text:
In vivo bactericidal activities of Japanese rice-fluid against H. pylori in a Mongolian gerbil model
Satoshi Ishizone1, Fukuto Maruta1, Kazufumi Suzuki1, Shinichi Miyagawa1, Masahiko Takeuchi2, Kiyomi Kanaya3, Kozue Oana4, Masayoshi Hayama4, Yoshiyuki Kawakami4, Hiroyoshi Ota4
1. Department of Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan
2. Agricultural Technology Institute, Nagano Farmer's Federation, Japan
3. Nagano Kohno, Co., Ltd., Japan
4. Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Japan
Ishizone S, Maruta F, Suzuki K, Miyagawa S, Takeuchi M, Kanaya K, Oana K, Hayama M, Kawakami Y, Ota H. In vivo bactericidal activities of Japanese rice-fluid against H. pylori in a Mongolian gerbil model. Int J Med Sci 2007; 4(4):203-208. doi:10.7150/ijms.4.203. Available from https://www.medsci.org/v04p0203.htm
Purpose: The antibiotic effect of rice-fluid on Helicobacter pylori infection was investigated using a Mongolian gerbil model.
Methods: Gerbils were divided into four groups: H. pylori -infected, rice-fluid-treated animals (group A); H. pylori -infected, untreated animals (group B); uninfected, rice-fluid-treated animals (group C); and uninfected, untreated animals (group D). Group A and B animals were killed 14 weeks after H. pylori infection and group C and D animals were killed at the same age. The stomachs were examined for histology, 5'-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, and the bacterial burden. Serum anti-H. pylori antibody titers were also tested.
Results: The positive incidence of H. pylori -culture was 25 and 84 % in groups A and B, respectively (p<0.01). Both the degree of inflammation and the BrdU labeling index in group A were significantly lower than those in group B.
Conclusions: Rice-fluid showed an antibiotic effect on H. pylori and an anti-inflammatory effect on the H. pylori -associated gastritis.
Keywords: Japanese Rice-fluid, Helicobacter pylori, Mongolian gerbil, eradication, prevention
Helicobacter pylori is the most important etiological agent of chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer and it is also known to increase the risk of gastric cancer [1-4]. The Mongolian gerbil is a useful animal model to investigate human gastric disorders: H. pylori easily infects the stomach of Mongolian gerbils, thereby inducing human-mimicking gastritis, peptic ulcer and intestinal metaplasia in the stomach. In addition, this animal model can develop gastric adenocarcinoma by inoculation of H. pylori [5].
Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the eradication of H. pylori in the stomachs by the administration of oral antimicrobial agents results in the resolution of H. pylori-associated gastroduodenal diseases [6-8]. In addition, the eradication of H. pylori is also reported to decrease the risk of gastric carcinogenesis in Mongolian gerbils [9, 10]. Triple combination therapy, using two antibacterial antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor, achieved a high eradication rate [11-13]. However, such combination therapy does not always successfully eradicate H. pylori. In recent years, the increased occurrence of clarithromycin- and/or metronidazole-resistant strains of H. pylori has become a problem [14, 15]. In addition, antibiotics cannot be used due to drug allergies in some patients and the antibiotic therapy is also occasionally associated with adverse events. Furthermore, it is considered to be inappropriate to administer antimicrobial agents long-term to prevent H. pylori infection. Consequently, it is important to investigate the use of non-antibiotic therapies for H. pylori infection, which are highly effective and safe.
Many investigators have researched non-antibiotic therapies for H. pylori infection [16-21], utilizing plant extracts and constituents, probiotics, antioxidants, and so on. However, regarding rice-extract, no studies have yet been reported except ours [22]. In our previous study using an animal model, a Rice Power Extract (RPE) showed a suppressive effect on gastric mucosal inflammation, but it did not show any significant decrease in the viable H. pylori obtained from stomach samples [22]. This time, we employed a different type of rice extract, Japanese-Rice-Fluid (JRF, patent number 3655880). The JRF has already been reported to show a strong in vitro bactericidal activity against H. pylori [23] and there were no resistant strains of H. pylori [23]. In addition, it is easily manufactured and has recently been adopted as an ingredient in several kinds of liquid food as the main supplemental ingredient, and it is commercially available all over Japan.
In this study, we investigated the antibiotic effect of JRF on H. pylori infection in vivo and its anti-inflammatory effects on the H. pylori-induced gastritis, using a Mongolian gerbil model.
Specific pathogen-free male Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) (MGS/Sea) (Seac Yoshitomi, Ltd., Fukuoka, JAPAN), 7 weeks old, were housed in plastic cages with hard wood chips in an air-conditioned biohazard room for infection with a 12 hours light-12 hours dark cycle. They were given food (CE-2, Clea Japan Inc., Tokyo, Japan) and water or the JRF as drinking water in bottles ad libitum. Approval for this study was obtained prior to experimentation from the animal ethics committee, and all procedures were performed in compliance with Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals in Shinshu University.
Bacterial inoculation
H. pylori (ATCC43504, CagA+, VacA+, American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, MD, USA) was grown in Brucella broth (Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, MD, USA) containing 10 % v/v horse serum at 37 °C under microaerophilic conditions (15% CO2) at high humidity for 40 hours with gentle shaking (150 rpm). After each gerbil had fasted for 24 hours, samples containing 1x 10 colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter (0.8 ml) were used as the inoculum, which were delivered via an oral catheter.
The production of the Japanese rice-fluid (JRF) was conducted in 5 phases (patent number 3655880). Phase 1 involved the addition of 15-times volume of distilled water to polished Japanese raw rice. Phase 2 involved their incubation at 128 °C under pressure of 0.1 to 0.5 Mpa for 5 min. In phase 3, they were completed mixed by homogenizing, and then were cooled down to 40 to 55 °C. In phase 4, they were treated for 15 to 30 min. with the addition of some proteinase and amylase complexes, including alpha-amylase, beta-amylase, and gluco-amylase. In the last phase 5, the added enzymes were inactivated by heating the mixture up to 95 °C. Based on our preliminary experiment, the JRF containing 25% saccharides was used in this study. The JRF also contains 1 % protein, but no lipid.
Experimental protocol
Fifty gerbils were divided into 4 groups. Group A comprised 20 gerbils that were inoculated with H. pylori at 7 weeks of age and given JRF as drinking water in bottle ad libitum from 2 weeks until 14 weeks after H. pylori inoculation. Group B comprised 19 gerbils that were inoculated with H. pylori and given autoclaved distilled water. Group C (6 gerbils) and D (5 gerbils) were not inoculated with H. pylori; Group C was given JRF and Group D was given distilled water. Following a 24-h fasting period, with free access to drinking water without JRF, the gerbils were sacrificed. All gerbils were sacrificed under deep ether anesthesia at 21 weeks of age and then their stomachs were excised. Thirty minutes before being sacrificed, the gerbils were given 5'-bromo-2'deoxyuridine (BrdU) intraperitoneally at a dose of 200 mg/Kg. The excised stomachs were cut open along the greater curvature and then were divided in half along the lesser curvature. One half was used for a culture study while the other was used for histopathological analyses. (Fig. 1)
Experimental protocol. HP: Inoculation of Helicobacter pylori. w: weeks. The rice-fluid (RF) was given ad libitum from 9 weeks of age to the end of the experiment. All gerbils were sacrificed 14 weeks after inoculation of HP (21 weeks of age).
Bacterial cultures
The excised stomachs (half) were homogenized with 5 ml of Brucella broth and then the resulting samples were diluted serially, from 1:10 to 1:1000000, with Brucella broth for the culture of H. pylori. Aliquots (100 ul) of the dilutions were inoculated on to H. pylori agar plates (Nissui Pharmaceutical Co, Tokyo, Japan). All plates were incubated at 35 °C for 7 days under microaerophilic conditions and high humidity. The density of H. pylori was assessed as CFU per whole stomach.
Anti-H. pylori IgG values in sera from gerbils were determined by ELISA developed in our laboratory [4,24]. The reference serum, which was pooled from sera of anti-H. pylori IgG-positive gerbils, was diluted serially from 1:100 to 1:3,200 with PBS (pH 7.4) containing 4% bovine serum albumin, and the amount of anti-H. pylori IgG corresponding to a 1:3,200 dilution was expressed as a reference value of a 1.0 arbitrary index (AI). Microwell strips coated with H. pylori antigens from a GAP-IgG kit (Biomerica, Newport Beach, Calif.) were used. The antigens in the GAP-IgG kit were acid extracts of organisms derived from the H. pylori ATCC 43504 strain. Aliquots of 100 µl of reference serum or 1:200 of diluted serum were added to the wells, and the plates were incubated for 1 h at room temperature. After washing was done, 100 µl of HRP-conjugated anti-gerbil IgG (diluted 1:1,500 in PBS containing 0.05% Tween 20 [PBS-T]) was added, and the plates were incubated for 30 min at room temperature. The plates were washed and incubated with 100 µl of substrate (0.35 mg of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine per ml and 0.15 mg of H2O2 per ml) for 10 min. After stopping the reaction with 1 N HCl, the color was read at 450 nm. The serum anti-H. pylori IgG value was determined from a standard curve of calibrators.
Histopathological analyses
The excised stomachs (half) were fixed in 20 % phosphate-buffered formalin for 24 hours at 4℃ and then were cut along the longitudinal axis into five strips, which were then embedded in paraffin. Tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) for morphological observations, and with alcian blue (pH 2.5)-periodic acid Schiff (PAS) for the detection of mucin-containing cells. Because the inflammatory component of the mucosa was virtually identical to that found in human H. pylori gastritis, the degree of inflammation could be graded according to the Updated Sydney System (visual analogue scale: normal, 0; mild,1; moderate, 2; marked, 3) [25]. The mucosal thickness was measured at ten different arbitrarily selected points in the mid-antrum and mid-body. In addition, tissue sections were immunostained for H. pylori (rabbit polyclonal anti- H. pylori antibody, 1:20; DAKO, Kyoto, Japan), using an indirect immunoperoxidase method (peroxidase-labeled goat anti-mouse Ig antibody, 1:50, DAKO; peroxidase-labeled goat anti-rabbit Ig antibody, 1:50, DAKO).
The BrdU labeling was visualized using mouse monoclonal anti-BrdU antibody (1:50, DAKO), as described previously [4]. The labeling index was calculated by expressing the number of BrdU-positive epithelial cells as a percentage of the total number of epithelial cells from 10 different points, which were arbitrary selected, in the lesser curvature of the mid-antrum.
The statistical significance of the incidence of positive bacterial culture was evaluated using Fisher's exact test; the other factors were assessed by Student's t test after an analysis of variance. P values of less than 0.05 were considered to indicate significant differences. The results are expressed as the mean±standard deviation.
Bacteriological and serological findings
In group A (H. pylori inoculation followed by JRF treatment), bacterial culture was positive in 5 of 20 gerbils (25 %) and then the density of H. pylori colonization was (3.8±2.3) X 102 CFU/stomach. Both of the incidence and density were significantly less than that in group B (H. pylori inoculation without JRF treatment. 84 % and (8.6±9.9) x 104 CFU/stomach, respectively). The titers of anti- H. pylori antibodies in group A was less than that in group B, however, the difference did not reach statistical significance at the time of sacrifice. (Table 1)
Summary of the experiment. HP: Inoculation of Helicobacter pylori. mono: mononuclear cells. F/T: the ratio of fundic mucosa to total glandular stomach length. *: statistically significant compared with group B (P<0.01).
Bacterial culture
Antibod Y titers (AI)
Infiltration of
Mucosal thiskness
BrdU Labeling index
group HP Rice fluid Incidence (%) Density 100CFU neutrophils mono Antrum (mm) Corpus (mm) F/T (%)
A (+) (+) 25* 3.8±2.3 50±60 2.3±0.5* 1.2±0.4* 0.35±0.1 1.2±0.3 43±6 4.0±0.2*
B (+) (-) 84 860±990 78±70 2.9±0.3 2.5±0.5 0.39±0.1 1.2±0.1 38±15 6.4±0.7
C (-) (+) - - - 0 0 0.19±0.01 0.61±0.1 81±4 0.9±0.2
D (-) (-) - - - 0 0 0.20±0.02 0.62±0.1 82±5 0.9±0.1
Histopathological findings
In animals from non- H. pylori inoculated groups (C and D), inflammatory cell infiltration into the lamina propria was negligible (Table 1 and Fig 2C). In contrast, active gastritis developed in the gastric mucosa of gerbils in group B (H. pylori inoculation only), which thus showed a marked mucosal infiltration of inflammatory cells (Table 1 and Fig 2B). In addition, superficial erosions in the antrum and irregularity of the pyloric glands were frequently observed in group B (Fig 2B). However, the degree of mucosal infiltration of inflammatory cells (both of neutrophilic polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells) in group A (H. pylori inoculation followed by JRF treatment) was significantly less than that in group B (Table 1 and Fig 2A). In addition, no intestinal metaplasia or tumors in the gastric mucosa were observed in any groups based on the findings of this experiment.
In addition to serological and bacteriological studies, the degree of infection of H. pylori was investigated by immunostainging. In group B, many H. pylori bacteria were detected on the surface of the mucosa (Fig 3B). On the other hand, only a small number of bacteria were found to exist in group A (Fig 3A).
The extent of epithelial proliferation was evaluated based on the BrdU labeling index. The BrdU labeling index in group A decreased significantly more than that in group B (Table 1), although it increased than in the non- H. pylori controls (groups C and D).
Histology of pyloric mucosa. H & E, X 40. (A) pyloric mucosa of Mongolian gerbil that was inoculated with H. pylori at 7 weeks of age and given rice-fluid from 2 weeks until 14 weeks after H. pylori inoculation (group A), (B) pyloric mucosa of Mongolian gerbil inoculated with H. pylori and given distilled water (group B), (C) normal (control) pyloric mucosa (group D). The degree of mucosal infiltration of inflammatory cells in group A (JRF treatment(+)) (asterisks) was less than that in group B (JRF treatment(-))(asterisks).
Immunostaining for H. pylori, X 80. (A) inoculation with H. pylori with treatment of rice-fluid, (B) inoculation with H. pylori without treatment of rice-fluid. Many H. pylori bacteria were detected on the surface of the mucosa in group B (JRF treatment(-)), while only a small number of bacteria were found to exist in group A (JRF treatment(+)).
In the present study, we showed the suppressive effect of Japanese rice-fluid (JRF) on H. pylori infection in the Mongolian gerbil model. Both cultures and immunostaining of the stomach demonstrated a clear reduction in the H. pylori colonization. It is natural that the difference of anti- H. pylori antibody titers was not so large between the JRF -treated gerbils and the non-treated ones at the time of sacrifice, since several months are usually needed to show a significant decrease in the antibody titers after the eradication of H. pylori from the stomach [26]. In addition to the suppressive effect of H. pylori infection, JRF reduced mucosal inflammation and epithelial proliferation in the stomach of H. pylori-infected gerbils. It is likely that H. pylori-eradication caused a decrease in the degree of inflammation in the stomach, although there is a possibility that JRF itself has an anti-inflammatory effect on the gastric mucosa.
A positive association between a high rice intake and atrophic gastritis has been reported in some epidemiological studies [27]. However, the direct effect of rice on the promotion of atrophic gastritis is still unclear. There is a possibility that rice intake is only a marker of other dietary factors such as salt or ethnic/social factors. Therefore, it is not surprising that a substance produced from rice, namely JRF, showed both an anti-H.pylori and anti-inflammation effect on the stomachs infected with H. pylori. In addition, JRF also has completely different activity from rice itself: in our in vitro experiment, rice itself did not show any anti-H.pylori activity, while JRF showed a strong bactericidal activity against H. pylori [23].
Even though the triple therapy, using two antibacterial antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor, is effective and its short duration helps maintain patient compliance, a considerable number of patients experience undesirable side-effects, such as diarrhea, epigastric pain, nausea and bloating [28]. Contrary to this, JRF is considered to demonstrate relatively few side-effects, since rice is eaten as a staple diet in most Eastern countries, including Japan. In addition, in the in vitro experiment, the antibacterial spectrum of JRF was found to be extremely narrow and it was only found to be active against some restricted organisms including H. pylori, however, it did not demonstrate any antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, K. oxytoca, or Enterococcus faecalis, which are all representative well known normal inhabitants of the human intestinal flora [23].
These safety characteristics of JRF may be therefore appropriate for the use in prevention of H. pylori infection. As chronic inflammation and increased cell proliferation are features common to the pathogenesis of many human cancers, and as these features seem to play a central role in the initiation and promotion of carcinogenesis, the suppression of inflammation and cell proliferation by JRF may thus be an effective modality for preventing H. pylori-induced carcinogenesis in the stomach.
In our previous study, a Rice Power Extract (RPE) showed a suppressive effect of gastric mucosal inflammation, but it did not show significant decrease in the viable H. pylori obtained from stomach samples [22]. In contrast, JRF showed a significant reduction of both H. pylori colonization and mucosal inflammation in the stomach. Although both of JRF and RPE are made from rice, their constituents could differe somewhat between them, since the manufacturing method is completely different: JRF is manufactured by incubation at high temperatures under high pressure and treatment with proteinase-amylase complex, while RPE is prepared by saccharization using Aspergillus oryzae and fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae [22]. These manufacturing processes could therefore cause the differences observed in the anti-H. pylori activity between JRF and RPE. However, the mechanism of anti-H. pylori activity in JRF still remains to be elucidated. This mechanism of action should be clarified in future studies, and then the anti-H. pylori effect should thereafter be confirmed in human trials.
1. Sugiyama A, Maruta F, Ikeno T, Ishida K, Kawasaki S, Katsuyama T. et al. Helicobacter pylori infection enhances N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced stomach carcinogenesis in the Mongolian gerbil. Cancer Res. 1998;58:2067-2069
2. Dixon MF. Helicobacter pylori and peptic ulceration: histopathological aspects. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1991;6:125-130
3. Marshall BJ, Armstrong JA, McGechie DB, Glancy RJ. Attempt to fulfil Koch's postulate for pyloric Campylobacter. Med J Aust. 1985;142:436-439
4. Maruta F, Ota H, Genta RM, Sugiyama A, Tatematsu M, Katsuyama T. et al. Role of N-Methyl-N-nitrosourea in the induction of intestinal metaplasia and gastric adenocarcinoma in Mongolian gerbils infected with Helicobacter pylori. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2001;36:283-290
5. Watanabe T, Tada M, Nagai H, Sasaki S, Nakao M. Helicobacter pylori infection induces gastric cancer in Mongolian gerbils. Gastroenterology. 1998;115:642-648
6. Salih BA, Abasiyanik MF, Saribasak H, Huten O, Sander E. A follow-up study on the effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication on the severity of gastric histology. Dig Dis Sci. 2005;50:1517-1522
7. Asaka M, Sugiyama T, Kato M, Satoh K, Kuwayama H, Fukuda Y. et al. A multicenter, double-blind study on triple therapy with lansoprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin for eradication of Helicobacter pylori in Japanese peptic ulcer patients. Helicobacter. 2001;6:254-261
8. Wotherspoon AC, Doglioni C, Diss TC, Pan L, Moschini A, de Boni M. et al. Regression of primary low-grade B-cell gastric lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue type after eradication of Helicobacter pylori. Lancet. 1993;342:575-577
9. Shimizu N, Ikehara Y, Inada K, Nakanishi H, Tsukamoto T, Nozaki K. et al. Eradication diminishes enhancing effects of Helicobacter pylori infection on glandular stomach carcinogenesis in Mongolian gerbils. Cancer Res. 2000;60:1512-1514
10. Maruta F, Sugiyama A, Ishizone S, Miyagawa S, Ota H, Katsuyama T. Eradication of Helicobacter pylori decreases mucosal alterations linked to gastric carcinogenesis in Mongolian gerbils. J Gastroenterol. 2005;40:104-105
11. Axon ATR, Moayyedi P. Eradication of Helicobacter pylori: omeprazole in combination with antibiotics. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1996;31(Suppl215):82-89
12. Misiewicz JJ, Harris AW, Bardhan KD, Levi S, O'Morain C, Cooper BT. et al. One week triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori: a multicentre comparative study. Gut. 1997;41:735-739
13. Borody TJ, Shortis NP, Reyes E. Eradication therapies for Helicobacter pylori. J Gastroenterol. 1998;33(Suppl 10):53-56
14. Ling TK, Cheng AF, Sung JJ, Yiu PY, Chung SS. An increase in Helicobacter pylori strains resistance to metronidazole: a 5-year study. Helicobacter. 1996;1:57-61
15. Midolo PD, Lambert JR, Turnidge J. Metronodazole resistance: a predictor of failure of Helicobacter pylori eradication by triple therapy. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1996;11:290-292
16. Kamiji MM, de Oliveira RB. Mon-antibiotic therapies for Helicobacter pylori infection. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2005;17:973-981
17. Cowan MM. Plant products as antimicrobial agents. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1999;12:564-582
18. Funatogawa K, Hayashi S, Shimomura H. et al. Antibacterial activity of hydrolyzable tannins derived from medicinal plant against Helicobacter pylori. Microbiol Immunol. 2004;48:251-261
19. Isogai E, Isogai H, Fujii B. et al. Inhibitory effect of Japanese green tea extracts on growth of canine oral bacteria. Bifidobac Microflora. 1992;11:53-59
20. Isogai H, Isogai E, Hyashi S. Antibacterial activities of catechin as phytomedical substance. Res Adv Antimicrob Agents Chhemother. 2000;1:13-18
21. Isogai E, Isogai H, Kimura K. et al. Effect of Japanese green tea extract on canine periodontal diseases. Microb Ecol Health Dis. 1995;8:57-61
22. Murakami M, Ota H, Sugiyama A, Ishizone S, Maruta F, Akita N. et al. Suppressive effect of rice extract on Helicobacter pylori infection in a Mongolian gerbil model. J Gastroenterol. 2005;40:459-466
23. Kawakami Y, Oana K, Hayama M, Ota H, Takeuchi M, Miyashita K. et al. In vitro bactericidal activities of Japanese rice-fluid against Helicobacter pylori strains. Int J Med Sci. 2006;3:112-116
24. Kumagai T, Yan J, Graham DY, Tozuka M, Okimura Y, Ikeno T. et al. Serum immunoglobulin G immune response to Helicobacter pylori antigens in Mongolain gerbils. J Clin Microbiol. 2001;39:1283-1288
25. Dixon MF, Genta RM, Yardley JH, Correa P. Classification and grading of gastritis: the updated Sydney system. Am J Surg Pathol. 1996;20:1161-1181
26. Kato S, Furuyama N, Ozawa K, Ohnuma K, Iinuma K. Long-term follow-up study of serum immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin A antibodies after Helicobacter pylori eradication. Pediatrics. 1999;104:e22
27. Montani A, Sasazuki S, Inoue M, Higuchi K, Arakawa T, Tsugane S. Food/nutrient intake and risk of atrophic gastritis among the Helicobacter pylori -infected population of northeastern Japan. Cancer Sci. 2003;94:371-377
28. Myllyluoma E, Veijola L, Ahlroos T, Tynkkynen S, Kankuri E, Vapaatalo H. et al. Probiotic supplementation improves tolerance to Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy - a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized pilot study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2005;21:1263-1272
Correspondence to: Dr. Satoshi Ishizone, Department of Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, 390-8621, Japan. E-mail: ishizonemd.shinshu-u.ac.jp
Accepted 2007-8-9


Filmworkers, a post-production facility with offices in Chicago, Nashville, and Dallas, has announced the appointment of Robert Zimmerman as executive producer of the Nashville office, where he will oversee operations. Zimmerman brings more than 20 years experience to the role, including commercial, music video, and corporate media production.
Most recently, Zimmerman served as executive producer of Piranha Pictures, which he founded in 1995. His recent ad campaign productions include Farm Bureau Insurance and Tempur-Pedic.
In related news, Filmworkers has hired Kenny Barrickman as a producer in the Nashville office. He previously spent 10 years with the company, and his role will be working directly with clients to oversee projects passing through the facility.
Zimmerman's plans for the facility include upgrades such as a "virtual" editing suite, close collaboration with other facilities in the Filmworkers family, and exploitation of the regional advertising market.
More info on Filmworkers here.


The marketing world is known for its love of hiring interns but with unemployment rates on the rise, are internships really going to lead to new jobs for graduates? And what are employers looking for?
A new study by Millennial Branding and Experience reveal an employment gap between employers and students. Even though 91% of employers think students should have between one and two internships before graduation, 50% haven't hired any interns in the last six months. In fact, over three quarters of employers have hired 30% fewer interns into full time positions of late.
As for social media, currently only 16% of employers look to social media to recruit and 35% use those networks for background checks. The majority of them looking to LinkedIn and Facebook in the hiring process. Thankfully, for those twitter addicts out there, only 2% check Twitter…for now.
What exactly are these employers looking for in entry-level talent? Jennifer Floren, Founder and CEO, Experience found the results rely less on education.
Of all the things employers look for when hiring entry-level talent, it's the so-called 'soft skills' that are valued most: communication, teamwork, flexibility and positive attitude are by far the most sought-after skills. Employers understand that everything else can be taught, so they look for the most promising raw material to work with.
This study is interesting for those looking at how we are hiring in this digital age. Keeping these results in mind, employers need to look at evolving their hiring processes and graduates may need to be more targeted at how they approach the opportunities they take before joining the workforce.


text:
Scuderia Torino je nekdanje italijansko dirkaško moštvo, ki je nastopalo na dirkah za Veliko nagrado med sezonama  in . Skupno so nastopili na enainsedemdesetih dirkah, na katerih so dosegli dve zmagi in še pet uvrstitev na stopničke. Z izjemo dirke za , ko sta Pietro Ghersi in Piero Taruffi nastopila z dirkalnikom Alfa Romeo Tipo 308, je moštvo vseskozi dirkalo z različnimi tipi Maseratijev, 4C, 4CS, 4CM, 8CM, 6C-34, V8-RI, 6CM in 4CL. Edini zmagi za moštva sta dosegla Carlo Felice Trossi na dirki Eifelrennen 1936 v razredu Voiturette in Armand Hug na dirki Coupe de la Commission Sportif 1939.

Viri in reference
  www.racing-database.com - Statistika moštva

Športna moštva, ustanovljena leta 1935
Športna moštva, razpuščena leta 1940
Torino

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Looking at the lists of bestsellers in the N.Y. Times and on Amazon.com recently I've been struck by how many of them tell the stories of men and women of the past. And when I look at the list of archived books on my Kindle that I've read over the past year or two I see the faces of the people I've learned to know. There's Catherine the Great (Robert K. Massie) whose maneuvering to keep the Russian court in order seems just as modern as The Office on TV. And Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra paints the portrait of a woman caught between two military powers struggling for supremacy, just as so many world leaders are now. It's not just women's stories of the past that resonate with our lives today. When I read about Sergei Diaghilev in Sjeng Scheijen's biography, his long exile from Russia reminds me of so many people who have been forced to flee their countries and build new worlds in foreign lands. Not many of them have the genius of Diaghilev to produce ballets that thrilled the world, but in smaller ways they have expanded the culture of their birth into new countries and also like him have paid a price in loneliness and pain. Diaghilev was only a few years older than Hedy Lamarr, whose hidden life is recounted in Hedy's Folly by Richard Rhodes. She fled from Europe to America, like so many others in the mid-twentieth century, and found a beloved home in the new world without losing her roots in the old.
Margaret Fuller, one of my favorite 19th century heroines, once wrote that she longed to leave "a footprint on the earth" through her reporting and writings. That started me thinking about how many of us now discover people from the past who seem to speak to us about what the world is like. It echoes Emily Dickinson's cry "This is my letter to the world, That never wrote to me" I've started this blog in the hope of having a place to share my ideas about the connections I have found with the men and women who went before us and shared their lives with us through books. I hope that you will share your thoughts on this site too.


Is there a security conversation here? Yes! Public safety is a security matter in my eyes.
As you can see I've charged my external batteries in anticipation of power outages that are likely to hit intermittently.
Figure 1: Stratocent, a Kirkland, Washington MSP with a strong security practice, gave me an Anker mobile battery at a recent trade show to keep me safe and secure. MSPs and MSSPS reading this should consider this "toy" as a booth giveaway at tradeshows to get customers on your carpet.
Jim Bachaud, CEO of Stratocent, is a contributor to Microsoft 365 Nation.
The bottom line is this. Be the overall trusted security advisor to your clients and cover their backside beyond traditional security. Fit them with mobile batteries so that they stay connect, productive and ultimately safe.


text:
package forceSSL

import (
	"github.com/ant0ine/go-json-rest/rest"
	"net/http"
	"strings"
)

// Middleware is a go-json-rest middleware. It requires all
// requests to a go-json-rest server to be over SSL.
type Middleware struct {
	// Trust X-Forwarded-Proto headers (this could allow a client
	// to spoof whether they were using HTTPS).
	// Optional, defaults to false.
	TrustXFPHeader bool

	// Enables 301 redirects to the HTTPS version of the request.
	// Optional, defaults to false.
	Enable301Redirects bool

	// Allows a custom response message when forcing SSL without redirect.
	// Optional, defaults to "SSL Required."
	Message string
}

func setDefaults(settings *Middleware) {
	if settings.Message == "" {
		settings.Message = "SSL Required."
	}
}

func isNotSecure(request *rest.Request, xfpHeader string, trustXfpHeader bool) bool {
	if trustXfpHeader {
		return xfpHeader != "https"
	}

	return request.TLS == nil && request.URL.Scheme != "https"
}

// MiddlewareFunc makes forceSSL.Middleware implement the rest.Middleware interface.
func (middleware *Middleware) MiddlewareFunc(handler rest.HandlerFunc) rest.HandlerFunc {
	return func(writer rest.ResponseWriter, request *rest.Request) {
		setDefaults(middleware)
		goHTTPWriter := writer.(http.ResponseWriter)

		xfpHeader := strings.ToLower(request.Header.Get("X-Forwarded-Proto"))

		if isNotSecure(request, xfpHeader, middleware.TrustXFPHeader) {
			if middleware.Enable301Redirects {
				redirectURL := request.URL
				redirectURL.Scheme = "https"
				http.Redirect(
					goHTTPWriter,
					request.Request,
					redirectURL.String(),
					http.StatusMovedPermanently,
				)
			} else {
				writer.WriteHeader(http.StatusForbidden)
				goHTTPWriter.Write([]byte(middleware.Message))
			}
		} else {
			handler(writer, request)
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The College of Arts & Sciences
The Medieval Studies Institute
Minor & Certificate
Ph.D. Minor
Graduate Student Advisory Committee
Research & Journals
Mediaevalia at the Lilly
Spring Symposium
Medieval Movie Series
Institute News
Volume 30 No. 1 (Fall 2020)
Volume 30 No. 2 (Spring 2021, forthcoming)
Volume 29 No. 2 (Spring 2020)
Volume 26 No. 1 (Fall 2016 - Spring 2017)
Volume 25 No. 1 (Dec. 2015)
Volume 23 No. 2 (May 2014)
Volume 21 No. 1 (Oct. 2011)
Volume 20 No. 2 (Jan. 2011)
Volume 19 No. 3 (April 2010)
Volume 17 No. 1. (Oct. 2007)
Volume 17 No. 2 (March 2008)
Volume 15 No. 1. (Dec. 2005)
Volume 15 No. 2. (April 2006)
Volume 14 No. 1 (Sept. 2004)
Volume 14 No. 1 (Feb. 2005)
Volume 13 No. 2 (Nov. 2003)
Volume 13 No. 3 (March. 2004)
Volume 12 No. 4 (Mar. 2003)
Faculty + Staff Intranet
Medieval Studies Institute social media channels
Medieval Studies Institute

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When people talk about "printing money," your first thought might be that they're referring to green pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them. The graph below plots the growth rate for currency in circulation over the last decade. I've calculated the growth rate over 2-year rather than 1-year intervals to smooth a little the impact of the abrupt downturn in money growth in 2008. Another reason to use 2-year rates is that when we're thinking about money growth rates as a potential inflation indicator, both economic theory and the empirical evidence suggest that it's better to average growth rates over longer intervals.
Currency in circulation has increased by 5.2% per year over the last two years, a bit below the average for the last decade. If you took a very simple-minded monetarist view of inflation (inflation = money growth minus real output growth), and expected (as many observers do) better than 3% real GDP growth for the next two years, you'd conclude that recent money growth rates are consistent with extremely low rates of inflation.
Two year growth rate (quoted at annual percentage rate) of currency in circulation. Data source: FRED.
But if the Fed didn't print any money as part of QE2 and earlier asset purchases, how did it pay for the stuff it bought? The answer is that the Fed simply credited the accounts that banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System hold with the Fed. These electronic credits, or reserve balances, are what has exploded since 2008. The blue area in the graph below is the total currency in circulation, whose growth we have just seen has been pretty modest. The maroon area represents reserves.
Are reserves the same thing as money? An individual bank is entitled to convert those accounts into currency whenever it likes. Reserves are also used to effect transfers between banks. For example, if a check written by a customer of Bank A is deposited in the account of a customer in Bank B, the check is often cleared by debiting Bank A's account with the Fed and crediting Bank B's account. During the day, ownership of the reserves is passing back and forth between banks as a result of a number of different kinds of interbank transactions.
To understand how the receipt of new reserves influences a bank's behavior, the place to start is to ask whether the bank is willing to hold the reserves overnight. Prior to 2008, a bank could earn no interest on reserves, and could get some extra revenue by investing any excess reserves, for example, by lending the reserves overnight to another bank on the federal funds market. In that system, most banks would be actively monitoring reserve inflows and outflows in order to maximize profits. The overall level of excess reserves at the end of each day was pretty small (a tiny sliver in the above diagram), since nobody wanted to be stuck with idle reserves at the end of the day. When the Fed created new reserves in that system, the result was a series of new interbank transactions that eventually ended in the reserves being withdrawn as currency.
All that changed dramatically in the fall of 2008, because (1) the Fed started paying interest on excess reserves, and (2) banks earned practically no interest on safe overnight loans. In the current system, new reserves that the Fed creates just sit there on banks' accounts with the Fed. None of these banks have the slightest desire to make cash withdrawals from these accounts, and the Fed has no intention whatever of trying to print the dollar bills associated with these huge balances in deposits with the Fed.


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text:
Nissim Ezekiel
Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian-born poet of Jewish descent and has been described as the "father of post-independence Indian verse in English". He had a number of collections of poetry published which were very popular and some, such as The Night Of The Scorpion, and the anti-jingoism poem The Patriot, are standard verses still studied in some British and Indian schools. He had a varied career as an English teacher in India, England and the United States. He wrote plays, worked as a broadcaster on Indian radio and contributed many critical articles to the literary sections of magazines and newspapers. Ezekiel was born in December 1924 in Mumbai. The...
Nissim Ezekiel Poems
Night of the Scorpion
Nissim Ezekiel Bio
Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian-born poet of Jewish descent and has been described as the "father of post-independence Indian verse in English". He had a number of collections of poetry published which were very popular and some, such as The Night Of The Scorpion, and the anti-jingoism poem The Patriot, are standard verses still studied in some British and Indian schools. He had a varied career as an English teacher in India, England and the United States. He wrote plays, worked as a broadcaster on Indian radio and contributed many critical articles to the literary sections of magazines and newspapers.
Ezekiel was born in December 1924 in Mumbai. The family lived in a small, Marathi-speaking community known as the "Bene Israel" which numbered some 20,000 inhabitants at that time. Unlike other communities around the world this was a peaceful place with no evidence of anti-Semitism to worry about. They were a relatively affluent family with his father being a professor of Botany at the Wilson College in Mumbai and his mother the Principal of the school that she, herself, had set up.
Nissim was well educated and had a particular liking for the poetry of such as T S Eliot and Ezra Pound. He did not much care for verse in his own language and, as he grew up, his writing attracted controversy. It was seen as too close to the old colonial influences by many radicals in India. He attended Wilson College and, in 1947, he gained a first class honours degree in literature and immediately started teaching English Literature.
India was, politically, a hotbed of activity at that time and he took an active interest in that for a little while but soon decided to travel to England by boat. He spent the next three years studying philosophy at Birkbeck College in London, living in very low standard accommodation. Much of what he experienced during this period is found in his first collection of poems which was published in 1952, called Time To Change. Having completed his studies he then made his way back home. He could not afford to pay for his fare so worked his passage, scrubbing decks and other menial jobs all the way on an arms carrying vessel bound for Indochina.
There followed a period of writing for the Illustrated Weekly of India along with broadcasting on All-India Radio. He wrote for a number of other newspapers and magazines including the Times of India, where he was their art critic in the mid- 1960s. Shortly after he held visiting professor posts at colleges in America and, like many others at that time, experimented with the mind bending drug LSD. He enjoyed his travels but always seemed to gravitate back to Mumbai despite some feelings of isolation due to his ethnic origins.
Ezekiel's early efforts as a poet had seen him as some kind of dreamer but he developed into someone constantly seeking the truth. He saw much corruption in his country, with a disenchanted population, and tried to highlight the problems strongly enough so that something might be done to make things better. By the 1970s though his motivation had waned and he realised that nothing much could be done. He seemed to accept "the ordinariness of most events"; he laughed at "lofty expectations totally deflated". Reluctantly he had to acknowledge that:
Below is an extract from his poem The Patriot which is written in a distinctive Indian-English style. It was his protest against the radicalism and violence seen all over the Indian sub-continent in the post-war years of the 1940s onwards:
Nissim Ezekiel died in January 2004, aged 79.
On Nissim Ezekiel's poetry:
Click on each item to display more information
Nissim Ezekiel Historical context


text:
Personal Piece
Arcade and Retro Gaming Club; Skycurser; Table Pong Project
Dustin Wilcox
This week has been incredible for me, with so much wonderful news in the arcade industry (well, maybe not that much), the beginning of my club, and the purchase of my first multicade. That took...forever. Anyway, here's the awesome stuff I've got cooked up at Wilcox Arcade!
Arcade and Retro Gaming Club
Sometime in the beginning of February, an awesome idea hit me. Arcade games are my life, right? Surely, there are other likeminded people out there who would come after school to play these kinds of games, right? So, I started a club: Arcade and Retro Gaming Club.
In all honesty, I mostly added the "and Retro Gaming" to keep it from being so incredibly niche that no one showed up, but I like retro games. (I own an N64 for a reason, ya know.) Besides, a lot of great arcade titles also fall under the "retro" category.
Anyway, since I wanted to start this club, I decided it was time to climb through the bureaucratic junk and do just that. First, I emailed my principle saying that I had "a club idea." He didn't respond, so I asked him about it in person. I told him that I'd like to start an Arcade and Retro Gaming Club, and he said that it would work. All that I had to do was write up documentation so that the club could be approved at the next Site-Based Council meeting (the school decision-making group, for those out of the proverbial loop).
With that in mind, I went to prepare my documentation. I tried to think of what we might do beyond huddling around a CRT after school, so a lot of it sounds like some nonsense fantasy I would have. Unfortunately for us, I lost the Word document that had all of this, so I can't show you exactly what I wrote. Just imagine a bunch of crazy stuff like "We can discuss and analyze the industry using publications such as ArcadeHeroes.com, The Stinger Report, and Play Meter magazine" and "Maybe members of our club will one day enter the industry themselves." Yeah, it was pretty corny.
I gave my principal the documentation, and he said it looked good. So, is that where the club began? No, I still had a bit more bureaucracy to get through. The Site-Based Council meeting wouldn't be held until the second Monday in February. Wouldn't ya know? The first week of February started on January 31st, so my waiting time was much longer than it otherwise would have been. Gosh darn it, calendars.
It wasn't that I was worried that my club wouldn't be approved; in fact, I saw literally no reason why they wouldn't approve it. However, I was a bit too excited for my own good, and I was having a bit of trouble waiting. In the mean time, I created an Instagram account to build up a little "pre-release hype" and I made three or four flyers to hang up in the school to promote the account itself. This didn't really gain much traction, and it was counting my proverbial chickens or whatever before they hatched (as a wise classmate once told me). Because of this, I dissolved the account a few days ago and renamed it Wilcox Arcade (@wilcoxarcade). It now coexists along with the blog, which is cool. I also have a Twitter account now!
Also during this time, I approached a potential sponsor: Coach Fricke, one of the two P.E. teachers. He said yes as soon as I asked, and I had a club sponsor booked weeks in advance.
After two long weeks of waiting, I got the news that my club was approved. Boy, was I excited! It was finally time for my sweaty nerd club to grace the Earth with its perspiring glory.
With that suspense out of the way, I started producing actual promotional material. The meetings are on Mondays, but guess what? The first Monday that I could have had it was Presidents' Day! (No offense, presidents, but you kind of messed up my schedule.) Therefore, another long week was tacked on to my wait time for the first meeting. To remedy this, I made a very general flyer, and I put it nearly everywhere that I possibly could in the school.
However, the week before the first meeting (the week of Presidents' Day), I started doing hardcore promotion for the club. I produced a flyer that actually said the date of the first meeting. Also, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday, I made some pretty gosh darn…attention-grabbing announcements. On Wednesday, I started my morning announcement by blaring the Galaga intro theme—which was so loud that it actually scared people. THAT is how you promote a club, people! (Unfortunately, few people could actually hear my voice, because I didn't stand close enough to the microphone.)
Thursday wasn't quite as…exciting, but it still got a good reaction. I used the Pac-Man intro and stood much closer to the microphone. On Friday, I used the Cruis'n USA main theme before my announcement. I'm going to assume that that one wasn't quite as well known as Galaga and Pac-Man, just because it isn't really an iconic video game theme or anything.
Thus, I was stuck with a weekend of waiting. Luckily for me, the wait wasn't too difficult. Why, you ask? (Or maybe you didn't ask; it's cool.) Well, let's just say that you'll see just why the wait wasn't so bad when you get to the end of the article. (Wink, but typed, because this is written text.)
Now we find ourselves in the present—today. Monday, February 27th was the big day, the first meeting! I made a quick announcement with the Xevious theme, and from there, it was waiting. The excitement was almost indescribable.
After school, I went to the gym classroom to wait for everyone to show up. I had brought my Nintendo 64 with two controllers and six games (Killer Instinct, NFL Blitz, Cruis'n USA, California Speed, Robotron 64, and Namco Museum 64). Joseph Ngyuen, a good friend of mine, brought his PSOne (he had the actual "PSOne" Sony released later in the PSX's lifetime) with his entire game collection in a CD book.
Then, everyone started coming in. I was positively SHOCKED to see 16 people, more than I could have ever hoped for. Granted, I'm guessing at least six won't show up for the next meeting, but that's still a fantastic turnout.
Today, we played Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, and it was a blast. We set up a tournament, which is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping this club could provide. Unfortunately for me, I was out in my first match, but it was just so much fun to see everyone having fun playing retro games. Joseph won the tournament, and he played Coach Fricke. (That sweaty nerd Joseph has all of the combos memorized.) Joseph won again, and since we only had 12 minutes left, he put in Contra: Legacy of War. He had me play with him, and we were dead within 5 minutes.
Overall, it was really great to see the retro gaming community at my school. Things weren't as organized as I would have hoped, but it all worked out in the end. Next Monday, Joseph and I will try to have an introduction where we talk about the T-shirts and the trip to the Game Galaxy arcade. Jospeh is going to bring a portable TV with him next week, and I'm going to try to pick up a second CRT dirt-cheap to give to the club. We're also going to split the costs of a Retron 5 to donate to the club.
The Arcade and Retro Gaming Club was simply fantastic, and to any students reading, I highly recommend you try to start one at your school. There's really nothing better than a good community. And once you start one, you'll get to experience the joy of jumping around TV playing games with a bunch of cool people every week, because it's truly something else. Anyway, now that I've told you about the Arcade and Retro Gaming Club, let me tell you the news that made the weekend before the club that much more bearable…
Skycurser release date announced
If you're not quite caught up with the news, Skycurser (developed by Griffin Aerotech) is a new arcade-exclusive shoot-em-up designed to resemble classic 90's games in both the pixel art and the gratuitous violence. So far, the prototype version is in quite a few arcades across the U.S., and everyone seems to like it.
In a February 23rd podcast, the guys at Griffin Aerotech dropped the news that I've been dying to hear for a long time: the Skycurser release date. The wait will finally be over on April 3rd, when we can all pick up a Skycurser cabinet for home or (preferably) public arcade use. Griffin Aerotech has been promoted the podcast as a way for people to learn the release date, but I kind of ruined that by just telling you upfront. I still highly recommend that you listen to the podcast, because it's still a blast even if you already know the release date going in. There's a funny personal story, a bit of information on Mission 4, and they answer some fan questions. I have already given my thoughts on Skycurser in my Arcade Hype List, but I'd like to expand on that a bit.
In the podcast, the guys talk about how the Airframe dev kit will be available to those who would like to develop games under the Griffin Aerotech banner. First, it will be available in a virtual environment, and once there's enough of a game to justify it, people can use the actual Airframe dev kit (at least that's what I gathered). I mention this because having a unified system like this seems like an absolutely fantastic way to get more indie developers into the arcade, and thusly increasing the number of games released annually and bringing back hardcore gamers who are disillusioned with the flood of rail shooters and racing games. Don't get me wrong—I love rail shooters (but I'm getting a bit tired of racing). However, there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to have a wide variety of genres. Luckily, we now have Killer Queen, Skycurser, and Strike Harbinger broadening our horizons a bit. Heck, Raw Thrills is even going to location test Resogun! If all goes well, that'll be the first twin-stick shooter we've had in years!
Table Pong Project
Pong, as we all know, was one of the first video games ever, and certainly one of the most historically significant. Now, a team of developers is bringing it back as a tabletop version that (instead of a standard monitor) uses electric motors and magnetic fields to provide a physical version of Pong. It's officially licensed by Atari, and there will be a coin-operated version.
Right now, there's an Indiegogo page, and I hope it gets as much support as it possibly can. I love the concept, and any new arcade game is a great thing on its own. I plan on supporting the crowdfunding campaign as soon as possible, but it's a little bit difficult as a 15-year-old (and I'm also saving up for my first dedicated arcade game). As such, I do not believe I'll be able to give the campaign $900 and get the table at a discounted price, but I definitely plan on buying it as soon as it officially releases.
I do hope the developers make the table durable enough to survive commercial use, as that's my one concern. Something like this, as cool as it is, could be a bit maintenance-heavy when in a real arcade setting. No matter what my doubts may be, I 100 percent trust that it'll be a great product, and I want to support it.
Maybe it's just me, but it feels like arcades are making a real comeback. Arcades never truly died, but we have to acknowledge the decline. This decline does, however, have one positive side effect: We get to the see the comeback that much more clearly.
Website - https://www.tablepongproject.com
Indiegogo - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/atari-table-pong-project-the-coolest-coffee-table-design#/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TABLEPONGPROJECT/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/TablePongProjec
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tablepongproject/
Skycurser
Podcast - http://www.griffinaerotech.com/category/arcade-game-developer-podcast/
Website - http://www.griffinaerotech.com/skycurser/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SKYCURSER
Twitter - https://twitter.com/SKYCURSER
Tumblr - http://tumblr.skycurser.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/skycurser/
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
Contra Legacy of War
AND I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER
exA-Arcadia Preview: Blazing Chrome
Skycurser (Arcade) Review
Andamiro Announces "New" SpongeBob Whacker Game That's Literally Just Their 2017 SpongeBob Whacker Game
Aka & Blue Worldwide Orders Shipping This Week; Rochester Games & Arcade Now Open for Business
Battle Bowling is Rife With Potential
Arcade Hype List: Q1 2020 Edition
exA-Arcadia Preview: Shikhondo
Dark Presence is still a thing—and it means a lot for the arcade industry
Why I Have No Common Sense and Why Tokens are the Most Dastardly Force of Evil in the Entire Universe
Skycurser, Forgotten Indie Arcade Games, and the Modern Industry
New Rashlander Indie Arcade Game; Sega's IAAPA 2017 Booth
When it Hits the Fan, Kraut Buster, All-Star Baseball, and Zombie League All-Stars Thoughts
New Black Emperor Indie Arcade Game; Golden Tee 2018; Requests for Raw Thrills; and More
© 2017-2020 Dustin Wilcox.
Apparently I'm proud that I made this with Wix.com


Architect Adam Kalkin created a quirky and fun house in New Jersey called Bunny Lane House. Essentially, this is a cozy traditional house inside a giant futuristic shed that looks like an industrial container. It's a mix of traditional home design and modern home design. The property sits on 3 acres of land, and once you open the shed doors, the space opens to the big country with lots of trees. Inside the shed, the large living area is a great place to relax under the shelter. If you want something even more intimate, just hop inside the traditional cottage with all the coziness of a country home.


The V.A. Belyi Metal-Polymer Research Institute of NASB (MPRI) has elaborated a new class of filtering materials — magnetic PFM [1-8]. The technological base for manufacturing such materials is the melt blowing technique involving the following procedures: extrusion of a polymer melt filled by ferrite (barium or strontium) powder, fiber extension by gas flow, and fiber treatment in a magnetic field. The polymer melt is extruded through spinneret holes whose diameter far exceeds that of the filler particle. The thermal regime of spraying provides for cohesive bonding of the fibers on the forming substrate. The material is also textured during spraying. The final stage of magnetic PFM or finished FE manufacture is filler particle magnetizing in a permanent or pulse magnetic field.


text:
Infernal was an influential Swedish black metal band based in Stockholm.

History
The band was formed in 1997, mainly by David Parland (Blackmoon), who quickly teamed up with ex-Dark Funeral colleague and vocalist Themgoroth (Paul Mäkitalo), to create a band both similar to and more brutal and extreme than Dark Funeral, which Blackmoon had left in mid 1996.

The band saw the participation of several members like Matte Modin (ex-Dark Funeral, Defleshed) and Impious of In Aeternum among others. The last known line-up was Blackmoon (David Parland) - guitars, Typhos (Henke Ekeroth) - vocals and guitars and Alzazmon (Tomas Asklund) - drums - this was the second real line-up, and it was dissolved in 2003.

David Parland reformed the band in late 2008 with drummer Asklund. Infernal's new musical direction showcased a slightly more accessible sound than the first two Infernal EPs, and the new musical direction is more along older death/black metal and not as blastbeat-oriented as the old Infernal. This line-up introduced David as a vocalist as well as guitarist.
The line-up was planned to be expanded to a full band in time for the planned full-length album and possible live gigs.

On July 14, 2009, it was revealed that Infernal had permanently parted ways with drummer Tomas Asklund.
A replacement in the form of Norwegian drummer Carl Engstrøm from Astaroth and Recovery Injection was found, and announced on October 17.
Old Necrophobic colleague and guitarist Martin Halfdan also joined the band as a live and lead/solo guitarist. Lord Abbadon joined in late 2009, also mainly as a live member, and for a short time as a permanent bass player. He departed from the band for personal reasons and later committed suicide while playing in the band From Purgatory.

On May 2, 2010, Colombian underground cult label Goathorned Productions released the 3-track Infernal EP "The Infernal Return".
This release features 3 tracks recorded early 2009, with David on guitars, bass and lead vocals. Tomas Asklund (Gorgoroth, Dawn) played session drums on this EP.
A demo entitled "Hellhymns" featured four tracks; it was the last recording before a full-length album, scheduled for release in late 2010 or early 2011.

On March 19, 2013, founder David Parland died, putting an end to the band.

Band members

Final lineup
 David "Blackmoon" Parland – guitars, bass, vocals (1997–2003, 2008–2013) (deceased)

Former members
 Paul "Themgoroth" Mäkitalo – vocals (1997–1999)
 David "Impious" Larsson – guitar, vocals (1997–1999)
 Matte Modin – drums (1997–1999)
 Henke "Typhos" Ekeroth – guitar, vocals (2002–2003)
 Tomas Asklund – drums (2002–2003, 2008–2009)
 Martin Halfdan – guitars (2008)
 Lord Abbadon – bass (2009-2010)
 Carl "Telal" Engström – drums (2010)

Discography
 Infernal (EP) (1999)
 Under Wings of Hell (split) (2002)
 Summon Forth the Beast (EP) (2002)
 The Infernal Return (7-inch EP) (2010)

References

External links
 Official MySpace profile

Musical groups established in 1997
Swedish black metal musical groups


text:
Articles On Testing
Wecome to http://www.articlesontesting.com !!!
What is Usability Testing
2:49 AM manual testing, usability testing 8 comments
What is Usability testing ? A technique used to evaluate a product by testing it on users.
This is in contrast with usability inspection methods where experts use different methods to evaluate a user interface without involving users.
Usability testing measures the usability, or ease of use, of a specific object or set of objects, whereas general human-computer interaction studies attempt to formulate universal principles.
Usability testing is a black-box testing technique. The aim is to observe people using the product to discover errors and areas of improvement.
* Performance -- How much time, and how many steps, are required for people to complete basic tasks? (For example, find something to buy, create a new account, and order the item.)
* Accuracy -- How many mistakes did people make? (And were they fatal or recoverable with the right information?)
* Recall -- How much does the person remember afterwards or after periods of non-use?
* Emotional response -- How does the person feel about the tasks completed? Is the person confident, stressed? Would the user recommend this system to a friend?
Brief :
Usability testing is a dynamic process that can be used throughout the process of developing interactive multimedia software. The purpose of usability testing is to find problems and make recommendations to improve the utility of a product during its design and development. For developing effective interactive multimedia software, dimensions of usability testing were classified into the general categories of: learnability; performance effectiveness; flexibility; error tolerance and system integrity; and user satisfaction. In the process of usability testing, evaluation experts consider the nature of users and tasks, tradeoffs supported by the iterative design paradigm, and real world constraints to effectively evaluate and improve interactive multimedia software. Different methods address different purposes and involve a combination of user and usability testing, however, usability practitioners follow the seven general procedures of usability testing for effective multimedia development. As the knowledge about usability testing grows, evaluation experts will be able to choose more effective and efficient methods and techniques that are appropriate to their goals.
Usability can be defined as "a measure of the ease with which a system can be learned or used, its safety, effectiveness and efficiency, and attitude of its users towards it" .
Usability testing determines whether a system meets a pre-defined, quantifiable level of the usability for specific types of user carrying out specific tasks. Traditionally, software products including information materials and multimedia software have been evaluated by means of marketplace reviews, magazine reviews, and beta tests, but these approaches leave too little time for major modifications and improvement of products . As the process of observing and collecting data from users while they interact with multimedia prototypes, usability testing can be used to address and solve a system's usability problems before it goes into production.
The aim of usability testing is not to solve problems, or to enable a quantitative assessment of usability . It provides a means of identifying problem areas, and the extracting of information concerning problems, difficulties, weaknesses and areas for improvement. Even if usability testing should reveal difficulties or faults that cannot be corrected in the model under development, the information is still important for the designers in planning for the future release of a product .
Usability testing may serve a number of different purposes: to improve an existing product; to compare two or more products; to measure a system against a standard or a set of guidelines . It can also be used as a comparison test: usability of a product is compared against competitors' products, and serves as a verification tool- a way to check user reaction to new features .
Usability testing is concerned with 'fitness for use of a system,' and as such it can be a powerful instructional systems development (ISD) tool for identifying problems with multimedia interface as defined by the specific user rather than the interface as designed by the instructional systems designers . With usability testing, rapid prototyping in the multimedia production process is beginning to emerge as a way to test design approaches and user interfaces, and will reduce the software development cycle while at the same time increasing effectiveness .
It has been indicated that maxims of usability for software developers:
(a) design for the software end user, not for the designers/clients;
(b) test the multimedia software, not the user;
(c) test usability with real users early and often;
(d) don't test everything at once;
(e) measure performance of real-world tasks with software, not functionality of the program; and
(f) test usability problems that software designers never imagined.
It gauges how a web site compares to a competitor, a company's historical standard, or to a project specific objective. This test measures consistency among all users against a predetermined benchmark and is therefore quantitative in nature. Because the validation test is used to accredit the site's ability to meet its designers' goals, it is conducted near the end of a web site's development cycle. The test is capable of determining which criteria are being met and reasons for those not met. For validation testing, the parameters of performance among targeted users typically exceed speed and accuracy. They can include ranking preferences both within the site itself and amongst similar competitor sites.
A usability test is a formal evaluation process that has as its goal improvement of the usability of the product being tested. It differs from a quality assurance or quality test, which has as its goal assessing whether the product works according to specifications. It differs from a customer assurance test, a pilot test, and a beta test because the usability test ensures the collection of systematic, recorded, quantifiable data and observation of behaviors.
A usability test has these five characteristics:
Each test has specific goals and concerns that are tested
The participants represent real users (6 to 12 participants are typical)
The participants do real tasks
The participants are observed and recorded
The data is analyzed, problems diagnosed, and recommendations made
A usability test consists of these activities:
• Planning the test, developing participants profiles, identifying participants from user pool, creating test materials, writing task scenarios, determining usability criteria and measures
• Preparing the test location, pilot testing materials and procedures
• Introducing the participant to the situation, the product, and the procedure
• Running of the task-based test, where participants are asked to complete a series of tasks that address the specific goals and concerns being tested.
• Participants are asked to "think aloud" (articulate their thoughts, feelings, and actions). This data, and the recorded video images, helps target areas that re confusing, unclear, or misleading during the analysis stage.
• Debriefing the participant to get final thoughts, subjective feelings about the product, and suggestions for improvement.
• Analyzing the data, making recommendations, and documenting findings
The deliverable from a usability test is a report that details the problems encountered by the participants and recommendations for change based on known human factors, cognitive, and behavioral principles, and recognized best practices.
Going into details gives us several terms and terminologies as per the way they are practised in the Usability Testing perspective . Currently we are with three methodologies based on the ergonomics and the intent of the Testing.
Laboratory Testing.
Onsite Testing.
Remote Testing.
Our sole goal is to attain the maximum possible number of the Usability issues with minimum product knowledge and having variety of end user as per their expertise level on the internet products and usage. Again while taking any decision on introducing the raised change request by the Usability testing co-ordinator need to be assessed for the impacts on the ROI before commiting for the change.
Industry has several tools on the Usability testing for features like fonts and color size consistencies such as Firebug, MeasureIt et al , which is being practised extensively for conducting the Usability Testing.
Though it still is not very developed and marketed domain within the Testing world but its Impact as assessed by several growing Internet based business hubs is presumed to be pretty high and a lot more growth is expected in the same.
BlockInput Feature In QTP
10:06 PM automation testing, QTP, qtp functions, testing, Vbscript No comments
Automation testing using QTP has always been talked upon the most in the testing industry. There are numerous features available within this very toolset, but most of us might not be aware of this very feature whioch has been discussed in this very articles on automation testing using QTP which is Blockinput feature.
QTP provides BlockInput method to prevent keyboard and mouse input events from reaching applications.
UnblockInput method Re-enables keyboard and mouse input events after a BlockInput statement was used to block them.
'The following example uses the BlockInput method to block keyboard
'and mouse input to the QuickTest Professional computer during the run session.
SystemUtil.BlockInput
Browser("Welcome: Mercury Tours").Page("Welcome: Mercury Tours").WebEdit("userName").Set "mercury"
Browser("Welcome: Mercury Tours").Page("Welcome: Mercury Tours").WebEdit("password").SetSecure "4082986e39ea4ssdd0dbf8c5a29429fe138c6efc"
Browser("Welcome: Mercury Tours").Page("Welcome: Mercury Tours").Image("Sign-In").Click 2, 2
SystemUtil.UnblockInput
These two methods of the SystemUtil class is genuinely used to block the user from entering data through keyboard while the script is in execution mode.
Genuinely for security concerns this utility method is utilised at the best level.


text:
template<typename T1, typename op_type>
class SpOp : public SpBase<typename T1::elem_type, SpOp<T1, op_type> >
  {
  public:

  typedef typename T1::elem_type                   elem_type;
  typedef typename get_pod_type<elem_type>::result pod_type;

  static const bool is_row = (T1::is_row && is_spop_elem<op_type>::value) || ( T1::is_col && (is_same_type<op_type, spop_strans>::value || is_same_type<op_type, spop_htrans>::value) );
  static const bool is_col = (T1::is_col && is_spop_elem<op_type>::value) || ( T1::is_row && (is_same_type<op_type, spop_strans>::value || is_same_type<op_type, spop_htrans>::value) );

  inline explicit SpOp(const T1& in_m);
  inline          SpOp(const T1& in_m, const elem_type in_aux);
  inline          SpOp(const T1& in_m, const uword     in_aux_uword_a, const uword in_aux_uword_b);
  inline         ~SpOp();

  arma_aligned const T1&       m;            //!< storage of reference to the operand (eg. a matrix)
  arma_aligned       elem_type aux;          //!< storage of auxiliary data, user defined format
  arma_aligned       uword     aux_uword_a;  //!< storage of auxiliary data, uword format
  arma_aligned       uword     aux_uword_b;  //!< storage of auxiliary data, uword format
  };

//! @}


Summary: The NIH NCCAM stimulated relationship building between conventional and CAM schools with their R-25 grants. This article focuses on a pioneering relationship between Georgetown University School of Medicine and the nearby Potomac Massage Training Institute. The impact was felt as profound for students as well as the Institute.
for posting in a future Integrator Your Comments article.
Developer and supervisor, PMTI Student Peer Program with Georgetown Medical School.
A good deal of this activity was stimulated by a five-year R-25 grant from the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to Georgetown, with Adi Haramati, PhD, as lead investigator. While the grant period officially ended in April 2006, according to McInturff-Ayers, "the relationship is richer than ever."
Haramati's strategic view was that the program with PMTI was a starting place in a step-wise movement toward deeper integration. It was a "focus on the achievable rather than a comprehensive program." Haramati believed that by bringing massage therapists into relationship with medical students that, among other outcomes, the massage students would "quietly instill their caring attitudes" in the medical students.
Curriculum Expanding hours in musculoskeletal pathology, body systems pathology and medical terminology. An already existing requirement for a case study research paper has received additional attention.
Research PMTI formed a formal research department and hired Martha Brown Menard, PhD, as research director.
Ayers states that the unusual relationship between the medical school and the massage school "has just blossomed and bloomed, moving beyond personal connections to institutional."


This open training session aims at supporting local and regional authorities interested in learning more about how energy management (EnMS) and sustainable energy action plans (SEAP) can be integrated.
The workshop will focus on practical steps, sharing best practices, tips and tools from experienced municipalities and EnM-SUPPORTERS on the EnMS and SEAP approach. The event will present the benefits of the 50000&1 SEAPs methodology, and will illustrate how to implement an EnMS+SEAP approach, through prioritizing your actions, choosing your funding, and how to monitor the results effectively .
Municipalities, regional authorities, Covenant of Mayors Supporters and Coordinators, and public and private stakeholders are invited to participate in this free workshop.
Anette Jahn, Head of Sector, EASME, European Commission : watch and download here.
Marco Devetta and Emanuele Cosenza, SOGESCA : watch and download here.
Evi Tzanakaki, Kostas Sioulas, CRES : watch and download here.
Patrycja Plonka, PNEC : watch and download here.
Carlos Ezquerra, ALBEA : watch and download here.
Marika Rošā, EKODOMA : watch and download here.
Lucian Ostrovati, Sannicolau Mare (Romania) : watch and download here.
Pierre Crépeaux, Lorient (France) : watch and download here.
Lazar Karamitev (Bulgaria) : watch and download here.
The discussions highlighted how data collection remains a key barrier to be overcome in order to plan appropriately and consistently with a clear baseline. Not only data remain hard to access at an appropriate quality level, but often the cooperation with distribution operators remains simply on a voluntary basis instead of being regulated by law. This results in very diverse panorama through European States.


Rose Roach, LCSW is a social worker in Melbourne, FL. She specializes in social work.
My goals is to help clients overcome negative habits and enhance coping skills so that they become more successful and able to enjoy their lives.
How was your experience with Rose Roach?
Check the quality of care at hospitals where Rose Roach treats patients.


text:
<bill session="110" type="s" number="305" updated="2009-01-09T11:46:56-05:00">
	<status><introduced date="1168923600" datetime="2007-01-16"/></status>

	<introduced date="1168923600" datetime="2007-01-16"/>
	<titles>
		<title type="official" as="introduced">A bill to amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, to make it unlawful for a packer to own, feed, or control livestock intended for slaughter.</title>
	</titles>
	<sponsor id="300048"/>
	<cosponsors>
		<cosponsor id="300041" joined="2007-01-16"/>
		<cosponsor id="300037" joined="2007-01-16"/>
		<cosponsor id="300051" joined="2007-01-16"/>
		<cosponsor id="300022" joined="2007-06-20"/>
		<cosponsor id="412243" joined="2007-03-07"/>
		<cosponsor id="400629" joined="2007-09-25"/>
		<cosponsor id="300058" joined="2007-09-25"/>
	</cosponsors>
	<actions>
		<action date="1168923600" datetime="2007-01-16"><text>Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S600-601)</text></action>
		<action date="1168923600" datetime="2007-01-16"><text>Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.</text><reference label="text of measure as introduced" ref="CR S601"/></action>
	</actions>
	<committees>

	</committees>
	<relatedbills>

	</relatedbills>
	<subjects>

	</subjects>
	<amendments>

	</amendments>

	1/16/2007--Introduced.
Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to prohibit livestock packers from owning, controlling, or feeding livestock to such an extent that the producer no longer materially participates in the management of the operation, with exceptions for: (1) animals held for not more than seven days before slaughter; (2) certain cooperatives that own, control or feed livestock and provide such livestock for slaughter; (3) packers that are not required to report price and quantity information on each reporting day; or (4) packers that own one livestock processing plant.

</bill>


text:
Weekly digest for 12 Mar 2021
March 12, 2021	by Steve Esselaar	Weekly News
This week's main story is from Tanzania, where the government is looking at ways to charge consumers for WhatsApp calls in order to recoup the revenue operators have lost in international traffic. Data shows that international calls have fallen from 107.2 million minutes in 2012 to just over 27 million minutes in the 4th quarter 2020. The government ascribes the loss in traffic to WhatsApp. The regulatory authority, TCRA, installed a Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System and TCRA says that this will enable it to identify phones that make and receive calls through WhatsApp. Based on this traffic analysis, TCRA says it is investigating additional data charges to recoup government tax revenues. Mobile pricing is currently being revised and is expected to come into affect on the 2nd of April 2021. We'll keep an eye on this story in the upcoming weeks.
South Africa: This story is a follow-up from the previous two weeks: as predicted, the auction for High Demand Spectrum (spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz, 2600MHz and 3500MHz bands) has been postponed after the high court halted the process. The High Court agreed with Telkom that it was impossible to go ahead with the auction since the digital dividend bands (700MHz and 800MHz) are still used by analogue TV broadcasters.
Nigeria: MTN has acquired an additional 10MHz of spectrum the 800MHz band. MTN's active data subscribers has grown by 7.4 million to 36.3 million subscribers in December 2020. MTN ascribes the increase to its growing 4G network, which had previously lagged behind Airtel.
Zimbabwe: MNOs have increased their prices based on a directive from the regulator, POTRAZ. New prices came into affect in early March. However, some analysts are concerned that the new prices will be unable to keep up with rampant inflation in Zimbabwe.
Malawi: TNM has appointed a new CEO after the resignation of Michiel Buitelaar in November last year.
South Sudan: Zain has launched 4G services. The rollout of 4G will help Zain to compete against MTN, whose active data subscribers grew by 88% in 2020.
MTN: MTN added 29 million new subscribers in 2020 and increased its EBITDA margin to a phenomenal 42.7%. In Uganda, MTN's active data subscriber base grew by 34.8% and South Africa's grew by 11%.
MTN South Africa: MTN's wholesale revenues in South Africa declined by 16% after the roaming agreement with Cell C was cancelled. Cell C has signed a roaming agreement with Telkom, who, in turn, roams on Vodacom's network.


The 156-home development is located along the banks of the White Cart River.
House hunters will be flocking to have a look round this new development in the southside.
CCG Homes has launched its first release of properties at its flagship Riverside Gardens estate.
The 156-home development is located along the banks of the White Cart River and features a range of contemporary types and styles.
The first release consisted of a mix of two-bedroom apartments, three-bed semi-detached houses and four-bedroom terraced villas with integral garages.
The second release is now available for reservation.
Buyers can expect to move in from January 2019 with each property boasting spacious, open plan living areas, high levels of specification throughout and improved environmental performance through an enhanced building fabric and solar PV.
The development also offers private parking and green space; access to a range of local shopping amenities and transport links to the city centre.
Prices start from £177,000 with support from Help to Buy available for properties up to £200,000.
Countrywide Estates' Shawlands branch are assisting CCG Homes with the sale of the development.
Calum Murray, Director of CCG Homes, said: "CCG Homes strongly believe that Riverford Gardens is an outstanding proposition for any homebuyer. There are not many city-based developments that can offer a riverside location or access to an array of amenities and transport links to the extent ofRiverford Gardens.


A heavy juicy vape that has great flavor and cloud production. Cactus mixing with the savory jackfruit finished off with the citrus of mandarin orange. Crazy, but incredibly delicious. Give it a go!
A Noms X2 product with a distinct flavor that is at once powerful and balanced. If you're looking for something unique that works great to satiate your palate, well look no further. Satisfy your need for flavor throughout the day and relax with a bright and shining cactus and jackfruit mixture. Sure, it's a unique profile, but one that the expert e-juice blenders are wild about.
Jackfruit is both the name of the fruit and of the tree, it grows on. Jackfruit grows on both the branches and trunks of trees that can reach up to sixty-five feet in height. You won't have to climb that high to enjoy the taste with our vape.


text:
Should DC bring back Diana's secret identity?
Thread: Should DC bring back Diana's secret identity?
Geraldofrivia
The fictional career of Diana Prince evolved over the years, from the original Army nurse to become a military intelligence officer (promoted to higher ranks), then later a civilian employee, businesswoman, astronaut, or staff member at the United Nations, etc.
Should DC bring back her secret identity so that she can learn what is to like to live in Man's World?
LordUltimus
Have it as part of her history, and leave it free for her to use when she'd like to take a break.
I'd be interested in her being a professor at Holliday College, in history or feminist theory.
Agent Z
She never needed a secret identity to learn what it was like to live in man's world. She had it because everyone was doing it. So my answer is no.
SiegePerilous02
I don't see a space or necessity for it in current continuity. Year One was the place to establish it, but that's come and gone and Godwatch showed she never went about getting it or had reason to.
If we utilize an immortal Wonder Woman like in the films who debuts sometime during WWI or WWII and lives in Man's World away from the Amazons for several decades, I'd be fine with her adopting it for privacy and working in several different occupations.
Dr. Poison
Yes, please. A huge amount of story potential was lost when they axed Diana Prince.
Currently Reading:Batman & The Outsiders, Doomsday Clock, Female Furies, Freedom Fighters, Hawkman, Heroes in Crisis, Justice League, Justice League Dark, Shazam, Wonder Twins, Wonder Woman, & Young Justice.
I agree that there is little need for a secret identity for Diana. Having a civilian identity is one thing, that I can see, used for regular travel, hotel bookings, purchases, and so on. But her secret identity in the 40s seems to have more come from the idea that superheroes should have a secret identity, not from any study of the actual character.
Diana did not grow up in her civilian (or secret) identity. She grew up as an Amazon; already there she is really different from Superman or Flash. She was sent to Man's World to act as an ambassador (or envoy), representative, teacher, and maybe most of all example. She is also by all accounts either a terrible liar or unable to tell untruths.
I can see her having a discreet civil identity, like she does in the Justice League the movie, but she won't have any permanent secret identity. It's more a matter of convenience than necessity.
Last edited by kjn; 11-03-2018 at 11:11 AM.
Originally Posted by Dr. Poison
Agreed. I'm all for bringing back Diana Prince.
Last edited by WonderScott; 11-05-2018 at 08:55 PM.
Originally Posted by SiegePerilous02
The Diana Prince identity was established in Rebirth, it was her name as a mental patient in Nightsong Hospital (she also wore all white *smile*).
The reason why it was necessary in the Golden Age was because it kept her close to Steve Trevor and the war effort.
The reason why it's necessary now is so she can blend in as a regular person sometimes and not be only a super-powered celebrity. It's also essential for business purposes. Everyone has to pay taxes and for that she'd need a legal name. "Princess Diana of Themyscira" is a lot to fit on a form.
The I.A.D.C.
I don't think it needs to be a SECRET identity, but "Diana Prince" is an important part of WW history. If you go outside of the comics in the 1974 TV movie with Cathy Lee Crosby, there is a scene where she checks into a hotel as Diana Prince, but the bad guys recognize her as Wonder Woman and even refer to her as WW. Heck, by the end of the second season of Lynda Carter's show, she had pretty much stopped wearing glasses when she was DP. And even though the characters continued to act like DP and WW were two different people, I could have accepted the fact that it was an "open secret" if they had opted to play it that way. In WW's first big-screen movie, she is referred to as "Miss Prince" when Gal Gadot gets off the plane to go fight Doomsday. As far as I'm concerned "Diana Prince" is more of a "civilian identity" than a "secret identity."
Last edited by The I.A.D.C.; 11-03-2018 at 12:21 PM.
Fuzzy Mittens
Honestly I see little reason for her not to have it. While Perez made disgarding it work, its been a big hurdle for later takes on the character that has been outright detrimental to her characterization.
The fact is that while Wonder Woman has gone through a rotating supporting cast over the years, the amount of supporting characters she has in recent years has shrunk considerably. Its telling that to name some of the more iconic runs in post crisis the supporting cast consisted of
Simone: a military guy and some gorillas
Rucka 1: Some Amazons
Azarello: a pregnant woman and a son of zeus
Finch: An amazon and Donna Troy
Rucka 2: Steve, Etta, and Cheetah
Fontana: Steve and Etta
Robinson: Steve and dumb brother
Orlando: Aztec, Atalanta, and Artemis
As it is, nowadays writers have reasoned that since she does not have a secret identity then she does not have a life. Thus theres never a moment where she has down time beyond flashbacks of her childhood so any supporting cast she has only exist to join her in non stop action scenes. Gone are the days of olde where she would chat up a publicist spend her time with professors and the educated sort. No more is the time when she would make regular visits to the Holliday college to hang out with Etta and the other sority members of Beeta Lamda. Gone are the Amazons who she would hang out with for fun or other supporting characters.
And frankly its not to surprising because that sort of things become a bit of a dull trend in comics in recent years where instead of engaging storylines it is one big dumb action scene that melts into another big dumb action scene with no time for plot development because we need a twelve issue arc about X threat where thousands die and nothing will be the same again until the next arc where all the events of the previous are ignored and forgotten.
I wouldn't mind if Diana Prince was more for her to Civilan is. When she wants to do many other things without having to be Wonder Woman. I mean what if she uses her home to taken in abused women. She doesn't wasn't people to know Wonder Woman is doing this because it would cause issues. I would say most of her inner Circle knows who she is. It's secret to the public. She doesn't always want to be followed.
Originally Posted by Fuzzy Mittens
Here's the thing; they tried bringing back the secret identity during the Heinberg/Picoult runs. And she had even less of a life when they did. She went from being an ambassador who was friends with two archeologists, being an ambassador to man's world, and having all the connections that entailed… to being a member of a clandestine government intelligence agency and having only a sexist jackass who treated her like dirt for a close companion. That is what came out of DC thinking she didn't have a life because she didn't have a secret identity. They decided to fix it by making her far more isolated than she's ever been and once again discarded her previous supporting cast.
The idea that Diana doesn't have social life because she lacks a secret identity is not only disproven by Rucka, Perez, Jiminez and Simone it's been shown that a secret identity doesn't give you one either. How often do you see Batman associating with anyone that isn't another superhero? The issue isn't Diana lacking a supporting cast. The issue is DC playing darts with her continuity as usual.
I think you're reasoning ahead of the evidence here.
Yes, Diana is seldom shown with a private or domestic life, but how often is it shown with the other DC characters? Also, does she need a secret identity to have a private life? Rucka's first run had her writing a book, going on tour, and managing an embassy. Rucka's second run had a romance with Steve Trevor and working to create a place in Man's World. Fontana had her going to a wedding in Etta's family, and assisting a convalescent Etta. Orlando had one issue with her working to rehabilitate Mayfly.
I'd say Diana probably has more of a domestic life shown in comics than most other superheroes, but we don't recognise it in the same way because there is no label attached to it.
Meanwhile, the Diana Prince identity in the Golden Age was mostly used to create a neverending stupid romantic subplot with Steve Trevor. Good riddance to that, I say.
True, one of the major flaw of Wonder Woman comics have been no constant supporting characters and their evolving relationship with her.
Hey, remember how Diana got her identity in the Golden Age?
dp001.jpg
Could we involve this somehow? Like this was the Diana that got trained in Kung Fu by I-Ching or something, and she lets Diana pretend to be her sometimes?


text:
HomeOpinionPoVThank you, BCCI for pay parity in women cricket. How about some...
OpinionPoV
Thank you, BCCI for pay parity in women cricket. How about some tournaments in their names?
Except for two gates at Kotla, named after Anjum Chopra, and few awards, the legacy of women cricketers still awaits its rightful appreciation.
Suryanshi Pandey
Indian women team players celebrate after winning the Asia Cup T20 2022 on 15 October 2022 | ANI File Photo
The BCCI announcing pay parity for Indian women cricketers has made headlines and is being seen as a watershed moment that promises to bring greater equality in sport. Cricket after all, in India, is the fountainhead of sports. How do I see the board's announcement? Still baby steps when you look at the history of women's cricket and contrast it with the parallel institutional backing received by the men's team. They say what's in a name. I say, a lot—names etch you in history, make you a symbol, give you the opportunity to inspire and for the uninitiated, mark an entrance into a fascinating story that needs to be told. In sports, inspiration has a big role to play and names do inspire.
What's common between Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy? They work as a reminder of the rich legacy left behind by these stalwarts of men's cricket. Can you recall one domestic tournament named after a women cricketer? Despite their spirited show over the last two decades across the world and a pool of legends, the cricket administration in India is yet to recognise the right magnitude of honour these players deserve.
Taking a glance at BCCI's domestic roster of men's and women's cricket tournaments can make you curious.
A common refrain justifying the absence of any major tournament on the Indian circuit named after women cricketers is this: 'women cricket is in the developing phase' or 'do women cricket have any legends?' These statements only reek of the ignorance that is writ large in our society and sports administration.
Oscillating between these oblivious responses, people tend to write-off the immense contribution of veteran women cricketers of 70s and 80s — Diana Edulji, Shantha Rangaswamy, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Nilima Jogalekar, Sudha Shah, Sandhya Agarwal and many others. Edulji, Rangaswamy, Kulkarni being the 'founding mothers' of women's cricket in India.
Edulji, the third-highest wicket-taker in international Test format has had to fight for hike in match fees.
Rangaswamy has three firsts for Indian women cricketers—first Test century, first six and first Test captain. She received a lifetime achievement award from the BCCI but no tournament is named after her.
The 1970s and 80s sowed the seed of women cricket in India. Today, we have Anjum Chopras, Mithali Rajs among other greats.
Except for two gates in New Delhi's Kotla stadium, which were named after Anjum Chopra in 2017, and few life-time achievement awards, the legacy of women cricketers still awaits its rightful appreciation.
The Anjum Chopra Gate, Feroz Shah Kotla | Suryanshi Pandey
Also read: Gautam Gambhir not the only one calling Babar Azam 'selfish', Pakistani legends think so too
Reversing the gains
Before the BCCI took charge of women cricket in 2006, Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI), which pioneered women cricket in the country, used to organise three domestic tournaments: Rani Jhansi Trophy (multi-day), Indira Priyadarshini Trophy, and Rau's Cup. However, after BCCI took over women cricket, which was not an amicable transfer from WCAI, Rani Jhansi Trophy and Indira Priyadarshini Trophy were discontinued.
Sixteen years after the BCCI took control of women's cricket in India, the cricket board will find it difficult to explain this omission.
Did you know that the prestigious men's World Cup, which receives much fame from every cricket-crazy country of the world, got its inspiration from the women's cricket World Cup? It was the success of the 1973 women's World Cup that encouraged ICC to introduce the cup for men's too. The legacy of women cricketers should continue to carry forward in the domestic circuit should happen naturally.
Can one deny the acknowledgement for women cricketers by comparing its inception date with that of men's cricket? The delay in initiation of women cricket can be blamed more on patriarchal mindset than fund-crunch or viewership. In 1963, England men's captain Len Hutton during a charity match against a women's side said that women playing cricket was "absurd, like a man trying to knit." For a long time till 1914, women cricket was considered more of an entertainment than sports and they used to play cricket in hiding to avoid 'embarrassment.'
Also read: Play Pakistan, know Pakistan—why Indian cricket can't afford to let go of the golden window
Sort the domestic circuit
Former Indian captain Anjum Chopra, while speaking to ThePrint, said "The women's cricket in domestic circuit is still finding its feet, thus, whether a trophy is named after a woman cricketer or not, is not on my priority list. First BCCI should straighten the domestic roster which keeps changing."
However, what WCAI did for women cricket shows how intention plays a big role in acknowledging the legacy. Despite being short on funds, they continued to organise Ranji Jhansi Trophy, Rau's Cup and even sub-junior tournaments for women cricket. Naming a cup or a trophy will not come in the way of domestic cricket's growth. Rather, it will connect the youth to the rich history of women's cricket.
Former India captain and coach, Purnima Rau said: "Indeed, there are some great Indian women cricketers who can be the best candidate for naming a domestic tournament after. Diana and Shantha definitely come to my mind. But doing it democratically is crucial."
Suryanshi is an independent journalist based out of New Delhi. She tweets @UnfilteredSP. Views are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)
Indian women cricketers


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Artist Caley Hall at the Tay St studio.
CALEY Hall is the first artist to benefit from the Space For Artists (SFA) initiative.
Hall, a landscape artist from Invercargill, who works primarily in oils, was excited to be given the opportunity to present his work for six months at the pop-up gallery which opened last month at 49 Tay St as part of the SFA project.
"This is a really positive initiative. It is the first time I have had a gallery in Invercargill. People are constantly stopping by and I've sold 13 paintings in the first four weeks," Hall said.
He also shares his knowledge with the art students who are his regular visitors.
HWR Property Ltd, which owns the property, and SFA have combined to connect landlords of empty buildings in Invercargill with artists, community projects and collectors who need an inner city location to showcase their work.
SFA project founder Viviane Vagt said more landlords were needed to take part in the project.
The commercial value of a building was at risk if it was left empty, she said.