My FourSquare #TimeMachine

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So FourSquare, in partnership with Samsung plugging the new Galaxy S4, has this really awesome compilation from ALL of your FourSquare checkins. In the FourSquare Time Machine your FourSquare career plays out in a beautiful and snappy video before you are rewarded with your statistics in the form of an infograph.

Here’s what mine looks like:

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Honestly, this is just the kind of stuff that I love about data sets. More importantly, these are the kind of results I love to see in formats that are engaging, informative, and designed well.

3 More Facebook Photos That Are Keepers

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So I started using Flipboard on my iPhone, and I have to be honest, it rocks. I love the visuals of it which is why, once again, here’s a few things I found on Facebook that you may have missed…

Piracy Explained

So the TechEblog explained Piracy in one picture:

Shiver me timbers! I thought sweet trade had t’ do wi’ boats, cannons, an’… well… swashbucklers! Who knew ‘t had t’ do wi’ pink kitties?

Seriously… how long do you give them before they send me a “OMG!?!?! You STOLE our photo!?!?!?!” e-mail? Yeah… 3… 2… 1….

How Much Do You Make?

This is a great answer to a question we get probably a bit too often…

This comes from Volunteers: The Series which is something you should check out for some other hidden gems.

How Much Does The CEO Make?

Here’s some interesting statistics shared by The Coffee Party

I find this interesting, not so much for the information it presents but by the people who are propagating it. The Coffee Party seems to be the liberal response to the conservative Tea Party. That’s all fine and good, and if they have concerns about corporations and what their CEOs make that’s all fine and good, but consider where it is they have their meetings…

This is the image The Coffee Party uses as their Facebook “Cover Photo”

They happen to be funding those very same CEO salaries they are complaining about. For that matter, if the average Starbucks employee makes $10 an hour ($21,000 a year) then the ratio is more like 761:1 according to this Seattle Times Article.

Supporting that which they oppose.

And then they wonder why they’ll lose in November.

The Princess and I

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The Princess and I

3 Facebook Photos That Are Keepers

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One of my big complaints back in 2009 about Twitter was the speed in which the stream moved. While Facebook has done a pretty good job of making the status updates and news consumable, there’s a good chance you may have missed these little jems that I caught during the week.

The Solo Cup Myth Debunked

The first image actually comes from the Solo Cup Page correcting an urban myth that received it’s own viral status earlier in the week:

I have to give the people at Solo Cup a lot of credit for debunking a cool myth about their own product, even though it is surprisingly accurate.

Sending Available Signals

The next image got passed around from friend to friend, but it has a very important message directed to all those youngsters out there who like to where baggy pants without belts and showing off their Fruit of the Loom:

So yeah, I could absolutely see how this would translate to the outside world. So, unless you’re available, pull up your damn pants!

Victims of Extreme Bullshit

Ribbons have been used to commemorate political causes, raise awareness for medical afflictions, and raise awareness for victims of various types of crimes.

This is a cause I can get behind especially having been a victim of this myself. I have no doubt that there are a number of you who have also been victims of this heinous crime. For that matter, I’m surprised we don’t have a national day of remembrance for all the victims established yet.

Something to keep in mind for next year…

The Hamilton Avenue Bridge

Photo Jan 23, 7 13 53 PM (HDR)

The bridge goes up… the bridge comes down.

This is a photo of the Hamilton Avenue Bridge on its way down. The photo was taken with my new iPhone 4s with HDR engaged. It looked really good on the small screen… but on the big screen I’m less impressed.

On HIPAA And Photography

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Earlier this week I mentioned a video on STATter 911 that showed an EMT swipe a camera from a local activist in the name of the all powerful 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Acountability Act (HIPAA).

Now I’ll be honest, while the video is slightly disturbing I can understand why it happened. The activist was being obnoxious, rude, beligerant, and basically baiting the EMTs and Police Officers. Unfortunately this particular EMT, identified as Captain Ronald Leslie, took the bait and swallowed it whole like a wide mouthed bass. What I find to be more outrageous, and a blaring indicator to the actual problem, were the comments left on the original post.

So it begs to question how could a Captain be so blatantly wrong in his assertion that HIPAA prevents photographers/videographers from taking images on a public street and how can so many providers think that he was actually in the right?

The answer is that we provide an extremely poor education in not only HIPAA but also laws regarding photography. I’ve had my fair share of people tell me the same thing, including supervisors, chiefs and directors. I thought that we had done better in this area of education, but it appears we haven’t.

Who HIPAA Actually Applies To

To violate HIPAA it must actually apply to you. Some covered entities are:

  • Doctors
  • Nurses
  • Clinics
  • Hospitals
  • Dentists
  • Chiropractors

…and since we bill health insurance for reimbursement…

  • EMS Agencies
  • EMTs
  • Paramedics

Anyone notice something missing? Yes, Firefighters don’t necessarily make the list. However if you are certified as a healthcare provider or belong to a fire based EMS system then you are included as well. For firefighters who are members of a fire department who does not respond to medical emergencies, are not healthcare providers and therefore do not bill for compensation, HIPAA does not apply.

As for everyone else, such as the media and John Q. Public with a Flip UltraHD Camcorder or a cellphone camera, since HIPAA does not cover them then the rules governing patient privacy do not apply to them. Therefore they cannot “violate” them.

3 Of The 10 Legal Commandments of Photography

Laws will vary from state to state and city to city, but there are some very basic guidelines that are universal thanks to the US Constitution and its Amendments. An excellent guideline to these rights are The Ten Legal Commandments Of Photography. In the case above there are three specific Commandments that apply:

I. Anyone in a public place can take pictures of anything they want. Public places include parks, sidewalks, malls, etc. Malls? Yeah. Even though it’s technically private property, being open to the public makes it public space.

So is a courthouse open to the public? I would hope so. Therefore it is indeed legitimate to photograph/videograph inside of that building. Government buildings deal with highly sensitive materials in regards to national security may indeed prohibit photography as per Commandment IV, but I don’t think the Keene Courthouse is harboring anything of that nature.

V. People can be photographed if they are in public (without their consent) unless they have secluded themselves and can expect a reasonable degree of privacy. Kids swimming in a fountain? Okay. Somebody entering their PIN at the ATM? Not okay.

So this dispels the whole argument about the photographer not having consent forms for the people they photographed. If indeed it is in a public place, it can be photographed. Now what those photographs can be used for is a different issue. If for arguments sake someone wanted to use one of those photographs as an advertisement for a product inferring an endorsement, because it is now for commercial use they will probably need consent forms. The chances of that however are highly unlikely.

VI. The following can almost always be photographed from public places, despite popular opinion:

* accident & fire scenes, criminal activities
* bridges & other infrastructure, transportation facilities (i.e. airports)
* industrial facilities, Superfund sites
* public utilities, residential & commercial buildings
* children, celebrities, law enforcement officers
* UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, Chuck Norris

Once again, these are things within public view and therefore are legally within the realm of the photographer without the need for any special dispensation.

A few months back I posted the NYPD OPS Order On Photography. If you read the OPS Order it is very specific that the laws and practices the NYPD abides by follows the Ten Commandments very closely.

It is important to realize that these permissions are truly in our best interest as a society. While it may seem not in the best interest of the patient, if the freedom to do so didn’t exist then the video of Paramedic Maurice White getting choked by Trooper Daniel Martin would be illegal as well. Ultimately it is important that Responders understand and respect both their responsibilities to and the rights of their patients and those around them, especially photographers and the media.

This is also a great reason why your agency should be involved in Social Media. If the Keene Fire Department would have had a Social Media presence instead of this webpage, they would have been able to defend themselves in a more direct fashion. If you’re from the Keene Fire Department and reading this, it’s not too late to get started in Social Media.

NYPD OPS Order On Photography

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There have been a number of reports from photographers and tourists about NYPD forbidding them to take photos of such things as The Empire State Building, The Times Square Police Station, and photos on the New York City Subway. This is an NYPD OPS Order On Photography that was re-issued 4/03/09 (click to enlarge).

It is clear from the OPS Order above that NYPD is NOT allowed to view the photos taken without consent or direct you to delete them.

If traveling in New York City, I highly suggest printing a copy of this document out in case you run into an overzealous rookie.