ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
Computer hits prime math target
EAGAN, Minn. - Computer scientists crunching numbers at the outer limits of numeration say they've stumbled on the largest-known prime number.
Primes are whole numbers, like 3, 5, 17, 23 and so on, that are evenly divisible only by one and themselves. This one, at 378,632 digits, would fill up 12 newspaper pages in standard type.
To work it out for yourself, take 2, multiply it by itself 1,257,787 times, and subtract one.
A Cray Research team discovered this latest, largest prime number while testing one of the company's latest supercomputers in Chippewa Falls, Wis.
The Greek mathematician Euclid proved that there is an infinite number of primes, but they do not occur in a predictable sequence, and there is no formula for generating them.
Apart from testing supercomputers and fascinating mathematicians, large prime numbers are used extensively in cryptography and secure communications.
- Associated Press
Congress OKs bill to pay for itself
WASHINGTON - Congress on Tuesday passed a bill giving $2.17 billion to the legislative branch in fiscal 1997.
The Senate approved the measure without dissent. One of the smallest of 13 appropriations bills that fund the government, the bill covers spending for the House and Senate and related agencies such as the Library of Congress and General Accounting Office.
The House approved the bill before the August recess and the president is expected to sign it.
Last year, Bill Clinton vetoed a legislative bill, saying Congress shouldn't provide for its own needs before other federal programs.
- Associated Press
Calif. congress OKs chemical castration
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Assembly has given final legislative approval to a bill making California the first state in the nation to require chemical castration for repeat child molesters, rejecting arguments that the remedy amounts to mutilation.
The bill sailed out of the Assembly on a 51-8 vote Friday. The Senate approved the measure last week, and Gov. Wilson says he will sign it.
Nine Democrats joined all 41 Assembly Republicans and a Reform Party lawmaker to pass the measure. Only two Assembly members spoke against the bill, Democrats Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica and Carole Migden of San Francisco.
``I am not convinced that when people molest children, even sexually, that they do so out of sexual desire,'' Kuehl said. ``It's about domination. It's about control.''
A 1991 study of 626 sex offenders who were given the drug over five years found that fewer than 10 percent committed additional sexual offenses.
- San Francisco Examiner
Police nab principal on prostitution
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - An elementary school principal was arrested in drag on prostitution charges after he allegedly propositioned two undercover officers.
George S. Meadows, 55, who was photographed by police in a wig and lipstick, offered to undercut a female competitor's price for oral sex on the two male officers Sunday, Sgt. Randy Young said.
He was suspended with pay Tuesday from his post at Sylvia Elementary School in Beckley.
Meadows, a principal for 17 years, is the father of two sons.
He and the woman who also allegedly propositioned the officers were charged with soliciting prostitution, which carries a $550 fine for a first offense.
- Associated Press
Police dad gets back old job, lost pay
STILLWATER, Okla. - A police sergeant who was demoted to patrolman for slapping the boy he said he caught having sex with his teen-age daughter will get his old job back with back pay and benefits.
John Jerkins will return Wednesday to the rank of sergeant in the police department's criminal investigations division, where he had worked until he was demoted in April.
The city attorney said an arbitrator will determine whether Jerkins should be punished for striking the boy.
Jerkins had lost $705 per month in pay, plus $350 per month in pension benefits since the demotion. He was assigned duties such as stuffing envelopes and reading reports.
- Associated Press
Buyer takes heap off pontiff's hands
AUBURN, Ind. - A buyer paid $102,000 at auction Monday for a 1975 Ford Escort that was once the personal car of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla before he became Pope John Paul II.
But it was likely the options package that sealed the deal.
The buyer, 31-year-old Jim Rich of Chicago, gets a free trip to Rome thrown in. There's also a personal visit with the pontiff, who will turn over the keys to the bluish-silver car.
Proceeds from the sale will be used for the Polish Pilgrim Home in Rome and the Catholic University in Lublin, Poland.
- Associated Press
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