Sunday, September 29, 2013

Capture Project Unveils Films On Sunday

Reported by: Webb Wright

Email: wwright@wdef.com

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Published: 9/28 11:14 pm

Updated: 12:06 am

       Amateur film-makers teamed up this weekend for a unique project aimed at showing off the Scenic City.
       "Capture" is a film project put on by the Association for Visual Arts. It allows anyone with access to a digital camera or smart phone to "capture" the sights and sounds of Chattanooga.
        The theme for the event is "simple beauty" and the filmmakers turned in their video this afternoon. All the video snippets will be turned into three short films with a musical score from three local bands.
        "The three bands are going to play, it's Summer Dregs, Strung Like A Horse, and Creative Underground, they are three great Chattanooga bands. We are going to show the three movies and then we have a guy named Jonathan Taplin, who is kind of a techno innovator from the USC Annenberg lab, and he's going to be the judge, he's going to pick the best of the three films," says AVA Board Member Bobby Stone.
        If you missed the contest you can still see the results. The three films will be unveiled at the Capture premiere party Sunday Night from 5 to 8pm at Track 29.
         http://capturechatt.org/

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Electric Sheep in HD (2-hour 1080p Fractal Animation)

Milky Way stars in 2013's top astronomy photos - PhotoBlog

Milky Way stars in 2013's top astronomy photos

Mark Gee

Australian photographer Mark Gee won top honors in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year context with this picture, which shows off the Milky Way and two of its satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Can you spot them?

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

In this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, our Milky Way galaxy takes the starring role — in more ways than one.

Stars seem to spew forth from a lighthouse on the New Zealand coast in the annual contest's winning picture, captured by Australian photographer Mark Gee. "I love the way that the Milky Way appears to emanate from the lighthouse — really cementing the connection between the stars and the landscape," said one of the judges, Pete Lawrence. "I also love the way the Milky Way drags your view out to sea, inviting you to go out and explore the unknown."

Gee said he was spending the night at New Zealand's Cape Palliser and woke up at about 5 a.m. to behold the starry scene. "The only problem was that my camera gear was at the top of the lighthouse ... so I had to climb the 250-plus steps to retrieve it before I could take this photo," he said.

This panorama was stitched together from 20 separate images. The Magellanic Clouds, two of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, appear as faint smudges on the left side of the image, above the main galactic arc.

This is the fifth year for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The judges had to choose from a record number of entries: There were more than 1,200 images from 49 countries. Our slideshowfeatures the top photos in several categories. The observatory has also put together a selection of videos that tell the stories behind some of the pictures.

Gee receives the contest's top prize of £1,500 for his image, "Guiding Light to the Stars," but the other photographers are winners, too. The best photos are featured in a free exhibition at the Royal Observatory's Astronomy Center that runs through next February, and in a book published by the observatory. There's even an app for iPhone and iPad.

"Never has our cosmos been captured so beautifully!" said Chris Bramley, editor of BBC Sky at Night Magazine and one of the contest judges. Will the same be said next year? Stay tuned.

Slideshow: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

Friday, September 27, 2013

(Dangerous Chattanooga Police) Officers used batons, fists, stun guns on unruly inmate, breaking both legs (with video)

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/feb/28/officers-used-batons-fists-stun-guns-on/

Officers used batons, fists, stun guns on unruly inmate, breaking both legs (with video)

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by Beth Burger
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$Surveillance video from the Salvation Army on McCallie Avenue shows two Chattanooga police officers using excessive force on an inmate. Adam Tatum, 37, suffered six fractures to his right leg and two fractures to his left leg, including a compound fracture, when police took him into custody after a disorder.$

Surveillance video from the Salvation Army on McCallie Avenue shows two Chattanooga police officers using excessive force on an inmate. Adam Tatum, 37, suffered six fractures to his right leg and two fractures to his left leg, including a compound fracture, when police took him into custody after a disorder.

Photo by Patrick Smith /Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Surveillance video shows savage beating by Chattanooga police

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A microphone attached to a Chattanooga police officer's uniform captured a man's screeches of pain and repeated pleas as he was beaten with a baton until his legs were broken, causing the bone to jut through his skin on one.

"Please. Please, please, sir," 37-year-old Adam Tatum begs as officers rain blows on him at the Salvation Army on McCallie Avenue last June.

"Roll over! Roll over! Get down on the ground now!" Officer Sean Emmer barks at Tatum.

The video showing Emmer and Officer Adam Cooley savagely beating Tatum, an inmate of a federal halfway house located in the Salvation Army building, was released Wednesday by the attorney who has filed a $50 million lawsuit on Tatum's behalf.

"The only thing I can tell you is that the video speaks for itself," said Chattanooga attorney Robin Flores. He said he obtained the video through discovery after filing a motion for post-conviction relief for Tatum, who was convicted of several assault charges stemming from the incident.

Police officers were called June 14 about a disorder involving Tatum, who was kicking a door at the Salvation Army building.

The building's surveillance cameras show inmate Adrian McGhee tried to talk Tatum down when staff members called authorities.

As officers James Smith and Emmer arrive, McGhee tells officers, "There ain't no problem."

McGhee and other inmates are ushered away, the video shows. Tatum is ordered by Emmer to place his hands behind his back. A scuffle ensues, and Emmer takes a knife from Tatum.

After the fight, Emmer tells other officers outside he didn't realize Tatum initially had a knife. Before he knew about the knife, Emmer had already placed Tatum in a choke hold and spun him around.

Officers said Tatum continued to resist arrest, but through much of the video, Tatum is on the ground. Officers used a stun gun on Tatum a few times, but said in reports that it was ineffective. Officers continued to strike Tatum until he stopped fighting, they said in earlier newspaper stories.

Tatum suffered six fractures to his right leg and two fractures to his left leg, including a compound fracture.

The video shows Emmer delivering blow after blow using a baton to Tatum's legs and torso as Tatum lies on the ground.

At one point Tatum begs, "Don't kill me like that."

He tells officers that his leg is broken, but the blows continue to fall. Cooley punches Tatum's face repeatedly with a fist.

By this time at least a dozen officers are present. Several maneuver Tatum into handcuffs. They walk him outside with Tatum unable to place weight on his left leg. He sits on a ledge near the walkway as officers congregate nearby.

"My leg is broke," he says.

"Good. That's what happens," Emmer says. Later, the officer asks, "What were you going to do with that knife?"

Tatum never has the chance to answer. Emmer kicks him, sending him backwards.

"Sit the [expletive] down like I told you to," Emmer says.

Tatum's lawsuit names Emmer and Cooley, three current police officers, 11 unidentified police officers, the city and Erlanger Health Systems.

Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd said the department was quick to investigate the allegations. He received a letter from attorney John Wolfe telling him to preserve surveillance footage at the Salvation Army.

Dodd started an internal affairs investigation which led to Cooley and Emmer being fired. Smith, one of the first responding officers, was not disciplined.

"I met with the district attorney to seek prosecution. The determination was made to present it to the grand jury. I also contacted the FBI to look into it for possible civil rights investigation," Dodd said.

A grand jury declined to indict Cooley and Emmer.

"I thought they would be indicted by the Hamilton County grand jury, but they weren't. We can't make them indict. All we can do is present cases to them," Dodd said.

As of Wednesday night, federal authorities had not charged Emmer and Cooley.

Tatum remains incarcerated at Silverdale Correctional Facility.

Shooting averted in Fort Worth McDonald’s when Allen man’s gun won’t fire | Dallas Morning News

Shooting averted in Fort Worth McDonald’s when Allen man’s gun won’t fire

By Christina Rosales
crosales@dallasnews.com
8:04 am on September 26, 2013 | Permalink

Jestin Joseph

Fort Worth police say a man who walked into a McDonald’s restaurant Tuesday night attempted to fire a gun at employees and customers multiple times but the gun misfired, reports The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The man was able to shoot the gun several times outside the restaurant, according to witnesses, but the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Jestin Anthony Joseph of Allen, was unable to fire the gun inside the restaurant.

“It appears that [he] is pulling the trigger, but the weapon does not fire,” robbery Sgt. Joe Loughman told the Star-Telegram. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. It must not have been their time to go.”

Police responded to a robbery call at the restaurant on the 4800 block of South Freeway, when witnesses told police that a man walked into McDonald’s and asked for a cup of water. The man then pulled out a gun, pointing it at customers and employees, demanding their possessions.

The gun would not fire.

A man tried to take the gun away from Joseph, police said, but the suspect ran outside and fired the weapon successfully into the air. He returned and again pulled the trigger.

Again, the gun would not fire.

Joseph went back outside, fired two rounds and pointing at a vehicle passing on the road.

It’s unclear if the car was hit, but it did not stop. Police said there were no reports of injuries from the incident. Joseph ran away from the scene along Interstate 20, discarding the weapon as he fled. He was arrested shortly after and the gun was retrieved, police said.

The Star-Telegram reports that Joseph was being held in the Mansfield Jail on Wednesday night on outstanding warrants and on suspicion of five counts of aggravated robbery. His bail was set at $500,000.

Joseph has a record in Collin County of drug and assault charges.

Joseph’s mother told the Star-Telegram that her son was having a mental breakdown Tuesday and told police the 24-year-old was suicidal. She said the gun malfunctioned because she had been praying.

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