title: Oil paint

text: Greek writers such as Aetius Amidenus recorded recipes involving the use of oils for drying, such as walnut, poppy, hempseed, pine nut, castor, and linseed. When thickened, the oils became resinous and could be used as varnish to seal and protect paintings from water. Additionally, when yellow pigment was added to oil, it could be spread over tin foil as a less expensive alternative to gold leaf.


title: Oil paint

text: Early Christian monks maintained these records and used the techniques in their own artworks. Theophilus Presbyter, a 12th-century German monk, recommended linseed oil but advocated against the use of olive oil due to its long drying time. Oil paint was mainly used as it is today in house decoration, as a tough waterproof cover for exposed woodwork, especially outdoors.


title: Oil paint

text: In the 13th century, oil was used to detail tempera paintings. In the 14th century, Cennino Cennini described a painting technique utilizing tempera painting covered by light layers of oil. The slow-drying properties of organic oils were commonly known to early painters. However, the difficulty in acquiring and working the materials meant that they were rarely used (and indeed the slow drying was seen as a disadvantage).


title: Oil paint

text: As the public preference for naturalism increased, the quick-drying tempera paints became insufficient to achieve the very detailed and precise effects that oil could achieve. The Early Netherlandish painting of the 15th century saw the rise of panel painting purely in oils, or oil painting, or works combining tempera and oil painting, and by the 16th-century easel painting in pure oils had become the norm. The claim by Vasari that Jan van Eyck "invented" oil painting, while it has cast a long shadow, is not correct, but van Eyck's "use" of oil paint achieved novel results in terms of precise detail and mixing colors wet-on-wet with a skill hardly equaled since. Van Eyck's mixture may have consisted of piled glass, calcined bones, and mineral pigments boiled in linseed oil until they reached a viscous state—or he may have simply used sun-thickened oils (slightly oxidized by Sun exposure).


title: Oil paint

text: The Flemish-trained or influenced Antonello da Messina, who Vasari wrongly credited with the introduction of oil paint to Italy, does seem to have improved the formula by adding litharge, or lead (II) oxide. The new mixture had a honey-like consistency and better drying properties (drying evenly without cracking). This mixture was known as "oglio cotto"—"cooked oil." Leonardo da Vinci later improved these techniques by cooking the mixture at a very low temperature and adding 5 to 10% beeswax, which prevented the darkening of the paint. Giorgione, Titian, and Tintoretto each may have altered this recipe for their own purposes.


title: Oil paint

text: The paint tube was invented in 1841 by portrait painter John Goffe Rand, superseding pig bladders and glass syringes as the primary tool of paint transport. Artists, or their assistants, previously ground each pigment by hand, carefully mixing the binding oil in the proper proportions. Paints could now be produced in bulk and sold in tin tubes with a cap. The cap could be screwed back on and the paints preserved for future use, providing flexibility and efficiency to painting outdoors. The manufactured paints had a balanced consistency that the artist could thin with oil, turpentine, or other mediums.


title: Oil paint

text: Paint in tubes also changed the way some artists approached painting. The artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir said, “Without tubes of paint, there would have been no impressionism.” For the impressionists, tubed paints offered an easily accessible variety of colors for their plein air palettes, motivating them to make spontaneous color choices.


title: Oil paint

text: Traditional oil paints require an oil that always hardens, forming a stable, impermeable film. Such oils are called causative, or drying, oils, and are characterized by high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. One common measure of the causative property of oils is iodine number, the number of grams of iodine one hundred grams of oil can absorb. Oils with an iodine number greater than 130 are considered drying, those with an iodine number of 115–130 are semi-drying, and those with an iodine number of less than 115 are non-drying. Linseed oil, the most prevalent vehicle for artists' oil paints, is a drying oil.


title: Oil paint

text: When exposed to air, oils do not undergo the same evaporation process that water does. Instead, they dry semisolid. The rate of this process can be very slow, depending on the oil.


title: Oil paint

text: The advantage of the slow-drying quality of oil paint is that an artist can develop a painting gradually. Earlier media such as egg tempera dried quickly, which prevented the artist from making changes or corrections. With oil-based paints, revising was comparatively easy. The disadvantage is that a painting might take months or years to finish, which might disappoint an anxious patron. Oil paints blend well with each other, making subtle variations of color possible as well as creating many details of light and shadow. Oil paints can be diluted with turpentine or other thinning agents, which artists take advantage of to paint in layers.


title: Oil paint

text: There is also another kind of oil paint that is water-mixable, making the cleaning and using process easier and less toxic.


title: Oil paint

text: The earliest and still most commonly used vehicle is linseed oil, pressed from the seed of the flax plant. Modern processes use heat or steam to produce refined varieties of oil with fewer impurities, but many artists prefer cold-pressed oils. Other vegetable oils such as hemp, poppy seed, walnut, sunflower, safflower, and soybean oils may be used as alternatives to linseed oil for a variety of reasons. For example, safflower and poppy oils are paler than linseed oil and allow for more vibrant whites straight from the tube.


title: Oil paint

text: Once the oil is extracted, additives are sometimes used to modify its chemical properties. In this way, the paint can be made to dry more quickly (if that is desired), or to have varying levels of gloss, like Liquin. Modern oils paints can, therefore, have complex chemical structures; for example, affecting resistance to UV. By hand, the process involves first mixing the paint pigment with the linseed oil to a crumbly mass on a glass or marble slab. Then, a small amount at a time is ground between the slab and a glass Muller (a round, flat-bottomed glass instrument with a handgrip). Pigment and oil are ground together 'with patience' until a smooth, ultra-fine paste is achieved. This paste is then placed into jars or metal paint tubes and labeled.


title: Oil paint

text: The color of oil paint is derived from small particles of colored pigments mixed with the carrier, the oil. Common pigment types include mineral salts such as white oxides: zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and the red to yellow cadmium pigments. Another class consists of earth types, the main ones being ochre, sienna and umber. Still another group of pigments comes from living organisms, such as madder root. Synthetic organic pigments are also now available. Natural pigments have the advantage of being well understood through centuries of use, but synthetics have greatly increased the spectrum of available colors, and many have attained a high level of lightfastness.


title: Oil paint

text: When oil paint was first introduced in the arts, basically the same limited range of available pigments were used that had already been applied in tempera: yellow ochre, umber, lead-tin-yellow, vermilion, kermes, azurite, ultramarine, verdigris, lamp black and lead white. These pigments strongly varied in price, transparency, and lightfastness. They included both inorganic and organic substances, the latter often being far less permanent. The painter bought them from specialized traders, "color men", and let his apprentices grind them with oil in his studio to obtain paint of the desired viscosity.


title: Oil paint

text: During the Age of discovery, new pigments became known in Europe, most of the organic and earthy type, such as Indian yellow. In the eighteenth century, the developing science of chemistry deliberately tried to expand the range of pigments, which led to the discovery of Prussian blue and cobalt blue.


title: Oil paint

text: Many of the historical pigments were dangerous, and many pigments still in use are highly toxic. Some of the most poisonous pigments, such as Paris green (copper(II) acetoarsenite) and orpiment (arsenic sulfide), have fallen from use.


title: Oil paint

text: Many pigments are toxic to some degree. Commonly used reds and yellows are produced using cadmium, and vermilion red uses natural or synthetic mercuric sulfide or cinnabar. Flake white and Cremnitz white are made with basic lead carbonate. Some intense blue colors, including cobalt blue and cerulean blue, are made with cobalt compounds. Some varieties of cobalt violet are made with cobalt arsenate.


title: Cave In

text: Cave In is an American rock band that formed in 1995 in Methuen, Massachusetts. The band's lineup solidified with the 1998 release of "Until Your Heart Stops" through Hydra Head Records, and their early albums were prominent in the metalcore scene. The band later experimented with other genres, receiving mainstream recognition for their 2003 RCA Records album "Antenna" and its lead single "Anchor," which had an overall alternative rock style. The group went on hiatus in 2006, later reforming in 2009 with the release of the "Planets of Old" EP, followed by the "White Silence" LP in 2011, both of which saw a return to Cave In's earlier and heavier sound.


title: Cave In

text: Cave In was formed by Jay Frechette and Stephen Brodsky in early 1995. They named themselves "Cave-In" as a homage to the Codeine song, "Cave-In", from the album "Frigid Stars". The initial line-up consisted of Frechette on vocals, Brodsky on guitar and vocals, Adam McGrath on second guitar, JR Conners on drums and Justin Matthes on bass. They would soon release a demo and a handful of split 7-inch releases with bands such as Gambit, Piebald and Early Grace, and see Matthes briefly replaced by Andy Kyte. 1997 saw Cave In's first release; a self-titled 7-inch on Aaron Turner's Hydra Head Records. Following that release, the band embarked on a three-week East Coast tour, with a handful of dates supporting Morning Again and Bird of Ill Omen. That tour was, however, cut a week short due to Jay Frechette's prior obligations to join and tour with Boston-based Ten Yard Fight. After Frechette returned from a month on tour with Ten Yard Fight it was a mutual decision for him to leave Cave In and to join Ten Yard Fight full-time. At this point, Dave Scrod stepped in for a short-lived tenure as interim vocalist. In 1998, most tracks from previous 7-inch releases and recordings were compiled to form "Beyond Hypothermia".


title: Cave In

text: Two weeks before the band was to record their first proper full-length, Scrod left the band, pushing guitarist Stephen Brodsky to a position as vocalist, and Caleb Scofield filled in the then-vacant position on bass. Their 1998 debut studio album "Until Your Heart Stops" featured Brodsky as lead vocalist. The album's release was followed by extensive touring.


title: Cave In

text: Before their next full-length, Cave In began experimenting with their sound offering "Creative Eclipses", a five-song EP which indicated a space rock direction the band would then pursue for several years, as opposed to their metal roots. Then, in 2000, they released "Jupiter", receiving a good deal of press. The band was featured in "Spin Magazine"s "Sound Advice" section, where their new sound was described as "emo-metal Radiohead", though the band themselves rejected this categorization. "Jupiter" also caught the attention of major labels, who began courting the band after its release. The band released a final six-song EP for Hydra Head titled "Tides of Tomorrow", with an even further-expanded melodic approach, before moving on to RCA Records.


title: Cave In

text: In 2003, the band released "Antenna", their debut for RCA. "Antenna" had more success than previous albums and Cave In was chosen to play the second stage on the 2003 Lollapalooza tour. After Lollapalooza, Cave In toured Europe in support of the Foo Fighters and Muse. Shortly after, the band began to revisit their metal roots during concerts, and new heavy material led to a mutual agreement to cut ties with RCA Records shortly after.


title: Cave In

text: Following the release of Perfect Pitch Black, Conners departed from the band, due to an injury and temporarily relocating to Germany, and was replaced by Converge drummer Ben Koller. According to postings on Hydra Head Records website news, Adam McGrath was temporarily listed as "ex-Cave In guitarist" in his new band Clouds.


title: Cave In

text: In April 2009, Cave In publicly announced they had ended their more than three year hiatus. The band recorded a new four-song EP, "Planets of Old", that was originally exclusive to vinyl from Hydra Head Records, and first made available at their reunion show on July 19, 2009, at Great Scott's in Allston, Massachusetts. The EP was later released on CD in January 2010 with a bonus DVD of Cave In's reunion show. Two songs from the EP, "Retina Sees Rewind" and "Cayman Tongue", were released through iTunes. Cave In chose to make "Planets of Old" a short EP instead of a full-length because it was less expensive and faster to record and release. Commenting on the duration of recording, Steve Brodsky stated, "we didn't really wanna make a big deal out of it. In the past, we've had more than a couple instances of spending far too long into making a recording. [...] It was a good exercise for us to give ourselves a very strict amount of time to record and then move on."


title: Cave In

text: Looking forward, Brodsky announced in a January 2010 interview that Cave In will be more selective about their touring schedule, and that future releases from the band might be more focused on a digital medium. Brodsky uploaded a live audio recording of a new song titled "Centered" in July 2010 on YouTube. The song comes from Cave In's recording sessions for an upcoming studio album, and first since "Perfect Pitch Black" in 2005. The new album "White Silence" was released on May 24, 2011, through Hydra Head Records.


title: Cave In

text: Shortly after tours in support of "White Silence", Cave In entered an undeclared-hiatus state as all of the band members shifted focus on their other respective projects. On December 7, 2014, Cave In performed live for the first time in 3 years, opening for Doomriders' tenth anniversary show.


title: Cave In

text: Cave In engaged in at least two "jam sessions" in late 2017 and early 2018 with "some new stuff in the works," presumably for a planned new release.


title: Cave In

text: On March 28, 2018, Scofield died in a car accident after striking a toll booth on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford, New Hampshire.


title: Cave In

text: The band played and scheduled a series of benefit shows to raise money for Scofield's family, with his brother Kyle Scofield and Nate Newton of Converge covering his parts. Scofield's side project, Old Man Gloom, shared the bill at each event, with Brodsky taking Scofield's place in its lineup. The 2018 shows also featured an encore set of Zozobra songs, performed by a revolving lineup of musicians who had participated in that project.


title: Cave In

text: On January 2, 2019, Cave In announced plans to release a new studio album. The band released its sixth studio album "Final Transmission" through Hydra Head on June 7, 2019. The album is composed of practice-space demos that all feature contributions from Scofield and were finished with mixing by Andrew Schneider and mastering by James Plotkin.


title: Cave In

text: Cave In signed to Relapse Records in July 2021 and released their seventh studio album through the label on May 20, 2022. The album title was revealed in March 2022 as "Heavy Pendulum", and the announcement was accompanied by the release of a single titled "New Reality". The album's second single, "Blinded by a Blaze", was released on April 5; the song's music video was released the same day. The third single, "Blood Spiller", was released on April 26. The fourth single, "Reckoning", is the first Cave In song to be fully written by guitarist Adam McGrath and was released on May 10.


title: Alternative dance

text: Alternative dance (also known as indie dance or underground dance in the U.S.) is a musical genre that mixes alternative rock with electronic dance music. Although largely confined to the British Isles, it has gained American and worldwide exposure through acts such as New Order in the 1980s and the Prodigy in the 1990s.


title: Alternative dance

text: AllMusic states that alternative dance mixes the "melodic song structure of alternative and indie rock with electronic beats, synths and/or samples, and club orientation of post-disco dance music". "The Sacramento Bee" calls it "postmodern–Eurosynth–technopop–New Wave in a blender".


title: Alternative dance

text: The genre draws heavily on club culture for inspiration while incorporating other styles of music such as electropop, house, and EBM. The performers of alternative dance are closely identified with their music through a signature style, texture, or fusion of specific musical elements. They are usually signed to small record labels.


title: Alternative dance

text: Many of the alternative dance artists are British, "owing to the greater prominence of the UK's club and rave scenes in underground musical culture". New Order are cited by AllMusic as the genre's first group because of their 1982–83 recordings, which merged post-punk with electro/synth pop in the style of German group Kraftwerk. Alternative dance had a major impact on Britain's late-1980s Madchester scene (adapted from Manchester, New Order's home city) and 1990s trip hop and rave scenes. The Haçienda club in Manchester, founded by New Order and Factory Records, became the hub of the genre in 1980s Britain. Meanwhile, indie-orientated acts such as Saint Etienne, Dubstar, Space and White Town also explored dance beats and rhythms in their music.


title: Alternative dance

text: The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers are prominent examples of British artists in the post-Madchester-era, who crossed over from the dance music world to alternative, with most of their releases falling under the big beat music genre in the mid 1990s. Of the three acts, the Prodigy had the first international alternative dance hit when their third studio album "The Fat of the Land" debuted at number one in 25 countries, including the US, in 1997. Also finding international success in the 1990s was Icelandic musician Björk, a former member of indie band The Sugarcubes, whose solo albums "Debut" and "Post", incorporated alternative dance elements and featured production from artists like Tricky, Howie B and 808 State's Graham Massey.


title: Alternative dance

text: In the US, Chicago's Liquid Soul to San Francisco's Dubtribe expanded dance music "beyond its old identity as a singles-driven genre with no identifiable, long-term artists". The American scene rarely received radio airplay and most of the innovative work continued underground or was imported.


title: Alternative dance

text: As computer technology and music software became more accessible and advanced at the start of the 21st century, bands tended to forgo traditional studio production practices. High quality music was often conceived using little more than a single laptop computer. Such advances led to an increase in the amount of home-produced electronic music, including alternative dance, available via the Internet. According to BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, part of the strength of the scene in the new millennium was "the sense of community"; she noted, "Websites, blogs and Myspace pages all get people talking about records and checking out each other's recommendations. It's not like the old club scene, where these established DJs dictated what would be big. Word-of-mouth is so important now."


title: Alternative dance

text: In the early 2000s, the term "electroclash" was used to denote artists such as Fischerspooner and Ladytron who mixed new wave with electronic music. The Electroclash festival was held in New York in 2001 and 2002, with subsequent tours across the US and Europe in 2003 and 2004. In the mid-2000s, the British music magazine "NME" popularised the term "new rave" ("new wave" and "rave") to describe the music of bands such as Klaxons, whose rock aesthetic includes paraphernalia from the 1990s rave scene such as glowsticks and neon lights.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Corrugated fiberboard or corrugated cardboard is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugated boxes.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The corrugated medium sheet and the linerboard(s) are made of kraft containerboard, a paperboard material usually over thick.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Corrugated (also called pleated) paper was patented in England in 1856, and used as a liner for tall hats, but corrugated boxboard was not patented and used as a shipping material until 20 December 1871. The patent was issued to Albert Jones of New York City for single-sided (single-face) corrugated board. Jones used the corrugated board for wrapping bottles and glass lantern chimneys. The first machine for producing large quantities of corrugated board was built in 1874 by G. Smyth, and in the same year Oliver Long improved upon Jones' design by inventing corrugated board with liner sheets on both sides, thereby inventing corrugated board as it came to be known in modern times.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Scottish-born Robert Gair invented the pre-cut paperboard box in 1890 – flat pieces manufactured in bulk that folded into boxes. Gair's invention resulted from an accident. He was a Brooklyn printer and paper-bag maker during the 1870s. While he was printing seed bags, a metal ruler used to crease bags shifted in position and cut them. Gair discovered that by cutting and creasing in one operation he could make prefabricated paperboard boxes. Applying this idea to corrugated boxboard was a straightforward development when the material became available in the early 20th century.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The corrugated box was first used for packaging glass and pottery containers. In the mid-1950s, the case enabled fruit and produce to be shipped from farm to retailer without bruising, improving the return to producers and opening export markets.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Corrugated fiberboard is anisotropic; many of its properties are highly directional. For example, edge crush, bending stiffness, tensile, and surface characteristics are different, depending on the orientation to the flutes and the machine direction of manufacture.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Corrugated board is manufactured on large high-precision machinery lines called corrugators, usually running at about or more. These machines, over time, have become very complex with the objective of avoiding some common problems in corrugated board production, such as warp and washboarding.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The key raw material in corrugating is paper, different grades for each layer making up the corrugated box. Due to supply chain and scale considerations, paper is produced in separate plants called paper mills. Most corrugating plants keep an inventory of paper reels.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: In the classical corrugator, the paper is softened with high-pressure steam. After the board is formed it is dried in the so-called dry-end. Here the newly formed corrugated board is heated from the bottom by hot plates. On the top, various pressures are applied by a load system on the belt.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The corrugated medium is often basis weight in the US; in the UK, a fluting paper is common. At the single-facer, it is heated, moistened, and formed into a fluted pattern on geared wheels. This is joined to a flat linerboard with a starch based adhesive to form single face board. At the double-backer, a second flat linerboard is adhered to the other side of the fluted medium to form single wall corrugated board. Linerboards are test liners (recycled paper) or kraft paperboard (of various grades). The liner may be bleached white, mottled white, colored, or preprinted.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Common flute sizes are "A", "B", "C", "E" and "F" or microflute. The letter designation relates to the order that the flutes were invented, not the relative sizes. Flute size refers to the number of flutes per linear foot, although the actual flute dimensions for different corrugator manufacturers may vary slightly. Measuring the number of flutes per linear foot is a more reliable method of identifying flute size than measuring board thickness, which can vary due to manufacturing conditions. The most common flute size in corrugated boxes is "C" flute.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Corrugated fiberboard can be specified by the construction (single face, singlewall, doublewall, etc.), flute size, burst strength, edge crush strength, flat crush, basis weights of components (pounds per thousand square feet, grams per square meter, etc.), surface treatments and coatings, etc. TAPPI and ASTM test methods for these are standardized.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The choice of corrugated medium, flute size, combining adhesive, and linerboards can be varied to engineer a corrugated board with specific properties to match a wide variety of potential uses. Double and triple-wall corrugated board is also produced for high stacking strength and puncture resistance.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Most corrugators are "two knife" corrugators, which means that they can produce two different sheet lengths side-by-side. This leads to an optimisation problem, known as the cutting stock problem.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Packaging engineers design corrugated boxes to meet the particular needs of the product being shipped, the hazards of the shipping environment (shock, vibration, compression, moisture, etc.), and the marketing needs of retailers and consumers.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The most common box style is the Regular Slotted Container (RSC). All flaps are the same length from the score to the edge. Typically, the longer major flaps meet in the middle and the minor flaps do not. However, with the rise of E-commerce and a more competitive retail environment, box designs are becoming more dynamic and functional, straying away from typical shipping box designs.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The manufacturer's joint is most often joined with adhesive but may also be taped or stitched. The box is shipped flat (knocked down) to the packager who sets up the box, fills it, and closes it for shipment. Box closure may be by tape, adhesive, staples, strapping, etc.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The size of a box can be measured for either internal (for product fit) or external (for handling machinery or palletizing) dimensions. Boxes are usually specified and ordered by the internal dimensions.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: A box maker's certificate (also known as "box certificate", or "box certificate of maker") is a seal printed on an outside surface, typically the bottom of the box, that includes some information about how strong the box is. The certificate is not required, but if used, it implies compliance with regulations relating to the certificate. Significant information includes:


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Boxes can be formed in the same plant as the corrugator. Such plants are known as "integrated plants". Part of the scoring and cutting takes place in-line on the corrugator. Alternatively, sheets of corrugated board may be sent to a different manufacturing facility for box fabrication; these are sometimes called "sheet plants" or "converters".


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: The corrugated board is creased or scored to provide controlled bending of the board. Most often, slots are cut to provide flaps on the box. Scoring and slotting can also be accomplished by die-cutting. Along with the print being produced on the box in these plants. These conversions are produced on different machines, depending on the conversion being made: "Flexo Folder Gluers (FFG)", "Rotary Die Cutters (RDC), "Printer Slotters" or " Printing Presses".


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: A limitation of common corrugated material has been the difficulty in applying fine graphic print for informative and marketing purposes. The reasons for this stem from the fact that prefabricated corrugated sheets are relatively thick and spongy, compared to the thin and incompressible nature of solid fibre paper such as paperboard. Due to these characteristics of corrugated, it has been mainly printed using a flexographic process, which is by nature a coarse application with loose registration properties.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: A more recent development popular in usage is a hybrid product featuring the structural benefits of corrugated combined with the high-graphics print of lithography previously restricted to paperboard folding cartons. This application, generally referred to as 'Single-Face Laminate', begins its process as a traditional fluted medium adhered to a single linerboard (single-face), but in place of a second long-fibered liner, a pre-printed sheet of paperboard such as SBS (solid bleached sulfate) is laminated to the outer facing. The sheet can then be converted with the same processes used for other corrugated manufacturing into any desired form.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Specialized equipment is necessary for the material construction of SFL, so users may expect to pay a premium for these products. However, this cost is often offset by the savings over a separate paperboard sleeve and the labor necessary to assemble the completed package.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Old corrugated containers are an excellent source of fiber for recycling. They can be compressed and baled for cost effective transport. The baled boxes are put in a hydropulper, which is a large vat of warm water for cleaning and processing. The pulp slurry is then used to make new paper and fiber products.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Mill and corrugator scrap, or broke, is the cleanest source for recycling. The high rates of post-consumer recycling reflect the efficiency of recycling mills to clean and process the incoming materials. Several technologies are available to sort, screen, filter, and chemically treat the recycled paper.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Many extraneous materials are readily removed. Twine, strapping, etc. are removed from the hydropulper by a "ragger". Metal straps and staples can be screened out or removed by a magnet. Film-backed pressure-sensitive tape stays intact: the PSA adhesive and the backing are both removed together.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Materials which are more difficult to remove include wax coatings on corrugated boxes and "stickies", soft rubbery particles which can clog the paper maker and contaminate the recycled paper. Stickies can originate from book bindings, hot melt adhesives, pressure-sensitive adhesives from paper labels, laminating adhesives of reinforced gummed tapes, etc.


title: Corrugated fiberboard

text: Corrugated fiberboard shredders are now available which convert post-consumer corrugated board into packing/cushioning materials by means of a specialized shredding process.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The Royal Thai Police (RTP) (; ) is the national police force of Thailand. The RTP employs between 210,700 and 230,000 officers, roughly 17 percent of all civil servants (excluding the military and the employees of state-owned enterprises). The RTP is frequently recognized as the fourth armed force of Thailand since their tradition, concept, culture, skill, and training are relatively similar to the army and most of their officer cadets need to graduate from the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School before entering the Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy. Officers also undergo paramilitary training similar to the army but with an additional focus on law enforcement.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Until the 19th century Royal Thai Armed Forces personnel, aside from their duties of national defence, also performed law enforcement duties alongside dedicated civil servants. Responsibility for law and order was divided into the six ministries led by chancellors of state (during the Ayutthaya and Thonburi eras); in time of war, police units were under royal command as part of the army. Only during the reigns of King Mongkut (Rama IV) and King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) did the nation see a huge reform and the Westernization of Thai law enforcement forces to adapt to the changing situation and needs of the country. By 1902, the Royal Police Cadet Academy (RPCA) was founded to train future police officers. In 1915 the provincial and urban police forces were united as one national organization under the Ministry of Interior (established 1894).


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Primary responsibility for the maintenance of public order through enforcement of the kingdom's laws was exercised by the Thailand National Police Department (TNPD), a subdivision of the Interior Ministry. Charged with performing police functions throughout the entire country, the TNPD was a unitary agency whose power and influence in Thai national life had at times rivaled that of the armed forces itself.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The formal functions of the TNPD included more than the enforcement of laws and apprehension of offenders. The department also played an important role in the government's efforts to suppress the remnants of the communist insurgency. In the event of an invasion by external forces, much of the police force would come under the control of the Ministry of Defense to serve with, but not be incorporated into, the military forces.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Originally modeled on the pre–World War II national police force of Japan, the TNPD was reorganized several times to meet changing public order and internal security needs. American advice, training, and equipment, which were provided from 1951 through the early 1970s, did much to introduce new law enforcement concepts and practices and to aid in the modernization of the TNPD. During this era the strength and effectiveness of the police grew steadily.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: All components of the police system were administered by the TNPD headquarters in Bangkok, which also provided technical support for law enforcement activities throughout the kingdom. The major operational units of the force were the Provincial Police, the Border Patrol Police (BPP), the Metropolitan Police, and smaller specialized units supervised by the Central Investigation Bureau.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In mid-1987 the total strength of the TNPD, including administrative and support personnel, was estimated at roughly 110,000. Of this number, over one-half were assigned to the Provincial Police and some 40,000 to the BPP. More than 10,000 served in the Metropolitan Police. Quasi-military in character, the TNPD was headed by a director general, who held the rank of police general. He was assisted by three deputy directors general and five assistant directors general, all of whom held the rank of police lieutenant general. Throughout the TNPD system, all ranks except the lowest (constable) corresponded to those of the army. The proliferation of high ranks in the TNPD organizational structure, as in the military, indicated the political impact of the police on national life.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In 1998, TNPD was transferred from the Ministry of Interior of Thailand to be directly under the Office of the Prime Minister. It acquired a new name, in English, the "Royal Thai Police" (RTP). The title of its commander was changed from "Director-General of the TNPD" to "Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police".


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Thailand's police forces number about 230,000 officers. About eight percent (18,400) are female. In the Philippines the percentage of female police officers is 20 percent, 18 percent in Malaysia, and 30 percent, the world's highest percentage of women, in Sweden. Of 8,000 investigators with the RTP, 400 are women.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Females were first admitted to the Royal Police Cadet Academy (RPCA), founded in 1901, in 2009. It has since graduated about 700 female officers. Starting with the class to be admitted for the 2019 academic year, the 280 places formerly reserved for females will be scrapped. Earlier in 2018, the RTP prohibited women from "inquiry official" roles. The rationale given was that women are hindered by domestic responsibilities, therefore less effective than male officers. Women will still be able to become police officers via other avenues. For example, women with law degrees will continue to be recruited.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda attributed the barring of women from the RPCA to a new Ministry of Defence ruling that all RPCA cadets must undergo an initial period of training at the male-only Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School (AFAPS). Critics say the new policy violates the 2015 Gender Equality Act, the constitution, Thailand's 20 year national strategy, as well as international conventions that prohibit gender discrimination.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: A 40,000 person paramilitary force. The BPP and the PARU were largely creations of the US CIA. In the late-1950s and 1960s, "The BPP and PARU were integral in U.S. and Thai counterinsurgency efforts." The BPP, other than protecting the borders, countered "infiltration and subversion..."


title: Royal Thai Police

text: and operated "as guerrilla forces in enemy held areas" such as northeast and southern Thailand. The PARU was a small unit used on clandestine missions outside Thailand.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The national coordinating headquarters has jurisdiction over the entire country. The CIB was organized to assist both provincial and metropolitan components of the Royal Thai Police in preventing and suppressing criminal activity and in minimizing threats to national security.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Special Branch Bureau is a Special Branch — sometimes referred to by critics as the "political police", is responsible for controlling subversive activities and serves as the Thai Police's major intelligence organization, as well as the unit responsible for VIP protection.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The Provincial Police form the largest of the Royal Thai Police operational components in both personnel and geographic responsibility. It is headed by a commander who reported to the police commissioner-general, and administered through four police regions—geographic areas of responsibility similar to those of the army regional commands. This force provides police services to every town and village throughout the kingdom except metropolitan Bangkok and border areas. The Provincial Police thus handled law enforcement activities and in many cases was the principal representative of the central government's authority in much of the country.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: During the 1960s and early-1970s, as the police assumed an increasing role in counterinsurgency operations, a lack of coordination among security forces operating in the rural areas became apparent. Observers noted that the overall police effort suffered because of conflicting organizational patterns and the highly centralized control system that required decisions on most matters to emanate from the various police bureaus of the (then) TNPD headquarters in Bangkok.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: A reorganization of the TNPD in 1978 and 1979 gave more command authority to the four police lieutenant generals who served as regional commissioners of the Provincial Police. Thereafter, the senior officers of each region not only controlled all provincial police assigned to their respective geographic areas but also directed the railroad, highway, marine, and forestry police units operating there, without going through the chain of command to the Central Investigation Bureau in Bangkok. Although this change increased the workload of the regional headquarters, it resulted in greater efficiency and improved law enforcement.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The Provincial Police Division is divided into 10 regions covering the 76 provinces of Thailand except metropolitan Bangkok and the border areas:


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The RTP Education Bureau is responsible for training police personnel in the latest methods of law enforcement and the use of modern weapons. It operates the Royal Police Cadet Academy in Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province, for the officer corps, the detective training school at Bang Kaen, the Metropolitan Police Training School at Bang Kaen, and the Provincial Police training centers at Nakhon Pathom, Lampang, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Yala. The bureau also supervises a number of sites established and staffed by the BPP to train its field platoons in counterinsurgency operations. These sites include a large national facility near Hua Hin and smaller facilities in Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Chiang Mai, and Songkhla.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Tourist Police Bureau was elevated from the Tourist Police Division under Central Investigation Bureau in 2017. The creation of the Tourist Police is due to the fact that the tourism and entertainment industry in Thailand is growing every year, and the number of people arriving in the country is constantly increasing. The priorities of the Tourist Police include cooperation with foreign nationals and the promotion of their security.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: According to Reuters correspondent, Andrew Marshall, "The country has a special force of Tourist Police, set up specifically so that foreigners have as little contact as possible with the ordinary police—the effect on the crucial tourism industry would be chilling."


title: Royal Thai Police

text: According to one source, in 2017 there were 1,700 enlisted tourist police on the force. the agency has 2,000 officers and 70 tourist police cars for use nationwide.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The Immigration Bureau is responsible for issuing travel visas and managing entry and departure in Thailand. The Immigration Police are a frequent target of criticism from expatriates who decry slow service, inconsistent application of regulations, and excessive filing of paper forms. Referring to just one of scores of immigration forms, the TM6 Arrival-Departure Card, Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, admitted that, "The immigration police have to have a huge warehouse to store these papers," Kobsak said, adding that the police rarely look at the information in the forms, which are only stored "just in case". The government expects a 20 million visitors to Thailand this year, each required to complete a TM6 form. The form will be replaced by mobile phone app in 2019.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Responsible for providing all law enforcement services for the capital city of Bangkok and its suburbs, the Metropolitan Police Bureau is probably the most visible and publicly recognizable of all Thai police components. This largely uniformed urban force operates under the command of a chief who holds the rank of police lieutenant general assisted by six deputy chiefs. Organizationally, the force consists of three divisions, each responsible for police services in one of the three urban areas: northern Bangkok, southern Bangkok, and Thonburi. , there are 88 police stations across the capital, each with 30-200 police officers attached to it. In addition to covering the city with foot patrols, the Metropolitan Police maintains motorized units, a canine corps, building guards, traffic-control specialists, and law enforcement personnel trained to deal with juveniles. The Traffic Police Division also provides escorts and guards of honor for the king and visiting dignitaries and served as a riot-control force to prevent demonstrations and to disperse unruly crowds in Bangkok.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Responsible for medical and healthcare-related services for the police, including forensic science and autopsies. It is headquartered at Police General Hospital in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok and operates Dara Rasmi Hospital in Chiang Mai, Nawutti Somdet Ya Hospital in Bangkok and Yala Sirirattanarak Hospital in Yala. It also operates the Institute of Forensic Science which trains a number of residents in forensic science each year.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: , the RTP has a fleet of some 71 aircraft including a six passenger, 1.14 billion baht (US$37 million) police jet, a Dassault Falcon 2000S.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The Royal Thai Police, especially the provincial forces, extensively uses pickup trucks and SUVs. For traffic regulation and patrolling in cities, sedans and motorcycles are also used. Highway police vehicles generally also have equipment like speed radars, breath analyzers, and emergency first aid kits. They also use tuk-tuks, minivans, bicycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, and helicopters. , the RTP operate seven leased electric patrol cars used to protect "VVIPs". "They will replace the Mercedes-Benz A Class and will be used in the government's VVIP's motorcade", a spokesman explained.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Royal Thai Police vehicle colors vary widely according to grade, region, and kind of duty performed. Bangkok metropolitan police vehicles are black and white. Provincial police vehicles are maroon and white while highway police are maroon and yellow.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: There are no standard-issue pistols carried by the Royal Thai Police. Policemen must buy their own pistol and he/she must buy what is available in Thailand and what he/she can afford. If the police officer cannot afford a pistol, he may purchase one by paying in installments through his police co-operative.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: One of the most popular police pistols is the M1911A1 .45 ACP pistol which can be found readily and relatively cheaply in Thailand. The 9 mm Glock 19 Parabellum is another popular, albeit more expensive, choice.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In mid-2015, Pol Gen Somyot Phumphanmuang, Royal Thai Police Commissioner, initiated a program to allow officers to purchase US-made, 9 mm SIG Sauer P320 pistols for 18,000 baht each. The Thai market price for this gun is several times higher. The affordable price is made possible by a special police exemption from import quotas and import duties. In December 2017, 150,000 SIG Sauer P320SP pistols became available for purchase by police for 23,890 baht each. The RTP will, in addition, distribute 55,000 of the new pistols to police stations nationwide, each station receiving 60.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Although the RTP does not issue pistols, long guns are made available by the government. Common are the Heckler & Koch MP5 and FN P90 sub-machine guns, Remington 870 shotguns, the M4 carbine, and M16 rifles.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Royal Thai Police uniforms vary widely according to rank, region, and kind of duty performed. Among the police, uniforms tend to resemble army dress rather than conventional police uniforms.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Considered part of the police "uniform", all male officers are required to shave the sides and back of their heads, leaving a short crop of hair on the top, hence its common name, (; ), or 'three white sides'. The models for the haircut are the royal guards who protect King Vajiralongkorn. They are known for their short haircuts, required by the monarch. "It's a royal practice," a retired police general said. "...we are all serving His Majesty the King...It looks beautiful...It doesn't hurt anyone."


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Clashes between the police and army bureaucracies date back at least as far as 1936 and continue to the present day. The intensity of the infighting has waxed and waned over the years. Since 1947, according to academic Paul Chambers, "...the army has time and again attempted to rein in the police. In many cases, it has resorted to coups." In the 1950s, the rivalry took a comical turn as an arms race developed between the army—supplied by the US military—and the RTP—supplied by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The vitriol intensified in 2016 when, following the 2014 Thai coup d'état, the junta moved to impose army control over the police for once and for all by giving soldiers power over police.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: On 29 March 2016, in a move that the "Bangkok Post" said will "...will inflict serious and long-term damage...", the NCPO, under a Section 44 order (NCPO Order 13/2559) signed by junta chief Prayut Chan-o-cha, granted to commissioned officers of the Royal Thai Armed Forces broad police powers to suppress and arrest anyone they suspect of criminal activity without a warrant and detain them secretly at almost any location without charge for up to seven days. Bank accounts can be frozen, and documents and property can be seized. Travel can be banned. Automatic immunity for military personnel has been built into the order, and there is no independent oversight or recourse in the event of abuse. The decree basically deputises soldiers as police, but gives greater legal impunity to soldiers than to police. The order came into immediate effect and is still in force as of 2020. The net result is that the military will have more power than the police and less oversight.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The government has stated that the purpose of this order is to enable military officers to render their assistance in an effort to "...suppress organized crimes such as extortion, human trafficking, child and labor abuses, gambling, prostitution, illegal tour guide services, price collusion, and firearms. It neither aims to stifle nor intimidate dissenting voices. Defendants in such cases will go through normal judicial process, with police as the main investigator...trial[s] will be conducted in civilian courts, not military ones. Moreover, this order does not deprive the right of the defendants to file complaints against military officers who have abused their power."


title: Royal Thai Police

text: The NCPO said that the reason for its latest order is that there are simply not enough police, in spite of the fact that there are about 230,000 officers in the Royal Thai Police force. They make up about 17 percent of all non-military public servants. This amounts to 344 cops for every 100,000 persons in Thailand, more than twice the ratio in Myanmar and the Philippines, one and a half times that of Japan and Indonesia, and roughly the same proportion as the United States.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In a joint statement released on 5 April 2016, six groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), condemned the move.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: On the occasion of the festivities surrounding its 12th anniversary, the Office of the Ombudsman, Thailand reported on its activities since its inception. Chief Ombudsman Panit Nitithanprapas noted that her office had handled nearly 25,000 cases during the period and observed that the Royal Thai Police had been found to be "the most corrupt agency in Thailand". Curiously, Ms Panit's photo does not appear among those of other former ombudsmen on the organisation's website, nor is there any other mention of her.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In the words of Jomdet Trimek, a former police officer, now an academician, "In-depth studies of the causes of...corruption tend to be avoided." Jomdet attributes police corruption to two factors: a centralized police bureaucracy which gives too much power to a few; and very low police salaries. He divides police corruption into three main forms: embezzlement of government funds, coercing bribes from the public, and collection of protection money from illegal business operators and gives examples of each. At the level of constable, this petty thievery is driven by low wages: entry level salaries for police with no university education was 6,800 baht (2012). In June 2015, the "Bangkok Post" reported that, "Thai police officers are paid around 14,760 baht per month (6,800–8,340 baht for entry level) and have to buy their own guns and even office supplies." He posits that one reason salaries are so low is that the sheer number of officers is staggering, roughly 250,000. This means that an increase of 5,000 baht in every cop's monthly salary would cost the government a politically untenable 15 billion baht annually.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appointed no-nonsense Police-General Somyot Poompanmoung head of the RTP following the coup of May 2014. Somyot, whose declared assets exceed US$11.5 million, has vowed to transfer, arrest, or prosecute all corrupt officers. But, according to Chuwit Kamolvisit, a former massage parlour magnate turned legislator, "police reform" is a never-ending mantra which never produces results. The "cash-for-jobs" culture within the police is too deep to uproot, he says, alleging that low-ranking officers earning just US$460 a month tap the public for bribes, or solicit protection money from dodgy businesses to top up their salaries and buy promotions. "Rank and status is everything in Thailand... when you are a small policeman to go up [sic], you need to have the right boss, and preferably one at a 'golden police station'– near a casino or entertainment venue", he explained.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In a 2008 article, "The Economist" summed up their assessment succinctly: "In Thailand's most sensational crimes, the prime suspects are often the police."


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In August 2015, a post was made on the Sakon Nakhon Police Facebook page, allegedly from a junior officer. Among other observations the post asked, "...Are our meagre salaries enough to support our families? The answer is no. We have to borrow money and get trapped in debt. "So what about the "phuyai" [bigwigs]? Are they in debt too? Definitely not. They are rich. Why? Because at the end of every month, money from gambling dens, entertainment venues, the sex trade, human trafficking, drugs and whatnot are routinely sent to them." The post was immediately deleted. Then the Facebook page was deleted altogether. The supervisor of the junior policeman in charge of the page said it was all a technical mistake. Someone had hacked into the page to write the message to taint the image of the police force.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In the view of Rangsit University's Associate Professor Police Lieutenant Colonel Krisanaphong Poothakool, "We hear that police reform is ongoing, but in practice, nothing is happening". He added that the country has had a couple of police reform committees, which did not amount to much when their recommendations were ignored.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: On 5 August 2021, the police assaulted Jeerapong Thanapat, a 24-year-old drug suspect, during an interrogation to force him to reveal hidden methamphetamines and to pay a two million baht or US$60,000 bribe for his release. The video appears to show the director of the Muang Nakhon Sawan Province police station, Thitisan Utthanaphon widely known by the nickname "Jo Ferrari", and other police officers suffocating Thanapat with plastic bags until he collapsed and died. The police reportedly ordered doctors at Sawanpracharak Hospital to write in a medical report that the cause of Jeerapong’s death was methamphetamine overdose.


title: Royal Thai Police

text: In 1976, Thai police, military personnel and others, were seen shooting at protesters at Thammasat University. Many were killed and many survivors were abused.


title: Video game culture

text: Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video gamers. As video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved with Internet culture and the increasing popularity of mobile games. Many people who play video games identify as gamers, which can mean anything from someone who enjoys games to someone passionate about it. As video games become more social with multiplayer and online capability, gamers find themselves in growing social networks. Playing video games can both be entertainment as well as competition, as the trend known as electronic sports has become more widely accepted.


title: Video game culture

text: Video game culture is broadly considered a description of the subculture of those who play video games. This not only includes gamers, players that frequently dedicate time and effort to playing video games, but also those players that participate less frequently and often through more casual games. Because of the interactive nature of video games, the video game culture differs from other subculture as there is interest not only in who plays video games (the demographics), but the types of video games they play, and how they play them.


title: Video game culture

text: The concept that video games had its own subculture was first suggested in 1996, but became more predominate as an area of academic study since the 2010s.


title: Video game culture

text: , the average age for a video game player is 31, a number slowly increasing as people who were children playing the first arcade, console and home computer games continue playing now on current systems. The gender distribution of gamers is reaching equilibrium, according to a 2016 study showing that 59% of gamers are male and 41% female; however, research has also shown that women are less likely to self-identify as gamers out of fear of stigmatization. ESA reported that 71% of people age six to forty-nine in the U.S. played video games, with 55% of gamers playing on their phones or mobile devices. The average age of players across the globe is mid to late 20s, and is increasing as older players grow in numbers.


title: Video game culture

text: One possible reason for the increase in players could be attributed to the growing number of genres that require less of a specific audience. For example, the Wii console has widened its audience with games such as "Wii Sports" and "Wii Fit". Both require more activity from the user and provide more reasons to play including family competition or exercise. It could also be because people who played video games when they were young are now growing older and still have that interest in video games. Currently, the largest entertainment industry for children is gaming. According to a 2008 telephone survey with a sample size of 1,102 respondents, 97% of children living in the United States and between the ages of 12 and 17 play video games.


title: Video game culture

text: Video games are played in a variety of social ways, which often involve domestic gatherings or even in public places. A popular method of accomplishing this is a LAN (Local Area Network) party, which is hosted at a home and involves family and friends, creating a social event for people-friendly with each other. LAN parties are often held in large-scale events conducted in public spaces and have a great number of participants who might not usually socialize.


title: Video game culture

text: The Everquest Fan Faires for instance, provide weekends of socializing and playing, at a large gathering (an event of several thousand) of dedicated game fans. Terry Flew in his book "Games: Technology, Industry, Culture" also emphasizes the Online Gaming Communities – "where players aren't physically located in the same space, but still socializing together". This raises the notion of McLuhan's "Global Village", as people can transcend their physical limitations and communicate with people, possessing a similar interest, from all around the world. Shapiro also stresses the possibility of "Using technology to enhance one's social life", as friendships no longer have to be structured by physical proximity (e.g. neighbors, colleagues). Shapiro states that "the net (Online Gaming Communities) allows individuals to extend their social network in a novel way, to communicate and share life experiences with people regardless of where they live and form online relationships". Thus, such online communities satisfy a genuine need for affiliation with like-minded others.


title: Video game culture

text: Online gaming has drastically increased the scope and size of video game culture. Online gaming grew out of games on bulletin board systems and on college mainframes from the 1970s and 1980s. MUDs offered multiplayer competition and cooperation, but on a scope more geographically limited than on the Internet. The Internet allowed gamers from all over the world – not just within one country or state – to play games together with ease. With the advent of Cloud Gaming high-performance games can now be played from low-end client systems and even TVs.


title: Video game culture

text: One of the most groundbreaking titles in the history of online video games is "Quake", which offered the ability to play with sixteen and eventually up to thirty-two players simultaneously in a 3D world. Gamers quickly began to establish their organized groups, called clans. Clans established their own identities, their marketing, their form of internal organization, and even their looks. Some clans had friendly or hostile rivalries, and there were often clans who were allied with other clans. Clan interaction took place on both professionally set competition events, and during normal casual playing where several members of one clan would play on a public server. Clans would often do their recruiting this way; by noticing the best players on a particular server, they would send invitations for that player to either try out or accept membership in the clan.


title: Video game culture

text: 'Clan'- or 'guild'-based play has since become an accepted (and expected) aspect of multiplayer video games, with several games offering cash-prize tournament-style competition to their players. Many clans and guilds also have active fan-bases, which, when combined with the 'tournament' aspect, contribute to turning clan-based gaming into a semi-professional sport.


title: Video game culture

text: Clans also allow players to assist each other in simulated combat and quests in-game advancement, as well as providing an online family for friendly socializing.


title: Video game culture

text: From Quake, online video games grew beyond first-person shooters and have impacted every genre. Real-time strategy, racing games, card games, sports games can all be played online. Online gaming has spread from its initial computer roots to console video games as well. Today, every major video game console available offers degrees of online gaming, some limited by particular titles, some even offer up entire virtual communities.


title: Video game culture

text: Like other cultures, the community has developed a gamut of slang words or phrases that can be used for communication in or outside of games. Due to their growing online nature, modern video game slang overlaps heavily with Internet slang, as well as Leetspeak, with many words such "pwn", as well as "noob", being direct carry-overs from Leetspeak. There are terms to describe video game events, game genres, gamer demographics, strategies, specific events, situations, and more. It is especially common among online games to encourage the use of neologisms for convenience in communication.


title: Video game culture

text: Most video games contain certain language or communication familiar to game and its player base. Overall the gaming community has common phrases that are used universally. The two most common phrases are "noob", which relates to a player who is low in skill and that they are relatively new to the game. The other phrase is "lol", which means "laughing out loud", this phrase is also used outside of gaming. There are also phrases that players use before and at the end of their matches. The abbreviation of "GL HF" is seen at the start meaning, "good luck, have fun". Then at the end, whether people win or lose, players use "GG", meaning "good game" to their opponents. A popular abbreviation the gaming culture created and uses is "AFK". This means "away from keyboard", and is used when a player is not using their keyboard or controller and are not paying attention.


title: Video game culture

text: The shift from console-based or "shrink-wrap" video games to online games has allowed online games and massively-multiplayer online gaming today to develop highly advanced and comprehensive communication networks. With the freedom of the Internet's architecture, users can become producers of the technology and shapers of the growing networks. Compared to past eras where consumers had little means of communication with game developers and other communities beyond their geographical location, the Internet has created many methods of communication such as through the online bulletin board website, Reddit. Gamers can often develop sub-communities in-game clans and may use third party VOIP programs to communicate while playing games such as Skype, Ventrillo, Teamspeak or Discord. These video game communities may have nothing in common, or instead be designed for dedicated, skilled players, or even clans made for those with shared commonalities such as personality, ethnicity, heritage, language or gender.


title: Video game culture

text: Another key component of many video game networks is the connection between the player base and the game developers. Many game developers have outlets either through official website forums or social media where gamers can communicate with and provide feedback to the game developers. Likewise, these same places become key locations for game developers to communicate with their fans, were often dedicated employees act as liaisons as a bridge between the company and the community.


title: Video game culture

text: Some of the most advanced networks take place with massively-multiplayer online gaming where servers of tens of thousands can be present simultaneously in the same instance or environment. In major titles such as "World of Warcraft" and "League of Legends", the player base is in the millions. With so many people, many of these communities may develop virtual economies that may use a barter system or currency system. In some games, the interest in the virtual economies may be so great players will spend real money through auction sites like eBay for virtual property and items, commonly known as RMT (Real Market Trading). Some game developers may ban RMT in their games, especially when it interferes with the equity of the game. That being said, other game developers embrace it with one game, Second Life, with its entire focus on the usage of real-life currency for everything in the game world.


title: Video game culture

text: Since smartphones became commonplace around 2007, mobile video games have seen rapid increases in popularity. The widespread appeal of simple, "time-killing" games, reminiscent of "social games" such as those found on Facebook, has set the stage for mobile video games to account for almost 35% of video games' total market share by 2017. Because games such as Clash of Clans offer in-game bonuses for referring new players to the game, mobile gamers have turned to social media sites to recruit their friends and family. Some games even offer integrated social media support to provide players with in-game chat or "friends" features for communicating and competing with other players. A large number of mobile game players has led to the creation of devoted forums, blogs, and tip sites similar to those committed to console video games. Popular video game publications, like Ars Technica and TouchArcade are even beginning to give significant coverage to mobile games.


title: Video game culture

text: There has been much debate among media theorists as to whether video games are an inherently social or anti-social activity. Terry Flew argues that digital games are "increasingly social, a trend that works against the mainstream media's portrayal of players as isolated, usually adolescent boys hidden away in darkened bedrooms, failing to engage with the social world." He asserts that games are played in very social and public settings; for example computers and consoles are often played in living areas of domestic homes, where people play with family or friends.


title: Video game culture

text: David Marshall argues against the rich source of "effects" based research, finding that games are "deliberating and anti-social forms of behavior". Rather suggesting that "the reality of most games is that they are dynamically social – the elaborate social conversations that emerge from playing games online in massive multi-player formats" (MMOG). Exemplifying 'The Sims Online', he states "has built up entire political and social structures in given communities' that provide an elaborate game life for participants". Gamers in these online worlds participate in many-to-many forms of communication and one-to-one correspondence. The games are not only massive; they are also "intimate and social".


title: Video game culture

text: Gosney argues that Alternate Reality Gaming is also inherently social, drawing upon Pierre Levy's (Levy 1998) notion of Collective Intelligence. He states that the game relied upon an "unprecedented level of corroboration and collective intelligence to solve the game". The issue of collective and corroborative team play is essential to ARG, thus are anything but a solitary activity.


title: Video game culture

text: Hans Geser further rejects the mainstream media view that video games as an anti-social activity, asserting "there is considerable empirical evidence that Second Life serves mainly to widen the life experience of individuals who have already a rich 'First Life', not as a compensating device for marginal loners." Thus highlighting the "fantastic social possibilities of "Second Life"", as the intangible reward of social belongingness is of paramount importance. Bray and Konsynski also argue the ability of the technology "to enrich their lives", as most Millennials report: "No difference between friendships developed in the real world vs. friendships developed online, and most use the Internet to maintain their social networks and plan their social activities".


title: Video game culture

text: The advent of video games gave an innovative media technology, that allowed consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate and recirculate media content. Consumers can use this media source as an alternative tool to gain access to information of their interest. The community aspect of video gaming has also had implications for the social interactions and collective behaviors of consumers involved in the activity.


title: Video game culture

text: Contemporary investigations have found that there is a prevailing social framework in place during gatherings of video game enthusiasts or 'gamers'. Mäyrä (2008, p. 25) suggests that gamers who gather together to play possess a shared language, engage in collective rituals and are often interested in cultural artifacts such as video game paraphernalia. Cronin and McCarthy (2011) have also explored a liminal, hedonic food culture to be present among these socially connected actors. The commensal consumption of energy-dense low nutrient foods is considered to be appropriated during long stretches of gameplay to contribute to the community and hedonistic aspects of social gaming.


title: Video game culture

text: In response to the central importance that food plays in the collective enjoyment of social gaming, various websites have been created which allow gamers to rate their favorite foods to accompany play.


title: Video game culture

text: The presence of rituals, shared discourse, collective action, and even a liminal food culture among video game communities gives credence to the concept of these cohorts existing as self-defining sub-units within mainstream culture. However, due to the ephemeral and transient nature of their rituals, and also the possibility of virtual interaction through online participation, these cohorts should be considered 'postmodern subcultures'. Video game communities have social elements beyond physical interaction and have come to a stage where online and offline spaces can be seen as 'merged' rather than separate.


title: Video game culture

text: Terry Flew (2005)(p. 264) suggests that the appeal of the "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game" lie in the idea of escapism, and the ability to assume the role of someone or something that is a fantasy in real life. He notes that '...for some women, [they] enjoy adopting what they feel to be an image of femininity more acceptable or desirable than their real-world body...'


title: Video game culture

text: This is what he calls "identity tourism", a form of hopping from one person to another, for which there usually is a stereotypical discourse associated with the protagonist. This is seen in the case of males who assume the personas of the female gender, and the character's representation of her gender being overly sexualized and/or passive, '...this tends to perpetuate and accentuate existing stereotypes of... women...' (Nakamura).


title: Video game culture

text: Ownership of video game entities is a major issue in video game culture. On one side, players, especially those who played with avatars for several years, have treated the avatars as their property. On the other hand, publishers claim ownership of all in-game items and characters through the EULA (End User License Agreements). Terry Flew recognized this problem: "Intellectual property is much better suited to conventional 'texts' that are fixed or finished, rather than ongoing collaborative creations like games". He also highlights that these issues will only worsen; as more interactive games emerging, issues of regulation, ownership, and service will only get more problematic.


title: Video game culture

text: A source of criticism that the public often aims at in video games is the violence that they contain. Terry Flew relates this back to the idea of 'moral panic'. He writes that through research the 'computer games cause violence' discussion is mainly focused on psychology. The idea is influenced after horrible shooting events that took place, with the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 being an example. Flew says that assuming this idea, of cause and effect behavior of video games, is one that is flawed. Several studies have shown a correlation between violent content in media and aggressive behavior. At the same time other studies have shown evidence the connection between violent games and violent behavior is thin and unlikely.


title: Video game culture

text: Fox News reported that Montreal shooting case in Canada was carried out by the criminal Kimveer Gill, who is a player of Super Columbine Massacre, whose narrative attaches with strong violence sense. On the other hand, some people who hold social determinism theory assert technology is neutral, but it is the way that humans manipulate technology which brings about its social impact.


title: Video game culture

text: In conjunction with the changing demographics of video game creators and players, issues related to women and video games, including sexism in video gaming and gender representation in video games, have received increased attention by academia, the media, the games industry and by gamers themselves. The issue was brought to wider attention as a result of the 2014 Gamergate harassment campaign, in which some gamers, under the pretense of calling out ethical issues in game journalism, harassed and threatened several female developers and those that supported the developers. Gamergate was described by Bob Stuart in "The Daily Telegraph" as "an unwieldy movement with no apparent leaders, mission statement, or aims beyond calling out..those who want to see more diversity in gaming"


title: Video game culture

text: Benjamin Paaßen has argued that because video game culture has long been a space dominated by heterosexual men, the video game industry tends to cater to this particularly lucrative audience, producing video games that reflect the desires of the heterosexual male gaze. He further argues that this lack of representation of alternate identities in video games has caused gamers who divert from the dominant demographic to be often relegated to the margins of the culture. This process is thus seen to perpetuate the stereotypical image of the geeky, heterosexual male gamer as the ruler of the video game world. Contrary to popular belief, there are a multitude of communities within video game culture that do not fulfill the typical gamer stereotype. The problem is that they lack visibility. One reason for this is that many people do not want to reveal their association with video game culture out of fear of stigmatization. Past research has shown this to be the case for the female gamer. Because women in video game culture are often ostracized by their male gamer counterparts, female gamers are frequently forced to conceal their gender, only participating in video game culture when they can remain anonymous. When concealing their identities, females gamers try to change their voice when talking online, they will play as a male character instead of a female character followed by some kind of masculine name. Doing this, however, can make video games less fun and exciting and could cause the player just quit the game. On the other hand, it's different for the male gamer. Like girl gamers would choose a male character to play as the male gamer would sometimes choose a girl character to play as. But for the male to pick a girl character is very common in the culture. According to Bosson, Prewitt-Freilino, and Taylor, male gamers who try to be female characters are not harassed as much as girl gamers since the male gamers can simply undo the change or just reveal their true identities as a male which reduces the harassing.


title: Video game culture

text: When it comes to working into the video game development industry, there is a small minority of women within these industries. With 3% of programmers, 11% game designers, 13% of artists and animators, 13% of QA testers, and 16% of producers, these are low numbers for women in the video game development industry. The reason for this may be partly caused by the lack of encouragement due to the negativity or harassing of females in video game culture. Due to being the minority, women in the video game development industry receive stereotypical threats because of being in a male dominant career. There was a hashtag that was created on Twitter that was #1ReasonWhy in which it was reasons why there was a lack of women in the video game industry. Video game designer Kim Swift stated that "Because I get mistaken for the receptionist or day-hire marketing at trade shows."


title: Video game culture

text: Additionally, dominant perceptions of gamers as asocial, straight, white men are also challenged by the presence of gamers who do not identify as heterosexual. For instance, it has been shown by past research that the LGBTQ+ community maintains a notable presence within video game culture. For LGBTQ+ gamers, video games provide an alternate reality in which there is the opportunity for sexual expression, identity formation, and community building. Such communities indicate the development of diverse subcultures within the culture of video games as a whole.


title: Video game culture

text: Games are also advertised on different TV channels, depending on the age demographic they are targeting. Games targeted toward kids and young teenagers are advertised on Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, while games targeted toward older teenagers and adults are advertised on MTV, G4, Comedy Central and in NFL Network.


title: Video game culture

text: From the 1970s through even the 1990s, video game playing was mostly seen as sub-culture hobby activity and as a substitute for physical sports. However, in its early history video gaming had occasionally caught the attention of the mainstream news outlets. In 1972, "Pong" became the first video game pop-culture phenomenon. This was followed by "Pac-Man" in 1980. Other video games labeled as pop-culture phenomena include "Final Fantasy", "Halo", "Metal Gear", "The Legend of Zelda", "Tomb Raider", "Grand Theft Auto", "Call of Duty", "World of Warcraft", "Fortnite", "Street Fighter", "Mortal Kombat", "Pokémon", "Guitar Hero", "Sonic the Hedgehog", and the "Mario" games.


title: Video game culture

text: As games became more realistic, issues of questionable content arose. The most notable early example is "NARC", which through its use of digitized graphics and sound and its adult-oriented theme quickly became a target of the press. These same issues arose again when "Mortal Kombat" debuted, particularly with its home video game console released on the Genesis and Super NES platforms; due to Nintendo's strict content-control guidelines, that system's version of "Mortal Kombat" was substantially re-worked to remove any 'extreme' violence. In response to these issues (and in parallel to similar demands made upon the music and movie industries), the ESRB was established to help guide parents in their purchasing decisions. 1993's "Doom" caused quite a stir, with its detailed 3D graphics and copious amounts of blood and gore. The 1996 game, Duke Nukem 3D, was accused of promoting pornography and violence; as a result of the criticism, censored versions of the game were released in certain countries. In the 1999 Columbine shootings, violent video games were for a time directly blamed by some for the incident, and labeled as "murder simulators".


title: Video game culture

text: The first television channel dedicated to video games and culture, G4, was launched in 2002. However, over the years, the channel has moved away from video game shows, and more towards male-oriented programs. "X-Play", one of the channel's most popular shows and the highest-rated video game review show, is still produced at G4 until it was bought by Esquire Magazine, who decided to cease X-Play and focus less on the video game oriented audience of G4 and go with their traditional, more general male audience of their magazine.


title: Video game culture

text: Ginx TV is an international multi-language video game television channel, managed by the former MTV Networks Europe Managing Director Michiel Bakker.


title: Video game culture

text: In Korea, there are two cable TV channels fully dedicated to video games, Ongamenet and MBCGame, broadcasting professional game leagues that are held in Korea.


title: Video game culture

text: In Germany, most of the shows and channels dedicated to video games were canceled, although the content was highly appreciated by the video game audience. There was one digital cable and satellite channel with a focus on video games, which was closed in 2009: GIGA Television. Some of the hosts also did their show Game One dedicated to games on the German MTV channel until canceled 2014. The show is quite famous for their sketches on games and video game culture in Germany. The unofficial successor is the YouTube show Game Two, financed by public-service broadcasting program funk and produced by the 24/7 online channel Rocket Beans TV, which is dedicated to video game, nerd and pop culture. A similar show was "Reload"; produced for the public-service channel EinsPlus until the channel was announced to close in 2014. The Franco-German TV network arte has a show dedicated to video game culture: Art of Gaming


title: Video game culture

text: In Australia, there is one TV show that is based on video games and games. "Good Game" on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) which broadcasts on channel ABC2. The show is also available as a podcast on iTunes.


title: Video game culture

text: In Russia, there are one satellite, the "Perviy Igrovoy" (Gaming First) and one cable, "Gameplay TV", video game TV channels. Channels have Internet streams.


title: Video game culture

text: "AVGN" is a show about a fictional character created by James Rolfe. The character is portrayed as a foul-mouthed, short-tempered retro gamer who reviews old video games usually sarcastically and negatively with frequent use of profanity for comical effect.


title: Video game culture

text: "Pure Pwnage", was a fictional series chronicling the life and adventures of Jeremy, a self-proclaimed "pro gamer".


title: Video game culture

text: "Red vs. Blue" (made by Rooster Teeth), is a machinima (machine-cinema) filmed with the "Halo" series of games. The series consist of hundreds of short episodes taking place in their own "Halo" based universe.


title: Video game culture

text: "Consolevania", a game review/sketch show produced in Glasgow, Scotland, was developed into a broadcast series, "videoGaiden" on BBC Scotland.


title: Video game culture

text: "The Guild" is a web series, created by Felicia Day, in which the cast are members of a guild that plays an MMORPG similar to "World of Warcraft".


title: Video game culture

text: "Game Grumps", a show on YouTube in which the cast plays games sent in by viewers. It has a related show called "Steam Train" where the cast plays games either on Steam or sent in by independent developers.


title: Video game culture

text: Video game music has been utilized by popular musicians in many ways. The earliest example was the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra's self-titled album, released in 1978, which utilized "Space Invaders" samples as instrumentation. In turn, the band would have a major influence on much of the video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. During the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, it became common for arcade game sounds and bleeps to be utilized, particularly in early hip hop music, synthpop, and electro music. Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever", released in 1982, featured songs that were both about famous arcade games like "Pac-Man", "Donkey Kong" and "Berzerk", and also used the sound samples from the games themselves as instrumentation. In 1984, former Yellow Magic Orchestra member Harry Hosono produced an album entirely from Namco arcade game samples, entitled "Video Game Music".


title: Video game culture

text: Aphex Twin, an experimental electronic artist, under the name "PowerPill" released the "Pacman" EP in 1992 that featured a heavy use of "Pac-Man" sound effects. An entire music genre called chiptunes, or sometimes gamewave, have artists dedicated to using the synthesizer sets that came with past video game consoles and computers, particularly the Commodore 64 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. These bands include Mr. Pacman, 8 Bit Weapon, Goto 80, 50 Hertz and Puss. The influence of retro video games on contemporary music can also be seen in the work of less purist "Bitpop" artists, such as Solemn Camel Crew and Anamanaguchi. Moreover, many gamers collect and listen to video game music, ripped from the games themselves. This music is known by its file extension and includes such formats as: SID (Commodore 64), NSF (NES) and SPC (SNES). Cover bands like Minibosses perform their own instrumentations, and groups like The Protomen have written rock operas inspired by the Mega Man video games, while communities like OverClocked ReMix have released thousands of game music arrangements in a variety of genres and have influenced the careers of several game composers.


title: Video game culture

text: A comedy subgenre has developed increasing the popularity of several musicians including Jonathan Coulton, famous for the song Still Alive featured in the credits of Valve's "Portal", and Jonathan Lewis, songwriter and composer credited with the "Half-Life"-themed parody album "Combine Road".


title: Video game culture

text: Full orchestras, such as the Symphonic Game Music Concert tour North America, the United States, and Asia performing symphonic versions of video game songs, particularly the "Final Fantasy" series, the "Metal Gear" series, and Nintendo themed music, such as the "Mario & Zelda Big Band Live" Concert. In Japan, "Dragon Quest" symphonic concerts are performed yearly, ever since their debut in 1987.


title: Video game culture

text: Examples of films based on video games include "Street Fighter", "Mortal Kombat", "BloodRayne", "Doom", "House of the Dead", "Alone in the Dark", "Resident Evil", "Silent Hill", "Tomb Raider", "Assassin's Creed", and "Warcraft".


title: Video game culture

text: Until 2019, films based on video games generally had carried a negative connotation for lackluster quality, typically attributed to the difficulties of translating an interactive work to a passive form of entertainment. The commercial and critical success of the films "Detective Pikachu" and "Sonic the Hedgehog" in 2019 led to a turnaround for video game adaptions.


title: Video game culture

text: Hollywood has also created films that are about video games themselves. The golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s led to several films based around arcade games, including "Tron" (1982), "WarGames" (1983), and "The Last Starfighter" (1984). "The Wizard" (1989) was notable for featuring the first look at the upcoming game "Super Mario Bros. 3" for the Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: Video game culture

text: Most films related to video games in the 1990s and 2000s were subsequently adaptions of games, rather than dealing with the medium itself, though the concept of video games remained as a central theme in works like "Grandma's Boy" (2006), "Stay Alive" (2006), and "Gamer" (2009). The 2010s introduced a new way of film which expanded on using video games as virtual world within the film. These include "" (2010, a sequel to the original "Tron"), "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (2010), "Wreck-It Ralph" (2012) and its sequel "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (2018), "Pixels" (2015), "" (2017) and its sequel "" (2019), "Ready Player One" (2018), "Free Guy" (2021), and "" (2021).


title: Video game culture

text: Interactive movies as a computer and video game genre were the result of the multimedia expansion of computers and video game consoles in the mid-1990s, primarily because of the increased capacity offered by the laserdisc format. Interactive movies started on arcade machines in 1983, but quickly expanded to computers and video game consoles such as the Sega CD, the Phillips CD-i and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. The games are characterized by more emphasis on cinematic sequences, using full-motion video and voice acting. Interactive movie games have been made in several genres, including adventure games, rail shooters, and role-playing games.


title: Video game culture

text: The first interactive movie game was "Dragon's Lair", originally released in the arcades in 1983, making it the first game to use a laserdisc and animation by Don Bluth, a man who worked for Disney on features like "Robin Hood", "The Rescuers", and "Pete's Dragon", but later worked for other film companies like United Artists ("All Dogs Go to Heaven") and Universal Studios ("The Land Before Time"). In "Dragon's Lair", you control the actions of a daring knight named Dirk, to save a princess from an evil dragon, hence the name of the game. Since the dawn of this exact game, more and more companies have influenced the technology used and decided to make their interactive movie games for arcades and consoles. A more recent Interactive movie title is called 'Bandersnatch'. This movie sets you on a plot of a young 80's programmer named Stefan Butler. The movie lets the viewer choose different plot trajectories for the main character questioning reality throughout the way.


title: Video game culture

text: The birth of the 'interactive movie' genre was studded with unimpressive flops, though the genre later came into its own; at the time, video-capture technology was still in its infancy, with short (and often grainy and low-quality) video segments being the norm for games of any length.


title: Video game culture

text: With the rapid convergence of all media types into a digital form, video games are also beginning to affect, and be affected by traditional media forms.


title: Video game culture

text: In history, the Television engineer Ralph Baer, who conceived the idea of an interactive television while building a television set from scratch created the first video game. Video games are now also being exploited by pay-TV companies which allow you to simply attach your computer or console to the television cable system and you can simply download the latest game.


title: Video game culture

text: Games act on television, with the player choosing to enter the artificial world. The constructed meanings in video games are more influential than those of traditional media forms. The reason is that 'games interact with the audience in a dialogue of emotion, action, and reaction'. The interactivity means this occurs to a depth that is not possible in the traditional media forms.


title: Video game culture

text: Computer games have developed in parallel to both the video game and the arcade video game. The personal computer and console machines such as the Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox offered a new dimension to game playing. The consoles have now largely been replaced by the Xbox 360, Wii and, the PlayStation 4, and the personal computer is still a leading gaming machine.


title: Video game culture

text: Games are the first new computer-based media form to socialize a generation of youth in a way that traditional media forms have in the past. Therefore, the 'MTV generation' has been overtaken by the 'Nintendo generation'; however, some refer to the current generation as the 'iPod Generation'.


title: Video game culture

text: Because they straddle the technologies of television and computers, electronic games are a channel through which we can investigate the various impacts of new media and the technologies of convergence.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: Scarabaeus sacer, common name sacred scarab, is the type species of dung beetles in its genus and the family Scarabaeidae.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: "Scarabaeus sacer" was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of "Systema Naturae", the starting point of zoological nomenclature. It is considered the type species of the genus "Scarabaeus", despite some controversy surrounding Latreille's 1810 type designation, which was resolved by a ruling of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 2014, to accept Hope's 1837 designation of "S. sacer" as the type rather than Latreille's 1810 designation (of "Dynastes hercules").


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: It can be found across North Africa, southern Europe and parts of Asia (Afghanistan, Corsica, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, Sudan and Syria). In the Camargue, "Scarabaeus sacer" is almost exclusively a coastal species, living only in dunes and coastal marshes.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: The head of "Scarabaeus sacer" has a distinctive array of six projections, resembling rays. The projections are uniform with four more projections on each of the tibiae of the front legs, creating an arc of fourteen "rays" (see illustration). Functionally the projections are adaptations for digging and for shaping the ball of dung.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: Like the front legs of other beetles of its genus, but unlike those of dung beetles in most other genera, the front legs of "Scarabaeus sacer" are unusual; they do not end in any recognisable tarsus, the foot that bears the claws. There is only a vestigial claw-like structure that might be of some assistance in digging. The mid- and hind-legs of "Scarabaeus" have normal, well-developed 5-segmented tarsi, but the front legs are specialised for excavation and for forming balls of dung.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: Among the coprophagous species of beetles, "Scarabaeus sacer" is typical of those that collect dung into balls. Such a beetle rolls its ball to a suitable location, where it digs an underground chamber in which it hides the ball. It then eats the ball itself, a process that may take several days.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: When the female is ready to breed she selects especially fine-textured dung to make her breeding ball, and digs an especially deep and large chamber for it. There she sculpts it into a pear-shape with a hollow cavity in the narrow part. In that cavity she lays a single large egg. She then seals the cavity and departs to repeat the process elsewhere. Typically a successful female "Scarabaeus sacer" will produce only about half a dozen young in her life. The larva feeds on the ball of dung after the egg hatches.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: "Scarabaeus sacer" is the most famous of the scarab beetles. To the Ancient Egyptians, "S. sacer" was a symbol of Khepri, the early morning manifestation of the sun god Ra, from an analogy between the beetle's behaviour of rolling a ball of dung across the ground and Khepri's task of rolling the sun across the sky. They accordingly held the species to be sacred.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: The Egyptians also observed young beetles emerging from the ball of dung, from which they mistakenly inferred that the male beetle was able to reproduce without needing a female, simply by injecting his sperm into the ball of dung. From this, they drew parallels with their god Atum, who also begat children alone.


title: Scarabaeus sacer

text: "Scarabaeus sacer" was the species which first piqued the interest of William Sharp Macleay and drew him into a career in entomology.