Atlanta
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Signs of progress
Atlanta police have virtually stopped seeking search warrants for drugs following the November shooting of an elderly woman and dropped — at least temporarily — the forced-entry tactics that led to her death, court records show.
In the six months since Kathryn Johnston died in a botched police raid, Atlanta narcotics officers have not sought a single “no-knock” search warrant, court records show. They served at least 25 no-knock warrants during a comparable six-month period a year earlier.
Reason has prevailed, at least temporarily.
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Two for Monday
- Sandy Berger gives up his law license, which makes me thing that there is some serious hiding going on.
- More on the rogue Atlanta narcotics squad. Unmentioned is any mention of the judges and magistrates who rubber stamp all this crap. Ideally they would be help liable for any fraudulent warrants they sign, but that will never happen.
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Performance anxiety
So, at long last, I have my first gig as a solo performer in one month, opening for the A-Sides. And I need a full hour of material.
It’s good to have goals. And deadlines and stress I suppose.
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Sunday link round up
- A creepy collection of suicide notes
- Google used this camera to create their new “Street View” feature (which is not in Atlanta, yet).
- Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin explains why the lessening of racial majorities is a bad thing for diversity. Really.
- There’s a new, free version of Refactor! specifically for ASP.net. It’s pretty cool. When I installed it it deleted all of my toolbox snippets in Visual Studio, so be careful about that.
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Local music legends mentioned in the mainstream media
Atlanta based garage rock duo The A-Sides are briefly mentioned in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution.
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Sunday photography
I wound up taking some shots for a friend of mine’s site and wound up with a lot of good shots. My brother took the one of me (the first one) and I took the one of Steve Coffey (of the band the Rockin’ Pontoons) (the second one). Galleries on the way soon.
Taken at my brother’s house
Taken off of North Highland
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Scenic views wanted
Does anyone know of any great views of the city? I’ll soon be doing another installment of the fiddler photo series and I’m looking for some good places to shoot. All suggestions welcome.
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Quck roundup
- An interesting look at the military aspects of social networking.
- Underwater windmills
- How we would fight China
- The metaweb/FreeBase
- Evidently February was cold
- Blurb has dropped their prices.
- Strangest suicide attempt, ever
Two Georgia men survived a gruesome suicide attempt Friday after cutting their own arms off with a saw, reported Atlanta’s Journal Constitution.
The 40 and 41-year-old men managed to remove three of their four arms, cutting them about six inches above their wrists, Atlanta Police Major Lane Hagin told the Journal.
- Baby steps to a better editorial, it’s easier to see why this one is so wrong.
- The 20 best comic book weapons.
- It’s odd seeing this already existing – I stumbled across this C.S. Lewis quote yesterday “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ which is the general gist my future novel The Comedian.
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Your tax dollars at work
In Lilburn in this case:
Shut up and drink, Lilburn bar patrons told
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Earlier, the city outlawed pool — the game that spelled trouble in the musical “The Music Man” — in its watering holes. Now it’s also barring karaoke and just about any other party game from places that serve alcohol.America is getting ridiculous at an increasing rate. However, my zoning for no-children idea is gaining good feedback in my informal polls.
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The ongoing Beltline scam
Atlanta functions as a collective conspiracy of real estate developers, but even so , this is a bit much
Beltline park plan a mystery
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Fulton County Commissioner Emma Darnell, who represents the area, said her constituents repeatedly ask for updates on the park. She’s at a loss to offer specific information, even though she serves on the boards of the city’s development arm, Atlanta Development Authority, and the city’s entity that’s overseeing Beltline planning, Atlanta Beltline Inc.“The No. 1 interest of folks in the area near and around the quarry is what’s going on,” Darnell said. “That’s the big concern right now. Talk to anyone at random in those neighborhoods and they don’t have a clue as to what’s going on. The city of Atlanta should be able to answer all those questions.”
Truth is, all that’s certain at this point is that the park is supposed to become a regional attraction, much like Piedmont Park, Atlantic Station and Centennial Olympic Park. Most of the Beltline will be paid for with a projected $1.7 billion in future property taxes collected by three local entities — Atlanta City Council, the Atlanta school board and Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners.
Somehow we knew in 2006 how people will want to live 2026, even though in 2007 we don’t know what’s going on. We also know that they’ll want to pay for it then too. Why on earth do people think something that complex and far off is knowable (answer, because they’re not spending their own money). It’s the real estate version of Iraq really. At least that dealt with present day people.