Posted by Terry Rombeck August 28, 2006 at 8:15 a.m.

More cell phone talk

¢ The former proposed cell phone ban in Lawrence is mentioned in this story at [realtechnews.com][1], which talks about another community's tactic for discouraging cell-phone use while driving.Dekalb County in Georgia hasn't taken that step; instead, if you get into an accident while using a cell phone you are fined $500.¢ The Studio 804 architecture class at Kansas University built a "perfect piece of architecture," according to the book "The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home." The book was the subject of a story in the [Orlando Sentinel][2]._ Next, the Studio 804 design program run by the University of Kansas architecture school had built a pair of steel-clad boxes topped by wild-looking plastic roofs for $95,000.With the sun's rays streaming through clerestory windows, Jacobs confessed in her book, "I walk into this light-filled wonder and it makes me thankful that I'm no longer a shelter-magazine editor."The family who owns this "perfect piece of architecture," she adds with relief, has filled it with items you rarely see in magazine spreads: the mundane, messy possessions of real life.¢ Former Colorado University football coach Eddie Crowder talks about the differences in Big 12 college towns in this [Longmont (Colo.) Daily Times-Call][3]. "If you take Lincoln (Neb.), Norman (Okla.), Lawrence (Kan.), Ames (Iowa), communities like that, there is a different sort of atmosphere or flavor in that they do not tend to have the reins of social, political and economic variances," he says. "There's a much greater mixed crop of folks that make up the (Boulder) community. It invites diversion."In Norman and Lincoln, there is an obsession with college football. In Boulder, there's no obsession; there's more of a keen interest. The reasons that has an influential effect, in my opinion, is, one, if a youngster is recruited to one of those communities, everybody he bumps into there is eager to talk local football. Here, people are just not that conscious of it; it's not the focus."Secondly, in those communities, because of the atmosphere, the team is held in such esteem, they know they'll be living a high-priority life. That's less true here."¢ "You couldn't swing a dead cat in Lawrence, Kan., last weekend without hitting an Austin musician in town for the third annual North vs. South Music Festival," according to the [Austin Chronicle][4]. The paper ran a roundup on the event over the weekend. Though Moonlight Towers rolled into Lawrence a little too late for TCB to see much else at North vs. South, founder and former Austinite Mike McCoy (Cher UK, American People) says this year was the best yet.¢ A KU grad working in the oil business in Qatar is fighting a legal battle against the U.S. government, saying President Bush violated at least four articles of the Constitution when he invaded Iraq. The alumnus, Byron Trackwell, is the subject of a profile in the [Qatar Gulf-Times][5]"I am really enjoying it - being involved with our government's politics and constitution, learning the court procedures. I'm enjoying the fight," says Byron Trackwell, who has been working at Qatar Petroleum (QP) for the last 15 years.¢ David Hill, a KU graduate who now is an executive with Lenovo, the company that bought out IBM's PC-making division, is quoted in this [Edmonton Journal][6] story about the 25 years of the PC."What was more impressive back then was not the design, but the fact that the computer worked at all!" said Hill.¢ Wichita native. KU alumnus and 1930s and 1940s actor Sidney Toler is featured in this [Wichita Eagle][7] story, which is part of a series about Kansas history._Wichitan Sidney Toler may not have been the first or last Charlie Chan for Hollywood, but his portrayal of the fictional detective was one of the most memorable. With heavily-lidded eyes and high cheekbones, Toler played Chan from 1938 to 1947.¢ KU professor Chip Taylor, who does frequently media interviews through the university's Monarch Watch program, is quoted in this story in the [Toledo Blade][8]._ "I'd say everywhere east of western Wisconsin, it's going to be a very, very good year," said Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch, the University of Kansas program tracking U.S. monarch migrations over the last 14 years._ [1]: http://www.realtechnews.com/ [2]: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/growth/orl-la10000006aug27,0,6050059.story?coll=orl-news-growth-headlines [3]: http://www.longmontfyi.com/sports-story.asp?id=9537 [4]: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A397727 [5]: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.aspx?cu_no=2&item_no=104694&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16 [6]: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=1293af9a-2984-4217-9ba7-76154bbd8be9 [7]: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/15377315.htm [8]: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060826/NEWS34/608260349