text: Human being pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) come with an unrivaled potential to create limitless levels of any somatic cell type. addition we've shown that the usage of man made defined substrates instead of Matrigel and gelatin can effectively Nitisinone facilitate effective epithelial differentiation keeping a higher (>75%) purity of K14+/p63+ keratinocyte progenitor cells with a two to threefold higher produce when compared to a previously reported undefined differentiation technique. These K14+/p63+ cells also exhibited an increased expansion potential in comparison to cells produced using an undefined differentiation process and could actually terminally differentiate and recapitulate an epidermal cells structures model systems to review cells morphogenesis and disease and pharmaceutical or toxicity displays. To meet up the commercial and clinical needs for the many cell types Nitisinone that may be produced from hPSCs it'll be necessary to utilize reproducible hPSC differentiation systems that specifically incorporate described cell culture parts. Such standardized and well-characterized differentiation systems ought to be amenable for scale-up decrease variability seen in hPSC differentiation systems and become compatible with great making practice (GMP).4 5 Because the initial derivation of hESCs analysts have Nitisinone engineered such defined tradition systems for both maintenance6-14 and differentiation of hPSCs to certain cell lineages including however not limited by retinal pigment epithelial cells neural precursor cells and cardiomyocytes.5 15 16 Epithelial cells have already been derived and characterized from hPSCs utilizing a selection of methods.17-22 One technique produced by Hewitt as well as for basic epithelial cell differentiation to K14+ keratinocytes and Metallo reported how the plating density Nitisinone of embryoid bodies (EBs) had a profound influence on the amount of keratinocyte progenitors shaped in which a lower plating density of EBs led to a greater produce of keratinocytes.19 In the analysis of neural differentiation of hESCs it had been discovered that the plating density of hESCs got an effect for the ratio of Pax6+ cells to Pax6? neural crest-like cells where high hESC plating densities led to mainly Pax6+ cells and low densities advertised mainly neural crest differentiation.31 Provided these observations in additional epithelial and neural differentiation techniques we determined the result of preliminary hPSC denseness on our previously reported epithelial differentiation method and with all this impact identified an optimal denseness to increase cell purity and produce of our hPSC-derived epithelial cells. We previously reported a aimed differentiation way for producing epithelial cells and epidermal progenitors from hESCs.23 This process illustrated in Shape 1 uses RA to induce simple epithelial differentiation and subsequently involves subculturing simple epithelial cells in a precise keratinocyte growth medium to create highly enriched populations of K14+/p63+ epidermal keratinocyte progenitor cells. To recognize how preliminary cell denseness impacts RA-induced epithelial differentiation we passaged H9 hESCs onto a Matrigel substrate at differing cell densities. After Nitisinone 1-2 times of development we induced epithelial differentiation at beginning cell densities of 1000 3000 6500 and 30 0 cells/cm2 for a week and discovered a stunning difference in the ensuing mobile morphologies (Fig. 2A). Preliminary hPSC densities below 6500 cells/cm2 led to cell populations mainly containing cells having a mesenchymal morphology on day time 7 (Fig. 2Ai ii v). On the other hand cultures at cell densities at or above 6500 cells/cm2 upon initiation of differentiation led to cell populations including colonies of cells possessing an epithelial morphology by day time 7 (Fig. 2Aiii iv vi). Furthermore we discovered that cultures where differentiation Tgfbr2 initiated at a cell denseness of 6500 Nitisinone cells/cm2 yielded cells that uniformly indicated E-cadherin by day time 7 of epithelial differentiation (Supplementary Fig. S1A; Supplementary Data can be found on-line at www.liebertpub.com/tec) whereas cultures differentiated from a cell density 1000 cells/cm2 didn't express E-cadherin by day time 7 of differentiation (Supplementary Fig. S1B). These outcomes suggest that the original cell denseness of hPSCs includes a profound influence on the power of hPSCs to create basic epithelial cell populations when cultured in the current presence of RA..


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Chapter 4:35-41 (ESV) - On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Question to consider: How does this passage show us Jesus' dual nature of both God and man?
In the passage from yesterday, Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed which when planted grows into a great bush which can even provide a home for the birds. Like the seed, Jesus was a tiny, unassuming person with no worldly wealth or power, and yet the kingdom began with Him. Just as the seed was planted in the ground, so Jesus gave up His life for us and was planted in the tomb, and thus began a kingdom so great that there was room enough for the Gentiles much like the birds which nested in the branches of the mustard plant. Though I can't be sure of this meaning for the parable since Mark does not provide it for us, it would make sense when you consider that Jesus was now calling His disciples to go to the other side of the sea of Galilee which was Gentile territory.
Given that the sea of Galilee is several hundred feet below sea level and near Mount Hermon which has a peak of over 9,000 feet, the winds coming off of the mountain would clash with the warm air over the lake and create terrible storms. When they found themselves in the midst of one which was particularly harrowing, Jesus happened to be asleep on the boat. The fact that He could sleep during a loud storm when the boat was being thrashed by the waves shows how exhausted Jesus must have been after continually ministering to great crowds along the shore.
In my study of Luke regarding this scene, I made several comparisons between Jesus and Jonah, for one who was greater than Jonah had come. Though the disciples had witnessed Jesus do many miracles at this point and speak with authority against the scribes and Pharisees, they had not yet confessed Jesus to be the Christ and were focusing on the problem at hand rather than trusting that if Jesus wanted to go to the other side of the lake, they would get there regardless of the storm.
When they woke Jesus, I'm sure it was out of the need for an extra set of hands to keep the boat from sinking from the waves flooding the deck with water. They were not expecting Him to rebuke the storm and certainly not for the storm to immediately obey Him and become calm. Even if they suspected Jesus was the Messiah, they had no idea this meant He was God made flesh. Who was this man who was so frail He could sleep in a storm and yet so mighty the wind and the waves obeyed Him? Now instead of fearing the storm, they were even more afraid of Him.
Dear Lord, thank You for being in control of the wind and the waves. Give us faith in Your sovereign hand to work out everything in our lives for our well-being and Your glory. Forgive us our doubts and weaknesses and let others see the good work You are doing in our lives. Amen.

subset: commoncrawl


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Basketball Highlights: Euroleague, Eurocup, Liga Endesa ACB, VTB United League, BSL Turkey, Israel Super League, Lega Basket, European Basketball.
Errick McCollum almost got a double-double against BC Avtodor.
Avtodor Saratov was defeated at home 95 - 108 by the Lokomotiv-Kuban in the VTB League. Errick McCollum scored 30 points, 9 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 block.


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Juneteenth: A Celebration of Black Resistance
Using land as a pathway for growth and upward mobility has always been an American tradition, but was only afforded to Black people after Juneteenth. New generations are now benefiting from the long legacy and history of the Black farmer. Juneteenth is an excellent chance for our country to celebrate Black resistance, resilience, and land practices.


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The quicksilver bowlriders contest in malmö is cancelled
this year. There will be a backyard pool only contest
instead which will be organized by the locals around
john magnusson. the idear is to create a real backyardstyle
feeling with palm trees, bbq, bands and all. sounds like a
good time. keep checking back for updates.


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FREE Shipping & Gallery Wrap Stretching on Canvas Prints
up to 44in x 3Oin size shipped within USA
As both a fine art painter and a digital artist, Sara Morton combines her design talents with her computer skills to create unique images.
In creating her digital designs, Morton employs the same skills she uses when making a painting or drawing. Using scanned photographs and hand drawn sketches, she builds digital collages by creatively combining elements then modifying colors, contours and shadows to get the composition that fulfills her vision. Through the use of a digital pen and tablet, the collage is then translated into hundreds of hand drawn shapes and countless layers. Each of the shapes can be carefully adjusted to the color, shade and transparency of choice. Says Morton, "On the computer, the drawing process is revolutionary and magic compared to traditional pencil and paper. The process of forming digital drawing lines is more like shaping a flexible wire. It is a virtual stained glass window that can be pulled, stretched, diffused, reshaped and re-colored. Although more time consuming than traditional drawing or painting, this method allows changes to be made cleanly, spontaneously and readily without having to start over."
Morton also works in reverse - using collages she creates on the computer as sketches for hand painted acrylic paintings.
Sara Morton also combines her Fine Art & Digital Art making skills to design in a new art medium - robotic vitreous glass tile mosaics. Morton was commissioned to create the design for "Coastal Sails" for Children's Hospital Boston. She transformed her digital design using (Boston-based) Artaic's Tessera software to create the imagery, which was then fabricated by Artaic's robotic assembly system. Morton hopes to explore this new medium further and create a series of Artaic mosaics.
Morton has designed several cityscapes and panoramic views for various locations at Children's Hospital in Boston. Morton was also commissioned to design a Boston Red Sox Themed Cancer Treatment Room for Children's Hospital Boston. She created customized artwork to fit the walls, cabinets, doors and floors of the room. Sara approached the project from a child's point of view, using simple flat perspective, whimsical shapes and bold color. "The Red Sox players appear somewhat like action figures or super-heroes. I wanted to depict the strength and energy that the Red Sox bring to the game. In this way, the children can aspire to that same strength while enduring treatment" she says.
Morton has twenty years of experience making large format giclée prints for Morton Arts, Art Galleries, Art Consultants, Individual Artists and Framers.
Morton is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She received a BFA in Illustration and Communication Design, earning Academic Distinction and Departmental Honors.
Artist Statement
Copyright © 1998 - 2022 Sara Morton
All images contained herein are copyrighted and remain the property of Sara Morton.
Images may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the artist.
Wesbite Design & Graphics by Morton Arts
MortonArts.com - online since 1997


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Smart Cable Aids Quality Control and Authentication
Embedding a DS2431 (1-Wire®) chip in the near end of a cable allows a system processor to identify a cable (manufacturing date, revision, configuration, calibration data, etc.) and to authenticate it (to prevent the use of inferior counterfeits).
This design idea appeared in the August 27, 2009 issue of Electronic Design magazine.
Electrical cables remain of critical importance for interconnecting equipment (Figure 1). Yet, cloned and knock-off cables are a growing problem, as is revealed by a quick search of the Internet. Common complaints from cable users include intermittent signals, poor long-term reliability, and complete malfunctions caused by inadequacies such as cheap wire, improper contact plating, incorrect wiring, and poor quality control.
Electronic instruments alone provide no easy way to tell the difference between a genuine cable and an inferior counterfeit version. But, the situation changes when you embed an electronic (1-Wire) chip1 in the near end of the cable (Figure 2). (A particular chip, the DS2431, is used to illustrate this idea, but other 1-Wire devices may be more appropriate for specific applications.) An IC with 1-Wire interface merges its power-supply voltage and communications on a single pin.2 For typical smart-cable applications, the chip contains a unique identification number plus user-programmable memory, which can be secure memory or a write-protected EEPROM.
The far end of the cable connects to a sensor, peripheral, accessory, or other equipment. For equipment that already contains a microcontroller or equivalent (such as an FPGA), you need only add a pullup resistor for the
When a smart cable is plugged in, the 1-Wire chip generates a presence pulse that the microcontroller interprets as an attachment event. If the connection is made while the µC is switched off, then upon wakeup the µC generates a reset pulse on the 1-Wire line and tests for a presence pulse. If no presence pulse is seen, the µC "knows" that either no cable is plugged in or the cable is counterfeit.
If the µC detects a presence pulse, it reads the 1-Wire chip's identification number. (For some applications, it may be sufficient to verify that the ID number falls within a certain range.) The µC usually reads the chip's data memory as well, looking for an electronic description of the product (i.e., the cable, the sensor at the far end, or both).
For a cable with sensor, the data may include the manufacturing date, revision, configuration, calibration data, and expiration date. You achieve the highest level of authentication (detection and rejection of a clone) by using a secure memory that supports challenge and response authentication.3 Thus, a 1-Wire chip, which occupies only a single dedicated pin in the cable, can add functionality, ensure quality, and provide aftermarket protection.
1 Linke, Bernhard, application note 4717, "Injection molding an integrated circuit into a connector or consumable item", Maxim Integrated, 2010.
2 Linke, Bernhard, application note 1796, "Overview of 1-Wire® Technology and its Use," Maxim Integrated, 2008.
3 Application note 3675, "Protecting the R&D investment: two-way authentication and secure soft-feature settings," Maxim Integrated, 2005.


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Gymnastics, Classes, Events & More
Pacific West Gymnastics Newsletter October 2021
Pacific West Times
The Pacific West Gymnastics Newsletter
Newsletter October 2021 – Take a Free Tour Enter to Win a Free Party, Best of the Best, Amazing AirMaze Exhibit, Unlimited Virtual Classes
Stay in the loop and subscribe to our newsletter | Subscribe
Take a Free Tour, Enter to Win a Free Party
Join us for a free, private tour in the month of October and be entered to win an in-person or virtual Party Prize for up to 16 guests. Celebrate a birthday, get the kids together for a special occasion or ring in the holidays with a Pacific West Party!
Pacific West Gymnastics, Voted Best of the Best in the Bay Area
We did it again! It's you, our awesome students, parents and friends that make it happen–you're truly the Best! Thank you! The Bay Area Parent's Best of the Best magazine is available free online. It's full of great businesses, services, and resources for kids and families.
View the full publication | View our section
Amazing AirMaze Exhibit at Children's Discovery Museum of SJ
Press Release, Macaroni Kid Fremont
Whoosh! Swoosh! Wow! These joyful shrieks will be heard at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, with the opening of Amazing AirMaze, a new, permanent STEM exhibit exploring the power of air.
Unlimited Virtual Classes, Just $50 Per Month
Pacific West Gymnastics TV (PWGTV), brings live, instructor-led classes in Gymnastics and Tumbling to the comfort of your home.
Seasonal Camps
Enrollment is open for full-day and weekly camps at both locations. Schedules are subject to current state and federal regulations. Please stay tuned for updates.
- Veterans Day Camp | Nov 11
- Thanksgiving Camp | Nov 22-24
- Winter Break Camp | Dec 20-23 & Dec 27-30
Our Seasonal & Summer Camps are fun filled with high energy and structured activities, including–gymnastics, arts and crafts, group games and more!
For locations and details, visit camppacwest.com
News & Events Around Town
- Open Recreation Swim "Water Park" at Silliman Center in Newark | Oct 2
- Teen Speech and Debate Club with AC Librar | Oct 7
- Outside Tail Wagging Tales – Read to a Dog at the Centerville Library | Oct 9
- Virtual Telescope Viewings by Chabot Space & Science Center | Oct 16
- The Running Dead 5K Fun Run & Trunk or Treat at Civic Center/City Hall in Union City | Oct 24
- Newark Skate Park | Oct 30
News & Events around town is brought you by Macaroni Kid Fremont.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter, The Pacific West Times
Stay in the loop and subscribe to our newsletter. You don't need to be enrolled in classes to join. Plus you'll receive updates on special promotions, events, summer camps & seasonal camps that are open for general admission.


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#Relational Algebra
- Procedural language
- Based on relational operations
- Three set of RA operations
- Basic RA operations
- select, project, union, set diff, cartesian product, rename
- Additional RA operations
- Can be expressed using basic ones
- But make it easier to write queries
- intersection, assignment joins, division
- Extended RA
- Increases power of RA
- Cannot be expressed with basic RA
- Aggregation and group_by
- Basic RA operations
#Relational Operators
Six basic operators:
- select : $\sigma$
- project: $\Pi$
- union: $\cup$
- set difference: $-$
- Cartesian product: $\times$
- rename: $\rho$
All operators take one or two relations as input and produce a new relation as a result Addition operators defined on top of these six
#Basic RA operators
$$ \huge \sigma_{\text{A = B and D > 5}}(r) $$
$$ \huge \Pi_{A, C} (r) $$
$$ \huge r \cup s $$
#set difference
$$ \huge r - s $$
#Cartesian Product
$$ \huge r \times s $$
#composition of operations
Can build expressions using multiple operations Example: $\sigma_{A = C}(r \times s)$
Allow us to rename, and therefore to refer to, the results of relational algebra expressions.
Allow us to refer to a relation by more than one name.
example: $\rho_X(E)$ returns the expression E under the name X
If a relation-algebra expression E has arity n, then $$ \large \rho_{X(A_1, A_2, \cdots, A_n)}(E) $$ returns the result of expression E under the name X, and with the attributes renamed to $A_1, A_2, \cdots, A_n$
Example: Give relation CAKE(cname, price, slices) $$ \large \rho_{cheapcake(cakename, price, slices)}(\sigma_{price < 10}(CAKE)) $$
#Formal Definition
A basic expression in the relational algebra consists of either one of the following:
- A relation in the database
- A constant relation
Let $E_1$ and $E_2$ be relational-algebra expressions; the following are all relational-algebra expressions:
$$ E_1 \cup E_2 $$ $$ E_1 - E_2 $$ $$ E_1 \times E_2 $$ $$ \sigma_{p}(E_1) $$ $$ \Pi_{s}(E_1) $$ $$ \rho_{X}(E_1) $$
#Additional Operations
We define additional operations that do not add any power to the relational algebra, but that simplify common queries
#set intersection
$$ \huge r \cap s $$
#natural Join
Let r and s be relations on schemas R and S respectively. Then, the "natural join" of relations R and S is a relation on schema $R \cup S$ obtained as follows:
- Consider each pair of tuples $t_r$ from r and $t_s$ from s
- If $t_r$ and $t_s$ have the same value on each of the attributes in $R \cap S$, add a tuple $t$ to the result, where
- $t$ has the same value as $t_r$ on r
- $t$ has the same value as $t_s$ on s
#natural join and theta join
The assignment operation ($\leftarrow$) provides a convenient way to express conples queries.
Write query as sequential program consisting of
- a series of assignments
- followed by an operation whose value is displayed as a result of the query
Assignment must always be made to a temporary relation variable
Motivation from algebra
#outer join
An extension of the join operation that avoids loss of information
Computes the join and then adds tuples from one relation that does not match tuples in the other relation to the result of the join
Uses null values:
- null signifies that hte value is unknown or does not exist
- All comparisons involving null are(roughly speaking) false by definition
#Different join: theta vs natural vs outer join
Demo relation: Customer(cid, cname, joindate) purchase(cid, pid, buydate)
theta join: more general than natural join
natural join: special case, join on common attributes
works 95% of time, but what is we use "date" in both?
inner versus outer join is separate issue
#null values
- It is possible for tuples to have a null value, denoted by null, for some of their attributes
- null signifies an unknown value or that a value does not exist(yet)
- The result of any arithmetic expression involving null is null.
- Aggregate functions simply ignore null values
- For duplicate elimination and grouping, null is treated like any other values, and two nulls are assumed to be the same
- Comparisons with null values return the special truth value: unknown
- Three-valued login using the truth value unknown:
- or:
- (unknown or true) = true
- (unknown or false) = unknown
- (unknown or unknown) = unknown
- and;
- (unknown and true) = unknown
- (unknown and false) = false
- (unknown and unknown) - unknown
- not:
- (not unknown) = unknown
Given relation r(R) and s(S), such that $S \subset R$, $r \div s$ is the largest relation t(R - S) such that $t \times S \subseteq r$
let $$ \large r(ID, course_id) = \Pi_{ID, course_id}(takes) $$ and $$ \large s(course_id) = \Pi_{course_id}(\sigma_{\text{dept_name = 'Biology'}}(course)) $$
then $r \div s$ gives us students who have taken all courses offered by the Biology department.
Can write $r \div s$ as $$ temp1 \leftarrow \Pi_{R - S}(r) temp2 \leftarrow \Pi_{R - S}((temp1 \times s) - \Pi_{R - S, S}(r)) result = temp1 - temp2 $$
#Extended relation algebra
#generalized projection
Extends the projection operation by allowing arithmetic functions to be used in the projection list
$$ \large \Pi_{F_1, F_2, \cdots, F_n}(E) $$
E is any relational-algebra expression Each of $F_1, F_2, \cdots, F_n$ are arithmetic expressions involving constants and attributes in the schema of E
Example: Given relation instructor(ID, name, dept_name, salary) where salary is annual salary, get the same information but with monthly salary $$ \large \Pi_{\text{ID, name, dept_name, salary/12}}(instructor) $$
#aggregate functions and operations
Aggregate function takes a collection of values and returns a single values as result
- avg: average value
- min: minium value
- max: maximum value
- sum: sum of values
- count: number of values
Aggregate operation in relational algebra
$$ \large _{G_1, G_2, \cdots, G_n} \mathcal{G} _{F_1(A_1), F_2(A_2), \cdots, F_n(A_n)}(E) $$
E is any relational algebra operation
- $G_1, \cdots, G_n$ is a list of attributes on which to group(can my empty)
- Each $F_i$ is an aggregate function
- each $A_i$ is an attribute name
Note: some books/articles use $\gamma$ instead of $\mathcal{G}$
- Result of aggregation does not have a name
- Can use rename operation to give it a name
- For convenience, we permit renaming as part of aggregate operation
#Multiset Relational Algebra
Pure relational algebra removes all duplicates.
Multiset relational algebra retains duplicates, to match SQL semantics
- SQL duplicate retention was initially for efficiency, but is now a feature
Multiset relational algebra defined as follows
- selection: has as many duplicates of a tuple as in the input, if the tuple satisfies the selection
- projection: one tuple per input tuple, even if ie is a duplicate
- cross product: if there are m copies of t1 in r, and n copies of t2 in s, there are m x n copies of t1.t2 in r x s.
- other operators similarly defined


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Keeping It Israel
Jeff Futers
Join Jeff Futers and his guests talking everything Israel as it relates to Christian faith and the church. If you are a Christian and you stand with Israel, you will be encouraged and challenged by this podcast, and if you're not so sure about the whole Israel thing…you need to learn how your faith connects with Israel and why standing with Israel matters.
Or Listen Elsewhere


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2005 Florida Code - REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS, AND SOLICITATIONS CONSUMER FINANCEChapter 516
516.001 Short title.
516.01 Definitions.
516.02 Loans; lines of credit; rate of interest; license.
516.03 Application for license; fees; etc.
516.031 Finance charge; maximum rates.
516.035 Rate of interest upon default.
516.05 License.
516.07 Grounds for denial of license or for disciplinary action.
516.08 License to be posted.
516.11 Investigations and complaints.
516.12 Records to be kept by licensee.
516.15 Duties of licensee.
516.16 Confession of judgment; power of attorney; contents of notes and security.
516.17 Assignment of wages, etc., given to secure loans.
516.19 Penalties.
516.21 Restriction of borrower's indebtedness.
516.22 Rules; certified copies.
516.221 Liability when acting upon order, declaratory statement, or rule.
516.23 Subpoenas; enforcement actions; rules.
516.26 Purchase or assignment of wages, salaries, etc.
516.27 Preexisting contracts.
516.31 Consumer protection; certain negotiable instruments restricted; assigns subject to defenses; limitation on deficiency claims; cross collateral.
516.32 Consumer credit counseling.
516.33 Public disclosures.
516.35 Credit insurance must comply with credit insurance act.
516.36 Monthly installment requirement.
516.001 Short title.--This chapter shall hereafter be known, referred to, and cited as the "Florida Consumer Finance Act."
History.--s. 1, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.01 Definitions.--As used in this chapter, the term:
(1) "Consumer finance borrower" or "borrower" means a person who has incurred either direct or contingent liability to repay a consumer finance loan.
(2) "Consumer finance loan" means a loan of money, credit, goods, or choses in action, including, except as otherwise specifically indicated, provision of a line of credit, in an amount or to a value of $25,000 or less for which the lender charges, contracts for, collects, or receives interest at a rate greater than 18 percent per annum.
(3) "Commission" means the Financial Services Commission.
(4) "Office" means the Office of Financial Regulation of the commission.
(5) "Interest" means the cost of obtaining a consumer finance loan and includes any profit or advantage of any kind whatsoever that a lender may charge, contract for, collect, receive, or in anywise obtain, including by means of any collateral sale, purchase, or agreement, as a condition for a consumer finance loan. Charges specifically permitted by this chapter, including commissions received for insurance written as permitted by this chapter, shall not be deemed interest.
(6) "License" means a permit issued under this chapter to make and collect loans in accordance with this chapter at a single place of business.
(7) "Licensee" means a person to whom a license is issued.
History.--s. 19, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4016; s. 6, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 7, ch. 22858, 1945; s. 1, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 193, ch. 71-377; s. 189, ch. 77-104; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 1, ch. 86-100; ss. 1, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 1, ch. 90-104; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 569, ch. 2003-261.
516.02 Loans; lines of credit; rate of interest; license.--
(1) A person must not engage in the business of making consumer finance loans unless she or he is authorized to do so under this chapter or other statutes and unless the person first obtains a license from the office.
(2)(a) A person who is engaged in the business of making loans of money, except as authorized by this chapter or other statutes of this state, may not directly or indirectly charge, contract for, or receive any interest or consideration greater than 18 percent per annum upon the loan, use, or forbearance of money, goods, or choses in action, or upon the loan or use of credit, of the amount or value of $25,000 or less.
(b) The prohibition in paragraph (a) applies to any lender who, as security for any such loan, use, or forbearance of money, goods, or choses in action, or for any such loan or use of credit, makes a pretended purchase of property from any person and permits the owner or pledgor to retain the possession thereof or who by any device or pretense of charging for services or otherwise seeks to obtain a greater compensation than is authorized by this chapter.
(c) A loan for which a greater rate of interest or charge than is allowed by this chapter has been contracted for or received, wherever made, is not enforceable in this state, and each person who in any manner participates therein in this state is subject to this chapter. However, this paragraph does not apply to loans legally made to a resident of another state by a person within that state if that state has in effect a regulatory small loan or consumer finance law similar in principle to this chapter.
(3) A licensee may offer lines of credit not exceeding $25,000 and may charge, contract for, and receive interest charges and other charges pursuant to s. 516.031, except that a licensee may not offer a credit card.
(4) This chapter does not apply to any person who does business under, and as permitted by, any law of this state or of the United States relating to banks, savings banks, trust companies, building and loan associations, credit unions, or industrial loan and investment companies. This chapter also does not apply to title loans as defined in 1s. 538.03(1)(i) or pawns as defined in s. 538.03(1)(d). A pawnbroker may not be licensed to transact business under this chapter.
History.--s. 1, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 3999; s. 2, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 2, ch. 73-192; ss. 1, 15, ch. 79-274; s. 1, ch. 79-592; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 1, ch. 85-32; s. 2, ch. 86-100; ss. 2, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 2, ch. 90-104; s. 68, ch. 91-220; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 5, ch. 95-287; s. 677, ch. 97-103; s. 570, ch. 2003-261.
1Note.--Section 538.03(1)(i) defining title loans was repealed by s. 21, ch. 2000-138.
516.03 Application for license; fees; etc.----
(1) APPLICATION.--Application for a license to make loans under this chapter shall be in the form prescribed by rule of the commission, and shall contain the name, residence and business addresses of the applicant and, if the applicant is a copartnership or association, of every member thereof and, if a corporation, of each officer and director thereof, also the county and municipality with the street and number or approximate location where the business is to be conducted, and such further relevant information as the commission or office may require. At the time of making such application the applicant shall pay to the office a biennial license fee of $625. Applications, except for applications to renew or reactivate a license, must also be accompanied by an investigation fee of $200. The commission may adopt rules to allow electronic submission of any form, document, or fee required by this act.
(2) FEES.--Fees herein provided for shall be collected by the office and shall be turned into the State Treasury to the credit of the regulatory trust fund under the office. The office shall have full power to employ such examiners or clerks to assist the office as may from time to time be deemed necessary and fix their compensation. The commission may adopt rules to allow electronic submission of any fee required by this section.
History.--s. 2, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4000; s. 1, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 127, ch. 26869, 1951; s. 3, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 138, ch. 71-355; s. 3, ch. 73-192; s. 3, ch. 73-326; s. 144, ch. 79-164; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 3, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 29, ch. 99-155; s. 1, ch. 99-164; s. 571, ch. 2003-261.
516.031 Finance charge; maximum rates.--
(1) INTEREST RATES.--Every licensee may lend any sum of money not exceeding $25,000. A licensee may not take a security interest secured by land on any loan less than $1,000. The licensee may charge, contract for, and receive thereon interest charges as provided and authorized by this section. The maximum interest rate shall be 30 percent per annum, computed on the first $2,000 of the principal amount as computed from time to time; 24 percent per annum on that part of the principal amount as computed from time to time exceeding $2,000 and not exceeding $3,000; and 18 percent per annum on that part of the principal amount as computed from time to time exceeding $3,000 and not exceeding $25,000. The original principal amount as used in this section shall be the same amount as the amount financed as defined by the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In determining compliance with the statutory maximum interest and finance charges set forth herein, the computations utilized shall be simple interest and not add-on interest or any other computations. When two or more interest rates are to be applied to the principal amount of a loan, the licensee may charge, contract for, and receive interest at that single annual percentage rate which if applied according to the actuarial method to each of the scheduled periodic balances of principal would produce at maturity the same total amount of interest as would result from the application of the two or more rates otherwise permitted, based upon the assumption that all payments are made as agreed.
(2) ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE UNDER FEDERAL TRUTH IN LENDING ACT.--The annual percentage rate of finance charge which may be contracted for and received under any loan contract made by a licensee under this chapter may equal, but not exceed, the annual percentage rate which must be computed and disclosed as required by the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The maximum annual percentage rate of finance charge which may be contracted for and received is 12 times the maximum monthly rate, and the maximum monthly rate shall be computed on the basis of one-twelfth of the annual rate for each full month. The commission shall by rule establish the rate for each day in a fraction of a month when the period for which the charge is computed is more or less than 1 month.
(a) In addition to the interest, delinquency, and insurance charges herein provided for, no further or other charges or amount whatsoever for any examination, service, commission, or other thing or otherwise shall be directly or indirectly charged, contracted for, or received as a condition to the grant of a loan, except:
1. An amount not to exceed $10 to reimburse a portion of the costs for investigating the character and credit of the person applying for the loan;
2. An annual fee of $25 on the anniversary date of each line-of-credit account;
3. Charges paid for brokerage fee on a loan or line of credit of more than $10,000, title insurance, and the appraisal of real property offered as security when paid to a third party and supported by an actual expenditure;
4. Intangible personal property tax on the loan note or obligation when secured by a lien on real property;
5. The documentary excise tax and lawful fees, if any, actually and necessarily paid out by the licensee to any public officer for filing, recording, or releasing in any public office any instrument securing the loan, which fees may be collected when the loan is made or at any time thereafter;
6. The premium payable for any insurance in lieu of perfecting any security interest otherwise required by the licensee in connection with the loan, if the premium does not exceed the fees which would otherwise be payable, which premium may be collected when the loan is made or at any time thereafter;
7. Actual and reasonable attorney's fees and court costs as determined by the court in which suit is filed;
8. Actual and commercially reasonable expenses of repossession, storing, repairing and placing in condition for sale, and selling of any property pledged as security; or
9. A delinquency charge not to exceed $10 for each payment in default for a period of not less than 10 days, if the charge is agreed upon, in writing, between the parties before imposing the charge.
Any charges, including interest, in excess of the combined total of all charges authorized and permitted by this chapter constitute a violation of chapter 687 governing interest and usury, and the penalties of that chapter apply. In the event of a bona fide error, the licensee shall refund or credit the borrower with the amount of the overcharge immediately but within 20 days from the discovery of such error.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a), any lender of money who receives a check, draft, negotiable order of withdrawal, or like instrument drawn on a bank or other depository institution, which instrument is given by a borrower as full or partial repayment of a loan, may, if such instrument is not paid or is dishonored by such institution, make and collect from the borrower a bad check charge of not more than the greater of $20 or an amount equal to the actual charge made to the lender by the depository institution for the return of the unpaid or dishonored instrument.
(4) DIVIDED LOANS.--No licensee shall induce or permit any borrower to split up or divide any loan. No licensee shall induce or permit any person, or any husband and wife, jointly or severally, to become obligated to the licensee, directly or contingently or both, under more than one contract of loan at the same time, for the purpose, or with the result, of obtaining a greater finance charge than would otherwise be permitted by this section.
(5) UNPAID INTEREST UPON REFINANCING.--If all or part of the consideration for a new loan contract is the unpaid principal balance of a prior loan with the licensee, the principal amount payable under the new loan contract may include not more than 60 days' unpaid interest accrued on the prior loan.
History.--s. 7, ch. 73-192; ss. 1, 2, ch. 76-180; s. 190, ch. 77-104; s. 1, ch. 77-174; ss. 2, 15, ch. 79-274; s. 1, ch. 79-592; s. 1, ch. 80-412; s. 1, ch. 81-299; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 1, ch. 84-193; s. 2, ch. 85-32; ss. 4, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 3, ch. 90-104; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 1, ch. 94-108; s. 678, ch. 97-103; s. 1, ch. 97-181; s. 1, ch. 2000-127; s. 572, ch. 2003-261.
516.035 Rate of interest upon default.--In the event that any balance remains unpaid at the expiration of the scheduled maturity date of a loan, licensees may continue to charge interest on the unpaid balance at the rate provided for in s. 516.031(1) for a period not to exceed 12 months. Thereafter, the interest shall not exceed the permissible rate of interest provided by chapter 687. When advances are made pursuant to a line of credit, a licensee may charge interest on the unpaid balance at the rate provided for in s. 516.031(1) for the period a balance remains unpaid.
History.--s. 1, ch. 79-59; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 5, ch. 85-32; s. 3, ch. 86-100; ss. 5, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.05 License.--
(1) Upon the filing of an application for a license and payment of all applicable fees, the office shall, unless the application is to renew or reactivate an existing license, make an investigation of the facts concerning the applicant's proposed activities. If the office determines that a license should be granted, it shall issue the license for a period not to exceed 2 years. Biennial licensure periods and procedures for renewal of licenses shall be established by the rule of the commission. If the office determines that grounds exist under this chapter for denial of an application other than an application to renew a license, it shall deny such application, return to the applicant the sum paid as a license fee, and retain the investigation fee.
(2) A license that is not renewed at the end of the biennium established by the commission shall automatically revert to inactive status. An inactive license may be reactivated upon submission of a completed reactivation application, payment of the biennial license fee, and payment of a reactivation fee which shall equal the biennial license fee. A license expires on the date at which it has been inactive for 6 months.
(3) Only one place of business for the purpose of making loans under this chapter may be maintained under one license, but the office may issue additional licenses to a licensee upon compliance with all the provisions of this chapter governing issuance of a single license.
(4) Prior to relocating his or her place of business, a licensee must file with the office, in the manner prescribed by commission rule, notice of the relocation.
(5) A licensee may conduct the business of making loans under this chapter within a place of business in which other business is solicited or engaged in, unless the office shall find that the conduct of such other business by the licensee results in an evasion of this chapter. Upon such finding, the office shall order the licensee to desist from such evasion; provided, however, that no license shall be granted to or renewed for any person or organization engaged in the pawnbroker business.
(6) If any person purchases substantially all of the assets of any existing licensed place of business, the purchaser shall give immediate notice thereof to the office and shall be granted a 90-day temporary license for the place of business within 10 days after the office's receipt of an application for a permanent license. Issuance of a temporary license for a place of business nullifies the existing license for the place of business, and the temporary licensee is subject to any disciplinary action provided for by this chapter.
(7) Licenses are not transferable or assignable. A licensee may invalidate any license by delivering it to the office with a written notice of the delivery, but such delivery does not affect any civil or criminal liability or the authority to enforce this chapter for acts committed in violation thereof.
(8) The office may refuse to process an initial application for a license if the applicant or any person with power to direct the management or policies of the applicant's business is the subject of a pending criminal prosecution in any jurisdiction until conclusion of such criminal prosecution.
(9) A licensee that is the subject of a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy filing must report such filing to the office within 7 business days after the filing date.
History.--s. 4, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4002; s. 2, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 4, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 4, 15, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 77-256; s. 7, ch. 78-95; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 6, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 2, ch. 99-164; s. 573, ch. 2003-261.
516.07 Grounds for denial of license or for disciplinary action.--
(1) The following acts are violations of this chapter and constitute grounds for denial of an application for a license to make consumer finance loans and grounds for any of the disciplinary actions specified in subsection (2):
(a) A material misstatement of fact in an application for a license;
(b) Failure to maintain liquid assets of at least $25,000 at all times for the operation of business at a licensed location or proposed location;
(c) Failure to demonstrate financial responsibility, experience, character, or general fitness, such as to command the confidence of the public and to warrant the belief that the business operated at the licensed or proposed location is lawful, honest, fair, efficient, and within the purposes of this chapter;
(d) The violation, either knowingly or without the exercise of due care, of any provision of this chapter, any rule or order adopted under this chapter, or any written agreement entered into with the office;
(e) Any act of fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit, regardless of reliance by or damage to a borrower, or any illegal activity, where such acts are in connection with a loan under this chapter. Such acts include, but are not limited to:
1. Willful imposition of illegal or excessive charges; or
2. Misrepresentation, circumvention, or concealment of any matter required to be stated or furnished to a borrower;
(f) The use of unreasonable collection practices or of false, deceptive, or misleading advertising, where such acts are in connection with the operation of a business to make consumer finance loans;
(g) Any violation of part III of chapter 817 or part II of chapter 559 or of any rule adopted under part II of chapter 559;
(h) Failure to maintain, preserve, and keep available for examination, all books, accounts, or other documents required by this chapter, by any rule or order adopted under this chapter, or by any agreement entered into with the office;
(i) Refusal to permit inspection of books and records in an investigation or examination by the office or refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by the office;
(j) Pleading nolo contendere to, or having been convicted or found guilty of, a crime involving fraud, dishonest dealing, or any act of moral turpitude, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld;
(k) Paying money or anything else of value, directly or indirectly, to any person as compensation, inducement, or reward for referring loan applicants to a licensee;
(l) Allowing any person other than the licensee to use the licensee's business name, address, or telephone number in an advertisement;
(m) Accepting or advertising that the licensee accepts money on deposit or as consideration for the issuance or delivery of certificates of deposit, savings certificates, or similar instruments, except to the extent permitted under chapter 517; or
(n) Failure to pay any fee, charge, or fine imposed or assessed pursuant to this chapter or any rule adopted under this chapter.
(o) Using the name or logo of a financial institution, as defined in s. 655.005(1), or its affiliates or subsidiaries when marketing or soliciting existing or prospective customers if such marketing materials are used without the written consent of the financial institution and in a manner that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the material or solicitation originated from, was endorsed by, or is related to or the responsibility of the financial institution or its affiliates or subsidiaries.
(2) Upon a finding by the office that any person has committed any of the acts set forth in subsection (1), the office may enter an order taking one or more of the following actions:
(a) Denying an application for a license;
(b) Revoking or suspending a license previously granted;
(c) Placing a licensee or an applicant for a license on probation for a period of time and subject to such conditions as the office may specify;
(d) Placing permanent restrictions or conditions upon issuance or maintenance of a license;
(e) Issuing a reprimand; or
(f) Imposing an administrative fine not to exceed $1,000 for each such act.
(3) The office may take any of the actions specified in subsection (2) against any partnership, corporation, or association, if the office finds that any of the acts set forth in subsection (1) have been committed by any member of the partnership, any officer or director of the corporation or association, or any person with power to direct the management or policies of the partnership, corporation, or association.
(4) A licensee is responsible for the acts of the licensee's employee or agent if, with knowledge of such acts, the licensee retained profits, benefits, or advantages accruing from such acts or ratified the conduct of the employee or agent as a matter of law or fact.
(5) Action taken under this section against a licensee does not impair the obligation of any lawful contract between the licensee and a borrower. This chapter does not prevent a licensee from lending to residents of any part of this state or any other state or country or prohibit the making of loans by mail.
History.--s. 6, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4004; s. 3, ch. 20728, 1941; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 7, ch. 78-95; s. 145, ch. 79-164; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 7, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 90-104; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 3, ch. 99-164; s. 574, ch. 2003-261; s. 2, ch. 2004-340; s. 85, ch. 2004-390.
516.08 License to be posted.--The license shall be kept conspicuously posted in the place of business of the licensee.
History.--s. 7, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4005; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.11 Investigations and complaints.--
(1) The office shall, at intermittent periods, make such investigations and examinations of any licensee or other person as it deems necessary to determine compliance with this chapter. For such purposes, the office may examine the books, accounts, records, and other documents or matters of any licensee or other person and compel the production of all relevant books, records, and other documents and materials relative to an examination or investigation. Examinations of a licensee may not be made more often than once a year unless the office has reason to believe the licensee is not complying with this chapter.
(2) The office shall conduct all examinations at a convenient location in this state unless the office determines that it is more effective or cost-efficient to perform an examination at the licensee's out-of-state location. For an examination performed at the licensee's out-of-state location, the licensee shall pay the travel expense and per diem subsistence at the rate provided by law for up to thirty 8-hour days per year for each examiner who participates in such an examination. However, if the examination involves or reveals possible fraudulent conduct of the licensee, the licensee shall pay the travel expenses and per diem subsistence provided by law, without limitation, for each participating examiner.
(3) Any person who has reason to believe that this chapter has been or will be violated may file a written complaint with the office.
History.--s. 10, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4008; s. 4, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 6, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 5, ch. 73-192; s. 1, ch. 77-356; s. 2, ch. 81-299; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 8, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 2, ch. 94-108; s. 4, ch. 99-164; s. 575, ch. 2003-261.
516.12 Records to be kept by licensee.--
(1) The licensee shall keep and use in her or his business such books, accounts, and records in accordance with sound and accepted accounting practices to enable the office to determine whether such licensee is complying with the provisions of this chapter and with the rules lawfully made by the commission. Every licensee shall preserve such books, accounts, and records, including cards used in the card system, if any, for at least 2 years after making the final entry on any loan recorded therein.
(2) A licensee, operating two or more licensed places of business in this state, may maintain the books, accounts, and records of all such offices at any one of such offices, or at any other office maintained by such licensee, upon the filing of a written request with the office designating in the written request the office at which such records are maintained. However, the licensee shall make all books, accounts, and records available at a convenient location in this state upon request of the office.
History.--s. 11, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4009; s. 5, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 7, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 6, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 1, ch. 85-27; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 3, ch. 94-108; s. 679, ch. 97-103; s. 5, ch. 99-164; s. 576, ch. 2003-261.
516.15 Duties of licensee.--Every licensee shall:
(1) Deliver to the borrower at the time a loan is made a statement in the English language showing in clear and distinct terms the amount and date of the loan and the date of its maturity; the nature of the security, if any, for the loan; the name and address of the borrower and of the licensee; and the rate of interest charged. However, with respect to a line of credit, the statement need not show a maturity date.
(2) Give to the borrower a plain and complete receipt for each payment made on account of any loan at the time the payment is made or, alternatively, furnish to the borrower an annual statement showing the amount of interest paid on the loan during the previous year as well as the remaining balance on the loan, provided a simple receipt is given to the borrower for each payment made in cash and for any payment when requested in writing by the borrower.
(3) Permit payment of the loan in whole or in part prior to its maturity with interest on such payment to the date thereof.
(4) Upon repayment of the loan in full, mark indelibly every paper signed by the borrower with the word "Paid" or "Canceled" and release any mortgage, restore any pledge, cancel and return any note, and cancel and return any assignment given by the borrower as security.
History.--s. 14, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4012; s. 13, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 2, ch. 84-193; s. 4, ch. 86-100; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.16 Confession of judgment; power of attorney; contents of notes and security.--No licensee shall take any confession of judgment or any power of attorney. Nor shall a licensee take any note, promise to pay, or security that does not state the actual amount of the loan, the time for which it is made, and the rate of interest charged, nor any instrument in which blanks are left to be filled after execution. However, with respect to a line of credit, the note, promise to pay, or security need not state the time for which it is made.
History.--s. 15, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4013; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 5, ch. 86-100; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 680, ch. 97-103.
516.17 Assignment of wages, etc., given to secure loans.--No assignment of, or order for the payment of, any salary, wages, commissions, or other compensation for services, earned or to be earned, given to secure any such loans shall be valid.
History.--s. 16, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 4014; s. 1, ch. 28011, 1953; s. 8, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.19 Penalties.--Any person who violates any of the provisions of s. 516.02, s. 516.031, s. 516.05(3), s. 516.05(4), s. 516.05(5), or s. 516.07(1)(e) is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
History.--s. 18, ch. 10177, 1925; CGL 7880; s. 487, ch. 71-136; s. 13, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 9, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 8, ch. 90-104; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.21 Restriction of borrower's indebtedness.--No licensee shall directly or indirectly charge, contract for, or receive any interest, discount, or consideration greater than 18 percent per annum upon any loan, or upon any part or all of any aggregate loan indebtedness of the same borrower, of the amount of more than $25,000. The foregoing prohibition shall also apply to any licensee who permits any person, as borrower or as endorser, guarantor, or surety for any borrower, or otherwise, or any husband and wife, jointly or severally, to owe directly or contingently or both to the licensee at any time a sum of more than $25,000 for principal. However, if the proceeds of any loan of $25,000 or less are used to discharge a preexisting debt of the borrower for goods or services owed directly to the person who provided such goods or services, the licensee may accept from such person a guaranty of payment of the principal of such loan with interest at a rate not exceeding 18 percent per annum, and the acceptance of one or more such guaranties in any aggregate amount shall not affect the rights of such licensee to make the charges against the primary borrower authorized by s. 516.031, nor shall the limitation apply to the isolated acquisition directly or indirectly by purchase or by discount of bona fide obligations of a borrower. However, in the event a licensee makes a bona fide purchase of substantially all of the loans made under this chapter from another licensee or other lender not affiliated with the purchaser and such licensee or other lender has an existing loan outstanding to one or more of the borrowers whose loans are purchased, such licensee making such purchase shall be entitled to liquidate and collect the balances due on such loans, including all lawful charges and interest at the rates or amounts agreed upon in such loan contracts.
History.--s. 8, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 12, ch. 57-201; s. 11, ch. 73-192; ss. 4, 15, ch. 79-274; s. 1, ch. 79-592; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 4, ch. 85-32; ss. 10, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 7, ch. 90-104; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.22 Rules; certified copies.--
(1) RULES.--The commission may adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement the provisions of law conferring duties upon it.
(2) CERTIFIED COPIES OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS.--On application of any person and payment of the costs thereof, at the same rate and fees as allowed clerks of the circuit court by statute, the office shall furnish a certified copy of any license, regulation, or order. In any court or proceeding, such copy shall be prima facie evidence of the fact of the issuance of such license, regulation, or order.
History.--s. 9, ch. 20728, 1941; s. 13, ch. 57-201; ss. 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 194, ch. 71-377; s. 7, ch. 78-95; s. 146, ch. 79-164; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 177, ch. 98-200; s. 577, ch. 2003-261.
516.221 Liability when acting upon order, declaratory statement, or rule.--No person or licensee hereunder shall be deemed to be in violation of this chapter nor shall such person or licensee be subject to any civil or criminal liability for any act or omission to act in good faith in reliance upon a subsisting order, declaratory statement, or rule issued by the office or commission, notwithstanding a subsequent decision by a court of competent jurisdiction invalidating the order, declaratory statement, or rule.
History.--s. 1, ch. 78-242; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 578, ch. 2003-261.
516.23 Subpoenas; enforcement actions; rules.--
(1) The office may issue and serve subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents, papers, books, records, and other evidence before it in any matter pertaining to this chapter. The office may administer oaths and affirmations to any person whose testimony is required. If any person refuses to testify, produce books, records, and documents, or otherwise refuses to obey a subpoena issued under this section, the office may enforce the subpoena in the same manner as subpoenas issued under the Administrative Procedure Act are enforced. Witnesses are entitled to the same fees and mileage as they are entitled to by law for attending as witnesses in the circuit court, unless such examination or investigation is held at the place of business or residence of the witness.
(2) In addition to any other powers conferred upon it to enforce or administer this chapter, the office may:
(a) Bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce or administer this chapter, any rule or order adopted under this chapter, or any written agreement entered into with the office. In such action, the office may seek any relief at law or equity including a temporary or permanent injunction, appointment of a receiver or administrator, or an order of restitution.
(b) Issue and serve upon a person an order requiring such person to cease and desist and take corrective action whenever the office finds that such person is violating, has violated, or is about to violate any provision of this chapter, any rule or order adopted under this chapter, or any written agreement entered into with the office.
(c) Impose and collect an administrative fine against any person found to have violated any provision of this chapter, any rule or order adopted under this chapter, or any written agreement entered into with the office, in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each violation.
(3) The commission may adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement the provisions of this chapter.
History.--s. 9, ch. 20728, 1941; ss. 11, 12, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 11, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 178, ch. 98-200; s. 579, ch. 2003-261.
516.26 Purchase or assignment of wages, salaries, etc.--The payment of $25,000 or less in money, credit, goods, or things in action as consideration for any sale or assignment of or order for the payment of wages, salary, commissions, or other compensation for services, whether earned or to be earned, shall, for the purposes of regulation under, and the enforcement and interpretation of, any law, civil or criminal, relating to loans, interest charges, or usury, be deemed a loan secured by such assignment, and the amount by which such assigned compensation exceeds the amount of such consideration actually paid shall, for the purpose of regulation under, and the interpretation and enforcement of, such law, be deemed interest upon such loan from the date of such payment until the date such compensation is payable. Each such transaction shall be governed by and subject in all respects to all provisions of law relating to loans, interest, charges, usury, and to the same extent as if it had been in form a loan of the sum paid for the assignment.
History.--s. 1, ch. 20209, 1941; s. 14, ch. 57-201; s. 191, ch. 77-104; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 12, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.27 Preexisting contracts.--This chapter or any part thereof may be modified, amended, or repealed so as to effect a cancellation or alteration of any license or right of a licensee hereunder, provided that such cancellation or alteration shall not impair or affect the obligation of any preexisting lawful contract between any licensee and any obligor, provided further, that nothing contained herein shall be construed so as to impair or affect the obligation of any contract of loan which was lawfully entered into prior to the effective date of this law.
History.--s. 15, ch. 57-201; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.31 Consumer protection; certain negotiable instruments restricted; assigns subject to defenses; limitation on deficiency claims; cross collateral.--
(1) SCOPE.--This section applies to every consumer finance loan or other contract authorized by this chapter in which any form of credit is extended to an individual to purchase or obtain goods or services for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
(2) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS AND INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS.--A holder or assignee of any negotiable instrument or installment contract, other than a currently dated check, which originated from the purchase of certain consumer goods or services is subject to all claims and defenses of the consumer debtor against the seller of those consumer goods or services. A person's liability under this section may not exceed the amount owing to the person when the claim or defense is asserted against the person.
(3) LIMITATION ON DEFICIENCY CLAIMS.--If a creditor takes possession of property which was collateral under a consumer credit transaction, the consumer shall not be personally liable to the creditor for any unpaid balance of the obligation unless the unpaid balance of the consumer's obligation at the time of default was $2,000 or more. When the unpaid balance is $2,000 or more, the creditor shall be entitled to recover from the consumer the deficiency, if any, resulting from deducting the fair market value of the collateral from the unpaid balance due. In a proceeding for a deficiency, the fair market value of the collateral shall be a question for the trier of fact. Periodically published trade estimates of the retail value of goods shall, to the extent they are recognized in the particular trade or business, be presumed to be the fair market value of the collateral.
(4) CROSS COLLATERAL.--If debts arising from two or more retail installment sales or other credit contracts with individual consumers are secured by more than one security interest, or consolidated into one debt payable on a single schedule of payments and the debt is secured by security interests taken with respect to one or more of the sales, payments received by the seller are deemed, for the purpose of determining the amount of the debt secured by the various security instruments, to have been first applied to the payment of the debt arising from the sale first made. To the extent that debts are paid according to this section, security interests in items of property terminate as the debt originally incurred with respect to each item is paid. Payments received by the seller or holder upon a revolving account are deemed, for the purpose of determining the amount of the debt secured by the various security interests, to have been applied first to the payment of finance charges in the order of their entry to the account and then to the payment of debts in the order in which the entries to the account showing the debts were made. If the debts consolidated arose from two or more credit sales or other credit contracts with an individual which were made on the same day, payments received by the seller or holder are deemed, for the purpose of determining the amount of the debt secured by the various security interests, to have been applied first to the payment of the smallest debt.
(5) PURCHASERS OF RETAIL INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS MUST BE LICENSED UNDER CHAPTER 520.--A licensee under the Consumer Finance Act who purchases or holds retail installment contracts as defined in s. 520.31 in this state shall also be licensed under chapter 520 as an Installment Sales Finance Act licensee.
(6) WAIVER.--Waiver by the buyer of any provisions in this section shall be void and unenforceable as contrary to public policy.
History.--s. 12, ch. 73-192; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 13, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
516.32 Consumer credit counseling.--The office shall be responsible for promoting a consumer credit counseling service for the purpose of promoting and helping establish consumer credit counseling services for individuals in areas where a need has been established. The purposes of the consumer credit counseling service shall be to:
(1) Assist and educate individual consumers as to money management.
(2) Assist individual consumers in consolidating obligations when a situation exists in which the individual consumer is in need of such assistance.
(3) Work with consumer credit grantors in an effort to establish better relations with the individual consumer and with state and federal regulatory agencies.
History.--s. 12, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 580, ch. 2003-261.
516.33 Public disclosures.--All findings of facts and orders filed with the commission or office shall be a public record.
History.--s. 12, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 581, ch. 2003-261.
516.35 Credit insurance must comply with credit insurance act.--
(1) Tangible property offered as security may be reasonably insured against loss for a reasonable term, considering the circumstances of the loan. If such insurance is sold at standard rates through a person duly licensed by the Department of Financial Services and if the policy is payable to the borrower or any member of her or his family, it shall not be deemed to be a collateral sale, purchase, or agreement even though a customary mortgagee clause is attached or the licensee is a coassured.
(2) Credit property, credit life, and disability insurance may be provided at the expense of the borrowers and must be provided under a group or individual insurance policy which complies with ss. 627.676-627.684 and lawful regulations thereunder. The cost of such insurance shall be deducted from the principal amount of the loan and shall be disclosed on the statement required by s. 516.15(1) or on a combined note and disclosure statement required by the federal Truth in Lending Act.
History.--s. 12, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 536, ch. 82-243; ss. 14, 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 681, ch. 97-103; s. 582, ch. 2003-261; s. 14, ch. 2004-390.
516.36 Monthly installment requirement.--Every loan made pursuant to this chapter shall be repaid in monthly installments as nearly equal as mathematically practicable. This section shall not apply to lines of credit.
History.--s. 12, ch. 73-192; s. 2, ch. 81-318; s. 6, ch. 86-100; ss. 16, 17, ch. 88-342; s. 4, ch. 91-429.
Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Florida may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.


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FERZ-Design presents its VEGA aerodynamic skirt kit for Range Rover Voque cars since 2018. Aerodynamic kit "VEGA" is the author's development of the company, it is made of high-quality fiberglass. The project used the author's solutions for the front running lights, as well as the theme of additional rear parking lights and a lower spoiler was developed.
The project is closed


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FilmL.A. — the official film office of the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles and other area jurisdictions — today updated its regional on-location filming report.
The report revealed a repeat of the growth trend from Q2 in the Television production category. Regional on-location Television production increased 31.1 percent in Q3 over the prior year, totaling 5,363 PPD* for 2014.
Nearly all TV subcategories posted increases in the third quarter. TV Dramas saw an increase of 43.2 percent with 1,408 PPD, TV Reality rose 49.2 percent to 2,019 PPD, Web-Based TV went up 12.3 percent to 401 PPD, and TV Pilot production rose 40.8 percent to 138 PPD. TV Sitcoms, which make up a small portion of Television filming days, declined 29.0 percent for the quarter to 367 PPD.
California's current film incentive contributed to the local TV Drama numbers. Last quarter, state-qualified Television projects in L.A. included Rizzoli & Isles, Pretty Little Liars, Major Crimes, Perception and Legends.
Regional on-location Feature production dropped 4.0 percent in 2014 compared to the same quarter last year with 1,881 PPD. In the third quarter, incentivized projects contributed 157 PPD and accounted for 8.3 percent of Feature activity. State-qualified Feature projects included Straight Outta Compton, Never Leave, Scouts vs Zombies, Into The Further and The Perfect Guy.
"While we are still trying to reclaim our share of television production, we're encouraged by dramatic television producers' interest in filming in Los Angeles," said FilmL.A. President Paul Audley. "With the new tax credit taking effect next July, we see strong potential for growth in local TV work ahead."
* On-location production figures are based on days of permitted production within the jurisdictions served by FilmL.A. One permitted production day (PPD) is defined as a single crew's permission to film a single project at a single defined location during any given 24-hour period. This data does not include production that occurs on certified sound stages or on-location in jurisdictions not served by FilmL.A. For context, production growth in any tracked category is measured against the same period in the prior year and that category's five-year rolling average.


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Suspect was arrested in Merced
REDWOOD CITY — A 28-year-old man suspected of forcing a 26-year-old woman to work as a prostitute in cities throughout the Bay Area was arrested Friday following an investigation by Redwood City police.
The suspect, Devone Richardson of Elk Grove, threatened to send nude pictures of the woman to her parents if she did not continue working for him, according to a news release issued by Redwood City police. The woman told police she had been working as a prostitute for about a month for Richardson, who controlled her by keeping her money, cell phone, purse and identification, and denied her food and made her sleep in his car.
The investigation started on Aug. 18 when patrol officers responded to a report of a domestic-violence incident in downtown Redwood City, police said. The male suspect fled before officers arrived, and the female victim initially denied any domestic violence had occurred.
Officers who interviewed the woman sensed "uneasiness in her statement" and, "out of concern for her overall well-being," offered her temporary shelter. The woman accepted and she was taken to the local First Chance facility.
Suspecting there was more to the story, officers collaborated with First Chance counselors and asked them to call police if the woman wanted additional help from law enforcement.
Later that evening, the victim told First Chance counselors she had been forced into prostitution and beaten by a man she referred to as her pimp.
A Redwood City patrol officer responded to First Chance and interviewed the woman, who provided more information about how she was forced "into an unwilling life of prostitution," according to the police press release.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Richardson and contacted law enforcement agencies in areas where he was known to frequent.
Friday, Merced police officers stopped Richardson after receiving a hit on their automated license plate reader. Redwood City detectives went to Merced, took custody of Richardson booked him into the San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of human trafficking, pimping, pandering, robbery, domestic violence, extortion and assault.
Redwood City police collaborated with San Mateo County Human Trafficking Program Coordinator to get the woman additional assistance for long-term housing and money for food.
Anyone with additional information about this case is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Nick Perna at email@example.com. Persons with information about this case or any other case who wish to remain anonymous may leave messages at 1-800-222-TIPS.
If anyone has any questions regarding human trafficking in San Mateo County or elsewhere, please send an email to email@example.com.
By Mark Gomez | email@example.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: August 27, 2018 at 10:59 am | UPDATED: August 27, 2018 at 3:37 pm


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Bunty Goud and I are trying to solve the problems of the world, or at least the problem of how to improve the lives and livelihoods of weavers.
A weaver and consultant, Bunty helps Taneira source handlooms from Chanderi and Maheshwar. He knows the whole ecosystem and is trying to explain to me why I am wrong.
You see, there is this quaint fantasy that all of us saree wearers entertain. We romanticize about buying our sarees at the source, straight from the weaver, eliminating the layers of middle men. Part of it is the thrill of buying straight from the horse's mouth or in this case, the hands that wrought the weave. The other part is about how much money we will save when buying from the weaver.
"It isn't possible," says Bunty. "No weaver in Chanderi can sell directly to you because all their raw materials come from the master weavers like Gopilal-ji or Ansari-ji."
This was corroborated by the lady in the purple hijab who I encountered. "We work for a Sait," she said, pedalling her pit loom. "The yarn for these sarees come from him. And he pays us for our labour."
How much does a weaver make? Rates vary according to how detailed and complicated a saree is. For example, if there are complicated floral motifs that stretch all over the saree, it is time-consuming and difficult to weave. Not everyone can do this work. So you pay more.
What an enlightened consumer can do is learn how to spot talent. Some are a basic weaves while others require more skill and effort. Can you spot which is which? Just slide through the six sarees and see what you like.
Weavers get paid every Saturday. The amount depends on the quality and quantity of their work. They use their wages to buy their household supplies for the week. To market, to market, they go.
In a sense, the economics of weaving is a sliding scale depending on skill and effort. A tight ecosystem where everyone is dependent on each other. The past, present and future, all strung together using silk threads, woven sarees and a lot of interdependence.
"You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out." Martha Graham, dancer. | |


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On the Deep Disquiet of Finishing Your Book
Fernando Pessoa, Joy Williams, and the gap between writing and publishing
Last month I received an email that began with the words "Hello, I'm your German translator." I sat up straight. I've always harbored a secret desire to be appreciated by the German people. "At the moment I am working on High Dive," the translator wrote, "which is a very fascinating and satisfying task, but, as you can probably imagine, not always an easy one …" I clicked on the Word file attached.
One of the first queries in the translator's long list of queries was about a line of dialogue. A character in my novel, in a scene set in Northern Ireland in 1979, says, "Does he have a surname, this Cal character, or is it a Cher ball-tickler sorta situation?" The translator was understandably nonplussed:
"Here, I must admit, I don't understand a thing. The Cher-reference (if it's that) makes it sound gay, somehow, but please help me!"
I began crafting a careful response. "I can see that you're in a tricky situation," I wrote. "There are lots of 70s and 80s English and Irish colloquialisms in my novel. Also: this particular character is fond of saying things that sound significant but which at essence have very little meaning at all. So actually the lack of meaning is important here, in terms of power dynamic, and also of course it's his weird way of asking if this guy named Cal has a surname, or whether he goes by only Cal, the same way the once-popular American singer and actress known for her distinctive contralto vocals and voluminous hair—Cher—went by one name, which was Cher."
I stared at my explanation. "Distinctive contralto" felt like a false note. I deleted it. I injected some friendly exclamation marks to soften the correspondence. I moved onto the translator's next query, and then the next, and then the next, noticing that the translator's pleas—the light outside was fading; I was on page two of her document—had begun to harden into a tone of rueful resignation. One character in High Dive says of her school-teacher, a Mr. Easemoth, that it was "pretty important to him to feel he was misunderstood." The translator had written of this line:
"Sorry, German is sometimes a very precise language, and I have about ten possibilities for the 'misunderstood'. Please elaborate a little on these two sentences and on Mr. Easemoth."
Ten possibilities for misunderstood! For Mr. Easemoth, who is given perhaps ten lines of dialogue in the whole novel! I started thinking of that thing about the Inuit having fifty billion words for "snow."
I had begun to sweat. It was real to me now. After years of wandering lost through my own novel, staring at the sentences, building them, living with the characters, my book was no longer my book. It belonged to other people. U.S. readers, too, might cry "Help me!" They would cry it in English, my native language, an apparently imprecise one (who knew?). I had desired publication. I had longed for it. I still longed for it. But there was nonetheless a fresh flush of panic in knowing my novel was gone. It would be praised or criticized or ignored. It was being bound and jacketed and carried out into the world of misunderstandings.
* * * *
The space between writing and publication is a strange one, its own little tragicomedy of insecurities and longings, of coffee drunk and coffee spilled, of days spent in excitement and days spent in regret and days spent entirely in one's pajamas. The ground here is littered with your abandoned ideas and sentences, the paragraphs you worked on for months and eventually cut, the commas you can no longer move around. Also: crumbs. So many crumbs. From toast. From muffins. From all manner of baked goods to get you through the pre-sunrise writing hours. After the sheer joy and luck of the book deal there begins this peculiar, self-indulgent period of unease. You have got what you always wanted—publication is imminent—but you are more afraid for the future of your book than ever before.
"A writer isn't supposed to make friends with his writing," the writer Joy Williams says, but of course he or she almost always does. It's a complicated friendship, full of loathing and love, and losing your worst/best friend to other people is an unsettling experience. To be deeply interested in something, as Geoff Dyer writes in Out of Sheer Rage, his extraordinary book about trying to finish an ordinary book, "is to be involved in what is essentially a stressful relationship with that thing, to suffer anxiety on its behalf."
In times of anxiety I go to the library. There are lots of books on how to write, and lots of books on how to publish, but I've spent the last few weeks looking for a book with a title like How To Get Through The Period Between Finishing A Book and Seeing It In A Bookstore Without Losing Your Entire Grip on Reality. I have failed to find it. Instead I've found The Artist's Way. I've found The Mother Tongue. I've read On Writing and On Writing Well, the former much better than the latter, and I've flicked through books that lay out 50 essential strategies for writerly success, and 100 unmissable instructions for the writing life, and also many magazines devoted to offering advice on the business of writing words and publishing words and making a lot of money (ha) from publishing words. My favorite of these books of advice is probably Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing The Creative Genius Within. I like it because it reminds me that even talented writers are capable of making book-length mistakes.
Then I picked up The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. I guess it was the final word in the title that caught my eye. Maybe we're all drawn to outward expressions of the things we privately feel?
* * * *
The Book of Disquiet isn't really a book about writing, or not only that, and in fact it isn't even really a book. It's a collection of fragments that resist completion—asides, aphorisms, and murmurings arranged in a saleable form. It is also a collection of pages resistant to the idea of a single, stable authorship; different parts have been attributed over the years to different writers, all of whom both are and are not Fernando Pessoa. "Heteronyms," he called them. He didn't like the word "pseudonyms." Perhaps he thought it captured nothing of the independent intellectual life of the writer-alter-egos he had imagined. In the end Pessoa decided the overall author of his book was probably his "semi-heteronym" Bernardo Soares.
The Book of Disquiet does not seek to offer advice. It does not seek to comfort or console. It's a very sad book, I think—a book drenched in nostalgia. I looked up that word just now and found it comes from nostos (return home) and algos (pain), and that seems right, for The Book of Disquiet, if I had to try and define it in a line, is a book about the pain of trying and failing to find a home in life and language.
"For a long time," Pessoa writes in The Book of Disquiet, "I haven't recorded any impressions; I don't think, therefore I don't exist. I've forgotten who I am." I underlined these sentences. I have underlined something on almost every page of the book. I underline Pessoa's thoughts not because I understand them, but because I want to understand them better. I feel I recognize something of the clouded truth of them, the blush and pull of what Pessoa may be saying, the sense of embarrassed loss. I hear him saying that when a writer isn't writing, he or she falls into forgetting—a forgetting of his or her most creative self. Writing is a process of remembering who we are, Pessoa might be suggesting—a process of trying to track ourselves down. At first that sounded wrong to me, the idea that writing is ultimately an act of memory, for it seemed to exclude a more romantic notion of writing as a form of fantasizing. I wondered if perhaps the translation was at fault, and I remembered again that I owed Germany an email, but the more I thought about it, the alternative definitions of writing—as a form of memory, as a form of fantasy—seemed entirely compatible. We all know by now that the past is as much a work of imagination as the future. We re-form. We invent. We chase after moments that have already fled. We can never quite recapture the passion within the passion, nor the grief within the grief, but we make a version we can live with, shape, touch with color, and we start to exist within its architecture.
In text 353 of The Book of Disquiet, as arranged in the edition translated and edited by Richard Zenith, one of several English versions available, a narrator watches a tram moving through a city street and thinks:
One would like not so much to have the moment stand still, as it does for solemn landscapes or for the moon when it so peacefully shines on the river, but to have a different life, so that this moment could have a different flavor, more akin to one's self […] At times like these the right thing would be never to arrive at the human reality for which our lives are destined.
The idea of art-making as a refuge from reality has become a cliché. But a cliché often becomes a cliché through the repeated force of being true. Something about the above lines by Pessoa makes the idea fresh for me again. It is not that when we finish writing a book we want time to stand still. Quite the opposite: we long, most of us who write, for a sense of forward motion—for acclaim, affirmation, encouragement. But we want these things while also, simultaneously, wanting to avoid "arriv[ing] at the human reality" of having finished something, of having lost it, of the book no longer being ours—of it being available to be misunderstood. We want to hover in the fog of incompletion. We want to publish and not to publish. We want to be translated and we don't want to be translated. We want to hide in the dark while also stepping into the limelight. We are children, we want it all, we cannot be reasoned with. The calmer voice in our head is the voice of sense, yet the words it offers sound too simple to be true: You got a publishing deal in the US after eight years of hard work? Time, my friend, to relax.
Books of writing advice tend to be books of easy answers. The Book of Disquiet is a book of unsettling questions. It is a book that contemplates the nature of things that a writer "can't obtain," such as "passions and emotions lost among more visible kinds of achievement." And this idea of trying to reach for things we can't ever really have, and then putting the results of our reaching or over-reaching into the pages of a book—a "visible kind of achievement," or of failure—puts me in mind again of the difference between writing and publishing. One is a form of unfinished dreaming. The other revolves around an object with a barcode on its back. Both processes are valuable, but there is a gap between them, and into this gap comes restless sweating, and sometimes ingratitude, and often a loss of confidence and perspective—this feeling that falls, I think, within Fernando Pessoa's definition of disquiet.
When attending a public reading at a local bookstore, have you ever glanced at the author's own copy of their book? The sentences are so often covered in pencil marks. The finished book may never be finished to the writer. The words, like life, ask to be continually revised, but publication rarely allows for that.
* * * *
Joy Williams was born in 1944, nine years after Fernando Pessoa died, and a piece of hers I've been re-reading alongside The Book of Disquiet is a 1991 essay titled "Uncanny the Singing that Comes from Certain Husks."
"It's become fashionable these days to say that the writer writes because he is not whole," Williams's essay begins. "But who cares if the writer is not whole? Of course the writer is not whole, or even particularly well." There's something "unwholesome and self-destructive" about the entire process of writing a book, she argues, because writing moves us towards the breaking apart of the very solitude that it has nurtured:
Writers when they're writing live in a spooky, clamorous silence, a state somewhat like the advanced stages of prayer but without prayer's calming benefits […] [The writer] cherishes the mystery, he cares for it like a fugitive in his cabin, his cave. He doesn't want to talk it into giving itself up. He would never turn it in to the authorities, the mass mind.
Until, of course, he or she publishes the work. Williams knows as well as anyone that an audience is an important part of art. Most of us do not write for the spider that lives in the bottom drawer of our desk. In that sense, what we've been longing for from the start is a kind of abandonment.
A writer's finished work, Williams says, is "a stranger" to him or her— it "shuns" the writer a little,"for the writer is really something of a fool, so engaged in his disengagement, so self-conscious, so eager to serve something greater, which is the writing. Or—" here comes the quietly devastating conclusion—"which could be the writing if only the writer is good enough."
Three days ago, another email arrived from my heroic German translator. I found the email comic and touching and also inspiring. Her restless search for the most precise means of expressing imprecision reminds me what art-making should be about. She is determined to make the German edition of my book good enough. She is still wondering exactly what I meant when I wrote that it was important for my character "to feel he was misunderstood":
Dear Jonathan,
Just to clarify the misunderstood-problem:
I have to decide between (at least):
nicht verstanden (not understood)
unverstanden (a child may feel unverstanden by his/her parents, which also means not understood, but on a more fundamental level, as a person)
missverstanden or falsch verstanden (wrongly interpreted)
verkannt (underestimated, misjudged)
See the problem?
* * * *
When I read Joy Williams, or The Book of Disquiet, or the work of any other writer I love, I feel like Pessoa feels in fragment 350 of his book. My mind "gets confounded … It's as if I were watching a magic show and knew I was being tricked, but couldn't work out the technique, or mechanism, behind the trick." I read their lines. I see the problem. I feel a wonderment at how eloquently the problem is presented. The productive magic of the prose does not lie in the traditional idea of the writer making the reader suspend disbelief. Williams and Pessoa let disbelief and doubt show through in their sentences. They are honest about the fear that their work, when published, will be misunderstood, and honest also about the fear—so much worse?—that their work will be understood too well and be found, in the end, to be lacking.
"I'm astounded whenever I finish something," Pessoa writes in his book that isn't a book. "Astounded and distracted […] I begin because I don't have the strength to think; I finish because I don't have the courage to quit. This book is my cowardice."
The only near-solution Pessoa found to his own disquiet seems to have been to write another fragment, to become another self, to re-exercise his own cowardice on the page again and again and acknowledge the absurdity of it. He and Joy Williams offer, rather than answers, a confusion of further personal questions, and in doing so they give the rest of us an invitation to respond. They leave us in no doubt that writing can be a beautiful and conflicted act—a private process through which we try, even with our most ridiculous lines, to reach an understanding with others.


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LCSO Deputy David Allison passes away
It is with deep sadness that the Liberty County Sheriff's Office announces the non-related COVID-19 death of Deputy David Allison early this morning. A long time veteran Peace Officer and well respected for his professional demeanor, Deputy Allison served with several of the local Liberty County law enforcement agencies before coming to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office in September of 2019.
Although final arrangements are pending, preliminary arrangements are for visitation to be at the Allison Funeral Home, 1101 N. Travis St. Liberty Texas on a yet to be determined time Monday, March 22nd and the funeral the following day on Tuesday at a time and location to be determined by family members later today.
Allison Funeral Home located at 1101 N. Travis St, Liberty, Texas has met with the family of Deputy David Allison and has advised that visitation will be at their facility on Monday from 5:pm to 8:pm with a Rosary at 7:pm.
Funeral services will be held the following day, Tuesday, starting at 10:am at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at 411 Milam St, Liberty, Texas. Grave side services will follow at the Catholic cemetery located across the street from the Liberty High School football stadium.