha Madhav Sundar Mandir, Siliguri

Sri Sri Radha Madhav Sundar Mandir is located at Siliguri, West Bengal and known as Gupta Nabadweep Dham.

Nepal
ISKCON Temple Nepal or ISKCON Nepal is located in Kathmandu. The geographic coordinates of ISKCON Nepal are 27.784062° or (27°47'2.62") of North and 85.356938° or (85°21'24.98") of East. It is on the lap of Shivapuri Mountain where the Holy Bishnumati River flows.

In this temple, the Deities of Sri Sri Radha Govinda Hari (Radha and Krishna), Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra, Gaur Nitai, Narasimha are worshiped. ISKCON Nepal celebrates Jagannath Rath Yatra every year. As per a 2018 estimate, over 5000 devotees participate in the ratha yatra from across the globe.

Europe

There are over 135 ISKCON-affiliated temples and cultural centers in Europe. The ISKCON movement in Europe is home to a number of rural and farming communities, including Nueva Vrajamandala in Spain, La Nouvelle Mayapura in France, and Villa Vrindavan in Italy.

There are also 31 additional centers in Russia, as Vaishnava Hinduism represents one of the largest denominations of faith in the country.

Radhadesh, Belgium

The Radhadesh temple in Durbuy, Belgium, is home to Bhaktivedanta College, which opened in 2002 to provide ministerial and spiritual education for students, offering degrees and certificates online and on-campus in Vaishnava theology externally validated by the University of Chester.The Radhadesh temple is also home to Radhadesh Mellows, an annual kirtan retreat.

Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford

A landscaped property featuring gardens, lakes, a school, farm, numerous temple and housing buildings, accommodations, and a bakery. The property for Bhaktivedanta Manor was donated by George Harrison of the Beatles and is on the National Heritage List for England. The houses on the property, including the temple, are built in the mock-Tudor mansion style of the 1800s.

Bhaktivedanta Manor is also home to the London College of Vedic Studies, and is the birthplace of the Avanti Schools Trust, a sponsor of state-funded primary and secondary schools that provides both non-denominational and Hindu-faith education throughout the UK.

Demographically, the majority of devotees in Europe are ethnic Europeans. An exception can be made with the demographics of devotees in the United Kingdom, which caters to the Indian immigrant population, mirroring the demographics of most North American centers.

North and South America

There are 56 formally affiliated ISKCON centers in the United States. Notable centers include Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple (Spanish Fork), Utah, New Raman Reti in Alachua, FL, and The Radha Kalachandji Temple in Dallas, TX. Hare Krishna-affiliated full-time communities include New Vrindaban in West Virginia, and Gita Nagari Eco Farm and Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. There are various other centers in the United States that promote Krishna Conscious culture without being formally affiliated with ISKCON, including The Bhakti Center in New York City. The ISKCON Dallas temple is affiliated with the nearby TKG Academy, which provides private school academic education with additional Vedic-based courses.

There are 12 ISKCON centers in Canada, including the self-sustaining Saranagati Eco Village in BC. There are 5 formally affiliated ISKCON centers in Mexico.

There are 60 affiliated ISKCON temples in South America, with most congregations located in Argentina and Brazil. There are also a number of devotee-run farming communities throughout Latin America. Most notable is the eco-village "Nova Gokula" at Pindamonhangaba in the Brazil state of São Paulo, founded in 1978, with two temples planning as traditional Hindu architecture.

Asia, Africa, and Australasia

Asia is home to over 80 ISKCON affiliated centers, with most being located in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

There are 69 affiliated ISKCON centers in Africa, four of which are rural farming communities and three of which are educational centers. ISKCON Durban hosts the world's largest Ratha Yatra Chariot Festival outside of India.

There are six ISKCON centers, including one farming village in Australia and four temple centers in New Zealand. The Hare Krishna Temple in Christchurch, New Zealand, distributed free meals to mourners and the local Muslim community after a mosque shooting in March 2019.

Subsidiaries

Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) is a nonprofit organization, of ISKCON, and supplies books both to ISKCON and to the book trade in general. BBT is the publisher of books on the Gaudiya Vaishnava. BBT was established in 1972 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta as the publisher for his books and for books by other authors. It also publishes the magazine Back to Godhead in multiple languages. Apart from the BBT's work in publishing, it helps finance the construction and renovation of Krishna temples in the Gaudiya Vaishnava holy places like Vrindavan and Mayapur.

Cow protection and ISCOWP
ISCOWP (International Society for Cow Protection) claims to "present alternatives to agricultural and dietary practices that support and depend upon the meat and dairy industries' slaughter of the cow".

ISKCON Tribal Care Trust
ISKCON Tribal Care Trust (ITCT) is an affiliate targeting the tribal people. The trust has set up schools and potable water sources for the tribal people.

Pandava Sena

Based out of Bhaktivedanta Manor of Watford UK, Pandava Sena is a youth organization started in 1994. It is composed of professionals and university students that host annual international mentorship and reunion retreats and weekly social gatherings.

Pandava Sena has also established "KCSocs" or "Krishna Conscious Societies" across 30 universities in the UK. Many universities have similar student groups featuring youth from local ISKCON temples.

Notable people

 Alfred Ford
 George Harrison
 Poly Styrene

See also
 Hare Krsna TV
 Hare Krishna in popular culture
 Krishna valley, Hungary

References

Sources

External links

Hindu denominations
Hindu organizations
Hindu new religious movements
Hinduism-related controversies
Hinduism in Australia
Hinduism in India
Hinduism in the United States
International Hindu organizations
Hindu religious orders
Hindu organisations based in India
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Palms, Los Angeles
Hinduism in New York (state)
Religious organizations established in 1966
1966 establishments in New York City
Hindu organizations established in the 20th century
Monotheistic religions
Vaishnava sects


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Avenged Sevenfold are known for their diverse rock sound and dramatic imagery in album covers and merchandise. The band emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and largely continued this sound through their second album Waking the Fallen. However, the band's style had evolved by their third album and first major label release, City of Evil, into a more traditional heavy metal style. The band continued to explore new sounds with its self-titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their founding drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, died in 2009. Despite his death, Avenged Sevenfold continued on with the help of ex-Dream Theater member Mike Portnoy, and released and toured in support of their fifth album Nightmare in 2010, which debuted atop the Billboard 200, their first number one debut.

In 2011, drummer Arin Ilejay joined the band on tours and recording. The band's sixth studio album Hail to the King, which was released in 2013, marked the only Avenged Sevenfold album featuring Ilejay. It would feature a heavy metal and hard rock style, with it being written as a tribute to their influences. Hail to the King charted as number 1 on the Billboard 200, the UK Albums chart, as well as the Finnish, Brazilian, Canadian, and Irish charts. Ilejay left the band in late 2014 and was replaced by former Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman, but the lineup change was not announced to the public until 2015. The band then surprise-released their seventh studio album The Stage in October 2016, which debuted as number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the US. The Stage is their first conceptual album and marked another stylistic change for the band, moving towards a progressive metal sound. The band released their eighth studio album, Life Is but a Dream..., a highly experimental record, in June 2023.

To date, Avenged Sevenfold have released seven studio albums, one live album/DVD, two compilation albums and eighteen singles and have sold over 8 million albums worldwide, and their records have received numerous certification awards, including five platinum album awards from their home country's institution (RIAA). They have also created four original songs for the Call of Duty: Black Ops series, all of which were compiled together in the 2018 EP Black Reign. The band were ranked No. 47 on Loudwire's list of Top 50 Metal Bands of All Time.

History

Formation and Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (1999–2002)
Avenged Sevenfold was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California by Matt Sanders, James Sullivan, Zachary Baker and Matt Wendt. Although they are not a religious band, Sanders came up with the name as a reference to the story of Cain and Abel from the Bible, which can be found in Genesis 4:24. All four members already had experience performing in bands, with Sanders being the vocalist and Wendt the bassist for the punk band Successful Failure, Baker playing guitar in the punk bands Society Down and MPA (short for Mad Porn Action/Addiction), and Sullivan being the drummer for the ska band Suburban Legends (formerly known as Bomb Squad).

Avenged Sevenfold's first creative output was a three-song-demo recorded in October 1999 at the A-Room Studios in Orange County, California. The band played their first show at the Walnut, California City Hall on February 11, 2000. Around this time, they were asked by Sadistic Records to contribute to two compilations, so the band recorded two new songs and released them along with the previously recorded songs on a second demo. They sent this demo to the Belgian label Good Life Recordings and were subsequently signed. Afterwards, the band participated in another two compilation albums, their label's GoodLife 4 and Novocaine Records' Scrape III compilations. Around this time, Matt Wendt left for college and Justin Meacham, the previous bassist of Suburban Legends, joined Avenged Sevenfold. In late 2000, the foursome took on their initial stage names – M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, Justin Sane and The Rev – and recorded their debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. In early 2001, lead guitarist and old friend Synyster Gates joined the band and they re-recorded the introductory track "To End the Rapture" for the album's lead-single/EP, Warmness on the Soul, released in April 2001. Although their debut album's release was initially planned for the same month, it was pushed back multiple times and eventually released on July 24, 2001, on Good Life Recordings.

Around August 2001, Meacham attempted suicide by drinking excessive amounts of cough syrup. This event was the reason for Avenged Sevenfold to join the Take Action Tour in 2003. During Meacham's hospitalization, he remained in poor condition and had to leave the band. In an interview, lead singer M. Shadows said of Meacham that "he perma-fried his brain and was in a mental institution for a long time, and when you have someone in your band who does that, it ruins everything that's going on all around you, and it makes you want to do something to prevent it from happening to other people." His replacement was Frank Melcom, stage name Dameon Ash, who performed with the band for the following months, but does not appear on any releases.

On January 18, 2002, Avenged Sevenfold left Good Life Recordings and signed with Hopeless Records. They re-released their debut album on March 19 and also appeared on the Hopelessly Devoted To You Vol. 4 sampler in April. The band started to receive recognition, performing with bands such as Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall. They spent the year touring in support of their debut album and participated in the Vans Warped Tour. In September, Dameon Ash left Avenged Sevenfold and their current bassist Johnny Christ joined them, completing their best known line-up.

Waking the Fallen and City of Evil (2003–2005)

Having found a new bassist, the group released their second studio album titled Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Records in August 2003. The album featured a more refined and mature sound production in comparison to their previous album. The band received profiles in Billboard and The Boston Globe, and again played on the Vans Warped and Take Action tours. Shortly after the release of Waking the Fallen, Avenged Sevenfold left Hopeless Records and were officially signed to Warner Bros. Records on November 1, 2003. In 2004, Avenged Sevenfold toured again on the Vans Warped Tour and recorded a video for their song "Unholy Confessions" which went into rotation on MTV2's Headbangers Ball.

City of Evil, the band's third album and major label debut, was released on June 6, 2005, and debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 30,000 copies in its first week of release. It utilized a more classic metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold's previous albums, which had been grouped into the metalcore genre. The album is also notable for the absence of screamed and growled vocals; M. Shadows worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson—whose clients have included Axl Rose and Chris Cornell—for months before the album's release to achieve a sound that had "grit while still having the tone". The album received positive reviews from several magazines and websites and is credited for propelling the band into international popularity.

Avenged Sevenfold (2006–2008)

After playing Ozzfest in 2006, Avenged Sevenfold memorably beat out R&B Singers Rihanna and Chris Brown, Panic! at the Disco, Angels & Airwaves and James Blunt for the title of Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, thanks in part to their Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-inspired song "Bat Country." They returned to the Vans Warped Tour, this time headlining and then continued on their own "Cities of Evil Tour." In addition, their lead single "Bat Country" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts, No.6 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts and the accompanying video made it to No. 1 on MTV's Total Request Live. Propelled by this success, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's first Gold record. It was later certified platinum in August 2009.
Avenged Sevenfold was invited to join Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known rock/heavy metal acts such as DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed and System of a Down for the first time in 2006. That same year they also completed a worldwide tour, including the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After a sixteen-month promotion of City of Evil, the band announced that they were cancelling their Fall 2006 tour to record new music. In the interim, the band released their first DVD titled All Excess on July 17, 2007. All Excess, which debuted as the No. 1 DVD in the US, included live performances and backstage footage that spanned the band's eight-year career. Two tribute albums, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Wings and Broken Strings and Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: The String Tribute were also released in October 2007.

On October 30, 2007, Avenged Sevenfold released their self-titled album, the band's fourth studio album. It debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with over 90,000 copies sold. Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" were released prior to the album's debut. In December 2007, an animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven". Due to the song's controversial subject matter, however, Warner Brothers only released it to registered MVI users over the internet. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Their fourth single, "Dear God", was released on June 15, 2008. Although critical reception was generally mixed the self-titled album went on to sell over 500,000 copies and was awarded "Album of the Year" at the Kerrang! Awards.

Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot. Footage from their last show in Long Beach was used for the band's next release, Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, released on September 16, 2008. Its content includes live DVD from their performance at Long Beach, and a CD containing B-sides from Avenged Sevenfold, and other rarities, such as covers from Pantera's "Walk" and Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade".

Death of The Rev and Nightmare (2009–2011)

In January 2009, M. Shadows confirmed that the band was writing the follow-up to their self-titled fourth album within the upcoming months. They also played at Rock on the Range, from May 16–17, 2009. On April 16, they performed a version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. On December 28, 2009, the band's drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead at his home at the age of 28. Autopsy results were inconclusive, but on June 9, 2010, the cause of death was revealed to have been an "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol". In a statement by the band, they expressed their grief over the death of The Rev and later posted a message from Sullivan's family which expressed their gratitude to his fans for their support. The band members admitted in a number of interviews that they considered disbanding at this point in time. However, on February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold stated that they had entered the studio, along with now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, to drum for the album, in place of The Rev.

The single "Nightmare" was digitally released on May 18, 2010. The song was leaked on May 6, 2010, on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after. Mixing for the album had been completed in New York City, and Nightmare was finally released on July 27, 2010, in the United States. It met with mixed to positive reviews from music critics but was well received by the fans. Nightmare beat sales projections easily, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 163,000 units in its first week. After finishing recording, in December, Portnoy and the band posted simultaneous statements on their websites stating that he would not be their replacement for The Rev. However, Portnoy did travel with the band overseas in December 2010 for three shows in Iraq and Kuwait sponsored by the USO. They played for U.S. Soldiers at Camp Adder, Camp Beuhring, and Balad Air Base. On January 20, 2011, Avenged Sevenfold announced via Facebook that former Confide drummer Arin Ilejay would begin touring with them that year. He was not yet considered a full-time member at this point.

Avenged Sevenfold performed at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals on June 3–5, 2011 alongside other bands such as Alter Bridge, System of a Down, and In Flames. In April 2011, the band headlined the Golden God Awards held by Metal Hammer. The same night the band won three awards for "Best Vocalist" (M. Shadows), "Epiphone Best Guitarist(s)" (Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance), and "Affliction's Album of The Year" for Nightmare, while Mike Portnoy won the award for "Drum Workshop's Best Drummer" for his work on the album.

Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2011 Uproar Festival with supporting acts Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet for My Valentine, Escape the Fate, among others. In November and December 2011, the band went on their "Buried Alive" tour with supporting acts Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, and Black Veil Brides.

Hail to the King and Waking the Fallen: Resurrected (2012–2014)
On April 11, 2012, Avenged Sevenfold won the award for "Best Live Band" and "Most Dedicated Fans" at the Revolver Golden Gods awards.
The band toured through Asia into April and early May, and played at the Orion Music + More, Festival on June 23 and 24 in Atlantic City, New Jersey alongside Metallica and Cage the Elephant among many others.

On September 24, 2012, Avenged Sevenfold released a new song, titled "Carry On"; it was featured in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II. On November 15, 2012, vocalist M. Shadows said that the band had been working on a new album since the recording of "Carry On" in August 2012. The band began recording material for the album in January 2013. The band then started streaming snippets of the album in May 2013 on their new radio app. There, Arin Ilejay was confirmed as an official band member and replacement of deceased The Rev. M. Shadows said that the album would sound more blues rock-influenced and more like classic rock/metal like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

The band was confirmed to play at the 2013 Rock in Rio festival on September 22, 2013. On May 24, 2013, the band have announced dates for their European tour with Five Finger Death Punch and Device serving as their support bands.

The album, entitled Hail to the King, was released on August 23, 2013. This is the first Avenged Sevenfold album without any musical contributions from late drummer, The Rev. The album's lead single and title track was released on July 15, 2013. Hail to the King charted as No. 1 on the US Billboard 200, the UK albums chart, as well as the Finnish, Brazilian, Canadian, and Irish charts, and was commercially and critically acclaimed. The band headlined Monster Energy's Welcome to Rockville two-day music festival in Jacksonville, Florida, April 26–27, 2014, joined by more than 25 rock acts, such as Motörhead, Rob Zombie, Chevelle, Korn, Staind, Alter Bridge, The Cult, Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat, Black Label Society, and Seether. On June 13, the band headlined the Friday night of Download Festival 2014. The band also headlined the Mayhem Festival 2014 with Korn, Asking Alexandria, and Trivium.

In March 2014, vocalist M. Shadows revealed in an interview with Loudwire that the band had plans in the works to put something out for the overdue 10th anniversary of Waking the Fallen. Waking the Fallen: Resurrected was released August 25, 2014. The reissue charted No. 10 on the US Billboard 200.

Drummer change and The Stage (2015–2017)
In October 2014, M. Shadows confirmed that the band would begin writing their seventh album during mid-2015.

In July 2015 the band announced on their website that they would part ways with drummer Arin Ilejay, due to "creative differences". In October 2015, the band announced on their website that they had been working with a new drummer for over a year, making sure that it was a good fit before making sudden changes. On October 21, in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, guitarist Zacky Vengeance revealed that the band had been working on the new album for the past couple of months and that a couple of songs had already been completely written. On November 4, 2015, the band announced that Brooks Wackerman would replace Arin Ilejay as the drummer for Avenged Sevenfold. In an interview with Kerrang! magazine on December 3, guitarist Zacky Vengeance said that the new album went in all sorts of aggressive and melodic directions and described it as very "aggro".

On January 14, 2016, Billboard reported that Avenged Sevenfold had been sued by Warner Bros. for trying to leave the label. The band later released a statement clarifying that they wanted to leave because a majority of the executives who helped sign the band to Warner Bros were no longer at the label. They also revealed that the band was going to be entering the studio to record their new album very soon, intending to release it later in 2016. On March 31, the band posted a teaser of their upcoming album on their website.

On August 18, 2016, the band performed a free live show for 1500 people in Minnesota, marking it the first live performance with new drummer Brooks Wackerman. The band was announced as support for Metallica with Volbeat in the U.S. Bank Stadium on August 20, 2016, making it the first ever rock show in the stadium. The band was announced as a headliner of Monster Energy Rock Allegiance 2016, along with Alice in Chains, Slayer, The Offspring, Breaking Benjamin and others. Avenged Sevenfold also performed on "Louder Than Life" festival as headliners on October 1, with Slipknot, Slayer, Disturbed, Korn and other artists. On June 21, the band announced a U.S. Fall tour with Volbeat, Killswitch Engage, and Avatar. The band also announced a UK tour for January 2017 with Disturbed and In Flames. Avenged Sevenfold was announced as a headliner of 2016 edition of Knotfest Mexico. The band also announced the European Tour for February and March 2017 along with Disturbed and Chevelle.

On October 3, 2016, the band's logo Deathbat started appearing as a projection in London. After that, Deathbat also started appearing in Berlin, Toronto and Paris, indicating a release of the new album. On October 12, Chris Jericho posted an Instagram photo of the Deathbat logo with a date 12/9/16 underneath it. He then revealed the supposed title of the album, Voltaic Oceans, It was later revealed that the new album would actually be called The Stage, a concept album about artificial intelligence, which was released on October 28, 2016, via Capitol Records. The album was released to generally favorable reviews, and the band decided to make a unique stage production for it, hiring Cirque du Soleil directors for its making.

Avenged Sevenfold was announced as the main support act on Metallica's WorldWired 2017 stadium summer tour in the US and Canada, alongside Volbeat and Gojira. The band also announced a series of 2017 US headlining summer shows of The Stage World Tour, with Volbeat, Motionless in White, and A Day to Remember as special guests across various dates.

On December 22, 2017, the band released a deluxe edition of The Stage that included one new original track, six cover songs, and four live tracks from their European tour earlier that year.

In a December 2017 interview with Billboard, M. Shadows revealed that the band are planning "a big US summer 2018 tour", and that the band would start working on the follow-up to The Stage in late 2018. End of the World tour with Prophets of Rage was later announced for summer 2018. The band was also announced as one of the headliners of 2018's Rock on the Range and Download Festival, in addition to appearing at Hellfest, Graspop Metal Meeting, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park the same year. Due to a blood blister forming in M. Shadows' throat, the band cancelled remaining dates from their summer tour with Prophets of Rage.

Avenged Sevenfold was nominated at 60th Annual Grammy Awards in "Best Rock Song" category for The Stage.

The band released a single titled "Mad Hatter" in September 2018, which was made specifically for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. It would later be a part of the Black Reign EP released later that month, which comprises all four of the songs Avenged Sevenfold made for the Call of Duty franchise.

Life Is But a Dream... (2018–present)
In a December 2017 interview with Billboard, M. Shadows revealed that the band are planning "a big US summer 2018 tour", and that the band would start working on the follow-up to The Stage in late 2018. Bassist Johnny Christ in a May 2018 interview confirmed that the band is currently getting ideas and writing in their own studios to start the next record in September or October 2018.

In September 2018, Synyster Gates revealed in an interview with Loudwire that the band has started working on their eighth studio album, saying "It's still early on, but we're working on a bunch of stuff". In March 2019, Zacky Vengeance stated the band would take the rest of the year off tour to concentrate on the upcoming album, saying the band is really focused on the new material. In January 2020, Avenged Sevenfold released "Set Me Free", an unreleased song recorded during the Hail to the King recording sessions. They also announced that the song would be included in a remastered re-release of Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, released on March 6. A limited edition clear vinyl of Diamonds in the Rough was also released.

On March 14, 2023, after several days of teaser videos, the band released the first single "Nobody" along with a music video. At the same time, they officially announced that their eighth studio album, Life Is But a Dream..., was set for release on June 2, 2023 while also revealed the album cover and the track list.

Musical style and influences

Members of Avenged Sevenfold cite In Flames, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Mr. Bungle, Elton John, Leonard Cohen, At the Gates, Helloween, Dream Theater, Pennywise, NOFX, Pantera, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, The Beatles, Anthrax, Testament, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones as influences.

Avenged Sevenfold's musical style has consistently evolved throughout the duration of the band's career. As a result, the band has been categorized under several genres of heavy and extreme music, primarily heavy metal, alternative metal, hard rock, and progressive metal (most notably in their album The Stage). The band's initial style in their first two albums has been primarily categorized as metalcore. The band's debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, while consisting almost entirely of a metalcore sound, has several deviations from this genre, most notably in "Streets", which shows a punk rock style, and "Warmness on the Soul", which is a piano ballad. On Waking the Fallen, the band displayed a metalcore style once more, but added more clean singing and leaned a bit more towards metal and bit less close to hardcore. In the band's DVD All Excess, producer Andrew Murdock explained this transition: "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had come out before they had recorded Waking the Fallen, M. Shadows said to me 'This record is screaming. The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore. And the record after that is going to be all singing'."

On Avenged Sevenfold's third album City of Evil, the band chose to outright abandon the metalcore genre, creating a sound consistent with hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive metal. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album experiments with an even wider array of musical genres than that from City of Evil, most notably in "Dear God", which shows a country style and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which is circled within the influence of Broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. Nightmare contains further deviations, including a piano ballad called "Fiction", progressive metal-oriented track "Save Me" and a heavy metal sound with extreme vocals and heavier instrumentation on "God Hates Us". The band's sixth studio album Hail to the King shows more of a classic metal sound and a riff-oriented approach. On their seventh album The Stage, the band explores further into progressive metal, blending it with elements of thrash metal. Their eighth album, Life Is but a Dream... shows the band taking on more of an avant-garde metal sound.

Avenged Sevenfold has been criticized for "not being metal enough". In response to this, vocalist M. Shadows said: "we play music for the sake of music, not so that we can be labeled a metal band. That's like telling us we aren't punk enough. Who cares?" Avenged Sevenfold is one of the notable acts of the new wave of American heavy metal.

Band members

Current members
 M. Shadows – lead vocals, piano (1999–present)
 Zacky Vengeance – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1999–present); lead guitar (1999–2001)
 Synyster Gates – lead guitar, piano (2001–present); co-lead vocals (2013–present); backing vocals (2001–2013)
 Johnny Christ – bass (2002–present); backing vocals (2005–present)
 Brooks Wackerman – drums (2015–present)

Former members

 The Rev – drums, piano (1999–2009; died 2009); co-lead vocals (2007–2009); backing vocals (1999–2007)
 Matt Wendt – bass (1999–2000)
 Justin Sane – bass, piano (2000–2001)
 Dameon Ash – bass (2001–2002)
 Arin Ilejay – drums (2013–2015; session and touring 2011–2013)

Former session and touring musicians
 Mike Portnoy – drums (2010)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums
 Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001)
 Waking the Fallen (2003)
 City of Evil (2005)
 Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
 Nightmare (2010)
 Hail to the King (2013)
 The Stage (2016)
 Life Is But a Dream... (2023)

Accolades

References

External links

American alternative metal musical groups
Metalcore musical groups from California
Articles which contain graphical timelines
Capitol Records artists
Hard rock musical groups from California
Heavy metal musical groups from California
Hopeless Records artists
Kerrang! Awards winners
MTV Video Music Award winners
Musical groups established in 1999
Musical groups from Orange County, California
American musical quintets
Warner Records artists
1999 establishments in California
Good Life Recordings artists

Avenged Sevenfold


A non-commissioned officer (sometimes spelled noncommissioned officer and shortened to NCO or non-com (US)), called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission. Non-commissioned officers, in the English-speaking world, usually obtain their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks.

NCOs usually include all grades of corporal and sergeant; in some countries, warrant officers also do the same things as NCOs. In the navy and depending on the country, some or all grades of petty officer may be counted as NCO's. There are different classes of non-commissioned officer, including junior non-commissioned officers (JNCO) and senior (or staff) non-commissioned officers (SNCO).

Related pages
Military ranks

References

Other websites
 A Short History of the NCO (United States)

Military ranks

Non-commissioned officer


The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related services, such as prostitution, strip clubs, host and hostess clubs and sex-related pastimes, such as pornography, sex-oriented men's magazines, women's magazines, sex movies, sex toys and fetish or BDSM paraphernalia.  Sex channels for television and pre-paid sex movies for video on demand, are part of the sex industry, as are adult movie theaters, sex shops, peep shows, and strip clubs. The sex industry employs millions of people worldwide, mainly women. These range from the sex worker, also called adult service provider (ASP) or adult sex provider, who provides sexual services, to a multitude of support personnel.

Etymology
The origins of the term sex industry are uncertain, but it appears to have arisen in the 1970s. A 1977 report by the Ontario Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry (LaMarsh Commission) quoted author Peter McCabe as writing in Argosy: "Ten years ago the sex industry did not exist. When people talked of commercial sex they meant Playboy." A 1976 article in The New York Times by columnist Russell Baker claimed that "[M]ost of the problems created by New York City's booming sex industry result from the city's reluctance to treat it as an industry", arguing why sex shops constituted an "industry", and should be treated as such by concentrating them in a single neighborhood, suggesting the "sex industry" was not yet commonly recognized as such.

Types

Prostitution

Prostitution is a main component of the sex industry and may take place in a brothel, at a facility provided by the prostitute, at a client's hotel room, in a parked car, or on the street. Often this is arranged through a pimp or an escort agency. Prostitution involves a prostitute or sex worker providing commercial sexual services to a client. In some cases, the prostitute is at liberty to determine whether she or he will engage in a particular type of sexual activity, but forced prostitution and sexual slavery does exist in some places around the world. Reasons as to why an individual may enter into prostitution are varied. Socialist and radical feminists have cited poverty, oppressive capitalistic processes, and patriarchal societies that marginalizes people based on race and class as reasons for the continued presence of prostitution, as these aspects all work together to maintain oppression. Other reasons include displacement due to conflict and war. Institutionalized racism in the United States has been cited as a reason for the prevalence of sex workers who are Black or other people of color, as this leads to inequality and a lack of access to resources.

The legality of prostitution and associated activities (soliciting, brothels, procuring) varies by jurisdiction. Yet even where it is illegal, a thriving underground business usually exists because of high demand and the high income that can be made by pimps, brothel owners, escort agencies, and traffickers.

A brothel is a commercial establishment where people may engage in sexual activity with a prostitute, though for legal or cultural reasons they may describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs or by some other description. Sex work in a brothel is considered safer than street prostitution.

Prostitution and the operation of brothels are legal in some countries, but illegal in others. For instance, there are legal brothels in Nevada, US, due to the legalization of prostitution in some areas of the state. In countries where prostitution and brothels are legal, brothels may be subject to many and varied restrictions. Forced prostitution is usually illegal as is prostitution by or with minors, though the age may vary. Some countries prohibit particular sex acts. In some countries, brothels are subject to strict planning restrictions and in some cases are confined to designated red-light districts. Some countries prohibit or regulate how brothels advertise their services, or they may prohibit the sale or consumption of alcohol on the premises. In some countries where operating a brothel is legal, some brothel operators may choose to operate illegally.

Some men and women may travel away from their home to engage with local prostitutes, in a practice called sex tourism, and can have a variety of different socio-economic effects on the destinations. Male sex tourism can create or augment demand for sex services in the host countries, while female sex tourism tends not to use facilities that are specifically devoted to that purpose. Like tourism in general, sex tourism can make a significant contribution to local economies, especially in popular urban centers and places particularly known as sex tourism destinations. Sex tourism may arise as a result of stringent anti-prostitution laws in a tourist's home country, and although it may contribute to the destination economy, it can create social problems in the host country.

Prostitution is extremely prevalent in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. Due to the longstanding economic instability of many of these nations, increasing numbers of women have been forced to turn towards the sex industry there for work. According to Lin Lim, an International Labour Organization official who directed a study on prostitution in Southeast Asia, "it is very likely that women who lose their jobs in manufacturing and other service sectors and whose families rely on their remittances may be driven to enter the sex sector." The sex industry of some destinations has consequently grown to become their dominant commercial sector. Conversely, the sex industry in China has been revived by the nation's recent economic success. The nation's liberal economic policies in the early 1980s have been credited with revitalizing the sex industry as rural communities rapidly expand into highly developed urban centers. A typical example of this can be found in the city of Dalian. The city was declared a special economic zone in 1984; by the twenty-first century what had been a small fishing community developed an advanced commercial sector and a correspondingly large sex industry. A large portion of China's sex workers are immigrants from other Asian nations, such as Korea and Japan. In spite of these circumstances, most Asian countries do not have strong policies regarding prostitution. Their governments are challenged in this regard because of the differing contexts that surround prostitution, from voluntary and financially beneficial labor to virtual slavery. The increasing economic prominence of China and Japan have made these issues a global concern. As a result of Southeast Asia's lax policies regarding prostitution, the region has also become a hotbed for sex tourism, with a significant portion of this industry's clients being North American or European.

Pornography

Pornography is the explicit portrayal of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction. A pornographic model poses for pornographic photographs. A pornographic film actor or porn star performs in pornographic films. In cases where only limited dramatic skills are involved, a performer in pornographic films may be called a pornographic model. Pornography can be provided to the consumer in a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, or video game. However, when sexual acts are performed for a live audience, by definition it is not pornography, as the term applies to the depiction of the act, rather than the act itself. Thus, portrayals such as sex shows and striptease are not classified as pornography.

The first home-PCs capable of network communication prompted the arrival of online services for adults in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The wide-open early days of the World Wide Web quickly snowballed into the dot-com boom, in-part fueled by an incredible global increase in the demand for and consumption of pornography and erotica. Around 2009, the U.S. porn industry's revenue of $10–15 billion a year was more than the combined revenue of professional sports and live music combined and roughly on par or above Hollywood's box office revenue.

There is mixed evidence on the social impact of pornography. Some insights come from meta-analyses synthesizing data from prior research. A 2015 meta-analysis indicated that pornography consumption is correlated with sexual aggression. However, it is unknown if pornography promotes, reduces or has no effect on sexual aggression at an individual level, because this correlation may not be causal. In fact, counter intuitively, pornography has been found to reduce sexual aggression at a societal level. A 2009 review stated that all scientific investigations of increases in the availability of pornography show no change or a decrease in the level of sexual offending. The question of whether pornography consumption affects consumers' happiness was addressed by a 2017 meta-analysis. It concluded that men who consume pornography are less satisfied with some areas of their lives, but pornography consumption does not make a significant difference in other areas, or to the lives of women. Additionally, a sample of Americans revealed in 2017 that those who had viewed pornography were more likely to experience romantic relationship breakup than their non-pornography watching counterparts, and that the effect was more pronounced with men.

Other types
Adult entertainment is entertainment intended to be viewed by adults only, and distinguished from family entertainment. The style of adult entertainment may be ribaldry or bawdry. Any entertainment that normally includes sexual content qualifies as adult entertainment, including sex channels for television and pre-paid sex films for "on demand", as well as adult movie theaters, sex shops, and strip clubs. It also includes sex-oriented men's magazines, sex movies, sex toys and fetish and BDSM paraphernalia. Sex workers can be prostitutes, call girls, pornographic film actors, pornographic models, sex show performers, erotic dancers, striptease dancers, bikini baristas, telephone sex operators, cybersex operators, erotic massagers, or amateur porn stars for online sex sessions and videos. Other specialists in the wider industry include courtesans and dominatrixes, some of whom may hope to earn more by specialising in these niche markets.

Other members of the sex industry include the hostesses that work in many bars in China. These hostesses are women who are hired by men to sit with them and provide them with company, which entails drinking and making conversation, while the men flirt and make sexual comments. A number of these hostesses also offer sexual services at offsite locations to the men who hire them. Although this is not done by every woman who works as a hostess in the bars of China, the hostesses are all generally labeled as "grey women". This means that while they are not seen as prostitutes, they are not considered suitable marriage partners for many men. Other woman who are included in the "grey women" category are the permanent mistresses or "second wives" that many Chinese businessmen have. The Chinese government makes efforts to keep secret the fact that many of these hostesses are also prostitutes and make up a significant part of the sex industry. They do not want China's image in the rest of the world to become sullied. Hostesses are given a significant degree of freedom to choose whether or not they would like to service a client sexually, although a refusal does sometimes spark conflict.

In addition, like any other industry, there are people who work in or service the sex industry as managers, film crews, photographers, website developers and webmasters, sales personnel, book and magazine writers and editors, etc. Some create business models, negotiate trade, make press releases, draw up contracts with other owners, buy and sell content, offer technical support, run servers, billing services, or payroll, organize trade shows and various events, do marketing and sales forecasts, provide human resources, or provide tax services and legal support. Usually, those in management or staff do not have direct dealings with sex workers, instead hiring photographers who have direct contact with the sex workers.

Perspectives

The sex industry is controversial, and there are people, organizations and governments that have objections to it, and, as a result, pornography, prostitution, striptease and other similar occupations are illegal in many countries. This is typically the case in countries with strong religious traditions.

The term anti-pornography movement is used to describe those who argue that pornography has a variety of harmful effects on society, such as encouragement of human trafficking, desensitization, pedophilia, dehumanization, exploitation, sexual dysfunction, and inability to maintain healthy sexual relationships.

Feminist views

Feminism is divided on the issue of the sex industry. In her essay "What is wrong with prostitution", Carole Pateman makes the point that it is literally the objectification of woman. They are making their bodies an object that men can buy for a price. She also makes the point that prostitution and many other sex industries reinforce the idea of male ownership of a woman. On the other hand, some other feminists see the sex industry as empowering women. They could be seen as simply jobs. The woman who is working them are breaking free from social norms that would previously keep their sexuality under wraps as immoral.
Based on these arguments, Sweden, Norway and Iceland have criminalized the buying of sexual services, while decriminalizing the selling of sexual services. (In other words, clients and pimps can be prosecuted for moneyed sexual transactions, but not prostitutes). Supporter of this model of legislation claim reduced illegal prostitution and human trafficking in these countries. Opponents dispute these claims. Women's rights organisations and sex workers have opposed the Nordic model and attempts to criminalise those paying for sex, saying that it pushes the industry underground and makes work more dangerous for sex workers and increases violence against women, instead supporting the full decriminalisation or legalisation of sex work.

Some feminists, such as Gail Dines, are opposed to pornography, arguing that it is an industry which exploits women and which is complicit in violence against women, both in its production (where they charge that abuse and exploitation of women performing in pornography are rampant) and in its consumption (where they charge that pornography eroticizes the domination, humiliation, and coercion of women, and reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes that are complicit in rape and sexual harassment). They charge that pornography contributes to the male-centered objectification of women and thus to sexism. However, other feminists are opposed to censorship, and have argued against the introduction of anti-porn legislation in the United States—among them Betty Friedan, Kate Millett, Karen DeCrow, Wendy Kaminer and Jamaica Kincaid.

Socio-economic issues

Use of children
While the legality of adult sexual entertainment varies by country, the use of children in the sex industry is illegal nearly everywhere in the world.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is the "sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object".

CSEC includes the prostitution of children, child pornography, child sex tourism and other forms of transactional sex where a child engages in sexual activities to have key needs fulfilled, such as food, shelter or access to education. It includes forms of transactional sex where the sexual abuse of children is not stopped or reported by household members, due to benefits derived by the household from the perpetrator. CSEC is prevalent in Asia and parts of Latin America.

Thailand, Cambodia, India, Brazil and Mexico have been identified as the primary countries where the commercial sexual exploitation of children takes place. Certain places around the world are recognized for child sex tourism.

Low socio-economic status

Caste-based prostitution

Castes are largely hereditary social classes often emerging around certain professions. Lower castes are associated with professions considered "unclean", which has often included prostitution. In pre-modern Korea, the Kisaeng were women from the lower caste Cheonmin who were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class. In South Asia, castes whose females are involved in prostitution by tradition, sometimes called Intergenerational prostitution, include the Bedias, the Perna caste, the Banchhada,  the Nat caste and, in Nepal, the Badi people.

Migrants

Some researchers have claimed that sex workers can benefit from their profession in terms of immigration status. In her essay "Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as a Stepping-Stone to International Migration" anthropologist Denise Brennan cited an example of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic resort town of Sosúa, where some female prostitutes marry their customers in order to immigrate to other countries and seek a better life. The customers are, however, the ones that hold the power in this situation as they can withhold or revoke the sex worker's visa, either denying them the ability to immigrate or forcing them to return to their country of origin. Sex workers are also at risk of judgement from family members and relatives for having been associated with the sex tourism industry. It also must be noted that migrant sex work happens due to globalization. Globalization has produced growth both in sex tourism and in the migration of women to places where the sex industry thrives.

Effect on crime
Additionally, some researchers claim that pornography causes unequivocal harm to society by increasing rates of sexual assault, a line of research which has been critiqued in "The effects of Pornography: An International Perspective" on external validity grounds, while others claim there is a correlation between pornography and a decrease of sex crimes.

Discrimination and exoticization
Some customers see sex workers from other countries as exotic commodities that can be fetishized or exploited. Many producers and proponents of pornography featuring gay actors claim that this work is liberating and offers them a voice in popular media while critics view it as a degradation of the eroticization of inequality and that advocates for this new line of cinema are only creating a new barrier for homosexuals to contend with.

Spread of diseases
The sex industry also raises concerns about the spread of STDs.

See also

 Adult Film Association of America
 AdultVest
 AVN
 Critics Adult Film Association
 Erotic massage
 List of adult industry awards
 List of pornographic film awards
 List of strip clubs
 Intimate token
 Neo-Burlesque
 Portland TV
 Sexually oriented business
 Sex-positive feminism
 Sex-positive movement
 Sex Shouldn't Be a Crime
 Sex tourism
 Sex workers' rights
 Spintria
 Third-wave feminism
 Transgender sex worker
 XBIZ
 XRCO awards
 XRCO Hall of Fame

References

External links
 Principles for Model Sex Industry Legislation
 Sex Industry – A Guide to Occupational Health and Safety in New Zealand (archived 22 December 2008)
 "City's sex industry worth £6.6m a year and growing", news article from The Herald, Scotland (archived 18 June 2006)

Industries (economics)

Sex industry


Gorizont () is the first major Russian-language newspaper in Colorado, United States. The newspaper serves the Russian-speaking community of the Denver metropolitan area. Gorizont was established in 1995 by Anatoli Muchnik. In 1996, Muchnik appointed Leonid Reznikov, a recently emigrated Russian scientist, as executive editor.

Need for a Russian-language newspaper in Colorado
Gorizont began with reporting local cultural and business events and advertising for the fast-growing Russian community in Colorado. Starting in the mid-1990s, Gorizont became the community's main source of news from Russia in addition to its local coverage. This was due in part to the language barrier for the members of the community who spoke only Russian and relied upon Gorizont for translations of American current events and news.

In addition, articles in Gorizont introduced readers to the American lifestyle while preserving a link to Russian culture.

Further development
In the 1990s, Internet access was still very limited, and few forums or discussion boards were available. Gorizont was the community instrument for communication, exchange of opinions and addressing issues of interest to the Russian-speaking community.

Gorizont did not disappear like other local Russian publications after satellite TV and the Internet became widely available to the Russian-speaking community. For many years, it has covered stories of Russians living in Colorado, reporting their business and career achievements, interviewed artists, actors, teachers, and scientists who have been prominent in the Russian community of Colorado. Gorizont has published over 70 articles on Russian veterans of World War II who moved to the United States and still reside in Colorado.

Gorizont is listed as organizer and supporter of many activities. It was sponsoring and supporting a number of annual festivals, including the first and second Annual Colorado European Festivals, first Russian Festival, beauty contests, education programs, including Limmud Colorado, concerts, art shows and other events significant for community and the state.

Gorizont supported connections between Russian and American communities. English-speaking reporters from major American publications were referring Gorizont in articles related to the Russian community of Colorado.

Gorizont was a means to publish important messages from official organizations both Russian and American.

Gorizont is in the list of publications distributed by Newspaperdirect, one of the largest Press Display agencies.

Publication type
Gorizont is a newsprint, full-color and black-and-white, tabloid-style weekly newspaper published on Fridays. It targets the Russian community of Colorado, including Southeast Denver, Glendale, Aurora, Arvada, Thornton, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Breckenridge.

Gorizont features editorials and analytical articles on various subjects, including current events, economy, employment, worldwide and local news including news from the United States, Russia, Israel, and Eastern Europe, interviews with politicians and celebrities, interviews with members of our community, recreational pages, "What to Do in Denver", "Colorado News with a Smile", complete TV guide (13 Russian TV channels), movie and play reviews, poetries and short stories by local authors, real estate news, crosswords, horoscopes, ongoing literature contests, photo beauty tournaments, and much more. The newspaper collaborates directly with major Russian periodicals, TV and news agencies that provide exclusive articles and information.

References

Sources
Russian Honorary Consulate General in Denver – About Community
Colorado Secretary of State, Business Division – Document ID:19971150794

External links

1995 establishments in Colorado
Newspapers established in 1995
Newspapers published in Colorado
Non-English-language newspapers published in Colorado
Russian-American culture in Colorado
Russian-language newspapers published in the United States
Weekly newspapers published in the United States

Gorizont (newspaper)


The lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis) is a rodent. It lives in south Asia. It can grow up to 40cm long. It is a rat, but is not in the genus Rattus. They may be a pest to cereal crops, and gardens in India and Sri Lanka. When attacking the rat grunts like a pig. Their fur is dark brown on the back and usually lighter or darker grey on the belly-side (ventrally). The length of their body is about 25cm, and the tail is shorter than the body.

Location
Sometimes, the rats live in empty houses in villages. When they feel threatened, they are very aggressive. Many see them as a threat to infants (babies). Packs of lesser bandicoot rats have been known to attack and devour infants left alone.

Misunderstandings
Despite its name, the rat is not related to the bandicoot, which is a marsupial.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature says there are large numbers of lesser bandicoot rats found over a wide area. They have listed them as being of Least Concern for survival.

References

Old World rats and mice
Mammals of Asia

Lesser bandicoot rat


A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Mosman on Saturday, 29 July 1972. It was triggered by the retirement of the former Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and Minister of the Crown, Pat Morton.

The seat was subsequently won by David Arblaster (). Despite Mosman being a safe Liberal seat, the Labor Party fielded a candidate. The Liberal primary vote fell 11.1% compared to the previous year's general election. The same four parties contested both.

Background
The seat of Mosman, a traditionally safe Liberal seat, had been held since 1947 by Pat Morton, who became Leader of the Liberal Party in 1955 until being deposed in 1959 by Robert Askin.

As a Minister for Highways and Local Government in the Askin Government from 1965, Morton gained a reputation as being a strong advocate for allowing free enterprise and business to take precedence over planning controls and government regulation. His time as Minister was marked by increasing strains on state infrastructure and his pro-development stance was largely attributed as an attempt to alleviate these problems. Despite this, Morton and his State Planning Authority were continuously criticised for not being totally accountable to the public, particularly as the pro-business Sydney Commissioners worked side by side with the Planning authority to increase developments in the Sydney CBD to their highest levels ever, embodied by the construction of the MLC Centre, the demolition of the Theatre Royal, Sydney and the Australia Hotel. Among the most controversial schemes undertaken by his government were also a massive freeway system that was planned to be driven through the hearts of historic inner-city suburbs including Glebe and Newtown and an equally ambitious scheme of 'slum clearance' that would have brought about the wholesale destruction of the historic areas of Woolloomooloo and The Rocks. This eventually culminated in the 1970s Green ban movement led by the secretary of the NSW Builders' Labourers Federation, Jack Mundey, to protect the architectural heritage of Sydney.

At the 1971 election, Askin's majority was reduced by four seats to the Labor Party under Pat Hills. Morton retained his seat, despite his primary vote falling to 62.7% from 73.5% in the 1968 election. Morton remained as member until 16 June 1972, when he retired from parliament. At the time of his departure it had been rumoured that he had been threatening to dismiss Blacktown City Council if they did not stop blocking a $200 million development in Mount Druitt.

Results
The Liberal Party retained the seat, albeit on a significantly reduced margin, due in part to several major party candidates splitting the Liberal vote. The Liberal candidate, David Arblaster, emerged with 51% of the primary vote against Labor candidate and founding member of the Women's Electoral Lobby, Anne Conlon. Neil Mackerras, brother of prominent psephologist Malcolm Mackerras and orchestra conductor Sir Charles Mackerras, stood as the Democratic Labor Party candidate.

Pat Morton () resigned.

See also
Electoral results for the district of Mosman
List of New South Wales state by-elections

References

New South Wales state by-elections
1972 elections in Australia
1970s in New South Wales
July 1972 events in Australia

1972 Mosman state by-election


Printer Job Language (PJL) is a method developed by Hewlett-Packard for switching printer languages at the job level, and for status readback between the printer and the host computer.  PJL adds job level controls, such as printer language switching, job separation, environment, status readback, device attendance and file system commands.

"PJL offers application programs an efficient way to remotely control Hewlett-Packard printers. Using PJL, developers can provide applications with the ability to programmatically switch printer languages, monitor printer status, request the printer model and configuration, change control panel default settings, modify control panel messages, and more."

While PJL was conceived as an extension to Printer Command Language (PCL), it is now supported by most PostScript printers.

Many printer vendors have extended PJL to include commands proprietary to their products.  Not all PJL commands documented by HP are implemented in all HP or other vendor products.

PJL resides above all the other printer languages and parses commands first.

The syntax mainly uses plain English words.

References

External links

HP software
Page description languages

Printer Job Language


Tommaso Pincio is the pseudonym of Marco Colapietro (born May 1, 1963), an Italian author of five novels, including Love-shaped story.

Pseudonym

"Tommaso Pincio" is obviously an Italian rendering of Thomas Pynchon's name but this is not the sole reference for the pseudonym. "Pincio" is a hill in the center of Rome whose name comes from one of the families that occupied it in the 4th century AD, the Pincii.  He claimed that he chose "Tommaso Pincio" as pseudonym just because it comes from his fiction (Tommaso Pincio is a minor character of his first novel); also, he claimed that the name "evokes a place (...). I stole its name because I love the sound of it".

Biography

Even if he is not as extremely reclusive as his American namesake, very few things are known about Tommaso Pincio as a person. He was born in Rome sometime in the mid-1960s (an interview published in March 2008 describes him as a "forty-year-old Roman novelist") and graduated in Visual Arts. Apparently, he wanted to become a painter but dropped that ambition quite soon.  During the 1980s he was an assistant of various artists while also working as a cartoonist. In 1991, he moved to New York City where he lived for some years. Going back to Italy, he became the director of a very well known and respected contemporary art gallery. He likely started to think about writing novels during his stay in the United States, getting in touch with the works of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, and Philip K. Dick who influenced him very strongly. His first novel, M., was published in 1999.

At present, Tommaso Pincio is based in Rome and Bangkok. He contributes for the Italian edition of Rolling Stone and several leading newspapers including La Repubblica.

Bibliography

Il dono di saper vivere, Roma: Giulio Einaudi Editore 2018
Scrissi d'Arte, Roma: L'Orma Editore 2015
Panorama, Milano: NN Editore 2015
Acque Chete, Ascoli Piceno: Mirror Editore 2014
Pulp Roma, Milan: Il Saggiatore Editore 2012
Hotel a zero stelle, literary memoir, Bari: Laterza Editore 2011
Cinacittà, novel, Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore 2008
Gli Alieni: come e perché sono giunti fra noi, historical essay, Rome: Fazi Editore 2006
La ragazza che non era lei, novel, Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore 2005
Un amore dell'altro mondo, novel, Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore 2002 (translated in English as Love-shaped Story by Jonathan Hunt, London (UK): HarperCollins 2004)
Lo spazio sfinito, novel, Rome: Fanucci Editore, 2000 (translated in English as Beat Space by Acacia M. O'Connor, Rochester, NY: Open Letter 2016)
M., novel, Naples: Cronopio Editore, 1999

Footnotes and references

External links
Official website
Aliens don't suck!, a web-magazine run by Tommaso Pincio

Living people
21st-century Italian novelists
Writers from Rome
1963 births

Tommaso Pincio


Archedictyon  (plural = archedictya) is the name of a hypothetical scheme of wing venation of the common ancestor of all winged insects.

Description
The nature of the archedictyon is an important in the taxonomic classification of the large, primitive Palaeozoic insects known as Palaeodictyoptera. It was used for this purpose as early as 1854. A National Museum of Natural History database for the study of ants, wasps, bees and termites describes the archedictyon as:
...the primitive original vein network [of] the wings of many of the most ancient insect fossils; the complex network of irregular veinlets between the veins in the outer [three-quarters] of both wings, including the anal lobe.

According to a 1999 paper on the evolution of flght in Palaeoptera the cross veins of some Palaeodictyoptera may be an adaptive feature.

Structure

The archedictyon is believed to have contained between six and eight longitudinal veins, but current understanding of the design is based on a combination of fossil data and speculation.

The "Comstock-Needham system" designed by two entomologists describes these veins and their branches:

Costa (C): the leading edge of the wing
Subcosta (Sc): the second longitudinal vein (behind the costa), typically unbranched
Radius (R): the third longitudinal vein, one to five branches reach the wing margin
Media (M): the fourth longitudinal vein, one to four branches reach the wing margin
Cubitus (Cu): fifth longitudinal vein, one to three branches reach the wing margin
Anal veins (A1, A2, A3): the unbranched veins behind the cubitus.

Crossveins are named based on their relative position to the more prominent longitudinal veins:

C-SC crossveins run between the costa and subcosta
R crossveins run between adjacent branches of the radius
R-M crossveins run between the radius and media
M-CU crossveins run between the media and cubitus.

Living species
In extant insects, the term implies a retention of primitive characteristics but not necessarily a simplicity of form.  Modern insects with wings to which the term archedictyon has been applied include the termite Mastotermes darwiniensis from Australia and the praying mantis Orthodera novaezealandiae. from New Zealand.

The term is also used in the discussion of phasmids. Then it refers to a network of non-directional veins in the costal region of the wing or in the elytron.

Bibliography
 "An enigmatic Palaeozoic stem-group: Paoliida: designation of new taxa from the Upper Carboniferous of the Czech Republic"  (pdf file)

References

Insects

Archedictyon


The Hunt and Hess scale, introduced in 1968, is one of the grading systems used to classify the severity of a subarachnoid hemorrhage based on the patient's clinical condition. It is used as a predictor of patient's prognosis/outcome, with a higher grade correlating to lower survival rate. Other scales which describe the clinical presentation of subarachnoid hemorrhage patients include the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies classification, which combines consciousness and motor deficit in its scoring.

The scale is named for Dr. William E. Hunt (26 November 1921 - 26 January 1999) and Dr. Robert McDonald Hess (24 June 1931 - 3 October 2019)

Description grade
Asymptomatic, mild headache, slight nuchal rigidity
Moderate to severe headache, nuchal rigidity, no neurologic deficit other than cranial nerve palsy
Drowsiness, confusion, mild focal neurologic deficit
Stupor, moderate-severe hemiparesis
Coma, decerebrate posturing
It gives an index of the mortality associated with the various grades. The mortality is minimum with grade 1 and maximum with grade 5.

References
Hunt WE, Hess RM. "Surgical risk as related to time of intervention in the repair of intracranial aneurysms." Journal of Neurosurgery 1968 Jan;28(1):14-20.
Hunt WE, Meagher JN, Hess RM. "Intracranial aneurysm. A nine-year study." Ohio State Medical Journal 1966 Nov;62(11):1168-71.

Diagnostic intensive care medicine
Neurotrauma
Medical scales

Hunt and Hess scale


Forest Park is a Victorian garden district located in Springfield, Massachusetts, developed between 1880 and 1920. It is the city's most populous neighborhood, and surrounds the 735-acre Forest Park, for which the neighborhood is named. The Forest Park neighborhood has nature and recreation within walking distance.  To the west, I-91 separates Forest Park from the Connecticut River.  A 195-acre section of the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as the Forest Park Heights Historic District.

The 600-house Forest Park Heights Historic District was developed between 1890 and 1910, and includes gracious Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Queen Anne, and Shingle Style homes.  This neighborhood was named one of the Northeast's "Best Old House Neighborhoods" by This Old House in 2010. East of the park is the Trafton Road area with Colonials and Tudors dating from the 1920s. Further east in this tree-filled neighborhood are pockets of American Craftsman style houses and more Colonials.

Within the park for which the neighborhood is named are a zoo, walking and hiking trails, promenades, playgrounds, lakes and ponds, a formal rose garden, the Barney Carriage House, sculptures, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, tennis courts, bocce courts, lawn bowling fields, and a hockey arena, Cyr Arena. During the winter holiday season, the park features a lighting display, Bright Nights, a 2.6-mile trail of large, intricate, animated lighting displays. The 18-hole Franconia Municipal Golf Course is also in the neighborhood.

Georgetown, on the Longmeadow town line, is the neighborhood's largest condominium complex, and there are smaller condo complexes in the area.

Forest Park also contains a branch library, the Jewish Community Center, and a commercial district known as the "X,"  at the intersection of Sumner Avenue, Belmont Avenue, and Dickinson Street.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Springfield, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampden County, Massachusetts

References

Neighborhoods in Springfield, Massachusetts
Historic districts in Hampden County, Massachusetts
History of Springfield, Massachusetts
Geography of Springfield, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Forest Park, Springfield, Massachusetts