INTRODUCTION: The Silent Partner series of info-letters, a lawyer-to-lawyer resource for military family law issues, is a project of the military committees of the American Bar Association's Family Law Section and the North Carolina State Bar. For others in this series, go to www.americanbar.org > Family Law Section > Military Committee, or to www.nclamp.gov > For Lawyers. Comments, corrections and suggestions should be sent to the address at the end of the last page.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (NDAA 17) contained a major revision of how military pension division orders are written and will operate. Instead of allowing the states to decide how to divide military retired pay and what formula or methodology to use, Congress imposed a single uniform method of pension division on all the states, a hypothetical scenario in which the military member retires on the date of divorce. Despite the fact that more than forty states employ the "time rule" to divide a defined benefit plan, all states – as of December 23, 2016, the date the law was enacted – will have to use this new method for dividing a military pension.
The new rule applies to those still serving – the servicemember (SM) who goes through divorce and property division while still on active duty in the uniformed services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, plus the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). It also applies to those in the National Guard and Reserves who are not yet receiving retired pay. It has no impact on those who obtain a divorce and property division after retirement.
The new military pension division rule is a "rewrite" of the terms for military pension division found in the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, or USFSPA. The rewrite requires that the military retired pay to be divided will be that attributable to the rank and years of service of the military member at the time of the parties' decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation (hereafter divorce*). This is so even though the servicemember may rise in rank and years of service afterwards, resulting in a larger pension to be divided, which would then be discounted by using the "marital fraction" to apply pension division to only the benefit which was acquired during the marriage. The only adjustment will be cost-of-living adjustments that occur under 10 U.S.C. § 1401a (b) between the time of the court order and the time of retirement.
The NDAA 17 rewrite makes no exceptions for the parties' agreement to vary from the new federal rule. Everyone must do it one way, regardless of what the husband and wife decide they want the settlement to say.
But now everyone will have to know how to do it. Since few lawyers know how to write such an order without a handful of Excedrin, this means the cost of military divorce will go up once again, with rivers of rejection letters flowing back to attorneys who submit their pension orders to the retired pay center in the hope of approval.
Then it's back to the drawing board for another attempt, or else the local attorney will have to farm it out to some expert who can do it properly – if there's enough information available to figure it out. The required data include the servicemember's rank and years of creditable service, as well as his or her "High-3" figure (i.e., the average of the highest 36 months of compensation). An expert will need to be located, assuming there is enough money is left to pay this draftsman for the work.
Most courts already give consideration to how the efforts of the SM and the spouse during the marriage should be apportioned in regard to future promotions. The time rule is based on the "marital foundation theory," which recognizes that the individual's final retired pay is based on a foundation of marital effort (e.g., a servicemember would never have attained the rank of sergeant major, with 30 years of service, if it hadn't been for the efforts expended during the marriage up to the rank of sergeant first class over 20 years, when the parties divorced). That's one reason why a large majority of states have adopted the time rule for dividing every type of pension – it provides the fairest approach to division of this asset, whether the pension is state or federal, private or public. And it accounts for the postponement of the benefit (i.e., the spouse's inability to obtain immediate payments in most states) by allowing for the growth in the pension over time.
That approach goes out the window under this new NDAA 17 rule. The share of the former spouse (FS) is artificially fixed, frozen like a fly in amber. And then the payments are postponed until the SM chooses to put in for retirement, so a second shrinkage is imposed on the pension share of the FS.
Husband and Wife agree to divide the husband's retired pay exactly according to the Frozen Benefit Rule. At the time Husband is a major in the Marine Corps with over 16 years of service.
Their property settlement language tracks the new statute by stating that the disposable retired pay to be divided by court order is that of Husband, based on his years of service and rank at the time of the court order, that is, "major over 16." It even calculates the hypothetical retired pay.
Both sign it, and they have their signatures notarized.
They do not, however get divorced immediately. Due to a deployment and an overseas assignment for Husband, filing for divorce does not take top priority for him. As for Wife, she needs to maintain medical coverage as a dependent spouse so she is not eager to pursue the dissolution either. Five years pass before one of them files. By that time Husband is a lieutenant colonel over 20, not a major over 16.
When the divorce is granted, with the settlement incorporated into it, it is submitted to the retired pay center. And the center rejects it, since the rank and years of service at the time of the divorce is not "major over 16" but "lieutenant colonel over 20." The latter is what must be stated in the order or decree, not the agreed terms.
How much time was allowed for states to revise their laws to accommodate this new rule? None. There was no "breathing room" allowed, no decent interval set out to let the majority of the states write up, propose and enact laws consistent with the "new rule." Counsel for the FS will need to alert the court to this problem and show that a warped formula will occur if the denominator of the marital fraction is not revised, to avoid imposition of a double discount on the FS.
Here's how the double discount works: First of all, the benefit to be divided with the FS is frozen at the rank, years of service and retired pay base at the date of divorce. In addition, since state laws have not been rewritten to revise the "marital fraction," the fraction will still be calculated in 90% of the states based on years of marital pension service divided by total pension service years (marital service years ÷ total service years), rather than years of marital pension service years divided by service years up to the date of the divorce.
It is essential to stop the clock for the denominator at divorce since the benefit is also fixed at that date. Anything else would doubly dilute the pension benefit granted to the spouse. This was recognized in a 2014 Texas case, Douglas v. Douglas, which held that the denominator in a "hypothetical clause" is the months of creditable service during marriage up to the date of divorce, rather than the date of retirement. The Texas Court of Appeals stated that accepting the husband's proposition – that the denominator should be total years of service – would impermissibly dilute the ex-wife's share acquired during the parties' marriage.
The new law is effective and binding on the states upon enactment (i.e., 12/23/2016). Although the method of dividing pensions, as well as the date of valuation and classification of marital or community property, has always been a matter of state law, that will change in the military case. Since no time has been allowed for state legislatures to adjust to the change and rewrite state laws, lawyers will need to make adjustments "on the fly" to deal with military pension division cases which are presently on the docket or which come to trial before the state legislature can act.
An illustration may help to paint the problems and suggest solutions more clearly. We'll use in these examples a divorce case involving the civilian former spouse, John Doe, and his ex-wife, Navy Commander Mary Doe. They are litigating in a time rule state, one which has not made any changes regarding the marital fraction used in dividing a military pension.
There's no easy day for attorneys handling either side of the pension division case under these new rules. But the SM's lawyer will always have the less difficult task. The new law was tailor-made for the servicemember, by freezing his or her retirement benefit. In addition, the SM has control over all the evidence and testimony needed for court or in settlement.
The active-duty SM needs to provide her attorney with proof of the "High-3" figure (i.e., the average of her highest 36 months of compensation) at the time of the divorce. That will usually be the most recent three years. The High-3 amount can be calculated from Mary's pay records. The document showing her pay is called the LES, or Leave and Earnings Statement. She can get help in obtaining the data through her finance office, and she should be able to retrieve about a year's worth of LES's from the Defense Finance and Accounting service (DFAS) secure pay portal (https://mypay.dfas.mil) or from her own secure portal online for pay and personnel information (e.g., "My Navy Portal" for sailors, "Army Knowledge Online" for soldiers). Mary can also obtain a pay transcript from DFAS summarizing the last three years of base pay.
Mary's attorney will place the numbers for these 36 months of base pay on a spreadsheet, and Mary will authenticate the pay in her trial testimony. The spreadsheet should be offered to the court as a summary of the written records which have been verified by Mary, and Mary must also be able to testify that the spreadsheet is indeed an accurate transcription of her pay records, even if she did not prepare the spreadsheet. If the records were obtained from the pay center (DFAS in this case), then Mary may need to obtain a declaration from the business records custodian.
Once the evidence has been admitted, the court will require a court order for dividing the pension. The attorney for the prevailing party is often tagged with the task of preparing the military pension division order, or MPDO, unless all the necessary language is placed in the divorce decree, or in a property settlement incorporated into the decree. If "outside assistance" from a lawyer experienced in writing such pension orders is needed, this should be done as early as possible, preferably at the start of the case.
Whenever possible, the SM needs to request bifurcation of the divorce from the claim for equitable distribution or division of community property. The earlier that the SM gets the court to pronounce the dissolution of the marriage, the lower his or her "High-3" figure base will be, which means the lower the dollar amount for pension division with the spouse.
When operating under the new rules, the former spouse needs to realize that, in the words of the Rolling Stones' 1964 hit, "Time Is on My Side." The longer it takes to obtain the divorce, the higher the servicemember's rank, years of service and "High-3" will be. Should the SM move to bifurcate the hearing into "divorce now, property division later," the FS should oppose the request by arguing that judicial economy and efficiency will be impaired, state law frowns upon severance of the issues and a multiplicity of hearings (if that is accurate) and that Congress has joined inextricably the divorce and the division of a military pension by requiring the setting of the retired pay base (the "High-3") at the time of divorce.
Once the divorce case has started, the FS ought to propound discovery immediately, asking – among other things – for verification of when the highest three years of compensation were for the SM, and for information on what the "High-3" is so that the court can calculate this essential element of military pension division. The latter inquiry can be posed in interrogatories and also in document requests. If the SM is less than forthcoming in the responses, the FS can argue for putting off the divorce until the SM begins to cooperate in responding to discovery. Counsel for the FS, John Doe, may be able to use principles of equity and the "clean hands doctrine" to argue that the SM must be in compliance with the rules and orders of the court – including full, prompt and honest answers to discovery – to be able to move for affirmative relief herself, in the form of a hearing on the application for a divorce judgment.
As to documents and evidence in trial, the above approach for Mary Doe's case would also be what John and his attorney would use most of the time. For an effective trial presentation, John's lawyer will need to get and submit the above information if the court is to do a proper hypothetical clause for the Doe case in light of the new Frozen Benefit Rule. While the records might be obtained from Mary through discovery, a written consent signed by Mary (for transmission to the retired pay center) may be necessary if she won't produce the data on her own, or perhaps a court order or a judge-signed subpoena sent to DFAS if she is obstinate. It could take weeks or months to obtain this information from the source.
To attempt to find the flaws and wiggle through the loopholes in the new rule, the lawyer for John Doe (the ex-husband of CDR Mary Doe) faces a daunting task, and it doesn't simply involve the assembly of numbers for the court to use in ruling on a hypothetical award. The strategy for John is more of a global approach to the entire process, and it might involve half a dozen possibilities, depending on the state court rules for pension division, opposing counsel (or pro se litigant), the particular judge involved, the phase of the moon and other factors!
The goal of the FS, John Doe, is to "restore the equilibrium" in pension division. He needs what he would have received before the new rule was passed: a division of the amount of retired pay which Mary gets at retirement. At best, he wants to employ an approach which will yield a result that is numerically the same as that produced by the time rule if that were still available. His "Plan B" would be to obtain other payments or benefits which would help him obtain what he sees as a fairer division of Mary's retired pay and benefits, or of the marital or community property in general.
As to John's possible strategies, note that these are not labelled "One Size Fits All." While some states may prohibit or restrict a particular approach, the summary below is written to set out the entire spectrum of possible strategies, not to advocate one specific method for a particular case or state.
…"court order" means a final decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation issued by a court, or a court ordered, ratified, or approved property settlement incident to such a decree (including a final decree modifying the terms of a previously issued decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation, or a court ordered, ratified, or approved property settlement incident to such previously issued decree)….
The SM's years of creditable service at divorce or, for a member of the Guard or Reserves, the creditable retirement points at divorce.
Spousal Support Settlement. When the parties are in agreement, a consent order for alimony, maintenance or spousal support is one way to obtain time-rule payments from the military pension without the limitations of the Frozen Benefit Rule. An alimony garnishment is based on "remuneration from employment." It is not tied to DRP, or disposable retired pay; thus the new rule and its definition of DRP do not apply to permanent alimony payments which start at retirement and function as a division of retired pay.
Note that there is no "10/10 rule" for alimony payments from the retired pay center, as is the requirement when the pension is divided as property (i.e., property division payments from the retired pay center may only be made if there are at least 10 years of creditable service concurrent with at least 10 years of marriage).
Make sure that the FS payments do not end at remarriage or cohabitation (since pension-share payments would not end at either of these two events) and are not subject to modification.
There is no reason, however, why the retired pay center should refuse to accept a formula for the spousal support, rather than a specific set dollar figure.
A consent order for permanent spousal support should suffice to obtain the payments to the FS upon retirement of the SM, and the tax consequences will be the same, namely, the FS is taxed on the payments and they are excluded from the income of the payor/retiree.
A Spoonful of Alimony. John's attorney could argue for division of the pension under the new rule, with the remaining amount made up by alimony to be decided upon Mary Doe's retirement, in order to get the equivalent of a "time rule" order. If John is awarded alimony while Mary is still serving, the alimony should not end automatically upon Mary's retirement; John's attorney needs to review carefully the results of dividing Mary's retired pay to decide whether some alimony should be continued to equalize the parties' positions. The terms of the alimony order might make the amount adjustable depending on economic and financial factors at the time of Mary's retirement, including any reduction of the retired pay to which John would be entitled under the time rule due to the "Frozen Benefit Rule," or any reduction because Mary elects VA disability compensation and that reduces John's amount due to a "VA waiver" under 10 U.S.C. § 1408 (a)(4) and 38 U.S.C. § 5304-5305. Note that the order regarding spousal support as a "stand-in" for pension division must clearly state that the support does not end at the remarriage or cohabitation of the recipient spouse, since true pension division orders do not change upon either event.
Using the Time Rule Formula Anyway. The revised law doesn't say that a court may not enter a time-rule order. It merely states that the retired pay center (DFAS or the Coast Guard Pay and Personnel Center) will only honor "date-of-divorce division" for those still serving. Recognizing this limitation on payments from the pay center, the court may still enter a time rule order, noting that at Mary's retirement only a portion of the pension-share payment for John Doe will come from DFAS. The court's order would provide that Mary will still be responsible for the rest and will indemnify John for any difference between the two amounts.
There is a parallel to the remedy often used in "VA waiver" cases in which the FS gets less than intended. Election of VA disability compensation often results in a dollar-for-dollar reduction in retired pay. The duty to indemnify is a common solution for this "VA waiver" and the former spouse's receipt of a lower amount due to operation of the law. Why shouldn't it work for cases in which the "operation of law" involves an amendment to USFSPA, the "Frozen Benefit Rule"? As will be explained below, 10 U.S.C. § 1408 (e)(6), the "savings clause" in USFSPA, allows the courts to employ state enforcement remedies for any amounts which may not be payable through the retired pay center.
Naïve Ned says, "It can't be done! How can you postpone the divorce for more than a couple of weeks on the outside, once the case has been filed?" Sadly, Ned hasn't had much experience in the big, wide world outside his office walls.
Many legitimate tactics exist for slowing down the wheels of litigation. Rather than accepting service of process, Ned could politely tell his opponent that the client will not allow him to sign an acceptance, and that regular service of process must be employed. When the client is finally served, Ned can ask for an extension of time for filing an answer. If there is a flaw in the pleadings, Ned may file a motion to dismiss. If there are questions regarding grounds for the divorce or the validity of the plaintiff's claim of domicile, then Ned can initiate discovery. With these and other tactics, an attorney in Syracuse, New York (for whom the author was a consultant) was able to drag out and delay a divorce decree from 2010 (when the case was filed) until 2014. And all the while the client, a retired Army colonel, was begging him to speed it up and get the divorce granted!
Ethical Ethel takes a different approach. "While it may be possible to postpone the divorce, there are serious concerns under the Rules of Professional Conduct. It's never right to delay the litigation. Counsel has an ethical duty to move forward toward completion, not drag his feet. Slowing down the process with the goal of delay is unethical!" Unfortunately, Ethel hasn't read the Rules very closely.
While delay for its own sake is improper, delay which results from the legitimate use of objections, discovery, motions and other tactics is not inappropriate or a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The Rules prohibit "unreasonable delay" or "improper delay." They do not bar the use of legitimate devices, such as discovery, to obtain needed information, even though the employment of discovery and the unresponsiveness of the other side may lead to lengthy delays in the legal process.
In a 1998 divorce and property division case, the author embarked on a campaign of discovery to ascertain whether the plaintiff, a soldier, was a legitimate resident of North Carolina. Domicile is an essential element of divorce, and the defendant was a maid at a motel in coastal Georgia, so it could not be her domicile which was at stake. The plaintiff was in New York. Using sequential discovery (i.e., interrogatories followed some weeks later by document requests, and then followed by requests for admissions, rather than simultaneous service of all of these on the plaintiff), the author beamed in amusement when the plaintiff – instead of answering the discovery immediately – decided to obtain an extension of time for response by 30 days, following that with his objections and motion for protective order. In due course the author filed a motion to compel. A hearing was eventually calendared on the objections, motion for protective order and motion to compel. The latter motion was granted, and the clock just kept on ticking. The plaintiff eventually fired his first lawyer and hired a new one to get the case moving faster. Legitimately using these discovery tactics, the author was able to get the granting of a divorce postponed for 18 months, thus allowing the client to obtain a share of the SM-husband's retired pay (which otherwise would have been lost due to a change in state law).
If you get the file when the divorce has already been granted (after 12/23/16), don't give up. Check to see if the divorce is valid. A faulty dissolution might be set aside by the court, giving the FS a larger potential pension to divide. Imitating Sherlock Holmes may pay dividends in terms of flushing out a flawed divorce, so get out that magnifying glass!
The next five methods are not true adjustments to the pension division to make it numerically the same as that which results from the time rule. They will, however, help in ameliorating the result of the "frozen benefit division" for John Doe (the ex-husband of Commander Mary Doe).
Unequal Share of Pension. In states where the court has a degree of flexibility in how much of a marital or community property asset to award the non-employee spouse, John's attorney can ask the court to award a share to him that is larger than the usual "50% of the marital share" portion. Thus the order could be framed in terms of "70% of the marital share of Mary Doe's military retired pay," which would leave John with a larger share than he could receive through frozen benefit analysis. Have a financial expert help to estimate the monetary loss for the FS, so that a set-off can be calculated. It would, however be impossible to compare the two results at the time of the pension division order. Only in hindsight, at the time of Mary's retirement, would it be possible to measure one against the other.
Fixed Percentage Award. Another alternative, when the laws of a state have not been adjusted to provide for a denominator of the marital fraction which ends on the date of the divorce (since that is how DFAS is interpreting "court order" in Sec. 641 of NDAA 17) is to have the court award to John Doe, the non-military spouse, a fixed percentage of the military retired pay while Mary is still serving. After all, if John is forced to receive only a share of a frozen benefit at the time of divorce, why shouldn't he get a fixed percentage of that frozen benefit? In this situation, the amount of the frozen benefit would remain relatively stable, instead of losing value over time (as would occur if the denominator of the marital fraction remains the total amount of Mary Doe's creditable service). So, for example, if the property division order occurred when the parties had been married for 10 years of the 20 that Mary had already served, John would be awarded half of 50% (i.e., ½ X 10/20), or 25% of the frozen benefit. If the fixed percentage approach were not employed and Mary served for a total of 30 years, then John would still receive 50% of the frozen benefit times the marital fraction. However, at that time the marital fraction would be 10/30, or 33%, and John's share would be 16.5%, rather than 25%. Fixing the percentage at the same time as the benefit is fixed is one way of "retaining value" for John's pension-share award.
Present Value. In addition to the future division of retired pay, state laws also recognize a second method of dividing pensions, the "present value offset." This analyzes the present value of a series of money payments over the course of the SM's life; these are, of course, her retired pay. The present value of this retired pay is the amount that can be used for a trade or an offset, allowing the SM to keep her pension intact. This is beneficial for the parties since it results in a complete present accounting and division, not the postponement of property division until retirement. In addition, it provides the spouse with property "in hand" when it is unknown whether the SM will live for few or many years after retirement, or even survive to apply for retirement.
Counsel must locate the appropriate state statute or cases which describe the methodology to use in ascertaining the present value of periodic payments.
The FS needs to find and hire an expert (e.g., CPA, economist or actuary).
The FS needs to get a "wingman" to educate the expert in understanding the military retirement system; this advisor might be a senior lawyer with lots of experience in handling military pension cases, a retired JAG officer, or a judge advocate who is a member of the National Guard or Reserves with experience in this area.
The expert needs to read the cases, apply the methodology and placed a value on the pension. In an ideal world, counsel may even have one or two examples of pension present-value reports to give the expert to help out in regard to what must be done, what discounts need to be applied, what mortality table should be used, and so on.
Then the hunt is on for some property or asset which matches the pension value and can be given to the FS in exchange for the division of the pension, or which can be awarded to the FS by the judge in a contested case so that the SM may retain the military pension.
Present Value and Payments. The present value of a military pension can be a pretty large figure in some cases. When this happens, the court may need to do a partial setoff for the marital value of another asset awarded to the FS, with the remainder to be made up in periodic payments. Thus, if the present value of CDR Mary Doe's retired pay were $400,000 and the marital component were $300,000 (that is, the parties were married for 15 of the 20 years used by the expert in the pension value report), then the court might set off the pension, awarded to Mary, by granting sole ownership to John of marital assets worth $200,000. To complete the equation, the court could order Mary to pay $100,000 to John by making annual payments of $20,000 for five years. This could be done by requiring Mary to set up an allotment immediately for the monthly payment of $1,666.67 ($20,000 ÷ 12 months) to John. Or the court could enter a military pension division order requiring monthly payments of $1,667.67 from Mary's retired pay. The retired pay center will honor these "set dollar amount" payments so long as they do not exceed the allowable percent of disposable retired pay which may be garnished as property division, that is, 50%.
The Western Gambit. In several jurisdictions (mostly western states), the court may order the SM to begin present payments to the nonmilitary spouse as soon as the SM is eligible to retire and receive monthly payments. This is so whether the military member has actually retired or not.
The seminal case is In re Marriage of Luciano, in which the judge ordered pension-share payments for the wife to begin when the SM-husband retired from the Air Force. The California Court of Appeals reversed, stating that it would be unfair to postpone payment to the ex-wife since that would give the SM the power to determine when she received her own property. The Court went on to say that the employee spouse cannot defeat the nonemployee spouse's interest in community property by relying on a condition solely within his control. The proper order for the judge to issue would state that the former wife is the one who has the choice as to when to start receiving her share of the pension. This election may be made at any time after the pension is matured, through a motion filed by the nonemployee spouse. The Court stated that, if the motion is made before retired pay starts, this constitutes an irrevocable election to give up increased payments in the future which might accrue due to increased age, longer service and a higher salary.
Nothing in the Frozen Benefit Rule blocks or bars this "Western Gambit," as illustrated by the Luciano case. And the logical approach – nay, the only rational approach – for a nonmilitary spouse in those states which follow Luciano is to move immediately for payments, to start as soon as the SM attains sufficient service for retirement (usually after 20 years of active duty). Since there can no longer be an increased payment in the future, as mentioned above, and the benefit to the FS is locked into the rank and years of service at the time of divorce, every nonmilitary spouse should file a motion to elect payments from the SM as soon as the pension matures.
Several questions remain. The answers will likely be provided in case law developments. Below are some examples.
How should the courts write a proper court order to implement the Frozen Benefit Rule? The "hypothetical clause" (as it is called by DFAS) is the most difficult clause to prepare. For those who entered military service after September 1980, the current DoDFMR rule requires that the court order contain detailed information about the SM; this includes the years of creditable service as well as the "retired pay base" calculated according to the "High-3," the average of the highest three years of compensation before the specified division date.
At present, counsel must provide this information to the court. What if a court order specifies the "old definition" of disposable retired pay? Will it be rejected by the retired pay center, as would happen before the Frozen Benefit Rule when an order was found to be unacceptable? Will the center send to counsel or the former spouse directions to specify the required data for a hypothetical clause?
When a retiree doesn't make payments according to a pension division order which uses the original definition of DRP, will the FS be able to obtain compliance through a show cause hearing? Will the court's contempt sanction be upheld? Or will an appellate court strike down the punishment on the basis of federal preemption, ruling that the Frozen Benefit Rule cancels all other methods of dividing the future retired pay of a still-serving member?
If an order entered after 12/23/16 sets out terms under the original DRP definition and the SM wants to petition the court to change the order to comply with the present definition, will the court allow a motion to alter or amend under Rule 59 or its equivalent (in states which have not adopted the federal Rules of Civil Procedure)? What about a motion to set side under Rule 60? Or will the existence of a final decision bar that change? Generally speaking, courts refuse to modify final property division judgments or to allow them to be attacked collaterally.
Numerous court decisions have held that orders which require the retiree to pay more than 50% of disposable retired pay are not void or invalid; they are simply not enforceable through garnishment from the retired pay center for amounts in excess of 50%. Can counsel for the FS defeat the arguments of the SM/retiree that federal law preempts state court orders, since this section of USFSPA provides an "escape hatch" for the FS in enforcement of the pension division order?
Labelled as John Doe's "Plan B" above under Strategy for the Former Spouse, other methods and strategies exist for obtaining a "fair deal" (or perhaps a "fairer deal," in John's view) regarding division of military retirement benefits. These would include requiring the SM to pay the full cost of the Survivor Benefit Plan, or valuing the SM's military medical coverage and placing that as an asset in the SM's share of marital or community property. These do not involve a larger portion of the pension; rather, they focus on other benefits which may be valued and allocated in the property division process.
All of the above methods should be considered by lawyer for the former spouse. And this should be done in consultation with an expert in dividing military retired pay, so as to choose the best alternatives to the frozen benefit approach imposed by NDAA 17.
These rules and requirements, strategies and suggestions may not apply to everyone. There are certainly variations among the states as to what may be done in the area of division of retired pay. For example, while some states may allow "make-up alimony" to adjust the equities when a spouse is left short in the pension division, others maintain a strict line of division between spousal support (based on need and the ability to pay) and property division (based on the value of what was acquired during the marriage and how best to divide it). Be sure to understand the law and the cases. Consult an expert in your state (if you're not one yourself), and contact a specialist in military pension division whenever possible – even if it's in another state! Review the Silent Partner, "All Clauses Considered: Writing the Frozen Benefit Award." You can't ask too many questions or know too much in this area. "One size" does not fit all!
The SILENT PARTNER series of info-letters is prepared by Mark E. Sullivan (COL, USA – Ret.), a family law attorney in Raleigh, N.C. For comments or suggested changes, contact him at mark.sullivan@ncfamilylaw.com; or 919-832-8507.
 Details are found in the several Silent Partner info-letters regarding the Frozen Benefit Rule, which are found at the website of the military committee of the N.C. State Bar, www.nclamp.gov > For Lawyers. You can also find explanations and information at the DFAS website, https://www.dfas.mil > Garnishment > Notice of Statutory Change, and there is also sample order language to use in complying with the Rule. Lawyers should take care in using the sample order language. If the attorney provides the information required in the sample, then the order will be approved. The key, according to one retired pay center attorney, is ensuring that the lawyers know and understand what is included in the sample order - "Do you know what this means and how it affects your client before you fill it out?" To illustrate, the sample order contains language setting the denominator of the marital or coverture fraction as the total military service of the SM. Yet, as pointed out at the end of this paper, that is not only illogical (when dividing a benefit that's fixed on the date of divorce*), it's also unfair and mathematically absurd. It should be fixed as of the divorce* date.
 For the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, the retired pay center is DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) in Cleveland, Ohio. Pension garnishments for the Coast Guard and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are handled by the Coast Guard Pay and Personnel Center in Topeka, Kansas.
 A guide for attorneys on how to write acceptable military pension clauses may be found at the Silent Partner, "Guidance for Lawyers: Military Pension Division," and it includes the necessary elements and language for a proper hypothetical clause.
 The majority rule provides for a fair share by dividing the actual retired pay of the member/retiree, not some hypothetical number, and then it reduces it to give the member/retiree credit for the final years of military service after the divorce.
 The same result would obtain if the parties didn't specify exactly the components required for a hypothetical clause, including the years of creditable service, rank, and retired pay base of the member based on his "High-3" years of pay (see text below); the order would be rejected by the center, which would withhold acceptance until the proper information was inserted.
 Douglas v. Douglas, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 12398, citing Berry v. Berry, 647 S.W.2d 945, 946-47 (Tex. 1983). See also Dziamko v. Chuhaj, 193 Md. App. 98, 996 A.2d 893, 903 (2010) (explanation of results from denominator of marital fraction ending upon divorce vs. one which ends upon retirement).
 For example, in New York, the valuation and classification date is the date of commencement of the divorce case. In California, a spouse's share of community property stops accruing at the "final separation." See, e.g., In re Marriage of Bergman, 168 Cal. App. 3d 742, 214 Cal. Rptr. 661(Cal. Ct. App. 1985). The date of final separation is also the classification and valuation date in North Carolina. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-20 (b)(1). In Nevada, community property stops accruing on the divorce date. See, e.g., Forrest v. Forrest, 99 Nev. 602, 668 P.2d 275 (1983). In other states it may be the date of divorce, the date of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, or a date in the discretion of the judge.
 The other element for determination of retired pay is the "retired pay multiplier," which is 2.5% times years of creditable service (in an active-duty case). In a Reserve or National Guard case, the court order must also provide the applicable number of retirement points.
 Under federal law, notary seals are not required for instruments which must be verified for federal purposes; instead, the federal government uses an unsworn declaration, made under penalty of perjury. 28 U.S.C. § 1746.
 For the necessary terms for the MPDO, see the Silent Partner, "Getting Military Pension Orders Honored by the Retired Pay Center." See Note 5 supra for guidance on how to write the specific pension division clause.
 See Brett R. Turner, Equitable Distribution of Property (3rd Ed. & 2016-2017 Supp.), Sec. 3.2. In those states which have adopted the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the issue of separate trials under Rule 42 (b) deals with bifurcation of claims into separate hearings.
 For an excellent summary of arguments against bifurcation of the divorce and the property division, along with case citations for state appellate decisions, see Brett R. Turner, Equitable Distribution of Property (3rd Ed. & 2016-2017 Supp.), Sec. 3.2.
 See ¶ 290204 for the definition of "court order," ¶ 2908 for an entire revised section as to the new rules, and Figure 29-2 for a sample court order with language to meet the requirements of the Frozen Benefit Rule.
 The rules for collecting alimony, child support or both from an individual's military retired pay are found at 42 U.S.C. § 659 and 5 C.F.R. Part 581. The money from which family support may be withheld is termed "remuneration for employment." This includes military retired pay (5 C.F.R. 581.103(c)), and even military disability retired pay (5 C.F.R. 581.103 (b)(13)); see also DoDFMR Vol. 7B, ch. 27, para. 270101.A. It is advisable to mention the above citations to the DoDFMR in the permanent alimony order so as to avoid confusion by those who are processing the order. Counsel may also want to include these citations in the order itself.
 The application form for payments from military retired pay is DD Form 2293.
 DoDFMR, Vol. 7B, ch. 29, Sec. 290601.
 John's share of the pension, divided as property, is limited to 50% of disposable retired pay which may be garnished through the retired pay center. 10 U.S.C. § 1408 (e)(1).
 It would also be possible to have the court award other assets to John in view of his loss due to the truncated division set out in the new Frozen Benefit Rule.
 See, e.g. Trant v. Trant, 545 So. 2d 428 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1989), cited in Smith v. Smith, 934 So. 2d 636 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2006).
 See, e.g., Cochran v. Cochran, 198 N.C. App. 224, 679 S.E.2d 469 (2009) and Bishop v. Bishop, 113 N.C. App. 725, 440 S.E.2d 591 (1994) for rules regarding the present value of pensions and the methodology to be employed in North Carolina.
 See, e.g., Cunningham v. Cunningham, 173 N.C. App. 641, 619 S.E.2d 593 (2005) (remanding case for presentation of husband's valuation of military pension; wife's value, without expert, was about $560,000 for a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel).
 This 50% means half of the disposable retired pay of the SM calculated at the date of the court order. The same limits apply if the court – instead of time payments on a present-value setoff – decides to order the SM to pay the FS a fixed dollar amount upon retirement. See Note 23 supra.
 In re Marriage of Luciano, 104 Cal. App. 3d 956, 164 Cal. Rptr. 93 (1980). See also In re Marriage of Scott, 156 Cal. App. 3d 251, 202 Cal. Rptr. 716 (Ct. App. 1984); Ruggles v. Ruggles, 860 P.2d 182 (N.M. 1993); Koelsch v. Koelsch, 713 P.2d 1234 (Ariz. 1986); Gemma v. Gemma, 105 Nev. 458, 778 P.2d 429 (1989); Balderson v. Balderson, 896 P.2d 956 (Ida. 1994); Blake v. Blake, 807 P.2d 1211 (Colo. App. 1990); In re Marriage of Harris, 107 Wn. App. 597, 27 P.3d 656 (Ct. App. 2001); Maccarone v. Maccarone, 108 A.3d 1053 (R.I. 2015); Janson v. Janson, 773 A.2d 901 (R.I. 2001); Furia v. Furia, 692 A.2d 327 (R.I. 1997); and Bailey v. Bailey, 745 P.2d 830 (Utah App. 1987) ("… the distribution of retirement benefits should generally be postponed until benefits are received or at least until the earner is eligible to retire." (emphasis added)).
 In re Marriage of Luciano, 104 Cal. App. 3d at 960–961, 164 Cal. Rptr. at 95–96.
 DoDFMR, Vol. 7B, ch. 29, Sec. 290608.
 See, e.g., In re Marriage of Thorne, 203 Cal. App. 4th 492, 136 Cal. Rptr. 3d 887 (2012); and Moore v. Moore, 484 S.W.3d 386 (Mo. App. Unpub. 2016).
 Both of these approaches are covered in detail in Chapter 8 of Sullivan, The Military Divorce Handbook (American Bar Assn., 2nd Ed. 2011) and both may be employed in any military divorce case, not just one which falls under the Frozen Benefit Rule.


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Cleveland Cavaliers Sign Lou Amundson
by Marcel Mutoni September 19, 2014
Free agent forward Lou Amundson has inked a training camp invite with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his agency Priority Sports announced Friday morning.
Amundson has played for eight different teams throughout his career; he put up 2.0 points and grabbed 2.9 rebounds in 19 games for the New Orleans Pelicans and Chicago Bulls last season. Per the Plain Dealer:
Congrats @LouAmundson17 on signing with the @cavs! We're excited for you Louuuuuu!
— Priority Sports (@PrioritySports) September 19, 2014
An eight-year veteran, Amundson worked out for the Cavs recently and will likely fight for one of the final roster spots during training camp, which opens soon.
A scrappy role player, Amundson brings hustle and energy off the bench. He spent two seasons in Phoenix with Cavs General Manager David Griffin, including the 2009-10 campaign where Amundson averaged career-highs in points (4.7) and rebounds (4.4).
Cleveland Cavaliers Free Agency Lou Amundson
Report: J.R. Smith 'Unlikely' to Join the Los Angeles Lakers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee hosted an Iftar party at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the last time. People were busy in talking about the boycott by Modi and his ministers, however soon Twitter got a picture from the party and they started captioning the picture.
Ye toh galat baat hai bhai!
Jaldi kisne aane ko kaha tha?
The picture was taken by a senior photographer from leading news daily, who was present at the venue. Meira Kumar, Lok Sabha Speaker will take on Ram Nath Kovind who resigned as Bihar Governor earlier this week. The election will be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee's term is ending on July 24. In between all this Twitterati's did their job in the best way to make people laugh through captioning pictures on social media.
Like, comment and share it with your friends to make them laugh.


text:
Home Gaming Android Games Top 10 Android Fighting Games (2018) to should Play!
Top 10 Android Fighting Games (2018) to should Play!
When was the last time you played a game which was so adrenaline pumping that it felt real? When was the last time you felt in sync with your virtual self connecting with the pangs and toils your character was suffering on a daily basis? When was the last time you felt an avid sense of responsibility towards your virtual role? Well, this is what indulging in fighting games brings to the table. Fighting games are all about jam packed hardcore action and more of it!
You just can't seem to get enough of them. They're so real and gripping, so much so that you might get addicted in no time whatsoever. But this addiction is not like anything else! Its adrenaline pumping in a good way. In such a frantic world where everyone is busy with their lives opting for a million chores every week, one should definitely opt for a timeout every once in a while. That timeout should be filled with an activity you love. Getting hooked on to fighting games will give you that much needed release; an outlet per se. They can become your go-to escape for when you need one.
Fighting games are fundamentally an extension of popular action games in which two on screen characters engage in head-to-head combat. Often this essence is captured best through rapid joystick movements and button presses. However, the advent of technology has enabled us to enjoy these pleasures at our fingertips. Pun intended! You can now get to play these good android fighting games from your smartphones and tablets as well.
The thing with fighting games is that the options are just too many. You won't be able to filter the games you want because the list is too huge. Apart from the obvious classics like Street Figher or Mortal Kombat, there are plenty other names revolving in the gaming market which will make sure you feel satisfied.
Fret not! We've compiled a list of top android fighting games just for you.
Marvel Contest of Champions: Price - Free
WWE Immortals: Price - Free
SOULCALIBUR: Price - $13.99
Spider-Man Unlimited: Price - Free
Shadow Fight 2: Price - Free
Injustice: Gods among Us – Price Free
Marvel Future Fight: Price - Free
Real Steel World Robot Boxing: Price
The King Of Fighters-A 2012: Price - $2.99
Punch Hero: Price - Free
Well, the name of the game is enough to garner your attention. Ever since our childhood days, we've been drooling over Marvel characters whether it is the ever so reliable Thor, or the friendly neighbourhood Captain America, or the cocky and clever Iron Man, or the juggernaut they call Hulk, the list is endless. Featuring many such legendary characters, Marvel Contest of Champions is the Android thrill that you've needed for so long.
The victory dance won't come easy though! You will have to valiantly battle your way through a myriad of levels whilst unlocking new and improved characters in this adrenaline pumping journey.
Want to know what sets this game apart? It is the game's efficient control precision that makes it one of the best fighting games for android in the market. The game's UI and UX is impeccable. The game feels immensely fluid to touch and use further complemented by its highly responsive nature. Further good news is the fact that there won't be any pestering on-screen controls anymore. All you need to do is just swipe softly with your thumbs and you'll get to enjoy a wide range of lethal and hardcore attacks.
Do remember that you will need a high configuration device to run it smoothly. Of course, you can use average devices as well but you're sure to experience some lags. But if you're a Marvel or a superhero fanatic like I am, you'll be a fool to miss out on this game. What more? The game is absolutely free as if we needed further reasons to go for this.
Haven't we always wanted to 'Chokeslam' our opponents just because we have chosen 'The Undertaker' as our virtual namesake? Me personally, I've been a fan of the 'Sweet chin music' Shawn Michaels delivers to his opponents with a never-say-die attitude day in day out. This is what you get with WWE Immortals with the click of a button on your Android phones.
The label 'WWE' is an internationally recognized label which has won the attention of millions across teh globe since its inception. Even now, after decades and decades of unparalleled entertainment it continues to sway the attention of the general folk towards swashbuckling piledrivers and sounds of thuds all across. Even though you might not have envisaged playing the game through other than joysticks, but it is well and truly is possible now through your Android smartphone.
Top 24 Android Multiplayer Games of 2018 You should Play Once!
The biggest USP of this particular WWE rendition is the perfect amalgamation of the epic cast of Injustice: Gods Among Us with the age old crowd favourite pro wrestlers of our time. This classic mix of pseudo reality and fantasy is one to savour.
The graphics and UX are as always top notch and you'll feel the crystal clarity oozing through thick and fast. The characters will seem as real as ever, just like on your desktops, PCs, or television sets. Moreover, you can also include as many as three characters concurrently to feast on some riveting 3-on-3 match ups. Brace yourselves and get ready to rumble with your favourite WWE superstars.
If you're thinking that we've mistyped by writing all capital letters, you're wrong! This is how the game developers intended it to be and we can't go against them, can we?
SOULCALIBUR is one of those arcade classics which just never goes out fashion. The fact that this arcade game hasn't changed an inch since its release back in 1998 is a testament to its definition. A people pleaser and one of those good addictions which come by very rare, SOULCALIBUR will definitely satiate your thrill seeking senses to a cellular level. Even the developers of the game have shown utter faith in their product by keeping the essence of the game intact even after over 18 years.
You might call this one predictable or mundane, but it just works! There might not be many surprises on the cards like other modern fighting games in the market today, but this SOULCALIBUR formula is definitely tried and tested. Get your hands on some of the most enjoyable and fun matchups in this genre.
The best part is – you don't need to memorize a whole lot of button and combo moves just to strike fear in your opponent's drive; the simplest of hand flicks can unleash a lethal combo. That being said, experienced gamers will definitely have an edge over their opponents in combat.
The absence of a multiplayer support is compensated by the presence of a wide array of fighters, each with unique moves and weapons. One of the most expensive games on the Play Store, SOULCALIBUR's fluidity makes it good value for money.
Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can! Come on, we've all sung to these tunes or at least dreamt of this playing in the background as Spiderman comes and rescues us and the world from evil. Now, you can get all this and much more at the tip of your fingertips on your tablet or your Android smartphone.
Combining the antics of Spiderman with the endless running of a horse seems like a match made in heaven, doesn't it?
All Marvel aficionados and Spiderman fanatics in general will drool over this game. Time and time again, users have complained about feasting on this label only through joysticks and consoles. Since everything miniature is in these days, big time games have followed suit as well and Spider-Man unlimited is no different.
Swing through the avid and busy streets of New York, climb skyscrapers like there's no tomorrow, and fight riveting and nasty battles against the age old nemesis – The Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and a whole lot of others who just want to inflict pain. Gameloft has efficiently come up with another stunner just like always. Given the brand's widespread universal rapport, you wouldn't be surprised if you hear this name after 2 decades as well.
The look and feel of the game has been duly borrowed from the age old comics with excellent precision and shaded graphics only complemented by a 3D level design. There might not be an extensive plot and it might turn out to be anti-climatic at the end, but it will surely get you hooked right till the last mission. Furthermore, this is best played with tablets.
Shadow Fight 2 is not just another kid on the block. It is a fighting game like no other. This is because it lacks any kind of actual character graphics. However, to compensate for that, you are given access to a colourful and vibrant fighting style in a majestic 2D environment.
Another good thing is the flexibility i.e. you will play host to a multitude of kickass moves against your opponents. Some of them include the likes of running up walls at godspeed, flipping off your enemies resulting in the epitome of embarrassment, and a lot more. Moreover, the fact that you can get this game for free is just the icing on the cherry one needs.
Seven inexpensive Games for teen girls
Also, you can play this particular game in multiple gameplay modes. There's an exciting 'story' mode where you will need to get through a wide array of tough opponents on your way to the ultimate arch nemesis – the demon boss. Apart from that, there is a do-or-die sudden death style mode where you would need to be on your toes every second and breeze past enemies consecutively. Furthermore, there's a tournament mode and a duel mode as well, none of which can be cleared easily.
I would definitely recommend this game to all adrenaline seekers out there. You would be happy to know that it won't cost you even a single penny.
Ever heard of Justice League? Ever heard of DC Comics? Well, you would know what I'm talking about if you're a cartoon series fanatic or a superhero fanatic per se. As Marvel and DC Comics are often put in the ring against each other while their superheroes collide in the fantasy world, and have been doing so for years and years now.
On one side you have the mighty Superman, and the ever so mysterious Batman, the man they call 'The Dark Knight'. Along with the vivacious and sultry Wonder Woman, the lighting quick 'Flash', you can only imagine the godliness of the characters belonging to the Justice League.
As the name suggests, they want to bring about justice in the world, whether big or small. Now you can get this superhero magic at your fingertips in the form of this credible fighting game available on Android. The game consists of almost the entire cast of the Justice League and you can choose whoever you like against other DC Comic heroes.
Once you begin, you will need to take part in a 3 vs 3 tussle where you will get the default rooster. Consecutive wins will ensure that you can get access to the entire superhero brigade. What's great about this game is the fact that every single superhero comes with his/her unique moves, star manoeuvres, and stats. As and when you keep on progressing, you can move up a lot of levels and unlock super abilities progressively. You can also log on to the multiplayer mode which allow you to lock horns with real opponents.
The game follows a simple format and it involves no rocket science. With normal swipes and clicks and taps, you can perform various attacks at once.
Also, you can get this for free as well. Sounds great, doesn't it?
And this is the second Marvel edition on this list! It is safe to say that this brand label knows what its doing and it is widely loved across the world, at least the characters are. Most of the superheroes you've dreamt of emulating or getting saved by are associated with the 'Marvel' label.
Marvel Future Fight is one the most addictive games out there which will leave you hooked on to the last level, increasing your yearning to get more day by day. It is a very sophisticated and enticing addition to the already huge Marvel gaming repertoire.
One the game beings, you will start off as the smart mouthed Iron Man, the seductive and cunning Black Widow and the ever so reliable Captain America. All of them are sent on a mysterious quest with the sole aim of gathering an army of heroes with the age old common aim – Saving the world! The opposition in this case is alien like always, trans-dimensional beings from the future.
A striking feature about this game is the fact that you can choose your control style, from the likes of Pad or 1-touch. You need to stroll and kill your way through a wide array of levels, hammering away evil men along the way until you reach the ultimate nemesis. As you keep moving forward, you'll get the power to unlock more and more characters. You can swap them for your trio at will.
The difficulty levels of this game are higher than the average. So as things start heating up, and getting to newer levels is becoming more and more difficult, you might be tempted to opt for the various in-app purchases. That being said, you will have plenty to be excited about till you reach that part in your gaming life.
Top 10 Android Racing Games in 2018 - The Hottest Games on the Block!
Now that we have your attention, Real Steel World Robot Boxing is tailor made for all boxing fanatics out there. It is a riveting Android game which sets itself apart from other counterparts floating in the market today. Ever since the movie came out, we've all become fans of robot boxing thanks to Real Steel, starring the Wolverine Hugh Jackman and the adorable kid.
Have you always loved the sci-fi world? Do creatures from the future always give you goosebumps? If yes, then this Android game is definitely going to satiate your fiction seeking senses. In this particular Android rendition, you will be playing the part of a robot fighting mano-y-mano against other robots.
There are a multiple robots you can choose from which include the likes of some crowd favourites known as Zeus, Atom and Twin Cities. Since every character possesses a unique set of skills, special moves and advantages, one will often feel spoilt for choice. Ergo, you can pick and choose the robot which fits your battle and fighting style. As you keep progressing ahead i.e. fighting and winning, you will be able to earn real coins and real gold, which will give you the capability to buy, upgrade and customize the colour schemes of your multiple robots.
You will never feel bored in this fantasy world thanks to the many different and equally unique playing modes such as Time Attack, Free Sparring and Championship all where Real Gold acts as a proper incentive.
How much money do you need to spend to bag this, you ask? You can get this game for F-R-E-E.
If you're a sucker for classic fighting games, then the King of Fighters 2012 need to be on your priority list for sure. Also, the price tag doesn't seem too high either which makes this game totally worth it. Acting as the latest instalment of the age old game, The King of Fighters-A 2012 comes packed with a bunch of new features which will leave you wanting for more.
There's a reason why this series has released upgraded versions time and time again since its release many years back. It has been widely loved and accepted by avid gamers across the world.
Laden with vintage old school graphics, this will let you drive down nostalgia lane to your childhood playing days with a modern tinge of fun and brawl. Also, the game comes with a 2D style fighting system which just can't get old.
There are a lot of characters you can pick and choose from, 32 overall choices to be precise. Moreover, you can also go ahead and play with or against your friends using a Bluetooth multiplayer.
If you're into boxing and adrenaline pumping games, Punch Hero is the game for you and your Android smartphone. Featuring 3D cartoon style graphics, you will get to see what entertained you as a child amongst all those game addiction days, weeks, months and years. One of the biggest USPs of the game is the fact that you will be able to use actual faces as characters. Hence, if you've ever wanted to punch your best friend or your brother like there's no tomorrow, your wait is now over.
You just need a photo of the person you need to punch and a strong will to see the act through. Pun intended!
Also, you can also customize your faces using accessories like facial hair, sun glasses, and a lot more. You can also get your hands on three different modes to test your skills in real time. One of the best free fighting games on Android, Punch Hero is a must have if you're looking for a credible time-pass activity.
So here was our list of some of the best Android fighting games in the market currently. Rather than staying loyal to one label, you can toggle your way through the entire list and you won't regret it, not even for one second.
Even though you might need an accomplice or a like minded person with you to enjoy to the fullest, still playing against the CPU is not far from easy.
The difficulty levels will keep you hooked till you beat everybody. Even though most of these games follow the same pattern, still the sheer rawness, the characters, the special powers and the essence of victory is what will take you over.
Are you ready to wear your fighting gloves yet?
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Dan The Man Hack Engine
As a compromise, the White House in 2014 announced
a review board that would look at the severity of such software flaws government investigators wanted to keep secret.


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So for this tutorial we will show you how to create a nice old signage effect using Photoshop and a stock photo.Then with the blurry layer from the previous step selected start erasing some lights in order to make the signage less uniform, so there will be lights not so bright.
Duplicate it several times so in each letter there will be one or two lights not functioning.Ink Stamp PSD Free Download. Ink Stamp PSD Free Download by pixelsdaily. You Might Also Like. Seamless border Photoshop brushes that you can use for free.Again follow the values below in order to achieve the same effect, or you can tweak them to see how that it would behave.Digital Art and Drawing Forum Photoshop brush wont show (need.Photoshop Mockup Photoshop Action Photoshop Lighroom Photoshop Brush Photoshop Gradient Text, Chữ Hiệu Ứng Flyer,. Free Photoshop.With the Eraser Tool (E) and a very soft brush, resize it so it will be the size of the lights bulbs.Learn the basics of painting in Adobe Photoshop In. blending photo information with digital painting, and brush creation to their assignments and a final.


text:
contact@asploro.com
Asploro Journal of Biomedical and Clinical Case Reports
Journal of Health Care and Research
Asploro Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health
Diabetes Research: Open Access
Antibacterial Activity of Extracts from Dried and Fresh Herbal Plant (Phyllanthus amarus) Against Pathogens Causing Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (Ahpnd) in White Leg Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) at Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam
Phuong TV1, Hai Yen PT2, Linh NQ1,3*
1Institute of Biotechnology, Hue University, Road No.10, Phu Vang, Thua Thien Hue, 530000, Vietnam
2Faculty of Fisheries, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, 102 Phung Hung St., Hue, 530000, Vietnam
3Hue University, 3 Le Loi St., Hue, 530000, Vietnam
Corresponding Author: Nguyen Quang Linh
Address: Institute of Biotechnology, Hue University, Road No.10, Phu Vang, Thua Thien Hue, 530000, Vietnam; E-mail: nguyenquanglinh@hueuni.edu.vn; phamthihaiyen@hueuni.edu.vn
Received date: 24 October 2019; Accepted date: 16 November 2019; Published date: 22 November 2019
Citation: Phuong TV, Hai Yen PT, Linh NQ. Antibacterial Activity of Extracts from Dried and Fresh Herbal Plant (Phyllanthus amarus) Against Pathogens Causing Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (Ahpnd) in White Leg Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) at Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam. Asp Biomed Clin Case Rep. 2019 Nov 22;2(3):120-128.
Copyright © 2019 Phuong TV, Hai Yen PT, Linh NQ. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: EMS; AHPND; Herbs; Extract; Phyllanthus amarus; MIC/MBC
The study aimed to determine extract yield (%), antibacterial activity, and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of plant extracts from dried and fresh herbal plants (Phyllanthus amarus) against Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain causing acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in white leg shrimp (L. vannamei). The result showed that the extract yields of dry and fresh herbs reached 11.50% and 2.75%, respectively and the antibacterial activity of the two extracts both are good at concentrations from 250 to 1,000 mg/mL at the same bacterial density of 106 CFU/mL. Specifically, the diameter of the inhibition zone at 250; 500; 750 and 1,000 mg/mL concentration of dried herbal extracts reached 16.75±0.96; 18.50±1.29; 20.75±0.96 and 21.25±0.50 mm, while that of fresh herbal extracts reached 14.50±1.29; 16.25±0.50; 16.75±0.50 and 17.00±0.00 mm, respectively, with a statistically significant difference p<0.05. The result also showed that MIC values of dried and fresh extracts were defined at 125 mg/mL and 250 mg/mL, respectively and that MBC values of the extracts were 500 and 1,000 mg/mL respectively. The GC-MS analysis revealed that there were 19 natural compounds in the dried extract, in which Ethyl Linoleolate (C20H36O2) compound occupied the highest ratio (22.43 %), while 2.3-Dihydro-3.5-dihydroxy-6-methy-4H-pyran-4-one (C6H8O4) was the lowest (0.24 %).
Tags: AHPND, EMS, Extract, Herbs, MIC/MBC, Phyllanthus amarus
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Wandering In LA: Franklin Canyon, Part I: You'd never know you were in L.A.
Franklin Canyon, Part I: You'd never know you were in L.A.
And technically speaking, it isn't in the City of L.A., but we'll get to that in a moment. First, though, to understand the significance of Franklin Canyon, it's necessary to know a little L.A. geography. Roughly speaking, the city proper covers about 450 square miles and is bisected from east to west by the Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills, which together run from the beach almost to Downtown. A couple of freeways and several major arterial roads run through the mountains, and they hum with a constant rattle and burr of traffic, especially during peak periods. The traffic conditions on the 405 have reached mythical proportions, but even the smaller surface roads like Laurel Canyon and Coldwater Canyon can get very busy at times. Most of this area has been subdivided and developed, and although much of it is miles away from any amenities, it includes some of the most expensive and desirable property in the area.
Between Coldwater and Benedict Canyons lies Franklin Canyon. As in the other canyons, there has been some residential development, but in this case it's limited to the lower and upper reaches, leaving the middle section mostly undeveloped. There are only a small ranch house and a couple of reservoirs, and the road that was built to reach them. For some reason, unlike the neighboring canyons, this area does not come under the jurisdiction of either Beverly Hills or Los Angeles, but is unincorporated County land.
After the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, safety concerns prompted the DWP to decommission both the upper and lower reservoirs in Franklin Canyon. Their job was taken over by a more modern, rubber-lined facility about a quarter-mile north of the old Lower Reservoir. At this time, most of the canyon was under private ownership, and, with the DWP no longer needing the Upper Reservoir, the way was open for development. There soon arose a plan to build upscale houses on large lots, all through the canyon, but these plans were successfully averted through the efforts of conservationist Sooky Goldman and Comgressman Howard Berman. The property was acquired by the National Park Service, and the lower reaches of the Park were opened to the public around the year 1980. The two reservoirs in the canyon, like all of those operated by the DWP, remained off limits, even by sight, not counting brief glimpses to be had while driving through the hills above.
We get our first view of the Canyon from above, after passing the last houses on Beverly Drive.
The ranch house in the distance, which is a lot smaller than you'd expect, was built in the 1930s by the Doheny family as a canyon retreat, and is now used by Park staff. From this vantage point, the entire area looks bone dry, even though there had been rain recently when this picture was taken. Nevertheless, when we actually are down in the canyon the general aspect is of a much more moist environment.
We can begin by following the road ahead down to the bottom of the canyon, where we can take a closer look at the house and its immediate grounds.
To anyone who has ever lived in this area, familiar with the long, slow lines of commuter traffic in the other canyons, every weekday, this is something of a contrast. Coldwater and Benedict Canyons are not hideous places by any means, but they are completely "taken" as it were, by the private property on which the numerous houses sit, and the crowded roads that run through them. They also betray the fact that they were built up in a time when allowing the traffic through, in the name of "progress", was more important than providing a calm environment for the people who live there. Many of the side roads, like Cherokee Lane in Coldwater Canyon, are not dead-ends, as you'd expect, but provide access over the hills to other areas like West Hollywood. The traffic on these streets hardly ever stops. I know, I'm displaying my geek credentials here, but this stretch of road always reminds me of that part of The Lord Of The Rings where Sam and Frodo are hiking through Ithilien, under control of the Enemy but not yet corrupted. In the same way, Franklin Canyon has not been overrun with the wall-to-wall housing developments that characterize its neighbors.
The road dead-ends at a locked gate, beyond which is the Lower Franklin Canyon Reservoir. This has always been off limits to the public, as most reservoirs of the Los Angeles Department Of Water and Power (DWP) are. Looking to the left, we now see the Doheny ranch house from a closer vantage point.
As noted, it's a lot smaller than you'd think. There's just one fairly large room on the main level, adjoining a couple tiny side rooms, probably a kitchen and bedroom. You'd think the Dohenys would have wanted something more elaborate, but considering they owned Greystone Park they must have decided they had enough rooms for everybody in the family. Here's another view of the immediate grounds, where the NPS often holds presentations for the public.
This section was opened to the public in the early 1980s. At the time, someone was still operating a working ranch, and numerous cautionary signs were posted about "dangerous wild cattle". If they're wild, you don't own them, do you? When this area became fully integrated into the national park system, the cattle went, to where I do not know.
Now we'll head back up the road, which, by the way, isn't Franklin Canyon Road, but properly known as "Lake" or "Lake Franklin" Drive. As we drive or hike upwards, we stop to take in some of the peaceful spots along the way.
There is always running water in Franklin Canyon., because a small amount of water is always being released from the Upper Reservoir. Most of the canyons have springs in any case, but they usually aren't visible, because they're on private property, or else they've been paved over and their water diverted. The spring shown in the next picture is beloved of all the dogs who are fortunate enough to be taken here by their owners.
Along the way there are numerous spots that suggest a garden, long neglected but still alluring. Numerous film and TV scenes have been shot on location in the canyon. This is right about where they filmed the hitchhiking scene in It Happened One Night. The split rail fencing is very prominent in the scene, and still much in evidence along different stretches of this road.
Southern California is semiarid by nature, but the canyons are usually a bit wetter, due to the surrounding mountains that reduce the daily exposure to sunlight. As a result, like all the canyons, Franklin is considerably greener than the surrounding hilltops, or flat country elsewhere in the region.
A little over half a mile up from the ranch house Lake Drive terminates at Franklin Canyon Drive, where we find an odd little house at the fork in the road. It appears to be abandoned now, but according to one of the park rangers, it was once owned by the DWP and occupied by one of their employees.
The boarded up windows are not encouraging. There ought to be some use to which this unusually picturesque house could be put by the park service.
There's a steep declivity behind the house, where a basement level is visible. Although it never was one, it's strongly reminiscent of a mill house.
Sure, the people who lived here had to drive three miles to buy a loaf of bread, but it looks like it must have been a nice place to live even so. The area around the house is well provided with old growth trees that give an almost sylvan effect.
The house was looking a lot better in the early 1990s, when this photo was taken.
Continuing north from the fork along Franklin Canyon Drive, the road begins to wind and rise more steeply.
And more narrowly, as the sign warns us. If we continue along this road for a short distance, we reach Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir. The roads to and around the Upper Reservoir were opened considerably later than the lower portion of the Park. At that time the Sooky Goldman Nature Center, including a small museum was opened as well.
This concludes the first installment. The Franklin Canyon story is continued right about here.
So funny to read this after all these years. We lived in that boarded up house in the 70's with our three small children. They roamed freely playing in the streams catching polywogs. Several films were shot at our house including Doris Day and Manix. They paid us a whole $50.00 for the use of our property. It was a heart place to raise our chdren while being out of the city. From there we moved to Stone Canyon. Thanks for the article.
Around that same time we often used to bring our dog George to the Canyon--we lived off of Coldwater--and we must have walked him by your house at least a hundred times. Not far down the road from your place was a spring on the west side of the road that George loved to splash about in. It's still there but now has stonework around it, making it more solid.
Because of the siting of your house I always used to wonder if it had been a mill of some kind, but I don't think the history bears that out. Still, it's perhaps the most unusual house I know of in the whole area.


text:
Alex Reese Herb Jones Jordan Butler John Petty Nic Thomas Derrik Jamerson Steven Whitley Sports College basketball Basketball College sports Men's basketball Men's sports Men's college basketball
Norfolk State MEAC Alabama SEC
Jamerson carries Norfolk St. past Alabama 80-79 in OT in NIT
- Mar. 20, 2019 10:06 PM EDT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Derrik Jamerson Jr. had 25 points and made two free throws with 17 seconds left in overtime as Norfolk State narrowly defeated Alabama 80-79 in the NIT first round on Wednesday night.
Nic Thomas had 15 points and five steals for Norfolk State (22-13). Steven Whitley added 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Jordan Butler had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the visitors.
Herbert Jones had 18 points for the Crimson Tide (18-16). Alex Reese added 17 points and seven rebounds. John Petty had 11 points, including a 3-pointer to tie it at 67 at the end of regulation.
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com


New research, published in the journal Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms, found that study participants had a harder time identifying facial expressions of happiness or sadness when they were sleep deprived versus well-rested.
The sleepy participants' ability to interpret facial expressions of other emotions — anger, fear, surprise and disgust — was not impaired, however. That's likely because we're wired to recognize those more primitive emotions in order to survive acute dangers, said lead researcher William D.S. Killgore, a UA professor of psychiatry, psychology and medical imaging.
While emotions such as fear and anger could indicate a threat, social emotions such as happiness and sadness are less necessary for us to recognize for immediate survival. When we're tired, it seems we're more likely to dedicate our resources to recognizing those emotions that could impact our short-term safety and well-being, Killgore said.
In order to assess participants' ability to interpret more subtle emotional expressions, the images presented were composite photos of commonly confused facial expressions morphed together by a computer program. For example, a face might show 70 percent sadness and 30 percent disgust or vice versa. Participants saw a total of 180 blended facial expressions at each testing session.
Participants' baseline responses to the images were compared to their responses after they were deprived of sleep for one night.