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Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates
Back in 2015, Richard Yates made my end-of-year highlights with The Easter Parade, a beautiful yet sad novel about the Grimes sisters and the different paths they take in life. There's a good chance he'll be on my list again in 2017, this time with Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (1962), a peerless collection of stories as good as any I've read in recent years. Yates' canvases may be small and intimate, but the emotions he explores are universal. Here are the frustrations and disappointments of day-to-day life, the loneliness that stems from rejection, uncertainty or a deep feeling of worthlessness (there are other reasons too, which I'll try to touch on later). As with other collections I've reviewed, I'm not going to try to cover each story in turn. My aim instead is to give a flavour of the themes and a little of what I thought of the volume as a whole.
In The Best of Everything, one of my favourite pieces in the collection, we meet Grace, a young woman on the brink of marrying her fiancé, Ralph. As she finishes up her work on the Friday before the wedding, Grace reflects on her situation as the doubts begin to run through her mind. Maybe her roommate, Martha, was right after all; maybe she is settling for second best.
She had been calling him "darling" for only a short time—since it had become irrevocably clear that she was, after all, going to marry him—and the word still had an alien sound. As she straightened the stacks of stationary in her desk (because there was nothing else to do), a familiar little panic gripped her: she couldn't marry him—she hardly even knew him. Sometimes it occurred to her differently, that she couldn't marry him because she knew him too well, and either way it left her badly shaken, vulnerable to all the things that Martha, her roommate, had said from the very beginning. (p. 23)
When she discovers that her roommate is going away for the night, Grace plans a surprise for Ralph, a pre-marital treat that doesn't quite go to plan. Instead, Grace gets a glimpse of what life may hold for her once she is married: the need to carefully manage the dynamic between husband and wife.
A Glutton for Punishment features a classic Yates protagonist, Walter Henderson, a rather unassuming young man who works in a Manhattan office in the heart of NYC. Walter, a graceful and gracious loser all his life, is convinced he is about to be fired from his job. In spite of his wife's best efforts to make their home life as bearable as possible, the weight of this expectation hangs over Walter on a permanent basis.
And lately, when he started coming home with a beaten look and announcing darkly that he doubted if he could hold on much longer, she would enjoin the children not to bother him ("Daddy's very tired tonight"), bring him a drink and soothe him with careful, wifely reassurance, doing her best to conceal her fear, never guessing, or at least never showing, that she was dealing with a chronic, compulsive failure, a strange little boy in love with the attitudes of collapse. (pp. 73-4)
This is a wonderful story, one that touches on the anxieties of life, the sense of pride and respect we all crave from those around us. Moreover, it also highlights the different roles a wife and mother was expected to play back in the late 1950s/early '60s, the various modes she had to adopt, irrespective of how taxing or frustrating they proved to be.
This bright cocktail mood was a carefully studied effect, he knew. So was her motherly sternness over the children's supper; so was the brisk, no-nonsense efficiency with which, earlier today, she had attacked the supermarket; and so, later tonight, would be the tenderness of her surrender in his arms. The orderly rotation of many careful moods was her life, or rather, was what her life had become. She managed it well, and it was only rarely, looking very closely at her face, that he could see how much the effort was costing her. (p. 85)
Yates is particularly good when it comes to depicting the loneliness one often experiences in childhood, the challenges and difficulties associated with our schooldays. In Doctor Jack-o'-Lantern, we meet Vincent Sabella, a somewhat coarse boy who also happens to be the new kid in class.
The girls decided that he wasn't very nice and turned away, but the boys lingered in their scrutiny, looking him up and down with faint smiles. This was the kind of kid they were accustomed to thinking of as "tough," the kind whose stares had made all of them uncomfortable at one time or another in unfamiliar neighborhoods; here was a unique chance for retaliation. (p. 2)
While Miss Price, the fourth-grade teacher, does her best to make Vincent feel welcome, none of the children in the class seem willing to make an effort. As a consequence, Vincent spends virtually all of his breaks alone, desperately trying to kill time. When Miss Pryce tries to befriend Vincent, things don't go as smoothly as expected. What follows is a sequence of events that highlights how loneliness can come about as a direct consequence of our own behaviour towards others, the actions we take when our frustrations bubble up to the surface.
Fun with a Stranger explores a different type of experience at school – that of being saddled with a ghastly teacher, in this case, a 'big rawboned woman' named Miss Snell. In direct contrast to her counterpart, the warm and engaging Mrs Cleary (the teacher who takes the other half of third grade), Miss Snell is strict and lacking in humour, forever pulling up the children for mumbling, daydreaming, frequent trips to the toilet, and, worst of all, for 'coming to school without proper supplies'.
She never seemed to lose her temper, but it would almost have been better if she did, for it was the flat, dry, passionless redundance of her scolding that got everybody down. When Miss Snell singled someone out for a special upbraiding it was an ordeal by talk. She would come up to within a foot of her victim's face, her eyes would stare unblinkingly into his, and the wrinkled gray flesh of her mouth would labor to pronounce his guilt, grimly and deliberately, until all the color faded from the day. (p. 107)
As this story unfolds, we see the impact of Miss Snell's approach on the morale of her half of the intake – and how this compares to Mrs Cleary's. There are times when the children are embarrassed by Miss Snell's failure to show any enthusiasm or inspiration, especially when the two classes come together for a field trip. As Christmas approaches, the children hope that Miss Snell won't let them down. Will she be able to match her colleague's plans for a festive party? You'll have to read this excellent story for yourselves to find out.
Two of the stories are set in hospitals, in TB wards to be precise. No Pain Whatsoever gives us a glimpse into the life of Myra, a woman who has been visiting her husband in hospital every Sunday for the past four years. This is a poignant story of an individual trapped in a stagnant marriage, isolated from her spouse both physically and emotionally. However, unbeknownst to her husband, Myra has found comfort in the form of another man.
Continuing the theme of illness, Out With the Old takes place in a Veterans hospital on New Year's Eve, just a few days after most of the TB patients have returned to their ward after being allowed home for Christmas. Yates really captures the loneliness and loss of identity experienced by some of these patients when they come back to the hospital, a place where they must all dress alike in standard issue pyjamas. Here is Harold's experience. (Even his name changes when he arrives back at the ward. Nobody calls him Harold here – instead, he is known as 'Tiny' on account of his imposing height.)
He remained Harold until the pass was over and he strode away from a clinging family farewell, shrugging the great overcoat around his shoulders and squaring the hat. He was Harold all the way to the bus terminal and all the way back to the hospital, and the other men still looked at him oddly and greeted him a little shyly when he pounded back into C Ward. He went to his bed and put down his several packages (one of which contained the new robe), then headed for the latrine to get undressed. That was the beginning of the end, for when he came out in the old faded pajamas and scuffed slippers there was only a trace of importance left in his softening face, and even that disappeared in the next hour of two, while he lay on his bed and listened to the radio. (p. 165)
Others feel like strangers in their own homes when they go back to 'the outside'. Things have moved on; children have grown older, more distant. Consequently, patients feel rather out of touch with their own families.
Some of Yates' stories hark back to the days of WWII, including a piece featuring a strict and vindictive drill sergeant in charge of a platoon of young troops. There is a common theme which runs through a few of the pieces here, a sense of frustration and lack of power felt by the men who fought in the war, their current, fairly stagnant lives falling some way short of the heady expectations of their glory days. This feeling of rage comes out in The B.A.R. Man when a dispirited ex-serviceman finds himself caught up in a protest at the end of an exasperating night.
The final story, Builders, is one of the highlights here, a piece featuring a talented yet struggling writer who finds himself working as a ghostwriter for a somewhat delusional but sharp-witted taxi driver. It's impossible to do it justice in a few sentences, but Yates paints an intriguing picture, full of insight. It left me wondering if this sketch was based on a real-life encounter with the cabbie, a man who dreams of building stories as a way of injecting some meaning into his somewhat shallow life.
All in all, this is a truly brilliant collection, one that gets right to the heart of certain aspects of human nature. These are stories to linger over, to savour and absorb – very highly recommended.
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness is published by Vintage Books; personal copy.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Yates Richard and tagged Book Review, Classics Club, Fiction, Richard Yates, Short Stories, US, Vintage Books on February 28, 2017 by JacquiWine.
A Start in Life by Anita Brookner
Back in September last year, I read an early Anita Brookner, Providence (1982), a novel I loved for its central characterisation and sensitive portrayal of life's disappointments both large and small. By rights, I should have begun with her debut novel, A Start in Life (1981), but it wasn't available at the time – hence the decision to go with Providence instead. Having just finished A Start in Life, I would have no hesitation in recommending it as an excellent introduction to Brookner's style and themes. In some ways, it is a richer novel than Providence, more rounded and fleshed out. I hope to find a place for it in my end-of-year highlights.
As A Start in Life opens, Ruth Weiss, a forty-year-old academic and expert on the women in Balzac's novels, is looking back on her life, the striking opening lines setting the tone for the story that follows.
Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.
In her thoughtful and academic way, she put it down to her faulty moral education which dictated, through the conflicting but in this one instance united agencies of her mother and father, that she ponder the careers of Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary, but that she emulate those of David Copperfield and Little Dorrit. (p. 7)
Interestingly, the balance between the relative merits of pursuing a path of virtue vs. one of vice is a central theme in the novel – more on this point a little later in the review.
Winding back to Ruth's childhood at the family home in West London, the picture is somewhat unconventional and chaotic. Ruth's mother, Helen, a relatively successful actress (at least at first) is beautiful, spoilt, lazy and self-centred, a high-spirited woman who spares little thought for the future. By contrast, Ruth's father, George, a dealer in rare books, devotes much of his time and energy to keeping his wife happy, enacting his role as Helen's charming and attentive husband. Neither of them seems to have much time for Ruth whose care is largely entrusted to George's mother, the elderly Mrs Weiss, who also shares the family home. Mrs Weiss is under no illusions about the rather feckless nature of her son's wife. Moreover, she is concerned that Helen and George's childlike behaviour and 'facile love-play' will damage Ruth in some way. As such, she does her best to maintain the household, looking out for the young girl wherever possible.
Unfortunately for Ruth, the situation deteriorates when Mrs Weiss dies, a development that prompts Helen to 'get a woman in' to look after the house. The housekeeper in question is Mrs Cutler, 'a wry, spry widow, quick to take offence'. Mrs Cutler is a wonderful gossipy creation, and there are some priceless scenes as she begins to insert herself into the lives of Helen and George, always mindful of how to play the situation to her full advantage. Ruth, for her part, is pretty much left to her own devices as the household rapidly goes to pot.
As the years slip by, Helen starts to go downhill fairly dramatically. No longer in work, her looks begin to fade along with her previous zest for life, points that become abundantly clear to George when he catches Helen in one of her private moments.
The bones of her shoulders were sharply outlined. Her wedding ring was loose and sometimes she took it off. Her red hair was now a secret between herself and her hairdresser, and on the days when she was due to have it done she found the atmosphere in the streets threatening. Eventually, Mrs Cutler, the Hoover abandoned in the middle of the floor, would take her, leaving George to finish whatever work she had or had not been doing. On their return, both women would pronounce themselves exhausted, and Helen would retire to bed, where she knew she looked her best. George, harassed, would join her for a drink. Helen's blue eyes, more prominent now in their pronounced sockets, would gaze out of the window with a wistful and ardent expression, her thoughts winging to past triumphs, part travels, past love affairs. George, looking at her in these unguarded moments, would be shocked to see how quickly she had aged. (p. 36)
George, for his part, finds solace in the company of Sally Jacobs, the widow who buys his book business, as a growing dependency develops between the two.
Meanwhile, Ruth begins to carve out a daily routine for herself. By now she is studying literature at one of the London Universities, living at home again after a brief and somewhat disastrous attempt to break away on her own in a room near the King's Road – her dedicated attempt to woo an attractive fellow student, Richard, with a romantic dinner for two having ended in crushing disappointment. There are lectures in the morning, tutorials in the afternoon, library work in the evenings. In some ways, the relative safety/security of the University environment feels like more of a home to Ruth than her family residence in Oakwood Court. It's a lonely existence, but it could be worse. Nevertheless, as Ruth reflects on her studies of Balzac, she begins to question whether there is more to life. Is the pursuit of a life of goodness and virtue the best path to the discovery of true love? Surely a little Balzacian opportunism wouldn't go amiss for Ruth too?
She knew that she was capable of being alone and doing her work – that that might in fact be her true path in life, or perhaps the one for which she was best fitted – but was she not allowed to have a little more? Must she only do one thing and do it all the time? Or was the random factor, the chance disposition, so often enjoyed by Balzac, nearer to reality? She was aware that writing her dissertation on vice and virtue was an easier proposition than working it out in real life. Such matters can more easily be appraised when they are dead and gone. (p. 136)
Once again, Ruth attempts to add a little freedom, romance and excitement to her days. She secures a scholarship for a year in Paris to further her studies in Balzac, with the ultimate intention of visiting some of the places depicted in his novels. During her time in the capital, Ruth begins to live a little, albeit relatively briefly. She meets a bohemian English couple who take her under their wing, encouraging her to improve her image with a smart new haircut and fashionable clothes. Before long, Ruth falls for a literature professor, a married man who treats her kindly, even though their time together is somewhat limited. She longs for an opportunity to be alone with him in a private place, almost a hope against hope given her previous attempt at romance as a student in London. (I love this next quote; it feels like vintage Brooker.)
If only she could sit with him in a room, quietly, talking. If only she could wait for him in some place of her own, hear his footsteps approaching. If she could cook for him, make him comfortable, make him laugh. More than that, she knew, she could not expect. Can anyone? She still measured her efforts and her experience against her disastrous failure with Richard, remembering her expectations and the reality that had destroyed them. That reality had made her wary. Disappointment was now built into any hope she might have had left. But so far Duplessis had not disappointed her. (p. 130)
I'll leave it there with the plot, save to say that Ruth never quite manages to break free from the demands of her parents as a mercy call from home cuts short her time in Paris.
A Start in Life is a really terrific debut, beautifully written and brilliantly observed. The characterisation is superb – not just in the creation of Ruth, but the other leading players too. In many ways, the novel explores the classic Anita Brookner territory of fading hopes and dashed dreams as happiness and fulfilment remain somewhat out of reach. I strongly suspect there is a lot of Brookner herself in the character of Ruth Weiss, a rather fragile woman who seems destined to experience significant loneliness and disappointment in her life. In many respects, Ruth is constrained by the demands of those around her, frequently bending to the will of others to the detriment of her own desires. There appear to be some parallels between Ruth's situation and that of Balzac's heroine, Eugénie Grandet, so much so that I am sure a familiarity with Balzac's work (and this book in particular) would bring another dimension to the experience of reading of A Start in Life.
Before I finish, a few words on the novel's tone. While Ruth's story is shot through with a delicate sense of sadness, this is beautifully balanced by Brookner's dry wit and keen eye for a humorous situation. (In this respect, I was reminded of some of Elizabeth Taylor's novels, particularly The Soul of Kindness which I reviewed back in January.) There are some marvellous scenes involving Helen, George and their housekeeper Mrs Cutler, a woman who always seems to have a cigarette on the go. I'll finish with a quote which I hope captures something of this tone. Mrs Cutler is imagining her future life running a care home with Leslie Dunlop, a man she has met through a dating agency.
She saw herself in the Lurex two-piece she had bought in the sales, being absolutely charming to some old dear while her husband hovered cheerily in the background. 'My husband will take care of it,' she would say. 'You will have to speak to my husband about that.' They would make an ideal pair. After all, if she could look after Helen, she could look after a few more. And they had nurses, didn't they? She sent Leslie back to Folkestone with instructions to make enquiries at all likely establishments along the coast. Then she nipped back to the Black Lion and had two gins to steady her nerves after her momentous afternoon. (p. 114)
A Start in Life is published by Penguin Books; my thanks to the publishers for kindly providing a review copy.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Brookner Anita and tagged #ReadWomen, Anita Brookner, Book Review, Classics Club, Elizabeth Taylor, Fiction, Penguin Books, UK on February 21, 2017 by JacquiWine.
The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares (tr. Ruth L.C. Simms)
When I put together my list for the Classics Club back in December 2015, I included a few translations just to mix things up a bit. The Invention of Morel (first published in 1940), was one such book. It's an early novel by the Argentine writer Adolfo Bioy Casares, whose joint novella with his wife, Silvina Ocampo, Where There's Love, There's Hate – a thoroughly entertaining take on the traditional detective story – made my end-of-year highlights in 2014. While I didn't love Morel as much as the Casares-Ocampo co-production, I did enjoy it. It's an intriguing story, one that keeps the reader guessing until certain revelations come to light.
The story centres on the fate of an unnamed narrator, a fugitive who is hiding out on a supposedly uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere in the hope of evading the authorities following his conviction for a serious crime. It is said that the island is home to a mysterious, fatal disease, one that attacks the human body from outside in. Nevertheless, the narrator is prepared to take his chances; it's either that or run the risk of recapture by the police.
When we join the story, the narrator has been on the island for a few months, typically taking shelter in a museum, one of two buildings constructed by the previous inhabitants. One day his peace is disturbed by the sudden appearance of a crowd of people – it is almost as if they have come out of nowhere.
When I was finally able to sleep, it was very late. The music and the shouting woke me up a few hours later. I have not slept soundly since my escape; I am sure that if a ship, a plane, or any other form of transportation had arrived, I would have heard it. And yet suddenly, unaccountably, on this oppressive summerlike night, the grassy hillside has become crowded with people who dance, stroll up and down, and swim in the pool, as if this were a summer resort like Los Teques or Marienbad. (pp. 10-11)
Fearing for his safety, the narrator moves to the least habitable area of the island where he can observe the strangers from a suitable distance. As it turns out, the interlopers spend much of their time dancing to the same two records which they play on a phonograph, irrespective of the weather. The arrival of these figures raises various questions in the narrator's mind (and in that of the reader). Is this a strange hallucination, the consequence of exposure to extreme heat perhaps or the after-effects of eating a poisonous plant? Is it all an elaborate a ruse by the authorities to lure the narrator into submission – and if so, why go to such lengths? Or are these images ghosts, no longer living but returned from the dead?
The narrator seems no nearer to solving the mystery when he tries to make contact with one of the strangers, a beautiful woman named Faustine who sits on a rock observing the sunset on a daily basis. The narrator is fascinated by Faustine and her gypsy-like sensuality; to him, she represents a kind of hope where before there was none. However, when the narrator tries to make contact with Faustine, all his dreams are dashed; either she cannot see his figure or she is ignoring him, defying his presence as she sits by his side.
It has been, again, as if she did not see me. This time I made the mistake of not speaking to her at all.
When the woman came down to the rocks, I was watching the sunset. She stood there for a moment without moving, looking for a place to spread out her blanket. Then she walked toward me. If I had put out my hand, I would have touched her. This possibility horrified me (as if I had almost touched a ghost). There was something frightening in her complete detachment. But when she sat down at my side it seemed she was defying me, trying to show that she no longer ignored my presence. (p. 29)
There are also occasions during the story when the author ratchets up the tension, the narrator fearing for his safety and freedom in this strange, unfathomable environment.
I started to walk down the hall, feeling that a door would open suddenly and a pair of rough hands would reach out and grab me, a mocking voice would taunt me. The strange world I had been living in, my conjectures and anxieties, Faustine – they all seemed like an invisible path that was leading me straight to prison and death. (pp. 48-49)
Casares plants clues throughout the story as to what is happening on the island, but there comes a point when all is revealed. I don't want to say a lot more about it here, other than it's a very clever explanation with nods to both science and art. Morel is a novel which explores ideas around mortality, the pursuit of immortality, the nature of happiness and the enduring power of love. As long as the narrator can stay close to Faustine, in whatever form this may take, then there is hope for the future; but without this, what is there to live for?
Several other bloggers have reviewed this book as Richard and Stu hosted a readalong a couple of years ago. Here's a link to Grant's excellent review which I recall seeing in the past. I'm sure there are many others too.
The Invention of Morel is published by NYRB Classics; personal copy.
This entry was posted in Bioy Casares Adolfo, Book Reviews and tagged #SpanishLitMonth, #TranslationThurs, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentina, Book Review, Classics Club, Fiction, Literature in Translation, NYRB Classics, Ruth L. C. Simms, Silvina Ocampo on February 14, 2017 by JacquiWine.
The Hotel by Elizabeth Bowen
Back in April 2016 I read Elizabeth Bowen's The Death of the Heart, a brilliant book that made my end-of-year highlights – you can read my review here. First published in 1927, The Hotel was Bowen's first novel. It's a striking debut, a story of unsuitable attachments and the subtle dynamics at play among the members of a very privileged set, all cast against the backdrop of the Italian Riviera in the 1920s.
In many ways, the novel revolves around Sydney Warren, a somewhat remote yet spirited young woman in her early twenties. Sydney has come to the hotel to accompany her older cousin, Tessa Bellamy, who in turn is trying to deal with a gastric condition. Sydney's family are delighted that she has travelled to Italy with Tessa, viewing it is an 'inspired solution of the Sydney problem', in their eyes something to counterbalance the girl's leaning towards the neurotic and her tendency to be 'so unfortunate in her choice of friends'. For her part, Sydney has developed a rather unhealthy attachment to another resident, Mrs Kerr, an intriguing, self-assured woman in her forties. While Mrs Kerr is a widow, she appears to act more like a divorcee; at least that's the opinion of several of the other guests at the hotel who seem enjoy speculating about Mrs Kerr and the nature of her relationship with Sydney. I love this next quote, a passage of dialogue so indicative of Bowen's penetrating tone. In this scene, Tessa is in conversation with several other ladies in the hotel drawing-room.
Tessa continued: 'Sydney is very affectionate.'
'She is very much…absorbed, isn't she, by Mrs Kerr?'
'I have known other cases,' said somebody else, looking about vaguely for her scissors, 'of these very violent friendships. One didn't feel those others were quite healthy.'
'I should discourage any daughter of mine from a friendship with an older woman. It is never the best women who have these strong influences. I would far rather she lost her head about a man.'
'Sydney hasn't lost her head,' said little Tessa with dignity.
'Oh but, Mrs Bellamy – I was talking about other cases.' (p. 62)
And so the discussion continues in a similar vein.
Other notable guests at the hotel include Mr and Mrs Lee-Mittison, the Ammerings and their son Victor and the Lawrence girls, Veronica, Eileen and Joan. Mr Lee-Mittison is determined to surround himself with the beautiful, refined young people, and there are some classic scenes involving a picnic he attempts to orchestrate with mixed results. While the Lee-Mittisons are very happy for Sydney and the Lawrence sisters to attend, they are none too pleased when Victor Ammering shows up on the scene, much to Veronica Lawrence's amusement when she goes off with the young man. For her part, Mrs L-M, a devoted wife, will do anything she can to ensure her husband's social events are a success. It's all quite amusing to observe.
Also staying at the hotel are Miss Pym and Miss Fitzgerald, genteel elderly ladies very much of the type depicted in Fawlty Towers, and two sisters-in-law, the Honourable Mrs and Miss Pinkerton, who have paid extra to have exclusive use of the bathroom opposite their rooms. When middle-aged clergyman James Milton arrives at the hotel following a long train journey across the continent, unaware of the bathroom arrangements he goes for a long soak in the Pinkertons' bath, much to the consternation of the ladies on his floor.
James Milton's appearance on the scene shakes things up a little in more ways than one. In the hope of attracting Sydney, he rushes out a terribly ill-judged proposal of marriage to her during a walk in the countryside (there is a sense that he is comfortable operating within his own relatively small circle of society, but much less so in this wider sphere). Sydney declines, giving James the impression that there is no point in his holding out any hope of a change in heart; but then the situation changes once again with another arrival, that of Ronald, Mrs Kerr's twenty-year-old son. Before long, Sydney realises that Mrs Kerr has given her the brush off in favour of Ronald, a fact that becomes painfully clear to her during a conversation with Veronica Lawrence. Once again, Bowen demonstrates great insight and precision in painting this scene; here's a brief extract from the extended discussion between these two girls.
'Well, she has so absolutely given you the go-by, hasn't she?' said Veronica, replacing the alabaster lid of the powder-bowl, then looking down to blow some powder off her dress. 'It was "Sydney this" and "Sydney darling that" and "Where's Sydney?" and "Sydney and I are going together," and now he's come she simply doesn't see you.'
Sydney, after an interval, leant sideways to push the window farther open. She seemed to have forgotten Veronica, who energetically continued: Of course I'm sorry for you. Everybody's sorry for you.'
'Oh,' said Sydney.
'Do you mind the way she's going on?" asked Veronica curiously.
'It hadn't occurred to me that there was anything to mind,' said Sydney with a high-pitched little laugh and a sensation of pushing off something that was coming down on her like the ceiling in one of her dreams. It seemed incredible that the words Veronica had just made use of should ever have been spoken. (p. 117)
In a rebound response to being sidelined by Mrs Kerr, Sydney agrees to marry James Milton, a development also prompted, at least to a certain extent, by Veronica's attitude towards marriage. In many ways, Veronica sees marriage to a man as an inevitable outcome for a woman in her position – so if she has to marry someone it may as well be Victor Ammering, to whom she has just become engaged.
It is from this point onwards in the novel that Mrs Kerr's cruel, manipulative steak really starts to show itself. When James reveals his engagement to Sydney, Mrs Kerr carefully plants the seeds of doubt in his mind. To say any more might spoil the story, but it's a brilliant scene, beautifully observed.
The Hotel feels incredibly accomplished for a debut novel, full of little observations on human nature and the dynamics at play. In some ways, it could be seen as a cold book as there is very little warmth or affection in most of the relationships depicted here. That said, I certainly don't mean this as a major criticism – it seems to be a function of the characters and the society in which they find themselves. These people are gravitating towards one another for convenience and perhaps a vague kind of protection or social acceptability. Veronica seems to be making do with Victor; while happy enough, she doesn't appear to be in love with him, although that might come in time. James is on the lookout for a wife, and Sydney seems to fit the bill. As for Sydney herself, I feel for her even though she behaves rather foolishly, especially towards James. She is young and inexperienced, and the worldly Mrs Kerr has clearly toyed with her affections. By the end of the story, Sydney sees her sophisticated friend for what she really is: a rather spoilt, insensitive woman.
This is a novel to be read slowly. At times, Bowen's prose can appear rather dense and intricate, but it does rewards the investment in time and concentration. As one might expect, Bowen is excellent when it comes to capturing the atmosphere of this elite world, complete with its tennis matches, picnics and tiresome excursions to places of interest. She is particularly good on hotel etiquette. I'll finish with a passage on the social codes at lunch, so typical of this author's keen eye for detail.
Beyond, down the long perspective to the foot of the stairs, one could see visitors take form with blank faces, then compose and poise themselves for an entrance. Some who thought punctuality rather suburban would gaze into the unfilled immensity of the room for a moment, then vanish repelled. Others would advance swimmingly and talk from table to table across the emptiness, familiarly, like a party of pioneers. Men came in without their wives and did not always look up when these entered. Women appearing before their husbands remained alert, gazed into an opposite space resentfully, and ate with an air of temporizing off the tips of their forks. When the husbands did come in it seemed a long time before there was something to say. It seemed odder than ever to Sydney, eyeing these couples, that men and women should be expected to pair off for life. (pp. 23-24)
I read this book with Dorian (of the excellent Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau blog). You can find his terrific analysis here.
The Hotel is published by Vintage Books; personal copy.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Bowen Elizabeth and tagged #ReadWomen, Book Review, Classics Club, Elizabeth Bowen, Fiction, Hotels, UK, Vintage Books on February 1, 2017 by JacquiWine.


The increasing adoption of district heating systems coupled with rapid expansion of residential and commercial establishments will foster the heat meters market, that is projected to reach USD 1,218.9 million by 2023. From an estimated USD 849.1 million in 2018, it will grow at a CAGR of 7.50%. Favorable government policies pertaining to energy efficiency along with growing concerns toward building emissions will favor the product penetration. However, increasing competition from alternative heating technologies and capital cost associated with heat meter operations could act as restraints for the market.


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Publications in area "Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry"
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SHARCNET Authors
1. Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Tellurium (IV) Methanediides and Their Insertion Products with Sulfur and Iodine 2012 R. Thirumoorthi, T. Chivers, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
2. Planar P6E6 (E = Se, S) Macrocycles Incorporating P2N2 Scaffolds 2012 A. Nordheider, T. Chivers, R. Thirumoorthi, I. Vargas-Baca, J. D. Woollins Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
3. Tetrakis(imino)pyracene Complexes Exhibiting Multielectron Redox Processes 2012 K. V. Vasudevan, M. Findlater, I. Vargas-Baca, A. H. Cowley Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
4. Parameterization of a Force Field for Te-N Secondary Bonding Interactions and its Application in the Design of Supramolecular Structures Based on Heterocyclic Building Blocks 2011 A. F. Cozzolino, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
5. S,C,S-Pnictogen bonding in pincer complexes of methanediide [C(Ph2PS)2]^2- 2011 R. Thirumoorthi, T. Chivers, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
6. Eta3-Vinylborane Complexes of Platinum and Nickel: Borataallyl- and Alkyl/Borataalkene-Like Coordination Modes 2010 K. B. Kolpin, D. J. H. Emslie Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
7. N,N'-Diamidoketenimines via coupling of isocyanides to an N-heterocyclic carbene 2010 T. W. Hudnall, E. J. Moorhead, D. G. Gusev, C. W. Bielawski Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
8. Heterolytic splitting of H-X bonds at a cationic (PNP)Pd center 2010 L. C. Gregor, C.-H. Chen, C. M. Fafard, L. Fan, C. Guo, B. M. Foxman, D. G. Gusev, O. V. Ozerov Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
9. An experimental and computational investigation of the formation and the structures of the N-hydro and N,N'-dihydro-benzo-2,1,3-chalcogenadiazolium chlorides 2010 L. M. Lee, P. J. W. Elder, A. F. Cozzolino, Q. Yang, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
10. Structure and Formation of the First (-O-Te-N-)4 Ring 2010 J. Kübel, P. J. W. Elder, H. A. Jenkins, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
11. Supramolecular chromotropism of the crystalline phases of 4,5,6,7-tetrafluorobenzo-2,1,3-telluradiazole 2010 A. F. Cozzolino P. S. Whitfield, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
12. Naphthalene-Mediated Electronic Communication in Tetrakis-(imino)pyracene Complexes 2009 K. V. Vasudevan, I. Vargas-Baca, A. H. Cowley Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
13. Donor Properties of a Series of Two‐Electron Ligands 2009 D. G. Gusev Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
14. Electronic and Steric Parameters of 76 N‐Heterocyclic Carbenes in Ni(CO)3(NHC) 2009 D. G. Gusev Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
15. An investigation of (C5H5)Fe(C5H4-C(OBF3)-CH3) 2009 F. O. Ogini, P. J. W. Elder, J. F. Britten, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
16. N-Triphenylboryl- and N, N'-bis(triphenylboryl)- benzo-2,1,3-telluradiazole 2009 A. F. Cozzolino, S. Hanhan, A. D. Bain, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
17. The valence electronic structure of benzo-2,1,3-chalcogenadiazoles studied by photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory 2008 A. F. Cozzolino, N. E. Gruhn, D. L. Lichtenberger, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
18. Boron di- and trications 2008 I. Vargas-Baca, M. Findlater, A. Powell, K. V. Vasudevan, A. H. Cowley Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
19. An Investigation of the Formation of 1,3,5-Heterosubstituted Benzene Rings by Cyclo-Condensation of Acetyl-Substituted Organometallic Complexes 2008 F. O. Ogini, Y. Ortin, A. H. Mahmoudkhani, A. F. Cozzolino, M. J. McGlinchey, I. Vargas-Baca Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry
20. Synthesis of a Heterobimetallic Rhodium-Iron Complex Containing an 3-Interaction between Rhodium and the B-Cipso-Cortho Unit of a Triarylborane 2006 Oakley, S. R.; Parker, K. D.; Emslie, D. J. H.; Vargas-Baca, I.; Robertson, C. M.; Harrington, L. E.; Britten, J. F. Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Jimmy Lee Dykes Alabama Hostage Standoff Raises Questions About Survivalists
ByRosa Heyman
The happy ending of Monday's rescue of the five year-old boy who was being held hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama for nearly a week by 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, highlighted a phenomenon that exists in certain pockets of the United States: "Survivalism."
Dykes was a 65 year-old Vietnam veteran who neighbors say was "anti-government," who had built a bunker equipped with electricity and enough supplies to last for several weeks.
As defined by Survivalist.info, a website devoted to collecting information for Survivalists, a Survivalist is a person who has personal or group survival as the primary goal in the face of difficulty, opposition, and especially the threat of a natural catastrophe, a nuclear war, or societal collapse. To become a Survivalist is no easy feat for it requires knowledge of a whole range of niche skills, such as how to properly store food, how to build a nuclear blast or fallout shelter, how to cook with solar power, daily habits to boost one's immune function, how to identify wild edibles, etc.
Because of the potential threat of civil unrest, Survivalists tend to fiercely defend the Second Amendment and voice major concerns about gun confiscation and of the government's power to interfere and control. One banner on the Survivalist website broadcasts this message: "Violation of the Second Amendment is a tyrannical, all-out assault on liberty."
There are numerous websites to provide Survivalists-in-training with the tools and information necessary to begin their preparation for the end of the world. Survivalist.com publishes a magazine that covers topics ranging from emergency childbirth to flash mob riot escape, as well as home fortifications and security. This site also offers webinars in which viewers can learn how to cut food storage costs and space in half, and healthier alternative to traditional freeze-dried options. Survival guides are also available in order to provide readers with a complete canning guide, the steps of building a solar oven, and a guide for identifying medicinal plants, among other skills. Other websites, such as Off Grid Survival, test and review gear and raise awareness about issues that pose a threat to the Survivalist way of life. Off Grid Survival, for instance, recently posted about the EPA's plan to outlaw many wood-burning stoves in their effort to outlaw the off grid lifestyle.
In all, the Survivalist lifestyle stresses the importance of preparation and the power of knowledge. It is yet to be seen whether the Survivalist creed can explain the violent behavior of the late Dykes, though we can say for sure that his Survivalist background did little to help him in the face of the very government agents he was hoping to avoid.


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Korea's Stimulus Package for a Post-Covid Economy
이승민
The COVID-19 pandemic in Korea has shown a definite beam of hope as the number of new cases has drastically fallen from a few hundred a month ago to the single digits for a while. The way the Korean health administration and officials have handled the malaise got worldwide acclamation, and even the adamant US President Donald Trump praised the country's effectiveness and thoroughness. Although it is not over yet and the potential future outbreak still lingers, Korean people as well as the authorities are beginning to consider gradually easing the tight rein of enforcing the social distancing and mandatory partial lockdown that has restrained for some time regular economic activities and social life.
A definite sense of optimism on one side, yet there is the other gloomy economic picture lurking in the corner as the statistics of the dark era of COVID-19 began to emerge on the surface. Indeed, the Bank of Korea statistics just released showed that the tentative first quarter GDP growth rate was –1.4% and the private consumption –6.7% over the last quarter. The manufacturing industry production fell from 1.6% in the last quarter of 2019 to –1.8% in the first quarter of 2020, and the retail and wholesale distribution industry fell from 1.4% to –6.5%, while entertainment and other service industry dropped from 0.1% to –6.2% in just one quarter. Remembering that these poor numbers are just a partial reflection of the real impact of COVID-19 which might have been deadlier in the forthcoming second quarter months, it is not surprising at all to hear the deputy prime minister warning against a more pessimistic outlook for coming quarters down the road.
Against this backdrop of apocalyptic economic forecasts, the Ministry of Finance and Economy has audaciously pledged a series of measures starting from March to fight against the gargantuan challenge that COVID-19 has posed on Korean economy. So far, since the outbreak early January this year, there has been a total of eight sets of drastic policies to counter the negative effects of the pandemic. The entire size of the means and finances is totaling over KRW 282 trillion, equivalent of USD 235 billion, making up approximately 16% of 2019 GDP. The nation has never witnessed such a grand-size package of policies in the past. Neither the IMF emergency measures in 1997 or the solutions for the 2008 financial crisis was not as big as the COVID-19 measures. It is relatively bigger than Japan's JPY 56 trillion emergency measures which is about 10% of its GDP, or Singapore's pledge of 11% of its GDP for emergency projects. Only Germany surpassed all other countries by allotting almost 30% of GDP for the emergency purposes.
The grand plan has multi-targets: first, encouraging employment; second, emergency funding to SMEs as well as the seven core industries such as automobile, airlines, transportation, retails, shipbuilding, machineries, electricity, and communication; third, stabilizing the financial markets; and finally, subsidizing household incomes.
To uphold employment, the measures encourage SMEs to avoid laying-off employees by providing more incentives for longer periods. The legitimate areas of support are extended to airport limousine service workers, duty-free shop workers, conference employees, and airport staff and engineers. Also, the plan tries to provide emergency subsidies to more than 1 million people such as freelancers and delivery servicemen not protected by the public unemployment insurance. Major core industries are also supported by providing funds for capital replenishment or short-term liquidity. There is a strong possibility that a few other labor intensive industries such as hotel or retail could be added to the aforementioned seven industries above. However, it should be reminded that the biggest chunk of the financial resources is devoted to maintaining financial stability, especially in the stock and bond markets. Out of the total of USD 235 billion budget, USD 130 billion is allocated for the purpose of financial market stabilization. Among it, USD 42 billion is designed for direct capital markets intervention, and the rest is used to prevent insolvency due to liquidity shortage. It is the general recognition that once the capital markets are in jeopardy, the entire Korean economic system could crumble in a very short time as the sudden flight of foreign capital would entail extreme movements of the stock prices as well as the exchange rates, which could generate a vicious cycle of exchange depreciation and stock price free-fall. Therefore, a preemptive action by the authorities is crucial for a successful and effective prevention of any kind of economic and financial crisis.
While the unprecedented size and opportune timing may be all right, the last-but-not-least important point deserves to be highlighted. All these policies are emergencies in nature, preventing economic meltdown. They don't necessarily promise a brighter future. They need to embrace productive plans such as building dams, highways, hospitals or schools as in FDR's New Deal. Preventing a disaster is definitely one thing, but building a completely new economy is another. For Korea's version of the plan to be successful, the only missing piece is to have a series of productive investment plans. It is not strange at all to expect a next set of emergency policies to be directed to that target.
This will also pass by.
By Professor Se Don Shin
Dean, Sookmyung Women's University
seshin@sm.ac.kr
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the views of KOTRA
New Direction for Korea's New Deal
Overcoming COVID-19
Fitch reaffirms S. Korea's rating at AA- with stable outlook
Saudi Arabia seeks to deepen economic ties with S. Korea
Korea-Uzbekistan discuss ways to promote cooperation on plant, trade and investment, and healthcare and medical areas


Will go after net neutrality next.
The US Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to effectively deregulate the US$45 billion (A$60 billion) business data services market in a win for big telco companies that will likely lead to price hikes for many small businesses.
The 2-1 vote is a blow to companies such as Sprint and others that claim prices for business data are too high and backed a 2016 plan under former President Barack Obama that would have cut prices.
It marked a significant step in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's aggressive agenda to roll back many existing telecommunications rules and Obama era regulations.
Small businesses, schools, libraries and others rely on business data services, or special-access lines, to transmit large amounts of data quickly.
The services are used, among other applications, to connect banks to ATMs or gasoline pump credit card readers.
Thursday's vote scrapped most regulatory requirements in the business data services market, although some price caps in areas with little competition will be retained.
Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who accused her Republican colleagues of siding with "the interests of multibillion-dollar providers," said the ruling "opens the door to immediate price hikes" to small businesses. The rule deregulates pricing in a majority of counties and more than 90 percent of buildings using the services.
Pai defended the decision, saying regulatory requirements had threatened competition and investment.
Pai plans as early as next week to unveil plans to dismantle the Obama administration's "net neutrality" rules, even as he favors a free and open internet under a different regulatory scheme.
He declined to discuss his plans, but said he had met this week with executives at Facebook, Oracle, Cisco, and Intel to discuss internet issues.
In recent days, the independent Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, the European Union and Democratic members of Congress have raised concerns about the lifting of net neutrality rules.
Under Obama, then FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in April 2016 proposed a sweeping reform plan for business data services that aimed to reduce prices paid. Wheeler had proposed maintaining and lowering lower price caps using legacy data systems with a phased-in 11 percent price reduction.
Sprint, which backed Wheeler's proposal, told the FCC in a March 22 letter that "thousands of large and small businesses across the country were paying far too much for broadband because of inadequate competition."
CenturyLink praised Thursday's decision as something that aligned regulations with "competitive market realities." Comcast said the vote would help minimise "burdensome and investment-killing regulations, specifically on new entrants."
Advocacy group Public Knowledge said the decision "doubles down on incumbent market power, forcing businesses, hospitals, schools, and ultimately consumers to pay more for essential connectivity."


text:
Standings and results for Group 3 of the UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying tournament.

Group 3 consisted of Cyprus, Italy, Hungary, Norway and the USSR.

Final table

Results

Goalscorers

References
UEFA website

Attendances -

Group 3
1990–91 in Italian football
1991–92 in Italian football
1990–91 in Cypriot football
1991–92 in Cypriot football
1990–91 in Hungarian football
1991–92 in Hungarian football
1990 in Norwegian football
1991 in Norwegian football
1990 in Soviet football
1991 in Soviet football
CIS at UEFA Euro 1992

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The unfortunate and sad truth is that the hair on top of my head is slowly but surely going away. I don't have cash for replacement surgery and quite frankly, the thought of it scares me as I don't want a dead possum sewed to my scalp.
Option one- continue to keep it short and let nature continue its miserable course.


text:
lovesciencequiz.com
ADRIAN THRILLS: New album from Barry Gibb is New Year tonic we need
ADRIAN THRILLS: New album from surviving Bee Gee Barry Gibb is just the New Year tonic we need
BARRY GIBB & FRIENDS: Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. I (EMI)
Verdict: Classics with a country twist
Elvis Costello once said a great song should be robust enough to be sung in different styles, whether that's on an acoustic guitar or with all the bells and whistles of an orchestra.
It's a theory that clearly strikes a chord with Barry Gibb. 'We grew up in a different world,' he says. 'In those days, there was no such thing as genre.'
Gibb puts his views into practice on new album Greenfields, taking some of the greatest songs he sang with the Bee Gees and re-recording them as big-ticket duets in a country setting. He made the album in Nashville with garlanded producer Dave Cobb, roping in some impressive guests.
Barry Gibb (pictured) says there used to be no such thing as genre, and puts that into practice with his new record made in Nashville, Tennessee
It's a testimony to the enduring quality of hits that were originally melodramatic pop numbers or high-octane floor-fillers that the project works a treat. It's not just a matter of adding a few big names and some lap steel guitar either. There are detours into southern pop, country-soul, bluegrass and Americana, too.
The first big release of 2021, the album is also a tribute to Barry's two younger Bee Gees siblings: the twins Maurice and Robin died in 2003 and 2012 respectively, but they co-wrote many of the tunes here and it's only fitting that the record is subtitled The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1.
At 74, Barry's tremulous voice is still in fine fettle — a result, perhaps, of a healthy lifestyle — and the effect he has on his guests is revealing. Some pull out all the stops by wringing every ounce of emotion out of lyrics steeped in melancholy and heartache. Others allow the songs to do the heavy lifting. Both approaches have their benefits.
For a song steeped in melancholy, Barry Gibb was joined by Keith Urban for I've Gotta Get A Message To You, a song about the last wishes of a death row prisoner
In the former category comes a grandstanding take on I've Gotta Get A Message To You, with Keith Urban. The song, about the last wishes of a prisoner on death row, was originally written with R&B star Percy Sledge in mind, and there's a powerful country-soul feel to the new interpretation.
Another song originally penned for an American soul legend is also given full throttle. Otis Redding died before he was able to record To Love Somebody in 1967 and the Bee Gees ended up singing it themselves. Here, it's transformed into a rasping blues belter by Gibb and Jay Buchanan, of the Californian rock band Rival Sons.
At the other extreme, bluegrass and country star Alison Krauss teams up with Barry on a sublime Too Much Heaven, her angelic soprano flowing like honey over a ballad that sounds as if it's being sung by a falsetto soul act from the 1970s. Dolly Parton, too, shows wonderful restraint on a simple Words.
Elsewhere, Sheryl Crow sings with real feeling on How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, and Jay Buchanan returns — this time with Miranda Lambert — for Jive Talkin', one of two tracks originally on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Here, it's slowed down slightly and given a summery, honky-tonk feel.
Miranda Lambert performs on the album for Jive Talkin', a song with a summery, honky-tonk feel
Familiarity dominates, but there is room for some less celebrated gems. Jason Isbell duets on Words Of A Fool, originally a Barry Gibb solo track, and Olivia Newton-John contributes on the unheralded Rest Your Love On Me. Americana duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings also appear, adding old-time bluegrass hues on Butterfly.
The most ambitious inclusion is that of 1970's Lonely Days, a baroque pop number littered with tempo changes that was the Bee Gees' attempt to compete with the medley on side two of The Beatles' Abbey Road. Male-female quartet Little Big Town do a decent job with some tricky harmonies but the track interrupts the album's flow. Still, Greenfields signals a great start to the pop year, not least because it arrives at a point when our spirits certainly need lifting. And, with the likes of Night Fever and More Than A Woman absent, there is plenty of scope for the second volume hinted at in the album title. You Should Be Line Dancing, perhaps?
STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES: J.T (New West)
Verdict: Father's touching tribute
Steve Earle's latest album J.T. is a tribute to his son Justin Townes Earle, a singer-songwriter who died in August 2020 after an accidental drug overdose. Out digitally last Monday on what would have been Justin's 39th birthday, it's as much a celebration as a farewell. 'It was the only way I knew to say goodbye,' says Steve.
Like his father, the late singer — his middle name given to him in honour of singer Townes Van Zandt — was a talented lyricist, and Texan rocker Steve's road-hardened band The Dukes take ten of Justin's songs, plus one Steve Earle original, and place them in a rootsy but accomplished setting, with fiddle player Eleanor Whitmore prominent.
Themes of heartbreak and family loom large. Ain't Glad I'm Leaving is old-school country, and Far Away In Another Town an anguished ballad that finds its main character hitting the road for a place where he can be 'lonesome on my own'.
It's not wholly downbeat, though, with Maria an electric rocker and Harlem River Blues leaning towards rockabilly.
This week's digital release of J.T. will be followed by CD and vinyl versions on March 19, with proceeds going into a trust for the late singer's daughter Etta.
BIRTHDAY TREAT FOR BOWIE FANS
Two unreleased David Bowie tracks, both covers, are being issued this morning to mark what would have been his 74th birthday. The songs date from the late 1990s and are bolstered by a traditional rock sound that suggests he was eager to move on from 1997's Earthling, his poorly received drum and bass album.
The first is a showy take on John Lennon's Mother, recorded in 1997 and 1998 for a tribute LP that was never released. The second track, Bob Dylan's Tryin' To Get To Heaven, is more ambitious, with the original's languid feel transformed by Bowie's sax and Reeves Gabrels' bluesy guitar.
Two unreleased David Bowie tracks, both covers, are being released today to mark what would have been his 74th birthday
The songs are out on streaming services and vinyl, with a limited edition 7in single restricted to 8,147 copies in honour of Bowie's date of birth (8/1/47). One thousand copies on cream-coloured vinyl are available from Bowie's website and Warner Music's online Dig! store. The remaining 7in singles are on black vinyl.
And a surprise new Ed Sheeran track, Afterglow, emerged late last month. The singer's first release since becoming a dad in August, it's a dreamy acoustic ballad sung with a hint of auto-tune. The single, Ed insists, is a one-off rather than a taster for a new album.
Tags: Adrian, Album, from, new, THRILLS:
RS Recommends: This Portable HD Projector With 25,000 Reviews is on Sale for $79
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Bernie Sanders Reacts To Becoming A Meme During Inauguration Day
Harry Potter's Jessie Cave Gives Update After 11-Week-Old Son is Hospitalized with COVID-19
Hollyoaks killer Will Savage kidnaps his family in devastating episode
Benetti Motopanfilo Superyacht Is an Ode To the Legendary 1960s
Mrs Hinch shows off incredible £5 makeup brush cleaning hack which removes dirt fast
SARAH VINE: I'm not blessed with Fiona Bruce's resolve to shun Botox


I have 2 puzzles I want to talk about right now. Let's start with the 2×2. This cube is not my best, it is real funny however. One of my favorite theories about this cube is the fact that non-cubers are like, "Oh, that's easy!" Then I give it to them and after 5 minutes they come back and are like, "it's too hard".
Then they come back and tell me that cubing is a waste of time. I just laugh. The bad part though, is that I gave my 2×2 to a friend and he broke it past repair. I now need a new one. I'm not happy with that friend. Now, I'll talk about the Pyraminx.
Now, I don't own one but I have a favorite story about one. I was going in a car to a Boy Scout camp; one of the boys in the car has a pyraminx. I solved my 3×3 and asked if I can see the Pyraminx. When we got to camp I actually thought I was halfway done but then he said that he will keep it in the car (it was his car). 2 days later, I got it back. I was actually not paying any attention to it, just turning it almost mindlessly. I was talking when I looked down I saw that only 3 edges had to be swapped! I knew of no algorithms, so I did not know what to do. By instinct and the little skill I had I started turning it. And, believe it or not, I solved it! I still don't know how I did it. We all went crazy after that and the owner was so happy and he thanked me for solving it. I said that I did not solve it, but turned it and it's not always that easy.


Bangalore is located around 34 KM away from Wonderla via bus route. Bangalore to Wonderla travel time by bus in the concerned bus route may take around 0 hours and 40.99 minutes apporximately when your bus travels at an average speed of fifty kilometers per hour. The bus ticket fare may cost around 51.24 if the bus charges is 1.5 per kilometer.
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Drama students to perform 'John Lennon and Me'
Play explores life and death, friendship and peer pressure
By TERRY SMITH
The Wood River High School Drama Department will perform "John Lennon and Me" four times this week at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater at the Community Campus in Hailey.
Courtesy graphic
Star Grubner is a girl with dreams, a wannabe Hollywood star and the ultimate Beatles fan, but her plans are cut short when she's diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that guarantees death at an early age. She is now confined to a hospital where she uses her imagination for existence until she gets a new roommate, a girl named Courtney who is someone with an entirely different personality. Eventually, they learn to understand each other and ultimately learn to understand more about themselves.
Entitled "John Lennon and Me," this play will be performed by the Wood River High School Drama Department four times this week. It was written by award-winning playwright and author Cherie Bennett, who also wrote "Anne Frank & Me," "Cyra & Rocky" and "Reviving Ophelia."
"John Lennon and Me" is described in a synopsis as an "uproarious play about life, death, power and first boyfriends."
"I started looking for a play this summer and being a Beatles fan, this title caught my attention," said high school drama director Karl Nordstrom. "I ordered a perusal copy and realized the two main characters were perfect for two of my senior actors. On top of that, it was completely different than anything we had done in the past. It is the first play in my time here at Wood River where all the actors are playing characters their own age."
"I felt the themes of friendship, peer-pressure, fitting and not fitting in, parent/teenage relationships, stigmas about illness, and the sometimes overlooked strength of our kids in society were relevant and worth exploring," Nordstrom said. "Plus, I got to dig through my Beatles and Lennon music to find a music score for the show."
The lead roles of Star Grubner and Courtney are played by Caroline Scarbrough and Eva Sorensen, respectively.
Other performers are Alexandra Begley, Jessy Gonzalez, Logan Scarbrough, Yisel Reigle, Misty McClure, John Tatterson, Anyela De la Cruz, Nicole Puggioni, Penny Hope and Jason Black.
Shannon Robertson is stage manager, Cherice Tatterson does hair and makeup.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
The WRHS Drama Department performs "John Lennon and Me" four times this week at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater at the Community Campus in Hailey. Shows are tonight and Thursday at 6 p.m., on Friday at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 1 p.m. Tickets are available at the door. The cost is $8 for adults, $5 for high school students and senior citizens, $3 for middle school students and $1 for elementary school students and younger. The play lasts about 90 minutes. It is produced by special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing Company.
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I was hurt in a Virginia auto accident and my medical bills are piling up. My back and neck were injured in the crash and I am in too much pain to work. The accident was the other drivers fault. Can I sue him to recover compensation to pay my medical expenses?
Yes, you can sue the other driver. However, you need to understand that it can take a long time to resolve your case, so you should also look at your own insurance policy. You may have coverage for some of your medical bills that are quickly adding up. That will at least cover part of your medical treatment, while you are pursuing your injury claim against the other driver.
It would be a good idea to talk with a board certified Virginia personal injury attorney who will be able to review your case. An experienced lawyer will evaluate the facts in your accident and provide you with straightforward recommendations.
For tips on how to hire a Virginia personal injury lawyer, order a copy of my book: The Truth About Lawyer Advertising.


C & O SERVICE & INVESTMENT LIMITED is a company located in Cyprus, 1095 NICOSIA at LAMPOUSAS 1. C & O SERVICE & INVESTMENT LIMITED has an ACTIVE entity status and an ISSUED LEI code. The Legal Entity Identifier code of C & O SERVICE & INVESTMENT LIMITED is 213800OJK2SFET2ILU35. The legal form of this company is RCPI.


Twig + Petal® Om Roller helps ease everyday stress and nervous tension. Our carefully formulated blend has an instant calming effect. Lavender and chamomile are deeply relaxing and comforting.
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Topical: Apply to the temples, neck, or shoulder area.


Latics confirm three-year partnership with Coral, who will feature on first team training wear in the 2018-19 season.
"We are very excited at Coral to be forming this dynamic partnership with Wigan Athletic Football Club after being promoted to the Championship," Coral PR Director, Simon Clare.
Wigan Athletic are delighted to announce a new 3-year partnership with industry leading bookmaker, Coral.
The deal will see Coral become the clubs Official Betting and Gaming partner with Coral branding to feature on all first team training wear.
Coral, the fastest growing multi-channel betting and gaming brand in the UK, will also become the in stadia betting partner of the DW Stadium, offering Wigan Athletic fans a comprehensive matchday betting facility, from the numerous in stadia betting kiosks.
Throughout the course of the partnership, supporters of Wigan Athletic will have access to exclusive Coral offers and promotions, including a number of "money can't buy" experiences. Through its association with Wigan Athletic, Coral aims to further strengthen its position as one of the biggest sports betting brands in the UK market.
Latics' Chief Executive, Jonathan Jackson added: "We are delighted to welcome Coral as a Wigan Athletic partner.


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Column: Spectrum, like other big companies, seeks to abandon its merger promises
Charter's 2016 merger with Time Warner Cable allowed it to rebrand as Spectrum.
(Charter Communications)
By Michael HiltzikBusiness Columnist
Back in 2016, the giant cable company Charter Communications made several promises required by federal regulators as conditions for the approval of a merger deal that would make Charter even more gargantuan.
Are you shocked that, now that the merger has long been completed, Charter is asking the Federal Communications Commission to rescind some of those conditions? Me neither.
Especially given that the result of any such FCC action would be to allow Charter, which operates its cable and broadband systems under the Spectrum brand, to raise prices on many of its internet users. (Full disclosure: The Times partners with Spectrum on a regular local TV news show.)
Why would any rational business take the time to get permission to do something they don't intend to do?
Matt Wood, Free Press
In approving Charter's $88-billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the FCC forbade Charter to place data caps on its customers for seven years — that is, charge customers more if their internet use exceeds certain levels — or until mid-2023.
The commission also forbade Charter from charging streaming video providers such as Netflix for interconnections to its system during the same period.
In a petition it filed with the FCC on June 17, Charter is asking to drop those conditions as of May 2021, or two years early. The cable company cites an escape clause in an appendix to the FCC order, allowing it to ask permission to shorten the time frame to five years. The FCC set the initial public comment period on the petition to expire Tuesday, though its schedule has come under fire as too hasty.
There's nothing new about companies that have made costly concessions to get what they want from regulators subsequently trying to renege on their promises down the line. I've reported on a couple of these cases just within the last few weeks.
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T-Mobile last month petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to overturn several conditions imposed on the PUC's approval of its merger with Sprint.
The big Northern California hospital chain Sutter Health also sought to delay court review of its 2019 antitrust settlement with California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra. (A state judge rejected that request.)
Both companies cited the COVID-19 pandemic as justification for their requests, but it's a fair bet that if the pandemic hadn't occurred, they would have looked for another excuse.
Consumer advocates are generally critical of data caps, especially for customers of fixed-broadband service, which doesn't face the same bandwidth constraints as wireless communications, where they're common.
Data caps raise the prospect of higher prices with the expansion of "bandwidth-intensive activities, such as streaming TV shows and movies," as Consumers Union put it in 2015.
They've also proliferated as mergers have reduced broadband options for the average consumer. Further, COVID-19 lockdowns have increased household dependence on broadband usage, as more customers spend longer hours at home, using the internet not only for entertainment but work.
Charter's petition has a couple of curious aspects. One is that it swears that it actually has no current plans to impose data caps on customers and has "no plan to do so" in the future, according to spokesman Justin Venech.
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"I'd be skeptical," says Matt Wood, general counsel of the consumer advocacy group Free Press. "Why would any rational business take the time to get permission to do something they don't intend to do?"
Another aspect is that Charter says, in a public statement about its request, that it merely "seeks a level playing field so that we can continue to grow and provide superior service to our customers across the country." Such major competitors as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, you see, impose data caps or data allowances at various levels of usage.
Sure, if Charter can't pursue a business model that its competitors can pursue, that's not a level playing field. But it's important to remember that this is a playing field that Charter graded itself — by agreeing to these conditions in order to get its merger approved.
Charter's petition asserts that the streaming video business and its customers, which the merger conditions were purportedly imposed to protect, is "flourishing" — nay, exploding — despite the ability of big broadband providers to stifle subscribers' data use.
Instead, Charter says, "video consumers reign supreme, demonstrating seemingly insatiable interest in video options." Of course, viewer interest in video content would probably be mushrooming with or without data caps, so the relevance of this assertion is hard to fathom.
Charter's bedrock claim is that the streaming video market, which accounts for the vast bulk of internet data use, has become "almost unrecognizable compared to what existed in 2016." Therefore, the restrictions are outdated.
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If that were true, it wouldn't say much for the business modeling staff of Charter Communications, which turned a profit of $3.5 billion on revenue of $29 billion in 2016, so presumably could have sprung for some seasoned prognosticators. (In 2019, the company earned $1.7 billion on $45.8 billion in revenue.)
But the notion that streaming video was going to grow strongly year by year could not have been much of a secret. It was part of the rationale for the Charter-Time Warner Cable merger itself. Charter is one of the few internet service providers that has focused entirely on broadband service, rather than jumping whole hog into entertainment content as Comcast did by acquiring NBC Universal and AT&T did by acquiring WarnerMedia.
The data caps imposed by some Charter competitors have been defended as so loose that the vast majority of customers won't reach them. Comcast, for instance, raised its cap to 1 terabyte per month from 300 gigabytes in 2016; above that level, extra fees apply. A gigabyte is a little more than one billion bytes, and a terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes.
AT&T estimates that to reach 1 terabyte, a user would have to send and receive 11,000 emails, watch 142 hours of standard streaming video, 129 hours of hi-def video and 94 hours of super-hi-def 4k video, spend 345 hours in online gaming and upload 2,000 social media posts with photos, all in a single month.
Yet, "that's an argument with an expiration date on it," says Wood. "Ten years ago, people would have been saying, 'Why would anybody need 25 megabits per second'" as an internet speed?
If there's one truism that crosses all technological boundaries, indeed, it's that the speed, capacity and usage of technological resources will grow. Today's computers make yesterday's look pathetic, and some of today's smartphones even make computers look pathetic.
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Comcast customers and their advocates may believe that the cable company's reputation for wretched service was the key factor in federal regulators' distaste for its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable, which has now been called off.
The imponderable in these usage estimates is video — as 4k streaming amounts to a larger share of video consumption, data use will grow commensurately — never mind the probability that even more data-heavy video technologies will eventually appear.
Broadband usage already has exceeded levels that internet firms thought were unreachable just a few years ago. In 2017, for example, Cox Cable said that only 2% of its users were reaching the 1-terabyte level. Last month, it placed the figure at 10%.
"The state of the art evolves very quickly in this field," Wood adds. If the companies didn't expect customers to hit 1-terabyte usage levels, "why would they set the cap there?"
Nevertheless, the smart money says that Charter's petition to be relieved of its prior commitments will sail through the Republican-dominated FCC. The die was cast at the time of the original approval, which occurred under a Democratic-controlled commission.
GOP commissioner Ajit Pai voted against the approval because he objected to the conditions. The approval order "isn't about competition, competition, competition; it's about regulation, regulation, regulation," a spokesman for Pai said at the time. "It's about the government micromanaging the internet economy." GOP Commissioner Michael O'Rielly voted in favor of the merger, but dissented from the conditions.
Both are still on the FCC — Pai having been elevated to chairman by President Trump. The chances that they'll look kindly on Charter's request are good.
Already the FCC has been accused of greasing the path for Charter's request. That charge came, interestingly, from the conservative news organization Newsmax Media.
Newsmax, which would have a business interest in blocking data caps by internet service providers carrying its content, says the commission issued a notice setting the comment period for the request two months too early, based on the terms of the original merger approval. The FCC's rush for comment creates "the appearance of undue favoritism" toward Charter, Newsmax argues.
That's especially true given the prospects that the FCC might again come under Democratic control early next year, an eventuality that could complicate Charter's request.
Regardless of Charter's rationale for seeking to wriggle out from under the conditions, one counter-principle should be paramount: When a company makes promises to get a huge break from government regulators, it should be held to them. Period.
Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik writes a daily blog appearing on latimes.com. His seventh book, "Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America," has just been published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/hiltzikm and on Facebook at facebook.com/hiltzik.
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VCT's or Venture Capital Trusts are a highly tax efficient closed end collective investment scheme aimed at providing funding for small companies hoping to expand.
They are listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and were introduced in 1995 to encourage investment into UK start ups. They provide immediate tax relief and a capital gains tax deferral.
Smaller companies do carry an element of risk, which is why it is important for us to find you a VCT and manager with skill and expertise in this highly specialised area.
Like EIS's they are subject to complex rules and regulations which would need to be fully explained and understood before entering into this type of arrangement.
At Romilly we would be happy to advise you of the benefits and risks associated with this type of investment.


One time I met a tall slender man with thick white hair in Barnes & Noble. He talked to me for almost ten minutes about his twelve-year old granddaughter's bright blue eyes, her fear of the dark, her obsession with Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles. And then he looked straight at me and asked if I thought she would ever get married.
Whether they go by Grandma and Grandpa or Nana and Pop or Meme and Bumpa, they all ask about sensory integration and weighted blankets and self stimulation: the buzzwords that weren't around when they had small children. They are hungry for knowledge and yearn to connect with their sometimes spinning, oftentimes silent grandsons and granddaughters.
I never feel like I have enough time to answer these questions the way I would like, so I stammer and stumble through something meaningless and disjointed. Then I pack up the extra books and my black pen and walk to my car feeling unfinished, incomplete.
Back when we were in the process of Jack's diagnosis, we lived in Buffalo and Joe's parents lived in Lake Carmel—a six hour drive away. Over the phone every week I would describe his lack of speech, his delay in development, the eerie way he wouldn't look at me. And they always said the same thing: give it time, his older brother Joey is talking for him, he is fine he is fine he will be fine.
Jack was nearly three when we moved to New Hampshire, and my in-laws followed from Lake Carmel about a year later. By that point it was well understood that Jack was not fine.
Before long they started taking some of the other kids to sleep at their house, to teach them meatball-making and sing them to sleep in the small guest room. But not Jack. One time they drove down the driveway with Joey and Charlie waving from the backseat of their Saturn while he stood next to me, turning the same Little People figure over and over in his hand. I couldn't help but feel as though some invisible line had been drawn; them, but not him. They would never understand him, never be able to handle him.
And who could blame them? At that time Jack was a total flight risk, adept at picking locks and slipping silently out the door. He only knew about a dozen words. He threw giant tantrums and woke several times a night. The truth is, they were as heartbroken as we were. They longed to connect with their enigmatic grandson, to play checkers and make meatballs and teach woodworking.
To make communication matters even more interesting, Joe's parents have the unusual habit of referring to themselves in a directive or comment. For example, say Joe's father is asking Jack to close the door. He'll tell him, "Hey, close the door, okay Grandpa?" (Again: I do not even have autism and this confuses me.) For years, Jack just looked at them blankly and walked away.
I can't say there was a turning point exactly—a lightbulb moment when Grandma and Grandpa at last understood the intricacies of the spectrum disorder and became autism whisperers—but I can say they never gave up in their pursuit to understand this sandy-haired boy.
I remember one time they spent the afternoon at our house. It was late fall and chilly out, and we were all outside on the play set, brown leaves crunching underfoot. Except for Jack. He would not leave the house, but stayed just inside the kitchen, watching everyone through the window like an interloper on the wrong side of the glass.
Every ten minutes or so, either Grandma or Grandpa would walk inside to try and coax him outside, to swing high on the swings and slide fast down the slide. I bet they tried at least a dozen times, until at last Jack emerged—wearing neither shoes nor a jacket.
Finally, when he was about six, it was Jack's turn to spend the night in their cozy one-story ranch, his turn to gently drift off as his grandmother sang Italian lullabies in the darkened bedroom. And once he was asleep, Joe's mother and father kept a silent vigil over him all night long—watching and waiting in case he woke up and slipped out the door, even though his days of wandering were behind him.
Now Jack is nine. Sometimes we go to Joe's parents for Sunday dinner, and he will march up to Joe's mother in the middle of the meal with a yellow pear in his hand and wordlessly thrust it at her. Joe and I object and protest; Jack Grandma isn't done eating yet let her finish. But every time, she shushes us and bends closer to him, whispering for him to hand her the ripe fruit. She picks up her knife and peels it, handing him section after section while he hovers at her elbow.
Over the years they have figured one another out. Jack learned to close the door, Grandpa and Grandma understands that Jack will wear a jacket when he's cold. He stays there regularly.
If I stopped right here, if I told the grandfather at Barnes and Noble this collection of stories, my message would have been obvious and cliché: when your grandchild has autism you need accept what you can't change and love them for who they are and never give up and blah blah blah.
But it still would have been meaningless and unfinished. Because I have another memory that keeps popping up in my subconscious, a memory that somehow seems important, integral.
We were at my sister-in-law's house just outside of Boston for a birthday party. Jack was about three, and over the course of the afternoon he and two-year old Charlie were at each other again and again, fighting and kicking. I don't even remember why, but I think it had something to do with a deflating balloon. I vaguely recall them grabbing and snatching and shrieking for it as the white circle drifted around the crowded kitchen.
I do remember I was hot and I do remember I was irritated. I remember I was tired of hearing my two boys screech and scratch at each other, tired of separating them again and again. Finally, Joe put Jack in a timeout in the living room and instructed him to stay there.
Both Joe and I were outraged. Outraged that she interfered, outraged with one another, outraged with a son we could not figure out. On the hour-long car ride back to New Hampshire we niggled and argued, bickering about timeouts and in-laws and how to handle children who threw tantrums.
But sitting at my desk now, six years later, I finally understand what my mother-in-law had figured out during that party. She didn't know the terminology for sensory integration or regulation or self-stimulation, but she recognized a small boy who was overwhelmed and tired and sad. She didn't need sophisticated language to diagnose two parents who were on the verge of a breakdown.
Yes, there are unfamiliar terms like joint attention and IEP and theory of mind, but at the end of the day, it's just you and this child. Do not be afraid. Deep down you already know these phrases; you know when a child has had enough.
When your grandchild has autism, sometimes you'll need to forgo the jacket.
Yes, you'll need to accept what you can't change and love them for who they are, but when your grandchild has autism, never forget that you have your own message to share and lessons to teach. Sing the lullabies and make the meatballs.
Autism has a lot of heartbreak, but many rewards. These gifts can be hard to see and easy to miss; some days it's just a quick hug goodbye, a mouthful of ziti at dinner, a smile across the table.
Some days, it may look like nothing more than a small boy standing next to you with his palm outstretched, waiting for his slice of a juicy yellow pear.
This is gorgeous. Thank you so much for these words. I've shared via my own social media outreach and would love to interview you for my blog. Let me know if you'd ever be interested. http://www.dawnprochovnic.com .
Now that I am the grandmother (Mem) of a typical (whatever that means….in my opinion, each child is like no other) 2 year old granddaughter, i truly understand that being a grandparent is so very special. I have learned how absolutely wonderful it is to see this beautiful soul grow and learn, and experience joy as only a child can. I don't have the responsibility of possibly messing her up, which was always on my mind when I was raising her momma and aunties. Grandparents have the most wonderful position….whatever diagnosis their beautiful grandchild has. We simply get to watch in amazement, share every new achievement however large or small, knowing exactly how much they struggled, and love. Just love them for them. 2 years ago Jack asked me how old my grandmother was when she died. She was 88. I was 32. It was too soon but now I know the exact place in my heart that she filled. I have a small child keeping that place warm. Maybe that's all that grandparents need to start with. Love.
As a grandmother I understand unconditional love, a hug means so much!
Beautiful article. My mother has passed away but I know she would have been wonderful with my autistic son. I feel he really misses out not having her in his life. Cherish involved grandparents because you are very lucky to have them.
Yes. I love your words here, friend. They are kind to the memories and true for the future.


I recently learned about an event for young fishers in BC. The 2019 Young Fishermen's Gathering was held from January 23 to 24 in Victoria. The event was meant as a way for young BC fishers to connect with and learn from older and established fishers.
I thought that this initiative was worthy of commentary. For one thing, the event underscored the need for industries that aren't usually appealing to young people to create events and opportunities to awaken young people's interest.
Take the plumbing industry as an example. Statistics show that the majority of youth don't automatically gravitate towards the plumbing table at career fairs. Moreover, I'm also certain that most high school and college students don't tell career counsellors that they want to be a plumber.
Let's take a moment to highlight the reasons for the low interest among young people in plumbing and other trades sectors. These reasons often include society's unfavourable perceptions of careers in the trades or vocational industries. Then there are parents who push their children to choose more prestigious careers in fields like law, medicine, or accounting.
With these views in mind, I believe that trades and vocational sectors should do a lot more to hone the interests of young people who might want to explore these professions. I say this as I search the websites of I didn't see any upcoming networking events, information sessions, conferences, or seminars for young people.
Perhaps the organizations have these types of programs and they don't publicize them? Or maybe the websites aren't updated in time. A young person who's interested in becoming a plumber and visits the website to check out the group's calendar of events may lose interest in pursuing the career if there aren't any educational or informative events. Sad it will also be for these organizations who may want to attract a new generation of plumbers or heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technicians but can't hire because of their lack of events and overall online presence.
Plumbers, HVAC technicians, welders, and the countless other trade professionals provide essential services. What will you do if you can't find a trained plumber to fix your leaky faucet or toilet? What will we do if we don't have a new generation of budding HVAC technicians who may be needed to help maintain the heat and air quality in our homes? Trade and vocational sectors, please say you'll do more to help answer these questions.
Just what is intermittent fasting?


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31/03/2019 Timothy Yap	 Can God's Word be trusted?
31/03/19 Timothy Yap	 Can God's Word be trusted?
Can God's Word be trusted?


The nursing community is trying to establish nursing in disaster situations as an area of nursing discipline on a global basis. This plan is a pioneering one in that sense, and research results will contribute toward establishing nursing practice in disaster situations in Asia and the rest of the world. In addition, newly obtained knowledge will surely be reflected in educational programs, and will thus facilitate the education of researchers and specialists in this area.


How can I pray for people in desperate straits?
Q: I always see homeless people in my city and want to help. I feel like I should pray but don't really know how. Any ideas?
A: My university had an open campus and was located in a highly economically diverse area of the city. So each day when I used public transportation, I might encounter anyone from fellow students to the homeless or drug users.
As a Christian Scientist, I'd learned that the way we see others can have an impact, and that it's important to hold ourselves accountable for the way we're thinking when we're interacting with someone. Are we reacting to an individual's appearance or behavior, or are we seeing past the surface? Through my study of the Bible and of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I've discovered that there's a more helpful way of viewing those we meet. We can take a more elevated perspective by understanding each individual as the creation of God, good. We can see each person who crosses our path as forever in God's kingdom, where each one of us is whole and fully loved. I knew that the surface-level view leaves a person stuck in their problems, while a God-inspired and conscientious view can bring more of that individual's true nature to light.
I loved holding myself accountable for the way I was perceiving others.
That's why, as I commuted each day, I loved holding myself accountable for the way I was perceiving others. I proactively held a spiritual view as my standard and mentally corrected myself when I wasn't seeing someone that way. I was vigilant about loving the people I encountered, regardless of their appearance or apparent place in life.
One day, I boarded the city bus, planning to study or read as usual, when a young man sat down next to me. I could tell he was completely tweaked out on drugs. He was very hyperactive, and it was clear that all his senses were in overdrive. He quickly became interested in what I was working on, asking me about my schoolwork, what I was studying, and other general questions about myself.
I greeted him with a smile and conversed with him like I would anyone else. Having become more proactive about recognizing and affirming each individual's place in God's kingdom, it was natural for me to hold firmly to this spiritual fact about him, too. I knew that no one could stray from God's presence, and that all who dwell in God's kingdom are governed by God, divine Principle—meaning it's natural for them to express order, clarity, balance, and wholeness. Throughout the conversation, I mentally insisted to myself that God impels everyone in His kingdom to carry out their lives as intelligent, loving, and engaged individuals, because that's the way He made all of us.
I mentally insisted within myself that God impels everyone in His kingdom to carry out their lives as intelligent, loving, and engaged individuals, because that's the way He made all of us.
Within about fifteen minutes, the bus reached my seatmate's stop, and when he stood up to leave, he thanked me. Not only was his demeanor completely different than when he got on the bus, but also, he was of sound mind as he walked off.
Sometimes encountering people who are in circumstances we can't necessarily relate to can feel challenging. But actually, seeing everyone the way God made them, and loving them on this basis, is our natural inclination as fellow children of God. Whether or not you see the effects of this spiritual viewpoint right in that moment, you can trust that it does have an impact, because it has the power of God behind it.


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Elena Aitken is a USA Today Bestselling Author of more than forty romance and women's fiction novels. Living a stone's throw from the Rocky Mountains with her teenager twins, their two cats and a goofy rescue dog, Elena escapes into the mountains whenever life allows. She can often be found with her toes in the lake and a glass of wine in her hand, dreaming up her next book and working on her own happily ever after with her very own mountain man.


The series All Things Are Full of Labor is comprised of large-scale ink drawings created in response to the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, which poetically sets the impermanence and uncertainty of human labor and desire against a backdrop of endless cyclical change in nature. The drawings are made up of concentric rings, each following the imperfections of the line put down before it, and bounded by the full arc of my arm. Each title is accompanied by a bit of the text.
The Accretion Diagrams, Studies of Permanence, and the Holding Spacetime Open series are all variations on a theme, juxtaposing a buildup of hand-drawn ink lines against a rectilinear grid cutting through the pattern. Each line drawn traces the one put down before, creating unpredictable organic and evolving patterns. For me, these forms relate to such things as sedimentary lines in the landscape, growth rings, and writing, and play with ideas about gradual and unpredictable change (erosion? growth?) as opposed to design and intent.


text:
Abra cops lauded for helping girl with cerebral palsy
By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan / Philippine News Agency
(Photo courtesy of PNP-PIO)
MANILA – Police personnel of two Abra municipal stations that teamed up to look after an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy were lauded by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, for their kind gesture.
Eleazar said he is proud of the Peñarrubia and Bucay municipal police stations, especially Cpl. Rochelle Venus Palino of Bucay police for the "genuine care" of police officers for children.
"I commend Cpl. Palino and the other police personnel at the Peñarrubia and Bucay Municipal Police Stations for taking the initiative to help Aileen obtain the basic goods she needs," Eleazar said Monday.
The police learned of the 11-year-old Aileen Progreso's condition when Peñarrubia police made a house-to-house visit in Barangay Sta. Rosa last July 16.
Progreso, who is bedridden due to her condition, has never been brought to a doctor for consultation due to financial difficulties.
When Palino heard about the girl from a Facebook post of Peñarrubia police, she started a "Swap for a Cause" activity for Aileen's benefit.
Palino traded her child's pre-loved clothes for cash and goods, providing for Aileen's needs. She personally delivered the cash and goods along with donations from other police personnel. (PNA)