scrmbld910c.html

9/25/10

Was Wednesday night's Planning Commission meeting "the usual suspects, same ole same ole"?

Pretty much so, but "better" presented. After all, if they haven't said it by now it probably isn't worth saying.

The public comments lasted about three hours. RP

What is today, the exact nature of our Potter Creek and our West-Berkeley?

Simply, . . . it cannot be easily known because the many, and swirling, West-Berkeley Myths obscure our present.

But what are the Myths?

One is that West-Berkeley is poised to become a R&D Mecca. It's more likely that R&D will become simply a welcomed part of our rich mix. However, the arrival here of a LBL Campus would modify.

Another is that commercial realtors are just facilitators--that they simply bring owners, lessors and buyers together. In fact by their choices they determine to some extent the make-up of our mix.

Our Myths of West-Berkeley will continue.

And it has recently come to my attention that the West-Berkeley Project has brought Carpetbaggers here. I would extend to them the same invitation I did during the Potter Creek Berkeley Bowl discussion. And that is to "Keep the hell out of my neighborhood!"

I would also take this time to remind that there is a fine line between concern for your community and getting in others' business and that you cross it at your own risk. For surely as "What goes round, comes round" you will, sooner than later, find a not-too-friendly, smack dab up your tushie.

Quite a few years ago Gene, a retired city worker, lived on 8th across form David. Gene maintained that there was a jet-fuel pipeline that traversed Potter Creek.

Was this just rumor, or was there, in fact, such a line?

In 2006, in response to a city council request by Darryl and Linda, BFD reported there was a Kinder-Morgan jet-fuel pipeline running adjacent to the railroad tracks. But they felt it posed no danger.

9/26/10

Lipofsky emails

West-Berkeley Myths continued.

That the West-Berkeley Project proposes changes that are deep and broad. I cannot speak to deep, time will tell. But I question broad, since only a relatively small amount of land is involved. From border to border and the park-to-San Pablo Ave a minority of surface is in play.* Just how much cannot be known for sure because the city does not have an accurate land-use data base. One source said "There simply is no commerial database."

*For instance, the area from Dwight to just south of Gilman and 6th to San Pablo is virtually "all "residential.

That gentrification* is recent in West-Berkeley. Actually, in Potter Creek it began decades ago as "middle class" artist/crafts people replaced those of the working class. The beautiful, well-manicured block of Grayson is testamony to this.

Karl Marx would observe that the bourgeoisie** had replaced the proletariat***

*renovate and improve [esp. a house or district] so that it conforms to middle-class taste

**in Marxist contexts the capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production

***in Marxist contexts the working class

"Ukeleles could set a Guinness World Record in San Francisco" is a story at sfgate.com.

"A Guinness World Record could be broken in San Francisco Sunday for an event that is "both profound and hilarious" -- having the greatest number of people playing the ukulele together at one time, according to the director of a documentary on the instrument.

Instead of simply screening 'Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback of a Musical Underdog,' the film he directed, Tony Coleman produced a worldwide tour that encourages audiences to bring their ukeleles and jam.

The historic Castro Theatre is the tour's 45th stop, and if at least 852 people show up with ukuleles, San Francisco will top Great Britain's record set in 2008.

It isn't out of reach, according to Coleman, because the theater seats 1,400 people and nearly 600 people participated in the tour's recent event in Santa Cruz."

In the tradition of August Vollmer, Berkeley's first Chief of Police we find a BPD post at ci.berkeley.ca.us.

"New academy connects youth with local law enforcement - A new program called the Police and Life Academy For Youth (PLAY) will hold its very first session on Monday, September 27, 2010. A few of the diversity of topics that will be explored by City of Berkeley teenagers during the 11 week program will be an introduction to criminal justice and policing, conflict resolution, emergency preparedness, health, fitness and career opportunities.
UCB Chancellor Awards Grants to Projects Teaching Youths About Math, Political Asylum, and 'Mutual Understanding' "

And the East Bay Express reports "A brand-new program will connect Berkeley teenagers and law enforcement - but in a good way.

Set to hold its first session on Monday, the eleven-week program is called the Police and Life Academy For Youth (PLAY).

Topics to be addressed during the program will be 'an introduction to criminal justice and policing, conflict resolution, emergency preparedness, health, fitness, and career opportunities,' according to a bulletin just received from the Berkeley Police Department, which adds:

'In July of 2010, the Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) awarded a $25,000 grant to PLAY. The fund provides many grants to community service programs that enhance the economic, socialn or cultural well-being of City of Berkeley community members. PLAY is a partnership between the City of Berkeley Police Department, (BPD) the University of California Police Department, Berkeley (UCPD), and the Berkeley Boosters. PLAY links law enforcement agencies with the Berkeley Police Activities league (PAL), the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), as well as the City of Berkeley business community' . . . .

BPD Chief Michael K. Meehan and UCPD Chief Mitch J. Celaya will be on hand to introduce the academy and speak to the Berkeley High School students who will participate in this special opportunity. BPD Chief Michael K. Meehan says, 'Connecting with youth to contribute to their success is one of the most important things we can do as a community and as members of our respective police departments.' "

BPD also posts at ci.berkeley.ca.us

"Reducing bicycle collisions - The City of Berkeley Police Department (BPD) will be focusing enforcement on the State of California's bicycle laws as part of an ongoing weekly series of projects aimed at reducing all injury traffic collisions by 10 percent in the city. Enforcement, Education and Engineering are the three components to a traffic collision reduction strategy."

Understand that in Berkeley riding a bicycle can be as much a poltical/social statement as it is a way of getting to where you're going. This can "justify" obvious carelessness, like riding in the street middle, riding double or triple a breast, riding through stop signs at speed, or riding with no hands, as an "expression of indiviualism," or a protest against the "tyranny of the auto," or . . . well, "Everything in Berkelye is politcal."

Then again maybe Berkeley bike riders are a class of alien left out of Men in Black--a group of rubberike creatures that bounce off on-coming cars without injury, or bounce uninjured off the street like a rubber ball. Not.

Last week, when coming to West-Berkeley along Delaware, after I had stopped at a stop sign and was just begining to move through, a young rider turned immediately in front of my car from the bike lane to make a left turn. If I had not started slowly, I would have hit him broadside, hard.

And all-in-all, I've noticed a substantial increase in careless bike riding since late summer. RP

"Marijuana legalization measure gets big lift" John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"In a dramatic shift of sentiment, nearly half of California's likely voters now want to legalize marijuana use in the state, according to a new Field Poll.

'The numbers have flipped (on Proposition 19) since our July poll,' said Mark DiCamillo, the poll's director. 'That's a major change in the direction of public feelings on legalizing marijuana.' "

"Berkeley's New School Food Study: A Victory for Alice Waters" by Sarah Henry at theatlantic.com.

"Finally, some scientific support for what those of us who have watched kids pick spinach, cook kale, and chew on chard have known all along: Children who grow their own food (and prepare and eat it too) make healthier food choices.

For the past five years I've been a volunteer in the kitchen at the Edible Schoolyard, the much-admired organic garden and kitchen program founded by Alice Waters at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. I've also taught afterschool cooking classes to elementary-age kids (and their parents) in Berkeley public schools.

Over the years I've witnessed many wonderful things take place in cooking classrooms and out in the field when children are exposed to an edible education. A child discovers kiwi fruit. A student asks for sprouts at the farmers' market. Leafy greens are dished up and chowed down with gusto.

'With this study,' Cooper says, 'we can finally prove that what we feed kids and what we teach them about food really does make a difference.'

But until now, school cooking and gardening advocates haven't had hard data to back up this soft science. A report released today reveals a victory for the vegetables (particularly those of the leafy green variety)."

"Cruz Reynoso, the movie" by Scott Herhold at mercurynews.com.

"For many Californians, Cruz Reynoso occupies a fuzzy spot in a turbulent past, one of the two "other guys" removed from the California Supreme Court with Rose Bird in 1986.

If you paid close attention, you might have noticed the 79-year-old retired UC Davis law professor and his wife were injured in a bad auto accident last June near Charlottesville, Va. Reynoso suffered broken bones and is still healing.

There's reason to pay heed again to his life, which is the subject of a fine documentary by Berkeley filmmaker Abby Ginzberg that aired last week at the San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival."

"Eddie Fisher, Pop Singer and Princess Leia's Father, Dies at 82," an obituary at sfgate.com.

"He was a famous pop singer, the original 'Puff Daddy' and husband-to-the-stars"

"Top 1% of earners get 20% of the money" Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"Soaring unemployment has poured salt into a long-festering economic wound - the widening gap between rich and poor Americans, a trend that has been accompanied by a hollowing out of the middle class.

One unimpeachable view of this wage gap comes from a Federal Reserve report that examined the period leading up to the housing bust and recession, and noted that "income became more 'unequally' distributed over the 1988-2006 period."

A more provocative analysis emerges from research co-written by UC Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez.

After studying Internal Revenue Service records since 1913, Saez found that the fraction of total income reported by the top 1 percent of tax filers peaked at 23.94 percent in 1928.

Thereafter, income for this elite group fell for decades, only to rise from the 1980s through 2007, when this top strata took in 23.5 percent of all reported income.

Former Clinton administration labor secretary Robert Reich, now a public policy professor at UC Berkeley, argues that working class incomes have stagnated for so long that ordinary consumers - who account for about 70 percent of all economic activity - have lost the buying power to pull the country out of recession."

"A generational chasm in spending ideals" is a story at sfgate.com.

"Today, 62% of Americans are spending less than they did at the start of the recession. 72% say they buy less expensive brands, 57% have cut back on vacations and 30% spend less on alcohol or cigarettes. Additionally, half of Americans have cut back on household debt like car loans, credit card balances and mortgages.

Though most Americans spend and save differently today, not everyone plans to keep it up when they're feeling more flush. Seems it's the old dogs that have learned the new tricks.

Studies by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on post-recession spending, Packaged Facts on the restaurant industry and dozens of other studies reveal similar findings: older generations intend to continue to modify their spending while teens and twenty-somethings yearn to return to more carefree shopping style."

"Berkeley, Finnish researchers explore dynamics of online exchanges" is story at canadaviews.ca.

"People are cautious in exchanging favors and items with other people in their community. Researchers, who studied an online gift exchange service, say that many people buy services because it does not occur to them that someone in their community could help them or they are too shy to ask for a favor. For instance, even though someone in the neighborhood may be happy to help with a broken bike inexchange for another favor or simply for the joy of helping, people may feel more comfortable with leaving their cycle to a repair shop.

Researchers Emmi Suhonen from Aalto University and Airi Lampinen from Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT studied with Coye Cheshire and Judd Antin from the University of California, Berkeley, what motivates people to take part in an online gift exchange service in their local community. The study focused on users of the Kassi favor and item exchange service. The service is used by students in the Finnish Aalto University. Members may post an ad, for instance, they may ask for a course book to borrow or for help in repairing a cycle. In addition to answering requests for help a member of the service can give away unnecessary goods or offer to help out other members of the community in tasks he enjoys. By using the service people can stretch out a helping hand to a larger community than to just their own friends."

"World Bank Appoints Renewable Energy Specialist" at reuters.com.

"The World Bank has announced the creation of a new position to provide strategic leadership on the policy, technical, and operational issues concerning renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Daniel M. Kammen of the University of California, Berkeley will serve as the first Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency."

"Tea Party flexes muscles in Marin County today" Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"Hundreds of Tea Party supporters will gather in Marin County today, where they will listen to speeches from affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly and John Yoo, the UC Berkeley law professor and an architect of the Bush administration's 'enhanced interrogation' policy."

9/27/10

birds

last week in Potter Creek

"'Aftershock' is Robert Reich's take on America's economic crisis" is a report/review at jacksonville.com.

"Robert Reich is a very smart fellow. He is the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley and has served three U.S. presidents. If you want to understand what is happening to our country, read this little book before you dump the tea into the harbor.

In 'Aftershock,' Reich uses easy-to-understand language to discuss the current economic crisis. He is a regular contributor to the NPR broadcast, 'Marketplace,' so his name might sound familiar to many readers. Reich compares the ongoing financial crisis to the all-too-similar one the United States experienced during the 1930s. The main points Reich addresses are:

Why concentrating wealth is self-defeating and dangerous to our way of life.

Why the grand gambling casino we call the stock market should not be considered a barometer of the economy.

·How our government and political system is being manipulated and controlled by the mega-lobby that has turned Washington,, a city that produces nothing, into one of the richest in the country.

Why our biggest creditors will not bail us out.

He also offers a solution, a 'commonsensical' approach to a taxing system that could help us, and a warning:

There is an old Russian story about a suffering peasant whose neighbor is rich and well-connected. The rich neighbor obtains a cow, something the peasant could never afford. The peasant prays to God for help. When God asks the peasant what he wants to do, the peasant replies, 'Kill the cow.'

Reich contends that we might find ourselves in the peasant's situation with an uprising that is concerned with bringing down rather than up ... 'unless present trends are reversed.'

underlining mine

friend Lisa Braver Moss emails

I am delighted to announce that my contemporary literary novel, The Measure of His Grief, is now available! It's the story of Sandor ("Sandy") Waldman, a Jewish doctor in Berkeley, who wages a campaign against circumcision -- and finds himself feeling more deeply Jewish in the bargain. Please visit www.lisabravermoss.com for more about the book.

Here's what Emmy award-winning medical journalist Dr. Dean Edell has to say about The Measure of His Grief: "Finally -- an intelligent questioning of Jewish circumcision, in a terrific, entertaining and very original story you won't forget. A must-read!"

Ouch! RP

The Hearst Art Gallery, the Museum of
Saint Mary's College of California

Gifted Hands: the Fine Art of Craft
Sunday, Oct. 10th

This exceptional exhibition features 90 stunning objects by 15 noted contemporary Bay Area artists who transform glass, textiles, fiber, metal, precious and semi-precious stones, clay, wood, fallen logs, and sea shells into extraordinary works of art.

Artists

Garry Knox Bennett, Oakland, furniture maker
Leslie Carabas, Sonora, quilter
Skip Esquierdo, San Lorenzo, potter
Janet Lipkin, Richmond, textile artist
Marvin Lipofsky, Berkeley, glass blower
Erin McGuiness, Berkeley, potter
Alison McLennan, Oakland, furniture maker
Freddy Moran, Orinda, quilter
Micheal Nourot, Benicia, glass blower
Florence Resnikoff, Berkeley, jewelry artist
Kay Sekimachi, Berkeley, fiber artist and weaver
Merryll Saylan, Berkeley, wood turner
Victoria Skirpa, Oakland, jewelry artist
Chuck Splady, Oakland, metal worker
Zhenne Wood, Oakland, fiber artist

Gifted Hands: The Fine Art of Craft, featuring furniture, blown glass, pottery, wearable art, quilts, turned wood, jewelry, metal and fiber scupture, opens Sunday, Oct. 10. Events include a 4 pm panel discussion with the artists, coil pottery demonstrations, a reception, & unique works of art in the gift shop.
Kyla Porter Tynes, curator

Reception: 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. in the Art Patio
Demonstration: 5 p.m. - 6 p.m., with artist Erin McGuiness, Art Studio One

Gallery Hours:
Wednesdays to Sundays, 11 am - 4:30 pm

For more information, contact 925-631-4379

For group tours, contact 925-631-4069

Events: FREE
Exhibition Admission: $4 - Adults
Free - K-12th Graders
Hearst Members Free

9/28/10

re:Ouch!

Zubin Mehta, an admirer of Jewish culture, when becoming the conductor of the Israel Symphony said "I'd become a Jew if it weren't so painful."

Oligarchy* has come up recently in West-Berkeley Project discussions.

Today's most notable oligarchy is the one the rules China. Post Stalin, the Soviet Union was ruled by an oligarchy. The English aristocratic oligarchy was perhaps the most successful of those in the 19th Century.

And I suppose you could make a case that Berkeley is now ruled by an oligarchy, a left/ liberal group in power for some time in one form or another.

One could also say that several or more oligarchies are now vying for power in West-Berkeley. Probably why it's been brought up. After all, it's said "It takes one to know one."

*oligarchy
a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution · government by such a group.

"Urban Ore Ecopark" baycitizen.org."

"Sprawling across three acres in West Berkeley, Urban Ore is a huge thrift store that sells about 7,000 tons of reused and recycled goods per year. Dan Knapp and Mary Lou Van Deventer, who are married, opened the store in 1980, and pride themselves on only sending 120 tons - 2 percent of their inventory - to the landfill annually.

Urban Ore is a thrift store that sells recycled goods and has its own mission statement.

Nomads

Urban Ore has had six Berkeley locations since its inception 30 years ago. Receipts from Urban Ore proclaim the owners' mission statement: 'To end the Age of Waste.' Elaborating on this, Ms. Van Deventer said, 'Waste isn't waste until it's wasted.'

A Few Unacceptables

Urban Ore sells nearly anything except for pornography, guns, hazardous chemicals and auto parts. Fifteen percent of its income comes from recycled doors; 10 percent is from windows. Furniture, tools and lumber are also sold.

Valuable Garbage

Three-quarters of the merchandise is brought in by local residents; many are carpenters, remodelers, property managers and Dumpster divers. Urban Ore pays them in cash or store credit. Last year, it brought in $2.5 million in revenue . . .

Food Friendly

Urban Ore's neighborhood is suddenly ripe with produce. Berkeley Bowl West opened several blocks away in June 2009, and the green lifestyle haven Beehive Market now operates on Saturdays down the street on San Pablo Avenue. "

Ecopark* perhaps, a great resource for sure. Though a charter member of one of our Little Potter Creek groups has called it "The used toilet store." RP

*no dictionary definition

"The North Face "Back to Berkeley" Collection" is a story at live.drjays.com.

"The North Face isn't normally known for their footwear, but that could be about to change with the release of their "Back to Berkeley" Collection."

"Expert on Sabah 'energy options' to head World Bank" at freemalaysiatoday.com.

"A renowned energy expert who did a study on Sabah's options to resolve its power shortage problem without resorting to coal power, will take on a new role at the World Bank next month.

Daniel M. Kammen, Professor of Energy at University of California in Berkeley, will become the organisation's Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency."

9/29/10

David Orth retired vice fire chief was behind the purchase of 3 pumpers and miles of hose in containers plus the engines to load and transport them.

These allow the department to pump from the bay, lakes or even swimming pools in case of emergency. He is pictured in front of one of the trucks. Each of the pumpers can supply the water to three large fire engines. These have been stationed at 10th and Pardee, but are moving to a new facility in the area of our West-Berkeley BPD sub-station.

9/30/10

in the spirit of "practice makes perfect"

we find our BFD at drill on Fourth Street in West-Berkeley

In The Day Marsha's uncle was Fire Chief of Springfield Mass.

So, to the nature of our West-Berkeley oligarchies*. I believe they can be characterized by their socio-economic-class, makeup. We have, for instance, the aristocrat/business oligarchy, who while players, also find time to play with their country properties and jet about the world. And then there is the old- money/old-radical oligarchy, an unlikely, and perhaps ultimately dysfunctional union. Still, Lenin would approve.

*oligarchies
a small groups of people having control of a country, organization, or institution · government by such groups

"Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts" events.sfgate.com.

"Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts -- the wildly popular multimedia poetry series that has traveled throughout San Francisco and recently Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles -- is making it's way to Berkeley, Santa Cruz and again in San Francisco to showcase talented spoken word artists and musicians from all over California."

Yesterday, Tak Nakimoto observed of Robert Reich's recent writing* and conclusions that though Reich knows a lot about economics, his degree is in law. Well, Ok then.

*Aftershock

"Being Single Is a Drag for Exploding Spores" wired.com.

"Fungi don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. They make their own. Forcibly ejecting thousands of spores into still air creates a little puff that can carry the fungal offspring 20 times farther than a single spore travels alone, researchers report online the week of Sept. 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By working together to stir the air around them, the spores can dodge nearby obstacles such as leaves, reach other air currents, and ultimately land on real estate prime for infection."

Tuesday I was interviewed by NPR art/musicwriter, Tom Cole. He wanted to know about record size. Why is an LP, 12 inches, a 45, 7 inches, etc. His article should appear Thursday. Wednesday he offered at npr.org/blogs

"Who Will Save America's Vanishing Songs?

The 1951 recording of "How High the Moon" by Les Paul and Mary Ford - made on the then-new medium of reel-to-reel tape - has a better chance of being around and being heard in 2151 than this year's Hope for Haiti Now - an MP3-only release featuring performances by Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and Beyonce, among many others.

That's just one of the troubling points made in a study released today by the Library of Congress' National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB).

The study summary introduces the digital problem this way:

"The 10 years between the enactment of (the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000) and the publication of this study have seen sweeping changes in digital technologies that have democratized the ability of individuals to make recordings and to manipulate sound in digital formats. A succession of new platforms enabling distribution of sound recordings have been introduced."

In other words, anyone can make a recording today pretty much anywhere on a laptop and send it out to the world via the Internet. That's kind of cool - what's the problem?

It's pretty serious if you're a fan of contemporary music - or an archivist. As one scholar quoted in the study pointed out, the default for digital information is not to survive unless someone takes conscious action to save it.

Who's going to save all of those digital songs the way record collectors hoarded 78s, LPs and 45s?"

"Richmond's Home Front Festival to honor Lena Horne" by Chris Treadway, West County Times.

"Everything will be coming up Rosie this weekend in Richmond at the fourth annual Home Front Festival, a free event celebrating the city's historic role in World War II, its newer identity as home to a national park and its 32-mile Bay shoreline.

The festivities will kick off 7-11 p.m. Friday with the popular USO Dance at the Craneway Pavilion, 1414 Harbor Way South.

The event will salute the late signer and actress Lena Horne, who died in May at age 92. Horne came to Richmond in 1943 to launch the ship SS George Washington at Kaiser Shipyard No. 1.

The dance, for which period attire is encouraged, will include a tribute to Horne by singer Robin Gregory, along with dancing to the Singing Blue Stars and the Junius Courtney Big Band.

The evening will include two performances by professional swing dancers, free coffee and doughnuts and a cash bar and food concessions from the Boilerhouse restaurant.

Tickets to the dance are $20 for general admission and $15 for seniors."

"Remembering Those Lost" at dailycal.org.

"On the west side of California Hall with the flag drawn at half mast, more than 70 people gathered in solemnity at noon Monday to remember those from the campus community who had died in the previous year."

"U.C. Berkeley's Ph.D. programs ranked high in report" by Steven E.F. Brown, San Francisco Business Times.

"The University of California, Berkeley, ranked high in a study of the best Ph.D. programs in the nation. . . .

Particular U.C. Berkeley departments that ranked at or near No. 1 were chemistry, agricultural and resource economics, civil and environmental engineering, German, math, mechanical engineering, physics, political science, and plant biology."

And "Two U.C. Berkeley professors win 'genius' grants" also at sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com.

"An economist and a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, won $500,000 MacArthur "genius" grants.

Economist Emmanuel Saez won for his work on tax policy and the distribution of income. He has long studied the different ways rich people and poor people respond to changes in tax policy.

Computer scientist Dawn Song won for her work fighting malicious software. She has tried to copy biological reactions to infection as a better way for computers to recognize and fight threats."

"Hand choice in simple tasks studied" upi.com.

"Magnetic stimulation of a certain area of the brain can change which hand is favored to accomplish a task, U.S. scientists say.

University of California, Berkeley, researchers say in simple tasks like pushing a button or picking up up a book, the brain makes a decision which hand will be used for the job."

"High pressure experiments reproduce mineral structures 1,800 miles deep news" at domain-b.com.

"University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University scientists have recreated the tremendous pressures and high temperatures deep in the Earth to resolve a long-standing puzzle: why some seismic waves travel faster than others through the boundary between the solid mantle and fluid outer core."

"Cal-Berkeley Cuts 5 Athletic Programs" nytimes.com.

"The University of California, Berkeley, eliminated five of its intercollegiate sports programs Tuesday, two of which, baseball and men's rugby, had become particular points of pride over the years."

"When the Call of the Wild Comes Too Close to Home" is a story at baycitizen.org.

"Town Hall Elevates National Conversation on Health of Boys of Color" prnewswire.com.

"Community leaders and experts from around California and the nation have convened in Los Angeles at a two-day national town hall to address the health and social issues facing African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American boys and young men of color. The gathering is exceptional in its size and focus on these issues. The Building Healthy Communities town hall has brought together community leaders, policymakers, researchers, advocates, journalists and philanthropic stakeholders to address and put forth solutions to the most pressing challenges of boys and young men of color in California and the nation."

Let me be perfectly clear!

Our environment issues--irritants and toxins-- are NOT TYPICAL of Potter Creek or west-Berkeley as a whole. Ours is a "special "case.

Our environment problems IN NO WAY should be interpreted as an indictment of "radical mixed use," including dense housing.

Rather, it should put us ON GUARD for "cowboy" behavior of all sorts.

As to the cause, . . . it is probably the result of close-by facilities' inefficiency, incompetence or ignorance and arrogance.

9/13/10--2:07 pm--irritant in front room, dry air, wear respirator. 5:26 PM--irritant in front room, dry, hravy air. 6: 49 Pm--iritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, dry dirty air, wear respirator. 7:01--same. 9/14/10--2:07 PM irritant in front room, light head, nausea, leave.

9/17/10--7:55 AM--irritant in front room, burning eyes mouth, leave. 9:26 AM similar, wear repirtator. 5:38 PM--irritant in front room, burning eyes, mouth, wear respirator. 9:55pm--irritant in front room, dry dirty air, watery eyes, itchy skin.

9/18/10--1:34PM irritant in warehose front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, wear respirator. 6:06 PM Iirritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, VERY itchy skin. 6:40 PM--dry heavy air in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse, watey eyes, ictchy skin.

9/19/10--off and on all day irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, dry dirty air, mucus membrane irritation, nasal congestion, short breath, ringing ears.

9/20/10--6:30 AM--lights flicker. 738 AM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse. 8:13 AM--SERIOUS irritant in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front of warehouse. 8:43 AM--same with nausea, light head, dizziness, leave.

9/23/10--7:02 AM--irritant in warehouse front and in front of warehouse, dry dirty air, burning eyes, hacking cough, wear respirator.

9/24/10 --5:01 AM --SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry dirty air, light head, itchy skin, wear respirator. 1:50 PM SERIOUSirritant in front room, light head, dry skin, burning eyes, wear respirator.

from my log

9/11/10-off-and on late afternoon and early evening, irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, mucus membrane irritation, nasal irritation, watery eyes, dry itchy skin, light head, short breath, coughing, over rides HEPA filters. "I feel like I have ants crawling on me again" says Marsha. 9: 00 PM--irritant in front room, burning eyes, throat.

9/12/10 5:15 AM--dirty heavy air in warehouse front and front of warehouse. 9/12/10 7:45 AM dry heavy air Marsha has serious hacking cough. 12:12 PM--irritant in front room, dry air, watery eyes, dry mouth, sore throat, wear respirator. 12:29 PM--headache, light head.

9/19/10--off and on all day irritant in warehouse front and front of warehouse, dry dirty air, mucus membrane irritation, nasal congestion, short breath, ringing ears.

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.

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.