Charles County, MD, Hanover County, VA, and Chesterfield County, VA, take top honors

LONG BEACH, CA – August 10, 2010— Enterprise content management company Laserfiche is proud to congratulate 18 of its customers for being named among the most advanced digital counties in 2010 by the Center for Digital Government and Digital Communities magazine. Charles County, MD, Hanover County, VA, and Chesterfield County, VA, took top honors in three of the four population categories.

In years past, entrants were required only to submit an inventory of the cutting-edge technologies they used; in 2010, applicants were asked to explain how their technologies support employees and citizens alike. Collaboration, transparency and efficiency were three benefits that particularly impressed this year’s judges.

“Across the United States, county governments are using enterprise content management (ECM) solutions to improve their ability to cost-effectively deliver valuable services to citizens,” said Nien-Ling Wacker, Laserfiche president and CEO. “We are very proud that nearly half of this year’s top digital counties use ECM to help them achieve their goals.”

Ten top-ranking cities in the four following population categories were selected: 250,000+, 125,000-249,999, 75,000-124,999, and 30,000-74,999. The ECMcustomers that made the list include:

Charles County, MD (category winner)

Hanover County, VA (category winner)

Chesterfield County, VA (category winner)

Nevada County, CA

Skagit County, WA

Albemarle County, VA

Napa County, CA

Cumberland County, PA

Gaston County, NC

Roanoke County, VA

Mohave County, AZ

Loudoun County, VA

Dutchess County, NY

Placer County, CA

Guilford County, NC

King County, WA

Fairfax County, VA

Orange County, CA

The cities were chosen from the results of the eighth annual Digital Counties Survey, which examines how America’s counties use technology to improve service delivery.

Laserfiche creates simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that help organizations run smarter. Since 1987, more than 28,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—have used Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system is designed to give IT managers central control over their information infrastructure, including standards, security and auditing, while still offering business units the flexibility to respond quickly to changing conditions. The Laserfiche product suite is built upon Microsoft® technologies to simplify system administration, supports Microsoft SQL and Oracle® platforms and features a seamless integration with Microsoft Office® applications and a two-way integration with SharePoint®.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating fromComputer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Technorati Tags: Advanced, america, Clients, counties, Digital, Eighteen, Laserfiche, Most, Named

Mike Bike’s Across America

Technorati Tags: Across, america, bikes, mike

Under the pretext of helping local communities short of police in difficult economic times, as well as preparations for a potential swine flu pandemic, US troops are now occupying America as the country sinks into a state of de facto martial law. We have been inundated with reports over the last few weeks of uniformed soldiers and National Guardsmen running internal checkpoints all over the country as a frightening Red Dawn scenario unfolds not with a bang but with a whimper. The military are now being called upon to undertake roles normally designated to police as Americans are incrementally acclimated to accept the presence of troops on the streets as an everyday occurrence. The latest case occurred in Kingman Arizona, where National Guardsmen were filmed providing security and directing traffic. Another similar example occurred in Newport Kentucky earlier this month when military checkpoints suddenly appeared downtown on September 6. Military Police from the US Army National as well as Marines were purportedly conducting traffic control because the city was strapped for funds and did not have enough police to do the job. The excuse that troops are stepping in to help because there is a lack of police doesnt wash. Crime is down over the last 20 years, there are around three times more police and the state is not calling out the National Guard, they are being put on the streets as a result of the harmonization of police and military, a process that has been ongoing for …

Technorati Tags: 1Maximum, 4/4Hour, Alert, Alex, america, Jones, Occupying, Show, Troops

Route 66 first entered the general public conscience in 1939 when California writer John Steinbeck published his novel “The Grapes of Wrath”, detailing the westward migration of Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl farmers to California’s San Joaquin Valley. During the story, he refers to Route 66 as the “Mother Road”, a nickname it still has today. When Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, the road became even more famous.

The highway also gave its name to a popular television show, “Route 66”, broadcast during the early sixties in the United States. The show featured two young men looking for adventure along America’s highways and was clearly inspired by passages from “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, his book describing several cross country adventures undertaken in the 1940s. The book has since become a literary staple for any would-be road trippers and has inspired countless journeys down Route 66.

Starting in the 1950s and continuing gradually over the next 25 years, old Route 66 was bypassed section by section as the high-speed Interstate highways were completed. Finally, in 1984, when the last stretch of freeway was finished, Route 66 was officially decommissioned; the old route is now designated Historic Route 66 and is firmly lodged, with an almost mythical quality, in modern popular culture

While much of the appeal of taking a trip down the legendary highway lies in the thought of being on the open road in the wilderness, speeding past one great attraction to the next, Route 66 also takes in some of the United States’ most archetypal roadside scenes including great displays of neon signs, rusty middle-of-nowhere truck stops and kitschy Americana. These almost accidental tourist attractions detail a rich part of America’s history, with many of the roadside cafes and motels being opened during the Great Depression when hundreds of thousands of farm families, displaced from the Dust Bowl, made their way west along Route 66 to California. Indeed, many of the small roadside towns along the route only survive today due to shameless self promotion of attractions and nostalgic travellers, eager to enjoy a small part of this increasingly endangered American experience.

Over the past 50 years, more and more people have set their sights on a trip down Route 66 and with constant developments in the world of automobile travel, particularly in the realm of car finance, the experience is no longer exclusive to people with time on their hands and money to burn.

From the suburban idyll of Southern California, past the Grand Canyon and the Native American communities of the desert southwest, to the gritty streets of St. Louis and Chicago, a trip down Route 66 is truly the pinnacle of road tripping for any traveller and offers an unforgettable journey down the Main Street of America.

Technorati Tags: america, Main, route, street

September 2007
For decades, Route 66 was the highway of Middle America — a pathway to opportunity and success. But time hasn’t been kind to the iconic road. Many of its kitsch attractions have long disappeared

The highway runs for nearly three thousand km across eight states. For biker John Boyd, the road is a reminder of “a time when things were slower and simpler”. But the birth of the interstate marked the beginning of the end for the Route. The mom and pop diners have been replaced by chain motels. Now, bikers are calling for the remaining attractions; “to be preserved for future generations”.

Duration : 0:7:59

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Technorati Tags: 66, america, davidson, harley, iconic, Journeyman, mid-west, Oklahoma, Pictures, Politics, route, TRIP, usa

If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, that’s the highway that’s the best,
Get your kicks on Route 66.
It winds from Chicago to L.A.,
More than 2,000 miles all the way,
Get your kicks on Route 66.
Now you go through St. Looey, Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.
You’ll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico,
Flagstaff, Arizona, don’t forget Winona,
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.
Won’t you get hip to this timely tip:
When you make that California trip,
Get your kicks on Route 66.
Get your kicks on Route 66.

Duration : 0:2:6

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Technorati Tags: 66, america, Geography, Highway, history, road, route, teaching, tools, travel, TRIP

Arizona
Written by Margaret Rowe Clifford
Composed by Maurice Blumenthal

Come to this land of sunshine
To this land where life is young.
Where the wide, wide world is waiting,
The songs that will now be sung.
Where the golden sun is flaming
Into warm, white shining day,
And the sons of men are blazing
Their priceless right of way.

chorus

Come stand beside the rivers
Within our valley broad.
Stand here with heads uncovered,
In the presence of our God!
While all around, about us
The brave, unconquered band,
As guardians and landmarks
The giant mountains stand.

chorus

Not alone for gold and silver
Is Arizona great.
But with graves of heroes sleeping,
All the land is consecrate!
O, come and live beside us
However far ye roam
Come and help us build up temples
And name those temples “home.”

chorus

Sing the song that’s in your hearts
Sing of the great Southwest,
Thank God, for Arizona
In splendid sunshine dressed.
For thy beauty and thy grandeur,
For thy regal robes so sheen
We hail thee Arizona
Our Goddess and our queen.

Duration : 0:1:5

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Technorati Tags: america, arizona, of, States, United, usa

Day 2 Route 66

Duration : 0:1:43

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Technorati Tags: 66, america, arizona, kingman, route, route66, usa

This video follows the whole route – Chicago to Los Angeles
and ends with a look at the guy who wrote the song in 1964

~~~~~
~~~~

Well if you ever plan to motor west
Just take my way that’s the highway that’s the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2000 miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well goes from St. Louie down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty
You’ll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino

Would you get hip to this kindly tip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well goes from St. Louie down to Missouri
Oklahoma city looks oh so pretty
You’ll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino

Would you get hip to this kindly tip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Bobby Troup

Duration : 0:5:29

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Technorati Tags: 80s, america, dance, fever, kitsch, LINE, music, on, road, roadside, States, techno, the, Tour, United, western, white