title: Rajneesh

text: During the early 1980s, a number of commentators in the popular press were dismissive of Rajneesh. The Australian critic Clive James scornfully referred to him as "Bagwash", likening the experience of listening to one of his discourses to sitting in a laundrette and watching "your tattered underwear revolve soggily for hours while exuding grey suds. The Bagwash talks the way that he looks." James finished by saying that Rajneesh, though a "fairly benign example of his type", was a "rebarbative dingbat who manipulates the manipulable into manipulating one another". Responding to an enthusiastic review of Rajneesh's talks by Bernard Levin in "The Times", Dominik Wujastyk, also writing in "The Times", similarly expressed his opinion that the talk he heard while visiting the Puna "ashram" was of a very low standard, wearyingly repetitive and often factually wrong, and stated that he felt disturbed by the personality cult surrounding Rajneesh.


title: Rajneesh

text: Writing in the Seattle Post Intelligencer in January 1990, American author Tom Robbins stated that based on his readings of Rajneesh's books, he was convinced Rajneesh was the 20th century's "greatest spiritual teacher". Robbins, while stressing that he was not a disciple, further stated that he had "read enough vicious propaganda and slanted reports to suspect that he was one of the most maligned figures in history". Rajneesh's commentary on the Sikh scripture known as "Japuji" was hailed as the best available by Giani Zail Singh, the former President of India. In 2011, author Farrukh Dhondy reported that film star Kabir Bedi was a fan of Rajneesh, and viewed Rajneesh's works as "the most sublime interpretations of Indian philosophy that he had come across". Dhondy himself said Rajneesh was "the cleverest intellectual confidence trickster that India has produced. His output of the 'interpretation' of Indian texts is specifically slanted towards a generation of disillusioned westerners who wanted (and perhaps still want) to 'have their cake, eat it' [and] claim at the same time that cake-eating is the highest virtue according to ancient-fused-with-scientific wisdom."


title: David Schwimmer

text: David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom "Friends", for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995. While still acting in "Friends", his first leading film role was in "The Pallbearer" (1996), followed by roles in "Kissing a Fool", "Six Days, Seven Nights", "Apt Pupil" (all 1998), and "Picking Up the Pieces" (2000). He was then cast in the miniseries "Band of Brothers" (2001) as Herbert Sobel.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in theater and speech. After graduation, Schwimmer co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company. For much of the late 1980s, he lived in Los Angeles as a struggling, unemployed actor, until he starred in the television movie "A Deadly Silence" in 1989 and appeared in a number of television roles in the early 1990s, including "L.A. Law", "The Wonder Years", "NYPD Blue", and "Monty".


title: David Schwimmer

text: After the series finale of "Friends" in 2004, Schwimmer branched out into film and stage work. He was cast as the title character in the 2005 drama film "Duane Hopwood", and voiced Melman the Giraffe in the computer-animated "Madagascar" film franchise, acted in the dark comedy "Big Nothing" (2006), and the thriller "Nothing but the Truth" (2008). Schwimmer made his West End stage debut in the leading role in 2005's "Some Girl(s)". He made his Broadway debut in "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" in 2006. His feature film directorial debut followed in 2007 with the comedy "Run Fatboy Run", and the following year he made his Off-Broadway directorial debut in "Fault Lines".


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 2016, he starred as lawyer Robert Kardashian in "", for which he received his second Primetime Emmy Award nomination, this time for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer was born in Flushing, Queens, New York City, to attorneys Arthur (born 1941) and Arlene Coleman-Schwimmer (born 1940). His family is Jewish. He has an older sister named Ellie (born 1965). His family subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where Schwimmer, at 10, had his first acting experience when he was cast as the fairy godmother in a Jewish version of "Cinderella". In 1979, Schwimmer went to a Shakespeare workshop given by English actor Sir Ian McKellen in Los Angeles. He recalls being riveted by the experience. Schwimmer then entered a contest in the Southern California Shakespeare Festival three years in a row, winning two first prizes.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Following his mother's successful career as a divorce lawyer, the family moved to Beverly Hills, where Schwimmer attended Beverly Hills High School. His classmates included actor Jonathan Silverman. Schwimmer admitted to being an outsider during his time at the school, recalling, "When I was there I always felt: 'This is not me, I'm surrounded by people with a different value system. And I just wanted to get out of California.'" His best subjects were science and math and he thought he would become a doctor. Schwimmer enrolled in a drama class, where he appeared in stage productions. Encouraged by his school drama teacher to further his acting, he flew to Chicago for a summer acting program at Northwestern University. He noted that the experience was both "enlightening and exhilarating". In 1984, Schwimmer graduated from Beverly Hills High and wanted to go straight into acting, but his parents insisted he go to college first so he would have something to fall back on. Schwimmer enrolled in Northwestern University, where he had attended the summer acting program earlier. At the university, he studied theater and was in an improv group with Stephen Colbert, the No-Fun Mud Piranhas. After graduating in 1988, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater and speech, Schwimmer co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company. Subsequently, he returned to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.


title: David Schwimmer

text: After his supporting role debut in the ABC television movie "A Deadly Silence" (1989), Schwimmer followed this with roles on the legal drama "L.A. Law" in 1992, and the comedy-drama series "The Wonder Years". He made his feature film debut in "Flight of the Intruder" (1991), had a recurring role as a lawyer-turned-vigilante in "NYPD Blue" before auditioning, unsuccessfully, for a series pilot called "Couples". He landed his first regular series role as the liberal son of a conservative talk show host (Henry Winkler) in the sitcom "Monty".


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 1994, Schwimmer was cast as Ross Geller in NBC's situation comedy "Friends", a series that revolved around a group of friends who live near each other in Manhattan. He played a hopeless-romantic paleontologist who works at a museum and later becomes a professor at a university. Schwimmer initially turned down the role as Ross, but accepted later. Executive producer Kevin S. Bright said that he had previously worked with Schwimmer, the character of Ross was written with him in mind, and he was the first actor cast. The show debuted on September 22, 1994, and was watched by almost 22 million American viewers. "Friends" quickly developed a loyal audience, with the show and Schwimmer receiving strong reviews. The "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" was complimentary of Schwimmer, calling him "terrific". "Variety"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s television reviewer said: "All six of the principals, especially (Courteney) Cox and Schwimmer, appear resourceful and display sharp sitcom skills". For this performance, he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer starred in his first leading film role in the 1996 romantic comedy film, "The Pallbearer" with Gwyneth Paltrow. In the film, Schwimmer plays a man asked to deliver the eulogy for a high school friend he cannot remember, and begins an affair with the friend's mother. Critics dismissed "The Pallbearer" as a poor imitation of the 1967 film "The Graduate". "Variety"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s film reviewer complimented the actor, writing that he had enjoyed his performance, stating that he displayed "a winning, if rather deadpan, personality along with good comic timing". It also concluded that Schwimmer had a "promising bigscreen future". Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" cited that his first film "relegates him to a drab role". When asked why he decided to accept the role, Schwimmer admitted the decision was to "make an effort to find roles that are as far away from the character of Ross as possible." He was offered a role to star alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the 1997 science-fiction comedy "Men in Black" after Chris O'Donnell turned down the role, but turned it down because of a prior commitment to direct his first film with his theatre company friends starring before the role was given to Will Smith.


title: David Schwimmer

text: His next film roles, in 1998, were "Kissing a Fool", "Six Days, Seven Nights", and "Apt Pupil". In "Kissing a Fool", a romantic comedy, Schwimmer played Max, a dapper, smart-mouthed ladies' man. Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote, "Fans of the sitcom "Friends" may be surprised by David Schwimmer in "Kissing a Fool". [...] Take it from someone who has never seen "Friends" and comes at Schwimmer with no preconceptions: He does just fine. As a TV sports reporter in "Kissing a Fool", he oozes the command and self-satisfaction of a young, successful man." The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. In "Six Days, Seven Nights", he played the boyfriend of Anne Heche's character. In "Apt Pupil", adapted from a novella of the same name by Stephen King, he had a supporting role as a school guidance counselor. "I was scared of the part", Schwimmer said, "but I wanted to be part of the movie". At the time, he noted it was a "little frustrating" that people would typecast him due to his role on "Friends". He subsequently appeared opposite Woody Allen and Sharon Stone in Alfonso Arau's straight-to-cable comedy "Picking Up the Pieces" (2000).


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 2001, Schwimmer played Captain Herbert M. Sobel in Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' HBO World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers". The television miniseries is based on the book of the same title written by historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose. Although "Band of Brothers" was met with largely positive reception, Schwimmer's performance was criticized; the BBC News concluded, "Part of the problem ... may have been the ridiculous fact that "Friends" favourite David Schwimmer plays the hard and cruel Captain Herbert Sobel. The only thing believable about Schwimmer's acting is when he cowers in the face of true battle. His puppy dog eyes make him appear even more pitiful." Later that year he portrayed Yitzhak Zuckerman in the war drama "Uprising", based on the true events of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In March 2004, Schwimmer appeared as himself on HBO's comedy series "Curb Your Enthusiasm". During the lengthy run of "Friends", Schwimmer directed ten of the show's episodes. The show's tenth and final season ended on May 6, 2004.


title: David Schwimmer

text: After "Friends", Schwimmer starred in the 2005 independent drama "Duane Hopwood", as the title character, who is an alcoholic whose life is spiraling downward rapidly after a divorce and is looking to turn his life around. The film received ambivalent reviews. Despite the reception, Schwimmer's performance was favored by critics; Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" reported that the role was Schwimmer's "career-transforming performance." "Duane Hopwood" was screened at a special presentation at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Furthermore, in the same year he voiced Melman, a hypochondriac giraffe, in the computer animated film "Madagascar" (2005). "The Washington Post" noted that Schwimmer is particularly appealing as Melman. Despite the mixed response from critics, the film was a commercial success, earning US$532 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer starred on the London stage in May 2005, with Catherine Tate, Lesley Manville, Sara Powell, and Saffron Burrows, in Neil LaBute's "Some Girl(s)" at the Gielgud Theatre. In the production, he plays a teacher who is ready to settle down and marry, but decides to visit four ex-girlfriends first. For his performance, Schwimmer received critical reviews. "The Independent" wrote that Schwimmer "is not called upon to extend his range nearly as far as one might have expected in "Some Girl(s)." [...] Schwimmer remains bland, competent, and boyish—though not fatally boyish in the manner that appears to have turned these women on." However, Charles Spencer of "The Daily Telegraph" praised Schwimmer, reporting he "proves inspired casting. He takes to the stage with ... his endearing gaucheness seems designed to ensure our continued sympathy. Schwimmer mercilessly lays bare his character's opportunism, casual cruelties, and chronic self-deception."


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 2006, he made his Broadway debut in Herman Wouk's two-act play "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial". Schwimmer played the role of Lieutenant Barney Greenwald in the production, which was directed by Jerry Zaks. In an interview with "New York" magazine, he revealed that he had wanted to try Broadway, however said "a couple of things came up that just never quite felt right. Either because I liked the play but wasn’t hot on the director, or there was another star attached that I wasn't jazzed about working with." He further added that when showed a copy of Wouk's novel "...I was shocked at how good the writing was." His next film role was in the 2006 black comedy "Big Nothing", in which he played a bitter, unemployed scientist.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer made his directorial feature debut in the 2007 British comedy film "Run Fatboy Run". The film stars Simon Pegg as an out of shape man who signs up for a marathon to convince his former fiancée and five-year-old son that he has turned his life around. When asked why he decided to direct the film, Schwimmer said: "As a director, I was struck by the challenge that I thought the script presented, which was that it was kind of three films in one. You had some great, big physical comedy, and I thought funny dialogue and characters. And then there was some real emotion to it with the relationship between the father and the son and the romance aspect." "Run Fatboy Run" garnered mixed reception, with the "New York Daily News" rating it one-and-a-half out of five stars and writing, "Most disappointing is how Schwimmer—who spent 10 seasons on a sitcom filled with hyperverbal characters—manages to bumble 'Fatboy's' tender moments." "USA Today", however, was favorable towards Schwimmer, reporting he possesses filmmaking finesse "having wisely chosen strong comic material for his debut behind the camera." For his directorial work, he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award in the category of Best Debut Director.


title: David Schwimmer

text: On November 8, 2007, Schwimmer made a guest appearance in the second season of the television series "30 Rock", where he played Greenzo, an NBC environmental mascot. The following year, he was part of an ensemble cast that included Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, and Noah Wyle in the thriller "Nothing But the Truth" (2008). The movie received generally favorable reviews. The success of "Madagascar" led Schwimmer to return to the role of Melman in the 2008 sequel, "". The film earned US$603 million at the international box office. Schwimmer took part in directing in-studio segments for "Little Britain USA", an American spin-off of the British BBC television series "Little Britain". In regard to this, he commented that he had "a good time directing episodes" for the show.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In October 2008, Schwimmer made his Off-Broadway directorial debut in "Fault Lines" at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York. The production won a mixed review from the "Los Angeles Times", which wrote: "Based on "Fault Lines" ... we can't really tell whether Schwimmer has much talent as a director. We're surprised he didn't try something more challenging for his debut. If not much else, Schwimmer has encouraged his actors to intense their energy levels and comic timing at all costs". The "New York Post", however, noted that Schwimmer "knows a thing or two about freewheeling banter ... and for a good while the play crackles with terrific dialogue, expertly delivered". In February 2009, he returned to theater in a Chicago production of Thornton Wilder's three-act play "Our Town" as George Gibbs at the Lookingglass Theatre. "Schwimmer ... turns in a poignant, richly textured and demonstrably heartfelt performance as George Gibbs. I've seen a fair bit of Schwimmer's post-"Friends" stage work in London and New York, and I've never seen him better", commented the "Chicago Tribune".


title: David Schwimmer

text: On August 2, 2009, Schwimmer played himself in the sixth season of the HBO television series, "Entourage". In the episode, Ari Gold's (Jeremy Piven) agency tries to steer his career back to television. Schwimmer directed his second feature, "Trust", starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener. The film, a drama, is about a family whose teenage daughter becomes victim of an online sexual predator. "Trust" premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: David Schwimmer

text: On January 1, 2011, Schwimmer guest-starred on the British comedy series "Come Fly With Me" starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams, whom he directed in "Little Britain USA". The following year, he returned to voice Melman the Giraffe in "".


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer appeared in the cast of "The Iceman" in 2013 as Josh Rosenthal, a mobster who was brought up by the notorious Roy Demeo and part of the Gambino Family. The movie starred Michael Shannon as Richard Kuklinski.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 2014, Schwimmer was cast as the lead in the ABC comedy pilot "Irreversible", playing "one half of a somewhat eccentric, self-absorbed couple". In 2016, Schwimmer played Robert Kardashian in the first season of the FX anthology series "American Crime Story". He received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance. In January 2016, Schwimmer and Jim Sturgess were cast to star in the new AMC crime drama "Feed the Beast". The series premiered on June 5, 2016, and aired 10 episodes through August before being canceled. In November 2016, it was announced that Schwimmer would star in his first audio series. Gimlet Media's podcast "Homecoming" began airing on November 16, 2016.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In April 2017, Schwimmer helped adapt the films of Sigal Avin for a US audience. The six short features depict sexual harassment at work by men on women.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 2020, Schwimmer was cast as a main character in a British sitcom, "Intelligence" broadcast on Sky One.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer dated singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia in the late 1990s. Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston admitted to having crushes on each other early on while filming "Friends" during HBO Max's "". Schwimmer began a relationship with British artist Zoë Buckman in 2007 and they married in June 2010. Their daughter was born in 2011. The couple announced in April 2017 that they were "taking some time apart". They divorced later that year.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer primarily lives in East Village, Manhattan. He previously had a loft in Near West Side, Chicago as well as a house in Hancock Park, Los Angeles.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In June 2006, Schwimmer won a US$400,000 defamation lawsuit against Aaron Tonken, a former charity fundraiser. Tonken claimed Schwimmer had demanded Rolex watches in order to appear at his own charity event, a claim that Schwimmer had denied.


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer is an active director of the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica, which specializes in helping victims of date rape and child rape. He has also campaigned for legislation to ban drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB. In November 2011, he gave the Scottish charity Children 1st permission to screen his film "Trust" to commemorate World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse and Violence against Children.


title: David Schwimmer

text: In 2012, he rebutted two longstanding rumors: one that he appeared as a soldier on a train in "Biloxi Blues" (1988), saying, "No. I don't know why that's on IMDb, but I never was in that", and the other that he is related to dancer Lacey Schwimmer, saying, "No, not at all. Please set the record straight. I guess it's a natural assumption because we have the same last name, but no. I've never even met her".


title: David Schwimmer

text: Schwimmer has received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, one in 1995 for his performance as Ross Geller on "Friends" and the other as Robert Kardashian in the Ryan Murphy limited series "" in 2016. He also has received seven Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with one win for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for "Friends".


title: Multiplayer video game

text: A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most commonly the Internet (e.g. "World of Warcraft", "Call of Duty", "DayZ"). Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Some of the earliest video games were two-player games, including early sports games (such as 1958's "Tennis For Two" and 1972's "Pong"), early shooter games such as "Spacewar!" (1962) and early racing video games such as "Astro Race" (1973). The first examples of multiplayer real-time games were developed on the PLATO system about 1973. Multi-user games developed on this system included 1973's Empire and 1974's Spasim; the latter was an early first-person shooter. Other early video games included turn-based multiplayer modes, popular in tabletop arcade machines. In such games, play is alternated at some point (often after the loss of a life). All players' scores are often displayed onscreen so players can see their relative standing. Danielle Bunten Berry created some of the first multiplayer video games, such as her debut, "Wheeler Dealers" (1978) and her most notable work, "M.U.L.E." (1983).


title: Multiplayer video game

text: "Gauntlet" (1985) and "Quartet" (1986) introduced co-operative 4-player gaming to the arcades. The games had broader consoles to allow for four sets of controls.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: The first large-scale serial sessions using a single computer were STAR (based on ""), OCEAN (a battle using ships, submarines and helicopters, with players divided between two combating cities) and 1975's CAVE (based on Dungeons and Dragons), created by Christopher Caldwell (with artwork and suggestions by Roger Long and assembly coding by Robert Kenney) on the University of New Hampshire's DECsystem-1090. The university's computer system had hundreds of terminals, connected (via serial lines) through cluster PDP-11s for student, teacher, and staff access. The games had a program running on each terminal (for each player), sharing a segment of shared memory (known as the "high segment" in the OS TOPS-10). The games became popular, and the university often banned them because of their RAM use. STAR was based on 1974's single-user, turn-oriented BASIC program STAR, written by Michael O'Shaughnessy at UNH.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Ken Wasserman and Tim Stryker in a 1980 "BYTE" article identified three factors which make networked computer games appealing:


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Wasserman and Stryker described how to network two Commodore PET computers with a cable. Their article includes a type-in, two-player Hangman, and describes the authors' more-sophisticated "Flash Attack". Digital Equipment Corporation distributed another multi-user version of "Star Trek", Decwar, without real-time screen updating; it was widely distributed to universities with DECsystem-10s. In 1981 Cliff Zimmerman wrote an homage to "Star Trek" in MACRO-10 for DECsystem-10s and -20s using VT100-series graphics. "VTtrek" pitted four Federation players against four Klingons in a three-dimensional universe.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: "Flight Simulator II", released in 1986 for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, allowed two players to connect via modem or serial cable and fly together in a shared environment.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: "MIDI Maze", an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST, featured network multiplay through a MIDI interface before Ethernet and Internet play became common. It is considered the first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system, and the first network multiplayer action-game (with support for up to 16 players). There followed ports to a number of platforms (including Game Boy and Super NES) in 1991 under the title "Faceball 2000", making it one of the first handheld, multi-platform first-person shooters and an early console example of the genre.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Networked multiplayer gaming modes are known as "netplay". The first popular video-game title with a Local Area Network(LAN) version, 1991's Spectre for the Apple Macintosh, featured AppleTalk support for up to eight players. Spectre's popularity was partially attributed to the display of a player's name above their cybertank. There followed 1993's Doom, whose first network version allowed four simultaneous players.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Play-by-email multiplayer games use email to communicate between computers. Other turn-based variations not requiring players to be online simultaneously are Play-by-post gaming and Play-by-Internet. Some online games are "massively multiplayer", with many players participating simultaneously. Two massively-multiplayer genres are MMORPG (such as "World of Warcraft" or "EverQuest") and MMORTS.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: First-person shooters have become popular multiplayer games; "Battlefield 1942" and "Counter-Strike" have little (or no) single-player gameplay. Developer and gaming site OMGPOP's library included multiplayer Flash games for the casual player until it was shut down in 2013. Some networked multiplayer games, including MUDs and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as RuneScape, omit a single-player mode. The largest MMO in 2008 was "World of Warcraft", with over 10 million registered players worldwide. "World of Warcraft" would hit its peak at 12 million players two years later in 2010, and in 2020 earned the Guinness World Record for best selling MMO video game. This category of games requires multiple machines to connect via the Internet; before the Internet became popular, MUDs were played on time-sharing computer systems and games like "Doom" were played on a LAN.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Beginning with the Sega NetLink in 1996, Game.com in 1997 and Dreamcast in 2000, game consoles support network gaming over LANs and the Internet. Many mobile phones and handheld consoles also offer wireless gaming with Bluetooth (or similar) technology. By the early 2010s online gaming had become a mainstay of console platforms such as Xbox and PlayStation. During the 2010s, as the number of Internet users increased, two new video game genres rapidly gained worldwide popularitymultiplayer online battle arena and battle royale game, both designed exclusively for multiplayer gameplay over the Internet.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Over time the number of people playing video games has increased. In 2020, the majority of households in the United States have an occupant that plays video games, and 65% of gamers play multiplayer games with others either online or in person.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: For some games, "multiplayer" implies that players are playing on the same gaming system or network. This applies to all arcade games, but also to a number of console, and personal computer games too. Local multiplayer games played on a singular system sometimes use split screen, so each player has an individual view of the action (important in first-person shooters and in racing video games) Nearly all multiplayer modes on beat 'em up games have a single-system option, but racing games have started to abandon split-screen in favor of a multiple-system, multiplayer mode. Turn-based games such as chess also lend themselves to single system single screen and even to a single controller.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Multiple types of games allow players to use local multiplayer. The term "local co-op" or "couch co-op" refers to local multiplayer games played in a cooperative manner on the same system; these may use split-screen or some other display method. Another option is hot-seat games. Hot-seat games are typically turn-based games with only one controller or input setsuch as a single keyboard/mouse on the system. Players rotate using the input device to perform their turn such that each is taking a turn on the "hot-seat".


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Not all local multiplayer games are played on the same console or personal computer. Some local multiplayer games are played over a LAN. This involves multiple devices using one local network to play together. Networked multiplayer games on LAN eliminate common problems faced when playing online such as lag and anonymity. Games played on a LAN network are the focus of LAN parties. While local co-op and LAN parties still take place, there has been a decrease in both due to an increasing number of players and games utilizing online multiplayer gaming.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Online multiplayer games connect players over a wide area network (a common example being the Internet). Unlike local multiplayer, players playing online multiplayer are not restricted to the same local network. This allows players to interact with others from a much greater distance.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Playing multiplayer online offers the benefits of distance, but it also comes with its own unique challenges. Gamers refer to latency using the term "ping", after a utility which measures round-trip network communication delays (by the use of ICMP packets). A player on a DSL connection with a 50-ms ping can react faster than a modem user with a 350-ms average latency. Other problems include packet loss and choke, which can prevent a player from "registering" their actions with a server. In first-person shooters, this problem appears when bullets hit the enemy without damage. The player's connection is not the only factor; some servers are slower than others.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Asymmetrical multiplayer is a type of gameplay in which players can have significantly different roles or abilities from each otherenough to provide a significantly different experience of the game. In games with light asymmetry, the players share some of the same basic mechanics (such as movement and death), yet have different roles in the game; this is a common feature of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre such as "League of Legends" and "Dota 2", and in hero shooters such as "Overwatch" and "Apex Legends". In games with stronger elements of asymmetry, one player/team may have one gameplay experience (or be in softly asymmetric roles) while the other player or team play in a drastically different way, with different mechanics, a different type of objective, or both. Examples of games with strong asymmetry include "Dead by Daylight", "Evolve", and "Left 4 Dead".


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Asynchronous multiplayer is a form of multiplayer gameplay where players do not have to be playing at the same time. This form of multiplayer game has its origins in play-by-mail games, where players would send their moves through postal mail to a game master, who then would compile and send out results for the next turn. Play-by-mail games transitioned to electronic form as play-by-email games. Similar games were developed for bulletin board systems, such as "Trade Wars", where the turn structure may not be as rigorous and allow players to take actions at any time in a persistence space alongside all other players, a concept known as sporadic play.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: These types of asynchronous multiplayer games waned with the widespread availability of the Internet which allowed players to play against each other simultaneously, but remains an option in many strategy-related games, such as the "Civilization" series. Coordination of turns are subsequently managed by one computer or a centralized server. Further, many mobile games are based on sporadic play and use social interactions with other players, lacking direct player versus player game modes but allowing players to influence other players' games, coordinated through central game servers, another facet of asynchronous play.


title: Multiplayer video game

text: Online cheating (in gaming) usually refers to modifying the game experience to give one player an advantage over others, such as using an "aimbot"a program which automatically locks the player's crosshairs onto a targetin shooting games. This is also known as "hacking" or "glitching" ("glitching" refers to using a glitch, or a mistake in the code of a game, whereas "hacking" is manipulating the code of a game). Cheating in video games is often done via a third-party program that modifies the game's code at runtime to give one or more players an advantage. In other situations, it is frequently done by changing the game's files to change the game's mechanics.


title: Banana

text: A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus "Musa". In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) bananas come from two wild species – "Musa acuminata" and "Musa balbisiana". The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are "Musa acuminata", "Musa balbisiana", and "Musa" × "paradisiaca" for the hybrid "Musa acuminata" × "M. balbisiana", depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name for this hybrid, "Musa sapientum", is no longer used.


title: Banana

text: "Musa" species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine, and banana beer and as ornamental plants. The world's largest producers of bananas in 2017 were India and China, which together accounted for approximately 38% of total production.


title: Banana

text: Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between "bananas" and "plantains". Especially in the Americas and Europe, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet, dessert bananas, particularly those of the Cavendish group, which are the main exports from banana-growing countries. By contrast, "Musa" cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called "plantains". In other regions, such as Southeast Asia, many more kinds of banana are grown and eaten, so the binary distinction is not as useful and is not made in local languages.


title: Banana

text: The term "banana" is also used as the common name for the plants that produce the fruit. This can extend to other members of the genus "Musa", such as the scarlet banana ("Musa coccinea"), the pink banana ("Musa velutina"), and the Fe'i bananas. It can also refer to members of the genus "Ensete", such as the snow banana ("Ensete glaucum") and the economically important false banana ("Ensete ventricosum"). Both genera are in the banana family, Musaceae.


title: Banana

text: The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a "corm". Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy with a treelike appearance, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a "false stem" or pseudostem. Bananas grow in a wide variety of soils, as long as the soil is at least deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. Banana plants are among the fastest growing of all plants, with daily surface growth rates recorded of to .


title: Banana

text: The leaves of banana plants are composed of a stalk (petiole) and a blade (lamina). The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath; the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, which is all that supports the plant. The edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem the edges are forced apart. Cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions. Most are around tall, with a range from 'Dwarf Cavendish' plants at around to 'Gros Michel' at or more. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow long and wide. They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look. When a banana plant is mature, the corm stops producing new leaves and begins to form a flower spike or inflorescence. A stem develops which grows up inside the pseudostem, carrying the immature inflorescence until eventually it emerges at the top. Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the "banana heart". (More are sometimes produced; an exceptional plant in the Philippines produced five.) After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots will normally have developed from the base, so that the plant as a whole is perennial. In the plantation system of cultivation, only one of the offshoots will be allowed to develop in order to maintain spacing. The inflorescence contains many bracts (sometimes incorrectly referred to as petals) between rows of flowers. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem (closer to the leaves) from the rows of male flowers. The ovary is inferior, meaning that the tiny petals and other flower parts appear at the tip of the ovary.


title: Banana

text: The banana fruits develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called "hands"), with up to 20 fruit to a tier. The hanging cluster is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh . Individual banana fruits (commonly known as a banana or "finger") average , of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter (nutrient table, lower right).


title: Banana

text: The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (the phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner portion. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit. In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit.


title: Banana

text: The end of the fruit opposite the stem contains a small tip distinct in texture, and often darker in color. Often misunderstood to be some type of seed or excretory vein, it is actually just the remnants from whence the banana fruit was a banana flower.


title: Banana

text: As with all living things on earth, potassium-containing bananas emit radioactivity at low levels occurring naturally from potassium-40 (K or K-40), which is one of several isotopes of potassium. The banana equivalent dose of radiation was developed in 1995 as a simple teaching-tool to educate the public about the natural, small amount of K-40 radiation occurring in every human and in common foods.


title: Banana

text: The K-40 in a banana emits about 15 becquerels or 0.1 microsieverts (units of radioactivity exposure), an amount that does not add to the total body radiation dose when a banana is consumed. By comparison, the normal radiation exposure of an average person over one day is 10 microsieverts, a commercial flight across the United States exposes a person to 40 microsieverts, and the total yearly radiation exposure from the K-40 sources in a person's body is about 390 microsieverts.


title: Banana

text: The word "banana" is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word , and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese.


title: Banana

text: The genus "Musa" was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name may be derived from Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, or Linnaeus may have adapted the Arabic word for banana, "mauz". According to Roger Blench, the ultimate origin of "musa" is in the Trans–New Guinea languages, whence they were borrowed into the Austronesian languages and across Asia, via the Dravidian languages of India, into Arabic as a "Wanderwort".


title: Banana

text: "Musa" is the type genus in the family Musaceae. The APG III system assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales, part of the commelinid clade of the monocotyledonous flowering plants. Some 70 species of "Musa" were recognized by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families ; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.


title: Banana

text: The classification of cultivated bananas has long been a problematic issue for taxonomists. Linnaeus originally placed bananas into two species based only on their uses as food: "Musa sapientum" for dessert bananas and "Musa paradisiaca" for plantains. More species names were added, but this approach proved to be inadequate for the number of cultivars in the primary center of diversity of the genus, Southeast Asia. Many of these cultivars were given names that were later discovered to be synonyms.


title: Banana

text: In a series of papers published from 1947 onwards, Ernest Cheesman showed that Linnaeus's "Musa sapientum" and "Musa paradisiaca" were cultivars and descendants of two wild seed-producing species, "Musa acuminata" and "Musa balbisiana", both first described by Luigi Aloysius Colla. Cheesman recommended the abolition of Linnaeus's species in favor of reclassifying bananas according to three morphologically distinct groups of cultivars – those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of "Musa balbisiana", those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of "Musa acuminata", and those with characteristics of both. Researchers Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd proposed a genome-based nomenclature system in 1955. This system eliminated almost all the difficulties and inconsistencies of the earlier classification of bananas based on assigning scientific names to cultivated varieties. Despite this, the original names are still recognized by some authorities, leading to confusion.


title: Banana

text: The accepted scientific names for most groups of cultivated bananas are "Musa acuminata" and "Musa balbisiana" for the ancestral species, and "Musa" × "paradisiaca" for the hybrid "M. acuminata" × "M. balbisiana".


title: Banana

text: Generally, modern classifications of banana cultivars follow Simmonds and Shepherd's system. Cultivars are placed in groups based on the number of chromosomes they have and which species they are derived from. Thus the Latundan banana is placed in the AAB Group, showing that it is a triploid derived from both "M. acuminata" (A) and "M. balbisiana" (B). For a list of the cultivars classified under this system, "see" "List of banana cultivars".


title: Banana

text: In 2012, a team of scientists announced they had achieved a draft sequence of the genome of "Musa acuminata".


title: Banana

text: In regions such as North America and Europe, "Musa" fruits offered for sale can be divided into "bananas" and "plantains" (cooking banana), based on their intended use as food. Thus the banana producer and distributor Chiquita produces publicity material for the American market which says that "a plantain is not a banana". The stated differences are that plantains are more starchy and less sweet; they are eaten cooked rather than raw; they have thicker skin, which may be green, yellow or black; and they can be used at any stage of ripeness. Linnaeus made the same distinction between plantains and bananas when first naming two "species" of "Musa". Members of the "plantain subgroup" of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to the Chiquita description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas. The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas, so would not qualify as "true" plantains on this definition.


title: Banana

text: An alternative approach divides bananas into dessert bananas and cooking bananas, with plantains being one of the subgroups of cooking bananas. Triploid cultivars derived solely from "M. acuminata" are examples of "dessert bananas", whereas triploid cultivars derived from the hybrid between "M. acuminata" and "M. balbisiana" (in particular the plantain subgroup of the AAB Group) are "plantains". Small farmers in Colombia grow a much wider range of cultivars than large commercial plantations. A study of these cultivars showed that they could be placed into at least three groups based on their characteristics: dessert bananas, non-plantain cooking bananas, and plantains, although there were overlaps between dessert and cooking bananas.


title: Banana

text: In Southeast Asia—the center of diversity for bananas, both wild and cultivated—the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" does not work, according to Valmayor et al. Many bananas are used both raw and cooked. There are starchy cooking bananas which are smaller than those eaten raw. The range of colors, sizes and shapes is far wider than in those grown or sold in Africa, Europe or the Americas. Southeast Asian languages do not make the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" that is made in English (and Spanish). Thus both Cavendish cultivars, the classic yellow dessert bananas, and Saba cultivars, used mainly for cooking, are called "pisang" in Malaysia and Indonesia, "kluai" in Thailand and "chuối" in Vietnam. Fe'i bananas, grown and eaten in the islands of the Pacific, are derived from entirely different wild species than traditional bananas and plantains. Most Fe'i bananas are cooked, but Karat bananas, which are short and squat with bright red skins, very different from the usual yellow dessert bananas, are eaten raw.


title: Banana

text: In the Spanish market, the distinction is among , applied to the Cavendish cultivars produced in the Spanish Canary Islands under the protected geographical indication , , applied to dessert imports from Africa and the Americas, and (literally, "male banana"), applied to imports that are to be cooked.


title: Banana

text: In summary, in commerce in Europe and the Americas (although not in small-scale cultivation), it is possible to distinguish between "bananas", which are eaten raw, and "plantains", which are cooked. In other regions of the world, particularly India, Southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific, there are many more kinds of banana and the two-fold distinction is not useful and not made in local languages. Plantains are one of many kinds of cooking bananas, which are not always distinct from dessert bananas.


title: Banana

text: The earliest domestication of bananas ("Musa" spp.) was from naturally occurring parthenocarpic (seedless) individuals of "Musa banksii" in New Guinea. These were cultivated by Papuans before the arrival of Austronesian-speakers. Numerous phytoliths of bananas have been recovered from the Kuk Swamp archaeological site and dated to around 10,000 to 6,500 BP. Foraging humans in this area began domestication in the late Pleistocene using transplantation and early cultivation methods. Various investigations including Denham "et al.", 2003 determine that by the early to middle of the Holocene the process was complete. From New Guinea, cultivated bananas spread westward into Island Southeast Asia through proximity (not migrations). They hybridized with other (possibly independently domesticated) subspecies of "Musa acuminata" as well as "Musa balbisiana" in the Philippines, northern New Guinea, and possibly Halmahera. These hybridization events produced the triploid cultivars of bananas commonly grown today. From Island Southeast Asia, they became part of the staple domesticated crops of Austronesian peoples and were spread during their voyages and ancient maritime trading routes into Oceania, East Africa, South Asia, and Indochina.


title: Banana

text: These ancient introductions resulted in the banana subgroup now known as the "true" plantains, which include the East African Highland bananas and the Pacific plantains (the Iholena and Maoli-Popo'ulu subgroups). East African Highland bananas originated from banana populations introduced to Madagascar probably from the region between Java, Borneo, and New Guinea; while Pacific plantains were introduced to the Pacific Islands from either eastern New Guinea or the Bismarck Archipelago.


title: Banana

text: Phytolith discoveries in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE triggered an as yet unresolved debate about the date of first cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were known in Madagascar around that time. The earliest prior evidence indicates that cultivation dates to no earlier than late 6th century CE. It is likely, however, that bananas were brought at least to Madagascar if not to the East African coast during the phase of Malagasy colonization of the island from South East Asia c. 400 CE.


title: Banana

text: Glucanase and two other proteins specific to bananas were found in dental calculus from early Iron Age (12th century BCE) Philistines in Tel Erani in the southern Levant.


title: Banana

text: Another wave of introductions later spread bananas to other parts of tropical Asia, particularly Indochina and the Indian subcontinent. However, there is evidence that bananas were known to the Indus Valley civilisation from phytoliths recovered from the Kot Diji archaeological site in Pakistan (although they are absent in other contemporary sites in South Asia). This may be a possible indication of very early dispersal of bananas by Austronesian traders by sea from as early as 2000 BCE. But this is still putative, as they may have come from local wild "Musa" species used for fiber or as ornamentals, not food.


title: Banana

text: Southeast Asia remains the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation in these regions.


title: Banana

text: The banana may also have been present in isolated locations elsewhere in the Middle East on the eve of Islam. The spread of Islam was followed by far-reaching diffusion. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths) beginning in the 9th century. By the 10th century the banana appears in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there it diffused into North Africa and Muslim Iberia. An article on banana tree cultivation is included in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, "Book on Agriculture". During the medieval ages, bananas from Granada were considered among the best in the Arab world. In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine. Today, banana consumption increases significantly in Islamic countries during Ramadan, the month of daylight fasting.


title: Banana

text: Bananas were certainly grown in the Christian Kingdom of Cyprus by the late medieval period. Writing in 1458, the Italian traveller and writer Gabriele Capodilista wrote favourably of the extensive farm produce of the estates at Episkopi, near modern-day Limassol, including the region's banana plantations.


title: Banana

text: Bananas (as well as coconuts) were encountered by European explorers during the Magellan expedition in 1521, in both Guam and the Philippines. Lacking a name for the fruit, the ship's historian Antonio Pigafetta described them as "figs more than one palm long." Bananas were introduced to South America by Portuguese sailors who brought the fruits from West Africa in the 16th century. Southeast Asian banana cultivars, as well as abaca grown for fibers, were also introduced to New Spain (North and Central America) by the Spanish from the Philippines, via the Manila galleons.


title: Banana

text: Many wild banana species as well as cultivars exist in extraordinary diversity in India, China, and Southeast Asia.


title: Banana

text: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa. North Americans began consuming bananas on a small scale at very high prices shortly after the Civil War, though it was only in the 1880s that the food became more widespread. As late as the Victorian Era, bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available. Jules Verne introduces bananas to his readers with detailed descriptions in "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1872).


title: Banana

text: The earliest modern plantations originated in Jamaica and the related Western Caribbean Zone, including most of Central America. It involved the combination of modern transportation networks of steamships and railroads with the development of refrigeration that allowed more time between harvesting and ripening. North American shippers like Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew Preston, the founders of the Boston Fruit Company started this process in the 1870s, but railroad builders like Minor C. Keith also participated, eventually culminating in the multi-national giant corporations like today's Chiquita Brands International and Dole. These companies were monopolistic, vertically integrated (meaning they controlled growing, processing, shipping and marketing) and usually used political manipulation to build enclave economies (economies that were internally self-sufficient, virtually tax exempt, and export-oriented that contribute very little to the host economy). Their political maneuvers, which gave rise to the term banana republic for states such as Honduras and Guatemala, included working with local elites and their rivalries to influence politics or playing the international interests of the United States, especially during the Cold War, to keep the political climate favorable to their interests.


title: Banana

text: The vast majority of the world's bananas today are cultivated for family consumption or for sale on local markets. India is the world leader in this sort of production, but many other Asian and African countries where climate and soil conditions allow cultivation also host large populations of banana growers who sell at least some of their crop.


title: Banana

text: Peasant sector banana growers produce for the world market in the Caribbean, however. The Windward Islands are notable for the growing, largely of Cavendish bananas, for an international market, generally in Europe but also in North America. In the Caribbean, and especially in Dominica where this sort of cultivation is widespread, holdings are in the 1–2 acre range. In many cases the farmer earns additional money from other crops, from engaging in labor outside the farm, and from a share of the earnings of relatives living overseas.


title: Banana

text: All widely cultivated bananas today descend from the two wild bananas "Musa acuminata" and "Musa balbisiana". While the original wild bananas contained large seeds, diploid or polyploid cultivars (some being hybrids) with tiny seeds or triploid hybrids without seeds are preferred for human raw fruit consumption, as banana seeds are large and hard and spiky and liable to crack teeth. These are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months.


title: Banana

text: In global commerce in 2009, by far the most important cultivars belonged to the triploid AAA group of "Musa acuminata", commonly referred to as Cavendish group bananas. They accounted for the majority of banana exports, despite only coming into existence in 1836. The cultivars Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain (Chiquita Banana) gained popularity in the 1950s after the previous mass-produced cultivar, Gros Michel (also an AAA group cultivar), became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, caused by the fungus "Fusarium oxysporum" which attacks the roots of the banana plant. Cavendish cultivars are resistant to the Panama disease, but in 2013 there were fears that the black sigatoka fungus would in turn make Cavendish bananas unviable.


title: Banana

text: Even though it is no longer viable for large scale cultivation, Gros Michel is not extinct and is still grown in areas where Panama disease is not found. Likewise, Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain are in no danger of extinction, but they may leave supermarket shelves if disease makes it impossible to supply the global market. It is unclear if any existing cultivar can replace Cavendish bananas, so various hybridisation and genetic engineering programs are attempting to create a disease-resistant, mass-market banana. One such strain that has emerged is the Taiwanese Cavendish, also known as the Formosana.


title: Banana

text: Export bananas are picked green, and ripen in special rooms upon arrival in the destination country. These rooms are air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. The vivid yellow color consumers normally associate with supermarket bananas is, in fact, caused by the artificial ripening process. Flavor and texture are also affected by ripening temperature. Bananas are refrigerated to between during transport. At lower temperatures, ripening permanently stalls, and the bananas turn gray as cell walls break down. The skin of ripe bananas quickly blackens in the environment of a domestic refrigerator, although the fruit inside remains unaffected.


title: Banana

text: Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed" ("i.e." not treated with ethylene), and may show up at the supermarket fully green. (green bananas) that have not been gassed will never fully ripen before becoming rotten. Instead of fresh eating, these bananas can be used for cooking, as seen in Jamaican cuisine.


title: Banana

text: A 2008 study reported that ripe bananas fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light. This property is attributed to the degradation of chlorophyll leading to the accumulation of a fluorescent product in the skin of the fruit. The chlorophyll breakdown product is stabilized by a propionate ester group. Banana-plant leaves also fluoresce in the same way. Green (under-ripe) bananas do not fluoresce. That paper suggested that this fluorescence could be put to use "for optical in vivo monitoring of ripening and over-ripening of bananas and other fruit".


title: Banana

text: Bananas must be transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets. To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before the fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at . On arrival, bananas are held at about and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After a few days, the fruit begins to ripen and is distributed for final sale. Ripe bananas can be held for a few days at home. If bananas are too green, they can be put in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight to speed up the ripening process.


title: Banana

text: Carbon dioxide (which bananas produce) and ethylene absorbents extend fruit life even at high temperatures. This effect can be exploited by packing banana in a polyethylene bag and including an ethylene absorbent, e.g., potassium permanganate, on an inert carrier. The bag is then sealed with a band or string. This treatment has been shown to more than double lifespans up to 3–4 weeks without the need for refrigeration.


title: Banana

text: The excessive use of fertilizers often left in abandoned plantations contributes greatly to eutrophication in local streams and lakes, and harms aquatic life after algal blooms deprive fish of oxygen. It has been theorized that destruction of 60% of coral reefs along the coasts of Costa Rica is partially from sediments from banana plantations. Another issue is the deforestation associated with expanding banana production. As monocultures rapidly deplete soil nutrients plantations expand to areas with rich soils and cut down forests, which also affects soil erosion and degradation, and increases frequency of flooding. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stated that banana production produced more waste than any other agricultural sector, mostly from discarded banana plants, bags used to cover the bananas, strings to tie them, and containers for transport.


title: Banana

text: Voluntary sustainability standards such as Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade are increasingly being used to address some of these issues. Bananas production certified by such sustainability standards experienced a 43% compound annual growth rate from 2008 to 2016, to represent 36% of banana exports.


title: Banana

text: In 2017, world production of bananas and plantains combined was 153 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total of 27% of global production. Other major producers were the Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Brazil.


title: Banana

text: As reported for 2013, total world exports were 20 million tonnes of bananas and 859,000 tonnes of plantains. Ecuador and the Philippines were the leading exporters with 5.4 and 3.3 million tonnes, respectively, and the Dominican Republic was the leading exporter of plantains with 210,350 tonnes.


title: Banana

text: Bananas and plantains constitute a major staple food crop for millions of people in developing countries. In many tropical countries, green (unripe) bananas used for cooking represent the main cultivars. Most producers are small-scale farmers either for home consumption or local markets. Because bananas and plantains produce fruit year-round, they provide a valuable food source during the "hunger season" (when the food from one annual/semi-annual harvest has been consumed, and the next is still to come). Bananas and plantains are important for global food security.


title: Banana

text: Although in no danger of outright extinction, the most common edible banana cultivar Cavendish (extremely popular in Europe and the Americas) could become unviable for large-scale cultivation in the next 10–20 years. Its predecessor 'Gros Michel', discovered in the 1820s, suffered this fate. Like almost all bananas, Cavendish lacks genetic diversity, which makes it vulnerable to diseases, threatening both commercial cultivation and small-scale subsistence farming. Within the data gathered from the genes of hundreds of bananas, Botanist, Julie Sardos, of the Bioversity International research group, along with her colleagues found proof that at least several wild banana ancestors exist that are currently unknown to scientists, which could provide a means of defense against banana crop diseases.


title: Banana

text: Some commentators remarked that those variants which could replace what much of the world considers a "typical banana" are so different that most people would not consider them the same fruit, and blame the decline of the banana on monogenetic cultivation driven by short-term commercial motives. Overall, fungal diseases are disproportionately important to small island developing states.


title: Banana

text: Panama disease is caused by a fusarium soil fungus (Race 1), which enters the plants through the roots and travels with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums that cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt, and exposing the rest of the plant to lethal amounts of sunlight. Prior to 1960, almost all commercial banana production centered on "Gros Michel", which was highly susceptible. Cavendish was chosen as the replacement for Gros Michel because, among resistant cultivars, it produces the highest quality fruit. However, more care is required for shipping the Cavendish, and its quality compared to Gros Michel is debated.


title: Banana

text: According to current sources, a deadly form of Panama disease is infecting Cavendish. All plants are genetically identical, which prevents evolution of disease resistance. Researchers are examining hundreds of wild varieties for resistance.


title: Banana

text: Tropical Race 4 (TR4), a reinvigorated strain of Panama disease, was first discovered in 1993. This virulent form of fusarium wilt destroyed Cavendish in several southeast Asian countries and spread to Australia and India. As the soil-based fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools, the wilt spread to the Americas despite years of preventive efforts. Cavendish is highly susceptible to TR4, and over time, Cavendish is endangered for commercial production by this disease. The only known defense to TR4 is genetic resistance. This is conferred either by RGA2, a gene isolated from a TR4-resistant diploid banana, or by the nematode-derived Ced9. This is best achieved by genetic modification, such as in the Dale banana disclosed in Dale "et al.", 2017. Experts state the need to enrich banana biodiversity by producing diverse new banana varieties, not just having a focus on the Cavendish.


title: Banana

text: Black sigatoka is a fungal leaf spot disease first observed in Fiji in 1963 or 1964. Black Sigatoka (also known as black leaf streak) has spread to banana plantations throughout the tropics from infected banana leaves that were used as packing material. It affects all main cultivars of bananas and plantains (including the Cavendish cultivars), impeding photosynthesis by blackening parts of the leaves, eventually killing the entire leaf. Starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow ripen prematurely, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever-increasing resistance to treatment, with the current expense for treating exceeding US$1,000 per year. In addition to the expense, there is the question of how long intensive spraying can be environmentally justified.


title: Banana

text: Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is a plant virus of the genus "Babuvirus", family "Nanonviridae" affecting "Musa spp." (including banana, abaca, plantain and ornamental bananas) and "Ensete spp." in the family "Musaceae". Banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) symptoms include dark green streaks of variable length in leaf veins, midribs and petioles. Leaves become short and stunted as the disease progresses, becoming 'bunched' at the apex of the plant. Infected plants may produce no fruit or the bunch may not emerge from the pseudostem. The virus is transmitted by the banana aphid "Pentalonia nigronervosa" and is widespread in SE Asia, Asia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Oceania and parts of Africa. There is no cure for BBTD, but it can be effectively controlled by the eradication of diseased plants and the use of virus-free planting material. No resistant cultivars have been found, but varietal differences in susceptibility have been reported. The commercially important Cavendish subgroup is severely affected.


title: Banana

text: Banana bacterial wilt (BBW) is a bacterial disease caused by "Xanthomonas campestris" pv. "musacearum". After being originally identified on a close relative of bananas, "Ensete ventricosum", in Ethiopia in the 1960s, BBW occurred in Uganda in 2001 affecting all banana cultivars. Since then BBW has been diagnosed in Central and East Africa including the banana growing regions of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda.


title: Banana

text: Given the narrow range of genetic diversity present in bananas and the many threats via biotic (pests and diseases) and abiotic (such as drought) stress, conservation of the full spectrum of banana genetic resources is ongoing. Banana germplasm is conserved in many national and regional gene banks, and at the world's largest banana collection, the International "Musa" Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC), managed by Bioversity International and hosted at KU Leuven in Belgium. "Musa" cultivars are usually seedless, and options for their long-term conservation are constrained by the vegetative nature of the plant's reproductive system. Consequently, they are conserved by three main methods: "in vivo" (planted in field collections), "in vitro" (as plantlets in test tubes within a controlled environment), and by cryopreservation (meristems conserved in liquid nitrogen at −196 °C). At the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research there were attempts to exploit the rare cases of seed production to create disease-resistant varieties; 30,000 commercial banana plants were hand-pollinated with pollen from wild fertile Asian fruit, producing 400 tonnes, which contained about fiftenn seeds, of which four or five germinated." Further breeding with wild bananas yielded a new seedless variety resistant to both black Sigatoka and Panama disease.


title: Banana

text: Genes from wild banana species are conserved as DNA and as cryopreserved pollen and banana seeds from wild species are also conserved, although less commonly, as they are difficult to regenerate. In addition, bananas and their crop wild relatives are conserved "in situ" (in wild natural habitats where they evolved and continue to do so). Diversity is also conserved in farmers' fields where continuous cultivation, adaptation and improvement of cultivars is often carried out by small-scale farmers growing traditional local cultivars.


title: Banana

text: Raw bananas (not including the peel) are 75% water, 23% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contain negligible fat. A 100-gram reference serving supplies 89 Calories, 31% of the US recommended Daily Value (DV) of vitamin B, and moderate amounts of vitamin C, manganese and dietary fiber, with no other micronutrients in significant content (see table).


title: Banana

text: Although bananas are commonly thought to contain exceptional potassium content, their actual potassium content is not high per typical food serving, having only 8% of the US recommended Daily Value for potassium (considered a low level of the DV, see nutrition table), and their potassium-content ranking among fruits, vegetables, legumes, and many other foods is relatively moderate. Vegetables with higher potassium content than raw dessert bananas (358 mg per 100 g) include raw spinach (558 mg per 100 g), baked potatoes without skin (391 mg per 100 g), cooked soybeans (539 mg per 100 g), grilled portabella mushrooms (437 mg per 100 g), and processed tomato sauces (413–439 mg per 100 g). Raw plantains contain 499 mg potassium per 100 g. Dehydrated dessert bananas or banana powder contain 1491 mg potassium per 100 g.


title: Banana

text: Bananas are a staple starch for many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Both the skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. The primary component of the aroma of fresh bananas is isoamyl acetate (also known as "banana oil"), which, along with several other compounds such as butyl acetate and isobutyl acetate, is a significant contributor to banana flavor.


title: Banana

text: During the ripening process, bananas produce the gas ethylene, which acts as a plant hormone and indirectly affects the flavor. Among other things, ethylene stimulates the formation of amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar, influencing the taste of bananas. The greener, less ripe bananas contain higher levels of starch and, consequently, have a "starchier" taste. On the other hand, yellow bananas taste sweeter due to higher sugar concentrations. Furthermore, ethylene signals the production of pectinase, an enzyme which breaks down the pectin between the cells of the banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens.


title: Banana

text: In addition to being eaten raw, bananas are eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Bananas can be made into fruit preserves. Banana pancakes are popular among travelers in South Asia and Southeast Asia. This has elicited the expression "Banana Pancake Trail" for those places in Asia that cater to these travelers. Banana chips are a snack produced from sliced dehydrated or fried banana or plantain, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Dried bananas are also ground to make banana flour. Extracting juice is difficult, because when a banana is compressed, it simply turns to pulp. Bananas feature prominently in Philippine cuisine, being part of traditional dishes and desserts like "maruya", "turón", and "halo-halo" or "saba con yelo". Most of these dishes use the Saba Banana or Cardaba banana cultivar. Bananas are also commonly used in cuisine in the South-Indian state of Kerala, where they are steamed ("puzhungiyathu"), made into curries, fried into chips, ("upperi") or fried in batter ("pazhampori"). Pisang goreng, bananas fried with batter similar to the Filipino "maruya" or Kerala "pazhampori", is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. A similar dish is known in the United Kingdom and United States as banana fritters.


title: Banana

text: Plantains are used in various stews and curries or cooked, baked or mashed in much the same way as potatoes, such as the pazham pachadi dish prepared in Kerala.


title: Banana

text: Banana flowers (also called "banana hearts" or "banana blossoms") are used as a vegetable in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, either raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups, curries and fried foods. The flavor resembles that of artichoke. As with artichokes, both the fleshy part of the bracts and the heart are edible.


title: Banana

text: Banana leaves are large, flexible, and waterproof. While generally too tough to actually be eaten, they are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as "plates" in South Asia and several Southeast Asian countries. In Indonesian cuisine, banana leaf is employed in cooking methods like pepes and botok; banana leaf packages containing food ingredients and spices are cooked in steam or in boiled water, or are grilled on charcoal. When used so for steaming or grilling, the banana leaves protect the food ingredients from burning and add a subtle sweet flavor. In South India, it is customary to serve traditional food on a banana leaf. In Tamil Nadu (India), dried banana leaves are used as to pack food and to make cups to hold liquid food items.


title: Banana

text: The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine. Examples include the Burmese dish "mohinga", and the Filipino dishes "inubaran" and "kadyos, manok, kag ubad".


title: Banana

text: Banana fiber harvested from the pseudostems and leaves of the plant has been used for textiles in Asia since at least the 13th century. Both fruit-bearing and fibrous varieties of the banana plant have been used. In the Japanese system Kijōka-bashōfu, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. Harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare fibers for yarn-making. These banana shoots produce fibers of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses. For example, the outermost fibers of the shoots are the coarsest, and are suitable for tablecloths, while the softest innermost fibers are desirable for kimono and kamishimo. This traditional Japanese cloth-making process requires many steps, all performed by hand.


title: Banana

text: In India, a banana fiber separator machine has been developed, which takes the agricultural waste of local banana harvests and extracts strands of the fiber.


title: Banana

text: Banana fiber is used in the production of banana paper. Banana paper is made from two different parts: the bark of the banana plant, mainly used for artistic purposes, or from the fibers of the stem and non-usable fruits. The paper is either hand-made or by industrial process.


title: Banana

text: In India, bananas serve a prominent part in many festivals and occasions of Hindus. In South Indian weddings, particularly Tamil weddings, banana trees are tied in pairs to form an arch as a blessing to the couple for a long-lasting, useful life.


title: Banana

text: In Thailand, it is believed that a certain type of banana plant may be inhabited by a spirit, Nang Tani, a type of ghost related to trees and similar plants that manifests itself as a young woman. Often people tie a length of colored satin cloth around the pseudostem of the banana plants.


title: Banana

text: In Malay folklore, the ghost known as Pontianak is associated with banana plants ("pokok pisang"), and its spirit is said to reside in them during the day.


title: Banana

text: There is a long racist history of describing people of African descent as being more like monkeys than humans, and due to the assumption in popular culture that monkeys like bananas, bananas have been used in symbolic acts of hate speech.


title: Banana

text: Particularly in Europe, bananas have long been commonly thrown at black footballers by racist spectators. In April 2014, during a match at Villarreal's stadium, El Madrigal, Dani Alves was targeted by Villareal supporter David Campaya Lleo, who threw a banana at him. Alves picked up the banana, peeled it and took a bite, and the meme went viral on social media in support of him. Racist taunts are an ongoing problem in football. Bananas were hung from nooses around the campus of American University in May 2017 after the student body elected its first black woman student government president.


title: Banana

text: "Banana" is also a slur aimed at some Asian people, that are said to be "yellow on the outside, white on the inside". Used primarily by East or Southeast Asians for other East/Southeast Asians or Asian Americans who are perceived as assimilated into mainstream American culture.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Scooby-Doo is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!", for Hanna-Barbera Productions. This Saturday-morning cartoon series featured teenagers Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: "Scooby-Doo" was originally broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976, when it moved to ABC. ABC aired various versions of "Scooby-Doo" until canceling it in 1985, and presented a spin-off featuring the characters as children called "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" from 1988 until 1991. Two "Scooby-Doo" reboots aired as part of Kids' WB on The WB and its successor The CW from 2002 until 2008. Further reboots were produced for Cartoon Network beginning in 2010 and continuing through 2018. Repeats of the various "Scooby-Doo" series are frequently broadcast on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang in the United States and other countries. The current "Scooby-Doo" series, "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?", premiered on June 27, 2019, as an original series on Boomerang's streaming service and later HBO Max.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: In 1968, parent-run organizations, particularly Action for Children's Television (ACT), began protesting what they perceived as excessive violence in Saturday-morning cartoons. Most of these shows were Hanna-Barbera action cartoons such as "Space Ghost", "The Herculoids", and "Birdman and the Galaxy Trio", and virtually all of them were canceled by 1969 because of pressure from the parent groups. Members of these watch groups served as advisers to Hanna-Barbera and other animation studios to ensure that new programs would be safe for children.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Fred Silverman, executive for daytime programming at CBS, was then looking for a show that would both revitalize his Saturday-morning line and please the watch groups. The result was "The Archie Show" from Filmation, based on Bob Montana's teenage humor comic book "Archie". Also successful were the musical numbers The Archies performed during each program (one of which, "Sugar, Sugar", was the most successful "Billboard" number-one hit of 1969). Eager to build upon this success, Silverman contacted producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera about creating another show based on a teenage rock group, this time featuring teens who solved mysteries between gigs. Silverman envisioned the show as a cross between the popular "I Love a Mystery" radio serials of the 1940s and either the Archie characters or the popular early 1960s television series "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis".


title: Scooby-Doo

text: After attempting to develop his own version of the show, called "House of Mystery", Barbera, who developed and sold Hanna-Barbera shows while Hanna produced them, passed the task along to storywriters Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, as well as artist/character designer Iwao Takamoto. Their treatment, based in part on "The Archie Show", was titled "Mysteries Five" and featured five teenagers: Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda's brother W.W., along with their bongo-playing dog, Too Much, who collectively formed the band Mysteries Five. When The Mysteries Five were not performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears were unable to decide whether Too Much would be a large cowardly dog or a small feisty one. When the former was chosen, Ruby and Spears wrote Too Much as a Great Dane but revised the dog character to a large sheepdog (similar to the Archies' sheepdog, Hot Dog) just before their presentation to Silverman, as Ruby feared the character would be too similar to the comic strip character Marmaduke. Silverman rejected their initial pitch, and after consulting with Barbera on next steps, got Barbera's permission to go ahead with Too Much being a Great Dane instead of a sheepdog.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: During the design phase, lead character designer Takamoto consulted a studio colleague who was a breeder of Great Danes. After learning the characteristics of a prize-winning Great Dane from her, Takamoto proceeded to break most of the rules and designed Too Much with overly bowed legs, a double chin, and a sloped back, among other abnormalities.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Ruby and Spears' second pass at the show used "Dobie Gillis" as the template for the teenagers rather than "Archie". The treatment retained the dog Too Much, while reducing the number of teenagers to four, removing the Mike character and retaining Geoff, Kelly, Linda, and W.W. As their personalities were modified, so were the characters' names: Geoff became "Ronnie"—later renamed "Fred" (at Silverman's behest), Kelly became "Daphne", Linda "Velma", and W.W. "Shaggy". The teens were now based on four teenage characters from "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis": Dobie Gillis, Thalia Menninger, Zelda Gilroy and Maynard G. Krebs, respectively.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: The revised show was re-pitched to Silverman, who liked the material but, disliking the title "Mysteries Five", decided to call the show "Who's S-S-Scared?" Silverman presented "Who's S-S-Scared?" to the CBS executives as the centerpiece for the upcoming 1969–70 season's Saturday-morning cartoon block. CBS president Frank Stanton felt that the presentation artwork was too scary for young viewers and, thinking the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Now without a centerpiece for the upcoming season's programming, Silverman had Ruby, Spears, and the Hanna-Barbera staff revise the treatments and presentation materials to tone down the show and better reflect its comedy elements. The rock band element was dropped, and more attention was focused upon Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by Frank Sinatra's scat "doo-be-doo-be-doo" at the end of his recording of "Strangers in the Night" on a red-eye flight to one of the development meetings, and decided to rename the dog "Scooby-Doo" and retitled the show "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" The revised show was re-presented to CBS executives, who approved it for production.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: The first episode of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" "What a Night for a Knight" debuted on the CBS network Saturday, September 13, 1969, at 10:30 AM Eastern Time. The original voice cast featured Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, actress Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and Indira Stefanianna as Daphne. Scooby's speech patterns closely resembled an earlier cartoon dog, Astro from "The Jetsons" (1962–63), also voiced by Messick. Seventeen episodes of "Scooby-Doo Where Are You!" were produced in 1969–70. The series theme song was written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh, and performed by Larry Marks.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Each of these episodes features Scooby and the four teenage members of Mystery, Inc.—Fred, Shaggy, Daphne and Velma—arriving at a location in the Mystery Machine, a van painted with psychedelic colors and flower power imagery. Encountering a purportedly supernatural monster terrorizing the local populace, such as a ghost, they decide to investigate. The kids split up to look for clues and suspects, while being chased at turns by the monster. Eventually, the kids come to realize the paranormal activity is actually an elaborate hoax, and—often with the help of a Rube Goldberg-like trap designed by Fred—they capture the creature suit-wearing villain and unmask him or her. Revealed as a flesh and blood crook who used the costume to cover up their crimes, the villain is arrested and taken to jail, often with the catchphrase "if it weren't for those pesky/meddling kids".


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Scheduled opposite another teenage mystery-solving show, ABC's "The Hardy Boys", "Scooby-Doo" became a ratings success, with Nielsen ratings reporting that as many as 65% of Saturday-morning audiences were tuned in to CBS when "Scooby-Doo" was being broadcast. The show was renewed for a second season in 1970, for which eight episodes were produced. Seven of the second-season episodes featured chase sequences set to bubblegum pop songs recorded by Austin Roberts, who also re-recorded the theme song for this season. With Stefanianna Christopherson having married and retired from voice acting, Heather North assumed the role of Daphne, and she continued to voice the character until 1997.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: The TV influences of "I Love a Mystery" and "Dobie Gillis" were apparent in the first episode. Of the similarities between the "Scooby-Doo" teens and the "Dobie Gillis" teens, the similarities between Shaggy and Maynard are the most noticeable; both characters share the same beatnik-style goatee, similar hairstyles, and demeanors. The core premise of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" was also similar to Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" books. Both series featured four youths with a dog, and the Famous Five stories often revolved around a mystery which invariably turned out not to be supernaturally based, but simply a ruse to disguise the villain's true intent.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: The role of each character was strongly defined in the series: Fred is the leader and the determined detective, Velma is the intelligent analyst, Daphne is danger-prone, Shaggy is a coward more motivated by hunger than any desire to solve mysteries, and Scooby is similar to Shaggy, save for a Bob Hope-inspired tendency towards temporary bravery. Later versions of the show made slight changes to the characters' established roles, such as showing the Daphne in 1990s and 2000s "Scooby-Doo" productions as knowing many forms of karate and having the ability to defend herself, and reducing her tendency towards being kidnapped.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: "Scooby-Doo" itself influenced many other Saturday-morning cartoons of the 1970s. During that decade, Hanna-Barbera and its rivals produced several animated programs also featuring teenage detectives solving mysteries with a pet or mascot of some sort, including "Josie and the Pussycats" (1970–71), "The Funky Phantom" (1971–72), "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan" (1972–73), "Speed Buggy" (1973–74), "Goober and the Ghost Chasers" (1973–74), "Jabberjaw" (1976–78), and "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" (1977–80).


title: Scooby-Doo

text: In the fall of 1972, new one-hour episodes under the title "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" were created; each episode featuring a real or fictitious guest star helping the gang solve mysteries, including characters from other Hanna-Barbera series such as "Harlem Globetrotters", "Josie and the Pussycats" and "Speed Buggy", the comic book characters Batman and Robin (later adapted into their own Hanna-Barbera series, "Super Friends", a year later), and celebrities such as Sandy Duncan, The Addams Family, Cass Elliot, Phyllis Diller, Don Knotts and The Three Stooges. Hanna-Barbera musical director Hoyt Curtin composed a new theme song for this series, and Curtin's theme remained in use for much of "Scooby-Doo's" original broadcast run. After two seasons and 24 episodes of the "New Movies" format from 1972 to 1973, CBS began airing reruns of the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" series until its option on the series expired in 1976.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Now president of ABC, Fred Silverman made a deal with Hanna-Barbera to bring new episodes of "Scooby-Doo" to the ABC Saturday-morning lineup, where the show went through almost yearly lineup changes. For their 1976–77 season, 16 new episodes of Scooby-Doo were joined with a new Hanna-Barbera show, "Dynomutt, Dog Wonder", to create "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" (the show became "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show" when a bonus "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" rerun was added to the package in November 1976). Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, now working for Silverman as supervisors of the ABC Saturday-morning programs, returned the program to its original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" format, with the addition of Scooby's dim-witted country cousin Scooby-Dum, voiced by Daws Butler, as a recurring character. The voice cast was held over from "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" save for Nicole Jaffe, who retired from acting in 1973. Pat Stevens took over her role as the voice of Velma.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Then Joe Ruby and Ken Spears left again to start their own studio in 1977 as competition for Hanna-Barbera. They would remain away from the rest of the 1980s.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: For the 1977–78 season, "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show" became the two-hour programming block "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics" (1977–78) with the addition of "Laff-a-Lympics" and "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels". In addition to eight new episodes of "Scooby-Doo" and reruns of the 1969 show, Scooby-Doo also appeared during the "All-Star" block's "Laff-a-Lympics" series, which featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters competing in "Battle of the Network Stars"-esque parodies of Olympic sporting events. Scooby was seen as the team captain of the "Laff-a-Lympics" "Scooby-Doobies" team, which also featured Shaggy and Scooby-Dum among its members.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: "Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics" was retitled "Scooby's All Stars" for the 1978–79 season, reduced to 90 minutes when "Dynomutt" was spun off into its own half-hour and the 1969 reruns were dropped. "Scooby's All-Stars" continued broadcasting reruns of "Scooby-Doo" from 1976 and 1977, while new episodes of "Scooby-Doo" aired during a separate half-hour under the "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" banner. After nine weeks, the separate "Where Are You!" broadcast was cancelled, and the remainder of the 16 new 1978 episodes debuted during the "Scooby's All-Stars" block. The 40 total "Scooby-Doo" episodes produced from 1976 to 1978 were later packaged together for syndication as "The Scooby-Doo Show", under which title they continue to air.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: The "Scooby-Doo" characters first appeared outside of their regular Saturday-morning format in "Scooby Goes Hollywood", an hour-long ABC television special aired in prime time on December 13, 1979. The special revolved around Shaggy and Scooby attempting to convince the network to move Scooby out of Saturday morning and into a prime-time series, and featured spoofs of then-current television series and films such as "Happy Days", "Superman: The Movie", "Laverne & Shirley" and "Charlie's Angels".


title: Scooby-Doo

text: In 1979, Scooby's tiny nephew Scrappy-Doo was added to both the series and the billing, in an attempt to boost "Scooby-Doo"s slipping ratings. The 1979–80 episodes, aired under the new title "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" as an independent half-hour show, succeeded in regenerating interest in the show. Lennie Weinrib voiced Scrappy in the 1979–80 episodes, with Don Messick assuming the role thereafter. Marla Frumkin replaced Pat Stevens as the voice of Velma mid-season.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: As a result of "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" success, the entire show was overhauled in 1980 to focus more upon Scrappy-Doo. At this time, Scooby-Doo started to walk and run anthropomorphically on two feet more often, rather than on four like a normal dog as he did previously. Fred, Daphne, and Velma were dropped from the series, and the new "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" format now consisted of three seven-minute comedic adventures starring Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy instead of one half-hour mystery. Most of the supernatural villains in the seven-minute "Scooby and Scrappy" cartoons, who in previous "Scooby" series had been revealed to be human criminals in costume, were now real within the context of the series.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: This version of "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" first aired from 1980 to 1982 as part of "The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show", an hour-long program also featuring episodes of Hanna-Barbera's new "Richie Rich" cartoon, adapted from the Harvey Comics character. From 1982 to 1983, "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" were part of "The Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour", a co-production with Ruby-Spears Productions which featured two "Scooby and Scrappy" shorts, a "Scrappy and Yabba-Doo" short featuring Scrappy-Doo and his Western deputy uncle Yabba-Doo, and "The Puppy's New Adventures", based on characters from a 1977 Ruby-Spears TV special.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: Beginning in 1980, a half-hour of reruns from previous incarnations of "Scooby-Doo" were broadcast on ABC Saturday mornings in addition to first-run episodes. Airing under the titles "Scooby-Doo Classics", "Scary Scooby Funnies", "The Best of Scooby-Doo", and "Scooby's Mystery Funhouse", the rerun package remained on the air until the end of the 1986 season.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: "Scooby-Doo" was restored to a standalone half-hour in 1983 with "The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show" in 1983, which comprised two 11-minute mysteries per episode in a format reminiscent of the original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" mysteries. Heather North returned to the voice cast as Daphne, who in this incarnation solved mysteries with Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy while working undercover as a reporter for a teen magazine.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: This version of the show lasted for two seasons, with the second season airing under the title "The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries". The 1984–85 season episodes featured semi-regular appearances from Fred and Velma, with Frank Welker and Marla Frumkin resuming their respective roles for these episodes.


title: Scooby-Doo

text: 1985 saw the debut of "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo", which featured Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and new characters Flim-Flam (voiced by Susan Blu) and Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price) traveling the globe to capture "thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the earth." The final first-run episode of "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo" aired in December 1985, and after its reruns were removed from the ABC lineup the following March, no new "Scooby" series aired on the network for the next two years.