text:
At Grassi's, spotting the best seats in the house is part of the fun
Go for the chicken Parm and cheesy bread. Stay for the Windsors.
Photo by George Mahe
Half a roast beef sandwich with giardinera and half a house salad (green olives are optional, but recommended). Lunch gets no better.
We came to Grassi's Ristorante & Deli for the chicken Parm, cheese garlic bread, and maybe a roast beef sandwich. Along with it, we found perhaps the most perfect chairs of any eatery in St. Louis.
Like those chairs, Grassi's is a hidden gem, tucked behind Forshaw at Conway and Lindbergh. The location is felicitous, however, situated near some of the region's most respected private high schools and venerable country clubs, though it seems decidedly odd for a place like Grassi's.
Photo by George Mahe
On a late autumn afternoon, service behind the counter is already in overdrive, the line at the cafeteria-style counter moving steadily, interrupted only when a cook must tell a first-timer to take a tray from the rack.The menu's posted overhead. It's largely the sort of Italian familiar to and beloved by St. Louisans.
Photo by Dave Lowry
There's golden-crusted Parmagiana—eggplant, veal, and chicken. Sauces for pasta span tomato sweet red, alfredo, and butter and garlic. Ravioli is toasted or boiled. Bricks of lasagna are hot enough to blister your palate. You want a classic? Try Mary Jo's Special, boiled cheese ravioli tossed with meatballs. And yes, there's the ubiquitous pasta and broccoli.
Photo by George Mahe
Photo by Dave Lowry
Sandwiches are a big seller. Some are packed between hefty handfuls of garlic cheese bread. A heap of freshly sliced beef sits on a wooden slab, ready for a dunk in beef jus, then tonging onto warm, fragrant bread. Sandwiches are layered with turkey or slices of salsiccia or some of that crackly crusted parmagiana. Every Wednesday, there's a best of both worlds special: a griddled meatball burger.
And there are salads of iceberg lettuce, crunchy and crisp, mixed en masse, topped with parmesan and the classic tumble of Provel. It's hard to get excited about an iceberg salad, but you kind of do at Grassi's. In an age of massaged kale, rocket, and charred parsnips, it's sort of like, "Hey, this is a perfectly lovely salad. Why don't more places serve something like it?" Your order's assembled right in front of you on the line. It's what cafeterias in schools should look like. Then, balancing your tray, you find your seat.
Photo by George Mahe
And that's when you see them: Windsors, reproductions of course, but unusually faithful ones. There are four of them, bowbacks, with graceful crest rails curving in an uninterrupted line, modeled after those originally crafted in New York before 1780 or so. The legs, with their baluster and vase turning, give a feel of lift, the same bulge mirrored in the inside stretcher that affords a feel of light but firm solidity. (A good Windsor of any sort "sits low and looks high.") Every line, every dimension works in harmony. You perch in that smooth saddle of a seat and can't resist running your fingers over the curve of the lip. You ease back and feel the spindles almost embrace you.
Photo by George Mahe
Few of the chairs at Grassi's match, though all of them look comfortable enough. Most of them are filled. Families are gathering. Many diners seem to know one another. Greetings, as more arrive, range from handshakes to an exchange of nods. A trio of cross-country runners fork into plates of pasta glistening with alfredo sauce, as if the notion of concern about calories was a long way in the future. Two older couples meet, both men with snow on the peaks and in high-waisted trousers, the women of that age old enough for muted color tunic tops but young enough that one catches a restrained whiff of Vent Verte. One couple chats as if it's a first date. Another couple sits in silence as the woman peruses the financial section of the Times and the husband works the crossword.
Sure, there are more chichi places nearby. But over a plate of chicken parm or a meatball sandwich, all slathered in a red sauce fragrant with basil and oregano, it's clear that Grassi's is the epicenter of informal dining in these parts. It's simply one of those places with a definitive sense of place, which makes it a place you really ought to try if you are not already a regular.
Even if it's just to sit in those chairs.
Photo by George Mahe
Grassi's Ristorante & Deli
10450 German, St Louis, Missouri 63131
Mon - Sat: 11 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Le Tricorne," the Picasso hanging in the Four Seasons restaurant for 55 years, will exit at midnight on Sunday.
It was the focus of a nasty dispute between Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen's RFR and the Landmarks Conservancy: Rosen wanted to move the art, the other side said it was too fragile.
In June they agreed to move it to the New-York Historical Society at Rosen's expense. Experts from Art Installation Design and Auer's Rigging will use special equipment for the job.
Four Seasons co-owner Julian Niccolini told us the painting "will be here for the next five days. During that time, we'll enjoy it and give it the standing ovation it deserves after nearly six decades as the backdrop of wild parties and quiet moments when families celebrate life's milestones. Everyone is welcome to stop in and see it before it leaves."


text:
Jo (Laila Robins) is dying. But that doesn't stop her and her husband, Sam (Michael Hayden), from having friends over to play party games in their spacious two-story home, sweepingly designed by John Arnone with a museum-width modernist staircase. At the start of Edward Albee's The Lady From Dubuque (Pershing Square Signature Center), they're playing Twenty Questions, and it's Sam's turn. "Who am I?" he asks. The question will be reiterated, in increasingly larger contexts, as Albee's troubling, frustrating, fascinating play speeds on.
In the game, Sam turns out to "be" two people, mythical twin brothers who have a fatal disagreement. But as Jo's pain increases, ratcheting up her hostility toward Sam and their guests, two mythical people, distinctly not brothers, arrive: a woman (Jane Alexander) claiming to be Jo's mother "from Dubuque," and her companion, Oscar (Peter Francis James), a man of color who claims to be many things and displays quasi-supernatural powers. Who are they? No answer they give satisfies Sam.
He can't get satisfaction, in part, because he hasn't fully answered his own initial question yet. Deep down, he doesn't know who he is, or who his friends are. A metaphysical allegory carried on in the brusque, "get-the-guests" tone of Virginia Woolf's middle act, the play has a political edge that keeps it from turning either cosmically airy or crass. Two strangers take over your house, overpower you, and watch approvingly while a supposedly close friend ties you up: Even allegorically, those events wouldn't sound metaphysical to an Eastern European.
But metaphysics is still the essence. Jo's impending death, the first fact we learn in the play, remains its constant, the harsh, simple truth that Sam is simultaneously striving to accept and refusing to absorb. At the end, he's alone, with untrustworthy friends and unexplained intruders both gone. As a statement, the play's complete: Albee has created a powerful, multi-layered image of dying and the sense of loss it brings, complete with feelings of helplessness, of the futile comfort friends offer, of a terrifying, inexplicable presence having invaded one's life. Even a multi-layered image, though, isn't a drama. Albee tilts this particular image in various directions, showing off its many facets, here the protracted agony, there the lame attempts at optimistic bravado. What he doesn't do is draw you through the experience across time—precisely theater's function. A sharp, witty, and astute playwright, he declines here, as in several of his other works, his obligations as a dramatist.
David Esbjornson's sleek yet surprisingly poignant production, with its strongly focused acting, underscores the missing element's absence. Robins's Jo, her devastating moans and screeches dazzlingly varied by stabs of caustic ferocity, makes such a powerful impression that the reduction of her role, in act two, to an occasional vague whimper seems an authorial lapse, supplying neither the slow waning nor the sudden disappearance that make a loved one's death so traumatic. After intermission, Jo is simply sort of there, and then sort of not.
Similarly, Albee shortchanges his metaphysical intruders. The title role apparently invites a star, and Jane Alexander unmistakably deserves that status. But Albee has given her little chance to unleash her star power, instead shifting our attention to Oscar, who initiates such action as the pair takes. His barbed badinage about race with Sam and his friends advances nothing, merely layering more politics onto the image. Francis James handles the role with suavity. Still, audience eyes keep turning to where Alexander sits, placidly inactive, lending her vibrancy to the intermittent remarks Albee has vouchsafed her.
Rarely has a playwright brought a goddess onstage to do so little. And this "lady from Dubuque"—who is not, as she carefully explains to us, The New Yorker's prototype-provincial "little old lady from Dubuque"—is, discernibly, a goddess, not Jo's biological mother but the serene Magna Mater who brings birth and death to us all. Yet divine intervention, in drama, should act as a catalyst, compelling the protagonist to grow to a realization of self. This doesn't happen: Sam simply remains, obdurate and puzzled. Hayden, stuck in this gnomic role, seems to have stopped digging at some point. One can't say the script encouraged him to search deeper. Riveting yet off-putting, it feels frozen, a fossil reality trapped in amber.


text:
Although chalk brood has a global distribution, little is
known about Australian strains of A. apis and its virulence toward honey bees. We are working to rectify that! Here are some pictures of culturing A. apis from chalk brood mummies last month.
Ascosphaera apis is the fungus that causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees. The spores of this fungus are extremely hardy and can stick around in honey, wax, pollen, bee bread and the hive architecture for up to 15 years! Bee larvae are fed the spores at about 3rd instar and if the conditions are right in the larval gut, the spores dormant and begin to grow hyphae. These hyphae puncture the larval gut lining and eventually the larval cuticle. The hyphae then grow all over the outside of the larva causing death about 3-5 days later during the 5th install- just as the larva is being capped over,
elongating in the sell and preparing to pupate.
If a larva succumbs to chalk brood infection the dead body will dry up and become a chalk-like white mummy in the brood cell. This type of fungus needs two mating types to reproduce. When hyphae of opposite mating types come onto contact, ascocarps are formed which is essentially a big spore cyst that contains smaller balls that contain spores. These ascocarps turn the mummy black and when they rupture distribute spores through the colony further spreading disease.


text:
The Technicolor Mikado Film (1939)
D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus
OperaWorld MIK03V
This film was a landmark in Gilbert & Sullivan history, the first time that a complete Savoy Opera was filmed for the silver screen. It was filmed in opulent technicolor, and most video transcriptions available today fail to capture its full glory.
The film takes considerable liberties with the libretto; it must be admitted that these would be unacceptable in stage production. For example, the film opens at the Mikado's court, with Nanki-Poo's father telling him that he must marry Katisha within a month or perish ignominiously on the scaffold. Cinematically, this strikes me as correct, since it is always better in the movies to show something happening rather than have a character talk about it after-the-fact. This is a luxury that Gilbert the playwright, who is constrained to set each act in a single time and place, doesn't always have. It is a forgivable liberty, however, as it only makes sense that a film director should take advantage of the medium where doing so enhances the story-telling. This masterpiece is is indispensable.
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company cooperated fully with this production, providing the chorus and two of the company's biggest stars (Green and Granville). Several other principals had D'Oyly Carte credentials, but exactly why they were chosen is unclear. For example, Gregory Stroud had a short stint with the Company in 1926, but his only roles were Grosvenor, Strephon, Florian, Giuseppe. Elizabeth Paynter (Nickell-Lean in her D'Oyly Carte days) was only a minor mezzo, and she had already left the Company when the film was made. Kathleen Naylor (Peep-Bo) also had a rather brief and undistinguished D'Oyly Carte career.
Robert Morrison observed that my comment about Gregory Stroud ignores his Australian career:
Although Gregory Stroud's appearances with the D'Oyly Carte had been limited to playing juvenile baritone roles in the 1926 season, he subsequently had considerable experience touring in the character baritone roles with the J. C. Williamson Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in both Australia and New Zealand. Stroud made his début with the company in 1931 and toured in all J.C.W.'s G&S seasons up to 1945 playing the roles of Counsel for the Plaintiff, Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, Captain Corcoran, Grosvenor, Strephon (and later Earl Mountararat), Florian, Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Guiseppe Palmieri and Pish-Tush.
OperaWorld MIK03V
(Another Version)
Correspondent Chuck Mathias is slightly less enthusiastic about the film than I am, especially as far as cuts are concerned:
While I agree that the 1939 Mikado has its charms, I think you should warn potential buyers of the appalling number of cuts. My young daughters (avid Savoyards both) and I watched in increasing dismay as one favorite number after another failed to show up (a Mikado without "There is beauty in the bellow of the blast"? — unthinkable, or so I would have thought!)
Jamie Moffat wrote:
This film is a curious hybrid; it has been neither completely rethought from the then-current D'Oyly Carte production, nor is it a photographed stage play. It falls somewhere in between, and the results were deemed somewhat unsatisfactory by the DOC stalwarts it seems.
The film's greatest assets IMHO are that it preserves some quite fabulous D'Oyly Carte performances, particularly Martyn Green and Sydney Granville. I also very much like the Pitti-Sing of Elizabeth Nickell-Lean, although she never played the role on stage, having always essayed Peep-Bo with D'Oyly Carte. The film is beautifully designed; the Technicolour is imaginatively used. I especially like that beautiful image of Yum-Yum poking her face out the window while Nanki-Poo serenades her. Most striking!
Gregory Stroud as Pish-Tush, pictured during the J. C. Williamson G&S Opera Co.'s 1940 season of The Mikado. He débuted in this role with the company in 1931.
The weaknesses I feel are that Darrell Fancourt does not play the title role, and that ring-ins Kenny Baker and Jean Colin don't bring much to the party, except for box office clout.
I don't count the various cuts to be a liability. Though I don't always agree that the right choices were made, it must be remembered that the film was made for a popular market. Operetta was big business in the 1930s. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy spearheaded this, and it was not unusual for film studios to buy up the rights to big, expensive shows and 'adapt' them for the movies. Which is to say, they rarely corresponded to their stage counterparts, except in spirit.
The Mikado is a case in point. It's big, it's lavish, the singing is fine, and it doesn't tax anyone too much. Like it or not, it's impossible to make a film of Gilbert and Sullivan and stick to the letter of the original without boring the audience. The two act form hampers this. Gilbert works in time frames that are alien to the cinema. The operas are mostly too long and too stagey to hold a cinema audience. G&S is essentially a theatrical experience, not a cinematic one, and what is a virtue on stage can be deadly on film. Rupert D'Oyly Carte no doubt recognised this. Look at the 1966 film to see what I mean; it's a fine record of the company and the opera, and to the G&S buff its fine, but for the greater audience — forget it!
I suspect that the 1939 film was a bit of an experiment for D'Oyly Carte — it's debatable whether they intended to film more operas. I suspect not. At any rate, how many of the Savoy Operas would lend themselves to this sort of treatment?
Chris Buchman wrote:
Sheet music cover contemporaneous with the film
I'm curious to know if there were (or are) two different versions issued in the States. I saw the film when I was a young lad in the late 1940s, and I distinctly recall it containing the chorus "We are gentlemen of Japan," which was, in part, visually interpreted by a series of large vases in the Mikado's court, each with semi-Japanese characters forming a face (the faces seeming to be somewhat alive). The video I have omits such a sequence — hence my suspicions of there possibly being two versions. I also don't recall the version I initially viewed as having a Prologue. Then, too, the running time of the video is contrary to the slightly over 90 minutes noted in a variety of sources, including an ancient Universal rental library catalogue.
I have the Home Vision VHS video, and there are a number of splices in the pre-print material (or in the very print transferred to tape) that indicate footage excluded and re-inserted. I often wonder if the Prologue was designed for the U.S. market. I certainly don't remember it when I saw it dozens of times on early TV — viewings I distinctly remember having the "We are gentlemen of Japan" opener and semi-animated vase/face montage edited to the song ("on vase and jar, on screen and fan…").
The Little List Song
One of the "missing" numbers is the Little List song, but there is a story here. Dan Kravetz wrote:
The Little List song was filmed — I saw it in a print shown about 20 years ago at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There were many missing frames in that version, rendering it barely watchable, but I did see a shot of a Japanese man with a Hitler mustache during "apologetic statesmen." The song was completely cut out of every version I've ever seen on television and every home video version I've examined. The use of a Hitler figure might be the reason for eliminating the number from the film.
Stephen Thoroughgood wrote:
Several years ago, my Mother (still alive) told me that she saw the Mikado film when it was shown on 'general release' at a cinema in Potters Bar where she lived at the time, and that the little list song was included. At the line "that singular anomaly" Green sang "all men who look like this" and produced a picture of Hitler.
Charles Schlotter added:
I thought the cut seemed very abrupt. I simply assumed that it was eliminated from circulating prints because of the "n-word" serenader and perhaps I am right — that is the reason. The possibility that it was eliminated because it might have offended post-WWII Hitler enthusiasts is a deliciously Gilbertian alternative explanation.
Peter Parker observes:
I have in front of me the programme for the première of this film and can confirm it was 12th January 1939 at The Leicester Square Theatre and was given in aid of the Boy Scouts Appeal Fund in the presence of the then Duke and Duchess of Kent. This programme contains "The Story" of the Mikado as filmed. This version contains no reference whatever to the Little List song; that episode being entirely left out in the descriptive story. That to me is conclusive evidence that the item although filmed was never included in the publically shown version, at least in UK. As that number is one of the highlights of the Mikado it would hardly have been overlooked by the storywriter for the programme.
There's no question that the number was "censored"; reviewer Frank S. Nugent, writing for The New York Times on June 4, 1939, wrote: "Pressed for an explanation, Universal whispered something about the song's having been censored abroad and arriving here in scarred strips of film: most mysterious." Nugent also complained about the absence of "There's Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast".
Background on the Cast
A shot from the film of The Mikado. Ko-Ko (Martyn Green) embraces his bride-to-be, Yum-Yum (Jean Colin) watched by Pitti-Sing (Elizabeth Paynter), Peep-Bo (Kathleen Naylor), Pish-Tush (Gregory Stroud) and Pooh-Bah (Sydney Granville). This is evidently a posed still, as in the actual film Nanki-Poo is standing next to Pooh Bah in this scene, not Pish-Tush.
Chris Webster commented on the backgrounds of several cast members:
Pitti-Sing was played by Elizabeth Nickell-Lean who used the name Elizabeth Paynter for the film. She had left the company a year before the film was made, having been with them playing small roles since 1931. Her regular role in The Mikado was Peep-Bo, and she does not appear to have played Pitti-Sing on stage at all. From an historical point of view, it would really have been far more preferable for us if she had played Peep-Bo in the film, given the number of years that she played the role on stage, and in view of the fact that she never was a stage Pitti-Sing.
Peep-Bo was played by Kathleen Naylor, who had very recently left the company in July 1938. She had been with them since 1933. She joined as a chorister (perhaps understudying roles) and went to play small roles, although she only "inherited" Peep-Bo from Elizabeth Nickell-Lean in 1937 and played this for the one year that she "out-stayed" EN-L.
Perhaps it was because Naylor had been the most recent Peep-Bo that she was given the role over EN-L, or perhaps E-NL got the larger role because she had more experience in general.
Pish-Tush was played by Gregory Stroud, who had been a short term principal with the company from December 1926 to the end of that season in July 1927, playing the roles of Grosvenor, Strephon, Florian and Giuseppe. The relevant detail for us is that Stroud was not a stage Pish-Tush.
I can't tell you a great deal about Constance Willis (Katisha) or John Barclay (The Mikado) off the top of my head, but I do remember an interesting note stating (without any further references) that Barclay was known for playing in G&S in the States. Jean Colin (Yum-Yum) was known for her work in musical comedy and was already a star in her own right when the film was made. Kenny Baker (Nanki-Poo) had become a star through US radio and had recently been successful in a film.
DID YOU KNOW?? Deanna Durbin was on the shortlist to play Yum-Yum.
The Encore System
As originally intended, the film employed a unique system allowing encores to be shown according to audience demand — as was done in D'Oyly Carte stage performances of the time. A "placard" would be displayed at the start of the film saying that if applause warranted it, certain pieces would be encored. Depending on the projectionist's judgement, the main projector would be shut off and an auxiliary projector simultaneously turned on, showing the encore(s). This contrivance does not seem to have been uniformly popular, but it did not stop the studio from applying for a patent!
In the film as distributed on home video, there is no placard, but there are set encores for "Here's a how de do" and "The flowers that bloom in the spring." It is not clear how many others may have been filmed that are no longer in distribution. The encores definitely were not the same as the original stagings. [Read more about it.]
The DVD Re-Issue
In late 1998, the film was re-issued on DVD, about which John Cooledge had these comments:
The new Image Entertainment DVD of the 1939 film of The Mikado is a much better transfer than the VHS tape that I obtained from Opera World a few years ago. The DVD appears to have been dubbed from a considerably better-preserved source than the VHS and doesn't contain the butchered splices that so mar the latter. The DVD sound is somewhat better as well, particularly with respect to reducing (though not entirely eliminating) flutter due to rapid fluctuation in speed, but I suspect that more could have been done to remove some of the raucous quality and random mechanical noises.
A very cursory initial comparison of the VHS and DVD shows some differences in the editing: for starters, some of the technical credits which appear at the start of the VHS are at the end of the DVD, and are replaced at the start of the DVD with a synopsis of the film's "prologue." More detailed comparisons are clearly demanded, not least by the fact that the running times given on the respective packages indicate that the DVD is some six minutes shorter than the VHS! (Perhaps the VHS incorporates some of the "encore" footage?)
Mitchell Ormann adds:
I noticed a difference between the DVD and VHS versions during "My object all sublime." The VHS has a chorus of nobles that sing "Yes" after the Mikado lists each punishment. The DVD has the same video footage as the VHS of the nobles singing but omits the sung "Yes," which makes it look very odd on the DVD with the nobles mouthing "yes" but no sound coming out. I also noticed that Chris Webster's sound track CD version [below] also lacks the repeated "Yes."
The CD Re-Issue
Sounds on CD, headed up by Chris Webster, has mastered the audio soundtrack onto CD. There is enough room on the CD to accommodate all of the musical numbers and many of the dialogue scenes. Michael Walters had these comments about the CD:
Sounds on CD VGS 203
Chris Webster brought me round a copy of a test pressing of the CD he has been preparing, details of which he has posted to the net. I had to sit down and listen to it, and thought he has done an excellent job. It proved to be absolutely fascinating to listen to the sound without the distraction of looking at the film at the same time, and I can strongly recommend it. One of the most interesting things was to hear how much more animated Martyn Green and Sydney Granville are on the sound track than they are on their gramophone records (which sound boring by comparison) and how often they as well as the rest of the cast half-speak lines rather than singing them — again in sharp contrast to the records. I noted also how melodramatic Sydney Granville's dialogue sounds, very different from present day delivery.
Listeners will probably find Kenny Baker's Nanki-Poo a misjudgement. He sings beautifully (albeit with an American accent), but his acting is atrocious. One gets the impression that he simply did not understand the humor at all. However, for the performances of Green and Granville alone, the CD is a delight.
Kenny Baker on Records
Though not properly within the scope of this site, Chris Webster thought that readers would be interested to know that two of Kenny Baker's songs from the film, "The moon and I" and "A wand'ring minstrel," were released on 78rpm records. Though described as "from the film," these were studio recordings conducted by one Nat W. Finston.
The 78rpm release was HMV BD 741, published between June and December, 1939. There was an EP release, HMV 7EG 8089, with the two G&S selections on one side, and unrelated material on the other side. The two songs are also on a recent Kenny Baker retrospective CD, AJA CD 5251.
|Public Media Home Vision
|Nov. 1998
|Image Entertainment
|Sounds on CD
|Audio soundtrack


text:
Mourinho turns attention to Torres as Rooney transfer drags
Chelsea made an official offer for Wayne Rooney only about a month ago. Back then, it looked like it would be only a matter of time before the striker wore the blue of Chelsea. United rejected the initial bid of around £20 million. It has been rumoured that Chelsea would be upping the offer to around £30 million, but it has so far not arrived. According to research conducted by Ladbrokes, around 68% of people are favourable towards his move to Chelsea.
Mourinho recently stated that the club could easily spend around £30 million without having to worry about UEFA financial fair play regulations. Even though there is still a month to go before the transfer window shuts closes, there has been no development on the Rooney front.
"The club are working hard to keep the numbers in balance but we can still invest in a player who costs £20m, £25m, £30m and not break the balance. We don't need to sell to do that." – Mourinho
According to Metro, Chelsea are preparing a £40 million bid for the player. Apparently, Rooney will decide on his future after playing in a couple of friendly matches – to see the fans reaction – for United.
Due to the uncertainty, José Mourinho looks like he has turned his attention to getting the best out of what he has – Fernando Torres.
Mourinho said, "We know Torres's game. When we see Torres with his back to goal surrounded by two or three opponents, we know that he is not going to produce a piece of magic. But this is Torres.
"We won't re-model his game, it is impossible to re-model his game. But we want to adapt the team and teach the team how to use his best qualities.
"He is not a kid any more, he is at an age where it is difficult to change his play.
"So let's see what happens. We are here to support him."
Liverpool got the best out of him by playing to his strengths. Even though he had a decent campaign last season, it did not utilise his strengths to the max.
On the contrary, there have been some situations where the Torres of old would have buried the opportunity. For some reason, his finishing appears to have dropped from those exemplary standards.
Can he become great once again? Leave your thoughts below.


text:
Priceline Leaves Investors Wanting More
The third quarter was a tough one for the travel industry, with major hurricanes hitting key travel areas like Florida, Texas, and the Caribbean. Peers throughout the online travel realm had already given poor reports of their financial success during the period, but leading travel website provider Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN) had hoped to overcome those negatives to produce solid growth and continue a long streak of success.
Coming into Monday's third-quarter financial report, Priceline investors had every expectations that the company would be able to keep delivering the gains in revenue and earnings that they had come to rely on from the travel giant. Priceline did manage to post impressive growth, but the results didn't live up to the exceptional performance that some shareholders demand. Let's look more closely at how Priceline Group did and what's ahead for the rest of the year from the travel specialist.
Priceline's business defies stormy times
Priceline's third-quarter results remained good despite tough conditions. Revenue rose 20% to $4.43 billion, which was markedly higher than the $4.34 billion consensus forecast among those following the stock. Similarly, adjusted net income of $1.76 billion was up 19% from year-ago levels. That produced earnings per share of $35.22, which was greater than the $34.25 per share that most investors were expecting to see.
Priceline's key metrics continued to show a steady pace of expansion for the company, but they also showed signs of slowing in key areas. Overall gross bookings were up 18% from year-earlier levels to $21.76 billion, benefiting from about 2 percentage points of favorable foreign currency impacts. International operations had a slightly larger contribution to gross profit during the quarter than domestic business, but the difference was again very slight.
The key area that raised eyebrows was once again the segment breakout figures. Hotel sales growth continued to decelerate, with 177.5 million room nights representing growth of 19% year over year, its first sub-20% reading in the past two years from that key metric. Even more troubling was the fact that rental car days and airline tickets dropped from what Priceline sold in the second quarter of 2017, and year-over-year growth of just 5.5% in rental cars to 19 million car-days also marked a much slower growth rate than the company has seen since mid-2015. Airline tickets fell almost 12% year over year to 1.7 million, continuing a long string of declines on that side of the business.
CEO Glenn Fogel tried to point toward the company's successes. "Booking.com showed continued momentum," Fogel said, "with approximately 1.5 million properties on its platform, up 41% over last year." Pointing to the nearly 27 million potential bookable rooms that it has at its disposal, the CEO believes that Booking.com has the largest and most diverse set of accommodations available in the industry.
Can Priceline bounce back?
Interestingly, the press release announcing the results made no mention of the hurricanes that hit during the period. Instead, the company focused on general strategic moves for its future success. As Fogel put it, "We will continue to focus on making the right investments across our brands -- in people, systems, and marketing -- to continue to grow our business for the long term."
Yet investors are having a hard time accepting the slowing trajectory for Priceline's future gains in key metrics. For the fourth quarter, the online travel specialist predicted that room nights booked might rise at a sluggish pace of just 8% to 13%, with gross travel bookings climbing by only 9.5% to 14.5% despite a four percentage point tailwind from favorable currency impacts. Adjusted net income of $13.40 to $14 per share was well below the $15.57 per share that represented the consensus forecast among those following the stock. Moreover, even for those who are familiar with Priceline's habit of understating its performance expectations, the extent to which the guidance range came in under current forecasts made some investors nervous about just how much of a slowdown Priceline might have to face.
Priceline investors weren't happy with the report, and the stock dropped almost 7% in after-hours trading following the announcement. If travel bounces back from the adverse weather we've seen lately, then Priceline's business fundamentals could follow suit. For now, though, even long-term investors will need to watch future growth rates closely to make sure that their investing thesis for holding the online travel giant's stock remains intact.
10 stocks we like better than Priceline GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*
David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Priceline Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
Click here to learn about these picks!
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017
Dan Caplinger owns shares of Priceline Group. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Priceline Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


text:
Friday, January 20, 2012
Xmas Tree Revisited
I've had a request to post the directions for making the Xmas tree that I showed in the previous post, I'd love it, so stay tuned! I should have those up in a week or two. In the meantime, in answer to your questions, I used 1 and 1/2 bandana to make the tree.
Labels: Xmas Trees
1 comment:
- AnonymousJanuary 21, 2012 at 8:04 PM
Oh good! Looking forward to it.ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Super Frugal Stephanie is celebrating 20K!
Prizes include 2 Diamond Candles & 2 Hidden Treasure Candles! These candles have prizes worth up too 5K in them! Including the possibility of winning an iPad or even Tiffany Jewelry!
From Super Frugal Stephanie: "Thank you for all your support and helping me reach this milestone! I appreciate it so much! I love being here to help you all save and bringing you product reviews and giveaways! Stay tuned for many other exciting events in the future! I would also like to thank all of the bloggers who have supported me and for joining in this giveaway for my celebration!"
Please enter to win one of 4 candles using the Rafflecopter below. Be sure to do the tasks before submitting the rafflecopter entry. Good Luck!


text:
ICSI Recruitment 2018 – CRC Executives(50)
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India Centre has invited online applications from qualified candidates for CRC Executives posts. The candidates will be selected on the basis of performance in written test and/or interview. The total number of vacancies is 50. The applications have to be submitted online on the official website of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India Centre.
- CRC Executives -50
Eligibility Criteria
- Member of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
Pay Scale
- Rs. 33000 – 40000/- (Per Month)
Age Limit
- Max age limit 32 years (As on 01.08.2018)
Application Fee
- There is No Application Fee.
Last Date
- 10 September 2018
Official Links
- Official Notification Click Here
- Apply Online Click Here


text:
Customer Reviews
It cam with a beat up nose cone but LOC got it replaced in around 3 days have not flown it but I can not wait to fly it!
Easy to build. Did some minor upgrades like some tip-to-tip fiberglass and she handles 'H' motors just fine.
Recommend you upgrade the size of the parachute for desert landings!
Title says it all. It is a nice rocket with the additional fins for interest, and function. This was a quick build. Flys well on high thrust Mid power motors, or go High power with anything that fits.
This was my first mid powered rocket I built. It was fairly easy to put together and it flies really well. Kit came with everything you need, except glue. Big rocket for the price. Highly recommend.
My favorite mid-power rocket with high power capabilities. From small fields on an F to larger fields on H motors, the rocket is a fantastic flyer. Dozens and dozen of flights and it's still going strong. Want a compact 4" airframe that can fly anywhere? This is your bird.


text:
Tower Bridge: Uncovering the history of a London landmark
From a mysterious early parachute jumper to the Victorian construction workers who risked their lives over the Thames, the history of Tower Bridge is full of fascinating personal stories. Dirk Bennett looks back at some of the unsung heroes connected to the London landmark…
Tower Bridge bridgemaster AP Rabbit and his crew. The unsung heroes of the bridge's history are being celebrated in a new exhibition. (Tower Bridge)
The story of Tower Bridge really begins well before its official opening on 30 June 1894. Throughout the 19th century the growing traffic congestion in London increased the calls for an additional river crossing and finally in 1876, a special sub-committee was set up to tackle the issue. After some public wrangling, a royal assent for a new bridge was granted in 1885, and the Corporation of London (since renamed the City of London Corporation) launched a design competition. The winner was architect and surveyor Horace Jones. In 1886, under Jones's supervision, a mammoth building project began.
After eight years of construction, employing at times nearly 1,000 workers, Tower Bridge opened in 1894 and quickly became not only an essential part of London's urban infrastructure but also an undisputed symbol of the city.
An invitation to the official opening of Tower Bridge in 1894. (Getty Images)
Dangerous construction work
Steelworkers, divers, carpenters, painters, riveters, platers, steam crane drivers, holder-ups; countless different trades and companies were involved in the bridge's construction. Most of the companies involved in the project have since disappeared and the records of their workers with them. Until several years ago, little more than the names of the major architects and engineers were known. Some of these men were real Victorian success stories. William Arrol & Co of Glasgow, for example, was responsible for the steelworks. At the time of construction Arrol's firm was one of Britain's leading civil-engineering businesses, involved in major construction projects including the Forth Bridge, Tay Bridge and the gantry [a huge scaffold around a ship's hull] of the Titanic.
In some cases, like in Newcastle and the Glasgow City Archives, lists and documents have survived. The latter holds the records of William Arrol's staff, providing a rich source of personal stories, work records and social history. It is because of these records that we now know the names of some of the riveting gangs; the teams of men and boys responsible for hammering the millions of rivets into place that hold the bridge's structure together. These gangs were often made up of families who worked in tandem on site. One such family were the Heaneys: father John, a riveter, and his sons, William, John and Edward.
Work on Tower Bridge could be strenuous and dangerous. (Tower Bridge Exhibition)
The salary for rivet gangs was one pence per rivet; for one week's work in April 1892 the Heaneys were paid £11 9s 6d as a team. However, the physical exertion and likely hearing damage associated with the job must have taken their toll. Edward's later army records describe him as 5ft 5in tall with a burn scar on the inside of his right arm - most probably an injury sustained during his gruelling work as a riveter.
More like this
Working on Tower bridge could be extremely dangerous, and the building project witnessed tragic fatalities. On 25 April 1888, 20-year-old Richard Bacon fell to his death in the caissons [large cases lowered into the Thames to build the piers]. His death certificate, coroner's report and the notification for his funeral are still in the family's possession – a poignant reminder of the often treacherous work involved in building the bridge.
The first known female employee at Tower Bridge was Hannah Griggs, who worked as a cook between 1911 and 1915. Griggs is one of the few women who worked at the bridge in the early years. We know only two more women's names from this early period, Laura Gass, a tracer [who did drawings and copies of drawings] and Alice Lilly Bode, a clerk. It may well be that both were attracted to the job because of existing family links to the bridge. It was a common occurrence among the bridge's workforce to already have fathers, siblings or friends working here.
Hannah Griggs, the first known female employee at the Tower Bridge. Griggs worked as a cook between 1911 and 1915. (Tower Bridge Exhibition)
Stunts and capers
The bridge has been a constant magnet for all kinds of reckless, cheeky and occasionally downright criminal behaviour. There is, for example, faded film footage of a strange and intriguing incident in 1917. It shows a man throwing himself off the high-level walkways. He falls for a few seconds towards the river dragging a blooming cloud of dark cloth behind him before splashing into the waters beneath. At that time the walkways were already closed to the public due to lack of use. We do not know if there was an agreement with the then bridge master, John Gass, or if the perpetrator illegally climbed and jumped off the structure, but the fact that the stunt was filmed indicates careful preparation. The jumper's name was Thomas Hans Orde-Lees, a British adventurer and inventor, born in Aachen, Germany. His aim was to convince the Royal Flying Corps of the benefits of parachutes for the pilots of the fledgling Royal Air Force. His demonstration was successful and the bridge became considered the surprising birthplace of the Royal Parachute Regiment.
Tower Bridge has also been an attractive landmark for attention-grabbing aerial displays, starting in 1912 with Frank McLean – the first of many fly-throughs between the towers and underneath the high-level walkways. Today, of course, such stunts are strictly prohibited.
Capturing imaginations
Kevin McClory may be better known as a producer and writer on the James Bond films Thunderball and Never Say Never Again but in 1959 he directed a little cinematic gem that today is almost forgotten. It is just one example of the bridge's enormous appeal that transcends its role as a mere river crossing. The Boy and the Bridge tells the story of Tommy, a little boy who runs away to Tower Bridge after a misunderstanding with his father. He strikes up a friendship with a seagull and sets himself up high inside the north tower.
Shot entirely on location, the film is full of fascinating views of a London that still bears the scars of the Second World War. Particularly intriguing are the views from Tommy's lookout in the north tower of the bridge. He looks over a London cityscape that, apart from a few unmovable landmarks, is near unrecognisable to modern eyes. The contrast becomes all the more striking when night falls and London descends into utter darkness, interrupted by only occasional shards of light – a marked contrast to the shimmering, sparkling, glittering panorama that unfolds today once the sun has set.
The Frederick Cook painting 'A Flying-bomb Over Tower Bridge', which depicts the bridge in the midst of the Second World War. Following the war, the London cityscape seen from Tower Bridge was "near unrecognisable to modern eyes", says Dirk Bennett. (IWM via Getty Images)
The bridge's appeal in popular culture remains to this day, as indicated by its appearance in blockbuster films such as Mission Impossible and even in computer games such as Assassin's Creed and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Uncovering the lost voices of Tower Bridge
The bridge has always been an important workplace, however, our knowledge about those who worked there had been scant until a few years ago. Thanks to members of the public sharing their stories and our own targeted research our awareness has now vastly increased.
Finding names of past employees of the bridge resembles detective work: far less is known than you might expect. Some details can be found in the London Metropolitan Archives, but much of it remains the stuff of family folklore, proudly preserved. Visitors can often be overheard referring to relatives who worked at the bridge and much of what is now on display in our new permanent exhibition in the Victorian Engine Rooms is the result of our many conversations with these visitors. Many of the new records come from visitors, descendants of former employees, who often keep documents, photographs and personal mementoes in the family.
Stan Fletcher, a bridge foreman. "Finding names of past employees of the bridge resembles detective work", says Dirk Bennett. (Tower Bridge Exhibition)
The findings are often surprising, even to the families. After his death, one former employee, Edward 'Ted' Forrest, was found to have kept two scrap books documenting his time at the bridge. For more than 30 years he collected information about events and incidents, often forgotten but always fascinating. Thanks to his son, some of that information is now accessible to visitors. Another visitor, whose great-grandfather Charles Bull rose from stoker to bridge driver in the early 20th century, felt compelled to start her own research project and has since uncovered the names of over 150 members of staff who worked at the bridge since 1894.
Preserving these voices is a task that the bridge's current staff embrace. They are not just part of the story of a national landmark but also of London's social and cultural history. The names of many of those involved in the bridge's history are now celebrated in a 'Walk of Fame'; a series of plaques on the bridge's south-east footpath unveiled in Spring 2017.
Yet there is still much more research to be done. For example, the names of the divers who in long and tiring shifts worked to clear the riverbed in preparation for the bridge's massive foundations are yet to be uncovered. And so our research goes on. As do our conversations with the relatives of the unsung heroes who helped make Tower Bridge the national treasure it is today.
Dirk Bennett is the Exhibition Development Manager at the Tower Bridge Exhibition. If you have any personal stories or family connections to Tower Bridge, Dirk's team would love to hear from you at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Subscribe to BBC History Magazine and receive a signed copy of 2023 edition Windrush: 75 years of modern Britain by Mike Phillips and Trevor Philips
As a print subscriber you will also get FREE access to HistoryExtra.com worth £34.99


text:
Any questions? Call us on 01494 887909
If you are struggling with an injury sustained during a workout, then you are likely to be exploring several ways to speed up your recovery so you can resume your training programme. Whilst searching for methods to heal the damage you are likely to have come across CBD oil, a natural remedy becoming widely available. Here we take a look at what CBD oil is and the benefits that it can have.
CBD oil is an extract of the cannabis plant and is commonly used to reduce pain and inflammation.
In 2018, a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed CBD may help treat symptoms relating to Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, MS, pain, anxiety, depression, cancer and diabetic complications.
As CBD does not contain THC (the part of cannabis that will get you high) then CBD is considered a legal substance in the UK.
There are many studies being completed on CBD and the benefits that it has. However, initial research indicates that it can help to alleviate pain and the MHRA in the UK has now classed CBD as a medicine, insisting it meets strict safety, quality and efficiency standards. As a result, there are now two medicines containing CBD available in the UK as well as a number of supplementary products.
CBD is available in many formats, including oils, balms, ointments, drops, capsules and even vaping liquid and can be used to treat some painful illnesses and injuries.
The content level of CBD can range from 5 to 20% so do some research about what you are looking to treat and the level of CBD that you would need.
As with any supplements, it is important to understand how much is within the product that you buy and to follow advice of how frequently to take it to ensure that you don't take more than the recommended daily dose.
Research indicates that CBD affects the receptors that receive pain signals from the brain. CBD oil has anti-inflammatory effects that can reduce inflammation and relieve pain. It can also give you calmness and ultimately ease the pain that you are experiencing.
If using CBD oil to treat pain, then it can be most effective when applied topically to the affected area. Applying it twice a day can reduce pain and swelling. Some formats can be used as a food additive so can reach the bloodstream faster. The most appropriate application will depend on the type of the injury that you have. If you wish to learn more, please read one of our recent blog articles Returning To Training After An Injury.
Sports personalities have been using CBD for a number of years. For example, cyclist Floyd Landis has been using CBD since 2015 to help with muscle recovery and US Basketball athletes are now permitted to use it as a supplement. There are no studies to prove that it can improve your performance when training, but it can help alleviate pain that you may be experiencing.
CBD is becoming increasingly available within Health Food Shops with retailers such as Holland and Barrett listing it. As with all supplements, it is advised to source from a reputable supplier.
So, if you are looking for a product to support you in your workout recovery plan or you are a personal trainer keen to understand more about how to support your clients suffering with an injury, then consider CBD oil. When used in the correct way, it can help to reduce pain and inflammation and could get you, or your client back to training!


text:
We are sorry to report that the Whiz Kid Games website no longer works in modern browsers.
We know that this website was still being used by thousands of kids around the world, every single day, and would love to rebuild the games using newer technologies, but we need your support.
To help rebuild the Whiz Kid Games website, please click here.
Science Island is a unique educational game that teaches kids about STEM. The game is launching early as a free beta version to support and inspire children around the world, who's learning has been affected by the Corona Virus.


text:
You may feel like you can't summon up the energy to get up and go, you feel tired and lethargic all the time, or you don't feel like you can face the world. If so, this revitalising plan is for you. In as few as three days, you can reinvigorate your body, improve your energy levels and bring back that enthusiasm that seemed lost.
The energy process
Energy is created in the body from food. When we eat, our bodies break down ingested food into glucose, which is the main sugar that we use for fuel. It can do this from any food: cakes, rare steaks, spinach. Healthy or unhealthy, the body can use food as energy. However, its favourite sources are carbohydrate foods like fruit, vegetables, bread pastas and rice, because these foods can be broken down, it is combined with oxygen. This 'burns' the sugar and turns it into a unit of energy called adenosine triphosphate, which the cells then use store and use when they need it.
In a healthy, fatigue-free body, this process works without any problems and, as a result, we spend each day fully functioning and raring to go. Sometimes this energy process breaks down, however, and this is when we start to feel tired.
What goes wrong?
Many things can interfere with the energy process, but these are the four main problems:
1. You don't have enough nutrients to trigger energy conversion.
2. You don't have enough blood-sugar to produce energy quickly and cleanly.
3. You don't have enough oxygen in the system.
4. You don't have enough mitochondria – the constituents of cells that turn glucose into fuel
The solution – high energy plan
By following the energising plan you will boost your body and feel reinvigorated. Although it is given here as a daily plan, you should follow the plan for at least three days. Doing this will double up your energy levels in a long weekend, however one week is the optimum time to follow the programme
7:20 am
If you do not enjoy waking up early, try using a daylight alarm. This will at least wake your body up more gently. The level of light is slowly raised in the room, waking you up slowly and calmly.
07:30 am
Take Supplements one multivitamin supplement (Earthsource Wholefood multiple formula), one probiotic supplement (Advanced acidophilus) and one capsule of fish oil (Fish Oil Concentrate) (or if your vegetarian one evening primrose oil) with a large glass of water. This is the first of eight glasses of water you will drink over the entire day – aim roughly for one glass an hour. The supplements will not only provide nutrients but will also aid your digestion, maximising what you can absorb from food. Leave half an hour between these and eating.
07:40 am
Gentle stretching can be done outside or at least facing a window, which adds to your energy banks because sunlight stops production of the sleep- inducing hormone melatonin
07:50 am
Body-Brush Using a natural-bristled brush with medium-hard bristles, brush each are of your body with long, firm (but not hard) strokes. Always start with the soles of your feet, because stimulating these actually starts the lymph flowing. Brush smoothly 4-5 times, always in the direction of the heart, moving around the whole body part. Do this around your calves, then your thighs and hips. Now do your arms, chest, torso and back. Finally, brush your stomach. Once you've finished, shower or at least rinse yourself well. As well as obviously cleaning the skin, the repeated motion of brushing or scrubbing the body causes the speed of the circulation to increase (helping flush toxins out of the system faster), and this is also believed to promote lymph flow.
08:00 am
Get your breakfast B vitamins B Vitamins are vital to the energy levels of your body, and breakfast foods are an excellent source. For best results, choose a bowl of organic wholegrain cereal with oat/rice/soya/dairy milk. Alternatively rye toast or spelt with sugar free fruit jam or honey. Enjoy fruit of your choice with these. If you're used to having a coffee in the morning skipping it will make you more tired. Try a natural dandelion coffee or another type of natural substitute found in your health food store
10:00 am
'De-Junk' your day. Energy is not just sapped physically form our bodies, it is also sapped mentally by stress, worry and feelings of being overwhelmed. Whether you work in an office or are busy at home, clearing out physical and mental clutter should be your first job. Tidy your desk, sort out any bills, or any other necessary paperwork that you really don't want to do. When this is finished it will feel like a weight has been lifted fro you and your energy will start to soar.
11:20 am
Time for a healthy snack Not only does eating little and often keep the blood-sugar levels in the body stable, but it also boosts energy in other ways. Digesting foods uses energy, and meals that are too large can fatigue the body. Healthy snacks, such as fruit, take the edge off your appetite and stop you overeating at meals.
13:00 pm
Eat a good lunch This meal should boost your oxygen and fluid levels in the body, giving you energy to face the afternoon when energy levels dip. Good oxygen-boosting foods are watercress, spinach, dark cabbage, lettuce and sprouts. Also fill up on fluid-heavy foods like celery, cucumber, fennel, apples, pears, watermelon, grapefruit and grapes. Finally include some asparagus, since this (along with alfalfa) helps neutralise the natural toxin ammonia produced within our body, a common cause of fatigue.
Take one Earthsource wholefood (Solgar) multivitamin and mineral formula to enhance your energy levels and cleansing for the rest of the day.
15:00 pm
Head outside By now, the air in your office, or even at home, is likely to be low in oxygen, boosting your feelings of fatigue. Go for a quick walk, or stretching in fresh air.
18:00 pm
Be active – walk or do some exercise. Toxins have the ability to sap our energy by acting negatively on the mitochondria within the body. If you build up muscle through exercise, you also increase the number of mitochondria. Take 30 mins every other day on this plan to do some kind of aerobic or strength training, and ideally do it between 4 pm and pm.
20:00 pm
Eat your evening meal Overnight the body regenerates and naturally detoxes, so the focus on your evening meal should be to provide an ample supply of detoxifying foods to boost this process. You should combine these with carbohydrates; while these are primarily energy givers, in doses of more than 75g (3 oz) at one time they can calm the body and promote sleep.
Blend yourself a bedtime bath Bathing stimulates the natural cooling process the body uses to trigger sleep hormones. Add some of the essential oil marjoram, which has a sedative effect, but also fortifying to the body, helping create strength for the next day. Add 3 drops of marjoram and 3 drops of calming mandarin to your bath, lie back and relax.
Go to bed Getting a good night's sleep is essential as it is how the body repairs and recharges.
Suggested lunch menu
A glass of "high energy juice"!
Put each of the following through the juicer, then mix together and shake well. Drink immediately…..
6 slices of pineapple
1 banana
6 fresh strawberries
1 handful of wheatgrass
PLUS…..choose a 50g (2oz) portion of one (or a mix) of the following:
Salmon, anchovies, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines, sunflower seeds, walnuts,or cashews. These protein foods create a slowly burned form of energy and provide high levels of essential fatty acids.
ADD…. protein to one of the following energising vegetable bases, using as much of each vegetables as you like.
• Fluid fuel:
Cucumber, lettuce, celery, chopped apple and a few slices of pear.
• Quick cleanse:
Asparagus, cherry tomatoes and yellow peppers on a bed of alfalfa.
• Steamed and simple:
Steamed cabbage, carrot, mushrooms, asparagus and mangetout.
• Sunshine salad:
Watercress, carrot, beetroot and pink grapefruit.
Suggested evening meal menu
• A cup of fresh vegetable soup
• A 75g (3 oz) serving of one of the following to your chosen vegetable base: brown rice, jacket potato, new potatoes, spelt/brown rice or wholegrain pasta. Sweet potato, quinoa, rye or pumpernickel bread.
PLUS…..one of these four vegetable bases, each using as much of each vegetable as you like.
• Detox salad:
watercress, celery, cucumber, cherry tomato, and artichoke hearts.
• Cleansing coleslaw:
white cabbage, onion, grated carrot, sliced beetroot.
• Roast energy:
grilled or oven-baked slices of red or yellow pepper, aubergine, onion and mushrooms.
• Steamed and simple:
steamed carrot, mangetout, cauliflower, spinach and asparagus.


text:
Be proud of your deck again! Our deck cleaning & deck staining services will bring out the beauty that has faded over years & will extend the life of your deck.
In order to keep your deck looking new, it's necessary to get regular pressure washing and staining services. R.Taggxteriors utilizes low pressure power washing to clean your deck and prepare it for a fresh coat of stain.
Once done with your deck pressure washing, and after the deck is dry, we'll apply high-quality stain that will give it a like-new look and help preserve your deck for years to come. Decks should be re-coated every 2-4 years, depending on the stain used.
We can also assist with deck repairs.
Call us today to schedule an appointment @ 216-316-3119.
Please consider us for all your Pressure washing services, including siding cleaning, fence cleaning, driveway cleaning, roof cleaning, and patio cleaning.


text:
January 15, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The Vatican is reporting that Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict have both taken the abortion-tainted COVID vaccine. Meanwhile, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has issued a scathing response to the Pope's suggestion that everyone else must take it, too. And finally, it's not only Nancy Pelosi who is trying to incite a race war in America. Her cancerous falsehood is spreading, and I'm going to debunk it right now.
After Speaker Pelosi's racially charged rhetoric last week, other leftist politicians, intelligentsia, and media figures have piled on. Pelosi claimed that those at the Trump rally on January 6 had "chosen their whiteness over democracy." Yes, she seriously said that.
But it's not only her. Now, Congresswoman Cori Bush has called President Trump the "white supremacist in chief."
And check out this Vox headline, which is so slanted it's hard to imagine. "Whiteness is at the core of the insurrection!" Unbelievable.
In that Vox article, University of Pittsburgh history professor Keisha Blain added re-iterated Pelosi's falsehood about whiteness. "I have a hard time believing anyone who says they are shocked by what took place in the Capitol on January 6," she remarked. "I have no idea what it will take for people to stop being shocked by how whiteness works in American society."
Professor Jeremi Suri from the University of Texas at Austin is quoted in the publication Inside Higher Ed: "Today's terrorism is at the heart of the Republican Party, which now, in much of its leadership, has become a white supremacist Al Qaeda."
To suggest that Trump supporters and those concerned about election fraud are white supremacists is a flat out lie. Sure, there are likely some, a miniscule minority who are racist, just as there are some elected Democrats who believe abortion is a crime and must be punished by law. But, they are a miniscule minority compared to the 80 million Trump supporters.
The lies of the political and academic class are mirrored by lies from the mainstream media. As LifeSite's VP Gualberto Garcia Jones put it in an outstanding must-read piece at LifeSite:
In one breathless video after another, the leftist press has depicted the invasion of the Capitol as a day of "unprecedented violence." But was it really unprecedented? Were these breathless reporters on a deserted island all of last summer? In Minneapolis alone, 1,500 buildings were burned down this summer. That's just one city.
At the protests that laid siege to the White House during the manufactured outrage of BLM, 60 secret service agents were seriously injured and the historic D.C. church where presidents have worshipped for decades burned. What was the response by the media to the black lives matter violence?
As Gualberto Garcia Jones, who was also on the ground in DC at the Trump rally, says about the violence at the Capitol:
No conservative is denying that those responsible for actual violence and destruction of property be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What we are pointing out is the oppressive double standard in the American justice system where almost no one gets prosecuted for injuring 60 secret service agents at the White House, or the burning of 1,500 buildings, or the looting and ransacking of one American city after another, or the weeks-long assault of police precincts, or the laying siege to federal courthouses; all of this debilitates the people's faith in a justice system and results in the loss of the rule of law.
And in other news, the Vatican has confirmed that both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have taken the COVID vaccine, only days after Pope Francis appeared on Italian television saying everyone must take the vaccine.
I find this so sad for many reasons. Firstly, this relatively untested vaccine has not shown to protect others from getting COVID — we still apparently need masks and social distancing. It is less effective even than the treatments for COVID such as HCQ and Ivermectin, which have been working for countless doctors treating their COVID patients. Moreover, the vaccines themselves have all sorts of negative side effects. And finally, they are abortion-tainted in the most gruesome way and thus — according to Cardinal Pujats, Bishop Schneider and other prelates — morally impermissible to use.
On a recent episode, I went through all of this with vaccine researcher and expert Pamela Acker. You can watch that full interview by clicking here.
And now, you can see why Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò responded this morning to Pope Francis' vaccine push with a scathing column you can read at LifeSite. Here's a bit of what he said:
It is disconcerting that, after unscrupulously demolishing no small number of Catholic truths in the name of dialogue with heretics and idolaters, the one dogma which Bergoglio is not ready to renounce is that of obligatory vaccination …If it is possible to set aside revealed truth in the name of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, it is likewise not licit to question the dogmas of Covid, the revelation made by the media about the pandemic, and the salvific sacrament of the vaccine.
Strong stuff.
I know that it seems there is a tsunami of bad and scary news happening all over the world just now. So, I wanted to close off with a great clip from the new interview LifeSite's Claire Chretien did with the indomitable pro-life warrior Austin Ruse.
Looking at the incoming Biden administration and what it will mean for the pro-life movement, Austin nonetheless said we should be "happy warriors" and realize that God intended us for this time of history. God made you and me to accomplish His Will at this very moment. Christ says His grace will be sufficient for you despite anything that the world can throw at you. Amazing.
Please do watch that full interview between Austin and Claire.
God will surely give you all you need to be a saint, or, as Austin says, "the halos are hanging from the lowest branches." It's time to be a happy warrior. All you have to do is reach up for one of those halos and grab one! Viva Christo Rey!


text:
Off The Top
Matt Cassel,
NE � Cassel�s numbers from Week 11 (30-51 for 400 passing yards,
8 carries for 62 rushing yards, 3 passing TD, no turnovers) speak
for themselves. Add him immediately if some silly, capricious
dope dropped him because he hadn�t magically turned into Tom Brady
Shaun Hill,
SF � I recently added him in a league that relies heavily on QB
performance where you start just one and I already have Tony Romo
and Marc Bulger. See what I did? Insurance is important in the
stretch run, and while I can safely assume I�ll be going with
Romo from here on out, at least I�ll have a choice if something
should happen to my boy.
Digging Deeper
Gus Frerotte,
MIN � Minnesota�s upcoming schedule has a few tough matchups for
RBs coming up, but isn�t too tough on opposing QBs. With Sidney
Rice apparently healthy and things leaning toward greater reliance
on the Vikings� passing game, we could see more activity from
Frerotte from here on out � closer to the 30-40 pass attempts
per game we were seeing in September and October.
Daunte Culpepper, DET � He�s not a great start against
Tamp Bay in leagues that punish turnovers aggressively, but if
I was in a pinch, I�d be considering him in some leagues
as a QB#2, just because he can get it into the end zone.
Scouring The Barrel
JaMarcus Russell, OAK � It�s frustrating to see a
young QB like JaMarcus Russell take one step forward and two steps
back, but that�s how things work in Al Davis� world.
On another team, it�s possible the #1 draft pick would already
be making a ton of progress and be winning NFL games, but the
sad reality in Oakland has squelched those hopes. Stay away unless
all the above options have been exhausted.
Jake Delhomme, CAR � While the Panthers held on for a 31-22
victory against the lowly Lions, the game was all about the Panthers
running game � and Delhomme suffered through another meager
passing performance. Week 10�s 72-yard passing total was
the lowest of Delhomme�s career, and his 98 passing yards
on Sunday was the third-lowest of his career. If the Panthers
plan on beating more formidable opponents, they�ll have
to do more than run the ball all game long.
Tyler Thigpen, KC � Thigpen was the #3 QB in fantasy Week
11, compiling 235 passing yards, 2 TD and an INT to go along with
45 rushing yards. He should be owned in all leagues.
Matt Hasselbeck,
SEA � It was a quiet week for a lot of QBs, so Hasselbeck�s first
game back wasn�t a total disaster � even though he threw 3 INTs,
a feat replicated by fantasy standout Donovan McNabb. Seattle�s
schedule isn�t great from here on out, but you can definitely
look forward to Hasselbeck�s Week 15 game versus the Rams.
Marc Bulger,
STL � Bulger�s 295 passing yards were the sixth-highest total
in Week 11, but he only managed 1 TD and threw 2 INTs.
Running Backs
Dunn, TB � With Earnest Graham likely shelved for the remainder
of the season with a serious ankle injury suffered on the first
rushing attempt of the Bucs� win over Minnesota, Dunn takes over
starting duties and gets to face the Lions. Bucs RBs have a very
favorable schedule the next couple weeks and throughout the rest
of the season, and Cadillac Williams has had some trouble getting
out of the garage, so snag Mr. Dunn up if he�s available and put
him at the top of your waiver priority list.
Ward, NYG � If there�s anything wrong with Brandon Jacobs,
knee, Ward should challenge Dunn as the top pickup for Week 12.
In that scenario, he�d likely share carries with Ahmad Bradshaw
but handle most of the goal line carries, a huge boost to his
mounting fantasy value. Update: The Newark Star-Ledger reported
Tuesday morning that Jacobs doesn't have any damage in his swollen
knee based on a Monday MRI, but that Jacobs said he doesn�t think
the team will let him play in Week 12.
Tatum Bell,
DEN � While it looks like Peyton Hillis will get most of the work
inside the red zone, Bell could provide some fantasy value between
the 20s � and he may still have the speed to break off an occasional
TD run. When Selvin Young returns form a groin injury, all bets
are off, but for now, he has fantasy value.
Fred Jackson,
BUF � I confess � I love Fred Jackson. He�s a great complement
to Marshawn Lynch and he�s a solid pass-catching back with the
innate ability to get the extra yard. On Monday night, he had
12 carries for 60 yards � but no catches and the first two fumbles
� and lost fumble � of his career. So he�s not perfect, but he�s
great Lynch insurance and can help out plenty of teams in deeper
leagues down the stretch.
Ahmad Bradshaw,
NYG � See Derrick Ward above. Bradshaw has a lot of jump in
his step and can easily break long runs, like his 77-yard scamper
on Sunday versus the Ravens. He�s just behind Ward on the depth
Pittman, STL � He�s the starter as long as Steven Jackson
remains out, and he was the more effective runner on Sunday. The
Bears defense hasn�t been great recently, but I have a feeling
they�ll be able to stop the Rams running game. Don�t get too enthusiastic.
Kenneth Darby, STL � If his rib strain isn�t serious,
I actually like Darby �s value better than Pittman this
week, especially in PPR leagues. The Rams will likely be forced
to throw the ball and dump it off to Darby occasionally, and the
second-string back had 8-83-0 receiving to go along with 26 rushing
yards this past Sunday. Take a shot if you�re desperate.
Jerious Norwood, ATL � Not his best week, but he�s
allowed that after piling up great numbers as a backup RB.
Ricky Williams,
MIA � He�s a risky play, but you should know that by now.
Consider him a strong RB #4 and weak RB #3.
Felix Jones, DAL � Felix still wasn�t ready to return,
but he�s one week closer and Barber owners can�t afford
to not have him � just in case.
Peyton Hillis,
DEN � A huge game from a relatively unknown fantasy commodity.
I can�t wait to see how this plays out in Denver when Young gets
back. It�s going to be pure chaos.
Green-Ellis, NE � Sammy Morris is back, so it�s probably time
to drop BenJarvus.
Taylor, MIN � Taylor had a terrible time Sunday, losing a
crucial fumble that may have cost the Vikings the game. But he�s
still Adrian Peterson�s backup and should be owned in all leagues.
Correll Buckhalter, PHI � Again � great insurance
as you prepare for your playoff run, even though he�s nearly
useless when Westbrook starts.
Williams, TB � He didn�t play in Week 11, and while you should
probably wait until he�s active to add him, it�s likely that Graham�s
injury has pushed up his return.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
WR Marvin
Harrison, IND � Every WR reaches a point in his career when
he becomes a risky play, but can still produce big numbers. It
happened to Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, and Cris Carter circa 2001-02,
and it�s happening to Marvin Harrison now. But 9-77-1 last week
tells me he�ll be involved from here on out this season and that
he and Peyton Manning are back on track. Plus, it appears there�s
some uncertainty as to the health of Reggie Wayne�s ankle.
WR Lance
Moore, NO � He saw 9 targets Sunday and converted for 8-102-1.
Let�s not overcomplicate things. Lance Moore, regardless of the
presence of Marques Colston, is a solid WR #3 � and he should
be owned in all leagues.
WR Donnie Avery, STL � I don�t know why everybody
gave up on Avery so quickly. He�s a great route runner and
the Rams are throwing the ball a lot. The rookie had 13 balls
thrown his way Sunday, finished with 9-93-0 and should continue
to see plenty of targets as the season winds down.
WR Justin Gage, TEN � As I mentioned earlier, I had high
hopes for Gage this season but lost patience. Last week�s
4-147-2 proves to me he�s in the Tennessee game plan and
is probably the Titans best deep threat who doesn�t line
up in the backfield.
WR Antonio Bryant, TB � I�m not the biggest fan of
Bryant since I remember his underachieving days in Dallas, but
he�s developed a niche in Tampa and is probably the team�s
best receiver right now. Sunday�s 5-59-0 wasn�t spectacular,
but it probably helped squeak out a few wins.
WR Michael Jenkins, ATL � He was targeted 6 times Sunday
and caught 5-55-0. Continue to use him as a WR #4 or occasional
flew play but not as a regular starter, since it�s likely
his targets will be steady at around 4-8 a game.
WR Jabar Gaffney, NE � Like I said, don�t drop a quality
WR#3 to snag him, since he�s still the third or fourth receiving
option on the team. But he got a TD and saw the most targets of
2008 on Sunday in a Pats loss (consistent with his previous high
� a Week 3 loss to Miami that produced his only other TD
this season).
WR Mark
Bradley, KC � Bradley finished with 3-54-0 on 8 targets, but
the lack of a TD (and Dwayne Bowe getting two) was disappointing
considering his brief track record as a playmaker in KC.
WR Ted Ginn,
Jr., MIA � 4-51-0 receiving was decent, but his 40-yard TD
run paid fortuitous dividends to fantasy owners who started him
this week.
WR Antwaan Randle El, WAS � Had only 1 catch for 24 yards,
but was sidelined early with a foot or ankle injury.
WR Brandon Lloyd, CHI � Lloyd was finally active for Week
11, but finished with only 2-17-0 on 3 targets. He should be more
involved and get increased targets in subsequent weeks.
TE Todd Heap, BAL � He retuned to normalcy with 3-16-0,
but he�s still a great TE#2.
WR Sidney
Rice, MIN � Oh my goodness! Sidney Rice caught 2 passes for
22 yards and neither was a TD! Look for him to be targeted more
frequently in the red zone in Week 12.
WR Jason Hill, SF � 3-33-0 isn�t terrible, but again
� it�s a disappointment he didn�t put up better
numbers against the lowly Rams.
LB Jerod Mayo, NE � The rookie out of Tennessee went absolutely
nuts on Thursday night, racking up 20 tackles (16 solos, 4 assist)
and a PD. If there�s any leagues where�s he�s
unowned, he won�t be after waivers this week.
DL Trent Cole, PHI � Available in a bunch of leagues (including
one of mine) after a few quiet weeks, Cole has had two solid games
in a row, including a 10-tackle, 2-sack performance against the
Bengals in Week 11. He�s a great DL for your roster slot
because he gets tackles consistently and in Jim Johnson�s
dynamic defensive scheme, gets to the QB pretty frequently as
LB Thomas Davis, CAR � After eight pretty mediocre weeks,
I�m sure a lot of IDP owners gave up on Davis for a trendier
LB mainstay. Now, Davis is coming off two big weeks (21 total
tackles, 1.5 sacks, PD) and will likely see a lot of tackles come
his way against the Falcons.
DB Carlos Rogers, WAS � Great player, great matchup against
a QB (Hasselbeck) who�s bound to throw some picks on his
way back from injury. Rogers does everything well and should make
5-7 tackles this week as well.
Scouring The Barrel
LB Wesley Woodyard, DEN � The undrafted rookie LB out of
Kentucky has played well the last two games and is a solid pickup
in deeper leagues. Take a shot if you�re down a LB.
DB Kevin Payne, CHI � My sleeper of the week, Payne has
done fairly well so far this season in IDP (51 solos, 3 INT, 5
PD) and has a good matchup this week @STL.
LB Zach
Thomas, DAL � Thomas had just 4 tackles (2 solo, 2 assist)
while Bradie James cleaned up the most of the tackle opportunities.
DB Erik Coleman, ATL � A mediocre game -- 5 solos and 1
assist � since he didn�t have a pick.
LB Calvin Pace, NYJ � Not so great (5 solo, 2 assist) in
a matchup that looked pretty favorable.
DL Chris Long, STL � Just 1 assist � easily my worst
IDP call of the year.
DB Asante Samuel, PHI � 4 solo tackles and 4 PDs �
a solid game from a good veteran DB.
DL Matt Roth, MIA � 1 solo, 1 assist, 1 sack. Would�ve
been so much better if it was 2 solos, 2 assists and 2 sacks.
Copyright © 1998-2023 FFToday.com. All rights reserved.
Partner of USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties.


text:
Fashion Shows
The fashion show has evolved from an exclusive in-house presentation of haute couture held for a private clientele, to a biannual spectacle of both couture and ready-to-wear clothing that is seen by a vast cross-section of consumers, the mass media, and the fashion industry. A number of cultural and social forces are responsible for this evolution, including the increased consumer awareness of Parisian couture, the rise of the ready-to-wear industry after World War II, the growth of the modeling profession, and the increasing attention paid to the runway by the popular press. While the fashion show today is different from its early-twentieth-century incarnation, it does retain links to its origins in theatrical display and the couture salon shows of that period.
In nineteenth-century Paris, it was common practice for dressmaker houses to use their assistants or saleswomen (desmoiselles du magasin) to wear the designer's creations while working at the shop. To reach a broader clientele, many couturiers extended this display to the public arena as well, with figures such as Charles Frederick Worth dressing his wife in the latest styles to promenade in socially important areas of the city such as the Bois du Boulogne. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in London and Paris, the custom-dressmaking trade also maintained important and effective links to the world of theater and advertised its wares by dressing famous actresses both on and off the stage. The couture
houses of Doucet and Paquin, for example, were very successful promoters through this medium and their clientele included such popular stars as Sarah Bernhardt, Réjane, and Cecile Sorel. The theater, particularly in France and England, became a place to see the most avant-garde styles and eventually a "fashion play" genre developed that revolved around the presentation of the latest couture creations. Dressing members of the fashionable demimonde and house mannequins (the term for models in this period) for the races, opera, and theater premieres, and resort areas were another means of advertising up-to-the-minute designs.
In the first decade of the century, social display was supplemented by organized shows at a fixed time in the couture house. Although a number of designers and fashion personalities claim responsibility for the first fashion show, it was not one person who started the trend, but rather a gradual evolution toward more formal presentations of seasonal clothing lines. By the mid-1910s many designers, including Paul Poiret, Lucile, and Paquin, were using the fashion show as a promotional vehicle. In 1910 Lucile promoted the opening of her New York branch with a spectacular fashion show in a city theater. The presentation had an Arabian Nights theme inspired by vaudeville revues. Lucile was one of the first to promote her mannequins as public personalities, giving them exotic names such as Dinarzade and Sumurun, and training them to walk with a distinctive gait.
For Paris haute couture, the shows were first presented in Paris or London and then sometimes traveled to America on well-publicized tours. Paul Poiret followed this pattern, organizing a tour in 1911 in which he and his mannequins showed his exotic creations in venues such as charity bazaars, theaters, and department stores throughout Europe. In 1913 he also conducted a heavily promoted tour of the United States with his mannequins, and other designers followed suit, including Jeanne Paquin in 1914 and Jean Patou in 1924. Another innovative mode of presentation in the 1910s was the organization of a thé dansant, a popular pastime that showcased new dances such as the tango and the fox-trot. Designers including Lucile and Paquin showed their new designs in such a context, often using theaters as a show venue.
In America, department stores, such as Wanamakers in Philadelphia, started holding regular fashion shows in 1910 and gradually broadened the audience for such fashion display. The advent of the fashion newsreel in the same period also served to bring the fashion show to a wider clothes-buying public. Beginning in 1910, a number of French, English, and American film companies began to show fashion reels as part of their weekly newsreel production. In 1913 a New York–based film company started documenting the biannual fashion shows in New York that now took place in February for the spring– summer collections and July for fall–winter collections. At this point, modeling was not an evolved routine and both film and fashion magazines often used actresses, opera singers, and dancers as mannequins.
In the United States during World War I, a number of fashion shows were organized to benefit the war effort and toured across the country. In 1914, a Fashion Fête was organized by Edna Woolman Chase, the editor of Vogue, to showcase New York designers. Also in that year a number of couture houses banded together to form Le Syndicat de defense de la grand couture francaise with Paul Poiret as president. In an effort to fight design piracy, the organization charged a standard copyright fee for business customers who wished to reproduce couture designs. The syndicate also placed more stringent rules on who could attend the couture shows and wholesalers and retailers were barred from couture showings unless they were invited.
By 1918 the couture industry had fixed dates for two major shows per year for the foreign buyers that were coming to Paris. The shows were becoming organized presentations using in-house mannequins and by the 1920s, the House of Patou, for example, was employing 32 mannequins to model 450 dresses at each showing. Other contemporary references document between 7 and 15 mannequins regularly employed in the couture houses at this time. One 1920s commentator wrote that the mannequins were still considered "demimondaine" but they did have paid salaries, bonuses, and some had season contracts. In 1923 John Robert Powers established the first modeling agency in New York, which served to professionalize the industry and positioned modeling as a more socially acceptable career. In the 1920s designers also had a set routine and started by showing sports and day clothes, then evening wear.
In the 1930s Elsa Schiaparelli was the first to create themed collections, including "Circus," "Commedia dell'Arte," and "Astrology," among others. These themes added a theatrical flair to her shows between 1936 and 1939 by incorporating music, special lighting, and dance into the presentation. Her 1938 "Circus" collection, for example, included circus performers who jumped, skipped, and flipped all over the couture house.
The Postwar Era
An increasingly formal presentation style marked the postwar era and at this point the show evolved into the essential organization that is still associated with it in the early 2000s. The show took place in the couture salon, the crowded audience consisted of invited buyers with important journalists at the front, and there was a specific sequence for the type of dress shown (for example, the wedding dress at the end). Fashion shows often lasted seventy-five minutes and approximately sixty ensembles were presented on between eight and ten models. This period also witnessed the association of particular mannequins with specific couture houses. Mannequins, such as Bettina at Jacques Fath or Praline at Pierre Balmain, with their distinctive saunters, visually represented the designer's philosophy and often acted as the designer's muse. While Paris had successfully reestablished itself as the style leader in the postwar era, countries such as the United States, England, and Italy also held regular fashion shows.
It was still common practice to hold fashion shows in department stores and hotels and the Vogue editor Edna Woolman Chase recorded in her 1954 memoirs:
Now that fashion shows have become a way of life, now that a lady is hard put to it to lunch, or sip a cocktail, in any smart hotel or store from New York to Dallas to San Francisco without having lissome young things in the most recent models, swaying down a runway six inches above her nose—it is difficult to visualize that dark age when fashion shows did not exist. (Chase and Chase 1954, p. 119)
By the mid-1950s, fashion shows were common in urban centers in semiannual department store displays and, at the local level, they were often incorporated into charity events.
Ready-to-Wear Market
In the late 1950s the rise of the ready-to-wear market had a significant impact on the organization, number, and scale of fashion shows. In 1959 Pierre Cardin showed his ready-to-wear collection in the Printemps department store in Paris and by the mid-1960s, ready-to-wear was regularly included in the fashion calendar. The growth of the ready-to-wear market was also related to the decline in interest in haute couture by the younger generation, who did not want to follow the fashion dictates of Paris. New designers responded to this cultural phenomenon by adding a youthful energy to their fashion shows. The English designer Mary Quant, for example, presented her mod ready-to-wear designs to jazz music and her mannequins skipped and danced down the runway. Quant opted to use print models rather than runway models because she liked the way they moved and the fast pace allowed her to show forty garments in fourteen minutes. The distinction between the runway and photography model was on the wane.
This growth of the ready-to-wear market eventually changed the function of the haute couture fashion show, shifting its targeted audience from private clientele to one consisting mainly of press and buyers. The 1960s also mark the beginnings of the use of the fashion show as a marketing tool to promote the licensed products associated with the house.
Fashion Show as Spectacle
In the 1970s and 1980s the public visibility and magnitude of fashion shows increased dramatically. In 1973 the designer Kenzo presented a large-scale ready-to-wear show on a stage rather than a runway, indicating a break with haute couture tradition and the increasing emphasis on spectacle. In the 1980s Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana staged theatrical events that further removed the fashion show from the couture salon. Mugler hired a rock impresario to stage his fashion show, an audience of six thousand people attended, and half of the show's tickets were available for purchase by the public. This was the first time that the public was allowed to attend a couture show and marks a trend toward the fashion show as mass entertainment. In the mid-1980s the regular broadcasting of the ready-to-wear shows on cable television further broadened the viewing public. The increased public awareness of the catwalk shows led to the promotion of "supermodels" in the early 1990s. By this time, modeling had long been a socially acceptable profession and the increasing cult of personality in various cultural arenas served to promote models as celebrities on a par with movie actors.
While the majority of fashion designers hold traditional runway shows during the fashion weeks in Paris, London, New York, and other cities, many now have specific themes, mood music, and special lighting and other effects. In the 1990s there were a number of designers, including John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, who became renowned for producing extravagant shows in unusual spaces with narratives and fictional characters. These theatrical stagings have pushed the fashion show beyond the garment and into the realm of the conceptual fantasy. These types of shows function primarily to promote brand recognition and to sell the ready-to-wear lines and the licensed products.
See alsoDepartment Store; Fashion Designer; Fashion Models .
Bertin, Célia. Paris à la Mode: A Voyage of Discovery. Translated by Marjorie Deans. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1956.
Castle, Charles. Model Girl. Newton Abbott, U.K.: David and Charles, 1977.
Chase, Edna Woolman, and Ilka Chase. Always in Vogue. New York: Doubleday, 1954.
Evans, Caroline. "The Enchanted Spectacle." Fashion Theory 5, no. 3 (September 2001): 270–310.
Michelle Tolini Finamore


text:
The Aspen Institute published last week its biannual ranking of MBA programs, "Beyond Grey Pinstripes." This ranking ignores admissions criteria and abandons ROI. Through surveys of 149 participating schools, it attempts to rank the programs according to their "social impact management" or addressing of social, environmental or ethical topics. The goal: "spotlight innovative full-time MBA programs that are integrating issues of social and environmental stewardship into curricula and research."
The Top 10 per Aspen:
- York (Schulich)
- Michigan Ross
- Yale SOM
- Stanford GSB
- Notre Dame (Mendoza)
- UC Berkeley (Haas)
- RSM Erasmus
- NYU Stern
- IE Business School
- Columbia
If you are not the least bit interested in the topics Aspen is highlighting, then this ranking is irrelevant to you. However, if you are interested in sustainable development or social entrepreneurship, then you will want to review the profiles contained in Beyond Grey Pinstripes.


text:
- You know where you are (Current Quality Management System).
- You want to be IATF 16949 Compliant.
- The difference between these is your gap. Anytime they differ you need to change your processes to bridge the gap.
This gap analysis checklist is prepared for use in evaluating a Quality Management System (QMS) against the requirements of the new Automotive standard as you transition from ISO/TS 16949:2009. The IATF 16949:2016 standard includes the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 and specifies additional automotive industry requirements.
Each requirement is expressed as a question that the user (auditor / assessor) can ask to evaluate your QMS capabilities. You will need to have copies of the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 9001:2008 standards to use along with this checklist so that you can refer to the requirements if necessary.
While the two versions of the standard do not line up when comparing the requirements:
- New requirements and / or new terminology are highlighted in
- The intent of the main clauses of the new standard is shown in blue font.
- The 3rd left-hand column in green shade is intended to provide reference to the previous clauses and requirements of ISO/TS 16949:2009.
All for only $59.00 ! That's like getting an electronic GPS for the price of a paper map!
- Includes Technical Support
- 115 page Gap Analysis Checklist in Editable Microsoft Word
Compare Products
|TS16949 to
to IATF 16949
|Gap Checklist: Compares the
requirements of IATF 16949 to:
|No QMS
|MS Word editable format
|Links to helpful pages and
|Counts against purchase price of
larger package
|Perspective for comparing your
current quality situation to IATF
16949 requirements
|Highlights showing the difference
between TS16949 and IATF 16949
|Highlights showing the difference
between ISO 9001 and IATF 16949
Order Now!
Order Now!
Order Now!