title: Digital literacy

text: Digital divide refers to the disparities among people - such as those living in developed and developing world - concerning access to and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly computer hardware, software, and the Internet. Individuals within societies that lack economic resources to build ICT infrastructure do not have adequate digital literacy, which means that their digital skills are limited. The divide can be explained by Max Weber's social stratification theory, which focuses on access to production rather ownership of the capital. The former becomes access to ICT so that an individual can accomplish interaction and produce information or create a product and that, without it, he or she cannot participate in the learning, collaboration, and production processes. Digital literacy and digital access have become increasingly important competitive differentiators for individuals using the internet meaningfully. In an article by Jen Schradie called, The Great Class Wedge and the Internet's Hidden Costs, she discusses how social class can affect digital literacy.  This creates a digital divide.


title: Digital literacy

text: Research published in 2012 found that the digital divide, as defined by access to information technology, does not exist amongst youth in the United States. Young people report being connected to the internet at rates of 94-98%. There remains, however, a civic opportunity gap, where youth from poorer families and those attending lower socioeconomic status schools are less likely to have opportunities to apply their digital literacy. The digital divide is also defined as emphasizing the distinction between the “haves” and “have-nots,” and presented all data separately for rural, urban, and central-city categories. Also, existing research on the digital divide reveals the existence of personal categorical inequalities between young and old people. An additional interpretation identified the gap between technology accessed by youth outside and inside the classroom.


title: Digital literacy

text: Media theorist Henry Jenkins coined the term participation gap and distinguished the participation gap from the digital divide. According to Jenkins, in countries like the United States, where nearly everyone has access to the internet, the concept of the digital divide does not provide enough insight. As such, Jenkins uses the term participation gap to develop a more nuanced view of access to the internet. Instead of referring to the "have's" vs "have-nots" when referring to digital technologies, Jenkins proposes the participation gap refers to people who have sustained access to and competency with digital technologies due to media convergence. Jenkins states that students learn different sets of technology skills if they only have access to the internet in a library or school. In particular, Jenkins observes that students who have access to the internet at home have more opportunities to develop their skills and have fewer limitations, such as computer time limits and website filters commonly used in libraries. The participation gap is geared toward millennials. As of 2008, when this study was created they were the oldest generation to be born in the age of technology. As of 2008 more technology has been integrated into the classroom. The issue with digital literacy is that students have access to the internet at home which is equivalent to what they interact with in class. Some students only have access while at school and in a library. They aren't getting enough or the same quality of the digital experience. This creates the participation gap, along with an inability to understand digital literacy.


title: Digital literacy

text: Digital rights are an individual’s rights that allow them freedom of expression and opinion in an online setting, with roots centered on human theoretical and practical rights. It encompasses the individual’s privacy rights when using the Internet, and is essentially is responsible for how an individual uses different technologies and how content is distributed and mediated. Government officials and policymakers use digital rights as a springboard for enacting and developing policies and laws in order to obtain rights online the same way we obtain rights in real life. Private organizations who possess their own online infrastructures also develop rights specific to their property. In today’s world, most, if not all materials have shifted into an online setting and public policy has had a major influence in supporting this movement. Going beyond traditional academics, ethical rights such as copyright, citizenship and conversation can be attributed to digital literacy because tools and materials nowadays can be easily copied, borrowed, stolen, and repurposed, as literacy is collaborative and interactive, especially in a networked world.


title: Digital literacy

text: Digital citizenship refers to the "right to participate in society online". It is connected to the notion of state-based citizenship which is determined by the country or region in which one was born as well as the idea of being a 'dutiful citizen who participates in the electoral process and online through mass media. A literate digital citizen possesses the skills to read, write and interact with online communities via screens and has an orientation for social justice. This is best described in the article Digital Citizenship during a Global Pandemic: Moving beyond Digital Literacy, "Critical digital civic literacy, as is the case of democratic citizenship more generally, requires moving from learning about citizenship to participating and engaging in democratic communities face‐to‐face, online, and in all the spaces in between." Through the various digital skills and literacy one gains, one is able to effectively solve social problems which might arise through social platforms. Additionally, digital citizenship has three online dimensions: higher wages, democratic participation, and better communication opportunities which arise from the digital skills acquired. Digital citizenship also refers to online awareness and the ability to be safe and responsible online. This idea came from the rise of social media in the past decade which has enhanced global connectivity and faster interaction. However, with this phenomenon, the existence of fake news, hate speeches, cyberbullying, hoaxes and so on has emerged as well. Hence, this has created a codependent relationship between digital literacy and digital citizenship.


title: Digital literacy

text: Marc Prensky invented and popularized the terms digital natives and digital immigrants to describe respectively an individual born into the digital age and one adopting the appropriate skills later in life. A digital immigrant refers to an individual who adopts technology later in life. These two groups of people have had different interactions with technology since birth, a generational gap. This directly links to their individual unique relationship with digital literacy. Digital natives brought upon the creation of ubiquitous information systems (UIS).  These systems include mobile phones, laptop computers and personal digital assistants.  They have also expanded to cars and buildings (smart cars and smart homes), creating a new unique technological experience.


title: Digital literacy

text: Carr claims that digital immigrants, although they adapt to the same technology as natives, possess a sort of accent which restricts them from communicating the way natives do. Research shows that, due to the brain's malleable nature, technology has changed the way today's students read, perceive, and process information. Marc Prensky believes this is a problem because today's students have a vocabulary and skill set educators (who at the time of his writing would be digital immigrants) may not fully understand.


title: Digital literacy

text: Statistics and popular representations of the elderly portray them as digital immigrants. For example, Canada 2010 found that 29% of its citizens were 75 years of age and older, and 60% of its citizens between the ages of 65-74 had browsed the internet in the past month. Conversely, internet activity reached almost 100% among its 15 through 24-year-old citizens.


title: Digital literacy

text: Schools are continuously updating their curricula to keep up with accelerating technological developments. This often includes computers in the classroom, the use of educational software to teach curricula, and course materials being made available to students online. Students are often taught literacy skills such as how to verify credible sources online, cite websites, and prevent plagiarism. Google and Wikipedia are frequently used by students "for everyday life research," and are just two common tools that facilitate modern education. Digital technology has impacted the way material is taught in the classroom. With the use of technology rising over the past decade, educators are altering traditional forms of teaching to include course material on concepts related to digital literacy. Educators have also turned to social media platforms to communicate and share ideas with one another. Social media and social networks have become a crucial part of the information landscape. Many students are using social media to share their areas of interest, which helps boost their level of engagement with educators. New standards have been put into place as digital technology has augmented classrooms, with many classrooms being designed to use smartboards and audience response systems in replacement of traditional chalkboards or whiteboards. “The development of Teacher’s Digital Competence (TDC) should start in initial teacher training, and continue throughout the following years of practice. All this to use Digital Technologies (DT) to improve teaching and professional development.” New models of learning are being developed with digital literacy in mind. Several countries have based their models on the emphasis of finding new digital didactics to implement as they find more opportunities and trends through surveys conducted with educators and college instructors. Additionally, these new models of learning in the classroom have aided in promoting global connectivity and have enabled students to become globally-minded citizens. According to the study Building Digital Literacy Bridges Connecting Cultures and Promoting Global Citizenship in Elementary Schools through School-Based Virtual Field Trips by Stacy Delacruz, Virtual Field Trips (VFT) a new form of multimedia presentation has gained popularity over the years in that they offer the "opportunity for students to visit other places, talk to experts and participate in interactive learning activities without leaving the classroom". They have also been used as a vessel for supporting cross-cultural collaboration amongst schools which includes: "improved language skills, greater classroom engagement, deeper understandings of issues from multiple perspectives, and an increased sensitivity to multicultural differences". It also allows students to be the creators of their own digital content, a core standard from The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).


title: Digital literacy

text: The COVID-19 virus that started in late 2019 had spread to over multiple countries within months, forcing the World Health Organization to declare an international public health emergency and a pandemic. The outbreak pushed education into a more digital and online experience where teachers had to adopt to new levels of digital competencies in software to continue the education system as academic institutions discontinued all in-person activity and different online meeting platforms are being used for better communications (e.g: Skype, Zoom, Cisco Webex, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, BlueJeans and Slack). Two major formats of online learnings: Asynchronous allow students to have more collaborative space and build up involvement. Synchronous learnings mostly take on live video format for better. An estimated 84% of the global student body was affected by this sudden closure due to the pandemic. Because of this sudden transition, there had been a clear disparity in student and school preparedness for digital education due in large part to a divide in digital skills and literacy that both the students and educators experience. For example, countries like Croatia had begun work on digitalizing its schools through countrywide digitalization efforts (in this case managed by the Croatian National Research and Education Network). In a pilot initiative, 920 instructors and over 6 000 pupils from 151 schools received computers, tablets, and presentation equipment, as well as improved connection and teacher training. When the pandemic struck, pilot schools were ready to begin offering online programs within two days.


title: Digital literacy

text: The switch to online learning has also brought about some concerns regarding learning effectiveness, exposure to cyber-risks and lack of socialization, prompting the need to implement changes to how students are able to learn much needed digital skills and develop digital literacy. As a response, the DQ (Digital Intelligence) Institute, designed a common framework for enhancing digital literacy, digital skills and digital readiness. Attention and focus was also brought on the development of digital literacy on higher education. An interesting fact discovered through the process of digital learning is those who were born as Generation Z (born between the years 1996 and 2000) are "natural skills of digital native learners". These young adults tend to have a higher acceptability on digital learning.


title: Digital literacy

text: A study in Spain measured the digital knowledge of 4883 teachers of all education levels over the last school years and found that their digital skills required further training to advance new learning models for the digital age. Training programs have been proposed favoring the joint framework of INTEF (Spanish acronym for National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training) as reference. Surveys taken in Spain, Italy and Ecuador asking questions related to local student's online learning experience, 86.16% of students in Italy said they felt less accommodated, following with 68.8% in Italy, and 17.39% in Ecuador.


title: Digital literacy

text: In Europe, the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) developed a framework to address and promote the development of digital literacy. It is divided into six branches (professional engagement, digital sources resources, teaching and learning, assessment, empowering learners & facilitating learners’ digital competence). Moreover, the European Commission also developed the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) which focuses on using the COVID-19 pandemic experience as a learning point, when technology is being used at a large scale for education, and being able to adapt the systems used for leaning and training towards the digital age. The framework is divided into two main strategic priorities: fostering the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem and enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation.


title: Digital literacy

text: In 2013 the Open Universiteit Nederland release an article defining twelve digital competence areas. These areas are based on the knowledge and skills people have to acquire to be a literate person.


title: Digital literacy

text: The competencies mentioned are based on each other. Competencies A, B, and C are the basic knowledge and skills a person has to have to be a fully digital literate person. When these three competencies are acquired you can build upon this knowledge and those skills to build the other competencies.


title: Digital literacy

text: University of Southern Mississippi professor, Dr Suzanne Mckee-Waddell conceptualized the idea of digital composition as the ability to integrate multiple forms of communication technologies and research to create a better understanding of a topic. Digital writing is a pedagogy being taught increasingly in universities. It is focused on the impact technology has had on various writing environments; it is not simply the process of using a computer to write. Educators in favour of digital writing argue that it is necessary because "technology fundamentally changes how writing is produced, delivered, and received." The goal of teaching digital writing is that students will increase their ability to produce a relevant, high-quality product, instead of just a standard academic paper.


title: Digital literacy

text: One aspect of digital writing is the use of hypertext or LaTeX. As opposed to printed text, hypertext invites readers to explore information in a non-linear fashion. Hypertext consists of traditional text and hyperlinks that send readers to other texts. These links may refer to related terms or concepts (such is the case on Wikipedia), or they may enable readers to choose the order in which they read. The process of digital writing requires the composer to make unique "decisions regarding linking and omission." These decisions "give rise to questions about the author's responsibilities to the [text] and objectivity."


title: Digital literacy

text: The 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) defines digital literacy skills as a workforce preparation activity. In the modern world employees are expected to be digitally literate, having full digital competence. Those who are digitally literate are more likely to be economically secure, as many jobs require a working knowledge of computers and the Internet to perform basic tasks. Additionally, digital technologies such as mobile devices, production suites and collaboration platforms are ubiquitous in most office workplaces and are often crucial in daily tasks as many White collar jobs today are performed primarily using said devices and technology. Many of these jobs require proof of digital literacy to be hired or promoted. Sometimes companies will administer their tests to employees, or official certification will be required. A study on the role of digital literacy in the EU labour market found that individuals are more likely to be employed the more digitally literate they are.


title: Digital literacy

text: As technology has become cheaper and more readily available, more blue-collar jobs have required digital literacy as well. Manufacturers and retailers, for example, are expected to collect and analyze data about productivity and market trends to stay competitive. Construction workers often use computers to increase employee safety.


title: Digital literacy

text: The acquisition of digital literacy is also important when it comes to starting and growing new ventures. The emergence of World Wide Web and digital platforms has led to a plethora of new digital products or services that can be bought and sold. Entrepreneurs are at the forefront of this development, using digital tools or infrastructure to deliver physical products, digital artifacts, or Internet-enabled service innovations. Research has shown that digital literacy for entrepreneurs consists of four levels (basic usage, application, development, and transformation) and three dimensions (cognitive, social, and technical). At the lowest level, entrepreneurs need to be able to use access devices as well as basic communication technologies to balance safety and information needs. As they move to higher levels of digital literacy, entrepreneurs will be able to master and manipulate more complex digital technologies and tools, enhancing the absorptive capacity and innovative capability of their venture. In a similar vein, if Small to Medium Enterprises(SME's) possess the ability to adapt to dynamic shifts in technology, then they can take advantage of trends, marketing campaigns as well as communication to consumers in order to generate more demand for their goods and services. Moreover, if entrepreneurs are digitally literate, then online platforms like social media can further help businesses receive feedback and generate community engagement that could potentially boost their business's performance as well as their brand image. A research paper published in The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business provides critical insight that suggests digital literacy has the greatest influence on the performance of SME entrepreneurs.  The authors suggest their findings can help craft performance development strategies for said SME entrepreneurs and argue their research shows the essential contribution of digital literacy in developing business and marketing networks. Additionally, the study found digitally literate entrepreneurs are able to communicate and reach wider markets than non-digitally literate entrepreneurs because of the use web-management and e-commerce platforms supported by data analysis and coding. That said, constraints do exist for SME's to use e-commerce. Some of these constraints include lack of technical understanding of information technologies, high cost of internet access (especially for those in rural/underdeveloped areas), and other constraints.


title: Digital literacy

text: The United Nations included digital literacy in its 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, under thematic indicator 4.4.2, which encourages the development of digital literacy proficiency in teens and adults to facilitate educational and professional opportunities and growth. International initiatives like the Global Digital Literacy Council (GDLC) and the Coalition for Digital Intelligence (CDI) have also highlighted the need for, and strategies to address, digital literacy on a global scale. The CDI, under the umbrella of the DQ Institute, created a Common Framework for Digital Literacy, Skills, and Readiness in 2019 that conceptualizes eight areas of digital life (identity, use, safety, security, emotional intelligence, communication, literacy, and rights), three levels of maturity (citizenship, creativity, and competitiveness), and three components of competency (knowledge, attitudes and values, and skills; or, what, why, and how). The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) also works to create, gather, map, and assess common frameworks on digital literacy across multiple member states around the world.


title: Digital literacy

text: In an attempt to narrow the Digital Divide, on September 26, 2018, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed legislation to help provide access to the internet in developing countries via the H.R.600 Digital Global Access Policy Act. The legislation itself was based on Senator Ed Markey's Digital Age Act, which was first introduced to the senate in 2016. In addition, Senator Markey provided a statement after the act was passed through the Senate: “American ingenuity created the internet and American leadership should help bring its power to the developing world,” said Senator Markey. “Bridging the global digital divide can help promote prosperity, strengthen democracy, expand educational opportunity and lift some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable out of poverty. The Digital GAP Act is a passport to the 21st-century digital economy, linking the people of the developing world to the most successful communications and commerce tool in history. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this legislation signed into law and to harness the power of the internet to help the developing world."


title: Digital literacy

text: The Philippines' Education Secretary Jesli Lapus has emphasized the importance of digital literacy in Filipino education. He claims a resistance to change is the main obstacle to improving the nation's education in the globalized world. In 2008, Lapus was inducted into Certiport's "Champions of Digital Literacy" Hall of Fame for his work emphasizing digital literacy.


title: Digital literacy

text: A study done in 2011 by the Southern African Linguistics & Applied Language Studies program observed some South African university students regarding digital literacy. It was found that while their courses did require some sort of digital literacy, very few students actually had access to a computer. Many had to pay others to type any work, as their digital literacy was almost nonexistent. Findings show that class, ignorance, and inexperience still affect any access to learning South African university students may need.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Snatcher is a cyberpunk graphic adventure game developed and published by Konami. It was written and designed by Hideo Kojima and first released in 1988 for the PC-8801 and MSX2 in Japan. "Snatcher" is set in a future East Asian metropolis where humanoid robots dubbed "Snatchers" have been discovered killing humans and replacing them in society. The game follows Gillian Seed, an amnesiac who joins an anti-Snatcher agency in search of his past. Gameplay takes place primarily through a menu-based interface through which the player can choose to examine items, search rooms, speak to characters, explore a semi-open world, and perform other actions.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Kojima wanted "Snatcher" to have a cinematic feel, so the setting and story are heavily influenced by science fiction films, like "Blade Runner", "Akira" and "The Terminator". Development on the PC versions took more than twice as long as the average game of the time, even after Kojima was asked to trim more than half his initial story. The game was released to positive reviews, but poor sales. It garnered a cult following, and was remade as a role-playing game called "SD Snatcher" for the MSX2 in 1990. This was followed by a remake of the original adventure game using CD-ROM technology, released for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² System in 1992.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Looking to provide a more interactive experience to gamers in the West, Konami developed a Sega CD version of "Snatcher" specifically for North America and Europe in 1994. Although it was a commercial failure, the Sega CD version received mostly positive reviews for its cinematic presentation and mature themes uncommon in games at the time. "Snatcher" has been retrospectively acclaimed as both one of the best adventure and cyberpunk games of all time, and identified as a foundation for the themes Kojima explored later in the "Metal Gear" series. The game was a significant inspiration on Goichi Suda, who worked with Kojima to produce a radio drama prequel, "Sdatcher". "Snatcher" was last rereleased in 1996 on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Its lack of availability on modern platforms has surprised industry analysts, given the game's legacy.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" is a graphic adventure game with visual novel elements. The player controls Gillian Seed as he investigates and hunts "Snatchers", dangerous humanoid robots disguised as humans roaming Neo Kobe City. The game's visuals are static images with some animations that display at the top of the screen. There is no point-and-click interface, with all actions made through a text menu with commands such as move, look, and investigate. The game's puzzles and dialogue trees are simple, lending to an emphasis on linear storytelling. Sometimes character panels are shown below the main graphics window during conversations to convey their facial expressions.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The game allows exploration of a semi-open world. There are a handful of action segments where the player shoots at enemies dispersed across a 3x3 grid. The Sega CD version supports the Justifier light gun packaged with "Lethal Enforcers" for these segments.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" is set in the mid-21st century, fifty years after a biological weapon known as Lucifer-Alpha killed much of the world's population. In Neo Kobe City, a metropolis on an artificial island in eastern Asia, humanoid robots dubbed "Snatchers" have been recently discovered killing humans, donning their skin as a disguise, and replacing them in society. The Neo Kobe government quarantines the city from the outside world and establishes JUNKER, a task force to hunt Snatchers. The player takes on the role of Gillian Seed (Yusaku Yara/Jeff Lupetin), an amnesiac who can only remember that his past, along with that of his estranged wife Jamie (Kikuko Inoue/Susan Mele), is somehow related to Snatchers. He starts working at JUNKER in hopes that hunting Snatchers will bring his past to light.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: After arriving at the JUNKER headquarters, Gillian Seed meets Mika Slayton (Miina Tominaga/Kimberly Harne) and Chief Benson Cunningham (Gorō Naya/Ray Van Steen), and receives a robot navigator named "Metal Gear Mk. II" (Mami Koyama/Lucy Childs) from JUNKER's engineer Harry Benson (Ryūji Saikachi/Ray Van Steen). Metal Gear receives a distress call from Jean-Jack Gibson (Isao Inoguchi/Jim Parks), the only other JUNKER agent, so Gillian travels there with Metal Gear, only to find a pair of Snatchers have killed him. They try to pursue the Snatchers, but are forced to make a quick escape as the factory explodes. Gillian begins searching for the identity of the Snatchers that murdered Jean-Jack, and after searching his house with the help of his daughter Katrina (Miina Tominaga/Lynn Foosaner) and speaking with his informant "Napoleon" (Gorō Naya/Jim Parks), Gillian identifies a pair of suspects. When hunting down the Snatchers, he is nearly killed but is saved by Random Hajile (Kaneto Shiozawa/Ray Van Steen), a Snatcher bounty hunter. Random joins Gillian and Metal Gear as they travel to a hospital Jean-Jack identified as suspicious during his investigation. They learn it has been abandoned for several years and harbors a secret basement where they find skeletons of Snatcher victims. Among them, they find Chief Cunningham, meaning the JUNKER chief is a Snatcher. Some Snatchers attack the group, but Random distracts them to allow Gillian and Metal Gear to escape. Back at JUNKER headquarters, Gillian speaks to Harry briefly before he dies, having been mortally wounded by the Chief, and kills the Chief after Mika is taken hostage. Immediately after this, Gillian receives a call from Jamie, telling him she has regained her memories and is being held in the "Kremlin".


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Gillian and Metal Gear travel to an abandoned church resembling the Kremlin, where they find Jamie being held captive by a scientist named Elijah Modnar (Kaneto Shiozawa/Ray Van Steen), who explains Gillian's past. He, his father and Jamie were involved in a secret experiment undertaken by the Soviet Union over 50 years prior during the Cold War to create Snatchers, which were designed to kill and replace world leaders, giving the Soviets more power. Gillian was a CIA agent spying on the project, who married Jamie and had a child with her, Harry Benson. Gillian and Jamie were placed in a cryogenic sleep when Elijah released Lucifer-Alpha into the atmosphere. The pair were saved by the army, and lost their memories due to the extended period of time they had been frozen. Having become corrupt with power, Elijah reveals that he intends for the Snatchers to wipe out and replace humanity as proof of mankind's follies; he also reveals that Random was an anti-Snatcher created by his late father based on Elijah's appearance and memories, and presents his deactivated body. At this point, Random reactivates and holds Elijah at bay, allowing Gillian and Jamie to escape. Metal Gear activates an orbital weapon, which destroys the Snatcher base, killing Elijah and Random. Having learned of a larger Snatcher factory in Moscow, Gillian prepares to embark on a mission there, hoping to destroy the menace and rekindle his marriage with Jamie.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" was created by Hideo Kojima, working for Konami. Heavily influenced by "Blade Runner" (1982) and other works of cinema, he wanted to develop a game with a similar style. The game was pitched as a "cyberpunk adventure". Kojima found it difficult to explain the meaning of "cyberpunk" to Konami's trademark department over the phone. The game was originally titled "Junker", but the name sounded too similar to an existing mahjong game. The title "New Order" was also considered. Kojima did not like the final name because his previous game, "Metal Gear" (1987), was also named after an enemy in the game.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Development began between Kojima and character designer Tomiharu Kinoshita, who both treated the project like making a film or anime rather than a game. They expanded to form a small team at Konami, about half the size needed for a typical Famicom game, which allowed them to work closely and quickly. The game is filled with science fiction culture references that skirt copyright laws. Kojima told Kinoshita to style the characters similar to Katsuhiro Otomo's characters in his manga "Akira" (1982-1990). The team never aimed for the game to have a mature atmosphere, but it naturally progressed in that direction. In addition to fourth wall breaking dialogue in the game, Kojima wanted to print a secret message and heat-activated scent on the floppy disks that could be noticed after warming them up in the disk drive, but Konami did not approve of this idea.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The development of the original versions of "Snatcher" lasted around 18 months. Originally Kojima planned the story in five acts, but was forced to trim them down to two due to memory constraints, ending the story in a cliffhanger. Plans for a sequel that would've contained the third through fifth act and an additional one were scrapped due to the prolonged development of the first installment. Development took about two to three times longer than the average game. Difficulties with memory constraints prompted the staff to take a break during development, at which time Kojima began to explore concepts for his later game "Policenauts" (1994).


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Originally "Snatcher" was going to be a PC-8801 exclusive, but it was also developed for the MSX2 at the request of Konami. The PC-8801 version supports FM and stereo sounds via the Sound Board II expansion card while the MSX2 version came with a special cartridge that provided an expanded soundscape beyond the platform's default capabilities and extra RAM, featuring different music track arrangements. The expansion cartridge raised the price of the MSX2 version beyond that of the PC-8801 version, a reverse from the platform's typically cheaper retail game pricing. The quantity of music and sound was greater than other games at the time, and required a larger than usual sound team. Because neither platform was capable of accurately synthesizing speech, sound effects were used to represent character dialogue.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Players began asking for a home console version soon after release. Because the game was large and required several floppy disks, only CD-ROM systems were considered as opposed to systems that ran ROM cartridges. The PC Engine had the Super CD-ROM² System available so it was chosen to host "Snatcher"'s console port. Fully titled "Snatcher CD-ROMantic", this port was the first time that Konami worked with CD technology.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The team added a third act to this version, based on the extended story featured in the 1990 RPG adaptation "SD Snatcher", a decision they were criticized internally for as others believed the game was already long enough. Using CD technology enabled them to add recorded speech and high quality background music. Artist Satoshi Yoshioka created the graphics for this version. Kojima wanted the visuals to appear as "cinematic" as possible, so Yoshioka pulled inspiration from "Blade Runner", "The Terminator" (1984), and "Alien" (1979) to replicate their Hollywood-style special effects. He used a custom drawing application by Konami to create the character graphics, including the facial expressions during conversations. He found Gillian's expressions to be the most difficult to animate due to the complexities of his characterization.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: A trial version called the "Pilot Disk" was released on August 7, 1992. It covers the beginning of the first act and also contains supplemental content such as character introductions, a preview trailer, and select music tracks. The full version was released on October 23, 1992 and reportedly sold well for a PC Engine game.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: After releasing its first game on the Sega CD, "Lethal Enforcers" (1992), Konami wanted to bring a more interactive experience to the system for Western players. It considered making a game in full motion video like "Night Trap" (1992) but thought it may be too difficult, and ultimately decided to localize and port "Snatcher". This also gave the "Snatcher" developers an opportunity to improve upon the PC Engine version which they were still not completely satisfied with. Although the Sega CD could only display 64 colors simultaneously (compared to the PC Engine's 256), the team used software techniques to increase this to 112 and modified some of the palettes to compromise.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Several scenes were censored or otherwise altered for the Sega CD release. The breasts of the deceased Lisa Nielsen Snatcher were covered up, while the sequence in which Katrina Gibson is shown standing naked in a shower was obscured, and Katrina's age was changed from 14 to 18. Some options that allowed Gillian to engage in sexual behaviors were removed or toned down, such as those that allowed him to sniff panties or stare at breasts. Audio in which a robot becomes aroused while watching a pornographic film was cut out entirely. The violence was not altered, except for one scene where a partially dead dog with twitching innards was made completely dead with no twitching. Fearing copyright issues in the United States, the clientele in a bar was changed from Kamen Rider, the Alien, and other characters to Konami characters. Feeling that the third act was too movie-like, Konami added more interactivity through additional forks and choices. Additionally, the player is now graded on how well they solved the mysteries. Dates of events in the game were also moved up five years to still occur in the near future to compensate for the late release.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The game was translated by Scott Hards, with supervision from Jeremy Blaustein and Konami of Japan. The translation took about two to three months. Seven voice actors recorded about two and a half hours of dialogue for 26 different characters. With the large amount of text included in the game, the translation was expensive, and Konami felt it was the most difficult part of the porting process. Kojima was not involved with the Sega CD port and the changes to the game's content and story were made without his input.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" was released in December 1994 in Europe and January 1995 in North America. According to Blaustein, it only sold a couple thousand copies in the United States and was ultimately a commercial failure. Its poor sales have been attributed to its late release during the Sega CD's lifespan.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" was released once again in Japan in 1996, this time for 32-bit game consoles. A PlayStation version was released on January 26, followed by a Sega Saturn version on March 29. That same year, "VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine" reported that a 64DD port was planned.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The PC-8801 and MSX2 versions received positive reviews in Japan and attained a cult following, but were not commercially successful. The PC Engine version also attained a following in Japan in part because of its gore. "Famicom Tsushin" gave it a 33 out of 40, commending its cinematic quality. The game was still listed on its "Reader's Best 20" list two years after release. "Sega Saturn Magazine" found the Sega Saturn version a faithful port of the PC Engine version.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: When "Snatcher" arrived to the West on the Sega CD, it received praise for its story, cinematic presentation, and mature themes. It was more cinematic and told a more mature story than gamers were familiar with at the time. "Mean Machines Sega" felt "Snatcher" was more substantial than other adventure games, calling it "one of the most involved storyboards and backgrounds of any video game". The game's writing was generally lauded, but "VideoGames" and "Game Players" felt its juvenile humor sometimes conflicted from its otherwise serious tone. A reviewer at "GameFan" called it "one of the longest, most involving games" he had played in a long time. He wrote: "Never before have I played – nay experienced – a game this moving, dramatic, gore-riddled, MA-17, adult". The magazine praised Konami for retaining most of the mature content. The reviewers of "Games World" magazine praised the game for having a "gripping" and "engrossing" storyline. "Computer and Video Games" said it was "one of the most compelling role playing games" with an "engrossing" story that is clever, "well put together, atmospheric and sometimes genuinely funny," while comparing it favorably to 1980s science fiction films and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994).


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Mean Machines Sega" believed "Snatcher"'s presentation was heightened through the use of CD-ROM technology, which supported the digitized voices and high quality graphics. Some critics praised the English voice acting and writing, though "Next Generation" thought Konami could have contracted better actors. Dave Perry of "Games World" said the "Japanese animé graphics coupled with crisp game speech bring to life an RPG adventure with an edge." Other magazines also discussed the graphics in a positive light, although the graphics were criticized by "Computer and Video Games" as "dated" and "VideoGames" as "generic". "GamePro" liked the Japanese anime style graphics and felt that combined with the writing, it drew players into the story. However, its reviewer criticized the music, calling it "old-fashioned for a cyberpunk adventure", while "Mean Machines Sega" compared it positively to John Carpenter-style incidental themes.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Critics felt the game was slow moving at times, but rewarded patient players. "GamePro" wrote that it rewards "patience, persistence, and plodding". Dave Perry of "Games World" said interaction "is varied and there are enough options to prevent it from being too linear." "Ultimate Future Games", however, felt the game was too linear, and leaned too heavily on the illusion of choice when the story could only be advanced by completing tasks in a certain order. "Mean Machines Sega" felt the puzzles were challenging and the game was considerably longer and more substantial than "Rise of the Dragon" (1990), another cyberpunk adventure game. "Computer and Video Games" felt the gun shooting sections were weak and disappointing.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" has been called one of the best adventure games and best cyberpunk games of all time. In 1997, "Electronic Gaming Monthly" ranked the Sega CD version the 69th best console video game of all time on the sole basis of the game's story content, remarking that "not many people have played it, but almost everyone knows of its grisly story line." It has continued to receive praise for its story and presentation. "Waypoint" wrote that its narrative and visuals hold up, in contrast to most Sega CD and cyberpunk adventure games. "Kotaku" called it a "science fiction cornucopia" and liked how the game explored topics of human existence and the fear of machines replacing humans. It felt the game was heavily influenced by science fiction films including "Blade Runner", "The Terminator", "Akira", and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). Other publications also picked up on these inspirations, especially that from "Blade Runner". "Retro Gamer" felt it was ironic how the game was more cinematic than games using full motion video. "Destructoid" enjoyed the plot, but complained about the interface. "AllGame" wrote that text-based menu driven games like "Snatcher" can become tedious, but felt the storyline and graphics made "Snatcher" worth its time.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: Critics have discussed "Snatcher" as setting the stage for Kojima's later works. "1UP.com" felt the game demonstrated his love for film and was "more of a cerebral affair than some of [his] other efforts, but his ingenuity and attention to detail helped make this game especially noteworthy". "Game Informer" wrote that "Snatcher" foreshadowed Kojima's use of science fiction to explore philosophy, sex, and the human condition in "Metal Gear Solid". "Snatcher" remains one of Kojima's most renowned games, but is often overshadowed by the "Metal Gear Solid" series.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The game has obtained a cult following. It has been an influence on other science fiction works, including Project Itoh's novel "Genocidal Organ", and the 2015 adventure game "". Kojima has expressed interest in reviving "Snatcher" in some capacity, and has explained he does not have the time to work on the project himself but would welcome another director to lead it. According to him, such a project has never been feasible from a business perspective, and in 2011, said that a sequel would need to sell over half a million copies to make sense financially. Kojima left Konami in 2015, and the game remains a property of the company, which has not expressed interest in reviving it, either through a rerelease or sequel.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: The game's lack of availability on modern platforms has surprised critics. Some believed it would play well on a Nintendo DS or 3DS, following the footsteps of successful graphic adventures on those platforms like "" and "". The Sega CD version remains the sole release in Western territories. Demand has driven up the prices on these copies on the secondary market, making emulation a more reasonable option for most players. Japanese copies are far cheaper but the game's text-based nature makes it difficult for non-Japanese readers. The PC Engine version is included in the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, but only in the original Japanese. Fans have experimented with porting the game to other systems. A demo of an early part of the game was made for the Virtual Boy in 2015, complete with stereoscopic 3D effects and PCM music. Another fan experimented with porting it to the Dreamcast with a remixed soundtrack and retouched visuals.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" was the first translation project for Jeremy Blaustein, who went on to translate Kojima's "Metal Gear Solid" (1998). Blaustein launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for a steampunk adventure game titled "Blackmore" in 2014. The game was to be directed by Blaustein with former "Snatcher" staff making up other parts of the team. It did not meet its funding goal.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "Snatcher" was remade into a role-playing game called "SD Snatcher" for the MSX2, released in 1990."" "SD" stands for "super deformed" in Japanese media, another way to reference chibi character designs. The game plays from a top-down perspective, where the player controls Gillian as he ventures through the environment. When the player encounters an enemy on the field, the game shifts to a first-person battle mode. The player must shoot down enemies using one of many different guns. Different parts of an enemy can be targeted and different weapons have varying abilities and ranges. Like the MSX2 version of "Snatcher", "SD Snatcher" consisted of three floppy disks with game data and a sound cartridge equipped the SCC chip.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: "SD Snatcher" was developed by Konami due to the company's desire to create an RPG in an unusual futuristic setting, choosing to adapt the story and setting of "Snatcher" for such a game. While the original versions of "Snatcher" released in 1988 ended the story in an inconclusive matter due to the cancellation of the planned sequel, "SD Snatcher" adds an additional segment that continues the story from where the prior version left off (this added portion served as the basis for the third act added in later console ports of the original "Snatcher"). Initially Hideo Kojima was not involved with the development of "SD Snatcher", as he was busy with "" at the time, but he and his team were brought in during the late stages of development to help complete "SD Snatcher" smoothly so they could resume development of "Solid Snake". It was translated by the Dutch-based group Oasis in 1993, making it one of the earliest documented fan translations.


title: Snatcher (video game)

text: An episodic radio drama prequel, "Sdatcher", was released in 2011 through a collaboration between Kojima and game designer Goichi Suda. Suda credited "Snatcher", along with works by Yu Suzuki, for igniting his interest in video games. He asked Kojima if he wanted to make a new game together, and the project led to a radio drama. It was announced in 2007. The script was written by Suda, and the music was composed by Akira Yamaoka, who worked for Suda in his Grasshopper Manufacture studio and worked on the "Silent Hill" series. Original "Snatcher" artist Satoshi Yoshioka did promotional illustrations. The first act was released in September 2011 with new acts released every other week through November that year. It was distributed for free and later sold on CDs. It was later translated by fans.


title: Jakes Bejoy

text: Jakes Bejoy (born 27 May 1984) is an Indian film score composer, music producer, and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, but has also worked in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages.


title: Jakes Bejoy

text: He started his film musical career as a singer, in the 2012 film "Second Show", directed by Srinath Rajendran, starring Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role. "Angels" (2014) was his debut film as a music director.


title: Jakes Bejoy

text: Jakes Bejoy is trained in Carnatic music, and was introduced to gospel and western music during his time at Montfort School, Yercaud. He has an engineering degree from Rajagiri School of Engineering & Technology (Autonomous), and a master's degree in Music Science and Technology from Stanford University, USA.


title: Jakes Bejoy

text: After graduating in 2010, he was a music intern at Activision Blizzard and Namco Bandai, working on the Guitar Hero series, Splatterhouse, and Pacman. He also worked with the audio team at The Walt Disney Company on video games including "Cars", "Brave", and "Toy Story 3".


title: Jakes Bejoy

text: In 2007, he released the album "Malayalee", subsequently moving back to India. He went on to compose music for short films and advertisement jingles. He has written the music score for movies such as "Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, Ranam, Queen", "Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil" and "Monsoon Mangoes". "Taxiwala" starring Vijay Devarakonda was his debut in Telugu.


title: Connie Mack

text: Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untouchable records for wins (3,731), losses (3,948), and games managed (7,755). Mack's victory total is 829 more than the second highest total, 2,902 wins by Tony La Russa. Mack's lead in career losses is even greater, 1,433 higher than the second highest total, La Russa's 2,515.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for the club's first 50 seasons of play, starting in 1901, before retiring at age 87 following the 1950 season, and was at least part-owner from 1901 to 1954. He was the first American League manager to lead a team to 100 wins, doing so in 1910, 1911, 1929, 1930, and 1931; his five 100-win seasons are second most in MLB history, with only two other managers surpassing him. He was the first manager to win the World Series three times, and he is the only manager to win consecutive Series on separate occasions (1910–11, 1929–30); his five Series titles remain the third most by any manager, and his nine American League pennants rank second in league history. However, constant financial struggles forced repeated rebuilding of the roster, and Mack's teams also finished in last place 17 times. Mack was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack was born Cornelius McGillicuddy in Brookfield, Massachusetts, in what is now East Brookfield on December 22, 1862. He did not have a middle name, but many accounts erroneously give him the middle name "Alexander"; this error probably arose because his son Cornelius McGillicuddy Jr. took Alexander as his confirmation name. As with many Irish immigrants whose names began with "Mc", the McGillicuddys were often referred to as "Mack", except for official and legal documents. His parents, Michael McGillicuddy and Mary McKillop, were both immigrants from Ireland. Michael McGillicuddy's father was named Cornelius McGillicuddy, and by tradition, the family named at least one son in each generation Cornelius. "Connie" is a common nickname for Cornelius, so Cornelius McGillicuddy was called "Connie Mack" from an early age. Connie Mack never legally changed his name; on the occasion of his second marriage at age 48, he signed the wedding register as "Cornelius McGillicuddy". His nickname on the baseball field was "Slats", for his height of 6 feet 2 inches and thin build.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack's father became a wheelwright. During the American Civil War, he served with the 51st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Michael McGillicuddy suffered from several ailments as the result of his military service; he was able to work only infrequently and drew a disability pension.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack was educated in East Brookfield, and began working summers in local cotton mills at age 9 to help support his family. He quit school after completing the eighth grade at age 14, intending to work full-time to contribute to the family's support, as several of his siblings had done. He clerked at a store, worked on local farms, and worked on the production lines of the shoe factories in nearby towns.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack was also a good athlete and frequently played baseball and some of its predecessor games with local players in East Brookfield. In 1879 his skills landed him a place on East Brookfield's town team, which played other town teams in the area. Though younger than his teammates by several years, Mack was the team's catcher and "de facto" captain.


title: Connie Mack

text: Beginning in 1886, Mack played 10 seasons in the National League and one in the Players' League, for a total of 11 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely as a catcher.


title: Connie Mack

text: Beginning in 1884, he played on minor league teams in the Connecticut cities of Meriden and Hartford before being sold to the Washington Nationals (sometimes called the Statesmen or the Senators) of the National League in 1886. In the winter of 1889, he jumped to the Buffalo Bisons of the new Players' League, investing his entire life savings of $500 in shares in the club. But the Players' League went out of business after only a year, and Mack lost his job and his whole investment. In December 1890 Mack signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League and remained with them for the rest of his career as a full-time player.


title: Connie Mack

text: As a player, Mack was "a light-hitting catcher with a reputation as a smart player, but didn't do anything particularly well as a player."


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack was one of the first catchers to position himself directly behind home plate instead of in front of the backstop. According to Wilbert Robinson, "Mack never was mean ... [but] if you had any soft spot, Connie would find it. He could do and say things that got more under your skin than the cuss words used by other catchers."


title: Connie Mack

text: In addition to verbally needling batters to distract them, he developed skills such as blocking the plate to prevent base runners from scoring and faking the sound of a foul tip. (He was probably responsible for the 1891 rule change requiring that a batter must have two strikes against him in order to be called out if the catcher caught a foul tip.) Besides tipping bats to fake the sound of a foul tip, Mack became adept at tipping bats to throw off the hitter's swing. ("Tipping" a bat is to brush it with the catcher's mitt as the batter swings, either delaying the swing or putting it off course, so that the batter misses the ball or doesn't hit it solidly. If the umpire is aware that a bat has been tipped, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he calls catcher's interference.) Mack never denied such tricks:


title: Connie Mack

text: Farmer Weaver was a catcher-outfielder for Louisville. I tipped his bat several times when he had two strikes on him one year, and each time the umpire called him out. He got even, though. One time there were two strikes on him and he swung as the pitch was coming in. But he didn't swing at the ball. He swung right at my wrists. Sometimes I think I can still feel the pain. I'll tell you I didn't tip his bat again. No, sir, not until the last game of the season and Weaver was at bat for the last time. When he had two strikes, I tipped his bat again and got away with it.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack's last three seasons in the National League were as a player-manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1894 to 1896, with a 149–134 (.527) record. Fired on September 21, 1896, he retired as a full-time player and accepted a deal from Henry Killilea to act as manager and occasional backup catcher for the minor league Milwaukee Brewers. He agreed to a salary of $3,000 () and 25% of the club. He managed the Brewers for four seasons from 1897 to 1900, their best year coming in 1900, when they finished second. It was in Milwaukee that he first signed pitcher Rube Waddell, who would follow him to the big leagues.


title: Connie Mack

text: In 1901 Mack became manager, treasurer and part owner of the new American League's Philadelphia Athletics. He managed the Athletics through the 1950 season, compiling a record of 3,582–3,814 (.484) when he retired at 87. Mack won nine pennants and appeared in eight World Series, winning five.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack's 50-year tenure as Athletics manager is the most ever for a coach or manager with the same team in North American professional sports, and has never been seriously threatened. A few college coaches had longer tenures: John Gagliardi was a head football coach from 1949 to 2012, ending with 60 seasons at Saint John's of Minnesota; Eddie Robinson was head football coach at Grambling State for 57 seasons, from 1941 (when it was known as the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute) to 1997; and the 2020–21 season would have been the 54th for Herb Magee as head men's basketball coach of the institution now known as Jefferson (1967–present) had the school not canceled that season due to COVID-19 concerns. Joe Paterno, with 62 seasons as a college football coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions also surpassed Mack, although Paterno was head coach in only 46 of those years. College football pioneer Amos Alonzo Stagg also surpassed Mack in overall tenure, though not in tenure for a single employer; he was a head coach for 55 seasons in all (1892–1946), with the first 41 at Chicago (1892–1932).


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack was widely praised in the newspapers for his intelligent and innovative managing, which earned him the nickname "the Tall Tactician". He valued intelligence and "baseball smarts," always looking for educated players. (He traded away Shoeless Joe Jackson despite his talent because of his bad attitude and unintelligent play.) "Better than any other manager, Mack understood and promoted intelligence as an element of excellence." He wanted men who were self-directed, self-disciplined and self-motivated; his ideal player was Eddie Collins. According to baseball historian Bill James, Mack was well ahead of his time in having numerous college players on his teams. Several of his players went on to become well-respected college coaches. Jack Coombs, the ace of Mack's 1910-11 champions, became the longtime coach at Duke. Andy Coakley, who won 20 games for Mack's 1905 pennant winners, coached for over 30 years at Columbia, where he was the college coach for Lou Gehrig. Dick Siebert, longtime coach at Minnesota, played for Mack from 1938 to 1945. James believed that Mack's influence on the game, as great as it was, would have been even greater had the college game been more popular during the 1920s and 1930s, when Mack was at his peak.


title: Connie Mack

text: According to James, Mack looked for seven things in his players--"physical ability, intelligence, courage, disposition, will power, general alertness and personal habits."


title: Connie Mack

text: As a result of Mack's striving to have his players become better people as well as baseball players, he created a Code of Conduct following the 1916 season:


title: Connie Mack

text: He also looked for players with quiet and disciplined personal lives, having seen many players in his playing days destroy themselves and their teams through heavy drinking. Mack himself never drank; before the 1910 World Series he asked all his players to "take the pledge" not to drink during the Series. When Topsy Hartsel told Mack he needed a drink the night before the final game, Mack told him to do what he thought best, but in these circumstances "if it was me, I'd die before I took a drink."


title: Connie Mack

text: In any event, his managerial style was not tyrannical but easygoing. He never imposed curfews or bed checks, and made the best of what he had. Rube Waddell was the best pitcher and biggest gate attraction of Mack's first decade as the A's manager, so he put up with his drinking and general unreliability for years, until it began to bring the team down and the other players asked Mack to get rid of Waddell.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack's strength as a manager was finding the best players, teaching them well and letting them play. "He did not believe that baseball revolved around managerial strategy." He was "one of the first managers to work on repositioning his fielders" during the game, often directing the outfielders to move left or right, play shallow or deep, by waving his rolled-up scorecard from the bench. After he became well known for doing this, he often passed his instructions to the fielders by way of other players, and simply waved his scorecard as a feint.


title: Connie Mack

text: James summed up Mack's managerial approach as follows: he favored a set lineup, did not generally platoon hitters; preferred young players to veterans and power hitters to those with high batting averages; did not often pinch-hit, use his bench players or sacrifice much (even so, the A's led the league in sacrifice bunts in 1909, 1911 and 1914); believed in "big-inning" offense rather than small ball; and very rarely issued an intentional walk.


title: Connie Mack

text: Over the course of his career, he had nine pennant-winning teams spanning three peak periods or "dynasties." His original team, with players such as Rube Waddell, Ossee Schrecongost, and Eddie Plank, won the pennant in 1902 (when there was no World Series) and 1905. They lost the 1905 World Series to the New York Giants (four games to one, all shutouts, with Christy Mathewson hurling three shutouts for a record 27 scoreless innings in one World Series). During that season, Giants manager John McGraw said that Mack had "a big white elephant on his hands" with the Athletics. Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team's logo, which the Athletics still use today.


title: Connie Mack

text: As that first team aged, Mack acquired a core of young players to form his second great team, which featured Mack's famous "$100,000 infield" of Eddie Collins, Home Run Baker, Jack Barry and Stuffy McInnis. These Athletics, captained by catcher Ira Thomas, won the pennant in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914, beating the Cubs in the World Series in 1910 and the Giants in 1911 and 1913, but losing in 1914 in four straight games to the "Miracle" Boston Braves, who had come from last place in late July to win the National League pennant by games over the Giants.


title: Connie Mack

text: That team was dispersed due to financial problems, from which Mack did not recover until the 20s, when he built his third great team. The 1927 Athletics featured several future Hall of Fame players including veterans Ty Cobb, Zack Wheat and Eddie Collins as well as young stars like Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove, Al Simmons and rookie Jimmie Foxx. That team won the pennant in 1929, 1930 and 1931, beating the Chicago Cubs in the 1929 World Series (when they came from 8–0 behind in Game 4, plating a Series record ten runs in the seventh inning and winning the game, 10–8, and then from two runs down in the bottom of the ninth in Game 5 for a walk-off Series win) and easily defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in 1930. The following year, St. Louis beat the A's in seven games led by Pepper Martin.


title: Connie Mack

text: That team was dispersed after 1932 when Mack ran into financial difficulty again. By 1934, the A's had fallen into the second division. Although Mack intended to rebuild for a third time, he would never win another pennant. The Athletics' record from 1935 to 1946 was dismal, finishing in the basement of the AL every year except a 5th-place finish in 1944. World War II brought further hardship due to personnel shortages.


title: Connie Mack

text: In 1938, Mack in his middle seventies successfully battled a blood infection caused when a batted ball injured one of his shinbones. He stopped for treatment at the Medical and Surgical Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, where he was in passage on a train.


title: Connie Mack

text: In addition, as Mack entered his 80s, his once-keen mind began fading rapidly. Mack would make strange decisions (which his coaches and players usually overruled), make inexplicable outbursts, and call for players from decades earlier to pinch-hit. He spent most games asleep in the dugout, leaving his coaches to run the team most of the time.


title: Connie Mack

text: According to outfielder Sam Chapman, "He could remember the old-timers, but he had a hard time remembering the names of the current players." Shortstop Eddie Joost said "He wasn't senile, but there were lapses." Despite growing speculation he would step down, Mack brushed it all off and stated simply that he would keep managing as long as he was physically able to do so.


title: Connie Mack

text: According to Bill James, by the time Mack recovered again financially, he was "old and out of touch with the game, so his career ends with eighteen years of miserable baseball." It was generally agreed that he stayed in the game too long, hurting his legacy. He was unable to handle the post-World War II changes in baseball, including the growing commercialization of the game. His business style was no longer viable in post-World War II America due to various factors, including the increased expense of running a team. For instance, he never installed a telephone line between the bullpen and dugout.


title: Connie Mack

text: Despite the circumstances, the octogenarian Mack led the team to three winning seasons in 1947–49 (including a fourth-place finish in 1948). With the A's unexpected resurgence in 1947–49, there was hope that 1950—Mack's 50th anniversary as A's manager—would bring a pennant at last. However, the A's never recovered from a dreadful May in which they only won five games. By May 26, the A's were 11–21, 12 games out of first, and it was obvious the season was a lost cause. On that date, his sons Earle, Roy and Connie, Jr. persuaded their father to promote Jimmy Dykes, who had been a coach since 1949, to assistant manager for the remainder of the season. Dykes became the team's main operator in the dugout, and would take over the managerial reins in his own right in 1951. At the same time, Cochrane was named general manager—thus stripping Connie, Sr. of his remaining authority. Six weeks after his mid-season retirement, Mack was honored by baseball when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the 1950 All-Star Game.


title: Connie Mack

text: Toward the end he was old and sick and saddened, a figure of forlorn dignity bewildered by the bickering around him as the baseball monument that he had built crumbled away."


title: Connie Mack

text: The American League's white knight, Charles Somers, provided the seed money to start the Athletics and several other American League teams. However, plans called for local interests to buy out Somers as soon as possible. To that end, Mack persuaded sporting goods manufacturer Ben Shibe, a minority owner of the rival Philadelphia Phillies, to buy a 50 percent stake in the team—an offer sweetened by Mack's promise that Shibe would have the exclusive right to make baseballs for the American League. In return, Mack was allowed to buy a 25 percent stake, and was named secretary and treasurer of the team. Two local sports writers, Frank Hough and Sam Jones, bought the remaining 25 percent, but their involvement was not mentioned in the incorporating papers; in fact, no agreement was put on paper until 1902. Mack and Shibe did business on a handshake.


title: Connie Mack

text: In 1913, Hough and Jones sold their 25 percent to Mack, making him a full partner in the club with Shibe; Mack actually borrowed the money for the purchase from Shibe. Under their agreement, Mack had full control over baseball matters while Shibe handled the business side. However, Mack had enjoyed more or less a free hand over the baseball side since the team's inception. When Shibe died in 1922, his sons Tom and John took over management of the business side, with Tom as team president and John as vice president. Tom died in 1936, and John resigned shortly thereafter, leaving Mack to take over the presidency. John Shibe died in 1937, and Mack bought 141 shares from his estate, enough to make him majority owner of the A's. However, he had been operating head of the franchise since Ben Shibe's death. Such an arrangement is no longer possible in current times, as major-league rules do not allow a coach or manager to own "any" financial interest in a club.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack's great strength as an owner was his huge network of baseball friends, all of whom acted as scouts and "bird-dogs" for him, finding talented players and alerting Mack. "Mack was better at that game than anybody else in the world. People liked Mack, respected him, and trusted him. ... Mack answered every letter and listened patiently to every sales job, and ... he got players for that reason."


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack saw baseball as a business, and recognized that economic necessity drove the game. He explained to his cousin, Art Dempsey, that "The best thing for a team financially is to be in the running and finish second. If you win, the players all expect raises." This was one reason he was constantly collecting players, signing almost anyone to a ten-day contract to assess his talent; he was looking ahead to future seasons when his veterans would either retire or hold out for bigger salaries than Mack could give them.


title: Connie Mack

text: Unlike most baseball owners, Mack had almost no income apart from the A's. Even when he collected rent from the Phillies, he was often in financial difficulties. Money problems—the escalation of his best players' salaries (due both to their success and to competition from a new, well-financed third major league of the Federal League in 1914–1915), combined with a steep drop in attendance due to World War I—led to the gradual dispersal of his second championship team, the 1910–1914 team, who he sold, traded, or released over the years 1915–1917. The war hurt the team badly, leaving Mack without the resources to sign valuable players. His 1916 team, with a 36–117 record, is often considered the worst team in American League history, and its .235 winning percentage is still the lowest ever for a modern-era (since 1900) major league team. The team's 117 losses set a modern era record and at the time was the second most losses behind the Cleveland Spiders' 130 in 1899. As of 2012 that record has been topped only twice, with the 1962 New York Mets breaking that record with 120 losses in their inaugural season and the 2003 Detroit Tigers surpassing it with 119 although those teams played 162 game schedules, not 154 like the Athletics. All told, the A's finished dead last in the AL seven years in a row from 1915 to 1921, and would not reach .500 again until 1925. The rebuilt team won back-to-back championships in 1929–1930 over the Cubs and Cardinals, and then lost a rematch with the latter in 1931. As it turned out, these were the last postseason appearances for the A's not only in Philadelphia, but for another four decades. Unlike with the breakup of his second great team, the A's didn't tumble out of contention right away. They remained fairly competitive for most of the first half of the 1930s. However, after 1933, they would only tally four more winning seasons during their stay in Philadelphia—which would be the franchise's only winning seasons for 35 years.


title: Connie Mack

text: With the 1929 onset of the Great Depression, Mack struggled financially again, and was forced to sell the best players from his second great championship team, such as Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx, to stay in business.


title: Connie Mack

text: Although Mack wanted to rebuild again and win more championships, he was never able to do so owing to a lack of funds. Even before then, he either did not (or could not) invest in a farm system. Mack celebrated his 70th birthday in 1932, and many began wondering if his best days were behind him. Even as bad as the A's got during the next two decades, he stubbornly retained full control over baseball matters long after most teams had hired a general manager. This continued even after he became majority owner, despite calls both inside and outside Philadelphia to step down. Indeed, one of the few times that Mack considered giving up even some of his duties was in the 1934-35 offseason—when the A's were still not far removed from what would be their last great era. He briefly entertained replacing himself as manager with Babe Ruth, but ruled that idea out, saying that the Babe's wife, Claire, would be running the team inside of a month.


title: Connie Mack

text: In the early 1940s, Mack gave a minority stake in the team to his three sons, Roy, Earle, and Connie, Jr. Although Roy and Earle had never gotten along with Connie, Jr., who was more than 20 years younger than them, Connie, Sr. intended to have all three of them inherit the team after his death or retirement. This strategy backfired when Roy and Earle refused to consider Connie, Jr.'s demands to end the team's bargain-basement way of doing business. One of the few things on which they agreed was that it was time for their father to step down. Connie, Jr. was only able to force through other minor improvements to the team and the rapidly crumbling Shibe Park through an alliance with the Shibe heirs. When it became apparent that his older brothers weren't willing to go further, Connie, Jr. and the Shibes decided to sell the team. However, Roy and Earle countered by buying out their younger brother, persuading their father to support them. In order to pull off the deal, however, they mortgaged the team to the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now part of CIGNA). Yearly payments of $200,000 drained the team of badly needed capital, and ended any realistic chance of the A's winning again under the Macks' stewardship.


title: Connie Mack

text: When Mack resigned as manager, he largely withdrew from active control of the team. Over the next five years, the team crumbled to the bottom of the American League. Although reduced to a figurehead, Mack continued to be treated with awe and reverence by players who considered him living history. His sons handled his correspondence by 1953 as he had become too frail by that point to do it himself.


title: Connie Mack

text: As that year ended, the A's were dangerously close to bankruptcy. The other American League owners had been concerned for some time about the situation in Philadelphia, since the crowds at Shibe Park had dwindled to the point that visiting teams couldn't meet their expenses for traveling there. Prior in 1951, Buffalo based businessman and Sportservice owner Louis Jacobs gave Mack a loan of $250,000.00 with no interest to keep the Athletics from having financial difficulty. The 1954 A's attracted only 304,000 people, nowhere near enough to break even. The other owners, as well as league president Will Harridge, wanted the Athletics sold off to a new owner. The Yankees in particular lobbied for it to be Chicago businessman Arnold Johnson (1906-1960), who had recently bought both Yankee Stadium as well as Blues Stadium in Kansas City, home to the Yankees' top Triple AAA farm team in the second American Association. Roy and Earle Mack did not want to move the team, but pressure from the Yankees and blowback from several bad business decisions finally moved their hand and they agreed to the sale. A final attempt to sell the A's to Philadelphia car dealer John Crisconi briefly gained Mack's support, but collapsed at the eleventh hour—reportedly due to behind-the-scenes intrigue by the Yankees. When that deal collapsed, a bitter Mack wrote a letter blasting his fellow owners for sinking the Crisconi deal. However, he admitted that he didn't have nearly enough money to run the A's in 1955, and conceded that the Johnson deal was the only one with a chance of approval.


title: Connie Mack

text: In early November, Mack agreed to sell the A's to Johnson for $1.5 million. The aforementioned Louis Jacobs helped broker the deal between the Mack family and Johnson. When the American League owners met in New York to discuss the sale to Johnson, they voted 5–3 to approve the sale. Johnson immediately requested permission to move to Kansas City, which was granted after Detroit's Spike Briggs switched his vote. Although Mack had long since conceded that his 55 years in the American League were over, his doctor reported that the nonagenarian owner suffered a sudden sharp drop in blood pressure and almost expired upon learning that his team was gone.


title: Connie Mack

text: The A's sold Shibe Park, now renamed Connie Mack Stadium, to the Phillies. Mack was still chauffeured around to games by his caretaker. He attended the 1954 World Series and the occasional regular season game, but in October 1955, he fell and suffered a hip fracture. Mack underwent surgery on October 5, missing the World Series that week for the first time ever. He remained wheelchair-bound after that point, celebrating his 93rd birthday in November. The end came at his daughter's house on the afternoon of February 8, 1956. According to his doctor, he'd been fine until the 7th when he "just started to fade away". Officially, it was announced that he died of "old age and complications from his hip surgery" Mack's funeral was held in his parish church, St. Bridget's, and he was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham Township just outside Philadelphia, with Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick, the AL and NL presidents, and all 16 MLB owners serving as pallbearers.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack was quiet, even-tempered, and gentlemanly, never using profanity. He was generally addressed as "Mr. Mack". He always called his players by their given names. Chief Bender, for instance, was "Albert" to Mack. Perhaps due to his great longevity in the game, he appeared to have a kind of saintly image; his long-time friends objected to the image of him as "the bloodless saint so often painted, a sanctimonious old Puritan patting babies". His friend Red Smith called him "tough and warm and wonderful, kind and stubborn and courtly and unreasonable and generous and calculating and naive and gentle and proud and humorous and demanding and unpredictable".


title: Connie Mack

text: Beginning as far back as his first managing job in the 19th century, Mack drew criticism from the newspapers for not spending enough money. Some writers called him an outright miser, accusing him of getting rid of star players so he could "line his own pockets" with the money. However, his biographer Norman Macht strongly defends Mack on this question, contending that Mack's spending decisions were forced on him by his financial circumstances, and that nearly all the money he made went back to the team.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack himself was upset by these allegations: when some writers accused him of deliberately losing the second game of the 1913 World Series in order to extend the series and make more money in ticket sales, he uncharacteristically wrote an angry letter to the "Saturday Evening Post" to deny it, saying "I consider playing for the gate receipts ... nothing short of dishonest." With the Athletics leading the Series three games to one, several New York writers predicted that the Athletics would deliberately lose Game Five in New York so that Mack would not have to refund the $50,000 in ticket sales for Game Six in Philadelphia. After reading this, Mack told his players that if they won Game Five he would give them the team's entire share of the Game Five gate receipts — about $34,000. The Athletics won the Game and the series, and Mack gave out the money as promised.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack supported a large extended family and was generous to players in need, often finding jobs for former players. For instance, he kept Bender on the team payroll as a scout, minor league manager or coach from 1926 until Mack himself retired as owner-manager in 1950. Simmons was a coach for many years after his retirement as a player.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack lived through the entire era of racially segregated baseball (the early days of the game in his youth sometimes featured black players, but this ended by the 1890s and the major leagues remained white-only until Jackie Robinson broke down the color barrier in 1947), and even afterwards never displayed any serious interest in signing blacks. The Athletics did not have a black player play for the team until Bob Trice in 1953, three years after Mack retired.


title: Connie Mack

text: The Philadelphia stadium, originally called Shibe Park, was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953. Starting in 1909, it was home to the Athletics, and starting in 1938, it also was home to the Phillies, then from 1955 to 1970 was home to the Phillies alone, after the Athletics moved to Kansas City.


title: Connie Mack

text: On November 2, 1887, Mack married Margaret Hogan, whom the "Spencer Leader" described as having "a sunny and vivacious disposition." They had three children, Earle, Roy, and Marguerite. Margaret died in December 1892 after complications from her third childbirth.


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack married a second time on October 27, 1910. His second wife was Catherine (or Katharine) Holahan (or Hoolahan) (1879–1966); the census records have various spellings (the wedding register reads "Catarina Hallahan"). The couple had four daughters and a son, Cornelius Jr. A faithful Catholic his entire life, Mack was also a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus (Santa Maria Council 263 in Germantown, which moved to Flourtown, Pennsylvania in the 1980s).


title: Connie Mack

text: Mack's son Earle Mack played several games for the A's between 1910 and 1914, and also managed the team for parts of the 1937 and 1939 seasons when his father was too ill to do so. In more recent years, his descendants have taken to politics: Mack's grandson Connie Mack III was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida (1983–89) and the United States Senate (1989–2001); and great-grandson Connie Mack IV served in the U.S. House of Representatives (2005–13), representing Florida's 14th congressional district.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Gonçalo Matias Ramos (; born 20 June 2001) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Primeira Liga club Benfica and the Portugal national team.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Born in Olhão, Ramos came through Benfica's youth academy. He began playing for Benfica B in 2019 and was promoted to the first team a year later. Following three seasons with the first team, Ramos established himself as an integral player for the club.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Ramos is a former Portugal youth international, representing his country at various levels, including the under-19 team that finished as runners-up at the 2019 UEFA European Championship and the under-21 team that finished as runners-up at the 2021 European Championship. He made his senior international debut in 2022.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Born in Olhão, Algarve on 20 June 2001, Ramos started his football career in the youth ranks of local side Olhanense in 2009, before joining Loulé in 2011. Shortly Ramos had several trials with Sporting CP at age of 9, but was rejected due to his slight frame, leading him to join their crosstown rivals youth system Benfica in 2013 at the age of 12.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: On 13 January 2019, he made his professional debut with Benfica's reserve team as an 84th-minute substitute for Nuno Tavares in a 3–2 home loss to Braga B in LigaPro. On 21 July 2020, he made first-team debut with Benfica as an 85th-minute substitute for Pizzi in a 4–0 away win over Desportivo das Aves in the Primeira Liga, netting a brace in 8 minutes. During that season, Ramos played in the 2019–20 UEFA Youth League, in which he was a key part of Benfica reaching the final of the competition, lost to Real Madrid (3–2), in which he scored a brace in the finals; he finished as joint-top scorer in the tournament with eight goals. On 7 October 2020, he agreed to a contract extension to 2025.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: After a promising 2020–21 season with the B team, which he scored eleven goals in twelve games, Ramos was given a run in the first-team at the start of the 2021–22 season by manager Jorge Jesus, starting in a 2–0 home victory over Spartak Moscow in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Following the arrival of Roman Yaremchuk and the return of Darwin Núñez from injury, Ramos found limited first-team minutes, leading him to pursue a move out of the club in the winter transfer window. With the arrival of interim manager Nélson Veríssimo in January 2022, who had previously coached him at the B team, Ramos began playing more regularly, and reignited his form, scoring seven goals and adding two assists. His versatility enabled him to play in various positions in attack, which the new coach found useful.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: On 13 April, he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 3–3 away draw against Liverpool at Anfield in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals tie. In doing so, he became the second youngest player (aged 20 years and 297 days) to score for the club in the final phases of the competition, though Benfica were eliminated after losing to Liverpool 6–4 on aggregate.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Ramos began the 2022–23 season by scoring his first career hat-trick on 2 August in a 4–1 home win over Midtjylland in the first leg of the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. His prolific form saw him score two more goals and provided two assists, as part of a partnership with newly signed teammate David Neres, including a goal and an assist in the 3–0 home win over Dynamo Kiev in the second leg of the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League play-off round, helping his side qualify to the tournament. On 2 November, he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal of the season, opening Benfica's 6–1 away win against Maccabi Haifa in their last 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage match, to ensure the club's qualification to the round of sixteen, as group winners.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: With the Portugal under-17s, Ramos participated in the 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in England. In this competition, he played two matches, scoring a goal against Slovenia in a group stage exit.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Ramos was part of the Portugal team that finished runners-up to Spain at the 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Armenia. He was the top scorer with four goals in five appearances, including a hat-trick in a 4–0 win against the Republic of Ireland in the semi-finals.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: On 12 November 2020, Ramos won his first cap for the under-21 side, scoring the third goal on his debut in a 3–0 victory in Belarus for the 2021 European Championship qualification campaign. In March 2021, Ramos took part in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, helping Portugal finish as runners-up, after losing in the final 1–0 to Germany.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: On 20 September 2022, Ramos was called up to the senior team for the first time, as a replacement for Benfica team-mate Rafa Silva, who retired from international football, for the upcoming 2022–23 UEFA Nations League matches against the Czech Republic and Spain.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: On 10 November 2022, Ramos was named in Portugal's 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He made his senior international debut in a friendly against Nigeria on 17 November, scoring the third goal and assisting the fourth in a 4–0 win. On 6 December, Portugal manager Fernando Santos started Ramos ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in the team's round of 16 game against Switzerland. Ramos scored a hat-trick and provided an assist in Portugal's 6–1 victory, becoming the first player to score a World Cup knockout stage hat-trick since Tomáš Skuhravý in 1990. He also became the first player to score a hat-trick in his first World Cup start since Miroslav Klose in 2002.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Nicknamed ""O Feiticeiro"" ("The Wizard"), Ramos is known for his versatility, being capable of playing in several offensive positions, such as a striker, or second striker. Ramos usually drops deep, to help his team build their attacking play by bring his teammates into play, and create chances for other players. Due to his awareness and willingness to follow instructions, he understands how to rotate positions in ways in which to benefit the ball-holder with his movement, short or long passes. When he is offering short, he aims to be positive in his control of the ball, he attempts to open his body up each time, with either foot, being able to hold up the ball and act as his team focal point in attack.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: During his second season at Benfica, under Roger Schmidt, Ramos has been deployed as a striker in a 4–2–3–1 formation. His ability to attack space and create further space both inside and outside the penalty area with his movement is what made the move to the centre a more natural progression. Ramos is good at picking up positions between the opposition's defenders and then exploiting space behind the defensive line. He presses with intent and is not afraid to put himself about against the opposition. Ramos usually links up with the midfield and makes proactive movements which always can put a striker in a goal-scoring position more often rather than standing around and waiting for the service, similar to Karim Benzema.


title: Gonçalo Ramos

text: Ramos' father, Manuel Ramos, originally from Amareleja, in Alentejo Region, is also a former Portugal youth international who represented Farense among other Portuguese clubs.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) or cellulose gum is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups (-CH-COOH) bound to some of the hydroxyl groups of the glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone. It is often used as its sodium salt, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. It used to be marketed under the name Tylose, a registered trademark of SE Tylose.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: Carboxymethyl cellulose is synthesized by the alkali-catalyzed reaction of cellulose with chloroacetic acid. The polar (organic acid) carboxyl groups render the cellulose soluble and chemically reactive. Fabrics made of cellulose—e.g. cotton or viscose rayon—may also be converted into CMC.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: Following the initial reaction, the resultant mixture produces approximately 60% CMC and 40% salts (sodium chloride and sodium glycolate); this product is the so-called technical CMC, which is used in detergents. An additional purification process is used to remove salts to produce pure CMC, which is used for alimentary and pharmaceutical applications. An intermediate "semi-purified" grade is also produced, typically used in paper applications such as the restoration of archival documents.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: The functional properties of CMC depend on the degree of substitution of the cellulose structure [i.e., how many of the hydroxyl groups have been converted to carboxymethylene(oxy) groups in the substitution reaction], as well as the chain length of the cellulose backbone structure and the degree of clustering of the carboxymethyl substituents.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: CMC is used as a viscosity modifier or thickener, and to stabilize emulsions in various products, both food and non-food. It is used primarily because it has high viscosity, is nontoxic, and is generally considered to be hypoallergenic, as the major source fiber is either softwood pulp or cotton linter. Non-food products include products such as toothpaste, laxatives, diet pills, water-based paints, detergents, textile sizing, reusable heat packs, various paper products, and also in leather crafting to help burnish edges.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: Insoluble micro granular CMC is used as a cation-exchange resin in ion-exchange chromatography for the purification of proteins. The level of derivatization is much lower, so the solubility properties of micro granular cellulose are retained, while adding sufficient negatively charged carboxylate groups to bind to positively charged proteins.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: Moreover, CMC has also been used extensively to characterize enzyme activity from endoglucanases (part of the cellulase complex); it is a highly specific substrate for endo-acting cellulases, as its structure has been engineered to decrystallize cellulose and create amorphous sites that are ideal for endoglucanase action. CMC is desirable because the catalysis product (glucose) is easily measured using a reducing sugar assay, such as 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid. Using CMC in enzyme assays is especially important in screening for cellulase enzymes that are needed for more efficient cellulosic ethanol conversion. CMC was misused in early work with cellulase enzymes, as many had associated whole cellulase activity with CMC hydrolysis. As the mechanism of cellulose depolymerization became better understood, it became clear that exo-cellulases are dominant in the degradation of crystalline (e.g. Avicel) and not soluble (e.g. CMC) cellulose.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: CMC is used in food under the E number E466 or E469 (when it is enzymatically hydrolyzed), as a viscosity modifier or thickener, and to stabilize emulsions in various products, including ice cream. CMC is also used extensively in gluten-free and reduced-fat food products.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: CMC is used to achieve tartrate or cold stability in wine, an innovation that may save megawatts of electricity used to chill wine in warm climates. It is more stable than metatartaric acid and is very effective in inhibiting tartrate precipitation. It is reported that KHT crystals, in presence of CMC, grow slower and change their morphology. Their shape becomes flatter because they lose 2 of the 7 faces, changing their dimensions. CMC molecules, negatively charged at wine pH, interact with the electropositive surface of the crystals, where potassium ions are accumulated. The slower growth of the crystals and the modification of their shape are caused by the competition between CMC molecules and bitartrate ions for binding to the KHT crystals.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: CMC powder is widely used in the ice cream industry, to make ice creams without churning or extremely low temperatures, thereby eliminating the need for conventional churners or salt ice mixes. CMC is used in baking breads and cakes. The use of CMC gives the loaf an improved quality at a reduced cost, by reducing the need of fat. CMC is also used as an emulsifier in biscuits. By dispersing fat uniformly in the dough, it improves the release of the dough from the moulds and cutters, achieving well-shaped biscuits without any distorted edges. It can also help to reduce the amount of egg yolk or fat used in making the biscuits. Use of CMC in candy preparation ensures smooth dispersion in flavor oils, and improves texture and quality. CMC is used in chewing gums, margarines and peanut butter as an emulsifier.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: In veterinary medicine, CMC is used in abdominal surgeries in large animals, particularly horses, to prevent the formation of bowel adhesions.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: In laundry detergents, it is used as a soil suspension polymer designed to deposit onto cotton and other cellulosic fabrics, creating a negatively charged barrier to soils in the wash solution. CMC is also used as a thickening agent, for example, in the oil-drilling industry as an ingredient of drilling mud, where it acts as a viscosity modifier and water retention agent.


title: Carboxymethyl cellulose

text: CMC is sometimes used as an electrode binder in advanced battery applications (i.e. lithium ion batteries), especially with graphite anodes. CMC's water solubility allows for less toxic and costly processing than with non-water-soluble binders, like the traditional polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), which requires toxic n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) for processing. CMC is often used in conjunction with styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) for electrodes requiring extra flexibility, e.g. for use with silicon-containing anodes.