text:
Alert officers rescue special guitar belonging to Howard "Sonny" Robertson
Guitar has star spot at HardRock Cafe: Rock trio Feeder give bass guitar to HardRock Cafe in Cardiff.
Guitar doctor strums up a package deal: 87 guitars to be auctioned in a single lot on Friday!
Copy of star's guitar strikes right chord: yes, it's that old chestnut again, a replica of Brian May's Red Special.
Just in time for Christmas: Jimi Hendrix action figure!
See also spawn.com
2:54 AM | Labels: Hendrix, Product news
Girls with guitars (and drums): More women learn, teach male-dominated instruments such as guitars and drums. And companies are changing ads to target this new market.
Guitarist Icons: Marshall: The third issue of Guitarist Icons concentrates on 40 Years of Marshall Amplification.
Guitarist brands Pop Idol judge Cowell "a joke": Guitarist Andy Taylor of legendary pop band Duran Duran has branded Simon Cowell a "joke" and accused him of helping to ruin the British music industry.
Get Well Soon, Scotty!
Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore in serious condition following brain surgery
Guitarist set to riff for Zep legend: A Suffolk guitarist is to perform for Led Zeppelin rock legend Jimmy Page at a competition designed to find the country's best riffer.
Chameleon guitar apes classic sounds. Yes, you've guessed it, this is an article about the Line 6 Variax. I've been meaning to discuss this guitar on this website for a long time, having first seen this at The London Guitar Show in May, but I still haven't decided whether I think it's a good thing or not. The whole idea seems rather soul-less to me. For more info, see www.line6.com/variax.
3:34 AM | Labels: Line 6 Variax
Guitar Shed 1.6 - MacUpdate: Guitar Shed is a set of tools for guitarists, bassists, and many other musicians. Includes an extensive tuner, with customizable alternative tunings, a chord library, tablature organizer, jam machine, song jammer - which lets you slow your songs down for practice, as well as loop sections continuously for simple learning.
Fire burns house of guitarist John Abercombie: Renowned guitarist John Abercombie was injured in a fire that heavily damaged his home in Putnam Valley - and destroyed many of his guitars.
Johnny Lang has the perfect look for a guitar player: What's all this about the guitar face?
Guitar Tuner 0.1: Guitar Tuner is a small Java application, which allows the user to tune their guitar with the aid of their computer.
The retuning of Gibson guitars: Once nearly bankrupt, company now has $250 million in sales and a new market of baby boomers.
Girls with guitars. Allegedly.
Stones row over Jagger knighthood: Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has hit out at bandmate Mick Jagger's "ludicrous" decision to accept a knighthood. Richards said he did not want to go on stage with someone wearing a "coronet and sporting the old ermine" and told the singer it was a "paltry honour".
"It sent out the wrong message. It's not what the Stones is about, is it?" Richards told Uncut magazine.
DIY guitar building strikes a chord: Bailey Guitars of Ayrshire.
Check out the 2003 Faded Series from Gibson USA... Nice!
Sharon admits cheating on Ozzy with guitarist Randy Rhoads - sorry, just a tenuous guitar link here, folks!
Today is the anniversary of the birthday of Jaco Pastorius who was born on 1 December 1951.
Jaco, who single-handedly popularised the fretless bass guitar, has often been referred to as "The World's Greatest Bass Player"... and with good reason. Unfortunately Jaco's all too brief time on this planet came to an end on 19 September 1987.
Bill Stafford: Steel guitar spokesman: He played with Elvis; now he plays for the world.
3:03 AM | Labels: Elvis, Steel guitar
Happy Birthday to blues legend John Mayall, 70 years old today!
The Flying TV electric tenor guitar.
5:06 AM | Labels: Flying V, Tenor guitar
Christophe LeDuc: hand-made guitars and basses from France. I especially like the Utopia guitar.
Peter Malinoski: Art, furniture and electric guitars
Today is the 61st anniversary of the birth of Jimi Hendrix.
What will be the Christmas No 1?I don't ordinarily take any notice of the "charts" here in the UK, seeing as they are generally full of such rubbish, kiddiepop and Pop Idol type drudgery.
However, it would be good to know that something worthwhile gets to the top of the charts for once.
So, how's about we all go out and buy the forthcoming PUNK AID single "Ere's Your Christmas"?
The record is the brainchild of a certain Captain Sensible and also features Charlie Harper of the UK Subs, Martin Newell, Marky Ramone, a couple of Electric Prunes, and TV Smith, amongst others. All proceeds will go towards helping children with cerebral palsy.
Gig cancelled after bassist saws himself out of tree: British Sea Power had to cancel a gig in High Wycombe after the bass player hurt himself falling out of a tree. Hamilton was collecting branches to decorate the stage when he inadvertently sawed through the branch he was holding on to.
John Lee Hooker - Face To Face: album review from eJazzNews.com
Doug Selsam's Tarantula bass: Ooh scary!
Here's fun: Weird Basses Gallery from alt.guitar.bass
Glenn Campbell charged with drunk driving: He played guitar on records by The Monkees and The Beach Boys amongst others, you know.
Slack-key guitarists perpetuating the tradition: Keola Beamer helped revive the indigenous sound in the 1970s.
The Unofficial Danelectro Page: I can't remember if I've linked to this site before, but if I have then I'm doing so again. Because I like Danelectros.
1:45 AM | Labels: Guitar website
Harrison guitar fetches £276,000: The Dutch-made Egmond guitar, nearly 50 years old, was originally bought for George Harrison by his father for about £3.50. Harrison, who died in 2001, recalled it as "a real cheapo, horrible little guitar but it was OK at the time". A Fender Stratocaster guitar given by Harrison to Spike Milligan fetched £17,250 at the sale at London's Hard Rock Cafe by auctioneers Cooper Owen.
3:33 AM | Labels: Fender, obituaries
2:35 AM | Labels: Guitar Lessons
Many Happy Returns to Duane Allman who is 57 years old today.
See also: Hittin' the Web with the Allman Brothers Band
Harrison's first guitar for sale: George Harrison's first guitar is being sold at auction, where it is expected to fetch £200,000.
Happy 41st Birthday to Metallica's Kirk Hammett.
And if you've ever wanted to know what gear Kirk uses, there's always the Encyclopedia-Metallica!
Session guitarist Steve Lukather (Toto) has opened a new website to promote his Christmas album, Santamental.
Win a Fender Stratocaster HH guitar! - the ultimate tone machine, so they say, featuring the new S-1 switching system (which basically splits the humbuckers to give a single-coil soung).
And once again: "Contest is open to only to legal residents of the United States and its territories."
5:22 AM | Labels: Fender, Stratocaster
Get a free limited edition Fender Stratocaster lunchbox ... when you place an order for $65 or more. Big Wow! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
3:01 AM | Labels: Fender, Stratocaster
Actor-guitarist promotes rock music: Acting in the most acclaimed television series in history, Little Steven Van Zandt has made a name for himself playing Silvio in HBO's "The Sopranos." But long before that show hit the airwaves, you would've recognized him as the bandana-clad guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. He just wrapped up a 120-date tour with the musician, working in the new season of "Sopranos" on his days off...
MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer is making music for 'grown-ups': Plenty of music, Kramer says, is created for and marketed to teenagers, which is fine, but adults need music that connects with them and their concerns, too.
1:29 AM | Labels: Wayne Kramer
Wesley Webb "Speedy" West, whose innovative steel-guitar licks made him one of the best on the instrument, died Saturday. He was 79.
1:21 AM | Labels: News item, obituaries, Steel guitar
Hurrah! Another guitar blog: Building My Guitar
Tony Blair admits being Darkness fan: UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has admitted to a class of schoolchildren that he listens to The Darkness' latest album.
Guitar Legends Launch Store: Rock stars from two generations attended the launch of a Westcountry guitar shop's new home this week.
Rubbish Music - Lesotho shepherds turn junk into funk: "A group of shepherds from Lesotho are making an impact in the musical world with their creation of 'Junk funk' - songs performed on instruments made from rubbish."
...which reminds me of a Boston band called Neptune who played impossible-looking instruments that had been welded together from pieces of scrap metal. I remember there was one guitar that had been made from the side of an old cooker. The necks were steel rods with "frets" welded across them, so that there was no fingerboard beneath - just air.
I had linked to these guys back in the early days of this blog, but now those links are dead. Does anyone have any more info on this band? I've found a few articles on the web, including this one and this one, but would love to see a feature with photographs of all those instruments again.
4:40 AM | Labels: Comment, Weird guitars
Happy 58th Birthday to legendary songwriter and guitar player Neil Young.
Check out Neil's Garage.
The Musical Instrument Makers Forum: Acoustic guitar building, electric guitar making, archtop guitar building, violin making, dulcimer making, mandolin building, banjo building, or any other type of lutherie; pickup winding and rewinding; drum making; flute and recorder making and repair; brass instrument building and repair; and more.
2:59 AM | Labels: acoustic, banjo, bass, dulcimer, Luthiers, mandolin
From the New York Times:
"Cornell University physicists reported last week that they had used a laser beam to pluck the strings of an invisibly tiny silicon guitar just 10 millionths of a meter long. Each string of the instrument is about 50 nanometers (or billionths of a meter) wide - 100 atoms thick."
'Lord Of The Rings' Star Enlists Guns N' Roses Guitarist To Play On His Album: "Lord of the Rings" star Viggo Mortensen has recruited GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Buckethead as well as co-stars Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd as guest musicians on his upcoming musical album.
James "Spider" Rich, Famous Guitarist Dies at Age 80: James 'Spider' Rich of Winchester, who was for many years a key guitar player and composer of guitar instrumentals on the Nashville country music scene, died Sunday at the age of 80.
2:36 AM | Labels: obituaries
Slim guitar auction benefits police woman: A guitar signed by Slim Dusty - "Australia's King of Country Music" who died after a lengthy battle with cancer on 19 September 2003 - has sold in Western Queensland for more than $10,000.
2:34 AM | Labels: obituaries, signed guitars
Where Is Nash's Guitar?: Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills and Nash) offers $1000 for return of guitar.
Indi Guitarist Denis Taaffe Considered For Grammy Award In 9 Categories in the 2003 46th annual Grammy Awards
Guitar festival kicks off in Wirral, Birkenhead, UK.
Happy Birthday to Sharleen Spiteri of Scots' band Texas who is 36 years old today.
Rocker's guitar gift surprises fan: Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen visits a Marine who was paralyzed in a June accident.
Today's guitarist birthday boy is Glenn Frey founder member of The Eagles, and who is 55 years old today.
Former Metallica bassist Ron McGovney auctions off memorabilia but nothing exciting as far as I can see; just some smelly old vests, wrist bands, a few old photos and receipts. Nothing exciting like a bass guitar.
Guitarist Scotty Moore is named a musical ambassador: Nashville resident Scotty Moore has been called the guy who invented rock 'n' roll guitar, having provided the guitar licks behind the King of Rock 'n' Roll: Elvis Presley.
2:32 AM | Labels: Elvis, Guitarist news
While my guitar gently disappears: The Guardian's take on that stolen Ringo Starr guitar story.
Happy Birthday to:
1:32 AM | Labels: harp guitar
Rapid response halts guitar factory blaze: A Vancouver business is charred but not destroyed by a Molotov cocktail. See also: Larrivee guitar factory hit by fire
G3 website www.satriani.com/G3 currently has a video message from JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN available in RealVideo or Quicktime 6. The video features a G3 promo message and footage recorded on October 17th at the Concord Pavilion in California.
Music piracy forces top guitarist onto the streets
Queen guitarist Brian May left without a pot to p*ss in
How very odd!
Auerswald-instruments: Did you ever wonder where Prince got that Symbol guitar from? A fascinating selection of innovative space-aged instruments.
I notice that there is a Chico Hablas model. All that I know about Chico Hablas is that he played guitar on certain songs by swiss funsters Yello; in fact his laid back but Oh So Cool solo on "Desire" on the album "Stella" has got to be one of my favourite guitar solos ever. Other than that I know nothing about the man. If anyone has any more information on Chico Hablas, please get in touch!
The Nu-Metal Guide: Handy hints on how to form your own Nu-Metal band, become the next "Slipknot", etc...
The Humane Guitarist: dedicated to the technique and health of the classical guitarist.
The Oud Home Page: all about this 11-stringed fretless arabian lute.
Guitar factory could open in Wayne County: A Huntington man who makes a uniquely shaped guitar is proposing to open a manufacturing facility in Wayne County. Leo Burrell, retired pastor of Norwood Free Methodist Church, has invented and sells what he calls "the only truly ergonomic guitar." The guitar is constructed at an angle and without internal bracing to curve around the musician's body. It was patented three years ago. Burrell also invented a twisted neck guitar that was patented in 1985.
See also: www.burrellguitars.com - these guitars are freaky! Visually, they could possibly be considered acoustic equivalents of Brian Eastwood's Bender Distortocaster!
Playing guitar a weighty decision: Eduardo Niebla might have become the King of the Accordion - instead, he has been dubbed The King of Latin Guitar.
Oppressive work spurred guitarist on: John McLaughlin speaks about his career and his new album "Thieves & Poets".
Happy Birthday to a man who should need no introductions, Mr Bill Wyman, who is 67 years old today, and is still rocking with his band The Rhythm Kings.
3:23 AM | Labels: obituaries
I don't know if he celebrates such things, but Happy Birthday anyway to the Arch-Drude himself, Julian Cope, who is 46 years old today.
Actually, I'm going to see his "Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day" show in London at the end of the month, which should be interesting!
The Guitar Hanger - Rock & Roll Museum featuring guitars owned by David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Ian Hunter, Carlos Santana, Blue Oyster Cult, and others.
A ukulele orchestra is claiming that Kate Bush has banned them from recording a cover version of her hit song Wuthering Heights. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, who claim that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation as long as they are played on the ukulele, have already become a big hit on BBC Radio 2 and had hoped to release the song on their new CD. The track has now been replaced by a Miss Dynamite cover.
Kiss guitarist shot outside club
Former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick has been shot in the leg and grazed by a bullet to the head outside a West Hollywood nightclub. More...
Support Jimi's brother and sign the LEON HENDRIX "AXIS" Petition
The Cigar Box Guitar's Rightful Place In Music History - a very interesting and entertaining website! Recommended to would-be guitarists on a very strict budget!
See also: How to make a cigar box guitar
Cream bassist has liver transplant
Best Wishes to Jack Bruce who is currently recovering from a near-fatal liver transplant operation.
Get well soon, Jack!
Happy birthday to Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp who is 44 years old today.
Ono gives Lennon musical the nod - the very idea sounds hideous to me.
Martin guitars hit 1 million on high note - in January 2004, the one-millionth Martin will make its debut at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.
McCartney Guitar up for auction live on TV - it's one of his first guitars apparently. I doubt if it's any of his famous instruments such as one of the Hofner violin basses.
2:46 AM | Labels: German guitars, Hofner, TV
Blinkin' flip! Today's the 63rd birthday of Sir Cliff Richard, and the alarming thing is that he's still going strong.
Never mind, at least his old backing band did well too... one of the most famous guitar groups ever: The Shadows
The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery - some fantastic stuff in the galleries here. Happy browsing!
The votes are still coming in for our Stratocaster Poll with "boring" in the lead (only just), I'm afraid...
6:16 AM | Labels: Fender, Stratocaster
Happy Birthday to the master of no-nonsense twelve-bar boogie rhythm guitar, Mr Rick Parfitt, who is 55 years old today.
See also:
Roadhouse Replicas - faithful replicas of the now legendary Status Quo Telecasters
Smiths bass guitar sells for $5,800.00 (approximately £3,486.21) on eBay.
Stratocaster bashing - the poll.
Vote now!
1:43 AM | Labels: Fender, Stratocaster
Happy Birthday to Midge Ure who is 50 years old today. As well as being successful in his own right as a solo artist, and famously fronting the post-John Foxx line-up of Ultravox, Midge has also played guitar for bands such as Slik, the Rich Kids, and Thin Lizzy.
Sorry, by the way, that I couldn't find a decent photo of Midge with a guitar. Oh, and if I remember rightly, he never liked Strats either.
For Mac users: Guitar Shed 1.0.1
Guitar Shed is a set of tools for guitarists, bassists, and many other musicians. Includes an extensive tuner, with customizable alternative tunings, a chord library, tablature organizer, jam machine, song jammer - which lets you slow your songs down for practice, as well as loop sections continuously for simple learning.
Guitar showdown with G3 - Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen at Reno.
If anyone out there would like to take issue with my claim that Stratocasters are boring, then when you communicate would you please make a reasoned carefully-thought-out argument, and do not simply resort to name-calling or extremely baffling and childishly immature exclamations of "Are you gay?" in the comments.
Whatever one's sexual orientation has to do with a person's preferences for certain guitars, I just cannot fathom.
If you've got something to say - a point to get across - then just say it. But really, there is no need to resort to abuse just because someone else thinks a little differently to you.
As to Stratocasters, well, I used one for over 10 years. It was a great guitar, but the best thing I ever did was to get rid of it and try something different!
5:46 AM | Labels: Fender, Stratocaster
The bass guitar on which Smiths bass player Andy Rourke played on all the band's records is being sold.
The 20-year-old Yamaha bb200 is currently listed on ebay for a starting bid of USD$2,400 (approximately £1,444).
According to the item description, Rourke bought the bass guitar in 1983 and subsequently used it on all the Smiths recorded output, as well as on session work for artists including The Pretenders, Badly Drawn Boy and Sinead O'Connor. It also appeared on the gatefold cover of the Smiths' 1984 rarities compilation 'Hatful Of Hollow'.
The bass, which comes in its original case with a letter from Rourke, is up for bids until 2pm on Friday (October 10). To bid, click here.
Via: www.nme.com
5:17 AM | Labels: bass, hollow body, Yamaha
EBay air guitar gets bid of £25,000
Ha! There's always some joker on eBay who thinks that it is the height of wit to offer for sale an "air guitar" ... as if no-one had ever thought of that "joke" before. It's absolutely pointless. Well, now the joke's on the latest air guitar selling prankster - just think of the fees he's going to have to pay eBay! Serves the stupid bastard right.
Pick an investment: Collectors see electric returns from playing guitar market The Seattle Times - Business & Technology
The Fender Discussion Page - I must admit that I'm vaguely interested, but have decided that I am very much an ex-Fender user (other than my Jazz Bass, that is). I just don't see the point in playing a Strat or a Tele anymore because everyone else plays them. The word "boring" springs to mind, especially where the Stratocaster is concerned.
"Oh, but you've assembled a couple of Fender-style projects yourself..." you may well say. This is true; let's face it building a Strat-type guitar from parts has to be the easiest because the parts are so easily available and you can mix and match to your heart's content. So, yeah, I have put together a couple of Strat type guitars, and a Tele style guitar too, but at least I tried to inject a bit of originality into them (especially the Tele!).
However, for those of you who can't get enough of the Fender Stratocaster, there's this site: All Things Strat
3:56 AM | Labels: Comment, Fender, Stratocaster, Telecaster
Present at the creation: The Electric Guitar - a recommended site for all of you who are interested in the history of the solid body electric guitar.
We have another guitarist birthday today, namely a Mr Mike Rutherford, of Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics fame, who is 53 years old today.
Click here for a nice pic of one of his wacky doubleneck guitars, this one being a twelve-string guitar and six-string bass pairing.
Click here to find out more about his more celebrated Shergold doubleneck instruments.
Raise a glass - or a mug of cocoa if you will - in honour of Sting who is celebrating his 52nd birthday today.
At last, that seems to be a believable age for the ex-Police frontman. I recall that years back he must have stayed at age 32 for at least a decade.
Strat Central - Fender Stratocasters galore! A whole website devoted to the World's most popular (and arguably most boring) guitar.
6:12 AM | Labels: Fender, Guitar website, Stratocaster
How about these Kona Walkingstick Basses? They must certainly be a lot less ungainly than a standard upright.
B.B. King - I made a mistake a couple of weeks ago when on the 16th September I reported that it was B.B. King's 68th birthday. It was actually his 76th birthday!
Guitar legend and rock and roll pioneer Paul Burlison dies in Horn Lake
See also: Flock of musicians tried to imitate guitarist's style
5:36 AM | Labels: obituaries
I've just joined this new Yahoo!group called Guitar Gallery. Their introductory paragraph says:
Guitars! They're as much fun to look at as they are to listen to! Please post any guitar pics you find interesting. Weirdo pawnshop finds are particularly welcome! Enjoy!As one member put it, it looks like quite a few of us have G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome). Should be a good fun group. Go on - boost the numbers and join up yourself!
Click to subscribe to guitar_gallery
Bruce Springsteen celebrates his 54th birthday today (according to my sources, that is, but just now on Top Of The Pops 2 they said he was 58... Hmmmmm...)
754 Guitarists Not Enough for World Record
(see also original story which we listed last month)
Happy Birthday wishes to Joan Jett who's looking punkier than ever, and who is celebrating her 43rd.
B.B. King: 3rd 'Greatest Guitarist in History'
Interview from the Clarion Ledger, Mississippi
Rick Nielson's five-necked guitar - just because I know that you guys are always searching for a picture of it! Check out the other cool articles at Flying Vintage - Home of Guitar Collector Magazine.
2:12 AM | Labels: vintage guitars
Today is also the 26th anniversary of Marc Bolan's death. He was a fine songwriter and a brilliant tasteful guitarist despite the fact he claimed only to know eight chords.
Forget your paisley and blue flower finishes... Fender announce the Splatter Stratocaster!
1:14 AM | Labels: Fender, Stratocaster
Well, the George Harrison Rosewood Fender Telecaster did sell at auction, although the different news reports give different figures. £301,000 say Reuters. £273,000 say The Daily Record. £289,000 say BreakingNews.ie. Etc, etc... Let's just say it went for a lot of money, OK?
Johnny Cash, R.I.P.
Singer Johnny Cash, one of country music's most enduring stars, has died in the US aged 71.
Cash died in hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, his manager said. He had recently suffered a stomach complaint and spent time in hospital.
He become as famous for his image as an outlaw figure, famous for playing prisons and creating the myth of the Man in Black, his semi-official nickname. More...
3:49 AM | Labels: obituaries
Bradford Reed and his Amazing Pencilina - Bradford fights and tames the idiosyncrasies of the pencilina, an original instrument of his own design and construction. The pencilina is an electric ten stringed collision of the hammer dulcimer, slide guitar, koto and fretless bass with six pickups of varied types. It is struck with sticks, plucked and bowed, giving Reed and incredibly wide sonic palette.
This seems like an opportune time to re-list this link: Fab Guitars of The Beatles - a superb website.
George Harrison's legendary rosewood Telecaster for sale
A guitar played by George Harrison at the final Beatles gig is expected to fetch $250,000 (£156,900) at auction. The instrument was also used by the late musician during the filming of the Beatles' movie Let it Be. The custom-made Fender Rosewood Telecaster is being sold in Los Angeles during a pop memorabilia sale on Saturday and Sunday. It previously went on sale in London in 1999 but failed to meet the asking price and was withdrawn. More...
Meet GTRBOT the scary-looking robot guitarist / bassist of Captured By Robots. They may be robots, but Kraftwerk they ain't!
These Reverend guitars from Canada look quite tasty (and are supposed to have a secret weapon in the sustain department too). The design puts me in mind of Danelectro crossed with Fender.
7:41 AM | Labels: Fender, Guitar website, Reverend
Captain Sensible's Hohner Electric 12-string up for grabs! Make him an offer... Or do you have a short scale bass (e.g. Fender Mustang) you'd like to swap?
Today's Birthday Greetings go out to Chrissie Hynde.
I realise that it's not considered to be polite to dwell on the subject of a lady's age, but she's still looking good at 52.
Happy 34th Birthday to Dweezil Zappa. How soon before he tries selling that ex-Hendrix Strat again, I wonder?
3:32 AM | Labels: Birthday, Fender, Stratocaster
At PRS Guitars, a Second Golden Age
I thought I'd include this link for all of you who like that sort of thing. Personally I think PRS guitars are vile.
This guitar, built for Rudolf Schenker of the Scorpions, claims to be the World's first acoustic Flying V.
But what of the Takamine Flying A which dates back to the early 1980s?
7:56 AM | Labels: acoustic, Dommenget, Flying V, Guitarist news
Today I got myself a Danelectro e-15 eStudio, which is a neat little headphone amplifier with built-in echo and distortion. It's quite an impressive little device: powered by a single PP3 battery (which is included, by the way) it delivers an enormous sound into the phones. It also has a line-out for recording purposes or for driving a larger amp. Check it out.
John Birch guitars proudly present the Superyob, a reissue of the now legendary guitar played by Dave Hill of Slade. This new version incorporates LED dot markers in the fingerboard and also features a laser built into the headstock which no doubt enhances the sci-fi laser-gun appearance of the guitar.
By the way, I believe that the original Superyob guitar is now owned by Marco Pirroni (ex Adam & the Ants).
5:54 AM | Labels: British guitars, John Birch
Clearport guitars - featuring "Thurman Multi-dimensional Sound Ports" these acoustic guitars offer "unsurpassed acoustical and ergonomic performance ... with greater sustain, a faster attack and a broad dynamic range". (See also Augustino Loprinzi Guitars whose Nova Futura model classical guitar also features Thurman Multi-dimensional Sound Ports in their design).
I'm reminded of the FUNNELBody guitars that I mentioned last month on this blog.
Guitar recycling hits a chord with musicians
A GUITAR engineer is hoping to bring new life to old instruments by setting up a recycling workshop. Jon Dickinson, 34, who has been an engineer for eight years, has set up his own workshop in Crystal Palace to customise stringed instruments and renovate old guitars. More...
Manchester Guitar Tech - Now here's a useful site, very clearly laid out and with lots of helpful photographs. The section on Building from a kit looks particularly good.
A friend sent me this picture of his Vox semi-acoustic bass guitar.
Does anyone out there know anything about these lesser-known Vox instruments?
Apparently the guitar is labelled as being "Made in Japan". Does anyone have any idea of when this might have been made?
However, it's a real beauty, isn't it?
Update: It does look a little like the Vox Cougar bass with several differences: the pickups are not the same, the tailpiece is comletely different, the Cougar on the Vox website has a scratchplate (sure, this could have been lost), the headstock is a different shape, and the VOX logo isn't quite the same.
Happy Birthday to one of the UK's finest songwriters, formerly of Squeeze, Mr Glenn Tilbrook, who is 46 years old today.
Cheap Guitars Are Fun - I was pleased to find this site, as it's the work of an old friend of mine who I had lost touch with. Some nice piccies and stories surrounding this guitar collection including Futurama, Hagstrom and Egmond guitars amongst others.
Jeff Beck's guitar still sings Daily Trojan, student newspaper of the University of Southern California
...and today's guitarist birthday is...
Shania Twain, who is 38 today!
Wait a minute... she's not really known as a guitarist, is she? Come to think of it, does she actually play the guitar?
Oh well, in that case, today's Birthday wishes must instead go to THIS WEBSITE which is one year old today! (See the very first day's postings here).
I originally started this site as a weblog so as to keep track of interesting guitar links that I found. I didn't know really how often I would be able to update it or how much material I would be able to find for inclusion in it, but I'm happy to say that it'g grown into something approaching really quite good (in my estimation).
I do wish I'd get more feedback from people though. It seems a shame that most people only find their way here through a search on Google. I have considered letting other people sign up and write for this weblog... if anyone is interested, please drop me a line!
754 guitars rock into the record book with 'Louie Louie'
...and whilst we're still on the subject of Micro-Frets guitars, here's a photo of Wreckless Eric (a.k.a. Eric Goulden) which I took last week on the occasion of the launch of his autobiography at The 100 Club, Oxford Street, London on 21 August 2003. And, yes, that battered green guitar is a Micro-Frets.
I would highly recommend Eric Goulden's "A Dysfunctional Success - The Wreckless Eric Manual", which is available for a mere £10 from www.theturkeyzone.co.uk
2:59 AM | Labels: Micro-Frets
Photos of Micro-Frets guitars courtesy of www.fetishguitars.com.
2:51 AM | Labels: Micro-Frets
Speaking of Micro-Frets guitars: Micro-Frets Guitar Secrets Revealed!
2:38 AM | Labels: Micro-Frets
Hendrix, Allman top Rolling Stone guitar list
Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman lead the list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Hendrix, who invariably tops such polls, received a glowing tribute from Who guitarist Pete Townshend, who wrote that he "made the electric guitar beautiful." Allman was hailed by the magazine for transforming "the poetry of jamming" with the Allman Brothers Band, the Atlanta rock group he founded with younger brother Gregg in 1969. B.B. King, who turns 78 next month, came in at No. 3. Clapton landed at No. 4, followed by Delta bluesman Robert Johnson. Rounding out the top 10 were Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ry Cooder, Jimmy Page and Keith Richards. (Reuters)
Presenting the Earvana compensated nut.
(Wasn't that the same idea behind the nut on the now legendary Micro-Frets guitars?)
2:10 AM | Labels: Micro-Frets
Q: What is the connection between Gene Simmons of Kiss and Elvis Costello?
A: They both have birthdays today. Elvis Costello is 49 and Gene Simmons is 54.
Searchers bassist dies
Tony Jackson, bass player for the 1960s "Merseybeat" band The Searchers, has died. He was 63. Full story...
6:23 AM | Labels: bass, obituaries
Someone found this site on Google using this search: help strings on fender stratocaster too close to neck.
Get yourself a bunch of allen keys and raise the string height on the saddles at the bridge, using one of the smallest allen keys to adjust the height on the 2 little grub screws on each saddle that you want to raise. That ought to do the trick. If, however, the action if too low on the neck nearer to the nut, you may need to raise the nut or else replace it for another with shallower string slots.
If anyone else has any queries like this you can always email me, rather than doing a hit or miss search on Google. If I don't know the answer I might know someone (or a website) that does,
Cambridge Guitar Orchestra and Havant Area Guitar Orchestra - very interesting - guitar orchestras here in the UK.
Niibori Guitar World - all you ever wanted to know about the japanese guitar orchestra!
Here's an intriguing and innovative design that enables a small bodied acoustic to sound louder, and also gives stereophonc acoustic sound(!): FUNNELbody guitars and basses.
Also, check out their double-sided guitars.
5:44 AM | Labels: acoustic, Weird guitars
And today's birthday boy is John Deacon of Queen, 52 years old today!
Guitarist birthdays I missed earlier this month include: David Evans a.k.a. The Edge of U2 who turned 42 on the 8th, David Crosby who was 62 on the 14th, and at the end of last month I also missed out one of my fave ever guitarists, Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets, Bauhaus, etc) who was 46 on the 31st July.
"Show us your Strat", say Fender.
I'd show them mine, but I sold it last year, and somehow I don't think the "Strats" I've bolted together from spare parts qualify.
8:36 AM | Labels: Fender, News item, Stratocaster
Keith Richards Caption ContestI'm off on my holidays for the first two weeks of August and so won't be able to update this website until my return. In the meanwhile, here's a picture of Keef for your viewing pleasure. Please leave suggested captions in the COMMENTS beneath this post.
ANOTHER guitarist birthday!
Today it's famed bluesman and master of the polka-dot Stratocaster, Buddy Guy!
67 years old today and still going strong!
Mark "Surf Rat" Rowe - 12-String Fretless Bassist!
12 string fretless bass? Sounds pretty painful on the fingers to me! Would love to hear what it sounds like.
Happy Birthday to Rush bassist and vocalist Mr Geddy Lee, who is 56 today.
Check out the official Rush website here.
I remember at school, there was always some kid who had inscribed the name RUSH on his books, or perhaps had painstaking painted the logo on his bag in Tippex.
This was far too much temptation for me, and armed with a pen (or another bottle of Tippex) I would make a sly amendment, thus destroying any credibility that the kid had:
Well, it kept me amused anyway. To this day, I still cannot separate in my mind the band Rush from that cheeky fox puppet!
Iron Butterfly guitarist Erik Braunn dies at 52Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Erik Braunn, lead guitarist with Iron Butterfly during the two years of the heavy metal band's greatest success, has died. He was 52.
Braunn died of cardiac arrest Friday in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. No other details were given.
Braunn, considered a violin prodigy, began his musical career at age 4. He was born in Pekin, Ill., but raised in Los Angeles. He was 16 when he joined Iron Butterfly and spent 1967-69 on tour with the band. He was the lead guitarist on the band's 1968 anthem, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."
Braunn and Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy and Lee Dorman, left their mark on musical history with the psychedelic, 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." The album went platinum and stayed on the national sales chart two years, and a three-minute version also became a Top 40 radio hit.
Braunn occasionally reunited with the band for performances, and worked as a songwriter, musician and producer until his death. During a 1988 reunion, he told the Times about his superstardom experience 20 years earlier, saying: "My first vacation I bought a car, a Jaguar, and parked it outside the hospital where I spent two weeks for ulcers and gastroenteritis."
7:07 AM | Labels: obituaries
Guitbass - Part 2I mentioned last week that I had put together a "guitbass" (three-stringed guitar) from an old Fender Stratocaster copy and various spare parts, but that I was having some problem with the electrics and that only the middle pickup was working.
Yesterday, I decided to sort this out and give the guitar a single humbucking pickup in the lead position (an idea that suddenly seems to be credited to the guy out of Blink 182, although people had been using single-humbucker Strats for years - witness Earl Slick on David Bowie's "Serious Moonlight" tour).
First of all, the bridge pickup cavity needed enlarging to accommodate the bigger humbucking pickup. I used a router to do this, and it all went very smoothly despite being only the second time I had used that particular variety of power tool.
The next job was to cut out a humbucker-sized hole in the scratchplate. I had the idea that I'd cover the whole plate in sticky-backed plastic ("Get down, Shep!") and thus cover up unwanted holes for the neck and middle pickup.
Then I changed my mind, and decided to make a new scratchplate from, errrrm, scratch. Having a sheet of black/white/black ply scratchplate material helped, obviously, and I set out first drawing the outline using another plate as a template, and then went to work cutting it out using a fretsaw. It all went surprisingly well. It wasn't the greatest piece of cutting in the world, but some work with a sander around the edges soon smoothed out any inconsistencies in the cutting.
Cutting the pickup hole was a bit trickier, especially as I managed to break the fret saw blade mid-way through. The resultant hole wasn't as straight as it could have been, and was very slightly lopsided, but hey we're talking about using a black pickup in a black scratchplate, so unless you look up close it's not really obviously wonkily cut. Also, a slightly lopsided pickup in the bridge position of a Strat would most likely look like a design feature!
Next I had to wire it all up. Now I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel, parts-wise, as I could only find a few short pieces of wire, and could not find any spare 500k pots for the volume control, so I had to resort to using a 250k pot which would have been far more suitable for a single-coil pickup equipped guitar. When I get the chance, or rather a 500k pot, I shall rectify this.
I didn't install a tone control as I dislike them intensely, and chose to keep things simple and have just the single volume control between the pickup and the output jack. I topped off the volume pot with a black metal domed-knob, which fitted in with the black scheme of the scratchplate beautifully.
The pickup itself, by the way, was one from an Epiphone guitar. I was originally going to use a DiMarzio humbucker, but it had one of those surrounds for a guitar with an angled-back neck and I couldn't figure out how to mount it.
And yeah, it's quite neat. As I already said, I'd still like to tinker around a bit under the hood, and depending on whether or not I decide to sell it, I may replace the machine heads and bridge saddles and make it into a six-string guitar again. The back of the neck could probably do with some attention where there are one or two deep scratches. These aren't really a problem for one-finger guitbass playing, but for regular playing they would be annoying.
So, still some work to do, but a good fun project.
2:18 AM | Labels: Epiphone, Fender, minimalist guitars, Projects, Stratocaster
He's not really known as a guitarist - although I believe he does have some talent in that area - but I couldn't let today pass by without mentioning that it's Mick Jagger's 60th birthday!
Poor guy, I bet people are going to keep on reminding him of this fact all day.
"Shut up..."
Oh, and after much soldering and de-soldering last night, I managed to fix that humming problem on the red "Falcon" Strat project.
5:37 AM | Labels: Projects, Stratocaster
Hhmmmmm... the guitar pictured at the top of the page HERE is a bit silly, isn't it? I mean, Rick Neilson's 5-necked Hamer was silly, but at least the necks on his were arranged slightly closer together.
Who on earth would be able to play that aluminium thing? And why have five necks all the same?
Daft for the sake of being daft.
3:47 AM | Labels: Metal body, Metal neck
Strat Projects - "Guitbass" (part 1) and the "Falcon"Here are a couple more Strat-style projects that I've put together from my box of assorted guitar bits and pieces.
The sunburst guitar is one I have mentioned before several times, namely my "Presidents of the USA" style "guitbass". This is a three-stringed guitar tuned C sharp, G sharp and C sharp (an octave higher than the low C sharp). To allow for the low tuning the strings are very heavy gauge - I forget the gauges I bought now, but I think the lowest string is a .062 gauge. In fact, this string was so heavy that I had to drill the hole in its machine head bigger to accommodate it. This tuning is designed for power chords - just place a finger at any fret, and you get route note, one fifth above and one octave above. It's actually something of a riff-monster and now I'm beginning to question: Why get overly complicated and use a 7-string guitar for these low heavy riffs when you can do the same thing with a 3-string?
However, the electrics are old and knackered - only the middle pickup seems to be working. I've been thinking of replacing the other two pickups, but what I'd really like to do would be to equip this instrument with a single humbucking pickup in the bridge position. This will require a little routing in the body to allow for the larger pickup, and also a new scratchplate, which I will probably have to cut myself. (Single humbucker Strat-style scratchplates seem to be virtually non-existant from all the suppliers that I have checked). I'd also only want the one volume control and no tone. I'm not a fan of passive tone controls; I consider them usually to be virtually useless at the best of times.
3:32 AM | Labels: minimalist guitars, Projects, Squier, Stratocaster
Eliah Levy - The Stick Man - I just saw this guy busking in Oxford City Centre this lunchtime. Quite impressive. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for his website!
For more information on the Chapman Stick, see here: www.stick.com
Teisco guitarBack in March I mentioned that I'd bought an old Teisco guitar on eBay, then neglected to ever mention it again. Well, the guitar had really great sounding pickups, although perhaps the action was a tad too high for regular playing.
It also had one of the control knobs missing, so I replaced the whole set of four with an appropriately vintage-looking set also found on eBay. One slight annoyance with the appearance was that at some point someone had decided to spray gold glitter all over the whole guitar in an effort to make it look glam (perhaps?). I have been trying to gently scrape this off, but it's everywhere including on the fingerboard.
Nevertheless, the glitter doesn't detract from the great sound. Seeing as the action wasn't appropriate for regular playing, I decided to raise it even further and bought a nut extension from a guy called Chickenbone John who regularly advertises his slide-guitar products on eBay. This nut extension also has the side-effect of increasing the string spacing at the headstock end (obviously!) of the guitar so that the outside strings are almost hanging over the edge of the fingerboard! However, this is not a problem as I am using this guitar for slide playing (got a lovely bottleneck from Chickenbone John too!) and am playing it in the lap position as you would a Hawaiian guitar. The guitar is currently tuned to an open D chord and it sounds wonderful!
For more on Teisco guitars, see: www.teiscotwangers.com
3:47 AM | Labels: Teisco, vintage guitars
Hendrix tops guitar album pollJimi Hendrix's pioneering classic Are You Experienced has been named the greatest guitar album of all time more than 30 years since its release. The 1967 release, which spawned classics such as Foxy Lady and Fire, was chosen by a panel of music writers and experts.
The Beatles failed to make even the top 20 although the writers thought their 1966 effort Revolver, with its backward guitar snatches on Tomorrow Never Knows, deserved a place in the list of the 100 greatest guitar albums. The Who were runners-up with 1965's My Generation and a self-titled 1962 compilation by bluesman Howlin' Wolf completed the top three.
Left-handed musician Hendrix made it to number two in the UK charts with his debut album Are You Experienced, continuing the promise shown on earlier singles Hey Joe and Purple Haze. He had perfected his incendiary style in the clubs of Greenwich village in New York, but found fame after being brought to the UK by former Animals bass player Chas Chandler.
Are You Experienced showcased his incredible talent as well as his range of innovative guitar sounds using an array of electronic boxes. Music writer Ritchie Unterberger said: "It's impossible to cram all the innovative ways of playing an electric guitar that Hendrix pioneered on his first album into one paragraph.
"Foremost among them were his use of controlled feedback coaxing both oceanic waves and subtle flutters; his mastery of a huge range of high volume distorted tones and his piercing, clear lightning-quick blues runs."
Two albums from the Nineties make it into the top ten - Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and Radiohead's The Bends. Only one album since Radiohead's 1995 release is thought to be worthy of the top 100 - Elephant by The White Stripes which was released this year.
Although hardly high on technical merit The Ramones debut album with its straightforward three-chord romps is included for its primitive excitement.
The top ten are:
1. Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix Experience.
2. My Generation - The Who.
3. Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf.
4. Maggot Brain - Funkadelic.
5. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine.
6. The Bends - Radiohead.
7. Ramones - Ramones.
8. Genius Of The Electric Guitar - Charlie Christian.
9. New Orleans Street Singer - Snooks Eaglin.
10. The Rock'N'Roll Trio - Johnny Burnette And The Rock'N'Roll Trio.
This weekend's other birthday boy is Carlos Santana, who is 56 today.
Happy birthday to the maestro of the home-made guitar himself,
I'm glad to see he's not wearing his clogs on that skateboard!
Check out Brian's official website here: www.brianmay.com
Gruhn Guitars - THE source for the vintage instrument world.
3:56 AM | Labels: vintage guitars
The Genius of Lloyd Loar - The roaring '20s was a period of blatant disregard for laws, boundaries, and tradition. It was also an age of invention. In 1922 a brilliant acoustic engineer named Lloyd Loar developed the Mastermodel series of acoustic instruments and invented the first solidbody electric viola. Loar was the architect of the modern stringed instrument. This collection features the entire Gibson Mastermodel series and Lloyd Loar's personal instruments, which include his electric-viola, mando-viola, and musical saw.
Guitar Project: "Frankie 2"This weekend I started to put together a second "Frankenstrat" from various odd bits and pieces that I had been accumulating. I had acquired a very attractive Strat body with a red transparent finish. Thinking that this could be the starting point for a really classy looking guitar, I bought a pearloid scratchplate, which came "loaded" with pickups, pots, wiring, etc (I got it for a very good price).
I already had a neck that I though would be suitable for this project, and indeed it was of the correct scale length and fitted the neck pocket in the body perfectly. Just one bizarre thing about this neck though, it was a left-handed neck with an Explorer-style headstock! Nevertheless, I thought it looked well cool, and let's face it - bog-standard STRATS ARE BORING! I wanted this one to look just that little bit different. (Actually, it strongly resembles one of the Strat-type guitars made by the Robin company in the 1980s.)
So, I went about attaching all the parts: scratchplate, neck, tremolo claw, trem-bridge, springs, etc, and then wired it up to the jack socket. Plugged it in and ... it doesn't work. Arghhh!!! Looks like I've mixed up the wires and soldered the wrong one to the tremolo claw (for the earth), and so forth.
So... I had to remove the scratchplate so as to re-arrange the wires and poke them through the correct holes for the jack socket and tremolo cavities. But, as I was to find out, I couldn't take the scratchplate off with the neck in place, as the neck had a fingerboard extension to allow for 22 frets, and this was overhanging the scratchplate and stopping me from removing it.
I had to take the whole thing to pieces and re-wire it, then put it all together again. Once again I tested it through an amp (I had strung the guitar with a single string for testing purposes). Still not working! Grrrr... back to the drawing board again.
I tell you, I had that guitar assembled and then taken apart so many times that day that I lost count! I then got out my original Frankenstrat project guitar, and had a look under the plates of that one to see how it was wired up. I also consulted other Strat parts that I had, including another pre-wired scratchplate, a bunch of electrics without the plate, and the Strat-style guitbass that I'd been putting together recently. Would you believe it? It seemed that the electrics of no two Strat-style guitars (that I could lay my hands on) were exactly the same! However, in the end I think I worked out what was supposed to go where, and also discovered that I hadn't wired the original Frankenstrat properly either, as the tone controls were not working (this I fixed, obviously).
Despite getting all three guitars - Frankenstrats 1 and 2, and the guitbass - wired up as they should be (and double-checking against a circuit diagram I had found on the net), every time I tried out the guitars on my amp I was hearing a horrible humming.
At the end of Saturday I can tell you I was thoroughly sick to death of Stratocasters. However, yesterday it occured to me that the new Vox Brian May Special amp that I had been testing the guitars with might simply not like Stratocasters! So, again, I tried out all three guitars on my little Washburn practice amp. Perfect!!!
So, a word of warning there: Don't get a Vox Brian May Special amp if you want to play a Strat through it, because it'll sound awful. It's not a problem for me as I have other guitars.
But that wasn't the end of my problems with "Frankie 2". Remember that upside-down Explorer style headstock? Well, I soon discovered that my low E-string would fall off the nut because of the extreme angle of the head. I tried stringing all the string up "the wrong way around" and then the high E-string fell off the other side. So, I've now got this stupid situation where all the strings are strung normally except for the low E, for which you need to turn the machine head in the opposite direction from all the others in order to tighten the string. Not a very good situation really, so I'm going to have to find some kind of string retainer to screw to the front of the headstock for the strings to pass under.
So, how did the string stay in place on that neck originally, you ask? Well, the neck shows signs of having a lockin nut fitted. Not thinking that a replacement locking nut would be needed as I was only fitting a standard Strat-style tremolo to this guitar, I simply glued a non-locking roller nut in place. This turned out to be another mistake, as I hhadn't considered the height of the nut. I really should have filed out a little channel for it to sit in, as currently it is 1.5 mm too high, so the action at the bottom (headstock-end of the neck) is too high, making chords a right pain to play.
However, I did do quite a nice job of cutting out and shaping a little plate to cover the holes from the old locking nut on the headstock. I made the shape deliberately asymmetrical to echo the shape of the head, and I think it looks quite nifty!
So, still a few things to sort out on this guitar (see part 2 - coming sometime in the future), but it does look cool!
4:16 AM | Labels: minimalist guitars, Projects, Stratocaster


text:
VerbatimBy CIOinsight
Security 2002: Rethinking Risk
What have American businesses done since last September to improve their ability to deal with terrorism or other disasters? Judging from our survey of 337 executives on the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, they have done a great deal. While spending on business continuity hasn't consistently increased, new companywide procedures have been put in place. After a year of planning in response to the threat of terrorism, the executives generally are well-prepared: A substantial majority is firm in the belief that their companies can continue critical business operations even after a catastrophic attack.
Many companies were affected by Sept. 11 in some way, and it has left them far more concerned about preparing for disasters46% of respondents still retain a strong sense of urgency, only a small drop from immediately after the attacks. While most IT execs still feel their companies' business continuity plans could be inadequate in the case of the most extreme possibilities, such as nuclear attacks or bioterrorism, most feel capable of handling cyberterrorism and other IT security breaches.
Companies have responded to Sept. 11 by reassessing their risk, drawing both IT and business executives into contingency planning and enforcing security procedures. Many firms have also taken steps to minimize risks by relocating, dispersing or distributing parts of their IT infrastructure, such as servers and storage. But these precautions usually do not include increased spending on business continuityin fact, a substantial percentage of the companies hardest hit by Sept. 11 have actually decreased spending.
A majority of the executives we surveyed are confident in their ability to continue critical business operations in the face of a malicious disaster, and perhaps they are justified: Many have tightened security procedures, decentralized computing and storage architectures, and even relocated data centers. The security experts we spoke with about the survey results, however, were not as sanguine, and they warned that many companies are likely still vulnerable.
Ian Mitroff, a crisis management specialist and business professor at the University of Southern California, says uncertainty has to be part of any plan. All too often, he says, companies rely on risk analysis, cost-benefit analysis and simplistic simulations, which don't factor in the unexpected. "The first characteristic of any major crisis is uncertainty," he says. "I left engineering because we were producing a lot of certainty junkies accustomed to solving textbook problems where you know everything. In the real world, the problem changes dynamically over time. You have to cope with extreme uncertainty. Al Qaeda is uncertain. September 11 shows the faultiness of risk analysis. You have to prepare for at least one act of terrorism."
MacDonnell Ulsch, managing director of Janus Risk Management Inc. in Marlborough, Mass., agrees. "We know the other terrorist shoe will drop, but we don't know who, what or when," he says. There are no simple answers: "You don't just buy some software and install it. We're dealing with a number of issues that are pretty complexinternal and external security, disaster recovery, business continuity, crisis management, privacy and regulatory issues."
One thing is certain: CIOs face serious budget constraints. "After Sept. 11, security has gone from being not such a hot issue to the front burner," says Donald Lee, CIO at Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation, in Baltimore. "We have the commitment from the executive level. But in this economy, the state is in cost-reduction mode. Money is really tight."
That's also true in the private sector. "Unfortunately, the financial impact of the terrorist attacks greatly outweighed the fear factor of spending on security," says John Pescatore, a vice president at Gartner Research. "If I'm an airline, and my revenues have disappeared, I have to delay spendingI have to report to Wall Street. The concern is up, the spending is not."
Still, many companies have changed their IT practices to ensure continuity by relocating data centers, or moving to a more distributed data processing or storage architecture. These changes were picked up in our conversations with CIOs and CTOs; everyone we spoke to was aware that after Sept. 11, what matters is location, location, location. In Phoenix, for example, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona has decided to mirror critical data at a center in Tempe, Ariz.ironically, in the same facility it once used as second data center (which was shut down in a cost-cutting move). "I've seen it go in circles," says Chief Technologist Gerard Farmer. "Years ago, everyone was on centralized mainframes, then everyone decentralized, then centralized again to save money. Now we're decentralizing again for disaster recovery reasons."
In Baltimore, Maryland's tax department surveyed its 24 offices around the state to determine where it could move its 900 employees in an emergency. "Our business continuity plan had been related to equipment and software," CIO Lee says. "But where are you going to house the staff?" The agency is also reconsidering telecommuting, something it had hesitated to use, as part of the solution.
Some companies have discovered that a backup site isn't enough. Ulsch tells of a financial services company in a suburb west of Boston that before Sept. 11 had established a hot backup site 20 miles away, anticipating that employees could reach it in 30 minutes. When bomb threats were made against financial institutions following Sept. 11, however, it took the employees six hours to get there, because every other business around them was evacuating as well.
"A number of companies have analyzed, tested and revised their plans," Ulsch says, "and they found out the plans don't do what they thought they did. There are many consequences when a disaster occurs, but companies will intellectually prepare a plan that covers only one factor."
Our survey revealed that the sense of urgency spiked after Sept. 11 and has since fallen back, something Gartner's Pescatore sees as well. "It looks like the half-life of concern was about six months. In March and April, spending was pretty much back to normal," he says.
CIOs are most worried about internal and external security breaches and cyberterrorism, the survey showed. Are they justified? Some anecdotal evidence from our conversations: Government CIOs tell of sharply higher external hacking into their systems since Sept. 11; based on their origins, many attempts are thought to be from terrorists. Several of Ulsch's large clients report up to a million automated probes of their systems a day.
Are the roughly two-thirds of our respondents who are confident of their business continuity plans for cyberterrorism and system breaches right to feel that way? "Their optimism is a little overplayed," Gartner's Pescatore says. "Our estimate is that the Internet systems of about 65 percent of Fortune 5,000 companies are vulnerable to an attack that at least results in a content change." For example, says Pescatore, several companies have had false press releases planted on their sites. The releases were picked up by newswires, which resulted in their stock dropping 50 percent. Another 25 to 30 percent are vulnerable to an attack that could cause a financially significant event that would have to be reported.
Surprising, too, was this survey result: About one in five respondents still don't have a business continuity plan. "Want to hear something even more ridiculous?" Farmer asks. "I talk to people at conferences who don't have a clue about security. These are technical people, and I'm still amazed when I learn their IT shops don't have firewalls. You can get one for a couple hundred bucks. This isn't rocket science."
Are some organizations still in denial about the terrorist threat? Mitroff thinks so. He surveyed Fortune 1,000 companies before and after Sept. 11, and found that about 85 percent are what he calls "reactive." The farther these companies are geographically from New York City, the less they are preparing for terrorism. "Only when something is close to them will they take action," he says. "A lot of organizations have their heads in the sand." He also found that the larger these reactive companies are, the less they are prepared. "They think, 'We're so big and powerful, nothing can happen to us.' The number one problem we're facing is this overwhelming denial."Terry A. Kirkpatrick
Research Results
Research Results
The results are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. To download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in, click here.
PDF Format
- MS Powerpoint
Conclusion 01
Conclusion 01: Widespread Impact of Sept. 11
While only lower Manhattan and the Pentagon came under direct attack a year ago, the events of last September have had a powerful and widespread impact on U.S. business. Aside from the thousands of victims, two thirds of companies saw their business undergo some sort of disruption. Many companies suffered a considerable financial hit in the form of lost income and increased insurance premiums.
A substantial percentage of companies were directly touched by the events of Sept. 11. Twenty-two percent had customers or business partners at the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, and 11% of larger companies had an office in the vicinity. About a third of all companies said their business continuity was definitely affected. Nearly four in 10 respondents reported a significant financial impact from Sept. 11, and that figure rises to two thirds of respondents if "somewhat affected" is included. Affected companies with more than 1,000 employees lost a median of 10% of annual revenues directly because of the attacks; for smaller companies, the figure is 14%. More than three quarters of all respondents saw their property insurance premiums rise due to Sept. 11, and seven in 10 reported increased costs for casualty insurance.
Conclusion 02
Conclusion 02: Concerns are Heightened
Predictably, companies are more worried about terrorists than they were before Sept. 11. They feel prepared for IT attacks, but not for nuclear terrorism and bioterrorism, risks that are least covered by insurance. The good news is that insurance coverage for such risks as natural disasters and security breaches is fairly comprehensive.
Just one IT executive in five re-ported that other company execs felt an extreme sense of urgency over being prepared for disasters before Sept. 11. That strong sense of urgency spiked immediately after the attacks to nearly three in five, and remains at 46% today.
CIOs worry most about direct threats to IT resources. External breaches and cyberterrorism are the top two concerns, cited by about a quarter of respondents each and followed by internal security breaches, at 15%. Bioterrorism, nuclear terrorism and non-nuclear attacks all generated muted responses, ranging from 11% to 6%.
CIOs are uncertain whether their business continuity plans are up to certain challenges, particularly nuclear terrorism (74%) and bioterrorism (59%). They feel better prepared for cyberterrorism and computer security breaches, though these are still concerns for about a third of respondents.
Insurance is most comprehensive for more common events such as natural disasters and external and internal security breaches (78%, 62% and 60%, respectively). IT assets are even better covered: 69% are covered for loss of IT hardware, and 61% for interruptions of data communications. But CIOs are most concerned that their insurance doesn't cover lost employee productivity, with only 25% believing they're adequately covered for such a loss.
Conclusion 03
Conclusion 03: A Wave of Activity
Most companies have responded to Sept. 11 by rethinking their level of risk, getting IT and business execs involved in continuity planning, and taking steps to ensure business continuity after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. For many, these steps include decentralizing their IT architecture, moving their data center, and personnel changes. Still, while a third of businesses didn't have a business continuity plan before Sept. 11, some firms are still running blind, working without a plan to help them prepare for another disaster.
The good news is that about 80% of companies have a business continuity plan; the bad news is that about one in five companies in corporate America still do not have one. Thirty-three percent of those who had such plans before Sept. 11 say they've made or intend to make significant changes to their disaster recovery plans, including better training on security procedures and more frequent backups of corporate data. Companies that have lost more than 10% of revenues due to Sept. 11 are now more likely to back up data more frequently, but that's the only activity more than half of these respondents have stepped up.
IT departments have generally made substantive changes to their infrastructure and policies. Nearly half are likely to have modified their policies for coping with security breaches. Forty-four percent relocated their data centers, and more than half switched to a more distributed data processing architecture, both potentially expensive moves. More than six out of 10 are now using a more distributed storage scheme, which should provide cost-effective redundancy. A backup network was established by nearly two-thirds of those surveyed. Almost half added new IT security personnel. Finally, 79% are working to better ensure that their security procedures are being complied with, a predictable but low-cost step.
About eight in 10 took the basic step of performing new risk analyses after Sept. 11, and 78% are making sure that security procedures are better observed. Greater involvement by IT and business execs in the planning process and new mail-handling steps were all cited by about two-thirds of respondents. Almost half added a new organizational role such as a Chief Security Officer.
Conclusion 04
Conclusion 04: Spotty Spending, High Confidence
Despite the fact that continuity spending has not increased at more than two thirds of companies since Sept. 11, IT executives are confident they can respond to an emergency and keep the business running in the event of a catastrophe. Companies that did increase or decrease continuity spending did so by substantial percentages.
Just 31% of companies increased business continuity budgets, a seemingly low number given the widespread effects of the attacks. However, those that increased their disaster recovery spending did so dramatically, with the median budget for all such respondents rising by 20% between 2001 and 2002. Firms that decreased their spending did so by 25%probably due to the impact of the recession on these firms.
More than a third of the companies that were most financially affected by the events of Sept. 11 actually decreased their business continuity spending, dropping it by a median of 30%.
CIOs are generally confident about their company's level of preparation. Just 57% thought their company would have been able to keep doing business after an attack a year ago. But more than seven out of 10 feel they are able to do so now, and nearly nine out of 10 believe they will be a year from now.
How the survey was done: CIO Insight designed the rethinking risk survey together with Advantage Business Research Inc. (www. advantageresearch.com), a Lake Success, N.Y.-based supplier of custom research services. CIOs, chief technology officers, and vice presidents of information technology and services gathered from a number of sources, including third-party lists and other Ziff Davis Media publications, were invited to participate in the study by e-mail. The questions were posted on a password-protected Web site, and 337 qualified respondents replied from June 21 to June 28, 2002. All qualified respondents described themselves as knowledgeable or very knowledgeable about their company's disaster recovery, business continuity and security practices.
The results of this survey are more encouraging than the findings from our survey on security, published in the February 2002 issue: We found uneven spending but a pattern of strong responses to the disasters of Sept. 11. Still, we are surprised that 90% of IT executives show such a high degree of confidence that they can maintain operations in event of an attack, given their fears that their business continuity plans could be inadequate in the face of a major terrorist onslaught. While such catastrophes are unlikely, we think CIOs should ask whether they are being too optimistic, and whether they need to better prepare their organizations for surviving major impacts to business continuity. These preparations could include reviewing continuity plans, checking insurance policies and ensuring that their organization doesn't become complacent. Despite the state of the economy, CIOs need to prepare their companies for future threats.

subset: commoncrawl


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Line Cook Job
$120.00 estimated pay
Instructions and details
About Instawork Gigs
Instawork is the best place for hospitality workers to find temporary jobs on-demand. From Michelin-star restaurants to small coffee shops, Instawork makes it easy for bartenders, cooks, servers, dishwashers and other experienced hospitality workers to find work at local businesses and earn up to $30/hr on a flexible schedule. No interviews or paper resumes. Just book the gig in the app and show up to do the work. Se habla español.
A line cook role refers to a back of house worker whose primary responsibility is to keep the tempo of the restaurant flowing during service.
Line Cook's responsibilities:
Prepares a variety of meats, seafood, poultry, vegetables and other food items for cooking in broilers, ovens, grills, fryers and a variety of other
kitchen equipment.
Assumes 100% responsibility for quality of products served.
Knows and complies consistently with our standard portion sizes, cooking methods, quality standards and kitchen rules, policies and procedures.
Stocks and maintains sufficient levels of food products at line stations to assure a smooth service period.
Portions food products prior to cooking according to standard portion sizes and recipe specifications.
Maintains a clean and sanitary work station area including tables, shelves, grills, broilers, fryers, pasta cookers, sauté burners, convection oven, flat top
range and refrigeration equipment.
Prepares item for broiling, grilling, frying, sautéing or other cooking methods by portioning, battering, breading, seasoning and/or marinating.
Follows proper plate presentation and garnish set up for all dishes.
Handles, stores and rotates all products properly.
Assists in food prep assignments during off-peak periods as needed.


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Chief Executive Officer(redirected from CHEIF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
A title held often by the Chairperson of the Board, or the president. The person principally responsible for the activities of a company.
Chief Executive Officer
In a corporation, the highest ranking officer in the company. In smaller companies, the chief executive officer may be combined with the president (the second-highest officer). The CEO has the responsibility of setting the overarching goals of the company and ensuring that they are met. He/she often serves as a point person between the company's management and the board of directors. The CEO is usually a member of the board of directors himself/herself. Generally speaking, the smaller a firm is, the more day-to-day management responsibilities the CEO has.
chief executive officer (CEO)
The person responsible to a company's board of directors for carrying out its policies. Essentially, the CEO is the highest-ranking executive managing the firm on a day-to-day basis. Also called chief operating officer. See also chairman.


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Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski and Professor John Arquilla. Naval Postgraduate School "Conversations on Transformation"
Click here to go back to Cebrowski Institute home page.
This is an Official U.S. Navy Website.
All information contained herein has been approved for release by the NPS Public Affairs Officer.
This website generates dynamic content, with highest classification level being UNCLASSIFIED/NON-FOUO only.
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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West seem to be flipping houses left and right, and the latest real estate move they're making is to sell West's Hollywood Hills bachelor pad for an asking price of $3.3 million, reports Realtor.com.
West purchased the home in 2003 for $1.75 million and tried to sell it for $4 million a couple of years ago. Coming in at 4,124 square feet, it's described as stunningly minimalistic, which might come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything about the flashy artist.
The home's details, however, indeed demonstrate reserve. French walnut floors exude elegance inside, as do the Minotti chandeliers.
U.S. & World
Centrally located above Sunset, the hillside compound overlooks breathtaking views from every room, with unobstructed scenes from downtown to Santa Monica.
As you can imagine, the home offers gated entry and state of the art security. There are three bedrooms and four bathrooms, and although there is no swimming pool (yet), the listing promises that there is room to build one.
Seriously? Kanye's bachelor pad is subtly elegant and lacks a pool?
Maybe there's more to Kanye West than we think.
Reportedly though, there is a "fish tank bathtub." Now there's the Kanye we know and love (or hate, depending on who you are.)


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Bidding has spiralled out of control on New Zealand auction website Trademe.co.nz as punters scramble for the now famous handbag used by ex-All Black captain Tana Umaga to reprimand Chris Masoe in a Christchurch bar in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The auction, posted last Friday by the entrepreneurial owner of the fashion accessory, has reached outrageous heights, and at time of publication had attracted 518 bids, the highest of which exceeds NZ$100m (£33.9m).
Umaga took action after his Hurricanes team-mate punched another drinker who he thought had tripped him over. He then reportedly picked up a woman's handbag and hit Masoe in the head with enough force to smash a cellphone inside the bag.
Masoe, who forms part of the tough "Devil's Henchmen" loose trio in the Hurricanes, allegedly burst into tears and fled from the bar after the handbag assault.
Independent Online reports that the 22-year-old owner of the handbag told The Christchurch Press: "I mean a handbag, of all things. How hilarious...he hit him pretty hard. We heard it across the bar. He cracked him up the side of the head twice."
Earlier that day, the Hurricanes were beaten 19-12 by the Crusaders in the inaugural Super 14 Final.
The New Zealand Rugby Union fined Masoe NZ$3,000. No charges were laid against Umaga, but he did replace the woman's mobile phone.
The auction carries the following description:
"These are the genuine articles. Handbag was used by Tana Umaga to hit Chris Masoe at the Jolly Poacher in Christchurch after the Super 14 final. Cellphone that was broken in this bar incident is also included. This can be verified as the genuine articles at time of purchase. Please note this has been listed on owners behalf.
In typical Friday fashion, questions have been coming in thick and fast from bidders, and include: Does this come with Masoes girls blouse? Is there any blood on the handbag? Is there any guarantee that hitting someone with this will make them cry? and, Can you throw in a vial of Chris Masoe's tears that were shed that night?
Another victim of the disturbing trend of handbag abuse, asked: "My wife tends to hit me with her handbag too....you think I could sell this one too to pay for my new glasses?"
But as bidding continues to reach bizarre heights, some watching the auction are concerned about the validity of the bids. Luckily for the seller, she was offered the services of this helpful lawyer: "If your top bidder does not front up with the said amount (even if it's 100+ million) I would be more than happy to provide free from all costs litigation proceedings to ensure the bankruptcy of the person/s responsible. I do this to people on a daily basis, and would much enjoy helping you destroy the fake bidders financial freedom for the next three years. Superb once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it's a real shame you have idiots ruining it."
The auction closes on Saturday 3 June at 6.59pm (NZ time). ®


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Crew Member General Job Description
Essential Functions / Position Standards
The essential functions and position standards of a crew member are listed below.
Generally, it is necessary for a crew member to be crossed-trained in at least three positions.
Each position does not necessarily exist in every restaurant, and sales volumes dictate which positions will be used and for how long on each shift.
An individual must be able to perform each necessary function satisfactorily.
Wendys will, upon request, provide reasonable accommodation in accordance with the ADA to known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified employee or applicant with a disability, unless doing so would cause Wendys undue hardship.
Runner/Line Coordinator This position is responsible for seeing that all orders (dining room and pick-up window) are assembled correctly within the stated time goals.
The position must be able to reach the condiment stand which typically is 4 ft. high and 3 ft. deep.
Grill This position (i) must turn and press meat on a grill surface that has a temperature of 480° and is 3ft high, (ii) places potatoes in a 350° oven, (iii) is responsible for a visual check of cooked products on the grill to ensure proper quality standards are maintained, (iv) must determine customer orders from order screen on service line or head set, and (v) must pull a platen that is 2ft from the grill surface.
The grill has a depth up to 4 ft and the operator must be able to reach the back.
Fries/Nuggets This position must be able to (i) portion and serve fries and nuggets, (ii) determine customer orders from order screen on service line or head set, (iii) enter the walk-in cooler periodically during each shift to pull cases of fries or nuggets each weighing up to 40 lbs, (iv) cook fries or nuggets in 350° shortening, (v) pick up fry basket from shortening, (vi) hold stationary for 5 seconds to drain, and (vii) empty fry basket into fry bin.
Sandwiches – This position must be able to (i) prepare sandwiches and baked potatoes according to specifications, (ii) determine customer orders from order screen on service line or head set, (iii) reach the back of the sandwich station which is up to 4ft deep, and (iv) reach buns from the bun warmer located over the sandwich station at a height of approximately 59 66 inches.
Drinks This position must be able to (i) portion and serve hot and cold drinks, chili, Frosties and other beverages, and (ii) replenish ice several times during a shift.
A bucket of ice weighs approx. 15 lbs and must be carried several feet.
Register This position must be able to (i) appropriately greet customers, (ii) take and key orders into the register, (iii) quickly and accurately count money, and (iv) complete payment transactions with the customers.
If the register operator is assigned to the Pick-Up Window, the position must perform all transactions above through a window and be able to reach approx. 3-4 feet out the window to a customers car.
Opening Responsibilities This position must be able to (i) carry a case of lettuce from the cooler (approx. 50 lbs and box approx. 3ft long and 2 ft. wide) (ii) chop lettuce or other vegetables, (iii) carry buckets of prepared lettuce in a bucket filled with water to the cooler, (iv) pull various products which may weigh up to 40lbs. from the freezer, (v) prepare and place chili, which weighs up to 40lbs in a pot, on a stove that is 3ft high and 4 ft deep, and (vi) operate a can opener, onion slicer and tomato slicer with two hands.
Pre-Closing Responsibilities This position must be able to (i) clean chili stove and surrounding areas including wall protectors which are approximately 5-7 ft. from the floor, (ii) reach the back of the stove which is 4 ft. deep, (iii) filter all fryers which requires good mobility and use of both hands, (iv) clean restaurants, and (v) restock products which requires good mobility (e.g., bending, reaching, twisting, wiping and carrying).
Closing Responsibilities This position must be able to (i) clean grill and reach to the back of the grill (approx. 4 ft.), (ii) wipe down service line equipment and frosty machine, (iii) use a step stool to wipe down the bun warmers and frosty machine, (iv) scrub all floors, and (v) place chili in a 22 qt. container and move around the restaurant.
Dependability it is critical that crew members arrive to work on time for their scheduled shift.
Job functions are interrelated so absences must be held to a minimum, and call-off procedures are strictly enforced.
Customer Relations crew members must understand and demonstrate good people skills in dealing with customers.
Prompt, friendly, courteous service, delivered with a pleasant attitude is essential.
Cooperation crew members must have a team-work attitude, and be able to contribute to the efficient operation of the shift.
Positive working relationships with all restaurant employees are essential.
Personal Appearance Each crew member is expected to present a neat, well-groomed appearance at all times.
This includes strict adherence to the dress code policy.
Employment Standards
Education/Experience Previous restaurant experience, or combination of education and experience, is helpful but not required.
Position Accountabilities All positions should maintain at rush readiness standards at all times, and be prepared to pick up responsibilities of another position for which they have been cross-trained.


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With eco-friendliness becoming more and more of a thing these days, it's no wonder that many have turned to the ever-efficient bicycle. Of course, cycling in the big city comes with risks, which is why you might want to try out Cyclodeo before you head out.
Dutch startup Cyclodeo wants to make a comprehensive, video-powered resource for bicycle-loving people everywhere. It's kind of like Google Street View, except with videos of actual bike rides being plotted out on Google Maps. Each Cyclodeo "ride" is also outfitted with statistics like the ride duration, average speed, elevation, and distance travelled. Most interestingly, perhaps, is the fact that you can examine every segment of a route thanks to the fact that everything is geo-coded.
Right now, Cyclodeo will let you take a virtual ride through New York City, Copenhagen, Vancouver, Vienna, some bits of the Netherlands, and a few other European cities. Naturally, there are plans on expanding coverage even further.
Let us know if you see any angry polar bears chasing people down in Stockholm in Cyclodeo.


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Ricoh has unveiled two ten-megapixel cameras: a redesign to an earlier model and a brand-spanking new snapper.
Ricoh's R8: replaces the R7
Ricoh's 7.1x optical wide-angle zoom lens Caplio R8 is the successor to the existing R7 camera, and improves on its 8.1-megapixel predecessor by also doubling the 2.7in LCD's resolution to 460,000 pixels – up from the R7's 230,000 pixels. The R8 is 22.6mm at its thinnest point, making it slightly bulker than the 20.6mm R7, but Ricoh claims the R8's body has been redesigned into a style that represents "a tool you want to use every day".
Many of the R7's established features are present in the R8. For example, the R8 has a lever that allows users to switch between two zoom speeds and image editing capabilities, including colour tone, brightness and trimming. Vibration correction is also built in to help reduce the effect of shaking hands, whilst including the now standard face-recognition technology.
Ricoh's R50: compact snapper
Ricoh has also unveiled the R50, which has a 5x optical zoom and 15 different image modes, ranging from Cosmetic, which the manufacturer claims enhances a subject's skin tone, to Still Image with Audio, which lets you add a voice memo to pictures. So, if on a booze cruise, you could add drunken messages to each photo that may just help you remember why you took the picture in the first place.
The R50 has a smaller LCD display than the R8, at 2.5in, in addition to a significantly lower 230,000-pixel resolution. Both cameras accept SDHC memory cards.
Ricoh's R8 will be available in the UK next month in silver, black or a two-tone design for £250 (€290/$500). A UK release date or price for the R50 hasn't been given yet.
Related Reviews
Pentax Optio S10 compact camera
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3 'superzoom' camera
Canon PowerShot A460 compact camera


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Microsoft sold out the Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet within minutes of kicking off an online discount Monday morning.
The tablet, which lists for $299, was priced at $99 for the first 100 online customers, then $199 for laggards.
Minutes after the 7:30 a.m. PT debut of the sale, Microsoft's website noted "Sold out." Previously, Microsoft had said that the $199 price was valid throughout the day, or while supplies lasted.
The Dell tablet runs Windows 8.1 and includes a copy of Office Home and Student 2013, offers 32GB of storage space -- less is available for user content after the operating system and productivity suite have been installed -- 2GB of system memory and an 8-in. screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.
The Venue 8 Pro was the first of a dozen days of deals that Microsoft plans to do in the run-up to the Christmas holiday.
Microsoft's retail stores -- the company has a chain of 86 full-blown brick-and-mortar and kiosk-sized outlets in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico -- will also offer the tablet at the reduced prices today: $99 for the first 20 in-store customers, $199 for others while supplies last. Not all the Canadian stores will participate, Microsoft said in a note on its site.
The Redmond, Wash. company's stores open at 10 a.m. local time.
Today's discounted Dell tablet and the upcoming deals are designed to drive traffic into Microsoft's stores, and put a bit of public relations muscle behind the so-far-anemic tablet sales of Windows-powered devices.
According to researcher IDC, Windows tablets will account for approximately 3% of all those shipped worldwide in 2013, but gain share through 2017, when the OS is projected to reach 10%.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is email@example.com.
See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.


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Californians will elect more than a U.S. Senator and a governor this year. There are the so-called down-ticket statewide offices, too -- lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, controller, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction. These races don't get much attention, but they're worth watching (the Sacramento Bee has a new on-line tool for doing just that) for at least one reason only.
These are the races and offices that produce most of California's political sleaze.
Think of the biggest scandals of the past generation and inevitably you'll think of down-ticket offices. There was School Superintendent Bill Honig's 1993 conviction for violating conflict of interest rules in approving contracts with a non-profit group run by his wife. Controller Gray Davis got in trouble the same year for handing out obscure jobs paying $100,000 a year to contributors and their families. In 2000, Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush resigned after it was learned that he had given settlements to insurance compnaies in exchange for contributions that funded TV ads on his behalf. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was forced out in 2005 after a state grant for a non-profit ended up in his campiagn account.
U.S. & World
Why do these jobs produce such scandal? Because the jobs themselves create huge incentives for mischief.
These downticket posts are incubators of political ambition -- perches for people who want to run for other, bigger things. But the jobs don't have much broad effect on people's lives, and the officeholders get little scrutiny. The powers of such jobs are narrow, so the only people who really care who insurance commissioner is are the narrow interests regulated by the commissioner's decisions. The potential for corruption is obvious.
What to do? The best thing would be to eliminate some of these jobs (lieutenant governor would be first on my list) and make others, such as attorney general, appointed positions instead of elected ones. Among statewide officers, only the governor and the secretary of state (who administers elections and thus shouldn't be appointed by the governor) should be elected by the people. Making these changes would make California politics significantly cleaner.


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Accenture and Amadeus are merging strengths to forge a new way of addressing the industry's challenges. We are building a forward looking, market defining set of new and innovative offerings and capabilities, drawing from the existing Amadeus and Accenture portfolio and expertise. By combining these capabilities, Amadeus and Accenture can assist airlines through transformation, addressing the most pressing issues and executing with speed, while leading the way in innovation.
"Brilliant idea. Amadeus, a core industry player, knows their product extremely well from an inside out perspective, and Accenture knows what it would take to bring those products into airline architecture. When those two players combine forces, it could be extremely powerful."
- European Premium Carrier
Accenture Amadeus Digital Experience is a set of stand-alone and integrated solutions that enable airlines to expand current processes and systems and address the digital paradigm. The many services in the Accenture Amadeus Digital Experience have been shaped to keep day-to-day operations running while building a bridge to new solutions that drive the innovation journey.
See how to employ the latest technologies ideas and apply them to meet the airline industry's very specific challenges.
Achieve breakthroughs and discover new sources of value through innovation based on your organization's unique situation. Make clear progress in creating new opportunities or resolving the critical issues.
Bring your ideas to life in days. Apply agile and lean methods and design thinking principles to accelerate delivery. Leverage technology experts to realize your ideas.
The Innovation Center at the Dock in Dublin is our Alliance's global flagship, the hub to our many innovation spokes worldwide, where we are building a forward-looking, market-defining set of breakthrough new offerings and capabilities, always with a laser focus on the airline industry. Here we draw together the existing Amadeus and Accenture portfolio and expertise and deploy each party's strengths in addressing the most pressing industry challenges and executing at speed to lead the way in innovation.
Skift and the Accenture Amadeus Alliance teamed up to combine our travel industry knowledge and create our first-ever startup competition. Together, we decided to create a forum for startups that have outstanding business ideas and can help drive innovation for airlines.
More than 50 companies participated, sharing disruptive ideas that reimagined loyalty, reconsidered payments technology, and focused on revenue management. And while all the fresh ideas had potential, the winner of the competition was Volantio, a platform that helps airlines minimize unsold seats and maximize revenues.
As part of the competition, the team not only won a $5,000 cash prize but more importantly, the chance to participate in a four-day "development sprint" at the Accenture Amadeus Alliance Innovation Center based in The Dock, Accenture's flagship R&D and Global Innovation Center, in Dublin, Ireland.See how the Accenture Amadeus Alliance and Volantio take collaboration to new heights.
The airline industry is becoming a customer centric business, but has been inhibited in progress due to legacy processes and technologies. To achieve a competitive edge, airlines are re-thinking their operating models to achieve transformational change—from cost leadership to digitalized customer centricity. Advanced technologies allow real time interaction with all relevant distribution channels, addressing personalized customer needs along the end-to-end travel value chain. The alliance between Accenture and Amadeus is a response to the market's call for industry leadership and innovation to accelerate.
Together Accenture and Amadeus serve the airline industry end-to-end; cutting through the current IT complexity, unveiling system optimizations while bridging speed of customization and market-shaping innovation. Accenture, a market leader in digital transformation and innovation, and Amadeus, with deep airline process expertise and unparalleled ability in mass data management across all functions, have come together to create tangible business outcomes—merging each party's distinct strengths to create a new way to address industry challenges.


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Yogi Bhajan – A Teacher for the
Born Harbhajan Singh Puri, August 26, 1929, in the part of India that became Pakistan in 1948, he was the son of a medical doctor. He spent his youth in privileged environments in private schools and his summers in the exclusive Dalhousie mountain region of Himachal Pradesh. As a young boy he attended a Catholic convent school.
When he became a United States Citizen in 1976, Yogi Bhajan changed his name legally to Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji
When he was just eight years old he began his yogic training with an enlightened teacher, Sant Hazara Singh, who proclaimed him to be a Master of Kundalini Yoga when he was sixteen and a half.
During the turmoil of partition in 1947, at the age of 18, he led his village of 7000 people, near what is Lahore Pakistan today, 325 miles on foot to safety in New Delhi, India, where he arrived with only the clothes on his back. Displaced Indians were given houses in India and soon he was able to continue his education at Punjab University where he excelled in debate and was a star athlete, playing both hockey and soccer and earning the name "China wall" from his opponents. Learn more here.
Library of Teachings | Yogi Bhajan | Kundalini Yoga | Videos | Photo Archive | Yogi Bhajan Radio | Kriya, Meditation & Lecture Search
"You have to understand the purpose of life. The purpose of life is to do something which will live forever." -Yogi Bhajan
© 2009 - 2014 The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan - Site best viewed MAXIMIZED in Chrome, Firefox, & Safari


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Metanephrine, plasma free
This test measures the substances metanephrine and normetanephrine in your blood. It helps find out whether you have a tumor of the adrenal glands called pheochromocytoma.
The adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys. They make the hormone adrenaline and other adrenaline-like chemicals called catecholamines. Adrenaline regulates your blood pressure and helps you cope with stress. Metanephrine and normetanephrine are catecholamines that result when adrenaline breaks down.
Healthcare providers disagree on the best test for diagnosing adrenal gland tumors. Some healthcare providers believe a urine test to measure catecholamines is better than this blood test because it has fewer false-positive results.
You may need this test if your healthcare provider suspects that you have an adrenal gland tumor. Symptoms include:
Rapid heartbeat
Rise and fall in blood pressure
You also may have fever, chest pain, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, tremors, heat intolerance, and weight loss.
Most pheochromocytomas are not cancerous.
Your healthcare provider may also order a urine test to measure catecholamines. He or she may also order these tests:
Glucagon stimulation test. This test requires you to be injected with the hormone glucagon. If you have an adrenal gland tumor and you are given glucagon, you may have symptoms.
Clonidine suppression test. This test measures adrenaline and noradrenaline, as well as metanephrines in your blood.
Your provider may also order a CT, MRI, or other scan to look for a tumor.
Test results may vary depending on your age, gender, health history, the method used for the test, and other things. Your test results may not mean you have a problem. Ask your healthcare provider what your test results mean for you.
Results are given in picograms per milliliter (pg/mL). Normal findings are:
Normetanephrine: 18 to 111 pg/mL
Metanephrine: 12 to 60 pg/mL
Higher levels of metanephrines may mean that you have an adrenal gland tumor. But false-positive results can happen.
Higher levels may also be caused by obstructive sleep apnea.
The test is done with a blood sample. A needle is used to draw blood from a vein in your arm or hand.
Having a blood test with a needle carries some risks. These include bleeding, infection, bruising, and feeling lightheaded. When the needle pricks your arm or hand, you may feel a slight sting or pain. Afterward, the site may be sore.
Your results could be affected by:
Drinking caffeinated drinks or alcohol
Exercising vigorously
Being under a great deal of stress
Starving yourself
Certain medicines can also affect your results. These include epinephrine- and norepinephrine-containing medicines, levodopa, lithium, nitroglycerin, and acetaminophen.
Don't exercise vigorously or drink caffeinated beverages or alcohol before your test. Don't take acetaminophen for at least 48 hours before the test. Try to avoid stress. You may be asked to rest quietly for 15 to 30 minutes before your blood sample is collected.
Be sure your healthcare provider knows about all medicines, herbs, vitamins, and supplements you are taking. This includes medicines that don't need a prescription and any illicit drugs you may use.
Get tips to help you manage your family's health, options to boost your fitness and advice to live your best life.
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