text:
Tag Archives: Elizabeth Bowen
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.
My books of the year 2016 – favourites from a year of reading
Just like its predecessor, 2016 turned out to be another year of great reading for me. I read around 80 books this year (mostly older/backlisted titles) with only a handful of disappointments. Once again I found it very difficult to finalise a shortlist for this post, but I've whittled it down to a final thirteen: a baker's dozen of favourites, plus a few honourable mentions along the way. These are the books I loved, the books that have stayed with me, the ones I'm most likely to revisit one day. I've summarised each winner in this post, but in each case you can read the full review by clicking on the appropriate link.
A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor
It was a close call between this book and the other Taylor I read this year, At Mrs Lippincote's – both are excellent. A Game of Hide and Seek is a very poignant story of life's disappointments, compromises and lost loves, all set against the backdrop of the years preceding and following the Second World War. It is perhaps a more subtle novel than Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (a book that made my 2015 highlights), but every bit as carefully observed. Just thinking about it now leaves me eager to back to this author as soon as possible.
The Widow by Georges Simenon (tr. John Petrie)
Every bit as dark and disturbing as its wonderful cover suggests (I read the NYRB edition), The Widow is a tense and unsettling noir from one of the masters of psychological fiction, Georges Simenon. Right from the start, there is a palpable sense of foreboding as a young drifter just released from prison washes up at a farmhouse in the Bourbonnais region of France. The Widow is one of the few books by Simenon to feature a strong woman at the heart of the narrative, the tough-as-old-boots widow Tati. This would appeal to fans of James M. Cain's fiction.
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
I'm glad to say that my first encounter with Barbara Pym did not disappoint. The novel focuses on Mildred Lathbury, a rather sensible, diplomatic and accommodating woman in her early thirties. In short, Mildred is one of those 'excellent women' who can be relied on to offer a kind word or a cup of tea whenever others are in need of support. In many ways, she finds herself getting drawn into other people's business, particularly as it is assumed that her status a spinster automatically means she has few commitments of her own. This is a wonderful novel, much more than just a comedy of manners, full of small but significant reflections on life as an unmarried woman in the 1950s. (On another day, I might have picked Muriel Spark's Memento Mori or Brigid Brophy's The King of a Rainy Country for this slot, both are highly recommended.)
Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
I really loved Isherwood's Mr Norris, a warm and engaging story which charts the somewhat peculiar friendship that develops between two men following a chance encounter on a train. Even though it's abundantly clear that the rather eccentric Mr Norris is something of a swindler, he is hugely likeable with it. I couldn't help but feel somewhat protective towards him, a little like William Bradshaw does when he meets him on the train. A hugely enjoyable novel and a wonderful evocation of life in Berlin during the early '30s.
Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys
Voyage is narrated by an eighteen- year-old girl, Anna Morgan, brought to England from her former home in the West Indies by her stepmother, a selfish woman who all but abandons Anna to survive on her own following the death of the girl's father. What follows is Anna's unravelling as she drifts around in a state of depression, moving from one down-at-heel room to another, slipping unconsciously into a state of dependency, turning to drink and sleeping with men in the hope of some much-needed comfort and warmth. A brilliant and devastating book.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
A book that charts Didion's attempts to make sense of the weeks and months that followed the sudden death of her husband and hospitalisation of her adopted daughter, Quintana – a period that swept away any previous beliefs she had held about illness, death and grief, about probability and luck, about marriage, children and memory, about life itself. It is a deeply personal exploration of these concepts, all written in Didion's signature style, that of the cool, perceptive, surgically-precise chronicler of our times. She is relentless in her questioning of herself and of others, constantly seeking to understand what was said, what was felt, what might have been. A truly remarkable piece of writing.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Set in London in the 1930s, Watson's book captures an extraordinary day in the life of Miss Guinevere Pettigrew, a rather timid, down-at-heel spinster who has fallen on hard times. It's an utterly enchanting take on the Cinderella story as Miss Pettigrew finds herself drawn into a new world, a place of adventure, excitement and new experiences. This is a charming novel, full of warmth, wit and a certain joie de vivre. One to read or revisit if you're in need of a treat.
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
When both her parents die in fairly quick succession, sixteen-year-old Portia is sent to live with her half-brother Thomas and his wife Anna, neither of whom want her there. Left to her own devices for most of the time, Portia falls in with Eddie is a selfish, uncaring young man with no real sense of integrity or responsibility. What follows is a very subtle exploration of the pain and confusion of adolescence, of how easy it is for an adult to toy with the emotions of a teenager, especially someone as vulnerable and as trusting as Portia. A novel I would love to re-read one day.
The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley
An ideal summer read, The Go-Between is a compelling story of secrets, betrayals and the power of persuasion, all set against the heady backdrop of the English countryside in July. Leo Colston (now in his sixties) recalls a fateful summer he spent at a school friend's house in Norfolk some fifty years earlier, a trip that marked his life forever. The novel captures the pain of a young boy's initiation into the workings of the adult world as Leo is caught between the innocence and subservience of childhood and the complexities of life as a grown-up. Fully deserving of its status as a modern classic.
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan (tr. Heather Lloyd)
Another quintessential summer read, the Sagan is an irresistible story of love, frivolity and the games a young girl plays with others people's emotions – only in this case the backdrop is the French Riviera. Seventeen-year-old Cécile is spending the summer on the Cote d'Azur with her father, Raymond, and his latest lover, Elsa. Everything is leisurely and glorious until another player arrives on the scene, the glamorous and sophisticated Anne, whose very presence threatens to disrupt Cécile's idyllic life with her father. An utterly compelling novel, I'd like to read this again in the Irene Ash translation.
Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum (tr. Basil Creighton)
This engaging novel revolves around the experiences of six central characters as they brush up against one another during their time at a Berlin hotel in the 1920s. There are moments of lightness and significant darkness here as Baum skilfully weaves her story together, moving from one player to another with consummate ease – her sense of characterisation is very strong. At the centre of the novel is the idea that our lives can change direction in surprising ways as a result of our interactions with others. We see fragments of the lives of these people as they come and go from the hotel. Some are on their way up and are altered for the better; others are on their way down and emerge much diminished. A delightful gem.
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
A superb noir which excels in the creation of atmosphere and mood. As a reader you really feel as though you are walking the streets of the city at night, moving through the fog with only the dim and distant lights of LA to guide you. The focus is on the mindset of the central character, the washed -up ex-pilot Dix Steele, a deeply damaged and vulnerable man who finds himself tormented by events from his past. The storyline is too complex to summarise here, but Hughes maintains the suspense throughout. This novel was a HUGE hit with my book group.
A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin
Larkin's second novel, A Girl in Winter, concerns itself with the confusing mix of emotions which characterise a critical period in a young girl's life: her coming of age. It also captures the deep sense of loneliness and isolation that marks its central character, a woman named Katherine Lind. It's a quiet, contemplative novel, one that explores the difficulties we face in understanding and interpreting the behaviour of others, especially when we are young and inexperienced and eager to be loved. Larkin's prose is sublime, equally impressive in its portrayal of the nostalgic atmosphere of an English summer and its evocation of the bitterness of an unforgiving winter. An understated gem. (It was a toss-up between this and Natsume Söseki's The Gate, another quiet, thoughtful novel I enjoyed this year.)
So there we are. Thank you to everyone who has read, shared or commented on my posts over the last year, I really do appreciate it. Wishing you all the best for the festive season and the year ahead, may they be filled with many wonderful books!
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Books of the Year and tagged Barbara Pym, Basil Creighton, Books of the Year, Brigid Brophy, Christopher Isherwood, Dorothy B. Hughes, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Faber and Faber, Fiction, Françoise Sagan, Georges Simenon, Harper Perennial, Heather Lloyd, Jean Rhys, Joan Didion, John Petrie, L. P. Hartley, Memoir, Muriel Spark, Natsume Söseki, Non-fiction, NYRB Classics, Penguin Books, Penguin Modern Classics, Persephone Books, Philip Larkin, Vicki Baum, Vintage, Virago Modern Classics, Winifred Watson on December 20, 2016 by JacquiWine.
I have long wanted to read Elizabeth Bowen; her 1938 novel, The Death of the Heart, has been calling me for quite a while. By rights I should have read it earlier in preparation for Karen and Simon's 1938 Club (which took place last week) but time got the better of me in the end. Nevertheless, I'm hoping this review might count as a late entrant.
When both her parents die in fairly quick succession, sixteen-year-old Portia Quayne is sent to live with her half-brother Thomas and his wife Anna in their large house near Regent's Park in London. It was her late father's wish that Portia should live with Thomas and his wife for a year, after which time she might move on to stay with an aunt. In truth, neither Thomas nor Anna is particularly keen to have Portia, although Thomas, for his part, does feel some sense of duty towards the girl. Portia was born out an affair between Thomas' father and the woman who became his second wife, Irene. After their marriage, the couple spent their lives in the south of France, moving from one hotel to another with Portia in tow, effectively in a sort of exile from Thomas' mother and the family. With Portia now living in London, her presence in the house cannot help but remind Thomas of the shame and embarrassment he experienced over the affair, emotions that always came to the fore whenever he visited his father and Irene in France.
In those sunless hotel rooms, those chilly flats, his father's disintegration, his laugh so anxious or sheepish, his uneasiness with Irene in Thomas's presence, had filled Thomas with an obscure shame – on behalf of his father, himself, and society. From the grotesqueries of that marriage he had felt a revulsion. (pg. 39)
There is no real warmth or affection in the Quayne household with very little sense of anyone taking any form of pleasure from their activities. All in all, it's a rather strange and unwelcoming place for a young girl who has recently lost her parents. At 36, Thomas is much older than Portia; and with no children of their own, Thomas and Anna have no real experience of dealing with adolescents, nor any appreciation of how to incorporate Portia into their lives. Anna, in particular, is a rather cold, unsympathetic creature, more concerned with taking tea with her own friends than with trying to forge any kind of connection with Portia. She finds Portia somewhat unnerving, convinced as she is that the girl is stealing furtive glances at her and Thomas from a distance (although in truth Portia is simply curious and somewhat unsure of herself). As a consequence of all this, Portia is pretty much left to her own devices most of the time, her closest ally in the house being Matchett, the family's maid.
Bowen is brilliant at capturing the sheer awkwardness and uncertainty of adolescence. Portia has very little understanding of how to behave around Anna, Thomas and their friends, no real sense of the workings of the adult mind. (And why should she? After all, her upbringing was somewhat unconventional and very different from the upper-class world in which she finds herself now.) In this scene, Portia is present while Anna takes tea with her friend, St Quentin – I think it's an excellent illustration of Portia's situation at the Quanyes'.
Getting up from the stool carefully, Portia returned her cup and plate to the tray. Then, holding herself so erect that she quivered, taking long soft steps on the balls of her feet, and at the same time with an orphaned unostentation, she started making towards the door. She moved crabwise, as though the others were royalty, never quite turning her back on them – and they, waiting for her to be quite gone, watched. She wore a dark wool dress, in Anna's excellent taste, buttoned from throat to hem and belted with heavy leather. The belt slid down her thin hips, and she nervously gripped at it, pulling it up. Short sleeves showed her very thin arms and big delicate elbow joints. Her body was all concave and jerkily fluid lines; it moved with sensitive looseness, loosely threaded together: each movement had a touch of exaggeration, as though some secret power kept springing out. At the same time she looked cautious, aware of the world in which she had to live. She was sixteen, losing her childish majesty. (pgs. 26-27)
With very little support or affection coming from her half-brother and his wife, Portia falls in with Eddie, an acquaintance of Anna's who also happens to work in Thomas' office. Eddie is a selfish, uncaring young man with no real sense of integrity or responsibility. Portia, in her childlike innocence, is unable to see this, and so she falls in love with Eddie, believing everything he tells her without question.
Things take a different turn for Portia when Thomas and Anna decide to go to Capri for a month. Instead of taking the girl with them, the Quanyes pack her off to the Kentish coast to stay with Anna's old governess, Mrs Heccomb, and her stepchildren, Daphne and Dickie, both of whom are in their twenties. The Heccomb household – the house is called Waikiki – represents a marked change of pace for Portia. It is welcoming, lively and somewhat chaotic, full of the sounds of doors banging, plates clattering and music playing away in the background. Quite soon after her arrival, Portia find herself drawn into the Heccombs' friendly social set and their world of dances, cafés, and walks along the coastline. In some ways, it all starts to feel like a new beginning for the young girl.
However, there is trouble in the air when Portia invites Eddie to stay at the Heccombs'. From the moment she sets eyes on him, Mrs Heccomb detects something fishy about Eddie and is visibly distracted by his presence. Her view of Anna is rather idealised, and there is something about Eddie's manner which seems quite at odds with this. In this scene, Eddie has just sat down to tea following his arrival at Waikiki.
He could not be expected to know that his appearance, and that the something around him that might be called his aura, struck into her heart its first misgiving for years – a misgiving not about Portia but about Anna. […] A conviction (dating from her last year at Richmond) that no man with bounce could be up to any good set up an unhappy twitch in one fold of her left cheek. Apprehensions that someone might be common were the worst she had had to combat since she ruled at Waikiki. No doubt it must be in order, this young man being Portia's friend, since Porta said that he was a friend of Anna's. But what was he doing being a friend of Anna's? … Portia, watching the cheek twitch, wondered what could be up. (pg 209)
The weekend continues on a note of confusion for Portia as she struggles to understand Eddie's behaviour around Daphne, especially when the two of them end up sitting next to one another at the cinema. It is a defining moment in the story as Portia finds herself in a world where people don't necessarily say what they mean or mean what they say. Furthermore, once she returns to London, Portia discovers the true extent of the betrayals by those around her, not just by Eddie, but by others close to her as well.
The Death of the Heart is a wonderful novel, a very subtle exploration of the pain and confusion of adolescence, of how easy it is for someone to toy with the emotions of a teenager, especially someone as vulnerable and as trusting as Portia. Eddie is a cruel, insensitive young man who takes advantage of Portia's naivety and desire for affection, crushing her hopes and dreams in the process. In turn, Anna and Thomas are little better than Eddie, failing to offer Portia the support and protection she so desperately needs.
In some ways, Heart reminds me very strongly of some of Elizabeth Taylor's novels, particularly A Game of Hide and Seek and At Mrs Lippincote's (review to come). Both Bowen and Taylor pay close attention to character development, creating complex but realistic individuals the reader can invest in. Like Taylor, Bowen is an acute observer of the social interactions between people, and this novel is full of beautifully rendered scenes, rich with detail and latent emotions. The secondary characters deserve a mention as well, particularly Major Brutt, an acquaintance of the Quanyes who finds himself ridiculed by the couple (Anna in particular).
I'll finish with a final quote, one that illustrates the novel's London setting. Bowen's description of this cold afternoon in January reflects something of the atmosphere in the Quanyes' house, a cold, brittle, shallow place with little warmth inside.
The circle of traffic tightens at this hour round Regent's Park; cars hummed past without a break; it was just before lighting-up time – quite soon the All Out whistles would sound. At the far side of the road, dusk set the Regency buildings back at a false distance: against the sky they were colourless silhouettes, insipidly ornate, brittle, and cold. The blackness of windows not yet lit or curtained made the houses look hollow inside. (pg. 9)
Karen, Ali and Harriet have also reviewed this novel.
The Death of the Heart is published by Vintage Books; personal copy
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Bowen Elizabeth and tagged #1938Club, #ReadWomen, Book Review, Classics Club, Elizabeth Bowen, Fiction, Ireland, UK, Vintage Books on April 18, 2016 by JacquiWine.
#GermanLitMonth
#ReadWomen
#ReviewWomen2015
#SpanishLitMonth
#TBR20
#TranslationThurs
#WITMonth
#WomeninTranslation
Daunt Books
Dorothy B. Hughes
Europa Editions
IFFP
Jean Rhys
Literature in Translation
MacLehose Press
Margaret Jull Costa
NYRB Classics
Patrick Hamilton
Peirene Press
Penelope Fitzgerald
Penguin Modern Classics
Pushkin Vertigo
Raymond Chandler
Virago Modern Classics


I appreciate the introduction provided me by Randy Stoecker to the concept of sociological imagination, a term coined by C. Wright Mills in 1959. It is a way of seeing the broader sociological situations that result in many people experiencing similar outcomes.
To what extent do we work to address the diversity gap as separate issues in different industries, and to what extent do we come to grips with an overall shared societal situation that normalizes being white, male, and heterosexual? Much is made of the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education at the earliest grade levels to increase diversity in the pipeline. But what if every other part of child rearing still reinforces these norms? Can we piecemeal our way out of this system of marginalization and oppression? Or do we need to follow Martin Luther King, Jr.'s path in the last year of his life in particular, when he recognized that we must address the multitude of oppressions in their entirety because oppressions and the systems that propagate them are massively intersecting?


$417K Conventional Refinance in Fremont, CA. This was a first position loan with a Loan-to-Value of over 64%. William Watson was able to assist the borrower in lowering the interest rate on their mortgage. Their new interest rate is 4.500% with an APR of 4.565%. This loan was funded March 2012.


text:
100 illustrations, 95 in colour
Mulberry Peter Coles
Since Antiquity few trees have had a greater impact on the world's culture and economy than the mulberry. The sole food of the silkworm, the leaves of the mulberry brought prosperity not only to ancient China, but to all nations that learned the art of silk production. Mulberry bark was used to make the first paper and the succulent, blood-red fruit of the Black Mulberry has inspired poets from Ovid to Shakespeare. The medicinal properties of all parts of the tree have been known for millennia, making it a tree of choice for medieval monastery gardens, while its anti-diabetic effects are opening exciting avenues of research today.
This sumptuously illustrated book tells the remarkable story of the mulberry tree and its migrations from China and Central Asia to almost every continent of the globe. It will appeal to all who wish to know more of the rich history of this emblematic tree.
'In Mulberry by Peter Coles, we have a splendid account of one of the world's most celebrated trees, one that shows the events, people, historical twists and turns, and biological peculiarities that moulded today's species . . . All this, and gorgeous mulberry-inspired art, is stitched together with elegant prose, quirky observations and a love of history's strangeness.' — New Scientist
'few plants have been as influential on human life as this modest tree . . . Author Peter Coles is a consummate researcher and engaging writer in this addition to the series from Reaktion Books' — The English Garden
'[Coming] from a unique and considerable amount of both primary and secondary research . . . [Mulberry] is an incredibly comprehensive monograph or study. . . This is a book which succeeds on every level, being accessible and also sophisticated.' — Dr Stephen J. Bowe, author of 'Mulberry: The Material Culture of Mulberry Trees'
'A beguiling book full of fascinating and wide-ranging information about this globe-trotting family of trees. This well-researched and aptly illustrated book honours the mulberry tree's many roles in human history — beyond that of providing fodder for the voracious silkworm —from medicine, music to myth. A most enjoyable and informative read.' — Susan Whitfield, historian and author of 'Silk, Slaves and Stupas' (2018)
Peter Coles is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths, University of London and is a freelance science writer, fine art photographer and translator.
one Black, White and Red
two Mulberries and Silk
three Lost Angels
four Mulberry Mania
five Art, Legend and Literature 147
six Tree of Plenty
Associations and Websites

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Edward Watts gets an encore in top role as Old Globe announces 'Grinch' cast
Edward Watts as the Grinch in the 2017 production of "Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"
(Jim Cox)
By James Hebert
The Grinch has clinched a repeat performance.
Edward Watts, who made his debut as the mean, green one in the 2017 edition of "Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" at the Old Globe, will step into the role once again this year, the Balboa Park theater has announced.
The Broadway veteran, whose credits include "Scandalous" and "Finian's Rainbow," will appear in the holiday musical favorite alongside Globe newcomer Tommy Martinez (Max), who has been seen in NBC's "Hairspray Live" and on Broadway in "Newsies"; and longtime "Grinch" hand Steve Gunderson (Old Max), a two-time San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award-winner with numerous regional and off-Broadway credits.
And Sadie Tess Coleman, a member of the show's Little Who ensemble for the past two years, will alternate with Leila Manuel (making her Globe debut) in the marquee young-actor role of Cindy-Lou Who.
The "Grinch" cast also includes Robert J. Townsend (Papa Who), Bets Malone (Mama Who), Larry Raben (Grandpa Who), Kyrsten Hafso Koppman (Grandma Who), Zoe Carnot and Audrey Fundingsland (Annie Who), Taylor Coleman and Bianca Rodriguez (Betty-Lou Who), Alexander Ikizyan and Sean Pope (Boo Who), and Gavin August and John Perry Wishchuk (Danny Who).
The ensemble takes in Sophia Adajar, Joelle Dana Advento, Nicholas Alexander, Jacob Caltrider, Janaya Mahealani Jones, Hannah Lee, Lindsay Mains, Sarah Meahl, Mackenzie Nibbe, Arden Pala, Viviana Peji, Amare Phillips, Marcus Terrell Smith, Hailey Topolovac, Kelsey Venter, and Stella Grace Wahl, as well as James Vásquez (swing). Vásquez also happens to be the show's longtime director and a top San Diego-based theater pro.
"Grinch," which celebrates its 20th season this year, begins performances Nov. 3 on the Globe's Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, with an official opening Nov. 8; the family-minded production runs through Dec. 29.
The show — based on the late La Jollan and beloved author Theodor Seuss Geisel's children's story — will again come complete with an official Christmas-tree lighting, set for 6 p.m. Nov. 11 on the Globe's Copley Plaza and featuring performances by the show's cast.
And this year's sensory-friendly performance — taking place at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 1, and tailored toward those on the autism spectrum and their families — will be accompanied by brand-new "Free Axis" surround events hosted by the Globe's Arts Engagement department.
That happening will include a preshow concert by Jungle Poppins — a troupe of performers on the autism spectrum — plus, after the sensory-friendly performance, a Whoville Sings workshop with singer-songwriter Paul Eddy, an Inclusive Drum Circle featuring Banding Together and a Grinch-y Improv workshop.
"Grinch" tickets start at $29 for adults and $19 for children (17 years and under). Children under 3 will be admitted to aa a.m. performances only, which are open to all ages. At the 11 a.m. performances only, children under 2 are admitted free, but must occupy the same seat and sit on the lap of a parent or guardian in attendance.
Regardless of age, each audience member (including lap kids) must have a ticket to be admitted into the theater.
For ticket purchase and more info: (619) 234-5623 or theoldglobe.org.
jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @jimhebert
James Hebert
James Hebert is The San Diego Union-Tribune's theater critic, and has covered the San Diego arts scene for more than two decades. He earned his master's degree at Columbia University in New York and worked as a magazine editor in Boston before joining the U-T. Hebert's awards include a national arts-writing prize from the Society for Features Journalism (for a profile of the choreographer Twyla Tharp), and some two dozen local and regional journalism honors; his work also has been republished in two college writing textbooks. In 2009, Hebert served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
Don't miss this week's top concerts
Top performances in San Diego this week include Raphael Saadiq, Sullivan King, Jesse Marco, Wax Motif, Jacquees, Scarface and Trippie Redd.
Flaming Lips, TLC, Train set for 2020 San Diego County Fair concerts
Other confirmed acts include Martina McBride, War, Styx and Los Enanitos Verdes


This Virtuous Napa Valley Cabernet was bottled in 2016, with a deep, plum hue and a luscious, full-bodied flavor with big, hefty tannins and a remarkable balance. This Napa-born bottle is ideal for soft cheeses, grilled skirt steak or wild meats, be they cuts of venison or a roasted game hen.
This rich and smooth body oil offers a break from the conventional lotion and allows you to receive a spa treatment in the comfort of your home. The scent profile is subtle and clean making it a very approachable scent that can be worn for every occasion. Made with Grape Seed Oil, MCT Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Avocado Fruit Oil, Vitamin E, Sunflower Seed Oil, Neem Seed Oil, and Rosemary Leaf Extract. 8 oz.
What is more apropos than a "Fireside Embers" scented candle. This large, black votive has a deep, rich, woodland scent and a longer burning time than most.
These chocolate barks — or "slates" as the company calls them — add a delicious new dimension to the traditional confection. Designed with the natural rock formation of slate — with all its smooth-faced, jagged-edged glory — these brittle slabs are meant to be snapped, cracked, and shared. This Assorted Gift Pyramid includes 5 flavors; Caramelized Hazelnut, Mango Paprika, Orange Hazelnut, Rose Pistachio and Tiramisu.
The wind is blowing. Maybe it's snowing? We've got more than one reason to spend a night in. This collection is everything luscious and sensual –– from a sweet-smelling massage oil to a crackling candle to a deep, rich red wine that pairs perfectly with chocolate and spice.


text:
Group urges AGF to ensure implementation of FoI Act
by Hassan Muaz
A civil rights organisation, Egalitarian Mission for Africa, has said that citizens in a democratic dispensation such as Nigeria are the owners of sovereignty and mandates that place leaders in the saddle of authority as their representative.
The EMA also said that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of any government and the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of EMA and legal practitioner, Dr. Olukayode Ajulo, in a statement obtained on Thursday in Lagos, also stated that 80 per cent of Governmental Ministries, Departments, Agencies operate in secrecy and violate the Freedom of Information Act.
Ajulo stressed that public officers are mere custodians of public records and apart from granting access to an Applicant, they are mandated to regularly publish and widely disseminate pieces of information on the activities of such public institutions to members of the public through various means including print and electronic media.
He said: "In a democratic dispensation, such as Nigeria's, the citizens have been proclaimed the owners of sovereignty and mandates that place leaders in the saddle of authority as representatives of the people for the people and under this dispensation, citizens' inalienable right to inquire into the activities of their leaders vis a vis expenditure of public funds generated from their taxes is guaranteed.
"It should be noted that one of the central pillars of Nigerian corporate existence is the safeguard of the welfare of the Citizens and assurances of popular participation in their government.
"Section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) states that:
"The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of any government; and the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
"It is imperative to state that prior to the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, the trajectory of the Nigerian landscape imbibed and entrenched the culture of secrecy and arbitrariness in civil and political administration.
"To obtain information from any organ of government often proved a herculean task and same has ultimately distanced the rulers from the ruled.
"Quite commendably, the Freedom of Information Act 2011 was signed into law on the 28th day of May, 2011 as a legislative response to the malaise of secrecy and lack of transparency in governance and as could be gleaned from the wordings of the provisions of the Act, the National Assembly by virtue of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, introduced a new and progressive legislative device for the enthronement of accountability and transparency in all strata of government.
"Sadly to say the least, as a Non-Governmental Organization whose activities boarder on the enthronement of the rule of law, good governance, accountability, transparency, anti-corruption, and adherence to due process, we have conducted our due diligence and our research including inquiries at the office of the Attorney General of the Federation clearly show that about 80% of Governmental Ministries, Departments, Agencies and other Public Institutions are in gross violation of the sacrosanct provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
"A bird's eye view through the leafs of the Act reveals that public officers are mere custodians of public records and apart from granting access to an Applicant, they are mandated to regularly publish and widely disseminate to members of the public through various means including print and electronic media, pieces of information on the activities of such public institutions including:
"i. description of the organization and responsibilities of the institution including details of the programmes and functions of each division, branch and department of the institution.
"ii. A list of all classes of records under the control of the institution in sufficient detail to facilitate the exercise of the right to information.
"iii. A list of all the manuals used by the institution's employees in administering or carrying out any of its programmes or activities.
IPPIS: Understanding positions of ASUU, AGF Ahmed Idris, by Yushau A. Shuaib
VAT implementation: Minister overrules AGF on take off date
Alleged $9.5m FIFA Grant misappropriation: Court fixes date for AGF's report
"iv. documents containing final planning policies, recommendations and decisions.
"v. documents containing factual reports, inspection reports and studies, whether prepared by or for the institution.
"vi. documents containing information relating to the receipt or expenditure of public or other funds by the institution.
"vii. documents containing names, salaries and title and dates of employment of all employees and officers of the institution.
"viii. list of files containing applications for any contract, permit, grants, licenses or agreement.
"ix. a list of reports, documents, studies or publications prepared by independent contractors for the institution.
"x. a list of materials containing information relating to any grant or contract made by or between the institution and another public institution or private organisation.
"In addition to the above, Public Institutions are also mandated to provide appropriate training for their officials on the public's right to access information or records held by government or public institutions and to annually submit to the Attorney-General of the Federation a report containing the above listed information.
"Despite these salient and unambiguous provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the sad reality is that most of the Public Institutions in Nigeria are in constant violations of the Act with every sense of impunity and the perdurable question to ask is: why would a Public Institution fail to make information available to the public even when the Act specifically provides that an application fee may be charged?
"There is a general public interest in promoting transparency, accountability, public understanding and involvement in the democratic process. Democracy cannot flourish if governments operate in secrecy.
"Indeed the very nature and quality of public participation in their government would be significantly impoverished without the nourishment of information from public authorities.
"To guarantee freedom of expression without including freedom of information would be a formal exercise, denying both effective expression in practice and a key goal which free expression seeks to serve.
"It is on the backdrop of the above that Egalitarian Mission for Africa in collaboration with other partners, civil societies organizations, journalists, researchers, academicians and well spirited lawyers have declared 2021 as the year of war against lack of transparency, accountability and probity in government and to this cause we are committed.
"Any Public Institution, public officer who fails to comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act shall be made to face the wrath of the law."
Ajulo urged the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to ensure that all Public Institutions adhere strictly to the provision of the Freedom of Information Act.
He said: "We take the liberty to also call on the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to take the bull by the horn by ensuring that all Public Institutions adhere strictly to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
"Nigerians are entitled to know how the common wealth is being utilized, managed and administered in a democratic setting, as this positively influences the feeling of belonging in the society and we shall pursue same to a logical conclusion."
Tags: AGFDr. Olukayode AjuloEgalitarian Mission for Africa
Share27Tweet17SendShare7
Respect status quo over Yari's assets, court warns EFCC, AGF
$9.6b: FG should file corruption charges against P&ID boss — Ex-AGF
Court stops AGF, ICPC from seizing ex-Gov. Yari's property
Sultan of Sokoto loses brother, Kalu condoles with him


text:
How Are Franchise Consultants Paid – Costs to Train with IFPG
Learn how franchise consultants are paid and the costs involved to train as a Certified Franchise Consultant with IFPG. Go to our website https://www.ifpg.org/franchise-consultant-training/ if you are ready to start an exciting, successful and profitable new career as a Certified Franchise Consultant with the International Franchise Professionals Group.
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/InternationalFranchiseProfessionalsGroup/
Twitter — https://twitter.com/IFPGInc
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/ifpginc/
CUSTOMER SERVICE Interview Questions & Answers! (How to PASS a CUSTOMER SERVICE Job Interview!)
How to Franchise your business in India | Strategizer franchise consultants | Iyyappan Rajendran


My two loves in photography are capturing couples on their big day and landscape/travel photography. Naturally I am always looking for a way to blend the two to create some out of this world images. If you are thinking of travelling abroad for your wedding especially to any of the places below, get in touch with me and I'll let you know how I can help you make your dream destination wedding a reality. From extra shooting days to discounted travel I want the decision to bring me along to be easy.
Lots of places. Let me know!


text:
What Working As An Emergency Doctor Taught UberEats' GM Jodie Auster About Business
Auster studied medicine before making the leap to Silicon Valley and later joining Uber. Here, she shares the three lessons that apply to both saving lives and solving office emergencies.
By Natalie Cornish
Previous article 6 Lessons The Squiz's Claire Kimball Can Teach Us About Launching A Successful Start-Up
Next article 'Useful And Reliable Are Not Enough. You Want To Be Valuable': Redesigning Your Career In 2020
When Jodie Auster landed the job of her dreams as General Manager ANZ at Uber in 2018, she had no idea a sexual harassment scandal would engulf the company on a global-scale just three weeks later.
"I thought at the time, I've got a couple of choices," she told Brooke Boney as a recent guest on Future Women's Next Generation Innovators' Podcast. "I can get out of here and say, 'Well that was the wrong place to join' or I can really stand up and be part of the change that's necessary in this business."
Auster chose the latter. In fact, she didn't just stay. She listened, and was part of changing the global culture from the ground-up. Rewind to 2007 and her decision not to run from Uber becomes much clearer. Auster was at a professional crossroads. She had been working as an emergency doctor and was looking to transition into business, so enrolled in an MBA at Melbourne Business School. From there, she would go on to consult for Bain & Co, land her first job in the world of tech at start-up Scoopon, and later take the leap to Silicon Valley to rapidly grow another start-up, Thumbtack. But the lessons she learned in the emergency room have been vital to her success.
"[Working in emergency medicine] taught me a lot of things at the time that I didn't realise would be really powerful in a different context," she said. "I think the first one was keeping cool under pressure. You know the things you see and the things you have to deal with in an emergency department are sometimes terrifying. So if you make a mistake in business I always had that reference point of, 'well nobody died, everything is going to be OK'. So that's really helped me support my team through any mistakes we make."
Auster also uses two "really powerful ways of thinking that are taken from medicine" when dealing with the pressure of heading up the Australia and New Zealand arm of one of the biggest tech disruptors in history.
"One is triage so that's basically prioritisation," she explained. "In an emergency it's very important to say, 'Is this a life threatening situation?' and then to drop everything and deal with it right now. Or is it just noise and you probably don't need to look at it ever? Using [triage] in a fast moving tech business particularly is really important because you get a lot of non-urgent interruptions that could completely derail your day. Recognising that you shouldn't disrupt your day to day attention to those has been really important.
"If you make a mistake in business I always had that reference point of, 'well nobody died, everything is going to be OK'. So that's really helped me support my team through any mistakes we make."
"The second thing is something I've labelled hypothesis-driven problem solving, which is having an answer right from the beginning – and then being selective about the information that you get to prove or disprove that hypothesis. It's quite a fast way to getting to the right answer, because the alternative is go find all the facts and eventually work out what the answer is. This way, you're standing at the end of the bed, you've read two sentences from the nurse and you've had a five minute conversation with the patient, what do you think they have? And therefore what physical examination are you going to do? What needles and radiation are you going to expose them to, to prove or disprove that? And taking that into business has been an incredibly efficient way of solving problems when you've got a lot to do."
Both sound like tools that make decision-making much easier, but what does 'hypothesis driven problem solving' look like in practice?
"What line of business should Uber go into next [is a good example]," Auster said. "There are a million answers to that question and you could probably spend a lifetime researching all the things you could sell, and whether you should do it, before eventually popping out with an answer. By the time you come up with that, your competitors have probably already done it. So you instead start with a hypothesis that says, 'the next line of business we should go into is…'. Start with that statement at the top of the page, and you've had a hunch – you've probably had a few signals that have made you put that at the top of the page, which is based on your core competencies as a business. So 'we are good at this', 'it plays into our platform strategy' but then you write a bunch of things underneath it that say what would have to be true for that statement to be the right answer. So it would be things like, 'the vehicle and battery technology will exist in the next two years' or 'the demand for this type of product is sufficient for it to be a good idea commercially'. You probably have five or six statements underneath that say, 'if these things were true then that hypothesis would be true'. And then you can, selectively, under each of those statements, work out what facts you need to collect to see whether these things are true.
"So you can fit it on a page and it's a much quicker, more effective and targeted way of saying, 'is my hypothesis right?' In the process you might discover you've actually hit something that's a hypothesis killing fact. So then you think, 'OK my hypothesis is wrong' and you move on to the next thing and you haven't spent years trying to find which business to go into. The only watch out really is confirmation bias. That's looking for things that prove an idea you want to be true. So when you use this method you do have to be really careful that you're not just trying to prove that your idea is the right idea. You have to do enough diligence."
Hear more from Brooke Boney's conversation with Uber's Jodie Auster by subscribing to and downloading the Future Women Next Generation Innovators Podcast.
careerleadershipnextgenerationinnovators


text:
Q: MySQL: Selecting all columns in a table plus one column from the same table I have a table with many columns let say column1,....,column20. I don't want to scroll everytime to the end of the result table to see the value of column20.  In mssql I usually do
SELECT column20, * FROM TABLE but apparently this is not valid in MySQL. Any hints? (I also don't want to select all columns explicitly in the select statement)

A: You have to give the table name in your query, otherwise mysql complains :
SELECT column20, mytable.* FROM mytable

PS: I have absolutely no idea as to why, because SELECT *, column20 FROM mytable works just fine... Strange things happens sometimes ^^

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ikea Floor Lights MAGNARP Lamp Natural IKEA is part of great design ideas. Ikea Floor Lights MAGNARP Lamp Natural IKEA was created by combining fantastic ideas, interesting arrangements, and follow the current trends in the field of that make you more inspired and give artistic touches. We'd be honored if you can apply some or all of these design in your wedding. believe me, brilliant ideas would be perfect if it can be applied in real and make the people around you amazed!
Ikea Floor Lights MAGNARP Lamp Natural IKEA was posted in August 11, 2018 at 9:17 am. Ikea Floor Lights MAGNARP Lamp Natural IKEA has viewed by 50 users. Click it and download the Ikea Floor Lights MAGNARP Lamp Natural IKEA.
House Plans, Floor Dining Table Ikea was posted July 29, 2016 at 11:02 pm by petadunia.info . More over Floor Dining Table Ikea has viewed by 3862 visitor.
House Plans, Ikea Floor Mat was posted August 7, 2017 at 1:13 am by petadunia.info . More over Ikea Floor Mat has viewed by 2825 visitor.
House Plans, Ikea Floor Plans was posted September 2, 2016 at 5:30 pm by petadunia.info . More over Ikea Floor Plans has viewed by 5004 visitor.
House Plans, Ikea Floor Lights was posted March 25, 2017 at 9:38 pm by petadunia.info . More over Ikea Floor Lights has viewed by 3140 visitor.
House Plans, Patio Flooring Ikea was posted July 12, 2017 at 11:28 pm by petadunia.info . More over Patio Flooring Ikea has viewed by 5725 visitor.


Early celluloid pocket mirror w/ great graphic image of child holding giant product can.
SKU: 72-190. Categories: Baking (Powder/Flour/Cocoa/Oats), Pocket Mirrors. Company/Brand: Egg Baking Powder.
Egg Baking Powder Pocket Mirror: Early celluloid pocket mirror w/ great graphic image of child holding giant product can. Clean, bright and excellent in appearance (examination under magnification will reveal some minor trace scuffs-barely noticeable, mentioned for accuracy).


FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) -- Canadian officials waited for dawn Friday to see whether it will be safe for a convoy of evacuees to get out of the fire-ravaged Fort McMurray area.
Gasoline tankers were being sent in to top off fuel tanks for a drive to the south.
Meanwhile, a mass airlift of evacuees was expected to resume Friday morning, a day after 8,000 people were moved out.
In all, more than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray, in the heart of Canada's oil sands, and officials say no deaths or injuries related to the fire have been reported.
Crews battling the fire got a little help with temperatures forecast to fall overnight to 16C (61F) from the low 30s.
"Let me be clear: air tankers are not going to stop this fire," he said. "It is going to continue to push through these dry conditions until we actually get some significant rain."
Homes and businesses have been destroyed, and that poses a particular problem for temporary foreign workers whose permits are linked to specific employers.
Marco Luciano, Albert spokesman for the Coalition for Migrant Workers Rights Canada, foreign workers generally are hired by various lodges and restaurants, or to provide childcare for local families.
At least 18 people have made it to Edmonton, Luciano said Thursday.
"They evacuated only with their working uniform on," he said. "They had no time to pick up anything from their homes, and they came directly to Edmonton yesterday ... They don't know what to do."
Aided by high winds, scorching heat and low humidity, the fire grew from 75 square kilometers (29 square miles) Tuesday to 100 square kilometers (39 square miles) on Wednesday, but by Thursday it was almost nine times that --- at 850 square kilometers (330 square miles). That's an area roughly the size of Calgary, Alberta's largest city.


text:
Salman Khan shoots for first song from 'Sultan' [PHOTOS]
The first song from Salman Khan's "Sultan" reportedly is a pub sequence.
Salman Khan's "Sultan" is one of the most awaited flicks of 2016, and every small detail about the movie is making fans excited. Director Ali Abbas Zafar recently tweeted about the shooting of the first song of "Sultan", and soon some pictures from the sets also started pouring in on the micro-blogging site.
Although nothing much has been revealed about the song, the director on Twitter said people on the sets liked it very much. "Shooting songs are the best just finished 1st day of song today with @BeingSalmanKhan. People leaving set humming the tune..happy feeling (sic)," he tweeted.
A report in Bollywoodlife said the song video will present Salman along with Amit Sadh and has been sung by Arijit Singh. The song has been shot inside a pub and Salman will be seen being asked by girls to dance, but he declines, said the report. It appears to be a dance number, but it will not feature "Sultan" leading lady Anushka Sharma.
Meanwhile, some photos of Salman Khan, apparently from the sets of "Sultan" while shooting for the first song, started doing the rounds of Twitter. The superstar is seen wearing a white shirt and black trousers.
"Sultan" will present Salman as a wrestler from Haryana, and the actor has been following a strict workout regime for the role. Apart from body-building, Salman has also been undergoing special wrestling training.


text:
NYC life coach and yoga instructor sued for $300k by her landlord after 'she repeatedly sublet her apartment on Airbnb to random strangers'
Landlord claims tenant Madalina Iacob has cost the building $61,250 in fines for turning his walk-up into an illegal hotel
Because Iacob was caught several times by city inspectors, the building fears fines could reach $250,000
Iacob, who works as a professional life coach and intervention organizer, has since told her landlord that the guests were 'friends and relatives'
But an inspector's report says people staying in Iacob's unit were identified as a family of five from Colorado who found the place on Airbnb
The judge found the landlord responsible for Iacob's actions and the fines were given to the building
In the lawsuit against Iacob, the landlord is asking for $250,000 to cover the fines and another $50,000 in legal fees
By Kelly Mclaughlin For Dailymail.com
Published: 09:26 EST, 19 December 2015 | Updated: 13:29 EST, 14 February 2017
A New York City landlord is suing a tenant for $300,000, claiming she repeatedly rented her one-bedroom, $2,095-a-month apartment to Airbnb travelers for $200 per night.
The owner of the apartment in Manhattan, who has not been named, claims tenant Madalina Iacob has cost the building $61,250 in fines for turning his five-floor walk-up into an illegal hotel, and the building could have to pay four times as much.
Iacob's lease says that the 'tenant understands that they may NOT sublet the apartment', but the landlord claims that Iacob was caught doing just that in May by City officials, according to court papers.
The landlord of a Manhattan Hell's Kitchen apartment is suing tennant Madalina Iacob for $300,000, claiming she has cost the building thousands of dollars in fines for turning his walk-up into an illegal hotel
The landlord is now seeking $250,000 from Iacob (left) to cover the fines the building faces and another $50,000 in legal fees
Iacob was caught several times by city inspectors with guests staying in her one-bedroom, $2,095-a-month apartment, including a family of five from Colorado. Iacob claims that she has simply had friends and family staying with her
And when a second inspector again found Iacob renting out her apartment in July, the inspector issued more $1,000-a-day penalties, reaching $45,000. The landlord was slammed with another $16,000 in base fines.
'Under the law, the landlord is strictly liable even though it's the tenant causing the violation — and even though we're not participating in this with this lady,' the building's lawyer, Lawrence Silberman, told the New York Daily News.
The lawsuit says that the landlord has been fined for turning the building into an illegal hotel, not having the required amount of exits for a hotel and not having adequate fire alarm system for a hotel.
Incredible graphic show just how much AirBnb has grown in... Landlords want a cut of of renters' Airbnb income
Silberman said his client wasn't aware of the illegal rentals, and that it was difficult to catch Iacob renting out the unit because the walk-up does not have a doorman, according to the New York Post.
Iacob, who works as a professional life coach and intervention organizer, has since told her landlord that the guests were 'friends and relatives', Silberman said.
But according to the inspector's report, people staying in Iacob's first-floor unit were identified as a family of five from Colorado.
The landlord of the Hells Kitchen apartment (pictured) was turning the building into an illegal hotel, not having the required amount of exits for a hotel and not having adequate fire alarm system for a hotel - all of which he claims he was not aware of
The landlord said it was hard to catch Iacob renting out her apartment on Airbnb because the building is a walk-up with no doorman. But city inspectors found guests in Iacob's apartment several times between May and October
The family had reportedly found the apartment on Airbnb, where they rented it from a woman named 'Ramona'.
In November, Iacob 'was is indeed involved in a short-term-rental scheme and as a result the court imposed a substantial penalty based on chronic bad acts,' a city administrative-law judge said, according to the lawsuit.
The judge found the landlord responsible for Iacob's actions and the fines were given to the building.
Inspections in August and October again found renters in Iacob's apartment, and the landlord fears fines could reach $250,000.
In the lawsuit against Iacob, the landlord is asking for $250,000 to cover the fines and another $50,000 in legal fees.
The landlord is also seeing a court order that would block Iacob from continuing to rent the apartment.
Iacob told the Daily News that she plans to hire a lawyer and fight the charges.
Tenant slapped with $300K suit for renting out pad on Airbnb | New York Post
Midtown woman faces $300G lawsuit for renting pad on Airbnb - NY Daily News
Woman sued for $300k for 'subletting apartment on Airbnb '


Introduction: Maternal obesity has been shown to be an independent risk factor for offspring to develop cardiovascular disease in later life (so-called the 'developmental programming' phenomenon). Maternal obesity creates a state of chronic inflammation and dyslipidemia (high levels of free fatty acids), which affect normal fetal development. Recent studies have demonstrated that gene regulators called microRNAs (miRNAs) play powerful roles in diverse aspects of cardiac development and function. The expression of miRNAs is dynamic and largely dependent on tissue or cell types; as in any other tissue, cardiac tissue also displays a 'signature expression' pattern for miRNAs. However, a particular pathological process is often associated with a particular gene expression pattern that can aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases. The implication of several miRNAs in cardiovascular diseases has been well documented such as miR-21 and miR-18a in cardiac fibrosis, miR-193 and miR-378 in myocardial infarction. Our preliminary data in baboon model of maternal obesity have shown significant aberrations in the expression of cardiac miRNAs in fetuses carried by obese mothers, which may suggest a role in fetal development in the evolution of heart disease in humans. For example, the expression of cardiac miR-21 and miR-193 was increased in baboon fetuses born to obese mothers, while the expression of miR-18a and miR-378 was decreased.
Objectives: The overall goal of this study is to determine the mechanism by which maternal obesity can affect cardiovascular health in her offspring. We hypothesize that abnormal fetal cardiac miRNA expression is caused by an exposure to excessive in utero inflammation or high levels of free fatty acids.
Methods: All experiments were done in human primary cardiomyocyte cell cultures. In order to mimic the obesogenic in utero environment, human primary cardiomyocyte cell cultures were either non-treated (control) or incubated at 37°C for 24 hours with 2 ng, 10 ng, and 20 ng of TNF-α, a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation. The effect of high free fatty acids was measured by incubating human primary cardiomyocyte cell cultures at 37°C for 24 hours with 2% BSA [control], 100 μM, 200 μM, and 400 μM palmitic acid, which is the most common fatty acid found in animals. miRNA was then extracted, cDNA was made, and then RT-PCR was run testing for expression levels of miR-193a, miR-378, miR-18, and miR-21. This experiment was repeated for a total of 4 times, and data was then analyzed.
Results: After incubation with TNF-α of varying concentrations, the expression of miR-193a and miR-21 were found to be upregulated compared to controls. No changes were detected in the expression of miR-18a and miR-378. In contrast, an incubation with palmitic acid of varying concentrations caused a downregulation of miR-193a, miR-378, and miR-18 compared to controls. No changes were detected in miR-21 expression. Conclusions. Changes in the expression of fetal cardiac miRNAs might be a result of fetal exposure to adverse intrauterine environment as seen in pregnancies complicated by maternal obesity. (This study was supported by CTSA UL1RR025767).


text:
The Clarence Darrow Octagon House is a historic octagon house in the community of Kinsman, Ohio, United States.  Home to lawyer Clarence Darrow in his childhood, it has been named a historic site.

Born in the nearby community of Farmdale, Clarence Darrow was the son of a cabinetmaker.  Together with his family, he moved to the octagon house in 1864 at the age of seven and lived in it until the family moved out of state circa 1873.  Darrow became a nationally prominent lawyer in his adulthood, and he remembered the octagon house as his home during his most significant childhood years, at a time when his interest in the law was leading him into activities such as running mock trials with his friends.  Darrow's final visit to the house occurred in 1936, two years before his death.

Constructed circa 1854, the Darrow House is typical of octagon houses, a short-lived popular passion during the middle of the nineteenth century; its leading proponent, Orson Squire Fowler, advocated their construction as a means of providing superior housing for the poor, and the design allowed for the interior space to be used more efficiently.  The Darrow House is primarily a wooden building; the walls are chestnut, with concrete used for chinking.  There are seven rooms inside, and much of the original woodworking (for example, the cupboards) survives, as well as the original fireplaces and mantels.  The first story of the house is surrounded by a prominent porch, which is absent from only one of the eight sides.  Windows are centered in the sides on both stories, and a chimney protrudes from the center.

In September 1971, the Clarence Darrow Octagon House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, just one week after the same distinction was awarded to Kinsman's Congregational-Presbyterian Church and Dr. Peter Allen House.  It is one of seven Ohio octagon houses on the National Register; most were built circa 1860, although "the Octagon" in Tiffin dates from 1852.  Unlike the other houses, which qualified for the Register because of their architecture, the Darrow House was deemed eligible solely because of its famous resident.  A state historical marker was placed in front of the house in 2000.

References

Houses completed in 1854
Houses in Trumbull County, Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Trumbull County, Ohio
Octagon houses in Ohio

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


15 agricultural producers have joined forces to insure against pig diseases. The project is led by Goodvalley Group Legal, Jens Peter Aabyen.
In a few months, Danish Farmers Abroad expects to have a new joint insurance against African swine fever ready.
says Jens Peter Aabyen, who is leading the project and Group Legal at Goodvalley.
So far, 15 farms with a total of 165,000 sows have each paid 5,000 Euros to write a White Paper as a basis for obtaining an insurance offer.
Initially, only members of Danish Farmers Abroad can take out the insurance. But if the scheme becomes a success, other farms can also come along.
As a starting point the insurance must as a minimum ensure compensation for the herd but also preferably for operating losses and other related losses. On the other hand, it is probably harder to get the insurance to cover the losses that might occur if the operation is going to be placed in a protection zone without it even being affected by disease.
One of the reasons for the great interest in insurance is claims from the capital markets. They want security for their investments and loans and an insurance against diseases makes agriculture a more attractive investment, and this is an advantage in a situation where a farm is to be sold or listed.
He predicts that it will not be a single insurance company that takes on the challenge of creating a reasonable insurance but rather a syndicate of several insurance companies.
Although there will be an agreement on both the terms and the price of an insurance, the policyholders must expect that the companies demand an annual renegotiation.
He also expects that other insurances, such as building, car and crop insurance, may be transferred to the company.


text:
New Cardiff City manager Neil Harris. Pic: Getty Images.
'We Have Quality Players To Build Promotion Push' Says Upbeat Bluebirds Manager Neil Harris
Posted on 23rd November 2019 by Terry Phillips
Neil Harris is Cardiff City's 17th manager since Terry Phillips started reporting on the Bluebirds almost a quarter of a century ago. Today, Harris is in charge of his new team for the first time, away at Charlton Athletic.
Essex-born former Millwall manager Neil Harris is back in London on a Bluebirds' mission.
He is planning a promotion push and is focussed on Cardiff City's next three SkyBet Championship fixtures, an eight-day spell which sees them take on Charlton (away), Stoke City (home) and Nottingham Forest (away).
City are off the pace right now, but Harris is aiming to change that and become the third club manager to lead Cardiff into the Premier League, following Malky Mackay and Neil Warnock.
More than 1,700 supporters will be watching his first fixture in charge, at Charlton's Valley Stadium, and he believes the current squad is capable of launching a drive towards the top six.
"No promises that we'll be in the top six, but we want to be," says Harris. "Have I got the players? Yes. They possess good individual abilities, it might take six games to get them back together.
"I came here to get team back to the Premier League, sooner rather than later. If it takes 18 months then so be it, but it's about building the foundation of the club.
"My aim is to on the under-23 squad, but only if they're good enough. James McCarthy (Academy manager) has a great work ethic and wants players to come through.
"I want to include young players like Cameron Coxe and Ciaron Brown a chance.
"I'm trying to avoid questions on the January transfer window because we have three games this week. We might be a bit light in a few areas, but we need to give players like Jazz Richards the opportunity to regain fitness."
Harris is hoping the spirit of Ryan Giggs' Wales, who qualified for the Euro 20 finals by beating Hungary 2-0 this week, will give Cardiff added impetus.
He was at Cardiff City Stadium to watch Wales and said: "I'm so pleased for Ryan and the boys to get through.
"That's lifted everybody in the vicinity.
"To see so many Cardiff people within the stadium, City fans, absolutely buzzing afterwards. Hopefully we take that goodwill and good spirit into the game at Charlton.
"It's been mad this week, long hours and getting to know everybody, but the people around have been fantastic, they can't do enough for you.
Cardiff City captain Sean Morrison. Pic: CCFC.
"Being at the national game the other night was a great opportunity to get to know people and see what football means to people in the region and the country."
The match at Charlton is the first time these two clubs have met since a goalless draw during February 2016 and his target is to help Cardiff improve their record in London. They have won only two of their last 26 league visits to London.
Harris has been in charge for a week since being appointed, preparing for the 12.30pm kick-off at Charlton.
"The players have been outstanding, as you would expect," said Harris. "It's not revolution or changing the style of play completely; it's about a talented group of players learning, taking on our messaging and being themselves.
"They are chomping at the bit to play and we're all really looking forward to it."
Charlton are a point above Cardiff in 11th place, but have earned only one point from their last four games.
"We're up against an unpredictable Charlton team," says Harris. " But we've been preparing well and giving the players as much information as we can.
"We want the players to express themselves, be attack-minded at times, but hard to break down as well. We have some good players in that dressing room.
"Charlton carried some real momentum at the start of the season having come up through the play-offs and had a strong start. It's a tough trip to the Valley, but the players have enjoyed the structures we've put in this week and are ready to go.
"I want to bring things back together and make sure our dressing room is full of confidence and supportive of each other.
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1197917961564147712?s=20
"Players to try to push their mates out of the team, but when they are playing and you're not, support them 100 per cent.
"Supporters want to see players putting their bodies on the line and playing with a bit of quality. If you get that and build, then fans will want to watch it.
"The players have been together and have been giving it everything this week and that's what I want to see and expect at Charlton."
Club captain Sean Morrison is back in the squad at Charlton after recovering from injury and gave his thoughts on the first week of Harris-rule.
"It's been an exciting week, to be honest," he said. "We had a really good meeting on Monday, and the boys really bought into what the new gaffer had to say.
"We're buying into his philosophies and how he wants us to be on and off the pitch.
"He wants us to be hard working, to leave everything on the pitch and be tough to beat.
"It will take a little bit of time to adapt, but we're fully behind what we want to do here, and to achieve something fantastic come the end of the year.
"Personally, I've been back in full contact training this week so I'm glad to be back in with the squad, regardless of whether I'm playing on the weekend or not.
"Hopefully now we can get back to being hard to beat and not conceding sloppy goals. We've got power and pace up the front, with boys who can put the ball in the back of the net.
"The division is so tight at the moment that a run of three or four wins on the bounce can make us climb right up the table."
Posted in Dai Foot
Tagged Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Essex, Hungary, Millwall, Neil Harris, Ryan Giggs, South Walkes, The Valley, Wales
Jack Roberts . . . Was A Tiger, Then A Blue, But Now A Knight Seeking Redemption
Newport's Tom King . . . From Rodney Parade To Murder List In Madrid


Make check payable to "The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania". Include the student's full name and 8 digit Penn I.D. number on the check.
Mail your payment at least 5 days prior to the due date.
We will accept FedEx, UPS, DHL or Emory deliveries addressed to Student Accounts.
Do not send by certified mail. Your check may end up in the University's central mail department.
Present the payment coupon with your check to the University Cashier, located in the lobby of the Franklin Building, 3451 Walnut Street.
If paying by mail or wire, make payment at least 5 days prior to the bill due date.
Make your check payable to: "Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania"
Paying from a 529 Plan? See below, and contact your individual 529 manager to obtain their disbursement requirements.
Many states and financial services institutions offer 529 savings programs for families to save money for a child's college education. Each entity has separate rules and regulations governing how funds may be used and how to have monies sent to the University of Pennsylvania. Always check with your provider about how and when to request release of funds, as well as what documents, such as an electronic copy of the student's bill, are needed.
If you participate in either the Guaranteed Savings Plan or Investment Plan programs, you must first contact the program to request that a payment be issued. You should always provide a copy of your tuition bill when making your request. Please note that payments from your program accounts may take up to ten (10) business days after the program approves your request before the funds are issued to and received by the University of Pennsylvania. Please make sure the remittance address, listed above, has been updated by your plan program.
The University must receive the full amount due on or before the bill's due date. If full payment is not received by the due date, a late payment penalty of 1.5% of the amount past due will be assessed, and future registration and continuing enrollment will be jeopardized.
A new late payment penalty will appear both as a new transaction, and in the late payment penalty box on the summary line. Adjustments to previously assessed late payment penalties will appear as a new transaction and will be included as either a new credit or new charge on the summary line.
If Penn accepts payment that contains or reflects "paid in full", or other restrictive endorsements, Penn does not lose any of its rights to collect any amount due.
A check not honored by the bank is subject to a $30 returned check charge. Any balance unpaid on the student account as a result of the returned check is subject to a late payment penalty. The University reserves the right to require a cashier or certified check on future payments. The University does not accept post-dated checks.
A payment returned for non-sufficient funds is subject to a $30 NSF Fee and any unpaid balance as a result of a NSF payment will be subject to a late payment penalty.