text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Feb 22, 2005
|Filing date
|Jun 20, 2001
|Priority date
|Jun 20, 2001
|Fee status
|Publication number
|Jeffrey A. Bedell, Benjamin Z. Li, Luis V. Orozco, Ramkumar Ramachandran, Michael J. Saylor, Stephen S. Trundle
|Original Assignee
|Microstrategy, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (29), Non-Patent Citations (33), Referenced by (50), Classifications (8), Legal Events (8)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The invention relates to the field of data processing and analytics and, more particularly, to a scalable and customizable business intelligence platform.
The ability to act quickly and decisively in today's increasingly competitive marketplace is critical to the success of any organization. The volume of data that is available to organizations is rapidly increasing and frequently overwhelming. The availability of large volumes of data presents various challenges. One challenge is to avoid inundating a user with unnecessary information. Another challenge is to ensure all relevant information is available in a timely manner.
One known approach to addressing these and other challenges is known as data warehousing. Data warehouses, relational databases, and data marts are becoming important elements of many information delivery systems because they provide a central location where a reconciled version of data extracted from a wide variety of operational systems may be stored. As used herein, a data warehouse should be understood to be an informational database that stores shareable data from one or more operational databases of record, such as one or more transaction-based database systems. A data warehouse typically allows a user to tap into an organization's vast store of operational data to track and respond to business trends that facilitate forecasting and planning efforts. A data mart may be considered to be a type of data warehouse that focuses on a particular business segment.
Decision support ("DSS"), business intelligence and reporting systems have been developed to efficiently retrieve selected information from data warehouses. One type of reporting system is known as an on-line analytical processing system ("OLAP"). In general, OLAP reporting systems analyze the data from a number of different perspectives and support complex analyses against large input data sets.
There are at least three different types of OLAP architectures: Relational On-Line Analytical Processing (ROLAP), Multidimensional On-Line Analytical Processing (MOLAP), and Hybrid Analytical Processing (HOLAP). ROLAP systems use a dynamic server connected to a relational database system. MOLAP systems utilize a proprietary multidimensional database (MDDB) to provide OLAP analyses. The main premise of this architecture is that data must be stored multidimensionally to be viewed multidimensionally. HOLAP systems are a hybrid of the other two.
ROLAP is a three-tier, client/server architecture comprising a presentation tier, an application logic tier, and a relational database tier. The relational database tier stores data and connects to the application logic tier. The application logic tier comprises a ROLAP engine that executes multidimensional reports from multiple end users. The ROLAP engine integrates with a variety of presentation layers, through which users perform OLAP analyses. The presentation layers enable users to provide requests to the ROLAP engine. The premise of ROLAP is that OLAP capabilities are best provided directly against a relational database (e.g., the data warehouse).
In a ROLAP system, data from transaction-processing systems is loaded into a defined data model in the data warehouse. Database routines are run to aggregate the data, if required by the data model. Indices are then created to optimize query access times. End users submit multidimensional analyses to the ROLAP engine, which then dynamically transforms the requests into standard query language (SQL) execution plans. The SQL is submitted to the relational database for processing, the relational query results are cross-tabulated, and a multidimensional result set is returned to the end user. ROLAP is a fully dynamic architecture capable of utilizing pre-calculated results when they are available, or dynamically generating results from atomic information when necessary.
The ROLAP architecture directly accesses data from data warehouses and, therefore, supports optimization techniques to meet batch window requirements and to provide fast response times. These optimization techniques typically include application level table partitioning, aggregate inferencing, denormalization support, and multiple fact table joins.
MOLAP is a two-tier, client/server architecture. In this architecture, the MDDB serves as both the database layer and the application logic layer. In the database layer, the MDDB system is responsible for all data storage, access, and retrieval processes. In the application logic layer, the MDDB is responsible for the execution of all OLAP requests. The presentation layer integrates with the application logic layer and provides an interface through which the end users view and request OLAP analyses. The client/server architecture allows multiple users to access the multidimensional database.
Information from a variety of transaction-processing systems is loaded into the MDDB system through a series of batch routines. Once this atomic data has been loaded into the MDDB, the general approach is to perform a series of batch calculations to aggregate along the orthogonal dimensions and fill the MDDB array structures. For example, revenue figures for all of the stores in a state would be added together to fill the state level cells in the database. After the array structure in the database has been filled, indices are created and hashing algorithms are used to improve query access times. Once this compilation process has been completed, the MDDB is ready for use. Users request OLAP reports through the presentation layer, and the application logic layer of the MDDB retrieves the stored data.
The MOLAP architecture is a compilation-intensive architecture. It principally reads the pre-compiled data, and has limited capabilities to dynamically create aggregations or to calculate business metrics that have not been pre-calculated and stored.
The hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) solution is a mix of MOLAP and relational architectures that support inquiries against summary and transaction data in an integrated fashion. The HOLAP approach enables a user to perform multidimensional analysis on data in the MDDB. However, if the user reaches the bottom of the multidimensional hierarchy and requires more detailed data, the HOLAP engine generates an SQL to retrieve the detailed data from a source relational database management system (RDBMS) and returns it to the end user. HOLAP implementations rely on simple SQL statements to pull large quantities of data into the mid-tier, multidimensional engine for processing. This constrains the range of inquiry and returns large, unrefined result sets that can overwhelm networks with limited bandwidth.
As described above, each of these types of OLAP systems are typically client-server systems. The OLAP engine resides on the server-side and a module is typically provided at a client-side to enable users to input queries and report requests to the OLAP engine. In some systems, such queries and report requests are directed to a single designated server upon which the OLAP engine resides. Thus, if this single designated server fails, all previously input queries and report requests are typically lost and each user typically has to input new queries and report requests to another single designated server upon which another OLAP engine resides. This can obviously be time consuming and costly.
In other systems, such queries and report requests may be directed to one of sever al servers, each of which contains an OLAP engine. Typically, a user is assigned to one of these servers based upon a simple sequential scheme (e.g., a round-robin scheme). However, as with the single designated server described above, if any one of these several servers fails, all previously input queries and report requests are typically lost and each user typically has to input new queries and report requests to another one of several servers. Even if none of these several servers fails, there still may be loading problems associated with the servers. That is, some queries and report requests may be significantly more intensive and time consuming than others, and these more intensive and time consuming queries and report requests may be assigned to the same server. Thus, some servers may be overloaded, while other servers may be underloaded. This can obviously be very inefficient.
Another drawback of existing reporting systems is that they tend to be designed for one specific operating system or platform and one specific client interface. Many reporting systems are also based upon proprietary formats. For example, an existing reporting system may be designed for the Microsoft Windows operating system environment and cannot be used for web-based reporting applications and vice versa. Today, however, where many organizations are large enterprises of different businesses and include many different types of computers, databases and reporting requirements, reporting systems based on closed, proprietary standards lack the flexibility needed for such robust business environments.
Another drawback of existing systems is that many are designed for use with only a single type of database format. However, there are many commonly-used database formats such as Microsoft Access, SQL, DB2 and many others. A flexible platform based on open standards is needed to support analytical and reporting applications across multiple types of database formats.
These and other drawbacks exist with respect to current reporting systems.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a reporting system having a component based architecture wherein such components are invoked on an as-needed basis in order to avoid overloading servers.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a reporting system which serves business intelligence and reporting applications from any operating system environment.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a reporting system that facilitates interaction with all standard database formats.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, this invention, in one aspect, includes a reporting system comprising a a report initiating module that generates a request for a report (e.g., a user engine, calling application or other report request system, including systems connected over various networks to the intelligence server); one or more data storage devices for holding the data used for generating the report; an intelligence server, in communication with the user engine, for receiving the generated request from the user engine, and for routing the request for processing, the intelligence server including an object server for controlling and managing all application objects independent of an interface or a user; an administrative facility for managing activity of the intelligence server; a query engine for mediating the generated request received from the user engine to format and process the request, submitting the request against the data stored in the one or more data storage devices, extracting the data from the data storage devices and returning one or more result sets from the submitted request; and an analytical engine for receiving the result sets, performing further processing of the result sets by running a plurality of statistical analyses of the data included in the result sets to generate a report for presentation to a user.
In another aspect, the invention includes a method for generating a report comprising the steps of receiving a request for a report from a user; transmitting the received request to a query engine; identifying one or more data storage devices to receive the request; transmitting the request to the identified one or more data storage devices; extracting data from the one or more data storage devices responsive to the transmitted request to form one or more result sets; transmitting the one or more result sets to an analytical engine; and generating a report from the one or more result sets.
In yet another aspect, the invention includes an intelligence server for a reporting system, wherein the reporting system includes a report initiating module that generates a request for a report, the intelligence server comprising a server layer for receiving the generated request and for coordinating a flow and a processing order of the received request in accordance with a predetermined prioritization scheme; an application logic layer including a plurality of business intelligence rules used for generating the report; an interface layer between the server layer and the application logic layer; an analytical layer, in communication with the user engine and the server layer, for receiving the request to be processed from the server layer, transmitting the processed request to one or more data storage devices, and for extracting data from the one or more data storage devices responsive to the transmitted request; and an interface layer between the server layer and the analytical layer; wherein the extracted data is processed by the application logic layer to generate the report and the processing is independent of a user interface.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to corresponding elements.
In general, through using the reporting system 100 of the invention, analysts, managers and other users may query or interrogate a plurality of databases or database arrays to extract demographic, sales, and/or financial data and information and other patterns from records stored in such databases or database arrays to identify strategic trends. Those strategic trends may not be discernable without processing the queries and treating the results of the data extraction according to the techniques performed by the systems and methods of the invention. This is in part because the size and complexity of some data portfolios stored in such databases or database arrays may mask those trends.
In addition, the reporting system 100 may enable the creation of reports or the provision of services that are processed according to a predetermined schedule. The user may then subscribe to the services, provide personalization criteria and have the reports automatically delivered to the user, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,766 to Yost et al. (the "'766 patent"), which is commonly assigned and hereby incorporated by reference.
As illustrated in
The analytical engine 104 may communicate with a query engine 106, which in turn interfaces to one or more data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n (where n is an arbitrary number). The data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may include or interface to a relational database or another structured database stored on a hard disk, an optical disk, a solid state device or another similar storage media. When implemented as databases, the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may include or interface to, for example, an Oracle™ relational database such as sold commercially by Oracle Corporation, an Informix™ database, a Database 2 (DB2) database, a Sybase™ database, or another data storage device or query format, platform or resource such as an OLAP format, a Standard Query Language (SQL) format, a storage area network (SAN), or a Microsoft Access™ database. It should be understood that while data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n are illustrated as a plurality of data storage devices, in some embodiments the data storage devices may be contained within a single database or another single resource.
Any of the user engine 102, the analytical engine 104 and the query engine 106 or other resources of the reporting system 100 may include or interface to or be supported by computing resources, such as one or more associated servers. When a server is employed for support, the server may include, for instance, a workstation running a Microsoft Windows™ NT™ operating system a Windows™ 2000 operating system, a Unix operating system, a Linux operating system, a Xenix operating system, an IBM AIX™ operating system, a Hewlett-Packard UX™ operating system, a Novell Netware™ operating system, a Sun Microsystems Solaris™ operating system, an OS/2™ operating system, a BeOS™ operating system, a MacIntosh operating system, an Apache platform, an OpenStep™ operating system, or another similar operating system or platform. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the analytical engine 104 and the query engine 106 may comprise elements of an intelligence server 103.
The data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may be supported by a server or another resource and may, in some embodiments, include redundancy, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), for data protection. The storage capacity of any one or more of the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may be of various sizes, from relatively small data sets to very large database (VLDB)-scale data sets, such as warehouses holding terabytes of data or more. The fields and types of data stored within the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may also be diverse, and may include, for instance, financial, personal, news, marketing, technical, addressing, governmental, military, medical or other categories of data or information.
The query engine 106 may mediate one or more queries or information requests from those received from the user at the user engine 102 to parse, filter, format and otherwise process such queries to be submitted against the data contained in the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n. Thus, a user at the user engine 102 may submit a query requesting information in SQL format, or have the query translated to SQL format. The submitted query is then transmitted via the analytical engine 104 to the query engine 106. The query engine 106 may determine, for instance, whether the transmitted query may be processed by one or more resources of the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n in its original format. If so, the query engine 106 may directly transmit the query to one or more of the resources of the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b. . . 108 n for processing.
If the transmitted query cannot be processed in its original format, the query engine 106 may perform a translation of the query from an original syntax to a syntax compatible with one or more of the data storage devices 10 a, 108 b . . . 108 n by invoking a syntax module 118 to conform the syntax of the query to standard SQL, DB2, Informix™, Sybase™ formats or to other data structures, syntax or logic. The query engine 106 may likewise parse the transmitted query to determine whether it includes any invalid formatting or to trap other errors included in the transmitted query, such as a request for sales data for a future year or other similar types of errors. Upon detecting an invalid or an unsupported query, the query engine 106 may pass an error message back to the user engine 102 to await further user input.
When a valid query such as a search request is received and conformed to a proper format, the query engine 106 may pass the query to one or more of the data storage devices 108 a, 108 n . . . 108 n for processing. In some embodiments, the query may be processed for one or more hits against one or more databases in the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n. For example, a manager of a restaurant chain, a retail vendor or another similar user may submit a query to view gross sales made by the restaurant chain or retail vendor in the State of New York for the year 1999. The data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may be searched for one or more fields corresponding to the query to generate a set of results 114.
Although illustrated in connection with each data storage device 108 in
When any such refinements or other operations are concluded, the results 114 may be transmitted to the analytical engine 104 via the query engine 106. The analytical engine 104 may then perform statistical, logical or other operations on the results 114 for presentation to the user. For instance, the user may submit a query asking which of its retail stores in the State of New York reached $1M in sales at the earliest time in the year 1999. Or, the user may submit a query asking for an average, a mean and a standard deviation of an account balance on a portfolio of credit or other accounts.
The analytical engine 104 may process such queries to generate a quantitative report 110, which may include a table or other output indicating the results 114 extracted from the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n. The report 110 may be presented to the user via the user engine 102, and, in some embodiments, may be temporarily or permanently stored on the user engine 102, a client machine or elsewhere, or printed or otherwise output. In some embodiments of the reporting system 100 of the invention, the report 110 or other output may be transmitted to a transmission facility 112, for transmission to a set of personnel via an email, an instant message, a text-to-voice message, a video or via another channel or medium. The transmission facility 112 may include or interface to, for example, a personalized broadcast platform or service such as the Narrowcaster™ platform or Telecaster™ service sold by MicroStrategy Incorporated or another similar communications channel or medium. Similarly, in some embodiments of the invention, more than one user engine 102 or other client resource may permit multiple users to view the report 110, such as, for instance, via a corporate intranet or over the Internet using a Web browser. Various authorization and access protocols may be employed for security purposes to vary the access permitted users to such report 110 in such embodiments.
Additionally, as described in the '766 patent, an administrative level user may create a report as part of a service. Subscribers/users of the service may then receive access to reports through various types of data delivery devices including telephones, pagers, computers, PDAs, WAP protocol devices, email, facsimile, and many others. In addition, a subscriber/user may specify trigger conditions so that the subscriber/user receives a report only when a trigger condition has been satisfied, as described in detail in the '766 patent. The reporting system 100 of
The steps performed in a method 200 for processing data according to the invention are illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 2. In step 202, the method 200 begins. In step 204, the user may supply input, such as a query or a request for information, via the user engine 102. In step 206, the user input query may be preliminarily processed, for instance, to determine whether it includes valid fields and for other formatting and error-flagging issues. In step 208, any error conditions may be trapped and an error message presented to the user, for correction of the error conditions. In step 210, if a query is in a valid format, the query may then be transmitted to the analytical engine 104.
In step 212, the analytical engine 104 may resolve the query request directly or determine that the query requires further processing by the query engine 106. In step 214, the query engine 106 may further filter, format and otherwise process the input query to ensure that the query is in a syntax compatible with the syntax of the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n. In step 216, one or more appropriate databases or other resources within the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b. . . 108 n may be identified to be accessed for the given query.
In step 218, the query may be transmitted to the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n and the query may be processed for hits or other results 114 against the content of the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n. In step 220, the results 114 of the query may be refined, and intermediate or other corresponding results 114 may be stored in the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n. In step 222, the final results 114 of the processing of the query against the data storage devices 108 a, 108 b . . . 108 n may be transmitted to the analytical engine 104 via the query engine 106. In step 224, a plurality of analytical measures, filters, thresholds, statistical or other treatments may be run on the results 114. In step 226, a report 110 may be generated. The report 110, or other output of the analytic or other processing steps, may be presented to the user via the user engine 102. In step 228, the method 200 ends.
In a particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in
The intelligence server 300 has a component-based architecture referred to as "intelligent portal architecture" wherein the functions of the reporting system 100 are all component-level services which can be invoked on an as-needed basis based upon usage requirements to ensure efficient operation of the reporting system 100. The processing logic of the intelligence server 300 provides for the handling of requests by queueing and prioritization and is driven by a logistic module that directs workflow to proper processing components as invoked. For example, the intelligence server 300 may use a dependency map that defines an input and an output of each processing step to generate a road map for each request. Based on the generated roadmap, the intelligence server 300 routes the request to a specific component or components in a proper order until the request is processed. Requests that are received by the intelligence server 300 are handled by a dispatcher component within the intelligence pipeline 310. The dispatcher component forwards each request to a server appropriate to the request. The intelligence server 300 may also include a component to enforce system security (not shown).
Additionally, because of the plug-in nature of the components, the intelligence server 300 can be customized to suit a particular business enterprise's needs. For example, for computationally intensive applications, the intelligence server 300 may increase the resources dedicated to the analytical engine 104. Or, alternatively, the intelligence server 300 can include multiple analytical engines 104 having discrete resources allocated to each analytical engine 104. In this manner, a scalable business intelligence and reporting system 100 can be achieved thereby realizing the ability to respond to requests of many diverse users across an organization's enterprise or in different organizations.
The intelligence server 300 also acts to coordinate and synchronize the flow of requests within the various components resident in the intelligence server 300 by use of queueing, prioritization and governing mechanisms. The dispatcher component looks for an underutilized server that can efficiently process the request. When load on the intelligence server 300 exceeds a predetermined threshold load, more intelligence servers 300 can be added to the reporting system 100. If a server experiences a failure, a request can be re-routed to another server. Thus, loads are balanced across components preventing the reporting system 100 from becoming overloaded and failing.
Intelligent portal architecture also differs from traditional client-server architecture because it is based upon open web-based standards such as Java, HTML and XML rather than proprietary formats. Thus, processing of requests by the intelligence server 300 can be conducted independent of the type of user interface employed at a user engine 102. Open web-based standards also help to provide a secure, high performance, low cost reporting system 100 capable of rapid deployment of quality business reports which may be easily distributed to users, such as via a web site or via email and also enable reports to be more easily customized to a user's needs.
The intelligence server 300 also provides centralized database access and management for its components. To boost performance, the intelligence server 300 may further utilize database connection pooling, monitoring and governing to control the overall processing load to each server and better utilize database servers.
The intelligence server 300 is designed to communicate with users of all types, with user interfaces of all types, with Web servers, and with other application servers (such as SAP, People Soft and others) to take/send user requests and to exchange data in a variety of formats. For example, with the emergence of XML, the intelligence server 300 may provide a more open communication protocol by talking in this new open standard language, i.e., a user can send a request to the intelligence server 300 in an XML string, and the intelligence server 300 will send back its result in XML as well.
As shown in
An analytical layer comprising the analytical engine 104 and the query engine 106, for example, provides all services for decision support. As described above, the analytical engine 104 processes result sets 114 to generate a quantitative report 110 which may be presented to a user at the user engine 102 or transmitted to the transmission facility 112 for transmission to users. The query engine 106 communicates with one or more data storage devices 108 so as to obtain requested data, as also described above.
The intelligence server 300 further includes an application logic layer which includes all of the objects necessary for supporting a business intelligence application including, for example, reports and projects. In other words, all of the application logic and business intelligence rules needed for the reporting system 100 reside in a single centralized location, i.e., in the intelligence server 300. Additionally, a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) serves as an interface between the server layer and the application logic layer to coordinate user requests, administrative requests, design requests and application requests.
The intelligence server 300 may further include a statistical data module 322 that monitors and captures data relating to the usage patterns of the intelligence server 300 in a relational database in order to detect loads and balance loads among the various components or make other adjustments as necessary to ensure efficient operation of the reporting system 100. Additionally, the intelligence server 300 may include an administrative module (not shown) that fulfills administrative requests for information about current usage activity on the intelligence server 300 and executes administrative commands to change operating settings and governors. A command manager tool (not shown) may also be utilized to facilitate the performance of certain administrator tasks. These command manager capabilities allow additions, deletions, or updates to enterprise-level data associated with large numbers of users and user groups. The command manager tool may include a command manager graphical user interface (GUI), a command manager executor (a tools asynchronous processing function set), and capabilities available through a command line. The command line may be a console whereby a user may input text commands directly to a server. Such text commands provide the ability to perform various administrative tasks easily and effectively. For example, administrative tasks that are repetitive, such as creating a user on the reporting system 100, or, alternatively, tasks that are performed in bulk may be performed more easily through utilization of the command line than through utilization of conventional techniques. In order to utilize this feature, a text script may be created and stored in a text file. The text file may be changed utilizing copying and pasting techniques within that text file, for example. This text file may then be saved and utilized in bulk operations. Thereafter, the entire text file may be submitted to a command line processor all at once. As a result, certain tasks may be easily performed in bulk. It should be appreciated that a typical user of the reporting system 100 will commonly interface with the reporting system 100 in a manner which is very interactive. In contrast, an administrative user who is supporting the reporting system 100 often desires to conduct tasks in bulk and as quickly as possible. Thus, an administrative user may create a substantial number of users, change a substantial number of users' passwords, or adjust a wide variety of administrative settings by utilizing this tool, for example.
This intelligent portal architecture minimizes the client/server communication by keeping an object server, report server, and administrative server at the client (user) side to cache all prior user-requested objects. In this architecture, most calls to a cached object will be handled within the user engine 102 to achieve the best performance. For example, during the editing of an object, e.g., a filter, all operation on the filter is handled on the client (user engine 102) side. When the editing is completed, the entire definition of the filter will be transported to the intelligence server side 300 of the reporting system 100.
Another advantage of the plug-in component nature of the intelligence server 300 is that any part of the server functions may be moved outside the intelligence server 300 into a secondary server. For example, if running a report requires too much of the reporting system 100 resources, the SQL engine 302, the query engine 106, and/or the analytical engine 104 may be moved outside of the intelligence server 300 into a secondary server which has a main responsibility to run a report. The architecture may also be configured to have one main intelligence server 300 and multiple secondary servers. As another alternative, the reporting system 100 may also be configured so that there are a plurality of user engines 102, a plurality of intelligence servers 300 and a plurality of data storage devices 108. In such a system, each of the plurality of intelligence servers 300 may include an analytical engine 104 and a query engine 106, in addition to the other component modules.
In addition to the various components of the intelligence server 300 illustrated in
It should be noted that the functions associated with the intelligence server system may be implemented in hardware or software. For example, specific electronic components may be employed in a user engine 102 and an intelligence server 300 for implementing the functions associated with the intelligence server system. Alternatively, one or more processors operating in accordance with stored instructions may implement the functions associated with the intelligence server system 300. If such is the case, it is within the scope of the present invention that such instructions may be transmitted to the user engine 102 and the intelligence server 300 via one or more signals.
The intelligent portal architecture of the intelligence server 300, utilizing plug-in components which may be invoked on an as-needed basis enable the implementation of a robust reporting system 100 which may be easily integrated into web-based user applications and facilitates customization of reports. Moreover, the resulting system 100 is scalable to millions of potential users and terabytes of data.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the apparatuses and methods of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
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|Craig W. Thompson, John Kolts, and Kenneth W. Ross, A Toolkit for Building "Menu-Based Natural Language" Interfaces, Texas Instruments Incorporated, P. O. Box 226015, MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75265, 1985.
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|Harry R. Tennant, Member, IEEE, Roger R. Bate, Member, IEEE, Stephen M. Corey, Lawrence Davis, Paul Kline, LaMott G. Oren, Malipatola Rajinikanth, Richard Saenz, Daniel Stenger, Member, IEEE, and Craig W. Thompson, Software Innovations for the Texas Instruments Explorer Computer, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 73, No. 12, Dec. 1985.
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|Microstrategy Announces Enhanced Versions of DSS Web and DSS Server, New 5.5 Versions offer Advanced Reporting Functionality on Top of the Industry's Most Powerful Analytical Engine for Enterprise-Wide DSS Solutions.
|MicroStrategy Introduces DSS Server 5.0, Dynamic Data Marts Enable Creation of Application Subsets, Reduce Warehouse Development Time, and Facilitate Integration with Third Party Tools.
|MicroStratetgy Enhances DSS Server to Support E-Business Initiatives with Improved Performance, Reliability, and Scalability, 5.6 Release Increases Throughput, Streamlines Processing and Offers Support for Microsoft Cluster Server.
|Quick Start MicroStrategy Agent Version 6.0.
|Robert C. Stern, Bruce M. Anderson and Craig W. Thompson, A Menu-Based Natural Language Interface To A Large Database, Texas Instruments Incorporated, P. O. Box 660246, MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75266, NAECON: National Aerospace & Electronics Conference, Dayton, Ohio, May 20-24, 1985.
|User Guide MicroStrategy Administrator Version 6.0.
|User Guide MicroStrategy Agent Version 6.0.
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|U.S. Classification
|706/45, 707/999.01
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Sep 5, 2001
Owner name: MICROSTRATEGY, INCORPORATED, VIRGINIA
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|Jan 23, 2002
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Owner name: MICROSTRATEGY INCORPORATED, VIRGINIA
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text: Catherine NashThank you, and welcome, everyone. I'm Catherine Nash, IR Director here at BT. On the call today, we have Ian Livingston, Chief Executive; and Tony Chanmugam, Group Finance Director. Tony will start with an overview of the financials for the third quarter and then Ian will go through the lines of business. We'll then hand over to you for questions. In the room with us today, we also have the chief executives from all our lines of business. Before we start, I'd just like to draw your attention to the usual disclaimer on forward-looking statements. Please see this slide that accompanies today's call and our latest annual report on Form 20-F for examples of the factors that can cause actual results to differ from any forward-looking statements we may make. Both the slide and the annual report can be found on our website. And I'll now hand over to Tony. Anthony Everard Ashiantha Chanmugam Thanks, Catherine. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our results call. I'll start by running through the financial results for the third quarter. We've had a reasonable quarter in a challenging economic environment, with results broadly in line with or slightly ahead of expectations. Revenue in the quarter was down 5%. This includes the impact of transit revenue, which fell GBP 109 million in the quarter. For the year-to-date, transit revenue was GBP 345 million lower. In terms of our more relevant measure, underlying revenue, excluding transit, was down 3%. As anticipated, this was a weaker performance than in the second quarter, mainly due to around GBP 60 million of contract milestones in Global Services, which were achieved in Q2 rather than this quarter. It also reflects tougher comparatives from some of our lines of business as I mentioned last quarter. For the year-to-date, underlying revenue excluding transit was down 1.8%, which is consistent with our outlook for the full year. We delivered another quarter of growth in EBITDA, which was up 3%, reflecting our cost transformation programs. I'll say more on these shortly.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Billie & Bailey – Touch Me
Released: September 24, 2013
Baily and Billie are two sexy gals who love a good time – especially with each other – and are always open to new experiences… especially when it comes to pleasure. Every part of their bodies feel good when touched but they both know where it feels the best… and spend a lot of time there. Billie takes the lead this time around and gives Baily a really good time, her fingers and tongue titalating and penetrating Baily's tight, sweet pussy. Pretty soon, it's Baily giving pleasure to Billie and by the sound of it, she really enjoys it. Needless to say, these two make a great pair and enjoy each others company a lot. Come on in and see for yourself!


text:
Letters from Nowhere 2 (2011, Awem Studio, Eng)
Первая игра Letters from Nowhere (2010, Awem Studio, RePack, Eng) - Здесь
After collecting all the letters with the help of the dead postman spirit, Audrey believes that they will lead her to the missing husband. But the last letter sends her to a sleepy town on a new mysterious adventure. In Letters from Nowhere 2 she discovers that Patrick is a descendant of a cursed family and is doomed to death. Scour hidden object scenes to look for pieces of the secret diary pages, scattered all over the town. Confront the evil and save Patrick. Prevent grisly murders till it's too late…
Letters from Nowhere 2 will challenge you to search over 30 cryptic locations for important artifacts. From the sinister mansion to the fun student bar, from the cold dungeon to the bloody sacrifice room. That town hides many secrets. Captivating story, unexpected twists of events, enigmatic letters, tons of Hidden Objects – solve the mystery in this amazing sequel to Letters from Nowhere.
* Thrilling atmosphere
* 32 hand drawn locations to sleuth
* 11 engaging episodes
* 4 original bonuses
* 37 unique trophies
* Adventure and Unlimited game modes
* Discover the background of the story in Letters from Nowhere
System Requirements:
OS: Windows 2000/XP/VISTA
CPU: 600MHz or faster Processor
Жанр: Hidden Object, Я ищу
Язык: Английский (знания минимальные)
Полная версия (поставь и играй)


text:
|Message view
|« Date » · « Thread »
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|[jira] Created: (DIREVE-19) Fix encoder/decoder to take advantage of Snickers advances
|Fri, 30 Jul 2004 02:20:40 GMT
Message: A new issue has been created in JIRA. --------------------------------------------------------------------- View the issue: http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DIREVE-19 Here is an overview of the issue: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Key: DIREVE-19 Summary: Fix encoder/decoder to take advantage of Snickers advances Type: Improvement Status: Open Priority: Major Project: Directory Eve Components: Frontend Assignee: Alex Karasulu Reporter: Alex Karasulu Created: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 7:19 PM Updated: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 7:19 PM Description: The current encoder/decoder implementations collect all data for a PDU until the entire PDU is made available for a decode and the same flipped issues exists for the encoder. We no longer need to do this and can decode while recieving data. The same holds for encoding while eminating data. We need to reevaluate this and the entire message framework to determine the proper interfaces to take advantage of these new asynchronous features in Snickers while supporting synchronous codec operations. --------------------------------------------------------------------- JIRA INFORMATION: This message is automatically generated by JIRA. If you think it was sent incorrectly contact one of the administrators: http://issues.apache.org/jira/secure/Administrators.jspa If you want more information on JIRA, or have a bug to report see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
|View raw message


text:
According to WalletHub:
Best metropolitan areas for women-owned businesses:
1. Nashville, Tennessee
2. Chattanooga, Tennessee
3. Columbus, Ohio
4. Memphis, Tennessee
5. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
6. Rochester, New York
7. Kansas City, Missouri
8. Spokane, Washington
9. Greensboro, North Carolina
10. Honolulu, Hawaii
Worst metropolitan areas for women-owned businesses
1. Portland, Oregon
2. San Diego, California
3. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton, Pennsylvania
4. Provo, Utah
5. North Port, Florida
6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7. Columbia, South Carolina
8. Greenville, South Carolina
9. Oxnard, California
10. San Jose, California
Patty Leighton has always felt welcomed into the downtown Wilkes-Barre business climate.
The owner of Bee Hive Gift Shop worked with Wilkes University's Small Business Development Center to start her business and encountered no issues due to her gender.
"People have welcomed me to the downtown," said Leighton, who has operated the gift shop in the Midtown Village of downtown Wilkes-Barre for seven years.
According to a survey conducted by Wallet Hub, a personal finance website based in Washington, D.C., Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Hazleton region is one the worst metro area for women-owned businesses.
The survey's claim has been debunked by entrepreneurial resources at Innovation Center and Wilkes University's Alan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise, both on Public Square; Small Business Development Centers at Wilkes University and The University of Scranton, the Greater Hazleton Innovation Center and resources at the Chamber of Commerce in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton.
The study released Monday measured 100 metropolitan areas nationwide in three categories of Overall New-Business Friendliness, Female Entrepreneurship and Business Climate For Women, the news release stated.
"I don't know why they (WalletHub) would say we are not successful," Leighton wondered.
Leighton's comments were echoed by two other area female business owners.
"I don't think I'm at any disadvantage," said Michelle Levine, who has owned FASTSIGNS in Wilkes-Barre for 11 years. "Women like to do business with women and men like to do business with women."
Dawn Davison-Monk, owner of Twin City Builders, forged a career in a male-dominated field over 20 years ago.
She said she has not had any issues when working with clients or sub-contractors. But acquiring the general contractor's license was difficult, she said.
"It was not enough to pass the test; I had to get a 100," she said.
According to WalletHub, each group was assigned the following numeric scoring system:
• Overall New-Business Friendliness, worth up to 30 points;
•.Female Entrepreneurship, a total of 50 points distributed in the areas of existing women-owned businesses, the growth of women-owned businesses, the number of employees, average revenue, income growth, industry variety and the location of Small Business Administration's Women's Business Centers; and
• Business Climate for Women, a possible 20 points available, measured by studying working moms and gender inequality.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton/Hazleton region received a total of 39.34 points in all three categories, the reported stated.
"That is just prehistoric," John Maday, president of the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association, said of the survey
Maday noted many of the thriving downtown businesses are women-owned. Bee Hive Gift Shop, Shambala, Thai Thai and Let's Eat are all owned by women, he said.
In the past, women and minority groups had to overcome challenges to achieve business ownership, said Dr. Rodney S. Ridley Sr., executive director of the Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre.
Local support for entrepreneurs was "fragmented in the past," he said.
Wilkes University's Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce's Innovation Center are working to remedy the problem by creating "an entrepreneurial ecosystem," Ridley said.
"We (Wilkes University and the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce) are trying to make resources easier to access for all entrepreneurs," Ridley said. "Most entrepreneurs have a particular mindset, which is not gender specific."
Bob Durkin, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Scranton Chamber, agreed, adding the Chamber offers various programs providing support and information to women-owned business, including the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce's Women's Network and the annual Women Leadership Conference at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Local business women are smart, driven and growing, Durkin said.
Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.


text:
"The sea turns
and shakes its manacles of salt at the sharp rocks
on which too many waves have died."
~James Arbor
Category Archives: 1_Uncategorized
All Set Up
Tiny Businessmen
Palm Sunday
While waiting during an emergency stop for toothpaste, Esme regaled us with the story of the invisible baby sitting in the empty shop carriage nearby. The invisible family had a nice little shopping trip and would eventually pop back in the car and take off.
The three of us in the car were a bit disappointed that they didn't return the carriage. 🙂


text:
If an item you ordered from TextbookRush does not meet your expectations due to an error on our part, simply fill out a return request and then return it by mail within 30 days of ordering it for a full refund of item cost.
Learn more about our returns policy
Description: Since the end of World War II, the balance between freedom of expression and the desire to deter racist speech has gradually tipped toward the latter throughout much of the Western world.The Freedom to Be Racist?focuses on the tension between combating racism and protecting freedom of speech in the US, France, Britain, and Germany from 1945 to the present, and offers ways forward for the future. In the recent histories of each of these countries, Erik Bleich identifies a general trend toward curbing racism that has restricted freedom in Western democracies. Yet, the way this trend plays out in all these nations is not necessarily uniform, and the implications of this on the way nations handle racism is immense. Using the comparative differences between the level of tolerance for racist expression and the extent to which racist practice is restricted in each of these four countries, he analyzes how the discrepancies lead to questions about the 'best' way to approach this thorny issue. Ultimately, Bleich's study leads him to take a prescriptive stance. While he favors restricting speech freedoms in certain countries because of their unique historical legacies, he recommends it only to safeguard public goods such as civil order and national cohesion rather than protect against private evils such as personal offense or psychological harm. In any event, he concludes, arriving at the most appropriate individual solutions will require an increase in civic engagement across all countries. With its vivid detail and integrative, transnational approach,The Freedom to Be Racist?provides a unique look at a puzzling dilemma that Western societies have only begun to think about resolving.
Limited time offer:
Get the first one free! (?)
All the information you need in one place! Each Study Brief is a summary of one specific subject; facts, figures, and explanations to help you learn faster.
List price: $28.95Copyright year: 2011Publisher: Oxford University Press, IncorporatedPublication date: 9/5/2011Binding: PaperbackPages: 224Size: 6.00" wide x 9.00" long x 0.75" tall Weight: 0.968Language: English
*A minimum purchase of $35 is required. Shipping is provided via FedEx SmartPost®
and FedEx Express Saver®. Average delivery time is 1 – 5 business days, but
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Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. FedEx service marks used by permission."Marketplace"
orders are not eligible for free or discounted shipping.
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text: A partition is a contiguous space of storage on a physical or logical disk that functions as if it were a physically separate disk. Partitions are visible to the system firmware and the installed operating systems. Access to a partition is controlled by the system firmware before the system boots the operating system, and then by the operating system after it is started.


text:
Steps Announce Tour
October 10, 2011 by staff
Steps Announce Tour, The band will be back on the road in 2012. After a hiatus of 10 years, selling several million, BRIT winning pop band Steps are back.
Claire, 'H', Faye, Lisa and Lee have assembled for a TV documentary series about life SKY explosives, a new album and now a great return to live circuit with the set of 'The Ultimate Tour' April 2012.
The album and tour held its largest, surpassing chart hits.
The Ultimate Collection and the Tour marks the return of one of the most beloved British bands. From his first hit, '5, 6, 7, 8, 'continued the steps to have an incredible 14 consecutive Top 5 hits.
His first album, "First Step" was certified five times platinum, cementing its position as the biggest pop sensations of the UK.
His next album, "STEPTACULAR ', with greatest hits" Love has a hold of my heart "and" After the Love Has Gone', the album helped to go four times platinum. In total, through four albums, sold 15 million steps discs.
When fans buy the album steps 'The Ultimate Collection' through Ticketmaster will be given exclusive access to presale tickets.
By purchasing the album fans will be able to buy their tickets four days before they are made available to the general public.
Simply visit Ticketmaster.co.uk from October 10 to order the disk and have access to tickets before anyone else, from ticketmaster.co.uk/promo/5nw86z.
You can see the steps are the following days:
April 2012
April 2 Belfast Odyssey Arena
April 3, 02 Arena, Dublin
April 4 Liverpool Echo Arena
Glasgow SECC April 6
April 7 AECC Aberdeen Press and Journal Arena
April 8 Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle
April Evening News Arena in Manchester tenth
April 11 Capital FM Arena Nottingham
April 12 Birmingham LG Arena
April 13 Cardiff Arena Motorpoint
April 15 Sheffield Arena Motorpoint
April 16 Bournemouth BIC
Brighton Centre April 17
April 19 London O2 Arena
Tickets go on sale at 9 am Friday, October 14 at 9 livenation.co.uk.
To meet & greet & livenationexperience.co.uk VIP packages visit.
The latest collection is now available on Sony Music.
Please feel free to send if you have any questions regarding this post , you can contact on
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are that of the authors and not necessarily that of U.S.S.POST.


text:
It sags from the rafters, in the museum of the byre,
like he'd just shrugged it off, in the October of his life.
Spiders have spun, big hairnets of webs
on the collar and shoulders of his once best coat,
now spark-holed and cold, like snow-holes in thaw.
And inside his pockets, grass seed and nails.
Whispers of pipe smoke, return him to me
with his eye to the sky, his soul to the soil.
'My Father's Coat' was published in Popshot's first issue, themed 'The Wonder of the Ordinary', which has now sold out. To ensure that you never miss a future issue of the print magazine, subscribe from just £10 a year.


text:
Guitar / Bass Amplifier Info & Education
How to Choose the Right Guitar Tuner
No matter how good you are at your instrument, your playing will still sound bad if you're out of tune. It goes without saying that investing in a quality guitar tuner is essential to sounding your best.
First and foremost, it is recommended that you use a chromatic tuner over one that is designed specifically for guitar and bass. A chromatic tuner lets you tune to any pitch and is useful in adjusting intonation or setting your guitar for alternate tunings. While a guitar or bass tuner can still work fine, especially for beginners, a chromatic type is much more versatile.
When purchasing a tuner, it is important to find one that fits your needs. For practicing at home or the occasional jam with friends, a classic handheld chromatic tuner will suffice. Alternatively, many manufacturers make small versions that clip on to your instrument's headstock and help tune by detecting string vibrations. However, clip on tuners may sometimes get confused by the sound from other instruments in the room, making them less reliable in certain situations. Most chromatic tuners allow you to plug directly into a quarter inch input, letting you tune based on your instrument signal.
If you have a smartphone, you have access to many tuning apps. These use your phone's microphone to pick up the sound from your instrument and let you tune that way. However, this is not recommended for live use, as there are many things that can go wrong with your precious smartphone on a crowded stage!
If you live to play live, a tuner pedal is the way to go. These handy devices are built very robustly to withstand heavy onstage and touring use and have much bigger displays, allowing for easy visibility all over dark stages. Checking your tuning between songs is very quick and easy - all you have to do is hit the tuner's footswitch and you're good to go. Pedal types also mute your signal as you tune, so your audience won't have to listen to you adjust your tuning. Tuning aside, the pedal tuner's mute feature also allow for easy switching of instruments and a quick way to cut your signal, like at the end of a song.
If you have an amplifier with a tuner out, like the Carvin Audio B2000 or MB15, you can connect the tuner of your choice and tune up without having it in your signal path. These models also come equipped with a mute switch, so you can tune silently, as you would with a pedal tuner.
Whichever option you choose, make sure it's one that works for the long term! Instruments don't stay tuned up forever- changes in temperature, humidity, and even playing style can affect tuning. As long as you find the right tuner for your needs, you'll be fine!
Posted On August 18, 2016 by
IS A Chromatic Tuner Available, That sits on the Amp Head and is connectable to both the Amp or Guitar. THANK YOU, TOM
Posted On August 11, 2016 by
As a bassist of over 40 years, the last 25 being exclusively on five strings, I have tried many different tuners and have found them usually lacking in the ability to accurately track the low B string. Some are better than others, but there is almost always some uncertainty, leading to a lot of time wasted at practice and on stage trying to get tuned properly.
That all went away when I installed an N-Tune onboard in my bass. For nearly all uses except intonation, it tracks each string quickly and accurately for fast results. It is designed to replace your volume control with a volume and push/pull switch that activates the tuner and mutes the output. Tune, then push the knob down to play. I had to rout out a hole for a battery box for the 9V used to power the tuner (fortunately, I am an experienced woodworker) but could not be happier with the results.
I still have an old Korg DT-3 tuner I bought new in 1990 that I use annually to check intonation, but for everything else, I rely on the N-Tune and have never been disappointed.
I don't have any firsthand experience with the N-Tune installed in a guitar, but most of the guys I jam with require nit-picky precision in a tuner, and have spent a lot of money on high-end pedal tuners, so are not interested in modifying their precious axe. I'll install one someday when I get a guitar I plan to keep, and I'll let you know how that works out.
In short, beware of clip-on headstock tuners, as mentioned in the article they are very prone to interference, whether it be other guitar(s), bass or even the drummer that can't stop for more than 10 seconds. Pocket-friendly tuners can be okay, but I see a lot of them prone to interference as well, and don't always track the strings well. They also tend to not be so durable, as I've seen many work at the beginning of the jam, then refuse to work if left on top of the amp until the next beer break (even replacing batteries won't help).
In conclusion, if you're not willing to install an N-Tune, spend the extra dollars and get a good pedal tuner. Modern design and rugged construction have made them reliable and accurate, and many decent models can be found from Korg, Planet Waves, and Boss, to name just a few. Check user reviews at your favorite online store, spend the money necessary to get the one you want, then order it (or take yourself down to the store and support the local guy). Either way, you'll get a decent unit that will give you years of service and cost a lot less than several lesser tuners over the same time period.
BTW – Don't set your beer on top of the amp! Many an innocent pedal has met its end when the vibes rattle it off the amp, and expensive pedal tuners are no exception.
I hope this helps. Rock on!
Posted On July 09, 2016 by
If you can afford one, a rack mount tuner is the most accurate. Many of them will tune as close as one cent and some will be even more precise (but more expensive). Yes, I know that the average Joe doesn't really need that level of precision but it CAN make a difference in minimizing the intonation curve as you move down the neck toward the bridge making the minor tone change far less noticible.
Posted On July 08, 2016 by
Very good advice. My playing, and my enjoyment, went WAY up when I got a chromatic tuner, and I use it regularly!


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I have a lot of interests, and I LOVE people that have the ability to keep themselves stimulated! I'm into pastry, general cooking and cuisine, glassblowing (I make art marbles and Christmas ornaments), tinkering with electronics, virtual reality, digital art and computer animation, skydiving, gardening and homesteading, video games, rollerblading, performance driving, computer programming, etc.
I'm an INTJ, for what it's worth.
Negativity is a drag, but I think it might be helpful to include two things that do not care for. If you ever find yourself *bored,* we won't hit it off. I'm a thinker with a hair-trigger bullshit alarm, so I am reactive to silliness like alternative medicine, any type of "healing," willful scientific ignorance, and crossfit.
If you are a selfie whore, go away, Narcissist scum.
I'm becoming an urban homesteader as a product of my love of learning how to do things and being self-sufficient. I garden, can (mostly pickles), have a few chickens that are a huge source of amusement, and have a bee hive waiting for a swarm.
I love road trips, camping, dining out at new places, and driving fast with the music pumping. I enjoy going out, but sometimes I find it hard to tear myself away from all of my projects.
I'm a big fan of the to-do list. I keep a master one that keeps me sane and productive.
Margaret Atwood: 'The Handmaid's Tale'
Phillip Pullman: 'His Dark Materials' trilogy;
Stephen King: 'Four Past Midnight'
Spirited Away, Sordid Lives, Superstar, Office Space, Broken Hearts Club, Amelie, Labyrinth, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Howl's Moving Castle
Series: Archer, Pushing Daisies, Adventure Time, Robot Chicken, Suits
Music: The B-52s, De Phazz, Pink Martini, Samantha James, Groove Armada, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Robbie Williams, and most of the stuff on Café Del Mar albums.
Food: cake, French fries, fried chicken, tiramisu, popcorn, coffee, tomatoes from the garden, tonkatsu sauce
...we share some interests. I like scientists, geeks, artists, salt-of-the-earth, capitalists, sluts and "niceguys" a whole lot!
...and you know that faith is not a virtue.
And don't sweat the match percentage. I answer all of the questions extremely honestly instead of picking the Sunday school answers, and I strongly suspect that skews my scores quite a bit. OKCupid claims I am "less good-natured" than average, but I disagree.


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On 4 April 2016 the new African Bank Limited launched following an extensive restructuring exercise, which began on 10 August 2014 when the previous African Bank Limited was placed in curatorship. African Bank Limited and African Insurance Group Limited form part of a new group, with a new holding company African Bank Holdings Limited.
With African Bank you can borrow, save and insure. To assist with your financial needs, we offer a number of relevant and innovative products, delivering more value than you expect.
Every day we strive to live our brand purpose 'humanity through banking'. The people who work for African Bank represent the diverse population of South Africa; therefore we are a reflection of you, of all South Africans. No matter what the situation or circumstance, we hope that people who interact with us will walk away and say "I was treated with humanity".
Our mission is to be a successful Retail Bank offering a wide range of products and services
to the consumers of South Africa.
We seek to provide value - more than our consumers expect of us. We promise to live our purpose 'humanity through banking' in all that we do and we are confident that we can, because 'We are You'.
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Group Executive: Sales and Marketing
Group Executive: Funding and Liability Management, Treasury
Group Executive: Human Capital
Chief Risk Officer
Group Executive: Operations and Transactional Banking
Group Executive: Credit
Chief Information Officer
Group Executive: Insurance
Broad banking experience - Board Chairman
Financial, business and risk skills
Finance and entrepreneurial skills
IT, entrepreneurial and business skills
Financial and sustainability experience
Financial and insurance skills
Accounting and investment skills
Actuarial and insurance skills
African Bank Holdings Limited & BankCo Board Executive Director
African Bank Holdings Limited & BankCo Board Executive Director
Ignatius Sehoole (Chair)
Sybille McCloghrie
Peter Temple
Louisa Stephens (Chair)
Basani Maluleke
Sybille McCloghrie
Frans Truter (Chair)
Louisa Stephens
Ignatius Sehoole
Sydney Mhlarhi
Basani Maluleke (Chair)
Sybille McCloghrie
Frans Truter
Louis von Zeuner (Chair)
Frans Truter
Louisa Stephens
Basani Maluleke
Ignatius Sehoole


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26 Ways to Say I Love You, a Glee fiction
I do not own Glee. Check out my newest Klaine works on Deviantart!
There is the type of couple that argues over who loves who more, which is positively preposterous. Blaine loves Kurt to the end of the universe and back. Kurt's love travels too, in the same direction. Because being in love is not a race. It is not a competition. It takes time and deliberate care. Kurt and Blaine don't argue over such trivial affairs. And while they aren't the best, or most experienced when it comes to romance, they know one thing is true. Their love.
Arms. Kurt sits at his desk working on his designs. Blaine flips channels mindlessly. He hums along with a toothpaste commercial. Knowing he is distracting his boyfriend he begins to sing. Kurt gives in and joins him on the couch. He draws hearts and stars across his arm. With an impressive sweep of his finger he scrawls I love you.
Boomerang. Blaine wraps his fingers around the toy. He chucks it into the sky. Kurt cringes as it flies around, nearly thwacking a dog on the head. He catches it, reading the note penned on the side. Blaine Anderson loves Kurt Hummel.
Coffee Cup. Kurt accepts the two cups from the barista. He carts them over to the mixing station. Taking a pen from his pocket he writes along the rim. He almost punctures the cup. The cup is set down in front of Blaine. He reads the rim. To sir, with love.
Dinner Table. Blaine's no pro at cooking. He makes a quick detour on the way home from work. Walking into the kitchen he arranges the plates. He calls for Kurt. They sit down and Kurt digs into his heart shaped mashed potatoes after taking a picture.
Envelope. Kurt brings in the mail for the day. He rummages through the junk, wedging an envelope of his own between. Blaine huffs at the political ads. He refuses to vote for any of them. He comes to a letter with simply his name. He opens it and chuckles. Vote Kurt Hummel best boyfriend ever because he loves you.
Foreign. Blaine has been speaking Italian since he was a kid. His neighbor next door had immigrated from Italy. She'd babysit him from time to time, speaking in her native tongue. He picked up on it fairly quickly. Some days he'll start muttering in Italian when he is angry. Kurt will gawk. He doesn't have a clue what he's saying. But when he tells Kurt voglio stare con te per sempre, Kurt notices his soft eyes and happy smile and realizes that Blaine doesn't only use Italian when he's angry.
Glitter. Kurt's not the type to get messy. He makes an exception one day when his coworker's kid comes into the office. The kid shares his glitter and glue with him. He comes home later that night and sticks his creation on the fridge door. It's a cute little heart the initials KH + BA rest inside.
Handcuffs. Blaine adjusts his hat. He stares down to Kurt, who is trapped under his knee. He takes the handcuffs from his belt and locks Kurt's hands together. He squirms. Blaine removes his knee to lean in closer to him. "You're under arrest for being mighty fine."
iPod. Kurt kidnaps his boyfriend's music device from its spot on the counter. He totes it over to his laptop and creates a playlist of all their favorite love songs. He titles it songs to serenade Blaine with and waits for him to come out of the shower.
Jigsaw. Blaine gets a care package in the mail from his parents. Inside he finds a pair of fuzzy socks, a bag of assorted cookies, and a jigsaw puzzle. He pulls the socks out and slides them on his feet. He takes a cookie from the bundle. He sniffs it once and takes a bite. He sets the rest of it back. Kurt arrives home late to find Blaine working on a puzzle on the ground. Blaine looks up with a piece in hand. "I finally found you my missing puzzle piece. I'm complete."
Keychain. Kurt's eye lands on a keychain dangling next to the register. He dips into his pocket to find money to pay. The cashier asks him if he found everything he wanted. He plucks off a heart chain. At home he hands it to Blaine. "I want you to have my heart."
Loofah. Blaine sifts through the bathroom cupboard. He finds Kurt's loofah and strings a note through the cord. Later that night he goes to take a bath. He's scrubbing his side when he feels a tickle. His sudsy fingers find the note. I wish this was my hand right now. Kurt blushes.
Manicure. Kurt comes home from visiting Rachel. He carefully opens the door. He doesn't want to chip a nail. Especially because moments later, when his nails are running up and down Blaine's back he wants one message to be clear across his freshly painted nails. I Luv Blaine.
Newspaper. Blaine opens to the birthday section of the newspaper. He sets it down to get a mug of coffee. Kurt takes his place and finds a picture of himself smiling back at him. He didn't want anyone to make a fuss over his birthday, but he smiles as he reads the print below. Happy Birthday Kurt. Love Pookie.
Orange Juice. Kurt loads up a tray with chicken soup and a box of tissues. He carries it into the bedroom. There, he takes the empty glass from Blaine. He insists that he gets his rest and fluffs his pillow for him. He feels a tug at his wrist. Despite the germs he cuddles against him and promises himself to take extra vitamin c later.
Post it. Blaine races to be the first to the bathroom. It's not that Kurt takes too long (in fact he enjoys barging in on him after his shower) but he has something he wants to do. He reaches for the light switch. He quickly does his work and heads into the kitchen. Kurt arrives in the middle of his bagel. He wraps his arms around him and sticks the Post it note back on its owner. You're the fairest of them all.
Quarter. Kurt passes by the machine as he makes his way out of the store. He stops, turning on his heel. Out of his pocket he pulls a quarter. He inserts it into the slot. A toy rolls out. He opens the capsule to find a miniature Cinderella. Blaine finds it on his pillow that night with a note. Looks like the slipper fits.
Rainbow. Blaine pulls the curtains back to look outside. It's no longer raining. His eye catches a glimpse of a rainbow. He pokes Kurt and points to the end of the rainbow. Kurt teases him about being a leprechaun and how he should be guarding his gold. Blaine ignores the quip to his height. "Who needs gold when you have you?"
Soiree. Kurt ambles up onto the platform and selects a song. The karaoke machine whirrs. He takes a hold of the microphone, winks to Blaine and lets the introductory music play. "I'd like to dedicate this song to the hottest guy in this room tonight." Kurt starts singing and Blaine feels his legs go to jelly.
Tie. Blaine checks his teeth in the mirror. Kurt comes behind him, fumbling with his tie. He's a wizard with bow ties. But his fingers are slippery, victim of the lotion he's applied. He swivels around, tugging his tie in the right direction. Kurt thanks him. Blaine smiles and whispers into his ear. "If you need any help getting it off, I'd be more than happy to help."
Umbrella. Kurt picks up the pace. Blaine follows, rushing to get out of the rain. He clutches onto the sides of his coat. Kurt notices and slows down a step to let Blaine join him. They squeeze together, an arm wrapping around his back to fit under the umbrella. He can feel his side getting slightly wet. But Blaine is dry and safe, and this makes Kurt feel all warm inside, even if he's cold and wet.
Valentine. Blaine browses the card section of the store. The sections are labeled, for husband, for wife. Nothing jumps out and screams for him to pick it. Except for the rather annoying card that opens up to a cheesy love ballad from the eighties. He squats down. At the lower levels are the kid cards. He picks up one with a construction crane. On the inside it reads I dig you. It's so deliciously corny that he finds an envelope and makes his way to the register.
Warblers. Kurt didn't go to Dalton Academy for too long. While he was there he made some friends. Friends that still have a very clear memory of how much love was between two little love warblers. Blaine comes home from his business trip to find Kurt's laptop on the counter. Next to it is a note. He presses play on the video like he is prompted. One after another the ex-Warblers remark on what they've dubbed Klaine. He shuts the laptop to find another note attached to the top. I missed you.
Xanadu. Blaine extinguishes the match. He steps back to check out his work. The entire bedroom is lit with candles. Kurt wiggles in his place on the bed. Power outage or not, the notion was unintentionally romantic. He catches the glint in his boyfriend's eye. He tosses aside a sock, cautious not to light it on fire. Blaine attacks his other foot. His thumbs massage the pads of his feet and Kurt lets out a moan. This was heaven.
Yoga. Kurt parades through the room in a pair of yoga pants and Blaine's old tee shirt. He moves along with the exercise video. The door opens when his butt is perked in the air. He cocks his head to see who it is and settles back into position. Blaine takes a seat on the couch and enjoys the entire thirty minute performance. At the end, he takes his hand and pulls him up. "How about a private lesson Mister Anderson?"
Zenith. Blaine perches on the top of his car. Kurt sits up with him, wrapped in a blanket. They admire the stars gleaming in the sky. It's been a while since they've been in Ohio, but it still feels like home. From her place on the ground Carole prompts the boys to make a wish. Burt wishes for a soda. They walk towards the house to get one. Kurt asks Blaine what he'd wish for. He ducks his head into the open window and opens the glove box. He slips on the way back up and Kurt yanks on his arm to keep him steady. Blaine lifts his head to the sky, finding the highest star and beckoning to it.
"Dear star, I wish that Kurt here would do me the honors in marrying me." He holds out the ring box to him. "For the sake of my safety, please excuse the fact that I'm not down on one knee."
His jaw slackens. Blaine always did have the oddest timing. He likes how he keeps him on his toes. By this time he understands that his parents aren't coming back. Burt must have known what was about to happen. He appreciates the privacy but wishes they were back so he could shout to the skies that he was engaged. First he'd have to accept the ring.
"Blaine Anderson, I've seen you on your knees in front of me many times before. Psh, I've seen you bend over backwards to show me you love me. I'd be stupid to say no." Kurt lets the blanket droop to his waist. A ring slides onto his finger.
It's his way of saying I'll love you forever. And the look on Kurt's face?
Right back at you Pookie.


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Jorva, or Jovra, was an Orion male who lived in the late 23rd century on the Orion Colony world of Daros IV.
In reference stardate 2/1412 (circa 2273), he served as a thug in the employ of Madrav, as part of a hit squad in service to the Kerav Family. He was aged 39 and wielded both a disruptor and a pistol that fired tranquilizer darts, filled with a fast-acting, powerful sedative. (FASA RPG module: Orion Ruse)
- The text names this character "Jovra" while the character entry names him "Jorva".


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Colorful Points
问题描述 :
There is a set of colorful points P, where point Pk has color k and is located at k,1<=k<=n. Colors of points in set P are pairwise different.
Now, we want to color another set of points Q, where point Qk is located at �Cn+k, 1<=k<=n. Every point in set Q must be colored with one of colors 1, 2, …, n, and all colors must be used at least once. After we finish coloring all points in set Q, we will shift them right by the speed of one unit per second, which means that point Q1 changes its location to �Cn+2, point Q2 changes its location to �Cn+3, …, point Qn changes its location to 1 in the 1st second; and point Q1 changes its location to �Cn+3, point Q2 changes its location to �Cn+4, …, point Qn changes its location to 2 in the 2nd second and so on. We will end the process after 2*n seconds (Q1 -> n+1, Q2 -> n+2, Qn -> 2*n).
We define two parameters here. Let Ak represent the number of different pairs of points coincide in the k-th second. A pair of points coincides in the k-th second means that a point from set Q has the same location with that of a point from set P in the k-th second, such as point Qn changes its location to 1 which is the same as that of point P1 in the 1st second, so the pair (Qn, P1) is a pair of points coincides in the 1st second, and pairs (Qn-1, P1) and (Qn, P2) are two different pairs of points coincide in the 2nd second and so on. Let Bk represent the number of pairs of points which have the same color among all the pairs of points coincide in the k-th second. To help you understand Ak and Bk better, we give an example below:
e.g. Let n = 3, and we color point Q3 with color 2, pointQ2 with color 3, point Q1 with color 1. In the 1st second, (Q3, P1) is the only pair of points coincide, but the color of point Q3 is different from that of point P1, so A1 = 1 and B1 = 0; In the 2nd second, (Q3, P2) and (Q2, P1) are the only two pairs of points coincide, and point Q3 and point P2 have a same color while point Q2 and point P1 have a different color, so A2 = 2 and B2 = 1; In the 3rd second, there are three pairs of points coincide, which are (Q1, P1) with a same color and (Q2, P2), (Q3, P3) with a different color, so A3 = 3 and B3 = 1; In the 4th second, A4 = 2 and B4 = 1; In the 5th second, A5 = 1 and B5 = 0; In the 6th second, A6 = 0 and B6 = 0.
We define another parameter C, where C=max{Ak – Bk}, 1<=k<=2*n. If you have finished coloring all the points in set Q, parameter C is easy to be calculated, and different ways of coloring may lead to different Cs. Among all the Cs, there is a minimum one. In this problem, your job is to calculate the minimum C and give a way of coloring which leads to the minimum C.
Every test case occupies a single line with only one integer n.
1 <= n <= 100000;
Most ns are less than 1000.
Every test case occupies a single line with only one integer n.
1 <= n <= 100000;
Most ns are less than 1000.
4 1 2 3 4
Case #1: 0 1 Case #2: 1 1 2 Case #3: 2 1 2 3 Case #4: 2 1 2 4 3


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Do you like clean air? How about clean water? I'm kind of fond of them myself.
Some places don't have clean air. We can wonder why not. Take Kolkata, India. Their air is so bad that people don't even want to go out. Children literally struggle to breathe at night, and lots are taken to the hospital. It's truly awful.
There are several reasons for this disaster. Farmers burn the residue from their crops, which causes a lot of smoke. Cooking fires make smoke. Old cars make smoke. Thermal inversion parks it all at ground level. All that is needed is for people to control these things. Why don't they just do it?
Clean water is nice too. Ever see what passes for water in some parts of the world. Somewhere under all the plastic and oil and feces and so on, there is a stream of water. It stinks something terrible. Why don't they take care of the plastic, oil, feces, and other stuff?
Do you like to go to the doctor when you are so sick you can't stand it? The doctor would be able to tell what's wrong and what to do about it. What about a really bad diagnosis? Cancer, which everybody is afraid of. So why don't you just go to the doctor?
How about education? Should it be sold, like a custom bicycle, or a $5,000 coffee maker? Or should it be available to everyone?
I don't think it's a big secret that we would all like to have these things and more. I think everyone deserves them. They are all very ordinary, and we don't pay much attention to them. But they are like bodily functions: you don't worry about bodily functions much—until one of them malfunctions.
Astute readers like you will realize that the connecting element in all these things is government. The much hated Big Government. Isn't it odd that we small creatures must rely on Big Government? If everyone is to have affordable health care Big Government will have to require it. If you want these things, Big Government will have to pass laws to protect them: clean air and water, medical care, schools, and more. If you personally decide to clean up the water it won't be enough. Unless laws compel behavior change, it won't change. Car seat belts weren't installed until it was compulsory, long after we knew they were needed. Detroit objected.
If you have been to places overseas where the air is not protected, you know how your eyes burn, and you can imagine what your lungs look like. You know that only carefully constructed laws can make air clean for everyone. And there must be no loopholes that allow corporations to continue polluting as they have.
Here's a timeless rule I just invented: All the truly significant elements of good life for everyone must involve Big Government. Significant elements don't include stuff like widescreen TV.
What else does this say. It says that Republican focus on the uncontrolled free market is guaranteed disaster, because no corporation will participate in making things right unless they are forced to. Republican focus on the so-called free market (which is not free at all) can't avoid hurting everyone who needs things like clean air and water, education, and sensible medical care.
What happens when the things that everyone needs becomes privatized? First, the overall effect is to worsen conditions in general. Corporations will not give care to something like clean water because it does not contribute to profit. The more schools become privatized, the worse the public schools will become; fewer children will have a good education.
There are lots of things better achieved by the free market. Justice isn't one of them either. Nothing is, where individuals must battle corporations for essentials. Only when the whole government is involved can we preserve the things that are important to everyone. Prove it to yourself by looking at places where government is weak.