Chopper is a 2000 Australian crime film written and directed by Andrew Dominik and based on the autobiographical books by Mark "Chopper" Read. The film stars Eric Bana as the title character and co-stars Vince Colosimo, Simon Lyndon, Kate Beahan and David Field. It has a cult following.
In and out of jail since he was 16, Melbourne standover man Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read (Eric Bana) is serving a 16-year sentence for kidnapping a supreme court judge to get his childhood friend, Jimmy Loughnan (Simon Lyndon), out of the notorious H Division of maximum security Pentridge Prison. To become leader of the division, he ignites a power struggle which gains him more enemies than admirers. Eventually, even his gang turn their backs on him and Loughnan stabs him several times in a failed assassination attempt. Chopper voluntarily has his ears cut off by a fellow inmate in order to be transferred out of the H Division; this also gains him recognition in and out of the prison.
He is released in 1986, revisiting enemies and friends whom he cannot differentiate anymore. He reunites with his former girlfriend Tanya (Kate Beahan), but suspects that she is involved with one of his old victims, Neville Bartos (Vince Colosimo). He tracks Bartos down, shoots him and takes him to the hospital, unabashedly claiming that he has a "green light" courtesy of the Police "to exterminate scum". When Chopper learns that he is now the target of a death-contract, he goes after his old friend Jimmy, only to find him worn out and poverty stricken by drugs with a daughter and a junkie fiancée who is pregnant with another child.
A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in the United States in the mid-1960s. The chopper is perhaps the most extreme of all custom styles, often using radically modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames (frames without rear suspension), very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheels. The "sissy bar", a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which are often extended several feet high, is a signature feature on many choppers.
Perhaps the best known choppers are the two customized Harley-Davidsons, the "Captain America" and "Billy Bike", seen in the 1969 film Easy Rider.
Archaeologists define a chopper as a pebble tool with an irregular cutting edge formed through the removal of flakes from one side of a stone.
Choppers are crude forms of stone tool and are found in industries as early as the Lower Palaeolithic from around 2.5 million years ago. These earliest known specimens were found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by Louis Leakey in the 1930s. The name Oldowan was given to the tools after the site in which they were excavated. These types of tools were used an estimated time range of 2.5 to 1.2 million years ago.
To create this tool, one would have to use a hammerstone to chip away flakes on the stone to create a side of the stone with a very sharp edge, allowing for the cutting and hacking of an object. This is a unique type of lithic reduction due to only a single side of the stone being retouched to produce the cutting surface of the stone. The side that does not do the cutting is left unscathed, an unusual practice. These old instruments were made from specific materials. Initially, they were composed of quartz, quartzite, basalt, or obsidian. In the later years of the oldowan age, two other materials were used: flint and chert. These materials could hold an edge while fairly easy to craft into the shape desired. The tool is designed to fit in the palm of the hand, and it is not attached to any other mount that could possibly be used. Known as one of the earliest tools (if not the earliest), its design is a very simple piece of technology, but its performance was very successful in many different scenarios. Seeing the history of these objects and how many cultures used them, it is not a surprise to find spread throughout the world. A potential stone mass found today could be classified as a chopper if a worn edge showing signs of evidence of tool use is present.
Praxis is an educational program that aims to teach entrepreneurship to young people and that a traditional college education is not the only way to success. Praxis was founded by Isaac Morehouse in 2013.
After interacting with businesspeople and students while working for an educational nonprofit, Morehouse noticed a skills gap between recently-graduated college students and employers. Having been homeschooled himself and then exposed to a university-education, Morehouse noticed the disparity in skills taught and skills demanded by the professional world, as well as the frustration faced by students who expected a job upon graduation. This led Morehouse to realize that most of the perceived value of a college degree comes from its value as a signaling mechanism, showing employers that a candidate is superior to those without the signal. Employers told Morehouse that a lack of work experience was the primary reason they did not hire candidates with college degrees. The lack of the strength in the signal led Morehouse to found Praxis in 2013 as an alternative signal for employers and students, combining a traditional liberal arts education with work experience than that which is gained in college.
Praxis was the name of an experimental rock project, led by prolific producer/bassist Bill Laswell and featuring guitarist Buckethead and drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia in nearly every incarnation of the band.
The group worked with many other artists such as Serj Tankian from System of a Down, Iggy Pop, DXT and DJ Disk.
Bill Laswell initially used the name Praxis for an experimental solo EP recorded for Celluloid Records in 1984, simply named "1984".
The band's debut album, Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis), released in 1992 was well received by critics. Praxis was composed of Buckethead, keyboardist Bernie Worrell drummer Brain, bassist Bootsy Collins and Afrika Baby Bam as AF Next Man Flip on turntables. Bill Laswell masterminded the project and served as producer and co-writer of much of the album's material. Praxis combined elements of different musical genres such as funk, jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal into highly improvised music. The P-Funk-inspired track "Animal Behavior," with a lead vocal from Collins, was released as a single. A video was also shot for the track.
M-113 – a Class M planet featured in TOS episode "The Man Trap". The planet is also called Crater's World, and also known as Fotialla by the extinct natives that once lived there.
M'kemas III – Tzenkethi settlement attacked by Ambassador Krajensky (a disguised changeling) who commandeered the USS Defiant in an attempt to start a war with the Federation.
M-S-1
M-Zed V – Mentioned in TNG episode "Heart of Glory". It is an outpost possibly under Klingon control. It was claimed as the destination of Korris and his fugitive Klingons. Note: It may simply be spelled as M-Z-V as "Zed" is the typical British/Canadian pronouncement of the letter "Z" instead of "zee".
Mab-Bu VI – Gas giant planet with a Class M moon. In the 19th century, criminals from the Ux-Mal system were exiled to the moon where their consciousness was separated from their physical bodies by the planet's electromagnetic fields. Some time in the 2160s, the prisoners attempted to escape by inhabiting the bodies of crew members of the Federation starship USS Essex but the plan failed when the ship crashed on to the surface. The beings later take possession of Data, Troi, and O'Brien to hijack the Enterprise-D.