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Latest update : 2013-01-23
Surveillance camera smashers in Germany, shark fin sales in Hong Kong, and more
This show is made up entirely of amateur images. We've seen time and time again how images captured by ordinary citizens then uploaded onto the Web can change history, or at least shift the balance of power. This week, we take a look back at some of those moments.
Story 1: Hong Kong
We begin today with one of the eight 'treasured foods from the sea' - shark's fin soup. The fins are chewy, they've got barely any taste, but they're considered a delicacy in China, served at weddings and special banquets. Critics are concerned, however, about dwindling shark numbers in general, and about the cruel practice of cutting the sharks' fins off while they're alive, and throwing them back into the sea to die. Shark's fin soup is effectively banned in the US, and Europe has banned so-called 'finning'. It's still legal and popular in China, but our Observer says that - at least in Hong Kong - the tide may be starting to turn.
Story 2: Germany
Now to Germany, where a failed bomb attack has ignited debate over public surveillance cameras. Police in the former capital Bonn are having trouble figuring out who planted the bomb, because it wasn't recorded on the station's surveillance video. That's prompted calls for UK-style, omnipresent surveillance. And that has provoked a response from an activist group called "CAM OVER". They have launched a competition to see who can destroy or disactivate the most surveillance cameras before a police congress next month. Our Observer Michael Ebeling doesn't like the cameras either, but has chosen a non-violent method of protest.
Story 3: World
Now for our weekly roundup of other stories and images sent in by our Observers.
First stop, Algeria, at a residence for female students at the university of Bordj-Bou Arréridj. These pictures were taken by our Observer Sonia, a French-Algerian who did her studies in France. She says she's lucky. She was shocked by the living conditions she saw: filthy rooms, leaking pipes, showers that are available only two days a week - in a building that was built only three years ago. The government is reviewing university conditions nationwide, after a gas explosion two years ago. They've got a lot to do. Currently one out of two Algerian students says they'd rather be studying abroad.
Now to Yemen, the southern part of the country, and its annual January festival. It's a celebration of South Yemeni pride - and the desire of many southerners to go back to independence. South Yemen merged with the north in 1990, but many in the south think they got a raw deal. Amjad Sabeeh was at the festivities. He's a member of the Peaceful Southern Movement, an umbrella group that does everything it can to create a new South Yemeni state - everything except fight.
We finish today in the air, on board a recent flight from Australia to Papua New Guinea. A passenger noticed something flapping against the engine. It turned out to be the tail of a snake - an amethyst python three meters long that had apparently hidden under the wing. The snake stayed up there throughout the flight, but unfortunately didn't make it. It was dead on arrival, of hypothermia.


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Several years ago actor Cuba Gooding , Jr. playing Arizona Cardinals football team wide receiver Rod Tidwell in the movie "Jerry Maguire" won an Oscar primarily for his enthusiasm and for his uttering those famous words: "Show me the money!" If Tidwell were to visit the Detroit Zoo today, I suspect when he looked around and observed the paucity of four legged creatures, he would utter: "Show me the animals!"
In many cities across our nation the zoo is usually the crown jewel of the community and becomes a magnet for local residents and out-of-towners to visit. Unfortunately our Detroit Zoo is a diamond in the rough – it has future potential but in my mind it lacks the final touch that will allow it to stand out in a field of exceptional zoos throughout the country.
Recently my wife Mary and I made our spring trek to the Detroit Zoo for senior day. Seniors over 62 years of age are provided free parking and admission to the zoo for the day and can be accompanied by a caretaker, also for free. It was a beautiful day and while wandering the grounds of the zoo we saw crutches, wheel chairs, oxygen tanks and neck braces – and that was just for the animals – the seniors in the park were doing just fine!
Now yes, I understand that is an exaggeration but few if any of the animals were active, in fact, most were sleeping. There was one tiger, one lion, two giraffes, two rhinoceros, two monkeys but lots of vultures and prairie dogs. As such, the highlight of my day was downing a hot dog at The American Coney Island restaurant which is now on the grounds of the zoo.
All of us in Michigan certainly want to be proud of our zoo and support it. Heck, the three counties in the area (Oakland, Macomb, Wayne) overwhelmingly passed a special tax in 2008 to maintain and improve the zoo. If there have been any improvements they certainly have escaped me! And calling it the Detroit Zoo instead of the Tri-County Zoo when it is located in Royal Oak and is being supported by two of the major counties is another issue for another time!
If one travels around the country and visits some of the zoos, it will become crystal clear that our zoo is inferior to others. Look no further than the zoos in Toledo, the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, the St. Louis zoo where there is no entrance fee, or the world renowned zoo in San Diego. Our zoo cannot hold a candle to those zoos and that is very sad.
Like most people who have an axe to grind about a particular issue and yet have no plan for improvement, I too fall into that category. I would hope though the zoo management has recognized the shortcoming and is making plans for some major infusion of animals. Yes, we have a wonderful exhibit for penguins and polar bears and recently the zoo received a $10 million grant to expand the penguinarium but that is still two years down the road.
So in the meantime, I guess we will have to endure watching a lone tiger or lion sleep and the prairie dogs darting out of their burrows seemingly looking in earnest for any other animals that are in the park which has turned into a futile search! For me, I look forward to our next visit so I can enjoy another American Coney Island hot dog and not have to make the trek to downtown Detroit to enjoy it!
I know this will not endear me to the ardent fans of the zoo and the trustees but perception is reality and the reality is that our zoo is not world class!
Bill Kalmar is a resident of Lake Orion.

subset: commoncrawl


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Forms Jobs
Posted: Tuesday, July 13, 2010Department: Engineering
South Main Street will be closed to through traffic at 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 14 between Acadia and Sprague streets to install a sewer line. Work is expected to be completed and the street reopened by Friday afternoon. A detour will be set up. For more information call City Link at 727-8000.


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UH Manoa Study Abroad Center holds meetings on Spring 2010 programsUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Sarita Rai, 808-956-4738
Study Abroad Center
Study Abroad Center
Posted: Sep 18, 2009
The UH Mānoa Study Abroad Center will be holding informational meetings for students to learn more about its Spring 2010 programs. Come and find out about courses available abroad, financial aid and scholarship information, application requirements, housing options, faculty resident directors who accompany students abroad, and more!
All meetings will be held in Kuykendall 207.
Adelaide, Australia
Tuesday, September 22, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Friday, October 2, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Monday, September 21, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Florence, Italy
Thursday, September 24, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Monday, September 28, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
London, England
Tuesday, September 22, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Friday, September 25, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Machida, Japan
Thursday, September 24, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 1, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Paris, France
Friday, September 25, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Friday, October 2, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Rome, Italy
Wednesday, September 23, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Seville, Spain
Wednesday, September 23, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Monday, September 28, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Three Cities in Italy (Tuscania, Rome, and either Florence or Venice)
Thursday, October 1, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
For more information, visit: http://www.studyabroad.hawaii.edu


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Nokia E90 themes
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The Nokia E90 features 3G, HSDPA and WLAN for true Broadband connections and global coverage with quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 2100). A QWERTY keypad, active matrix color display with 800 x 352 pixels and 16M colors and features you typically rely on your PC for.
Top, New and Popular Wallpapers for Nokia E90. The collection of Free Wallpapers for Nokia E90 right here to be download. We update the collection of Wallpapers daily.
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Democrat Ralph S. Northam has won the lieutenant governor seat with 1,167,257 votes to Republican E.W. Jackson's 946,737 votes.
In Caroline, Northam got 4,226 and Jackson got 3,114. Jackson got the most votes only in the Bowling Green and Lake precincts.
Since his election to the Senate of Virginia in 2007, Northam, a pediatric neurologist, has helped to prohibit smoking in restaurants, protect youth athletes who have sustained concussions, improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, and shield first responders from communicable diseases.
Northam is a supporter of women's rights. "Like so many Virginians, I have been troubled by the repeated attempts to restrict women's reproductive rights, " he said. "One of the reasons I got into the race was to put an end to this dangerous agenda that undermines women's health."
Northam's campaign highlights these themes: women's rights; solutions to fix transportation; public safety and national security; promoting health care and public health; energy; environment; and education.
Healthcare coverage for all American is a goal of Notham, according to his website. "Our health care system was broken, and we have made strides in the right direction toward improving access to high quality, affordable health care for all Americans," he said.
Northam supports equal rights and same-sex marriage. "There is no excuse to discriminate against Virginians based on whom they love or to stigmatize the children of same-sex couples as unequal because their parents cannot marry."
Northam lists improving jobs and the economy as his top priority. He said that he would work to "create jobs by investing in our workforce."
On the subjects of energy, environment, and natural resources, Northam said that he "co-sponsored legislation to ban phosphorous, a key nutrient pollutant, from most lawn fertilizers sold in Virginia."
Northam's campaign website states that taking care of veterans is another theme; "I will work hard to strengthen the relationships Virginia has with the Armed Services, he said." He also said that he understands "what the military means to our economy," and that as a U.S. Army veteran, he also "understands the challenges that our servicemen and women face every day."
Jackson won the Republican nomination at the party's primary convention on May 18, 2013, marking the first time in a quarter century that Virginia Republicans nominated an African-American candidate for a statewide post.
Jackson's campaign supported parental choice in education. According to his website, Jackson believes that ensuring that parents have the right to choose where to send their children to school is the best way to ensure a quality education.
Jackson's campaign supported the right to bear arms. "This is a fundamental natural right we are born with and no government has the authority to take that away," Jackson said. "I will not only fight to stop any further efforts to infringe on this right, I will aggressively pursue eliminating the infringements that already exist."
Jackson opposes Obamacare, calling it a "Federal abuse of power which also violates the First Amendment by forcing individuals, businesses and religious organizations to act against their sincerely held religious beliefs."
According to his website, Jackson strongly opposes abortions. "It is an act of grave injustice to force citizens to pay for the destruction of unborn babies, whether through state or federal taxes," he said. In addition, Jackson believes that "all funding for abortion and the organizations that provide them must be halted."


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CANNIBAL! Apple's 7.85in iPad will EAT 9.7in iPad sales
But not enough to prevent Cupertino beanfeast, says analyst
Apple's much-rumoured 'iPad Mini' will eat into sales of the larger model, but it's still going to lead to a massive increase in sales of the platform - if Apple releases such a gadget at all.
So says Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest, a US stockbroker. Hargreaves this week said he reckons that for every buyer who opts for a 7.85in iPad instead of the 9.7in model, three more iPad Mini owners will be new to the platform.
"We anticipate 25 per cent cannibalisation of the larger 9.7in iPad, so our total FY2013 iPad estimate increases to 91.6 million [units] from 65.2 million," Hargreaves said.
His estimate for 7.85in iPad sales: Apple will sell ten million 7.85in iPads in Q4 - Apple's first quarter of fiscal 2013. It'll sell 35.2m of the scaled-down tablets in the 12 months to 31 September 2013.
The iPad Mini is expected to debut in time for the Christmas sales season, sporting 8GB of storage - a possible replacement for the currently still available iPad 2, some say. Price estimates range from $300 to $400 (£191-255), but almost certainly well above the $200 (£128) Amazon and Google are charging for their 7in tablets.
Some rumours suggest the smaller iPad will have a 1536 x 2048 "retina" display, others that it will match the iPad 2's 768 x 1024 screen - though with a higher pixel density because the screen is smaller: 163ppi to the iPad 2's 132ppi. The iPad 3's screen is 264ppi. ®
Sponsored: Minds Mastering Machines - Call for papers now open


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The Davidson County Department of Social Services will accept applications for North Carolina's Low Income Energy Assistance Program from Dec. 3 through March 29, 2013.
The Davidson County Department of Social Services will accept applications for North Carolina's Low Income Energy Assistance Program from Dec. 3 through March 29, 2013.
For eligible applicants, this program provides a one-time cash payment to help pay for heating-related costs.
There are a few changes to the program this year as mandated by the North Carolina General Assembly. Highlights of the program include:
• No automatic eligibility. Anyone interested in receiving LIEAP assistance must make an application.
• Applications are taken based on priority. Identified priority groups are households in which any person in the household is age 60 or above ore households with at least one disabled person receiving SSI, SSA or VA disability and receiving services through the Division of Aging and Adult Services.
• Payments are made directly to vendors. No check will be mailed directly to the applicant or household member. Payments are $200, $300 or $400 based on household size, income and heating source.
Applicants will need the following information in order to apply:
• all household income information for the month prior to the month of application (wages, tips, UIB, child support, etc);
• information about the household's savings accounts or checking accounts;
• information about the household's property, stocks, bonds and other assets;
• name, date of birth and Social Security numbers for each household member;
• vendor information (i.e. utility statement with the account number or name of the oil/gas company to be used)
Any elderly or disabled person who wishes to apply may call the Davidson County DSS for assistance or send a representative to the agency to apply for them. A note will be needed for the representative to act on someone else's behalf. Households will meet income eligibility if the total countable income for the household is equal to or less than 130 percent of the poverty level at the time of application. Monthly income eligibility for a household of one is $1,210; household of two is $1,639; household of three is $2,068; household of four is $2,497.
Applications will be taken based on priority groups (as funding allows):
Dec. 3-March 29, 2013, for households with a member 60 and older or any household member receiving services through DAAS.
Feb. 1-March 29, 2013, for all other households (as funding allows).
Application locations are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at DSS' Lexington Office, second floor, 913 Greensboro St., and Thomasville Office, second floor, 211 W. Colonial Drive.
For more information, contact Kathy Replogle at 242-2504; Bobby Richardson at 242-2580; Kellyn Berrier at 242-2507; Gennean Kirkendall at 474-2768 or Lauren Jackson at 474-2764.


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The Western Governors' Association in a letter last week urged U.S. Senate and congressional leadership, and President Barack Obama, to increase federal wildfire budgets so agencies can stop using fire prevention funds for fire suppression.
The association said the U.S. Forest Service is again on pace to utilize prevention funds for suppression — known as "fire borrowing" — in a season where Oregon, California and Washington have seen millions of acres of forestland burn.
"We end up robbing from the land managers," said Kevin Klein, Director of the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "We end up stealing from those [prevention] programs to fight the fire. Treating wildfires like we do with our other programs makes sense to me."
Fire borrowing has been a hot topic among Colorado politicians in recent years who agree that more federal funds are needed to battle wildland blazes. However federal funding initiatives have mostly ended in partisan gridlock.
"Doing hazard reduction just makes good sense," Klein said. "If we can get ahead of the curve and mitigate the risks we can cut down on the suppression costs."
In the long run, Klein said, ending fire borrowing will save money, adding that prevention could help keep wildfires small and from spreading across federal, state and local lands.
"In the past decade, wildfires have increased in size and intensity and the fire season now extends 60-80 days longer than historic averages," said the association, calling its position "long-standing." "Ineffective management, droughts and insect infestations also have left Western forest far more susceptible to catastrophic fires."
Despite the risk, federal wildfire budgets have remained stagnant, the association said, "reinforcing this damaging wildfire cycle."
While Colorado has had a tame wildfire season, the state has seen its four most destructive wildfires in the last five years, including the 2013 Black Forest Fire that burned more than 14,000 acres, consuming 488 homes and killing two. Some 200,000 homes in the state — or one in 10 — sit in highly vulnerable wildfire landscape, according to CoreLogic, a California-based real estate and financial information provider.
"It means the same for us as for all Western states," said Paul Cooke, Director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. "The more we pull out of the Forest Service budget for suppression, the less we have for prevention."


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Press Democrat wine writer Peg Melnik scopes out restaurant wine lists around the North Bay, looking for good value and the occasional splurge. This week's picks (prices are retail; restaurant markup varies):
Quivira, 2011 Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County Zinfandel, 14.2 percent alcohol, $22. A briary zinfandel with layered flavors and a great kick of spice. Fruit-forward with notes of blackberry, cherry and raspberry. Ripe tannins. Lingering finish.
Roederer Estate NV Brut Ros? Anderson Valley, 12 percent, $28. A sparkler with bright acid and great minerality. Notes of raspberry, cherry and graham cracker. Nice length.
Patz & Hall, 2011 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, 14.2 percent, $38. A fleshy chardonnay that's toasty but not over the top. Notes of apple, melon, herbs and honey. Juicy.
Iron Horse, 2009 Wedding Cuvee Green Valley of Russian River Valley, 13.5 percent, $40. An elegant sparkler that's crisp and clean and light on its feet. Complex, with notes of grapefruit, raspberry, cherry and hazelnut. Nice mousse. Striking.
DeLoach Vineyards, 2011 Olivet Bench Russian River Valley Sonoma County Pinot Noir, 13.5 percent, $58. A pinot with good bones - great structure. Aromas and flavors of red plum, strawberries and white pepper. Medium bodied, with bright acid. A pinot with depth.
Want to share a current wine on your favorite restaurant's list? E-mail peg.melnik@ pressdemocrat.com or check out her Tasting Room blog at pressdemocrat.com


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Protip: Make Sure Your Facebook Photos Don't Contradict Your Statements In Court...
from the just-saying dept
The first issue Clement raises in his brief is whether pictures of him that appeared on Facebook and MySpace should have been admitted into evidence. He complains that the pictures "are a disgrace to the dignity of the workers' compensation proceedings and the legal system" and have nothing to do with his medical treatment....
We find no abuse of discretion in the allowance of the photographs. Clement contended that he was in excruciating pain, but these pictures show him drinking and partying. Certainly these pictures could have a bearing on Clement's credibility, albeit a negative effect that Clement might not wish to be demonstrated to the ALJ or the Commission. We hold that there was not an abuse of discretion in allowing the photographs.
Now that Facebook can do facial recognition, it should next develop a tool to detect photos depicting alcoholic drinks and give users a way to automatically opt-out of those photos!
Prior blog posts in this series:
* YouTube Video Impeaches Witness' Credibility--Ensign Yacht v. Arrigoni
* Facebook Entries Negate Car Crash Victims' Physical Injury Claims
* Contrary MySpace Evidence Strikes a Litigant Again--HAC, Inc. v. Box
* MySpace Postings Foil Another Litigant--Sedie v. U.S.
* Disturbingly Humorous MySpace Posts Used as Impeaching Evidence in Spousal Abuse Case--Embry v. State
* Latest Example of Social Networking Site Evidence Contradicting In-Court Testimony--People v. Franco


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Held Monday night
Help for your small business or existing business is just a phone call away. Dan Lobina, with the Moberly Area Community College- Entrepreneurship and Business Development Center in Moberly spoke to those attending the Annual main Street Moberly annual meeting and awards banquet Monday night at The Brick. For more information call 660-263-8957.


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SMF Development > Fixed or Bogus Bugs
[4280][RC3] Boards Hidden on Board Index
(1/4) > >>
This could be trivial, but to me it's annoying.
If you have access to a board that is a subboard of a board you don't have access to, that board is hidden on the boardindex.
Some Board (no access)
-> Some Subboard (access)
-> Another Subboard (access)
Now on the boardindex, there is no way/link to access the board you can access without visiting a topic that is inside that board, then clicking on the linktree to view the board.
Not sure that's really a bug, and dealing with it is somewhat awkward.
Interesting... I never noticed this before, nor I saw it reported.
I'd tend to agree it shouldn't behave this way (it's not exactly user-friendly).
But the thing is, it seems to be very rare, and perhaps the reason is that generally sub-boards are used for things in the same field (whatever it is) of the parent board, only more specific. And it is probably very rare that one would need to give permissions to the specific area, but feel the need to hide the general part...
I'd wonder if you could have a better layout of your forum, perhaps it could be done otherwise, using sub-boards as indeed specialized areas of a generic one.
That said, I recently met a situation where it *did* make sense to me to think at allowing sub-boards, but not the parent board.
Anyway, I'd say this is very low priority, though for usability it may be taken into account.
Tracked as 4280.
How do you display child boards without a parent board, out of interest? How should it actually look?
Directly inside the next container.
If that's what you mean, sorry if I misunderstand.
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The last couple of years I have been keen to participate in one of the Photo A Day Challenges that are floating around on the internet. If you've not heard of a Photo A Day challenge, it's bascially a list of prompts or ideas for each day of the month and your challenge is to photograph something that relates to the theme. This year I'll be doing Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day challenge. You can find the details of her challenge here.
My photos are always a mix of iPhone and Canon 5D mkII photos. Which camera I use depends on what I'm doing at the time, some of them are just muck around everyday photos, other are more technical. My aim isn't to create the perfect picture each day, my aim for this challenge is to simply record snippets of my life in a way that I perhaps wouldn't normally do. It also challenges me to notice things around me and look at places in a unique way. I'll admit, the prompts are sometimes hard, I mean, it's a challenge after all. But there are days where the prompt does not fit my day at all. I use a bit of creative licence with these, with my only rule being is the photo must be taken at some time during that month or year to be included. For example, I cannot cheat and use a photo I took from last year, as I want the year's worth of photos to be authentic to that year. It also means I'll take more photos each day that interest me, and sometimes these will be used in later prompts, especially if they are generic photos. My other goal is to include our own family's major events in the challenge in some way. For example, my birthday is 8th Feb, so whatever the prompt is for that day, no matter what, I'll make it relate to my birthday in some way. So it's a challenge within a challenge!
Here are my photos from the first week: January 1st - 7th.
Jan 1: Lunch
I didn't photograph our actual lunch, but rather what we were doing around lunchtime, which was making clay creatures wth my daughter Zoe.
Jan 2: Begins with G
With 3 guitarists in our home, we have a good collection!
Jan 4: Words To Live By
Jan 5: Found
A 20c piece on the ground during a family bike ride :)
Jan 6: Happens everyday
Sunrise over Bateau Bay beach.
Jan 7: Upside Down
I'll also be sharing my photos on Instagram, you can follow me here.
Are you participating in a Photo A Day challenge? Please let me know in the comments!
- Rachel


text: Chelmsford is among 10 communities chosen by the Patrick administration to participate in the first round of the 2013 Solarize Massachusetts program, a grass-roots clean-energy marketing, education, and group-buying program. Run by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, the program is designed to increase the adoption of solar energy and reduce the overall cost of solar power. The program offers residents and businesses discounted pricing for solar energy equipment. The more people in a municipality who participate, the greater the savings for everyone in that city or town. Participating in this first round for 2013 are Bourne, Brookline, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Lee, Medford, Medway, Newton, Northampton, and Williamstown. Carlisle and Chelmsford will participate in the program together. Last year, 17 cities and towns participated in Solarize Mass, with 749 residents and businesses signing contracts to install solar electricity systems with the capacity to generate 4.8 megawatts of clean, renewable energy, enough to power the equivalent of 719 Massachusetts homes annually.