Shark (helmet manufacturer)

Shark is a French company that produces motorcycle helmets, which was founded in 1986 in Marseille, France.

Helmets

Headquartered in Marseilles and with over 600 employees, SHARK helmets are distributed by a network of over 5,000 sales outlets worldwide.

External links

Cryptanalysis of the Enigma

Cryptanalysis of the Enigma enabled the western Allies in World War II to read substantial amounts of secret Morse-coded radio communications of the Axis powers that had been enciphered using Enigma machines. This yielded military intelligence which, along with that from other decrypted Axis radio and teleprinter transmissions, was given the codename Ultra. This was considered by western Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower to have been "decisive" to the Allied victory.

The Enigma machines were a family of portable cipher machines with rotor scramblers. Good operating procedures, properly enforced, would have made the cipher unbreakable. However, most of the German armed and secret services and civilian agencies that used Enigma employed poor procedures and it was these poor operating procedures that allowed the Enigma machines to be reverse engineered and the ciphers to be read.

The German plugboard-equipped Enigma became Nazi Germany's principal crypto-system. It was broken by the Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau in December 1932—with the aid of French-supplied intelligence material that had been obtained from a German spy. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Polish Cipher Bureau initiated the French and British into its Enigma-breaking techniques and technology at a conference held in Warsaw.

Loan shark

A loan shark is a person or body who offers loans at extremely high interest rates. The term usually refers to illegal activity, but may also refer to predatory lending with extremely high interest rates such as payday or title loans. Loan sharks sometimes enforce repayment by blackmail or threats of violence. Historically, many moneylenders skirted between legal and extra-legal activity. In the recent western world, loan sharks have been a feature of the criminal underworld.

United States

19th century salary lenders

In late 19th century America, the low legal interest rates made small loans unprofitable, and small-time lending was frowned upon by society, as a borrower of small loans was seen as an irresponsible person who could not manage a budget. Banks and other major financial institutions thus stayed away from small-time lending. There were, however, plenty of small lenders offering loans at profitable but illegally high interest rates. They presented themselves as legitimate and operated openly out of offices. They only sought customers whom they felt were good risks: a steady and respectable job, which meant they had a regular income and a reputation to protect; married, which made them less likely to flee town; and legitimate motives for borrowing. Gamblers, criminals, and other disreputable, unreliable types were avoided. They made the borrower fill out and sign seemingly legitimate contracts. Though these contracts were not legally enforceable, they at least were proof of the loan, which the lender could use to blackmail a defaulter.

Net

Net or net may refer to:

See also

.net (disambiguation)

.net or .NET may refer to:

See also

Net (textile)

Net or netting is any textile in which the yarns are fused, looped or knotted at their intersections, resulting in a fabric with open spaces between the yarns. Net has many uses, and come in different varieties. Depending on the type of yarn or filament that is used to make up the textile, its characteristics can vary from durable to not durable.

Uses

People use net for many different occupations. Netting is one of the key components to fishing in mass quantities. This textile is used because of its sturdy yet flexible origin, which can carry weight yet, still be lightweight and compactable. Fisherman use netting when trawling, because it is sturdy enough to carry large amounts of weight as fish are trapped, pulled, then lifted out of water. Oftentimes, the filaments that make up the yarn are coated with wax or plastic. This coating adds a waterproof component to the textile that provides even more reliability. Net is also used in medical practices to provide fabric insulation and wrapping under an industry standard sling. In the medical practice, netting provides cushion and protection, when used in layers, but still allows the skin to breathe under the fabric. Depending on what the netting is being used for, a different wax or plastic coating can be applied in order to cover the filaments that use up the yarn. Filaments can be made from synthetic or natural fibres, but that is all up to the manufacturer when deciphering what the textiles future entails. When netting is going to be exposed to water or heat often, manufacturers consider that and apply what best fits that textile.