Baby Photos: Elton John and his long time partner, David Furnish posed for a picture with their new baby on the cover of Us magazine. But not everyone agreed it was an okay thing to do. A store in Arkansas put up the “family shield” over the magazine, the same way they put it up over other magazines that aren’t family friendly.

Service Dogs: A twelve-year-old boy with epilepsy was banned from going to school with the service dog that was specifically trained to save his life in the event he had a seizure.

Burqas: France arrested or fined at least 60 women wearing the traditional Muslim head-to-toe cloth covering while they tried to show their religious afflilation

Brown Bag Lunches: A public school in Chicago banned homemade lunches, stating that a schoo lunch was healthier.

Baggy Pants: Many schools across the nation banned baggy pants, or any pants that hung low enough to show too much skin or the wearer’s underwear. Some of these schools suspended students for wearing this style.

Babies named Lucifer: New Zealand bans the naming of children with this name because of its satanic association.

Teens Dying their hair: In Florida, teens are no longer allowed to dye their hair wild colors or cake on the makeup for fear that it will distract students in the classroom.

Airbrushing: British Advertising Standard Authority banned ads where the models were airbrushed too much.

Happy Couples: Interracial couples are banned from community church.

Skinny Jeans: College students are being turned away from exams because their pant are too tight.

Saying “bless you”: A teacher is fed up with the common courtesy of what is said after a sneeze.

Having Eyes: Women in Saudi Arabia who have suggestive eyes, meaning eyes that have a “nice shape”.

France bans ketchup: France wants its students to have a healthier diet.

For more things banned this year, check out the Yahoo! article linked here: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/bans-baggy-jeans-burqas-babies-more-172200625.html

Now it’s possible to have one device that can do everything for you just short of doing your dishes, or washing your laundry, and it’s quite common for people to take pictures and post them online. Everybody does it these days. So, what’s the harm? Plenty.

Your new digital camera or smart phone are GPS equipped, and thus, can embed a geotag to any photo you take on it. What does that mean? Say you take a picture of yourself in front of your brand new house, just eager to show it off. Then, you post that picture online to show your friends and family back home that you’ve moved out of the dumpy apartment building and into something nice. Well, you’re not just showing them where you live. You’re showing the whole world. You might not have labeled the picture with your home address, complete with the city and street names, but to those who know about geotagging, you’ve given them that information freely without even knowing it.

According to a New York Times article entitled “Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live” (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Web-Photos-That-Reveal-nytimes-2375510549.html?x=0&.v=1), it’s not hard for someone in the know to do an internet search for geotaged photos that have text included which could say anything from “off to work” to “on vacation”. They’ll know where you live, and whether or not you’re home. Sounds inviting to theives doesn’t it?

Just bought a brand new car, didn’t you? Tricked it out something pretty awesome too, I bet. And you posted the picture online… you get the idea.

But, there is something you can do about it! If you know your way around your camera or your GPS enabled phone, you can disable the geotag ability. Just make sure you don’t entirely wipe out your GPS, which might be needed in an emergency when you’re trying to reach 911. Because it’s not an easy thing to do, there are several websites out there with instructions on how to do this, such as www.ICanStalkU.com which was created by security consultants from NWN Corporation and Mayhemic Labs in Waltham and Boston, Massachusetts.

Of course, this doesn’t just apply to pictures you take and post online. Your friends and family may also take pictures of you or your things and post them on a website without a clue what they’re actually doing. And don’t forget the photos you take and email to your friends. If you haven’t disabled the geotagging on your phone or camera, they may upload that cute picture you took of your dog and tell the world what you’ve got and where you’re located.

It’s your choice whether or not you turn off the geotagging ability of your fancy photo-taking device, but either way, it’s wise to at least know what you could be setting yourself up for if you don’t.

This photography workshop will cover the basics of taking pictures with a digital camera.  You will learn how to carefully select your subject, visualize the results you wish to achieve, compose the photograph just right, and in the end, achieve those results you were seeking. 

Topics will include:

• Composition (Should my subject stand off to the side or stay dead center?)
• Camera modes and functions (What does that button do anyway?)
• Post-processing  (I’ve taken the picture and uploaded it to my computer. Now what?)

This is a FREE workshop for any and all teens who are interested in learning how to take great photographs!  Even if you don’t want to become a professional photographer, the skills you are going to learn from this workshop will help you improve the picutres you post on facebook, flickr, or anywhere else you share photos with friends and family.  Take this workshop and amaze them all with your new skills!

Remember, it’s FREE and it’s FUN! You may bring your camera with you for one-on-one assistance, though having a camera is certainly not necessary for the workshop. A question and answer session will also follow.

July 10th @ 3pm in the Copley Mezzanine Conference Room.

If you want the flier for the workshop, click on the link at the top of this post.