Let's take a closer look at this Renaissance masterpiece.
On Sunday, millions of people around the world will celebrate Easter.
Easter is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, and one of the most famous images from that story is Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." It's an iconic Renaissance masterpiece that's been praised, studied, and copied for over 500 years.
Against all odds, the painting still lingers on the wall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.
Da Vinci began the work in 1495 or 1496 and completed it around 1498. It depicts a famous scene from Holy Thursday, in which Jesus and his Apostles sharing a final meal before his death and resurrection. During the dinner, Jesus revealed that one of his disciples would betray him and hand him over to the authorities for execution (spoiler alert: It was Judas, who da Vinci depicts as spilling salt on the table, as part of some Renaissance pun).
Historian and author Ross King spoke with Business Insider about the mural. King said that his own lifelong fascination with da Vinci— who, as a painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist, was really the ultimate Renaissance man — prompted him to write the book "Leonardo and the Last Supper."
"I was intrigued by him as a character — an artist, a scientist, a mountain climber, a rock collector, an all-around genius," he said.
"The Last Supper" was hugely popular in its own time.
Giampietrino's copy of "The Last Supper" includes details from the original mural that have been lost.
While today da Vinci is remembered for the breadth of his artwork, writings, and inventions, "The Last Supper" was the painting that truly cemented his reputation during his own time. King said that the image immediately became famous all over Europe.
"It was the most copied painting of the next century — not only in paint, but also in marble, wax and terracotta," King said. "Everyone wanted a version of it. Leonardo had finally created the 'work of fame' about which he dreamed."
The painting's drama is heightened by its composition and details.
The "rule of thirds" applied to the mural.
The painting captures the Apostles' reaction to Jesus' famous declaration: "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
"Leonardo does justice to the episode like no one else," King said. "He grouped his 13 figures together on the same plane — a very difficult task — in such a way that each is individuated by gestures and expressions but none detracts from the overall effect."
Each figure is unique and memorable, down to the smallest details.
"Never before had an artist created such drama in a painting, with such lifelike figures and minute detail," he said. "Regarding detail, the right hand of Christ is a tour de force. Two joints of the little finger and the ball of his third fingers are seen through the transparency of a wine glass. It's an absolutely dazzling display of skill."
It's a miracle the painting has survived.
The mural still exists despite bombs, humidity, and centuries of environmental damage.
So, why is this 15th century mural still so celebrated today?
"One reason it's so famous is because its survival is something of a miracle," King said. "It's the art world's most famous endangered species. A century ago it was almost given up for lost. After its most recent restoration — something of a miracle in itself — we can appreciate its beauty. Because it is still, despite the losses, an amazingly beautiful painting."
It was almost destroyed several times.
The refectory was struck by a bomb on August 15, 1943, but the mural survived.
The painting has faced many perils over the years.
Wehn King Louis invaded Milan in 1499, he was tempted to cut the mural from the wall and take it home with him.
Then, due to humidity and flaking, the painting was considered totally ruined by the middle of the 16th century.
In 1796, the French came back — and this time, they represented the revolutionary French republic. The invading troops used the refectory as a base and the mural as a place to take out their anti-clerical feelings, hurling rocks at the painting and gouging out the Apostles' eyes.
That wasn't the only close call the painting had. Authorities made the baffling decision to house prisoners inside the building, as the New York Times reported. In the 19th century, well-meaning individuals trying to restore the mural nearly broke it apart.
Perhaps the most dramatic incident occurred on August 15, 1943, when Allied forces bombed the refectory. As Atlas Obscura reported, a protective structure had been set up beforehand. While the rest of the church was largely reduced to debris, "The Last Supper" was saved.
Da Vinci's study of horses.
As it turns out, da Vinci started the mural at a most inopportune time. Just a year or so before he began the project, King Louis XII of France invaded Italy.
"This was a terrible tragedy for Italy, the beginning of many decades of invasion and warfare," King said. "But on a personal level, Louis' invasion meant that Leonardo lost a commission on which he had worked for eight or ten years, an enormous bronze equestrian monument."
In wartime, bronze would be collected and melted into gun metal. Da Vinci didn't just lose money because of the war. The statue would have brought him the acclaim and artistic prestige he craved.
"He received the task of painting 'The Last Supper' as compensation," King said. "It must have seemed a poor substitute."
... and the artist felt like a masterpiece might be beyond him.
A da Vinci drawing largely believed to be a self portrait.
"We think of Leonardo, quite rightly, as an all-conquering genius," King said. "But in fact he had his share of disappointments and failures."
In 1494, da Vinci was 42 years old. At that point, the Renaissance man had been judged by some contemporaries to have wasted his potential.
"He had failed to finish a number of commissions, and many people found him unreliable as a result," King said. "One poet mocked him, saying that he had barely managed to finish a single picture in ten years. Leonardo was desperate to create what he called a 'work of fame' — something that would make him famous for posterity. He finally gained it with 'The Last Supper.'"
But he drew on some of his earlier work to create what is now an iconic image.
St. James the Greater reacts to Christ's assertion that he will be betrayed by someone in the room.
For instance, one of the Apostles is a throwback to da Vinci's earlier work.
Da Vinci was always on the lookout for interesting faces to depict. King said that one such face is reflected in the figure of James the Greater.
"He is throwing his hands outward and looking with open-mouthed astonishment at the bread and wine," King said. "There exists a beautiful drawing by Leonardo, done in red chalk perhaps as many as five years earlier, that shows that this pose was originally that of a musician playing a stringed instrument. Leonardo, who loved music, sketched the musician as he played. Then, years later, he used the sketch to create the figure of James."
Some have argued that this feminine figure is Mary Magdalene.
Over the years some have alleged that the figure to Jesus' right is actually Mary Magdalene, not St. John. King said this isn't the case.
"St. John, the youngest Apostle and the 'beloved disciple' (as he calls himself), was always shown beside Christ, which is exactly where Leonardo places him," King said. "He was also always depicted as young, beardless, and often androgynous. Leonardo kept to this kind of depiction because an androgynous young man was his ideal of beauty — one that constantly recurs in his art."
King said that the disciple Mary Magdalene did sometimes appear in other Last Supper paintings.
"Fra Angelico shows her getting ready to take Communion with the Apostles in one of his frescoes in the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence," he said. "So there would have been nothing odd, suspicious, or controversial about her appearance in a Last Supper painting. It's just that she ain't in this one."
... nor are there any hidden symbols.
King said that it's hard to decipher the significance of some of the dramatic hand gestures made by the Apostles.
"I'm suspicious of the idea of hidden codes and messages in Renaissance paintings," King said. "There are no doubt many things in the painting that, 500 years later, we cannot understand or appreciate, such as the hand gestures made by the Apostles. Each of them may have a specific meaning — but it's been lost to us."
That being said, it's important to remember not to take conspiracy theories and Dan Brown novels too seriously.
"I don't believe these gestures were meant to signal any secret heresies," King said. "Leonardo wanted to convey emotion and drama, not alt-Christian views. I'm sorry to disappoint, but Leonardo simply was not into obscure symbols. That is an obsession of our age, not of his. He would be quite taken aback by speculation that he was trying to conceal secret messages in his paintings."
The tapestries in the painting are similar to those belonging to da Vinci's patron.
You can forget about secret messages and cryptic symbols, but that doesn't mean there are no interesting details tucked away in the painting.
King said that the tapestries adorning the walls are very similar to those in the castle in Milan. What's more, the Apostles are portraits of many of da Vinci's own friends and contemporaries at the Milanese court.
"So in many ways the painting is — among other things — a representation of the court of Lodovico Sforza, the work's patron," King said.
... including making Christ a pescatarian.
"The Last Supper" doesn't have meat on the menu.
The bread and wine shared at the Last Supper hold a special spiritual significance for Christians.
In the painting, however, da Vinci provided his subjects with some additional grub that might seem a bit odd to modern eaters: juicy slices of eel with orange garnishes.
"The meal on the table is grilled eel," King said. "Leonardo, a vegetarian, has given Christ and the Apostles a vegetarian — or rather a pescatarian — meal."
The painting represents the culmination of the career of one of the greatest artists of all time.
After years of starts and stops, da Vinci finally achieved the glory he wanted in his own lifetime with "The Last Supper."
In an excerpt from his book published in the Huffington Post, King wrote about viewing the painting through the lens of the artist's overall career.
"So Leonardo, I discovered, is not just a universal genius whom we can admire as one of the finest examples humanity has ever produced," King wrote. "He is also the patron saint of perfectionists, procrastinators, unsuccessful job applicants, and exasperated second-language students. It doesn't get much more human than that."


If you were asked to name the top two or three things that matter most when assembling a home entertainment system, what would you say? For most of us it would be a late-model HDTV (or video projector) with a huge screen and a great sound system. No quibbles with the TV part, but what exactly do we mean by a "great sound system"?
Many ingredients go into a system that produces lifelike sound, but nothing is more important than the speakers themselves. You can have the best Blu-ray player and AV receiver in the world, but if the speakers are poorly designed, it's all for naught.
Frequency response describes the range of audible frequencies the speaker can reproduce between 20 Hz (deep bass) and 20 kHz (a piercingly high frequency), which is considered the range of human hearing. In reality, our hearing does not typically extend up to 20 kHz (especially as we get older), and bass frequencies below 30 Hz tend to be felt more than heard.
The most meaningful ratings include a plus/minus deviation (±3 dB is typical), which indicates how far the sound deviates from a neutral or "flat" response; the lower the number the better, although in practice, speaker placement and room acoustics greatly affect what you hear. Still, the number at the lower end of the range gives you an idea of how low the speaker can play. For example, a rating of 50Hz - 20kHz ±3 dB means you will need to add a separate subwoofer if you want to reproduce the deepest bass.
Sensitivity describes nothing about the sound itself but will give you an idea of how efficient a speaker is — that is, how loud it will play when fed a standard test signal and measured at a specific distance (usually 1 meter). Sound-pressure level (volume) is expressed in decibels: the higher the number, the higher the efficiency. Numbers in the mid-80s are typical, while anything over 90 dB is considered excellent.
Impedance sheds no light on sound quality but tells how much strain the speaker places on an amplifier. The lower the number, the more strain; most speakers are rated at 8 ohms, which is considered an easy "load." If you come across 4-ohm speakers, just make sure the amplifier driving them can handle the extra load (most good quality amps can).
Which Speaker Materials Are Best?
As far as materials go, if a speaker is well designed it doesn't matter whether its tweeter, midrange driver and woofer are made of aluminum, titanium, Kevlar, pick-your-exotic-material or treated paper. Any of these materials can be used to build an excellent-sounding speaker.
Do instruments and voices sound natural, or are they muffled or shrill? With movies, is the dialogue intelligible?
Is the overall sound balanced? You'll miss out on a lot of wonderful detail in the midrange — where voices and most instruments fall — with "boomy" speakers that over-emphasize the bass (a common pitfall).
Do you feel like you've been transported to another space — a concert hall or the location of a movie scene? The better the speakers, the more convincing the illusion. Even a good stereo pair will produce sound that extends beyond the speakers, creating a sound stage that is wide and deep.
Most important: Trust your instincts. You'll know good sound when you hear it!
A trained home tech pro with audio and video installation and calibration experience will be able to help you get the most out of your speaker purchase, from selection to room layout and installation. To find a qualified professional in your area, click here.


Is Star Wars Finally Adapting Knights Of The Old Republic?
With Lucasfilm’s announcement that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Benioff are set to helm a Star Wars movie series of their very own, an obvious question needs to be asked: will Knights of the Old Republic finally be adapted? The news comes less than three months after it was revealed that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson would be creating his own trilogy, one unrelated to the current, main storyline trilogy that will wrap up in 2019 with JJ Abrams' Episode IX. All told, fans will see three separate Star Wars series unfold on the big screen within the next decade.
Those 6+ upcoming films only scratch the surface for what Lucasfilm has in store for the Star Wars universe, of course. A Han Solo movie hits theaters in May, and solo adventures for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett are also reportedly in development. When you factor in rumored spinoffs starring Yoda and Jabba the Hutt, as well as the litany of new TV shows in the works, it's clear that fans had no idea what they were in for when Disney acquired Lucasfilm back in 2012.
But even with all the Star Wars content that Disney and Lucasfilm currently have in development, we've still yet to hear much of anything regarding an adaptation set within the era of The Old Republic. Set thousands of years before the original trilogy, this time period shot to popularity thanks to the beloved video game, Knights of the Old Republic. Introducing fan favorite characters like Revan and Darth Malak, among countless others, it's widely regarded as one of the best games ever made. Its subsequent sequels (Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords and the MMORPG The Old Republic) debuted to widespread acclaim as well. So why isn't a live-action movie set in The Old Republic being fast tracked by Lucasfilm? Patience, you must have. Because not only do we think Benioff and Weiss' new film series should adapt some version of KotOR, but we even have reason to believe that it will.
Disney’s decision to clear several millennia of established canon from the Star Wars record books didn’t go over too well when it was first announced in 2014. The great purge of the Expanded Universe (now known as Legends) was an unpopular decision to say the least, but as you may have noticed, the Lucasfilm Story Group hasn't shied away from reintroducing various elements from the EU back into canon. Several notable characters have been returned to the newly established continuity, and many more are apparently on the way.
In the last year alone, Star Wars Rebels alluded to the Mandalorian Wars, while The Last Jedi included a subtle reference to Darth Revan, both of which hail from the Old Republic Era. Lucasfilm has made it clear that just because the EU as a whole is no longer canon doesn't mean that they can't pick and choose characters and storylines to adapt at will.
What does this mean for David Benioff and DB Weiss' movies? It means that they'll likely be given the freedom to take a similar approach to shaping their films that superhero movies have taken with the comics. Captain America: Civil War took its name and basic premise from the Civil War comic, but it treated the source material as an influence rather than a concrete template. With the EU character floodgates reportedly set to open in the coming months, as long as it doesn't interfere too heavily with other upcoming projects, Weiss and Benioff will be given the green light when it comes to adapting Legends characters into their new movie series. This bodes well for KotOR and Old Republic era supporters.
And since KotOR and The Old Republic itself are set so long before any of the cinematic trilogies, their impact on the more modern Star Wars tales would be minimal and of no real concern. Disney/Lucasfilm/Benioff & Weiss can have their cake and eat it too, and rest assured: this is definitely a cake they want to get their hands on.


How specific or general are anti-kickback laws, Stark, etc.? More specifically, I may want to work as a consultant for a home-services company. If I don't refer a patient specifically to that company or even mention the company by name in conversations with my patients but rather recommend that they get home services, fill out necessary paperwork, refer to a social worker to help with the process, etc., and they end up using that company, am I at risk? I think the company does great work and recommend them by name to my patients, but still don't dictate in any way which provider they use when I help set up the referral -- would I be at risk then?
The Anti-Kickback statute and the Stark laws are pretty specific and cast a pretty broad net. Authorities may employ broad interpretation as well. Here, you are looking to accept money from a home services agency for promotion, etc. when you may or may not be encouraging patients to go to this facility.
The only way this would possibly be acceptable upon review is if you are also meeting your state's disclosure requirement for financial interest.
I recommend the proposed consulting agreement be reviewed, the compensation reviewed for fair market value and the state laws checked to confirm your acceptance of monies from the home services company is accompanied by a proper financial disclosure to patients (if applicable). If you prefer to skip this process, I recommend you pass on the consulting.


How do I install the sys file?
Use an Unzip-application to select the sys file and extract it to your system directory. By default, this is C:\WINNT\System32\drivers (Windows NT/2000), or C:\Windows\System32\drivers (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7). You may also put it in the directory of the program, that is asking for the file. Make sure overwrite any existing files (but make a backup copy of the original file). Reboot your computer.
When I open the Zip-file I only see an empty folder. Where is the sys file?
You need to be able to view hidden files. Follow the instructions: Open Windows Explorer (not IE) - usually it is c:\windows\explorer.exe. Choose "Folder Options" Choose "View" Choose "Show all files" in "Hidden files".
I'm unable to open the Zip-files, since they are asking for a password to unzip the file.
Our files are not password protected. You probably just need to upgrade your current unzip software to the latest version.
How do I replace a file in use?
Many files cannot be renamed using Windows Explorer. You will need to use the commant prompt instead.
Follow our simple step-by-step instructions, how to install the downloaded file.


Tastefully Plated has a unique approach to frozen food packaging: their meals are presented on a square plastic plate that is individually shrink-wrapped and then frozen. Unlike other frozen meals, when you look at the packaging you see exactly what you're going to get, as that's no picture on the front of the package: that's the meal itself under its shrinkwrap.
The instructions are the same for both of the meals we reviewed for today: 3 minutes on "defrost" (with no definition of what that might mean if your microwave doesn't have such a setting), then 3 1/2 minutes on high. We were interested to note that there are instructions for cooking from thawed (3 minutes on high), but the panel could only surmise that this was in case the meal was defrosted by accident - why would you intentionally defrost something overnight in the refrigerator (to do it safely) then microwave it when an additional three minutes in the microwave would do the job?
I'll leave out the 15 minutes of off-topic discussion regarding thawed food, cooking during hurricane season (on the team's mind since it starts at the end of May) and various theories as to why you might intentionally thaw a frozen meal.
Thawing instructions aside, we microwaved these at 50% power for three minutes then at full power for a little less than 3 minutes, as the packaging states that the instructions are for a 1000-watt microwave and our tasting microwave is 1200 watts. In both cases this yielded a properly cooked meal: evenly hot throughout.
The Braised Beef (250 calories, 580mg sodium, 5g fiber) comes "with mole sauce, chipotle sweet potatoes & broccoli." Initially we were a little dismayed, as the broccoli emerges swimming in excess water. Nor is the rest of the meal particularly impressive at first sight: the mashed sweet potatoes appear to have no texture whatsoever, and the braised beef looks like the beef was "braised into mush" (or as another panelist put it: "like dog food").
Looks can be deceiving, however, as we know well. Despite the excess liquid, the broccoli is all florets - there's not a stem on the plate and the vegetable is perfectly cooked, with a soft crunch. The sweet potatoes might have been pureed within an inch of their lives, but the spicy chipotle flavor is a nice counterpoint to their sweetness. There were, in fact, chunks of beef hiding on the plate, and to be fair, "braised beef is going to break down," as a panelist observed. That beef is only moderately chewy (to be expected in braised beef) but has a fine beefy flavor that's not overwhelmed by the chocolate/coffee/chipotle flavor of the mole. This has a higher calorie to sodium ratio than we like to see, but the panel gave it a surprised thumbs up.
The Braised Pork ("with roasted potatoes, mango chutney & salsa verde") has better numbers in terms of calorie to sodium ratio (280 calories, 540mg sodium, 4g fiber). Once again, the pork's appearance suffers from its cooking method, but the pork itself is tender and flavorful, reflecting the dish's scent of tomatillo and lime. The potato side, of both regular and sweet potatoes, is a little more mushy than we'd like to see, but the chunks retain their skin and that skin has a bit of crunch to add texture. This is presented with a mango chutney ("basically warm salsa") that contrasts the sweetness of the mango with red bell pepper and spicy jalapenos. Put a bit of that chutney with the braised pork and taste "a flavor sensation... of sweet, savory, and umami." Opined a panelist, "very Caribbean."
Despite the "Paleo" labeling on the packages, both meals received a firm two thumbs up from the Dr. Gourmet tasting panel on the basis of flavor alone. Note, however, that each meal is $5.98 each at Walmart, making them easily double (or more) the price of other frozen meals. Can you really afford to spend $6 per serving, when the same amount of money could yield you far more in terms of volume and at least as much in flavor?


As every parent of a state-educated Year 6 child know, last week saw their son or daughter go through the Standard Assessment Tests, or SATs, in English and maths. Their very existence has caused controversy and there is a very vocal group of parents who appear in the press claiming that they cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. In this article, I use the examples of two children to show why I think SATS are flawed but that pulling your children out of them is plain daft.
Kitty#1 is from a middle class family, is bright and sociable and enjoys school. She attends a community primary school with a broad curriculum in a high achieving borough. Her school takes the SATs tests seriously, and there is much emphasis on them in Year 6. She doesn’t always do as well as her brother in tests, and her position in her family is informally discussed as the funny, but not intellectual child. She is withdrawn from SATs.
Kitty#1’s dad doesn't believe in testing and the use of data for accountability. She hears her parents talking about tests all the time, discussing how the schools put too much emphasis on results and make children feel anxious. Mum explains that the data that tests produce are useless and meaningless and schools don’t think about the child and are driven by Ofsted.
Kitty#1’s dad makes international comparisons and says other countries don't do as much testing and their educational systems are better. Kitty#1 is relieved that she doesn't have to experience the anxiety she has heard her parents talk about but is also a little bit disappointed she can't show what she has learnt. She feels isolated that she isn't having the same experiences as her friends. She knows it is difficult for the adults in her school as she can see by how they respond to her that they don't know how to deal with her now that they know she is not doing the tests.
Kitty#2 is also from a middle class family, is bright and sociable and enjoys school. She attends a different primary community school with a broad curriculum in a high achieving borough. Her school takes SATs seriously, but it doesn't limit what they do in Year 6. She doesn’t always do as well as her brother in tests, but she's August born and so quite a bit younger than the other children in year 6.
Kitty#2’s Mum does believe in testing and the use of data for accountability. She hears her mum talking about tests, discussing different questions and how meaningful they are and occasionally, she says that’s a stupid question or debates some of the finer details of conjunctive connectives with her Dad in a way that she understands means they think it’s not a useful concept.
She’s heard her Mum say that she values the fact that her school isn't entirely focused on SATs in Year 6. Indeed the week before SATs, Year 6 spent the Friday morning on a fun run in the local park and the afternoon gardening at school. She's told Kitty#2 it’s important to do well in her SATs, but that they aren’t a good measure of her intelligence. Kitty#2 hasn't asked, as she isn't interested, but her Mum thinks the data from SATs are very important within schools to drive school improvement. Kitty#2 is looking forward to doing the SATs and showing what she knows.
I don't usually get emotional about things that aren't related to my family and friends, but I have felt a genuinely heavy heart this week as I have read about parents who have withdrawn their children from the Year 6 SATs tests. Kitty#1 is put in a situation where she knows her parents don’t trust her school and some things her class have been working towards have been pulled out from under her feet. What a conflicted position to be in when you are 10 or 11 and looking towards secondary school.
Parents have justified withdrawing their children by saying they don’t like them being represented by a number, that SATs make their children anxious, that schools over-emphasise the importance of the tests and that it doesn't make a difference to the rest of their lives. Debra Kidd, a former teacher and now education academic, boasted on Twitter about the things her son had done during the time he would have been doing SATs as more educational than the SATs would have been.
I feel for these children — and they are largely middle class, with significant social capital — who have had to manage a lot of conflicting views and feelings over the last few weeks.
I am genuinely perplexed by these parents. I wonder what their motivations really are and whether or not they are able to think about the impact of their actions on their children and how the children feel about and think about this experience. And the impact of knowing that if there is something you don't like, it’s OK to just opt out and not do it.
Parents tend to blame the schools — they put too much emphasis on these tests. Year 6 is lost to their children, they say, with too much of an emphasis on the things children need to know in order to get through their SATs. This leads to a narrowing of the curriculum in year 6 and their child’s experience is diminished.
What astounds me about this argument is that the parents have kept their child in a school with which they disagree. And their way of disagreeing is to withdraw their child from some tests (which by the way the parents think aren't very important, so why bother?). If there is something going on in my child’s school that I think is wrong, I address this with the school at the time, or if necessary, move my child to a different school. I don't withdraw them from one aspect.
If I think my child is stressed and anxious, or angry or frustrated, I try (ha ha ...) to give them strategies to deal with these emotions before they become overwhelming. While it is natural for parents to want their children not to experience difficult emotions, the appropriate adult response is to help with coping with emotions in order to enable the child to grow into a functioning adult.
I think the current set of tests are badly designed, favour children with a middle class vocabulary and are largely irrelevant to the rest of the child’s education and working life. (But let’s not underestimate the difficulties caused to secondary schools in trying to monitor the progress of children for whom they don’t have SATs data). The focus on obscure grammar concepts is meaningless, although I do admire the fact that many of the maths questions are now contextualised. But in the end, the meaningfulness of this test is the same as the meaningfulness of any test — what one person achieves at a particular time with a particular set of questions. And responsible, contributing people do not just pull out of things they don't like. To paraphrase Dickens, this really is an age of foolishness as well as one of wisdom.


Engaged at 19 and married at 20, Princess Diana's childhood ended much sooner than the . But before her fairytale wedding, Lady Diana Spencer lived a relatively quiet life that involved piano lessons, odd jobs and a very '70s bridesmaid dress.
Located on the Queen's own property, Diana's childhood home of Park House put her in elite circles from an early age.
Her parents Frances and Edward Althorp had three children before Diana: daughters Sarah and Jane, and a son named John, who died shortly after his birth.
As a toddler, Diana welcomed her younger brother Charles on May 20, 1964.
"From her childhood, Diana had had the feeling that she was destined for something special," wrote biographer . "There was never a chance that she would have, as people have surmised, settled down and led the life of a country gentleman's wife."
Diana plays with her brother Charles, now Viscount Althorp, at Park House.
The siblings pose for a picture at their home in Berkshire.
In a picture taken at her grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, Diana (in the knee-high socks) stands with her brother, sisters and father, "Johnnie" Althorp (back right).
Diana lived a very quiet life until her parents' bitter 1969 divorce made tabloid headlines, the reported. Here, the 9-year-old enjoys a game of croquet while on vacation in West Sussex.
She continued to live in Park House with her father until she left for boarding school in the fall of 1970.
Described as a "shy and quiet" child, Diana allegedly told her father upon their separation, "If you love me, you won't leave me here," according to the new book .
As a student, Diana particularly excelled at piano and ballet, and received a special award for community service, the states.
By , Diana received an invitation to the Queen's own house at Sandringham, sparking further engagement rumors. Here she is leaving her London apartment the week before.
Photographed outside of her flat in December, Lady Diana Spencer was about to become the first Englishwoman in centuries to , and the first one in all of royal history to have a paying job before the engagement.
The constant press attention wore down on Diana. At one polo match that July, "the persistence of the paparazzi" caused the 20-year-old to start crying, the reported at the time. With her wedding only a few days away, her life in the spotlight had officially begun.
Kitty Spencer and Princess Charlotte Are Twins!


Find out what a sampling of music reviewers had to say about the highly anticipated album, which hit shelves on March 6.
Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen’s first new album in three years, debuted Tuesday, March 6 after much anticipation (and buildup). The 13-track album features special guests Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and Matt Chamberlain, who has played drums for everyone from Pearl Jam to Tori Amos.
His 17th studio album could be The Boss’ most politically charged offering yet -- according to critics -- and just in time for the upcoming presidential election. With Wrecking Ball, Springsteen tries his hand at everything from Irish folk music to Southern gospel and even hip-hop, which has left some reviewer’s heads reeling.
In the lead single “We Take Care Of Our Own,” Springsteen questions the basic freedom that is fundamental to Americans and ponders, “Where’s the promise, from sea to shining sea?” The consensus of critics is largely positive, simply because the Boss is standing up for what he believes in: the U.S.A.
"Actually, for an election year, Wrecking Ball is a boldly apolitical record. The basic premise is that the true business of politics – responsible governing, a commerce of shared rewards -- is broken, with plenty of guilt to go around. It may be a sign of how hard optimism is to come by that Springsteen covers himself here -- reviving 'Land of Hope and Dreams,' originally released on 2001's Live in New York City – to insist all is not lost. He makes a glorious case. The new arrangement is Phil Spector gone tochurch with help from Curtis Mayfield. You get resurrection, too. The late Clarence Clemons is featured on saxophone, a beautiful extension of his life with Springsteen."
"But Springsteen doesn't always get it right on Wrecking Ball, a record that, more than anything he's done in a decade, sees him addressing Big Picture themes about America, war, the economy, provincialism and revolution.
Whether he's channeling Montreal's finest, his own New Jersey heart, Southern gospel, Irish folk music, New York rap (yes, there's a 16-bar rap -- very ill-advised -- on 'Rocky Ground') or Southern twang, the Boss is pumped up and full of anthemic energy.
Chances are this raised voice is the result of the election cycle. Bruce, though unwilling to take specific political sides (he alludes to right and wrong way more than he does right and left), refers to the state of America in nearly every song and understands more than anyone else that political music made in election years tends to reverberate louder."
"With economic injustice, Springsteen's powerful new disc has a subject he can sink his teeth into, and he matches it with music that hassome of the same clenched fury.
The working man who 'always loved the feel of sweat on my shirt' now wakes up each morning feeling imprisoned in a system stacked against him. In 'Jack of All Trades,' another versatile worker recites the jobs he can do, ending with a blunt and horrific description of how he'd like to treat those he's worked for."
In some ways, the too-slick production on Wrecking Ball is a scrim that allows Springsteen to compensate for his social detachment from his working-class subjects while perhaps convincing himself that he’s giving the people what they want -- a big rock record."
"Bells and whistles aside, it’s still a Bruce Springsteen record, and that’s why it works; an album chock full of heartland rock that details economic crises and spirituality with equal gusto."
He says 'Wrecking Ball' was inspired by Occupy Wall Street, and even though some of these songs were written before anyone pointed a bullhorn at the banks, he's smart to make that declaration. Whenever America's falling on hard times, his music simply sounds better, his lyrics taking on near-biblical significance…. (He actually wrote ''Wrecking Ball'' about the demolition of Giants Stadium.) That's the problem here: The images are so broad -- every song's got a rising flood or a train of sinners or a dead man's moon -- you'll be dying for a detail that's anchored in the real world, circa 2012."
"Wrecking Ball is seamless and of a piece, as all great albums are. Each song slots perfectly into the next. Albums that work in this way are few and far between (Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band/The Beatles; Imperial Bedroom/Elvis Costello; Achtung Baby/U2; to name only a few) where the songs don't just work thematically but the overarching sound chocks in like a puzzle piece. This is all the more impressive in an album like this one with a mix of so many different genres and styles."


The Sunday Mail yesterday had some more details of the man arrested in Glasgow last week in connection with the suicide bombing in Stockholm last year.
POLICE have put a 24-hour guard outside the home of the Stockholm bombing suspect to stop it being targeted by vigilantes.
Officers have been on duty at his flat since the 30-year-old was arrested on Tuesday morning.
The property was sealed off when the nursing student was taken into custody to be questioned.
Strathclyde Police have maintained a presence at the 19th floor of the tower block in Glasgow's Whiteinch to prevent vandalism.
The suspect, AK al-Khalede, was arrested in connection with the botched suicide bombing last year.
He is being held in the Scottish Terrorist Detention Centre in Govan.
Iraqi-born Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly - who studied at the University of On duty: Cops at flat Bedfordshire - blew himself up and injured two people in Stockholm's shopping district on December 11.
Terror cops swooped on al-Khalede after a month-long investigation involving British and Swedish security services.
He is thought to have travelled to Luton several times to visit al-Abdaly, 28.
Residents at the flats say al-Khalede introduced himself as "Mo" when he moved to the area in December.
One man, who didn't want to be named, said: "People around here are furious. A few guys have talked about getting hold of Mo if he returns."
A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: "Until officers are satisfied no further evidence can be found in a property, it will be guarded."
A sheriff has granted police an extension to the time al-Khalede can be held.


Elementary theory of the category of categories, or ETCC for short, is in a broad sense an appropriate name for any first order theory axiomatizing the metacategory CAT of categories that forms the intuitive background for naive category theory with a view to the categorical foundations of mathematics.
Historically, the first attempt to formulate such a system of axioms has been undertaken by F. W. Lawvere in his dissertation in 1963 and a subsequent publication (Lawvere 1966), and is this system that is sometimes referred to as the ETCC. We will discuss it together with subsequent attempts to repair its technical flaws under this heading in the next section.
Taking into account that the intuitively given category of categories is a 2-category, from an n-categorical perspective one would prefer to axiomatize CAT directly as a 2-category, and the resulting elementary theory of the 2-category of categories, or ET2CC, is the subject of a subsequent section.
W. Lawvere launched in the early 60s an ambitious long-term project to replace membership based mathematics by more invariant concepts in order to arrive at a renewal of analysis and geometry adapted for the needs of modern (continuum) physics.
His 1963 dissertation takes issue with set-theoretic notions at various levels, e.g. redefining adjoint functors via comma categories in order to avoid reference to Hom-sets, but the most radical step is the attempt at a first-order axiomatization of the category of categories that he proposes to bypass set theory completely at a foundational level.
The elementary theory of abstract categories (ETAC) has besides equality three primitive predicates for domain, codomain, and composition and as axioms the usual axioms for identity, associativity etc.
The basic theory (BT) adds axioms for e.g. 1, a one-morphism category, 2, a category with one non-identity morphism between two objects, 3, a category with a commutative triangle of morphisms, and various exactness properties among which is the existence of exponentials. This permits then to define e.g. sets as discrete objects AA with A 1≅A 2A^1\cong A^2 i.e. as categories whose morphisms are all identity morphisms. The final axiom of the basic theory tries to express the density-adequacy of the simple categories like 1 etc. within the metacategory.
The stronger theory (ST) then adds two further axioms to the basic theory concerning existence of completions and an ‘inaccessible’ category (p.18).
As pointed out by J. Isbell in 1967, one of Lawvere’s results (namely, the theorem on the ‘construction of categories by description’ on p.14) was mistaken, which left the axiomatics dangling with insufficient power to construct models for categories. Several ways to overcome these problems where suggested in the following but no system achieved univocal approval (cf. Blanc-Preller(1975), Blanc-Donnadieu(1976), Donnadieu(1975), McLarty(1991)).
As ETCC also lacked the simplicity of ETCS, it rarely played a role in the practice of category theory in the following and was soon eclipsed by topos theory in the attention of the research community that generally preferred to hedge their foundations with appeals to Gödel-Bernays set-theory or Grothendieck universes.
Nevertheless, the axiomatic treatment of 1963/66 contained also the seminal idea to internally define discrete set-theoretic ‘foundations’ within a bigger category, that will later on play a central role in Lawvere’s approach to cohesion. So when one can view the 1964 ETCS as a forerunner of the Lawvere-Tierney axioms for an elementary topos, one could view ETCC as an anticipation of the 2007 axioms for a cohesive topos.
For Lawvere ETCS and ETCC have a different status, the first provides abstract constant sets as convenient carriers for structured objects, whereas the latter provides the overall ontology of concepts, the intellectual working space.
Yet from an n-categorical perspective, the categories they axiomatize differ in level only and so it is tempting to think of the second as a sort of categorification of the first: this suggests to posit an abstract concept ‘foundation’ that at the level of ETCS shows up as set theory, gets refined to ‘category theory’ one step higher, then as 2-category theory, and so on.
Now what comes closest to such a vision at the moment is probably homotopy type theory but truncating such a tower of ‘foundations’ might be still relevant for applications where concepts of 2-toposes are considered. It would also provide an axiomatisation for the ‘familiar’ meta 2-category CAT suggestive for the generalization to n-CAT.
Firstly, some exactness axioms amounting to its being a “2-pretopos” in the sense I described here:2-categorical logic . This gives you an “internal logic” like that of an ordinary (pre)topos.
Secondly, the existence of certain exponentials (this is optional).
Thirdly, the existence of a “classifying discrete opfibration” el→set in the sense introduced by Mark Weber (“Yoneda structures from 2-toposes”) which serves as “the category of sets,” and internally satisfies some suitable axioms.
Finally, a “well-pointedness” axiom saying that the terminal object is a generator, as is the case one level down with in ETCS. This is what says you have a 2-category of categories, rather than (for instance) a 2-category of stacks.
We can see here how at the end Lawvere’s idea of internal set-theoretic ‘foundations’ resurfaces. Such a level of discreteness seems to be pervasive in this context and e.g. the approach of Przybylek (2014) to the concept of internal 2-cartesian closure takes discreteness as a starting point.
Note that already B. Walters and R. Street conceived of their work on Yoneda structures in the early 1970s as a 2-dimensional version of ETCC (cf. Walters 1971).
F. W. Lawvere, The Category of Categories as a Foundation for Mathematics, pp.1-20 in Eilenberg, Harrison, MacLane, Röhrl (eds.), Proceedings of the Conference on Categorical Algebra - La Jolla 1965, Springer Heidelberg 1966.
J. R. Isbell, Review of Lawvere 1966, Mathematical Reviews 34 (1967) #7332.
G. Blanc. A. Preller, Lawvere’s basic theory of the category of categories, JSL 40 (1975) pp.14-18.
E. Engeler, H. Röhrl, On the problem of foundations of category theory, Dialectica 23 (1969) pp.58-66.
H. Tsukuda, Category theory not based upon set theory, Sci. Papers College Gen. Ed. Univ. Tokyo 31 (1981) pp.1-24.
M. Ernst, The Prospects of Unlimited Category Theory: Doing What Remains to be Done, Review Symbolic Logic 8 no.2 (2015) pp.306-327.
Last revised on June 18, 2018 at 09:15:24. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.


1 - In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients together, (except the meat AND the Cream Cheese). Once combined add the meat and mix together.
2 - Cook on Low for 8 hours.
3 - Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.
4 - Cook Noodles, You can put it all in a big dish and mix together or add noodles to your plate and spoon beef stroganoff on top.


Lincoln council had a policy where they gurantee tenant deposit on a letter instead of giving the landlord in money.
I have a tenant from the Lincoln council who left the property in a deplorable state before I could inspect the property at the end of her tenancy.
I went to the council who told me that they would have to see the house before they could do any thing.I took them they, and I was asked to take some photographic evidence and write all the items damaged and abandoned junk. I did that, only to be told that the deposit did not garantee cover for abandoned items, cleaning the house and all the rubbish in the house, that it only gurantees damage.That I should also produce receipt for the job done.The thing is that I did the job with few guys which I paid them because I want the house ready to be let as soon as possible. Hence I sent invoice to the council.The thing is that when the tenant went in she was told that she will return the property in the state she found it. That was not the case, and the council are been difficult.The agent that got the tenant for me told me that if they refuse to pay, that I either take them to court or pursue the tenant through her gurantor.
What are my options? What do I do in this case?


Where do I go to manage AT&T Smart Limits for my account?
To manage Smart Limits on your account, follow these instructions: 1.
Answer Click Manage AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless.
You cannot access Smart Limits for Wireless on the MyWireless App at this time. Please visit att.com/myWireless to log in to your account. Click on the ‘Manage AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless’ link under Quick Links at center right of page.
We hope to offer Smart Limits for Wireless account management through the MyWireless App in the future. Stay tuned for more information.
I'm not sure if this has been posted yet, or if maybe I'm just the last to know, but I wanted to let everyone know that Smart Limits will not work with iPhones. It will limit neither phone nor data usage.
ATT - We customers need a service that will effectively limit the services offered on iPhones. Talk minutes, text limits, and data limits need to be controlled seperately.
I agree. This feature isn't doing me any good on my daughter's iPhone at all. She gave her mobile number and her Facebook profile information out to her classmates and Smart Limits isn't doing a remotely decent job of restricting her access.
I am fighting a completely losing battle. I blocked 30 numbers but she still receives incoming text messages and incoming phone calls from the numbers on the list anyway. As soon as I add a number to the blocked list, suddenly new numbers pop up like mushrooms in her call log. The kids will just simply put down their cell phones and walk over to their parents' landline or use a friend's or sibling's phone to circumvent the block. So I had to finally block *ALL* outgoing phone calls with the exception of 15 numbers so that at least she couldn't return calls from all these people. Almost immediately, the kids bypassed this by switching to mobile Skype and Facebook chat, plus video chat on something called Oovoo. Now I can't see a printout of the people she's talking to any more and her data consumption has gone through the roof since she got the iPhone. I have the phone set to be blocked more than it is active, but she still seems to be able to use Wi-Fi to bypass all browsing restrictions.
It is cruel and ironic that I have had to resort to these harsh measures. I actually got her the iPhone as a reward for her outstanding behavior and scholastic achievement. Instead it has destroyed the peace in our household. My daughter is a straight-A gifted honors student with a 98 average in all subjects and ranks in the 99th percentile of the state on standardized tests. However, all the years she invested in her studies are in danger of falling to pieces. Her classmates' parents apparently ignore the round-the-clock abuse of their children's smartphones, using the devices as electronic babysitters. Trying to inject the slightest bit of common sense has made me look like some kind of obsessive villain. All I ever wanted was to keep our home relatively free of outside distractions so she can maintain her excellent study habits.
To sum it up, I'm angry that I have to spend this much time policing my child's use of her smartphone. I thought Smart Limits would allow me some control, but when it comes to the iPhone, it has definitely proven a less-than-adequate feature and certainly isn't worth the additional charge on an already overinflated phone bill. AT&T needs to go back to the drawing board with this feature in order to justify the expense and the effort involved in using Smart Limits.
Yes, why won't Smart Limits work with the iPhone? Apparently it used to, but it looks like AT&T stopped keeping up with the OS updates ... is there an app out there that will maybe do what AT&Ts Smart Limits doesn't?
If the WiFi on the iPhone is being abused at home, go into you wireless router settings and do various restrictions there.
Disconnecting the router won't help because they still have access via the 3G network. I am also disgusted that Smart Limits does not work on the iphone. It was a wonderful tool with a non-smart phone.
The iphone is like teenager "crack" and our daughter's grades are dropping because she can't self-regulate as she should.
Our only alternative now seem to be to suspend service and that inconveniences us when we can't reach her.
Obviously you don't have teenagers!
REALLY???? This is how an AT&T employee replies to one of their "valued" customers? How about a proper response that actually shows that AT&T gives some small regard to thier customers - something like "We are sorry for the inconvenience. We would like very much to accomodate our customers' needs and we hope to have this feature back in the near future". That would be a proper, RESPECTFUL response, but i am learning that is so not AT&Ts MO.
AT&T is the one that put this Community Support Forum up. Did they think they would not get requests and complaints from customers as well as questions? DId they not train their employees on what proper customer support actually is? We have been with AT&T for over 6 years (why so long, i am beginning to wonder) and in the past usually didn't get this kind of rude response but it seems to be changing into the norm lately.
By the way. my Smart Limits feature also suddenly disappeared off my MyWireless login since we got the iphone for that line, but of course they continue to charge me. Looking like a refund coming my way.
Please get it together AT&T. Customers experiences with you have increasingly become very disappointing.
It has been absolutely unhelpful! Att needs to fix the smart limit issues with the iphone - otherwise you should have the smart limits program for free because its literally useless if it doesnt work on the iphone. AT&T is happy to sell our teenagers an iphone and we have to be the parents to keep watch over their content and usage - we cannot be constantly with those teenagers. Please tell the smart limits developers that they need to get to work on this functionality of the iphone and its ability to bypass every restriction.
I have found out the hard way that smart limits does not work for iphone data although the att sales people told us it would. After calling ATT about this issue and explaining that we were mislead by the sales people about the smart limits working for the iphone data usage the only answer I got was I had 30 days to return the phone and I could pay for more data. So now IM stuck paying for a phone with a feature I was LIED to about from an ATT sales person.
Children do not belong having iphones to begin with. Get them a crappy nokia or Samsung, they can get a iphone when they have a job and can pay for it. Just my 2cents.


Is there a filter that runs before the_content?
I want to do some processing of post data as it's displayed, but it needs to run before the_content because I want to muck around with the more tag.
As you can see, WP calls get_the_content (which includes more tag processing) BEFORE it calls the apply_filters function for all the the_content filters.
I essentially want to insert a more tag into the post display dynamically, and have it picked up by the_content for processing. So I need a filter that triggers as the content is removed from the database and before get_the_content is called.
Obviously, I could hack the above code, but I'd really prefer not to touch the WordPress core.
Or... is there a best-practices PHP way I can code my own the_content function in a plugin that orverrides, then calls the WordPress function?
Definitely a bit more complex. I actually ran into this article a couple weeks ago, maybe it'll provide an alternative approach to what you're looking for?
When post data is retrieved from the database, all fields are passed to the function 'sanitize_post_field' (line 1418, /wp-includes/post.php) before there are processed by any other function, or even cached. Filters are dynamically built in this function for each field. So, you can use the filter 'post_content' (line 1471 'post_$field') for the post content.
Really? Ulrich, I've definitely got to go check that out. That's an exciting lead. Thanks!
Oh, one more question. Do you know if sanitize_post_field runs before setup_postdata?
Thanks! You may well have just saved me a week's grunt programming work (that wouldn't have resulted in nearly as elegant code as this will). Awesome.
Ugh, so I tried this, setting a very low level filter for 'post_content'. I watched it execute through the debugger and post content properly replaced the content per my filter, but as the $value got returned and worked its way back up the call stack, the entire post_content filtering was simply ignored and the query just pulled an original copy of the field (and all the other post data) from the database, essentially overwriting all my changes did.
Any ideas why this might occur or how to prevent the overwriting of data? I ran the filter before pretty much everything, so I thought that perhaps I need to set a different priority, but when I tried it at priority of -1000, 1, and 10, the results were the same.
Any ideas? Otherwise, I need to go completely back to the drawing board and recode everything.


What types of investments are used by the Financial REITs to earn money for their shareholders?
Financial REITs invest in several types of financial assets, such as mortgage backed securities (MBS), as well as originating mortgages, and some companies engage in raising money for private and public companies and lending through structured financings.
How do you differentiate between the stocks in the Financial REIT group?
I always take a fundamental approach to my analysis, and also contrast the companies by valuation and the composition of their portfolios. Dividend coverage, as well, is very important to the choice of stocks in this group. Not all Financial REITs should be treated equally by investors. In the MBS area, for example, I think the sub-prime market is going to outperform the prime market, as it is not as interest rate sensitive as the prime market. For the structured finance group, interest rate increases are not much of a risk, but credit risk is important, if a borrower were to default on a loan.
Taxable earnings is what drives the dividend for a Financial REIT stock. For GAAP earnings, companies delay the recognition of income, whereas with taxable income, gains are recognized up front. Trends in taxable earnings are the signal for changes in the dividend. (REITs are required to pay out 90% of their taxable earnings as dividends to their shareholders).


Where does the New Mail Account Notification addressed from MailEnable come from?
I have received a new mail account notification message that states "Congratulations, your new e-mail account has been activated and is ready for use."
MailEnable is a mail server that is used by Internet Services Providers (ISPs) to provide mail accounts to end users.
When the ISP or mail service provider adds a new user is added to the system, the mail server sends a message to the end user's mailbox instructing them that their mail account has been activated. This message is normally customized, however many ISPs or mail service providers do not modify the message.
This message may also be sent out if your mail service provider or your ISP made a change to your mailbox settings.


Stop a host by shutting down the computer that the host runs on. Before shutting down the computer, you must stop all cloud servers on the host.
If necessary, move the database copies to another host.
This task is useful when you must shut down the computer to perform updates.
Stop all database copies and cloud servers on the host.
When you restart the computer, you must restart the cloud servers and database copies on the host.


If you love movies in the very sinews of your imagination, you should experience the work of Guy Maddin. If you have never heard of him, I am not surprised. Now you have. A new Maddin movie doesn't play in every multiplex, city or state. If you hear of one opening, seize the day. Or search where obscure films can be found. You will be plunged into the mind of a man who thinks in the images of old silent films, disreputable documentaries, movies that never were, from eras beyond comprehension. His imagination frees the lurid possibilities of the banal. He rewrites history; when that fails, he creates it.
First, a paragraph of dry fact. Maddin makes films that use the dated editing devices of old movies: iris shots, breathless titles, shock cutting, staged poses, melodramatic acting, recycled footage, camera angles not merely dramatic but startling. He uses these devices to tell stories that begin with the improbable and march boldly into the inconceivable. My paragraph is ending now, and you have seen how difficult it is to describe his work. I will end with two more statements: (1) Shot for shot, Maddin can be as surprising and delightful as any filmmaker has ever been, and (2) he is an acquired taste, but please, sir, may I have some more?
Consider his film "My Winnipeg." The city fathers commissioned it as a documentary, to be made by "the mad poet of Manitoba," as a Canadian magazine termed him. Maddin has never left his hometown, although judging by this film, it has left him. It has abandoned its retail landmarks, its sports traditions, and even the daily local soap opera, "Ledge Man," which ran for 50 years and starred Maddin's mother. As every episode opened, a man was found standing on a ledge and threatening to jump, and Maddin's mother talked him out of it.
Is that true? It's as true as anything else in the film. My friend Tony Scott of the New York Times thought he should check out some of the facts in "My Winnipeg," but decided not to. Why should he doubt the film? I certainly believe that after a stable fire at the racetrack, terrified horses stampeded into a freezing river and were frozen into place -- their heads rising from the ice for the rest of the winter, for skaters to picnic on. I believe there are two taxi companies, one serving streets and other back lanes shown on no map. I believe Guy Maddin himself was born in the Winnipeg Arena during a game, nursed in the women's dressing room and brought back a few days later for his first hockey match.
I also believe this, because it is shown in the film: After Winnipeg joined the hated (American-controlled) National Hockey League, the arena was enlarged to hold larger crowds. When the tragic decision was made to destroy the beloved arena by demolition, only the new parts collapsed, leaving the bones of the old arena still standing. "Demolition is one of our few growth industries," Maddin says, acting as his own narrator.
Maddin was raised in this city, which he says has "10 times the sleepwalking rate" of any other. His childhood occurred in a house built as three white squares, one for his mother's beauty parlor, one for his aunt's family, one for his own. The scents of the parlor drifted up into his bedroom, and "every word of conversation swirled up out of that gynocracy." He attended a convent school named the Academy of the Super Vixens, ruled by "ever-opiating nuns."
Many of these facts are glimpsed trough the windows of a train that seems headed out of town but never gets there. The narration is hallucinatory: "Old dreamy addresses, addresses, addresses, dreamy." or "Cold! All winter, frozen! Frozen cold!" Or "built on the forks of four rivers. River forks." We see maps of the rivers fading into the fork of a woman's loin, and back again. We are told that shadow rivers flow beneath the visible ones. That the local madams were highly respected, and streets named after them and their brothels. That white-bearded Mayor Cornish (Louis Negin) personally judged the city's annual Golden Boy pageant, measuring biceps and thighs before scandal forced him out: Too many Golden Boys on the city payroll!
I try to evoke, but I have failed! Failed! Disaster! I have tried to evoke the opiations of Guy Maddin, only to discover that Mother in the film is played by Ann Savage, star of "Detour." Yes! A film in the Great Movies Collection of my Web site! Detour! Rocky road ahead! Savage! Maddin's father lies in state under a rug in the living room! Dead -- not forgotten. Savage stepping around him! Watch your step. Savage! See this film!
Postscript, 11/1/08: Inviting "My Winnipeg" to to the 2009 Ebertfest, I wrote to Guy Maddin: "That film just keeps on stirring in my mind. It is reality beyond reality. The way it mixes local legend, civic pride, stories learned in childhood, rewritten memories and yearning for the lost past may be, you think, personal to you. No such luck, buddy. That's exactly the way I think about Urbana, which, as I'm sure you know, has the Largest Rim-Supported Building in the World, the Boneyard Creek into which all the Indians threw themselves when they died, the Stadium that Red Grange Built, a house in which fairies once lived (now occupied by the woman who wrote a book about them, who I once saw in the window, and whose book I had read), and the second McDonald's in the world, when hamburgers were still 15 cents. In the Mason's Hall over Lorry's Sport Shop lived the enemies of everything St. Mary's Grade School stood for. The Flatiron Building in downtown Urbana was, I believed, the most immense such Flatiron in the world, until the cold winter night it burned to the ground, and I clung to my father's hand in the snow and watched it burn, the first fire of my life, and saw for the first time tears in my father's eyes. I asked him why he was sad. He told me, "That's where the Elks Club is. Where I spent some of the happiest days of my life."


Will Apple shares fall even lower?
Time to buy cyclical stocks?
Apple shares are sliding into year-end, falling more than 10 percent this month as analysts have expressed doubt over the tech giant's ability to keep up its impressive iPhone sales record. The popular stock has also underperformed the broader market, down 4 percent year to date compared to a 2.6 percent decline in the S&P 500.
And looking at the charts, one technician says there may be even more room to fall as the stock breaks below an important level of support.
"We could see a little bit more shakeout here with the shares," Craig Johnson of Piper Jaffray said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "Over the last several months, the Apple chart has started to look a little distributional ... you can see that it's sort of rolling over a little bit and the most recent relief rally kind of stalled out right back at its 40-week moving average."
The next big area of support comes in around $95, Johnson said. That would be another 10 percent drop for Apple shares, which closed Friday at $106. If the stock ends the year in the red, this will be its first year of negative returns since 2008.
Max Wolff, chief economist at Manhattan Venture Partners, says while the market reaction seems excessive, there is admittedly some cause for concern for investors.
For one, the watch is proving itself to be an underwhelming product, and isn't expected to contribute significantly to revenue or earnings for a long time, he said. Additionally, iPhones labeled with a letter like the 6S or 5S, tend to lag in sales compared to their classic counterparts, Wolff said.
However, he remains optimistic heading into 2016.
"I think this is way overdone, I think they're going to come out of this quarter very strong so they'll have a really good year-end," Wolff said Friday on "Trading Nation."
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster also brushed off concerns over Apple's latest iPhone cycle in a Tuesday research note.
"This week, investor concern about iPhone growth has increased based on measurable cuts to analyst estimates along with today's Dec 15 guidance revision by Dialog Semiconductor," a chip producer that supplies Apple, Munster wrote. However, he said the performance of individual suppliers should not be indicative of the health of Apple's iPhone business.
Instead, Munster recommends that investors focus on the new iPhone expected to launch next year.
"Most importantly, based on feedback from investors, the next few quarters appear less significant to the broader iPhone story and the more important question is whether the iPhone will grow during the iPhone 7 cycle," he wrote. "We remain confident in our 4 percent cycle growth for iPhone 7."


Who the 'Hull' are they?
Hull Musical Theatre Company are celebrating the company's 120 years and the City of Culture alongside one of the greatest male choirs in East Yorkshire; The Hull Male Voice Choir.
The concert will celebrate, in music and word, famous people from the City of Kingston upon Hull including Amy Johnson, The Housemartins, Alan Plater, Maureen Lipman, Philip Larkin, William Wilberforce, David Whitefield, Patricia Bredin and Tom Courtenay.
Music including songs from Oklahoma, Show Boat, Eurovision song contest, Chicago and many more.
The concert is raising funds in aid of Daisy Appeal.


I have heard of this rumen inoculant that I can give to avoid acidosis. Is this something I should use?
A. Putting cattle not adapted to corn-based diets out on fields with a lot of downed corn can cause acidosis, lameness and, if severe enough, death. Un-adapted cattle get acidotic when eating corn because the bacteria that use lactic-acid have not built up in the rumen.
Lactic acid is a strong acid ―10 times stronger than other acids in the rumen― produced by bacteria when digesting corn. In gain-adapted animals bacteria in the rumen, such as Megasphaera elsdenii, will digest lactic acid, producing weaker acids in the process. This helps the rumen maintain a higher pH. Essentially, the reason why the amount of grain consumed by cattle should be slowly increased is so the population of these lactic acid-using bacteria can build up. Inoculating cattle before turning them out on down corn is to boost the population of lactic acid-using bacteria.
To my knowledge no controlled research has been conducted using a ruminant inoculant when turning cows out to fields with downed corn. However, inoculating un-adapted yearlings with Megasphaera elsdenii and placing them directly on a finishing diet has been reasonably successful. (See Orally dosing steers with Lactipro (Megasphaera elsdenii) decreases the quantity of roughages fed during finishing, KSU, 2013.) Thus, this method may have promise for mitigating some of the risks of acidosis associated with grazing down corn. It should be noted though that in this trial 35% of their diet was not corn and a high dose (100 ml for 900 lb yearlings) of the inoculant was used.
Currently, the cost of dosing cows (100 ml) with Megasphaera elsdenii (Lactipro Advance, MS Biotec) is about $8 per cow. The product has a very short shelf life (14 days) and is manufactured after it is ordered. Thus, it's important to be prepared to dose animals and turn them out as soon as the product is delivered.
Given the extreme risk with cows going from no corn to essentially an all-corn diet, I would still suggest feeding corn gradually and working up to 7 lb/day before dosing and turning out into corn fields with high amounts of downed ears (10 plus bu/ac).
It should also be mentioned that if there is enough down corn for gestating spring-calving cows to eat as much as they want for a month or more, they are likely to become very fat. In this situation we would expect them to gain two to three of a body condition score per month. Thus calves, cull cows, or fall pairs are much better options for using this high energy resource.
For more information on dealing with down corn, please read "Down Corn: Problem or Opportunity for Cattle Producers?".


Here is a piece of advice for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: Take a few hours off over the weekend, before the game determining who comes in third in the World Cup, and read Ami Gluska's book, "Eshkol, ten pkuda!" (literally, "Eshkol, give an order"; the book is due to be published this month as "The Israeli Military and the Origins of the 1967 War: Government, Armed Forces and Defense Policy 1963-1967," by Routledge).
The book describes the background to the Six-Day War and there is no better account of the deterioration and weakness of the leadership that led Israel into a war it did not want. Then as now, a "civilian" leadership contended with an activist army, which amassed forces and sought to exploit the opportunity to deliver a crushing blow to the Egyptian troops that were concentrated in Sinai.
The prime minister, Levi Eshkol, tried to prevent the confrontation and to attract international support, but failed to stop the escalation. Every new provocation by then Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser further undermined Eshkol's ability to hold his own against the army. The end of the story, as everyone knows, is that Eshkol lost the defense portfolio to Moshe Dayan and Israel went to war, savaged Egypt, Jordan and Syria, and seized the "territories" from them. Since then the debate over whether this was good or bad for the Jews has not stopped.
This week Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz found themselves in Eshkol's shoes. Like him, they are trying to stop an escalation that no one wants - a large-scale military operation in the style of Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002, which will bring the Israel Defense Forces back into the heart of Gaza's towns and the refugee camps, in order to deliver a death blow to the military wing of Hamas and to undermine the movement's civilian government. All those in the know say the two men oppose an operation of this kind, which will also entail an extensive call-up of reserve units. But the events are pointing in the opposite direction.
Olmert has one important advantage over Eshkol: He does not face a united front put up by the defense establishment. He is exploiting for his benefit the rivalry between the head of the Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin, and the chief of staff, Dan Halutz. The two had a falling out during the disengagement operation last year. The background was the army's insistence on giving the Shin Bet a marginal role in the operation. Attempts at mediation and compromise failed and Ariel Sharon, prime minister at the time, did not make enough of an effort to douse the flames before they erupted into a personal clash, which has since expanded to encompass also a quarrel between Diskin and the director of Military Intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin.
These disputes are allowing Olmert to pursue a divide-and-rule policy between the senior figures in the defense establishment. In the security cabinet meeting on Wednesday it was plain, and not for the first time, that he is leaning on Diskin, who proposed moving at a slower pace than that recommended by the chief of staff. The defense minister is also "listening very attentively" to the opinions and recommendations of the Shin Bet chief.
The prime minister this week made two important decisions. The first was to remain steadfast in his opposition to conducting negotiations with the kidnappers of Corporal Gilad Shalit and to freeing prisoners in return for his release. On Monday Olmert rejected the kidnappers' ultimatum. He was right in his assessment that they would "blink first" and not damage the bargaining chip they hold. The Palestinian response was to fire a Qassam rocket into Ashkelon on Tuesday, 13 hours after the ultimatum expired. Benjamin Netanyahu's warning of years ago against "Katyushas falling on Ashkelon" was abruptly realized.
The rocket, which landed in a schoolyard, led the political echelon to drop its inhibitions, which the previous week prompted it to veto an IDF initiative for a ground operation in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Shortly after the Ashkelon incident, Olmert delivered a militant speech against Hamas at the Independence Day party thrown by the United States ambassador, Richard Jones, in which he threatened "unparalleled and far-reaching consequences."
The following day the prime minister and defense minister authorized the entry of extensive ground forces into the northern sector, the site of three Israeli settlements - Elei Sinai, Nisanit and Dugit - until the pullout last summer. Preventing the launching of Qassam rockets has become the major thrust of Operation Summer Rains, with the return of Corporal Shalit relegated to second place. The Qassams have dislodged the soldier.
The management of the campaign in the south this week dominated the prime minister's agenda. The "business as usual" pose disappeared. The convergence plan in the West Bank, about which Olmert spoke ardently just last week, was also no longer men tioned in his speeches. Olmert is holding the button that controls the height of the flames and slowly turning it rightward. The result is gradual escalation, which depends on the initiative of the Palestinian side. Military history - in Vietnam, for example - shows that this kind of "trickling" of military might ensures the control of the political echelon, but not a victory on the field of battle.
People who attended meetings and consultations with the prime minister this week lauded his behavior: "He is cool-headed, knows what he is up against, expresses himself well and is not afraid of anyone." Cool-headedness and self-control are important, but are not the goal. The end result is what counts, and from that point of view there is nothing to boast about where Operation Summer Rains is concerned, because it has not yet accomplished anything. It has not brought Shalit home and it has not stopped the Qassams.
On Tuesday morning, between the expiration of the kidnappers' ultimatum and the landing of the Qassam rocket in Ashkelon, the prime minister made his first visit to the front. In honor of the event he wore a light-blue shirt with an open collar, leaving his jacket and tie in the car. The first rule of image advisors is always that leaders must never be photographed with soldiers wearing a suit and tie. George Bush follows this rule in Iraq, and Israeli leaders since David Ben-Gurion have always followed it. During the next event, not long afterward, Olmert was back in his familiar garb: dark brown suit, white shirt, orange tie.
The prime minister's tour of the frontline began in Sderot, which he had avoided since the elections. He explained that a well-publicized visit to the Qassam-battered town would encourage the Palestinians to welcome him with a volley of rockets, and so he snuck in secretly.
The mayor, Eli Moyal, and the heads of the local regional councils thought they had been invited to meet with the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, but that was just a cover story. Olmert and Peretz were waiting for them in the town's community center, next to the swimming pool. Moyal, Olmert's outspoken rival, greeted him with sycophantic remarks about his concern for employment in Sderot when Olmert was minister of industry and trade and minister of finance. And then came the sting, when Moyal asked: Would you have shown such concern for Sderot even without the kidnapping of the soldier? The defense minister, who lives close to the Sderot community center, replied that the operation had been planned in advance.
Olmert took a moralizing stance: In Jerusalem there was a time when we had two suicide bombings a week, he reminded Moyal, and the role of elected officials is to spread calm, not to speak in the name of the irate public. Moyal has come down hard on Olmert in the past few weeks, attacking him on every radio talk show for not visiting Sderot. Olmert's aides noted ahead of the visit that Moyal would continue to jab at the prime minister even after he came to Sderot - and they were right, of course. The headlines that emerged from Sderot mocked Olmert's diversionary ruse.
From Sderot Olmert proceeded to the headquarters of the Gaza Division, where a test of leadership awaited him. He sat at the head of a long U-shaped table and listened to presentations about the operational activity. In front of him was a laptop, so he could better grasp the material. At the end of the meeting he was asked to explain to the commanders why he was not issuing the order for them to charge the enemy. Olmert replied with the well-known comment, made by Moshe Dayan in the Sinai War of 1956, when Dayan was chief of staff: "I would rather restrain galloping horses than whip lazy mules." I have exceptional praise for the activity you have done, Olmert said - keep initiating and we will decide.
Members of Olmert's retinue noted the different approaches among the officers. The brigade commanders sounded hungry for action, as did the chief of staff. The GOC Southern Command, Yoav Galant, seemed to be in the middle, with a more balanced approach. Maybe that is because of the many years he spent as Sharon's military secretary, which exposed him directly to the considerations of the political echelon vis-a-vis the confrontation with the Palestinians.
The prime minister and the defense minister this week presented a uniform stance. This is not a passionate summer fling, but a convergence of interests. They have no desire for a deterioration that will bring the right-wing parties into a "national emergency government against terrorism" and bury the realignment plan for good.
The consideration that is guiding Olmert in his management of the war, as he explained to the security cabinet, is to preserve international legitimization for Israel's moves. And to do that, it is important to avoid, as far as possible, killing Palestinian civilians who are not engaged in terrorism and to take the humanitarian side into consideration. His position has solid backing in the security cabinet, which is displaying a "civil" approach. The activist extreme is occupied by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, who is urging "a total cessation of the firing of Qassams." The members of the security cabinet discerned the differences of approach between Dichter and Yuval Diskin, his former deputy and now his successor as Shin Bet chief.
In the meantime, Israel is enjoying freedom of maneuver. The Palestinian Qassams are of far less interest to the international community than the missiles launched his week by North Korea. The urgent United Nations reports about a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip are not getting headlines. The U.S. position, as it is understood in Jerusalem, shows an interesting distinction: The administration wants Israel to avoid harming the population in Gaza, so as not to arouse European and Arab criticism, but will be happy with an Israeli blow that will topple Hamas. Hamas' victory in the Palestinian Authority elections wrecked Bush's doctrine of Arab democracy and was taken as a personal affront to the president.
Operation Summer Rains is creating an opportunity to eliminate that problem; just as in 1967, the final decision to go to war was made in the wake of an American message. The head of the Mossad espionage agency at the time, Meir Amit, made a last-minute visit to Washington and reported on his return to Jerusalem, that "the Americans would welcome an operation, if we succeeded in smashing Nasser." His report removed Levi Eshkol's final hesitation.


What to do when gardening becomes too difficult?
It is hard to imagine as a young gardener - when one has boundless energy and strength, can garden from dawn till dusk, is able to wield mattocks for hours in the creation of new borders, and can push laden barrows of compost from one end of one's plot to the other - that one day you'll be reduced to pointing with a walking stick to where you want a plant to be put in or a weed pulled out, and having someone else do it for you!
This, however, can be the unfortunate fate of those of us who suffer from severe arthritis. In my own case, the condition has worsened greatly over the past six months, and has caused me to ponder on exactly how one can manage a large garden when one is basically prevented from doing even the most simple of outdoor activities! These thoughts are also relevant to ageing gardeners in general, if one plans to stay in one's own home for some time to come.
Growing plants that need a lot less maintenance is obviously the major consideration, and I have decided to eliminate some specimens that need a lot of pruning - including some of the larger Salvia cultivars, beautiful as they are. I now look to plants that hold their shape throughout the year without needing cutting back. Once I would have considered such plants 'boring' but now they are worth their weight in gold to me and I wish I had planted more Camellia in my youth, for example!
I have also given up growing most of the little herbaceous perennials, the ones so cherished during my cottage garden years. They need too much attention in dividing, deadheading and so on, and often don't thrive that well in our Sydney climate in any case, needing to be replaced every few years if you want to keep having them in your garden. I now look to bigger, bolder masses of plants from warm climates that thrive here instead of having single specimens of many different plants from unsuitable climates, and I think my garden looks better for this. The use of effective mulch to reduce the need to weed has also never been so foremost in my mind. This can really make a huge difference for those unable to bend down to pluck out weeds anymore! I have found cane mulch to be the most useful substance for my borders.
The use of a raised bench to pot up cuttings and seedlings has been a very practical aid. It's hard to believe now that I always used to do these activities at ground level! For other tasks, the addition of long handles to any conventional garden tool can be very helpful. Long-handled pruners are great for pruning without having to plunge precariously into borders, and a long-handled, lightweight chipping hoe can come in very handy for getting out weeds that do pop up. The picker-upper devices that are sold in mobility shops to pick up things off the floor when you can't bend are marvellous for picking up prunings and can even pull out some weeds! I believe that it is possible to get a similar tool actually meant for disabled gardeners, with the same sort of trigger-type lever at the handle. Another handy device is my large, long-handled dustpan, which enables me to remove debris after sweeping the paths without having to bend over! On the other hand, one of most helpful tool for me over the past few months has been a short-handled tool (called a 'forged hoe cultivator', pictured above) with a blade placed at 90 degrees to the handle and a fork at the same angle on the other side, that can cultivate the soil quite effectively even when used sitting down, now that I cannot dig with a spade.
When I planned my current garden 20 years ago, I incorporated a set of terraces with retaining walls, up which I used to be able to bound in a single leap in order to get into the borders they contained. With such leaps now out of the question, a sturdy plastic set comprising two steps has proved a most efficient way of me to get into my borders. Another wonderful aid is the garden kneeler/seat, with handles to enable one to get up and down with ease. Much can be achieved comfortably sitting or kneeling on this device.
My most treasured help has come from those who have done the gardening for me over the past few months: my husband, Andrew (creator of this website), who does all the hard work of mowing, the pruning of hedges and topiary, the mulching up our many prunings, and the digging our heavy clay soil; and my wonderful gardener, Julie. Julie (in previous years assisted by her twin sister, Dianne) has helped me in the garden borders for the past five years since I was diagnosed with arthritis, patiently and carefully following my endless lists of instructions, and always providing a cheerful and positive energy in my garden on the days of her visits. Without her help, my garden would now be a complete shambles.
I am having a hip replacement this week - so I won't be blogging for a little while. But everyone assures me I will ultimately be able to return to gardening with gusto. Wish me luck!
All the very best, Deirdre. I do hope you"re back to all the gardening you want to do soon. I love your beautifully written blogs.
You won"t know yourself with a new hip !! Back in the garden soon - your garden is so pretty ! I have just been pruning roses and a huge Smoke bush so I am also thinking about some low maintenance new plants. All the best !!
Always wanted a large garden, but now, after two hip replacements, am pleased I have a smaller, manageable one. My shed, with potting bench, and kneeler, are invaluable. I"m planting more begonias, of all types - they are easy to grow and maintain. My large garden beds have been divided by stepping stones, for easy access to plants. Thanks for the Cultivate web site - didn"t know it existed. Glad the op is over and you can look forward to gardening with renewed vigour.
I wish you all the very best. We are very fortunate we live in this time when these ops can be done by our amazing doctors. Your back garden looks beautiful. Thank you for your interesting blogs and your helpful and inspiring information.
Can so relate to the first paragraph....that was me, out in the garden the whole day when younger! Now it"s an hour or two, and I have to come in for a break! Managing your life around arthritis sure has it"s challenges! Hope the op goes well. Am sure it will. I had partial knee replacement and had pain relief pretty well instantly! Best wishes Serena.
Here"s to a speedy recovery! I have a 20yo lumbar disk injury, much worse in the past 5, so I pay for any heavier garden work! I have raised benches for cuttings, orchids, zygo & epicactus, made from besser blocks & lengths of the galvanised fencing that was popular around schools & as front fences, all materials picked up from council cleanup, as well as a neatly folding plastic topped cafe table for pottng that I can easily moved around the garden. Where there is a will there is a way!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery Deidre. I had a new hip 2 years ago, wonderful it is, titanium with a ceramic head :-) Only advice I have to offer is make sure that you have some pain pills that are stronger than just paracetamol for the first week or so when you leave hospital. I left hospital on day 5 without the pain med back-up - too gung ho by half!
Take care Deirdre, we will be looking forward to your next posting, wether a post op update or another of your wonderful gardening insight. Looking forward to a new hipy hipy shaking Deirdre for spring!
Wishing you a speedy and rejuvenating recovery Deirdre! Now it s time to organise your photos and cross stitch some flowers.. While you wait to be able to bound about your garden again.
Just read an interesting article Deidre and thought of you whilst doing so - you might like to put it on your bucket List ;-) http://www.wellbeing.com.au/article/Retreats/London"s-secret-garden_1286?page=1 Best wishes again and enjoy the rest.
A new hip! What a blessing. You won"t know yourself! I"m also struggling with gardening in old age and found your blog so inspiring as always. So far I have a knee replacement which, while infinitely better than the real knee, is quite restrictive, and I can"t get down to weed or plant. Casual hired help seems to be hard to get in my area. I"ve had to adjust my definition of gardening, and am considering learning to love the exuberant weeds that grow through the cane mulch. Get well soon!
Only just read your blog; usually I read it as soon as it has arrived! Hopefully you will now be recovering from your operation and doing the boring but essential physio by now. A good friend of mine had a hip replacement five years ago at 45 and it has made an amazing difference. We cycle together regularly so it must be working very well. Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery and back to enjoying your garden again soon. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us all.


`This is a challenging book and makes for uncomfortable reading at times because one realises that there is so much more to be accomplished in education.
How can the teacher who wants to follow this further find out more?
Barbara MacGilchrist, Jane Reed and Kate Myers have given the next step: each chapter has a conclusion and "questions for discussion and activities" which are very open and will lead to considerable introspection' - Education Review`I have rarely been so enthusiastic about a book.
Reviewers are supposed to highlight some imperfections - I am at a loss.
Recommend this book to all you meet' - Mervyn Flecknoe, Improving Schools`This book would be an invaluable read for all who work in schools including LEA advisors, inspectors and consultants.
It contains a chapter on teachers' learning and has some excellent questions for discussion at the end of each chapter that could usefully stimulate ideas for staff development sessions.
It would be great if this book were read and taken seriously by those who make policy as well as those who try to put it into practice' - Escalate`The book is easy to use, clear, well organized, full of practical examples and equally practical questions.
It could be a signpost to the future - if the days of educational diktat are really almost over' - Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement, Friday Magazine`This Second Edition of The Intelligent School offers a concise and accessible insight into the key aspects of educational leadership.
In my view, it ought to be read by anyone who is keen to develop their understanding of theoretical frameworks expertly illustrated through practical examples' - Neil Saunders, Primary Phase Inspector - Hampshire LEA ,(Doctoral Student - The University of Hull)`This is an excellent book.
I will use its insights and the wealth of practical questions it offers to help with my present politically driven imperative - the transformation of London's secondary schools.
If I have this book at my elbow and make sure it's well thumbed, there is every chance that we can create 411 intelligent schools across London. The new insights in The Intelligent School are a testament to the extraordinary proficiency of these three authors.
As the waiter in the restaurant says when serving the meal "Enjoy"' - Tim Brighouse, Times Educational SupplementBarbara MacGilchrist, Kate Myers and Jane Reed have written a masterpiece.
The First Edition of the Intelligent School in 1997 was an outstanding book and it is no surprise that a Second Edition has followed relatively quickly to share more good news for practitioners, policymakers, researchers and scholars.
The First Edition shaped my thinking more than most in the late 1990's and I cited it in scores of presentations in different countries around the world.
It was a perfect complement to our work on the self-managing school.
In this Second Edition, the concept of the Intelligent School is expanded and the different kinds of intelligences are carefully explained and illustrated.
The authors are able to draw on more than five years of implementation in the field and further and broader work in the research and development centres with which they are associated.
They offer the best synthesis of the international literature on school effectiveness and school improvement that I have seen.
They have performed a great service in making this literature accessible to the profession.
I recommended the First Edition as essential reading for all the work in schools.
Those who did not do so should certainly acquire the second, but it is important that policymakers and academics do the same. `This book will quickly gain recognition as the leader among an increasing number of books that provide hope that all students in every setting can achieve a high quality education. It is one of the truly outstanding features of this book that it also conveys an unbridled spirit of optimism' - Brian Caldwell, Professor & Dean, Faculty of Education, University of MelbourneIn writing The Intelligent School, Second Edition, the authors offer a practical resource to schools to help them maximise their improvement efforts.
The aim is to help schools to be intelligent organizations; to be the type of school that can synthesise different kinds of knowledge, experience and ideas in order to be confident about current achievements, and to be able to decide what to do next.
This Second Edition has been fully revised and updated particularly in terms of new research evidence about how to improve the quality of learning and teaching in classrooms.
The authors set out fresh thinking about the nine intelligences and provide a new framework for school improvement which includes the exploration of spiritual, ethical and emotional intelligence.
The book also includes examples of Intelligent Schools in action.