December 2010

after 12/8/10, here after 12/19/10, here 12/26/10, here

HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Maimonides

 

Though a Medieval scholar, Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed is relevant today.

 

12/1/10

posts from the past

11/9/03

And just what is it that Albert's smoking in that pipe?

 

Back in The Day Selling Records on Telegraph Avenue--Holiday Sales and Bittersweet Tales

What I remember about working during the holidays at Campus Records in the '60s was that Albert didn't have central heat in the shop. Recently, when I mentioned to him that I was thinking of moving to Vermont, he reminded me that it gets really cold there and observed, perceptively; "Hell, in the shop you use to stand in front of that electric heater in Fall." I remember "the cold" more than the holiday madness.

Though I do vividly recall a late-Christmas Eve when Albert and I were selling records almost faster than we could ring them up-having begun celebrating with brandy in early afternoon we were, of course, happily drunk.

But generally the holiday rush worked against staff happiness and Albert's policy of careful attention to the customer's needs-accompanied by informed and slightly snobbish opinion. "Come back after the rush . . . and you don't want that Bernstein performance anyway," Albert would exhort.

You really couldn't take care of the customer's needs during those hectic weeks just before Christmas and I particularly remember ignoring my regulars just so I could sell pop Christmas albums to last minute shoppers.

Of course, the entire staff were non-believers-and cultural elitists-but that didn't stop us from aggressively selling those popular holiday albums. Mitch Miller Sing Along albums sold very well and, to ourselves, we justified selling these records by working in, "He's a classical oboist you know."

Few cared.

But much more importantly, the rush interfered with "hitting on the chicks." In these tense times of retail combat, often after a sale when you were just about to strut your music knowledge in front of some impressionable coed, Albert would bark in his best ex-infantry manner "Disengage!"

Of course he was much more understanding in ordinary times and only when he was fighting with Connie, his wife, would he so explode. It was during one of those times that the famous "Play Boy" incident occurred.

Campus Records was located behind Campus Smoke Shop-also owned by Albert-and the two shops were connected by a short, wide passage way. And at this passage way, on the Smoke Shop side, were the magazines. (Magazine profit was very small, for the there is little markup and magazine profit depends on large sales-and the return of worn, dog-eared copies could be difficult and cut dramatically into an already small profit.)

For months a fellow would come in on magazine-delivery-Thursday looking for the new "Play Boy"-not to buy, but to dog ear. Ordinarily, this just annoyed Albert. But one Thursday, after continuous phone confrontations with Connie, he'd had enough.

I can clearly see the fellow eagerly take up the new magazine and become absorbed in its pages-one can easily imagine his bliss.

But not Albert.

Albert could only imagine a difficult return and a difficult Connie. He quietly walked up next to the fellow, pulled his Zippo lighter from his pocket, and set the lower left-hand corner of the magazine on fire. The guy didn't immediately grasp what was happening-probably sensing only that his passions were hotter than he'd imagined. Eventually, forced back to reality by the flames licking his hand, he fitfully dropped the object of his reverie.

Albert stomped out the flames and I think Albert and Connie separated shortly after.

There are more tales here.

 

12/4/07

No

Andrew and Kirsten's condo isn't on fire

This is the often-seen-at-night Potter Creek cloud forming at about 6:00 AM this morning. It forms up from the ground some where around Dwight and 4th. I believe it to be vaporized waste-water.

 

end post from the past

 

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Traffic on Scrambled Eggs & Lox "almost daily posts" pages is up 30%, 2010 over 2009.

For what verge on mind-numbing conclusions, watch Charle Rose conversation with film maker Charles Ferguson. They talk of Ferguson's documentary about the 2008 financial collapse, Inside Job.

 

A very reliable source says there will be a Berkeley Apple Store sooner-than-later in the old Slater Marinoff Fourth Street location, Patsy Slater now retirering to dog walking and volunteer work. She's involved with "Students Rising Above."

Apple is negotiating directly with the property owners.

 

end Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

"The secret to longer life could be selflessness, scientists say" by Gail Sheehy, at usatoday.com.

"What if it isn't a dog-eat-dog world? What if caring for a dog or for a mom with Alzheimer's makes you stronger and allows you to live longer?

Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley are challenging our long-held belief that humans are hard-wired to be selfish."

 

 

 

"Richmond wants to attract Berkeley lab campus" by Katherine Tam, Contra Costa Times.

"Richmond wants to become home to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's second campus, a project that could bring jobs, revenue and economic resurgence.

City leaders are lining up local support and plan to answer the lab's call for interested parties to submit their qualifications and prove why they would be an ideal location.

The campus would be a boon for Richmond, officials say. It would bring jobs and revenue and could spawn new businesses, from technology startups to restaurants that feed hungry workers. And the prestige that comes with a national research facility of this caliber would boost Richmond's otherwise troubled reputation, they said.

'It would be a real game-changer,' said Vice Mayor Jeff Ritterman, who sits on a city committee working on the effort.

'It represents the possibility of changing Richmond's image and trajectory to make us a center for coming green technology.'

The Lawrence Berkeley Lab is part of the federal Department of Energy's laboratory system. Its team of award-winning scientists and engineers conducts research in multiple areas, including renewable energy. The lab sits on 200 acres in the hills north of UC Berkeley and leases offices in Emeryville, Walnut Creek, West Berkeley and Oakland.

A second campus would corral the scattered offices, where 20 percent of the programs and staff are based, and accommodate growth in research over the next 30 to 50 years, according to a presentation to the lab's community advisory group.

It would occupy up to 2 million square feet and the commute to and from the Berkeley lab wouldn't be more than 20 minutes.

The lab plans to issue a request for qualifications this month and pick a site in the summer. An environmental review will follow before the University of California and the Department of Energy give final approval and financing.

The Lawrence Berkeley Lab will hold a news conference Thursday morning to discuss its need for a second campus."

 

 

 

 

" California Pollution: Made in China?" is at wsj.com.

"In a paper published in the latest issue of the scholarly journal Environmental Science and Technology and picked up by Chemical & Engineering News, a team of geochemists announced that they have developed a method for tracing fine airborne particulate pollution (also known as PM2.5 because the particles are less than 2.5 microns wide) with origins in East Asia by testing for a specific lead isotope, 208Pb, found in greater concentrations in coal and metal ores from the region.

Led by University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral researcher Stephanie Eweing, the team applied the isotope filter to samples from the San Francisco Bay Area, curious to see how much of northern California's pollution came from East Asia." 

 

California pollution made in Potter Creek

a Margret Elliot photo of Potter Creek in The Day

copyright 2003 by Margret Elliott

 

 

 

12/2/10

posts from the past

12/7/02 I had been playing the Bach Mass in b minor most of yesterday afternoon as I worked on a story about Suze Orman. By 5:30 I'd become weary after the days' off-and-on effort. Then came a "thank you, thank you" in a gruff, quiet voice through my half-opened door."For what would that be?" I asked and went to the door to open it fully. "For that music, man" said the figure outside the doorway. It was Charles, the guy who is always in front of the West Side Cafe. "Your music's great!" he said "But nobody's put up any decorations down here this year." "Well it's early yet" I apologized." Hell, it's December 6th" was his almost-disgusted-shot back -- and you know it is. "But thanks for the music" he said again, and walked down the drive into the dark.

12/15/03

On 1/30/03 I posted "A community meeting was held last night at Kava Massih Architects in a much too small, stuffy room. Among those present were representatives of our Mayor and our Councilwoman. Kava presented his very elementary plan for the Berkeley Bowl site on Heinz. Judging from his presentation, for a dramatic increase in traffic, Potter Creek will get a wonderful market and restaurant, and Berkeley Bowl will get a warehouse. But more importantly, I believe this project signals an area sea change, the effects of which can only be imagined -- certainly increased density is one of them. For myself, I will make the leap of faith and assume that most of them will be good." (There were upwards of seventy people at this meeting and Kava's project was overwhelmingly approved by a show of hands.) And for a more "optimistic" view, I quote "Tenth Street" Jack Miller. At another meeting, characterized by a resistance to change, he asked "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Seventy or eighty-something Jack is our oldest resident and he was born in Potter Creek.

 

12/7/03

"Restaurant confidential:Diner/speakeasy dishes up Italian food in vintage bus -- in secret -- in East Bay" Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer.

Locked behind a razor-wire fence, hidden deep within an East Bay industrial zone, lies a secret restaurant where patrons need a golden key.

Part diner, part speakeasy, Joe's "Bustaurant" is an underground boite the Sicilian chef has operated inside a converted 1947 Metro bus for the last six years. You have to know somebody who knows somebody to get in.

 

12/7/03

In its first year, Scrambled Eggs pages received just over 20,000 visits. I don't have the number of hits on these pages for last year, but the site as a whole averages seven hits per visit.

 

end posts from the past

 

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Holiday decorations are beginning to light up Our Town's neighborhoods.

On Thursday December 2 from 6-9AM, BART is giving away tickets to the first 60,000 riders. They will be available at some Berkeley stations.

Among others planning to raise money for our city college are two prominent Potter Creeker's.

Charles, the man of the 12/7/03 post was found dead in the street in west-Berkeley a couple years ago. Charles was a "homeless person." A misnomer really because for years he comfortably camped out in the bushes, under the trees east of what became the Affordable Housing project. That is until the new kids of the project began stoning him. The yogurt people in the building then took him in and he "lived" in their warehouse on 8th. He was never the same after the move though he still would sit squatting directly across from my door, listening to music.

Yesterday our site had over 4000 hits.

 

end Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

"Northern California fishing report" by Tim Goode for the Mercury News.

"Berkeley: Crabbing remains great. Shrimp are hit or miss."

 

"Holiday shopping: Support Berkeley merchants" is a friendly, and only slightly self-serving, list at berkeleyside.com.

 

 

 

"Show Me The Recovery: What We Tried" is a report at npr.org.

"In the second installment of 'Show Me the Recovery,' Tell Me More's series exploring the path toward economic recovery, host Michel Martin speaks with one of the chief architects of President Obama's recovery plan, Christina Romer. Romer was chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and is currently a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley."

 

 

 

"Minimum wage hikes don't eliminate jobs, study finds" is a press release at berkeley.edu.

"Increasing the minimum wage does not lead to the short- or long-term loss of low-paying jobs, according to a new study co-authored by University of California, Berkeley, economics professor Michael Reich and published in the November issue of the journal The Review of Economics and Statistics."

 

 

"Train project casually ignores economics for misguided environmentalism" theracquet.net.

"The federal government recently bestowed a great gift upon the residents of Wisconsin: A sum of cash in excess of $800,000,000 (that's a lot of zeroes!) to be used toward building a 'high-speed' train, which will travel between Milwaukee and Madison. This "free" money was the fourth largest amount given among all states with only California, Florida and Illinois netting more. This would be a good time to mention that historically speaking rail projects almost always cost more than projected."

 

 

 

 

12/3/10

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

"I mean, there really isn't any Santa Claus, right?" Jack thought.

Steve Smith photo

Still, . . . "Naughty or nice, naughty or nice?" continued to run through his mind.

 

 

in my 12/1/10 Miscellaneous Ramblings, I wrote

"A very reliable source says there will be a Berkeley Apple Store sooner-than-later in the old Slater Marinoff Fourth Street location, Patsy Slater now retirering to dog walking and volunteer work. She's involved with "Students Rising Above."

Apple is negotiating directly with the property owners."

 

Today macnn confirmed with "Details emerge on Berkeley Apple Store

A large collection of architectural documents have revealed plans for Apple's Fourth Street store in Berkeley, California. The shop will occupy a building at 1823 Fourth Street, with construction costs valued at roughly $1.7 million. This includes building a partial second level at the rear for backroom operations, and expanding the ground level to accommodate retail space.

Apple will also add an elevator, bathrooms, two stairways, and upgraded air, heating and electricity systems. The ground-level part of the expansion will in fact swallow up an outdoor plaza, which is often used by animal adoption agencies showing pets to the public. In addition to Apple's normal display and training areas, the new retail space should have two kids' tables and a 17-seat Genius Bar.

The exterior will mostly retain the look of the current building, sporting masonry, a glass awning over the entrance and 15-foot tall windows. It's estimated that the Apple Store could open by fall 2011. If Apple's terms are similar to those of 1815 Fourth Street, the company could be leasing the building for 10 years, with three opportunities to extend residency for another five years each time."

"Shai Agassi is Founder and CEO of Better Place (formerly known as Project Better Place). Previously, Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group (PTG) at SAP AG. He resigned from this position on March 28 effective April 1, 2007, to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change. In October 2007 he founded a company named Project Better Place, focusing on a green transportation infrastructure based on electric cars as an alternative to the current fossil fuel technology."

Israeli born Shai Agassi, is most original automotive thinker and entrepreneur I know. Among his innovations are redefining the electric car battery as fuel to be paid for the way gasoline is now, establishing the manufacture and marketing of a new type of electric car, the battery is not included in the price of the car, for around USD 15,000--Nissan/Renault are preparing to do so, establishing a battery recharging and replacement network in Israel and Denmark for these vehicles, and now setting up an electric taxi service in our Bay Area--there is already one such in Tokyo, and much more.

Listen to his 30 minute conversation with Charlie Rose.

 

 

 

end Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

 

"Berkeley artists show their stuff" by Doug Oakley, Berkeley Voice.

"Furniture with plants growing out of it. Bamboo shoots made of metal. Plastic vacuum packages replicated in oversized copper sculpture.

These are the kind of art works Curtis Arima creates in his metalsmith shop at the Sawtooth Building on Eighth Street in Berkeley."

 

"Government Money Woes Hit the Local Museums" by Reyhan Harmanci at nytimes.com.

"When the Oakland Museum of California was founded in 1969 as a 'museum for the people,' there was no question about who would pay for it. The museum's land was owned by the city, its building was operated by the city and its collection belonged to the city. Admission, now $12, was free."

 

 

 

"UC Berkeley releases fall 2010 final enrollment data" by Janet Gilmore, UC Public Affairs.

"Overall enrollment at the University of California, Berkeley, remains at approximately 35,800 undergraduate and graduate students, according to final fall 2010 enrollment data that campus officials released today (Thursday, Dec. 2).

In all, 35,838 students are enrolled for the fall 2010 semester, compared to 35,843 enrolled in fall 2009. The fall 2010 data show that UC Berkeley has 25,540 undergraduates and 10,298 graduate students enrolled."

 

 

 

 

 

12/4/10

post from the past

12/15/05

Sweet potatoes are not yams. A sweet potato and a yam are two completely different plant species. True yams were brought to this country from Africa and are not grown in the United States on a commercial basis. Their flesh is white and not sweet at all. Occasionally a well-stocked Latin market may have a few yams, but generally they are difficult to locate. Louisiana and East Texas growers like to call their product yams in order to distinguish their potatoes from those grown in the north, a marketing technique that is confusing. And some canned sweet potatoes may be labeled yams, further complicating the issue.

Sweet Potato Pie
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 cup cooked sweet potato
2 eggs
1 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust, chilled
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Whisk together the sugar, flour, salt and nutmeg in mixer bowl. Add the half-and-half, sweet potato, eggs and butter, one at a time, beating on medium speed about 30 seconds after each ingredient is added. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until filling is firm on the sides and just barely shakes in the middle. Cool on a wire rack. The pie may be served warm or cold and yields 8 servings.

 

Certainly not a sweet potato

but a sweetie--Milo is 1 year old

 

 

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILO!

 

 

David Brooks and Ruth Marcus' analysis of the week's news is at pbs.org. It's worth watching just to hear conservative New York Times writer, David Brooks offer a good, positve quote from the Russian revolutionary and subsequent Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin.

 

And the same PBS New Hour has a disturbing Paul Solomon report "The World of Malemployment" about recent US college grads unable to find proper work.

 

"Longterm Unemployment in US" is on the same program.

 

 

On her program""The Giving Pledge" with Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and Ted Turner, Christiane Amanpour asked Turner what the ordinary citizen could do. He said just help to keep you neighborhhod clean would be important.

 

 

 

"How brainy is Berkeley?" asks Berkelyside and proves mathematically that we are the brainiest. Ok, boychek, . . . now run the numbers for common sense.

 

 

 

There's a Planning Commission meeting on the 8th. One agenda item affects west-Berkeley. It's the Planning Department's detail changes to the West-Berkeley Project.

 

 

You can drop toys off for "Toys for Tots" at BFD Station No.1. They're on 8th just north of Dwight.

 

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

 

 

"Jeff Tedford is smarter than I am. He's a standup guy. And he has a moral compass in a business where you do better when you don't" opines espn.go.com.

"I can't recall him throwing a player or coach under the bus for shortcomings or gameday failure. My impression is Tedford values loyalty -- among his players and assistants -- above anything else. To a fault perhaps, because that value might come before winning. And Tedford needs to start doing that again.

There is something wrong at Cal. The Bears have too many good players to finish 5-7. Yet there's also abundant evidence that Tedford is a good coach.

That means that he needs to take a long, hard and coldly objective look at his staff this month."

 

 

 

"UC teaching assistants approve 3-year union contract" is a report at latimes.com.

"Students who work as teaching assistants and tutors at the University of California ratified a controversial new contract that will increase their pay by at least 2% annually over three years and improve subsidies for child care and tuition, officials announced Friday."

 

 

 

"Anthropologist awarded grant to study politics of religious freedom" by Kathleen Maclay, UC Media Relations.

"The Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs has awarded Saba Mahmood, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, a three-year, $496,000 grant to study how law and politics are transforming religious freedom.

Mahmood's 'Politics of Religious Freedom' project will bring together key human rights and civil society organizations, along with jurists, policymakers and academics who have helped reshape the debate on religious freedom in the United States, the Middle East, South Asia and the European Union."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12/5/10

post from the past

12/08

Richmond Ramblers' Cliff Miller emails

10 eating Tips for the Holidays

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can and quickly. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has lots of calories in every sip?It's not as if you're going to turn into an "eggnog-aholic" or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand-alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello???

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8.Same for pies. Apple, pumpkin and mincemeat -- have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all costs. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.

 

 

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Big changes at the Bowl after the first-of-the year. The cafe will be "opened up " with the the center-counter, check out area modified and there will be some small changes to the kitchen. Also look for a juice bar and homemade ice cream.

 

West-Berkeley's June Taylor Company makes delicious jams so visit their site or, better yet, make a trip to their Still-Room at 2207 4th Street, enjoy the aroma and buy stuff.

 

"German markets capture Christmas spirit" is a story by Alexis Kunsak at mercurynews.com.

"This time of year, the Christmas spirit descends on Germany's cities and towns in the form of wooden stalls laden with pretzels, toys and baked goods of all shapes and sizes.

More than 130 places in Germany host Christmas markets, each one emphasizing regional specialties and flair. The celebrations have developed into an art form, with handcrafted wooden ornaments, elaborate nativity displays and delectable treats that would leave Santa and his reindeer turning up their noses at mere cookies and milk."

 

 

Merryll emails,
Friday morning on my way to Acme I stopped at Zazou for coffee ­ seemed quick, there was parking and it was packed with people . There were no seats left.  Zazou was making crepes and there were more pastries on the counter ­ might be fun to try for breakfast one morning.  Many older folks there it seemed.

 

 

Tonight at 5:30 PM PST, ESPN will announce the college bowl picks. My Alma mater University of Wisconsin is favorite for the Rose Bowl.

 

"King Curtis Iaukea dead at 73" reports SLAM!

"King Curtis Iaukea, who died at his home in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday at the age of 73, is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating, colourful characters in wrestling history."

 

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

"New play probes life of legendary architect Julia Morgan" by Pat Craig at contracostatimes.com.

"In Berkeley and much of the Bay Area, all roads lead to Julia Morgan.

For writer Belinda Taylor, whose 2008 play 'Becoming Julia Morgan' just opened for the first time in the Bay Area, fascination with the legendary architect began when she visited her mother, who was living at the Morgan-designed Berkeley City Club.

For Barbara Oliver, who's directing the play, the interest started when she discovered Morgan had designed many houses in her neighborhood, and intensified when the Aurora Theater, the company she founded, began performing at the Berkeley City Club.

For Sabrina Klein, who commissioned the play, fascination with Morgan began when she became director of the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, and figured she ought to know more about the building's designer and namesake."

 

Thomas L. Friedman finds parody in"From WikiChina" at nytimes.com.

"While secrets from WikiLeaks were splashed all over the American newspapers, I couldn't help but wonder: What if China had a WikiLeaker and we could see what its embassy in Washington was reporting about America? I suspect the cable would read like this:

Washington Embassy, People's Republic of China, to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Beijing, TOP SECRET/Subject: America today. "

 

 

 

 

 

12/6/10

post from the past

10/6/04

 

 

neighbor, Peter Hurney at work in his Potter Creek instrument shop

 

 

end post from the past

 

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Pete's Potter Creek rain gauge showed 1.15 inches for this storm.

 

I'm told the proposed changes to the West-Berkeley Project are minor.

 

"Can KPFA Be Saved?" asks our Becky O'Malley in her Planet.

"Whatever will become of KPFA? On the one hand, I feel a moral responsibility to form an opinion on the latest uproar, and yet I haven't been able to bear to listen to the station much at all for many years now, so what do I know?"

Any news about KPFA makes me sad because I remember what it was. In The Day it was my, and my friends, preferred source for entertainment and news. Harold Lawrence did some of the classical music-review and music-information programing for them. In fact, the transcription of his Derek Sugden interview is here. Sugden was an acoustical and recording engineer years ago and produced many state-of-the-art classical recordings. How did Sugden check for a hall's reverb? Often he'd fire his .445 Webeley revolver in the recording site and listen. (One of Harold Lawrence' first jobs was at the New York Times classical music station.)

 

 

Bay Area Channel 5's "Eye on the Bay" recently did a program on "street food" in which they cover much more than "taco truck" lunch. How about Philippine food or French "haute cuisine?" It's worth a watch.

 

 

The football Bowl picks for this year are here and here. Take your pick. The University of Wisconsin is, in fact, playing in the Rose Bowl.

 

 

Motorcycle collectors value originality more that car collectors do. An original unrestored bike is highly valued and highly priced. Reader MJH sent me this video link of what is best described as a miracle bike--an original 1913 Harley-Davidson in excellent running condition.

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

"Information About The Driving Season In The Winter" is at pressreleasemag.com.

Accidents can happen on roads and highways, regardless of time of the year or conditions of road. The winter months, however, conditions that favor the increase in accidents and serious injuries. According to a study by the University of California at Berkeley, adverse weather conditions resulted in 7,000 deaths, 800,000 injured and more than 1.5 million car accidents across the country each year.

The report, quoted in Forbes magazine, also found that the most dangerous day of the year is driving the day after the first snowstorm of the season. Meanwhile, people are not prepared for winter driving conditions and not to adopt safer driving habits rather than later in the season.

 

 

 

"Zeta Psi's history at UC Berkeley unearthed" Debra Levi Holtz, Special to The Chronicle.

"Like present-day members, the boys in University of California's oldest fraternity played poker, drank beer and pulled campus pranks during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the brothers of the prestigious Zeta Psi fraternity also dressed impeccably, had live-in servants and preferred hanging out with each other to dating women."

 

 

 

"Problem of toxic lead in used consumer products extremely widespread" at sify.com.

"In a new paper, researchers have revealed that the problem of toxic lead in used consumer products is extremely widespread and present at levels that are far beyond safe limits.

They found that many other items available for purchase throughout the United States - such as toys, home decor items, salvage, kitchen utensils and jewelry - contain surface lead concentrations more than 700 times higher than the federal limit.

Laurel Sharmer of the State University of New York, Anna Harding of Oregon State University, Steven Shackley of the University of California, Berkeley made the team research."

 

 

 

 

 

12/7/10

post from the past

12/7/03

Two years ago, my friend Takane Eshima gave me a copy of the book Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor. The author is ex-Oakland Tribune reporter/photographer, Robert B. Stinnett. The book's thesis is that it wasn't the Japanese who were sneaky about Pearl Harbor, it was us. Although his case that FDR knowingly let Pearl Harbor happen in order to get America into war is not fully made, it seems clear Roosevelt finessed us into World War II.

 

end post from the past

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Richmond Rambler Motorcycle Club member, Cliff Miller emails what can only be described as a completely delightful and charming E- Card for Christmas.

 

Jill Ellis, CEID director emails of the E- Card for Christmas.

I love this . . . This is perfect for us to use 1:1 with the children!

 

 

You gotta admire The O'Malley for publishing a story like this. Though it's not so much news as it is a "celebration" of our radical past.

"Trying to Understand Latest People's Park Tree-Sit" by Ted Friedman is at berkeleydailyplanet.com.

"Once you take crazy off the table, you'll find it hard to understand the tree-sitter encamped in the branches of a 40- foot tall Redwood in near-freezing People's Park. 

He went up in the air before the November 2 city elections, protesting District 7 candidate George Beier's plans to "change" the park. 

But even though Beier lost to Kris Worthington, Matt stayed up, widening his protest. 

The wider protest echoed complaints by park regulars. The complaints allege the university has damaged the parks' shrubs and trees and confiscated backpacks. Beginning construction of a new student dorm across from the park at Haste is seen as an attempt by the university to smother the park, and eventually occupy it. . . .

Few have rallied to his cause. Few are supporting. Except for the Planet, media is mute." 

 

 

According to Berkeley police, their "Party Patrols,"  joint BPD and UCPD radio-car patrols, have reduced both street crime and rowdy "Animal House" behavior in the south of campus neighborhood.

 

 

And then there's "Keep your eyes on California" by Laer Pearce is at dailycaller.com.

"Laer Pearce, a veteran of three decades of California public affairs, is currently working on a book that shows how everything wrong with America comes from California."

 

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

Some business- and common-sense from Councilmembers Capitelli, Wengraf and Moore for tonight's Council meeting

Encouraging Economic Development and Increasing City Revenue From Business Activity

From Councilmembers Capitelli, Wengraf and Moore

Recommendation

1. Direct the City Manager to immediately implement the following

a. Institute Early Bird parking at the Center Street, Oxford and Telegraph-Channing Garages. These sites are currently significantly underutilized. Such a program would better serve downtown and Telegraph-area workers and visitors and free up on-street parking. The program should specify: "In by 9:00 a.m.--Out by 6:00 pm."

b. Establish a city-wide parking 'holiday' on December 11 and 18 (Saturdays). This will encourage local shopping in the district(s) and give a small indication to local merchants that the City is sensitive to the current difficult business climate.

c. Direct the City Manager to bring back to the City Council an amendment to Resolution 64,077­N.S. allowing the City Manager, at the recommendation of the Economic Development Manager, to defer zoning fees for new and relocating businesses in commercial districts. These fees would be due concurrent with any business license fee on the third anniversary of the payment of the business license fee.

d. Mandate a review of the intake process for building permits intended to increase applicant understanding of all requirements that must be met before a permit can be issued. At present, some applicants claim that they were not notified of all requirements at the beginning of the process and that the issuance of their permit was delayed by what they feel was a "new" requirement. Consider possible building permit intake session with a staff member who would explain requirements including possible new ones that could be triggered if some threshold is exceeded. If intake session is not feasible because of staffing, consider improvements to checklists.

 

2 Forward to staff and the Planning Commission recommendations contained in Section B of the report for action.

a. Suspend Solano Avenue food service quota. A recent survey of over 1300 citizens, 65% of whom lived within 8 blocks of Solano, indicated overwhelming support for removing the quota. There have been several food services desiring to locate on Solano but unable or unwilling to go through the lengthy and costly permitting process of an exception to the quota.

b. Allow restaurants with seating to obtain a beer/wine license for incidental alcohol service with meals with an AUP rather than a Use Permit and Public Hearing. Staff will establish a set of standard conditions for alcohol service with meals. This measure will reduce the time and expense required for restaurants to obtain a permit while reducing the Planning Dept. workload and allowing planners and ZAB members to spend their time on projects that are more controversial. Any controversial application for restaurant alcohol service could still be set for a public hearing before the ZAB.

c. Extend hours of operation on Solano Avenue to 11 pm. Referencing the above survey, there was overwhelming support for more evening activity on the street

d. Allow 'office retail', yoga, exercise and dance studios, massage and other types of physical therapy, and artists' studios up to 2000 square feet on the ground floor with a Zoning Certificate. 'Office retail' is defined as office uses generating significant foot traffic as opposed to professional offices that generate little if any such pedestrian activity. Require that storefront windows be transparent and provide pedestrian viewing into the front 20' of storefront. Zoning Certificate would have attached a standard set of conditions to further protect the public from undesirable uses.

e. Standardize the parking requirement at 2 spaces per one thousand square feet and maintain the 'grandfather' exemption for preexisting buildings.

f. Investigate providing incentives to property owners to encourage leasing and establish disincentives to motivate property owners not to leave their properties vacant.

g. Revise sign ordinance to exempt signs for businesses under 2000 square feet from design review by providing basic design standards (material, lettering, illumination, etc.) in addition to existing size and numerical limitations. The design review process is expensive and time consuming and results in new business installing 'temporary' banner signs that remain for months or years. Businesses that do not want to conform to the basic design standards could still opt for the conventional design review process.

 

 

"UC Commission on Future issues final report" at latimes.com.

"The system should enroll more out-of-state students and urge quicker graduation, it says.

    The University of California should enroll more out-of-state students, push more students to graduate in three years, create more online classes and look for ways to operate more efficiently, according to a report aimed at helping the 10-campus system weather stormy economic times."

 

 

 

"Feds Don't Know What To Do With Oakland, Nelson Won't Get Jail" is at eastbayexpress.com.

"Federal authorities continue to sword-wave at Oakland, but won't go on record saying they'll raid permitted Oakland pot farms. At least three other California cities, including Berkeley, are also going forward with permitting cultivation - as is the entire state of Arizona. Unnamed officials told California Watch that the feds told Oakland a month ago that their grows would be illegal. So are the medical pot programs of fifteen states. So what? California Watch's story follows The Washington Post who got a no comment and the Chronicle who got a retired federal authority to sword-wave."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12/8/10

post from the past

1/7/05

Nexus Gallery has served artists and the communtiy for decades.

At the Gallery right now, Rosanne Reynolds is mounting her show, Tangible Results: A Retrospective, January 9-January 29. There is a reception Sunday, January 9th, 3-6PM. The Nexus Gallery is located at 2707 8th Street, Berkeley.

check out Rosanne's website.

 

end post from the past

 

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

Rumor has it that the Nexus building "has been sold." The new owner will retrofit, rehab, and keep it for artists.

 

Proposed Bowl cafe changes also include the removal of the center counter area, the relocation of the registers to the east wall and a lounge area in the south-east corner, window area. The overall plan is to make the Cafe "less clutered."

 

 

"All about gold with John Hathaway of Tocqueville Asset Management, Peter Munk, chairman and founder of Barrick Gold & James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer" is a Charlie Rose conversation not to be missed. How mind-messy is it? Twenty years ago these guys would have been typed as survivalists, gold standard nuts, and wackos. Today they are authorities. The conversation thread is that nobody believes in anything any more.

 

Then, keeping in mind that "everything you know is wrong," suck it up and watch Rose with David Einhorn, President of Greenlight Capital.

 

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

 

"New armed robbery brings total to six in December" is a report at berkeleyside.com.

 

 

"Kinect-copter created by grad student" by Tor Thorsen at gamespot.com.

"UC Berkeley students use Xbox 360's motion-sensor as depth-perception tool used in autonomous flight of unmanned quadrotor.

The list of non-gaming uses for Kinect keeps growing and growing. Just over a month after the motion-sensing system was first unlocked by open-source software engineers, researchers and tinkerers are finding more and more uses for the device.

The latest? A University of California Berkeley graduate student has attached a Kinect unit to a quadrotor aircraft, turning the device's infrared camera into the vehicle's spatial sensor. The quadrotor can sense its surroundings using the Kinect, with processing done on an onboard Linux computer via open-source OpenKinect drivers.

The result? The quadrotor is capable of autonomous obstacle avoidance. As can be seen in the video below, the device can run a predetermined course around objects. When something is placed in its path, it pauses in midflight to avoid any collision.

 

 

"UPS to require photo IDs for shipping packages" is a report at sfgate.com.

 

 

 

 

"Pearl Harbor day: How FDR reacted on December 7, 1941" is a story at csmonitor.com.

"December 7, 1941, now known as Pearl Harbor day, arrived as the country remained hopeful for peace. President Franklin Roosevelt reacted to the intense day with 'deadly calm,' his wife Eleanor would later recall.

December 7, 1941, was clear and cold in Washington. The mood in the nation's capital was anxious and somber, as it was in the rest of the country. France and much of Europe had fallen to the Nazis. German tanks were pounding on the doors of Moscow. The United States had just extended its draft act ­ by one vote. That told the strain, wrote legendary Monitor correspondent Richard Strout. He'd just returned from a reporting tour of the country, where he found a populace living with a hope of peace while the rest of the world was at war.

At the White House Eleanor Roosevelt was hosting a luncheon. President Franklin Roosevelt was in what was then known as the Oval Study of the White House, eating with his close friend and aide Harry L. Hopkins. At 1:40 PM the lunch was interrupted by a phone call from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. He told FDR that the Navy had received a radio message from Honolulu saying that Pearl Harbor was under attack, and that it was 'no drill.'

Hopkins thought it possible the whole thing was a garble. Roosevelt did not. He said the report was probably true, as it was the kind of attack the Japanese would choose to make. A few minutes later Adm. Harold Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, called and confirmed the news. Pearl Harbor was burning.

Eleanor was returning to her own study when she passed by her husband's. One glance inside told her something was wrong, recounted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in 'No Ordinary Time,"'her history of the Roosevelt marriage and the World War II home front.

The secretaries were all there. Military aides were bustling about. All the phones were occupied.

How did FDR react to the sudden onset of war? He was 'deadly calm,' Eleanor later remembered, according to Goodwin's book.

'He was completely calm. His reaction to any event was always to be calm. If it was something tha' was bad, he just became almost like an iceberg, and there was never the slightest emotion that was allowed to show," Eleanor later said."

 

 

 

 

 

 

12/9/10

"The Force"

 

Police in Berkeley issued a warning to residents Tuesday about a recent series of armed robberies"

The Allie Rasmus KTVU video report is here

And Wednesday around 5:30AM there was a violent "take over robbery" at the new McDonalds on San Pablo Avenue. One employee was injured.

 

 

"Oakland City Attorney Warns on Pot Farm Legality" by Zusha Elinson is a story at baycitizen.org.

"Sources say John Russo sent memo warning City Council of potential pitfalls in city's marijuana cultivation plans. Oakland City Attorney John Russo sent a memo to the Oakland City Council last week warning that federal officials have concerns about the city's plans for giant pot farms, according to multiple City Hall sources."

 

 

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

"Berkeley may honor Army private accused of leaks" at washingtonpost.com.

"The Berkeley City Council will consider a resolution that would declare the Army private suspected of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks a hero and call for his release." 

 

Eric Schmier bought the Nexus property, he paid $50.00 a square foot. Escrow has closed and Colliers was the agent.

 

Our Karen Steeber just returned from a Public Policy Institute of California Conference. She sent a link about some of the happenings.

 

 

The Sandwich Man has opened in Potter Creek at 2530 10th St (between Dwight Way & Parker St). They are open Monday -Saturday from 11 am - till 8 pm.

Their web site is sandwichmann.com and their phone is 549-1179

 

 

Opera "live from the Met" can be seen at several movie theaters in the Bay Area including ours in Bay Street. This Saturday it's Verdi's Don Carlo.

"The Metropolitan Opera's first new production of Verdi's Don Carlo since 1979 will continue The Met: Live in HD series, with a live transmission of the performance on Saturday, December 11 at 12:30 pm ET/9:30 am PT to movie theaters worldwide. Starring Roberto Alagna, Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, and Ferruccio Furlanetto.

'Don Carlo; new Verdi production at Met broadcast LIVE in HD Sat. Dec. 11"

 

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

 

12/10/10

Penndorf's Miscellaneous Ramblings

John Norheim's* wooden boat

coming in first-in-class at last Summer's SF-to-Hawaii race

*John crewed

 

"Northern California fishing report" at mercurynews.com.

"Berkeley: Crab trips continue to bring back limits. Shrimp pots have 50 to 100 per day. Sturgeon trips will begin next week."

 

 

Pete's Potter Creek rain gauge showed 1 inch for the last rains.

 

 

Merryll emails

I will be having Open Studio at the Grayson St. House on Sunday Dec. 12 and the weekend of December 18 & 19th, from 10 ­ 5 at 927 Grayson St., Berkeley

 

 

 

"Facebook's Zuckerberg pledges to give away wealth" at enews.earthlink.net.

"Another 17 of America's richest people, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, junk bond pioneer Michael Milken and AOL co-founder Steve Case, have pledged to give away most of their wealth."

 

 

"Pew report: 8 percent of online American adults use Twitter" at sfgate.com.

Roland Hedley

by Gary T

"About 8 percent of adult Internet users in the U.S. are using Twitter, and the microblogging service is most popular with young adults, minorities and city dwellers, according to a new report."

 

 

Our Councilwoman Linda Maio is holding a community meeting tonight to talk about the recent crime in her district. The meeting is at 7:00 PM in the Lutheran Church of the Cross, 1744 University Avenue. BPD Lt Andy Greenwood BPD and Ofc Casimiro Pierantoni will by there.

 

 

end Miscellaneous Ramblings

 

 

 

"Masked Bandit Robs Berkeley McDonald's" at KTVU-TV News with video.
 
 "An armed gunman wearing a ski mask walked into a Berkeley MacDonald's prior to its opening early Wednesday, locking employees in a freezer before dropping a trail of money as he fled the scene, authorities said.

Berkeley police said the robbery took place at the McDonald's on 1198 San Pablo Ave. at 5:15 a.m. ­ about an hour before it was scheduled to open for business.

The gunman told the employees to get into a freezer and not come out until he had left the store.

Police said one employee did suffer a minor injury, but did not elaborate on how the worker was injured.

A description of the suspect had not been released.

The brazen takeover robbery was just the latest on Berkeley streets. Over the last month, Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said there have been several armed robberies in the city."

 

 

"UC-Berkeley Swim Coach Makes Olympic History" at ktvu.com.

"UC-Berkeley women's swim coach Teri McKeever was named Wednesday the first female head coach of a U.S. Olympic swimming team.

 

 

 

"Mandy Patinkin Brings 'Compulsion' to the Public" at nytimes.com.

"Mandy Patinkin and a puppet, designed by Matt Acheson, in a scene from 'Compulsion.' Joan Marcus Mandy Patinkin and a puppet, designed by Matt Acheson, in a scene from 'Compulsion.'

Mandy Patinkin will return to the New York stage in a production of Rinne Groff's play 'Compulsion' at the Public Theater in February, the theater announced Tuesday. "

 

 

 

 

"Our Brains Are Wired So We Can Better Hear Ourselves Speak" by Yasmin Anwar, University of California, Berkeley at redorbit.com.

"Like the mute button on the TV remote control, our brains filter out unwanted noise so we can focus on what we're listening to. But when it comes to following our own speech, a new brain study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that instead of one homogenous mute button, we have a network of volume settings that can selectively silence and amplify the sounds we make and hear.

Neuroscientists from UC Berkeley, UCSF and Johns Hopkins University tracked the electrical signals emitted from the brains of hospitalized epilepsy patients. They discovered that neurons in one part of the patients' hearing mechanism were dimmed when they talked, while neurons in other parts lit up."

 

 

 

from my log

11/1/10--7:34 PM--irritant in front room, dry dirty air watery eyes, nasal irritation, itchy skin.

1/3/10--7:14 AM--lights flicker. Shortly after, SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry dirty air, etc. 7:44 AM, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, light head. 9:40 AM--similar.

11/4/10--12:56 PM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse with "chlorine bleach" odor.

11/4/10--5:24PM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, light head.

11/4/10--728 PM irritant in front room, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, overrides three HEPA filters. 9:33 PM-similar, light head, nausea.

11/5/10-7:10 AM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dirty dry air, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, nasal congestion headache, overrides three HEPA filters. Marsha similar, cough attack.

7:56AM--irritant in warehouse front. 11/5/10--8:49 PM--irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, itchy skin. leave. 9:14 PM -lights flicker, 9:21 PM irritant in front room.

11/6/10--8:14 AM--lights flicker. 8:26 AM irritant warehouse front and front of warehouse. 8:47 AM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, light head, nausea, Marsha similar. 2:15 PM--irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, dry air, cough, Marsha similar. ~2:30 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front of warehouse. Marsha has coughing attack, neighbor who stopped to talk and begins to cough, leaves. 4:25 PM--irritant in front of warehouse. Both Marsha and I have SERIOUS nasal congestion, runny nose, etc. Early evening irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, dry air, cough, overrides three HEPA filters. 10:59 PM--VERY SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, "HOT METAL ODOR," overrides three HEPA filters and respirators.

11/7/10 7:35 AM--irritant in warehouse front, dirty dry air, eyes burn, throat burns, cough attack, headache, nausea. Marsha similar.

11/8/10--6:27 PM--irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, sliding door, open both Marsha and I have SERIOUS cough attacks, short breath. 6:33PM--irritating dry air, watery eyes, itchy skin. close sliding door.

11/9/10--irritant in front room,dry air, watery eyes, light head. 5:29 PM-nausea, front of warehouse dry dirty air. 8:53 PM--irritant in front room, dry dirty air.

11/10/10--7:46 AM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, "chlorine bleach" odor, watery eyes, light head, mucus membrane irritation. 4:55 PM--irritant in front room, dry dirty air, burning eyes, dry itchy skin.

11/10/10--6:43 PM--irritant in front of warehouse and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dirty dry smelly air, watery eyes, dry itchy skin 10:59 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front of warehouse and warehouse front, dry dirty air, VERY SERIOUS cough attack.

11/11/10--12:05 PM--irritant in front room ,dry dirty air. 5"04 PM--LIGHTS FLICKER. 5:14 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, nausea.

11/12/10--11:10 AM--irritant in front room with "chlorine bleach" odor. 11:19 AM--dry dirty air IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse. 12:58 PM--irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, short breath. 2:48 PM--irritant in front, dry dirt air, burning eyes, short breath, light head. 3:01 PM--SERIOUS irritant IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse. 3:36 PM irritant IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse with "chlorine bleach" odor.

11/14/10--2:09 PM--irritant in front room with "chlorine bleach" odor. 11/14/10--4:52 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, itchy skin nausea.

11/15/10--8:21 AM--irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, itchy skin. 10:34 AM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and VERY SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse VERY dry dirty air, watery eyes, VERY dry skin, nasal congestion, cough.

11/16/10--5:49 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front of warehouse and warehouse front, smelly, dry dirty air., nasal congestion, light head, Marsha similar.

11/19/10--11:26--VERY SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, nausea.

11/20/10--11:53 AM--IRRITANT in front room,dry air, watery eyes, dry skin light head Marsha has cough attack. 3:43 PM--Irritant in front room, watery eyes, "hot catalytic converter" odor. 4:23 PM--irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, mucus membrane irritation. 5:26 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front of warehouse and IMMEDIATELY in warehouse front, "chlorine bleach" odor, burning eyes, nasal irritation.

11/21/10--6:00 PM--irritant in front of warehouse and IMMEDIATELY in warehouse front with "burning natural gas" odor.

11/22/10--11:47--irritant in warehouse, dry air, watery eyes, dry mouth, Marsha has cough attack.

11/23/10--4:23 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, Marsha has SERIOUS cough attack

11/24/10--4:10 PM--irritant in front room, nasal mucus membrane irritation, nausea, Marsha has SERIOUS cough attack.

11/26/11--7:57 AM--VERY SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, nausea, short breath, watery eyes, dry skin, Marsha has SERIOUS cough attack. 11/26/10--4:26 PM--irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry air, watery eyes, mucus membrane irritation, short breath, Marsha has cough attack.

11/27/10--9:35 PM--VERY SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry dirty air, Marsha has VERY SERIOUS cough attack.

11/28/10--10:09 AM--SERIOUS irritant in in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry dirty air, "chlorine bleach" odor, SERIOUS cough attack.

 

12/3/10--10:05 AM--VERY, VERY SERIOUS irritant in front room, burning eyes, etc Symptoms similar to swimming in a pool with much too much chlorine. 2:17PM--irritant in front room, usual symptoms but with SERIOUS burning throat. This has been a pattern for the last two days.

12/4/10--~8:15 AM--VERY, VERY SERIOUS irritant in front room, burning eyes, throat, nausea.

12/6/10--1:21 PM--very serious irritant in front room, dry dirty air, SERIOUS cough attack, burning eyes, leave. 5:41 PM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, mucus membrane irritation, watery eyes.

 

 

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

AND check out BPD feature "Who are these Crooks."

 

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.