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Thursday, 13 August 2009
1. Hacker hits UC journalism school's Web site
San Francisco Chronicle
August 13, 2009
UC BERKELEY is notifying 493 applicants to its Graduate School of Journalism that a Web site hacker may have had access to their Social Security numbers and birthdates.
The letters went out Tuesday to those who applied to the journalism school between September 2007 and May 2009, said university officials, who emphasized that there is no evidence that any personal information was stolen or even viewed.
University officials discovered the problem in early July after noticing someone bragging on a hackers' Web site about accessing the journalism school site.
It took several weeks for technology experts to understand the extent of any potential problem.
"We know that even the possibility of having data accessed by a computer hacker is disturbing, and the campus regrets that this incident has occurred," said Shelton Waggener, UC Berkeley's associate vice chancellor for information technology. He said the university is checking all computer systems and its security strategy to plug any holes. Full Story
2. Fewer workers, bigger paychecks in high tech
San Francisco Chronicle
August 13, 2009
Silicon Valley is supporting fewer jobs but issuing fatter paychecks, according to a federal report that says high-tech payrolls have shrunk about 17 percent since 2001, while the average tech wage has risen nearly 36 percent....
The report documents a stunning shift in the region's high-tech workforce, as Silicon Valley cements its position as the global headquarters for innovation by bidding up the price of talent while using automation and offshoring to cut clerical and factory work.
"Silicon Valley has been under enormous pressure to cut payrolls to compete, and anything that can either be sent abroad or done more cheaply by software has substituted for workers," said UC BERKELEY PROFESSOR ROBERT REICH, a former labor secretary.
"At the same time there is an intensifying competition for talent, because the name of the game is innovate or die," Reich said.... Full Story
3. Obama's words downplay wars
Politico.com
August 13, 2009
He may be presiding over two wars and facing a terror threat at home and abroad, but you'd hardly know it from listening to President Barack Obama speak.
Obama has uttered more than a half-million words in public since taking office Jan. 20 — and a Politico analysis of nearly every word in this vast public record shows that domestic topics dominate, so much so that Obama sounds more like a peacetime president than a commander in chief with more than 100,000 troops in the field.
He has spoken the words "health" and "economy" each more often than the words “Iraq,” “Iran,” “Afghanistan” and “terrorism” combined, the analysis shows.
"Jobs" are mentioned twice as often as “security” and four times more than“war....”
LINGUISTICS PROFESSOR GEORGE LAKOFF, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, looks to specific words that show Obama trying to deliver a subtle message.
“‘Already’ (527) and ‘done’ (623) are very interesting because he’s saying: ‘We’re making progress, we are doing it,’” Lakoff said. That’s a sign that Obama is trying to convince voters that the administration is racking up a steady stream of accomplishments. “He says, ‘We passed that, it’s done’ and so on.”
And another word Lakoff spots in Obama’s rhetoric: “reform” (738). Lakoff thinks political pollsters are leaving their fingerprints on Obama’s speeches there. “I’m sure it’s a polled word,” he said. “The word ‘reform’ means there was something wrong with it before and it needs to be changed...." Full Story
4. Op-Ed: University of California Regents demonstrate tone deafness with raises
Oakland Tribune
August 13, 2009
Sometimes public officials do things that make you ask, are they really that tone deaf or do they simply not care what it looks like?
This was the scenario when it was recently reported that on the same day the UC Board of Regents decided that its 180,000 employees must take unpaid days off as it finds ways to cut $813 million from its budget, the board also approved increases in pay and benefits for 28 executive positions.
"These are outrageous actions, taken at the same time as UC has been pleading poverty, giving layoff notices, forcing staff and faculty to take furloughs and hinting at more student fee increases," said KATHY RENFRO, CHAIRWOMAN OF THE UC BERKELEY LABOR COALITION.
Barbara French, a UC San Francisco spokeswoman, suggested the three individuals on the UCSF campus who received pay increases took on new duties and deserved to be compensated. Former Chief Operating Officer Tomi Ryba earned $547,600, left in January and was not replaced, creating the void picked up by the three individuals.
"When a position is combined or someone is serving in an acting position, they get a stipend in addition to their original salary," said Lynne Tierney, UC associate vice president of communications....
The regents may very well see this as a cost-saving measure, necessary to retain top-tier talent. But others see it as emblematic of an out-of-control state bureaucracy that makes them distrustful of government. The increased salaries reflect a body insulated from the impact of the abominable timing and perceived arrogance of their actions — a group severely tone deaf of the justifiable public outcry. Full Story
5. UC launches fall extension classes in Fresno
Fresno Bee
August 13, 2009
University of California officials hope a new schedule of extension classes this fall will generate more interest in Fresno.
The continuing education classes and workshops — offered through a partnership between UC Merced and UC BERKELEY EXTENSION — launched in Fresno this summer. But low enrollment prompted officials to cancel seven of the eight classes.
Brandy Ramos Nikaido, director of UC Merced’s Fresno Center, said officials were “testing the waters” with the summer slate of classes. For the fall, she said, the system hopes to reach more people “through a wider assortment of courses.”
The classes are a way of extending UC’s reach in the central San Joaquin Valley. Fall offerings at the Fresno center include professional courses such as drug treatment counseling for women, psychology of weight reduction, career opportunities in biotechnology, paralegal studies, project management, advanced computer systems and programming and solar energy.... Full Story
6. Cal State to 'super seniors': Graduate, already
Contra Costa Times
August 13, 2009
California State University plans to make one last request this year for its longest-term students: Please leave.
As part of its strategy to deal with hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts, the 23-campus university system will urge so-called "super seniors" to forgo that baseball history class and instead just graduate already. The plan is part of a larger proposal to trim enrollment by 40,000 at the 440,000-student system, and it also includes stricter registration deadlines and less tolerance for academically troubled students.
The university has thousands of super seniors — students who have more than 200 credit units. Students who have completed their required courses can graduate once they have 180 units...
The UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, also facing steep budget cuts, has not yet decided whether to limit enrollment over the next year, UC spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said. Super seniors are "not a significant issue for us," he said. Full Story
7. Editorial: Pedestrian risks can be reduced
Sacramento Bee
August 13, 2009
Any person who walks in Sacramento knows that trying to cross streets can be hazardous...
Numerous studies have found that when pedestrian crashes occur in these situations, it is generally the fault of the driver. According to the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center, more than 80 percent of crosswalk collisions are related to driver behavior – not pedestrian behavior....
A 2002 study by the Surface Transportation Policy Project and California Walks ranked pedestrian safety in California cities and counties. The most dangerous counties were Solano, Sacramento and Los Angeles. Sacramento was the eighth most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians.
For the walking public, it is good news that the Sacramento Police Department has stepped up efforts to educate the driving public and increase pedestrian safety.... Full Story
8. Reverie beyond Beltway bustle
Out where hummingbirds and daffodils can still inspire
The Washington Times
August 13, 2009
The shorter days of late summer usher in the melancholy prospect of autumn, the thoughts of returning to school, work and reality. Such anticipation makes the last moments at the beach, lake or camp site especially precious. The children can stay up late because they can sleep 'til noon. They come and go on whim, tracking sand or mud, but dirty footprints are easily washed away with seawater.
We put off thinking about the devil in the details waiting in the mundane world of everyday life. For now, conversation can be imbued with deeper insights taken at a slower pace....
The politicians -- most of them -- have taken their leave of Washington, and the wisest of us can take some time to think about things. All the summer play with the children shouldn't be seen as taking us away from important work, but as part of our important work, theirs and ours.
If ALISON GOPNIK, A PSYCHOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, is correct with her interpretation of the newest scientific findings in child development, we may discover we are on the cusp of a new Age of Romanticism, where, as the poet William Wordsworth put it, "the child is father of the man." New science overturns commonly held notions that children are irrational, egocentric and amoral little creatures. "Psychologists and neuroscientists have discovered that babies not only learn more, but imagine more, care more, and experience more than we would ever have thought possible," writes Ms. Gopnik in "The Philosophical Baby." In some ways babies can be smarter and more imaginative than we are....
The Romantics have been out of fashion in literary circles for some time. So has our sense of wonder. But in these imaginatively challenged times, the romance of imagination is recoverable. Alas, that's enough for now. I hear my cell phone ringing. Full Story
9. Think You Can Retire on the House? Think Again
Don't count on rising home equity to take the place of a retirement plan. Future retirees are unlikely to see the kind of price appreciation their elders did.
Los Angeles Times
August 13, 2009
It's a time-honored California retirement tradition: Sell the house, which has soared in value over the years, move somewhere cheaper and live off the home sale proceeds.
For recent generations of retirees, tapping equity in this way could in many instances more than make up for a lack of other retirement savings, or could amply supplement a traditional pension and Social Security benefits....
Although home values have indeed increased recently, demographics are working against baby boomers. The generation born between 1946 and 1964 has essentially stopped forming new households; most have at least bought their first house, and many have finished "trading up" to larger homes. Moreover, the "baby bust" generation that followed them is smaller. Both trends are expected to create less home-buying demand, although immigration may counteract that somewhat. Many experts say home appreciation over the next two decades is likely to slow to little more than the rate of inflation. A few, such as ECONOMIST DANIEL MCFADDEN OF UC BERKELEY, argue that home prices will even fall in the next decade, perhaps dramatically, because of declining demand.... Full Story