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By Suzanne Laurent
Hampton Union, July 31, 2012
[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online]
Christina Del Rosso is crowned winner of the Miss Hampton Beach title on Sunday at the new Seashell Stage. [Cheryl Senter photo]
HAMPTON — Wearing a white gown shimmering with sequins and floral embroidery, Christina Del Rosso was crowned 2012 Miss Hampton Beach on Sunday afternoon during the first pageant to be held on the new Seashell Stage.
All the benches were full of spectators who cheered for 19 contestants, despite the cloudy skies and rather chilly temperature.
The rain did hold off, though, just as pageant director Stephanie Lussier predicted it would.
Del Rosso, 16, of Haverhill, Mass., was the youngest contestant in the 66th annual event.
"I did some research on the Miss Hampton Beach Pageant," Del Rosso said during the interview portion of the competition. "The last time someone brought (the crown) home to Haverhill, Massachusetts, was in 1971. So I think it's time we take the crown back to my hometown of Haverhill."
The judges agreed.
Del Rosso, who will be entering her junior year at Haverhill High School, said she was "a little shocked" that she won.
The oldest of three siblings, Del Rosso said she learned at a young age to have confidence and to fight for what she wanted. She was diagnosed and treated for neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor, when she was just 2 years old.
"I'm very involved with Relay for Life," she said, referring to the American Cancer Society's annual event held in many cities and towns across the country to raise awareness and fund research for cancer.
Del Rosso was crowned National American Miss Massachusetts Junior Teen 2010, and said she hopes her experience as Miss Hampton Beach will prepare her for future pageant events to earn scholarship money.
She is planning on a future career in broadcast journalism, setting her sights on E! Entertainment Television. Her favorite subjects are English and literature.
Del Rosso is a lifeguard at the Haverhill Country Club and at Jefferson Estates, also in Haverhill.
"I'm also a varsity cheerleader at Haverhill High," she said after the pageant. "They will all probably cheer for me."
The pageant queen and her court [Cheryl Senter photo]
The contestants were narrowed down to five finalists after an interview with the judges held Sunday morning at the Purple Urchin Seaside Café on Hampton Beach. All 19 competed in the swimsuit and evening gown competitions during the afternoon pageant, and the five finalists were asked questions about why they entered the contest and what they liked best about Hampton Beach.
Contestant Lauren Small of Seabrook was named Miss Congeniality by her peers. Aria Rich of Dracut, Mass., garnered the most points in the swimsuit competition, and Ali Barros received the most points for the interview portion.
Del Rosso received $500 as the winner. First runner-up was Rebecca Scalera of Manchester. There was a tie for second runner-up, split between Barros and Brittany Dube of Hampton. Fourth runner-up was Rich.
On Saturday, Emily Croteau, 13, of Merrimac, Mass., was crowned Junior Miss Hampton Beach. Maeve Hess, 9, of Bradford, Mass., was crowned Little Miss Hampton Beach.
The two will often accompany Del Rosso in her duties as Miss Hampton Beach that include appearances at Hampton events such as the Penguin Plunge, the Children's Festival and the Christmas Parade.


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Clarisse Thorn sees nothing new in eroticized images of male dominance and violence, but she sees plenty that's thought-provoking.
This is a slightly longer version of a piece that was originally posted at Role/Reboot. Republished with permission.
Much is being made of the highly successful S&M erotica novel 50 Shades of Grey. People are blaming feminism for making women into submissives, blaming feminism for preventing women from being submissives, blaming women for having sexual desires at all, and a whole lot of other boring and typical stuff that comes up in any conversation about women and S&M. News flash: it's not the feminist revolution that is "causing" women to have fantasies of submission. S&M fantasies have been around since the beginning of time. (And the 1950s S&M-sensation book, The Story of O, was much better written than 50 Shades of Grey.)
As an S&M writer, I hear a lot of allegations about how "all" (or "almost all") women are sexually submissive and how this must Mean Something. This is echoed in the coverage of 50 Shades of Grey, in which everyone is demanding to know What It All Means About Women. I wrote a piece a while back called "'Inherent Female Submission': The Wrong Question," in which I took on a lot of this stuff. But there's another submerged question here — about men. There's plenty of talk and stereotypes about how men are inherently violent, or more aggressive than women, or "the dominant sex."
As I said in my previous article: I think it's quite questionable whether women are "inherently submissive," but my conclusion is that I don't care. It doesn't actually matter to me whether women in general are "inherently submissive" (though I really don't think women are), or whether submissive women's preferences are philosophically Deep And Meaningful (though I'm not convinced they are). What matters is:
1. How women (or any other people) can explore sexually submissive preferences consensually,
2. How women (or any other people) can compartmentalize submissive preferences so that their whole lives are safe and fulfilling and happy, and
3. How women (or any other people) can be treated well in arenas that aren't even relevant to their sexuality — like the workplace.
This is also how I feel about these ideas of "inherent male violence." I don't buy that men are "the dominant sex" or that men are "inherently violent." Based on what I've read, it seems quite clear that individuals with higher testosterone levels — who are, incidentally, not always men — often experience more aggressive feelings. Yet that's a far cry from large-scale generalizations, and it's also frequently irrelevant to questions about how people can best deal with those aggressive feelings. Plus, psychological submission can be a very separate thing from physical aggression levels.
Much of the time, when it comes to aggression, anger management is the answer, the same way a naturally shy or submissive person needs to learn to set boundaries. But there are circumstances where catharsis is completely acceptable. Lots of perfectly decent men have urges towards violent dominance; what do they do about it? How much do they agonize, like Christian Grey in 50 Shades of Grey, and how much do they explore their desires in a consensual and reasonable way?
I always thought that the late-90s movie Fight Club was fascinating primarily because of its lens on masculinity and violence. It's not just about the violence men to do each other, but to themselves. Quotes include "You have to give up; you have to know that someday you're gonna die," and "The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club." I first watched it before I knew much about S&M, but now whenever I think about it, I think about how the idea of a fight club — where people would get together and fight, for catharsis and community — is so very reminiscent of how a lot of people experience S&M. Fight Club even has safewords. Someone says stop, you stop. I obviously don't support the endpoint of the Fight Club story (i.e., blowing up buildings), but the idea of establishing a men's community via a fight club seems reasonable to me.
So, what are the practicalities of dealing with aggressive or dominant tendencies in the sexual arena? As an S&M person, I've experimented with dominance as well as submission, but because violence is so associated with masculinity, I turned to some egalitarian male S&Mers for advice. I believe that even for non-S&M people, their perspectives make a really good lens for ideas of gender and violence and power. Of course, the first thing one of my friends told me was: "I'm not sure I really see dominance in general as being particularly masculine. I don't really think it's a gender associated thing."
That gentleman, who comments around the Internet under the name Scootah, went on to add: "I've certainly worried about my kinks in the past. I mean fundamentally, I get really, really turned on by grabbing someone by the hair, throwing them into the wall, backhanding them, etc. That's a pretty disturbing thought for an egalitarian who's worked with abuse victims. I spend a lot of time considering the ethics of my kinks; my partners' enthusiastic consent is a major priority. There are certainly elements that could potentially unbalance a relationship in my favor. I'm a big reasonably strong guy. I do usually make more money than my partners. I also have this whole sense of position in the local S&M community. I mostly just try to be aware of those things. I try to be very careful about not taking advantage of that and negotiate clearly and not pressure people."
There are lots of ways to do clear negotiation, including asking open-ended questions before any S&M actually happens: "What are you interested in? Could you go into that more?" There's also a huge emphasis on talking through the S&M encounter afterwards, as part of the post-S&M processing we call aftercare. As another gent who goes by Noir said: "It really helped me to have a few great, feminist S&M partners. Having that echo of 'it's OK, I want this,' as well as the honest feedback when I do wrong really helped shape how I experience S&M, and with who. It's meant I learned how better to read and grasp the people in my, er, grasp."
Noir also noted, "I strive to use dominance and submission as a tool for helping my partners become stronger, in ways that also feed my S&M preferences. For example, I tend to form long-term interests with women who want a 'safe space' to extend and explore their ability to be sluts, with all that can imply. But in the process, we also explore how becoming more confident in one's sexuality also can reflect into everyday life. Also, just coming to spaces in the S&M community can be a goldmine of information. All a dominant man has to do is read, listen, open up and understand. One thing I learned was that my fears about reenforcing our messed-up society were shared by women into kink… but also that my ways of approaching the topic, as 'oh, we're so controlled by society!' were themselves pushing too much agency out of women's choices. There's a balance there that we guys who identify as both feminist and kinky have to respect, and that can come from listening to feminist women struggle with these issues, themselves."
The alternative sexuality advocate Pepper Mint (who has his own blog) told me that in terms of putting gender on his experiences, "I am a bit genderqueer, and I personally experience dominance with either a feminine or masculine vibe from moment to moment. Certain activities — like punching — feel masculine, while others — like whipping — feminine in the moment. Also, I switch, meaning that I don't always take the dominant role. Strangely, my most clearly masculine S&M activity is masochism. I always feel very manly while taking pain. I don't think I can clearly explain why these things have attached to gender in my head, though presumably I'm being affected by cultural tropes to some extent."
The consensus in general was that dominance, whether masculine or feminine, is something that happens in an encounter… not outside it. As Pepper put it, "New guys often want to play hard or do hardcore things, and will often boast and swagger. Kinky women almost always recognize this as dangerous bullshit. Learn to chill out and not take yourself too seriously, and learn to start with a light careful touch when playing with someone new. Learn to ask for help and guidance, both from others in your S&M community and from your partners."
Scootah agreed: "The first mistake I see newbie doms make is trying too hard to be some kind of badass. Admit your inexperience. Be seen learning. Be modest and have a good time. Learn to communicate well, and to really be friends with your prospective partners."
For me, the bottom line of these conversations is that questioning gender roles, and understanding gender complications, is an ongoing process. People have a lot of urges and preferences that are politically inconvenient and which we will never fully understand. Whether we're shaped by biology or culture, those feelings will still exist for now, and we have to deal with them. There are ways to do almost anything such that people respect each other, though — whatever the implications for gender or power. Violence is complicated ground, but it can be used in balanced and consensual ways that end up bonding people together. 50 Shades of Grey and Fight Club are both examples, and I haven't even touched competitive sports!
Photo—Muscled male model from Shutterstock

subset: commoncrawl


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Tales of Travel in Panama Without a Car
GoNOMAD Book Excerpt
Tales of Travel in Panama
Darrin DuFord, a contributor to GoNomad, ventures through the tropics of Panama. In his recent book, Is There a Hole in the Boat? Tales of Travel in Panama Without a Car, DuFord mucks through muddy trails, encounters native tribes, samples local delicacies and becomes immersed into the thriving culture of Panama. Read more below for a taste of DuFord's adventures at the infamous Darién Gap. — Kylie Jelley
Chapter 15: The Little Goat
THE PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY meanders over 25,000 kilometers from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, except for a break — the only one — at the mountainous jungle between Panama and Colombia.
On the Panamanian side, the party town of Yaviza celebrates its distinction at the end of the road with its troupes of salsa-stepping storeowners and humping stray dogs strewn about its walkways. For more communal recreational pursuits, the town's open-aired cockfighting palace holds seating for 80. Yaviza is the rowdy border town without the border.
Kids running around the ruins of a Spanish fort-turned-playground greeted me, ignoring the police choppers that thumped above. Without roads, the police and their AK-47s require the helicopters, along with small, agile boats, to travel further east into the lawless bonanza known as the Darién Gap, where an assortment of Colombian guerrilla factions have trickled in and hunkered down.
Despite over half a century's talk of extending the highway all the way to the boundary with Colombia (30 miles away), recent Panamanian concerns about the accelerated influx of drugs, Colombian civil war elements, and hoof-and-mouth disease, not to mention the inevitable ecological damage, have thus far kept the Darién Gap an unforgiving jungle.
As willing boatmen abounded, I was able to reach a few nearby indigenous Emberá villages in the comarca north of the town to examine their recovery from a recent flood — my main objective.
But without the requisite AK-47, I wasn't prepared to venture eastward into the Gap. And since I had reached my fill of dancehall beats bounding out of the open concrete walls of Yaviza's bars until 3 a.m. and starting up again at sunrise (as was the case with the venue right below my fan-cooled, hostel-style room), I was left with no particular eagerness to remain in town.
Did that make me a party pooper? Was I supposed to warm up to the crudely painted pictures of women in their underwear on the walls of the bars?
Yaviza thought so. I must have offended her, for as I was to discover, she would make it difficult to leave.
Planning my escape, I first looked to Panama's fleet of diablos rojos, the ex-American school buses painted as gaudily as the drivers' personalities dictate.
Shrouded in airbrushed cartoon characters and names of girlfriends, the buses provide public transport to and from some of the most far-reaching villages across the isthmus, including Yaviza, nine hours from the capital, down a road still lacking pavement for the last four hours of the trip.
Then again, three-fourths of Panama's people do not own automobiles, lavishing great importance on the country's buses that dutifully prowl a road system remaining two-thirds unpaved.
I have logged many an exhaust-festooned hour inside diablos rojos and other permutations of Panamanian public buses while speakers mounted in the ceiling kept the passengers groovin' to salsa, Panamanian típico, or even American classic rock. Legroom deficiencies aside, I was actually looking forward to the ride.
But by the early afternoon, the bus drivers' workday was done. After nine hours, the diesel engines of diablos rojos that had already arrived from the capital earned a break, their combustive gnarling silenced for the rest of the day. Their vivid paint jobs would fade in the sun of Yaviza until the next morning.
The capital-bound buses, likewise, had all left hours ago, before the sun had risen. The afternoon was time for the bus drivers to enjoy a few cold beers and place some earnings on one of Yaviza's badass cocks. So how, at that balmy hour, could I return to the capital without a car?
An hour's canoe ride south could have taken me to a rustic airstrip, but a crash of a local commercial flight a month ago elsewhere in the country and the subsequent shortage of planes had shoved schedules down an abyss of futility. I decided to pass on the frequent flier miles.
I still had one option. But it would only carry me part of the way back. Enterprising farmers, keeping with the idea of recycling ancient automobiles that should have been melted down into scrap, have been converting trucks into buses by constructing passenger cabins on the backs of the trucks' flatbeds. Panamanians refer to the franken-vehicles as chivas, or little goats — an appropriate label considering the type of unsavory, all-dirt terrain they were designed to ply.
As the afternoon blazed unhindered, Yavizans sucked the sweat off their lips and promised me in between unrushed grins that a chiva would turn up soon.
Over the next couple hours, several burly trucks arrived, circled around, and left. All were transports shuffling heavily armed Panamanian policemen to and from their base in town. But where was the bus for unarmed civilians?
"There's the chiva," a vendor gestured to me from his reclined paunch, sinking behind his table of batteries and plastic toys. He was pointing to an approaching truck, a pickup truck.
Five bucks would get me two and a half hours back up the highway to Metetí, the driver of the 4×4 told me, as I climbed in to the truck bed adorned with a tarpaulin atop two wooden benches that he didn't bother to fasten down.
There were no speakers, hence no típico. Joining a half dozen passengers hanging onto the tarpaulin posts, I straddled a spare wheel and a scattering of wanton corn kernels from a past rider, just before the Yaviza-Metetí local turned around and jostled back onto the Pan-American Highway, in all its single lane, unpaved glory.
Yaziva is so far away from the rest of the country that the loggers and farmers who have shorn most of the land surrounding the highway clean of anything round and tall haven't completed clearing all the jungle near the terminal town. But the loggers are getting close. Just a few wiggles of the bench later, we eased past open cattle ranches.
Even the jungle of the distant mountains, miles away from the roadway, had been converted to pasture. Some of the slopes rose so sharply, I wondered if the grazing cows had to wear crampons just so someone could enjoy a filet mignon, just about the only cut of a Panamanian-raised cow not normally requiring a meat grinder to attain edibility.
At least the animals were getting their exercise. In the end, however, the destruction of the habitats of hundreds of tropical birds, reptiles, animals, insects, and plants has only resulted in producing chewy steak — perhaps nature is laughing last after all.
Neither the bouncing of the rear axle nor the roving bench prevented a mother across from me from opening a bottle of Squirt soda, filling a baby bottle with it, and promptly serving it to the infant straddling her thigh. The baby, wearing nothing but a diaper and a bumpy rash on his neck, slurped down the soda without losing a drop to the vehicle's convulsions. Lucky mother — the chiva must have burped the baby for her.
Since the tarpaulin only covered the top and sides of the cabin, the open front and back allowed in anything the highway decided to send our way. When a vehicle passed, shooting a jet of fresh dust under the tarpaulin, everyone in the chiva instinctively tucked in helpless grimaces.
Like the spreading of an unchecked disease, the dust of the dirtway painted everything within 20 feet of it with its pale auburn likeness — fence posts, leaves of palm trees, grazing cows, everything.
The dryness of the road proved pestering, but I was fortunate the rainy season had not yet begun. If it had, the daily afternoon drenchings, according to Yavizans, turn this part of the highway into a sludge monster, passable to only the most talented chiva driver. The much heavier and less nimble diablos rojos often become stuck up to their axles in the mud.
A straw-hatted passenger rapped on the roof of the cab — the chiva equivalent of "it's my stop." Each side of the roof donned a shallow, fist-sized indentation, the hallmark of a well-used chiva. At the same stop, a few saddle-faced farmers climbed aboard with their machetes, and another hoisted a tank of kerosene into the pickup bed. Knees bent with innovative topology to accommodate.
The coveted passenger seat inside the pickup cab, reserved apparently for either mobility-restricted grandmothers or comely young ladies, acquired a passenger fitting an appropriate criterion of the latter variety. We lost a little off our pace until she was delivered a mile down the road.
Central America Plane Reader….a collection of stories about all countries in Central America from GoNOMAD
But she mattered not compared to our regular yielding for crossing caravans of dogs, oblivious chickens, goats, and frogs the size of softballs. Freshly cut spoils of loggers lay along the side of the road, sometimes spilling onto it, providing additional fodder for brake pads amid the concrete churches and saddle repair shops on a stretch of farmland that, just 25 years prior, was a canopied jungle.
The mother was sitting near the pickup's back door. Atop her lap, a pudgy leg of her infant flopped over the open edge. As the mother gripped the infant with one hand and the bottle of Squirt in the other, the baby appeared to be one savage bump away from becoming the load that fell off the truck.
When the frogs gave us the right of way, the driver demonstrated his prowess for clinging to the dirt at ample velocity (a grandmother was sitting in the front passenger seat, nonetheless). A mob of rocks perturbed by the pickup's tires attacked the vehicle's underbelly with a chorus of pings, lushly fitful, a hailstorm from the ground up.
Inter-passenger chatter relied on quick bursts of yelling, usually something like "are you all right?" followed by levity-reassuring laughter. The remains of the suspension system sent the passengers — 12 of us now — up against the support beams of the tarpaulin, as the beams flaunted talent for finding the tender meat between one's spinal discs.
Meanwhile, the baby, a wiggling jelly puppet, had employed its own defense system against the inclement environment: a nap. It was enough to make a grown man envious. Just how can babies do that?
After a fellow passenger knocked on the roof for the mother, she safely climbed out of the pickup, losing neither the baby nor the bottle of Squirt from her clench worthy of a rugby player.
The path swelled wide enough for two lanes, save the occasional stretch where a landslide had dispensed with half the road. A stop sign, impaling the middle of the highway itself, failed to delay our chiva, the driver actually speeding up at the sign of red.
The pebble ensemble responded by improvising a crescendo, as the piercing smell of slash-and-burn farming — the official scent of the Panamanian countryside — swam through the chiva.
With a few newly acquired, 50-pound bags of rice as ballast, the driver finished delivering his passengers and cargo, dusty but intact, to the cowboy town of Metetí, his last stop. We only traveled 30 miles, but the chiva—part bus, part grain silo, part baby-burper—had bucked me two and a half hours closer to the capital.
From the earthen lot doubling as the drop-off point, an unmarked pickup passed me and bounced back towards Yaviza. A few farmers stood vigilantly in the back. Their 4×4 being just a regular, private truck, it sported neither a tarpaulin nor benches. Second-class travel, I tell you.
Excerpted from Is There a Hole in the Boat?: Tales of Travel in Panama without a Car, by Darrin DuFord.
Read more GoNOMAD stories by Darrin DuFord:
Peru: Chowhounding from Anticuchos to Zaino
Beyond a Shadow of a Snout: A Saturday in Otavalo, Ecuador


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A recent study explores the different bacteria in the eyes of contact lens wearers, investigating how this may be increasing the risk of eye infections.
Although in early stages, the research could lead to helping prevent infections for contact lens wearers.
Those who wear contact lenses are usually fully aware of the steps they need to take to avoid getting an eye infection, as well as the potential dangers from improper lens care, i.e. Acanthamoeba keratitis. Most lens wearers know that problems can arise if they leave their lenses in too long (more than the prescribed time), sleep in them, or don't clean them properly or regularly enough with the correct solution. These are all well-known 'don'ts' of contact lenses, however, there's another problem that many people aren't aware of – their fingers!
A new study conducted by microbiologists at NYU Langone Medical Centre has suggested that people wearing contact lenses are more prone to eye infections due to 'changes in bacteria population'. In other words, different bacteria could either be getting transferred from people's fingers to their eyes when they are putting in or taking out their contact lenses, or the pressure of the contact lens on the eye during these actions is affecting bacteria levels.
One microbiologist (and the senior study investigator), Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello stated the following:
"What we hope our future experiments will show is whether these changes in the eye microbiome of lens wearers are due to fingers touching the eye, or from the lens's direct pressure affecting and altering the immune system in the eye and what bacteria are suppressed or are allowed to thrive"
The researchers in the study found that of 20 people, 9 who wore contact lenses daily had three times the levels of bacteria than the 11 people who did not wear contact lenses, and the contact lens wearers bacteria was wider in variety/type. Whilst the study is considered 'preliminary' at present, and yet to be published in any peer reviewed journal, Dominguez-Bello has hopes that it will lead to a better understanding of why contact lens wearers are more prone to eye infections than non-contact lens wearers, and that understanding could lead to better ways of preventing eye infections in the future.
In the mean-time, Essilor advises that contact lens wearers play it safe and wash their hands (specifically their fingers) before putting in or taking out their contact lenses. See our Eye Care section for more information on protecting your eyes.


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Contact Macclesfield office
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Macclesfield - LETTINGS & ESTATE AGENT
Thanks for the very good service provided by the team at your Macclesfield office - Sandra
Following the government's update on 13th May 2020 regarding home moving in England during the Covid-19 outbreak, we are pleased to announce our branches in England will start re-opening their doors for booked appointments over the coming weeks. Health and safety remains our main priority, and a number of strict measures will be put in place to protect our staff and customers. Our offices in Scotland and Wales will continue to support customers from home. Visit our branch page to find contact details for your local office.
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SALEM, Ore. — Oregon officials are backing off their proposal to prohibit sales of pot-infused treats at medical marijuana stores.
In a new set of rules released Monday, the Oregon Health Authority will only ban marijuana-laced products that are made or packaged in ways that might appeal to children. That means nothing brightly colored or formed in the shape of animals, toys or candies.
The rules also require marijuana products to be sold in child-proof containers free of cartoons or bright colors.
The rules take effect Tuesday, but they could change based on public comments during a six-month rule-making process.
Previous versions of the rules would have banned drug-laced sweets all together because they could be attractive to young people. But dispensary advocates said patients who take the drug orally need the sweetened pot products.


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We strive to improve the quality of life for our customers and communities by providing innovative security solutions and superior service. We offer reliable expertise in making the world safer and take great pride in the important job we have in doing so.
We value:
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On PHPBuilder.com Jason Gilmore has posted another article in his series looking at lightweight frameworks. In this latest article he looks at the PHP Fat-Free Framework, a PHP 5.3 framework the comes bundled in a single 55KB file.
If you're keen to start capitalizing upon the great framework-oriented features you've heard so much about but aren't yet ready to invest the significant time required to master one of the more involved solutions, consider investigating one of the lightweight solutions such as the PHP Fat-Free Framework. In this article I'll show you just how easy it is to get started building Web sites using this deceptively tiny (55kB) framework.
You'll need a PHP 5.3 install to get the framework working - several bits in its core use 5.3-only features. He shows how, at its simplest, the framework can be used to generate "clean URLs" even if it just routes to HTML files. Next is setting up dynamic routing then building page templates and MySQL integration. If you're looking for more detail on the framework and what it has to offer, visit the project's page on SourceForge.


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OK, I admit, this one isn't hard, but it can be frustrating if you get your targeting wrong.
I enjoyed this quest and it's lead up. Really though, a 3 foot Gnome using a 15 foot harpoon launching flaming arrows at buildings way across a ravine, then at the drakes that come to stop me. This should be a daily!
Anyway, the only reason I am writing about it at all is when I did this quest I spent 5 minutes blasting the buildings for no effect. So, I thought maybe you had to hit the buildings for a certain amount of damage before they were destroyed.
Not so, it is just about targeting the right spot of each building.
I think this is an Alliance only quest.. so sorry Hordies…
Leading up to this part you will need to complete:
- The Path to Payback
- Locating the Mechanism
- Meet Lieutenant Icehammer…
- Drop It then Rock It!
- Harpoon Master Yavus
1st up, there are two harpoons, located at (64.8, 52.7) and (64.5, 54.3) so if the one you are standing near is busy, you can always check out the 2nd one. It is a quick quest done right though. So if the person using the harpoon isn't getting drakes just tell them the following and before you know it you will be demolishing buildings and drakes.
The right spot is simply the roof. If it doesn't blow on your first hit, just try again, targeting what you think is the roof.
So pick a building, any building. Press 1 to fire – you only have two choices, so that isn't hard to work out. You need to destroy all three, but do them one at a time.
Once you have successfully hit and destroyed a building, a bunch of Dragonflayer Defenders will fly at you.
Yay! Anti-Aircraft time. Once again, this bit is easy, target and press 2. Don't panic, you will easily take them down without dying.
Continue to destroy the buildings one by one.
You need to destroy all 3 buildings to meet this requirement of the quest:
- Dragonflayer Longhouse Destroyed
- Dragonflayer Dockhouse Destroyed
- Dragonflayer Storage Facility Destroyed
If by some chance you didn't get enough Dragonflayer Defenders to complete the mission, the solution is simple. Just piss the enemy off again by destroying another building. When you do, you will get a new set of Dragonflayer Defenders to slaughter until you kill 8.
- Dragonflayer Defender slain (8)
So, what's next?
The ride of your life… let's go surfing now
Get your Alt-Z and print screen keys ready to take some magical screenshots while you launch yourself across the ravine.
Remember to read the completion text for a bonus laugh!
Ohhh, if you can't so the quest, or have done it and forgotten the end result, then check out my post from the other day… it will spoil the fun for you if you are about to do it, so stop now. Otherwise have a laugh.
PS: Got to love the Spinal Tap reference (It goes to 11…)
Gnomer and Out!
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.


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Best definition
morning glue
The result of having sex or masturbating vigorously and going to sleep without washing up. Upon waking up, genitals may
be firmly stuck to thighs, other genitals, or simply glued shut, depending on gender and sleeping position. The only cure is a hot shower, and the only prevention is a handy towel.
I woke up with morning glue after banging Sally last night. I had to peel my junk off my thigh just to walk to the shower.


text:
LOOK!! Testimonials!!"You guys are so FUN and positive.. We've had the best time!"
"Best cover band we've ever seen!"
"Crocodile Done Deal have made our evening!"
"You guys are AMAZING!"
"I can't believe it's just 2 guys, sounds like a full band!"
"You can see the passion in their playing, it makes for a great evening."
"Putting other bands to shame!"
"Genuinely awesome!"
"I've had such a good time tonight, thank you so much!"
"So glad we booked you for our engagement party! Unforgettable!"
"We'll definitely be booking you again!"
"Oh my god! You guys are ****ing great!"
"Thong Song! What a classic! I can't believe you played that!"
"Shame you couldn't stay for a 4th encore... Thanks for playing so much extra for us"
"Your voices blend so well together. Really lovely"
"Excellent gig, really enjoyed it"
"You've just got yourself a lot of loyal fans!"
"Thank you Crocodile Done Deal, we had a really good night!"
"So much fun!"
"Love the harmonies guys! Really impressive!"
"They played some lovely songs during dinner, then cranked it up after for the dancefloor! We had so much fun! Thanks Crocodile Done Deal!"
"Please come back and play for us again!"
"We're so lucky to have Crocodile Done Deal at our party!"
"They tailor-made an evening to suit our needs. Very professional. Lovely boys."
"Classic after classic after classic! You've clearly thought long and hard about the songs you play."
"I thought acoustic guitar had to be boring! You guys ROCK!"
"…Very accomplished musicians having fun playing for us. Very refreshing."
"Our boss was very pleased with the band."
"Thank you so much CDD! We had a blast tonight!"
"Nice Drums, Nice Voice. Very good."
"It's nice to see some proper musicians that enjoy what they do - it really shows!"
"I've seen them a few times and I think Crocodile Done Deal could play for pretty much anyone.. They play so many songs!"
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"I heart Crocodile Done Deal!"
"When's the next gig guys? I'm a fan!!"
"The medleys are superb. Seamlessly going from rock to pop to hip-hop as-if it's somehow the same song. That's a real talent you've got there fellas!"
"Wicked band mate!"
"We didn't stop dancing all night."
"100% worth the money!"
"We were very demanding on Crocodile Done Deal. Nothing was too much hassle. They made the music fit around our needs and we had a brilliant evening. Thanks chaps!"
"The only bad thing was when they finished playing. We were sad to see them go."
"Sounds like a bigger band!"
"Crocodile Done Deal are FANTASTIC. You'll have a great night, trust me!"
"Songs I forgot I loved. They kept us smiling and the dance floor was buzzing all night."
"Very tasteful music tonight. Beautiful."
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"We had a great night, all thanks to the band!"
"We were exhausted the day after. We were dancing all night!"
"Brilliant guys"
"What an original idea! Perfectly executed!"
"Thanks guys! Good luck with the band!"
"I can't believe you guys sound so phat with only 2 people, fair play, you killed it!"
"I loved your chilled set but when you guys kicked into the upbeat stuff the party really started."
"Nice one lads, we all had a great time tonight."
"Bruv you killed that guitar and your drummer is off the chain!"
"That cover of DJ Fresh you did was absolutely rocking!"
"All of you harmonies were bang on, fair play to your drummer he can sing!"
"I loved the monkey wrench cover by the Foo Fighters with the Kazoo, haha that was brilliant."
"You guys had such a full sound, I didn't know what to think when you set up just acoustic guitar and drums but to be fair you really pulled it off."
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"Haha Crocodile Done Deal, absolute jokers! You guys rock."
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"We're not getting married until next July but we want you guys to play at our wedding!"
"Seriously, no seriously guys your live set was ****ing amazing and then the DJ set was great as well, smashed it all night long! Thanks for making our night so amazing."
"I really liked how you played some nice slow dance songs so me and my boyfriend could dance together, I think you should learn some Lionel Ritchie."
"Yes you played Reel Big Fish you legends!! I skanked my ass off!"
"My Mrs loved you tonight, thanks for making her birthday so good!"
"Your choice of songs is way better than any band we've had in here, constant hits that everybody knows!"
"Tonight was bangin! Cheers boys!"
"You are definitely the best band I've seen in here. I've already told the manager to book you again next week hehe!"
"We wanted something quiet, then something loud. I doubt a bigger band could've done this so well.. You're on to something here guys!"
"You cheeky boys are lots of fun! What a splendid little combo."
"Can I be your number one groupie?"
"You guys kept up such a high standard all night long! Where do you get the energy??"
"Best night EVER"
"That's not a knife..."
"SO GLAD we booked you guys for our party!"
"I can't believe how good you guys sound with only 2 people, seriously!"
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AboutCrocodile Done Deal are an OUTSTANDING TRIO from Guildford, UK. We specialise in 80s, 90s and 00s urban, pop and dance hits. We also play a wide variety of pop, funk, garage, disco, rock, soul, reggae hits to make get the dancefloor moving. We offer DJ services for before and/or after we play at your event. Also, we can provide beautiful acoustic sounds for tender moments, like walking down the aisle etc.
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- Crocodile Done Deal - In The Studio 2018: youtu.be/1A0-FCd10Cs?a via @YouTube 2 years ago
- I liked a @YouTube video youtu.be/lcedlPOhKqc?a Second Hand Spaceman - Nice Planet 3 years ago
- I liked a @YouTube video from @crocdonedeal youtu.be/5xIm4NGloWs?a CROCODILE DONE DEAL - UK PARTY BAND 4 years ago
- CROCODILE DONE DEAL - UK PARTY BAND: youtu.be/5xIm4NGloWs?a via @YouTube 4 years ago
- I liked a @YouTube video youtu.be/AjZ0KbJcav0?a BELIEVE IN YOURSELF - Motivational Video (ft. Jaret Grossman & Eric Thomas) 4 years ago
Tag Archives: dance music
Insane 22 Minute Mega Medley – LIVE party & wedding band
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text:
Defending Against The Ruinous Hordes
A Warhammer: Invasion Spotlight by Guest Writer Torsten Krämer
"Knights are magnificent figures, clad in gleaming plate armour crafted by Dwarven smiths, armed with weaponry of the finest quality and mounted on powerful destriers." –Warhammer: The Empire, "Knightly Orders"
The Eternal War cycle for Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game has renewed the game's focus on the fast-paced and lethal conflicts that take place during the battlefield phase.
In the past months, we've seen a wide array of cards that give players new reasons to attack. We've seen units with the Raider keyword, units with the experience mechanic, and units that can trigger powerful abilities when they attack. Now, as the hordes of Chaos marauders gather to sweep down from the north in a bloody tide of violence, guest writer Torsten Krämer looks at three cards coming in The Ruinous Hordes that are not focused on attacking, but are instead focused on defense.
Torsten Krämer on the Panther Champion
The Empire's defensive abilities have always been among its strengths. Their abilities to divert attacks and take out opposing units with Counterstrike can make them a tough nut to crack. And the Empire's defenses have only become more important throughout the Eternal War cycle as their foes have gained the Raider keyword, powerful Battlefield abilities, and more reasons than ever before to attack, attack, attack.
Fortunately, as their enemies gain attackers, the Empire is able to match them with the acquisition of stalwart defenders. Coming in The Ruinous Hordes, the Panther Champion (The Ruinous Hordes, 86) can challenge an attacking unit to single combat. If it does, both units are removed from the main battle and deal damage to the other equal to their power.
The Panther Champion's ability offers you a range of tactical options when you're attacked. Against multiple attackers, the Panther Champion can split your opponent's power so that you can defeat the opposing force without losing a unit that the attackers normally would have been able to destroy by combining their power. You can more easily frustrate your opponent by dividing and conquering his forces if you have more than one Panther Champion, and the situation only gets better for you if you can make your Panther Champion tougher or more powerful, make him capable of defending any zone with Protect the Empire (Arcane Fire, 106), or bring him into play as a surprise defender with Waiting in Ambush (Signs in the Stars, 69).
Since both the Panther Champion and the target attacking unit are removed from combat, you will be able to cancel a number of effects that only work while attacking. For example, the Panther Champion is just the man to take care of a unit wielding Basha's Bloodaxe (Warpstone Chronicles, 91). If all else fails, your Panther Champion can sacrifice himself to keep a single, overwhelmingly powerful unit from continuing its attack and dealing damage to your capital or legend.
Test of Will
Of course, the Eternal War cycle has given us another great way to handle attackers – the Ambush keyword. Units with this keyword can ambush from facedown developments into defenders, often triggering special abilities, and the Dark Elves possess one of the best of these units, the Bride of Khaine (Days of Blood, 3). While she can outright destroy an attacking unit with her ability, the Druchii promise to make your attacks even risker with the new tactic, Test of Will (The Ruinous Hordes, 97).
Ambushed from facedown, Test of Will can get rid of one attacker or cancel your opponent's attack for free, but at two cost it's also cheap enough that we will surely see it played from hand. Though it's much like the ever popular Sacrifice to Khaine (Chaos Moon, 37), Test of Will is restricted in when it can be played. But it's also restricts your opponent in his choice of units to sacrifice, making the card both a curse and a blessing to the Druchii cause, and clever Dark Elf players will be able to ensure it's more of the latter.
Lying in Wait
Finally, The Ruinous Hordes gives us a tactic that makes sure that everyone who uses Ambush cards can look forward to the next pack, not just the Druchii. Lying in Wait (The Ruinous Hordes, 100) allows you to turn your units back into developments after they've ambushed, so that they can do it again.
Even if you don't rely on Ambush, this tactic can come in handy. It can help you net the gain of a development from a unit that is about to be destroyed, and much like Dance to Loec (Fragments of Power, 17), Lying in Wait can counter the sudden trigger of an opponent's effect that relies on you not having developments or enhance the effect of a card you control whose strength depends on the number of developments you control.
Thanks, Torsten!
Along with the game's latest FAQ, the Eternal War cycle is revitalizing the bloody battles that lie at the heart of Warhammer: Invasion, and as attackers gain more and more abilities to trigger, it pays to have a good defense.
Look for the Panther Champion, Test of Will, and Lying in Wait to reshape the battlefields of the Old World soon. The Ruinous Hordes arrives at retailers next week!
in our forums!


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First, the actual articles. Older stuff will be lower.
How to find a good deal on games.
This is partly done in greed-the more hits I have to the articles that I've written, the more money I'm likely to be paid later-but also done in a desire to share my writing with you folks.
On another note, I'd love you forever if you gave me a few suggestions on other things to write-I'm looking to write 2-3 articles a day.


text:
Torrent name:The_Columbus_Dispatch_20120508_TTL
Total size:17.3 MB
Torrent added:2012-05-09 14:24:36
Info hash:77A01AB84597D3FB2ACC0728F24DA754FF19D417
This is the local newspaper from Columbus Ohio. Please don't be a leecher only. This is a small file so please seed so the last 3-5 people can finish in a reasonable time. I watch almost daily as 8-12 download right away and only myself and maybe 1 other will seed for more than a few hours. How about it!!! Be kind and SHARE!!!!!! Please do not hit and run. Spread the word to former fellow Capital C residents. Glad I could share this with everyone overseas.


text:
Neil Patrick Harris will be a "Horrible" host at Sunday's Emmy Awards, Entertainment Weekly reported.
According to the mag's Michael Ausiello, the "How I Met Your Mother" star will incorporate a "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"-inspired production number into the awards ceremony.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Emmys 2009: And The Nominees Are…
"Dr. Horrible," a musical short film directed by Joss Whedon and starring Neil as the title character, is already an Emmy winner at this year's awards – it picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live Action Entertainment Programs at last weekend's Creative Arts Emmys.
The film was first released in three parts online during summer 2008 before a DVD release last winter.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gay & Lesbian Hollywood
PLAY IT NOW: Stars Prep For 2009 Emmys
PLAY IT NOW: 'Dr. Horrible's' Battle At The Emmys
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Neil Patrick Harris - Emmys - Geek Chic - How I Met Your Mother - LGBT


text:
Nevada Department of TransportationHome Menu
Freeway Travel Speeds
Freeway Travel Speeds
The Nevada Department of Transportation is pleased to offer up-to-the-minute reporting of average freeway travel speeds and congestion in the following areas for your safety and traveling convenience:
Travel speed dashboards courtesy of FAST - Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation.
Traffic Cameras
Additional Road/Travel Information
Dial 511 or 1-877-NV-ROADS before driving for road conditions.
Disclaimer: NDOT provides the included traveler information as a public service. This information is published automatically and cannot be guaranteed as to accuracy or timeliness. This information depends on a number of items, including Internet availability, communications networks, and computer equipment which are beyond the control of the NDOT and difficult to predict.
Travel and road conditions change rapidly, and drivers are in the best position to perceive such conditions and adjust their driving accordingly. Those relying on the foregoing information do so at their own risk, and neither the State of Nevada, the NDOT nor any of their employees or agents shall be liable for either the accuracy of this information nor any actions taken in reliance thereon.


text:
Take a walk on the supply side
Nautilus Offers "Expressway" workout
INDEPENDENCE, Va. - "Expressway," a group and individual workout program that reportedly shows members how to get maximum results in the shortest time possible, is now available for free with purchases of Nautilus' new line of 2ST equipment.
Expressway requires 12 machines that can be laid out in a 600-square-foot area. Participants do strength training for 24 minutes, three times a week. The program also provides recommendations for cardio training.
Dr. Wayne Wescott developed Expressway's workout protocol for Nautilus, using his research at the South Shore YMCA. In an eight-week study that Wescott conducted, 1,132 Expressway participants reduced body fat by an average of 4.4 lbs. and gained an average of 2.4lbs. in lean muscle mass.
In addition to the exercise protocols, Expressway provides training for fitness staff, and a turnkey promotional and implementation package.
Supplier Personnel Changes
* Spencer Burbank was named director of the Hospitality Division of The Dumbell Man Fitness Equipment. He will oversee domestic and international sales for the company's complete product line.
* Direct Focus has named C. Rowland Hanson to its board of directors. He is the managing member of CRH and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning for Internet-related businesses. Direct Focus markets three lines of products: Nautilus fitness equipment, Bowflex home fitness equipment and Nautilus sleep systems.
* John Sgalia recently joined Technogym's IT team in the Seattle-based Software Development Group. Sgalia previously worked as an independent contractor for Boeing and the Federal Way School District.


text:
Noah is a movie directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler, The Fountain, Requiem for A Dream), and is about the Old Testament Bible story of Noah. You know the one. No, not the "let my people go" guy, the one with the big partyboat with all the animals.
The trailers for this movie were sort of deceiving. I wouldn't say they lied to you about anything but they did kind of omit a lot of the more interesting parts of the story. It looked like one of those epic history movies but with Bible people and for some reason there was a firesword powered by god in the trailer. Well… Those are part of the movie, alright, but I would like to point at the director again. Darren Aronofsky scoffs at the idea of making a normal movie.
I'm not a religious person but I do have a fascination with religious mythology and the Old Testament is a well of all sorts of weird and kind of cool mythical lore that hasn't been plundered as much as others, and Aronofsky seems to hold the same view on it.
Most direct adaptations of Bible stories are usually made by Christian filmmakers for Christian film audiences, so they usually range from inoffensive but boring to audiences that are not devout Christians to mildly offensive conservative propaganda to snuff films made by crazy drunk religious psychopaths.
Oh yes, Road Warrior, this movie is… Actually, even though it does have it's fair share of Old Testament-level violence it's nowhere near as violent as Passion of the Christ.
Honestly this movie isn't even that insane if you think about it, it's actually all and all a pretty faithful adaptation of the story and tone of the Old Testament, it tackles pretty much all the focal points of the story. Cain's descendants are dickbags who don't care about who or what they destroy, which has led to ruination of God's green earth, so God wants to drown them all in a flood. Noah and his children are the last from the line of Seth (the third son of Adam and Eve, the one that wasn't a dickbag but didn't get ganked), who are a bunch of nomads and one day Noah gets visions of the flood, which leads to the revelation of building the arc to shelter the creatures free of sin.
Really, the movie delves deeper in to the myth than most religious adaptations of it, it brings in things like the Nephelim who helped Noah as a way to redeem themselves to god and also things like how everyone is kind of related already because creationism but people still need to bone to continue the line and how the closer you are in generation to the first of men the more superhuman things you can do like crazy longevity and strength and even some supernatural things.
The acting in the movie is pretty good. Russel Crowe is really good as Noah, he's tough and isn't afraid to shank Cainites who want to get on his godboat but does show that he's still a man with a conscience and he doesn't take his choices lightly.
Jennifer Connelly plays his wife and looks super haggard and old throughout the movie. She's pretty good but there is one scene in the movie with her crying and begging Noah to reconsider a choice where she does go in to kind of funny diva acting territory.
Emma Watson plays Ila, an orphan girl that Noah adopts who becomes the wife of one of Noah's sons, and as far as the younger actors in the movie she is hands down the best one. Hell, the only good one.
Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham (lel) and Japheth are pretty mediocre actors and spend most of the movie in the background doing nothing of note. Except for Ham. Ham's substory is kinda funny because it's him spending half the movie crying about how there aren't any girls for him to stick his dinger in to and then the other half is him being "fuck you dad! [impotent crying intensifies]"
Mickey Rourke plays Tubal-Cain, the king of the Cainites and the sort of antagonist of the movie. He's good, makes for a solid villain.
And Sir Anthony Hopkins plays Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah and longest living man according to the Bible. I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be a villain at first because this is Hannibal Lecter but instead he's more like my grandpa if he was a mountain hermit with some jesuspowers of the first men.
That's pretty much it for the actors.
The movie's visuals are pretty interesting. The CG isn't realistic but it sort of tries to be, but I don't think this is bad effects work (like a Shayamalan movie) as the effects do actually have some beautiful shots. I think the idea was to create a sort of storybook aesthetic as these are stories retold through generations. It's a weird comparison but it's kind of like the 2013 Riddick movie where the effects aren't what you would consider top of the line but they do sort of create the aesthetic of paintings in some shots.
The movie has the Nephelim, who in this are these malformed rock giants who were once angels that god was disappointed in, and they are great to look at, as they look both strong and horrifying but also very sad and pitiful. They're not CG on the level of Transformers but they're designed and animated in a way that creates way more sympathy for these creatures than the highest resolution renders exhaust flaps on identical flipping robots destroying Chicago.
And this movie also incorporates actual science in to it, which probably makes fundamentalists way madder than the shanking and talks of boning in this movie.
The best sequence in the movie is when Noah tells the myth of creation where the days are a metaphor for billions of years, starting with the big bang, the forming of stars and solar systems, the forming of earth, the origins of life in the ocean to dinosaurs all the way to man and even in the time of Noah it's implied that evolution still has a way to go because there's stuff like dogs with armadillo skins.
So, overall, I really liked this movie. I don't think it's even all that offensive to Christian audiences if they're not the kind that takes the Bible's word as scientific fact. I came to see the movie because I heard of all the weird things in it but it ended up being a movie where I actually got invested in what's happening.


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Action Bag Exotica ShoppersJanuary 2, 2012
Walk on the Wild Side Action Bag offers Exotica Shoppers in a bold rainforest design. The bags are available in a myriad of vibrant neon colors of purple, green, orange and pink. They're made of 80% recycled content with recycled grosgrain handles. The bags are available with personalization or branding.


text: Eric Lassiter received the 2005 Margaret Mead Award from The Society for Applied Anthropology and the American Anthropological Association. The award is given to projects that interpret anthropological data and principles in ways that make them meaningful to the public. The purpose of Lassiter's study, The Other Side of Middletown, was to recount "the largely unrecorded history of Muncie's black community which the (initial and subsequent) researchers downplayed."


text:
Shameless Plug
FORT MYERS, Fla. — I'm currently watching the sun rise over the right-field bleachers here at lovely City of Palms Park. It's a little before 8 a.m. and I'm one of the only dedicated scribes in the pressbox — the only Jays writer here at the moment.
Normally, I wouldn't be at the yard until around 9 or 10ish for a noon spring game like this, but I had to act as chauffeur for MLB.com's Red Sox beat guy Ian Browne, since he has some flight to Japan or something after the game and had to turn in his rental car yesterday.
Since he had to be here at around 7:30 this morning, I volunteered to give him a ride and now I'm just killing time in the pressbox. I crashed at Brownie's pad last night after dining with the enemy. Some Boston writers, myself, Brownie and MLB.com's Kelly Thesier (Twins writer and member of the Michigan State Mafia — a former classmate of mine, at that) got together at a killer Mexican joint in town.
My "shameless plug" is for Brownie's new book: Dice-K — The First Season of the Red Sox $100 Million Man. Why the plug? Well, because if it's written by Browne, it's sure to be a good read, and because the man was kind enough to present me with my very own autographed copy when I arrived at his place last night.
First and foremost, though, I think it's only fair for me to point out that his introduction in the book, detailing Matsuzaka's reaction after a poor showing in an October 15 outing against the Indians in the ALCS last year, was based around the hard work of yours truly, who was down in the trenches of the Jacobs Field clubhouse that night.
When I flipped open to the dedication page, I was hoping for a "To Jordan Bastian. Without his intrepid reporting during the 2007 playoffs, this book would not have been possible." Alas, no such luck. Ah, well. I mean, Brownie WAS there that night at Fenway and DID sort of do some of his own legwork for the book. Maybe next time…
The Jays haven't arrived here yet and probably won't for another hour or so. So no lineups just yet. Casey Janssen was set to undergo surgery on his right shoulder either today or yesterday — we'll find out about that today. Most of the "A" squad should be here for today's game, but Shaun Marcum will be back in Dunedin starting in a Minor League tilt. Gotta keep him hidden.
More later…
2 Comments
Tough break Jordan. Hard to believe he didn't at least reference you.
Ha — thanks enigma. Know that the post was laced with sarcasm, though. Brownie's a great dude and I can't wait to read his fine prose on the Dice Man.


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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls
The University does not generate paper bills for students. The student's bill is available on their eSIS approximately 1 month prior to the start of the term. An e-mail will be automatically generated when charges appear and sent to the student's UWRF e-mail account. A student not receiving/accessing an e-mail is not excused from not paying their bill on the posted due date this is because the bill is available on their eSIS account.
If a student is using financial assistance to pay all or part of their bill it is their responsibility to check their eSIS account to find the amount of pending aid and deduct that from their total balance. The balance remaining is treated the same as a student not using financial aid.
The University offers a partial payment plan for Fall and Spring term only. Student are automatically entered into a partial payment plan if they pay at least 1/3 of their balance due by the first posted due date for the fall and spring term. (1/3 of the balance remaining after subtracting the pending financial aid). The student can make two more payments of at least 1/3 of the remaining balance by the 2nd and 3rd due date. To avoid all finance charges the account must be paid in full by the second due date of the fall and spring term.
There is no payment plan options available for J-Term or Summer Term. Tuition is due in full by the first due date for J-Term and Summer Term to avoid a finance charge. Finance charges will be assessed every month on any balances left unpaid after the payment due date for J-Term and Summer Term.
There is a $75 late fee assessed to every account that does not have at least 1/3 of the bill paid by the first due date of fall and spring term. A 1.25% finance charge is assessed every month on any balances left unpaid starting after the 2nd payment due date posted for fall and spring term.
Please see the Tuition and Fee Appeals for Policy and Procedures.
If a student has not paid in full by the final due date of the term, a hold is placed on their account. This hold will prevent them from registering for future terms at UWRF until their account has been paid in full. Even if the student makes arrangements to get payment to us, the hold will stay on their account until there is a $0 balance.


text:
Interesting how although Ultima is mentioned in his bio, no mention of Noble... Legal reasons??
Interesting how although Ultima is mentioned in his bio, no mention of Noble... Legal reasons??
Lee Noble during Arrinera Hussarya rolling chassis tests, with Arrinera Automotive CEO Łukasz Tomkiewicz. October 2013, Motopark Ułęż , Poland (photo from https://www.facebook.com/arrinera.automotive)
Lee Noble tests Arrinera
Another update on Arrinera
I especially like the bonnet latches.
Jeff, looks like you still have the old type aircraft fasteners in addition to the new Aerocatch latches. Why not remove the originals? Still need both?
Eventually I'll take the car to a body shop to have the four remaining holes filled. I do not have the patience for DIY body or paint work!
As for the Arrinera, I'm digging the new look a lot more than what they started with. I wouldn't pay what they're asking for it but if you gave me one I'd damn sure drive the hell out of it.
I did the rear clam first.
Very good.
On a side note I noticed in the video of Lee thrashing the bare test car chassis there was no rear wing. Seems like this lack of aero would not be good for dialing in the suspension. Just my .2c


text:
Mexico City is big. With a sprawling metro population around 20 million, it's one of the largest urban areas on the planet. And all those people produce a lot of trash -- about 12,000 tons of solid waste every day.
Up until about a year ago, most of that trash was being sent to one landfill, a massive dump on the east side of the capital called Bordo Poniente. In use since 1985, the site had amassed some 76 million tons of waste. The national government began pushing to close the dump in 2008; the city finally shuttered the site in December 2011. But officials neglected to come up with an alternative solution. As a result, Mexico City faced a giant, filthy problem. Mountains of trash piled up at illegal dumping sites throughout the city, and garbage bags lined the streets. Many neighboring sites refused to take Mexico City's trash, and those that did were overwhelmed. Garbage trucks waited six hours at some landfills; most of the trucks simply had nowhere to go.
Officials needed to cut waste and encourage recycling, but simply distributing blue recycling bins wouldn't have been enough. They came up with an innovative idea: Let residents trade trash for food.
Read Governing's first-ever International Issue.
The city set up a massive farmers market -- Mercado del Trueque, or "barter market" -- in a large park west of the capital. Under a canopy of big trees, families gathered in the Bosque de Chapultepec park, hauling their paper, metals and other recyclable waste to exchange for "green point" vouchers based on weight. Under large white tents, government employees and volunteers sorted items and distributed vouchers. Residents then redeemed their points for seasonal produce from local farmers.
More than 3,000 families lined up with bags of trash on the market's opening day. The city estimates the market brought in nearly 11 tons of recyclables in its first day. Since then itís been held the first Sunday of every month. The government sells the raw materials to manufacturers, but doesn't collect quite enough to cover all the food costs. Officials subsequently have expanded the program to include used electronics and other types of recyclables. In addition to mitigating the city's waste problem, the market provides residents access to an array of fresh fruits and vegetables. At the September market, for example, shoppers chose from 8 tons of broccoli, onions, spinach and other healthy foods.
Despite the program's success, it's a small dent in Mexico City's massive trash problem. But officials hope the experience of the Mercado del Trueque could encourage residents to recycle more regularly. (Only about 12 percent of Mexico Cityís waste typically gets recycled.) It's part of a larger wake-up call about handling urban waste, says Pierre Terras, a Greenpeace campaigner in Mexico City. "Now they know that it's a big problem we need to solve very urgently."


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mendedties wrote:Just did Ma Chao's chaos musou mode at less than full stats (and just now realized that Chao's = chaos ). As I mentioned earlier, him + 4th weapon + shadow harness makes chaos mode a joke. I think I quite literally took a total of 10 hits throughout the entire thing. I suspect Pang De will yield similar results.
Also, do bodyguards who know "Heal" ever actually heals themselves? I don't think I've ever seen it happen. I just did two chaos mode stages where I sat there and let my bodyguard do all the fighting. He slowly lost health until he eventually died, never once did he do anything that even looked like trying to heal himself. Maybe the difficulty is a factor?
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Dancing with the Stars Results Show Music with Jewel and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was by far one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Plus, it is some of the best music to dance to ever. So, I was really excited that they were invited to perform on Dancing with the Stars. Below you'll find the list of all the music from the DWTS results show.
Special Musical Guests
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed the song "Calloway Boogie" with professionals Mark Ballas, Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, Lacey Schwimmer, Derek Hough, and Julianne Hough dancing
Buy Calloway Boogie on Amazon
Buy Calloway Boogie CD on Amazon
Jewel performed the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" while Dmitry Chaplin and Chelsie Hightower danced
Macy's Stars of Dance Music for March 17, 2009 was Michael Rooney – "The Golden Age of Musicals"
The following dances were performed again:
Steve & Karina danced a Quickstep to the song "Oh Boy" —Buddy Holly
Download MP3 on Amazon
Buy CD on Amazon
Belinda & Jonathan danced a Salsa to the song "Higher" —Gloria Estefan
Download MP3 on Amazon
Also, take a look back at all the music from previous episodes of Dancing with the Stars.


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Historical:SoC2009 Application Template
- Name
- University / current enrollment
- Short bio / overview of your background
- Join the hugin-ptx GoogleGroup and introduce yourself
- Get yourself an account on our Wiki and add your project proposal
Your Coding Skills
In your project proposal let us know
- What platform do you use to code? hardware specifications and operating system
- Did you ever code in C or C++, yes/no? what is your experience?
Set yourself up
- Set up your platform to build Hugin, Panotools and Enblend-Enfuse from SVN/CVS. Try to do it based on the instructions listed below.
- Linux: Ubuntu or other, including BSD and other Unix
- Mac OSX
- Windows
- If you decide to work on Lighttwist, ask for help on hugin-ptx.
- If you need help, ask on hugin-ptx.
- Report success on hugin-ptx.
- If you find that the instructions can be improved, get a wiki account and do it, or suggest the improvements on hugin-ptx.
- Produce a patch against Hugin's SVN repository to show proficiency of the toolchain and your coding style. You can find ideas in our tracker, either bug reports or feature requests. Optimize your time, you don't have to impress us. Some ideas are listed in this ToDo List for Student Applicants.
- Publish your patch for peer review on hugin-ptx. We do not consider applications without patches.
Your Photography Skills (Optional)
In your introduction on hugin-ptx tell us:
- What camera gear do you use?
- Do you photograph panoramas? please provide links to examples
- Do you make other use of hugin/panotools than for stitching panoramas? please describe and show examples
- Do you photograph otherwise? please provide links
You and Us
In your introduction on hugin-ptx tell us:
- Were you involved in Hugin/Panotools development in the past? What was your contribution?
- Were you involved in other OpenSource development projects in the past? which, when and in what role?
- Why have you chosen your development idea and what do you expect from your implementation?
Your Project
Add yourself/your project with a short synopsis to the list of projects on the wiki if you have not done so yet.
- Start a wiki page to work on your proposal
- What do you want to achieve?
- If you have chosen an idea from our list, why did you choose this specific idea?
- If you are proposing a project of your own, what is unique about it?
- What makes you suited to carry the project?
- How much time do you plan to invest in the project before, during and after the Summer of Code? (we expected full time 40h/week during GSoC, but better make this explicit)
- Please provide a schedule of how this time will be spent on subtasks of the project. While this is only preliminary, you will be required to provide a detailed plan latest at the beginning of GSoC and during the project you will issue weekly progress reports against that plan.


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Fred "Butch" Lee Ohmart, Jr., spent his life serving his country and fellow Americans.
Those efforts came to an end Wednesday, when he died at his home after a long illness.
Fred "Butch" Lee Ohmart, Jr., spent his life serving his country and fellow Americans.
Those efforts came to an end Wednesday, when he died at his home after a long illness.
Ohmart served in the Army from 1972 to 1978, but his patriotism didn't end there.
Ohmart was a founding member of the Post 81 American Legion Riders.
"It meant the world to him to be an American Legion Rider and a Patriot Guard member," Deb Lynch Ohmart, Butch's wife, said. "He put every possible effort into it."
Ohmart had served as director of the Legion Riders for the past year and stayed extremely involved in the local and state level of the organization.
"A good number of people across the state knew Butch," Steve Seymour, Legion Rider member, said. "If they were a Legion Rider, they probably ran across him at one point or another."
Ohmart enjoyed bringing honor and dignity to the newer group of veterans.
"He really believed in the veterans and the Armed Forces, past and present," Steve said. "He believed in what we're doing and believed that every veteran deserved a great deal of respect.
"He will be sorely missed."
Brad Seymour agreed.
"He lived the Legion Riders and the Patriot Guard," Brad said, "making sure that the young vets coming back got treated with respect. Of course, then the fallen vets, making sure they were honored and respected also."
"It all came from the heart, everything he did," Ken Deere, fellow Legion Rider, said. "It wasn't a big show thing."
Even when they had a welcome home for a soldier during the Celebration of Freedom, he showed wanted to show his respect.
By that point, Ohmart was in a wheelchair, but he made sure he was at the event and he stood up and shook the soldier's hand.
"That was just his passion," he said.
Deb said that the camaraderie and friendships they developed through the Legion Riders was priceless.
"He took great pride in participating in homecomings and sendoffs of our military personnel but even greater pride in honoring the contributions of our fallen heroes and their families at their funerals, helping to insure the peace and respect so ultimately deserved," she said.
Deere shared one story that came to mind about Ohmart.
They were in Canton for the annual Legion Riders meeting last year, and Ohmart became known as the guy who did the strip tease.
"He only took his shirt off, but the story got bigger and bigger," Deere recalled. "He got to be known as the strip tease."
And if someone would say something about the guy who did the strip tease, Ohmart would say, "that's me."
"He was full of life and enjoyed it," Deere said.
Several people described Ohmart similarly.
"We've set and reflected on our friendship with Butch and we all agree that if you were with Butch and you weren't having a good time it was your own fault," Steve said.
"He had a heart that was as big as he was," Deere added. "he had this real rough look to him, but he was nothing but a big teddy bear. Anything he could do for anybody, he would do it. He was always the first one there."
That was exemplified during his treatment for his cancer.
He was told they had a study program for a treatment, that even if it didn't help him, it could help someone else in the long run.
"He said, 'that's what I want to do,'" Deere said. "That gives you an idea of what kind of person he was. He was just a big, giving, caring person, and he was funny."
"If he told you he had your back, you didn't have to worry about it," Brad added, "because he was a man of his word. He was a good friend."
Deb also described him as "the life of the party."
"A patriot through and through," she said. "And he never met a stranger. He just had a real zest for life and lived it to the fullest and made the most of the time he had.
"Butch was a friend to all, never met a stranger, and had an infectious laugh that put a smile on your face. From missions with the American Legion Riders to working Bingo at the Post on Fridays and Saturdays, he put a smile on everybody's face, making the most of every situation. We were even married at a Legon Rider wedding!"
She said she was the Legion Post commander when he became the Legion Rider director and he enjoyed introducing her as the commander.
Family also was important to Ohmart.
"His two granddaughters were his pride and joy," Brad said. "Every chance he could he would spend time with them."
His granddaughters, Jade, 4, and Montana, 2, live in Baxter Springs. He also had two sons, Gabe and wife Chris of Augusta and Frank and wife Angel of Baxter Springs.
Funeral services will be held for Ohmart at 10 a.m. Saturday at the First Christian Church. Burial will follow at the Elmwood Cemetery in Augusta.
"I know he's riding in the sky now," Deere said. "He has to be."


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Home > Home, Garden & Office > Pet Supplies > Dishes & Feeders > Pet Cat Dog Drinking Kit Water Dispenser Head - Blue
Product Details
This is a great drinking water dispenser head for pets. It's easy to install and easy to use. With this, your pets can drink water by themselves conveniently.
- High quality and convenient pet cat dog drinking water dispenser head
- Suitable for your pet
- A great gift for your animal or for animal lovers
- It can be fixed in any place, such as walls, wood, cages, etc
- Easy to install and easy to use
- Made of durable hard plastic
- With stainless steel stopper ball
- Its top fits most standard water bottles
- Easy to clean
- Stainless Nozzle Diameter: Approx. 16mm
- Color: Blue
Package Includes:
- 1 x Water Dispenser Head
- Please do not use for other purpose except for pets
- Keep away from children


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Kitchen gadgety stores are completely addictive. I'll go into them - just to look, of course - and leave with espresso powder, fancy seasonings, kitchen gadgets. Things I can't do without, you know. I'm pretty easy to shop for these days.
The other day, I stopped by World Market, looking for something very specific (something that only cost $3), and ended up leaving with about seven things! I don't know how that happens. The only thing that stops me from going to Williams Sonoma and Sur la Table every week is that they're both at big, busy malls where getting there and parking and all that is kind of a hassle. My bank account would be in serious trouble if those stores were easier to get to, so I'm sure it's a good thing that something holds me back.
Otherwise, I'd have to start going to shopaholics anonymous meetings and introducing myself as Heather, the Kitchen Gadget Addict. I kind of blame this blog a little bit for my addiction, and yet I love it so much that I can't be mad at it for too long. :)
For a stocking stuffer for Christmas, I got Jamie a jar of Malt Vinegar Sea Salt I found at Williams Sonoma, and of course, the first thing he wanted to use it for was Fish 'n' Chips.
He did a beer-battered fish using a winter ale called Snow Day, and we also just happened to have a little duck fat in the fridge from cooking duck recently, so of course, that had to be used for frying the fish and potatoes. If you've never tried frying something in duck fat, it's something you have to do at least once. The flavor is just delicious. And if you fry food at the right temperature (around 365), then the oil retention in the food should only be about 10 percent. Frying at too low a temperature will allow the food to absorb way too much oil and become greasy and heavy.
The fish (he used Orange Roughy) was light and crispy and the malt vinegar sea salt added such a nice tangyness to everything. A little ketchup and homemade tartar sauce on the side for dipping was the final touch. I'm thinking we need to make some homemade potato chips with that sea salt next... I'm a sucker for salt and vinegar chips.
This past week, I thought I would try a lighter version of fish 'n' chips with a Cheddar and Cornmeal Crusted Catfish with Sweet Potato fries - baking everything this time instead of frying. Jamie thought the addition of the cheddar sounded weird, since everyone says you're not supposed to pair cheese with fish. Except Parmesan, which is used with seafood all the time. But the cheddar was subtle - the fish weren't cheesy at all, it was just the flavor that came through and was really nice with the cornmeal crust.
I seasoned up the sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic powder, and baked those until they were soft inside and crispy outside, about 35 minutes at 400. I have to admit, I do generally like a fried fry better than a baked one, but these were good, too.
For the catfish, I seasoned them first with salt, pepper, ground mustard powder and Old Bay, a little dusting of flour, a quick dredging in low-fat buttermilk with beaten egg, then a final coating of cornmeal and finely grated cheddar cheese. After baking for 20 minutes at 400, they were nice and flaky inside with a slightly crispy crust. We dipped the fish in honey, which was really yummy.
Next time, I would add some bread crumbs to the cornmeal and cheddar, because the cornmeal didn't really get crispy enough on its own, so I've included bread crumbs in my recipe below.
Another really delicious baked side dish that tastes like they've been fried are these little baked Parmesan zucchini chips. Hot and crispy from the oven, you'll find yourself wanting to eat a lot of these.
These were two really yummy versions of fish 'n' chips, and I like having a variety of ways to prepare the same meal. Baked or fried, which do you prefer?
My recipes are below and Jamie used a recipe by Alton Brown.
And for our weekly menu... :)
Steak with Tomato Salsa over Brown Rice
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Fish with Corn and Black Bean Quinoa
Chili Shrimp and Avocado Tacos
Sushi Night
Cornmeal and Cheddar Crusted Catfish
printable recipe
- 2 pounds catfish (3-4 fillets)
- salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1/2 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 cup coarse dry breadcrumbs
- honey, for dipping
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
Rinse the fish, pat dry and lay on a large cutting board. Cut each fillet into 4 pieces (cut down the center of each fillet, then cut each of those in half). Season with salt, pepper, ground mustard and Old Bay. Sprinkle with the flour and turn each piece so that all are lightly coated with the flour.
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. In a separate shallow bowl combine the cheddar cheese, cornmeal and breadcrumbs (I put the cheddar in a food processor and pulsed it a few times so that it was more fine).
Dip each piece of fish in the egg/buttermilk and then coat in the crumb mixture. Place in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes until the fish is cooked through. Serve immediately with honey on the side for dipping.
Yields 4 servings.
Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries
printable recipe
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into evenly-sized fries
- non-stick spray
- salt and pepper
- cayenne pepper
- garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat the oven to 400. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Place the fries in one layer on the baking sheet. Spray with the non-stick spray. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic. Turn the fries over and season the other side. Drizzle with the olive oil.
Bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes, turning once, until potatoes are browned and crispy and cooked through.
Serve immediately.
Yields 4 servings.
Crispy Parmesan zucchini Chips
printable recipe
- 2 zucchini, washed and dried (unpeeled)
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup skim milk
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (Italian seasoned would be good)
Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
Slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch thick slices. Arrange 3 shallow dishes, one containing the flour, another with the milk, and another with the Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Coat each slice of zucchini in the flour, then dip in the milk, then coat in the cheese/bread crumb mixture. Place on the baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately.
Yields 4 servings.


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CNN reports the projected extinction of western religion.
A few major caveats:
1) The underlying paper on which this report is based only focuses on Western Europe (which has seen rising rates of secularization much faster than in the US). While rates of "nonery" (those saying "none" to a question of what their religious tradition is) have risen dramatically in the US (see "American Grace"), most of these "nones" still actually believe in God, they just haven't found the right church; and
2) Relatedly, these projections assume that people flip to be "secular" to mirror the populations around them, but assumes that the religious environment itself doesn't change to attract these seculars. U.S. history is rife with examples of religious entrepreneurship — religious leaders inventing or reinventing religion to meet changed needs. "American Grace" in Chapter 6 discusses a host of these like megachurches, Mormonism, circuit riders, the chapel car, cyber- religion, televangelism, etc.
Excerpt from "American Grace":
In the nineteenth century, the American frontie4r presented a problem for religious leaders. People, especially young people, were spread out in far-flung communities, many of which were too new to have churches. And so both Protestant ministers and catholic priests came up with an ingenious solution — the chapel car. Clergy would use these train cars repurposed into mini-chapels to travel from town to town, holding services for the otherwise unchurched settlers on the frontier. They are largely forgotten today, but in their day chapel cars represented the state of the art in bringing religion to remote areas.
The paper by Abrams et. al, summarized in the CNN story, ignores this entrepreneurship and assumes that religious leaders and entrepreneurs will sit idly by and watch their denominations dwindle rather than invent new ways of helping to attract new converts. This seems extremely short-sided in making predictions of the future.
The quote from Peter Berger at the end of the CNN story is telling.
Peter Berger, a former president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, once said that, "People will become so bored with what religious groups have to offer that they will look elsewhere."
He said Protestantism "has reached the strange state of self-liquidation," that Catholicism was in severe crisis, and anticipated that "religions are likely to survive in small enclaves and pockets" in the United States.
He made those predictions in February 1968.
Obviously Berger's prediction hasn't materialized.
For more detail, see paper by Daniel Abrams, Richard Wiener and Haley A. Yaple called "A mathematical model of social group competition with application to the growth of religious non-affiliation,"presented it this week at the Dallas meeting of the American Physical Society.
For more blog posts on "American Grace", visit here.


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Dr. Aguilar believes that patients should have sufficient information to make educated decisions about their oral health. His team works hard to educate patients and Dr. Aguilar always makes sure to answer questions in order to develop the ideal doctor-patient relationship. You'll find important information about the preventative, restorative and cosmetic treatment options offered at American Dental Clinic of San Diego on this website. Some of these treatment options include: gum disease management, dental implants, veneers, bone augmentation/grafting and teeth whitening.
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text:
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Yeah, we know what happened this afternoon
We're just not ready to talk about it. We're drinking.
2 comments:
- Darren Priest said...
You were spot-on about Carl Crawford vs the Jays. too bad the Whiffers are shit this year. But I suppose fantasy baseball references have no place on a real baseball blog.
- August 1, 2007 at 8:11 PM
- Tao of Stieb said...
I don'even carrre 'bou CARL CRAWRFFFFFFFFORD. Daddy nee's a 'notherr drrink.
I'll take you down, MMMmmmmustache guy.
- August 1, 2007 at 9:14 PM
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The Ten Worst Burger Ideas Ever
From Cafe Society comes a list of The Ten Worst Burger Ideas Ever. The only one I've had the displeasure of trying is the Frozen Microwavable White Castle Cheeseburgers, and considering I can still remember their foulness after 15 years or so, I think it's safe to say they belong on that list. Other offenders include the McDLT, Carl's Jr Breakfast Burger, and the Canburger.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Zach Avshalomov '09
Learning how each person can act to save the planet. by Chelsea Theis '08
Phil Byers '08 knows his bottled water. And now he knows that only one in seven of the plastic bottles in which it's sold are recycled in the United States, and that 840 bottles are wasted every 30 seconds.
Byers, a...


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Re: some music (19/01/18 08:51:49)
(Soft Machine - Out of Season)
This one I can take. It goes round and round, but scales the instrumentation from quietness up to screaming and then down again into quietness. It is purely instrumental, so it is open to interpretation, and it does not penetrate so deep. It permits moodiness, but it points to a future when the moodiness has paled.
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|Current time is 08/07/20 03:58:07


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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After hearing sharply divided opinions from people who have been through divorces, a House panel Wednesday began moving forward with a controversial bill that would place new limits on alimony.
The proposal (HB 231) would take steps such as reining in the amount of time that alimony payments could be required, trying to short-circuit alimony in marriages of 10 years or less and shielding retirees form alimony requirements.
Sponsor Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, said the state's current alimony laws are "archaic," and he wants to provide guidelines to better resolve such issues in divorce cases.
"I want to make this so people can get divorced and move on with their life,'' said Workman, who is divorced but indicated he has not paid or received alimony.
But Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, described the proposal as one-sided and "anti-woman."
"I think this bill will do more harm than good, '' she said.
The House Civil Justice Subcommittee voted 10-2 to approve the bill, with Stafford and Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, the only dissenters. Workman also proposed a similar measure last year, though he said it "died a slow, painful death in the Senate."
HB 231 is slated to go next to the House Judiciary Committee. A similar bill (SB 718) was filed last week in the Senate. Alimony payments can be required of men or women involved in divorces.
Wednesday's vote came after testimony from people who offered far-different views about whether the alimony system needs to be overhauled.
As an example, Deerfield Beach resident Guido Albarran told the subcommittee that 50 percent of his salary goes to his ex-wife. He said it is unfair to require alimony payments decades after divorces occur, at one point likening such situations to "financial enslavement."
On the other side were people such as Longwood resident Ann Dwyer, who said she was married for more than 20 years and did not work outside the home as her then-husband built his career. She received permanent alimony and, while she was able to later find a job, said the payments from her ex-husband have allowed her to stay in her home and meet other expenses.
The bill would eliminate the concept of permanent alimony, though Workman said judges would have the discretion to extend what is called "durational" alimony for long periods of time if necessary.
The bill says such durational alimony would be limited to 50 percent of the length of the marriage, unless one of the divorcing spouses could show by "clear and convincing evidence that exceptional circumstances justify the need for a longer award of alimony."
Another heavily discussed part of the bill could help people seek to end or reduce alimony payments as they reach retirement age. Also, the bill would allow what is known as "retroactivity,'' which could lead to reopening already-existing alimony arrangements to reduce payments.
Local lawyer Stefani Nolan works with Kenny Leigh and Associates, which focuses on men's rights in family law. According to Nolan, the bill takes alimony reform to the next step.
"Even with moderate marriage or long term, it tells the judge what kind of alimony he or she is going to set, that's never been defined before," said Nolan.
Opponents include the Family Law Section of The Florida Bar. David Manz, a past chairman of the Family Law Section, told the subcommittee that the retroactivity, for instance, adds harshness and unfairness to the bill and could lead to a "flood" of litigation.
"It is very vindictive in my opinion," said Florida Bar attorney Thomas Duggar. "It is very hurtful for Florida families, especially for women who stay at home and raise kids or for men who stay home and raise kids."
Workman said he is willing to work with critics, but he said the alimony system needs changes.
"Alimony is broken, and maybe I don't have the perfect fix,'' Workman said. "But there is a fix out there."