July 2010

after 7/9/10 here, after 7/19 here

 

Penndorf The Great and The Guillotine

rehearsing their magic act, before even The Day

 

Has magic provided me with the experience needed for my soon-to-be-launched investigative-reporter career?

Hmm, . . . I do look happy.

 

 

 

7/1/10

Potter Creek's Tippett Studios did the werewolves computer graphics in the new Twilight series, Eclipse, opening now.

 

 

 

KGO-TV reports "Police fatally shoot suspect after chase in Berkeley" with text and video.

 

Our Berkeley Police Department spokeswoman Mary Kusmiss says BPD is hiring three new officers and has had over 1000 applications. She also mentions BPD is preparing for mutual aid with Oakland at the Berkeley/Oakland border.

 

 

Student from S'pore escaped Berkeley dorm fire" is a report at asiaone.com.

"An exchange student from Singapore managed to escape a fire at on of the dormitories on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

The smoke detector at the corridor alerted the police alarm system at about 4.15am on the morning of June 26.

About 200 students were evacuated, and two were admitted to hospital due to inhalation of excessive smoke.

A Singaporean student on exchange programme was fast asleep when the incident occurred.

Fortunately, he was roused from his sleep by the choking fumes and managed to escape by the stairs unscathed."

 

 

 

"Tax credits lure California hybrid company to Colorado" sustainablebusinessoregon.com.

"A Berkeley, Calif.-based company that works with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles plans to expand to Boulder solely because the Colorado Legislature passed a tax break on the cars last year.

Daniel Sherwood is co-founder of 3Prong Power Inc., which installs lithium battery packs that convert hybrid vehicles into electric vehicles for part of their operating time. He said he hopes that an 85 percent tax credit on the types of converters he installs will generate significant business. No other state offers a tax break on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that approaches Colorado's, he said."

 

 

"The scientists have invented floating ocean-based wind turbines, which could be the next big thing in the renewable energy solutions" at oneindia.in.

"While offshore turbines already have been constructed, they've traditionally been situated in shallow waters, where the tower extends directly into the seabed.

This restricts the turbines to near-shore waters with depths no greater than 50 meters-and precludes their use in deeper waters, where winds generally gust at higher speeds.

An alternative is placing turbines on floating platforms said Dominique Roddier of Berkeley, California-based Marine Innovation n Technology.

By testing a 1:65 scale model in a wave tank, the researchers have shown that the three-legged floating platform, which is based on existing gas and oil offshore platform designs, is stable enough to support a 5-megawatt wind turbine, the largest turbine that currently exists.

These mammoth turbines are 70 meters tall and have rotors the size of a football field. "

 

"PACE Financing Derailed by Fannie and Freddie" is a story at sustainablebusiness.com.

"We've been following the development of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing here on SustainableBusiness.com for the last few years.

Originating in Berkeley, California, PACE financing allows homeowners to pay for energy efficiency retrofits or renewable power systems through an assessment to their local property tax bill.

The program allows the cost of the system to remain with the home, if the owner sells--the new owner takes over the payments.

The idea is spreading quickly across the country, with 22 states clearing the way for local communities to provide the up-front funding through bonds. On the federal level the Obama administration provided $100 million in recovery funding to PACE.

But it has all come to a halt due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage-finance corporations that were at the center of the mortgage crisis that helped trigger economic meltdown in 2008."

 

 

"Funder grants $5.6M to 11 Bay Area affordable housing projects" San Francisco Business Times , Blanca Torres.

"Eleven affordable housing projects in the Bay Area will receive a total of $5.6 million in grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco's Affordable Housing Program."

 

 

 

"Summer job market cold for teens" latimes.com.

"With hiring still struggling to recover and California's higher cost of labor, older workers are taking jobs often filled by youths."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-teen-jobs-20100628,0,7983716.story

 

 

 

 

"A Quest to Learn What Drives Consumer Decisions" by Stuart Elliott, nytimes.com.

"As Madison Avenue focuses more intently on trying to influence consumer behavior, one of the world's largest agencies is starting a unit that will tap into research from academics in the field as well as the work of its own employees.

Draft, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, is opening what it is calling the Institute of Decision Making, devoted to finding out more about the instinctual ways that consumers behave along with the rational and emotional ones. The unit will concentrate on emerging fields like behavioral economics and neuroscience.

The institute is getting its own leader from inside Draftfcb, which works for advertisers like Del Monte Foods, S.C. Johnson, Kmart and MillerCoors . Matthew Willcox, director for strategic planning for the Draftfcb operations in San Francisco, will also serve as the director of the unit.

The institute has formed ties with assistant professors of marketing and psychology at Stanford and the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley."

 

 

"Bold Prediction:Why e-books will never replace real books" by Jan Swafford at slate.com.

"Because we perceive print and electronic media differently. Because Marshall McLuhan was right about some things."

 

 

 

7/2/10

My

kind of graph

 

7/3/10

Quote of the week

A sometimes response to reporters' questions by Ian Richardson's British Prime Minister character in the BBC Series "The House of Cards""You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment." 

To fully understand, watch The House of Cards a Study of Hubris and Wretched Excess.

 

 

"Berkeley Salmon fishing improving" is reported in the Bay Area News Group papers.

"New Easy Rider and New El Dorado averaging 1 1/2 per rod. Trips to Farallons come back with limits of cod and good number of lings. 510-849-3333, 510-223-5388, 707-334-4827."

 

 

 

"Man shot by Berkeley police is identified" Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"A hit-and-run suspect shot dead by Berkeley police after he allegedly fired at officers was identified Wednesday as 25-year-old Choung Van Nguyen.

Three Berkeley police officers shot and killed Nguyen near Eighth and Camelia streets at about 10:45 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

The incident began in Albany when officers there tried to stop Nguyen in a Honda Accord because he was suspected in a hit-and-run crash, authorities said.

Nguyen refused to stop, leading police on a chase that ended in Berkeley, where he ran from the car near Eighth and Jones streets and opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol, police said.

Three officers, identified by sources as Sgt. Spencer Fomby and Officers Jim Marangoni and Rob Syto, returned fire. The officers, who were unhurt, are on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by Berkeley police and the Alameda County district attorney's office.

 

 

 

"Berkeley Marina Doubletree in mortgage default" by George Avalos, Oakland Tribune.

"The Doubletree Berkeley Marina hotel is mired in a $160 million mortgage default that serves as an unsettling reminder that the Bay Area economy and realty markets continue to wobble."

 

 

 

"Concept from California, Claire's in Hardwick epitomizes fresh from Vermont" by Sally Pollak, Free Press Staff Writer .

"There's a food word that Steven Obranovich, chef/co-owner of Claire's Restaurant and Bar in Hardwick, does not like. In fact, he thinks it's ridiculous.

But he also thinks it epitomizes California cuisine. And with that in mind, Obranovich consented to use it.

The word is freshness.

Not so long ago, freshness was a new concept for U.S. eaters, Obranovich said. Indeed, fresh food was not something that Americans were interested in, or even thought about.

Food comes from a farm? Wow! Who'd have thunk it?

Freshness, now big in Vermont, is a California export - which in turn picked off the concept from France."

 

 

 

 

"Tibetan DNA study reveals human evolution" is a story at cnn.com.

"Ethnic Tibetans' ability to thrive in high altitudes with low oxygen is the fastest genetic change ever observed in humans, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science.

Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley said their comparison of the genomes of ethnic Tibetan and Han Chinese could help scientists understand how the body deals with decreased oxygen and diseases associated with oxygen deprivation in the womb, according to a news release on the university's website.

The evolutionary biologists say the results of their study, which compares the genomes of 50 Tibetans and 40 Han Chinese, shows that Tibetans rapidly developed a unique ability to survive in altitudes above 13,000 feet, where oxygen levels are about 40 percent lower than at sea level.

The study said that Tibetans evolved to adapt to high altitudes after splitting off from the Han about 2,750 years ago."

 

 

"Draftfcb Launches Institute of Decision Making:Agency Forms Partnerships with Leading Academics at Stanford and Berkeley" prnewswire.com.

"Draftfcb, one of the world's leading marketing communications agencies, announced today further steps to enhance its ability to influence consumer behavior by launching the Draftfcb Institute of Decision Making. This global team aims to apply emerging fields such as behavioral economics and neuroscience to marketing communications.

In forming the Institute, the agency established partnerships with scientific thought leaders from leading academic institutions such as Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Based on their respective fields of expertise, the partners will serve as consultants to the Institute, providing key insights and research. The Institute will in turn use the information to collaborate on thought leadership.

 

 

"Christian Legal Society free speech not infringed by campus nondiscrimination policy" is a report at examiner.com.

"The Supreme Court recently ruled that Hastings College of the Law, at the University of California (Berkeley) is not required by the federal constitution to grant Recognized Student Organization status to the Christian Legal Society. The usual way this appears in the media would leave the impression "Supreme Court rules against God," or "Supreme Court upholds separation of church and state," depending on the viewpoint of the reader, or the journalist reporting."

 

 

 

"Scientists begin sweeping project to study California redwoods" by Paul Rogers mercurynews.com.

Two of his colleagues dangled on ropes 100 feet above from the gnarled branches of a giant sequoia tree. Steve Sillett could hardly contain his excitement.

'This site is just juicy. It's loaded,' said Sillett, gazing up at the ancient canopy at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. 'There are amazing lichens up there. There are aphids being hunted by ladybugs. I found a sizable dogwood tree growing from a branch 210 feet off the ground.'

The foggy, lost worlds atop the world's biggest trees are about to come into sharper focus."

 

 

 

 

 

 

7/4/08

Declaration of Independence

"WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World."

The Bill of Rights

Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7/6/10

our Judi Quan

over Rio

 

"What happened to studying?" is a story at boston.com.

"You won't hear this from the admissions office, but college students are cracking the books less and less

They come with polished resumes and perfect SAT scores. Their grades are often impeccable. Some elite universities will deny thousands of high school seniors with 4.0 grade point averages in search of an elusive quality that one provost called "intellectual vitality." The perception is that today's over-achieving, college-driven kids have it - whatever it is. They're not just groomed; they're ready. There's just one problem.

Once on campus, the students aren't studying."

 

"Meet the Principal of Berkeley's First Charter School" by Rachel Gross at baycitizen.org.

"Since the small schools movement in the '90s, the Bay Area has been something of a petri dish for alternative academics in K-12 education. Oakland, for example, boasts 34 charter schools of various themes and sizes (as well as graduation rates), the first of which was founded in 1993. But until now, Berkeley hasn't joined the experiment."

 

"Berkeleyites rage over pool closure, YMCA perk" Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"As Berkeley closed down its only pool on the south side of town last week, the City Council again authorized memberships for city workers at the local YMCA.

The irony was not lost on residents."

 

 

 

"A la Carte: Oakland's Syhabout the only NorCal chef on Best New Chefs list" Linda Zavoral, mercurynews.com.

"When it comes to the Best New Chefs, O-Town rules. You read correctly: Not S.F., not Berkeley, not Silicon Valley.

Food & Wine magazine has come out with its annual U.S. list, and just one Northern California chef made the grade, James Syhabout of Commis in Oakland. (Southern California is represented by Roy Choi, the man behind the Kogi Korean BBQ truck frenzy.)"

 

 

"Nanoscale plasmonic motor drives micro-sized disk" a report at nanowerk.com.

"While those wonderful light sabers in the Star Wars films remain the figment of George Lucas' fertile imagination, light mills ­ rotary motors driven by light ­ that can power objects thousands of times greater in size are now fact. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created the first nano-sized light mill motor whose rotational speed and direction can be controlled by tuning the frequency of the incident light waves. It may not help conquer the Dark Side, but this new light mill does open the door to a broad range of valuable applications, including a new generation of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), nanoscale solar light harvesters, and bots that can perform in vivo manipulations of DNA and other biological molecules."

 

"Tyson Urges Europe to Balance Deficit Cuts With Growth Policies" by Francine Lacqua and Mark Deen, businessweek.com.

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- European governments should balance efforts to cut budget deficits with measures to foster economic growth as the world recovers from its worst recession in 60 years, said University of California at Berkeley economist Laura Tyson.

 

 

"A legal aide for East and West" at news.xinhuanet.com.

Jerome Cohen was the first Western lawyer in Beijing and he has been a witness to the evolution of China's legal system over the past 30 years. Chen Weihua reports

In 1960 when Jerome Cohen, a young law professor at University of California Berkeley, was asked by the dean to find someone studying the Chinese legal system, he failed. As a result, he decided to study it himself."

 

 

 

 

"Biography: Rube Goldberg" by Angela Pollock at helium.com.

"Born in 1883, Rueben Lucius Goldberg or Rube Goldberg was an engineer, cartoonists, author, and sculptor. However, Goldberg was best known for his quirky machinist cartoons that included a group of complex mechanisms that each performed a task. He would use everyday items and contraptions that reacted together to give an end result ­ like a domino effect only using different items and inventions.

Born in San Francisco, California, Rube Goldberg began his art at the young age of 4 when he would trace illustrations from the book 'History of the United States'. His passion for drawing was not encouraged by his father. Instead, his father sent him to the University of California at Berkeley to become and engineer where he graduated in 1904.

 

 

 

7/7/10

Quote of the week

"Success is measured by how quickly you recover from one failure and go on to the next."

Is not unlike Lipofsky's

"It's important to know history so you'll recognize the mistakes when you make them again."

 

 

Our Jarad emails

Ron,

The book the BPD Chief recommends is excellent. I got it from BPL and am 2/3 through it. If this is what our new chief believes in and wants to implement, then the 3 years of me asking for the city to set goals and quantitatively measure the progress towards those goals could be close at hand. Let's keep our fingers crossed, but don't hold our breath yet. We've had too many hollow promises come from the city regarding the crime problem over the past several years...however, I am cautiously optimistic.

 

"Jack Stat" is a story at nymag.com

"Brilliant, eccentric Jack Maple rewrote the book on fighting crime-with maps and statistics."
 

 

 

Our Riva Cucina is now serving Saturday Brunch. Check out their website for details.

 

 

 

"Brand-new condo in Berkeley" at sfgate,com.

"A three-story unit in Berkeley's Metro Lofts development" is

   2831 Seventh St, Berkeley

$549,000

This three-story unit in the new Metro Lofts development in West Berkeley has hardwood floors and a sleek kitchen featuring stainless steel appliances, wood cabinets and a breakfast bar. It's connected to a sunny dining area and an office. There's also an airy living room, modern bathrooms and carpet in the bedroom. Doors from the office open to a rear patio and there's also a deck with views of the Berkeley Hills.

Don't miss: The location. The building is two blocks off Interstate 80 and is within a mile of the Ashby BART Station, the Berkeley Bowl West and the San Pablo Shopping District."

 

 

 

"Pot Tax Helping Long Beach Plug Deficit to Face California Vote" by Christopher Palmeri and Michael B. Marois at businessweek.com.

"The city council of Long Beach, California, voted last night to pursue taxes on medical marijuana dispensaries, part of what may become a wave of communities turning to such proceeds to plug budget deficits.

The Los Angeles suburb with a population of almost 500,000 scheduled a public hearing on the drug levy for Aug. 3. If the council later approves the wording, a ballot initiative establishing a 5 percent tax on the city's 35 dispensaries could go to voters in November, according to Lori Ann Farrell, Long Beach's director of financial management.

Long Beach joins California cities including the state capital, Sacramento, weighing marijuana taxes to bridge falling revenue from the worst recession since the 1930s. . . .

The city council of Berkeley, a city of 100,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area, will vote July 13 whether to put a marijuana tax initiative on the ballot in November, Mayor Tom Bate said at a meeting last night.

Berkeley's measure would establish a 1.8 percent tax on its three dispensaries, according to Wendy Cosin, the community's deputy planning director. The city balanced its current fiscal year budget in part with $300,000 in anticipated revenue from the tax, Cosin said in a telephone interview."

 

 

"Tech Bubble Returns in Austenish Tale of Rich CEOs, Bad Lovers" is a book review by Craig Seligman at bloomberg.com.

"Allegra Goodman sets 'The Cookbook Collector' during and after the tech bubble of the 1990s; her main characters are mostly gazillionaires or soon-to-be gazillionaires or, after the downturn, gazillionaires reduced to millionaires.

The book revolves around two sisters: Jess, a philosophy student at the University of California, Berkeley (not rich), and Emily, the chief executive officer of a Silicon Valley startup (shortly to be loaded). Like sisters in a Jane Austen novel, one is a dreamer and the other a doer, and their personalities play out in the ups and downs of their love lives. A subplot involves their deepening relationship to Judaism, the religion of their long-dead mother. "

 

 

"Planting technique greases the wheels of olive oil production" by Elizabeth Weise, usatoday.com.

"The USA is the world's third-largest consumer of olive oil, but a paltry 1% of the silky liquid so beloved by Rachael Ray and a host of chefs is produced here. An entrepreneurial band of olive ranchers wants to change that - using what some in the industry term an 'outlandish' growing method borrowed from Spain.

The planting technique, called super-high-density planting, or SHD, means that this year, the United States is set to surpass France in the production of extra virgin olive oil, says Patricia Darragh of the California Olive Oil Council in Berkeley, Calif. The upset comes because the new method of growing the prized fruit is sweeping California's olive orchards, lowering costs and leading farmers who have grown wheat, corn and alfalfa to instead plant olives."

 

 

 

"Exposing the Student Body: Stanford Joins U.C. Berkeley in Controversial Genetic Testing of Students" by Ferris Jabr at scientificamerican.com.

"This week, the University of California, Berkeley will mail saliva sample kits to every incoming freshman and transfer student. Students can choose to use the kits to submit their DNA for genetic analysis, as part of an orientation program on the topic of personalized medicine. But U.C. Berkeley isn't the only university offering its students genetic testing. Stanford University's summer session started two weeks ago, including a class on personal genomics that gives medical and graduate students the chance to sequence their genotypes and study the results."

 

As a Christian Science student at the University of Wisconsin I was exempt from medical examination. Not so when I got to Cal. "You don't have to take the exam" I was told "But then we can't admit you." RP

 

 

 

 

7/8/10

Around 2:45 yesterday afternoon, there was a "grass fire" at the end of Grayson, along the railroad tracks and behind a storage yard directly west of American Starch and Chemical. 

Berkeley Fire responded within minutes and in force--several pumpers, a hook and ladder and several chiefs vehicles--as there were strong westerly winds and a string of tank car  parked on a siding adjacent to the fire. 

Water was brought in from a hydrant about a hundred yards off 7th. 

Berkeley PD responded as quickly and provided traffic control and security, our beat office "johnny-on-the-spot."

Bayer personnel were also present as the fire was about a block south of their compound.

The fire was under control within fifteen or so minutes, some emergency vehicles leaving apparently responding to another call.

 

Tuesday evening our city council voted to expand the number of retail ganja outlets from four to seven, to shrink the buffer zone between outlets and schools, and to tax ganja.

 

"Legalizing pot would lower prices, raise use, study says" by Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune.

"Legalizing marijuana could cause the drug's price to plummet while increasing use by an uncertain amount, according to a new study from a respected public-policy think tank."

 

 

 

"Sacramento man's Berkeley death called suspicious" Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"The death of a Sacramento State University student near the UC Berkeley campus is being considered suspicious, authorities said Tuesday.

Nicholas Bailey, 21, was found unconscious on the 2500 block of Haste Street shortly after 9 a.m. Friday, according to UC Berkeley police and his family. He was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was removed from life support on Sunday, after organs were donated, said his sister Kristen Bailey, 16, of Vallejo.

The victim had sustained head trauma and had been last seen at about 1:30 a.m. Friday at Blakes on Telegraph, a popular restaurant and bar a block south of UC Berkeley, authorities said."

 

 

 

"Mark Twain's autobiography is set to be published for the first time, 100 years after the famous author and humorist's death" is a wonderful report with video at pbs.org.

" Correspondent Spencer Michels reports on the effort to edit and publish his century-old manuscript. Behind a decorative gate and a security checkpoint in Berkeley, California, and through an unmarked locked door in the Bancroft Library lies a remarkable and valuable collection of letters, documents and writings that describe the life and passions of Mark Twain, perhaps America's greatest and funniest writer."

 

 

 

Bay Area fishing report at mercurynews.com includes Berkeley with "Potluck boats getting quality halibut since Sunday. New Easy Rider had 29 for 20, and smaller boats had two fish per rod. Red Rock, Angel Island and Alcatraz have been good spots. El Dorado on Sunday had 20 limits of cod and nine lings to 13 pounds at Farallons. 510-849-3333, 510-223-5388, 707-334-4827."

 

 

 

"Another blow to California's high-speed rail fantasy" editorial at insidebayarea.com.

"Here we go again with another report casting doubts about the economic viability of developing a high-speed rail system from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

This time it's the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley, which found that the ridership studies made by Cambridge Systematics for the California High Speed Rail Authority are highly flawed and unreliable for policy analysis.

Among the problems uncovered by the Berkeley study was that the ridership estimates were based on surveys that were not representative of California interregional travelers. For example, nearly 90 percent of long-distance (more than 100 miles) business passenger trips made by Californians are done so by car, while 78 percent of those surveyed in the Cambridge study traveled by air."

 

 

 

 

 

 

7/9/10

our Darryl Moore emails (excerpts)

City of Berkeley Recreation Activity Guide

If you haven't already enrolled your kids in summer activities, there arestill sessions left at the City's summer camps and the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Activity Guide can be found at http://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=14242
 
 Summer Lunch Program (Ages 18 and under)
Dates: 6/21/2010 - 8/13/2010
Time: 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Cost: Free
Locations: 
James Kenney Community Center, 1720 8th Street (@ Virginia)
MLK Jr. Center/YAP, 1730 Oregon Street
Washington Elementary School, 2300 MLK Jr. Way
Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Park Street
Malcolm X Elementary School, 1731 Prince Street
Rosa Parks School, 920 Allston Way
Harrison Skate Park, 1100 4th St. @ Harrison St  
Berkeley Youth Alternatives (1255 Allston Way) and Black Repertory Theatre (3201 Adeline Street) will also serve lunch from Jun 28 - Aug 20)
Free Meals for Berkeley Youth.  The California Department of Education Summer Food Program provides free meals to children, 18 and under, at nine locations in the City of Berkeley.  Since school meals are not available during summer vacation, children can rely on the Summer Food Program to provide nutritious food that will assist them to grow to their full potential.  Youth simply show up at the site during the time meals are being served, and enjoy good company and a delicious meal.
 
Upcoming Recreation Special Events
Community Water Safety Day (all ages)
Friday, July 9 from 1:00 - 3:00 pm
West Campus Pool, 2100 Browning St. @ Addison
Cost: $3 youth/$6 adults
Learn survival skills and how to help others learn water safety guidelines, diving safety and much more. See professional water safety demonstrations and safety videos.
Sports Play Day (ages 5-13)
Thursday, July 15 from 10:00 am - 2:30 pm 
Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck Avenue @ Berryman Street
Cost: Free
Youth will play traditional and non-traditional sports and games and win prizes at the sports carnival.
Derby Day (all ages)
Friday, July 23  from 1:00 - 3:00 pm
West Campus Pool, 2100 Browning St. @ Addison
Cost: $5 boat entry
Our 3rd annual cardboard boat races! Prizes are awarded for most futuristic, funniest and fastest sinking ship.

Sincerely,

Darryl Moore
Berkeley City Council,

 

Sooner-than-later

On City of Berkeley sponsered west-Berkeley land-use surveys.

 

 

"Truancy leading to sky high drug and alcohol use at Berkeley High, study says" by Doug Oakley, Berkeley Voice.

"A lack of lunchtime supervision of Berkeley High School students at a nearby park and no policy to hold parents accountable for truancy are contributing to sky-high rates of alcohol and drug abuse among teens, according to a new report.

The report, put together by city and school district employees over 10 months, was the result of a 2008 California Healthy Kids Survey that showed Berkeley ninth and 11th graders reported they were drunk or stoned at school at twice the state and national rates."

 

"Summer School Student Robbed at Knifepoint on UC Berkeley Campus" by Dan McMenamin at our Planet.

"A 23-year-old woman was robbed at knifepoint on the University of California at Berkeley campus this weekend, according to police."

 

 

 

"Strawberry Nirvana" by Stephanie Silvia, northcoastjournal.com.

"Oh, strawberries. As the opening day of the Farmers' Market in Arcata approached in April, so did my anticipation of the first local strawberries of the season. How delicious this time of year can be after a dark, cold winter. Bright red, delicate and sweet, what better way to hail the time of warmth? As we know up here on the coast, warmth comes and goes. We take spring and summer however we can.

Strawberries and California go hand in hand for me. When I first visited my mythic uncle in Berkeley in the late '70s my life changed. The life I would lead as an adult began my first night in San Francisco. My Boston College pal and I had tickets to the closing of Winterland. I knew this was it, my chance to be part of the magical and revolutionary happenings that had shaped my young psyche."

 

 

 

"Labor Center launches monthly black jobs report" by Kathleen Maclay at canadaviews.ca.

"The University of California, Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education is officially launching tomorrow (Friday, July 2) a series of monthly reports that highlight the employment outlook in the black community as national jobless numbers hover around 10 percent and African Americans fare far worse."

 

 

 

 

 

7/10/10

"More adventures in knitting: yarn bombing Berkeley" by Tracey Taylor at berkeleyside.com.

"Yarn bombing, graffiti knitting, yarn storming - call it what you will, it seems to be all the rage in Berkeley right now."

and our Judi Quan is having her own adventure

above Rio

 

our Steven Donaldson emails of the most recent Oakland riot

Hey Ron

I feel it's important to high light the fact that many of the "protestors" were not from Oakland . . . . I followed a couple of websites and blogs and these "anarchists" had planned this no matter what the verdict. Both Berkeley and Oakland cops were aware this was coming but couldn't do much till it happened.

from sfgate.com

"Police from agencies throughout the Bay Area arrested 83 people for a variety of crimes, including failure to disperse, resisting arrest, burglary, vandalism and assaulting a police officer, said Officer Jeff Thomason, Oakland police spokesman.
Many of the arrestees were professional "anarchist" agitators who were not from Oakland and wore bandannas, hoods or black face paint, police said.
Those who were arrested were taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin or a second Alameda County sheriff's jail in downtown Oakland."

Steven Donaldson

 

our David Bowmaan emails

It's almost time for the next Potter Creek Neighborhood meeting. The executive committee will be meeting this Sunday to plan the agenda. If you have something you would like to see on the agenda for the next meeting, please reply to this email and I will bring your agenda request to the Sunday meeting.

In other news - there is a planning commission meeting next Wednesday at the North Berkeley Senior Center that will be discussing the West Berkeley Project. As soon as I can find the actual agenda I'll send another reminder. 

Also they are finally working on the traffic light at San Pablo and Heinz that was part of the Berkeley Bowl project. 

There is a yellow project notice up on the warehouse on the corner of Heinz and Ninth (920 Heinz) proposing to use that warehouse for a wholesale food center for Berkeley Bowl.

Please send in your ideas for what you think we should be talking about at the next meeting.

David Bowman

DennisCohen, one of the originators of the west-Berkeley Plan and owner of Parker Plaza has reemerged in west-Berkeley politics. Invite him to a meeting. RP

 

 

"Marijuana dispensary operators picked" by The Mainebiz News Staff.

"The state has chosen three applicants to operate six medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

Northeast Patients Group, an affiliate of California-based dispensary operator Berkeley Patients Group, will operate four dispensaries in District 2 (Cumberland County), District 4 (Waldo, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Knox counties), District 5 (Somerset and Kennebec counties) and District 6 (Piscataquis and Penobscot counties). Remedy Compassion Center will operate a dispensary in District 3 (Franklin, Oxford and Androscoggin counties), and Safe Alternatives of Fort Kent will operate a dispensary in District 8 (Aroostook County)."

 

 

"Walnut Creek family gets first rebate check for solar hot-water system" by Elisabeth Nardi, Contra Costa Times.

"A Walnut Creek family Wednesday was the first in the state to get a rebate through the new California Solar Initiative-Thermal program, known as Assembly Bill 1470. "

 

 

"UC Berkeley Study Touts Benefits of a California Feed-In Tariff" at sustainablebusiness.com.

"Enacting a robust feed-in tariff (FIT) in California to achieve the state's 33% Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) would create three times the number of jobs, over 2 billion in additional tax revenue, and stimulate tens of billions in new investment, according to a new study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley.

Furthermore, the adoption of a comprehensive FIT will cost-effectively fulfill California's 33%-by-2020 goal on schedule.

Headed by Distinguished Professor of Energy Dan Kammen of UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group, the analysis examined the economic benefits of a FIT deployed in California to facilitate the state's effort to achieve the 33% RPS by 2020.

A FIT is essentially a fixed price, long-term contract for a utility to buy electricity produced by renewable energy generators. The Berkeley study specifically examined a FIT that would be available to solar projects up to 20 megawatts (MW) in size. "

 

 

 

IranWorries Mount over Sanctions' Ripple Effect" Omid Memarian, iranian.com.

"Although the United States and its allies insist that the latest round of U.N. sanctions against Iran targets high-level government officials rather than the general population, interviews with a number of analysts, activists and journalists in Tehran reveal a growing concern over the impact on the country's middle class."

 

from my log

6/23/10--6:12 AM--irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse. 7:20 AM--SERIOUS irritant in front room, heavy burning air, eyes, ear, nose, mouth irritation like swimming in pool with too much chlorine, headache.

6/26/10--6:45 AM--irritant in front of warehouse, heavy dry burning air. itchy skin, watery eyes, leave. 11:24 AM---irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY front of warehouse, heavy dry burning air, itchy skin, watery eyes.

 

7/2/10--7:12 AM--very serious irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, light head, nausea, dry heavy burning air. 5:20 PM--On returning from the Canned Food Store Marsha exclaims"You can smell it! It's like, like burnt, burnt . . . I don't know. I only smell it here."

7/3/10--6:37 PM--irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry heavy brunring air, no wind.

7/5/10--2:14 PM--irritant in front of warehouse with heavy dry air, leave.

7/6/10--8:34 AM---irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY front of warehouse, heavy dry burning air, itchy skin, watery eyes.

7/8/10--off-and-on all day, irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, dry heavy burning air, wear respirator, leave. 9:56 PM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse heavy dry burning air with "chlorine" odor, sysmptoms like swimming in pool with too much chlorine, leave.

7/9/10--6:20 AM--irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse heavy dry burning air with "chlorine" odor, similar symptoms as above. 5:08 PM---irritant in front room, heavy dry burning air with "chlorine" odor, similar symptoms as above.

 

 

 

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.