Faster, better…

Archive for July, 2008

Santa Rosa, CA 073108 – I was skeptical. When someone claims to invent a better mousetrap I’m skeptical. So when Matt Thomas from BK Enterprises pitched me on their new line of graffiti removal products I was skeptical. Then I read the various testimonials, heard about the success of the product over the last eighteen months and learned more about BK Enterprises. I sure looks like Matt’s company has indeed invented a great graffiti cleaning product – five new products actually. They call it, “A New Generation in Graffiti Removal.”

BK manufactures graffiti cleaning products for specific types of cleaning. There is ELITE Graffiti Remover for brick, concrete and stone.  Until now sand blasting or painting (neither are terrific options for various reasons) were the only options available to most jurisdictions responsible for cleaning up graffiti vandalism. Next are Metal Safe and Sign Safe Graffiti Removers for indoor or outdoor metal signs. There is MARKER Graffiti Remover designed to remove marker graffiti on painted doors, walls, counter tops, and mail boxes. Lastly is their General Purpose product. Needless to say I was impressed how far graffiti abatement cleaning technology has come.

Cities and counties needing to look again at their graffiti abatement options should contact BK Enterprises and discuss these new products. Read their testimonials and decide for yourself. I suspect BK might even want to look at designing a better mousetrap. They just might be the company to do it. Visit BK at http://www.mybke.com.

Santa Rosa, CA 073108 – Graffiti prevention occurs through early intervention, education, and empowerment. Thankfully Ann Cooney and her illustrator Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli are masters at prevention through education. Through the Anti-Graffiti Resource Kit they call Painted Problems, teachers use beautifully illustrated lesson plans and brilliantly designed art projects for young students. Teachers give students unique project completion certificates after completing their art projects. Education was big a theme at this conference. The folks from Painted Problems have an educational anti-graffiti product directed at students in the 8-10 age group that clearly gets the anti-graffiti message across. Anne’s product stands out as a very artistic and meaningful approach to what can later become a complicated behavioral problem.

Through art projects, students learn that graffiti is not a victimless crime. They learn how to report graffiti to the authorities and involve themselves in the community. The illustrated characters are attractively enjoyable reading. As Anne says, “Every community can relate to the graffiti victims in Painted Problems. Everyone can work together to graffiti proof their community.”

Santa Rosa, CA 073108- Graffiti Removal, Inc. demonstrated their glass repair product Vandal Shield at the NorCal Graffiti Conference . Vandal Shield developed and patented a product that can repair expensive windows and glass surfaces negating the need to spend thousands in some cases to replace etched or scratched glass. Conference attendees were very impressed by this genuinely unique abatement technology.

Using Vanda Shield is easy. The surfaces are thoroughly cleaned. Then surfaces are sanded with special glass sanding disks. A sheet of the Vanda Shield product is evenly applied to the sanded area with a water-based solution. Using a squeegee the final bond of the Vandal Shield product is assured. Once complete the glass is repaired, amazingly clear, and complete glass replacement was not required.

You can read about Vandal Shield at http://www.vandalshield.com. You can see a demo of the product in action at http://www.youtube.com/vandalshield.

You can also reach the Vandal Shiled folks at 800-543-4500.

Santa Rosa, CA 073108 – At the NorCal Graffiti Conference a company called TRIPWIRE demonstrated the TRIPWIRE Rapid Apprehension System. TRIPWIRE specializes in remote, instant alert systems to apprehend the perpetrators of vandalism. As I roamed the vendor display rooms I found the TRIPWIRE product to be very exciting.

The TRIPWIRE system employees hidden sensors that trigger hidden cameras. Once pictures are taken the pictures are routed by cellular telephone direct to Blackberry style cellular telephones. Once received the person viewing the cellular picture can react to the trespass or the vandalism. What is so unique about the system is its portability.

Perhaps even more exciting is the subscription-based database product that TRIPWIRE sells that allows a jurisdiction to catalog, record, track, and search graffiti vandalism events. TRIPWIRE was a HIT at the conference. The price for such a unique high-tech system? Any city or county can afford it. David Blac, the Director is sure you will find his prices beat the competition.

Additional information on TRIPWIRE is available at http://www.tripwiresystems.com and information on the database at http://www.gripsystems.org and by regular mail to:

TRIPWIRE

c/o Director David Black

Factory 2, 5 Deblin Dr.

Narre Warrren, VIC 3805

Australia

+61 397030155

(Santa Rosa, CA., DougWeb, 073108) Over three hundred persons including anti-graffiti vendors, graffiti victims, police, attorney’s, community non-profits attended the NorCal Graffiti Conference sponsored by the NoGraf Network and the Santa Rosa Police Department.

Three conference rooms were filled with anti-graffiti vendors marketing incredibly useful abatement and detection products to cities and counties. Attendance included companies from Australia and Sweden.

Event organizer Randy Campbell, Executive Director of the NoGraf Network MC’d the event which provided a number of speakers on various topics from abatement, to edication and enforcement.

Santa Rosa’s mayor and a captain of police did introductory addresses thanking everyone for attending this valuable networking conference.

To: Doug Smith
RE: Attendance at the 2008 Graffiti Trade Show and Conference

Hello Doug, The Santa Rosa Police Department and The Nograf Network Inc. has joined together in order to be able to present this informative conference and Trade Show Event. It is our desire to go beyond the normal graffiti conferences of past. In this event we are trying to put together all the available vendors, including, Covert Camera Equipment, Graffiti Databases, Paint and Chemical manufacturers’ and Suppliers, Glass Etching Specialist, plus many Citizen Based Community Service Groups and we will also be providing information about successful restitution awarded to victims of graffiti. We hope to be able to provide attendees with not only an in-depth view of current programs, but also a wide range of vendors to assist in those programs.

I would like to invite you to attend this event as you are well known throughout the world as one of the few early graffiti fighters at a time when most people had never heard of graffiti. You were a private citizen and did more than anyone, to wake up local police worldwide!

This event is an accumulation of your efforts throughout the years. I have assembled a long list of speakers who will be there to provide the latest information on what is happening in the world of graffiti abatement, including many successful and tested programs to reduce or eliminate graffiti. You can view the detailed list at the website www.norcalgraffiti.com.

The Nograf Network will be happy to pick up the cost of airfare and hotel accommodations for your attendance. Dates of event are July 31- Aug 1, 2008 in Santa Rosa, CA.

Randy Campbell
President and Executive Director
The Nograf Network Inc.
A 501 (C3) Non Profit Corporation
www.nograffiti.com
509-531-1334 or [email protected]

The Coast Guard is also searching Dares Beach in the Chesapeake Bay for a 73-year-old man. Officials say the man disappeared Saturday evening from a catamaran that capsized. One man on the boat was rescued by the Calvert County Sheriff’s Department. (WTOP News)

(My wife and I watched the Coast Guard and DNR helicopters conduct this search Saturday night and Sunday morning for hours. Thanks to WTOP for finally writing about the details. We have been looking for the news on this all weekend. We understand the body of a 73 year old man was found on Sunday. A tragic end to a long rescue effort.)
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Please, if you are going boating wear your Coast Guard Approved life jacket/life preserver. It may just save your life. Make sure your equipment is safe to wear and that all your boating safety equipment is up to date and meets specification for your craft.

Don’t take chances with your life.

Maryland House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol yesterday and received unsupervised probation but no jail time in a plea agreement that allows the matter to be expunged from his record if he stays out of trouble. (Washington Post)

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Sgt. Ken Turner, a spokesman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, said investigators do not think that the incidents are related.
Turner said that there was one similarity in the deaths.
“No one was wearing a life jacket.” (Read the complete article at the Washington Post)

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Unlike the state of Maryland, companies in the private sector must tighten their belts when there is a downturn in business and cut expenses, the exact opposite of what Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley and the Democratic majority state legislature did in Maryland. Instead, they decided to boost the budget and hike taxes! (Red Maryland Blog)

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This Chesapeake Bay city of idled crab processing plants and costly vacation homes has had a not-too-distant history of racial strife. But when Cambridge elected its first black mayor this week, residents said their worries about joblessness and the economy were foremost on their minds — not the race or gender of the winning candidate. (Blackvoices.com)

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Chesapeake Bay crabber Paul Kellam has advice for the teenage boys who help tend his traps every summer: You better have a backup plan. (CNN.COM)

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Amazing story of a deer was rescued a whole mile out into the water by fisherman. Pics included as well! (thebaynet.com)

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Breezy Point Grill, Wine and Spirits

This is one of our neighborhood’s best kept secrets, revealed first to DougWeb readers. Every neighborhood needs one of these establishments. Mr. Tucker opened the place a few years ago and has steadily made improvements. Mr. Tucker’s family once owned the famous Tucker’s Restaurant up on Highway 4 near Wayson’s Corner. The Breezy Point Grill and Store is a very classy neighborhood restaurant. The store is also a place to buy fine wine’s and many designer beers, sodas, and mixers. There are the typical food and necessity items found in most corner stores.

What sets Mr. Tucker’s place apart from the rest is the deli and the restaurant. My wife and I enjoy Sunday morning breakfast at the Breezy Point. We both usually order the Western Omelet. Yum! The cooks at the Breezy Point Grill know how to make breakfast. Two slices of wheat toast, home fries, and an omlette that will make your eyes pop. And it is GOOD! Last Sunday when we went we even saw Mr. Tucker there and got  a chance to thank him for the great meal.

Life just doesn’t get any better than having a quaint neighborhood eating establishment just a few miles from home. Especially when we have to travel at least seven miles to get anywhere else! But mind you the Breezy Point Grill is a hopping place. When we arrived there was a line at the register with people ordering breakfast to go. You go in and find a table and order breakfast at the cash register. We had a couple of cups of Seattle’s Best coffee to wash it down.

This is the kind of place you are apt to meet friends and acquaintances from the neighnborhood. You might even make new friends.  All of the employees of the place make it what it is. Bob sells the luckiest lottery tickets and Jason makes a dynamite pizza. Oh yes, you can call in and pick up sandwiches and pizza.

I don’t do the place justice. This is one spot you have to experience. The Breezy Point Grill is located on Breezy Point Rd, just off Route 261 on the road to Breezy Point Marina.

Breezy Point Grill sign and Boars Head Meat delivery truck.

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The capital budget approved by the General Assembly for the fiscal year that began July 1 includes $333 million for public school construction, the second-highest allocation in state history but less than the $400 million approved last year. (Washington Post)

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A new parents group in Calvert County objects to allowing parents who commute choose schools for their children near their commute corridor. Parents say their kids are being bumped in favor of two-income parents.

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Much to my amazement my website was hacked by porn merchants on 6/28/08. Every .html file had a huge keyword and link list added to it. You can’t see the list of offensive words and links until you actually view source. Links appear to go to other compromised website in .at .uk and .com locations. From there the user is bounced to an attack site that does who knows what.

I reported the hacking on Sunday morning to Network Solutions but I was told I wouldn’t hear back until tomorrow. Even Gold VIP members have to wait until a regular work day.

This compromise is very disconcerting. It comes right after a series of complaints made regarding the quality of database service and right about the time the web service provider begins offering a $14.95/month hacking prevention option. I thought they were doing that anyway? It also happens after the web service provider made directory privilege changes to prevent unauthorized stuff. I do not know what to think.

The hacking method used has triggered Google to unlink DougWeb from the world. Adsense ads no longer display. This attack may have been pre-meditated or is just another porno hijacking.

I hope Network Solutions has security people on staff that can get to the bottom of this.

If you were brought here by using perverted key words in a Google search that’s why. You will not find porn here.

It may take a awhile to clean up after the attack.

A blog about things O’Malley could cut faced with another deficit instead of taxing the Maryland middle class to death.  Marylanders have to tighten their belts while the Democrats at statehouse continue to take more and more of our hard earned savings INSTEAD of making tough choices – making cutbacks at the state level. The Unfree State Blog discusses that topic.

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Thank you to everybody that helped with the Martin fire in Bonny Doon, California. Firefighters rock! Don’t miss seeing this video. It is a heartfelt thank you from a resident of Bonny Doon.  Click read more below to see it at You Tube.

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This is a photograph of the rare Neeld Estate Maryland Garden Rabbit in it’s natural surroundings. This one thinks he is invisible and I’m Jimmy Stuart. He’ll stick around and chat.  I think he said his name was Clarence.

Marylanders Unite to boycott Terra Kettle Chesapeake Bay and Beer Potato Chips.

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Of course, someone had to complain. Next thing you know, the Gideons will be arrested and then raided.

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Best Blue Crabs in Maryland

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