title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The judicial system comprised the people's revolutionary courts, the military tribunals, and the public prosecutors' offices. The Council of Ministers, on the recommendations of local administrative bodies called people's revolutionary committees, appointed judges and public prosecutors.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: In late 1987, the country was divided into eighteen provinces ("khet") and two special municipalities ("krong"), Phnom Penh and Kampong Saom, which were under direct central government control.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The provinces were subdivided into about 122 districts (srok), 1,325 communes ("khum"), and 9,386 villages ("phum"). The subdivisions of the municipalities were wards ("sangkat").


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: An elective body, consisting of a chairman (president), one or more vice chairmen, and a number of committee members, ran each people's revolutionary committee. These elective bodies were chosen by representatives of the next lower level people's revolutionary committees at the provincial and district levels.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: At the provincial and district levels, where the term of office was five years, committee members needed the additional endorsement of officials representing the KUFNCD and other affiliated mass organisations. At the commune and ward level, the members of the people's revolutionary committees are elected directly by local inhabitants for a three-year term.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: Before the first local elections, which were held in February and March 1981, the central government appointed local committee officials. In late 1987, it was unclear whether the chairpersons of the local revolutionary committees reported to the Office of the Council of Ministers or to the Ministry of Interior.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The regular armed forces of the People's Republic of Kampuchea were the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF). These were needed to project internationally the image of the new pro-Hanoi administration in Phnom Penh as a legitimate sovereign state. Raising such an indigenous force was not too difficult for the Vietnamese occupiers at the time, because the Vietnamese already had experience training and co-ordinating the army in neighbouring Laos.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The KPRAF was formed initially from militias, former Khmer Rouge members, and conscripts. KPRAF troops were trained and supplied by the Vietnamese armed forces. But owing to a lack of proper training and weapons, meagre salaries and mass desertions, the fledgling KPRAF was not an effective fighting force and the bulk of the fighting against the CGDK forces was left in the end to the army of the occupiers, the Vietnam People's Army.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The Khmer Rouge forced the Vietnamese to employ guerrilla warfare as one of their tactics. As years went by the Vietnamese suffered damaging casualties, and the persistent civil war debilitated Cambodia and hampered reconstruction efforts. The Khmer Rouge gained confidence that they could keep swiping away Vietnamese armies, and the Vietnamese found out how easy it is to become the prey rather than the predator. In fact some books have called this "Vietnam's Vietnam War".


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The KPRAF was answerable to two organisations below the Council of State, namely, the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff. Veterans from the Eastern Zone revolution, especially those from Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng, as well as people who had been educated in Vietnam after the 1954 Geneva Conference held important positions in the Ministry of National Defense. Control of the KPRAF military establishment and its adherence to the political orthodoxy of the Kampuchean (or Khmer) People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP) were ensured by a party network, superimposed upon the national defence structure, that extended downward to units at all echelons.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: The KPRAF developed also a system of military justice, with military tribunals, as well as a network of military prisons.


title: People's Republic of Kampuchea

text: In 1989 began the transition that culminated in the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements. After the name of the People's Republic of Kampuchea had been officially changed to State of Cambodia (SOC), the KPRAF were renamed the Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF). Following the 1993 elections the CPAF were absorbed into a new national army of Royalist, Nationalist and CPAF troops.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: Cruttenden played opposite Sean Bean as his character Richard Sharpe's wife Jane in several episodes of the TV series "Sharpe." In 2007, Cruttenden joined the cast from the first series of the ITV comedy series Benidorm, playing the character of Kate Weedon. She has appeared in the sitcom "Not Going Out" as Anna since 2014.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: Cruttenden is from a family with history in the acting industry. Her grandmother, Cynthia Coatts (1915-2013) founded the Rosslyn School of Dance and Drama in London, while her mother, Julia Cruttenden (1938-2013), ran the stage make-up school Greasepaint in London. Her father Neville (1940-1990) was an advertising executive who also indulged in amateur theatrics before deciding to become a professional actor at 49. Her brother is Hal Cruttenden, a stand-up comedian, and she has an older sister Hannah, who works in journalism.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: Cruttenden started her acting career when she was 12, appearing in the BBC2 Playhouse episode "Elizabeth Alone" in 1981. She gained significant notice in only her second screen role in the critically acclaimed TV film "P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang", playing the object of affection to a lovesick schoolboy in the coming of age drama, which was written by Jack Rosenthal. As she recalled in a newspaper interview in 1996, she did not realize she would have to kiss costar John Albasiny towards the film's climax. "I was 14 and painfully shy, like my character. I vividly remember them saying we had to kiss at the end. I was completely thrown because it wasn't in the script. Tears welled in my eyes and I mumbled 'All right then.' But I had never kissed anyone before, ever. It was all rather traumatic."


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: She continued to have regular acting work throughout her teenage years, including a regular role in the TV sitcom "Mog" (1985-86), the TV Aids drama "Intimate Contact" (1987) and "The StoryTeller" episode "Hans My Hedgehog" in 1987. Despite coming from a family involved in the acting industry, her parents were keen for her to concentrate more on her schooling. By this point, Cruttenden was thoroughly committed to acting, and when she was offered the stage role in "Romeo and Juliet" halfway through sitting for the last two of her four A levels, she took the role.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: Cruttenden immersed herself in her acting work, taking roles in TV shows TECX, Coasting and "Centrepoint" (all 1990), and appearing in the detective series "Van Der Valk" and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" in 1991.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: After a break from TV to do more theatre work, she appeared on screen for the first time in three years in the TV period comedy drama "Love on a Branch Line" in 1994, a role which required her to appear nude. Then in 1996 she was cast as Jane Gibbons in the TV series "Sharpe" as the love interest and eventual wife of Richard Sharpe, played by Sean Bean.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: She continued to find regular work in the theatre and on television, with roles in "Doctors and Nurses" (2004) and "The Robinsons" (2005), but it was not until she was cast in the TV sitcom "Benidorm" in 2007 that she gained another hit show. She appeared in the first three series until she left the show in 2009.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: There was a dearth of screen roles for the next 5 years, with only an appearance in an episode of the sitcom "The Royal Bodyguard" in 2012 during this time. Since 2014, she has been a regular on the sitcom "Not Going Out", playing the role of Anna, Hugh Dennis' wife and snobby neighbour to Lee and Lucy.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: In 1990 her father Neville died suddenly of a stomach haemorrhage, aged 50. He had left his job as an advertising executive the year before to become a professional actor, and had had two TV roles in the pipeline before his sudden death.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: In 2013 Cruttenden suffered a double family bereavement. On 16 March she lost her grandmother Cynthia Coatts, who died at the age of 97. Then on 14 December she lost her mother Julia after a long battle with a brain tumour.


title: Abigail Cruttenden

text: During the filming of "Sharpe", Cruttenden met actor Sean Bean. They began an affair and Bean's wife Melanie Hill filed for divorce. They married on 22 November 1997. Their daughter was born in November 1998. They divorced in July 2000. In 2003, she married Jonathan R. Fraser. They have a daughter.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: Lyle Wesley Waggoner (; April 13, 1935 – March 17, 2020) was an American actor, sculptor, presenter, travel trailer salesman and model, known for his work on "The Carol Burnett Show" from 1967 to 1974 and for playing the role of Steve Trevor and Steve Trevor Jr. on "Wonder Woman" from 1975 to 1979. In his later career he founded a company, Star Waggons, which rented luxury trailers to studios.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: Waggoner was born in Kansas City, Kansas on April 13, 1935, the son of Marie (Isern) and Myron Waggoner, and spent part of his childhood in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. On an episode of "The Carol Burnett Show", Waggoner stated he had three sisters and one brother. In 1953, he graduated from Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, and then studied briefly at Washington University in St. Louis. He then joined the United States Army, serving two years in West Germany as a radio operator.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: Following his military discharge, Waggoner studied mechanical engineering in the junior executive program at the General Motors Institute of Technology. He then sold encyclopedias as a door to door salesman. He made his acting debut as a muscle man in a Kansas City production of "Li'l Abner", after which he created a sales promotion organization that enabled him to make enough money to finance a trip to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: By the mid-1960s, Waggoner was appearing regularly in television and films, including an episode of "Gunsmoke" (“The Wishbone” in 1966). He was a finalist for the title role in the TV series version of "Batman", but lost the role to Adam West.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: In 1967, he appeared in "Catalina Caper" (with Tommy Kirk, a former child actor trying to restart his career as a young adult), a film which would eventually be lampooned by "Mystery Science Theater 3000". He also had a minor guest-starring role in the season-three episode "Deadliest of the Species" of the TV series "Lost in Space".


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: Also in 1967, Waggoner began a seven-year stint on "The Carol Burnett Show", a comedy sketch and variety show, on which he appeared as an announcer and performer. In 1973, Waggoner posed semi-nude for a "Playgirl" centerfold. Waggoner left "The Carol Burnett Show" in 1974 in the hopes of advancing his career as a lead actor. His spot on the show was filled by frequent guest star Tim Conway (and his role as announcer by Ernie Anderson). He later appeared on some of the show's reunion specials.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: In 1976, Waggoner was appointed "mayor" of Encino, California, by the local chamber of commerce. The "mayor" is not an actual government official as Encino is not an independent town but rather part of the city of Los Angeles; the post is an honorary "goodwill ambassador" position. In addition to Waggoner, other holders of the title have included Steve Allen, Mike Connors, Fred Travalena, Ronnie Schell, and Cesare Danova.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: A year after leaving "Carol Burnett", Waggoner landed the role of Steve Trevor for the pilot and first season of the television series "Wonder Woman" starring Lynda Carter. Initially set during World War II, when the subsequent two seasons advanced the timeline to the 1970s, Waggoner played Steve Trevor, Jr.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: Waggoner also appeared in several TV movies and minor motion pictures during the 1970s and 1980s, often cast for "hunk" appeal. He made guest appearances on numerous television series including "Charlie's Angels", "The San Pedro Beach Bums", "Happy Days", "Mork & Mindy", "The Golden Girls", "Ellen", and most recently "The War at Home". Waggoner also played at least three roles on "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", and "Murder, She Wrote" throughout their respective runs.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: In 1979, while working on "Wonder Woman", Waggoner discovered that the motorhome he was using during the production was rented by the studio from a nearby resident. Waggoner soon bought a fleet of motor homes at $50,000 apiece, renting them out to Hollywood productions for $400-$500 per week. Soon after he founded Star Waggons, a company that leased customized location trailers for use by the entertainment industry. He also started Zio Studio Services, the rental arm of Star Waggons. On September 1, 2021, Star Waggons and Zio Studio Services were sold to Hudson Pacific Properties for $222 million. Waggoner's sons, Jason and Beau, will continue to run these businesses for Hudson Pacific Properties. Waggoner retired from full-time acting to run Star Waggons, but made occasional appearances, often parodying his earlier image ("The Naked Truth", "That '70s Show", and "").


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: In 1990, Waggoner co-produced and appeared in a consumer-product show called "Consumer America" with co-host Shawn Bruner. The series featured novel national products from self-help to home goods and lasted for about two seasons.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: In 1993, Waggoner was the host of an infomercial, "Let's Talk With Lyle Waggoner", which advertised "Y-Bron", supposedly a natural product that would cure male impotence. Scottsdale, Arizona based Twin Star was later fined $1.5 million for unsubstantiated claims about Y-Bron.


title: Lyle Waggoner

text: Waggoner was married to Sharon Kennedy, an actress, financial consultant, and realtor. They married in 1961 and had two sons. He resided near Jackson, Wyoming, where he was a sculptor. His works can be seen at galleries in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Lander, Wyoming.


Lyle Waggoner


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide is an organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether and the simplest epoxide: a three-membered ring consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Ethylene oxide is a colorless and flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor. Because it is a strained ring, ethylene oxide easily participates in a number of addition reactions that result in ring-opening. Ethylene oxide is isomeric with acetaldehyde and with vinyl alcohol. Ethylene oxide is industrially produced by oxidation of ethylene in the presence of silver catalyst.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The reactivity that is responsible for many of ethylene oxide's hazards also makes it useful. Although too dangerous for direct household use and generally unfamiliar to consumers, ethylene oxide is used for making many consumer products as well as non-consumer chemicals and intermediates. These products include detergents, thickeners, solvents, plastics, and various organic chemicals such as ethylene glycol, ethanolamines, simple and complex glycols, polyglycol ethers, and other compounds. Although it is a vital raw material with diverse applications, including the manufacture of products like polysorbate 20 and polyethylene glycol (PEG) that are often more effective and less toxic than alternative materials, ethylene oxide itself is a very hazardous substance. At room temperature it is a flammable, carcinogenic, mutagenic, irritating, and anaesthetic gas.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide is a surface disinfectant that is widely used in hospitals and the medical equipment industry to replace steam in the sterilization of heat-sensitive tools and equipment, such as disposable plastic syringes. It is so flammable and extremely explosive that it is used as a main component of thermobaric weapons; therefore, it is commonly handled and shipped as a refrigerated liquid to control its hazardous nature.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide was first reported in 1859 by the French chemist Charles-Adolphe Wurtz, who prepared it by treating 2-chloroethanol with potassium hydroxide:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Wurtz measured the boiling point of ethylene oxide as , slightly higher than the present value, and discovered the ability of ethylene oxide to react with acids and salts of metals. Wurtz mistakenly assumed that ethylene oxide has the properties of an organic base. This misconception persisted until 1896 when Georg Bredig found that ethylene oxide is not an electrolyte. That it differed from other ethers — particularly by its propensity to engage in the addition reactions typical of unsaturated compounds — had long been a matter of debate. The heterocyclic triangular structure of ethylene oxide was proposed by 1868 or earlier.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Wurtz's 1859 synthesis long remained the only method of preparing ethylene oxide, despite numerous attempts, including by Wurtz himself, to produce ethylene oxide directly from ethylene. Only in 1931 did French chemist Theodore Lefort develop a method of direct oxidation of ethylene in the presence of silver catalyst. Since 1940, almost all industrial production of ethylene oxide has relied on this process. Sterilization by ethylene oxide for the preservation of spices was patented in 1938 by the American chemist Lloyd Hall. Ethylene oxide achieved industrial importance during World War I as a precursor to both the coolant ethylene glycol and the chemical weapon mustard gas.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The epoxy cycle of ethylene oxide is an almost regular triangle with bond angles of about 60° and a significant angular strain corresponding to the energy of 105 kJ/mol. For comparison, in alcohols the C–O–H angle is about 110°; in ethers, the C–O–C angle is 120°. The moment of inertia about each of the principal axes are "I" = , "I" = and "I" = .


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The relative instability of the carbon-oxygen bonds in the molecule is revealed by the comparison in the table of the energy required to break two C–O bonds in the ethylene oxide or one C–O bond in ethanol and dimethyl ether:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: This instability correlates with its high reactivity, explaining the ease of its ring-opening reactions (see Chemical properties).


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide is a colorless gas at and is a mobile liquid at – viscosity of liquid ethylene oxide at 0 °C is about 5.5 times lower than that of water. The gas has a characteristic sweet odor of ether, noticeable when its concentration in air exceeds 500ppm. Ethylene oxide is readily soluble in water, ethanol, diethyl ether and many organic solvents.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide readily reacts with diverse compounds with opening of the ring. Its typical reactions are with nucleophiles which proceed via the S2 mechanism both in acidic (weak nucleophiles: water, alcohols) and alkaline media (strong nucleophiles: OH, RO, NH, RNH, RR'NH, etc.). The general reaction scheme is


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Aqueous solutions of ethylene oxide are rather stable and can exist for a long time without any noticeable chemical reaction, but adding a small amount of acid, such as strongly diluted sulfuric acid, immediately leads to the formation of ethylene glycol, even at room temperature:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The reaction is usually carried out at about with a large excess of water, in order to prevent the reaction of the formed ethylene glycol with ethylene oxide that would form di- and triethylene glycol:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Reactions with lower alcohols occur less actively than with water and require more severe conditions, such as heating to and pressurizing to and adding an acid or alkali catalyst.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Reactions of ethylene oxide with fatty alcohols proceed in the presence of sodium metal, sodium hydroxide or boron trifluoride and are used for the synthesis of surfactants.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Reactions of ethylene oxide with carboxylic acids in the presence of a catalyst results in glycol mono- and diesters:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Addition of ethylene oxide to higher carboxylic acids is carried out at elevated temperatures (typically ) and pressure () in an inert atmosphere, in presence of an alkaline catalyst (concentration 0.01–2%), such as hydroxide or carbonate of sodium or potassium. The carboxylate ion acts as nucleophile in the reaction:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide reacts with ammonia forming a mixture of mono-, di- and tri- ethanolamines. The reaction is stimulated by adding a small amount of water.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Aromatic primary and secondary amines also react with ethylene oxide, forming the corresponding arylamino alcohols.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide readily reacts with aqueous solutions of hydrochloric, hydrobromic and hydroiodic acids to form halohydrins. The reaction occurs easier with the last two acids:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The reaction with these acids competes with the acid-catalyzed hydration of ethylene oxide; therefore, there is always a by-product of ethylene glycol with an admixture of diethylene glycol. For a cleaner product, the reaction is conducted in the gas phase or in an organic solvent.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene fluorohydrin is obtained differently, by boiling hydrogen fluoride with a 5–6% solution of ethylene oxide in diethyl ether. The ether normally has a water content of 1.5–2%; in absence of water, ethylene oxide polymerizes.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Halohydrins can also be obtained by passing ethylene oxide through aqueous solutions of metal halides:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Interaction of ethylene oxide with organomagnesium compounds, which are Grignard reagents, can be regarded as nucleophilic substitution influenced by carbanion organometallic compounds. The final product of the reaction is a primary alcohol:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: When reacting with the hydrogen sulfide, ethylene oxide forms 2-mercaptoethanol and thiodiglycol, and with alkylmercaptans it produces 2-alkyl mercaptoetanol:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The excess of ethylene oxide with an aqueous solution of hydrogen sulfide leads to the tris-(hydroxyethyl) sulfonyl hydroxide:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Reaction of ethylene oxide with aqueous solutions of barium nitrite, calcium nitrite, magnesium nitrite, zinc nitrite or sodium nitrite leads to the formation of 2-nitroethanol:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: In the presence of alkoxides, reactions of ethylene oxide with compounds containing active methylene group leads to the formation of butyrolactones:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Styrene can be obtained in one stage if this reaction is conducted at elevated temperatures () and pressures (), in presence of an aluminosilicate catalyst.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: A series of polynomial heterocyclic compounds, known as crown ethers, can be synthesized with ethylene oxide. One method is the cationic cyclopolymerization of ethylene oxide, limiting the size of the formed cycle:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: To suppress the formation of other linear polymers the reaction is carried out in a highly dilute solution.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Reaction of ethylene oxide with sulfur dioxide in the presence of caesium salts leads to the formation of an 11-membered heterocyclic compound which has the complexing properties of crown ethers:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: When heated to about , or to in the presence of a catalyst (AlO, HPO, etc.), ethylene oxide isomerizes into acetaldehyde:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The radical mechanism was proposed to explain this reaction in the gas phase; it comprises the following stages:


title: Ethylene oxide

text: The moiety CHCHO* represents a short-lived (lifetime of 10 seconds), activated molecule of acetaldehyde. Its excess energy is about 355.6 kJ/mol, which exceeds by 29.3 kJ/mol the binding energy of the C-C bond in acetaldehyde.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: In absence of a catalyst, the thermal isomerization of ethylene oxide is never selective and apart from acetaldehyde yields significant amount of by-products (see section Thermal decomposition).


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Ethylene oxide can be hydrogenated into ethanol in the presence of a catalyst, such as nickel, platinum, palladium, boranes, lithium aluminium hydride and some other hydrides.


title: Ethylene oxide

text: Conversely, with some other catalysts, ethylene oxide may be "reduced" by hydrogen to ethylene with the yield up to 70%. The reduction catalysts include mixtures of zinc dust and acetic acid, of lithium aluminium hydride with titanium trichloride (the reducing agent is actually titanium dichloride, formed by the reaction between LiAlH and TiCl) and of iron(III) chloride with butyllithium in tetrahydrofuran.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Gabrielle Nicole Logan ("née" Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is an English presenter of Welsh heritage and a former international rhythmic gymnast. She hosted "Final Score" for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also presented a variety of live sports events for the BBC, including a revived episode of "Superstars" in December 2012 and the London Marathon since 2015. Since 2013, she has co-hosted "Sports Personality of the Year" for the BBC and she presented the second series of "The Edge" in 2015.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Gabrielle Nicole Logan was born on 24 April 1973 in Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire to former Welsh international footballer and manager Terry Yorath and his wife, Christine. At the time, Yorath was playing for Leeds United. The family moved frequently because her father played for a number of British teams as well as in Canada with the Vancouver Whitecaps. She attended Cardinal Heenan High School and Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan played netball at school and at university and also competed in the high jump, but the peak of her sporting career was when she placed 11th in rhythmic gymnastics representing Wales at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan became interested in football during her regular attendances at her father's matches. Her mother went out of a "sense of duty". Along with her brother and sister, Logan was in the crowd at Valley Parade on 11 May 1985, the day of the Bradford City stadium fire. She had left the stand only moments before the fire took hold and watched the unfolding disaster.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan's debut TV appearance was when she was chosen as the Leeds Rose for the 1991 Rose of Tralee competition.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan runs and plays golf and is a supporter of Newcastle United stretching back to her time at Durham University, where her then boyfriend was a childhood fan. She remembers her first match as Newcastle's 1–0 Premier League victory over Everton on 25 August 1993 and made visits by air or rail to St James' Park throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including Newcastle's 5–0 win over Manchester United on 20 October 1996.


title: Gabby Logan

text: After university, Logan began presenting on Metro Radio in Newcastle, from where she was offered a job as a presenter on Sky Sports in 1996. She worked there until 1998, when she joined the ITV TV network.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan's career came to notice when she fronted "On the Ball". Logan was one of a small number of female sports presenters to have made the transition to terrestrial television. After ITV lost the terrestrial rights to the Premier League, she presented their UEFA Champions League coverage, including the 2005 and 2006 finals, between A.C. Milan and Liverpool, and Arsenal and Barcelona, respectively. Logan left ITV for BBC Sport in December 2006, In 2003, she reported on the Rugby World Cup. Also that year, Logan presented a programme called "Britain's Brilliant Prodigies" featuring a young Jessie J.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan stepped in for Melanie Sykes on 6 July 2004 when she went on maternity leave partway through the third series of game show "The Vault".


title: Gabby Logan

text: Gabby co-hosted the celebrity diving show "Splash!" on ITV, alongside Vernon Kay and Olympic diver Tom Daley from 2013 until 2014.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In 2015, Logan returned to ITV for reality series "Flockstars", a show she later admitted was her "biggest disappointment".


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan started presenting for BBC Sport on 27 January 2007, presenting coverage of the FA Cup fourth round tie between Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers. She continues to regularly present and report on live football for the BBC and Logan also deputises for Gary Lineker on Match of the Day. Logan hosted "Final Score" from 2009 until 2013. She reported from the England Camp for the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014 while also being a pitchside reporter at England matches.


title: Gabby Logan

text: When Craig Doyle left BBC Sport for ITV in 2008, the BBC needed a new host for the Six Nations Championship and recruited Gabby Logan; she had previously reported on the 2003 Rugby World Cup for ITV and works alongside the likes of Jeremy Guscott, Keith Wood, Jonathan Davies & Andy Nicol.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan became the main host of Athletics for BBC Sport. She has hosted live coverage of the World Athletics Championships in 2013, and the European Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games in 2014. Also included is the prestigious annual IAAF Diamond League season competition. She presents in the studio alongside ex-athlete pundits including Michael Johnson, Paula Radcliffe, Colin Jackson, Denise Lewis and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Gabby Logan has hosted BBC Olympic Games coverage at Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2021.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan has also hosted live coverage of other sporting events such as the 2013 Aquatics World Championships


title: Gabby Logan

text: Since 2009, Logan has been a frequent stand-in presenter on "The One Show" on BBC One. Gabby Logan has also publicised the challenges female presenters can face within the BBC, once criticised by a BBC executive for wearing "too sexy boots".


title: Gabby Logan

text: In August 2013, Logan began hosting the BBC One series "I Love My Country", featuring team captains Micky Flanagan and Frank Skinner on Saturday evenings, however, on 25 October 2013, the programme was axed due to largely negative press reviews and poor viewing figures.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In September 2013, the BBC announced that, as of 2013, Logan would replace Sue Barker as one of the presenters for the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In March 2015, Logan hosted "Let's Play Darts for Comic Relief" for BBC Two. The show returned for a second series in February 2016.


title: Gabby Logan

text: She presented live coverage of the 2015 London Marathon, broadcast on BBC One on 26 April, the 2016 London Marathon on 24 April and the 2017 London Marathon on 23 April. In August 2015, she was the main presenter for BBC's coverage of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics from Beijing.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan presented the second series of the BBC game show "The Edge" in 2015. She replaced Mark Benton who hosted series 1.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In 2016, Logan was part of the presenting team for The Invictus Games on BBC One. She was also a part of the media team during the BBC's coverage of the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In June 2011, while still presenting the sports results shows for BBC One on Saturdays, Logan joined Channel 5 to present a discussion and magazine show following "The Wright Stuff" at 11:10 am each weekday initially called "The Wright Stuff Extra", and later renamed as "Live with Gabby". On 5 April 2012, the show tweeted to confirm that Logan was leaving the programme.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan has worked on BBC Radio 5 Live, where she presented a lunchtime show from January 2010. Her previous Sunday morning was taken over by Kate Silverton. On 20 October 2009, it was announced that Logan would be leaving her Sunday morning slot on BBC Radio 5 Live and starting a new weekday show on the station from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm (Monday–Friday) which began on 11 January 2010.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In light of the move of BBC Radio 5 Live from London to MediaCityUK in Salford, Logan left her weekday show in April 2011 due to other BBC work and family commitments. She was replaced by Shelagh Fogarty.


title: Gabby Logan

text: On 12 April 2009, she presented the BBC Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of St John's Catholic School for the Deaf.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan has her own podcast, "The Midpoint", where she interviews public figures about their approach to middle age.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In August 2014, Logan was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan has won "Sports Presenter of the Year" four times at the Television and Radio Industries Club Awards in 2000, 2002, 2004, and in 2014, while also being nominated a further three times in 2007, 2008, and in 2010. Gabby Logan was crowned "Tesco Celebrity Mum of the Year" in March 2012. Logan received a longlist nomination for "Most Popular Entertainment Presenter" at the 2014 National Television Awards She was also nominated for "Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit" at the 2014 Royal Television Society Awards, losing out to Gary Neville but did win "Sports Programme" as part of the BBC Athletics team.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Upon becoming one of the first female sports anchors to break into terrestrial television in the 1990s, Logan has received praise from many of her fellow professionals such as Terry Venables, Ally McCoist and Des Lynam. Her natural style of broadcasting, combined with her relaxed demeanor and ability to banter with whichever ex-pro whom she is working alongside, has made Logan a hugely popular figure on TV.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan, along with Clare Balding, received praise for their commentary during the coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Politician Boris Johnson praised Logan's contribution during the BBC's coverage of the London Games, also saying that his favourite part of coverage was the late-night summary with Gabby Logan.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to sports broadcasting and the promotion of women in sport.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In 1992, Logan's 15-year-old brother Daniel collapsed and died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Logan has actively appealed for the Daniel Yorath Appeal, which raises funds for the treatment and detection of the condition.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Her brother Jordan Yorath (born 1986) played football for England Universities in 2008 while in the final year of his planning and development surveying degree at Northumbria University. Jordan was at Sheffield Wednesday and Halifax Town as a young professional and also played for Wakefield F.C. Logan's sister, Louise (born 1974), was a performer in the Cirque Du Soleil's Zumanity, the resident cabaret-style show at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan married former Scotland international rugby union player Kenny Logan on 19 July 2001. She has said that meeting her husband was a motivation to exercise regularly again. The couple live in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.


title: Gabby Logan

text: On 28 July 2005, after undergoing IVF treatment, Logan gave birth to twins, son Reuben and daughter Lois.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In June 2012, Logan was named by "The Times" newspaper as one of several people to have put money into a film and tax avoidance scheme.


title: Gabby Logan

text: In January 2013, Logan was named the first Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University. In November 2017 it was announced that Logan would step down from this role in January 2018 after five years.


title: Gabby Logan

text: Logan is currently a patron of The Disabilities Trust, The Prince's Trust, St John's Catholic School for the Deaf, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Newcastle United Foundation. She was named the President of Muscular Dystrophy UK in 2018. She and her husband Kenny Logan are past presidents of the children's charity Sparks.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is a planthopper indigenous to parts of China. It has spread invasively to Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Its host plants include grapes, stone fruits, and "Malus" species, although its preferred host is "Ailanthus altissima" (Chinese sumac or tree of heaven). In its native habitat, "L. delicatula" populations are kept in check by parasitic wasps.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The spotted lanternfly's life cycle is often centered on its preferred host "Ailanthus altissima" but "L. delicatula" can associate with more than 173 plants. Early life stages (instars) of the spotted lanternfly are characterized by spotted black and white nymphs that develop a red pigmentation and wings as they mature. Early life instars display a large host range that narrows with maturation. Adult spotted lanternflies display a black head, grey wings, and red hind wings. Adults do not display any specialized feeding associations with herbaceous plants but have been known to cause extensive damage to crops and ornamental plants. The piercing wounds caused by their mouthparts and the honeydew waste they excrete have been found to be significantly detrimental to the health of host plants.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The species was accidentally introduced into South Korea in 2006 and Japan in 2009, and has since been considered a pest. In September 2014, "L. delicatula" was first recorded in the United States, and it is an invasive species in much of Northeastern United States. "L. delicatula's" egg masses have been found to be the primary vector of spread, with "Ailanthus altissima" populations seen as a risk factor for further infestation globally. Ongoing pest control efforts have sought to limit population growth, due to the threat "L. delicatula" poses to global agricultural industries.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: "Lycorma delicatula" is a species in the genus "Lycorma", in the planthopper family Fulgoridae, subfamily Aphaeninae. Species within this genus are found in Asia. "L. delicatula" was originally described by Adam White in 1845 as "Aphaena delicatula", and the first scientific collections were made outside of Nankin, China. White described the species as similar to "Aphaena variegata", another planthopper species native to Asia, and referenced prior descriptions by George Tradescant Lay in his initial classification of the spotted lanternfly.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: In 1863, the species was reclassified by Carl Stål as "Lycorma delicatula delicatula", with two additional subspecies described: "Lycorma delicatula jole" and "Lycorma delicatula operosa". Taxonomic classification places three other species ("L. imperialis", "L. meliae", and "L. olivacea") as closely related to the spotted lanternfly. The name "Lycorma delicatula" derives from "lyc/lyco", meaning "lamp" and "delicatula", meaning "luxurious". "L. delicatula" is also referred to as the spot clothing wax cicada ("chu-ki" or "banyi-la-chan" in Chinese) and the Chinese blistering cicada ("ggot-mae-mi" in Korean).


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: In 2019, the genome of "L. delicatula" was fully sequenced, with "Aphaena amabilis", and "Pyrops candelaria" both being classified as close relatives.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Adult "L. delicatula" measure about long and wide. Adult lanternflies have a black head and gray-brown forewings adorned with black spots. White's original account identified "L. delicatula" as having a minimum of 20 black spots, with 6 spots located on the anterior margin of the forewings.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: When resting, the crimson hind wings are partially visible through the semi-translucent forewings, giving the lanternfly a red cast. Neatly spaced black rectangular markings color the tips of the forewings in a pattern sometimes likened to brick and mortar. In flight, the spotted lanternfly displays red hind wings with black spots on the proximal third, a white wedge in the middle of the wing, and a solid black wing tip. The abdomen is yellowish with black and white bands on the top and bottom. "L. delicatula" displays orange, bulbous antennae covered in needle-like tips.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The spotted lanternfly is sexually dimorphic. Females have a set of red valvifers at the distal end of the abdomen, which males lack. When gravid (mated), the females' abdomens swell to the point where they have difficulty moving. Adult females, when measured from head to wing tip, have a body length of while males are a smaller size, between . Females also have longer legs as compared to those of their male counterparts.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The lanternfly is a planthopper, and uses its wings to assist these jumps rather than making sustained flights. The spotted lanternfly will perform a number of "successive collisions" upon jumping, employing both passive and active righting as it falls. This bouncing provides nymphs, and to a lesser extent adults, multiple opportunities to repeatedly attempt righting themselves following a jump. Additionally, the spotted lanternfly will also perform aerial reorientation and terrestrial righting as means to right itself, collectively giving the spotted lanternfly the ability to land on a variety of surfaces and spread rapidly through an environment.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: "Ailanthus altissima" is a tree native to China and invasive to many other areas worldwide. It is considered to be the key host for "L. delicatula" and plays an important role in the lanternfly life cycle. This tree is the preferred host at all documented locations where the lanternfly and "A. altissima" co-occur. The spotted lanternfly has a host range of over 173 plant species worldwide, including grape vines, fruit trees, ornamental trees, and woody trees, including apple trees and several Rosaceae with stone fruits.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The spotted lanternfly has feeding behavior associated with 103 plant taxa, accounting for 33 families and 17 orders, with 56 of these occurring in the United States. This host range can include many agricultural crops and common forest plants, as the nymphs have been known to associate with other plants beyond "A. altissima". The lanternfly has also been recorded causing serious damage on at least 12 ornamental plants such as "Parthenocissus quinquefolia", "Phellodendron amurense", and "Toona sinensis". In the United States, high populations are seen infesting common forest trees, such as maple, birch, and walnut; in Pennsylvania alone, "L. delicatula" has been found on more than 20 newly recorded host species of woody plants.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: "L. delicatula" feeds on woody and nonwoody plants, piercing the phloem tissue of foliage and stems with specialized mouthparts, and sucking the sap; it does not eat the fruit or the leaves "per se". The sugary waste fluid they produce can coat leaves and stems, which encourages mold growth and can impede photosynthesis.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: "Lycorma delicatula" feed on sap from the trunk or branches of their host plants; because they can appear in such large numbers on a single plant, they can directly cause substantial damage to, and effectively kill parts or the whole of the host.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: "L. delicatula" also indirectly affects the health and productivity of their hosts and nearby plants through the production of large amounts of honeydew, the lanternfly's sugary secretions of excess waste and sap, as well as by leaving feeding scars in the host plant's branches that continue to drip sap. The accumulation of this thick honeydew and tree sap on leaves below the host plant canopy can lower plants' photosynthetic potential and affect their health; this reduction is even more pronounced by the possible growth of molds over the sugary compound, which further limits light available to affected plants. The accumulation of sap and honeydew also attracts many species of ants, bees, and wasps; infestations of "L. delicatula" may thus be hinted at by unusual amounts of molds or stinging insects around specific plants.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Beginning in late April to early May, nymphs hatch from their egg cases. A nymph passes through several immature stages, all of which are wingless. In the first instar, it is black with white spots. Later instars have red patches in addition to the white spots. The final nymphal instar has red wing pads and a red upper body, before molting to the adult form, with a black head and grayish wings with black spots. Nymphs hop or crawl to search for plants on which to feed. Young nymphs (first through third instars) appear to have a wider host range early on, which narrows as they grow older. Though lanternflies have been recorded feeding on several herbaceous plants, this is most likely due to early-instar nymphs climbing or falling onto these plants; late-instar nymphs and adult lanternflies have no reliable association with herbaceous plants.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: As early as July, adults can be seen, and they mate and lay eggs from late September through the onset of winter. During mating periods, spotted lanternflies will perform migratory flights. During these migrations, adult "L. delicatula" will perform a brief courtship and copulation which will last for up to 4 hours. In their native Indomalayan habitat, they lay their eggs preferably on tree of heaven ("A. altissima"), which has toxic metabolites, and is an introduced invasive tree in North America. This host choice is thought to have evolved as a mechanism of protection from natural enemies.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The spotted lanternfly has been found to be capable of completing its life cycle with hosts other than "A. altissima," but generally fail to thrive unless "A. altissima" is present. Many hypotheses are given as to why "L. delicatula" may have preferences for feeding on certain plants. Two examples of possible factors being investigated are the contribution of the overall sugar composition in the plant and the presence of toxic chemicals. The lanternfly lays eggs upon any smooth-trunked tree, stone, or vertical smooth surface, including man-made items such as vehicles, yard furniture, farm equipment, or other items stored outside.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The egg masses contain 30–50 eggs covered in a yellowish-brown, waxy deposit, often referred to as an egg case. "L. delicatula" eggs undergo diapause during embryonic development, requiring two weeks of warm temperatures following winter before hatching is induced. Eggs overwintered for five months or longer demonstrate higher hatch rates and more synchronous hatching, suggesting that cold temperatures increase overall egg survival rates. The lanternfly's life expectancy is one year and the majority of adults die off by the end of December.Testing has been done to determine how overwintering affects the eggs of the species. The highest temperature that will still kill eggs was estimated by South Korean researchers to be between on the basis of mean daily temperatures during their winter of 2009–2010. This estimate contrasts with eggs having survived the much colder winter 2013–14 temperatures in Pennsylvania, United States. Another study done at Rutgers University suggested that is about the temperature at which no eggs are hatched, while still had limited hatching, depending upon how long they were chilled and where they were kept.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The spotted lanternfly is originally native to parts of China, with some evidence of it being native to parts of India, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Fossil evidence indicates "L. delicatula" evolved between 55 and 51.6 myr, during the Ypresian Era. Phylogenomic analysis has shown that "L. delicatula" originally evolved in southwest China, eventually diverging into six phylogeographic lineages. One of these lineages then moved northward, following the Yangtze River during the late Pleistocene Era.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: In the 1930s, "L. delicatula" was known to inhabit the Northern Provinces of Shanxi, Shandong and Hebei. Since then, it has expanded its range to include Anhui, Beijing, Guangdong, Henan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang. In traditional Chinese medicine, the spotted lanternfly is believed to be poisonous, and has been used since the 1100s for topical relief from swelling. "L. delicatula" has also been reported in Taiwan, Vietnam, and India, but ongoing research has yet to conclude if the species is native to these regions.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: "Lycorma delicatula" normally uses "A. altissima" for feeding and laying eggs, but if it is not present, the insect can lay its eggs on any stationary object, natural or man-made, and feeds on a wide variety of plants. Eggs can easily be moved from place to place without being noticed, giving them an easy way to spread to new areas. Its initial introduction to the United States is believed to have been through this pathway, hitchhiking on an object imported from Asia into Pennsylvania. Adults of "L. delicatula" jump around the area to find new host plants. As nymphs, they feed on whatever host plant the egg was laid on before moving to another in the area. "L. delicatula" is capable of surviving and completing its life cycle in environments without its preferred host, "A. altissima", albeit with greatly reduced fitness.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: In 2006, the spotted lanternfly was introduced in Korea, and has been considered a pest since about 2007. It has since expanded its host range, attacking at least 65 plant species, uninhibited by natural predators. The distribution of "L. delicatula" has since been predicted using a modeling approach, which showed that this pest has the potential to occur in the majority of South Korea.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: A possible correlation seems to exist between the widespread distribution of "A. altissima" and the overall damage on grapevines, as the tree is commonly found growing on the peripheries of Korean vineyards. "L. delicatula" has been documented to be a pest to grapevines, leading to a decline in the total number and overall quality of the harvested grapes. No quantitative data has been published supporting this correlation, but it has been widely hypothesized.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: In 2009, Japan reported their first confirmed presence of the spotted lanternfly in Komatsu city (Ishikawa Prefecture). In 2013, it was confirmed to have spread into the Fukui Prefecture. Researchers have estimated that the spotted lanternfly may have been entering the country sporadically since the 1930s, with it only establishing a population during the last two decades. Specimens found in Japan are genetically identical to populations in Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, and Shanghai, China.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: On 29 September 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) and the Pennsylvania Game Commission first confirmed the presence of the spotted lanternfly in Berks County, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia. Based on its host affinities, it presented a threat to the state's grape, fruit tree, and logging industries. The greatest risk of spread was seen in transportation of materials containing egg masses laid on smooth bark, stone, and other vertical surfaces.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture banned the transport of items that could harbor the egg masses, including firewood, lawn mowers, outdoor chairs, trucks, and recreational vehicles from seven municipalities on 1 November 2014. Given the presence of old egg masses found, it has been estimated that the spotted lanternfly may have been in the United States since at least 2012, having survived the unusually cold 2013–14 winter. Since then, over 34 counties in Pennsylvania have declared quarantine.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Pennsylvania State University has estimated statewide costs of the spotted lanternfly to be $99.1 million in agricultural losses, and $236.3 million to the forestry industry, annually. Models of the spotted lanternfly's spread have projected an annual loss of $554.0 million, with an additional loss of 4,987 jobs, should it continue to spread to the entirety of Pennsylvania. A national working group led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, consisting of Penn State Researchers and USDA scientists, was organized "to determine what is known about the lanternfly and what research is needed, including DNA analysis to pinpoint where the infestation originated."


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Other states began seeing spotted lanternflies as soon as 2018, and by 2021, they were also confirmed to be established in at least parts of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia, with several of these states issuing quarantine orders. In 2022, the species was confirmed to be present in North Carolina. A large potential range exists for the spotted lanternfly to become established if not prevented, covering almost all of the eastern part of the country, as well as critical wine- and hop-growing valleys of the Pacific coastal states.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Interceptions of dead spotted lanternfly specimens have been reported in Michigan, Kansas, Oregon and California, though no live sightings have been reported from these states This increases concerns for possible accidental introduction of the insect to yet more states where they can potentially become established.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Canadian Food Inspection Agency has identified a risk of the Spotted Lanternfly entering the country and has previously intercepted adult lanternflies traveling to Ontario in shipping crates. The primary concern is the potential damage the lanternflies could cause to the wine, fruit, and vegetable industries. The Canadian government and agricultural industries are concerned about maintaining quarantine and have expressed hope that quarantine efforts in the United States are successful. Although most of Canada is an unsuitable habitat for "L. delicatula", southwestern Ontario and southerly parts of other provinces are modeled to have low suitability for inhabitation. "L. delicatula" has been theorized to be capable of maintaining a small population in the region although no specimens have yet been discovered.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization classifies "L. delicatula" as an A1 pest and anticipates it becoming invasive in Europe. CLIMEX modeling of potential habitats for "L. delicatula" has found that the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy may be capable of supporting small "L. delicatula" populations. Risk analysis of the spotted lanternfly to become established in Europe has been classified as a moderate to high risk, predominately due to the pervasiveness of "A. altissima".


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Modeling for the life cycle of the spotted lanternfly in Australia has found that development and survival may vary throughout the country, should the spotted lanternfly be introduced. Australia's southwest coastal regions are estimated to have a high viability for the spotted lanternfly but Australian Great Dividing Range and Tasmania were found to have the lowest suitability. Both the pervasiveness of "A. altissima" and the lack of consistent freezing seasons are considered risk factors in "L. delicatula" establishing populations in the country.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Pest control measures and guidelines have been issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and its PennState Extension. These guidelines include killing "L. delicatula" eggs between the months of October and May by scraping them off surfaces, "double bag them and throw them in the garbage." People can scrape the eggs directly into plastic bags containing alcohol and/or hand sanitizer to kill them. The PDA has recommended removal of spotted lanternfly hosts, the tree "Ailanthus altissima", saving only male trees to use as "trap" trees, since the spotted lanternfly requires a meal from this tree before laying eggs.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: The remaining male "trap trees" should be wrapped with sticky bands starting in early spring to catch any nymphs. Wildlife experts have warned to cover the sticky bands on trees with chicken wire or another similar wire after many reports of other animals (e.g. birds) becoming trapped on them, resulting in injury and/or death.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: In Pennsylvania and Korea, use of brown sticky traps has been effective at capturing nymphs, though adults may be strong enough to escape the adhesive. The spotted lanternfly is known to avoid changes in tree texture and obstacles along the tree trunk, and inward facing traps have shown the greatest efficacy with minimized ecological impact. "L. delicatula" has been found to be attracted to certain kairomones released by their host plants, and adults and second- to fourth-instar nymphs are also attracted to spearmint oil. Such chemicals (like methyl salicylate) may be used to lure them into sticky traps to augment this pest control method.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Researchers using infrared thermography have found that the spotted lanternfly emits long-wavelength infrared (8–14 μm) light during active feeding and rapid hemolymph circulation, indicating a means of early detection. Trained dogs are capable of detecting winterized egg masses.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Four species of fungal entomopathogens native to the United States have been identified to cause co-epizootics in the spotted lanternfly. "Beauveria bassiana," "Batkoa major", "Metarhizium pemphigi" and "Ophiocordyceps delicatula" (in the family Entomophthoraceae) have been found to parasitize and kill the spotted lanternfly, with "Beauveria bassiana" having also shown an ability to kill spotted lanternflies in biopesticide trials.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: A few natural predators have been identified in the lanternfly's native habitat in China, but are not yet used in biocontrol. "Dryinus sinicus", a dryinidae wasp, and "Ooencyrtus kuvanae", a chalcid wasp, have been found to parasitize spotted lanternfly eggs and nymphs. "Ooencyrtus kuvanae" was previously introduced into the United States in 1908 for population control of "Lymantria dispar dispar" and was first documented to parasitize spotted lanternfly egg masses in 2017. Another biocontrol predator being tested is the eupelmid wasp "Anastatus orientalis", due to its high rates of parasitism of eggs. This wasp is under investigation in South Korea and in the United States, where it is being evaluated under quarantine until researchers are certain it will not become an invasive species and attack other insects.


title: Spotted lanternfly

text: Spotted lanternfly DNA has been confirmed in southeast Pennsylvania honey samples, presumably caused by honeybees consuming lanternfly honeydew. The honeydew secreted by lanternflies which had feasted on the tree of heaven not only led to changes in flavor deemed beneficial to the marketing of late-summer Pennsylvania honey, but was reported to have less ash content than aphid honeydew. This property makes lanternfly honey a better cold-weather food source for bee colonies and confers some resistance to parasitic mite infestations.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Premature ejaculation (PE) occurs when a man expels semen (and most likely experiences orgasm) soon after beginning sexual activity, and with minimal penile stimulation. It has also been called "early ejaculation", "rapid ejaculation", "rapid climax", "premature climax" and (historically) "ejaculatio praecox." There is no uniform cut-off defining "premature", but a consensus of experts at the International Society for Sexual Medicine endorsed a definition of around one minute after penetration. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) applies a cut-off of 15 seconds from the beginning of sexual intercourse.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Although men with premature ejaculation describe feeling that they have less control over ejaculating, it is not clear if that is true, and many or most average men also report that they wish they could last longer. Men's typical ejaculatory latency is approximately 4–8 minutes. The opposite condition is delayed ejaculation.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Men with PE often report emotional and relationship distress, and some avoid pursuing sexual relationships because of PE-related embarrassment. Compared with men, women consider PE less of a problem, but several studies show that the condition also causes female partners distress.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: The causes of premature ejaculation are unclear. Many theories have been suggested, including that PE was the result of masturbating quickly during adolescence to avoid being caught, performance anxiety, passive-aggressiveness or having too little sex; but there is little evidence to support any of these theories.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Several physiological mechanisms have been hypothesized to contribute to causing premature ejaculation, including serotonin receptors, a genetic predisposition, elevated penile sensitivity and nerve conduction atypicalities. Scientists have long suspected a genetic link to certain forms of premature ejaculation. However, studies have been inconclusive in isolating the gene responsible for lifelong PE.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: The nucleus paragigantocellularis of the brain has been identified as having involvement in ejaculatory control. Other researchers have noted that men who have premature ejaculation have a faster neurological response in the pelvic muscles.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: PE has been classified into four subtypes - lifelong, acquired, variable and subjective PE. The pathophysiology of lifelong PE is mediated by a complex interplay of central and peripheral serotonergic, dopaminergic, oxytocinergic, endocrinological, genetic and epigenetic factors. Acquired PE may occur due to psychological problems - such as sexual performance anxiety, and psychological or relationship problems - and/or co-morbidity, including Erectile dysfunction, prostatitis and hyperthyroidism.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: The physical process of ejaculation requires two actions: emission and expulsion. The emission is the first phase. It involves deposition of fluid from the ampullary vas deferens, seminal vesicles and prostate gland into the posterior urethra. The second phase is the expulsion phase. It involves closure of bladder neck, followed by the rhythmic contractions of the urethra by pelvic-perineal and bulbospongiosus muscle and intermittent relaxation of external urethral sphincters.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Sympathetic motor neurons control the emission phase of ejaculation reflex, and expulsion phase is executed by somatic and autonomic motor neurons. These motor neurons are located in the thoracolumbar and lumbosacral spinal cord and are activated in a coordinated manner when sufficient sensory input to reach the ejaculatory threshold has entered the central nervous system.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: The 1948 Kinsey Report suggested that three-quarters of men ejaculate within two minutes of penetration in over half of their sexual encounters.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Current evidence supports an average intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) of six and a half minutes in 18- to 30-year-olds. If the disorder is defined as an IELT percentile below 2.5, then premature ejaculation could be suggested by an IELT of less than about two minutes. Nevertheless, it is possible that men with abnormally low IELTs could be satisfied with their performance and do not report a lack of control. Likewise, those with higher IELTs may consider themselves premature ejaculators, have detrimental side effects normally associated with premature ejaculation, and even benefit from treatment.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) defines premature ejaculation as "A persistent or recurrent pattern of ejaculation occurring during partnered sexual activity within approximately 1 minute following vaginal penetration and before the person wishes it," with the additional requirements that the condition occurs for a duration longer than 6 months, causes clinically significant distress, and cannot be better explained by relationship distress, another mental disorder, or the use of medications. These factors are identified by talking with the person, not through any diagnostic test. The DSM-5 allows for specifiers whether the condition is lifelong or acquired, applying in general or only to certain situations, and severity based on the time under one minute, however these subtypes have been criticised as lacking validity due to insufficient evidence.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Several treatments have been tested for treating premature ejaculation. A combination of medication and non-medication treatments is often the most effective method.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Many men attempt to treat themselves for premature ejaculation by trying to distract themselves, such as by trying to focus their attention away from the sexual stimulation. There is little evidence to indicate that it is effective and it tends to detract from the sexual fulfilment of both partners. Other self-treatments include thrusting more slowly, withdrawing the penis altogether, purposefully ejaculating before sexual intercourse, and using more than one condom. Using more than one condom is not recommended as the friction will often lead to breakage. Some men report these to have been helpful.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: A qualitative clinical trial, conducted by King's College London medical school teaching hospitals, compared use of the Prolong device with cognitive behavioural therapy. Using the Climax Control Training program in 58 subjects was found to delay time to ejaculation from 48 seconds (0.8 minutes) to 8 minutes and 48 seconds (8.8 minutes) on average in 61% of men, compared to 2 minutes and 36 seconds (2.6 minutes) in 40% of men having cognitive behavioural therapy, with a difference on average of 6 minutes and 12 seconds (6.2 minutes) between the two groups.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Several techniques have been developed and applied by sex therapists, including Kegel exercises (to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor) and Masters and Johnson's "stop-start technique" (to desensitize the man's responses) and "squeeze technique" (to reduce excessive arousal).


title: Premature ejaculation

text: To treat premature ejaculation, Masters and Johnson developed the "squeeze technique", based on the Semans technique developed by James Semans in 1956. Men were instructed to pay close attention to their arousal pattern and learn to recognize how they felt shortly before their "point of no return", the moment ejaculation felt imminent and inevitable. Sensing it, they were to signal their partner, who squeezed the head of the penis between thumb and index finger, suppressing the ejaculatory reflex and allowing the man to last longer.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: The squeeze technique worked, but many couples found it cumbersome. From the 1970s to the 1990s, sex therapists refined the Masters and Johnson approach, largely abandoning the squeeze technique and focused on a simpler and more effective technique called the "stop-start" technique. During intercourse, as the man senses he is approaching climax, both partners stop moving and remain still until the man's feelings of ejaculatory inevitability subside, at which point, they are free to resume active intercourse.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: These techniques appear to work for around half of people, in the short-term studies that had been done as of 2017.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: , there are no drugs specifically approved for the treatment of PE. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used to treat PE, including fluoxetine, paroxetine, citalopram, escitalopram or dapoxetine and clomipramine. The opioid tramadol, an atypical oral analgesic is also used. Results have found PDE5 inhibitors to be effective in combination treatment with SSRIs. The full effects of these medications typically emerge after 2-3 weeks, with results indicating about ejaculatory delay varying between 6–20 times greater than before medication. Premature ejaculation can return upon discontinuation, and the side effects of these SSRIs can also include anorgasmia, erectile dysfunction, and diminished libido.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Topical anesthetics such as lidocaine and benzocaine that are applied to the tip and shaft of the penis have also been used. They are applied 10–15 minutes before sexual activity and have fewer potential side effects as compared to SSRIs. However, this is sometimes disliked due to the reduction of sensation in the penis as well as for the partner (due to the medication rubbing onto the partner).


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Two different surgeries, both developed in South Korea, are available to permanently treat premature ejaculation: selective dorsal neurectomy (SDN) and glans penis augmentation using a hyaluronan gel. Circumcision has shown no effect on PE. The International Society for Sexual Medicine guidelines do not recommend either surgical treatment due to the risk of permanent loss of sexual function and insufficient reliable data and on the basis of violating the medical principle of non-maleficence as the surgery can lead to complications, of which some might not yet be known. The most common complication of surgery is the recurrence of PE, reported to occur in about 10% of surgeries. Other sources consider SDN as a safe and efficient treatment and these surgeries are popular in Asian countries.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Premature ejaculation is a prevalent sexual dysfunction in men; however, because of the variability in time required to ejaculate and in partners' desired duration of sex, exact prevalence rates of PE are difficult to determine. In the "Sex in America" surveys (1999 and 2008), University of Chicago researchers found that between adolescence and age 59, approximately 30% of men reported having experienced PE at least once during the previous 12 months, whereas about 10 percent reported erectile dysfunction (ED). Although ED is men's most prevalent sex problem after age 60, and may be more prevalent than PE overall according to some estimates, premature ejaculation remains a significant issue that, according to the survey, affects 28 percent of men age 65–74, and 22 percent of men age 75–85. Other studies report PE prevalence ranging from 3 percent to 41 percent of men over 18, but the great majority estimate a prevalence of 20 to 30 percent—making PE a very common sex problem.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: There is a common misconception that younger men are more likely to develop premature ejaculation and that its frequency decreases with age. Prevalence studies have indicated, however, that rates of PE are constant across age groups.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Male mammals ejaculate quickly during intercourse, prompting some biologists to speculate that rapid ejaculation had evolved into men's genetic makeup to increase their chances of passing their genes.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Ejaculatory control issues have been documented for more than 1,500 years. The "Kamasutra", the 4th century BCE Indian marriage handbook, declares: "Women love the man whose sexual energy lasts a long time, but they resent a man whose energy ends quickly because he stops before they reach a climax." Waldinger summarizes professional perspectives from early in the twentieth century.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey did not consider rapid ejaculation a problem, but viewed it as a sign of "masculine vigor" that could not always be cured. The belief that it should be considered a disease rather than a normal variation, has also been disputed by some modern researchers.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: Freudian theory postulated that rapid ejaculation was a symptom of underlying neurosis. It stated that the man has unconscious hostility toward women, so he ejaculates rapidly, which satisfies him but frustrates his lover, who is unlikely to experience orgasm that quickly. Freudians claimed that premature ejaculation could be cured using psychoanalysis. But even years of psychoanalysis accomplished little, if anything, in curing premature ejaculation.


title: Premature ejaculation

text: In 1974, there was no evidence found to suggest that men with premature ejaculation harbor unusual hostility toward women.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: Krypton is an American television series developed by David S. Goyer for Syfy. Focusing on Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), the grandfather of DC Comics superhero Kal-El / Superman, the series is set approximately 200 years before the birth of Superman and takes place on the eponymous fictional planet. "Krypton" premiered on March 21, 2018. Its first season consists of ten episodes. The second season of ten episodes premiered on June 12, 2019. After its broadcast, Syfy canceled the series after two seasons in August.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: "Krypton" follows Superman's grandfather, Seg-El, whose family, the House of El, has been ostracized and shamed. Seg fights to redeem his family's honor and save his beloved world from chaos.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: In October 2014, David S. Goyer was developing a prequel television series titled "Krypton". The series was in development by Syfy network, produced by Goyer and written and executive produced by Ian Goldberg. Damian Kindler was the showrunner with Goyer as co-executive producer. Syfy tweeted a debut of the show in 2018. Hawkwoman was originally announced to appear in the series, but was later decided by the showrunners not to include her in the first season of the series due to her not fitting into the ongoing storylines.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: Syfy renewed "Krypton" for a second season, which premiered on June 12, 2019. Soon after its broadcast, Syfy canceled the series after two seasons in August.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: Georgina Campbell was first cast as Lyta Zod. Shaun Sipos was cast as Adam Strange. It was intended by the show's creators to be LGBTQ+ character, but this was only implied following alleged interference from former DC executive Geoff Johns. Cameron Cuffe was cast as Seg-El. Regé-Jean Page auditioned for the role but was not cast because Johns reportedly believed the character had to resemble Superman actor Henry Cavill due to initial fan perception that the show could serve as a possible prequel to the 2013 movie "Man of Steel". Alongside Cameron Cuffe, other actors Ian McElhinney, Elliot Cowan, Ann Ogbomo, Rasmus Hardiker, Wallis Day, and Aaron Pierre were cast as Val-El, Daron-Vex, Jayna-Zod, Kem, Nyssa-Vex, and Dev-Em. Blake Ritson was cast as Brainiac.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: Paula Malcomson was cast as Charys, while Hannah Waddingham was cast as Jax-Ur. Emmett J. Scanlan was cast as Lobo for the second season.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: In June 2016, production on the pilot was slated to begin later in the year in Montreal. By September, the pilot was filmed in Serbia by Colm McCarthy. The second season began filming in October 2018 in Belfast and wrapped on March 3, 2019.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: "Krypton"s first season premiered on March 21, 2018 and concluded on May 23 with a total of ten episodes. The second season premiered on June 12, 2019.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: The first season became available on DC's streaming service DC Universe on April 5, 2019, with the second season airing on August 11, 2020.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: The first season was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 5, 2019. The second season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 14, 2020.


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: In 2018, DC debuted a comic book version of "Krypton" featuring the show's cast on the cover for Free Comic Book Day. An after show titled "Decrypting Krypton" premiered on Syfy on March 21, following "Krypton" premiere episode. "Decrypting Krypton" featured host Matt Hiscox discussing the latest episode with fans, actors, and producers of "Krypton".


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: The first season holds a score of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 6.26/10. Rotten Tomatoes's critical consensus reads: ""Krypton"s eccentricity declines into silliness with a dull narrative that fails to fulfill a promising premise". On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: A 100% approval rating for the second season was reported by Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.96/10 based on 10 reviews. Its critical consensus reads: "Fresh faces, exceptional performances, and a more clearly defined sense of purpose help "Krypton" find its footing".


title: Krypton (TV series)

text: In June 2019, Syfy announced a spin-off based on Lobo, set to be produced by Cameron Welsh, who also executive produced "Krypton". However, in August, the spin-off was not moving forward alongside "Krypton"s cancellation after two seasons.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The Mesoamerican ballgame (, , ) was a sport with ritual associations played since at least 1650 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a newer, more modern version of the game, "ulama", is still played by the indigenous populations in some places.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The rules of the Mesoamerican ballgame are not known, but judging from its descendant, ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play. The stone ballcourt goals are a late addition to the game.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: In the most common theory of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lbs), and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The Mesoamerican ballgame had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events. Late in the history of the game, some cultures occasionally seem to have combined competitions with religious human sacrifice. The sport was also played casually for recreation by children and may have been played by women as well.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Pre-Columbian ballcourts have been found throughout Mesoamerica, as for example at Copán, as far south as modern Nicaragua, and possibly as far north as what is now the U.S. state of Arizona. These ballcourts vary considerably in size, but all have long narrow alleys with slanted side-walls against which the balls could bounce in.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The Mesoamerican ballgame is known by a wide variety of names. In English, it is often called "pok-ta-pok" (or "pok-a-tok"). This term originates from a 1932 article by Danish archaeologist Frans Blom, who adapted it from the Yucatec Maya word . In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, it was called () or (). In Classical Maya, it was known as . In modern Spanish, it is called ('Maya ballgame'), ('Mesoamerican ballgame'), or simply ('Maya ball').


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: It is not known precisely when or where the Mesoamerican ballgame originated, although it is likely that it originated earlier than 2000 BC in the low-lying tropical zones home to the rubber tree.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: One candidate for the birthplace of the ballgame is the Soconusco coastal lowlands along the Pacific Ocean. Here, at Paso de la Amada, archaeologists have found the oldest ballcourt yet discovered, dated to approximately 1400 BC.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The other major candidate is the Olmec heartland, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec along the Gulf Coast. The Aztecs referred to their Postclassic contemporaries who then inhabited the region as the "Olmeca" (i.e. "rubber people") since the region was strongly identified with latex production. The earliest-known rubber balls in the world come from the sacrificial bog at El Manatí, an early Olmec-associated site located in the hinterland of the Coatzacoalcos River drainage system. Villagers, and subsequently archaeologists, have recovered a dozen balls ranging in diameter from 10 to 22 cm from the freshwater spring there. Five of these balls have been dated to the earliest-known occupational phase for the site, approximately 1700–1600 BC. These rubber balls were found with other ritual offerings buried at the site, indicating that even at this early date the game had religious and ritual connotations. A stone "yoke" of the type frequently associated with Mesoamerican ballcourts was also reported to have been found by local villagers at the site, leaving open the distinct possibility that these rubber balls were related to the ritual ballgame, and not simply an independent form of sacrificial offering.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Excavations at the nearby Olmec site of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán have also uncovered a number of ballplayer figurines, radiocarbon-dated as far back as 1250–1150 BC. A rudimentary ballcourt, dated to a later occupation at San Lorenzo, 600–400 BC, has also been identified.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: From the tropical lowlands, the game apparently moved into central Mexico. Starting around 1000 BC or earlier, ballplayer figurines were interred with burials at Tlatilco and similarly styled figurines from the same period have been found at the nearby Tlapacoya site. It was about this period, as well, that the so-called Xochipala-style ballplayer figurines were crafted in Guerrero. Although no ballcourts of similar age have been found in Tlatilco or Tlapacoya, it is possible that the ballgame was indeed played in these areas, but on courts with perishable boundaries or temporary court markers.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: By 300 BC, evidence for the game appears throughout much of the Mesoamerican archaeological record, including ballcourts in the Central Chiapas Valley (the next oldest ballcourts discovered, after Paso de la Amada), and in the Oaxaca Valley, as well as ceramic ballgame tableaus from Western Mexico (see photo below).


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: As might be expected with a game played over such a long period of time by many cultures, details varied over time and place, so the Mesoamerican ballgame might be more accurately seen as a family of related games.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: In general, the hip-ball version is most popularly thought of as "the" Mesoamerican ballgame, and researchers believe that this version was the primary—or perhaps only—version played within the masonry ballcourt. Ample archaeological evidence exists for games where the ball was struck by a wooden stick (e.g., a mural at Teotihuacan shows a game which resembles field hockey), racquets, bats and batons, handstones, and the forearm, perhaps at times in combination. Each of the various types of games had its own size of ball, specialized gear and playing field, and rules.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Games were played between two teams of players. The number of players per team could vary, between two to four. Some games were played on makeshift courts for simple recreation while others were formal spectacles on huge stone ballcourts leading to human sacrifice.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Even without human sacrifice, the game could be brutal and there were often serious injuries inflicted by the solid, heavy ball. Today's hip-"ulama" players are "perpetually bruised" while nearly 500 years ago Spanish chronicler Diego Durán reported that some bruises were so severe that they had to be lanced open. He also reported that players were even killed when the ball "hit them in the mouth or the stomach or the intestines".


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The rules of the Mesoamerican ballgame, regardless of the version, are not known in any detail. In modern-day "ulama", the game resembles a netless volleyball, with each team confined to one half of the court. In the most widespread version of "ulama", the ball is hit back and forth using only the hips until one team fails to return it or the ball leaves the court.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: In the Postclassic period, the Maya began placing vertical stone rings on each side of the court, the object being to pass the ball through one, an innovation that continued into the later Toltec and Aztec cultures.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: In the 16th-century Aztec ballgame that the Spaniards witnessed, points were lost by a player who let the ball bounce more than twice before returning it to the other team, who let the ball go outside the boundaries of the court, or who tried and failed to pass the ball through one of the stone rings placed on each wall along the center line. According to 16th-century Aztec chronicler Motolinia, points were gained if the ball hit the opposite end wall, while the decisive victory was reserved for the team that put the ball through a ring. However, placing the ball through the ring was a rare event—the rings at Chichen Itza, for example, were set off the playing field—and most games were likely won on points.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The game's paraphernalia—clothing, headdresses, gloves, all but the stone—are long gone, so knowledge on clothing relies on art—paintings and drawings, stone reliefs, and figurines—to provide evidence for pre-Columbian ballplayer clothing and gear, which varied considerably in type and quantity. Capes and masks, for example, are shown on several Dainzú reliefs, while Teotihuacan murals show men playing stick-ball in skirts.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The basic hip-game outfit consisted of a loincloth, sometimes augmented with leather hip guards. Loincloths are found on the earliest ballplayer figurines from Tlatilco, Tlapacoya, and the Olmec culture, are seen in the Weiditz drawing from 1528 (below), and, with hip guards, are the sole outfit of modern-day "ulama" players (above)—a span of nearly 3,000 years.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: In many cultures, further protection was provided by a thick girdle, most likely of wicker or wood covered in fabric or leather. Made of perishable materials, none of these girdles have survived, although many stone "yokes" have been uncovered. Misnamed by earlier archaeologists due to its resemblance to an animal yoke, the stone yoke is thought to be too heavy for actual play and was likely used only before or after the game in ritual contexts. In addition to providing some protection from the ball, the girdle or yoke would also have helped propel the ball with more force than the hip alone. Additionally, some players wore chest protectors called "palmas" which were inserted into the yoke and stood upright in front of the chest.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Kneepads are seen on a variety of players from many areas and eras and are worn by forearm-"ulama" players today. A type of garter is also often seen, worn just below the knee or around the ankle—it is not known what function this served. Gloves appear on the purported ballplayer reliefs of Dainzú, roughly 500 BC, as well as the Aztec players are drawn by Weiditz 2,000 years later (see drawing below). Helmets (likely utilitarian) and elaborate headdresses (likely used only in ritual contexts) are also common in ballplayer depictions, headdresses being particularly prevalent on Maya painted vases or on Jaina Island figurines. Many ballplayers of the Classic era are seen with a right kneepad—no left—and a wrapped right forearm, as shown in the Maya image above.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The sizes or weights of the balls actually used in the ballgame are not known with any certainty. While several dozen ancient balls have been recovered, they were originally laid down as offerings in a sacrificial bog or spring, and there is no evidence that any of these were used in the ballgame. In fact, some of these extant votive balls were created specifically "as" offerings.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: However, based on a review of modern-day game balls, ancient rubber balls, and other archaeological evidence, it is presumed by most researchers that the ancient hip-ball was made of a mix from one or another of the latex-producing plants found all the way from the southeastern rain forests to the northern desert. Most balls were made from latex sap of the lowland "Castilla elastica" tree. Someone discovered that by mixing latex with sap from the vine of a species of morning glory ("Calonyction aculeatum") they could turn the slippery polymers in raw latex into a resilient rubber. The size varied between (measured in hand spans) and weighed . The ball used in the ancient handball or stick-ball game was probably slightly larger and heavier than a modern-day baseball.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Some Maya depictions, such as , show balls or more in diameter. Academic consensus is that these depictions are exaggerations or symbolic, as are, for example, the impossibly unwieldy headdresses worn in the same portrayals.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The game was played within a large masonry structure. Built in a form that changed remarkably little during 2,700 years, over 1,300 Mesoamerican ballcourts have been identified, 60% in the last 20 years alone. All ballcourts have the same general shape: a long narrow playing alley flanked by walls with both horizontal and sloping (or, more rarely, vertical) surfaces. The walls were often plastered and brightly painted. In early ballcourts the alleys were open-ended, later ballcourts had enclosed end-zones, giving the structure an -shape when viewed from above.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: While the length-to-width ratio remained relatively constant at about 4-to-1, there was tremendous variation in ballcourt size: The playing field of the Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza, by far the largest, measures 96.5 meters long by 30 meters wide, and the Ceremonial Court at Tikal was only 16 meters by 5 meters.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Across Mesoamerica, ballcourts were built and used for many generations. Although ballcourts are found within most sizable Mesoamerican ruins, they are not equally distributed across time or geography. For example, the Late Classic site of El Tajín, the largest city of the ballgame-obsessed Classic Veracruz culture, has at least 18 ballcourts, and Cantona, a nearby contemporaneous site, sets the record with 24. In contrast, northern Chiapas and the northern Maya Lowlands have relatively few, and ballcourts are conspicuously absent at some major sites, including Teotihuacan, Bonampak, and Tortuguero, although Mesoamerican ballgame iconography has been found there.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Ancient cities with particularly fine ballcourts in good condition include Tikal, Yaxha, Copán, Coba, Iximche, Monte Albán, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Yagul, Xochicalco, Mixco Viejo, and Zaculeu.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Ballcourts were public spaces used for a variety of elite cultural events and ritual activities like musical performances and festivals, and, of course, the ballgame. Pictorial depictions often show musicians playing at ballgames, and votive deposits buried at the Main Ballcourt at Tenochtitlan contained miniature whistles, ocarinas, and drums. A pre-Columbian ceramic from western Mexico shows what appears to be a wrestling match taking place on a ballcourt.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The Mesoamerican ballgame was a ritual deeply ingrained in Mesoamerican cultures and served purposes beyond that of a mere sporting event. Fray Juan de Torquemada, a 16th-century Spanish missionary and historian, tells that the Aztec emperor Axayacatl played Xihuitlemoc, the leader of Xochimilco, wagering his annual income against several Xochimilco chinampas. Ixtlilxochitl, a contemporary of Torquemada, relates that Topiltzin, the Toltec king, played against three rivals, with the winner ruling over the losers.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: These examples and others are cited by many researchers who have made compelling arguments that the game served as a way to defuse or resolve conflicts without genuine warfare, to settle disputes through a ballgame instead of a battle. Over time, then, the ballgame's role would expand to include not only external mediation, but also the resolution of competition and conflict within the society as well.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: This "boundary maintenance" or "conflict resolution" theory would also account for some of the irregular distribution of ballcourts. Overall, there appears to be a negative correlation between the degree of political centralization and the number of ballcourts at a site. For example, the Aztec Empire, with a strong centralized state and few external rivals, had relatively few ballcourts while Middle Classic Cantona, with 24 ballcourts, had many diverse cultures residing there under a relatively weak state.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The association between human sacrifice and the ballgame appears rather late in the archaeological record, no earlier than the Classic era. The association was particularly strong within the Classic Veracruz and the Maya cultures, where the most explicit depictions of human sacrifice can be seen on the ballcourt panels—for example at El Tajín (850–1100 CE) and at Chichen Itza (900–1200 CE)—as well as on the from the Classic Veracruz site of Aparicio (700–900 CE). The Postclassic Maya religious and quasi-historical narrative, the Popol Vuh, also links human sacrifice with the ballgame (see below).


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: Captives were often shown in Maya art, and it is assumed that these captives were sacrificed after losing a rigged ritual ballgame. Rather than nearly nude and sometimes battered captives, however, the ballcourts at El Tajín and Chichen Itza show the sacrifice of practiced ballplayers, perhaps the captain of a team. Decapitation is particularly associated with the ballgame—severed heads are featured in much Late Classic ballgame art and appear repeatedly in the Popol Vuh. There has been speculation that the heads and skulls were used as balls.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: According to an important Nahua source, the Leyenda de los Soles, the Toltec king Huemac played ball against the Tlalocs, with precious stones and quetzal feathers at stake. Huemac won the game. When instead of precious stones and feathers, the rain deities offered Huemac their young maize ears and maize leaves, Huemac refused. As a consequence of this vanity, the Toltecs suffered a four-year drought. The same ball game match, with its unfortunate aftermath, signified the beginning of the end of the Toltec reign.


title: Mesoamerican ballgame

text: The Maya Twin myth of the Popol Vuh establishes the importance of the game (referred to in Classic Maya as "pitz") as a symbol for warfare intimately connected to the themes of fertility and death. The story begins with the Hero Twins' father, Hun Hunahpu, and uncle, Vucub Hunahpu, playing ball near the underworld, Xibalba. The lords of the underworld became annoyed with the noise from the ball playing and so the primary lords of Xibalba, One Death and Seven Death, sent owls to lure the brothers to the ballcourt of Xibalba, situated on the western edge of the underworld. Despite the danger the brothers fall asleep and are captured and sacrificed by the lords of Xibalba and then buried in the ballcourt. Hun Hunahpu is decapitated and his head hung in a fruit tree, which bears the first calabash gourds. Hun Hunahpu's head spits into the hands of a passing goddess who conceives and bears the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The Hero Twins eventually find the ballgame equipment in their father’s house and start playing, again to the annoyance of the Lords of Xibalba, who summon the twins to play the ballgame amidst trials and dangers. In one notable episode, Hunahpu is decapitated by bats. His brother uses a squash as Hunahpu's substitute head until his real one, now used as a ball by the Lords, can be retrieved and placed back on Hunahpu's shoulders. The twins eventually go on to play the ballgame with the Lords of Xibalba, defeating them. However, the twins are unsuccessful in reviving their father, so they leave him buried in the ball court of Xibalba.