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RuneScape

RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. RuneScape was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was largely replaced by a standalone C++ client in 2016. The game has had over 300 million accounts created and was recognised by the Guinness World Records as the largest and most-updated free MMORPG.

RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, a medieval fantasy realm divided into different kingdoms, regions, and cities. Players can travel throughout Gielinor via a number of methods including on foot, magical spells, or charter ships. Each region offers different types of monsters, resources, and quests to challenge players. The game's fictional universe has been explored through a tie-in video game on another of its maker's websites, FunOrb, Armies of Gielinor, and the novels Betrayal at Falador, Return to Canifis, and Legacy of Blood.

Players are represented in the game with customisable avatars. RuneScape does not follow a linear storyline; rather, players set their own goals and objectives. Players can choose to fight non-player character (NPC) monsters, complete quests, or increase their experience in the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or by participating in mini-games and activities, some of which are competitive or combative in nature, while others require cooperative or collaborative play.

The first public version of RuneScape was released in January 2001 in beta form, with Jagex as its copyright holder being formed later that year. As the game's popularity grew, the game engine was rewritten and released as RuneScape 2, with the original version of the game being renamed RuneScape Classic. The third iteration of the game, known as RuneScape 3, was released in July 2013. Old School RuneScape, a separate, older version of the game dating from August 2007, was released in February 2013, and is maintained alongside the original client. It was announced that mobile ports of both versions of RuneScape would be released for Android and iOS devices in 2018. RuneScape was released on Steam on 14 October 2020.

Gameplay

Players begin in a secluded area called Tutorial Island, where they are taken through a tutorial, a set path where they learn the most basic skills in RuneScape. After the tutorial, players have access to tutors and advisors located in the towns they explore, who can give players appropriate information about their respective skills. Originally players were teleported to the town of Lumbridge, however in recent updates, Burthorpe is the main starting area. Other main cities include Varrock, Falador, Ardougne (and West Ardougne), and smaller settlements.

Players set their own goals and objectives as they play the game. They can train their in-game skills, engage non-player character (NPC) monsters and other players in combat and complete quests at their discretion. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting or by participating in mini-games.

Skills
There are 29 skills in RuneScape, 17 skills available to free-to-play players and an additional 12 for members, which enable players to perform various activities allowing for interaction with NPCs, the environment and other players. Players gain experience points in a skill when they use it. For example, mining an ore trains the mining skill, and when the player accumulates enough experience points in the skill, their character will "level up". As a skill level rises, the ability to retrieve better raw materials and produce better products increases, as does the experience awarded if the player uses new abilities. The total skill level of a player partly symbolises the player's status in the game and subscribers with a high total level can appear on the high scores. Upon reaching the highest available level in a skill, members may buy a special cape to symbolise their achievement.

Some skills, such as woodcutting and fishing, enable the player to collect raw materials that can be processed into usable items for other skills, such as fletching and cooking respectively. The items created can be used by the player or sold to shops and other players. Other skills allow players to kill certain NPCs, build their own houses, move around the map with greater ease, steal from various NPCs, market stalls and chests located in-game, light fires, cook their own food, create their own potions, craft runestones and weapons, plant their own plants, hunt NPC animals, raid dungeons, and summon familiars to assist in combat and training skills.

Combat
RuneScape features a semi-real-time combat system. Combat is an important aspect of the game, allowing players to defeat monsters to obtain dropped items or to complete quests. A combat level is an indicator of how powerful a player or NPC is in combat. For players, it is determined by applying a mathematical formula to their combat skills. Players engage in combat by clicking on the enemy they want their character to attack and will automatically continue fighting until they kill their opponent, die, or retreat from the fight. Most of the game's weapons are medieval or fantastical in nature, and feature different strengths and weaknesses. Players may summon a familiar to assist with combat, use special attacks called "abilities" to deal additional damage, and use potions and the Prayer skill to boost their combat prowess.

Combat is subdivided into four main categories: melee, magic, ranged and necromancy. Melee attacks are close range, magic attacks focus on using runestones to cast spells, ranged attacks use projectile weapons like arrows, darts or throwing knives, and necromancy combines direct attacks with the summoning of undead combatants to fight alongside the player. The first three combat types make up a "Combat Triangle", which governs effectiveness of styles in a rock-paper-scissors fashion; melee beats ranged, ranged beats magic, magic beats melee, and each style is neutral to itself. Necromancy is a standalone method of combat and is neutral to the other styles. The advantages and disadvantages of the combat triangle apply to both NPCs and player opponents. Players are not required to choose a character class nor are they bound to a specific category of combat. They may freely change between or combine the styles of combat by switching weapons and armour.

Combat is governed by a life points system. Every combatant has a maximum capacity of life points, and dies when their health is depleted to 0. Lost life points can be recovered by consuming certain food or drinks, or casting abilities. Players who die reappear at a respawn point of their choice with their life and skill points restored; however, they drop all but three chosen items, as well as certain common items. Dying spawns a gravestone that will hold all of the player's items and will last for an allotted time; however, there are situations in which all items will be lost upon death. If the player does not return in time, the grave will collapse and their items will disappear.

In June 2012 players were invited to beta-test a new combat system named "Evolution of Combat", which included fundamental changes such as re-balancing the Combat Triangle to avoid favouring melee attacks, and replacing special weapon attacks with abilities that produce a range of effects when activated. The system was released on the live game on 20 November 2012. Various polls were also added for players to vote on in game that would determine the result of future content development, some of which would dictate the development of the improved combat system. A beta for a separate combat system dubbed "Legacy Mode" was opened to players on 16 June 2014, before being introduced to the live game on 14 July. Legacy Mode allows players to switch to the combat system and interface from prior to June 2012 instead of the Evolution of Combat system.

Player versus player combat
Player versus player combat (PvP) can be performed in specific controlled mini-games and in an area known as the Wilderness. The Duel Arena allows players to stake money and items, while other PvP games offer their own rewards. In the Wilderness, players can engage in combat provided that their combat levels fall within a certain range of each other, and if a player kills their opponent they will be able to claim their opponent's items as a reward.

Before December 2007, players went to the Wilderness to fight other players within a certain combat level range, hoping to kill them and gain their items. In December 2007, the Wilderness was altered to prevent players from transferring in-game items for real-world currency. PvP combat was removed from the Wilderness and temporarily restricted to new mini-games named Bounty Hunter and Clan Wars. Bounty Hunter was replaced by special Bounty Worlds on 6 May 2009 in which players were confined to the Wilderness and could be assigned specific targets to kill. "PvP Worlds" were introduced on 15 October 2008 where players could fight almost anywhere in Gielinor, but these and "Bounty Worlds" were removed when PvP combat in the Wilderness was restored on 1 February 2011.

Non-player interaction
Non-player characters (NPCs) populate the realm of Gielinor. Some NPCs, such as shopkeepers and some characters in quests, are unavailable for combat. However, most NPCs can be attacked and these are generally referred to as monsters. Monsters range from common, low-level creatures, such as chickens and goblins, to unique and often much more powerful monsters, such as the Queen Black Dragon, Telos, and Vorago.

Most monsters have their own strengths and weaknesses, notable exceptions being certain bosses, which have no specific weaknesses. Demons, for example, have a weak defence against ranged attacks, while metal dragons have extremely high defence against ranged. The weakness of an individual monster is displayed in an interface above its model, along with its combat level and lifepoints.

Monsters may either be aggressive or non-aggressive. Non-aggressive monsters ignore players unless attacked, while aggressive monsters may attack all players or may only attack players with combat levels below a specified level, depending on the circumstances or location. This can make certain areas throughout Gielinor dangerous or inconvenient to players with lower combat levels.

Player interaction
Players can interact with each other through trading, chatting, or by participating in mini-games and activities, some of which are competitive or combative in nature, while others require cooperative or collaborative play. Players can trade items and gold coins with each other, either through a face-to-face trade, or by using a large automated marketplace known as the Grand Exchange.

The chat system enables players to communicate with each other. Public Chat broadcasts text to players in the local area on one server, both by text appearing above the speaker's head and in the message box. Friends Chat broadcasts text in the message box only to certain players tuned into a specific channel, who can be available on any RuneScape world. Each Friends Chat channel has an owner, who can assign different ranks to individual players; players' ranks dictate their ability to perform administrative tasks within the channel. Clan Chat allows members of a clan to communicate with each other through a separate channel. Quick Chat allows players to choose from a list of predetermined messages to send as Public Chat, Clan Chat, or Friends Chat.

RuneScape features independent mini-games, although most are only available to paying members. Mini-games take place in certain areas and normally involve specific in-game skills, and usually require players to cooperate or to compete with each other. Examples of these mini-games include Castle Wars, which is similar to the real-life game Capture the Flag, Pest Control, a highly combat-focused mini-game, and Fist of Guthix, where one player (the hunter) tries to stop another player (the hunted) from collecting charges into a magical stone.

Quests
Quests are series of tasks with a storyline that players can choose to complete. These often have requirements including minimum levels in certain skills, combat levels, quest points and/or the completion of other quests. Players receive various rewards for completion of quests, including money, unique items, access to new areas, quest points and/or increases in skill experience. Some quests require players to work together, and many require players to engage in challenging combat. Quests are grouped into categories based on requirements and difficulty. Once a player completes all quests in the game, an achievement item known as the "Quest Point Cape" can be claimed. New quests are released periodically.

Development
Andrew Gower developed RuneScape with the assistance of his brother Paul Gower. It was originally conceived as a text-based MUD, but graphics were incorporated early in development, adding it to the ranks of what were then known as "graphical MUDs". The first public version of the game used a mixture of three-dimensional and two-dimensional sprites. It was released as a beta version on 4 January 2001, and originally operated out of their parents' house in Nottingham. In December 2001, the Gower brothers, along with Constant Tedder, formed Jagex to take over the business aspects of running RuneScape. Among its early innovations Jagex developed an interpreted domain-specific scripting language called RuneScript, which is used by RuneScape's server for event handling. In February 2002, a monthly membership service was introduced, allowing access to additional features including new areas, quests, and items not available to free users.

As the game gained more users, Jagex began planning major changes. The developers rewrote the game engine, producing a new version of the game with entirely three-dimensional graphics called RuneScape 2. A beta version of RuneScape 2 was released to paying members for a testing period beginning on 1 December 2003, and ending in March 2004. Upon its official release, RuneScape 2 was renamed simply RuneScape, while the older version of the game was kept online under the name RuneScape Classic. On 12 January 2006, Jagex banned more than 5,000 Classic accounts for cheating. To prevent further cheating, Classic was closed to new accounts and access was restricted to accounts who had played it at least once between 3 August 2005 and 12 January 2006. Additional reopenings took place in November 2009, June 2010 and September 2011.

To support RuneScape free content, advertisements appear on a banner above the playing screen on the free-to-play servers. Since computer users may use advertisement blockers, which may discourage advertisers, Jagex introduced a rule that prohibits players from blocking these advertisements. On 13 July 2006, Jagex signed an exclusive marketing and distribution contract with WildTangent Games, which granted WildTangent the right to handle advertising in and around RuneScape in the United States, and to distribute RuneScape through the WildTangent Games Network, reaching over 20 million consumer PCs.

On 16 May 2006, Jagex upgraded RuneScape's game engine, improving the game's loading times and reducing its memory requirements. On 1 July 2008, Jagex released a beta of their "High Detail" mode for members, which was extended to free players two weeks later. Before the launch, Jagex stated that it would be revealed at the 2008 E3 trade show.

On 14 February 2007, a German translation of RuneScape was introduced, followed by a French translation on 11 December 2008, Brazilian Portuguese on 24 July 2009, and Latin American Spanish on 25 April 2013. In an interview in May 2008, former Jagex CEO Geoff Iddison stated that, "We do plan to go East with [RuneScape] to the Asian market and the Eastern European market too" [...] "RuneScape is not for Japan, but it could work well in Malaysia for example. And where's India in all this? I think RuneScape is a game that would be adopted in the English-speaking Indian world and the local-speaking Indian world. We're looking at all those markets individually." RuneScape later launched in India through the gaming portal Zapak on 8 October 2009, and in France and Germany through Bigpoint Games on 27 May 2010.

On 28 February 2012, an in-game feature was introduced called the "Squeal of Fortune" that allowed players to win items on a daily basis by spinning the wheel. On 2 April 2012, it became possible for players to spend real-world currency in exchange for additional spins, introducing a form of microtransaction to the game. Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard had previously described microtransactions as "a stealth tax", and the update provoked complaints from players who believed they had been "betrayed" by the change. In July 2012, Jagex released Solomon's General Store, making it possible to spend real currency in exchange for "RuneCoins" that could be spent on cosmetic rewards in the game. On 29 August 2012, Gerhard released a response to this controversy, describing these microtransactions as "[having] a significant role in ensuring that we can continue to support, develop and grow the game for many more years to come." He states that while these decisions are "not necessarily popular", they are made with the future of RuneScape in mind. On 4 February 2014, the Squeal of Fortune was replaced with Treasure Hunter. Rather than spinning a wheel for prizes, players are given keys which are used to open a chest of their choosing. On 26 March 2014, Gerhard reiterated his stance on microtransactions and their importance in updating RuneScape, and announced a partnership with Supersonic ads, allowing players to earn RuneCoins by watching advertisements or sampling products.

On 30 August 2012, Gerhard announced that an HTML5 version of RuneScape was in development that would allow the game to be played on "your favourite tablets, platforms and even smart TVs." A video released on 22 March 2013 stated that the new version would be called RuneScape 3 and would use WebGL, and would include a fully customisable user interface and improved audio. A closed beta of the HTML5 version went live on 17 April 2013, followed by a separate alpha version of the new interface on 24 April. RuneScape 3 was released on 22 July 2013.

At RuneFest 2014, Jagex announced that they were developing a new client to replace the HTML5 version, which had never been released from beta due to performance issues. The new client, named NXT, would include improvements to loading times, new graphical effects and better performance. Closed betas took place on 19–22 February and 18–21 March 2016, followed by a public release on 18 April 2016.

On 23 May 2018, it was announced that due to constantly accumulating bugs and a game engine that has become incompatible with modern support tools of the company, RuneScape Classic servers would be permanently closed on 6 August 2018. RuneScape was released on Steam on 14 October 2020.

Graphics and audio
RuneScape can be run with varying levels of graphical detail. High-detail graphics enhance texture and design, while low-detail graphics provide a cleaner look and can reduce lag on less powerful computers. RuneScape uses a graphics engine called "RuneTek 5", which provides support for multiple graphics platforms such as DirectX, OpenGL and video game consoles, as well as graphical effects such as sky boxes, bloom lighting and Z-buffering. The high-detail version incorporates hardware acceleration and can be rendered using either Java OpenGL or DirectX.

RuneScape features a character-customisation system. Player characters are human; however, players may choose the gender, hairstyle, facial hair, skin colour, and clothing options. Appearance is further complemented by wearing or wielding items. Players can express emotions through the use of specialised animations called emotes, some of which are standard and others earned through gameplay or released during holiday events.

RuneScape has original music and ambient soundscapes. The music was designed to define the underlying cultures of the various locations accessible, and ambient sounds, such as the cry of seagulls flying over the ocean, occur in logical places. The game also incorporates voice acting in certain areas and situations. The RuneScape 3 update included orchestral music recorded in Bratislava, Slovakia, and was scored by James Hannigan.

Servers
, there were 139 English RuneScape servers located throughout the world, which are numbered and referred to as "worlds" by players and by Jagex. They are located in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Lithuania, and India. Servers are moved or added as the need arises.

Each RuneScape server allows up to 2,000 players to log in simultaneously, allowing a maximum capacity of more than 278,000 players. The servers are divided into free servers which are available for all players, and servers which are reserved for paying members. Some servers are given activity labels, allowing players performing tasks that require or desire group participation to group together.

Old School RuneScape
In February 2013, a poll was opened allowing players to decide whether Jagex should open a separate incarnation of RuneScape from August 2007. Old School RuneScape was opened to paying subscribers on 22 February 2013 after the poll received 50,000 votes, and a free-to-play version was later released on 19 February 2015. It was originally created as an exact copy of RuneScape from August 2007 and receives regular content additions. Old School RuneScape is entirely community based; for any proposed update or idea to pass into the game, it needs at least 75% of the community to vote 'Yes' for it, and if it does not pass it will either be dropped or reconstructed and re-polled so that the players may find the update more acceptable. On 17 July 2017, Jagex announced a mobile port of Old School RuneScape, which was released in 2018.

DarkScape
On 16 September 2015 Jagex released DarkScape, a separate version of RuneScape which featured open-world player versus player combat. DarkScape was originally released with most of RuneScape's content, but received separate content updates. DarkScape was completely free to play, with some additional benefits reserved for paying subscribers. DarkScape closed on 28 March 2016 due to lack of interest.

Community
A set of forums are provided by Jagex on the RuneScape website. On the forums, players are able to participate in game discussions, arrange to buy or sell items, post suggestions for game improvements, vote in polls, and otherwise interact with the community. A user can set an avatar, have a separate display name and set an automatic signature. User profiles display the recent posts a user has made along with the option to disable smileys. The privilege of posting on the forums is limited to paying members, as well as free players with a total level exceeding 350.

Between 24 September 2002 and 9 December 2004, players could submit questions via e-mail to the RuneScape gods, which were published in the form of letters. On 26 September 2005, a new feature known as Postbag from the Hedge was introduced, where players can submit questions via e-mail to a non-player character in the game. Players can also submit original RuneScape related artwork (such as sculptures, comics, drawings and paintings), some of which is displayed in a gallery on the RuneScape website.

During various holidays, including Easter, Halloween and Christmas, Jagex hosts a holiday event in a specific location in Gielinor. Players who successfully complete the required tasks during the event receive a reward such as an item or an emote, allowing the player character to perform a gesture conveying an emotion. Holiday items released prior to 2002 are tradeable among players, and due to their rarity are worth significant amounts of money on the player market. Holiday items after Christmas 2002 are untradeable and limited to one per player and can be retrieved if lost.

Various RuneScape fansites have been established by players, which are a source of information about the game. For account security reasons, Jagex discourages the discussion of fansites within the game or the forums – and a rule specifically prohibits sharing web addresses. A major fansite has criticised Jagex for not recognising fansites' contributions to the development of its game. However, as a result of announcements made in 2009, Jagex promised to increase communication with fansites.

On 28 July 2014, Twitch functionality was integrated into the game, allowing players to stream their gameplay or view other streams from within the game.

Rules and cheating
Jagex has employed rules for player conduct, such as rules against offensive language, scamming, and bug abuse. To enforce the rules, an in-game feature exists that allows a player to send a report to Jagex if they notice another player breaking a rule. RuneScape also uses four types of moderators: Jagex Moderators, who are Jagex employees; Local Moderators, who are employees of Jagex's partners in certain territories; Player Moderators, who are trusted players that enforce the rules within the game; and Forum Moderators, who are trusted players who monitor the game forums. Players who repeatedly break the rules may be temporarily or permanently banned from playing the game.

There are also rules prohibiting the use of third-party software to play the game, known as "macroing" or "botting", and the sale of game items for real money through real-world trading. In an attempt to stop cheating, Jagex made direct interaction with the client difficult, established rules against the practice, and introduced random events that required player input to complete. In response to continued gold farming, Jagex issued a statement condemning real-world trading, stating that they were seizing billions of gold and banning thousands of accounts every week for cheating, and promising to increase their efforts to prevent real-world trading in the game.

From October 2007 to December 2007, Jagex began releasing a series of updates to restrict unbalanced trades. The updates limited the value of items staked in duels, removed player-versus-player combat from the Wilderness, made valuable player drops invisible to other players, introduced gravestones for the items of dead players, instituted systems for assisting players with skills and sharing loot among groups of players, and established the Grand Exchange, a sharemarket-like trade system for RuneScape goods. Collectively, these changes were designed to make it extremely difficult for real-world traders to distribute gold and items to players. These features were restored on 1 February 2011 following a referendum among players in December 2010 on whether or not to do so.

On 25 October 2011, Jagex released an anti-bot system code-named the 'ClusterFlutterer', as part of a game update intended to permanently prevent "reflection" bots from working. The release of this was nicknamed the "Bot Nuke", and was estimated to have banned 98% of the accounts that were using bots, eventually resulting in 7.7 million account bans. From 26 September 2012 until its removal on 20 August 2018, accounts that were banned for using bots were sent to an isolated area named "Botany Bay" to be given an ultimate punishment as decided by players.

On 25 September 2013, Jagex introduced bonds to the game, in-game items that can be purchased using real currency then traded with other players or exchanged for membership, RuneCoins or additional spins on the game's Squeal of Fortune. Bonds were introduced to allow players to exchange real currency for in-game benefits legitimately, a move described by CEO Mark Gerhard as "essential for the future of RuneScape". One week later, Jagex reported that the amount of in-game coins brought in by gold farmers was down by 81%; real-world trading was down by 61% and the wealth of those trades was down by 63%.

Falador Massacre
The Falador Massacre was a historic bug that occurred on 6 June 2006. The bug caused several players to retain the ability to attack other players after leaving a designated PvP location. Ordinarily, players are only allowed to attack other players in player-owned houses, minigames, or in the Wilderness. According to a statement made by a Jagex employee, the bug was caused by insufficient testing of an update that saw the release of a new game skill, Construction, wherein players could create their own houses in which PvP combat could take place.

Although the bug was considered quite negative at the time of occurrence, Jagex has since recognized it as a historic event in the franchise, and has created in-game reenactments in both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. On 6 June 2016, Jagex created two unique and isolated game servers (worlds 111 for RS3 and 666 for OSRS, commemorating 6/6/06) wherein PvP was enabled and players could attack an NPC named after "Durial321", one of the more well known players to have been affected by the bug. World 666 also played an in-game cover of the song "Planet Hell" by Nightwish, which was the song used in the original video of the event. The track was removed from the game when the event was over. The bug's reception has become part of internet culture. PC Gamer called the bug "One of the best all-time MMO bugs".

Reception
PC Gamer UK stated in December 2003, that while the "traditional [role-playing game] values of questing, slaying monsters and developing your character in a familiar medieval setting" will not "have the big boys trembling in their +2 Boots of Subscriber Gathering," this is offset by the game's accessibility through a web browser, "compounded by a version of the game that allows free adventuring player the opportunity to upgrade to a members' account", describing the game as "an unsurprising success".

The Yahoo! 2006 Buzz Log stated that, "while it may not be as easy on the eyes as some other popular [MMORPGs], like World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, or EverQuest, RuneScape is still a lot better way to kill time than pushing around cells in a spreadsheet". A 2007 JustRPG review summarised RuneScape as "a fun, addictive game, and while the graphics may not be perfect, for a game written in Java, they aren't bad. The skills are varied, the community is alright, and it'll eat up your time if you aren't careful", giving it a score of 83%.

In its 2008 intellectual property profile of the game, Developmag.com stated that whilst Jagex's changes to curtail real world trading resulted in "a wave of user criticism... growth is understood to have resumed since". Its analysis stated that "RuneScape's mass-market appeal lies in its simplicity and accessibility (both financial and technical). It has tapped into the vast market of games players unwilling or unable to spend premium prices on PCs capable of playing the latest, expensive, processor-intensive games. Its core gameplay concepts are very similar to its retail-distributed RPG and MMORPG analogues." In August 2008, RuneScape was recognised by the Guinness World Records as the world's most popular free MMORPG. Jagex was presented with a certificate to commemorate the achievement at the 2008 Leipzig Games Convention. A 2009 Eurogamer article criticised RuneScape's in-game community for being unfriendly to newcomers, although they have stated that the fan-forum community is more approachable.

An April 2011 review by MMORPG.com was complimentary of RuneScape, stating that "For anyone looking for that "old-school" experience but with also tons of progression, refinement, and unique ideas, RuneScape is easily recommendable", but criticised the game's combat system and emphasis on grinding. "...the genre feels slightly passed clicking an enemy and watching two swords clunk mercilessly into opposing body forms...RuneScape has grind in abundance and while this is not entirely a bad thing, it will put some players off looking for a slightly easier and more casual experience". The game received the "Role-Playing Game" award at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards 2018.

On 10 December 2007, updates by Jagex removed free player-versus-player combat and unbalanced trading in order to rid the game of activities involving real currency being traded for virtual goods. The updates also affected legitimate players, resulting in many of them actively complaining on the forums. Jagex issued a Customer Support News article admitting the updates may not have been an ideal replacement for what was removed, requesting patience and promising to remedy potential problems with updates in the future. During the changes, subscription numbers fell by 60,000. No figures were given as to how many of those subscriptions belonged to legitimate players and how many to gold farmers. In an interview in February 2008, Jagex's head of content stated that, "we were really afraid we were going to lose our members over this change, because other games had in the past. But we are very, very pleased to say that we have lost practically none of our members."

In December 2010, a referendum was opened to decide whether to restore unbalanced trades and player-versus-player combat in the Wilderness, which closed with 1.2 million votes cast and 91% of voters in favour of the proposal, and these features were restored on 1 February 2011. A second referendum was announced in February 2013 to decide whether to run a separate version of the game dating from 2007, closing on 1 March 2013 with almost 450,000 votes. Servers for the 2007 version were opened on 22 February 2013 once 50,000 votes were collected.

Revenue
In 2018, it was reported that RuneScape had generated over US$1 billion in lifetime revenue since its original launch. RuneScape annually generates over £100 million in revenue and over £50 million in profit.

title: RuneScape


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List of the busiest airports

The definition of world's busiest airport has been specified by the Airports Council International in Montreal, Canada. The ACI defines and measures the following three types of airport traffic:
 * Passenger traffic: total passengers embarked and disembarked, passengers in transit counted once
 * Cargo traffic: loaded and unloaded freight and mail, by mass
 * Traffic movements: landings and take-offs of aircraft

Busiest airports
The following airports make claims based on objective volume measures that are defined above (as per ACI):

 * Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
 * Most passengers annually (1998–2019, 2021–present)
 * Most aircraft movements annually (2015–present)

 * Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
 * Most passengers annually (2020)

 * Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
 * Most international passengers annually (2014–present)

 * Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
 * Most cargo traffic by weight annually (2020–2021)

 * Hong Kong International Airport, New Territories, Hong Kong.
 * Most cargo traffic by weight annually (2022–present)

Busiest city destination

 * Airports of London combined, London, United Kingdom
 * Most passengers annually in all city airports combined (2010–present)

Historical claims

 * Midway International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, United States
 * In the late 1940s, Chicago Midway was the busiest airport in the United States by total aircraft operations – i.e., including every training aircraft practicing take-offs and landings. New York LaGuardia had the most airline operations and passengers until the early 1950s, when Chicago Midway became the busiest airport in the United States by any criterion. Before World War II, Chicago Midway was the origin or destination of one in four U.S. airline flights, although a 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows more airline flights scheduled at Newark than at Chicago.

 * Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
 * As the home of FedEx Express, Memphis had the largest cargo operations worldwide from 1993 to 2009. It remains the busiest cargo airport in the United States and the Western Hemisphere.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: List of the busiest airports


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Frank B. Kellogg

Frank Billings Kellogg (December 22, 1856 – December 21, 1937) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served in the U.S. Senate and as U.S. Secretary of State. He co-authored the Kellogg–Briand Pact, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929.

Early life and career
Ambassador Frank B. Kellogg, by Philip Alexius de Laszlo, 1925.jpg.]]

Kellogg was born in Potsdam, New York, on December 22, 1856, the son of Abigail (Billings) and Asa Farnsworth Kellogg. His family moved to Minnesota in 1865.

Kellogg read law and began practicing law in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1877. He served as city attorney of Rochester 1878–1881 and county attorney for Olmsted County, Minnesota, from 1882 to 1887. He moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1886.

In 1905, Kellogg joined the federal government when Theodore Roosevelt asked Kellogg to prosecute a federal antitrust case. In 1906, Kellogg was appointed special counsel to the Interstate Commerce Commission for its investigation of E. H. Harriman. In 1908, he was appointed to lead the federal prosecution against Union Pacific Railroad, under the Sherman Antitrust Act. His most important case was Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1911). Following this successful prosecution, he was elected president of the American Bar Association (1912–1913). He was a member of the World War Foreign Debts Commission.

In 1907, Kellogg was honored as a Compatriot of the Minnesota Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

United States Senate
In 1916, Kellogg was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate from Minnesota and served from March 4, 1917, to March 3, 1923, in the 65th, 66th, and 67th Congresses. During the ratification battle for the Treaty of Versailles, he was one of the few Republicans who supported ratification. He lost his re-election bid in 1922 and, in 1923, he was a delegate to the Fifth International Conference of American States at Santiago, Chile.

Ambassador to Great Britain
In 1924, he was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, serving from January 14, 1924, to February 10, 1925. He succeeded George Brinton McClellan Harvey who served under Warren G. Harding and was succeeded by Alanson B. Houghton so that Kellogg could assume the role of Secretary of State.

Secretary of State

From 1925 to 1929, he served as the United States Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Coolidge. In 1928, he was awarded the Freedom of the City in Dublin, Ireland and in 1929 the government of France made him a member of the Legion of Honour.

As Secretary of State, he was responsible for improving U.S.–Mexican relations and helping to resolve the long-standing Tacna–Arica controversy between Peru and Chile. His most significant accomplishment, however, was the Kellogg–Briand Pact, signed in 1928. Proposed by its other namesake, French foreign minister Aristide Briand, the treaty intended to provide for "the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy." Kellogg was awarded the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition. (Briand had already won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926).

He was associate judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice from 1930 to 1935.

He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1931.

Kellogg was self-conscious about his lack of academic credentials; he attended a one-room country school and dropped out at age 14. He never attended high school, college or law school. His only advanced training came from clerking in a private lawyer's office. Kellogg grew up in a poor farm in Minnesota, and lacked a commanding presence or the sophistication to deal with the aristocrats who dominated European diplomacy. As Secretary of State, his main focus was Latin America, where he dealt with brutal but unsophisticated strongmen. His staff provided the ideas, and they appreciated that he was always open, candid, and easy to communicate with. He helped end the battle between the Mexican government and the Catholic Church, but failed to resolve the dispute over ownership of the oil reserves. In the Far East, he followed the advice of Nelson Trusler Johnson, the new chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs. They favored China and protected it from threats from Japan. They successfully negotiated tariff reform with China, thereby giving enhanced status to the Kuomintang and helping get rid of the unequal treaties. As for Europe he was primarily interested with expanding the limitations on naval armaments that been established by the Washington Treaty; he made little progress. Kellogg gained international fame, and the Nobel Peace Prize, with the Kellogg–Briand Pact. It was endorsed by nearly every nation and made starting a war a punishable criminal action. It formed the legal basis for the trial and execution of German and Japanese war leaders after 1945.

Personal life

In 1886, Kellogg was married to Clara May Cook (1861–1942), the daughter of George Clinton Cook (1828–1901) and Elizabeth (née Burns) Cook (1838–1908).

In 1880, he became a member of the Masonic Lodge Rochester No. 21, where he received the degrees of freemasonry on April 1, April 19, and May 3.

He died from pneumonia, following a stroke, on the eve of his 81st birthday in St. Paul. He was buried at the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea in Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

Legacy
In 1937, he endowed the Kellogg Foundation for Education in International Relations at Carleton College, where he was a trustee. His house in St. Paul, the Frank B. Kellogg House was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The following were named in his honor:

 * Kellogg Boulevard in downtown Saint Paul.
 * Kellogg Middle School in Shoreline, Washington, and Rochester, Minnesota, as was Frank B. Kellogg High School (closed 1986) in Little Canada, Minnesota, which had been a part of Roseville School District 623.
 * A Liberty ship, the SS Frank B. Kellogg

Papers
Frank B. Kellogg's papers are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society. They include correspondence and miscellaneous papers, State Department duplicates, news clippings scrapbooks, awards, floor plans, honorary degrees, maps, memorials and memoranda.

title: Frank B. Kellogg


text:
Talk:Judeo-Islamic

Older discussions on this topic may be found in this archive.

Talk:Judeo-Islamic tradition/Archive 1

- Judeo-Islamic tradition means something very specific, not simply what the two religions have in common. In fact, it covers a whole gamut of cultural endeavors and is more geographic than anything else. That said, a comparison of Judaism and Islam as religions does not belong here. Now, before anyone launches a lengthy harangue about my changes, I suggest they read the foreword to Bernard Lewis's The Jews of Islam, which is precisely about this topic ... and Lewis is a fairly recognized authority on it. Danny 15:01, 15 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't have a problem with Danny's total rewrite of the article. The content of any article must match the title of the article. However, the content of this article had turned into an enirely different subject, a comparison of Islamic religious beliefs with Jewish religious beliefs. Now, that may well be a good idea for an article, but it has little to do with the subject. Maybe we should create an article on Comparing Islam and Judaism, just like we already have an article on Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity.

 * Since you have given this page a new direction, should it now be merged with the already extant article on Islam and Judaism? (Once merged, one of these article can be turned into a re-direct.) RK 21:23, Nov 15, 2003 (UTC)

 * Agree, the two must be merged. Pecher Talk 08:04, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Judeo-Islamic


text:
Barbara Dennerlein

Barbara Dennerlein (born 25 September 1964 in Munich) is a German jazz organist. She has achieved particular critical acclaim for using the bass pedalboard on a Hammond organ and for integrating synthesizer sounds onto the instrument, and was described by critic Ron Wynn as "the most interesting jazz organist to emerge during the 1980s".

Early years
Dennerlein was born and grew up in Munich, Germany. She began playing the organ aged 11 after receiving a small Hohner instrument for Christmas. She was encouraged by her grandfather to learn a musical instrument, and her parents were both jazz enthusiasts. She took formal lessons for two years under the instruction of Paul Greisl, who had a Hammond B-3. She immediately became interested in the instrument and that it contained a bass pedalboard, unlike her Hohner. After some searching, since the instrument was then out of production, she acquired her own Hammond aged 13 from her parents. She began to play concerts aged 14, and the following year, she played in a jazz club for the first time. When leading her own bands, Dennerlein was often the youngest musician in the group, and she learned to co-operate with more experienced musicians. Her local reputation as the "Organ Tornado from Munich" spread after her first TV appearances in 1982.

Recordings
When her third LP Bebab was issued, Dennerlein established her own record label in 1985 and assumed her own management duties, because she felt not enough support from either her existing label or from Hammond, who wanted to promote later digital models rather than the B-3 she used. She received two German Record Critics' awards for self-produced albums. Later, she made three recordings for Enja Records and three for Verve Records. On these recordings she worked with Ray Anderson, Randy Brecker, Dennis Chambers, Roy Hargrove, Mitch Watkins, and Jeff "Tain" Watts.

Instruments
Dennerlein modified a Hammond's pedalboard to trigger samples of an acoustic bass and, impressed with results, decided to modify the manuals to play samplers too. Her performances include solo performances, as well as quintets (e.g. her "Bebab" band). In both, she uses MIDI technology and triggers built into pedals and manuals to trigger synthesizers and samples to her sound.

After a variety of projects and after playing with unconventional musicians, such as Friedrich Gulda, Dennerlein started playing the pipe organ in 1994. Since 2003, she has also developed jazz projects with symphonic orchestras, including a collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on the Karl Schuke organ.

Compositions
Dennerlein claims to have been primarily influenced by jazz and was not initially interested in classical or church music, although it was and is popular in Germany. She has never been enthusiastic about formal music theory, preferring to learn things through improvisation. However, she has further said that her main influence from jazz is the ability to mix other musical styles as desired, saying "To me, jazz is a synonym for freedom. Freedom from prejudice and discrimination".

Dennerlein's first album included four of her own pieces. Her compositions vary from traditional blues schemes, romantic, melancholic ballads to tempo-driven compositions with elements of swing, bebop, funk and Latin rhythms. The fast tempos and rhythmic figures she uses in her interpretations of well-known standards, and in many of her own compositions, require fast bass pedalboard foot work, though she has used bass players for recordings in order to feature techniques such as slap bass, which cannot be played on pedals. Dennerlein often uses changing meter (e.g., 3/4 to 4/4), as well as unconventional harmonic changes to add expression to her compositions.

Awards

 * 1995: "German Record Critics Award" ("Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik") for "Take Off"
 * 1995: "Jazz Award" for "Take Off" for holding the number one position in the German Jazz Charts for several months and for being best selling Jazz Album of the year in Germany
 * 1987: "German Record Critics Award" ("Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik") for "Tribute to Charlie".

Discography

 * 1983: Jazz Live
 * 1984: Orgelspiele
 * 1985: Bebab
 * 1986: Days of Wine and Roses
 * 1987: Tribute to Charlie
 * 1988: Barbara Dennerlein Plays Classics
 * 1989: Straight Ahead!
 * 1989: Live on Tour!
 * 1990: Hot Stuff and Barbara Dennerlein Duo (Bootleg)
 * 1991: (Friedrich Gulda) Mozart No End
 * 1992: That's Me and Solo
 * 1995: Take Off!
 * 1997: Junkanoo
 * 1999: Outhipped
 * 2001: Love Letters
 * 2002: Spiritual Movement No.1 (church organ recording)
 * 2004: In a Silent Mood
 * 2005: It's Magic
 * 2006: The Best of Barbara Dennerlein
 * 2007: Change of Pace (with Philharmonic Orchestra under Bernd Ruf)
 * 2008: Spiritual Movement No. 2 (live at Kaiser William Memorial Church in Berlin)
 * 2010: Bebabaloo
 * 2012: Spiritual Movement No. 3 (live 2008 concert on the Rieger organ at the Stadtpfarrkirche in Fehring, Austria, with guitarist Edi Köhldorfer)
 * 2015: Studiokonzert (live concert in recording studio, direct to two-track analogue tape)
 * 2015: Christmas Soul

title: Barbara Dennerlein


text:
John Toland

John Toland (30 November 1670 – 11 March 1722) was an Irish rationalist philosopher and freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, which are early expressions of the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment. Born in Ireland, he was educated at the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leiden and Oxford and was influenced by the philosophy of John Locke.

His first, and best known work, Christianity Not Mysterious (1696), opposed hierarchy in both church and state. In Ireland, copies were burned by the public hangman, and he was forced to flee the country never to return.

Biography
Very little is known of Toland's early life. He was born in Ardagh on the Inishowen Peninsula, a predominantly Catholic and Irish-speaking region in northwestern Ireland. His parents are unknown. He would later write that he had been baptised Janus Junius, a play on his name that recalled both the Roman two-faced god Janus and Junius Brutus, reputed founder of the Roman Republic. According to his biographer Pierre des Maizeaux, he adopted the name John as a schoolboy with the encouragement of his school teacher.

Having formally converted from Catholicism to Protestantism at the age of 16, Toland got a scholarship to study theology at the University of Glasgow. In 1690, at age 19, the University of Edinburgh conferred a master's degree on him. He then got a scholarship to spend two years studying at University of Leiden in Holland, and subsequently nearly two years at Oxford in England (1694–95), where he acquired a reputation for great learning and "little religion." The Leiden scholarship had been provided by wealthy English Dissenters, who hoped Toland would go on to become a minister for Dissenters.

In Toland's first book Christianity not Mysterious (1696), begun at Oxford, he argued that the divine revelation of the Bible contains no true mysteries; rather, all the dogmas of the faith can be understood and demonstrated by properly trained reason from natural principles. His argument immediately attracted several rebuttals, and he was prosecuted by a grand jury in London. As he was a subject of the Kingdom of Ireland, members of the Parliament of Ireland proposed that he should be burnt at the stake, and in his absence—curtailing a visit in 1697, he fled the country —16 three copies of the book were burnt by the public hangman in Dublin as the content was contrary to the core doctrines of the Church of Ireland. Toland bitterly compared the Protestant legislators to "Popish Inquisitors who performed that Execution on the Book, when they could not seize the Author, whom they had destined to the Flames".

After his departure from Oxford Toland resided in London for most of the rest of his life, but was also a somewhat frequent visitor to the European continent, particularly Germany and the Netherlands. He lived on the Continent from 1707 to 1710. Toland died in Putney on 10 March 1722. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) says of him that at his death in London at age 51 "he died... as he had lived, in great poverty, in the midst of his books, with his pen in his hand." Just before he died, he composed his own epitaph, part of which reads: "He was an assertor of liberty, a lover of all sorts of learning ... but no man's follower or dependent. Nor could frowns or fortune bend him to decline from the ways he had chosen." Although he himself had written biographies in his career, it concludes, tellingly: "If you would know more of him, search his writings."

Very shortly after his death a lengthy biography of Toland was written by Pierre des Maizeaux.

Political thought
John Toland was the first person called a freethinker (by Bishop Berkeley) and went on to write over a hundred books in various domains but mostly dedicated to criticising ecclesiastical institutions. A great deal of his intellectual activity was dedicated to writing political tracts in support of the Whig cause. Many scholars know him for his role as either the biographer or editor of notable republicans from the mid-17th century such as James Harrington, Algernon Sidney and John Milton. His works Anglia Libera and State Anatomy are prosaic expressions of an English republicanism which reconciles itself with constitutional monarchy. During a brief visit to Hanover in 1701, he was received by the electress Sophia, as Anglia Libera contained a defence of the Hanoverian succession.

After Christianity Not Mysterious, Toland's views became gradually more radical. His opposition to hierarchy in the church also led to opposition to hierarchy in the state; bishops and kings, in other words, were as bad as each other, and monarchy had no God-given sanction as a form of government. In his 1704 Letters to Serena—in which he used the expression "pantheism"—he carefully analysed the manner by which truth is arrived at, and why people are prone to forms of "false consciousness."

In politics his most radical proposition was that liberty was a defining characteristic of what it means to be human. Political institutions should be designed to guarantee freedom, not simply to establish order. For Toland, reason and tolerance were the twin pillars of the good society. This was Whiggism at its most intellectually refined, the very antithesis of the Tory belief in sacred authority in both church and state. Toland's belief in the need for perfect equality among free-born citizens was extended to the Jewish community, tolerated, but still outsiders in early 18th century England. In his 1714 Reasons for Naturalising the Jews he was the first to advocate full citizenship and equal rights for Jewish people.

Toland's world was not all detached intellectual speculation, though. There was also an incendiary element to his political pamphleteering, and he was not beyond whipping up some of the baser anti-Catholic sentiments of the day in his attacks on the Jacobites.

Literary hoax "The Treatise of the Three Imposters"
He also produced some highly controversial polemics, rumors including the Treatise of the Three Impostors, in which Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all condemned as the three great political frauds. The Treatise of the Three Imposters was rumoured to exist in manuscript form since the Middle Ages and excoriated throughout all of Europe. It is now thought that the work did not exist.

Toland claimed to have a personal copy of the manuscript which he passed to the circle of Jean Rousset in France. Rumours that it was then translated into French were taken seriously by some: however, not by Voltaire, who issued a satirical reply.

Editions of republican radicals of the 1650s
His republican sympathies were also evidenced by his editing of the writings of some of the great radicals of the 1650s, including James Harrington, Algernon Sydney, Edmund Ludlow and John Milton. In his support for the Hanoverian monarchy he somewhat moderated his republican sentiments; though his ideal kingship was one that would work towards achieving civic virtue and social harmony, a 'just liberty' and the 'preservation and improvement of our reason.' But George I and the oligarchy behind Walpole were about as far from Toland's ideal as it is possible to get.

Contributions to natural philosophy
Toland influenced Baron d'Holbach's ideas about physical motion. In his Letters to Serena, Toland claimed that rest, or absence of motion, is not merely relative. Actually, for Toland, rest is a special case of motion. When there is a conflict of forces, the body that is apparently at rest is influenced by as much activity and passivity as it would be if it were moving.

Religious thought
The resemblance, both in title and in principles, of Christianity not Mysterious to Locke's 1695 Reasonableness of Christianity, led to a prompt disavowal on Locke's part of the supposed identity of opinions, and subsequently to the controversy between Edward Stillingfleet and Locke. Toland's next work of importance, the Life of Milton (1698) referred to "the numerous supposititious pieces under the name of Christ and His apostles and other great persons," provoked the charge that he had called in question the genuineness of the New Testament writings. Toland replied in his Amyntor, or a Defence of Milton's Life (1699), to which he added a remarkable list of what are now called New Testament apocrypha. In his remarks he really opened up the great question of the history of the Biblical canon.

Toland identified himself as a pantheist in his publication Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist in 1705. At the time when he wrote Christianity not Mysterious he was careful to distinguish himself from both sceptical atheists and orthodox theologians. After having formulated a stricter version of Locke's epistemological rationalism, Toland then goes on to show that there are no facts or doctrines from the Bible which are not perfectly plain, intelligible and reasonable, being neither contrary to reason nor incomprehensible to it. All revelation is human revelation; that which is not rendered understandable is to be rejected as gibberish.

However, David Berman has argued for an atheistic reading of Toland, demonstrating contradictions between Christianity not Mysterious and Toland's Two Essays (London, 1695). Berman's reading of Toland and Charles Blount attempts to show that Toland deliberately obscured his real atheism so as to avoid prosecution whilst attempting to subliminally influence unknowing readers, specifically by creating contradictions in his work which can only be resolved by reducing Toland's God to a pantheistic one, and realising that such a non-providential God is, for Blount, Toland and Colins, "...no God, or as good as no God...In short, the God of theism is blictri for Toland; only the determined material God of pantheism exists, and he (or it) is really no God."

After his Christianity not Mysterious, Toland's "Letters to Serena" constitute his major contribution to philosophy. In the first three letters, he develops a historical account of the rise of superstition arguing that human reason cannot ever fully liberate itself from prejudices. In the last two letters, he founds a metaphysical materialism grounded in a critique of monist substantialism. Later on, we find Toland continuing his critique of church government in Nazarenus which was first more fully developed in his "Primitive Constitution of the Christian Church", a clandestine writing in circulation by 1705. The first book of "Nazarenus" calls attention to the right of the Ebionites to a place in the early church. The thrust of his argument was to push to the very limits the applicability of canonical scripture to establish institutionalised religion. Later works of special importance include Tetradymus wherein can be found Clidophorus, a historical study of the distinction between esoteric and exoteric philosophies.

His Pantheisticon, sive formula celebrandae sodalitatis socraticae (Pantheisticon, or the Form of Celebrating the Socratic Society), of which he printed a few copies for private circulation only, gave great offence as a sort of liturgic service made up of passages from pagan authors, in imitation of the Church of England liturgy. The title also was in those days alarming, and still more so the mystery which the author threw around the question how far such societies of pantheists actually existed. The term "pantheism" was used by Toland to describe the philosophy of Spinoza.

Toland was famous for distinguishing exoteric philosophy—what one says publicly about religion—from esoteric philosophy—what one confides to trusted friends. In 2007 Fouke's Philosophy and Theology in a Burlesque Mode: John Toland and the Way of Paradox presented an analysis of Toland's 'exoteric strategy' of speaking as others speak, but with a different meaning. He argues that Toland's philosophy and theology had little to do with positive expression of beliefs, and that his philosophical aim was not to develop an epistemology, a true metaphysical system, an ideal form of governance, or the basis of ethical obligation, but to find ways to participate in the discourses of others while undermining those discourses from within. Fouke traces Toland's practices to Shaftesbury's conception of a comic or 'derisory' mode of philosophising aimed at exposing pedantry, imposture, dogmatism, and folly.

Influence and legacy
Toland was a man not of his time; one who advocated principles of virtue in duty, principles that had little place in the England of Robert Walpole, governed by cynicism and self-interest. His intellectual reputation, moreover, was subsequently eclipsed by the likes of John Locke and David Hume, and still more by Montesquieu and the French radical thinkers. Edmund Burke in his Reflections on the Revolution in France wrote dismissively of Toland and his fellows: "Who, born within the last 40 years, has read one word of Collins, and Toland, and Tindal, and Chubb, and Morgan, and that whole race who called themselves Freethinkers?"

Still, in Christianity not Mysterious, the book for which he is best known, Toland laid down a challenge not just to the authority of the established church, but to all inherited and unquestioned authority. It was thus as radical politically and philosophically, as it was theologically.

Of his influence, humanities professor Robert Pattison wrote: "Two centuries earlier the establishment would have burned him as a heretic; two centuries later it would have made him a professor of comparative religion in a California university. In the rational Protestant climate of early 18th-century Britain, he was merely ignored to death."

However, Toland managed to find success after his death: Thomas Hollis, the great 18th century book collector and editor, commissioned the London bookseller Andrew Millar to publish works advocating republican government - a list of titles which included Toland's work in 1760.

Writings
This is not an exhaustive list:
 * Christianity Not Mysterious: A Treatise Shewing, That there is nothing in the Gospel Contrary to Reason, Nor Above It: And that no Christian Doctrine can be properly called A Mystery (1696) [book]
 * A Discourse on Coins, by Seignor Bernardo Davanzati, anno 1588, translated out of Italian by John Toland (1696). (Note: Coinage and particularly coin clipping was a hot topic of public concern around 1696).
 * An Apology for Mr. Toland (1697) (concerning Toland's earlier Christianity Not Mysterious).
 * An Argument Shewing, that a Standing Army Is Inconsistent with a Free Government, and absolutely destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy (1697)
 * The Militia Reformed: An easy scheme of furnishing England with a constant land force, capable to prevent or to subdue any foreign power, and to maintain perpetual quite at home, without endangering the public liberty. (1698). (Note: The militia question was a hot topic with the British pamphlet-buying public around 1698).
 * The Life of John Milton, containing, besides the history of his works, several extraordinary characters of men, of books, sects, parties and opinions. (1698) [book]
 * Amyntor, or a Defence of Milton's Life [meaning Toland's earlier book] Containing (I) a general apology for all writings of that kind, (II) a catalogue of books attributed in the primitive times to Jesus Christ, his apostles and other eminent persons, with several important remarks relating to the canon of Scripture, (III) a complete history of the book Eikon Basilike proving Dr Gauden and not King Charles I to be the author of it. (1699).
 * Edited James Harrington's Oceana and other Works (1700)
 * The Art of Governing by Parties, particularly in Religion, Politics, Parliament, the Bench, and the Ministry; with the ill effects of Parties. (1701).[book]
 * Anglia Libera; or the limitation and succession of the crown of England explained and asserted. (1701).[pamphlet]
 * Limitations for the next Foreign Successor, or A New Saxon Race: Debated in a Conference betwixt Two Gentlemen; Sent in a Letter to a member of parliament (1701)[pamphlet]
 * Propositions for Uniting the Two East India Companies (1701)
 * Paradoxes of State, relating to the present juncture of affairs in England and the rest of Europe, chiefly grounded on his Majesty's princely, pious and most gracious speech [referring to a recent keynote speech by the king of England]. (1702).[pamphlet]
 * Reasons for inviting the Hanover royals into England.... Together with arguments for making a vigorous war against France. (1702). [pamphlet]
 * Vindicius Liberius. (1702). (This pamphlet was another defence of Christianity Not Mysterious, this time against one specific attack.)
 * Letters to Serena (1704) [book]
 * Hypatia or the History of a most beautiful, most virtuous, most learned and in every way accomplished lady, who was torn to pieces by the clergy of Alexandria to gratify the pride, emulation and cruelty of the archbishop commonly but undeservedly titled St Cyril (1720)
 * The Primitive Constitution of the Christian Church (c. 1705; posthume, 1726)
 * The Account of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover (1705)
 * Socinianism Truly Stated (by "A Pantheist") (1705)
 * Translated Matthäus Schiner's A Philippick Oration to Incite the English Against the French (1707)
 * Adeisidaemon – or the "Man Without Superstition" (1709)
 * Origines Judaicae (1709)
 * The Art of Restoring (1710)
 * The Jacobitism, Perjury, and Popery of High-Church Priests (1710) [pamphlet]
 * An Appeal to Honest People against Wicked Priests (1713)
 * Dunkirk or Dover (1713)
 * The Art of Restoring (1714) (against Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer|Robert Harley)
 * Reasons for Naturalising the Jews in Great Britain and Ireland on the same foot with all Other Nations (1714) [77 pages]
 * State Anatomy of Great Britain (1717)
 * The Second Part of the State Anatomy (1717)
 * Nazarenus: or Jewish, Gentile and Mahometan Christianity, containing the history of the ancient gospel of Barnabas... Also the Original Plan of Christianity explained in the history of the Nazarens.... with... a summary of ancient Irish Christianity... (1718)[book]
 * The Probability of the Speedy and Final Destruction of the Pope (1718)
 * Tetradymus (1720) (Written in Latin. An English translation was published in 1751)
 * Pantheisticon (1720) (Written in Latin. An English translation was published in 1751)
 * History of the Celtic Religion and Learning Containing an Account of the Druids (1726)
 * A Collection of Several Pieces of Mr John Toland, ed. P. Des Maizeaux, 2 vols. (1726)

title: John Toland


text:
The Watchtower

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom is an illustrated religious magazine, published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Jehovah's Witnesses distribute The Watchtower—Public Edition, along with its companion magazine, Awake!.

The Watch Tower Society reports circulation of 21.7 million per issue for The Watchtower—Public Edition in 444 languages, with one new issue produced annually. The Watchtower—Study Edition, used at congregation meetings, is published monthly.

History

The magazine was started by Charles Taze Russell in July 1879 under the title Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. According to its first issue, the magazine's original purpose was to draw attention to Russell's belief that people of the time were "living 'in the last days' 'the day of the Lord'—'the end' of the Gospel age," and that "the dawn of the 'new' age, are facts not only discernible by the close student of the Word, led by the spirit, but the outward signs recognizable by the world bear the same testimony."

In 1909 the name was changed to The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. In 1920, the Watch Tower Society reprinted all issues from 1879–1919 in seven volumes, known as the Watchtower Reprints, which have since been reprinted by various Bible Student groups. On October 15, 1931, the magazine was renamed The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence; on January 1, 1939, The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Kingdom; from March 1, 1939 until the present, its full name has been The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.

Content
Articles are submitted by writing committees from worldwide branch offices, which are then checked by editors and translated into the languages of publication; all involved are volunteers. Women are permitted to write articles that are not of a doctrinal nature. The names of the authors (except in first-person life stories), and other publishing staff are not provided. The Watchtower is overseen by the Writing Committee of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Watchtower is the official means of sharing Jehovah's Witness beliefs, and includes articles relating to biblical prophecies, Christian conduct and morals, and the history of religion and the Bible. It is intended to draw attention to the kingdom of God, which Jehovah's Witnesses believe is a real government that will soon replace all earthly governments. According to the magazine's mission statement:

"THIS MAGAZINE, The Watchtower, honors Jehovah God, the Ruler of the universe. It comforts people with the good news that God's heavenly Kingdom will soon end all wickedness and transform the earth into a paradise. It promotes faith in Jesus Christ, who died so that we might gain everlasting life and who is now ruling as King of God's Kingdom. This magazine has been published continuously since 1879 and is nonpolitical. It adheres to the Bible as its authority."

Previously, each issue of the Watchtower contained study articles and other regular features and was distributed to the general public. In 2008, content was divided into a Public Edition distributed to non-Witnesses and a Study Edition, which contains "pointed information prepared especially for Jehovah's Witnesses".

Public Edition
The Public Edition of The Watchtower contains biblical articles relating to a theme shown on the cover. In January 2013, The Watchtower—Public Edition was reduced from 32 to 16 pages, with greater focus on the official Jehovah's Witnesses website. Initially issued monthly, as of January 2016 the Public Edition was published every two months, and was further reduced to three issues per year as of January 2018. In 2022, publication was reduced to one new issue per year.

Study Edition
The Study Edition contains study articles written for the Watchtower Study, as well as other intra-organizational information directed to current and prospective members.

Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide discuss the same article each week at the Watchtower Study. At this meeting, each paragraph is read aloud by a designated reader; the study conductor then asks questions printed at the bottom of the page for each paragraph and calls on members of the congregation to answer the questions based on the printed information. They are encouraged to put the information in their own words and to "draw attention to scripture application, supporting arguments, or practical application of the material."

A separate Simplified version of the Study Edition was introduced in July 2011 but was discontinued in 2019.

Distribution
The magazine is printed in nineteen countries. each issue of the Public Edition has an average circulation of 21.7 million copies in 444 languages. The monthly production of the Study Edition is not stated in the English edition; in January 2018 the Russian edition stated a circulation of 13.8 million. The Study Edition is published in 463 languages.

The Public Edition is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses in the course of their public ministry including door-to-door canvassing, approaching people in public places, given informally to acquaintances and professionals, or left as reading material in waiting areas. The Study Edition is generally distributed only to members but is made available to members of the public attending the study of The Watchtower at congregation meetings.

The magazine has been made available in various accessible formats. Selected articles were provided in Braille since 1960 with the full magazine available in 1979. It has also been made available in various audio formats since 1998. Jehovah's Witnesses' official website provides content from The Watchtower in various digital formats.

Cost
Until March 1990, The Watchtower was available for a small charge that varied over time and in different countries. For example, in the United States, the suggested donation per issue was $0.05 in 1950, gradually increasing to $0.25 in 1989. On January 17, 1990, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Jimmy Swaggart that sales of religious literature were subject to taxation, which introduced ambiguity into the formerly tax-free practice of suggesting a specific amount in exchange for the magazines. The Watch Tower Society supported Swaggart in the case, arguing that the perceived sale of religious literature should be exempt from taxation.

From March 1, 1990, the magazines were made available at no cost, on a freewill donation basis in the United States, with the stated purpose of simplifying their Bible educational work and distinguishing themselves from those who commercialize religion. An article in the May 1990 issue of Our Kingdom Ministry—a newsletter provided to members—stated that "there are growing pressures against all religious elements" and went on to say that their main concern was to move ahead in the worldwide preaching work, "without hindrance."

The sale of Jehovah's Witnesses' literature was gradually phased out in other countries, and The Watchtower has been distributed free of charge worldwide since January 2000, its printing being funded by voluntary donations from Jehovah's Witnesses and members of the public.

title: The Watchtower


text:
Awake!

Awake! is an illustrated religious magazine published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. It is considered to be a companion magazine of The Watchtower, and is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watch Tower Society reports worldwide circulation of about 12.8 million copies per issue in 252 languages.

History
The magazine was originally published bimonthly from October 1, 1919, under the title The Golden Age. It was founded for use in the Bible Students' new door-to-door ministry, though the founder of the movement, Charles Taze Russell, had indicated in his will that the Watch Tower Society would not publish any periodicals other than The Watch Tower. Clayton J. Woodworth was editor of the magazine, and later went on to serve on the boards of several corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses. On October 6, 1937, the magazine was renamed Consolation and continued to be published biweekly until July 31, 1946.

On August 22, 1946, the magazine was renamed Awake!, drawing its new title from Romans 13:11 (ASV): "... it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed". The magazine's editorship then became anonymous. (Autobiographical articles credited to individual members about their experiences and circumstances occasionally appear.)

From 1982 to 1995, each issue of the magazine included a mission statement which stated, "this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new order before the generation that saw 1914 passes away". When Jehovah's Witnesses' belief regarding the "generation" of 1914 was changed to a less literal sense, the aim was restated as, "this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of things".

Until 2005, Awake! was published semimonthly in major languages (on the 8th and 22nd), monthly in many languages, and quarterly in a few languages. From January 2006, the magazine was published monthly. As of January 2016, it was published every two months, and was further reduced to three issues per year as of January 2018. In 2022, publication was reduced to one new issue per year.

Content
The Golden Age outlined its primary aim in its first issue, stating, "we will point the people to the clear and indisputable evidence in the light of present-day events, disclosing the divinely expressed remedy for the reconstruction of human affairs that will bring the desire of all nations, assuring to the people life, liberty and happiness." The magazine also contained articles about "social, political, and economic issue and was not confined to purely religious matters". Georges D. Chryssides notes that some articles "were opposed to orthodox medicine", particularly against vaccinations, theories about germs and the use of aluminum cooking utensils, "and recommended alternative methods of health care and remedies".

Awake! contains articles on general interest topics such as nature, geography, health, family life, and also the Bible and biblical history, and is overseen by the Writing Committee of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. Many issues claim that mankind is living in the end times.

Distribution
The magazine is printed in nineteen countries. Awake! has a worldwide circulation of 31,460,000 copies of each issue and is available, in selected languages, online in various digital formats.

The magazine is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses in the course of their public ministry including door-to-door canvassing, approaching people in public places, given informally to acquaintances and professionals, or left as reading material in waiting areas.

Cost
The Golden Age was initially available for $1.50 per year on a subscription basis. Until March 1990, Awake! was available for a small charge that varied over time and in different countries. For example, in the United States, the suggested donation per issue was $0.05 in 1950, gradually increasing to $0.25 in 1989. On January 17, 1990, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Jimmy Swaggart that sales of religious literature were subject to taxation, which introduced ambiguity into the formerly tax-free practice of suggesting a particular donation in exchange for the magazines. The Watch Tower Society supported Swaggart in the case, arguing that the perceived sale of religious literature should be exempt from taxation.

From March 1, 1990, the magazines were made available at no cost, on a freewill donation basis in the United States, with the stated purpose of simplifying their Bible educational work and distinguishing themselves from those who commercialize religion. An article in the May 1990 issue of Our Kingdom Ministry—a newsletter provided to members—stated that "there are growing pressures against all religious elements" and went on to say that their main concern was to move ahead in the worldwide preaching work, "without hindrance".

The sale of Jehovah's Witnesses' literature was gradually phased out in other countries, and Awake! has been distributed free of charge worldwide since early 2000, its printing being funded by voluntary donations from Jehovah's Witnesses and members of the public.

title: Awake!


text:
Kingdom Hall

A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii. Rutherford's reasoning was that these buildings would be used for "preaching the good news of the Kingdom".

Jehovah's Witnesses use Kingdom Halls for the majority of their worship and Bible instruction. Witnesses prefer the term "Kingdom Hall" over "church", noting that the term often translated "church" in the Bible refers to the congregation of people rather than a structure.

Location and presentation
Kingdom Halls are typically modest, functional structures with practicality in mind. As Witnesses do not use religious symbols, such are not displayed on or in Kingdom Halls. An annual yeartext, or "theme scripture", which is the same for all congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, is prominently displayed inside each Kingdom Hall. This text can be displayed in several languages if the Hall is used by foreign-language congregations. A Kingdom Hall typically has a library, contribution boxes, and a literature counter, where publications are displayed, stored and dispensed.

Some Kingdom Halls have multiple auditoriums to allow more than one congregation to conduct meetings simultaneously. Where there is more than one auditorium, each auditorium or the entire structure may be referred to as "a Kingdom Hall". Larger Assembly Halls or Convention Centers of Jehovah's Witnesses, or any rented arena or stadium used for larger gatherings of Jehovah's Witnesses are regarded 'as a large Kingdom Hall'. Undignified behavior is considered inappropriate during their religious events, even if the facility is an entertainment venue.

Meetings for worship
Congregations typically meet in their Kingdom Halls two days each week for worship. Meetings usually open and close with song and prayer. Meetings held in the Kingdom Hall include Bible readings and public talks on matters such as the Bible, family life, Christian qualities and prophecy. There are discussions of specially prepared study articles in The Watchtower magazine and other publications of Jehovah's Witnesses. Witnesses usually meet in Kingdom Halls for preparation and prayer before engaging in their door-to-door ministry.

Classes
Kingdom Halls may also be used to teach sign language or other language classes. Kingdom Halls are also used for sessions especially developed for particular areas of service, such as the Pioneer Service School for full-time preachers, and the Kingdom Ministry School for elders and ministerial servants. In areas where the literacy rate is low, congregations may arrange to use Kingdom Halls to conduct literacy classes, which non-Witnesses may also attend.

Weddings
Kingdom Halls may be used for wedding ceremonies of Witness-baptized couples. A couple sends a request in writing to the congregation's "service committee", which assesses whether the couple is "in good standing, living in harmony with Bible principles and Jehovah’s righteous standards" and that they approve of the members of the couple's wedding party, the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

Jehovah's Witnesses attach no special significance to a Kingdom Hall wedding over a secular service. Witness couples may choose to be married elsewhere for personal or practical reasons. Kingdom Halls are not used for wedding receptions or other social events.

Funerals
Funeral services may be held in a Kingdom Hall if the body of elders considers that "the deceased had a clean reputation and was a member of the congregation or the minor child of a member". The family of the deceased may ask any respected male member of the congregation to conduct the service, which involves a simple Bible-based discourse. Depending on family preference and local custom, a Kingdom Hall funeral may or may not have the casketed deceased present.

Disaster relief
Disaster relief efforts of Jehovah's Witnesses are typically channeled through permanent local Disaster Relief Committees under the various branch offices, and are staged at Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls as close as practical to the disaster area.

Construction
The construction crews of Kingdom Halls and larger Assembly Halls consist of volunteering Jehovah's Witnesses, sometimes from other countries, who have been pre-approved for work on construction sites.

Witnesses in many countries use a number of standard designs for construction that can be built in just a few days. The act of constructing a Kingdom Hall in this manner after the initial foundations are laid is called a quick-build.

A Kingdom Hall or Assembly Hall may originate from the renovation of an existing structure, such as a theater or non-Witness house of worship. In areas of repeated or reputed vandalism, particularly in cities, some Kingdom Halls are built without windows to reduce the risk of property damage.

In 2015, it was announced to elders in the United States that new Kingdom Halls worldwide would use standardized designs and materials, suited to local circumstances.

Regional Building Committees
Jehovah's Witnesses' branch offices formerly appointed local Regional Building Committees (RBC) to oversee the construction and maintenance of their places of worship. Such committees - which usually consisted of five to seven persons, often with experience in construction trades - aimed to coordinate the efforts of those involved so as to provide attractive and functional facilities that are financially viable.

RBCs cooperated with local congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses seeking to build or renovate a place of worship, under the direction of the local branch office. Committees helped in assessing the suitability of a possible construction-site, purchasing the land and materials and coordinating the efforts of volunteers from the wider area. Members of a Regional Building Committee worked voluntarily and received no remuneration for their work.

On Saturday, January 31, 2015, in a special meeting with all elders in the United States via live video-feed, it was announced that Regional Building Committees would be replaced by Local Design/Construction Department of the branch office, but with a more defined organizational structure.

Funding
In 1983, an arrangement was instituted whereby loans from the Watch Tower Society financed Kingdom Halls. In addition to contribution boxes for local congregation expenses and "the worldwide work", each congregation had a contribution box specifically for voluntary donations toward Kingdom-Hall construction. The Watch Tower Society pooled these donations into the Society Kingdom Hall Fund for financing the construction of Kingdom Halls worldwide, particularly in developing nations.

When a congregation received local approval to build a new Kingdom Hall, that congregation could apply for a loan from the Society Kingdom Hall Fund. The congregation repaid the loan to the Watch Tower Society, in addition to its continued contributions to the Kingdom Hall Fund. Interest was charged on the loans until September 2008.

The way Kingdom Halls are funded changed significantly in 2014. The provision of Kingdom Hall loans from the Society ceased, as did the separate Society Kingdom Hall Fund. Instead, all congregations were directed to contribute an ongoing amount to the branch office each month, in addition to donations for other purposes, into a single World Wide Work fund, and the branch office finances new Kingdom Halls. The stated purpose was so that funding from more affluent areas could supplement funding from areas without the resources for a new hall. The monthly amount was initially based on "a confidential survey of all publishers" indicating how much they could commit each month, with a recommendation that the amount be "at least the same amount as the current monthly loan repayment". As of 2020, the amount is "based on a monthly per-publisher amount suggested by the branch office" and reviewed by local congregation elders.

Maintenance
Routine maintenance of Kingdom Halls is performed by the members of the congregations that use them, typically according to a scheduled checklist. The "Kingdom Hall operating committee" oversees maintenance of the building. At least one elder or ministerial servant from each congregation is selected to be part of the operating committee. Kingdom Hall maintenance costs are covered by donations to a local fund.

title: Kingdom Hall


text:
Talk:Carolyn S. Shoemaker

Orphaned references in Carolyn S. Shoemaker
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Carolyn S. Shoemaker's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "Chapman": From Eugene Merle Shoemaker: [https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/people/carolyn-shoemaker Chapman, Mary G. "Carolyn Shoemaker." USGS Astrogeology Center. May 17, 2002.] Accessed April 24, 2017. From Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9:

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 21:16, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

Maiden name?
Why does this article refer to her by her married name in the very first sentence about her birth? Should we hold off on using the last name "Shoemaker" until after she gets married? --JDspeeder1 (talk) 03:42, 19 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Carolyn S. Shoemaker