3/15/08
Dave and Andy Kruse "takin'
care o' burst-main-biz" They are, after all, plumbers.
the gusher in front of Kruse
yesterday started as this burble
Kruse' Gary Navo
and Jeff Pettit photos
Kerstin and Andrew's view
from across the street. Ah, . . . mixed use
Like I said, our infrastructure
sucks
"Two CodePink protesters arrested at Marine
center:Women sent to jail after sitting on center's floor, refusing
to leave" reports
Kristin Bender in our Times.
Two women with the anti-war
group CodePink were arrested Friday afternoon when they sat down
on the floor inside the U.S. Marine recruitment center in downtown
Berkeley and refused to leave, police said."
And "UC
Berkeley tree-sitter gives up his perch:Demonstrator says civil
debate between supporters and critics
convinced him it was time to end his 17-day protest"
writes Ms Bender.
"Bring business back to Berkeley"
and more writes our Times'
Martin Snapp.
"The strident position
taken by the Berkeley City Council seems to have run afoul of
the very principles Berkeley has stood for since the 1960s. The
atmosphere of today is a far cry from the tolerance and free speech
that -- at least I thought -- we championed.
We might be opposed to the
war, but is this the way to show it? Imagine a President Obama
sending the Marines into Darfur. Would we feel the same way about
Marines then?"
"Run on Big Wall St. Bank Spurs Rescue
Backed by U.S."
reports the New York Times' Landon Thomas Jr.
"Just three days ago,
the head of Bear Stearns, the beleaguered investment bank, sought
to assure Wall Street that his firm was safe.
But those assurances were
blown away in what amounted to a bank run at Bear Stearns, prompting
JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to step
in on Friday with a financial rescue package intended to keep
the firm afloat.
The move underscores the
extreme stresses that the credit crisis has imposed on the financial
system and raises the once-unthinkable prospect that major Wall
Street firms might fail.
The developments may only
postpone the eventual sale of all or part of Bear Stearns, which
has had crippling losses on mortgage-linked investments. To keep
the 85-year-old firm solvent, JPMorgan, backed by the New York
Fed, extended a secured line of credit that gives Bear Stearns
at least 28 days to shore up its finances or, more likely, to
find a buyer.
News of the bailout ignited
fears that other big banks remain vulnerable to the continuing
credit crisis, and stocks tumbled in another rocky day for the
markets. . . .
The Fed's intervention highlights
the problems regulators face as they contemplate the prospect
that investment banks, saddled with toxic securities tied to subprime
mortgages, are losing the trust of their lenders and clients -
the kiss of death on Wall Street, where confidence has always
been the most precious asset of all. . . .
Traditionally regulators
have helped commercial banks in financial panics, but not investment
banks, which do not hold customer deposits. But the 1999 repeal
of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that separated
investment banks and commercial banks, led to consolidation within
the financial industry that has made such distinctions harder
to make. . . .
Only days earlier, Mr. Schwartz,
a well-connected investment banker who has been at Bear Stearns
since the early 1970s, appeared on television to try to calm market
fears that the bank was in trouble. Skittish lenders were already
calling in loans made to Carlyle Capital, a bond fund sponsored
by the Carlyle private equity group,
as well as Thornburg Mortgage, a major mortgage firm. Soon the
attention spread to Bear Stearns as market players began to question
the firm's ability to finance itself, sending its stock into a
tailspin."
"Experts fear more bailouts on horizon:Fed's
unprecedented rescue of Bear Stearns stirs up debate on the
role of the central bank"
report Alan Zibel and Marcy Gordon of the AP.
The Federal Reserve's unprecedented
intervention on behalf of Bear Stearns Cos. was intended to ease
fallout from the credit crunch, but experts fear it augurs more
government bailouts as the crisis worsens.
The move also reignited debate
on Friday about how big a role the central bank should play.
Several banking experts were
dubious about the Fed's plan to save Bear Stearns, saying it sets
a bad precedent at a time when other investment banks could wind
up in similar trouble due to bad mortgage-
linked investments.
'There's a limit to how many
of these entities they can bail out,'said Franklin Allen, a finance
professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
The arrangement allows JPMorgan
Chase & Co. to borrow from the Fed and provide that funding
to Bear Stearns for 28 days. As a commercial bank, JPMorgan can
do so, while Bear Stearns, an investment bank,
cannot.
Fed officials said the procedure
used dates back to the Great Depression of the 1930s but has rarely
been used since that time, and experts said they believed the
action was unprecedented for an investment bank."
italics mine
3/16/08
Today is our Claudia's Birthday
Zooo, . . .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAUDIA!
Natalie lost one of her front
teeth today. Tracy helped pull it out. "It was just hanging
there" Tracy said "I touched it and it fell out."
"Early help for children with hearing loss" reports the Chronicle's Shelah Moody
in a story about our CEID and its director, Jill Ellis.
"For three decades,
Jill Ellis has worked to improve the quality of life for the deaf
and the hearing impaired. Ellis is co-founder and executive director
for the Center for Early Intervention on Deafness in Berkeley,
the only nonprofit in the Bay Area that provides intervention
and education for infants and children up to 5 years old
with hearing loss and communicative disorders."
"Berkeley falls short again" reports Robert Jordan of the Times.
As Jazmine Perkins took off
her jersey, she knew it would be the last time she would do such
a task as a member of the Berkeley High School girls basketball
team.
Moments after removing No.
24 for the final time, Perkins hugged each one of her teammates
and slowly walked back to the team's courtside huddle knowing
an era had ended.
The "Bay
Area's 25 deadliest roads for cyclists" are reported
by Erin McCormick of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"They are the deadliest
stretches for Bay Area bicyclists - the chaotic city thoroughfares,
the narrow, winding roads and the speed-demon highways.
A Chronicle analysis of accident
reports has identified the most perilous roads and highways for
Bay Area cyclists, including San Francisco's Market Street and
Sonoma County's country roads.
In the past decade, 195 cyclists
have been killed and 1,812 severely injured while riding the region's
roadways, collision records from the California Highway Patrol
show. In 2006, both fatalities and severe injuries rose slightly
over the preceding years."
"Dogged Pursuit of the Recruits:Bay Area
enlisting can be a battle" reports
our Times' Dogen Hannah.
"Staff Sgt. Jason Eck
has been flipped off, cussed at and told to get out of town for
doing his job.
The abuse hasn't deterred
the two-time Iraq war veteran from donning his uniform, sliding
behind the wheel of his government-issued Chevy Malibu and hitting
the road almost daily in search of new soldiers.
Still, as a recruiter, he
faces a daunting task."
Marsha Wacko Recommends "Tender Mercies."
A small movie about faith,
set in another place and time, it's also about Mac Sledge, a broken-down,
has-been country singer.
Jim Emerson writes to Border's,
"Sometimes everything comes together
in a movie and it becomes something so much greater than the sum
of its parts that it can only be described as a miracle. That's
the case with Tender Mercies, a quietly luminous character
piece about an alcoholic, washed-up country singer named Mac Sledge
(Robert Duvall in an Oscar-winning performance) who hits bottom
in a motel room one night and then slowly finds his way back into
the land of the living with the help of the widow (Tess Harper)
and her young son. It's a low-key, contemplative film that feels
like a rural American family comedy in the vein of the great Japanese
director, Yasujiro Ozu. Tender Mercies was directed by
Australian Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker
Morant), written by Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird),
who won an Oscar for his screenplay, and has an unbeatable cast.
This is one of Duvall's most intimate and deeply personal performances,
matched only by his debut 14 years later as actor-writer-director
in The Apostle."
Buy it here.
Marsha Wacko on investment
bankers.
"They're all playing
games and they all know it, but don't know exactly what games
the other guys' are playing.
What shape are some investment
banks in? JP Morgan just bid $2.00 a share for BearStearns. Bear
Stearns closed at $30.00 Friday.
3/18/08
In the last week or so, I've
posted economic events at the expense of almost all else. For,
in-the-economic, we have moved from our past as surely as our
Democratic party have moved from theirs.
Our financial markets were
on the verge of collapse.
Our leaders at first denied
the problem, then tried to fix it with national not international
solutions--we are after-all a global economy. Finally, with cooperation
of other central banks and the private institutions of other capitalist
countries we have, for now stopped, the bank run and the world-wide
market drop. But things have changed forever.
How?
I'm told the Chinese observe
"If you can ask the question, you already know the answer."
"End of Wall Street as we know it. Financial
firms have relied on a highly flawed business model for
years. The time has come to fix it" writes Shawn Tully of Fortune.
Until the recent tempest,
Wall Street firms looked like just about the world's best businesses.
Year after year, they posted sumptuous returns on equity, ever-rising
share prices, and if you believed their claims, a new breed of
CEOs who'd mastered the art and science of risk management. True,
it was hard to decipher exactly how
they made all that money. But make it they did.
Investors didn't understand
all those arcane instruments and sophisticated hedging strategies?
Wall Street was the black box on the Hudson that worked its own
brand of magic."
"How bad is the mortgage crisis going to
get" asks Jia Lynn
Yang in a Fortune interview with Princeton economist, Paul
Krugman.
"What started in subprime
is likely to continue cascading into the markets and keep the
economy down until 2010, economist Paul Krugman forecasts. Bottom
line for homeowners: An average drop of 25
"Princeton economist Paul Krugman predicts a 25% drop in
housing prices overall - and up to 50% in some places.
If there is any word that
captures the mood in the economy right now, it's uncertainty,
along with shadings of bafflement and distrust. We have never
seen a credit crisis quite like this. What's next?
Princeton economist Paul
Krugman spoke with Fortune's Jia Lynn Yang about the impact on
the economy, the outlook for home prices, and the reasons for
both fear and hope. Krugman, a former Fortune columnist
who now writes a column for the New York Times, will also appear
in a one-hour CNN & Fortune special report on the economy
that premieres March 28 at 8 p.m. ET.
Yang:'By year-end, 15 million
Americans could have mortgages worth more than the value of their
homes. What happens then?'
Krugman: 'Actually, I think
home prices will fall enough for us to produce about 20 million
people with negative equity. That's almost a quarter of U.S. homes.
If home prices are rising, or if there's positive equity, you
can refinance or sell. But if you have negative equity, you can
end up being foreclosed on, and then some people will
just find it to their advantage to walk away. We're probably heading
for $6 trillion or $7 trillion in capital losses in housing. Some
fraction of that will fall on owners of mortgages. I still think
the estimates people are putting out there - $400 billion or $500
billion in losses - are too low. I think there'll be $1 trillion
of losses on mortgage-backed securities showing up somewhere.'
Yang: 'How far do you think
home prices will fall?'
Krugman: 'My preferred metric
is the ratio of home prices to rental rates. By that measure,
average home prices nationally got way too high. We'll probably
basically retrace all that. So that's about a 25% decline in
overall home prices. Only a fraction of that's happened so far.
Of course, it varies a lot. In places like Houston or Atlanta,
where home prices have not risen much compared with underlying
rents, the decline will be relatively small. In places like Miami
or Los Angeles, you could be looking at 40% or 50% declines.'
"
"Surging food prices jolt families" reports Sara Steffens of our Times.
"Four-dollar gallons
of milk are just the beginning. With sliced wheat bread topping
$4 a loaf and eggs selling for $3.50 a dozen, even frugal shoppers
can't escape the sharpest spike in food prices in nearly two decades."
"Cal draws a No.3 seed, gets to open at
Stanford" writes
the Times' Jennifer Starks of our women's basketball team.
"The atmosphere inside
Haas Pavilion's Club Room was one of eager anticipation, perhaps
even relaxed suspense, as the Cal
women's basketball team waited to learn its postseason fate Monday
afternoon. Observers milled around the room, socializing with
their plates full of fruit, cheese and chicken wings, just waiting
for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show to begin.
And then there was Joanne
Boyle. The Bears' third-year coach sat in a chair with her hands
firmly clasped in her lap, nervously tapping her feet as things
began unfolding on the big screen television in front
of her.
'You just never know what's
going to happen with the committee,' she said.
It didn't take long for Boyle's
nervous energy to turn into pure elation. The Bears received a
No. 3 seed in the Greensboro Region and will play No. 14 seed
San Diego of the West Coast Conference in the first round Saturday.
That gave Boyle a big reason to smile, but what really had her
going was discovering Cal only has to go to Stanford's Maples
Pavilion to do it."
Michael Rossman in our Planet.
writes about "Remembering
Malvina Reynold's".
"Since she died in 1978,
if people now know of Malvina Reynolds at all it's mostly as the
writer of 'Little Boxes' and 'What Have They Done to the Rain,'
among many memorable progressive and children's songs. Even here,
during her lifetime, she was known mainly from afar as The Singing
Grandmother of Berkeley, a screechy fountain of song for noble,
poorly funded causes. Few looked beneath this action-costume of
a quirky, homegrown Superhero to recognize the astute sociologist
and cornucopia of life-affirming spirit at work within.
On March 23, Freight &
Salvage will host an evening celebrating Malvina's music and life,
with singers Judy Fjell and Nancy Schimmel, her daughter."
Malvina used to come to Campus
Records in The Day. 'Little
Boxes' was a 'big hit' in Berkeley then. My memory is that
it was one of the tunes on a Folkways LP, maybe a children's record.
I'd forgotten about it until
watching "Weeds"
last Summer, when I heard her singing the tune. It's the series
theme-song, and the early programs use her original rendition.
The shows are about a suburban, single-mom, dope-dealer, and much
more.
" 'Jazz Explosion VII' Spotlights Young
Musicians" enthuses
Zelda Bronstein of our Planet.
"Coming down the escalator
at El Cerrito BART last Wednesday afternoon, I heard jazz. It
sounded live, but musicians were nowhere in sight. Had BART started
piping music into its stations along with its public safety and
elevator messages? Out in front of the station, the surprising
source of the music appeared: Five young people-three saxophonists,
a trumpeter and a drummer-were swinging away.
A man standing in front of
the group-the tenor sax player's dad, as it turned out-handed
me a leaflet and told me that they were there to advertise the
Portola Middle School Department of Music's Jazz Explosion VII
concert and fundraiser, to be held March 20 at Mira Vista Golf
and Country Club in El Cerrito. Portola's three jazz groups will
perform; KCSM Music Director Chuy Varela will be the Master of
Ceremonies; and the young artists will be joined by professional
musicians Larry de la Cruz, Marvin McFadden, Jeremy Steinkoler
and Wayne Wallace.
Portola Middle School is
part of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. The school
district pays the salary of the Portola music teacher, Tiffany
Carrico, who also teaches the school's three concert bands. One
hundred ten of Portola's 620 students choose to participate in
the school's elective music classes. Portola's jazz activities
are funded by the City of El Cerrito's After-school Program. Each
jazz band rehearses three times a week, with practices both scheduled
at 7:15 a.m. and after school."
Some of these folks were
interviewed on KCSM over the weekend. The chicks were specially
hip. They played some recordings from earlier "Explosions."
The El Cerrito High Jazz Band cooks!
"Berkeley police brace for anti-war
protests:Wave of rallies expected Wednesday, fifth anniversary
of Iraq war's
start; 50 to 60 extra officers will be on duty reports" our Times' Doug Oakley.
"Facing criticism over
their handling of recent demonstrations, Berkeley police are bracing
for a flood of protesters Wednesday marking the fifth anniversary
of the start of the Iraq war."
3/19/08
"Berkeley mayor, chamber on good terms" reports our Times' Doug Oakley.
"The love is back between Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and the
city's Chamber of Commerce."
How can you stay mad at Da
Boz? He's such a cuddly, teddy-bear of a guy.
"State orders Allstate to lower auto rates"
writes Eve Mitchell
of our Times.
"Allstate Insurance auto insurance policyholders could see
their yearly premiums cut by an average of $133 a year per vehicle
as a result of a ruling from the state Department of Insurance
requiring the company to lower its rates next month.
State Insurance Commissioner
Steve Poizner last week approved a recommendation made by an administrative
law judge requiring Allstate to lower its rates an average of
15.9 percent to comply with Proposition 103 regulations intended
to limit excessive profits made by insurers."
"Tesla announces start of production" reports Matt Nauman.
"Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley electric-car start-up,
said Monday it has begun 'regular production' of its first car,
the 2008 Roadster.
The car is being assembled
at a Lotus factory in Hethel, England. Tesla said it has taken
more than 900 deposits for the $100,000, two-seat, zero-emissions
Roadster."
More than you want to know
about the Tesla Roadster is
here.
"Stretching the food budget:Rising prices
at the store call for being a strategic shopper
reports the Times'
Jolene Thym. "Money is tight, jobs are scarce, stocks are
down, gas prices are up: It's time to crunch the budget and slash
spending-- even in the kitchen."
"Fresno retailers reflect a country struggling
with food inflation"
reports Joan Obra.
"By now, your wallet
has felt the pain of food inflation. And many of you need tips
for cutting grocery costs.
The problem is far-reaching. Food prices have risen more than
5 percent in the last 12 months, and are expected to rise 3 percent
to 4 percent more this year, according to the latest Consumer
Price Index forecast. Wheat prices alone have tripled in the past
10 months.
So far, 2008 is following
the pattern of 2007, which saw the highest annual percentage increase
in food prices than any year since 1990.
A host of factors is driving
food prices. With oil topping $110 a barrel recently, the cost
of fuel in transporting food isn't likely to drop soon. The farm
bill subsidies for ethanol and the biofuels industry in general
are pulling corn, wheat and soybeans away from food and animal
feed "" and pushing up prices at a time when industrializing
countries have more demand for them. And then there's the falling
value of the dollar, which makes it more expensive for the United
States to import food.
Consumers can't fight these
influences, but they can learn to shop smarter. Here are the economic
factors affecting some foodstuffs, and advice for saving money."
"Vegan diet 'help' for arthritis" reports BBC NEWS. "Meat was off
the menu for half of those in the study group.
Rheumatoid arthritis patients may be able to reduce their high
risk of heart attacks and strokes with a gluten-free, vegan diet,
a study suggests."
3/20/8
Rick Ballard of "The
Groove Yard", the Bay Area's jazz record store, sent me his
newsletter.
WOW!
It contains contest for tickets
at Bay Area clubs, jazz events schedule, KCSM programs-list, new
releases. To be put on his listn email, groove2@earthlink.net,
and ask for a copy.
Really important in this
newsletter is the
"March 24th Benefit
Concert for Christopher Rodriguez at Yoshi's (Oakland)
Christopher Rodriguez is a 10 year old boy who got shot last month while
attending a piano lesson in Oakland and was left paralyzed
from the waist down. Carol Alban, Bay Area flautist
and composer, has organized a Star-Studded Benefit Concert
to raise much-needed money for Christopher and his family
at Yoshi's Jazz Club at Jack London Square in Oakland on Monday,
March 24th. Shows at 8pm and 10pm.
Tickets are on sale now! This event is expected to sell
out early. The 8:00pm show is almost sold out!
Call the Yoshi's box office at (510) 238-9200 or visit their
web site at www.yoshis.com
Yoshi's is located at 510 Embarcadero W., Oakland, 94607"
"Diesel emissions put health of 3 million
residents at risk"
reports Elizabeth Fernandez of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Diesel emissions from
trucks, machinery and other sources elevate the risk of premature
death, cancer, asthma and other chronic diseases for more than
3 million people living in West Oakland and the surrounding region,
according to the most detailed study yet on the issue.
The analysis by the California
Air Resources Board, released Wednesday night, showed the greatest
health dangers related to toxic air emissions stems from diesel
trucks traversing the freeways and other roadways around West
Oakland and the Port of Oakland.
The two-year public health
inquiry covered a large swath of the Bay Area - 3.1 million people
and 3,800 square miles. People living in the study area had an
elevated potential cancer risk - nearly 1,200 additional cancers
per million people due to long-term exposure to diesel particulate
matter than people living elsewhere, said the study's preliminary
findings."
"Mortgage firm needs to raise $1bn" reports BBC NEWS.
"Thornburg Mortgage
has said it is trying to raise almost $1bn (£500m) in extra
capital to avert a possible bankruptcy filing.
The lender, which specialises
in big home loans, also plans to offer its lenders a 27% stake
in the company.The measures will significantly dilute the stakes
of existing shareholders and the company's shares fell 47%.
Thornburg said that without
the new capital it may be forced to seekbankruptcy protection.
In a filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, the company warned that bankruptcy would
be a possibility because it would have to sell off the rest of
its mortgage assets at depressed prices.
Thornburg specialises in
so-called jumbo loans of more than $417,000, which means that
until recently they were not eligible for funding from the government-sponsored
mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Thornburg's problems are
another sign of the credit crunch spreading from sub-prime lenders
to others.
It owes money to five lenders,
which are affiliates of Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Credit Suisse,
Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS.
The fresh falls in Thornburg's
share price followed a 32.4% fall on Monday last week after the
company said it could not meet demands for extra cash and collateral
from its lenders."
"Shares fall on commodity sell-off" reports BBC NEWS.
"Falling US stock markets
affected confidence in Hong Kong.
European and Asian stock
markets have fallen as investors cashed in profits from record
high commodity prices, causing mining and oil shares to fall.
Oil prices dropped below
$100 for the first time in two weeks, gold sank to a one-month
low, and copper fell too.
Traders fear that an economic slowdown in the US will lead to
a fall in global demand for raw materials."
"Gold plummets as dollar inches higher:The
precious metal loses some luster as signs of economic recovery
draw investors to more risky investments" report David Goldman and Ben Rooney of CNNMoney.
Gold prices tumbled Wednesday,
as the dollar regained strength, to sink nearly $100 below its
record high set Monday - leaving some traders wondering if this
is the beginning of the end for gold's impressive run.
COMEX gold for April delivery
fell $59 to settle at $945.30 an ounceWednesday. Gold had set
an intraday record of $1033.90 Monday.
Gold began to slide shortly
after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates Tuesday by 3/4 of
a percentage point, instead of the full percentage point that
some market participants had expected."
3/21/08
Our Byron on race in Berkeley,
excerpts from his Daily Planet letter. The full letter
is here.
It takes a conscious effort
to address our own practices that are
driven by our own individual views of someone's race. Because
we may
have racist tendencies doesn't make us intentionally racist, it
only
exposes our consciousness about it or lack thereof. But racist
we all
can be. I believe that intent is a discerning factor in racism,
but
intentional or not, racist action is racist action.
Once discrimination becomes
a concept that we can all own up to, we can
begin to deconstruct our fear of others and begin to pave a path
to
embrace one another, honestly.
In Berkeley we take many
social stances that leave the world shaking
its collective head, but our racism looks like everyone else's:
painfully misaddressed.
At my school, our racism
looks like everyone else's, but the
Principal just fails to acknowledge it...hence, it may never be
overtly be addressed under their stewardship.
But we can all address our
own. We can all watch what we do and begin
to observe our own actions. Our own racism might teach us something
about ourselves.
Byron R. Delcomb
"Cal's Sneed uses poetry to narrate her
past:She has overcome a troubled childhood in becoming a role
player and respected teammate for the Bears" reports our Times' Jennifer Starks.
"The notebook's hot
pink cover is worn and ragged. After nearly six years of wear
and tear, even the permanent black ink scribbled on the front
has begun to fade.
Inside, each page is different,
a flurry of pencil strokes giving way to line after line of provocative
original poetry."
"Bay Area to get rare glimpse of India:Professor
to star in traditional nautanki, or folk Hindi opera" writes Matt O'Brien of the Times.
"Devendra Sharma can
only remember, not quite replicate, the awe he felt on a night
some three decades ago when his father transfixed an entire village
with song.
Sharma was about 8 years
old and sitting as close as he possibly could to a makeshift stage
made of wooden cots and lit by gas lamps. Behind him, in a field
outside his great-grandmother's north Indian village, an audience
of thousands awaited a rich-voiced warrior hero named Udal.
'There was pindrop silence,'
Sharma remembers, adding that some people sat on nearby rooftops
or in trees. 'That was one of the best nights of my life.' "
"Borders book stores may be sold' writes David Runk of the AP.
"Borders, the nation's
second-largest bookseller, said Thursday it may put itself up
for sale and that it has lined up $42.5 million in financing to
help the chain continue operations.
Shares tumbled more than
29 percent, or $2.07, to $5.03 in volatile trading at midday.
Borders has lost market share
both to online retailers and to discounters like Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. and its possible sale was given mixed prospects by industry
analysts.
The operations financing
announced Thursday comes from hedge fund Pershing Square Capital
Management LP, its largest shareholder, and includes an offer
to buy Borders' international businesses."
"Trader actions hit Credit Suisse" reports BBC NEWS.
"Swiss bank Credit Suisse has warned that it is unlikely
to make a profit in the first three months of 2008 after mark
downs to the value of investments. It is writing off $2.85bn
(£1.4bn) related to the US housing market slump "
"Carnage on Wall Street as loans go bad" reportsSteve Schifferes of BBC NEWS.
"The scale of the losses that will hit
Wall Street banks could approach half a trillion dollars as large
numbers of sub-prime home loans go bad.
And the carnage in the financial
markets could cause a credit squeeze that will dampen economic
growth for years to come.
The US sub-prime crisis is
leading to a wave of reposessions across the US that is having
a devastating effect on the US housing market, and is likely to
lead to the halving of the US economic growth rate in the next
six months.
The reality is that most financial institutions have barely started
to recognize the lower 'fair value' of their impaired securities.
At the root of the problem is the breakdown of the new model of
mortgage lending, when instead of giving mortgages directly to
their customers, banks borrowed money from credit markets to fund
a growing volume of mortgages."
"The crunch bites deeper in the US" is an analysis by the BBC's, Stephanie
Flanders.
"The credit crunch has hit the US economy hard. From Wall
Street to Main Street, loans that looked rock-solid a year ago
now look shaky.
And the US central bank,
the Federal Reserve, is throwing away the rule book to contain
the effects.
Kevin Logan of Dresdner Kleinwort, one of the less
gloomy New York economists, summarises the state of play as the
credit crunch has spread to different types of assets as follows:
'We're all sub-prime now'. "
"Slump Moves From Wall St. to Main St." writes Kevin P. Casey in The New York Times.
"In Seattle, sales at
a long-established hardware store, Pacific Supply, are suddenly
dipping. In Oklahoma City, couples planning
their weddings are demonstrating uncustomary thrift, forgoing
Dungeness crab and special linens. And in many cities, the registers
at department stores like Nordstrom on the higher end and J. C.
Penney in the middle are ringing less often.
With Wall Street caught in
a credit crisis that has captured headlines, the forces assailing
the economy are now spreading beyond areas hit hardest by the
boom-turned-bust in real estate like California, Florida and Nevada.
Now, the downturn is seeping into new parts of the country, to
communities that seemed insulated only months ago.
The broadening of the slowdown,
the plunge in home prices and near-paralysis in the financial
system are fueling worries that what most economists now see as
an inevitable recession could end up being especially painful."
"Foreclosure tours take off" observes Barbara E. Hernandez of Our Times.
"For some, foreclosed
homes may be the embodiment of broken dreams, but for others they
can be a sign of hope.
Leala Jammer, 29, of Stockton,
went on a foreclosed home tour on a recent Saturday along with
20 other first-time home buyers and investors to looking at 10
bank-owned homes in two hours. She's hoping to find her first
house.
She said she and her husband
were priced out in the last few years and are hoping for something
within their means.
'It's terrible right now,'
Jammer said. 'But I'm so happy because now's the time for new
homeowners to get into the market.'"
3/22/08
During my more than five
years reporting life in Potter Creek
it is has become apparent
to me that our west-Berkeley plan is being finessed at many levels
and areas in order to accommodate changing needs. From use
to remodeling, ways have been found around it. Good
law, whether traffic or zoning, should be relevant to be
obeyed. As codified, it is my experience that the west-Berkekey
plan has become less and less relevant, more and more out of date.
It is time to change it!
Readers wanting more details,
I'm at 900 GRAYSON weekday-mornings between 9 and 10 having my
espresso.
Thursday evening WEBAIC (West
Berkely Artisans & Industrial Companies) presented the Forum,
"The West Berkeley Plan & Sustainibility: Economy, Environment,
and Equity," dealing with "the future of West-Berkeley's
industrial and cultural sectors."
Of the meeting, our Richard
Brenneman reports in the Planet "West Berkeley Speakers
Say Keep Industrial Jobs.
Workers, residents and small business owners gathered Thursday
night to hear planners and labor activists offer evidence and
arguments for exercising restraint in making any zoning changes
in West Berkeley.. . .
The (city) staff has put
everything on the table ... on an extremely fast-track basis,
said WEBAIC Chair John Curl, a woodworker with his studio in the
Sawtooth Building, a West Berkeley landmark.
Sitting in the back of the
room and listening attentively throughout the session was Allan
Gatzke, the city planner who drafted the proposals and presentations
under attack from Curl and the panelists.
While the push for 'zoning
flexibility' comes from the City Council, with Mayor Tom Bates
taking a prominent lead, one of Thursday night's cautionary critics
was the author of a report the city is using as justification
for its push for changes.
Raquel Pinderhughes said
so- called green collar businesses offered the one sure job category
that could lead to living wages for those with minimal education
or criminal records. Her word should carry some weight with the
city, since she is the San Francisco State urban studies professor
who authored the city's green collar jobs report.
While the city planning department tour for commissioners looking
at the proposed zoning changes focused on high- tech companies,
most of the business categories in Pinderhughes' report are lower
tech, with college degrees optional for most jobs.
Businesses cited in her report
range from landscaping and bicycle repair to energy conservation
retrofits, recycling and public transit jobs.
Only one category unequivocally
matched the high-tech criteria: manufacturing jobs related to
large-scale production of appropriate technologies."
Read the full story here.
Raquel Pinderhughes was one
of the speakers quoted by Brenneman. Ms Pinderhughes is the author
of "Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green
Businesses to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men and Women with
Barriers to Employment." The report was funded by the City
of Berkeley Office of Energy and Sustainable Development.
Though I am sympathetic to
the report, "Green Collar Jobs," it is terminally flawed.
A beautifully presented study with color-photos, charts, graphs
and text, I initially assumed it accurately presented the issues.
Sadly, it may or may not. As conceived, it is simply the author's
opinion. For such a survey to be really relevant, it must use
random sampling of an accurately defined population--it must select
at random the people interviewed and it must make sure those talked
to are somehow involved with the issue. The twenty-one employers
interviewed were [staff and] self-selected from a group of originally
over two-hundred, and just how the thirty-six interested employees
were selected is unclear.
The report "Green Collar
Jobs" cost us $8,000--$3,000 for the work and $5,000 for
printing. It is my understanding the work is on-going.
In The Day, I was a grad-student
at Cal in Sociology and did research at The Survey Research Center.
Readers wanting more details,
I'm at 900 GRAYSON weekday-mornings between 9 and 10 having my
espresso.
"Berkeley business man jailed for pollution"
reports Our Times.
"People who pollute
in Berkeley are going to jail.
That's the skinny from the
city's Toxic Management Division, which announced its second jail
sentence in just six months for an
industrial polluter.
Frank Ghahyaz, owner of Jetco
Motors on 5th Street, did 30 days in January and February for
allowing motor oil and other toxic waste to make its way into
storm drains and into the bay.
And in September, Gary Reopelle,
a silver smith who owns Monsen Plating on Adeline Street, also
spent 30 days in jail for putting acid and heavy metals directly
into the sewer system.
Nabil Al-Hadithy, manager
of the city's Toxic Management Division, said Berkeley became
more of an environmental bulldog about three years ago when the
state Environmental Protection Agency said it needed to do more."
"Hawking the green fairy: Will absinthe
outlive its 15 minutes?" asks
the Chronicle's Stacy Finz.
Lance Winters, an Alameda
distiller, may be a hotter ticket right now than Paris Hilton
on a Friday night. Reporters want him, the bar crowd adores him
and he's been known to sell out the house in fewer than six hours.
The former beer brewer isn't your typical celeb.
But his absinthe - now that's
another story.
Winter's St. George Spirits
was the first American distillery to legally sell a bottle of
absinthe in the United States, after a 1912 ban was recently lifted.
At one time, it was considered
the devil's drink, a hallucinogenic that led to the degeneration
of some of the greatest painters and writers of the time. Lawmakers
thought the chemical thujone, found in one of the spirit's main
ingredients, wormwood, made you crazy and even homicidal - a theory
that's largely been dismissed as a load of hooey."
"Cal
vs. San Diego" an evaluation in Our Times.
"With Alexis Gray-Lawson,
Lauren Greif and Natasha Vital at their disposal, the Bears should
have a decided advantage here. But that's only if the trio start
making shots and attacking the basket. If they play passively
as they did against Stanford in last week's Pac-10 tournament
finale, Cal will struggle. EDGE: Cal"
Marsha Wacko Recommends "The Cutting
Edge."
A viewer writes to Border's
"I was twelve years old when I saw this film. Then, I thought
it was great. Now, at twenty-one, I think it's awesome. Some may
criticize the "inaccuracies" of the skating, but if
one looks closely at the credits, world renowned skater Robin
Cousins is the technical advisor and skating scene coordinator.
Also, the pairs skaters they compete against are also, as far
as I can tell, are real skaters. While they probably wouldn't
jump into major competitions right away, they did it this way
most likely for timesake. It's a sweet love story that is refreshingly
free of violence (save the occasional slapshot), gratutious sex,
and vulgar language. It is a delight for young and old combining
chemestry, believability, and awesome skating sequences. I give
it a nine and a half out of ten; if for nothing else, then for
the warm fuzzies you get from watching it."
Buy a copy here.
3/23/08
HAPPY EASTER!
3/24/08
In a very sweet email Ruth
Okimoto wrote that some Potter Creek dog-owners and dog-walkers
have not been cleaning up their "dog poop." Ruth has
noticed it in front of the home on the side walk, on their lawn,
and around the City's newly planted trees. Instead of posting
it, I'll simply observe that it's only neighborly to pick up your
dog shit.
Our John Curl has a beautiful
and informative web site. It's about his business in the Heartwood
Cooperative, his poetry, his books, and more. Check out his red-coral.net
A new edition of John's "Worker
Cooperatives or Wage Slavery:A History of Cooperation, Collectivity
& Communialism in America" is coming out this year.
"Motorcycle-riding supporters
of Marines roar into Berkeley.
A couple hundred [400] flag-waving
leather-clad pro-troop bikers have roared into town to show their
support for the often besieged Marines recruiting center in the
city" the Chronicle's Carolyn Jones reported
Saturday.
'I'm here because I support
my Marines,' said Steve Bosshard, a retired San Francisco police
officer who came from Santa Rosa. 'I don't like what Berkeley's
done. They don't realize the effect it has on the troops.'
The center was criticized
by the Berkeley city council and is often the target of protests.
Today's demonstrators, most of whom are military veterans, said
they were protesting the Berkeley city council decision in February
to waive the amplified-sound permit fees and provide reserved
parking in front of the Marines' office for Code Pink, an anti-war
group that stages protests at the recruiting center.
Saturday's demonstrators
said they plan to boycott Berkeley businesses until the council
is recalled, apologizes or grants free permits to a pro-troop
group.
The group that organized
today's protest, Eagles Up, had to pay for their permit.
More pro-Marines demonstrators were arriving shortly before noon,
when a rally with speakers was scheduled."
My sources say that this
the beginning of a well-organized boycott of Berkeley biz and
more, of which today's ride is only a small part.
This is the age of the Internet
council members. Seems it has burst our "Berkeley bubble."
It's well-known,. . . the
Internet has begun to open up countries with closed societies-Malaysia
and Saudi Arabia come to mind. Less known, is that it has begun
to open Berkeley to mainstream America and/or open mainstream
America to Berkeley.
Though arguably not mainstream,
an Oklahoma biker is a click away.
Go figure.
"Walker, Hampton lead California past San
Diego for first tourney win in 15 years"
reports Josh Dubow of the AP.
"For a week and a half,
Ashley Walker and her California teammates could only stew about
a blowout loss in the Pac-10 championship and two years of NCAA
tournament failure.
They took all that aggression
out on San Diego.
Walker dominated the inside
with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Devanei Hampton scored 22 points
and the third-seeded Golden Bears won their first NCAA tournament
game in 15 years, 77-60 over San Diego on Saturday."
"Dudamel dazzles in Symphony debut" is a concert review by the Chronicle's
Josh Kosman.
"It isn't often that
the audience for a San Francisco Symphony concert turns into a
mass of starry-eyed teenagers, awestruck at the sight of a celebrity
idol. Then again, it's been a long time since the classical music
world has seen a phenomenon like Gustavo Dudamel.
The dazzling, diminutive
young Venezuelan conductor made his Symphony debut in Davies Symphony
Hall on Thursday night before a sold-out crowd that seemed set
on swooning at his every downbeat and podium gesture.
You couldn't fault them.
Not even the most determined
contrarian could have found anything to gripe about in Dudamel's
magnificently sensual and ingenious performance of Stravinsky's
"Firebird." If this is truly the kind of music-making
that he is capable of delivering on a regular basis, then everything
we've heard - every breathless plaudit, every word of seemingly
overheated hype - is true.
Orchestras and audiences
are still getting to know the 27-year-old maestro, a product of
Venezuela's remarkable state-sponsored system of music education
who next year will succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director
of the Los Angeles Philharmonic."
How exciting was this concert?
Morgan was still jazzed the morning after. I talked to him Saturday
just after his morning bike ride, suited out in a skin-tight,
black, riding outfit accenting his svelte-self, and he seemed
still to be there as he acted out Dudamel's jestures accompanied
by his counter-point of superlatives.
"Bicyclists blamed twice as often as drivers"
writes Erin McCormick
of the San Francisco Chronicle of an upsetting but not
surprising find.
"Bicyclists were twice
as likely as drivers to be at fault in the nearly 2,000 collisions
that killed or severely injured Bay Area bike riders in the past
decade, an analysis by The Chronicle shows.
Bicycle and safety advocates
say the deaths two weeks ago of two cyclists hit by a Santa Clara
sheriff's deputy's cruiser should serve as a call to improve relations
between cars and bikes on the roadways.
The advocates say large numbers
of cyclists fail to follow the rules of the road, running stop
signs and red lights, and drivers are becoming more aggressive."
3/25/08
So how long will bikers be
agitated about our city councils' "insulting" the Corps?
Well, to the bikers I know, attacking the Marines is like making
cracks about the size of their schwantz.
(I wonder what Dikes on Bikes
"take" on all this is? [Oops, . . . Lesbians on Motorcycles.]
My most vivid memory of early Gay Pride
parades is the Dikes on Bikes' ride by--thrilling images, even
today decades later.)
Was a new tradition born
Sunday? The Potter Creek Gay Pride & Easter Parade!?
"West Berkeley Man Dies in I-80 Collision"
reports Richard Brenneman
in our Planet. "Samuel Torres, a 60-year-old West Berkeley
man, died in an early morning accident Saturday near the Ashby
Avenue exit on eastbound I-80."
"US bank news lifts world shares" reports BBC NEWS.
"Share confidence has
returned, however temporary:European and Asian shares have risen
strongly in Tuesday trading, boosted by JP Morgan Chase raising
its takeover offer for rival US bank Bear Stearns."
And "Oil
prices fall on dollar rises" reports the BBC.
"Oil prices are sensitive to the changing value of the dollar:Oil
prices have fallen to just above $100 a barrel, as the dollar's
recent slight recovery has helped calm investor enthusiasm for
crude."
So how does the economy affect
our everyday life? An airplane book has just been published in
Great Britain about the their Fleet Air Arm in the late 1930s.
Its cost is 25 Pounds, with shipping to the US another 10 Pounds.
So it would cost me 35 Pounds, total. With the Dollar's drop against
the Pound, the cost in US Dollars is $70.00. The book is just
a 120 page paperback and is currently only available from the
publisher.
Joe Eaton writes about "Wild Neighbors: Egrets, Deer
and Prince Kropotkin" in the Planet."Partnerships
across species lines aren't all that uncommon in nature. Where
Darwin saw evolution as a process of deadly competition, the Russian
aristocrat-anarchist Pyotor Kropotkin observed "mutual aid"?
everywhere-cooperative behavior not just within species, as in
the beehive or wolfpack, but even between unrelated creatures.
"
3/27/08
new cutie in Potter Creek?
sort'a
Jada is Courtney's daughter.
Courtney?
. . . a food-server at 900 GRAYSON
"Celebration to honor spirituals:Storytellers
to present songs of slavery, protest and the struggle to be free" reports Our Times' Laura Casey.
She has the voice of sweet
molasses, and when Marcella Conley speaks, you want to hear what
she has to say about her struggles living as an African-American
through the Civil Rights Era, and everything before it and after
it.
Yet, it is when she talks
about her current passion -- Negro spirituals -- that she is at
her most magnetic."
ABC Network News reported last night that a new forensic study
indicates that Robert
Kennedy died from a shot fired from behind--Sirhan-Sirhan,
the convicted assassin--was in front of Kennedy. The study also
concludes that at least 13 shots were fired. Sirhan's weapon was
an 8-shot-revolver.
"The next bailout:Homeowners" reports CNN.
"Federal government
help for Bear Stearns and other Wall Street firms increases the
chance that assistance for those facing foreclosure will be approved."
"New Home Sales Fall, Factory Orders Drop" reports the AP.
Bob Kubik sends a link that
gives maybe more information than you want about our Southern
California housing market. It's at http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/
Bob also sends this photo
of his nectarine blossoms.
"You're working for gas now" reports CNN.
"High gas prices are
taking their toll - especially in rural Camden, Ala., where for
the second year running residents pay a higher portion of their
budget on gas than anywhere else in the U.S.
Corey Carter spends a quarter
of his paycheck on gas.The 30-year old Carter, who earns $7 an
hour making car parts for a Hyundai factory near Montgomery, Ala.,
spends $65 a week on gas, double what it cost just a few years
ago.
Paying $30 more for gas out
of a $240 paycheck makes a big difference. 'Going out to eat,
going to the movies, you can't do stuff like that,' says Carter,
filling up his Firebird at a BP station in Camden, a quiet southern
town 80 miles southwest of Montgomery. "
"Oil sets fresh record above $109" reports BBC NEWS.
"The price of crude
oil has set a fresh record at $109.72, its fifth day in a row
of historic highs.
New York light sweet crude
fell back after hitting the high to close at $108.75. London Brent
set a record at $105.82, before retreating to $105.25.
Prices fell back after the
dollar rose on news that central banks worldwide were teaming
up to provide more cash to strained financial markets.
A recent slide in the dollar
was one factor behind the rally in oil prices."
"US consumer sentiment down again:Consumers
are 'quite pessimistic', the Conference Board says" reports BBC NEWS.
"US consumer confidence
has fallen to a five-year low, according to the closely watched
Conference Board report.
Its index of consumer sentiment fell this month to 64.5, its lowest
showing since March 2003.
The situation was even worse
regarding the Conference Board's forward-looking expectations
index, which fell to 47.9, the weakest performance in 34 years.
A growing number of surveys
have shown that US consumer confidence is falling sharply because
of recession fears."
"Deutsche Bank warns over profits" reports BBC NEWS.
"Deutsche Bank has warned that continuing global credit turmoil
and possible further bad debt write downs may see it miss its
2008 profit target.
The lender said that if 'exceptionally
difficult' trading conditions continue, it may fail to meet its
aim of 8.4bn euros ($13bn; £6.5bn) in net profits.
The trading update by Germany's
biggest bank sent its shares down 1.6% in early Wednesday trading
in Frankfurt.
Last month, it reported a 48% fall in profit for the last quarter
of 2007.
It gave no new figures for
its projected 2008 profits."
Ryan Lau is an aid to our Councilman, Daryll Moore
here are excerpts from Ryan's
email
YouthWorks Employment Program
(For Berkeley Residents Only)
Application deadline Monday,
March 31, 2008
Monday through Friday
8:00am-5:00pm
for Summer Program!
For an application, please stop by the YouthWorks offices
in the basement of 1947 Center Street, or for more information contact
the office at 981-4970
or by E-Mail: youthworks@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Job Placement for low- or very-low income residents
If you are a low- or very-low income resident in the City of Berkeley,
regardless of whether you receive housing assistance or not, you
may qualify for full-time or part-time employment opportunities
with the contractors and subcontractors performing work on some
City-funded projects covered by a federal regulation known as
"Economic Opportunities for Low- and Very-Low Income Persons"
(Section 3) and/or job training through a local provider. For
more information regarding job opportunities with contractors
or subcontractors of these City-funded projects, please call the
City of Berkeley's First Source Employment Program. Orientations
for jobseekers are held every Wednesday @ 10:00 AM, call the First
Source Office at (510) 981-7550 to register for the orientation
and/or see the attached flyer for more information about the program.
Morgage Intervention - Relief for homeowners at-risk of imminent
foreclosure or unaffordable mortgage rates
While the City is currently studying a number of different options
as to how to help prevent further foreclosures, I thought that
some resources for the short-term might be helpful while we try
and figure out what options the City might be able to provide.
I was listening to NPR this morning about the government bailout
of Bear Stearns and they featured a very interesting non-profit
group, Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), that
seems to be doing some great things in the realm of subprime/predatory
lending and assistance during the current morgage crisis.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of subprime or
predatory lending or are in imminent danger of foreclosure, please
visit https://www.naca.com/index_main.jsp.
They offer a program called Home Save, in which they work
with lenders to achieve affordable loan rates, as low as 5% fixed.
If You Were Born between 1946 and 1964,
Berkeley Public Library Wants to Talk to You
Berkeley Public Library is
one of California's public libraries chosen to participate in
the exciting California State Library initiative, Transforming
Life After 50. As a first step in providing library
programs and activities that truly suit the needs of the "Boomer"
population, the Library is currently engaged in surveying patrons
and in inviting them to participate in focus groups to give Library
feedback.
Please fill out a survey online at www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org
or at your local branch, and join us at a focus group. We
need your feedback!
Two focus groups will be held:
Downtown Berkeley YMCA, 2001 Allston Way at Milvia
Saturday, April 12, 2-3:30pm
Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue Avenue at Ashby
Thursday, April 10, 6:30-8:00pm
In July 2007, Susan Hildreth, State Librarian of California, announced
the launching of the statewide Transforming Life After 50 initiative
for 2007/08. The purpose of this Library Services and Technology
Act (LSTA), federally grant-funded initiative is to assist public
libraries in redefining, creating and delivering new and innovative
services to our state's growing population of active, older adults
a population expected to grow more than twice as fast as
California's total population, increasing 112% from 1990 to 2020,
or 8.5 million people. As early as 2010, one in five Californians
will be 60 years of age or older. And yet, research has shown
that the current paradigm of library services for "seniors"
does not match the characteristics and/or interests of this baby
boomer generation.
Help us provide you with programs and services better matched
to what you want!
For more information, call Suzanne Olawski, Neighborhood Services
Manager, 510-981-6106
For accessibility information or questions, call 510-981-6195,
TTY 510-548-1240.
Our Family Coalition has an employment opportunity
Training Coordinator
Our Family Coalition (OFC) promotes the civil rights and well-being
of Bay Area lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)
families with children and prospective parents through advocacy,
education, social networking, and community organizing. Our
Family Coalition has grown to have approximately 600 member families
of more than 2,000 people, with many other individuals and families
participating in our activities.
Our work includes offering educational programming responsive
to members' needs; increasing the visibility of LGBTQ in the media
and in political forums; training parents to advocate directly
on behalf of their children to create safe and welcoming environments
for their children; producing public educational materials including
a quarterly newsletter, a bi-weekly e-newsletter and hosting three
discussion listserves for parents; holding social forums and events
and peer-peer support groups that facilitate the development of
support networks for LGBTQ parents and their children and allow
the children to see their families reflected in others around
them.
The Training Associate position will work with the Access Program,
which offers trainings at medical settings and social service
agencies to institutionalize a better understanding of LGBTQ families;
and the School Advocacy Program, which works with parents, teachers,
administrators and others to create more welcoming schools for
the children of LGBTQ headed households and break down anti-gay
bias at an early age.
If you are interested, please see the attached listing for responsibilities,
qualifications, salary and contact information.
3/28/08
Applications now being accepted for
City of Berkeley
Graffiti Abatement Jobs
Do you like working outdoors?
·Are you interested in keeping your community free of graffiti?
If you are 18 to 25 years of age, and a Berkeley resident, you
can apply to work on a graffiti clean-up crew:
For more information call:
YouthWorks @ 981-4970
"Making the most of your paycheck."
A CNN report asks
"Feeling the pinch on your wallet
these days? A carefully planned budget can help you get the most
bang for your buck.
Actor Ryan Watkinson has
a rare combination that very few 23-year olds possess: a role
in a Broadway show - Xanadu - and an aunt who's a Certified Financial
Planner.
His Aunt Erika Safran worked
out a budget with Ryan so he'd have something else few people
his age have: savings."
"Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before
Edison" reports
the New York Times
"For more than a century,
since he captured the spoken words 'Mary had a little lamb' on
a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father
of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording
of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates
Edison's invention of the phonograph by
nearly two decades.
The audio historian David
Giovannoni with a recently discovered phonautogram that is among
the earliest sound recordings.
The 19th-century phonautograph,
which captured sounds visually but did not play them back, has
yielded a discovery with help from modern technology.
The 10-second recording of
a singer crooning the folk song 'Au Clair de la Lune' was discovered
earlier this month in an archive in Paris by a group of American
audio historians. It was made, the researchers
say, on April 9, 1860, on a phonautograph, a machine designed
to record sounds visually, not to play them back. But the phonautograph
recording, or phonautogram, was made playable - converted from
squiggles on paper to sound - by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif."
3/29/08
NEXUS collective, formerly
of Potter Creek, is alive and well in west-Oakland, now at West
Grand and Poplar.
Our City of Berkeley Boards
and Commissions page is here--redone
and friendly. It is a good resource.
Tuesday evening, our City
Council extended our city's no-smoking-in-public ban. I wonder,
does that also apply to weed?
"[Berkeley] Police overtime costing city
$210,000:Total results from antiwar rallies and are ten times
normal six-week amount"
reports Our Times.
In the past six weeks, the
city of Berkeley has spent more than $210,000 on police overtime
to try and keep the peace during protests at the Marine recruiting
center and Old City Hall, a police official said Thursday.
Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, a police
spokeswoman, said police department overtime from Feb. 12 to March
22 was $210,814.13. The city spent roughly $93,000 Feb. 12 during
an all-day protest at Old City Hall that drew about 2,000 anti-war
and military supporters, she said.
By comparison, the 186-officer
department spends between $2,500 and $3,500 per week on overtime
during a normal week, Kusmiss said. At that rate, typical overtime
spending for six weeks ranges from $15,000 to $21,000.
"Kids' programs flourish
at Tilden" reports Our Times
"Two programs with appeal
to children are on the agenda this weekend at the Tilden Nature
Area in the Berkeley hills. Both are free, and reservations are
not necessary.
From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday,
naturalist aide Nate Stanis will teach children about gardening
at the Kids' Garden next to Tilden's Little Farm. The program
is designed for ages 3 and older; the youngsters will dig dirt,
plant seeds, sing garden songs and learn what it takes to make
plants grow.
Then, from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, the interpretive staff will lead a hike that's good for
young, first-time trekkers. Starting at the
Environmental Education Center, the group will head through the
woods and around Jewel Lake in search of plants and wildlife.
The center and Little Farm
are at the north end of Tilden's Central Park Drive, off Canon
Drive in Berkeley. For details, call 510-525-2233"
Almost as much an appreciation
of WEBAIC and the Green Collar Jobs report as it is a news story,
our Richard Brenneman reports that "West
Berkeley Zoning Battle Generates Heat." Actually, some
of this would better fit on the editorial page.
Raquel Pinderhughes study
is referred to by Brenneman. Ms Pinderhughes is the author of
"Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green
Businesses to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men and Women with
Barriers to Employment." The report was funded by the City
of Berkeley Office of Energy and Sustainable Development.
Though I am sympathetic to
the report, "Green Collar Jobs," it is terminally flawed.
A beautifully presented study with color-photos, charts, graphs
and text, I initially assumed it accurately presented the issues.
Sadly, it may or may not. As conceived, it is simply the author's
opinion. For such a survey to be really relevant, it must use
random sampling of an accurately defined population--it must select
at random the people interviewed and it must make sure those talked
to are somehow involved with the issue. The twenty-one employers
interviewed were [staff and] self-selected from a group of originally
over two-hundred, and just how the thirty-six interested employees
were selected is unclear.
The report "Green Collar
Jobs" cost us $8,000--$3,000 for the work and $5,000 for
printing. It is my understanding the work is on-going.
In The Day, I was a grad-student
at Cal in Sociology and did research at The Survey Research Center.
Readers wanting more details,
I'm at 900 GRAYSON weekday-mornings between 9 and 10 having my
espresso.
3/30/08
"Women bikers to honor spirit of leader's
son" writes Tanya
Rose of Our Times.
"He had a boisterous
exterior -- a red, spiky Mohawk to go with the loud music played
by his punk band. But in reality, Shane Sheehan was quiet. He
liked to listen and observe, talking only when he had something
important to say.
He loved art, too, and he
painted a brightly colored mural on an outer wall at Olympic High
School in Concord, an alternative school for students who've had
trouble at more mainstream schools.
In 2002, Sheehan died in
a motorcycle accident just two days after graduating from Olympic.
He was 18."
"Battle brews as baristas square off in
Berkeley" writes
the Times' Kristin Bender.
"Jared Truby likened
being a contestant in this weekend's regional barista competition
to being a human handler in a big, closely watched dog show.
There are a lot of colorful
characters.
If you make a mistake, everyone
knows it.
And there's an awful lot
of inside lingo that those outside the contest just don't understand.
'It's kinda like being in
that movie the "Best in Show,"' said Truby, 25, of Santa
Cruz, referring to the 2000 comedy about a Philadelphia dog show
where an odd assortment of owners competed for the top prize.
'Everybody's checking out the competition and people talk about
things that if you're an outsider you won't know what the heck
is going on.'
Thirty-six of the West's
best baristas - the Italian term for skilled and experienced espresso
bar operators - competed in the Specialty Coffee Association of
America's 4th Annual Western Regional Barista Competition that
started Friday at the Gaia Arts Center in Berkeley. The Western
Regional contest is the largest of the 10 regional
competitions."
"Home goods retail slump hits the high-end" reports Blanca Torres.
"The home goods retailers,
stores that sell products ranging from scented candles to leather
sofas, have been struggling for years, but the trend is now hitting
high-end retailers that once seemed immune.
Middle-tier companies like
Oakland-based Cost Plus Inc., Pier 1 and Bombay Co., which went
out of business last year, started having problems about three
or four years ago when many consumers turned to discount retailers
like Target and Wal-Mart for home accessories and furniture.
Retailers like Crate &
Barrel and San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma, owner of its namesake
cookware stores and Pottery Barn, continued to do well for awhile
because they catered to more affluent customers, but now people
of all income levels are shopping with caution.
'Sales in higher price point
categories have been tough,' said Joan Storms, an retail stocks
analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. 'It's not
just the lower and middle income consumer that's being stressed.
The upper income consumer is thinking twice and asking, 'Do I
really need that summer comforter?'"
"Consumer spending posts weakest in 17
months" reports
Martin Crutsinger.
"Consumers, jolted by
a credit crisis, job cuts and soaring energy costs, turned in
the weakest spending performance in 17 months in February, further
evidence that the risks of a recession are increasing."
"Upscale Chinatown on the auction block" reports Our Times' Barbara E. Hernandez
"Earlier this year,
Eight Orchids was marketed as an upscale, Asian-influenced part
of the revitalization of Oakland's Chinatown. Developed by BayRock
Residential, the 157-condominium project, priced the 770- to 1,645-square-feet
homes starting at $550,888. Now the developer will start auctioning
41 of those condominiums at $245,000 on Sunday."
CNN
reports "Paulson
to propose financial market overhaul. The Treasury department
will unveil the plan which has been in the works for months in
a speech on Monday. Plan not expected to be final before end of
President Bush's term.
Treasury Secretary Paulson
will unveil a plan on Monday to overhaul the government's regulation
of the banking and securities industry.
The Federal Reserve would
have the power to regulate virtually the entire banking and securities
industry under
proposals to be unveiled Monday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson,
according to a summary of the proposals provided to CNN late Friday."
"IMF backs shift in voting power" reports BBCNEWS.
"The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) has backed plans to redistribute voting power in the
organisation.
It has recommended changes
which would base the power of each of the IMF's 185 member countries
on the size of their economy, reserves and trade.
The US has expressed reservations
about the move but said that it would support it because it represented
progress."
Eternally useful links
In our rainy season 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.
Richmond
Ramblers' motorcycle club member, Cliff Miller emails a very
useful link
If you ever need to get a
human being on the phone at a credit card company or bank, etc.,
this site tells you how to defeat their automated system and get
you to a human being within a few seconds.
http://gethuman.com/us/
Markets
is not just a reference for Berkeley-Hills radicals with 1.5 mil
homes and considerable portfolios.
Our Planning Department is
here.
Our Berkeley
PD Site with crime statistics and more is here.
Crime Log
for 94710 is here
This site is NOT affiliated
with Berkeley PD.
Take time to report
crime!
All reports
of crime-in-progress should first go to Berkeley PD dispatch--911
or non-emergency, 981-5900. THEN make sure you notify EACH of
these City people.
The contacts
are below:
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
More
Scrambled Eggs & Lox, here
and
Stories about Berkeley and stories about recorded-music
are at
Journal of Recorded Music 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
ronpenndorf@earthlink.net
The original owner
of all scanned material retains copyright. The material is used
only to illustrate