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It won't take long to recognize that the First Coast has a unique blend of communities ranging from small-town charm to big city hustle-bustle. The biggest challenge may be deciding which community you'll choose to call home.
From trendy condos to historic homes, Nassau County's Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach offer the warmth and charm of small town living while being just close enough to the action of the city. This barrier island, referred to as "The Isle of Eight Flags" because it has been under the rule of eight different nations throughout history, is part of a growing community that is also a popular year-round tourist rendezvous. Amelia Island's charm and allure have grown immensely as the past decade experienced a boom in the number of charming bed and breakfast inns. The Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island is also quite a draw, attracting prestigious conventions to the oceanfront hotel. But, the true gem on Amelia Island lies along and around historic Centre Street in the city of Fernandina Beach. Stroll down the brick-covered streets and you can't help but get a feel of excitement while also feeling a real sense of community. Centre Street is not only home to the Palace Saloon, one of the oldest restaurants in Florida, it also has a balanced mix of commercial businesses and shops that cater to the tourist traffic the island lures. When you're finished strolling and taking in the numerous shopping opportunities in Fernandina Beach, take a drive into the expansive Fort Clinch State Park. There you are thrust back in time to the days of colonial Spanish-American conflict. Also make time to hike the park's nature trails or relax and take a bike ride under the park's oak canopy. This community is also home to one of the largest developments in Nassau County, Amelia Island Plantation, which offers fantastic oceanfront living. If golf is your game, this community also offers a wide range of premier golf course communities to fit your style. The First Coast's climate makes the area great for year-round play on a number of well-manicured greens. Stretching an expanse from the community of Yulee near I-95 eastward, the area offers a wide range of home styles from Victorian-era colonials to waterfront or marsh front condos or the latest in custom homes.
Courtesy of Amelia Island Plantation
Long the heart of business and government, Downtown Jacksonville is undergoing a number of sweeping changes in both housing options, new nightlife options and government amenities, such as a new main library. Downtown is home to the headquarters of CSX Corp., a Fortune 500 company. There is a strong push to create new housing opportunities in the urban core. Developers have converted former office spaces into luxurious loft apartments and condominium developments unlike those previously available in the River City. Travel North on Main Street and you enter one of Jacksonville's re-emerging neighborhoods, Springfield. Home to Victorian-era architecture, Springfield is experiencing new home construction balanced with a mix of historic remodeling that is luring in new investment and new families.
Travel the St. Johns River southward from downtown Jacksonville and you will pass corporate row, which is home to Fidelity National Financial and the St. Joe Co. But, keep moving and you'll soon enter a magical community offering tranquility with a dash of modern-day charm. You are now in historic Riverside/Avondale. Known for elegant homes in a multitude of styles, Riverside/Avondale is closely watched by Riverside Avondale Preservation, or RAP, to maintain the historic integrity of this charming community. This community offers a mix of riverfront condos, upscale retirement living and apartments. There are also parks where you'll see families with kids laughing and playing. The Riverside/Avondale Shopping District is neatly planted in the middle of this community and offers a multitude of quaint eateries. This community becomes a bustling destination during the holidays as RAP members work to line the city streets with Luminaria in celebration of the season. Jacksonville residents from all over can be seen driving by absorbing the somber, beauty and charm of the spectacle. Riverside/Avondale, while home to the largest National Historic District in the Southeastern U.S., is experiencing a re-development. Riverfront condos are going up near St. Vincent's Medical Center, in an area just east of the Five Points Shopping District. This area is slated for a huge mixed-use development near Memorial Park. Drive south along the St. Johns River in Riverside/Avondale and, as the river curves, you will eventually get to one of the oldest, most charming neighborhoods in Jacksonville — Ortega. Recently named the 46th wealthiest neighborhood in the U.S. by Worth magazine, Ortega is home to the Florida Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the state. Like Riverside/Avondale, Ortega boasts quiet, charming tree-lined streets and beautiful homes ranging from quaint to breathtaking. The community's shopping district is the staging area for Ortega's annual Fall Festival where you're sure to see horse-drawn carriages offering rides, lots of families having plain, simple fun. Not far from Ortega is the waterfront area known as Venetia and the home to the Timuquana Country Club. Venetia offers quiet neighborhoods with well-manicured lawns and award-winning public schools. Living in Venetia was once considered to be country living.
Peruse Jacksonville history and you will find that the Acosta Bridge is given credit for having opened the south side of the St. Johns River for development. The result was what is now known as the community of San Marco, which gets its name from the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. San Marco is a potpourri of architectural styles and uses. From large, expansive riverfront homes to quadstyle apartments, San Marco seems to have a lifestyle fit for both singles and families. If the square is the center of San Marco, the ornately-made bronze lion sculptures, accompanying fountain and gazebo are the square's trademark. On either side of the square are a vibrant array of shops and a mix of local fare and franchised cafes and restaurants from which to choose. The San Marco Preservation Society keeps an eye out to ensure this community's historic properties are being restored to their original intent. San Marco is also home to Theatre Jacksonville, the oldest continuously running community theatre in the U.S. Travel south of San Marco on Hendricks Avenue and you will come to the area known as San Jose. Within minutes, it becomes obvious you are now surrounded by more than the traditional-styled homes offered in San Marco. San Jose is where magnate Alfred I. DuPont built his expansive 15,000-square-foot summer home, Epping Forest, which has since been converted to a yacht club that is the center of an exclusive residential community. Epping Forest, which includes 58-acres with 3,200 feet on the St. Johns River, is known for its superb fitness facility and walking paths.
Still one of the fastest-growing communities in Jacksonville, Mandarin offers something for young and old alike. Whether you're seeking a starter home or a large riverfront showplace, Mandarin offers it all. This community's beauty has been chronicled through the ages. In her book, Palmetto Leaves, author Harriet Beecher Stowe tells about her life in Florida and refers to Mandarin as "a tropical paradise." Stowe, who also wrote the anti-slave classic, Uncle Tom's Cabin, made Mandarin her home in 1867 when she bought 30 acres and built a large home overlooking the St. Johns River. She was later joined by other family members who pitched in to help set up a small citrus grove and also build a small school where she educated former slaves. Each year, around Easter time, Mandarin hosts a popular arts festival at the community arts center. Today, the pulse of Mandarin is the long and winding San Jose Boulevard and St. Augustine Road which both offer everything from retail shops, strip centers and a multitude of restaurants. Travel further into Mandarin and you won't see Harriet Beecher Stowe's home, but you will see everything from gated communities to new subdivisions offering many different home choices. The Mandarin Museum & Historical Society has worked hard over the years to restore historic buildings that once served as the community's center including, a circa 1911 Post Office. The organization also recently re-dedicated Walter Jones Historical Park, which fronts the river and includes restored homes of the Jones family.
Famous newspaper editor Horace Greeley may have said, "Go West, young man!" But, if he were in Jacksonville today, he may tip you off that the city's Northside is the next big boom! Plenty of uncharted land remains on the Northside as do a myriad of landmarks. The Northside is home to the Jacksonville Zoological Gardens, Jacksonville International Airport, Big Talbot and Little Talbot Islands, Huguenot Memorial Park, as well as the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve. This area is filled with pristine marshes, woods and rivers, which are sure to lure developments of all types in the coming years.
History and modern tradition come together to make the Arlington area one of Jacksonville's truly unique communities. Arlington's roots go back to 1562 when French explorer Jean Ribault landed his boat there and blazed a path for what would later become La Caroline, a French outpost. Years later, the outpost was captured and destroyed by the Spanish under the leadership of Pedro Menendez de Aviles. La Caroline's remains are known today as the 680-acre Fort Caroline National Monument. Located on the banks of the St. Johns River, Jacksonville University offers world-class postsecondary education on its lush, green Arlington campus. In the Roaring 20s, the Arlington area was home to the Norman Film Studios where producer Richard Norman made silent films starring emerging African-American actors. Old Arlington Inc., an historic preservation group, hopes to memorialize and preserve that piece of unique Jacksonville history. A lot of new development near the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in East Arlington is underway. Look for a number of waterfront mixed-use developments that feature retail shops, marinas and condominiums.
The Westside has grown in recent years as developers search for expansive alternatives to some of the city's more crowded regions. Because it still contains a lot of untapped potential, the Westside can still be marketed as a community that offers the tranquility of country living. A lot of diverse investment has crept into the Westside in recent years. The St. Augustine Diocese of the Catholic Church has built and opened Bishop John J. Snyder High to meet its growing needs. The largest Westside development since Argyle Forest in the 1970s, that will take years to build out, is OakLeaf Plantation, which has come to life on 6,400 acres of unspoiled land adjacent to the Jennings State Forest, which has 20,000 acres. Straddling parts of both Clay and Duval counties, OakLeaf has caused officials to plan for new public safety services and new schools to meet future growth in this Development of Regional Impact or DRI. Another factor that is sure to contribute to growth in the Westside is the manufacturing sector at the Cecil Commerce Center, the former Cecil Naval Air Station, which is quickly becoming a hub for aerospace companies.
Two of the fastest-growing areas on the First Coast are the Clay County communities of Orange Park and Fleming Island. Both offer a wide range of home styles to meet your needs. Whether you are searching for a golf course community or a gated community, this suburban enclave offers a laid-back lifestyle with a touch of city living. Bustling Fleming Island, south of Orange Park on U.S. Highway 17, is quickly becoming known for its wide array of restaurants and shopping choices. Once known for its tranquil stands of timber, Fleming Island has a rich history that was chronicled in the 1980 Eugenia Price novel Margaret's Story. The inland island gets its name from the family of George Fleming who, in 1785, became a large landowner after receiving a number of land grants from the Spanish government. On Fleming Island, you'll find such planned communities as Eagle Harbor and Fleming Island Plantation and the gated communities of Pace Island and Margaret's Walk, which offer great amenities and family atmosphere.
Millions of dollars in both public and private investments have flowed through the beaches communities in recent years as a wave of oceanfront re-development has taken place. But, you have to look closely to see which beaches community has benefited the most because the three cities of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach all seem to weave together along Third Street, which is also A1A. A number of hotels have been demolished altogether as developers make way for new, rather tall, trendy upscale condominium developments. The last decade has seen Atlantic Beach establish a "Town Center" at the foot of Atlantic Boulevard and Third Street. It's an entertainment and restaurant complex that attracts young and old alike. City fathers in Jacksonville Beach, along with the City of Jacksonville government, have teamed up to fund a new pier expanding into the Atlantic Ocean. The upgraded SeaWalk Pavilion offers a spectacular oceanfront venue for festivals, concerts and outdoor movies. The area around the Pavilion has been upgraded and improved tremendously offering shops, restaurants, as well as charming office space and city offices. The beaches communities offer a large number of festivals during the summer months beginning with the Annual Opening of the Beaches. Other festivals include Fiesta Playera, a celebration of latino culture filled with great food and soulful music, and the popular Springing the Blues festival. Once considered a sleepy fishing village that gave birth to the world class Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Mayport is on the brink of a renaissance. Look for plans to come to life to create a thriving "Town Center" where retail and new home construction will peacefully co-exist to bring new families to the area.
If you travel south on A1A into St. Johns County, you will enter the upscale community of Ponte Vedra Beach. Once part of a pristine wilderness where people went to retire, this community offers a balance of residential choices, depending on your lifestyle and budget. Select from a range of condominium choices, diverse-style homes or custom waterfront properties. There are homes ranging from the starter variety up to 12,000-square-foot oceanfront palaces with wrought-iron gates surrounded by sand dunes, majestic oaks and other native vegetation. Ponte Vedra Beach is also home to the marshes and streams of the state-protected, sensitive Guana River State Park, a popular preserve offering many relaxing water activities. Today, Ponte Vedra Beach is on the verge of new heights as St. Johns County Public Schools has built a new high school to meet the demands of growth.
This community is home to the headquarters of two world-class sporting organizations, the PGA Tour and the ATP, the governing body for the men's international tennis circuit. Ponte Vedra Beach also has its share of topnotch restaurants, shopping and commercial office space.
Northern St. Johns County is probably the fastest-growing area on the First Coast. Such spectacular communities as Julington Creek Plantation and World Golf Village as well as County Road 210 and Switzerland offer lifestyle choices as gated communities, golf communities, condominiums and apartment homes. Like many other First Coast communities, golf plays an integral role in this region. Choose from courses designed by Jacksonville native Mark McCumber to golf legends Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. The vast amount of development on St. Johns County Road 210, offers the peacefulness of country charm that's within a shot of the city hustle-bustle. And, further south of County Road 210 is the prestigious World Golf Village, which is home to the World Golf Hall of Fame, shops, restaurants and an IMAX theater. The area, which also has a new interchange at I-95 South, has seen a number of new hotels crop up.
Located in northern St. Johns County, this development of regional impact (or DRI) is the equivalent of an entirely new city from concept to fruition. Estimated to take 20 years to complete, Nocatee will feature a number of housing choices including an 'active adult', condominium, and single family homes as well as retail shopping, parks, office space, houses of worship and schools.
Located in northern St. Johns County, this development of regional impact (or DRI) is the equivalent of an entirely new city from concept to fruition. Estimated to take 20 years to complete, Nocatee will feature a number of housing choices including an 'active adult', condominium, and single family homes as well as retail shopping, parks, office space, houses of worship and schools.


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Great for strapping down coolers, bbq covers, furniture covers and anything else on your deck. These flexible bungee straps are a durable and weather resistant solution for heavy-duty and light-duty applications. They feature excellent memory retention and can stretch up to twice their original length.
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Raise your hand if you rang in the new year with the flu. OK, put it down because that probably hurt if you're sick. It seriously feels like everyone has the flu. We had it on a 38-hour journey back from Africa, and if you've ever wondered what hell is actually like, fly with the flu while watching the sky map on the monitor move less than one pixel per minute. And then have your daughter puke in the car ride on the way home. Happy new year!
Ok, I can't really complain though because we were on safari in Africa, and — lion cubs. More on my Instagram account.
I'm only starting to feel half human at this point, so I'm going to keep this short, and write it on a blog so that I don't have to use my actual mouth. Everyone knows that there's nothing better (except maybe Tamiflu) to have on hand than chicken soup when you're feeling like crap. But not everyone has a mom in the house that can make it for them. All the prep for this can be done while sitting; you throw it in the pot, and walk away. I use an Instant Pot pressure cooker (because I use it for everything nowadays), but you can also just put it on the stovetop on simmer for an hour and a half or so, til the chicken's tender. Either way!
4 chicken drumsticks or bone-in thighs
2 tomatoes (I used Roma)
6 carrots chopped and peeled
3 ribs celery, cut into 1/2 in pieces
2 cloves garlic
1 diced onion
10 cups water
Two 1/4 inch slices ginger
1.5 TBSP salt or to taste
(if available): one date
Put in pot. Set to manual pressure 30 minutes. Go lie down or moan in misery.
When cycle is complete, release pressure. Take out chicken and put on plate; with two forks, pull the meat off the bone and put back into the pot. Eat alone or add in cooked rice or noodles for extra bulk.
Feel better!


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Zepol Corp., a leading trade intelligence company, has released its "2011 U.S. Port Report." The report details port activity for the top 20 U.S. ports for 2011. Each port profile provides detailed information on recent trends, key importers, top carriers, and more.
Three Key Insights:
1. Based on TEU volume, 18 of the top 20 U.S. ports showed positive growth from 2010 to 2011.
2. China is the number one country of origin for three-fourths of the ports on our list.
3. The Port of Jacksonville posted the largest percent increase in inbound TEUs, rising more than 25% in the last year.
"We are pleased to offer our annual port report for the third consecutive year, after receiving very positive feedback in the past," states Paul Rasmussen, CEO & president of Zepol Corp. "Our latest report provides an excellent synopsis on how U.S. ports have been performing in the last year and also sheds light upon what we can expect in the future."
The information in the report was derived entirely from Zepol's trade intelligence tools, TradeIQ and TradeView. Zepol's tools meet the needs of port authorities, transportation companies, importers, and government agencies. The tools are available for online access through a variety of subscription options at www.zepol.com.


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please be 18 or over to read the following work. thank you
that she will never forget!
Sylvia Hubbard
(Where readers come for free)
Story type: erotic short story
Word Count: 3615
All rights reserved by the author. No part of this publication can be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publishers and/or authors.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination
or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or
locales, is entirely coincidental.
If you are purchasing this booklet, you are 18 or older. Thank you.
To contact this author:
Sylvia Hubbard
PO Box 27310 | Detroit, MI 48227
email@example.com | 313.289.8614
It was a hot night. One of the hottest in Detroit and the third night in a row that Andi couldn't sleep. Hot weather gave Detroiters the right to stay up all night. Yet, she wasn't just hot on the outside, Andi was hot on the inside.
Since her divorce, she was trying to be the "good girl." No sex for six months. She was almost tempted to call up her verbally abusive ex-husband and tell him to hit it real quick. What was wrong with that?
No Andi. You just got him to stop calling you after you issued the PPO. Shit! Shit! Shit! Was it really worth it? No dick, needing dick, thinking 'bout dick all the time?
Jamming her fingers between her legs, she tried to relieve herself.
Rubbing her clit, hard, then soft, then hard again. Andi was only making it worse!
Huffing, unsatisfied, she stopped because she'd only had one dick for so long, she couldn't imagine another man there. She hated him most for that. Ripping her self-esteem so low, she thought she couldn't survive without him and now she couldn't even come without him. Damn him!
With no air conditioners inside the houses, the only place to catch an occasional cool breeze was outside. It was a school night, but that didn't matter to adults. At ten o'clock at night, all the kids who were serious about getting an education were asleep and the rest were running the street getting in trouble.
Andi wiped the sweet off her head and stood up from the bed. Her white tank top was soaked even though the two fans in the room were going at full speed. She cursed her car for being down and her refrigerator for being on the brink of blowing up. With no cold water to drink in the apartment, she was definitely dehydrated.
A loud boom boom boom passed the house making the building vibrate and car alarms go off. People speeding down the street in the middle of the night was common. Andi's street had no stop signs for four blocks and it was a one way. They use to drag race up and down the block until the police caught on and stopped that, but every once in a while it caught back on.
The boom boom boom came back and this time she could hear the loud engine revving. Going to the window, she could see a guy in a yellow 1971 mustang convertible with the top down. It was gleaming in the night and the driver was talking to three girls walking down the street.
Andi knew the girls and made a disgusted face. Hookers who lived down the street and walked the main street two blocks away, just where the gas station was.
Her light almond eyes returned to the driver. Although, Andi could only see the back on him, she immediately noticed the broad shoulders, thick arms that gripped the leather wheel, and powerful long leg that pressed down on the brake pedal. He wore a yellow sports ensemble that matched his car complete with a cap and a thick yellow country scarf around his arm to accentuate the muscles.
She could tell from here he was proud of his body and was probably and arrogant ass, but fine as hell and she couldn't even see his face from there.
The girls were enticing him, touching his shoulders, pressing up against the car, giggling and giving him their full attention, but he wasn't having any of it and drove away.
Andi licked her lips wondering if she could ever be so brazen. They probably didn't know him, but she bet fifty bucks could get her a used refrigerator. Moist with need, Andi reluctantly shook away that thought and moved away from the window.
She needed something to drink or she would never get any sleep.
The gas station was two blocks away and opened all night. Not even bothering to turn on the lights, she yanked something cotton out her closet and found her four inch sandals she had worn earlier. Tossing the shirt off, she put the cotton dress on, found her wallet that wrapped around her wrist with her keys inside and walked outside with
the shoes in her hand.
The yellow car passed by her building again as she sat on the porch and put her sandals on. He slowed a bit and looked her way. She knew why his attention was caught. Wearing a soft yellow spaghetti strap dress that came to her middle thigh and her legs partially open would have caught anyone's attention.
Maybe this wasn't a good idea, she told herself.
The car kept going and she breath a sign of relief. Not because she was scared, but because of what she wanted to do. She was horny. Plain and simple.
Automatically, Andi walked to the street and started walking down. The sidewalks in Detroit were like walking on rugged terrain, no matter what kind of shoes anyone wore. Cracked, broken with trash, needles, glass, and used condoms strewn all over them, the streets were always cleaner.
The main street was empty. The hookers must have been taking a rest, but Andi had no doubt they'd be back. With the way the economy was going, they needed the money just as bad as Andi, but she had a 9 to 5. It didn't pay much except the bills, but hey that was good for Andi, although a good refrigerator and a nice working car would be great.
The gas attendant took her money, but he couldn't' stop looking at her "You new around here?" he asked giving her the change from the juice and large bottle of cold water.
"Nope and I won't be around here long," she said opening up the bottle of Ohana juice.
His eyes traveled down to her breast then back up to her face. "You come back anytime, okay?"
She walked out the gas station and started back to her house finishing the juice quickly. She still smelled like citrus fruit from the bath soap she had used earlier, but she was tempted to get back home and run a cold bath and sit in it until morning. Looking back inside the gas station, the attendant waved at her.
She knew what he was looking at. While married, she had gained over a hundred pounds and her chest seemed to take the majority of the weight, especially when she became pregnant, but the stress of her husband made her lose the baby, but the weight stayed and her husband
became vicious in her words. Calling her fat and ugly, then he cheated on her with several women.
That was the last straw and she divorced him. Since that time - six months ago - she had fallen into a depression she just couldn't get out. True, she lost over eighty pounds from not eating, but she still considered herself still fat.
The dress she wore had been from her un-fat stage. It fit great over her hourglass hips, but the top two buttons wouldn't come together to save their lives and in her haste to get out the house, she really hadn't cared.
Unfortunately, this brought attention to her male appeasing 40C attributes which she usually kept under wraps, which was why the attendant never noticed her until now. Andi had been in that store frequently, but if she wasn't wrapped up from head to toe, she was usually looking like a car had dragged her around. Her breasts were always kept in a tight bra and her shirts were always
loose. Also, her hair which she usually wore in a tight ponytail rolled around the base was down and reached her shoulders. In desperate need of another perm, it was thick and busy.
Catching the light, she bounded across the street quickly before it changed. The boom boom boom suddenly came into view and she almost tripped trying to get out his way as he jumped the light and flew past her.
Her toe hit the curb and she swore under her breath as her water bottle dropped and the cheap top cracked. The majority of her water spilled out and she angrily hurled it at the back of the car. It didn't hit the mark, but it almost came close.
Bending down to check her toe, she was mad at herself.
It was coming behind her and Andi's heart raced in her chest as she looked over her shoulder to see him parked right there looking at her.
He smirked in amusement and turned down the music.
Pretending he was not there, she started walking. He let the car coast and followed her. "You almost hit my car," he said.
Angrily, she stopped and exclaimed, "You almost hit me!"
"You shouldn't be on the street! Ain't it past your bedtime, little girl?"
She stomped away. The sandals were now hurting her feet and she just wanted to get home. She was still thirsty and she could scream at herself for throwing her drink.
"Wait! I wanna talk to you," he said, popping some chocolate candy into his mouth, as if that was enough to make her just slow down.
"Get the hell away from me!" Andi screamed.
She was coming to the first block and was about to cross the street, but he sped up and blocked her path with his car so she was standing right there on the passenger side. They were right under the streetlights and she got a good view of him.
His hat was off and his head was bald. Up close he was wide. Not fat, but brawny and his upper body looked as if he were sitting on something because he was high up in the car, but that was all him.
He had large eyes, a wide face, medium nose, and thick LL Cool J lips, which he now licked as he was taking in the view of her. His eyes occasionally returned to her chest, and she could tell he was having a hard time keeping his eyes on her face.
"I'm sorry," he said. Those dark eyes looked appeased at what they were looking at and Andi felt the temperature between her legs rise.
Oh yeah, he was sexy with a capital S. He could probably do things with those lips her ex could never imagine making her feel.
Trying to keep her present ire, she huffed angrily. "You sure the hell are sorry," she snipped. "Now move this Jalopy out my way."
"Why you being a bitch? I said I was sorry for running you over, but I wasn't trying to make you mad."
Confused by his words, she asked, "What were you trying to do? Kill me?"
"Naw. I was trying to get your attention." He put the car in
park. "Why don't you get in, so I can introduce myself to you?"
"I don't ride with strangers."
He outstretched his hand. "Darren."
Andi sniffed, putting her nose up in the air and walked around the back of the car. She didn't stop. She just wanted to get as far away from him as possible, but she couldn't help walking straight and giving him an extra swivel as a tease just to let him know that he would never get the time of day with this good piece of ass.
Burning rubber, Darren drove down the block he had turned on and she sighed with relief. He was out of her hair and once she passed by the old ice cream parlor, she would turn down her block and be home in two minutes. The night streets of Detroit were no place for a lady to be.
Andi didn't always use to be so prudish, but being married, she had decided to be honest and true to her husband. Unfortunately, her husband didn't think he had to be honest and true to her.
Just as she turned the corner and passed the parlor and hand shot from behind her head and yanked her into the alley lifting her easily with a thick arm around her waist and a hand to cover her mouth.
Whoever it was not only was he strong, but tall as hell. Her five foot four frame was pressed against his back and her feet had to be a half a foot off the ground.
Oh Shit, this wasn't happening! Her mind scream as she tried to wiggle and fight, but this increased his powerful hold.
He was taking her behind the abandoned ice cream parlor in the thick unkempt brush parking lot behind the building where no one would hear her. In this neighborhood even if she screamed no one would come!
He allowed her feet to touch the ground, but his hand was still around her mouth and she tried to wrench away. That only sprained a muscle in her neck, while the front of her dressed ripped open. He was using her fight to ripe her clothes off her body and she moaned in shame as it was realized that she wore nothing underneath the dress.
"Shhhhh," he huskily ordered.
He pulled her body back against and just held her until she tired from fighting. Andi didn't know how long he just held her, but his breathing in her ear, as he hunched over her, told her he was definitely alert and the thickness that pressed against her backside, told her he was definitely aroused. Her hands were locked to her side from his long arm around her. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she couldn't see a damn thing in the darkness behind the building.
She couldn't even smell the pee and garbage because the sent of his hand smelled like leather.
The arm around her waist relaxed seeing she was through fighting, but as soon as that happened, she started to resist again.
"Uh-Uh," he demanded, tightening his arm up only briefly.
They stood there. Her body naked against his clothed, both breathing heavily, but neither tired.
His arm moved slowly away from her body reluctantly, but then his palm came to rest on the middle of chest. She whimpered her protest.
"Shhhh," he hushed again, just as his hand moved down in a smooth movement, cupping a breast in his large palm. His mouth was open and his hot breath caressed the back of her ear.
As terrified as she was, she still noticed that his touch was
tender. He tweaked the nipple before moving to the other and massaged it. His hand moved over her stomach and between her legs.
She whimpered again, but this time she wasn't protesting as his fingers slid easily between her thick, soft, moist hairs and proceeded to lightly flick at her clitoris.
Andi threw her head back groaning unable to fight the eroticness of the moment. A stranger - tall and dark - was having his way with her. Making her come.
Her hips gyrated against his finger. She was gasping, her body was pulsing, her legs were trembling and she could feel her liquid heat releasing. Yes, it was good his hand was over her mouth because that scream would have been heard by the whole neighborhood.
"Damn," he hissed and brought his free hand up.
Andi blushed hearing him suck on his lips before slipping them back inside of her. That was the biggest turn on and forgetting who was holding whom hostage, she reached around to cup an area on him she hadn't touched on a man in a long time. He definitely didn't feel like her ex. This was the mother load of dicks and she knew as
turned on as she was, she wanted it all.
He kissed her neck, suckled at her ears and swayed his hips against her hands. His other hand moved from her mouth and tilted her neck as he took powerful bites on her neck, sucking on her skin until she groaned in mercy for more.
She tried to turn around, but he stopped her.
"I won't tell," she promised, trying to turn again.
He still stopped her and stepped away. A few seconds later, something came over her face and covered her eyes. She started to touch it, but he moved her hands back to his groin. This time he was in front of her and pressed against her making her step back a couple of times until her back pressed against the wall of the abandoned building.
His mouth dipped down and she felt his breath on her face, before his thick lips captured hers and his tongue slid around and battled with hers. She fought all right - to ignite his passion as she fumbled to unloosen his pants and push them down. He was thick and the scent of
him was pure masculine, mixed with Calvin Klein.
Oh Lord, I'm a slut, she told herself, reluctantly breaking the kiss and before he could protest, she dipped down and engulfed the head of him in his mouth sucking.
"Damn!" he hissed again.
She was really starting to like that word, even though she never aloud her ex to curse at her.
Stretching out the unused oral muscles as wide as they could go, she dipped lower and took a deep breath before allowing him to slide down her throat. She hadn't done this in almost a year and a half, but it came back like riding a bike.
Andi would have bet this was the reason why her husband had married her. She had skills. Damn good skills.
His hips pumped against her mouth and she heard him beating on the wall.
"Baby girl, baby girl," he begged and then cursed over and over again.
She tasted the salty pre-cum, mixed with a hint of chocolate. He was a sweet man. She liked that he tasted good.
Feeling his orgasm coming, she reached under and cupped his balls tenderly before giving them a gentle tug. He was gurgling something incoherently and it was his turn to whimper as she release his thick rod and suckled on his balls.
"Ahhhh...Ahhh...Damn...Fuck..." He was loving it. Every second of it and she was getting a kick out of orally pleasing him.
His hands moved under her pits and he pulled her upwards. His mouth ravaged hers and her arms flung around his neck. Yes, he was tall and big and muscular and ...
Slipping inside of her!
Gasping, as he lifted her up off the ground with only one hand under her ass and pressed her back against the wall, Andi forced her body to relax and her inner muscles to work their magic, massaging every stroke.
He was still cursing, as if she were killing him. "Damn...oh
He buried his face in her neck, as he pumped hard into her. She wanted it. She wanted him. She was past climaxing. She was all out having a heart attack and stroke at the same time. Her body was trembling, shaking, violently spasming and if he wasn't holding her, she didn't know if she could have stood up to it.
She felt him hunch, as his mouth found her breast and he didn't break a stroke as he sucked each. He hummed in delight as she gripped his back. His strokes started to become longer and longer.
Her mind was past reality. She was in this europhic fury, huffing, holding her breath, huffing harder, holding her breath, and then...
Andi felt him...oh...damn...it was pulsing; an earth shattering sensation that gripped every inch of her pussy, making her vibrated so hard her thighs were clinching from the repercussion.
He didn't move for a long moment. Her arms tightened around his neck. His head had found its way back to the crook of her neck and she could smell their love juices.
"Fuck," he growled angrily.
Abruptly, he moved out of her, but gently set her on the ground.
He even held on to her as her legs wobbled a bit, before she gathered her equilibrium. He cursed some more and she heard him adjusting his pants.
Andi didn't know how she should respond. Should she be ashamed?
Should she be fearful?
Suddenly, he grabbed her face and kissed her deeply. This wasn't the kiss of a rapist. This was tender and gently - longing.
He broke the kiss, just as sudden as he had started and turned her around to face the street. Cars has passed by, but she knew no one could have seen what was going on because of the darkness.
"Walk straight!" he growled. "And don't look back!" That was a threat and the fear of him returned.
She felt for her dress, which was torn, but if she pulled at the fabric, she could hold it close. Stepping a few feet from him, she pulled the fabric from her eyes, but as much as she was tempted, she didn't stop walking or look back.
Getting to the street, she broke into a run and didn't break stride until she was at her door fumbling for her keys.
She didn't relax until she was inside her apartment and the door was locked. Going to the phone, she picked it up to dial 9-1-1, but stopped herself and looked down at her hands to see the yellow country style handkerchief.
Running to the window, she looked out to see the yellow mustang slowly driving by. Darren was driving by looking right at her. She watched until he turned the next corner.
The End (leave a review in the form below)
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Member since Feb 15, 2010
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Learning ColdFusion 8: CFThread Part IV - Cross-Page Thread References
Posted on Feb 15, 2010 at 7:19 PM
hey Ben, I just tried this example (CF8.01) and although it works, it only ever downloads the last file requested. All the threads fire off and seemingly complete" but the only file actually written out is the last one in any list. Anyone else see this?... read more »


text: BIO In the early '70-s, as a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design, I had the great privilege of studying with Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, Lisette Model, and Minor White. Their classes were my introduction to the world of art, and their teachings remain a fundamental part of the way I see. Before RISD, as a young street photographer from New York, I never thought about what made photographs good or bad . . . I just took pictures. Spending time with my teachers outside of school was an equally important part on my education. I drove Lisette from New York to Providence every week. Those were sacred hours for me, filled with discussions of everything from photography to philosophy. On a trip with Aaron to Goblin Valley, I remember his great excitement as he set up his camera in front of a rock. Not seeing the rock as anything other than ordinary, I looked through his old Rollie, and there it was – the picture was right there, hidden in plain sight. Through the lens of Aaron's camera, the rock was brought to life. What makes a picture come alive? Why do some photographs remain in our consciousness, while others fall away? These are the questions I ask, as a photographer, in a world where the boundaries of well-crafted commercialism and fine art have blurred. Spending countless hours at my computer, I have to remind myself not to remain at the surface. Beautiful prints are very seductive and can have considerable visual impact. Then there are images, like Siskind's ordinary rock that are full of life and charm, frozen in time, kept alive by human connection.


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Boll weevil assessment drops to 70 cents per acre
The board of the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation of North Carolina has set the boll weevil assessment for 2012 at 70 cents per acre of cotton. That amount is 30 cents less than the 2011 assessment.
The fee supports the foundation's efforts to monitor cotton acreage for any re-introduction of the boll weevil, which was eradicated in the state in 1986, and to respond promptly with eradication treatments if necessary.
"With stable or increasing cotton acreage, farmers will certainly want to maximize their cotton yields this year," said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. "The boll weevil assessment is an excellent investment. We don't want a return of this highly destructive pest in North Carolina, and the trapping and monitoring supported by this assessment helps ensure any spot re-introductions of boll weevils are quickly dealt with."
Foundation contractors will install and monitor traps from late summer until after harvest and frost. Because the focus of North Carolina's program has shifted from eradication to monitoring, farmers should anticipate the number of traps in fields will decrease. As such, each trap will be critical, and farmers are encouraged to contact the foundation if traps are damaged or knocked down.
Given an increase in cotton acreage last year, just over 13,000 traps were placed and maintained in North Carolina, with each trap monitoring an average of 61 acres. Farmers in 55 counties grew 798,342 certified acres of cotton last year. The top three cotton-growing counties were Edgecombe, Halifax and Bertie.
To allow for trapping and monitoring, cotton growers are required to certify cotton acreage information with their local U.S. Farm Service Agency office by June 30.
For more, go to www.ncagr.gov/plantindustry/plant/entomology/BW.htm.


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Plush Hooded Baby Blanket Gray & White Starry Night ED Ellen DeGeneres
Condition: New with tags
Dimensions: 30" L x 40" W
Retail Price: $39.95
Our Price: $14.00
Snuggle your little love up in a plush Starry Night Hooded Blanket from ED Ellen DeGeneres. Crafted in super soft velour with a cute Pom Pom. Perfect as a baby shower gift.
**Local Pick Up Only at our Pasadena ReStore**
Pick-up and Return Policy
All items purchased online are only available for pickup from our Duarte ReStore location at 2215 Huntington Drive, Duarte, California, 91010. Our ecommerce staff focuses heavily on providing accurate descriptions and photographs of the items listed on our online site to give our customers a confident shopping experience from home. Customers have the ability to cancel an order prior to picking up their items.
We understand that it can be difficult to pick up your online purchases in a timely fashion. However, in order to keep our inventory moving smoothly, and to facilitate the best use of our warehouse space, we must ask that you pick-up your items no later than three days (3 days) from your purchase date. Customers have the option to cancel their order within the three days for a 100% refund for any reason. However, once the buyer has taken possession of the item(s) they cannot be returned, all sales are final. We encourage our customers to inspect their purchased items at time of pickup before taking possession to ensure they are in correct and proper condition. If a customer has not scheduled an appointment and picked up their order within three days (3 days), their items are subject to donation back to the store for resale, and no refunds will be offered. After placing an order, please maintain communication with our ecommerce staff to avoid this outcome. We cannot store items long term; make sure you are prepared to retrieve your item in a timely manner.
Questions or concerns? Our warehouse is open Monday through Saturday 9:00am - 5:30pm. Please contact us directly through email at firstname.lastname@example.com or call us at (626) 425-2090 during business hours. For Donation questions, please email firstname.lastname@example.com or call (626)387-6900.


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After doing the readings for Module 1 and learning about the importance of place, and based on the experience I have working and living in a Cree Community for a bit over three years, I am interested in the programs and opportunities that introduce, use and promote media and technology, not just in K-11 education, but in various aspects of community life.
I wanted to include N'we Jinan, because they have a big presence in the community I live in. They have visited my school and created music videos with our students. The writing, production and filming processes are truly amazing! However, others have already mentioned the program, so I will leave it out.
1. Minority Media
Minority Media is a company based in Montreal that creates virtual reality games. They have focused on introducing a new type of video game genre: empathy games. In 2014, they released Spirits of Spring, a game that centers on a young boy, Chiwatin, and his friends in Northern Canada who are trying to come to terms with bullying.
Minority Media also created a virtual reality game for the Cree School Board to help young students learn Cree Syllabics. With the help of a girl named Niipiish and her dog, students learn new words in a really exciting way. I've played this game and watched my students use it. It is a very interesting way for them to practice their language.
2. Mikw Chiyâm
Mikw Chiyâm is an arts program with the goal of increasing student retention and engagement. Professional Canadian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists are in residency at an appointed CSB school for a 7 week program. There are four residency cycles per school year, which allows the students to be exposed to a variety of artistic forms. They collaborate with local artists and students to help them express their voices creatively. While this program is not explicitly about technology, certain of the artists-in-residence have this as their specialty and incorporate it into the program in various ways.
3. Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute
The Cree Cultural Institute is a museum with information and artefacts aimed at preserving and passing on Cree traditions, knowledge and values. Almost everything is accessible through the website. Visitors can virtually explore categories such as hide and fur preparation, moccasins and mittens, and snowshoes and toboggans. There are descriptions, images and even videos. There are also different zones, such as The Community's Way of Life and The Land Has Memory. The museum even has an app!
The Nation is an independent Aboriginal news publication that covers and reports on stories about and impacting residents of the James Bay area in northern Quebec and Ontario. In addition to news and events, The Nation website also has an extensive list of Cree Legends, available in both English and Cree.
Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government website provides a wide range of information about this region, such as a brief history, the territory and their services. The publish reports on important issues such as drinking water, as well as news. The website also live streams events, such as elections and council meetings.


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DES PLAINES, IL, FEBRUARY 12, 2009 — Gepco International is pleased to announce that Rick Thompson, a 15-year Gepco veteran, has been named Central regional sales manager. Thompson joined the company in 1994 as an inside sales consultant.
"Rick has shown a tireless work ethic and great leadership skills during his years at Gepco," states Glen Powers, national sales manager for Gepco International. "I am confident that Rick will flourish in this position as he continues to be a resource and asset to Gepco and its clients."
In his new role, Thompson will be responsible for all sales activities in the Central market. He will be working closely with the existing distributor base as well as be responsible for generating new business leads in the region.
Thompson graduated from Indiana State University with a B.S in Telecommunications in 1987.
Gepco International, Inc., with headquarters in Des Plaines, IL, and branch locations in Burbank, CA and Chestnut Ridge, NY, has been a leading provider of studio and broadcast audio and video cables for 28 years. The company also specializes in manufacturing custom cable assemblies, panels, patch bay harnesses and breakout boxes. In addition, Gepco stocks and distributes connectors, patchbays and other cable-related products. For more information, visit the Gepco website at www.gepco.com.
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Phoning It In
I joined a new gym today, which is kind of like your first day at a new job. You've got to figure out the lay of the land, such as the location of the bathroom. As important, you've got to pick up quickly on the culture. For example, at some gyms, loud grunting will earn you a dirty look from gym staff. At others, making a scene while you lift is encouraged – even admired. Regardless, at all gyms, there's one rule you have to respect: You must cooperate when someone asks you for a spot.
I've written previously about my objections to spotting – it interrupts the pacing of my workout; it offends my sensibilities to see someone using more weight than he can handle; on the bench press, it puts my low back in a terrible position. But most of all, if the guy benching 315+ suffers a total failure, I literally can't help. There's no way I can pull an anvil off some guy's chest.
So during my workout today, the guy next to me throws three plates onto each side of his barbell. He looks my way and says, "Hey, can you help me out." I started trudging over to my position behind his bench, but I noticed his strange expression. "Here," he says, as he hands me his phone. "My buddy doesn't believe I can bench this weight. I need you to video this lift for me."
Finally, a spot where I can actually help.


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Lash Love offers holiday special on lash extensions
Angel Eyes (Sponsored)
Perhaps it's the holiday season. Maybe it's the Victoria's Secret Fashion show. Either way, you've got visions of angel wings dancing in your head. Sadly, you can't rock bright red feather monsters at the office or psychedelic butterflies at Sunday brunch without breaking some serious social norms.
No, for mere mortals like us, wings must be a little more subtle and way more classy by taking the shape of gorgeous, full, silky lashes – the kind of feathers that compliment the modern angel in all of us. And, unlike a Swarovski crystal-studded catsuit, Lash Love Lash & Wax Boutique keeps the cost of this heavenly look incredibly down-to-earth.
Founder and head lash artist Nikki Sanchez has been perfecting the art of lash extensions since she was a teen and travels to Korea to make sure her lashes are as divine as possible. That means being ultra-picky with the products she uses: feather-light, high-quality synthetic silk and mink lashes, medical-grade glue and durable fibers that ensure lashes don't lose their curl in Hawaii's humidity. They're also the only germicidal lashes on Oahu which reduces the chance of infection or irritation. (After all, cleanliness is next to godliness!)
Prices normally start at $95, but with Sanchez's new holiday special, you can get $15 off a semi-full set or $20 off a full set through Christmas Day. It's all part of her mission to have a lash extension service that's just as good, if not better, than those $300 salons.
Sure, you might not be picking up a diamond- and ruby-studded fantasy bra (maybe next year?), but you can totally afford to bless yourself with supermodel peepers.
Thank heavens.
Lash Love is located at 1413 King St. #214. For more information or to make an appointment, call (808) 778-0412 or visit lashlovehawaii.com.


text:
Evaluating online articles is more challenging because physical factors like graphics are absent. Some databases allow you to narrow your search to only scholarly periodicals so you can be sure what kind of results you're getting.
If you're not sure, you can also search for the journal publisher's website (try a Google search for the journal's name + "publisher") which will give you information about that journal, usually including whether it is peer-reviewed or not. Note that the journal may even have a Wikipedia page which may give you useful information about the journal.
Periodical is a term used to describe any publication that is published multiple times (periodically). Periodicals include materials such as popular magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers.
It is important to understand the difference between a popular and a scholarly periodical. When you are doing research, most of your sources should be scholarly.
Often popular periodicals are called magazines and scholarly periodicals are called journals. Many times it will be acceptable to use some popular material, but research papers should not be based solely on popular literature.
|Popular Magazine
|Trade Journal
|Scholarly Journal
|Secondary discussion of someone else's research; may include personal narrative or opinion; general information, purpose is to entertain or inform.
|Current news, trends and products in a specific industry; practical information for professionals working in the field or industry.
|In-depth, primary account of original findings written by the researcher(s) or reviews of original research; very specific information, with the goal of scholarly communication.
|Author is frequently a journalist paid to write articles, may or may not have subject expertise.
|Author is usually a professional in the field, sometimes a journalist with subject expertise.
|Author's credentials are provided; usually a scholar or specialist with subject expertise.
|General public; the interested non-specialist.
|Professionals in the field; the interested non-specialist.
|Scholars, researchers, and students.
|Vocabulary in general usage; easily understandable to most readers.
|Specialized terminology or jargon of the field, but not as technical as a scholarly journal.
|Specialized terminology or jargon of the field; requires expertise in subject area.
|Layout & Organization
|Informal; may include non-standard formatting. May not present supporting evidence or a conclusion.
|Informal; articles organized like a journal or a newsletter. Evidence drawn from personal experience or common knowledge.
|Structured; includes the article abstract, goals and objectives, methodology, results (evidence), discussion, conclusion, and bibliography. (**The structure may be more implicit in a humanities-oriented article)
|Articles are evaluated by editorial staff, not experts in the field; edited for format and style.
|Articles are evaluated by editorial staff who may be experts in the field, not peer-reviewed*; edited for format and style.
|Articles are evaluated by peer-reviewers* or referees who are experts in the field; edited for content, format, and style.
|Rare. Little, if any, information about source materials is given.
|Occasional brief bibliographies, but not required.
|Required. Quotes and facts are verifiable.
|Each issue begins with page 1.
|Each issue generally begins with page 1.
|Page numbers are generally consecutive throughout the volume.
Based on Scholarly vs. Popular Materials by Amy VanScoy, NCSU Library


text:
Governor Walker recently signed into law Senate Bill 396, which will provide the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) with enough funding to maintain its mandatory premises registration. This funding will provide the DATCP with the necessary tools to react to the state livestock industry if a disease outbreak were to occur.
The Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC) has been the contracted agent for premises registration since 2005 and have been administering and providing these tools to the DATCP.
With federal funding cut, the state and industry funding contribution will allow the organization to work with the DATCP to protect the livestock industry, while implementing an industry-led outreach program through the Identifying Wisconsin branded tag program.
The Identifying Wisconsin branded tag program will add new opportunities for livestock producers to obtain value added market considerations.
With Fourdraine stepping down as the Chief Operating Officer of the WLIC, the WLIC Board of Directors has begun work on developing a transition plan and evaluating all of the needs of the organization as they enter a new era.
"By signing Senate Bill 396, Governor Walker has shown his commitment to maintaining the mandatory livestock premises registration system and his understanding of the importance of disease traceability for Wisconsin's livestock industry," said DATCP Secretary Ben Brancel.
"I thank Robert Fourdraine for his service as WLIC's COO and commend him for his contributions to Wisconsin agriculture. As we move ahead, I look forward to continuing Wisconsin's leadership in premises registration and to building additional marketing opportunities for the state's quality products."
David Cooper, Chairman of the WLIC Board stated, "We are appreciative of the many efforts, advancements, and accomplishments achieved by the organization during Robert Fourdraine's leadership and guidance as COO.
"With the support of the Wisconsin Livestock Industry, we will continue these advancements and provide those outreach tools to allow producers to be successful. The Board of Directors of the WLIC will move swiftly and methodically to ensure the needs of Wisconsin livestock producers are met at the WLIC.
"We look forward to the continued "Partnership to Protect and Promote Wisconsin" with the public/private relationship we have forged with State officials and the livestock industry."
Fourdraine stated, "The WLIC is a unique cooperative effort between producers, livestock organizations, and animal health officials with no equivalent in other states. I have seen how other countries have implemented systems, and a shared private-public model has proven to be the most effective model.
"The WLIC and its members have accomplished a lot; we are No. 1 in premises registered and No. 4 in terms of the use of official RFID use in herd management and traceability.
"Not only has our program benefitted the state's traceability efforts, it has led to many producers being able to start using RFID technology for herd management and become more profitable.
"Livestock producers and industry have seen the value of the WLIC and support the long term implementation of a traceability program that will protect our livestock industry and also enhance marketing opportunities of livestock and livestock products."
Cooper noted, "It is an exciting time at WLIC as we transition away from federal funding and work to continue the development of these new programs. Outreach and education will continue to be at the core of what the organization's mission and purpose is as we provide value to livestock producers." PD
—From Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium news release


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On the extreme anti-Russian provocations of Sweden's Foreign Minister
And, why the name of the Svoboda Party leader Oleh Tyahnybok has been 'Photoshop'-bleached in the picture twitted by Carl Bildt?
By Marcello Ferrada de Noli
I am certain that many remember, at least in Sweden, the TV scenes showing Carld Bildt participating in the protracted Kiev demonstration. Although many demonstrators apparently professed discontent towards the government on the issue "EU-membership", those were not spontaneous demonstrations. Not at all. Those were at heart and by design anti-Russian demonstrations orchestrated by a constellation of neo-Nazi and so-called "nationalist" organizations supported a) by the US Embassy, and b) by a group of hard-liners at the top of the EU, mainly represented by Carl Bildt.
For instance, in a telephone talk between the US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, it emerges that the appointment of Arseniy Yatsenyuk as leader of the country after the coup, it was a puppet installation by the US envoys (See the video here).
Further, about the snipers-killings of demonstrators, which was one strongest factor used to catalyze the fall of the ex-government, it has been now reported it was a job ordered by the Maidan leaders, which allegedly hired the snipers.
Later, however, the "diplomatic behaviour" that Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt exhibited in support to the new leadership in Ukraine went really out-of-order. At least judging from what has been widely referred in the Swedish press.
"It is an insult to millions of victims [caused] by the Third-Reich, many of whom died precisely in Ukraine, in massacres that Svoboda celebrates as its historical heritage."
And it is a fair criticism. Even for Bildt's own standards (in my humble opinion, a "diplomatic behaviour" that has been more devoted to represent NATO's interests, or the interests of global-finance such as those nucleated around the Bilderberg-Group and the like, than on behalf of Sweden) his extreme-biased utterances have been unique; and they pictured him rather as a simple fanatic right-wing extremist.
That cannot represent what the Swedish people think at large. Even the conservative Prime Minster Fredrik Reindfeldt has produced declarations on the Russia/Ukraine crisis that contradicts or "soft down" the utterances of his own foreign minister. Unfortunately, what is heard in the world as Sweden's official voice, is only Bildt's voice.
A leaked document obtained by a prominent journalist of Channel 4, showed that Bildt put forward in the closed-doors meeting with his EU colleagues that: "EU cannot accept a Russia's alleged right to intervene in another country (on the reason of) their countrymen".
In another occasion, he compared the former Ukraine president with the Norwegian Nazi Quisling. To the consternation of the Swedish journalists interviewing him, he kept on afterwards repeating such comparison.
Now Bildt has proudly twitted on his meetings in support of the new Ukraine leadership. He even twitted a picture. And there are a few markedly facts about this picture, worth an analysis.
I have made a close up of the picture:
In the picture the names of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and others ar fairly readable. But, why is the name of the Svoboda Party leader Oleh Tyahnybok washed-out in the picture twitted by Carl Bildt? Who is trying to avoid that his counterpart in the Ukrainian government could be recognized? For obviously he could just erase him from the picture; for if the picture aimed to give prove of his meeting with Ukrainian leaders, they would disappear by erasing …


text:
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SA Orthopaedic Journal
versão On-line ISSN 2309-8309
versão impressa ISSN 1681-150X
SA orthop. j. vol.7 no.1 Centurion Jan./Mar. 2008
The treatment of tibial defects following chronic pyogenic haematogenous osteomyelitis in children
MN Rasool
FCS(Orth). Department of Orthopaedics, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, KwaZulu-Natal
The aim of this paper was to review the results of treatment of 31 children, aged 3 to 12 years, with tibial defects resulting from haematogenous osteomyelitis seen between 1989 and 2006. Common features were skin defects, discharging sinuses, pathological fractures, sequestra and pseudarthroses, with a duration of 4 to 12 months prior to reconstruction. The defects ranged from 2 to 20 cm, 18 were in the proximal third of the tibia, 10 in the middle third, and three in the distal third. Surgical treatment consisted of repeated debridement, sequestrectomy, gentamycin beads and soft tissue cover for skin defects, followed by reconstruction at a later stage. Bone grafting was done by using cancellous chips in cavitating defects (Papineau technique) (n = 2), onlay grafting in defects < 2 cm (n = 5), corticocancellous square segments threaded and fixed over a Kirschner wire in the defect (n = 15), and fibular transference to the proximal tibia in large defects with poor skin and fibrosis (n = 9). All grafts healed well at 1 to 17 years follow-up. Complications of shortening (1 to 20 cm), equinus (1), ankle varus (3) and recurvatum (1) were related to the infective process. All patients are ambulant.
"Full text available only in PDF format"
1. Griffiths JC. Defects in long bones from severe neglected osteomyelitis. J Bone Joint Surg 1968; 50B:813-21. [ Links ]
2. Fowles JV, Lehoux J, Zlitni M, Kassab MT and Nolan B. Tibial defects due to acute haematogenous osteomyelitis. Treatment and results in twenty one children. J Bone Joint Surg 1979;61B:77-81. [ Links ]
3. Agiza ARH. Treatment of tibial osteomyelitic defects and infected pseudarthrosis by Huntington fibular transference operation. J Bone Joint Surg 1981;63A:814-9. [ Links ]
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49. Velazquez R, Bell D, Armstrong P. Complications of use of the Ilizarov technique in the treatment of limb deformities in children. J Bone Joint Surg 1993;75A:1148-56. [ Links ]
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text:
This article, which appeared in the 1985 midsummer double
issue, belatedly recognizes punk's "second wave" and focuses
principally on SST bands.
There are teenage girls in mohawks. There is a boy who has greased and
twisted his long hair so fifteen spikes rise at odd angles from his head.
There are guys trying to be Sid Vicious, in their ripped T-shirts, tight
black jeans and black-leather jackets, handcuffs dangling from their belts.
Girls flaunt the Bride of Frankenstein look. Someone is wearing an Iggy Pop
T-shirt. To wit, nearly everyone here looks as if he or she just stepped
out of a punk documentary, circa 1977.
Only something is wrong. It's not punk. Onstage, Tom Troccoli's Dog is in the middle of a psychedelic jam. The drummer has dreadlocks. The guitarist, sporting long, curly brown hair and a Grateful Dead T-shirt, coaxes feedback from his amp. The punks watch, bemused. Some complain about "the hippie music." A few try to slam-dance to the languid rhythms. Others sit on the floor, staring at the stage as San Francisco hippies used to do at the Fillmore Auditorium about twenty years ago.
What's going on here? What happened to Loud Fast Rules? Two-chord punk rock? Beat on the brat with a baseball bat?
Primal punk is passé. The best of the American punk rockers have moved on. They have learned how to play their instruments. They have discovered melody, guitar solos and lyrics that are more than shouted political slogans. Some of them have even discovered the Grateful Dead.
The reinvention of punk rock began a few years ago when Black Flag, at the time a fairly typical punk band, underwent a metamorphosis. Singer Henry Rollins, who used to shave his head, let his hair grow down his back. Slow, heavy-metal dirges and jazzy, psychedelic instrumental jams were integrated into the group's sets, as were intense guitar solos. This caught Black Flag fans off guard. Kids with shaved heads and KILL THE HIPPIES painted on the backs of their leather jackets suddenly discovered that their favorite band now looked like a bunch of hippies. Help!
In Las Vegas, driving in a dusty black van with white rats spray-painted all over it, Henry Rollins, 24, and (soon to be former) Black Flag drummer Bill Stevenson,
"Make you think about what's
expected of you, of your friends. What's expected of you by your boss.
Challenge those expectations. And your own expectations. Man, you should
challenge your own ideas about the world every day."
Hüsker Dü tends to be more introspective. "I don't write about politics because I'm not an expert," says Bob Mould, Hüsker Dü's twenty-five-year-old singer and guitarist. "Some bands find it very necessary to claim they're politically relevant when in actuality they don't know shit about politics. Not informing people is much better than misinforming people. We're sort of like reporters in a way. Reporters of our own mental state. Reporters of the state of the air. Consciousness. Of the day. We make personal statements."
A common complaint heard from the bands is that they are misunderstood. "The critics equated the abrasiveness of the band and some of the harsh personal realities expressed in our songs as being negative because it wasn't all love and flowers," says Bob Mould. "I think we're trying to say something fairly positive."
Most of these neopunk bands are not signed to major labels. They do not have big-time managers. They do not have much money. Black Flag tours constantly, crisscrossing the country in a beat-up van. The group played over 200 gigs last year. On a good night, Black Flag may earn $1000, which has to cover a soundman, a couple of roadies who also sell T-shirts, truck rental and other expenses. On tour the four members of the band somehow exist on $12.50 a day. At home, in L.A., they "scavenge" food and lodging. "We are the hungriest band I've ever seen," says Rollins, who grew up in the suburbs around Washington DC. "I've never seen a band who would go to any lengths to play like we will."
On the road many of the musicians sleep in their vehicles or on any sofa or floor they are offered. When they are home, they crash in rehearsal halls, low-rent apartments or even with their parents. "We get in the van and drive to a town, play, stay at a friend's house," says Paul Westerberg. "Wake up when they throw us out. Drive the rest of the day. Play the next night. We get fifteen dollars a day. And when we're home, we don't get nothing. We're way in debt. We have van problems. We own a van, it breaks down, and you know when you play that the gig money goes to pay for the broken-down van. We're used to it."
There are also lifestyle differences between the neopunks and their progenitors. Many of the new bands avoid
21, make fun of the
"punkers" and "stylers" who still rigidly conform to the retro-punk look. "We
ought to get our hair cut like the cover of GQ," says the bearded
drummer, laughing. "That would really turn some heads around."
1985 style. Or at least one version. For there is a whole new underground now. Punk $#151; in all its obnoxious, rebellious, snotty glory lives. It may not get much press these days, a full decade after it was practically invented at a club on New York City's Bowery called CBGB's but it's still around.
You can find it in Minneapolis, where the Replacements, drunk out of their minds, sing songs like "Gary's Got A Boner" and "Fuck School." You can find it in San Francisco, where the original punk spirit of anyone-can-do-this lives on in Flipper, a band that, when it's not in the midst of one of its periodic breakups as it is at the moment lets members of the audience climb onto the stage and sing. And, naturally, you can find it around Los Angeles, where Black Flag releases albums like Family Man, with a cover that pictures a man holding a gun to his own head, while his wife and kids lie slaughtered nearby. The caption on the cover of Family Man reads: NOVEMBER 23RD, 1963. "We like to make an impact," says Rollins.
"We're getting away with doing what we like to do," says Ted
Falconi, 38, a
former art teacher and a guitarist for Flipper. "We're rock's bad boys."
These bands tend to be classified as punk or, in the last few years, as hardcore. But to lump them all in the same category is to ghettoize them. For Black Flag and the others are simply carrying on the most basic of rock & roll traditions. They fit nicely along rock's flamboyant rabble-rousers, from Little Richard to the New York Dolls, from the early Elvis to the Doors. These bands are loud, wild, intense, unpredictable, irritating and, of course, controversial. Guaranteed to upset your parents. Most of your friends too. "A rock & roll band needs to get under people's skin," says Paul Westerberg, 25, lead singer of the Replacements. "If it can't, then you ain't worth nothing. You should be able to clear the room at the drop of a hat."
So what?" you may say. Isn't this just more of the same old adolescent blather punks have been spewing out for years? Yes and no. For one thing, the sound has changed. Though it was the rigid amphetamine thrash of New York's Ramones and, a few years later, a batch of English punk bands that inspired and defined hardcore music in the late Seventies, the music of the neopunk bands is both varied and eclectic. Among their influences you'll find such diverse artists as Hank Williams and Rick James, ZZ Top and José Feliciano. The Meat Puppets play a kind of
psychedelic country
& western music. Flipper specializes in haunting drone rock. The
Replacements mix country and blues with hard rock Rolling Stones-New York
Dolls style. The Minutemen's one- and two-minute haikus are set to condensed
punk versions of rock, jazz, blues, country and funk. Hüsker Dü's
music is an ear-splitting roar of frenzied power chords and life-is-pain
These groups all have something to say. The Repacements rant about technology that alienates people ("Answering Machine") and the way the video revolution has sold out rock & roll ("Seen Your Video"). Black Flag deals with hypocrisy and guilt ("Slip It In"), indecision ("I Can't Decide") and jealousy ("Black Coffee"). The Minutemen worry, in one song, about Michael Jackson wasting his power ("A Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing") while noting in another how punk rock changed their lives ("History Lesson Part II"). Flipper philosophizes about boredom ("You Nought Me") and pollution ("Love Canal").
The common thread that continues to run through punk is a dissatisfaction with the modern world. How that frustration is articulated varies greatly. The Minutemen advocate political awareness. "Music can inspire people to wake up and say, 'Maybe somebody's lying.' This is the point I'd like to make with my music," says Minutemen bassist Mike Watt, 27.
and a Black Flag
performance. There is a feeling that outbursts of crowd violence are
imminent. Sometimes the audience spits at Rollins. Sometimes he jumps right
into the crowd, a swelling, moving, slam-dancing group of kids. Rollins has
been known to punch out a particularly obnoxious and unreasonable heckler who
wants to fight and will not let him perform. "My thing is real
confrontational," says Rollins of his performances, which have, on occasion,
left him with broken bones. "I mean, I don't like to go beat people up, but
I like to be real close. Bring it home. If someone wants to touch me, kiss
me, hit me, stab me, talk to me, sing with me, they should be able to lean over
and do it!"
Perhaps more than anything else, Black Flag wants to shake up its audience. "I find it really distasteful to have a band that plays to me what I want to hear," says Greg Ginn. "That's no kind of expression. We don't play to satisfy an audience. We play what we want them to hear. If you love your audience, you try to bring them something they don't already have. You don't play totheir current sensibilities and not give them anything that would threaten them. To me, that shows a total disrespect for an audience.
Records you have to be prepared to sleep on the floor," says Jordan Schwartz, 21. That's just what Jordan and Black Flag manager Chuck Dukowski do. They sleep on the floor of the messy office in Redondo Beach, which, along with a cramped, low-ceilinged downstairs rehearsal room, serves as Black Flag's base of operations.
SST is the most important underground record label in America. As the Los Angeles Times noted not long ago, "The company [SST] has matured into a showcase for some of the best alternative rock bands in the country." In addition to Black Flag, other acts include the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets and Hüsker Dü. In its five-year existence SST has released over forty recordings, eighteen of which are LPs. Last year alone SST released four albums by Black Flag as well as double albums by the Minutemen and by Hüsker Dü and albums by the Meat Puppets, Saccharine Trust and St. Vitus.
SST is just one of a group of underfinanced, low-budget underground labels San Francisco's Subterranean and Minneapolis' Twin/Tone are two others which have been recording bands that the major labels have either overlooked or dismissed as uncommercial. "Me and my friends wanted to record the punk-rock scene," says Steve Tupper, 38, explaining why he formed Subterranean Records [Cont. on 124]
drugs stronger than marijuana. Some concern themselves with eating healthy
food and staying fit. Some don't drink. Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn, 31,
and Flipper singer-bassist Bruce Lose, 26, are vegetarians. Black Flag and
Hüsker Dü pride themselves on being "responsible" a claim
Johnny Rotten would never have made for himself.
Unlike the punks of the Seventies, this new generation also has some respect for the hippies and the values they embraced in the Sixties. Around the Black Flag office and rehearsal room, in Redondo Beach, California, one frequently sees long-haired roadies wearing Grateful Dead T-shirts and playing Aoxomoxoa or Workingman's Dead on their boom boxes. Greg Ginn says one of his dreams is for Black Flag to open for the Grateful Dead. "It seems like a lot of the things that happened in the Sixties freedom, having an open attitude are being replaced by a new puritanism," complains Ginn. "It's time to loosen it up. A lot of stuff done in the Sixties was important."
IF YOU SAW HENRY ROLLINS hitch-hiking, you wouldn't stop to pick him up. He looks like a psychopathic hippie, part Jim Morrison, part Charles Manson. Real
bad news. A BORN TO LOSE kind of guy.
Get close to him it's downright scary. Eyes that bore right through you. Hair, a tangled mess that falls past his shoulders, down his back. Ragged, ripped clothing. Lots of tattoos: skulls and snakes, ghouls, a spider, a bat. And, etched across his upper back in inch-high letters, Henry Rollins' philosophy of life: SEARCH & DESTROY.
"I think you really got to look at it deeper than surface level," says Rollins. I mean, the way I look this is only skin. Perhaps, but Rollins' image and the way it alienates him from so much of socirty in many ways characterizes the relationship between Black Flag and mainstream America. "I guess we offend a lot of people," Rollind has said. "The hair length, the way we look, the way we dress isn't conducive to one-way thinking."
An aura of dark violence hangs in the air around Black Flag, like soot from a turn-of-the-century factory smokestack. Sitting in a hamburger joint down the street from Black Flag's office, Rollins wolfs down a burger and stares at several kids glued to videogames. "Life, for a lot of people, is a very surface-level experience," he says. "I see these lard-assed kids in front of these
videogames. You know, as close to any kind of real destruction as
they'll ever get is to put a quarter in and blow something up. When I see
complacency, I just got to fuck with it. This is such a soft place to live.
A lot of places to me are like a big open throat waiting to be cut. You can
walk into a lot of these houses and kick the door down and just take it. It's
yours. I'm not going to be cutting nothing, because that's not my life. But
I'm in favor of something else for me."
Black Flag has been associated unfairly, its members claim with punk violence since the late Seventies. People have accused the band with being sexist, racist and fascist. The group was forced to move out od three L.A. communities. "Our whole thing has beenmade out to be brutal, fascistic and violent," says Rollins, who does not drink or use drugs. "Those are three things that we're very much not into at all. We're not violent. We're not evil. We don't like to see anybody hurt at any time. I don't like to see violence at anybody's shows. I've seen more violence at Van Halen than at any of our gigs."
While Black Flag's music no longer resembles the punk of the past, there are similarities between a late-Seventies Sex Pistols concert
[Cont. from 32] in 1979. The label's best-known act is Flipper. "We have this viewpoint of looking at this musical underground, rather than the established or commercial acts this feeling that there is a real musical underground, and that's where the most interesting stuff is coming from. A lot of the stuff we put out is abrasive. We like to annoy."
Like a handful of English indies Factory, Mute and Rough Trade, for example the American underground labels are not as interested in making money as they are in affecting culture. Which explains why a guy like Steve Tupper worked in a machine shop for several years, pouring all his extra money into Subterranean, recording bands that have absolutely no chance of ever being popular. "Our music is a real alternative to mainstream music," says Tupper. "Why that's important is that society as a whole is totally fucked. What we're looking at is using music to challenge a lot of the assumptions of what constitutes music and what constituyes an acceptable form of entertainment and expression."
SST also began in 1979, when the members of Black Flag realized that if they were going to make records, they would have to do it themselves. The first release, a Black Flag EP called Nervous Breakdown, cost $600 to record. Flipper made its now-classic first LP, Album Generic Flipper, for less than $3000. The Replacements' critically acclaimed album Let It Be cost $6000. Hüsker Dü's two-record set cost $3200, while the Minutemen wrapped up their two-disc masterpiece, Double Nickels On The Dime, for $1500.
To date, nearly 250,000 of Black Flag's albums, EPs and singles have been sold. The other labels and bands have not fared as well. Twin/Tone has sold 42,000 copies of the Replacements' Let It Be and another 30,000 of the band's previous releases. Subterranean has sold about 28,000 copies of Flipper's first two albums. Nearly every SST release has more than made back its cost, and the recent Hüsker Dü and Minutemen albums have won both bands voluminous amounts of critical praise.
One problem these labels share concerns independent distribution. "A record store takes one Black Flag album," says Ginn. "If they sell it, they wait until the distributor comes in a week later, then order one more Black Flag album, which they don't get for another week. Meanwhile, people come in looking for the albums, and they're not there. Or they file themin the import section. Or under NEW WAVE. If we were distributed by a major label, we'd be filed in the rock section, which is where a lot of our fans expect to find
our records. We're not New Wave."
Even if a record sells well, collecting revenues from the independent distributors is not always easy. "We've grossed almost $300,000 this year," says Chris Osgood, head of distribution at Twin/Tone. "But we've got $133,000 outstanding that I haven't been able to collect from distributors because nobody really wants to pay you until you have the next release. I'm sure that all indie labels have that problem.
One band that is tired of dealing with altenative labels is the Replacements. After considering offers frm both CBS and Sire Records the label Madonna records for the Replacements recently made a deal with Sire. "If they leave us alone and give us a little push, they're going to have much better results than trying to steer us in directions," says Paul Westerberg. "We're all bullheaded. You know, if anyone tells us what to do, we're real immature about it, and we'll go in the exact opposite direction.
Black Flag tried working with larger labels three and a half years ago in hopes of alleviating its distribution problems. The group signed a distribution deal with Unicorn Records, an L.A. label that, in turn, had a distribution deal with MCA. But when an MCA executive heard the Black Flag album Damaged he refused to distribute it. He called it "an antiparent record." Then Black Flag and SST got in a protracted legal hassle with Unicorn that kept SST from releasing any Black Flag albums until the end of 1983. So much for major labels.
Of course, neither Warner Bros. nor CBS is exactly jumping to sign Black Flag or any of the bands that record for SST or Subterranean. It's hard to imagine any major label releasing an album like Family Man and its violent cover. Or Black Flag's My War, the cover of which depicts a smiling hand puppet holding a butcher's knife. And the song "Slip It In" would definitely be considered obscene by the PTA.
Yet even without the push major labels could give them, the neopunk bands will continue, struggling along, keeping the rebel spirit alive. All of the key bands have been together for more than five years and they plan to stick around. "I think being outside the mainstream music business is good," says Bob Mould. "When you tie yourself down to a major label, you give up all your individual control over things. You become part of a machine. It wouldn't seem right for Hüsker Dü to come out on Polymer Records."
Or, as Bill Stevenson says in Vegas before beginning the all-night drive back to Redondo Beach, "I won't sell my art for money. I've got too much of my soul in this. I'd rather kill myself."
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text:
I dedicate the first photo attached to Dlisted's Michael K because Hot Harry on Horse is sitting, spread out, and, UM, YEAH.
This is the second in what will be a series of three quick royal posts. Here we focus on Prince Harry in green. And sweaty. Playing polo in support of Centrepoint, of which the Cambridges are patrons. As you know, he's single now. Just in time for the World Cup.
Harry will be leaving for Brazil in a few days. He's expected to be in the stands for Cameroon vs the host country on June 23 and then again the next day for England's final group game against Costa Rica…if he's not too hung over from partying on Leonardo DiCaprio's yacht. Imagine? There's a rumour going around that Leo had 50 models flown in so he could ogle them on his boat. Would he bother sending Harry an invitation or is that too much competition?