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nah Tbh my server is a bit dead sadly we didint realm change with the refunds so we try to make everyone happy and thats why we are so many spriests ....for us important is the person who play the class the fun,friends>>>>>>>>>>>>>>progress set-ups etc....so keep your stupit opinion for yourself ''pro''
I still don't see why it matters. I was doing mildly OK in 10 and cleared half heroic, so around about the OP's situation. Adding a shadow's damage + healing per fight can be a good indicator as to its usefulness over the other casters. But of course, we're not generally interested in healing :|
I suppose from a casual pov it's more or less player > class (to an extent) but yeah I suppose as far as top dps goes it's mostly Rogue/Lock/Mage... Shame, 'coz all 3 of those classes are rather dull to play (atleast after awhile). Here's hoping the devs are kind to us before release
My server is quite dead too, there's only one 25-man raiding guild, the rest are 10-mans. I'm not "pro" either, but I do enjoy running current content rather than waiting to outgear instances. Kudos for being lucky enough to have a decent raiding group with your friends.
That being said, the question was if shadow will be competitive in 5.4. I'm not saying you can't pull a 25-man with 4 SP, sure you can. Heck I've done 10-druid runs since WotLK, and we just saw a MV clear with 25 DKs. But as you said yourself, you're in it for the fun, not the progress.
People who are in it for the progress will try to set up their raid groups to maximize the advantages given by each spec. In 25-man that's not a problem, but as we've pointed out repeatedly, the majority of raiding groups are 10-man. With only 5-6 dps spots, at least two of which should be melee due to encounter mechanics, a 10-man has to choose between mage/lock/hunter/boomkin/elemental/shadow for those 3 ranged dps spots. Ideally a group should be able to choose any of those specs without significant disadvantages, but the truth is that mage & lock have been (and still are) notorious "outliers", so they are both obvious choices. That leaves ONE spot for hunter/ele/balance/shadow.
For 10-man groups (not only hardcore, this applies to casual too) expecting to progress through an instance, an obvious objective is to gear up their players as soon and efficiently as possible in order to make content more accesible. The unique problem shadow has is that it shares loot with mage/lock, so the obvious choice is to bring a hunter/boomkin/ele so you make proper use of leather / mail drops and you don't have to split one item class between 3 players (or even 4 if you run with a priest healer). And even if, for whatever reason, your group decides to bring another int-cloth player: Why would you bring a shadow priest instead of another mage/lock?
When you're in it just for the fun, you can do all sort of crazy setups. When you aim for progress, saying shadow in its current state is "fine" and "will always have raid spot" is a misguided statement imho. Shadow is currently a very situtional spec with marked deficiencies in single target and heavy-movement fights.
Last edited by Dierdre; 2013-08-18 at 10:44 AM.
For 10-man groups (not only hardcore, this applies to casual too) expecting to progress through an instance, an obvious objective is to gear up their players as soon and efficiently as possible in order to make content more accesible. The unique problem shadow has is that it shares loot with mage/lock, so the obvious choice is to bring a hunter/boomkin/ele so you make proper use of leather / mail drops and you don't have to split one item class between 3 players (or even 4 if you run with a priest healer). And even if, for whatever reason, your group decides to bring another int-cloth player: Why would you bring a shadow priest instead of another mage/lock?
Never a truer word said than this.
I understand that. Mage and Lock are the dominant Ranged, so in a 10 man you'll only have the spot for 1 of the others. Which brings the question then, how are we going to compare with Hunter, Ele and Boomkin assuming we're all geared? I guess the fun thing about Shadow is we will get to skip all the annoying boring progress, hahaha.
I guess that question is hard to answer considering we're still in PTR. Ofcourse for progress you'd rather take Hunter, Ele or Boomer due to the Mail/Leather slots.
Edit: From what i've gathered from a few top-end raiders on the ptr at the moment. Ele shines nicer than hunter/spriest/boomkin on most SoO fights (lock/mage>ele>rest)
Last edited by Langy; 2013-08-18 at 01:16 PM.
The problem is with multidotting imo. As long as we have an ability to multidot and take advantage of ToF to inflate our dps somehow blizzard will never fix the horrible mechanics of tab target dot, tab target dot. The excuse will always be "We think spreists are fine as is, we're not seeing any problems". I would rather have powerful single target with decreased aoe power. In this manner we can still compete, still aoe, and still be desirable. They have to address priests ancient mechanics and allow for some kind of movement capability, and multidot application.
It might be a little like warlocks but that's blizzards fault in the first place. plus since when has homogenization been cared about by blizzard. most classes are relatively the same. if they want to differentiate dot classes then i think spriests need a whole new design. Do you think GC (idiot) would do that?
in the end bring the player but if the other players are equally good you'll still be behind.
I've said it since Mogushan Vaults: Twist of Fate is the worst thing that's ever happened to shadow priests. It prevents the spec from proper balancing outside of ToF cheesing scenarios (Elegon / Will / Horridon). It was the reason the 5.2 +25% SWP buff got reverted within a week. That DoT buff was spot on, it addressed our imbalances on single target and also helped (slightly) with movement, as we pointed out since 5.2 ptr. If shadow ever required a nerf at all, it was to the abomination that is ToF.
You think? I'd say a tall statement would've been "It was the reason why mage bombs got a +40% buff even after blizzard stated 'multidot is too high'". Which is why I'd never say such a thing.
But yes, I stand corrected:
"It was most likely the reason the 5.2 +25% SWP buff got reverted within a week."
Last edited by Dierdre; 2013-08-18 at 07:27 PM.
My old guild cleared the tier in 25m with 3 spriests as well, with one of the healing priests joining us on his shadow OS for a 4th spriest even for a few progression kills. My current guild did the same until one of them quit wow recently, and now we just have 2. Shadow wasn't in a terrible spot this tier. We weren't OP, but we were hardly fury warriors.
Just nabbed our first H Lei Shen kill with 3 Spriests.
Granted one was dead most of the fight...
We've had 3 Spriests throughout T15 and it hasn't been too much of an issue.
I have raided with good spriest this teir...You guys are just bad...Spriest are mid in the pack of dps...and top 5 for top 100...Sounds like user error to me. Go do some more flavor of the expac class swapping...
The 80 other (US) guilds that we beat to it that had better gear than us... #justsayin
Not the point though. Shadow's low in 5.2/5.3, but not detrimentally so. We're finally getting buffed in 5.4, so let's wait to see all of this round of numbers tuning to get implemented on the PTR. We should get a pretty good idea from the 25 man testing coming up here.
Then we can make remarks on where we sit because as of right now the honest answer is that we don't really know.
Keep switching to FotM classes... I guess you are all in world top 10 guilds? And then when you finally got your arcane mage going shadow priests are in the top 5 and you wasted your time for your rank 1000 guild to put out a little bit more dps you don't really need .


text:
10 Stories You Might Have Missed: Tina Fey crushes hopes for 'Mean Girls 2'
Sorry, "Mean Girls" mega-fans. Tina Fey doesn't think a sequel ...
Sorry, "Mean Girls" mega-fans. Tina Fey doesn't think a sequel ...
Denis Villeneuve shows his freaky side in his 'Prisoners' follow-up
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www.hitfix.com/events/enemyAfter December's limited release, the Spike Jonze movie expands today.

subset: commoncrawl


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Washington, DC 20549-1004
CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): October 31, 2012
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its chapter)
Minnesota | 1-13471 | 41-1656308 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) |
(Commission File Number) |
(IRS Employer Identification No.) |
8799 Brooklyn Blvd., Minneapolis, Minnesota | 55445 | |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant's telephone number, including area code (763) 392-6200
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report) |
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
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☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) |
Item 2.02. Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On October 31, 2012, Insignia Systems, Inc. ("the Company") issued a press release announcing its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2012. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated in this Current Report as if fully set forth herein.
The information contained in this Current Report on Form 8-K, including Exhibit 99.1 attached hereto and incorporated herein, shall not be deemed "filed" for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that Section, and shall not be incorporated by reference, or deemed incorporated by reference, in any registration statement pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in any such filing.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits.
Exhibit Number | Description |
99.1 | Press release issued October 31, 2012 and entitled, "Insignia Systems, Inc. Reports Third Quarter Results" |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Insignia Systems, Inc. | ||
(Registrant) | ||
Date: October 31, 2012 | By | /s/ John C. Gonsior |
John C. Gonsior Vice President, Finance and CFO |
Exhibit Number | Description |
99.1 | Press release issued October 31, 2012 and entitled, "Insignia Systems, Inc. Reports Third Quarter Results" |


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Long Island Memories
FF&82 The past and present Mayors of Freeport, Robert Sweeney (left) and William White (second from right) were on hand when Thomas Lovelidge (right) and Henry Altengarten received Certificates of Appreciation from the Board of Trustees on their retirement from government service. Altengarten served as a Trustee and Deputy Mayor for eight years and chairman of the Water and Light Com-mission for 12. Lovelidge was a Trustee for 12 years and a member of the Water and Light Commission for three. He also served as treasurer of the Village's Urban Renewal/Community Development Agency during his trusteeship. Freeport Hometinders Director Ramona Crook (center) goes over renovating plans for 215 North Ocean Avenue with Its new owners, Dr. Kareem Tannous (left) and Ray Washecka. 'Built In 1930, the large two-family house had been owned and occupied by Dotty Berkowltz, owner of the "Starstream" of Wood deft Canal, until her death two years ago. Washecka, a long time resident of North Long Beach Avenue, came to the Village's free Homefinders Service looking for suitable property to purchase with Dr. Tannous and the North Ocean lankmark was found to fill their needs. Dr. Tannous and his wife, Maria, both obstetrician/ gynecologists, will use the,lower two levels as their residence and office while the upper floor will be rented to a young men who grew up in Freeport, and his wife. The removal of dead or diseas-ed trees at the curbline is the re-sponsibility of the owner or occu-pant of the adjoining land. Such trees, limbs or branches, which are likely to fall on or across any public way or place in the Village must be removed promptly. Owners of such trees receiving a notice from the Village Clerk requiring removal, have 48 hours in which to comply. After that time, the Village may have the required work done with the costs assessed on the adjoining land. It is recommended that a quali-fied tree surgeon or nursery be engaged to do the removal work. There is a requirement for a Tree ^Removal Permit (at no charge to the applicant), which can be ob-tained from the Registrar at Village Hall. Tax Hi. (Cont. from P. 3) year to allow for a longer season and prevent weather caused closings. The "bubble" was another innovative step taken by the Board of Trustees. The revenue side of the budget also shows a one-time State grant of $898,219 received by the Village. Ten percent, or $98,800, is reflected in the budget as well as the $90,000 expected in inter- .est on the banked balance. The sale of the municipal Public Works property for $675,000 shows on the revenue side as $375,000 as the remaining $300,000 went to reduce taxes in 1981-82. The land sale monies as well as the ten percent of the State grant and interest, will be used to renovate the presently unused municipal sewer plant as new and expanded headquarters for the Public Works Department. This method will reduce the inter-. est payments a strictly bonded project would bring about. The balance of the State money could be used in a similar fashion on a major project such as street improvements. Depending on the project, high interest rates ciould be avoided over a 15 to 20 year period controlling taxes over the same period. FEBRUARY 1982 A Public Information Bulletin of The Village Of Freeport 46 North Ocean Avenue Telephone FReeport 8-4000 William H. White, Mayor Public Meetings on the 1st. and 3rd. Mondays of the Month at 8:00 P.M. Godofredo (Mike) Ruiz de Zarate, a resident of East First Street for the past two years, has been appointed Superintendent of Buildings by the Board of trustees. He replaces David Lovejoy who has headed the Building Department since July, 1979. Lovejoy, who came to the Village as Deputy Superintendent of Public Works in 1975, will again assume that title and will be heading up a new engineering section in the Public Works Department. He was an engineer with the Transportation Depart-ment of the State of Deleware prior to coming to the Village. An electrical engineer, Ruiz de Zarate is a native of Havana, Cuba, who entered the United States in 1956, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1962. He received his engineering degree from the City College of New York and did graduate work in labor relations at Cornell University. He also studied at the Mondell Institute, Edison , Electrical Institute and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic En-gineers. Ruiz de Zarate has been in the construction field since 1964, and comes to Village employment from . the engineering firm of Stone and Webster where he was assistant construction supervisor for the Shoreham nuclear power station. Prior work experience included that as senior mechani-cal field representative with the , State of New York Dormitory Godfredo (Mike) Ruiz de Zarate, seated, Freeport's new Superinten-dent of Buildings, gets some pointers from his predecessor, David Lovejoy. Beginning in March, Lovejoy, a professional engineer, will be heading up the new engineering section, under the Public Works Department. Ruiz de Zarate, an electrical engineer, has been a resi-dent, on East First Street, for the past two years. Authority and resident repre-sentative of the firm of Metcalf and Eddy on the New Rochelle, Westchester, Waste Water Treat-ment Plant. The new Superintendent of Buildings lived in Uniondale for 13 years before moving to Free-port, because of his love of boating and fishing. A medic in the U.S. Army, he served on the emergency squad of the Union-dale Fire Department. Ruiz de Zarate and his wife, Ruth, have two daughters. Linda, 17, is a senior at Freeport High School, and Michele, 14, is in the 8th grade at Dodd Junior High School. Trustees: Dorothy Storm, Alfred Sirlin, Ja/nes Clark, Timothy Peternana Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo; Treasurer: James J. Lyons; Counsel: Michael Solomon ri- '•CLIP & SAVE1 Holiday Garbage & Trash Pickups The schedule by which garbage and trash is picked up in Freeport is determined by the availability of the Town of Hempstead landfill area. When that area is shut down for a holiday, there is no collection in the Village. It is against environmental protection laws to collect and then store garbage and trash overnight. In addition,.when a holiday prevents the pickup of garbage on one collection day in an area, there is double the amount of garbage to be" picked up the foll6wing"cbllecti6n'day. For that' reason, trash is not picked up on that following collection day. Following is a list of dates on which trash or garbage WILL NOT BE PICKED UP in 1982. Please Clip And Save This Is Important Information North Collection Area North of Randall and Grand Aves., including Randall and Grand Aves. HOLIDAY DATE Washington's Birth. Mon — Feb. 15 Thurs — Feb. 18 Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Mon — May 31 Thurs — June 4 Mori — JulyS Thurs — July 8 Mon — Sept. 6 Thurs — Sept. 9. Mon —Oct. 11 Thurs,— Oct. 14 Thurs — Nov. 11 Thurs — Nov. 25 No Garbage Pickup No Trash Pickup No Garbage Pickup No Trash Pickup No Garbage Pickup No Trash Pickup No Garbage Pickup No Trash Pickup No Garbage Pickup No Trash Pickup No Garbage or Trash Pickup No Garbage or Trash Pickup Central Collection Area Between (but notjncluding) Randall and """ G'rand'Aves" and south to'" (but not including) Atlantic Ave. HOLIDAY DATE Lincoln's Birthday Fri — Feb. 12 Election Day Christmas Tues — Nov. 2 Fri — Nov. 5 Fri — Dec. 24 No Garbage or Trash Pickup No Garbage Pickup No Trash Pickup No Garbage or Trash Pickup Freeport Property Values Up According to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, property values in Freeport have increased dramatically in the past three years. While the data compiled by the Multiple Listing Service does not include the sale of houses not on Multiple Listing but still sold by their member real estate brokers, or by the village's Homefmder Service, their figures are important because of their familiarity with house sales all over Long Island. The data shows that a total of 154 houses were sold in 1978, reaching a high of 191 between 1979 and 1980. In the last report-ing period of October, 1980 to September, 1981, house sales stabilized at 131. •• The Multiple- Listing figures show the sales prices of Freeport houses has increased steadily at 1 % per month over the last three years. The top sales price of $64,500 in 1978 rose-to $99,500 in '1981, an increase of 31.28%. The average sales price went from $38,744 to $50,865 during the same period. The data also shows that the average house was on the market for 136 days before being sold in 1978. That was cut to 70 days in 1981. Ramona Crook, Director of the Village's Homefinders Service, points out that her experience •sover the last six months,in selling , some 60 Houses is not consistent with Multiple Listing's data.' She reports a top sales price of $120,000 for a waterfront home and an average price of $65,000. The average price when Home-finders was first instituted several years ago was $39,000. As to the . length of time the average house stays on the market, Crook said that was dependent on the condi-tion of the property, and the feas-ibility of the price.being asked. "We've been known to sell a house in a matter of days. Too, we may have a buyer, and then.the seller will change' his mind. All and all, I would say without hesi-tation that the desirability of .Freeport houses in the market place has been dramatically en-hanced in the past couple of years due to the efforts of the Village.'' Faced with a 1982-83 operating budget which has leaped in the past 12 inflationary months from $14.3 million to $15.4 million, the Freeport Board of Trustees, after two months of meetings with department heads, honed down what might have been a $1.35 per $100 assessed valuation tax hike to 79<t per $100. The next fiscal year's budget was the subject of a public hearing on January 4 and was passed by the Board of Trustees on January 11. The budget shows a jump in the cost of employee benefits includ-ing a $100,000 increase in hospi-talization insurance, due to state-wide increases in rates of .Blue Cross-Blue Shield. An additional $65,000 in retirement benefits is in the new budget due to the raise in police salaries. A contingency figure of $300,000 reflects, among other items, the wage contract with the Civil Service Employees Association currently under nego-tiation. The cost of sanitation services has increased $348,000 to a total of $924,000 in 1982-83. When the switch was made from municipal collection to the private carter in 1979, it was estimated that a Village-run operation would have hit the million dollar mark the following year and $1.2 million in 1981: In contrast, cost of the pri-vate carter in 1981 was $576,000. In total, the switch has already saved taxpayers $1.5 million. The tentative budget also, shows an expenditure of $108,000 for a. new municipal engineering operation which should prove'of long term value in the cost of street improvements and other major projects..Engineering costs for such projects have added 20% to 30% to actual construction costs, all paid out of bond issues with resulting high payments in., interest charges over the years. The Village expects to save a large portion of such engineering costs by instituting the new section, as part of the Public Works Department, which will be headed by present Superinten-dent of Buildings David Lovejoy. Lovejoy is a professional civil engineer who was a highway ' engineer with the Sate of Dele-ware before coming to Freeport. In commenting on the new engineering • section, Mayor Tax Hike Kept To 79' William White pointed out that such innovative steps taken by the Village over the past several years had prepared the govern-ment to deal with today's infla-tionary economy more effectively than might have been the case. In addition to the switch from municipal sanitation, such steps have included the consolidation of operations and the decrease in the'number of employees through attrition. A major cost-saving step was the move to self-insurance taken in 1978 which has thus far saved taxpayers $550,000 while bringing an interest income of $202,000 to further offset taxes. An effective risk management program plus savings in premium costs, are expected to save addit-ional $50,000 over last year's costs. On the plus side, the 1982-83 budget shows estimated revenues up $1.4 million. Some $650,000 is ' expected to be derived from the Recreation Department, an in-crease of $100;000 projected for next year, mainly due to increas-ed revenues already being gen-erated from the ice skating rink which was bubble-enclosed last (Cont. on back page) 'aiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiDiiiiiiiiiiiiDiiiiiiiiiiiiDiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiDiiiiiimiiiQiiiiiD WANTED SCHOOL CROSSING GUARDS i 5 i I a § 5 $3.41 per hour 12-20 hours per week uniform supplied Must have driver's license, dependable transportation. SPECIAL POLICE $3.78 per hour day/evening/weekend = uniform supplied I '••• Must be Village resident, minimum of 21 years = of age, valid driver's license, be of good i character and able to pass medical exam- | ination. f I Apply: Office of the Village Clerk i i 46 N. Ocean Avenue I = D I 9am • 4pm | 6 No Telephone Inquiries | aiiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiimiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiraiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiioiiJiiniiiniiia = a
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600 pumpkins stolen from Long Island farm
Some enterprising thieves were thinking outside the box when they pulled off a heist at a Long Island farm last weekend.
The loot? Pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins.
About 600 of the iconic seasonal squash vanished from the Rottkamp Farm in Calverton sometime between Sept. 27 and 30. Riverhead Town Police put their market value at about $4,200.
A detective assigned to the case speculated that the thieves might have driven the pumpkins into Manhattan to sell them at a much higher price than they would fetch on Long Island.
"Otherwise, that's a lot of pumpkin pie," he said.
Follow Emily Johnson on Twitter @emilyjreports


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[no subject]
I have 4 raters that gave a score of 0-100 on 11 smartphone
The data is skewed right, as they all got low scores. I'm using the
ranks (within an individual) instead of the actual scores. I want to
know the correlation in ranking between the different raters.
I've tried the two commands:
-xtmixed rank Application || Rater: , reml
-estat icc
-icc rank Rater Application, mixed consistency
They give me two different answers. Which one is correct?
Next, we found out that rater 4 was off the charts, and we want to
eliminate her and rerun the analysis. When we do this we get wacky
ICCs. In the first method we get an ICC of 2e-26. In the 2nd method
(-icc), we get -.06. Eliminating any of the other raters gives us
ICCs close to the original ICC. Why are we getting such a crazy
number when we eliminate this 4th rater?
I'm guessing this might be instability in the model, but I'm not sure
how to get around it.
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
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Jeepers! BetterLight's 416-megapixel camera
LAS VEGAS--Maybe BetterLight's 384-megapixel Super 8K-HS scanning camera is just too wimpy for you.
Well, you're in luck, because the San Carlos, Calif.-based company announced a new high-end model, the Super 10K-HS, that offers 416-megapixel images.The company's products are geared for professionals with demanding needs in areas such as landscape or catalog photography. The new Super 10K-HS, announced Thursday here at the Photo Marketing Association trade show, is intended in particular for reproducing artwork or museum artifacts such as scrolls.
Technically, BetterLight doesn't sell cameras, but rather camera "backs" that attach to … Read more


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This is my absolute favorite fish recipe for its wonderful flavor and ease of preparation. I love Mediterranean food and the mild, tender Roughy is a fantastic compliment to the fresh and vibrant feta, caper and tomato topping. This is a great, healthy recipe that will have you feeling like you just ate in a fancy restaurant. I adapted this recipe from a recipe found at epicurious.com. As usual, substituting or eliminating any ingredients will greatly change the flavor as each ingredient compliments the other.
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Serving Size: 1 (244 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 4
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feta cheese with dried basil and tomato
lemons, rind of


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When reviewing the following guidelines, take into account how heavy your normal menstrual flow is. Abnormal vaginal bleeding varies depending on what is normal for a particular woman.
By | Healthwise Staff |
Primary Medical Reviewer | William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine |
Specialist Medical Reviewer | H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine |
Last Revised | June 20, 2011 |
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To leap through the sky Landscapes
Artist description:
This is just a quick 10 min draw or less. I might finish it later. Please rate and comment ^-^
Created Apr 02, 2012. Unless noted Copyright 2012
Vampirebite14 .
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I love the color scheme in this drawing! It seems to be a tornado, the dark substance in the sky but I am not exactly sure. I really like the amethyst and obsidian in particular. The reflections in the water look great. Hope you finish it! 5/5 hearts
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Review: Convert XPS files to PDFs (and vice versa) with Free XPS to PDF Converter
Free XPS to PDF Converter converts XPS files into PDFs that can be opened and edited in any PDF viewer or utility. Freedom Software's freeware works both ways: it converts XPS files to PDFs and PDFs to XPS files: both single files and entire folders.
With large, colorful "Add," "Remove," and "Convert" buttons and other basic controls, Free XPS to PDF Converter's user interface is plain but hardly unattractive. We started by converting DOCs to XPS files in Word so we'd have files to convert that Free XPS to PDF Converter … Read more


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Top tips for trips to the emergency room
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Nobody wants to take their baby to the emergency room, but it's a fact of life at some point.
Dr. Nick Jouriles, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, says being prepared can make a stressful situation much better. Here's how:
- Plan ahead. Where is the closest emergency department? How would you get there in an emergency?
- Bring their medications, immunization records, medical records and contact information for doctors who may have treated them.
- Have a list of any allergies they may have.
- Don't let your baby eat or drink anything.
- Bring a bag in case they are admitted. This bag should include a change of clothes, pajamas and favorites objects such as a small toy, a favorite blanket, a book or stuffed animal.
- If someone is watching your child, make certain they have a consent form in the event of an emergency. You can download one here from EmergencyCareforYou.org.
- Stay calm. Don't add stress to an already stressful situation.
Source: American College of Emergency Physicians


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Added to Bag!
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Feline Sassy Socks
Final Sale: This item cannot be returned or exchanged.
- 65% Cotton, 15% Nylon, 15% Polyester, and 5% Spandex.
- One size fits most. Fabric provides stretch.
- Machine wash.
- Imported


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Ham Vegetable Strata Recipe
Ever since my niece gave me this recipe, I've shared it with many of my friends. The crunchy golden brown topping and colorful ingredients present a tantalizing dish. It's my favorite brunch entree to serve.
-Diane Meyer, Geneseo, New York
- 1 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 12 slices white bread, crusts removed
- 1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
- 1 can (8 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
- 12 eggs
- 2-1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1-1/2 cups crushed cornflakes
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- In a small saucepan, cook the zucchini, broccoli and carrot in a 1-inch of water 5-10 minutes or until tender; drain. Meanwhile, cut bread in half diagonally; place half of the pieces in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with half of the vegetables, ham, mushrooms and cheese. Repeat layers.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, onion, mustard, salt and pepper; pour over the ham mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
- Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Toss cornflakes and butter; sprinkle over the casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Yield: 12-16 servings.
Originally published as Ham Vegetable Strata in Reminisce
May/June 2003, p48
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Though he's performed as a guitarist for The Shins, Califone, and others, Eric Johnson has written charming pop songs for the last decade with his band Fruit Bats. On Tripper, Eric Johnson takes a more narrative turn and recounts stories inspired from a cross country trip, but the melodies are as sweet as ever. Fruit Bats recently stopped by KEXP, on the day of the new album's release, to perform live on the Midday Show with fill-in host DJ El Toro. Check out the videos here:
Listen Live:
iTunes and KEXP
You can now find KEXP under "Eclectic" in iTunes after the demise of the "Public" category, to better represent the diversity of our daytime variety shows and numerous specialty programs.KEXP Suggests


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A bit of creativity (and scissors, a needle and thread) is all that's needed to produce stylish new clothes and accessories from things one might otherwise throw away.
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Extinct Design is all about having fashion fun whilst not upsetting the planet! Lets use our creative gifts and look and feel our best individual selves by dressing in the finest and cleverest recycled, redesigned, reused and rethought…
Katherine Feiel
Katherine Feiel makes custom wedding and special occasion gowns from new and vintage fabrics, reclaiming beautiful beaded silk garments, discarded wedding gowns, handmade laces or tapestries, and giving them new life. Each gown is handmade to order and…
Maiya launch an exciting new ethical fashion womenswear label with its debut collection for Spring/Summer 2012.
The first ready-to-wear collection focuses on tailored day and eveningwear dresses alongside a classically styled double-breasted trench coat.
Maiya use a range of organic,…
ella georgia
This site is more than just a celebration of pretty jewellery and accessories. Behind the brand is a complete ethos that's as much about people as it is about products. The idea behind ella georgia is simple: we…
With a keen eye for the exquisite, KOKKU selects only the highest quality gold and silver filigree rings, earrings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets and charms. Handmade filigree jewellery straight from the ancient island of Sardinia supporting the preservation of a…
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Kate recycles biscuit tins to make her unique jewellery range that includes necklaces, earrings, brooches and a selection of wedding jewellery.
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The expression a woman wears on her face is more important than the clothes she wears on her back.


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Jim McNerney, Boeing's chairman, president and CEO, said the company is working with the FAA to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
''We are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity,'' he said in a statement. ''We will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the traveling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service.''
Mike Sinnett, chief engineer on the 787, said last week that the plane's batteries have operated through a combined 1.3 million hours and never had an internal fault. He said they were built with multiple protections to ensure that failures ''don't put the airplane at risk.''
The lithium-ion design was chosen because it's the only type of battery that can take a large charge in a short amount of time. Rechargeable lithium batteries are most widely used to power consumer electronics such as laptops and cell phones. But they are also known to short-circuit and start fires that burn extremely hot and are difficult to put out.
Shipments of lithium batteries are suspected of causing or contributing to the severity of fires that caused two cargo jets to crash since 2010.
Sinnett said Boeing has long been aware of possible problems with lithium batteries. However, he said Boeing had designed the plane with special safety precautions to prevent a possible battery fire and to contain a fire to a small area should one occur.
Neither GS Yuasa Corp., the Japanese company that supplies the batteries for the 787, nor Thales, which makes the battery charging system, would comment on the recent troubles.
Boeing and its customers will need to move quickly to resolve the problem. The aircraft maker has booked orders for more than 800 of the planes from airlines around the world attracted by its increased fuel efficiency.
The FAA order had airlines, flight crews and passengers scrambling to figure out what to do next. Stanislaw Radzio, the captain of a LOT Polish Airlines 787 that landed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago late Wednesday, told The Associated Press he wasn't sure when the plane would be heading back to Poland.
''We're grounded like everyone else,'' he said. ''We are very unhappy with the situation.''
He said he was told of the FAA decision during the flight from Warsaw. A captain and flight instructor at the Polish airline since 1999, Radzio said the 787 is the nicest plane he's ever flown.
A passenger on the flight, Taras Dukyn, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said he was surprised when told of the grounding by reporters, but would be willing to fly the aircraft again if the problems were fixed.
''It's a really nice plane. Computers in every chair. It was comfortable, although I was a little hot,'' he said.
Freed reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Herb McCann in Chicago, Elaine Kurtenbach and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong and Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed to this report.
Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy


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Footwear - Kids ShoesSee Kai Run Harper SandalThe perfect summer sandal in Hot Pink, Turquoise and Purple. Handcrafted from butter soft leather. Breathable leather insole & lining. Adjustable Velcro strap. Flexible rubber sole. Padded collars for extra comfort. |
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The grapes for this wine were carefully selected to capture the famous character and essence of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Warm summer days and cool evenings have produced a wine with strong gooseberry aromas and gentle hints of cat(?). Serve this intensely flavored dry whit wine as an apertif or with salad, seafood and pasta dishes. Enjoy lightly chilled."
L: Sweet and fruity. Kind of tart. Definitely better chilled. An okay wine but I don't think I would drink it again.
Guest Judge, J: I can see why they call it "Cat's Pee".
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Kit Kemp - Interior Designer AwardA LIVING SPACE BY KIT KEMP2009 Queen's AwardRHS Chelsea Flower Show 2010
THE NEWS LETTER is periodically emailed to friends of Firmdale Hotels featuring various news items and point of interest. A few highlights are included above. If you would like to receive the next News Letter, please CLICK HERE.


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I have been working at Sky
Pros – Wide range of technology and products at scale used by millions to work on.
Cons – The usual big corp problems.
1 person found this helpful
I have been working at Sky full-time for more than a year
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We Believe in Better. It's not just a slogan. Put simply, Believe in Better is our DNA. It's how we approach everything; from creating game-changing entertainment and making our products effortless to… — Full Overview
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In The First Segment:
Domingo Martinez's "The Boy Kings of Texas" transports people into his Brownsville childhood, warts and all, in his memoir.
It's been called "an emotional roller coaster rendered in exquisite detail," by Publisher's Weekly and was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Martinez was in town for the San Antonio Texas Book Festival last weekend and stops by the studio to talk about his recent literary success and why living in Texas is not something he ever sees himself doing again.
The hearts of all who love and care for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are weeping today with the announcement of the passing of trumpeter Adolph Herseth. For over a half century (1948-2004), he was the principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Along with tubist Arnold Jacobs, Herseth and his brass playing colleagues evolved into the most powerful and accomplished orchestral brass section in the world. This is no exaggeration!
I remember as yesterday my first substantial introduction to the art of Colin Davis. The cycle of Sibelius Symphonies he recorded with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was outstanding, enhanced further by the art work, drawn from the paintings of Edvard Munch. The music world reacted much as I had, declaring Sir Colin an authoritative interpreter of Sibelius. He came back to the cycle at least twice afterwards, making studio recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra and then a cycle of concert recordings with the LSO.
Each week on World Music (Saturday nights from 8-10 on KSTX 89.1 FM), I take a look at celebrations happening around the world. This week, learn about the original gated community.
Days after the San Antonio Independent School District named a candidate for the district's top job, Dr. Manuel Isquierdo withdrew his name from consideration.
Monday, the SAISD School Board voted to name Isquierdo the "lone finalist" for the position.
SAISD School Board President Ed Garza announced the move Friday afternoon, saying Isquierdo felt the decision was in the best interest of all parties involved.
The lone finalist for the superintendent position at San Antonio Independent School District is under fire for his previous record, which includes a tax lien, a suspended license and charging money to a district credit card.
Manuel Isquierdo does not come to SAISD with a clean financial record, but he did have explanations for each of his accusations.
Texas Senate Committee on Finance gave their approval for tapping into the state's so-called Rainy Day Fund to pay for future water and transportation needs.
Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, authored the bill that doesn't include any of the money going to education.
BiblioTech, the nation's first bookless public library, is now in the construction phase after Bexar County began demolition on walls in the Precinct 1 satellite office this morning.
Come this fall the county will open BiblioTech on Pleasanton Road with more than 10,000 electronic titles that can be downloaded to e-readers or tablets.
Commissioner Chico Rodriguez said BiblioTech is not taking anything away from the city's current library system.
The Norse god Wotan - like his counterparts in the south, Zeus and Jupiter - got around as they say. He wasn't named "all-father" for nothing. The second opera of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle is about three of his offspring.
First, the legitimate daughter Brünnhilde, who is a Valkyrie -a collector of the heroic dead slain in battle - and after whom this opera is named. Then there are the twins Siegmund and Sieglende, their mother is Erda - mother earth.
City council has approved a contract for WiFi to be installed at the Alamodome. Initially the city will spend $1.4 million from the Hotel Occupancy Tax to fund the project, but then the city says it will actually get money back from the events it attracts from out of state.
According to the city's supporting documents from the April 11 City Council A session, the Texas Events Trust Fund legislation allows cities and counties to be reimbursed for expenses that attract high-tax impact events to Texas.


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North Shore Ocean Fest 2013
"Malama I Ke Kai - Protect the Ocean"
Join us for the 2nd annual North Shore Ocean Fest
at Turtle Bay!
When: Saturday, June 1st, 2013
Hours: 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Where: Turtle Bay Resort
This event is FREE and open to the public!
The 2013 North Shore Ocean Fest will be the 2nd annual fundraiser for the North Shore Ocean Education Coalition. This fundraiser will gain support for K-12 marine education and ocean awareness for school children and their families from Ka'a'awa to Waialua.
This year's Ocean Fest will include: a Poster-Art, Poetry, and Short-Story Contest with awards for children K-12 (see below for contest packet and contest guidelines), Educational booths, Ocean Speakers, Films, a Silent Auction, Keiki activities, Wyland fine art posters, Food, Vendor booths, Music/Hula, and more! Please bring your family and friends to benefit our keiki.
Theme: "Malama i Ke Kai" – Protect the Ocean.
For more information about this event, poster contest or how to support the North Shore Ocean Education Coalition please call (808) 255-6944 or click here.


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Carrageenan formulation prevents macrophage trafficking from vagina: Implications for microbicide development (PDF)
Perotti,Maria-Elisa; Pirovano,Alessia; Phillips,David M.
Biology of Reproduction 69(3): 933-939
Publication date: 2003
Considerable evidence suggests that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected macrophages and/or lymphocytes may mediate sexual transmission of HIV. We and others have previously demonstrated that when vitally stained donor mouse lymphocytes or macrophages are placed in the vaginas of mice, some of the stained cells can later be found in the iliac lymph nodes. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of mononuclear cell trafficking from the vagina and to test the possibility that carrageenan formulation, a sulfated polysaccharide formulation containing 3% PDR98-15 carrageenan (PC-515; FMC Biopolymer, Rockland, ME), a vaginal microbicide, would prevent vaginal transmigration of macrophages. When supravitally stained mouse macrophages and T cells were inoculated into the vagina of recipient mice, discrete numbers of donor cells migrated to the recipient iliac and inguinal lymph nodes and spleen. When recipient mice were preinoculated with the carrageenan formulation, the number of macrophages in lymph nodes and spleen was reduced by >90%. In contrast, a methylcellulose formulation, which is believed to be inactive, did not significantly reduce migration to the lymphoid organs. Our findings suggest that the carrageenan formulation blocks cell trafficking of macrophages from vagina and that blocking does not result from cytotoxicity. Blocking cell trafficking may help to prevent sexual transmission of HIV.
What's New
For 60 years, the Population Council has changed the way the world thinks about important health and development issues. Explore an interactive timeline of the Council's history, learn more about some of our key contributions, and watch a short video about why your support is so important to us.
Get Involved
- Make a contribution to the Population Council
- Honor a loved one with a gift in his or her name
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Virtuous Kids
Lincoln Elementary and the Kiwanis Club of Delta recently recognized the Virtuous Kids pictured above: (back row, left to right) Sage Kyner, compassion; Maria Gonzales, responsibility; Gabino Miramontes, diligence; Araceli Ramirez, responsibility; Valerie Ewing, ambition; Wyatt Lillard, responsibility; (front row) Cannon Brown, enthusiasm; Andrew Wilcox, diligence; Daniel Mendiola, dedication; Elanna Valdez, diligence; Garrett Roberts, integrity; Brylee Westwood, diligence; Laura Fernandez, respect; Addison Clark, cooperation.
Subscribe today and get the DCI delivered weekly to your mailing address.
If you want to support your community newspaper, but do not want to receive a printed newspaper, please consider making a donation . . .


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The 2013 Carrollton Child Abuse Prevention Event held on April 26 went great. Champions for a Drug Free Carroll County was able to sponsor the event successfully thanks to a number of community organizations and individuals.
Faith Community Pharmacy would like to thank the Carroll County Fiscal Court for a donation of $5,000.
The money will help us continue to provide outreach services and deliver more than 1,300 prescriptions to more than 35 residents in your county.
Tara Leen
Development Director
Faith Community Pharmacy
The Carrollton Rotary Club is deeply saddened to learn of the death of legendary country singer George Jones. During his last visit to Carrollton, George was kind enough to sign a guitar for the Carrollton Rotary Club to raffle.
Carrollon Rotary Club will be selling tickets for $10 each for this autographed guitar through Saturday, May 11, when we hold our annual pancake breakfast. All funds raised from the raffle will go toward the annual scholarships the Rotary club awards each year.
On March 15-17 the Carroll County Middle School cheerleaders had the opportunity to compete on a national level in Myrtle Beach, S.C. This would not have been possible without the great support our squad acquired from our district, local businesses and the work of our cheer parents and cheerleaders.
My mother loves to walk Max, her Boston Terrier. Monday, April 1 while walking him, she saw some girls walking a black German Shepherd in their direction. So, as mom always does, she began to cross the street with Max as to avoid the two dogs crossing paths.
The German Shepherd broke the leash and attacked/jumped my mom and Max knocking my mother down onto the street. She couldn't get up.
Max was trying to fight the big dog off. Mom said finally the girls got the dog by the collar, pulling it off of her.
Dear Editor:
I would like to thank all of the merchants who helped make Easter on the Square a fun time for all. The sidewalk sales offered many discounted prices and it was nice to see the people shopping throughout town.
Did you realize that out of the 16 million Veterans who participated in WWII, there are only about 1.5 million still living? The U.S. is losing 800-1,000 WWII Veterans every day, which means in five years most of the "Greatest Generation" will be gone.
This week will be a special focus on Project Child Find/504 in our community. These are projects to make sure that every child form birth thru 21 years of age are getting services/resources in all their developmental areas to become successful in life.
The Carroll County School District has a Head Start program that works with children birth through age 4 and special education services for students ages 3 thru 21.
On behalf of the Carroll County Junior Panthers third-grade boys basketball team and coaches, we would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the following people: Doug Oak and Jonica Ray for allowing us to use the school to host the tournament; Earl Floyd and Herb Kinman for their donations; Owen County, Gallatin County, Bracken County, South Ripley and South Western and your hometown Panthers, without you this tournament would not have been possible.


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Seychelles Sights
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Fodor's The Complete Guide to African Safaris
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Plantation House
- Address: L'Union, La Digue
- Phone: 423–4240
- Cost: Rs100
- Hours: Daily 7:30–5
- Location: La Digue
Contact Information
- 80 Degrees: Fodor's Helps You Find Your Best Beach Vacation Spots
- Fodor's Go List 2014: Where we are going in 2014
- World Cup Fever: Start planning your trip to Brazil!
- Fodor's 100 Hotel Awards: Check out the winners of 2013
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text:
ok, I am a newbie at the iAPPLE stuff and I just got my ipad 64GB WiFi 3G and I installed some apps including Skype. Skype was working great and at some point the icon no longer appeared on the desktop so how the heck should I execte the app. If i iSSH into my ipad I can see very clearly the code is installed.
Things I have tried:
1. Reinstall Skype - says success but I still see no icon
2. Renaming the directory and reinstall - says success but I still see no icon
3. Download different version of Skype (just for the hell of it) and install- still no icon
ahmm ***.. Any ideas how to generally create a link on the desktop for something or specifally Skype?
I am pretty familiar with Linux but not this gui so need some help!


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May 2008
Carl Gershman is the president of the National Endowment for Democracy. This essay is based on his keynote remarks at the FPRI Asia Program's conference on Elections, Political Transitions and Foreign Policy in East Asia held in Philadelphia on April 14, 2008. For conference videotapes and reports, see www.fpri.org/research/asia/electionseastasia.
Audio and video of Gershman's address is available
It is hard to think of a region of the globe so packed with both threats and opportunities as East Asia. Of course, the Middle East is as strategically significant as it is combustible. But none of that region's states have yet shown signs of the economic and political dynamism that we've seen in East Asia over the last twenty years. Strategically vital to the world economy, the region is home to some of the most vibrant new democracies as well as harsh tyrannies. South Korea and Taiwan, along with the Philippines in Southeast Asia, were in the vanguard when the Third Wave of democratization reached the region in the late 1980s.
Significantly, their transitions occurred or began before the collapse of Soviet communism and in a regional context that was far from friendly to democratization. The new democracies of postcommunist central and eastern Europe not only enjoyed at least some democratic traditions and experiences dating back to before communism, but benefited as well from the nearby gravitational pull—and financial subsidies—of the wealthy Western democracies making up the European Union. By contrast, East Asia's nascent democracies have emerged in the shadow of the world's most powerful authoritarian state, namely China, though admittedly with the intense involvement of the United States as a security guarantor and of Japan as an engine of economic growth.
With the simultaneous rise of China and growth of democracy in East Asia, along with the continued division of the Korean peninsula, East Asia is today the region of the world where alternative systems of democracy and authoritarianism are most sharply counter-posed. It was not so long ago that serious attention was being paid to the notion put forward by Singapore's leader Lee Kuan Yew that democracy is a Western system that cannot take hold in a region shaped by "Asian values," which presumably emphasize authority over liberty and order over pluralism and democratic processes. One doesn't hear much about this viewpoint anymore since it is out of touch with both the political realities of East Asia and with public attitudes as revealed in recent opinion surveys. Steady democratic gains in both South and Northeast Asia—in the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and, most recently, in Malaysia—hardly bespeak a region that is inherently authoritarian. And public opinion surveys throughout the region, and in South Asia as well, show that roughly six in ten people believe that democracy is the best system of government. Even larger majorities reject the authoritarian alternatives of military, one-party, and strong-man rule, and the public in East Asia is not more likely than citizens of the West to demand respect for authority.
At the same time, East Asians want to see democracy perform in terms of delivering health, education and other services and improving the quality of life and the effectiveness of governance. In this respect, East Asians are not very different from the citizens of Latin America and Central Europe, who are also unhappy when democracy does not deliver up to expectations. The challenge in East Asia is especially acute since the democracies in this region face rivals in tiny Singapore and a resurgent China that consciously offer an alternative authoritarian model of economic development. Obviously, though, the backward dictatorships of Burma and North Korea offer no such challenge.
While there is little chance of a democratic rollback in East Asia, the performance of the new democracies has been uneven.
Taiwan is now one of Asia's most robust democracies, having passed Samuel Huntington's test of a second genuine alternation of power with the recent return to power of the KMT, led by new president Ma Ying-jeou. But Taiwan's political culture remains deeply polarized and partisan, reflecting not just the ethnic divide between native Taiwanese and mainlanders, but a political divide between two camps with sharply different visions of Taiwan's future: the green camp looks toward eventual independence, while the blue camp prefers more cooperation with the mainland and is open to unification under the right conditions. This division has led to bitter political conflict and often governmental paralysis, making the recent election an expression of Taiwan's remarkable resilience as a democracy. An independent judiciary and a vigorous civil society have contributed powerfully to this resilience.
Like Taiwan, South Korea is also deeply divided, with differences over how to deal with North Korea sharpening divisions in the same way the debate over relations with the mainland has done in Taiwan. And yet despite these divisions, again like Taiwan, its most recent elections (December 2007) produced a transfer of power from one party to the other without violence and with an air of democratic normality, thus demonstrating once again the resilience and stability of democracy. Of course President Lee will be challenged to deliver on his promises to revive the economy, and his high approval ratings began to decline when some of his ministerial appointees had to step down amid controversies over their real estate dealings. His Washington visit on April 18-19 gave new momentum to the U.S.-Korean relationship, both at the economic level where a new free trade agreement could soon be ratified, and at the security level where close U.S.-Korean cooperation is a precondition for the success of the six-party talks on North Korea. But the trade agreement and the six-party talks face serious obstacles, and President Lee will do well to bear in mind the experience of his predecessor, whose presidency was badly weakened by protracted confrontations with his parliamentary opposition. Such political divisions will not disappear, of course, but Korea's two decades of democracy have been on the whole a remarkable success, and there is nothing to suggest that this will not continue.
In two other East Asian countries, the Philippines and Thailand, there is more cause for concern. The Philippines provides little reason for optimism save that its democratic institutions, while compromised, have withstood decades of communist and Islamist insurgency, military coups, endemic corruption, and the constraints of a political system in which traditional elite families continue to monopolize political power, despite the vibrant associational impulses of civil society. The toxic blend of political violence, political clans and corruption ("guns, goons and gold"), combined with President Arroyo's deference to her generals and corrupt political allies, has prompted an alarming decline in public confidence in democratic institutions.
The situation is only marginally better in Thailand. The September 2006 coup had the support not only of the military but also of the monarchy and Bangkok's middle classes, who worried about Thaksin's attempts to compromise judicial independence, delegitimize opposition, and nurture division between urban democratic critics and his rural base of support. All of these moves undermined Thai democracy even if they were exploited by the military as an excuse for the coup. It's a good thing that the military has withdrawn from power and that there is now the restoration of a democratically elected government. But the victory of the People's Power Party and the return of Thaksin and his allies promise another round of battles between him and the Thai establishment and the possible return of all the problems that preceded the coup, including violence in the south, extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs, and close relations with the military in Burma, as shown by Samak's recent visit to Rangoon.
The cruel dictatorship that continues to grind Burma under its boot heel is, in its own corrupt way, as poisonous a factor in Southeast Asia as the Kim Jong-il regime is in Northeast Asia. Burma does not have a nuclear program, to be sure, but it a source of tremendous instability as a base for the smuggling of drugs and other illicit items, the spread of HIV/AIDS, human trafficking for the sex trade, and the displacement of millions of people with the relentless assault on the national minorities. There is still great bitterness left over from the crushing of the popular protest movement last September and the jailing and persecution of the Buddhist monks who led it. The situation remains unstable, with the economy doing poorly and military desertions on the rise. The May 10 referendum on the regime's new constitution could set off another round of protests.
Indonesia's democratic transition over the last decade is both the most important advance for democracy globally during that period and also the most overlooked. Though Indonesia faces enormous challenges in strengthening the rule of law, fighting endemic corruption, and lifting up the 40 percent of the population that continues to live on less than $2/day, we should not underestimate the great progress that has been made in the consolidation of Indonesia's new democracy. The democratic government has improved the delivery of services, reformed the police and the judiciary, reduced crime, radically decentralized government while avoiding the Balkanization that many feared would occur under democratic rule, improved security while ensuring that the armed forces stay out of politics, signed the historic Aceh Peace Agreement in the aftermath of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, and achieved sustained economic growth to the point that analysts have spoken of the emergence of a "democratic Indonesian tiger."[1] No less significant is the continuing strength of moderate, mainstream Islam organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. Leaders like former president Abdurrahman Wahid have successfully resisted the influence of radical Salafist elements and are positively projecting a model of democratic and civil Islam that, in time, could assume genuinely global significance. Indonesia will hopefully also become a more assertive force within ASEAN in defending human rights, and with Thailand mired in its internal crisis, Indonesia might conceivably provide leadership in dealing with the cancer of Burma.
The positive impact of the democratic progress in Indonesia could soon be reinforced by changes underway in Malaysia, where the March 8 elections produced the most significant democratic political change since independence. The victory of the three-party opposition alliance led by Anwar Ibrahim in five of Malaysia's thirteen states (Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor, and Kelantan) and the capture of enough seats in the national parliament to deny the government a two-thirds majority represented the biggest loss for the governing National Front since 1957. The government had tried to play on Malay fears of minority Chinese and Indian influence, but the big and most hopeful news from the election is that many Malays joined with Chinese and Indian citizens in giving an enormous boost to Anwar's People's Justice Party (PKR), which offers a new model in Malaysia of inter-ethnic cooperation. If the opposition can govern well in the five states, it could challenge the government for national power in the near future. For now, the government of Abdullah Badawi remains stunned and ineffective, with The Economist speaking of him as "shuffling deckchairs on a personal Titanic."[2] If there is a real democratic transition in Malaysia, it will have important repercussions within ASEAN, with implications for Burma; in Asia generally, where Anwar is a deeply respected figure; and in the wider Muslim world, where his voice resonates.
China, which is undergoing transformative changes the outcome of which is unclear, will be the decisive factor in East Asia's future. China's undeniably impressive economic performance is now giving rise to a raised political profile on the global stage, more active diplomacy, and a greater assertion of soft power. In the latter category, it has an extensive network of Confucius Institutes that promote the Chinese language and culture and provides development assistance to neighboring autocracies like Laos, Cambodia, and Burma, as well as to sub-Saharan African states, or at least to those with valuable raw materials and energy supplies.
Some analysts believe that a stronger China will have more leverage in mediating conflicts in the Asia-Pacific and will therefore be a net plus for regional security and stability. Beijing has certainly taken part in the international effort to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, though its refoulement of North Korean refugees violates its obligations under the refugee convention. And in the run-up to the Olympics, its failure to adhere to international standards of transparency, disclosure, and human rights is drawing increased international criticism. Indeed, the communist authorities have stepped up their harassment of independent NGOs and dissidents like on-line activist Hu Jia and dissident writer Lu Gengsong in what has been called "a coordinated cleansing campaign."
Recent events in Tibet, the protests surrounding the Beijing Summer Olympics, and the forthcoming constitutional referendum in Burma, where China is perceived as "the prop that always holds up a loathed regime,"[3] remind us that Beijing has yet to demonstrate that it can consistently fulfill the role of being a "responsible stakeholder" in the global system. The venom with which Chinese officials have reacted to the Dalai Lama's calls for moderation and dialogue—describing His Holiness as a "monster with a human face and an animal's heart"—suggests that Maoist intolerance dies hard. And the April 1 demonstrations in Xinjiang by several hundred ethnic Uyghurs protesting the death in custody of a prominent local philanthropist are a timely reminder that China remains a one-party state hostile to basic democratic values such as freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the rule of law, and human rights, even though these values are enshrined in the Chinese constitution.
For all its economic dynamism, China's communist regime is beset by fundamental challenges, if not contradictions, which should lead us to question whether it is sustainable. Like all authoritarian regimes, it is ultimately fragile, lacking the institutional flexibility and "release valves" required to accommodate change, especially when economic crises hit.
There are several reasons why serious political reform will become a compelling imperative over the next five to ten years. Corruption is endemic and pervasive, manifested in widespread land seizures and property confiscations, undermining both business performance and the legitimacy of party rule, particularly in the rural hinterland dominated by alliances of corrupt business interests and local party apparatchiks. This corruption has led to a dramatic increase in the number of protests driven by social inequalities, environmental degradation, endemic corruption, and acute crises in health care, education and social security. In the absence of constitutional channels for expressing grievances and resolving conflict, this volatility can only increase.
Moreover, the CCP's legitimacy is fragile, relying on a blend of Maoist nostalgia, economic competence, and nationalism that is being challenged by an albeit nascent generation of emerging leaders—in business, media, civil society and within party circles—many of whom have been educated in the West, take a technocratic rather than an ideological approach to most issues, and feel frustrated with the party's stultifying political monopoly.
The party's legitimacy crisis is evident in internal party divisions and debates in which younger and lower-level officials have become more vocal in their demands for democratic change, while senior officials are increasingly exposing their lack of faith in the regime's future by sending their personal wealth abroad.
The party recognizes that with increasing social agitation and the emergence of an increasingly affluent middle class, demands for a more open society will increase. This middle class is starting to show signs of restiveness, as evidenced by the recent "collective walking" protests in Shanghai against plans to extend the right-of-way for a maglev (magnetic-levitation) railway line.
In The China Price (Penguin, March 2008), Alexandra Harney observes that as its economy continues to develop not merely in scale but in variety and sophistication, China will inevitably begin to erode its own main competitive advantage as a manufacturer dependent on cheap labor. Rising costs for wages and materials, increasing litigation, demands for unionization, tightening labor markets, and higher safety standards will all eat into the profit margins of "China, Inc." Insofar as the party's legitimacy depends on its management of China's economic boom, an economic crisis or severe downturn could precipitate demands for systemic change, much as the 1997-98 East Asian financial crisis prompted Indonesia's democratic turn. The political monopoly of an ideologically bankrupt and manifestly corrupt ruling-party elite is incompatible with the diversity of opinion and demand for government accountability, both of which are being driven by a dynamic economy and rapidly rising levels of schooling, literacy, and exposure to outside ideas. This once-closed society now has more than a quarter of a billion cell-phones and 10 million Internet users, including 34 million bloggers. To cite just one consequence of the changes taking place, China's unofficial online media drove five of the ten biggest news stories covered by the official Chinese media during the last year, all of them involving citizens defying arbitrary power, insisting on their right to know the truth, protesting grave injustices, and demanding that government be held accountable for its policies and actions.
In The Spirit of Democracy (Times Books, 2008), my colleague Larry Diamond has suggested four scenarios for China that don't exhaust the possibilities, but which may help to give an idea of some of the likelier alternative outlines of future events. Two are transitional, one leading to a Singapore-like soft authoritarianism with managed single-party rule, the other—more on the model of South Korea and Taiwan — where economic development generates a growing middle class and increased social complexity and pluralism, trends that force the party to concede its political monopoly.
Each of the other two scenarios involve what the Spanish democrats of the post-Franco period called a ruptura, a complete break with the old system, which will fall to either a new form of authoritarianism or to democracy. Diamond is aware of the danger of the former, quoting Minxin Pei's analysis of illiberal adaptation, where the current dictatorship ceases to be developmental and mutates into a "decentralized predatory state," diminishing prospects for political liberalization. But he clearly feels that the democratic alternative is a more likely outcome for China, which has a growing middle class and a larger and more networked civil society than existed in 1989 during the Tiananmen events, the proliferation of Internet users and NGOs, a more robust community of liberal intellectual leaders than is generally appreciated, and a hunger for religious fulfillment, with Christianity and other organized religions filling the moral vacuum left by the ideological collapse of communism.
The historical experience of Germany and Japan between the 1860s and the 1940s shows that economic modernization need not entail political liberalization, at least not without the prospect of dangerous and globally catastrophic detours. So there are no grounds for complacency. Moreover, China's uncertain future is hardly the only source of regional instability. East Asia is one of the world's few regions with a number of unresolved conflicts and ominously latent crises—from North Korea's nuclear aspirations to Taiwan's status and Japan-China tensions—but without an overarching multilateral security and cooperation architecture through which they can be addressed or resolved.
The United States has a profound interest in how the divisions in the region are managed and contained and how the contest over values is resolved. The outcome, according to Michael Green, the former senior Asian Affairs director at the National Security Council, "will determine whether the future regional architecture in Asia is inclusive and based on universal values, or instead excludes the United States and undermines its interests."[4] There is good reason to be skeptical about the chances for building an inclusive regional architecture. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso's vision of an "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity" is now a distant memory, overtaken by the current political jockeying between Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa. And China's record on its other flanks, as an architect of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, suggests that its vision for Asia is not necessarily inclusive, given that the SCO explicitly rejects global norms of human rights, political liberties, and good governance.
Still, a significant number of Asia's leaders seem to have come to see democracy as integral to their respective nations' stability, success, and sense of identity. There is a compelling case for taking advantage of the region's growing economic integration, its shared anxiety over latent or incipient security threats, and the glimmers of interest that some of its elites are beginning to show in the idea that promoting human rights and promoting security can work together, in order to start a process that would forge a regional architecture and promote a vision of East Asia based on cooperation mutual guarantees of security, and universal norms. Ironically, the North Korean dictatorship could even prove to be—by dint of its very worrisomeness, whether it endures or it collapses—the unwilling catalyst for the precipitation of such a beneficial new compound.
The six-party talks have certainly run into severe difficulties, but they have brought together the United States and China, along with South Korea, Japan, and Russia, around a common project of denuclearizing North Korea militarily and ending its complete isolation and recklessness, which all agree are a threat to regional peace. The agreement of February 13, 2007, has yet to be implemented, but it contains the seeds of a new regional architecture. Of the five working groups established under the agreement, only one deals with the North Korea nuclear issue. Three deal with regional economic and energy cooperation and the normalization of U.S.-North Korea and Japan-North Korea relations. The fifth, chaired by an immensely able Russian diplomat, establishes a Northeast Asia Peace and Security Mechanism (NEAPSEM). It is out of this working group that a comprehensive multilateral framework for cooperation in Northeast Asia might develop, one that would integrate security, economic, humanitarian and human rights issues, as was done in Europe three decades ago through the Helsinki process.
The elements of a new architecture have thus been assembled, but the building cannot commence until the nuclear stalemate with North Korea is resolved. It is, to be sure, a risky undertaking to base the success of such an ambitious initiative on the cooperation of such an unlikely partner as North Korea. But given what is at stake for all sides, it is not out of the question that this calculated gamble might in the end pay off. We should all hope that it does.
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Some are calling incoming Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott the "anti-Cathie Black," as he assumes the role with a deep familiarity with city schools and a long history of working the local political system. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report.
With a bump of the fist from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dennis Walcott effectively took over the city school system Thursday, and introduced himself as a hometown boy made good.
"I'm just a guy from Queens whose parents were raised in Harlem. My grandparents immigrated from the Caribbean. And I currently live in Queens," said Walcott. "I'm just a city guy."
He is also a product of city schools. Born and raised in southeast Queens, Walcott attended P.S. 36 and later Francis Lewis High School, where, according to his senior yearbook, he was in the senior band and orchestra.
After some time teaching kindergarten and doing other community work, Walcott became head of the New York Urban League in 1990, advocating for education and better police-community relations. But he was known as a conciliator, even coming under pressure for not participating in civil disobedience after the Amadou Diallo shooting in 1999.
"It's important for me to try to be out there, to talk to different people within the administration, and arrests may preclude that," said Walcott at the time
Walcott was also appointed to the Board of Education by Mayor David Dinkins. Ayo Harrington, the former president of the United Parents Association, worked closely with him at the time and called him a listener.
"He was a person who believed that parents should not be only behind the bake sale table, but they should actually be at the board table. And we were -- often," said Harrington.
In 1995, Walcott was part of a group that sued to block a bus and subway fare increase. Even his co-plaintiffs remember him as someone who knew how to work the system.
"He had a lot of back-channel connections to city hall during the [Rudolph] Giuliani administration," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "And he asked them about whether they were interested in participating in the lawsuit and it got serious consideration and discussion. And I think he's always known how to pull the strings of government."
Walcott's transformation into a political insider became official in December 2001, when then-Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg tapped him as deputy mayor for policy."
Now nine years later, Walcott is taking on a new role, though Bloomberg said Thursday he will continue to take the salary of a deputy mayor, which is lower than that of chancellor.