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Episodes>Episode 114
Making Healthcare About Human Care - Taylor Justice, Co-Founder and President, Unite Us
How can a barbershop be an access point to care? It's a question that Taylor Justice and his company, Unite Us, are figuring out on the ground in certain communities in North Carolina, and a model they are looking to expand, collaborating with various kinds of community organizations to build infrastructure by meeting patients where they're comfortable. Recognizing that so much of a person's overall wellbeing happens in their home community, Justice founded the technology platform Unite Us in 2013 to extend the traditional clinical care coordination network by connecting health, human, and social service organizations to securely exchange data around a shared patient. Initially focused on the veteran and military population, Unite Us now serves all citizens and is active in over 42 states across the country. In Justice's estimation, COVID has highlighted the lack of appropriately collaborative public health infrastructure. "I think that's one of the big learnings that we've seen from the pandemic," he says. "No one can do this alone." Tune in to this episode of Raise the Line to learn why Justice believes some of our nation's massive healthcare spending should be reallocated to human and social services, and why he predicts that these services will become bigger parts of the healthcare ecosystem going forward.
SHIV GAGLANI: Hi, I'm Shiv Gaglani. Today on Raise the Line, I'm happy to be joined by Taylor Justice. Taylor is the Co-founder and President of Unite Us, a technology company that facilitates coordination of care for patients with multiple barriers to health. He is passionate about social issues and implementing technology and collaboration within the health, human and social service sectors. Taylor, thanks for taking the time to be with us today.
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Thanks for having me.
SHIV GAGLANI: Can you start by telling our audience a bit more about your background and some of the key points in your career?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: My background comes from the U.S. military. I was a U.S. Army Infantry Officer, graduated from West Point and commissioned in 2006. Unfortunately, I was medically discharged and through that experience of dealing with the VA, finding a new job and finding a place to live, just noticed the inefficiency of military veterans transitioning into the quote-unquote civilian sector. Fortunately, I didn't struggle. I landed in Philadelphia and quickly got involved with veteran nonprofit organizations as a volunteer and realized that people would have their needs across multiple sectors and that really was the spark for starting Unite Us and really filling a void that we noticed in the market.
SHIV GAGLANI: That's great. First of all, we just celebrated Veteran's day, so thank you for your service as well. We've had several Raise the Line guests who have connections to the VA, including David Shulkin, who I'm sure you've come across. He was the secretary of the VA, and our Chief of Staff Max used to work for Tammy Duckworth, who I know is very passionate, as a U.S. Senator from Illinois, for VA initiatives and issues. Can you tell us a bit more about what Unite Us does besides the cursory introduction I gave at the beginning?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Yes. Unite Us is a community-wide care coordination platform and that word "community" is really important. Often in healthcare, we are trying to solve people's needs within the four walls of a clinical setting, but research done by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other academics is that 80% of someone's overall health and wellbeing happens in the community where they live -- what they eat, their families, their communities, everything. Unite Us really saw a void in the market as we started to move from this fee-for-service healthcare model to include human and social service agencies as part of that holistic care.
Unite Us is a technology p latform that connects health, human, and social service organizations across public, private, and nonprofit entities to securely exchange data around a shared patient, member, client -- however they're defined -- to ensure no one falls through the cracks. Our technology platform extends the traditional clinical care coordination network by including those human and social service agencies.
SHIV GAGLANI: Can you give us a bit of a sense of how many lives you reach at this point through Unite Us, and then what secret sauce is really behind the tech-enabled approach that you've taken to helping with care coordination within the community.
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Unite Us was founded in 2013, again, initially just focused on the veteran and military population. My fellow co-founder and I both had a military background, and we started to build these networks of health, human, social services agencies, and realized that the challenges the veteran and military community face are they just happened to be this perfect petri dish of American society when you look at age, race, or socioeconomic status, and the majority of organizations participating in these networks weren't just for veterans only.
They were state and local government, healthcare entities, education entities that obviously serve the larger population, but the commonality between all of them was they had a veteran military program. So we saw that our platform, regardless of population or regardless of the organization and the services that they provided, could connect people to these needed services and prove that they received them. So we expanded in 2015-16 timeframe to focus on being population agnostic and service provider agnostic. We now represent appropriate public health infrastructure in 42+ states across the country.
The ultimate goal is that anybody that needs to connect into human, social, or healthcare services will engage with Unite Us in some shape or fashion. We're building appropriate public health infrastructure nationally and focusing our platform on the individual in need, whereas historically technology solutions or government solutions are there more to support a program or an initiative where we focus on the individual that no matter what door they walk into to be a public, private or nonprofit, they have access to this larger network and can prove that they received the services that they were seeking.
SHIV GAGLANI: Yes. One thing I love about your approach is, again, just understanding that people are unique, but also that they live within these communities and oftentimes need a lot more support than just that one visit with a primary care doctor every year or the regular visits with a psychiatrist. There are so many social determinants of health, which is a concept that I learned about in medical school, but we didn't really learn much about how to coordinate care between the different players on a care team. I think that's obviously been changing. Is there any evidence that addressing social determinants of health and coordination of care actually helps improve outcomes or reduces costs in the healthcare system?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Yes. There are a lot of academic studies -- real-world, evidence-based studies -- that have been done. You can see them for singular service categories… so think of food, think of connecting people to transportation, where 25% of individuals are missing appointments because they don't have a way to get there. You also see groupings around particular populations…so think of maternal health, opioid addiction, food insecurity, frail elderly. Each of those population groups has an evidence-based solution that, if you can address the social determinants, it has a financial impact on the cost of healthcare but also improving their health. That's really what the focus area is. What there hasn't been in the market is proof of scale.
That's really where Unite Us has come in. We saw an opportunity where we have a number of different product lines that we deploy. Most people know us for our flagship product, which is called "Unite Us Platform," a community-wide care coordination platform. It's better known as a kind of mesh between systems of record. We're not going to replace an electronic health record. We're not going to replace the care management platform that a health plan might have.
We're not going to replace a government's benefits and enrollments with technology, but we need to integrate with them, so this mesh between systems of record allows these bigger institutions to better coordinate care around that share of an individual in need. When you have that infrastructure, think of it as a supply chain. Now you can do a lot of really cool things on top of it. There are tons of data analytics companies out there that take publicly available data from LexisNexis or somewhere else and create a social risk score or create population health data sets that allow us to look at heat maps within a particular community.
No one's really looking at what's tactically happening on the ground, so Unite Us can take that publicly available data, marry it with what's happening within a community to have a very, very tight group of what are the needs for this individual within the community in which they live and the supply that's available based on food, housing, employment, education…what we know as the social determinants. And the scale portion of that really rolls into what we're building with Unite Us Payments, which creates an economic relationship between healthcare and social care. We're moving from a fee for service model to value-based healthcare because there is an ROI for health systems and health plans to participate and engage with these community-based organizations. We're providing the mechanism with not only the connections to these organizations but the financial incentive as well. If I can remove moldy carpet from someone's home in an efficient and cost-effective way, I might have a better chance of treating asthma. I might have a better chance of ensuring that this person stays in that home if they have an employable wage.
I make sure that someone with diabetes can adhere to a healthy food plan if they have a home to go into and a refrigerator that they can store produce and other materials. Again, we think about holistic care. Human and social services are operating on pen and paper, Excel sheets, the dreaded wall full of brochures, if you've ever gone into your primary care doctor. That's our referral mechanism across the country. It's not sufficient, so bringing those human and social service agencies into the 21st century with a technology solution that is seamless, easy to use, and connects them into the behemoth that is healthcare allows us to have the infrastructure to provide that scale and provide these intervention models that allow us to again, improve health while reducing the cost of healthcare care.
Our view of the marketplace is that to truly incentivize healthcare to care about social care, it needs to impact their bottom line. That's really what we're trying to focus on, and how we can put human and social service agencies at the same priority level as healthcare and facilitate an economic relationship.
SHIV GAGLANI: That is fascinating. I love those examples that you provided. One of our other guests that we've had on the podcast is Dr. Sachin Jain, who, when he ran CareMore Health, initiated this collaboration with Lyft to help improve the reduced number of missed appointments because of transportation issues. I know you know DaVita has a similar thing with Uber, I believe.
Everyone's heard of companies like Handy or Thumbtack and these massive networks of people who can do the social services that you mentioned, like removing mold from the house of someone who may have asthma. Are those the kinds of companies you would eventually integrate with and provide a scalable way for someone to get their home fixed up if they had that need?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Yes. The short answer is yes. When we talk about "community-wide," we truly mean it. It could be an organization like Handy. It could be a community church. It could be a barbershop. What we're building is infrastructure, and we're meeting the community wherever they congregate. In certain communities in North Carolina, we have barbershops that are access points to a greater network. You want people to feel comfortable. In certain settings, like a barbershop, people are willing to open up or say, "Hey, I might need assistance with X, Y, and Z." Now that barbershop isn't necessarily going to provide food or housing or transportation, but they can connect that individual to a provider in the community. Provider here is defined as health, human, and social. It's not just healthcare. So they become a conduit.
We want to have an infrastructure where regardless of the door you walk in, regardless of the organization and the services that they provide, there is a solution or an opportunity for those organizations to participate within this greater network because it needs to involve all sectors. Again, healthcare is almost 20% of our GDP in the country. What we are looking to do is reallocate some of that spending to these human and social services so we can take care of people holistically. That requires multiple sectors coming together and coordinating around that individual in need.
SHIV GAGLANI: In that specific example of a barbershop, what's the incentive of the barbershop? Obviously, they care about their customers, and there's a conduit there, but would they be paid for referrals? How do you get them on board with the system?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: It's not necessarily them being paid for referrals. I think it starts with what you started with -- if they care about their customers. They're already talking about things that are going on in the community. It could be just general gossip. It could be about a sports game, or it could be like, "Hey, I need assistance with X, Y, and Z," just as they would say, "Hey, go to the local church," or "Have you tried this other organization?" What we're doing is we're operationalizing that manual process or that conversation where now that barbershop can be an access point and can easily say, "Hey, you need assistance. Because I care about you, let me connect you to an organization that might be able to help."
It really empowers that organization to address needs as they uncover them. I think in the future, there could be potential for a barbershop to be financially incentivized. You see health plans today that are paying health systems to do social determinants of health screeners, but what if you did that in the community and provided these other organizations, that have more touch points, spend more time with these individuals, and you incentivize them to ask a couple of questions, "Hey, do you have enough food to eat? Do you have an employable wage? Do you have a place to sleep tonight?" Those are access points that will drive success, not only for healthcare but government, and what we're trying to do is extend that support network not just to be clinical support, but holistically.
SHIV GAGLANI: That's fascinating. Shifting gears a bit, we launched this podcast because of COVID. The concept of "raising the line" is how we strengthen the healthcare system so that, regardless of this pandemic or a future shock to the healthcare system, we have enough healthcare workers, we have enough social support, and you're clearly helping provide care beyond the walls of a hospital or health system or clinic, which is a great approach. How has COVID affected your operations at Unite Us? What do you think some of the long-term changes are going to be to Unite Us and to the healthcare system as a result of COVID?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: There are second and third-order effects of the pandemic. While the death rate is relatively low, you have the effects of people going into the hospital or hospitals being at capacity, no more beds, or being able to treat other different service categories. There are also second and third-order effects in the community. What we've seen from the pandemic is people at unprecedented levels are accessing human and social services. Sometimes, for the very first time. Meaning they lost their job, or they don't have access to childcare anymore so they might not be able to go back to work, or you see a large number of families having to make the hard decision of one parent continuing with full-time employment and the other one's staying home to take care of the children.
That creates an economic burden on that family. If they have to access human and social services for food then, for housing, for income assistance, our systems in the states aren't set up to support that influx. So the second and third-order effects of the pandemic are the spotlight that states are now starting to see on their lack of appropriate public health infrastructure. For Unite Us, over the past seven to eight months, we've had a number of states that have selected Unite Us to build the infrastructure. We've had 15 new statewide contracts that we're building out to connect health, human, social service organizations into this common infrastructure.
For us, it's unfortunate what the country has had to go through, but fortunately, our team was there ready to scale and could build out this infrastructure to address the need in real-time and build what we're calling "rapid response networks," really focusing on these emergency basic need providers. As a venture-funded technology company that raised our last financing around 18 to 20 months ago, our team has grown 7x since then, and a majority of that has happened in the past eight months. Just because the need is so great. Governments, to better govern, need to have the data of what's happening tactically on the ground so that they can make better decisions and we can allocate resources to where they need to go.
Just as we saw the shortage of PPE and ventilators and all of the different clinical tools that were needed to address the clinical response to COVID, states are also having to do that around food and access to care and making sure that people are remaining in quarantine if they need to. Our team has been there to kind of answer that call in these 15 states, and I only see that increasing. I think moving forward in 2021 and 2022, the focus on appropriate public health infrastructure should be priority number one because it's impossible to address all of these needs by handing somebody a phone book and saying, "Hey, try these resources." You need to not only know that they showed up, but that they actually received that care, and if they didn't, why? Is it because there is no capacity in that community? Is it because eligibility requirements are too stringent?
Maybe we need to change some policy, but it's also how do we allocate government dollars, philanthropic dollars, community benefit dollars. There are a lot of components that need to be addressed if we're actually going to help states move to a place of recovery. It's hard to do that if you don't have the infrastructure, and we're starting to see, like I said, a number of states across the country that are like, "Okay, we need to address this, and we need to address it now."
SHIV GAGLANI: It's wonderful that you guys have been in a position ready to scale to help support more and more states dealing with these issues that, I totally agree with you, are going to last for many years to come given how much unemployment there's been and psychological distress there's been in communities. Evictions obviously are at an all-time high.
We are an education company. We do a lot of training for health professionals, and we've seen a dramatic increase in the demand for, even before COVID, but now, especially because of COVID, in training up other types of care providers like nursing assistants, home health aides, obviously a lot of need for psychology and psychological health providers. Is that something that you all are seeing as well? How do you plug those caregivers into the infrastructure? Everything from, maybe the COVID contact tracers, which has been a big deal over the past few months, to MDs who are mainly on telehealth now as opposed to in-person visits.
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Honestly, you can replace the service that's being provided. Primary care, health system, health plan, behavioral healthcare, food, transportation -- everybody is facing very similar issues. People that come in have these dynamic needs and often see people come in with more than two needs that need to be addressed at a given time. Often, those organizations don't provide those multiple needs, so the need to coordinate care is super important. It's across the board, and there are phases to care as well. It's not just episodic. "Okay. I send somebody to a food pantry, and the food problems are solved."
No, there's probably an economic issue there. There could be a behavioral health issue there. If someone's coming out of the justice system, they might not be able to leverage government assistance. They have to be dependent upon that nonprofit network in the community that has the ability to provide services to them. So when you get into specific populations, there are specific needs that they might have but ultimately, regardless of the title of the population or regardless of the service provider, they need to connect with complementary services in their communities, so that you provide these wraparound services. We can't do it with onesies and twosies and, or just line of sight type of services anymore. It has to be holistic, and we have to operate and collaborate across sectors.
I think that's one of the big learnings that we've seen from the pandemic, it is that no one can do this alone. If we're not collaborating collectively, we're missing the mark. I think in healthcare generally, we've been so focused on creating these siloed and competitive networks where that needs to change up a little bit, especially around social determinants of health. We shouldn't have health plans, health systems, and government competing on connections to community-based organizations. They should be competing on the services that they're providing their patients, their members, their clients.
These broad networks where everybody's operating within a common ecosystem, I think, is the way of the future, and you will start to see clinical behavioral health in these social services as the standard moving forward. Whereas right now, it's a one-off type of relationship in a community, now it's going to be across the broad service categories and thousands of organizations in a community or across the state.
SHIV GAGLANI: That's definitely a vision I think we can get behind, too. I know we're coming up on time, so my last question for you is what advice would you give to our audience, which mostly comprises current and future healthcare providers and professionals about meeting the challenges of COVID and beyond?
TAYLOR JUSTICE: That's a very loaded question. I will do my best. I think as healthcare professionals, if we're truly gonna provide services or an environment that improves health, it can't happen within just our four walls anymore. You have to reach out and connect with your communities. You have to connect to these human and social service agencies. You need to think of them as your peers, not just another support system in the community. The market itself is going to change where we are going to start to reallocate healthcare to these human and social services. It will become the standard within a three to five-year period. That is my prediction.
Within that, we are going to start to look at holistic care and prescribing food, prescribing access to maybe a government benefit or access to a covered benefit that health plans started to pick up. They do it a little bit here and there with the NMA population and some of the Medicaid population, but I think that will become a standard. I think as you practice, think about how I pull in these human and social services into my care plan for an individual, or into my prescriptions for an individual, and then how I get them to adhere to that and how I make it easy for them to access those services. I really think how I can incorporate these human social services to be at the top of mind of the folks that are listening to your podcast of how I actually improve someone's overall health and wellbeing.
SHIV GAGLANI: That's an exciting vision. I hope our audience takes that to heart. I definitely know when I was in med school, I could have benefited from learning more about social determinants of health and how to access and coordinate care across the community. With that, Taylor, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today.
TAYLOR JUSTICE: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
SHIV GAGLANI: I'm Shiv Gaglani. Thank you to our audience for checking out today's show and remember to do your part to flatten the curve and raise the line since we're all in this together.


The cookies were placed in this separate box which was really pretty cute.
These shortbread cookies are made by Orange Glad. It was buttery too and really quite addicting. And of course i devoured it in one sitting since well it had to be consumed right away hahaha.
This is a Red Velvet Cake Pop covered with white chocolate and showered with shamrock sprinkles was baked to go with the month's theme which is St Patricks. OMG this cake was so soft and chewy. I absolutely loved it. It was so delicious and it was so moist in the inside. It doesn't have that after taste that you would usually taste whenever you eat red velvet cupcakes or cake due to the red coloring used.
The least favorite among the 5 snacks for this month. I'm not much of a coconut eater thats why i would say this would be my least fave. The smackaroon is dipped in dark belgian chocolate and is made with coconut and pecans. I really also didn't like the consistency. It was a little bit dry and i had a hard time swallowing it. But don't get me wrong it was delicious too but i wished that it were a little bit more chewy and soft.
This chocolate is made in all-natural ingredients and was made by one of the most popular chocolatiers in Seattle. Sea Salt lately has been one my fave ingredient in any snacks or sweets. A combination of sweetness and saltiness has a perfect effect on me. I love the battle going on my tastebuds when these two flavors combine. My son loved this so much.
VERDICT: OMG just found the perfect subscription service that delivers delectable sweets right to your doorstep. Everything was perfect from the packaging, info card down to the products itself. All the sweets were delicious and I plan to order some of it online. This box is just perfect for those who love sweets and baked goodies.


The Diocese of Norwich Education and Academy Trust has appointed a Transition Board to undertake the work of the governing body and support the school moving forward. The Board is made up of three people who are all very experienced in supporting schools to improve outcomes for children.
The board will be working with a group of other governors who it is hoped will be willing to be appointed by the trust as a local governing body for the school. The plan is that the transition board will work with this group and when the time is right will hand over to them and the transition board will be dissolved.
In the meantime, the transition board will be working with staff to support and challenge. The shared aim is to make Dereham Junior Academy the best school that it can be.
Please contact the Chair of Governors Mr David Lennard Jones, via the School Office.
As well as Full Governing Body Meetings, the Governors also hold Resources and Standards Committee meetings, all Governors are members of all committees.
Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure the budget is well spent.
The Governing Body of Dereham Church of England Junior Academy was re- constituted following the Academies conversion under the Sponsorship of the Norwich Diocesan Board (DNEAT). The membership of the governing body is made up 2 staff governors, including the Headteacher, 2 Parent Governors and 6 Trust Governors. The Trust Governors are appointed by DNEAT and are people, who in the opinion of DNEAT, have the skills and commitment to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school: on the governing body there are representatives from the local community, including the Rector from St Nicholas Church and a number of people with a range of experience in business. The full Governing Body meets regularly each term and others, such as pupil discipline and staffing matters, meet as required.
Governors regularly attend the meetings and throughout the year all meetings have been quorate- thus allowing legal decisions to be made.
The work of the previous governing body had been focused around the school's decision to join DNEAT and the work that involved. This now is a reality and the current governing body will review the impact of its current work at the end of this school year.
Jane Jackson Clerk School Secretary at Garvestone Primary School. Clerk to Dereham Cluster and for schools within the Cluster.


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Tag: Louise Penny
Monthly Summary – Comfort Reading
I know February has got 29 days this year, but I'm ready to end this month early. It's been soggy and dark and with far too few signs of spring. All the more reason to indulge in escapist reading, not just Mary Stewart but also things such as:
Seishi Yokomizu: The Inugami Curse (aka The Inugami Clan, which would be closer to the original in Japanese) – a sort of And Then There Were None but all in the family, thanks to a rather strange and spiteful will. Much more about psychology than closed room puzzles and therefore more enjoyable to me than last month's Japanese mystery.
Elizabeth George: A Banquet of Consequences – I used to pounce on each new novel by E. George as soon as it came out, but I somehow lost the plot a little after Careless in Red and have struggled – not very hard – to get back in. I'd previously put up with the suspension of disbelief that class still matters in the Metropolitan Police and the sometimes slightly touristy view of Britain (like Martha Grimes), also with the great length of the novels (because they made for interesting character development). But lately I'd been feeling they were getting too baggy and ever so slightly repetitive. While this one is not perfect (the Havers finding her groove sub-plot seems a little tagged on, for instance), the description of one of the most manipulative mothers in fiction and a truly dysfunctional family meant that I just couldn't put this down and read it straight in two days.
Louise Penny: The Nature of the Beast – Purists might be shocked that I've read Louise Penny all out of order. I just read whichever book I can get my hands on and always enjoy a trip to Three Pines and becoming reacquainted with Gamache and his family and friends. This one came out in 2015/16 and I have a suspicion I had too many other things going on in my life at the time to be fully on the ball. It strikes me that there is a deep, deep sadness at the heart of Penny's work, which contrasts with the cosy village atmosphere.
Brian Bilston: Diary of a Somebody – Many of you will have enjoyed Brian's irreverent Twitter poetry. This is his first novel, about a hapless, bumbling middle-aged poet trying to navigate work, divorce and sharing custody of his son, book club and poetry club, and his arch-nemesis, the pretentious rival poet with the completely opaque poetry. It was trying a bit too hard to go for the laughs, so it gets a bit repetitive after all, but in small doses, it is very amusing.
Nicola Upson: London Rain – The mystery series featuring Josephine Tey has always been one of my (not so secret) pleasures, another one that I've read out of order. This one is set at the time of the coronation of George VI and features the BBC at the start of its glory period. Not my favourite of the series to date, but the recreation of the period feels very authentic.
Nick Bradley: The Cat and the City – a quirky, strange book with a series of interconnected characters and stories, all showing a rapidly changing Tokyo on the eve of the 2020 Olympic Games. On the whole, it manages to avoid most of the cliches about Japan that foreign authors are prone to fall into and does a good job of conveying the loneliness of the huge, anonymous city. It left me thoughtful and dreamy for a few days after finishing it. But be warned: there is a distressing scene involving a cat getting hurt!
In a way, I've continued the Japanese reading challenge theme – although sadly I won't have time to reread The Makioka sisters with Meredith. If you do get a chance to read it, I'd really, really recommend it: imagine Chekhov's Three Sisters blended with an unforgettable portrait of a rapidly modernising Japan in the early 20th century.
Helen Phillips: The Need – not strictly speaking the most comforting read, especially when you are a single mother with two children alone in a creaky house (luckily, my children are a bit older than the ones in this book). Less of a ghost or horror story than a sort of postmodern feminist tale, which will probably up your anxiety levels… about almost anything really!
To summarise: I read 16 books this month, of which 7 fall roughly into the memoir theme I had envisaged (if we count Woodcutters by Thomas Bernhard and Kate Brigg's This Little Art as quasi-memoirs too). I took part in #Fitzcarraldo Fortnight with just one book – the beautiful essay on translation as the 'little art' – and in the Paul Auster reading week with his early memoir The Invention of Solitude. 9 of the books I read this month were pure escapism, comfort reads, reflecting a much needed break for my poor brain after lots of translation and editing work. 11 of the books were by women authors, and only 2 were in translation (a deliberate choice, so that my head would be full of native English speakers and writers while I was trying to render a Romanian text into colloquial English).
Plans for next month? I'll have finished editing the translation so can continue with my geographically themed reading. I'm thinking possibly Spain…
Posted on February 27, 2020 February 26, 2020 Categories ReviewsTags Brian Bilston, comfort reading, Elizabeth George, Helen Phillips, Louise Penny, monthly summary, monthly wrap-up, Nick Bradley, Nicola Upson, reading summary, Seishi Yokomizu, The Inugami Curse12 Comments on Monthly Summary – Comfort Reading
Wrapping Up November 2018
The Romanian holiday has receded in the mists of time, as November proved implacable in terms of work load and 'fun' events that involved mainly my older son's GCSE exams and life after those exams.
All this is the lead-in to explain why my reading has not been hugely varied this month. I managed to finish just 11 books (and others have been dragging on forever). 7 of those were written in English, 8 women authors (well, 7 in fact, for one of those authors featured twice – namely Tana French). I've also been very bad about reviewing the books.
Broken Harbour is missing from this selection, but it was a great reread.
Tana French: Broken Harbour – this was the first book of hers that I read but did not review a few years ago, so this is a reread and it moved me all over again. Possibly my favourite among her books. Those ghost town developments, I wonder if they are beginning to recover as the Dublin property market picks up.
Simone Buchholz: Beton Rouge, transl. Rachel Ward – another writer who takes the crime fiction trope and runs away with it. The crime plays second fiddle to a hugely atmospheric portrayal of Hamburg (and Bavaria), and a cool jazzy riff on language and style.
Books That Surprised Me
Prabda Yoon: Moving Parts – Surreal, fantastical, sly and witty stories from Thailand, with lots of word play and mind games and lateral thinking. An unusual delight, showing us a very contemporary and urban world, far removed from the exoticism we might associate with that country. Must have been sooo tricky to translate – and you can read an interview with the translator Mui Poopoksakul here.
Kathy Acker: Essential Writings – I'd read short bits and pieces by Kathy Acker before, but never a selection of what the editors consider her best stuff. Not sure if it does justice to the variety of her work, but she certainly still has the power to shock, jolt, anger and make you think!
Ahmet Altan: Like a Sword Wound, transl. Brendan Freely & Yelda Turedi – historical family sagas are not my cup of tea, but the initial soap opera quality of the book soon gives way to a fresco of a society, a certain time and way of life, much like the Transylvanian Trilogy. Another great Asymptote Book Club choice, just like the Prabda Yoon.
Books I Wish I Hadn't Bothered With
Not necessarily bad, but just not as interesting or scary or crime-fictiony or funny as I expected. Sadly, quite a few of them this month, which perhaps put me off reading a bit.
Hanna Jameson: The Last – can't make up its mind if it's a mystery or a dystopian novel
Lucy Foley: The Hunting Party – giving all those who went to Oxford Uni a bad name
Tana French: The Wych Elm – a character who just dragged on and on and on
Noel Langley: There's a Porpoise Close Behind Us – a few chapters of this could have been charming and funny, a whole book was just too much
Louise Penny: Kingdom of the Blind – normally this author can do no wrong in my eyes, but although it was nice to revisit Three Pines, I felt this one was a tad repetitive. Maybe it's time to move on to another subject, another character.
Eva Menasse; Quasikristalle – good in parts, but not quite as clever or innovative as it tried to be
German Literature Month
I only managed to take part with two reviews (although Simone Buchholz fits in this category as well): Eva Menasse and Fred Uhlman's Reunion, which I read just on the cusp of November. The latter was certainly far more memorable than the former.
Big Plans for Next Few Months
I've let my #EU27Project languish for far too long and there are only a few months until they really do become just 27. I was shocked to discover how many French and German books I've read, but how few from other countries. So I've used my last bit of money to buy some elusive ones, tracked others down from the library and will be focusing mainly on the 13 (thirteen!!!) countries I still have left to read. I'm still searching for books from Cyprus and Luxembourg, so do let me know if you have any recommendations.
Posted on December 1, 2018 November 30, 2018 Categories ReviewsTags Ahmet Altan, Eva Menasse, Hanna Jameson, Kathy Acker, Louise Penny, Lucy Foley, monthly round-up, monthly summary, Noel Langley, Prabda Yoon, reading, reading plans, reading summary, Simone Buchholz, Tana French16 Comments on Wrapping Up November 2018
Easy Reading for Dark Days
You know what I hate about winter? Not the cold, not the snow, but the darkness! It makes me crave comfort food and comfort reading. And, while I agree with the need for difficult books and enjoy experimental reading by and large, with the anxiety-inducing news that seems to be lapping (or do I mean nipping?) at our feet constantly, we all need some soothing. So, for the past couple of week, I've gone with the undemanding stuff: favourite authors, lots of crime fiction and perhaps even something funny.
Prabda Yoon: Moving Parts, transl. Mui Poopoksakul
An unusual collection of surreal stories based around body parts, which I probably wouldn't have come across without the help of the Asymptote Book Club. A finger shouting out 'yuck' at inappropriate times, a teenager who gets to keep the hand of the girl he fancies but makes a mess of it, a young woman who fears that her lack of a real human tail will damage her love prospects… You get the point: these are all such unlikely, borderline absurd scenarios that you cannot help but chuckle as you read them. This Thai author has previously been described as 'virtually untranslatable' because of the word games and puns, the way he likes to experiment with language. He certainly presents a picture of contemporary Thailand quite far removed from the tourist sights or even the more sleazy settings of crime fiction.
Louise Penny:Kingdom of the Blind
In the afterword to this latest novel set in the almost mythical community of Three Pines, I was very moved to read that the author had seriously thought she had nothing more to write about Armand Gamache, her much loved detective, head of the Sûreté du Québec, and staunch family man. The reason for that was the death of her husband, who had been a partial inspiration for Gamache. Much to the relief of her vast legions of fans, she did come up with a new story involving all of the colourful characters surrounding Gamache, as well as the extreme harshness of a Canadian winter. The storyline of political shenanigans to discredit Gamache is starting to wear a little thin, I thought, but otherwise it is a fun story of family rivalry, a feud about inheritance, and institutional and individual corruption.
Hanna Jameson: The Last
Such a promising premise for this one: what if nuclear war broke out while you were at a conference in a remote location in the Swiss Alps? What if you find a murder has been committed and that one of the survivors camping out with you in that hotel must have done it? Yet this novel, described inevitably as And Then There Were None meets The Road, really doesn't live up to that promise. There is very little murder mystery in there, much more of an exploration of the psychology of survivors and the minutiae of their daily lives. There is some fun to be had about the differences of opinions between Europeans and Americans, and the 'hazing' of someone whom we might consider a Trump supporter, but every theme appears to be mentioned, gone into briefly, and then dropped. Besides, I just couldn't get over the fact that the Swiss, with their abundance of obligatory bunkers fully equipped with food and other necessities, will be the ones most likely to survive the apocalypse in comfort. And the author doesn't take this into account at all!
Tana French: The Witch Elm
Another difficult white cover – is there a trend right now that I hadn't previously noticed? A standalone by one of the best crime authors currently at work – I could hardly wait to read this one. And yet, it was disappointing. Far too much background – the story only gets going about halfway through, and even then there is too much dithering. While I normally enjoy French's slow build-up to horrifying conclusions (Broken Harbour is the perfect example of that), in this case I didn't feel that the build-up was warranted. And although I normally quite like unlikeable characters, I just couldn't care about the narrator in this instance.
So in the end, easy reading doesn't always make for the most satisfying reading. Out of the four, I would say the short story collection, i.e. The most unexpected and experimental one, was the one that pleased me most, even if I didn't love every story and even though I feel it is disloyal to Louise Penny. Onwards and upwards!
Posted on November 17, 2018 November 17, 2018 Categories Reviews, UncategorizedTags comfort reading, difficult books, Hanna Jameson, Louise Penny, Prabda Yoon, Tana French23 Comments on Easy Reading for Dark Days
Best Crime Fiction in English 2017
As I started jotting down all the crime fiction novels which I enjoyed reading in 2017, I realised the list was growing too long, so I had to divide it into translated and English-language fiction. So this is the second part of that post, crime fiction written in English. regardless of the origin of the writer or the setting. You might spot a preference among crime authors for a London setting, yet each of these was different.
Sarah Vaughan: Anatomy of a Scandal – London – coming out in January 2018
Political and legal thriller meets domestic drama – a cynical but all too realistic view of politicians and husbands, just right for these times full of sexual harassment cases
Stav Sherez: The Intrusions – London
Another extremely topical police procedural, about online stalking, hacking and spying. There was also something about the transient backpacker population all converging onto London which tugged at my heartstrings.
Eva Dolan: This Is How It Ends – London – coming out in January 2018
Dolan is the queen of weaving in a thrilling story to explore her anger about social injustice. Here it's property developers vs. ordinary people, political campaigners vs. the police, and betrayals among those you believe to be on your side.
Chris Whitaker: Tall Oaks – US
I read both of Chris Whitaker's novels this year and this one won by a cat's whisker (I'm trying to only mention one book per author): that mix of humour, insight and depth of feeling which is quite rare.
Susie Steiner: Missing, Presumed – Cambridge and London
Same thing with Susie Steiner: I read both of her novels featuring the delightful Manon, but the first one in the series just had an additional edge to my mind. Police procedural with characters that you want to get to know better.
Aga Lesiewicz: Exposure – London
Sometimes you just need a high-paced urban thriller set in a Shoreditch which has all the trappings of Manhattan, including spyware, trendy lofts and media types. The glamour of the lifestyle was just so different from my experience that all my voyeuristic tendencies came to the fore: call it my version of 'Hello' magazine!
Emma Flint: Little Deaths – New York City
For a change of pace, a meticulous recreation of a period and place (Queens, 1960s) and an alternative interpretation of a notorious true crime. I didn't read it so much for the plot, however, but for the way it portrays society's indictment of mothers and women who don't behave according to general expectations.
Louise Penny: The Beautiful Mystery – Canada, Quebec
Reading a Louise Penny mystery is always a treat, and this one has echoes of another old favourite The Name of the Rose, with its monastic location and thorough examination of human propensity for both good and evil.
Adrian Magson: Rocco and the Nightingale – Picardie, France
Another recreation of time and place, this time one that is close to my heart: France in the 1960s and a detective that I have a bit of a soft spot for: Lucas Rocco. This time an assassin seems to be after Rocco, but of course he doesn't have the luxury to just go away and hide.
As I finished compiling the list above, I realised that I have personally met (in person or online) six of the nine authors featured, and they are all very charming. But although that might make me eager to read their work, it does not influence my final selection into the 'best of' literary canon.
Posted on December 19, 2017 December 18, 2017 Categories ReviewsTags Adrian Magson, Aga Lesiewicz, best of 2017, Chris Whitaker, crime fiction, Emma Flint, English language, Eva Dolan, Louise Penny, Sarah Vaughan, Stav Sherez, Susie Steiner13 Comments on Best Crime Fiction in English 2017
March Reading Summary
The reading mojo is on its way back this month, although it has been quite heavily loaded on the crime fiction side of things. Out of the 15 books I read this month, 10 were by women writers and 12 were crime-related. That is the sort of comfort reading I crave, although I have also ventured into self-help, true crime and historical fiction.
Women on the cliff of change:
Katie Kitamura: A Separation – even this has a mystery at its heart, although of course it is about much more than death. When the narrator's husband goes missing in Greece, she does not have the heart to admit to her in-laws that they have been separated for six months, so she travels there to find him… and in the process finds herself. A full review to come on Shiny New Books.
Rachel Cusk: Transit – Kitamura's book reminded me very much of Cusk's Outline, so I moved on to the second in the trilogy. This is also a series of vignettes about the people the narrator encounters as she sets to buy and renovate a property in London. A more subtle, less self-centred book than Kitamura's.
Marie Darrieussecq: Men – read this one for France in the #EU27Project, about a French actress's ill-fated passion for a black actor/film director as they prepare to film in the Congo.
Women in crime:
Susie Steiner: Missing, Presumed
Emma Flint: Little Deaths
Andrea Carter: Treacherous Strand – crime solved by a female solicitor on the Inishowen Peninsula in Ireland – review to come on Crime Fiction Lover
Aga Lesiewicz: Exposure – urban thriller set in hipsterland Shoreditch – gulped it down in one night, review to come on CFL
Louise Penny: The Beautiful Mystery
Harriet Lerner: Why Won't You Apologize? – Psychologist Lerner examines why it's so hard to offer a heartfelt apology and how to repair relationships and restore trust. Witty, candid and with some great personal examples, it's a delight to read even for those who shun self-help books.
Helen Garner: This House of Grief – Deliberate revenge or tragic accident? Garner examines the court case of Robert Farquharson, who in 2005 drove into a dam with his three children. I expected this to be more of an examination of the background and family life which led to the tragic event described, but it really is a detailed account of the trial (plus appeal and retrial) and the reactions of the author and the people around her to the unfolding of procedures. Interesting, because it shows how subjective the law can be in court, how easily swayed public opinion (or the jury's opinion). A great companion piece to Little Deaths.
Books for Review:
Matt Johnson: Deadly Game
Dylan H. Jones: Anglesey Blue
Antonin Varenne: Retribution Road
Just for fun:
Stephen May: Stronger Than Skin – psychological thriller from the man's perspective, which makes a nice change. I admit that one of the two time frames, the Cambridge setting of the 1990s, played a big part in my decision, although I did not feel truly transposed into that world. A story of obsessive young love and more mature realisation of responsibilities and limitations. I did enjoy the poke at the pretentiousness of middle-class, middle-aged life, in particular through the unconventional character of Lulu, the photographer girlfriend of a former pupil of the main character Mark Chadwick. Goodness, that sounds complicated – I should have started that sentence elsewhere!
Terry Pratchett: Snuff – even when I pick something amusing from the library, there is still a crime element involved, as Sam Vimes finds a corpse waiting for him when he goes on holiday in the countryside.
Posted on March 30, 2017 April 20, 2017 Categories ReviewsTags Andrea Carter, Antonin Varenne, Dylan H. Jones, Emma Flint, Harriet Lerner, Helen Garner, Katie Kitamura, Louise Penny, Marie Darrieussecq, Matt Johnson, Rachel Cusk, Stephen May, Susie Steiner, Terry Pratchett23 Comments on March Reading Summary
Old World and New: Louise Penny and Antonin Varenne
More escapist comfort reading, which took me to some very strange places indeed. Quite a contrast in style and subject matter, but both proved to be excellent distractions and got me back into the reading groove again.
I am an unabashed Penny fan, cannot get enough of her delightful, gentlemanly, wise and slightly melancholy Armand Gamache. While I quite enjoy closed room mysteries, I couldn't help but be sceptical of the audacity of setting this book in a secluded monastery, locked away from the outside world, and with no mention at all of our beloved Three Pines, the idyllic Quebecois village that we all want to live in. But I should trust the author: I have followed her before, moving away from the realm of crime fiction in The Long Way Home, and I have continued to enjoy everything she brings to the table.
As always with the Gamache novels, there is a murder to be solved, as well as a personal vendetta and conspiracy within the Sûreté du Québec. I've not read the books in order, so I already knew how things had worked out between Gamache and his faithful sidekick Beauvoir once their corrupt and evil boss Francoeur waggled his serpent's tongue. That took some of the suspense out of the book, but there is still the mystery of who killed the choir director in the tranquil and long-forgotten community of monks, who have recently become famous because of their amazing recording of Gregorian chants. Comparisons to The Name of the Rose are inevitable, given the setting, but Louise Penny makes this her own, with beautifully rounded characters and sensuous details (those chocolate-covered blueberries!). She turns this very much into a meditation on good and evil, the search for the divine vs. seeking fame, the virtues of silence vs. communicating via words.
As for the reason why I find her books so comforting, the author herself describes it best:
My books are about terror. That brooding terror curled deep down inside us. But more than that, more than murder, more than all the rancid emotions and actions, my books are about goodness. And kindness. About choices. About friendship and belonging. And love. Enduring love. If you take only one thing away from any of my books I'd like it to be this: Goodness exists.
Antonin Varenne: Retribution Road (transl. Sam Taylor)
You will love this book if, like me, you were excited by the premise of the recent BBC TV series Taboo, starring Tom Hardy, but somewhat disappointed by its execution (great build-up, but didn't go very far and let down by its ending, as is so often the case with a story told over several episodes). A damaged but principled individual returning from a traumatic experience abroad, the East India Company as an out-and-out villain, the dirt and miasma of London and its poorest people, the lure of the New World across the Atlantic – both stories have these elements in common. The book is a chunky 500+ pages, but it's one of those rollicking adventures of the Alexandre Dumas/ Robert Louis Stevenson type, so it didn't take long to read.
It's panoramic, epic and historical crime fiction, three epithets which usually put me off a book, but it really works in this case. A further no-no in my book: it's about a serial killer, and it spreads over three continents and 11 years. It starts in 1852, with an ill-fated mission in Burma organised by the East India Company. The men are captured and tortured; there are only ten survivors, and they come back more like zombies or ghosts rather than men.
Six years later, one of the survivors, former sergeant Arthur Bowman, works as a policeman in a pestilent, drought-ridden London, and continues to battle his demons in a haze of opium and alcohol. Then he discovers a corpse in a sewer, bearing the same mutilations as they experienced in the jungle, and he becomes convinced the killer is one of the ten men. His mission to discover the killer – who does not stop at one victim, of course – takes him to the New World and ultimately to the Wild West, but above all it's a journey to find himself.
It takes great courage to combine all these different genres together: adventure story, serial killer thriller, Western and character study, so bravo, Monsieur Varenne for this ambitious tour de force! It has all the breadth and variety of RL Stevenson, the darkness of Joseph Conrad and none of the 'going off on a tangent' of Moby Dick.
The book was published on 9th March by MacLehose Press.
Posted on March 20, 2017 March 20, 2017 Categories ReviewsTags America, Antonin Varenne, crime fiction, East India Company, historical crime fiction, Louise Penny, Quebec, Retribution Road, The Beautiful Mystery15 Comments on Old World and New: Louise Penny and Antonin Varenne
WWWednesday 15th March: What Are You Reading?
WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It's open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you've been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam's blog.
A similar meme is run by Lipsyy Lost and Found where bloggers share This Week in Books #TWiB.
From the blurb: It's 1965 in a tight-knit working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, and Ruth Malone–a single mother who works long hours as a cocktail waitress–wakes to discover her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Later that day, Cindy's body is found in a derelict lot a half mile from her home, strangled. Ten days later, Frankie Jr.'s decomposing body is found. Immediately, all fingers point to Ruth. As police investigate the murders, the detritus of Ruth's life is exposed. Seen through the eyes of the cops, the empty bourbon bottles and provocative clothing which litter her apartment, the piles of letters from countless men and Ruth's little black book of phone numbers, make her a drunk, a loose woman–and therefore a bad mother.
Harriet Lerner: Why Won't You Apologize?
From the blurb: Lerner challenges the popular notion that forgiveness is the only path to peace of mind and helps those who have been injured to resist pressure to forgive too easily. She explains what drives both the non-apologizer and the over-apologizer, and why the people who do the worst things are the least able to own their misdeeds. With her trademark humour and wit, Lerner offers a joyful and sanity-saving guide to setting things right.
Just read:
Louise Penny: The Beautiful Mystery – Gamache and Beauvoir are not in Three Pines this time, but in a remote monastery awash with Gregorian chants. Comfort reading for me, as I love everything that Penny writes.
Antonin Varenne: Retribution Road – rip-roaring adventure, think Taboo with more international travelling and a serial killer. Varenne will be at Quais du Polar in Lyon this year.
Next in line:
Rachel Cusk: Transit – good timing or too close to life?
In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions—personal, moral, artistic, practical—as she endeavors to construct a new reality for herself and her children.
Thomas Enger: Cursed – now this sounds like perfect escapism, I;ve been saving it up for comfort reading.
When Hedda Hellberg fails to return from a retreat in Italy, where she has been grieving for her recently dead father, her husband discovers that his wife's life is tangled in mystery. Hedda never left Oslo, the retreat has no record of her and, what's more, she appears to be connected to the death of an old man, gunned down on the first day of the hunting season in the depths of the Swedish forests. Henning Juul becomes involved in the case when his ex-wife joins in the search for the missing woman, and the estranged pair find themselves enmeshed both in the murky secrets of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, and in the painful truths surrounding the death of their own son.
So, what are your reading plans for this week? And have you read any of the above?
Posted on March 15, 2017 March 14, 2017 Categories ReviewsTags Antonin Varenne, Emma Flint, Harriet Lerner, Louise Penny, Rachel Cusk, reading, Thomas Enger, WWW Wednesday22 Comments on WWWednesday 15th March: What Are You Reading?
Reading in the Merry Month of May
It's been a changeable old month weather-wise, this May, and that has been reflected in my choice of books. I've read 12 books, and only 4 of those were by male writers (and two of those were for review). I finally managed to tackle 4 from my Netgalley pile (sinking under the greed there…), 5 from my bookshelves (although two of those may have been VERY recent purchases), plus one random purchase while being stuck at the airport. 7 of the books above may be classified as crime, one was spoken word poetry and there was no non-fiction this month.
Gotta love the cloudy days of May… Lake Geneva from Vevey.
Julie Schumacher: Dear Committee Members
Louise Penny: How the Light Gets In – dare I count this as the first of my TBR20?
Helen Fitzgerald: Bloody Women
Clare Mackintosh: I Let You Go
Daniel Quiros: Eté rouge – this one counts for my Global Reading Challenge – Central and South America
Kristien Hemmerechts: The Woman Who Fed the Dogs
Quentin Bates: Summerchill – reviewed on CFL website; you can read my interview with the author here
Ragnar Jonasson: Snowblind – reviewed on CFL website; I've also had the pleasure of interviewing Ragnar here
Megan Beech: When I Grow Up I Want to Be Mary Beard (poetry)
Ursula Poznanski: Blinde Vögel – a Facebook poetry group turns deadly in Salzburg – how could I resist?
Hadrien Laroche: Orphans – philosophical fable – I thereby declare this #TBR1
Sara Novic: Girl at War – survivor of the war in Croatia returns ten years later to her home country – #TBR2
These last four were all memorable in quite different ways, so I want to write more thorough reviews of them soon, so watch this space.
Siglufjordur, location for Snowblind. Picture taken by the author, Ragnar Jonasson (thanks to Twitter).
Crime fiction pick of the month is going to be a tie between Snowblind and How the Light Gets In. But I also have my eye on this Austrian writer Poznanski now and hope she gets translated more into English (she also writes YA and children's fiction and is known as Ursula P. Archer in the English-speaking world).
Finally, how has writing fared this month? Some rough handwritten drafting has taken place, but it's been another tough month, with business trips, lots of holidays and parental visits. Must do better next month (famous last words?)… The good news is that poetry has started to flow again after a long period of feeling stuck.
Posted on May 31, 2015 Categories ReviewsTags book reviews, Clare Mackintosh, Daniel Quirós, Hadrien Laroche, Helen Fitzgerald, Julie Schumacher, Kristien Hemmerechts, Louise Penny, Megan Beech, poetry, Quentin Bates, Ragnar Jonasson, Sara Novic, Ursula Poznanski, writing23 Comments on Reading in the Merry Month of May
Three Quick Reads by Women Writers
After a series of gruelling (though riveting) reads in April, I opted for the comfort factor and chose some lighter reads this month, all by women writers.
Jason Fitger is a professor of creative writing at a small, second-rate college, who feels he is spending most of his time writing references rather than getting any real work done. His department is facing serious cuts, he's made a mess of his personal life, his literary ambitions have been thwarted and his views on his students' abilities, their job prospects and future are painfully funny. Written as a series of letters (and the occasional online form) of recommendation, this will bring a broad smile of recognition (and an occasional pang) to anyone who has ever worked in academia (or anyone involved with writers). A short, satirical book, with a narrator full of pompous self-justification and whingeing, who is unintentionally funny – a delightful way to pass a lazy afternoon. I read it in one sitting, because, having been a victim of endless bureaucracy myself, I kept saying: 'Just one more letter…'
Another early Fitzgerald book, this one was recommended by fellow bloggers and writers Hollyanne, Cleopatra and Kate Evans.
Despite the macabre and serious subject matter, this was such a zany, fun read. Fitzgerald has a deceptively easy, free-flowing style that makes you think 'chick-lit' at first glance. But no chick lit would feature a storyline in which the main protagonist, Catriona, ties up loose ends before her wedding by contacting each one of her former boyfriends, having one last farewell bout of sex with them (usually while being completely drunk) and then discovering their mutilated bodies shortly afterwards. Needless to say, Catriona is the prime suspect and, in an interesting reversal of timeline expectations, we get to hear most of the story in retrospective, while she is in jail on remand. A journalist wants to write a trashy biography of her, hilariously misinterpreting or cherry-picking from interviews with former friends and family. Catriona contrasts the biography with her own recollection of events, but we suspect her own interpretations are sometimes unreliable, while her memory of her last encounters with her exes are hazy, to say the least.
I did guess the final plot twist, but to me this book is not about the twists and turns of a criminal investigation, but about the fresh, original voice.The frank, no holds barred language and messed-up characters, the deft characterisation and sly asides: this seems a stormy assault on British restraint (Fitzgerald comes from Australia originally, but has now settled in Scotland), yet at the same time has a lot of self-deprecating humour that is forever British to me.
Louise Penny: How the Light Gets In
This doesn't quite qualify as light reading, as it's full of tension and drama. I've read the Armand Gamache series out of order and this was one I'd missed out on. There are two murder mysteries involved, plus a larger conspiracy involving Gamache's boss (building on from previous books in the series). The conspiracy element did perhaps feel exaggerated, leading to the very top of Quebecois politics (not sure how well-received this particular book was in Quebec). However, it certainly led to some very tense moments and real sadness when we realised how a wedge has been driven between Gamache and his former sidekick Beauvoir. The 'proper' investigation took second place to this drama, but had an additional poignant word to say about what goes on under the 'happy families' façade.
The reason why I have included it in my 'escapism' fiction is because it is such a delight to revisit the village of Three Pines in the company of Louise Penny and her fictional characters: the grumpy poet and her duck, the artist, the wise bookseller, the big-mouthed but warm-hearted gay couple running the B&B… these are not types, but over the course of many books have become our friends. We know their quirks intimately, yet they always manage to surprise us a little. I want to live in Three Pines, as do most of Louise Penny's faithful readers, although I may have to give up on the Internet forever (no signal).
Have you read any of these books and what did you think of them? And do you like to alternate harder reads with more light-hearted or escapist ones? What comfort reads do you turn to?
Posted on May 6, 2015 Categories ReviewsTags Bloody Women, comfort reads, Dear Committee Members, escapism, Helen Fitzgerald, How the Light Gets In, Julie Schumacher, Louise Penny, quick reads, women writers19 Comments on Three Quick Reads by Women Writers
TBR Alert! Books Bought at Quais du Polar
No, it's not an April Fools' Day joke! My TBR pile has augmented by another 12 books. Other than rebuying the graphic version of Manchette's Fatale (you can find my review of the reissued translation of it on CFL), I could not stop myself from acquiring books by favourite authors, as well as allowing plenty of room for discovering new names. Luckily, there was a fairly good selection of books in English this year as well, so I didn't have to read the French language translations for some of them.
Old favourites:
I tend not to read series in order (partly out of necessity – it's not easy to find the English series at libraries here in France, and I can't afford to buy all of them), so there's always one or two I've missed. The problem is that I sometimes forget which one I've missed – or else the title of the US and UK editions are different (Louise Penny says her publishers have promised that will stop – hurrah!). So here are the books I bought from writers whose work I already know I like:
Denise Mina: Gods and Beasts – I've read her Garnethill and Paddy Meehan series, but only 'The Red Road' from the Alex Morrow series. This one takes place before the events in Red Road and won the Theakstons Old Peculier Award in Harrogate in 2013.
Book 9 in the series and it's winter once more in Three Pines. A famous woman has gone missing and Gamache has to battle with hostile forces within his department. I've reviewed 'Dead Cold' (aka A Fatal Grace) and 'The Long Way Home' and was searching for 'The Beautiful Mystery', but it was not available from Decitre's English language section.
Tom Rob Smith: Child 44
I'll be honest: I hesitated to read this one because I'm a little traumatised reading about brutal repressive regimes (although I've had less dramatic immediate experience of it than other close friends). So I read 'The Farm' instead (which is very different, more domestic), but this account of a serial killer in the Soviet society where such crime is apparently unthinkable sounds fascinating. The author spoke about the inspiration behind the story: real-life serial killer Chikatilo, probably one of the worst criminals in history (but who committed those crimes two decades later than the events in this book).
Kishwar Desai: Witness the Night
A combination of influences made me buy this: Margot Kinberg's spotlight on the book, reading Desai's second book (on surrogate mothers – wombs for rent in India), seeing her speak so passionately on her panel and direct conversation with the author. As Margot says: 'There's always a risk when a novel addresses a social issue that the author may have an agenda that will overshadow the plot, but if it's done well, a crime novel can be a very effective forum for a discussion of social issues.' and Desai does just that. This book also won the Costa First Novel Award.
Sylvie Granotier: Personne n'en saura rien (No one will know anything)
Sometimes the name is just enough. I've read and loved her 'The Paris Lawyer' and other books that have not yet been translated into English. I interviewed her at Quais du Polar two years ago and she is so thoughtful and articulate that I've succumbed to her charm. I have no idea what this new book is about, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it – even though it is a story of revenge, manipulation and yes, a serial killer.
Always meant to read:
Yasmina Khadra: Qu'attendent les singes (What are the monkeys waiting for)
A former Algerian army officer who uses his wife's name to publish some of the most ambitious and topical fiction about the Middle East. Some of his work is available in English, especially his trilogy about Islamic fundamentalism: 'The Swallows of Kabul' (about Afghanistan), 'The Attack' (Palestine) and 'The Sirens of Baghdad' (Iraq). However, his latest book returns to Algeria and features a feisty female detective. Khadra said he is an ardent feminist, and admitted it is very difficult to be a woman in any public position in his native country. Khadra also comes highly recommended by Claire McAlpine at Word by Word.
Debut authors who impressed me at panel discussions:
Yana Vagner: VongoZero
The title is the name of a lake on the border between Finland and Russia, where a group of survivors of an apocalyptic flu epidemic are travelling for their survival. Dystopian psychological thriller written in installments on Yana's blog, and incorporating feedback from her readers – very Dickensian.
Saul Black: The Killing Lessons
Strictly speaking, Saul Black is not a debut author, as it's the crime genre pseudonym for highly regarded author Glen Duncan. He's always found it hard to allow himself to be contained by just one genre and has written a werewolf trilogy (which would normally be enough to put me off his writing). However, this book is more typical crime fiction fare, set in Colorado, with shades of McCarthy's 'No Country for Old Men'.
Daniel Quirós: Eté rouge (Red Summer)
Don Chepe, former guerilla fighter in Nicaragua's bloody civil war, has retired to the paradise of a fishing village on the Pacific coast in Costa Rica. But the body of an Argentine woman washes up on the beach one day and he becomes involved in a complex investigation which digs deep into his personal and his country's history.
Recommendations from blogs or bloggers:
Franck Bouysse: Grossir le ciel (Magnifying/swelling up the sky)
When Catherine from Le Blog du Polar de Velda recommends a new French writer, I sit up and listen. She has a nose for up-and-coming talent – and quite often a similar taste as myself, on the noirish side. This story of two isolated farms in a remote rural area of France – and the men who inhabit them – sounds intriguing (especially to me, coming as I do from solid farming stock).
Barry Gornell: The Healing of Luther Grove
Gothic tension in the Highlands, where an urban couple relocate, believing they have found their rural paradise. Barry was interviewed by Crime Fiction Lover as part of New Talent November, so his name seemed familiar, and I approached him at the book signing. When I discovered he was a debut author and this was his first participation at an international crime fiction festival, I just had to find his book in English and get it signed. It also got a glowing review by Eva Dolan on CFL.
Fabrice Bourland: Le diable du Crystal Palace (The Devil of Crystal Palace)
Bourland is a great admirer of Poe and Conan-Doyle and he's written a series of supernatural thrillers set in London, featuring elegant 1930s detectives Singleton and Trelawney. A couple of them have been translated by Gallic Books. This one hasn't, but has a personal connotation, as it's set just a stop or two away from the part of London where I used to live.
You may well argue that I overestimate the number of books I can keep on my shelves (even signed books), and that I still haven't read all of the books I bought at the previous two editions of the festival. [I am in good company there, as I heard several festivalgoers say the very same thing.]
But you know what? I don't smoke or gamble, I seldom drink or go out on shopping sprees. A girl's got to have some vices, right? And books are my vice. What do you think? Have you read any of the above and what did you think of them? Are there any which tantalise your taste buds?
Posted on April 1, 2015 Categories ReviewsTags Barry Gornell, buying books, Daniel Quirós, Denise Mina, Fabrice Bourland, Franck Bouysse, Kishwar Desai, Louise Penny, Quais du Polar, recommmendations, Saul Black, Sylvie Granotier, TBR pile, Tom Rob Smith, Yana Vagner, Yasmina Khadra19 Comments on TBR Alert! Books Bought at Quais du Polar

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Check out all our great crochet patterns for home! You can scroll through our patterns for crochet pillows, crochet blankets, crochet dishcloths, and more! If you are in a hurry, use our search feature to the right to find just what you need.


I have always loved carrot cake and its one of those things that you plan to make but never get around to.There were some left over carrots from last week that I didn't want to waste so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to get baking! This recipe is adapted from a cupcakes recipe book; it was originally a tray bake but I thought that making mini cupcakes out of it were much more fun! It is your choice what size you would like to make these though so you will need the correct size tray/ cupcake cases for your choice, this also means that cooking times will vary :) This recipe makes one tray bake but as I made mini cupcakes and they're so tempting to eat as you go along I honestly have no idea how many were made in the end.
Preheat the oven to 190'C, if needed grease a baking tray and line with greaseproof paper.
Sift the flower, cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl and stir in the brown sugar.
Add the eggs and Oil.
Stir in the carrots, banana and walnuts and mix well.
Spoon the mixture into baking tray/cupcake cases and bake in the oven, times given are approximate so you will need to keep an eye on them. (Mini cupcakes - 25 mins, Regular cupcakes - 40 mins, tray bake - 55 mins).
When cooked all the way through, take out of the oven and leave to cool for 5 mins, then transfer onto a cooling rack.
Pour the yogurt into a bowl and gradually add the icing sugar until it thickens, add the lemon juice & vanilla and stir again.
Finely chop the walnuts and spread evenly on the chopping board.
When the cupcakes have cooled completely, hold them by the base(upside-down) and dip the top into the icing bowl, then dip into the walnuts or spread the icing onto the cake and sprinkle with walnuts.


text:
Something to look forward to: a new JBL CO2 system!
With an experienced engineer in the team, the JBL development team has set about designing a new pressure reducer and optimising the entire JBL CO2 system. In many countries shipping CO2 cylinders is becoming a problem, so the new concept also includes a version which contains all the necessary parts, but just no CO2 pressurised gas cylinder. All new CO2 components are now running in tough continuous operation and will be available in stores from June. Something to look forward to ...
© 26.02.2021 JBL GmbH & Co. KG


Working with IT in Thailand - thoughts?
Any Software Engineers - Toronto - looking for jobs?
ITIL Service Transition - In Demand?
Current job market for IT professional workers in Oz?
work visa for singapore --is it possible?
Has anyone worked in India?
How to go about copyright when hiring contractor to write articles?
Any tips for better website design?
What programs needed for graphic designer?
Web Developer / Affiliate Marketing in Oz?
Working off-site, hired by US company, what type of VISA I need for temporary visit?
Big time IT hiring in Brisbane !
Aus or NZ for IT professional?
Which IT code appear in which state?
IT/Electronic Engineering vs Accounting in USA?
Analyst functions popular in Middle East?
Anyone have experience starting a web company in UK or HK?
Queries on IT jobs and Oz Travel!!
Job opportunities in New Zealand for Graphic Designers?
Are IT jobs in demand in Oz?
Does anyone want an IT job in Kamloops?
Business Process Analyst in Alberta?
IT in Nova Scotia / Newfoundland?
From UK to Abu Dhabi or Dubai. What are our chances?
IT sales jobs in Oz?


Tamia of the Forest illustrator Rachel Ball has completed all of the sketches for KWiL's first children's chapter book, written by Jim Nies and releasing Fall 2018. Now she is going over each illustration in ink. Here's a photo of Rachel adding ink to the illustration we call "Tamia Nibbling Cone," as well as the original sketch and three additional pencil sketches from the book. Thanks for sharing, Rachel!
The illustrations are lovely and so exciting to have Tamia of the Forest coming out soon.


Author Amoasii, L.; Hildyard, J.C.W.; Li, H.; Sanchez-Ortiz, E.; Mireault, A.; Caballero, D.; Harron, R.; Stathopoulou, T.R.; Massey, C.; Shelton, J.M.; Bassel-Duby, R.; Piercy, R.J.; Olson, E.N.
Abstract Mutations in the gene encoding dystrophin, a protein that maintains muscle integrity and function, cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The deltaE50-MD dog model of DMD harbors a mutation corresponding to a mutational "hotspot" in the human DMD gene. We used adeno-associated viruses to deliver CRISPR gene editing components to four dogs and examined dystrophin protein expression 6 weeks after intramuscular delivery (n = 2) or 8 weeks after systemic delivery (n = 2). After systemic delivery in skeletal muscle, dystrophin was restored to levels ranging from 3 to 90% of normal, depending on muscle type. In cardiac muscle, dystrophin levels in the dog receiving the highest dose reached 92% of normal. The treated dogs also showed improved muscle histology. These large-animal data support the concept that, with further development, gene editing approaches may prove clinically useful for the treatment of DMD.


MyCannapot :: AH/PAN/JAM x Sativa by B. Seeds Co.
Here you can find a strain description about AH/PAN/JAM x Sativa and also some user-based reviews and infos directly from the SeedFinder (if available). You can also find the offers and auctions here if AH/PAN/JAM x Sativa cannabis seeds are on stock at MyCannapot right now.
Buy AH/PAN/JAM x Sativa now at MyCannapot!


Mesa (master): intel: Add an AllocTextureImageBuffer()	implementation using miptrees.
Previous message: Mesa (master): mesa: Convert _mesa_generate_mipmap to MapTexImage()	-based access.
Next message: Mesa (master): intel:	Allocate s8z24 separate renderbuffers from AllocTextureImageBuffer().
intel: Add an AllocTextureImageBuffer() implementation using miptrees.
an extra copy at validate time.
+       * before, and any lower levels would fit into our miptree.
* saving is worth it.


text:
Q: Docker container shutdown script Is there any way to have a bash script get executed when a container is shut down?
Use case:

*

*there is a master container running nginx + php-fpm

*there is a foo (project) container that uses volumes and links to the master

*ubuntu 14.04 is used as the base for all images

When foo is started it plops in a vhost config file for nginx to use (as well as adds the project to the webroot, etc., etc.)
What we want to achieve is that when foo is stopped it will do a cleanup (delete the vhosts file, remove the project from the webroot, etc.)
Setting up /etc/rcX/KX-cleanup does not work.
The only other option to explore it seems - is to have some bash-sigterm-listener in the entryscript in an infinite loop (will this waste precious CPU cycles?)

A: As mentioned in "Docker and the PID 1 zombie reaping problem" and "Trapping signals in Docker containers", docker send SIGCHLD or SIGTERM on docker stop/docker kill.
If your foo app can monitor those signals, or if the foo process can provide callbacks, it can trigger any script you want.
process.on('SIGTERM', function() {
  console.log('shutting down...');
});

Note:

When creating a Dockerfile, make sure you use exec form of ENTRYPOINT or RUN commands.
  Otherwise the application will be started as a subcommand of /bin/sh -c, which does not pass signals.
  The container's PID1 will be the shell, your application will not receive any signals from the docker kill command.

Note: soon (Q4 2015), docker 1.9 will allow your container to specify the stop signal it wants to react to, with the new STOPSIGNAL dockerfile directive. See PR 15307.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


It's been a long time coming, but last week the Obama administration issued a directive ordering 19 different federal agencies to develop plans for making their research available to anyone under open-access standards, after a twelve-month embargo. The directive applies to agencies with intramural research budgets of more than $100 million, and requires them to come up with policies and OA plans within six months. This is a significant triumph because we're talking about tens of billions of dollars of scientific and scholarly research.
Photo by biblioteekje, via Flickr, under a Creative Commons Attirbution, NonCommercial, ShareAlike license.
In other words, the floodgates are opening! U.S. taxpayers – and the rest of the world – will soon be able to read and use most federally funded research for free. They will no longer have to pay exorbitant fees to commercial publishers (who were given copyright control over the research for free) -- or to belong to the knowledge elite who have the privileged ("free") access to the research via the universities with which they are affiliated.
The White House, never eager to puts its neck out too far, clearly saw the long-term trendlines and the growing popularity of OA norms. The suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz – who was aggressively prosecuted for trying to make millions of JSTOR research articles openly available – surely helped dramatize the public mood about OA even further. Finally, an OA petition at the White House website garnered 65,000 signatures, far more than the 25,000 needed to trigger an official White House response (the bar for triggered a White House response has since been raised to 100,000 signatures).
The National Institute for Health pioneered OA requirements in 2008, which predictably spurred wider adoption of OA norms in many fields of medical research. It's really an unassailable policy. As the New York Times opined in an editorial, "We Paid for the Research. So Let's See It." Of course, major commercial publishers of scientific research have stoutly resisted OA requirements with all sorts of half-baked rationales – and their clout tended to have more sway over the U.S. Congress than simple fairness.
Which reminds me of Peter Suber's recent blog post reminding us that OA standards are not yet a statutory requirement; the White House directive is only an executive branch requirement. So a number of people recently introduced bipartisanly supported legislation in Congress – FASTR, or Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act – which would mandate OA publication of federal research for eleven federal agencies.
Beyond making OA statutory, there is the larger issue of setting some higher, more ambitious goals for the OA movement. Consider this interesting essay by British OA advocate Peter Murray-Rust, who wonders about the adequacy of "openness" in a world of grossly unequal resources. Murray-Rust aspires for OA to reach out beyond the academy, to normal citizens; to find ways to reduce journal prices more generally; to assure the re-use of scholarly output (which is not necessarily possible with OA works unless the least restrictive Creative Commons licenses are used); and to change the practices of science so that it is not dependent upon publishers to validate what's worthy of attention.
All in all, however, the White House directive is a milestone for the OA movement that should be seen as a serious, long-awaited achievement. Time to celebrate!
I'm tried being sick and tired and I'm pisst. I alway knew the system was rigged but the more I watched documentaries and movies like the Commons, Zeitgeist and Ethos: A Time For Change and others, on independent TV stations, like Current, Free Speech and Link, the more I felt compelled to do something. So I decided to use what limited resources and talents I have at my disposal to fight back.
I am a federal gov't employee by day and a social dance instructor by night. I teach a swing dance called Chicago Steppin. I am hosting my first of what will be an annual event here in New Orleans, June 21 -23, 2013. The event is called Steppin for Humanity. (You can find more details on www.whodatsteppers.com/event.html.) It is a 3 day, 2 night, call to action. It's going to be a party with a purpose. Two nights and 1 day of dancing and 2 days of socio and economic empowerment forums and discussions on various local and nations issues. My goal is to enlighten and inform those in attendance and have them leave there with specific, individual & group, strategies, plans and actions to take on the corporate power structure and the affluent 1%.
If your schedule permits, I would be eternally greatful if you could come and share your knowledge of the commons. As this is a one man show, I can only afford to pay for your lodging for the day or days you are able to participate on the panel. In the event that your are unable to attend I would greatly appreciate any references or referrals for the forum/panel.


text:
The Gathering ist ein US-amerikanisch-britischer Mystery-Thriller von Brian Gilbert aus dem Jahr 2002.

Handlung
Auf dem Weg nach Ashby Wake wird die junge Cassie von einem Auto angefahren und leidet danach unter einer Amnesie. Die Fahrerin Marion Kirkman lädt Cassie zu sich nach Hause ein. Statt sich jedoch dort zu erholen, gerät sie allmählich in ein unheimliches Geschehen. Sie lernt Marions Ehemann Simon kennen, der gerade eine neu entdeckte frühchristliche Kirche aus dem ersten Jahrhundert untersucht. Dort gibt es eine figürliche Darstellung der Kreuzigung Christi, bei der auch zahlreiche Schaulustige zu sehen sind. In den nächsten Tagen erlebt Cassie Visionen, die die Zukunft von Menschen aus ihrer Umgebung betreffen. Sie beobachtet den seltsamen Kfz-Mechaniker Frederick Michael Argyle.

Versionen
Es existieren zwei verschiedene Versionen des Filmes. Unter anderem in Deutschland, dem Vereinigten Königreich und den Vereinigten Staaten wurde ausschließlich eine um etwa 13 Minuten gekürzte Version auf DVD veröffentlicht. Die gekürzte Version hat eine Spieldauer von exakt 83:31 (PAL-DVD). Die ungekürzte Version wurde vom ZDF und von der BBC im Fernsehen gezeigt und ist zum Beispiel auf den französischen, polnischen und japanischen DVD-Versionen zu finden; sie hat eine Spieldauer von ca. 97 Minuten (PAL) bzw. 101 Minuten (NTSC).

Auszeichnungen
 Nominierung für den Fantasporto Award 2003
 Nominierung für das Golden Fleece der Golden Trailer Awards 2003

Kritiken

Weblinks

Filmtitel 2002
US-amerikanischer Film
Thriller

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Easy to Read Liquid Crystal Display - Exceed i Scale displays are very clear and readable. You may also opt to turn on or off the backlight for your convenience.
RS232 Compatible Interface Cable - This interface cable can be used to connect your scale to your computer and other serial devices. This is also used to interact with Exceed i PC Program and use customized features of the scale. This is supplied with the scale.
External Memory Cartridge - 128 KB of external memory cartridge that can be used in data logging feature. This cartridge is optional and is sold SEPARATELY from the scale.
Models Come in Different Weighing Capacity and Resolution - choose the model that will fit your weighing needs. Exceed i Scale is available in 500gram/0.05gram, 5kg/0.5gram, 10kg/1gram scale models (capacity/resolution).
Display Weights in 6 Standard Units - scale can display weights in gram, kilogram, pounds, pounds/ounces, troy pounds, troy pounds/ounces. It is like having an instant weight conversion calculator.
Batch Weighing Function - lets you program a weight value and use this as a reference to weigh items accurately. This is useful when packing products or items that should meet a standard weight specification.
Count Function – counts number of objects on the scale according to a sampling made.
Weight Factor Function – allows multiplication of the current weight reading by a certain factor (this can increase or decrease scale weight reading).
% Weight - calculates percentage of the current weight on the platform with regards to a target weight.
Count Difference Function - counts the number of items that are being removed from or being added to the scale (shows the change in count of the items on the platform).
Weight Difference Function - calculates and shows the weight that is being removed from or being added to the scale (shows the change in weight of the items on the platform.
Memory Store Function – stores values that can be used for later reference.
Memory Recall Function – recalls previous stored values that can be used in the current function.
Hold Function – freezes the current display on the LCD and this is helpful when weighing items that are considerably large and tend to block the display on the LCD.
Tare Function – sets weight back to 0 and this is helpful when weighing items with containers (subtracts the weight of the container from the overall weight to get the actual weight of the item).
Auto Calibrate Function – allows scale calibration using a specific weight (in case the scale loses accuracy).
Data Send Function – allows sending of weight data to a computer program and this can be done manually or within time intervals.
Zero Tracking and No Zero Tracking Software - You can choose what type of software to program to your Exceed i Scale. The Zero Tracking software is the regular and default software that is programmed into Exceed i scales. The No Zero Tracking software is optional during scale software update. For more information about these types of software, visit Exceed i Scale FAQ page.
Online Software Update – in cases where there are software enhancements for the scale, it can be updated using only an application program. Exceed i Scale software updates can be done online and only within a few minutes using Exceed i PC Program which can be downloaded. Use the RS232 Interface Cable to connect your scale to your computer and perform software update. In case of software changes, there is no need for replacement chips to be shipped from the factory. The online software update is FREE OF CHARGE!
1. Weight Data – sends and displays current weight on the Exceed i PC Program**.
2. Batch Data – sends and displays results of batch weighing on the Exceed i PC Program. This is helpful when you need to capture the results of batch weighing and use it to process further actions.
3. Count Data – sends and displays the number of items counted in Count function.
4. Factor Data – sends and displays results of weight adjustments using a factor.
5. Data Log - allows reading of logged data from the external memory cartridge of the Exceed i Scale. The external memory cartridge of the scale is an optional component and this can be used to store or save weight values during data logging.
6. Coin Counter - allows the scale to be connected to a coin counter application program which is a part of the Exceed i PC Program.
7. Postal Calculator - allows the scale to be connected to a postal calculator program which is a part of the Exceed i PC Program.
8. Remote Calibration – allows user to perform remote scale calibration of his Exceed i scale. In cases where there is need to adjust scale's calibration due to change in demographic location or abnormalities of the surroundings, use this to adjust calibration settings of the scale.
9. Remote Scale – allows the scale to be connected to an external weighing platform. Exceed i scale can have an external weighing platform with separate load cell and it usually can accommodate heavier weights (up to 30 kg).
10. User Program – this is intended for a customized application program that users may want for their Exceed i scale.
*All of these functions are fully customizable. Each feature can be selected and activated on the scale using an unlock code. This unlock code can be purchased online. Use this in the Exceed i PC Program to unlock and use the function. To purchase an unlock code for a certain feature of the Exceed i Intelligent Precision Electronic Scale, click here.


The cardinal says that his recent denials of knowledge concerning McCarrick's alleged misdeeds pertained only to the sexual abuse of minors.
In July, Wuerl told WTOP that he had never heard rumors of sexual misconduct regarding McCarrick. In August, he told CBS News that he was not aware of rumors that McCarrick had relationships with other priests.
May they all retire to their eternal beach house.
The tipping point has been reached. There is little question the wrath of a just God is now upon us. The powers-that-be in the RCC have abandoned God, as have a great many pewsitters.
God will not be mocked. Something wicked this way comes.
This is the best title of any article ever associated with Wuerl.
… and the funniest part of it is, it is not even supposed to be funny.
Well – not to Wuerl and the AD of Washington anyway.
I hope that the headline does not appear on an SAT exam.
A shameless liar – Archbishop Vigano pegged him just right. To be fair though, he strikes me as being as much a fool as he is knave.
And Wuerl is not the only bishop who lies. Many others do as well. Our bishop always says he is "committed to the protection of minors." I think to my self, "who isn't?" But he says and does nothing about the priests who live openly with their boyfriends and girlfriends.
Lying without shame and remorse is a personality trait of sociopaths.
We've had lots of talk about how awful it is, but then Pope Francis asks the bishops to delay action. By their fruits you will know them. It's enough to make a person cynical.
This is a Catholic pathological liar! In the name of Christ, and representing the Roman Catholic Church, this bishop is a total disgrace of the Christian faith. I knew a priest, who was unjustly persecuted by this hierarchical devil and had to go to Rome in order to save his reputation as a person and as a clergyman. One of the most perfidy person in the American Catholic World. God have mercy on him for he brought a lot of evilness in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, when he served here as a bishop.
An innocent was soon crucified.


Because Donald Trump supporters are so vile, ugly, nasty, anti-semitic and threatening, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU NEVER USE YOUR REAL NAME, NOR ANY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION NOR ANY VALID EMAIL ADDRESS. If you have any such data in your account now, delete it and replace with something fake. It will wipe out the old info.
It is a great thing for the forum to exist! One is able to discuss any problem, which occurs and share stuff. http://skywritingservice.com/blog/hasht ... -to-use-it what I am sharing with hoping for you to find it interesting. If at least one person will find it helpful, I will consider my comment to be left not in vain already.
Well, you can post it yourself in any forum you want. I'd suggest posting it in Computer Stuff, but it's up to you. If you're selling something, put it in the Selling Forum. I don't change others's posts, that's up to you to do. I don't censor, either.


text:
Araschnia vetula är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Gustav Heinrich Heydenreich 1859. Araschnia vetula ingår i släktet Araschnia och familjen praktfjärilar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Praktfjärilar
vetula