Calcis

Spinning Skyscraper Planned For Dubai, “Worlds First Building In Motion” Set To Be Built By Architect With Questionable Credentials – CBS News
An Italian architect said he is poised to start construction on a new skyscraper in Dubai that will be “the worlds first building in motion,” an 80-story tower with revolving floors that give it an ever-shifting shape.

The spinning floors, hung like rings around an immobile cement core, would offer residents a constantly changing view of the Persian Gulf and the citys futuristic skyline.

A few penthouse villas would spin on command using a voice-activated computer. The motion of the rest of the building would be choreographed in patterns that could be altered over time.

Speaking at a news conference in New York on Tuesday, the buildings designer, David Fisher, declared that his tower will revolutionize the way skyscrapers are made – a claim that might strike some as excessively bold.

Fisher acknowledges that he is not well known, has never built a skyscraper before and hasnt practiced architecture regularly in decades.

RomeNewswire.com | Blog Archive » City Of Adairsville Goes To 4 Day Work Week
City Of Adairsville Goes To 4 Day Work Week

The city of Adairsville has gone to a four day work week in an effort to save money.

City Manager Larry Pratt says that the city offices will be open Monday through Thursday, the only city function operating on Friday will be the police department.

In other council business, the council has rejected a request from the Bartow Library Board for a $9,107 increase in appropriations, but will revisit the issue at budget time this fall.

Mayor Evan King was given the green light to sign off on LARP projects for Princeton Blvd., Piedmont Avenue and MLK Drive, together less than a mile of street work.

Calhoun Times
A Cass High School teacher and coach was arrested Thursday on a felony sexual assault charge.

Matthew James “Jamie” Stewart, 25, of 12 Mill View Court, Adairsville, was arrested Thursday morning by Bartow County Schools Chief SRO Dan Knowles.

Cass High Principal Michael Nelson deferred comment to Supt. John Harper. Harper said Stewart was placed on leave after meeting with Nelson Thursday morning.

State-Journal.com – Proud of his past
A decade ago, janitor Anthony Estes had no idea the hands he uses to clean Hearn Elementary School would one day be throwing tomahawks.

Shortly after meeting his part Native American wife, Vanessa, in 2000, Mr. Tony ” as Hearn students call him ” got interested in his heritage.

“The older I got, the more I was interested in finding out about my family and a side of my family that never gets talked about, that never gets seen,” said Estes, 40.

He found out he was an eighth Cherokee and one sixteenth Comanche.

His curiosity about his heritage made others curious too, and he has spent the last few years speaking to students and adults. Hes also spoken to the U.S. Coast Guard and taken part in a panel discussion at the University of Kentucky.

- – - – - – -

Everyone has a voice…no matter how you earn a living.

– Cathy

weavercat@gmail.com

DailyTech – Intel Turns Its Back on Windows Vista
Intel, the worlds largest microprocessor manufacturer, has stuck with operating system maker Microsoft through good times and bad. The pair have worked closely together one every modern Windows release and have even shared some common unpleasant experiences — like being subjected to Federal Trade Commission investigations.

However, times have changed and suddenly, according to inside reports Intel has shockingly snubbed Microsofts flagship product, Windows Vista. Intel, which has over 80,000 employees with workstations, will not change its computers over to Vista. This marks the first time that Intel would have bypassed a major Windows generation, if the reports from the key inside source hold true.

While Intels acceptance or rejection may be a largely symbolic blow, it is part of a far broader trend of companies refusing to adopt Windows Vista, discussed previously here at DailyTech. While consumer adoption has languished slightly due to some complaints about compatibility, features, and resource consumption, these problems are exponentially greater in the business world, which operates largely on somewhat antiquated hardware.

A lengthy analysis by Intels internal technology of the costs versus benefits of Vista adoption led to the decision. According to the insider, who request anonymity due to possible damage to Microsoft and Intels relationship, the conclusion drawn was that the cost of expensive hardware upgrades to cope with what some call Vistas “bloat” or high memory, CPU, and graphics demands would simply be too costly for the small benefits provided.

Unwrapping the Chocolate Genome – washingtonpost.com
To save chocolate lovers from the agony of a potential candy bar shortage, McLean candy giant Mars is investing $10 million in a five-year project to develop cacao trees that fight drought, disease and poor harvests.

Mars will announce today that it is partnering with IBM and the Department of Agriculture to sequence and analyze the entire cocoa genome. The team will be identifying the characteristics that make a better cacao tree. Then it plans to breed the genetically superior specimens to battle the foes that have shrunk the number of beans to make chocolate over the years.

- – - – -

Making a better cocoa tree?

– Cathy

weavercat@gmai.com

Political Radar: Schwarzenegger Slams Offshore Drilling Politicians
In a strong rebuke Thursday of lifting the ban on U.S. offshore oil drilling, California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to knock the standard-bearers of his party: President Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Schwarzenegger, a long critic of his party on the environment, used surprisingly frank language to buck politicians who support lifting the 27-year-old ban of offshore drilling.

“Politicians have been throwing around all kinds of ideas in response to the skyrocketing energy prices, from the rethinking of nuclear power to pushing biofuels and more renewables and ending the ban on offshore drilling, it goes on and on the list,” Schwarzenegger said, per The Saint Petersburg Times.

Jacksonville News – Fort McClellan Credit Union is robbed by men in drag
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Friday, two black males dressed in women’s clothes, wearing wigs and latex gloves, robbed the Jacksonville branch of Fort McClellan Credit Union.

According to the Jacksonville Police Department, the robbers entered the building and demanded the three employees and two patrons who were in the bank at the time to get on the floor. They took an unspecified amount of money and left in a gold 2002 Ford Explorer.

The getaway vehicle was found later at Cottonwood Apartments and is registered to a resident of Gadsden who had reported it stolen in Decatur, Ga., in February.

Just before the robbery, a bomb threat was called in on the Houston Cole Library, sending three of the four patrol cars on duty to the Jacksonville State University campus.

The fourth car stayed on the south end of town and was close by when the alarm sounded just after the robbers left the bank.

Court takes a second look at 2nd Amendment | Outposts | Los Angeles Times
Theres big news coming out of the Supreme Court, which struck down a section of a Washington, D.C., ban on handguns earlier today in an unprecedented way. Times writer David G. Savage sums it up thusly:

Americans have a right to keep a gun at home for self-defense, the Supreme Court ruled today in striking down part of a handgun ban in the District of Columbia.

By a 5-4 vote, the court concluded that the 2nd Amendment and its famous right “to keep and bear arms” protects the gun rights of individuals, rather than just a states right to maintain a militia.

Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking for the court, said the history of the 2nd Amendment shows its authors intended to protect the “right of the people” as individuals to have weapons, both to defend themselves and their community.

- – - – - – - – - -

Know and protect your rights!

– Cathy

weavercat@gmail.com

Single-Horned Deer Excites Fantasy Fans, Roe Deer Living In Rome, Nicknamed “Unicorn,” Has Genetic Flaw, Giving Him Centered Horn – CBS News
AP A deer with a single horn in the center of its head – much like the fabled, mythical unicorn – has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

“This is fantasy becoming reality,” Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. “The unicorn has always been a mythological animal.”

The 1-year-old Roe Deer – nicknamed “Unicorn” – was born in captivity in the research centers park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said.

He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.

Calling it the first time he has seen such a case, Tozzi said such anomalies among deer may have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

- – - – - -

“Myth” + “History” = “Mystery?”

Facts and fables can overlap.

– CAA

weavercat@gmail.com

Supreme Court Sides With Gitmo Detainees, 5-4 Ruling That Foreign Terror Suspects Can Challenge Detention May Delay War Crimes Trials – CBS News
CBS/ AP The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administrations treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The courts liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

Kennedy said federal judges could ultimately order some detainees to be released, but that such orders would depend on security concerns and other circumstances.

President Bush said he strongly disagreed with the ruling, suggesting new legislation may now be needed to keep the American people safe.

“Well abide by the courts decision,” Mr. Bush said during a news conference in Rome. “That doesnt mean I have to agree with it.”

- – - – - -

The Judicial system stills seems to be upholding the Constitution, in this matter…

— CAA

weavercat@gmail.com

Sex Photos Put Federal Judge On Hot Seat, Calif. Chief Appeals Judge Halts Obscenity Trial After Images On His Familys Web Site Go Public – CBS News
Alex Kozinski is more accustomed to appearing on lists to fill U.S. Supreme Court vacancies than in headlines involving pornographic scandals.

But on Wednesday, the chief judge of the countrys largest federal appeals court was forced to suspend an obscenity trial he was presiding over after sexually explicit images posted to his family’s Web site became public.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Kozinski had posted sexual material on the Web site and then blocked access after being interviewed about it Tuesday evening.

Kozinski, 57, told the Times he thought the material on the site couldnt be seen by the public.

Yale Kozinski, the judges film editor son, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the site is registered to him and he maintains it. Friends and family are able to post there, he said.

“The fact that it was publicly accessible actually is my fault, too,” Yale Kozinski told the newspaper. “I made a mistake in configuring it.”

Neither father nor son made clear Wednesday who posted the images in question. Judge Kozinski said earlier that he didnt believe any of them were obscene.

“Is it prurient? I dont know what to tell you,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I think its odd and interesting. Its part of life.”

- – - – - -

“Private space” on the internet?

Not if you are savvy enough to find the files…

– CAA

weavercat@gmail.com

I just hope no one was in this car…

A granddaddy of rock, Bo Diddley dies at 79 – Music – NJ.com
Songs he wrote, like “Who Do You Love?,” “Road Runner” and “Mona,” are part of the basic rock repertoire, while his 1959 hit “Say Man” — a series of good-natured insults, traded with percussionist Jerome Green, over a beat — looked forward a few decades to hip-hop. The Bo Diddley beat has been recycled endlessly, in songs like Buddy Hollys “Not Fade Away,” the Whos “Magic Bus,” U2s “Desire” and Bruce Springsteens “Shes the One.”

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.

The Associated Press: CDC: Tomatoes eyed in salmonella cases in 9 states
CDC: Tomatoes eyed in salmonella cases in 9 states

By MIKE STOBBE – 1 hour ago

ATLANTA AP — An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has now been reported in nine states, U.S health officials said Tuesday. Lab tests have confirmed 40 illnesses in Texas and New Mexico as the same type of salmonella, right down to the genetic fingerprint.

An investigation by Texas and New Mexico health authorities and the Indian Health Service tied those cases to uncooked, raw, large tomatoes.

At least 17 people in Texas and New Mexico have been hospitalized. None have died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another 30 people have become sick with the same Salmonella Saintpaul infection in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois and Indiana. CDC investigators are looking into whether tomatoes were culprits there, too.

In Texas and New Mexico, raw large tomatoes — including Roma and red round tomatoes — were found to be a common factor in the 40 illnesses. But no farm, distributor or grocery chain has been identified as the main source, said Casey Barton Behravesh, a CDC epidemiologist working on the investigation.

“The specific type and source of tomatoes is under investigation,” she said.