10/23/09

École Bilingue

had its Halloween Parade today

more photos here

 

 

and Kubik sends

CEID kids at Bob and Carol's Pumpkin Patch today

 

 

"California School for the Deaf celebrates 150 years" by Linh Tat, Oakland Tribune.

"More than 4000 people are expected to descend upon California School for the Deaf this homecoming weekend to celebrate the institution's 150th anniversary.

Scheduled activities today include a school pep rally with former 49er star Ronnie Lott and an athletic hall of fame ceremony and dinner.

On Saturday, the public is invited to watch a 150th anniversary parade at noon, plus the cross-country, volleyball and football homecoming games. There also will be a banquet and dance that evening for those with tickets.

On Sunday, alumni will gather for class reunions. . . .

What started as a three-pupil school in San Francisco in May 1860 has grown into an institution annually serving about 480 students from preschool through grade 12 on its Fremont campus. It also offers early intervention through its infant program.

After opening in 1860, California School for the Deaf moved to UC Berkeley in 1869. In 1980, the school relocated to Fremont after it was discovered that the Hayward fault line ran under the Berkeley campus."

 

 

Browsing time on 10/21/09 was just over one hour per reader.

 

"Sunday, November 1, 2009 the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) is hosting an open community discussion on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) at Berkeley High School. The forum is open to everyone interested in listening or sharing opinions related to the NHAS" reports reuters.com.

"Individuals attending the HIV/AIDS Community Discussion will be given up to one minute to provide their National HIV/AIDS Strategy recommendations. In addition, participants will be given the opportunity to submit written recommendations before leaving the event, or alternatively, can forward their recommendations to AIDSpolicy@who.eop.gov."

 

"Men's Varsity Eight Races Top Competition at Head of Charles Regatta" is a report at drexeldragons.com.

"Drexel Crew sent its men's varsity eight to the Head of the Charles Regatta, one of the most prestigious races in rowing, where the newly named "Annette Pennoni" boat finished 32nd of 37 entrants. The race included some of the fastest boats in rowing with top entrants from schools such as the University of Washington, California-Berkeley and Stanford as well as national teams from the United States and Germany."

 

"The Shriver Report: Parity Between The Sexes? Not Yet" is a story at trueslant.com.

"This week California's First Lady Maria Shriver, with the help of the think tank, Center for American Progress, released The Shriver Report, titled 'A Woman's Nation Changes Everything.' The idea for the research report came earlier this year when the nation faced a proverbial tipping point-for the first time ever, half of workers in the U.S. workforce were women. "

 

 

 

"Cost of solar panels drops--but tax breaks dip too" is a brief report at latimes.com.

"The average cost of solar photovoltaic power systems in the U.S. plunged more than 30% from 1998 to 2008, with a 4% drop between 2007 and 2008, according to a new report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

But a simultaneous drop in total after-tax incentives for photovoltaics from 2007 to 2008 resulted in a slight rise in net installed cost, according to the lab, which is run by the Department of Energy."

 

 

 

"Samantha Stollenwerck Releases Her New CD, Carefree" is a press release at gibson.com.

"Samantha Stollenwerck is making waves with the anticipated independent release of her new record 'Carefree"'on November 10th. Samantha is a California native who formed her first band, Shady Lady, in college1999 in Berkeley, California. She gained attention in San Francisco for her unique blend of soulful pop she likes to call 'Cali-soul' ".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/24/09

The owner of Black Oaks Book purchased the old blues club on San Pablo with the idea of making a book store.

 

 

how "Krazy" is Kubik?

most build "ships in a bottle"

Kubik builds aeroplanes--this a WW I Fokker Triplane

 

 

 

"When the Problems Come Home to Roost" is a story at nytimes.com.

"The Bay Area is unmatched in its embrace of the urban backyard chicken trend. But raising chickens, which promises delicious, untainted eggs and instant membership in the local food movement, isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Sharon Lane with one of her three chickens in the coop atop her garage in Berkeley, Calif. "I'm discouraged but I'm determined to figure this out," she said of her flock's mystery ailments.

Chickens, it turns out, have issues.

They get diseases with odd names, like pasty butt and the fowl plague. Rats and raccoons appear out of nowhere. Hens suddenly stop laying eggs or never produce them at all. Crowing roosters disturb neighbors.

The problems get worse. Unwanted urban chickens are showing up at local animal shelters. Even in the best of circumstances, chickens die at alarming rates.

'At first I named them but now I've stopped because it's just too hard,' said Sharon Lane, who started with eight chickens in a coop fashioned from plywood and chicken wire in the front yard of her north Berkeley home. She's down to three."

 

 

 

Our XOMA is the subject of"XOMA 052 Shows Promise in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes" by Brian Hoyle at docguide.com.

"XOMA 052, an engineered monoclonal antibody with a very high affinity for interleukin (IL)-1 beta, shows promise in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, with reductions in markers indicative of beta-cell dysfunction for up to 3 months following a single subcutaneous injection.

'This is just a safety study, but so far so good,' said presenter Jeffrey Feldstein, MD, XOMA, LLC, Berkeley, California, on October 20 at the 20th World Diabetes Congress of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF)."

 

 

 

In "It Came From Berkeley" we find

"In 1971, following 'the first radical take over of city government' the new city council refused to pledge allegiance to the flag. The council was soon spending more time on Vietnam and Racism in Rhodesia . . .

How did Berkeley switch from a culturally liberal city with a Republican dominated government to a city run by liberals and radicals? . . .

Race had a lot to do with it . . . [and] lowering the voting age . . . also had a lot to do with it. . . .

Radicals . . . made the war a make-or-break issue. The shift from liberal pro-war Democrats to antiwar radicals proved as profound as the early shift from Republicans to liberal Democrats. . . .

The second major victory came quickly. In 1971, the radicals won four major seats on the council . . . with the election of Loni Hancock, D'Armey Bailey, and Ira Simmons . . . to the council, and Warren Widner as mayor. . . . eighty-nine officers quit the police force in disgust in 1971 and 1972 as radicals demanded 'community control' of the police. . . .

'The years between 1971 and 1973 were the most difficult years on the city council' [Hancock] wrote 'maybe the most difficult years of my life.'

But the progressives became the establishment. Since the '70s they have either dominated the council or traded off with slates of moderate Democrats. . . "

Whoa, 38 years in power. After all those decades do you get too comfortable?

Time for change? RP

 

The mob behavior of the Insurrection and its radical remnants remain active in Berkeley today. In disruptive behavior at meetings, confrontational politics, street hooliganism.

This behavior, I would submit, is tolerated or even unconsciously approved of by our Establishment, whose cultural roots are themselves in the Insurrection.

We lost, time to get over it, not to obsessively relive and relive and relive it. Trying, as if it were a failed marriage, to make it ok, to make it right. RP

 

 

 

 

And also in "It Came From Berkeley" Dave Weinstein writes "[In] 1905 . . . August Vollmer--a Marine veteran of the Spanish American War's bloody Philippines campaign, and a town firefighter--was elected marshal. . . .

Although he claimed to have no education, education is what he based his policing on. That, plus technology, and science--and sometimes pseudo-science. By 1906, Berkeley had its first bicycle patrol, a centralized record system that tracked criminals' modi operandi, and a system of electric lights spaced throughout town to communicate with officers. It was said to be the first electric communications system in the country.

By 1913, Berkeley had the earliest all-motorized police department in the nation, and by 1919, the city equipped some of its cars with radios, In 1915, Berkeley had its own crime detection lab. . . .

'Crimonologists know that a policeman's energies should be devoted to removing causes of crime, not to pursuing crimials,' Vollmer said. . . .' We must deal with the child in the early and plastic period of his life when his attitudes, his religion, social and personal ideals are being developed.' Vollmer sent police women into Berkeley schools to inculcate the young. . . .

One of the first lie detectors was developed in Berkeley by John A Larsen, a PhD in physiology whom Vollmer brought into the department. The machine was improved in 1920 by Leonarde Keeler, . . .

'The Keeler Polygraph' became one of the most used in the country, and Keeler became a leading criminologist. . . .

Vollmer opposed capital punishment and treated panhandlers leniently. . . . He also believed in free speech, backing the YMCA's decision to open its meeting rooms to every one, even Communists, a philosophy he had no truck with. . . .

By 1924, according to Colliers magazine, Vollmer was 'the most famous policeman in the world.' "

 

The more I read about the history of Berkeley, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that we are just now coming out of a forty-year dark age and that we are being led out by. . . arrgh, Da Boz.RP

 

 

"Medical marijuana is an insult to our intelligence" opines the washington post.

"The Justice Department says it's backing off the prosecution of people who smoke pot or sell it in compliance with state laws that permit 'medical marijuana.' Attorney General Eric Holder says 'it will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers.' Party hardy! I mean -- let the healing begin!

I don't think the federal government should be spending a whole lot of time on small-time druggies, and I'm undecided about legalizing pot, which enjoys 44 percent support among the general public, according to a recent poll. Recreational use is not the wisest thing -- and if my 12-year-old son is reading this, that means you! -- but it's no more harmful than other drugs (e.g., alcohol) and impossible to eradicate. On the other hand, I worry it's a gateway to harder stuff. So I think we probably should have an open debate about decriminalization.

But it should be a real debate, about real decriminalization, and not clouded -- pardon the expression -- by hokum about 'medical marijuana.' To the extent it puts the attorney general's imprimatur on the notion that people are getting pot from 'caregivers' to deal 'with serious illnesses' -- as opposed to growing their own or flocking to "dispensaries" just to get high -- the Justice Department's move is not so constructive."

 

 

 

"Black Oak Books Buys West Berkeley Home" is a story by Riya Bhattacharjee of our Planet.

"The bookstore, which closed in May after more than two decades on Shattuck Avenue in North Berkeley, has announced plans to reopen at the former Rountree's nightclub at 2618 San Pablo Ave., converting the space into a combined bookstore and performance venue."

 

 

 

That God invented science in order to make magic look good can be sensed in "Conflicting cell-phone studies create a real headache" by Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times at connpost.com.

"The answer to the question of whether cell phones increase the risk of brain, head and neck tumors is truly a matter of whom you ask.

A scientific analysis published Tuesday lumped data from 23 epidemiological studies and found no connection between cell-phone use and the development of cancerous or benign tumors. However, when the investigators analyzed eight of the studies that were conducted with the most scientific rigor, cell-phone users had a 10 percent to 30 percent increased risk of tumors compared with people who rarely or never used the phones. The risk was highest among people who had used cell phones for 10 years or longer.

'The other group of 15 studies were not as high-quality,' said study co-author Joel M. Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley. 'They either found no association or a negative association or a protective effect -- which I don't think anyone would have predicted.' "

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/25/09

"California State Senator Criticizes 'Top-Two' Ballot Measure" reports ballot-access.org.

"California State Senator Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) spoke at a forum, 'What Ails California?', held on the University of California Berkeley campus on October 23. She was a member of a panel that was discussing solutions to California's government problems. The meeting was not specifically about the 'top-two'ballot measure in June 2010, but the issue arose."

 

 

This issue of our Planet has the story "Schwartz's 'Berkeley 1900' Celebrates 10th Birthday"
by Ken Bullock.

 

What a coincidence, on 10/11 I posted

Some "picture books" about Our Town worth checking out are; "Berkeley Postcard History" by Wendy Markel, "Berkeley 1900" by Richard Schwartz and Sandra Bruch, "Jews of Oakland and Berkeley" by Frederick Isaac, and"It Came From Berkeley" by David Weinstein.

Of course, I learned early on from Mary Baker Eddy and later from Berkeley '60s psychedelics that there are no coincidences.

 

And on 10/22 I posted

Yesterday's East Bay Express has a story about Our Town by David Weinstein, author of "It Came From Berkeley."

I guess the staff reads Scrambled Eggs--or not. Hell, and I thought the Express was just an alternate-lifestyle consumer-guide.

 

 

 

 

"Psychedelics May Have Health Benefits" is a report at foxnews.com.

"Scientists are studying the possible health benefits of LSD, marijuana, ecstasy and other psychedelic drugs.

According to the Guardian , a growing number of people are using the drugs to help them cope with conditions such as cluster headaches and chronic anxiety attacks.

Research was carried out in the 1950s and 1960s into psychedelics, and in some places they were even used as a treatment for anxiety, depression and addiction. But a backlash against LSD -- due to concerns that the powerful hallucinogen was becoming widespread as a recreational drug, and fear that excessive use could trigger mental health conditions such as schizophrenia -- led to prohibition of research in the 1970s.

Now, though, researchers are looking again at whether LSD and other psychedelics might help patients.

A study at the University of California in Berkeley, was the first research into LSD to get approval from regulators and ethics bodies since the 1970s. Those in the study are the first to be allowed to take LSD legally in decades as part of research into whether it aids creativity."

 

They can also can make you crazy. I had a girl friend who, convinced she could fly, jumped off a roof.

 

 

 

 

"Recalling the Days When Savio Spoke for the Movement" by Conn Hallinan, Special to the Planet is an appreciation of our Mario Savio in the form of a "book review."

During the Free Speech Movement I worked right across from Sproul Plaza at Campus Smoke Shop and Records, having just quit grad school in sociology. Something about "If that professor thinks I'm going to do HIS research, he's outta his fucking mind."

Savio regularly came into Campus Smoke. What I remember about him was his stutter and that he smoked Luckies. My Old Man smoked Luckie Strikes and I did too, rolling up the pack in my tee-shirt sleeve between smokes. So I figured Savio was hip.

As a postscript the Planet offers "Conn Hallinan was arrested in Sproul Hall on Dec. 2 1964."

Working in Berkeley in those days, I made an effort NOT to get arrested--I needed the money. But I WAS arrested as a teenager in Milwaukee, the cops coming to my house at one in the morning. There were two detectives in a black '52 Ford . They cuffed me and "put me" in the back seat. . . . but that's another story.

 

 

 

So, . . . in keeping with the culture of change in west-Berkeley and understanding that harmony would be refreshing, I offer the Lipofsky/Penndorf Plan--the laser development.

Projected on a cleared acre, every few days the laser image changes, so pleasing all. A few days of high-end mixed-use followed by an acre of park with childrens' play ground, trees, paths and then a low income artisan and manufactures' time followed by some days of just residence, and, of course, a bio-tech park with 90 foot buildings. But it's not real? Is the west-Berkeley Plan?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/27/09

While searching for origin of the quote "I could never be a Socialist, they have too many night meetings" I coincidentally found this pdf/html "'The Ten Commandments If Moses Had Been An Developer', Patrick Kennedy, Berkeley, Cal"

Don't always agree with the SOB but I love his style.

Go the html page and click on the pdf link. The pdf's worth a look.

 

Of coincidences on 10/25 I posted

Of course, I learned early on from Mary Baker Eddy and later from Berkeley '60s psychedelics that there are no coincidences.

 

According to Kennedy it was Oscar Wilde.

 

 

 

 

Milwaukee's Socialist Mayor

Frank P. Zeidler, 1948

 

 

 

 

 

there is a Planning Commission meeting

this Wednesday night

 

 

 

 

"There are better ways to plan to allow cozy neighborhoods" is a story by John David Beutler at news-leader.com.

"The neighborhood represents a vision of community that is close to American hearts and to Ozarks values of neighborliness, thriftiness and stability. Consider the scene of a mother and child walking down a leaf-strewn sidewalk toward the neighborhood park on a fine fall afternoon. A neighbor couple waves from their porch where they're reading the paper, chatting and just watching the day go by. The street is quiet and narrow, dappled with the shade of tall trees arching overhead. Flags fly from one or two of the porches. Along their route, the mother knows who lives in each of the houses. The small house across the street holds a young couple who just brought home a new baby. Two doors down lives an older woman. In summer she hires one of the neighbor children to rake her leaves, and every Easter she hides eggs in the backyard for her grandchildren. Twice a week she walks to the small grocer two blocks over to buy milk. While she's there she chats with the shop owner, who lives on the same street.

The large house at the corner by the park is full with a husband and wife with four children. The oldest child is almost ready for MSU. The youngest is in sixth grade and walks with his friend to school in the mornings, two blocks down and one block left, just past the church. The wife walks the other direction every weekday morning to the bus stop by the grocer and rides to her office downtown. The husband works nearby, and on nice days he rides his bicycle to work. But today is Saturday, and the smell of a grill is in the air.

This sort of comfortable neighborhood has been an inspiration for Americans for many years, so it is surprising how few of our newest neighborhoods are like this."

John David Beutler, 42, is an urban designer who grew up in Springfield. He received a business degree at MSU and a Master of City Planning at the University of California at Berkeley.

 

 

 

 

"Sungevity to Share Vision for Spreading Sunshine Online at Solar Power International" is a story at reuters.com.

"Sungevity, one of the nation's fastest growing online solar providers, announced today that its team will be attending and speaking at the Solar Power International Conference in Anaheim, California from Tuesday-Thursday, October 27-29. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/28/09

From Patrick Kenndey's The Ten Commandments if Moses had been a developer.

5. Encourage mixed-use projects, and allow them in areas zoned for commercial-use only.

"Why undertake such [mixed-use] projects?
Because they intensify the richness of living, enhance people's range of
experience, and create easy access to a nearly inexhaustible variety of activities.
Mixed use developments are designed at a human scale, and represent a
positive attempt by the development community to achieve the public object of
keeping central cities alive and making cities a living organism"
­ Edmund Bacon, Philadelphia Planning Dept. Dir. (ret.)

 

 

Massi and Jen email from Riva Cucina

Autumn Greetings from Riva Cucina

We hope you are enjoying all the delights of Fall. We sure are! A whole new assortment of fruits and vegetables are ripe for the picking, including our apples in Napa. We've spent numerous Sundays picking what seems to be endless apples from our trees. We hope you had the chance to taste the crespelle, preserves and torta we've been making with them. Autumn has brought many new dishes and wines to Riva so stop by soon to try them. As always, we'd love to have you.

Still reeling from the excitement of being named the Chronicle's Baylist Best Italian Restaurant, we found out that Riva is also recommended in the 2010 Michelin Guide! We couldn't be more thrilled and feel incredibly honored to be considered among the best Bay Area restaurants by the Michelin team.

Enjoy the Fall colors, the crispness in the air, your Halloween, and all the wonderful foods this season brings.

Saluti,
Massi + Jen

 

There is much more on their beautiful and informative web page here, including a reporduction of the Michelin recommendation.

 

900 GRAYSON received a similar Michelin recommendation for American cuisine.

 

 

 

"UC Berkeley amplifies national voice via The Berkeley Blog" is a UC press release by Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations.

"The University of California, Berkeley's best and brightest are often asked to share their insights at the White House, on Wall Street and with the media worldwide. Now, they are furthering that conversation in a new format - The Berkeley Blog.

Launched on Oct. 12 by UC Berkeley's online NewsCenter, the blog features campus faculty members fielding a wide spectrum of questions about the hottest current events. The blog appears to be the first such enterprise based at a major university in the United States."

 

"Smart Profs, Teabagger Administrators : UC Berkeley Proposes Shutting Invaluable Water Library" opines Patrick McCully, Huffington Post.

"Across the road from my office, on the UC Berkeley campus, is the Water Resources Center Archives, an irreplaceable treasure for anyone interested in the history, politics and science of water, particularly in California and the US West, but also the rest of the world. The Archives' collection is open to the general public, not just students. I used it at lot in the mid-1990's when writing my book Silenced Rivers. Just before our recent office move, International Rivers donated to the Archives 20+ years of unique documentation related to campaigns around the world to stop dams and save rivers.

And now, the university, in its great 'we've-got-more-Nobel-winners-than-anyone-else' wisdom, is proposing to shut down the Archives. "

 

" Day of the Dead Protest November 2nd ends Conference Series at UC Berkeley" is a report at examiner.com.

"Day of the Dead protest on November 2nd ends a week of conferences open and free to the public as a result of the September 24th demonstration by the students of the University of California, Berkeley as well as other campuses who took part in the major protest of up to 5000 student, faculty and staff. The increase in tuition for students at the University of California Berkeley, the reduction of funds available to students, the faculty and staff having a reduction in their pay by means of forced leaves brought the people to the streets of Berkeley for the duration of the day."

 

 

 

"End State: Is California Finished?" asks John Judis in The New Republic. "California is a mess, but I love it all the same--especially the Bay Area, where I lived for 15 years. I went to Berkeley in 1962--a refugee from Amherst College, which at that time was dominated by frat boys with high SAT scores. I didn't go to Berkeley to go to school, but to be a bus ride away from North Beach and the Jazz Workshop. In a broader sense, I went to California for the same reason that other émigrés had been going since the 1840s. I was knocking on the Golden Door."

 

"Suzanne Farrell Ballet stands out" is a review by our Allan Ulrich, Chronicle Dance Correspondent.

"It has been far too long (six years, to be exact) since the Suzanne Farrell Ballet graced Northern California stages, but the company, resident at the Kennedy Center in Washington, made handsome amends last weekend, offering two revelatory programs at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall."

 

 

 

Last Sunday, during Lipofsky and my outlining the development plan which bears our names, I noticed Marvin had on one of those nifty baseball caps with the beak in the front. I've been looking for one of the old-fashion caps but all I see are those with beaks in the back. Can anyone let me know where to get the older caps?

 

 

 

Robin D. G. Kelley is professor of American studies and ethnicity and history at the University of Southern California. Previously on the faculties of Emory, the University of Michigan, Columbia and NYU, where he chaired the history department, he was one of the youngest tenured professors in the U.S. Kelley earned his Ph.D. from UCLA and has published several prize-winning books on African American history and culture. His latest, Thelonious Monk, has been described as the definitive work on modern jazz' most original composer.

He recently appeared on the Tavis Smiley Show.

Watch Smiley's interview with Robin D.G. Kelley here. Kelley talks about his book on Monk, Miles and Monk and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/29/09

Kubik

with CEID kids and . . .

more to follow

 

 

"WLC Architects Relocates to Berkeley:Firm Leases Office Space at 2600 10th St." is a news release at costar.com.

"WLC Architects Inc. a California-based architectural company, recently inked a 10-year deal with 2600 Tenth Street LLC for 11,800 square feet at 2600 10th St. in Berkeley, CA. The firm, which will relocate later this year from Emeryville, was in need of a larger space.

The 10th Street building is known as the Saul Zaentz Media Center. "

 

 

"'America's Most Wanted' Episode to Focus on Berkeley Incident" by Amy Brooks, Daily Cal Staff Writer.

"Berkeley played host to the TV show 'America's Most Wanted' Tuesday when it filmed a segment in the city.

The show, which airs on the Fox Network, previously filmed in the area several weeks ago, but returned yesterday for a final day of filming with its host, John Walsh.

This episode centers around the May shooting death of Berkeley resident Charles Davis. The subsequent car chase between police and suspects in the shooting led to a crash and the deaths of Todd Perea of Brentwood and Floyd Ross of Berkeley.

Following the incident, two of the suspects, Anthony Price and Stephon Anthony, were arrested at the scene, and a third, Samuel Flowers, was apprehended almost two weeks later in Florida. The fourth suspect, Rafael Campbell, is still at large.

The purpose of the show is 'to bring Campbell to justice,' said producer Andrew Holland.

"We hope to accomplish what we have for the last 23 seasons, to get a lead that police need to be able to find Rafael Campbell and put him behind bars," he said.

Berkeley Police Department Officer Andrew Frankel said the national profile of the show might help attract new witnesses. . . .

Berkeley City Councilmember Darryl Moore said several residents expressed concern about the filming, which took place in his district.

'Some people e-mailed my office concerned about this second round of filming,' he said. 'It's been about (a) 2-to-1 (ratio) of people who didn't want to see the filming take place and (several) ... people who supported (it) because they thought it would catch the criminal.'

After completing filming in Berkeley, the show traveled to an Oakland parking garage to film a scene with the getaway car used by the suspects.

Moore added that many residents are glad the show will no longer be filming in the area.

'It's a relief to a lot of people,' he said. 'I tried to get the shooting moved out of the neighborhood, but it was unsuccessful.'

The episode will air Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. PST."

 

 

our Ryan Lau emails

Just wanted to send out some quick announcements

Set Your Clocks Backwards and Check Your Back-Ups
Take just five minutes a week to raise the level of emergency preparedness and safety awareness in your organization.
This Week: Setting Clocks Backward
For many, Daylight Saving Time (DST) comes to an end this coming weekend, at 2:00 am on Sunday, November 1st. To avoid morning confusion, and to most people in the United States simply set their clocks BACKWARDS one hour before going to bed on Saturday evening. This is an excellent time to update your preparedness in several simple ways:
Check that your key phone and email contacts are updated and backed up
Check the charge in your fire extinguisher
Check the batteries in your smoke detectors and flashlights
Check the expiration dates on your food and water. If needed, use or donate them and replenish your supplies.
When you set your clocks BACKWARDS, think to check on those items that are BACK UP resources: what you use when your own resources or first choices aren't available.

 

Planning Commission ­ West Berkeley Project
There has been quite a bit of confusion over what has come to be known as the West Berkeley Project.  The Planning Commission will be discussing some critical components of this proposal at their meeting this evening and on November 4th, at 7pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue.  This evening's meeting will be a Public Hearing with ample time to hear from the public.  If you'd like to find out more information about tonight's meeting or the West Berkeley Project, in general, please visit: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=45592 

Last Free Compost Giveaway for the Year
October 30 is the last free compost distribution of the year.
This compost is called "Wonder-Gro".  It is made by Grover Landscaping (near Modesto) from the food scraps and garden trimmings Berkeley and other cities collect from their residents and businesses, and the garden trimmings we receive from the public at the transfer station.  It contains no "biosolids" or manures
Grover sells most of it to Central Valley farmers and landscapers, thereby helping the farmers reduce their carbon footprints.
Berkeley receives a portion of the compost back.   We use it for city landscaping, and provide it free to school and community gardens, and to the public.  .
Wonder Gro" is exhaustively tested by the U.S. Composting Council, and approved for all uses.  We have test details if anyone is concerned.
We will resume compost distribution to the public in March.
Happy Gardening!

The Dreaded H1N1
Flu season is upon us and the novel H1N1 flu virus is widespread and is well established in our community.  The H1N1 virus so far is about as serious as seasonal flu, but because the population has little or no immunity to it, more people are likely to become ill.  We anticipate that there will be more cases, continued absences from work and school, more hospitalizations and even more deaths associated with this new virus in the coming months. Prevention efforts are continuing, and testing and treatment are recommended for hospitalized or high-risk individuals only. 
H1N1 Vaccinations (Last Revised October 26, 2009)
      Shipments of 2009 H1N1 vaccine have begun here. Supplies have been smaller and are coming in later than originally projected.  Vaccine IS available at Kaiser.  Contact your doctor (or Kaiser if you are a member) for vaccine availability.
      Currently, the Berkeley Public Health has not received enough vaccine to offer H1N1 vaccine clinics.  We expect to receive more in the upcoming weeks so please check this website regularly for updated information.  Berkeley health care providers will receive vaccine at the same time as the Public Health Department.  They also have received only very limited supplies so far.  
       The Public Health Division will be offering H1N1 vaccinations in all Berkeley public schools K-12 during the week of November 16th.  Please check the BUSD website for your child's school specific vaccine clinic schedule.  Vaccination is entirely voluntary.
       Vaccines are targeted primarily for high risk groups:
Pregnant women
people who live with or care for infants younger than 6 months of age
healthcare and emergency medical services personnel
persons between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old (children under 10 will need two vaccinations 28 days apart)
people 25 through 64 years of age with chronic health conditions or compromised immune systems
We anticipate that eventually there will be plenty of vaccine so that everyone who wants it can be vaccinated, but shipments and quantities are unpredictable. 
We understand that many are eager to receive this vaccine and we ask for the public's patience as additional vaccine is produced and shipped.
Sincerely,
Ryan Lau
Council Aide
Councilmember Darryl Moore

 

 

 

"Lawrence Berkeley Lab to help train apprentice electricians" is a report in the San Francisco Business Times by Steven E.F. Brown.

 

 

 

"Nonficiton Bestsellers from Small Press Distribution" is a report at examiner.com.

"Small Press Distribution is a non-profit literary arts organization, whose mission is to connect readers with writers by providing access to independently published literature. Located in Berkeley, California, SPD allows essential but underrepresented literary communities to participate fully in the marketplace and in the culture at large through book distribution, information services, and public advocacy programs. SPD nurtures an environment in which the literary arts are valued and sustained."

 

 

 

Another reason to believe that God created science to make magic look good might be "Chemicals found that turn ants into warriors" by David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor.

" A research team of UC scientists has decoded the words in the secret chemical language of Argentine ants - a discovery that could lead to an environmentally benign pesticide against the insects that march into Bay Area homes every time the weather turns cold or wet.

The researchers found special signaling chemicals on the bodies of one aggressive group of the ants, and then synthesized the chemicals to induce peaceable members of the same species to turn them into highly aggressive beasts, perhaps leading them to turn on each other."

 

 

 

"Underemployed compound state's jobless troubles" Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"San Francisco resident Elena Duran represents an unfortunate job trend that isn't reflected in the unemployment rate.

For years, Duran has been a full-time server at a downtown hotel. But the recession has cut so deeply into business that her hours were cut to half time in July."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/30/09

CEID kids

at Bob and Carol's Pumpkin Patch last week

 

CEID director Jill Ellis emails

Ron
 Thanks for sharing our smiley faces with the community.
Jill
 

 

 

Our Pete Hurney is on the next Sedge Thomson ' West Coast Live' --10 AM on KALW-FM. Pete's going to talk about ukes and read his Alice's Restaurant public service spot--maybe recite a little jingle about Thomson's program. Check it out.

 

 

 

Whatever you think of Patrick Kennedy, giv 'um that he has had perfect timing. Kennedy got out of real estate at "the absolute right moment." But did he make any money? I'm told he paid our city millions in taxes.

In his pdf, Patrick quotes a report from Patrick Killelea--for Kennedy's pdf go his html page and click on the pdf link.

Here is a link to essential the same Killelea report.

 

"US Housing Crash Continues:It's Still A Terrible Time To Buy" writes Patrick Killelea. "Falling House Prices Are The Solution, Not The Problem ,

1. House prices will keep falling in most places because those prices are still dangerously high compared to incomes and rents. Banks say a safe mortgage is a maximum of 3 times the buyer's yearly income with 20% downpayment. Landlords say a safe price is a maximum of 15 times the house's yearly rent. Yet on the coasts, both those safety rules are still being violated. Buyers are still borrowing 6 times their income and putting only 3% down, and sellers are still asking 30 times annual rent, even after recent price declines. Renting is a cash business that reflects what people can really pay based on their salary, not how much they can borrow. Salaries and rents prove that prices will keep falling for a long time. Anyone who bought a 'bargain' this time last year is already sitting on a very painful loss."

Here is a link to Killelea's Google.

 

On about the same subject, when talking to Don Yost a few weeks ago I said that the old normal is "they built too much housing" and the new normal is "housing is too expensive."

 

 

from Patrick Kennedy's The Ten Commandments If Moses Had Been An Infill Developer.

8. Identify the existing successes in the designated area ­ a landmark, institution, or local hot spot ­ and build around that.

 

 

That the slope from criticism-to-whining is slippery is sometimes found in Curl and Auerbach's on and on "City Proposals Threaten West Berkeley Industry and Arts" in our Planet.

Curl's a hell of a writer though.

And please remember the Lipofsky/Penndorf Plan--the laser development.

Projected on a cleared acre, every few days the laser image changes, so pleasing all. A few days of high-end mixed-use followed by an acre of park with childrens' playground, trees, paths and then a low income artisan and manufactures' time followed by some days of just residence, and, of course, a bio-tech park with 90 foot buildings. But it's not real?

 

 

 

 

"D'Army Bailey: Activist, Attorney, Actor" an interview at memphisflyer.com.

"From the sound of it, Memphis lawyer and former court judge D'Army Bailey doesn't only think in complete sentences or full paragraphs. More like whole pages at a time. But drawn from a recent 50-minute phone conversation - in time for the publication of Bailey's memoir The Education of a Black Radical: A Southern Civil Rights Activist's Journey 1959-1964 (Louisiana State University Press), here's the gist of it - 'it' being Bailey's thoughts on a variety of subjects, from the state of the student protest movement to the state of South Memphis. . . .

I was living adjacent to Berkeley, because racial discrimination was so bad in San Francisco, especially when it came to a black man trying to find an apartment.

After I left that law office, I became involved in local politics, in Berkeley. The Black Panthers were active. Angela Davis was active. And I'd met some friends who were well-off. They provided some money. They were politically supportive. I and a friend ran for city council in Berkeley, and I won and served from '71 to '73.

I ran on a ticket of two blacks and two whites. We had the support of the students, the street people, women, gays, and antiwar people. But not all of the African-American community, because a part of that community was conservative. They were wary of the street people in Berkeley - people who would come and go, who didn't have a deep stake in the community.

I was viewed as the most outspoken and obstinate politically, but we got a lot done in the area of affirmative action. But the conservatives and moderates targeted me. They initiated a recall in '73 with 18,000 signatures on a petition. Once they got those signatures, I knew pretty much that my goose was cooked, because even though I'm a fighter, numerically it was going to be a tough race to win. The progressive forces didn't have the majority vote. The recall succeeded."

 

 

 

"Berkeley honors FilAm activist" is a report at globalnation.inquirer.net by Benjamin Pimentel.

 

 

 

"Burning home fires will be a crime on bad-air nights in Bay Area" by Denis Cuff ,Contra Costa Times.

"Light a fire at home, pay a $400 fine.

Burning wood fires in home fireplaces and stoves on bad air nights in the Bay Area becomes illegal again as of Sunday, when the region enters its second cold-weather season with lighting up banned during Spare the Air alerts.

The crackdown, aimed at protecting public health from smoke, has two significant changes this year, the Bay Area Air Quality Management announced Wednesday."

 

 

"Solar Advocates Applaud PG&E Commitment to Expand Net Metering Program" reports reuters.com.

"Existing law requires California`s major electric utilities to make net metering available to customers until the total program capacity exceeds 2.5 percent of the utility`s peak demand. Data from the state`s solar rebate program indicates that there may be enough applications to hit the 2.5 percent program cap in PG&E territory as early as the first half of 2010. Under leadership from Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the state legislature attempted to raise the cap to 5 percent through a bill, AB 560, which ran in the 2009 session. Despite widespread support among policymakers and stakeholders, the legislative session ended without passing AB 560 into law. This commitment from PG&E solves an immediate need to allow continued net metering access in the utility`s territory until state law can be changed. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/31/09

Marsha's

law office

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

 

In keeping with Berkeley's innovative thought and action we introduce, shortly, the Lipofsky/Penndorf Laser-Mayor--a mayor neutral product.

"The California Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521, has launched an organizing campaign to boost working conditions for freelance journalists, including the region`s first juried press credential for independent news gatherers" is a report at reuters.com.

"Supported by a grant from the Berger Marks Foundation in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco-based Guild local has a full-time organizer working on the project, along with other staff and volunteers. The broad-reaching campaign focuses on freelancers in Northern California. A website (guildfreelancers.org) has been established with online recruiting tools, a members-only resources area being developed, and tie-ins with social networking sites. "

 

Anthony Bourdain [comments on our Alice Waters]. "'She's Pol Pot in a muumuu,' he reportedly said at the recent New York City Wine and Food Festival" is a line from a story at sfgate.com.

". . . After saying the Chez Panisse founder 'annoys the living s*** out of me,' the Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain bashed her again. 'She's Pol Pot in a muumuu,' he reportedly said at the recent New York City Wine and Food Festival. Following his Cambodian dictator comparison, Bourdain quipped: 'I saw her on 60 Minutes. She used six cords of wood to cook one egg for Lesley Stahl.'

Getting in on the bashing action was David Chang, chef of NYC's Momofuku. During a discussion with Bourdain at the food fest, Chang shared his culinary conspiracy theory. 'I will call bullshit on San Francisco. There's only a handful of restaurants that are manipulating food ... f***ing every restaurant in San Francisco is serving figs on a plate with nothing on it."'(OK, if anyone knows who's carrying said fig dish, please let us know. And, really, is fruit on a platter any worse than tartar in a spoon?)

The fig remark apparently did not sit well with the Northern California chapter of the Asia Society. It canceled an SF event to promote Chang's new book. And the fig fallout did not sit well with Chang. 'Why would people get upset? I'm not gonna retract what I said. I think everybody needs to chill out. People need to smoke more marijuana in San Francisco.' "

 

"In California, the leaves are brown and the sky is grey" opines Sarah Stodder at georgetownvoice.com.

"Stirred by The Mamas & The Papas' ode to the Golden State, my mom followed her 'California dream,' leaving her childhood home in Ohio for San Francisco after graduating college. She, like many baby boomers, saw boundless opportunity in the west coast's biggest state: cheap real estate, outstanding public schools, a booming economy. My dad, having spent four years at the University of California Berkeley, had no intention to ever leave California.

Thirty years later, however, the state once brimming with opportunity has warped into something unrecognizable. Unemployment is soaring, the pre-collegiate public school system is one of the worst in the nation, and Sacramento is so paralyzed that it is the only state government to have not yet passed a budget this year-as it has failed to do 18 of the past 22 years."

 

A Berkeley Barb columnist wrote in the '60s "One only gets a sense of Berkeley by leaving it. . . . Here, because our world is narrow and because we find people who understand us, we get into the habit of thinking there are more of us than there really are . . . The fact is that Berkeley people are not even the majority i n Berkeley." From the Introduction of It Came From Berkeley.

After we complete the Lipofsky/Penndorf Laser-Mayor project, we will launch our much anticipate Virtual-Activist. We hope at the same time to release the less anticipated Laser-Realtor and issue both in a two-for-one package.

 

 

 

"California Engineers Launch Assembly Shop for Efficient Stoves in Darfur" reports reuters.com. "The Berkeley, California-based Darfur Stoves Project (DSP), in partnership with Oxfam America and the Sudanese organization, Sustainable Action Group (SAG), has launched an assembly facility for fuel-efficient stoves in El Fasher, the capital of the Darfur region. The assembly facility is the last stop on a global technology solution supply chain that starts with testing and design in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and stops in a manufacturing facility outside of Mumbai, India before arriving, ultimately, for assembly in Darfur, Sudan.

After weeks of training in stove assembly for residents of Al Salam, one of Darfur's many crowded displacement camps, the small facility now produces dozens of stoves for displaced families every day, while providing a source of income for the assembly workers in the process."

 

 

 

"Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve, Berkeley" is an urban outing by Gail Todd at sfgate.com.

"Rising behind Berkeley's elegant Claremont Hotel is Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve, a stretch of forest, grasslands and chaparral once used for cattle and horse grazing. If you want a short but steep hike with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, take the Stonewall-Panoramic Trail to the ridgetop. Here, after three-quarters of a mile, you will be rewarded with a single bench where you can catch your breath and gaze out over the bay. On a clear day, you can even see the Farallon Islands 44 miles away."

 

 

"Classical composer returns to Berkeley" by Martin Snapp is at insidebayarea.com.

"Composer Terry Riley, the father of the minimalist movement in classical music, will hark back to the famous all-night concerts he used to give in the 1960s and 1970s when he performs Nov. 6 at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Back in the day, the concerts would last until sunrise, with the audience bringing their own sleeping bags and hammocks to doze in while Riley played mostly improvised music all night long."

 

goin' home

CEID kids leaving The Pumpkin Patch

 

 

"John Walsh, host of 'America's Most Wanted,' films in Berkeley" by Kristin Bender, Oakland Tribune.

"It takes dozens of television crew members, even more cameras, a catered lunch spread and a few touch-ups of John Walsh's hair and makeup to nail a 30-second introduction for an "America's Most Wanted" story on a Berkeley homicide and ensuing police chase and crash that killed two uninvolved men in Oakland in May. . . .

After Davis' evening slaying, a seven-minute high-speed police chase into Oakland ended when the driver of the getaway car, a tan Cadillac, ran a stop sign, hitting a Mazda driven by Todd Perea, 27, of Brentwood, and pedestrian Floyd Ross, 41, of Berkeley. Perea and Ross were killed.

Stephon Anthony, 22, of San Leandro, who is accused of driving the getaway car, and Anthony Price, 26, of Oakland, were arrested at the crash scene. Samuel Flowers, 21, of Oakland, was arrested in Florida on unrelated charges a few weeks
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later and brought back to the Bay Area. The three men have been charged with three counts each of capital murder and remain jailed without bail.

A fourth suspect, Rafael Campbell, 27, of Oakland, remains at large, but 'America's Most Wanted' aims to change that, Walsh said. . . .

'I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances,' Walsh said to Davis' mother, Corinne Davis, of Berkeley. 'You are now part of the same club that I belong to.'

Walsh's son Adam was abducted from a department store in Florida and murdered in 1981. Last year authorities named late serial killer Ottis Toole as Adam's killer. Walsh, 63, said he will continue to host the show as long as his health holds up and people keep watching.

Walsh stood on the sidewalk and talked with Corinne Davis and a handful of other family members before starting the arduous process of recording the story's introduction. Walsh greeted Davis with a hug and comforted her by saying, 'You will survive. '... You think it's going to kill you. It destroys that life that you know, but you get through it.'

Charles Davis' relatives said they are pleased that the show is assisting police in tracking down the fourth suspect.

'We never thought that someone like (Walsh) would care,' said Davis' cousin Diane Carroll of Berkeley. 'They are making sure he isn't just another victim of violent crime.' "

 

 

from my log

10/24/09--8:05 AM--irritant in warehouse, lights flicker. Off-and-on all day irritant, sometimes SERIOUS, IMMEDIATELY in front of and in warehouse front, Marsha becomes nauseous, leave. ~6:00 PM, SERIOUS irritant.

10/25/09--2:04 PM--irritant IMMDEIATELY in front of warehouse and warehouse front, dry lip, eyes, light heads.

10/28/09 5"00 PM--VERY SERIOUS irritant in front room, burning eyes, throat.

10/29/09--6:20 PM--irritant in warehouse, dry mouth, dry eyes, hacking cough. Marsha have similar symptoms.

10/30/09--6:50 AM--irritant in warehouse, dry mouth, dry eyes, hacking cough. Marsha have similar symptoms. 9:07 AM--"raw natural gas" odor in front room, leave.

 

 

 

Eternally useful links

 

Bay Area home prices from sfgate.com

 

Bay Area foreclosures from sfgate.com

Our City Council update is here.

 

Our Planning Commision update is here

 

 

You can find more information about our current weather conditions than is good for you at www.wunderground.com

Want to see weather coming in, going out, beautiful sunsets, and much, much more? Check out http://sv.berkeley.edu/view/ This very hip site was in an email from reader and contributor, Tony Almeida. Read Tony's Jimi Hendrix story on the only page that routinely gets more hits than Scrambled Eggs.

 

Best gas prices in 94710, as well as all of US and Canada, are here at gasbuddy.com

Kimar finds Costco routinely has the lowest price.

 

Richmond Ramblers' motorcycle club member, Cliff Miller emails a very

useful link

If you ever need to get a human being on the phone at a credit card company or bank, etc., this site tells you how to defeat their automated system and get you to a human being within a few seconds.

http://gethuman.com/

 

Markets is not just a reference for Berkeley-Hills radicals with 1.5 mil homes and considerable portfolios.

 

Our City of Berkeley Boards and Commissions page is here--redone and friendly.

 

 

Berkeley Police reports at insidebay area.com are here.

 

Our Berkeley PD Site with crime statistics and more is here.

Crime Log for 94710 is here

This site is NOT affiliated with Berkeley PD.
Take time to report crime!

 

All reports of crime-in-progress should first go to Berkeley PD dispatch--911 or non-emergency, 981-5900. THEN make sure you notify EACH of these City people.

The contacts are below:

Our new Area Coordinator is Officer Karen Buckheit, Berkeley PD - 981-5774 kbuckheit@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Angela Gallegos-Castillo, City Mgr Off - 981-2491 agallegos-castillo@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Ryan Lau, aid to Darryl Moore - 981-7120 rlau@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Darryl Moore, City Councilman dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us

 

More Scrambled Eggs & Lox, here

and

Stories about Berkeley and stories about recorded-music

are at

Journal of Recorded Music 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

 

ronpenndorf@earthlink.net

The original owner of all posted material retains copyright. The material is used only to illustrate.