Hidden Valley / Marmol Radziner Prefab

Designed [Marmol Radziner Prefab] for an active couple as a vacation home, Hidden Valley celebrates nature in its careful siting, emphasis on indoor/outdoor living, and integration of sustainable design elements. The prefab house sits on an open, hundred-acre site punctuated by red rock formations and cliffs in the arid desert of Moab, Utah. The two-bedroom, two-bath structure is comprised of five interior modules and seven deck modules — via ArchDaily

Loloma 5 / will bruder+PARTNERS

The architecture of Loloma 5 [will bruder+PARTNERS] is a thoughtful and sophisticated acknowledgement of the traditional and modern roots of its Old Town Scottsdale context—a place with pride in its false-front, covered boardwalk, and “old west” friendly downtown image. The project creates a live/work environment in the heart of Scottsdale that celebrates both the historic and physical context of the place — via ArchDaily

Rapist’s flood hero award revoked

The Queensland Government has revoked an award given to a flood volunteer because the man is a convicted rapist and armed robber.

Bob Riddler was nominated for a local hero award after helping the Shiloh Christian Church at Goodna, west of Brisbane, during the January floods.

He removed rubbish and cleaned houses in the Ipswich suburb.

He had previously served 12 years in jail and had only been released in September last year — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Kenyan baboon adopts bush baby

Clinging to the under-belly of a baboon, Gakii, a 3-month-old orphaned bush baby has plumped for an unlikely surrogate-mother.

In the grounds of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, the duo cavort around in each others’ arms, drink milk out of the same bowl and poke mischievously at a Reuters television camera — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Wheeler School / Ann Beha Architects

With only a 5,000 sqf footprint, this modest connective building [Ann Beha Architects] has helped make adjacent spaces more useful to the school program. The selected site, a former maintenance and dumpster area, now strengthens a campus edge, and creates a connection to the enlarged campus courtyard. The new building links two historic buildings, the Alumni House and Student Union, and provides easy passage along a new campus spine — via ArchDaily

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower / Tange Associates

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower [Tange Associates] is located in Tokyo’s distinctive Nishi-Shinjuku high-rise district and contains three different schools: Tokyo Mode Gakuen (fashion), HAL Tokyo (IT and digital contents) and Shuto Iko (medical treatments and care). The building’s innovative shape and cutting edge façade embodies our unique “Cocoon” concept. Embraced within this incubating form, students are inspired to create, grow and transform — via ArchDaily

One billion people disabled, first global report finds

The proportion of disabled people is rising and now represents 1 billion people — 15% of the global population — according to the first official global report on disability.

An ageing population and an increase in chronic health conditions, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, mean the proportion has grown from an estimated 10% in the 1970s.

But, despite a robust disability rights movement and a shift towards inclusion, disabled people remain second-class citizens, according to the report by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank. One in five experience significant difficulties — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Judge furious at inexcusable P2P lawyering, nukes subpoenas

There are three quick steps to angering a federal judge: first, launch the country’s largest file-sharing lawsuit against 23,322 anonymous defendants, even though most of them don’t live where you filed the suit. Second, request expedited discovery in the case, allowing you to quickly secure the subpoenas necessary to go to Internet access providers and turn those 23,322 IP addresses into real names. Third, don’t even bother to serve the subpoenas you just told the court were so essential to your case.

Federal Judge Robert Wilkins of Washington, DC this week blasted the conduct of Dunlap, Grubb, and Weaver, the attorneys behind the lawsuit, calling it inexcusable. Dunlap, Grubb, and Weaver helped kickstart the current frenzy of P2P lawsuits last year after filing cases under the name US Copyright Group. The 23,322-person case, their largest to date, involves the film The Expendables — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Woman sues fiance over drunken impaling

A Victoria woman is suing her former fiance after a drunken fall off a veranda left her impaled on a garden picket in November 008.

South Ballarat woman Michelle Egglestone is suing for damages and loss of earnings after being injured at the home of Leslie Furness at Smythes Creek near Ballarat.

The document states the 35-year-old was urinating off the side of a veranda in the back garden when she fell onto a star picket underneath.

She suffered pelvic, lower abdominal, vaginal, rectal and bladder injuries and required surgery — via redwolf.newsvine.com

New York Adds Free AT&T Wi-Fi to Public Parks

New York-dwelling tech geeks rejoice: Pretty soon, you’ll be able to access Wi-Fi while lounging in the park.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, announced Thursday a five-year initiative to bring free Wi-Fi to 26 locations in 20 New York City parks across the boroughs. Today, AT&T Wi-Fi will be up and running in Battery Bosque (a garden in Battery Park), the north-end playground in Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, and around the recreation centre at Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Scientists explain the spider web paradox

The purpose of eye-catching web decorations created by certain spiders has mystified scientists for decades, but new research suggests they help prevent unintentional damage.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia have found that the bold silk cross constructed by the St. Andrew’s Cross Spider (Argiope keyserlingi) in the centre of their web is actually a visual warning of the web’s presence.

“The frequency and size of the cross’s increased as a response to heavy web damage, providing an explanation to the debated decorations,” said the lead author of the paper published in Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, Andre Walter from the Department of Zoology — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Origami House / Atrium

Set outside of Moscow, up on a semi-forested hill of thin pines, this home [Atrium] is at once an abstract sculptural work and dynamically planned residence. Views on three sides are engaged in creative ways, while the one direction without a view facilitates the wrapping of the facade from one level to the next — via Dornob

Symantec Australia to shutter software unit

Symantec is expected to inform staff tomorrow that it will close development and product engineering operations in Australia.

Symantec confirmed that the company planned to outsource some its software engineering development work to India and other low-cost centres.

It said that its Sydney offices in North Sydney and Kent Street in Sydney’s CBD would remain open — via redwolf.newsvine.com