12/16/07
this time
of year is
for kids
&
Kate and
Sarah have a book for kids
find out
about it here
Jim Nevitt
emails
Morning,
Ron --
It's been
a while since I moved my studio from the Potter Creek area
of West Berkeley but I'm busier than ever. Anthony and Chris of
900
Grayson have encouraged me to continue showing my glasswork in
the
window, so I'm still connected to the area. (Not to mention the
great food there!). It was very hard to leave such a supportive
artists community there in West Berkeley. One of the local artists,
Nina MacKenzie of Arch Street Studios in the ActivSpace building,
is
showing her work with mine and another SF artist in the upcoming
Crucible Holiday Gifty Art Sale & Open House this weekend
(12/15 &
12/16). Check out their website.
It is my
memory that Crucible was in west-Berkeley but lost their use permit
after "neighborhood complaints."
"Historic holiday tradition lives on" writes Martin Snapp in our
Times.
"Eighty-six
years ago, a young man named Sundar Shadi came to this country
from Sarghoda, India, which is now part of Pakistan.
He came to
escape the religious prejudice from both Hindus and Muslims that
was directed toward him as a Sikh. Both his father and older brother
had been killed in sectarian violence.
He got a
job picking vegetables in Stockton, saving enough to enroll at
Cal, where he graduated in 1930 with a master's degree in horticulture.
He wanted
to teach, but the only job he could get was pumping gas. He worked
hard, made wise investments in real estate and eventually retired
to his home on the Arlington in El Cerrito.
That was
when he came into his true calling. In December 1949, his neighbors
woke up one day to find an elaborate Christmas display on his
sprawling hillside yard, featuring shepherds, wise men, angels,
camels, goats, sheep, doves, spires, minarets and domes -- all
lovingly handmade out of papier-meche and chicken wire.
The display
grew year after year until it depicted the whole town of Bethlehem,
with hundreds of hand-painted figures in a range of sizes, creating
the illusion of shepherds and their sheep in the foreground and
the town in the distance.
It quickly
became a beloved community institution, and not just in El Cerrito,
either. Tourists by the charter busloads came from as far away
as Sacramento and San Jose -- more than 70,000 each year, by conservative
estimate."
Richmond Ramblers' Cliff
Miller emails
10 eating Tips for the Holidays
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone
who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the
Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately.
Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can and quickly. You can't find
it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that
it has lots of calories in every sip?It's not as if you're going
to turn into an "eggnog-aholic" or something. It's a
treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you
think. It's Christmas.
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point
of gravy. Gravy does not stand-alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano
out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano.
Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim
milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like
buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to
control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party
is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello???
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and
New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else
to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after
circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food
and that eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table,
like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa,
position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you
can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful
pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to
see them again.
8.Same for pies. Apple, pumpkin and mincemeat -- have a slice
of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and
one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more
than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the
mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all costs. I mean,
have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the
party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.
It is my
understanding that our City plans a walk-through of west-Berkeley
by City -leaders and department-heads in much the same way they
toured south-Berkeley a while back--the walk-through is to acquaint
them with our area, its nature, strengths, and problems.
Yup, . .
.
in additon
to
John
Coltrane Park
Potter Creek
needs
Lester
Young Square
12/17/07
Do some Holiday
shopping right here in Potter Creek. Check out the beautifully
decorated stores on San Pablo just south of Caffe Trieste.
magnet is one of these shops
Camille owns
magnet, 2508 san pablo ave
510.848.1966
www.magnetboutique.com
"Duraflame firelogs are going green:Company
drops petroleum for plant-based wax" reports Reed Fujii of the Stockton
Record.
"Back
in 1969, California Cedar Products Co. figured out a clever way
to dispose of the tons of sawdust it generated in making wood-pencil
slats: Mix the powder with petroleum wax, itself a byproduct of
oil refining, to produce long-burning logs.
Thus was
born Duraflame Inc., today the top-selling brand of artificial
firelogs.
But time
brings change. After Cal Cedar's pencil-slat operation was moved
to China in 2001, Duraflame needed to find new sources of fiber
for its firelogs. That led it to establish plants in Somerset,
Ky., and Ontario, Canada, to tap other sources of sawdust. Logs
made in Stockton incorporate a varying mix of materials, including
ground almond and walnut shells from California orchards.
And now,
Duraflame officials said they will use only plant-based waxes
in their branded firelog products, eliminating consumption of
100 million pounds of petroleum wax per year.
What was
once a niche product has turned mainstream, particularly with
major U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart launching corporate initiatives
to offer and promote more Earth-friendly products."
Wendy Tokuda picked this story up for her Channel 5, 5:30
News a couple weeks back.
"If 'a world apart' ever applied to any
natural environment, the scene at Little St. Simons Island, with
its golden salt grasses glowing in the early-morning dawn, was
the clincher" reports
the Record's Peter Ottesen.
"Never
in my travels had I encountered such a tranquil, luminous scene
framed by Spanish moss that draped from trees on the edge of the
pristine island - a part of Georgia's Barrier Reef.
We were lured
to Little St. Simons by Phillip Berolzheimer, an avid fly fisher
and nature lover from Stockton, whose grandfather of the same
name purchased the unspoiled 10,000-acre island in 1908 as a family
retreat. The elder Berolzheimer was over-whelmed by the array
of natural values he discovered there - seven miles of shell-strewn
beaches that met forests of live oaks, cedar and slash pine -
intersected by tidal creeks and marshes that were abundant with
wildlife."
More about
the Island is here.
"Cattle rustling on the rise in California" reports George Raine of the
San Francisco Chronicle.
"The
other day, two young heifer calves were stolen from a dairy in
Tulare County. The thieves drove them to Kings County, where they
apparently discovered to their chagrin that the animals were branded.
That would
make selling them difficult. If they tried to sell the calves
at a livestock auction, the state brand inspectors would want
to see proof of ownership. Cops on the case think the thieves
figured they were toast. So, they simply tossed the animals out
of their car in downtown Hanford, in front of the flour mill at
Sixth and Green streets, and drove away. A car came by and struck
and killed one of the calves. The other one wandered a mile away,
ending up in a man's front yard."
12/18/07
Pete's Potter Creek rain
totals for Sunday AM to Monday AM, .25 inches and Monday AM till
about 9:00 this morning, .45 inches.
As the rainy season begins
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.
Last week Michael Pollan
was a luncheon guest at 900
GRAYSON. He wrote Omnivore's Delight
and other stuff. Check him out here.
"Absinthe on shelves no hallucination" writes Jenny Slafkosky in our Times.
'Swirl the glass of cloudy
liquid, and the delicate aroma of anise and herbs rises above
the rim. The first cool sip of absinthe is refreshing, like an
herbal spa treatment.
It seems benign enough, especially
when compared to the searing chemical-tasting concoctions of Red
Bull and vodka served in bars today. But the lore of absinthe
-- that it has driven people to hedonism, violence, even madness
-- has long made it a rebel's drink.
Known as "the green
fairy" or "green muse," it was a favorite drink
of Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and is said to
be the reason why Van Gogh cut off his own ear."
"Berkeley hopes to restore its downtown
to life" observes
Carolyn Jones of the San Fransico
Chronicle.
"Berkeley is one of
the most affluent, lively cities in the Bay Area, but its downtown
looks more like Tombstone, Ariz., on a slow day.
Shuttered businesses dot
the streets like tumbleweeds in a ghost town: Barnes and Noble.
Gateway Computers. UC Theater. Soon to join their grim ranks:
Ross Dress for Less and Shoe Pavilion.
'Berkeley's downtown plan
has resulted in a wonderful, vibrant, mixed-use community. It's
called Emeryville,' said Will Travis, chairman of the city committee
charged with revitalizing the beleaguered commercial district
around Shattuck and University avenues.
In a few years, downtown
Berkeley could look a bit more like downtown San Francisco under
a makeover plan to be considered Tuesday by the City Council -
a bustling urban center thick with hotels, office high-rises,
theaters and museums, but low on parking and sunlight."
"A ministry aboard motorcycles" writes Leslie Griffy in the San Jose Mercury
News. "Cross Motorcycle
Club reaches out to war widow, kids during their first Christmas
without fallen Marine.
A circle of about 50 motorcyclists
and their families held hands in the parking lot of a convenience
store Sunday afternoon in East San Jose.
They bowed their heads and
prayed before starting on a mission. 'God blesses us, and we've
been able to bless other people,' said Lupe Gomez, founder of
the Cross Motorcycle Club and Ministries.
Then they roared off to the
nearby home of an Iraq war widow, bearing gifts - and a message
of hope.
Marine Cpl. Carlos Gil Orozco,
23, died in September when his tank hit a bomb in Iraq. He left
behind his wife, Esmeralda Gil, the couple's 6-month-old son,
Kenny, and Carlos Jr., a 5-year-old Orozco had with his ex-girlfriend,
Nancy Ibarrola.
The motorcycle club, with
about 80 members across Northern California, aimed to bring cheer
to the family Orozco left behind. With Biker Santa, a.k.a Pete
Conti, in the lead, the caravan of bikes and goody-laden cars
arrived at Gil's parent's home like a hurricane.
Gil stood in the front yard,
bouncing little Kenny in her arms, and accepted hugs from the
crowd of near-strangers who came armed with holiday spirit. Next
to her, Ibarrola stood with Carlos Jr., who looks much like his
father, saying hello to bikers in leathers coming through the
gate."
Works for moi!
12/19/07
An update from the Planning
Commission about west-Berkeley is here.
Particularly important to
us is "Increased Flexibility for West Berkeley: Key Goals,
Actions, and Polices."
Richard Brenneman's report
on the Planning Commission meeting from which the "Increased
Flexibility . . . " proposal comes is "West
Berkeley Plan Changes Raise Questions for City" and is
in our Planet.
Pete Hurney has a new show
on KLAX called Midnight Ukelele Express. The first broadcast is
this Thursday from Midnight to 1:00 AM and, along with ukelele
music, features an exclusive 10 minute interview with uke virtuoso,
Jake Shimabukuro. The interview was recorded but Pete is broadcasting
live. Definitely check him out!
12/20/07
900 GRAYSON'S Chef, Josh Pearl is doing a "Cook's Night
Out" tonight with the Chronicle's Karola Saekal. They're
going to Vanessa's Bistro in Albany. Look for their impressions
in Karola's column in a future San Francisco Chronicle.
John Curl emails
We've got a sudden crisis
down at the Sawtooth/Kawneer building at
8th and Dwight, the largest arts and crafts building in the city,
housing over 50 studios, . . .
We've suddenly been notified that we're losing the City parking
lot
across the street on December 28. . . .
The parking lot, with around 50 spaces, is a community resource
for
adjoining blocks as well. . . .
The lot is owned by Bayer, but was leased to the city for many
years
as part of the long-term agreement. The lease has run out and
Bayer
has suddenly put up a sign that they are taking it back and cars
will
be towed. Two weeks notice. At the holidays.
Five years ago the city negotiated a 5-year extension on the lot.
At
that time the owner of the Sawtooth/Kawneer building offered to
buy
the lot and retain it as community parking. A group of other local
businesses also offered to buy the lot for parking. But Bayer
refused
to sell, and said at that time that they would be taking it back.
The
City told us that they recognized the importance of the lot for
the
neighborhood, and they would try to renegotiate it with Bayer
before
the end of the lease. . . .
The City Manager needs to intervene. The importance of this lot
for
the neighborhood cannot be over estimated.
Please help us bring this to the public's attention. We are asking
everyone to phone and email the mayor, the city manager, District
2
councilmember Moore, and the entire city council. . . . Notify
your friends.
Thank you.
Sawtooth Building Emergency Parking Committee
"What's surf without turf? Sea Salt gets
a makeover" reports
John Birdsall in our Times.
"We once named Anthony
Paone as among the East Bay's hardest working guys in kitchen
whites. The chef oversaw both T-Rex and Sea Salt, two Berkeley
restaurants whose menus couldn't be more different, despite
being siblings in the Haig and Cindy Krikorian corral, which also
includes Lalime's and Fonda. But Paone's workload got a bit lighter
last month when his focus narrowed to Sea Salt alone. Miles Kline,
sous chef at T-Rex since opening day and the guy in charge of
the postmodern barbecue joint's complex, bi-level wood smoker,
is now also exec chef.
That'll definitely ensure
rib continuity, but Sea Salt is now experiencing a long-contemplated
menu makeover: Paone is pouring his newly undivided energy into
moving beyond the restaurant's seafood- only policy to add meat
to the mix. Think lamb stew with polenta and small plates such
as pork rillettes."
"Asian eateries targeted : Police say same
robbers have hit at least 13 restaurants"
write Doug Oakley and Momo Chang in
our Times.
Two men police believe are
robbing East Bay Asian restaurants and their customers struck
twice in Albany in the past few days, bringing the number to at
least 13 in the past month.
Although Monday night's robbery
occurred at a Sizzler restaurant on San Pablo Avenue and involved
three suspects, Albany police say they believe two of the men
are the same ones who are holding up Asian
restaurants."
And "Glorious
gadgetry" writes Jolene Thym.
"No matter how many
gadgets or tools we have in our kitchen, there are always more
-- so many more that if we added them all to our kitchens, we'd
have to rent space to actually do a little cooking. Still, every
year a handful of new items pop up that beg to be tried."
"Building of homes plunges:Construction
of single-family houses hits lowest level in 16 years"
reports the AP's Martin Crutsinger.
"Housing construction
fell in November with single-family activity dropping to the lowest
level in more than 16 years. Analysts said the recession in housing
showed no signs of a turnaround."
12/21/07
Potter
Creek exposé
upcoming
Pete's Potter Creek rain
totals for Tuesday AM through Wednesday AM, .6 inches and Wednesday
AM through Thursday AM, 1.45 inches.
"Infamous drink finds a new home locally:
St. George Spirits plans to be the first distillery to sell absinthe
since it was banned in 1912"
moralizes Barbara E. Hernandez in the Times.
Absinthe can make the heart
grow fonder -- at least that's what Alameda's St. George Spirits
Inc. hopes customers will think Friday when they release 3,600
bottles of St. George Absinthe Verte for sale.
St. George Spirits Inc. is
the first American distillery to sell absinthe since it was banned
in 1912. Their first production run officially goes on sale Friday
at the distillery's tasting room and other Bay Area locations.
Of the 1,800 bottles sent to distributors, about 2,300 have been
claimed, master distiller Lance Winters said with a slight smile.
That means 500 bottles already are backordered.
Absinthe, the drink of moody
artists and writers, has been legal in the United States since
March, but St. George Spirits Inc. is the first American distillery
making a foray into the absinthe arena."
"Catering by Costco - we rate the appetizers" writes Aleta Watson of the Mercury News.
"Anyone with a Costco
card knows the big-box store is a great place for smoked salmon,
cheese and wine for a holiday party.
We were intrigued, however,
by the many products in the freezers and cold cases promising
an easy shortcut to fancy party hors d'oeuvres. Would it be possible
to corral enough great finds to create an elegant but no-fuss
celebration at bargain prices?"
"On scale from 1 to 32, Ohio St.-LSU game tops chart"
reports the Times.
"The following is an attempt to rank the
32 bowl games in terms of entertainment value.
That implies, of course,
that one could reasonably predict what is going to happen in a
game. As Appalachian State, Stanford and Colorado have taught
us, this may not be the right season to employ reason.
That unpredictability could
make this one of the most compelling bowl seasons in recent memory.
Can Hawaii crash the BCS victory party like Boise State did last
season? Was Illinois the right choice to be paired up with USC
in the Rose Bowl? Will Alabama and Cal complete their late-season
collapses? Will Florida State have enough eligible
players to field a team in the Music City Bowl?"
"I-80 will be zoned to allow car lots:
Berkeley hopes to hike sales tax income by allowing automobile
dealerships along highway" writes
the Times' Doug Oakley.
"Car dealerships could
soon pop up along Interstate 80 in Berkeley."
Check out the current issue
of our Planet! This reader's contribution issue has a welcomed
variety.
12/23/07
Carol Whitman,
one of Potter Creek's leading citizens, exposed.
Tomorrow,
the inside story!
"Outlook brighter at Fruitvale village:
After a slow start, retail component is now 90 percent filled" writes the Time's Francine
Brevetti
"Launched
in 2004 after decades of planning and designed to encourage a
multicultural neighborhood to flourish, the Fruitvale Transit
Village is now a bustling residential and commercial enclave surrounding
the Fruitvale BART station.
The retail
business had trouble gaining a foothold initially, but that seems
to be changing.
More than
90 percent of the retail space in the plaza off East 12th Street
has been filled, and all of the space available for community
and nonprofit groups is leased, officials said. Twenty of the
23 available retail spaces have been leased, and officials are
negotiating a lease on one more.
Of the center's
40,000 square feet of available space, 5,000 to 7,000 square feet
have been vacant in the past two years, said Jeff Pace, chief
operating officer for the Unity Council, a community group that
advocated for the plaza.
'What'' important
is tenant fit and tenant mix, not filling space,' Pace said. 'We
have a much stronger group of businesses now and much more traffic
than in 2004.' "
"Consumer spending makes surprising leap:
November's 1.1 percent increase was the biggest in 31/2 years,
calming recession fears" reports the AP's Martin Crutsinger
'Consumers
put aside worries about slumping home sales and soaring gasoline
prices and headed to the malls in November, pushing spending up
by the largest amount in 31/2 years. The better-than-expected
surge lessened fears of an imminent recession.
The Commerce
Department reported Friday that consumer spending shot up 1.1
percent last month, nearly triple the October gain. It was the
biggest one-month jump since a 1.2 percent rise in May 2004 and
was significantly higher than the 0.7 percent gain analysts had
expected."
"Job seekers in East Bay feel pinch" reports George Avalos of our
Times.
"The
East Bay economy, battered by the meltdown in the housing and
mortgage markets, has lurched into a deepening employment slump,
according to a government report released Friday.
The Alameda
County-Contra Costa County region lost 1,800 jobs in November,
adjusted for seasonal changes."
"Fraud and financial innovation: The match
king"
reports The Economist.
"Ivar
Kreuger was the world's greatest swindler. He would have thrived
today."
[on The
Economist home-page, search"Krueger"]
"Mao and the art of management:
A role model, of sorts" writes The Economist.
"Books
on management tend to define success in the broadest possible
terms--great product, happy employees, continuous improvement,
gobs of profits, crushed competitors. Even when words such as
'excellence' and 'success' are omitted from the title, they are
often implicit. A case in point is the book which many would say
defined the genre, Alfred Sloan's 'My Years with General Motors',
published in 1963 when GM was still an iconic company and Sloan
correctly acknowledged as the architect of the well-run, decentralised,
global corporation.
But focusing
on how the best produce the best has its limits. Most managers,
after all, do not stitch an industrial triumph from a vast bankrupt
junkyard, as Sloan did. They do not delight their customer, crush
competitors and create vast wealth. They struggle. They stumble.
Where is
the book for them? Who can help the under-performing, over-compensated
chief executive fighting to survive intrusive journalists, independent
shareholders and ambitious vice-presidents who could do a better
job? Where is the role model for the manager who really needs
a role model most, the one who by any objective measure of performance
cannot, and should not, manage at all?
An obvious
candidate is Mao. Yes, he was head of a country, not a company.
But he self-consciously carried a business-like title, 'chairman',
while running China from 1949 until dying in office in 1976, having
jailed, killed, or psychologically crushed a succession of likely
replacements and therefore created the classic business
problem: a succession void. He thought of himself as, in his own
words, an 'indefatigable teacher' and the famous 'Little Red Book'
drawn from his speeches is packed with managerial advice on training,
motivation and evaluation of lower-level employees (cadres); innovation
('let a hundred flowers bloom'); competition ('fear no sacrifice');
and, of course, raising the game of the complacent manager (relentless
self-criticism)."
[on The
Economist home-page, search'Mao']
BBC News reports "FBI
planned mass arrests in 1950
The FBI boss
wanted suspects held in military and federal prisons. Former FBI
director J Edgar Hoover had a plan to arrest 12,000 Americans
he deemed a possible threat to national security, declassified
papers reveal.
The FBI chief
sent his proposal to US President Harry Truman just after the
start of the Korean War in 1950, The New York Times newspaper
reports.
He asked
the president to declare the mass arrest necessary to counter
'treason, espionage and sabotage'."
12/24/07
inside Carol
Whitman's foot
those are
pins screwed into her bones
Several weeks
ago Carol--of Bob and Carol--underwent an operation at Kaiser
to strengthen her foot--she was under the knife for seven hours.
The operation was a success though the first week or so after
she was virtually immobile and in GREAT pain. But, she's better
now and getting around on crutches and even back at work.
Zo . . .
MERRY
CHRISTMAS!
Potter
Creek gardens on a Christmas Eve past
HAPPY KWANZAA!
Sadly, Oscar
Peterson has passed.
"Oscar Peterson, whose early talent and
speedy fingers made him one of the world's best known jazz pianists,
died at age 82.
His death
was confirmed by Hazel McCallion, mayor of Mississauga, Ontario,
the Toronto suburb where Peterson lived. McCallion told The Associated
Press that he died of kidney failure. The Canadian Broadcasting
Corp. said he died Sunday."
But check
out The
Great Debaters,
a film from "two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington
and an ensemble cast lead by Washington that includes Academy
Award winner Forest Whitaker."
12/25/07
Ron Faich,
college-roomate at Madison and old-time friend emails
2008 Contract
After serious
& cautious consideration.....your contract of
friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2008!
It was a
very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!
Ron also
provides some of the best non-Berkeley photos used in Scrambled
Eggs
A crew spent
all yesterday trimming and cleaning the French School facility
on 8th and Grayson.
"Dragon tale: Edward's day of giving" is a Times' story by
Sarah Wilson
"Edward
was a very young dragon who made his home in a cozy grove of pine
trees. The trees were on a rocky hill near a small town. And since
he -- like all young dragons -- ate rocks for dinner and pebbles
for snacks -- he was quite happy."
"Americans' credit card debt surges: Specialists say problem is
partly a byproduct of mortgage crisis and could spell trouble
for economy" report the AP's Rachel Konrad and Bob
Porterfield.
"Americans
are falling behind on their credit card payments at an alarming
rate, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit
percentages in the past year and prompting warnings of worse to
come.
An Associated
Press analysis of financial data from the country's largest card
issuers found that the greatest rise was among accounts more than
90 days in arrears.
Experts say
that these signs of the deterioration of many households' finances
are partly a byproduct of the subprime mortgage crisis and could
spell more trouble ahead for an already sputtering economy.
'Debt eventually
leaks into other areas, whether it starts with the mortgage and
goes to the credit card or vice versa,' said Cliff Tan, a visiting
scholar at Stanford University and an expert on credit risk. 'We're
starting to see leaks now.'
The value
of credit card accounts at least 30 days late jumped 26 percent
from a year earlier to $17.3 billion in October at 17 large credit
card trusts examined by the AP. That represented more than 4 percent
of the total outstanding principal balances owed to the trusts
on credit cards that were issued by banks such as Bank of America
and Capital One and for retailers such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart.
At the same
time, defaults -- when lenders essentially give up hope of ever
being repaid and write off the debt -- rose 18 percent in October
to almost $961 million, according to filings made by the trusts
with the Securities and Exchange Commission."
Zo , . .
. check out the enormous dollar store--The Dollar
Tree-- on Shattuck
one block north of Dwight--it's on the north-west corner. The
address is 2440 Shattuck.
12/26/07
"Oscar Peterson was widely considered one
of jazz's greatest pianists" reports BBC News.
"As
a child, Oscar Peterson - who has died at the age of 82 - began
learning to play the trumpet, but a bout of tuberculosis caused
him to switch to the piano.
This proved
to be a blessing, since he was to become one of the most popular
virtuoso jazz pianists.
He made more
than 200 albums and won eight Grammy awards, including a lifetime
achievement honour in 1997.
His hallmark
was the capacity to play at lightning speed, while maintaining
the ability to swing. What's more, he could play in a variety
of jazz styles."
Last night--12/25/07--between
6:30 PM and 7:00PM my dark-blue 1979 Toyota 4X4 was stolen from
my driveway. It was locked and parked in my fully-lighted-drive.
Its license number is 1U51703. It is in excellent condition with
some paint chipping here and there and with 210,00 miles.
Any information should forwarded to Berkeley PD Auto Theft at
981-5738.
Sadly, it took Berkeley PD two-hours to respond to my call. I
reported the theft at roughly 7:10 and an officer arrived about
9:15 PM. The officer was courteous, efficient, well-informed and
young. Congrats on all that!
Council Woman,
Linda Maio emails
Sorry to
hear this Ron. Very sorry.
Linda
I've received
quite a few email saying how sorry the writers are. Well, Ok .
. . now what are we going to do about it?
Andy Kruse
emails
Ron- We are
sorry to hear about your truck. I will forward your email throughout
L.J. Kruse Co. We'll keep our eyes open for you.
Andy
A reader
emails from Albuqerque, NM
Sorry to
learn about this, Ron. . . . I looked at the crime
map for your zipcode, and was distressed to see how crime-ridden
your
area is. I know you're very attached to the neighborhood, the
people, history, etc., but with the crime and bad air quality,
have
you considered relocating . . . Just a thought. With my lungs
harmed from 47 years of
smoking, there's no way I could tolerate the air you live in.
. . . Also, while we have crime,
it's nothing like what you have there.
Sooner than
later, some of my thoughts on the west-Berkeley Plan.
12/27/07
"A
Buyer's Christmas" reports
James Surowiecki in the New Yorker.
"Retailers
are undeniably good at the tricks of their trade. So why has retailing
gotten so hard? In part, it's because of imitation: when one store
hits on a useful gimmick, competitors copy it. But it's the Internet
that made the biggest difference, albeit not in the ways we often
think. People once believed that the Net was going to transform
where we shopped, that it was going to make physical stores obsolete.
It hasn't: even today, online sales are roughly three per cent
of total retail sales in the U.S.
What it has
changed is how we shop, for a simple reason: it has created informed
shoppers. In the past, retailers could make profits from what
economists call 'information asymmetry' sellers knew much more
about prices, quality, and value than consumers did, in large
part because good information for consumers was either hard to
obtain or just not available at all. Today, it's easy to research
an comparison-shop, and most consumers do it for at least some
of their purchases. A recent study by Accenture found that two-thirds
of those surveyed compared products online; a similar study, by
the Consumer Electronics Association and Yahoo, found that more
than three-quarters of electronics purchases are researched online
but actually occur in conventional stores. And the amount of time
people are spending on their research is far from trivial: fifteen
hours for televisions, twelve for digital cameras, and so on."
12/30/07
"State senate leader not harmed in daytime
carjacking in Oakland" reports Kamika Dunlap in our Times.
"California
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata escaped uninjured Saturday
from a gun-wielding man who robbed him of his state-leased car
at a red light in North Oakland, police said."
And, "Richmond
Sikh slayings stump police" report Karl Fischer and Kimberly S. Wetzel.
"Two
men shuffled down San Pablo Avenue on a wet December night. They
passed a burger joint and doughnut shop before pausing at'the
door to Sahib Indian Restaurant.
One banged
on the window. "You open?' he mouthed to the man inside.
It was a
few minutes past 9 on Thursday night. Ravinder Kalsi, who owned
the place with his brother, had locked up minutes earlier. Perhaps
hoping to hear better, he turned the lock.
Opening the
door became his last act in life."
NBC Network
News reported last night that police officer deaths nation-wide
were up 25% over last year.
"Spotlight shines on solar-powered theater" writes our Times' Pat
Craig.
"Using
the sun to illuminate plays isn't exactly a new idea -- the ancient
Greeks did it out of necessity.
However,
using solar power to light up a stage is quite new. Today, Berkeley's
Shotgun Players become the first legitimate stage company to go
completely off the grid and pull its power from the sun. The
$120,000 investment will not only save the group about $10,000
a year, but also show that solar is a practical way for a smaller
operation to erase its carbon footprint."
"New parking structure alters UC Berkeley's
south side"
writes our Doug Oakley.
"Construction
crews are putting the finishing touches on a $35 million parking
garage at UC Berkeley that adds 1,000 underground spaces on the
south side of campus.
The lot is
restricted to students and staff at UC Berkeley on weekdays but
is open to the public evenings and weekends."
"New-home market slowest since 1995: Sales
rise slightly in West, plunge in other parts of the country" writes the AP's Jeannine
Aversa
"Sales
of new homes plunged last month to their lowest level in more
than 12 years, a grim testament to the problems plaguing the housing
sector."
Berkeley
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:
Officer Andrew
Frankel, Berkeley PD - 981-5774 AFrankel@ci.berkeley.ca.us
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
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