Shell

Shell may refer to:

Architecture and design

Business

Chemistry and Physics

Computing

Shell corporation

A shell corporation is a company which serves as a vehicle for business transactions without itself having any significant assets or operations. Some shell companies may have had operations, but those may have shrunk due to unfavorable market conditions or company mismanagement. A shell corporation may also arise when a company's operations have been wound up, for example following a takeover, but the “shell” of the original company continues to exist.

Shell corporations are not in themselves illegal, and they do have legitimate business purposes. However, they are a main component of the underground economy, especially those based in tax havens. They may also be known as international business companies, personal investment companies, front companies, or "mailbox" companies.

Shell companies can also be used for tax avoidance. A classic tax avoidance operation is based on the buying and selling through tax haven shell companies to disguise true profits. The firm does its international operations through this shell corporation, thus not having to report to its country the sums involved, avoiding any taxes.

Shell (computing)

In computing, a shell is a user interface for access to an operating system's services. In general, operating system shells use either a command-line interface (CLI) or graphical user interface (GUI), depending on a computer's role and particular operation.

The design of a shell is guided by cognitive ergonomics and the goal is to achieve the best workflow possible for the intended tasks; the design can be constricted by the available computing power (for example, of the GPU) or the available amount of graphics memory. The design of a shell is also dictated by the employed computer periphery, such as computer keyboard, pointing device (a mouse with one button, or one with five buttons, or a 3D mouse) or touchscreen, which is the direct human–machine interface.

CLI shells allow some operations to be performed faster in some situations, especially when a proper GUI has not been or cannot be created. However, they require the user to memorize commands and their calling syntax, and also to learn the shell-specific scripting language, for example bash script. CLIs are also easier to be operated via refreshable braille display and provide certain advantages to screen readers.

Factions in Revelation Space

This is a list of fictional factions in Revelation Space. The human factions are found in the Revelation Space universe, the setting for a series of stories and novels by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds.

Interstellar factions

Spacefaring humanity is divided among these four main factions. While each of these factions has its roots in the Solar System, they have spread with humans to multiple other star systems. Demarchists controlled most major colony worlds, including Yellowstone, until the introduction of the Melding Plague. Conjoiners inhabited hollowed out asteroids on system peripheries, called Nests, before the move to the central Mother Nest in the Yellowstone system during the Conjoiner-Demarchist war. Ultras prefer living aboard the massive lighthugger ships, and are generally uncomfortable on terrestrial worlds. Skyjacks are comet and asteroid miners.

Conjoiners

The Politically Incorrect Guide

The Politically Incorrect Guide is a book series by Regnery Publishing presenting conservative or so-called "politically incorrect" beliefs on various topics. Each book is written by a different author and generally presents a conservative or libertarian viewpoint on the subject at hand. The series was the brainchild of Jeffrey Rubin, then editor of the Conservative Book Club, Regnery's sister company within Washington, DC-based Eagle Publishing.

Content

Each Politically Incorrect Guide contains the following:

Pig (song)

"Pig" is a Dave Matthews Band song from the album Before These Crowded Streets. The song evolved from an earlier tune entitled "Don't Burn the Pig", which was written about a television program Dave Matthews viewed in England where pigs were burned to test their reaction to pain. After 11 live performances between 1996 and 1998, "Don't Burn the Pig" was recorded in the studio during the Before These Crowded Streets sessions, and then the song reworked itself into "Pig", with the same notion in mind; however, it interpreted more of a carpe diem theme.

A 33-second studio jam is heard at the end of the studio track, based on "Deed Is Done", an early song by the band, and "Anyone Seen the Bridge?", a segue jam that debuted live in 1996.

Dave Matthews Band has performed "Pig" since 1998, up through the summer of 1999. The song did not return to live set lists until spring 2002, where it was played the most during that year than any other year. Since the song's debut, "Pig" has been played 159 times; however, it still remains a rarity among the band's set lists.