The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in order of precedence. It is the first of the so-called "Great Twelve City Livery Companies". Although of even older origin, the Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1394, the Company's earliest extant Charter. The Company's aim was to act as a trade association for general merchants, and especially for exporters of wool and importers of velvet, silk and other luxurious fabrics. By the sixteenth century many members of the Company had lost any connection with the original trade. Today, the Company exists as a charitable institution, supporting a variety of causes. The Company's motto is Honor Deo, Latin for "Honour to God".

The word "mercery" derives from the Latin merx, mercis, "merchandise" from which root also derives the word "merchant". The word mercero still used in Spanish has a meaning similar to haberdasher, although the mediaeval mercers would not have recognised any relationship to that trade which was covered by a separate company.

Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer (born October 17, 1969) is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and blogger.

Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa. A pointed, satirical political commentary on Canadian life after Meech Lake, Show Me the Button made Mercer a national star as he toured the show across Canada.^{[citation needed]} Mercer came to greater attention for his role in the satirical news show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and his spinoff special Talking To Americans was the highest-rated comedy special in the history of CBC Television, with 2.7 million viewers.

In 1992, he created and performed his second show, I've Killed Before, I'll Kill Again, which was also a popular touring show. Also in that year, he began to work with former CODCO members Cathy Jones, Mary Walsh, and with fellow Newfoundlander Greg Thomey, to create a new television series for CBC Television which became This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Prototype is an action-adventure open world video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision. The game was released in North America on June 9, 2009, and in southwestern parts of North America as well as Oceania on June 10, and was released in Europe on June 12.

The game is set in New York City, where a virulent plague known as Blacklight is spreading through Manhattan. Those infected are mutated into hideous monsters of varying form, with an uncontrollable urge to kill all uninfected life-forms. At the center of it is the protagonist, Alex Mercer, an incredibly powerful shapeshifter with no memory of his past. Parallel to the game's storyline is the ability to play the game as a sandbox-style video game giving the player freedom to roam Manhattan.

Many reviewers compared and contrasted it with Infamous, another action-adventure open world game released one month prior to Prototype, by Sucker Punch Productions which features a superpowered protagonist with developing powers in an urban world. However, the gameplay of Prototype is very similar to The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, also by Radical Entertainment.