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You are here: Home / FairMormon Conference / 2006 FairMormon Conference / Book of Abraham 201: Papyri, Revelation, and Modern Egyptology
Book of Abraham 201: Papyri, Revelation, and Modern Egyptology
Michael R. Ash
Two years ago Kevin Barney and I gave a FAIR presentation entitled The ABCs of the Book of Abraham1or the "Book of Abraham for Dummies." In that presentation we talked about the history of the papyri, how they got to Joseph and what happened to them after Joseph died. Kevin also provided a bibliography of the scholarly approaches to the Book of Abraham, the sources for further study and some of the criticisms against the book. Today I'm going to focus on some of those critical arguments and some possible solutions.
As a brief recap, among the scrolls owned by Joseph Smith, the most closely associated with the Book of Abraham is a scroll owned by an Egyptian named Horus, or Hor. This scroll contained at least a couple of drawings or vignettes. An early LDS woodcutter, Reuben Hedlock, created woodcut Facsimiles of the vignettes so that copies could be reprinted in the Times & Seasons and later in the Pearl of Great Price. Facsimile 1 and 3 are from the scroll of Horus; the original vignette for Facsimile 3 has never been found.
After translation some of the scrolls were cut into pieces, glued to a backing paper and mounted under glass so they could be viewed by others; some of the scrolls of Horus and parts of the other scrolls from Joseph Smith's collection were eventually lost or destroyed in the Chicago fire in 1871 while they resided in a museum. In 1967, several scroll fragments including some important pieces of the scroll of Horus were rediscovered and given to the Church. At around the same time Gerald and Sandra Tanner, two critics of the Church, published an underground copy of parts of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers–or the KEP as it is abbreviated. These papers, which will be dealt with in much greater detail tomorrow by Brian Hauglid, have been in the Church's possession since the days of Joseph but had been virtually unnoticed until the early 19th century. The Kirtland Egyptian Papers are not ancient papyri but are instead papers from Joseph and his contemporaries that have a relationship to the study and translation of the papyri.
Early on, even before the fragments were discovered, some scholars suspected that at least some portions of the Facsimiles had parts missing and had been inaccurately restored when they were printed. Later, other non-LDS scholars agreed and there was a general consensus that not only were these Facsimiles restored incorrectly but also that Joseph's interpretation of the Facsimiles did not accurately reflect the understanding of Egyptologists.
Among the Kirtland Egyptian Papers is a hand drawn copy of Facsimile 2. Facsimile 2 comes from a hypocephalus, which is a small funerary amulet, a disk that was placed under the head of the deceased Egyptian. They believed it would magically cause the head and body to be enveloped in flames or radiance thus making the deceased divine. You can see in this drawing that Facsimile 2 owned by Joseph did indeed have pieces missing; the missing parts (the whole is also called a lacuna) was restored for publication and most non-LDS scholars agree that these restorations are inaccurate and we'll come back to the restorations later.
Facsimile 1 also had a lacuna and we'll discuss the restorations in that later as well.
Of the eleven extant or surviving papyri fragments several pieces belong to the scroll of Horus; when pieced together we find that there is a gap between Facsimile 1 and Facsimile 3, which probably came near the end of the scroll and the rest of the papyri, at least the end of what is called the 'Sensen' text, there are parts missing. So the part to the right there in the color is what we have and then we don't have everything to the left but we're pretty sure that Facsimile 3 was at the later part.
The text of the scroll tells us that it is a somewhat common Egyptian funerary text known the Book of Breathings; and I've got a part there in red that you can see over here and of course you can see in the round (and I'm showing on one side here) but this is Facsimile 1, you can see Abraham on the lion couch–this part here we're going to be talking about a little bit but this is called the small 'Sensen' text and these are instructions for the deceased in the afterlife. Such a scroll was commonly included in Egyptian burials.
In the scholarly world this type of scroll is also referred to as the Document of Breathings Made by Isis or the Breathings Permit or the Sensen Text. The word 'breathing' is supposedly translated from the Egyptian 'Sensen.' I talked to Dr. John Gee as I was preparing this and he said that he has recently argued that that is a mistranslation–that it's not 'breathings,' that 'sensen' doesn't mean that.
I would like to examine the three most common arguments relating to the Joseph Smith papyri and Joseph Smith's translation in the Book of Abraham. First the age of the "text" vs. the age of the papyri; secondly, the "restorations" of the facsimiles; and then third, the relationship between the Sensen text and the Book of Abraham.
Date of the Book of Abraham vs. the Date of the Papyri
When Joseph obtained the papyri in 1835 he reportedly said that "one of the scrolls contained the writings of Abraham . . . ." According to Joseph's scribes this scroll was "purportedly written by his own hand, upon papyrus."2
It seems reasonable to conclude that Joseph may have believed that Abraham himself, with pen in hand, wrote the very words that he was translating. The problem is that modern scholars (including LDS scholars) date the papyri to a few centuries before Christ whereas Abraham lived about two millennia before Christ. Obviously Abraham could not have penned the papyri himself.
Now this issue is very similar to that of Book of Mormon geography. It is very likely that Joseph Smith believed in a hemispheric Book of Mormon geography–it made sense to his understanding of the world around him. Such a misinformed belief or most likely misinformed belief, according to modern scholarship, makes him no less a prophet. It simply provides us with an example of how Joseph, like any other human, tried to understand new information according to his current knowledge. So, likewise, with the Abrahamic papyri: Joseph, by way of revelation, saw that the papyri contained scriptural teachings of Abraham and it would have been natural, therefore, to assume that Abraham wrote the papyri.
But how could the teachings of Abraham be present on a document written 2,000 years after Abraham lived? As Dr. Gee notes, we find the same thing with biblical manuscripts. There is a major difference, he explains, "between the date of a text [the information contained on the papyri] and the date of a manuscript [the papyri itself]."3
"The date of a text is the date when the text was written by its author. A text can be copied into various manuscripts or translated into other languages, and these manuscripts or translations will have different, later dates than the date of the original text. When we refer to the date of a text, we refer to the date of the original text. For example, the text of the Gospel of Matthew was written in the first century A.D., but the earliest manuscript that we have of Matthew was copied in the third century A.D."4 –a couple of hundred years later.
Some scholars propose that the original Book of Abraham "text" was written by Abraham and then "passed down through his descendants (the Jews), some of whom took a copy to Egypt where it was copied (after being translated) onto a later manuscript"5 and of course the manuscript then would have a later date.
Restorations of the Facsimiles
It seems obvious in at least some instances that when the drawings were "restored" and printed for LDS publications that the restorations of the lacunae were done without inspiration. When we look at the restorations of Facsimile 2, for instance, we see that at least some of the restorations were obviously taken from the text of the Sensen text or another one of Joseph's scrolls, the Book of the Dead–the different parts. So we can see here that this part is here. That it was filled in in some of the missing pieces. So he just kind of took some of the Egyptian parts.
When we look at the restorations of Facsimile 1 we see that missing portions were penciled on the backing paper to which they were glued before being mounted. This is how Facsimile 1 looks in restored LDS scripture.6 See the lion couch in both to kind of get your bearings. According to some LDS scholars, this is more likely how Facsimile 1 would have looked.
According to the critics, Facsimile 1 appears to be a fairly typical scene from Egyptian funerary texts; the critics note that other similar Egyptian motifs depict Osiris (on the lion couch) and the priest (an embalmer) with the head of a jackal, Anubis (an Egyptian god) rather than a bald, human head. Other comparable Egyptian embalming scenes do not show the priest holding a knife, they do not show any man pleading or praying, and they generally show two hawks. The critics claim that Joseph Smith drew in the missing parts by adding (incorrectly) those things which we find in the LDS version of this Egyptian scene. What Joseph saw as the fingers of Abraham's outstretched hands, for instance, were actually (according to the critics) the wingtips of the missing second hawk as redrawn by the critics.
Now some of you may have noticed the blue dot on the anti-Mormon reconstruction. This is to cover the obscene ithyphallic that they claim would have been in the original vignette. Ed Ashment who is more informed on Egyptology than most critics did not include this in his reconstruction.
Now all anti-Mormon sites that I was able to find on the Internet who had a reconstruction of Facsimile 1 seemed to follow Charles Larson's (the upper one) reconstruction with ithyphallic figure and it's possible that Larson may have followed non-LDS Richard Parker's 1968 claim that the Osiris figure, which is the- what we have as Abraham here, the Egyptians say that's Osiris, and in 1968 Richard Parker thought the figure would have been ithyphallic but Ed Ashment didn't follow that; he didn't agree with that, and John Gee says he knows of no other papyrus lion couch scene with an ithyphallic figure or any Egyptian drawing where someone, wearing breeches as seen in Facsimile 1, is ithyphallic.
Now why do most anti-Mormons follow Larson instead of Ashment? Now some critics may be unaware of Ashment's reconstruction and it's possible that they follow this because it is more shocking if they're trying to diss Mormonism.
There are at least three responses to the arguments regarding the restorations. Some scholars such as Kevin Barney and Michael Rhodes have noted the possibility that Joseph Smith, Reuben Hedlock (the engraver who made the facsimiles), or someone else may have filled in the lacunae in the papyri the best they could for purposes of publication. Nineteenth century printers didn't have the same standards that we have today. They wouldn't have wanted to publish incomplete facsimiles so they repaired them for publication purposes not necessary from inspiration. It's also possible that either Joseph repaired some of the parts which may not have been in the original in order to more closely approximate the details or intent conveyed by the Abrahamic text in relation to the vignettes.
Joseph's corrections to the later editions of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants, and even the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, are all instructive on this issue. In each case, Joseph–by way of revelation, inspiration, or analysis–"restored" or amended scripture to more closely approximate the additional insights he had gleaned by divine revelation.
Thirdly, since the actual papyri was not written by Abraham himself it's possible that the scribe who composed the particular Sensen text altered the traditional ways of creating the funerary scene in order to convey an illustration that more closely coincided with the teachings of Abraham.
It is significant to point out that the placement of the illustration of Facsimile 1 within a Sensen text appears to be highly unusual. According to Dr. Gee this is the only instance of which he knows wherein the illustration of Facsimile 1 has been found in a Sensen text. He also says that this embalming lion couch scene is significantly different than the lion couch scenes with which he is familiar. This suggests the possibility that 1) it is not a typical embalming scene; and 2) that there may be something highly unusual about this Sensen text as compared to other Sensen text. (I'll get to more of that later too.)
There seems to be at least some evidence that the vignette for Facsimile 1 was damaged after Joseph had already translated it. Maybe this was in the original that we see in the Pearl of Great Price. One early Latter-day Saint who saw the papyri in 1841, for instance, described them as containing the scene of an altar with "'a man bound and laid thereon, and a Priest with a knife in his hand, standing at the foot, with a dove over the person bound on the Altar with several Idol gods standing around it.'"7 Reverend Henry Caswall, who visited Nauvoo in April 1842, had a chance to see some of the Egyptian papyri. Caswall, who was hostile to the Saints, described Facsimile 1 as having a "'man standing by him with a drawn knife.'"8
Some LDS researchers have also argued that the fingers which critics claim are the wingtips of a second hawk look more significantly more like fingers (according to Egyptian drawings) than hawk wingtips. Here we see on the left these are the thumbs and these are the wings from the drawing. And then if we look at the wings from other Egyptian drawings we see that that generally the feathers are together and that they are not always spread out. They are down in this one but they go down rather than up and this artist here obviously kept these wingtips together rather than separated which makes it look like they're possibly thumbs. And we also see how some of these Egyptian artists drew thumbs. Here is a magnification of the thumbs and then again we look at the thumb lines in other Egyptian drawings.
It's also interesting to note that although embalming priests are typically drawn with Anubis heads, other Egyptian graphics show that Egyptian priests are represented as bald. In fact, shaving one's head was a common practice for those who entered the Egyptian priesthood during the Ptolemaic period which is when the Joseph Smith papyri was produced. Anubis heads were worn as masks to emulate the gods.9 Joseph got it right by representing the man with the knife as a priest so whether he has Anubis head or bald he is still represented as a priest, which is accurate.
Kerry Shirts has shown that some of the restorations of Facsimile 2 appear to be correct from an Egyptian standpoint and for the last decade and a half the late Dr. Hugh Nibley was working on his magnum opus, "One Eternal Round" which deals in part directly with Facsimile 2 and hopefully someday we'll se that published by FARMS and I'm sure we'll have additional insights to add to our list.
The Sensen Text and the Book of Abraham
When scholars examined the rediscovered Joseph Smith papyri and compared them to some of the pages of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers an interesting discovery was made; some of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers have Egyptian characters on the left of a vertical line and what appears to be an English translation to the right of that line–and again Dr. Hauglid will speak more about this tomorrow.
What was discovered with a return of the Joseph Smith fragments was that the Egyptian characters to the left of the line lined up with the Egyptian to the left there's Facsimile 1 and these characters right here and that's what is to the left of the line and this really hadn't been earlier because they noticed then that these two pieces were separate pieces and they join together.
Some have presumed that the so-called Kirtland Egyptian papers demonstrate Joseph's attempt to translate the hieroglyphics. According to most Egyptologists the translations do not accurately reflect the meaning of the hieroglyphics. In some cases several paragraphs of English text appear to be an English translation of a single Egyptian character. On the surface, this appears that Joseph put the characters on the left and then translated these characters on the right. As the critics correctly point out the translations do not match. Egyptologists assure us that there is no relationship between the characters and the text. To the critics this is proof that Joseph was a false prophet.
Most LDS scholars believe that the Kirtland Egyptian Papers are an example of backwards translation so that Joseph already had the translated Book of Abraham and that he and his associates were trying to match the already translated English text to plausible Egyptian characters. Joseph had learned already by now, from the Book of Mormon, that the ancient text can be written in compact script like reformed Egyptian and he may have thought that a single Egyptian character could yield several sentences of English translation–I'll leave again the arguments to Dr. Hauglid's talk–for the purpose of this presentation it's important simply to note the apparent relationship.
But did Joseph believe, or possibly believe, that the Egyptian characters on the Sensen text translated as the Book of Abraham when Egyptologists tell us they do not? The answer lies in the Book of Abraham itself.
In more than one verse we read that Facsimile 1, this representation, is found at the beginning of this record:
And it came to pass that the priests laid violence upon me, that they might slay me also, as they did those virgins upon this altar; and that you may have a knowledge of this altar, I will refer you to the representation at the commencement of this record. (Ab. 1:12)
That you may have an understanding of these gods, I have given you the fashion of them in the figures at the beginning, which manner of figures is called by the Chaldeans Rahleenos, which signifies hieroglyphics. (Ab. 1:14)
To the early Saints and most of us today this would have seemed to indicate that the record of Abraham began with the text following Facsimile 1.
Dr. Gee believes that Joseph Smith originally had five papyrus scrolls. Of these five scrolls, only eleven fragments of two scrolls have survived. And part of the reason why he believes there was five different scrolls is that he had one scroll per person and here's the names of them and that includes the hypocephalus down here–so there's five different scrolls and the colored portions are what we had left so there's a lot missing.
He says of the five scrolls only eleven fragments of two scrolls have survived. Hugh Nibley claimed that according to tradition one of the scrolls was so long that when it was unrolled it extended through two rooms of the Mansion House.
Not all of the Sensen text are of equal length and Dr. Gee estimates that the Joseph Smith Sensen text may have been longer than some or most of comparable Sensen texts; and keep in mind that the presence of Facsimile 1 in the Joseph Smith Sensen text suggests that this Sensen text may have been very different than other similar Sensen texts. Dr. Gee suggests that Joseph may have had eight times as much papyri as what is currently extant.
A number of scholars contend that the reason that the extant papyrus fragments don't have anything to do with the Book of Abraham is because we no longer have the portion of papyrus which would have contained the Book of Abraham text.
In rebuttal, the critics claim that since the scroll of Horus is a fairly typical Sensen scroll that the entire scroll would not be much longer than those portions that we have and so they say basically there couldn't have been anything else and furthermore they contend we know that this particular scroll is the source because Abraham claimed that Facsimile 1 was at the commencement of this record. Now there are problems with this claim.
To quote Dr. Gee, "Some people assume that if the documents [Joseph Smith Papyri] are funerary they cannot contain anything else. Some Book of the Dead papyri, however, do contain other texts."10 He notes in fact that about 40 percent of Sensen text have other documents attached to them. Almost 40 percent–that's a lot of other texts that have something attached to them. So when Abraham said that Facsimile 1 began at the commencement of this record, he–or more likely the scribe that composed the roll (as we'll discuss momentarily) was referring to the commencement of this scroll. So if the Book of Abraham was attached on here but the Abraham text said at the commencement of this scroll right here, it would've seemed natural to think that perhaps this was the Book of Abraham text but more likely he was referring to the beginning of the scroll when he said beginning of the scroll–scroll and record being interchangeable.
The question then arises why would an important Semitic document–the Book of Abraham–be attached to a pagan Egyptian funerary text? First it's important to understand that despite the claims of the critics, some Egyptians had a detailed knowledge of Abraham.
In more than one known instance, Egyptian papyri which contain Egyptian instructions on one side also included Semitic writings on the backside. In one case, Psalms 20 through 55. One Egyptian temple archive with an extensive collection of Egyptian rituals provides the only manuscript for the prayer of Jacob that is included in the Charlesworth Pseudepigrapha volume as well as two copies of the eighth book of Moses which discusses the initiation into the Temple at Jerusalem. The most commonly invoked deity in the collection is Jehovah. Moses and Abraham are also mentioned in the collection.
Kevin Barney posits that the Book of Abraham material was passed on through generations from Abraham to Jews of the 3rd century B.C.–or the Ptolemaic period–just as Old Testament scriptures were passed on to later generations. Sometime in the Ptolemaic period, a hypothetical Jewish redactor (which is an editor), whom Barney labels "J-red" attached the Book of Abraham to the Egyptian papyri. Why? Because of the useful symbolism contained on the vignettes of the Egyptian funerary text. Numerous studies show that all people recontextualize images according to their current environments and specific needs and beliefs. Early Mormons, for example, recontextualized Masonic symbols for Temple use; early Christians adapted common Pagan symbols to convey Christian truths. This phenomena is found throughout the world; it seems very likely that the Egyptian vignettes–as reproduced in the Joseph Smith Papyri–provided the rich symbolism that could graphically convey ancient Jewish beliefs about Abraham.
This claim is supported by several known ancient Jewish texts. As an illustration of Semitic recontextualization of Egyptian material, Barney notes that many Biblical scholars believe that an ancient book–the Instructions of Amenemope–may have been the source for parts of the biblical book of Proverbs.11
The ancient and recently discovered "Testament of Abraham" has several similarities to the LDS Book of Abraham. The book also has strong similarities to an ancient papyrus related to the Book of the Dead. For example, notes Barney, it is widely recognized that a judgment scene described in the Testament of Abraham was "influenced by an Egyptian psychostasy ("soul weighing") papyrus…. It may even be that the author [of the Testament of Abraham] was gazing on such a psychostasy papyrus when he penned his account. But while there is a clear relationship between the Egyptian psychostasy scene and the judgment scene of the Testament of Abraham, the scene has been transformed to accord with Semitic needs and sensibilities. Osiris [Egyptian god] has become Abel; the Egyptian gods have become angels. Our author looks at the Egyptian illustration, yet sees a situation peopled with Semitic characters.12
Note the Osiris-Abel connection, because we're going to come to that in a second.
Another example comes from the book of Luke story of the rich man and Lazarus. In this tale, the beggar Lazarus ate the crumbs that fell from a rich man's table. When Lazarus died, angels carried him to Abraham's bosom. When the rich man died, he awoke in Hell but could see–far away–Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. The rich man begged Abraham to send the dead Lazarus to his brothers so that they would repent and not befall the same terrible fate. (See Luke 16:19-31).
Scholars have shown that this story is based on a popular Jewish tale, written in Hebrew, but is ultimately dependent on an Egyptian legend. In the original Egyptian story, the names are different (as are some of the general details of the story) but the basic account and moral is the same. In the Egyptian version, however (the version upon which the Hebrew tradition depends), Osiris plays the part later adapted (by Jews) to Abraham.13 It seems that the early Jews had no problem adapting the pagan god Osiris to important Judaic figures such as Abel or Abraham.
Not only do we see, in the Book of Luke, a Jewish adaptation of an Egyptian judgment scene, but we also find some interesting parallels to Facsimile 1 from the Book of Abraham. In this vignette, Joseph identified the figure lying on the lion couch as Abraham. Egyptologists, however, identify the figure as Osiris.14 Based on an early Judaic adaptation of Facsimile 1, Joseph got it exactly right if we view this vignette from within a context of a Ptolemaic period Jewish understanding.
Instead of focusing on how Egyptians of the 2nd century B.C. or 2000 B.C. understood the motifs, Barney argues that Abraham did not draw the vignettes (which date nearly two thousand years after Abraham lived) but that these Egyptian vignettes "were either adopted [copied wholesale as the Egyptians drew them] or adapted [altered to more accurately reflect the Semitic perspective] by an Egyptian-Jewish redactor as illustrations of the attempt on Abraham's life and Abraham's teaching astronomy to the Egyptians."15 Barney argues that we should focus our attention on understanding how Jews of the 2nd century B.C. understood the Egyptian graphics.
In Facsimile 1 (the lion couch scene), for instance, under the floor there is a crocodile. Under the crocodile are numerous vertical lines. Joseph interpreted these lines as representing the "pillars of heaven." Egyptologists, however, tell us that this is incorrect. These lines really signify the palace faÁade. The etched lines around the crocodile signify, according to Joseph, "Raukeeyang" or "the expanse or firmament over our heads," or the high "heavens." Egyptologists, however, tell us that the lines are simply waters in which the crocodile swims. So according to an Egyptian interpretation, Joseph got it all wrong.
What if we compare Joseph's interpretation to how 2nd century B.C. Jews might have understood the scene? Firstly, Joseph's "Raukeeyang" is very similar to the Hebrew word for "expanse."16 "In Hebrew cosmology," writes Barney, "the Hebrew 'firmament' was believed to be a solid dome, supported by pillars." Recall the vertical lines in the vignette. This, "in turn was closely associated with the celestial ocean, which it supported." And remember that in Facsimile 1 it appears that the pillars are under the water in which the crocodile swims.
In the lower half of Facsimile 1, we have [the firmament]…(1) connected with the waters, as with the celestial ocean, (2) appearing to be supported by pillars, and (3) being solid and therefore capable of serving itself as a support, in this case for the lion couch. The bottom half of Facsimile 1 would have looked to J-red very much like a microcosm of the universe (in much the same way that the divine throne chariot of Ezekiel 1-2, which associates the four four-faced fiery living creatures with the [firmament]…above their heads on which God sits enthroned, is a microcosm of the universe).17
If we accept a Jewish redactor adapting Egyptian motifs to a Hebrew understanding, we can easily appreciate the possibility that "J-red" attached the Book of Abraham manuscript to the Book of Breathings (the Sensen text) in order to graphically convey the doctrines portrayed in the Book of Abraham document. Barney gives this useful comparison to the Book of Mormon:
"The gold plates were untouched by human hands from the time Moroni deposited them in a stone box in the fifth century A.D. until Joseph's retrieval of the cache in 1827. Prior to that time, however, the records of the Book of Mormon peoples underwent an express redaction [abridgement or editing] process at the hands of Mormon and Moroni. Similarly, the papyrus source for the Book of Abraham sat untouched from the time it was deposited in the tomb during Greco-Roman age until Lebolo retrieved it [about 1820]. Before that time, though, it circulated among people and was subject to normal transmission processes. My hypothetical redactor, J-red, was in essentially the same position with respect to the Book of Abraham as Mormon was with respect to the Book of Mormon.18
So coming back to the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, to the relationship between the Sensen text and the commencement of this record we realize that "this record" probably referred to the beginning of the combined scrolls (that begins with Facsimile 1) but not the beginning of the Abrahamic text.
It must be remembered that Joseph could not read Egyptian. He could not "translate" in the normal sense. He translated by the power of God. It's possible that Joseph, at times, translated the Book of Mormon while the plates were covered, or perhaps even while the plates were removed from the room.
While I believe that an actual Book of Abraham manuscript was present and probably appended to the Sensen text, it is significant to recognize that revelation was the method by which the text was translated. This realization allows for other possibilities. If, for example, the appended Abrahamic scroll was damaged, Joseph would still have been able to "translate" the text. If the appended scroll was partially missing, the "translation" might not have suffered. It's also possible that Joseph, in the process of creating the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, looked at the Egyptian characters and–thinking that they were the Egyptian symbols composed by Abraham–proceeded to "translate" from these characters. In such a scenario the actual Book of Abraham translation could still be based on a real manuscript, but not on what Joseph thought was the manuscript. Whichever scenario, we need not reject Joseph's prophetic calling.
Evidences Supporting an Authentically Ancient Book of Abraham
In Facsimile 2 are four mummy-like figures known–to Egyptologists–as the Sons of Horus. Their images were also on the canopic jars (the jars that stored the internal organs of the deceased) that we see under the lion couch scene in Facsimile 1. Joseph revealed that these four figures represented "this earth in its four quarters." According to modern Egyptologists, Joseph Smith is correct. The Sons of Horus "were the gods of the four quarters of the earth and later came to be regarded as presiding over the four cardinal points."19
Years ago, Dr. Nibley pointed out that the critics generally focus on the Egyptian vignettes in the Book of Abraham and the papyri but neglect the much richer Abrahamic traditions found in the Ancient Near East. This is really where Joseph shines. Recent studies into ancient Abrahamic lore and Jewish traditions preserved in ancient texts, show some surprising parallels to what we find in the text of the Book of Abraham. Some of these parallels are very convincing and imply that Joseph (who likely could not have had access to many of these traditions) actually restored authentic ancient Abrahamic lore. Some of these parallels include early Jewish traditions about Abraham's life–details not found in the Bible.20 Two such ancient documents that show some surprising parallels to our Book of Abraham are the Apocalypse of Abraham21 and the Testament of Abraham22 (the Apocalypse of Abraham dates to about the same time as the Book of Abraham papyri).
Other interesting parallels include ancient names, for example, that would have been unknown to Joseph Smith. These names are accurately represented in the Book of Abraham both phonetically as well as in meaning.23 Those of you who attended last year's conference would have heard John Tvedtnes speak on this. He pointed out that many of the names were authentic.
Another interesting parallel is ancient astronomy. In Joseph Smith's day "heliocentricity" (as proposed by Copernicus and Newton) was the accepted astronomical view. Nineteenth-century people (including the most brilliant minds of the day) believed that everything revolved around the Sun–therefore the term "heliocentric" (Greek helios=sun + centered). (In the twentieth-first century we generally accept an Einsteinian view of the cosmos.) The Book of Abraham, however, clearly delineates a geocentric view of the universe–or a belief that the Earth (Greek geo) stood at the center of the universe, and all things moved around our planet.
According to ancient geocentric cosmologies and what we read in the Book of Abraham, the heavens (which is defined as the expanse above the earth–no celestial object is mentioned to exist below the earth) was composed of multiple layers or tiers–each tier higher than the previous. Therefore the Sun is in a higher tier than the moon, and the stars are in higher tiers still (compare Abraham 3:5, 9, 17).24 According to geocentric astronomy, celestial objects have longer time spans (or lengths of "reckoning") based upon their relative distance from the earth. "Thus, the length of reckoning of a planet is based on its revolution [time to orbit around the center, in this case the earth](and not rotation [time to spin on its axis, as the earth does every 24 hours])."25 The higher the celestial object, the greater its length of reckoning (compare Abraham 3:5). Likewise, in Abraham 3:8-9, we read that "there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still; And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob."
Ancient geocentric astronomers believed that the stars were "the outer-most celestial sphere, furthest from the earth and nearest to God."26 We find in the Book of Abraham that the star Kolob was the star nearest "the throne of God" (Abraham 3:9). In the ancient, yet recently discovered, Apocalypse of Abraham (which dates from about the same time period as the Joseph Smith papyri but wasn't discovered until after Joseph Smith translated the Book of Abraham), we find that God's throne is said to reside in the eighth firmament (the firmaments, being another term for the varying tiers in the heavens above the Earth).27
The Book of Abraham also reveals that those celestial objects that are highest above the earth, "govern" the objects below them (see Abraham 3:3, 9 and Facsimile 2, fig. 5). This sounds similar to the beliefs of those who accepted an ancient geocentric cosmology:
Throughout the ancient world the governing role of celestial bodies was conceived in similar terms. God sits on his throne in the highest heaven giving commands, which are passed down by angels through the various regions of heaven, with each region governing or commanding the regions beneath it.28
We find this governing order described in the Apocalypse of Abraham and other ancient sources. All of this makes sense only from an ancient geocentric perspective (such as that believed in Abraham's day) and makes no sense from a heliocentric perspective (which is what Joseph would have known in his day and everybody else around him believed).
A different interesting parallel comes from Facsimile 1 (Abraham on the lion couch). According to Egyptologists, this is a typical Egyptian embalming scene and has nothing to do with Abraham or sacrifice. In fact, the critics assure us, Abraham is not a topic of discussion in Egyptian papyri, and there is no connection with Abraham and the embalming lion couch.
Recent discoveries, however, suggests that the Biblical Abraham does appear in some Egyptian papyri that date to the same period as the Joseph Smith papyri. In one instance Abraham's name appears to have a connection to an Egyptian lion couch scene.29
The stories and worldviews we find in the translated text of our Book of Abraham coincide nicely with what we find from ancient Abrahamic lore.
In Facsimile 2 the hypocephalus–and I just inserted this a few minutes before the conference started–we read that in some ancient text that Abraham is referred to as the pupil (or iris) of the of the wedjat-eye.30 This is a graphic of it here in Facsimile 2. And what's interesting about that is that the wedjat-eye also refers to hypocephalus–to this type of graphic–and the god of the hypocephalus would have been the pupil (or iris) of the wedjat-eye. Well some of the text refers to Abraham being that pupil of the wedjat-eye so we see an obvious relationship that some saw from Abraham to hypocephali.
The other thing is that Christians in Egypt would have referred to the underworld as "the bosom of Abraham."31 Well the hypocephalus was placed under the head basically to keep the body warm during the long night until the morning of the resurrection and also it enveloped them with the divine power of the god of the hypocephalus–well the (inaudible) Christians referred to the underworld as "the bosom of Abraham" so we see again a connection there with Jewish and Christian thought and the Book of Abraham as Joseph Smith translated it and in ancient thought on this.
Recent discoveries basically seem to bear out that Joseph Smith not as wrong the critics claim and in many instances is correct. In fact in instances that are pretty hard to guess how he would have come up with some of these interesting parallels.
I'd like to thank you for the time and I think that Joseph Smith warrants further study and his translation process.
Q: On the question of thumbs vs wings in Facsimile 1, fig. 4, it seems that Reuben Hedlock's rendition of the bird in Facsimile 2, fig. 4 shows precisely the same time of extended wing position by Egyptologists for a bird hovering over Osiris in Facsimile 1. Don't you think this lends support to Egyptologists' claim?
Ash: Facsimile 4 here. There is a separation on this; and in some cases in drawings of hawks there is separation and they are usually pointed down whereas in Facsimile 1 (if we can back the slide a little bit more here) we see how these are pointed up which is not typically how we would have seen this. Generally they are joined together, in some cases they are separated. Here they are pointing up and we already know how this artist draws wingtips–he draws them like this–so while it's certainly possible that the wingtips were drawn here and as I noted there are several arguments on this. It could be that there seems to be evidence that some people have seen the lacuna portion before it was destroyed and had noted a priest with a knife and so forth and hadn't mentioned the two hawks but it's also possible that the Jewish redactor drew this in or that Joseph Smith later had drawn that in. So there are several possibilities all of them would still work from a logical point of view that don't claim fraud from Joseph Smith. So personally looking at these I don't see how these wingtips, or these fingers, could be wingtips pointing up especially since that's how the artist already draws the wingtips.
1 See http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2004_ABCs_of_the_Book_of_Abraham.html
2 Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, ed. by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 2:235, 236, 348ñ351.
3 John Gee, "A History of the Joseph Smith Papyri and the Book of Abraham" (Provo: FARMS, 1999), 15.
4 Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, 23ñ24.
6 See http://scriptures.lds.org/en/abr/fac_1
7 William I. Appleby Journal, 5 May 1841, ms. 1401 1, pp. 71ñ72, LDS Church Archives; as quoted in Gee, "Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence," 184.
8 Henry Caswall, The City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo, in 1842 (London: Rivington, 1842), 23; quoted in Gee, "Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence," 186.
9 Kerry A. Shirts, "On Anubis, Masks, and Uniqueness of Facsimile #1 in the Book of Abraham."
10 John Gee, "Eyewitness, Hearsay, and Physical Evidence of the Joseph Smith Papyri," in The Disciple As Witness: Essays on Latter-Day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, edited by Richard Lloyd Anderson, Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000), 192.
11 Kevin L. Barney, "The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources," in John Gee and Brian M. Hauglind (editors), Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2006), 115ñ116.
12 Ibid., 117ñ118.
13 Barney, "The Facsimiles," 119ñ21; Blake T. Ostler, "Abraham: An Egyptian Connection" (FARMS paper, 1981).
14 Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), 102.
15 Barney, "The Facsimiles," 114.
16 Ibid., 123; see also Tvedtnes, "Authentic Ancient Names."
17 Ibid., 123.
19 Michael D. Rhodes, "The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus…Twenty Years Later."
20 See John A. Tvedtnes, Brian M. Hauglid, and John Gee (editors), Traditions About the Early Life of Abraham (Provo: FARMS, 2001).
21 For some of the parallels see Hugh W. Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, 2nd edition, (Vol. 14 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Gary P. Gillum, Illustrated by Michael P. Lyon, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000), 8ñ40; John Gee, William J. Hamblin, and Daniel C. Peterson, "'And I Saw the Stars': The Book of Abraham and Ancient Geocentric Astronomy," in John Gee and Brian M. Hauglind (editors), Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2006), 1ñ16.
22 See Jeff Lindsay, "Could there have been a real Egyptian scroll that actually, literally discussed Abraham?" (accessed 23 September 2005); Michael D. Rhodes, "The Book of Abraham: Divinely Inspired Scripture (Review of By His Own Hand upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri by Charles M. Larson)," FARMS Review of Books 4/1 (1992): 120ñ126; Hugh Nibley, "The Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham," Sunstone {{{num}}} (December 1979): 49ñ51; Hugh W. Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, 2nd edition, (Vol. 14 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Gary P. Gillum, Illustrated by Michael P. Lyon, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000), 1.
23 See John A. Tvedtnes, "Authentic Ancient Names and Words in the Book of Abraham and Related Kirtland Egyptian Papers," presentation at the 2005 FAIR Conference.
24 Gee, Hamblin, and Peterson, "'And I Saw the Stars'", 5.
25 Ibid., 8.
28 Ibid., 10.
29 John Gee, A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000), 12ñ13.
30 John Gee, "Research and Perspectives: Abraham in Ancient Egyptian Texts."
31 John Gee, "Abracadabra, Isaac and Jacob (Review of The Use of Egyptian Magical Papyri to Authenticate the Book of Abraham: A Critical Review by Edward H. Ashment)," FARMS Review of Books 7/1 (1995): 80.


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text:
Home/Blog/Changes to Employment Law in April 2020
We're not just Settlement Agreement Solicitors here, our principal Steven Mather, Solicitor, is also a specialist employment lawyer as well. Here are some changes to Employment Law that are coming in to effect in April 2020, that all Employers and Employees should be aware of.
The changes stem from the Government's Good Work Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-plan) which was published in December 2018.
The Government wanted to improve holiday pay arrangements for seasonal workers. It is changing the reference period for determining an average week's pay from 12 weeks to 52 weeks (or such time as the worker has been engaged).
This should see an increase in holiday pay for certain workers.
Written Statement of Terms
Form April 2020, the law will require all workers (not just employees) to have a written statement of terms from day one. It used to be that written statements were required within a 2 month period and only for employees. It is now wider, covering workers as well as employees. And it requires you to provide a written statement of terms on the day they start, although our advice is to provide it to them before they even arrive if that is possible.
In addition to the already mandatory information a statement of terms must include, there is some new information which now must be provided which is:
how long a job is expected to last, or the end date of a fixed-term contract
how much notice an employer and worker are required to give to terminate the agreement
details of eligibility for sick leave and pay
details of other types of paid leave such as maternity leave and paternity leave
the duration and conditions of any probationary period
all remuneration (not just pay) – contributions in cash or kind for example vouchers and lunch
which specific days and times workers are required to work
Extension of IR35 to the private sector
The Government are really keen to ensure that Companies are responsible for the assessment of Status of Worker tests – i.e whether someone is an employee, worker or a true independent contractor. See here.
IR35 are anti-tax avoidance rules in relation to off-payroll contractors typically working through a personal services company (PSC). The Treasury is missing out significant tax from people who really are employees or workers, but have chosen (usually forced by the company) to set up a company and invoice for their time instead.
Although it is not on the statute books yet, be warned. If you operate any off-payroll contractors, you should review your position and consider alternatives.
As set out in this blog post in more detail, the Government are bringing in a statutory 2-weeks paid leave for parents when they lose a child. This stemmed from the campaign for Jack's Law.
Increases to National Minimum Wage and other statutory payments
The rates for the national minimum wage will increase on 1 April 2020. The national living wage rate, for workers aged 25 and over, will increase from £8.21 to £8.72.
The rates for younger workers will also increase, with hourly rates rising to £8.20 for workers aged at least 21 but under 25, to £6.45 for workers aged at least 18 but under 21 and to £4.55 for workers aged under 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age. The rate for apprentices will rise to £4.15.
The proposed rate for statutory maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental pay is £151.20, up from £148.68. The increase normally takes effect on the first Sunday in April, which in 2020 is 5 April. The rate for statutory sick pay is expected to increase on 6 April 2020. The proposed new rate is £95.85, up from £94.25.
(source: https://www.xperthr.co.uk/statutory-rates/ )
Steven Mather
steven@stevenmather.co.uk
How much should my settlement agreement figure be?
Case Study: Redundancy Following Furlough Leave Due To Coronavirus
JCB look to make up to 1500 employees redundant due to Coronavirus
Going to be Made Redundant? Here's five tips for job hunting in 2020.
House of Commons spends £800,000 on Settlement Agreements with staff
Case Study: Settlement Agreement Signed Off in 24 hours
Redundancy or Lay-Off Due to Coronavirus COVID-19

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
US Open champ Sloane Stephens withdraws from Volvo Car Open
Associated PressApr 2, 2018, 5:42 PM EDT
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens has withdrawn from the Volvo Car Open, citing mental and physical exhaustion after her run to the Miami Open title this past Saturday.
Stephens was seeded fourth in the season's first clay-court event. She pulled out of the tournament Monday.
Stephens said in a statement she was sorry to miss the event, but her championship play in Miami "left me completely exhausted/fatigued both physically and mentally."
Stephens defeated Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (5), 6-1 to win the Miami tournament this past weekend.
Stephens said she did not feel ready to play her best tennis and decided it was in her best interested to get some rest.
Stephens, the 25-year-old American, won her first major at the U.S. Open last September.


text:
Q: Mongoose .pre('save') not triggering - bcrypt I have been trying to create a simple Authentication app but facing this issue of .pre('save') middleware not triggering at all when I'm trying to save the hashed password in Mongodb.
Here's my Model.js File.
import mongoose from 'mongoose';
import bcrypt from 'bcryptjs';

const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  auth_method: {
    type: String,
    enum: ['local', 'google', 'facebook'],
    required: true
  },
  email: {
    type: String,
    lowercase: true,
    unique: true
  },
  local: {
    password: {
      type: String
    }
  },
  google: {
    id: {
      type: String
    }
  },
  facebook: {
    id: {
      type: String
    }
  }
},
  {
    collection: 'Users'
  });

const userModel = module.exports = mongoose.model('Users', userSchema);

userSchema.pre('save', function (next) {
  console.log("this:",this); //  Nothing prints to the console here
  if (this.auth_method !== 'local') {
    next();
  }
  bcrypt.genSalt(10, function (error, salt) {
    if (error) throw error;
    bcrypt.hash(this.local.password, salt, function (err, hashPassword) {
      if (err) throw err;
      else {
        this.local.password = hashPassword;
        next();
      }
    });
  });
});

const comparePassword = (candidatePassword, hashPassword) => {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    bcrypt.compare(candidatePassword, hashPassword, (err, isMatch) => {
      if (err) reject(err);
      resolve(isMatch);
    });
  });
};

const saveUser = (user) => user.save();

const findUserByEmail = (email) => userModel.findOne({ email });

const findUserById = (id, cb) => { userModel.findById(id, cb); };

module.exports = {
  userModel,
  comparePassword,
  saveUser,
  findUserByEmail,
  findUserById
};

Any help is appreciated, I have tried all possible solutions suggested in other threads, none worked including return next(this)
Even in the database, there's no field for local: {password: 'hashedPassword'}

A: You are compiling model const userModel = module.exports = mongoose.model('Users', userSchema);
before creating userSchema.pre hook.
Correct order:
...
    userSchema.pre('save', function (next) {
      console.log("this:",this); //  Nothing prints to the console here
      if (this.auth_method !== 'local') {
        next();
      }
      bcrypt.genSalt(10, function (error, salt) {
        if (error) throw error;
        bcrypt.hash(this.local.password, salt, function (err, hashPassword) {
          if (err) throw err;
          else {
            this.local.password = hashPassword;
            next();
          }
        });
      });
    });
    const userModel = module.exports = mongoose.model('Users', userSchema);
...

Look at this simple code: http://devsmash.com/blog/password-authentication-with-mongoose-and-bcrypt

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Want a beautiful website? Let's chat.
I specialize in creating maintainable websites on Squarespace. This means, your site won't only look fantastic - but you will be able to update it with ease, without spending tons of money on a web developer for complex page edits!
Please use the form below to send me information about your project. We'll talk it over so I can fully understand your needs and quote you at a fair price. If you're really new to this whole process - no problem! Just get me your name and email and I'll walk you through the rest.
Please include any information that may be helpful for me to know. Is this a personal site or a business site? Is it a redesign or new build? etc.
So I can contact you with any questions.


text:
Q: Assert_equal undefined local variable LRTHW ex52 Hi I made it to the lase exercise os Learn Ruby The Hard Way, and I come at the wall...
Here is the test code:
def test_gothon_map()
    assert_equal(START.go('shoot!'), generic_death)
    assert_equal(START.go('dodge!'), generic_death)

    room = START.go("tell a joke")

    assert_equal(room, laser_weapon_armory)
end

And here is the code of the file it should test:
class Room

  attr_accessor :name, :description, :paths

  def initialize(name, description)
    @name = name
    @description = description
    @paths = {}
  end

  def ==(other)
    self.name==other.name&&self.description==other.description&&self.paths==other.paths
  end

  def go(direction)
    @paths[direction]
  end

  def add_paths(paths)
    @paths.update(paths)
    end

end

generic_death = Room.new("death", "You died.")

And when I try to launch the test file I get an error:
generic_death = Room.new("death", "You died.")

I tried to set the "generic_death = Room.new("death", "You died.")" in test_gothon_map method and it worked but the problem is that description of the next object is extremely long, so my questions are:

*

*why assertion doesn't not respond to defined object?

*can it be done different way then by putting whole object to testing method, since description of the next object is extremely long...

A: The nature of local variable is that they are, well, local. This means that they are not available outside the scope they were defined.
That's why ruby does not know what generic_death means in your test.
You can solve this in a couple of ways:

*

*define rooms as constants in the Room class:
class Room
  # ...

  GENERIC_DEATH = Room.new("death", "You died.")
  LASER_WEAPON_ARMORY = Room.new(...)
end

def test_gothon_map()
  assert_equal(Room::START.go('shoot!'), Room::GENERIC_DEATH)
  assert_equal(Room::START.go('dodge!'), Room::GENERIC_DEATH)

  room = Room::START.go("tell a joke")

  assert_equal(room, Room::LASER_WEAPON_ARMORY)
end

*assert the room by its name, or some other identifier:
def test_gothon_map()
  assert_equal(START.go('shoot!').name, "death")
  assert_equal(START.go('dodge!').name, "death")

  room = START.go("tell a joke")

  assert_equal(room.name, "laser weapon armory")
end


It is so rare to have the opportunity to review toys for my son. He has Autism, so I am very selective with the toys I want him to play with. When I was asked to try the Animal Planet Hatch 'ems, I quickly agreed! I received samples to review in exchange for my honest opinion.


text:
Q: How to configure Facebook webhooks? I want to configure Facebook webhooks for the application I'm developing.
What I did so far was:

*

*Create FB app

*Go to app settings and create a new webhook:

*

*Add a valid callback URLs

*Choose particular fields

*Successfully save the settings

Now, when I'm querying for page subscriptions I get the response:
{
  "data": [
    {
      "object": "page",
      "callback_url": "CALLBACK_URL",
      "fields": [
        "feed"
      ],
      "active": true
    }
  ]
}

which seems to be valid.
What should I do next? How to start listening from feed of a particular page?

A: Here is the entire configuration for Receiving API Updates in Real Time with Webhooks :
Step 1

*

*Create Facebook page

*Go to https://www.facebook.com/pg/YOUR_PAGE_NAME/about/?tab=page_info and read Facebook Page ID at the very bottom.

Step 2

*

*Create a developer account and a Facebook app

*Copy your Facebook App ID described in the above point.

Step 3

*

*Create a server application that will handle your Callback URL. A few examples are available on GitHub.

*Set up your Callback URL in the Facebook application you created in the previous step.

Step 4
Subscribe you Facebook App to your Facebook Page. To do that open Graph API Explorer.

*

*Obtain Page Access Token

Make sure you selected your particular application.

*After granting the permissions, select your particular page. The token will be put in Access Token field.

*Make POST request to the particular URL:
/YOUR_PAGE_ID/subscribed_apps

Summary
That's it! With these steps you should have your server application up, running and listening on all events you declared!

A: For Django to respond to the VERIFY with a CHALLENGE back, here is a snippet to handle this in the view.py:
VERIFY_TOKEN = '******'

def fbwebhook(request):
    if request.GET['hub.verify_token'] == VERIFY_TOKEN:
        return HttpResponse(request.GET['hub.challenge'])
    else:
        return HttpResponse('Error, invalid token')

I referenced this GitHub repository.


You are here: Home / Desserts / Spiced Apple Cake.
As I sit here eating this delicious spiced apple cake for breakfast and sipping my caffe latte, I figure what better time to tell you about this cake? There's no better time to write about something than when you're actually eating it right?
I found this recipe while looking at the Feedfeed's Instagram story last weekend. One of their editors, Rebecca Firth from Displaced Housewife was making this cake. It looked so good in the Insta video, so I went over to her profile and the pictures of this cake just confirmed that I HAD to make it.
And I was definitely not disappointed. My mom makes an apple cake similar to this one, but the cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon that Rebecca includes just add so much dimension to the flavour. And even though this cake was in the oven for a good 90 minutes, it still came out so deliciously moist (I'm guessing the sliced apples and sour cream added to the cake batter definitely helped the cause).
Thank you Rebecca for the amazing recipe! As your new follower, I look forward to your future posts!
I followed Rebecca's recipe exactly, but omitted the cardamom in the apples because I didn't have any on hand.
Cut your apples and place in a small bowl. Drizzle with the lemon, sugar, cinnamon and gently toss. Set aside.
In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat your butter + sugar on medium until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, scraping down the sides and bottom as you go to make sure everything is incorporated.
Add the sour cream, water and vanilla and blend completely for about 2 more minutes.
In a small bowl whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Pour your dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on low until barely combined. Take the bowl out of your stand mixer, add the small diced apples and fold the apples in using a spatula until just mixed.
Scoop the mixture into your prepared pan. Gently tap the pan on the counter to let any air bubbles escape.
Now place the apples in concentric circles around the pan until the entire top is covered in moon-shaped apple slices.
Put cake in the oven for 60-70 minutes (*mine was in for about 90 minutes), on the top rack. Around 50 minutes in check on the cake. If it's getting too bronzed, throw a sheet of foil over the top to keep the apples from burning. I knew the cake was ready by inserting a toothpick in the center and it came out clean/dry.
Run a knife around the outer edges of the cake pan and take the springform off immediately to expedite cooling. Let cake sit for about 45 minutes.
Just prior to serving, sift powdered sugar over the top of the cake.


text:
Home > Rugby, The Drawing Board	> The Drawing Board – End of year tour review
The Drawing Board – End of year tour review
December 7, 2012 David Shipton	Leave a comment Go to comments
A stunning victory by England over world champions New Zealand and seven tries from Ireland against Argentina were two rare high points for the home nations in the November internationals against the visitors from the south.
Scotland and Wales, in particular, have plenty to ponder over the winter months after both were dumped into the third tier of teams for the 2015 World Cup pool draw. This has resulted in Wales being thrown into the pool of death with England and Australia, whilst Scotland has been lined up with South Africa and Samoa.
The Scots' struggles, which led to coach Andy Robinson's resignation, were not entirely unexpected, but grand slam champions Wales fell away badly, making last year's fourth place finish at the World Cup seem a distant memory.
They lost all four November tour matches to Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia, and have now dropped seven tests in a row.
Six Nations teams have been defeated in 40 of 49 home matches against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in Europe since the 2007 World Cup, an appalling return given that the visitors travel north at the end of a season that began in late February for those playing Super Rugby.
That trio, along with France, secured the top four world ranking spots before the end of the international fixtures, leaving the home nations to fight for a spot in the next tier.
England, fifth in the rankings despite their 38-21 over the All Blacks, will long celebrate their first victory over New Zealand since winning in Wellington in 2003, the year of their World Cup triumph.
There was little to indicate they were capable of such a performance after a scratchy win over a poor Fiji and close defeats to the Wallabies and Springboks which placed the spotlight on inexperienced captain Chris Robshaw after his decisions in both defeats arguably cost them the matches.
Perhaps stung by the criticism, Robshaw found another gear against New Zealand, a performance that may have also truly signaled the arrival of Manu Tuilagi and Owen Farrell on the international stage.
England kept the All Blacks scoreless in the first half, the first time that had happened since 1998, and then withstood a brief comeback to leave the 80 000 fans at Twickenham in raptures with three tries in eight minutes.
"People had written us off," Robshaw said. "That fuelled the fire. Everyone ran out there and believed we could do it."
SCOTS FALTER
England fans have been patient with coach Stuart Lancaster, knowing it would take time to recover from last year's World Cup debacle, but the famous victory will help them believe they have a team capable of footing it with the best.
After enjoying a summer in the south in which they beat Samoa, Fiji and Australia, Scotland fell away badly, a run that culminated in the 21-15 defeat to Tonga and Robinson falling on his sword after 3-1/2 years in charge.
He leaves a team in crisis, having suffered a Six Nations whitewash and firmly rooted among the third tier of World Cup rankings, having also lost to New Zealand and South Africa in November.
Ireland looked to have saved the job of their coach Declan Kidney with a sparkling display against a tired-lookingArgentina, their 46-24 rout in Dublin ending a run of five straight defeats.
After pushing South Africa close, they ran in seven tries in a performance which featured a stunning debut by 21-year-old wing Craig Gilroy and raised hopes that there is life after Brian O'Driscoll finally hangs up his boots.
The biggest disappointments were Wales, semifinalists at last year's World Cup.
After three narrow defeats to Australia, they hoped they would get the results their efforts deserved at their Millennium Stadium base.
That proved too optimistic, with shock defeats to Argentina and Samoa coming before the more expected reverses to the world champion All Blacks and the Wallabies.
On Saturday they were leading with a minute remaining when Australian flyhalf Kurtley Beale scored the only try of the match. The defeat relegated them to ninth in the world rankings, below Argentina and Samoa.
There was more to smile about on the other side of the channel, where after beating Tonga, Italy were valiant in defeat to both New Zealand and Australia, mounting a second-half comeback to give the Wallabies a huge fright in Florence.
France, runners-up at last year's World Cup, handed Australia a lesson before cruising past Argentina and Samoa.
New Zealand's spot as the world's best looked like it would go unchallenged, with the men in black recording untroubled wins wins over Scotland, Italy and Wales.
However the loss to England ended a 20-match unbeaten streak dating back to August last year.
As well as the bitter taste of defeat, they travel back home with fewer admirers. Flanker Adam Thomson earned a two-week ban for stamping on the head of Scotland's Alasdair Strokosch and hooker Andrew Hore was banned for five weeks for a stiff arm blow which resulted in Welsh lock Bradley Davies going to hospital.
While not hitting any great heights, Australia and South Africa largely did what they had too, apart from the Wallabies' poor display in Paris.
Samoa deservedly moved into the top eight thanks to a fine performance against Wales, while Tonga proved their win over France in last year's World Cup pool stages was no fluke with their victory in Aberdeen.
Categories: Rugby, The Drawing Board Tags: 2012, all blacks, argentina, england, france, ireland, italy, rugby, scotland, spring tour, springboks, wallabies
EPL Gameweek 16/A-League Round 10 Megatips The Punt #72


text:
Aynabaji returns as a web series
Habibullah Siddique
12 May, 2020, 12:10 pm
Last modified: 12 May, 2020, 12:23 pm
Aditi Rao Hydari and Prosenjit Chatterjee to star in web series 'Stardust'
Hoichoi releases trailer of Chanchal Chowdhury's new web series 'Taqdeer'
One in five Covid-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days
Hoichoi releases 25 original web series with popular directors
HC questions govt's inaction on controversial web series
The web series will be free to stream on YouTube and Facebook within a week
The 'Aynabaji' web series will get three episodes in its first season. Photo: Collected
Aynabaji is making a comeback in the form of a web series four years after its successful release on the big screen. Director Amitabh Reza Chowdhury has teamed up again with the original crew of Chanchal Chowdhury, Masuma Rahman Nabila, Partha Barua and others to create Ghore Boshe Aynabaji in effort to raise awareness against coronavirus.
But why this name and initiative? Ziauddin Adil, the founding chairman of the production house of Aynabaji - Top of Mind, has clarified the matter to The Business Standard. "The production was done from home as it is not possible to shoot outdoors due to coronavirus. Amitabh directed the whole series online. That's why the web series is named Ghore Boshe Aynabaji."
Popular actor Chanchal Chowdhury who played the lead role Ayna in the film, also played the role in the web series, but from his home. Chanchal's son Raddur Shuddha took the shots. The correspondent asked him how he felt performing in front of his son. To which he said, "It was a new experience for me."
Although Amitabh briefed the shoot online, Chanchal's work from his end was still difficult. All the scenes required several shots before the final take. Chanchal said that he worked from home for three days in a row and his son encouraged him the whole time.
Aynabaji actor Nabila has had a similar experience. However, this is not the first time she has worked from home. A few days ago, she anchored a programme by Grameen Phone from her home.But shooting for Aynabaji from home was a different experience.
"This is a good news for me that Aynabaji is coming back. The new plotline on coronavirus is quite good. Everyone will enjoy it as well," Nabila said.
According to producer Adil, the web series will be free to stream. Season one of the series features three episodes.
The episodes will be available on YouTube and Facebook within a week. The global non-government organization Brac and the Government of Australia partnered up to support the initiative.
Ghore Boshe Aynabaji / coronavirus awareness / web series
Dhaka International Film Festival-2021 kicks off
What the Fry: Anam Biswas's entertaining and comic short
'Nonajoler Kabbo' best film in Asian category at Kolkata International Film Festival
PM Hasina to distribute Nat'l Film Awards 2019 Sunday
19th Dhaka Int'l Film Festival to begin today
Liam Neeson says he's retiring from action films


text:
Watch The Total Lunar Eclipse Online
From the NASA announcement:
If you live in the western part of North America, Alaska, and the Hawaiian islands, you might set your alarm early the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 31 for a lunar trifecta: a pre-dawn "super blue blood moon."
Beginning at 5:30 a.m. EST on Jan. 31, a live feed of the Moon will be offered on NASA TV and NASA.gov/live. You can also follow at @NASAMoon.Weather permitting, the NASA TV broadcast will feature views from the varying vantage points of telescopes at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California; Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles; and the University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter Observatory.
"For the (continental) U.S., the viewing will be best in the West," said Gordon Johnston, program executive and lunar blogger at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Set your alarm early and go out and take a look."
The Jan. 31 full moon is special for three reasons: it's the third in a series of "supermoons," when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit — known as perigee — and about 14 percent brighter than usual. It's also the second full moon of the month, commonly known as a "blue moon." The super blue moon will pass through Earth's shadow to give viewers in the right location a total lunar eclipse. While the Moon is in the Earth's shadow it will take on a reddish tint, known as a "blood moon."
For more information on what to expect check out this video:
We are all idiots at something


text:
Chris Christie is back on the job
Bob Jordan
@BobJordanAPP
TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie, unseen in public since a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary ended his White House bid, emerged Tuesday to deliver his state budget speech and sell the Statehouse audience on a claim that New Jersey's problems will have his full attention.
That claim drew applause during the speech and skepticism after. Senate President Stephen Sweeney said it's up to Christie to prove being New Jersey's chief executive matters to him again.
"We are happy to have him back because I can tell you it's been very frustrating,'' said Sweeney, the Legislature's top Democrat, accusing Christie of doing a poor job of balancing national political ambitions with making sure the NJ Transit trains run on time.
More:Christie budget again sacrifices lead protection for N.J. children
Christie took office for his first four-year term in 2010 and gained a national profile by forging several agreements with with Democrats.
"In his first term, he was here all the time. You could go sit face to face with him, argue and fight, and try to find solutions,'' Sweeney said. "It's harder to do that when you're emailing and calling each other.''
Christie spent 261 partial or full days traveling outside of New Jersey in 2015 as he campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination.
He was also gone nearly every day to start this year pursuing support GOP support in New Hampshire and Iowa until suspending his presidential campaign last Wednesday, the day after his sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary. Christie finished 10th in the Iowa caucuses at the start of the month.
Christie opened his 38-minute speech by saying that his proposed 2017 budget "imposes no new taxes on the people of New Jersey,'' then touched on the activity that had kept him so busy.
"I want to begin by saying thank you to the people of New Jersey for allowing me the great privilege of running for president of the United States,'' he said. "While the result was not what I had hoped for, the experience has made me a better governor, a better American, and a better person. I owe that growth to the people of New Jersey and I intend to use it to make the next two years great ones for our state.''
More:Christie budget counts on cutting health benefits
Christie is term-limited, but New Jersey voters won't pick his successor until Nov. 7 2017, 630 days from now, a long time in politics, and a length of time Christie referenced six times in his speech.
"Will you work with me to use those 630 days to help bring relief to our overburdened taxpayers?'' Christie at one point asked of Democrats who control the Legislature.
"The speech was pretty much what I had hoped to hear,'' said Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, a Republican from Monmouth County. "It's a conservative budget. I'm very happy to see the governor completely and enthusiastically engaged. He really cares about New Jersey. He's here and he's very interested in working with the other side of the aisle to fix the problems that we have.''
Christie said he is counting on $250 million in savings from changes to public workers' and retirees' health plans to balance his proposed budget, though he didn't provide many details on those changes.
Other than that, Christie made a wise choice by under-promising in the speech, said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray.
"It looks like it's pretty much the same budget as last year's, dusted off with updated numbers,'' Murray said. "He's just getting his feet wait and hasn't had time to prepare. He only left the race for president a few days ago.''
Murray said Christie faces challenges recapturing the popularity he enjoyed in his first term. A new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll puts his favorable rating among New Jersey registered voters at a record-low 29 percent.
"It's a different context entirely. He doesn't have the political capital he had and he doesn't have a compliant Legislature on the Democratic side,'' Murray said. "I expect we'll see some town halls. He's got to get back on track. He has to build up his political capital both with the public, the Legislature and the powers-to-be in the state. We'll have to wait to see if he can do it.''
Bob Jordan 609-984-4343, bjordan@gannettnj.com


As of Friday, October 24, this event is sold out.
Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited is hosting its first annual fall steelhead event at Founders Brewing in downtown Grand Rapids. Join us for an evening with Matt Supinski, author of "Selectivity" and "Steelhead Dreams," who will share his experiences and expertise, with a focus on how our local conservation efforts are helping to sustain this important resource.
The event will be held in Founders' Centennial Room from 6pm to 10pm on October 29. Tickets are $35 and include dinner and a free beer. Stay tuned for more details on raffle prizes and other giveaways. Look forward to seeing you there!
As added incentive, we are giving away three hand engraved wooden fly boxes designed by Stonefly Studios in MT. One will be the Manistee River below Tippy, one is Muskegon River below Croton, and the Pere Marquette River. We will hand out tickets to guests upon arrival, and then draw for winners. No purchase necessary, just a thank you to our supporters.
Looking forward to making this a great fall tradition!
i am really looking foreword to this.


NEW YORK — An Uber driver who booted two kissing women out of his car had his livery license suspended on Tuesday.
"It's 2018 in New York City, and this isn't the way we live anymore," commission spokesman Allen Fromberg said.
The women, Alex Iovine and Emma Pichl, a couple in their 20s, were on their way from Brooklyn to Manhattan on Saturday when they exchanged what they called a "peck" on the lips. They said driver Ahmad El Boutari, who's 35 and lives in Brooklyn, forced them out and a confrontation ensued.
"You can't do this in the car," the driver says.
"It's disrespectful," the driver says.
Uber, which is based in San Francisco, has removed El Boutari's access to its app, saying it does not tolerate discrimination. It said it is investigating.


text:
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import models, migrations

class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ('calls', '0004_auto_20150207_2243'),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.DeleteModel(
            name='Intro',
        ),
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='caller',
            name='intro_text',
            field=models.CharField(default='abc', max_length=1600),
            preserve_default=False,
        ),
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='caller',
            name='outro_text',
            field=models.CharField(default=b'abc', max_length=1600),
            preserve_default=False,
        ),
    ]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Chinese ambassador calls mass detention of Uyghurs 'fake news', plays propaganda video
By defence correspondent Andrew Greene
Posted Thu 19 Dec 2019 at 2:05am Thursday 19 Dec 2019 at 2:05am Thu 19 Dec 2019 at 2:05am , updated Thu 19 Dec 2019 at 5:49am Thursday 19 Dec 2019 at 5:49am Thu 19 Dec 2019 at 5:49am
China's ambassador to Australia has dismissed concerns about the mass detention of Muslim Uyghurs as "fake news".
abc.net.au/news/chinese-ambassador-cheng-jingye-dismiss-uyghur-detention-concern/11812966
China's ambassador to Australia has played a graphic propaganda video titled Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang while dismissing concerns about the mass detention of Muslim Uyghurs in his country as "fake news".
Ambassador Cheng Jingye held a rare public press conference with Australian journalists
He claimed there had been no mass detention of Uyghurs
But Mr Cheng confirmed an Australian academic remained detained without charge
In a rare public appearance, Cheng Jingye fielded questions for more than an hour from Australian and Chinese-language reporters in Canberra, promising to "do more" to ease the strained relationship between both nations.
China's frontier of fear
Satellite imagery lifts the lid on the size and spread of China's internment camps, used to indoctrinate vast numbers of the Xinjiang region's Muslim population.
Speaking inside his official residence, Mr Cheng insisted that an Australian writer held for months without charge in Beijing was in "good condition" and suggested Prime Minister Scott Morrison could soon be invited to visit the Chinese capital.
Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been detained without charge in Beijing since January, while two Australian politicians have been banned from entering China.
"The relevant Chinese security department will deal with the case in accordance with Chinese law and his lawful rights are protected," Mr Cheng said.
"In due time you will know the details."
The diplomat also repeatedly denied China was holding over 1 million Uyghurs in detention camps, explaining they were instead receiving "vocational training".
Uyghur men and women sit in a classroom during a Chinese Government-organised tour of Kashgar in Xinjiang. (Reuters: Ben Blanchard)
As he justified Beijing's actions, the ambassador played a Chinese propaganda video that portrayed the ethnic minority as violent extremists.
Australia has been a vocal critic of China's mass detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
The United Nations says at least 1 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims had been detained in vast indoctrination camps.
A leaked 400-page document released by the New York Times last month revealed the key role played by top Chinese officials, as well as President Xi Jinping, in the establishment of the camps.
Map of Xinjiang province (ABC News: Alex Palmer)
Mr Cheng described 2019 as "a mixed year for bilateral relations" that "could have been better".
"We expect that this relationship will be back to normal with the efforts of both sides," he said.
Despite the diplomatic tensions, the Chinese ambassador did not rule out Mr Morrison being invited to Beijing.
"There are efforts between the two sides, there will be more high-level exchanges and visits," he said.
"As ambassador, of course, I will do what I can ... to promote these relations, these important relations."
The ambassador also claimed that a 33 per cent increase in Australian exports to China was "largely responsible" for the federal budget being restored to surplus.
Posted 19 Dec 2019 19 Dec 2019 Thu 19 Dec 2019 at 2:05am , updated 19 Dec 2019 19 Dec 2019 Thu 19 Dec 2019 at 5:49am
Payne hits out at 'unacceptable' treatment of Australian shackled and isolated in a Chinese jail
Liberal MPs banned from travelling to China for study trip
Arrest by algorithm: Inside the dystopian state of surveillance and repression in Xinjiang
Xinjiang says leak on Uyghur Muslim detention camps is 'fake news'
ATSB finds air balloons narrowly avoided deadly outcome in Alice Springs collision
What happens when centuries-old human remains are uncovered by floodwaters?


text:
Q: How to get column names of all nonnull row values? given a following dataframe
    A   B   C
0   1   Nan Nan
1  Nan  2   Nan
2  Nan  Nan 3

I want to get a column that gets all the column names of non null rows
expected result
   A   B   C   D
0   1   2 Nan   [A,B]
1  Nan  2   4   [B,C]
2   4  Nan 3    [A,C]

Would there be any solution using python?

A: Use:
df['D'] = df.apply(lambda x: x.dropna().index.to_list(), axis=1)

A: Use DataFrame.dot with columns names with separator, remove last separator and splitting:
df['new'] = df.notna().dot(df.columns+',').str[:-1].str.split(',')
print (df)
     A    B    C     new
0  1.0  2.0  NaN  [A, B]
1  NaN  2.0  4.0  [B, C]
2  4.0  NaN  3.0  [A, C]

If performance is important use list comprehension with mask converted to numpy:
cols = df.columns.to_numpy()
df['new'] = [cols[x] for x in df.notna().to_numpy()]

Solution from comments is fine, if need joined values by ,:
df['new'] = df.notna().dot(df.columns+',').str.rstrip(',')
print (df)
     A    B    C  new
0  1.0  2.0  NaN  A,B
1  NaN  2.0  4.0  B,C
2  4.0  NaN  3.0  A,C

Performance:
#30k rows
df = pd.concat([df] * 10000, ignore_index=True)

#https://stackoverflow.com/a/69704953/2901002
In [78]: %timeit df['D'] = df.apply(lambda x: x.dropna().index.to_list(), axis=1)
3.24 s ± 87.6 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1 loop each)

In [79]: %timeit df['new'] = df.notna().dot(df.columns+',').str[:-1].str.split(',')
45.7 ms ± 1.75 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 10 loops each)

In [80]: %%timeit
    ...: cols = df.columns.to_numpy()
    ...: df['new'] = [cols[x] for x in df.notna().to_numpy()]
    ...:
32.2 ms ± 3.8 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 10 loops each)


text:
This entry is part 2 of 104 in the series Man vs Bookshelf
Last Thursday, when I began my Man vs Bookshelf challenge, I said I was going to start with Lisey's Story by Stephen King.
This turned out to be a lie.
Not that I intended to be dishonest with you so early into the challenge.
I even had Lisey's Story out ready to read.
Then I wrote my intro post and went through to my bedroom where I had left the book, ready to begin.
And I stopped.
There it was, back cover pressed against the bedside table and front stretching towards the sky. Almost touching the ceiling.
Okay, not that far, but it's a big book, is my point. Some 667 pages (give or take) and I was afraid.
The point of this challenge is to do 210 books in 210 weeks, and I am not fool enough to think it will fall simply as that. Some books will take much less than their given week. Some (like The Stand or Game of Thrones) will take much longer.
Lisey's Story, I knew, could well fall into the latter category. This is fine in principle, but not from the start.
I had visions of being down by week two, and how I might react. I hate losing and could see myself tearing down my bookshelf and setting fire to it. A much more dramatic end to the series but one less satisfying in the long run.
No, this series was going to be Sam Mendes, not Michael Bay.
So, leaving Lisey's Story where it was, I returned to my bookshelf and looked for something I could read in a couple of days. Something which would earn me the time I needed to finish Lisey's Story without falling behind.
In the end, I went for Horowitz Horror. By, surprise surprise, well known English author, Anthony Horowitz.
So, let's talk about that, shall we?
Anthony and Me
Before I dive into my thoughts on the book, I'd like to talk about my relationship with the author. As an author that is, not a person.
In short, it's variable.
Like a lot of guys who grew up in the 90s, I've been reading Anthony Horowitz for a long time. His Alex Rider series began when I was 8 and ran through my teenage years. I read (but no longer own) the first six of those and always had mixed thoughts about them.
The plots were good. They were exciting. They always finished with a bang. But I considered them to sag a little in the middle. I've often found that in a Horowitz series, the descriptions can seem a bit slow and overwritten.
I remember one scene (and I no longer remember which Rider book it was from) when Alex spent a whole chapter walking around a boat doing not much.
I almost fell asleep.
Then there was the Gatekeeper series, which started in 2005. I loved the first of these (Raven's Gate) but after that struggled with how slow they were. I think I got part way through four and quit.
But it's not all bad. Recently I read The Switch, which was fast-paced, smart, and a great read all through.
And of course, we have the Diamond Brothers Series, the first of which came out before I was born. These have been on my shelf for over a decade, and are still there now.
As they will become part of Man vs Bookshelf, I won't talk too much about them. I will just say, they're brilliant. Quick, clever, and funny, whether you're twelve, twenty-five, or ninety. I'll be reading and re-reading them my whole life I imagine.
Horowitz Horror
Given this breadth of enjoyment across Horowitz's books, I went into Horowitz Horror (which I've not read before) unsure what to expect, but excited to find out.
In the end, I gave Horowitz Horror a 3/5 on Goodreads. It was an easy read. The pacing was good with nothing unnecessary thrown in.
The problem was there often wasn't much substance. You can say it's down to length but plots often felt rushed, and this isn't the case in all short stories.
My other general problems with the series were that it wasn't frightening, and was often predictable.
Maybe it's not scary because it's for younger readers, but I remember being 12. I would have wanted this book to scare me. As I wanted it to scare me as an adult.
As for predictability, each story ended with a reversal or twist. The problem was you could usually see these coming a mile off. Again, I'm an adult, but I'm not sure these would fool many 12 year-olds either.
But, I don't want to put the series down. There were some decent tales in here and a couple of twists that did take me by surprise.
So, let's get into it, starting with…
One: Bath Night
We open with a story that is well written and paced. Two arguing parents buy an antique bath which turns out to be evil. Isobel (our hero) realises this and attempts to destroy the haunted object.
The story employs a well-worn horror cliche: an object haunted by a killer who once used said object when murdering his victims. How a killer has come to haunt an object they owned is rarely explained by horror writers. Horowitz is not an exception.
There is also the classic YA/Children's fiction cliche on show here. The evil object only acts up in front of the child, never the parents.
In Bath Night, Isobel is bathing in blood but, when her mother enters the room, it's back to water.
Dick move, bath. Dick move.
This doesn't make sense from a plot point of view. The killer is a killer. He has no reason to torment only the child. However, you can understand why writers have so long been using this trick. It keeps the kid isolated, and helps build the suspense. If you can suspend your disbelief, it works well again here.
What doesn't work so well is the lack of roadblocks the character faces. In fiction writing, they say you should put your character up a tree, throw rocks at them, then let them down. In Bath Time, and many of the stories in this collection, there aren't enough rocks.
For Isobel, a couple of horrible incidents (including the above) are enough. She heads back to the shop where they purchased the bath and, lo and behold, the first shop assistant she speaks to gives her what she needs. No fight. No needing to check. No lies. He just tells her the bloody history of the bath and sends her on her way.
Of course, this is to keep the story short and helps to contextualise the climax that follows. A climax that, while exciting to an extent, offers little surprises or obstacles for Isobel.
All in all a good story but not much thinking necessary. Don't expect this to change further down the line.
Out of the collection, this is our Bronze Medal story.
Two: Killer Camera
Recently I read Goosebumps' Say Cheese and Die (released six years before Horowitz Horror).
Killer Camera is in much the same vein as that and is as predictable.
From the moment our hero, Matthew, sees the camera, you know it's going to be evil. It doesn't take the seller of the camera saying the owner's disappeared for you to know bad things will happen to the subject of any pictures.
Like the first story, this is fast-paced. The problem is we want to see the camera in action, and Horowitz goes to some lengths to avoid a human subject. To the point that it just doesn't ring true.
When Matt first buys the camera and wants to test it out, he doesn't pick a person at random to photograph; he picks a mirror (which promptly smashes).
When Matt then gives the camera to his dad as a present, the latter professes it is too dark to take a picture of younger son Jamie. This would be fine if not for the fact he then takes a picture of a tree in the garden and the family dog.
Is the tree filled with lanterns? Does the dog have a radioactive glow?
It isn't explained why it is too dark to take a picture of Jamie but not a dog and tree, and it was a point I found jarring.
However, if you can suspend your disbelief (a common theme in this collection), then there is a lot to like here. Not least the well-executed race against time climax which sees Matt return home to find his parents and brother have gone out with the camera.
Desperate to save them, he races out, and the story ends with a nice twist which is clever, dark, and suitably surprising.
Three: Light Moves
The first of two first-person stories. A lot here is the same as the first couple of stories. What's different is that the object of focus does not appear to be inherently evil. In fact, it begins as downright useful.
This time our object is a computer, given to our hero (Henry) after it's owner (a racing correspondent) has died at his desk.
Not being an axe murderer (Bath Night) or a satanist (Killer Camera) the possessed computer seems less interested in murder. Instead, the ghost of journalist Ethan starts spitting out the winner of one horse race a day.
Why does the columnist's death give him precognitive powers?
Who knows, maybe the afterlife is timeless. It's never explained, so we suspend our disbelief again.
In doing this, we have a story that rattles along. The tips work, but Henry is too young to bet. Because of this, he enlists the help of deranged older kid, Bill, to place the bets for him, splitting the winnings.
This, as Henry's smart friend Leo warns him, is a terrible idea. It is clear from his first appearances that psycho Bill is not someone you want to do business with. But Henry, blinded by greed, is not apt to listen to the warning bells in his head, or to Leo.
Such disregard for the warning signs leads to a climax in which Bill comes to steal the computer. Not much happens here, and the disappointing thing is that our hero steps aside and lets it happen. All this to facilitate a twist we saw coming.
This story is not awful, but neither is it as good as the first two. It has a weak ending, and as in previous tales, some of the devices for moving the plot along are clunky.
How does Henry find out what the word 'Casablanca', the first to appear on his screen, means? He walks past two teachers, one telling the other he won money on the horse Casablanca.
Hmm, very likely.
Four: The Night Bus
One of a couple of tales where the story is the twist and the twist not very good.
Two boys trying to get home after a late night party jump on a night bus which is, alas, not the one from Harry Potter.
The story is nothing more than one of the boys – Nick – watching people get on and off the bus, each arrival further spelling out the twist we got from their first conversation with the conductor upon arriving at the bus.
As such, when this twist is finally 'revealed' by the mother, no one is very surprised or interested.
Five: Harriet's Horrible Dream
As above, we all know what's coming here from very early on. This story has more substance but signals the first of three unbearable POV characters.
In a row.
Now, I'm all for an anti-hero, and characters we 'love to hate'. Frank Underwood and Patrick Bateman immediately spring to mind.
This story, however, gives us Harriet. A spoilt snobby little girl who revels in getting her nannies fired and who is happy to leave her parents for a stranger the moment her father loses all their money.
The intention here, presumably, is to get us to hate Harriet for reasons that become clear at the end of the tale.
It works, but sitting in Harriet's head for 18 pages is still an intolerable experience. Especially when we know where we are going the whole time and are not surprised when we reach the end.
Six: Scared
The second of three stories with a thoroughly unlikeable main character.
This tale's only saving grace is that we are stuck in Gary's head for just 11 pages – making it the shortest of the book.
In those 11 pages, Horowitz treats us to a laundry list of terrible things our 'hero' has done. Ranging from being generally awful to his mother and grandmother, to opening a farm gate in the hope the cows will escape.
Just when you think it can't get any worse, Gary admits to having stolen his favourite jacket from AN OXFAM SHOP.
Yeah, Horowitz really wanted us to hate this one.
The story itself is about Gary getting lost after going for a walk. You may not see the ending coming, but neither is it enjoyable. There is no climax, no excitement. Just an underwhelming end.
I would give this tale the esteemed Worst Story Award.
Seven. A Career in Computer Games
The final (thankfully) hateful character. Here we have an idiot thief whose crimes include (but are not limited to) stealing from his mother and throwing a brick at a cat for no reason.
What a champ.
The story involves our 'hero' – Kevin – signing up to test a new game.
It's evident from the get-go something dodgy is going on, but Kevin isn't bothered. He hears two grand a week, and signs on the dotted line.
The story from here is as you'd expect. His life becomes a game, and this gives Horowitz the chance to have some fun. He treats us to the most action-packed plot so far as Kevin tries to stay alive against numerous faceless killers on foot, bikes and in helicopters.
There's not much more to it than that, but the ending involved an enjoyable twist. Yes, he's in a game, as you expected, but perhaps not in the way you expected.
Not a great story in all, but the action and the last lines bring it well above the two that preceded it.
Eight: The Man with the Yellow Face
The second of two first-person stories. A boy waiting at a platform gets some pics at a Photo Booth. Upon printing the photos, he finds the third of four pictures is not of him at all, but of an ugly man with a yellow face.
This story proves that lack of pages does not mean a lack of suspense. Horowitz foreshadows the climax brilliantly here, and my heart pounded as I read towards it.
The twist I guessed, but only moments before the reveal, and it was still satisfying.
This story proves it is possible to be clever and build suspense, even over only a few pages. Although the twist is not quite as good as the one to follow, this is still my favourite story.
Our Gold Award Winner.
Nine: Monkey Ear
A take on the classic tale 'The Monkey's Paw' (which is referenced here, albeit attributed to Edgar Allen Poe rather than W. W. Jacobs) but with a nice twist.
The story starts with a family on holiday and not enjoying it. Looking for a taxi rank, they step into a shop. Here the shopkeep's nephew sells them a Monkey's Ear, saying it will grant four wishes.
At home father, mother and son, place three wishes, although they don't believe they will work.
In a way, the ear vindicates their disbelief. Something does happen after each wish, but it seemingly has nothing to do with the request made.
I confess this one got me. I could not for the life of me see how we were getting from wish to result. It was driving me mad.
In the end, and for the first time in this book, I needed the hero to spell it out to me. And, when the child Bart obliged, having worked it out himself after three wishes, I was impressed.
And there was still one wish to go!
Now, with the trick behind the Monkey's Ear revealed, there is one more surprise in store as father and son fight over who should get the final wish.
Here Horowitz ends on a high point, with the best twist of the series coming right at the end. And this story, following our Gold Award, wins the Silver Medal.
Nothing here will linger in the memory for long. But the series was an easy read and at least somewhat enjoyable throughout.
An excellent way to start the challenge (I started this on Thursday and finished Friday morning) I gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads.
Okay, this time, I promise, it's time for Lisey's Story.
As a big Stephen King book, I imagine this could be a world away from what I've just read.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Series Navigation << Man vs Bookshelf: IntroductionMan vs Bookshelf: Lisey's Story >>
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⟵Man vs Bookshelf: Introduction
What a week (for writing)⟶