AW II.iii.219 [Lafew to Parolles, of Parolles deserving his insult] every dram of it, and I will not bate thee a scruple
Cym III.v.90.1 [Cloten to Pisanio, of Posthumus] From whose so many weights of baseness cannot / A dram of worth be drawn
Ham I.iv.36 [Hamlet to Horatio] The dram of evil / Doth all the noble substance of a doubt, / To his own scandal [apparently unfinished sentence]
Tim V.i.149 [Second Senator to Timon, of the state recompense] more fruitful / Than their offence can weigh down by the dram [i.e. even if measured to the tiniest amount]
TN III.iv.79 [Malvolio alone] no dram of a scruple ... can come between me and the full prospect of my hopes
WT IV.iv.782 [Autolycus to Clown, of the Shepherd] He has a son: who shall ... stand till he be three-quarters and a dram dead
Providers have reduced impaired annuity rates in line with decreases earlier this month as the market actively lowers annuities before the EU Gender Directive is active from 21 December 2012.
Liverpool Victoria has reduced their impaired annuity rates by 2% following decreases from Partnership assurance and Just retirement earlier this month and continues the trend of the downward cycle in annuities.
With the EU Gender Directive approaching fast providers have been actively reducing rates to ensure they have extra margin available with the new unisex rates.
Annuities are likely to be extremely volatile in 2013 with rates moving up and down as providers find the market balance for all the different ages and features selected by pensioners at retirement. This may mean that it will be difficult to secure the annuity rate when taking benefits.
The annuity market can be very dynamic and behind the scenes divided into hundreds of smaller markets where providers can specialise and offer leading annuity rates based on their own internal underwriting history. This can be by combinations of age, fund size, features such as level or escalating or single and joint life annuities which can change over time.
A provider not offering the highest annuity rates for males aged 55 to 70 may dominate for males aged 71 to 75. Another provider that is at the bottom of the table for level pension annuity may be the market leader for RPI escalating annuities.
Unisex annuity rates will change the market structure as underwriters must take into account the discrepancies of offering a single rate for men and women. If they miscalculate and offer higher rates than they should it could result in unprofitable business in the future and this risk has been driving down annuity rates for the past few months.
Providers of impaired annuities are usually the first to lower their rates when gilt yields fall. Annuity rates are based on the 15-year gilt yields and the leading providers such as Just Retirement, Partnership Assurance and Liverpool victoria are usually quick to follow any downward trend.
The 2% fall in impaired annuities from Liverpool Victoria means that a male aged 65 with a fund of £100,000 and suffering from high blood pressure, Cholesterol, heart and diabetes medical conditions may receive £7,048 pa and this would be reduced by £140 pa to £6,908 pa. The good news is that if the quote was secured just before the decrease and the pensioner acts quickly, it is possible that their funds can be transferred before the quote expires as impaired providers always offer longer guaranteed periods for their quotes.
How many times have you purchased a super gorgeous lipstick, only to realize you probably will never wear it? I know that this happens to me all the time. Instead of letting it sit and collect dust or tossing it in the trash, there is another use for it! You ready for this? Turn it into a tinted lip balm! The color will be toned down a notch and your lips will be kissable as ever.
Making your own tinted lip balm is surprisingly easy. Just take the lipstick you’re going to use for the project, Vaseline (or any type of petroleum jelly) and coconut oil. Mix these ingredients together in any ratio you’d like. Color too light? Add a little more lipstick? Color still too bold? Add some more Vaseline. Super easy, right? And you just saved yourself the hassle of throwing a lipstick (and cash!) in the garbage.
In his first novel since 2014's Beautiful You, Chuck Palahniuk takes the United States' divided politics to an extreme conclusion and proves along the way that his gift for social satire has only sharpened with time.
In the Before Times--approximately now--an impending war churned up by elderly politicians to purge the surplus of young men leads to a new American revolution. This revolt begins online with a crowdsourced list of potential assassination targets. On its own, the List might have failed, but every social uprising has a text to justify its actions; in this instance, it's a book--whose blue/black cover stands out "like a shaved head"--by the mysterious Talbott Reynolds. When Adjustment Day comes, Reynolds's followers murder the List's most up-voted nominees, cutting off their ears to prove their kills and thus securing a place in the new social hierarchy. The U.S. then divides into the segregated zones of Blacktopia, Gaysia and Caucasia, and deports all but black and white citizens.
Palahniuk has a field day skewering both the ruling classes and the proletariat, caricaturing politicians, the intelligentsia, the media and middle America with devilish glee. Readers attempting to pinpoint which side the author stands on will discover he owes allegiance to no one, including himself: at one point, Talbott Reynolds dismisses both Palahniuk and Fight Club as unequal to his vision.
The specter of Project Mayhem drifts by at times as a metafictive conceit, as do stray phantoms of dystopian and literary classics. This pitch-black comedy achieves the aim of any great satirical work: it amuses, unsettles and leaves the reader slightly less sure of the boundaries of reality. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
The sun bursting on Weirs Beach docks before it is hidden behind the cloud. Lake Winnipesaukee, Laconia, NH in Sept 2012