June
2010
August 2007,
after 6/10/10 here,
after 6/15/10 here, after 6/20/10 here
excavating
for the Potter Creek Berkeley Bowl
6/1/10
"Dennis Hopper Dies At 74" by Jesse Baker at npr.org.
"The much-loved American
filmmaker and actor Dennis Hopper died Saturday at his home in
Venice, Calif., seven months after his manager announced that
he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was 74.
Early in his career, Hopper
shared the screen with the likes of James Dean in 1955's Rebel
Without a Cause and Elizabeth Taylor in the 1956 epic Giant; later
he worked with Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke and John Wayne in
the 1969 Western True Grit. And though he started out a long way
from Hollywood - in Dodge City, Kan., where he was born in 1936
- metaphorically the movies were always with him.
'I was raised at the end
of the Dust Bowl, and I used to tell people the first light I
saw was not from the sun but from the light of a movie projector,'
Hopper told Fresh Air host Terry Gross in a 1996 interview.
Hopper's directorial debut
came in 1969, when fellow actor Peter Fonda came to him with an
idea for a film.
'You direct, I'll produce,
and we'll both ride and act in it,' Fonda recalled telling Hopper.
'You've got the passion, you understand framing. You go for it!'
Set in the wide-open spaces
of the American Southwest, Easy Rider was about two freewheelers
who ride their motorcycles from Los Angeles to New Orleans. It
was all drugs and rock 'n' roll - and it made for a box-office
hit. Hopper was intoxicated by the freedom that came with putting
together a low-budget, self-made movie, and his directorial debut
became a trailblazer for independent films in the 1970s."
our CEID director emails
of their last Thursday-night mixer
Ron
We had two City Councilmembers join us last night for our Open
House and it was great to have so many community members.
I'll forward a photo!
Jill
"Seeking an Objective Test for Attention
Disorder" by Katherine
Ellison, nytimes.com.
"I'm sitting in front
of a gray plastic console that resembles an airplane cockpit.
Each time I move, a small reflector on a makeshift tiara resting
on my forehead alerts an infrared tracking device pointing down
at me from above a computer monitor.
Watching the screen, I'm
supposed to click a mouse each time I see a star with five or
eight points, but not for stars with only four points.
It's a truly simple task,
and I'm a college-educated professional.
So why do I keep getting
it wrong?
Halfway into the 20-minute
session, I find myself clicking at a lot of four-point stars,
while sighing and cursing with each new mistake and stamping my
feet, sending further unflattering information to the contraption
via tracking straps taped to my legs.
Dr. Martin H. Teicher, the
Harvard psychiatrist who invented the test, has an explanation
for my predicament.
'You have some objective
evidence for an impairment in attention,' he said - in other words,
a 'very subtle' case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
(Indeed, I had already received a diagnosis three years earlier.)"
"Inside Scoop" is a food feature at sfgate.com.
"In the first installment
of Chron Appetit last week, the Chronicle food staff sifted out
possible red flags of poor restaurant experiences. Seven days
and 242 comments later, it's time to tackle the other side of
the equation: possible signs of a good restaurant.
Today's prompt: There's a
chance you might be in an excellent restaurant when
Stacy Finz: 'When Buck Owens
is playing on the juke box. Sometimes mood trumps everything else.'
Amanda Gold: 'When you get
softened butter (my opposite of last week). When your server brings
out an amuse bouche from the chef that you wish you could eat
more of. Sadly, when you can't get a reservation or there's at
least an hour wait more than a year after opening.'
Deb Wandell: 'When wines
are served in properly shaped glasses - and have a stem attached.'
Jon Bonne: 'When they categorically
will not shake your Negroni. When don't offer you cheese for seafood
pastas. When you'd buy at least 75 percent of the wines on the
list. When they have at least one under-bar hook per stool.'
Michael Bauer: 'When the
menu reads so well you want to order everything.'
Erick Wong: 'When a paper
menu is thin enough to replace as often as the food it lists.
Also when the bread arrives warm.'
Janny Hu: 'When everyone
around you is cleaning off their plates. When people - diners
and servers alike - simply look like they're having a good time.'
Sarah Fritsche: 'When salads
are perfectly dressed.'
Ann Dolce: 'When the menu
is about quality, not quantity.'
Katie Popoff: 'When ingredients
on the menu are called by name.' "
Our 900 GRAYSON offers
quite a few of these, though you're more likely to hear Elvis
than Buck Owens.
"Berkeley Early Music Festival, June 6-13" at californiachronicle.com.
"This festival, held
every other year, celebrates its 20th anniversary. It's one of
the biggest on the West Coast devoted to early music, and it draws
big names in the early music realm to Berkeley. Seven Main Stage
concerts offer a variety of music -- from Monteverdi to Vivaldi.
Ensembles include Ã,¡Sacabuche!, the Marion
Verbruggen Trio and ARTEK. In addition, the festival offers an
edgy Fringe Festival of more than 30 self-produced concerts by
soloists and ensembles."
"Meet the Last Generation of Typewriter
Repairmen" is a
story at wired.com by Matthew Shechmeister email author.
"It's easy to forget
how much time computer word-processing programs have saved the
writing public. Before computers, any typewritten document that
needed revision had to be retyped again and again. And that's
hardly the end of it. Total up all the hours that people spent
whiting out errors before the Delete key how many zeroes would
the final figure have? Combine the surface area of every lumpy
smudge of liquid paper: Would it cover the country? The world?
Despite these inefficiencies,
there are a few places where typewriters still clack away. New
York City police stations, the desks of a few stubborn hangers-on,
and, increasingly, the apartments of hip young people who have
a fetish for the retro. Mechanical devices with a lot of moving
parts, typewriters require maintenance by technicians with specialized
knowledge and years of experience. A surprising number of people
still make their living meeting that demand.
Wired.com takes a look back
at these charming machines and visits three Bay Area workshops
whose proprietors keep hearse-colored Remingtons and Underwoods
from disappearing into the grave.
Berkeley Typewriter co-owner
Jesse Banuelos is emphatic that, appearances to the contrary,
the store's floor-to-ceiling shelves of semi-disassembled typewriters
are not junk. Components for these old machines are hard to come
by, so the word 'hoarding' doesn't quite apply. After all, where
else are you going to find a replacement spacebar for that 1926
Corona portable?"
"UC Berkeley Orders AIXTRON Black Magic
for CNT and SiGe Nanowires"
at nanowerk.com.
"AIXTRON AG today announced
an order for one 4-inch Black Magic deposition system from the
University of California, Berkeley, USA. Capable of both SiGe
nanowire and CNT (carbon nanotube) deposition, the system will
be installed in the Laboratory for Nano Materials & Electronics
by the local AIXTRON support team in the first half of 2010.
Prof. Ali Javey, UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science comments, 'The Black Magic system
was selected for its unique ability to grow both SiGe nanowires
and CNTs uniformly, rapidly and repeatably. In addition, we know
we can trust AIXTRON as one of the world's largest manufacturers
of semiconductor deposition systems to deliver reliability, safety
and user-friendly operation in the equipment. This system will
be very useful for our research in achieving large-scale synthesis
of nanowire arrays for integrated electronics and sensors.' "
"Bankrupt California is sorely tempted
to rewrite the law for a pot of gold" writes Anna Mehler Paperny at theglobeandmail.com.
"Pot is in the air here
on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Not in the smoke that drifts
between the cafés, second-hand shops and indie music stores
of legendary Haight-Ashbury. But in the headlines of local newspapers,
the posters plastered on phone booths and the ads now airing on
the radio.
It has been two months since
a proposal to legalize marijuana was added to California's fall
referendum ballot, and the debate on the subject is in full swing.
A similar vote crashed and burned in the 1970s, but proponents
feel that this time they could win. Last week, councillors across
the water made Oakland the state's first city to formally endorse
the move, and the latest polls show public opinion is almost evenly
divided.
The proposed legislation
is fairly conservative. It would allow growing, selling and consuming
cannabis, but local governments could opt out, smoking in public
would remain illegal, cultivation would be limited to a small
plot and vendors would face severe penalties for selling to anyone
under 21.
But a bigger motivation is
something profoundly practical: The state needs the cash. Badly. "
"Legendary Lawman August Vollmer A
True, if Relatively Unknown, Legend" Charles Bennett, Officer.com.
"Last month we examined
a true legend in the law enforcement community. Allan Pinkerton
and his legacy have been examined in numerous books and movies
and that will probably continue as Hollywood continues its search
for new material. This month we're going to have a look at an
individual whose legacy is arguably even more important to law
enforcement than Pinkerton's. His ideas and procedures have set
the standard for many agencies throughout the history of this
country. Unless you're a student of history or in law enforcement
(or live in Berkeley, California) you've probably never heard
of August Vollmer."
On Sunday 5/31/10 at about
5:10 PM there was a police action around 6th and Camellia with
helicopter and many radio cars, and officers with drawn weapons
including their assault rifes.RP
Lt Andrew Greenwood BPD emails
On 5/31/10, there was an
collision near 4th/Gilman. During contact between the drivers,
one driver had a handgun which fell out of his waistband. That
same driver may also have been intoxicated. He fled the scene
running southbound on foot, carrying the handgun. There was an
extensive block cover in the area into which the suspect fled.
A CHP helicopter, monitoring our radio traffic, offered assistance
with an overhead look. Due to the safety concern of an armed suspect
hiding in the block, the incident commander chose to implement
our protocol to request a canine from a nearby agency. Richmond
Police assisted with a canine officer.
There was an extensive block search. Officers on the search located
the handgun and clothing. This material, along with the suspect's
vehicle, will contribute towards the investigation of the incident,
and identification of the suspect, who was not located during
the search.
The investigation is on-going. This is a felony hit/run, with
the injured party complaining of pain. There were no other injuries
to anyone associated with this incident.
6/2/10
our Darryl Moore emails
I'm writing to
urge you to please vote "Yes" on Measure C, the pools
ballot measure in Berkeley's June 8 election. Measure C
will be great for West Berkeley residents, as well as for the
rest of our city.
For West Berkeley neighborhoods, Measure C will provide two pools
with expanded hours, rather than the current one pool with limited
hours.
This is what Measure C will do at West Campus:
Outdoor pool remodel
the existing outdoor pool and poolhouse, making it a more appealing,
modern facility for families and lap swimmers. Hours will be expanded,
keeping it open weekends in the warm months, rather than the current
weekday-only schedule.
Warm Pool -- right next to
the outdoor pool, a new indoor Warm Pool will be built. This pool,
which will be 92 degrees, will be operated year-round and will
ideal for parents with toddlers and young children, and for early
swim lessons, during the cold-weather months when the outdoor
pool is closed for the season. It also will be ideal for the elderly
and handicapped.
Measure C also rehabs and improves the pools at Willard and King
Middle Schools. And it provides $980,000 annually for the staffing,
maintenance and other operating costs of all the pools, as well
as increased hours. This annual funding will guarantee that no
matter how bad the city's budget crisis gets, Berkeley pools hours
and programs will not be cut.
As s you know, the largely abandoned West Campus property is a
longtime challenge for District 2. Measure C's two pools at West
Campus will give a big push to efforts to revitalize the area,
especially combined with the new School District headquarters
that is underway for the Bonar Street building.
For homeowners, Measure C will be a bargain. A typical West Berkeley
bungalow of 1,000 square feet will pay $38 per year in added taxes,
and a larger house of 1,900 square feet (the citywide average
size) will pay $70 per year. Renters will pay zero extra, because
landlords will be legally barred from increasing rents because
of Measure C.
For all these reasons, I have endorsed Measure C alongside every
single elected official in Berkeley the unanimous City Council,
School Board and Rent Board, plus State Senator Loni Hancock,
Assemblymember Nancy Skinner and former Mayor Shirley Dean.
Many of your neighbors in West Berkeley support Measure C, just
look for the lawn signs. If you'd like one of your own,
please email volunteer@berkeleypools.org.
Measure C's opponents are spreading a lot of disinformation about
the measure. To get the straight facts, I suggest you check out
the Measure C campaign website, www.berkeleypools.org. Detailed
information is on the website's FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
page.
thanks,
Darryl Moore
Berkeley City Council, District 2
our Susan Brooks emails
Please join Susan
Brooks at the studio,
for Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios
http://www.susanbrooks.com
Handwrought Jewelry
& Works on Paper
Two weekends 11-6
p.m.
June 5-6 & 12-13
2547 Eighth Street,
Studio 24a, Berkeley
(between Dwight Way and Parker)
Over 400 artists
participate in this event.
www.proartsgallery.org
25 artists and
craftspeople will be open at The Sawtooth Building where
I have my studio.
We are also walking distance from another 20 artists,
so plan on spending the day in West Berkeley.
My studio is always
open on Thursdays 12-5 p.m.
The first Saturday of the month
& I'm always happy to see you by appointment or chance.
Hope to see you,
Susan
Susan Brooks
2547 Eighth Street 24a
Berkeley, California 94710
510 845-2612
"iPad Publisher See Here Studios Teams
with 3D Filmmaker for E-Books" at
appmodo.com.
"See Here Studios, publisher
of the first 3D children's storybook for the iPad "3D Storybook-The
Wrong Side Of The Bed 3D," teams with 3D filmmaker Andrea
Senise to bring interactive 3D movies to their upcoming children's
iPad e-book titles. Senise has produced 3D stereoscopic television
projects and animated commercials in her native country of Brazil.
Now residing in the United States, she is excited to bring her
3D expertise to the iPad: "Making children's storybook characters
move and pop from the screen is simply magical. Everything in
the story becomes more real and, at the same time, more fantastical!"
" California Watch hires Pulitzer winner,
finalist" is a press
release at poynter.org.
"The Center for Investigative
Reporting's California Watch announced new additions to its reporting
team today. Three new staff members, including a Pulitzer Prize
winner, will help strengthen and expand the largest investigative
reporting team operating in the State. New reporting beats will
include the environment and public safety. California Watch will
add an enterprise reporter focused on public health issues and
a third education reporter to its team. "
"Schnur named new chairman of FPPC"
at sfgate.com.
"There's a new sheriff
in Sacramento to oversee and regulate the role of money in California
politics.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
has named Dan Schnur as the new chairman of the state's Fair Political
Practices Commission, taking over for Ross Johnson who resigned
due to unspecified health reasons in April.
Schnur is director of the
Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern
California and also teaches at UC Berkeley. He was director of
communications for Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain during his
unsuccessful presidential nomination bid in 2000 and served as
press secretary for former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson."
"Biochemist wins $500,000 Lemelson-MIT
Prize" by Candace
Lombardi, cnet.com.
"The 2010 Lemelson-MIT
Prize has gone to a pioneer in something most Americans have likely
never heard of but that might one day save their lives: glycobiology.
Carolyn Bertozzi, the T.Z.
and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and a professor
of molecular and cell biology at the University of California
at Berkeley, has won the prestigious $500,000 award. Her biotechnology
breakthroughs have applications in new types of anticancer drugs
and in imaging nanotechnology used for detection and diagnosis
of cancer cells, the Lemelson-MIT Program announced Wednesday."
"Bay Area farmers markets offer lush produce,
unexpected flavors" by
Allison Arevalo at mercurynews.com.
"It's early morning
and the awakening aroma of coffee beans and freshly sliced peaches
drifts through the air on Berkeley's Center Street. Early birds
watch as farmers unpack bright green bundles of thick asparagus
and fill wooden boxes with spring's sweet English peas."
Aw jeez
"Can Meat Eaters Also Be Environmentalists?" is answered at theatlantic.com.
"I recently sat center
stage at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, California, arguing
that being a meat eater and also a dedicated environmentalist
is not a contradiction. Arguing the reverse was Howard Lyman,
a former cattle-feedlot operator turned vegan, who is an entertaining
speaker and the author of Mad Cowboy. I'm a vegetarian who's become
a cattle rancher. As Ari Derfel, the moderator, noted: this event
could only happen in Berkeley."
"The alien landscapes of Northern California's
salt ponds" is a
story at io9.com.
Last year, UC Berkeley architecture
professor Cris Benton used kite aerial photography (KAP) to capture
these stunning, otherworldly images of salt ponds.
These are photographs taken
during a first excursion to Salt Pond E6B in an area near the
ruins of the 19th Century Ohlsen Salt Works just north of Alameda
Creek.
I am taking these documentary
photographs under a Special Use Permit from the California Department
of Fish & Game. Kite flying is prohibited over the E Ponds
without a Special Use Permit as is access to this part of the
Eden Nature Preserve.
Benton has been perfecting
his kite photography for almost two decades, and you can see more
of his stunning work in his Flickr stream. He talks about building
his KAP rig on this website."
6/3/10
10/07
Berkeley
Bowl excavation
posts from
the past
10/20/07
One of Potter Creek's young
artists, a recent Cal graduate, loves the work of Darren Waterston.
Check his work out
here.
10/21/07
Did Sophie's favorite painter
of my 10/20/07 post inspire you? Thanks to Lipofsky you, yourself,
can "paint like Jackson Pollock." Just go here.
And our Janine Johnson emails
Hi, I have a new CD on Magnatune.com
of original harpsichord
suites. Please check
it out.
6/3/10 return
With a story that I broke
last month, this month berkeleyside.com elaborates "New
'hipster' green market to open in Berkeley.
"A new green market
will open on June 12 in the parking lot at the Berkeley Adult
School on San Pablo and Virginia. The founders of Beehive Market
describe it as a 'hipster 'green lifestyle market celebrating
all things cool about being a green localist."
"World Music Artists Converge on Telegraph
Avenue" is a press
release at berkeleyworldmusic.org.
"The 7th Annual Berkeley
World Music Festival presents free continuous performance by some
of the world's finest world music artists who call the Bay Area
home, Noon to 9 PM, on Saturday, June 5th. It offers a wonderful
mix of intimate performances in Telegraph Avenue cafes and shops,
near UC campus, as well as a featured concert in People's Park,
sponsored by Amoeba Music, 1:00 to 6:00 PM."
"La
Peña Is Still Rooted at 35" by Rachel Swan at
eastbayexpress.com.
"At La Peña Cultural
Center, a 35-year anniversary is roughly equivalent to a quinceañera
in terms of the hubbub it generates. On the date of its actual
quinceañera, the cultural center had just launched its
first spate of music workshops. Holly Near would arrive later
that year with an acoustic guitar in tow and a repertoire of songs
to protest Pinochet's regime in Chile. Fourteen more years would
pass before La Peña paid off its mortgage. Another four
years would pass before Pinochet's indictment. By the time La
Peña reached adulthood, it had become a venerable, medium-size
institution with a $700,000 annual budget. Politics had changed
in South America, and in Berkeley, a new generation of activists
had taken reign."
"Berkeley tea party to protest tea cozy
order"Carolyn Jones,
Chronicle Staff Writer.
"Knitters protest Berkeley's
order that they remove a tea cozy they knitted over the T in the
'Herethere' sculpture.
Berkeley hosted its own version of a tea party protest Sunday
afternoon, complete with pots of tea and a heavy dollop of civic
disobedience.
Rogue knitters encamped along
the Berkeley-Oakland border with lawn chairs, tea cakes and knitting
projects to protest the city of Berkeley's order that they remove
an 8-foot knitted tea cozy they sewed over the T in a public sculpture
they believe insults Oakland."
6/4/10
"From Chez Panisse To Chez Calgary:A Local
Chef's Journey To The Mecca Of Slow Food And Back Home Again" by Jenn Chic in the Calgary Herald.
"W e passed a large
vase of apple blossoms on the way to our table. The chefs looked
up from arranging radishes in the open kitchen and offered us
a warm 'good evening." A portrait of my favourite food writer,
the late M.F.K. Fisher, smiled down at us. Our server drifted
to and from our table, meeting all our needs before we knew we
had any. My main course of pork sausages, nettles and fried potatoes
arrived. It was perfect. I looked up at my boyfriend, Mark, and
declared: "This is what I want to do. In a place like this.
I need to go to chef school."
Over the past five years
I had worked as an English teacher, nanny, farmer, server, cook,
cheese monger and produce clerk. I had dabbled in starting a photography
business, then a T-shirt business. I talked about food writing,
food styling and pie making. I came to the conclusion that anything
was possible, I just needed to make a commitment to a place and
a career. And then I went for dinner at Chez Panisse, the mecca
of slow food, in Berkeley."
"Psychology professor lists 3BD in Berkeley" by Ryan Anderson, sf.blockshopper.com.
"Dacher Keltner and
Mary McNeil have listed for sale a three-bedroom, two-bath home
at 2929 Buena Vista Way in Berkeley for $795,000.
Bebe McRae of The GRUBB Co.
is the listing agent. The 1,834-square-foot house was built in
1977 at Berkeley Hills."
"Berkeley Man Charged In Handsaw Attack
On Bicyclists" is
a KTVU News report.
"A man suspected of
attacking bicyclists with a handsaw in the hills above the University
of California at Berkeley campus pleaded not guilty to assault
and vandalism charges in Alameda County Superior Court Thursday.
Michael Vandeman, 67, who
has a website dedicated to environmental activism with an anti-bicyclist
bent, was arrested Friday in connection with an attack about six
weeks ago on the Strawberry Canyon Fire Trail near campus, UC
Berkeley police Lt. Alex Yao said.
Yao said Vandeman approached
two male bicyclists who were riding west on the trail and cut
one of the victims across the chest with a handsaw. The victim
suffered minor injuries.
The victims asked why he
had attacked them, and Vandeman allegedly told them they should
not be riding their bicycles on the trail, police said."
"Scientists find new African gecko species"
is a story at upi.com.
"U.S. scientists say
they've identified new gecko species in the West African rain
forest.
The University of California-Berkeley
researchers said they discovered the gecko Hemidactylus fasciatus
is actually four species distributed in forest patches across
of the continent from the coast of Sierra Leone to the Congo."
"California Smart Grid Center Completes
Successful Demonstration Test of Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat
Retrofit Solution From Cypress Envirosystems" is a report at marketwatch.com.
"Exxon Bets $600 Million on Algae Biofuel
Despite Doubters" by
Kambiz Foroohar, bloomberg.com.
"Inside an industrial
warehouse in South San Francisco, California, Harrison Dillon,
chief technology officer of startup Solazyme Inc., examines a
beaker filled with a brown paste made of sugar cane waste. While
the smell brings to mind molasses, this goo, called bagasse, won't
find its way into people-pleasing confections.
Instead, scientists will
empty it into 5-gallon metal flasks of algae and water. The algae
will gorge on the treat -- filling themselves with fatty oils
as they double in size every six hours, Bloomberg Markets magazine
reports in its July issue. . . .
Solazyme cofounders Wolfson
and Dillon, 39, are sidestepping the challenges of algae ponds.
The pair met in 1989 at Emory University in Atlanta and discovered
mutual interests in the outdoors and the environment. During that
freshman year, Dillon, who was studying biology, and Wolfson,
a political science undergrad, agreed to form a biotech company
one day.
That off-the-cuff promise
began to take shape in 2003. The two raised money from friends,
family, New York-based Harris & Harris Group Inc. and Berkeley,
California-based Roda Group and started growing algae in open
ponds. They wound up with little to show."
"Solar Trust of America Names John D. Clapp
as Chief Financial Officer"
is a report at earthtimes.org.
"Solar Trust of America,
LLC, (STA) an integrated industrial solar solutions company, today
announced that John D. Clapp has been appointed Chief Financial
Officer for the leading developer of solar thermal power plants
in the United States, effective immediately. He will report directly
to Solar Trust of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Uwe T. Schmidt. Clapp will direct the financing for the company's
solar thermal power plant projects in California and Nevada, which
have been granted 'Fast Track' status by the U.S. Department of
Interior's Bureau of Land Management.
Clapp led the Solar Trust
of America client engagement team at Citigroup, which is actively
involved in finance structuring and advisory services for Solar
Trust's U.S. projects.
Together with its wholly
owned U.S. development subsidiary, Berkeley, California-based
Solar Millennium, LLC, and global business partners Solar Millennium
AG and Ferrostaal AG, Solar Trust of America is actively pursuing
the construction and development of multiple solar thermal power
plants across the southwestern U.S. The company currently has
nine solar thermal energy power plants in advanced stages of development
in Ridgecrest, Blythe and Palen, California, as well as in the
Amargosa Valley near Las Vegas."
"Cash-strapped UC adds high-salary positions"
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle
Staff Writer.
"It has been a period
of austerity at the University of California, with layoffs, across-the-board
pay cuts and fee hikes. Yet some UC employees earned significantly
more money in 2009 than in 2008, with two more million-dollar
earners added to the payroll, new salary data show."
6/5/10
Today and tomorrow our Berkeley
Bowl is celebrating their First Anniversary with sales and demos
with free stuff from vendors. Check it out!
our Janine emails
Well my two concerts
(June 9th, and June 11) are just around the corner. For
those of you who enjoy reading the program notes at their leisure,
I am sending them now. I hope you have lots planned
for the Early music Festival! It looks like a lot of fun!
Janine
Recital June
9th 3:40 PM, St Joseph of Arimathea Chapel 2543 Durant, Berkeley
Bach, Handel, Buxtehude and Pachelbel
Concert with Elizabeth
Blumenstock June 11th, 12 PM at Trinity Chapel, 2320
Dana St. Berkeley
All Bach violin and harpsichord
I have found it
difficult to write about the Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord in
just a few short paragraphs. It is something akin to
trying to describe the Sistine chapel in as few words. These works
contain such a wealth of emotion, from desolation to ecstasy and
are wrought with such perfection of craft and inspiration, they
defy words.
These Sonatas were
written toward the end of Bach's Cöthen period (1717-1723),
a time marked by the tragedy of his first wife's death in 1720. There
was surely little consolation in the Calvinist beliefs at court,
and this circumstance likely had a deep influence on Bach's writing.
All the sonatas, even those in major keys have at least one movement
containing a sense of despair or resignation. We feel
wholly liberated when the following movements leap forth in unbridled
energy, sometimes in joy, sometimes profoundly disturbed.
All but the sixth
of these Sonatas follow a trio sonata form, (slow-fast-slow-fast),
and their resemblance to this form is heightened by the three
part writing, with a bass line and a treble part on the keyboard
equal to the violin. However, this is not always the
case, and Bach uses the flexibility of the keyboard to add extra
voices, or create textures not possible in a true trio sonata.
The violin is sometimes given two voices in double stops, also
divergent from the trio sonata model.
It is fascinating
to see how Bach uses the two instruments together. Often
they have the same melodic material, behaving as true equals,
but just as often he separates them into distinct roles as accompanist
and soloist, (sometimes trading roles during a single movement)
or gives them entirely different, but equally important material.
His tendency in the non fugal movements is to give the violin
the more expressive melodies and long notes, while capitalizing
on the harpsichord's ability to create colorful washes of sound
and texture, or he gives the keyboard dense counterpoint underlying
the arioso violin.
The transcription
of the Adagio and Fugue from Bach's solo violin Partita
is a challenging and exciting work, very much in the Baroque style
and spirit, written by a great master of the harpsichord, whom
I am not at liberty to reveal in print. (however, I have been
told I can tell people who ask). In putting together
this program, Elizabeth and I thought it would be fun to both
poach each other's music for our solos. _ JJ
Last fall I was
asked to perform some solo Bach on a program otherwise dedicated
substantially to character pieces by Classical and Romantic composers.
For a variety of reasons, I didn't want to simply include dance
movements from Bach's solo violin partitas (the most obvious candidates).
It occurred to me that, were I a Romantic era violinist, I might
be as prone to enthusiasm for Baroque music as many of my contemporaries
were, and might well make arrangements of some of it for my pleasure.
I searched through Bach's works for pieces that could reasonably
accommodate arrangement for solo violin, leaving out of consideration
much of his chamber, orchestral, and vocal music. I settled finally
on the Goldberg Variations, figuring that from an Air and
30 variations, I ought to be able to find a few that would work
for the violin, and so be able to assemble a suite of contrasting
small movements. Many of the variations were simply too
difficult for me to render violinistic, for reasons of range and
sheer harmonic and figurative complexity, including the fugal
variations. I wound up making arrangements of the Aria, Variation
5, which is in the 'moto perpetuo' mode and as such, not dissimilar
to several of Bach's solo violin movements, Variation 20, which
features leaping cross-hand figures (in the keyboard version!)
and bubbling triplets, and the jig-like Variation 7, which made
the cross-species leap with startling naturalness and rapidity.
The beautiful compendious aspect of the Goldberg Variations is
of course entirely lost in this version, and I hope you will consider
my effort in the spirit in which it was undertaken, one of simple
admiration, affection, and utter covetousness.
-- EB
The violin was
built in 1660 by Andrea Guarneri, in Cremona, Italy. It was given
to Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra by an anonymous donor, for the
exclusive use of Ms. Blumenstock. As with most antique string
instruments, it had been modified to keep pace with "modern"
musical trends, and some of these alterations have been reversed
to return it to something like its original Baroque condition,
such as the return to gut strings, a lower bridge, and a period
tailpiece. Guarneri, an apprentice of Amati, and contemporary
of Stradivari, founded a highly regarded violin making family,
and their instruments are true treasures. Many heartfelt thanks
to the donor.
The harpsichord heard
today, by John Phillips, Berkeley, is based on the 1722 Johann
Heinrich Gräbner preserved in the Villa Bertramka in Prague;
the earliest of four surviving harpsichords from this prominent
Dresden family of instrument makers and organists. It is a fine
example of the large middle German harpsichords with which J.
S. Bach would have been intimately familiar. It is even likely
that Bach knew J. H. Gräbner, as the latter was the official
court tuner when Bach journeyed to Dresden in 1717. One of Gräbner's
sons, Christian Heinrich, later studied organ with Bach in Leipzig.
The Saxon and Thuringian
makers preferred simplicity both in appearance and musical disposition.
As is the original, this harpsichord is constructed mainly of
pine and spruce with decoration limited to a cut paper rose in
the soundboard, Italianate moldings and scrolls, and fancy brass
work. The framed stand is typical of contemporary German furniture.
The sound of the Gräbner harpsichords is unique with clean
articulation and remarkable clarity in all registers - perfectly
suited for the solo and accompanied keyboard works of J. S. Bach.
Many thanks to Peter and Cynthia Hibbard for the loan of the instrument.
Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk
said "Writing about music is like dancing to architecture."
So just go to the Berkeley
Early Music Festival and you'll hear "Classical Music"
as you've never imagined. Check it out! RP
"East Bay Open Studios: Artists open doors
to public" Danielle
Samaniego at sfgate.com.
"It's essentially a
chance to view more than 450 artists' studios.
Over the next two weekends,
artists will open their studio doors in one of the largest art
showcases in the region - East Bay Open Studios. The annual event
kicks off this weekend, featuring myriad local artists from across
the area, who will be on hand to discuss and sell art."
"The quest for the world's most extraordinary
chocolate" at chocolategrail.com
has a review of Carol Whitman son's
Morning Glory Confections.
"Fortunately for us,
Max Lesser didn't follow another career path as a fine artist.
While there is no doubt he would (and has) provided the world
with beautiful prints, photography and painting, I'm selfishly
glad that he is now devoted to providing us with his small batch,
exquisite brittles, at Morning Glory Confections.
Morning Glory Confections
chocolate enrobed brittles are divine in every aspect. They combine
the the heavenly elements of silky chocolate and crunchy, buttery
toffee. They are sometimes savory and sometimes sweet but always
exceptional. The brittles are all dipped decadently and sensually
in Valhrona chocolate and each flavor boasts a flourish from Max's
artistic eye; a sprinkle of salt or perhaps a carefully placed
cocoa nib or n't, making each of these treats'a mini-masterpiece.
Morning Glory Confection
Chocolate Enrobed BrittleThere are six divine flavors and you
need to taste them all "for your own goodness sake,"
as my Chinese mother would say."
"MAPLight exposes its agenda" Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee.
"MAPLight.org is a Berkeley,
Calif.-based, foundation-supported organization devoted, it says,
to illuminating the connection between campaign contributions
and politicians.
That's a worthy effort, although
scarcely a new one. Newspaper reporters, among others, have been
doing it for decades.
Were MAPLight merely assembling
and collating data, it would be helping the public gain a fuller
understanding of what politicians in the Capitol do and don't
do and why.
MAPLight, however, has its
own political agenda."
"Five myths about California politics" by Bruce E. Cain at washingtonpost.com.
"Tuesday is Election
Day in California, with primary races for governor and U.S. Senate
that have received much national attention. But when it comes
to national politics, is California a bellwether, an outlier,
a mirror, or a little of each? From a distance, appearances can
be deceiving."
"Assembly OKs energy storage mandate" is a report at centralvalleybusinesstimes.com.
"Solar power is great
when the sun shines. Wind power is a champ when the wind
blows. But what happens on a dark night with calm winds to those
two forms of alternative energy?
That's the purpose of a bill
approved this week by the California Assembly.
It mandates that the state's
energy grid must develop forms of energy storage by 2015. It doesn't
say how the energy might be stored, but some proposals include
so-called "ultracapacitors" to store energy in an electrical
field instead of traditional batteries.
Bill author Nancy Skinner,
D-Berkeley, who is chairman of the Assembly Rules Committee, says
the storage of electricity will create thousands of permanent
new green-collar jobs in California."
"Man shot and killed in Berkeley" Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer.
" A man was shot and
killed in Berkeley, police said [6/3/10] today. The victim, whose
name was not immediately released, was found lying near the corner
of 62nd and King streets in south Berkeley at about 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, said Officer Andrew Frankel, Berkeley police spokesman.
The man was pronounced dead
at the scene. No arrests have been made, and a motive for the
slaying is under investigation. The killing happened a block from
where two people in a car were shot and critically wounded May
20. Doran Williams Jr., 27, of Oakland is being sought in connection
with that shooting, which happened at the corner of 63rd and King
streets, police said."
6/6/10
"Cultural center celebrates 35 years of
bringing people together for food, music and social change"
by Jennifer Modenessi,
Contra Costa Times.
"In Chile, Sept. 11,
1973, was a day of tumultuous change.
For the people who founded
La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley, it marked a beginning.
"I always say that La
Pena started because of an event that happened on September 11,"
says Paul Chin, La Pena's executive director. That's when a group
of Berkeley residents, Chilean expatriates and solidarity activists
decided they had to do something to educate people about the situation
in South America.
Launched into action by a
U.S.-backed coup that toppled Chilean President Salvador Allende's
government and placed dictator Augusto Pinochet in power, the
group laid the foundation for a gathering place where people could
meet, make art and initiate social change. They opened La Pena
in
1975 and the center -- which
is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a series of concerts,
exhibits, performances and a street fair -- is still going strong."
"Berkeley ballot measure would rebuild
warm pool" Matthai
Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"Scoliosis and a spinal
cord injury bend Martha Colburn's back, twist her elbows and contort
her right foot into a permanent 90-degree angle. She calls herself
'the petrified pretzel.'
But when Colburn, 56, gets
into the warm pool at Berkeley High School, she can stretch and
swim as if she were 16 again.
Easing herself out of her
motorized wheelchair and into the 92-degree water, she said, "is
the one intersecting point in my life when I connect with my old
life, before I was disabled."
Colburn's therapeutic dips
may be cut short. The school district plans to tear down the seismically
unsafe pool building within a year to make way for 15 new classrooms.
Measure C will ask Berkeley voters on Tuesday whether they want
to build a new one - and pay to improve and maintain the city's
other pools.
The question is whether voters
in the birthplace of the disabled rights movement, where residents
are already highly taxed, will reach into their pockets again."
"California's possible solution to partisan
politics" by Dan
Balz, Washington Post Staff Writer.
"California Lt. Gov.
Abel Maldonado (R) minced no words when he talked about changing
the polarized politics that he said are killing his state. 'The
system we have today is taking our Golden State to its knees,'
he said. 'It's frankly embarrassing.'
Few Californians would disagree
that their state is in a terrible mess, and that gridlock and
partisanship in Sacramento have contributed to it. Whether people
agree with Maldonado's prescription for change will be answered
Tuesday, when voters will decide the fate of a ballot proposal,
Proposition 14, that would dramatically change the way political
candidates are nominated."
"Gay Couples Get Equal Tax Treatment"
by Laura Meckler at wsj.com.
The Internal Revenue Service
has ruled that same-sex couples must be treated the same as heterosexual
couples under a feature of California tax law. Advocates for the
change say it is the first time the agency has acknowledged gay
couples as a unit for tax purposes.
The change reverses a 2006
IRS ruling and opens a tax benefit to many same-sex couples that
wasn't available before. It may affect couples in Nevada and Washington
state, as well.
Specifically, the agency
said nearly 58,000 couples who are registered as domestic partners
in California must combine their income and each report half of
it on their separate tax returns. Same-sex couples account for
an estimated 95% of the state's domestic partnerships; partnership
status is also available to heterosexual couples in which one
partner is over age 62.
'For the first time ever,
I'm able to file federal taxes that, in a small way, acknowledges
what's going on in my relationship,' said Eric Rey of Berkeley,
Calif. Mr. Rey and his partner requested the IRS ruling, first
during the Bush administration and again this year."
"Medical marijuana boom a boon for illegal,
sometimes dangerous, cultivation" by Cecily Burt, Oakland Tribune.
"Buckingham Boulevard
residents are hypervigilant about watching out for their neighborhood,
quick to report anything suspicious. But a police detective's
early morning knock at one neighbor's front door was the first
clue that something illegal was happening inside the house across
the street. The detective said there would be a raid, and suggested
the neighbor might want to leave in case there was gunfire. When
the man drove back up the canyon a few hours later, police were
still hauling out marijuana plants, bags of buds, money and growing
equipment from two expensive, hillside homes that had housed an
extensive indoor pot farm.
'These people were growing
$1 million worth of pot and I had no clue at all,' said the resident,
who asked that his name not be used because the ringleader escaped
during the police raid and has never been caught."
"Marijuana delivery services evade bans
on dispensaries"
by Gary Cohn and Michael Montgomery, California Watch at mercurynews.com.
"A flourishing and unregulated
industry of pot delivery services is circumventing bans on storefront
dispensaries and bringing medical marijuana directly to people's
homes, offices and more unconventional locations across the state,
records and interviews show.
The unfettered delivery of
marijuana through hundreds of these services highlights how quickly
California's pot industry is moving from the shadows and into
uncharted legal territory. These new couriers include enterprising
farmers, business entrepreneurs and even a former Los Angeles
pot dealer methodically switching her former clients to legal
patients."
"Higley schools pull space-search software
from 5,000 computers"
by Emily Gersema in The Arizona Republic.
"Thousands of Higley
Unified School District computers have been cleared of software
that helps scientists look for signs of life in outer space and
that led to the arrest of a former district technologist.
Justin Greene, a Higley information
technology director, says district computers have been programmed
so that every time they are booted up, they automatically check
for and remove the University of California-Berkeley software,
BOINC.
Higley officials say the
software began appearing on district computers in 2005 without
their knowledge or permission.
A tech audit last year, led
by Greene when he was a consultant on contract, revealed BOINC
was installed on an estimated 5,000 Higley computers.
Officials then accused an
IT administrator, Bradley Niesluchowski, of installing it on computers."
6/8/10
Potter Creek worker Antony's
Chevy V-8 with an Edelbrock
intake manifold, Edelbrock valve covers and, damn, a Holley four-barrel,
. . . and a trick distributor.
"Man hands" is a story by Natalie Neff at autoweek.com.
"I reached up through
the tangle of pipes, bending my elbow to clear the transmission,
and wedged the tip of the screwdriver into the C-clip. One quick,
forceful pull, and it gave way, a flash of metal springing off
the flathead and bouncing to the garage floor. I put the screwdriver
down, carefully placed the clip in my pocket, positioned the Tupperware
bowl and fished my hand back up toward the thermostat housing.
The plug felt tight but didn't appear to be threaded, so I wiggled
it a bit and then just yanked. Coolant gushed out, a stream of
warm, sweet-scented fluid pouring down my forearm and drenching
my sleeve.
After scooting out from under
the engine, I set the plug on the counter, wiped my hands, brushed
the crud out of my hair and waited for the coolant to drain."
"Desperate Female Spiders Fight By Different
Rules" is at
redorbit.com.
"If you thought women's
pro wrestling was a cutthroat business, jumping spiders may have
them beat.
In most animals the bigger,
better fighter usually wins. But a new study of the jumping spider
Phidippus clarus suggests that size and skill aren't everything
what matters for Phidippus females is how badly they want
to win."
"FEMA Awards $3 Million To UC Berkeley
For Structural Retrofit Project" at medianewswire.com.
"The U. S. Department
of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA
) today released $3,000,000 in Pre-Disaster Mitigation ( PDM )
funds to the University of California-Berkeley to perform structural
retrofits to the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.
The funded project consists
of strengthening of existing structures in the Tilden Room and
Pauley Ballroom, including installing a structural brace, adding
and reinforcing concrete walls, and replacing plate glass windows
with tempered or laminated glass."
"Businesses question insurance tax credits:Some
fear premium hikes will cut gains" at vcstar.com.
* By John Gonzales California
HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting California small-business
owners expected to be early beneficiaries of health reform, with
billions of dollars in federal tax relief flowing this month to
help them purchase medical coverage for their employees.
But many said the 35 percent
credits granted under the hard-fought legislation have run into
a new hurdle: a buzz saw of rate increases by insurance companies,
including 58 percent to 75 percent hikes levied recently by Blue
Shield of California."
6/9/10
"Berkeley Math Prof Edward Frenkel Branches
Out Into Erotic Film"
is a story at huffingtonpost.com.
"University of California-Berkeley
Professor Edward Frenkel is world-renowned for his work with automorphic
representations and the geometric Langlands conjecture.
He's also a trailblazer in
a different arena: erotic film.
Frankel, 41, invested ¤100,000
to produce and star in 'Rites of Love and Math,' a 'sprawling
allegory' during which the mathematician has sex on screen.
Set in the Japanese
Noh theatre, like [Yukio] Mishima's film ['The Rite of Love and
Death'], 'Rites' is silent except for extracts from Wagner's opera
Tristan und Isolde and some electric guitar. It is beautiful to
look at, even if the story does owe more to Dan Brown than to
Mishima.
If Frenkel's goal was to
bring more people to maths, he can congratulate himself on a job
well done. The formula of love, which is actually a simplified
version of an equation he published in a 2006 paper on quantum
field theory entitled 'Instantons beyond topological theory I',
will probably soon have been seen -- if not understood -- by a
far larger audience than it would otherwise ever have reached."
"Fundraiser puts Gulf seafood on the menu"
by Michelle Locke, Associated
Press.
"Eat a shrimp, support
a Gulf of Mexico fisherman. That's the thinking behind the 'Dine
Out for the Gulf Coast' campaign in which restaurants across the
country will be putting a little fish philanthropy on the menu.
During the event, scheduled
for June 10-12, participating restaurants will be donating to
the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund. Restaurants that are able to, also
will feature seafood from the Gulf. "
our Janine emails
If you are going to my concert
today, I figured you might appreciate directions to St. joseph
of Arimathea Chapel, as it is easy to walk right past it. Also, I'd like
to give my endorsement for the harpsichord concert prior
to mine at 2:00 PM. Rebecca Pechefsky has been
practicing at the shop (John Phillips) and it is going to be a
wonderful concert. The Krebs is delightful and so is the Rameau,
of course. She's playing on a Blanchet I had a hand in making
and also decorating. It might be fun to do both! My
concert, again, is at 3:40 PM on the dot if possible!
2:00 PM Rebecca Pechefsky,
Krebs, Rameau
3:40 PM Janine Johnson, Bach Buxtehude, Handel,
Pachelbel
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel is at
2543 Durant, above Telegraph just before Bowditch. It
is on the north side of the street. If you walk up Durant
and come to Bowditch, turn around and you will see the
door behind you along the sidewalk. It does not open directly
onto the street, but faces uphill. I'd forgotten this and almost
bypassed it myself, yesterday.
I hope you are having fun
during the Festival! Such a great concert binge at the Firnge!
Janine
Rick Ballard, The Groove
Yard emails
To celebrate Groove Yard's
19th Birthday, I am having a sale. Beginning Saturday, June
5 and extending through Sunday, June 13 all records and CDs are
on sale at 20 % off marked price. Consignment LPs are included
in sale.
Saturday, June 5 Sunday, June 13
20%
Off all records and CDs
Coleman Hawkins on playing music, "if you don't make
mistakes you aren't really trying."
Groove Yard Jazz LPs/CDs
5555 Claremont Ave
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 655-8400
www.myspace.com/grooveyardjazz
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11-6, Sun. 12-5
"Google HR associate selling 2BD in Berkeley"
by Jimmy Finkel at blockshopper.com.
"Andrew Wegley has listed
for sale a two-bedroom, one-bath home at 919 Channing Way in Berkeley
for $499,000.
The 1,009-square-foot house
was built in 1919 in the Southwest Berkeley. Charlie Cook of Red
oak Realty is the listing agent for the home."
Final results for Measure
C - City of Berkeley. (Needs 2/3 majority Yes votes to pass.)
Precincts Reported, 99.
Percent Reported, 100.00.
Yes, 10421, 60.38%. No, 6837,
39.62%.
His Honor, Da Boz emails
(excerpts)
Federal stimulus funding
is available for whole-house energy retrofit programs! The
City of Berkeley will be offering cash incentives to increase
the energy efficiency of your home, apartment building or business.
Funding is provided by the US Dept. of Energy and is available
for all types of buildings and income levels! Energy retrofits
help you save money, improve building comfort, safety and durability
as well as reduce your carbon footprint!
Rebates:
Up to $8,500 for single-family & duplex homes (including rebates
through PG&E)
Up to $30,000 for commercial & multifamily properties
Includes $200 rebate for home energy audit and $1,200
rebate for home improvements that reduce energy use by 20%
Come to a public workshop to learn how you can qualify for this
funding!
North Berkeley Senior Center
Tuesday, June 15th 6-8pm
1901 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley CA 94709
South Berkeley Senior Center
Thursday, June 17th 6-8pm
2939 Ellis Street, Berkeley CA 94703
For those who cannot attend,
presentations will be available on the website below after June
15th.
For more information, please see www.cityofberkeley.info/me2
"Wireless helps UC-Berkeley boost data
center efficiencies by 20%'" is
a report at networkworld.com.
"Like many organizations,
the University of California, Berkeley, has been eyeing the latest
data center technologies to increase overall energy efficiencies.
The university's most recent challenge was to expand server capacity
without overloading its existing cooling system or having to add
expensive air conditioning capacity.
The university late last
year planned to install a high-performance computing cluster for
scientific research applications that would add 10 server racks
to Berkeley's 10,000 square foot data center. The servers would
also increase uninterruptible power supply output by 20%
from 400 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts, says Steve Aguirre, manager
of data center and production control services. "
"California Is Stuck in 1st Gear. Most
Populous State Falls Behind Nation in Job Growth; Big Issue in
Elections" by Cari
Tuna atwsj.com.
"Job seekers wait in
line at a job fair in May in San Francisco. California's unemployment
rate was 12.6% in April, far above the national figure.
California is rebounding
more slowly than the rest of the U.S., weighing down the nation's
recovery and underscoring how hard-hit the state remains on the
eve of Tuesday's primaries.
In April, the last month
for which state data are available, California nonfarm employment
fell 2.5% from a year earlier, compared with a 1.1% national drop,
as the state lost a higher percentage of jobs in the recession
and has added a smaller percentage this year. The state's 12.6%
jobless rate far exceeded the 9.9% U.S. rate in April, as reported
by the Labor Department.
'We're underperforming the
national economy,' said Esmael Adibi, director of Chapman University's
economic research center in Orange, Calif. 'We should have more
jobs than are showing up.' "
"Worst may be over for commercial real
estate" is opinion
at latimes.com.
Prices aren't exactly soaring, but after three years of declines
investors are on the prowl again and prominent properties are
sparking bidding wars."
"Former USF basketball player shot to death" Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"A former University
of San Francisco basketball player was shot to death and another
man was wounded in the parking lot of the Ikea furniture store
in Emeryville, police said today."
"Elder abuse has not received adequate
media exposure, funding from various levels of government, or
recognition by the public"
is a story at berkeleydailylanet.com.
"Within an institution,
staff members are usually the guilty parties; outside, family
members are often involved. The U.S. Census Bureau projects 62
million Americans will be age 65 or older by 2025. What's needed?Awareness,
prevention, and confrontation of elder abuse.
"Elder abuse" is
a general term used to describe certain types of harm to older
adults. Some other commonly used, sometimes more or less specific,
terms include: battering, domestic violence, elder mistreatment,
intimate partner violence, . . . . The San Diego District Attorney's
office has defined elder abuse as the physical or psychological
mistreatment of a senior; it can include taking financial advantage
or neglecting the care of a senior. Elder abuse crimes fall into
several categories:
Physical abuse, including
assaults, batteries, sexual assaults, false imprisonment and endangerment;
Physical neglect by a caregiver,
including withholding medical services or hygiene that exposes
the elderly person to the risk of serious harm;
Psychological mental abuse,
including making threats or the infliction of emotional harm;
Financial abuse, including
theft of personal items such as cash, investments, real property
and jewelry and neglect."
6/10/10
"The Average Investor Is His Own Worst
Enemy" David K.
Randall at forbes.com.
"Terrance Odean, a finance
professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School
of Business, has spent his career studying a very specific type
of investor: the one who is overconfident, shortsighted and far
more likely to snap up a stock at the worst possible moment than
to make the kind of contrarian bet that pays off in the long run.
Odean's specialty, in other words, is the average investor.
'Many of the mistakes investors
make come from a lack of any understanding of the innate disadvantages
they face,' Odean says.
As a student of how investors
act in the real world, Odean is part of the burgeoning field of
behavioral finance, which, over the past three decades, has blended
elements of neurology, psychology and economics. It has revealed
that, contrary to the preachings of classical economics, individual
investors tend to be anything but rational, self-interested profit
maximizers. Their own worst enemies would be a more apt description."
"Grocery Outlet plans East Bay expansion" by George Avalos in the Contra Costa Times.
"Grocery Outlet is making
good on expansion plans. The discount realtor said Wednesday that
it had agreed to leases for new stores in Concord, Dublin, Gilroy
and Watsonville, and it is opening a store in Pinole.
'We are in very high gear
and expansion mode,"'said Marc Drasin, vice president of
real estate for Grocery Outlet Inc. 'We are signing a record number
of leases and opening a record number of stores.'
The retailer, like others,
is attempting to capitalize on the tough commercial real estate
market, a sector whose property values and rental rates have plunged
during the past few years.
'There are opportunities
for strong retailers right now,' said Adria Giacomelli, a broker
with Colliers International, which helped arrange the Grocery
Outlet deal in Concord.
Berkeley-based Grocery Outlet
opened five stores in 2009 and expects to open 15 in 2010, Drasin
said. One of those stores, in Pinole, is slated to open today.
Grocery Outlet operates deep-discount supermarkets."
"Orinda's Cal Shakes Ambitiously Takes
on Steinbeck's 'Pastures of Heaven'" by Nick Moore at dailycal.org.
"There comes a moment
in 'Pastures of Heaven,' the new production at Orinda's California
Shakespeare Theater, when you realize that it's not going to be
an easy narrative to follow. The initial storyline, imagining
a young farmer named Bill Whiteside, evolves into a series of
tangentially related little plots concerning a number of characters,
all of whom call the "Pastures of Heaaven" home. Those
familiar with John Steinbeck will recognize the fractured narrative
as the product of his impetuous touch, which grants more care
to character than plot. Cal Shakes opens its season by taking
on a big challenge in trying to thread together each of Steinbeck's
sensitive and humorous stories, evoking the underlying mood that
connects them all.
'Pastures of Heaven,' like
other works of Steinbeck, is essentially a series of vignettes
concerning the residents of the eponymous, fictional valley in
Northern California. The plot jumps back and forth between generations
and stories, with a few characters remaining present throughout."
"Lil B Talks Getting Sucker Punched, Gay
Rumors, & Drake Envy" is
an interview at complex.com.
"Over the past few months,
Lil B has gone from member of the relatively forgotten California
group The Pack to one of hip-hop's most controversial and misunderstood
artists. And even if the 20-year-old isn't on your radar yet (despite
his dozens of Myspace aliases and YouTube videos) or his "princess
swag" just doesn't suit your tastes, incidents like getting
punched in the face for the world to see and a budding relationship
with Soulja Boy are making the Berkeley rapper increasingly difficult
to ignore. Complex recently caught up with the Based God and spoke
about everything from his Golden Era hip-hop influences to why
he considers himself finer than Nicki Minaj."
"Nurses at 6 University of California hospitals
to hold rallies over staffing levels" is a story at bellinghamherald.com.
"Barred by a judge from
staging a one-day strike, registered nurses at six University
of California-run hospitals will instead hold rallies Thursday
to call attention to a long-simmering dispute over staffing levels.
A San Francisco judge on
Tuesday had imposed a temporary restraining order against the
California Nurses Association, which had called for a one-day
strike by as many as 11,000 university-employed nurses.
Both sides are scheduled
to return to court June 18 for further hearings."
"A picture of an oiled bird is taped to
the wall above Charlie Anderson's desk inside a University of
California, Berkeley lab"
reports therepublic.com.
"The cormorant, drenched
in reddish-brown oil, lies limp on a Louisiana shore, water rippling
around its splayed wings.
On a hook next to the picture
hangs Anderson's white lab coat, embroidered with the words 'Energy
Biosciences Institute.'
The connection between the
crisp lab coat in Berkeley and the oiled bird more than 2,000
miles away is BP, the petroleum company responsible for the largest
oil spill in U.S. history. BP sponsors the Energy Biosciences
Institute at the school, a buzzing lab of 300 researchers trying
to make fuel out of plants."
"AP journalist dives into Gulf, can see
only oil" is an
AP report at contracostatimes.com.
"I jump off the boat
into the thickest, reddest patch of oil I've ever seen. I open
my eyes and realize my mask is already smeared. I can't see anything
and we're just five seconds into the dive.
Dropping beneath the surface
with an oxygen tank some 40 miles out into the Gulf Of Mexico,
the only thing I see is oil. To the left, right, up and down-it
sits on top of the water in giant pools and hangs suspended 15
feet beneath the surface in softball-size blobs. There is nothing
alive under the slick, although I see a dead jellyfish and handful
of small bait fish."
our Darryl Moore emails (excerpts)
$17,000 Reward Offered In
Berkeley Homicide
The City of Berkeley is offering
a $15,000 reward, and Bay Area Crime Stoppers (BACS) is offering
an additional $2,000 reward, forinformation leading to the
arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects responsible for
the shooting death of a Berkeley man. He has been identified as
Kenneth Jerome Tims, Jr., 30 years old.
On Thursday, June 3, 2010, just before 6:30 p.m. City of Berkeley
Police Department (BPD) patrol officers responded to calls from
community members who said they had heard gunshots. Officers found
a male suffering from gunshot wounds lying in the roadway in the
area of King and 62nd Streets in Southwest Berkeley. City of Berkeley
Fire Department (BFD) paramedics pronounced the man dead on the
scene at 6:39 p.m.
BPD Homicide detectives and a compliment of other BPD personnel
began a homicide investigation immediately. Thus far, BPD has
not made any arrests or confirmed a possible motive in the case.
BPD does not believe that this was a random shooting.
BPD is urging anyone who may know anything about this homicide
to call the BPD Homicide detail at (510) 981-5741 or the 24 hour
BPD non emergency number of (510) 981-5900. If a community member
wishes to remain anonymous, he/she is encouraged to call the Bay
Area Crimes Stoppers (BACS) at (800)-222-TIPS (8477). Any information
may be critical to solving this crime. Sometimes the smallest
or seemingly insignificant detail can be the key to arresting
the suspect or suspects in any crime.
Waterside Workshops is a
non-profit organization located in Aquatic Park in West Berkeley.
It was established to help strengthen the East Bay community by
providing a place for youth and adults to work together on projects
ranging from bicycle mechanics to wooden boat building. Waterside
Workshop just opened their new Waterside Cafe.
Watch passing wildlife and water traffic while relaxing in their
courtyard.
Cafe patrons are also welcome to repair their bikes in their community
open shop or peek in to see what wooden boat projects are going
on in the yard. The cafe is run by Waterside staff and teenage
interns who are training for jobs in the food service industry. Come
by and have a cup of Joe while enjoying the view, all while helping
to support job-training for local youth.
The cafe is open Tuesday
to Sunday 10AM to 6PM, Closed on Mondays. Once word gets
out to the community, it will expand to 7 days.
All of their to-go cups and
lids are 100% compostable and the coffee is locally roasted, organic
and fair trade! Patrons who arrive by bike and get
25 cents off any beverage!
For more information and
expanded hours, please check out our website at: www.watersideworkshops.org
"Board paves way for Berkeley's first charter
schools" by Doug
Oakley, Oakland Tribune.
"Berkeley's school board
approved the city's first charter schools Wednesday night, a victory
organizers say will help better educate the city's black and Latino
students.
By a vote of 4-1 with John
Selawsky dissenting, the board approved the Revolutionary Education
and Learning Movement, which plans to open middle and high schools
serving 200 students each starting in September 2011.
Victor Diaz, a Berkeley school
principal who spearheaded the drive to start the schools, said
he hopes to put the middle school in an empty district building
at University Avenue and Bonar Street called the West Campus.
He said organizers are looking
for commercial space somewhere west of San Pablo Avenue in the
city's industrial zone for the high school.
Diaz said he wants to break
a cycle of academic failure he sees in Berkeley's public schools
by using technological immersion and by recognizing that people
from different cultures learn in different ways."
from my log
5/31/10--8:50 AM--SERIOUS
irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse,
dry heavy air, eyes, nose, ears irritated.
6/1/10--9:36 AM--irritnat
in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehosue, light
head, headache, nausea, wear respirator, leave.
6/2/10--6:50 AM--VERY SERIOUS
irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, heavy dry
air, overrides five HEPA filters and new air conditioner, wear
respirator. ~1:15 PM--irritant in warehouse, Marsha has light
head, headache, nausea, nasal congestion, cannot concentrate,
leaves. 2:17 PM--"You can smell it here" says Marsha,
returning to the warehouse front and donning her respirator. 7:45
PM--irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse,
dry heavy air, wear respirator.
6/5/10--9:00 AM--irritant
in front room with "burning rubber" odor. 9:34 AM--irritnat
in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, watery
eyes, headache, light head, Marsha similar.
6/7/10--~7:45 PM--irritant
in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry
heavy air.
6/8/10--~6:20 AM--same as
above, watery eyes, itchy skin, air out. ~7:45 PM--irritant in
warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry heavy
air.
6/9/10--~7:20 AM--irriant
in front room, watery eyes, itchy skin, air out. 11:39 AM--SERIOUS
irritant in front room with STRONG "chlorine" odor.
1:01 PM--irritant in front room, dry heavy air, over rides two
HEPA filters.
6/11/10--7:25 PM--irritant
in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse with"burning
rubber" odor, irritant and odor only around this building,
watery eyes, Marsha has headache, leave.
The irritants sometimes experienced
cause coughing; dry/burning eyes, nose, mouth; light head; occasional
short breath; occasional nausea.
Though the irritants we experience
sometimes over ride as many as four HEPA filters, our SO Safety
respirators with 8053-P100 Cartridges seem to filter "all"
the irritant. These are filters for organic vapors, chlorine,
chlorine dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride.
I am left to conclude that
possibly (probably?) some of the irritants we regularly experience,
those that our SO Safety 8053-P 100 cartridges successfully filter,
are identifiable, ironically, by their absence when using the
respirator. The HEPA filters don't remove them, the SO Safety
filters do. So what they remove--chlorine, chlorine dioxide, hydrogen
chloride, hydrogen fluoride--must be some of the irritant.
Though the respirator-filters
largely prevent inhalation of the irritant, it is clear from "health
effects" that irritants can enter the body's system through
the skin.
"I feel like ants are
crawling on me" said Marsha.
I've noticed recently some
neighbors have similar symptoms, some more severe--redness of
the eyes, nasal congestion. And neighhors stopping-by in front
to talk have experienced watery eyes and coughing.
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.