1996, San Francisco, CA I reached up and grabbed my boss's boney little shoulders and shook him trying to make my point. He looked at his secretary, who was standing nearby, and said "You're a witness. I've just been harassed." I didn't realize at that moment that this would be the end of my career with El Paso Natural Gas and that I would soon be on my way to exciting new adventures in New Mexico. Or that these adventures would include a booth at the Tesuque Flea Market and a log cabin with a curse.

Taking up the role of laughter in society, How the Other Half Laughs: The Comic Sensibility in American Culture, 1895-1920 examines an era in which the US population was becoming increasingly multiethnic and multiracial. Comic artists and writers, hoping to create works that would appeal to a diverse Audience, had to formulate a method for making the "other half" laugh. In magazine fiction, vaudeville, and the comic strip, the oppressive conditions of the poor and the marginalized were portrayed unflinchingly, yet with a distinctly comic sensibility that grew out of caricature and ethnic humor.Author Jean Lee Cole analyzes Progressive Era popular culture, providing a critical angle to approach visual and literary humor about ethnicity-how avenues of comedy serve as expressions of solidarity, commiseration, and empowerment. Cole's argument centers on the comic sensibility, which she defines as a performative act that fosters feelings of solidarity and community among the marginalized. Cole stresses the connections between the worlds of art, journalism, and literature and the people who produced them-including George Herriman, R. F. Outcault, Rudolph Dirks, Jimmy Swinnerton, George Luks, and William Glackens-and traces the form's emergence in the pages of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's Journal-American and how it influenced popular fiction, illustration, and art. How the Other Half Laughs restores the newspaper comic strip to its rightful place as a transformative element of American culture at the turn into the twentieth century.

Thelwell really understood the English countryside, its animals and people, and appraised with sympathetic eye both horses and the horsey. That is why his drawings adorn the studies of some of the fiercest Master of Fox Hounds in the country as well a being sure pin-up material in many Pony Club Members' dens. The angels in Angels on Horseback are children but there is plenty here about their parents. Both for readers of Punch who knew Thelwell, and those who did not meet him before, this book is a savoury at all time but especially after attending a gymkhana. J. B. Boothroyd writes in the Foreword: 'Punch has had equestrian artists before. In mid-Victorian times it was difficult to open a copy without being trampled. But the creations between the present covers achieve something entirely new: they combine portraiture with caricature, a thing which most artists would hesitate to try with human beings, let alone the more temperamentally elusive and psychologically inscrutable horse. This means that while no horse could possibly look exactly like a Thelwell horse, all Thelwell horses manage to look exactly like horses.'

Everyone wanted to make money in Indian stock market................... So did Jai, a 44 year rich individual, with academic and dreamy temperament, who entered stock market in August 2005 and found himself staring at money running on computers with help of internet...... Within a short span, he found himself changing from an investor to a trader to speculator. May 2006, Sensex crash, and he lost almost all the money earned during 8 months in 10 days. His active academic brain found the key to price movement of stocks & Idices, which he called Sensex - Nifty code All one needed was simple mathematical calculations and laws of speculation to navigate the choppy waves of stock market. He kept on making & losing money with help of young dealers, till he found himself at the last leg of bull rally from October 2007- January 2008...... He knew, he had to abandon stock-market before it abandoned him. The book is an entertaining blow by blow account of first speculative boom & bust cycle in Indian stock market during computer trading era, with mathematical calculations that were used to take stocks and indices to dizzying heights and ended in inevitable bust in a precise manner. And, only survivor can tell the tale without any hesitation.

An entertaining mini novel designed to keep your attention from the opening scene of the na ve young pregnant army wife on a train going to surprise her husband at Camp Rigby. Meanwhile the plot thickens as the supernatural forces of evil verses good clash in the heavens. Added descriptions of angels never seen before and the humor of the baby talking from the womb entice the reader. A healthy splash of military leadership and problem solving is refreshing in our world of today. Ultimately the reader is rewarded with a life changing serendipity experience as they discover My Father The Mid-Wife. WHAT THE READERS ARE SAYING "I could not stop reading 'My Father The Mid-Wife', I was so intrigued, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next." M.M. - Indiana "This is the most unique writing style I have ever seen. It stands apart from all others. As the plot unfolds in 'My Father The Mid-Wife' it feels as if you are present in the story." S. B. - Florida "The book 'My Father The Mid-Wife' is an easy, uplifting read that leaves you wanting to hear more. It is a great gift for changing someone's life." T. S. - North Carolina "What a multi-faceted story. 'My Father The Mid-Wife' is headed for 'The Best Seller List'." S. H. -Tennessee

Behind a thin veneer of respectability, life in a small English village is not all it may seem. Through the eyes of Chumleigh the cat, the rural goings on are recorded in this funny and poignant diary, with an element of adult humour. From a cats perspective, Chumleigh tells all about life in his house and the antics of his neighbours. From domestic disharmony to a cannabis farm in next doors garden shed, he sees it all and shares it all in his diary. This is a cat who enjoys the finer elements of feline existence like tuna, sleeping in the warm and cat treats. But life doesnt always pan out the way he would like. Supported by a rich cast of locals, as odd and individualistic as still found in many small villages, Chumleigh charts a year in his life. Traumatic visits to the vet, turf wars with the local ginger tom and a desire to eliminate a neighbours yappy dog are all set down with great humour and insight. If youve ever lived in a village or owned a cat, this will make you laugh. If youve never lived in a village and never owned a cat, this will be a wonderful insight into what you have been missing. The Secret Diary of Chumleigh the Cat is a year in the life of a cat who never ceases to be amazed at just what goes on around him!