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Header / SSE
From the mind of horror author Edward Lee, comes this horrifying tale of gruelling revenge and backwoods terror! Stewart Cummings (Jake Suffian), a government agent playing both sides of the law, finds himself in the nightmarish crossfire of a bloody family vendetta. Forced to delve deep into a series of gruesome murders, Cummings encounters the most twisted method of revenge ever conceived by man: The Header. What's a header? Only redneck Travis Tuckton (Elliot V. Kotek) and his evil "grandpappy" knows for sure… and once you learn the shocking answer, you may never be the same. Get ready for the acclaimed horror film that may be the ultimate in violence and gore! "Header" is a film of unrelenting, twisted terror!
2006 – Certificate: Not Rated – American Film
7.0 out of 10
There's only 360 more days until next Christmas; how exciting! I've managed to get all the way through this Christmas without putting the heating on at home. It was my present for the planet and a middle finger to SSE (Scottish and Southern Electricity). SSE managed to really piss me off recently. I have (well had) an early version of a smart meter for my electricity. I've had it about 2.5 years. When I got it I had to change my tariff for a more expense one, (although to be fair it's probably helped me save more money than the extra I spent on having it). A couple of months ago it stopped working. I e-mailed SSE to ask if it could be fixed or replaced. The reply I got (that took longer to arrive that it should have) said that it was an outdated model and it couldn't be replaced, but that I'd get a new, free smart meter in a few years' time! There was no suggestion that perhaps I'd like to change my electric tariff for a cheaper one again or anything. This really annoyed me. In fact it's annoyed me so much that I'm going to change my electivity suppler next month. Doing this has been on my mind for a while anyway, as SSE isn't exactly top of the league when it comes to producing electricity from sustainable sources. It will probably cost me a bit more, but I'm looking forward to using fair-trade, organic electricity in future, that's produced by whole African villages of people peddling really quickly on static bikes to produce the stuff for me. Quite why we can't harvest the same stuff locally from all the private gyms around here I don't know. I guess it's a similar situation to apples, where in the autumn I can either buy English Cox's (the world's best apple), or some tasteless replica with a brand name variety (like Pink Lady) grown in New Zealand. That's just weird. So's this film.
Agent Stewart Cummings is having a really, really bad day. (I know he's an agent as he spends most of the film running around in a t-shirt with the letters ATF on it. (The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.) His wife has a mystery illness for which the drugs she needs cost a fortune and his boss is less than supportive of him taking any sort of initiative when it comes to investigating crime. And on top of that someone locally has started doing rather icky things with peoples' heads. Sadly for Stew it goes even further downhill from then on. After the first ten minutes or so I thought I was going to be faced with an entirely crap film featuring poor production, acting and script. Weirdly, as it progressed it improved. It was like it was filmed in chronological order and everyone just got better as they went along. That's not to say it's likely to worry the Oscars in any way, but it got good enough not to distract too much from the watching experience. I'd love to tell you exactly what a header is, but that would spoil it for you. Needless to say, it's not got a great deal to do with aerial prowess in the penalty box, or plumbing. If nothing else, it's worth watching just to see Grandpappy, a brilliantly, over-the-top character who brings a level of enthusiasm to proceedings that I wish I could replicate myself when doing my budget forecasts at work. I did have a lot of sympathy for Agent Cummings, a generally decent guy who just had a run of bad luck, really bad luck. Sometimes you just have to lose it. Whilst watching this movie, into my head popped the idea that American rednecks have a lot in common with the UK's UKIP voters. More weirdness.
There isn't a lot of music used in the film, it's mainly just over the credits, but it's a decent bit of whatever sort of music it is.
The trailer isn't exactly forthcoming with details. (There is a better one on the DVD, but I couldn't find a link to it anywhere to put here.) I guess that's what comes from having a 'big secret' that you don't want to blow to quickly.
Movie Weather Forecast: Warm and sunny through the course of the film. Nice.
Recommended for police officers, cobblers, drug dealers and adulteresses.
No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Top badass moment? In a fit of anger that wouldn't have been out of place in the final verse of Eminem's "Guilty Conscience", Agent Cummings finally gets pissed at his bad luck. I'm not condoning his behaviour of course, but, well, you can understand it. I'm sure when I eventually 'lose it' I'll go on the rampage too, probably on the London Underground in the rush hour, or maybe in Reading's Oracle Shopping Centre, on a Saturday afternoon just before Christmas.
Header at IMDB (4.7 / 10)
Header at Wikipedia
Official Site
Header trailer at YouTube
Lars and the Real Girl / Doing Less Than Nothing
Sometimes you find love where you'd least expect it. Just ask Lars (Academy Award Nominee Ryan Gosling), a sweet but quirky guy who thinks he's found the girl of his dreams in a life-sized doll named Bianca. Lars is completely content with his artificial girlfriend, but when he develops feelings for Margo, an attractive co-worker, Lars finds himself lost in a hilariously unique love triangle, hoping to somehow discover the real meaning of true love. You'll be swept off your feet by "Lars and the Real Girl", hailed as "One of the Year's 10 Best" by The Associated Press.
2007 – Certificate: PG-13 – American Film
Rating Details: Some Sex-Related Content
8.0 out of 10
I'm on something called Annual Leave at the moment. This is a strange, but rather welcome concept through which I get paid my salary to do sod all. In fact for the last two days I've done even less than that and in doing so have actually discovered a new physics, which I've decided to call "Anti-nothing". This is a weird, quantum effect wherein you can actually do less than nothing at all. It's pretty scary stuff too. It's only through washing my sleeping bag at one point that I avoided crossing over the non-event horizon and falling into some sort of parallel dimension where no one does anything ever. I've never been there myself, although I think I've met a few people who have. Doing nothing has given me the time to enjoy the view out of my window a little more than usual. I've notice a huge, bright orange building that has suddenly spring up amongst the trees that I've never seen before. There're also a couple of cars in the car park that have had most of their windows smashed in, which are accompanied by a number of dented panels. I've no idea what the story is behind them, but they've been sitting there, neatly parked, side by side for several days now, and resemble a couple that have had a row and now aren't speaking to one another. Whoever owns then hasn't even bothered to sweep up the glass or block up the holes. Weird. I've also observed the police dealing with who I imagine is my local drug dealer. They spent ages searching him and his car yesterday morning; I watched all the action through my binoculars. The good thing is that the car has gone now, because it's been frequently and annoying parked just where I turn in. There's never a dull moment around here! This movie has none of these exciting things in it, yet it's still very entertaining.
This is basically a comedy-drama about a guy who buys a blow-up sex doll to have as his girlfriend. Now I'll readily admit that I'm not an expert in such 'things', but I'm willing to bet that most who are don't take them outside to meet other people very often. Although we live in relatively enlightened times, I'm not sure the world is quite ready for 'significant others' down the pub, at the shops or in the cinema, who are made of silicon and rubber and have lifelike 'bits' under their clothes. It's probably acceptable in the Star Trek version of the far future and in Japan right now, but for the rest of us it's a bit of a social faux pas. But this film sees Ryan Gosling doing exactly that. This would all seem to suggest that this movie's going to be full of smutty innuendo and body-function-based humour. Actually it's nothing like that at all. It's much more of a study of how one individual starts to recover from a life-long difficulty in relating to people. Yes it is very funny at times, but it's also quite moving too. I really like Ryan Gosling and he seems to totally nail the part in this film. The plot does start to stretch the boundaries of realism, especially towards the end, but it's well written, acted and made. Kelli Garner is very cute too. An original, well-observed and great film. It's got one of the worst titles ever though.
The soundtrack is fine for what it is, but isn't very memorable.
The trailer makes this movie seem more of a comedy than it really is. It probably has most of the best jokes in it.
Recommended for people who work in builders' merchants, mums-to-be, parents that want to have to explain what a "Living Doll" is to their offspring whilst watching the movie, and anyone who works in an office with people who clutter their desks with toys. (I despair at some of my own colleagues, who stick lumps of brightly coloured fur-with-eyes to their monitors and clutter their work spaces with animal-based, plastic fripperies and desk tidies full of virtually unusable and hideously ugly pens.)
No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Top badass moment? In the same way as I've never met anyone who's admitted to voting for UKIP, I've never met anyone who's admitted to using a blow-up sex doll. However, given the number of votes and sales associated with both, I probably have unknowingly met quite a few. So it's a pretty badass thing to take your blow-up girlfriend out and about with you, especially if you start to have conversations with her in public too. (I'm not so sure voting for UKIP is though.)
Lars and the Real Girl at IMDB (7.4/10)
Lars and the Real Girl at Wikipedia
Lars and the Real Girl at Roger Ebert (3.5/4)
Lars and the Real Girl trailer at YouTube
Dirty Harry / Beating the Banking System
Harry Callahan is a tough, streetwise San Francisco cop whom they call Dirty Harry. In this action classic, you'll see why – and also why Clint Eastwood's reputation as a premier film star and moviemaker is secure. A rooftop sniper (Andy Robinson) calling himself Scorpio, has killed twice and holds the city ransom with the threat of killing again. Harry will nail him , one way or the other, no matter what the "system" prescribes. Filming on location, director Don Siegel made the City by the Bay a vital part of Dirty Harry, a practice continued in its four sequels. Forty three years after its arrival the original remains one of the most gripping police thrillers ever made.
1971 – Certificate: 18 – American Film
7.5 out of 10
This week I've inadvertently become a champion and role-model for the downtrodden masses, as I successfully concluded my fight for compensation as a result of the evil and corrupt banking industry misselling me Payment Protection Insurance for a credit card. As we all know now, every single person who's ever worked for a bank is a child of the Devil. From the CEO to the office cleaners. They exist for one purpose only and that's to rip everyone else off. Well they made one BIG mistake trying to take me on. After many letters, the MBNA has finally capitulated, agreed it made a 'mistake' and has paid me back, with interest. I can't decide what to spend it on first, a yacht, a jet or an Aston Martin or two. I guess a few lines of coke and some high-class 'escorts' wouldn't go amiss either. I can finally get rid of all my pathetic, stupid, so-called friends and buy myself a whole lot of new ones that better fit my improved social status. The rich and the powerful will invite me to everything. A-list celebrities will be at my beck and call. My membership of the Bilderberg Group is assured. I'm going to start voting Conservative at once, not that I really need to worry about politics now, as I could easily buy myself a whole country if I wanted to. So I guess you probably want to know how much I got? Well, the cheque I was sent is made out to me for 20p…
"Dirty Harry" is a film about a naughty policeman, which was inspired by the Lurkers' 1999 non-hit "Go Ahead Punk". (I've got this on a very limited edition 7" single in grey vinyl, number 34 of the 125 that were made.) Its main character Harry Callahan was based on James Callaghan, who was British Prime Minister from 1976-1979 and thus oversaw the invention of punk rock by the downtrodden masses that he created during the Winter of Discontent. "Winter of Discontent" was also a great track from Political Asylum's Winter EP, a copy of which I was sold by the band on the Fulham Palace Road, on my way to a Lurkers gig at the Fulham Greyhound. (The latter was tragically renamed/relaunched earlier this year as an American theme pub called the Southern Belle. WTF?) Its historical significance aside, this film gave us the original police officer who doesn't play by the rules but gets away with, who still haunts TV and films to this day. Scorpio is also a great psycho without a thread of remorse whatsoever and stands up well to the more modern versions that have followed in his wake. I doubt there's anything else I could possibly say about this film that hasn't already been said 100 times before, so won't. But for what's now quite an old film, it still looks good. Essential viewing.
This movie is pretty light on music, which is just as well given it was made in the early 70s.
The trailer's very long and seems to be desperate to portray Harry as more of a victim of circumstance than a police officer who really ought to be sacked for gross misconduct at the very least. He could easily be Martin Riggs' father.
Recommended for police officers, psychos and school bus drivers.
No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Top badass moment? Not once but twice, Harry gives us one of his two, world-famous quotes, here and here. What other character would have the audacity to do that? (Arnie's done it but not twice in the same film I don't think.) That's like a DJ playing the same song back-to-back, it just doesn't happen; (unless you're John Peel and you're playing the Undertones, but that's okay). He must have been feeling lucky, punk.
Dirty Harry at IMDB (7.8 / 10)
Dirty Harry at Wikipedia
Dirty Harry at Roger Ebert (3.0/4.o)
Dirty Harry Trailer on YouTube
The Silence / Learning the Guitar
On a hot summer day, a bicycle is found in a wheat field, and, nearby, the body of a young girl. The killer is never found. 23 years later. Same date. Same place. Another bicycle. Another girl. This time round, an ageing detective convinced that history is repeating itself, comes out of retirement determined to track down the perpetrator with the help of his young colleague. Spanning a week in the investigation, both of them will begin a journey that will see intact worlds shatter apart. A striking debut, The Silence is based on an award-winning novel and follows European crime thrillers such as "The Killing" and "Wallander" as it delves into the psyche of detectives and criminals to deliver a chilling story of murder and betrayal.
2010 – Certificate 15 – German Film
Strong language and sexual violence
8.5 out of 10
I've got sore fingers. Fed up with my existing career options, I've decided to take advantage of the Christmas week and learn how to play the guitar. Once I've done this I'll become a rock star. I've got plenty of social grievances and failed love affairs to write about, so it ought to be pretty easy to do once I've managed to learn a chord. Posters of me in seductive, semi-naked poses will soon be starring down from the walls of countless, teenage girls' bedrooms up and down the country. Justin Bieber will just have to piss off down the dole office where he belongs. My guitar is a rather nice, left-handed Westbury Standard, a model that was made for a few years around 1980 and bought for me by one of those aforementioned failed lover affairs. Despite my cack-handed abuse of it, it rarely goes out of tune and I've yet to break a string, even though my playing has all the subtlety of Freddy Kruger in a maternity ward. But how hard can it be? Look at all the stupid people who seem to have managed. Sadly, I apparently have hands like a horse's hooves when it comes to playing. Why does it need so many strings and why are they so close together? Stupid design. I thought it would only take a few hours, but apparently it takes longer than that…. I'm not a happy bunny.
This is a film with no happy characters in it; at all. No one comes out of it well. Everyone ends up more fucked up than they were to start with. No, it's not a documentary about real life, but a German movie about two paedophiles and the police investigation to apprehend them. I'm personally not a big fan of crime films. All that Sherlock Homes, Poirot, Scooby Doo stuff, where at the end everyone's in a room and all the details get blurted out. Yawn… Fortunately this is a lot better. What actually makes it so good is the way it gets inside everyone's head and exposes all the guilt within; the police, the victims' families, the perpetrators, the perpetrators' families. It's a real lose-lose story. I found it hard at times not to feel sorry for everyone, even the 'baddies' in their own, screwed up way. I was also struck by just how scruffy, undisciplined and a bit mad all the German police seemed to be. At times the feel of the film reminded me of the French horror "7 Days", although that's even darker. Overall this is very close to being a genuinely great film. Only it's slightly frustrating habit of introducing ideas that it then doesn't really do anything with, let's it down.
The music used in this film is fine and works well.
Considering this is a trailer with no words it actually not bad. I'm not sure it tells a great deal about the film's plot, although it does a decent job of getting the atmosphere across.
Recommended for the police, caretakers and architects.
No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Top badass moment? Everyone is so miserable and wracked with guilt that it's difficult to find anything worthy of being considered badass. I guess the weather was nice most of the time; lovely warm, sunny days. Summer is badass. Winter is just crap; short days, cold, damp and wet. Yuk.
The Silence at IMDB (6.8 / 10)
The Silence at Wikipedia
The Silence at Roger Ebert (3.5 / 5)
The Silence at YouTube
Freeze Frame / Pavement Wars
Sean Veil (Lee Evans) is an ultra-paranoid murder suspect who films himself around the clock to provide an alibi, in case he's ever accused of another crime. When the police come calling to investigate a new murder, the one tape that can prove his innocence has mysteriously disappeared. Past and present collide as Sean strives to prove his innocence of this and all the other crimes that have been laid at his door. But the accusations and the tension mount and just when Sean thinks it's all over, an unexpected twist finds him fighting for his life…
2004 – Certificate: 15 – UK/Irish Film
Rating Details: Strong violence and language
8.0 out of 10
A couple of months ago I started walking into work again, rather than driving. Regularly walking the 2.4 miles each way has turned me into a hyper-fit super-being, but it's not without its drawbacks. Today I'd like to briefly consider the concept of Pavement Wars. My journey includes a significant section along the Oxford Road in west Reading, where I find myself walking 'against the tide', as most people are going in the other direction and into town. I'm used to the barbaric anarchy of rush-hour on the Tube, where a fallen body is considered nothing more than an annoying trip hazard; but I thought out on the open road (well pavement) of the Home Counties, things would be a little different. I thought people would lift their hats in polite greetings as they passed one another, whilst exchanging a few words of small talk, about the weather or cricket scores perhaps? Sadly it's more like a pedestrianised version of Carmageddon, with the sort of manoeuvring that would lose a driver his or her license in a moment. Seriously, it's like a war zone out there and I'm not winning. I've lost count of the number of time I've been forced into walls, bollards and the road, in an effort not to get mowed down by others' irresponsible walking. But this guy is fighting back! Last Thursday, my path was blocked by two women coming in the other direction. Any decent human being, when walking next to a friend, would make sure they got out of the way if someone was coming in the opposite direction and the two of them were totally occupying the path. But not these two. And they both saw me coming along, I'm quite sure of that. Did they expect me to step out into the road to let them pass, even though I had my back to the traffic? Was I the innocent victim of bitchy office politics, which meant nether of them wanted to walk behind the other, in case this more submissive stance might have some bearing on an inter-departmental power-struggle? Perhaps my "Do You Like Waffles?" t-shirt wasn't scary enough? Or were they just inconsiderate, stupid, thoughtless, brain-dead bimbos? Who knows? Whatever, this time there was going to be no hanging about waiting between the bollards for them to pass. I braced myself for the inevitable impact, which happened just about here. As we passed my arm briefly collided with the tall blonde's. I suppose with hindsight it was probably the most exciting sexual caress she's had for ages, but to me it meant only one thing; at last, I was a true Pavement Warrior! No longer will I cower in shop entrances, between bollards, behind bins or pavement furniture. Reading take note; there's a new kid on the block, a new kid who's no longer gonna be pushed around by people who think the sidewalk owes them a living. I'm ready for war. Are they? Given all that, it's a shame I'm not about to consider a viewing of "Mad Max".
In a thriller with more twists than a shop full of Curly Wurly bars (or an avenue of Corkscrew Willow if you prefer), comedian Lee Evans convincingly portrays a paranoid and socially inept guy (Sean) who films his every waking (and sleeping) moment. Fortunately, we're spared most of the more 'intimate' moments of his life, but it does make for an original and interesting, although somewhat convoluted movie. I'm a bit stupid so I'm pretty sure I didn't manage to follow everything, but it was still a really good watch; (despite the overuse of blue filters and a tiny, non-anamorphic 2.35:1 picture). So this probably means it'll be a good watch next time too, as I still won't know what's going on; being an idiot does have its advantages. I did feel sorry for Sean; putting up with dodgy TV reporters, useless and greedy psychologists, a whole population that thought he was a triple murderer and cops that 'cross the line', is enough to send anyone a bit round the bend. The amount of plot twists in the last ten minutes are likely to send most viewers a bit round the bend too. His 'underground house' was interesting though.
The soundtrack is exactly that. There're no dumb pop records put into the film to enable some sort of "as featured in" soundtrack to be released. It's just decent music added into scenes to make them better in that way that only music can.
Recommended for police detectives, the paranoid, the tabloid press, everyone who hates CCTV and any innocents who've ever been accused of murder.
No cats, chainsaws or decapitation.
Top badass moment? In a film full of twists and turns, the fact that Sean managed to keep himself together enough to do what he needed to do, qualifies as badass.
Freeze Frame at IMDB (6.3 / 10)
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown / Soft Drink Shortage Hits Cactus World
The streets are filled with death and destruction. Ruthless drug traffickers prey upon the poor, the lonely, the helpless. LA is a city desperate for deliverance… until now! Charles Bronson returns as Paul Kersey, the original urban vigilante and one-man demolition force in this pulse-pounding, take-no-prisoners thriller! Two rival drug gangs have a death-grip on LA's battle-torn inner city. But their brutal reign of terror is about to come to a violent end. One man is out to avenge the cocaine-induced death of his girlfriend's teenage daughter. His name is Paul Kersey – and he's armed, dangerous… and mad as hell!
1987 – Certificate: R – American Film
6.0 out of 10
The unseasonal run of warm days we've been having recently has put an unprecedented strain on reserves of cold drinks in Cactus World. In fact I've run out of normal soft drinks and the things I only drink in an emergency, like bitter lemon and ginger ale, have been in the fridge so long they've all frozen solid. I tried opening one this afternoon, but so much pressure had built up in the bottle that the contents started to explode everywhere; in fact I read this evening that earlier today America had briefly gone to DEFCON 1, as some military satellite had mistaken my attempts to get something cold to drink as a ballistic missile launch. I think it's all okay now though. Fortunately, I also found some old bottles of Bacardi Breezer (Pineapple) in the back of the fridge that the alcohol had stopped from freezing. It tasted okay(ish), considering it was two years past its Best Before date. I also have to report the good news that the far worse scenario of there being a shortage of cold, alcoholic drinks, is not presently a concern.
Before we had mega-budget screen superheroes and nutters like Martin Riggs cleaning up urban scum, we had Paul Kersey. The original street-level vigilante, here's a chap who reluctantly goes off on his own and sorts out bad guys. In many ways he's a lot like Batman, a tortured soul who's lost the ones he cares for most; except he's not especially fit and strong, isn't a billionaire and doesn't have a flash car, cave, computer, utility belt or butler. Then again, he does use guns and he hasn't got an annoying sidekick either. Last time we saw him, he was busy helping disadvantaged communities in New York become more resilient. This time he's back in America's other city, Los Angeles, sorting out corrupt police and drug barons; you know, the usual stuff architects deal with. Scarcely have I recovered from seeing Lieutenant Commander Chakotay turn up in "Night of the Comet" when along comes Lieutenant Commander Tuvok in "Death Wish 4". Clearly working under cover for Starfleet in some sort of time-travel paradox, he inadvertently gives some drugs to some dumb bimbo, who promptly kills herself with them. She just happens to be the daughter of Charles Bronson's latest love interest too. In another interesting parallel with "Star Trek" I would say it was at least as deadly being a friend of Paul Kersey, as it is wearing a red shirt as a member of a landing party. There've been five Death Wish films and nearly all of his 'nearest and dearest' have ended up being raped and/or murdered. You do see Bronson take out Tuvok's car with a grenade in an underground garage, but I'm pretty sure I saw him being beamed out just before it exploded. Tuvok could've easily stunned them all with his phaser, but he probably didn't want to contaminate the time-line or such like. I watched the hardcore, uncut version, not the old, UK cut one with its missing 54 seconds. Because of that I'd have probably turned into a serial killer by now, if it wasn't for the fact that it was also a pan and scan version too, so half of it was missing. I hate it when they do that. It was mono as well.
There's not a great deal of music in this movie and what there is has a tendency to sound like a reject from The Terminator. The theme music is horrible though; some nasty saxophone-heavy garbage that sounds like it escaped from an obscure, 70s porn VHS.
Recommend for architects, vigilantes, would-be superheroes and anyone who might make friends with Paul Kersey. And a warning to the latter; DON'T DO IT!
No cats, chainsaws or decapitations. However, someone does sort of explode into nothing after having a grenade fired into him. And you thought The Terminator came up with that one first?
Top badass moment? Dumb question. Charles Bronson IS badass. And when someone asks, "who the fuck are you?" and you simply reply (after a tension building pause), "death", that's badass too. And keeping a M203 grenade launcher attached to a M16 assault rifle in a cupboard behind your fridge is badass too.
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown at IMDB (4.8 /10)
Hot Fuzz / English as a First Language (and 2nd, 3rd, 4th…)
When top London cop, PC Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), is reassigned to the quiet town of Sandford, he struggles with his seemingly crime-free world… and oafish partner Danny (Nick Frost). When several grisly accidents rock the village, it's not long before Danny's dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gun fighting, all-out action become reality! It's time for these small-town cops to hand out big-city justice!
2007 – Certificate: 15 – UK Film
Rating Details: Very strong language and strong comic bloody violence
9.0 out of 10
I went to the local chemists yesterday. To get there I had to walk up a steep hill. As I was doing so, I passed a young guy (I guess he was about 13) having a conversation in the street with a friend. (I say conversation; they were actually shouting at one another across the road and into an adjacent playground. Maybe it was just a new type of cheap, limited range not-very-smart phone they were trying out; who knows?) So anyway, I got to hear quite a long exchange between them, as I staggered, wheezing, red-faced and exhausted, up the near precipice I was attempting to climb. Maybe my physically overtaxed body was to blame, but I could barely decipher a word of what they were shouting to one another, despite the fact that I think they were speaking English. Today I went to a meeting in Redhill; (which despite the name, doesn't appear to have a hill of any colour in it, just some shops and offices). I had to get up at the unwholesome hour of 5:58am to give me time to get there and the train was too crowded for me to get in a decent sleep on the way too. Maybe my mentally overtired mind was to blame, but I sat in a meeting with four other people who, although very nice, used so much 'management speak' that I could barely decipher a word of what they were saying to one another, despite the fact that I think they were speaking English. I guess I'm not cool enough to 'hang out on the streets' with 'the kids' or clever enough to exchange 'intellectual banter' with 'corporate leaders'. The film features a number of language issues relating to the "metropolitan police vocabulary guidelines".
This is a genuinely great action-comedy. If you've never seen it, rectify the situation now. If you have seen it, go and watch it again, now. That's all I've got to say about it really, because it's one of those movies you really ought to have seen already and it's got Scotty in it. It's also one of those rare British films where you want the police to win. If you think the locals as characterised in the movie are just a bit over-the-top; well, I've met people like them for real. Most of them are parish and town councillors. Lovely people, but a bit scary too… The Shires of southern England have a lot in common with the Wild West…
Between the inspired use of Adam and the Ants' "Goody Two Shoes" at the start and Supergrass' "Caught by the Fuzz" at the end, the music settles down into a more mundane but fun mixture of mostly 60s and 70s brit-pop songs, which often reinforce the images on the screen through their lyrics. Actually it's a pretty good soundtrack.
Recommended for police officers, town/parish councillors, florists, journalists, publicans, hoddies, supermarket managers and anyone associated with a neighbourhood watch group.
No cats or chainsaws, but two decapitations, plus one head totally splattered with a church spire.
Top badass moment? Trashing your local supermarket has to be badass. (Is there anyone who hasn't at some point wanted to pull the bottom can or packet out of one of those 'food towers' they build them from?) Doing so in the name of law and order simply gives you access to the moral high ground too. Imagine all the bargains there the next day, on the 'slightly shop soiled' shelf? (Actually, do they still construct those towers? I half think they've been done way with in the name of health and safety. Those "Tin of beans and it's toast for toddler" types of headlines don't look good.)
The Untold Story / Birds Eye Potato Waffles
In a riveting performance that won him 1993's Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, Anthony Wong ("Hard Boiled") stars as the owner/chef of the Eight Immortals Restaurant, where the original owner and his family mysteriously disappear. As the police, led by Danny Lee ("The Killer"), intensify their investigation, they gradually uncover the shocking truth. Definitely not for the squeamish, "The Untold Story" is also an intelligent character study filled with dark humour touches. And remember… it actually happened!
1992 – Certificate: Not Rated – Hong Kong Film
Rating Details: Scenes of extreme violence and graphic sexual situations
6.5 out of 10
In the late 80s I stopped eating Birds Eye Potato Waffles. This is because I got really bad food poisoning from them, twice in a row. I can still remember it quite vividly. I think it's the last time I took time off work through being physically ill. They're the only thing that's ever given me food poisoning, as far as I can remember. A few months ago I decided to try them again. The good news was, no sickness or diarrhea etc, a promising start. (I don't recommend trying to microwave them though, the results aren't especially satisfactory.) Now, these are potato waffles; they're probably one of the Bird Eye brand's 'signature products'. On the side of the packaging is a marketing highlight which proudly proclaims, "Made with REAL potatoes". What the fuck? Potato waffles and they're actually made with potatoes; surely not? Is that really the best thing they can come up with? It doesn't bode well for the rest of the product if that's the highlight. This also left me wondering what exactly is an unreal potato. The packaging also goes on to say each 100g of waffles is made with 109g of potatoes. Really? I guess an understanding of particle physics is helpful if you want to enjoy Birds Eye Potato Waffles; it must be all that 'new physics' stuff again. Personally, I'd rather know that all the potatoes used are grown within 40 miles of the factory where they make them, which is what it says on its web site; I think that's much more worthy. Has our food become so crap these days that the fact it contains what you'd expect it to contain has become such a big deal that it needs bragging about? (Oh, I forgot about all the horse burgers.) Birds Eye in Europe is presently owned by private equity group Primira. One of its 11 Business Principles is "Comply with both the letter and the spirit of all applicable laws, regulations and contractual obligations". I guess that's why it has its finance team based on Guernsey; nothing to do with its tax haven status then? This film features a restaurant and food that makes people sick; and dead.
Never released in the UK, Anthony Wong plays a restaurant owner called Wong Chi-Hang and it's worth tracking down a copy of this film for his performance alone. The guy has some serious, anger management issues. When he's not feeding his clientele with the ground-up remains of people he's killed, raping his staff, beheading children or cheating at Mah Jong, he's being beaten up by various people, generally the police or the relatives of those he's murdered. For a pretty gruesome and dark film that's basically about a serial killer, the police are presented as only a few steps above the Keystone Cops. The senior detective and his team investigating the case don't seem to do a lot of work, they continually belittle the only woman in the team, they happy beat up poor old Anthony with the least provocation and the senior detective nearly always has a prostitute with him at work. It's not often you can have any sympathy for a serial killer, but he's clearly a product of his environment; well, sort of. Set in Macau, this film is meant to be based on a real crime too. It's a bloody horror with the occasional bit of almost slapstick comedy; very watchable if you can deal with all that.
This film has a fair amount of background music, much of which is clearly inspired by the "Psycho" 'shower scene'. You'll not want to watch this film for the music.
Recommended for catering students, the police and anyone who's crap at Mah Jong.
No cats or chainsaws and three decapitations; two of the latter were after they were dead though. It's not often you see a child have her head cut off in a film…
Top badass moment? In the middle of cutting a load of people up, it was good to see Anthony Wong take time out to sharpen the meat cleaver he was using. (He forgot to wear safety goggles or gloves whilst using the grinder though.) No wonder he was so pissed off when the cutting edge got damaged soon after. (Maybe he sharpened the blade too finely for cutting bones; or perhaps he hit the floor with it by mistake?) Caring about your tools, even if you're a serial killer, is good practice and therefore badass. They do say a blunt tool is more dangerous than a sharp one.
The Untold Story at IMDB (6.8 / 10)
Dread / Getting Caught Up in a Police Chase, Very Slowly
Based on the acclaimed short story from Clive Barker's "Books of Blood: Volume II", "Dread" is a psychological thriller centered on three college students who study other people's fears. As the study unfolds, one of the students begins to seek salvation from his own obsessions by exploiting the terrors of his fellow participants. Starring Jackson Rathbone ("Twilight Saga", "S. Darko") and Shaun Evans ("Telstar", "The Take").
2009 – Certificate: 18 – USA
Rating Details: Strong language, once very strong, and strong bloody violence
8 out of 10
Last Tuesday I had to go to a meeting, in central London. I didn't have to be there until 12:30, so I'd thought, great, that would give me a couple of hours to read the things I needed to go through, before taking a nice, comfortable trip (out of the rush-hour) on the train. I switch on my computer at 8:15. Nothing happened. No sound like I'm in a wind-tunnel (thanks to the eight fans inside the case), no meaningless messages on the monitor, no rattling of the metal case (because I'm too lazy to do up the screws from when I last pulled it to bits). No sound is not a good sign. Using my brilliant Homes-like powers of deduction, I quickly deduced that the power unit has failed, again; it's only been about two years since I last replaced it too. (What is it with electronic things these days, does every-single one break-down after two years?) No matter; that's a quick, two-mile round trip to Maplins for a new one and back, nothing that £70 won't put right; then I'll quickly put it in and it's all fixed before it's even 9:00. Now, Reading's traffic system is 'fragile' at best. So when someone decides to try to get away from the police, crashes and gets killed, it tends to bring the whole lot to a grinding halt. I eventually got back home after 10:30; it had taken me two hours to drive less than three miles! I did get to see the aforementioned 'incident' on the other carriageway as I, very, very slowly, drove past it, which despite the crash happening the night before, was still totally blocking the main route into Reading from the M4. It's not that I'm not unsympathetic. The poor guy, just 19 years old, was being chased by six police cars (including an armed response team and dog-handlers), crashed, got thrown from the vehicle and then run over by one of the police cars chasing him. I can only imagine he must have been an international terrorist, with an armed nuclear device and special powers that would somehow have enabled his clap-out Ford Fiesta to outrun any police vehicle, hence the need for such a response. He wasn't even a Muslin, or Black either, just some local lad who'd probably done something he shouldn't've. And now he's lost his life, his family and friends are all devastated and one police officer has that on his conscience forever. I guess that puts my broken power unit into prospective. And I ended up having to stand on the train, in both directions.
The first 15 minutes of this film are a mess, as a desperate race against time takes place to introduce us to everyone and establish a back-story for them as quickly as possible. There was no sign of Judge Dredd either! Fortunately, things improved greatly after that. I have to admit that this is an excellent, modern horror, which manages to capture some of the essence of what makes films like "Saw" work so well, as opposed to just featuring a series of gross ways to hurt people. As the big 'sticker' in the middle of the cover proudly proclaims, it stars some guy who was in "Twilight". No matter that this blatant bit of marketing totally spoils the cover art, (not that it's especially inspiring but, you know, it's the principle). Interestingly, one of the lead female characters has a huge birth mark, which I think is supposed to make us feel sorry for her. Unfortunately, they picked such a beautiful actress to play the part that she just came across as looking exotic and still really hot. Still, realism isn't what I was watching it for; I'd had plenty of that in the traffic jam and it wasn't fun or nice at all. Needless to say, as a vegan, the scene with vegetarian Cheryl and the bit of beef was of particular enjoyment. Will she or won't she? It was probably horse meat anyway. If you can forgive its more irritating moments, this is a great horror and well worth watching, if you like that sort of stuff.
No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Recommended for masochistic vegetarians and the normal array of weirdos who get their kicks watching movies like this.
Top badass moment? It's pretty predictable and to be honest a bit weak in badass terms, but I suppose it's Stephen going off to try to find Cheryl after she'd been kidnapped. Not that it did either of them much good. He'd had the hots for her for ages anyway. I bet he wouldn't have bothered if it had been someone else, me for example.
RoboCop: 5.0 Stars
Whilst watching this film, I realised that my life is a lot like Robocop's. Like him, I used to be a normal guy with a normal life, job I liked and was good at, friends, relationship, etc. Then one day stuff happened and I ended up a half-crazed cyborg, owned by my employer, devoid of outside interests, single-mindedly saving the planet, dealing out swift justice to those that dare trash it in any way. These days I mindlessly follow the instructions I'm given to the letter, fill in lots of forms and databases, drive around in a souped-up Ford, (well okay I changed the stereo in it), and seek out funding wherever it's hiding, 24/7. I'm tormented by fragments of memory from my former life and long for redemption; and call me paranoid, but I think the rest of the environmental sector is out to get me too, because I want to do more than map and count every bug and flower there is, over and over again. Like Robocop, I also have four Prime Directives:
1) Serve the membership
2) Protect the planet
3) Follow procedures
4) Make money (as is the case for Robocop, this last one is classified, so don't tell anyone please)
Okay, so I'm not really a cyborg (although I do wear glasses and contact lenses and have a few fillings); and I also sleep and do other stuff at times as well; and I'm hopeless at doing what I'm told, but really, the parallels are startling. And if more proof was needed, then about 12 years ago, when I was just starting a new job with my current employer, I had to make a presentation to a number of people, including the Group Director. There's a great line in this film from Dick Jones, Senior President of Omni Consumer Products. He stands up in front of the board of directors, adjacent to a bank of TV screens showing images of the company's products, to do something quite similar to what I had to do. He starts off by saying, "Take a close look at the track record of this company" and then goes on to describe how the company has "gambled in markets traditionally regarded as non-profit". That's what charities generally get up to, so I've always felt there were a lot of similarities between what I do in my job and what OCP was looking to achieve with Delta City; I'm sure I'd fit right on in there, should it be looking to recruit anytime soon at the C-level. With my crappy little PowerPoint presentation (which I still have a copy of), I began with a very similar line. I'm not sure anyone there at the time made the connection, but to me it was awesomely cool! This movie is awesomely cool too.
1987 – Certificate: 18 – USA
I love this film. I've watched it loads of times. It was one of the first DVDs I ever bought. I imagine it's required viewing for all the new Police and Crime Commissioners that were voted for this week too. The whole story feels quite unique, it's got a number of great characters in it, the acting's good and it looks good as well, even though some of the special effects are now a little dated. Its take on corporate greed works for me and even the theme tune is dead-on. (I've no idea why the trailer uses the music from "The Terminator".) Be sure to watch the Director's Cut, to get all the most violent bits. Since her appearance in "The Philadelphia Experiment" three years before, Nancy Allen has certainly toughened up her act. I guess all that running around with two guys transported through time does that to you. And it's got Miguel Ferrer in it, who was at one time the First Officer on The Excelsior in Star Trek. Imagining having that on your CV! The remake (which I think is due out in 2014) will be interesting.
Recommended for awesome people. I'm sorry, but if you don't like this film you're not awesome and I can't be your friend, as I'm simply too cool and you're probably a square.
No cats, decapitations or chainsaws. However, plenty of other body parts do get 'removed'.
Top badass moment? The advert for Nuke Em. A sample of this was used by Random Hand for "The Eyeballs of War". As the 5th best band on the planet, this makes it badass.
Organ: 1.5 Stars
The Olympic Opening Ceremony in London was amazing. I wasn't even going to bother watching it, but then I thought it might be a bit interesting to see what they were going to do with some farm animals and all that grass in the middle of the stadium. Six hours later, I realised I'd witnessed a modern-day miracle. So many things could have gone wrong; all that technology, animals, kids, mechanics and volunteers, a recipe for disaster. I ended up feeling I was watching England playing football and waiting for the inevitable failure that would leave the country ridiculed by the rest of the world for the next 1,000 years. Actually I've no idea what the rest of the world really thought of it, but I think it was pretty spot on; it totally worked for me. I loved the narrative that ran through it and it was great to hear three of my favourite 50 all-time songs (by OMD, the Jam and the Sex Pistols) used. The part where the teams all parade around did go on for a bit, it was a little too like the voting section in the Eurovision Song Contest, which always seems never-ending. Highlights were the team (and I forget which county it was) that came out in wellies so brightly coloured they'd not even be allowed into the Glastonbury Festival; the Queen fiddling with her nails whist the rest of the stadium went mental as the GB Team appeared, (well I guess if you've just jumped out of a helicopter and parachuted into the stadium with a famous fictional character, your nails might get a bit messed up); a realisation that I've never even heard of half of the countries in the world, (which all seem to be volcanic atolls in the Pacific somewhere, not that it'll matter once they all disappear under the waves thanks to Global Warming, courtesy of the rest of us); David Beckman just being himself; and the countries that had woman athletes competing for the first time, (2012, has it really taken this long)? Danny Boyle is a god. The whole thing was great. Unlike this movie…
1996 – Certificate: 18 – Japan
This movie is mostly rubbish. In fact it's possibly the worst film I've watched this year, (so far). It makes little sense, it's hard to follow what's going on and the picture quality is crap. The special effects vary from okay to laughable and the rubbish acting has made me believe I would probably have a star-studded future on the stage, should I choose this path. The characters appear to behave almost entirely randomly; (did they use a dice to select which line goes where in the script)? I was glad I read the overview on the DVD cover, or I'd have been more lost than Jeremy Clarkson working as a fund-raiser for Sustrans. Even the yucky parts are mostly rendered ineffective by the murky, dingy and colourless picture. In its favour, it does however boast quite a high body count and it marginally improves during its second half. Then again, we're not exactly starting from the top of the entertainment mountain here; actually having your organs removed would provide a step up in quality of life from watching it being done to others in this film. Oh God, I'm sitting here realising just how bad it was. I'm sure there's a decent film lurking in there somewhere, but sadly it remained elusive. Not Japan's finest moment.
No cats, no decapitations and no chainsaws. But there are quite a number of missing organs and limbs.
Recommend for any guys who want a cowardly way to dump their girlfriends. Just invite her around to watch this. She will quickly come to the duel conclusion that you are both sick in the head (but not in a good way) and have no idea of what constitutes a good film for an evening of romance and passion. Problem solved.
Top badass moment? This film features a guy searching for his missing brother and having to deal with an organised crime syndicate along the way, so I imagine there's a badass moment somewhere in it. It's just that I didn't manage to spot it anywhere.
The Terminator: 5.0 Stars
"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." That reminds me, we've been going through a bit of a restructure at work. It's not been a hugely enjoyable experience. I guess in the long-term it's the 'right' thing to do, in the same way that the large-scale, post-war slum clearances in areas well-known for high levels of social need, led to their replacement with modern, high rise flats, which are now well-known for, em, high levels of social need, (okay so it's probably not the best analogy on a wide range of levels), but it still sucks. By some strange quirk of fate I seem to have survived this process and now find myself in a 'job-enriched' environment. Considering my almost total lack of ambition and ability this is indeed a strange turn of events. At the moment I'm finding I'm saying good-bye to a lot of colleagues, some of who I've known for years and have so much respect for and many of whom have probably helped me cover up my singular lack of talent in the past. (What can I say? The only thing I'm really good at is bigging myself up on the back of others' hard work.) It's all pretty depressing though. I want to be angry about it, but I can't identify anyone or anything to get angry with, which makes it all even more frustrating. Maybe what's going on at work now is a bit like this film and it will spawn a hugely popular, multi-million pound franchise that goes on for years and years. I look forward to the time when I walk into a room and people look at me in awe, huddle together in groups and in hushed tones say to one another, "you know who he works for, don't you?"
1984 – Certificate: R – United States
I love this film! It's certainly one of my 50, all-time favourite movies and a genuine classic. The theme tune is iconic too. Arnold Schwarzenegger is so perfect for the part of the Terminator and it's great to see someone in a film who looks after his body as well as I look after mine. Honestly, at times it felt like I was looking into a mirror, which was a bit disconcerting and I have to say did spoil the film slightly for me. I think Arnie's a bit taller than I am though. I've seen this movie loads of times, but this was my first viewing of it on Blu-ray. Reference material it's not, but it did look great; a lot more colour and detail than I can remember from watching it on DVD. It's always been a gloomy, muddy looking film, but the format does manage to clean up the details a lot. The effects still look good most of the time too, not bad for a film that's 28 years old. It doesn't look especially dated either, well as long as you don't look at Sarah Connor's hair.
Recommended for everyone, even those who don't like this sort of film. Actually, those sort of people should be forced to watch it.
No cats and no decapitations. The Terminator's head does get a bit stripped and squashed though.
Top badass moment? If any film offers a lot of choice, it's this one. Anyway, I'm picking the "I'll be back" scene. Be honest, who hasn't wanted to do something like that when you haven't got your way in a shop? Well okay, then going on to slaughter everyone that works there is probably a bit over the top, even for me, but trashing the place with a car certainly makes a point about the customer always being right. Consumer power at its best!


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American Hearth offers cabinet mantels – which enclose the fireplace – and Profile mantels and mantelshelves – which finish out the front of fireplace built into the wall.
We build our cabinet and corner mantels from 3/4-inch fine-furniture grade cabinetry components, including MDF wrapped in select hardwood veneers. Because this natural wood can vary in appearance, we grain-matched the components for each mantel, to ensure you get a great looking mantel. Cabinet and corner mantels are available in Oak, Dark Oak, Cherry, White, and Unfinished Hardwood.
Our Profile mantels and mantelshelves are made from ½-inch furniture-grade plywood trimmed in real hardwood. Choose unfinished or primed.
Options & Accessories
American Hearth mantels are hand-sprayed and then hand-rubbed with specially formulated finishes that are more durable and more uniform than brush-on finishes. All the components for your mantel are finished at the same time, by the same craftsman, using the same batch of finish.
Standard and Corner Cabinet Mantel Finishes

subset: commoncrawl


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Upcoming Classes & Events
Read All »
The Yoga Bunch is based in the Cotswolds, England and aims to provide true well-being and inner peace through authentic yoga classes. In addition, there will be workshops and retreats, offering time and a great environment to deepen your yoga practice.
Cristina Chandika Ma is the founder of The Yoga Bunch and co-founder of Prana Adventures. She has studied and practiced yoga and ayurveda for the past 20 years and holds the highest level of certification by the Yoga Alliance Professionals UK - Senior Yoga Teacher (SYT). Her gratitude extends to Geeta Iyengar, Karen Kenton, Sandeep Mehta, The International Sivananda Yoga Vedantre ashrams, Mark Whitwell, Dr. Robert Svoboda, Scott Blossom, Sianna Sherman, Don Conreaux, Yantara Jiro and Burgs, for their inspiration, guidance and teachings. Cristina has been teaching the benefits of yoga and meditation to students from all walks of life for over 15 years. She was a guest teacher at Egypt's first international yoga festival, teaching workshops and master classes. In 2005, She became a resident yogi and healer at the award - winning Bamford Welness Spa in Daylesford, Gloucestershire, where she teaches yoga, meditation and sound healing classes, workshops and retreats. Cristina's teachings are based in the unity of body, mind and soul, through deep asana, powerful alignment, positive affirmations, mudra, pranayama,meditation, mantra and sacred sound. She is an innovative, visionary spirit with a deep devotion to heart alchemy. Her life mission is to activate deep transformation, healing and true freedom.
" Hatha Yoga with Cristina ... as always... so relaxing and calming, yet pushing the boundaries of my body which makes me feel so re-energised! I leave her class with such a sense of wellbeing!'' Tracey Digby- interior designer Cotswolds
" Thanks Cristina for such a wonderful pregnancy yoga class. You have a lovely voice and nature and I now feel very calm, very centered. Going to enjoy my day greatly." Nikki - pilates instructor London
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text:
1 Total
James Hamrock
Exploitation EngineerTimestamp: 2015-12-25
Technical Knowledge Operating Systems: iOS/XNU, Android, Symbian, All Windows platforms, Darwin Mac OS-X, Kali/Backtrack, Cygwin, Unix, SCO Unix, Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora Core, CentOS, RedHat) and SC Linux. Hardware: Ubertooth, WiFi Pineapple, FaceDancer, BeagleBone Black, UNIX (SGI Origin 2000, Octane, Cray Research) TCP/IP, IPX, UDP, DNS, SNMP, IP/Voice, Sonet, ATM, Frame Relay, FDDI, HDLC, External Routing Protocols (BGP/EGP, CIDR), Interior Routing Protocols (RIP, DSPF, IGRP, OSI), CORBA, X.25, DES, ISDN, SS7, IEEE, T1/T3, Public Key Encryption, RF Modulations. Development/Analysis Software/Protocols: Xcode and OS-X/iOS developer tools and SDK, and XNU, Eclipse-ADT, Android Debug Bridge (adb), DDMS, Traceview, MetaSploit, Nessus, Bastille, BackTrack5, GNU Debugger (GDB), Intel Debugger (IDB), Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger, Valgrind, WinDBG, PyDbg, Hex Rays IDAPro Disassembler and Decompiler, OllyDbg, Immunity Dbg, Xcode, LLDB, LLVM, Clang, , Cydia Substrate, Facedancer, BusyBox, apktool, Drozer, JTAGulator, xpwntool, vfdecrypt, otool/jtool,, Sogeti, Cycript, JDWP, Sleuth Kit / Autospy, EnCase, Matlab, Microsoft Visual C++, .NET, Adobe, Compose, SQLite, Visual Basic, Windows SDK, DDK, Version Control: MKS Source Integrity and CVS, Documentation: Doxygen. Languages: Java, Objective C, C, C++, Visual Basic, Perl, Python, IDAPython, JSON, XML, HTML, AJAX, CSS3, and FORTRAN.
ELINT, "Kingfishers Systems", "McDonald Bradley" SIGINT, "MITRE Corporation" SIGINT, "HTA Security", "MacAulay/Brown" SIGINT, "Intelliware", IMTS SIGINT, "iGuardian", Mantech SIGINT, "Lockheed Martin" SIGINT, "HTA Technology", "Vulnerability Assessment" SIGINT, "Vulnerability Assessment" national security
Cyber Vulnerability Assessment and Exploitation EngineerStart Date: 2013-01-01End Date: 2015-01-01
Vulnerability assessment and exploit development of targeted applications for advanced avionic communication protocol exploitation for compartmented activities. Perform vulnerability assessments of systems and application software and exploit development. Provide recommendations for mitigation or exploitation of vulnerabilities depending on customer and con-ops. Perform static and real-time testing an analysis of vulnerabilities and proof of concept exploitations for desktop and mobile platforms/devices and appliances at both the application and kernel level. Develop and code in assembly (x86/64 and 32/64 bit ARM), C++, Java (Android) and Objective-C (OSX/iOS) applications for defensive and offensive exploitation. Develop defensive, offensive, and exploitation techniques and payloads for malware and network operations, including Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). Reverse engineer corporate and targeted malware for determination of design, intent, capabilities, and vulnerabilities. Author of novel DARPA Cyber Fast Track papers and offensive cyber proposal submissions. Provided programming/coding and cyber support on several DARPA Cyber Fast Track implant projects. Technical exploitation lead on operational IC offensive program for development of exploits, techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs). Additional responsibilities include principal technical lead for development of corporate wide cyber initiative. Experience with nasm, Assembly x86/64, ARM 32/64 bit, Eclipse-ADT, Android SDK tools, Android Debug Bridge (adb), Traceview, Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (DDMS), iOS - Objective-C, Cocoa/Cocoa Touch, Xcode IDE, SDK, iPhone emulator, LLDB, LLVM, Clang, xpwntool, vfdecrypt, otool/jtool, GNU Debugger (GDB), Intel Debugger (IDB), Microsoft Visual Studio and Debugger, C, C++, Java, Valgrind, WinDBG, PyDbg, Hex Rays IDA Pro Disassembler/Decompiler, OllyDbg, Immunity Debugger, VMWare/VMFusion, Peachfuzzer/Pit File development, Sulley, EnCase, MetaSploit, Nessus, Bastille, BackTrack5/Kali and their cyber tools.
FORTRAN, Android, Symbian, Kali/Backtrack, Cygwin, Unix, SCO Unix, Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora Core, CentOS, WiFi Pineapple, FaceDancer, BeagleBone Black, Octane, IPX, UDP, DNS, SNMP, IP/Voice, Sonet, ATM, Frame Relay, FDDI, HDLC, CIDR), DSPF, IGRP, OSI), CORBA, X25, DES, ISDN, SS7, IEEE, T1/T3, XNU, Eclipse-ADT, DDMS, Traceview, MetaSploit, Nessus, Bastille, BackTrack5, Valgrind, WinDBG, PyDbg, OllyDbg, Immunity Dbg, Xcode, LLDB, LLVM, Clang, , Cydia Substrate, Facedancer, BusyBox, apktool, Drozer, JTAGulator, xpwntool, vfdecrypt, otool/jtool, Sogeti, Cycript, JDWP, EnCase, Matlab, NET, Adobe, Compose, SQLite, Visual Basic, Windows SDK, DDK, Objective C, C, C++, Perl, Python, IDAPython, JSON, XML, HTML, AJAX, CSS3, DARPA, offensive, intent, capabilities, techniques, tactics, Assembly x86/64, Cocoa/Cocoa Touch, Xcode IDE, SDK, iPhone emulator, Java, Immunity Debugger, VMWare/VMFusion, Sulley


text: One of our best selling boots for little ones, shown here in a great Autumnal colour. Double Velcro fastening makes it easy to take on and off. Smooth leather upper with contrast stitching gives this boot a classic look while the bumper toe makes it a practicable option for those little feet.


text:
Ice Horse All-Purpose Wrap
All purpose ice wrap perfect to reduce inflammation, Read more...
Provides uniform compression and coverage to reduce inflammation on those hard to cool areas such as necks, fetlocks, shoulders and upper legs. Perfect for bumps and bruises anywhere on the horse! One wrap
Customer Service
At Dressage Extensions, our goal is your complete satisfaction. We want you to receive all items exactly as you anticipated. If you are not satisfied for any reason, you are invited to return the unused item for an exchange or complete refund within 30 days (undergarments are not returnable). Just follow the return instructions on the back of the invoice that accompanies your order. Call us if you have any questions.
Our Customer Service Department is committed to answering your questions. Our expert dressage staff is available by e-mail or by phone at 800-303-7849. The Customer Service department's hours of operation are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday, Pacific time.
If you encounter any difficulties with our website, please contact our web administrator Here.
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text:
Valerie Mitchell Johnston
Lincoln Center writes:
November 17, 2015
Valerie Mitchell Johnston has been appointed Deputy General Counsel, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), it was announced today by Lesley Rosenthal, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Ms. Johnston was previously Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs for HIT Entertainment, a children's entertainment production company owned by Mattel. She comes to Lincoln Center with over 20 years of industry and law firm experience in development, production and distribution of content across various media in domestic and global markets.
In her new position, Johnston is responsible for assisting the General Counsel in managing all legal aspects of the nonprofit organization's programmatic, educational, fundraising and administrative activities, particularly its strategic initiatives in digital media.
In her six years at HIT Entertainment, Ms. Johnston's work included handling production and distribution across the U.S., Latin America, and internationally. Prior to HIT, she worked at Sesame Workshop as Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs, where she oversaw business affairs of global television syndication, home video, publishing, digital and themed entertainment businesses. Previously she was associated with the law firms of Proskauer Rose LLP and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP. Ms. Johnston earned her JD from Harvard Law School. She graduated from University of Illinois with a B.A. degree in English literature. She was a longtime board member of the National Black Programming Consortium.


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Custom Poster Printing
At SignsByPost™, we offer a professional a Poster Printing service and we also have a range of printed signs to choose from. We can produce high-quality Posters for both domestic and commercial customers. Having worked in the signage service since 1984, we have honed and developed all the necessary skills needed to ensure a high-quality Poster Printing service is provided. We offer everything from custom posters to safety posters and much more.
Our promise
As professional sign makers & wide format printers based in Cardiff South Wales, we pride ourselves on never compromising the quality of our products or services.
Signsbypost™ and the Dragon™ are a registered trademark of Ponty Print.


text:
ACCOMAC -- Nearly 350 School Board, Social Services and county employees have had their wages garnished for back taxes this year.
Accomack County Treasurer Dana Bundick said 82 county and Department of Social Services employees who were delinquent in real estate or personal property taxes had their wages garnished.
So far $18,000 has been collected.
And 258 school employees had their wages garnished, with $85,000 collected to date.
"Some people, we took all but a few dollars of their paycheck, which got their attention," Bundick said.
Vice Chairman Donald Hart Jr., praised the efforts, saying, "If you collect a check from the taxpayers of this county" the worker needs to pay taxes.
"If you have elected officials, zap them, too," he said, adding of the number of public employees owing back taxes, "That's 300-some employees -- that's embarrassing."
The Treasurer's office also placed 900 Department of Motor Vehicle stops on delinquent taxpayers since January.
The office this year was given funding for an additional employee to help collect back taxes, according to an agreement Bundick made with the county.
The stops prevent delinquent taxpayers from renewing their vehicle registration until personal property taxes are paid. Of the stops placed, 62 accounts have been collected, amounting to more than $38,000.
Additionally, Bundick reported that she referred 76 parcels since January to tax attorney Jim Elliott for collection of delinquent real estate taxes, with 28 accounts collected so far this year, amounting to more than $127,000.
Five tax sales have been held this year, with another planned in May.
The same night Bundick gave her report, the Board of Supervisors also voted unanimously for a zoning amendment that requires evidence of payment of delinquent taxes on properties from owners applying for items including special exceptions, special use permits, variances, rezoning, building permits and erosion and sediment control permits.


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8 great markets in Bogotá – and where to find the best prices!
There are a number of markets in Bogotá which are worth visiting, and if you'll be staying in Bogotá for any length of time, you'll definitely want to do some souvenir shopping at some point, either for gifts to take home to your family and friends, or because your family and friends are visiting you and THEY want to buy souvenirs! Or you might have [more]


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Your Thermostat
Your thermostat is the wonderful device that senses the temperature of a specified area inside your home (typically a whole floor, but sometimes it will monitor a single room or group of rooms). If the temperature drops below what you've asked of the thermostat, it will signal your gas valve or the motor in your oil furnace to power on and create heat inside your furnace.
The heat from your furnace is then distributed by a fan in a forced air system, or by pump in a water or steam heat system. Once the heat has risen above the setting on the thermostat, the thermostat sends a message to the limit control element, which shuts off your furnace.


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Advocate: Someone who takes action to help someone else (as in "educational advocate"); also, to take action on someone's behalf.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Federal law that prohibiits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation and telecommunications.
Apgar: Each newborn is examined and evaluated at 1 minute and 5m inutes after delivery. The system of evaluation, called the Apgar score, is a method of evaluating the overall well-being of the newborn infant.
Appeal: A written request for a change in a decision; also, to make such a request.
Area Board: Located throughout the state. Area Boards were established to monitor and review the service delivery system for persons with developmental disabilities in each region. There are 13 in California.
Assessment: The observing and testing of children in order to identify their strengths and needs, to develop appropriate educational programs, and to monitor progress.
At-risk: A term used to describe children who have, or could have, developmental problems that may affect later learning.
Bayley Scales of Infant Development: A widely used infant scale that provides a diagnostic measure of an infant's mental abilities. Teh purpose ofthe Bayley is to verify the nature and extent of a child's developmental delay.
Community Advisory Council (CAC): A group of parents of children with disabilities, members of the community, students and special education professionals who advise the school board and school district adminsitration about special education programs.
California Children Services (CCS): California's Title V program for children with special health care needs. (Title V is the federal funding source.) CCS arranges, directs and pays for medical care, equipment and rehabilitation for CCS-eligible conditions. Eligibility rules apply.
Child Health and Disability Prevention Progarm (CHDP): A preventative health program that provides early no-cost health care and informatino to children and youth. Eligibility rules apply.
Department of Developmental Services (DDS): The state agency that governs California's Early Start program, as well as other statewide programs for children and adults with disabilities. DDS provides services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities through 21 Regional Centers throughout California.
Developmental delay: A term used to describe the development of children when they are not able to performt he skills that other children of the same age usually are able to perform.
Developmental history: The progress a child has made acquiring skills or milestones (such as reaching, rolling, crawling).
Developmental skills/milestones: Actions (such as reaching, rolling and crawling) that a child is expected to perform within a given age range.
Developmental tests: Standardized tests that measure a child's development as it compares to the development of all other children at that age.
Due Process: The procedures used to make sure parents and educators make fair decisions about the identification, assessmetn and placement of children with disabilities; due process rights are guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Early Childhood Specialists: A childhood development counselor, someone who usually has a Master's degree or Ph.D. in early childhood development, related to early childhood education and/or development.
Early Intervention: Services and programs for infants and young children (under 3 years old) who are experiencing delay in reaching deevlopmental milestones, have disabilities or who are at-risk for developing handicapping conditions.
EPSDT — Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment: Mandatory medicaid (Medi-Cal) benefits and services for Medicaid (Medi-Cal) eligible children and adolescents under age 21; designed to ensure children's access to early and comprehensive preventative health care and treatment. State Medicaid programs (Medi-Cal) must provide EPSDT benefits.
Early Start: California's term for early intervention services provided under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Entitlement: The legal right to certain services and benefits.
Evaluation: A way of collecting information about a child's learning needs, strengths and interests.
Fair hearing: A formal meeting held by an outside individual to resolve a disagreement about regional center services or a child's educational program.
Family Resource Center (FRC): Provides information, education and support to families of children with special health care needs.
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): One of the key requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Requires that an education program be provided for all school age children (regardless of handicapping condition) without cost to families.
Goals: A list of skills and/or behaviors that a parent, teacher and child will be aiming for over the next year. They are based on the child's needs.
Head Start: A federally funded preschool program that services children from low income families to meet the child's educational, social, health, nutritional and emotional needs. (Ten percent of the class is reserved for children with special health care needs.)
Healthy Families: California's State Child Health Insurance Plan to provide health insurance for low-income children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medi-Cal. Eligiblity rules apply.
Inclusion: Being part of a whole. For children with special needs, to be part of activities and experiences with typical peers (including classrooms).
Individual Education Program (IEP): A plan of services for children receivign special educaiton services through IDEA.
Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP): A plan of services and support for Early Start eligible children and their families, developed based on service needs. The plan includes services necessary to meet the unique needs of the child and family, beginning and end dates of services, and the way in which the services will be delivered.
Individualized Program Plan (IPP): The plan outlining services a child will receive from the Golden Gate Regional Center.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): The federal law that mandates and regulates special education services for all children with disabilities ages 0-21.
Informed consent: A parent's written permission to assess his/her child, to provide services to the child, or to place the child in a special education setting.
Institutional deeming: Allows children with disabilities to qualify for Medi-Cal without regard to parent's income or assets. Eligibility rules apply.
Intake: The process an agency uses to determine if a child is eligible for the services they offer.
Interagency: Between or among agencies.
Interdisciplinary team: A team emphasizing interaction among a variety of disciplines.
Lanterman Act: California law that establishes the rights of persons with developmetnal disbilities to servicse and supports they need and choose. This law is administered through the Department of Developmental Services and services are provided through the California Regional cetner system.
Lead agency: The state agency in charge of overseeing and coordinating early intervention services. In California, the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) is the lead agency.
Least restrictive environment (LRE): A term meaning that children wtih disabilities must be educated (to the maximum extent appropriate) with children without disabilities.
Mediation: A meeting of parents and school district personnel aimed at reaching an agreement regarding the child's educational program. This is also a part of the fair hearing process with the regional center.
Medical Therapy Unit (MTU): Also called Medical Therapy Program (MTP). Offered through California Children Services. The child receives therapy from specialists.
Medi-Cal: California's public program that pays for health and long term care services for low-income Californians, as well as others with very high medical expenses. Medi-Cal offers two types of coverage: Fee for Service and Managed Care. Eligibility rules apply. Also known as Medicaid.
Medi-Cal Waivers: These waivers allow some children with special needs, whose parents are over income limits, to qualify for Medi-Cal benefits. Waivers are administered by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) or by the In-Home Operations division of Medi-Cal. Eligibility rules apply.
Multidisciplinary: The involvement of two or more disciplines or professions in the provision of services.
Multidisciplinary Team: Under state law, refers to the involvement of two or more disciplines or professions, and the parent or guardian, in the provision of integrated and coordinated services, including evaluation, assessment and IFSP development.
Natural Environments: Early intervention services provided in the natural environment to the maximum extent appropriate, including home and community settings in which the infant or toddler without disabilities participate.
Objectives: The steps to be accomplished to reach the child's goal(s). Objectives serve as a guide for planning and carrying out learning activities.
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP): Special education office of the US Department of Education.
Part C: The part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that mandates and regulates early intervention services for infants and toddlers ages birth to three.
Parent Rights: An entitlement granted under law such as the right to appeal or the right to full access.
Payor of last resort: A term used to describe a situation where funds are not to be used to satisfy a financial commitment for services that would be otherwise paid for from another public or private source. For example, funds for early intervention may only be used for early intervention services that an eligible child needs but is not currently entitled to under any other federal, state, local or private source.
Placement: The classroom, program and/or therapy that is selected for a student with special needs.
Preschool: Public or private educational programs for children ages 3 to 5.
Protection and Advocacy, Inc. (PAI): The agency appointed under federal law to protect the civil, legal and service rights of Californians with disabilities.
Public Agency: An agency, office or organization that is supported by public funds and serves the community at large.
Referral: A recommendation for assessment to determine if a specialized service is required and at what level.
Regional Centers: Regional centers are nonprofit private corporations that have offices throughout California to provide a local resource to help find and access the many services available to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.
Related services: Transportation and developmental, corrective and other support services that a child with disabilities requies in order to benefit from education. Examples are speech pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, counselings ervices, interpreters for the hearing imparied, and medical services for diagnostic and evaluation purposes.
Service Coordination: Activities carried out by a service coordinator/case maanger to assist and enable a child and his/her family to receive services.
Section 504: Part of the federal Rehabilitation Act that prohibits discrimination in the education of children and youth with disabilities; vocational education; college and other post-secondary proggrams; employment; health, welfare and other social programs; and other prgorams and activities that receive federal funds.
Special day class: Special education service setting comprised entirely of special education students.
Special Education Local Planning Area: also referred to as SELPA.
State Department of Education: Also referred to as SDE in federal law.
Transition: A time in a person's life when she/he moves from one educational program to another (for example, from an infant program to preschool, or from high school to work.)
Transition Plan: A part of the IFSP which is done when a child is 2.6 years old. It is developed by the families, regional center service coordinator, public school personnel, and other memebers of the multi-agency team. The Transition Plan includes specific steps to help families and their children through


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Adam mentions below that the prominent Iowa social conservative Bob Vander Plaats has endorsed the fervently pro-life, "values"-centric Rick Santorum. My first reaction is to shrug, because Rick Santorum is not only a virtually hopeless contender for the GOP nomination, but also an extreme long shot even to win Iowa, despite the slightly tragic amount of time and energy he's invested in the state. It's not clear whether Vander Plaats's seal of approval can deliver substantial votes for the thus-far hapless Santorum in next month's caucuses. But the possibility raises a couple of interesting implications for the Iowa vote, and the GOP nomination fight generally:
One is that Rick Perry will need to work extra-hard to avoid extinction in the state. Finishing behind Santorum would probably not be survivable for the Texas Governor. Some recent Iowa polls have shown Perry several points ahead of Santorum, but in a PPP poll released Sunday they were tied at 10. I suspect that Perry, who has gone all-in in Iowa, may yet have enjoy a late surge there, one that would leave him with a chance to regain some real strength in South Carolina and then Florida. But it's possible that Santorum will catch him, er napping, and steal away some of the evangelical conservatives Perry has been targeting in recent days.
The broader implication is that this splintering of the conservative vote is only working to Romney's advantage. Incredibly, Romney now stands a decent shot at winning a state he once more or less boasted that he would be ignoring, and where about 75 percent of voters seem unwilling to support him. Even subtracting about 25 percent for Ron Paul would allow for a strong conservative to romp to victory with a near-majority of the Iowa vote. (This, presumably, was the grand ambition of Rick Perry's Austin strategists back in summer.) But that conservative voting bloc now appears destined to be divided in futile fashion among Santorum, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and a nose-diving Newt Gingrich. As a result, Romney could win Iowa with a piddling plurality of about 25 percent–far from a show of decisive force, but a victory from which his gobsmacked rivals will have trouble recovering.
Not that Romney even needs to win the caucuses. He'd be fine with seeing Ron Paul claim first place–a result many Republicans (and, frankly, much of the media) will largely dismiss as a fluke, even as it smothers Gingrich's fast-fading momentum. A Paul win coupled with a strong showing by Perry could make Romney nervous. But a Santorum boomlet makes that a little less likely. It also makes me think Romney's chance at the nomination has jumped back to nearly 70% on the Intrade market for good reasons.


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Here's a place for your Brilliant page title
Your Very interesting and thought provoking sub title will go here
Suspenders restaurant in an American grill with the intimacy of a neighborhood pub and the size of a restaurant — with 200 seats. Opened in 1988 by a group comprised (mostly) of NYC firefighters, it quickly grew into one of Wall Street's most successful restaurants; now in it's 26th year of continuous operation. It continues to be operated by two of the founding partners, Pete Galiano and retired Lieutenant Billy Ahearn (NYFD, Ladder company 131).
The American grill menu is augmented daily with food specials, in addition to daily drink specials served at the 80 foot-long rectangular mahogany bar. And customers have often remarked that the warm, neighborhood bar/restaurant atmosphere is a nice contrast to the other establishments in the financial district that cater to business clientele.
Suspenders features seven televisions that provide daily coverage of the financial markets, as well as select sporting events.
Because of the large seating area, location, and long-established professionalism, Suspenders is an ideal choice for for weekend catered events: numerous wedding receptions have been held here. A private room that accommodates smaller gatherings [up to 60 seats] is ideal for events and visiting tour groups.
Off-premises catering is also available.
The restaurant location made Suspenders an unofficial gathering place for the emergency service workers who responded to the World Trade Center terrorist attack on and post 9/11. Civilians too made their way to Suspenders, knowing that the ownership was familiar with emergency operations, thereby making the restaurant a de facto emotional safe haven and forever rooting itself in New York City history.


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The British Menopause Society (BMS), established in 1989, educates, informs and guides healthcare professionals in all aspects of post reproductive health.
This is achieved through an annual programme of lectures, conferences, meetings, exhibitions and our interactive website. We offer a range of publications including our quarterly journal Post Reproductive Health and the definitive handbook Management of the Menopause.
Our sister charity
Women's Health Concern (WHC) was founded in 1979 and became the patient arm of the BMS in 2012. It provides an independent service to advise, reassure and educate women of all ages about their gynaecological and sexual health, wellbeing and lifestyle concerns.
WHC offers unbiased information – by telephone, email, printed fact sheets, online and through symposia, seminars, meetings and workshops, including Living and loving well beyond 40…!
Our mission
- To increase awareness of post reproductive healthcare issues
- To promote optimal management through our educational programme, publications and information dissemination
The publication in November 2015 of the NICE Guideline, Menopause: diagnosis and management is leading to a sharper focus on the mid-life medical challenges facing women. And as most British women can expect to live for thirty years or more beyond menopause, the consequences for immediate and longer term healthcare and lifestyle are significant.
Our vision
The British Menopause Society Vision for menopause care in the UK was written by Dr Heather Currie, Kathy Abernethy and Dr Sarah Gray, on behalf of the BMS medical advisory council. It was published at the BMS 27th annual conference in July 2017. The key points are:
- Menopause is a major life event affecting all women, in a variety of ways, both short and long term.
- All women should have access to accurate information, available in a variety of forms.
- All healthcare professionals (HCPs) should have basic understanding of menopause and know where to signpost women for advice and support.
- Each primary care team should have an HCP or HCPs who have a special interest and knowledge in menopause.
- Each HCP with special interest in menopause should have access to at least one Menopause Specialist for advice, support, onward referral, and leadership of multidisciplinary education.
Download the full 8-page document (PDF, 248KB)
The British Menopause Society is a specialist society associated with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
British Menopause Society membership is open to healthcare professionals and others specialising in post reproductive health.


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Student or Learner
There are lot of wonderful teachers in this forum like 5jj, Rover_KE, emrs2d2 etc
Generally, however, the system works. Non-teachers who make a point of following forum guidelines and admitting that they are not teachers show us that they are honest, and that their answers should not be accepted automatically. Members who visit the forum regularly soon get to know the 'not a teacher' members who can be trusted. If people who claim to be teachers regularly give unhelpful answers, we do ask them stop answering questions.
Don't forget that some of the questions asked cannot be answered definitively. There is no 'Academy' to regulate English; sometimes even those of us who are native-speaking teachers can do little more than give our opinion. In such cases, a non-teacher's opinion may well be as valid as a teacher's.
Does teacher means that they are a real teacher teaching English in real life?
I have a suggestion, why not put the word "Teacher" under the username of teachers. For example, 5jj has the word Moderator under the username. If 5jj is a teacher, you can put 5jj, Teacher, Moderator
Is it that important to you to know whether someone is teaching English as a profession? I only ask because there are non-teachers here whose grasp of the minutae of the English language, and their way of expressing it, is phenomenal. There are teachers (mostly native speakers and some non-native) whose knowledge and advice is occasionally less impressive or useful than that of the non-teachers.
If you click the words "Member Info", two lines beneath a username you will find this information anyway. Yours says "Student or Learner", mine says "Teacher". I teach much less than I did when I worked in Madrid as a full-time English teacher but I still have students. I am more than well aware of the fact that quite frequently a non-teacher's answer is much better than mine.
I am just curious about the word teacher only. I actually thought maybe someone has to pass through some test in this forum to become a forum teacher. As long as the answer helps, I am happy about it. I actually thought if someone is a teacher, they could just display Teacher . And if someone is a student, it could display Student, and anyone can also add the "Not a teacher" under the username, just like the word "Moderator", one look at it I will know it is a moderator. It will make the forum cleaner as there is no need to always repeat "not a teacher" all around the forum. Just a friendly feedback only, can ignore it, maybe I am the only one who is confused about this "not a teacher" thing.
Just out of interest, where would a Pre-service teacher be listed in all of this? Technically speaking a Pre-service teacher is still a teacher...


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Partnership Designed to Expand Optoma's Channel Presence Across SMB, Education, Government and Other Verticals
October 10, 2017 – Optoma, a world-leading manufacturer of video and audio products, has signed a new distribution deal with ASI, a national distributor of IT hardware and software products, to expand its U.S. channel penetration across a variety of verticals including SMB, education and government. ASI will carry Optoma projectors including the recently launched UHD60, the Intelligo-S1 and its newest line of classroom and corporate projectors with the EH400+, W400+ and X400+.
"The partnership with ASI is a natural fit as we believe our portfolio of products will bring a new level of quality, reliability and affordability to ASI's customer base," said Maureen Schmidt, vice president of sales at Optoma. "We're looking forward to kicking the relationship off in Q4 and expanding the partnership down the line."
"Optoma is a key player in the video projector space and we're excited to be able to offer the brand's products to our customers," said Kent Tibbils, VP of Marketing at ASI. "We anticipate Optoma will be a strategic partner for us and look forward to our partnership and carrying the Optoma brand."
The partnership officially kicks off in Q4 and will feature sales activities and promotions. For more information on Optoma and its products please visit: www.optomausa.com.


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Competition Laws as a Social Institution. A Case Study of Competition Law in Thailand and its Implementation in the Telecommunications Sector
- Publisher:
- Lambert Academic Publishing
- Publication date:
- 2011-04-29
- Authors:
(Piyabutr Bunaramrueang, J.S.D. is a lecturer of Competition Laws and Law & Technology at University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), Bangkok, Thailand. He received his LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees from UC Berkeley School of Law under a UTCC scholarship. His research interests are laws and policies relating to competition, technology and media.)
- 9783844330489
This study is aimed at exploring the competition law as a social institution in Thailand, which is to examine specifically why competition laws in general have been a misery but telecommunications regulations have been a blessing despite their very same competition principles. With a normative view, it has been usually explained that Thai competition laws are in general vague and out-of-date, compared to telecom regulations which have more regulatory details and up-to-date. This explanation lacks merit because competition laws are actually in its early life as well as telecommunications laws. With a sociological view, this dissertation offers an explanation to why the telecommunications authority has been able to give effect to laws while competition authority has nullified them.
MATERIAS: Legal Norm, Legal Relation, Social Institutions, Telecommunications, Competition Laws, Thailand
MATERIAS: Legal Norm, Legal Relation, Social Institutions, Telecommunications, Competition Laws, Thailand