Free Republic

A lone Jew dedicated to fighting for Judea and Samaria in Israel's courts has struck fear into the Arab residents of Arab Susya. The Susya in question, which lies between Kiryat Arba-Hevron and Arad, is eponymously named for a nearby Jewish community that pre-dates its construction. "He comes with small weapons and his camera, sometimes with armed forces, sometimes with settlers,” Susya resident Nasser Nawaja told the Bethlehem-based Maan News Agency. The man in question is Ovad Arad, director of the Judea and Samaria section of the Regavim non-governmental organization. Arad is tasked with photographing and documenting illegal Arab construction...

Amid unaddressed concerns, the Portland City Council on Wednesday sent Police Chief Mike Reese back to his bureau to draft stricter policies before allowing police to place surveillance cameras on private property in Old Town and Chinatown. Commissioner Dan Saltzman echoed concerns raised by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon when he asked for assurances that police wouldn't use the cameras to peep into private residences. Reese, who wants to put up the video surveillance cameras to help officers monitor drug deals, said "These cameras are not focused on anything but public right-of-ways." The chief, though, did acknowledge in...

DES MOINES — The Iowa House voted Tuesday to ban red light cameras on a 58-42 vote that broke largely — but not completely — along party lines. The bill now goes to the Senate, where there seems to be little chance that it will make it to the floor for a vote. The legislation took a long route to Tuesday’s vote. A camera ban had momentum at the start of the session, including tentative support from the governor and one legislator offering a constitutional amendment to ban the devices in the state. But as the session wore on, support...

Continuing his pattern of appearing on every television show – and particularly, every major sporting event – that will have him, President Obama joined the halftime show of the championship game of the Final Four last night. There he was given a four-minute infomercial about what a great guy he was, in the guise of an interview with CBS’ Clark “Special K” Kellogg. If this wasn’t an in-kind contribution, nothing is. Did Obama talk about the game? Not really. Instead, he continued his obvious campaign to reach out to female voters with gems like this: "A couple of things. Number...

Using facial recognition to process surveillance footage isn't a new concept — Scotland Yard began using the technique in the wake of last year's London riots — but a new system developed by Hitachi Kokusai Electric could make the process quicker and more flexible than ever before. Shown off at this year's Security Show expo in Japan, the system processes footage from both still images and live footage, recognizing faces in real-time, and can search through up to 36 million different faces for a comparison in one second. Recognized faces are displayed as thumbnails and grouped with matching footage,...

I am looking to upgrade my camera. I have a point and shoot Sony. I am looking for better quality pictures and the ability to take pictures of my son playing sports (fast speed no blur). Having said this, I am a total novice.. any advice?

Nikon has unveiled a new superzoom compact camera called the P510 that offers a ridiculous 42x optical zoom — the highest zoom ratio ever seen in such a camera. In 35mm terms, the lens goes from a 24mm on the wide-angle side to a 1000mm on the telephoto end. The 16.1MP camera also boasts a 3-inch LCD screen, 1080p video recording, GPS, 5fps continuous shooting, and ISO 3200. It’ll hit store shelves later this month with a price tag of $430.

Investment tips for 2012 With all the turmoil in the market, the collapse of Lehman Bros and the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, we all need some good investment advice For any of you with any money left, beware of the next year's expected mergers. Watch for these consolidations later this year: 1.) Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W R. Grace Co. will merge and become: Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace. 2.) Polygram Records, Warner Bros., and Zesta Crackers join forces and become: Poly, Warner, Cracker. 3.) 3M will merge with Goodyear and become:...

It just occured to me that although I've been enjoying this site for a long time I've never passed on the link.This site has owners manuals for many older cameras and flashes.It's free to download but the site is supported by donations, so kick in a couple of bucks.If you've ever tried to hunt down an old manual the value of this collection is obvious.SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC BEFORE YOU SEND MONEY TO ANYONE!!!

Photography related ads from 1880 into the 1990s.

This ought to instill an appropriate level of fear, then The above photo by Ronnie Miranda appeared various places following the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver in mid-June. But the original is not just any wide-angle shot, for what he captured was actually a massive 1.0 gigapixel (one billion) digital image.Such technology offers astonishing detail that is obviously useful to anyone working in law enforcement or security/intelligence -how useful? Simply click on the pic above and then zoom right down by double-clicking on anybody in the crowd... pretty scary. One can clearly see the faces of almost every single individual (prior to the trouble breaking-out) with just...

The defendants stood before the hearing officer, traffic citations in hand, each accused of running a red light in Miami Gardens, as captured by one of the city’s 29 intersection cameras. Within minutes, seven of the cases were dismissed, with the hearing officer ruling they had tripped the cameras while making a legal right turn on red. The remaining three, who will now have to pay a $277 ticket, were sent off with a cheerful “Have a good day … and drive carefully.’’ While presumably those three violators weren’t happy with the outcome, neither are the municipalities in South Florida...

I'm posting my situation on a thread in order to alert others to be on the look out of ways the government, especially the local government, may be ripping us off. I believe we are being targeted as fools to pay for our politicians shortfalls. I live in Maryland, a very liberal state which taxes everything, and am seeing signs they are desperate to raise money instead of ways to cut spending. Here is a situation I found myself in recently: I received a "final notice" for speed monitoring violation from the town of Forest Heights PD (Maryland). However, I...

Memphis City Council Chairman Myron Lowery is proposing to bridge the city’s budget deficit by boosting yields from traffic fines on speeding. The plan is to add radar guns to existing red-light automated enforcement zones and capture photos of drivers exceeding the posted speed limits. “Look, the overwhelming majority of drivers are speeders,” Lowery observed. “That’s a pretty big potential source of revenue that we could get our hands on.” The National Motorists Association contends that “the majority of drivers speed because the posted limits are set below what they should be. They generate millions of pointless traffic tickets and...

I'm looking for a digital camera with no delay between shutter click and capture. Most have a 1-2 second delay. My grand daughter is into acrobatics and my daughter wants to take good pictures. Any help is welcome.

A thermal imaging project in the city of Boston has been put on hold because of privacy concerns. Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal reports. Boston officials had hoped to have aerial and street-level photos taken across about four square miles of the city this winter using infrared cameras that would show heat loss in the city homes. Officials planned on sharing the photos and analysis with homeowners, and were hoping the findings would increase enrollment in efficiency programs and also create business opportunities. But, the project hit a snag when the American Civil Liberties Union of...

EDMONTON, Alberta, The city of Edmonton, Alberta, is writing off nearly $13 million worth of speeding tickets because the reliability of cameras came into question. Crown Prosecutor Steven Bilodeau said he petitioned the provincial justice ministry to nullify the tickets as people were receiving tickets for impossible infractions, the Edmonton Journal reported. In one case on Jan. 12, a camera snapshot alleged a driver was traveling at 89 mph on a city street, but the video showed all the other vehicles around it moving at the same speed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Bilodeau said all 141,729 tickets issued by...

PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne’s Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved. That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap. In the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages have raced here, transforming this small prairie-bound city not far from the Oklahoma border for...

Anaheim voters made it clear today they have no interest in having cameras installed at intersections to catch red-light runners. Anaheim voters made it clear today they have no interest in having cameras installed at intersections to catch red-light runners. Voters overwhelmingly approved Measure K, which bans red light cameras from being installed at the city's intersections. City Council members put the issue on the ballot in part because they objected to the idea of using the cameras as a money-raising tool.

Houstonians rejected the city's red light camera program in a hard-fought ballot contest, delivering an immediate $10 million hit to an already dire budget situation at City Hall. With almost all votes counted, a majority of voters put a decisive end to the use of the devices, which had been used to issue more than 800,000 tickets and collected $44 million in fines since 2006. "This is a victory for the people," said Paul Kubosh, an attorney who defends red light runners and collected more than 20,000 signatures with his brothers to get the referendum on the ballot. "The voters...

Fewer people have been killed and injured on roads following a decision by a local council to switch off its speed cameras. Accident data shows that in the first nine months after the devices were scrapped in Swindon, there were 315 road casualties in the area as a whole, compared with 327 in the same period the previous year. In total there were two fatalities – compared with four in the same period previously – and 44 serious injuries, down from 48. The figures were seized on by campaigners who claim speed cameras do little to combat problem driving...

Several dozen Arizona speed enforcement cameras have officially stopped clicking earlier this morning as the state of Arizona officially killed a traffic enforcement program that failed to generate promised revenue. The state ended its two-year contract with Australia-based Redflex Traffic Systems, the company responsible for installing the cameras and processing imagery. A total of 76 fixed and mobile cameras will be removed from state streets and highways by Labor Day. The state said that drivers that have been snapped along Arizona highways before Friday morning are still responsible for paying the tickets. Drivers, however, are taking a different tune. “I...

Folks heads up, In a phone call I was made aware of a situation today with a Candidate running for the House.

Why is it that when the press is allowed into the white house to cover comments being said by the anointed one, you can barely hear the talking due to the extreme clicking and clacking of the (apparently) antique cameras making so much clatter? My gosh - Are these news agencies so broke that they can't upgrade to nice, quiet 21st century DIGITAL cameras instead of 20th century (probably dating back to the '30s or '40s) cameras?

Plastic Bags To Be Put Over Birmingham 'Terror Cameras' 17 June 2010: A surveillance operation in parts of Birmingham with large Muslim populations has been halted after it was revealed the move was linked to counter terrorism. Bags have now been placed over more than 200 cameras in the Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook districts. They were part of the Project Champion scheme, paid for from a Home Office counter terrorism fund. But officials behind the project said it would have deterred various crimes. Steve Jolly, one of those who first began campaigning about the cameras, said people had been "misled"....

ATS secures investment from Goldman SachsPhoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady Phoenix Business Journal Dave D’Amato, design and engineering manager for American Traffic Solutions Inc., works on a device that will take pictures of speeders. View Larger American Traffic Solutions Inc. is getting an investment boost from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help it meet increasing demand for its red-light and speed cameras. Although neither company would disclose the amount of the investment, ATS President James Tuton said it was a “significant” amount that will net the former investment house, now a bank holding company, two seats on the...

In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer. Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists. The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland are among the 12 states in which...

PHOENIX – Arizona is ending a groundbreaking and contentious program that put speed cameras along Phoenix-area freeways and in vans deployed across the state. Opponents have argued the cameras open the door for wider "Big Brother" surveillance and are more about making money than safety. The program has been the target of an initiative measure proposed for the November ballot. Even Gov. Jan Brewer has said she doesn't like the cameras, and her intention to end the program was first disclosed in her January budget proposal. That was followed by a non-renewal letter sent by the Arizona Department of Public...

James Cameron's love of science and high-tech cameras has previously shone through with his undersea documentaries -- not to mention Titanic or even Avatar. Now the film director is playing "public engagement co-investigator" on NASA's upcoming SUV-sized rover mission, which will carry full-color digital cameras and zoom lenses -- but it's a race to complete the lenses in time for the mission's 2011 launch. Cameron approached NASA administrator Charles Bolden about including the 3-D camera in January, according to the AP. NASA had originally cut the 3-D camera and zoom lens options back in 2007, for budgetary reasons. But Cameron's...

People who ran a light recently at a South Seattle intersection known for red-light cameras have caught a break. The camera ...was stolen earlier this month and police are still searching for it. A police spokesman said they've identified a car they believe was involved in the theft, but the investigation is ongoing. The camera is owned by American Traffic Solutions, the vendor that contracts with the city. Under normal circumstances, the city pays $3,750 per month for the camera service. Between July 26, 2006 -- the first day a red-light camera ticket was issued in Seattle -- and May...

The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks. The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.” The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall. The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two local groups say a Cincinnati-based political action committee is assisting the petition drives they are launching Friday to ban traffic cameras in Cleveland and Garfield Heights. The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) helped write the petition language for proposed charter amendments to end camera use in those cities and pledged legal help for the campaigns, said former Garfield Heights council president Frank Wagner, who is leading the drive in his city. "COAST has a track record of completion and wins on this issue," said Maryanne Petranek of Cleveland and the group Cuyahoga County...

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2010 – In the lead-up to the summer fighting season in Afghanistan, the Defense Department is focused on helping troops counter the threat of makeshift bombs, employing among other things, cameras to catch insurgents in the act of planting explosives, a senior department official said last week. The military has been using elevated, line-of-sight cameras as part of its intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance counterinsurgency tactics, Ashton B. Carter, Undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said during an April 2 conference on defense logistics modernization at the Center for Strategic and International Studies here. The cameras,...

Last month, Herman Jacob took his daughter and her friend camping in the Francis Marion National Forest. While poking around for some firewood, Jacob noticed a wire. He pulled on it and followed it to a video camera and antenna. The camera didn't have any markings identifying its owner, so Jacob took it home and called law enforcement agencies to find out if it was theirs, all the while wondering why someone would station a video camera in an isolated clearing in the woods. He eventually received a call from Mark Heitzman of the U.S. Forest Service. In a stiff...

A masked man, a citizens group, a judge and other motorists are behind the fight against photo enforcement. Arizonans drive long distances on their highways, and they like to do it fast. But since the Grand Canyon State began enforcing speed limits with roadside cameras, motorists are raging against the machines: They have blocked out the lenses with Post-it notes or Silly String. During the Christmas holidays, they covered the cameras with boxes, complete with wrapping paper....

FREEPERS- DON'T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR CAMERAS TO ALL POLLING PLACES IN MASSACHUSETTS! DON'T LET THE FLAG-BURNING SOCIALISTS STEAL THIS ELECTION FROM AMERICA!

Sources Tell CBS 2 That TSA Surveillance Cameras Were Inoperable At Time Of Terminal C Security Breach. TSA Apparently Didn't Know Number For Continental To Get Other Footage. It's a tale of shocking ineptitude: CBS 2 has learned a series of missteps unnecessarily added to the mayhem at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday. The six-hour delay stranded thousands of people, creating extreme crowding and chaos. The mistakes made at the airport give new meaning to the term "domino effect." It was a cascading series of missteps that cry out for action. The sign at the Transportation Security Administration screening...

There are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain watching our every move. In London, there are more CCTV cameras than any other city in the world with one camera for every eight Londoners. But as victims of crime have found to their cost, catching criminals on camera is dependent on the equipment being both monitored and maintained. BBC Inside Out's investigation has found that all too often Big Brother either is not watching, had a broken camera, lost the footage or could not be bothered to go through the tapes. Even within the Metropolitan Police itself, there are differences of...

"LAMBERTVILLE: Restaurant owner jailed on attempted homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and other charges" 14 May 2009 | Uncategorized LAMBERTVILLE — SNIPPET: "Khalid Altawarh, 36, who also goes by the name David Shookby, took the woman’s Jeep Wrangler and fled the scene when she escaped into the arms of a friend who had stopped by to see if she was all right. She had failed to show up for work that morning, May 8, police said. Plumstead Township, Pa., police Chief Duane E. Hasenauer said Mr. Altawarh has been charged with attempted homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and other related...

instead of fewer accidents, the number of traffic accidents has gone up at most of the Los Angeles intersections where red-light cameras have been installed.

...Today, let’s talk cameras. Cameras on utility polls. Cameras on the corners of buildings. Cameras following you as you walk through town, a college campus, or your own neighborhood. Upset? Seems quite a few Atlantans are...

A MAN who established a sophisticated network of peepholes and cameras to spy on his flatmates has escaped a jail sentence after police were unable to crack an encryption code on his home computer. Rohan James Wyllie, 39, yesterday pleaded guilty in Southport District Court to charges of attempting to visually record one of his flatmates when she was in a private place without her consent. But police were unable to prove his elaborate surveillance system had actually been used. Wyllie's three flatmates, two women and a man, grew suspicious that he was up to something when they noticed lights...

Twice in the past two days, SEPTA officials have alerted police to men taking pictures on the Broad Street subway line in South Philadelphia. On Wednesday, a SEPTA cashier told officers about a man taking pictures at the Lombard-South station, but the man, after being questioned by the cashier about his activities, left before officers arrived.

Reporting from Broughton, England - The good folk of Broughton don't take kindly to being photographed without permission. Just ask Google. When the search-engine giant sent one of its specially equipped cars to take pictures of the village for its Street View feature, residents swung into action. They stopped the car in its tracks, called the police and quizzed the bewildered driver for nearly two hours before letting him go. "I don't think this guy anticipated how angry people would get," said Edward Butler-Ellis, 28. "We didn't stand there with pitchforks or anything and block the road with bales of...

LOS ANGELES—In two separate cases, three men have been sentenced to federal prison for attempting to transport sensitive and advanced U.S. technology to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Two men were sentenced yesterday, and another man linked to one of the schemes was sentenced last week to five years in prison. William Chi-Wai Tsu, 61, a Beijing resident, was sentenced yesterday to 40 months imprisonment for his role in exporting high-tech integrated circuits with military applications to the PRC. In a separate case, Tah Wei Chao, 53, of Beijing, was sentenced yesterday to 20 months imprisonment after pleading guilty...

Speed camera maker sets up program allowing Baton Rouge, Louisiana to issue $167 automated litter tickets. Speed camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) next month will use its automated ticketing expertise to run a litter camera program for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Under first-of-its-kind initiative, city workers will drive around photographing neighborhoods with special cameras hooked into a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite tracking device. The workers will be looking to capture homes that might have litter, weeds or trash on their lawn so that a hefty fine can be imposed. "The mayor's office has put together a new enforcement program...

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- Most public officials like red light cameras, but many motorists do not. The city of Los Angeles is concerned it could lose these high-tech "speed catchers" because of one company's financial woes. The red light cameras are scattered at intersections all over Southern California, but the company that runs them is also in the red. "For this particular company, our information is they're $33 million in debt. That's a major problem," said L.A. Councilman Dennis Zine. The company, Nestor Traffic Systems out of Rhode Island, filed for receivership in June.

Area drivers looking to outwit police speed cameras are using an iPhone application and other global positioning system devices that pinpoint the location of the cameras. That has irked D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, who promised her officers would pick up their game to counteract the devices, which can also help drivers dodge sobriety checkpoints. "I think that's the whole point of this program," she told The Examiner. "It's designed to circumvent law enforcement -- law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives." (snip) Photo radar tickets generated nearly $1 billion in revenues for D.C. during fiscal years 2005...

Red light cameras now check for insurance, tooDrive without insurance? Then you'd better stay out of Ohio, where the state is considering a program that uses red-light cameras and insurance company databases to check passing traffic for uninsured motorists. The system would use license plate numbers to verify driver insurance. According to the Columbus Dispatch, officials in Chicago, who are considering the same system, from InsureNet of Novi, Michigan, think that such a program could generate $200 million in additional revenue for the Windy City. When the system identifies an uninsured motorist, the driver would be sent a letter instructing...

The media have an obvious vested interest in constantly urging that cameras be allowed in more places where governmental decisions are being made, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Like so many things that are said to be good for the public, this is something that would be good only for its advocates — and harmful to the process of making decisions in the public interest, as distinguished from providing a forum for grandstanding. The adage that "seeing is believing" should be a warning. What you see in politics is what politicians want you to see. You believe...