Hardware is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 2003 to 2004. Starring Martin Freeman, it was written and created by Simon Nye, the creator of Men Behaving Badly and directed by Ben Kellett.
The show's opening theme was A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass.
Hardware is set in "Hamway's Hardware Store" in London, where main character Mike (Martin Freeman) works with Steve (Ryan Cartwright) and Kenny (Peter Serafinowicz) for shop owner Rex (Ken Morley). They relax at the next-door-but-one cafe, "Nice Day Cafe", where Mike's girlfriend Anne (Susan Earl) works with Julie (Ella Kenion). The series revolves around the store staff as they engage in a daily wisecrack battle with packs of DIY obsessed clients.
An art model is a model who poses for any visual artist as part of the creative process. The most common types of art works which use models are figure drawing, figure painting, sculpture and photography, but almost any medium may be used.
Art models are often paid professionals who pose or provide the human figure in a work of art. Though professional, art models are usually anonymous and unacknowledged subjects of the work. Models are most frequently employed for art classes or by informal groups of experienced artists that gather to share the expense of a model. Models are also employed privately by professional artists. Although commercial motives dominate over aesthetics in illustration, its artwork commonly employs models. For example, Norman Rockwell used his friends and neighbors as models for both his commercial and fine art work. An individual who is having their own portrait painted or sculpted is usually called a "sitter" rather than a model, since they are paying to have the work done rather than being paid to pose.
In evolutionary biology, mimicry is a similarity of one species to another that protects one or both. In the case of prey species, it is a class of antipredator adaptation. This similarity can be in appearance, behaviour, sound or scent. Mimics occur in the same areas as their models.
Mimicry occurs when a group of organisms, the mimics, evolve to share perceived characteristics with another group, the models. The evolution is driven by the selective action of a signal-receiver or dupe. Birds, for example, use sight to identify palatable insects (the mimics), whilst avoiding the noxious models.
The model is usually another species, except in cases of automimicry. The deceived signal-receiver is typically another organism, such as the common predator of two species. As an interaction, mimicry is in most cases advantageous to the mimic and harmful to the receiver, but may increase, reduce or have no effect on the fitness of the model depending on the situation. The model may be hard to identify: for example, eye spots may not resemble any specific organism's eyes, and camouflage often cannot be attributed to a particular model.
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a non-profit trade association, was created in 1982 as the Association of Better Computer Dealers (ABCD). ABCD later changed its name to the Computing Technology Industry Association to reflect the association's evolving role in the computer industry and in the U.S. business landscape at large. The 1990s was a period of growth as the association broadened the scope of its activities to address the needs of the expanding computer industry. Its initiatives increased to include networking, UNIX, imaging, mobile computing, and multimedia arenas. In an effort to monitor and take positions on public policy issues, the association added a full-time Director of Public Policy. In 2010, CompTIA added a new executive director for a newly named "Creating IT Futures" Foundation, its philanthropic arm that focuses on training and certifying low-income students and adults in IT, as well as returning veterans—and helping connect them with potential employers.