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Career Advice Tueday – "Biting Off More Than I Can Chew"
August 14, 2012
Dear Infosecleaders:
I have been working in the IT industry for many years and have been dabbling in the Information Security realm for about 5 years now, but am having a hard time getting the experience I would like
I was recently asked by a friend to help with a side job which required a Security Assessment to be performed. I have never had to perform a Security Assessment so I am a little hesitant making the jump because if I accept the assignment, I want to do it correctly.
I'm not one of those guys that will take the job, if I do not believe I can perform it correctly. I do not want to be put in a position where I do a crappy job due to the fact that I do not know what I am doing.
How do I get the experience I would like, so I can take "jobs" like this one with confidence? I have a good reputation and I want to keep it that way.
Any advice you could give, I would be grateful.
"Biting Off More Than I Can Chew"
Dear "Big Mouth":
I agree with your sentiments. You only have one reputation and anything that you do that detracts from your reputation will only stay with you through the course of your career. In the end, your work is a reflection of you, and it eventually will define you and become your "brand".
I give you a good deal of credit for having the integrity to know that this position maybe beyond your scope of knowledge and "more than you can chew" at this point in your career.
I can offer you a couple of different options –
1) I would ask your friend if you would be open to "sub contracting" the assignment to someone that you trust. If they say that is OK – what you could do is to ask around your network or on Twitter – if anyone is interested in a consulting assignment – with the caveat that if they take the job – that they will let you shadow them on the assignment and teach you. This could be the best way to get practical experience – in essence you can learn – and someone else would get the revenue from the assignment. This would be viewed as quite an even trade!
2) Another option would be to get formalized hands on training. Now, I do realize that if you did take training, you would not be ready for this current assignment – however, with some foresight this could possibly give you the confidence to know that you would do a good job the next time that you get the opportunity to perform this type of work.
The key to this is to get "hands-on" training – not just some certification – that will give you the confidence that you will do the job correctly. Understand that you are doing for yourself, not someone else evaluating the value of the certification and utilizing that to judge your competency. In this case, you need to overcome your fear of failure – practical experience, even in a training or lab environment should enable you to simulate a real world "assessment". It may not be live – but it is the next best thing.
With the right training, you should be able to do a "good job" on future assessments, and when you do, you can be sure that you will get additional opportunities to practice your craft.
Hope this helps,
Lee Kushner
Posted by lee | Filed Under Advice, Behavior, Career Advice Tuesday, Career Investments, Networking, Planning, Skills, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Infosecleaders at Black Hat and B-Sides – Come By and Say "Hello!"
July 23, 2012
As always, I am very excited to be heading out to Las Vegas for the Black Hat Briefings and Security B-Sides. Although, having been to every Black Briefings (as either an attendee, a presenter, or just hanging out) it does make me feel older, however catching up with people whom I have worked with throughout their careers, on their way to achieving their professional goals, is truly a great personal pleasure.
Black Hat and B-Sides also provides a great opportunity to meet new people, which is one of the best things about my profession. While there aren't any presentations on my agenda, I am going to be at Caesar's from Monday – Friday, and will most likely be at B-Sides on Wednesday morning.
If anyone in the Infosecleaders community would like to say "Hello" or talk about their career or ask a questions, either send me an e-mail (firstname.lastname@example.com or email@example.com ) or send me a DM on Twitter (@ljkush) and I will try my best to get together and spend some time.
If you have my mobile, feel free to call – just remember not that early!
Lee Kushner
PS. Career Advice Tuesday will Return this week. I will post three new CAT's this week, to make up for the one's I recently skipped while enjoying some time away with my family.
Posted by lee | Filed Under Behavior, Networking, Security Industry | 1 Comment
Career Advice Tuesday – "Did I Pull Out Too Early"
April 3, 2012
Dear Infosecleaders:
I am currently engaged in an interview process and I am getting some mixed feelings about the position. Initially I was a bit hesitant about engaging in the opportunity, but I had the opportunity to meet with the hiring manager, and the meeting was a great success, and we really hit it off, I felt that they could be a great mentor. In addition, they made the position sound really appealing and more strategic than my initial impression.
After that meeting, I was asked to come back and meet with some other members of the team whom I would be working with. During that meeting, I received a different interpretation about the role that I would be filling., and they made the role seem to be more tactical than I was searching for. Quite frankly, although I liked the people, the meeting was a complete turn off and I decided to make a decision to remove myself from consideration.
When the news of my decision got back to the hiring manager, they asked if I would reconsider, and have lunch, in order to address my concerns.
I am inclined to not go through with the meeting, as I think it is a bad use of time. However, I wanted to know what you thought, and if you think that I am making a mistake?
Nolonga Interested
Dear Nolonga:
I think that you are making a mistake.
One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever received is that you always take a meeting, even if you think that the meeting is not going to produce your desired result. Over the course of fifteen years of working in this industry, I can count a number of times when a job candidate initially decided to end their interview process, only to be convinced to keep an open mind, and hearing out the hiring manager. In a majority of these occurrences, the candidate went on to accept the position, and greatly accelerated their career.
The opportunity to spend additional time with the hiring manager and potential mentor can only be a good thing. First of all, since you have already "turned down" the role, you have inadvertently shifted some of the balance of power in the interview process. You have forced the hiring manager to show their hand, and demonstrate that they want you as part of their team. This should be able to give you more comfort in the interview process, and enable you to ask questions about career goals, professional development, and mentorship. You can have a free discussion on the importance of this role, how your skills will be utilized, and if you are successful where this position will lead.
In addition to this, you will also have time to ask the hiring manager why they believe that you are a good match for the role, why they believe these skills are important, and why this roll could be a good accelerator in your career progression.
If you like the hiring manager, you can also pick their brain on their personal experiences and see if you can draw some correlations between your career and theirs (this should show you if the person could be a good mentor).
Another reason to take the meeting is that the second group of people whom you interviewed with might not understand the hiring manager's vision for the role. What they may understand the role to be, could be significantly different to how the hiring manager views the role . It is possible that their vision of the role could be how things "used to be done", while the hiring manager in recruiting for this position may be searching for a different skill matrix so that the position/function could be elevated and enhanced. Chances are that your initial read from your interview with the hiring manager was the correct one
Too many times information security professionals get caught up in the details of a job description and do not look at the big picture for their careers. It is logical that any role will have a blend of strategic and tactical work – but more important than the "task" – is the person whom you will be working for, as they will be the one who ultimately creates the environment for your success.
Without a doubt, take the meeting. You have very little to lose, and potentially plenty to gain.
Hope this helps,
Lee Kushner
Posted by lee | Filed Under Advice, Behavior, Career Advice Tuesday, Interviewing, Leadership, Networking, Planning, Position Selection, Recruiting | 1 Comment
Career Advice Tuesday – "Infosec Leaders Need To Be Good Recruiters"
December 27, 2011
Today I am sharing an article that we wrote that appeared in Tech Target's Infomraiton Security Magazine. The topic focuses on life on "The Other Side of the Desk"- becoming an effective recruiter in the building of your information security team. The article scratches the surface of some important attributes that all solid information security leaders should possess in the acquiring the necessary talent in order to provide them with a better chance of success.
The original article was edited by our frien Michael Mimoso at Tech Target.
The article can be found here – http://tinyurl.com/6q8k8gk
Happy New Year,
Lee and Mike
Posted by lee | Filed Under "The Other Side of The Desk", Advice, Behavior, Career Advice Tuesday, Interviewing, Networking, Recruiting | 5 Comments
Career Advice Tuesday – "Black Hat Preview – Professional Development Workshop"
July 26, 2011
For today's Career Advice Tuesday – we wanted to share a more detailed look at our Black Hat Professional Development workshop. The workshop will take place on Thursday afternoon – from 1:45 – 6:00PM. Anyone in attendance can come to either any individual session or stay for the whole program.
If you are at Black Hat, please come by and introduce yourselves.
InfoSec 2001 – A Career Odyssey
The Professional Development workshop is a half-day program that is designed to inspire the Black Hat attendee to think about their career as an information security professional and assist them in their journey towards the achievement of their long term career goals.
The Professional Development workshop will be divided into five (5) unique information security career topics that will be linked by a common theme – Skill Development and Differentiation.
The program will consist of the following:
1) "The Value of Information Security Certifications Survey" – Research Revealed – 1350 information security professionals responded to an independent survey on the topic – the research will be revealed
2) "Second Place Sucks" – A presentation geared toward differentiating yourself from your peers (and your competition)
3) The Information Security Leader of The Future" - a presentation that will outline the skills that employers are looking for when identifying and selecting their information security leaders.
4) "The Other Side of The Desk" – a panel that will explore the different attitudes and beliefs by job applicant and employer during the interview process
5) "Future Predictions" and "Career Advice Tuesday- Live" – Future trends will be discussed and explored – and attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions about infosec related career topics
The workshop is designed as an interactive forum that should inspire some shared thought and debate between audience members and the presenters.
Attendees should understand that they can elect to either participate in the entire workshop, or to pick and choose from select sessions that have a particular interest to them.
Session Previews:
Session 1 – 1:45 – 3:00
"The Value of Information Security Certifications Survey"
Presenters – Mike Murray and Lee Kushner – Infosecleaders.com
In February of 2011, Infosecleaders.com launched an independent survey on the value of information security certifications. The value of InfoSec certifications is a highly debated topic in the industry, and this is the first independent survey that asks questions to information security professionals (certified or not) – their opinions on topics that include – the motivations for certifications, the impression of the certification bodies, the value of skills vs. certifications, and certifications effect on employment. With over 1350 respondents, the results should be revealing and eye-opening.
Second Place Sucks -
Presenter – Mike Murray
So, if certifications are no longer the magic bullet to get you to your career goals, then what is. The topic of strategic career investments and personal branding will be the focus of this presentation. The presentation will be spent on how you can plan and execute on career investment strategies that will enable you to differentiate from your peers and successfully compete for promotions and external information security leadership opportunities.
(15 minute break)
Session 2 – 3:15 – 4:45PM
"The Information Security Leader of the Future" –
Presenter – Lee Kushner
The skills for information security leaders are changing quite rapidly. As many companies are aligning information security with their core business and branding, information security professionals will need to evolve as well. The presentation will break down the core skill components of what information security professional will need to acquire and demonstrate to be considered for leadership roles in the future.
The Other Side of the Desk – Different Perspectives on the Interview Process
Moderator – Mike Murray
Candidate Perspective – Lee Kushner
Hiring Managers Perspective –
Bill Phelps, Executive Director Accenture
Justin Somaini, CISO at Yahoo!
There are two parties involved in every interview process, the information security professional (the applicant) and the hiring manager (the decision maker). While in essence, both parties ultimately desire the same outcome, their motivations lie in different places. This portion of the presentation will present to the audience the perspective of the candidate and the perspective of the hiring manager, in a way that will educate both parties and enable them to social engineer the interview process, to work to their personal advantage.
Bill Phelps:
Bill Phelps is an Executive Director in Accenture's security practice, and has spent the past 25 years in technology services. In the past decade, Bill has been a practice leader, company founder, board member and trusted advisor helping organizations with complex management and technology challenges in the areas of information security, data center transformation and technology strategy. Bill currently has overall responsibility for Accenture's security business in North America. Bill is aggressively growing Accenture's security team, and plans to hire over security 200 professionals in the coming year.
Justin Somaini:
Justin Somaini is the Chief Information Security Officer at Yahoo! where he's responsible for all aspects of Yahoo!'s Information Security strategy. With over 15 years of Information Security experience he's seen as a leader in industry by promoting an evolution of the security and risk management models. Through his public speaking and industry involvement he's given extensive talks and interviews on the threat landscape, public policy, security management and risk management. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Justin was the CISO at Symantec. Justin has also held security leadership roles at VeriSign, Charles Schwab and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Predictions for the Future and Career Advice Tuesday – "Live"
Presenters – Lee Kushner and Mike Murray
The employment market is dramatically changing – and the closing session will begin with information security employment predictions (based on experience and research) for the next ten years. Once completed, this will be followed by a version of "Career Advice Tuesday" – "Live". All attendees can have their personal information security career questions answered in an open forum. Topics will include skill development, compensation negotiation, career investments, career planning, and anything else you want to ask about your Information Security Career.
Posted by lee | Filed Under "The Other Side of The Desk", Advice, Behavior, Branding, Career Advice Tuesday, Compensation, Interviewing, Networking, Planning, Position Selection, Presentation, Recruiting, Resume, Security Industry, Skills, Survey, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Career Advice Tuesday – A Conference First Timer's Guide (Part II)
July 19, 2011
This is a continuation from last week's question from a first time attendee at Blackhat and Defcon.
Tip #2 – Start Preparing Early
Once you've got a plan for the conference all figured out, it's time to start getting prepared. Long before we wrote these posts, we had already started contacting people who were on our plan for this year's conference to make sure that we had set up some time to meet. Mike's schedule is already quite full from Sunday evening of that week all the way through our Thursday afternoon talk with people that he wants to see and events that he plans to attend. Lee's is the same.
Yours should be as well. Start reaching out now to the people who you want to spend a few minutes with and make sure that you get on their calendar. This is especially true if you know that the people who you want to meet up with are going to be busy at the show (esp. if they're speakers at one of the various events).
Tip #3 - Skip Most of the Talks
This may seem counter-intuitive – most people think that conferences are entirely about the talks. While this may have been true in 1998, it's not nearly as true in 2011. This tip can all be summed up by a single quote that we overheard at last year's conference: "They record the presentations. They don't record the hallway conversations."
When you go to a conference like Blackhat, you get a CD of all of the presentation materials and recordings of all of the talks are uploaded online. You can get that material anywhere. What you can't get is the information and relationships that you get from each of the million conversations you'll have at lunch, during the breaks, and at the parties in the evening.
Far too many people get up early to go to all of the talks and skip the parties because they have to work. Here's our advice: if you're going to do work, do it from the talk itself. Take your laptop, pop your 3G card in (which is better than most Vegas hotel connections), and get your work done while speakers are talking. You won't miss anything that you can't go back and re-watch later.
Then, make sure that you go to a bunch of the parties. Meet the people who are on your plan and have a drink with them.
This is how you'll make many life-long friendships and professional connections.
As we've pointed out before, it's how Lee and Mike met in the first place.
So… with those three tips in hand, get a stack of at least 250 business cards and pack your bags. And come find each of us when you get there – we'll be the ones not attending the talks and talking to all of our favorite people.
Lee & Mike
Posted by mmurray | Filed Under Career Advice Tuesday, Networking | 2 Comments
RSA Professional Development Seminar – "The Top Of The Pyramid – Meet The CISO's"
February 11, 2011
We are down the home stretch now, and the Professional Development Seminaris only a weekend away. I can tell you that both Mike and I are very much looking forward to being a part of the program, and are expecting a great turn out. If you plan to attend, please make sure to arrive early – we have been told that there has been a great deal of interest.
The Seminar will take place as follows:
Monday, February 14th , 12:30 – 5:00PM, Moscone Center – Orange Room 305
Then final panel will follow immediately after my presentation- – which begins at 3:30 – and will conclude at 5:00Pm.
The final presentation is really the showcase for the event. The panel discussion will feature three accomplished Information Security Leaders, who will guide the audience through the evolution of their information security career, and provide insight and guidance to the audience on how to accelerate their own careers.
The participating CISO's represent a variety of industry's and have some very unique career progressions. They include the following :
Patrick Heim - CISO Kaiser Permanente, former CISO McKesson
John Kirkwood- CISO Royal Ahold, fomer CISO American Express
Stephen Scharf - Global CISO Experian , former CSO Bloomberg
The topics that we will cover will include the following :
1) Key career decisions that impacted and accelerated their careers
2) How they select talent? What they look for in interviews? How they determine who gets promotions and more responsibility?
3) Their own professional development – through industry involvement, certifications, and advanced education and training
4) What the future holds for them? What they see on the horizon?
5) General Advice to aspiring Information Security Leaders
All I can say is that it is very exciting to bring this panel to the RSA audience. The opportunity to gain insight into the careers of successful information security leaders, and in an open forum where the audience can receive unfiltered advice and guidance is a unique opportunity.
For all of the aspiring information security leaders out there, this panel is worth the price of admission alone.
Look forward to seeing you all. Safe travels!
Lee and Mike
Posted by lee | Filed Under Advice, Networking, Personal, Presentation, Recruiting, Security Industry, Skills, Uncategorized | Comments Off
RSA Session Preview – "Making The A-List"
January 21, 2011
As a follow up in our series, you will find the preview of Jeff Combs' RSA Presentation, "Making the A-List" - Jeff provides a glimpse into his session that will guide the attendees to differentiate from their peers, and make themselves more attractive for internal promotions and overall career acceleration.
Session Date – February 14, 2011 (yep still Valentine's Day)
Session Time- 2:30PM – 3:10PM
Location – Orange Room 305
Session Preview -"Making The A-List" - Written By Jeff Combs (guest blogger)
As a headhunter with over a decade of experience recruiting in Security, it's my job to align the best candidates with the right opportunities. It's not an easy job, but one that can be very gratifying when you're able to make a positive difference in people's lives. To be successful, a recruiter has to have a number of traits – empathy, listening skills, industry knowledge, the ability to earn trust and…the ability to think like a horse trader.
It's a fact that companies will only pay to hire the best. That's why recruiters exist, to identify and attract talent that stands out from the rest of the crowd. Average doesn't cut it. So while I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I can't afford to represent anyone to my clients who isn't a cut above their peers. The candidates that I do advocate for have to be on the "A-list".
What gets a candidate onto the A-list? There are roughly seven qualities that I look for when interviewing prospective candidates. Some are "hard", relating to a candidate's skills and experience. Others are "soft" and focus on personal qualities. Taken as a whole, these qualities should tell a compelling story that will cause heads to nod and votes of confidence to be cast.
I'll also describe a way of looking at your career and professional accomplishments that can have a big impact on how you present yourself and how hiring managers perceive you. I refer to it as "Personal Product Management" and while not rocket surgery, it's a simple way of making sure you're headed in the right direction and conveying the right message.
A word of caution, for those seeking empirical data and quantitative metrics this may not be the session for you. However, for those interested in hearing an insider's perspective on what makes some succeed and many other's fail, as well as some open discussion on ways to stand out from the crowd I think it will be time well spent.
I hope to see you there.
Posted by lee | Filed Under Networking, Personal, Planning, Recruiting, Skills, Uncategorized | Comments Off
RSA Preview (Panel)- All-Star Panel Kick's Off Professional Development Program
January 14, 2011
The professional development seminar kicks off with an all-star panel of information security leaders discussing the current landscape of the information security marketplace. Moderated by seminar co-host, Mike Gentile, the panel will explore industry trends that are affecting both the supply and the demand for information security professionals. The panel will discuss some of the career development challenges that face information security professionals as they attempt to climb their personal career ladders to attain their personal career goals.
The panel's unique composition will provide perspectives that reflect challenges on the different components of the industry – internal information security programs, government and public sector information security programs, professional services, information security software industry and the maturing "hacker" community. The panel will discuss topics that include the role of certifications, the different perspectives of employers and perspective employees, and the challenges that face security professionals as they attempt to broaden their skills to gain greater acceptance by business leaders and executive management.
We were very fortunate to attract a panel of influential information security leaders including:
Kevin Richards, President, ISSA International and VP of Services at Neohapsis
Jeff Moss, Founder of Black Hat and DEF CON, and Homeland Security Advisory Council Member
Michael Assante, President and CEO, National Board of Information Security Examiners
Chris Chock, Security Lead, Orange County Transportation Authority
Posted by lee | Filed Under Advice, Networking, Planning, Security Industry | Comments Off
Nothing Says " I Love You" Like an Information Security Career Development Seminar – RSA -Feb 14, 2011
January 7, 2011
The RSA Conference is traditionally known as one of the marquee information security conferences in the United States. This year, the conference organizers have decided to create a pre conference seminar that is focused exclusively on the information security professional's career development. The seminar is included with all paid conference admissions. Personally I was honored when the program committee asked me to co-host the event and contribute to the content of the agenda.
Different then past RSA events, the Seminar is scheduled outside of the main conference tracks, where it does not compete with the highly technical presentations or the key notes. By doing this, they have enabled all delegates to dedicate time to focus on their careers – and to learn how to best maximize their current positions and strive to attain their long term career aspirations. The program is designed to take the Information Security professionals through a journey that will provide them with both content and context for managing their careers.
The Seminar will take place on Monday afternoon, February 14th from 12:30 – 5:00PM.
On the upcoming Fridays leading up to the conference, The InfoSec Leaders blog will feature an in depth abstract and preview to the content of the panels and the individual presentations.
The agenda for the seminar will be as follows:
A panel discussion, moderated by seminar co-host Mike Gentile, that will address current state of the information security market, the skills that employers are looking for, and trends in today's employment market.
An individual presentation from InfoSecLeaders' Mike Murray on Career Planning. This presentation will help guide the attendees through some basic steps to create a career plan tailored to achieving their long term information security career and life goals.
A presentation given by Jeff Combs focusing on differentiation and personal brand development. Jeff will utilize his decade long experience as an Information Security executive recruiter to illustrate to the attendees how to make themselves more marketable and attractive – to both their current employers and future ones.
A presentation by me, Lee Kushner, that will focus on the skill requirements for the CISO of the future. From our Infosecleaders survey we learned that 37% of the respondents aspired to become a CSO/CISO. This presentation will outline the real skills that company's are requiring and demanding from their Information Security Leaders of the future.
The seminar will then conclude with a panel discussion (moderated by me) of three current Information Security Leaders – Stephen Scharf, CSO Experian, Patrick Heim, CISO Kaiser Permanente, and John Kirkwood, Global CISO of Royal Ahold who will discuss their own careers paths and progressions, how they select and identify future information security leaders, what skills and attributes they search for in employees, and where they are heading next in their careers. The panel will allow questions from the audience.
Posted by lee | Filed Under Behavior, Branding, Networking, Planning, Security Industry, Skills, Uncategorized | Comments Off


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A FAMILY have been left devastated after thieves stole their puppy.
The family had been visiting friends at Elizabeth Way in Somercotes, Laindon when the Jack Russell ran out the front door.
Within minutes he was swiped by two men who ran off with the dog.
The theft happened on Wednesday June 6.
*Full story in Wednesday's Echo

subset: commoncrawl


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Sunday, November 18, 2012
The Sounders beat Los Angeles 2-1 in the second leg of the Western Conference finals, but the visitors still won the series 4-2 on aggregate to advance to their second straight MLS Cup. Above, Eddie Johnson laments a failed scoring opportunity during the second half.
Photography home | Most viewed photos | Purchase photos | Video home
© 2012 The Seattle Times Company


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The Spiritual Meaning of Animal Sacrifice Part 2
by Rabbi Aron Moss
The Spiritual Meaning of Animal Sacrifice
A weekly class on texts by Chassidic leaders of past and current generations. This series focusses on the text Basi Legani from the year 5712
To purchase more audios in this series
Click on the links below
Rabbi Moss holds his Chassidus Series during the 4 BINA Terms throughout the year. To see when the next series starts view our class schedule in the classes section of the website


text:
In an Impoverished Israeli Arab Town, Women Are Learning the ABCs of Leadership
A leadership project in Jisr al-Zarqa aims to redress an appalling lack of literacy among local women, and to encourage their activism and involvement in local civic affairs.
Every Wednesday afternoon, a group of women from the town of Jisr al-Zarqa, located on the Mediterranean coast near Caesarea, meet, and, with eyes gleaming,...
Want to enjoy 'Zen' reading - with no ads and just the article? Subscribe todaySubscribe now


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A vehicle recycling company in Rugby has thanked emergency services for their swift actions when a fire broke out yesterday afternoon (Thursday).
Thick black smoke was seen billowing across Rugby yesterday lunchtime following a fire at Charles Trent in Avon Mill Lane, off Newbold Road.
Five fire crews from across the country attended the blaze, which was put out within about an hour.
The fire started in a workshop and quickly spread to other parts of the site, including some tyres with caught fire.
A spokesman for Charles Trent said: "No one was hut and the site was evacuated.
"The full safety procedure was followed by staff.
"We are now investigating the incident and we have people on site accessing the exact cause of it."
Charles Trent thanked Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, Adler and Allan and Bradley Electrical.
The spokesman continued: "Without all their efforts we would be unable to trade at the moment.
"They came quickly and did a great job.
"The site is still open and we will be fully operational within a few weeks."
Roads in the area came to a standstill during the incident, while Rugby Borough Council was called in to help assist with water supply.
Residents living in the area were advised to stay indoors and close all the windows.
The environmental protection unit was also called to the scene, as well as the Environment Agency.
David Hudson, environment manager for the Environment Agency in the West Midlands, said: "Our inspection shows that the firewater was kept within the site so we do not believe there has been any harm to River Avon.
"We're very pleased with the efforts of our team to deal with the fire today. Close work with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue and Rugby Borough Council. Thanks to both."
The fire is not believed to be suspicious, according to Warwickshire Police.
To see a video of the smoke coming from the fire click here FIRE VIDEO
To see pictures of the fire click here FIRE PHOTOS


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Atari Inc and Eden Games have officially announced Test Drive Unlimited 2 is in development. The first installment into this franchise included a seamless game play style between offline racing and online racing. This seamless style of play allowed for gamers to cruise through the environments of TDU while coming across other drivers who they could challenge and square off against.
With test Drive Unlimited 2, the development team is looking to take that same concept and bring it to the next level. Apparently, the entire game world will be dynamic with no visual boundaries created between the offline and online world. This should definitely make for an exciting racing game and should be a big hit with our Aussie Racing Crew on the forum.
Atari hasn't given a release date, but they have released three screenshots of the game — which you can view here.


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Steve Zakuani was lacing up his boots in the Everton dressing room prior to his first training session with the English Premier League club. At 22 years old, Zakuani was getting a look at the play with one of the mid-level teams in the EPL.
Just then, the club's captain, 33-year-old Phil Neville approached. The former England international has over 400 Premier League appearances with Manchester United and Everton and 59 caps for England. Zakuani definitely knew the man standing in front of him. Surprisingly, Neville knew Zakuani too.
"I'm the club captain and I'm the right back," Neville said to the fresh-faced youth who came over from America to train. "Take it easy on me in training."
That drew a laugh from Zakuani.
First, because of the smile Neville flashed to him as he walked away. Second, because Neville knew his game. He'd seen Zakuani play because he watches MLS matches regularly. As did several other Everton players.
"They've seen Qwest Field on TV and were amazed," Zakuani said after returning from a short stint with Everton while he was home in London. "Everton as a club, follows MLS very closely and they knew what they were going to see from me."
Zakuani was with the club from Liverpool for ten days, training with the likes of South African midfielder Steven Pienaar, French forward Louis Saha and Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni, among others. His agent arranged the training allowing Zakuani the chance to see what the training atmosphere is like overseas.
While he has experience training with the Arsenal Youth system and with Preston North End earlier in his career, the training at this stage in his career is important.
However, he didn't go through the culture shock that some players experience when going from one continent to another to train. With his previous experience playing with English clubs and his years living in London, Zakuani was no stranger to the game he was playing.
With that knowledge and experience in his arsenal, Zakuani stands firm behind MLS.
"This is the Premiership, the highest level, but I left there with a bigger appreciation for the MLS," Zakuani said. "People will always say it's the highest league in the world, but the MLS isn't too far behind and they understand that over there more than Americans do. It was great for me to see that and appreciate more what we have in Seattle."
The league, he says, is gaining a strong reputation overseas for several reasons.
The US National Team's performance in the World Cup, coming narrowly close to a quarterfinal appearance, reaffirmed for many that the game was growing rapidly in the states. The strong play in England by US goalkeeper Tim Howard with Everton and US midfielder Clint Dempsey with Fulham is solidifying those beliefs and nobody near the Everton club can get away from talking about Landon Donovan, who played on loan with them last season. His success there and in the World Cup and David Beckham's success with AC Milan further showed the quality of players in MLS.
In addition to the level of play, Zakuani also noticed that there wasn't much difference in the amenities.
"Everything we had over there was first class, but we have the same in Seattle. So there's nothing really to be envious of from that perspective," he said. "We've got soccer specific stadiums, we've got good facilities, we've got top players in the league, the national team is competing on a world stage. There's not really a difference between here and England. I don't really subscribe to the view that Europe is the Promised Land. Maybe become I came from there, I just don't see that."
In his training stint with Everton, Zakuani was used in his traditional role on the left wing by manager David Moyes. On one play in particular he made a dribbling run and had a shot that hit the post past Howard after a deflection that was heartily praised by Moyes and the coaching staff.
Despite his comfort and success working with Everton, Zakuani clarified that this was just training and not a trial. He has no aspirations to leave the Sounders or MLS in the near future.
"The way I look at it, it would take something special for me to leave Seattle right now. Our team is very young and I have played with Fredy Montero and Ozzie Alonso for two years now. I think we're getting to the stage where Columbus and Houston got to, where the team has been together and things become automatic," he said. "You don't want to leave when you've worked so hard to build something. I'm on a good team playing in front of amazing fans in great facilities and I'm leading a great life here even away from the game. You can never say never, but I have three years on my contract and I'm here until the club tells me they don't need me."
With still nearly two months before training camp starts, Zakuani already has his focus geared toward 2011 with the Sounders FC and working toward more silverware for the trophy case.
"I can't wait for March – I can't stop thinking about it."


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Regulation Fair Disclosure and Earnings Information: Market, Analyst, and Corporate Responses
- Abstract
- Full Text PDF
- Author(s): Warren Bailey, Haitao Li, Connie X. Mao, Rui Zhong
- Published: Nov 07, 2003
- Pages: 2487-2514
- DOI: 10.1046/j.1540-6261.2003.00613.x
With the adoption of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), market behavior around earnings releases displays no significant change in return volatility (after controlling for decimalization of stock trading) but significant increases in trading volume due to difference in opinion. Analyst forecast dispersion increases, and increases in other measures of disagreement and difference of opinion suggest greater difficulty in forming forecasts beyond the current quarter. Corporations increase the quantity of voluntary disclosures, but only for current quarter earnings. Thus, Reg FD seems to increase the quantity of information available to the public while imposing greater demands on investment professionals.


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Node IS a Salad Bar, so why are you eating veggie medley? May 16th, 2016
There's a saying in the PHP community: Every developer should build two and a half frameworks.
- The first is a learning exercise of the PHP runtime, understanding how pieces move and connect.
- The second is an application of their new knowledge to fix the flaws in their first approach.
- The third is a project aborted because they have realized their wheel looks just like everyone else's wheels and they're better off just using the existing tools out there.
The third is where they reach enlightenment and stop using frameworks entirely because they now know how to pick and choose the pieces they actually need for the project they're working on.
All PHP frameworks are actually boilerplates, so I find this extremely relevant when reading Justin Falcone's Medium post Node.js is a Salad Bar.
I've built quite a few boilerplates in my time, for both PHP and Node.js. Sometimes these boilerplates serve as actual launching points for new sites – I built more than a dozen sites using the PrimalPHP boilerplate that I constructed when I was doing agency work – but most of the time these boilerplate projects were actually about learning a stack. In other words, they were my first and second frameworks, constructed to better help me understand the way the various parts worked together and to explore new ways of solving problems. I've got one right now that I've been building to learn the React ecosystem and explore methods that I do or don't see in other boilerplates.
I publish these boilerplates on github not because I expect anyone to actually launch a new site off of them, but so that I can refer to them in conversations with other developers, both for seeking advice from more experienced people, and for teaching other people following in my footsteps. When someone comes in to a chat room with a problem that I've solved, I have a reference example that I can point them at to show them how I tackled it.
Obviously, Not-All-Boilerplates are built for this reason, but I'd bet that a lot of them came from that point of origin: one developer's attempt at learning a new ecosystem. Blaming boilerplates for being bad ways to start with new tools is like watching someone fall out of a tree and then blaming the tree for growing in the first place. Maybe what we need is to teach people how to grow a tree they can climb?
The issue isn't with the existence of boilerplates, its with the copy-paste mentality that you can use a set of tools without learning how they work first. The issue is with developers trying to take shortcuts to getting running websites instead of working out each part of the system individually. Justin thinks the solution to this is better tooling to build the user's site for them. He wants "a higher level abstraction to work with our own frameworks", but that is just further separating the developers from the tools they're trying to learn.
Justin is right that "Novices need frameworks", but the solution is to start teaching them how to build their own again.


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My most recent doctor introduction didn't involve an introduction.
My new specialist came into the room, rummaged around, and what felt like many, many moments later, asked about previous test results without making eye contact. That's when I said, "Well, first of all, hi. We haven't met. My name's Kate." And then I reached out my hand.
She actually apologized for not introducing herself to me (kind of), but suffice to say, many, many weeks and visits later, she is not my favorite doctor.
After having been through enough doctor drama recently, I wanted to be assertive enough to show her that not introducing herself to a new patient was not OK. From a doctor, I want good care, yes, but I also want someone to actually care about me personally — at least enough to know what my name is or acknowledge my existence.
Though the thought has crossed my mind that I'm being too sensitive and may be the only one suffering from Rude Doctor Syndrome, it turns out I'm not.
A study from Johns Hopkins University confirms that bedside manner just isn't what it used to be. Young doctors in their first year out of medical school are unlikely to take the time to introduce themselves to hospitalized patients, or to sit and have an eye-to-eye conversation with patients, the study found.
Sure, some may argue they don't care about bedside manner, they care about competency. But how doctors treat their patients (personally, not literally — though that applies, too) makes a huge difference in patient care. Research shows that common courtesy from doctors improves a patient's recovery and leads to greater patient satisfaction. It causes patients to heed doctors' advice, to go for annual exams and to be more willing to bring up potential problems.
"It's no wonder patients don't feel connected to what we are telling them, because many times we are not doing as much as we could to make that connection," study co-author Dr. Lauren Block, a former general internal medicine fellow at Johns Hopkins, said in a statement.
The Johns Hopkins study researchers say the things doctors can do to fix the problem are easy. They include introducing themselves, touching the patient and asking simple questions, such as "How are you feeling today?"
Doesn't seem like much to ask.
I don't need a study to confirm this lack of common courtesy. I've had plenty of my own experiences (among them, seeing ER doctors who try to shuffle in and out patients as fast as possible).
A group of girlfriends and I (yes, I know this sounds stereotypical) recently were talking about our OB/GYNs. After talking about how much we dreaded going for our annual visit because we all hated our rude doctors, one admitted how much she liked hers.
Our conversation went something like this: "Oh my gosh, she's good and she's nice?"
"Yeah, she's super helpful and really, really nice!"
Two of us have already switched to said nice, competent doctor.
I get it. Doctors are really busy and really stressed — especially with everything that's going on in the medical world. But a lot of others are, too. Is being competent AND being nice too much to ask? Unfortunately, it is. But it shouldn't be.


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Photo Printer Reviews, Ratings, and Pricing
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Our Verdict: Canon's revised 17-inch wide-carriage photo printer produces beautiful prints with deep, dark blacks and luscious colors. Our main quibble is the lack of support for roll paper.
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Our Verdict: A replacement for the venerable Stylus Pro 3880, the P800 packs improved inks, a touch screen, a better manual feeder, and the option for roll paper. Deep-pocketed photo pros: Commence slobber.
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Our Verdict: Semi-pro photographers, graphic artists, hobbyists: All will find this photo printer's output quality and extensive paper-handling options attractive, if they can manage the ink costs.


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Check out the Breaking Dawn Trailer and don't forge to send us your reactions!!
Movie Trailers, Movies Blog
A Twilight Saga Fansite
Check out the Breaking Dawn Trailer and don't forge to send us your reactions!!
Movie Trailers, Movies Blog
Omg!!!!! Better than I could have imagined!!!!!! Our first glimpse at the pregnancy!!! So amazing!!!! And the honeymoon glimpse (fangirl swoon)
So if bella has Edward's baby, how would it happen? Considering vampires have no pulse, and thus no blood flow to achieve an erection…it is impossible for them even to have sex, nevermind conceive??
It's called make-believe it's not suppoe to be real your thinking to much into it just enjoy the damn movie
Absolutely can't wait to see it! It's going to be awesome! The beginning to the perfect end! 😀
AWESOME! Could not have asked for more. November is going to seem so far away, just can't wait!
I was literally hlding back tears and screams. My family thinks I'm crazy. Best trailer in the franchise yet, no contest. I can't wait for the movie.
THAT.WAS.THE.BEST.TRAILER.SO.FAR. And Oh My, Edward what broad shoulders you have …all the better to break the headboard with…
Oh my gosh, I know! He looked pretty good like that don't you say?! Can't wait to see much more of that scene (yummy)!
I loved Jacob in his running scene too – looking good there Jakey-Boy!
I wasn't expecting any pregnancy scene so oh yes, super excited!
This was the best trailer by far in my opinion. Loved, loved, loved it!
November, hurry! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE BREAKING DAWN ON THE BIG SCREEN!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my gosh!!!!! That sent my heart aflutter! Best trailer in the series by far! Can't wait for this movie!
But who was the guy Edward threw against the wall?
It had to have been Jacob. It looks like it could be him, and I am guessing that this is their first confrontation after Edward and Bella get back from the honeymoon.
Definitely Jacob. I was thinking it's the part when Edward is fighting to save Bella's life & Jacob wants to give up he says she's dead & Edward I think in the book just hits his hand or something & tells him to get out or leave.
Or it could have been the confrontation they had at the reception, where Bella let slip that they'd be husband and wife in the true sense of the word.
It is either during or after the birth. There is blood on Edwards face and shirt!
OMG!!!! so exciting! But I am disapointed at bella's wedding maskeup 🙁 is it me or her eyes look blah?? I know in the book she looked terrible before alice did her makeup and I figured they would have really dolled her up for the movie. Oh well. maybe it was just that one shot.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I can't even type let alone speak. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh
I love it ! I wanted more but that was a good teaser. Can't wait for more. And people please don't complain it's a teaser.
Okay, so not to sound ungrateful or anything but I was a little bummed. I was hoping to see a 2 min clip of one scene/conversation like the scene they did in eclipse when Bella was asking Edward why he doesn't want her to become like him…
Glad we were able to see something though. Maybe it's my sadness that the series will be over soon and I'm taking it out on the trailer. lol
November can't get here soon enough!!!!
I was thinking the same thing!! That was GOOD!!! Can't wait until November 18th!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that was Jacob that Edward through against the wall when they were trying to save Bella.
Twi-Hards we did good. Our cast swept MTV awards, yeah!
Wow, the cast racked up tonight! That trailer was absolutely great. I have one word…Headboard!! Whoa… :O
Holy cow, Bill Condon is a genius!! I can't wait, and beefed up Rob just isn't fair! Those honeymoon scenes are hot!!
WOW, November seems like eternity from now ! It was beautiful and completely gave me chills !! They showed just the right amount to keep us going until November, without revealing too much – all around amazing 🙂
Also, I know there are technical things like how Edward really breaks the whole bed basically and how in one shot Bella had a simple band on instead of the diamond engagement rings. Maybe just showing the headboard break was a little taste of all the destruction to come. The diamond ring is an engagement ring….the band is probably her wedding ring I would assume.
I have to say, I was really looking forward to this trailer, but I just didn't enjoy it. I'm not disrespecting anyone who loved it. I just thought I would share my opinion to see if anyone else thought the same things I did. Here goes:
– I thought Bella's mom walking up the sidewalk shaking the invite was weird.
– The bed being broken made me wince and then giggle because it's out of context. (We don't see much of the romantic lovemaking first, we just see Edward losing control violently.)
– Edward wouldn't throw Jacob unless he MEANT to kill him.
– And I hope every time the baby kicks, the soundtrack doesn't make that awful clunking sound.
I intend to see the movie. My feeling is: I hope, in context, everything will be a lot smoother and make me love Bella and Edward as much as I have in all the books and all the rest of the movies.
It's a teaser trailer. I've seen plenty of trailers that were bad and weren't put together very well so I wouldn't judge the film just based on this. I'm underwhelmed by it but I'm ok with that.
Melody, Renee is a little on the weird side. It was strange to see Charlie getting the invite too. Wonder if they kept all the parent's names off because of Renee and Charlie being divorced. The things in a trailer do not appear in the same order as they will in the movie. It was really neat starting off with the walk to Aro with wedding announcement. Confused about the two people being thrown against walls. All in all a good teaser.
Although it was a teaser, I was kinda like meh…
I felt a little sad when I saw Edward throw Jake up against the wall.
You can tell the filming/tone has come along way since the 1st movie. I liked all the films but can definately tell it is a blockbuster film now. =)
Well meh is better then blah. And yes didn't Bella and Edward tell Charlie they were getting married ? I love that part. Hmmmm ?
Although you could surmise that Charlie had just found out about the wedding, I doubt that's what is going on in that scene. He's probably just holding the wedding invitation, reading it over & over again, trying to take it all in. Also, Eclipse ends w/Bella & Edward taking that fateful journey to Charlie's house to tell him the "good" news. Can't wait to see that scene!
Melody, even though I did enjoy the trailer I have to agree about the point you made about Edward throwing Jacob against the wall. I thought that was crazy when I saw it. If Edward threw Jake for real it would seriously hurt him…I wonder if Edward is dreaming,or we see what he wishes he could do (?)
I will say that I've always found Renee to be wierd anyway, so that seemed pretty in character to me. 🙂
Remember in the book when Bella is talking with Renee, and Renee is like: "why didn't you tell us sooner?" And bella is all confused and she explains that she thought that they were engaged when they came down in Eclipse. And Dimitri throwing the woman… stephenie always implied that Gianna ended up as a snack.
If you watch the clip again, you can see a man coming into the frame of Bella's mom shaking the invitation. I took it as she was saying "look what I've got!!"
This rules!!! Better than I hoped for! I'm totally psyched for November.
Loved the Trailer!
Also if anyone watched the live stream directly from MTV's website, did you notice all the behind the scene cameras they had set up? Right after Eclipse got the award for best movie the whole cast went back stage to pose for photos. Then we saw Rob/Kristen hold hands and hug each other (They are sweet together!), but I don't think they knew they were still live on the camera.
Anyway I love them All! And I can't wait to see the movie!
I hope someone got a screen shot of that! So sweet!
OMG the honeymoon!!!!!!! 5 months…5 months…5 MONTHS!!!!!!!
What are you three ladies thinking in the interview comments about the trailer? Don't you want anything to be left for the movie? No weddidng dress until the movie please. No feathers on bed beyond the still already released until movie. I want most of the film to be seen for the first time at the movie, not bits/pieces with multiple trailers.
I completely agree! I don't want to see bits and pieces for 5 mnths until I see the movie. I want this one to be a surprise even tho I know.what's gonna happen. That's why I was hoping for a short clip of.one scene.
OMG I truely love this trailer. I don't know how to survive until November.
Hey guys! I just uploaded the full trailer in HD (720p) to YouTube. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mH66JPf7YQ
Did anyone notice Olga Fonda get thrown across the room by Demetri? I don't think she's Renata. I'm guessing another receptionist. She looks human and Renata would have used her shield to protect her and I don't think Aro would have allowed anyone to harm her.
How do you Post a Reaction Video … here is the link to it on my facebook … hope you can see it …
thought it was amazing … What you didnt see was the freaking off camera .. .i keep going for a while and i am still stun!! HE BROKE THE ENTIRE BED !! and he looks so Beefy and … and … we got Volturi, Jacob, Wedding, Rio, Isle Esme, and Nessie in tummy action!! breathe! did i mention HE BROKE THE BED !!??!!
Loved the way they built up the excitment.
I hope that they don't get away too much in the other trailers, to make us feel as though we've already watched the movie before it comes out.
Ok, I'm thinking this is going to be amazing!! What I didn't like about the trailer was how the Volturi kept showing up. They're not involved until the 2nd half, so I felt like that was wasted trailer time that could have shown us some of the Cullen's (namely Emmett) 🙂
So good!!!!
Question: Would Alice really address the wedding invitation to the Volturi as "Resident"?
Personally I loved it. As a teaser trailer, it showed what it needed to in order to get a glimpse into what the movie was about. Keep in mind that WE all know what happens, but there are still people who haven't read the books and they just want to show snapshots of what it will entail.
Charlie staring at the invite because he wasn't too fond of their relationship. He feels like he's losing his daughter.
Renee shaking the invite because she's excited about it.
The Volturi acknowledging the wedding.
Jacob upset over the wedding.
Then the suspense and drama of everything else. And HEADBOARD! Wow!
I'm totally ready to see the movie now.. Any inventors out there who can make a machine to speed up time, that would work for me.
Someone commented on the Volturi, Alice did send them an invite and I think that's likely just a glimpse we get to see and maybe Aro picking out that necklace he sends to Bella, just my guess on that part and yeah they didn't waste much time on play with the whole Edward Headboard scene, Very excited indeed.
i woke up my mom thanks to my over the top shrieks of excitement at this trailer. it was just, wow!!!!
is that stephenie meyer on the left second row from the back in the pink in the scene where they all get up as bella starts walking down the aisle?
Yes it is. Along with Wyck Godfrey (Producer on all the films) and Melissa Rosenberg (screenwriter.)
I loved the trailer. Definitely loved the headboard breaking. As well as the glimpse at the pregnancy. Yet, I was totally disappointed with Bella's make-up. She looked the same to me.
It's available on the Twilight Official Youtube page now.
I feel sick… The trailer is so good and such a long long wait!!!
I loved it, and as they usually do at least another trailer before they release, there's still more to look forward to!! 🙂 so sad its all coming to an end.
OMG. Edward and Bella!!so sweet.Love the trailer very much. Good that they didnt reveal the wedding dress fully. I wanted to see Bella's face from front after seeing tiara in sneak peek. I must say I liked her look. It shows the innocent bella . She is never like over the top kind of person. So Alice would definitely enhance Blla's qualities. Even though Edward throws Jacob He is never gonna be hurt .Of course Edward would not kill him as it hurts Bella. Edward's stunned reaction is kind of weird. It is just expressionless.
I think that scene where Edward throws Jacob is after the birth. If you look closely, it appears that Edward has blood on his face and all over his shirt.
OH my that was fab.. just wow. but i have to say, the part with the throwing if you look really close edward has blood on his face then turns and throws… it has to be after biting (the baby with the daft name i cant spell) out, and they've added angryward into it… must be jake or maybe jasper gets a wiff?? OH man not makin much sense too excited cant wait for november …. eeeeeeeeeeeeeep
I LOVED this trailer!
although I am not a fan of the fourth installment of the series, I have to say that this trailer is one of the best!!!
i love the part where jacob runs with invitation in his hand, i love the part whit the bed scene (edwards muscles kinda remind me of a michelangelo paintin there?) i love everything!!! and cutting it off with edwards surprised and shocked face is just AWESOMEEE.
the scnee hwere edward kises her shoulder in the bed!!
In ways I totally loved it. I found it visually stunning. In other ways, I found it too wedding heavy. My blog response is here: http://tinyurl.com/3pytvxl
Whoa!!That headboard was some crazy *bleep*! I want me some of that vampire booty
It's nice to see what some of the people I see at these sites actually look like! 🙂
As teasers go, it certainly does fan service. It just gives enough stuff, so that fans will have something to talk about. Was I impressed with it? In truth, it didn't have the same impact that the New Moon trailer did, but then again, we were also transitioning from a very low budgeted Indie styled version, to a more thematic movie from the original Twilight to New Moon. The shock of a full CGI wolf, even if it wasn't on par with what would later come, surprised even me.
Was it a good teaser all in all? For a Twilight film… yes, but it didn't give me any goosebumps, unlike the last Harry Potter movie teasers did. It's fine, but nothing overtly special.
At this point it should serve the fans. Tired of these having to serve others when they don't give a damn. And Harry Potter comparisons ? This is a damn love story that's why I love it more and prefer it stay that way. I don't care for that epic fighting crap !
its so funny how people complain that they expected bella to look so different for the wedding – it is obvious she has makeup but alas, she is still bella, but her prettiness enhanced – just like any other normal person who puts makeup on – they still look the same, but just enhanced.
Totally agree with you!
Bella looks beautiful… I liked how they did her up, but without being over the top. Too bad some people insist on putting her down constantly. Jealousy is an ugly monster.
Very, very promising…
The headboard scene was absolutely the hottest scene of the whole trailer. My poor husband's response – "Yeah, and if I did that you'd be mad at me for breaking the bed." LOL. He's a great guy and very patient with my love of all Twilight. Is even taking me to BD1 for our anniversary this November.
Your comment made me laugh because my husband said something similar! He is patient with me and comes with me to the midnight openings. Good guys we have! 🙂


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BBQ Ribs
Junior Burger
2004/06/16 23:21:11
Whats up with this? Ive read on flank steak to hamburgers. Did we forget Ribs? I can cook a good rib, can anyone give me a recipe that makes me take my hat off!!! Im not asking where is the best rib, Im looking for a great recipe that grandma had hidden in the tin box under her bed!!!
Flat Reading Mode
Thread Reading Mode


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Hand Paint 3D Coffee Tea Mug Zebra With Lid Spoon
Hand Paint 3D Coffee Tea Mug Zebra With Lid SpoonModel No. HPMugZB
Hand Painted 3D animals design for Tea/Coffee/Milk Mug, best gift for Birthday/Christmas/New Year. Perfect at home or office, for coffee, tea hot or cold drink.
Made from premium quality china. Dishwasher safe, microwave safe.
Cup Diameter: 9cm
Cup Height: 11cm
Lid and Spoon included
Lots of new products were added in last month. Including some "diversion safes",
lots of "E-juices",
"420 cleaners",
"420 glass jars",
"Arvo Glass Bongs",
"SMOK Vaporizors"
and much more.
More News >>
Very helpful site, very knowledgeable information on the web for products, great deals offered including delivery which was promised .
Ozsmoke's prices are extremely competitive, in fact most stores cannot match them.
They nearly always deliver within the specified time .
And their website is most user friendly.
Very good service and products are always better price than others. Very competive with there prices for everyone.


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MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his displeasure at something that the leader of the North Korean nation, Kim Jong Un stated in an article that appeared in North Korea's national news agency, The Rice Paddy.
Putin stated that Kim Jong Un remarked that he and (him) have recently become BFF's.
The Russian leader said that truth be told he cannot stand the Asian Pillsbury Doughboy and wants for him to immediately stop telling people that they are best friends forever.
Word got back to Kim Jong Un who said that he figures that Putin is just feeling tired and cranky what with all of the Ukraine mess.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un says that he will continue to refer to Putin as his BFF. He did express the fact that former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman, however, is still his number one BFF.


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Share yours **warning People of Walmart pics**
Posted by Anonymous + Show Post
I love people of Walmart!!
Posted by Anonymous on Jan. 20, 2013 at 2:45 PM
Replies (11-20):
by Platinum Member on Jan. 20, 2013 at 2:48 PM
3 moms liked this
hahaha...do you think people of Walmart know they are on People of Walmart?
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Mandela 'embodied many of the values Christ stood for'
CT: What's been the atmosphere been like following Mandela's death?
RA: Everyone is affected somehow, but there is a mood of celebrating Mandela's life too. It's mourning as well, but the death of someone of his stature was not unexepected.
CT: What do you remember most prominatly about Mandela and what he fought for? Was there a moment that was particularly resonant with you?
RA: I remember the Soweto massacre in the mid-seventies, I was a quite young schoolboy then. And that was when I began to understand Mandela and who he was and that he was in jail. The news and presence of him in the media at that time became very strong. I could then imagine the kind of person he was, and then for this man to come out of jail and become the president of South Africa ... I could almost go into blasphemy here, but for the whole continent of Africa, it seemed that Mandela became like Christ in that he embodied many of the values that Christ stood for. He went to jail and came out as one of the world's greatest.
CT: What is his single largest legacy in your view?
RA: I think it is the bringing of reconciliation in South Africa. Mostly between the blacks and the whites, but also among blacks as well. The whole country could have flown off the handle, but because of Mandela there was a huge amount of reconciliation, because of his ability to seek out peace. That is what stands out to me the most.
CT: Is there a way that Mandela's actions and his death have affected Christians specifically?
RA: It a very interesting question. Mandela is very much a secular person, not known much for his Christianity. But the values he demonstrated were very Christian. God cannot live among us without a witness, and so for me that's the message. God used Mandela, even if he wasn't seen for his actions as Christian. His Christian background confirms who he was, and his Weslian schooling, and all those influences clearly shaped his decisions. God can use anybody. God used him to demonstrate the values of God.
CT: How do you think South Africa will manage without him now? Is it going to be harder to maintain his vision without him?
RA: Well, his death was expected, and while some people are pessimistic and fear South Africa will slide back into chaos, I do not share their view. Mandela, to his credit, set up the insitutions that are working and then he stood aside, and they continued to work without them. He hasn't been directly in contact with them for some time. Of course in the rest of Africa, his legacy remains. The values he stood for will inspire others. If he had died in office, then there would have been chaos. But there has been a second president after Mandela. The present president is not there with Mandela's help. There are checks and balances in place, and South Africa will continue to move on.


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>> TIM BIRD: Good morning everyone. Hopefully you had a good night's rest and hopefully you had fun at the reception last night. I'd like to thank Intel and Yocto for providing that reception. It was a pretty neat venue. Hopefully if you were in the little lobby at the beginning you noticed that there was a whole other section of the museum to go walk in. I was worried about that. I didn't notice
>> TIM BIRD: Good morning everyone. Hopefully you had a good night's rest and hopefully you had fun at the reception last night. I'd like to thank Intel and Yocto for providing that reception. It was a pretty neat venue. Hopefully if you were in the little lobby at the beginning you noticed that there was a whole other section of the museum to go walk in. I was worried about that. I didn't notice
it myself for a while. But then you got in there and there was a lot of interesting stuff and hors d'oeuvres and..
But I just want to remind people about the demo session - the technical showcase that we're having tonight. You might want to get ready for that. We're having a key-signing party. I have gotten ready. I'm doing lazy-man's keysigning prep. You're supposed... It's nice if you have little slips of paper, but if you don't you can just write your key on the back of your badge and then have people take your picture or whatever.
But I just want to remind people about the demo session - the technical showcase that we're having tonight. You might want to get ready for that. We're having a key-signing party. I have gotten ready. I'm doing lazy-man's keysigning prep. You're supposed... It's nice if you have little slips of paper, but if you don't you can just write your key on the back of your badge and then have people take your picture or whatever.
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Well as we start shrinking things, now we start getting into some kind of bizarre applications.
Well as we start shrinking things, now we start getting into some kind of bizarre applications
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Revision as of 12:06, 14 September 2012
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Session Details
- Event
- Date
- February 16, 2012
- Presenter
- Mike Anderson
- Organization
- The PTR Group
- Slides
- The Internet of Things
- Video
- here (linux foundation) and here (free-electrons)
Consumers increasingly want inter-operability of their devices. They want to program their DVR via their mobile phone. They want their music available everywhere. They want their television to update social networking sites. But, as developers, how do we make this possible? This presentation will discuss the imminent "Internet of things" and how we can extend connectivity to previously "dumb" devices like TVs, refrigerators, and other appliances and how this connectivity is directly related to IPv6 support. The target audience for this presentation are platform developers looking to enable connectivity in a new class of intelligent appliances. This presentation is targeted at introductory-level developers with some understanding of the IP protocol stack.
Mike Anderson is currently CTO and Chief Scientist for The PTR Group, Inc. With over 33 years in the embedded and real-time computing industry, Mike works with a number of RTOS offerings. However, his focus over the past decade is primarily embedded Linux and Android on a number of CPU architectures. As an instructor and consultant, Mike is a regular speaker at the Embedded Systems Conference and the Embedded Linux Conference as well as other Linux-oriented conferences such as LinuxWorld, Ubuntu Live and the Real-Time Embedded Computing Conference series. Ongoing projects include several efforts focused on porting applications from RTOS offerings such as VxWorks and pSOS to real-time enhanced Linux platforms. Additional projects include Android bring up and its use in non-phone applications and Linux in high-performance computing platforms.
- Transcribed by
- Tim Bird
(From the Linux Foundation version of the video)
0:00 - 1:00: >> TIM BIRD: Good morning everyone. Hopefully you had a good night's rest and hopefully you had fun at the reception last night. I'd like to thank Intel and Yocto for providing that reception. It was a pretty neat venue. Hopefully if you were in the little lobby at the beginning you noticed that there was a whole other section of the museum to go walk in. I was worried about that. I didn't notice it myself for a while. But then you got in there and there was a lot of interesting stuff and hors d'oeuvres and..
But I just want to remind people about the demo session - the technical showcase that we're having tonight. You might want to get ready for that. We're having a key-signing party. I have gotten ready. I'm doing lazy-man's keysigning prep. You're supposed... It's nice if you have little slips of paper, but if you don't you can just write your key on the back of your badge and then have people take your picture or whatever.
Um. But let's get started with our sessions for today.
1:00 - 2:00: We're going to start of with what I think will be a very interesting session, a keynote address, by Mike Anderson. And Mike Anderson has been coming to embedded Linux conference for years and years, and is, quite frankly, one of my favorite speakers. He's always got really interesting stuff to say. He's the Chief Scientist for The PTR Group, out of Washington D.C., and always working on interesting things, and always has real practical, hands-on information in his tutorials. And I look forward to hearing his comments on the Internet of Things.
Please join me in welcoming Mike.
>> MIKE ANDERSON: Thanks Tim. [slide 1 - Title]
OK. It even worked. Great job. [laughs]
I want to first of all thank ELC, Tim and the organizers for giving me the opportunity to get up in front of you and speak about the Internet of Things.
2:00 - 3:00: As we move along with the way technology is developing at this point, we have a very broad selection of opportunities for those of us in the embedded Linux community, and those of us who are interfacing to devices and understand what a device actually is. [slide 2 - What we will talk about]
This is what we'll be talking about, and this is all of the words in this presentation. I just want to get them all out of the way up front. So that now you've had an opportunity to see them, let's actually get into the material [slide 3 - Evolution of the Internet]
So, when we start with the Internet back in the 60's, it was originally conceived as a mechanism for doing away with the old Telex systems that were employed by the military. So in it's original form, the ARPANet was designed as a mechanism for being able to send message traffic around between military bases.
3:00 - 4:00: That, of course, because a lot of the research for the ARPANet was being done by universities, the concept of being able to send out an e-mail, and say "Hey, everybody. I've got a party at my house this Saturday night. Why don't you all come over.", really carried forward as these univerisity researchers and grad students, etc., then left their respective institutions and got out into industry.
Now, we went beyond that, to the introduction of Netscape and Mosaic, where we suddenly had Web 1.0. And the concept behind Web 1.0 was simply that of a library. There's lots of information out here. We will go out into the library. We'll look around. We'll ask a few questions. We'll get some information. We'll bring that back and think about it.
Web 2.0 introduced the concept of, instead of simple being consumers of information, we became producers of information.
4:00 - 5:00: Today, for every minute that goes by, there are 8 hours of YouTube video being uploaded to Google.
That's a lot.
Now, as we become producers, whether it's blogs, whether it's video, whether it's whatever we're producing, putting it out there, we of course are asserting our individuality, our concept, our "person-ness" out into the network. And, of course, there are the downsides, where people will then grab a hold of that information and use it against us. We'll talk a little bit more about that later.
But what we're at, right now, is the cusp of a new transition in the Web - Web 3.0. With Web 3.0 we're talking about something called the "semantic Web". With the semantic Web there's actually way more machines on the Internet than there are people.
5:00 - 6:00: And in the semantic Web these machines start chatting with each other sharing data. As they share data, we will hopefully be able to derive some wisdom from that. We'll see how that play our here in the next few charts. [slide 3]
So what is the Internet of Things? Well, it can be defined as the point in time at which the number of objects on the Internet outnumber the number of people on the Internet. That actually happened about 2008/2009 timeframe. And, when that happened we suddenly started to realize that, hey, the approach that we're using right now for the Internet (IPv4), is probably not going to scale. So we have to do something about that. We'll get to that in a bit.
At the same time, when they start looking at the proliferation of devices on the Internet, in 2008/2009 we had about 2 billion devices on the Internet.
6:00 - 7:00: Today that's calculated to be about 5 billion devices on the Internet. By 2015 - 15 billion devices. By 2020 - 50 billion devices on the Internet. That means that each one of us will on average, by the year 2020, have 6 different Internet-connected devices on our person at all times. Now, some of you, certainly those of you from Asia, already have 2 or 3 cell phones with you. Now that tends to be more common in places like Japan, where they have a cell phone for the family, a cell phone for the business, a cell phone for whatever other things they may be up to. And, as we've seen the deployment of these technologies, we tend to see a lot of this happening over in Asia first.
7:00 - 8:00: And then it rolls into the west. We'll see a little bit more about that in a bit. [slide 4] Here, is kind of a selection of connected things courtesy of the latest CES (the Consumer Electronics Show). Here we see an internet-connected television. This is from LG. This happens to be running ARM rather than a more traditional sort of MIPS sort of thing, where we see MIPS used to have a very strong hold in the settop box business. But, the interesting thing about this television is that it is running Android, and not Google TV. They perceive that the market is actually people getting access to YouTube, Hulu, Vuduu and Netflix, rather than using the Google Portal.
8:00 - 9:00: And of course, because it is Android they have the option of setting up their own private marketplace, so that you can download Angry Birds. [ahem]
Now here is a Samsung refrigerator with a 7-inch panel in it. The idea is, of course, that you will hook your refrigerator into the Internet, it will be able to download the latest weather, and you'll be able to use it as the replacement for the corkboard, on the old refrigerator.
Now, it also has the concept that you can potentially scan pictures, so instead of having all those kids pictures magnetically plastered to the refrigerator, we'll simply scan them and have a running slide show on the refrigerator - in case we really wanted to see those.
Now here's another situation. Now, here we have Kia has introduced the concept of an Android panel on the front dashboard.
9:00 - 10:00: Talk about distracted driving. It's like... I'm not sure exactly how well this is going to go over. But it certainly is.. They're argument is that it's heads up display.
We have, down here in the corner, we have a wirelessly connected baby scale. Again, some of these things you wonder "Why"? But I guess if you were a health care provider and you noticed that the babies from a particular region were all underweight, maybe that would be indicative of some problem in the water. Hmm. I'm not sure.
They did not invent Internet cows. However, they did introduce this concept of being able to instrument the cattle to track their health and status. It turns out that cattle produce about 200 megabytes worth of data every year, for each cow.
10:00 - 11:00: Of course I don't necessarily want to be the person who instruments the back end of the cow to see how things are coming out. But in any case the concept is certainly there.
And this one is kind of a scary one. You may not be able to tell from the back, but it says "Brainwave TV". In this particular example, I mean it's connected -- you actually wear this thing and think the television channel - and it changes TV. You have to be very careful about what you're thinking. [laughter] Because it could change TV to a channel that could be embarrassing. But, certainly, this is the kind of thing that we're starting to see. And this of course - all of these with the exception of the cow - was introduced at CES this year.
[slide 5 - Connected Earth] But what we're really looking at here is the Earth, as a system, has been able to produce gigabytes worth of data every single day.
11:00 - 12:00: We just haven't been able to listen to it. Well now, with the Internet of Things and the proliferation of sensors and technologies, we can start listening to the Earth.
We're used to thinking about seismic - certainly out here in California - seismic sensors. But what if we started thinking about the minerals, or the water in the ground. Could we have produced.. Could we have prevented a dustbowl situation. Had we instrumented the ground properly, could we have prevented that whole episode in American history from happening. If we had just simply been able to listen to the Earth effectively.
[slide 6 - Enablers] So what are the enablers for the Internet of Things. We have tagging things. Now here we see an RFID tag. And there's been a huge push for RFID in a lot of different technologies - a lot of different components.
12:00 - 13:00: We'll talk more about that in a bit.
We have sensing things. And we have now a situation where people are actually instrumenting themselves, for their own reasons. For instance in this particular case, this thing on the guy's arm is an air quality sensor. So this individual.. this particular product is targeted at someone who's asthmatic, and they want to know what the quality of the air is, and have it alert them on their phone, before they have an asthma attack. OK.
We have shrinking things. This is an RFID tag. It used to be this. Now it's that.
And we have thinking things. Now this is of course the proliferation of devices like AVRs, PIC24s and 32s, ARM Coretex M0s, M3s and of course now moving up the scale into all the Linux devices that we're actually out here deploying.
13:00 - 14:00: [slide 7 - RFID Everywhere]
So if we think about the tagging things first, we see that the RFID piece of it - this is an RFID tag about the size of a grain of rice. This is the kind of thing that people typically implant in their animals. Their cats, dogs, etc. So if they become lost they can simple be scanned by the professional - by the veterinarian - and figure out where that cat belongs and contacted. We see it here against a human hand and then we see of course it's new smaller cousin, being produced. But what's an application for this kind of stuff. Well here we see an RFID-enabled cat door. So that if the cat with the appropriate RFID comes up to the door it will open, and the cat can come through. But the run-of-the-mill stray cat will not be able to get through that door.
14:00 - 15:00: Where is the big push for RFID coming? Well, it's actually coming from retailers. If you take a look at what's happening with retailers like Walmart. They're getting ready to switch from an inventory model to a consignment model. That is, they won't actually pay the producers of the goods for the goods until the goods are sold. This is going to be a huge change in the way business is conducted throughout the world.
So as we see RFID proliferation, we'll see it in milk cartons, we'll see it in our clothes, we'll see it just about everywhere. Now this all has a good side and a not-so-good side. We'll talk about the security bits in a minute.
[slide 8 - Instrumenting Things/People]
And of course "sensing things". 15:00 - 16:00: As we start instrumenting both things and people, we see that there's already a market for books on Getting Started with the Internet of Things.
Here we see an example of a human who has augmented their sensing with ultrasonic sensors and haptic feedback devices. So the closer they get to a wall, the more the haptic feedback vibrates. They can then sense their environment. This of course is a potential boon for the blind and other situations. However think about what that could be used for in terms of augmented reality, in terms of augmenting our sensors, in terms of enabling humans to be able to reach out beyond our simple surroundings to detect things out in the world.
And we see a couple of examples of this using a mesh technology. This happens to be built on top of Arduinos.
[slide 9 - Smart Dust, Nanoboats and MEMS]
16:00 - 17:00: Well as we start shrinking things, now we start getting into some really kind of bizarre applications of the Internet of Things.
We see here in this example this is called a dust mote. And this is about 1 to 2 millimeters. It has a laser interferometer on it. It has a solar cell on it. It has mesh technology on it - mesh networking. And it has a coretex M0. In about 2 millimeters worth of material.
Now the research that's been done on things like smart dust is that if you wanted to instrument the crowd, you simply spread these things out on the floor and as people walk their shoes pick them up. And then they are now instrumented and you watch them move, through large venues. Of course, one could conceive of other applications for these, but we won't get into that.
Here we have a nanobot.
17:00 - 18:00: The nanobots have largely been focused in the medical world, where people are interested in using them to go in and cut out cancer cells and other such afflictions.
Personally I don't like the little bug-looking nanobot. I want mine to be sharks with laser beams on their heads.
But if we then take that to the next step here, a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (or a MEMS). Now they have nano electro mechanical systems. This particular one is rather curious. What they did was they implanted a MEM into this moth in the pupal stage. When the moth came out of its pupa, it had a sensor in it. This sensor now enables them to cause the moth to flap its wings. They can actually steer the moth.
18:00 - 19:00: Put a camera on that, and send it out as a small UAV. Of course I wouldn't want to watch the camera output while I was flying. It would go a little like that [rocking]. But none-the-less kind of an interesting concept for being able to instrument things in the real world and have them collect data.
[slide 10 - the DIKW Relationship]
So what are we really getting at here. Well we're really talking about something called the DIKW relationship. In the DIKW relationship we have a sea of data. This sea of data is meaningless unless we can start putting some organization to it. Once we understand the relations inside the data, we can then start to derive information from that data. But information in and of itself is of little use to us unless we can see patterns. Once we understand the patterns we can now derive knowledge from that ultimate data source.
19:00 - 20:00: Patterns are good. Knowledge is good. But what's really important to us is to understand the principles behind how those patterns work in the world. And those principles, then and that understanding we derive wisdom from that.
So the whole concept behind a lot of the things that we talk about in the Internet of Things is really the concept of being able to take data, of which we have lots of it, and derive some wisdom, for the understanding of how the world works, as a result of that.
[slide 11 - Improving the Human Condition] So how can we go about improving the human condition with the Internet of Things?
Well, here we have a circumstance where if we think about the number of millions of gallons of fresh water that are lost every single day by municipalities through leaking pipes.
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This Week in Geek is a weekly blog about new comics written by WorthPoint Comic book Worthologist Matt Baum. Every Wednesday, Matt takes a look at the week's new comics from a collector's point-of-view and discusses which books may be hard to find in the near future and why. Make sure to click on the hot links for previews and more information on the comics, characters, story-lines and creators discussed here. Also, feel free to post your comments in the new "comments" section below.
One format note before we get started: You'll notice I reworked the picks of the week section to include the diamond order code for the comics discussed here. This is so you can order titles mentioned here easily by copying these codes and emailing them to your local shop. As suggested via email by Rob_P. Thanks Rob, and keep the suggestions coming.
Even though there was a holiday this week, for some of us anyway, comics will still be arriving this Wednesday. Post-President's day-blues got you down? Click here to read Marvel's digital President's Day special starring Spider-man, Captain America and Abe Lincoln. It's truly a team-up we've all been waiting for and the perfect remedy for your hard-partying President's Day hang-over.
Here's a look at my pile of comics for this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. For a complete list of this week's comics click here. To find a comic shop near you click here.
Batman and the Outsiders #15
Conan The Cimmerian #8
Dark Avengers #2
Guardians Of The Galaxy #10
Robin #183
Supergirl #38
Uncanny X-Men #506
X-Factor #40
X-Men: Kingbreaker #3 of 4
I know what you're thinking: "seems like a pretty light week for WorthPoint's head comic nerd." Well, you're right. To supplement my reading this week I'll be adding Ed Brubaker's last three Criminal mini-series to my long box of unread back issues. I read and loved the Criminal mini, "Coward," but for some reason missed out on the other three. Shameful, I know. If you haven't read Brubaker's Criminal and you're a fan of Pulp-criminal-fiction you're missing out. Good luck finding the back-issues. My quest may send me on a nationwide hunt. "But Matt, why don't you just buy the collected editions?" you may ask. To which I'd reply, "because I collect comics, not reprinted trade-paperbacks, suka!" Naturally, in a Mr. T voice.
And now, on to the Speculator Picks of the Week. These are books that, for one reason or another, may sell out quickly and become instant collectibles. If you don't pay attention and get to your local comic shop in a timely fashion, you could be paying way to much for these comics very soon.
Batman and the Outsiders #15: DC Comics
Solicitation: Featuring an "Origins and Omens" backup story! Continuing where the epic BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS SPECIAL #1 left off, the mystery of who and what "The Insiders" are opens into a labyrinth of dread and deceit as The Outsiders, in their newest incarnation, follow Batman's final directives into a heart of darkness. If you've waited to pick up this title, jump on now for this exciting new era!
Written by: Peter J. Tomasi; Pencils by: Lee Garbett; Inked by: Trevor Scott. 32 PGS; $2.99 US; DEC080115
Why it'll go fast: Last week's Bats and the Outsiders special set the stage for the new direction of the book and fans loved it. Peter Tomasi is one of the hottest an up-and-coming writers in the DCU and both fans and retailers are now beginning to take notice. I would expect this book to sell on the level of Green Lantern Corps, in the lower 50's on the monthly top 300 selling comics list, which will make these early Outsiders issues hard to find in the coming months. For a peek into the future of this title watch what happens to prices on the recent Green Lantern Corps back-issues as the "Blackest Night" event approaches. Pick up this comic now! You've been warned.
Dark Avengers #2, Marvel Comics
Solicitation: The Dark Avengers have made themselves known to the world and as the world takes them in, Morgana le Fey comes looking for blood! Once you learn who the Dark Avengers are you'll see why this is the buzz book of the year! The Dark Reign is here!
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis; Pencils by: Mike Deodato; Inked by: Mike Deodato; Cover by: Rainier Beredo; 1:18 Variant Cover by Mike Choi. 32 PGS; $3.99 US; DEC082313
Why it'll go fast: Issue #1 sold out instantly and has already been slated for multiple printings. Marvel's "Dark Reign" event is fueling huge sales on all the Avengers comics, much like last years "Secret Invasion", creating higher prices on all the Avengers titles online. Whether the prices continue to increase remains to be seen. For now, back issues and variant covers of Dark Avengers (NYCC variant edition on eBay) are hot. Normally, I don't espouse the value of variant covers, however, with the regular cover comics selling at the high levels they are, in the long term the variant covers may be the high priced collectibles.
Johnny Monster #1, Image Comics
Solicitation: Johnny Monster is the world's foremost super-star monster hunter, but what the world doesn't know is that he was raised by the same monsters he's "hunting!" Now, in order to save his adoptive family… he must fight them! From the acclaimed writer of DEAR DRACULA and Necessary Evil, Johnny Monster mixes Tom Strong with Godzilla movies by way of Tarzan and the Phantom to create a compelling and different monster mash!
Written by: Joshua Williamson Pencils; cover by: J.C. Grande: 32 PGS:$3.50 US
Why it'll go fast: Like all great Image titles, Johnny Monster has a great plot paired with a great writer and great art. Like the other great Image titles before it (Walking Dead, Invincible) I'm predicting Johnny Monster to be under-ordered, fun to read and to sell out as word gets around resulting in spectacular back issue prices when the plans for a movie/TV adaptation is announced. Check this one out now or you'll be sorry later.
Indy Comic of the Week:
Johnny Boo Volume 2: Twinkle Power: Top Shelf Comics
Solicitation: Johnny Boo has boo power and his pet ghost Squiggle has squiggle power. But which is better? And might there be a power that is greater than them both? Wiggle power? Giggle power?! Squiggle goes on a quest to learn the secret of twinkle power from the twinkling stars, but doesn't have much luck. Instead, a strange and hilarious secret is discovered about Johnny Boo's hair. This book will have the kids howling with laughter!
Written by: James Kochalka. $9.95: OCT084391
Why you should care: If you're heart doesn't melt when you read a James Kolchaka comic chances are you're a sociopathic-monster on the order of Christian Bale circa American Psycho or Dick Cheney everyday of the week. Kolchaka is one of the best working Indy-comic-artists today. Kolchaka also has a successful recording career as James Kolchaka Superstar although his music is definitely for more matur audiences with a good sense of humor. I dare you not to love his stuff.
Nerdy Question of the Week:
Apparently, in the pages of Final Crisis #7, the original Aquaman returned to the DCU. I know, I barely noticed myself. The question is, do you care or has this character been so mishandled for so long rendering him nothing more than a bad joke?
No "yes" or "no's" here I want detailed answers. Let's discuss the future of Aquaman.
Thanks again for your continued input and keep the answers to the nerdy questions coming. If you have any questions about these books or anything else in the comic book world feel free to contact me or post your question in the Comic Book community forum. Want to know what your comics are worth? Join WorthPoint for free and post your titles in the "Ask A Question" section. Remember to post the title, issue number and cover price.
Matt Baum is a Worthologist who specializes in comic books.
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