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Rhodia Dot Pad, Orange, 3.38 x 3.75 inches
Rhodia Dot Pad, Orange, N12 notepad is a quality staple-bound pad great for taking notes or creating lists. Each pad has 80 sheets (160 pages) of smooth, 80 g dot grid paper with a soft, waterproof cover. The N16 book measures approximately 3.38 x 3.75 inches
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I just joined, and the posts I see here appear to be years old.
So, just a friendly FYI.
I know a guy in IRON STATION, NC who sells C3 and C4 parts.
I bought my birdcage from him.
Randy's Corvettes
Iron Station, NC.
Just a friendly FYI
Most posts old. So I have a guy you want to talk to
Buy and sell your C3 Corvette parts
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1

subset: commoncrawl


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Are the police cameras proposed for OB's waterfront "a done deal"? That's a big question facing the community of Ocean Beach these days.
Lorie Zapf's office wants you to think so. The councilwoman wants those ten surveillance cameras planned to be set up between the OB Pier and Dog Beach. For Lorie and her staff, it is "a done deal". From all appearances, it looks like Zapf's office is putting itself on the line on this issue, and strikes a very uncompromising stance on the cameras. "It's a done deal."
For the cops, it's "a done deal". There's even a new spin on the cameras. They're now "lifeguard surveillance cameras". This was spun at the recent Crime Prevention sub-committee meeting earlier this week.
For the City Attorney's office, it's "a done deal'. At the same meeting just mentioned, their rep explained how the cameras will be used.
And for many of the merchants who sit on the Crime Prevention sub-committee of the OBMA, it's also "a done deal". Some of them have been looking forward to the cameras "for years".
But are they? Are the cameras truly a done deal?
Ask members of the OB Citizens Against Privacy Abuse this question and most of them will show you a scowl. They don't think it's a done deal.
Ask the rest of the community of Ocean Beach whether it's a done deal.
Many of them don't even know about them. There's been no community-wide debate or discussion about the cameras. And from what we know, not one OB organization has voted to endorse or support the police cameras. Let's repeat that:
Not one OB organization has voted to endorse or support the police cameras.
But we're told it's a done deal.
Yet, it seems the only thing standing between the cameras going up over the next month and a half or so is this tiny group of OBceans – Citizens Against Privacy Abuse – who oppose them.
Their common complaint – besides the cameras themselves – is, again, that "nobody in OB knows about them." Neither the City nor community groups like the OBMA, its sub-committee or OBCDC have tried to get the word out. The OBMA knew about the cameras as early as last June. And the City and Zapf's office have not done too much on the PR angle. No one has denied them and there have been brief presentations on them at recent community meetings. But how many people go to those meetings compared with the nearly 15,000 OB residents?
It's almost as if those who wanted the cameras wanted them up before anyone noticed – they're up – end of discussion.
And this lack of knowledge about what is coming down – or actually – going up – among the villagers gets these members of Citizens Against Privacy Abuse stirred up.
The group is not standing still. They're holding meetings, attending other group meetings; they've set up an email (firstname.lastname@example.com ), they're working on fliers, and they're looking into setting up a town hall forum on the issue.
Well, the word is starting to get out. Local NBC and CBS TV stations have now both done stories on the cameras and the opposition. And everyday new people are contacting CAPA via their email wanting to get involved.
Maybe some day, there will actually be a open neighborhood-wide debate about them.


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The Lamar Boulevard Bridge.
For more than 50 years, the historic Lamar Boulevard Bridge carried cars, runners, walkers, and bicyclists over the section of the Colorado River known as Lady Bird Johnson Lake (formerly Town Lake). But over the years, as the volume of cars increased on the narrow roadway, the bridge became treacherous for pedestrians and bicyclists. Following two fatal pedestrian/car accidents in the early 1990s, City of Austin officials resolved to improve the bridge crossing for all users.
It was not possible to make alterations and still preserve the bridge's historic character, so instead the city built another bridge adjacent to the existing structure. Partnerships and public involvement were crucial to the project -- engineers, architects, federal and state agencies, as well as Austin citizens contributed ideas to the bridge design.
TE funds awarded in 1994, along with local bonds, were used to construct the James D. Pfluger, FAIA, Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge, named after a distinguished Austin area architect. The 700-foot-long structure opened in June 2001. The bridge offers a safe transportation alternative for those traveling by foot, wheelchair, stroller or bicycle, and helps relieve traffic congestion. Benches along the bridge provide a community gathering place and allow users to sit and take in the breathtaking scenery of Austin's rolling hills. The bridge is now used by thousands of people every day.
Federal Award: $953,252; Local Match: $305,041; Total: $1,258,293
Photo by R.E. Martin
The National Transportation Alternatives Clearinghouse provides information on the Transportation Alternatives Program funded by FHWA. To be eligible for TA funds, a project must relate to surface transportation and be one of the 10 TA Activities. For more information about the TA program see trade.railstotrails.org. For our licensing policy see our guidelines.
Transportation Alternatives Data Exchange
@ the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
2121 Ward Court, NW, 5th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20037-1213


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Intel Corp. is displaying four new ultramobile PCs designed around its Menlow chips, including highly anticipated devices from Lenovo and Toshiba, at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
The Lenovo device runs a Linux operating system from Chinese developer Red Flag Software Co. and boasts a 4.8-in. touch screen, an onboard camera and what appears to be a phone-dialing pad on the right side. But there weren't any spec sheets or any Lenovo employees at Intel's CES booth to talk about the product.
Intel personnel at a booth detailing its Menlow chips called the Lenovo device and two others Mobile Internet Devices (MID), saying that their smaller screen sizes and use of the Linux operating system make them different from ultramobile PCs, a category created by Microsoft. However, many companies have come up with new terms for small, mobile PC designs these days, and the new names given to them are becoming confusing.
View more stories from 2008 International CES
The devices all work with a wireless broadband Internet protocol called WiMax.
Toshiba and Clarion, both Japanese companies, also showed off small handheld PCs with touch screens. The Clarion device runs a Red Flag Linux operating system, while Toshiba's handheld has Microsoft Windows Vista.
A portable PC designed by Taiwan's Gigabyte Technology Co. was also displayed at the booth.
Earlier this year, Intel launched the Mobile Internet Device Innovation Alliance in an attempt to solve engineering troubles associated with creating small devices able to connect to the Internet. A number of companies joined the alliance, and several are expected to launch handheld PCs using Menlow microprocessors in the first half of 2008.
In October, Intel offered a glimpse of six other devices designed by alliance members and based on Menlow. Five of them were designed by Taiwanese companies: Asustek Computer, BenQ, Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Inventec Corp. The final device shown was from Finland's Elektrobit.
Menlow is the code name given to a set of chips that Intel is developing for ultramobile PCs and mobile Internet devices, due out next year. Menlow will include a new low-power microprocessor, code-named Silverthorne, and a chip set code-named Poulsbo.
One of the key goals of the chip package is to extend battery life in the small PCs now coming out. Many of the ultramobile PCs, MIDs and other handheld PCs that have launched so far boast hefty price tags of as much as $1,000, yet offer little to users that a laptop can't do better. Relatively short battery life on most of the initial devices and the lack of widespread wireless broadband Internet have also contributed to disappointing sales of the much-hyped gadgets.
Companies developing ultramobile PCs and similar small handheld PCs hope longer battery life of six to eight hours, the ability to connect to the Internet wirelessly from just about anywhere, and features found on smart phones such as digital cameras and music players will entice more people to try them out.
View video of UMPCs on display at CES


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Keeping kids and teens tobacco-free
The teen years bring plenty of changes for students, as well as new worries for parents. Smoking is at the top of that list for many parents. Every day in the U.S., approximately 3,600 children between the ages of 12 and 17 start smoking cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). That number has plenty of parents looking for ways to help keep their children from starting, too.
There are a number of influences that get young people to start smoking, including:
- Having friends, peers or parents who use tobacco.
- Linking smoking with a positive social image and bonding with a peer group.
- Seeing tobacco use as a transition to adulthood.
- Underestimating the health consequences of tobacco use.
- Not understanding that the nicotine in tobacco is addictive.
- Low self-esteem.
- Lacking skills to resist influences.
What keeps kids and teens from smoking? One of the biggest influencers is having strong parental support. Having conversations about the issue really does have an impact on teens' decisions about tobacco use. Here are some tips for talking to your teen:
Keep the lines of communication open. Talk on a regular basis. The more you talk about a wide range of issues with your child, the easier it is to talk about specific topics such as tobacco. In general conversation, emphasize all the things your child does well rather than things they don't do well. And demonstrate respect for your child's opinions. Show you're listening and ask follow-up questions.
Talk, don't lecture. Discussions will be received far better than a monologue from you. Here are some conversation starters:
- "I understand you've been talking in school about peer pressure and the health consequences of tobacco use. Tell me about some of the things you've learned."
- If you see smoking portrayed in the media, say "I wonder why the director had that guy light up a cigarette in the last scene. What do you think?"
- If you and your child see a young person smoking, use it as an opening by saying something like, "How much tobacco use are you seeing in your school? I wonder if it's the same as when I was your age."
Talk about health consequences. They need to know what can happen to them.
- Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the most dangerous chemicals in cigarette smoke, besides nicotine, are tar and carbon monoxide. NIDA also states that tar causes lung cancer, emphysema, and bronchial diseases, and that carbon monoxide causes heart problems.
- According to NIDA, health risks can be immediate, affecting breathing, for example. And addiction can occur after smoking as few as 100 cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another influencer for adolescents is having a school program that teaches them to identify the social influences of tobacco use, and that teaches them refusal skills. That's why many middle schools use the free supplemental teaching materials known as Right Decisions Right Now (RDRN), a program sponsored by R. J. Reynolds. RDRN helps educate students about the risk of using tobacco products, helps them build good decision-making skills, and gives them ways to handle peer pressure. The program is available in an easy-to-use, digital format, which lets educators, community youth groups, and anyone concerned about reducing youth tobacco use utilize the free materials.
Learn more about the program, and find more parent resources, at www.rightdecisionsrightnow.com.


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David Karsten Daniels
David Karsten Daniels is a San Francisco-based songwriter by way of North Carolina and Oregon, whose music relays a personal history of diverse musical experiences - among them, a childhood of hymn singing, membership of a high school jazz band, and a formal university training in composition, theory, free improvisation, and performance art. For several years, David travelled throughout Texas and France recording quietly in small rooms, where his formal training began to give way to four-track experimentation, juxtaposing the phase pieces and improvisation of his academic life with lo-fi acoustic compositions. This itinerant approach to recording produced his first two albums ('The Mayflower' 2000; 'Out From Under Ligne 4', 2001) , which employ the use of whatever (non)instruments were at hand, such as dropped coins and pencil scratches in place of drum kits, or lyrics composed by rearranging the contents of the daily newspaper.
David finished his studies and spent the subsequent year in Portland, Oregon, briefly experimenting with a laptop before moving to North Carolina with Daniel Hart and Alex Lazara to found the Bu_Hanan Collective. There, while giving his first two albums a wider release, he wrote and recorded the self-released album, 'Angles' (2004), as well as contributing to the records of the collective's other bands.
Since then, David's work has come increasingly into focus. With his debut, the beautifully ambitious 'Sharp Teeth' (released by FatCat January 2007), gone are the noise freakouts, drum programming, and obsessions with Steve Reich and John Cage. In their places are richly orchestrated songs in which his guitar and voice are the foundational elements fleshed out by up to nineteen musicians and at least as many instruments.
Following his debut, David kept himself busy playing live (largely in the USA, with a smattering of European shows), writing and recording - the fruits of which can be heard on his 'Fear Of Flying' LP, released in April 2008. 'Fear of Flying' is a somewhat different proposition to 'Sharp Teeth', spreading itself over a more diverse sonic terrain, traversing a wealth of styles and ideas, presenting a more disparate yet immediate record, with David as ever managing to pull the reigns in tight enough to give the album coherence, context and meaning.
David also scored additional music for Frightened Rabbit's Christmas single, a re-issue of 'It's Christmas So We Will Stop', released in December 2008. June 2010 saw the release of the gorgeous 'I Mean To Live Here Still' album, a full-length written and recorded with Richmond, VA's 9-piece jazz ensemble Fight the Big Bull.


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Beijing city authorities are requiring users of China's Twitter-like microblogging services to register with their real name identities, a move that could scare off the websites' users, according to one analyst.
The city government announced the new regulations on Friday as a way to protect users and improve credibility on the platforms, according to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Under the new regulations, users of the services must register with their real identities in order to publish posts on microblogging sites. It wasn't clear how the authorities planned to distinguish between users or services in different cities.
China's microblogging services have become some of the hottest websites in the country. The sites, however, have come under increasing government scrutiny in a nation known for its strict censorship over the Internet. In certain cases, China's microblogging services will prevent users from searching terms connected with protest movements or Chinese political activists. Foreign social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are already blocked in the country.
Friday's new regulations follow recent announcements by Chinese authorities have made public statements in recent months, calling for stronger measures to manage the services. Authorities have gone as far as even detaining Chinese microblog users for allegedly spreading fake rumors on the sites.
It was not entirely clear how microblogging services would implement ID checking systems. But sites such as Sina Weibo, which has more than 250 million registered users, have already been asking users to voluntarily register with their real names. Affected sites and their users must comply with the regulations within the next three months. Users will still be able to choose their own screen names.
Sina and Tencent, two Chinese companies that operate the most popular microblog sites in the country, did not respond for comment.
Before the new regulations, experts had been already predicting Chinese authorities would eventually push for a real-name system on China's Twitter-like services, given that the sites have become platforms for users to criticize the government. This occurred in July, when after a high-speed train wreck killed dozens, users took to the country's microblogs to complain about train safety and the government's handling of the incident.
The new regulations, however, will likely come at a cost, said Bill Bishop, an independent analyst and user of Sina Weibo. "People are definitely not happy about this and I think the sentiment is that people will want to use the (microblogging services) less," he said.
Local Chinese media sites have posted a full text of the regulations, which state users cannot post on topics that will damage the nation's honor or incite illegal gatherings that will disrupt civil order.
"How are these regulations really going to be interpreted?" Bishop said. "People are going to feel like, 'Why bother now?' It now raises the cost, and there's not a lot of upside for most people."
Qiu Yun, a Beijing resident and Sina Weibo user, said she felt helpless and disappointed by the new regulations. "Weibo is our only window to find out the truth. From Weibo we can see things that the news broadcasts don't have and understand more about real events occurring," she said in an interview.
"Although there is fake information on the services, you can't give up eating for fear of choking," she added. "Why did they have to create these regulations? This is nothing more than the authorities in fear over the power of Weibo."


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Ever since hovercraft popularity peaked in early 90s R/C toys, I'd mentally buried the sheer awesomeness of the technology. Luckily, Wired reminded me with a piece depicting researchers searching for asteroids in the Arctic while floating on air and rubber.
Rather than recite the piece, which you should definitely read, I thought these hovercraft factoids were pretty neat.
• A 6-ton hovercraft has such even weight distribution that it puts no more pressure on a point of ice than a seagull standing on one leg
• This means said hovercraft could cruise over 4-inch ice without cracking it
• Btw, that hovercraft can cruise up to 50mph
• And its range before refueling is 500 miles
Indeed, I could imagine worse scenarios than flying around the Arctic at 50mph, rocking AC/DC through the stereo. (There was no mention of a stereo, but give a man a dream, OK?) [Wired]


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Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose, and perform their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary pop music singers who may write or co-write their own songs,[citation needed] the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the folk-acoustic tradition.[1] Singer-songwriters often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano; both the compositions and the arrangements are written primarily as solo vehicles, with the material angled toward topical issues—sometimes political, sometimes introspective, sensitive, romantic, and confessional.[2]
Often, the songs written by these musicians serve not only as entertainment, but also as tools for political protest, as in the cases of the Almanac Singers, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, whose guitar was inscribed with the words, "This machine kills fascists".
- 1 Definition and usage
- 2 History
- 3 North America, United Kingdom, and Ireland
- 4 Chanson, the French tradition
- 5 Cantautori, the Italian tradition
- 6 Latin traditions
- 7 Soviet Union and Russia
- 8 Bulgaria
- 9 Romania
- 10 Netherlands
- 11 Periodicals that include coverage of singer-songwriters
- 12 See also
- 13 References
- 14 Further reading
Definition and usage
"Singer-songwriter" is used to define popular music artists who write and perform their own material, which is often self-accompanied generally on acoustic guitar or piano.[2] Such an artist performs the roles of composer, lyricist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and often self-manager.[3] Singer-songwriters' lyrics are personal, but veiled by elaborate metaphors and vague imagery, and their creative concern was to place emphasis on the song rather than their performance of it. Most records by such artists have a similarly straightforward and spare sound that placed emphasis on the song itself.[4]
The term has usually, but not exclusively, been used to refer to certain performers in rock, folk, and pop music genres, although throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, artists from a number of genres applied to this category, including Henry Russell, Aristide Bruant, Hank Williams, and Buddy Holly. However, it came into popular usage from the 1960s onwards to refer to a specific type of performers who followed particular stylistic and thematic conventions, particularly lyrical introspection, confessional songwriting, mild musical arrangements, and an understated performing style.[2] According to writer Larry David Smith, because it merged the roles of composer, writer, and singer, the popularity of the singer-songwriter reintroduced the Medieval troubadour tradition of "songs with public personalities" after the Tin Pan Alley era in American popular music.[5]
The concept of a singer-songwriter can be traced to ancient bardic oral tradition, which has existed in various forms throughout the world.[citation needed] Poems would be performed as chant or song, sometimes accompanied by a harp or other similar instrument. After the invention of printing, songs would be written and performed by ballad sellers. Usually these would be versions of existing tunes and lyrics, which were constantly evolving. This developed into the singer-songwriting traditions of folk culture.
Traveling performers existed throughout Europe. Thus, the folklorist Anatole Le Braz gives a detailed account of one ballad singer, Yann Ar Minouz, who wrote and performed songs traveling through Brittany in the late nineteenth century and selling printed versions.[6]
In large towns it was possible to make a living performing in public venues, and with the invention of phonographic recording, early singer-songwriters like Théodore Botrel and George M. Cohan became celebrities; radio further added to their public recognition and appeal.
During the period from the 1940s through the 1960s, sparked by the American folk music revival, young performers inspired by traditional folk music and groups like the Almanac Singers and the Weavers began writing and performing their own original material and creating their own musical arrangements.[7]
North America, United Kingdom, and Ireland
The term "singer-songwriter" in North America can be traced back to singers who developed works in the blues and folk music style. Early to mid-20th century American singer-songwriters include Lead Belly,[8] Jimmie Rodgers,[9] Blind Lemon Jefferson,[10] T-Bone Walker,[11] Blind Willie McTell,[12] Lightnin' Hopkins,[13] Son House,[14] and Robert Johnson.[15][16] In the 1940s and 1950s Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger,[17] along with Lee Hays and other members of the Weavers performed their mostly topical works to an ever growing wider audience.[18] These proto-singer-songwriters were less concerned than today's singer-songwriters with the unadulterated originality of their music and lyrics, and would lift parts from other songs and play covers without hesitation. The tradition of writing topical songs (songs regarding specific issues of the day, such as Lead Belly's "Jim Crow Blues" or Guthrie's "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)") was established by this group of musicians. Singers like Seeger and Guthrie would attend rallies for labor unions, and so wrote many songs concerning the life of the working classes, and social protest; as did other folksingers like Josh White, Cisco Houston, Malvina Reynolds, Earl Robinson, Ewan MacColl, John Jacob Niles, and Doc Watson, while blues singers like Johnson and Hopkins wrote songs about their personal life experiences. This focus on social issues has greatly influenced the singer-songwriter genre. Additionally in the 1930s through the 1950s several jazz and blues singer-songwriters emerged like Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, and Nina Simone, as well as in the rock n' roll genre from which emerged influential singer-songwriters Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, Richie Valens, and Paul Anka. In the country music field, singer-songwriters like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, Billy Edd Wheeler, and others emerged from the 1940s through the 1960s, often writing compelling songs about love relationships and other subjects.
The first popular recognition of the singer-songwriter in English-speaking North America and Great Britain occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s when a series of blues, folk and country-influenced musicians rose to prominence and popularity. These singer-songwriters included Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Wilson, Tom Waits, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Tom Rush, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Beau, Eric Andersen, Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, Jackson Browne, Dave Van Ronk, Waylon Jennings, John Prine, Grace Slick, Dave Mason, Jim Croce, Fred Neil, Roger McGuinn, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, David Crosby, Donovan, Stephen Stills, Randy Newman, Steve Goodman, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Brady, Jesse Winchester, Johnny Tillotson, Sylvia Tyson, Ian Tyson, Nick Drake, Tim Hardin, Laura Nyro, Bob Marley, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, John Fogerty, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joan Armatrading, Emmylou Harris, Tim Buckley, Taj Mahal, Cat Stevens, Bruce Cockburn, Harry Chapin, James Taylor, Jerry Jeff Walker, Lou Reed, Gram Parsons, Nick Gravenites, Ricky Nelson, Richard Fariña, Tuli Kupferberg[19] Mark Spoelstra, Don Mclean, Patrick Sky, Jimmy Buffett, Mickey Newbury, Janis Ian, Dan Fogelberg, Dolly Parton, Jackie DeShannon, and Frank Zappa. People who had been primarily songwriters, notably Carole King, Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, and Neil Diamond, also began releasing work as performers. In contrast to the storytelling approach of most prior country and folk music, these performers typically wrote songs from a highly personal (often first-person), introspective point of view. The adjectives "confessional" and "sensitive" were often used (sometimes derisively) to describe this early singer-songwriter style.
In the rock band era, members were not technically singer-songwriters as solo acts. However, many were singer-songwriters who created songs with other band members. Examples include Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, Elton John (with Bernie Taupin), Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Robbie Robertson, Ian Anderson, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, and Peter Frampton; Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Country Joe McDonald, Barry Melton. Many others like Eric Clapton found success as singer-songwriters in their later careers.
By the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the original wave of singer-songwriters had largely been absorbed into a more general pop or soft rock format, but some new artists in the singer-songwriter tradition (including Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Mark Heard, Chris Isaak, Victoria Williams, John Mellencamp and Warren Zevon) continued to emerge, and in other cases rock and even punk rock artists such as Peter Case, Paul Collins and Paul Westerberg transitioned to careers as solo singer-songwriters. Kate Bush remained distinctive throughout with her idiosyncratic style.
In the late 1980s, the term was applied to a group of predominantly female U.S. artists, beginning with Suzanne Vega whose first album sold unexpectedly well, followed by the likes of Tracy Chapman, Nanci Griffith, k.d. lang, Shania Twain, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Lisa Loeb, Joan Osborne, and Tori Amos, who found success first in the United Kingdom, then in her home market. In the early 1990s, female artists also began to emerge in new styles, including Courtney Love and PJ Harvey. Later in the mid-1990s, the term was revived again with the success of Canada's Alanis Morissette and her breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill.
Also in the 1980s and 1990s, artists such as Bono, the Edge, Dave Matthews, Jeff Buckley, Duncan Sheik and Elliott Smith borrowed from the singer-songwriter tradition to create new acoustic-based rock styles. In the 2000s, a quieter style emerged, with largely impressionistic lyrics, from artists such as Norah Jones, Conor Oberst, Sufjan Stevens, David Bazan, South San Gabriel, Iron & Wine, David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, Meg Hutchinson, Darden Smith, Josh Rouse, Steve Millar, Jolie Holland, Patrick Duff, Richard Buckner, Jewel, Jack Savoretti, Richard Shindell, and John Gorka. Some started to branch out in new genres such as Kurt Cobain, Noel Gallagher, T Bone Burnett and Eddie Vedder. Others used drugs as a mind-altering way to boost creativity; for example, Emil Amos of Holy Sons took drugs daily from age sixteen on, wrote over 1,000 songs, and landed a record contract with an indie label.[20]
Recording on the professional-grade systems became affordable for individuals in the late 1990s. This created opportunities for people to independently record and sell their music. Such artists are known as "indies" because they release their records on independent, often self-owned record labels, or no label at all. Additionally the Internet has provided a means for indies to get their music heard by a wider audience.
Chanson, the French tradition
French "chanson" comes from an old tradition, since Middle Ages. It is driven by the rhythms of the French language and has a generally higher standard of lyrics than in the English-speaking world. It can be distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music or soft rock format that began to spread in France during the 1960s until today, under the cultural influence of Anglo-American rock music and the rock band era.
The first modern French singer-songwriter was Charles Trénet, who began his solo career in 1938. He was the first to use jazz rhythms in chanson. He would remain an isolated act until the creative blooming of a new generation during the post-World War II era (mid-1940s and 1950s), where such artists as Léo Ferré, Georges Brassens, Félix Leclerc (from Quebec), Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel (from Belgium), Henri Salvador, Charles Aznavour and Barbara appeared, with contrasted and rich imagination. Most of them are recognized as great masters by younger generations of French artists, especially Ferré (for the richness of his lyrics, his melodic genius, his critical density on social issues and his body of work's profoundness) and Gainsbourg (for the bright and tasteful adaptation of pop or rock music with French language-driven rhythms).
During the 1960s and 1970s, the most prominent singer-songwriters included Claude Nougaro, Jean Ferrat, Boby Lapointe, Michel Polnareff, Nino Ferrer, Christophe, Albert Marcœur, Bernard Lavilliers, Jacques Higelin...
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Cantautori, the Italian tradition
Cantautori (Italian plural; the singular is cantautore) is the Italian expression corresponding to singer-songwriters in English. The word is a portmanteau of cantante (singer) and autore (writer).
The first internationally renowned cantautore was Domenico Modugno with his song "Volare" in 1958; other early cantautori, who begun their career in the 1960s, are Gino Paoli and Luigi Tenco. Fabrizio De André, Francesco Guccini, and Giorgio Gaber began their career in the 1960s, while Edoardo Bennato, Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori, Franco Battiato, Rino Gaetano, Ivano Fossati, Antonello Venditti, Pino Daniele, Roberto Vecchioni, Angelo Branduardi and Eugenio Finardi all appeared in the 1970s. Their songs are still popular today, often telling stories of marginalized (De André, Guccini, Dalla) and rebellious people (Finardi, De Gregori, Venditti), or having a political background (Venditti, Guccini). Branduardi was instead more influenced by classical and Baroque musical styles, while his lyrics are usually inspired by ancient fables. Battiato started as a progressive rock artist in the 1970s, shifting to an original blend of pop, electronic and rock music in the 1980s.
The Neapolitan cantautore Pino Daniele has often fused genres as diverse as R&B, pop, jazz, fusion, blues and tarantella to produce a sound uniquely his own, with lyrics variously in Italian, Neapolitan, or English. Similarly Paolo Conte was often tagged as a cantautore, but was more into the jazz tradition.
In the 1980s Vasco Rossi was renowned for his "blues" music mixed with Italian melodies. He was nicknamed the "only Italian blues-star" (l'unica rock n'roll-star italiana).[21]
With a mixture between international sounds and Italian lyrics, Bugo become the "fantautore", a neologism conied for him.[22]
The word has been borrowed into other languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan cantautor, French chantauteur, Maltese kantawtur, Romanian cantautor, and Slovenian kantavtor.
Latin traditions
Beginning in the 1960s and following the Italian cantautori style of the 1950s (like the one of Domenico Modugno), many Latin American countries developed singer-songwriter traditions that adopted elements from various popular styles. The first such tradition was the mid-1960s invention of nueva canción, which took hold in Andean countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia.
At around the same time, the Brazilian popular style bossa nova was evolving into a politically charged singer-songwriter tradition called Tropicalismo. Two performers, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso became two of the most famous people in all of Brazil through their work in Tropicalismo.
After World War II it was developed in Italy a very prolific singer-songwriter (in Italian cantautore) tradition, initially connected with the French school of the chansonniers, and lately developed very heterogeneously. Although the term cantautore normally implies consistent sociopolitical content in lyrics, noteworthy performers in a more inclusive singer-songwriter categorization are: Domenico Modugno, Luigi Tenco, Gino Paoli, Sergio Endrigo, Fabrizio De André, Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti, Roberto Vecchioni, Ivano Fossati, Lucio Dalla, Francesco Guccini and Franco Battiato.
In neighbouring Malta, the main singer-songwriters are Walter Micallef, Manwel Mifsud and Vince Fabri. They all perform in Maltese.
Spain and Portugal have also had singer-songwriter traditions, which are sometimes said to have drawn on Latin elements. Spain is known for the Nova Cançó tradition — exemplified by Joan Manuel Serrat and Lluis Llach; the Portuguese folk/protest singer and songwriter José Afonso helped lead a revival of Portuguese folk culture, including a modernized, more socially aware form of fado called nova canção. Following Portugal's Carnation Revolution of 1974, nova canção became more politicized and was known as canto livre. Another important Spain singer-songwriters are Joaquín Sabina, José Luis Perales and Luis Eduardo Aute.
In the latter part of the 1960s and into the 1970s, socially and politically aware singer-songwriters like Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés emerged in Cuba, birthing a genre known as nueva trova. Trova as a genre has had broad influence across Latin America. In Mexico, for example, canción yucateca on the Yucatán Peninsula and trova serrana in the Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca are both regional adaptations of trova. Today, Guatemalan Ricardo Arjona qualifies as Latin America's most commercially successful singer-songwriter. Although sociopolitical engagement is uneven in his oeuvre, some see Arjona's more engaged works as placing him in the tradition of the Italian cantautori.
In the mid-1970s, a singer-songwriter tradition called canto popular emerged in Uruguay.
With the influence of Tropicalismo, Traditional Samba and Bossa Nova, MPB (Música popular brasileira), or Brazilian Popular Music, became highly singer-songwriter based. For years solo artists would dominate Brazilian popular music with romantic cynicism alla Jobim or subliminal anti-government messages alla Chico Buarque. After the end of the military dictatorship in Brazil, Brazilian music became less politically and socially conscious. The censored Raul Seixas or the humorous spiritualist Jorge Ben were slowly obscured by funk carioca, axé music and Brazilian disco. In recent years, however, a new stock of socially conscious Brazilian singer-songwriters is beginning to break the almost strictly dance-music momentum that has reigned since the 1980s (see the 'Brazilian folk/folk-rock sub-article in Brazilian Music).
Soviet Union and Russia
Since the 1960s, those singers who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment have been known as "bards". The first songs traditionally referred to as bard songs are thought to be written in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and the very existence of the genre is traditionally originated from the amateur activities of the Soviet intelligentsia, namely mass backpacking movement and the students' song movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Many bards performed their songs in small groups of people using a Russian guitar, rarely if ever would they be accompanied by other musicians or singers. Though, bards using piano or accordion are also known. Those who became popular held modest concerts. The first nationwide-famous bards (starting their career in the 1950s) are traditionally referred to as the First Five: Mikhail Ancharov, Alexander Gorodnitsky, Novella Matveyeva, Bulat Okudzhava, Yuri Vizbor. In the 1960s, they were joined by Vladimir Vysotsky, Victor Berkovsky, Yuliy Kim, and many others.
In the course of the 1970s, the shift to the classical 6-string guitar took place, and now, a Russian guitar is a rare bird with the bards. In the same period, the movement of KSP (Kluby Samodeyatelnoy Pesni – amateur song fan clubs) emerged, providing the bards with highly educated audience, and up to the end of the 1980s being their key promotion engine. Bards were rarely permitted to record their music, partly given the political nature of many songs, partly due to their vague status in the strictly organised state-supported show business establishment of the USSR. As a result, bard tunes usually made their way around as folk lore, from mouth to mouth, or via the copying of amateur recordings (sometimes referred as magnitizdat) made at concerts, particularly those songs that were of political nature. Bard poetry differs from other poetry mainly in the fact that it is sung along with a simple guitar melody as opposed to being spoken. Another difference is that this form of poetry focuses less on style and more on meaning. This means that fewer stylistic devices are used, and the poetry often takes the form of narrative. What separates bard poetry from other songs is the fact that the music is far less important than the lyrics; chord progressions are often very simple and tend to repeat from one bard song to another. On the other hand, in the USSR the chief bard supporter was the state Union of Composers, and the main bard hater was the state Union of Writers. A far more obvious difference was the commerce-free nature of the genre: songs were written to be sung and not to be sold. The similar genre dominated by singers-songwriters is known as sung poetry in other Post-Soviet countries.
Singer-songwriters are popular in Bulgaria under the name "bards", or "poets with guitars". Their tradition is a mixture of traditional folk motifs, city folklore from the early 20th century, and modern influences. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Communist regime in the country started to tolerate the Bulgarian "bards", promoting the so-called "political songs", performed usually by one-man bands. A national festival tradition was established, under the title "Alen Mak" (Red Poppy), a symbol with strong Communist meaning in Bulgaria. At the same time, there were some prominent underground figures which were against the official Communist Party line, such as Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, and Velizar "Valdes" Vankov. After the collapse of Communism in 1989, the singer-songwriters' tradition was re-established. Currently, the Bulgarian "bards" enjoy several festivals (local and international) per year, namely the PoKi Festival (Poets with Guitars, Poetic Strings) in the town of Harmanli, the Bardfest in Lovech, the Sofia Evenings of Singer-Songwriters, and others. Major figures in the Bulgarian tradition are Dimitar Taralezhkov, Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, Velizar "Valdes" Vankov, Dimitar Dobrev, Andro Stubel, Branimir "Bunny" Stoykov, Dorothea Tabakova, Mihail Belchev, Assen Maslarski, Grisha Trifonov, Plamen Stavrev, Vladimir Levkov, Margarita Drumeva, Maria Batchvarova, Plamen Sivov, and Krasimir Parvanov.
Despite the communist isolation, the tradition of the singer-songwriter in Romania flourished beginning with the end of the 1960s and it was put in the context of folk music, with its three main styles in Romania: ethno folk, American-style folk and lyrical (cult) folk. The framework for many of these initiatives came under the form of Cenaclul Flacăra, a series of mass cultural events with an inevitable ideological touch. Still, with the merit of supporting great opening initiatives: the appropriation of Western artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and others from the Woodstock generation, the public performance of gospel-like music, the opening to big international issues (pop culture, accountability of the leadership, tension surging during the Cold War-with surprisingly neutral positions etc.). Overall, the Romanian folk, in general, could be marked as an underground cultural movement, somewhere between non-aligned and protest music.
Ede Staal (Warffum) (1941–1986), was a Dutch singer-songwriter from the Northern province of Groningen who sang mainly in the Groninger dialect of Dutch.
Periodicals that include coverage of singer-songwriters
- Rolling Stone, focus on music and popular culture
- Dirty Linen, focus on folk and world music.
- No Depression, focus on alternative country styles.
- Paste, eclectic music coverage.
- Pitchfork Media, focus on independent artists.
- Sing Out!, focus on folk styles.
- Broadside, focus on folk music and folk-rock.
See also
- List of singer-songwriters
- Protest songs in the United States
- Cantautori
- Swedish ballad tradition
- Composer
- Lyricist
- List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Anatole Le Braz, "The Pardon of the Singers", The Land of Pardons, London, Methuen, 1926, pp. 45–104.
- ↑ Cohen, Ronald D. Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival & American Society, 1940-1970. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002. ISBN 1-55849-348-4
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Dicaire, David. Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century, pp. 140-144. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999. ISBN 0-7864-0606-2.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 145–146. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ↑ National Guitar.com at the Wayback Machine (archived April 11, 2008)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Booklet accompanying the Complete Recordings box set, Stephen LaVere, Sony Music Entertainment, 1990, Clapton quote on p. 26
- ↑ Spivey, Christine A. This Land is Your land, This Land is My Land: Folk Music, Communism, and the Red Scare as a Part of the American Landscape. at the Wayback Machine (archived June 25, 2008) The Student Historical Journal 1996–1997, Loyola University New Orleans, 1996.
- ↑ "Sing out, warning! sing out, love!": the writings of Lee Hays, by Lee Hays and Steven Koppelman (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003), p. 116.
- ↑ Broadside Volume III, cover
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Further reading
- Alarik, Scott, Deep Community, (2003), Black Wolf Press. [1]
- Hoffman, Frank "The Singer-Songwriter Tradition", from Survey of American Popular Music (modified for the web by Robert Birkline)
- Knopfler, David, The Singer-Songwriter: Defining the Genre – Defining the Style
- DiMartino, Dave singer-songwriters: Pop Music's Performer-Composers from A to Zevon (1994), Billboard Books(web search required).
- Rodgers, Jeffrey P., The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour's Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording & Business, (2003) Backbeat Books(web search required).
- singer-songwriters of the Rock Era, (1996), Hal Leonard (sheet music)(web search required).
- Contemporary singer/songwriter at AllMusic


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Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday, and the former vice president used the attention to warn that global warming is "the greatest challenge we've ever faced."
World leaders, President Bush among them, congratulated the winners, while skeptics of man's contribution to warming criticized the choice of Gore.
Gore in a statement said he was " deeply honored ... We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."
"It is the most dangerous challenge we've ever faced, but it is also the greatest opportunity we have had to make changes," he later said at a brief news conference in Palo Alto, Calif.
Gore did not take any questions. As he walked away a reporter asked if he would run for president, but Gore did not respond.
Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary on global warming, won an Academy Award this year. He had been widely expected to win the peace prize.
"His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change," the Nobel citation said. "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."
It cited Gore's awareness at an early stage "of the climatic challenges the world is facing."
Panel's two decadesThe Nobel Peace Prize committee also cited the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for two decades of scientific reports that have "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming."
The IPCC groups 2,500 researchers from more than 130 nations and issued reports this year blaming human activities for climate changes ranging from more heat waves to floods. It was set up in 1988 by the United Nations to help guide governments.
Climate change has moved high on the international agenda this year. The U.N. climate panel has been releasing reports, talks on a replacement for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate are set to resume and on Europe's northern fringe, where the awards committee works, there is growing concern about the melting Arctic.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said global warming "may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the Earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states."
Gore said he would donate his share of the $1.5 million that accompanies the prize to the non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection.
Ole Danbolt Mjoes, chairman of the prize committee, said the award should not be seen as singling out the Bush administration for criticism.
"A peace prize is never a criticism of anything," he said. "A peace prize is a positive message and support to all those champions of peace in the world."
President Bush abandoned the Kyoto Protocol because he said it would harm the U.S. economy and because it did not require immediate cuts by countries like China and India. The treaty aimed to put the biggest burden on the richest nations that contributed the most carbon emissions.
The U.S. Senate voted against mandatory carbon reductions before the Kyoto negotiations were completed. The treaty was never presented to the Senate for ratification by the Clinton administration.
"Al Gore has fought the environment battle even as vice president," Mjoes said. "Many did not listen ... but he carried on."
The White House said the prize was not seen as increasing pressure on the administration or showing that President Bush's approach missed the mark.
"Of course he's happy for Vice President Gore," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "He's happy for the international panel on climate change scientists who also shared the peace prize. Obviously it's an important recognition."
Fratto said Bush has no plans to call Gore.
Fans and foes
Reaction to the award was immediate.
"He's like the proverbial nut that grew into a giant oak by standing his ground," Patrick Michaels, a scholar with the free market Cato Institute, said in a statement. "We can only hope that he can parlay his prize into a run for the U. S. presidency, where he will be unable to hide from debate on his extreme and one-sided view of global warming."
British bookmakers once put 100-to-1 odds on Gore winning an Oscar, becoming a Nobel laureate and becoming president. He has now accomplished two of the three, and on Friday bookies slashed the odds to 8/1 from 10/1.
Gore, 59, has been coy, saying repeatedly he's not running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, without ever closing that door completely.
FoxNews.com columnist Steve Milloy alleged that Gore "plays fast and loose with the facts to advance his personal agenda."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Gore " inspirational in focusing attention across the globe on this key issue."
Julia Marton-Lefèvre, head of the World Conservation Union,said that, "as Mr. Gore and the IPCC have clearly demonstrated, we can solve the grave dangers posed by climate change if we have the will. Let the Nobel Peace Prize become the embodiment of that will."
"Al Gore made it okay to talk about global warming over breakfast and dinner tables all across America," added Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "He made this unprecedented challenge understandable and the solutions accessible for millions of people."
'Question of war and peace'
The Nobel committee often uses the coveted prize to cast the global spotlight on a relatively little-known person or cause. Since Gore already had a high profile some had doubted that the committee would bestow the prize on him.
In recent years, the committee has broadened the interpretation of peacemaking and disarmament efforts outlined by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in creating the prize with his 1895 will. The prize now often also recognizes human rights, democracy, elimination of poverty, sharing resources and the environment.
Two of the past three prizes have been untraditional, with the 2004 award to Kenya environmentalist Wangari Maathai and last year's award to Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, which makes to micro-loans to the country's poor.
Jan Egeland, a Norwegian peace mediator and former U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, called climate change more than an environmental issue.
"It is a question of war and peace," said Egeland, now director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo. "We're already seeing the first climate wars, in the Sahel belt of Africa." He said nomads and herders are in conflict with farmers because the changing climate has brought drought and a shortage of fertile lands.


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- Home
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Integrated Criminal Justice Information System
ICJIS facilitates the integration of disparate information systems among Maricopa County criminal justice departments, for the purpose of reducing expenses resulting from non-integrated criminal justice systems.
Mandated Mission
The mandated mission of ICJIS is to facilitate the integration of disparate information systems among Maricopa County criminal justice departments, for the purpose of reducing expenses resulting from non-integrated criminal justice systems. At the time, non-integrated system expenses included:
- Criminal Justice departments not sharing data of common interest
- Difficulties in planning and assessing the effectiveness of criminal justice programs due to the lack of comprehensive data
- Duplicate and redundant data entry and data collection
- Failure to use a unique common identifier for incidents and offenders
- Incomplete and untimely data collection using paper based processes
- Inconsistencies between paper files and computer databases within and between agencies
The Governance of ICJIS has evolved over time and currently has the following:
- Business Team - reports to Executive Committee for planning and priorities. Typical members are an Administrator, a Chief Deputy, or IT Director. This group meets monthly.
- Executive Committee - highest level group that sets policy, direction and budget. Typical members are Presiding Judge, Sheriff, County Attorney, and Clerk of the Court, Public Defender, and County Manager. This group meets quarterly.
- Technical Group (JaLET) - reports to Business Team for technology, security and project management. Typical members are IT Managers, Security Officers, Application and Infrastructure Managers. This group meets biweekly.
ICJIS is a Maricopa County department, formed in 2000 as a result of passage of Propositions 400 and 401 in 1998. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors urged voters to "adopt the propositions as vital public safety measures." The propositions generated a one-fifth of a cent sales tax to be used over seven years for:
- Financing construction of new adult and juvenile facilities
- Funding the implementation and integration of criminal justice information systems for the purpose of reducing the expense of adult and juvenile jail facilities
- Maintaining and operating adult and juvenile jail facilities
Recent Accomplishments & Future Directions
- Assist stakeholders with integration work while implementing new case management systems
- Assistance with stakeholder business process re-engineering efforts such as:
- Cashless kiosks
- Distribution of electronic discovery packets of documents
- Electronic citations from Sheriff's Deputies
- Electronic filing of petitions to revoke and pre-sentence reports
- Electronic plea agreements
- Automated warrant quashes for Justice Court from MCSO and DPS
- Data exchanges for Juvenile Delinquency and Abuse and Neglect case data
- Data Exchanges of departmental police reports for the 26 police agencies in Maricopa County
- Data Sharing with the Arizona Department of Corrections
- Data Sharing with the Attorney General's Office
- Data Sharing with Correctional Health Services, Public Health, Pharmacies and Labs
- Enhancements for Justice Web Interface (JWI) and CHD that aid Maricopa County agencies
- Explore options for a Maricopa County Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement data repository
- Increase the number of electronic warrant types processed
- Integration assistance in support of Electronic Health Record exchanges and the Affordable Care Act
- Integration assistance in support of the Maricopa County Re-Entry Initiative
- Review and research options for a JWI Consortium, allowing for even greater use of JWI among Maricopa County police departments
The Justice Web Interface (JWI) is a law enforcement and criminal justice portal developed and owned by Maricopa County.
Data Access / Not Data Storage
The JWI does not store data; it provides access to over 265 legacy data sources along with many integrated data sources. JWI access to data sources is used to assemble related information and photos that can be rendered into an easy to read format for judges, probation officers, investigators, police officers and investigators.
JWI development is very closely tied to the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System (ACJIS) policies and benefits from an open dialogue between the state and the agencies, which are licensed to use the system. Now JWI has expanded its reach into interstate and federal resources and has become a universal application within Maricopa County for criminal justice information and research.
JWI is enhanced regularly by internal Maricopa County departments as well as external agencies licensed to use and maintain the application.
By agreement and practice, the majority of enhancements to JWI by outside entities are shared with internal Maricopa County users. This sharing of enhancements has served Maricopa County well, saving money, time and resources.
Examples of shared enhancements include:
JWI is licensed by Maricopa County to a number of entities outside of Maricopa County government, including:
Current Maricopa Government agencies using JWI:
Technical Architecture
JWI is a unique, modular "open-sourced" design (depicted below) which is built expressly for use in city, county, state and federal law enforcement and criminal justice environments.
On any given day, JWI is used to:
- Enter all state and national warrants issued within Maricopa County.
- Enter and inquire against missing or unidentified persons in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
- Gather and assess criminal histories for initial appearance, charging and pre-sentence reports.
- Register and inquire against stolen items such as guns, vehicles, boats, securities, and articles at the local and national level.
- Identify subjects using AZ driver's license photos. Motor Vehicle Department Photo is used for tasks ranging from traffic stops to probationer identification to the prosecution of check fraud and identity theft.
- Register approximately 90% of the sex offenders in the state of Arizona (AZ).
Data Exchange Application Development
Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (ICJIS) has developed a number of internal applications that facilitate access to, generation of, and exchange of data and information between the justice and law enforcement agencies of Maricopa County.
All applications are run within the ICJIS infrastructure and are connected to each stakeholder case management system via the ICJIS Enterprise Service Bus (ESB).
Common Case Number (CCN)
The CCN is the unique identifying element for case information, and facilitates the flow of information, both automated and manual, between the participating agencies. The CCN (ex: CR2013-0012340-001) is stored in each stakeholder case management system's database.
Criminal History & Dispositions
The CHD application is used to render JWI results into an easy to read, formatted, sorted, summarized worksheet for judges, prosecutors, investigators and probation officers. The CHD also includes a photo of the subject and replaces dozens of pages with just a few.
Electronic Warrant
The electronic warrant application is used to capture warrant information throughout the process in one place. From request, to approval by a judge, to issuance through the Sheriff's Office to the Department of Public Safety (state police) and the federal warrant repository, the application tracks the metadata and the electronic document itself. The system applies court and clerk seals and electronically files and eventually quashes the warrant.
It takes innovative people to keep a fast-growing County like ours, thriving and running efficiently! With more than 13,000 employees, Maricopa County's dedicated team members are the heart of our vibrant organization! Watch the video and see why employees love working here.


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February 6, 2013
Dear Jason,
The primary goal of our organization is to win Super Bowls, and we came up just short of achieving that Sunday. The Super Bowl does not just mark the end of a great season, but rather represents the beginning of a bright future for the 49ers and our Faithful fans. I am very proud of our players, coaches, and staff who worked so hard to bring home a championship this season. This was a great year that produced a second consecutive NFC West title, a home playoff game win, a league-high 9 Pro Bowl players, and an NFC Championship. Still, in the end, our quest remains unfulfilled. We now attack the off-season with a renewed spirit and focus on winning the Super Bowl next season.
2013 will be a special year as we celebrate the final season of football at Candlestick Park. We intend to honor the place we've called home since 1971 with a season-long campaign featuring the greatest moments in 49ers history at the Stick. You may have noticed that during this past season we introduced a number of enhancements to the gameday experience, and we will continue to strive to put on the best show possible for our fans.
This year also marked the continued progress on the construction of the new Santa Clara Stadium, which is now nearly 40% complete. We are finalists to host either the 2015 or 2016 season's Super Bowl in the new stadium and recently announced that the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl game is slated to begin play when we open in the fall of 2014.
On behalf of the entire San Francisco 49ers organization, I want to sincerely thank you for your Faithful support. Let us all look back on a great season and be proud of what this team accomplished. This team has a bright future and will compete for the Super Bowl for years to come.
It is true... Nobody has it better than us. Sincerely,
Jed York
San Francisco 49ers
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Saturday, February 02, 2013
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SA Orthopaedic Journal
versión On-line ISSN 2309-8309
versión impresa ISSN 1681-150X
SA orthop. j. vol.10 no.4 Centurion ene. 2011
Prevalence of agenesis of flexor digitorum superficialis of the fifth digit in East Africa through clinical examination
JWM KigeraI; A KatusiimeII
IMBChB, MMed Department of Orthopaedics, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda/Orthopaedic Surgeon, Kikuyu Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Centre, PCEA Kikuyu Hospital, Kenya
IIDip(Clin Ortho) Mulago Paramedical Schools, Kampala, Uganda
The flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) is a flexor of the digits of the hand and has been reported to have varying rates of agenesis. We conducted a study to determine the prevalence of agenesis of the FDS in an East African population by clinical examination.
Materials and methods
A prospective study was conducted using three clinical tests among patients and students in a large teaching hospital in East Africa to determine the presence of the FDS in the fifth digit.
The overall rate of absence was 2.5% with unilateral absence at 1.5% and bilateral absence at 1.0%. The over-all difference between males and females was not statistically significant (p=0.654).
Our findings are in contrast to many studies worldwide. There is a paucity of studies on the subject in Africa which hinders adequate comparison.
The prevalence of the absence of the FDS to the fifth digit in East Africa has been determined. Surgeons should acquaint themselves with prevalence in their areas of practice.
Key words: FDS, prevalence, clinical tests
The flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) is an extrinsic muscle that flexes the proximal interphalangeal joints and indirectly flexes the metacarpal phalangeal (MP) joints of the hand.1 There is variation in the flexor digitorum superficialis to the fifth digit.13 The absence of the FDS may influence clinical examination in injured hands.4 The prevalence of agenesis of the FDS is unknown in many African populations. We sought to determine the prevalence of the tendon in East Africa and compare this with other areas documented in literature. These findings will be useful for surgeons working in this region.
Materials and methods
We conducted a prospective study of students of the paramedical and nursing schools and of patients attending the orthopaedic surgical outpatient clinic. Participants were randomly selected from these groups and informed that the study was being conducted. We administered the three tests on all subjects to detect the presence of the FDS on the fifth digit. First the subject's hands were taken through range of motion to detect the maximum joint motion. The standard test involved allowing the fifth digit to flex while preventing flexor digitorum profundus action by preventing flexion of the interphalangeal joints of the other fingers (independent function)(Figure 1). The modified test involves allowing the fifth and the fourth digit to flex together (Figure 2). The FDS is considered present if the proximal interphalangeal joint of the fifth digit is able to flex to within 20º of maximum joint motion (dependent function). The new test was conducted by asking the participant to press the pulps of all fingers against the proximal palm (Figure 3). Extension or hyperextension of the distal interphalangeal joint with full flexion of the proximal interphalangeal joint indicates presence of the FDS while flexion of the distal interphalangeal joint was taken to indicate absence.5 If the FDS function was demonstrated using any of the tests, the subject was deemed to have FDS function. Absence of FDS function on all the tests was required to declare the subject FDS deficient.
Patients with obvious hand and wrist deformities, previous hand and wrist injuries and previous surgery to the hand and/or wrist were excluded. Participants provided written informed consent and assent was sought from the next of kin in the case of those aged below 18 years. The study was approved by the hospital ethics board and permission was granted by the school authorities.
Data was collected by a questionnaire and entered into Epidata program and exported to SPSS v 11.5 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois).
We examined 800 subjects, the majority (76.1%) of whom were students and right handed (94.4%). There were 391 (48.9%) males and 409 (51.1%) females. The subjects' ages ranged from 12 to 70 years with a mean age of 25 years.
The overall prevalence of agenesis was 2.5% with unilateral agenesis at 1.5% and bilateral agenesis at 1.6% (Table I).
In males the overall prevalence of agenesis was 2.8% with unilateral agenesis being 0.5% on the right and 1.0% on the left side. The bilateral prevalence of agenesis was 1.3% (Table II).
In females the overall prevalence of agenesis was 2.2% with unilateral agenesis at 1.4% and bilateral at 0.7% (Table II).
The differences between males and females and in handedness were not statistically significant (p=0.654).
Absence of the FDS in the fifth digit in this study was 2.5%. This differs from the values of 6% in Singapore.1 Figures in Ireland have been documented as low as 2%,2 while in India it was 11%.5 A study in England had determined the prevalence as 21%.3 A literature search did not reveal any studies on the subject in African populations. Though some of the variation may be attributed to variation among the races, some of the differences may be due to the differences in the accuracy of the tests used.
The congenital absence of the FDS in the fifth digit can complicate the examination of the injured fifth digit.1 This study informs surgeons working in this region of the likelihood of their finding the FDS in the fifth digit and helps the surgeon in the examination of the injured hand.
One of the weaknesses of this study was that the presence of the FDS in the fifth digit was determined by clinical examination which can be examinerdependent as compared with a cadaveric study where presence of the FDS would be determined by visualising the actual muscle. A cadaveric study could also determine the presence of a muscle even if it is nonfunctional. Nevertheless, one of the strengths of this study was in the use of numerous tests to detect the presence of the FDS, thus increasing the likelihood that the tendons were detected. A strength of the study is the large sample size.
The prevalence of agenesis of the FDS in the fifth digit is determined in this East African population. Surgeons in this region should acquaint themselves with these local figures.
1. Puhaindran ME, Sebastin SJ, Lim AY, Xu WX, Chen YM. Absence of flexor digitorum superficialis tendon in the little finger is not associated with decreased grip strength. J Hand Surg Eur 2008 Apr;33(2):205207. [ Links ]
2. Thompson NW, Mockford BJ, Rasheed T, Herbert KJ. Functional absence of flexor digitorum superficialis to the little finger and absence of palmaris longus-is there a link? J Hand Surg Br. 2002 Oct;27(5):43334. [ Links ]
3. Austin GJ, Leslie BM, Ruby LK. Variations of the flexor digitorum superficialis of the small finger. J Hand Surg Am. 1989 Mar;14(2 Pt 1):26267. [ Links ]
4. Townley WA, Swan MC, Dunn RL. Congenital absence of flexor digitorum superficialis: implications for assessment of little finger lacerations. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2010 Jun;35(5):41718. [ Links ]
5. Mishra S. A new test for demonstrating the action of flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) tendon. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2006;59(12):134244. [ Links ]
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The Kansas Supreme Court will release its ruling on a state school finance lawsuit Friday, ending months of speculation about whether the state has to increase spending for public schools.
The court announced Thursday that the ruling would be issued Friday morning.
The lawsuit was filed in 2010 by attorneys representing four school districts and parents. They alleged that the state reneged on promises made in 2006 to provide a certain level of funding to Kansas public schools. Those promises were made in a settlement of a lawsuit filed against the state in 1999.
Attorneys for the state argued that legislators did the best they could to maintain education spending after a recession that began in 2008 reduced available revenues.


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by John Hawkins | September 2, 2010 11:46 am
Last week David Limbaugh and I discussed his new book Crimes Against Liberty: An Indictment of President Barack Obama[1]. This week? The interview is live and the timing is fantastic because Limbaugh's book has hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
What follows is a slightly edited transcript of our conversation. Enjoy!
First question, in your mind is it fair to call Barack Obama a socialist?
In a word, yes. I think it's fair almost to call him a Marxist. John, he has a visceral contempt, an abiding contempt for capitalism, and while he holds himself out as a fierce advocate of the market, he's constantly badgering and bullying capitalism. He calls bankers "fat cat bankers." He resents legitimate profits made in the private sector. He talks about insurance companies' "obscene profits" when they, of course, were making modest profits at the same time he was characterizing them. He wants to radically redistribute wealth.
I think he has a grudge against pre-Obama America and he wants to rectify that situation by taking money from people he doesn't believe deserve it and redistributing it to those he believes do deserve it. His qualification for "deserving it" is that they don't have it. You know he's a guy that firmly believes in redistribution.
We saw that when Charlie Gibson asked him about the capital gains tax and why he would advocate increasing the tax when empirical evidence demonstrates that when you reduce the capital gains tax rate, you increase revenues and when you increase the rate, you reduce revenues for all people. He said, "Well, Charlie, it's not about the revenues. It's a matter of fairness." So, in his mind it's better to shrink the pie for everyone and spread the misery as long as you punish the wealthy than it is to expand the pie and increase the prosperity. It's a warped way of thinking.
I think the evidence is abundant that he does not like capitalism and he wants to use government to level the playing field — and by the way, he even wants the Supreme Court to proactively administer economic justice, which is a famous euphemism of the Marxists of old….
You said and I quote, "The Barack Obama presidency is young, but is already the most destructive in American history." That's a pretty bold statement, so can you give us a sweet, short synopsis of why you believe that's the case?
Well, no. I'm incapable of any kind of sweet, short synopsis. I'll give you sweet and long. No, just kidding. I'll give you sweet and rambling. Here we go.
I, of course, don't set out to empirically prove that he's worse than some of the past failed presidents. I'm making a statement that he is single handedly driving America over a cliff financially and economically — and if he keeps going on paths that he's deliberately set us on, he will bankrupt the nation. That alone will make him the worst president because once we reach that tipping point of bankrupting the nation, there is no returning.
I don't think we're going there. We're not going to allow ourselves to get there. I'm not a pessimist, but no one can argue that if he bankrupts the nation, that he's not the worst president in American history.
Also by sinking his roots systemically into the health care system, even if he doesn't bankrupt us there, he's going to further suppress our liberties. The same with cap and trade and on down the line. These are major, major changes that are occurring in our politics and our government.
Do you think Barack Obama is intentionally or unintentionally following the Cloward-Piven Plan?
I don't know. I've got a good friend who subscribes to that theory and has written a book on that. A lot of people like him, that I trust, make that case. I think it's a very plausible case.
In the end, I'm not sure that it matters. I think Obama is a committed Alinskyite. He's committed to undermining America's founding principles. He's committed to doing it by deceit. His whole campaign was a deceit where he claimed to be post partisan, post racial, and post grievance and all that. He was anything but what he appeared to be. He was the opposite of what he held himself out as being. So I believe that he will do anything in order to accomplish his ends.
I point out in the book, I can't remember the name of the liberal writer, but I do remember Jonathan Chait who cited this liberal writer who came up with an observation. He said, I don't know why everybody's so mystified and thinks there's some kind of false conflict between Obama's apparent conciliatory method and his radical leftist extremism. There is no conflict here. His method is an Alinskyite type method where he pretends to be conciliatory so that he can get conservatives at the health care summit on his side, put them on a board, and then ram through what he wants to and pretend that he did it in a bipartisan way. In other words he's completely scheming, calculating and manipulative. So ultimately, I really think that's the answer to the question.
Do you think Barack Obama has done anything in office so far that at least merits a serious discussion of impeachment?
Well, it's kind of like the (Birther) thing. I think that there is a lot of reason to be suspicious about Obama's background. This guy is mysterious — but, I don't want to pursue those things because I think they're ultimately quixotic pursuits. I sat around salivating for eight years thinking that we could get Bill Clinton impeached because of all of his high crimes and misdemeanors. He clearly committed perjury…and we ended up nowhere. In the meantime, we lost ground in fighting for the substantive things that we needed to be fighting for. …I think what he is doing is systematically abusing his authority to contravene the rule of law and the Constitution to the detriment of our liberty.
Now having said all that, I need to add that I do think there are some things, that if we were a sensitive society, if we weren't so apathetic, if we weren't so negligent and lax as guardians and stewards of the Constitution, we could look at some of the stuff he's done and consider it impeachable.
Now I don't want to say this too loudly in this book interview and I'm certainly willing for this part to be on the record, but I want to issue caveats, because I'm not advocating this. You asked me the question.
Right. Sure.
Intellectual honesty demands that I say that when the President, in contravention of an express prohibition from Congress, pledges $140 billion, with a b, to the IMF to be redistributed to third world nations, that there is something radically wrong. I mean that ought to be an impeachable offense.
I'm not advocating it, but if you're asking me in the purest sense. When he threatens Arizona with withholding its stimulus funds because Senator Kyl had the audacity to suggest to him that he implement an across the board freeze on stimulus spending, he had four cabinet secretaries simultaneously send threatening letters saying we're going to withhold your Arizona stimulus money if that's the way you want to be. So these people think it's their money and they can withhold stimulus money from Arizona because a senator innocuously suggests that Obama be prudent and quit bankrupting us.
They think they can summon people, insurance executives to the White House and make them come with papers to justify their rate increases or threaten to sue insurance companies because they share information as part of a required regulatory filing with the elderly saying they might lose benefits if Obamacare goes through.
These guys are tyrannical, dictatorial Stalinists and I would be remiss if I didn't say that in answer to your question. So if anybody was of a mind to look at high crimes and misdemeanors, I think they're certainly there. Still, I would recommend against it because all there's going to be is a backlash — and that's not the purpose of my book. My purpose is to hit him head on, fight him, and defeat him at the polls in a peaceable revolution.
Yes, related question, something you mentioned early on in that answer. Now you've studied Obama, you've written a book about him. You know his history very well. I have two simple questions. Is he a Muslim? Was he born in Hawaii?
You know, John, you are much more of an authority on the Hawaii thing[2]. I don't know. I think it's intriguing. I think it's possible that he wasn't.
I'll tell you the Framers, when they inserted that provision in the Constitution that you couldn't have an alien be President — they did it because they didn't believe a foreigner would have the loyalties to our country. I will just say this and this is kind of irrespective of the rule of law in the legal question, I think Obama has the kind of visceral disloyalty and contempt for America that the Framers were trying to avoid.
I agree with that, for sure.
I honestly don't know factually whether he was born in Hawaii, but I do know there's a lot of suspicious activity and he's done a lot to suppress his records. He's gone around and asked Harvard student classmates of his not to talk about him. We don't even know if he went to Columbia. Maybe we'll find out later, but this guy's mysterious and his background is so suspect and so negative after being raised by all these America-hating, racist, card-carry communists. ….And what was the question again?
I asked if he was a Muslim or born in Hawaii.
OK, John, this is an interesting question to me and as a fellow Christian, you will agree with me that we can't know someone else's heart. But you're asking my opinion and not asking me to be clairvoyant and psychoanalyze, so let me give you my intellectually honest opinion.
Barack, while he very well may be a Christian, I'll issue that disclaimer; I have my serious doubts for a bunch of reasons.
We don't have time to go into them all, but he was born a Muslim. I think he has an affinity and an affection for that religion and that culture. You see it in his body language. You see it in his expressed statements. You see him writing in his book that the sweetest sound he ever heard was the Muslim call to prayer. I find that very odd that a Christian, an authentic Christian could say that.
I find it very curious that he could go to a church spewing a black liberation theology, which is more race centered and Marxist centered, than it is Christ centered. I say that with all due respect and after having studied it, I'm not an expert. But that's my assessment of it. His own church, with Pastor Wright, was supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah – and these are terrorist organizations. So there's a tie between that church and the Palestinians and there's an anti-Semitism in that church. There's an anti-Americanism in that church. There's a race or racist orientation in that church. Barack Obama voluntarily sat in those pews for 20 years and chose to get married there and baptized his kids there — and he has the audacity to tell us that he didn't listen to any of the negativity and the anti-Americanism and race rhetoric from Jeremiah Wright
Yet, we know he dis-invited Jeremiah Wright to some appearance because of how incendiary he was and the kind of inflammatory statements he was known for making in the church. Obama did this before he denied having any knowledge of his inflammatory statements. In other words he had taken affirmative action to disinvite Wright months or maybe a year before he claimed for the first time he didn't know Wright was that way. So that's a bold, bald faced lie on his face.
The next reason I think I doubt his authentic Christianity is the bitter clinger statement where he derided conservative Christians and small town Americans as those who cling to their Bibles, guns and religions and have an animus toward people who don't look like them. He has a visceral contempt for those who we might call Bible believing orthodox Christians. I find that very curious for one who claims to be a Christian.
And he, if you recall this, he sneeringly derided Scripture in an appearance when he talked about, well, it depends which scripture you're going to talk to me about. If you're talking about Leviticus where God's ordering people to kill or are you going to talk about the New Testament, the Sermon on the Mount? It was the most irreverent thing — a God fearing person would never do because he was talking about Holy Scripture, not tea partiers, and he was deriding it. I thought, my gosh, he's got contempt, even for the Bible. That was haunting for me to hear him say that.
I think you made a very good case that he's not a Christian. You talked about Obama's time in Jeremiah Wright's church. So, do you think there's a good case that could be made that Barack Obama is a racist?
…I think he is a racial president. I don't want to go so far as to say racist because that is so inflammatory and so incendiary. While I want to speak the truth boldly, I want to be very careful on that one. But, I will say that it seems to me that he has a little bit of angst about some race issues. We've seen that manifest itself in the new Black Panther case which I think was clearly race motivated in the way it was handled.
The Justice Department lawyers who were so upset about it seemed to suggest the Obama-Holder Justice Department was not going to prosecute the new Black Panther party members for voter intimidation precisely because they reject the idea that there can be a white victim of black civil rights abuse. So I have to believe that's a completely race oriented position. It may not result from racism, but it certainly is allowing racial policy to affect something that should be race neutral in our society, and that is the administration of the law.
The whole thing about America and the Lady Justice is that justice is blind. That's what we mean by this. You can't apply those kinds of standards. I think we've seen him in other areas where Eric Holder is free to make speeches which have nothing to do with his job as Attorney General, saying things like we're cowards and don't talk about race in this country.
Now they're suggesting because the rap and hip hop have gone down in the ratings and conservative talk have gone up, they're suggesting there's some racial basis for that. They seem to play the race card every time they get a chance. It's anything to paint conservatives as bigots or as nativists because they want to protect the border in Arizona, protect themselves, the rule of law, or the unique American culture.
That is an outrageous abusive epithet and they're exploiting it. Look at the way Obama and his supporters have characterized the mosque thing. That also has racial overtones.
And so does Obama's reflexive reaction to the Cambridge police arresting his friend, Professor Henry Gates. It was obvious to me that there was some race based thinking in his mind there when he said that the police were acting stupidly. I think Obama instinctively, reflexively assumed that there was a race-based reason for the arrest as opposed to some bonafide disturbance of the peace. He didn't know the facts and without knowing the facts, he went ahead and pre-judged, condemned, and slandered the acting police officers and law enforcement in general. I thought that was an extremely racist thing that could only be born of some deep seated baggage that Obama carries.
And you can read his book and make another point. Remember he made the statement about his grandmother being a typical white person…
Yes, yes, because his grandmother got harassed by somebody at a bus stop. She was afraid of him and Obama came to the conclusion it was because the guy was black.
Yes, That's it. See, imagine that. He's got to have some deep baggage on that. …
Do you read the new media? Do you read blogs? And if so, which ones?
Oh, my gosh, yes. I mean, I bookmark a bunch of blogs, have the RSS feeds, and use that application that allows you to download them to and update frequently to your iPad and iPhone. Of course, I read yours. I read the Corner at National Review[3], Michelle Malkin[4] — the only trouble with naming these is I'm going to omit people, so I don't even know how to answer it.
Well, David, outstanding. I think this is going to be a great interview and I appreciate your time.
Once again, you can get David Limbaugh's brand new, #1 bestseller: Crimes Against Liberty: An Indictment of President Barack Obama by clicking here[5].
Also see,
An Interview With David Limbaugh About His New Book, 'Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity'[6]
Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/interviews/an-interview-with-david-limbaugh-about-his-1-best-selling-book-crimes-against-liberty-an-indictment-of-president-barack-obama/
Copyright ©2023 John Hawkins' Right Wing News unless otherwise noted.


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The Green Button Initiative One Year Later: Got Energy Data?
Chances are, if you're in one of about 36 million U.S. households with a smart meter installed, you don't necessarily know what information is being collected or how to use it. In an effort to make home energy usage data more transparent for customers, utilities and other key electric industry players launched the Green Button Initiative one year ago this month. But how many people are actually looking at this newly available data?
Smart meters, which can relay information wirelessly back to a utility about a household's energy use, are a mystery to many customers in terms of what they are and how they might be beneficial. (See related story: "Who's Watching? Privacy Concerns Persist as Smart Meters Roll Out.") The idea behind Green Button is that being able to see and use personal data captured by the smart meters can help customers better understand the technology's pluses.
Via the Green Button, utility customers can get standardized, secure access to their own energy data with the click of an online button displayed on the energy provider's website. So far, more than 30 utilities and energy providers representing about one quarter of all U.S. electricity customers have implemented, or promised to implement, the standard.
So far, it's hard to say how many people are taking advantage of this service. No single entity is monitoring Green Button usage, and the button is only a first step toward getting people more involved in monitoring home energy use. The next piece of the initiative, Green Button Connect, allows households to automatically integrate their data with apps that help them analyze it — a more compelling prospect for consumers than a spreadsheet that must be downloaded anew each time a user wants updates.
A recent industry report evaluating the Green Button Initiative's progress noted that it is "an impressive first step towards standardization of electricity usage data," but that Green Button Connect and a more developed app marketplace will be crucial to the program's success. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), for example, has had 15,000 downloads of Green Button data since launching the offering in January, a modest number considering its smart meter account base of 1.4 million. SDG&E launched Green Button Connect last month and also just launched a program that allows customers to buy in-home displays and other devices that can be connected to a smart meter.
Apps that make energy usage data into a tangible tool also may help spark interest in the Green Button. Last year, the Department of Energy sponsored a challenge that awarded $100,000 in grants to developers of apps that helped consumers save energy and money using green button data. The best overall application winner was Leafully, a Seattle-based app that helps people see their electricity use in trend charts over time and translates it to a "tree footprint," or the amount of trees needed to offset that use in terms of pollution.
Leafully co-founder Tim Edgar says that the service currently has a few thousand people using the app, and he hopes the number increases as more utilities deploy Green Button and Green Button Connect. "Green Button has been extremely helpful in terms of giving us the tools to really focus on some of those harder consumer engagement problems [about how] we get people to start thinking about their energy usage and [have it be] more important to their lifestyle."
Integrating personal data with apps more easily via Green Button Connect has "definitely been an important piece," Edgar says. "A lot of our users that come around back today are from those sort of features, so they don't have to do a lot of work."
It's possible that in the future, a burgeoning marketplace of apps will attract people who want to use their electricity data to cut power bills, monitor appliances, or evaluate an electric car purchase. But with rollouts of smart meters and the Green Button still in progress, and many consumers still unaware of their options, it's a quiet frontier so far. Edgar says, "A lot of the word of mouth that we do get stops when people tell their friends and they realize that this is not offered in their region."
An earlier version of this post said SDG&E's smart meter customer base is 2.5 million. SDG&E clarified that Green Button is available to the 1.4 million customers who have electric smart meters.


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Working with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
ABRSM is the major sponsor of of the NYO Inspire programme, established by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) to provide opportunities for dedicated teenage musicians.
We're proud to support NYO Inspire as it provides breakthrough experiences through orchestral music to teenagers of all backgrounds. The Inspire Orchestra, Inspire Ensemble and Inspire Days provide players of Grade 6+ standard with the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer learning with NYO musicians. This helps them to understand the demands of orchestral playing and provides clear progression routes to further opportunities, including becoming an NYO member.


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"Torchwood: Miracle Day" writer Jane Espenson Friday gave fans at San Diego Comic-Con a little tease about what to expect for the rest of the season: flexibility with the timeline, romance, darkness, big implications, losses.
"This is about ideas," she said. "Think of the big picture as you are watching." As in, what would happen to wars, to families, to food supplies if Miracle Day really happened. "There's a lot there."
Before the panel got started, fans were shown the new trailer above, which gives us some clues to where things will be going. If you want read more about what happened at the panel, check my live-tweets on Twitter. My handle is @showpatrol, and I hash-tagged #Torchwood #SDCC.
I'll have more from the press room later.