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Business Hub News
Free Business Advice - Cartridges Business Hub providing expert advice for you!
Looking for business advice with the personal touch? Come and drop into Exeter Library on the 2nd Tuesday of each month; 4pm to 6pm, network, get advice on starting or growing your business or developing your business idea from our range of expert business advisors.
Cartridges Business Hub in collaboration with Exeter Library is providing a regular drop-in business advice service to businesses starting up or growing on the 2nd Tuesday every month from 4pm to 6pm. Just call in on the day.
Cartridges Business Hub gives you access to free initial business advice and signposting to a range of vetted and trusted expert business advisors on a range of subjects. Library staff will also be on hand to advise and assist with a wide range of free business start-up resources. Examples of the type of expert advice available:
- Business planning,
- Setting-up,
- Trading terms and conditions,
- Invoicing,
- Debt management
- Legal issues,
- Sourcing funding and grants,
- Product development and design,
- IT start up (basic website design, domain name and email),
- Accounting,
- Marketing and using social media,
- Employing people,
- Insurance,
- Patenting/intellectual property
- Telephony
Cartridges Business Hub provides on-going support to your business as it grows and changes with our full range of business experts.
Exeter Library provides the ideal location for Cartridges Business Hub drop-in as it has been transformed to include bright open spaces with convenient meeting rooms. We will be located next to the Library Business & Information Hub on the ground floor.
For further information call: 07791 870585
email: email@example.com
For updated news see our Latest News page or click here
April 2015
Sole trader or Limited company?
One of the questions we are often asked is "Should we form a company?".
People often worry that companies are too complicated and expensive to deal with so they do not consider trading through them.
That's a pity because they can have many advantages.
Companies are merely a vehicle through which to run your business so we often start by saying, in the end, you have to get the money in and make a profit and this basic rule applies to companies as well as any other trading vehicle.
This may sound a bit glib but it illustrates that running a company doesn't mean you have to run your business differently. But having one can be a useful ally.
So why would you trade through a company? Well here are some of the questions we ask to help decide if it is best to do so.
Is your turnover quite high?
Do you deal in large amounts of money?
Does the nature of your business carry high risk?
Do you employ people?
Are you aiming to expand your business?
Are you in business with people other than family?
Are your profits high?
Are there several people involved in running your business?
If the answer to all these is yes, then it would definitely be worth having a company. Even if only one or two apply, it would still be worth it.
Why? Because a company is a separate legal entity from you; it is itself, not you trading under a name. This has the effect of:-
Isolating your personal affairs (and assets) from your business.
Having in law how you probably picture your business; something different from your personal life.
This means the customers deal with the company, the company has its own bank account, it employs people, it pays the wages, it pays the suppliers, it has its own tax bills, debts etc.
Tax is an area where there is often a benefit. If a business makes a profit of say £30,000, a company could pay some £3,500 less in tax compared with a sole trader. Over ten years, that can mean £35,000 extra in your bank or off your mortgage!
If you deal in high value projects like a builder, through no fault of your own, something can go wrong so if the project is carried out by your company, your house and private money are safe, not affected by the consequences of this.
We have seen both these above happen in practice so have seen how companies can be of great help to people in business. This is only a snapshot of how companies can help you so whether you are starting a business or already running one, it would be a good idea to think about trading through a company.
Steiner & Co
April 2015
5th January 2015
Exeter's City Link Employees. A crumb of comfort?
The Exeter employees of failed business City Link have faced a gloomy Christmas and New Year. What crumbs of comfort can be offered?
At Cartridges Solicitors we can advise upon the compensation due to Exeter's City Link employees.
There may be redundancy payments due and claims for outstanding holiday pay. Is there any other compensation due?
Administrators Ernst and Young are under a legal obligation to consult with the work forcebeforeany dismissals and redundancies are made. This is known as Consultation and is designed to see if there is any prospect of redeploying the Exeter workforce to other City Link depots rather than dismissing them from their jobs.
So the Administrators have failed to consult. What can the workers at the Exeter's City Link depot do?
Each worker is potentially entitled to a Protective Award for up to 3 months' pay. The principal is straightforward.
Has the employer or, in the case of City Link, has the Administrator properly consulted with the work force? If yes then no Protective Award is due. If no then a Protective Award is payable.
The amount of a Protective Award is at the discretion of an Employment Tribunal and can be reduced if, for instance, the redundant worker is in receipt of various benefits following his redundancy.
Of course one obvious problem is this - If a business is insolvent and workers are being made redundant such as at Exeter's City Link, then who is going to pay the Protective Award? It is very unlikely that City Link will have sufficient funds to pay. The answer is that the Government's Redundancy Payments Office will pay the Protective Awards, but only if an Employment Tribunal has ordered that Protective Awards be made.
An Employment Tribunal Claim for a Protective Award must be made within 3 months of the date of dismissal, which in the case of Exeter's City Link employees was on 31 December 2014. Hence if you want to claim a Protective Award because you have lost your job at Exeter's City Link you must lodge an Employment Tribunal claim by30 March 2015at the very latest. Wait any longer and you will almost certainly lose the right to make a claim for a Protective Award.
Funding your Employment Tribunal claim can be expensive so at Cartridges Solicitors we have devised a "No Win No Fee" arrangement (sometimes called a Damages Based Agreement) that ensures you recover as much of your compensation as possible.
You will have to pay an upfront Employment Tribunal Fee that is up to £250 per claimant, depending upon how many employees bring a claim for a Protective Award. However, our fees are not required upfront and we only charge a percentage of your winnings if you are granted a Protective Award. This means that you can afford to bring a claim for a Protective Award.
If you are an employee at Exeter's City Link then you should contact Robert Shaw or Amy Morgan at Cartridges solicitors immediately, for a no obligation free consultation please call:
Robert Shaw on 01392 286 782 or 0784 3388 953 or
Amy Morgan on 01392 286762
22 August 2014
Compensation in Discrimination Claims
The way in which an Employment Tribunal decides upon the appropriate level of compensation is relatively straightforward in an unfair dismissal claim. There is a Basic Award that reflects the employee's age, salary and length of service. There is usually an additional Compensatory Award that reflects the length of time the tribunal consider it reasonable for an employee to take before finding a new job. In short the Tribunal can conduct a financial analysis to arrive at the appropriate award.
However, how does an Employment Tribunal compensate an employee who has suffered harassment or discrimination at work, and where the award is for injury to feelings.
In the recent case of the Cadigan hotel v Ms Ozog the Employment Appeal Tribunal had to consider just this point. Ms Ozog worked as a waitress at the well-known London hotel. On several occasions she suffered harassment and sexual discrimination at the hands of the head waiter. First he touched Ms Ozog inappropriately at work by kissing her hand and touching her arms and back. Secondly he asked her whether she had a boyfriend and told her that the reason he had asked her that question was because she was a woman. Thirdly, in the presence of another woman the head waiter took his belt from his trousers approached Ms Ozog and simulated a sexual act. Throughout the period he generally made threats to Ms Ozog and bullied her.
Ms Ozog complained to management but inexplicably she was suspended following an investigation into her conduct. Ms Ozog issued Employment Tribunal proceedings. There was no doubt that Ms Ozog had suffered harassment and direct sexual discrimination. The more difficult question was to evaluate the level of appropriate compensation.
The Employment Tribunal concluded that touching and kissing the hand of Ms Ozog was a mild form of sexual harassment which the Tribunal found had made her uncomfortable. The incident involving the removal of the head waiter's belt was held to be an act of direct sex discrimination and harassment because it related to her sex, which made Ms Ozog very uncomfortable.
The Tribunal did not consider that asking Ms Ozog whether she had a boyfriend amounted to sexual harassment, nor did it conclude that the bullying or threatening behaviour – whilst clearly unpleasant – was because of or related to a protected characteristic. This is why bullying per se cannot amount to discrimination unless the bullying is associated with a race, gender or other issue enjoying protected characteristic status.
As any lawyer knows the first port of call when seeking to determine an appropriate level compensation in discrimination claims is to refer to the well-known case of Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire. This case gave rise to the Vento guidelines which set out the appropriate awards in discrimination claims.
For, perhaps understandable reasons the tribunal focused on the acts of discrimination and what it considered to be the hotel's failure to respond to Ms Ozog's grievance. However in adopting this approach the tribunal failed to focus on the actual injury suffered by Ms Ozog.
This approach led to an increased award of compensation for Ms Ozog. The hotel appealed the decision and the case was heard by the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal - regrettably in this instance - stated that the correct approach to the calculation of an award in discrimination claims was to look at the actual injury suffered by the claimant, Ms Ozog.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal further noted that following the Court of Appeal Judgement inSimmons v Castle the award should have attracted a 10% uplift to the Vento guidelines.
So, in short if you have suffered harassment, or direct or indirect discrimination at work you may be entitled to compensation. As to the amount the levels of compensation as set out in the Vento guidelines and applying the 10% uplift are as follows.
- The lower band – for less serious cases, such as where the act of discrimination is an isolated, or one-off, occurrence – is between £660 and £6600.
- The middle band – the cases which are more serious but do not merit coming within the top band – is between £6600 and £19,800.
- The top band – for the most serious cases such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of harassment – is between £19,800 and £833,000
If you have any problems at work or simply want some advice please do not hesitate to contact our employment team, Robert Shaw and Amy Morgan at Cartridges Solicitors
1st July 2014
New Flexible Working Requests
With effect from 30 June most employees have a right to request flexible working.
The provisions are set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 and various regulations associated with the legislation.
In the past the right to request flexible working has only been available to parents of children under 17 years old, or parents whose child is disabled or, to people caring for a vulnerable adult. This has limited the number of employees who could apply for flexible working.
Under the new provisions any eligible employee can ask their boss for flexible working. The only stipulation is that the employee must have worked for the current business for a continuous period of 26 weeks when the application is made.
An employee can only make one statutory request in any year. Of course it remains the case that an informal request by an employee for flexible working may be made and agreed if it suits both parties.
The only employees that are excluded are those who have worked for less than 26 weeks or various agency workers or office holders whom the legislation has purposely excluded.
The principle behind the Government thinking is to allow a more fluid working place to benefit those employees who have childcare commitments and to promote a healthier work and lifestyle balance. The Government has also advanced the idea that employees who work on a flexible basis of their choosing are likely to be much more motivated, productive and loyal than those employees who are required to work a normal 9-to-5 day.
An application to request flexible working must
1. Be made in writing and
2. Set out the proposed change to the employees working conditions and
3. When they would like the flexible working to come into effect.
4. The application must be dated.
5. The employee must also consider what effect the request for flexible working might have on the employer and employee's business.
6. If the employee recognises there may be problems with, for instance, covering important positions and operating a core staff then the employee should put forward solutions to the problems.
7. The application should also state whether the employee has made a previous session application within the last 12 months.
It is important for employees to bear in mind that if an employer agrees to the employee's flexible working request under a statutory application then that employee does not have any right to make another request for 12 months. This means that employees must try and think ahead and have in mind plans for at least a year.
If a request for flexible working is made informally then the strict provisions of the statutory request do not apply. For instance if an employee wants a short time off work for a bereavement or to look after a child during the school holidays it may be better to have an informal word with an employer to see if the non-statutory request can be accommodated.
Employers who want to deal with employees constructively and in the best interests of the business should consider developing a new Statutory Right to Flexible Working Policy. The policy can help the employee and employer both understand the statutory requirements for any request and make sure the formalities are complied with. The policy should be disseminated to all employees as those who are not parents or carers may not understand the entitlement to request flexible working now applies to them. The content of the policy will depend upon the nature of the business, it's work type, size and finances.
As a rule of thumb any Statutory Right to Request Flexible Working policy might well include:-
1. The way an employee should go about making an application
2. To whom the application should be made
3. What the application should say
4. The response of the employer and confirmation that an employer will consider the request only reject it for one of the prescribed this is reasons
5. The procedure the employee and employer should follow at any meeting regarding the request.
Any request for flexible working received by an employer must be considered rationally and objectively. An employer can only refuse a request if there are business reasons for doing so. The business reasons are set out in the legislation and include:-
1. The additional costs of accommodating the employee's request for flexible working is unacceptably high
2. The employer will not be able to re-organise his staff to cover the employee's proposed flexible working
3. The employer will not be able to recruit additional staff to cover the employee's proposed flexible working
4. The employer thinks the employee's request for flexible working will adversely affects quality
5. The employer considers the employees proposed flexible working would have a detrimental effect on the business' ability to meet customer demand and/or on performance
6. The employer already has in place plans for a reorganisation and the employee's request for flexible working will interfere with that reorganisation or restructuring.
Employers must be careful to avoid unlawful discrimination in the way in which they decide requests for flexible working and the category of employees who are granted flexible working. For instance an employer might well think that it is fairer to allow only mums to make flexible working requests to allow them to pick up children from school, and that dads should not be allowed to do so. If so this would be direct discrimination on the basis of gender.
Cartridges can help with all your employment needs, including any advice about requests for Flexible Working.
Please call Robert Shaw on 01392 286782 or 0784 3388 953
19th June 2014
Council Job Cuts and how Cartridges Solicitors can Help you.
It has recently been reported that twenty Devon County Council care homes are to close in a bid to slash social care spending by £10.7m.
More than 750 jobs could be lost and 260 residents will be moved into private care homes over the next 18 months. Another 250 jobs could go in council run day centres as the authority closes 17 of them to save £1.7m a year.
It remains to be seen how Devon County Council will deal with the potential loss of over 1000 jobs in the next 18 months. For those loyal employees whose jobs are at risk it is essential they understand their employment rights and what they are entitled to receive. Cartridges Solicitors are here to help.
Most employers will offer an employee who is to lose their job a financial package dependent, upon length of service, age and pay. The terms and conditions of the financial package are normally contained in a Settlement Agreement. A Settlement Agreement, (formerly called a Compromise Agreement) is an important document and it is essential that all employees understand the consequences of signing a settlement agreement.
Settlement agreements are legally binding documents, the essentials of which are:-
1. The employee agrees to leave his job on an agreed date in return for which
2. The employee usually receives a financial payment and may also receive a reference as part of the agreed terms.
3. Perhaps less well known is that a Settlement Agreement normally means an employee waives any rights to bring a claim against the employer in an Employment Tribunal or Court, with three main exceptions.
Settlement Agreements are entirely voluntary although they are often agreed during a process of discussion and negotiation. The parties do not have to accept the terms initially offered and often there may be a process of negotiation during which both sides make offers and counter offers. The terms and conditions of a Settlement Agreement are often confidential, as employers do not want employees comparing their redundancy offers, and if, unusually an agreement is not reached, the offers and counter offers cannot be used in any claim before an Employment Tribunal or in other Court proceedings.
It is and therefore it is very important that you have someone on your side who is experienced and who can look after you from start to finish to make sure you receive the maximum amount of compensation.
At Cartridges Solicitors we have a wealth of experience helping people whose job is on the line or who have already lost their job.
We are very happy to conduct a free initial consultation. If a Settlement Agreement is on offer then we will ensure that your employer pays your legal fees in full so that you do not have to pay for our services at a time when money is tight.
If you need any advice then please contact Robert Shaw or Amy Morgan on 01392 286782 and we will be delighted to help you.
New Employment Law Provisions
08 April 2014
The start of the new tax year on 6 April 2014 has brought with it a plethora of new employment law provisions.
Financial penalties for employers
For employers there are potential financial penalties if an Employment Tribunal considers a claimant's employment rights have been infringed. However, a penalty will only be incurred if the Tribunal finds some aggravating factor in the infringement.
For instance dismissing an employee unfairly may be aggravated by a failure to consult or carry out a fair procedure.
The maximum penalty is £5000 although the Tribunal will apply a 50% discount for paying the penalty promptly. Ironically the monies do not go to the aggrieved employee but rather to the Government via the Employment Tribunal system.
Statutory sick pay
Statutory sick pay has been increased to £87.55 per week and the lower rate of statutory maternity pay has been increased to £138.18 per week.
For employers the old system whereby they could recover some statutory sick pay if it exceeded 13% of an employee's national insurance level has finished.
There is a transitional period for employees who were sick prior to 6 April 2014.
Compensation limits
The statutory week's pay used to calculate redundancy awards has been increased to £464 per week.
The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal is now £76,574 or the lower of 52 weeks' gross pay.
ACAS conciliation
Perhaps the biggest change to the Employment Tribunal regime is the mandatory requirement, with effect from 6 May 2014, for an employee to notify ACAS of a potential claim prior to issuing the claim in the Employment Tribunal.
An employee intending to bring any claim in an Employment Tribunal must complete an Early Conciliation Notification Form and submit it to ACAS. The Early Conciliation Notification Form must initially be completed by the employee even if he has a legal representative.
ACAS will then get in touch with the potential claimant and if he has instructed the legal representative will then deal with that representative.
ACAS will offer an Early Conciliation service, the purpose of which is to avoid the cost, time and possible stress of a Tribunal hearing.
Assuming the employee is interested in conciliation ACAS will get in touch with the employer and will try and mediate a settlement.
Although ACAS officials are skilled in employment law they do not offer legal advice, and conciliation is all about obtaining a satisfactory settlement rather than legal point scoring.
It is hoped that a sizeable proportion of all potential claims will be settled during Early Conciliation.
If either party changes its mind and declines conciliation or if an Early Conciliation Hearing takes place and settlement cannot be agreed then ACAS will issue a certificate to this effect.
If either claimant or respondent decline to attend an Early Conciliation Hearing then ACAS will issue a certificate recording this fact.
An Employment Tribunal will only accept a claim provided it is accompanied with an ACAS certificate.
There are tight time restrictions in the Employment Tribunal.
Often a claim must be brought within 3 months of the date of dismissal or complaint. This does not leave much time to engage in Early Conciliation. To circumvent the problem the rules extend the time limit to issue an Employment Tribunal claim by one month to allow the parties to fully engage in the early conciliation process.
Financial Penalties upon Employers
06 March 2014
Historically employers who fought and lost employment tribunal claims may have been liable to pay the successful employee an award of compensation but rarely were employers required to pay costs or any other financial penalty.
In July 2013 Employment Tribunal rules changed with the effect that the Tribunal could award costs against any party in an Employment Tribunal claim including a losing employer.
However with effect from 6 April 2014 Employment Tribunal's have a discretionary power to award a further financial penalty against an employer if it loses an Employment Tribunal claim. The provision is included in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. The idea behind the award of a financial penalty against an employer is to penalise employers for breaches of employment and thereby deter any re-occurrence.
The financial penalty is not huge, and may be less than an unsuccessful employer is ordered to pay to a successful employee by way of compensation. The amount an Employment Tribunal can impose upon an employer is 50% of the compensation award capped at £5000.
The Employment Tribunal must take into account the employer's ability to pay the penalty before determining whether to levy a financial penalty. Paradoxically well-funded and well run businesses are therefore more likely to be subject to a financial penalty than badly run and impecunious businesses. However, the financial penalty may be imposed only where the Employment Tribunal find there are aggravating features in the way in which an employer has dealt with the employee and / or conducted itself at Employment Tribunal proceedings.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act does not definitively list the aggravating features that an Employment Tribunal must take into account when determining whether an employer has acted unreasonably. It will be up to the Employment Tribunal to have scrutinise the employers conduct as it sees it.
However, there are explanatory notes to the Act which provide some guidance on the sorts of behaviour that an Employment Tribunal is likely to take into account.
The sorts of behaviour that are more likely to lead to the levying of a financial penalty include:-
1. Deliberate, malicious or negligent behaviour by the employer
2. A large and well-funded employer with resources to operate a dedicated HR team or buy in legal experience
3. Sustained or repeated breaches, or grossly improper behaviour.
The sorts of behaviour that are less likely to lead to the levying of a financial penalty include:-
1. Honest mistakes or ignorance of a technical legal point
2. A small or newly established employer with no or limited HR support and insufficient funds to buy in legal advice
3. Single or short breaches.
Curiously the law provides a discount to an employer of up to 50% if the penalty is paid within 21 days. The payment is made to the Government's Consolidated Fund rather than to the Claimant and to this extent reflects impropriety or unacceptable behaviour in the conduct of its case by the employer rather than consequential loss to the employee. However employees may well use the threat of a financial penalty against a Respondent employer as a means of racking up pressure upon an employer to settle without going to Tribunal.
Flooding and Employers Responsibilities
18 February 2014
This year in particular has seen appalling weather and consequent flooding of large parts of the country. The forecast is that whilst the weather may improve the flooding could get worse before it gets better. Whatever the outlook, for some the floods have proved a real problem.
What implications for business and employees does the flooding herald, and how should employers deal with the floods and what are the ramifications?
1. Change of Location
Suppose that a business is flooded. It cannot operate or at best can only operate on half output.
This may lead to a temporary business closure or the use of alternative office locations or employees working from home.
Whether employers will be entitled to ask their employees to work elsewhere will depend upon the terms of their contracts, as well as their ability to travel to any new location.
2. Can employees be laid off?
If the business has to close but employees remain able and willing to work, employers will generally be obliged to pay them. Some employment contracts may state otherwise but this would be unusual.
Employers can ask employees to go down to a reduced working week, but again it will often be a matter for the employee to agree, unless the contract specifically contemplates this eventuality. Employers could ask employees to take annual leave, but minimum notice requirements apply before such a request can be enforced. Unless these have been changed contractually or employees are prepared to agree anyway, employers may not immediately be able to impose holidays.
3. Can employees be made redundant?
Possibly but any redundancy may well require a redundancy payment on the part of the employer, and an employee may challenge the redundancy if within a short time the employer, having got back on his feet, re engages an employee to do the same or similar job.
4. Safety at work
Legislation requires that employers provide a safe working environment. If flooding has affected the safety of the building or contaminated it then an employer must rectify the problem. Aside from any civil claim a whistleblowing claim could arise if an employee feels that the employers' reluctance to rectify problems has led to a breach of health and safety. Moreover, flooded premises may give rise to potential insurance and liability issues.
5. Can an employer require employees to attend work?
Flooding and storms may not just affect the company's own premises, but may also prevent or hamper staff from attending work. Employers must act reasonably if requiring staff to travel for their work through difficult or dangerous conditions. Caution should be exercised before forcing employees on to the roads if there are warnings and alerts in place, and certainly no employee should be forced to drive through hazardous areas.
Unless the contract states otherwise employers are under no obligation to pay employees who aren't available for work, even when this is beyond an employee's control.
6. What to do in the long term.
Over the long term, an employee's inability to come to work may have to be treated in the same way as other long term absence cases.
To date I am not aware of any Tribunal claim in which an employee has lost his job as a result of the floods. It is too early yet but there may be some in the pipeline.
7. What to do
If flooding is going to become more prevalent then all employers should be looking at their employee's contracts of employment to ensure
1. That employees are not paid whilst not working,
2. That staff who might be needed to cover those who are absent can be reassigned.
3. That employees have mobility clauses to ensure they can be required to work elsewhere.
4. That if flooding occurs then employees agree to reduce to a short working week.
For information about this topic and any other business queries please contact Robert Shaw of Cartridges Business Hub on 01392 286782
Since July 2013 the Employment Tribunal has imposed fees:
10 February 2014
Since July 2013 the Employment Tribunal has imposed fees.
These can be considerable. £250 to start a claim and £950 to have a Hearing. This at the point in time when someone has lost their job and probably cannot afford such an outlay. There is a fee remission scheme but it only assists those with modest incomes and capital.
In November 2013 UNISON challenged the introduction of the fee scheme. UNISON judicially reviewed the Government's policy to introduce employment tribunal application and hearing fees.
The scheme was challenged on four technical grounds, broadly that:
1. the requirement to pay fees violates both the principle of effectiveness as it is 'virtually impossible, or excessively difficult' to exercise rights conferred by EU law and
2. it also violates the principle of equivalence as the level of fees 'are less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions'
3. the Lord Chancellor had acted in breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty in making the Order
4. the relevant Order was 'indirectly discriminatory and unlawful'
In his Judgment Moses LJ provides a thorough review of the background to the new fee scheme and its relevant provisions. He then tackles each of the four grounds and concludes that
1. the scheme did not violate the effectiveness principle. It was agreed that the principle applied but, although there are problems with the remission procedure, the "use of the adverb "excessively" in the jurisprudence suggests that the principle of effectiveness is not violated even if the imposition of fees causes difficulty and renders the prospect of launching proceedings daunting, provided that they are not so high that the prospective litigant is clearly unable to pay them". He was therefore "unpersuaded" that the principle had been breached.
2. the 2013 Order did not breach the equivalence principle primarily because of the difference in liability for costs between County Court and Employment Tribunals, which meant that there was "a real disincentive to claimants of limited means, compared with Employment Tribunals". The recent change in the Lord Chancellor's guidance, such that successful employees are likely to be awarded their fees from their employer, also added weight to this conclusion as did the imminent launch of a free dispute resolution service.
3. the effort devoted to arguing about the argument for breach of Public Sector Duty could "more properly be devoted to consideration of the substantive grounds, rather than attacks on the procedure adopted prior to the introduction of the regime" and while there is a genuine fear that the policy may impede elimination of discrimination, whether that "fear is well-founded may well depend on evidence yet to be obtained, as to how the regime has worked in practice".
4. given it was too early to tell whether the fees for Type B claims would fall more heavily on minority groups, as argued by the applicant, it was also not possible to reach a conclusion as to whether the higher fees could be objectively justified.
He therefore dismissed the claim but noted, at that
"the fundamental flaw in these proceedings is that they are premature and that the evidence at this stage lacks that robustness necessary to overturn the regime. We would underline the obvious: there is no rule that forbids the introduction of a fee regime."
So fees are here to stay, for a while at least.
3rd February 2014
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched its first prosecution under the Bribery Act 2010 late last year
In September 2013 The SFO brought fraud charges against 4 Directors who were allegedly involved in the sale of bio-fuel products to UK investors by Sustainable AgroEnergy Plc. Three of the men have also been charged with offences of making and accepting a financial advantage contrary to ss 1(1) and 2(1) of the 2010 Act.
The value of the alleged fraud is £23m and the offences took place between April 2011 and February 2012.
The company and its parent company, Sustainable Growth Group, were placed in administration in 2012. The fraud allegedly took in Cambodia and at first blush may seem to be of little relevance to the UK. However, the value of the alleged fraud is £23m and has impacted on around 1500 savers and investors who had invested in the company.
So far there has been no prosecution of a corporation (rather than individuals as now) under the Act, however the Serious Fraud Office has indicated that it is currently running two investigations into companies which it suspects may be in breach of their obligations under the Act.
The Bribery Act creates a new offence which can be committed by commercial organisations which fail to prevent persons associated with them from committing bribery on their behalf. The Act contains two general offences covering the offering, promising or giving of a bribe (active bribery) and the requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of a bribe (passive bribery).
There is a defence if the organisation can prove it had adequate procedures in place to prevent persons associated with it from bribing, this will act as a full defence.
There are six principles which an organisation should consider to put in place. Not all these principles will be relevant to all organisations. They are intended to be flexible and outcome focussed. In brief these principles are:
- proportionate procedures
- top level commitment
- risk assessment
- due diligence
- communication and training
- monitoring and review.
Failure to comply with the Bribery Act is a serious matter and a convicted company can face unlimited fines, director disqualifications and even the prosecution of senior employees.
Don't delay in ensuring that your bribery policies are in place and flow through your commercial processes
Cartridges Business Hub can advise you and your business about the Bribery Act.
27 January 2014
Cartridges' Business Hub team will be presenting a seminar at the Best of Exeter this Thursday 30th January from 8am for 2 hours. It will focus on recent business case law and then run through some informative business tips including business status, ownership, employee rights and questions to ask your solicitor. If you would like to come to this seminar contact the Business Hub Team on 0800 160 1093 or email email@example.com
The Business Hub Team: Robert Shaw, Dana Mulligan and Joe Norman
23 January 2014
The right to flexible working
On Wednesday 22 January 2014 ACAS published the responses to its consultation on a new Code of Practice and guidance on flexible working.
Later this year, all employees who have worked for their employer for 26 weeks or more will have the right to ask if they can work flexibly. The consultation asked employers for their views on the draft Code and good practice guidance to help manage flexible working requests.
The legislation which extends the right to request flexible working is contained in the Children and Families Bill. A key element of the revised scheme is the replacement of the current statutory procedure through which employers consider flexible working requests, with a duty on employers to deal with requests in a reasonable manner, and within a reasonable period of time (3 months unless an extension is agreed). Employers do however retain the right to refuse requests based on the existing eight statutory grounds.
ACAS guidance sets out factors to consider when examining requests and includes advice on:
- making a request to work flexibly
- handling such requests fairly
- avoiding discrimination
- refusing a request
- dealing with appeals.
Acas was asked to draft the Code to help businesses manage this new right to request flexible working by Government in November 2012. The right to request flexible working is one of a series of measures in the Children and Families Bill 2013. The Code of Practice forms part of the Bill which is anticipated will come into effect in April 2014.
22 January 2014
Changes to Employment Law
Not much by way of interesting employment news this week, but one piece of legislation of considerable significance is due to come into law by the end of the month
The Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2013, which will amend TUPE 2006 and the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA), will come into force on 31 January 2014
Broadly TUPE protects workers whose employer has been taken over by ensuring the workers are hired on the same terms and conditions as previously.
The key changes under the Regulations include:
1. Service provision changes
The service provision change rules are not repealed, but will be amended to clarify that after the transfer the activities must be 'fundamentally the same as the activities carried out previously'. This reflects most recent case law and applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
2. Information and consultation rights
The rules concerning the provision of employee liability information will not be abolished, but the time frame for providing the information will be extended from 14 to 28 days. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 1 May 2014.
In certain circumstances where TUPE and redundancy consultation overlap, the rules will change. Consultation about the redundancies which begin before the transfer takes place can count towards collective redundancy consultation provided the transferor agrees. This consultation will then count towards the 30 (or 45) day collective redundancy consultation period. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
Employers with fewer than ten employees (micro businesses) will be allowed to inform and consult employees directly in cases where there is no recognised union, or existing appropriate representatives. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 July 2014.
3. Workplace location changes
The Regulations will be amended so that where the workplace location changes after a TUPE transfer, any redundancies due to that change will not be automatically unfair. This means that as a starting point a change in location of the workplace may be a justifiable reason for dismissal in a TUPE context. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
4. Collective agreements
It will be made clear that where employees have terms and conditions provided for in collective (i.e with trade unions) agreements, only the terms and conditions in the collective agreement existing at the time of the transfer will apply to the employment with the new employer. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
Transferees will be able to change terms and conditions provided for in collective agreements one year after the transfer, provided that overall the change is no less favourable to employees. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
5. Automatically unfair dismissals
Dismissal of an employee will now only be automatically unfair if the reason for the dismissal is the transfer itself. The removal of 'a reason connected with the transfer' attempts to limit when dismissals will be automatically unfair. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
6. Variations to employment contracts
A variation to an employment contract will not be automatically void even if the reason for the variation is the transfer itself if 'the terms of that contract permit the employer to make such variation'. This change applies to TUPE transfers from 31 January 2014.
16th January 2014
Stonewall publishes its list of the UK's Top 100 Employers 2014
Yesterday Stonewall published its Top 100 Employers 2014 list showing Britain's best employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. Gentoo, the housing and property company, was named as 2014's top gay-friendly employer; in second place was Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and The Co-operative was third.
Britain's military and security services are well represented on the list, with the Security Service (MI5), Ministry of Defence, the Army and the Royal Navy all securing positions. The Ministry of Defence was named Most Improved Employer of the Year while IBM won the award for Global Employer of the Year.
The Top 100 list is based on the results of Stonewall's Workplace Equality 2014, the tenth published by the charity. The Index is based on a range of key indicators which include a confidential questionnaire of lesbian, gay and bisexual staff, with over 9,700 participants. This consistently revealed that employees from organisations ranked in Stonewall's Top 100 exhibited higher levels of staff satisfaction and loyalty.
The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. Protected characteristics include: sexual orientation, age, sex, disability and race. Cartridges are dedicated to providing a wide range of legal services for LGB and Trans people in need. If you would like to talk, why not call us on 01392 256854.
14th January 2014
Constructive Dismissal and The Right to be Accompanied.
For some years workers have been entitled to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing by a friend of their choice provided he/she is either:-
1. A paid official of a trade union;
2. An unpaid official of a trade union who is certified as competent to act as a companion; or another of the employer's workers.
Occasionally the question arises whether an employee can ask a friend to attend a grievance hearing in circumstances when an employee alleges constructive dismissal.
Constructive dismissal arises when an employee alleges that an employer has acted in such a way as to materially affect the fundamental relationship of employer and employee, such that the employee has no option but to leave. In short the employee resigns but blames the employer for having to do so.
It is difficult to successfully allege constructive dismissal and the conduct of the employer must be fundamentally at variance with standards of good employment practice. Examples might include serious verbal abuse or assault by the employer, an unreasonable refusal to pay wages or a wholly unreasonable demand on the employee. To prove constructive dismissal an employee must show
1. A sufficiently serious breach of the employment contract on the part of the employer;
2. A decision by the employee to resign in response to that beach; and
3. The employee not delaying their resignation.
Often an employee who resigns alleging constructive dismissal is not able to point to a single serious breach of a term of the contract by the employer but simply states that the employer has routinely breached the implied terms, and taken together the employer has fundamentally breached the contract. In this scenario the employee alleges that the employer's unreasonable refusal is the "straw that breaks the camel's back".
Recently as question arose whether an employee who alleged constructive dismissal and who attended a disciplinary hearing could allege that an employer has acted unreasonably by refusing that employee a right to be accompanied to the hearing.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal had to consider this very question (Leeds Dental Team Limited v Mrs D Rose Case No UKEAT/0016/13/DM)
A Practice Manager worked in a dental surgery. One of her responsibilities was to record other employee's sickness absence. She failed to do so and a disciplinary process was commenced. She was then asked to attend a disciplinary hearing. Mrs Rose asked to be accompanied at the hearing by a former dentist who used to work at the practice. Her employer refused, as it suspected the former dentist would support Ms Rose's position.
Mrs Rose signed off sick and then resigned, alleging constructive dismissal. Mrs Rose then brought employment tribunal proceedings and alleged that her employer had acted so unreasonably that she had no option but to resign. She cited a number of grounds including the employer's unreasonable refusal to allow her to be accompanied to the disciplinary hearing by her dentist friend.
As is often the way the Respondent denied that the alleged breaches were sufficiently serious to entitle the Claimant to allege constructive dismissal.
In relation to the refusal to allow Mrs Rose to be accompanied to the disciplinary hearing, the Employment Tribunal found the employer's refusal had been unreasonable and that it contributed to a breach of trust and confidence. In particular the Employment Tribunal found that to have to attend the disciplinary hearing on her own caused Mrs Rose undue duress. It also found there were no grounds for believing that the dentist would have prejudiced the proper conduct of the disciplinary hearing.
When considering all of the alleged breaches including the failure to allow Mrs Rose to be accompanied to the disciplinary hearing the Tribunal found the employer had acted unreasonably. It has breached the implied duty to maintain trust and confidence in the way it handled the disciplinary process.
What Now
This case now means that employers may well have to accede to an employee's request to be accompanied to a disciplinary hearing not just by a trade union official but potentially any responsible individual.
However bear in mind that the claim Mrs Rose brought alleged numerous incidents of unreasonable conduct by the employer and its failure to allow her to be accompanied to the disciplinary hearing by a former employee was just one of many grievances.
Certainly no employee should be advised to bring a claim for constructive dismissal if the only complaint against the employer is a failure to allow him/her to be accompanied to a disciplinary hearing by a friend of choice.


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Ombre Nails
Ombre Nails
How to Do Your Nails Ombre Style
Ombre hairstyle may be the "it" beauty fashion trend, but it doesn't mean that ombre has to begin and end with hairstyle looks. A fun way to spice things up this coming season is to try out the individualistic and artistic "ombre nails" look. You don't have to use the same colors as in the photo—any other combination of glittery/shimmery colors may work as well! It's a fun and relatively simple look that will get your friends wondering how you instantly became a nail artist!
Step 1: Prep your nails with a base coat.I always wear a base coat on my nails to help prevent staining from polish colors. Especially if you're wearing darker colors, it's always a good idea to prep your nails with a base coat.
Step 2: Begin by applying the same base color on all nails.Be sure that the original base coat is dry before doing this. After painting all nails the base color, allow a few moments to dry before moving onto the next step.
Step 3: Taking the second color, deposit a few drops of the polish onto a disposable surface.By disposable surface, I'm referring to things such as business cards, pieces of paper, etc. This will allow you to throw everything away and help prevent messes to be cleaned up.
Step 4: Dab a sponge into the polish and pat about two-thirds of the way up from the tip of the nail.Remember that this is a gradient, so try to not use too heavy of a layer. Next, you're going to allow the previous layer to dry before repeating the process—this time, going up halfway. The last layer will be solely concentrated on the bottom tips of the nails.
Step 5: Once the previous layers are dry, use a topcoat to seal the entire nail.I find that a good way to speed along this process is to soak my fingers into a bowl of icy cold water. This helps the polish to harden up and dry faster!
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LF job in Bandung,Jakarta, or overseas
I'm male, 29 years old Chinese Indonesian. Just went back from China, I lived there for study in the past 4.5 years, I just finished my master degree on International Trade from Wuhan University in January Protected content , my bachelor degree in University Parahyangan Bandung was Computer Science. I arrived in Indonesia 10 days ago and now looking for full time employment in Bandung, Jakarta area, or overseas. Currently I live in Bandung but will be willing to relocate to Jakarta or overseas. My hobbies are sleeping, sport (mainly swimming and bodybuilding) and watching Daily Show/Colbert Report.
For my background and work experience, I helped my parents with their family business in Protected content . Then I left for China and in Protected content ran a small export-import business with some friends, I also did some part time job as translator, tour guide, and buyer. I was appointed as assistant professor in Wuhan University for International/English class to teach foreign students in English for World Economy courses in Protected content . I travel around China for various purposes so I'm pretty familliar with the country, especially Guangzhou.
I consider myself a hardworker, pretty resillient in overcoming challenges, and a forthright person. I'm also pretty good at managing people, strategic planning, and educating people. As for my language skills I think my English is pretty good although my grammar isn't perfect, my Chinese isn't as good as my English (decent conversational skill, but some problem with reading and hand writing).
I'm really interested in the trading sector (as you may have notice from my major) but I'm also open but not limited to other sector such as business, translator, sales, marketing, and education. If you are interested for further information such as salary request, cv, and other stuff please use private message or mail me at Protected content .


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Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X OC Reviewccokeman -
» Discuss this article (8)
Sapphire HD 7790 Dual-X OC Testing:
DiRT 3 is the third iteration of this series. Published and developed by Codemasters, this game uses the EGO 2.0 game engine and was released in the US on PC in May of 2011.
- 8x AA
- 16x AF in CP
- Ultra Settings
DiRT titles typically are AMD friendly. In this case we see the same result with the HD 7790 Dual-X delivering a 20%+ performance margin over the GTX 650Ti.


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Testing procedures for transformers include general inspection, resistance measurements, temperature rise testing, load loss and impedance testing. Equipment necessary to perform these tests include a polarity test kit, multimeter, ohmmeter and autotransformers.Continue Reading
General inspection of transformers entails checking compliance of the device with the manufacturer's manuals and drawing, assessing nameplate ratings and terminal markings, and ensuring that HV and LV cable connections are tight enough. It also involves checking the oil levels and inspecting for leakage.
The electrical check procedure includes troubleshooting equipment grounding, reviewing fuse ratings on the secondary side of the transformer and performing insulation resistance, polarity and transformer turns ratio tests. Insulation resistance tests verify that the correct conductor size is in place and that the contact resistance is within acceptable limits. This test takes place at a predetermined temperature at least 24 hours after oiling.
During the load loss and impedance testing procedure, electricians apply a voltage to the high voltage side of the transformer and gradually increase this voltage while shorting connections on the low voltage side to achieve a full load operation. This procedure helps in calculating the actual load loss and impedance voltage. The insulator power factor test involves the use of a capacitance bridge to measure capacitance between transformer windings and the ground. Engineers compare these measurements to those taken during previous routine maintenance tests to detect deterioration of the insulation structure of the transformer.Learn more about Electrical


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Female Population
Census data reveal a new, masculine trend in eldercareAugust 08, 2011
It is a well-known fact that our nation is aging rapidly. However, a recently released census brief, "Age and Sex Composition: 2010," revealed remarkable findings. The study found that in the last decade, the male population grew much faster than the female population in the 60-plus age group. Understanding this demographic shift and responding to it appropriately will bring new opportunities to long-term care companies.


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Pastry Chef Kei Okumura of Sugarbird Sweets and Tea - Biography
Los Angeles, CA
Kei Okumura left her hometown of Los Angeles while pursuing a career in film production to attend L'Ecole Superieiure de Cuisine Francaise in Paris. Graduating at the top of her class, Okumura went on to train at some of the top Michelin starred restaurants in Paris.
After returning to Los Angeles, Okumura honed her craft at various restaurants and bakeries, while creating bespoke desserts and confections for her friends and family. Word spread quickly and Okumura soon expanded her creations to include private clients and restaurants, which in turn led to the creation of Sugarbird Sweets. She expanded her vision with an exclusive line of artisanal teas, offering custom blends to pair and compliment all sweet occasions, leading to the beginnings of Sugarbird Sweets & Teas in 2009 at the farmer's market in South Pasadena.
Five years later, Okumura has created a repertoire full of exotic spices, seasonal fruits, teas, and surprising textures. Her years of traveling and immersing herself in the culinary cultures of Japan, France, and the United States have resulted in the Franco-Japonese essence which defines her simple, sophisticated confectionaries and which drives her continually growing business.
Pastry Chef Kei Okumura
- Sugarbird Sweets and Tea
2301 East 7th Street c/o B1 Bakery
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 485-0564


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Open Thread: Everything You're Reading, Watching, Listening To and Looking At
This is your place to talk about the TV, movies, music, books and art that are thoroughly entertaining you.
Good afternoon one and all. I'm taking over from Alisande and Tory for this week's Strictly recap. Public Health Warning: this recap was bought to you from the depths of Gastric Flu/Norovirus,* which should explain any factual inaccuracies/delirious ramblings about Artem's chest. God, I miss Artem's chest.
Anyway, lets crack on:
The Presenting:I'm not Tess Daly's biggest fan, but she deserves some kudos for attempting to present this week's episode like a pro with Brucie chundering away next to her and blinking like a deranged vole.
I have to say, Saturday night's dress wasn't the worst thing I've seen Tess in. I'm starting to think that most of her sartorial disasters are down to the wardrobe department's inability to dress anyone bigger than a B cup. Poor Tess and her slightly larger than average boobs.
As ever, Claudia Winkleman FTW.
The Judging:Craig Revel Horwood (henceforth known as CRH because I'm lazy) was being quite… nice this week. What's going on? Len Goodman actually gave some useful advice and Darcey has fallen into the Alesha Dixon trap of just agreeing with what everyone else says. Bruno, as always, sits on the end shouting incomprehensibly in a thick Italian accent, but it's his birthday this week, so we'll forgive him.
The Dancing:First up was Dani Harmer, dancing the Samba to Single Ladies. She looks absolutely fantastic, and is a total pro. In fact, Dani is fast becoming my favourite to win (I reckon she could dance the socks off Denise with a bit more practice). You heard it here first, folks.
Score: 36
Second we had Kimberley Walsh doing the Tango to When Doves Cry by Prince. We kick off with lots of stuff about how Kimberley is such a nice girl that she's struggling to cobble together the requisite anger for a good tango.
She seems to overcome this by pulling an excellent dog's bottom face. That said, I do like her blue dress and her Rihanna hair looks very regal. The dancing looks excellent to my untrained eye, although it does lead to CRH making an unfortunate thumb/crack comment.
Score: 34. Fair enough, she was good, but no Dani.
Victoria Pendleton's dance coincided with a strong period of nausea, and I can't decide if it was the stomach-bug talking, or the fact that her deer-caught-in-headlights face plays to my high levels of social embarrassment.
This week she was dancing a Salsa to Candy by Robbie Williams, which… OK, fine we get it, Brendan, you're stuck with a blubbering dud each week, and you want out. But still, do you have to make it quite so hard on the girl?
The dance was pretty shocking. It's amazing that someone as athletic and graceful as Victoria can look so clompy on the dance floor. That said, despite the fact that she's been annoying me all season, I found her hysterical laughing/crying jag as she waited for her results quite endearing. She clearly just wants to go home.
Score: 21. I don't think there's much more to say about that.
Next up it's Louis, who's dancing the Paso Doble to Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson. In my delirious notes I've written LOUIS HAS HIS GUNS OUT, and that's all. I do vaguely remember some nice cape waving, but possibly only because that involved his arms.
Score: 27, which seemed a bit tight. Darcey didn't feel like the storytelling in the dance was strong enough. I think she's just trying to play hard-to-get after making it abundantly clear in the first few weeks that she's got a monstrous crush on him. Or she was blinded by the guns.
Next up it's yours, mine, and everyone's favourite, Lisa, dancing the Rumba to As If We Never Said Goodbye by Barbara Streisand/Dave Arch singers.
I liked this, because I really like Lisa, but it lacked the pizzazz of some of her earlier performances.
Score: 27 – Lisa looks PISSED OFF.
This was followed by Michael Vaughn trying to do his best shag face for an Argentine Tango. He looked pretty dapper, but lets face it, Vaughny has all the sexual allure of a damp Cath Kidston tea towel. Nice guy, though.
The judges agree – even Bruno's unmoved. Score: a fair 26
Then we have Nicky Byrne dancing the Charleston, and just when we'd all written him off as The One That Would Leave After Victoria Pendleton, he pulled a total blinder.
Admittedly, the choreography still had him clapping his hands above his head far too much, but his timing was excellent.
Score: 36. Ok fair enough, he's loads better than he used to be, but is he really as good as Dani?
Finally we have Denise 'oh no I'm definitely not a professional dancer' van Outen, dancing American Smooth to Imagine by John Lennon by Eva Cassidy by Dave Arch Band.
DRAMA – Denise fell on her head in dance practice! And they're doing a really hard lift in the dance, so she might fall on her head again!
And does she? Does she heck. Talk about creating convoluted drama for the sake of it. Denise is a total pro as ever, and looks blooming amazing. Someone in hair and makeup clearly LOVES HER AND HATES VICTORIA PENDLETON.
Score: 37. Meh. I'm still Team Dani.
The results:As the suspense is killing no-one we might as well cut to the chase. Michael and Victoria ended up in the bottom two, and Pendleton gets the chop.
Victoria FINALLY gets to shake all that bloody glitter our of her hair and go back to playing with her bike chain. Brendan gets to go back to playing with his Craig Revel Horwood voodoo doll backstage, and everything is right with the world.
*Depending on whether you trust Ma Holman's diagnosis, or the internet's.


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Chukotka Peninsula, Russia – Some 40,000 walruses have appeared on the Russian Arctic coast, a phenomenon that scientists believe is a result of global warming melting Arctic sea ice.
According to WWF, this is the largest walrus haul out — areas where walruses rest when they are out of the water — registered in the Russian Arctic.
The area is currently being protected by the local community through the WWF-supported Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North. But more permanent protection, like a nature reserve, is needed to prevent walrus poaching and other threats to these large marine mammals.
"Because of climate change, ice is disappearing from the Chukchi and East Siberian seas during the summer months," says Viktor Nikiforov, Director of WWF-Russia's Regional Programmes.
"This means that in the coming years new haul outs will appear along the Chukotka Arctic coast."
Walruses need thick sea ice to support their weight and the shallow waters of the coastal zone to feed. Unlike seals, they cannot swim indefinitely and must pause after foraging. As the warming climate in the Arctic reduces the thickness and expanse of the ice, it also reduces the walrus' habitat.
"A nature reserve must be created to protect them," urges Nikiforov. "Our common goal is to help walruses survive during this difficult time."
Evidence points to a clear trend towards an overall warming in the Arctic. As a result, the sea ice thickness has been reduced by 40 percent in the last 30 years. Some models suggest that by 2080, or possibly earlier, arctic sea ice will completely disappear during the summer months.
• There are two sub-species of the species: the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), found around Alaska and northeast Russia; and the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), found in the Canadian Arctic, in the waters of Greenland, Svalbard and the western portion of the Russian Arctic.
For further information:
Masha Vinokurova, Press Officer
Tel: +495 727 0939
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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is the leading terrestrial broadcast network operator in Poland
About us
Emitel is the leading terrestrial radio and TV broadcast infrastructure operator in Poland. Services provided by us are divided into four groups: radio, TV, communications, infrastructure leasing.
Our services are characterized by the highest quality, innovative solutions, and the newest technologies.
We are the country leader in digital radio and TV and development of services based on the state-of-the-art wireless systems.
Our offer include also infrastructure leasing, designing and installation of radio diffusion and radio communications systems with related technical consulting, as well as leasing infrastructure to broadcasters and operators.


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At Monza this week, Pirelli will be debuting a new qualifying tire solution for the World Superbike Championship. Taking a page from what Bridgestone is doing in MotoGP, the 200mm qualifying tire will include markers that will help indicate what tires are being selected during the Superpole competition. Pirelli tires will sport non-permanent white "long P" markings and yellow lines, which have been imprinted on to the tire's surface. These markings will offer spectators and presenters a way of identifying what is happening during the Superpole in regards to tire choices.
Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Tire Racing Manager, announced the addition of the markings to the press, and stated:
"We continue to put forth significant efforts in developing additional tire options available to every rider of the Superbike and Supersport grid, and we are satisfied with all the results, including this new qualifying tire which guarantees more excitement and visibility into the strategies of each team during Superpole for all spectators, both live and on television."
Source: Two Wheels Blog


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Sweet and Salty Teriyaki Popcorn
If you like it, save it!
Save and organize all of the stuff you love in one place.Got it!
If you like something…
Click the heart, it's called favoriting. Favorite the stuff you like.Got it!
Author Notes: Perfectly crispy and crunchy popcorn coated in a sweet and salty soy sauce caramel —Sarah | Wisconsin from Scratch
Makes: 8 cups
cups plain popped popcorn (from about 1/2 cup kernels)
cup sugar
cup water
cup soy sauce
tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up into pieces
tablespoon sesame oil
teaspoon baking soda
teaspoon ground ginger
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Coat the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray, and add popcorn to the bowl.
- In a medium pot over medium high heat, combine the sugar and water, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves*. Continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until sugar-water mixture is amber in color, about 10 minutes.
- Remove pot from heat and stir in the soy sauce, butter, and sesame oil** (there will be a lot of bubbling). Once all butter is melted in, return pot to heat and bring back to a boil. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Remove pot from heat once again and stir in the baking soda and ground ginger. As soon as everything is evenly mixed, quickly pour mixture over the popcorn and toss to coat.
- Spread coated popcorn out on your parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, tossing once halfway through baking***.
- Remove popcorn from oven, and allow to cool slightly before serving. Once cooled, popcorn can be stored in an airtight container for several days.
- ***When the popcorn comes out of the oven, the caramel may still seem a little sticky - this is normal! It will become hard and shiny as soon as it has a chance to cool a bit. The finished product will be edible by the handful without leaving any sticky caramel residue behind!
More Great Recipes:


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for the moment, linux claims the high ground. a study released yesterday by cybersource showed the open source platform operating system to have a 26% lower tco than equivalent windows deployments in medium sized organizations of approximately 250 users with new hardware. the tco improved to 36% better than windows when older, pre-existing hardware was used in the comparison. the cybersource report meticulously modeled the three-year costs associated with running the hypothetical organization, using metrics like software costs, employee salaries, hardware lifespans, and much more.
the cybersource study comes in stark contrast to a similar study done by idc, a "recognized leader in cost analysis methodologies," where the results showed windows with a lower tco than linux. while it's worth noting that the idc study was sponsored by microsoft, the methodologies used in idc's report are very similar to those of cybersource. the key difference in the idc report was the higher cost of linux-trained personnel, whereas the cybersource report indicates these same people are available today for lower costs than when idc's report was run.
the old idc tco report can be found on microsoft's website (pdf), and the cybersource report can be found on this down under website (pdf).
eric's opinion
tco is one of those things most people either don't consider or misunderstand entirely. i'm glad to see cybersource publishing a good bit of detail on its methodology, as it should give some of you a much needed insight as to what kind of costs are actually involved in deploying a new operating system enterprise-wide. you'd be shocked how much a "free" product actually costs. it may come as a surprise to many of you, but it doesn't surprise me to find that manpower costs make up the bulk of the deciding factors here. trained, competent people are expensive, even in the post-bubble world.
cybersource's numbers are very good, and i don't see much to argue with in its assumptions. i'm wondering how microsoft is going to attack this report, but you can be sure it will try. the 250-user market is a good number to go after, too, because it's just big enough to represent a sizable number of users but not so big as to have to do tco comparisons to 10,000-user windows installations. with the massive discounts microsoft gives to corporate customers, along with bundled support in some cases, the tco looks a bit different, although my numbers on this are, like the idc report, more than a year or two old.
are linux people less expensive today than they were a just a few short years ago? i'd have to say yes. the dot-com tumble put a ton of open source programmers out in the market, causing salaries to plunge. windows support personnel costs went down, too, but not as much.
one thing the cybersource report did not address was something i've often brought up right here in these forums, namely the fact that sometimes linux can't be used because a crucial piece software isn't available for the linux platform. my company is in that spot right now, as our primary crm package is unavailable on linux. switching crm packages just to get a new os does not make tco sense, and any other company dependent upon something unavailable for linux is going to have the same problem we do despite the better linux tco numbers.
user comments 45 comment(s)
|nifty article… (3:57pm est tue dec 14 2004)
expect ms to "greet" it with typical fud and attempts at spin control. after their hysteria dies down expect them to sweeten the pot when it comes to selling small businesses their applications and operating systems.
windows has largely stayed the same price but office has had a pretty gradual decline. expect this to increase on both fronts as more businesses test the viability of having linux in their business. perhaps not 100%, but where it makes sense.
ms is afraid of any traction that linux is getting. why? because it has been their traditional "creep" tactic. slowly but surely work your way into being a very necessary and crucial peice of the it puzzle then increasingly fragment and push out the competition. – by my .02
|does this report take in account… (4:10pm est tue dec 14 2004)
the risk of losing $109 million for every day of downtime? i think we'll continue with our day to day operations and pay the ms tax. – by thank you very much.
|both windows and linux are expensive. (4:16pm est tue dec 14 2004)
cause they both suck and force me to go buy an imac hahahaah.
well i think there is no cost of ownership in linux side since there are not much software on sale for it. and it does jobs quite poorly. i generally don't use it unless i need to login to the x-windowds system remotely. and whats the cost of that??
i mean if you can't do anything on linux. how can you fit that into the total cost of ownership.
i think it should account for more software and hardware you use in that terms. like microsoft office. how much will it take to build a complete office on linux? how much will it take to have a x-windows system in windows. also how long can an opensource software be supported. and so on. the calculations are too complicated to weight these systems. – by ah
|bs (4:19pm est tue dec 14 2004)
i'm sorry but this report is bs. they compared the linux kernal to the ms os. i could see if they loaded up kde, kaffeine, etc.. then compared, plus, i think the error per lines of code numbers are also bs, as the testers didn't have access to the ms code, and are going on pure speculation……
it's reverse fud………
i'm trying to like linux, i really am, but i see nothing in this report that makes me think it's any better, as the report is skewed in it's favor plain as day…. – by samueul
|ok..ok.. (4:25pm est tue dec 14 2004)
-does this report take in account…
-(4:10pm est tue dec 14 2004)-
-the risk of losing $109 million for
-every day of downtime? i think we'll
-continue with our day to day
-operations and pay the ms tax. – by
-thank you very much.
ok ok, mr bill gates… – by mmmmmm
|hmmmm (4:27pm est tue dec 14 2004)
i wonder how much the tco comes in when looking at new products for a medium to large company (and local councils :). just about everyone is use to windows and could operate it within their job description without too much hassle. red hat or fedora would be cheaper than windows xp i am sure though.
what about the server side? would you spend 20,000 odd dollars on a server, then skimp on the os? i don't think so. but, having a windows desktop on your own computer, and one on the server sure helps in the running of the server (terminal services, event viewer etc), but again, linux might be cheaper and more reliable.
overall, i think people are splitting hairs when they say linux on server x is cheaper than windows on server x, because price does take a back seat, especially when it's a server. but not always.
– by headley
|re: samueul (4:28pm est tue dec 14 2004)
don't try linux, try os x. you will love the ease of use and also learn everything you can about linux using it. i mean linux is just ripping off unix anyway. the new macs are incredible. both elegance in the hardware and in the operating system and in some of their softwares. personally i find the whole ilife package and quicktime pro really crappy. but you got to love some of the free softwares. like the bt client, tomato torrent. very clean. just save up to get a nice mac. – by ah
|re: mmmmmmmm (4:42pm est tue dec 14 2004)
this isn't your basement kid… this is the real world, with real money, a real wan(worldwide) that is in perfect working order at the moment… do i feel like putting everything on the line because i feel we can save 0.2% of our yearly income? – by no thank you.
|re: samueul (4:49pm est tue dec 14 2004)
"they compared the linux kernal to the ms os."
likely that is because you can't separate the browser from the kernel.
nor can you separate the window handling from the kernel. or a lot of other things either. so it has to be treated together. – by old sampler
|splitting hairs about pricing (4:55pm est tue dec 14 2004)
i agree with a few previous posters that costs are also relative. as in, will the tco over 3 years of running linux based it products make up for the retraining of all current employees and new employees, not to mention reduced productivity during the training time?
i agree that linux has great potential, and is very stable. in a world where a company has no it infrastructure or products, and the users know how to use linux's various desktops just as well as windows, then linux would win out. but that is not the senario we are faced with. the world lives on windows, and weaning it from windows will take a long time, if ever.
i think that smaller studies should be done, in more specific areas that do not require the user base to be retrained. tco of replacing the web server, the mail server, the typical departmental file server. if they can be managed within a windows domain (i think there are "clients" for linux to help them be managed within a windows domain), then perhaps those can be viable studies that make sense to more companies. – by boogaboo
|re: old sampler (4:59pm est tue dec 14 2004)
yes, you can't separate the windows kernel from the gui like you can in linux, but that raises the next interesting question: are you comparing apples to apples anymore?
if you test windows and include all the gui bugs and kernel bugs together as "windows bugs," you have to also include xwindows bugs with the linux kernel, otherwise you're not comparing equally functional setups. if windows includes notepad and notepad has an exploit in it, that counts as a windows bug in the above setup. but if kedit has a bug, that then counts as a "linux bug" as well if you want to be fair to both parties. it's a difficult decision because of the differing design philosophies of linux and windows.
linux may have the option of doing without a gui, but most studies assume it *does* use it because it's pretty much required in order to have a useful workstation these days. servers are different, but this isn't a server tco comparison. for that matter, i've crashed the gui on a windows server before and it continued to function flawlessly anyway. we had to remotely reboot it with a cli command, but it kept right on serving until we did. windows *can* function without its gui, it just *doesn't* by default.
i wish like heck microsoft would decouple their browser and gui from the underlying kernel. that marriage has been nothing but trouble from day one, and the whole package would be much more secure if they'd ever get around to do that. – by j. eric smith
|both reports are bogus (5:01pm est tue dec 14 2004)
they are both biased report. complete bs. – by ah
|as for the report (5:03pm est tue dec 14 2004)
it does one thing everybody overlooks-
almost no third party software is considered for the windows base. it is all microsoft software. (the only ones i noticed was "adobe standard" which may include photoshop, and a symantic antivirus).
|re: ah (5:05pm est tue dec 14 2004)
"don't try linux, try os x."
when os x has the applications my company needs, we might. until then, it's no more practical of a choice than linux. there are a *lot* of other companies in the exact same spot we are, companies that depend upon their mission-critical apps that aren't available on any platform other than windows. and all the wishful thinking in the world is not going to change that.
what *will* change that is when software vendors start writing multiplatform apps again. adobe's committed to bring *some* of its products to linux, but what about other market leaders? microsoft owns the productivity software market no matter how you look at it, and it'll be a chilly day in purgatory before bill embraces linux. autodesk owns the cad market and won't touch linux (it won't touch amd, either, due to longstanding relationships with intel). all of this stuff has to change before mass migrations can happen.
either that or every application is going to have to become web-enabled. yeah, right. – by j. eric smith
|re: eric (5:10pm est tue dec 14 2004)
possibly they should include x bugs…
but then, there are several different window systems available (granted, several are aimed at the embeded market, but at least two of them are not – ggi and x).
and with the ggi version, the x server is completely isolated from the kernel. then a bug from x won't cause significant problems/crashes.
"i wish like heck microsoft would decouple their browser and gui from the underlying kernel."
absolutely. they should also decouple all/most of the other services as well. – by old sampler
|re: eric (5:12pm est tue dec 14 2004)
well my comment about the mac is more toward home users. in terms of corporate use. there are no replacement for windows.
but more linux are being used in supercomputers to do simulations. one of the recent one is f1 team sauber's albert. – by ah
|re: ah (5:53pm est tue dec 14 2004)
you've hit upon one of the best places to use linux: the custom software crowd. anyone who has nothing to start with can do great with linux. it's those of us who have significant investments in windows technology and methodology that are stuck, as the roi is very difficult.
as an old general once said, the defender usually has the advantage because he already holds the ground the attacker wants. linux may be "better" than windows on some (or many) fronts, but that's just not good enough. it has to be *stupendously* better to get companies to leave their billions and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure behind. thus far, it's not met that bar very well except in a few areas (i.e. servers). linux is going to have to catch up on the desktop applications side of the house if it ever wants to dominate the show, but unfortnately that's not up to linux, it's up to software vendors. – by j. eric smith
|no thank you… (5:56pm est tue dec 14 2004)
please grandpa, move over and get with the times. margins are so thin in some applications that even a fraction of a percent could keep you in business and your competition declining into bankrupsy. linux is not the mirical pill, but it does allow for tighter programming( open source) and has consistantly better uptime, so why "risk the ranch" with a product that is known to be less stable. – by jg
|hold on a minute (6:13pm est tue dec 14 2004)
so ms can't be budged right? due to the fact that they are so embedded in the market? has anyone actually looked at the market lately? here, i�ll help you out:
apple: 65.29
see a trend here? ibm just dumped their who desktop and laptop market to lenovo. take a look at this article:
the theory is definitely sound, and both companies are on top of the world right now. in other words, there has never been a better opportunity for apple to come back and regain a massive amount of market share very quickly. everybody wants an alternative, and this move would finally allow for the development of the $700.00 headless mac that everybody really wants. the mac is the only other system that supports office, and integrates seamlessly with other unix derivatives.
i�m sure all the geniuses will dispel this as a �yeah, sure� possibility, but that is exactly why i think it will happen. watch ms drop a load in their pants and cut office support for os x out of panic, kind of like how they did with ie. a company that has to compete by stealing and locking out competitors completely using low life tactics instead of creating a better product is destined to fail. who said that? oh, yeah�me.
– by sfx
|by the way… (6:21pm est tue dec 14 2004)
i,m not talking about an acquisition, i'm talking about an alliance. an acquisition, imho, is not feasible but a business alliance is very feasible.
– by sfx
|re: eric (6:31pm est tue dec 14 2004)
do you know how to use open office's spreadsheet to plot graphs?? i tried doing that two week ago. try to skip buying the ms office for my mac. but it seem much harder to do it. and i can't even get one done. and my neck hurt a lot already.
i use the ms demo given. and done one graph in 5 minutes. – by ah
|not only is linux has a better tco, it has less bugs too (7:26pm est tue dec 14 2004)
linux: fewer bugs than rivals
this is an university research study that is open to peer review. and we know how microsoft hates peer review studies. it rather pay for bias studies and suffer the penalities later. – by better tco less bugs
|not only is linux has a better tco, it has less bugs too (7:45pm est tue dec 14 2004)
notice that there are two recent reports disputing microsoft reports that windows is secure.
|re: better tco less bugs (7:47pm est tue dec 14 2004)
well the os is pretty stable but the softwares for it sucks. even the icq and msn softwares on the linux crashes constantly. most of the linux softwares are amatuerish. – by ah
|j. eric smith – (8:56pm est tue dec 14 2004)
ms will probably run another ad –
windows advanced server running on an emachine is cheaper then linux running on a z900 ibm mainframe.(when including the hardware in the price)
i am a linux fanboy(sort of) for reasons other then the fact that i like oss. but windows has given me a lot of problems, on all my machines, especially my laptop! grrrrrrrrrrrr…
windows costs me money when it crashes and i can't get work done as fast.
|hello!? (10:25pm est tue dec 14 2004)
where the hell is wd??? – by scoz
|re: ah (12:24am est wed dec 15 2004)
"most of the linux softwares are amatuerish."
yeah right!!
open source � the maturity factor
perhaps the major theme that came through from the bloor research open source event last week was the "maturity factor" that accompanies the open source proposition. here's a summary of some of the points that emerged. an open source product is, as products go, different from other software products in only a few ways:
|re: ah (12:32am est wed dec 15 2004)
"msn softwares on the linux crashes constantly"
what do expect from msn? microsoft is known for crashes (blue screens of death) especially on windows operating system. – by h8bluescreenofdeath
|bsod (4:01am est wed dec 15 2004)
a thing of the past with xp.
i have never seen one.
they have managed to keep the os running now with application crashes of fairly high severity.
it would be nice if explorer didnt crash though guys.. or any other applications.
it would be nice if you could take a 98 machine, use the xp upgrade path and ever use msde again and not phone me up to help re-build the services manually that the upgrade failed.
but it would be nice if mission critical software was as available for linux as it is for windows.. while its not its windows fun.
|osx (6:08am est wed dec 15 2004)
i like the osx mac guys input! yes lets all move to os x instead! fantastic
i previouse linux hater i have recently warmed to suse – by d.ddd
|re: by no thank you. (8:30am est wed dec 15 2004)
i can fully appreciate your positioon and i think it's the position of many companies using ms products. if the company is currently functioning why change everything and take a risk, a days downtime in a big corporate will more than destroy any savings and will probably put the it manager out of work.
i'm currently writing web based applications that run on linux servers because i found windows based servers unreliable. however most access to the system will be through windows based pc's running ie, this is not my first choice, but it is all to do with what staff are used to. the upside is we now have the stability of linux with the familiaity of windows and it does allow the company the flexibility to move towards whichever operating system suits them best in the future. – by dt
|the new study omission shows even better tco for linux. (10:22am est wed dec 15 2004)
the study was using microsoft funded idc methodogy in their tco study.
* the model was not modified to to reflect research by the robert frances group which showed that linux needed 82 percent fewer staff resources.
|re: ah (10:30am est wed dec 15 2004)
"they are both biased report. complete bs. – by ah"
since you obviously can't read, cybersource made their biases toward microsoft and the tco is still ahead for linux. – by better tco for linu
|flaming the mac (10:31am est wed dec 15 2004)
"when os x has the applications my company needs, we might." what is it with everyone. 90% of all business computers run a word processor, spreadsheet application, and a presentation software. how many different versions do you need? there may be 100's of thousands of apps for windows but when you remove the duplicates how many do you end up with? a thousand? if you are looking for the crap running on windows for the mac, good luck. but, there may be better software running on other operating systems. remember look for the application you need to run, then look at the hardware and operating system it needs to run it. doing it any other way is a good way of increasing tco. – by lemming
|xp isn't so bad (10:51am est wed dec 15 2004)
i use xp at work, unfortunately, but it's not as bad as most zealots make it. (although i'd prefer to use osx.) anyways, re: apom's comment on the infamous bsod, check out this cool 'blue screen' screen saver…it makes a good prank if nothing else (even simulates rebooting and chkdsk!).
enjoy… – by xp-good, osx-better
|"owning" vs. "switching" (10:53am est wed dec 15 2004)
one thing msft usually likes to include in its studies is the cost of switching to linux. the assumption is that the enterprise currently uses a flavor of windows, and everybody in the office knows how to get along with windows (and ie, outlook, word/excel, powerpoint, etc.).
now you "switch" the organization to linux, and you need to spend money training all the staff on how to config their boxes…and use openoffice…and toss their old macros for msoffice, and re-tool them for ooorg…get the address books into thunderbird/mozilla/evolution…and
studies comparing "owning" linux vs msft will usually give a strong edge to linux. it's just getting over there that takes the extra bucks. and then you also have to include the "fearfactor" some posters here have mentioned: the ordeal of change, as in: "i know how to run windows, and it's ok, not so terrible…will i be able to understand linux?"
of course the msft studies do not include all the "upgrade" costs for msft software, which is the bread and butter of that goliath…and is vanishingly small in comparison in linux.
the path is clear: switch to os apps first on the windows platform, using cross-platform tools wherever possible. then when considerations arise of switching to linux of osx, you can confine your study to the os, and not a raft of apps.
least, that's how i see it.
|painted themselves into a corner (11:06am est wed dec 15 2004)
the issue generally isn't the os or being able to run ie, word or excel. it is usually all the small custom apps that were written to support the business.
the best (and worst) thing microsoft ever did was come out with vb & access for windows only. with those tools millions of companies painted themselves into a corner.
i've long since recommended all my clients do any new development as web based apps or java where possible. that way at least in the future, they will have the option to achieve a lower tco by going linux or osx.
|afx -moron (12:28pm est wed dec 15 2004)
it isn't the stock price that reflects the real value of a company. it's the market capital (or market cap for short), which is the stock price multipied by the number of shares.
any company can make it's stock price anything it wants by just combining or slitting shares. but the market capital is what it would take to buy the company regardless of the stock price.
to simply compare share -vs- share is moronic. – by you idiot
|linux growing much faster than originally thought (2:57pm est wed dec 15 2004)
linux looms larger than thought
the overall linux market is far larger than previous estimates show, a new study says.
in an analysis released late tuesday, market research firm idc estimated that the linux market — including servers, pcs and packaged software — is expected to register a 26% compound annual growth rate (cagr) over five years, reaching a whopping $35.7 billion by 2008.
"linux is no longer a fringe player," idc said in its report. "linux is now mainstream."
application for linux is growing rapidly too.
– by today in the street
|uhhhh (10:35pm est wed dec 15 2004)
duh! – by doh?
|unite your linux and active directory authentication (11:55am est thu dec 16 2004)
– by ldap
|by you idiot (6:48pm est thu dec 16 2004)
ok, dumb-dumb, no shit. like i didn�t know that. my real point was investor confidence dickhead. what stocks are people going to buy, huh? or are really glad that they bought? ibm and apple are providing investors with massive returns right now, if someone invested in apple last year they would be up 200% right now so kiss my ass ok? amd is no slouch either, but msft and intc are really starting to look like dogs. plus microsoft just dropped their 33 billion in dividends? why do you suppose they did that huh? to try to inflate stock prices maybe? because they know that tough times are ahead perhaps? that was my point. and try to get my name right next time you jackass.
– by sfx
|linux is growing pretty big (1:48am est fri dec 17 2004)
idc: linux market to top $35b by 2008
"this is the first authoritative and comprehensive snapshot of how people truly use linux, and it's not surprising for us to see that the adoption is far ahead of even some of the most optimistic estimates,"
|programmers and linux – hackers on a mission (8:51am est wed dec 22 2004)
i guess most ppl opensource ppl just dont get it, people are happy with xp, its not windows 95 or 98 , its xp. it works fine, hardly no problems apart from ie. the problem with ie? who do you think makes all these exploits and spyware…programmers ye? and what do alot of programmers use, thats right linux. so surprise surprise that most hackers out their go and hack windows. also they never had to support dos and old applications and be backward compatible like ms has. only reason ppl are bothering to consider linux is because of the spyware problem, we all no that is not microsofts fault but the hackers. its like blaming the bank and not the robbers in a holdup. right now xp is fine, server side linux is good, but for an interface for real users nothing beats microsoft. also, do users really like a blank interface dos style, didnt we leave that back in the 80s/90s? x windows. face it opensource ppl linux is not easy to use for the new and average user, ill let you programmers keep it. – by john
|hey now (5:26am est sun jan 16 2005)
linux tco is actually much smaller than even this report suggests. there is one big factor not in play in any of these tests. linux systems rarely get viruses. i know its possible and all to gain root access but that's your only real chance in hacking a linux system. i work in an it department and suffice it to say when a microsoft server gets trashed because of the latest m$ security flaw it takes forever to restore everything from backup. (system restore point is bs!!!) ok i followed the m$ bandwagon for years, but now they're really screwing people. first of all the only way to fix a broke windows system is to reinstall. as long as there is a system wide global registry it can never be stable. that being said i have to reinstall windows like at least three times a year. second in such an environment like i work in (winstations linservers) it is simply impossible to get users to quit clicking on all those js icons that are all over the web with malicious code. when i had winservers winstations my servers got infected by a nasty js virus that somehow compromised my smb shares on the server. windodows=very bad server.
now to comment on the shell (blank interface dos style) —it's the only way to be 100% sure the commands your typing are what your typing—in a gui i could make a button do the function you request but also do some very nasty things. as always microsoft secret code just does not do what it says…it does like 12 things concurrently that you dont even know why theyre wasting resources. im not a programmer i just took the dive to linux when i got sick of viruses and gui firewalls. (linux firewalls use way less system resources than do their windows counterparts) – by penguin


text:
The Golden Bough Symbol Timeline in The Aeneid
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Golden Bough appears in The Aeneid. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 6
...come back up. To visit the ghosts, he must find a nearby tree with a golden bough , which he must present as a gift to Proserpina, queen of the Underworld. Only... (full context)
...the Trojans build a tomb for him. Aeneas prays to find the tree with the golden bough , and Venus sends two doves to help him. He finds the tree near the... (full context)
...Aeneas he cannot take a living person across the river, but the Sibyl displays the golden bough , and Charon ceases his objections. After crossing, the Sibyl subdues the three-headed guard dog... (full context)
Aeneas leaves the golden bough at the gate to the happy part of the Underworld, the Elysian Fields. He and... (full context)