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Monday, 26 October 2009
1. UC to raise $1 billion for financial aid
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
October 23, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM plans to raise $1 billion over the next four years for student aid, UC President Mark Yudof said today.
The 10-campus system also plans to expand its Blue and Gold Plan to cover fees for students whose families make $70,000 or less, Yudof said. The plan was adopted last year for those with incomes of $60,000 or less.
The fundraising would combine the efforts of all 10 campuses and more than double the amount raised by the university for scholarships over the past five years. Yudof made the announcement at Fresno's Sunnyside High School....
The university's state funding has been cut by more than $800 million over the past two years. To make up some of the difference, UC leaders plan to raise fees 32 percent over the next year.
[Another story on this topic appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle] Full Story
2. Editorial: UC needs to keep
San Francisco Chronicle
October 26, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA's effort to offset higher student fees with an ambitious $1 billion fundraising drive for financial aid is both honorable and necessary. It is also a sad commentary on the extent to which the state has retreated in support of one of the world's finest systems of higher education....
The preservation of access to the UC system must remain one of this state's priorities, both as an obligation to young Californians with great potential and as an economic imperative to keep this state competitive. Full Story
3. Mining Fool's Gold for Solar
Cyrus Wadia is using abundant materials to grow nanocrystals for cheaper photovoltaics.
Technology Review
November/December 2009
Fool's gold, also called pyrite or iron sulfide, can be unearthed just about anywhere, from the hills of California to the villages of Yunnan Province in China. But instead of digging pyrite up, RESEARCHER CYRUS WADIA is making pure nanoparticles of the compound from iron and sulfur salts in his lab at the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. His ultimate goal is to turn fool's gold into real treasure: an inexpensive solar cell.
Today, most solar cells are made of silicon, but they are expensive....
So Wadia did a study of possible solar-cell materials, examining not only their chemistry and physics but also their availability. One of the standouts was fool's gold: it is abundant and cheap, and it has optical properties that allow it to efficiently convert sunlight into electricity. "The theoretical efficiency of iron sulfide is 31 percent. That's as good as silicon," says Wadia. What's more, 20 nanometers of pyrite can absorb as much light as 300 micrometers of silicon. Because it absorbs so much more light, it can be made into thinner cells, which require less raw material. ...
It's difficult to make good pyrite films because the nanocrystals tend to sink to the bottom of any liquid. The better a particle is suspended, the smoother the film it will form. Wadia believes that smaller particles might lead to better suspensions: the pyrite particles are 20 to 100 times the size of the copper sulfide particles, which are about five nanometers across. Wadia is trying everything he can to make them smaller, including mechanically pressing or grinding them and tinkering with reaction conditions. He's also collaborating with bioengineers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to genetically engineer viruses so that they accumulate pyrite nanoparticles on their coats; the next step would be to get the viruses to line up into uniform films.
Wadia acknowledges that he's still many years away from making an efficient solar cell with pyrite nanocrystals. Ultimately, though, his goal is to produce a cell that's cheap enough to make solar energy the dominant power source. He says, "I just need the science to work." Full Story
4. Energy Dept. Aid for Scientists on the Edge
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
October 26, 2009
Washington — The federal Energy Department will make good on a pledge for a bolder technology strategy on Monday, awarding research grants for ideas like bacteria that will make gasoline, enzymes that will capture carbon dioxide to counter global warming and batteries so cheap that they will allow the use of solar power all night long....
The new effort, directed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or Arpa-e, is modeled on a Defense Department program known as Darpa that helped commercialize microchips and the Internet and helped develop body armor and other high-tech products. Darpa is known for quick decisions and long-shot bets, an approach seldom associated with the Energy Department.
President George W. Bush signed the agency into law in 2007 but did not propose any money for it. It got its first appropriation in the stimulus act, $400 million to be spent over two years. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed ARUN MAJUMDAR, A [UC BERKELEY PROFESSOR and] scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California to lead the agency.
Dr. Majumdar said in a telephone interview that his new agency would identify challenges in the energy industry and would finance “five or ten different approaches.”
“We don’t know which ones are going to work, but we’ll try them,” he said, “and if many of them fail but one works, that’s great, we’ve solved the problem.”...
[This story also appeared in the New York Times] Full Story
5. QB3 ties into $7.5M fund to seed startups
San Francisco Business Times
October 26, 2009
QB3 will tap a $7.5 million venture fund — including an investment from Pfizer Inc. — to funnel startup capital to University of California bioscience entrepreneurs and to build a long-term endowment for the institute.
Mission Bay Capital LLC is advised by VC guru Brook Byers and John Wadsworth Jr. of Manitou Ventures. It also includes Regis Kelly and Douglas Crawford, who lead the California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences, or QB3, as unpaid directors.
Limited partners in the firm’s initial fund include Pfizer, Wadsworth and law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Investments.
The firm is independent of QB3 and the UC system but will invest in bioscience companies spun out of UC research. That mission folds into the goal of QB3, which was formed in 2000 in part to help SCIENTISTS AT UC BERKELEY, UC San Francisco and UC Santa Cruz commercialize research developed in their labs.... Full Story
6. UC Berkeley Wants to Turn Former Gold Mine into Lab
KCBS Radio
October 25, 2009
Berkeley, Calif. (KCBS) -- The National Science Foundation is giving CAL nearly $30 million to help turn the former Homestake gold mine in South Dakota into the world’s deepest laboratory.
"We\'re looking to build a facility to host a variety of different experiments," said KEVIN LESKO, A UC BERKELEY ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS.. and principle investigator for the project.
Those experiments that need to be well shielded from sources of background such as cosmic rays or local radiactivity.
Physics is just one of the areas of interest for the scientists who hope to set up labs at unprecedented depths. Lesko says geomicrobiologists are trying to understand the organisms that live far below the surface of the earth....
[Link to audio] Full Story
7. Education: Why We're Failing Math and Science
A panel of experts talks about what's wrong with our education system—and how to fix it
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
October 26, 2009
The problem is well-known: The U.S. lags far behind other developed countries at the K-12 level in terms of measured performance in math and science courses.
What can be done to change that? The Wall Street Journal's Alan Murray posed that question to three experts: Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education; Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania; and CHRISTOPHER EDLEY JR., DEAN OF THE LAW SCHOOL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, who was also a member of the Obama administration transition team working on education issues.
Here are edited excerpts of their discussion:
…CHRISTOPHER EDLEY: I think what's needed now is some fundamental reworking of our institutions of government and the political culture around issues of education, both at the K-12 level and the higher-ed level….
We have to compete at quality. The way that's going to happen is if we have leadership at the top and a real fear through this society that if we don't compete better by educating our best students—which means getting the best teachers, which means rewarding them for results—we're going to fall behind….
I think that what's needed is a balance between a competitive approach, especially around innovation on the one hand, and a regulatory approach. This is a huge, huge industry. Ultimately, you're going to have to use competition to identify the innovations that work, but then I think that's where you have to come back and require of low-performing schools that they adopt best practices.
[Link by subscription only]
8. Obama declares swine flu emergency
San Francisco Chronicle
October 25, 2009
President Obama declared swine flu a national emergency, a move intended to give hospitals and other medical facilities more flexibility in coping with the possible surge of infected patients, public health experts said Saturday....
ART REINGOLD, HEAD OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AT UC BERKELEY, said the declaration doesn't mean that the national outbreak is "any worse than it was yesterday or last week." Instead, he suspects it was issued in part to help state and local governments manage an epidemic that could overwhelm already limited resources after public health budgets were slashed all over the country.
He added that the declaration, while not surprising, had to be carefully worded to avoid creating more anxiety about the swine flu.
"It's difficult to get the right message across to people," Reingold said. "There's this balance between the flu is important and people should be vaccinated, but you don't want an overreaction."... Full Story
9. Season at peak levels early - swine flu blamed
San Francisco Chronicle
October 24, 2009
The Bay Area is unseasonably sick this month, and it's almost definitely because of swine flu....
At UC BERKELEY, health officials said they saw a spike in students complaining of respiratory illness late last month. The number of cases has subsided somewhat but is still much higher than usual for this time of year, said DR. BRAD BUCHMAN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES.
He said the campus ordered 70,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine - they've received 30 doses so far.
"We've seen a steady stream of patients with upper respiratory infections pretty much all semester," Buchman said. "We're really crossing our fingers and hoping we're getting the vaccine soon. I think the demand is there." Full Story
10. Origins Blog: Primatologists Go Ape Over Ardi
Science Magazine Online
October 26, 2009
London—When TIM WHITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, agreed to speak at a human origins meeting* at the Royal Society here, he sent no abstract and provided only a one-word title: “Ardipithecus.”
But that one word was enough to earn him a spot on the podium and a prominent role at the meeting. After 15 years of study, White and his colleagues have just published their massive, 108-page report on Ardipithecus ramidus, at 4.4 million years the oldest partial skeleton of a putative human ancestor (see the Science special issue of 2 October, cover at left). The 2-day meeting marked White’s first in-person presentation of Ardipithecus to a roomful of independent researchers; co-author anthropologist C. Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University in Ohio also made the trip. Their emphasis on Ardi’s non-apelike features, however, drew a tart response from some primatologists in the room.
The roughly 50-kilogram female, which the Ardipithecus team concludes walked upright although it also spent time in the trees, has a decidedly un-chimplike anatomy. White and colleagues therefore have asserted that living apes are not good models for understanding the last common ancestor (LCA) of humans and chimpanzees—a claim that has stung many primatologists.... Full Story
11. Household Debt Can Hasten Recovery, When It Goes Unpaid
Wall Street Journal (*requires registration)
October 26, 2009
The pain of millions of people across America losing their homes hardly inspires confidence in the future. But in a brutal way, it could be restoring the financial health of the U.S. consumer faster than many recognize.
One of the biggest clouds on the economic horizon is the vast amount of debt U.S. households took on during the boom years. The Federal Reserve puts total household debt, including mortgage debt, at about $13.7 trillion, or 125% of annual after-tax income, a burden that many economists believe will take several years to pare down to what they see as a more sustainable level of 100%. During that "deleveraging" process, the logic goes, U.S. consumers -- whose spending makes up more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy and about one-fifth of the global economy -- won't be able to play a leading role in any recovery....
One wild card in the deleveraging process is the Obama administration's "Making Home Affordable" program, which aims to reduce mortgage payments for as many as nine million people. If the program, which is still just getting started, encourages people to make good on debts they otherwise would have jettisoned, it could hinder deleveraging. But it could also help avoid a vicious circle in which mounting foreclosures and falling house prices reinforce one another.
"Anything we do to stretch out the adjustment period is a good thing," said KENNETH ROSEN, CHAIR OF THE FISHER CENTER FOR REAL ESTATE AND URBAN ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. "You want to prevent the downward spiral."...
[Link by subscription only] Full Story
12. Underemployed compound state's jobless troubles
San Francisco Chronicle
October 26, 2009
San Francisco resident Elena Duran represents an unfortunate job trend that isn't reflected in the unemployment rate....
Because she works, Duran doesn't count in California's 12.2 percent unemployment rate.
But her situation is captured by a broader measure, the underemployment rate, which, in addition to the jobless, includes people who could get only part-time work as well as those who want jobs but were too discouraged to look....
"Underemployment is at the highest level since we started keeping these records in 1994," said ECONOMIST SYLVIA ALLEGRETTO OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT AT UC BERKELEY.
...Allegretto said the underemployment rate is worth tracking because it helps explain the dynamics of so-called jobless recoveries - times when growing economic output does not bring a strong rebound in hiring.... Full Story
13. Experts see rebounding economy shedding jobs
San Francisco Chronicle
October 25, 2009
Washington -- Forget a jobless recovery. The economy may be entering a recovery with job losses....
Top White House ECONOMIST CHRISTINA ROMER OF UC BERKELEY told Congress on Thursday that employment growth could remain "painfully weak" through next year, and that the largest effect from the $787 billion stimulus enacted in February, mainly aid to states, is past. By mid-2010, she said, the stimulus will no longer contribute to growth....
Romer and Vice President Joe Biden's economist, Jared Bernstein, cited high deficits in downplaying calls for a new stimulus. "Remember, stimulus by definition is temporary," Bernstein said. "In the interest of fiscal rectitude, we need to ramp the spending down no later than necessary."... Full Story
14. Campbell warns state budget gap may widen
San Francisco Chronicle
October 24, 2009
TOM CAMPBELL says the state could save billions by buying... Steve Poizner issued a budget plan proposing to cut state...
Republican Tom Campbell, a candidate for governor who was the last state finance director to preside over a balanced budget, warned this week that California may be awash in more red ink, with revenue expected to fall short of projections by as much as $3 billion by the end of December.
The alarm from Campbell, a FORMER DEAN OF THE UC BERKELEY HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS [AND CURRENT PROFESSOR ON LEAVE], came after state officials acknowledged two weeks ago that state revenue for the first quarter of the fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, fell $1.1 billion short of predictions.... Full Story
15. Blog: Sequoia Capital Charges Hard Through Recession
Wall Street Journal Online (*requires registration)
October 25, 2009
While many venture firms have dialed back their investments amid a punishing economy, Sequoia Capital has made about 20 seed or Series A investments in the past 12 months, more than in the prior two years.
That’s according to Greg McAdoo, partner at Sequoia capital, who spoke Saturday at Startup School, an event for entrepreneurs organized by Y Combinator at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. In front of a standing-room-only crowd, he repeated a common refrain among venture capitalists that recessions are great times to start companies and to invest in them....
“Recessions reward much more discipline,” he said. “Companies tend to be more focused. They tend not to bite off more than they can chew. Start up businesses start small and build incrementally. In a recession you have no choice.”... Full Story
16. Overseas Chinese return to start companies
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
October 25, 2009
Tianjin, China — This city in northeastern China is a long way from Sand Hill Road, home to the world's greatest concentration of venture capitalists. But a deal too good to pass up led Yong Li to leave his family in Palo Alto a few months ago and head here to pursue his dream of starting a company, with backing from an unlikely source — China's newest capitalists, its Communist leaders.
"The government is rolling out the red carpet," said Li, who rides a rickety bicycle through an open-air market every morning and evening, grabbing wok-fried meals on his way to building TerraBay Pharmaceuticals, which is working on a treatment for lung cancer. "The government takes the risks. And there are almost no strings attached."...
He now represents a wave of highly skilled immigrants flocking back to their homeland, which poses a threat to the Silicon Valley's innovative culture, said VIVEK WADHWA, A RESEARCHER ON IMMIGRATION AND LABOR ISSUES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY. Others, though, see such movement as yet another strength of the region; those who return to their to countries of origin to start companies frequently come back to the Bay Area to set up research offices, as Li plans to do should TerraBay succeed.... Full Story
17. Op-Ed: Got degree envy? No worries, you can still make it big.
Washington Post
October 24, 2009
An Ivy League degree may get you a job as an investment banker or VC, but it won't increase your odds of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
So you couldn't get into Stanford, BERKELEY or Harvard, huh? Don't sweat it. You can still make it big. Some people might believe that an Ivy League education provides a huge advantage in entrepreneurship. But after researching this over and over again, I've found no such correlation. To the contrary, it seems that those who are born without the silver spoons in their mouths are more motivated to succeed. And those who aren't members of elite alum societies develop the skills needed to hustle in the rough and tough business world. The Ivy-Leaguers may be able to get their buddies from Sequoia and Kleiner to return emails, but they aren't going to be any more successful at building companies.
With my affiliations at three of the greatest universities in the world (Harvard, Berkeley, and Duke), I know I'm going to take a lot of flak for this piece. (Yes, I know that Berkeley and Duke aren't Ivy League -- but they are in the "elite" category). It's not that I haven't been trying to find the good news. I've done three big research projects on entrepreneurship. Each of these reached the same conclusion about education and entrepreneurship: What makes entrepreneurs successful is the education, not the school. It's the same in India and China. India's IITs and China's Fudan University (their "Ivy League" schools) don't hold any monopoly on graduating tech stars.
...An Ivy degree makes it much easier to become an investment banker at Goldman Sachs (is that a positive these days?), a venture capitalist (most are elite school grads) or a powerful attorney. It probably makes it easier to become a professor, as well. And, as my research shows, it may confer a slight advantage to entrepreneurs. But not enough of an advantage to make any real difference in the equation. So, Mom and Dad, save your dollars. High school juniors, save your tears. Ivy Leaguers, check your ego at the door. What makes you good is what and how you learn, not the name on your framed diploma. Full Story
18. UC water archive needs new home
Sacramento Bee
October 26, 2009
The future of water in California is a well-known point of contention. Now the history of water has become a subject of concern.
State budget problems have driven the University of California to seek a new home for the WATER RESOURCES CENTER ARCHIVES, a repository of research and historical documents unique in the nation.
The archives, housed at UC BERKELEY, hold thousands of studies, maps and photographs documenting the struggle over water in California and throughout the arid West. For decades it has served as a shrine for engineers, lawyers and academics working to understand and improve the management of water, California's most precious resource.
Though housed at UC Berkeley, the archives are funded by the UC Office of the President as a systemwide resource. The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the president's office recently said that, to save money, the archives must be moved by June 30, 2010.
Trouble is, no university has stepped forward to adopt the library and its $230,000 annual cost. Supporters worry this treasure will be mothballed.... Full Story
19. Competition to reinforce principles of ethics, integrity in business students
The Nation
October 26, 2009
Unlike other businessplan contests, the Global Social Venture Competition focuses on not just entrepreneurial startups but also social and environmental benefits.
GSVC is held under the joint cooperation of various institutions.
"We joined hands with the HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY in the US to host this competition and we are the partner for the Southeast Asia region," Assoc Professor Gasinee Witoonchart, dean of the Thammasat Business School, said yesterday.
GSVC emphasises that businesses must not only consider profit maximisation but also their impact on the environment and community....
"There must be ethics in all business leaders and they should begin to demonstrate a high level of responsibility for their actions and decisions. We emphasise to our business students that businessmen must be responsible to society and practice good governance," Gasinee said.... Full Story
20. Are retailers going too far tracking our Web habits?
USA Today
October 25 2009
Sherry Natoli is followed everywhere she goes while shopping online, but she doesn't mind at all....
Companies have been monitoring our online behavior for almost as long as there's been an Internet, often using our online footsteps (cookies) whenever we search, browse or buy online. Tracking technology has advanced so much that everything from how long we linger over a product description to whether we are searching for sexual-dysfunction drugs can be collected and stored on individual profiles. Our profiles are numeric descriptions, not our real names, but in some cases, it's not hard to determine personal information behind the numbers....
A survey of 1,000 consumers released last month by professors from the University of Pennsylvania and the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY found almost 70% were opposed to online behavioral tracking by advertisers, and even more were opposed after they were told how the tracking was done.... Full Story
21. Food-processing plants make comeback in Oakland
San Francisco Chronicle
October 25, 2009
For the first half of the 20th century, the Bay Area was the world's largest food-processing center, and Oakland, with scores of canneries, cerealmakers, bakeries and breweries became the area's leader - later helping to pioneer branded foods and supermarkets.
Oakland's food prowess waned as companies consolidated and moved away, but the city's edible economy appears to be on the rise and innovating once again....
"This is part of the yuppie food revolution, which has made people more conscious about what they eat and how far it has traveled to their table," said RICHARD WALKER, A GEOGRAPHY PROFESSOR AT UC BERKELEY, who has written extensively on the Bay Area's role in food production. "People's tastes seem to be changing, but Americans are still very accepting of commercial, standardized foods."
Walker noted that the Bay Area companies influenced that very standardization. He says that Del Monte, which started in San Francisco and had canneries in Oakland, was the nation's leading agribusiness company for most of the 20th century and was one of the first to brand food. Safeway, which moved to Oakland in 1929, went on to be one of the nation's leading supermarket chains. Its headquarters now are in Pleasanton.... Full Story
22. Preventing suicides at the tracks
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
October 24, 2009
There's nothing notable about the train crossing at Palo Alto's Meadow Drive, a weedy and gravel-lined site in a town of beauty and comfort.
But four students from one school in the past six months have traveled there to end their lives, a pattern that stuns and mystifies this community. A fifth attempt was interrupted....
Studying the students, experts are puzzled. While several lived near the tracks, the crossing is far from Gunn High School, 1.7 miles away; another crossing is closer....
Some say Gunn seems touched by an insidious "meme" — an infectious idea or practice — that wrongly suggests to students that death by train is romantic, painless and acceptable because it was done by others.
Iconic spots gain an allure in troubled minds. One landmark study by UC BERKELEY'S RICHARD SEIDEN found that 58 people drove across the Bay Bridge on their way to jump from their cars and commit suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge....
[This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times] Full Story
23. Bottom Line
San Francisco Chronicle
October 25, 2009
...Climatic differences: One of the key stumbling blocks in the U.N. climate negotiations, which are staggering toward the Copenhagen summit in December, is the issue of intellectual property rights relating to the transfer of U.S. emissions-reducing technologies to developing nations. India and China essentially want them given away. U.S. high-tech and business interests, notably including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, feel differently.
A two-day conference, held by the CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC POLICY AT UC BERKELEY beginning Monday, is looking for ways to hash the differences out. It's open to the public. Details at links.sfgate.com/ZILM. Full Story
24. Is the GI Bill just an IOU?
Like me, tens of thousands of student veterans are still waiting for the government to make good on its promise of education benefits.
Los Angeles Times
October 25, 2009
In the military, I learned to expect screw-ups, especially when it came to money. So maybe the Department of Veterans Affairs is just trying to ease my transition to civilian life by doing things the military way in its handling of Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits.
Student veterans began applying for education benefits in May, and we were supposed to have our tuition paid and receive our housing and book stipends in August. That didn't happen. ...
Along with healthcare, job experience and a steady paycheck, the GI Bill was one of my primary reasons for joining the Army in 2004. I went into the military -- and spent a year in Kirkuk province in northern Iraq -- with the express intention of pursuing graduate studies when my contract was up. Truth be told, I wouldn't be writing this column right now, as a STUDENT AT THE UC BERKELEY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM, were it not for the GI Bill. Or at least for the promise of the GI Bill.
At this rate, it will take longer for the VA to get me my education benefits than it took for the Army to turn me into a soldier....
When I received my first tuition bill in August and realized the VA had not yet paid for my tuition and fees (nor my book and living stipends), I frantically called the financial aid office trying to figure out what to do. After a handful of calls, a financial aid representative reassured me that the loans I qualified for (and would now have to take out) would cover enough of the tuition so that I wouldn't be kicked out of school or be charged a late-payment fee. UC BERKELEY'S VA REPRESENTATIVE, MICHAEL COOPER, couldn't provide me with any further guidance. Once he submitted my paperwork to the VA, he said, it was out of his control, and he hasn't received so much as an automated e-mail from them since.
...While sweltering under the weight of 70 pounds of body armor in Iraq, grateful to make it through the day in one piece, the prospect of returning to school and planning for the future was something to keep me focused. I even kept several GRE study guides in my room, though I rarely had time to open them.
But those days are behind me. Or so I thought. Now, as my fellow student veterans and I are moving on with our lives, we are forced to once again resort to military tactics -- we'll suck it up and drive on. Full Story
25. Column One: Rep. Pete Stark: ambition vs. a big mouth
One of Congress' most impolitic politicians is next in line for a plum leadership role. Stay tuned.
Los Angeles Times
October 26, 2009
Reporting from Washington - PETE STARK is sitting in a gilded meeting room in the House of Representatives. It is home to the powerful Ways and Means Committee that the Northern California Democrat might never chair, precisely because of the sort of verbal exchange he is attempting to explain at the moment:
"He said to me, 'Don't pee on my leg.' And in a sense I said, 'I won't.' "...
His colorful tirades don't offend the working-class Fremont district that has sent him to Washington 19 times. Now, though, Stark's temper threatens to cost him one of the most prestigious seats in Congress -- chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee....
Elected in 1972 on an antiwar platform, Stark built a reputation as a tax law reformer and a fierce champion of universal healthcare. Among his legislative achievements: the COBRA law that lets workers keep health insurance coverage for a time after leaving a job; improved unemployment compensation; and legislation banning emergency rooms from dumping patients who can't pay....
A GRADUATE DEGREE FROM UC BERKELEY brought him to the Bay Area. Vietnam changed his politics.... Full Story
26. How I Made It: Vanessa Morrison
Fox Animation Studios' president started out as an intern Vanessa Morrison has climbed the ranks since being hired 15 years ago. As animation president, she oversees development, production and marketing of family-friendly movies.
Los Angeles Times
October 25, 2009
The gig: As president of Fox Animation Studios, VANESSA MORRISON oversees development, production and marketing of family-friendly movies made by the studio's Greenwich, Conn.-based digital animation house, Blue Sky Studios. Films produced under her tenure include the global blockbuster "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" and the upcoming releases "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," based on Roald Dahl's 1970 novel, and 3-D animated comedy "Rio."...
Background: An only child who grew up in Berkeley, MORRISON'S LATE FATHER [HARRY L. MORRISON] WAS A PHYSICS PROFESSOR AND A DEAN AT UC BERKELEY, and her mother was an elementary school teacher and artist. She has a vivid recollection of the movies she watched as a child, particularly Japanese Godzilla films, "The Red Balloon" and a British version of "Alice in Wonderland."...
Education: WHILE MAJORING IN RHETORIC AT UC BERKELEY, she took classes in experimental film and critical studies with an eye toward a possible career in the business.
"I cherish that time, watching a lot of different kinds of movies -- from Stan Brakhage's experimental movies to traditional Hollywood musicals like "An American in Paris."
"My dad grew up as an African American man with a modest upbringing in Virginia during segregation. He was raised in a neighborhood that didn't get paved roads until the '50s. He got a PhD in chemistry at Catholic University, was the first African American officer to teach at the Air Force Academy, and became ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TENURED PHYSICS PROFESSORS AT BERKELEY in the mid-60s."...
The path: After graduating from Berkeley in 1991, Morrison landed an unpaid internship in the story department at Columbia Pictures.... Full Story
27. Obituary: Architect Lawrence Halprin dies
San Francisco Chronicle
October 26, 2009
San Francisco -- LAWRENCE HALPRIN, a landscape architect who shaped the look of Northern California as much as any single designer, died Sunday. He was 93.
His career spanned 60 years, touching such cultural landmarks as Ghirardelli Square, Market Street, the restoration of Stern Grove and the original design of UC-BERKELEY'S SPROUL PLAZA. He also was one of the creators of the design for Sea Ranch, the influential 5,000 acre community on the Sonoma Coast.... Full Story
28. 'The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb'
San Francisco Chronicle
October 25, 2009
Yes, R. Crumb lives in the South of France these days, but that hardly means he's spending his autumn years by a pool, sipping pastis. The man who founded Zap Comix in the '60s in San Francisco - and whose beloved characters include Mr. Natural and Fritz the Cat - has just published a mammoth work, The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb (Norton; 224 pages; $24.95). It may come as a surprise that Crumb has stayed faithful to the text of the Bible, largely basing his richly detailed - and sometimes graphic - panels on "The Five Books of Moses," a 2004 translation by the renowned scholar ROBERT ALTER OF UC BERKELEY. "I approached this as a straight illustration job," Crumb writes in his introduction, "with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes. That said, I know that you can't please everybody." Crumb will discuss his book at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St. Tickets are $30-$60. (415) 292-1233. tickets.jccsf.org. Full Story
29. Letters to the Editor
New York Times & International Herald Tribune (*requires registration)
October 25, 2009
To the Sports Editor:
The underlying egalitarianism of running was made clear to me many years ago. Thirty or 40 minutes after most of us had finished a 10-kilometer race, we heard the winner yelling: “Clear the way! Runner coming in!” He was barely plodding alongside a heavyset middle-age woman, the last-place finisher.
He had been warming down when he spotted her, preparing to drop out. Instead he talked her into finishing by promising to run with her for the last mile.
None of us who had finished behind him saw his action as a diminution of his victory. Instead we recognized it as a class act.
T. J. PEMPEL, [UC BERKELEY POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR]
Berkeley, Calif. Full Story
30. Art in brief: Rufus Wainwright postpones S.F. Symphony gig, Duncan Sheik fills in.
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
October 26, 2009
...Youssou N'Dour Cancels: Scheduling conflicts have forced famed Senegalese world music singer Youssou N'Dour to cancel his performance slated for Nov. 12 at UC BERKELEY'S ZELLERBACH HALL, concert presenter CAL PERFORMANCES has announced.
Refunds are available at the point of purchase. Contact 510-642-9988 or www.calperformances.org. for more information.... Full Story
31. San Francisco Food Blog: Organizers at U.C. Berkeley Want to Make the World's Longest California Roll. Why?
SF Weekly
October 26, 2009
Yeah, this is how we roll: Food history may be made on Sunday, Nov. 8, when a group in Berkeley attempts to make the world's longest California roll.
Eight years ago, a group in Maui set a record for a 300-foot-long roll. The Cal organizers hope to beat the record and "bring the California roll record back to Cal!" Eaters, you will be able to eat the results of the sushi made with crab (or, um, krab), cucumber, and avocado, all wrapped in vinegared rice -- after the proper photos and documentation take place. In Japan, the California roll has gained popularity, and is known as kashu-maki (literally, "California roll"). Credit for the roll's invention usually goes to Ichiro Manashita, of L.A.'s Tokyo Kaikan restaurant, sometime in the early 1970s.
The Berkeley roll-a-thon happens at Sather Gate on the Cal campus, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Organizers are planning to set up 56 tables for the event, which is sponsored by U.C.'S CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES and CAL DINING. You can sign up as an unaffiliated individual or as part of a team -- register here. But keep in mind that team leaders are expected to show up tomorrow at 8 p.m. for a practice roll in the Unit 1 Residential Halls All-Purpose Room (College at Bowditch, Berkeley). Full Story