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Congressional and White House officials said Tuesday they were closing out final details of unprecedented legislation to rush sweeping aid to businesses and workers facing ruin from the coronavirus pandemic.
After days of pressure, unusual partisanship in a crisis, and intense haggling over the fine print, negotiators appeared almost done with a nearly $2 trillion bill to respond to what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called "the most serous threat to Americans' health in over a century and quite likely the greatest risk to America's jobs and prosperity that we've seen since the Great Depression."
Yet even as the public-health crisis deepened, President Donald Trump expressed eagerness to nudge many people back to work in coming weeks and held out a prospect, based more on hope than science, that the country could be returning to normal in less than a month.
"We have to go back to work, much sooner than people thought," he told a Fox News town hall. He said he'd like to have the country "opened up and just raring to go" by Easter, April 12. But in a White House briefing later, Trump said "our decision will be based on hard facts and data."
Medical professionals say social distancing needs to be stepped up, not relaxed, to slow the spread of infections. At the White House briefing, the public-health authorities said it was particularly important for people in the hard-hit New York City metropolitan area to quarantine themselves for 14 days, and for those who have recently left the city to do the same.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said pointedly at the briefing, "No one is going to want to tone down anything when you see what is going on in a place like New York City."
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and congressional leaders engaged in final negotiations after a tumultuous but productive day Monday. While the two sides have resolved many issues in the sweeping package, some sticking points remained. A Senate vote appeared likely Wednesday, with a House vote to follow.
"We're trying to finalize all the documents, going through a lot of complicated issues, and we're making a lot of progress," Mnuchin said.
Ravaged in recent days, stocks rocketed as negotiators signaled a resolution was in sight.
At issue is an unprecedented economic rescue package that would give direct payments to most Americans, expanded unemployment benefits, and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home. One of the last issues to close concerned $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries, including a fight over how generous to be with the airlines. Hospitals would get significant help as well.
A one-time payment of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child would go directly to the public.
A huge cash infusion for hospitals expecting a flood of COVID-19 patients grew during the talks at the insistence of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, while Republicans pressed for tens of billions of dollars for additional relief to be delivered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal disaster agency.
Democrats said the package would help replace the salary of furloughed workers for four months, rather than the three months first proposed. Furloughed workers would get whatever amount a state usually provides for unemployment, plus a $600 per week add-on, with gig workers like Uber drivers covered for the first time. Companies would be able to defer payment of the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax.
Opening the Senate on Tuesday, McConnell combined optimism about the chances for a deal with frustration at the delays — and a sober view of the crisis at hand.
"The urgency and the gravity of this moment cannot be lost on anyone," he said. On the negotiations, he said, "It's taken a lot of noise and a lot of rhetoric to get us here." Still, "we are very close. We are close to a bill that takes our bold Republican framework, integrates further ideas from both parties, and delivers huge progress."
Earlier Tuesday, Trump urged swift action. "Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today," he tweeted. "The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy."
Democrats pointed to gains for hospitals, additional oversight of the huge industry stabilization fund, and money for cash-strapped states. A companion appropriations package ballooned as well, growing from a $46 billion White House proposal to more than $300 billion, which dwarfs earlier disasters — including Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy combined.
To provide transparency, the package is expected to create a new inspector general and oversight board for the corporate dollars, much as was done during the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program bank rescue, officials said.
The sense of optimism extended to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who told CNBC, "I think there is real optimism that we could get something done in the next few hours." Only Monday, Pelosi introduced a massive Democratic measure with liberal priorities, drawing scorn from Republicans.
Trump in recent days has sounded a note of frustration about the unprecedented modern-day effort to halt the virus' march by essentially shutting down public activities in ways that now threaten the U.S. economy.
Even though Trump's administration recommended Americans curtail activities for 15 days, starting just over a week ago, the president saids he may soon allow parts of the economy, in regions so far less badly hit by the virus, to begin reopening.
He continued on that theme Tuesday as he weighed a relaxation of social distancing guidelines after the 15-day period is up. His suggestion that the pandemic could ease and allow a return to normalcy in a mere few weeks is not supported by public health officials or many others in government.
On Tuesday, top defense and military leaders warned department personnel that the virus problems could extend for eight to 10 weeks, or longer. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Defense Department town hall meeting that the crisis could even extend into July.
The emerging rescue package is larger than the 2008 bank bailout and 2009 recovery act combined.
Trump has balked at using his authority under the recently invoked Defense Protection Act to compel the private sector to manufacture needed medical supplies like masks and ventilators, even as he encourages them to spur production. "We are a country not based on nationalizing our business," said Trump, who has repeatedly railed against socialism overseas and among Democrats.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.


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Yellow Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
I have a confession to make. I don't love chocolate cake. I was always the weird one kid wanted a white or yellow cake for my birthday with vanilla frosting. To me, if a bakery can do a good white or yellow cake, then they know what they're doing. When I set out to make cupcakes for Hubby's 30th birthday party, I decided to make these yellow cupcakes. The original plan was to put chocolate frosting on the yellow cupcakes and vanilla buttercream on the chocolate cupcakes.
Well, time slipped away from me and I ended up just making one kind of frosting, which worked out just fine. For the party, I frosted the cupcakes with my go-to Swiss meringue buttercream and filled them with dulce-de-leche. I didn't have a chance to snap photos of the cupcakes before the party, so I just had to make them again (twist my arm!) This time I didn't fill them, just left them as they were in all their simple beauty.
I referred to Bridget's Yellow Cake Comparison to find this recipe. She mentioned that this Martha Stewart recipe had the best texture but was a little bland. But I knew she was tasting the cake plain. When you add frosting and maybe a filling, the cupcake becomes more of a device to deliver the good stuff than anything else. So to me, the texture was king in my selection of this recipe. Since first trying it, I've made it a couple times now. It provides consistently tasty results without too much of a fuss. It's going to be my go-to recipe from here on out.
Yellow Cupcakes
Yield: 24
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 24 cupcake liners in two muffin pans. Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.
Divide batter between the prepared pans. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then place them on cooling racks until they are completely cooled.
Recipe from Martha Stewart, as seen on The Way the Cookie Crumbles
9 Responses to "Yellow Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream"
I agree with you…i think the right type of frosting can really change the flavor of a cake/cupcake.
Your cupcakes turned out beautifully and i am sure they taste superb!
Are you coming to Cupcake Camp? I haven't decided what I'm making, but it'll likely include SMBC. If you try mine and hate it, I'll have to accept that you just don't like it.
Sorry to make you crave desserts!
Aww thanks. Practice makes perfect. I don't even want to think about how many cupcakes I've frosted…
I enjoy carrot cake but Hubby doesn't like it, so I never make it. I just might have to soon though…
Ha that's funny. I'm not going to lie, I love me some cookie cake!
These are absolutely beautiful! And I love the idea of swiss meringue buttercream 🙂
what tip number do you use to get your perfect looking frosting swirl? i've been having a difficult time making it look symmetrical!

subset: commoncrawl


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Sleep Solutions may have changed its name to NovaSom and moved the company from California to Delaware, but the company's intense focus remains the same.
More than a year after taking the reins at the largest national service provider of home sleep tests, Richard Hassett, MD, believes the time is ripe for a change. Specifically, the CEO of Sleep Solutions has decided to switch the company's name to NovaSom®, a move designed to build on the familiar home sleep testing brand.
Changing a well-known moniker is no small decision, but Hassett believes the new name better reflects the company's commitment to providing accurate and cost effective home tests. Factoring in some annoying name similarities to competitors and the change became a no-brainer. "Other entities had the name 'Sleep Solutions' as some part of their name, and that could potentially be confusing," says Hassett. "If we were ever going to make a change, now was the time. At the same time, we reincorporated the company from California to Delaware."
Recent years have seen a steady climb for the NovaSom® brand in its role as a full-service model for home sleep testing. The actual unit is a small device used in the home and typically shipped to patients via overnight carrier. After that, it is returned to the company when the patient completes testing, ideally for three nights. Upon return of the device the data are downloaded and the results are interpreted by a qualified or board-certified sleep physician. Results are provided to the prescribing physician within 48 hours.
The NovaSom Home Sleep Test is a Type III portable cardio-respiratory monitor with FDA clearance for diagnostic evaluation of adults with possible sleep apnea. Predictive accuracy of the test, night for night, has been established in two peer-reviewed publications comparing the device to PSG.¹,²
Three sensors record the same five physiological parameters that sleep labs use to diagnose OSA: respiratory effort, oxygen saturation, heart rate, airflow (oral & nasal), and snoring. The first sensor is a belt that goes around the chest to determine respiratory excursions. The second is an oxygen sensor on the finger, and finally a sensor beneath the nose detects the snoring sound and air flow. This acoustic airflow sensor is a patented device utilizing noise cancellation technology, which has demonstrated a highly linear relationship to the Hans Rudolph pneumotachograph – a standard of airflow measurement used by pulmonologists.
Clinicians appreciate the unit's capacity to store data for three nights, and users benefit from the device's ability to literally speak via mechanical voice. "Similarly to a GPS, the NovaSom device talks patients through the procedure," explains Hassett. "Even if patients have not had access to the Web site or seen the instruction materials that come with the test, the device will actually talk them through the set up and operation." The company also provides technical and clinical services 24⁄7 by credentialed sleep technologist.
The consumer friendly nature of the test can mean the difference between diagnosis and failure. After all, says Hassett, potential patients often shy away from sleep labs, preferring the comfort and privacy of their own home. Factor in NovaSom's lower price and it all points to more patients with proper diagnoses.
"Clinicians are starting to realize that we have a massive public health epidemic on our hands with OSA, and the sleep lab community can't handle all the patients," says Hassett. "The fact that the device has the capacity for three nights of data eliminates the high false negative rate which is a problem with any one-night test, whether it is home or lab based. This turns out to be an advantage for providers and patients."
Hassett and NovaSom's customers believe the secret lies in the product's ability to overcome the inevitable night-to-night variability that can hamper sleep testing results. "It's been known for a long time that there was a burden of false negatives with one-night tests, perhaps even more so with labs than at home because of how daunting, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable it is to achieve natural sleep in the lab environment," says Hassett. "With the 3-night test, we pick up a significant number of patients after the first night that would have been missed. With the high false negatives after one night tests, it just makes more sense."
Provider education teams from NovaSom are dedicating time and energy to increasing awareness among primary care physicians (PCPs), ENTs, and pulmonologists. Since there are so many more PCPs out there, they have so far naturally benefitted a bit more from these educational efforts.
Particularly for uncomplicated patients at the primary level, PCPs are the main portal for a variety of patients with many different apnea severities. "We read statistics that say 7 out of 8 people with OSA are undiagnosed and unaware," says Hassett. "Most providers in America do not have the level of vigilance for this condition that its public health implications would warrant."
By now the statistics are familiar, but no less staggering. The costs and co-morbidities seem to multiply every year, and Hassett believes medical research will continue to confirm these findings. "We provide the resources that primary care physicians need to identify people at risk for OSA and determine appropriate candidates for both in-home and laboratory tests," says Hassett. "We have a field-based medical education force and have made significant investments in CME and non-CME educational programs, aimed at primary care."
The NovaSom home sleep test is offered as a turnkey service. There is no capital investment required of physicians. NovaSom provides rigorous infection controls, biomedical inspection, testing and calibration for each device in between patient uses, ensuring that every test sent to a patient will function accurately. Physicians view detailed study results through the online MediTrack® system.
"NovaSom has a large client care team and offers live clinical/technical support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to patients undergoing the home sleep test," adds Roger Richardson, vice president, Operations, for NovaSom. "We try to make testing as easy as possible, and are committed to raising consumer awareness of OSA through http://www.apnea.com."
NovaSom, Inc. is fully accredited by The Joint Commission's Ambulatory Care Program, is a Medicare-approved Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), and is registered with the Food and Drug Administration.
- Claman D, et al; Otolaryng Head Neck Surg 2001; 125: 227–230.
- Reichert JA, et al; Sleep Med 2003; 4: 213–218.
Richard Hassett, MD CEO NovaSom, Inc. http://www.novasom.com.


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Dinnerware, Tableware and Serving Utensils


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Highly directional compact shotgun microphone with integrated features for enhanced in-camera audio.
The MKE 400 is a compact, highly directional on-camera shotgun microphone designed to isolate and enhance the audio for your video. Like the MKE 200, the MKE 400 includes built-in wind protection and integrated shock absorption, while offering even more features to ensure the best possible recordings.
Focus your sound
The MKE 400 features a super-cardioid polar pattern achieved by an acoustic interference tube, providing focus and detail while rejecting unwanted background noise. Ideal for vloggers and videographers alike, this highly directional microphone will enhance your audio and bring presence and clarity to your recordings.
Record with confidence
All handheld cameras are susceptible to handling noise, so the MKE 400 features integrated wind protection and shock absorption. This combination ensures the cleanest audio recordings possible while shooting video on the move. Attach the included furry windshield for maximum wind protection in outdoor environments.
Versatile by design
In today's world, your video recording is most likely not confined to one device, and your microphone doesn't have to be either. Each MKE 400 includes 3.5 mm TRS and TRRS locking cables to be used with DSLR/M cameras or mobile devices.
Adapt to the situation
Let's face it, poor acoustic environments are practically unavoidable when traveling or shooting on location. That's why the MKE 400 comes equipped with both a low-cut filter and a 3-step gain sensitivity switch. Use the low-cut filter to remove problematic low frequency rumble or wind noise and adjust your gain sensitivity to optimize recording levels in any environment.
Before you start rolling
One of the most important steps when recording audio is to check your levels and monitor your sound. While some cameras have a headphone jack, not all do, and that's where the headphone monitoring output comes into play. Plug any 3.5 mm headphone directly into the MKE 400 and use the integrated volume control to dial in your recordings.


text: Have you ever seen a brand new car driving down the road with super bright LED tail lights and headlights, and yet it still has dingy yellowish light coming down above the license plate? For whatever reason, most new OEM cars still come with non LED license plate bulbs. Most of the time, its a 1 minute process to pop the little housings out with your finger nail or a small flat head driver, twist out the little bulb holder, and swap in your bright, beautiful new White LED bulbs. Not only will the back of the car look nicer, but you'll even cast a bit of white light on the ground behind the car. These are a very simple upgrade to finish off the look of both the brand new car off the lot, as well as your 20 year old daily beater!


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Reddit user throwwwwaway29 has a husband, and her husband is fed up. He is so fed up that this morning he sent her an email that contained the above spreadsheet, detailing all the times she has denied him sex over the course of the last month or so.
The wife explains:
Yesterday morning, while in a taxi on the way to the airport, Husband sends a message to my work email which is connected to my phone. He's never done this, we always communicate in person or by text. I open it up, and it's a sarcastic diatribe basically saying he won't miss me for the 10 days I'm gone. Attached is a SPREADSHEET of all the times he has tried to initiate sex since June 1st, with a column for my "excuses", using verbatim quotes of why I didn't feel like having sex at that very moment. According to his 'document', we've only had sex 3 times in the last 7 weeks, out of 27 "attempts" on his part.
Look man, every marriage is different when it comes to settling on an acceptable fucks-per-month quota. But it's never a good idea to voice your displeasure at where that fucks-per-month number currently sits via a passive aggressive email and a spreadsheet detailing your wife's alleged frigidity.
Good work italicizing all the yeses in there, though. We can almost hear the echos from you high-fiving yourself when you typed those in.


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Tags Electoral debacles in Haiti and America
Tag: electoral debacles in Haiti and America
Haiti's Fanmi Lavalas and the Black Panther Party
In 1969 I decided to join the Black Panther Party and commit myself to a lifetime of revolutionary struggle. In the early 1990s I became a supporter and advocate of Fanmi Lavalas. Lavalas means a cleansing flood that would wash away political corruption and Fanmi means family. I saw the similarities in practice of our Panther and Lavalas activists, whose dedication to the liberation of our peoples and provision of essential goods and services were paramount and well worth any risk to our lives.


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Christopher Doyle [pictured] will be one of the stars of TIFF Bell Lightbox's A Century Of Chinese Cinema event, set to run in Toronto from Jun 5-Aug 11.
The programme will open with Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine and features 80 films, free exhibitions and guests including Johnnie To and Jackie Chan.
The initiative, founded on a partnership between China Film Archive, the Hong Kong Film Archive and the Chinese Taipei Film Archive, includes new, digitally restored or archival 35mm prints of films that chart the shared cultural and historical heritage of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Screenings will include silent era classics such as Laborer's Love and Red Heroine alongside Golden Age standards like The Goddess and Spring In A Small Town.
Genre films include A Better Tomorrow and The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin as well as new post-Cultural Revolution voices such as Red Sorghum and Boat People and contemporary favourites In The Mood For Love and Still Life.
A Century Of Chinese Cinema highlights include a major new commission by artist Yang Fudong presented with two new installations by Doyle. Fudong's debut feature An Estranged Paradise will screen as part of the TIFF Cinematheque Free Screen series, while Doyle will present a special performance as part of the show's opening weekend.
Besides his Palme d'Or winner Farewell My Concubine, Kaige will introduce his debut feature Yellow Earth and take part in an on-stage conversation.
Chan returns to Toronto to introduce works from his past as well as a preview of the upcoming Police Story 2013. Johnnie To will also take part in an on-stage conversation, while producer Nansun Shi will discuss A Better Tomorrow and A Chinese Ghost Story.
The scholar David Bordwell discusses martial arts film and actresses Nora Miao and Ivy Ling Po are scheduled to introduce, respectively, Fist Of Fury and The Love Eterne.
"A Century Of Chinese Cinema exemplifies TIFF's vision to foster new relationships and build bridges of cultural exchange," said TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling. "If we are, indeed, living in the Chinese Century, it is essential that we attempt to understand what that entails. There is no better way to do so than through film, which encourages cross-cultural understanding in our city and beyond."
"With Chinese cinema in the international spotlight, an examination of the history and development of the region's amazing artistic output is long overdue," said TIFF Bell Lightbox artistic director Noah Cowan, who made the announcement on Monday [6]. "The unprecedented scale and depth of this programme should help make up for that lost time."


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INGLEWOOD, California (Reuters) - Hollywood Park is giving horse racing fans a run for their money one last time this weekend, as the 75-year-old track near Los Angeles that was once the playground of movie industry elites closes down amid declining U.S. popularity for the sport.
The Inglewood track, which is known for its pink flamingos in the infield lake and frequent flyovers by jumbo jets descending on Los Angeles International Airport, is set to close on Sunday after a long and steady decline in attendance.
The end of the line for the track, which is officially called Betfair Hollywood Park, underscores the challenges facing the horse racing industry, which has seen its popularity erode as casinos and online gambling have proliferated.
At Hollywood Park on Saturday, as the bugle sounded to announce each new lineup of thoroughbreds taking the track, groups of mostly gray-haired men placed bets indoors between glances at television monitors.
Outside in the sun, people filled only a few of the trackside seats in an area where crowds once roared.
Roy Morris, 65, watched the races from a shaded spot, away from the sparse crowd.
"I would say it's at its worst right now," said Morris, who has been a regular at the track since he moved to Los Angeles in 1981. "Back in the day, you couldn't even stand out here."
Hollywood Park opened on June 10, 1938, with Jack L. Warner, the co-founder of film studio Warner Bros. as the park's chairman and Hollywood power figures Walt Disney, Bing Crosby and Sam Goldwyn among its founding shareholders.
A number of Jews with success in Hollywood who were involved in creating the park were motivated by the cold shoulder they had received at Santa Anita, the Los Angeles-area's premier track, according to author Neal Gabler's book "An Empire of Their Own," a history of the Hollywood film industry.
The storied horse, Seabiscuit, claimed the Hollywood Gold Cup the year Hollywood Park opened.
In the park's glory days, celebrities such as Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson graced its seats. Attendance reached an all-time high of 80,348 people during a tote bag giveaway event on May 4, 1980.
In contrast, during the fall meet this year, the track saw only about 3,000 visitors a day, said Hollywood Park spokesman Bob Mieszerski. The largest crowd in recent memory was in 2010, when celebrated racehorse Zenyatta drew nearly 26,000 visitors.
Hollywood Park has not been alone among U.S. race tracks in seeing its fortunes fade. With attendance declining, less races are being held than in years past, said James Mulvihill, spokesman for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.
There were 45,000 races at U.S. racetracks in 2012 compared to nearly double that number in 1989, according to the Jockey Club Fact Book, which records racing statistics.
"Racing faces a lot of challenges from casinos and other forms of gambling that didn't exist when Hollywood Park was at its heyday, and racing had a monopoly on legalized gambling," Mulvihill said. "It wasn't that long ago that Atlantic City and Las Vegas were the only two places you could legally bet away from the race track."
As Hollywood Park has lost its luster, the Santa Anita Park track in Arcadia, some 20 miles to the northeast, has four times in the last decade hosted the prestigious Breeders' Cup. The event was last held at Hollywood Park in 1997.
Richard Warren, an usher who has worked at Hollywood Park since 1947, lamented the end of the track. On Sunday, he said, the crowds that had forsaken the park will finally return.
"They'll be here with their cameras and their screwdrivers, looking for souvenirs," he said.
The city of Inglewood has approved a plan to demolish Hollywood Park, and on the 238-acre (96-hectare) site build nearly 3,000 homes along with retail outlets, offices, and a park. The casino that exists next to the track will be renovated and will remain.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts in New York, Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Sandra Maler)


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London, 19 Jun 2019
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets ("MIRA") today announced the final close of Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 ("MEIF6") with €6 billion committed – exceeding its initial target of €5 billion.
This brings MIRA's total global fundraising to approximately €13 billion in just over a year1following the successful close of MIRA's other flagship regional funds including Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund 2 and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV in April and December 2018.
With a total re-up rate of 65 per cent, MEIF6 comprises a combination of existing clients as well as new clients including a number from new jurisdictions. The investor base is made up of pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds. This diverse investor base sees the majority of capital originating from European investors in addition to a significant portion from the Asia-Pacific, demonstrating the growing global demand for alternatives.
Consistent with MIRA's five predecessor European infrastructure funds, MEIF6 will seek to deploy capital into a long-term portfolio of diversified infrastructure assets which aim to deliver sustainable, predictable and inflation-linked cash flows.
The fund will target a pipeline of European infrastructure assets which occupy a strategic competitive advantage in their respective sectors, including utilities, transportation, communications infrastructure and renewables.
Leigh Harrison, Head of MIRA, EMEA: "We are delighted that our proven track record of raising and successfully deploying capital has enabled us to reach the hard cap for the sixth vintage of our pan-European infrastructure fund series.
Since the launch of our first European fund in 2004 we have paired long-term institutional capital with deep operational expertise to help build stronger and more sustainable infrastructure businesses for the communities in which we operate.
The mix of commitments from both new and returning clients, as well as the geographical diversity of our investor base, demonstrates the strength of this approach and the continued, growing interest from long-term capital to invest in this sector."
Nicole Grove
+44 77 6545 2193
About Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA)
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) is one of the world's leading alternative asset managers. For more than two decades, MIRA has partnered with investors, governments and communities to manage, develop and enhance assets relied on by more than 100 million people each day. As at 31 March 2019, MIRA managed €115 billion in assets that are essential to the sustainable development of economies and communities, including; 155 portfolio businesses, ~600 properties and 4.7 million hectares of farmland.
MIRA is a part of Macquarie Asset Management, the asset management arm of Macquarie Group, a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management and finance, banking, advisory and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs 15,700 people.


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Friday, December 19, 2014
Duggars Head to the Beach
58 comments:
Love all the pics! Everyone looks wonderful!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 12:16 AM
Wow! The Duggars are all growing up! Very nice pictures! What a sweet family! I'm glad they had a fun time together! :) It looks beautiful! Please let Jill & Derick know we are praying for their baby! Baby looks big!!! We are so excited for them! Merry Christmas Duggar Family!ReplyDelete
Much love,
Great pictures. The beach looks wonderful. Cold here in Washington. Wouldn't mind a nice warm beach myself!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 4:09 AM
Wow. His selfie taking abilities are much better than my own...ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 6:28 AM
Hope they a great time serving The Lord!!!! Wow!!! Jill is getting bigger!!!!!!ReplyDelete
So exciting!
Lots of people will comment on that cute baby bump, but I love the last photo so much. Michelle's hair is all windblown; she looks so fresh and fun and youthful! Oooo, the beach looks like so much fun (especially since my yard is all covered in snow!)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 10:40 AM
That hair tho, Derick!!ReplyDelete
Hi i like youre familie greetings from holland.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 11:42 AM
So beautiful. Wonderful family.ReplyDelete
Nice pic of the beach. We are stil wating to see the wedding of jessa and jill to see on the tv in holland. I love youre program 19 kids and counting. Much love frome holland!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 11:55 AM
Looking well Duggars √ReplyDelete
Love the Duggars,..Showing Christ light to the world!!ReplyDelete
That is very beautiful picturesReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 1:48 PM
Where was Jess&Ben at? Love the DuggarsReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 1:58 PM
Lovely family!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 3:06 PM
Cute pics love the one with Jill and Derick with the baby bump! Can't wait for the birth of their child. Can't wait to find out the name!! Much love!!!!!ReplyDelete
-Olivia Reilmann
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 3:43 PM
Love the pics...happy holidaysReplyDelete
Jill getting bigReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 5:23 PM
Love the pics. Great selfies. All my are going to Jill, Derick and the baby. God bless xxxReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 5:33 PM
Love the pics! All my prayers go to Jill and Derick for the baby. I really hope everything goes well.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 6:28 PM
I wonder if Jinger gets lonely when her sisters are busy with their own household and Jana is doing her midwife work.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 6:31 PM
Great photos! Jill looks so good! I don't remember looking that good when I was pregnant with my first child. Love this family!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 8:14 PM
It is fun to see the Duggars, along with some of the others who were there with the missionary trip, having a chance to enjoy God's creation and have life more abundantly! Just as Jesus said was among the reasons for his coming...I come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. God has Blessed All of You!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 8:15 PM
Is Jackson growing in resemblance to James?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 8:43 PM
Sweet family and great pictures! Love Jill & Dereck's!! Adorable! Sure do miss you on TV and will be so glad when you return!!
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 9:32 PM
Beautiful pics!!!!!!!!! Love the picture of Jill and Derek and baby bump:) Praying for them and baby!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to find out name of baby!!!!!!!!!!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 9:49 PM
Beautiful family!!! Michelle looks stunning!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2014 at 10:39 PM
I hope Jill doesn't have gestational diabetes... she looks so big for it to be a first time baby! I hope her back doesn't hurt really bad. I had a huge baby and my back hurt all the time. Blessings to the Duggars!ReplyDelete
Hi Anonymous 14,
Jessa and Ben traveled to Central America for a mission trip in July, so they decided to stay home this time. They visited Ben's family in Hot Springs instead.
Lily and Ellie
I loVe your show and your family is amazing!!!! I hope you have a safe trip home!!!!ReplyDelete
Great pictures! Jill has a look of glow with her pregnancy.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 21, 2014 at 11:43 AM
Jill looks BEAT, what will she do in a couple more months, shouldn't she be at home, and where was Jessa and Ben, is the family forgetting about them and where are they living?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 21, 2014 at 12:35 PM
Thank you so much for sharing you family adventure and pictures .I miss seeing your show every week can't wait till it is back on just love watching your christian family show!ReplyDelete
I too wondered about gestational diabetes because Jill does look quite big at this point in her first pregnancy. Maybe she is carrying a big baby, and she does look great, but still a big belly for as far along as she is. I hope she is not too terribly uncomfortable by the end of the pregnancy. She's due in late March, right?ReplyDelete
I thought Duggars did not go to the beach. Michelle said that is why Jessa woukd not have a beach honeymoon. Too much temptation for the boys. So which is it? Do they go to the beach or not?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 22, 2014 at 7:31 AM
Will the Dillards answer the question as to if Jill will be or has been tested for gestational diabetes? I believe her followers are genuinely concerned. Thank youReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 22, 2014 at 8:39 AM
I'm wondering about gestational diabetes as well. Jill looks huge for someone who is only six months along. When my mom was pregnant with me, she said that she barely had a bump when was six months along, and she was extremely thin to start with. However, she developed GD during the third trimester and rapidly put on weight. Nonetheless, when she was nine months pregnant, she was still smaller than Jill, even with the GD. I hope everything is OK and that the situation is being monitored.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 22, 2014 at 11:12 AM
If they go to the beach in El Salvador maybe its okay because nobody knows who they are.ReplyDeleteReplies
I guess but the point is for the boys not to see beach attired women.Delete
- AnonymousDecember 23, 2014 at 3:16 AM
Michelle would look so mucher younger and fashion forward if she pulled her hair in a pony tail, bangs and all, and it would be much cooler in that hot climate.I dont recall all the girls frequent a basic ponytail, Jill has been doing it more lately, it looks cute.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 23, 2014 at 6:44 AM
Thank you for sharing all the great pictures.ReplyDelete
Jill naturally looks worn down after all the traveling but still excited. I hope she paces herself. She is of term to be tested for any sugar concerns but I did not look any smaller carrying my first born. Both families came for large bone and tall stock. Everyone thought I was carrying multiples. It was a hard process to go through with my own size.
You size being pregnant (big bump or not) has nothing to do with GD. I had it both times and was never overly large, pretty normal size.
My friend on the other hand, got huge! but she had a lot of excess fluid (both pregnancies). So that might be more the case here.
- AnonymousDecember 23, 2014 at 5:17 PM
I was wondering the same thing!ReplyDelete
They always seem to be having a fun time together, at the beach or anywhere. Jinger is really starting to come into her own now, and I think will end up being the cutest one ofthe girls., and Joy is starting to grow up pretty too. Happy Birthday to you.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 24, 2014 at 6:45 AM
When was the trip? I see that the family was home for December birthdays?ReplyDeleteReplies
Hi Anonymous at 6:45am,Delete
The Duggars returned from El Salvador last week.
Merry Chistmas!
Lily and Ellie
- AnonymousDecember 24, 2014 at 10:30 AM
December 19 to January 19, January 19 to February 19, February to March....hmmm that's a lot of baby already. Over two months more....hmmm.....I would not put any money on that due date.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 24, 2014 at 10:36 AM
If someone knew of a beach that was remote and did not have other people there why shouldn't the Duggars be flexible and go to the beach? Legalistic to create and either or ultimatum. I understand the wisdom of in general not wanting to go to a public beach if your man is going to be looking around at other women. Or vice versa. Maybe Jessa/Ben wanted to go to France.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 24, 2014 at 11:43 AM
I lov to watch yalls show I hav had 2 children my baby passed 37 yrs a go but do hav a great daughter so why I am writing to tell yall merry Christmas god bless and be with yall diane Coralville iowaReplyDelete
I lived in ark 27 yrs
- AnonymousDecember 24, 2014 at 12:45 PM
Hello, Duggers!! Just want to know when you will be back on TLC or any other net work???? I miss you!!!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 26, 2014 at 7:01 AM
Just out of curiosity, I thought the duggars didn't do beaches? Is there private beaches out there?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 27, 2014 at 7:21 PM
Love the pictures. Merry Christmas and happy new year to the all of the duggers.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 30, 2014 at 1:24 PM
It is so great that you go on mission trips!! Such a great way to not only serve others, but also get some quality family time in. God bless!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 14, 2015 at 6:09 AM
Hi ladies, just wanted to thank Jim Bob for being a great role model. I grew up by the beach and my dad never work shorts. He had some work pants that were cut mid calf and a t shirt. There are times and places when no one is on the beach. Glad they got to goReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 27, 2015 at 2:40 PM
I watch this show all the time, and I think that Jana is the most beautiful girl in the bunch, they are all beautiful, Jana is the best.ReplyDelete
Thanks for leaving your comments! We answer as many of your questions as we can, but due to the number of comments we receive daily, we are unable to answer every one. Our aim is to post all points of view, but we do not post anything that is profane, insulting, derogatory, or in poor taste.


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Tim Cole couldn't tell his own story, so his family recounted the saga to the hard-bitten Texas legislators this past spring. The convict had insisted he was innocent up until the day he died. He had refused parole because that would have required him to admit he was guilty of raping a fellow student at Texas Tech University. The ordeal was wrenching: Cole wept during the nights as he awaited a trial that would sentence him to 25 years in jail. Twice during his prison term he was found unconscious in his cell, a result of the asthma that had plagued him since childhood. The third time he suffered an attack, Dec. 2, 1999, he died from heart failure. Then, in 2007, another man confessed to the crime and Cole was declared innocent. Texas lawmakers wept at the tale; as a result, the state with the reputation for being the toughest on crime came up with one of the most generous and supportive programs to compensate those wrongfully convicted: the Tim Cole Act.
"I think Tim Cole's story moved a lot of people," says Lubbock, Texas, attorney Kevin Glasheen, who represents 12 men who were exonerated after serving lengthy terms for rape. "As far as the politicians go, there are a lot of Republicans who do not like abusive government power." But legislators from both parties did more than shed tears. Apart from the Tim Cole Act, they passed a second law creating a well-funded office of expert appellate lawyers to represent death-row inmates, a move to overcome the tales of sleepy defense attorneys and inept lawyering. The two new laws are now being implemented, and their backers hope they will mitigate the state's hang-'em-high image.
The Tim Cole Act provides $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration and adds free college tuition, plus financial and personal counseling. Unlike past lump-sum payments, the new compensation will be paid out in a mix of monthly payments, with an upfront lump sum and an annuity that can be passed on through a recipient's estate. The new law also sets up an investigative panel, the Tim Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions.
Glasheen's 12 clients are among 38 Texas prisoners who were cleared by DNA testing thanks to the efforts of the New Yorkbased Innocence Project. He filed federal civil rights lawsuits on behalf of his clients against several Dallas-area police departments and municipalities. Facing a long, arduous legal process, Glasheen also proposed a legislative solution to Dallas-area civic leaders. The legal fight would be expensive for both sides, Glasheen told them, and the fundamental question was one of fairness. This past spring, state senator Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat and a longtime champion of the Innocence Project, and state senator Bob Duncan, a Republican and like Cole a Texas Tech alumnus, sponsored the Tim Cole Act.
Glasheen, a self-described Republican from the "libertarian wing of the party," hopes new DNA testing on old evidence will free more prisoners. However, that hope is limited: Dallas County kept evidence on file, hence the large number of exonerated prisoners from that area, but evidence in Houston was lost in a flood, and smaller counties across Texas did not keep evidence once the appeals process ran out. "There's a whole bunch of guys down there who were convicted on just eyewitness identification," Glasheen says, as Cole was. There is now a national campaign to press a best-practices written policy for lineups and eyewitness evidence. Dallas has adopted the new standards.
The second law passed by the legislature will set up new standards and funding for indigent defense appellate counsel programs. Texas was embarrassed by the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered a new trial for a death-row inmate whose lawyer slept through much of his proceedings in Houston in 1984. It responded after the ruling by boosting funds for indigent counsel. Despite that, studies showed that death-row inmates were still often badly served by appellate counsel. "Since 2004, 2005, there has been documented some horrible lawyering," says Andrea Marsh, executive director of Texas Fair Defense Project. In one case, a habeas appeal was filed by an attorney who simply cut and pasted an old appeal and changed the defendant's name, leaving the facts of the old case in place, Marsh says.
"These cases piled up, and there got to be a consensus that something should be done," Marsh says. The conservative-dominated appeals court, the Republican-led legislature and Republican Governor Rick Perry were not opposed to reform. "The courts, officials were tired of being embarrassed all the time," Marsh says. The new Office of Capital Writs, scheduled to be in place by 2010, will deal with new cases, not those already in the pipeline.
The Tim Cole Act and the new state-funded appellate office may not change the image of Texas justice beyond the state. How outsiders feel about Texas justice "probably depends on whether you are universally opposed to the death penalty," Marsh says. "But the hope [in Texas] is that we will stop seeing stories where the defendant never had a fair shot."


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Nothing was ever quite the same after Nirvana. The band's second album, 1991's Nevermind, revolutionized popular music by bringing alternative rock above ground, introducing mainstream audiences to sounds and concepts that had previously existed only in shadowy record store corners and on low-frequency college radio airwaves. Nevermind's noisy, dissonant guitar rock, mumbled or howled surrealistic lyrics, and generally angsty punk attitudes were unlikely candidates for chart success, but the band undercut their grungy songs with enough pop melodicism to create a sound unlike anything average listeners had ever heard before, striking at the exact right moment to become an unprecedented success.
Since Nirvana were rooted in an indie aesthetic but loved pop music, they fought their stardom while courting it, becoming some of the most notorious anti-rock stars in history. They consciously attempted to shed their audience with abrasive, Steve Albini-produced third album In Utero, but by that point, the fate of the band and vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Kurt Cobain had been sealed. Suffering from drug addiction and manic depression, Cobain had become destructive and suicidal, though his management and label were able to hide the extent of his problems from the public until April 8, 1994, when he was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. Cobain's death cut Nirvana's story tragically short, but their legacy stands as one of the most influential in rock & roll history.
Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar) met Chris Novoselic (born Krist Novoselic) (bass) in 1985 in Aberdeen, Washington, a small logging town 100 miles away from Seattle. While Novoselic came from a relatively stable background, Cobain's childhood had been thrown into turmoil when his parents divorced when he was eight. Following the divorce, he lived at the homes of various relatives, developing a love for the Beatles and then heavy metal in the process. Eventually, American hardcore punk worked its way into dominating his listening habits and he met the Melvins, an Olympia-based underground heavy punk band. Cobain began playing in punk bands like Fecal Matter, often with the Melvins' bassist Dale Crover. Through the Melvins' leader, Buzz Osborne, Cobain met Novoselic, who also had an intense interest in punk, which meant that he, like Cobain, felt alienated from the macho, redneck population of Aberdeen. The duo decided to form a band called the Stiff Woodies, with Cobain on drums, Novoselic on bass, and a rotating cast of guitarists and vocalists. The group went through name changes as quickly as guitarists, before deciding that Cobain would play guitar and sing. Renamed Skid Row, the new trio featured drummer Aaron Burkhart, who left the band by the end of 1986 and was replaced by Chad Channing. By 1987, the band was called Nirvana.
Nirvana began playing parties in Olympia, gaining a cult following. Around 1987, the band made ten demos with producer Jack Endino, who played the recordings to Jonathan Poneman, one of the founders of the Seattle-based indie label Sub Pop. Poneman signed Nirvana, and in December of 1988, the band released its first single, a cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz." Sub Pop orchestrated an effective marketing scheme, which painted the band as backwoods, logging-town hicks, which irritated Cobain and Novoselic. While "Love Buzz" was fairly well-received, the band's debut album, Bleach, was what got the ball rolling. Recorded for just over $600 and released in the spring of 1989, Bleach slowly became a hit on college radio, due to the group's consistent touring. Though Jason Everman was credited as a second guitarist on the sleeve of Bleach, he didn't appear on the record; he only toured in support of the album before leaving the band at the end of the year to join Soundgarden and then Mindfunk. Bleach sold 35,000 copies and Nirvana became favorites of college radio, the British weekly music press, and Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, and Dinosaur Jr., which was enough to attract the attention of major labels.
During the summer of 1990, Nirvana released "Sliver"/"Dive," which was recorded with Mudhoney's Dan Peters on drums and produced by Butch Vig. The band also made a six-song demo with Vig, which was shopped to major labels, who soon began competing to sign the group. In August, they hit the road with Sonic Youth's Goo tour (including Crover on drums). By the end of the summer, Dave Grohl, formerly of the D.C.-based hardcore band Scream, had become Nirvana's drummer and the band signed with DGC for $287,000. Nirvana recorded their second album with Vig, completing the record in June of 1991. Nevermind was released in September, supported by a quick American tour. While DGC was expecting a moderately successful release, in the neighborhood of 100,000 copies, Nevermind immediately became a smash hit, quickly selling out its initial shipment of 50,000 copies and creating a shortage across America. What helped the record become a success was "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a blistering four-chord rocker that was accompanied by a video that shot into heavy MTV rotation. By the beginning of 1992, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had climbed into the American Top Ten and Nevermind bumped Michael Jackson's much-touted comeback album Dangerous off the top of the album charts; it reached the British Top Ten shortly afterward. By February, the album had been certified triple platinum.
Nirvana's success took the music industry by surprise, Nirvana included. From the moment Nirvana were met with mainstream visibility, Cobain used his newfound fame to relentlessly push his favorite independent artists as if their music was more important than his own. This took the form of bringing Japanese alt-pop trio Shonen Knife on tour, covering lesser-known but formative artists like the Wipers, the Vaselines, and Meat Puppets, or wearing a homemade Daniel Johnston t-shirt during television appearances and high-profile concerts. Cobain's enthusiastic fandom introduced untold numbers of Nirvana fans to artists they most likely wouldn't have known to seek out on their own, and in the process, energized those artists' careers.
It soon become apparent that Nirvana wasn't quite sure how to handle its success. Around the time of Nevermind's release, the band was into baiting its audience -- Cobain appeared on MTV's Headbangers Ball in drag, the group mocked the tradition of miming on the BBC's Top of the Pops by Novoselic constantly throwing his bass into the air and Cobain singing his live vocals in the style of Ian Curtis, and their traditional live destruction of instruments was immortalized on a Saturday Night Live performance that ended with Novoselic and Grohl sharing a kiss -- but by the spring, questions had begun to arise about the band's stability. Cobain married Courtney Love, the leader of the indie rock/foxcore band Hole, in February of 1992, announcing that the couple was expecting a child in the fall. Shortly after the marriage, rumors that Cobain and Love were heavy heroin users began to circulate and the strength of the rumors only increased when Nirvana canceled several summer concerts and refused to mount a full-scale American tour during the summer. Cobain complained that he was suffering from chronic stomach troubles, which seemed to be confirmed when he was admitted to a Belfast hospital after a June concert. But heroin rumors continued to surface, especially in the form of a late-summer Vanity Fair article implying that Love was using during her pregnancy. Both Love and Cobain denied the article's allegations, and publicly harassed and threatened the article's author. Love delivered Frances Bean Cobain, a healthy baby girl, on August 18, 1992, but the couple soon battled with Los Angeles' children's services, who claimed they were unfit parents on the basis of the Vanity Fair article. The couple was granted custody of the child by the beginning of 1993.
Since Cobain was going through such well-documented personal problems, Nirvana was unable to record a follow-up to Nevermind until the spring of 1993. In the meantime, DGC released the odds-and-ends compilation Incesticide late in 1992; the album reached number 39 U.S. and number 14 U.K. As Nirvana prepared to make their third album, they released "Oh, the Guilt" as a split single with the Jesus Lizard on Touch & Go Records. Choosing Steve Albini (Pixies, the Breeders, Big Black, the Jesus Lizard) as their producer, they recorded their third album, In Utero, in two weeks during the spring of 1993. Following its completion, controversy began to surround Nirvana again. Cobain suffered a heroin overdose on May 2, but the event was hidden from the press. The following month, Love called police to their Seattle home after Cobain locked himself in the bathroom, threatening suicide. Prior to debuting In Utero material during the New Music Seminar at New York's Roseland Ballroom in July, Cobain had another covered-up overdose. By that time, reports began to circulate, including an article in Newsweek, that DGC was unhappy with the forthcoming album, and making accusations that the band deliberately made an uncommercial record. Both the band and the label denied such allegations. Deciding that Albini's production was too flat, Nirvana decided to remaster the album with R.E.M.'s producer, Scott Litt.
In Utero was released in September of 1993 to positive reviews and strong initial sales, debuting at the top of the U.S. and U.K. charts. Nirvana supported it with a fall American tour, hiring former Germs member Pat Smear as an auxiliary guitarist. While the album and the tour were both successful, sales weren't quite as strong as expected, with several shows not selling out until the week of the concert. As a result, the group agreed to play MTV's acoustic Unplugged show at the end of the year, and sales of In Utero picked up after its December airing. After wrapping up the U.S. tour on January 8, 1994 with a show at Center Arena in Seattle, Nirvana embarked on a European tour in February. Following a concert in Munich on February 29, Cobain stayed in Rome to vacation with Love. On March 4, she awakened to find that Cobain had attempted suicide by overdosing on the tranquilizer Rohypnol and drinking champagne. While the attempt was initially reported as an accidental overdose, it was well-known within the Nirvana camp that the vocalist had left behind a suicide note.
Cobain returned to Seattle within a week of his hospitalization and his mental illness began to grow. On March 18, the police had to again talk the singer out of suicide after he locked himself in a room threatening to kill himself. Love and Nirvana's management organized an intervention program that resulted in Cobain's admission to the Exodus Recovery Center in L.A. on March 30, but he left the clinic on April 1, returning to Seattle. His mother filed a missing persons report on April 4. The following day, Cobain shot himself at his Seattle home. His body wasn't discovered until April 8, when an electrician contracted to install an alarm system at the Cobain home stumbled upon the body. After his death, Kurt Cobain was quickly anointed as a spokesman for Generation X, as well as a symbol of its tortured angst.
Novoselic and Grohl planned to release a double-disc live album at the end of 1994, but sorting through the tapes proved to be too painful, so MTV Unplugged in New York appeared in its place. The album debuted at the top of the British and American charts, as a home video comprised of live performances and interviews from the band's Nevermind era, titled Live! Tonight! Sold Out!, was issued at the same time (the project began prior to Cobain's passing and was completed by surviving bandmembers). In 1996, MTV Unplugged in New York's electric counterpart, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, was released, debuting at the top of the U.S. charts. Following Cobain's death, Grohl formed the Foo Fighters (early rumors that Novoselic would also be a member of the band ultimately proved to be false), releasing their self-titled debut album in 1995, followed by The Colour and the Shape in 1997 and There Is Nothing Left to Lose in 1999. Novoselic formed the trio Sweet 75, releasing their debut in the spring of 1997, and also appeared along with former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra and former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil on the 2000 live set Live from the Battle in Seattle under the name the No W.T.O. Combo.
By the late '90s, Novoselic began research for a proposed box set of previously unreleased songs from throughout Nirvana's career. The project was supposed to surface in the fall of 2001 (to coincide with the tenth anniversary release of Nevermind), but legal issues delayed its release. Finally, the Nirvana LLC partnership -- which included Grohl and Novoselic plus Courtney Love, who manages Cobain's estate -- came to an agreement and the album-length compilation Nirvana was released in October of 2002. Although that release included only one unreleased song, the long-awaited box set, titled With the Lights Out, appeared in late 2004, including three discs of rare and unreleased material plus a live DVD that featured material filmed as early as 1988. The band's 1992 set at the Reading Festival was released in 2009 as Live at Reading. The same year, Sub Pop began a Nirvana studio album reissue campaign with Bleach; special 20th-anniversary editions of Nevermind and In Utero followed in 2011 and 2013, respectively. In 2014, Nirvana was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe. Cobain's place in the induction performance was taken by several vocalists, including Joan Jett and Kim Gordon. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato
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Story highlights
Colombian striker steals the show with a first-half hat-trick in European Super Cup
Champion's League winners, Chelsea outclassed by Spanish Europa League winners
Chelsea boss, Roberto di Matteo says his team will "bounce back"
Radamel Falcao scored a first-half hat-trick as Atletico Madrid thrashed Chelsea 4-1 in the European Super Cup in Monaco on Friday.
Falcao opened his account in the sixth minute with a clever chip over goalkeeper Petr Cech before guiding a left-foot shot into the top-left corner to make it 2-0 with just 19 minutes on the clock.
The Colombian striker scored his third in the dying moments of the first half smashing the ball past a helpless Cech to finish off a counter-attack to all but end the English club's interest in the tie.
Any hopes of a comeback were snuffed out 15 minutes after the restart when Miranda expertly put away a fourth.
Champion's League winners, Chelsea were second best all night against Europa League victors Atletico, but they did manage a consolation goal 16 minutes before the final whistle when defender Gary Cahill fired home.
"We've got a lot to learn, we've got to get a lot better. It's a shame we were not able to be as competitive in a European final," Chelsea coach, Roberto di Matteo said.
"It was a bad defeat, but we'll bounce back," he added.


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One of the things I'm looking forward to most in summer is lingering outside with friends and family on a warm evening while we sip beverages, barbeque, and enjoy the cool breezes that blow through the yard. I'm sure you feel the same about your summer evenings too! I invited my friend and fellow blogger Shannon of {aka} Design to be a contributor here and today she'll be sharing a few ideas for creating that perfect inviting outdoor conversation zone which will guarantee your guests linger longer during the warmer summer months. Please welcome Shannon as she shares her best tips on creating an inviting conversation area in your own yard.
"Outdoor dining areas have long been popular in the warm summer months for parties, barbeques, and family get togethers. There are so many fabulous ideas to be found both online and in print to inspire you to create a cozy eating area and conversation zone outdoors.
With so many beautiful and affordable outdoor furniture sets available these days, it's easy to create an outdoor conversation zone that works for your lifestyle. But creating an area for lingering conversation is about more than just plopping down an outdoor sofa and some chairs. Here are some tips for creating an inviting conversation outdoors in a space large or small!
1. Create a Focal Point
Build your conversation area around something interesting by creating a focal point. This can take the form of a fire pit, a coffee table, or an outdoor ottoman to rest your feet. By gathering your seating around something you make it easier to have face-to-face conversation. The nice thing about a fire pit is it creates a campfire-type atmosphere for sharing stories – of the ghost-type or not – and is great for toasting marshmallows. A coffee table or ottoman provides a place to set your drink or put up your feet, which is always a reason to stay a little longer.
2. Layer Greenery
Adding layers of greenery with botanicals that grow well in your zone will enhance your outdoor conversation area. Whether it's container gardening or more permanent surrounding gardens, greenery adds that irreplaceable living element. To achieve it, plant annuals and perennials that will grow in different heights and sizes. For interesting landscaping, add potted trees, ferns, hostas, and grasses for that desirable variety of textures. Get creative with your containers or use unusual objects as pots, but be sure to avoid flowers that attract bees or your guests may end up leaving your conversation zone!
3. Comfort is Key
Better Homes & Gardens
The best way to ensure both you and your guests linger longer is to include plenty of cushions and pillows for comfort and coziness in durable outdoor fabrics. Stripes are a sure bet and a classic summer look – also available in outdoor fabrics are a variety of choices in patterns from contemporary florals to bold geometrics. These modern choices allow you to bring indoor comfort and style to your conversation zone but with outdoor sensibilities.
4. Incorporate Artwork
The options for outdoor art are an endless opportunity to introduce whimsy or even a little quirk into your yard. You can choose anything metal from barn stars to iron sculptures, even old ladders, or obelisks. If you have an empty wall, go vertical with living art in the form of succulents, vines, or espalier fruit trees. Cover a wall in living green art or nestle a fun sculpture among the grasses, anything goes in the great outdoors as long as your art, living or otherwise, can withstand consistent sun and frequent exposure to water. Fountains provide the comforting sound of running water which is attractive to guests and is always a soothing addition to your outdoor space.
5. The Final Layer: Lighting!
One of the beautiful things about summer is that magic moment when it turns to dusk but still retains its warmth. Keep yourself and your guests happy during those enchanting hours as dark approaches by lighting up your outdoor space with globe lights strung casually across the yard or flickering candlelight paired with outdoor lighting that enhances the beauty of the outdoors even when the sun has gone down."
Shannon is a passionate interior decorator and DIYer and author behind the Canadian blog {aka} design. She lives in a war-era fixer-upper in Ajax, Ontario with her handyman husband and their three children. Shannon can be found scouring local shops for bargains, sipping a decaf soy peppermint white chocolate mocha, scrubbing paint off her hands, and rearranging the furniture (again).
Thank you Shannon for sharing your tips today, I'm definitely inspired to string some globe lights over my outdoor eating area! You can pay a visit to Shannon at her blog {aka} design and catch up on her latest projects!
What's your favorite way to set the perfect scene for long conversations spent outdoors in your yard?


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Student Shows 2012: Edinburgh School of Architecture
Johnny Rodger sees a fertilisation of ideas and approaches at Edinburgh
The 2009 merger of the two Edinburgh schools – respectively from the College of Art and the University – has led to a very interesting cross-fertilisation of ideas and approaches to design.
In the lower school, on show in Lauriston Place, there is a continuation of the College of Art concentration on exploring the labyrinthine complexity of the layers of settlement that constitute the city of Edinburgh. Suzanne Ewing's fourth-year unit demonstrates at once a delicacy and rigour with capturing in drawing the architectonic order of the Scottish metropolis.
At diploma level, studies on Fountainbridge and Leith examine the formal make-up of the city zones and the Contemporary Architecture Unit takes a cultural and historical critique to forceful depth, which among other things reveals Hume and Adam as the great demiurges in the cultural creation of the New Town.
At Minto House, the two master's years add the University's global and phenomenological concern with ambiences, surfaces, materials and the quality of place to that lower school development of spatial tools. Dorian Wiszniewski's first year looks at Olbia, Sardinia, as a paradigm for the rural/urban dichotomy with a heavy philosophical and political input.
The final master's year Venice Unit, tutored by Adrian Hawkes, takes a delightfully sensitive approach to the fragile ecology of the city. There are wonderfully complex and delicate models throughout; projects that aim at reclaiming Venice from the tourists and reconstituting it as a functioning community. Some of these projects emphasise the drift of the city; some, such as Claire Gardiner's Hortus and Laura Barr's hospital project, give it needed therapy.
Standout unit
Venice Unit
Standout students
Claire Gardner and Laura Barr
In a word
AJ reviews of every student show in the UK are in AJ26.07.12. Students can subscribe to the AJ for just £82.50.
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President Obama Welcomes NY Giants to the White House
President Obama congratulated the NY Giants on their XLVI Super Bowl win in a ceremony on the South Lawn this afternoon. The President praised the team for its triumphant end to a difficult season, and their come from behind win of the championship game. He also made a point to note that the team, the coaches, and the owners have all been unwavering in their support of our men and women in uniform:
These guys have made it clear that no matter who you root for on Sundays, if you're a veteran, the New York Giants are on your team. Whether it's setting up tickets to games, or inviting folks to practices, the Giants never forget the men and women who risk everything to protect our freedom. And I especially want to thank and congratulate Coach Coughlin on receiving the Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Award. That's a great honor.
You can read the President's full remarks here
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Lambiek is the world's oldest comic shop and sequential art gallery, in the center of Amsterdam. Founded in 1968 by Kees Kousemaker, it has since been a popular landmark on the Kerkstraat, a charming street between Leidsestraat and Spiegelstraat, near the Leidseplein.
Lambiek has a global reputation for its impressive collection of comics and art from around the world, with many genres and eras, and is famous for being a hotspot for comic artists, collectors and fans. Festive openings of artist expositions in the gallery have become legendary, and we host many special events such as book presentations, workshops and the annual 24 Hour Comics Day.
Make your trip to Amsterdam an even more special one and come by to say "hello" and browse through our unique collection where you can find books and artwork by many renowned comic artists. Of course you can also visit our webshop. We ship all over the world.
Lambiek.Net, online since 1994, brings you the Comiclopedia - the comics compendium featuring more then 12,000 comic artists from around the world. We are always looking for some worthy new artists, and we welcome your comments and updates.
Koningsstraat 27
1011 ET Amsterdam


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| Search | My account | Shopping cart | Checkout
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De Luxe Navy Rolls
Virginia, Perique
Curly Cut / Navy Rolls
Very good
Manufacturer Description:
A combination of the highest grade Virginia and Perique Tobaccos, specially selected with the utmost care and hand blended by experts, result in this fine, cool smoking sensation.
The tobacco lays in the tin diversified as rounded, a little bit stuck together slices with a diameter of about 40 mm (1.57") and a thickness of 1 mm (0.005"). The slices are dark brown with a few, irregular brighter parts. The smell of the fresh opened tin is sweetly as malt or fresh pumpernickel – the typical smell of Perique. A medium flavour of naturally tobacco is spreading.
The Navy Rolls could be plugged rubbed as a mixture or, to get a slower burning, two or three slices buckled at the half and then carefully drilled into the tobacco chamber of the pipe. It's recommended to use some crumbles with not too much pressure for the last layer. Both methods need the attention to be plugged not too compressed – the tobacco will expand while glowing!
Light up:
The tobacco tends a little bit to swell, especially, if it was rubbed. Therefore it's possible that three to four flames are necessary to get the tobacco to a constant glowing. You should avoid to draw to heavy while light up – the tobacco will react with overheating!
Smoking properties:
The De Luxe Navy Rolls will be enjoyed slowly. Once lighted up properly they will bring a lot of fun, if smoked thoughtful. Fine nuances of Virginia and explicit parts of spicy Perique will be discoverable in a beautiful interplay. Once smoked too hot, only an uninteresting, sometimes fraying fume will be left until the end. It's better to accept that the tobacco dies down from time to time and must lighted up again, what doesn't has any influence to the taste. Slowly smoked to the end you'll get only a little bit of condensate and a darker grey ash with a few tobacco particles will remain.
The redolence is affected by the exquisite, pure tobacco. The typical flavour of Virginia mixed with spicy smell of Perique – a tobacco for purists, who may reckon that this tobacco wouldn't be loved in any surrounding...
An exquisite, pure tobacco, which will be smoked slow and with attention to get a maximum of pleasure. It may be necessary to light up the tobacco again, but to hold up the taste and redolence, one should accept this circumstance. In a smoker-friendly society the Navy Rolls are an attraction – in restaurants they're not welcome at any rate. A recommendation for the experienced pipe smoker – for beginners only if they heed, that this tobacco must be smoked slowly and cool!
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|Lunar Festival Brings New BoE Pets
New Lunar Festival Pets
We have been seeing some fresh changes to the World of Warcraft in game holidays, which have included some nice additions. Currently, the Lunar Festival is underway throughout all of Azeroth. The most notable change to this year's Lunar Festival has been the addition of two new companion pets, the Lunar Lantern and the Festival Lantern.
- Lunar Lantern - Costs 50 Coins of Ancestry - Alliance
- Festival Lantern - Costs 50 Coins of Ancestry - Horde
Lunar Festival Cross Faction Pet Exchange
Due to the limiting nature of vendors that only sell specific pets to each of WoW's player factions, these new companion pets make great targets for cross faction exchanges, much like the Enchanting crafted lamps & lanterns. Just because a Lunar Lantern is only sold to Alliance players, doesn't mean that your Horde character can't have one too. It is just going to be either harder or more expensive to obtain the Alliance Lantern on a Horde character. The required time commitment just to obtain the 50 Coins of Ancestry to purchase these pets is also another benefit in raising the value of these items. If you don't value your time much, you could earn the coins and then buy these pets on multiple characters just to have more to sell on the auction house. A wiser way to profit on these new pets is to transfer them across factions to sell for a nice profitable mark-up.
Using my own server's prices as an example, you can see the large potential profit margins from performing some cross faction arbitrage.
- Festival Lantern (Horde) is selling for 8.3k Horde side, but 25k Alliance side.
- Lunar Lantern (Alliance) is selling for 4k on the Alliance auction house, but 12k on the Horde side.
So make sure you are selling your pets on the auction house that will give you the most profits per sale. Don't just settle for selling your pets on the same faction that can already buy them anyway. Move them to the other half of your server for more efficient golden profits.
Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.


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Nuclear Power Criticized On Hiroshima Anniversary
On Saturday, Japan commemorated the 66th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, but the ceremony was different this year.
In March, a massive earthquake triggered a meltdown at the Japanese nuclear plant in Fukushima. The plant continues to leak radiation in the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl. Saturday's ceremony focused on the nuclear attack on Japan in 1945, but the country's ongoing nuclear disaster loomed large.
The atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m., killing 70,000 people instantly. As the bell tolled Saturday, most people froze, closed their eyes and put their hands together to pray.
Cicadas roared in the trees overhead.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan remembered the dead from long ago, then he spoke of Japan's most recent atomic tragedy.
"I deeply regret believing in the security myth of nuclear power and will carry out a thorough verification on the cause of this incident," he said.
The "security myth" was the Japanese government's pledge that it could control the atom. Officials said the same forces that leveled Hiroshima could be harnessed to power this resource-poor nation. Most Japanese believed it for years.
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a poll showed that 70 percent of Japanese now want nuclear power phased out.
After Saturday's ceremony, anti-nuclear activists took their cause to the streets of Hiroshima. They drew a direct line between the two atomic events separated by more than six decades.
One group of activists peeled off and headed to the Chugoku Electric Power Co. The company has been trying to build a plant 50 miles from Hiroshima for the past three decades. Local resident have been fighting the whole time. Saturday, they shook their fists at the granite walls of the company's headquarters.
Toshiyasu Shimizu, a member of the Kaminoseki town council, says fighting the plant has felt lonely at times.
"People, including those in the neighboring town, were not interested. But now they see nuclear power as their own problem, so there has been a dramatic difference," he says.
After all these years, Shimizu says, he feels like most of the country is beginning to agree with him.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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You see, I was reading this piece about the outcry over plans to slaughter Grey Squirrels - how they are to be bludgeoned to death in order to save the poor, endangered little Red Squirrel from extinction (or worse, only being able to live in Scotland), and it got me thinking.
Don't get me wrong, I've never really been a big fan of squirrels anyway - personally I think that far from being cutesy, bright-eyed little fellas with an entertaining way of grasping their nuts, they are in fact sinister, evil little members of the rat family with a bushy tail and a good PR company. So obviously, the problem's with the 'senseless killing' bit. But then, the brainwave hit me.
We're in a credit crunch, and we're told that the price of everything has risen quite steeply. Loss of income, loss of jobs and so on mean that we're all tightening our belts. And here, folks, is a perfect antidote to the problem of not being able to afford meat in the weekly shop. Just pop down to your local park, set a few traps, and you have a delicious meal on your plate. Squirrel probably even tastes like chicken. Of course, you still have to despatch your rodent - here I'd recommend sticking with the bludgeoning, ideally using a steak mallet, because 1: it'll help tenderise your meat for later, and 2: it's enormous fun.
And there's a second benefit as well. As we know, Nanny has given us a telling off this very day, entreating us to eat less fat - less butter, low-fat cheese and the like - and to eat leaner meat. Well, how much leaner do you want? Squirrels are free-range, eat an organic acorn-based diet, and given the amount of amusing scampering around they do, I doubt there's much fat on them. Job done.
There you go. A solution to the food crisis, the credit crunch, improved public health and a better environment for the native Red Squirrel.
No, no, don't thank me. In fact, I'll even give you a recipe to start with. Bon appetit.
- First, take your squirrel and bludgeon it for the oven.
- Bludgeon it some more. Feels good, doesn't it?
- Peel and disembowel your squirrel (purist torturers may wish to do this before the bludgeoning, as it can improve the flavour).
- Wrap in greasepoof paper with two garlic cloves, a sprig of rosemary, two slices of onion and shredded fieldmouse to taste.
- Cook in the oven for 25 minutes at Gas Mark 6.
- Remove from the oven, and leave to rest for ten minutes.
- Open the greaseproof paper, and inhale deeply.
- Throw it away and order a Pizza.


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A beautiful old map of Alaska recreated into a large pendant. Capture your favorite memories and keep them safe! The vintage map is covered with glass which both protects and enhances the image.
At checkout, you can choose between pendant only, pendant with chain, or key chain. The chain length is selectable at checkout and is available in 5 lengths (18", 21", 24", 27" and 30").
: Pendant: about 1.5" by 1.75"
: Necklace Chains: 18", 21", 24", 27" and 30"
: Key Ring: 1" diameter
Each pair of pendant comes in its own gift box, ready for gift-giving.
Pendants are water resistant but not completely waterproof, please remove to swim or shower. Clean with soft cloth and keep dry. Items are water-resistant only. The small parts may be a choking hazard. NOT INTENDED FOR SMALL CHILDREN. Made with Metal alloy that is Lead-Free and Nickel-Free.
Inventory Last Updated: Sep 28, 2023


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375 million years ago, Earth suffered through its worst extinction event ever: 95% of all species perished. But here's the paradox: extinctions weren't actually any more common then than they are now. The real secret is that Earth's biodiversity collapsed.
At the end of the Devonian Period, around 378 to 375 million years ago, animal species went extinct. That, in itself, isn't unusual - part of the natural ebb and flow of our planet is that some species die out and new species evolve to take their place. The problem wasn't with the first part of that equation, but the second: no new species emerged to take the place of the old ones.
Over millions of years, the constant extinction rate coupled with no replacement species translated to 90 to 95% of all species disappearing. Ohio University researcher Alycia Stigall puts it succinctly:
"We refer to the Late Devonian as a mass extinction, but it was actually a biodiversity crisis. The main mode of speciation that occurs in the geological record is shut down during the Devonian. It just stops in its tracks.""
So why didn't any new species emerge? The researchers suspect it's all about vicariance. A natural driver of evolution, vicariance is when a species becomes geographically separated into multiple groups, say by the emergence of a mountain range or new river. Faced with new and different environmental conditions, the now isolated groups diverge into separate species.
In general, Earth's shifting topography will always favor greater species diversity, but in the late Devonian the normal state of affairs was reversed. The sea levels rose and the continents merged into huge connected landmasses, essentially flattening out Earth's features and giving species access to new areas without restricting their flow back to their old habitats. A few basic species invaded and wiped out the more locally adapted species. Relatively speaking, a few species took the place of what had once been hundreds of different forms of life.
The effects were dramatic. The Devonian reef system had been the largest in Earth's history, but the environmental disaster wiped out the reefs and it took 100 million years for them to return. Giant fish, the dominant form of life of the Devonian age, were all wiped out, as were many of their much smaller marine cousins.
This could be bad news for our current ecosystems. Earth's biodiversity again appears to be in crisis, and the extinction rate now is greater than it was in the Devonian or at the last great extinction of the dinosaurs. What's worse, human activity has moved invasive species, like cane toads and kudzu, all over the planet. It's a potentially grim picture, but Stigall argues this latest research could give us useful knowledge to prevent a real biodiversity catastrophe:
[PLoS ONE via Discovery News]