text:
Pasco County Bankruptcy Attorneys | Lawyers
Pasco County Bankruptcy. Filing for personal bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code results in an immediate stop of all collection activity, such as foreclosure, wage garnishment, repossession and lawsuits. Additionally, it will put a stop to harassing creditor phone calls and letters. We have the bankruptcy information you need to make an informed financial decision. We can also help individualize your case to meet your particular needs. If you are struggling to pay bills, facing foreclosure or worried about wage garnishment – then filing bankruptcy may provide the relief you need.
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: If you're seeking to eliminate unsecured debt (like credit card and medical bills), filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy may be a good debt-relief option for you.
Come in and sit down with us and we can show you the best option for your specific and particular needs. If you have questions about filing for bankruptcy, avoiding foreclosure, stopping creditor harassment or eliminating debt – we can help! Give us a call today and we can get you on the road to financial recovery and freedom. And, the best thing is that we're not on a one-way street in downtown Tampa on the 44th floor of an overpriced skyscraper office. We're right here in or near your neighborhood. With offices in both Wesley Chapel and Dade City, we can also easily service clients in New Tampa, Hillsborough County, Land O' Lakes, Zephyrhills and Pasco County. We can also service clients anywhere in the Great State of Florida.
Glossary of Common Bankruptcy Terms
341 Meeting
The first meeting between the debtor and the creditors where the debtor is questioned about financial matters.
Adversary Proceeding
Where other issues or claims are litigated within the bankruptcy proceedings.
Automatic Stay
An automatic shield or type of injunction freezing the actions of creditors.
A case filed pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code seeking statutorily authorized discharging or restructuring of debt.
Bankruptcy Code
Title 11 of the United States Code.
Bankruptcy Court
The federal court where all bankruptcy petitions must be filed.
Bankruptcy Estate
The debtor's interests in property subject to bankruptcy administration.
Bankruptcy Judge
The federal court judge who presides over bankruptcy cases.
Bankruptcy Petition
The initial paper or pleading that begins a bankruptcy case.
Chapter 7
Liquidation of all assets to pay debts.
Chapter 11
Reorganization of an insolvent business.
Chapter 13
Where earnings of the debtor are collected by the bankruptcy trustee and paid to creditors pursuant to a court approved repayment plan.
The order entered by the bankruptcy court formally approving the bankruptcy plan.
Credit Counseling
Financial counseling to a debtor by a court approved credit counseling agency.
One to whom the debtor has a financial obligation.
Creditors' Meeting
The first meeting between the debtor and the creditors where the debtor is questioned about financial matters.
The person or entity that owes money to creditors.
The relief of debt for the debtor as to the debtor's creditors.
Dischargeable Debt
The debt that is permitted to be discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding.
Exempt Property
The property that may be kept by the debtor and is not subject to distribution to creditors.
A person or entity in a position of influence on the debtor's actions. For example, if a debtor attempted to transfer assets to his or her daughter, the daughter would be an "insider."
Joint Petition
A bankruptcy petition filed by both husband and wife.
Liquidated Claim
A claim that can be precisely determined by a prior agreement or judicial determination.
Sale of the debtor's property to raise money in order to pay creditors.
Means Test
A financial accounting and test for Chapter 7 filings to determine if the debtor qualifies for Chapter 7 protection. If the means test determines that the debtor is not eligible for Chapter 7, then Chapter 13 may be the only bankruptcy alternative.
No Asset Case
Where no assets are left to sell in order to pay creditors.
Non-Dischargeable Debt
That debt which may not be discharged in bankruptcy.
Objection to Claim
An objection by an interested party as to a claim asserted against the bankruptcy estate.
Objection to Exemptions
An objection by an interested party as to the property kept by the debtor that is not subject to sale in order to pay creditors.
Proof of Claim
A claim form filed by a creditor asserting the creditor's claim of an owed debt or obligation.
Reaffirmation Agreement
Where the debtor agrees to keep a debt so that the debtor may keep the property associated with the debt.
A form that sets forth the debtor's assets and liabilities.
Secured Creditor
A creditor where the debt is secured by an interest in property.
Secured Debt
A debt that is secured by property used as collateral.
Statement of Financial Affairs
A form that sets forth the debtor's assets and liabilities.
The person with the obligation to oversee and act in the best interest of the bankruptcy estate.
Unsecured Creditor
A creditor where the debt is not secured by an interest in property.
Unsecured Debt
A debt that is not secured by property used as collateral.


text:
About the PDA
The Southport Priority Development Area (PDA) was declared on 4 October 2013. The PDA is located over the existing Southport CBD and includes the former Gold Coast hospital site, Broadwater Parklands and residential areas located directly north of Railway Street and south of Queen Street. The PDA has an area of approximately 195.7 hectares.
Southport is the traditional centre of the Gold Coast focused on knowledge based employment, regional government administration, medical, retail and commercial uses as well as regional, community and recreation facilities. Southport is the pre-eminent centre of the city with the highest concentration of employment and the largest share of office space (149,240m2), attracting a workforce of 24,857 people. Southport is the most populated centre in the city with a resident population of 28,315.
The PDA contains a diverse mix of uses centred around Nerang and Scarborough Streets and includes retail, commercial, financial, educational, legal and community uses while the residential areas offer a diversity of dwelling type and size.
To find out more about the Southport PDA visit the Council of the City of Gold Coast's website.
Southport PDA map
1. Chinatown
2. Australia Fair
3. Gold Coast Aquatic Centre
4. Broadwater Parklands
5. Sea World
6. St Hilda's School
Yellow line: PDA boundary
Adoption of the Southport PDA Development Scheme
On 5 September 2014 the Southport PDA Development Scheme was approved by the state government.
Public notification of the Southport PDA Development Scheme was undertaken under the Economic Development Act 2012 from the 7 April to 22 May 2014. During this period all interested stakeholders including the community, residents, and business operators were invited to view the proposed development scheme and make a written submission for consideration by the Minister for Economic Development Queensland (MEDQ).
All submissions received during public notification were considered by the Council of the City of Gold Coast in consultation with the MEDQ. A submissions report has been prepared which summarises the submissions received and the merits of those submissions. In some cases amendments were made to the proposed scheme as a consequence of issues raised in submissions.
People who made a submission during the submission period will be notified that the development scheme has been approved and is now in effect.
The development scheme is the planning document that will assist in planning, carrying out, promoting, coordinating and controlling the development of land in the Southport PDA. The development scheme supersedes the interim land use plan which no longer has effect.
All development applications within the PDA will be assessed against the development scheme by the Council of the City of Gold Coast.
- Download the Southport PDA Development Scheme ( 13.7 MB)
- Download the Southport PDA Submissions report ( 287 KB)
Planning for the PDA
The Economic Development Act 2012 provides for a streamlined planning and development framework for particular parts of the state declared as priority development areas (PDAs). The purpose of declaration as a PDA is to facilitate economic development and development for community purposes.
Once a site is declared a development scheme must be prepared. The City of Gold Coast, with assistance from the department has prepared a development scheme for the Southport PDA.
Download the Southport PDA Development Scheme ( 13.7 MB).
Vision for the Southport PDA
The vision for the Southport PDA is to deliver the Gold Coast Central Business District (CBD). The CBD will be the definitive centre for commerce on the Gold Coast, attracting national and international investment through a streamlined and facilitated approach to development.
Southport will build on its economic, lifestyle and environmental opportunities to become a world-class centre and the Southport PDA will accommodate a diverse mix of land uses to help guide this. These will include; commercial office space, medium to high residential densities with a mix of dwelling sizes and types, high-end retail uses, small-scale neighbourhood and local services where appropriate and public open space.
Existing infrastructure investments will also be maximised such as the Gold Coast Chinatown, Gold Coast Light Rail, the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Southport Broadwater Parklands.
Infrastructure funding
The delivery of infrastructure is a key component of facilitating development within PDAs and ensuring adequate funding for this infrastructure is vital.
For information about the overarching infrastructure funding framework for the PDA, please download the City of Gold Coast's Adopted Infrastructure Charges Resolution.
Southport PDA regulatory map
Download the Southport PDA regulatory map ( 977 KB)
Southport PDA FAQs
View the Council of the City of Gold Coast's FAQs on the Southport PDA.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dodson Positive About Scottish Rugby's Future
26 July 2013 by BBC Scotland
Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson speaks to BBC Scotland's Brian McLauchlin during Scotland's tour to South Africa.
To read the full article you need to be registered. Please Register for FREE or Login.
There is no charge for registration. Registration applications will be limited to those involved in the business of rugby. Please see terms and conditions sections below for more information.
To read the full article you need to be registered.
Please Register for FREE or Login.
Follow Us
Regular Features
Club Profile
Leicester Tigers Look To Grow Global Partnerships
Leicester Tigers prides themselves in being pionee... Read More
Expert Columns
Google Strips Club Sites Of Results Traffic, But Fanbase Remains
The shift has been a slow one, but as well as regi... Read More
Bournemouth 7s Founder - Roger Woodall
Renowned as the first and biggest sports and music... Read More
Key Topics
Sponsor Spotlight On Vodafone And Ireland
It has been the most memorable of years for Irish ... Read More
The Boss
Petrie Focuses On Process Not Outcomes At Ulster
Jonny Petrie may have been fairly quiet over his t... Read More


text:
#66 Look up Phone Numbers Right in Outlook
June 24, 2011
Finding a colleague's phone number at Penn Law shouldn't be a struggle. Did you know that office numbers entered on the Law Directory are available directly in Outlook? Outlook 2010 brings this information right to the forefront with its new interface. Now you can forget about the printouts and Post-It-Notes.
To look up a someone's information, look in the top-right corner of your main Outlook 2010 window, type a name into the Find a Contact box and press Enter.
Don't have Outlook 2010? Let us know at firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll get you upgraded!


text:
Paul's rebuke expresses deep concern for the Galatian believers. They have been poisoned by a perversion of the gospel. They appear to Paul like people who have come under the control of an evil magician and his demonic spells: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? (3:1). The Galatians are acquiescing to the demands of persuasive teachers of the law in order to attain spiritual perfection without realizing that they are being enslaved by demonic powers (see 4:8-9). Their quest for perfection through the law is a drugged illusion from which they must be wakened. But how? How is the spell to be broken?
Paul's methods are instructive. He pierces the fog of confusion in the Galatian churches with the searchlight of questions. Paul presses hard with questions to put the Galatians back in touch with their own experience of God. Questions come before dogmatic statements and authoritative commands. Questions are the way to start breaking the grip of illusions.
Paul's questions in 3:1-5 focus on three aspects of the Galatians' experience of the Spirit: their initial reception of the Spirit (vv. 1-2), their progress toward maturity by the Spirit (v. 3) and their experience of miracles by the Spirit (vv. 4-5).
Paul takes the Galatians back to their first exposure to the message of Christ crucified. In verse 1, which is one sentence in the Greek text, the reminder of their vision of Christ crucified is set over against their foolish acquiescence to a bewitching influence. In other words, Paul is asking them how they could have succumbed to any other influence, no matter how charming and intoxicating, after they had once seen Christ portrayed as crucified.
This initial question reveals the nature of Paul's evangelistic preaching as he founded the churches in Galatia. His use of the term portrayed means that his preaching was like painting a picture with words or putting up a public poster for all to see. The perfect tense of the verb crucified indicates that Paul's vivid portrayal of Christ crucified was not only of the historical event but also of the present, saving power of the cross of Christ for all who believe in him.
Paul's first question drives us along with the original readers back to the foot of the cross of Christ. This is the place to find release from any enchantment that draws us away from Christ. We need a renewed vision of Christ crucified if we are to gain freedom from illusions of perfection through law observance, for such a vision is a vivid reminder that the cross, not human achievement, is the basis of God's blessing. Paul's questions move from the experience of the preaching of the cross of Christ (v. 1) to the experience of the Spirit (vv. 2-5). The two are linked: the cross opens the door for the Spirit, and the experience of the Spirit is the result of faith in the message of the cross of Christ.
The Galatian believers are taken back to the beginning, when they first received the Spirit by believing the message of the cross of Christ: I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? (v. 2). The evidence of the Spirit's entrance into their lives in that conversion experience must have been undeniably clear for Paul to use it as a reference point in his argument. Their baptism (3:27) and the full assurance of the Father's love given by the Spirit (4:6; compare Rom 5:5; 8:15-16) left an indelible mark on their life. The reference to miracles in verse 5 is evidence that they also experienced outward manifestations of the Spirit's presence.
The readers are taken back to the roots of their spiritual experience to remind them that the beginning was a gift of God's Spirit. The renewal of this perspective destroys the delusion that God's blessing depends on joining a group (in this case the Jewish people) or attaining a certain level of moral excellence (observing the law of Moses). The Galatian converts were excluded from the Jewish nation, and they had not observed the law; but there was no denying that they had experienced God's blessing, the gift of his Spirit.
Paul formulates his question in verse 2 as a sharp antithesis designed to break the bewitching spell of the intruders by showing the contradiction between the Galatians' recent interest in observing the law and their initial experience of believing what you heard (see also v. 5). The readers are confronted with a clear choice between mutually exclusive alternatives. They are not permitted to accept the both-and synthesis of the intruders. It is an either-or choice.
The meaning of the alternatives needs to be clarified. We have already observed in our study of 2:15-16 that observing the law has specific reference to regulations of the Jewish community which maintained their distinctive national identity. In other words, Paul is reminding his converts that they did not need to become Jewish proselytes in order to receive the Spirit in the first place (v. 2) or to experience the continuous outpouring of the Spirit and miracles in their lives (v. 5).
The meaning of the phrase observing the law is further clarified by the reference to human effort in verse 3. Actually, human effort is the NIV translation of the word "flesh" in this verse. At the end of the letter Paul tells the Galatian believers that the intruders in their churches "want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh" (6:13). In that reference "flesh" refers to circumcised flesh. In other words, the intruders want to be able to boast that the Gentile believers have become Jews. So in the light of this understanding of "flesh" in verse 3, observing the law refers principally, though not exclusively, to circumcision of the flesh and other practices that serve as marks of Jewish identity. Paul is saying that it is not necessary to take on a new racial or cultural identity in order to experience the Spirit.
Not only was the beginning a gift, but progress is also a gift, as the question in verse 3 indicates. The contrast between beginning with the Spirit and trying to attain your goal by the flesh (remember that the NIV translates "flesh" as human effort) sets up the antithesis between spirit and flesh which recurs in 4:29, 5:16-23 and 6:8. In 4:23 and 29 the son born according to the flesh ("born in the ordinary way") is a reference to Jews who hold to the Sinai covenant (4:24) and to the present Jerusalem (4:25) as the basis of their identity. These are the same ones who desire to boast in circumcised flesh--in other words, in the proselytization of Gentile believers at Galatia (6:13). We need to keep this historical conflict in mind so that we do not slip into an interpretation derived from Greek dualism where the spirit is good and the body (flesh) is inherently evil. Paul's specific point is that the Galatians' alternative is between living by the Spirit, whom they received when they believed the message of Christ crucified, and seeking perfection by circumcision (and other rites such as food laws and sabbath observance), which would identify them as proselyte Jews. Trying to attain perfection by the flesh in that context meant the attempt to attain spiritual status by conforming to Jewish customs in order to become Jews.
Sincere Christian people have often felt that belonging to a specific cultural or religious group would enhance their spiritual status. They have sometimes conformed to extreme requirements just to gain acceptance. All such efforts to achieve spiritual progress are classified here by Paul as merely human effort (NIV), efforts of the flesh. Paul's question in verse 3 reminds us that our beginning in the Christian life was based on our response of faith to the message of Christ crucified and the consequent experience of the Spirit, and our progress in the Christian life must be on the same basis.
Paul's emphasis in this context on the positive experience of the Spirit probably indicates that his question in verse 4 should be interpreted as another reference to God's gracious work by his Spirit in their lives. The word translated suffered by the NIV also has a positive meaning. The NEB translates it in this way: "Have all your great experiences been in vain?" Since the verses before and after verse 4 speak of the gift of the Spirit and the occurrence of miracles, it seems that Paul is asking them if all these marvelous spiritual experiences have not had a positive effect in their lives. Their acceptance of the message of the Judaizers makes Paul wonder whether they have learned anything at all from all the great things God has been doing in their midst: of what value is the gift of the Spirit if you strive for perfection without the direction or power of the Spirit?
But Paul cannot accept that God's gracious provision of the Spirit and his miraculous work will be in vain, so he adds the disclaimer at the end of verse 4: if it really was for nothing. Such a great experience of God's work cannot be for nothing. The Galatians must be shaken out of their stupor. They must think deeply again about the implications of their own wonderful experience of God's activity in their lives.
In verse 5 the present tense of the participles in the Greek text ("the one who gives . . . the one who works") points to the unchanging character of God. He always gives and works in this way. The word translated give was used in marriage contracts to express the husband's commitment to provide faithful and generous support for his wife. God is the faithful husband caring for his bride. The experience of God's continuous and generous supply of his Spirit to the Galatian believers is linked with his work of miracles in their midst. Though Paul anticipates that the Spirit will produce inward moral qualities in those led by the Spirit (5:22-23), his focus here is primarily on outward manifestations of the Spirit's presence in miracles. Paul recounts such overwhelming evidence of God's gracious work in order to draw his readers away from their present fixation on the stringent requirements of the teachers of the law.
A review of God's gracious work among his people by his Spirit releases us from imperious demands for religious performance. God's performance, not ours, must be the object of our faith and hope.
It is important to observe how central the experience of the Spirit is in Paul's entire argument. The arguments from Scripture in 3:6-29 are bracketed by two passages (3:1-5 and 4:1-7) in which Paul describes the experience of the Spirit in the Galatian communities: Did you receive the Spirit . . . (3:2); After beginning with the Spirit . . . (3:3); Does God give you his Spirit . . . (3:5); "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, `Abba, Father' " (4:6). The undeniable presence of the Spirit in the Galatian church is presented as irrefutable evidence that these Gentile believers who call God "Abba! Father!" are true children of God.
The undeniable presence of the Spirit among Gentile believers who were not observing the Mosaic law must have been an electric shock to the Jewish Christian teachers. It was their expectation that the Holy Spirit would be experienced only by righteous Jews who faithfully kept all the law of Moses. In the Mishnah, the codification in the second century A.D. of Jewish customs and traditions, we find this kind of thought about the Holy Spirit: "Rabbi Phineas ben Jair says, `Heedfulness leads to cleanliness, and cleanliness leads to purity, and purity leads to separatism, and separatism leads to holiness, and holiness leads to humility, and humility leads to shunning of sin, and shunning of sin leads to saintliness, and saintliness leads to the Holy Spirit.' " But in the experience of the Galatian Christians, the demonstration of the Spirit's presence came before they were even taught the law or tried to live by its requirements.
God delights in doing miracles for new Christians who believe his promises. They may have much to learn before they can live saintly lives, but at least they know that the Spirit of God is with them, because when they pray with simple faith, God answers their prayers with miracles. During his twenty-two years in Afghanistan, J. Christy Wilson observed that "there is nothing greater than a demonstration of the Spirit's power to convince Muslims of Christ's power. Muslims love to argue. Yet when they see the power of God manifest and the sick healed in the name of Jesus, they come to Christ more readily." When I read such reports of God's gracious, miraculous work by his Spirit, my own faith is renewed.
Paul reminds the Galatian Christians of God's miraculous work in their lives so that their faith will be renewed. His questions call for a reaffirmation of faith. The alternatives are posed so that Christians will be compelled by their own experience of the Spirit to choose the right answers: "Not by observing the law, but by believing what we heard about Christ crucified!" "Not by flesh, but by the Spirit!" This clear choice will break the spell of any bewitching influence. It is a choice that needs to be reconfirmed every day.
Previous commentary:
Paul's Exposition of Promise and Law
Next commentary:
Identifying the Children of Abraham
About this commentary:
IVP New Testament Commentaries are made available by the generosity of InterVarsity Press.
Starting your free trial of Bible Gateway Plus is easy. You're already logged in with your Bible Gateway account. The next step is to choose a monthly or yearly subscription, and then enter your payment information. Your credit card won't be charged until the trial period is over. You can cancel anytime during the trial period.
Click the button below to continue.
You've already claimed your free trial of Bible Gateway Plus. To subscribe at our regular subscription rate, click the button below.
It looks like you're already subscribed to Bible Gateway Plus! To manage your subscription, visit your Bible Gateway account settings.
Upgrade, and get the most out of your new account. An integrated digital Bible study library - including complete notes from the Believer's Bible Commentary and the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (NIV and NRSV) - is just a step away! Try it free for 30 days.
Three easy steps to start your free trial subscription to Bible Gateway Plus.


text:
I came across this article "The Hindu" yesterday. Though it was nicely articulated, I was surprised to see the people (pic) out there waiting to buy the tickets for the margazhi music season tickets!. Trust me, not all are fans most of them are proxies who wants to buy the tickets and they would sell to few people who are desperate to listen to the music season.
There are true facts like these " Muralidharan, 59, a businessman, said he took turns with his driver to stand in the queue to buy tickets at The Music Academy for his wife and daughter. "I sent my driver at 3.30 a.m., relieved him around 7.30 a.m., waited for two hours and got the Rs. 12,000 season tickets," he said". But this season is not just for fans but also for people who are in need of making money braving the chill weather of Chennai.
I'm not against/or criticizing the article. Just wanna say my view that Margazhi helps the needy make some money from it!


text:
Easter eggs
You know what is fantastic? Having sweet sweet friends! who brings your kid an amazing easter egg with home made easter decorations from when they were kids! That is pretty fantastic!
So happy to have such good friends.
I think I need to find gifts for all my friends…….
+ having family who brings bags and bags of handed down clothes for your kid, so you never have to buy a thing! AND it includes these amazing Oshkosh overalls that I had no idea about until this weekend!
…I need to find gifts for my family too….
Ah, what nice friends you
Ah, what nice friends you have! And funny enough, my neighbour just handed me down a few bits of clothes for Bertie, and amongst them were those exact overalls (we call them dungarees). They are aged 3, so they're a bit big at the moment. Elinor looks lovely in hers :)
When I saw the pictures the
When I saw the pictures the first thought that popped into my head was: Are these Oshkosh Overalls? I wore them as a child and I think they look so cute!
(BTW, I'm a first-time commenter (I think?!) and long-time blog visitor; I love your photos and little stories, thank you for the inspiration and eye-candy! And Elinor is the cutest! :))
to answer your question: She
to answer your question: She's THAT cute! hvis bare min unge bliver halvt så sød...
She is so beautiful!, lovely
She is so beautiful!, lovely friends you have, great gift. Have a nice day!.
Cute egg, cute kid!
Cute egg, cute kid!
yes very nice! what's inside
yes very nice! what's inside the little egg?
oh my goodness, ha she looks
oh my goodness, ha she looks so proud in her new hand me downs!
Oh, your girl is so cute! And
Oh, your girl is so cute! And yes, those Oshkosh overalls are so great! I believe in the USA they are something that people really grow up with (all kids have worn them for generations), but I never saw them here in the Netherlands until a few years ago. I've been buying my girl some vintage ones on etsy, so nice and they come in all kinds of colors and prints, and also as dresses... Oh, blablabla... Sorry!
the cutest kid ever to wear
the cutest kid ever to wear oshkosh!!
Ha, jeg købte lige prœcis de
Ha, jeg købte lige prœcis de overalls til lille O. den anden dag. De er nemlig helt fantastiske! :-)
ohh lovely pictures! :) and
ohh lovely pictures! :) and my son has exactly the same trousers hahaha


text:
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
So I have all of next week off. I'm going to Japan! \(^^)/
Where in Japan are you going, Lard?
man i love gamefaqs :Dhttp://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/605603-resident-evil-6/64132190
Quote from: Alisha on September 25, 2012, 04:16:35 AMman i love gamefaqs :Dhttp://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/605603-resident-evil-6/64132190So this is about why Chris never ended a having a relationship with Jill and Leon with Ada (and screwing around with Ashley after the events of RE4)?...OK.
I dunno, if I recall correctly, Leon never unlatched that chastity belt at the end of RE4.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAs92YX2n-U
Quote from: (Tunnels) on September 25, 2012, 12:22:32 PMI dunno, if I recall correctly, Leon never unlatched that chastity belt at the end of RE4.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAs92YX2n-UPoor Ashley, she just wanted Leon all over her face. :p


text:
By Jonathan Kalan
Bees. Specifically, African bees are probably not the first, or even fifth idea, that comes to mind when you think of alleviating poverty. Yet these little insects are causing a buzz by helping thousands of rural farmers in East Africa.
For the past twelve years, Kenyan social business Honey Care Africa has developed its innovative 'Business in a Beehive' model that has allowed low-income farmers to easily earn more money by producing honey.
The package gives farmers everything they need to start producing honey- a beehive, equipment, training, hive maintenance, and – most importantly of all – a contract for a guaranteed cash purchase of the resulting honey at fair market prices.
A simple beehive requires just 1 sq m (10 sq ft) of land and two to three hours of labor per month. With minimal effort, farmers can earn extra cash from producing honey.
That makes it an attractive investment for small rural farmers who often subsist on income from a single crop. With no monthly paycheck, inconsistent harvests make predictable income difficult. The honey, on the other hand, is a relatively stable and easy source of cash that farmers can depend on.
"We've created a modern supply chain connecting poor rural households in east Africa to global markets for honey," says Madison Ayer, Honey Care Africa's CEO.
The idea comes at a convenient time. Global demand for honey constantly exceeds supply, and with bee colonies mysteriously disappearing in the US and Europe, pure honey is becoming a valuable – and expensive – commodity. The price of honey in the US is rising more than 6% annually, and the market globally is expected to hit $12 billion by 2015.
The reason is that "there's a certain magic to honey," Ayers claims. "It's the only food that insects produce that humans eat regularly, it's packed with healthy micro-nutrients, and for thousands of years honey has been used for its medicinal value."
Aside from being a healthy and natural sweetener, honey is an antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and antifungal.
Yet the production of honey is a very slow, decentralized process. It's impossible to artificially produce or mass manufacture pure honey. You need honeybees, space, wild flowers and ample time to for the bees to pollinate and produce it.
Sweet bonus
In East Africa there are plenty of honeybees ready to meet the growing demand. But, until now, challenges of infrastructure, knowledge and capital have left many locals to consider beekeeping a 'cottage industry,' and not a commercial business.
"One of the biggest challenges of honey production in Kenya is the fragmented value chain," says Fred Ogana of TechnoServe, an international NGO that invests in business solutions to poverty, and recently completed an in-depth study of Kenya's honey industry.
While many rural farmers keep bees, the traditional method of collecting honey results in low quality honey and low harvesting yields.
"Smallholder farmers typically produce honey in traditional logs, and when harvest day comes they pack it in old fruit juice bottles, and hawk it on the road sides" says Ogana.
Honey Care tries to make this process more efficient and predictable. Its package costs around $50 for two hives, and it has partnered with micro lending institutions like Kiva.org and local microfinance banks to help farmers get loans to purchase the package. Farmers can earn on average 15,000 Kenyan Shillings ($175) per year from two hives, making their return on investment substantial.
The organization has even found a way to help those people who are afraid of bees, but like the idea of a sweet income, by hiring fulltime beekeepers within villages to manage individual farmers hives. As an added bonus, pollination from the bees actually helps improve crop yields 15-30%, further adding to income.
In Kenya, this little extra cash goes a long way. Families are able to pay for school fees, medical bills, increase their land and invest in more livestock – or hives.
Shelf life
Although bee-keeping is a traditional – and relatively low-tech business – the organization is beginning to bring it into the 21st Century.
Its latest innovation is its Swarm Database smartphone app, which allows a fleet of beekeeping technicians who inspects hives across the country to enter troves of live data on farmers, hives, honey and harvesting into Samsung smartphones.
This information feeds into a central dashboard, which helps the company track production and improves the efficiency of their honey supply. Alerts encourage regular hive inspection, whilst analytics automatically highlight opportunities and trends.
The app also allows global consumers to connect more with Kenyan beekeepers, says CEO Ayer.
For example, imagine picking up a jar of Honey Care Africa honey off the shelves of your local supermarket, scanning a QR code on the jar, and seeing the family, trees and hives that produced, along with harvest date all on your screen.
"It's a great way to visualize traceability," remarks Ayer.
"Honey is so easily adulterated, consumers want to keep an eye on it," he says. "We have our eyes on honey from the bees to the shelf."


text:
The lines stretched as far as one could see outside of the Long Beach Convention Center as hundreds of enthusiasts - remote control and diecast - were waiting their turn to enter Air Age Media's 10th annual RCX show. Filling the Long Beach Convention Center, this year's event was the most interactive to date, offering both the experienced and newly curious countless opportunities to try everything the hobbies have to offer. Vendors were plentiful selling everything from ready to run remote control kits to diecast collectibles to slot car tracks - and never before seen deals were to be had all weekend long as consumers were leaving the show with their hands full of goodies. Mid-day Saturday became a who's who as celebrities were seen at RCX all weekend long. Jarrod and Brandi from Storage Wars, Jimmy Shine from Car Warriors, Mad Mike from Pimp My Ride, Catherine Bach - Miss Daisy Duke herself, George Barris of Barris Kustoms, and NHRA driver Shirley Muldowney are just a few of the countless celebrities found signing autographs and walking around RCX testing their skills behind many of the interactive activities
25 Photos
On August 25th, the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, Rhode Island held the 4th Annual Summer Smash, hosted by the Rhode Island Hot Wheels® Club. It was a four-day event where you could meet other collectors, trade room-to-room, race your best cars on a downhill track, get autographs from special guests, and much more!
203 Photos


text:
Testers from USA with android or iPhone mobile phone for testing new application -- 2
looking for tester with android or iPhone device for checking new application flow.
The tester will install the app from the store & test app flow document.
No particular skill needed.
1. Must Live in the United States
2. Must have usa phone number.
3. Android device: Use Android OS 4.1 and up
4. iPhone device: Use IOS 10.0 and up
Hello, I am dedicated worker who pays close attention to detail in order to provide high quality work. I will be happy to assist you with this app testing project provided that the app download does not contain any vir เพิ่มเติม
freelancer 10 คน กำลังเสนอราคาเฉลี่ยที่ $12/ชั่วโมง สำหรับงานนี้
Hi How are you doing? I will take care of your project i.e. iPhone Application Profile on freelancer.com: https://www.freelancer.com/u/AppXonedotCom.html Our company Profile : [login to view URL] เพิ่มเติม
Hi Employer, Your requirement matches with my skills and the availability of Android and IPhone device. I have more than 4.8 yrs of testing exp. Let me know if we can work together. Thanks
I have helped build apps for android before. I have some experience in programming also. This is something that I would like to help you with.
Testing is in my blood. give me a chance to proove myself.
Hello, I am Tahsinul Alam, completed Masters in Software Engineering now working as one of the Project Manager in Quality Assurance team of Workspace Infotech Ltd, software/Outsourcing firm located in Dhaka, Bangla เพิ่มเติม
I am very good in testing. I tested more than 100 apps ............................................................................................
I have everything that you are looking for and give this job 100%


text:
After an attempt to broil salmon last week prompted cacophonous disagreement with our smoke alarms, my roommates and I entered into a game of chicken with our manual clean oven.
Basically, it needs to be cleaned, and we don't want to clean it.
I know it's silly because my mind contains more appliance cleaning and maintenance knowledge than God graces on just anyone, but you know what they say about the cobbler's kids.
Plus, it's a royal pain. And it's easy to make the excuse, "But I don't have any oven cleaner!" or "I hate the idea of using harsh oven cleaner!" or "'The Biggest Loser' is on!"
Well, in efforts to invalidate the first two excuses and motivate me — and probably you too — here are three non-oven cleaner cleaning methods that really work.
- Ron Popeil solution
For the "Set It And Forget It" overnight set: Pour ¼ cup ammonia and 2 cups of warm water in a bowl in your oven, and close it up tight. If you're at home during this, make sure you open a window so no one gets sick. You can clean out the dirty oven with a scrubby sponge the next day.
- Mike Wallace solution
If you have 60 minutes, fill a spray bottle with 1 tablespoon Borax (which also works great as a cheap laundry detergent booster and all-purpose cleaner!), 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil dishwashing soap and a quart of warm water. Spray the oven walls, scrub it clean after an hour and rinse thoroughly.
- Jesus Jones solution
If you want it clean right here, right now, a paste of baking soda and vinegar left on the oven cavity surface could work well. Be careful to cover the holes of the gas line if you have a gas range really REALLY well, because if they get clogged, that's a bad thing. If you go this route, you should be able to scrape off food mess with a spatula. Wipe out the oven thoroughly afterwards.


text:
- Federal Relations Home
- About Federal Relations
- Legislation Action Center
- Current Federal Legislation
- Federal Legislation Archive
- Lobbying Resources
- Bright Spots in Homeschooling
Federal Relations
|Federal Legislation
|January 8, 2002
H.R. 1—No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Action: None. H.R. 1 has been signed by the President, Public Law No: 107-110.
Official purpose. To close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind.
Introduced March 22, 2001, by Rep. John Boehner.
3/23/2001: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
3/29/2001: Committee hearings held.
5/8/2001: Ordered to be amended. (Yeas and Nays: 41 7)
5/23/2001: On passage Passed by recorded vote: 384 - 45 (Roll no. 145).
5/25/2001: Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar.
6/14/2001: Senate passed companion measure H.R. 1 Vote. 91--8.
7/10/2001: Senate insists on its amendment, asks for a conference, appoints conferees.
7/18/2001: The Speaker appointed conferees for consideration of the House bill and the Senate amendment, and modifications committed to conference.
7/19/2001: Conference held.
8/1/2001: Conference held.
9/25/2001: Conference held.
10/30/2001: Conference held.
11/30/2001: Conference held.
12/11/2001: Conferees agreed to file conference report.
12/13/2001 On agreeing to the conference report Agreed to by recorded vote: 381-41.
12/18/2001: Senate agreed to conference report by Yea-Nay Vote. 87-10.
12/18/2001: Cleared for White House.
1/4/2002: Presented to President.
1/8/2002: Signed by President.
1/8/2002: Became Public Law No: 107-110.
Bill Summary and Status
HSLDA's Position:
While it is the position of HSLDA that the federal government has exceeded its constitutional limits in education policy, we believe that due diligence remains necessary to keep an ever-expanding federal government away from home education. To that end, HSLDA was satisfied with certain aspects of the final bill. One such aspect in the final language is the statement that none of the provisions contained therein should be interpreted as applying to home schooling. It also includes some positive policy steps including prohibitions on the development of a national test, restrictions on use of federal funds to develop any national curriculum, restrictions on federal teacher certification, the repeal of the Goals 2000 program, and prohibitions on a national data base.
| Other Resources
See H.R. 1 (pdf)
Final Education Bill Contains Protections for Home Schoolers
Key Home School Issues Still Pending in Conference Committee
HSLDA's Response to Questions Regarding Our Participation in Education Bills H.R. 1 and S. 1
Federal Alert Update—Committee Considers Step Toward National Test
Education Spending—A Comparison of Three Plans
Education Conference Committee Complete
Senate Selection Advances Education Proposal
House Deals with H.R. 1 Amendments—Should Complete Work Today
H.R. 1 Great for Home Schoolers, Mixed Bag for Public Schools
House Committee Approves Education Bill
5/3/2001 Alert Update: Victory Report from Capitol Hill
Heritage Foundation Gives Senate Ed Bill a Failing Grade; House Bill a B+
HSLDA Attends Education Leaders Council (ELC) - Hill Insiders Unsure of H.R. 1 Final Language.
Senate, House Move Closer to Action on Education Bills (update on S.1 - 5/1/2001)
H.R. 1—No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Introduced in the House)
"Is This the Calm Before the Storm?"
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001HSLDA's initial overview of the House bill


text:
Dear visitor, welcome to SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers. If this is your first visit here, please read the Help. It explains how this page works. You must be registered before you can use all the page's features. Please use the registration form, to register here or read more information about the registration process. If you are already registered, please login here.
Wednesday, June 8th 2011, 6:40pm
Wednesday, June 8th 2011, 7:53pm
Thursday, June 9th 2011, 1:37am
Thursday, June 9th 2011, 8:23am
Thursday, June 9th 2011, 10:06pm
Thursday, June 9th 2011, 11:07pm
Friday, June 10th 2011, 8:10am
Friday, June 10th 2011, 12:42pm
Monday, June 13th 2011, 7:48pm
Tuesday, June 14th 2011, 12:44am


text:
|Thread Tools
·····Subchapter 10a - Song and Blood
The Inn taproom was smoke filled and crowded, rotting straw decorating the floor and rude tables with the bark still attached clustered closely together. Nicos had performed in locations like this regularly when he had just been starting his career, even though he didn't need it to defend himself it was in these locals that he learnt to always carry a dagger strapped to his boot. A visible blade did much convince potential trouble to find amusement elsewhere.
The evening's entertainment and the reason he was sitting on a stool in the corner of the Rat's Nest walked into a clear - if not clean - space in one end of the room with an instrument in one hand. A few heads turned to watch her but the noise emanating from the crowed barely dropped in recognition, causing Nicos repress a smile. In places like this you need to work hard to earn the attention of a crowd more interested in drinking then anything else.
The performer was a young women, of either her late teens or very early twenties, thin with long dark red hair pulled back in a ponytail. Dressed in a woollen shirt dyed black with bluehighlights, a grey blouse and a black coat, she cut a striking figure in the crowd of men dressed in rough mud splattered work clothes. To her credit if the young lady was perturbed by being ignored she didn't show it, instead she simply picked up her instrument and began to play a tune to accompany her singing. In this corner Nicos leaned back and with half closed eyes and settled in to listen, the rest of the noisy crowd washing over him unnoticed.
Many minutes later at the end he opened his eyes, satisfied with what he heard. She had the potential to go a long way in the trade, all she needed was experience and the luck to last long enough to get it. As his focus spread from the now silent performer collecting the scattering of coins thrown her way, a conversation at a nearby table with three mud splattered workmen grabbed his attention.
"Ya like tha music Rug?"
"Ya have'n said a word all night'."
"Ha! Ya do like her, bit skinny for me. Buy her a drink, I won' tel ya misses if ya wan' someting on tha side."
"Ha ha! If ya won buy'er a drink I will!"
"Jon, Jon si' down an' shuddup."
Nicos glanced over at the young performer who was now starting to make her way toward the nearby exit, noted that she wasn't carrying a weapon and began scanning the crowd for her backup. Some people people don't like ruining a carefully constructed appearance by having a weapon at hand, so the favourite alternative to do then is have a backup hidden away in the crowd who can step in if trouble starts. Being able to fight well in these situations is secondary to looking meaner then everyone else put together, leading some people to consider the job as much an art as the performance itself.
"Hey lass!" the drunken workman yelled out as his companions tried to quiet him, lurching to his feet he stumbled into the path of the young performer and grabbed her arm. "M'friend wannsa have a talk with ya."
"Let go of my arm," the young women replied in an even tone of voice and an unreadable expression.
With a last frantic glance around the room full of people ignoring the confrontation, Nicos reluctantly concluded that if she had a backup he had long since lost interest. With a sigh the bard adjusted the sword at his side and stood up, he had played the role in the past and knew what to do, but missing an arm and not bulking large in size attempts to intimidate usually failed leaving the confrontations to turn ugly.
"Weer just bein' friendly-like," the workman said not letting go. "Wuts ya problem?"
"Jon shuddup," one of his still sitting companions called out.
"I said let go," the young women repeated.
"Ah there you are," Nicos said with a smile approaching the group.
"Buddy, this is a private convorsation," the offending workman said to to the bard.
"The lady doesn't seem to want to take part in it," Nicos said, his smile turning into a grin. "If you want to talk to someone so badly, why not let her go and talk to me instead?"
"Oh," the workman said, letting go of the young woman's arm to stand an inch away from the bard. "Are ya going ta make me?"
The two men stood silently facing each other, the workman glowering and the bard smiling in a pleasant manner. At the table the two sitting men stirred and Nicos silently cursed, if it came to a fight he would have to try and deal with all three of them at once. The stand off continued unabated, neither man willing to back down or make the first move, until finally the young women who was waylaid broke the stalemate.
"Oh this is pathetic," she exclaimed. "You seem so enthralled with each other, should we leave you two alone to get better acquainted?"
A chorus of weak laughs emerged from the nearby tables at the joke and the tension that had been growing ebbed away. Fishing a coin out of a pocket the women tossed it onto the table.
"Buy yourselves a round on me, I-" she said, glancing at Nicos them quickly correcting herself. "-We have to be somewhere."
Grabbing him by the shoulder, the young women propelled Nicos towards the exit while he gave a friendly wave to the man he had narrowly avoided a fight with.
"You didn't need to do that, I had it under control," the young women said.
"Oh I'm sorry," Nicos replied in an amused tone. "Should we go back so I can reintroduce you?"
"Never mind," she said with a grudging smile. "Thank you anyway."
"Thank you for getting me out of a fight," the bard said extending his hand. "I'm Nicos."
"I know," the women said as they passed through the exit. "I've seen you perform, I'm Lynn."
@}-`-- Coffee + Hate = itches
"What bought you to a place like The Rat Nest - besides trying to pick fights?" Lynn asked as the pair passed through the exit into the chill Enderin night. "That place seems a bit rough to be your regular - no offence."
"Hey I could have taken him," Nicos said in an injured voice.
"I'm sure," she replied in a tone dripping with sarcasm. "Really, why were you there?"
"You actually."
"Me?" She said with a dry tone of shock, pausing under a spluttering street lantern that dropped a pool of flickering amber light on the abandoned street. "I knew I'm good but I didn't expect that I would get a fan club this early in my career. Should I expect the rest of my fans to make the impression you did?"
"I doubt that, I like to think that I'm- AHH!"
A crossbow bolt flew out of the darkness cutting Nicos off mid-sentence. The world seemed a disinteresting place as he hit the floor, the burning pain in his shoulder a small thing and somewhere in the distance he dimly heard Lynn shouting unintelligible words. It all sharply came back as she pulled him to his feet and the pain from the wounded shoulder exploded in an agony that left him gasping and blinded by tears. Moments later, without quite being aware of how they arrived there, the pair ducked down the entrance to a narrow alleyway and collapsed against one of the walls.
"Shit, shit, shit," Lynn swore viciously, alternating her attention from where the bleeding bard lay and the entrance of the alley, holding a long slender and very sharp looking knife that previously had been hidden somewhere under her clothes.
"You do have weapon after all," Nicos murmured still half in shock from the sudden attack.
"Shit," the young woman continued, finally kneeling besides the wounded man. "Shit this isn't good."
"Lynn," Nicos tried to interrupt her, struggling into a sitting position and gritting his teeth against the pain.
"What the hell happ-" she continued.
"Lynn just ta--"
"Gods you're bleeding all over-"
"Lynn calm dow-"
"They will be here any mome-"
Lynn looked at Nicos with wide eyes, caught halfway between panic of a moment before and shock at his sudden outburst. In the silence that followed the gentle noises of a city at night drifted over them, voices from the nearby tavern blurred together in an unintelligible mess, buildings creaking as they settled in the chilly air, a dog barking in the distance.
"Shh," the bard said with a held up hand, shutting his eyes for a second against a new wave of pain. "Listen."
"What? They could be here any mo-"
"Listen," he repeated. "What do you hear?"
"Umm.." Drawn back into a semblance of calm by Nicos' tone, Lynn cocked her head to the side, taking in the sounds of the city. "Nothing, they must be sneaking up-"
"They're not," Nicos dismissed. "If they were going to jump us up close they would have done so already. If it was a lone sniper then he might wait around a minute to see if we pop up again, but it's more likely he'll have left in case we have friends nearby."
"How do you know?"
"Hush a second," Nicos muttered, taking his hand and probing at the wound in his shoulder. The resulting pain escaped his lips in a soft whimper and left the bard drenched in sweat, there were cantrips - simple songs and melodies which could dull pain - but there was no opportunity to use one here.
"You know that it was a lone sniper because it's the only thing that fits what happened," Lynn said slowly, her knife returned to its hidden hiding place, watching Nicos' self examination with concerned eyes. "So you know what they'll do because it's the only smart thing to do ... right?"
"Right," Nicos said, slumping against the wall and shutting his eyes again.
"How did you work that out so quickly, and while you're hurt so badly."
"Experience," the bard murmured softly. "After enough close calls you learn to pay attention and think quickly." It was strange, despite the cold night he felt very warm and comfortable leaning against the brick wall of the alley. Even the pain in his shoulder had started to fade, it seemed as if just shut his eyes and drifted away then everything would be alright.
"So what do we do now? Nicos? ... Nicos!"
Jerked back to the present by what felt like a tremendous shaking, Nicos opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He immediately regretted the latter, as it set his wounded shoulder off again in a way that reminded the bard of a similar injury, an injury he would sooner forget.
"Nicos, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he lied automatically, blinking away the tears that had appeared. "Now we get off the street and to somewhere safe. Do you think you can help me to my apartment?"
"Yes sure," Lynn said, slinging the man's arm over his shoulder and helping him stand with a grunt of effort. "Where do you live?"
"Over by ... by ... in Millers Road," Nicos said, trying to concentrate through the disorientation the sudden movement had caused in his head.
"That's a fair bit away, my place is close. We'll go there."
"What? Your place? Okay, that ... that'll work."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Lynn asked again as they set off into the night with a shuffling awkward walk.
"I'm not going to bleed to death or anything, just - just don't let me fall asleep."
"You better not fall asleep," Lynn replied with a forced light tone. "A beautiful young maiden invites the infamous Nicos to her quarters only for him to fall asleep? Your reputation would never recover."
"There is that," Nicos said with a smile - the first since the ambush. "Did you ever hear the story of Able Roberts the Baker?"
"So there I was, a reproduction of the classic Silven Forest in one hand and the shredded remains of my pants in the others."
Lynn's laughter echoed through across the dark empty streets of Enderine, the silvery pearl of joy a counter part to the bloodsoaked bard half slung over her shoulders.
"What did you do then?" the young women asked, her curiosity only half feigned.
"What could I do?" Nicos replied with a shrug, wincing as the movement tore at his wound. "I decided I'd over stayed my welcome and slipped out of town that same night."
"That's a terrible story," Lynn said as they walked up a side street and paused before a narrow wooden door. "This is me, hang on while I unlock it."
Lynn's place was - to put it diplomatically - small. A 10 foot square room dominated the place, an unmade bed jammed into one corner, a dresser painted a garish yellow and purple and an ancient and frail looking table and chair. On top of everything was a mess of random items, clothing, parchment, and empty bottles. A darkened door way in one wall led off to somewhere else. Half-carrying Nicos over to the bed, Lynn placed him on it then stood back to look apprehensively at the blood soaked tunic.
"Maybe I should go get a healer ... " she offered tentatively.
"Never mind that," Nicos said gruffly as he cut away the tunic to exam the hole in his shoulder.
"It's not just a scratch."
"I noticed that myself," Nicos said. The crossbow bolt that had caused the wound had been knocked loose at some point during the events, accounting for the large amount of blood lost. While it might have been better for it to stay, it was too late to do anything about it. "Do you know 'The Green Morn'?" he suddenly asked his unexpected host.
"I - what?"
"Do you know how to play it?"
"Ofcourse I do, everyone does."
"Play it for me."
"What? Now?"
"I'm going to go find a healer."
"Lynn no," Nicos said reaching out a bloodied hand. "I'm asking for a little trust, try this my way. Please."
The young women stood over the wounded bard indecisively, then picked up her instrument and say down on a stool. "Okay, but after this I'm getting you a damn healer."
"Don't make promises you won't keep," Nicos said with a smile as he layed back and shut his eyes, letting the simple tones of the ancient tune wash over him. Like many cultures the ancient human legends, tales and songs 'The Green Morn' had been borrowed from an older-still culture, this one an elvish song. So when he began singing along to the tune it was in an elven and magical form.
The words flowed forth in the inhuman tongue, and a rainbow of lights flashed in the bard's mind. Arcane energy not meant to be manipulated and channelled by humankind coursed through him, causing his body to arch in a twisted mixture of agony and bliss. Moments stretched to hours as days collapsed into seconds, causing his senses to spin, split and reassemble in a dizzying array.
The song ended and Nicos lay on the bed gasping, soaked through with sweat. A hard absolute silence dominated the room as Lynn looked at the bard, and the new pink flesh that but minutes ago had been a ragged wound.
"That was ... was ..." the young woman said, looking at Nicos with something between awe and suspicion.
"It was efficient, if draining," Nicos commented while exaiming the completely healed wound.
"You can perform magic?" Lynn half blurted half accused.
"I know some mages who would argue that definition," Nicos said wryly. "What some consider magic others consider something totally else. I just call it a trick, a useful trick that I've had to use far too frequently of late."
"You can heal yourself? Lynn said, the accusation draining from her voice.
"Sometimes," Nicos said, rolling his shoulder and pleased to discover that there was no residual stiffness. "Why, should I start getting ready to be lynched for witchcraft."
"No, nothing like that," Lynn said drawing into herself as if mentally considering something. "You said it's just a trick?"
"A useful and fairly complicated one, but yes."
"Could anyone do it?"
"Maybe not everyone," the bard considered, pulling himself to his feet. "I'm no expert but I think more people could do it then is commonly believed."
"Do you think that," Lynn said her voice retaining an edge of contemplation. "Well, could you teach me to do that?"
"Well now," Nicos said with a half smile as he looked at the attractive young women who had invited him into her home. "Why don't we talk about that?"
@}-`-- Coffee + Hate = itches
"I'm not going to sleep with you."
"What?" Nicos said with shock. "I never-"
"I know your reputation," Lynn interrupted. "I just want to get that out in the open. No sex."
"Well if you know my reputation, then you know what I'd think of ultimatum like that," Nicos said slyly. "They're not the most effective way of getting your point across."
"Yeah but you'll be amazed at how dragging someone's bleeding body through the dark streets will kill any chance of romance."
"Ah that," the bard commented in mock anger. "Curse my frail mortal body. So you want to learn magic."
"It seems interesting," the young woman said with feigned disinterest. "I mean, you don't see it very often."
"This isn't the best way to do it," Nicos shook his head. "Look if you want to learn to use magic I can introduce you to some people who would be willing to teach you, it's a lot of study ..."
"No, they're - it's not really the thing."
"- or I know of some religious orders that aren't too horrific that use something similar to magic?"
"No, I like ... living like this. My life. Singing, playing, living. I don't want to give it up, even for the chance to learn how to use ... do we have to call it magic? It sounds so stupid, like something from a child's story."
"Let me know if you come up with a better term," Nicos commented dryly. "Look I don't really know how to use magic. I've just picked up a few tricks along the way, most are absolutely useless - want to know how to change your hair colour? And I've never tried to teach anyone before, even if you could learn I don't know if I could teach it."
"While you're trying you could give me a few singing lessons in the meantime."
"You could use them. Look we can spend some time and I'll see if there is anyway I could teach you, just keep in mind that this is new to me and it might be beyond both of us."
"It should be fun in any case," Lynn said. "Your reputation says that much, even if I won't sleep with you."
Hours later as the first, faint pink traces of dawn brushed the eastern horizon and the city began to stir, a pair of bards furtively crept out into the shadow drenched streets.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lynn breathed into Nicos' ear as she tried her best to be invisible at his side.
"We have to get to somewhere safer," Nicos answered softly, trying to watch everything at once. "If the assassin is out here he'll soon get desperate enough to try breaking in anyway."
"You're right about that much at least," a mysterious, hate filled voice said loudly. Spinning about, the bards were in time to see a man step from the shadows with a naked blade in hand. "And so it ends, Nicos!"
"You!" the one-armed bard said, falling back into dramatics to cover his surprise. Looking the man over, the bard noted the quality clothes and trendy hairstyle marred by what seems to be mud and derbies of a night lying on the street. The sword in his hand was gold inlaid but looked very functional for all its fancy as it rested it hand that held it in comfort. Digging franticly though his mind however, Nicos could not find hint, scent or clue to who the man was.
"Could you give me some help here?" he added in a mocking conspiratorial tone. "I can't remember who you are."
@}-`-- Coffee + Hate = itches
"You might not remember me, but you will remember Cyrinthia. My name is Aretho Bertayo, you killed my sister. Prepare to die."
"Woah woah woah!" Nicos exclaimed holding up his hand. "Cyrinthia Bertayo? Red hair, about so tall, engaged to Lord Fuo? I didn't kill her, she was alive and well last I saw her and that was some time ago!"
"You killed her as surely as if you had held the blade yourself," Aretho said through hate clenched teeth, brandishing his sword. "I know what you did to her, everyone does. She was soon to be wed but you couldn't leave well enough alone. You ... you ... bed her, took her innocence. Fuo found out and called off the wedding, she was in scandal, her life ruined and killed herself from the shame. All because of you."
"And you're here to avenge her with my blood I take it?" Nicos said trying to gauge the man's mood and intention. "I don't suppose you would listen if I said she made her own choices."
"She was a victim of your lechery!" Aretho exclaimed. "And deserves vengeance!"
"Well in that case there's only one thing I can add," Nicos said in an off hand manner. "She enjoyed it."
"You think I took her innocence?" the bard commented with scorn. "You think I seduced her? You're a fool! Your sister was a willing, eager part of what happened. She wanted it, she moaned my name as I took her on Fuo's bed."
"Shut up!"
"Nicos?" Lynn said uncertain.
"Innocent? Ha!" Nicos continued heedless of the man's growing rage and Lynn's confusion. "The things she let me do to her, eagerly suggesting them, things twisted beyond your imagination. I took nothing from her that hadn't been taken by dozens of-"
"I'll kill you!"
Driven past the point of rage by the bard needling, Aretho leapt forward fuelled by reckless anger. Reacting as if it was what he expected, Nicos leant aside so the blow went wide, drawing his own sword in the process and flicking it at the man's face. Yet for all of Aretho's rage, his reflexes remained true and he dodged, taking the edge of the sword alone on an ear.
"Watch out there," Nicos said with a wicked smile. "When you play with knives you sometimes get cut."
"I tried hiring an assassin to kill you," Aretho said, drawing his anger back under control. "I even tried shooting you from the dark, but this is what I should have done from the start. Face to face, taking the pleasure of seeing you die slowly on my own blade."
"Those are strong words for the brother of a drunken harl-"
With a cry Aretho leapt at the bard again, feinting a blow at his head before launching a crippling swipe to the knees that Nicos barely blocked. High, low, left, right, Aretho's sword moved in a golden blur almost too fast to see as Nicos was forced to retreat step after step, picking up a light cut on his cheek and a bruise on his hip before his opponent extended an attack too far allowing the bard time to slam his sword hilt into the man's chest, driving him back.
The pair stood panting on the empty predawn street, an unspoken moment of truce in the duel to the finish. Watching the man watch him with hate filled eyes; Nicos felt a shiver of fear crawl up his spine. In a straight duel the man's talent far outweighed his, there was a strong possibility that the bard would not walk away from this encounter.
"And to think," Aretho spat. "Cyrinthia was taken by someone as pathetic as you, not even a real man, half a man, a cripple who-"
Giving a cry of his own as a blinding rage arose to cloud his wits, Nicos leapt forward with all the speed the gods granted him. Barely brushing aside the man's sword, he exchanged a cut along his ribs for moving close enough to deliver a thundering head butt, sending his enemy staggering backwards.
"Cripple?!" Nicos screamed at Aretho as he hacked blows at the man's face and throat. "HALF-MAN?! I was more then enough for your slut sister! Did she kill herself out of shame or because she knew I didn't want her anymore? That she would never know touch as good as me again? Surrounded by pathetic excuses like you? Is that you hate me, that after me she wouldn't let you touch her anymore?"
Back and forth the pair moved, shouting insults and taunts to make even the most battle hardened mercenary pale at the implications. Hatred grew and flowed in the dark street as the moments passed, words that could never be undone were exchanged in a fight that would only end in the death of one or the other. Aretho drove his blade at Nicos' exposed left again and again until the bard had a second cut crossing the first on his ribs that ebbed his strength away. Nicos used derision and dirty tricks to move past the superior guard of his opponent, too far gone in rage to call forth arcane aid, until the man sported a deep wound on his leg that wept blood at a furious rate and limited his movements. Blow after blow, after cut, after riposte, parry, kick, punch, and bite were exchanged as arms grew heavy and energy faded until the conflict carried on by nothing more by hatred.
In the end, Aretho's rage proved the stronger. Nurtured and stoked for years, it served its master true and mere minutes after the duel began Nicos' sword went skidding over the cobblestone street as the bard collapsed to the ground, exhausted, bloody and beaten. Standing over his fallen foe, though no less bloody or exhausted, Aretho draw back his blade for one final swing.
"So you come to a better end then you deserve."
@}-`-- Coffee + Hate = itches
Time slowed, moments stretched and distorted as death descended upon him. The predawn sky highlighted the crimson stained blade as it played a sanguine light over the swelling fog that surrounded him, a testimony to the blood spilled and an omen of what was yet to come. In a desperate still functioning part of his mind, Nicos refused to believe that this was how it would end. He struggled to move impossible heavy limbs, to roll, to cry out, to do something - anything - to avoid the inevitable fate declining towards him.
In his mind's eye, images of his life flashed before him. A small garden of frustration. A white gold ring of history. Rotten straw of despair. The hot fire of loss. Silver hair of love. Weathered face of respect. The lure of unknown adventure. Red hair of passion. All and more flowed past in the blink of an eye along with the realisation that this was how he was going to die, in the empty dark street on the end of a vengeful sword.
Then fate shifted and the future changed, Aretho's blow went wide as he stumbled forward, revealing Lynn behind him. Forgotten in the heat of the moment, she had silently moved around and behind the combatants, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. With an ugly expression adorning her normally appealing face, she pulled her blade from his back. The moment's distraction and sudden hope was all Nicos needed, lashing out with a foot to send the already unsteady man to the floor, a roll and the bard regained his feet his sword once help in a hand sticky with sweat and blood.
Kicking Aretho's dropped sword to the side, Lynn hefted her own blade, a silent question to her fellow bard, leaving the choice of how to finish it to him.
"No let him be," Nicos shook his head. "Your blow was deep and he might not survive it on his own. He might not want to." Leaning down with a wince, he spoke to the man with a low, intimate voice. "Aretho for all you blame me for Cyrinthia's death, there's more to it then that. Where were you when she was in need? I made her no promises I wouldn't keep, but you were her brother. Where were you?"
Standing upright again, he learnt his weight heavily upon the young women besides him as the aristocrat looked up with pain glassed eyes. "Cyrinthia's death is one too many in this whole affair. I won't kill you. I won't end this. What happens next is up to you, if you come after me again we'll finish it then. But my death won't remove your guilt or self loathing, that you will have to do yourself."
With a final shake of his head, Nicos turned and limped off into the predawn city.
"Is life with you always this ... interesting?" Lynn's dry voice was heard to echo back to where Aretho lay, eyes beginning to well with tears.
"Like this?" Nicos replied sounding shocked. "No, sometimes there are ogres."
@}-`-- Coffee + Hate = itches
|Thread Tools


text:
Iran-North Korea-Syria Ballistic Missile and Nuclear Cooperation
Description: This report describes the key elements of a nuclear weapons program; explains the available information regarding cooperation among Iran, North Korea, and Syria on ballistic missiles and nuclear technology; and discusses some specific issues for Congress.
Date: February 26, 2016
Creator: Kerr, Paul K.; Hildreth, Steven A. & Nikitin, Mary Beth D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department