Every year Imaginate receives financial and in-kind support from a range of national and international organisations, trusts and foundations, businesses and individuals. We would like to thank them all for their invaluable support.
Imaginate is supported by Creative Scotland, The City of Edinburgh Council, and The Scottish Government's Festivals Expo Fund.
We are proud to work with Baillie Gifford, lead sponsor of the Inspiring Schools – Immerse programme. Inspiring Schools – Immerse is a three-year partnership with Punchdrunk, working intensively in 6 disadvantaged schools to transform teaching and learning.


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Film and Television celebrities are in the public spotlight, so when they have cosmetic surgery procedures, it is usually an easy task to identify who has had what done, even when they deny it.
Some of the most famous stars who have had (or who are rumoured to have had) cosmetic surgery are:
Janet has had several nose jobs like her big brother Michael and sister LaToya.
She has also had facial liposuction, cheek implants, skin bleaching and a breast enlargement.
For a long time Dolly denied that she had had a breast enlargement. However, she now admits that she had her first breast enlargement when she was 22 years old in 1967. She had another enlargement in the mid-70's, by the mid-80's she had specially made 1000cc implants put in and a breast lift, by the early-90's she had the jumbo implants replaced with smaller, but still big 600cc size.
Dolly has also had cheek implants, collagen injections in her lips and a laser skin facelift.
Cher has admitted to having multiple procedures: starting with rhinoplasty and including over the years, cheek implants, liposuction and breast implants.
Michael is usually the first person that people think of when celebrity cosmetic surgery is mentioned. He is rumoured to have had 5 nasal surgeries, the results of which are very unnatural looking. He has also had surgery to "cleft" his chin and cheek implants.
Pamela certainly has the most famous breasts in the world. She has given her surgically enhanced breasts the full credit for her television and fledgling movie career. She has also admitted to having lip enhancement surgery.
"Gimme Moore" certainly said "Gimme more" when her breasts miraculously enlarged. She is rumoured to have had two breast enlargement surgeries in the last 8 years, although she denies it.
Burt has gone a little too far with his most recent face lift. His eyes have been lifted too much, giving them a strange, surprised look. The sexiness of his (former) hooded eyes was part of his appeal.
ROSEANNE
Many Brits will be familiar with Roseanne from repeats of her hit American television sitcom of the same name. She has undergone an incredible transformation over the last ten years. She has admitted to having had extensive liposuction, cheek implants, breast reduction, rhinoplasty, a tummy tuck and probably much more.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Here you can freely listen to preview tracks from 30 But 17 Original Soundtrack, Pt. 4 - Single. Album was composed by Lucia and was released on August 21, 2018. Soundtrack consists of 2 tracks tracks with duration over about 10 minutes. Album was released by ліёнЊ©н† л¦¬(BON FACTORY).
Tracks preview provided by iTunes. If you like 30 But 17 Original Soundtrack, Pt. 4 - Single, we strongly recommend to buy it. Support composers, artists and performers so they can release more music in the future. Furthermore, it's inexpensive. This album costs only 1.99 USD. Prices and shops where you can buy it are at the right column.


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Tag: Italian resort style
Capri : A rock in the middle of the sea (Uno scoglio in mezzo al mare)
Published on October 3, 2013 February 8, 2014 by Montserrat FrancoLeave a comment
The Faraglioni, the island distinguished rock formations.
The myth about Capri goes back to Homer's epic tale "The Odyssey" when Ulysses and his troop were going back to Troy, they couldn't resist the temptation to hear the seductive songs of the Sirens around today's Capri, they filled out their ears with wax so they won't listen to the Sirens and kept navigating but they crashed in to the stones and vanished.
Of course you won't vanish like Ulysses' troops in Capri but you will be so tempted by the natural beauty. One of the trips you can do is on a boat to the Grotta Azzurra (The Blue Grotto) where Romans used to worship the waters.
A view from The Punta Tragara Hotel
Capri is the world's first resort, dating back Emperor Augustus (29 B.C.) at that time Capri was under Naples rule, Augustus gave to Naples the Island of Ischia and turned Capri in to his very own private Resort. Today you can enjoy the magnificence of the oldest resort in the world just like Jacky O, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth and many more celebrities and film stars did in the 1950's when international tourism arrived to Capri.
Capri is so charming, an island so fashionable with unique style. Just stop by the Piazzetta where you can watch the locals wearing their impeccable white pants sipping limoncellos at sunset.
Arriving to Marina Grande. Capri is about 4 square miles, easy to explore. Being there gives you a sensation of being apart from the world, because cars are prohibited in such a small island, you need to walk everywhere.
When coming to Capri, don't expect to rush anything (piano, piano) slowly slowly, this is the land of the "Dolce far niente" (sweet idleness). Act like a local, walking the streets Jacky walked, a good excuse to get your hand made sandals to your measure by the local handcrafters, wear oversized sunglasses, a silk foulard in your head and capri pants.
"The charm of Capri then and even now, is that little by little you become part and parcel of life on the island, and as small as it is, there are always new discoveries" (Cyril Dwek)
The first evidence of humans, tools, weapons and pottery were found in Anacapri, the village above Capri, early Greek colonists called Teleboians who arrived in the 8th century B.C, (Pictured here a view from Anacapri's Villa San Michelle)
The Etruscan sphinx at Villa San Michelle
There are many theories about the name Capri, a popular one says that it comes from the Greek "kapros" (wild boar) but the most widely theory is that it derives from the Latin "capreae" (goats) which makes sense been a referred as the Goat Island.
After Augustus died, his successor Tiberius took possession of Augustus villas converting them in a place for banquets and good times, this lifestyle can be remembered on Gore Vidal's film "Caligula"
The gardens at Villa San Michelle in Anacapri
When you walk around Capri one famous sightseeing is Villa Jovis, the residence of Tiberius, he named that way in honor to Jove (Jupiter) the God of conviviality
One of the many villas you will see while walking around Capri
The courtyard at La Scalinatella Hotel was home of the couturier Valentino, now owned by the Morano family, is where Churchill and Maria Callas used to party.
La Caponata Caprese, one of my favorite restaurants in Capri is Edode where you can taste their version of "caponata caprese" made with buffalo mozzarella, anchovies, kalamata olives, basil, zucchini, tomatoes and fresh pressed extra virgin olive oil under a bed of whole wheat bread dipped in water and olive oil.
The Caprese cuisine is fresh, simple and less complicated, the fish brought technically from the sea to the table with a few hours of being caught. The sword fish pictured here was seasoned with just fresh aromatic herbs, lemon and olive oil.
On this tiny island everything seems to taste better, pictured here the infamous Tiramisu
In the winter of 1952 Pablo Neruda stayed and composed during his exile at the home of prominent Caprese Edwin Cerio
The iconic Caprese boutique "La Parisienne" is perhaps known for the famous Capri trousers, here is where Jacky Kennedy Onassis used to have hers tailor made. Michael Kors was for years a guest at The Grand Hotel Quisisana and he described the view from the terrace facing Via Camerelle as the front row of a fashion show. Fashion designer Oscar de La Renta went to Capri to receive the award "Tiberio d'oro" at Mare Moda, the island notorious fashion show. Valentino, Givenchy, Gianfranco Ferre, Missoni, they all came personally to show at Mare Moda.
When Emilio Pucci opened his first boutique in 1950 it was in Capri, his vivid prints
were so characteristic with Capri's vivid spirit, his boutique in Via Camerelle still stands.
The Missoni boutique right next to the historic Hotel La Palma
A more recent addition to Capri's fashion: The Capri watch, has the emblematic clock of the Piazzetta.
The tradition of sandal making in Capri is known worldwide. My sandal collection is originally made in Capri with 100% Italian leather and Swarovski crystals.
Wearing the Capri style
Capri is more than a rock in the middle of the sea, Capri is a lifestyle, the concept of chic and casual was immortalized here and will be here to stay. If we are not the privileged ones that can make Capri our home we can
still live… the Capri way, salute!!!
(c) 2013 Montserrat Franco. All pictures taken by me. Additional Photo credits: Benny Galasso-Bely Franco.
For more info on Montserrat Franco sandals made in Capri, visit the store at:
http://www.store.montserratfranco.com
Categories fashion, food and wine, history, lifestyle, Travel•Tags Audrey Hepburn, Augustus, bejeweled sandals, caponata caprese, Capri, capri pants, capri sandals, capri watch, edode restaurant, emilio pucci, fashion, fashion blog, grand hotel quisisana, Homer, hotel la scalinatella, Italian resort style, Jacky O, jet set, missoni, montserrat franco, Oddysey, pablo neruda, Rita Hayworth, southern italian cuisine, The Sphinx of Capri, tiramisu, Ulysses, valentino


While most late-night hosts take Thanksgiving off because they love their families or whatever, Late Night's Seth Meyers has a different tradition for the holiday. In that he invites his family to schlep all the way from New Hampshire to appear on his TV show so they can tell embarrassing Meyers family anecdotes, goof on each other, and generally be the sort of loving and adorable people that seem too good to be true. (Especially for a comedian.) Oh, and Meyers films his kids (Ashe and Axel) in turkey costumes (and dog Frisbee as a pilgrim) and films it, because, again, too cute.
And, just because no Thanksgiving gathering is complete without some good ol' internecine family bickering, Meyers had his similarly snarky little brother and comic actor Josh (Remember when he took over from Topher Grace in the last season of That '70s Show? Anyone?) play game show host for an all-Meyers version of The Newlywed Game. With Seth and Josh's parents Hilary and Larry, Seth and wife Alexi, and Alexi's mom and dad, Tom and Joanne Ashe trying to guess what their respective spouses said about them, it was an extended Meyers clan comedy free-for-all, with Josh (also a cast member on Mad TV at one point) ably holding court on his big brother's show, possibly with an eye towards taking over one day, and making all coming Thanksgivings even more awkward. As far as this year's 30 Rock Meyers family Thanksgiving went, it's pretty easy to see where the Meyers boys got their comedy chops, as mom and dad both got laughs—especially in a "Back in my day" family roundtable sketch that turned into an agreeably silly, sonorous-voiced brotherly put-down fest. ("Well, back in my day, we had a house full of farts, because Seth wasn't around to eat 'em all." "Back in my day, shut up." "Back in my day, no you shut up.") Plus, if you're going to make your family work on Thanksgiving, at least the prospect of yearly residual checks takes some of the sting out of it.


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Home Artists Ryan Wilks
Ryan Wilks
13 Works exhibited
Cerbera Gallery
Ryan Wilks is a self-taught artist based in Kansas City, Missouri. Their work explores the various realities of queer existence. Primarily creating with oils, watercolors, sculptural assemblage, and ritual, their work sheds light on queer expression of spirituality and sexuality. Their bodies of work address and confront religion used as weapon and explores new modes of prayer through visual and participatory exhibitions. While religious and archetypal iconography such as the Devil and Lilith are seen within their figures in their paintings and used to express gender and queer ideologies, the work itself does not adopt the feeling of weighted religious rites. Instead, the work invites the viewer to participate in a modernized expression of spirit.
Through figurative and narrative drawing and painting, through community-based performance ritual and ceremony, Wilks makes art that explores the various realities of queer existence. Gleaning inspiration from centuries old religious iconography and the oral and written histories documenting the queer experience from the beginning of time to their own personal experience today, Wilks' work strives to depict the push/pull, persecute/elevate relationships of humanity, sexuality, and spirituality.
The use of more traditional materials and methods in Wilks' painting and drawing is an intentional nod to Italian masters such as Caravaggio, Titian, and Raphael, but it is the playfulness of Matisse's figures and the contorting figures of Schiele that have influenced their work the most.
Ritual and ceremonial performance is an integral aspect of Wilks'art. The use of objects, both found and made, and base elemental ingredients in occult practices are key components to their performances. Through movement, through ceremony, through studied and adaptive ritual, Wilks is able to engage an audience and create moments of sacred memory. Wilks' performance work is created and displayed in tandem with their 2-D work and further explores concepts displayed within their paintings and drawings.
Through these methods of creating, engagement, and display of their art, Wilks strives to express the personal narrative of their queer experience, of their peers', of those who have passed, and, ultimately, for future generations to research, decode, confront, and enjoy.
Wilks has exhibited their work in at least 20 different solo exhibitions across the Kansas City Metropolitan area as well as being featured in 18 different publications regarding their work. Wilks' most recent artist residencies include the Artist in Residence program at the Crossroads Hotel, located in the heart of Kansas City's well known Crossroads Arts District, January-Febuary 2020; and the Artist in Residence program at Arts KC, Jun-July 2020. In 2019, Wilks was nominated for "Best Exhibition" in the Pitch KC's annual "Best of KC" year-end round up for their exhibition "Hell", originally shown at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center.
Works by Ryan Wilks
Drawings & Works on Paper
Gays in the Church
I am Tired of Returning to the Same Sadness
The Get Together
Strength in Love
Aesthetic of the Cross
Liquidate
183 x 152.4 cm
Phallic Florals
Cry Me a Puddle
Will You Gay Marry Me
Coleton Lunt
Ben Allen


Hello, Honey Bee friends! Melissa Bickford with you today. I'm so happy and excited to be back for another term with Honey Bee Stamps. Each month I will be sharing my favorite kind of cards to create … clean and simple with LOTS of color!
To begin my set of cards, I prepped all of my card bases and set them aside. Next, I trimmed five pieces of white card-stock to measure 3.5 x 4.75″. I then die-cut the word 'Smile' out of each one and filled in the negative space with another die-cut 'Smile', this time die-cutting out of colored card-stock.
Now, onto the flowers. I stamped around the border of the sentiment, alternating colors until they were all filled in. I added white twine around each of the flower panels before adhering them to a colorful card-stock panel. These ones measure 3.75 x 5″. Those were then all attached to my card bases.
To finish each one, I stamped the remainder of the sentiment, 'Sending you a', in white onto a strip of black card-stock and adhered it with dimensional foam. I thought the flower centers needed a little something, so for a final touch I added a bit of sparkly glitter to each one.
I hope you enjoyed my colorful cards for today. Thanks so much for popping in to visit with us!


A special welcome to visitors! The best way to get to know our congregation is to join us for worship on Sunday mornings. When you arrive at church you will be greeted and welcomed by members and pastors. We invite you to stop at our Welcome Center after worship to visit with a member of our Inviting Ministries Team who will be glad to answer questions you may have about our church. We also encourage you to join us for our a time of fellowship and refreshments after worship in our Fellowship Hall.
Another great way to get to know us is by attending our Super Wednesday meal during the school year on Wednesdays at 5:30. At this meal, people of all ages gather for a nourishing meal and nourishing fellowship.
We schedule new member classes periodically through the year. During those classes you will have an opportunity to learn more about the United Methodist Church and about our local congregation here in Northfield. If you would like to attend a new member class, please contact our pastors.


ORRVILLE — Houses are popping up all over Orrville at a rate not seen in more than a decade.
The city saw 15 zoning certificates issued for single-family homes last year, three times the permits pulled in each of the last three years. The average value of the homes amounted to nearly $240,000.
Last year, certificates were issued for eight new homes in the Marsh Ridge development on the west side of Orrville. Zoning certificates also were issued for new homes on Homestead Pointe Drive, Smucker Street, and the new Habitat for Humanity build on Church Street.
"Fifteen new construction single-family homes, in my tenure here, would definitely be a record," said Safety-Service Director Steve Wheeler during his annual report to Orrville City Council on Monday.
Wheeler contributed the increase in home builds to the city's "great schools and a thriving industrial base" as well as affordable land at developments like Marsh Ridge and Homestead Pointe.
"A robust housing market and the threat of interest rates rising in the future, and I think you have the perfect recipe for significant growth in single-family builds," he told The Daily Record.
Wheeler also noted in his report the one new industrial zoning certificate, valued at $6.4 million, for the new Venture Products building at the business and technology park on the north end of town.
The city did have 36 zoning certificates issued for single-family homes in 2009 at the Orchard Glen development. The homes were built by a developer and are a rent-to-own program for moderate-income families, so Wheeler did not see those as a fair comparison to the individuals pulling permits for the 2018 single-family homes.
Orrville's dwelling units and population have steadily grown since the last census count in 2010. The 2018 estimate showed 3,824 dwelling units and a population of 8,680. The city also saw its burials drop by 19 between 2017 and 2018.
"We were down in the number of burials, which I think is a good thing," Wheeler said.
Looking ahead, Wheeler listed six infrastructure projects for 2019 including the completion of the State Route 57 resurfacing project and completing the current phase of the Rails-to-Trails Heartland Trail, which runs from Forrer Road in Orrville to the Village of Marshallville.
More than $1 million in grant funds from the Ohio Department of Transportation went toward the State Route 57 project and a $500,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resource helped to fund the Heartland Trail project.
ODOT will start its East Pine Street extension, improving truck traffic to the new Morgan Corporation facility at 600 E. Chestnut St. and reducing truck traffic through residential areas on Paradise Street. The estimated cost of the project is $610,000. Federal funds will cover 80 percent and the city will cover the remaining 20 percent.
A grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission will allow the city to resurface High Street after July 1. The water main replacement project along High Street continues and connections were set to begin over the last couple of weeks following pressure testing and disinfecting, according to Utilities Director Jeff Brediger.
The city also will continue replacing its concrete streets and resurfacing asphalt streets. Last year, the city resurfaced East Paradise Street, East Chestnut Street and South Walnut Street, and replaced concrete on Crown Hill Road, West Church Street, North Sunset Drive, Hostetler Road, Maple Street and Perry Street.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We all know how difficult it is to effectively manage something you cannot measure. Like many other management constructs, measuring outcomes of Competency-based Talent Management (CbTM) can be challenging.
As a competency consultant, I often see HR or line managers not even consider results measurement, or get half way through their CbTM project before they even think of measuring results. And unfortunately, it can sometimes be too late if you are too far along in the project, as you need a baseline for comparison.
Measurement of results should really start the moment you identify a business need for a CbTM application, at which point you should identify the desired results and changes you are trying to achieve. It does not have to be complicated, and often can be as simple as qualitative feedback. On the more complex side, you can look at organizational performance measures, and how they tie to the CbTM initiative.
Measuring the results of competency-based HR applications is the only way to be able to prove success to top management. This requires measurement of current performance at the time the project is started, followed by a second or multiple measurements after the application is implemented and has had time to affect the workplace. By building measurements into the project from the start, the application can be designed to facilitate the collection of performance data, and you can more easily demonstrate real value to your management team.
Project Execution: A simple measure would be to review the project plan. Regardless of effectiveness, did the CbTM project team do what it said it would do? This establishes what, how well and how much was done.
Qualitative Data Sampling: Conducting interviews with different functional groups of employees and managers on a specific HR application (training, career development, etc.). Their anecdotal feedback on its use (competency model, process, tools, etc.) can be summarized and reported back to the CbTM project team and top management.
Performance: Showing performance improvements by comparing it to a baseline data is more objective - for example, the performance impact of selecting employees for their competencies versus using traditional methods by looking at things like: output per person or per group; reduction in employee turnover within an organization; reduction in errors or client complaints.
Business Results: Ultimately, a CbTM application needs to support business goals such as profitability, competitiveness, market share growth, efficiency, quick turnaround times, and increasing customer satisfaction among others. Business metrics that can, and should be included are things like: reduction in turnover that results in lower costs and higher profitability; reduction in production errors, increasing efficiency and speeding up time to market, etc.
So, when starting your competency initiative, think hard about what you are trying to accomplish and why, confirm this with top management, establish the measurement process, set up your baseline measures and then report regularly to determine whether the initiative is having the desired impact.


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Before 'The Blind Pig' Raid, What Sparked The Detroit Uprising
Published July 22, 2017 at 2:22 PM PDT
This weekend marks 50 years since the start of what many people here prefer to call the uprising. It started when a police raid on a party at an unlicensed after-hours club called The Blind Pig set off fires, looting and other chaos that went on for five days. This weekend, we'll be talking about those events and the state of the motor city these 50 years later. We thought we'd start by hearing from someone who's been here for all of it, Congressman John Conyers. He represents Michigan's 13th congressional district.
Fifty years ago, he found himself addressing crowds of angry protesters who started gathering in the early morning hours of July 23, 1967. He's currently Congress's longest serving member, making him the dean of the House of Representatives. And he's with us now from his office. Congressman, thank you so much for speaking with us.
JOHN CONYERS: What a pleasure to talk with you.
MARTIN: And I just have to acknowledge that we're only going to be able to scratch the surface of what had to have been such a momentous occasion in your life and in the life of your city. So just having said that, can we go back to that day? I understand that you were home. It was 9 a.m. And the deputy police chief called you and asked you to come down to 12th and Claremont, where people were already gathering. Can you just take us back to that moment and just ask you, what was it like for you?
CONYERS: I can never forget the fact that Lyndon Johnson, then the president of the United States, called me at my home to verify that this was as bad as he had been advised that it was. There were tanks coming in, paratroopers sent by the president himself. The governor at that time, George Romney, ordered 8,000 National Guardsmen to do active duty. And the police officers - the state police officers were sent in, some 800 or more of them. It was just unbelievable. It was a total breakdown of a civil city.
MARTIN: Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. What do you think it - I mean, the spark was the raid on The Blind Pig, but you have said many times since then that, you know, that was just the spark that set it off. What, in your view, is really why? What is the real why of it in your opinion?
CONYERS: The underlying cause was the racism and segregation that permeated everything that we did, where we lived, where we were - how you were treated, especially by the police.
MARTIN: Do you think it made your job harder or easier? And the reason I ask that is you were only in your second term in Congress. And, you know, you were trying to - I mean, you were one of the founders of the Black Caucus. I mean, you were trying to get people to pay attention to a lot of these issues. On the one hand, you certainly got the world's attention. On the other hand, some people think it ignited this kind of backlash of, you know, racial paranoia and even more kind of resentment and desire to keep black people out of certain places. So what do you think?
CONYERS: Well, I would like to think that it made it more challenging. But fortunately, we were able to bring together a number of organizations that were helpful. And we began to systematically examine these causes of discriminatory action on the part not only of the police, whose brutality is - was unspeakable at that time, but other obvious discrimination in terms of where you lived or where you worked and how your conduct was monitored by police all around you. It just created this explosion of anger that had built up and could not be contained. And that ran for the course of five days and cost 43 people their lives.
MARTIN: There are some who say that African-American Detroiters are in some ways worse off than they were 50 years ago. What do you think about that?
CONYERS: Well, no. I invite anybody that feels that might be the case to come out and visit us. I think without doubt we're better off. And I'm not saying that everything is OK now and that this is all past, but I don't think that this could happen or would happen again because we have so many outlets. We have nine council members. But at that time, there were only two of color in the city of Detroit. But today, 7 of the 9 members of the Detroit Council are people of color. So I think this was a wake-up call to America, as well as Detroit and Michigan.
MARTIN: That's Congressman John Conyers of Michigan. He is currently Congress's longest serving member. He's the dean of the House of Representatives. And he was kind enough to join us from his office. Congressman Conyers, thank you so much for speaking with us.
CONYERS: It's a pleasure, Ms. Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF SMOKEY ROBINSON'S "CRUISIN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


I want to install linux on two Linksys WRT54G wireless routers. Because I like Gentoo most, i like to install gentoo in stead of OpenWrt.
But first I want some experience and information of others.
Can someone help me pointing to some (worthfull) information?
Tenx for all the fish!
I'd be interested how you plan on getting a portage tree into such a small space ?
By using a network share or ftpfs. And then use the fileserver.
Or are there better ways?
The idea is to build a firewall-system with two linux-boxes.
Between them you can place you're webserver, mailserver and filservers.
I don't believe Gentoo has been ported to the Mips platform, which the WRT54 runs on. You'd basically have to compile all the applications including kernel for MIPS, and then either write you own device drivers or somehow extract them from the existing Linksys base. Most of the custom installations available are reworkings of the Linksys software, not ground up installs.
Gentoo/Embedded would be more the focus of this sort of device.
The machine runs a little-endian MIPS32 CPU... in other words, incapable of running any of the official Gentoo/MIPS stages. It could run the mipsel µClibc-based stages; some were built for MIPS1 (lowest-common denominator in the MIPS world, much like i386 on IA32).
Your biggest problem though, is going to be RAM and storage. You've got bugger all for /, and nowhere to place swap space. Also, those machines have generally 16~32MB RAM. Which is going to be rather crabbed.
Even with petabytes of swap space, you may still run into issues compiling stuff. glibc for instance (irrelevant on µClibc userland though) simply won't compile in under 64MB RAM. Even then, I've found 128MB is a tight fit, often failing with nasty segfault errors out of GCC.
Gentoo isn't that well suited to this sort of device. Possible, yes, but I'm not sure how plausable such a port would be.
What on earth is "embled"? You really need to work on that English of yours, as it's quite hard to understand your posts at times.
Anyways... work is done to allow cross-compilation of Gentoo via Portage.
At the moment though, this isn't possible.


Now that President Obama has submitted his fiscal year 2017 budget request, Congress has begun the appropriations process. Changes to federal education law under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) make this a particularly important year for advocacy efforts.
NASSP and the National Association of Elementary School Principals are specifically advocating for the School Leader Recruitment and Support program, which was authorized under ESSA and is the successor to the School Leadership program. President Obama requested $30 million for the program in FY17. Send a message to your congressional representatives today to urge them to fund the program at no less than the president's requested $30 million for FY17.
In education, the most important leadership changes come at the state level, and last year was one of significant state education leadership turnover across the country. Forty-three states saw changes in key state-level education positions—governor, boards of education, legislators, and state leaders of K–12 and higher education systems. More change is expected this year due to retirements or term limits. This article breaks down expected changes by state, and includes helpful infographics so you can see where the most change is occurring.
As states consider options for improving schools under ESSA, one strategy has been to use a community schools model of researched-based strategies for greater student-centered learning, as well as community investment and engagement. This report profiles community schools from across the country that have demonstrated consistent improvement on a wide range of indicators of student success. The profiles outline each school's strategies, such as adding wraparound services and implementing restorative justice practices.
A new paper from the Brookings Institution examines the so-called "London effect," which attributes much of the United Kingdom's overall gains in academic achievement to the very large gains of students in inner London. Some potential lessons for the U.S. from London's success include the power of district-wide reforms, the benefits of broader accountability systems, and the need for support within school systems for disadvantaged students.
Despite lagging national test score averages in math, the number of American teens who can do world-class math has been growing over the last decade. This phenomenon has been largely driven by changing pedagogies and growing extracurricular opportunities for students with an appetite for advanced math. New programs and new competitions have sprung up, creating elite mathletes out of gifted students who would have previously only had access to the standard high school math curriculum.


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March 09, 2015 • Issue 15:03:01
Massive hack siphons nearly $1 billion from banks worldwide
It's being billed as the largest data heist in the history of banking. And it may not yet be over. Reports published recently in various media outlets revealed that at least 100 banks in 30 countries were hit with malware that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. However, no banks have yet revealed whether they were hit. The reports were based on information released by Kaspersky Lab, a Russian-based security firm. Kaspersky said it was called in to investigate possible network breaches after ATMs in Kiev began dispensing cash at seemingly random times throughout the day. Kaspersky said it can't be sure, but based on experiences of its clients, it said it expects losses at the defrauded banks to exceed $1 billon.
Most of the banks hit by the attack were located in Russia, although banks in the United States, Europe and Japan also were hit, according to Kaspersky. The group of attackers is believed to have penetrated the banks' internal systems with Word documents attached to phishing emails. Once there, they allegedly placed malware that enabled them to record daily transfers and bookkeeping routines on the infected networks.
Eventually, members of the group used that information to impersonate bank officers, transferring millions of dollars at a time into dummy accounts at other institutions and dispensing large sums of cash through ATMs. In an apparent attempt to escape easy notice, the gang limited transfers to $10 million.
Security experts believe the attacks – orchestrated by a group dubbed the Carbanak cybergang, named for the malware it used – should serve as a wake-up call to banks and other enterprises. Long-trusted detection technologies are no match for sophisticated web-born malware.
Indeed, The Challenge of Preventing Browser-Borne Malware, a study conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC and released on Feb. 2 by Spikes Security Inc., suggested web-born malware is the fastest growing data security threat to enterprises. Internal systems at as many as 75 percent of large firms Spikes recently surveyed have been infected, the security firm said. Companies surveyed averaged 51 breaches apiece in just 12 months, at a cost of about $62,000 per breach.
Banks urged to be more proactive, less reactive
"With attacks like this easily evading detection, this attack serves as a stark reminder that it is unwise to shift the focus from prevention solely onto reactive things like information sharing," said Branden Spikes, the firm's Chief Executive Officer and founder. His comments refer, in part, to a message delivered last week by the White House calling for greater information sharing between banks and other enterprises to combat cyberattacks.
At a Feb. 13 summit that drew more than 1,000 executives, government officials and technology heavyweights to Palo Alto, Calif., President Barack Obama officially laid out the federal government's cybersecurity game plan going forward. That plan includes proposed new laws that would facilitate greater information sharing and work efforts between and within the public and private sector to combat cyber threats.
"Grappling with how government protects the American people from adverse events, while at the same time making sure the government itself is not abusing its capabilities is hard," the President told the group. And he likened the Internet to the Wild, Wild West.
Although no banks have spoken publicly about the news or whether they were hit by the Carbanak cybergang, some published reports have pointed to several large money center banks as places where dummy accounts were set up to receive fraudulent wire transfers.
John Gunn, Vice President of Vasco Data Security International, warned that large banks are not the only targets of malware attacks. Headquartered in Chicago, Vasco specializes in authentication and e-signature security. "It's worth remembering that local banks and credit unions are also targets because they have weaker defenses than large banks," Gunn said. "As the largest institutions spend more and increase their defenses even further, hackers will be forced to move down the food chain."
Leasing 2.0 – An old tradition gets a new look
AmEx to appeal court ruling on merchant steering
EMV, interchange concern ATM deployers
Costco, JetBlue disengaged with AmEx
Mobile poised for online growth
Use newsletters for customer retention
Remote capture is for more than just checks
Paradigm shift on portfolio ownership
Alex Nouri , EFT Direct
Keep calm and process on
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ISO third-party integrations and data sharing
How do you decide which terminals belong in your toolbox?
ISO Advance
Premier Payment Systems Inc.
Seamless, scalable in-store mobile payments
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Cloud-based, interactive payments for food service
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Readers Speak


Football coaches and players at all levels are increasingly having to look elsewhere for that 'psychological edge' - the mental discipline of the game is the fastest growing aspect in football coaching. Football - Raise Your Mental Game takes principles from a number of areas of psychology and applies them to football in an easy-to-read, accessible way. Aimed primarily at players but also invaluable to coaches who wish to use the techniques in a team training environment, it includes chapters on self-confidence, keeping focussed and performing consistently, getting motivated for matches, managing anger, relaxation and dealing with nerves, and positive mental practice. With many testimonies and case studies from professional players and coaches in the game, Football - Raise Your Mental Game is a unique resource for this crucial aspect of football.


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Former DHS head thinks crypto backdoors are a 'pipe dream'
Contrary to the opinions of the US government, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said he believes installing crypto backdoors into computers only offers more problems than solutions.
Since the end of last year, the US government and intelligence agencies have been calling for the introduction of crypto backdoors into computer systems sold to the public to grant them access, supposedly for matters of national security.
However, even the notion of such 'golden keys' being considered an option has been questioned numerous times both abroad and in the US, such as the Secure Data Act put before congress in December last year.
And now it has been called out by the former head of the DHS, Michael Chertoff, who said at a recent event that, for a number of reasons, it would offer those the government are targeting an opportunity to wreak havoc themselves.
Aside from making the user more vulnerable to attack, Chertoff suggests that those who want to bypass a backdoor can do so given the right determination, particularly through apps.
"The idea that you're going to be able to stop this, particularly given the global environment, I think, is a pipe dream," Chertoff said. "So what would wind up happening is people who are legitimate actors will be taking somewhat less secure communications and the bad guys will still not be able to be decrypted."
Where France leads, the US might follow
Other issues Chertoff raised make the point that, due to the international nature of computer sales, having to share these crypto backdoors with other countries is counter intuitive.
Finally, he made the overarching point that if as a society we were going to allow access for the government at any time to follow our online activities there wouldn't be much difference between just recording all conversations made on mobile phones.
"I think on this one, strategically, requiring people to build a vulnerability may be a strategic mistake," Chertoff said.
Internationally, however, the US is now arguably following the lead of France, which just yesterday passed the final hurdle in giving French intelligence services new, sweeping surveillance powers both in France and abroad.
As part of this new availability of powers, the French government can engage in vast sweeps of metadata online, while also using software to track individual's activities online following the terrorist attacks in Paris last January.
Back door image via Shutterstock
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this is a tropical waterlily with a lovely perfume especially for the evenings in the garden. The flowers stand proud.
Wishing everyone a fabulous new year - the very best of health, happiness and extra loads of creativity. These wishes also come from my 2 new waterlilies - one happily in new pot, other one in bucket waiting but both happy already. I have removed the water clover to a minor spot since it is not a waterlily and is never going to flower and fed my other waterlily 3 big tablets as it hasn't flowered. I really only went to get 1 waterlily but it was a long drive up the freeway with hundreds of crazy drivers in a hurry to wherever (the grave yard?) so I bought 2 and a bag of tablets for them to eat.
Have a wonderful night - we are staying at home, indulging in our favourite scallop dish and a chicken tandoor on our bbq and champagne. Maybe stay up to midnight - maybe not.
This is one of the cats from next door - we have no idea what its name is but we call it Tinkerbell because it has a bell around its neck. It's a very curious cat and wanders into the house and the studio but is rather wary of us and quite independent. The people who own it next door don't talk to us but they are probably pleased their cat has somewhere to go every day - just as well we like cats. I am not at all sure why people in apartments have animals when there is nothing for them to do over there all day. It arrives about 5am because I hear the tinkle and at night when we are outside we hear it roaming around. This is the closest I could get to take a photo. It has terrorized Mango who also lives next door and we think she simply hides somewhere in the garden each day. This little one is always very busy - Mango just sleeps.
still hot - and yes I will swap your snow/frost/ice etc for a jar of heat. Have to say the evenings are delightful so maybe I won't.
Here is something I came across at Okarito - how shall I play?
Playing with my iphone is keeping us both busy - we have downloaded our itunes division and can use the phone as our Sonos controller which is really great. I have loaded some music onto the ipod but the earplugs are pretty silly really and I expect we will only fight about who is using it when we fly. The camera is quite impressive and even Dale-proof - I took this photo of some stony layers I did yesterday - I thought I was transferring a TAP transfer which wouldn't work but it turned out to be just a photocopy - however since I had been applying painted fusible webbing, it stuck pretty well and I layered some chiffon over the top and added a little stitching. It will be a page in my Stone book. Holey Moleys - I am preparing for the next lesson in case you are wondering.
Thanks for all the lovely messages - I hope you all had a wonderful day. We started with a lovely afternoon at Eva and Malachy's on Thursday and yesterday we went to Martine and Luigi's where they spoilt us as always with wonderful food. Martine cooked a paella and lots more. I took a summer pudding and even managed to find 5 mulberries from our tree to add to it.
We also got books of course - mine is Piano Lessons - Anna Goldsworthy whihc I am enjoying - I don't feel I was such a precocious child pianist after all. It is a delightful story and a tribute to her teacher. I had a wonderful piano teacher too in my high school years - Evelyn Rawlins - her studio was awe inspiring to visit - always exciting.
Christmas greetings to all who read my blog wherever you are - may you have a wonderful day tomorrow in snow or sunshine. Looking back at last year's message I had picked mulberries from our mulberry tree. I have been up to investigate but they are not ready at all this year.
This year we are Darby and Joan but not quiet and lonely like we thought - we are off to Eva and Malachy's for Christmas Eve bbq soon and tomorrow to Martine and Luigi's for Christmas Lunch - so it looks like the good Kiwi Xmas dinner of roast lamb and all the necessaries and pavlova and homemade icecream will be on Boxing Day.
The last of the orders have been done and we are having 2 days off. SO we can play with our Christmas Present waiting under the tree - what could they be????
No secret about the glue I have found to use with the metallic flakes - it's on our website in the catalogue with the flakes. Here you can see I have used the glue and flakes on a piece of polycotton which had been previously sprayed with walnut ink and then stitched over it. I am very pleased with it as, like the double sided tape, it hasn't changed the handle and is smooth to work into and onto.
I am also very pleased to say that I have finally sent up my thread order for the Earth Elements collection. I think this has taken me all year by the time I procrastinated but here is the last set of colours for the 4th variegated - Middle Earth - I had a hankering for that deep turquoise because I reckon I saw it in Middle Earth when we were in NZ. Hopefully the collection will be dyed and ready in the early new year but I guess they take holidays too. The whole collection will be available in fibres and fabrics and hand threads including plain colour six strand floss. Actually loking at the colours I have scanned you would never know it is a dark turquoise but do take my word for it.
Couldn't resist some last little flowers and now I have finished all my stitching for the flower stitcher book. This one is for all those people coated in snow in the northern hemisphere - no chance for little flowers to relax in the sun but plenty of lilting ones here today - we have hidden indoors but I am about to go outside and plant my herbs.
I have found some fabulous glue which works on fabric with the gilding flakes - very pleased with this.
Wow - it is raining big rain drops - we have loaned the car to Grant so we will have to walk to Koinonia with our umbrellas - they are off on holiday for 2 weeks tomorrow so we thought we would go and eat there and wish them a happy holiday.
I really have finished all the pieces for the Flower Stitcher book but I couldn't resist a little Australia - my apologies to the good people from Tassie - you are a little close to the mainland but the Kunin felt kinda shrunk up. But on the other hand I didn't forget you..... It is quite difficult to fit little flowers to the actual shape of Australia - I think I have only moved the coast line a wee bit in places.
Here is a flower from one of our Magnolia trees - one gets more water than the other and is flowering and growing taller - have to do something about this. The flowers don't last for long.
This is the worst time of the year for Eucalyptus bark to fall - it is still everywhere - I have to make a track through the back garden every morning. Loads of leaves and pods falling as well and little branches.
I collected a number of stones from Okarito - this flat one is beautiful - I am going to stitch and layer coming up - but just one more flower stitch piece to do for the inside back cover. And then I really will stop. For the moment.
There are a couple of new textile magazines coming out in Australia - one is Downunder Textiles from the good folk at Downunder Quilts and the other Embellish from the good folk at Yarn and Felt. I am interested to see how they will go.
What am I reading in bed?
I am indulging myself reading lovely new cook books - Thai Street Food is a fabulous book with wonderful photos of parts of Thailand for starters. It is so big that when I hold it up in bed to read a few more pages, my arms nearly drop off. David Thompson said in one interview that if you cook 4 dishes from a cook book you are doing okay so I figure that it's okay to indulge. I have his earlier cook book but I haven't cooked from it to be honest. It always seems easier to pop down to one of our favourite Thai restaurants instead.
And I have the first book from MoVida and waiting for the postie to bring the latest one. No wonder we are thinking of a visit to Spain next year - it's a fabulous book. And this one is cookable from. I have lots of cookbooks and I really do love cooking. At this time of the year I am always on the lookout for good salad recipes - simple but super. So we can indulge on our bbq.
And not a cook book at all but Sybella Court's book Etcetera is an inspiration in itself.
I wonder what book I will get for Christmas? Can't have Christmas in the Rollerson house without a book or two.
A little more fun using the flower stitcher - I am still on the stonehaven theme but seem to have added some little fossils as well. This top sample has been sprayed with Black Orchid Silver Starburst Spray which is why you can see a shimmer if you enlarge it.
Very hot today and I am hiding in the studio with the air con on - outside a man with a loud mike is 'testing one two three' - I thought he did it all yesterday - yes we have a second Fleetwood Mac concert tonight but we are off out with Eva and Malachy. Grant is down for the weekend so we had breakfast with him this morning and we escaped from the concert last night when we went off to pick him up from the airport.
And a message to all the wonderful participants in the Connections Challenge - I have started sending your work back - I may stop now until the new year just so it doesn't get caught up in the Christmas rush so you should receive them in January. I hope you have all started on your Textile Tantrum.
back in that carpark there was a very friendly Kea. Loved being photographed. They pinch anything and there are always notices not to feed them.
We drove into Okarito - my very favourite place. Always inspiring.
Here I am on Okarito Beach - I collected for myself a beautiful big stone - I figured that I had plenty of space in my suitcase for a few stones.
When we left Reefton (forgot to take any pics but it was good to catch up with Ian's rellies - and it looked the same, we drove to Christchurch over the Otira Gorge. Called into Jackson's Tavern for a very nice home made pie - there was lots of other people there enjoying pies and beers in the middle of the day.
Here is the viaduct over the Otira Gorge - just like being in Italy. I haven't been over here since I was a teenager.
Well Virginia - I will admit it does rain a lot of the time on the West Coast - but it's friendly rain and helps the bush with its lushness and beautiful colours and the stones like it too and so do the waterfalls..... It wasn't raining here as you can see - Bruce Bay - wow Bruce - a bay named after you and a beautiful spot as well.
some more rock pancake stacks. Appropriate for Grant and Bruce but I don''t remember stacking them - they just ate each one in turn as I made them - in fact faster than I could make them.
Then we went to dinner at The Beaches - nice food - interesting combos and the waitress did try hard. Maybe a new keen chef trying to pop rather too many flavours on the one plate but it was most enjoyable. Nothing as over the top of the overkill of beetroot Bev and I had in Havelock North last year.
In the morning we went to the glacier at Franz Josef - the weather was great but it started to close in when we were leaving. Middle Earth can roll in quite fast.
Crossing a little ford - I think Ian was hovering with the camera in the hope that I might fall in?
One of the beautiful waterfalls you might see on the West Coast - this one was around the glacier area.
Here is the glacier in its glory - if you haven't been to NZ then you must visit the West Coast when you do - rain, green, not too many people and it even looks tidier than it used to. And the scenery - well...... I am not a red dirt girl - my soul needs this environment for recharging.
Don't forget to click on the pics to see more detail.
We are pretty busy here - Studios and Art Quilting Studio have arrived and quite a few new books - Ian is hoping to get stuff on the web tomorrow and Quilting Arts is due on Friday - you never know when these mags are going to arrive these days. I am hoping to get into my studio tomorrow to put things away and get to my machine - just need to finish the last pieces using my flower stitcher. Rae and Jacinta are busy sending parcels of goodies for restocking. It's been exciting opening up the parcels - Rae is adding crinkle silk to her range - the first few are rather scrumptious and I am going to take one to use with velvet on the embellisher but not before I finish my book stuff. It should be ready to go to the printers on Monday I hope.
I am back from Sydney - a good 2 days at the Texstyle conference. I stayed in Surry hIlls and on Sunday after it was all finished I spent a few hours wandering around the area espcially around Crown Street. It was a lovely day and loads of people were enjoyuing themselves. Day 1 wasn't quite so easy - too many people and nowhere to breathe but on Sunday I had another larger room with access to power and a place to put all my stuff and we all seemed to have a good constructive time. I hope the teachers who came to the workshops got something out of it all. I flew back this morning and the flight seemed to go on for ever. We are here for some time now and of course we will get restless again before too long.
Back to NZ though - we had a great short time but it was very relaxing and we thoroughly enjoyed the surroundings. This is Lake Wanaka on the morning we left - the day before it was brilliant sunshine but this morning it was a little mysterious.
We drove from Wanaka up to the West Coast via the Haast Pass - mmany years ago I actually went to the opening of this - my father must have had a desire for a trip to see a ribbon being cut. Love these streams and the surroundings.
This pic is of Knight's Point - once you get over the Haast Bridge you head up to here. Often photographed. It was raining but then it often does on the Coast.
Just arrived tonight from our lovely relaxing soul filling week (almost) in New Zealand. I love the west coast - I know we were on the south island west coast (where Ian is from) but in many ways it is similar to the north island west coast (where I am from). The colours of green and the bush and even the rain are fantastic. If it ever stops raining on the coast then we really all are in trouble. The pic above is Lake Wakatipu - the lake at Queenstown. Very famous - lots of tourists. Goodness knows what I am doing but we drove over the Crown Range and stopped to admire the view - a glorious day. The flight in was superb - it's a bit special to see the mountains capped with snow.
Very busy since we landed - I have answered most of the emails, pulled most of the orders, gotta get up early to do the washing and pack my bags to go to Sydney tomorrow afternoon for the NSW Texstyle conference. Ian will be busy... I will be back on Monday late morning so no dramas.
Thanks for all the lovely comments - we did have a very nice night out for our wedding anni - we are amazed they still go on and on!


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Home Print Edition Archive November 2014 Issue The disciplined entrepreneurs
The disciplined entrepreneurs
Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of busy Regent Street, the London office of Antin Infrastructure Partners is like a haven of peace. In stark contrast to the hurried excitement of nearby shoppers, the firm's UK base impresses with its calm and studious, yet cordial atmosphere.
As becomes evident after a tour of the premises, they also reflect the personalities of Alain Rauscher and Mark Crosbie, Antin's managing partners. Geometric patterns on the reception walls embody the notions of rigour and alignment they seek to convey; the décor's overall lack of flamboyance, in subdued tones of brown and grey, seemingly match the duo's informal, down-to-business attitude.
It is apparent why the pair decided to arrange the interview in London rather than Paris: in a low-key way, the office effectively showcases the firm's plural identity and expanding ambitions. For one, the office is brand new – bigger than the three that preceded it and centrally located. And, as Rauscher explains, it is not intended to be a mere outpost of Antin in the UK market – but rather one of its two headquarters, a fully-fledged base from which it can talk to investors and explore deal opportunities in both the UK and continental Europe.
Regularly introduced as a French firm, Antin is in fact formed of two management companies – one in Paris and one in London. "We started with a Paris office because we wanted to send a strong signal that the firm was committed to investing in the Eurozone. But as fundraising for our second fund gathered momentum we wanted to have access to high-quality resources and a larger pool of talents and this led us to open an office in London," says Rauscher, who is also the firm's founder and chief executive.
The office is designed to welcome commuters from Paris on a daily basis, with a number of hot desks allocated to visitors and two-day trips part of most of the senior staff's weekly routine. We joke that Antin will soon feature on the VIP list of Eurostar, the high-speed train linking both cities. "People can choose whether to be based in Paris or London. We are very flexible as the team works seamlessly between these two offices," explains Crosbie.
On a more figurative level, the office's vocation and location also have something to say about the firm's investment strategy: a tailored, resource-intensive approach focused on sourcing assets away from the crowded, expensive high street.
CONVERTED TRY
For Rauscher, infrastructure investors come in two radically different types. The first strand focuses on core infrastructure, which he says is largely about regulated assets and yields lower returns. "This type of strategy is now the purpose of direct investors, who rightly or wrongly think investing in pipelines or utilities is a 'no brainer'."
At the higher-risk end of the spectrum are strategies more akin to private equity, where investors take a much more active, "value-added" approach to asset management with a view to reaping both significant yield and capital gains. This is the method chosen by Antin – and one that, according to Rauscher, has been vindicated by the success of the firm's latest fundraising efforts.
Last June, the team announced the final closing of its second vehicle on its hard cap of €2 billion, €500 million above its initial target. The fund saw a re-up rate of 71 percent, and is almost twice the size of its predecessor, which closed in 2010 on €1.1 billion. Fund II is also the second-largest vehicle targeting European infrastructure assets raised since the Financial Crisis.
Crosbie explains that this success owes a lot to the firm's unrelenting focus on investor relations (IR). More than 60 limited partners (LPs) committed this time round, compared with 35 in Antin's previous vehicle. "Investor relations is not something you do once a cycle, when doing fundraising. In many cases LPs who decided to back Fund II were people we'd had a dialogue with for the last five or six years."
This continuous IR push has also helped the firm diversify its investor base. While Fund I counted a large proportion of French LPs, Crosbie says the second vehicle managed to enlist support from other parts of Europe (51 percent of the money raised) as well as North America, Australia and Asia (25 percent).
Rauscher adds that some of them already had the firm on the radar when the company knocked on their door in 2009-2010 but were not allowed to commit to a debut fund. On a number of occasions the team was told to come back after they'd had their first try; Antin, meanwhile, maintained the contact. "Putting on ourselves the extra burden of thinking what would happen in our second fund, five or six years ago when fundraising of Fund I was not certain at all, was something very bold but it paid off when we raised our second fund."
Both react with amusement when asks how much they could have raised without imposing on themselves a hard cap, and, without risking mention of a figure, the answer is that they could indeed have garnered more capital but decided not to. "Once we'd reached the hard cap we were keen to get the team's focus back on investing," Crosbie says.
NOT ON THE HIGH STREET
Rauscher points out that two billion is barely more than the equity jointly deployed by Fund I and the vehicle's co-investors. During the first couple of years of its maiden fundraising, the firm was forced to take minority positions: it took three instalments to build the interest it sold in UK rolling stock business Porterbrook last month. It has since strived to acquire only majority stakes. "In that sense we haven't doubled our investing target. It remains roughly the same as for Fund I but we're now committing more capital per investment."
The final amount, the team figured out, was also the maximum the firm could realistically invest while keeping to the strategy it had initially ascribed itself. "A key concern for investors is that you don't raise too big a fund. Because then you may not be able to deploy the capital quickly and well enough," Rauscher says.
This hints at what they believe was another major pull for Fund II: the performance of its elder brother. The initial mandate of the firm's maiden vehicle was to deliver mid-teen IRRs, a minimum of 5 percent dividend yield and a 2x money multiple. Now in year seven, Crosbie has little doubt the fund will meet its objectives. "There is actually a good chance we will be exceeding them."
That's largely down to the team's investment approach, according to Rauscher – and more specifically, to its ability to source proprietary deals. He highlights that 10 out of the 11 transactions closed so far by the firm happened outside the auction circuit, arising instead from "knocking on the door of corporates to persuade them to sell assets they're not selling".
Sourcing such opportunities is rather resource-intensive, Rauscher says. But once the process is started, proprietary deals are executed with more certainty than competitive transactions – an important feature when it comes to convincing investors you have a robust pipeline. Their complexity also comes with the prospect of better returns, Crosbie argues, at a time when a glut of capital has pushed core infrastructure returns from between 11 and 12 percent down to single digits.
"The point when you get very demanding questions from LPs, I suspect, is if you're into that market of chasing 7-8 percent on auctioned assets alongside a wall of capital. If you're generating mid-teen returns or better via proprietary deals the conversation with LPs about fees and the like is a very short one."
The firm has three more years to realise its Fund I assets which, after the sale of its Porterbrook stake, will amount to eight. "We do have other potential exits in mind at the moment but we haven't pushed the button on anything," Crosbie comments.
Meanwhile the pair reckon their pipeline for Fund II is as strong as it's ever been. The vehicle sealed its first deal in June, when it paid £562 million (€715 million; $906 million) for CATS, a gas pipeline in the UK North Sea. Last September, it followed up by acquiring Roadchef, a UK roadside service business, for £153 million. The fund is already 31 percent deployed and although it still has another four years to spend the balance, Antin's chiefs don't think it will take that long.
Yet they say deploying capital is "not a horse race", and explain that, after Fund II's first close, they were questioned by investors as to why they hadn't yet bought any asset. "Trust us," they replied, "we will only deploy the capital when the time is good and the price is right." As it turns out, the CATS transaction was announced just days after Fund II's fourth and final close. "We didn't use our first deal to get people to commit to the fund."
The vehicle follows the exact same strategy as its predecessor, now invested in a portfolio spanning renewables, telecoms, motorways, ports, rolling stock and crematoria in markets including Italy, Spain, France, Croatia and the UK. But it may well involve new industries and geographies. "We will be diversifying into sectors and countries not currently represented by the first generation of transactions."
The firm can afford this flexibility owing to Antin's original definition of what constitutes infrastructure – less a bundle of heterogeneous sectors than a particular risk profile. Crosbie goes into more detail: infrastructure implies the existence of physical assets catering for an essential need, with little competition and non-bypassable, producing predictable revenues and strong, stable cash flows. These, he says, are the boxes to tick when potential investments go through due diligence.
That's why not every sector conventionally defined as infrastructure automatically passes the firm's "infra test". Rauscher notes that airports, for instance, can generate highly volatile revenues and profits, especially if they rely heavily on low-cost carriers. The firm, which hasn't yet invested in the sector, would as such consider it on a case-by-case basis. Crosbie is similarly cautious on renewables, which he says live in a "very uncertain world" due to the scaling down of subsidies in a number of EU countries. "It's pretty unlikely we will invest in renewables in Fund II."
This approach has sometimes led Antin to deploy money in more exotic sectors. Asked to justify why exactly Westerleigh Group – the UK's second-largest independent operator of crematoria, acquired by the firm in 2013 – and Roadchef should be considered as infrastructure, Crosbie doesn't flinch: crematoria are an essential service in the UK, he says, where 75 percent of the people who die are cremated. They also can't really be subject to competition within their area of catchment, due to strict planning laws. And they have very predictable cash flows (as opposed to funeral businesses, subject to much higher competition), documented by tons of public data.
He applies the same reasoning to motorway services areas (MSAs). They are the only place where UK drivers can stop to have a break; existing planning laws mean no new ones are likely to be built. Data shows most people who stop there end up making a purchase, meaning that MSAs don't exhibit the same revenue sensitivity as conventional retail. And the sector is set to capitalise on healthy, long-term demographic growth. "The UK's three MSAs have been incredibly resilient during the recession," he notes.
The argument seems to stack up, but do LPs really get the message? "Investors love those assets," replies Rauscher. "They understand that at some point to make money you have to be smart, take some measured risk, and work hard on the assets. In today's market, you can't meet a high target return by buying well and selling at two or three times the price."
Of course there are some challenges. But for the managing duo, these are more internal than external.
"We've been very careful since inception to create a particular culture here, around the idea of true partnership, entrepreneurial spirit, accountability and so on. As we grow the business the key challenge is to keep that spirit going," Crosbie says. The team at Antin now counts 19 nationalities, and is projected to grow from 36 staff today to between 45 and 50 within the next two years. It is headed by a total of nine partners – more than most funds of similar size, Rauscher observes, which typically have about three of them.
He explains that, while upon its launch as an independent entity, Antin was sponsored by BNP Paribas, its management team had majority control of the company from day one. "This enabled us to attract an amazing group of talents who joined an entrepreneurial project. They didn't join a subsidiary of a large bank – they joined a start-up. The enthusiasm associated with these people was critical and we as managing partners at Antin should remind everybody that it's fantastic to create a business."
Success, he goes on, will also depend on the team's ability to make savvy investment decisions – a task that, in a bigger company, requires additional oversight. "Keeping tight control and investment discipline is another key challenge. As the team grows larger more and more deal opportunities come up and we work hard not to ever get carried away." Maintaining the capability to generate proprietary deal flow is also crucial, adds Crosbie – although he reckons this is becoming gradually easier as Antin starts to be known and trusted as a potential counterparty.
In true entrepreneurial fashion, the two men are already thinking about the next step. "I am in Paris this week to meet prospective investors. Neither of them has existing commitments to long-term funds but I'm confident if we keep talking to them we'll get them to back us for Fund III," Crosbie says. Would such a fund be larger than Fund II? Too early to tell, he replies – the time to really assess that is when the firm will have an idea of the pipeline it has in hand at that point. "It's not just a question of continuing to want to be bigger."
Succession is also on the MDs' radar – even though they don't seem in a rush to retire anytime soon. "We want this business to be very successful beyond ourselves, even though we are extremely happy and in very good shape now," says Rauscher. "So we constantly assess whether our top people have the capabilities, guts and integrity to make us confident that, at some point, we can give them the keys of the business."


Alpine skiers – and increasingly Nordic skiers as well – know the value of resistance training, especially heavy lifting. But there are enormous potential benefits to NOT lifting weights – but using the sled instead (above is arguably the best skier of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin, working the sled).
Alpine skiers are known for their massive legs. And gym work is a big part of their preparation for dealing with the incredible forces that they are playing with as they throw themselves down a course. Heavy squats and deadlifts are a big part of what they use to be race-ready.
But I am going to argue that sleds are a better choice for most skiers, most of the time. I have had the pleasure of working with skiers – as a ski coach and strength coach – for more than 20 years. I have worked with some of the best, including Olympians and national champions.
One thing that has always struck me is how much damage most of these top athletes are creating in the weight room. I know of one young promising athlete who effectively got knocked out of what should have been her best season by throwing out her back in pre-season strength testing.
I also vividly remember talking to one skier – one of the best college racers in the country – as we worked out after his last college season. He asked me how I continued to perform in the weightroom at my age, as he was always hurting (joints, back, knees, etc.) because of his workouts. This is one of the reasons that I began to focus on sled training and one of the reasons I think it is the best prescription for most skiers, most of the time.
There are a number of ways to work on power, including plyometrics, loaded jumps, Olympic lifts, etc. The problem with most of these is that they require good technique, and there is frightfully little of that out there. I have seen Olympic champions with multiple coaches regularly before dreadful plyometrics and Olympic lifts. Without true top-level coaching, Olympic lifts especially are less than ideal and potentially hazardous. This is all the more the case at the college level, where many ski teams do not have full time strength coaches, and even if they do, the quality of the coaching can be less than ideal.
Sleds, therefore, are an ideal way to build power without the hazards. They can also be used to build lateral power, which is obviously of primary importance in alpine skiing – as well as Nordic skiing and skating.
Another advantage, and one I have put to good use, is that sleds can be used for those with upper body injuries (Lindsey Vonn, arguably the most successful ski racer ever, showing off powerful lateral strength, has had a few upper body injuries). If you have a back or a shoulder injury than deadlifts and squats are out. But you can effectively load the lower body with a sled and waistbelt or harness and get in a great workout without involving the upper body.
Sleds also are a concentric only training. In other words, you don't have to lower (eccentric) the weight, so you don't get the muscle breakdown that you do with traditional weightlifting.
So even if you are going to stick with your traditional weightroom work, sleds are an awesome addition to your program, and can be a great stand-alone for a period of your periodization.


Oh my days, I can't believe it's October. For our family, it means we've just crested our 5 month anniversary. We're practically marriage pros, right? We hope you enjoyed our last post about writing characters of the opposite gender, and the future posts we have in store for you. Please contact us via comments below or however you choose to let us know what you would like to learn from us—whether it be writing, editing, or something in between.
It's been fun finding quotes online or just inside jokes that Travis and I have and making it into something to hopefully display in the future. I complete about one project a week, since they're easy and I obviously don't mind devoting my entire weekends to completing something.
For me, (Whitney), October will be a time of planning and preparing for the 2014 NaNoWriMo challenge. I'm preparing by going through the manuscript that I already have and I'm making a list of scenes in my work, Speechless, that need to be reworked or created so I can make a patchwork of scenes finally go together. As I said in a recent post, I just wrote whatever came to mind and just furiously wrote in the attempt to just spurt out the daily 1500 words and just separated each scene with some dingbats and moved on. Now I'll be filling in the blanks with more character development.
I'm also preparing by taking part in the #OctWritingChallenge this month! Writing 500 words a day seems like a good warm up for November. I love this challenge and I think it was out of laziness that I didn't take part in it during September. My mistake. You can follow me on Twitter to get the daily updates. Join in while the month is still young to get the warm up you need for NaNoWriMo!
Travis and I are still enjoying our writing group. It's amazing the kind of insight you can get from other writers/readers.
Travis is also busier than other with school and work. What a hard worker! He's taking a really fun archeology class, and he's definitely adding some of the things he's learning to his manuscript, The Ancients Stirred, and adding more life to the archeologist. It's pretty fun to implement something you learn from a class or from research to your novel—it feels like you're creating a world that is more real.
What are you doing in the month of October to keep the writing juices flowing? Let us know, or comment with your websites or social media links so we can follow you on your way to progress.
Watch out for fun Halloween costume photos in the near future. We McGruders dabble in dressing up every once and a while.


At the beginning January, Mozzy vowed to quit lean while encouraging young users to do the same. To emphasize his message, he uploaded a video himself pouring out a full bottle liquid codeine, a primary ingredient in lean. Speaking with Complex, Mozzy acknowledged that his viral video did better numbers than anything he's ever done, including his music. And while lean has long been mentioned in hip-hop music, heavy use the drug can definitely have fatal consequences. Now, Mozzy has reached out for a powerful open letter, expanding on his own experience with lean, and the ways his recent battle with withdrawal has affected him.
For the complete story, which is well worth the read, check Mozzy's complete account right here.


text:
Tulsi Gabbard Ignores Debate Question, Uses Time to Take Strong Stance Against Senseless Wars
Cassandra Fairbanks
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard took command of the Democratic debate stage on Wednesday evening, ignoring the pointless question they launched at her and taking a strong stand against intervention and regime change wars.
Rep. Gabbard was asked about her beliefs regarding equal pay for women — likely an attempt to avoid her discussing foreign policy. The reason for this is that her bold anti-intervention and anti-regime change stances will be hugely popular with the public, but they are not popular among the establishment on either side.
Undeterred by their random softball question, Rep. Gabbard began by saying that the "American people deserve a president who will put your interests ahead of the rich and powerful," adding "that's not what we have right now."
The 2020 hopeful then began describing her 16 years of military and public service, explaining that she enlisted in the Army National Guard following the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. She still currently serves as a major. Rep. Gabbard wasn't bragging about her record for cheap applause, she did so to make sure that people understood why she is overly qualified to say what came next.
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1144054176860856320
"I know the importance of our national security, as well as the terribly high cost of war," Gabbard asserted. "For too long our leaders have failed us, taking us into one regime change war to the next. Leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard earned taxpayer dollars and countless lives," Rep. Gabbard argued. "The insanity must end."
Rep. Gabbard concluded by saying that, as president, she will use taxpayer dollars to serve taxpayer needs at home.
This isn't the first time that Rep. Gabbard has spoke out about war. It's a central point of her campaign.
"War with Iran will be far more costly than the Iraq war. It will undermine our national security, and waste countless of lives and trillions of dollars. As president, I'll restore the Iran nuclear deal and de-escalate tensions," Gabbard tweeted along with a video last month.
The video was a clip from Gabbard's interview on PBS News Hour, where she was asked what she would be doing differently than the Trump administration concerning Iran.
"I think first it's important to make sure the American people understand that a war with Iran would be far more costly and far more devastating than anything we experienced with Iraq," Gabbard began. "What we would see is a devastating cost on our troops, my brothers and sisters in uniform, a cost on civilians, people both in Iran and across the region, a worse refugee crisis across Europe, as well as a strengthening of terrorist groups like Isis and al-Qaeda — further undermining our national security."
Gabbard added that a war with Iran would make the Iraq War "look like a cakewalk."
When asked if she would have pulled out the Iran Nuclear Deal, Gabbard said that she would not have and that President Donald Trump's strategy thus far has been counterproductive and a "failure." She said that if she is elected she would re-enter the deal and negotiate with Iran on other issues separately to find a diplomatic way to ease tensions.
Related Topics:2020Democratic PrimaryRegime ChangeTulsi GabbardWar
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Well… that's embarrassing.
The internet is going crazy over a clip from former Vice President Joe Biden's livestreamed campaign event with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf in which someone appears to have passed gas.
The Trump campaign will probably have an absolute field day with this clip.
Social media users speculated that the culprit was Biden, as Governor Wolf appeared to grimace slightly at the sound.
Joe Biden farted on a live interview: pic.twitter.com/kMHTqCLsZb
— JT Lewis (@thejtlewis) May 27, 2020
"[Mitch McConnell] says they should declare bankruptcies if you can. And this isn't some math exercise. This is about people. It's about making sure you don't have to cut those teachers and firefighters, police officers, and cut critical healthcare programs," the former vice president said before the flatulence sound. "Or stop work on roads and bridges. So, what does the human cost of lack of state and local fiscal relief look like in Pennsylvania?"
Wolf, despite his seemingly involuntary facial response, continued to discuss issues in his state and did not comment about the noise.
leader of the free World can't control his bowels for 3 minutes.
— Naughtius Maximus (@Mikehuntscary) May 27, 2020
"Leader of the free world can't control his bowels for 3 minutes," one Twitter user snarked.
It looked like Gov. Wolf heard it also! Raised eyebrows says it all.
— Linda_WCovfefe (@Linda_WCovfefe) May 27, 2020
This incident is just the latest in a long line of gaffes for the aging candidate and career politician. From discussing enjoying children hopping on his lap, to forgetting the name of the coronavirus and how many grandchildren he has, it seems as though Biden just can't stop giving fodder to his rivals.
The incident reminded people an incident with Rep. Eric Swalwell where it sounded as though he passed gas during an interview with MSNBC. He denied that he did it, but social media users were skeptical.
https://twitter.com/pink_lady56/status/1265721279874727936?s=20
"It was not me!!!!!" Swalwell told reporters at the time. "Ha. And I didn't hear it when I was speaking."
The Biden campaign has not yet commented on the apparent flatulence. We will update this post if and when they do.
Former Vice President Joe Biden told African-Americans that "if you don't vote for me, you ain't black" during a shocking appearance on the Breakfast Club on Friday morning.
.@JoeBiden: "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black." @cthagod: "It don't have nothing to do with Trump, it has to do with the fact — I want something for my community." @breakfastclubam pic.twitter.com/endvWnOIV2
— America Rising (@AmericaRising) May 22, 2020
The radio show's host Charlamagne had asked Biden about rapper Sean Combs, also known as Diddy, claiming that that Democrats take black voters for granted. In response, Biden pointed to his overwhelming win in South Carolina.
"I kicked everybody's — excuse me," Biden said,stopping himself from swearing.
"I need you to say that!" Charlamagne fired back.
"I won every single county. I won the largest share of the black vote that anybody had, including Barack," Biden continued. "They're the folks that, as they say up my way, brung me to the dance. That's how I get elected every single time."
Biden also addressed his support for the controversial crime bill that implemented harsher penalties for minor drug offenses, which has largely been credited for more people of color being sent to prison.
"The crime bill didn't increase mass incarceration, other things increased mass incarceration," Biden said.
"I know a lot of weed smokers," Biden also claimed.
He also told the host that he is considering "multiple" black women to be his running mate.
At the end of the interview, a staffer told Biden that he was out of time.
"You can't do that to black media!" Charlamagne said.
"I do that to white media and black media," Biden replied, promising to come back on the show.
"If you have a problem figuring out if you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black," Biden said.
"It don't have nothing to do with Trump — it has to do with the fact that I want something for my community," Charlamagne countered.
Naturally, the racist comment has drawn fierce criticism from the black community, as well as the Trump campaign and RNC.
WOW!! @JoeBiden tells @cthagod that if blacks have to think about whether they are for Trump or for Biden then, "YOU AIN'T BLACK".
Disgusting! @TheDemocrats view black people as trained chimpanzees who should not ask questions, but perform the same circus act every 4 years. pic.twitter.com/2ObfeXJTFz
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) May 22, 2020
Somebody needs to tell Joe Biden that this comment to Charlamagne was a mistake.
Yes, Biden is a much better choice for black people than racist Trump.
But white people don't get to tell black people what is black.
Biden still has to EARN our vote.pic.twitter.com/TPEV5ZpEYi
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 22, 2020
"That is the most arrogant, condescending comment I've heard in a very long time," @SenatorTimScott says in response to Joe Biden saying he's not really Black.
"He's saying that 1.3 million African-Americans, that you're not Black? Who in the heck does he think he is?" pic.twitter.com/HtNNQkIxTQ
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 & get the APP (@TrumpWarRoom) May 22, 2020
It's been over 5 HOURS since Biden told Black people they "ain't black" if they support @realDonaldTrump.
How many times has CNN mentioned his bigoted comment on air?
ZERO.
Unreal.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) May 22, 2020
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Editor of 'Non-Partisan' VA Paper Accidentally Emails GOP Senate Candidate Calling Her a 'Dimwit'
Witzke is an 'America First' conservative.
The publisher of the Virginia News-Gazette emailed Republican Delaware Senate candidate Lauren Witzke and mistakenly sent along an conversation in which the editor called her a "dimwit."
Witzke is an 'America First' conservative who is running on similar policies to what President Donald Trump campaigned on. She is also promising to fight for a full 10 year moratorium on all immigration and restoration of the American nuclear family.
I am running on an #AmericaFirst platform for U.S. Senate.
America First means :
➡A full 10 year moratorium on all immigration (Net Zero).
➡Restoring the American Nuclear family.
➡Putting American workers FIRST
➡Pro-Life
➡Ending Drug Addictionhttps://t.co/Kj4wlxhxJY pic.twitter.com/3FmkuhK0Jv
— Lauren Witzke for U.S. Senate (@WitzkeforDE) March 31, 2020
Some how, the editor of the News-Gazette accidentally ended up on Witzke's donor email list by mistake. After sending out a campaign email opposing the Delaware governor's lock down orders, the Witzke campaign received an email from Matt Paxton, publisher of The News-Gazette.
It appears that the editor had forwarded the email to Paxton, adding "I'm not sure how we got on this dimwit's mailing list." When tried to email the Witzke campaign asking to be removed from the list, he replied to all, which forwarded along the chain where the editor called her a dimwit.
Witzke responded to the email, saying "thanks for letting us know. Are you aware that you forwarded the original message from your editor along with this thread? Not a great look for the 'non-partisan' media."
Paxton responded by claiming that it was sent on purpose.
"I am aware. and sending unwanted, inapplicable emails willy-nilly to every little media outlet within hundreds of miles, not even in a contiguous state, meets the definition in my mind, and I'd say that whether this came from a candidate of the Democrat, Republican, Whig, Prohibition, Green, Libertarian or Socialist Worker Party," Paxton responded. "We get enough spam as it is. I am not 'non-partisan' when it comes to spam."
The District Herald called Paxton to ask whether or not the paper is indeed meant to be non-partisan. He claimed that they are and that he had never even heard of Witzke prior to the email being sent to him. He also claimed, contrary to his response to Witzke, that the email was sent by mistake.
"Umm… I think that was an internal email, a forwarded email, that inadvertently was sent," Paxton responded.
When asked again if the paper is considered to be non-partisan, Paxton asserted that "I don't even know who this person is. This Lauren Witzke."
"She sent an email to us, we're three states away," Paxton added, seemingly frustrated.
The District Herald again asked if the paper is considered to be Democrat-leaning or if it is non-partisan.
"We're non-partisan. We're a community newspaper. We really don't cover anything that is doesn't happen in Rockbridge County, Virginia.
Witzke, for her part, told the District Herald that the paper should be ashamed of itself.
"As if it wasn't obvious enough, the far-left news media once again tipped its partisan hand. The staff at The News-Gazette, which lost any credibility it had left with one single email today, ought to be ashamed of itself," Witzke said. "The paper's management should be immediately fired and replaced with those who will report the news honestly."
She added that it is "little surprise that a Democrat paper in Virginia owned by people from Illinois is as sexist as Ralph Northam is racist, or that this level of frothing hate seems to be the norm in the small town that kicked Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family out of a chicken dinner restaurant for being associated with the Trump campaign."
In 2018, Sanders was kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington for working at the White House. The owner of the restaurant, Stephanie Wilkinson, said that she was taking a stand against a person who defends "inhumane and unethical" presidential policies.
The incident caught the attention of President Donald Trump himself, and the restaurant claimed they had to close for two weeks because of all the negative attention. Still, the media largely defended their actions, even continuing to write glowing portraits of the incident a year later.
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