Calcis

Real Trekkie tricorder detects ailments – LiveScience- msnbc.com
New handheld medical scanners coupled with regular cell phones resemble “Star Trek” tricorders and could see what ails you with a push of a button.

The invention, using off-the-shelf cell phone technology, would allow medical scanners to boldly go where none have gone before — to the aid of the roughly three-quarters of the worlds population currently without access to ultrasounds, X-rays and other imagers used for everything from detecting tumors to monitoring fetuses.

Old Henry Farms restaurant in Jacksonville has a new owner, and a new purpose, after a deal closed on the property earlier this month.

First Baptist Church of Jacksonville purchased the historic barn in a deal with Don James Construction of Anniston about two weeks ago, said Cliff Wood, an employee with the company.

The church plans to use the property for a contemporary worship service and ministry organization named EaglePoint, said church administrator Jerry Medlin. EaglePoint will target young couples and families.

About | Birmingham Record Collectors
The Birmingham Record Collectors is a club based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, but with international membership, devoted to the collecting of music, its preservation, and lasting friendship.
Membership

The Birmingham Record Collectors is the fastest growing organization of its kind in the world. There are numerous reasons for joining the club

- – - – -

Looks interesting…will have to investigate their site further.

– Cathy

The Truth About Cherokee Citizenship
The Facts on Cherokee Citizenship

MYTH: You need to have a large degree of Cherokee blood to be eligible for citizenship.
o
FACT: The Cherokee Nation requires no blood quantum. To be considered a Cherokee citizen, you need one Indian ancestor listed on the 1906 federal census of our people, known as the Dawes Rolls. With that one Indian ancestor, a person is part of our Cherokee family regardless of what other heritage he or she might have. For eligibility information, please visit http://www.cherokee.org/Services/Registration/146/Default.aspx.

Catoosa County News
Members of the Col. Joseph T. McConnell Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans and representatives of the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans were on hand at the Catoosa County Courthouse Friday, April 25, as the Southern Legal Resource Center filed suit against the Ringgold City Council.

Roger McCreddie, SLRC executive director, and attorney Kirk Lyons, along with Georgia counsel Daniel A. Coleman filed the suit with the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans and the local camp as plaintiffs. McCreddie and Lyons spoke to the media on the courthouse steps following the filing in Catoosa County Superior Court.

“Our question to the legal system is, does this law mean anything?” McCredie said, referring to state law OCGA 50-3-1, which protects monuments honoring military personnel. “We are asking the court to make them put the flag back.”

The plaintiffs contend that the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag is a violation of that state law.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Snipes sentenced to three years
Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes has received a three year prison sentence for tax offences.

A federal judge handed down the maximum term requested by prosecutors – one year for each of Snipes convictions of wilfully failing to file a tax return.

Snipes lawyers had called for leniency, arguing that the offences were misdemeanours and that the star was of good character.

But prosecutors said an example should be set because of Snipes fame.

In February, Snipes was found guilty of deliberately failing to file tax returns for 1999, 2000 and 2001, but was cleared of more serious fraud and conspiracy charges.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US blocks genetic discrimination
The United States Senate has unanimously passed legislation banning discrimination on the basis of peoples genetic details.

The proposal, which passed 95-0, still needs approval from the House of Representatives before it becomes law.

It would allow only patients and their doctors to access data obtained through genetic testing.

Employers, unions and health insurance companies would be forbidden from discrimination via genetic information.

The Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy called it the “the first new civil rights bill of the new century”.

He added: “Discrimination based on a persons genetic identity is just as unacceptable as discrimination on the basis of race or religion.”

The bill would forbid health insurers from refusing coverage, or raising premiums, for healthy people based on genetic information.

Insurers would also not be allowed to require people to take tests which might show a predisposition to a disease.

And employers would be prohibited from using genetic information in decisions over hiring, firing, promoting or compensating employees.

States act to shield gun holders – USATODAY.com
South Carolina last week became the latest in a growing number of states to make the names of people who have a license to carry a concealed weapon a state secret.

Five other states might not be far behind in a battle that pits a public policy of open government against the right of people to keep their gun ownership records private.

Bills that would make concealed gun permit records confidential have been introduced in eight other states this year — Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — according to Janna Goodwin of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Tennessee bill was defeated, in a House subcommittee vote earlier this month. West Virginias bill was tabled, and Virginias legislative session ended before a bill could be considered, Goodwin said. Action is pending in the five other states, she said.

Concealed-weapon records always have been confidential in many states, said Colin Weaver, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Prior to South Carolinas action, the Brady Campaign counted 26 states where the records are confidential.

Penis theft panic hits city… – Yahoo News
KINSHASA Reuters – Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink mens penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Noble Street Festival
Saturday, May 3, 2008

Live music returns to the Noble Street Festival for 2008 with a great lineup of local, as well as nationally-known talent. The music stage will be near the intersection of Noble Street and 10th Street in the heart of downtown Anniston, and is FREE to the public As music echoes in the streets, enjoy great food from the numerous restaurants serving from tents, watch pro bike races, soak in the art exhibits, and let the kids release energy in the KidZone.

The Associated Press: Polygamist sect kids leave shelter for foster care, for now
SAN ANGELO, Texas AP — Kept together at large west Texas sites for two weeks, the first of more than 400 children taken from a polygamist compound boarded buses Tuesday bound for group homes and other faraway foster care facilities.

The children eagerly waved and smiled at television cameras as the buses rolled out. Adult members of the sect, meanwhile, filed through an unmarked building on a courthouse square in nearby Eldorado for the second day of DNA testing.

Authorities are trying to map the tangled family trees that authorities came across while investigating a teenage girls allegation of abuse by her much older husband.

Lawyers inside San Angelo Coliseum who were meeting with their adult or child clients said state Childrens Protective Services workers installed tight security, allowing no one in or out while the children, 114 of them by days end, were loaded onto the buses.

The remaining 300 children at the coliseum were still undergoing DNA testing and could be moved on Thursday, said Guy Choate, a state bar official who has been coordinating the attorneys brought from all over the state to represent the children.

Tanasi Journal – Connecting All Our Relations – Wanted: Genealogists, Historians, and Volunteers
Are you skilled in Native American Genealogy, knowledgeable in American Indian history and willing to commit some time and effort to helping others? If so, there are a couple ladies looking for you.

TN Commission Vice-Chair Shelley Allen and Chair Val Ohle agreed to work on developing to teams as part of the Commissions “Tribal Ties Task Force” project that was passed on March 29, 2008. The teams will form the task force, and will work to help individuals living in Tennessee research both their family histories and their options for enrollment in existing recognized tribes. Allen and Ohles teams will split the state along Interstate 65 with Allen taking the west side and Ohle taking the east.

“This project can benefit all Indians living in Tennessee,” Ohle told us. “Approximately 25-27,000 Tennessees Indian population may or may not have citizenship in an existing nation. According to the Confederation Tennessee Native Tribes CTNT, there are between another 2,500 and 3,000 just in the groups belonging to that organization. Even though theyve pointed out they have their own resources for their members, that still leaves as many as 27,000 who may not.

Revolutionary War soldiers legacy pieced together, item by item – The Boston Globe
Like detectives, Marian Pierre-Louis and Lois Boyd piece together history.
more stories like this

They travel from town hall to historical society to library, collecting court records, saving marriage, birth, and death certificates, and combing through books. An obscure reference in town documents or a newspaper obituary is greeted with excitement and delight, a clue to a puzzle that is identity.

After decades, their independent journeys into genealogy brought them both to Ishmael Coffee, a poor, biracial Revolutionary War soldier from Medway whose legacy has survived against all odds.

For Boyd, it has been a personal quest to discover more about her great-great-great-great-grandfather, a parent of 16 children whose interracial marriage challenged the mores of the time.

For Pierre-Louis, a passing curiosity became a personal and professional inspiration as she learned about a man whose life illuminates the roles of race and poverty in early Massachusetts.

The Associated Press: Russian news agency says Soyuz crew was in danger on descent
MOSCOW AP — The crew of the Soyuz capsule that landed hundreds of miles off target in Kazakhstan last weekend was in serious danger during the descent, a Russian news agency reported Tuesday.

Interfax quoted an unidentified space official as saying the capsule entered Earths atmosphere with the hatch first instead of with its heat shields leading the way. As a result, the hatch suffered significant damage.

The official also said the TMA-11 capsules antenna burned up during Saturdays descent, meaning the crew couldnt communicate properly with Russian Mission Control.

The Soyuz crew included U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, South Koreas first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko.

Alexander Vorobyov, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency, confirmed the descent had problems, saying the Soyuz hatch and the antenna suffered burn damage.

Bisphenol-A – BPA – Medicine and Health – Safety – A Hard Plastic Is Raising Hard Questions – New York Times
Are toxic plastics lurking in your kitchen?
Skip to next paragraph
Stuart Bradford

Well

Tara Parker-Pope blogs about health. Join the discussion.
Go to Well »
Related
Times Topics: Bisphenol-A BPA
RSS Feed

Get Health News From The New York Times »

It’s a question many families are asking after reports last week that a chemical used to make baby bottles, water bottles and food containers is facing increasing scrutiny by health officials in Canada and the United States.

The substance is bisphenol-a, or BPA, widely used in the making of the hard, clear and nearly unbreakable plastic called polycarbonate. Studies and tests show that trace amounts of BPA are leaching from polycarbonate containers into foods and liquids.

While most of the focus is on products for children, including clear plastic bottles and canned infant formula, the chemical is also used in food-storage containers, some clear plastic pitchers used for filtered water, refillable water bottles and the lining of soft-drink and food cans.

While there is debate about how much of a health worry BPA really is, retailers including Wal-Mart have said they are withdrawing baby products made with it. Nalgene, the maker of a popular sports bottle, and the baby-products maker Playtex have announced they will stop using it.