text:
The Fine Art of Spying
With explosive disclosures about the long arm of the National Security Agency, the nation is engaged in an intense debate about privacy and spying. Now there is another snoop in town: the contemporary artist.
Doug Rickard's Surveillance Art
Fine-art photographers are flocking to what some are calling "surveillance art"—a wide-ranging practice that includes trolling online to appropriate photos of strangers, presenting images of top-secret sites from the ground and air and using covert tactics to shoot unsuspecting subjects. The work is landing in major museums, appearing at high-profile galleries and fetching more than $60,000—even if some of it is lifted straight off the Internet.
California artist Doug Rickard created portraits of blighted inner-city neighborhoods using Google Street View. Photographer Arne Svenson trained a Telephoto lens inside the apartments of a tony New York apartment building. British artist Mishka Henner used documents exposed by the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks to help verify his images of secret U.S. military outposts. German photographer Jens Sundheim tracked down more than 400 webcams with online feeds around the world and posed in front of them (he says New York City cops once questioned him for suspicious behavior by a traffic camera).
"We're entering a place where so many pictures and possibilities are being uploaded onto the Internet in various facets—that's a new frontier," says Mr. Rickard. "I see it as a new age for exploration."
Such work is being sought out by a new breed of collector as well as many established museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. The current triennial exhibit at the International Center of Photography in New York includes many works inspired by surveillance themes.
This new type of art is raising all kinds of thorny legal questions about such issues as privacy violations and permissible use of appropriated images, particularly where online images are concerned. "It's a huge issue," says Catherine Edelman, president of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers. "The Internet has completely changed what we consider to be the rules within the photography world."
Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué's work includes stills from online cellphone videos—grainy pictures of gunmen with weapons drawn—that he says were taken the split-second before the people behind the lens were shot (though he adds that there is no independent verification). Mr. Mroué, whose artworks and installations sell anywhere from $8,000 to $66,000, is featured in the current New York photo triennial. Since the names and fates of the alleged victims are unknown, he doesn't consider such videos a violation of their privacy. "These are videos on the Internet," he says. "Once you watch these videos, you are already involved. You can't run away from them—you become a witness."
The rise in such art comes as people around the world fret over the limits of their real-world and online privacy. The live-out-loud party of the social-networking era has given way to caution as people worry the family photos they share could one day get tagged with facial-recognition software, or whether shots of their children could be repurposed without their knowledge. In a Pew Research Center survey released this month, half of all Internet users said they worry about the amount of their personal details available online, up from 33% in 2009.
Though provocative, today's work is part of a storied tradition of spy-style photography. In the early 1900s, Paul Strand distracted strangers with a dummy lens while actually photographing them through a secret lens under his arm. In the 1930s, Walker Evans surreptitiously shot New York subway riders with a hidden camera, bringing a friend to help give him cover. Japanese artist Kohei Yoshiyuki in the 1970s used infrared film to photograph hidden sexual encounters in Tokyo parks. In the 1990s, Merry Alpern took photos through a window of a dingy sex club in Manhattan and got footage of women in fitting rooms with a video camera peeking through the holes of her eyelet-leather purse.
Today, Trevor Paglen is exploring surveillance themes in broader ways: His painterly photographs, which sell for $15,000 and up, include images of unmarked government aircraft, clandestine military bases and drones.
The 38-year-old New York artist researches sources like flight manifests, the Defense Department budget and aerial photos to triangulate his targets. Amateur satellite trackers help him hunt for secret spacecraft. "I can track down to a quarter-of-a-second accuracy where a given satellite will be in the sky on any given evening," he says.
The son of an Air Force ophthalmologist, he grew up around other people's secrets. "We'd drop off a friend of mine's dad in a cornfield," he says, referring to the classified work surrounding his family during a stint in a U.S. military enclave in Wiesbaden, Germany. As an adult, he became fascinated by the world of black ops. Calling himself an "experimental geographer"—he has a Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Berkeley—he stakes out unmarked military and intelligence sites with help from survey maps and Google Earth images, then treks through public land to get as close as he can to the perimeter. He may get his shot from a clearing or mountaintop more than 40 miles away. If he encounters security guards around a sensitive site, he attempts to appear nonconfrontational, staying off government property and avoiding any sudden moves. "It's sort of trying to be cool," he says.
"Big Brother is something that has always fascinated and terrified me," says private art dealer Benjamin Reed Hunter, who last year purchased Mr. Paglen's work. He says he bought faraway shots of a spy satellite and a U.S. military drone partly because U.S. intelligence operations had been dominating the news.
Indeed, drones have become an entire subgenre of surveillance-themed photographs: Martha Rosler's "Theater of Drones" is a new 10-panel work that includes images of an MQ-9 Reaper drone ground-control station and the rubble of an alleged drone strike in Pakistan. James Bridle depicts images of Predator and Reaper drones in true-to-size silhouettes on streets and parking lots in the U.K. and elsewhere.
Other contemporary photographers act more like editors, looking for unguarded and intimate moments in an ocean of images taken by other people. About 1.6 trillion photos are taken annually with devices like smartphones and digital cameras, compared with about 100 billion a year in 2000, according to Fujifilm. There are now more than 16 billion photos on Instagram, 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook daily and 100 hours of video are posted onto YouTube every minute. Expect more: Google Glass shoots photos with a simple voice command, the wearable "Autographer" sold in Europe uses a built-in computer to snap photos on its own and the Swedish company Memoto is selling a camera that automatically takes a photograph every 30 seconds—complete with a smartphone app that allows users to share the results.
Museum curators and art dealers call this one of the liveliest periods in photography since the 1970s, when artists like Richard Prince appropriated consumer and mass-media images in their work as part of the so-called Pictures Generation. Mr. Prince now is among the contemporary photographers whose work dominates the market, with one of his famous "Cowboy" images selling in 2007 for $3.4 million, an auction record for his photo-driven work.
The question of who owns the copyright to the original photos and images used by artists is becoming a contentious issue. In April, Mr. Prince scored a major victory when the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, largely overturning an earlier decision that his use of photographs of Rastafarians by photographer Patrick Cariou violated copyright law.
Daniel J. Brooks, a lawyer for Mr. Cariou who recently filed a petition to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, says it is almost impossible for lower-profile photographers to stop big-name artists from using their work. "They're just considered like so much raw material that's there for the taking," he says.
Other recent court rulings over the limits of artistic expression and the invasion of privacy have also backed artists. Last month, a state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan dismissed a lawsuit against Mr. Svenson, the artist who took photos inside a TriBeCa apartment building with a Telephoto lens. He sparked a small firestorm when works in the series "The Neighbors" went up at New York's Julie Saul Gallery, priced at up to $12,000 each. A couple filed the complaint after finding that two of the photos featured images of their young children, according to court documents. A lawyer for the couple started the appeal process last week. Mr. Svenson wasn't available for comment.
Such attention didn't scare off collector Allen Thomas, Jr., a law firm manager from Wilson, N.C. He purchased one image by Mr. Svenson and raced to buy another after seeing a TV segment about the lawsuit. "There was a little, 'I want to get in before I'm not able to,'" he says. "And I'm glad I did."
From a studio in his detached garage in Shingle Springs, Calif., an old Gold Rush town outside Sacramento, 45-year-old artist Doug Rickard is pioneering a new approach to surveillance photography.
Mr. Rickard was working in software sales at Cisco Systems in 2008 when he says he became obsessed with Google Street View, which had been introduced the previous year. He began searching Internet forums for cities like Philadelphia, Camden, N.J., and New Orleans, looking for discussion threads where people talked about the poorest and most crime-ridden blocks. He spent hours late into the night, scrolling for miles and miles through those streets. When Google's cameras randomly captured an image that spoke to him, he photographed his computer screen. He was interested in what he called the impersonal gaze of cameras mounted high atop cars sent into disenfranchised neighborhoods by a multinational corporation.
One of Mr. Rickard's earliest collectors was Daphne Keller, then Google's lead copyright lawyer. "The way I look at it, he's documenting everyday Americana, and a lot of that is on the Internet now," she says, adding that the photos spoke to her because they used a Google product in the name of art. Mr. Rickard's series, called "A New American Picture," was displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 2011. It was his first American museum show.
The artist is grateful that when he created the gritty series, priced at $4,500 to $10,000, the screen quality of a Google Street View image wasn't so glossy and sharp. The upgraded Street View makes even deteriorating blocks look better, stripping out the moody atmosphere and charged subtext, he says: "It's this pretty view, and the sun is shining always."
On a recent summer afternoon, Mr. Rickard is hunched over his newest series, a collection of melancholy images snatched from split-second moments on YouTube. The garage is quiet except for the whir of a fan. Lit by the glow of two computer screens, Mr. Rickard bores into the trove of videos, clicking on footage taken by people he hasn't met and doesn't plan to contact. He stops on one where an alleged drug addict performs tricks for an unseen photographer for $5.
Mr. Rickard watches the full video first, his bony middle finger poised over the mouse (he lost the fingertip while hanging off a wrought-iron chandelier in his hell-raising 20s). "It's like he's some sort of marionette or circus sideshow performer," he says, watching the man do a neat line of backward handsprings down a dark city sidewalk. Then he slows the footage, clicking frame by frame to find his moment. It is like he's shooting pictures from inside the hand of the person taking the video. He saves the image in case someone takes it down, adjusts it to a blurry, low-definition setting that fits his broken-down aesthetic and shoots a still photo of it on his computer screen with a camera on a tripod a couple of feet away. He plans to begin exhibiting his new series this fall in Europe.
After Mr. Rickard started on his YouTube series, he consulted with a lawyer to see who might sue him over this kind of work. The answer was probably not YouTube, which just provides the platform, but possibly the people taking the videos or appearing in them. For legal and aesthetic reasons, he only plans to use images where his subjects' faces are masked by darkness, clothing or poor-quality video. A YouTube spokesman said the company encourages its users to credit original photographers when taking content from the site.
The Limits of Privacy
Mr. Rickard has amassed more than 450,000 pictures that he tucks into folders and subfolders with names like "Alpha Types," "Patriots" and "Damage Control." Every day, he copies photos online, whether on Facebook or in the Library of Congress. He spends as much as $700 a month buying found photos from various vendors.
"It's almost like they're all my negatives," he says of other peoples' images, which he plans to use in artwork over the next decade. "I'm going to use them to speak in a way that person didn't necessarily intend."
Doug Rickard
Doug Rickard's newest series, called "N.A.," isolates split-second moments of American life he finds buried in the millions of videos on YouTube. He searches for videos taken in crime-ridden neighborhoods and other urban locations and snaps a photo of his computer screen when an image grabs his eye.
The 45-year-old artist, who favors fitted wool hats over his buzz cut and keeps his tattoos mostly under his shirt, is a son of a onetime evangelical pastor. Mr. Rickard grew up in 1980s northern California, where his father led the 6,500-member Los Gatos Christian Church. "They might as well have had America and the church intertwined," says the artist, whose work is sold at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York and San Francisco's Stephen Wirtz Gallery.
By his teen years, he rebelled. At 17, he says, he spent two weeks in a juvenile detention center after vandalizing his own house while his father, Marvin, was traveling in Africa with the televangelist Jerry Falwell.
At 24, things changed. After enrolling at the University of California, San Diego, he discovered the civil rights era and other turbulent American periods that until then hadn't made much impact.
This came on the heels of a family crisis. In 1988, his father confessed to his congregation that he had an extramarital affair about seven years earlier. It was a secret the son knew and had kept since he was 12 years old after glimpsing the two adults together when they thought no one was looking. Some lifelong friends ditched his father. "It was vicious," the son says.
Mr. Rickard now is very close to his parents, who are still married and dote on his wife and three children. But he calls this a formative artistic experience, prompting him to look for the fault lines in the American dream. "I'm pretty driven to critique, maybe even transgress," he says. "I want to tread that line."
Trevor Paglen
Work: The 38-year-old artist and author of five books has teamed with investigative reporters and human-rights groups on some of his projects, but he remains firmly in the art world. His work is sold at Metro Pictures in New York and the Altman Siegel Gallery in San Francisco, and he's been exhibited at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern in London and elsewhere.
Tools: Mr. Paglen uses high-powered telescopes to help him photograph classified military bases surrounded by so much restricted land they can't necessarily be seen with the naked eye. At night, he uses telescopes to shoot what he thinks are secret satellites, such as "PAN," left.
Sleuthing: Mr. Paglen's grasp of geography helps. While trolling an online aviation forum, he recognized a dry lake bed in the background of an old promotional video for the Polecat drone. From there, he figured out the topography of the area in Nevada. He studied maps, mulling over how to find the best viewpoint of the military site, and got the shot.
Rabih Mroué
Work: The Lebanese artist, 46, heard that Syrian protesters were recording their own deaths with their cellphones and in 2011 amassed what he says are their jittery videos. He takes the last image of a gunman pointing his weapon at the lens and enlarges it to a barely readable close-up. Left, an image from the work "The Fall of a Hair."
Fact or fiction: Mr. Mroué says that while he can't independently verify the authenticity of the videos, he firmly believes they are real.
Questions: Mr. Mroué, who is also an actor and playwright, has shown the videos and still photos in the U.S., Europe and Beirut. "Why did the cameraman not run away immediately?" he asks. "My answer is simply because he is off camera he can't see himself as a victim. He's not in the frame."
Arne Svenson
Work: The photographer, 60, shot his series "The Neighbors," including "Neighbors #1," right, from a window in his apartment, scanning the windows of apartments across the street with a Telephoto lens given to him by a bird-watcher friend.
Debate: A couple sued over two images that they say partially depict their children. The suit has been dismissed, but an appeal process has begun (more details in main text). New York dealer Julie Saul says those two works were never hung in the gallery, and the artist and gallery have tried to remove any traces of them from the Internet.
Reaction: Ms. Saul says the artist met with a lawyer before exhibiting this series. The dealer, who has represented Mr. Svenson for about 20 years, defends him: "This isn't some paparazzi out of nowhere."
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


text:
NH teacher put on leave after arrest on drug charges
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) � A Manchester Central High School art teacher has been placed on leave following her arrest on drug charges.
Police say 42-year-old Lisa Tagalakis-Fedor has been charged with criminal liability to drug sales and endangering the welfare of her two children for allegedly knowing that a roommate was dealing drugs, including heroin, out of the apartment they shared.
Police say one of Tagalakis-Fedor's roommates, 26-year-old Robert Doane, was arrested this month on probation violation, drug possession and other charges. Police say she allowed the drug activity to take place in the presence of her two young sons.
School officials told WMUR-TV (http://bit.ly/XZ15p2 ) that Tagalakis-Fedor has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation. Her children have been placed with a family member.
Information from: WMUR-TV, http://wmur.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mobile TV — not a lot to see here
As usual, there were plenty of giant TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. But I've seen enough forty-acre screens, and so have you. How about something a little smaller?
It's called Mobile DTV, a technology that lets viewers receive over-the-air television broadcasts on their mobile devices. Instead of wasting your cellular data plan on Netflix movies, get free video from the airwaves, like Grandpa used to do. Mobile DTV works pretty well, too, but for now it is much too limited to catch on with consumers.
In August, Samsung Corp. quietly rolled out the Galaxy S Lightray 4G, the first phone with built-in Mobile DTV capability. But you've probably never heard of it. Only no-contract carrier MetroPCS Communications Inc. carries the Lightray, at an unappealing $459.
But in Vegas last week, two companies were pushing gadgets that will convert an Apple Inc. iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch into a TV. Escort Inc., best known for automotive radar detectors, offers Escort Mobile TV, while Elgato Systems sells the EyeTV Mobile.
Each delivers pretty much identical performance, so it is unclear why the Escort sells for $119.99 and the Elgato for $89.99, both at Amazon.com.
Using these Mobile DTV tuners is almost as painless as pecking at your living room remote.
Both contain a battery good for several hours of use. This battery must be charged separately from the iPhone; a USB charging cable is included. After charging, plug the device into the iPhone port. Owners of the iPhone 5, with its new Lightning connector, will have to spring for a port adapter; Apple charges an absurd $29, but Amazon has adapters for $11.
Next, download a free app and go through a brief setup process, as the Mobile DTV tuner creates a directory of available channels. From now on, you just plug in the device, launch the app and tune in. You'll get funny looks in public, though; each gadget uses a telescoping antenna, similar to the rabbit ears of olden times.
You won't pick up the same high-definition signal used for standard TV broadcasts. Mobile DTV uses a separate frequency with a digital signal that's been designed for mobile devices.
It is supposed to result in a video signal that's more stable for viewing in a moving car. I tried the service on a couple of Red Line trains, and it worked moderately well.
Sometimes the image would smear and pixellate a little, the audio would pop in and out, and of course, the signal died when the train entered a tunnel. But above ground, the overall experience was decent enough.
So was the picture quality. Those of us who've learned to live with YouTube videos will find Mobile DTV's images quite acceptable — at least on an iPhone. They're not totally awful on an iPad either, but the tablet's bigger screen makes the imperfections more evident.
I ran the Escort Mobile DTV unit for 3½ hours before the iPhone's battery gave out. You can't kept the iPhone plugged into a power outlet and the Mobile DTV device at the same time.
So if you expect to make and receive phone calls, you should limit your viewing to an hour or two per charge.
But you'll be able to restrain yourself, due to Mobile DTV's biggest drawback — there's very little to watch.
Only a handful of US television stations currently offer the service; in Boston, you can choose from two video channels from public broadcaster WGBH and the local Fox network affiliate and the children's TV network Qubo.
WGBH also transmits four audio-only channels, including jazz and classical music streams.
So that makes a mere eight channel choices. If you love "Downton Abbey'' or "American Idol,'' you're good to go. But the upcoming Patriots-Ravens game on CBS is out of reach.
There are moves afoot to get more channels on the air; in Atlanta, for instance, Mobile DTV viewers can watch ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and Fox broadcasts. But in most of the country, the pickings are all too slim. TV station owners hold back on Mobile DTV broadcasts because there are so few viewers. But viewers won't come along until there are more broadcasts.
I side with the viewers; I want more than four TV channels for my $90. Besides, toting a separate Mobile DTV device to plug into my phone is like having to wear special glasses to watch 3D TV.
Consumers have turned up their noses at that brilliant idea, and I suspect we're about to see a rerun.
Be civil. Be kind.Read our full community guidelines.


text:
Discover for free which first names would suit you or your baby !
Meaning of name Ffransis
Etymology : Welsh form of FRANCIS
Saint :
Origin : Welsh
Rate this first name :
Gender : boy
Country :
Numbers :
Meaning of those numbers?
Share this page :
Who is he?
Ffransis has an active number of 44, which makes him particularly strict, masculine and magnetic. But while he is abrupt, assertive, impatient and of rather forceful character, he is equally capable of kindness and tenderness, and he´s certainly got savvy, especially when he wants to please or seduce somebody - or if there´s something in it for him. This man is actually quite a dichotomy and his behaviour can be disconcerting to observe. Most of the time he is indeed kind, thoughtful, courteous and helpful; however he can suddenly become beside himself with anger, usually to take somebody´s defence or if he is wrongly criticized because he can´t stand any form of injustice. Demanding and a perfectionist, he rarely forgives a broken promise, dishonesty or spitefulness. As a child, he is extremely sensitive, highly receptive, imaginative and easily influenced, especially by his mother; and he could be very impressionable, especially if he was born on a 2nd, 11th, 20th or 29th; in February or November, or if he has a life Path Number of 2. It is therefore important to provide him with plenty of reassurance and encourage physical exercise or one of the martial arts, combined with music, for example. He is very emotionally dependent and in his school life he generally does much better if he feels an affinity with his teacher.
What does he like?
Ffransis enjoys the company of others and stimulating conversation. He feels quite at home in groups and gatherings, where he reveals himself to be conciliatory and cooperative. He is also sensitive to symbols of wealth and prosperity, and doesn´t sneeze at the finer things in life. Love is often on his mind and he makes an affectionate and understanding partner, although occasionally he can be a little abrupt. He will be very fond of the comfort of his home and won´t take his responsibilities as a father lightly (karmic 6), unless he remains immature due to an excessive attachment to his mother, in which case he could have certain commitment issues. He can often have a tough time choosing a partner due to his high expectations and uncompromising nature, and he may one day find himself torn between two lovers... Or indeed perhaps he will continue to chase that feather in the wind.
Get your free Personality test card now !!
What does he do?
An ambitious man, Ffransis could be attracted to the world of money and business, the social sphere, especially since he excels at giving advice (psychology, tax advisor or medicine...), occupations requiring energy and courage (sport, police, army...).
Discover others boys first names : Ffransis
*To note: :
It sometimes happens that two different first names have the same meaning. This has nothing surprising: both first names have the same figures of numerology. It is as in astrology: two persons belonging to the same sign present the same characteristic...
Names compatibility
Test the compatibility of your names to know if your love relation is lucky to succeed. Friendship, love or passion?
Discover fast what waits for you...
Verify now if your names are compatible!
The last comments about "Ffransis "
Post your comment
Your Name Horoscope !
Thanks to the numerology, we propose you daily a horoscope personalized for your first name. Love, money , Shape: discover what waits for you for today. In Bonus every day find your daily lucky figure .. Horoscope of the first names
Love :Couples: The complicity between the two of you will be reinforced. Singles: An admirer will make themselves known.
Money :You are trying to decide whether or not to make a property investment. Take your time.
Health:You won't see any results without some effort Ffransis .
Your Lucky number : 80


text:
Dall'interno del libro
16 pagine corrispondenti a effective in questo libro
Dov'č il resto di questo libro?
Risultati 1-3 di 16
Cosa dicono le persone - Scrivi una recensione
Nessuna recensione trovata nei soliti posti.
Systems Perspectives for Understanding Communities
Race and Ethnicity
Neighborhoods in American Communities
11 sezioni non visualizzate
Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto
Parole e frasi comuni
activities African Americans agencies areas bank become centers central cities Chapter cities competence controversy create cultural described districts economic efforts employment especially established ethnic ethnic minority example federal formal functions funds goals groups Hispanic homeless housing identified immigrants important increase individuals influence institutions integration interaction involved issues leaders levels live major membership mental metropolitan Michigan move munity needs neighborhood neighbors networks opportunities organizations participation patterns percent persons perspective political poor population positive practice problems professional programs racial regard relationships religious residential residents roles says segregation serve social welfare social workers society status Street structure subsystems suburban tion types units urban values various voluntary associations volunteer women York


text:
Welcome to the Office of Technology Management Knowledge Base!
To help you on your way, we've assembled our most sought-after information on this page. More extensive and detailed topics can be found by using the search function or by simply browsing the sections on the left. We hope you find this knowledge base useful when using technology here at the Sawyer Business School.
Main Topics
Get started using CourseCast to enrich your lessons.
Remote Access
Don't want to feel tied down to your office? Learn how to access your files and folders remotely from anywhere.
Sawyer Computing Center
Computing Center
Some brief information about the Sawyer Computing Center.
Employee Policies
Resources for Coordinators currently employed at the Sawyer Computing Center.
Unable to render {children}. Page not found: ITS:Downloads.
Live Support
No labels match these criteria.
Recently Updated
This tab shows all recently updated content. Create some content to see it appear here.


text:
Source: forumborealis.net, peterlevenda.com
Levenda answers more questions about the "To the Stars" project, and we continue our philosophical examination of the U.F.O. phenomenon. Some issues touched: Are they organic, machines, or robots? Human, aliens, or inter-dimensional? Have we back-engineered? Why is Military & Intel concerned? Why don't they come clean? Will other whistle-blowers come forward? Can we attain a public discourse? Is this a controlled drip disclosure? Does it restore the SSP discussion? ...and Al argues that the NASA footage proves they are not only "ours".
Part 1: Peter Levenda | Starward: DeLonge, Mystic Machines, & Current Disclosure | Part 1: Magic & Mechanics | Jan. 8, 2018
Return top


text:
NEA Resources: Social Security
Take a Quick Quiz
Here's a quick quiz to test your knowledge and understanding of how Social Security benefits are applied to many public employees.
Provisions Unfairly Target Public Employees
While retired public employees have their Social Security or survivor benefits reduced, non-public employees with private pensions get to keep their entire pension and receive their full Social Security or survivor benefits. Read how these provisions affect hundreds of thousands of the nation's public employees.
Brief History of Pension Offset and 'Windfall' Provisions
The "Brief history of pension offset and 'windfall' provisions" offers some background on the Government Pension Offset enacted in 1977 and the Windfall Elimination Provision enacted in 1983 as amendments to the 1935 Social Security Act.
Real Stories About Real People
There are countless stories of hardship and some real tragedies caused by the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision amendments to the Social Security Act. We urge you to read about just some of them.


text:
Diagnosis of Middle Ear Infection
]]>Main Page]]> | ]]>Risk Factors]]> | ]]>Symptoms]]> | Diagnosis | ]]>Treatment]]> | ]]>Screening]]> | ]]>Reducing Your Risk]]> | ]]>Talking to Your Doctor]]> | ]]>Resource Guide]]>
Your healthcare provider will ask about symptoms and medical history, and perform a physical exam. When there is ear pain or drainage from the ear, then infection is highly likely to be present. If the child is too young to report pain, the doctor or nurse practitioner must rely solely on looking into the child's ear with a special lighted instrument, called an otoscope. A small tube and bulb (insufflator) may be attached to the otoscope so that a light puff of air can be blown into the ear. This helps your healthcare provider see if the eardrum is moving normally. When infection is present the eardrum is often stiffened by the presence of fluid behind it and does not move. The eardrum may also be red and bulge outward because the fluid behind it is under pressure. A red, bulging drum that does not move with an air puff is a very good sign that acute otitis is present.
Unfortunately, it is often very difficult to see the eardrum in very young children, and ear wax frequently makes getting a good view of the drum next to impossible. Worse, even in the absence of wax, the accurate diagnosis of middle ear infection using an otoscope is not easy. Most studies suggest that even experienced doctors may overdiagnose acute ear infections, especially if an air puff insufflator is not used. Doctors may have a particularly difficult time distinguishing between children with chronic otitis (who frequently do not need antibiotics) and those with acute otitis (for whom antibiotics are often helpful). The use of a microscope to examine the ear may also help.
Other tests may also be performed, especially if you or your child have had repeated ear infections. Tests may include:
Tympanocentesis – A needle is used to withdraw fluid or pus from the middle ear under local or general anesthesia. This fluid can then be cultured to determine if bacteria are present in the fluid. Once the bacteria are cultured, the lab can determine which drugs are best for treatment. However, the fluid does not always have bacteria in it.
Tympanometry – A soft plug is inserted into the opening of the ear canal. The plug contains a speaker, a microphone, and a device that is able to alter the air pressure in the ear canal. This allows several different measures of the middle ear and eardrum and provides important information about the condition of the ear, but it is not a hearing test.
Hearing Test – A hearing test may be ordered if you or your child have had repeated ear infections or are showing signs of hearing impairment, such as speaking in a louder voice, sitting closer to the television or turning up the volume.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ .
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders website. Available at: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/ .
Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics . 16th edition. WB Saunders; 2000.
Pichichero ME, Poole MD. Assessing diagnostic accuracy and tympanocentesis skills in the management of otitis media. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med . October 2001;155(10):1137-1142.
Last reviewed November 2008 by ]]>Elie Edmond Rebeiz, MD, FACS]]>
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2007 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.


text:
If we're all glued to The Weather Channel, it's too late to shop for a generator
When extreme weather hits, often one of the first luxuries lost is electrical power. Being without power for even a few hours can be inconvenient. Go without it longer, though, and it could also be very costly and even dangerous - from replacing spoiled food, to the potential for your home flooding without an active sump pump, to losing pets or even human lives if life-sustaining equipment can't work.
Adding a power generator to your home can provide you with a backup power source that allows you to keep your appliances and electronics running, giving you security and comfort even in the face of severe weather conditions.
"Here in south Florida, the power can be knocked out for a substantially long period of time," said Brenda Burtch, vice president of Elcon Electric, Inc. in Pompano Beach, Fla. "A couple of years ago, there were several people without power for more than three weeks. With a standby generator, when the power goes out, within 15 seconds the generator kicks on and you're able to power your home. When everybody else has no power, you can (still) live comfortably. For people with medical issues -- a lot of people on oxygen or breathing machines, things like that -- it is vital to their existence to be able to have that power."
Investing in a generator is not something that you can do quickly, so if you live in a power-outage prone area, you need to plan ahead. Standby generators -- which automatically kick on when the power goes out -- often take weeks to install and include local regulatory steps. If you head to your local hardware store after a heavy storm to buy an emergency portable generator, chances are good you'll only find empty shelves.
"A lot of times, (customers) don't realize we can't just put a generator in the next week," Burtch said. "We have to go through a permitting process, as well as have everything inspected. So, you're looking normally at about a six- to eight-week turnaround from the time you sign the contract to when we get it in."
Standby generators range in size -- the more kilowatts they have, the more they can power -- and are designed to be installed as a permanent part of the home. Automatic standby generators are costly -- ranging in price from $7,000 to $14,000 depending on where they're being installed, the size of the generator and other factors. In Miami, for example, permitting can cost close to $2,000 alone, whereas in other areas of the country, a permit could run less than $100.
Standby generators offer a homeowner peace of mind, said Andy Badertscher of J.B. Electric in Auburn, Calif.
"We have had customers with pets or with fish tanks that need to make sure their animals are safe and healthy regardless of power outages, so they have chosen the standby units with automatic startup," Badertscher said. "Even if you are thousands of miles away, you know your home will have power in the worst of conditions. Refrigerators, freezers, basement sump pumps, wells and HVAC (equipment) will still be running. No frozen pipes, no flooded basements and no spoiled food. "
Portable generators cost significantly less -- you can purchase one for less than $1,000, and they don't require permits and inspections. However, they are designed to run for only a short period of time, they provide less power to the home and have to be manually started.
"Most portable generators currently on the market have push-button starts, but still require someone to be home, start it up and plug it into the generator receptacle," Badertscher said. "This is a good option for renters or for someone who wants to be able to take the generator with them if they move."
It's important that homeowners who invest in a standby generator hire a contractor who is properly licensed and is certified by the product manufacturer. Having an unqualified contractor install a generator could be a costly mistake if he or she doesn't follow the proper building codes.
"Look for contractors who are factory certified for the manufacturer you are purchasing from," Badertscher said. "Not only will they have greater product knowledge to assist you with the size and type of generator to purchase, but they will also be able to warranty the unit for you if a problem comes up during or after installation."
Angie Hicks is the founder of Angie's List, a resource for local consumer reviews on everything from home repair to health care.


text:
Titan Maximum
Modeled for rapid prototyping as well as cg animation. Model was exported out of Rhino and imported into Maya to be rigged and animated for the show.
Shop online
or find a
Privacy Policy •
About •
Contact Us •
Copyright © 2020
Robert McNeel & Associates. All Rights Reserved.


text:
|Find the best surf spots
This is an interactive map! Use controls to pan and zoom this map.
Datum: WGS84 [ Help ]
Latitude: 26° 56.698' S
User rating (2)
Wannasurf.com is not responsible for the accuracy of the information contained in this guide. You use this guide at your own risk.
Choose your format: please login first
You are free to use Wannasurf.com KML/GPS data files ONLY for your personal use. See Terms of use for more information.
KML file: please login first
Your favourites and future surf spot lists
Go to Elizabeth Bay in Namibia...The closest youll get to it will be with google earth..
DistanceSurf trip
WalkGood walk (15-30 mn)
Easy to find?Hard to find
Public access?Private access
Special access4x4
Alternative name Diamond bay no. 2
Wave qualityTotally Epic
ExperienceExperienced surfers
FrequencyVery consistent (150 day/year)
BottomReef (coral, sharp rocks etc..)
PowerHollow, Powerful, Ledgey
Normal lengthVery Long (300 to 500 m)
Good day lengthExceptional (>500m)
Good swell directionWest, SouthWest
Good wind directionNorthEast
Swell sizeStarts working at Less than 1m / 3ft and holds up to 4m+ / 12ft
Best tide position
Best tide movement
Week crowdEmpty
Week-end crowdEmpty
- Rips / undertow
- Rocks
- Private beach
- Sharks
Welcome to the 2nd of 6 perfect, long Lefthand pointbreaks on Namibia's mid coast. All these breaks are on diamond mining private property, so access is impossible. Lucky for us we have family that work here..sorry okes..
This wave and Spencer is the longest of the 6. Picks up alot of swell, always on. Gets longer and more consistent than J-Bay. These 6 waves are some of the surfing worlds best kept secrets.
All alone. Perfect and looooooong. Beautiful scenery with the Namib desert right infront of you.
Author: Jono Contributors (1) They surfed this spot ! (1)
Elizabeth bay
No video available
|No surf session
|No surf trip
By Roger Smith , 13-01-2009
THE TRUTH - Hi guys. The truth of the matter is that whoever added the pic of the guys with the car and the waves peeling off the point, took it from me at www.dawnpatrol.co.za. It's a doctored pic (inverted), of a right point near East London which I took a couple of years ago. The guys in the pic are Louis,Julian and Glenn. We had it cooking that day! Seems the Wannasurf administrator has at last removed the pic after I complained.
I suspect the authenticity of some of the other Namibian pics and spots. Most of that area is "Spergebied" and no access is permitted except with permits and under supervision.
By Big Prokamzi , 12-01-2009
In reply to the anonymous 'Jono' comment preceding mine: - Everyone is most definately NOT 'having a go' at Jono the clown; rather a few died-in-the-wool surfers who've read his pre-fabricated comments have called his bluff now. The reality is that Jo-joke has been 'having a go' at any travelling surfers who've simply visited this site for what it was intended as representing in the 1st place. And Jono's mockery of the entire W.S.Africa coastline needs to end it's google-life!
You can edit this page to correct errors or add new information. If you have any problems regarding this page, Send us feedback.
Wannasurf.com on your mobile
RSS All the RSS feeds of Wannasurf.com
Newsletter All news by email


text:
From inside the book
50 pages matching means in this book
Where's the rest of this book?
Results 1-3 of 50
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Personal and general
Toilet and personal accessories
Hemp and tobacco
13 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
According animal appears attached beads beadwork Bhaca blanket body Bomvana bones boys brass breasts burial buttons calabash called Cape Nguni carried cattle ceremony charms chief circumcision clay cloak clothing colour cosmetics covered custom dancing decorated described diviners dolls dress drum early face Figure finger Fingo girls give grass hair hand hanging head Hlubi horn initiation ivory Kaffir known kraal latter leather leaves material means medicine mentioned Mpondo Mpondomise neck necklace ochre ornaments paint person piece pipe plant played practice reed rings round seen short side skin skirt smoking snuff snuff-box sometimes Sotho stick stone string tail taken Thembu tobacco trade trees tribes usually various wear whole woman women wood wooden wore worn Xesibe Xhosa young


text:
With the big day only a few weeks away, President Barack Obama has finally taken time to address the most important issue of the election: Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey's American Idol feud.
During a call-in interview to The Yo! Show, Obama told radio DJ Michael Yo, "I think that they are going to be able to sort it out. I am confident."
Stevie Nicks apologizes for Nicki Minaj strangling commentLike a true politician, Obama rallied for peace between the two divas: "I'm all about bringing people together, working for the same cause. I think both outstanding artists are going to be able to make sure that they're moving forward and not going backwards."However, the president didn't hesitate when asked which singer was his favorite. "Mariah," Obama said. "She's actually done some events for us. I've gotten to know her and Nick [Cannon]. She's a wonderful lady,"But that doesn't mean the commander-in-chief doesn't rock out to some Minaj every now and then. "Nicki, I don't know, but I've got her on my iPod."
American Idol producers speak out on Nicki Minaj-Mariah Carey feudWe wonder if that includes her recent guest verse on Lil Wayne's "Mercy," in which she rapped, "I'm a Republican, voting for Mitt Romney/You lazy bitches is f---in' up the economy."When asked about Minaj's verse last month by Orlando's Power 95.3 radio station, Obama said, "I'm not sure that is actually what happened. I think she had a song on there, a little rap that said that. But, she likes to play different characters. So I don't know what's going on there."Listen to the Yo! Show interview below.


text:
Siteimprove Announces Customer Learning Program
mrt 04, 2014
Siteimprove announced the launch of a new customer learning platform to supplement its web governance software suite. Initially launching with two available certification courses, Siteimprove plans to expand the platform to contain a library of specialized industry knowledge for website managers and contributors.
Siteimprove Academy, the customer learning platform, currently offers courses on website accessibility and website governance, the first of their kind to be offered online.
"Siteimprove Academy allows us to rapidly deploy and grow a knowledge base for our customers, adding value to our software," said Siteimprove's eLearning spokesperson Kevin Rydberg. "We've already offered the tools to make their site better, and now we're offering the understanding to use those tools to their maximum potential."
"As the importance of an organization's website becomes their primary face to the outside world, the quality of their web presence becomes increasingly important," Rydberg said. "The Web Accessibility Certification and Web Governance Certification courses provide website managers with the knowledge to structure their team and website more effectively. These are invaluable skill sets for modern web managers, contributors, and developers, for which training simply isn't available anywhere else in a digestible classroom environment like Siteimprove Academy."
Website accessibility, the practice of making websites usable for people with disabilities, is an increasingly-legislated and little-understood topic Siteimprove hopes to shed light on through the new courses.
"According to recent studies, one in five people in the United States claim some form of disability. These people have a right to equal access of public information, and their exclusion can make a serious difference in an organization's bottom line," Rydberg said. "Siteimprove Academy's accessibility certification course builds understanding and best practices for making websites accessible."
Website governance, the practice of structuring roles, regulations, and policies pertaining to website maintenance, is a similarly little-known practice in modern website teams. The idea of governance has long been used by organizations to structure themselves more effectively, and only recently has the idea of applying those techniques to a web team begun to grab attention.
"Not only have volumes of online publishing exploded in recent years, but so has the sophistication and number of platforms to be supported," said Shane Diffily, author of the Siteimprove Web Governance Certification Course. "From web to intranets to social media, this challenge is putting considerable strain on web teams. Web Governance courses are necessary to help put order to all this complexity."
To learn more about Siteimprove Academy contact Kevin Rydberg.


text:
When some event is happening—such as an earthquake, a major court ruling, an iProduct launch, or a celebrity death—there's a certain group of users who want to see what people are saying about it across the entire Internet, right now. Twitter's search works decently enough in this case, but it's limited to Twitter. Now, Google users can get in on the action with Google's realtime search which, as per the name, lets you search what's being posted online in real time.
The search is eventually going to show up at google.com/realtime, but for now, you can check it out at its experimental URL. Originally introduced in December, the search has received "significant improvements" that allow you to narrow your search down in useful ways, such as by region or geography. The example that Google provides on its blog is one that I find particularly useful: if you're traveling to somewhere, you can narrow down the search to that city to see what people are talking about, whether it's current events, new restaurants, construction, or whatever else is going on.
You can also follow conversations—basically, if a tweet or a Facebook update sparks a number of back and forth replies from multiple users, Google allows you to see all of those posts to get the full context.
The graph across the top shows you spikes and valleys in your search, too. For example, a quick search for "tamales" shows me that conversations about the tasty treats peaked around 2pm today, and again at 4pm. Mentions of Ars Technica peaked at around 11am. My name got mentioned the most right around the time an article of mine got posted to the site.
Unlike some of Google's recent feature rollouts (we're looking at you, Google Voice in Gmail), the realtime search isn't just limited to the US or English speakers. The search itself is available in 40 languages, and the geographic refinements are available in English, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish so far.


text:
Updated: 11/12/12
The Domino Recording Company was founded in Putney, South West London by Laurence Bell in 1993. The label's start-up capital consisted of a weekly £40 Enterprise Allowance Grant, some demos from friends in the American underground, the idea that self-expression was still possible in the corporate nineteen nineties and a phone and fax machine on the bedroom floor. Twenty years later the Domino headquarters are a short walk away from Bell's first 'office' and the company's ambitions, operating procedures and ethos remain the same – to represent and release music by artists who have no choice but to make music and to draw them to the attention of the outside world.
The label's first release was Sebadoh's "Soul And Fire"; a song of lovelorn honesty that cut through the prevailing bluster of grunge and introduced a new style of singer-songwriter recording that became known as Lo-Fi. Although always keen to avoid genres and nametags, the first generation of Domino artists became synonymous with the hallmarks of Lo-Fi: home recording, a free hand and an outsider mentality, one that was unconvinced by the music business's wider ideas about commerce. Among the label's earliest successes was Will Oldham under his working name of Palace and its variant modifiers (Palace Songs, Palace Music and Palace Brothers), Smog and Royal Trux; (artists who all released epochal, highly praised, albums that earned the label a unique position and reputation in a UK that was musically fixated on the monolithic good times of Britpop). In a move that typified the label's unique sense of resilience, Domino also released titles by wayward and experimental domestic acts such as Hood, Flying Saucer Attack and The Third Eye Foundation that, together with the label signing The Pastels, ensured Domino celebrated a very British sense of regionalism and at times, eccentricity.
In 1997 Domino released Pavement's landmark commercial breakthrough Brighten The Corners which was followed a year later by Elliott Smith's Either/Or and in 1999 the debut album by Will Oldham as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – I See A Darkness: a series of albums that confirmed the label's reputation as the preeminent European home of American music. Bell's desire to work with British bands as innovative and singular as his American artists reached fruition in the late nineties with the signings of Four Tet, Clinic, James Yorkston and The Kills.
All were acts with a distinct identity that established Domino as a label interested in creativity rather than in any particular sound or style. Towards the end of its first decade the label became synonymous with this new set of artists who provided a catalogue for Domino's newly opened New York office to release into the American market.
It was a Glaswegian act that Bell signed just as Domino celebrated it tenth anniversary that would see the label enter the international mainstream. Franz Ferdinand's self-titled debut was released at the beginning of 2004 and went on to sell several million albums worldwide. While the rest of the industry was trying to catch its breath over the fact a small independent company was able to compete so forcefully by engaging in 'pop terrorism' (to use one of Bell's favourite phrases) Domino quickly repeated Franz Ferdinand's multiplatinum success on an even bigger scale. Through a series of down-to the-wire negotiations Bell signed Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys and the label quickly released the band's debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not to an expectant audience. It was a high water mark and unplanned for moment in the label's history that saw the band break the record for the fastest selling debut album of all time.
Domino has used its newly acquired commercial expertise to sign a generation of American bands that includes Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Real Estate & Julia Holter and offer a home to such revered artists as Robert Wyatt, King Creosote and Hot Chip, a testament to both its worldwide reach and the renaissance of the independent sector. The label is now a fully international company with offices in Wandsworth, Brooklyn, Berlin and Paris. Domino has also grown in other areas of the music business, establishing a publishing company and a series of labels including Double Six, Ribbon Music and Weird World, as well as an on-going reissue catalogue that highlights classic recordings and bands from the post punk era such as Orange Juice, Young Marble Giants and Liquid Liquid.
The past few years have also seen Domino enter into a series of lively collaborations with companies outside the music industry. These include Loops, a music journal which was produced in partnership with Faber & Faber and a limited edition clothing line with Uniqlo. The label also contributed to the wider cultural landscape by establishing both the Domino Press, a books imprint whose first publication was James Yorkston's picaresque It's Lovely To Be Here and a pop-up weeklong radio station: Domino Radio, in 2011.
On the eve of its twentieth anniversary Domino Recording Co. remains a wholly independent record company whose characteristics are best represented by its artists: individuality, originality and a total immersion in music's worlds of possibility.


text:
The 4th of July is such a great holiday, one of my favorites.
We had a great time at the balloons, as always. I love that we have done this every single year since our kids were born.
Last year we forgot Kallie's shoes and Shannon came to the rescue, this time we forgot Mckinley's shoes. I let her borrow mine until Shellee could come rescue her. Next year I'm putting all three kids' shoes in the car the night before!
We love that Ross always gets tickets for the breakfast after the balloons. Such a great tradition.
The parade this year was better than ever. Ross saved us an amazing parking spot with the scooter, our seats were excellent, the kids had a blast! Couldn't have asked for anything more.
We had a BBQ for lunch and had so much fun spending lots of time with family!


text:
Setup my Reseller storefront
After purchasing your new Reseller plan, you will need to set it up using our on-boarding wizard.
- Log in to your GoDaddy account and open your product. (Need help opening your account?)
- Enter your Company Name. This will appear on your storefront and marketing materials. You can change this at any time.
- A Payee Account will be automatically created for you based on your Company Name, or you can select an existing one from the drop-down.
- Click Next.
- To finish setting up your Reseller plan, you can edit the following options from your dashboard:
- Payments — Select Set Up Payments to edit your payee information.
- Storefront Branding — Select Edit & Publish to customize your default storefront appearance.
- Support Options — Select View Options to review default support options for your customers and opt-in to our newsletter.
- Once finished, click View Dashboard to access your Reseller Control Center.
Next steps
- Create a unique storefront with a custom domain.
- For enhanced storefront customization, you can use the WordPress plugin.
More info
- Update and manage your product offerings and pricing.