Saturday 29 March 2014

Caroline Murphy Walks Away From Family Fortune

Caroline Murphy has walked away from the family firm after board members rejected her idea of turning it into a workers co-operative. The firm which was set up by her late father  in 1945 is said to be worth over 250 million pounds.
Ms Murphy, who inherited the company, which does everything from constructing tunnels, laying power cables and building homes is said to be prepared to sell her 40 million pound stake in the company to its workers.

Charlotte Jackson Pictures

Monday 24 March 2014

What Is MBR?

Short for Master Boot Record, a small programthat is executed when a computer boots up. Typically, the MBR resides on the first sector of the hard disk. The program begins the boot process by looking up the partition table to determine which partition to use for booting. It then transfers program control to the boot sector of that partition, which continues the boot process. In DOS and Windows systems, you can create the MBR with the FDISK /MBR command.

An MBR virus is a common type of virus that replaces the MBR with its own code. Since the MBR executes every time a computer is started, this type of virus is extremely dangerous. MBR viruses normally enter a system through a floppy disk that is installed in the floppy drive when the computer is started up. Even if the floppy disk is not bootable, it can infect the MBR.

What Is BIOS And CMOS?

BIOS is the interface which is built-in to a computer system's firmware used to configure the computer system hardware in very basic ways. BIOS can be used to enable or disable hardware integrated into the motherboard such as IDE controllers, USB hosts, audio controllers, video, and more. 

It is often accessed by pressing F2 during startup, but this can change from manufacturer to manufacturer. 

CMOS is a type of circuitry often powered by a battery which allows the information in BIOS to be stored. If the CMOS battery is drained or removed all the system configuration data in BIOS will be reset to factory defaults every time the computer is shut off. These small batteries are also commonly used in calculators, hearing aides, and wristwatches. 

Due to the close relationship between the BIOS and the CMOS in the computer system, the two phrases are often incorrectly used as synonyms for each other. Some users will refer to opening the BIOS menu as "going into CMOS" or replacing the CMOS battery as "fixing the BIOS battery." However, none of this is seen as grammatically incorrect in common day-to-day conversation.

Bye Bye Lizzie?

The Queen could be removed as head of state if Scotland votes for independence, a senior SNP minister has said. Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, said ‘it will be for the people of Scotland to decide’ if the country becomes a republic or remains a monarchy. Alex Salmond’s official policy is that the monarchy would be automatically be retained if Scotland decides to secede - but many in his party are staunch republicans. Mr MacAskill’s intervention in support of a referendum on becoming a republic at some point after independence is achieved further undermines the First Minister’s position. A poll out this weekend shows the gap between the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes in the independence plebiscite has narrowed. The survey, conducted by ICM Research, found that 39 per cent would vote ‘yes’ in the referendum - an increase of two percentage points on the previous month. The percentage of ‘no’ votes fell from 49 in February to 46 per cent, leaving the proportion of ‘don’t knows’ at 15 per cent (down one percentage point on last month).

Friday 21 March 2014

Benjamin Netanyahu's Wife Accused Of Racism

'We are Europeans. We are refined, we don't eat as much as you Moroccans... You are fattening us and then when we are photographed abroad, we look fat' so says Sara Netanyahu wife of Israeli prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. She said this to her former caretaker who is now suing the family.

Thursday 20 March 2014

Increase In Support For Scottish Independence

Around 40 percent of Scots plan to vote for independence in this year's referendum, according to a poll on Thursday which showed a three-point rise in support for an end to the country's 307-year-old-union with England.

The poll, carried out by Panelbase, showed that 45 percent of those questioned intended to vote against Scottish independence, a decline of two points from the last equivalent survey.

Scotland, which has a population of just over 5 million and whose territorial waters are the source of much of the North Sea's oil and gas, will vote on September 18 on whether to leave the UK.

Fifteen percent of the respondents said they were still undecided.

Support for Scottish independence appears to have gathered pace over the last month, according to three different polls, as those opposed to independence have stepped up their campaign.

Last month the British government warned that Scots could lose the pound if they vote to leave the UK, and high-profile business leaders including the bosses of oil giants BP and Shell have expressed concern about Scotland going it alone.

Panelbase surveyed 1,036 people over the week to March 14, having last asked 1,022 people the same question in February. The question was: "How do you intend to vote in response to the question: Should Scotland be an independent country?"

All Scottish residents aged 16 or over can vote in the referendum and if a majority vote in favour of the move, Scotland will become an independent country on March 24, 2016.

Monika Jakisic Photos

Monday 17 March 2014

The Famous Five

The top five richest families in the UK are the Duke of Westminster who is worth £7.83 billion, businessmen brothers David and Simon Reuben worth £6.93bn, the Hinduja brothers worth £6.03bn, Earl Cadogan is worth £4.16bn and Newcastle United football club owner Mike Ashley  who is worth £3.31bn.

These families have a combined wealth of £28.2 billion and the poorest fifth of the UK population only account for £28.1 billion.

Saturday 1 March 2014

Fine Gael Consider Setting Up In The North

Fine Gael is to consider running candidates in elections in the Six Counties.

Delegates at the party's Ard Fheis have voted to set up a working group to explore the idea of electing Fine Gael members north of the border.

However, the motion does not include elections to Westminster and only includes elections for local councils, the European Parliament and the Stormont Assembly.

Fergal Crinion from Raheny in County Dublin, who proposed the move, says a true Irish party should try to represent all Irish citizens.