title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: On July 6, 1998, Mabel made a one-night-only surprise return to the WWF to unsuccessfully challenge the new King of the Ring, Ken Shamrock. On Sunday January 24, 1999, Frazier made his full-time return, first appearing at the pre-show for the Royal Rumble, then on the show itself, where he was kidnapped by The Undertaker, his Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq) and Mideon. The next night on "RAW", he was reintroduced as Viscera, he began acting as the Ministry of Darkness' enforcer, adopting a gothic look in the process, including white-out contact lenses, a bleached mohawk and a black bodysuit.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: The Ministry of Darkness would break up in July 1999, and Viscera floated around the mid-card, frequently teaming with fellow former Ministry member Mideon and becoming part of the burgeoning hardcore division, winning the WWF Hardcore Championship on April 2, 2000 at WrestleMania 2000, and losing it minutes later, in the same Battle Royal-style match. He also feuded with Mark Henry after body splashing Henry's girlfriend, Mae Young, before he was released from his WWF contract in August 2000.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: Following his release from the WWF, Frazier returned to the independent circuit. He wrestled in the United Kingdom for a while. He then started working for Memphis Wrestling in 2003 he feuded with Jerry Lawler once again. Lost to Rocky Johnson in a boxing match on November 29, 2003. On Valentine's Day 2004 he won a 15 man battle royal.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: In March 2003, Frazier, as Nelson Knight, made a surprise appearance at a weekly Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view, at the side of Ron Killings. He appeared once more the next week.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: Frazier, as Viscera, returned to the former WWF – by then renamed World Wrestling Entertainment – as a surprise in September 2004, attacking former Ministry of Darkness leader, The Undertaker, at the command of former Ministry Acolyte, the WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield. After two weeks on SmackDown!, he was moved to the Raw brand. In his first three months on the Raw brand, Viscera mainly wrestled on "Raw's" sister show "Heat", only making sporadic appearances on "Raw". His first major storyline there started in April 2005, when he aligned with Trish Stratus as part of her feud with Lita and Lita's husband, Kane. While working together, Viscera and Stratus appeared in a segment in which he attempted to seduce her, only to be rebuffed. Stratus implied he would first need to "take care" of Kane. That segment began a gimmick change for Viscera, who transformed into "The World's Largest Love Machine". After losing to Kane at Backlash, he injured Stratus with his Big Splash finishing move, angry about her constant belittling of him, turning face in the process for the first time since 1995.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: Viscera began wrestling in pajamas and making overtly sexual gestures in the ring. He became smitten with "Raw" ring announcer Lilian Garcia and tried different tactics to seduce her every week. At Vengeance in June, Garcia finally reciprocated, proposing to him in the center of the ring, only to be turned down and left crying in the ring when The Godfather arrived with many of his hos to show Viscera what he would be leaving behind if he got married. At the Royal Rumble, Viscera competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Carlito and Chris Masters. At WrestleMania 22, Viscera won an 18-man interpromotional battle royal. Viscera then teamed with Val Venis to form V–Squared. They teamed together for nearly nine months, mainly on "Heat". They challenged for the World Tag Team Championship on several occasions, but never held the title. When Venis was sidelined with a legitimate injury in April 2006, Viscera returned to singles wrestling. He attempted to reconcile with Garcia, but was interrupted and attacked by Umaga during his proposal. Two weeks later, when Garcia was legitimately and accidentally knocked from the ring apron by Charlie Haas and sprained her wrist, the incident was worked into a storyline of Haas and Viscera fighting over Garcia. After Lillian declared she wanted to be just friends, Haas seemingly raked Viscera in the eye, with Viscera feigning to accidentally Samoan slam Lillian. After Viscera gave Lillian the Samoan slam, both men laughed about the incident, in the process turning Viscera heel once again. The team split up when Haas reunited with Shelton Benjamin to reform The World's Greatest Tag Team.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: On June 17, 2007, Viscera was sent from the Raw brand to ECW in the supplemental section of WWE's draft. Three weeks later, he debuted on "ECW", repackaged as Big Daddy V, a "hired muscle" character in the employ of Matt Striker, arriving just in time to help Striker in his rivalry with The Boogeyman. After disposing of The Boogeyman, Big Daddy V defeated Tommy Dreamer in the ECW brand's Elimination Chase to become the number one contender for the ECW Championship at No Mercy. There, he lost to CM Punk by disqualification, when Striker interfered in the match. He then feuded with SmackDown's Kane. At Survivor Series, Big Daddy V competed in a Survivor Series elimination match where his team lost. At Armageddon, Big Daddy V and Mark Henry defeated CM Punk and Kane. Big Daddy V was an entrant at the 2008 Royal Rumble where he was eliminated by Triple H. His last PPV appearance was when he participated in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out, but was eliminated first. He wrestled his last WWE match on March 11, 2008, for an episode of "ECW", losing to CM Punk in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. In the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, he was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Frazier was released from his WWE contract on August 8, 2008.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: After leaving WWE for the final time, Frazier joined the National Wrestling Alliance, as King V. On October 3, 2008 defeated Rob Conway in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The next night in Corpus Christi, Texas, King V defeated Andy Dalton and Joey Spector in a handicap match. On August 8, 2009, at Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW)'s 10th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos, Viscera defeated 2 Tuff Tony in a "Loser Leaves JCW" match, with WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk as special guest referee. After the match, Frazier, Funk, and Balls Mahoney (who had interfered earlier in the match) all attacked Tony. From this time he also wrestled in Mexico, Canada, and Germany. On March 31, 2012 he defeated Shad Gaspard at Wrestling In The Rest Of The World WreslteRama event in Georgetown, Guyana. In September 2012, Big Daddy V appeared for the Japanese promotion Inoki Genome Federation at their GENOME 22 event, losing to Atsushi Sawada. Frazier performed at three Family Wrestling Entertainment shows in 2012 as Big Daddy V, first defeating Malta the Damager in a tables match in February. Frazier's final match, as Big Daddy V, was a win over René Duprée on Qatar Pro Wrestling's inaugural tour, on October 5, 2013.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: Frazier wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling, as Big Daddy Voodoo (later just Big Daddy), and held the All Asia Tag Team Champion with TARU from April 29 to August 29, 2011. He was part of the Voodoo Murders stable. He left AJPW in late 2011, after competing in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League with Joe Doering.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: Frazier was married to Cassandra Frazier until his death in 2014. Frazier worked as a joiner in Soham, Cambridge, before beginning his career in professional wrestling. Due to obesity, Frazier had high blood pressure and diabetes. His wife Cassandra stated that he had been planning on being more healthy before his death, as doctors told him his blood pressure was way too high, and it was affecting his type 2 diabetes. He reacted by removing salt and sugar from his diet, which resulted in him losing over 100 pounds, with his high blood pressure dropping to a healthy level.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: On February 18, 2014, Viscera died of a heart attack, just four days after his 43rd birthday. He was cremated, and his widow divided the ashes into 500 pendants as gifts for his loved ones.


title: Viscera (wrestler)

text: On the one-year anniversary of Viscera's death, his widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit against WWE, alleging that the company had concealed information, misrepresented research, and misinformed Viscera and other wrestlers on performance risks relating to concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which the suit claimed left him with severe short-term memory loss, migraines, and depression, which contributed to his death. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt responded in an interview with the "Boston Herald", explaining that the company was considering pursuing action against Cassandra Frazier's attorney, Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in other lawsuits against WWE. McDevitt called Viscera's death "tragic", but added: "It's ridiculous that someone can ... try to blame someone because a gentleman with a weight problem died of a heart attack in the shower eight years after he last performed." The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant, who ruled that they failed to show that his death was linked to CTE.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand I (; 10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564. Before his accession as Emperor, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Also, he often served as Charles' representative in the Holy Roman Empire and developed encouraging relationships with German princes. In addition, Ferdinand also developed valuable relationships with the German banking house of Jakob Fugger and the Catalan bank, Banca Palenzuela Levi Kahana.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The key events during his reign were the conflict with the Ottoman Empire, which in the 1520s began a great advance into Central Europe, and the Protestant Reformation, which resulted in several wars of religion. Although not a military leader, Ferdinand was a capable organizer with institutional imagination who focused on building a centralized government for Austria, Hungary, and Czechia instead of striving for universal monarchy. He reintroduced major innovations of his grandfather Maximilian I such as the "Hofrat" (court council) with a chancellery and a treasury attached to it (this time, the structure would last until the reform of Maria Theresa) and added innovations of his own such as the "Raitkammer" (collections office) and the War Council, conceived to counter the threat from the Ottoman Empire, while also successfully subduing the most radical of his rebellious Austrian subjects and turning the political class in Bohemia and Hungary into Habsburg partners. While he was able to introduce uniform models of administration, the governments of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary remained distinct though. His approach to Imperial problems, including governance, human relations and religious matters was generally flexible, moderate and tolerant. Ferdinand's motto was : "Let justice be done, though the world perish".


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand was born in 1503 in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, the second son of Philip I of Castile and Joanna of Castile. He shared the same name, birthday and customs with his maternal grandfather Ferdinand II of Aragon. He was born, raised, and educated in Spain, and did not learn German until he was a young adult.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In the summer of 1518 Ferdinand was sent to Flanders following his brother Charles's arrival in Spain as newly appointed King Charles I the previous autumn. Ferdinand returned in command of his brother's fleet but en route was blown off-course and spent four days in Kinsale in Ireland before reaching his destination. With the death of his grandfather Maximilian I and the accession of his now 19-year-old brother, Charles V, to the title of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, Ferdinand was entrusted with the government of the Austrian hereditary lands, roughly modern-day Austria and Slovenia. He was Archduke of Austria from 1521 to 1564. Though he supported his brother, Ferdinand also managed to strengthen his own realm. By adopting the German language and culture later in his life, he also grew close to the German territorial princes.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: After the death of his brother-in-law Louis II, Ferdinand ruled as King of Bohemia and Hungary (1526–1564). Ferdinand also served as his brother's deputy in the Holy Roman Empire during his brother's many absences, and in 1531 was elected King of the Romans, making him Charles's designated heir in the empire. Charles abdicated in 1556 and Ferdinand adopted the title "Emperor elect", with the ratification of the Imperial diet taking place in 1558, while Spain, the Spanish Empire, Naples, Sicily, Milan, the Netherlands, and Franche-Comté went to Philip, son of Charles.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: According to the terms set at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515, Ferdinand married Anne Jagiellonica, daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary on 22 July 1515. Both Hungary and Bohemia were elective monarchies, where the parliaments had the sovereign right to decide about the person of the king. Therefore, after the death of his brother-in-law Louis II, King of Bohemia and of Hungary, at the battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, Ferdinand immediately applied to the parliaments of Hungary and Bohemia to participate as a candidate in the king elections. On 24 October 1526 the Bohemian Diet, acting under the influence of chancellor Adam of Hradce, elected Ferdinand King of Bohemia under conditions of confirming traditional privileges of the estates and also moving the Habsburg court to Prague. The success was only partial, as the Diet refused to recognise Ferdinand as hereditary lord of the Kingdom.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The throne of Hungary became the subject of a dynastic dispute between Ferdinand and John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania. They were supported by different factions of the nobility in the Hungarian kingdom. Ferdinand also had the support of his brother, the Emperor Charles V.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 10 November 1526, John Zápolya was proclaimed king by a Diet at Székesfehérvár, elected in the parliament by the untitled lesser nobility (gentry).


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Nicolaus Olahus, secretary of Louis, attached himself to the party of Ferdinand but retained his position with his sister, Queen Dowager Mary. Ferdinand was also elected King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, etc. by the higher aristocracy (the magnates or barons) and the Hungarian Catholic clergy in a rump Diet in Pozsony ("Bratislava" in Slovak) on 17 December 1526. Accordingly, Ferdinand was crowned as King of Hungary in the Székesfehérvár Basilica on 3 November, 1527.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Croatian nobles unanimously accepted the Pozsony election of Ferdinand I, receiving him as their king in the 1527 election in Cetin, and confirming the succession to him and his heirs. In return for the throne, Archduke Ferdinand promised to respect the historic rights, freedoms, laws and customs of the Croats when they united with the Hungarian kingdom and to defend Croatia from Ottoman invasion.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Brendan Simms notes that the reason Ferdinand was able to gain this sphere of power was Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in the face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant Princes and France. Thus the defense of central Europe was subcontracted to Ferdinand as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the Empire. Charles V abdicated as archduke of Austriain 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes elect Ferdinand as King of the Romans, who thus became his designated successor. "This had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe. Ferdinand rescued Bohemia and Silesia from the Hungarian wreckage, making his north-eastern flank more secure. He told the Landtag, the


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: assembled representatives of the nobility, at Linz in 1530 that 'the Turks cannot be resisted unless the Kingdom of Hungary was in the hands of an Archduke of Austria or another German prince'. After some hesitation, Croatia and the Hungarian rump joined the Habsburgs. In both cases, the link was essentially a contractual one, directly linked to Ferdinand’s ability to provide protection against the Turks."


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Austrian lands were in miserable economic and financial conditions, but Ferdinand was forced to introduce the so-called Turkish Tax (Türken Steuer) in view of the Ottoman threat. In spite of the huge Austrian sacrifices, he was not able to collect enough money to pay for the expenses of the defence costs of Austrian lands. His annual revenues only allowed him to hire 5,000 mercenaries for two months, thus Ferdinand asked for help from his brother, Emperor Charles V, and started to borrow money from rich bankers like the Fugger family.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand defeated Zápolya at the Battle of Tarcal in September 1527 and again in the Battle of Szina in March 1528. Zápolya fled the country and applied to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for support, making Hungary an Ottoman vassal state.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: This led to the most dangerous moment of Ferdinand's career, in 1529, when Suleiman took advantage of this Hungarian support for a massive but ultimately unsuccessful assault on Ferdinand's capital: the Siege of Vienna, which sent Ferdinand to refuge in Bohemia. A further Ottoman invasion was repelled in 1532 (see Siege of Güns). In that year Ferdinand made peace with the Ottomans, splitting Hungary into a Habsburg sector in the west and John Zápolya's domain in the east, the latter effectively a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Together with the formation of the Schmalkaldic League in 1531, this struggle with the Ottomans caused Ferdinand to grant the Nuremberg Religious Peace. As long as he hoped for a favorable response from his humiliating overtures to Suleiman, Ferdinand was not inclined to grant the peace which the Protestants demanded at the Diet of Regensburg which met in April 1532. But as the army of Suleiman drew nearer he yielded and on 23 July 1532 the peace was concluded at Nuremberg where the final deliberations took place. Those who had up to this time joined the Reformation obtained religious liberty until the meeting of a council and in a separate compact all proceedings in matters of religion pending before the imperial chamber court were temporarily paused.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1538, in the Treaty of Nagyvárad, Ferdinand induced the childless Zápolya to name him as his successor. But in 1540, just before his death, Zápolya had a son, John II Sigismund, who was promptly elected King by the Diet. Ferdinand invaded Hungary, but the regent, Frater George Martinuzzi, Bishop of Várad, called on the Ottomans for protection. Suleiman marched into Hungary (see Siege of Buda (1541)) and not only drove Ferdinand out of central Hungary, he forced Ferdinand to agree to pay tribute for his lands in western Hungary.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: John II Sigismund was also supported by King Sigismund I of Poland, his mother's father, but in 1543 Sigismund made a treaty with the Habsburgs and Poland became neutral. Prince Sigismund Augustus married Elisabeth of Austria, Ferdinand's daughter.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Suleiman had allocated Transylvania and eastern Royal Hungary to John II Sigismund, which became the "Eastern Hungarian Kingdom", reigned over by his mother, Isabella Jagiellon, with Martinuzzi as the real power. But Isabella's hostile intrigues and threats from the Ottomans led Martinuzzi to switch round. In 1549, he agreed to support Ferdinand's claim, and Imperial armies marched into Transylvania. In the Treaty of Weissenburg (1551), Isabella agreed on behalf of John II Sigismund to abdicate as King of Hungary and to hand over the royal crown and regalia. Thus Royal Hungary and Transylvania went to Ferdinand, who agreed to recognise John II Sigismund as vassal Prince of Transylvania and betrothed one of his daughters to him. Meanwhile, Martinuzzi attempted to keep the Ottomans happy even after they responded by sending troops. Ferdinand's general Castaldo suspected Martinuzzi of treason and with Ferdinand's approval had him killed.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Since Martinuzzi was by this time an archbishop and Cardinal, this was a shocking act, and Pope Julius III excommunicated Castaldo and Ferdinand. Ferdinand sent the Pope a long accusation of treason against Martinuzzi in 87 articles, supported by 116 witnesses. The Pope exonerated Ferdinand and lifted the excommunications in 1555.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The war in Hungary continued. Ferdinand was unable to keep the Ottomans out of Hungary. In 1554, Ferdinand sent Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq to Constantinople to discuss a border treaty with Suleiman, but he could achieve nothing. In 1556 the Diet returned John II Sigismund to the eastern Hungarian throne, where he remained until 1570. De Busbecq returned to Constantinople in 1556, and succeeded on his second try.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Austrian branch of Habsburg monarchs needed the economic power of Hungary for the Ottoman wars. During the Ottoman wars the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary shrunk by around 70%. Despite these enormous territorial and demographic losses, the smaller, heavily war-torn Royal Hungary had remained economically more important to the Habsburg rulers than Austria or Kingdom of Bohemia even at the end of the 16th century. Out of all his countries, the depleted Kingdom of Hungary was, at that time, Ferdinand's largest source of revenue.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: When he took control of the Bohemian lands in the 1520s, their religious situation was complex. Its German population was composed of Catholics and Lutherans. Some Czechs were receptive to Lutheranism, but most of them adhered to Utraquist Hussitism, while a minority of them adhered to Roman Catholicism. A significant number of Utraquists favoured an alliance with the Protestants. At first, Ferdinand accepted this situation and he gave considerable freedom to the Bohemian estates. In the 1540s, the situation changed. In Germany, while most Protestant princes had hitherto favored negotiation with the Emperor and while many had supported him in his wars, they became increasingly confrontational during this decade. Some of them even went to war against the Empire, and many Bohemian (German or Czech) Protestants or Utraquists sympathized with them.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand and his son Maximilian participated in the victorious campaign of Charles V against the German Protestants in 1547. The same year, he also defeated a Protestant revolt in Bohemia, where the estates and a large part of the nobility had denied him support in the German campaign. This allowed him to increase his power in this realm. He centralized his administration, revoked many urban privileges and confiscated properties. Ferdinand also sought to strengthen the position of the Catholic church in the Bohemian lands, and favoured the installation of the Jesuits there.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In the 1550s, Ferdinand managed to win some key victories on the imperial scene. Unlike his brother, he opposed Albrecht of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and participated in his defeat. This defeat, along with his German ways, made Ferdinand more popular than the Emperor among Protestant princes. This allowed him to play a critical role in the settlement of the religious issue in the Empire.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: After decades of religious and political unrest in the German states, Charles V ordered a general Diet in Augsburg at which the various states would discuss the religious problem and its solution. Charles himself did not attend, and delegated authority to his brother, Ferdinand, to "act and settle" disputes of territory, religion and local power. At the conference, which opened on 5 February, Ferdinand cajoled, persuaded and threatened the various representatives into agreement on three important principles promulgated on 25 September:


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: After 1555, the Peace of Augsburg became the legitimating legal document governing the co-existence of the Lutheran and Catholic faiths in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire, and it served to ameliorate many of the tensions between followers of the "Old Faith" (Catholicism) and the followers of Luther, but it had two fundamental flaws. First, Ferdinand had rushed the article on ' through the debate; it had not undergone the scrutiny and discussion that attended the widespread acceptance and support of '. Consequently, its wording did not cover all, or even most, potential legal scenarios. The "" was not debated in plenary session at all; using his authority to "act and settle," Ferdinand had added it at the last minute, responding to lobbying by princely families and knights.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: While these specific failings came back to haunt the Empire in subsequent decades, perhaps the greatest weakness of the Peace of Augsburg was its failure to take into account the growing diversity of religious expression emerging in the so-called evangelical and reformed traditions. Other confessions had acquired popular, if not legal, legitimacy in the intervening decades and by 1555, the reforms proposed by Luther were no longer the only possibilities of religious expression: Anabaptists, such as the Frisian Menno Simons (1492–1559) and his followers; the followers of John Calvin, who were particularly strong in the southwest and the northwest; and the followers of Huldrych Zwingli were excluded from considerations and protections under the Peace of Augsburg. According to the Augsburg agreement, their religious beliefs remained heretical.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1556, amid great pomp, and leaning on the shoulder of one of his favourites (the 24-year-old William, Count of Nassau and Orange), Charles gave away his lands and his offices. The Spanish Empire, which included Spain, the Netherlands, Naples, Milan and Spain's possessions in the Americas, went to his son, Philip. Ferdinand became suo jure monarch in Austria and succeeded Charles as Holy Roman Emperor. This course of events had been guaranteed already on 5 January 1531 when Ferdinand had been elected the King of the Romans and so the legitimate successor of the reigning Emperor.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles's choices were appropriate. Philip was culturally Spanish: he was born in Valladolid and raised in the Spanish court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. Ferdinand was familiar with, and to, the other princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Although he too had been born in Spain, he had administered his brother's affairs in the Empire since 1531. Some historians maintain Ferdinand had also been touched by the reformed philosophies, and was probably the closest the Holy Roman Empire ever came to a Protestant emperor; he remained nominally a Catholic throughout his life, although reportedly he refused last rites on his deathbed. Other historians maintain he was as Catholic as his brother, but tended to see religion as outside the political sphere.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles' abdication had far-reaching consequences in imperial diplomatic relations with France and the Netherlands, particularly in his allotment of the Spanish kingdom to Philip. In France, the kings and their ministers grew increasingly uneasy about Habsburg encirclement and sought allies against Habsburg hegemony from among the border German territories, and even from some of the Protestant kings. In the Netherlands, Philip's ascension in Spain raised particular problems; for the sake of harmony, order, and prosperity Charles had not blocked the Reformation, and had tolerated a high level of local autonomy. An ardent Catholic and rigidly autocratic prince, Philip pursued an aggressive political, economic and religious policy toward the Dutch, resulting in a Dutch rebellion shortly after he became king. Philip's militant response meant the occupation of much of the upper provinces by troops of, or hired by, Habsburg Spain and the constant ebb and flow of Spanish men and provisions on the so-called Spanish road from northern Italy, through the Burgundian lands, to and from Flanders.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles abdicated as Emperor in August 1556 in favor of his brother Ferdinand. Given the settlement of 1521 and the election of 1531, Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and "suo jure" Archduke of Austria. Due to lengthy debate and bureaucratic procedure, the Imperial Diet did not accept the Imperial succession until 3 May 1558. The Pope refused to recognize Ferdinand as Emperor until 1559, when peace was reached between France and the Habsburgs. During his Emperorship, the Council of Trent came to an end. Ferdinand organized an Imperial election in 1562 in order to secure the succession of his son Maximilian II. Venetian ambassadors to Ferdinand recall in their Relazioni the Emperor's pragmatism and his ability to speak multiple languages. Several issues of the Council of Trent were solved after a compromise was personally reached between Emperor Ferdinand and Morone, the papal legate.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: An important invention of Ferdinand was the "Hofkriegsrat" (Aulic War Council), officially established in 1556 to coordinate military affairs in all Habsburg lands (inside and outside the Holy Roman Empire). Together with the (established in 1559, merging the Imperial and Austrian Chancelleries, thus also dealing with affairs of both Imperial and Habsburg lands) and the (the Finance Chamber, which received imperial taxes from the "Reichspfennig meister"), it formed the core of the Habsburg government in Vienna. The "Reichshofrat" was revived to deal with affairs concerning imperial prerogatives. In 1556, an ordinance was issued to ensure imperial and dynastic affairs were managed separately (by two groups of officials from the same institution) though. In his time, the influence of the Estates in these institutions were limited. For each "Länder"group, regiments (or governments) and treasury offices were created.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Unlike Maximilian I and Charles V, Ferdinand I was not a nomadic ruler. In 1533, he moved his residence to Vienna and spent most of his time there. After experiencing the Turkish siege of 1529, Ferdinand worked hard to make Vienna an impregnable fortress. After his 1558 accession, Vienna became the imperial capital.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Since 1542, Charles V and Ferdinand had been able to collect the Common Penny tax, or "Türkenhilfe" (Turkish aid), designed to protect the Empire against the Ottomans or France. But as Hungary, unlike Bohemia, was not part of the Reich, the imperial aid for Hungary depended on political factors. The obligation was only in effect if Vienna or the Empire was threatened.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The western part of Hungary over which Ferdinand had dominion became known as Royal Hungary. As the ruler of Austria, Bohemia and Royal Hungary, Ferdinand adopted a policy of centralisation and, in common with other monarchs of the time, the construction of an absolute monarchy. In 1527, soon after ascending the throne, he published a constitution for his hereditary domains ("") and established Austrian-style institutions in Pressburg for Hungary, in Prague for Bohemia, and in Breslau for Silesia.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand was able to introduce more uniform governments for his realms and also strengthen his control over finance in Bohemia, which provided him with half of his revenue. The governments basically remained independent of each other though. An Austrian could make a career in Bohemian administration but usually only after naturalization, except for some royal protégés such as Florian Griespeck, while it was virtually unheard of (in contrast with the future) for a Bohemian to gain advancement in the Austrian government. An elected king himself, he gradually nudged the monarchy towards becoming hereditary, which would finally succeed under Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1547 the Bohemian Estates rebelled against Ferdinand after he had ordered the Bohemian army to move against the German Protestants. After suppressing the revolt, he retaliated by limiting the privileges of Bohemian cities and inserting a new bureaucracy of royal officials to control urban authorities.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand was a supporter of the Counter-Reformation and helped lead the Catholic response against what he saw as the heretical tide of Protestantism. For example, in 1551 he invited the Jesuits to Vienna and in 1556 to Prague. Finally, in 1561 Ferdinand revived the Archdiocese of Prague, which had been previously liquidated due to the success of the Protestants.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: After the Ottoman invasion of Hungary the traditional Hungarian coronation city Székesfehérvár came under Turkish occupation. Thus, in 1536 the Hungarian Diet decided that a new place for coronation of the king as well as a meeting place for the Diet itself would be set in Pressburg. Ferdinand proposed that the Hungarian and Bohemian diets should convene and hold debates together with the Austrian estates, but all parties refused such an innovation.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In Hungary, the monarchy remained elective until 1627 (with Habsburgs' female inheritance rights being acknowledged in 1723), although the kings that followed Ferdinand would almost always be Habsburgs.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: A rudimentary union between Austria, Hungary and Bohemia was formed though, on the basis of common legal status. Ferdinand had an interest in keeping Bohemia separate from imperial jurisdiction and making the connection between Bohemia and the Empire looser (Bohemia did not have to pay taxes to the Empire). As he refused the rights of an Imperial Elector as King of Bohemia, he was able to give Bohemia (as well as associated territories such as Upper and Lower Alsatia, Silesia and Moravia) the same privileged status as Austria, therefore affirming his superior position in the Empire.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In December 1562, Ferdinand had Maximilian, his eldest son elected King of the Romans. This was followed with succession in Bohemia, and in 1563, the crown of Hungary.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand died in Vienna in 1564 and is buried in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. After his death, Maximilian ascended unchallenged.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand's legacy ultimately proved enduring. Though lacking resources, he managed to defend his land against the Ottomans with limited support from his brother, and even secured a part of Hungary that would later provide the basis for the conquest of the whole kingdom by the Habsburgs. In his own possessions, he built a tax system that, though imperfect, would continue to be used by his successors. His handling of the Protestant Reformation proved more flexible and more effective than that of his brother and he played a key part in the settlement of 1555, which started an era of peace in Germany. His statesmanship, overall, was cautious and effective. On the other hand, when he engaged in more audacious endeavours, like his offensives against Buda and Pest, it often ended in failure.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Fichtner remarks that Ferdinand was a mediocre military commander (thus the many difficulties in dealing with the Ottomans in Hungary) but an energetic and very imaginative administrator, who produced a framework for his empire that would endured into the eighteenth century. The core included a court council, privy council, central treasury and a body for military affairs, with the written business conducted by a common chancery. In his time and in practice, Bohemia and Hungary resisted cooperating with the structure but the German territories widely imitated it.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand was also a patron of the arts. He embellished Vienna and Prague. The University of Vienna was reorganized. He also called Jesuits to the capital city, attracted architects and scholars from Italy and the Low Countries to create an intellectual "milieu" surrounding the court. He promoted scholarly interest in Oriental languages. The humanists he invited had a major influence on his son Maximilian. He was particularly fond of music and hunting. While not a supremely gifted commander, he was interested in military matters and participated in several campaigns during his reign.


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 26 May 1521 in Linz, Austria, Ferdinand married Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547), daughter of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his wife Anne of Foix-Candale. They had fifteen children, all but two of whom reached adulthood:


title: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Ferdinand I has been the main motif for many collector coins and medals. The most recent one is the Austrian silver 20-euro Renaissance coin issued on 12 June 2002. A portrait of Ferdinand I is shown on the reverse of the coin, while on the obverse a view of the Swiss Gate of the Hofburg Palace can be seen.


title: Kraft Foods

text: The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015.


title: Kraft Foods

text: A merger with Heinz, arranged by Heinz owners Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, was completed on July 2, 2015, forming "The Kraft Heinz Company", the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.


title: Kraft Foods

text: In August 2011, Kraft Foods Inc. announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies — a snack food company and a grocery company.


title: Kraft Foods

text: On April 2, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it had filed a Form 10 Registration Statement to the SEC to split the company into two companies to serve the "North American grocery business".


title: Kraft Foods

text: On October 1, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. spun off its North American grocery business to a new company called "Kraft Foods Group", Inc. The remainder of Kraft Foods Inc. was renamed Mondelēz International, Inc., and was refocused as an international snack and confection company. Burt P. Flickinger III of Strategic Resource Group said the strategy "worked for Mondelez, but not for Kraft."


title: Kraft Foods

text: On November 19, 2013, an arbitration ruling ordered Starbucks to pay Kraft Foods Inc. $2.7 billion because of an early contract termination. The money would go to Mondelēz International, Inc. In October 2013, Kraft announced that it would remove artificial dyes from three macaroni and cheese varieties made in kid-friendly shapes, but not its plain elbow-shaped Kraft Macaroni and Cheese product with "original flavor". This was in response to a petition by activist Vani Hari and blogger Lisa Leake who delivered a petition to the company to remove controversial synthetic dyes Yellow 5 (labeled as Tartrazine) and Yellow 6 from its signature macaroni and cheese products.


title: Kraft Foods

text: On March 25, 2015, Kraft Foods Group Inc. announced that it would merge with the H.J. Heinz Company, owned by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Kraft's shares rose about 17 percent in premarket trading after the announcement of the deal, which will bring Heinz back to the public market following its takeover over two years prior. The companies completed the merger on July 2, 2015.


title: Kraft Foods

text: Kraft is an official partner and sponsor of both Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League. Since 2006, Kraft Foods has sponsored "Kraft Hockeyville", a reality television series produced by CBC/SRC Sports, in which communities demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey in a contest revolving around the theme of community spirit. The winning community gets a cash prize dedicated to upgrading their hometown arena, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL preseason game. In 2007, it was then relegated to segments aired during "Hockey Night in Canada". In 2015, "Kraft Hockeyville" was expanded to the United States with a separate competition for communities there.


title: Kraft Foods

text: From 2002 to 2014, Kraft sponsored the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four "majors" on the LPGA tour. The company also sponsored the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, a post-season college football bowl game, from 2010 to 2012.


title: Kraft Foods

text: The company's core businesses are in beverage, cheese, dairy foods, snack foods, and convenience foods. Kraft's major brands include:


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li Jingliang (Chinese: 李景亮; pinyin: Lǐ Jǐngliàng; born March 20, 1988) is a Chinese mixed martial artist who competes as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of December 13, 2022, he is #15 in the UFC welterweight rankings.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Originally from a small town near Tacheng in the Xinjiang UAR of Northwest China, Li competed in Chinese wrestling and trained in Sanda before moving to Beijing in 2008 in order to pursue a career in professional mixed martial arts. Li began training under the tutelage of former UFC Lightweight Zhang Tiequan.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li made his professional debut in 2007, winning via submission due to punches in the second round. He would go on to compile a record of 8–2, capturing the Legend FC Welterweight Championship in the process, before being granted his release and signed by the UFC.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li made his promotional debut on May 24, 2014, at UFC 173 against David Michaud, who had an undefeated record of 7–0. Li defeated Michaud via split decision, giving Michaud the first loss of his career.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Nordine Taleb on October 4, 2014, at . Li was able to take Taleb down multiple times throughout the fight and even successfully land significantly more strikes as Taleb was content to counter strike throughout the bout. In a surprising result, Taleb was given the victory by split decision.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was expected to face Roger Zapata on May 16, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 66. However, on April 18, it was announced that Zapata was pulled from the fight due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by Brazilian fighter Dhiego Lima. Li won the fight via knockout in the first round.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was expected to face Kiichi Kunimoto on September 27, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 75. However, Kunimoto pulled out of the fight in late August citing injury and was replaced by returning Japanese veteran Keita Nakamura. After dominating the first two rounds, Li lost the fight via technical submission in the third round.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was expected to face Chad Laprise on December 10, 2016, at UFC 206. However, Laprise pulled out of the fight on November 16 citing an undisclosed injury. As a result, Li was pulled from the card entirely and rescheduled to a future event.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was expected to face Yancy Medeiros on January 28, 2017, at UFC on Fox 23. However, in early January, Medeiros pulled out for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Bobby Nash. Li defeated Nash via knockout in the second round.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Frank Camacho on June 17, 2017, at . He won the fight via unanimous decision. This win earned Li his second "Fight of the Night" bonus award.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Zak Ottow on November 25, 2017, at . He won the fight via TKO in the first round. The win also earned Li his first "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Jake Matthews on February 11, 2018, at UFC 221. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and received criticism for his eye gouge of Matthews. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night bonus.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Daichi Abe on June 23, 2018, at UFC Fight Night 132. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was scheduled to face Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos on November 24, 2018, at UFC Fight Night 141. However, on October 27, 2018, it was reported that Zaleski withdrew from the bout due to a partial ligament tear in his right knee, and he is replaced by David Zawada. He won the fight via technical knockout in round three.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was expected to face Alex Oliveira on April 27, 2019, at UFC on ESPN 3. However, on March 24, 2019, it was report Li pulled from the bout, citing injury.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was expected to be in a pairing with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos that was rescheduled and took place on August 31, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 157. Li won the fight via technical knockout in round three. The win earned Li his third "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was scheduled to face Dwight Grant on December 12, 2020, at UFC 256. However, on December 8, 2020, Grant tested positive for COVID-19 during fight week and had to pull out. A replacement opponent for Li wasn't able to be found, and therefore Li was removed from the event.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Santiago Ponzinibbio, replacing Muslim Salikhov, on January 16, 2021, at UFC on ABC 1. He won the fight via first-round knockout. This win earned him the "Performance of the Night" award.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Khamzat Chimaev on October 30, 2021, at UFC 267. He lost the bout after getting choked unconscious via rear-naked choke in the first round.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li faced Muslim Salikhov on July 16, 2022, at UFC on ABC 3. He won the fight via TKO in the second round. This win earned him "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Li Jingliang

text: Li was scheduled to face Tony Ferguson on September 10, 2022, at UFC 279. However, due to Khamzat Chimaev missing weight, Li faced Daniel Rodriguez who was originally scheduled to face Kevin Holland in a catchweight bout. He lost the back-and-forth fight via split decision. 21 out of 23 media scores gave it to Jingliang.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: Michael John Whitehall (born 12 April 1940) is an English author, producer, talent agent and television personality. He is a former theatrical agent who went on to form two production companies, Havahall Pictures (with Nigel Havers) in 1988, and Whitehall Films in 1998. He has represented Colin Firth and Dame Judi Dench. He is the father of comedian and actor Jack Whitehall.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: Whitehall was born on 12 April 1940 in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Ampleforth College, a Catholic boarding school in Yorkshire, run by Benedictine monks. After his education, Whitehall worked as a film reporter for "The Universe", a weekly Catholic newspaper.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: Both his father and grandfather were commercial travellers. His education was paid for by his grandfather, who had inherited significant wealth from his cousin, a wool merchant.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: Whitehall has produced TV programmes such as "Bertie and Elizabeth", "Noah's Ark", "Element of Doubt", "The Good Guys" and "A Perfect Hero". He represented Judi Dench, Colin Firth, Richard E Grant, and Leslie Grantham.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: He has made guest appearances on various television shows including "Countdown", "John Bishop's Britain", "The Million Pound Drop Live", "Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask" and "". In 2013, it was announced that he would present a TV chat show for the BBC with his son Jack. The first series of "Backchat" began airing on BBC Three, starting on 20 November 2013 but has since moved to BBC Two. In 2017, he co-presented "", a travel documentary/road trip through Southeast Asia with his son on Netflix. In 2018, "Travels" had a second series where they visited several countries in Eastern Europe. In 2019, Travels had a third, two-episode series where they visited, California, Arizona, and Nevada in the USA. In 2020, Travels had a fourth, two-episode series where they visited Australia. In 2021, Travels has a fifth, three-episode series where they traveled around the U.K. This series would go on to be the final series of the show. In 2019, Michael appeared in the programme Who Do You Think You Are? (UK TV series) along with his son Jack to discover his heritage.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: Whitehall's first book was "Shark Infested Waters: Tales of an Actors' Agent", and his son Jack illustrated it. "The Times Literary Supplement" (TLS) called the book "a most entertaining memoir" that was "wittily illustrated". In October 2013, he released his second book "Him & Me", which was co-written with his son. Written in two distinctive styles, it reflects the different personalities of its authors.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: Whitehall married Jane McIntosh in 1969. After their divorce in 1973, McIntosh married lyricist Tim Rice. Whitehall married television actress Hilary Amanda Jane Isbister (stage surname Gish) on 12 April 1986, Whitehall's 46th birthday.


title: Michael Whitehall

text: As of 2013, Whitehall and Isbister were living in Putney in the London Borough of Wandsworth. They have three children together: Jack Whitehall (born 1988), Molly (born 1989) and Barnaby (born 1992).


title: Ymir

text: In Norse mythology, Ymir (, ), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the "Poetic Edda", compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the "Prose Edda", written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century, and in the poetry of skalds. Taken together, several stanzas from four poems collected in the "Poetic Edda" refer to Ymir as a primeval being who was born from Eitr, yeasty venom that dripped from the icy rivers called the Élivágar, and lived in the grassless void of Ginnungagap. Ymir gave birth to a male and female from his armpits, and his legs together begat a six-headed being. The grandsons of Búri, the gods Odin, Vili and Vé, fashioned the Earth (elsewhere personified as a goddess, Jörð) from his flesh, from his blood the ocean, from his bones the mountains, from his hair the trees, from his brains the clouds, from his skull the heavens, and from his eyebrows the middle realm in which mankind lives, Midgard. In addition, one stanza relates that the dwarfs were given life by the gods from Ymir's flesh and blood (or the Earth and sea).


title: Ymir

text: In the "Prose Edda", a narrative is provided that draws from, adds to, and differs from the accounts in the "Poetic Edda". According to the "Prose Edda", after Ymir was formed from the elemental drops, so too was Auðumbla, a primeval cow, whose milk Ymir fed from. The "Prose Edda" also states that three gods killed Ymir; the brothers Odin, Vili and Vé, and details that, upon Ymir's death, his blood caused an immense flood. Scholars have debated as to what extent Snorri's account of Ymir is an attempt to synthesize a coherent narrative for the purpose of the "Prose Edda" and to what extent Snorri drew from traditional material outside of the corpus that he cites. By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, scholars have linked Ymir to Tuisto, the Proto-Germanic being attested by Tacitus in his 1st century CE ethnography "Germania" and have identified Ymir as an echo of a primordial being reconstructed in Proto-Indo-European mythology.


title: Ymir

text: Ymir is mentioned in four poems in the "Poetic Edda"; "Völuspá", "Vafþrúðnismál", "Grímnismál", and "Hyndluljóð". In "Völuspá", in which an undead völva imparts knowledge in the god Odin, references are twice made to Ymir. In the first instance, the third stanza of the poem, Ymir is mentioned by name:


title: Ymir

text: In the above translations the name of the location Ginnungagap is translated as "chaotic chasm" (Thorpe, 1866) and "yawning gap" (Bellows). Later in the poem, a few other references are apparently made to Ymir as "Brimir" and "Bláinn" (here anglicized as "Blain"):


title: Ymir

text: In this stanza Thorpe has treated "Brimir" (Old Norse "the bloody moisture") and "Blain" (Old Norse, disputed) as common nouns. Brimir and Blain are usually held to be proper names that refer to Ymir, as in Bellows's translation.


title: Ymir

text: In the poem "Vafþrúðnismál", the (disguised) god Odin engages the wise jötunn Vafþrúðnir in a game of wits. Odin asks Vafþrúðnir to tell him, if Vafþrúðnir's knowledge is sufficient, the answer to a variety of questions. In the first of which that refers to Ymir, Odin asks from where first came the Earth and the sky. The jötunn responds with a creation account involving Ymir:


title: Ymir

text: As the verbal battle continues, a few more exchanges directly refer to or may allude to Ymir. Odin asks what ancient jötun is the eldest of "Ymir's kin", and Vafþrúðnir responds that long, long ago it was Bergelmir, who was Þrúðgelmir's son and Aurgelmir's grandson. In the next stanza Odin asks where Aurgelmir came from so long ago, to which Vafþrúðnir responds that venom dropped from Élivágar, and that these drops grew until they became a jötunn, and from this being descends the jötnar. Finally, Odin asks how this being begat children, as he did not know the company of a female jötunn, to which Vafþrúðnir responds that from beneath the ancient jötunn's armpits together a girl and a boy grew, and his feet together produced a six-headed jötunn.


title: Ymir

text: In the poem "Grímnismál", the god Odin (disguised as "Grímnir") imparts in the young Agnarr cosmological knowledge. In one stanza, Odin mentions Ymir as he recalls the fashioning of the world from his body:


title: Ymir

text: In a stanza of "Völuspá hin skamma" (found in the poem "Hyndluljóð"), Ymir receives one more mention. According to the stanza, völvas are descended from Viðòlfr, all seers from Vilmeiðr, all charm-workers from Svarthöfði, and all jötnar descend from Ymir.


title: Ymir

text: Ymir is mentioned in two books of the "Prose Edda"; "Gylfaginning" and "Skáldskaparmál". In the first mention, in chapter 5 of "Gylfaginning", High, Just-As-High, and Third tell Gangleri (the disguised mythical king Gylfi) about how all things came to be. The trio explain that the first world to exist was Muspell, a glowing, fiery southern region consisting of flames, uninhabitable by non-natives. After "many ages" Niflheimr was made, and within it lies a spring, Hvergelmir, from which eleven rivers flow.


title: Ymir

text: Gangleri asks the three what things were like before mankind. High continues that these icy rivers, which are called Élivágar, ran so far from their spring source that the poisonous matter that flows with them became hard "like the clinker that comes from a furnace" – it turned to ice. And so, when this ice came to a halt and stopped flowing, the vapor that rose up from the poison went in the same direction and froze to rime. This rime increased, layer upon layer, across Ginnungagap.


title: Ymir

text: Just-As-High adds that the northern part of Ginnungagap was heavy with ice and rime, and vapor and blowing came inward from this. Yet the southern part of Ginunngagap was clear on account of the sparks and molten flecks flying from Muspell. Third assesses that "just as from Niflheim there was coldness and all things grim, so what was facing close to Muspell was hot and bright, but Ginunngagap was as mild as a windless sky". Third adds that when the rime and hot air met, it thawed and dripped, and the liquid intensely dropped. This liquid fell into the shape of a man, and so he was named "Ymir" and known among the jötnar as "Aurgelmir", all of which descend from him. In support of these two names, Third quotes a stanza each from "Völuspá hin skamma" and "Vafþrúðnismál".


title: Ymir

text: Gangleri asks how generations grew from Ymir, how other beings came into existence, and if Ymir was considered a god. High says that Ymir was no god, and "he was evil and all his descendants." High explains that Ymir is the ancestor of all jötnar (specifically hrimthursar) and that when Ymir slept, he sweated, and from his left and right arm grew a male and a female, and his left leg produced a son with his right leg, and from them came generations.


title: Ymir

text: Gangleri asks where Ymir lived and what sustained him. High explains that the drips next produced a cow named Auðumbla. From her teats flowed four rivers of milk, and from it fed Ymir. Gangleri asks what the cow fed from, and High responds that the cow licked salty rime-stones. The first day Auðumbla licked the rime stones it uncovered that evening the hair of a man. The second day it uncovered his head. The third day a man was uncovered from the ice. This man was named Búri, and was large, powerful, and beautiful to behold. Búri had a son, Borr, who married a jötunn, Bestla, the daughter of Bölþorn. The two had three sons: Odin, Vili, and Vé. High adds that "Odin and his brothers must be the rulers of heaven and earth; it is our opinion that this must be what he is called. This is the name of one who is the greatest and most glorious that we know, and you would well to agree to call him that too".


title: Ymir

text: High relates that Odin, Vili, and Vé killed Ymir, and his body produced so much blood from his wounds that within it drowned all the jötnar but two, Bergelmir, who, on a "lúðr" with his (unnamed) wife, survived and repopulated the jötnar.


title: Ymir

text: Gangleri asks what, if High, Just-As-High, and Third believe the trio to be gods, what the three did then. High says that the trio took the body into the middle of Ginnungagap and from his flesh fashioned the Earth, from his blood the sea and lakes, from his bones rocks, scree and stones his teeth, molars, and bones. Just-As-High adds that from his gushing wounds they created the sea that surrounds the Earth. Third says that the trio took his skull and placed it above the Earth and from it made the sky. They placed the sky above the earth, and, to hold up the sky, they placed four dwarfs – Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri – at its four corners. The trio took the molten particles and sparks that flew from Muspell and "they fixed all the lights, some in the sky, some moved in a wandering course beneath the sky, but they appointed them positions and ordained their courses". Third cites a stanza from "Völuspá" in support, stating that by ways of these sky lights days and years were reckoned and counted, and that the stanza reflects that the cosmological bodies did not know their places prior to the creation of earth.<


title: Ymir

text: Gangleri comments that what he has just heard is remarkable, as the construction is both immense and made with great skill, and asks how the earth was arranged. High replies that the world is circular, and around it lies the depths of the sea. Along the shore the gods gave land to the jötnar. However, on the inner side on earth they made a fortification against the hostility of the jötnar out of Ymir's eyelashes. This fortification they called Midgard. Further, they took Ymir's brains and threw them skyward, and from them made clouds. Another two stanzas from "Völuspá" are cited in support.


title: Ymir

text: Later in "Gylfaginning" High explains the origin of the dwarfs. High says that after Asgard had been built, the gods assembled on their thrones and held their things. There they "discussed where the dwarfs had been generated from in the soil and down in the earth like maggots in flesh. The dwarfs had taken shape first and acquired life in the flesh of Ymir and were then maggots, but by decision of the gods they became conscious with intelligence and had the shape of men though they live in the earth and in rocks". Stanzas from "Völuspá" consisting of dwarf names are then provided to show the lineage of the dwarfs.


title: Ymir

text: In the book "Skáldskaparmál" poetic means of referring to the sky are provided, some of which relate to the narrative in "Gylfaginning" involving Ymir, including "Ymir's skull" and "jötunn's skull", or "burden of the dwarfs" or "helmet of Vestri and Austri, Sudri, Nordri". A portion of a work by the 11th century skald Arnórr jarlaskáld is also provided, which refers to the sky as "Ymir's old skull". Later in "Skáldskaparmál" poetic terms for the earth are provided, including "Ymir's flesh", followed by a section for poetic terms for "sea", which provides a portion of a work by the skald Ormr Barreyjarskáld where the sea is referred to as "Ymir's blood". Both the names "Aurgelmir" and "Ymir" appear in a list of jötnar in the Nafnaþulur section of "Skáldskaparmál".


title: Ymir

text: As "Gylfaginning" presents a cohesive narrative that both quotes stanzas from various poems found in the "Poetic Edda" (as outlined above) as well as contains unique information without a provided source (such as Auðumbla); scholars have debated to what extent Snorri had access to outside sources that no longer survive and to what extent he synthesized a narrative from the material he had access to.


title: Ymir

text: Regarding the situation, scholar Gabriel Turville-Petre comments (1964) that "at the beginning, according to Snorri's text of the poem, there was nothing but a void, although according to other texts, the giant Ymir existed already then. Considering how Ymir (Aurgelmir) was said to have taken shape, both Snorri and the "Vafþrúðnismál", we may think that Snorri followed the better version of Vǫluspá" and, regarding Snorri's account of the cosmogenesis in general, that "from these sketches of the poetic sources from which he chiefly drew it is obvious that Snorri described several incidents which cannot be traced to them, at least in their extant forms". Turville-Petre cites Snorri's account of Auðumbla as a prime example, noting Indo-European parallels (Persian and Vedic) and a Semitic parallel in the Egyptian goddess Hathor.


title: Ymir

text: H.R.E. Davidson (1964) comments that "the original form of the creation myth in the north is not easy to determine. Snorri knew of at least three separate accounts".


title: Ymir

text: In the 1st century CE, Roman historian Tacitus writes in his ethnography "Germania" that the Germanic peoples sing songs about a primeval god who was born of the Earth named "Tuisto", and that he was the progenitor of the Germanic peoples. "Tuisto" is the Latinized form of a Proto-Germanic theonym that is a matter of some debate. By way of historical linguistics some scholars have linked "Tuisto" to the Proto-Germanic theonym *"Tiwaz", while other scholars have argued that the name refers to a "two-fold" or hermaphroditic being (compare Old Swedish "tvistra", meaning "separate"). The latter etymology has led scholars to a connection to Ymir on both linguistic and mythographic grounds.


title: Ymir

text: By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, scholars have linked Ymir to other primordial, sometimes hermaphroditic or twin beings in other Indo-European mythologies and have reconstructed elements of a Proto-Indo-European cosmological dissection. Citing Ymir as a prime example, scholars D.Q. Adams and J.P. Mallory comment that "the [Proto-Indo-European] cosmogonic myth is centered on the dismemberment of a divine being – either anthropomorphic or bovine – and the creation of the universe out of its various elements". Further examples cited include the climactic ending of the Old Irish "Táin Bó Cúailnge" where a bull is dissected that makes up the Irish geography, and apparently Christianized forms of the myth found in the Old Russian "Poem of the Dove Book" (), the Frisian "Frisian Code of Emsig", and Irish Other examples given include Ovid's 1st century BCE to 1st century BCE Latin "Metamorphoses" description of the god Atlas's beard and hair becoming forests, his bones becoming stone, his hands mountain ridges, and so forth; the 9th century AD Middle Persian "Škend Gumānīg Wizār", wherein the malevolent being Kūnī's skin becomes the sky, from his flesh comes the earth, his bones the mountains, and from his hair comes plants; and the 10th century BCE Old Indic "Purusha sukta" from the "Rig Veda", which describes how the primeval man Purusha was dissected; from his eye comes the sun, from his mouth fire, from his breath wind, from his feet the earth, and so on. Among surviving sources, Adams and Mallory summarize that "the most frequent correlations, or better, derivations, are the following: Flesh = Earth, Bone = Stone, Blood = Water (the sea, etc.), Eyes = Sun, Mind = Moon, Brain = Cloud, Head = Heaven, Breath = Wind".


title: Ymir

text: Adams and Mallory write that "In both cosmogonic myth and the foundation element of it, one of the central aspects is the notion of sacrifice (of a brother, giant, bovine, etc.). The relationship between sacrifice and cosmogony was not solely that of a primordial event but the entire act of sacrifice among the Indo-Europeans might be seen as a re-creation of the universe where elements were being continuously recycled. ... Sacrifice thus represents a creative re-enactment of the initial cosmic dismemberment of a victim and it helps return the material stuff to the world".


title: Ymir

text: Davidson further links accounts of the jötunn Þjazi's eyes flung into the heavens by Odin and the frozen toe of Aurvandil tossed into the sky by the god Thor, the eyes in the prior case becoming stars and the toe in the latter case becoming a star known as "Aurvandil's Toe". Davidson comments that "these myths are evidently connected with names of constellations, but the strange reference to a frozen toe suggests that there is some connexion with the creation legend of the giant that emerged from the ice".


title: Public Ivy

text: "Public Ivy" is a term that refers to prestigious public colleges and universities in the United States that provide a collegiate experience similar to those in the Ivy League. The term was first coined by Yale University admissions officer Richard Moll, who published "Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities" in 1985, which included eight universities and nine runners-up. In 2001, college guide authors Howard Greene and Matthew Greene, released their own book, "The Public Ivies: The Great State Colleges and Universities," which included 30 schools. Debates about public Ivies have centered on whether state budgetary cuts are undermining their future; whether raising tuition at public Ivies has "gentrified" the schools; whether states should be subsidizing higher education in the first place; whether graduates of public Ivies are able to pay back student loans as quickly as their Ivy League counterparts; and whether out-of-state tuition is too high.


title: Public Ivy

text: The term first appeared in the "Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities", published in 1985. The author, Richard Moll, graduated with a master's degree from Yale University in 1959, and served as an admissions officer as well as a director of admissions at several universities in the United States. He traveled the nation examining higher education institutions, and selected eight that were comparable to the Ivy League.


title: Public Ivy

text: Moll's original ranking methodology included factors such as academic rigor, quality of faculty, and cost of tuition, as well as assessments of campus facilities, available resources, age, and major cultural traditions celebrated at each institution.


title: Public Ivy

text: The list of "public ivy" institutions has gone through several revisions over the years, much like other university rankings and conferences. A notable update was published in 2001, when Howard and Matthew Greene included the following 30 colleges and universities in "The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities".


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In tennis, "Battle of the Sexes" describes various exhibition matches played between a man and a woman, or a doubles match between two men and two women in one case. The term is most famously used for an internationally televised match in 1973 held at the Houston Astrodome between 55-year-old Bobby Riggs and 29-year-old Billie Jean King, which King won in three sets. The match was viewed by an estimated fifty million people in the United States and ninety million worldwide. King's win is considered a milestone in public acceptance of women's tennis.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Two other matches commonly referred to as a "battle of the sexes" include one held four months earlier in 1973 between Riggs and Margaret Court over the best of three sets, and one in 1992 between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova over the best of three sets, with hybrid rules favoring the female player dubbed "The Battle of Champions". These matches were won by Riggs and Connors, respectively.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: At least eight other exhibition matches have been played between notable male and female tennis players starting in 1888, though only some of them were referred to at the time as a "battle of the sexes".


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Riggs had been one of the world's top tennis players in the 1940s; he was ranked year-end number one three times and had won six major titles during his career, including three Wimbledon titles. After he retired from professional tennis in 1951, Riggs remained a master promoter of himself and of tennis. In 1973, he opined that the female game was inferior and that even at his current age of 55 he could still beat any of the top female players.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Riggs first challenged Billie Jean King, but when she declined, Margaret Court stepped in. At the time, Court was 30 years old and had recently returned to tennis after giving birth to her first child in March 1972. She was in the midst of earning her seventh year-end ranking as number one female player in the world. On the day of their match on May 13, 5,000 fans came to the Mother's Day match in Ramona, California. Televised by CBS Sports, Riggs descended the stadium steps and presented Court with Mother's Day flowers, which she accepted while curtsying. Riggs used his drop shots and lobs to keep Court off balance. His quick victory (6–2, 6–1) landed Riggs on the cover of both "Sports Illustrated" and "Time".


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Suddenly in the national limelight following his win over Court, Riggs taunted all female tennis players, prompting King to accept a lucrative financial offer to play Riggs in a nationally televised match in prime time on ABC that the promoters dubbed the "Battle of the Sexes". The match, which had a winner-take-all prize of $100,000 ($ today), was held in Texas at the Houston Astrodome on Thursday, September 20, 1973.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Then 29-year-old King had earned her fifth year-end ranking as World No. 1 female player the previous year, and would finish second to Court in 1973.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: King entered the court in the style of Cleopatra, on a feather-adorned litter carried by four bare-chested muscle men dressed in the style of ancient slaves. Riggs followed in a rickshaw drawn by a bevy of models. Riggs presented King with a giant Sugar Daddy lollipop, and she responded by giving him a squealing piglet, symbolic of male chauvinism. Riggs was given $50,000 ($ today) to wear a yellow Sugar Daddy jacket during the match, which he took off after three games. Riggs also placed many bets on and invested a lot of money in the match.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: King, who also competed in the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament during the same week, won in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. In the first set, she fell behind 3–2 when Riggs broke her serve. In a 2015 interview, she said that most people do not remember that she was initially behind in the first set, and it looked bad for her in the early going. At this point, King realized that she "had to win" given the importance of the match, and broke right back and again in the tenth game to close out the set. She had learned from Court's loss and was ready for Riggs's game. Rather than playing her own usual aggressive game, King mostly stayed at the baseline, at least at first, easily handling Riggs's lobs and soft shots, making him cover the entire court as she ran him from side to side and beat him at his own defensive style of play. After quickly failing from the baseline, where he had intended to play, Riggs dropped his comedic effect and showed a more serious demeanor, as he was forced to change to a serve-and-volley game, but he was no match for King.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: A few male critics were less than impressed by King's victory, saying she was 26 years younger: she was almost 30 when they played. Jack Kramer, who was against equal pay for women and offered a tournament in which the female winner got $1,500 while the male winner got $12,000, was one example. According to him, "I don't think Billie Jean played all that well. She hit a lot of short balls which Bobby could have taken advantage of had he been in shape. I would never take anything away from Billie Jean—because she was smart enough to prepare herself properly—but it might have been different if Riggs hadn't kept running around. It was more than one woman who took care of Bobby Riggs in Houston." But before the match, King had forced the American television network ABC to drop Kramer as a commentator. King said, "He doesn't believe in women's tennis. Why should he be part of this match? He doesn't believe in half of the match. I'm not playing. Either he goes—or I go."


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: More neutral observers were impressed by King's brilliant play and smart tactics: "She both first-served aggressively and attacked Riggs' own softball deliveries with authority. She rushed to the net and commanded the territory by whipping stunning volleys off her backhand and by taking Riggs' infamous moon-shot lobs out of the Dome lights and rifling overheads right back past him. She varied pace on ground strokes, kept Riggs moving from corner to corner and played consistently to his weak backhand. She concentrated on hitting behind her opponent, wrong-footing him time and time again, then surprising him with some of his own beloved spin garbage. Everything worked...it was a brilliant rising to an occasion; a clutch performance under the most trying of circumstances. Seldom has there been a more classic example of a skilled athlete performing at peak efficiency in the most important moment of her life." Feminist media critic Susan Douglas later wrote "women like me screamed with delight in our living rooms, she not only vindicated female athletes and feminism but also inspired many of us to get in shape—not because it would make us beautiful but because it would make us strong and healthy".


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: The match had an audience of an estimated 50 million in the U.S. and 90 million worldwide. The attendance in the Houston Astrodome was 30,472; as of 2012, it remains the largest audience to see a tennis match in the United States.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: There was speculation by some men that Riggs had deliberately lost the match, based on his poor play and large number of unforced errors, in order to win large sums of money that he had bet against himself as a way to pay off his gambling debts. But Riggs had a potential $1 million match against Chrissie Evert in the works if he won, plus it was a winner-take-all match for the $100,000 prize. A headline at the time: "Women Ecstatic, Men Make Excuses." Riggs said afterwards that he underestimated Billie Jean King, who hit outright winners on 68% of her shots.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: King viewed the match as more than a publicity stunt, feeling that beating Riggs was important both for women's tennis and for the women's liberation movement as a whole. She said later, "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's tour and affect all women's self-esteem." She believed that she had a destiny to work for sexual equality in sports.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: King was part of the Original 9 players who formed the Virginia Slims Series, created because the women wanted to end inequality of pay between male and female victors. These nine women created their own tournaments and played wherever they could. Eventually this turned into the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In 2001, ABC aired a television film about the match between King and Riggs titled "When Billie Beat Bobby", starring Holly Hunter and Ron Silver as King and Riggs respectively.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In 2013, New Black Films released the documentary movie "Battle of the Sexes" in cinemas, with television broadcast following soon after. It was directed by James Erskine and Zara Hayes. The film was released on DVD in 2014.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: The 2017 film "Battle of the Sexes", directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, is about the King/Riggs match, and stars Emma Stone and Steve Carell as King and Riggs, respectively.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Nineteen years later, a third "Battle of the Sexes" match, entitled "Battle of Champions", was played in 1992. Outdoors at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada, it matched 40 year-old Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova, age 35. Navratilova had previously turned down invitations to take on John McEnroe and Ilie Năstase, as she considered them undignified. The promoters initially tried to match Connors with the then top-ranked female player, Monica Seles. Connors called the match 'war'. Navratilova called it a battle of egos.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: A pay-per-view telecast, the match was played on Friday night, September 25, under hybrid rules to make it more competitive; Connors was allowed only one serve per point, and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half of the doubles alleys. Each player received a $650,000 guarantee, with a further $500,000 for the winner. Connors won 7–5, 6–2, as Navratilova made eight double faults and 36 unforced errors. Connors, too, was nervous and there was a rumor that he had placed a bet on himself to win at 4:1. According to Connors' book "The Outsider", he placed a million-dollar bet that he would lose no more than eight games.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In 1888, the Wimbledon's men's champion, Ernest Renshaw, played a handicap match against the ladies' champion, Lottie Dod, where Dod was starting each game with a 30–0 advantage. The match was played in Exmouth, England, and ended with Renshaw's victory, 2–6, 7–5, 7–5. Under the same rules Dod also played Scottish champion Harry Grove, winning 1–6, 6–0, 6–4, and William Renshaw, whom she defeated in two sets, 6–2, 6–4.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: On May 27, 1921, Bill Tilden and Suzanne Lenglen played a match at Saint Cloud, France. It was only a single set but Tilden prevailed 6–0. When later asked about the match, Lenglen said, "Someone won 6–0, but I don't recall who it was."


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In early 1928, Helen Wills played a series of matches against men. In losing, she took one set each from Bill Johnston and Edward Chandler, but was victorious over Elmer Griffin and Phil Neer. Bill Johnston was a prior Wimbledon and U.S. Champion and had lost in the finals at the U.S. Championships three years prior to their meeting. Edward Chandler had won the NCAA men's singles title in 1925 and 1926, played Davis Cup, and was ranked as high as No. 5 in the United States. Phil Neer won the NCAA men's singles title in 1921 and in 1932–1933 won the doubles event at the Pacific Coast Championships.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Phil Neer also played a two-set match against Helen Wills on January 28, 1933, in San Francisco. Neer had been ranked nationally as high as Number 8 and had occasionally played mixed doubles with Wills. Wills had won at Wimbledon the year prior. Though Neer was only 32, Wills won the match 6–3, 6–4.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: The 1934 Wimbledon singles champion Dorothy Round played H.W. "Bunny" Austin (Wimbledon singles finalist in 1932) on July 31, 1936, at Jesmond Towers, Newcastle, England. The hard-fought match, played under a handicapping system (Round receiving 15 and Austin owing 30) was abandoned as a one-set-all draw, Round winning the first set 7–5 and Austin the second, 8–6.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In 1975, Ion Tiriac defeated Abigail Maynard 6–0, 6–0 in their round one match at the then coed men's pro circuit (later renamed ATP Tour) of USTA's Fairfiled County International Tennis Championship.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: On October 26, 1975, a "Challenge of the Sexes" event was held in Mission Viejo, California, televised on CBS. It involved male and female athletes from various sports, such as Laura Baugh and Jane Blalock vs. Hale Irwin and Doug Sanders in golf, and Jerry West vs. Karen Logan in basketball. The tennis event pitted future Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade vs. Björn Borg, and Ilie Nastase vs. Evonne Goolagong. A single set was played where the men were limited to one serve and the women had the added area of the alleys for shot placement. Borg, Wade, and Goolagong entered the court in standard attire and demeanor, while Nastase entered wearing a dress. With Martina Navratilova also in the packed audience, Borg defeated Wade 6–3, but Goolagong defeated Nastase 7–5.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: On August 23, 1985, at age 67, Riggs returned to the tennis spotlight when he partnered with Vitas Gerulaitis, at the time a top-20 player, to launch another challenge to female players. He challenged Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver to a doubles match. Navratilova said that she accepted because she believed she and Pam had no weaknesses when playing doubles, and that they were going to 'do a Billie' and win, especially given Riggs's age. The match took place at The Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Riggs's health had deteriorated somewhat from his last outing as he was now deaf in addition to his poor eyesight. Moreover, because Riggs was a finesse player and not a power player, the women expected that he would be easier to defeat than a retired power player. Riggs' return was short lived when the women won 6–3, 6–2, 6–4.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Mike Penner (of the "Los Angeles Times") wrote: "The great misconception about 'The Challenge!' was that it might actually serve as a legitimate proving ground for the sexes." The sports writer went on to point out that there were things keeping this match from being seriously viewed as a legitimate challenge. "First, it was a doubles match, not a one-on-one competition. The strategy is different in doubles, weaknesses can be more easily masked and stamina is not nearly so critical a factor." Further, "Riggs amounted to a 67-year-old ball-and-chain shackled to the ankle of Gerulaitis. Riggs couldn't serve, couldn't return serves, couldn't hit overheads with any amount of force. Older than the combined ages of Navratilova and Shriver, Riggs was painfully out of place in this match. Even John McEnroe, on his finest day, would be an underdog against Navratilova and Shriver if Riggs were his partner."


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: Another event dubbed a "Battle of the Sexes" took place during the 1998 Australian Open between Karsten Braasch and the Williams sisters. Venus and Serena Williams had claimed that they could beat any male player ranked outside the world's top 200, so Braasch, then ranked 203rd, challenged them both. Braasch was described by one journalist as "a man whose training regime centered around a pack of cigarettes and more than a couple of bottles of ice cold lager". The matches took place on court number 12 in Melbourne Park, after Braasch had finished a round of golf and two shandies. He first took on Serena and after leading 5–0, beat her 6–1. Venus then walked on court and again Braasch was victorious, this time winning 6–2. Braasch said afterwards, "500 and above, no chance." He added that he had played like someone ranked 600th in order to keep the game "fun" and that the big difference was that men can chase down shots much more easily and put spin on the ball that female players could not handle. The Williams sisters adjusted their claim to beating men outside the top 350.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In December 2003, 43-year-old Yannick Noah and 21-year-old Justine Henin played a friendly match at the Forest National in Brussels. Noah donned a dress for much of the match. He played predominantly trick shots and slices and won 4–6, 6–4, 7–6.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In October 2013, Novak Djokovic and Li Na played a light-hearted exhibition mini set in Beijing, China to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the China Open. Djokovic clowned to the amusement of the crowd, and at one point swapped places with a ballboy. Li was given a 30–0 advantage at the start of each service game, and she went on to win 3–2.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In November 2017, an exhibition match was held between 26-year-old female player Johanna Konta and 52-year-old retired male player Pat Cash, organized by the snack brand Nature Valley to celebrate the release of the film "Battle of the Sexes" the following week. It was held at the Westfield London shopping centre in London, England, on indoor carpet. One set was played, and Konta won 6–3.


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In 2013, Andy Murray responded to a Twitter user who asked whether he would consider challenging Serena Williams, saying, "I'd be up for it. Why not?" Williams also reacted positively to the suggestion, remarking "That would be fun. I doubt I'd win a point, but that would be fun."


title: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

text: In August 2015, John McEnroe was interviewed on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!". At that time, McEnroe was 56 years old but still active on the seniors tennis circuit, Serena Williams was 34 years old and in the chase for a calendar-year Grand Slam. McEnroe mentioned to Kimmel that about 15 years prior, Donald Trump had suggested that he would like to put together a battle-of-the-sexes match between McEnroe and Williams. McEnroe said he would face Williams but that Trump was not offering a big enough payout. McEnroe said that he believed he could defeat Williams in a tennis match.


title: Pecan

text: The pecan ("Carya illinoinensis") is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico, which produces nearly half of the world total. The seed is an edible nut used as a snack and in various recipes, such as praline candy and pecan pie. The pecan is the state nut of Alabama, Arkansas, California, and Texas and is also the state tree of Texas.


title: Pecan

text: "Pecan" is from an Algonquin word, variously referring to pecans, walnuts, and hickory nuts. There are many pronunciations, some regional and others not. The most common American pronunciation is . There is little agreement in the United States regarding the "correct" pronunciation, even regionally.


title: Pecan

text: The pecan tree is a large deciduous tree, growing to in height, rarely to . It typically has a spread of with a trunk up to diameter. A 10-year-old sapling grown in optimal conditions will stand about tall. The leaves are alternate, long, and pinnate with 9–17 leaflets, each leaflet long and broad.


title: Pecan

text: A pecan, like the fruit of all other members of the hickory genus, is not truly a nut but is technically a drupe, a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a husk. The husks are produced from the exocarp tissue of the flower, while the part known as the nut develops from the endocarp and contains the seed. The husk itself is aeneous, that is, brassy greenish-gold in color, oval to oblong in shape, long and broad. The outer husk is thick, starts out green, and turns brown at maturity, at which time it splits off in four sections to release the thin-shelled seed.


title: Pecan

text: Pecans are one of the most recently domesticated of the major crops. Although wild pecans were well known among native and colonial Americans as a delicacy, the commercial growth of pecans in the United States did not begin until the 1880s. As of 2014, the United States produced an annual crop of , with 75% of the total crop produced in Georgia, New Mexico and Texas. They can be grown from USDA hardiness zones approximately 5 to 9, and grow best where summers are long, hot and humid. The nut harvest for growers is typically around mid-October. Outside the United States, Mexico produces nearly half of the world's total, similar in volume to the United States, together accounting for 93% of global production. Generally, two or more trees of different cultivars must be present to pollinate each other.


title: Pecan

text: Native pecans in Mexico are adapted from zone 9 to zone 11. Little or no breeding work has been done with these populations. A few selections from native stands have been made, such as Frutosa and Norteña, which are recommended for cultivation in Mexico. Improved varieties recommended for cultivation in Mexico are USDA-developed cultivars. This represents a gap in breeding development given that native pecans can be cultivated at least down to the Yucatán peninsula while the USDA cultivars have chilling hour requirements greater than those occurring in much of the region. Some regions of the U.S. such as parts of Florida and Puerto Rico are zone 10 or higher, and these regions have limited options for pecan cultivation. 'Western' is the only commonly available variety that can make a crop in low-chill zones.


title: Pecan

text: Active breeding and selection is carried out by the USDA Agricultural Research Service with growing locations at Brownwood and College Station, Texas. University of Georgia has a breeding program at the Tifton campus working on selecting pecan varieties adapted to subtropical southeastern U.S. growing conditions.


title: Pecan

text: While selection work has been done since the late 19th century, most acreage of pecans grown today is of older cultivars, such as 'Stuart', 'Schley', 'Elliott', and 'Desirable', with known flaws but also with known production potential. Cultivars such as 'Elliot' are increasing in popularity due to resistance to pecan scab. The long cycle time for pecan trees plus financial considerations dictate that new varieties go through an extensive vetting process before being widely planted. Numerous varieties produce well in Texas but fail in the Southeastern U.S. due to increased disease pressure. Selection programs are ongoing at the state level, with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, and others having trial plantings.


title: Pecan

text: Varieties adapted from the southern tier of states north through some parts of Iowa and even into southern Canada are available from nurseries. Production potential drops significantly when planted further north than Tennessee. Most breeding efforts for northern-adapted varieties have not been on a large enough scale to significantly affect production. Varieties that are available and adapted (e.g., 'Major', 'Martzahn', 'Witte', 'Greenriver', 'Mullahy', and 'Posey') in zones 6 and farther north are almost entirely selections from wild stands. Kanza, a northern-adapted release from the USDA breeding program, is a grafted pecan having high productivity and quality, and cold tolerance.


title: Pecan

text: Pecans are subject to various diseases, pests, and physiological disorders that can limit tree growth and fruit production. These range from scab to hickory shuckworm to shuck decline.


title: Pecan

text: Pecans are prone to infection by bacteria and fungi such as pecan scab, especially in humid conditions. Scab is the most destructive disease affecting pecan trees, untreated with fungicides. Recommendations for preventive spray materials and schedules are available from state-level resources.


title: Pecan

text: Various insects feed on the leaves, stems, and developing nuts. These include ambrosia beetles, twig girdlers, pecan nut casebearer, hickory shuckworm, phylloxera, curculio, weevils, and several aphid species.


title: Pecan

text: In the Southeastern United States, nickel deficiency in "C. illinoinensis" produces a disorder called "mouse-ear" in trees fertilized with urea. Similarly, zinc deficiency causes rosetting of the leaves. Various other disorders are documented, including canker disease and shuck decline complex.


title: Pecan

text: Pecan seeds are edible, with a rich, buttery flavor. They can be eaten fresh or used in cooking, particularly in sweet desserts, such as pecan pie, a traditional Southern U.S. dish. Butter pecan is also a common flavor in cookies, cakes, and ice creams. Pecans are a significant ingredient in American praline candy. Other applications of cooking with pecans include pecan oil and pecan butter.


title: Pecan

text: Pecan wood is used in making furniture and wood flooring, as well as flavoring fuel for smoking meats, giving grilled foods a sweet and nutty flavor stronger than many fruit woods.


title: Pecan

text: A pecan nut is 4% water, 72% fat, 9% protein, and 14% carbohydrates (see table). In a 100 g reference amount, pecans provide 690 calories and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of dietary fiber (38% DV), manganese (214% DV), magnesium (34% DV), phosphorus (40% DV), zinc (48% DV), and thiamine (57% DV) (table). Pecans are a moderate source (10-19% DV) of iron and B vitamins. Pecan fat content consists principally of monounsaturated fatty acids, mainly oleic acid (57% of total fat), and the polyunsaturated fatty acid, linoleic acid (30% of total fat).


title: Pecan

text: The pecan, "Carya illinoinensis", is a member of the Juglandaceae family. Juglandaceae are represented worldwide by seven and ten extant genera and more than 60 species. Most of these species are concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere of the New World, but some can be found on every continent except for Antarctica. The first fossil examples of the family appear during the Cretaceous. Differentiation between the subfamilies of Engelhardioideae and Juglandioideae occurred during the early Paleogene, about 64 million years ago. Extant examples of Engelhardioideae are generally tropical and evergreen, while those of Juglandioideae are deciduous and found in more temperate zones. The second major step in the development of pecan was a change from wind-dispersed fruits to animal dispersion. This dispersal strategy coincides with developing a husk around the fruit and a drastic change in the relative concentrations of fatty acids. The ratio of oleic to linoleic acids is inverted between wind- and animal-dispersed seeds. Further differentiation from other species of Juglandaceae occurred about 44 million years ago during the Eocene. The fruits of the pecan genus "Carya" differ from those of the walnut genus "Juglans" only in the formation of the husk of the fruit. The husks of walnuts develop from the bracts, bracteoles, and sepals, or sepals only. The husks of pecans develop from the bracts and the bracteoles only.


title: Pecan

text: Before European settlement, pecans were widely consumed and traded by Native Americans. As a wild forage, the fruit of the previous growing season is commonly still edible when found on the ground.


title: Pecan

text: Pecans first became known to Europeans in the 16th century. The first Europeans to come into contact with pecans were Spanish explorers in what is now Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. These Spanish explorers called the pecan, "nuez de la arruga", which roughly translates to "wrinkle nut". Because of their familiarity with the genus "Juglans", these early explorers referred to the nuts as "nogales" and "nueces", the Spanish terms for "walnut trees" and "fruit of the walnut". They noted the particularly thin shell and acorn-like shape of the fruit, indicating they were referring to pecans. The Spaniards took the pecan into Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 16th century. In 1792, William Bartram reported in his botanical book, "Travels", a nut tree, "Juglans exalata" that some botanists today argue was the American pecan tree. Still, others argue hickory, "Carya ovata". Pecan trees are native to the United States, and writing about the pecan tree goes back to the nation's founders. Thomas Jefferson planted pecan trees, "C. illinoinensis" (Illinois nuts), in his nut orchard at his home, Monticello, in Virginia. George Washington reported in his journal that Thomas Jefferson gave him "Illinois nuts", pecans, which Washington then grew at Mount Vernon, his Virginia home.