November 2003
11/30/03
Aesop's
THE CAT AND THE FOX
Once a Cat
and a Fox were traveling together. As they went along, picking
up provisions on the way--a stray mouse here, a fat chicken there--they
began an argument to while away the time between bites. And, as
usually happens when comrades argue, the talk began to get personal.
"You think
you are extremely clever, don't you?" said the Fox. "Do
you pretend to know more than I? Why, I know a whole lot of tricks!"
"Well," retorted the Cat. "I admit I know one trick
only, but that one, let me tell you, is worth a thousand of yours!"
Just then,
close by, they heard a hunter's horn and the yelping of a pack
of hounds. In an instant the Cat was up a tree, hiding among the
leaves.
"This
is my trick," he called to the Fox. "Now let me see
what yours are worth."
But the Fox
had so many plans for escape he could not decide which one to
try first. He dodged here and there with the hounds at his heels.
He doubled on his tracks, he ran at top speed, he entered a dozen
burrows, --but all in vain. The hounds caught him, and soon put
an end to the boaster and all his tricks.
Common sense
is always worth more than cunning.
11/29/03
"Berkeley's
budget crisis was thrown into even more turmoil this week as the
City Council voted not to seek voter approval of a parcel tax.
Now the city must find a way to replace the $7 million per year
the tax would have generated" writes Martin Snapp of the
West County Times in "Berkeley
Back to Square One After Tax Nixed."
And
the San Francisco Chronicle's Meredith May offers "CD,
movie donations benefit Berkeley schools. Donations to benefit
music in Berkeley" in her "School
Notes."
11/28/03
Friends' weekend-morning
in Potter Creek
11/25/03
Today is
Suriname
Independence
Day.
Duncan returned home Sunday.
&
Happy Thanksgiving!
11/24/03
Chris and Jim Randall's cat,
Duncan, is missing. Have you seen him? Duncan is a year old long-haired
tabby cat. Chris and Jim live in the live/work building at the
corner of 9th and Pardee. Duncan is an indoor/outdoor cat, but
did not come home on Friday,
November 21st. They think that he may have wondered into one of
the local businesses in the 9th Street/Pardee area and got locked
in for the weekend. Any information would be helpful. Their phone
number is 510-644-9724 and their email chrisrandall@sbcglobal.net
11/23/03
More thoughts from S.D. Alinsky.
. . . conventional community
agency programs are predicated upon two major fallacies . . .
the first is that they view each problem of the community as if
it were independent of all other problems. . . . a real [organization]
calmly accepts the overwhelming fact that all problems are related
. . .
Caffe Trieste has applied for a permit
to operate at 2500 San Pablo Avenue. The permit would allow operating
a "quick service restaurant" of 1268 square feet, between
7:00 AM and 11:00 PM, with sidewalk seating, live entertainment
on Friday and Saturday evening, and the sale of beer and wine.
A hearing was held November 13, 2003 and no vote was taken at
that hearing. But they received their permit last week and hope
to open in February.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
and Daniel Williams of the Washington Post write "The
U.S. military is using 2,000-pound bombs and precision-guided
missiles in Iraq for the first time since April as part of a tactical
shift designed in part to intimidate resistance fighters"
in their
story at MSNBC.com
11/22/03
Today is National
Day in Lebanon.
"At least two federal
agencies were expected to probe Wells Fargo's procedures to control
and protect the sensitive data of its customers; regulators said
Friday. . . . it appears that the Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency . . . have primary oversight." writes George
Avalos of the West County Times in "Stolen
Computer Had IDs of Thousands."
"Wells is really scared"
said a reliable source to me yesterday.
"EarthLink will begin
collecting publicly available demographic information about our
subscribers. We will use this information to help us better understand
our subscribers, so we can provide new and improved products and
services." Oh great!? You can read more about this here.
I'm reminded of something from Tocqueville's Democracy in America by these small yet continuous
invasions of our privacy. "It
must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave
men in the minor details of life. . . . Subjugation in minor affairs
breaks out every day, . . . till they are led to surrender the
exercise of their will. Thus their spirit is gradually broken
and their character enervated . . ."
Also in the West County Times
is "Berkeley,
UC Plan to Relocate Two Museums"
by Martin Snapp.
11/21/03
Ok, . . . maybe I should see
a priest or rabbi.
I had a dream last night about
Potter Creek. Rick and I were in a coffee house discussing how
best to find out about the feelings and needs of the citizens
of Potter Creek. (Rick was accompanied by a person best described
as a gorgeous and politically savvy but disinterested hippy-chick.
) Rick thought that if we listened to enough LPs we could get
a sense of what our fellow citizens wanted. I agreed, since over
the years the LP has been very good to me, and besides Rick had
a large collection of Sixties Rock and Blues. We felt that maybe
listening to Blues would be the best way to proceed. Then a figure
at the next table--a cross between Pete Seeger and our own David
S.--came over and said we were full of bleep and should simply
ask our neighbors.
Naw, . . . there's no need
to see a holy man. I feel better having written about it.
Whatever else--in your own
neighborhood--Emeryville's Bay Street lets
you dress up to browse and shop expensive stores just like
downtown.
There' a wonderful new photo book about our music
by Annie Leibovitz. It is American
Music: Photographs published by Random House, ISBN 0375505075.
The cover photo is an LP on a turntable which of course I love.
I have learned from a reliable source that sensitive
consumer credit information has been stolen from one of our major
banks. This information was on the computer--presumably off site--of
a hired consultant. What the f&*k was this sensitive information
doing on a consultant's computer?
David Lazarus of the San Francisco Chronicle
elaborates in "A
Simple Theft Nets Wells a World of Woe: Break-in Behind Bar Puts
Clients' Data at Risk." Behind a f&*king sports
bar? Save a few bucks by out-sourcing, did you Mr. Wells?
(I uploaded my post yesterday afternoon--scooped
the Chron by half a day, I did.)
More thoughts from S.D. Alinsky.
. . . the
real democratic program is a democratically minded program--a healthy, active, participating,
interested, self-confident people, who through their participation
and interest, become informed, educated, and above all develop
a faith in themselves, their fellow man, and their future. The
people themselves are the future. The people themselves will solve
each problem that will arise out of a changing world. . . . The
very character of (their) organization will be a social incarnation
of that flaming call of the French Revolution, "Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity," or what the world's great religions
describe as respect for "the
dignity of man."
11/20/03
Scott Marshall of the West
County Times offers his provocative "Lawmakers:
Troops are Ill-Equiped." Also see my 10/30/03 post.
More thoughts from S.D. Alinsky.
The present power age defines
and evaluates everything in terms of power. To this common and
accepted view the field of organization has been no exception.
. . . organization will generate power which will be controlled
and applied for the attainment of a program [and] only through
organization can a . . . program be developed. When people are
brought together, or organized, they get to know each other's
point of view; they reach compromises on many of their differences;
they learn that many opinions which they entertain solely as their
own are shared by others, and they discover that many problems
which the had all thought of only as "their" problems
are common to all. . . . Out of this social interplay emerges
a common agreement, and that is the . . . program. Then the other
function of the organization becomes important: the use of power
in order to fulfill the program.
Calliopes-one of my all-time
favorite instruments-always appeared at the end of a circus parade.
This was not just to save the ears of the performers from its
shrill sound but to save their lives as well: it seems that these
steam powered music-instruments blew up now and then.
11/18/03
Today is Latvia National Day and Oman National Day.
Bruce
Herman would like to thank Ann Honigman and Steve Bretow of Westside Family Chiropractic
for dropping
off their card.
But
Bruce assures me that after his extreme make-over he's really
fine. Ann
and Steve are at 2560 Ninth Street and their phone is 510-843-5700.
11/17/03
They've been in the neighborhood
so long I'd forgotten about them until yesterday when I went to
Yabusaki's Dwight Way Nursery and bought two Tobouchina plants.
The Yabusaki family has owned Dwight Way Nursery for over 18 years
but the nursery has been in that location for much longer--over
one-hundred years. Dwight Way Nursery is located at 1001 Dwight
Way. Their phone number is 510-845-6261. (They have a wonderful
selection, are well informed, and are very helpful.)
And, Rick's camper-truck has
been part of Potter Creek as long as I can remember. It's also
of a Berkeley tradition. I'll upload Rick's photos of his vehicle
soon.
11/15/03
A story about our Country
Joe McDonald can be read in Meredith May's
School Notes.
My memory is that Ms. May,
by her reporting two years ago, was responsible for bringing attention
to Emeryville's mismanaged School District. She seems to have
made a difference. Read "School
District's Back in the Black: Emeryville emerges from bankruptcy
in 2-year turnaround."
More thoughts
In
our modern urban civilization, multitudes of our people [live
in] urban anonymity--living the kind of life where many of them
neither know nor care about their own neighbors. . . . This course
of urban anonymity, of individual divorce from the general social
life, erodes the foundations of democracy. . . . More than an
hundred years ago Tocqueville, in his Democracy in America, gravely warned the American people of
a basic inconsistency of their democratic way of life. . . . "It must not be forgotten that
it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details
of life. . . . Subjugation in minor affairs breaks out every day,
. . . till they are led to surrender the exercise of their will.
Thus their spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated
. . ."
11/14/03
More thoughts from S.D. Alinsky.
The Chinese write the word
"crisis" with two characters. One means danger and the
other means opportunity. Together they spell crisis.
The danger is the fear of
the future. We face the unknown. The world we knew as recently
as yesterday is as dead as though it had died a century ago. Many
people nevertheless long for a return to what used to be. Fear
of looking squarely ahead . . . is one of the most significant
factors in creating [a] crisis. Unless we constantly peer into
the future we will not see the many opportunities the future holds
. . . . knowledge and foresight are among our most invaluable
weapons.
We know from all about us
that the democratic way of life is the most efficient instrument
that man can use . . . . We know that to date most of our pain,
frustration, defeat, and failure have come from using an imperfect
instrument--a partial democracy. . . . the eternal truth of the
democratic faith [is] that the solution always lies with the people.
"A Chocolate Lover's
Dream; Could the forbidden passion be (gulp) good for us?"
is at MSNBC.com
11/13/03
"Is
this Saddam's Counterattack? ask Vernon Loeb and Thomas
E. Ricks of the Washington Post.
"A new government report claims that while
the troops are fighting far from home, red tape is preventing
many of them from being paid" reports Lisa
Myers at NBC.com
11/11/03
Today is
Armistice Day-Remembrance Day-Veterans
Day.
11/9/03
And just
what is it that Albert's smoking in that pipe?
There was, as it turned out,
just a trash-can fire in the École Bilingue playground
Saturday evening. I called 911, and Berkeley F.D. was there literally
in a few minutes. (The trash-can burned to the ground but nothing
else was damaged. What I saw in the rain was a large burning puddle
on the playground surface. Since it looked as if the ground itself
was on fire, I had to choose between calling a priest or rabbi
or Berkeley F. D.. I chose the latter. "Spontaneous combustion"
remarked a very large accompanying Berkeley police officer.)
11/8/03
Here are some thoughts from
S. D. Alinsky.
Thomas Jefferson wrote to
Henry Lee in 1824 that "'Men by their constitution are naturally
divided into two parties: Those who fear and distrust the people
[and those] who identify themselves with the people, have confidence
with them . . .'"
The first part of the Prayer
of St. Francis of Assisi is "'Lord, make me an instrument
of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there
is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is
darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.'"
" . . . man is not just
an economic man. The complete man is one who is making a definite
contribution to the general social welfare and who is a vital
part of that community of interests, values, and purposes that
make life and people meaningful."
" . . . constant dissension
and conflict is and has been the fire under the boiler of democracy."
"Liberals, in common
with . . . conservatives, lay claim to the precious quality of
impartiality, of cold objectivity, and to a sense of mystical
impartial justice which enables them to view both sides of an
issue. . . . Caught on the horns of this dilemma they are paralyzed
into immobility."
" . . . nothing can be
lifted or moved except through power."
And, Alinsky reminded me that
during the American Revolution Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet,
Common Sense.
11/7/03
"What, me worry?"
"Me, . . . I'm worried!"
This will appear in the San Francisco Chronicle and other
local papers and the New York Times will run an abbreviated
version in the Sunday paper this weekend.
BRAVER, ALBERT ELIJAH - age 85, died at home in
Berkeley on November 1, 2003.
Beloved husband of Agi (Veronica) Braver for thirty years; loving
father of
Deborah Braver of Sacramento, Lisa Braver Moss (Mark Moss) of
Piedmont, Erica
Braver Gleason of Oakland, and Margo Braver (Gerhard Engels) of
San Francisco,
adoring grandfather of Bradley Gleason, Evan and Reuben Moss,
and Jeremy
Engels; cherished uncle of Stephen Marmer, Elisabeth Schlessinger,
and Richard
Marmer and their families; dear in-law of Clara Stroud and her
wonderful family
and Peter and Teri Ashley; patriarch of the clan.
A native of Brooklyn and a sixty-year Berkeley resident,
Albert owned Campus
Records and Campus Smoke Shop at Bancroft and Telegraph in the
50s and 60s,
and was a U.C. campus neighborhood fixture and raconteur who introduced
many to
classical music. Later he opened Magnum Opus, an imported basket
store on
College Avenue where he worked side by side with Agi. Wiry, witty
and lively to
the end, Albert was passionate about music, books, succulents,
polyhedra,
scientific breakthroughs, sculpting, the New York Times crossword
(which he did in
ink), and most of all, his family. He will be greatly missed.
A celebration of Albert's life will be held at the
Crowden School, 1475 Rose
Street, Berkeley 94702, on Sunday, November 23 at 2 p.m. In lieu
of flowers,
donations may be made to the Crowden Music Center, same address,
attn: Albert
Braver Musical Instrument Fund.
11/6/03
There will be a celebration of Albert Braver's life on Sunday,
November 23 at 2 PM at the Crowden School, 1475 Rose Street, Berkeley
94702 and Albert's family is establishing a fund for musical instruments
for kids who can't afford them. This will be done thru the Crowden
Music Center in Berkeley.
11/5/03
When
Chris Strachwitz was recording Fred McDowell in the mid-Sixties,
he used to stop by Campus Records on Telegraph Avenue. He would
drop off records, schmooze with Albert, and check out sales and
the Scene. I remember Chris talking excitedly about a blues singer
he had just recorded. I didn't understand the significance of
that discovery until recently when listening to some of these
LPs from Richard Adelman's collection. A CD collection from these
records is available on "The Best of Mississippi Fred McDowell"
Arhoolie 501 (c2001).
Jim
Marshall cover photo of the LP, Arhoolie F 1027, Fred McDowell
Vol. 2
Though probably not its intent,
Nicolas Boer's trendy "Don't
Be Sheepish" can be read as a story
about the inevitable consequence of eating meat. Yep, we slaughter
and eat those cute little critters.
11/3/03
My mentor, Albert E. Braver, died Saturday, suddenly
and peacefully in his wife's arms. He was 85. Albert was a music
soul and the last time we met, he sang a good portion of the Sarabande
from Bach's Suite for Cello in c to me. Stories about Albert can
be read in "Back in
the Day: Selling Records on Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue."
11/2/03
Newsweek editor, Evan Thomas, and staff offer
an upsetting "A
War in the Dark." If you don't know who the enemy is,
you can't fight him/her.
Scrambled Eggs pages received
3124 visits in October. I don't have figures for the total Scrambled
Eggs hits, but the site as a whole averages 7 hits per visit.
11/1/03
East elevation
of Regan's new project on 8th and Pardee. It has the same simple
elegance as his across-the-street building.
For information
about this and other Regan projects email info@reganbice.com
This use of our elite
combat units in Iraq as police is short-sighted, inefficient and
wasteful--and most importantly, demoralizing and deadly.
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