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Jean Louis Trintignant discovers that the ghost of Françoise Hardy is tangible in Roger Vadim's hard-to-see CHATEAU EN SUEDE.
In the time I've been playing hooky from this blog, I have, among other things, been delving deeply into an obsession with the music of Françoise Hardy. Ours has been a lengthy courtship; I've been marginally aware of her and her work for many years, principally with her early, so-called "Yé Yé" period and the many striking modelling photos dating from that early Sixties period, some of which were snapped by the unerring eye of William Klein. The first female pop singer-songwriter to emerge in the 1960s, Mlle. Hardy was -- and remains, at age 65 -- such a strikingly beautiful woman that her image is difficult to regard separately from her music, but her music is just as durable and classical as she, rewarding close listening in all of its eras. One might imagine that a voice so plaintive, soothing, vulnerable and articulate could only be crushed if saddled with more instrumentation than a similarly direct acoustic guitar or piano, but over the decades, she has proved herself a remarkably flexible artist with a voice capable of keeping abreast of musical trends and standing up to volume. As for her image, you can visit its many phases in different videos available on YouTube, all of which make it seem incredible that no one has yet assembled a DVD of her archival performances for French television -- there's a wealth of material there that's as compulsively watchable as it is listenable.
Naturally, as soon as Françoise Hardy became a nationally known artist in 1962, she began receiving offers to appear onscreen. The IMDb credits her with a total of 10 acting roles in film and television, most notably including a short uncredited role as the mayor's secretary in WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? (1964), an elegant supporting role in John Frankenheimer's GRAND PRIX (1966), and a brief cameo as an American officer's attaché in Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin-Feminin (1966) -- a movie I principally remember for how she seemed to stop time by stepping out of a limousine and walking briskly across the screen in a white pants suit. Rarely has a director so eloquently admitted the futility of art's aspiration to equal natural beauty. But the first filmmaker to cast Mlle. Hardy in a feature film was that renowned connoisseur of French beauty, Roger Vadim, who featured the fledgling 19 year-old artiste in his 1963 feature Château en Suède ("Castle in Sweden", 1963), based on a play by Françoise Sagan.
A farcical thriller, Château en Suède had the misfortune of being released in France a couple of days before the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, which led to dire boxoffice returns. The film was subsequently not widely distributed outside France, though it starred Monica Vitti and Jean Louis Trintignant -- two of the hottest names in international cinema, both captured in the full bloom of their youth and beauty in Technicolor and Franscope. Lopert Pictures Corporation issued the film in the USA under the ignoble title NUTTY, NAUGHTY CHATEAU, but hardly anyone saw it and no copies of this version have resurfaced. My web searches turned up this useful if dismissive TIME Magazine review of the English-dubbed import, dated October 1964.
Thanks to a charming -- but alas, mislabelled -- YouTube video of Hardy performing "Je Suis d'Accord" (a Scopitone misidentified by the poster as a clip from Vadim's film), it became one of the chief priorities of my Hardy obsession to locate a copy of this now-difficult-to-see movie, which was apparently released on VHS in France back in the 1980s. Fortunately, I was able to locate a DVD-R copy from a seller on the P2P (person to person) website iOffer. The frame grabs I've provided here attest to its acceptable quality. I don't speak French, so I couldn't appreciate the fine points of its dialogue, but the film is easy enough to follow on a visual level, and probably best appreciated from a purely visual standpoint.
One of the most intriguing facets of the film is that, like Vadim's earlier production BLOOD AND ROSES (Et mourir et plaisir, 1960), it takes place in modern day but, once we enter the chateau, everyone dresses in 18th century garb. When Trintignant first enters this principal setting, after main titles drive-throughs of various contemporary Paris locations, the film's look takes a sudden turn into something that looks remarkably like Mario Bava's THE WHIP AND THE BODY (La frusta e il corpo), first released shortly ahead of Vadim's film in August 1963.
Director of photography Armand Thirard (a silent film veteran who had previously shot Vadim's ...AND GOD CREATED WOMAN) presents us with a conspicuously more warm-blooded Monica Vitti than Michelangelo Antonioni gave us in his black-and-white widescreen masterpieces. She proves herself an adept comedienne, and the film would count as pleasurable if only for Thirard's occasional closeups of her.
As family cousin Eric, Trintignant arrives at the chateau under the impression that his uncle Hugo's (Curd Jurgens) first and much younger wife Ophelia has died, an impression we initially share. Hugo has remarried another youngster, Eleanore (Vitti), who is only in it for the money to judge by the "incestuous" affair she is conducting with available "son" Sébastien (Jean-Claude Brialy). Left alone at a dinner table where much wine has flowed, Eric sees a feminine hand creep around the frame of a hung painting, and later has a spectral encounter with Ophelia (Hardy), who is in fact still alive, if something of a nutcase, and lives in hiding with a menagerie of animals while sleeping with Sébastien. Once Eric is enticed into Eleanore's bed, the backstory becomes more pronounced and he soon knows too much about the family's private business to live...
The film has a number of impressive visual moments, including a split-diopter shot that posits Vitti in the foreground and Brialy in the distant background, both in equal focus, and a Bava-like bedroom shot that finds Vitti's and Trintignant's nude bodies obscured by a foregrounded lantern. Unfortunately, its comic content is not as lovely or refined as the rest of it, and we're left with an obvious misfire: worth seeing, but far less than the sum of its nice parts. In one of those parts, Eric confirms Ophelia's physical tangibility by touching her bare knee, a moment that Trintignant and Hardy's co-star Jean-Claude Brialy would later famously reprise with pretty Laurence de Monaghan in Eric Rohmer's classic CLAIRE'S KNEE (Le genou de Claire, 1970).
In Françoise Hardy's recent autobiography LE DÉSESPOIR DES SINGES... ET AUTRES BAGATELLES, she devotes only a single paragraph to her Château en Suède experience, noting that she disliked the early-morning, getting-made-up-and-costumed, and waiting-around aspects of filmmaking, and that she was uncomfortable with scenes that required her to kiss and frolic in bed with Brialy, a fact that is sadly apparent onscreen.
Hardy's first screen appearance is not without its charms, of course, but it is undone in the larger sense by her unfamiliarity with camera acting, her noticeable, nervous inability to retain eye contact with her co-stars, and the unavoidable fact that Ophelia is so much less interesting, so much less appealing, so much less than the sublime original that is Françoise Hardy. And herein lies the ultimate reason why Hardy's screen career didn't work out as well as that of her husband Jacques Dutronc (also a singer, who found his ultimate expression as a delightfully edgy actor in films like Andrzej Zulawski's THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO LOVE and MY NIGHTS ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOUR DAYS): her filmography serves to preserve her youthful beauty, rather than to extend our definition of her, or her own definition of herself. Her music, and the great dignity with which she has always made and presented it, remains her great gift to us.
Charming as she sometimes is as the daffy Ophelia, compared to the Hardy we discover through her songs and musical performances, Château en Suède is a comparatively undignified showcase. In any one of her music videos, you will see a better performance than you will see her giving as someone else, someone less talented. Seeing this film, Hardy must have realized that the discomforts of screen acting were not worth the bother, if they meant working toward an end result that was substantially less than what she was capable of producing spontaneously and without artifice. It's not that Hardy is one of those female performers who need a mask of character or a cloak of enigma to make themselves more interesting; if anything, the essence of her art is its emotional candor, directness and daring, as exemplified by songs like "La Question" and "Le Danger." She had the intelligence to grasp that giving that much more of herself could only have resulted in a lesser legacy, and so -- with a few curious, precious, quirky exceptions to the rule -- Françoise Hardy the Movie Star was not in the cards.


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Here we are ~ 27 years ago today! Ohmigosh, we look like such babies. Of course I was, although I didn't think so at the time. Isn't it amazing how we think we know so much at the time and on looking back, realize we really don't know much at all. I really think life is much kinder to us in that way. Probably we would never leave the comfort of our Mum & Dad's at all if we knew what was waiting for us out there!
Thank you, dear blogging friends for visiting and reading my blog. And thank you even more for taking the time to leave a kind comment. You will never know how much your comments touch my heart and leave a smile on my face. The blogging world is full of such wonderful kind people, it has really opened up such a rewarding world for me, and even when I'm not posting, I'm eagerly looking for new posts to catch up on what is going on in your worlds.
I know I sound a little pensive, its looking through old photo albums that does that to me. I wanted to find just the right photo to put on my blog, and realized how much I was missing the people who are no longer here, and wanting the ones who are to know how much I love and cherish them....so bear with me!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Its our Anniversary!
Posted by Wendy at 7:48 am 36 comments
Labels: Life
Monday, May 28, 2007
Z is for Zinnias
I finished up my Hello Neighbour RR piece, I really didn't add too much more, so I didn't re-scan it. Its all ready to be mailed out to Carissa. And I also finished up my Garden themed exchange for the SBEBB which is ready to be mailed out too!
So for my weekend stitching, I started on my very last Prairie Schooler block, Z is for Zinnias:
This is on 28 ct evenweaver, I think its a 28 ct Ivory Lugana, I really needed something nice and easy on the eyes after working last week on the 40 ct linen.
I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself since Friday. I had blood work taken last week and then went in for my physical on Friday morning and it turns out my blood sugars are in the diabetic range. The doctor says this probably explains why I've been having so many funny troubles with my eyes recently. I ended up stitching my RR with my glasses off most of the time! So more blood work is in store - a 2 hour glucose tolerance test anyways. Meanwhile I'm trying to stick to hubby's diet - he is also a diabetic but with amazing willpower - and hopefully these blood sugars will come down enough that I won't need medications.
We are having weekly home assessments with Toronto Children's Aid for our fostering program. Two more interviews are scheduled for this week. How do you spell stressful? I will be so glad when its over! But things are looking good for us.
Posted by Wendy at 8:01 am 20 comments
Thursday, May 24, 2007
PIF from Vonna
Look what arrived in my mail yesterday afternoon! A fantastic Pay-it-forward gift from Vonna! She made a beautifullly beaded scissor fob from the loveliest sparkly beads and included these lovely scissors with them, and some very pretty variegated DMC threads, along with the postcard from Indiana.
WOW is all I can say. I'm sure everyone has seen the wonderful works of art Vonna (The Twisted Stitcher) has created on her blog and to be the receiver of one of her lovely pieces has made me feel very special! Vonna puts so much thought and kindness into all that she does, seeing one her packages come into the mail with my name on it, has made me feel like I have won the lottery! Thank you, Vonna, for this very special gift that you made for me! I shall cherish it!!
Posted by Wendy at 8:07 am 16 comments
Labels: PIF
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Some catching up
I was stitching up a frenzy over this Victoria Day Holiday weekend! After realizing I didn't have any suitable 40 ct fabric for my Hello Neighbour Round Robin, I had to scurry about trying to find a place that could ship some to me quickly and Drema from Needlecraft Corner came through for me. Wednesday my fabric came and I quickly started sectioning off my areas. I settled on blocks of 80x80 and after 2 nights of going cross-eyed, finally got all my threads to line up. Its amazing how many times I miscounted by just one fabric thread. So 4 days later, I'm well on my way to getting my block finished. And I realize a bird is just missing his head! I'm still undecided about where to put my initials/country.....
So we were off to the cottage for our first long weekend of the season. Its was wonderfully sunny all weekend, if a little on the chilly side, even though the kids braved the water and went swimming - well quick dips was more like it!
The forest is usually awash with our provincial flower - trilliums - and they were still a few left. Hubby managed to get a picture of this brilliant looking one.
Posted by Wendy at 1:13 pm 16 comments
Labels: Neighbourhood RR
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
My T-shirt girls!
While my 2 girls were not together on Mother's Day, when they were together last month, they took this picture to give to me for Mother's Day on Sunday. Note the cute T-shirts they were wearing.
Probably the last time they were seen in public wearing the same clothes was when they were 3 and 6 years old!
Posted by Wendy at 8:30 am 14 comments
Labels: Family
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Birthday Quilt
I finished the birthday quilt in time! And sewed the last few stitches of the binding in place that afternoon, in amongst the deadlines for work, phew, I hate cutting things that close. I didn't have time to cut all the loose threads from the back, but I don't think Kristy noticed. She was quite thrilled when she opened the quilt up and saw it, and the first thing she did was to wrap herself in it! So although I neglected to get a picture of the entire quilt, I did get this picture of Kristy, looking very warm and cozy with her new quilt.
Here is a picture of the birthday girl with Carrie and her ice cream cake.
And a picture of Kristy and Nick, in her new sweater, pink of course!
I hope everyone who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a wonderful day. I was wonderfully spoiled by my kids and Carrie cooked one of my favourite dinners for me, a Rachel Ray recipe, Greek-a-tiki chicken. yum-O! Hubby and I went shopping and we streeeeetched his income tax refund quite a bit and ordered a new living room sofa, brown leather, and two wing back chairs. The couch will actually arrive tomorrow, but the chairs not for several weeks, as we had to special order those. How's that for a Mother's Day gift?!?! I had actually hoped we would be able to repaint the living room first, but when they said they had a couch in stock, I wasn't about to say no.
And a Happy Dance - I finished up my latest Prairie Schooler block ~ Y is for Yarn:
Posted by Wendy at 10:09 am 16 comments
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Stitching Bloggers ABC Exchange
A very nice parcel came in the mail for me yesterday! My exchange arrived from Su, for the ABC exchange on the SBEBB. She made me a a lovely pouch, with a design by Indigo Rose, on hand-dyed linen called 'Hot Potato'. Her stitching and finishing are just superb, including the beaded tassels and cording! I love it, Su, thank you so much. What a lovely treat to open up such a parcel and she included some lovely hand dyed fibres from Six Strand Sweets and a lovely piece of Jobelan in a very sweet shade of yellow. Thank you again!!
This is a picture of all my goodies in all their glory!
I checked on the message board and I noted that Helene received my exchange which I sent to her. I stitched Prairie Schooler design called Forget-Me-Nots on 36 ct flax linen and made it into a needlebook. This was my first attempt at making a needlebook and I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. Above is the picture of the front and below the back. I forgot to take a picture inside, or of the goodies I sent along with the needlebook.
And finally, yet another picture, I finished off a pair of socks! I'm eagerly waiting for the mail to arrive with my brand new sets of Addi turbo needles that I ordered from the U.K. Nancy has promised even better socks (and faster maybe, these are turbo needles?) with these babies. She describes them as the 'chocolate truffles' of the knitting world LOL.
And a new blogger to welcome to our blogging world. My dear friend Ann had started her own blog, Knowledge and Needles. If you get a minute, please drop by and pay her a visit! She does the most exquisite needlework, especially of over-1 work, and is also the owner of a lovely needlework shop, which makes visiting very handy!
Posted by Wendy at 8:20 am 21 comments
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Thank you!!!
Thank you, dear friends, for your good thoughts and wishes. They were heart warming for me and I'm sure every single one of them helped hubby and me in our meeting this morning.
It went so well, so much better than I had dared to hope and I left the meeting feeling like I was walking on a cloud!
Without going into a long drawn out story, hubby and I have decided to offer our home to Kristy, who is a crown ward of the Toronto Children's Aid. Its been an uphill battle, and this morning was a make or break meeting with a supervisor and Kristy's case worker.
We've finally been given the go-ahead with the supervisor's blessing! The next step for us is to go through the foster parenting process - home assessment, background checks, interviews, training, which they will expedite in order to place Kristy with us before her current foster mother closes her home.
So if all goes well with the next few steps, we will have Kristy as our foster daughter by the end of June! So keep those good thoughts coming our way for us and for Kristy, please!!
Posted by Wendy at 2:18 pm 17 comments
Monday, May 07, 2007
Some quilting, and a request
Finally some pictures uploaded! With hubby's help of course. Hey, it wasn't all my fault, for some unknown reason, my USB port decided not to work any longer!
Anyways, here is the start of Kristy's quilt. These are the charm packs I ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop, Nick helped me pick out these particular ones, I think they were called 'Sweethearts' as Kristy's favourite colour is pink. And this quilt is certainly very PINK! I ordered 8 charm packs, with 35 5" squares in each pack. I just went with sewing them together in strips but laying them in a diagonal pattern and filling in the outer edges with a triangle.
Here are my rows and rows and rows.....
And finally....sewing these rows together. I had enough 5" squares to make a good sized top - its about 65" x 85", so definitely a good size for a single bed.
Friday afternoon I roped hubby into helping me sandwich the quilt together - such a tedious job and the one part of quilt making that I really detest even though I cheat and use 505 spray to make everything stick together. Friday night I finally started the machine quilting, and most of Saturday and Sunday morning.....the quilting is about halfway done. I have 4 days left until Kristy's birthday. Do you think I"ll get it done in time?
Sunday afternoon was a stitching get together at Anita's with my wonderful group of stitching friends - the time went by far too quickly, and I didn't get nearly enough stitching done and of course too much eating, and the best part of all, lots of laughing and fun.
Tomorrow hubby and I have a very, very important meeting to attend ~ please send good thoughts our way for this. It means a great deal to us for this to go well ... more info will follow, but superstitious me, I'm afraid of doing anything that may upset the balance.
Posted by Wendy at 8:01 am 17 comments
Labels: Quilting
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
A little Blackbird enabling
Its been a frustrating day, I can't believe I sent out an entire day's work (Monday) with last year's date on it!?! That means it all had to be corrected and re-printed....ugh! Where is my brain at these days? Today I had 2 morning appointments to get through, scrambled to get caught up on deadlines, wasted far too long searching out a missing invoice, and finally gave up on trying to get to the bank, so have now reconciled myself that my GST payment and income tax are now officially late. Luckily I don't owe very much so if I get any interest charges, they won't amount to much and it will wait until I get to the bank tomorrow.
Instead I was going to update my blog with some pictures I took of the quilt I'm working on, this is for Kristy's 16th birthday next week and I finished piecing the top last night. I also finished up the pair of socks that have been on my knitting needles for far too long and thanks to Nancy's knitting enabling, I'm been knitting up a storm since Saturday's Knitting Frolics.
But I can't get my pictures to upload to the computer! Can I confess how terribly computer-illiterate I really am? It will have to wait until hubby gets in from work......
Meanwhile, until I get those pictures....my scanner still works ;-D
......these pictures are for Deb, in particular, and well, anyone else I can possibly enable into these wonderful Blackbird Designs, with a peak inside the new With Needle & Thread book, which I picked up last week. They give some pretty detailed instructions in the book on finishing pin cushions and treasure boxes, like the two pictured above, and even coffee grounds included in their supply lists. I can't wait to start one of these sweet designs, I just don't know which one to do first?
And I have been doing a little stitching~
Prairie Schooler Y is for Yarn
Posted by Wendy at 4:02 pm 16 comments
Labels: Blackbird Designs, PS blocks

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Latest News
Harris Academy Purley judged to be making OUTSTANDING PROGRESS
- The academy has secured exceptional improvement in the short time since it was established and the positive impact of the actions taken demonstrate an outstanding capacity for further improvement.
- The academy is led exceptionally well. The Principal and senior team have an ambitious vision for the academy and they have been successful in inspiring staff and students who now share a common sense of purpose.
- Self-evaluation is very accuarte and, consequently, those responsible for leading the academy have an exceptionally clear picture of its strengths and areas for development.
- The management and development of staff is exemplary and there has been dramatic improvement in the quality of teaching.
- Senior leaders have unflinchingly challenged poor performance and provided high quality professional development opportunities for staff and these have been valued by staff.
- Attendance and punctuality have improved rapidly and they are now above average.
- Improvements mean that teachers now have higher expectations of students and lesson planning takes good account of their prior attainment.
- The Harris federation makes a strong contribution to all aspects of the academy's work.


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Co-PresidentRead Bio
Chano Fernandez is co-president at Workday, and is responsible for global field operations as well as strategic partner alliances. Previously, Chano served as executive vice president of global field operations at Workday, and as president of EMEA and APJ from 2014 to 2017.
Prior to joining Workday in 2014, Chano served for seven years as senior vice president and head of innovation sales at SAP EMEA. Before that, he was vice president of EMEA sales at Infor, responsible for global and large accounts. Chano also served as a founding partner and general manager at Blue C, and as a senior consultant for McKinsey & Company.
Chano holds a holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Instituto de Empresa and a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Salamanca.


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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Posted by Rot at 6:46 PM
Labels: candy, flickr.com, mellowcreme pumpkins, pumpkins
5 comments:
- pensive pumpkin said...
I love those things. Sick, but true.
- February 15, 2012 at 6:59 PM
- Rot said...
i do too.
i always bite them in half.
- February 15, 2012 at 7:00 PM
- Jay's Shadow said...
Just what I need before my horrid night at work....
I now have to type in two words for word verification????
- February 15, 2012 at 7:23 PM
- Sara said...
rot, have you tried pintrest? I think it's better than flickr in regards to the artsy quality of the photos. This pic reminded me of it.
- February 16, 2012 at 1:45 PM
- Rot said...
LOVE pinterest...just started using it over the last few weeks.
- February 16, 2012 at 2:20 PM
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text:
Politicians and Election, Vote in Freedom, Actively Participate in Democracy, Vote for Change, Online referendum
Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad
> Pakistan > Politicians > Awami Muslim League (Pakistan) > Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad
Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad is ready for your opinion, support and vote. Vote online NOW!
شیخ رشید احمد - for
کشمیری اصل کے پاکستانی سیاستدان اور مصنف. | A Pakistani politician and writer of Kashmiri origin.
شیخ رشید احمد - against
پر کلک کریں، اگر آپ نے شیخ رشید احمد کی حمایت نہیں کرتے. ایسا کیوں ہے. | Click, if you do not support Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad. Say why.
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Related polls > Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Zafar Jhandir, Arif Alvi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pervez Musharraf, Moonis Elahi, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Asif Ali Zardari, Altaf Hussain, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Raja Muhammad Zafar ul Haq, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Zulfiqar Mirza, Marvi Memon, Fatima Bhutto, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Nisar Ali Khan, (Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad) and more...


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Boker Plus Colubris Fixed Blade Workhorse
Very rarely do we get knives in the door that we have to double, then triple check the price to make sure we got it right. That's just the case with the new Boker Plus Colubris, an all-around fixed blade designed by DJ Urbanovsky. When you get this knife in your hand, it's a lot like the Ontario RAT folders, you just can't believe what you're getting for the price. True, the blade is made from 440C steel but the way Boker heat treats and finishes these blades, you end up with a great user steel that will hold an adequate edge. Other than the knock on the steel, we wouldn't change a single thing about the knife. The G10 handle is ergonomically contoured for a comfortable grip in multiple positions and the aesthetic dimpling/texturing provides good purchase. The modified Wharncliff blade is angled for deep, effective slicing and has enough belly for most of your utility work. I strongly feel a fixed blade knife is only as good as it's sheath, and the friction fit Kydex sheath you get with the Colubris is right on point. It perfectly fits the knife with little to no rattling sound, and comes with a multi-position Boker belt clip, which functions exactly the same as a Spyderco G-Clip. Check out this awesome new Boker Plus knife at www.knifecenter.com.
More about the Colubris from Boker:


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Rugged Pentax Optio W80 Announced
Pentax announces today the Optio W80, a shock, freeze and waterproof point-and-shoot that they call their most rugged camera to date.
The W80 can be taken up to 16 feet underwater (5 meters) and should withstand a drop of 3.3 feet on dry land. The freeze proof W80 will also function in temperatures as cold as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 Celsius), making this a camera Pentax calls "adventure-proof."
Rugged and fully equipped
The W80 has all the makings of a rugged camera ready for some rough conditions, but its 12.1 megapixel sensor and 5x optical zoom (28-140mm equivalent) are right in line with high-end point-and-shoots, rugged or otherwise.
It will also record HD 720p video at 30fps with sound, a feature that much of the competition doesn't offer. However, it should also be noted that with a 1GB SD card, the W80 will only record around five minutes of video at its highest resolution and frame rate.
That industrial look
The Optio W80 certainly looks tough with a rectangular, industrial design. Where Canon's waterproof D10 is all curves, the Optio W80 is styled with clean lines and metallic accents. It looks more like the rugged cameras we've seen from Olympus. The control layout on the back panel is familiar with a four-way controller and a few other buttons. You'll also find a 2.5 inch LCD with anti-glare coating.
Rounding up the spec list are a few more tech features, including Pixel Track Shake Reduction. The W80 is equipped with Fast Face Detection, a system that Pentax boasts will detect up to 32 faces in less than a second. The Optio W80 will also offer a close focusing Super Macro Mode for objects as close as 1 cm.
Pricing and availability
The Pentax Optio W80 will be available for purchase in July 2009 with a retail price of $299.95. For an additional $16.95, Pentax will offer a protective clear skin designed for the W80 as well as a wrist strap designed to float in water for $20.00.


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1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass - Of Earth Movers and Oldsmobiles
Casey Walker's obsession with torque and a 468ci, 11-second Cutlass.
Car crafters get involved with old cars through the unlikeliest of avenues. Casey Walker has always been a gearhead. His first car was actually an '81 GMC half-ton pickup to be used around the family ranch outside his Ashland, Kansas, hometown. After graduating from high school, he bought a '70 Cutlass S in 1993 from future wife Missy's family. For $500, it wasn't a car preordained to instantly induct him into the Musclecar Builders' Hall of Fame, but it had a couple of things going for it. Besides its righteous price and reasonable rust for a 23-year-old Midwest beater, the Olds presented enormous opportunity. That cavernous engine bay combined with GM's famed interchangeability made upgrading this midsize cruiser potentially fun-even if Casey wasn't a card-carrying Dr. Olds devotee.
Unlike most projects, this Olds didn't start out with a just-add-gasoline-and-stir engine swap like you see on those musclecar television shows on Saturday morning. This story went on hold for five years while Casey worked his way through an Automotive Technology degree at Pittsburg State University in Kansas then found his way to Peoria, Illinois, and worked for Caterpillar as a development engineer. Perhaps his occupation working with heavy-handed earth movers with ginormous torque found a home. Whatever the reason, there are way too many parallels between developing big diesel earth movers and a big-block Olds that is renowned in the musclecar world for its torque. You think there's a clue in the fact that Casey painted his Olds a hue not unlike one of his company's 800hp massive Wheel Dozers? Just think big, heavy, and yellow.
It all started out innocently enough. "I started this as a street build with a mild 455 and a four-speed. But after I won my first race in eliminations, I knew that was what I wanted to do with the car. I then changed everything-the engine, trans, rearend-so I could compete but still drive the thing on the street."
Torque may be what moves the car, but you still have to hook it all up on the starting line. The A-body GM cars have this dialed in with help from guys like Dick Miller. Dick's been quietly building a franchise around constructing big-block Olds power and then following that up with the suspension pieces to hook all that power to the ground. A glance under the rear end of Casey's car reveals no ladder bars, four-link, or even custom shocks. What you do see is deceptively simple: a set of adjustable upper tubular arms, tubular lower arms, and an adjustable HRpartsNstuff rear antiroll bar. Casey dials in a little bit of preload in the upper control arms, and the car launches straight and consistently every time.
Running 11.40s at 118 mph does not require as much horsepower as you might think, especially when you're making loads of torque. Somewhere in excess of 500 lb-ft of torque combined with a roughly 4,000-rpm stall speed converter and a streetable 3.73 gear all sound way too tame for this size car. But that's the key to Casey's earth-mover routine. He leaves the romantic, high-rpm stuff to those small-block Ford guys who like to watch the tach spin faster than a Formula 1 motor on nitrous. Instead, he's got a big, burly torque motor that just loafs down the track and runs as consistently as one of those big diesels with the yellow paint. Maybe that's because it's engineered that way. You think?
Tech Notes
Who: Casey Walker, Olds owner and Cat tester.
What: A '70 Oldsmobile Cutlass S that doesn't look as quick as it is.
Where: Mapleton, Illinois, which is a tiny little burg playing just south of Peoria.
Camshaft: Casey opted for a popular Bullet flat-tappet, single-pattern, hydraulic, flat-tappet camshaft with 244 degrees of duration at 0.050-inch tappet lift along with 0.544-inch lift from the Harland Sharp 1.6:1 roller rockers. The cam also has a lobe separation angle of 108 degrees. Casey also added a set of Rhoades variable-duration lifters, which are high bleed-down units that build a little more low-end torque.
Exhaust: Kooks makes some of the nicest headers for lots of applications, including the second-generation Olds. Casey chose a set of 2-inch primary pipes with a 3.5-inch collector along with 3.0-inch exhaust pipes and a cross-pipe feeding into a pair of DynoMax 3.0-inch Ultraflow mufflers.
Power: Casey estimates the Olds makes around 500 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque at roughly 3,800 rpm, but he admits this is just a guess. Our ancient power-speed calculator put his power based on weight and quarter-mile trap speed at 470 hp.
Rearend: The Olds purists may shudder a bit, but that's a Chevy 12-bolt under the rear with Richmond 3.73 gears and a set of Strange 31-spline axles connected to a Strange spool. The axletubes have also been converted to the big Ford housing ends with bolt-in flanges that eliminate the need for the stock C-clips.
Suspension: With all this torque, chassis tuning becomes an obsession. Casey began by tying the framerails together with a six-point rollbar built by Eric Vicary. The front has a pair of Competition Engineering front shocks, Moroso drag springs, and PST polyurethane bushings. He even kept the factory power steering and tilt steering wheel. After all, this is still an Olds. Where more science is applied is with a complete Dick Miller Racing rear suspension package consisting of tubular upper and lower bars and a set of Comp Engineering shocks. Finally, an HRpartsNstuff rear antiroll bar keeps the body level when the Olds really hooks. The rear springs are vintage Olds.
Brakes: The original factory discs work well to haul the big Olds down from its 118-mph blasts. All Casey did was eliminate the booster. The rear brakes are stock GM 9-1/2-inch drums that are both simple and light.
Wheels/Tires: It doesn't get much simpler than a pair of Weld Pro Star 15x6-inch fronts to keep the weight down mounted on Goodyear Invicta 205/70R-15 tires. On the rear, the same style Welds are a little wider at 15x8 inches and mount a set of Mickey Thompson 28x12.5-15 ET Street tires.
Body: The biggest change from stock is an original factory Olds Ram Air hood that is a fiberglass shell mounted over a steel subframe with functional airscoops. Casey did all the bodywork on the Olds, and then his friend Matt Mylott painted the car '94 Dodge Viper yellow back in 1999. We think it looks suspiciously like Caterpillar yellow!
Interior: Casey changed a short list of items in the interior, adding an Auto Meter tach along with water-temperature, oil-pressure, and amp gauges. To keep the weight down, he also added a pair of lightweight buckets with fixed-aluminum mounts and an RJS five-point harness. Oh, and the heater box took a hike.
Performance: It runs 11.44 at 118 mph in the quarter-mile and 7.25 at 93 mph in the eighth-mile. The Olds weighs 3,500 pounds without driver, which means it hefts a solid 3,700-plus pounds with driver and fuel each time down the track. It takes torque to move that kind of weight that quickly.


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of Australia's newest international airlines, V Australia, is continuing its steady march towards its scheduled 15 December take-off, with the first
group of Cabin Crew trainers being put through their paces.
The 11 Cabin Crew trainers and Development Managers are demonstrating V Australia's Cabin Crew training course to the Civil Aviation Safety
Authority (CASA) to gain certification to begin training the first group of new Cabin Crew recruits.
The course takes in all aspects of Cabin Crew training including in-flight safety and emergency procedures.
While the V Australia training facility is based in Mascot, Sydney, today's CASA certification demonstration will be held at Brisbane's Aviation
Australia facility. It includes "water survival" training to certify crew to operate on aircraft that fly long distances over water (such as
trans-Pacific). The crew will go through a "ditch drill" scenario including the use of the slide raft and various water survival techniques.
The training certification is a critical component for V Australia and a significant milestone for the airline.
The first Cabin Crew training course will begin on Monday 1 September with 26 new recruits who, once trained and certified, will take their place
in aviation history as the launch crew for V Australia.
The six week course will cover all aspects of in-flight service and safety as well as familiarising the crew with the V Australia in-flight product and
facilities in all three classes, International Business, International Premium Economy and International Economy.
Meanwhile, the training of pilots is continuing at V Australia's Silverwater training centre where the new $14-million Boeing 777-300ER simulator
is being used around the clock for pilot endorsement training. While recruiting for the initial group of pilots has almost been completed, V
Australia is continuing its recruitment efforts in preparation for the arrival of additional aircraft in 2009.
Applications for both Cabin Crew and Pilot roles within V Australia can be directed to:
with applications closing on 24 August 2008.
other recent news regarding:
Hotels, Promotions,
Hotels, V
Australia, Cabin


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Join our discussion group or follow VisitBritain for inbound tourism news and VisitEngland for England tourism news.
Contact us
To get in touch with our team, use our contact finder. Or view our network page to find addresses for our offices around the world. For Press queries only please contact Tracey Edginton 020 7578 1098.
Forecasts from VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, indicate that 2017 is set to be another record year for inbound tourism to the UK.
More than 11 and a half million Brits are planning a holiday in the UK over the Christmas and New Year period according to a VisitEngland survey released today.
VisitBritain is today announcing the successful applicants to receive year one funding from its Event Support Programme.
We've published a new research report examining the impact of the exchange rate on tourism to Britain.
VisitBritain has today (5 December) celebrated its milestone partnerships with Hainan Airlines (HNA Group) and Alitrip, Alibaba Group's tourism arm, in China.


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I am new to this forum and would love to really start programming in Java.
Am taking a class in concurrent computing and it is really difficult to understand as I don't have any programming background.
I would really use your help on this.
Secondly I was given an assignment which goes like this
Using pthreads, implement a bounded buffer. Use condition variables for full and empty and a lock on the entire buffer (and our condition variables). Each producer will take the string "Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country" and write it to the shared buffer, one character at a time. Your consumer will read a character from the buffer and write it standard output (one at a time). Be careful: the consumer must finish when all of the producers are done. How can the consumer know when a producer is finished?
Please I would like someone to help me with is programming.
Thank you


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Thousands of Chicagoans jammed Block 37 across the Daley Plaza today as Mayor Daley hosted a pep rally for Chicagoans to join him, representatives of the Sox and Hall of Fame players like Minnie Minoso, Ron Kittle and Bill Pierce to wish the Sox the best of success in their quest to win the World Series.
Part of the celebration was a wager between Mayor Daley and Mayor Menino of Boston, a great friend of our Mayor, but someone who we hope, will lose his wager. This is the year of the White Sox.
The wager included great foods of Chicago, and in addition to Eli's Cheesecake, included Robinson's Ribs, Original Rainbow Cone, Vienna Beer, Stewart's Coffee, Tootsie Rolls, Connie's Pizza, Kim & Scott's Pretzels, Buona Beef and Vienna Beef.
Eli's created a very special Giant Slice for the Pep Rally
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, in full Sox attire, checks out one of Eli's Cheesecake's with Eli's President, Marc Schulman
South Paw, the White Sox Mascot checks out the giant slice of Eli's Cheesecake that Eli's created for the Pep Rally and Bet.
Lt. Governor Pat Quinn is a big fan of the White Sox and Eli's Cheesecake. Quinn was the only elected official back in 1992 to join then Governor Bill Clinton at Eli's Cheesecake for a tour and to hear about Eli's innovative workforce program, Eli's U. In February of this year, Quinn was the special guest at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, when the school hosted Ground Hog Job Shadow Day for the City of Chicago
Chicago is excited for this series and the great season of the White Sox. The pep rally in Chicago was one of eight around the country as Major League Baseball celebrates post-season play.


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Stuck Cleaning Patches!!!!!
Why do folks NOT Start out with SMALL homemade cleaning patches and work up to a larger size?
I just got finished removing a very stuck patch from a neighbor's rifle. Long story short: People should start with SMALL cleaning patches for a better outcome.
Adam Helmer
The mission of mercy for neighbors. Once they find out there is someone around that can fix stuff, you get a constant parade of broke and stuck things.
The three Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
You are correct! This afternoon as I finished putting linseed oil on my stairs handrails a neighbor lad showed up with an old Phyllies Cigar Box under his arm. Mike asked me if I had a few minutes to spare. I took Mike into my garage, turned on the lights and went to my bench. His cigar box had ALL parts for a M1911 .45 ACP Pistol, but all the parts were in component format!
I worked slowly as I put all the parts back into a complete handgun. I am sure Mike missed a part or two, so a redo is needed down the road, IF there is a need. The story was the handgun was a grandfather's WWI gun and a friend tore it down all the way and forget how to rebuild "In Reverse Order."
The piece has a 177,xxx serial number making it a 1916 or 1917 arm worth about $2,500-$4,000, assembled. I conveyed all information to Mike.
Adam Helmer
That is interesting Adam, had almost the exact thing happen to me. Lady stopped by my store years ago. Had a towel rolled up in her hands, I could see a brown holster with a swivel top sticking out of the towel. She walks up and asks if I wanted to buy a gun, the guys in a pawn shop down the road, sent her to me. She had a disassembled brand new Colt C prefix 1911 made in 1917, in pieces in the towel, missing a barrel. But with three clips with lanyard loops, multi colored and a like new Calvary holster, never oiled. So I asked her what do you want for it. She said the guys down the road said it was worth $170, she said I will take that for it, I just reached for my wallet.
There was a gun show acquaintance in Dothan, AL that had about a million dollars worth of new, old stock, gun parts. So I got up with him, you got a new 1911 barrel, not an A1, a 1911. Yep believe I do, he goes in the back, returns in a few minutes with a barrel wrapped in original tan paper, how much, $68. Away I went with an as new 1911 commercial. Sold that gun 3 months later to a 1911 collector, he was tickled to get it and I was tickled for him to get it.....
He got a piece of history: A 1917 graduate of Yale, joined the US Army as an officer, bought the gun as part of his uniform, was on Pershing's staff as a cavalry officer, transferred to the Marine Corps at the end of the war and was assigned to the guard detail that accompanied the Kaiser when the Kaiser went into exile after the war ended.
The three Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
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NEW YORK – The scholars who study penalty kicks for a living have come up with another factoid today: the team that goes first in a penalty kick shootout has a 60 percent chance of winning it.
Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, whose penalty kick studies have been most famously highlighted by the book Soccernomics, analyzed 269 shootouts between 1970 and 2008. The results will be published in December by the American Economic Review, showing that the team to kick first has a 60.5 percent chance of winning while the opponent that goes second wins 39.5 percent of shootouts.
However, the advantage does not extend to Major League Soccer. In the much smaller sample of seven penalty kick shootouts in league history (all in the MLS Cup Playoffs), only two of the teams to shoot first actually won the competition (28.6%).
The study indicates that the advantage (ranging from 15 percent to 24 percent) exists across various types of competitions, international or domestic, neutral field or not and whether or not the first team is home or away. They also compare the results to another study on chess matches, where the player who starts first also has a 20 percent greater chance to win.
The author of the study says he will pose the results to the governing bodies of the sport to see if there is a way to correct the imbalance.
All-Time MLS Penalty Kick Shootouts:
Nov. 22, 2009: Real Salt Lake 5, LA Galaxy 4 (MLS Cup 2009)
Opening PK: Los Angeles (Lost)
Nov. 14, 2009: Real Salt Lake 5, Chicago Fire 4 (Eastern Conference Final)
Opening PK: Chicago Fire (Lost)
Nov. 12, 2006: Houston 4, NE Revolution 3 (MLS Cup 2006)
Opening PK: Houston (Won)
Oct. 28, 2006: NE Revolution 4, Chicago Fire 2 (Eastern Conference Semifinal)
Opening PK: Chicago (Lost)
Oct. 28, 2006: Colorado Rapids 5, FC Dallas 4 (Western Conference Semifinal)
Opening PK: FC Dallas (Lost)
Oct. 29, 2005: Colorado Rapids 5, FC Dallas 4 (Western Conference Semifinal)
Opening PK: FC Dallas (Lost)
Nov. 6, 2004: D.C. United 4, NE Revolution 3 (Eastern Conference Final)
Opening PK: D.C. United (Won)


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The Electronic Entertainment Expo. The yearly event when millions of people turn their eyes to focus on video games. So why are the professionals unveiling their works to the world looking like they're dressed for a neighbour's barbecue? C'mon, folks.
Look, it's not that everyone has to do the suit-and-tie thing. But a boring, rumpled t-shirt for the resurrection of a cult favorite, Ken Lobb? Cargo shorts when you're trying to convince people of how awesome The Crew is, Julian Gerighty? Bad form. If you think your games look sharp, then you should, too.
Let's hope this gets better as the week goes on. Just look at Kotaku's own Stephen Totilo. If he can do it, anyone can.


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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Chevron Corp received a boost to its efforts to restart oil output in Brazil after a court overturned a ban on its operating in the country and the company agreed on a plan to improve safety procedures after an oil spill last year.
Taken together, the moves suggest the case may be coming to a quick, negotiated resolution, said Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, the federal prosecutor from the city of Campos de Goytacazes who had first filed civil and criminal lawsuits in the case.
Chevron, the No. 2 U.S. oil company, and its drilling contractor Transocean Ltd face up to $20 billion in damages and some of their executives face jail terms of up to 31 years in the largest environmental prosecution in Brazil's history.
Chevron's operational ban in Brazil was overturned by Guilherme Dienthaeler, a federal appeals court judge in Rio de Janeiro, court press officials told Reuters on Friday. Details of the ruling are unlikely until next week, they said.
The civil case had been taken away from Oliveira and moved earlier this year to Rio de Janeiro. He believes his colleagues are seeking a quick settlement and that they have accepted regulators' arguments that his proposed penalties are too harsh for the size and nature of the spill and could scare off investment in one of the world's fastest-growing oil frontiers.
"I'm disappointed. It looks like it's moving to a negotiated solution," Oliveira said in a phone interview. "I'm afraid we will lose the chance to apply a giant fine and the good that will do for preventing environmental crime."
A ban on operations in Brazil by Transocean, the world's largest offshore oil drilling rig operator, was overturned in September.
Prosecutors had won injunctions banning Chevron and Transocean in July, seeking to assure payment of the nearly $20 billion penalties sought for alleged environmental damage from a the 3,600-barrel spill in the Frade Field northeast of Rio de Janeiro in November 2011.
As long as the ban held, Brazil's oil regulator, the ANP, said it would be unable to consider a petition to restart oil output in Frade. The ban stood even though Chevron accepted a July report criticizing its drilling plan, along with fines of more than $16 million.
In a related development, Chevron and Transocean agreed to a plan to change offshore safety and operating procedures, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors told Reuters on Friday.
If a final agreement is reached after public consultations, the plan will be presented to the federal judge hearing the suit. That could help the companies by showing their willingness to improve Brazil's oil industry, the prosecutors' office in Rio de Janeiro said.
The agreement, known as a "change-of-conduct accord," was drafted at the request of Chevron and Transocean with the same federal prosecutors handling the civil case, the prosecutors' office said.
It declined to give details of the accord but said they would be presented at a public hearing on December 14 in Rio de Janeiro by federal prosecutor Gisele Porto.
Porto is lead prosecutor on the civil lawsuits against Chevron and Transocean for the spill in Frade.
"Such negotiations usually indicate the desire of a prosecutor to resolve the case quickly," Oliveira said.
Chevron's press office at its headquarters in San Ramon, California, confirmed the ban had been overturned, but gave no further details and declined to comment on the change-of-conduct accord.
Transocean's press officer in Houston declined to comment. Both companies say they committed no crime and acted correctly during and after the spill.
No one was hurt in the Frade accident. No oil reached shore, and there was no discernable environmental damage, according to Brazil's petroleum regulator, the ANP.
Still, Oliveira says the spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in Brazil's history.
The Frade field was producing 62,000 barrels of oil per day when it was shut in March to examine unexplained leaks in the area around the site of the November 2011 spill. Tests determined that the leaking oil was not from Chevron's reservoirs.
Frade is operated by Chevron, which also owns 52 percent of the field. Brazil's state-led Petrobras owns 30 percent, and Frade Japão, owned by Japanese trading houses Sojitz Corp and Inpex Corp, has an 18 percent stake. Neither Petrobras nor Frade Japão is the subject of spill-related prosecutions.
Chevron, Transocean and 17 of their employees and executives also face criminal charges that can carry financial penalties and jail terms of up to 31 years.
The Frade spill was far less severe than other recent offshore accidents. More than 5 million barrels of oil were spilled in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in BP Plc's Macondo field in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people died in the accident, and beaches and fishing grounds were polluted.
On November 15, BP agreed to pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to criminal misconduct for the disaster.
While criticizing some of Chevron's actions and levying 35.1 million reais ($16.6 million) in fines on the company, the ANP said in a July report that there was no negligence in the 2011 spill. It also said Transocean had no responsibility for the spill.
Both Chevron and Transocean have said they will challenge the civil and criminal cases against them. Chevron shares fell 0.1 percent in New York on Friday to $105.69.
Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Kieran Murray, John Wallace, Andrew Hay and Leslie Adler


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Heller Black Master Finishing
Wear resistant finishing
Heller Black Master Finishing. Longer lifetime thanks to the special bonded surface treatment. Specially treated with a black oxide coating, which makes this finishing rasp last longerdue to the increased resistance to clogging and rust.
- Features two file sides differing in teeth density
- Ideal to take away horn or for polishing and finishing the hoof
- Also recommended to file below the nail end before the nail is clinched
Ask the expert
Questions about this product?Let us know
Where to buy
Find your nearest dealer
Product summary
- Length
- 355.6 mm test
- Width
- 44 mm
- Thickness
- 5 mm
- Teeth per row
- not applicable
- Weather
- All weather
- Indoor
- Dry
- Wet
- Winter
- Terrain
- Turf/Grass
- Barro
- Pavement
- Stoney ground
- Sand
- Synthetic
Find your nearest dealer
Good to know
- two sides with different teeth density, ideal for finishing and polishing the hoof
- great additional tool during clinching
- long lasting due to the special surface treatment
- additional to a regular rasp for full trimming job
Carl O'Dwyer, farrier in Australia
The shoe should always fit to the horse – and not the horse to fit to the shoe
Be a shark
Aksel Vibe, a Norwegian farrier with a clear ambitionRead story


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New York Giants Football Player "Plaxico Burress" Rushed To Hospital After Shooting Himself In The Leg!
ABC reports "Giants player accidentall shooting himself"
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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USAV Facebook - @USA_Volleyball
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 8, 2013) – Players and coaches from the U.S. Men's National Team took to the sand on Aug. 3 to be part of the 10th Annual JAYO Celebrity-Pro-Am Charity Invitational Volleyball Tournament at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey, Calif.
The event is organized each year by actor and former University of Hawaii volleyball player Jason Olive and benefitted the U.S. Youth Volleyball League.
"This was a day for us to share our sport that has given us so much with the next generation of ballers and also earn some money for some good causes," said U.S. Men's Assistant Coach Matt Fuerbringer, who attended along with U.S. Men's Head Coach John Speraw and Assistant Coach Mike Wall.
U.S. beach players Angie Akers, Dain Blanton, Jenny Johnson-Jordan, Annett Davis, Ty Loomis and Jesse Rambis also participated.
Players helped at a kids' clinic run by beach volleyball legend Sinjin Smith and then played a set against Team Magnum, which included present and former national team members among others.
U.S. Men's players who participated were:
Ryan Ammerman
Matt Anderson
Kyle Caldwell
Micah Christenson
Tony Ciarelli
Carson Clark
Dylan Davis
Andy Hein
Russell Holmes
Max Holt
Jayson Jablonsky
Rich Lambourne
David Lee
Paul Lotman
Dan McDonnell
David McKienzie
Jeff Menzel
Garrett Muagututia
Ryan Jay Owens
Will Price
Reid Priddy
Matt Rawson
Alfee Reft
Erik Shoji
Kawika Shoji
Donald Suxho
Robert Tarr
Futi Tavana
Murphy Troy
Dustin Watten


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Virtual Studio, Adobe Solution Partner & Adobe Connect specialist provides market-leading enterprise meetings, learning & webinars on virtually any device, used by leading corporations and government agencies including the U.S. Department of Defence to improve productivity. Based on Adobe Flash technology, it enables you to provide rich interactions, while ensuring easy meeting entry.
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● Engaging content delivery
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● Immersive experiences
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Ever since our inception in 1996, we have served numerous leading public and private sector majors and non-governmental organizations from across the world. We have been developing solutions for areas as diverse as technology, trading, power, travel and retail. In addition, we are regularly called upon to cater to the requirements of prestigious Government bodies.
Got an enquiry? Please fill the form below and we will get back to you quickly(we mean it)! :)


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Mr. Gugu & Miss Go
OMG! Heart these photo-realistic sweaters by Mr. Gugu & Miss Go. It's not knit but it's great inspiration. They make t-shirts and leggings too. Soo many wonderful things. Aughghgh. From reading their website, it looks like they're based in Bielsko-Biala, Poland. Where To Buy http://eu.fab.com/sale/4873 http://mrgugumissgo.bigcartel.com/ Via http://boingboing.net/2013/01/29/photorealistic-full-screen-swe.html


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Water Damage Restoration
Water damage to your home is always unexpected and in some instances can be life changing. No one wants to experience a water damage event. When water damage has occurred it is imperative to work with the right restoration company and to get them on scene quickly to avoid further damage. ProJan Restoration works in Jessup PA and is always ready to assist you should you have a water damage emergency. We specialize in cleaning up, drying out and restoring your home when it is effected by water damage.
Why use a water damage restoration specialist?
When you have a water damage event, it requires specialized equipment and trained technicians to dry out and restore the home. Without a proper dry out the water can infiltrate other areas of the home and cause further damage. Our trained technicians use specialized equipment such as:
- water extraction equipment
- water meters
- infrared cameras
- moisture meters
- dehumidifiers
- air movers
This specialized equipment and our trained technicians can help prevent further water damage to your home and belongings.
If you have experienced a water damage event and are in the Jessup PA area please call us and we will be happy to assist you through this difficult time.


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Mo. judge suspended for 6 months without pay
Order says court found Judge Barbara Peebles 'engaged in misconduct'
The Missouri Supreme Court has suspended a St. Louis judge who let a clerk handle hundreds of cases while she was on vacation.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the unpaid six-month suspension of Associate Circuit Judge Barbara Peebles was ordered Friday. A one-page order said the court found Peebles "engaged in misconduct" but doesn't go into specifics.
Peebles has been suspended with pay since August, when a judicial disciplinary commission voted to recommend her removal. A report by the Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline found Pebbles abdicated her duties to clerks, showed up late to work and tried to cover up the destruction or removal of a document.
Peebles had been fighting the dismissal recommendation. It's been 20 years since a Missouri judge was removed from office.


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