Bug Bites at a Chicago Restaurant – Who’s to blame?

   So I was watching a program on my Tivo last night, and at the end of the show we caught a teaser for the local channel 2 news…they were talking about 2 ladies who knew each other that ate at a ‘Trendy’ Chicago restaurant and left with hundreds of bug bites on their legs.  My interest peaked, so I ran a search online…I came across the CBS 2 Chicago online report and was horrified for about half of the article… Check out the Article here

   The article is about these 2 ladies who ate at the ‘trendy’ Japonais restaurant in chicago, and the next day, they woke up with bug bites all over their legs.  At first, I was horrified, because it really would be aweful to go into a restaurant to eat and be eaten alive instead.  However, I began to get a little suspicious once I got to the part stating that the 2 customers were co-workers.

O’Brien filed a complaint about Japonais with the health department. She says after eating here last Friday, she awoke the next morning with between 75 and 100 bites on her legs. The same thing happened to her co-worker, Holly Oliveri, who had eaten there one night later. Both women had dined outside at street level.

   After that, I realized that the 2 customers (who worked together) did not notice any bites until the next morning…So how often do you get eaten alive, and not notice it until the morning?  Maybe my skin is more sensitive than the rest of the world, but I know within 15 minutes if I have gotten bit by anything, and the annoying itching begins.

   Then came the kicker, look at the last sentence of the quote…I had to read it 4 times, just to be sure I was reading it correctly.  Both women had dined outside at street level.  Who dines OUTSIDE at STREET LEVEL, and complains of bug bites?  Does the restaurant really have control over the bugs that are present OUTSIDE the restaurant?  Granted, the Chicago Department of Health did find reasons for concern and fined the restaurant for improper storage of meat, and the fact that there were several flying bugs inside the restaurant…but can we really expect restaurants to take care of bug populations outside the restaurant on the street?  I don’t know about anyone else, but I certainly would not want the restaurant I was dining at to be spraying DEET or other chemicals in any close proximity to my food or the area that I was eating…on the other hand, I don’t like bugs either…which is why I don’t eat Outside at restaurants.  I know that there are bugs outside, and given the choice to dine inside or outside, I choose inside every time.  But if I did choose to dine outside, can I really blame my bug bites on the proprietor of the restaurant?  Just my opinion…

Michael
Platinum CCTV Surveillance Solutions
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The “Time Bandit” caught without his mask…but the security camera was out of focus

The Time Bandit, caught without his mask...almost

   It is the story of many of our lives…when something actually happens, we were ill-prepared and it does not turn out as good as we had hoped.  Well that was the case with the MB Financial Bank branch at 13900 South Bell Road in Homer Glen.  Banks have always been very conscious of security, and have always employed a good network of quality cctv security cameras.  However, it would appear that this bank unfortunately did not maintain their security cameras as well as they could.  Much like the post from yesterday, where the camera that was watching the Naperville 9-11 monument was out of service when the monument was vandalized, the cameras at this bank were ill prepared for the robbery that day.

Time Bandit on blurry security camera (right)

   Apparantly, the indoor cameras were working fine, and provided good footage of the robbery occurring, but the outdoor camera was out of focus…and Murphy’s law rang true, as this camera offered the FBI their most promising lead yet…the bank robber dubbed the “Time Bandit” by FBI, due to his instructions to bank employees to count down from 300 before calling for help, removed his ski mask while standing in front of the outdoor security camera.  Unfortunately the video was blurry, probably because the outdoor camera was not considered as high of a priority as the indoor cameras, so when it got dirty or out of focus, it was probably ignored by the bank security personnel, because it wasn’t perceived as important as the interior cameras.

   We all need to ensure that we are constantly monitoring our home or business security cameras, and addressing any concerns if we notice that a camera is not performing up to par or becomes out of focus, because we never know when we might need to footage from that camera…and it doesn’t help us much if it is blurry and unusable.

Give your security cameras some love, so that they can do the same to you when something happens.

Michael
Platinum CCTV Surveillance Solutions
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Sometimes you catch a thief, but sometimes he is a bear.

   Jon and Ruth Powers found that someone had been rummaging through the trash at their home in Citrus Springs, FL.  So they reviewed the video footage from their home security cameras to try to spot who it was.  To their surprise, the thief was not a thief at all…it was a black bear who was rummaging for food in their trashcan.  See the news story about Jon Powers and his Black Bear here

   The bear returned later that afternoon in search of more food, which prompted a call to the local Florida Fish and Wildlife officers.  The bear was easily scared away by tapping on the window, so the experts say that the bear is most likely not aggressive, and had just been moving to higher ground due to the rising river waters.

   You never know what headaches you can avoid with home security cameras, until you install them.  I can just imagine that if they didn’t have the security cameras in place, they would probably have thought that someone was rummaging through and trying to steal their identity.  The mind has a tendency to go in the direction of the worst-case scenario often…while a black bear in the yard might be a worst-case in some minds, at least it is comforting to know that he was just in search of food – not trying to use their credit cards on the internet.

ES-804-CCD outdoor home security camera

Good quality video security cameras can alleviate many concerns, and get to the truth of the matter very quickly, no matter what type of issue you are having.  Do you have outdoor home security cameras protecting your home?  Our ES-804-CCD Outdoor Infrared Night Vision home security camera is the most popular camera for protecting the outside areas of your home, and providing you with video footage of what occurs.  This camera has infrared night vision capabilities up to 45 feet away even in no-light conditions and can be plugged into a TV, VCR, PC-Based DVR card or Standalone DVR for viewing or recording purposes.

 

 

Michael
Platinum CCTV Surveillance Solutions
http://Platinum-CCTV.com
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Piece of 9/11 monument stolen in Naperville, IL

   There are many things that are valuable, and while annoying when they get stolen, we can understand at some level  the reasons why.  For example, someone smashes into your store and takes cash out of the register.  While I certainly don’t condone that act, at some level I can at least understand the motivation and the thought process that ran through the criminal’s mind – Obviously they needed money and the register had money in it…  Once again, I certainly don’t condone that act, nor do I think it is adequate motivation for an individual to commit such a crime.

Shanower 9/11 Memorial in Naperville

   But the crimes I have the hardest time coming to terms with, are the crimes that are committed with no logical reasoning or thought process.  These particularly heinous crimes leave the victims feeling violated with little to no understanding of why.  This can include vandalism of a home or business, or this particularly unusual theft – Someone stole some bricks from the Pentagon tragedy on 9/11 from a monument in Naperville, IL.  I have a need to rationalize things so that they will fit into nice little boxes.  This type of crime seems completely unpredictable and the motivation to committing such a crime that just hurts people and does not even benefit the criminal in any way.

   The Naperville 9/11 monument had a Security Camera installed on location to watch the monument, due to the fact that the monument had been vandalized previously as well.  Unfortunately, there was a technical glitch which prevented the camera from providing footage of the crime.  This is a good reason to check your security cameras frequently to ensure that they are functional and adjusted properly.  Don’t just take it for granted.  If you find that cameras are out of focus, dirty or not recording properly, take steps to repair or replace the camera immediately.

Keep your cameras up, and check them to ensure proper operation regularly.
Like they say “an ounce of prevention…”

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The low-down on Long-Range Infrared Security Cameras

   Lately, we have had a great deal of people asking about long-range infrared security cameras.  Currently, we have 1 long-range infrared IR model, the CD-9255 line of camera.  This camera is unlike most of the IR security cameras on the market, due to the fact that we started with a low-light Sony CCD image sensor for great low-light black and white, and then added a wide-spectrum IR array.  This combination of low-lux CCD Image sensor and wide array of IR bulbs, permits the camera to illuminate the full width of view with infrared light for improved low light and no-light video.

   Unfortunately, many of the IR cameras on the market simply keep throwing on larger, more focused IR LEDs, which can illuminate a greater distance with IR Light, but their lack of a low-lux image sensor and combination with the larger IR LEDs, provides undesireable effects.  With these cameras, they may be able to illuminate close to the needed distance, but they do not illuminate the full width of view.  This means that the IR will illuminate the center of view, but everything around the center will be dark and not illuminated.  If you walk towards these cameras with the night vision enabled, you will find that even while in the center of view, the image gets over-illuminated – washing out the distinguishing characteristics of the person approaching the camera.

Typical Long-Range IR Camera

Full-Width IR Nightvision

   Furthermore, if it is necessary to be able to view 200-300 feet away, then these cameras are generally not the best selection.  At a 200 foot distance, with a 1/3″ image sensor camera with a wideangle lens, a person will appear about the size of 4 pixels out of a 720×480 resolution recording.  4 pixels is basically a spec on the screen.  So it is important to realize that for longer distance views, where you need to be able to identify people, generally it is better to ignore IR Cameras, and move to a CS-Mount camera with a Varifocal zoom lens (6-60mm lens or 5-100mm lens should do nicely) as these lenses will allow you to zoom the camera in at the time of installation, so that you can actually see at that distance, rather than just seeing a spec (which is what most of the long-range IR Cameras provide).

   It is for this reason, that we have developed our CD-9255 cameras with 4mm, 8mm or 12mm lenses, and they are designed to be used within 10-75 feet of the subject being viewed, even though

CD-9255 IR Camera

they are rated at 100 feet Infrared Night vision.  These cameras provide infrared illumination over the full width of view, which allows for great night vision inside of this range.  For anything over that range, it is highly recommended to move to a CS-mount camera like our CD-9100-DN camera with auto-iris lens and great low-light night vision capabilities.

Plan your system out right the first time, so you get what you expect.

Michael
Platinum CCTV Surveillance Solutions
http://Platinum-CCTV.com
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