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Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point (P2P), point to multipoint (P2MP), or mesh wireless links. Though almost all video cameras fit this definition, the term is most often applied to those used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as bars, banks, casinos, schools, hotels, airports, hospitals, resturants, military installations, convenience stores and other areas where security is needed. Videotelephony is seldom called "CCTV" but the use of video in distance education, where it is an important tool, is often so called.[1][2]
Many sporting events in the United States use CCTV inside the venue for fans to see the action while they are away from their seats. This use of CCTV is not used for surveillance purposes.
In industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe parts of a process from a central control room, for example when the environment is not suitable for humans. CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event. A more advanced form of CCTV, utilizing digital video recorders (DVRs), provides recording for possibly many years, with a variety of quality and performance options and extra features (such as motion detection and email alerts). More recently, decentralized IP cameras, some equipped with megapixel sensors, support recording directly to network-attached storage devices, or internal flash for completely stand-alone operation. Surveillance of the public using CCTV is particularly common in many areas around the world. In recent years, the use of body worn video cameras has been introduced as a new form of surveillance.
The first CCTV system was installed by Siemens AG at Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Germany in 1942, for observing the launch of V-2 rockets.[3] The noted German engineer Walter Bruch, Wayne Cox, and Tashara Arnold were responsible for the technological design and installation of the system.[4]
In the U.S. the first commercial closed-circuit television system became available in 1949, called Vericon. Very little is known about Vericon except it was advertised as not requiring a government permit.[7] Marie Van Brittan Brown invented the home security system. The patent was granted in 1969. Brown's system had a set of 4 peep-holes and a camera that could slide up and down to look through each one. The system included a device that enabled a homeowner to use a television set to view the person at the door and hear the caller's voice.
The earliest video surveillance systems involved constant monitoring because there was no way to record and store information. The development of reel-to-reel media enabled the recording of surveillance footage. These systems required magnetic tapes to be changed manually, which was a time consuming, expensive and unreliable process, with the operator having to manually thread the tape from the tape reel through the recorder onto an empty take-up reel. Due to these shortcomings, video surveillance was not widespread. VCR technology became available in the 1970s, making it easier to record and erase information, and use of video surveillance became more common.[8]
During the 1990s, digital multiplexing was developed, allowing several cameras to record at once, as well as time lapse and motion-only recording. This increased savings of time and money and the led to an increase in the use of CCTV.[9]
Recently CCTV technology has been enhanced with a shift toward Internet-based products and systems, and other technological developments.[10]
In September 1968, Olean, New York was the first city in the United States to install video cameras along its main business street in an effort to fight crime.[11] Another early appearance was in 1973 in Times Square in New York City.[12] The NYPD installed it in order to deter crime that was occurring in the area; however, crime rates did not appear to drop much due to the cameras.[12] Nevertheless, during the 1980s video surveillance began to spread across the country specifically targeting public areas.[9] It was seen as a cheaper way to deter crime compared to increasing the size of the police departments.[12] Some businesses as well, especially those that were prone to theft, began to use video surveillance.[12] From the mid-1990s on, police departments across the country installed an increasing number of cameras in various public spaces including housing projects, schools and public parks departments.[12] CCTV later became common in banks and stores to discourage theft, by recording evidence of criminal activity. In 1998, 3,000 CCTV systems were in use in New York City.[13] A study by Nieto in 2008 found many businesses in the United States had invested heavily in video surveillance technology to protect products and promote safe workplace and consumer environments. A nationwide survey of a wide variety of companies found that 75 percent utilize CCTV surveillance. In private sector CCTV surveillance technology is operated in a wide variety of establishments such as in industry/manufacturing, retailing, financial/insurance/banking, transportation and distribution, utilities/communications, health care, and hotels/motels.
Experiments in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, including outdoor CCTV in Bournemouth in 1985, led to several larger trial programs later that decade. The first use by local government was in King's Lynn, Norfolk, in 1987.[14] These were deemed successful in the government report "CCTV: Looking Out For You", issued by the Home Office in 1994, and paved the way for an increase in the number of CCTV systems installed. Today, systems cover most town and city centres, and many stations, car-parks and estates.
Crime prevention
A 2009 analysis by Northeastern University and the University of Cambridge, "Public Area CCTV and Crime Prevention: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," examined 44 different studies that collectively surveyed areas from the United Kingdom to U.S. cities such as Cincinnati and New York.
The analysis found that:
- Surveillance systems were most effective in parking lots, where their use resulted in a 51% decrease in crime;
- Public transportation areas saw a 23% decrease in crimes;
- Systems in public settings were the least effective, with just a 7% decrease in crimes overall. When sorted by country, however, systems in the United Kingdom accounted for the majority of the decrease; the drop in other areas was insignificant.[15]
The results from the above 2009 "Public Area CCTV and Crime Prevention: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis",[15][16] are somewhat controversial.[17] Earlier similar meta-analysis completed by Walsh and Farrington in 2002 showed similar results: a significant decrease in car park crime (41%), and a non-significant decrease of crime in public transit and public places.[18] This study was criticised for the inclusion of confounding variables (e.g. notification of CCTV cameras on site, improved street lighting) found in the studies analyzed (including car park studies). These factors could not be differentiated from the effect of CCTV cameras being present or absent while crimes were being committed.[16][17] Thus, a combination of factors might be important for the decrease in crime not just the CCTV cameras. The 2009 study admitted to similar problems as well as issues with the consistency of the percentage of area covered by CCTV cameras within the tested sites (e.g. car parks have more cameras per square inch than public transit).[16] Another question in the effectiveness of CCTV for policing is around uptime of the system; in 2013 City of Philadelphia Auditor found that the $15M system was only operational 32% of the time.[19] There is still much research to be done to determine the effectiveness of CCTV cameras on crime prevention before any conclusions can be drawn.
One study finds that the introduction of surveillance cameras to Stockholm subway stations reduced crime by approximately 25%, with 15% of the deterred crimes appearing to have been displaced to the area surrounding the stations where cameras were not used.[20]
There is strong anecdotal evidence that CCTV aids in detection and conviction of offenders; indeed UK police forces routinely seek CCTV recordings after crimes.[21] Moreover, CCTV has played a crucial role in tracing the movements of suspects or victims and is widely regarded by antiterrorist officers as a fundamental tool in tracking terrorist suspects. Large-scale CCTV installations have played a key part of the defences against terrorism since the 1970s. Cameras have also been installed on public transport in the hope of deterring crime,[22][23] and in mobile police surveillance vehicles, often with automatic number plate recognition, and a network of APNI-linked cameras is used to manage London's congestion charging zone. Even so, there is political hostility to surveillance and several commentators downplay the evidence of CCTV's effectiveness, especially in the US.[24] However, most of these assertions are based on poor methodology or imperfect comparisons.[25]
A more open question is whether most CCTV is cost-effective. While low-quality domestic kits are cheap the professional installation and maintenance of high definition CCTV is expensive.[26] Gill and Spriggs did a Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of CCTV in crime prevention that showed little monetary saving with the installation of CCTV as most of the crimes prevented resulted in little monetary loss.[17] Critics however noted that benefits of non-monetary value cannot be captured in a traditional Cost Effectiveness Analysis and were omitted from their study.[17] A 2008 Report by UK Police Chiefs concluded that only 3% of crimes were solved by CCTV.[27] In London, a Metropolitan Police report showed that in 2008 only one crime was solved per 1000 cameras.[28] In some cases CCTV cameras have become a target of attacks themselves.[29]
Cities such as Manchester in the UK are using DVR-based technology to improve accessibility for crime prevention.[30]
In October 2009, an "Internet Eyes" website was announced which would pay members of the public to view CCTV camera images from their homes and report any crimes they witnessed. The site aimed to add "more eyes" to cameras which might be insufficiently monitored. Civil liberties campaigners criticized the idea as "a distasteful and a worrying development".[31]
In 2013 Oaxaca hired deaf police officers to lip read conversations to uncover criminal conspiracies.[32]
Industrial processes
Industrial processes that take place under conditions dangerous for humans are today often supervised by CCTV. These are mainly processes in the chemical industry, the interior of reactors or facilities for manufacture of nuclear fuel. Special cameras for some of these purposes include line-scan cameras and thermographic cameras which allow operators to measure the temperature of the processes. The usage of CCTV in such processes is sometimes required by law.
Traffic monitoring
Many cities and motorway networks have extensive traffic-monitoring systems, using closed-circuit television to detect congestion and notice accidents.[33] Many of these cameras however, are owned by private companies and transmit data to drivers' GPS systems.
The UK Highways Agency has a publicly owned CCTV network of over 3000 Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras covering the British motorway and trunk road network. These cameras are primarily used to monitor traffic conditions and are not used as speed cameras. With the addition of fixed cameras for the Active Traffic Management system, the number of cameras on the Highways Agency's CCTV network is likely to increase significantly over the next few years.
The London congestion charge is enforced by cameras positioned at the boundaries of and inside the congestion charge zone, which automatically read the licence plates of cars. If the driver does not pay the charge then a fine will be imposed. Similar systems are being developed as a means of locating cars reported stolen.
Other surveillance cameras serve as traffic enforcement cameras.
Transport safety
A CCTV system may be installed where any example, on a subway train, CCTV cameras may allow the operator to confirm that people are clear of doors before closing them and starting the train.
Sporting events
Many sporting events in the United States use CCTV inside the venue for fans to see the action while they are away from their seats. The cameras send the feed to a central control center where a producer selects feeds to send to the television monitors that fans can view. CCTV monitors for viewing the event by attendees are often placed in lounges, hallways, and restrooms. This use of CCTV is not used for surveillance purposes.
Monitor Employees
Organizations use CCTV to monitor the actions of workers. Every action is recorded as an information block with subtitles that explain the performed operation. This helps to track the actions of workers, especially when they are making critical financial transactions, such as correcting or cancelling of a sale, withdrawing money or altering personal information.
Actions which an employer may wish to monitor could include:
- Scanning of goods, selection of goods, introduction of price and quantity;
- Input and output of operators in the system when entering passwords;
- Deleting operations and modifying existing documents;
- Implementation of certain operations, such as financial statements or operations with cash;
- Moving goods, revaluation scrapping and counting;
- Control in the kitchen of fast food restaurants;
- Change of settings, reports and other official functions.
Each of these operations is transmitted with a description, allowing detailed monitoring of all actions of the operator. Some systems allow the user to search for a specific event by time of occurrence and text description, and perform statistical evaluation of operator behaviour. This allows the software to predict deviations from the standard workflow and record only anomalous behaviour.[34]
Use in schools
In the United States, Britain,[35] Australia[36] and New Zealand, CCTV is widely used in schools due to its success in preventing bullying,vandalism, monitoring visitors and maintaining a record of evidence in the event of a crime. There are some restrictions on installation, with cameras not being installed in an area where there is a "reasonable expectation of privacy", such as bathrooms, gym locker areas and private offices (unless consent by the office occupant is given). Сameras are generally acceptable in hallways, parking lots, front offices where students, employees, and parents come and go, gymnasiums, cafeterias, supply rooms and classrooms. The installation of cameras in classrooms may be objected to by some teachers.[37]
Criminal use
Criminals may use surveillance cameras to monitor the public. For example, a hidden camera at an ATM can capture people's PINs as they are entered, without their knowledge. The devices are small enough not to be noticed, and are placed where they can monitor the keypad of the machine as people enter their PINs. Images may be transmitted wirelessly to the criminal.
Home security
In the early to mid 2000s, companies including ADT, LiveWatch, and SimpliSafe started offering CCTVs to the consumer market for home safety and security. Cameras typically come as part of alarm monitoring packages that may also include fire and flood detection.[38]
Some estimates put the number of video surveillance cameras in use at 100 million worldwide.[40]
United States
There are an estimated 30 million surveillance cameras in the United States.[41] Video surveillance has been common in the United States since the 1990s; for example, one manufacturer reported net earnings of $120 million in 1995.[42] With lower cost and easier installation, sales of home security cameras increased in the early 21st century. Following the September 11 attacks, the use of video surveillance in public places became more common to deter future terrorist attacks.[12] Under the Homeland Security Grant Program, government grants are available for cities to install surveillance camera networks.[43][44] In 2010, there were more than 10,000 CCTV systems in Chicago, many linked to an integrated camera network.[45] New York City's Domain Awareness System has 6,000 video surveillance cameras linked together,[46] there are over 4,000 cameras on the subway system (although nearly half of them do not work),[47] and two-thirds of large apartment and commercial buildings use video surveillance cameras.[48] In the Washington D.C.-area, there are more than 30,000 surveillance cameras in schools,[49] and the Metro has nearly 6,000 cameras in use across the system.[50]
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the vast majority of CCTV cameras are not operated by government bodies, but by private individuals or companies, especially to monitor the interiors of shops and businesses. According to 2011 Freedom of Information Act requests, the total number of local government operated CCTV cameras was around 52,000 over the entirety of the UK.[51]
An article published in CCTV Image magazine estimated the number of private and local government operated cameras in the United Kingdom was 1.85 million in 2011. The estimate was based on extrapolating from a comprehensive survey of public and private cameras within the Cheshire Constabulary jurisdiction.[52] This works out as an average of one camera for every 32 people in the UK, although the density of cameras varies greatly from place to place. The Cheshire report also claims that the average person on a typical day would be seen by 70 CCTV cameras.
The Cheshire figure is regarded as more dependable than a previous study by Michael McCahill and Clive Norris of UrbanEye published in 2002.[53] Based on a small sample in Putney High Street, McCahill and Norris extrapolated the number of surveillance cameras in Greater London to be around 500,000 and the total number of cameras in the UK to be around 4,200,000. According to their estimate the UK has one camera for every 14 people. Although it has been acknowledged for several years that the methodology behind this figure is flawed,[54] it has been widely quoted. Furthermore, the figure of 500,000 for Greater London is often confused with the figure for the police and local government operated cameras in the City of London, which was about 650 in 2011.[51]
The CCTV User Group estimated that there were around 1.5 million private and local government CCTV cameras in city centres, stations, airports, and major retail areas in the UK.[55] This figure does not include the smaller surveillance systems such as those that may be found in local corner shops and is therefore broadly in line with the Cheshire report.
Research conducted by the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and based on a survey of all Scottish local authorities, identified that there are over 2,200 public space CCTV cameras in Scotland.[56]
Project SCRAM is a policing effort by the Halton Regional Police Service to register and help consumers understand the complex issues of privacy and safety that confront households when dealing with installations of home security systems. "The SCRAM program enables community members to voluntarily identify and register their residential video surveillance equipment through a simple, secure, confidential, online form.".[57] It has not been extended to commercial businesses. A wide-ranging effort to provide registration and monitoring of home security and systems. "Security camera registration and monitoring is a community-based crime prevention opportunity and investigative tool that enlists the help of residents and can help prevent crime on three levels. Residential video surveillance cameras can deter criminals from entering the area, can prevent crimes from occurring and help solve crimes by providing valuable evidence to the police."[57]
South Africa
In South Africa due to the high crime rate CCTV surveillance is widely prevalent and the first IP (Internet Protocol) CCTV system installed in 2008.[58] In order to regulate the number of suppliers in 2001 the Private Security Industry Regulation Act was passed requiring all security companies to be registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA).[59]
Around the world
In Latin America, the CCTV market is growing rapidly with the increase of property crime.[60] In Asia, different human activities attracted the use of surveillance camera systems and services, including but not limited to business and related industries, transportation,[61] sports,[62] and care for the environment.[63]
Many civil liberties campaign groups, academics and consultants have published research papers into CCTV systems. Opponents of CCTV point out the loss of privacy of people under surveillance, and the negative impact of surveillance on civil liberties. Furthermore, they argue that CCTV displaces crime, rather than reducing it. Critics often dub CCTV as "Big Brother surveillance", a reference to George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which featured a two-way telescreen in every home through which The Party would monitor the populace.
Proponents of CCTV cameras argue that cameras are effective at deterring and solving crime, and that appropriate regulation and legal restrictions on surveillance of public spaces can provide sufficient protections so that an individual's right to privacy can reasonably be weighed against the benefits of surveillance.[64][65][66] However, anti-surveillance activists have held that there is a right to privacy in public areas. Furthermore, while it is true that there may be scenarios wherein a person's right to public privacy can be both reasonably and justifiably compromised, some scholars have argued that such situations are so rare as to not sufficiently warrant the frequent compromising of public privacy rights that occurs in regions with widespread CCTV surveillance. For example, in her book Setting the Watch: Privacy and the Ethics of CCTV Surveillance, Beatrice von Silva-Tarouca Larsen argues that CCTV surveillance is ethically permissible only in "certain restrictively defined situations", such as when a specific location has a "comprehensively documented and significant criminal threat".[67] Her central reasoning is that widespread CCTV surveillance violates citizens' rights to privacy and anonymity within the public sphere by jeopardizing both their liberty and dignity. She concludes that CCTV surveillance should therefore be reserved for specific circumstances in which there are clear and reasonably demonstrated benefits to its implementation and few ethical compromises.
In the United States, the Constitution does not explicitly include the right to privacy although the Supreme Court has said several of the amendments to the Constitution implicitly grant this right.[68] Access to video surveillance recordings may require a judge's writ, which is readily available.[69] However, there is little legislation and regulation specific to video surveillance.[70][71]
All countries in the European Union are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights which protects individual rights including the right to privacy. The EU's Data Protection Directive regulates access to personal data including CCTV recordings.[72] This directive is translated into the national law of each country within the European Union. For example, in the United Kingdom the Data Protection Act 1998 imposes legal restrictions on the uses of CCTV recordings and mandates the registration of CCTV systems with the Data Protection Agency. In 2004, the successor to the Data Protection Agency, the Information Commissioner's Office clarified that this required registration of all CCTV systems with the Commissioner, and prompt deletion of archived recordings. However, subsequent case law (Durant vs. FSA) limited the scope of the protection provided by this law, and not all CCTV systems are currently regulated.[73] Nonetheless, private sector personnel in the UK who operate or monitor CCTV devices or systems are considered security guards and have been made subject to state licensing.
A 2007 report by the UK Information Commissioner's Office, highlighted the need for the public to be made more aware of the growing use of surveillance and the potential impact on civil liberties.[74][75] In the same year, a campaign group claimed the majority of CCTV cameras in the UK are operated illegally or are in breach of privacy guidelines.[76] In response, the Information Commissioner's Office rebutted the claim and added that any reported abuses of the Data Protection Act are swiftly investigated.[76] Even if there are some concerns arising from the use of CCTV such as involving privacy,[77] more commercial establishments are still installing CCTV systems in the UK.
In 2012, the UK government enacted the Protection of Freedoms Act which includes several provisions related to controlling and restricting the collection, storage, retention, and use of information about individuals. Under this Act, the Home Office published a code of practice in 2013 for the use of surveillance cameras by government and local authorities. The aim of the code is to help ensure their use is "characterised as surveillance by consent, and such consent on the part of the community must be informed consent and not assumed by a system operator. Surveillance by consent should be regarded as analogous to policing by consent."[78]
In Canada, the use of video surveillance has grown very rapidly. In Ontario, both the municipal and provincial versions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act outline very specific guidelines that control how images and information can be gathered by this method and or released.[79]
Technological developments
Computer-controlled analytics and identification
Computer-controlled cameras can identify, track, and categorize objects in their field of view.
Video Content Analysis (VCA) is the capability of automatically analyzing video to detect and determine temporal events not based on a single image. As such, it can be seen as the automated equivalent of the biological visual cortex.
A system using VCA can recognize changes in the environment and even identify and compare objects in the database using size, speed, and sometimes colour. The camera's actions can be programmed based on what it is "seeing". For example; an alarm can be issued if an object has moved in a certain area, or if a painting is missing from a wall, or if a smoke or fire is detected, or if running people are detected, or if fallen people are detected and if someone has spray painted the lens, as well as video loss, lens cover, defocus and other so called camera tampering events.
VCA analytics can also be used to detect unusual patterns in an environment. The system can be set to detect anomalies in a crowd, for instance a person moving in the opposite direction in airports where passengers are only supposed to walk in one direction out of a plane or in a subway where people are not supposed to exit through the entrances.[80]
VCA can track people on a map by calculating their position from the images. It is then possible to link many cameras and track a person through an entire building or area. This can allow a person to be followed without having to analyze many hours of film. Currently the cameras have difficulty identifying individuals from video alone, but if connected to a key-card system, identities can be established and displayed as a tag over their heads on the video.
There is also a significant difference in where the VCA technology is placed, either the data is being processed within the cameras (on the edge) or by a centralized server. Both technologies have their pros and cons.[81]
Facial recognition system Is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial database.
The combination of CCTV and facial recognition has been tried as a form of mass surveillance, but has been ineffective because of the low discriminating power of facial recognition technology and the very high number of false positives generated. This type of system has been proposed to compare faces at airports and seaports with those of suspected terrorists or other undesirable entrants.
Computerized monitoring of CCTV images is under development, so that a human CCTV operator does not have to endlessly look at all the screens, allowing an operator to observe many more CCTV cameras. These systems do not observe people directly. Insta Types of body-movement behavior, or particular types of clothing or baggage.
To many, the development of CCTV in public areas, linked to computer databases of people's pictures and identity, presents a serious breach of civil liberties. Conservative critics fear the possibility that one would no longer have anonymity in public places.[82] Demonstrations or assemblies in public places could be affected as the state would be able to collate lists of those leading them, taking part, or even just talking with protesters in the street.
Comparatively harmless are people counter systems. They use CCTV equipment as front end eyes of devices which perform shape recognition technology in order to identify objects as human beings and count people passing pre-defined areas.
Retention, storage and preservation
Most CCTV systems may record and store digital video and images to a digital video recorder (DVR) or, in the case of IP cameras, directly to a server, either on-site or offsite.
There is a cost in the retention of the images produced by CCTV systems. The amount and quality of data stored on storage media is subject to compression ratios, images stored per second, image size and is effected by the retention period of the videos or images.[83] DVRs store images in a variety of proprietary file formats. Recordings may be retained for a preset amount of time and then automatically archived, overwritten or deleted, the period being determined by the organisation that generated them.
Closed-circuit digital photography (CCDP)
Closed-circuit digital photography (CCDP) is more suited for capturing and saving recorded high-resolution photographs, whereas closed-circuit television (CCTV) is more suitable for live-monitoring purposes.
However, an important feature of some CCTV systems is the ability to take high resolution images of the camera scene, e.g. on a time lapse or motion-detection basis. Images taken with a digital still camera often have higher resolution than those taken with some video cameras. Increasingly, low-cost high-resolution digital still cameras can also be used for CCTV purposes.
Images may be monitored remotely when the computer is connected to a network.
IP cameras
A growing branch in CCTV is internet protocol cameras (IP cameras). It is estimated that 2014 was the first year that IP cameras outsold analog cameras.[84] IP cameras use the Internet Protocol (IP) used by most Local Area Networks (LANs) to transmit video across data networks in digital form. IP can optionally be transmitted across the public internet, allowing users to view their cameras through any internet connection available through a computer or a phone, this is considered remote access. For professional or public infrastructure security applications, IP video is restricted to within a private network or VPN,[85] or can be recorded onto a remote server.
Networking CCTV cameras
The city of Chicago operates a networked video surveillance system which combines CCTV video feeds of government agencies with those of the private sector, installed in city buses, businesses, public schools, subway stations, housing projects etc.[86] Even homeowners are able to contribute footage. It is estimated to incorporate the video feeds of a total of 15,000 cameras.[87]
The system is used by Chicago's Office of Emergency Management in case of an emergency call: it detects the caller's location and instantly displays the real-time video feed of the nearest security camera to the operator, not requiring any user intervention. While the system is far too vast to allow complete real-time monitoring, it stores the video data for later usage in order to provide possible evidence in criminal cases.[88]
London also has a network of CCTV systems that allows multiple authorities to view and control CCTV cameras in real time. The system allows authorities including the Metropolitan Police Service, Transport for London and a number of London boroughs to share CCTV images between them. It uses a network protocol called Television Network Protocol to allow access to many more cameras than each individual system owner could afford to run and maintain.
The Glynn County Police Department uses a wireless mesh-networked system of portable battery-powered tripods for live megapixel video surveillance and central monitoring of tactical police situations. The systems can be used either on a stand-alone basis with secure communications to nearby police laptops, or within a larger mesh system with multiple tripods feeding video back to the command vehicle via wireless, and to police headquarters via 3G.
Integrated systems
Integrated systems allow different security systems, like CCTV, access control, intruder alarms and intercoms to operate together. For example, when an intruder alarm is activated, CCTV cameras covering the intrusion area are recorded at a higher frame rate and transmitted to an Alarm Receiving Centre.
Wireless security cameras
Many consumers are turning to wireless security cameras for home surveillance. Wireless cameras do not require a video cable for video/audio transmission, simply a cable for power. Wireless cameras are also easy and inexpensive to install. Previous generations of wireless security cameras relied on analog technology; modern wireless cameras use digital technology which delivers crisper audio, sharper video, and a secure and interference-free signal.[89]
Talking CCTV
In Wiltshire, UK, 2003, a pilot scheme for what is now known as "Talking CCTV" was put into action; allowing operators of CCTV cameras to order offenders to stop what they were doing, ranging from ordering subjects to pick up their rubbish and put it in a bin to ordering groups of vandals to disperse. In 2005 Ray Mallon, the mayor and former senior police officer of Middlesbrough implemented "Talking CCTV" in his area.[90]
Other towns have had such cameras installed. In 2007 several of the devices were installed in Bridlington town centre, East Riding of Yorkshire.[91]
CCTV camera vandalism
Unless physically protected, CCTV cameras have been found to be vulnerable against a variety of (mostly illegal) tactics:
- Some people will deliberately destroy cameras. Some cameras can come with dust-tight, pressurized, explosion proof, and bullet-resistant housings.
- Spraying substances over the lens can make the image too blurry to view.
- Lasers can blind or damage them. However, since most lasers are monochromatic, color filters can reduce the effect of laser pointers. However, filters will also impair image quality and overall light sensitivity of cameras (see laser safety article for details on issues with filters). Also, complete protection from lasers of any wavelength would require use of completely black filters, rendering the camera useless.
The security camera installation cost in Los Angeles, United States ranges from US$300 to US$3,500. On average, however, the cost can be anywhere from US$893 – US$2,267. The price will go up depending on specific requirements or the extent of the security that will be required.
Factors affecting security camera installation cost
Among other factors, the specific type of camera being used has the most significant impact on its cost. The average cost of two digital cameras packaged with an LCD monitor is around US$450. Different brands can also have different prices. The type of technology used also has an impact of security camera installation cost. Wireless camera systems are generally more expensive than their wired counterparts.
The specific type of software that is being used also has a role to play on its price. On average, professional level software is offered at US$75, with some of them requiring annual fees for membership. Network attached storage or DVR, used for storing recorded video, will also be part of the cost. On average, that can cost about US$499. This will depend on the storage capacity and other features of the device chosen by the user.
See also
- Artificial intelligence for video surveillance
- Bugging
- Closed-circuit television camera
- Documentary practice
- Eye in the sky (camera)
- Fake security camera
- Information Awareness Office
- IP camera
- Physical security
- Privacy International
- Proprietary DVR
- Physical Security Information Management - PSIM
- Security Operations Center
- Security smoke
- Sousveillance (inverse surveillance)
- Super recognisers
- Surveillance
- Telescreen
- The Convention on Modern Liberty
- TV Network Protocol
- Under vehicle inspection
- Video analytics
- Videotelephony
- Washington County Closed-Circuit Educational Television Project
- ↑ Verman, Romesh. Distance Education In Technological Age, Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2005, pp.166, ISBN 81-261-2210-2, ISBN 978-81-261-2210-3.
- ↑ "Distance education in Asia and the Pacific: Proceedings Of The Regional Seminar On Distance Education, 26 November - 3 December 1986", Asian Development Bank, Bangkok, Thailand, Volume 2, 1987
- ↑ Dornberger, Walter: V-2, Ballantine Books 1954, ASIN: B000P6L1ES, page 14.
- ↑ CCTV recording systems are still often used at modern launch sites to record the flight of the rockets, in order to find the possible causes of malfunctions,[5][6] while larger rockets often send pictures of stage separation back to earth by radio link.
- ↑ "ET_SRB Cam FS.indd" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ↑ "Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation". Eclipticenterprises.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
- ↑ "Television Rides Wires" , February 1949, Popular Science small article, bottom of page 179
- ↑ "CCTV Surveillance".
- 1 2 [ Roberts, Lucy. "History of Video Surveillance and CCTV" We C U Surveillance http://www.wecusurveillance.com/cctvhistory Retrieved 2011-10-20]
- ↑ "Internet based CCTV on cloud services" (in Finnish). fennoturvapalvelut. March 27, 2015.
- ↑ [Robb, Gary C. (1979) "Police Use of CCTV Surveillance: Constitutional Implications and Proposed Regulations" University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. pg. 572]
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 [Yesil, Bilge. (2006) "Watching Ourselves" Cultural Studies. Vol 20(4-5) pg. 400-416]
- ↑ "You're being watched, New York!". BBC. 11 March 2002.
- ↑ Staff (August 2007). "CCTV". Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
- 1 2 "Public Area CCTV and Crime Prevention: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Journalist's Resource.org.
- 1 2 3 Walsh B.C.; Farrington D.P. (2009). "Public area CCTV and crime prevention: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis". Justice Quarterly. 26 (4): 716–745. doi:10.1080/07418820802506206.
- 1 2 3 4 "Assessing the impact of CCTV" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ↑ Walsh B.C.; Farrington D.P. (2009). "Effects of closed-circuit television on crime". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 587 (1): 110–135. doi:10.1177/0002716202250802.
- ↑ "Orphaned Video System in Philadelphia?".
- ↑ Priks, Mikael (2015-11-01). "The Effects of Surveillance Cameras on Crime: Evidence from the Stockholm Subway". The Economic Journal. 125 (588): F289–F305. doi:10.1111/ecoj.12327. ISSN 1468-0297.
- ↑ "Police are failing to recover crucial CCTV footage, new figures suggest.," The Telegraph
- ↑ "CCTV to drive down cab attacks," BBC
- ↑ Taxi CCTV cameras are installed," BBC
- ↑ Baram, Marcus (2007-07-09). "Eye on the City: Do Cameras Reduce Crime?". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
- ↑ "Tens of thousands of CCTV cameras, yet 80% of crime unsolved" by Justin Davenport 2007
- ↑ "National community Crime Prevention Programme" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-03-30.
- ↑ "Are CCTV cameras a waste of money in the fight against crime?" Forward Edge, 7 May 2008
- ↑ Hughe, Mark (25 August 2009). "CCTV in the spotlight: one crime solved for every 1,000 cameras". Independent News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
- ↑ "http://news.bbc.co.uk/," BBC
- ↑ "Digital CCTV Scheme Switches On," BBC
- ↑ Public to Monitor CCTV From Home, BBC
- ↑ Angels of Silence see crime where others don't Globe & Mail, 20 Nov 2013
- ↑ Motorway Cameras in England, http://www.motorwaycameras.co.uk
- ↑ "Using CCTV to monitor the workplace | Small Business Update | Library | ICAEW". www.icaew.com. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
- ↑ ATL (22 October 2013). "Use of CCTV surveillance in schools". ATL the education union. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
- ↑ Bruce McDougall and Katherine Danks (28 March 2012). "School security CCTV puts bullies on pause". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
- ↑ "Legal aspects of the use of video cameras in schools =".
- ↑ Alarm.org, Revolution and Evolution: The History of Home Security.
- ↑ khris78. "The CCTV Map". osmcamera. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- ↑ "The Video Surveillance Industry – Market size" (PDF). Cameramanager.com citing other industry sources. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ↑ Technocreep : the surrender of privacy and the capitalization of intimacy. [S.l.]: Greystone Books. 2014. p. 28. ISBN 1771641223; "Surveillance Society: New High-Tech Cameras Are Watching You". Popular Mechanics. September 30, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2015; "Lawmakers want more surveillance on the ground -- and in the sky". NBC News. April 20, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2015; Dempsey, John; Forst, Linda (2015). An Introduction to Policing. Cengage Learning. p. 485. ISBN 9781305544680.
- ↑ "Public Video Surveillance: Is It An Effective Crime Prevention Tool?". California Research Bureau. June 1997. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
The popularity of CCTV security systems has not gone unnoticed by the manufacturers of camera surveillance systems. ...A leading CCTV manufacturer reported net earnings of $120 million in 1995, compared with net earnings of $16 million the previous year. ...Over 50 percent of all CCTV surveillance equipment sales are to industrial and commercial clients. CCTV surveillance is also very common in the American workplace.
- ↑ Minoli, Daniel (2013). Building the internet of things with IPv6 and MIPv6 the evolving world of M2M communications. New Jersey: Wiley. p. 86. ISBN 9781118647134.
- ↑ "The great surveillance boom". Fortune. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ↑ "Chicago Links Police, Private Cameras". WLS-TV. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ↑ "NYPD expands surveillance net to fight crime as well as terrorism". Reuters. June 21, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Lack of Video Slows Hunt for a Killer in the Subway". The New York Times. March 29, 2010. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ↑ "The State Of Surveillance". Bloomberg Business. August 7, 2005. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ↑ "30,000 Surveillance Cameras Monitor D.C.-Area Public Schools". NBC Washington. January 1, 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ↑ "Metro Plans to Triple Number of Security Cameras". NBC Washington. April 1, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- 1 2 "The Price of Privacy: How local authorities spent £515m on CCTV in four years" (PDF). Big Brother Watch. February 2012. p. 30. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
- ↑ "How many cameras in the UK? Only 1.85 million, claims ACPO lead on CCTV". SecurityNewsDesk. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ↑ "CCTV in London" (PDF). Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- ↑ "FactCheck: how many CCTV cameras?". Channel 4 News. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
- ↑ "How many cameras are there?". CCTV User Group. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
- ↑ Bannister, J., Mackenzie, S. and Norris, P. Public Space CCTV in Scotland(2009), Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (Research Report)
- 1 2 One Vision, One Mission, One Team Archived January 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.(2014), Halton Regional Police Service
- ↑ "CCTV Systems".
- ↑ "PSIRA ACT" (PDF). Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority. 2002-02-25. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
- ↑ "Latin American Physical Security Market Growing Rapidly," 8 October 2009 Security Magazine
- ↑ "Australian state government to expand CCTV use across transport network". Retrieved 2015-03-11.
- ↑ "Chinese TV station CCTV provide 'old school' analysis of AFC Asian Cup match". Retrieved 2015-03-11.
- ↑ "Indian state government uses CCTV to cut forest crimes". Retrieved 2015-03-11.
- ↑ Kroener, Inga (2014). CCTV: A Technology Under the Radar?. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9781472400963.
- ↑ "Video Surveillance of Public Places: Response Guide No. 4 (2006)". Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Smile, the cameras are here to watch over you - The New Zealand Herald, Tuesday 18 March 2008, Page A14
- ↑ Von Silva-Tarouca Larsen, Beatrice (2011). Setting the watch: Privacy and the ethics of CCTV surveillance. Hart Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 978-1849460842.
- ↑ "Your Right to Privacy". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ↑ Department of Justice - Video Surveillance Retrieved August 6, 1982
- ↑ "What's Wrong With Public Video Surveillance". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ↑ Kroener, Inga (2014). CCTV: A Technology Under the Radar?. Ashgate Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 9781472400963.
- ↑ Kroener, Inga (2014). CCTV: A Technology Under the Radar?. Ashgate Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 9781472400963.
- ↑ "Memorandum by A A Adams, BSc, MSc, PhD, LLM, MBCS, CITP School of Systems Engineering". UK Parliament Constitution Committee - Written Evidence. Surveillance: Citizens and the State. January 2007.
- ↑ "Privacy watchdog wants curbs on surveillance". The Telegraph. 1 May 2007.
- ↑ "CCTV, computers and the 'climate of fear'". Evening Standard. 30 April 2007.
- 1 2 "Majority of UK's CCTV cameras 'are illegal'". The Telegraph. 31 May 2007.
- ↑ "Home surveillance CCTV images may breach data protection laws, ECJ rules". Retrieved 2015-03-11.
- ↑ "Surveillance Camera Code of Practice" (PDF). UK Government Home Office. June 2013. p. 5. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- ↑ Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act Archived September 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Text
- ↑ "MATE's Analytics Integrate with Hirsch Security Systems". Retrieved 2011-03-28.
- ↑ "Image Processing Techniques for Video Content Extraction" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-03-28.
- ↑ Todd Lewan (July 7, 2007). "Microchips in humans spark privacy debate". USAToday. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
- ↑ "MotionJPEG, JPEG2000, H.264 and MPEG-4 compression methods in CCTV". Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ↑ "Global value of IP camera sales now close to 50% of CCTV cameras sold, but...".
- ↑ "Dispelling the Top 10 Myths of IP Surveillance" (PDF). Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "The City of Chicago's OEMC and IBM Launch Advanced Video Surveillance System". IBM News Room. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ Bulkeley, William M. "Chicago's Camera Network Is Everywhere". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
- ↑ "Chicago's Camera Network Is Everywhere", The Wall Street Journal
- ↑ Digital Video Essentials: Shoot, Transfer, Edit, Share By Erica Sadun. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ "BBC NEWS - UK - England - Tees - Town trials talking CCTV cameras".
- ↑ "BBC NEWS - UK - England - Humber - 'Talking' CCTV cameras are tested".
Further reading
- Armstrong, Gary, ed. (1999). The maximum surveillance society: the rise of CCTV. Berg (originally, University of Michigan Press). ISBN 9781859732212.
- Fyfe, Nicholas; Bannister, Jon (2005). "City Watching: Closed-Circuit Television in Public Spaces". In Fyfe, Nicholas & Kenny, Judith T. The Urban Geography Reader. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415307017.
- Newburn, Tim & Hayman, Stephanie (2001). Policing, Surveillance and Social Control: CCTV and police monitoring of suspects. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781843924692.
- Norris, Clive (2003). "From Personal to Digital: CCTV, the panopticon, and the technological mediation of suspicion and social control". In Lyon, David. Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415278737.
- "IP Camera". Stopdedief.be.
External links
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Closed-circuit television (CCTV).
- "IP Camera". Stopdedief.be.
- Space Shuttle External Tank and Solid Rocket Booster Camera Systems
- UK Government pro-CCTV campaign
- Assessing the Impact of CCTV, a UK Home office study on the effectiveness of closed-circuit television
- The Register story: Face recognition useless for crowd surveillance
- CCTV Guidance notes from the UK Information Commissioner's Office
- The Urbaneye Project on CCTV in Europe
- Monitoring of Security Camera
- CCTV:Constant Cameras Track Violators National Institute of Justice Journal 249 (2003). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
- Public Space CCTV in Scotland: Results of a National Survey of Scotland's Local Authorities
- Opinion on Video Surveillance in Public Places by Public Authorities and the Protection of Human Rights and Opinion on Video Surveillance by Private Operators in the Public and Private Spheres and by Public Authorities in the Private Sphere and the Protection of Human Rights, Venice Commission, 2007
- CCTV in the UK is not a statutory function - Security News Desk


text:
Checking In On… the MAACPosted by rtmsf on December 31st, 2011
Ray Floriani is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC conferences.
Reader's Take
The Week That Was
- Recapping: Now we can get on with the conference games. The early portion of the schedule gives you the opportunity to face local rivals in other leagues (Manhattan-Fordham for one) and the chance to visit different sections of the country. Frequent flier miles may be added by a visit a few time zones away. By this time, though, everyone is ready for conference play to begin. Two MAAC games per team are in the books. St. Peter's is 1-1 and 2-11 overall. After Wednesday's 76-67 loss to Lehigh, John Dunne spoke of his St. Peter's team and their mindset. "We are young and early our kids did not know how to stay in games," he said. "Now they can stay in but we have to learn about closing them and winning. It's all a process." Dunne pointed out the 1-1 MAAC record and the conference schedule provides a "second season. Our kids are upbeat and working," Dunne said. "They take the MAAC schedule as a chance to start over again." New Year's brings new hope and resolutions. Into the MAAC schedule everyone goes, sharing those positive aspirations.
- Player of the Week: Brandon Penn, 6'8″, Sr., F, Rider – In a win at Monmouth, Penn tied a career-high with 26 points while setting personal bests of 15 rebounds and six 3-point field goals.
- Rookie of the Week: Evan Hymes, 5'8″, Fr., G, Siena – Scored 22 points while handing out six assists in the Saints' big win over Princeton.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Original Trinity Hymnal, #119
O Lord, how shall I meet thee,
How welcome thee aright?
Thy people long to greet thee,
My hope, my heart's delight!
O, kindle, Lord, most holy,
Thy lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please thee best.
Love caused thine incarnation,
Love brought thee down to me;
Thy thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
O love beyond all telling,
That led thee to embrace,
In love all love excelling,
Our lost and fallen race!
Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn o'er joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not, he is near you,
Yea, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.
Sin's debt, that fearful burden,
Let not your soul distress;
Your guilt the Lord will pardon
And cover by his grace.
He comes, for men procuring
The peace of sin forgiv'n,
For all God's sons securing
Their heritage in heav'n.
Page number: Blue 119, Right-Click Here to Download MIDI File
|© 2019 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Chaplains and Military Personnel


text:
This is a battle that me and MGB did back at the start of January 2011 that I've meant to post for a long time. I finally was able to find all of the pictures and thought that given that the Superb Owl was yesterday, now would be a good time to post it. The battle in set in the future during the Superb Owl. As football became more and more violent, but as this improved viewership numbers and network ratings, The violence was actually encouraged. Eventually, points became incidental as the game became all about massacring the opposing team. Concussions soon became the least of everyone's worries as players donned flak vests and power armor and stormed onto the field with axes, chainsaws and assault rifles. I hope you enjoy reading this battle and I apologize in advance for some of the blurry pics, they were taken before I learned how to take better pictures with my camera.
The stadium is in the center of the battlefield, with the two teams on opposing ends.
On one side stands the Pittsburgh Stealers (me).
They are led by Trey Palomalu
On the other team is the Minnesota Vikings (MGB519).
Their leader is Brad Farve.
The national guard and police are on standby in case things get too out of hand.
Veteran sportscaster John Maddon sits in the booth to provide commentary.
The ref shoots his pistol into the air to signify the beginning of the carnage.
"Well it looks like the vikings have won the coin toss and will get to attack first" Maddon narrates. The vikings charge forward.
The stealers also begin to move towards the field.
"Both teams have reached the field, now the carnage can begin!" The sportscaster who isn't John Maddon exclaims.
"It looks like the stealers have made the first kill before the vikings made it" Maddon tells the audience.
"One of the stealers' linemen has had a weapons malfunction John" the other sportscaster says.
"He won't be able to shoot with a broken gun," Maddon replies.
"He won't be able to live with a perforated torso either. The vikings have put their first kill on the board." The other sportscaster says.
"Another one of the stealers' linemen has literally gotten the metaphorical axe, John. That has to hurt!"
A stealers lineman uses his OTC chainsaw to send one of the viking linemen to Valhalla.
He is in turn gunned down by a viking player.
A viking player is executed by the ref for illegally holding his fire.
Another gets decapitated by a stealer.
"Scratch two more vikings John!" The other sportscaster comments.
"This is bad news for the vikings. If everyone on their team dies, then they'll lose." John Maddon explains.
Brad Farve shoots a stealers player.
"That viking just got picked apart by the stealers' defense John."
The ref executes a stealers player, this time for delay of attack.
A viking player decapitates a stealers player and punts his head for a fieldgoal.
The stealers open up on two more vikings.
The ref realizes he has made an infraction, and executes himself.
"Well John, it seems like the national guard has decided things are getting too out of hand and has begin to attack the players. One of them just sprayed a stealers player with his SMG."
A vikings player gets blown apart by a rocket.
Brad Farve lets out a viking battle cry sending some of the police running in fear.
A stealers lineman takes out one of the national guard snipers on top of the stadium.
The stealers gun down another national guardsman.
Another is shot out of the transport. "It looks like the stealers really don't like other people stealing their kills." John Maddon muses.
A cop gets shot point blank by a stealers player.
Trey Palomalu uses his sledgehammer to knock the turret off the transport.
Most of the remaining national guard troops bail from the transport as a rocket hits the back. all but one survive.
A vikings player throws his spear at a national guard trooper.
Brad Farve kill another cop.
A national guard trooper blasts a viking with his shotgun.
Trey Palomalu smashes through the glass of the transport and crushes the throat of the driver.
Several more national guard troops are eliminated by the stealers offense.
Brad Farve kills two birds with one stone by shooting the second rooftop sniper and causing his body to fall and break another national guard trooper in half.
One policeman pick up a rocket launcher and fires it at some stealers, but gets killed by their response fire when it runs out to be a dud.
"Trey Palomalu has smashed his sledehammer into a national guard trooper, sending him flying through the goalposts! He's done a lot towards destroying that transport. Do you think he could win the Most Valuable Killer award, John?" The other sportscaster asks.
"It's too early to say, usually to receive the award, a player has to be alive to take it."
Two stealers chainsaw a trooper in half. "That's definitely overkill if I ever saw it!" John Maddon exclaims.
"Add another viking and two national guardsmen to the stealer's killchart John. It's looking like it's going to be a stealers win today."
Tired of listening to John Maddon's commentary, Brad Farve silences him.
A viking kills two stealers with a rocket launcher.
A policemen trips over a spear.
Another policeman pacifies a stealer with his shotgun.
Brad Farve uses a viking ritual to summon the midguard serpent.
Another viking axes a national guard trooper.
A policeman shoots a stealer.
Trey Palomalu calls in some surfers, a lifeguard and some island warriors as reinforcements.
Another policeman is cut in half by a viking.
Brad Farve and Trey Palomalu attack each other, but neither gains the upper hand.
Both the serpent and the surfers head towards the center of the battlefield.
One surfer tries to landsurf into a cop, but wipes out and dies instead.
A stealer dispatches a viking with his shotgun.
Trey Palomalu lands a mortal blow to Brad Farve, but Brad Farve uses his viking rage to hit with an strike lethal strike before dying.
The last trooper bites the dust.
A viking and a policeman manage to kill each other.
The midguard serpent eats one of the cameramen.
The serpent's head is blasted by a combined attack from the surfers and lifeguard that does some righteous damage.
One of the surfers is shot by a viking.
The vikings kill another stealer.
The vikings blow up the beach wagon and kill another surfer.
The lifeguard kills a viking using a rocket launcher she picked up.
another stealer is machine gunned by a viking.
The last surfer is shot by the police captain.
He is then burned by a fireball from the fire priest.
One viking tries to jump on the transport, but slips and falls on the turret.
Another picks up an OTC flamethrower.
An island warrior is killed.
One spears a viking, while the other misses and spears the transport.
The fire priest accidentally burns himself to death.
One island warrior picks up Trey Palomalu's hammer, but is shot before he can use it.
The island warrior tries to throw his spear but it falls hilariously short. The lifeguard blows up the last remaining viking.
Game Over
The survivors: A cameraman, the commentator who isn't John Maddon, the lifeguard and an island warrior. No player from either the stealers or the vikings survived, so the game is technically a draw.
Superb Owl CVIII: Stealers vs. Vikings
Share your tales of battle and mayhem
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- Kalvinator
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Re: Superb Owl CVIII: Stealers vs. Vikings
YEAH VIKINGS!!!Alex wrote:Superb Owl CVIII: Stealers vs. Vikings
oh, who am I kidding. We'll never make it...
Re: Superb Owl CVIII: Stealers vs. Vikings
Great game! Even in brikwars, the vikings will never win at the superb owl.
The only unflawed system is Lego System.
Zupponn wrote:All you have to do is flatten his head.Colette wrote:You're free to make your own map from scratch, however.
Silverdream wrote:TL;DR Be like Scratch.
Captain-Camper wrote:tl;dr I'm just going to assume don't be like voin and be more like scratch.
Re: Superb Owl CVIII: Stealers vs. Vikings
They did kill out there, though. (Pun intended)Scratch wrote:Great game! Even in brikwars, the vikings will never win at the superb owl.
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text:
In a piece of news that will surprise exactly no one, no one claimed troubled wide receiver Titus Young off waivers yesterday according to multiple reports.
Actually, troubled is the wrong adjective to use in connection with Young, because it implies that there might be fault created by someone other than the subject of that sentence.
Young's issues in Detroit, which included sucker-punching a teammate and intentionally lining up in the wrong place, are the kind of team-killing actions that most teams won't soil their hands with.
Most, not all.
Because known coddler of bad boys Jeff Fisher took a chance on him, and in a week, the Rams realized they had seen enough, waiving him before he set foot on a field for them. But the Rams were the only team to put in a claim when the Lions cut him, taking a free look at someone whose talents are obvious.
So for now, Young remains unemployed. And until he can convince someone he's changed, matured or contrite, he's probably going to stay that way for some time.


text:
Now that Pixar has announced its Dia de los Muertos film, everyone is getting into the calavera spirit, stripping down to their ornately decorated skeletons. See Smurfs and superheroes bare their skulls and flash their marigold eyes.
Jose Pulido creates these calavera prints, featuring tons of Star Wars characters, angels and demons, and the occasional historical figure for good measure (as you can see from Mr. Poe down there). Many of these limited edition prints are sold out, but you can still see them on Pulido's Flickr account. Other prints and stickers are available at his Etsy store.
MisNopalesArt [Etsy]


text:
About the Merino Lining System
Though Merino™ was virtually unknown to the diving industry 5 years ago, it has come to be known as a hallmark of excellence. Discerning divers who want the most innovative and most durable products seek out PINNACLE, and those who will settle only for the best of the best choose PINNACLE's Merino™ lined products. This unique material is truly the best-performing way to line a suit ever devised, providing more warmth, comfort, and odor control than any other.
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In order to prevent water entry and egress, PINNACLE employs the latest technology in sealing systems. Features like honeycomb o-ring wrist seals, Orcaskin™ forearm gussets, smoothskin chimney seals in the ankles, roll-neck collars with smoothskin sealing surfaces, smoothskin-to-smoothskin sealing surfaces on 10mm spine pads, and the innovative Pinnacle Defense System (P.D.S.) combine in PINNACLE suits to create a significantly better water barrier than in other brands. These sealing systems work as checkpoints, neither allowing water in the suit nor out.
The second step, having a more form-fitting suit, is achieved by offering divers more choices in sizes. PINNACLE offers as many as 17 male, 12 female and 4 children's sizes in wetsuits, as well as more sizes of boots, gloves, and hoods than most other manufacturers.
PINNACLE has the ability to customize suits to some extent to fit people with more challenging shapes, but with up to 33 stock sizes, one is sure to fit almost any diver perfectly; and a tighter, better-fitting suit leaves less room for water to move, which keeps the diver warmer.
The magic of Merino™ occurs between these steps, after a small, tightly-controlled amount of water is allowed to enter the suit, and before it (by this time warmed by a diver's body heat) tries to escape.
Most wetsuits are lined with a synthetic weave of nylon and polyester, no different than they were 25 years ago. Once water floods these wetsuits, the water flows freely around the diver within the suit because the suit's lining has very little ability to absorb and retain water. The diver's body heat is drawn away from the diver in order to warm up the colder water, the exact inverse of an ice cube melting in a glass of water in order to chill the beverage. This creates temperature equilibrium, making the diver somewhat colder and the water slightly warmer. After the water sloshes around the interior of the suit, it then spills out into the environment, only to be replaced by more cold water from the outside environment, and the process begins again. Over time, the diver's body loses more and more heat as it futilely tries to heat up huge and ever-cycling quantities of water. (Remember what happens to the ice cube after a short time!).
However, PINNACLE's best suits work on an entirely different concept. Our seals are more complicated and costly to build, but worth the expense, as they are infinitely more effective. They keep cold water out of the suit and trap warmed water inside the suit. PINNACLE's high-end suits, boots, gloves, hoods, hooded vests, drysuits, and undergarments employ the patented Merino™ lining system, which holds up to 30% more warm water vapor, creating a thermally protected personal environment for the diver.
In contrast to inferior suits, PINNACLE's suits allow only a small, closely-controlled amount of water to slowly enter the suit. The Merino™ lining then holds a greater amount of that water and retards the water's circulation throughout the inside of the suit. After the diver's body heat has warmed that water, the water is held inside the fibers of the Merino™ lining and kept there by the superior PINNACLE sealing systems. This means that a diver expends less heat energy because he is trying to warm a smaller volume of water throughout the dive, leaving a diver feeling warmer and more energetic after being submerged for a given period of time.
Independent testing performed by the British Textile Technology Group in London, England found that a wetsuit lined with Merino™ is 35% more thermally
efficient than a wetsuit made with a traditional lining. Under the new CE testing guidelines, all of PINNACLE's Merino™ lined suits achieved the highest possible ratings for insulation effectiveness. This proves that PINNACLE's Merino™ lining system is a superior insulator.
Furthermore, Merino™ lined wetsuits are not as affected by depth as most wetsuits. Any neoprene wetsuit will compress to some extent as a diver descends and the ambient pressure becomes greater. A 7mm suit will become a 5mm suit and a 3mm suit and so on as a diver goes farther down the water column. As the suit compresses, the insulation value of the rubber decreases, and water inside the suit is squeezed out into the environment. Thus, the inherent warmth of the suit itself becomes of lesser value. In traditional wetsuits, with water flowing in and out of the suit, this means that the wetsuit system'seffectiveness is tremendously impaired as the diver leaves the surface.
Merino™ lined PINNACLE suits work far better because they are not as affected by depth and pressure. Though our suits also compress as a diver descends, the water that is absorbed into the Merino™ lining is unaffected by the pressure exerted by the water outside the suit. The lining creates a layer of water, warmed by the diver's body, which can be as much as 3mm thick. Because this layer of warm water is not compressed by depth, the warmth of the suit system is less affected. So, as the diver descends and the neoprene in the suit is
compressed thinner and becomes less effective, the Merino™ lined suit stays nearly as warm as it was on the surface, even on the deepest and longest of dives.
Furthermore, Merino™ is exothermic, meaning that it releases a measurable amount of heat as it draws water across its fibers. It is almost as though the suit were equipped with its own heat generating source. Merino™ offers other benefits to divers as well. In addition to the added warmth created by the lining, it is more comfortable and helps to reduce odors. Merino's™ super soft
composition and incredibly fine fibers not only eliminate the itch often felt with other wools, but they actually help to reduce the rashes often experienced in high-action areas, such as under the arm and behind the knee. Additionally, because Merino™ creates very little surface friction, it allows a suit to slide on easier than any other that you've ever tried, particularly when wet. Merino's™ excellent moisture absorption properties and uneven surface structure prevent the build-up of bacteria, whereas bacteria thrive on the exposed flat surfaces of synthetics. Many odors and infections that affect divers are borne of bacteria. Merino™ protected suits tend to stay fresher smelling, especially on dive trips, when thorough washing may be infrequent. It is far more resistant to abrasion and "Velcro-attack" while also reducing the ability for soil particles to stick to your suit's lining. Merino™ dries faster than traditional wetsuit linings, so after-dive care is easier than ever.
Merino™ is the ideal wetsuit lining for so many reasons. It has been scientifically proven to be far more efficient than traditional linings; and it is softer, more comfortable, and it slides on easier than standard wetsuits. It is exothermic upon wetting, faster drying, and more hygienic than other suits. It is a wholesome renewable resource. But the real beauty of slipping into a Merino™ lined wetsuit is the beauty of nature herself.
It just feels right.


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Getting Started
I chose to write this article using command line calls to the ImageMagick utility "convert". Most PHP users are developing websites on servers with virtual hosting packages and may not have the ability to use PHP with GD or ImageMagick support compiled in. While it is also possible that ImageMagick may not be available, it is highly unlikely that neither ImageMagick nor GD will be available to PHP users.
For those who can freely install software on their server, and for those who want to find out if they can use this code, there are a few pieces of software that must be installed. The usage of ImageMagick in this article requires that LIBPNG and TrueType are installed and that ImageMagick was compiled with support for them. If ImageMagick is already installed on your server, it is highly likely that it is set up in this manner. The plus to this is that if neither the GD nor the ImageMagick option is available to you, administrators are far more likely to install a utility like ImageMagick than to rebuild PHP on their server hosting hundreds of virtual sites to support GD.
There are a few differences in our capabilities when using ImageMagick vs using GD, the most noticeable of which has to do with handling fonts and text. GD is able to create a truetype textbox and return various properties about that box based on the font face and size assigned to it. In ImageMagick, there is no comparable feature. This limits our ability to position text on our background randomly. The problem is being unable to calculate how much space your text will occupy in a given font with a given size because ImageMagick only accepts font size in points. If you are familiar with typography, you will know that point size lends itself to unpredictable and arbitrary results on the web. If you choose to use a font other than the one I use in this article, you will most likely have to tinker with the range of text sizes to use.
{mospagebreak title=The Image Generator}
First, let me quickly go over the files and directories involved with our little application. They are available in the support files for this article.
/images/tmp/ (chmod to 777)
We will use Arial as our font of choice in this article, and we will use the three background images from the original article. Take note of the /images/tmp/ directory. This is where our random images will be stored. Since we are not creating and manipulating an image in memory as we would be with GD through a PHP script, we have to save out an actual copy of our generated security image, and the tmp directory is where they'll go.
Let's have a look at the first portion of our securityimage.php script:
$bgdir = 'images/';
$bgs = array('bg1.png', 'bg2.png', 'bg3.png');
$im = $bgdir.$bgs[rand(0, count($bgs)-1)];
I typically use output buffering in all my scripts to avoid random problems regarding setting cookies or session variables after outputting to the browser, so we begin with ob_start(), then of course session_start() to initiate our session. The next bit of code simply selects a random background image. We simply pick a random image from an array of predefined images and store the value. The images could also be kept track of in a database or we could manually browse the directory on each run and grab an image, but realistically you will not need more than a few backgrounds, so I think this approach is fine.
$chars = array('a','A','b','B','c','C','d','D','e','E','f','F','g','G',
$textstr = ";
for ($i = 0, $length = 8; $i < $length; $i++) {
$textstr .= $chars[rand(0, count($chars) – 1)];
$hashtext = md5($textstr);
$tmpname = $hashtext.'.png';
$_SESSION['strSec'] = $hashtext;
First off we define the characters that we want to use in our random string, then we go through a for loop of eight iterations, each time adding one random character from our array to our random string variable. Once that is done, we hash the text with md5() and store it in a session variable. We will use this session variable to check that the user enters the correct value in the signup form. We also define $tmpname which will house the name of the image we will create in the tmp directory.
$font = 'arial.ttf';
$size = rand(24, 36);
$hexValues = array('0′,'1′,'2′,'3′,'4');
$numHex = count($hexValues);
$color = ";
for ($i = 0; $i < 6; $i++) {
$color .= $hexValues[rand(0, $numHex-1)];
$gravities = array('West', 'Center', 'East');
$gravity = $gravities[rand(0, count($gravities)-1)];
$angle = rand(-5, 5);
This chunk of code decides how our text will look. First we pick a font (remember, you can use any font you like, but different fonts have different sizes and kerning so they will require experimentation to achieve proper positioning), then we generate a random hex color using only 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 as possible values to ensure that our color is dark enough to be visible on our background. Next we define the gravities that we want to use.
Gravity in ImageMagick allows us to decide how we want primitives (simple shapes and text) to gravitate in our image. I chose to use the gravities that would cause the fewest problems getting text to appear without clipping.
After that we randomly select a gravity then we randomly select an angle between -5 and 5 degrees. Something important to note here is that our angle will actually tilt the whole image, background and all, not just the text. While we could achieve tilting just the text, it would require multiple ImageMagick commands as well as multiple temporary images and some image compositing. Tilting the image as a whole still gives us the randomness that we need to avoid screen scrapers, and that's what matters.
$cmd = '/usr/bin/convert';
$cmd .= ' -font "'.$font.'"';
$cmd .= ' -fill "#'.$color.'"';
$cmd .= ' -pointsize '.$size;
$cmd .= ' -gravity "'.$gravity.'"';
$cmd .= ' -draw 'text 0,0 "'.$textstr.'"";
$cmd .= ' -rotate '.$angle;
$cmd .= ' ./'.$im.' ./images/tmp/'.$tmpname;
This bit of code is where we actually prepare the ImageMagick command using the convert utility. I have broken up the switches by line for readability. You may have to change the path to convert depending on your system (using `which convert` from a shell will tell you where it's at).
The first line is where we set our font with the -font switch. The next line is where we define our fill color. If you are familiar with drawing tools like Photoshop or Flash, you will know that fill applies to anything drawn on your canvas using tools that work with your fill color. Line three defines the size of the text in points (72 points per inch in typography but it can vary on computers) with the -pointsize option.
Next we define gravity with the -gravity switch. This ensures that our text will align left, right, or center using the $gravity variable defined above. The next line, -draw, is the meat of our call to convert. Draw allows us to create primitives such as circles, squares, and in this case text. The keyword "text" lets draw know that we will be drawing a text primitive.
Following this are the x,y coordinates to use when drawing our text. Since we are using gravity for positioning, these are left at 0,0. After that we simply plug in our random text from above to complete the -draw option. The following line tells convert to rotate our image by our randomly chosen angle, and the last line specifies our randomly chosen background image as the source and the name we chose as a temporary file in the tmp directory as the target. This is topped off with a call to exec() to run the command.
header('Content-Type: image/png');
print fread(fopen('./images/tmp/'.$tmpname, 'r'), filesize('./images/tmp/'.$tmpname));
exec('rm -f ./images/tmp/'.$tmpname);
The last portion of the securityimage.php script is what actually sends the image back to the browser. We first send an HTTP Content-Type header, then we echo the contents of our temporary image file. After we have read and outputted the image, we have no more use for the file itself, so we delete it with a command line call. This keeps our temp directory nice and neat. Lastly, we call ob_end_flush(); to send our data to the browser.
{mospagebreak title=The Form}
Our form is much simpler and has very little PHP code in it. It starts out quite simply and in similar fashion to the securityimage.php script except that this page is sending HTML output to the browser so we have the usual HTML up top.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<title>Secure Images Demo</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1″ />
Once that's done, we can define our form function. Putting the form in a function allows us to call it selectively rather than showing the form again even after successful submittal (as was the case in the original article). The function is simple and contains a minimal form:
function Form() {
<form method="post">
Please sign up for our website:

Your Name: <input name="name" type="text" size="25″ />

Enter what you see: <input name="securityImageValue" type="text" size="15″ />

<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Signup!" />
The most notable part of the form itself is that the image points directly to the securityimage.php script. Remember, the securityimage.php script sends an image directly back to the browser, no HTML, so this works just fine. Next we will define our form handler.
if (isset($_POST['securityImageValue']) && isset($_SESSION['strSec'])) {
if (md5($_POST['securityImageValue']) == $_SESSION['strSec']) {
print 'You correctly enetered the security image text. Goody for you.';
else {
print 'The text you entered does not match the security image you saw. Please try again.

';
This bit of code tests to see if the form has been submitted by checking to see if we have a security string hash in our session and if we have submitted a guess at the contents of the security string. If those two conditions prove to be false, we show the form. If they are met, we process the form. We take the md5 hash of the value entered by our user and compare it to the value we stored in their session. If they match, then the user entered the text from the security string correctly. If they do not match, then the wrong text was entered and we need to tell the user and show the form again. This could be made more sophisticated by only allowing a certain number of attempts by a user, but is not necessary, as the security image itself prevents automated signup on it's own. The last few lines of code just close our HTML and flush our output buffer.
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Hopefully this article demonstrated a more efficient way to handle the security image problem than the original by avoiding the use of a database and hidden form fields. A feature to be added would be a "bad word" filter. Content filtering is beyond the scope of this article, though, and if you feel that you need that feature, there are many open source PHP site engines available that have content filters built in that you could borrow from.
I also used PHP4 code to reflect more up-to-date coding practices and used ImageMagick through the command line to offer another method of creating the security image. You could easily replace the ImageMagick specific code with the GD specific code from the original article and use the method I explained in this article to generate security images using GD.
When troubleshooting this code, be sure that you have set permissions on the temp directory to 777 and that you have the correct path to convert in the command that is executed. Also be sure you have the right path to the font you wish to use and be aware that if you use a different font, you will surely have to tinker with the sizes of the text to make sure it is not too large or too small for the background.
Nathan Rohler's article can be accesssed at this link.


text:
Knicks-Pacers has been kind of ugly. Eastern Conference playoff basketball at its finest.
The average score of the first five games has been 88-86. They've been slow and inefficient. Both teams have shot 41 percent. The Knicks can't finish at the rim (shooting 48 percent from the restricted area) and the Pacers can't hit a jump shot (shooting 34 percent from outside the restricted area).
|Knicks defensive rebounding
DREB% = Percent of available def. reb.
That makes for a lot of missed shots. And if the Knicks had just rebounded a few more of those missed shots, they might be up 3-2, instead of facing elimination for the second straight time in Game 6 on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). What was the fourth-best defensive rebounding team in the regular season and the best defensive rebounding team in the first round has been the worst defensive rebounding team in the conference semifinals.
The Pacers were the fourth-best offensive rebounding team in the regular season and have won the battle of the boards on that end of the floor in this series. They're not the Boston Celtics, who have two jump-shooting bigs, eschew offensive rebounds for the sake of better transition defense, and totaled just 31 offensive boards in six first-round games.
|Pacers offensive rebounding
OREB% = Percent of available off. reb.
The Pacers' two big men play in the paint, they know the Knicks aren't a fast-break team, and they've already grabbed more than twice as many offensive boards (64) as the Celtics did against New York. Roy Hibbert has 10 more offensive rebounds (26) than Tyson Chandler has defensive rebounds (16).
Knicks coach Mike Woodson has repeatedly pointed to the Pacers' offensive rebounds as the difference between wins and losses. Indeed, the Knicks have won the two games in which they kept the Pacers' offensive rebounding percentage under 30 percent, though Indy still managed to rack up a ton of second-chance points in Game 5.
Note 1: You can register second-chance points without an offensive rebound. On four occasions in Game 5, the Knicks blocked an Indiana shot out of bounds or committed a loose-ball foul on a defensive rebound, with the Pacers scoring subsequently. That helps account for the 24/12 conversion rate.
Despite all the offensive rebounds, the Pacers have still attempted far fewer shots (367) than the Knicks have (406) in this series. Part of the reason is that Indiana has gone to the free-throw line a lot more (130-89), but turnovers are also a big story.
The Pacers ranked 29th in turnover percentage in the regular season, committing 16.2 turnovers per 100 possessions. That number is at 19.8 in this series. If it was any lower, Indiana would be preparing for the Heat right now.
|Pacers turnovers
This is what the Knicks' defense is meant to do. They pressure the ball, trap pick-and-rolls, and double-team the post, trying to force their opponent into miscues and willing to concede weak-side 3-point attempts if the opponent can move the ball quickly enough. Against this opponent, it's a sound strategy (though, with defenders out of position, it also contributes to the defensive rebounding issue).
The Pacers have committed a lot of turnovers in every game of the series, but there's a difference between dead-ball turnovers (offensive fouls, traveling, throwing the ball out of bounds — which the Pacers are very good at) and live-ball turnovers (strips, pass deflections, interceptions, etc). And not coincidentally, the Knicks have won the two games in which the Pacers have committed more than 10 live-ball turnovers.
Note 2: Live-ball turnovers are always recorded as a steal for the opponent. Dead-ball turnovers are not. This makes it easy to tell how many of each there were.
Paul George, as great as he's been defensively, has as many turnovers (25) as his next two teammates combined (David West has 13 and George Hill has 12). And if Hill is still out with a concussion, George will need to handle the ball more, which is obviously not a good thing for the Pacers' offense.
Neither team is going to shoot well in this series. That fact has clearly been established. The Pacers just aren't a good shooting team in the first place, and the Knicks are going against the No. 1 defense in the league.
For New York, staying alive is about cleaning the glass. For Indiana, finishing the series off is about taking care of the ball.


text:
You know I love to write. You know I love to be read. And I DO want to tell you all about the labor and birth of Bubbles, I really do. But here is what we have been dealing with at my house lately:
- Chicken pox scare (Supergirl)
- So scared that we packed an 11 day old Bubbles off to the ER to get an immuno-globulin shot so he didn't DIE from chicken pox (oh yes they can)
- Having to be in the very ER in which I last held Elijah and hearing them call the little boy in front of us who had smashed his finger in the door: "Elijah" (yes I am serious)
- Discovery that Supergirl has Coxsackie virus instead of chicken pox. Wave of great relief passes over our house with the fear of potential DEATH being replaced with the EXTREME IRRITABILITY symptom of coxsackie. (Supergirl's, thus Mama's as well)
- Mama must call everyone that has come into contact with Supergirl over past 2 weeks, as coxsackie is contagious for up to two weeks - UNTIL the symptoms (chicken pox like rash) show up.
- Inability to stop saying 'coxsackie'. Coxsackie.
- On recommendation of pediatrician, mama got a flu shot.
- Mama got the flu. (it sucked)
- Bubbles likes to eat approximately 19 hours out of each day.
- The remaining 5 hours, Bubbles likes to use the mama as the human pacifier.
- 85 degree weather necessitates first trip to the beach. (see photo)
- Reality is: Mama is pretty content to hold the Bubbles in arms as he wishes and just say 'the blog can wait. I have a BABY!' (who won't wait)


text:
How would you like to see this as the design on the 2013 Steppin' Out T-Shirt?
Well neither would we! So now is the time for you to submit your design and you could win not only $500 in cool hard cash..(well a cool hard check actually but you know what we mean right?!) But you would also be the proud designer of the 2013 Steppin' Out t-shirt which carries the honor of being profiled through advertising/news articles, in store windows where t-shirts are sold, online prior to the festival, and at Steppin' Out. Seriously you would go down in the annals of Blacksburg History alongside many other renowned t-shirt design artists from past years- including George Wills, Cece Bell, Forrest Worley and Robin Rogers. 33 years of Steppin' Out t-shirt history.
You can get all the details that you need by downloading this nifty little pdf. SteppinOut_Design_Competition
So what are you waiting for? We are anxiously awaiting your design….or we could all be wearing Steppin' Out t-shirts that look like this…….
And that would not be good for anyone!
T-shirt Design Contest deadline is Dec 14. Don't spend the rest of you life saying "If only….."


text:
James Currier needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 163 designs submitted by 45 freelance designers.
We are building a revolutionary system of health care in the US and Western Europe that will be powered by the Internet. We aim to be the Apple of health care, with religious customer service like Zappos, the Ritz, and SouthWest Airlines. We will provide people with better health at a lower cost, and when they do need to interact with the medical system, we hope to make it as pleasant as possible.
Our personality is friendly yet precise. Google (colors), Apple (burnished steel, crisp). We are quick. You get your health "taken care of in a jiff."
We are part of Medpedia, developed in association with Harvard, Stanford, U. Michigan, and the American College of Physicians. We are based in San Francisco.
All medical professionals in the US, and all employees in the US who are making a decision about where to get their health care.
We are the Internet-Powered health plan, born in Silicon Valley. So the logo needs to remind people we have better technology. It should thus be pretty sophisticated and techy looking.
The attached file shows two logos we already have using Caslon or something close to Caslon. You should use Caslon.
We're thinking the logo should be Jiff not JIFF and not jiff
*** No icons, please. We just want the letters to be the logo, like Google, Facebook and Yahoo. No icon necessary! ***
*** Please do not make the logo all red color. That's alarmist in medicine, means something is wrong. :-) ***
We're thinking there could be a burnished metal in the middle of each letter and an edge of different colors on the wide border around.
The colors on each letter should be friendly but professional. Lighter than what we've used in the past for Medpedia and BlueRed.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
East Gadsden High School is hosting a parent and student FCAT Explosion, for students in grades six through 12.
While students take advantage of tutoring in reading, math, writing and science, parents will receive free gifts, including a dinner for two, gift cards, a shopping spree, and gas and phone cards.
The event will be held from 9 a.m. until noon at the following locations and on these dates:
• Jan. 24, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Quincy Public Library
• Jan. 31, Beulah Hill Missionary Baptist Church
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Gadsden County Times, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
|ZIP Code:


text:
The ioBridge team has been working a new set of updates for the ioBridge web gateway modules and the platform. We have added new features to both the IO-204 and the IO-204-PRO modules. We received a lot of requests for a native humidity sensor and it's ready to go.
You can upgrade your modules over-the-web, by signing into the ioBridge.com Interface and selecting your module, then by clicking Details and Upgrade.
Here's an overview of the new features:
- New Firmware – The new firmware adds support for a new variable space for 32-bit values and onboard set points. Other enhancements include wider support for network configurations such as ATM and Mobile Data Networks. We also added watch-dog timers in the event of module lockups.
- Variable Value Widget – Now you can control the variable value on your module. This means you can send values from a web service down to your module and use that value in your on-board rules. For eaxample, you could make a thermostat based on WeatherBug's reported temperature.
- Widget Customizations – You can now change the hover label for chart widgets and the scaling on the analog gauge widgets. The Widget ID / Key is now prominently displayed on the widget editor. Chart widget times now display the users local time.
- Set Points – You can now compare input values to Variable Value 2 and create set points that can be changed.
- Additions to the Module Interface – You can now directly set the variable values from the interface. We have also added listeners for both sides of serial smart board traffic.
- HTTP POST Actions – This new feature allows you can send a custom HTTP POST as a server-side action. The new feature supports Basic Auth and the ability to customize a POST to any external service.
- Custom X10 Widget – Originally we supported X10 outlets through our web service. With this update, you can send custom X10 commands to support other X10 devices like thermostats.
- Data Feed API v2 – Updated the Data Feed API for the IO-204 and IO-204-PRO includes SSL support and a RESTful interface.
We look forward to seeing what you create with the new features. If any issues or questions arise, check our Wiki or feel free to contact us.


text:
For truly amazing wedding favours, gifts and much more visit our web site below.
Constant new products and ever-changing sale promotions. You won't be disappointed. Trust your wedding plans to a family company. Est 1989.
Preferred Supplier
Offering Bespoke Favors & Special Occasion Stationery
Box Clever Wedding will work with you to create your own unique design to make your day even more memorable. With DIY or Custom designs your are sure to find all you need. Now offering Candy Buffets.
Coloured Wedding Favours supplies a range of Glass products in Small Quantities. Clear or Coloured and/or Printed. Candles – Small Bottles – Small Jars – Flower Vases – Message in a Bottle.
Sweet Events will provide you with a beautiful and delicious Candy Buffet, individually designed to compliment your event. We also create fun and tasty favours you can be sure your guests will love.
'WOW' family and friends with a 'Personalised' chocolate bar which doubles up as a Place Setting and a Wedding Favour! You can choose from 35g Triangular bars (perfect for place settings) and 35g regular chocolate bars, or 10g mini bars.


text:
Why you've been doing your lunges all wrong
But don't worry, fitness pro Amanda Bisk shows you how to get it right.
EXERCISE: Reverse Lunge Hop
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR: Cardio, butt
Start with your feet a hip-width apart. Step back with your right foot and bring your arms into running arms. If you have stepped back with your right leg, your right arm should be forward. Lunge down in a long lunge – make sure you step really far back. Make sure your front knee is directly above your ankle and not pressing in front of your toe. We don't want any knee pain!
When you've found your lunge position and running arms, step quickly up through your front leg – that would be your left leg. When you get up, make sure to press through your heel and to squeeze your front knee out towards your pinkie toe.
As you stand up, change your arms so your left arm is in front. Drive your right knee all the way through and up in front of you, like in a running position. Take a big hop into the sky, and then land back down in that reverse lunge. There is a lot of coordination going on, but when you find the rhythm, this will be a great exercise that really challenges your cardio fitness!
"A common mistake with lunges is that people don't do them wide enough. When you narrow your lunge, you risk getting a lot of knee pain. If your knee hurts, it probably means you are doing it wrong! Watch that front knee – it always needs to be directly over your ankle, not in front of it."
WHAT: Exercise physiologist, Instagram fitness superstar and H&M Sport Ambassador
LOCATION: Perth, Australia
INSTAGRAM: @amandabisk


text:
I note from searching the forum that my problem is the same as what several othe people have had, including
A few days ago I purchased Barca through http://www.sharewareplaza.com/Barca-dow ... 16254.html The licence that I then received from pocosystems is not working. I get the message 'Sorry, but you entered an invalid code!'. I have tried e-mailing support at pocoMail and but have had no reply. Can anyone please assist? Slaven?
I think Barca and Pocomail are great products. Having looked through the forums I note that there are some very helpful moderators, however am disappointed to see that some users find their customer service to be a little lax.
~ Moved from Barca ... Eric ~