text:
Gullands Solicitors
info@gullands.com
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Businesses are being urged to continue preparations for the 2020 roll out of changes to IR35 despite the fact that it may be delayed due to the election and Brexit issues. All three main parties pledged that this was very much on their radar. IR35 for those not involved is designed to reduce tax avoidance by contractors who HMRC believe to be "disguised employees" – people who work in a similar way to full-time employees but bill for their services via their limited companies to make their business as tax efficient as possible.
Many of these transactional relationships are genuine, and there are plenty of sole trader limited companies operating in the UK. However, it is not uncommon for some organisations to pay people in this way so that they can avoid paying employers' National Insurance contributions
or providing employment benefits.
To combat this, IR35 rules were designed to ensure that contractors working via their limited companies, deemed to be doing the same work of an employee, pay broadly the same tax. An HMRC inspector will determine this by applying an employment test to each case, which is based on the actual working practices, rather than any contract.
Do your workforce understand their wage slip?
CIPD report that according to a recent survey 60% of employees have never had their pay explained to them. They can usually say what amount they expect to land in their bank account at the end of the month, but do they understand tax, national insurance and pension contribution? We took part in a careers day to explain the vagaries of these issues to secondary school children. Perhaps such seminars should be extended
to workforces!
Discrimination of no beards policy
An employment tribunal has held that a temporary work agency indirectly discriminated against a practising Sikh, when it refused to keep him on its books because he would not be able to shave his beard for religious reasons.
The work-seeker, Mr Sethi, adhered to Kesh (the requirement that body hair not be cut). He sought work with an agency that worked predominantly with five-star hotels. The agency had a "no beards" policy. The policy was concerned with appearance, not hygiene, and had purportedly been implemented in response to demands from the agency's clients.
When Mr Sethi advised the agency that he would be unable to cut his beard, he was told that facial hair was not allowed for "health and safety/hygiene reasons" (although the agency's policy was concerned with appearance).
The tribunal held that the "no beards" policy placed Sikhs generally, and Mr Sethi in particular, at a particular disadvantage because of the Sikh practice of Kesh. The tribunal accepted that it was a legitimate aim for the agency to seek to comply with client requirements. However, it considered that the blanket "no beards" policy was not justified as a proportionate means of achieving that aim. There was no evidence that any client had been asked whether they would make an exception for a Sikh worker, and no evidence of what the agency's clients would in fact require when faced with a Sikh worker. In addition, not all the agency's hotel clients had a "no beards" requirement.
The principles in this case can be applied elsewhere in relation to indirect discrimination cases. Always consider carefully before implementing rules or requirements without due consideration as to whether it is a proportionate means of achieving your aim.
16 Mill Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6XT
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But, almost immediately, the astute muncher will wonder why it is he is denied such a pleasure in Hong Kong where imported berries from California and other places dominate the market.
The answer is that China lacks the processing and packaging resources to move its exquisite produce more than a truck farmer's run into the next town.
This is slowly changing. Latest food industry data indicates that the sector posted a year-on-year increase of 26.6% in the January-July period putting it in line for a FY 2004 increase of 20% over 2003. Much of the credit for this roaring growth, in the face of higher raw material costs, power shortages and other problems, is laid to improvements in the processing industry.
"The good performance is attributable to the country's enhanced efforts to bolster the agricultural sector's expansion, particularly supporting food processors," Wang Wenzhe, president of the China National Food Industry Association, told state media. "In addition, food firms have reacted and adapted themselves to match market demands."
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's food sector generated an industrial value of US$104.8 billion in the first seven months of this year, contributing nearly 10% of the country's total industrial value. Food firm sales topped US$101 billion, a 28.3% year-on-year increase in the January to July period.
Customs Administration data for the period also showed China food exports on the rise: they totaled US$10.69 billion, a 7.7% year-on-year increase. But there were more sobering customs figures for the food industry to digest: food imports had jumped 50.6% year-on-year, reaching US$11.47 billion, making for a food trade deficit.
Official hoopla over industry growth cannot disguise the fact that foreign competition is growing much faster and that China has to move at speed if it is to compete with the giants of the agribusiness world.


Music for Mycologists is a collection of works presented by LaSaM's Experimental Music Unit: George Tzanetakis, Tina Pearson and Paul Walde. Music for Mycologists was first presented at the Legacy Art Gallery in Victoria, BC on December 1, 2013. It was subsequently developed into a CD recording project with Victoria producer Kirk McNally, released June 6, 2015 at a CD release concert. Portions of the project were also presented as part of the Surrey Art Gallery's Sound Thinking Symposium November 15, 2014 in Surrey BC.
American composer John Cage was an avid mycologist. Cage often quipped that music and mushrooms have nothing to do with one another except for the fact that they appear next to each other in the dictionary. The Experimental Music Unit has put this statement to the test.
Paul Walde's large mushroom spore prints that were exhibited in Paradox at the Legacy Art Gallery are in fact a music notation intended to be interpreted sonically when exhibited. Accordingly, the musicians, Tina Pearson (flute, voice), George Tzanetakis (bass clarinet) and Walde (bass guitar), presented a program that uses mushroom hunting as a metaphor for uncovering those sounds of rare and raw beauty that exist just beyond perception.


If retirement is on the horizon and you're thinking about selling your home, you may be able to put some of the money you receive into your superannuation.
The new downsizer super contribution measure is an excellent opportunity if you're 65 or over and are looking to sell an eligible property. If you're eligible for the scheme, you can use the proceeds from the sale of your home as a one off "downsizer contribution" to boost your super, up to $300,000 as an individual or $600,000 as a couple.
Unlike the non-concessional contributions to your super, the good news is that you don't need to be working and there are no age limits to making downsizer contributions. Also, the total super balance test of $1.6 million and the $100,000 non-concessional contributions cap restrictions don't apply which makes it a great option if you want to contribute more to super and are currently ineligible because of these restrictions.
The property being sold must be located in Australia. It doesn't even need to be your current home — for example, an investment property up for sale is also eligible, as long as you, or your partner have owned it for more than 10 years and lived in it at some point in your life. An investment property that neither of you have lived in however is not eligible.
But, the property does not need to be owned by both members of a couple for both of you to make a contribution of up to $300,000 to your super. Unfortunately, the sale proceeds from a houseboat, caravan or mobile home cannot be used.
Tom (78) and Hazel (75) are retired. They have a small super balance of $50,000 and $20,000 in their bank account. They have a four bedroom house in the country valued at $700,000.
Now that they're getting older they find it harder to maintain their large property and are considering downsizing to a small townhouse closer to the town centre where they can be closer to their family and the town services.
They've also been drawing down on their super for the last 10 years and their super balance is depleting rapidly. By downsizing, they can release money from their property so they can continue to fund their retirement.
Tom and Hazel go ahead and sell their house for $700,000 and buy a townhouse for $500,000, leaving them a balance of $200,000.
They have the option of investing their $200,000 in their super fund as a one off 'downsizer contribution', and can then take advantage of the tax savings in super, including nil tax on earnings up to $1.6m, when drawing down on their super as an account-based pension.
Benefits: the benefits of investing their money in the super environment are not only the potential tax savings on investment earnings but it also allows them to simplify their finances by having one core investment – in super.
Notes: In this scenario, Tom and Hazel keep the full age pension as they remain under the age pension assets test. If your house is currently exempt from the assets test and you sell it, the balance would then go towards the assets test which may affect the amount you receive as your age pension.


text:
S. L. Bem, The measurement of psychological androgyny., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol.42, issue.2, pp.155-62, 1974.
DOI : 10.1037/h0036215
R. Bénabou and J. Tirole, Incentives and Prosocial Behavior, American Economic Review, vol.96, issue.5, pp.1652-1678, 2006.
DOI : 10.1257/aer.96.5.1652
D. Bollinger and G. Hofstede, Les différences culturelles dans le management Comment chaque pays gère-t-il ses hommes? [Cultural differences in management. How does each country manage men, 1987.
C. Borzaga and E. Tortia, Worker Motivations, Job Satisfaction, and Loyalty in Public and Nonprofit Social Services. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, pp.225-248, 2006.
J. Bué, Temps partiel des femmes : entre " choix " et contraintes, Premières Synthèses, pp.8-10, 2002.
R. Croson and U. Gneezy, Gender Differences in Preferences, Journal of Economic Literature, vol.47, issue.2, pp.448-474, 2009.
DOI : 10.1257/jel.47.2.448
E. L. Deci, Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol.18, issue.1, pp.113-120, 1971.
L. Dehart-davis, J. Marlowe, and S. K. Pandey, Gender Dimensions of Public Service Motivation, Public Administration Review, vol.3, issue.2, pp.873-887, 2006.
DOI : 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00414.x
C. Eckel and P. Grossman, Subsidizing charitable contributions: a natural field experiment comparing matching and rebate subsidies, Experimental Economics, vol.110, issue.1, pp.234-252, 2008.
DOI : 10.1007/s10683-008-9198-0
J. Lanfranchi and M. Narcy, Wages and effort in the French for-profit and nonprofit sectors: Labor donation theory revisited, pp.6-20, 2006.
J. Lanfranchi and M. Narcy, Shedding new light on intrinsic motivation to work: evidence from a discrete choice experiment, Kyklos, vol.41, issue.1, pp.88-106, 2010.
L. Leete, Wage equity and employee motivation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, vol.43, issue.4, pp.423-446, 2000.
DOI : 10.1016/S0167-2681(00)00129-3
P. Light, The content of their character: The state of the nonprofit workforce, The Nonprofit Quarterly, vol.9, pp.6-16, 2002.
D. Meurs and S. Ponthieux, L " écart de salaire entre les hommes et les femmes peut-il encore baisser? [Does the gender wage gap still fall, Économie et Statistique, pp.398-399, 2006.
S. Micheaux and O. Monso, Faire garder ses enfants pendant son temps de travail, 2007.
M. Mosca, M. Musella, and F. Pastore, RELATIONAL GOODS, MONITORING AND NON-PECUNIARY COMPENSATIONS IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR: THE CASE OF THE ITALIAN SOCIAL SERVICES, Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, vol.74, issue.3, pp.57-86, 2007.
DOI : 10.1086/298012
H. S. Nielsen, M. Simonsen, and M. Verner, Does the Gap in Family-friendly Policies Drive the Family Gap?*, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, vol.48, issue.4, pp.721-744, 2004.
R. L. Oaxaca and M. R. Ransom, On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials, Journal of Econometrics, vol.61, issue.1, pp.5-21, 1994.
DOI : 10.1016/0304-4076(94)90074-4

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Java: Obtain matched string from an input I am trying to obtain the string that my matcher is able to find using my provided expression. Something like this..
if(matcher.find())
    System.out.println("Matched string is: " + ?);

What would be the appropriate code for this? According to Oracle the
matcher.group();

method returns only the provided input same as
matcher.group(0);

Thanks in advance..
Edit:
Example follows below:
private static String fileExtensionPattern = ".*<input type=\"hidden\" name=\".*\" value=\".*\" />.*";
private static Matcher fileXtensionMatcher;
private static String input = text  "

<input type="hidden" name="docExt" value=".doc" />Employee Trv Log 2011 Training Trip.doc

"

private static void findFileExtension() {
    System.out.println("** Searching for file extension **");
    System.out.println("Looking for pattern: " + fileExtensionPattern);
    fileXtensionMatcher = fileXtensionExp.matcher(input);

    if(fileXtensionMatcher.find()) {
        //the extension expression is contained in the string
        System.out.println("Extension expression found.");
        System.out.println(fileXtensionMatcher.group());
    }
}

The obtained result is:
text    "

<input type="hidden" name="docExt" value=".doc" />Employee Trv Log 2011 Training Trip.doc

"

A: Why do you think that group() returns the input?
According to the JavaDoc:

Returns the input subsequence matched by the previous match.

In other words: it returns that part of the input that was matched.

A: After you added the source code, I can assure you the group() returns the whole input string because it matches your regular expression. If you want just the <input> element use:
private static String fileExtensionPattern = "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\".*\" value=\".*\" />";

Or use:
private static String fileExtensionPattern = ".*(<input type=\"hidden\" name=\".*\" value=\".*\" />).*";
. . .
System.out.println(fileXtensionMatcher.group(1));

A: After seeing your update it seems like you need matcher groups. Also you need to make your matches non-greedy (.*? instead of .*). Try this:
private static String fileExtensionPattern =
    ".*<input type=\"hidden\" name=\".*?\" value=\"(.*?)\" />([^<]*)";

// etc.
private static void findFileExtension() {

     // etc.
     if(fileXtensionMatcher.find()) {
        // etc.
        System.out.println(fileXtensionMatcher.group(1));
        System.out.println(fileXtensionMatcher.group(2));
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Highlights of the 90th Saudi National Day Virtual Ceremony in REU
The ceremony of the 90th Saudi National Day was virtually conducted in zoom on Monday, 28 September 2020 at 5:00 pm. This was in the presence of the respected Board Trustees Chairman Prof. Abdullah Al Shammery, the President Dr. Saleh Al-Shamrani, Vice President Dr. Mansour Assery, Deans of Colleges, Vice Deans, Heads of Departments, Faculty Members, all university staffs and the students. The significance of the cerebration was to support the goals of 2030 Vision among the students on this precious anniversary and the commitment to achieve it and to develop students' sense of their glorious past and their bright present.
The ceremony agenda covers the National Anthem, the Holy Quran, Speech of the Respected Board of Trustees Chairman, the Precious Video of KSA, Speech of the President, Video about the Participation of REU Employees in Corona Pandemic, Video of Students' Talents on the National Day). The main objectives of the exhibition were to give students the opportunity to participate in a national artwork and at the same time to show their talents and to present the role of REU employees in the said Corona pandemic. They talked about their experiences and the impact REU had from it. It has been proven its great role in urging its students and all its employees to volunteer and participate in the community service.
In conjunction with the virtual ceremony, the National Day included competitions of four branches (the best national day written text, the best visual or short film, the most beautiful work of art such as drawing, photography and handicrafts and the best tweet about the national day). The said competitions were participated by 43 students and it went on smoothly and successfully.


text:
Austerity's for Athens, not us
Chinese leader calls for higher wages as means to boost consumption
May 7, 2010 (WiC 59)
Canton Fair: crowds without cash
Have we reached a tipping point where China's workers finally become consumers? President Hu Jintao's endorsement of higher wages last week heralds another attempt to re-engineer China's export-focused economy. But it comes at a time when factories are worrying more about export performance.
Greece may not be China's most critical export market, but its contracting economy may be a weather vane for the rest of the continent. Despite politicians' claims to the contrary, many believe that both the European Union and the United States are facing a bleak economic outlook. That's the message from the exporters attending the 107th Canton Fair last month (for more on which see issue 13).
"The increase in orders, compared with the dismal situation last year, is no more than 10%," one discouraged toymaker told the 21CN Business Herald. And what orders there are seem to be for cheaper goods. A new report by the Guangdong Toy Association observed a 'potato effect' in the US and Europe, with demand for cheap toys rising at the expense of high-end products.
Unemployment in some European countries tops 19% (Spain), and a record 39 million Americans now rely on government food stamps. Europe and the US make up 21% and 17% of China's export market respectively.
Of course, exports for the first quarter of this year were up nearly 29%. But many manufacturers at the trade fair feared the increase was due to buyers restocking inventories rather than a sure sign of rising demand. A spokesperson for the Fair, Chen Chaoren warned the Herald that short-term orders were replacing long-term ones.
China's long experiment with export-led growth was partly motivated by the need for job creation, and Peking University Professor Yiping Huang estimates that the economy still needs to create at least 10 million new jobs every year. If factories can't provide those jobs by increasing exports, a new source of demand must be found. Official media has spilled a lot of ink over plans to boost 'domestic consumption', but so far actual changes have been few.
On International Workers Day, May 1, President Hu Jintao told the 'model worker' awards ceremony that measures would be taken to lift wages. "A significant increase in wages as a share of [GDP] is the key to addressing imbalance in the Chinese economy," explained a China Daily editorial on Hu's speech, "the rise of wages [has been] too slow compared with the expansion of national wealth. As a result consumption has actually fallen as a share of GDP."
Low wages have been as important as currency policy in turning the country into a manufacturing powerhouse. But, with many commentators expecting the yuan to rise, it could be an inauspicious time to increase wages too. The combination could cost factory jobs before domestic demand is strong enough to replace diminished export volumes.
The competition for export growth through low-cost manufacturing has often been called a 'race to the bottom', and China's leaders may now have decided to try to change direction. If the country can pull off a rise in wages, and a consequent swelling in domestic demand, it could set into motion a virtuous circle that will serve to offset much of any loss of Chinese competitiveness overseas.
It's a big 'if' but, should it materialise, it would be good news for foreign businesses too, whose long-cherished dreams of one billion customers might come a little closer. Recent rises in minimum wages in Guangdong and Jiangsu show it is not just a case of politicians paying lip service to a populist idea. In fact even the timing of Hu's call for 'higher wages' strikes a contrast to the austerity regimes being contemplated by some in the EU. Who has the better economic prospects at the moment: the people of Guangdong, or those in Greece?
AviationWhy Air China aspires to be the nation's answer to Lufthansa
Talking PointBaidu benefits from Google retreat but it's more worried about Tencent
Planet ChinaMy fellow Americans
Fast FoodThree Cup Chicken
And FinallyThe Expo starts – but so do the queues


Explore more games and downloadable content for Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom!
Seasons After Fall is a 2D puzzle-platformer that will introduce you to a captivating universe where you can explore a land governed by magic and nature. Use your ability to change the seasons to alter the world around you freeze bodies of water in winter, grow plants in the summer, and more!
Shiness is an action-RPG that takes you on a journey across a world on the verge of collapse. After crash-landing on a hostile island, you find yourself in a conflict spanning multiple kingdoms. Face off against dangerous enemies in hyper-dynamic fights, mixing magic with traditional fighting game mechanics. Gain experience to evolve your characters, learning exciting new skills and spells.


text:
Emily Sutton – Christmas Exhibition 24 Nov - 2 Dec 2012
Since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2008, Emily's exquisitely detailed watercolours, prints and embroidered bird sculptures have become much sought-after, helped in part by a feature in World of Interiors magazine which led to a flurry of commissions from around the world.
In 2011 her Curiosity Shop fabric design for St Jude's won an Elle Decoration British Design Award and last year she illustrated 'Clara Button & the Magical Hat Day', a children's book for the V&A.
This Christmas Emily's playful illustrations are adorning tea tins and cake boxes for Bettys Café Tea Rooms and she is currently working on a sequel to Clara Button, and a non-fiction book about micro life for Walker Books, both due to be launched in 2013.
Emily Sutton: Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day. An illustrated children's book for the Victoria & Albert Museum, £10.99.
We have a limited number of signed copies of the book available .
If you would like to reserve a signed copy of the book click here to request a copy.
Thank you to all of our customers who made this exhibition such a success. These are the works that were included in our exhibition. Some of the prints are still available, click here to see the selection
If you have an enquiry please contact Alex Godfrey using the 'Contact Us' page, or send an email to mail@godfreyandwatt.co.uk.
Click on an image to enlarge and see details


text:
package nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.ui.main;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;

import java.util.List;

import javax.inject.Inject;

import butterknife.Bind;
import butterknife.ButterKnife;
import nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.androidboilerplate.R;
import nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.data.SyncService;
import nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.data.model.Loo;
import nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.ui.base.BaseActivity;
import nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.util.DialogFactory;

public class MainActivity extends BaseActivity implements MainMvpView {

    private static final String EXTRA_TRIGGER_SYNC_FLAG =
            "nyc.friendlyrobot.sample.ui.main.MainActivity.EXTRA_TRIGGER_SYNC_FLAG";

    @Inject MainPresenter presenter;
    @Inject RibotsAdapter adapter;

    @Bind(R.id.recycler_view) RecyclerView mRecyclerView;

    /**
     * Return an Intent to start this Activity.
     * triggerDataSyncOnCreate allows disabling the background sync service onCreate. Should
     * only be set to false during testing.
     */
    public static Intent getStartIntent(Context context, boolean triggerDataSyncOnCreate) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(context, MainActivity.class);
        intent.putExtra(EXTRA_TRIGGER_SYNC_FLAG, triggerDataSyncOnCreate);
        return intent;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        getActivityComponent().inject(this);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        ButterKnife.bind(this);

        mRecyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
        mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(this));
        presenter.attachView(this);
        presenter.loadFoos();

        if (getIntent().getBooleanExtra(EXTRA_TRIGGER_SYNC_FLAG, true)) {
            startService(SyncService.getStartIntent(this));
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();

        presenter.detachView();
    }

    /***** MVP View methods implementation *****/

    @Override
    public void showLoo(List<Loo> loos) {
        adapter.setLoos(loos);
        adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
    }

    @Override
    public void showError() {
        DialogFactory.createGenericErrorDialog(this, getString(R.string.error_loading_ribots))
                .show();
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
<TITLE>Review for Anastasia (1997)</TITLE>
<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="/ramr.css">

Anastasia (1997)

reviewed by
Ben Hoffman

                             ANASTASIA

There are a few small criticisms that come to mind as I watched
ANASTASIA.    Despite some wonderful animation, when Dimitri walks up
stairs, he seems to hop.   And when he goes down the steps, he seems
to stumble.    I could not understand that because the rest of the
animation, and in particular the ballroom scenes, were spectacularly
perfect.

The other thing one must wonder about is why this story of a Russian
Princess and the Russian Revolution is suitable for children, even
if it is in animation.   And is it something adults will want to
watch in as much as it is animated?   Why does the story imply that
the real Anastasia is returned to her grandmother when, in fact, no
one knows that, nor do we know if there is a real Anastasia who escaped
the execution of the royal family?  "And the greatest mystery of the
20th Century begins. . . "   To which I say, "THE greatest mystery?
Hardly."

Be that as it may, the animation is a delight to watch.   Rasputin
is suitably monstrous bringing to mind the devil in Fantasia's Night
on Bald mountain.   And, getting back to the animation, why is every
woman in animated films shown as wide-eyed beyond belief?  Such as
Jasmine in ALADDIN?  And Anastasia?

An all-star cast is used for the voices behind the characters:

Meg Ryan               Anastasia
John Cusack            Dimitri
Kelsey Grammer         Vladimir
Christopher Lloyd      Rasputin
Hank Azaria            Bartok
Bernadette Peters      Sophie
Kirsten Dunst          Young Anastasia
Angela  Lansbury        Dowager Empress Marie
Liz Callaway           The singing voice of Anastasia
Lacey Chabert          The singing voice of young Anastasia
Jim Cummings           Singing voice of Rasputin
Jonathan Dokuchitz     Singing voice of Dimitri.

        Produced and Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman.

2.5 Bytes

4  bytes  =  Superb
3  bytes  =  Too good to miss
2  bytes  =  Average
1  byte   =  Save your money

                Copyright  1997         Ben Hoffman

The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).

The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.

Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.

Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.

The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews


text:
Q: who should I choose for a heist? Recently I've completed my first heist. I used the better hacker, the worse driver and the worse gunner(or whatever he's called). As a result I got:

 1) we had enough time to steal all the items(thanks to a good hacker)

.

 2) one guy fell of the bike when we were running away. Result: lost around 1.4 mil(down to 2.8 from 4.2)

.

 3) the driver wasn't sure where to go, so he chose random direction, which appeared to be the right one.

.

 And 2 of the crew got +25% skill I think after the completion of the mission. Looks like the one who fell down with a bike got nothing.

So the question is: should I take the better ones from the beginning or is it better to take the worse ones and let them become better?

A: Use all of the cheapest ones. The police come after you anyway, so you still have time to smash all the cases. The cheap gunman falls off his bike, so drive over the money he drops and his money gets added to the pot, but you don't have to share it with him.
The mission is still the same, except you get more money.
Oh, and the more expensive driver just chooses dirtbikes instead of the racing bikes.

A: It depends on your preference.  Better people from the start means you're more likely to walk away with a bigger take, but you have to pay bigger cuts.  Less skilled means you may not have as a big a take, and it may be harder, but you lose less in paying out cuts.  If you're okay with not having dramatic takes right away, then pick less skilled guys and build them up on easy heists.  Then when they have high skills, you do jobs smoothly without paying out as much.

A: If they aren't important to complete the mission then choose the one who is cheapest. If they are important to complete the mission then spend more on them. I don't think there is any special formula for who to choose, but if the heist requires a lot of driving then you probably don't want to pick someone with little experience; at the same time you could probably get by without the best driver too.


text:
Q: Obtain Remote linux Server IP address' using bash script via ssh I need to Obtain my remote Linux Server eth1 IP address using bash script through the ssh and i have following command:
/sbin/ifconfig eth1 | grep 'inet addr:'| grep -v '127.0.0.1' | cut -d: -f2 |  awk '{ print $1}'
but when i run :
spawn ssh -t  $user@$remote_host "/sbin/ifconfig eth1 | grep 'inet addr:'| grep -v '127.0.0.1' | cut -d: -f2 |  awk '{ print $2}' ; echo $ip "
it says can't read "1": no such variable
    while executing
"spawn ssh -t  $user@$remote_host "ip=/sbin/ifconfig eth1 | grep 'inet addr:'| grep -v '127.0.0.1' | cut -d: -f2 |  awk '{ print $1}' ; echo $ip ""
    (file "./ssh2.sh" line 11)
So could please help me with this issue.
Thanks

A: Why not use ip instead of the deprecated ifconfig, and skip all the extra greps and cuts since awk can do that.
So a command like ip addr show dev eth0 | awk '/^ +inet / {split($2,a,"/"); print a[1]}'
In any case, most of your problem in your example commands have to do with the type of quotes you choose, and how bash evaluates them.
If you do something like cfrancy@ws:~$ ssh root@srv01 echo "Hello $USER" then the output you will see is Hello cfrancy, and not Hello root like you might expect.  Because you have used double quotes " around your command for the remote system, all the variables are evaluated before the command is sent.  The command cfrancy@ws:~$ ssh root@srv01 echo 'Hello $USER' will return Hello root since the $USER is evaluated on the remote site.  Of course you also need to switch around or escape your other quotes inside your compound command so things work out properly.
Anyway, keeping the quoting behavior in mind the command would probably do what you want.  though I think my solution that uses only ip, and awk is a better choice since I am only useing 2 programs instead of 4.
ssh -t $user@$remote_host '/sbin/ifconfig eth0 | grep "inet addr:"| grep -v "127.0.0.1" | cut -d: -f2 | awk "{ print $1}"'


GIC is known as Guaranteed Investment Certificate. GIC program is for the Indian students who wish to pursue their higher studies in Canada under Student Partners Programs (SPP). GIC is very a simple and transparent process followed by SPP colleges in Canada. According to Citizenship & Immigration Canada guidelines, you will require approximately CAD 10,000Read More What is GIC account? How much important it is for your student visa process?


In March, Overwatch League executives will return to the road.
A year after they began their initial roadshow that convinced 12 teams across the U.S., Europe and Asia to pay $20 million each to join the league for its inaugural season, the league now will search for expansion teams. The biggest difference this time: The execs have a proven product to sell, and that means more interested buyers.
Throughout 2017, the Overwatch League had more naysayers than those interested, with many of the former citing its lack of proof of concept and a game without a rich esports history. The steep price, the chance of low viewership and, as a result, the potential for little to no revenue drove some of the most wealthy and famous buyers in the esports industry away. It was impressive that the league recruited 12 in the first place.
In the past three months, though, the Overwatch League has exceeded its revenue expectations, and several league sources said that the league is at almost four times its original projection. The league got a reported $90 million, two-year Twitch deal, and its two-year deals with HP Omen and Intel are worth $17 million and $10 million, respectively, sources said. That doesn't even include its sponsors since its launch, which include the likes of T-Mobile, Toyota and Sour Patch Kids, and those its teams have sold for jersey patches and placements.
The teams that put a collective $240 million on the table in franchise fees to become Overwatch League owners might have their faith rewarded ahead of schedule. The Overwatch League is en route to making big returns, too.
Its next challenge lies in incentivizing international buyers. Of its 12 teams, only one, the Shanghai Dragons, is owned by a foreign corporation. Its other two teams abroad, the Seoul Dynasty and the London Spitfire, are both owned by American-based organizations. While the league has said that it hopes to target expansion in the European and Asian markets, recruiting buyers there is much more difficult than domestically.
The Overwatch League will get more buyers in North America. It had a 13th team right before the Season 1 deadline that it did not close in on Wesley Edens, the co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and esports team FlyQuest, league sources said. Edens is expected to be back at the negotiating table for 2019, sources said. But if it can get another in mainland Europe -- whether that be in Germany, France or Denmark -- and two more in Asia, that would be sufficient. Finding those buyers, however, will be difficult.
The franchise fee for Season 2 expansion is not set yet, but Activision Blizzard confirmed in an earnings call on Thursday that it will be higher than Season 1; league sources expressed that they expect it will be in the $35 million to $60 million range, at least $15 million more than for the inaugural season. The league had trouble convincing European and Asian entrepreneurs and corporations to bite at $20 million; $35 million to $60 million will be even harder.
The core of that issue lies in how international investors look at these opportunities. American capitalists, in particular, are very venture-heavy; they are willing to spend and commit a significant amount of dollars in many fields and see how it goes. If they lose, that's OK -- on to the next one. But abroad, that is not the case, and it's been reflected that way in other esports, such as the European League of Legends Championship Series. European buyers want more security, assurance and history -- in other words, they want traits that the Overwatch League does not have, even after Year 1.
The Overwatch League's most interested buyers in Europe could be American investors who own international soccer teams. Those with previous interest in esports include Fulham's Shad Khan, Crystal Palace's Harris Blitzer & Entertainment and Liverpool's Fenway Sports Group. Although all of those have soccer holdings in the U.K., there's doubt that the Overwatch player base is dense enough to meet the market requirements for more than a single team in that country. That presents yet another challenge as the league enters expansion.
The Overwatch League is a big ask, something non-American-owned soccer teams in Europe and big-business investors stuck their nose up at ahead of Season 1, sources said. Has the reported revenue and the above-average viewership and engagement changed that? Or will the European backers still be a struggle for Activision Blizzard as it tries to spread its product across the world? There's no firm answer, even as the buy-in at the Overwatch League table rises.
The traditional esports investors in Asia are not incentivized to participate, either.
In South Korea, many are product and service companies -- such as SK Telecom, CJ Entus and KT Rolster -- that do not sell their byproducts outside of their home region. A global league does not help business for those companies, particularly given that they would need to create a completely separate brand for the team unrelated to their brands, like OpTic Gaming needed to for the Houston Outlaws per Blizzard's rules for the league.
Even though those companies have spent big in League of Legends, it's not close to comparable to the operating cost per year that a geolocated Overwatch League would require. And several have a sour taste in their mouths after Activision Blizzard put an end to APEX, the premier Overwatch tournament in South Korea, sources said.
China, where Overwatch has a massive player and fan base, poses a different problem. Many of the likely buyers there present potential conflicts of interest or do not have above-board histories in operations in other esports. The Spitfire's parent, Cloud9, has an investment from FunPlus Ventures, one of the new owners in the League of Legends Pro League. Others, like LGD Gaming and Royal Never Give Up, have had scandal after scandal that stem from their ownership groups.
All that is to say that each of the regions that Overwatch League hopes to expand to and needs in order to make itself a true worldwide commodity has a different set of hurdles that are only exacerbated by a rising cost to ownership. No matter where executives go for a sales pitch, they will have to account for those difficulties and sell not just Year 1 success but solutions to those problems that will assuage doubt from potential buyers.
The Overwatch League, successful in Stage 1 or not, will need to find a new model to sell itself if it wants to build international franchises. The pitch that got its American buyers in the door, with or without proof of concept, is not enough.


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Why Microsoft is wary of open source?
Tue, 08/07/2001 - 15:39 | admin
Feedback@freeos.com
While Linux hasn't displaced Windows, it has made serious inroads. Linux accounted for 27 percent of new worldwide operating-system licenses in 2000, and Microsoft captured 41 percent of new licenses, according to IDC.
Overall, Gartner estimates Linux runs on nearly 9 percent of US servers shipped in the third quarter of 2000, with worldwide projected Linux server sales of nearly $2.5 billion in 2001 and about $9 billion in 2005.
But Linux continues to gain credibility, particularly because of the massive support provided by IBM, which has pledged to spend $1 billion on Linux development.
In attacking Linux and open source, Microsoft finds itself competing "not against another company, but against a grassroots movement," said Paul Dain, director of application development at Emeryville, California-based Wirestone, a technology services company.
"My guess is that they are now under pressure to defend themselves against the criticism from the open-source and free-software communities--whether it's justified or not--as well as companies like IBM that are aggressively marketing Linux," Dain said. "In order to combat that, they have to use strong language to get their point across."
Increasing Linux use makes it more difficult to spread the .Net message. That, in turn, has led to a string of comments from Microsoft executives publicly denouncing Linux and open source. "Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches," Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
Despite Microsoft's criticism, the company still uses open-source code in some products. Servers for the company's Hotmail e-mail service use FreeBSD for some DNS (domain name server) functions.
"This is a legacy issue that came from Hotmail when we originally got it," said Microsoft spokesman Rick Miller. "We haven't gone out, purchased and put into place FreeBSD. It came when we purchased other companies. We didn't build any of our infrastructures on FreeBSD. We build it on Windows."
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Information Technology Essay Example
Samples › Management Essays › Information Technology Essay Example
Management of Information Technology Research
Every company is informed about the special benefits, effects, implication, and the role of information system in its capacity to acquire competitive advantage. Indeed, in any business, information technology is applied through various value chain activities that assist the company to control and optimize functions of operation in the company. This makes the process of decision making easier. In addition, companies use information system as a competitive weapon to influence their performance and the processes that guarantee smooth coordination of corporate, technological advancement and business strategies. The current report will use the Microsoft Company to illustrate the impact of information system on businesses and their relationship to globalization. In addition, the report will describe and identify imperative features of Microsoft company used by the managers use and build information systems successfully. The report also shows the SWOT analysis of Microsoft Company basing on the frame of Porter's five forces model.
William Gates founded Microsoft in 1975. The company has a mission of enabling individuals globally to realize and make use of their full potential. The company has worked towards achieving this mission by innovating technology that influences the way organizations and people play, work, and communicate. Their products deliver very many opportunities to corporate enterprise and individual businesses. In addition, the company's businesses are even distributed all over the globe. Indeed, it has established offices in more than 100 nations.
The company makes profits through various ways. It licences, develops, and offers support to services, software and hardware parts globally. In fact, its windows division provides the window operating system (Michael 2009). The company also provides web services and applications such as windows service suites, among other services. Their products are sold to businesses and consumers. The main products of the company are operating system of ubiquitous window PC and Office application suits. The latter suits are sold to customers through companies that make personal computers such as Lenovo, Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Toshiba.
The aforementioned companies pre-install the Microsoft software on the personal computers before the customers buy them. In addition, the company also sells its services and products online by use of resellers and other middle traders. Other products offered by the company include company applications such as Microsoft dynamics, Xbox (which is a video game console), storage and server software, and Zune (a digital music player). Furthermore, the company produces software for phones. In fact, the company is acquiring the business of Nokia's handset (Michal & Eleonora 2006).
Microsoft Company is aware of its competitors. It faces the threats of other companies joining the industry and setting up similar business, which can pose competition to the company. This may result into reduced profit margins. The company, therefore, makes use of the porter's model to enhance its competitive strategy by identifying the major forces that influence its profitability index in the information system industry.
The information system industry has various companies that influenced by the Michael Porter's five forces. Microsoft Company uses the framework to know the strategic move to be put in place by the managers of the company. This is done to maintain an edge over their competitors. Through the model, Microsoft Company understands better where it lies in the industry of information system. It can, therefore, adjust and fit itself effectively in the industry. As a result, the company has developed their information systems that offer competitive advantage, but still maintaining the core concepts of porter's five forces model.
Firstly, the company makes uses of the concept of rivalry among its competitors. It takes various forms such pricing of its products, introduction of new services in the market, advertising of their services and differentiation of its products such as the Window suits. The higher the rivalry, the lower the profits received by companies (Frederik, 2009). Therefore, Microsoft incurs expenses in a bid to achieve a competitive edge over its competitors. As a result, the company has adapted different types of computer programmes and software to enhance the overall customer services offered.
Secondly, the company uses the concept of threat to entry. The company hinders entry of other firms through increasing investment and developing efficient strategies of pricing. This is done to prevent new entries of other companies in the market. For instance, the company has developed massive systems of e-businesses to hinder entry of other firms.
Thirdly, the company makes use of the buyer's bargaining power. For the company to keep the power of the buyers low, it implements information systems that solidify their position among the buyers. In furtherance to the latter mentioned concepts, the company makes use of bargaining power of the suppliers. High Supplier power a flipside of buyer's power that is low. The company makes use of Just in time (JIT) strategy to make sure that services are delivered to the consumer within the shortest time possible. Through its integrated and faster system, the buyers can alert the Microsoft service providers when a service is over (Diez &McIntosh 2009).
Finally, the company creates a competitive advantage over the other companies. Information system in the company has influenced the way the company prices its goods and how it differentiates them. It uses information system to change the scope of its competitors.
Role of information system in the Microsoft Company
Differentiating
Through information system, the company is able to differentiate itself through product innovation, pricing, and customer services. This gives the company an advantage over the other competitors. Through E-mails, and customer's communities, the company receives feedback from its clients on how to improve on its products. By differentiating, the company gets information on how to establish its brand (Pita, Cheong & Corbitt 2008).
Reduction in cost
The company uses IT in reducing its costs of processing, transmitting, and obtaining information. This has changed the way the company engage in business. Information systems reduce the cost of business operation, marketing, and advertising. Through IT, the company gets cheaper channels of distribution and effective means of promoting its products.
IT helps the company experiment with new services, products, and processes in the market. Furthermore, IT reduces the distribution time of information (Bhatnagar 2006). This leads to less product cycle of time.
Information system used in the company has enabled it expand its customer share and market share base. The latter has led to its quick development of geographical market globally and nationally. Moreover, information system has assisted the company to enhance its relationship with customer through effective marketing strategies, shorter time of delivery and innovation of new channels.
Conclusion and analysis
Microsoft Company makes use of information system to vary and differentiate its products and services from its competitors. Through IT, the company has achieved a strategic edge over the competitors. The company still obtains superior returns over its competitors who are less adept. In terse, despite the fact that, every company can purchase IT services in the market place, IT has numerous advantages to companies. Companies should make use of information system to differentiate, price, and innovate new technologies and products in the market. This enhances their growth and development globally.
Bhatnagar, A 2006, Strategic information systems planning: Alignment of 'IS/IT' Planning and BusinessPlanning, Unitec New Zealand.
Diez, E &McIntosh, B. S 2009, A review of the factors which influence the use and usefulness of information systems. Environmental Modelling & Software, Vol.24, No. 5, pp. 588-602.
Frederik, A 2009, Towards a conceptual reference model for project management information systems.International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 19-30.
Michael, P 2009, Value chain framework of Michael porter, [Online] Available: http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_porter_value_chain.html, last access 4/2/2009.
Michal, G & Eleonora, B 2006, Strategic Information Management, Comenius University, E-Leader, Slovakia 2006
Pita, Z Cheong, F & Corbitt, B 2008, Approaches and Methodologies for Strategic Information Systems Planning, an Empirical Study in Australia, 19th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, 3-5, Dec 2008, Christchurch
McDonald's Essay Example Total Quality Management Essay Example


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How did we start debating over who can use a restroom?
May 1, 2016 Daniel Vaughan
We haven't always argued over who could use a restroom. Nor have we argued over how to enforce laws determining if a person is allowed to use a restroom. How did we get to this debate? It's not like everyone had a convention and decided on the next major cultural issue. The answer, as with most issues, requires some philosophy and historical background. It's a natural continuation of ideas from the 19th and 20th Centuries. Specifically, it's a logical continuation of moral relativism as applied to culture. As Richard Weaver wrote in 1948: "Ideas Have Consequences." We are dealing with the consequences of moral relativism. When society is unmoored from absolute truth, any aspect of society can be arbitrarily redefined.
Moral relativism is the overarching theme. You have to examine more closely to see the current "restroom debate" take shape. The first seeds for it came out of the cultural waves of the 19th and 20th centuries. Two culture waves are important: feminism and the sexual revolution. It's important to note here neither wave was inherently bad, in fact both helped improve the lives of women. Expanding the right to vote and bringing women into equality under the law are two vitally important improvements to society. These were positive developments that fulfilled the Founding Father's promise of liberty for all. However, these movements began derailing in the mid-20th century.
The first problem within these movements was moral relativism replaced absolute truth and morality as the foundation for critiques of society. The movements built their arguments on basic moral relativism: there is no absolute truth and we cannot know those truths if they did exist. This was done in order to attack areas feminism and the sexual revolution saw standing in their way to progress. American society was built on the idea that there are natural rights and morals built into the world. In order to attack natural rights and morality in place, the two waves used moral relativism and said there was no truth to previous morality. Which leads to the next logical argument: because nothing is true, everything perceived as true is only a construct of society.
Societal construct is a key phrase used. It means something that was created by the powerful in a culture (the powerful can be any group. In modern news, you hear "the establishment," "the patriarchy," and "the man" among many). It also means that if morality is only created by the powerful in a culture or society, it is ultimately not true because it is a facade/construct created by the powerful. It can change over time if society so chooses. The two waves recognized this and turned moral relativism on sex and gender roles and did two things: 1) They bifurcated the concepts of gender and sex. The two terms now described two different concepts instead of generally being used as one. Sex describes the biological characteristics of men and women, gender refers to the societal roles between men and women (or entirely new "genders" created by modern progressives). 2) Since there was no absolute form of truth, they accused any traditions of sex and gender as constructs of society. In other words, sex and gender roles were facades created by the powerful to keep minorities down. Historical, traditional, or biological definitions of sex and gender roles were ruled meaningless and discriminatory. Instead, the argument was replaced with: "People should be free to define themselves." People latched on to this last sentence of self determination, ignoring the moral relativism underneath.
With no rules in place on how to construct sex or gender, and the arguments for any definitions fully politicized, the argument then moved to the following: People should be allowed to create whatever construct they want for themselves. At first this was used to show how men and women could perform similar roles within society. While it is perfectly fine to have both sexes in different roles, the philosophical foundation for this, moral relativism, is incapable of asserting proving why sexes can take different roles. It was left saying women can only have a different role because of "shifting societal values," not, "women have inherent value as humans." So you hear reports about "changing societal roles," not, "men and women, being created equal, are intellectually capable of fulfilling equal career goals." The distinction is important because natural law asserts men and women have inherent value, moral relativism does not. But because moral relativism was the foundation for this argument, it quickly began redefining sex and gender roles beyond what was intended by feminists and the sexual revolution.
This created the stage for the modern debate over bathrooms. This is where the moral relativistic case for transexuals comes into play. For a long time, if a person thought they were a man trapped in a woman's body, or vice versa, it was treated as a mental illness. If a person's mind shows a disconnect between mental and physical reality, then something is typically thought to be wrong. In most cases of mental illness, we see this as a fact. But the politicization of sex and gender roles has given a cultural argument to people claiming otherwise: there are no absolutes; you cannot determine sex and gender for a person who does not want those claims. Instead of approaching this as a mental illness, it is now discrimination for anyone to speak against the mental state of a person regarding sex or gender.
In a discussion over this point, a friend pointed out that since natural law gives people inherent value, shouldn't they still be capable of defining their own definitions of sex and gender? After all, respecting that inherent value would mean accepting that person for what they claim. It's a good point, but flawed, because natural law presumes a set order to society and the world. What we're currently seeing is an attempt to go beyond the male/female dichotomy and have more than one sex or gender. This is beyond the natural order of the world. In other words, you can't suddenly choose to redefine something it is not based on an individual claim. Definitions have meaning and removing a definition does not fit in natural law. Further, the reason these meanings do not change is because they are set by natural law, not society. These are immutable truths of the universe, not societal constructs as moral relativism claims. [1. I'm not going into the full mechanics of natural law, absolute truth, and definitional meanings in this piece. I've written about them in other pieces on this site. If you want a more in-depth explanation I recommend this primer and a discussion by J. Budziszewski, a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He also has a book on the subject that is considered a classic.]
To recap: the two waves asserted moral relativism as the foundation for sex and gender roles. Sex and gender have no set meaning now, the only reason we had set meanings before was because society built them. If society was the only thing that built sex and gender, then feminists and the sexual revolution could rearrange them and claim whatever they wanted, since there were no absolute truths. Societal roles for men and women were meaningless facades set up to put women and minorities down. This has left us with multiple factions attempting to build new societal facades and constructs to define sex and gender after destroying the previous definitions. We are left with people asserting they are something other than what they are biologically.
Finally, I want to cover two points: first on discrimination and the next on the self-defeating nature of the moral relativism we've covered here.
First, on discrimination: You'll notice, only people who claim transgenderism are allowed to claim discrimination. This is because if you assert an absolute truth against their belief system, it is claimed as discrimination. Moral relativism gives them the cover they need to make this claim. Because truth is not absolute and can't be known or agreed upon even if it exists, asserting anything contrary to them is an attack on their self constructed reality. Self-determination rules the day because no truth exists that can disprove the validity of self-determination. The point here: if you assert a truth, like sex is a biologically determined DNA fact, you're immediately branded as hateful bigot. This isn't a fight against opinions people can disagree on. This is a disagreement over the fundamental nature of truth. Absolute truth says they are wrong, to get around confronting this concept, they assert discrimination. As I've written, this is nothing more than a shame culture trying to silence dissent.
Second, the self defeating nature of the moral relativism argument: Moral relativists assert nothing is true and everything is a construct of society. The irony of this is that they are attempting to build a construct/facade for society and call it true themselves. Asserting self-determination as a moral truth is a form of moral absolutism. It is a person claiming everyone should affirm their personal decision as true. Ironically, there is no basis for truth in this claim under moral relativism. It's nothing more than a claim backed up by an individual, enforced on society. There is no more basis for a self constructed facade to be true than a traditional facade under moral relativism. This is why you see the shame culture trotted out, because there is no argument that supports moral relativism or ideas built off of it.
Moral relativists may respond to me and say: if there is no absolute truth, we have no ability to say a person is wrong in their self determination – to do so is discriminatory and judgmental. This is also wrong: If there is no absolute truth, as they claim, then you can't say a person has the right to self determination. That is an absolute claim. Moral relativism has no basis to claim anything is right or wrong – any attempt to do so violates the central core of moral relativism of there are no truths.
As I've pointed out repeatedly, the great irony of moral relativism is that it is self-contradictory. It states there are no absolutes, which is an absolute statement itself. Modern liberalism says sex and gender have no meaning, while forcing the world to recognize "new" roles. They are creating more and more subsets while claiming there is no such thing as a subset. The same is true of the bathroom debates, transgenderism, and any other topic that will develop from this line of argument. The problem is that there is no truth to these claims. They are philosophically self-contradictory and incapable of standing up to any scrutiny. Which is why claims of discrimination and shame culture are the main defense for these ideas. When compared to absolute truth and natural law, moral relativistic constructs for sex and gender are empty promises. Society cannot be built on the empty lies of moral relativism. Ideas have consequences, and unless we counter these ideas, we will continue to reap the consequences.
Culture, Politics


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Kalray raises $26 million, anticipating the launch of its third generation of microprocessor
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Grenoble, France, and LE BOURGET, France, June 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Kalray, a pioneer in high-performance, low-power manycore microprocessors, has announced the completion of a new round of funding that will total $26 million[1]. For this round, the company has welcomed Safran[2] and the Asian investor, Pengpai, to its list of investors, which already include ACE Management, CEA Investissement, EUREKAP! Héléa Financière and INOCAP Gestion.
Since its spin-off from the CEA[3] in 2008, Kalray developed a massively parallel manycore architecture that is unique to its microprocessors, called the MPPA® (Massively Parallel Processor Array). This technology, protected by over 20 international patents, increases the processors' real-time processing abilities while maintaining very low energy consumption. Kalray's microprocessors are mainly used in two highly-demanding and fast-growing markets – critical embedded applications (aeronautics/ defense and autonomous vehicles) and data centers (storage acceleration and high-speed networks). By 2020, the commercial potential of these markets is estimated at $3.25 billion[4].
A growing international presence, Kalray now counts over 65 employees spread out over its home base in Grenoble (France), and its North American antenna in Los Altos, CA (USA). Since its creation, Kalray has raised over $65 million in capital and public funding, with the notable participation of Bpifrance.
This new round of funding will allow Kalray to accelerate the commercial exploitation of its current solutions and to launch the development of the MPPA® Coolidge, its 3rd generation of microprocessors, which is set to be released in 2018. Based on a fabless model, Kalray exploits the industrial heft of its partners, in particular the global leader TSMC, to ensure the continued growth of its production. Kalray also plans to fortify its team, especially its engineering team in Grenoble, and to strengthen its commercial network internationally. Kalray plans to open more than 15 positions over the next couple of months, in France and abroad.
Eric Baissus, CEO of Kalray, stated: "The arrival of new technologies, like artificial intelligence and rapid memory storage, will revolutionize our lives, but also create a striking need for high-performance real-time processing over the next few years. Thanks to our microprocessors, Kalray is at the heart of this revolution, capable of offering extraordinary real-time processing abilities. This funding round will give us the means to accelerate our international development and it confirms that renowned companies in the domain consider our technology strategically important for the future of the industry."
"For the past ten years, Kalray has been developing processing technology with an unbeatable performance versus energy consumption ratio for the size of the component, an essential quality for many embedded technologies, and notably for electronics in avionics. Beyond new applications in aeronautics, like real time health monitoring or cyber security, there are many extraordinary opportunities for Kalray in the automotive domain, around autonomous driving and in the domain of data centers. It's the complementarity between these three domains that also convinced us as an investor," adds Eric Dalbiès, Strategy and M&A director of Safran and President of Safran Corporate Ventures.
Kalray exhibits this Thursday, June 22, 2017 at the International Paris Air Show at Bourget in the start-up area "Paris Air Lab" (Hall Concorde)
About Kalray
Kalray is a fabless semiconductor company and pioneer in developing a new generation of processors – manycore processors – that offer extreme computing, low power consumption and low latency. Its innovative MPPA® architecture is used today in cutting-edge critical embedded technologies, like autonomous vehicles, and for acceleration in data centers. For more information: www.kalrayinc.com
About Safran
Safran is an international high-technology group and tier-1 supplier of systems and equipment in the Aerospace and Defense markets. Operating worldwide, Safran has nearly 58,000 employees and generated sales of 15.8 billion euros in 2016. Safran is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange, and its share is part of the CAC 40 and Euro Stoxx 50 indices.
Kalray: Andrea Busch – +33 (0)6 50 27 47 52 – abusch@kalray.eu / Serena Boni – +33 (0)4 72 18 04 92 – kalray@actus.fr
Safran: Catherine Malek – +33 (0)1 40 60 80 28 – catherine.malek@safrangroup.com / Caroline Coudert – +33 (0)1 40 60 82 20 – caroline.coudert@safrangroup.com
[1] A first tranche of $15 million to be issued immediately and a second of $11 million scheduled for the end of 2017
[2] Through its subsidiary, Safran Ventures
[3] French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
[4] Sources: market analyses done by Kalray through data provided by Gartner and IDC
Kalray Inc.: www.kalrayinc.com


The development of primary and community care infrastructure as part of the strategy for improving overall health and well-being.
Primary and community care services are a key element in the delivery of health and social care in Northern Ireland. They provide approximately 85-90% of all health and social care treatments.
A service model, based on the co-location of Trust and GP led primary care services, was developed to support the direction of travel as set out in the "Transforming Your Care" (TYC) report of December 2011. This proposes a "shift-left" of the delivery of services from secondary care closer to people's homes and in the community where appropriate.
In 2011, the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety indicated that he wanted to see investment in the development of primary and community care infrastructure as part of the strategy for improving the overall health and well-being of the community and for improving the delivery of integrated primary, community and secondary care services. Two pathfinder schemes (Newry and Lisburn) were identified to test the Third Party Developer (3PD) approach.
The two pathfinder projects are at the preferred bidder stage with contract and award anticipated in the latter half of 2016. Construction will commence when other statutory approvals (e.g. planning) have been secured.
In addition to the two pathfinder projects, the first tranche of loans under the £2.5m GP Loan scheme (utilising Financial Transactions Capital) were made in 2015/16. The scheme was extended with seven letters of offer totalling £5.6m by December 2015. This repayable investment in GP practices complements a programme of investment in large primary and community care hubs.
SIB has provided legal and financial/commercial advice and support throughout the process to the Southern and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trusts as well as the Health and Social Care Board and Department of Health.


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Q: Prove $\vert\lambda_{1,2}\vert\leq 1$. I want to prove $$\vert\lambda_{1,2}\vert = \left\vert\dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\cos(kh)\pm \dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\sqrt{1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)}\right\vert\leq 1,$$ for $\mu,k,h>0.$ There are two cases. First case is $1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)\geq 0$ and second case is $1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)<0$. For first case, I prove like this. Please check my answer.
\begin{eqnarray}
\vert\lambda_{1,2}\vert &=& \left\vert\dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\cos(kh)\pm \dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\sqrt{1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)}\right\vert \newline
&\leq& \left\vert\dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\cos(kh)\right\vert+ \left\vert\dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\sqrt{1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)}\right\vert \text{(triangle inequality)} \newline
&=& \left\vert\dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\right\vert\left\vert\cos(kh)\right\vert+ \left\vert\dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\right\vert\left\vert\sqrt{1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)}\right\vert \text{(properties of abs value)} \newline
&=& \dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\left\vert\cos(kh)\right\vert+ \dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\left\vert\sqrt{1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)}\right\vert \text{(since $\mu>0$)} \newline
&\leq& \dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}+ \dfrac{1}{1+2\mu} \text{(since $\left\vert\cos(kh)\right\vert$ and $\left\vert\sqrt{1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)}\right\vert$ maximum in 1)} \newline
&=& \dfrac{2\mu + 1}{1+2\mu}\newline
&=& 1
\end{eqnarray}
So, I conclude that $\vert\lambda_{1,2}\vert\leq 1$. Is it right answer? If there are some mistake, please correct my answer.
Second case, $1-4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)<0$. I confused for second case, because if second case applied, then square root is complex number and I can't conclude $\vert\lambda_{1,2}\vert\leq 1$. Anyone can explain me how to prove $\vert\lambda_{1,2}\vert\leq 1$ in second case?

A: For a second case, we have:
$$|\lambda_{1,2}|= \left\vert\dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\cos(kh)\pm\left(\dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\sqrt{4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)-1}\right)i\right\vert= \sqrt{\left\vert\dfrac{2\mu}{1+2\mu}\cos(kh)\right\vert^2+ \left\vert\dfrac{1}{1+2\mu}\sqrt{4\mu^2 \sin^2(kh)-1}\right\vert^2}=\sqrt{\frac{4\mu^2\cos^2(kh)+4\mu^2\sin^2(kh)-1}{(1+2\mu)^2}}=\sqrt{\frac{2\mu-1}{2\mu+1}}$$
Which is less than 1 because $\mu\geq \frac{1}{2}$ (if $\mu < \frac{1}{2}$: $4\mu^2\sin^2(kh)<1$)


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Daily Current Affairs 10 January 2020
Daily Current Affairs 10 January 2020: Your guide for daily General Knowledge Preparation
This post contains important current affairs of 10 January 2020. It includes all Major National, International, Business and Sports related current affairs of 10 January 2020. A brief explanation of every current affair is provided to further enhance your general knowledge. Once you have gone through these current affairs we would recommend to you to try 10 January 2020 Current affairs test.
1. Book 'KarmayoddhaGranth'
Home Minister Amit Shah released a book 'KarmayoddhaGranth' on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It personifies qualities of a statesman, is a hard taskmaster and an ideal leader who leads by example.
2. Buxa Bird Festival
The 4th edition of 'Buxa Bird Festival' has started in Buxa National Park in West Bengal.
Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar || Chief minister: Mamata Banerjee
3. Maha-Navy Connect 2020
Indian Navy's first Maha-Navy Connect 2020 Tri-Dimensional Expedition started from Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The aim of the expedition is to promote the maritime heritage of India and spread awareness about Coastal Security amongst the coastal communities in Maharashtra.
The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy.
Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS): Admiral Karambir Singh
4. Himachal MyGov and CM App
Himachal Pradesh Government has introduced a portal 'Himachal MyGov' and become 11th state in India to have this facility.
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh: Jai Ram Thakur || Governor: Bandaru Dattatraya.
1. MoU between India and Sweden
Government of India has approved the agreement on cooperation in polar science between the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and the Ministry of Education and Research, Sweden.
Capital: Stockholm || Currency: Swedish krona
2. New President of Croatia
Former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic won the Croatia's presidential election defeating Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.
Capital: Zagreb || Currency: Croatian kuna
3. World Hindi Day
World Hindi Day is celebrated on January 10 every year, marking the anniversary of first World Hindi Conference which was held in 1975 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
National Hindi Diwas is celebrated every year on September 14. On that day in 1949, the constituent assembly adopted Hindi, written in Devanagari script, as the official language of the Union.
While the focus of the World Hindi Day is to promote the language at the global stage, the National Hindi Diwas, which is held across the country at a national level, marks adaptation of Hindi, written in Devanagari script as the official language.
4. Agreement between India and Mongolia
India and Mongolia have signed an agreement on cooperation in the exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful and civilian purposes.
Capital: Ulaanbaatar || Currency: Mongolian tögrög || President: Khaltmaagiin Battulga
1. IBM India MD
IBM announced the appointment of Sandip Patel as the new managing director for India and South Asia.
The International Business Machines Corporation is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York.
CEO: Ginni Rometty || Founder: Charles Ranlett Flint || Headquarters: Armonk, New York
2. Residential Builder Finance with Buyer Guarantee (RBBG) scheme
SBI has announced Residential Builder Finance with Buyer Guarantee (RBBG) scheme
It aims at giving a push to residential sales and improve homebuyers' confidence.
The State Bank of India is an Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services statutory body. It is a government corporation statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is ranked as 236th in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations of 2019.
Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar || Headquarters: Mumbai || Founded: 1 July 1955
3. Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference
Pune hosted the fifth edition of the Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5).
It is being organised in the country for the first time by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.
Drosophila is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit.
4. Henley Passport Index 2020
According to Henley Passport Index 2020, The Indian passport ranked 84th in the world's most powerful passport index 2020.
2. Singapore
3. Germany and South Korea
1. Weightlifter Sarbjeet Kaur
Weightlifter Sarbjeet Kaur has been banned for four years by the National Anti Doping Agency for a doping violation.
The National Anti-Doping Agency is the national organisation responsible for promoting, coordinating, and monitoring the doping control program in sports in all its forms in India.
Founded: 24 November 2005 || CEO: Navin Agarwal || Chairman: Minister of Sports || Purpose: Anti-doping in sports || Motto: Play fair || Headquarters: New Delhi
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